NCAA Football 2013: Week 6's Heroes & Villains

Heroes

Stanford: The Cardinal were tested at times by unbeaten Washington, and made big plays on offense and defense when they needed to. Their victory over the Huskies was one of the more impressive of the weekend – which is why it heads this list – and I have David Shaw’s men as the best team in Pac-12 competition at the moment. That might change after they play Oregon, but the Ducks haven’t played anyone of note thus far this season. The Cardinal have played ranked opponents three weeks in a row now, and look solidly battle-tested for what’s to come. 

Florida State: For all the talk about how Maryland would give Florida State’s suspect defense a few fits along the way on Saturday in Tallahassee were all for naught. In a game that was equal parts a warning to the ACC that the ‘Noles are white hot and a statement effort for FSU’s much-maligned defense, Florida State whacked Maryland in every way imaginable, 63-0 on the back of 5 touchdowns for Heisman Trophy candidate QB Jameis Winston. 

Brett Hundley: The UCLA quarterback is an absolute baller. On Thursday in Salt Lake City, the Bruins signal caller put on a show, notching the rare and impressive trifecta of a running, passing and receiving touchdown. The Bruins had an important win at Rice-Eccles Stadium, coming up with six interceptions on defense, on their way to a 34-27 win. 

Connor Halliday: Even in the Mike Leach offense, 521 yards and three touchdowns is nothing to sneeze at. The senior quarterback threw the football a whopping 61 times as the Cougars beat Cal 44-22, to advance to 4-2 on the season. 

Garrett Gilbert: It was a 3OT thriller in Dallas, where Rutgers only just managed to beat the SMU 55-52. Though, it was not without some deal of struggle, for the Mustangs QB Gilbert played out of his mind: 45-70 for 484 yards and 5 touchdowns through the air, and two more scores on the ground. Impressive, video game-like numbers. 

Tajh Boyd: The Clemson quarterback is well and truly alive in the race for the Heisman Trophy, throwing for 455 yards and five scores in only three quarters of action against overmatched Syracuse. It was a particularly timely performance for Boyd, given that Florida State’s Jameis Winston had a big game himself. Boyd started out on a tear, connecting on all but two of his first seventeen passes, for 317 yards and four touchdowns, which was the foundation of a pretty easy 49-14 victory. 

Indiana: The Hoosiers opened up their Big Ten account in Bloomington and in style, beating the Penn State Nittany Lions for the first time in school history (1-16 all time now), and did so decisively at home 44-24, thanks to QB Nate Sudfeld’s two touchdown passes and RB Tre Robertson’s two running scores. The Hoosiers don’t get much love or national attention, but they deserve it today. 

Aaron Murray: The tremendous Georgia quarterback became the SEC’s leader in passing yards with a 24-yard pass completion to Chris Conley in the second quarter, giving him 11,538 in a glittering career that, in some parts of the nation, hasn’t been nearly as appreciated as it should be. Murray’s brilliant. The ‘Dawgs escaped Knoxville with a 34-31 (OT) win. 

Baylor’s Offense: 617 yards of offense IN THE FIRST HALF. Incredible offensive output for a game-winning 56-14 lead. RB Lache Seastrunk led the charge, running for 172 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. That’s an average of 11.5 yards. Don’t sleep on this guy as a Heisman candidate.  RB Shock Linwood scored the last touchdown of the half. That’s what West Virginia were: shocked. And humiliated, probably.

Villains

Big Twelve Video Officials: Horrendous call from the replay officials in charge of the Iowa State vs. Texas game, who should have overruled a call on the field where Texas RB Jonathan Gray was down by contact before having the football stripped. It was obvious to most of us watching that the ball was out before Gray was down, and the turnover would’ve handed Iowa State a huge win. Instead, the right call was not made, Texas kept the ball and scored a few plays later, escaping Ames with a 31-30 win. 

Maryland: A ranked team being beaten 63-0 is a major black eye. The Terps were shredded and bludgeoned by a Florida State team who made this game look like Men vs. Boys. Maryland’s offense averaged 498.5 yards per game coming in, and were shut out. The loss matched became the worst loss by a Top 25 team, in terms of the overall point differential. Two records that Maryland want nothing to do with. Demoralising stuff. 

Travis Wilson: The Utah quarterback threw six interceptions and was sacked three times in the Ute’s 34-27 loss to UCLA on Thursday night. If Wilson was able to hold onto the ball, it’s very possible that his team would have come away with a big-time win against very good Pac-12 opposition. Turnovers kill. 

West Virginia’s Defense: When you give up 617 yards and 56 points in the first half, you get on this list. Horrendous, woeful, disgraceful and mind-numbing. Just a breakdown in execution and an inability to make basic defensive plays. They were fractionally worse against the run than against the pass. Either way, Baylor had it’s way. I’d hate to be a West Virginia fan. 

Virginia: Not a good weekend for teams with ‘Virginia in their name – see above – and it was ugly for the Cavaliers, who lost to Ball State out of the MAC. The crazy thing is, they were in this game. It was 24-24 in the third quarter, so what did the Cavaliers do? They let the Cardinals score 24 of the next 27 points, and Virginia slumped to a bad 48-27 loss. 

Kansas: A season that’s become something worse than flat-out bad for the Jayhawks actually started out okay against Texas Tech. Charlie Weis’ men were up 10-0 early. The problem was that from there, they let the Red Raiders pile on 54 points, en route to a 54-16 win. The way the Jayhawks are going – or not going, as the case may be – they’ll end up having 100 put on them by the rampaging Baylor team that they’re yet to face. If Weis survives this year, I’ll be very, very surprised.