Johnny Beerpong
(1)Alabama 49, (6) Texas A&M 42
This game started off just the same as last year. A&M got off to a fast start and jumped out to an early 14-0 lead. Alabama then rattled off 35 straight points. The A&M defense is not an SEC defense. In fact the A&M defense maybe one of the worst defenses in all of college football. Part of the 35 point barrage was Vinnie Sunseri picking off Johnny Manziel and returning it 73 yards for a touchdown. Just when you were counting this game as the worst “Game of The Century” ever, Johnny Manziel got hot again. The Alabama defense couldn’t stop him towards the end of the game. Manziel finished throwing for 464 yards and five touchdowns. He did have two costly picks. The other pick was in the end zone.
In terms of draft watch: Jake Matthews proved he is the best tackle in the country. He is playing so much better than Alabama’s Cyrus Kouandjio right now. Manziel helped his stock by destroying Nick Saban’s defense. A&M WR Mike Evans had seven catches for 279 yards. ‘Bama had to switch their best corner on him by the middle of the first quarter. It didn’t work. AJ McCarron threw for 334 yards but we are still not sold on him as a pro.
Bama’s star linebackers C.J. Mosley and Adrian Hubbard didn’t help themselves.
(2)Oregon 59, Tennessee 14
Oregon QB Marcus Mariota and RB De’Anthony Thomas are unstoppable so far this year. Some thought that they wouldn’t be able to put up the video game numbers against a SEC defense. Well, Mariota threw for 456 yards in carving up the Vols defense.
The game started strong for Tennessee, whose offensive line has five prospects that might be drafted. Tennessee took a 7-0 lead before Oregon rattled off 59 straight points. Chip Kelly must be so proud.
De’Anthony Thomas showed scouts he can run inside the tackles as well as outside against a bigger defense. Mariota will be one of the higher picks in the ’15 NFL draft.
Prevailing thought from NFL insiders is that Chip Kelly’s offense will work in the short run but that Michael Vick will never make it through the season. Finally something new and compelling from the NFL and as always it started in the college game first. NFL filled with a bunch of “we ain’t never done that before” mouth breathers.
(16) UCLA 41, (23) Nebraska 21
Will the real Nebraska defense stand-up? Was it the defense that gave up 602 yards to Wyoming or the defense that in week two gave up only 284 yards to Southern Miss? The answer was the first game against Wyoming. Last year UCLA gained 653 yards against the “Blackshirt” defense and this year in Lincoln they gained 504 total yards.
UCLA QB, Brett Hundley has a veteran offensive line to work behind. He started out slow but finished fast. Nebraska jumped out to a 21-3 lead and Hundley was playing poorly. He then rebounded with three touchdowns as UCLA scored 35 points in sixteen minutes.
The first guys taken in the NFL draft from this game are all from UCLA. It says something about the Nebraska program that the best three pro prospects on the field were all from UCLA. QB Hundley, DE Anthony Barr and guard Xavier Su’Filo should be the first three players taken in the draft from this game.
The PAC 12 makes a statement here with a big win on the road.
(5) Stanford 34, Army 20
This game was much closer than the experts picked. Stanford was a 30 point favorite coming into the game. Stanford defense came in allowing only 97 yards rushing a game last year. Army’s triple option kept them in the game and gained 284 yards.
Key play of the game happened in the third quarter with Army down only 20-13. Army QB Angel Santiago botched the snap and Stanford recovered. Kevin Hogan would finish the drive with one of his three touchdown passes. Game over.
(7) Louisville 27, Kentucky 13
Teddy Bridgewater had a game that he won’t put on his resume tape, but Louisville still managed a hard fought win. Bridgewater was shaky from the start against Mark Stoops’ defense. Stoops in his first year at Kentucky has a reputation for putting together a good defensive game plan and he did just that keeping the high flying Louisville offense to only 10 first half points. The star of the game for Louisville was Senorise Perry. The Cards running back had 100 yards on only 11 carries and scored twice.
Michigan 28, Akron 24
Michigan should have lost to Akron. Akron is the same team that got blown out by Central Florida in week one. This is the same Akron team that barely beat James Madison in week 2. This game was in Ann Arbor and Michigan was out first downed by the Zips 21-19. The total yards in the game was almost dead even 425-418 (Michigan). This means it wasn’t a fluke. Akron played Michigan straight up for 60 minutes.
Can you say Notre Dame hang-over? This would have been right up there with Appalachian State loss of a few years ago.
With 4:10 left, Kyle Pohl threw a one yard touchdown pass to give the Zips a 24-21 lead. Michigan’s Fitzgerald Touissaint gave the Wolverines the lead with 2:49 left on a two yard run. Michigan still needed a goal line stand to hold on. This is bad for the Big 10 to have Michigan almost lose at home to an average at best MAC team.
(10)Florida State 62, Nevada 7
QB Jameis Winston had another fabulous game as Mack Brown still wonders why he didn’t try to recruit him. Winston was 15 of 18 for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Florida State has as much talent on its roster as anyone not named Alabama.
We are still not a big fan of Jimbo Fisher. E.J. Manuel doing well so quickly in Buffalo is an indictment on Fisher. Manuel is succeeding in spite of Fisher not because of him. NFL scouts saw more at the Senior Bowl than they did in Fisher’s offense.
Karlos Williams and Devonta Freeman both rushed over 100 yards for FSU on fewer than 10 carries each. This is not the same Nevada team that Chris Ault coached. He may have to come out of retirement again.
(19) Washington 34, Illinois 24
This was a good day for the PAC 12. UCLA and Washington go into the Big 10 and come away with wins. Keith Price has had a great start to the season. Price was great two years ago and struggled last year. This year he and the Huskies are on fire. Price threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns. Love the way Huskies RB Bishop Sankey runs. He ran all over the Illini defense for tune of 208 yards. Illinois QB Nathan Scheelhaase came into the game leading the Big 10 with averaging 364 yards passing a game. In this game, Scheelhasse was held to only 156 yards. We don’t like his pocket presence. Either you have presence in the pocket or you don’t and he doesn’t have it.
Central Florida 34, Penn State 31
The teacher beat the student in this one. Bill O’Brien served as an assistant to George O’Leary from 1995-2001. The two remain friends. O’Brien asked for help from O’Leary after he was named coach of Penn State in hopes he could help give advice to revive the program. Tough match-up for freshman QB Christian Hackenburg of Penn State, because Central Florida came into the game having given up seven points all year long.
UCF jumped out to a 28-10 lead behind three Blake Bortles touchdown passes. Penn State looked confused defensively. Hackenburg played well against a good defense and led a valiant late fourth quarter effort. I blame this loss on the inability of the Penn State defense to stop UCF.
(13) South Carolina 35, Vanderbilt 25
South Carolina defense came out like they had something to prove in the first half. Jadeveon Clowney and company played very well and South Carolina built a large 28-0 lead. Vandy didn’t quit and they never do under James Franklin. They made it a game. Key play in the game happened with Vandy down only 10 with eight minutes to go and Vandy had the ball third and goal inside the South Carolina five. Vandy QB Austyn Carta-Samuels forced a throw at the goal-line and got picked off. A field goal there would have made it a one possession game. South Carolina was able to take precious minutes off the clock and thwart the comeback. Clowney played his best game of the year.
(12)Oklahoma State 59, Lamar 3
Interesting to see what the NCAA does with the allegations from the Sports Illustrated articles this week about widespread misconduct that went on for years at Oklahoma State. Paying players, women used as prostitutes, players having work done for them along with drug abuse. Oklahoma State is not denying the allegations of several former OSU players but saying that it all happened when Les Miles was the coach. With this be resolved in a matter of weeks like with Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel, or will it take years like with Miami-Florida?
J.W. Walsh has been on fire so far this year as Cowboys QB. Walsh threw for 181 yards and he was the teams leading rusher with 45 yards as the Cowboys cruised to an easy win. Difference this year with the Cowboys has been a defense that looks like the best the team has had since T. Boone Pickens has started writing large checks.
(4) Ohio State 52, Cal 34
Who needs Braxton Miller when you have Kenny Guiton? Guiton threw a 90 yard TD pass on the second play from scrimmage and the Buckeyes offense never looked back.
Guiton threw for 276 yards and rushed for 92 more.
This was a game where neither team huddled. As a result there were 177 plays runs and the teams combined for over 1,100 yards. We expect to see more games like this in the future. Injuries have ravaged an already suspect Cal defense. Their best player is DT Deandre Coleman and HC Spike Dykes has called him out as being a ‘non-factor’ this year. Cal’s defense has given up over 500 yards every game so far this year. Ohio State has the longest winning streak in the country.
(25) Mississippi 44, Texas 23
Manny Diaz fired and replaced with Greg Robinson. Is this the same Greg Robinson that was a disaster as head coach at Syracuse and defensive coordinator at Michigan? What, were Tom Olivadotti, Dave Wannstedt, Wayne Fontes, Rich Kotite and Joe DeForest not available?
Legend has it when Leonid Brezhnev took over for Nikita Khrushchev, Khrushchev gave him two letters. Khrushchev said open up letter one the first time you get in trouble and letter two the second time you get in trouble. A few years later, Brezhnev got in trouble and opened up the first letter. It read “Blame everything on me.” Brezhnev did that and it got him through the tough time. A few years later Brezhnez was in trouble again and opened up the second letter. It read “Time to sit down and write two letters.” Point is firing Manny Diaz only masks the real problem and its time for Mack Brown to sit down and write two letters. The reason he hired Greg Robinson is because he’s the only piece of garbage coach that would take the job.
Texas gave up 550 yards last week to BYU. This week Robinson’s defense only gave up 452 yards so there’s improvement. The Texas offense did nothing in the second half. Longhorns couldn’t stay on the field going only 4 of 14 on third downs. Case McCoy playing for the injured David Ash showed he isn’t as good as his older brother. Star of the game was Rebels RB Jeff Scott that averaged over 8 yards per carry going for 164 on only 19 attempts.
(21) Notre Dame 31, Purdue 24
Purdue got killed in Cincinnati and then barely beat Indiana State without Larry Bird. This game wasn’t supposed to be close. Last year Notre Dame won games by running the football and playing great defense. This year teams are loading the box and they can’t run. Last week against Michigan they had 96 yards rushing and this week against Purdue, ND had only 101 yards on the ground. The Irish defense isn’t as good as it was last year either. Mediocre QB Rob Henry threw for three touchdowns. Henry did have a critical pick six in the fourth quarter. Teams are making Tommy Rees beat them. Rees had a good game so don’t get us wrong, he’s playing as well as he can play, but it won’t be good enough against better competition if ND doesn’t get a running game to come along. ND WR DaVaris Daniels has emerged as a big receiver with big play ability. He caught nine balls for 177 yards and two big touchdowns.
NFL thought:
Pretty Boy Steroid King Clay “Hollywood” Matthews gets a slap-on-the-wrist $15,000 fine for attempting a Gene Kiniski clothesline on Colin Kapernick, while NFL Commissioner Roger “Goody Two Shoes” Goodell would have exiled Detroit Bad Boy N. Suh to a Gulag instead of that record $100,000.00 fine if the CBA would have allowed it.
