College Football Week 7 Recap: Routs & Rallies

So, another big week in college football... Alabama HANGING ON against Arkansas??? What the hell is going on down there? We'll let that one slide and focus on other action that took place.

TCU... What happened? I'm glad Vegas is paying me out considering I got 8.5... but as a fan of TCU in this one, I'm shocked. For those of you who only saw the final Baylor 61 - TCU 58... you missed the whole story. TCU went up 21 points with 11:39 to go in the game (58-37) on a Pick-6, I was so proud, TCU was "making the statement" I thought they would make. I'm still trying to figure out what in the hell happened over those last eleven minutes... Did TCU think the game was over? Did they start serving cocktails on the sideline? I don't know, I would love to say they started playing the clock and we're playing the "prevent D", but that wasn't the case. For the last 11:30 Baylor was just  better than TCU. The Frogs outplayed Baylor for  the first 3+quarters, but the fourth quarter belonged to the Bears. they just said, "No sir, we are not going to fold, this is our house"... and it was. This was simply the definition of "fighting through adversity" and perseverance. I solute the Bears on an outstanding comeback.

I would like to add, the comeback was so big, Baylor fans themselves were in shock. If you caught the end of the game, the Baylor fans (after scoring 24 points in the final 11 minutes) had the look of "Ahhh what do we do?" and then after a few minutes, there was a consensus that was like... "Ahhh let's rush the field" Yeah... go ahead it was the biggest comeback in your school's history. Get on out there.

Let's move on down to the South Eastern part of the country...

Mississippi State gets their 3rd win in a row against a top 10 opponent 38-23. While the final suggest the Dogs (Mississippi State is  "The Dogs", "The Dawgs" are down in Georgia) handled Auburn (and they did jump out to a 21-0 lead), there was a questionable PI call in the 4th quarter that went against Auburn on a Mississippi St 4th and long. It was the turning point in the game. Instead of it being Auburn ball down 8, Mississippi St. got the huge first down and the drive resulted in another 3 points, that momentum carried over to the kickoff as the Dogs special teams caused a fumble inside the Auburn 20, 2 plays later (after a nice pass from Dak to Malcom Johnson) Josh Robinson punched it in and that was it. The cow bells were out and the rednecks were rockin StarkVegas.

Debbie Downer: Dak, did throw 2 picks on the day, with one of them being in the Auburn endzone (which is a "no-no"), BUT!!! the 367 all purpose yards (246 yards through the air, 121 on the ground) along with 3 TD's (2 rushing, 1 passing) is plenty to cover. The Dogs roll on, and the Heisman talk heats up.

Obviously right now we can't talk about one Mississippi school without discussing the other as well. Ole Miss had an impressive win on the road at Texas A&M. This was pretty much one sided as the Rebels went up 21-0, and then 35-7 with the defense accounting for 14 of Ole Miss's 35 points. There's really not much to say about this... It was an ass whoopin', The Aggie fans were filing out early.

No Gurley... No Worries for Georgia, They rolled 34-0 without Heisman candidate Todd Gurley and let's highlight the big time play from the Georgia D, The Tigers were on their half of the field most of the day, and when they did cross the 50 the Dawgs were taking the ball away. 5 turnovers (4 picks and 1 fumble) on top of 4 "three-and-out's" is the recipe for a shutout. The offensive side of the story can be spun in two ways. "Nick Chubb steps up and carries the load for Georgia" or "The Dawgs deflate the ball in win against Mizzou." In the first scenario we discuss the true freshman, Chubb carrying the ball a lofty 38 times (when an individual RB will  typical carry the ball 15-20... 25 to 30 times max) for 143 yards and 1 TD. In the second scenario, we highlight the success of the run game as sophomore, Brandon Douglass added 65 yards to Chubb's 143, on 13 carries as Georgia ran the ball 58 times on 86 plays (67%), but note the potential balance issue Georgia has going forward, especially with Gurley out, Keith Marshall and Sony Michael (the other standout freshman) gimpy with injuries. I'm not a huge fan of Hutson Mason (as I've stated before), I thought Georgia should have gone with Brice Ramsey or someone younger to get him some experience rather than going with a Sr. with a lower ceiling. I watched the game and I saw a coaching staff that is aware of the issue, Mason only threw the ball 28 times for an AVERAGE of 5.6 yards... His LONG... 14 yards. (He's ONLY averaging 6.5 yards per attempt this season) that's "Quarterback management" right there, Keep the ball away from Hutson, and when he does have it, let's let him do very little with it. To Hutson's credit, he did get a rushing TD on the day. However, it was one of the least athletic plays possible, he damn near tripped over his own feet and actually fumbled the ball JUST as he crossed the plane... Real smooth Huts.. Real smooth... Check out the replay.

Obviously, we don't argue a winning formula, but I am going to raise my hand and say, "There's going to be some guys coming up on the schedule, and they're going to put some men up in the box, what's our plan going to be? this aint no secret." The Dawgs are going to have to be able to throw the ball a little more if they plan on going to Atlanta in December. 

Let's turn our attention out west... and the Pac-12 mess...

The headlines read "USC holds off Arizona's rally"... They should say "Cat's piss it away" or maybe a little more politically correct, the local papers might say "Kicking game kills the Cats". USC got the W 28-26. Zona down 14-6, had a field goal blocked to end the first half. Then after going down 28-13, Arizona came back scoring 13 unanswered. They went for 2 to tie but failed twice after a PI call on the first attempt. Still down 2 with a minute to go, the went for.. and got... the onside kick. Huge! A couple quick hitters and The Cat's were looking at a 36 yard field goal for the win. The snap was there, the kick was up and she was good... Ahh but wait, we had the ever famous "timeout right before" the snap... Let's line up and do it again... Oh shit, pushed it to the right, USC escapes. (On the positive side, Arizona covered the 2.5 spread, winner, winner, chicken dinner! Pay me my money)

Watch the shank here. The whining makes me want to puke. 36 yards, right between the hashes, what else you want sweetheart? Shut up and make the damn kick!

(He doesn't deserve the name Casey, crying like a little [you know what I'd say]... What the hell's a matter with you? You didn't get the job done. You lost... it sucks, so be it... Shut up! Pick your ass up off the ground, dust yourself off, and get your ass ready for the next one.... I could backhand him)

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:11687410

Ok let's get re-focused...

Oregon got their W against UCLA, I was focused on the other 2:30 p.m. games, so not too much to comment on. It really looked like the Ducks were in control the whole way (This was pretty much the theme of the afternoon, beat downs across the country), eventually going up 32 points in the fourth quarter 42-10, with UCLA chipping away late to make it look a little  more respectable than it really was. Final Oregon 42- UCLA 30.

So in the Pac-12 we've got Oregon who still has some challenges left, but they control their fate in the North followed by a very "mediocre" looking Stanford. In the South, USC is now the lead pony, but their conference loss to Arizona State really leaves the division up for grabs. Arizona State, Arizona, and Utah are all in the mix and UCLA has an outside shot, but they're going to need some things to go their way to really get back into this thing.