Another weekend of college football is in the books, so let’s go through who was great on the gridiron with my week two heroes.
USC’s defence
Their best player, lineman Leonard Williams, was playing on an injured ankle, their captain and the heart of their defence, linebacker Hayes Pullard, was controversially ejected at the end of the third quarter, and still the Trojan defence managed to hold a pretty good Stanford Cardinal offense in check.
It wasn’t pretty at times but the Men of Troy made key stop after key stop. Stanford entered their red zone nine times for just ten points, including two missed field goals. There was a spectacular goal-line stand, courtesy of a flying tackle from safety Su’a Cravens on fourth-and-one inside the USC five, and the game-winning sack and fumble from linebacker JR Tavai to preserve a memorable 13-10 win on the road in Paolo Alto.
Virginia Tech
The Hokies, who haven’t beaten a ranked team since 2004, went into Columbus Stadium and stunned an Ohio State Buckeyes team who didn’t look much like the Buckeyes of recent times.
Tech’s quarterback Michael Brewer threw two touchdowns and passed for nearly 200 yards, but it was the defensive effort that will be most pleasing to a school who prides itself on playing hard, fundamental defence. Bud Foster’s squad forced three interceptions from Buckeye quarterback JT Barrett, the last of which, snagged by Donovan Riley, went back the other way for 63 yards and a game-winning defensive touchdown for a 35-21 win.
On a night where the Buckeyes celebrated a record crowd of 107,517 inside the enlarged Horseshoe, this was a major moment for the Hokies, who signalled that they might yet be players in the ACC.
Marcus Mariota
The Ducks were down 24-18 at halftime to Michigan Stadium, and it looked like they were in some trouble. Enter the big-game performer, Mariota. The record-setting Oregon quarterback lived up to his name, throwing three touchdowns in among 318 yards against a stingy, stout Spartans defence who barely give up that many passing yards in two games, let alone one.
Even when they were in a hole, Mariota didn’t panic. In probably the biggest regular-season match he’ll see in his career at Eugene, he stayed calm, made smart decisions with the football, torching an at-times-hapless Spartans defensive, spurring them to a 47-27 win.
Taysom Hill
I wrote about the Brigham Young quarterback last week. If he was good against Connecticut, he was unbelievable against Texas in Austin, rushing for 99 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries (as well as passing for181 yards) against what we were led to believe was an improved Texas defence.
Apparently not improved enough to avoid being gashed by Hill and the Cougars, who rolled up 550 yards of total offense, en route to beating Charlie Strong’s team 41-7 despite key injuries. Not so for the surprisingly impressive Cougars, who could seemingly run the table from here on out.
If Hill, who spectacularly hurdled a Texas defender on a 30-yard touchdown scamper, can keep posting the sorts of numbers he did tonight and last week, then he might start popping up as a Heisman Trophy dark horse.
KD Cannon
The guy you’ve probably never heard of before had one of the biggest games you could imagine. The electric freshman receiver for Baylor snagged six footballs for 223 yards. No, you didn’t read that wrong. Backup quarterback Seth Russell had Cannon on a string by the end, and the second-game player had touchdown catches of 50, 81 and 42 yards in the first quarter alone. Baylor beat Northwestern State 70-6.
James Conner
The Pittsburgh running back ran rings around, over and through Boston College defenders on Friday night, exploding for 213 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries. This came just a week after a comparatively poor effort of 153 yards and four scores against Delaware State. The Panthers won 30-20, and might be another serious ACC contender.
Notre Dame
As a USC fan, I hate Notre Dame, but even so it was hard to ignore what they did on Saturday night in South Bend. They ended their rivalry with Michigan in the most emphatic manner possible, blasting the mistake-prone and offensively-challenged Wolverines 31-0, the first shutout of a Michigan team since 1984.
Returning quarterback Everett Golson threw four touchdown passes in among 226 passing yards, and the Irish defence forced Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner into four second-half turnovers, and kept dangerous receiver Devin Funchess quiet. It was a comprehensive dismantling of what looked like a good Wolverines team.
While Michigan might lead the all-time series 24-17-1, the smarmy – see, told ya I didn’t like them – Notre Dame will definitely enjoy emphatic bragging rights for as long as this classic series is on hiatus. For the record, I hope it comes back soon. Michigan versus Notre Dame is one of the contests that makes college football great.
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