College Football 2015: Week 10 Heroes

Another typically crazy weekend in college football – what else is new, right? – and there were plenty of individuals and teams who covered themselves in glory. Here’s the pick of that bunch:

Alabama: if you want to win the SEC, you still have to go into Tuscaloosa and beat the Crimson Tide. Anyone who ever doubted that was given a not-so-gentle reminder in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night, where the Tide ran out victors 30-16, behind a 210-yard masterpiece from running back Derrick Henry, absolutely dominated an LSU squad who some folks had tipped to win. As Lee Corso might say, not so fast my friend! Alabama are a very, very good football team.

Jarret Stidham: Baylor’s freshman quarterback was thrust into the national spotlight following the season-ending injury suffered by Seth Russell in the Iowa State game, and the big stage of primetime television didn’t seem to worry Stidham, whose debut as a Baylor starter was stellar: 23-33 for 419 passing yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a score in the grinding 31-24 victory over Kansas State, and did enough to prove that Baylor are still dangerous, no matter who is under centre.

DeShone Kizer: Notre Dame are for real – as much as it hurts me, as a USC fan, to admit as much – and it’s largely thanks to Kizer, the sophomore quarterback pressed into service when Malik Zaire went down with a season-ending injury. Since then, all Kizer has done is impress, and he did so again on Saturday, throwing 5 touchdowns (including three to star receiver Will Fuller) as the Irish beat Pitt 42-30, despite losing the services of star running back C.J. Prosise.

LaQuon Treadwell: the Ole Miss receiver recorded his fifth straight game with at least 100 yards receiving and a touchdown. It’s the longest such streak in the SEC since Jabar Gaffney did it for Florida way back in 2000. Treadwell needs one more game with a century worth of receiving yards and a touchdown to tie Gaffney’s mark. Just a pity that Ole Miss couldn’t pull out the win.

Clemson: it was far from the prettiest game we’ll ever see, and it took them a while to get rolling, but the Tigers remain undefeated and will presumably maintain their top ranking when the next slate of College Football Playoff rankings are released in the week. The 23-13 home victory over Florida State came largely as a result of the play of QB DeShaun Watson. He threw for 297 yards and a touchdown, and ran for another 107. Count on seeing Watson at the Heisman Trophy presentation in New York City in a few weeks.

Christian McCaffrey: Stanford’s best Heisman hope since Andrew Luck had another big day, running for 147 yards and throwing a 28-yard touchdown pass to Austin Hooper as Stanford beat Colorado 42-10. As much as everyone talks about Kevin Hogan, this team doesn’t go without McCaffrey, who recorded his seventh consecutive 100-yard game, working in the engine room.

Mason Rudolph: the Oklahoma State quarterback exposed Texas Christian’s shaky secondary in the most emphatic manner imaginable, throwing five touchdowns – including scoring strikes of 48, 50, 82 and 74 yards – as the Cowboys romped to a 49-29 victory in Stillwater.

Florida: winners of the SEC East after a gritty 9-7 win over Vanderbilt, the Gators will head back to the SEC Championship Game for the first time since 2009. Jim McElwain’s lightning-fast rebuild job down in Gainesville has been nothing short of spectacular. Despite adversity this year, the Gators keep on keeping on, and they’re back.

Marquise Williams: the North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback threw for a school record 494 yards in UNC’s dominating 66-31 victory over Duke. He added for passing touchdowns, and one on the ground on a day where neither team’s defense really turned up.

Mississippi State: the Bulldogs handled Missouri 31-13 on a shockingly wet night in Columbia on Thursday. The game was far from pretty, but finding a way to survive through a torrentially wet game – we all know that wet weather levels out the playing field, and we often see crazy things happen – is no mean feat.

Jack Mitchell: the Northwestern kicker nailed a 35-yard field goal as time expired to give the Wildcats a big 21-23 home win over Penn State. 

Corey Coleman: no wonder it doesn’t matter who is at quarterback for Baylor. They just need to throw it somewhere in the general direction of Coleman and he’ll do the rest. It was a powerful performance from Coleman on Thursday night to settle Jarret Stidham. He caught eleven passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns. Coleman is as good a receiver as there is anywhere in the nation.

Luke Falk: the gun-slinging Washington State quarterback threw three last-quarter touchdowns as the Cougars outscored Arizona State 21-3 in the last fifteen minutes for a big 38-24 win at home. All told, Falk threw for 497 yards and five touchdowns, but saved his best work to the end, icing the game with a 75-yard strike to Dom Williams. The Cougars are 6-3 and eligible for a Bowl game.

Arkansas: in one of the more entertaining games of the weekend (and the season), the Razorbacks did Alabama a major favour in beating Ole Miss on Saturday, clinching a wild OT game 53-5 on a successful two-point conversion run from QB Brandon Allen. The Arkansas signal-caller had a huge day, throwing six touchdowns amongst 453 passing yards. Oh, and that two-point conversion? Yeah, it came after a 4th and 25 play that required a crazy lateral-and-run play to move the sticks. Nothing surprises me in college football anymore!

Colorado State: the Rams beat their arch rivals Wyoming 26-7 to win their third consecutive Border War game. The two teams have met 106 times since 1899, a series that CSU leads 58-44-5.

Nebraska: whether or not the touchdown should have been awarded – another disputed game-deciding, game-ending score, what else is new in college football these days? – you can’t help but feel happy and relief for the Cornhuskers and their fans. I mean, this team has been on the wrong end of so many heart-breaking losses this year, it was nice to watch them flip the field and win a close one for a change. And, let’s not forget, this was a team who got poleaxed by Purdue a week ago, so the turnaround from that to this deserves a mention, too.