NCAA Football 2013: Week Four Review

Everything you need to know about some of the big games from Week 4 of the 2013 NCAA Football season… 

Arkansas at Rutgers 

Last week, in the aftermath of the crazy end to the Wisconsin/Arizona State game in Tempe, the wife of Wisconsin-turned-Arkansas Head Coach Brett Jen Bielema wrote the following Tweet: #Karma. As though the Badgers had done something wrong. When, in actual fact, it was Bielema who upped and left Madison for the Razorbacks and the SEC. So, that came from nowhere, right out of the Book of Classless.

Fast forward seven days, and Arkansas went into Rutgers and were beaten 28-24, after leading the Scarlet Knights rather comfortably, 24-7 midway through the third and 24-14 with ten minutes to play in the final quarter. Rutgers had turned the football over three times to that point, and didn’t look particularly potent offensively – their best drives were in the first quarter, ending with turnovers instead of points – with their possibly-concussed QB Gary Nova not the same quarterback that we’ve seen recently.

Then, out of nowhere, Rutgers became the team who put up 50 points (albeit in a loss) to Fresno State in the first game of the season. Nova came alive, sparking the Scarlet Knights to a pretty impressive 28-24 victory, long after a good portion of the crowd on the banks of the Raritan had gone home. Nova connected with WR Leonte Carroo for two touchdowns in the fourth, a 33-yard bomb to the corner and a short 4-uard completion, and Arkansas couldn’t move the football against a suddenly-stout Rutgers defense.

Karma, anyone? 

Auburn at Louisiana State 

The SEC West battle of two undefeated teams with the same mascot wasn’t that much of a battle. More of a rout when it mattered. On a windy and rainy night in Death Valley, LSU continued on their merry way, teaching Auburn a football lesson on their way into a pretty giant showdown against Georgia next week. 

It was total domination by the Bayou Bengals in the first half, thanks largely to RB Jeremy Hill, who scored twice in the first quarter, one from a long way out (49 yards) and the other from inside the red zone (210 yards), and once more in the third, easing the workload of QB Zach Mettenberger, who has been a standout to start the season under new offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. There was a late comeback attempt by Auburn, but it fell short, with LSU outlasting and winning 35-21. 

Purdue at Wisconsin 

Mostly behind the double-punch ground threat of Melvin Gordon (147 yards and 3 touchdowns) and the active FBS leader in rushing yards at over three thousand, James White (145 yards and one score), Wisconsin opened their Big Ten account with a handy win against the Boilermakers who pushed Notre Dame all the way last week in West Lafayette.

Gordon seemed unstoppable at times, running around and trampling over Purdue defenders, who exhibited some of the worst attempted tackling that I’ve seen in some time, and with White coming in to carry some of the load – both backs had sixteen carries – the Badgers, under new coach Gary Andersen, don’t seem to have lost an offensive step after Bret Bielema left for Arkansas.

It’s been a quiet start for Badgers quarterback, Joel Stave, who hasn’t been asked to do much of anything, really, this season – I mean, other than hand the ball off thirty or more times a game to his brilliant backs, but against better defenses down the road who will stack the box against White and Gordon, the pressure will mount, and he’ll be asked to make some big plays. Whether he can, is the real question.

This was Wisconsin’s fifth straight win in a Big Ten opener, but, it’s fair to say that Purdue aren’t exactly A-grade completion. The first real test for the Badgers comes in seven days’ time, when they head to Ohio Stadium to take on Urban Meyer’s undefeated Ohio State team. 

Arizona State at Stanford 

Stanford keep on keeping on, and The Cardinal jumped out of the box in a big way, smacked Arizona State square in the mouth, took their starters out of the game early on, and withstood a frenzied comeback attempt by the Sun Devils and remain undefeated heading into the season’s fifth week. Stanford were up 29-0 at half time, thanks to four offensive touchdowns and a safety.

Arizona State looked a shell-shocked unit heading off the field for the break. On national television, the first thirty minutes of football were a major statement by Stanford. The Sun Devils found the going easier in the fourth quarter, but the cue was in the rack by then, with David Shaw electing to rest QB Kevin Hogan (11-17 for 152 yards and two scores) and RB Tyler Gaffney (95 yards on nineteen carries).

The way things are going, Oregon vs. Stanford’s Thursday night clash (November 7) might decide supremacy in the Pac-12 conference.

Kansas State at Texas 

It’s been a hugely tumultuous week in Austin, where rumours of Alabama coach Nick Saban being approached (back in January) to possibly replace Mack Brown at UT sent people into a frenzy, on the back of a loss, which came, in part, to another bad defensive performance, particularly when it came to stopping the run, against Ole Miss last week.

Fast forward seven days, and the crowd at Austin’s Memorial Stadium, the Longhorns got a much better defensive effort – albeit it against a somewhat choppy K-State offense, who fumbled the football three times in this one, and had so much trouble getting anything going on the ground – en route to an incredibly important 31-21 victory that will, for seven short days at least, quell some of the anger that appears to be poised to overflow after last week’s loss.

Mack Brown, who has received something of a stay of execution, will doubtless be relieved, for his defense held K-State to just 112 rushing yards, which is by far their best performance of the season. QB David Ash, who really hasn’t been the problem this year, had another solid game, going 14-25 166 yards and a score, but it was RB Jonathan Gray to led the ‘Horns tonight, notching 142 yards and two touchdowns as Texas withstood a late K-State comeback effort.