Monday, September 6, 2010

Weekend Wrap

With week one of the 2010 college football season in the books (well, almost, we still have what is likely the most critical game left tonight when Boise State takes on Virginia Tech) it's time to take a look back at the weekend and put a CFRT wrapper on it.

OMG Moment of the Weekend

Ohio Valley Conference powerhouse Jacksonville State (it's even hard typing that with a straight face) pulled the biggest stunner of the weekend by knocking off host Ole Miss 49-48 in double overtime.
Forget that the Gamecocks were down 31-10 at halftime, they were also playing an SEC team, on the road, with a true freshman QB.
After facing a fourth and 15 in the second OT, that true freshman QB (Coty Blanchard) threw an improbable TD pass to Kevyn Cooper, who miraculously got a foot down before falling out of the back of the end zone.
Instead of going for the tie and forcing another OT, Jax State coach Jack Crowe went for the win and kept his offense on the field for a 2-point conversion.
Blanchard, under a heavy rush, lobbed the ball to Calvin Middleton for the first major upset of the year.
As it turns out, Crowe, a former Arkansas Razorbacks head coach, is no stranger to these kinds of upsets.
Eighteen years ago (1992) Crowe's Razorbacks suffered a similar stunning loss to Division I-AA Citadel.
Crowe was fired by Arkansas the following day.

Gameballs

Fighting Tarheels
Missing 13 players, seven of which were starters, the Tarheels might've lost the fight (30-24 to LSU), but they never stopped fighting. Even after failing an onside kick with just over a minute left, the defense (which was missing at least six starters) forced a fumble to give their offense one last (futile) shot.

Fighting Cancer
After sitting out 2009 recovering from cancer, Boston College's Mark Herzlich returned to the game he loves on Saturday. In his first start since a tumor was removed from his leg, Herzlich recorded only 5 tackles, but made the score 1-0 in the battle of cancer survivors vs. cancer.

"Shoelace"
Don't call Michigan's Dennard "Shoelace" Robinson Pat White.
But, in making his first start on Saturday, Robinson certainly showed Wolverines' coach Rich Rodriguez he's the closest thing to the former West Virginia dual threat QB he's had since taking over in Michigan.
Robinson racked up 383 total yards (186 passing and 197 rushing) and two scores in Big Blue's win over UConn.

Many Happy Returns
LSU's Patrick Peterson piled up 257 combined punt and kick return yards in the Tigers' 30-24 win over North Carolina. His 87-yard punt return for a TD gave LSU a 23-10 lead in the second quarter.

Many MORE Happy Returns
The Montana Grizzlies returned four (yes FOUR!) interceptions for touchdowns in their 73-2 win over Western State.

Headscratchers

Dude, What's Your Point?
In his first game as USC coach, Lane Kiffin inexplicably went for 2-point conversions following four out of the seven touchdowns the No.14 Trojans scored against Hawaii...for no apparent reason. Despite giving up an inexcuseable 36 points to the outmanned Warriors, the USC win was never in doubt.

Liver Snaps
In the offseason, Florida center Mike Pouncey told reporters that the highly-touted incoming freshman class had an attitude and should just shut up and play. Well, after at least 13 bad or mishandled snaps in the No.4 Gators' 34-12 win over Miami (OH), maybe the freshman class should tell Pouncey to just shut up and snap the ball (correctly).

Liver Snaps II
What was it with the bad snaps this weekend? In one of the opening week's premier games, Oregon State center Alex Linnenkohl fired an errant shotgun snap in the waining moments of the No.24 Beavers' 30-21 loss to No.6 TCU. Trailing by only a TD, Linnenkohl snapped the ball as OSU QB Ryan Katz was calling an audible. After chasing the ball to his own goal line, Katz kicked the ball into the end zone for a safety and the final margin, ending the Beavers' chances.

Streak Snap
Turner Gill's Kansas coaching debut ended up being a stinker, as the Jayhawk's lost, 6-3, to FCS school North Dakota State. The loss marked the first time since 1940 that Kansas has lost to a lower division school.

Streak Snap Narrowly Avoided
Utah State, which finished 4-8 in 2009, threatened to end No.7 Oklahoma's (and nation's best) 30-game home win streak. The Sooners did pick up their program's 800th win, but only led by just 4 points midway through the third quarter, and only won 31-24. 

Totally Random Thoughts
  • South Carolina true freshman tailback Marcus Lattimore is for real.
  • Who else is already sick of the Brantley/Tebow comparisons? I counted 1,731, or so it seemed.
  • Corso's getting better, but still not 100%.
  • College Football Overdrive is one of man's greatest inventions.
  • There goes another Oregon touchdown!
  • BCS Busters (Utah, BYU and TCU) 3, BCS Teams (Pitt, Washington and Oregon State) 0.
  • Note to ESPN: Time for a new Thursday night halftime gag. Dr. Lou is getting old in more ways than one now.
  • Julio Jones has mad skills.
  • There goes another UNC suspension!
  • Notre Dame's back!!!...until next week.
  • Lane, 36 points to Hawaii? Really?
  • There goes another bad snap!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the shoutout to the FIGHTING TARHEELS! But you just couldn't resist the jab about suspensions could you?! Kidding. I think the last pc to the puzzle was John Blake stepping down. Thank god. That guy has been nothing but trouble anywhere he has ever been. From his beginning days at oklahoma as a switzer assistant to his days as dline coach for the dallas cowboys where he tried to start crap by saying that Troy Aikman was a racist because he only yelled at black players. He forgot to mention the fact that of the other 10 guys in the huddle with him only 1 (TE Jay Novacek) was white. So considering that 9 out of 10 guys were black and the 1 white dude was one of the best tight ends of his era, then it would be hard not to yell at someone that wasn't black. Either way, the guy is an idiot. And if we lose some big time recruits because he is no longer the recruiting co-ordinator then so be it. Heres to whipping GA-Techs ass in two weeks. The fact that the Heels have a bye this week really does help things. By next weeks game I would like to think it will be settled on who is going to play and who isn't. GO HEELS!

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  2. Loved seeing my man Corso looking better!!
    -Ringo 3

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