Week 5 of the NFL season saw 10 games decided by one score
or less, 3 of which ended in overtime and that was still no match for the
excitement we had on Saturday night during the primetime games in college
football. Which leads me to ask the
question that I ask myself at least once every weekend, why in the world would
anyone choose pro football over college football. So about that Saturday…
LATE NIGHT FUN
All of these games were going on at the same time, most
coming to an end within minutes of each other.
* #2 TCU trailed on the road against Kansas State 35-17 at
halftime and were down 42-31 with 8 minutes to play. The Horned Frogs then scored 21 points in the
final 8 minutes, including a game winning touchdown with :70 left on the
clock. TCU scored 35 2nd half
points for the win, 3 of those 5 touchdowns were of 50 yards or more. FINAL SCORE – TCU 52, K-State 45.
* #4 Michigan State held on for a last minute win on the
road against Rutgers. Rutgers took a
14-7 lead early in the 2nd quarter and held a 14-10 lead at
halftime. Michigan State scored the 1st
14 points of the 2nd half, but once again let Rutgers get back into
the game, tying it at 24 with under 5 minutes to play. MSU, a very overrated team, then needed a
touchdown in the final minute to avoid overtime against one of the worst FBS
teams in the country. Oh and to pour
some salt in the wounds of those Rutgers fans that thought they might win, the
game ended when Rutgers spiked the ball to stop the clock on FOURTH DOWN! FINAL SCORE – Michigan State 31, Rutgers 24
* Everyone knows that Morgantown is a tough place to
play. Give the Hoopies all day to get
lathered up and it makes things very interesting. Oklahoma State found this out first-hand as
they blew a 17-2 halftime lead and survived in overtime. The reason they survived, Dana
Holgerson. The Mountaineers tied the
game with 2:44 remaining and forced OT with the 21st ranked
Cowboys. Oklahoma State then scored on
their 1st possession of overtime.
WVU was in position to match, with 3rd and goal from the 4 yard
line. After Rushel Shell lost 7 yards on
3rd down, WVU had a 4th and 11 for the ball game. Instead of calling a timeout to get the
perfect play in the game for that situation, Holgerson watched his team
scramble all over the field after a negative play trying to get their 4th
down play off. Skyler Howard then
scrambled around, almost immediately, before forcing a pass towards the corner
of the end zone that was not even catchable by the intended receiver. Well played Holgy! FINAL SCORE – Oklahoma
State 33, WVU 26.
* #12 Florida State built a 17-3 2nd quarter
lead, as many expected would happen in their rivalry game with Miami, but “The
U” wouldn’t go away. Miami scored the
games next 3 touchdowns while FSU settled for 2 field goals, giving the Canes a
24-23 4th quarter lead over the Noles. Florida State, led by injured running back
Dalvin Cook, had the last response though.
Cook, who was battling a hamstring injury all game, scored his 3rd
touchdown of the game with just under 7 minutes remaining to give the Seminoles
the lead for good. Cook finished the
game with 222 yards on the ground as well a 3 catches for 47 more yards to go
with those 3 scores. FINAL SCORE – Florida State 29, Miami 24
* #16 Cal entered their game with #5 Utah undefeated,
representing the only 2 undefeated teams in the PAC-12. Cal QB Jared Goff threw for 340 yards and 2
scores in the game, but lost to a Utah team that threw for exactly half that
yardage total. The reason? Goff also
threw 5 interceptions. Goff had only
thrown 4 interceptions in Cal’s first 5 games of the year. Maybe the craziest thing about this game is
that despite the 5 interceptions by Goff, Cal still had the ball at the Utah 21
with under a minute left in the game going for the game tying score. FINAL SCORE – Utah 30, Cal 24.
SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS
With so much excitement going on Saturday, but with so
little time and space to go over all of it, here is a quick rundown of the
other headlines from Saturday’s games.
* Georgia loses star running back Nick Chubb to a gruesome
knee injury on the 1st offensive play of the game, but still jumped
out to a 24-3 lead in the 2nd quarter lead. Then they blow that lead. Tennessee comes all the way back for a 38-31
win. It was Georgia’s 2nd
straight loss. Tennessee’s 1st
SEC win of the season.
* Florida is now a perfect 4-0 in SEC play, 6-0
overall. The Gators now will be without
starting QB Will Grier for the rest of the season after testing positive and
being suspended 1 year for PED use.
* Michigan is legit.
The Wolverines blowout previously unbeaten Northwestern 38-0. It is the 3rd straight shutout for
the Michigan defense, outscoring their opponents 97-0 during that stretch.
* Big Game Bob Stoops is still a thing. The Stoops lead Sooners got dominated by
rival and struggling Texas. The win for
the Longhorns may have saved Charlie Strong’s job, as he was carried off the
field by his players.
* The Baylor offense is like playing Madden on rookie level
right now. The Bears took it easy on BIG
XII foe Kansas on Saturday and still finished with a 66-7 win. Baylor held a 52-7 lead at halftime and put
it in cruise control for the final 30 minutes.
* Clemson wins again, in dominating fashion over Georgia
Tech, 43-24. It begs the question, is
Clemson good enough to get a CFB Playoff spot if they finish undefeated?
* Oregon is tough to watch right now. The Ducks lost to lowly Washington State
Saturday and although they are still a decent team, they are nothing like most
people are used to seeing from the uniform factory.
* The PAC-12 is a mess.
It was once a conference that people thought might get 2 CFB Playoff
bids, now they would be lucky to get 1.
Utah is the only chance and now they just have to hope to run the table.
COACHES ON THE HOT SEAT
When I outlined this week’s recap, I decided to focus on all
of the possible coaches that may be looking for jobs come January and what
programs would be looking for a new leader.
Then chaos ensued. 4 coaches were
fired or retired within a 36 hour window.
* North Texas fired head coach Dan McCarney immediately
following the school’s 66-7 loss to FCS Portland State Saturday. The lone UNT score was a garbage TD by the
back-ups with a minute left in the game.
To make matters worse, North Texas paid Portland State nearly $500K to
play this game.
* Randy Edsall is out at Maryland. This comes to no surprise to many, but it is
still big news as Maryland is a Power 5 school and rarely do college coaches
lose their job mid-season.
* Steve Sarkisian is the surprise in this group as he was in
just his 2nd year at USC and posted a 9-4 record in his 1st
season. Sarkisian was let go Monday
after showing up to practice intoxicated.
If you recall, he also made news during the offseason when he was drunk at
an alumni/booster function. The real
question here is will Pat Haden, the USC AD, be around to hire Sarkisian’s
replacement, as his hires have been questionable at best at Southern Cal.
* Steve Spurrier surprised everyone when he announced Monday
that he would be retiring from South Carolina effective immediately. I think most people thought that this would
be the Old Ball Coach’s last season, but nobody expected it to end this way. Spurrier had just 1 losing season, his 1st,
as a college coach in 25 years at Duke,
Florida and South Carolina. The
Gamecocks are 2-4 this season.
SHOWDOWN SATURDAY
Just as I brag what a great week of college football it was
last week, we have by far the best schedule of top games we have had all
year. Here are just a few can’t miss
games this Saturday.
Florida vs LSU
Alabama vs Texas A&M
Michigan State vs Michigan
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