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By Bob Gaughan
Baylor 52 Kansas State 24
Was it Plato, Shakespeare, Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Nicholas Cage that said "Success breeds Complacency”? Kansas State didn’t last long at number one. Try one week. It was a very disappointing performance by Kansas State on both sides of the ball. Collin Klein had his worst game of the year. Klein threw three interceptions and the Wildcats offense was shutdown by a Baylor defense that had been run over by every good offense all year long. The Wildcats defense couldn’t stop or even slow down the Baylor offense. Baylor gained 582 yards. Baylor running backs Glasco Martin and Lache Seastrunk combined for 298 yards and four touchdowns rushing.
Stanford 17 Oregon 14 OT
The Cardinal had the perfect team to beat the Ducks. They had an offense that could slow the game down and a front seven on defense that could hold the Ducks high powered offense in check. That’s exactly what happened. Ducks Heisman hopeful Kenyon Barner was held to only 67 yards on 21 carries. Stephan Taylor of Stanford on the other hand had 157 yards on 33 carries. Stanford tied the game with 1:35 left on a nine yard pass from Kevin Hogan to Zach Ertz. The play was originally called incomplete but was reversed on review. Oregon has one weak link on offense and that’s field goal kicking. Alejandro Maldonado missed two attempts in the game. His attempt in overtime of 41 yards hit the upright. Stanford’s Jordan Williamson broke the hearts of Duck nation by making his 37 yard field goal moments later and that sent the Cardinal home with the victory. The loss of Oregon and Kansas State means Alabama is back in the picture for a national championship. The Tide will most likely move into the second spot behind Notre Dame when the BCS standings come out.
Notre Dame 38 Wake Forest 0
Wake Forest has no offense. They played three quarterbacks last week and their only touchdown was a pass thrown by a WR. Not good to have offensive problems going against Notre Dame. Not surprisingly Notre Dame dominated the game outgaining Wake Forest 584 to 209. Everett Golson led the offense throwing for 346 yards and three touchdowns. Only USC stands in the Irish’s way of having an undefeated season and a date in the national championship game. This was the final home game for the Irish. Many fans wore leis to honor the last home game of Manti T’eo.
Ohio State 21 Wisconsin 14 OT
This game got very interesting with just under 3 minutes to play when Montee Ball fumbled on fourth and inches at the Ohio State 2 yard line. If Ball would have held onto the ball he would have had the first down. Wisconsin then forced a three and out from the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State was blanked in the second half and only crossed mid-field once after halftime. Wisconsin tied the score and forced overtime with 14 seconds left on a 5 yard pass from Curt Phillips to Jacob Pederson. Momentum was all on the Badgers side to start OT. Ohio State then took momentum back by scoring on only three plays to start OT. Carlos Hyde ran in from 2 yards out to give the Buckeyes the 21-14 lead. The Buckeyes defense stopped the Badgers on downs to preserve their undefeated season. Montee Ball ran 39 times for 191 yards in the game for Wisconsin.
Florida State 41 Maryland 14
Where’s Bowie Kuhn when you need him to put a stop to the Marlins trade with the Blue Jays. Remember it was Kuhn that stopped a Red Sox-A’s trade in the 1976 because it wasn’t in “the best interest in the game”. With Maryland down to a former linebacker at quarterback this game was over early. Only scare for Florida State was when EJ Manuel went out late in the second quarter with an ankle injury. He returned and played the third quarter before sitting out the fourth. Devonta Freeman had 148 yards on only 16 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead the Seminoles offense.
Michigan 42 Iowa 17
Michigan seniors had never beaten Iowa having lost the last three games. That changed quickly in this one as the Michigan offense found its stride with an impressive performance. Denard Robinson was used at quarterback, running back and wide receiver. He combined for over 122 yards of offense. Devin Gardner was used primarily at QB and with him and Robinson on the field at the same time it seems that Michigan has found a way to move the ball effectively. Ohio State is on deck for Michigan so it’s a good time for the Wolverines offense to show up.
Rutgers 10 Cincinnati 3
The Cincinnati offense can be summed up in the stuttering words of the late Strother Martin as General Manager of the Charlestown Chiefs in "Slapshot" after watching a lackluster and complacently played first period by his Hockey Team. “This,…..this, ... this, .... Fiasco!!!!.” Rutgers was able to hold the usually strong Bearcats running game to only 90 yards. One sore Rutgers player on Sunday will be running back Savon Huggins. In an Earl Campbell like performance he ran the ball 41 times for 179 yards. Rutgers was able to hold the ball for just over 37 minutes because of Huggins performance. Hamburg native and St Francis grad Nick Borgese had a big 42 yard field goal half way through the fourth quarter to give Rutgers a 10-0 lead.
UCLA 38 USC 28
Don’t you hate when Magic Johnson says “My mother said if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all” in response to a question about the hire of Mike D’Antoni over Phil Jackson. So doesn’t just by saying that you aren’t saying tell you volumes about how he hates the choice? Big controversy was UCLA not allowing USC to bury it’s sword in the center of the field at the start of the game. UCLA came out on fire and lead 24-0 before USC got their feet underneath them. USC gained momentum and had a few chances to take the lead. Big star of the game for the Bruins was Eric Kendricks who blocked a fourth quarter punt and had another interception. Johnathan Franklin rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Last year USC beat UCLA 50-0 and two days later Rick Neuheisel was fired. What a difference a year makes. Matt Barkley left the game and was seen leaving the stadium with his arm in a sling.
Clemson 62 NC State 48
The track meet game of the day was played in Clemson where these two teams combined for 1351 yards of offense and 110 points. Tajh Boyd threw five touchdown passes and he ran for three more touchdowns. The Wolfpack led 24-13 early in the second quarter before Boyd led the Tigers on six touchdown drives to post a 55-24 lead late in the third quarter. NC State QB Mike Glennon is a possible quarterback the Bills could take in round 2 of the NFL draft. Glennon had a stellar day throwing for 493 yards and five touchdowns. I don’t like taking quarterbacks that have questions about their leadership in college. That’s the knock on Glennon.
LSU 41 Ole Miss 35
The most famous game in this rivalry is Billy Cannon’s 89 yard punt return on Halloween night back in 1959 to beat the Rebels 7-3. Fast forward 53 years and Odell Beckham Jr. ran down the same sidelines for the same yardage to tie the score at 35 in the fourth quarter. The LSU defense then came up large and sacked Ole Miss QB Bo Wallace twice on the next series. That set-up a game-winning one yard plunge from Jeremy Hill with 15 seconds left to lift the Tigers to victory. The game was a very sloppy game as the teams combined for seven turnovers. A LSU loss would have been more shocking than Paula Broadwell being interested in goofy looking General Petraeus. Ole Miss needs one more win to become bowl eligible. In trying to protect his own Giants legacy Phil Simms took a shot at former Ole Miss QB Eli Manning this week by calling him “not an elite quarterback”. What an insecure, simpering, sniveling, snide little wimp this self absorbed suck continues to prove he truly is.
Nebraska 38 Minnesota 14
Nebraska has made a living of come from behind victories this year. It wasn’t needed in this game as the Cornhuskers blew out the Golden Gophers from the start. Minnesota had only 98 yards of offense going into the fourth quarter and Nebraska had a 38-0 lead. Taylor Martinez became the Nebraska all-time passing leader in the game and threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns. Nebraska can win the Legends division of the Big 10 next week with a win over Iowa or a Michigan loss to Ohio State.
Oklahoma State 59 Texas Tech 21
Most important in this game was that Tommy Tuberville didn’t slap one of his coaches on the sidelines. He may have wanted to since his team was run out of Boone Pickens Stadium. Clint Chelf making only his second career start threw for 229 yards and three touchdowns. Isiah Anderson caught all three Chelf touchdown passes and had a career high 174 yards receiving. The Oklahoma State defense was the real star of the game. Texas Tech QB Seth Doege was held to only 229 yards passing and was forced into throwing two interceptions.
Utah State 48 Louisiana Tech 41 OT
This game wasn’t that big of an upset. Utah State has only lost two games all year and those were by two points to Wisconsin and three points to BYU. The Aggies actually led by 24 points in the third quarter before the high fired Bulldogs offense stormed back to force OT. Kerwynn Williams scored from 4 yards out in OT for what turned out to be the deciding points. Williams had 287 yards rushing and receiving in the game. The Aggies have now won 14 of their last 17 games under fourth year coach Gary Anderson. This is the best this program has looked since Merlin Olsen was wearing their uniform.
Oklahoma 50 West Virginia 49
The Stoops brothers have a better reputation of being nicer guys than the Harbaugh’s. John Harbaugh up 41-17 ran a fake field goal last week against the Raiders. The IRS, elephants, afghan tribal clans and raider nation “never forget”. This game had that Bernie Kosar-Doug Flutie game feel to it. The team that last had the ball was going to win. Landry Jones, Geno Smith and Tavon Austin put on a show. Jones threw for 554 yards and six touchdowns. The only thing that could slow Jones down was when Bob Stoops would take him out of the game for running specialist Blake Bell. It almost cost the Sooners the game. Jones came back into the game on fourth down to throw a 5 yard touchdown pass to Kenny Stills with 24 seconds to go. Geno Smith proved he’s the best
Quarterback in the country. Smith threw for 320 yards and four touchdowns. Austin had over 500 total yards in the game when you add in return yards. Austin ran for 344 yards alone. West Virginia has now dropped five straight games.
Finally:
Western Carolina, Wofford, Jacksonville State, Georgia
Southern and Sam Houston State all played top 25 teams this week.
All of these teams were supposed to do their best impression of Bruce “The Mouse” Strauss; the infamous middleweight boxer who was known for his Greg Louganis quality dives in the ring. Wofford actually was tied with South Carolina early in the fourth quarter. I guess they didn’t realize they were supposed to lay down.