I don’t think anybody could have predicted some of things that went down in college football yesterday. It was a great slate of games with some crazy endings.<\/p>\n
Remember when Michigan<\/strong> used to struggle to run the ball? Those days are over. The Wolverines<\/strong> have been using four running backs fairly steadily this season, and all four have double-digit carries and at least two\u00a0touchdowns. That’s not counting Jehu Chesson,<\/strong> who’s technically a receiver but has a 17-yard rushing touchdown, or fullback Khalid Hill,<\/strong> a short-yardage and goal-line guy with only nine\u00a0carries but four\u00a0scores.<\/p>\n Penn State<\/strong> struggled mightily with Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight<\/strong> getting out of the pocket and throwing on the run. Speight is reasonably shifty, but no one is going to mistake him for Denard Robinson.<\/strong> Keep an eye on how the Penn State defense handles Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner,<\/strong> a more mobile guy, next week.<\/p>\n The numbers would seem to tell you Wisconsin<\/strong> and Michigan State<\/strong> played a close game. Most favor Wisconsin by a small margin; in fact, the Spartans<\/strong> actually out-gained the Badgers<\/strong> in total offense by eight yards. The three stats that were noticeably lopsided in favor of Wisconsin were third-down conversions (7 of 16 WIS, 4 of 13 MSU), pass completions (16 of 26 versus 20 of 43), and turnovers (Wisconsin 2, Michigan State 4). Not gonna win many games without winning those battles, Sparty.<\/p>\n Don’t worry if you\u00a0turned off the Florida-Tennessee<\/strong> game at halftime. All you missed was nearly 400 yards of offense and 38 consecutive points for the Vols,<\/strong> before Florida scored late to narrow the gap.<\/p>\n I don’t have strong feelings about Oregon’s<\/strong> “Duck” uniforms for the game. College football is supposed to be fun- if changing up the uniforms is fun for the players and the students, it’s not hurting anyone. I’m curious about why they picked this weekend for the Duck uniforms though- why not the game before Halloween?<\/strong><\/p>\n Notre Dame<\/strong> suffered their biggest upset loss in twenty years, losing at home to Duke.<\/strong> Yes, Duke. Yes, in football. A 21-point favorite, the Irish<\/strong> were downed 38-35.<\/p>\n Syracuse<\/strong> wide receiver Amba Etta-Tawo<\/strong> had a decent day against my home-state UConn Huskies,<\/strong> with 12 receptions for 270 yards and two touchdowns. Not surprisingly, his quarterback Eric Dungey<\/strong> put up some impressive numbers as well, going 26 of 40 for 407 yards and the two scores to Etta-Tawo. (It was a good thing the passing game was clicking, as the Orange could only muster 62 yards on the ground in the 31-24 win).<\/p>\n Tough not to be gutted for LSU<\/strong> last night (unless you’re an Auburn<\/strong> fan, obviously). To think you\u00a0had not only won the game, but won against a conference rival in such dramatic fashion and then to be told oops, sorry, you didn’t get the snap off in time<\/em>… ouch. Especially since, as the broadcasters pointed out, Danny Etling<\/strong> was under center, and it was pretty much impossible to see when the snap actually happened.<\/p>\n I won’t repeat what I yelled when Leonard Fournette<\/strong> appeared to be injured, because this is a PG\u00a0website. I’m relieved the injury didn’t appear to be serious- he’s fun to watch- but why was he back in the game after that? Isn’t he awfully valuable to be using, even as a decoy, when he’s clearly hurt? How well could he possibly have even blocked at that point? Derrius Guice<\/strong> could start basically anywhere else in the country. Put him in.<\/p>\n It looks like the SEC West<\/strong> will come down to Texas<\/strong> A&M<\/strong> at Alabama<\/strong> on October 22.<\/p>\n I’m not sure how UMass<\/strong> is 1-3, because every time I hear something about them, they’re putting a scare into one of the big boys. They’ve kept games with Florida, BC,<\/strong> and now Mississippi State<\/strong> competitive well into the second half, and have games South Carolina<\/strong> and BYU<\/strong> coming up later in the fall. That’s some ballsy schedule-making. I may have to get up to Amherst<\/strong> to see a game at some point.<\/p>\n Lamar Jackson<\/strong> is up to 25 touchdowns this season (13 passing, 12 rushing). He can’t possibly hit triple digits… can he? Probably not- as the Cardinals<\/strong> get into the bulk of their conference schedule, his numbers should drop off at least a bit. But I think at this point, it’s his Heisman<\/strong> to lose.<\/p>\n Stanford<\/strong> QB Ryan Burns<\/strong> was hot and cold all game, but he had ice water in his veins on the final drive. Eli Manning<\/strong> had several games like that his first year as a starter for the Giants,<\/strong> where he would be maddeningly inconsistent for almost entire games, then march down the field like a vet in the two-minute drill. I’d say Eli turned out okay.<\/p>\n Wisconsin-Michigan, Georgia-Tennessee, and Louisville-Clemson are the big games on the docket next weekend. I’ll be here next Sunday morning with my thoughts. Have a great week everybody!<\/p>\n Main Photo<\/p>\n