Yesterday was one of those days that reminded me, ragweed allergies be damned, why I love the fall.
Things We Learned In College Week Three
– Let’s start with one of the biggest upsets of the season so far, Boston College beating Southern Cal. Coming off of their big win over Stanford, UCS may have experienced something of a letdown. The stat lines from this game are crazy:
Passing Yards: USC 317, BC 54
Rushing Yards: USC 20, BC 452
Yards per rush: USC 0.7, BC 8.4
Total Yards: USC 337, BC 506
Seriously, what the hell? I guess the moral of the story is if you have to play USC in the coming weeks, plan to run the ball. A lot.
-The second big upset was an unranked Virginia team beating #21 Louisville. This is the same Cavaliers team, if you remember, that played UCLA very tough two weeks ago. If Mike London is in fact coaching to keep his job this season (and I think he probably is), he’s making a good argument to be retained. Those guys are playing hard AND smart for him.
-Upset number three was East Carolina beating Virginia Tech. It was an odd game. ECU was up 21-0 after the first quarter and looked unbeatable. They started to show some cracks in the second quarter; the halftime score was 21-7. In the third quarter, it was debatable who looked more hapless. Suddenly in the fourth quarter, the Hokies came to life and tied the game. I assumed overtime was inevitable. But the Pirates followed suit and drove down the field for a touchdown. If you had a vested interest in the outcome, this game would have been a nailbiter. For me, it was just a fun one.
-Something to watch for VT in the coming weeks: they were allowing big chunks of yardage on first down. They’ll need to tighten up there.
-The big game, of course, was Georgia-South Carolina (once it finally started after a long weather delay). This was another exciting, back-and-forth game, and if Todd Gurley wasn’t firmly entrenched in the Heisman race before, he is now. His 131 yards and single score don’t really reflect his impact on the game.
-An oddity from this game: Georgia kicker Marshall Morgan made his 19th and 20th field goals in a row, tying and then breaking the SEC record. He then missed his next two, including one that would have tied the game up with just over five minutes to play.
-Congratulations to the Ol’ Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, on his 201st career win.
– Speaking of Heisman candidates, Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson accounted for over 300 yards of offence and three touchdowns in a Shamrock Series win over Purdue. Things were close at half time with the Irish only up three points, but a strong second half performance turned this into a comfortable win for Brian Kelly’s team. This Irish team should be ranked in the top 10 when the new polls come out, and is starting to look an awful lot like the 2012 version, and that could throw a wrench into the Big 5’s College Football Playoff plans.
-Maryland and West Virginia played a barnburner that featured a little bit of everything, including 1,141 yards of combined offense. West Virginia won, thanks to a last-minute field goal, despite having allowed four turnovers to Maryland’s one.
-UCLA eked out the win over Texas, but the bigger story may be the elbow injury suffered by Bruins’ quarterback Brett Hundley. Hundley reportedly wanted to go back in the game, so chances are it’s not too serious, but head coach Jim Mora told ESPN that Hundley would be evaluated when the team got back to L.A.
-I didn’t see any of Florida-Kentucky (AT&T Uverse: PLEASE add SEC Network to your basic package), but when it was 3-3 at halftime I figured I wasn’t missing much. Imagine my surprise when I got online this morning and saw that the Gators won 36-30 in triple OT!
-One thing I noticed from LSU’s beating of Louisiana-Monroe was the poise and decision making from the Tigers’ young quarterback Anthony Jennings. Just a smart young player, making good judgments about when to throw the ball away, when to pull it down and run, and so forth.
Don’t forget, next week features a Thursday night matchup of ranked teams (Auburn at Kansas State) that should be a good one!
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