Man oh man oh man. That was an exciting day of football!.
It didn’t start out that way. It started out with Nick pummeling me about the Michigan game. “Where is that 5th rank rush defense?” “Did I see 396 yards rushing and still counting” He was on a tear.
Now why is it that I hear from folks about the bad predictions but never the good ones? Goes with the territory, I guess.
But I had to admit that was impressive. By the time the game was over, Corum and Edwards had combined for 339 rushing yards and four scores against Penn State, becoming the first teammates to rush for more than 150 rush yards in the same game since Alabama's Eddie Lacy and TJ Yeldon did it against Georgia in 2012.
Let’s just hope it all goes to their heads over the bye week….
And, at least, there was one good moment early on
It didn’t start out that way. It started out with Nick pummeling me about the Michigan game. “Where is that 5th rank rush defense?” “Did I see 396 yards rushing and still counting” He was on a tear.
Now why is it that I hear from folks about the bad predictions but never the good ones? Goes with the territory, I guess.
But I had to admit that was impressive. By the time the game was over, Corum and Edwards had combined for 339 rushing yards and four scores against Penn State, becoming the first teammates to rush for more than 150 rush yards in the same game since Alabama's Eddie Lacy and TJ Yeldon did it against Georgia in 2012.
Let’s just hope it all goes to their heads over the bye week….
And, at least, there was one good moment early on
My disappointment soon turned to joy. I ventured over to a local watering hole, met up with a local Spartan fan and watched two great games.
With Xavier Henderson back, the Spartan defense finally cut down on the busts. No wide open receivers prancing into the end zone. Wisconsin had to earn their points, made all that more difficult with State holding Wiscy to 4 out of 12 on third downs.
The offense fed of the defense and sharply reduced their mistakes. Thorne played with confidence, checking out of plays at the right time and not throwing bad picks.
The special teams, well lets just say there is room for improvement. Lots of improvement
At first I thought it was a bad fake. Nope, with a chance to have a walk off FG, he has trouble with the snap. It’s been a chronic problem all year.
But then Thorne came through, as he had done all afternoon, with a clutch play to is favorite WR in double OT
That’s the same corner we used to have season tickets at. Good memories.
And while another classic Wisconsin MSU game headed into OT an even better game was unfolding
Tennessee has been waiting for years to become relevant again on the College Football stage. Bama had dodged a bullet, not once, but twice this year, barely avoiding an upset to Texas in week 2 and then again, last week, to Texas A&M. Was this the year that the SEC pecking order would finally be turned upside down. Could the Vols finally beat Saban after 15 consecutive losses?
The game started out like it would. The Vols quickly built a 28-10 lead. But Bama hung around waiting to pounce. Midway through the 4th quarter Bama tied the game at 42 all. They kicked off to Tennessee and on 2nd down at the Vol 17 yard line this went down
Arrrrgh, not again. Not another Bama pulling a Lucy on the football world once again.
But Tennessee wasn't about to play Charlie Brown. Not this time. This time it was Bama who would choke. As Tennessee marched down the field for a tying TD, Bama picks off a pass which would have clinched the game, only to be called for pass interference. With a governors pardon. Herdon Hooker hits Jalin Hyatt for the tying TD. It was Hyatt's sixth catch of the game, five of which were TDs.
Again, the Tide looked like they would pull out the game. They marched down to the Vol 32, line up to kick a FG and... miss!
WIth only 15 seconds left, surely we are headed to OT. But Tennessee was not quite done. WIth 2 passes, they get to the Bama 23 and line up for a FG.
It was ugly
An ugly knuckleball. Phil Niekro would have been proud, Ugly but gooooood!
Bama now needs to be perfect to get to the playoffs. They are far from perfect. Not only are their continual miscues in the secondary and special team misses but, the Tide’s 15 penalties at Texas in Week 2 were as un-Alabama under Nick Saban as it gets. That is until Saturday, when they were flagged 17 times, a school record.
Tennessee becomes the SEC team that gets in if they are the one loss team. The Nov 5th game against Georgia will be huge.
And while the goal posts were going on a swim in the Tennessee River yet another game featuring two unbeaten teams was going down to the wire.
Oklahoma State jumped to a 24-7 lead and was still up 14 points entering the 4th quarter. But TCU tied the game with under two minutes to go and then in double OT muscles it in on this play.
Anthony, who was at the TCU win over Oklahoma two weeks ago was at this game too. He's still celebrating.
And the great games were still not done.
USC traveled to Salt Lake City for some football after dark, and play the defending Pac 12 champs. Utah is a tough out in their back yard. The Utes trailed all game until there was 48 second left. Then QB Cameron Risng took over
I still covered but it cost me what would have been a nice money line win.
In the past under coach Lane Kiffin, the Rebs have relied on a high-octane passing game to make up for a so-so defense. This season, the script has flipped with Ole Miss with the defense giving up only 17 PPG while the offense relies on the run to move the ball.
It's working. Ole Miss is 7-0, ranked 7th with a date on Nov 12th to likely decide the West's invite to the SEC championship game. Raise your hand if you had Tennessee vs Ole Miss playing in that game. If you have your hand up your are not fooling anyone you are just embarrassing yourself.
Why is automatically assumed that a one loss SEC team is the favorite to get into the CFP. There are two conferences have four teams in the top 15 of the AP Poll: the SEC and the Pac-12 (#9 and undefeated UCLA, #10 Oregon, #12 USC, #15 Utah). The PAC 12 is easily the second best conference in college football. If it comes to comparing one-loss conference champions come selection time, that should matter.
Syracuse, which two years ago went 1-10, is off to its first 6-0 start since 1987 after beating No. 15 NC State 24-9. The Pack lost star QB for the season last week against Florida State. It showed.
I was really hoping that a Sun Belt team would be considered for the CFP. But then conference play started and they began eating their own. App State beats Texas A&M but loses to James Madison. James Madison starts out 5-0, gets ranked in its first year of Div 1A ball and loses to Georgia State. Marshall beats Notre Dame then loses to Troy. Georgia Southern beats Nebraska, gets Scott Frost fired then loses to Coastal Carolina. Coastal Carolina goes to 6-0, looks to be James Madison's replacement in the rankings and loses to Old Dominion. Lots of really good teams in the Fun Belt.
And finally, hats off to Colorado, With their win over Cal, every Div 1A team now has a win.
Remember, the 2022 GO JUMBO is next weekend at the Westgate SuperBook
I was really hoping that a Sun Belt team would be considered for the CFP. But then conference play started and they began eating their own. App State beats Texas A&M but loses to James Madison. James Madison starts out 5-0, gets ranked in its first year of Div 1A ball and loses to Georgia State. Marshall beats Notre Dame then loses to Troy. Georgia Southern beats Nebraska, gets Scott Frost fired then loses to Coastal Carolina. Coastal Carolina goes to 6-0, looks to be James Madison's replacement in the rankings and loses to Old Dominion. Lots of really good teams in the Fun Belt.
And finally, hats off to Colorado, With their win over Cal, every Div 1A team now has a win.
Remember, the 2022 GO JUMBO is next weekend at the Westgate SuperBook