By
Dave
Hershorin
October 4, 2006
Thursday night’s football between
Auburn and South Carolina proved to be some of this
weekend’s best action. Ball control was evidently
in vogue during the second half. The Tigers followed
a 17 play, 85 yard drive (that resulted in a FG that
put them up 17-10) with a perfect onsides kick and wound
up allowing the Gamecocks no official time-of-possession
or yards in the third quarter. In retrospect, the 13
play, 52 yard drive that ended with a TD on the first
play of the fourth quarter was just too much for the
ole ball coach. Overcoming a 24-10 lead proved impossible,
though USC reversed roles and kept the rock for a 15
play fourth quarter drive that resulted in 93 yards
and a TD by TE Jared Cook to cut it to 24-17. After
a three-and-out by Auburn that feature three conservative
runs by the conference’s best back, Kenny Irons,
Spurrier protégé Syvelle Newton lead the
Gamecocks on an 18 play, 75 yard drive that looked like
it could tie things up. On first-and-five from the Auburn
34, RS frosh Cook had the safeties beat and had the
tying score on his fingertips, but he couldn’t
hold on and South Carolina lost it when a pass on fourth-and-one
from the Auburn five yard line was incomplete to all-conference
sophomore WR Sidney Rice in the corner of the endzone
on an isolated jump-ball. Spurrier’s guys earned
24 first downs to the Tiger’s 16, but the
Tigers scored on all four red zone chances while South
Carolina converted just one of their four when
inside the 20. Auburn didn’t earn any more vaunted
first place votes in the polls with this struggle of
a game - they lost one. The good news was how Wazzu
clung to Southern Cal until succumbing at home 28-22,
thus taking away both of the Trojan’s first place
votes and increasing Auburn’s lead to 28 points
over USC. Without anyone staking sovereign claim to
second place, it is still not clear who is most likely
to face Ohio State if things keep going in this direction.
The other Thursday night game between
TCU and BYU knocked the Horned Frogs from atop
their then-No.17 ranking and out of the ranks of the
undefeated. Like in last year’s 51-50
OT loss, BYU did major damage with the arm of QB John
Beck. The senior set a MWC record with 521 passing yards
and had five TDs against TCU in ‘05, but needed
only 321 yards and three scoring strikes on 23-of-37
passing this time. Usually-consistent Horned Frog hurler
Jeff Ballard struggled to get his 296 yards on a 26-of-49
effort that included both an INT and a fumble, but only
one TD, though he did run it 12 times for 63 yards to
lead TCU’s ground efforts. The Cougar D just did
all the things needed to keep the TCU offense from inflicting
damage – they forced five punts and two turnovers
while keeping the Horned Frog pass offense in check.
BYU’s punt unit poignantly won the field position
battle, especially in the second half when their net
of nearly nine more yards per punt meant that the Cougars
started their average drive on their own 33, whereas
TCU started their average drive from their own 23. All
three second half punts by TCU resulted in BYU TDs.
The Cougars ended the nation’s longest winning
streak at 13 games, one short of the TCU school record
set partially by their 1938 national championship winning
squad that featured Davey O’Brien the year he
won the school’s only Heisman Trophy. It was their
first conference loss, too, after they had swept through
their initial eight Mountain West tilts in ’05.
This leaves No.20 Boise State, which leveled MWC perennial
Utah 36-3 in Provo, as the only other undefeated mid-major
to currently threaten the BCS. But remember, TCU did
bounce back from last season’s second week loss
to SMU to finish ranked 11th. Before this win, the Cougars
hadn’t beaten a Top 25 team in 12 tries since
1999. Too bad BYU lost 16-13 to Arizona in their opener,
for their 30-23 2OT loss to Boston College might have
meant enough respectability so that this win could have
garnered national recognition in the polls.
Ohio State was supposed to get a pretty
big test by going into Iowa City. Last year, the Buckeyes
won in the Horseshoe 31-6 over the Hawkeyes, but this
year’s depleted back seven wasn’t supposed
to be able to keep up with Iowa senior QB Drew Tate’s
experienced arm. The Buckeye’s surprisingly good
pass defense held Tate to 19-of-41 passing for only
249 yards as they took three INTs away from him. The
Buckeyes instead rode their QB’s arm to the 38-17
win, relying on senior Troy Smith’s 16-of-25 performance
that yielded a modest 186 yards and four TDs. OSU ran
it 50 times for 214 yards, so the accuracy of Smith’s
efforts was scantly needed. Sophomore LBs James Laurinaitis
and Marcus Freeman, senior CB Antonio Smith and senior
FS Brandon Mitchell are names you will hearing of soon,
leading OSU defensively as they see to it the Buckeye’s
hold their No.1 ranking. I guess Lee Korso had
better recognize, huh, High Street? The season
ender with Michigan should feature two top five teams
if they can both win out.
The matchups this weekend are pretty
darn good and should truly test some of the top 25.
Here are the top five games to pay attention
to…
Texas and Oklahoma in the Red River
Shootout pits the No.7 Longhorns with their 14th-ranked
rivals. They both have one loss (thanks to Pac Ten officiating),
but senior Sooner QB Paul Thompson hasn’t thrown
an INT in two straight games as he surprisingly ranks
13th in QB efficiency. But Texas freshman Colt McCoy
ranks 8th in efficiency, and the Sooner secondary looks
a bit more vulnerable. Texas has a clamp-down run stopping
effort so far, and it comes down to phenom RB
Adrian Peterson versus the Longhorn's No.2 run defense
that has allowed just 36 yards per game so far…so
far. This game has had national championship implications
since 2000, but not likely this time. Both need the
win, though, to gain admittance amongst this season’s
upper echelon of I-A teams.
Tennessee at Georgia – No.10 Georgia
is hunkered down in Athens for an SEC East showdown
with No.13 Tennessee. It looks like the winner
of this one will be in position to chase first place
Florida, while the loser will then need some
luck to finish atop this division half. The Dawgs have
the nation’s sixth-best total defense and the
No.1 scoring D – they’ve only allowed three
TDs and four FGs all year. The Vol’s offense boasts
the No.2 team pass efficiency rating, and UT has a decent
defense. With Georgia’s anemic offense sputtering,
bet the under. Essentially, the UGA defense has to stop
Erik Ainge, who has 12 TD passes and 1,389 aerial yards.
He is the nation’s fifth-rated QB, so Georgia’s
fifth-ranked pass defense has to be up to the challenge
since they have yet to meet a ranked team this season.
Both have one loss.
No.5 Florida gets ninth-ranked LSU in
the Swamp. The Tigers have both the top pass efficiency
and total defense, but the Gator’s 13-ranked total
offense has consistently done the job to keep UF undefeated.
State’s only blemish was when they lost 7-3 to
second-ranked Auburn. LSU junior QB JaMarcus Russell
has throw only one INT and is the second-best passer
in I-A. UF is only 1-3 in their last four tries
against LSU, but the Bayou Bengals are 0-1
in the SEC and needing a win desperately to keep any
possibilities of being in the BCS alive.
No.11 Oregon at No.16 Cal. Everyone
may be fawning attention on first-year starter Josh
Booty at USC, but Cal’s sophomore field general
Nate Longshore is quietly leading the nation’s
eight-ranked passing attack. Oregon’s
mix of run and pass has enough success to rank the Ducks
fourth in total offense. The boys from Eugene seem to
have a better pass defense, but both have seen quality
competition and have measured themselves well against
it. With Oregon beating Arizona State 48-13 in Tempe
last week, this game will clearly determine who has
the inside track for catching Southern Cal.
Air Force and Navy face off for the
first leg of the Commander’s Cup. Both schools
have great rushing attacks – Navy’s ranks
first in the nation and Air Force’s third. Both
have low-profile pass offenses - the Airmen, ironically,
have the 119th-rated passing attack in I-A, and the
Midshipman rank only one spot higher. Air Force seems
to have a more stout run defense, which looks to be
the critical stat, though Navy has looked very strong
again this season. Navy has escaped with a three-point
win the last three times, and with both having
only one-loss coming into this one, pick your times
to run to the bathroom carefully.
Ball State’s Nate Davis may be
the highest rated freshman QB, but the freshman
QB with the most yards (1,084) and poise is South Florida’s
Matt Grothe. Grothe had a nationally-televised
coming out party on Friday in a 22-20 loss to 24th-ranked
Rutgers. The Lakeland-native lead his Bull’s by
going 16-of-25 for 241 yards and by being the team’s
best rusher with 61 yards and two ground scores. Grothe
came up short on a failed two-point conversion with
0:15 seconds left to tie the Scarlet Knights. His ability
to go 5-of-7 and throw the big TD pass in the final
drive to almost knot it proves that this USF team will
be formidable for years to come.
Lagniappe
Texas
Tech took Texas A&M off of the list of unbeatens
by edging the Aggies 31-27 in College Station. Tech’s
No.3 “Air Raid” passing attack looked sharp
as sophomore Graham Harrell amassed 392 passing yards
and four TD passes (his third time this year with at
least four scoring strikes). Harrell has only two INTs
to go with the nation’s second-best passing yard
total of 1,559…The Hurricanes struggled to get
by Houston 14-13 in Coral Gables. Miami still
shows signs of offensive futility, but the
defense held the Cougar’s No.10 passing offense
to under 200 yards to bring UM to .500, though still
unranked…Washington won 21-10 at Arizona and is
now 4-1. Ty Willingham now gets to lead his guys into
Los Angeles for a showdown with USC, a school he is
4-7 all-time against…Northern Illinois senior
TB Garrett Wolfe continued his assault on Barry Sander’s
single season rushing record (2,628) by amassing 353
yards and three TDs on 31 carries against Ball State
to earn the Walter Camp offensive Player of the Week
honors. Wolfe has gained more rushing yards
in five games, 1,181, than anyone in I-A history.
With an average of 236 yards per game on the ground,
Wolfe leads the nation and has nearly 70 more YPG than
Rutgers TB Ray Rice, who is in second. Gaining an average
of 9.3 ypc, only Navy junior RB Reggie Campbell (10.6)
has a higher average. Wolfe’s 127 carries is third-most…Five
of the nation’s top ten runners are underclassmen,
and two are freshmen…Utah still has yet to allow
a sack. Oregon has allowed only one…UTEP has allowed
10 total punt return yards, and 13 schools have allowed
under 20 punt return yards…Fresno State has a
three game skid going after falling to Colorado State
35-23. Some talked of Fresno as a BCS-buster, but the
WAC-ee 1-3 Bulldogs should earn another W as they go
into struggling Utah State…Memphis, Stanford,
Northwestern and Fresno lead the country as all have
averaged less than 30 penalty yards per game. But whereas
many will say avoiding penalties leads to more wins,
note how these four squads are a combined 5-14 in 2006…The
nine worst penalized schools average 70+ yards per game
against them, but they are a combined 24-15…UCLA
has allowed only nine of their opponents’ 47 third-down
tries to be converted, a rate of 19.2%...Indiana sophomore
Marcus Thigpen is the only player to have two TDs on
KORs, and Oregon State junior WR Sammie Stroughter is
the only player with two scores on punt returns. Both
lead the nation in their respective categories, too…Kentucky
sophomores Myron Pryor (DT) and Marcus McClinton (FS)
both lead the country with four forced fumbles. All-SEC
WLB Wesley Woodyard has three FFs for the Wildcats…Michigan
has allowed no points yet in the third quarter…LSU
has allowed no points yet in the first quarter, and
has allowed only six in all of their first halves combined…Ohio
State and West Virginia now have the nation’s
longest I-A winning streak(s) with 11. Division II Grand
Valley State has the NCAA’s best winning streak
with 17…The top four teams for scoring
defense are all from the SEC – Georgia,
LSU, Auburn, and Florida, respectively. All are ranked
in the top 10…
|
