It’s such a shame when the fun of college football, and college in general (enjoy it, kids), is marred by something like the senseless tragedy at Oklahoma State’s homecoming parade yesterday. Four people, reportedly including a toddler, were killed when a car went careening into a crowd of people. A 25-year-old local woman was arrested under suspicion of DUI. All of us at LWOS send our thoughts and best wishes to the victims and their families. Remember, if you’ve been drinking, DON’T DRIVE.
-I loved seeing Oklahoma State’s flag at the Oklahoma game yesterday. Even Sooner fans wanted to express sympathy to what are normally their bitter rivals. There’s nothing like sports to bring people together.
-Staying in the Big XII, Baylor won a wet, muddy, messy game against Iowa State as the remnants of Hurricane Patricia dumped nearly 10 inches of rain on the Waco area in the 24 hours leading up to the game. Two stats stood out to me in this game: one, Corey Coleman caught his 18th touchdown of the year, which is more than any FBS player had all last season. This season is only two-thirds over. Two, on a fourth down early in the first quarter the announcer mentioned that this was just the thirteenth punt of the season for Baylor. Twelve punts through six games, or basically punting twice a game? That’s INSANE.
-Baylor has a big question mark heading into the next few weeks (at the very least), as quarterback Seth Russell fractured a bone in his neck against Iowa State. ESPN reports that he’ll see a specialist Monday; I’d expect at least a general timetable to be available sometime next week.
-Miami is no longer THE U that I grew up hearing about, in some ways. The Miami of the late 80’s would never have been down 35-0 to Clemson at halftime- oops, make that 42-0 as the ‘Canes went for broke and ended up with a pick-6. They certainly wouldn’t have been outgained 230 yards to 24 on the ground at halftime. And they definitely wouldn’t have lost a game 58-0. In fact, no Miami team had ever lost game that badly. And yet, one thing remained the same: the trash-talk, the unsportsmanlike conduct calls, and the personal fouls. As I tweeted to someone yesterday, I felt like I should be on the floor playing with my Cabbage Patch Kids while my dad railed about Jimmy Johnson in the next room. Engaging in that nonsense while you’re winning is obnoxious enough, but when you’re getting your asses kicked? Really?
-I wonder how many variations on the theme of “Fire Al Golden” you’d have to go through this morning to find a domain name available?
-Michigan fans should be on their knees thanking Georgia Tech this morning; the Yellow Jackets’ walk-off kick-6 of Florida State could displace last week’s punting debacle as Ending Of The Year. I don’t think it will, but at least now there’s some competition.
-College kickers take a fair amount of criticism, so I wanted to be sure and mention UCLA kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 60-yard field goal against Cal on Thursday night. Sixty yards is beyond the range of a lot of NFL kickers, so good for him.
-I had a gut feeling Utah was going down yesterday. I don’t know why. I was surprised how many ESPN folks on the morning shows agreed. I guess we knew something. (I’m only including this because my gut instincts regarding football are so rarely correct).
-Tennessee showed yesterday why they were ranked earlier this season. They gave Alabama a good game and nearly won. Butch Jones has this team trending in the right direction; with another year of experience for QB Josh Dobbs, I think they could be very good next season. I like both of their running backs, Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, a lot, and both are just sophomores.
-I heard an interesting stat from that game: Alabama QB Jake Coker has six interceptions on the season, all of them thrown at home. Go figure.
-Nice job by Ole Miss rebounding from last week’s terrible loss to Memphis. I don’t know what’s going on in College Station all of a sudden.
-What is left to say about Leonard Fournette? If anyone can stop him, or at least slow him down, it might be Alabama’s defense. The Tigers have a bye, followed by that matchup. I’d strongly suggest not missing it.
Have a wonderful and safe Halloween readers! Remember to look for the LWOS Top 25 later today.
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