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College football 2016: Week 8 heroes

Johnny Manziel with Texas A and M. (Image: Creative Commons)
Roar Guru
23rd October, 2016
5

Another week of college football is in the books and, as usual in this wildly unpredictable sport, there were plenty of teams and individuals who covered themselves in gridiron glory.

Here’s the pick of that bunch, my week 8 heroes.

Penn State: were there any non-Buckeye fans not happy to see the Nittany Lions take down the undefeated Ohio State 24-21 in Happy Valley on Saturday night? It was a comeback for the ages as James Franklin’s men roared back from a 21-7 deficit and scored the winning points on a blocked Buckeye field goal attempt taken the other way for a touchdown.

It was the statement win James Franklin needed, and considering everything that’s happened to Penn State in the last half-decade, it was a wonderful moment for a program that really hasn’t had much to celebrate of late.

Thomas Sperbeck: the ultra-dependable Boise State receiver broke Titus Young’s career receiving yardage mark, and now leads all Broncos with 3139 yards in 42 games.

California: had an early lead, were challenged, missed a game-winning field goal attempt as regulation time expired, and still managed to eek out a narrow 52-49 win in a double overtime heart-stopper on Friday night. In a game chock-full of offense, the irony of the ending was that it came on an interception.

Oklahoma’s offense: the Sooners football team scored 66 points in their 7-point win over an equally high-scoring Texas Tech outfit in Lubbock. Unbelievably, they scored three more points than their men’s basketball team did against Texas Tech in February. Crazy stat.

West Virginia: the Mountaineers are probably the best team in the Big XII conference at the moment, despite them being ranked below Baylor in national polling. Dana Holgorsen’s men have always had a hot offense, and now their defence is coming to the party as well. Their 34-10 win over Texas Christian on Saturday is another shot across the conference’s bow. No doubt about it: the Mountaineers are for real.

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Leonard Fournette: welcome back, young man! Aside from absolutely blowing an Ole Miss defender up on a run down the sideline, Fournette – who surely is the best running back in America – managed a school-record 284 yards and three touchdowns as Louisiana State knocked off the Rebels 28-21 in Death Valley.

Patrick Mahomes: the do-everything Texas Tech quarterback tied an FBS record with 734 passing yards and set a new FBS record for total offense, with 819. Yep, 819. You read that correctly. He was responsible for seven touchdowns. Yet, Tech still lost. Imagine how good that team would be if their defence could get a stop or two.

Auburn’s run game: in the 56-3 rout of Arkansas, the Tigers ran for 543 yards, a record for an SEC regular season game. It started early, with Eli Stove ripping through Razorback defenders for a 78-yard touchdown scamper on the first play of the game, and that shredding of Arkansas tacklers – or, more properly, would-be tacklers – happened all game long.

Joe Williams: speaking of big days on the ground, Utah’s Joe Williams ran through, around and over UCLA on Saturday in the Rose Bowl, rolling up 332 yards and four touchdowns as the Utes prevailed over the reeling Bruins 52-45.

Boise State: the Broncos had to battle back through adversity on Thursday night against Brigham Young and managed to do just that in front of their home crowd. Sophomore quarterback Brett Rypien threw two pick-sixes to the Cougars defence, but showed enough poise to drag his team back to grab a narrow 24-21 win.

Undefeated and playing lights-out on defence, the Broncos are looking more and more like a lock for a New Year’s 6 bowl appearance.

Southern Methodist: in surprising fashion, the Mustangs handed the Houston Cougars their second loss of the season, winning 38-16.

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Lamar Jackson: the Louisville quarterback is still my Heisman frontrunner, and aided his cause on Saturday in the Cardinals’ 56-13 win over North Carolina State, throwing for 355 yards and three scores, and rushing for a further 76 yards and a touchdown. Another dominant performance from one of the most electric players in all of college football.

Michigan’s defence: they handed Illinois as we expected, and that defensive group is now ranked number one in the FBS for both scoring and total defence. Good luck moving the football on that group.

Brian Hill: the Wyoming running back had a night out in Reno, gashing the Nevada defence for 289 yards and three touchdowns, including a 56-yarder to open the scoring. The Cowboys are 3-0 in Mountain West Conference play and sit atop the MWC’s Mountain Division.

Navy: the Midshipmen, who upset then-unbeaten Houston a few weeks ago, beat Memphis 42-28 on Saturday and now are alone atop the AAC West division.

Hawaii: the Rainbow Warriors beat Air Force 34-27 in overtime to regain control of the Kuter Trophy. It was their second straight road win, something that hasn’t happened since 2010, and their first against Air Force since 1992, and they broke Air Force’s 15-game home win streak. Nick Rolovich is doing wonders there.

Washington: the Huskies are 7-0 for the first time since 1992 after a comfortable 41-17 win over Oregon State.

Alabama: the Tide showed everyone how good they are on Saturday with a dominant last quarter to hand Texas A and M their first loss of the season, 33-14. What can you say about this program that hasn’t already been said thousands of times? They reload year in, year out, and it’d take a brave man to bet against them winning the National Championship again.

Dede Westbrook
: another week, another big game. The Oklahoma wide receiver is basically unstoppable. He caught nine passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns as the Sooners beat Texas Tech 66-59.

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Baker Mayfield: the Oklahoma quarterback threw for seven touchdown passes among 545 passing yards in the shootout win against Texas Tech. Mayfield’s really found his touch again after a rocky patch for a few weeks there.

ESPN: had CBS announcer Verne Lundqvist on the flagship College GameDay program as it’s celebrity picker to honour the legendary broadcaster’s final season. Nice tip of the hat from competing networks, and great to see Uncle Verne’s personality really shine through. SEC football won’t be the same without him next year.

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