Category: College Football (Page 231 of 296)

College Football Rankings Week 4: Top 5 stays the same

Jarrett LeeThe latest AP college football rankings and USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll have been released, with the top 5 teams all staying put.

USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll Top 10:

1. USC
2.Oklahoma
3. Georgia
4. Florida
5. Missouri
6. LSU
7. Texas
8. Wisconsin
9. Texas Tech
10. Alabama

Four programs dropped out of the top 25, including East Carolina (No. 17), West Virginia (No. 22), Arizona State (No. 24) and Florida State (No. 25), folloing their losses last week.

It’s nice to see Vanderbilt has finally cracked the top 25, coming in at No. 25. After ECU was beat by NC State last Saturday, maybe Vandy will now become the new Cinderella story this season.

Backup QB Jarrett Lee leads LSU over Auburn 26-21

Jarrett LeeLSU-Auburn lived up to the hype as LSU beat its SEC brethren 26-21 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night.

LSU backup quarterback Jarrett Lee was forced into the game after starter Andrew Hatch came out of the game after getting his bell run early in the second half. Lee actually had relieved Hatch in the second quarter, but was 0 for 5 on his first five passes and was intercepted by Gabe McKenzie, who returned it 24 yards for a touchdown.

But Lee completed his first pass of the game, a 16-yard completion to Richard Dickson, when he replaced the injured Hatch early in the third quarter. Three plays later Lee, who was hit right before releasing the ball, connected with Mitchell for a 39-yard touchdown to cut Auburn’s deficit to 14-10. With less than two minutes remaining in the game and Auburn 21-20, Lee completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Brandon LaFell, which wound up being the game-winning score for LSU.

This game started off like many expected – a defensive struggle. Neither team’s quarterbacks could make plays in the first half, but once things got rolling, the second half was filled with exciting moments. While he did throw two interceptions in the game, Auburn QB Chris Todd finished with respectable numbers (17 of 32 passing for 250 yards) and a completed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Robert Dunn, which at that point gave AU a 21-20 lead.

This game was again proved how superior the SEC is to any other conference. The top game in the ACC today, No. 18 Wake Forest vs. No. 24 Florida State, was a turnover-laden mess (which the Deacons won 12-3, by the way). And no game in the Big Ten or Pac 10 (USC was off again?!) was exciting, outside of maybe OSU QB Terrelle Pryor’s four-touchdown performance over unranked Troy. With the way Auburn and LSU went at it Saturday night, it’s hard to argue that any other college football conference produces the talent-level the SEC does. Some of the hits in this game were NFL-caliber.

This just in: Chase Daniel is freaking good

Chase DanielMissouri quarterback Chase Daniel completed a school-best 20 passes in a row to help the Tigers crush Buffalo 42-21 on Saturday. Daniel finished 36 of 43 for a career-high 439 yards and two touchdowns to help No. 5 Missouri stay undefeated.

It was over when… Chase Daniel hit Chase Coffman on a 4-yard TD pass to put the Tigers up 40-21 in the fourth.
Gameball goes to… Daniel, who threw for two touchdowns and a career-high 439 yards.
Stat of the game… 20. Daniel set a Big 12 record with 20 straight completions.

After getting harassed last year by Okalahoma, voters are waiting to see how Daniel will fare against better defenses. Missouri is off next week, but Daniel will get his first big test two weeks from now when the Tigers travel to Nebraska. Two weeks after that, Missouri plays the Longhorns in Texas, so he could essentially win or lose the Heisman next month.

I know outside of Illinois in the opener, Daniel hasn’t faced a team with a quality secondary, but he looks phenomenal.

Why isn’t MSU’s Javon Ringer getting more Heisman love?

Javon RingerRunning back Javon Ringer carried Michigan State to a 23-7 victory over Notre Dame in East Lansing on Saturday. And he did it almost single-handedly, rushing for 201 yards on a whopping 39 carries and also scored two touchdowns.

Ringer’s 200-yard day was his second in as many weeks after rushing for 282 yards in a 17-0 win over Florida Atlantic last Saturday. So far on the season, he has totaled 699 yards on 143 carries and 11 touchdowns.

So why aren’t we hearing his name mentioned more for the Heisman? Entering this week (as in, before his 201-yard effort against Notre Dame) only Navy’s Shun White and Connecticut’s Donald Brown had more rushing yards than Ringer. And no back had as many touchdowns. Yet oddsmakers currently have Ringer has a 20/1 long shot to win college football’s most prestigious award.

Playing for Michigan State doesn’t help, but Ringer deserves more attention than he’s getting. And as previously noted, he has been the backbone of the Spartans’ offense and often carries them to victories. While he doesn’t have the size of OSU’s Beanie Wells, Ringer has a thick lower half and runs hard between the tackles. And anyone who has watched him over the past couple weeks and throughout his career knows how explosive he can be. He also benefits from his small stature, because defenders lose him behind MSU’s big offensive line.

It’ll be interesting to see how Ringer fares later in the season against better Big Ten defenses like Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State. If he can continue to turn out 150-plus yard games, he’ll definitely turn some voters’ heads. (If he hasn’t already.)

College Football Recap: NC State upsets No. 15 East Carolina 30-24 in OT

No. 15 East Carolina escaped disaster last week, edging out unranked Tulane 28-24 when QB Patrick Pinkney threw a 24-yard touchdown pass with under two minutes remaining in the game. But the Cinderella Pirates couldn’t pull off a similar feat this week as the NC State Wolfpack stunned ECU 30-24 in overtime on Saturday.

Dekota MarshallPinkney wasn’t as sharp Saturday as he was in leading the Pirates to a 3-0 record to start the season. He threw for 210 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted once and also fumbled on ECU’s only possession in overtime when Wolfpack defensive end Shea McKeen came from the backside and sacked an unsuspecting Pinkney. The fumble eventually led to Andre Brown’s game-winning 10-yard touchdown.

It was a gritty win by NC State, who was led by freshman quarterback Russell Wilson, who was 21 of 31 passing for 210 yards and three touchdowns. Wilson’s five-yard touchdown pass to George Bryan with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth forced overtime.

The Pirates’ dramatic early-season wins over Virginia Tech and West Virginia must seem like a decade ago after suffering this loss. ECU’s schedule doesn’t give them a chance for redemption either, so their thin BCS title aspirations are now dashed. Still, the Pirates provided college football fans with plenty of excitement and if he continues to play as well as he has, Pinkney might have a future in the NFL (possibly as a receiver if teams won’t look at him as a quarterback).

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