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Posted 10/05/2009 at 01:48 AM
Here are a handful of notes from the games played this weekend on the college gridiron.
Louisiana Tech kicked off the week by blowing out Hawaii. This was a very bad trip for the Warriors as they lost QB Greg Alexander for the season with a knee injury.
Syracuse QB Greg Paulus had a disastrous game against South Florida. Paulus was picked off five times, and the Orange finished with seven turnovers in the 34-20 loss.
Purdue seemed well on its way to a big win against Northwestern, leading 21-3 early in the second quarters. But the Wildcats took the game over from there and scored 24 unanswered points for the win. Purdue killed itself with five lost fumbles plus an interception.
The troubles continue for faded power Florida State. The Seminoles never could figure out how to stop Boston College RB Montel Harris, who ran for 179 yards. He capped off a great afternoon with a 42 yard dash to win the game for the Eagles.
Dan LeFevour won’t win the Heisman because he plays at Central Michigan. But LeFevour should at least get a chance to attend the proceedings at the Downtown AC. He had another terrific game Saturday, passing for 268 yards and running for another 98, as the Chippewas defeated Buffalo.
Toledo won a wild game with Ball State. The two teams went back and forth throughout, with the Rockets getting the winning tally on a long last-minute TD pass as the Cardinals secondary inexplicably let a receiver get behind them. Aaron Opelt had a huge day for the winners with 422 passing yards.
Temple is making some noise in the MAC. The Owls scored an easy win at Eastern Michigan with Bernard Pierce rambling for 180 yards and two scores in the victory.
Tyrod Taylor had his best game under center for Virginia Tech as the Hokies got past a dead spot on the schedule and defeated Duke. Taylor was 17 for 22 and accumulated 327 passing yards in the win.
Washington had several chances to upset Notre Dame, but the Irish put together a pair of great goal line stands and then won the contest in overtime. Still, it was another big day for the Huskies backfield combo of Jake Locker and Chris Polk. Jimmy Claussen may be entering the Heisman picture as he was superb again at crunch time and threw for 422 yards overall.
Michigan State dominated Michigan for most of the game and won the stats handily. But they never put the Wolverines away and Michigan had a chance to go for the win in overtime after a late TD. Head coach Rich Rodriguez made a tactical error in playing for overtime, as he had the Spartans on the ropes. He also had the second best team on the field, so going for the deuce and the win was the right move. Instead, the teams went to OT and MSU won it following after Michigan QB Tate Forcier got picked off.
Bowling Green had a 26-13 first down edge, and ran 86 plays to only 54 for Ohio. But the Bobcats made the big plays and picked up an important MAC road win in the process.
UNLV was +3 in net turnovers against Nevada, which is a stat that will usually indicate a victory. But not this time. The teams were tied at 28 late in the third quarter, but the Wolf Pack took the game over and the Rebels had a complete collapse. UNR scored the final 35 points and ended up with a whopping 773 yards of offense, including 559 on the ground.
Colorado State got off to a great start at Idaho. The Rams were in command early with a 14-0 lead. But it was all Vandals after that as QB Nathan Enderle had another big game. CSU had a chance to force overtime with a late TD, but missed on the two-point conversion and absorbed their second straight loss. Idaho is now 4-1 and is one of the nation’s most surprising teams.
Iowa State scored a late TD on a deflected pass and appeared to have their game with Kansas State heading for overtime. But the Wildcats blocked the extra point and came away with an exciting 24-23 win.
Oregon State took advantage of some mistakes by Arizona State and ended a very lengthy losing streak when visiting the Sun Devils. ASU won the stats, but not the game, and as is usually the case, the Dun Devils were overly aggressive and hurt themselves with some crucial and needless penalties.
Oregon has gotten red hot and while Washington State was little more than a workout, the Ducks were still very impressive. Oregon had a 514-158 edge in yards, and a nearly incomprehensible 31-4 advantage in first downs.
Central Florida trailed Memphis 14-9 in the third quarter, but the Knights gained control and scored the game’s last 23 points. Memphis mentor Tommy West is very much on the hot seat and there have been rumors circulating that he’ll be bought out shortly.
Troy Gerhardt proved to be too much for yet another defensive front. The Stanford RB had another big game, rumbling for 134 yards as the Cardinal dealt UCLA its first loss.
TCU had the expected easy time with SMU. The Horned Frogs dominated and while the Mustangs don’t run it well or very often, they were just plain stuffed by the TCU rush defense. The final yardage tally was 418-224 for the Frogs and SMU ended up with -16 rushing yards.
San Diego State had way more trouble than they should have with New Mexico State. The Aztecs ended up winning by a decent margin, but the game was tied at 17 before SDSU got it going in the final quarter to win, 34-17.
Wyoming may have found themselves a star in QB Austyn Carta-Samuels. The redshirt freshman was superb as the Cowboys got the underdog win at Florida Atlantic. Carta-Samuels passed for 223 yards and ran for another 69 in the win, and Wyoming is now a surprising 3-2.
If you want to make a case for Case Keenum as a Heisman candidate, Saturday’s performance didn’t hurt. Keenum was an amazing 51 for 76 for 536 yards. Houston put together 664 yards of total offense and held a wide 42-26 edge in first downs. But the Cougars lost the one stat that counts the most. UTEP had this game circled and the Miners kayoed the BCS hopes for Houston in the 58-41 upset.
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