I thought this week in college football was going to be a massive dud. However, after UConn’s emotional victory over Notre Dame and now this thrilling finish in Oxford, I’ve been proven wrong.

Although the majority of the game was evenly matched, people are simply going to focus on the Tigers’ final drive. Ole Miss came out with a contagious passion, displaying confidence on both ends of the field. The Rebels held LSU to five plays and nine yards in the first quarter — pretty impressive. Still, LSU capitalized on key opportunities, particularly after a blocked field goal which Patrick Peterson returned for a 53-yard touchdown. Despite their underwhelming start, LSU had a slight lead over their opponents at the half: 17-15.

Before this game, LSU was 38-5 when leading at the half under coach Les Miles. That’s strange, because what followed was a downright sloppy performance by the Tigers’ defense. Dexter McCluster — one of the most exciting players to watch in all of college football — embarrassed the Tigers’ front seven, exposing its weaknesses on many of his 24 carries. Rebels quarterback Jevan Snead had an solid game, but it was McCluster who actually threw his team’s sole touchdown, finding Shay Hodge in the fourth.

With less than two minutes left in the game, it looked as though Ole Miss had this one in the bag. However, LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson has shown essential composure under pressure. With the clock winding down, he hit Rueben Randle for a 25-yard touchdown pass. The score was 25-23 in favor of Ole Miss, so the Tigers went for the two-point conversion. They failed, but the Tigers weren’t ready to quit.

In his deliberate coaching style, Les Miles immediately ordered an onside kick. Somehow sneaking by McCluster, the Tigers’ Brandon LaFell recovered the ball. Jefferson then connected with LaFell for a 26-yard reception. For a brief moment, I thought LSU was going to pull through. Three plays later it was fourth-and-26 from the Ole Miss 48. Only nine seconds remained. What, only nine seconds? Where did all the time go? Well, LSU wasted 17 seconds after their third down before calling a time out. The stadium held its breath as Jefferson threw downfield to Terrance Toliver. Surrounded by Rebels, Toliver made a remarkable catch at the Rebels’ six-yard line. Here comes the Tigers’ field goal team to win the game. Wait, never mind. With the clock stopped on the one second mark for the referees to reset the chains, Les Miles froze. What happened to that readiness? His field goal team never stepped on the field. Instead, Jefferson attempted to spike the ball. Blah. The clock ran out and Ole Miss had defeated LSU at home for the first time in eleven years.

It was a perplexing end to a magnificent game.

Huskies running back Andre Dixon scored a four-yard touchdown in double overtime to hand Notre Dame their second straight defeat. I think Charlie Weiss has already fled the country.

The Huskies (5-5) had lost three straight painfully close games since Howard was killed. This time they made the plays at the end to win in dramatic fashion.

Jordan Todman ran for 130 yards on 26 carries, including a 43-yard TD run for UConn. He also added a 96-yard kickoff return for a TD. Dixon rushed for 114 yards on 20 carries.

Notre Dame was upset last season by Syracuse in its final home game of the season.

Jimmy Clausen was 30 of 45 passing for 329 yards for Notre Dame. Golden Tate had nine catches for 123 yards and Michael Floyd had eight catches for 104 yards.

This victory is especially meaningful for the Huskies considering their teammate Jasper Howard was slain last month.

At least the Wolverines managed to keep the Buckeyes in check for the first half. Nevertheless, countless mistakes led to their downfall in front of their fans in Ann Arbor.

Michigan had given up at least 400 yards per game all season, so they were facing a huge challenge against a high-scoring Buckeyes team. Although they’ve done well against the pass, their front seven has been weak at best. That being said, Jim Tressell wisely had his team run the ball throughout the game. Terrelle Pryor’s arm has improved, but nobody expected him to throw into Michigan’s pass coverage. Thus, Pryor only passed for 67 yards, but his Buckeyes rushed for 251 yards total, including 74 of his own.

Without considering Ohio State’s proficient running game, there is no way Michigan is going to beat their rivals when their quarterback, Tate Forcier, is tossing four interceptions. From the outset, things didn’t look good for the Wolverines. During Michigan’s first drive, Forcier fumbled the ball outside of his own end zone, providing an easy touchdown for the Buckeyes’ Cameron Heyward. For all his shortcomings, the freshman quarterback did throw for 226 yards against an intimidating Buckeyes defense, so there’s promise.

In the third quarter, Pryor connected with Daniel Herron on a beautifully constructed play for a 12-yard touchdown. That brought the score to 21-10, giving the Buckeyes a large enough lead to focus on containing the Wolverines’ offense.

In defeating Michigan for the sixth year in a row, the Buckeyes also clinched an outright Big Ten championship. They will head into the Rose Bowl on a five-game winning streak. With guys like Kurt Coleman, Brandon Saine, and Herron stepping up, Ohio State will have a great chance in their BCS game. Their losses to USC and Purdue earlier this season must have never happened.

USC’s Pete Carroll says he’s over Stanford head coach John Harbaugh going for two when the Cardinal were already up 48-21 in the second half of their victory over the Trojans last Saturday. But Carroll also said that he wouldn’t forget about the play either.

From SPORTSbyBROOKS.com:

MASON: What do you think, now a couple of days removed, of Harbaugh going for the two-point conversion?

CARROLL: Well, really, even since the time that it happened, you know, I haven’t bothered with it, and I know everybody else has and taken a lot of time to kinda discuss it and all. I think, you know, it is what you think it is, you know, it’s a statement that you can take away that maybe they were trying to accomplish something that seems out of the ordinary, you know, I don’t really care, to tell you the truth, it doesn’t matter.

And when you look at it like, uh, they’re ahead in the game and they’re in command of it, they really get to do whatever they want to do, and it doesn’t bother me to worry about it anymore, you know what I mean? Jim came out and said what he wanted to say, you know, a couple different times about it and, you know, to me it’s dropped, I don’t care.
Will I forget it? No, I’m not forgetting it. But uh, you know, to me, it’s in the past.

What’s funny is that everyone is concentrating on how Stanford went for two to make a statement to USC, but what Carroll and everyone needs to focus on is that the Cardinal whipped the Trojans’ ass for four quarters. It wasn’t just one play; Stanford owned USC on the Trojans’ home field for 60 minutes. That’s the bigger deal.

So Carroll truly does need to forget about the one play (albeit, an embarrassing play) and concentrate on what has happened this year to his program. To hell with the two-point conversation: How does that once stout USC defense allow 36 (Oregon State), 47 (Oregon) and 55 (Stanford) points over the course of a four game span?

Photo from fOTOGLIF
]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/20/carroll-says-he-won%e2%80%99t-forget-harbaugh-stanford%e2%80%99s-2-point-attempt/feed/ 0 http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/20/blogging-the-bloggers-marv-favre-and-more/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/20/blogging-the-bloggers-marv-favre-and-more/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:30:30 +0000 John Paulsen http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=29412 - THE SPORTRESS OF BLOGITUDE (I have to say, I like that name) has the details of a Marv Albert/50 Cent scuffle that happened backstage at a recent taping of “Jimmy Kimmel.”

- THE SPORTING BLOG reports that detainees at the Wisconsin National Guard camp over in Iraq are using Brett Favre’s shenanigans against the soldiers.

- BLACK SPORTS ONLINE wonders if anyone cares about the concussion problem in the NFL.

- SHUTDOWN CORNER discusses the Jay Cutler and Lovie Smith’s decision not to sit down for an interview with Bob Costas in advance of the team’s Sunday night game against the Eagles.

- RUMORS & RANTS lists some of the worst calls of all time.

Without quarterback Zac Robinson (concussion), No. 12 Oklahoma State was almost victims of the first big upset of Week 12.

The Cowboys needed a fourth quarter touchdown reception by Justin Blackmon from Brandon Weeden and two big defensive stops to beat Colorado, 31-28 on Thursday night.

Turnovers almost doomed OK State. They lost three fumbles on the night (two on muffed punts) and junior quarterback Alex Cate was also intercepted to give the Buffalos scoring opportunities the entire night.

Cate struggled to make an impact while starting in place of the injured Robinson. In fact, he didn’t complete a pass and finished 0-for-9 with the one interception. The sophomore Weeden had to come in and rescue the sputtering Cowboy offense, which he successfully did by completing 10-of-15 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns.

Of course, OK State’s offense got plenty of production out of senior running back Keith Toston, who compiled 170 yards with one touchdown on 30 carries. On the night, the Cowboys rushed for 232 yards and held Colorado to just 13 yards on the ground.

With this win, Oklahoma State keeps its slim hopes alive in the Big 12 South. The Cowboys would need to beat Oklahoma next week and have Texas (6-0) lose both its remaining games in order to leapfrog the Longhorns in the standings. But chances are Texas won’t slip up against a struggling Kansas, which has lost five in a row and whose head coach is facing allegations of player abuse.

Kansas head football coach Mark Manginio, who is facing allegations of verbal abuse and inappropriate physical contact against players, defended himself on a sports radio station in Kansas City on Thursday.

Per ESPN.com:

“We are sending kids out into the world prepared,” Mangino told the radio station. “But I can’t do the work of some parents, what they should have done before [the players] got to me. Some of these guys are bitter, they are bitter and [the allegations] are about that.

“There are some things that happen for 18 years of their lives that I can’t change in four years of college. Can’t do it. Can’t change their behaviors, can’t change their attitudes.”

Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins has launched an investigation into Mangino allegedly grabbing, yelling at and putting his finger in the chest of senior linebacker Arist Wright, who had been laughing during a walkthrough or practice prior to the Colorado game on Oct. 17, two people briefed on the situation told ESPN’s Joe Schad on Tuesday night.

Since then, several former Kansas players come forward with allegations of verbal abuse.

“There are people who want to embarrass the program for their 15 minutes of fame,” Mangino told the radio station.

This isn’t the first time that the KU football program has come under some kind of investigation under Mangino’s watch.

In 2005, Kansas’ athletic department reported to the NCAA that several members of the football program had committed academic fraud under Mangino. In 2006, a graduate assistant was found to have supplied answers to correspondence courses being taken by potential athletes. As a result, the football team was limited for two years in its recruitment of junior college transfers and also lost two scholarships for each of the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

Granted, Mangino said that he didn’t know anything was going on and did take responsibility for his staff. But one has to wonder whether or not these recent allegations will lead to his ousting at KU if he’s found guilty of any wrong doing.

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