Texas A&M vs. Mississippi State
What to say about freshman phenom QB Johnny Manziel that hasn't already been said? The Aggies signal-caller put on another show today, winning 38-13, thus handing the Bulldogs their second straight loss - they were soundly beaten by Alabama last week - and now A&M coach Kevin Sumlin has ten wins from ten starts on the road, dating back to his days as head coach at Houston. The Aggies are 5-0 away from College Station this year.
It was 31-0 at the half, and the score might've been bigger if the Aggies had a field goal kicker who could convert. Nonetheless, it was Manziel magic that had the MSU defense looking absolutely dead on their feet, particularly late in the quarter when the Aggies went down the field at will. If it wasn't Manziel running the football, it was him connecting on big passes. The way he wheels and rolls and scrambles is nothing short of incredible. It's like watching a guy playing football in the backyard, or else something out of a video game.
Manziel ended the game with 125 yards rushing and 2 TDs on 20 carries, and went 30-36 for 311 yards. His 37-yard touchdown run - more of a scramble after he didn't see any receivers open - almost defied belief. The sheer number of defenders he made miss has got to warm the hearts of Aggies fans and worry the living daylights out of defensive coordinators.
The difference between the Manziel we're seeing now, nine or so games into his college career, is his more advanced ability to read the play as it unfolds and to read the defense. Where there were ill-advised throws that led to turnovers - and, more crucially, to points for the other team - now the freshman quarterback seems content to throw the ball into the ground or toss it into the grandstands. It's the sign of a maturing quarterback. I can't wait to see this guy as a junior or senior. He'll have Sumlin's offense down like Houston's record-setting quarterback Case Keenum did. And we all know how that worked - NCAA records fell like tenpins at a bowling alley. Except that Manziel has leg speed that Keenum didn't. It's a scary thought. Big test next week for Texas A&M:
For Mississippi State, the 7-0 record with which Dan Mullen's men started the season has lost some luster and their chances of competing for the SEC West crown appear to have fallen apart. It was the second bad loss in a row, and they didn't compete in this game until it was far too late.
Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh
Well, the Irish got out of jail big-time in South Bend. The 3OT 29-26 win should have never eventuated. From the highly - highly - questionable pass interference penalty against Pitt late in the fourth on a Notre Dame fourth down attempt to a bad snap resulting in a bad kick resulting in a missed field goal for the Panthers in the 2nd overtime frame (this after a bad fumble by Notre Dame right on the Pitt doorstep) and some questionable play-calling when Pitt had the lead, there were many things that went against Pitt and they will certainly rue missed opportunities. Missed opportunities cost them a famous win, and saved the Irish from being dumped out of the BCS race.
As they say in the classics, it's better to be lucky than good. They survive once more, a crazy game that had a little of everything, but the reality of the situation is this: the No. 3 team in America barely beat - and had to rely on a series of mind-boggling events - a lowly Big East team with a 4-4 record coming in. QB Everett Golson still doesn't look polished. The INT he threw in the fourth quarter was a major error of judgement, and that vaunted Irish defense, known for being very stingy, gave up more points in this game than they have in any other game this season. They also let Pitt RB Ray Graham pound them for 174 yards and a score on 24 carries.
Watching the game, and seeing how Notre Dame performed for a large portion of the contest, it will absolutely baffle and confound me if the Irish retain their No. 3 ranking when the new BCS standings are released tomorrow. The win not withstanding, a team that is the third best in the country should never have been given such a fright by a 4-4 Big East team who've had some bad losses this season. Take the Irish team on show today and ask yourself this: could they match it with Alabama, Oregon, Kansas State or even LSU in a BCS game? No. Not based on the body of work presented today.
USC vs. Oregon
Just a wild game all around. Points and yards a-plenty, and Oregon prevail 62-51. In the process, they put more points on USC than anyone else has in the storied history of Trojan footall. That isn't good for Southern California from a records standpoint, but that was the nature of the game tonight. The margin was a lot closer than most pundits expected, too.
Southern California showed, by scoring more than half a century's worth of points, that Oregon's defense has a long way to go before it can be called anything close to elite. I wouldn't even call them "great" after tonight. More like mediocre, and that's not me talking as a bitter USC fan. It's me stating the obvious after watching the game and keeping track of the stats. I mean, they gave up a whopping 620 yards. I can't imagine that Chip Kelly and the rest of the Oregon coaching staff will be happy about that.
If a couple of bad throws by Matt Barkley and a late-first-half fumble by Marqise Lee didn't happen, it's possibly a different game. As far as defense for USC goes, it's fair to say, and was obvious throughout, that the lack of depth caused by scholarship restrictions, the lasting legacy of the well-documented NCAA violations, hurt the Trojans late in the game. They looked out on their feet against the fast tempo that Oregon runs.
Oregon are a very good football team - I don't argue about that. And they were deserved winners tonight. RB Kenyon Barner just ripped Monte Kiffin's defense for 324 rush yards - an Oregon record - and 5 TDs. QB Marcus Mariota had 4 TDs through the air. And Oregon had more defensive stops - such as they were on this night - and those few stops ended up being the difference in a game with more than one thousand total yards (!!!) of offense.
What occurs against a really good, fully-loaded defense like, say, Alabama's? I think all college football fans would love to find out. Could the Ducks offense operate under the suffocating Tide defense? Based on what we saw tonight, Alabama and LSU and possibly Kansas State could score on the Ducks defense and their own defense might get a few more stops, thus forcing Oregon to rely more on their D.
LSU vs. Alabama
Goodness me, that was a game where the No. 1 team in the country got incredibly lucky. I guess that's the theme at the moment, with Notre Dame escaping and even Oregon giving up truckloads of yards and still getting the win. AJ McCarron might've dipped his hat into the Heisman Trophy race with a game-clinching TD drive following a missed LSU field goal late in a gripping contest in Baton Rouge.
It was that crucial miss by K Drew Alleman (on a kick that would have almost certainly iced the game for LSU) that handed Alabama back the football, and gave them the necessary time in which to work a miracle. The drive, easily McCarron's best work on a mostly ineffective night, ended with a swing pass that T.J. Yeldon caught and carried for 28 yards,all the way to the end zone, quieting the raucous - they were downright insane for most of the night - Death Valley crowd. What had been so glorious was suddenly so devastating.
The incredible fourth quarter comeback seemed unlikely because LSU had all the momentum going their way. There was a time when the Tigers' offense really stunk, a time when QB Zach Mettenberger was being criticized by every man and his dog, but he looked really good, particularly late in the game. LSU were lights out on third down in the second half, and there was a time where I didn't think Alabama could win. But AJ McCarron and T.J. Yeldon had other ideas and it took just one drive where it all clicked
Statistically, this was a game LSU should've won. Perhaps it was a game they even deserved to win. Certainly, they dominated the second half, coming back to lead after trailing 14-3 at half time, a massive deficit against a defense as good as Alabama's. They out-gained Alabama 435-331 and forced the Tide into two turnovers. They had more first downs - 23 to 19 - ran more plays - 85 to 52 - and were light years better on third down.
There were some strange calls. LSU's fake punt on fourth and ten chief amongst them. Not entirely sure what Les Miles was going for there. I mean, I know he wanted to try and shift momentum, but that sort of thing backfires more often than not. Generally, you don't pull those moves on the Crimson Tide defense. I'm sort of impressed that Miles actually gambled on that one. Until you consider the lunacy. Fourth and one or two, yeah. Fourth and ten? I wouldn't have tried. They'll pick that one apart in Baton Rouge for a week or two, as they will the somewhat relaxed coverage by LSU's defenders on the final, game-winning Alabama drive.
So Alabama's win erases the questions about who - Oregon or Kansas State. because Notre Dame probably knocked themselves out of contention after a squeak-home victory against a lowly opponent - would have supplanted the Tide as No. 1 team in the country. It also shows that Alabama, while deservedly atop the BCS standings, isn't quite as bulletproof as everyone seems to think.
Quick Screens
No Denard Robinson, no worries for Michigan. Quarterback turned wide receiver Devin Gardner turned back into a signal-caller, leading the Wolverines to a 35-13 rout vs. Minnesota, retaining the Little Brown Jug. Gardner threw for two scores and ran for a third, after Robinson, bothered by nerve damage in his right elbow, was a game-time "out". Michigan had gone the previous two games without scoring a touchdown.
In Manhattan, Kansas, the Kansas State Wildcats did enough to outlast Oklahoma State, taking advantage of a 24-point second quarter to grind out a 44-30 win, in which they were marginally out-gained 507-481. It was less about QB Collin Klein, who accounted for just one TD in this game and left with an undisclosed injury in the third quarter, and more about the K-State defense, who forced 5 turnovers (one a Pick-6) and a timely special teams score, to keep the Wildcats right in the hunt for the BCS National Championship game. It's K-State's first win against Oklahoma State since 2006.
Nebraska had to rely on some last-minute - last ten seconds, actually - magic from Taylor Martinez to escape East Lansing with a victory against Michigan State. With 0:06 on the clock, the man known as T-Magic found Jamal Turner for a 5-yard TD score and Nebraska rallied from being down 24-14 at the start of the fourth quarter for a 28-24 win, despite three turnovers on the day.
The fall of the West Virginia Mountaineers continues with another loss. This time, it was at the hands of Texas Christian, with the Horned Frogs notching a 39-38 2OT win thanks to a successful two-point conversion. TCU were down ten points in the second half and are now bowl eligible at 6-3. The Mountaineers drop to 5-3, the three losses come in consecutive games. It's WVU's fist 3-game losing streak since 2004.
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