Weekend Games



Kyle Field home to the Texas A&M Aggies and the "12th man"
wbgv.blogspot.com



Ole Miss would just not go away. LSU may have been expected to walk away with an easy win against Ole Miss, who has the worst record in the SEC West at 4-7. This game just helped to prove how good the SEC is, because if you put Ole Miss in any other conference they would probably win over half their games and be bowl eligible, but not in the SEC. Ole Miss fought to preserve their chance of a bowl game, but LSU was fighting for a chance at the BCS Championship game, and in the end LSU came out on top. It did however take a rally late in the 4th quarter to come away with a win. LSU scored the game winning TD with :44 seconds left on the clock, not enough time for Ole Miss to answer back. LSU won 43-36 and with a slim margin in total yards 470-420. You have to give alot of credit to LSU QB Jordan Jefferson, who had a career day recording a career high 254 yards and a TD through the air while also picking up 45 yards and a TD on the ground.

Ohio State was traveling on the road to visit a tough #20 ranked Iowa Hawkeye team. Ohio State knew not to underestimate this team because in last year's game featuring this teams it took a game winning field goal by Ohio State K Devin Barclay for the Buckeyes to pick up a win. This year year also proved to be a very tough challenge. It took a TD from Dan "Boom" Herron with 1:47 left in the 4th quarter for the Buckeyes to beat the Hawkeyes 20-17. The key play was when on fourth and 10 with 4:02 left in the 4th quarter where QB Terelle Pryor took off picking up a 14 yard run and a Buckeye first down. The Buckeyes beat the Hawkeyes in total yards 353-276 but the Pryor had two interceptions while the Hawkeyes had no turnovers. The Buckeyes also looked very undiscplined at times dropping 73 yards on 8 penalties. In the end though Iowa just had no answer for Pryor.

Nebraska had their fingers crossed Saturday night heading into enemey territory. Nebraska had to know they would have their hands full with Texas A&M, especially with freshman phenom QB Taylor Martinez dealing with an injury. The game proved to be close but Nebraska suffered a defeat at the hands of the "underdog" Texas A&M team. Nebraska did shoot itself in the foot with a school record 16 penalties for 145 yards! Nebraska also had two turnovers where as A&M had none. The biggest reason for the Nebraska loss however was that Taylor Martinez's ineffectiveness. Martinez was battling an ankle injury which he reinjusred, he therefore did not play the whole game and was held to 107 yards through the air and 17 yards on the ground. As a result Texas A&M outgained Nebraska in total yards 310-306, and with the penalties and turnovers Nebraska had nothing going for them. A&M however didn't dominate and only won 9-6.

Week 13 Rankings

Close Calls

Stanford QB Andrew Luck
sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Over the weekend none of the Top 10 teams lost but there were a couple close calls...

Oregon barely hung on to beat California. Cal had was down 13-15 and was attempting a 24 yard field goal to take the lead. Cal kicker Giorgio Tavecchio drained it but flags were thrown because he stutter stepped drawing an illegal motion penalty. On the his next attempt, a 29 yarder, he missed crushing Cal's hopes of an upset. Oregon beat Cal in total yards 317-193 but both defenses were stellar. Time after time the Cal defense stopped Oregon and held them to a season low 15 points, but in the end it just wasn't enough.

TCU also barely pulled out a win against the California team San Diego State. Early on in the game San Diego State jumped out to a 14 point lead and looked in control of the game but QB Andy Dalton and his TCU teammates quickly responded with a touchdown, the first of five straight. San Diego made a late game surge though and brought the game to a 35-40 conclusion. TCU had 466 yards of total offense and in the end they came up with a big win keeping their slim BCS title hopes alive.

The Stanford Cardinals were suprised by the Arizona State Sun Devils. Stanford was likely expecting to just breeze through this game and come out with an easy win but instead they were handed a challenge. It took a late game clinching drive led by Heisman hopeful QB Andrew Luck for Stanford to clinch the game 17-14. If you look at the stats Stanford looks like it would have dominated. Stanford had 420 yards to Arizona State's 268 and Stanford also had 15 more first downs. But it proved to be a battle to the end as Arizona State would not go away but Stanford was determined there was not going to be an upset.

Ohio State also had a tough battle at home against Penn State... for the first half at least. Penn State completely dominated Ohio State in the first half and as a result went into the locker room with a 14-3 lead. This game however, proved to be a story of two halfs. Ohio State's luck turned in the second half as they scored five straight TDs, two of which were interception returns for TD's. Ohio State walked away with a comfortable 38-14 win and a chance to still capture a Big Ten Title and head to the Rose Bowl.

Complete Week 12 Standings

Alabama Once Again Upset

Les Miles ("The Mad Hatter")
awfulannouncing.blogspot.com

Saturday marked the day former LSU Coach Nick Saban and his Albama Crimson Tide team would come to play in Death Valley against Coach Les Miles (aka the "Mad Hatter") and his LSU Tigers. This game would prove to be a battle from start to finish. The Crimson Tide walked into the locker rooms at halftime with a 7 point lead but LSU had a 14 point fourth quarter and came back to win 24-21 in part due to a great call on 4th and 1. It was 4th and 1 on the Alabama 26 with around 10 minutes left when the Mad Hatter decided to take a timeout to talk over his options. What he came up stunned everyone, me included, instead of trusting his lineman to clear a small hole or banking on 223 pd RB Steven Ridley to just pound it up the middle he chose to run a reverse with TE Deangelo Peterson who until then had never ran the ball in a college game. But Alabama got caught off guard with almost all of their men in the box ready to stuff the inside run. This crazy call worked for Les Miles though and LSU did not only get the one yard they needed for a first down but also an extra 22 yards. This positioned LSU on the Alabama three and three plays later LSU punched the ball into the endzone and converted on a 2 point conversion to take a 21-14 lead. LSU would never relenquish the lead and in the end picked up a well earned victory. They just outplayed Alabama outgaining them 433-325 in total yards and beating them in turnovers 2-0. LSU rose to #5 in the BCS Standings and Alabama fell to #12

Complete BCS Standings

TCU Crushes Utah

TCU QB #14 Andy Dalton hands the ball off to RB #29 Matthew Tucker
statesman.com

Saturday the stage was set for a great game in Salt Lake City, UT. The undefeated #3 TCU Horned Frogs were coming to Utah to keep their conference and national championship hopes alive but Utah was also undefeated and hoping for the same. TCU came to play though, and absolutely dominated Utah in every aspect of the game. TCU outgained Utah in total yards 558-199! They dominated Utah in both rushing and passing while holding Utah to a measly 51 yards on the ground. Utah also had four turnovers and could only convert on 3-13 chances on third down. And as a result TCU came away with an easy 47-7 win.

#22 Virginia Tech vs Georgia Tech

Virginia Tech Hokies Helmet
jacktimes.com

Thursday Georgia Tech traveled to Lane Stadium in Virginia to play the Virginia Tech Hokies. Georgia Tech needed a win to have a shot at playing for an ACC title so they were looking for a big upset. The Hokies had a dissapointing start to their season losing their first two games to Boise State and James Madison but they have bounced back with six straight wins and were looking to make it seven. The Georgia Tech triple option offense is the best rushing attack in the nation averaging 317.4 yards per game yet their passing game is far inferior to Virginia Tech's. VT QB Tyrod Taylor leads the ACC with a 171.1 QB passing rating. The VT team is also 14th in the nation in scoring at 37 points per game. However this this game in the end came down to special teams and who wanted it more. David Wilson returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown with 2:23 left to put Virginia Tech up 28-21. Virginia Tech held on to win with the same score of 28-21. In terms of total yards VT got manhandled by Georgia Tech 426-335 but they had 23 first downs to Georgia Tech's 15. Both teams also had two turnovers with each starting QB throwing costly picks in the endzone. However in the end it just matters who picks up the win and the Hokies managed to that while keeping their ACC title hopes alive.

Complete ACC Standings

Week 10 and Again a New #1

Man i feel like a broken record as once again the old #1 was dethroned to be replaced by a new #1. This time it is was Auburn falling from the #1 to the #2 spot despite dominating Ole Miss 53-31. Oregon will take over as the #1 after crushing USC 53-32 in a game that was supposed to be a fairly close game. Oregon seems unstoppable on offense and it looks like they will have a good chance to win the remainder of their games. Their only two sort of challenges will be at California and home against Arizona.

Iowa Hawkeye
isoportacus.com

Also over the weekend two more unbeatens were defeated as Missouri and Michigan State. Michigan State although they had really only played one competitive team against Wisconsin (Michigan State won 34-24) they had risen to the #5 and they seemed to be on fire. But it probably comes as a surprise to almost no one, except maybe Michigan State fans, that they were crushed by Iowa 37-6. Iowa held Michigan State to 31 yards on the ground and outgained Michigan State 352-258 in total yards. Michigan State also had three turnovers to Iowa's 0. Michgan State fell to #14.

Nebraska RB Roy Helu Jr.

huskerlocker.com

Missouri was beaten 31-17 by the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Missouri just got ran over as Nebraska RB Roy Helu Jr. piled up a school single game record with 307 yards on the ground (also the most rushing yards by any player this year). Nebraska's star QB Taylor Martinez did not even play in the second half as he suffered from a bruised right leg. That did not change the fact that the Missouri defense got trampled and Missouri fell to #12 in the BCS rankings.

BCS Rankings