College Football 2011, Week 13 results

Week 13 Results

After all the upsets of a week ago, there was not a single one this week. In every single game, the higher ranked team won…sometimes by huge margins. Only the size of those margins will trigger changes, if any, in the rankings when they come out early this week.

(Polls are AP, Coaches’, the CBSSports120 and the BCS. NR = not ranked)

1/1/1/1 LSU (12-0) The Tigers improved to 12-0 at the expense of the #3 Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2) Friday afternoon. And they made it look easy with a 41-17 rout. Arkansas managed to get a 14-0 lead in the second quarter after a scoreless first when Alonzo Highsmith return a LSU fumble 47 yards for a TD. But then Tyrann Mathieu’s 92-yard punt return for LSU opened the flood gates. A 21-14 LSU halftime lead was trimmed to 21-17 before LSU tallied 20 unanswered points. LSU rolled up 286 yards on the ground. Next week, LSU plays Georgia (10-2) for the SEC Championship.

2/2/3/2 Alabama (11-1) The Crimson Tide rolled over the Auburn Tigers (7-5) 42-14. Trent Richardson rushed for a career-high 203 yards and AJ McCarron threw for three TDs—one of them to Richardson.

3/3/11/3 Arkansas (10-2) The Razorbacks got whipped by the #1 LSU Tigers (12-0) 41-17 on Friday afternoon. More above.

4/5/7/6 Stanford (11-1) The Cardinal beat the #22 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame (8-4) 28-14. Andrew Luck threw for 233 yards and four TDs in this one. He now has 80 TD passes for his career (just three years) the most in Stanford history. He eclipsed John Elway’s record of 77 career TD passes. Elway took four years to amass that total. Andrew Hendrix threw for 192 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score in a second-half as he replaced Tommy Rees who was ineffective for the Irish losing one fumble and tossing an interception before suffering a hard shot to the ribs that kept him on the turf for an extended time.

5/6/2/4 Oklahoma State (10-1) The Cowboys were idle this week. Next week they face Oklahoma.

6/4/9/5 Virginia Tech (11-1) The Hokies shutout the #24 Virginia Cavaliers (8-4) 38-0. The Hokies held Virginia to just 30 yards rushing (they had been averaging 177 yards) and 241 total offense. Logan Thomas threw two TDs and ran for a third for Virginia Tech. David Wilson rushed for two more TDs as he rushed 24 times for 153 yards. Next weekend the Hokies have a rematch with Clemson (their only loss of the season) in the ACC Championship game.

7/8/5/7 Boise State (10-1) The Broncos fell behind 7-0 to the Wyoming Cowboys (7-4) but Kellen Moore his Matt Miller for a 46-yard TD on the last play—in fact the final second—of the first half and the Broncos went on to whip the Cowboys 36-14. The Cowboys’ early score came on a 29-yard interception return by Luke Anderson. Kellen Moore finished the day 24 of 36 for 279 yards and three TDs. The Broncos’ Doug Martin rushed 26 times for 153 yards and two TDs as Boiuse State posted 479 yards of offense.

8/7/10/8 Houston (12-0) The Cougars remained undefeated beating the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (8-3) Friday afternoon 48-16. Tulsa led 10-6 after the first quarter as it took time for Case Keenum to warm up. And warm up he did! Keenum completed 33 of 46 for 457 yards and 5 touchdowns. Three of those were caught by Patrick Edwards (two on fourth and one plays) who caught 8 passes for 181 yards including a 14-yard TD pass from back-up QB Cotton Turner who was 2 for 2 for 17 yards and the one TD. (Does Turner ever miss connecting on a pass?) Keenum now has 43 TD passes and just 3 interceptions this season. Houston will play next weekend for the C-USA Championship facing Southern Mississippi (10-2).

9/9/8/10 Oregon (10-2) The Ducks demolished the Oregon State Beavers (3-9) 49-14. LaMichael James rushed for 142 yards and scored the Ducks first TD but was on the sidelines during the fourth quarter due to an apparent injury—albeit a minor one—to his left elbow. He’ll be ready to go next Friday against UCLA for the PAC-10 Championship. Darron Thomas threw for 305 yards and four TDs for the Ducks. De’Antohny Thomas rushed for 71 yards, had 86 more on 10 catches and finished the night with 197 all-purpose yards. Oregon had 365 yards rushing to the Beavers’ 16. Redshirt freshman Sean Mannion completed 27 of 44 tosses for 299 yards and three TDs for Oregon State.

10/NR/13/NR Southern California (10-2) The Trojans shutout the Bruins of UCLA (6-6) 50-0. Banned from playing for the PAC-10 Championship and in any post season game, the Trojans were out to prove something—and they did. Despite the loss, the bruins will be representing the PAC-10 South in the Championship game against Oregon. Meanwhile, Matt Barkley threw for 423 yards and six TDs. Marqise Lee caught two of them one for 42 yards and the other for 52. Robert Woods also caught two, 4 yards and 41 yards. Curtis McNeal had the only rushing TD on a 73-yard sprint. Lee had 224 yards receiving. Woods had 113. McNeal had 124 yards on 12 carries.

11/10/22/14 Michigan State (10-2) The Spartans beat the Northwestern Wildcats (6-6) 31-17. B.J. Cunningham had 6 receptions for 120 yards including 33-yard and 29-yard TD catches from Kirk Cousins and Keshawn Martin returned a punt 57 yards for a score. Next up is a Big Ten Championship game against Wisconsin (10-2).

12/11/4/9 Oklahoma (9-2) The Sooners beat the Iowa State Cyclones (6-5) 26-6. The Cyclones only score came in the first quarter when James Winchester's snap sailed over the head of punter Tress Way and the ball was recovered in the end zone. Each team turned the ball over four times as the game was played in 30 mph winds with gusts over 40 mph. The Sooners’ third string QB, Blake Bell, who had four rushing TDs last week, scored twice more on the ground this game. (He was 0 for 1 with an INT throwing the ball which is probably why he’s running the ball when he comes in.) Oklahoma rolled up 509 yards of offense, including 253 on the ground against the Cyclones. The Sooners finish the regular season next weekend against Oklahoma State.

13/14/16/13 Georgia (10-2) The Bulldogs beat the #25 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-4) 31-17. Aaron Murray threw four TD passes on a 19-of-29-for-252-yards day. Next up for the Bulldogs will be #1 LSU (12-0) for the SEC Championship.

14/13/14/12 South Carolina (10-2) The Gamecocks rolled over the #18 Clemson Tigers (9-3) 34-13. Connor Shaw tossed three TD passes and ran for a fourth in leading South Carolina over its instate rival. The defense did its part holding Clemson to just 153 net yards—70 of the m on the ground and 83 via the pass.

15/12/17/16 Wisconsin (10-2) The Badgers creamed the #20 Nittany Lions of Penn State (9-3) 45-7. Montee Ball carried the ball 25 times gaining 156 yards and scoring four TDs. Ball now has 34 TDs for the season. The NCAA record is 39 held by a guy named Barry Sanders for Oklahoma State back in 1988—in 11 games. The Badgers compiled 264 yards rushing. Wisconsin now plays Michigan State for the Big Ten Championship.

16/15/12/11 Kansas State (9-2) The Wildcats were idle this week.

17/16/6/15 Michigan (10-2) The Wolverines outlasted the Ohio State Buckeyes (6-6) 40-34. Denard Robinson tossed three TD passes and ran for two more. Robinson completed 14 of 17 tosses for 167 yards and carried the ball 26 times for 170 yards. Fitzgerald Toussaint carried 20 times for 120 yards as the Wolverines rolled up 277 yards on the ground.

18/17/19/17 Clemson (9-3) The Tigers fell to the #14 Gamecocks of South Carolina (10-2) 34-13. Despite the loss, Clemson will play Virginia Tech next week for the ACC Championship. More on this game above.

19/18/15/20 TCU (9-2) The Horned Frogs were idle this week.

20/19/18/19 Penn State (9-3) The Nittany Lions were whipped 47-7 by the #15 Wisconsin Badgers (10-2). More above.

21/20/20/18 Baylor (8-3) The Bears outscored the Red Raiders of Texas Tech (5-7) in a 66-42 shootout. And they did it with Robert Griffin III sitting on the sideline for the second half after an elbow to the head lead to concussion-like symptoms. Before leaving the game, Griffin had one TD pass and two rushing TDs. His replacement, Nick Florence, a junior who hadn't thrown a pass all season and was possibly going to be redshirted, filled in aptly. Florence completed 9 of 12 passes for 151 yards with a pair of long touchdowns—a 46-yarder to Kendall Wright and a 40-yarder to Terrance Williams. Joe Williams returned an interception 90 yards to put Baylor ahead 52-28. Terrance Ganaway rushed 42 times for 246 yards and two touchdowns. The Bears amassed 617 yards of net offense. On the other side of the ball, the Raiders had 444 yards net offense behind Seth Doege’s 41 of 55 passes for 355 yards and three TDs. But the Raiders turned the ball over four times including the long INT return while the Bears lost two of five fumbles. Baylor closes out its regular season next weekend against Texas.

22T/22/25/21 Nebraska (9-3) The Cornhuskers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes (7-5) 20-7 behind the running of Rex Burkhead. Burkhead carried 38 times for 160 yards and a TD. Keeping the ball on the ground gave the Cornhuskers a huge margin in time of possession—more than 15 minutes extra. The Hawkeyes didn’t score until there were just 3:26 left in the game.

22T/24/21/22 Notre Dame (8-4) The Irish fell to the #4 Stanford Cardinal (11-1) 28-14. See above for more.

24/25/NR/NR Virginia (8-4) The Cavaliers were shut out by the #6 Virginia Tech Hokies (11-1) 38-0. More above.

25/21/NR/23 Georgia Tech (8-4) The Yellow Jackets host the #13 Georgia Bulldogs (10-2) 31-17. See above fro more.

NR/NR/23/NR Southern Mississippi (10-2) The Golden Eagles demolished the Memphis Tigers (2-10) 44-7. Austin Davis completed 14 of 26 passes for 277 yards and two TDs and ran for a third in leading the Golden Eagles over the Tigers. The Southern Miss defense forced three turnovers and returned a pair of interceptions for TDs. Deron Wilson returned one 35 yards and Kendrick Presley returned the second 100 yards. Memphis had just 21 yards rushing on 23 attempts. The Tigers only score came when Mitch Huelsing recovered a Southern Miss fumble in the end zone for a touchdown with just 6:54 left in the fourth quarter. Southern Miss will be playing Houston for the C-USA Championship next weekend.

NR/NR/24/NR Tulsa (8-4) The Golden Hurricane lost to the #8 Houston Cougars (12-0) 48-16 Friday afternoon. See above for more.

NR/NR/NR/24 Auburn (7-5) The Tigers were routed by the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1) 42-14. See above for more.

NR/NR/NR/25 Texas (7-4) The Longhorns edged the Aggies of Texas A&M (6-6) 27-25 on Thursday night when Justin Tucker kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired. The Aggies’ Ryan Tannehill had connected with Jeff Fuller on a 16-yard TD pass with just 1:48 remaining in the game, but the 2-point conversion failed leaving A&M ahead just 25-24. Earlier, Tannehill was intercepted three times. The third of those set up a 1-yard TD run by Cody Johnson. A&M was also stung on a trick play that saw receiver Jaxon Shipley throw a 41-yard TD pass in the first half when the Longhorns were trailing 13-0.