NCAA Football 2012 - Week Six Review

An interesting week of match-ups between ranked/unbeaten opponents - and, by default, losses in the AP Top 25, some unexpected - that has helped the season to take shape ahead of the first BCS rankings, just over a week away. There's no drama quite like college football drama, and a little Saturday night chaos has enlivened this season.

It was a horror start for USC, but the Trojans got their high-powered offense - Barkley, Woods, Lee, Redd, Grimble, Telfer - rolling nicely after trailing 14-0 to Utah with less than 3:00 played. Two USC fumbles set up the Utes with two scoring opportunities, which they gleefully accepted. Then, everything changed. The Trojans, destined to rise in tomorrow's AP Poll, outscored the Utes 38-14 in the last 57:00 minutes of football. It was all over midway through the fourth quarter, a Pick-6 for USC's Nickell Robey after QB Matt Barkley connected with WR Marqise Lee for an 83-yard TD bomb. The late Utah score made the score more respectable than it otherwise would have been, but the 38-28 final didn't accurately reflect Southern California's overall dominance of the football game.

Absolutely major statement game for South Carolina against the highly-fancied - and, until tonight's non-effort game, SEC title contenders - Georgia Bulldogs. From the opening moment at Williams-Brice Stadium, it was apparent that the Gamecocks had come to play. And play they did, with intensity on both sides of the football, to give Steve Spurrier his biggest win since 2010's victory against Alabama, then the number one team in the nation. The 'Cocks jumped all over the Dawgs early, and suffocated the high-powered UGA offense led by QB Aaron Murray. For the second week in a row, the Bulldogs defense was left wanting. It was South Carolina QB Connor Shaw who was the marquee QB in this one, going 6-10 for 162 yards and 2 TDs. But, as is often the case, RB Marcus Lattimore was over 100 yards - 109 and 2 TDs - against a Georgia defense that let South Carolina score 35 today after giving up 44 vs. Tennessee last week. The Gamecocks are 6-0, and looking good. Conference play really begins now; a huge test next week, with the Gamecocks headed to Baton Rouge to play LSU.

For the second week in a row, West Virginia's ultra-hot offense scored more points than their porous (and concerning) defense, beating No. 11 Texas in Austin. Last week's victory vs. Baylor was impressive for the back-and-forth nature of the game, but the Mountaineers made a real statement, beating a good Texas team, and, particularly, the Geno Smith-led West Virginia offense conquering a pretty solid Longhorn defense. The Heisman Trophy favourite went 25-35 for 268 yards and 4 TDs, but it was RB Andrew Buie who starred: 207 yards and 2 TDs on the ground. The combination of Smith's arm and the West Virginia running game is seriously scary.

Definitely the biggest of the weekend was North Carolina State beating No. 3 Florida State 17-16 on a game-winning TD toss by Wolfpack QB Mike Glennon with 0:33 seconds to play. The score was 3 yards to Bryan Underwood, and, at home, NC State recorded their biggest win in recent history. It is a win that leaves the highly-fancied Seminoles on the outside looking in on the race for the BCS National Championship Game. It brings the 'Noles back to the ACC field, too. Crucially, after going up 16-0 at the end of the first half, Florida State didn't score again, instead letting NC State score 16 points - including 2 TDs from Glennon - in the second half. Quite a performance, particularly considering NC State didn't have any sort of running game to speak of. Glennon had to throw the football 56 times, to make up for a measly 58-yard total rushing performance on the night.

Don't look now, but the unheralded Rutgers Scarlet Knights might be the best team in the Big East. The team from Piscataway, New Jersey do it with grinding offense - RB Jawan Jamison leads the way - and a defense that forces turnovers for first-year head coach Kyle Flood. The Knights forced a whopping 5 turnovers against Connecticut (4 of those were INTs; one was a Pick-6 in the fourth quarter) and Jamison went for 110 yards on the ground. Rutgers are off to their best start since 2006, 5-0 (2-0 in the Big East) after a famous win vs. Arkansas two weeks ago. Today, the Scarlet Knights defense held UConn to a measly 53 yards rushing.

The suspension of QB Casey Pachall for TCU cost the Horned Frogs big-time, suffering a 37-23 loss to Iowa State in Fort Worth that ended a 12-game winning streak - the longest in major college football - and gave Iowa State, master of the landscape-changing upset in recent years, another notch on their belt. The killer for Texas Christian, despite out-gaining Iowa State 455-348 was five turnovers, including the game-ending interception return for the Cyclones, the third pick thrown by TCU's QB Trevone Boykin. The incredible worth of a veteran, poised senior signal-caller was proven today in Fort Worth.

After an ugly INT-filled loss to Notre Dame and a week off to think about it, Michigan returned to Big Ten play with a vengeance, defeating Purdue 44-13, thanks largely to QB Denard Robinson, who carried the football 24 times for 235 yards and added a TD through the air as the Wolverines routed the Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Indiana. In the process, Robinson overtook former Indiana QB Antwaan Randle El as the all-time leading QB rusher in Big Ten history. The new mark is 3,905 and, at the same time, Robinson broke a tie with Kent State's Josh Cribbs to move into fifth place in NCAA history. Impressive effort after a mistake-riddled effort against the Irish, which left Robinson apologising to Wolverine fans.

After a few years in the wilderness, Florida are back with a vengeance, ousting the fourth-ranked LSU Tigers in Gainesville today. It was a powerful defensive effort, admittedly against an offensively-challenged Tigers offense, and RB Mike Gillislee ran for a career-high 146 yards and 2 TDs as the Gators sent a message that the old spread-offense version of themselves is gone. This is now a tough football team, pounding the rock on the ground, and playing smash mouth defense, too. The only concern, for mine, is their continued inability to get a really consistent passing attack going.

Kitch's Beast of the Week: Some excellent performances, but it's West Virginia RB Andrew Buie who had a coming-of-age day like his QB Geno Smith did last week. The featured back for the Mountaineers carried the football 31 times in the 48-45 victory vs. Texas in Austin, ripping off 207 yards and 2 TDs, with an average of 6.7 yards per carry. An amazing performance in a pivotal Big XII game.