The Ole College Try

Welcome to the return of the almost weekly perspective of college football. I took last year off, so I am going to try to do this as often as possible.  For those that don't remember, I write this column as if every player is a Heisman Trophy candidate. Why? Because it is ridiculously ludicrous that the networks, including the World Wide Leader, nay, especially the World Wide Leader, emphasize the Heisman Trophy race all season at the expense of everything else.  Consider this my sarcastic homage to stupid reporting.

Heisman Watch

Quarterback Edition

Favorite - Josh Rosen -UCLA - Best quarter, ever?  UCLA entered the fourth quarter against Texas A&M down 44-10, and rallied for a 45-44 victory, largely behind the passing of Josh Rosen.  Sure, some of the completed pass were lucky, but they happened.  Rosen finished 35-50 for 491 yards and 4 TDs.

Rising - Mason Rudolph - Oklahoma State - Sure it was against Tulsa, but Rudolph was 20-24 for 303 yards and 3 TDs.  That is a tremendous completion percentage for that high a yards per attempt average.  Now, if only they could beat Oklahoma.

Sleeper - Will Grier - West Virginia - The Florida transfer was 31-53 for 371 yards and 3TDs against one of the staunchest defenses in the NCAA, Virginia Tech.  The loss definitely hurts, but if West Virginia can run through the Big 12 and he puts up numbers, we should keep an eye on him.

Falling - Lamar Jackson - Louisville - Ok, so he isn't really falling.  But as the defending Heisman winner, if he isn't first then by definition he is falling.  He had a great game against Purdue, going 30-46 for 378 and 2 TDs, to go along with 107 rushing yards.

Seriously Falling - DeAndre Francois - FSU - Too soon?

Running Back Edition

Favorite - Saquon Barkley - Penn State - He rushed for 172 yards on only 14 carries as Penn State manhandled Akron.  We will have to wait to see how he handles the meat of the schedule before he truly challenges the quarterbacks, Jackson, Rosen and Sam Darnold.

Rising - Mark Walton - Miami - He gained 148 yards on only 16 carries against Bethune-Cookman, but he looked every bit the part of star running back.  Simultaneously ran over, and through defenders.  He will definitely play on Sundays.

Falling - Jonathan Taylor - Wisconsin - Wisconsin's leading rusher only gained 87 yards for the game.  Granted, it was only on 9 carries, as Wisconsin dominated Utah State, but to win the Heisman, you have to pile up numbers against the poorer teams.

Sleeper - Trayveon Williams - Texas A&M - Despite the heartbreaking loss to UCLA, Williams amassed 203 rushing yards on 22 carries with 2 TDs.  He will engage in a season-long battle for the SEC rushing title with Derrius Guice.

Wide Receiver Edition

Favorite - James Washington - Oklahoma State - The best wide receiver in college gained 145 yards on 6 receptions, 2 of which went for touchdowns.

Rising - James Williams - Washington State - He had an outstanding first game - albeit against Montana State - teaming up with Luke Falk for 13 receptions, 163 yards and 2 TDs.  Falk will keep throwing, and somebody is going to have to catch them.

Falling - Calvin Ridley - Alabama - This is truly not a knock on Ridley, but Alabama spreads the ball around too much for anyone other than the quarterback to post spectacular numbers this year.

Sleeper - Deon Cain - Clemson - His numbers are not going to jump off the page, but if Clemson can keep itself in the national title picture even given the graduation of DeShaun Watson, Cain is going to be a big reason why.

Defensive Edition

5.  Anthony Winbush. - DE - Ball State - He already has 3 sacks on the season, and would be ranked higher if he was playing against better competition.

4.  Joe Ferguson - S - Wisconsin - He had a 99 yard interception return for a touchdown, which means he already has 1 more touchdown than the entire offense of the Florida Gators.

3.  Daniel Bitulli - LB - Tennessee - He totaled 23 tackles - yes 23 (10 solo) - in the double overtime victory over Georgia Tech in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.  Only ranked third because he total tackles comes primarily because the team could not stop the running attack of the  Yellow Jackets.

2.  Josey Jewell - DE - Iowa - The leader of an always stingy defense, Jewell sacked potential first round pick Josh Allen twice.

1.  Andrew Motuapuaka - LB - Virginia Tech - He himself looked dominant against West Virgina, totaling 12 tackles and a sack in the Hokies victory over West Virginia.

Player(s) to Watch

Bryce Love - RB - Stanford - Who is going to replace Christian McCaffrey?  How about Bryce Love, who rushed for 180 yards on 13 carries against Rice.  Not the receiver that McCaffrey is (but who is?), but will help Stanford play the tough, ground it out game for which they are known.

My New Favorite Player

Will Grier - QB - West Virginia - Since Tim Tebow, 5 quarterbacks have transferred from Florida, with 3 of them ending up in the NFL; Cam Newton, Jacoby Brissett, Jeff Driskel (Bengals IR), Treon Harris at Tennessee State) and Will Grier.  Can you name on QB from Florida that stayed and did anything?

Players of the Week (Just Week 2)

5.  Kelly Bryant - QB - Clemson - Not spectacular (16-22, 236 yards, 1 TD; 77 rushing yards, 1 TD), but showed enough to keep alive talk of a potential repeat.

4.  Baker Mayfield - QB - Oklahoma - One of the favorites to make the college football playoff, Mayfield started the season 19-20 for 329 yards and 3 TDs.

3. Lamar Jackson - QB - Louisville - See above.

2.  Josh Rosen - If he had played well the first three quarters he might have been the number 1 player of the week.

1. TaQuon Marshall - QB - Georgia Tech - His 5-9 for 120 yards passing is only dessert compared to his 249 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns against Tennessee.

Goat of the Week (Player Edition)

Antonio Calloway - Florida - As the best of the 10 players suspended from the Gators for defrauding the university, he takes to goat of the week.

Goat of the Week (Coach Edition)

Jim McElwain - Florida - Fresh off the shark-hugging scandal (OK, not really), McElwain showed his mettle by switching out Franks for Malik Zaire, when it is clear neither of them deserve to be playing upper-level NCAA football.The Gators gained a total of 192 yards, a large chunk on the first drive that led to a field goal.

Predicted Playoffs/Championship Match Ups

Alabama (1) v. Oklahoma (4)/ (2) Ohio State v. (3) USC

Obviously way too early to tell as tons of teams are still alive.

Final Unbeatens

Way too many to rank at this point, but this will become fun as teams start to lose.

Rant(s) of the Week

This has been a problem since the NCAA created the targeting penalty, but the NCAA either needs to make clear to the officials, the teams, the players and the fans exactly what targeting is, or they need to stop enforcing the penalty (or at least the suspension part of the penalty).  There are too many inconsistencies from conference-to-conference, week-to-week, game-to-game, and sometimes even play-to-play for the players and teams to have any idea of what exactly is targeting.  We can quote the definition of it to each other all we want, but that does not stop the inconsistency.  It is not as subjective as you would think.

Under Performance of the Week

Ordinarily, Tennessee would qualify for this award, but playing against Georgia Tech's triple option is difficult, but more importantly, unusual.  Also, Ohio State struggled for a while against Indiana, but the Hoosiers have some really good players and Ohio State snapped out of their funk scoring more in the third quarter than Indiana did all game.  Texas A & M collapsed, but they did put up 44 points and thoroughly dominated the first 3 quarters of their game.  This means the title goes to:

The Washington Huskies.  They did not look all that good in a victory against Rutgers.  Of course, Rutgers could have a decent season and end up making us change our minds about Washington's 30-14 victory.

Last Year's Trivia Answer (or perhaps even two years ago)

As a reminder, the question was:

Florida coach Jim McElwain was caught chastising running back Kelvin Taylor on the sideline after Taylor was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct after performing a throat slash upon scoring a touchdown.  Who was the last Florida coach to noticeably explode on the sideline during a game?

The easy answer to this was Will Muschamp, or as he is known more colloquially - Coach Boom.

Trivia Question of the Week

Entering this season, Penn State junior running back Saquon Barkley needed only 1,360 yards (or less than he gained just last year) to become the all-time leading rusher in Nittany Lion history.  That list is star-studded.  Which player is the career rushing leader for Penn State?


Match up(s) to Watch

5.  All of the games affected by Hurricane Irma, whether the start times were moved up, postponed or just canceled, best wishes to all those people, fans, teams, schools and players in Irma's path.

4.  Georgia v. Notre Dame - Notre Dame is supposed to have a new, strong defense after going 4-8 last year whereas Georgia has a new QB, Jake Fromm, after Jacob Eason suffered an early injury.  I want to watch this game just to see how each of these ranked teams look.

3. Stanford v. USC - An early game that could help determine the Pac-12 champion, as well as put the winner on the pace for a berth into the playoffs.

2.  Auburn v. Clemson - Pundits and Auburn fans think this year's team has the ability to put them back into the upper echelon of the SEC, and thus college football.  Pundits and Clemson fans think that this defensive line alone gives them the chance to repeat.  It will be interesting to see how this game can shape the national projections.

1.  Oklahoma v. Ohio State - Ohio State does not make the playoffs last year without their early-season victory over Oklahoma.  Both teams keep this game on the schedule to help with the committee.  What would help more?  Winning this game.