College Football 2015: Week 7 Heroes

The seventh week of one of the more unpredictable seasons I can remember provided us with plenty of heroes. Here’s a few:

Trevone Boykin

The Texas Christian quarterback personally accounted for 500 yards of total offense and four touchdowns for the third time this season. This is a Heisman-worthy campaign so far.

Leonard Fournette

Speaking of Heisman-worthy campaigns, the star running back for Louisiana State was the difference in a tight 38-25 victory over Florida in Death Valley. He ran for 180 yards and two scores on thirty-one carries as the Tigers beat a Gators squad that hung around with LSU for much longer than I expected they would.

Michigan State

What can you say about the Spartans that hasn’t already been said? A big game with a crazy ending is what makes college football so damn entertaining, and MSU deserves huge credit for hanging around. They were down, but never out, and were able to take advantage of a giant Michigan error – the punt that became a fumble returned 38 yards for a touchdown by Jalen Watts-Jackson, a heretofore unknown MSU player, and now an MSU hero – to record a memorable win.

So many Spartans have a wealth of big game experience and knew not to panic. Good teams find a way to keep in touch, and take advantage of their opportunities. State did just that. Still, a totally insane and improbable win. We’ll remember this for some time, I’d suggest!

Francis Owusu

If you haven’t seen the Stanford receiver’s incredible catch, get yourself onto YouTube now and take a look. If you can think of a better catch than that, please let me know! Of course, Joe Tessitore was calling the game on ESPN, so you kinda expected something crazy, right?

Rutgers

The Scarlet Knights erased a twenty-five point deficit to Indiana on the road, and came away 55-52 winners on a wild day in the Big Ten. For the first time in school history, Rutgers had a player with three receiving touchdowns (Leonte Caroo) and one with three rushing touchdowns (Robert Martin) in a game where, as the final score suggests, defences didn’t play a major roll.

CJ Prosise

The Notre Dame running back ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns on a big night for offense in South Bend, where the Fighting Irish beat archrivals USC 41-31. Although their defense gave up a series of big plays, you get the feeling that Brian Kelly’s men are a legitimate college football playoff contender.

Memphis

So, the Big Ten wasn’t the only place for chaos and strange results. The SEC took a shot today, with Memphis, undefeated and considered by some a sneaky chance to defeat Ole Miss at home, did just that, recording a memorable 37-24 win. Head coach Justin Fuentes is a guy to keep an eye on in the future. He’s got this team up and rolling nicely. This was a giant win, perhaps the best Memphis can lay claim to in their history.

Akrum Wadley

Never heard of the Iowa running back? You’re probably not alone on that front. He’s the back-up, and was pressed into service when the Hawkeyes’ starting back, Jordan Canzeri, was struck down with injury. Wadley definitely made the most of his opportunities, becoming the first Iowa player to score four rushing touchdowns in a single game. He ran for 204 total yards, and was barely stopped by anyone on a shaky Northwestern defense, opening the way for Iowa to remain undefeated and play in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Hawkeyes start 7-0 for the first time since 2009.

Alabama’s defense

The Tide intercepted Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen three times, and returned all those picks for touchdowns, fuelling a fairly comprehensive 41-23 victory on the road.

Baylor

Seth Russell became the first Baylor quarterback since Robert Griffin III back in 2011 to throw for 300 yards and rush for another 100 in the same game. He was ably supported by Corey Coleman, who caught three passes for touchdowns, breaking the single-season Baylor record for touchdowns with his fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth on the year – the most anywhere in the country this season, too – and he Bears, sitting nicely at No. 2 in the AP Top 2 rankings, handled West Virginia 62-38.

Utah State’s defense

The Aggies destroyed Boise State 52-26 on Friday night after their defense forced eight turnovers. Huge night!

Christian McCaffrey

The Stanford running back destroyed UCLA on Thursday night, amassing 243 yards (a school record, if you don’t mind!) and scoring four touchdowns as the Cardinal defeated the Bruins 56-35. McCaffrey is a legitimate Heisman contender now.

Houston

Ranked for the first time since 2011, the Cougars, playing sensationally under first-year head coach Tom Herman, beat Tulane 42-7, thanks to three rushing and one passing touchdown from quarterback Greg Ward Jr. The Cougars were missing three starting offensive linemen but that didn’t stop them from rolling up 239 rushing yards, and 461 total. Herman, like Fuentes in Memphis, is another guy to keep an eye on as big-time programs begin to have vacancies at head coach.

Everett Golson

Who is the guy playing quarterback for Florida State? I want to know because he surely doesn’t look like the same one we saw under centre for Notre Dame a year ago. That particularly Everett Golson turned the football over with gusto, frustrating the you-know-what out of Irish fans.

Faced with losing out to Malik Zaire in the race for starting quarterback at Notre Dame this year, Golson opted to transfer down to Tallahassee in the off season and the sea change from the Midwest to Atlantic Coast seems to have done him some good. He’s yet to throw an interception all season, and has Florida State in a pretty nice spot, lurking just outside the AP Top Ten. This is a team to watch, thanks to Golson’s play.