The mega-showdown between No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 7 Miami lived up to the early billing… for just one side of the matchup of College Football Playoff contenders. The Hurricanes, behind their raucous crowd (you read that right) were electric from the opening kickoff and used several big plays on both sides of the ball to jump out to a 27-0 lead over the visiting Irish in a nostalgia-filled showdown between rivals.
Mark Richt’s offense picked up where they left off last week against Virginia Tech, looking pretty sharp in picking up numerous chunk plays throughout the half. Quarterback Malik Rosier completed 11 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown through the air, finding his speedy wideout Braxton Berrios from seven yards out in a terrific catch along the sideline for the first points of the night.
The ‘Canes defense was the real standouts early though, forcing a trio of ‘turnover chain’ appearances. The first — a Brandon Wimbush overthrow off a receiver’s hands that was picked off — led to a Rosier rushing score. The second, also an interception off a bad throw, later turned into three points off a chip shot field goal but the team saved the best for last as Trajan Bandy ran it back 65 yards for a pick-six.
The Irish’s normally productive offense looked out of rhythm on nearly every drive down in South Florida. Wimbush completed only two passes (with two more going to the other team) and was replaced behind center late in the second quarter by backup Ian Book. The team’s highly touted offensive line didn’t seem to block anybody and Heisman contender Josh Adams managed only 33 yards on the ground.
There’s still a long ways to go in this one but after only a half of play down in Miami, it sure seems like ‘The U’ is back for real and are making a strong play to be the No. 1 team in the country come Sunday morning.
Oklahoma’s offense picked up where it left off from last week’s shootout win in Stillwater, and it’s defense has played an improved brand of football. That’s bad news for the rest of college football and, for tonight, it’s bad news for TCU as the Sooners hold a 38-14 lead at the break in Norman.
Oklahoma forced a three-and-out to open the game and got great field position thanks to a 17-yard punt return by CeeDee Lamb, but the drive stalled and Austin Seibert knocked in a career-long 49-yard field goal to get the Sooners on the board first.
The Frogs struck back quickly, though, as Kyle Hicks caught a 62-yard wheel rout and Darius Anderson raced in from 13 yards out. Oklahoma responded with a 6-play, 79-yard drive, capped by a 15-yard Rodney Anderson rush, to give OU a 10-7 edge at the 8:41 mark of the first quarter.
TCU again moved into scoring position, but could not convert a 3rd-and-5 at the OU 10-yard line and a false start penalty negated Ryan Graf‘s 25-yard field goal. Graf, who was not listed on the Frogs’ roster in replacing an apparently injured Jonathan Song, missed from 30 yards.
Oklahoma needed only five plays to travel 80 yards and open up the lead to 10 points as Baker Mayfield found Grant Calcaterra in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard score. After three straight possessions ended in punts, Anderson single-handedly stretched the OU lead to 24-7 with consecutive rushes of 30 and 24 yards.
KaVontae Turpin jump-started a struggling TCU offense with a 56-yard kickoff return, and Kenny Hill managed most of the ensuing drive himself, rushing for 27 of the required 44 yards, including a 1-yard sneak to pull the Frogs within 24-14 with 8:32 left in the second quarter.
Mayfield and Anderson continued to be too much for TCU’s defense, as Mayfield hit Anderson for a 24-yard connection to take the ball to the Frogs’ 45, and then again for a 14-yard score two plays later, giving Anderson the first 3-touchdown game of his career.
Anderson would add one more before the half, a 33-yard catch with seven seconds left before the half. He closed the half with a game-high nine rushes for 86 yards and two touchdowns, and a game-high four grabs for 117 yards and two touchdowns. Mayfield hit 15-of-21 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns, and as a team Oklahoma ran 36 plays for 395 yards — 10.97 a play — with 16 first downs.
Hill completed 7-of-13 passes for 129 yards and rushed five times for 27 yards and a score. Anderson led the Frogs with seven carries for 42 yards and a score, but left the game in the second quarter with a leg injury and did not return.
Oklahoma will receive to open the second half.
Woohoo?
Heading into their Week 11 matchup with Texas, woebegone Kansas was tied with Div. II Western Colorado State (1926-36) for the second-longest road losing streak at any level of NCAA football at 44 in a row. Heading out, that streak is now at 45 straight as the Longhorns went home with a 42-27 win in Austin.
And it’s not like they have been a plethora of close calls along the way as 38 of the 45 losses have been by 10 points or more. The last single-digit loss came in Nov. of 2015 as 15th-ranked TCU escaped with a 23-17 win.
Up next on the docket? FCS Idaho State, which lost 48 in a row from 2006-2014. Tying and/or breaking that mark will have to wait until next season, however, as KU has just one road trip left this season — to Stillwater for the regular-season finale against Oklahoma State. They could tie Idaho State’s mark against Baylor Sept. 22 next season, with a chance to set a new standard Oct.6 in Morgantown against West Virginia.
Theoretically, I guess they could also snap the streak in their 2018 road opener against Central Michigan Sept. 8, but even that’s going out on a dangerously-thin limb giving the direction the football program is headed under David Beaty.
For the record, KU’s last win away from Memorial Stadium came in September of 2009 — 2009!!! — against UTEP. The last road win against a Power Five foe? In October of 2008 — 2008!!! — against Iowa State. Taking it back even further, they haven’t beaten a non-conference Power Five opponent on the road since winning at Oregon State in Corvallis in the 1992 season opener. In fairness, there have only been a handful of such games since, but still.
UTEP, ironically enough, held the previous FBS record for stumbling road streaks when they lost 35 straight from 1974-80. KU broke that record in September of 2016 in a 43-7 loss to Memphis.
Lamar Jackson may not be stiff-armed good this season, but he’s still really damn good.
In Louisville’s win over Virginia Saturday, Jackson passed for 195 yards and ran for another 147. That gives the reigning Heisman Trophy winner 3,003 passing yards and 1,173 yards rushing this season.
Last year in his run to the Heisman, Jackson was at 3,543 passing and 1,571, which means he’s the first quarterback in NCAA history to hit the 3,000/1,000 mark in back-to-back seasons.
It’s highly unlikely that Jackson will make it back-to-back-back seasons of hitting that standard as he’s expected to leave the Cardinals early and make himself available for the 2018 NFL draft.
Last season, Jackson became the eighth to reach that 3,000/1,000, joining Clemson’s Deshaun Watson (2015), Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel (2012), Northern Illinois’ Jordan Lynch (2012), Northern Illinois’ Chandler Harnish (2011), Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick (2010), Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour (2007) and Texas Vince Young (2005). Young left UT early for the NFL and never had the chance to repeat the feat, while Kaepernick and Lynch did it in their final seasons of eligibility. All of the others had at least one more season — LeFevour had two — to match it but failed. Lynch actually came the closest as he ran for a record 1,920 yards in 2013, but finished with just 2,892 yards passing that year.
Should Jackson throw for at least 997 yards in the Cardinals’ last three games, he would join Watson as the only quarterbacks in the 4,000/1,000 club.
Mississippi State’s running game, Jalen Hurts‘s arm and Calvin Ridley‘s legs have combined to put together a compelling night cap in the SEC, as the Bulldogs and Tide are tied at 14-14 at the half in Starkville.
Mississippi State utterly controlled the first quarter, but found itself locked in a 7-7 tie. The Bulldogs accepted the ball to open the game and clicked off 11 plays, moved the ball to the Alabama 41, killed the first half of the frame and then punted, pinning Alabama at its own 5.
The Bulldog defense forced a three-and-out, and its offense pushed its way down the field on a 6-play, 57-yard touchdown drive punctuated by an 11-yard Aeris Williams run.
On the ensuing possession, Mississippi State forced a 3rd-and-5, where a conversion would have given Mississippi State the ball with a 7-0 lead while Alabama’s offense ran a total of six plays over the first quarter. Instead, Hurts found Ridley for a 63-yard catch-and-run, and Hurts rushed in a 1-yard score two plays later.
The next two drives played out the same. Mississippi State strung together an 11-play, 73-yard drive again capped by a Williams run. And again Hurts and Ridley connected, this time for 61 yards. Josh Jacobs rushed in from a yard out two plays later, tying the game at 14-14 with 9:26 left in the second quarter.
Williams led all runners with 14 carries for 60 yards and two touchdowns. However, he left the game in the second quarter and did not return. Nick Fitzgerald nailed 6-of-10 passes for 73 yards and rushed 10 times for 34 yards. Hurts completed 4-of-7 passes for 151 yards, two of them to Ridley for 124 yards, while rushing seven times for 20 yards and a score.
Mississippi State has out-rushed Alabama, 101-40, ran 38 plays to Alabama’s 23 and possessed the ball for 14 minutes more than the Tide.
Alabama will receive to open the second half
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