Another weekend of college football is in the books, so let’s go through who let themselves down on the gridiron with my Week 4 villains.
Jameis Winston
When, exactly, is the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner planning on growing up and acting like a guy who has been handed the most prestigious honour in all of college football?
In a time where the sport’s poor treatment of women is in the spotlight, and considering he’s been accused recently of sexual harassment, jumping onto a table at the Florida State student union and yelling an obscenity – popular internet meme or not – is simply unforgivable.
Florida State
Suspending Jameis Winston for half a game for his obscenity during the week wasn’t nearly enough in the current climate, and the Seminoles have been rightfully criticised for their not doing the right thing immediately, and suspending their star quarterback for a full game – he deserves more.
The school comes off looking like having their star player on the field is more important than taking a stand for proper treatment of women.
Their decision could not have come at a worse time. Had they come straight out and suspended Winston for the whole game, Florida State would’ve ended up on my ‘Winners’ list.
Alas, they didn’t, and will likely not be let forget it for some time to come.
Michigan
The Wolverines were absolutely horrible in their rain-delayed 26-10 loss to Utah at the Big House. A pretty good offense with some nice weapons failed to reach the red zone once, and turned the football over four times.
Alarm bells will be ringing in Ann Arbor now. New offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier was supposed to upgrade the offense this year, but they seem to have regressed.
Quarterback Devin Gardner had another ugly game (14-27 for 148 yards and two interceptions) and was shown the pine in the fourth, with sophomore quarterback Shane Morris taking over. He wasn’t much better, throwing an interception and fumbling on the final Michigan possession.
Ugly day at the Big House – and not just because of the weather.
Clemson
After a big Florida State turnover, the Tigers were driving into field goal range late on the road against the No. 1-ranked Seminoles, and fumbled the football away. That sent the game to overtime, where Clemson gambled on a fourth-and-one play, which went awry.
A few plays later, FSU were in the end zone for an important 23-17 victory without their star quarterback Winston.
Once again, Clemson managed to snatch another defeat straight out of the jaws of victory. Ball protection – there’s a reason coaches spend so much time preaching it during practice. This game showed how it can kill a team.
Virginia Tech
After going into Columbus Stadium to beat Ohio State two weeks ago, the Hokies have fallen apart since, losing to East Carolina last week and Georgia Tech this week (for the first time in Blacksburg, VA since 2006), and suddenly Frank Beamer’s men don’t look all that good a football team.
Quarterback Michael Brewer’s had some rough games since the Buckeye victory, and threw three costly interceptions this week as the Hokies fell 27-24.
Florida
The Gators failed to take advantage of four Alabama turnovers, committed three of their own and could manage a paltry 200 yards of total offense against a Tide defence who had to do more than usual.
The Gators were sloppy when they had the football, with quarterback Jeff Driskel only completing 9 of 28 passes for 93 yards, a score and two picks. Their defence could not contain Alabama’s quarterback Blake Sims, who threw for 445 yards.
It looks like being a long SEC season for Will Muschamp’s men. If he survives the season, I’ll be surprised.
Kansas State
The Wildcats lost this game more than Auburn won it in Manhattan on Thursday night. K-State managed to cross the 50-yard line into Tiger territory, but missed three field goals, fumbled the ball away once and quarterback Jake Waters threw two crucial picks.
A disaster for the Wildcats, whose defence played out of their skins to hold the dangerous Auburn running game in check – a performance that wasn’t capitalised on by the offense.
Auburn won a tight contest, 20-14.
Jared
Roar Pro
The Madden 25 tutorial for the read option is actually a great way to understand it.
HarryT
Guest
Apologies Andrew for the misunderstanding. Thanks for the explanations of 'read option'. You would understand my confusion if you Google the Bleacher Report NFL 101: Introducing the Read-Option. They use 21 diagrams to explain it!
Andrew Kitchener
Roar Guru
Correct. They laughably suspended him for a half-game, knowing that chances were good they'd lose if Winston sat for the entire game, and it was a bad mis-step from them. They're lucky Clemson piddled away their chances.
Andrew Kitchener
Roar Guru
And is the only play Navy have :)
mushi
Guest
It is also known as the play which has contributed to roughly 2.6bn fumbles in the NCAA football game
mushi
Guest
I think he's saying that they initially did a half game, copped flak and then went to a full game. the read option is just one of the option running plays where the QB makes a "read" on the edge defender before deciding which "option" to take. So if the end/linebacker plays outside the tackle he hands off to the tail back, if they play the gap inside the tackle then he bounces outside himself for the run.
Jared
Roar Pro
The read-option is a style of play that allows the Quarterback two choices depending on how the opposing defence defends the play. Generally the Quarterback will receive the snap and go to hand the ball to the running back while he "reads" the Defensive End (DE) or outside linebacker (OLB). If the Quarterback "reads" that the runningback has been defended against by the DE or OLB he will instead keep the ball and run himself. The opposite is true if the Quaterback reads that he is covered he will hand the ball off instead. So the Quarterback "reads" the defence in action and selects which "option" will work best.
HarryT
Guest
Andrew, they did suspend Winston for the whole game. If Clemson had a half decent kicker they would have romped home, so FSU put a lot on the line. Winston is a worry. He comes from a good family and is very smart yet he has this self sabotage aspect to his personality which apparently is not unusual to extremely naturally gifted athletes. I can't believe the very public bollocking Sean Maguire received from Fisher and the QB coach every time he made a mistake. It made me cringe and maybe this degree of intense pressure can help explain Winston's off field behaviour. Also, can some one please explain what a 'read option' is?