College Football thoughts and musings from late September 13

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I was impressed with the Oklahoma defense again. I know that Tennessee is a very young team – 22 freshman have played meaningful minutes already this year – but Oklahoma held Justin Worley under 50% completion percentage, and held super-frosh Jalen Hurd to 97 yards rushing. Of course, the Vols falling behind 27-7 early in the second half likely limited Hurd’s carries. Trevor Knight had a solid game, and the three-headed rushing attack continues to wear down people. It seems like someone different turns it up each game. Alex Ross ran for just six yards on five carries, but Samaje Perine put up 67 yards on just nine carries. He has the most upside of the backs, so it will be interesting to see how much he cuts into Keith Ford’s carries. Ford is still the better receiver out of the backfield, so unless Perine shows an ability to do what Ford can in the passing game, he will struggle to get ten carries per game.

UTSA finally ran into a team that they couldn’t figure out. They destroyed Houston to spoil the christening of their new stadium, and kept up with a good Arizona team. Saturday night against Oklahoma State, they looked powerless to stop the Cowboys from pulling away. The Oklahoma State receivers were just too much, and this was without Cowboys QB J.W. Walsh. I think most of the college football world, myself included, underestimated the Cowboys this year.

The most thrilling game that no one watched was Middle Tennessee State – Western Kentucky. They gave us the first triple overtime game of the season. The two teams combined for 97 points, and neither team scored in the third quarter! Who said Conference USA football wasn’t enjoyable?

Utah State survived another injury to Chuckie Keaton, mostly by scoring two defensive touchdowns, to take down Wake Forest. Darrell Garretson played pretty well with Keaton out, and he will have to keep it up for at least two more weeks to keep the Aggies in the hunt for a good bowl game.

Just how bad is Tulsa? They got destroyed by what looks to be a pretty bad Florida Atlantic team. Then again, all we have seen of the Owls this year is them volunteering to be punching bags for Nebraska and Alabama.

Abilene Christian recorded their first ever win against an FBS school with their win over Troy. The Wildcats put up 31 second half points to steal the victory away from the Trojans.

Florida fans have to be a little nervous. The defense held Kentucky‘s run game in check, but the Wildcats threw for 369 yards on the road. DeMarcus Robinson had a huge game for the Gators, hauling in 15 passes, tying a school record set by Carlos Alvarez in 1969. He racked up 216 yards and two scores, one on 4th and 7 in the first overtime to tie the game. That said, Florida, outside of Robinson, did not play well. They were plagued by penalties, dropped passes, and just plain horrible passes by Jeff Driskel. If that keeps up as the season progresses, the Gators will have a hard time making a meaningful bowl game.

What a night for the Penn State defense! They picked off Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova five times, and went on to a hard-fought 13-10 win in Piscataway. The Nittany Lion defense also held Rutgers to just three first downs in the second half, which allowed the offense to chisel 13 points off of a Rutgers defense that actually played pretty well. With Penn State now eligible for post-season play this year, this could turn out to be an even bigger win for them.

Want more proof that running the ball can still win football games? As if what Arkansas did to Texas Tech wasn’t enough evidence, people watching during prime time got to see it on the national stage when Boston College ran all over the big, bad USC Trojans. BC racked up 452 rushing yards. USC? They had 20. Cody Kessler had a nice day for the Trojans, throwing for 317 yads and four touchdowns, but the Eagles stymied their running game turning USC into a one dimensional team. They don’t fare well when people do that. Notre Dame transfer Tyler Murphy had a miserable day passing (5-13, 54 yards, one interception), but the coach won’t care when you run for 191…..

I have to give credit to the Texas defense. They played a good game. I have to give more credit to UCLA quarterback Jerry Neuheisel. He went 23-30 for 178 yards and two touchdowns after Brett Hundley was forced to leave the game in the first quarter. That kind of poise from a guy who didn’t expect to see playing time is what separated UCLA from Texas. Texas quarterback Tyrone Swoopes played a good game, but the Longhorns still won’t turn him loose on deep passes. After UCLA got gouged by Memphis last week, I thought the talented Texas offense would be able to expose them, but that wasn’t the case. The Bruins defense was as responsible for this win as Neuheisel was.

Arizona State may have won the game against Colorado, but they lost star QB Taylor Kelly for at least one game with an injured foot. The bad news is that Kelly will definitely be out for next Thursday’s tilt against Pac 12 south favorite UCLA.

Nebraska pulled hordes of Big Red fans off of Omaha and Lincoln rooftops with a dominant showing against Fresno State in Fresno. I’m not about to tell them that Fresno really isn’t that good of a team. I don’t want my sidewalks littered with the masses who have been more edgy than usual with the near-miss to McNeese State still fresh on their minds. Oh, and while we’re at it, I will say that Ameer Abdullah just might be the best back in the Big Ten(14), a conference that has Heisman hopeful Melvin Gordon in it. Still, the return of Randy Gregory showed just how much of an effect he has on the defense. If he is not an Outland Trophy finalist, he should be. Provided he can stay healthy, of course.