As per usual, the Thanksgiving weekend of rivalries and conference-deciding games didn’t let us down. Here are a few heroes from the weekend’s slate:
Paxton Lynch: the Memphis quarterback had a first half for the ages, completing 9-14 passes for 222 yards and seven touchdowns. He didn’t play in the second stanza, but the damage had been done: the Tigers thumped Southern Methodist 63-0.
Oklahoma: the Sooners took care of business, wining 58-23 behind a monster day from QB Baker Mayfield and the two-headed ground game onslaught of Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon, both of whom ran for more than one hundred yards. I expect to see Oklahoma in one of the Playoff semi-finals, and the way Big Game Bob Stoops gets his teams up for big contests, they’re going to be very dangerous.
Derrick Henry: the Alabama Heisman candidate became the school’s single-season rushing leader surpassing Trent Richardson’s mark, set four years ago. Henry gashed Auburn’s defense for 271 yards as Alabama won another Iron Bowl and clinched the SEC West.
Christian McCaffrey: Stanford’s do-everything back had 228 yards of total offense in the Cardinal’s big, late 38-36 victory over Notre Dame. That sees him surpass 3,000 yards of total offense for the season, and only the third player to do so in FBS history. It’s quite an achievement, and perhaps enough to win him the Heisman Trophy.
Southern California: the Trojans defeated UCLA 40-21 for their first victory in the crosstown rivalry since a 50-0 beat-down in 2011. This one was much more satisfying for USC fans after a turbulent season.
Iowa: for the first time in school history, the Hawkeyes finish the regular season 12-0, and have an appointment in the Big Ten Championship Game next weekend. Win that, and they’re almost guaranteed a College Football Playoff appearance. An extraordinary achievement by Kirk Ferentz’s team, especially when you consider that they don’t have so much as one 5-star recruit on their roster.
Conrad Ukropina: booted a 45-yard field goal as time expired to give Stanford a memorable 38-36 victory over Notre Dame. A wonderful game of football.
Chris Warren: we might remember the Thanksgiving game between Texas and Texas Tech as the coming out party for Warren, who set a Texas freshman rushing record with a whopping 276 yards, to go with four touchdowns (he scored on runs of 91, 23, 21 and 8 yards) against a shocking Tech run defense. It was a powerful performance, but not quite enough to ensure the Longhorns won.
Virginia Tech: won the final game of their long-time coach Frank Beamer’s illustrious career, a 23-20 triumph over in-state rivals Virginia. A fitting end to a mostly-glorious era in Blacksburg,
Ohio State: Urban Meyer said during the week that he would be taking over most of the play-calling duties for the Buckeyes against Michigan. Obviously, that was a good move, because the defending national champions thumped their great rivals 42-13, and did it by rolling up 482 total yards against a very good Michigan defense. Ezekiel Elliott was the real star, running for 214 yards on twelve carries after a terrible outing in the loss last week to Michigan State.
The problem for Ohio State is that this performance – their best of the season, by a long way – came a week too late as far as being able to control their own Big Ten and College Football Playoff destinies.
Maryland: the Terrapins were down 31-13 to Rutgers at half time, and staged a memorable comeback for a 46-41 win in one of the wildest games of the weekend. The Terps had two backs run for more than a hundred yards.
Houston: took on a tricky Navy triple option offense on Black Friday and pretty much dominated the entire game, running out winners 52-31 – a couple of late scores by the Midshipmen made things seem closer than they actually were.
Especially on the defensive side, the Cougars were excellent, holding the Navy ground game to just 147 yards, and forcing QB Keenan Reynolds to throw much more than ever before. Houston head to the American Athletic Conference championship game next weekend knowing that a win would likely give them a New Year’s Six Bowl berth. And if Tom Herman isn’t Coach of the Year, something’s wrong.
Michigan State: it loomed as something of a trap game for the Spartans after their huge win over Ohio State last weekend, but they were unstoppable against Penn State in East Lansing on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Nittany Lions 55-16 to punch their ticket to the Big Ten Championship, and a date with Iowa.
Washington: the Huskies defense had a day out, forcing seven turnovers by Washington State and Chris Petersen’s team are Bowl-eligible after a dominant 35-10 win in the Apple Cup on Friday. The UW defense scored three times.
Texas Tech: the Red Raiders gave up a lot of yards – as per usual – but they managed to get enough key defensive stops late in the Thanksgiving night game against in-state rival Texas to escape Austin with a 48-45 win. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 372 yards and a touchdown, but the real hero was running back DeAndre Washington, who rushed for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Washington has nearly 1500 yards on the season, which is a huge effort in a pass-first offense. Tech scored their first road win against Texas since 1997, and their first win of any kind against the Longhorns since 2008.
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