The Ole College Try

 

Many big, big games among ranked teams in conference play this week - and many of those were ... DUDS!!!  But that is how you separate the true contenders from the pretenders.  Welcome to the Ole College Try, which is my take on college football via a weekly column on college football after each weekend's games.  The column is meant to be a recap of the season to date, with an emphasis on last week's games.

As another reminder, I write this column as if every player is a Heisman Trophy candidate. Why? Because it is ridiculously ludicrous (is there any other kind of ludicrous, besides Ludacris?) 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.

I cannot promise that I will post every week, but so far so good.

Heisman Watch

Quarterback Edition

Favorite - Darian Mensah - Miami - A relatively bad game for Mensah, who ONLY went 18/27 for 227 and 1 TD, and he know has 6 more incompletions that touchdowns on the season.  And, he has yet to throw an interception.  He has been the best quarterback in the NCAA this year, and it is hard to criticize a performance in which the offense still scored 41 points.  

Rising - Julian Sayin - Ohio State - It helps when you are throwing to the best wide receiver (See Mensah, Darien), but it is hard to discount a 20/27 for 324 yards and 3 TD performance at Iowa!  He has 13 TDs to just 1 interception on the season.

Sleeper - Bear Bachmeier - BYU - His passing stats do NOT pop off the paper (11-24 for 64 yards) in a 17-10 victory over TCU to keep the Cougars undefeated, but his size and running ability (66 yards on 15 carries for 2 TDs) do pop-off the highlight film.

Falling - LaNorris Sellars - South Carolina - He has all of the talent in the world - (20/36 for 226 and 2 TDs, 17 rushes for 147 yards against Kentucky), but this team is sooooooo bad, nobody is going to get any credit.  I wouldn't be surprised if 4 or 5 players from this team get drafted with fans asking, "Who?  Why?", and they excel way more than for the Gamecocks.  (I was going to put Kamario Taylor for Mississippi State here, but he already took a beating at the hands of Alabama!)

Running Back Edition

Favorite - Jaden Baugh - Florida - The favorite right now among running backs is still Jaden Baugh, but he had a rough - and I mean ROUGH outing against Missouri (12 carries for 13 yards) which is why he is also falling!

Rising - Jamal Roberts - Missouri - Sixth in the NCAA in rushing at 606 yards (Baugh is 5th with 613 for reference, the leader is Dylan Riley from Boise State with 685), and he clearly won his showdown with Jaden Baugh, outrushing Baugh 211-13 (with 3 TDs!!!).

Falling - Jaden Baugh, Florida - See above.

Sleeper - Turbo Richard - Indiana - Took a back seat to Lee Beebe, Jr. last week, and was out-carried by Beebe 18-13 in the 47-15 win over Rutgers, but finished with 204 yards and a TD on those 13 carries.

Wide Receiver Edition

Favorite - Jeremiah Smith - Ohio State - Caught 11 passes for 206 yards and 2 TDs to extend his lead as the overall Heisman favorite!

Falling - Malachi Toney - Miami - Again, he is still 1A to Smith's 1, but his 5 catches for 40 yards were both season's low for Toney - although he did have another TD called back (the third this year), this time on a very questionable illegal shift call, as they called Miami's TE for being in motion while Cooper Barkate was only set for .9 seconds, not a full second.  

Rising - K.J. Duff - Rutgers - Only 4 catches for 78 yards as Indiana defeated Rutgers, but Smith, Toney, and Duff are the ONLY wide receivers people should be writing about.

Sleeper - Nathan Bailey - Harvard - OK, so not eligible to win the Heisman as he plays in the FCS, but boy did he have a game!!!  He hauled in 16 catches for 197 yards, including 2 big, big catches in the Crimson's last-minute drive.  But, that wasn't even what made the highlight reel!!!  Bailey was the "Ladder" in the "Hook-and-Ladder" on the last minute Hail Mary from Charlie Smith.  Bailey received the pitch from tight end Teegan Pelletier at the five and immediately dashed-and-dove for the corner pylon as Harvard turned a 17-14 defeat into a 20-17 victory!!!

Defensive Edition

5.  Kenyatta Jackson - EDGE - Ohio State - Playing against Iowa - the team that was supposed to have the vaunted defense - Jackson's pressure kept Iowa on its heels.  Even though he was only credited with 1 tackle - a sack at that - Jackson forced Iowa's play and constantly disrupted the timing of the Hawkeyes offense.

4.  Jason Dowell - DT - Missouri - Only finished with 3 tackles (including 1 sack and 1 tackle for loss), but dominated the interior line for Missouri in its 45-17 win over Florida.

3.  Dijon Lee, Jr. - CB - Alabama - Technically only credited with 1 tackle, and that is only because he was blanketing people so that his receiver was never thrown the ball - or at least not unless Lee could get his hands on it!!!  He also scored a TD and returned kicks!

2.  Nicholas Rodriguez - LB - Missouri - Missouri gets the love because they earned the love.  Rodriguez finished with 11 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, as the TIgers defense completely bottled up the high-flying Florida offense.

  

1.  Xavier Esqillion - Edge - Georgia State - Esqillion had 3 sacks, forced 2 fumbles, and finished with a 27.3% pressure rate, a 22.7% knockdown rate, and an unbelievable 38.1% pass-rush win rate!!! (Thanks PFF!)

Player(s) to Watch

DeSean Bishop, RB, Tennessee.  Bishop is having a great year as he has led Tennessee to a 4-1 record, and given hope to a Volunteer squad of making noise in the SEC!  He gained 220 yards on 34 carries with 3 TDs in Tennessee's 24-14 victory over Alabama this weekend, and his 540 yards and 7 TDs rank him 11th and Tied-6th respectively in the NCAA's!!!

My New Favorite Player
Austin Simmons - QB, Missouri - The former 5-star recruit who enrolled early at Mississippi at age 16 - YES 16!!! - played behind Jaxson Dart for a year and then lost his job to an injury to none other than Trinidad Chambliss, is finally getting his chance after transferring, and did he have a game!!!  He was 23-30 for 340 yards and 2 TDs as the Tigers annihilated the 8th ranked Florida Gators. 

Players of the Week (Just Week 4)

6.  DeSean Bishop - RB - Tennessee - 34 carries, 220 yards, 3 TDs over Auburn.

5.  Jeremiah Smith - WR - Ohio State - 11 catches, 206 yards and 2 TDs, all lower than last week if you can believe that!!

4.  Nathan Bailey - WR - Harvard - 16 catches, 197 yards and 1 VERY BIG TOUCHDOWN!!!

3.  Leonard Farrow - KR - Florida Atlantic - Returned the first two Texas Southern kickoffs of the game for touchdowns!

2.  Aiden Flora - RB - Iowa State - Flora rushed for 212 yards on 22 carries and scored 3 TDs in Iowa States' 45-42 victory over West Virginia!  And if that was not enough - he was 2/2 passing for 48 yards and 2 TDs!!!

1.  Dante Reno - QB - Yale - What on earth would it take for me to even mention a Yale player in this blog, much less name him the player of the week.  Something Spectacular for sure.  And this entire post is dedicated to Dante Reno.  Reno went 22/39 for 298 yards a 4 TDs as Yale rallied from a 21-7 deficits to defeat Merrimack 41 - 24.  Reno's performance was all the more astounding as he - and the rest of the Bulldogs - took the field just 1 day after the school announced the passing of Dante's dad and former Yale Coach Tony Reno.  Obviously Tony and Dante shared a father-son bond over football, and Dante found some sort of respite on the football field with his teammates, but it is hard enough to deal with the passing of a parent and still have to play college football - and at as high a level as Dante did this weekend.  Lots of love and respect from this Harvard Crimson!

Goat of the Week (Player Edition)

John Love - K - Virginia Tech - Missed a potential game-winning 36-yard field goal with three second remaining and Virginia Tech trailing 35-33.  Love is listed here not so much for missing a relatively short kick (albeit at a ridiculous angle), but for the firestorm he elicited as it clearly looks like his kick may have cleared the upright, but the official standing immediately under the upright signalled "no good".

Goat of the Week (Coach Edition)

Shane Beamer - South Carolina - Not so much for any one specific thing that he did wrong, but his team's loss in OT to Kentucky, after giving-up a lead at home, may mean that he is going to get fired, and quite possibly during this season.  Maybe after Florida whips them?

Predicted Playoffs/Championship Match Ups

(1) Georgia v. (4) Miami/Notre Dame (2) v. Ohio State (3)

Final Unbeatens

Alabama, BYU, Duke, Georgia, Indiana, James Madison, Miami, Nebraska, North Dakota State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, Utah, 

Rant(s) of the Week
Why is video review of a made/missed field goal not allowed?

Under Performance of the Week
Florida. What a let down.  Again, losing to Missouri is not the thing, it was the way in which they lost.  But, a letdown sometimes can be expected after such an emotional win over Mississippi the week prior.  This is an identical statement to the one I wrote about Mississippi last week.

Last Week's Trivia Answer

The question was:  Colin Simmons, as you may have read here once or twice, finished the game against Tennessee with 5 sacks.  Who holds the NCAA record (Div I/FBS) for most sacks in a single game?

The answer is:  Ivan Pace, Jr. from Miami-OH in 2019 and Ameer Ismail from Western Michigan in 2006 with 6.  The Team record is 15 by TC over Nevada in 2000.

Trivia Question of the Week

Jeremiah Smith's consecutive 200-yard receiving performances inspired this question.  What is the most receiving yards in an NCAA game WITHOUT scoring a touchdown?

Match-up(s) to Watch

5. Harvard v. Cornell - So long as Harvard is undefeated, they will remain on this list.  Are the Crimson emotionally-spent after last week's Bailey Bailout?  Or will they use that springboard to a possible FCS playoff birth?  This game will tell us a lot.

4. LSU v. Kentucky - Kentucky is not at the same level as LSU, but they are also not the same old Kentucky team.  A loss here could go a long way to knocking LSU out of playoff contention.  Can they take care of business?

3. UCLA v. Oregon - Oregon's loss to Oklahoma State puts their back against the wall.  UCLA is a surprising 4-0 thus far; can they remain undefeated and be a serious contender in the Big 10?

2. Indiana v. Nebraska - Yes, Nebraska is unranked, but this week 6 game pits two undefeated conference foes against each other.  Is Nebraska for real?

1.  Georgia v. Alabama -Easily the biggest game of the weekend!

Special Mention of the Week

Florida Atlantic led Texas Southern 21-3 - BEFORE THE OWLS OFFENSE EVEN TOOK THE FIELD1!!  Leonard Farrow returned the opening kickoff for a TD.  Texas Southern then drove for a FG.  Leonard Farrow took the next kickoff for a TD.  On Texas Southern's next possession, the defense forced a fumble and returned it for a TD!!!