Let me start off this week by thanking the college football schedule makers for having the UCLA-Arizona game start at a decent time on the East Coast. I’ve been waiting for weeks to see either of these teams play (I have a UCLA game on my DVR, but no time to watch it) and the game lived up to my expectations. Let’s begin with that matchup.
Things We Learned In College: Week 4 in College Football
-Josh Rosen is living up to the hype. Nineteen of twenty-eight, 284 yards, and two passing touchdowns, as well as another one running. He’s amazingly calm for an eighteen-year-old; granted, it’s easy to be calm when everyone around you is playing equally well and you have a running back like Paul Perkins. How is Perkins flying under the radar to this extent?
-I thought the loss of Myles Jack would be huge for the UCLA defense. It didn’t look that way last night.
-Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon slid awkwardly last night and took a knee to the head from a UCLA defender. He was replaced by Jerrard Randall. I haven’t seen an update on Solomon this morning, but Randall looks more than capable of running the offense should Solomon miss more time. He’s an excellent fit for coach Rich Rodriguez’s system.
-Staying in the Pac-12, Stanford chewed up and spit out Oregon State’s defense Friday night, particularly on the ground. Christian McCaffrey- yes, the son of former Cardinal and NFLer Ed McCaffrey- rushed for 206 yards and senior Barry Sanders- yes, the son of the former Detroit Lions’ great- added 97 yards and two touchdowns. Kevin Hogan, a game-time decision due to a sprained ankle, completed nine of 14 pass attempts for 163 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, seemingly untroubled by the injury.
-One more quick note from the Pac-12: about six years ago, ESPN did a story about a 12-year-old football player named Jake Olson who was about to undergo surgery that would rob him of his sight, and wanted to go to a USC football practice while he could still see. Then-coach Pete Carroll went far beyond letting him watch practice; Jake got to spend time with the team, watch several practices, meet all the players, break down the huddle, and so forth. College GameDay did a follow-up story yesterday morning: Jake is now 18, a freshman at USC- and one of the long-snappers on the Trojans’ roster. He hasn’t seen game action yet, but coach Steve Sarkisian (who was an assistant on Carroll’s staff when Jake had his surgery) says he won’t hesitate to put Jake in a game when the time is right. My apartment suddenly got very dusty during this story.
-The Leonard Fournette Show continues. LSU’s star runner gained 244 yards on 26 carries yesterday, a school record for a road game. He added two touchdowns in a game that was a lot closer than it should have been. Syracuse performed very well, especially when you consider that they’re on quarterback number four already this season.
-I turned on Auburn-Mississippi State just in time to see a series that pretty much summed up Auburn’s season thus far. On third and goal, the Tigers lost yardage and had to recover their own fumble. On fourth down, Daniel Carlson missed a 26-yard field goal. (To Carlson’s credit, he was good from 51 yards later in the game).
-Tennessee and Florida finished their game about the way you’d expect a game in this rivalry to finish- with the unexpected. The Vols led basically the entire game, and looked like the better team, so of course they lost. SEC games can be so weird. I love it.
-Speaking of exciting endings, let’s talk about Texas Tech-TCU. I turned the game on with about five minutes left in the third quarter and was immediately kicking myself for missing the first 40 minutes. It ended as crazily as the entire game had unfolded- down by four, with 29 seconds left, the Horned Frogs needed a TD. Trevone Boykin threw a pass that was *just* too high for receiver Josh Doctson, who appeared to get his fingertips on it but wasn’t even close to hauling it in. However, Doctson’s fingertips were just enough to deflect the pass into the arms of running back Aaron Green, who somehow managed to both hang onto the ball AND make sure to stay in bounds as he was tackled. Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ Hail Mary attempt was picked off- but wait! TCU got called for roughing the passer, giving the Red Raiders an untimed down. They made a great attempt at lateraling (is that a word?) the ball downfield, but ultimately were stopped short of the end zone. It’s early in the season, but that may stand up as the craziest ending to a game this year.
-Michigan’s Jake Rudock played his best game as a Wolverine yesterday. What I thought would be a good game turned out to be a 31-0 beatdown of a ranked BYU team. Rudock was 14 of 25 for 194 yards, one passing score, two more rushing, and most importantly, no interceptions. The Wolverines totaled 254 yards on the ground in an epic display of Jim Harbaugh Football. The offense is starting to catch up to the defense.
-Michigan receiver Amara Darboh, a native of Sierra Leone, became a U.S. citizen earlier this week. He celebrated by channeling his inner Odell Beckham Jr. for an impressive one-handed catch that set up Michigan’s first touchdown.
I’ll be traveling next weekend, but Things We Learned In College will return for Week Six. Remember to follow me on Twitter @LastWordLindsay. Until next time!
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