Since we’re already thigh-deep into the NFL today, there’s no time for elaborate introductions this week. So without further ado, here’s your “Sunday Morning 3rd Down Back” college pigskin wrap-up for Week 4 …
The “NASA High-Riser” of the Week Award” goes to: the Kentucky Wildcats
As much as it pains me to give any credit to anything going on in Lexington, it’s time to give the Wildcats their just due after their 42-29 win at Arkansas yesterday. QB Andre Woodson (21-39 for 265 yds and 2 TDs) appears to be the real deal and is proving that mistake-free football will keep you in any game, as he broke the NCAA record for most pass attempts without an interception (271 … a record formerly held by, not surprisingly, the Pride of Fresno State Trent Dilfer). A home money game against Florida Atlantic next weekend should push UK to 5-0 before the ‘Cats face the meat of their schedule – at South Carolina before returning home against LSU and Florida. Perhaps then we’ll see if they are the real deal, but there’s no reason to doubt them as of yet.
The “Go Blow Big Red Award” goes to: the Louisville Cardinals:
As much as Nebraska fought for this one (see below), gotta give this one to the Llllllvlllllle Cardinals. Talk about your role reversals, in two weeks Louisville has gone from a national title hopeful to the Bluegrass State also ran slot normally reserved for UK, with the latest setback coming via an embarrassing 38-35 defeat to the hapless Syracuse Orangefolk. QB Brian Brohm is certainly not at fault, as he continues to put up gaudy numbers and put the Cardinals in position to win. But they’ve taken the “D” out of the “Carinals,” as Lllllllvllllle gave up scoring plays of 79, 42, and 60 yards (and that’s not counting a 93-yard kickoff return) to a team that was averaging less than 200 yards of total offense in three losses to start the season. A special mention goes to WR Mario Urrutia, who self destructed on multiple occasions yesterday, picking up two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the second half and tossing in a few crucial dropped passes for good measure.
The “1993 Mazda Protégé Game-Changing Play of the Week” goes to: Ball State WR Dante Love
Normally, this space is reserved for a play that was made, but this week the honor goes to a play that almost was - and cost a team quite possibly the biggest win in program history. There was no love in Muncie, Indiana, yesterday for Dante Love, as the Ball State wide-out dropped a pass that would have put the Fighting Lettermans in position to knock off the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln. In a 41-40 game that saw the lead change hands nine times, Ball State was on its way to making it 10 times in the final minute, as the Cardinals had gotten the ball just inside the ‘Huskers 40-yard line with 30 seconds remaining. The bend-but-don’t-break Nebraska Blackshirts defense appeared to allow one last big play on second down… that is until a wide-open Love had a second down pass bounce right off his hands at the 10-yard-line with nothing between he and six points. Instead, another incompletion on 3rd down led to a 55-yard FG attempt that had plenty of leg but missed well left, leaving Ball State thinking of what could have been and Nebraska with what little dignity they have left.
Honorable mention: LSU’s blind-flip fake FG run against South Carolina at the end of the first half that left Tigers coach Les Miles with a tongue-in-cheek grin that appeared to make him look like he just shoved a whole can of Skoal in his mouth. Even USC Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier got a chuckle out of it on the other sideline.
The “Hey, that’s not Colt Brennan Award” goes to: Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell
The latest in the Red Raiders’ long line of gaudy numbered quarterbacks, Red Raiders shooter Graham Harrell had one of the more impressive stat lines in the team’s runnin’-and-gunnin’ history, going 46-of-67 for 646 yards and 5 TDs (no picks, either) in helping TT put up 45 against an up-and-down Oklahoma State squad in Stillwater. Oh yeah, forgot to mention even that wasn’t enough, as the Cowboys prevailed 49-45… thanks to a sure 6th TD pass for Harrell that was dropped in the end zone with 11 seconds left.
Honorable Mention: Actual Hawaii QBs Tyler Graunke and Inoke Funaki, who combined for 363 yards and 5 TDs in place of an injured Colt Brennan, helping the islanders to a 66-10 beating of Charleston Southern.
The “’I’m Not Dead Yet’ Award” goes to: the Miami Hurricanes:
Michigan was angling for this one with its win over Penn State at the Big House, but their performance was not nearly as dominating as the whoopin’ Randy Shannon’s Hurricanes put on Texas A&M on Thursday night in “The OB.” Don’t let the 34-17 scoreline fool you, it was never that close as the ‘Canes rushed out to a 31-0 lead by the end of the 3rd quarter, at which point “The U” defense had allowed just half of A&M’s 240 yards of total offense. The win not only finally proved that the Aggies are vastly overrated, but also put Miami back on the national map and gives the team confidence as it heads into an ACC Coastal Division race that is once again for the taking thanks to Georgia Tech’s second straight conference defeat.
Your Up-to-the-Second SM3DB Conference Rankings:
1) SEC : While not as thorough as I thought it would be, LSU indeed handled its business against South Carolina yesterday, while Kentucky saw its stock continue to rise and Georgia brought Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide back down to earth with an OT win in Tuscaloosa. You take a look and see that the four teams without a conference win are Tennessee, Auburn, Ole Miss and Arkansas – from that you can either judge that those teams are overrated (which is warranted in some cases), but I think it instead speaks to the overall depth and strength of the conference.
2) Pac 10: The conference that (eastern daylight) time forgot is still a force to be reckoned with, with USC, Cal, and Oregon still leading the way – and still undefeated. However, that will have to change this weekend when the Quack Attack hosts Cal at the always-rockin’ Autzen Stadium in beautiful Eugene (and yes, the official name of the city is indeed “beautiful Eugene”) in the game of the week in any time zone. The westerners still seem to be a little top-heavy, but I think that Trojans-Ducks-Bears troika will be able to match the LSU-Florida-Name your 3rd SEC Team Here trio blow-for-blow at season’s end.
3) Big 10: With Michigan finally waking up in time for the conference season with its win over Penn State, the Big 10 moves back up a spot this week. Wisconsin showed some gumption with its late squeaker over Iowa, while Ohio State went through the motions impressively in its annual thumping of Northwestern. Joe Pa and the Nittany Lions will still have a say in things, while a typical high-powered offense at Purdue might make for the most entertaining games in the country, thanks in part to the fact that the Boilers must outscore its opposition to win thanks to a truly miserable defense.
4) ACC: Have you seen the Coastal Division standings? In conference, the Fightin’ Al Grohs of UVa have raced out to a 3-0 cushion, while no other team has notched one in the W column. Strange indeed. Meanwhile, Miami proved that it won’t roll over, and Va Tech, Clemson, and Boston College are all pretty good - and probably better than we think.
5) Big East: Louisville’s rapid demise sees the Big East slip two spots this week… and this in spite of the fact that I think West Virginia had one of the most impressive performances on Saturday. South Florida continued to show it ain’t foolin’ around with a beatdown of ACC patsy UNC (that’s karma calling, Butch Davis). We’ll have to wait to see if Rutgers is for real in the upcoming weeks, and don’t look now, but… wait, hold on a second… is that??? Is that the Cincinnati Bearcats music? Sure, they haven’t played the best opposition, but they’ve gone 4-0 by a 180-30 margin. Not too shabby.
0 Responses to “Sunday Morning 3rd Down Back: Week 4”