The first week after the release of the initial playoff rankings has started to thin the field of contenders as we look towards the last month of the season. There were plenty of villains on and off the gridiron this weekend.
College Football Playoff Committee
As if they wanted to actually prove the conspiracy theories that do the rounds every season – you know, that the committee favours traditional powerhouse programs over new arrivals on the scene, regardless of either team’s season record – the committee went and slotted Alabama into the fourth slot, putting a one-loss team ahead of no less than five unbeaten squads.
Remember that Alabama’s loss came at home against an Ole Miss squad who aren’t as good as we thought they were at the time. In fact, a few weeks later, that same Rebels squad lost to still undefeated Memphis, one of the teams who languish beneath Alabama. It’s a confounding decision in many ways, and a serious misstep by the committee who mostly got it right last year.
The Alabama fan who wrote the Hurricane Katrina sign
I love a good sign as much as the next person, but this hasn’t been a good year for people creating them.
After an early-season sign comparing – and not in a positive way – Ole Miss’s female students and the team’s non-conference schedule, we get a sign from a misguided and moronic Alabama fan whose sign suggested that the Tide would finish the job Hurricane Katrina started. Dumb, insensitive, and not exactly a glowing example of Alabama fans.
Leonard Fournette
So, the big Louisiana State running back is realising now that it’s one thing to run rings around 99 per cent of the SEC and another thing entirely to do it against a Nick Saban defence.
The Tide were ready for Fournette – you might say they rolled – and restricted the big man, who has run for at least 150 yards every game this year, to a measly 31 rushing yards on 19 carries.
Yep, you read that correctly. Fournette was boxed in from start to finish, and his performance, which might drop him from Heisman favouritism with McCaffrey and others circling, was emblematic of LSU’s overall game. It didn’t go well.
Louisiana State’s offensive line
Yeah, the big eaters up front for the Tigers definitely deserve their place here. They were woeful in moving aside Tide defenders to create lanes for Fournette. We knew the Tide run defence was good, but the LSU o-line made them look like the greatest run defence in known history. Not a good night for pretty much anyone not wearing Alabama colours in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night.
Texas Christian
The previously undefeated Horned Frogs fell at their first real Big XII hurdle, beaten 49-29 by an Oklahoma State squad who capitalised on huge passing plays that exploited the TCU secondary. The TCU offence committed four turnovers, including a game-icing 42-yard interception return touchdown that was TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin’s fourth of the game.
And to make matters worse they lost receiver Josh Doctson to a wrist injury. Down goes TCU, and down goes Boykin’s Heisman hopes. Hard to tell who was worse today, Boykin or the Horned Frogs secondary? It was a close run thing.
Memphis
Another undefeated team falls. The Tigers of the American Athletic Conference, very much the feel-good story of the year from the feel-good conference of the year, lost 45-20 to Navy, who ran for 374 yards, pounding the rock with surprising ease against a Memphis defence that had, to this point, been pretty stout. Goodbye, major bowl bid for the Tigers. Talk about shake-up Saturday.
Ole Miss
After losing to Arkansas in overtime – after letting the Razorbacks lateral and run to convert a wild fourth and 25 play – the Rebels were doubtless hoping LSU would beat Alabama to ensure that the Tide also had two losses in conference play. But that hope went up in smoke on an all-around bad day for Hugh Freeze’s team. They may still win the SEC West, but it’s looking rather unlikely at this point.
Rutgers defence
The Scarlet Knights had no answer for the Michigan passing game, allowing oft-maligned quarterback Jake Rudock to pass for a career-high 337 yards during a 49-16 rout in the Big House. It’s a scoreline that, quite frankly, flatters Rutgers. They were battered from pillar to post, their yardage total almost doubled by the Wolverines.
Purdue
A week after a 55-45 victory over Nebraska, the Boilermakers were routed by Illinois, losing 48-14, and giving up 595 yards in the process. They let an Illini run game that came in averaging 67.2 yards a game – good for a fairly distant last in the Big Ten – roll up a whopping 382 and three touchdowns. Unforgiveable.
Oregon State
The Beavers gave up four turnovers and were doubled up in terms of total yardage (245-675) in a 41-0 loss to UCLA in Corvallis. Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen was the chief destroyer, shredding the OSU secondary for 333 yards and two touchdowns. It hasn’t been a good start for Gary Andersen, over from Wisconsin.
Officials
Another week, another contentious call that should never have stood. The Nebraska game-winner was far more straightforward than the Miami-Duke debacle seven days ago, and the on-field referees should have ruled immediately that Nebraska receiver Brandon Reilly went out of bounds of his own accord.
He wasn’t forced out, as the referees claimed. And, anyway, how did that call hold up on review? The only people happy about this latest mess is the ACC crew from last week. But seriously, this is big-time collegiate athletics, and the officials, both on the field and in the review booth, have to be better than this.
Jerell Adams
The South Carolina wide receiver fumbled a 30-yard reception that would have had the Gamecocks in business inside the red zone, down three to Tennessee with less than a minute remaining on the clock. The football was recovered by a Vols defender and the game was over. Ouch.
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