Wow! So many
games were unbelievably close…and high scoring too. OT decided one. Missed
2-point conversions or blocked extra points returned for two points helped
decide a couple.
First, let’s look
at the games pitting ranked teams against each other this week:
3/3/3/3 South
Carolina (6-1) lost to #9/8/8/8 LSU Tigers (6-1)
6/5/5/7 Kansas
State (6-0) edged the #NR/25/25/24 Iowa State Cyclones (4-2)
7/7/7/4 Notre
Dame (6-0) went into OT to defeat the #17/17/16/14 Stanford Cardinal (4-2)
13/10/13/15 Oklahoma
(4-1) routed the #15/15/15/12 Texas Longhorns (4-2)
22/21/23/NR Texas
A&M (5-1) barely nosed the #23/24/24/25 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (5-1)
Once again,
considering these five games, there will be plenty of moving around when this
week is over.
(This week’s
rankings from the AP, Coaches’, Harris Interactive, BCS (Projected). Rankings
given last week are of the AP and Coaches’ and appear in parentheses. NR = Not Rated. Numbers in parentheses after
the team’s name are the records.)
1/1/1/1 (1/1)
Alabama (6-0) The Crimson Tide rolled over the Missouri Tigers (3-4) 42-10. Eddie
Lacy had 177 yards rushing and three TDs including one 73-yard scamper. Lacy’s
teammate, T.J. Yeldon, had two TDs and 144 yards rushing.
2/2/2/2 (2/2)
Oregon (6-0) The Ducks were off this weekend.
3/3/3/3 (6/6)
South Carolina (6-1) The Gamecocks fell to the #9 LSU Tigers (5-1) 23-21 on
Saturday night. It could have/should have been worse but the SC defense bent
but didn’t break on several long LSU drives. LSU’s Jeremy Hill rushed for 124
yards and two TDs including a 50 yarder in the fourth quarter. SC’s Connor Shaw
threw two TD passes.
4/6/6/5 (3/4)
Florida (6-0) The Gators beat the Vanderbilt Commodores (2-4) 31-17. The Commodores
played tough in the first half and trailed only 11-7 at the break but the Jeff
Driskel led Gators proved too much. Driskel ran for 177 yards and three TDs on
just 11 carries. His and the Gators’ final score came on a 70 yard run.
5/4/4/6 (8/7)
West Virginia (5-1) “The Mountaineers take their #2 passing offense (#3
overall) on the road again. This time they face the nation’s #1 pass defense
(#2 overall) in the Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-1).” Great defense beat the
excellent offense in this one as the Red Raiders spanked the Mountaineers
49-14. Geno Smith completed 29 of 55 for 295 yards but just one TD. Meanwhile,
his opposite number, Seth Doege was 32 of 42 for 504 yards and six TDs-three of
which went to Darrin Moore.
6/5/5/7 (7/8)
Kansas State (6-0) The Wildcats defeated the Iowa State Cyclones (4-2) 27-21. They
won mostly by keeping the ball to themselves. The Wildcats had the ball for
40:54 more than double the 19:06 the Cyclones had it. Collin Klein was 16 of 24
for 187 yards and ran 25 times for 105 yards and three TDs.
7/7/7/4 (9/10)
Notre Dame (6-0) The Fighting Irish outlasted the #17 Stanford Cardinal (4-2)
to win 20-13 in overtime. Tied 10-10 entering the final minutes of the fourth
quarter, the Cardinal nailed a 27-yard field goal to take a 13-10 lead with 6:12
left only to be
matched a short time later by Kyle Brindza’ s 22-yarder to tie it up and send
the game into OT. Everett Golson got hit hard on ND’s final drive and came out
of the game for Tommy Rees. Rees got the Irish close enough in regulation and
then tossed the winning 7-yard TD pass to TJ Jones in OT. The Notre Dame
defense, which hasn’t given up a touchdown in four consecutive games, then kept
the Cardinal off the board when their turn came. The only TD for the Cardinal
came on fumble recovery by Chase Thomas in the endzone.
8/NR/NR/NR
(12/NR) Ohio State (7-0) The Buckeyes escaped a tenacious Indiana (2-4) with a
52-49 win. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers traded scores all afternoon. Braxton
Miller accounted for three TDs for Ohio State (two passes and one rushing) as
he ran for 149 yards and passed for 211. Ohio’s Devin Smith caught two pass for
106 yards and two TDs. Stephen Houston scored three TDs for Indiana (two
rushing and one receiving).
9/8/8/8 (4/3) LSU
(6-1) The Tigers edged the #3 South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1) 23-21. See above
for more.
10/14/12/10
(14/17) Oregon State (5-0) The Beavers creamed the BYU Cougars (4-3) 42-24.
Cody Vaz will remember his first game as quarterback for the Beavers. He was 20
of 32 for 332 yards, three TDs and no INTs. The Beavers’ Jordan Poyer returned
an interception 49 yards for a TD to cap the scoring.
11/9/10/13
(13/12) Southern California (5-1) The Trojans didn’t score a point in the
second half but still managed to beat the Washington Huskies (3-3) 24-14. USC used strong defense that produced five sacks and
forced four turnovers including a blocked punt returned 21 yards by Anthony
Brown for a TD. Silas Redd rushed for 155 yards and one TD on 26 carries.
12/11/9/11 (3/4)
Florida State (6-1) The Seminoles routed the Boston College Eagles (1-5) 51-7.
EJ Manuel threw for 439 yards and four TDs.
13/10/13/15 (17/14) Oklahoma (4-1) The Sooners over whelmed the #15 Texas Longhorns (4-2) 63-21…and it wasn’t nearly that close. It was 36-2 at halftime. (The two for Texas came on a blocked extra point returned by Quandre Diggs after the first Oklahoma TD. Blake Bell scored three TD for the Sooners yet had just 31 yards rushing on 11 carries. Three of those TDs were on 1-yard runs and the other just 8 yards. Damien Williams rushed 22 times for 167 yards but had just one TD—on a 95 yard run from scrimmage. The Sooners amassed 677 net yards on 90 offensive plays.
14/12/11/9 (5/5)
Georgia (5-1) The Bulldogs had the weekend off.
15/15/15/12
(11/9) Texas (4-2) The Longhorns were creamed by the #13 Oklahoma Sooners (4-1)
63-21. There’s more above.
16/13/14/16
(15/15) Clemson (5-1) The Tigers had the weekend off.
17/17/16/14
(18/18) Stanford (4-2) The Cardinal fell to the #7 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame
(6-0) 20-13 in overtime. More above.
18/16/18/18
(19/16) Louisville (6-0) The Cardinals trailed 21-17 at the half on the road
against the Pitt Panthers (2-4). Whatever was said in the locker room must have
been inspiring. The Cardinals scored three times in the third quarter and once
more in the fourth while Pitt could muster just two fourth-quarter TDs as
Louisville remained undefeated with a 45-35 victory. Senorise Perry scored four
TDs on 12 carries for 101 yards for the Cardinals.
19/18/17/17
(20/19) Mississippi State (6-0) The Bulldogs held off a second half charge to beat
the Tennessee Volunteers (3-3) Saturday night 41-31. The Bulldogs’ Tyler
Russell threw for 291 yards—a career high—and two TDs. Tyler Bray had two TD
passes and Cordarrelle Patterson returned a kick 98 yards for a TD for
Tennessee.
20/19/19/19
(22/21) Rutgers (6-0) The Scarlet Knights (MY Scarlet Knights) defense and
special teams created turnovers…lots of turnovers…and the offense did just
enough to defeat the Orange of Syracuse (2-4) 23-15. Khaseem
Greene had 14 tackles, forced three fumbles, intercepted a pass and had 1½
sacks while defensive teammate Jamal Merrill blocked and field goal attempt
picked up by Duron Harmon and returned 75 yards for a TD early in the second
half. The Scarlet
Knights have 27 blocked kicks since 2009. That’s the best in the nation. The
Cuse held Jawan Jamison to just 64 yards on 28 carries ending his 100yard game
streak after six consecutive games. Still, 64 yards was two more than Syracuse
got on the ground for the afternoon. After averaging 10.2 penalties per game,
Rutgers committed only four infractions for 43 yards.
21/20/20/21
(NR/23) Cincinnati (5-0) The Bearcats rolled over the Fordham Rams (4-3) 49-17.
Cincinnati had a sluggish first half and went into the locker room ahead by
just 14-6. The two TDs came on a 76 yard fumble recovery and a 78 yard pass
from Munchie Legaux to Travis Kelce in the first quarter and made it look like
it would be no contest. It wasn’t. The Bearcats scored 5 TDs in the second half
including another Legaux TD pass and a Legaux rushing TD.
22/21/23/NR
(NR/NR Texas A&M (5-1) The Aggies edged the #23 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
(5-1) 59-57. LA Tech trailed by 27-0 at one point. The loss ended the Bulldogs
12-game regular season win streak. Quinton Patton had 21 receptions for 233
yards and four TDs and Shakeil Lucas returned an interception five yards for a
TD for the Bulldogs. Johnny Manziel completed 24 passes for 395 yards and three
TDs while rushing for one more for the Aggies. The difference in the game? A
blocked extra point returned for 2-points by the Aggies Dustin Harris and two
missed 2-point conversions by LA Tech
23/24/24/25
(NR/NR) Louisiana Tech (5-1) The Bulldogs fell to the #22 Texas A&M Aggies
(5-1) 59-57. More immediately above.
24/22/22/23
(NR/25) Boise State (5-1) The Broncos doubled up on the Fresno State Bulldogs
(4-3) 20-10. The Broncos won with defense. (!?) The BSU offense put the team
ahead 17-0 early in the third quarter. Forced turnovers kept Fresno State off
the board in the first half and limited the Bulldogs to just a field goal in
the third quarter. Fresno didn’t get a TD until they were down 20-3.
25/NR/NR/NR
(NR/NR) Michigan (4-2) The Wolverines shut out the Fighting Illini (2-5) 45-0.
Denard Robinson rushed for two TDs and threw for two.
NR/23/21/20
(15T/13) TCU (5-1) The Horned Frogs beat the Baylor Bears (3-2) 49-21. Trevone
Boykin hadn’t started a game until last week when Casey Pachall found himself
in trouble with the law over alcohol problems. (He has since withdrawn from
school to enter a rehab program.) Boykin has quickly become a star. He out-dueled
Nick Florence of Baylor (who replaced Heisman winner Robert Griffin III) by
throwing four TDs (22 of 30 for 261 yards, no INT) and running for one. Florence
went 12 for 19 for 289 yards and two TDs but also tossed four INTs.
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