A great day of college football makes it much easier to forget (or at least ignore) a hurricane bearing down on you. Here’s what we learned:
-The injury to Marcus Lattimore is devastating to the Gamecocks, to Lattimore himself, and to all of college football. He’s a tremendously exciting player to watch, and the number of rival fans, players, schools, and coaches wishing him well on Twitter yesterday leads me to believe he must be a really nice kid as well. Clearly he’s very respected by the college football community. Best wishes to him from all of us at LWOS.
-Tennessee RB Marlin Lane did a nice job stepping in for Rajon Neal. The Vols came closer than many would have expected to beating South Carolina. LB Herman Lathers also played an excellent game for the Vols, with 15 total tackles, a sack, and an interception.
-While they eventually pulled out the win, Texas trailed Kansas 14-7 in the first half. It was the first time the Jayhawks have had a lead on the ‘Horns since November 2004.
-Texas switched from David Ash to Case McCoy at QB in the 4th quarter. McCoy drove the Longhorns down the field for the go-ahead score. Could a QB controversy be brewing in Austin?
-Northwestern led Iowa 14-3 at halftime. In the first half, Northwestern had just five pass attempts. In other words, Iowa’s run defense is not very good. (Northwestern won 28-17).
-Congrats to the NCAA-sanctioned North Carolina Tar Heels on beating in-state rival NC State for the first time since 2006.
-Georgia and Florida played one of the sloppiest good-weather football games I’ve ever seen. Turnovers and penalties galore. The Gators were penalized 10 times, but not to be outdone, Georgia racked up its most single-game penalty yards in eight years (132, on 14 penalties). Aaron Murray threw three INTs in the first half to Jeff Driskell’s one, but the Gators also managed to lose two fumbles. Georgia got things together somewhat after halftime, while the Gators lost two more fumbles and Driskell threw another INT. That was the difference. Very sloppy, undisciplined game for both teams.
-The Big Ten is once again up for grabs as Nebraska knocked Denard Robinson out of the game last night with an elbow injury, and handed Michigan their first conference loss. What happens from here will depend at least in part on how long Robinson will be out; the Wolverines remaining games are against Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa, and currently-unbeaten Ohio State. Minnesota might be beatable with freshman Russell Bellomy at the helm. The rest, probably not.
-Adding insult to injury in Ann Arbor this morning is Rich Rod’s huge win over USC. Combine that with Kansas State’s blowout of Texas Tech, and I think Collin Klein may have edged Matt Barkley in the Heisman race.
-Is it safe to say Manti Te’o punched his ticket to the Heisman Ceremony last night? 11 tackles, one sack, and a late INT with Notre Dame leading by seven to keep the Irish unbeaten.
-With a loss by Rutgers yesterday, it appears the Big East is now Louisville’s to lose.
Provided that Hurricane Sandy spares the electricity here, stay tuned for a special Wednesday edition of Game of the Week featuring the Alabama-LSU rematch of last year’s BCS Game, as well as the regular Thursday Game of the Week!
And remember to catch our Saturday morning “College Warm-Up” radio show on Last Word Radio starting at 9am!
