(1)Alabama 38, (13) LSU 17
With 10 minutes to go in the third quarter the score was tied at 17 and LSU had just stopped Bama on a third and short around mid-field. One could argue up to that point LSU was the better team. They had an Ernest Byner-like turnover on the goal-line to take away one score and they fumbled away a ball deep in their own territory. Yet the score was tied. The changing play was a fake punt that gave the Tide a first down. The Tide then rolled off 21 straight points. Mid-way through the 2nd quarter cameras caught Tide QB AJ McCarron on the side-lines. He said that “they can’t hang with us.” He was right. This isn’t the same LSU defense in the past. Alabama’s offensive line is much improved since earlier in the year. They controlled both lines of scrimmage. On offense they ran the ball for 193 yards and on defense they held LSU to only 43 yards rushing and they beat up Zach Mettenberger with several hard sacks. The offensive stars that benefitted from the strong line were McCarron with three touchdown passes and TJ Yeldon, who gained 133 yards on the ground.
How good are these two teams? Well all 22 starters are probably going to be drafted which is nothing new to these two. In the last five years 55 players have been drafted from LSU and Alabama. Eighteen of those have been first rounders. In a losing effort for LSU, Mettenberger, Landry and Beckham Jr helped their stock in the draft.
You think there was a little posturing for more money this week as Nick Saban’s agent reveals that the only job that he would leave Alabama for is the Texas job which just happens to be opening up after the season?
Top Free Safeties in 2014 NFL Draft
- Ha Ha Clinton Dix- Alabama
- Lamarcus Joyner- Florida State
- CJ Barnett- Ohio State
- Deone Buchanon-Washington State
- Ed Reynolds- Stanford
- Tre Boston- UNC
(2) Florida State 59, Wake Forest 3
FSU certainly looks like a team that should play for the national championship. They intercepted six passes on the day. The defense has taken a turn for the better since they moved to a 3-3-5 formation. This has moved LB Christian Jones to a down-lineman position. We think that the NFL scouts will see Jones as a very versatile player that will help boost his stock. James Winston did nothing to stop his Hesiman hopes throwing two touchdown passes on the day. Most college football fans are hoping for an Alabama-FloridaState championship game.
Only thing that made this victory sweeter was that in state rival Florida Gators lost at home to Vanderbilt for the first time since 1945.
Rip Ed Lauter. You know him as Captain Knauer the leader of the opposing team in the original Burt Reynolds (FSU grad) movie “The Longest Yard.” We love to honor the great character actors that you don’t know by name but know the face. Lauter certainly fits the bill.
(8) Missouri 48, Kentucky 17
Kentucky came out playing very tough but the game turned in the kicking game. Missouri first two touchdowns were a result of a shank punt and a blocked punt. James Franklin was supposed to be ready to go at QB for Tigers but Gary Pinkel stuck with Maty Mauk. Mauk has played extremely well since Franklin has gone down. He threw five touchdown passes against the Wildcats. We usually don’t like the lop pass in the red zone but when you have six foot six stud WR Dorial Green-Beckham to throw to we will make an exception. Green-Beckham caught four TD passes two of which were lobs on the day. Kony Early and Michael Sam can flat get after the passer. Tigers are very tough.
(9) Auburn 55, Tennessee 23
This was another game where special teams turned the tide. Chris Davis had two long punt returns in the first half for the Tigers. Davis’s 85 yard punt return for a touchdown broke a 13-13 tie and Auburn never looked back. Auburn withstood a good first quarter by Tennessee to wind up winning in a romp. Gus Malzahn’s speed rushing attack produced 444 yards rushing against a decent Tennessee front seven. Quarterback Nick Marshall rushed for 214 of those yards and two touchdowns. Tre Mason rushed for 117 yards and three scores. Auburn is now 9-1 on the season and has won six straight. Like Bob Griese in the 1973 playoffs (Griese attempted six passes in the AFC Title game and seven in the Super Bowl) Marshall only attempted 7 passes. We don’t think that will cut it in the “Iron Bowl”.
(15) Texas A&M 51, Mississippi State 41
Johnny Manziel showed some flaws in his game. The MississippiState lines are huge. They had a 30-40 lbs edge per man on the A&M lines. As a result they were able to get in Manziel’s face. The flaw we believe scouts will see is he often doesn’t step into throws when pressured. As a result he threw three interceptions. Now unlike Marcus Mariotta on Thursday he did make a ton of great plays as well. Manziel did throw five touchdown passes and threw for 446 yards. This game was very close. The yards and the first downs were nearly identical. We still enjoy Mike Evans as a pro prospect. The tall well built Aggies receiver caught five balls for 116 yards.
Virginia Tech 42, (11) Miami-Florida 24
Maybe Logan Thomas should play in a driving rain storm every game. The VT QB came in committing eight turnovers the last two weeks. In Philippine-like Typhoon conditions he missed only six passes throwing for 366 yard and two touchdowns. The first three Hokies touchdowns were set-up by special teams. Miami fumbled a punt, fumbled a kick-off and their punter’s knee hit the ground on a low snap. This was old time Beamer ball special teams. The Hurricanes had a let down after their dismantling last week against FloridaState. They were also playing without Duke Johnson their star RB for the first time.
Amazing that the Miami players have to a man have stood up for Ritchie Incognito against Jonathan Martin. NFL locker room still only place where bullying is accepted. That being said if our team needed and offensive lineman and the only two people available were Martin and Incognito, we’d take Incognito. Not sure what that says about society that we would take a knuckle-dragger over a Stanford grad. Where not trying to win a nice guy competition but he gives a better chance to win on Sunday.
Top Cornerbacks in 2014 NFL draft
- Jason Verrett- TCU
- Ifo Ekpre-Olomu- Oregon
- Antone Exum- Virginia Tech
- Aaron Colvin- Oklahoma
- Bradley Roby- Ohio State
- Darqueze Dennard- Michigan State
- (Tie) Louchiez Purifoy/ Marcus Roberson- Florida
(14) Oklahoma State 42, Kansas 6
Not much to say about this mis-match from the start. Cowboys seem to be getting their act together for a tough stretch run. Clint Chelf threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns. Cowboys are going to need to run better in their next three games. They averaged only 2.7 yards per carry at home against Kansas. That won’t cut it against, Texas, Baylor or Oklahoma.
Former Cowboys WR Justin Blackmon was suspended “Indefinitely” by Roger Goodell for substance abuse. He will be gone for at least this season. Blackmon apologized to everyone in the Human Race, thanked Jesus and vowed to enter rehabilitation. Invoking a little known clause in the last Collective Bargaining Agreement where the Commisioner can add conditions to the punishments, his High Holiness ruled that for reinstatement. Blackmon must serve his suspension in GuantanomoBay.
(19) UCLA 31, Arizona 26
Freshman Linebacker Myles Jacks was the difference maker in the game for the Bruins. Jack recovered Ka’Deem Carey’s fumble in the endzone which could have been the difference in the game. But Jack did more. With the Bruins without RB Jordan James, Jack filled in at RB too. He gained 120 yards on six carries. His 66 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter gave UCLA a 31-19 lead.
Ishmael Adams sealed the win by intercepting a BJ Decker pass with only 1:46 to play. UCLA QB Brett Hundley passed for two touchdowns and had a beautiful run for a third. He responded with a nice game after a few horrible performances two of the last three weeks.
Word out of Houston is the Astrodome is going to be destroyed after an election night loss to make it a convention hall. Biggest game in the history of the Astrodome is still the Elvin Hayes led Cougars over the Wooden dynasty UCLA basketball team.
(21) UCF 19, Houston 14
This seemed to be the week that star QB’s struggled. Blake Bortles had played wonderful all year and had significantly raised his stock in the draft. He played his worst game of the year, but the Knights defense saved the day. Holding the Cougars high flying offense to only 14 points is some job. The Knights did the majority of their damage on the ground. Strom Johnson gained 127 yards and William Stanback had 74 yards and two touchdowns.
Top Strong Safeties in 2014 NFL Draft
- Craig Loston- LSU
- Ahmad Dixon- Baylor
- Dion Bailey- USC
- Hakeem Smith- Louisville
- Isiah Lewis- Michigan State
- Ty Zimmerman-Kansas State
(23) Wisconsin 27, BYU 17
This was a huge game for Ohio State. Buckeyes need Wisconsin to win out so they don’t go undefeated and get passed by Baylor and potentially one loss teams like Stanford. The reason they could get passed is because the Big 10 has such a horrible reputation this year. This reputation is well deserved. If you like boring, un-athletic, plodding football with little or no entertainment value then do we have a conference for you. Did you watch the Nebraska-Michigan game? UGLY!
Wisconsin has now won four straight. This 10 point win over BYU will not help the league at all. Wisconsin rushed for 229 yards on the ground. James White was the star gaining 147 yards and two touchdowns.
Pitt 28, (24) Notre Dame 21
Going into the fourth quarter this game was tied at 21. Notre Dame still had hopes of a BCS bowl game. That all went up in smoke with a sloppy last quarter. It started with Tommy Rees throwing an interception in the end zone. On his next pass he was intercepted again by Pitt’s Ray Vinopal and Vinopal returned the ball inside the Irish 10 yard line. Freshman James Connor ran in from one yard out to give Pitt the upset victory.
All the luck Notre Dame received last year is not to be found this year. Their star DE Stephon Tuitt was thrown out of the game early in the second quarter on a questionable “targeting call”.
Word came out this week that former Pitt great Tony Dorsett has been diagnosed with CTE. Dorsett has said he has had troubles controlling his emotions and often gets lost driving to his daughter’s volleyball or soccer games. Former Bills offensive lineman and hall of famer Joe DeLamielleure and former Giants DT Leonard Marshall took part in the study as well and both have signs of CTE too.
Kansas State 49, (25) Texas Tech 26
Texas Tech defense was found out to be a fraud a few weeks ago against Oklahoma. Things have only gotten worst the last two weeks. This was a disaster. The Kansas State offensive line absolutely dominated the Tech defense. It was embarrassing that this game was in front of the home town fans in Lubbock. Kansas State scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a 35-10 halftime lead. On the day the Wildcats rushed for 291 yards. Jake Waters and Daniels Sams scored two TD’s on the ground and John Hubert added a fifth. Hubert rushed for 157 yards on the day.
The words of the one & only Michael Ray Richardson when asked about the state of his New York Knickerbocker basketball team apply to this Texas Tech defense.
“The ship she be sinking!”
Near the end of his NBA Career, during a bad stretch of Knicks’ basketball, a reporter asked Michael Ray about the state of his team.
Reporter: “Michael, what do you think is happening to this basketball team?”
Michael: “The ship she be sinking!”
Reporter: “How far can it sink?”
Michael: “The sky is the limit!”
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Finally:
In music news this week, two items caught our attention:
1.) Legendary rock n’ roll pioneer Lou Reed passed away.
2.) The Jonas Brothers officially broke up.
Tragedy all around as both these items were treated with equal weight by the Mainstream Media that takes its cues today from “Corporate Donors & Inside Edition” rather than “Journalistic Integrity & Woodward and Bernstein.”
The Jonas Brothers cited the following reasons for their breakup:
1.) “Creative Differences”
2.) “The Need to Pursue Exciting Individual Projects”
3.) “The Biological Need to Abandon their Group Vow of Celibacy”
… no mention of the fact that their music sales have been abysmal for several years or that what was left of their shrinking fan base had caught up to the fact they have little or no discernible talent.
