Week Thirteen Midweek Musings
Welcome to Week Thirteen Midweek Musings! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Indiana
Quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who was having an outstanding season, tore his ACL against Maryland. Obviously, he’s done for the season. Utah transfer Jack Tuttle will take over as signal-caller.
5-1 Indiana faces 2-1 Wisconsin this weekend in Madison. As COVID runs through Ohio State, the Hoosiers still have a chance to play in the Big Ten Championship. The Buckeyes have already missed two games, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to play this weekend. That would put them below the Big Ten threshold of six games to qualify, even if they’re able to face Michigan (with its own COVID problems) on the 12th.
LSU-Texas A&M
Where was this LSU defense earlier in the season? I did not expect them to hold a good A&M team to 267 total yards and 20 points. Considering how heavily the Aggies were favored, it’s surprising how competitive this game was. Not until A&M scored on a pick-six late in the third quarter was the game basically out of reach. There was a lot of media talk about A&M getting revenge for LSU’s beatdown a year ago, and I’m sure that crossed the minds of Aggie players. But I don’t know if I’d call a 20-7 victory “revenge” for a 50-7 loss.
Adding insult to injury for LSU, receiver Terrace Marshall announced that he is opting out for the rest of the season. Marshall leads the team in receptions (48), receiving yards (731), and total touchdowns (10). The next player on the list, freshman tight end Arik Gilbert, has 30 catches for 339 yards and two scores. The run game has also been anemic. With #1 Alabama and #6 Florida remaining on the docket, things could get ugly for the defending champs.
Vanderbilt
The Commodores made history on Saturday as Sarah Fuller kicked off for the second half. Fuller, the goalie on Vanderbilt’s women’s soccer team, was determined to be the team’s best option at kicker after COVID protocols eliminated the usual unit. She became the first woman to play in a Power 5 football game, and is the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week.
Oh, and on Sunday, Vanderbilt fired coach Derek Mason. With one game remaining, the timing is odd to say the least. He can’t coach one more game?
Buffalo
I mentioned Jaret Patterson in this column two weeks ago, after he ran for 301 yards and four touchdowns against Bowling Green. Little did I know that wouldn’t be his most impressive performance of the season. On Saturday, he ran for 409 yards (averaging just over 11 yards per carry) and eight touchdowns. He’s the first player to run for 300 or more yards in back-to-back games since Texas’ Ricky Williams in 1998. He also tied the major-college record for touchdowns in a game, held by Howard Griffith of Illinois and dating back to 1990.
Patterson’s twin brother James Patterson, a linebacker for the Bulls, led the team with 13 total tackles. All in all, a nice Thanksgiving weekend for the Patterson family.
Iowa State
The Big 12 Championship game is within reach for the Cyclones after their late victory over Texas. The Longhorns’ opening drive ended in a field goal, and they didn’t relinquish the lead until 1:25 remained in the game. The Cyclones have never played in a Big 12 title game; they won their last championship of any kind in 1912.
Iowa State needs to beat West Virginia this weekend, or for Oklahoma State to lose at TCU, to clinch their spot.
Schedule Changes
This week, college football reached the depressing milestone of 100 games either canceled or postponed due to COVID-19. Here are this week’s updates:
Southern Miss at UTEP: Canceled
#8 Northwestern at Minnesota: Canceled
Washington State at USC: Moved to Sunday, Dec. 6 at 9pm EST
Maryland at Michigan: Canceled
I can’t imagine that will be the end of it for this week. I’ll do my best to keep up and edit as more games are (presumably) changed. Hit me up on Twitter @lastwordlindsay if you hear of changes I’ve missed.
Those are my Week Thirteen Midweek Musings. Bowl season is just around the corner- check out this week’s predictions here!
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