How many seasons hung in the balance late in the second halves of today’s games in college football? It was scary Saturday for programs like Ohio State, USC and to a lesser extent Michigan and Florida, but no team escaped the grips of death more than ninth ranked Georgia.
Lets highlight what turned out to be the big games in the week of college football, then get a quick shot of the rest of the action.
(#9) Georgia 14, Colorado 13
Oh, what most people would give to be freshman quarterback Joe Cox right about now on Georgia’s campus.
With the Bulldogs down 13-0 and starter Matt Stafford struggling to move the offense, Georgia coach Mark Richt inserted Cox late in the third quarter. What ensued might turn out to be the comeback that saved the Bulldogs entire season.
With a little more than nine minutes left in the game, Cox threw two touchdown passes – including a 20 yard completion to Martrez Milner with just 46 seconds to go in the contest – to clinch a 14-13 victory for Georgia and allow Bulldog fans everywhere a chance to change their pants.
Most impressed with: Obviously Cox, who had attempted just five passes in Georgia’s first two games, before going 10 of 13 for 153 yards and two touchdowns in the rescue job against Colorado. As Georgia is set to start its SEC schedule against Mississippi next weekend, Cox might have earned a starting job.
Least impressed with: The Buffs defense, which had stuffed the Bulldogs for over three quarters only to wilt at the end. I don’t know who has a longer ride back to Colorado this weekend – the Buffalo players or the actual buffalo that the school hauled over 1,500 miles just to make an appearance at the game.
(#1) Ohio State 28, (#24) Penn State 6
Anybody who actually saw this game and not the final score knows that OSU had its hands full today with Penn State – especially early in the contest.
Penn State shut down and shut out OSU in the first half while preserving a 3-0 lead. Early in the third and fourth quarters, however, the Buckeyes got touchdowns from RB Antonio Pittman on a 12 yard run and Brian Robiskie on a 38 yard pass reception after QB Troy Smith did his best Houdini move to keep the play alive (that might have been the play of the day).
With the score 14-3 midway through the fourth, PSU tailback Tony Hunt broke off a 34 yard run to get Penn State down to the Buckeyes five-yard line. OSU’s defense took over from there, however, and stuffed Penn State on three plays from the goal line and forced the Nittany Lions to settle for a field goal to close the gap to 14-6.
The Buckeye defense was doesn’t there though, as they picked off PSU quarterback Anthony Morelli twice on the Nittany Lions final two offensive possessions and took both passes back for touchdowns to seal the game.
Most impressed with: Ohio State’s defense has been impressive all season, but it was possibly at its best Saturday. The goal line stop and the two interceptions were remarkable (that was excellent body control to stay in bounds by Malcolm Jenkins on his 61 yard TD return).
Also, Hunt (24 carries for 135 yards) worked for every single yard he gained today. I know his team lost, but he was PSU’s only offensive weapon and he ran hard all day.
Least impressed with: Morelli wasn’t asked to do too much today – just don’t lose the game. Well, that’s exactly what he did while finishing with 106 yards and threw two game changing interceptions. If he put together even a decent performance Saturday, Penn State might have opened up a bigger lead than 3-0 in the first half and possibly could have won the game.
Quick Shots:
As nice as Troy Smith to Ted Ginn Jr. usually looks on Saturday, the Big Ten might have an even more exciting duo in (#6) Michigan’s Chad Henne and Mario Manningham. After torching Notre Dame for three scores last week, the two hooked up twice more today in the Wolverines 27-13 victory over Wisconsin. Although Michigan came out a bit flat and Henne got picked off twice, the Wolverines defense is playing fast and aggressive and will be a tough task for any opponent the rest of the season…Possibly the most surprising top 25 team in the nation right now is (#19) Clemson. Coming off an upset victory over Florida State last week, the Tigers clinched their third victory of the year with 52-7 shellacking of North Carolina. With the way its playing, if Clemson didn’t lose a one-point heartbreaker in Boston College a few weeks ago, the Tigers would be ranked significantly higher than No. 19…No real surprises came in the rest of the top 10: (#2) Auburn handled Buffalo 38-7…(#3) USC wasn’t overly impressive, but did secure a 20-3 win over Arizona…(#4) West Virginia held off East Carolina 27-10 with Steve Slaton only gaining 72 yards on the ground…(#5) Florida had a margin of trouble with Kentucky, but rallied to secure a 26-7 win over the Wildcats…(#7) Texas scored 30 points in the first half alone and crushed Iowa State 37-14…(#8) Louisville keeps persevering and trumped Kansas State 24-6 on the road…(#10) LSU nearly had a shutout against Tulane in a 49-7 blowout…and finally just outside the top 10: (#11) Virginia Tech held off a pesky Cincinnati team 29-13 despite being down at halftime.
Random thoughts:
– Boy, when (#21) Nebraska schedules powder puff teams it really doesn’t push the envelope too much does it? Louisiana Tech, Nicholls State and Troy? Geez, don’t strain yourself Nebraska.
– As good as Ohio State’s defense has played, the Buckeyes have to be somewhat concerned that they have been gauged on the ground in every contest expect the Cincinnati game.
– (#18) Florida State threw a 57-yard touchdown pass with just five minutes remaining in a game the Seminoles were already up 47-7 on Rice. Do you feel good about yourself now that you ran up the score against the Owls, after choking against Clemson last week FSU?
– Is it just me or does (#21) California seem like the kid who messed up with its parents and is now trying to make up for it any way it can? Sorry Golden Bears, but you already lost everybody’s trust when you were ranked in the top 10 to start the season and then you laid an egg in Tennessee.
