Week 6 Rewind
By Judd Hall
If you were looking for some excitement early on in college football, then you picked the wrong Saturday. There were seven games on the board from the noon set of contests that were decided by more than 20 points. But any bettors that were backing the heavy favorites had a profitable start to the day.
Ohio State has to keep racking up style points in its cream puffs on the schedule. They did just that in Week 6 by rolling over the Hoosiers as a 24 ½-point home favorite 38-10. Terrelle Pryor was forced to stay behind the line of scrimmage due to a thigh injury sustained last week at Illinois. All that did was just made Pryor completed 24-of-30 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns. Now the Buckeyes can get started on their gameplan for next week’s road battle with Wisconsin.
The ACC appears to have a new challenger for a chance at the conference title game in North Carolina State. The Wolfpack had no problems in ripping up Boston College for a 44-17 triumph as 10-point favorites. Russell Wilson threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile N.C. State’s defense allowed the Eagles to turn that into 10 points, but still held them to 274 yards.
Virginia Tech has turned itself around the losses to Boise State and James Madison to start the year with four straight wins. The Hokies’ kept their win streak going with a 45-21 blasting of the Chippewas as a 21 ½-point home “chalk.” Central Michigan did outgain Frank Beamer’s crew 400-389. However, 215 of those yards came after in the second half when they were down 24-7.
Mark Richt has been hearing that his job could be on the line in Georgia after four straight losses. But you kind of got the feeling the Bulldogs were ready to tear Tennessee apart as 11 ½-point home faves. And they did just that with a 41-14 beatdown of the Vols. I’m not sure how long the good times will roll with Vanderbilt coming to Athens next weekend and a trip to Kentucky the following week.
Midday Statements…
While the early games weren’t the most exciting, the mid-afternoon tests gave us some good matchups that changed the landscape.
We’ll start in Columbia, where the Gamecocks were ready to take on top-ranked Alabama. The Crimson Tide were primed for a letdown this weekend after their 31-6 win at home over Florida last Saturday. And they didn’t disappoint by getting upset 35-21 by South Carolina.
The Tide actually outgained Steve Spurrier’s crew 351-311 and had one more first down than them as well (21-20). So why did end up on the short of the stick? Miscues. Alabama’s offensive line allowed Greg McElroy to get sacked seven times. This is a guy that had been sacked just nine times total in the five games before taking on the ‘Cocks. Nick Saban’s team couldn’t get much going on the ground as Mark Ingram was held to just 41 yards on 11 carries and Trent Richardson picked up 23 yards on six carries.
South Carolina’s Stephen Garcia didn’t have McElroy’s problem at all, completing 17-of-20 of his passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns and was just sacked once. Plus, Marcus Lattimore ran like a man with a purpose, getting the ball 23 times for 93 yards and a pair of scores to go along with Garcia’s first scoring strike of the afternoon.
Alabama doesn’t have much time to regroup with Ole Miss coming to Tuscaloosa next Saturday. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks are heading to Lexington for a showdown with a tough Kentucky squad.
While the Tide were busy becoming imperfect, there was a battle of unbeatens going on up in Ann Arbor between Michigan State and the Wolverines. Michigan came into the game as a 4 ½-point home “chalk” after winning its first five tests of the season. A big reason for that has been Denard Robinson becoming a one-man army with his legs and arm. But this was the first real defense he would be facing that could stifle him. How would he do?
It turns out that Robinson would turn mortal for a day as the Spartans picked him off three times and held him to 301 total yards with two scores. Michigan State used those miscues to push stay perfect on the year. Of course, it helps when you take on a defense that is not all that great, like what the Wolverines posses. Kirk Cousins completed 72 percent of his passes for 284 yards and a touchdown, while Edwin Baker gained 147 rushing yards and a score on 22 carries. This is Sparty’s first three-game win streak against their hated in-state rivals since LBJ was in office. MSU will need to get its head together quick with the Fighting Illini coming to East Lansing next week. Illinois has got a full head of steam after dominating Penn State 33-13 in Happy Valley.
Wild Primetime…
The marquee matchup of the night was Florida State taking to the road for a game with the Hurricanes as a six-point pup. But it turns out that only one side wanted to show up for the game as the Seminoles rolled to a 45-17 win over Miami.
It isn’t like the ‘Canes didn’t try to make a go of it as they racked up 424 yards and 27 first downs, while converting 7 of their 19 third downs. Jacory Harris was limping under center, holding him to rushing for just 31 yards and a score. Yet he still was able to get off 47 passes on the Seminoles’ defense, but Harris completed 19 of those attempts for 225 yards and a pick. Damien Berry also did his part with 20 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown.
Miami couldn’t handle Seminoles’ running game as they pushed around its defense to the tune of 298 yards and four touchdowns. Chris Thompson was the biggest bully with 158 yards on 14 carries, while Jermaine Thomas had 16 rushes for 78 more yards and a pair of scores.
The win gives Florida State a seemingly easy path to the ACC Title Game. They have six more games on the schedule, five in-conference, with the toughest league test coming on Nov. 13 in Tallahassee. If the Seminoles don’t win the Atlantic Division, then it’s because they screwed up royally.
In Gainesville, the Les Miles Luck Extravaganza continued as LSU escaped with a 33-29 victory over the Gators. The Tigers looked like they were setting up for a 52-yard field goal to knot the score at 29-29 with 35 seconds left. It turned into a fake that (after an official review) gave them a first down. That helped Jarrett Lee toss a three-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Toliver with six second left in the game as seven-point road pups over Florida.
This was a rare happening for Urban Meyer as it’s his second two-game skid in his six years at the head of the Gator Nation. He’ll aim to stop the bleeding next week at home against Mississippi State.
Stanford was in just as prime of a let down spot as Alabama was when they headed home to take on the Trojans. After all, they just squandered a 21-3 lead against the Ducks in a loss that saw them shut out in the second half. That had to have played a factor for much of the game against Southern Cal as they were tied at 21-21 as they entered in the fourth quarter.
The Cardinal came eventually took the lead at 34-28 with 9:35 remaining, but Nate Whitaker missed the point after. That gaffe looked like it would knocked down Jim Harbaugh’s crew to its very core as USC took a 35-34 lead with just over a minute remaining because Joe Houston nailed his PAT. That’s when Andrew Luck put Stanford on his back, completing all three of his passes for 28 yards. Plunk an extra 15 yards due to an USC penalty and 20 more yards on the ground by Stefan Taylor put the Cardinal deep in Trojan Territory. Whitaker didn’t miss this time, drilling a 30-yard field goal to give kids from Palo Alto a 37-35 win. Sure, they didn’t cover as a 10-point home favorite, but Stanford is still in the fold for the Pac-10 crown.
Arizona looked like they were building momentum after opening with four straight wins, but they found out how tough the Pac-10 is by getting knocked off by the Beavers 29-27 as a 8 ½-point home fave. As bad as you think it is for the Wildcats at the moment, just know that they have a very winnable schedule coming up (at Washington State, vs. Washington and at UCLA) before taking on Stanford on the road.
vegasinsider.com