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College football 2018: Week 9 heroes and villains

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Roar Guru
28th October, 2018
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Another college football weekend is in the books, and it was another one full of conference- and playoff-shaping results.

Let’s take a look at who covered themselves in glory and who didn’t, with Week 9’s heroes and villains.

Heroes
Georgia: the Bulldogs are officially back on track, beating Florida 36-17 at the world’s largest cocktail party.

Everything that’s been good about Georgia in the last year or so looked good today, particularly quarterback Jake Fromm and the ground game. Most importantly, the Bulldogs are back in control of the SEC East.

Aaron Dawson: the Central Connecticut running back ran for 308 yards in the second half against Wagner. Yes, you read that correctly – 308 yards! The Wagner defence are going to be seeing Dawson in their nightmares for a lot of years to come.

Houston: the Cougars handed South Florida their first W of the season, winning 57-36. Quarterback D’Eriq King passed for 420 yards and 5 touchdowns, and added 135 rushing yards and two more scores for a total of 555 yards, more than the entire South Florida team could muster.

Oregon State: the Beavers were down 31-3 less than a minute into the second half at Folsom Field against Colorado, and then staged a comeback for the ages, scoring 38 points to Colorado’s 3 to record a stunning 41-34 overtime win that no one, not even the most ardent Oregon State fan, saw coming.

Kentucky: a walk-off game-winning touchdown on an untimed down – it doesn’t get much better than that. The Wildcats beat Missouri 15-14 on a 2-yard Terry Wilson pass to C.J. Conrad.

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Kansas: the Jayhawks notch their third win of the year with a 27-26 triumph over Texas Christian at home. At 3-5, with November still to come, we can safely say that this has been the best year of Jayhawk football in a very long time.

Duke and Pittsburgh’s offences: the two schools combined for 99 points and more than 1200 yards in a defense-free contest in Pittsburgh. The Panthers barely outlasted the Blue Devils, winning 54-45.

Wyoming: a 34-21 win over their archrivals Colorado State in the 100th Border War clash. The Cowboys scored 21 points in the third quarter (including two touchdowns in 30 seconds) and benefited from a huge game by running back Nico Evans, who had 176 yards and a score.

Nebraska: Scott Frost’s Huskers have won two on the trot thanks to a 45-9 win over Bethune-Cookman.

Northwestern: the Wildcats took Wisconsin out to the woodshed in Evanston, recording a surprising 31-17 win. This is Northwestern’s second major Big Ten scalp of the season after defeating Michigan State a few weeks back, and Pat Fitzgerald’s team is now an impressive 5-1 in conference play.

Kyler Murray: the Oklahoma quarterback had 352 pass yards and 46 rush yards with four total touchdowns as the Sooners handled Kansas State 51-14. I have Murray trailing only Tua Tagovailoa in the Heisman trophy race.

Army: the Black Knights are Bowl-eligible after a 37-22 win over Eastern Michigan. Quarterback Kelvin Hopkins Jr. did everything on offense, throwing for 126 yards and two scores, and adding 105 rushing yards as well. Always good to see Army doing well.

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College football

College football: Harvard vs Yale (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Villains
Colorado: this loss will hurt for a very long time. Up 31-3 just after the half against Oregon State, who are probably the worst team in the Pac-12 conference, and the Buffaloes end up losing 41-34 in overtime. A stunning collapse that will be dissected in great detail this week.

Florida State: the season from hell continues after the Seminoles suffered their equal-worst loss in program history, routed 59-10 after a scoreless first quarter. Today’s loss marks the first time FSU has lost four straight to Clemson. To say that this program has plummeted in the aftermath of Jimbo Fisher’s departure is an understatement.

Logan Tyler gets a face mask penalty

(Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

Purdue: the Boilermakers couldn’t capture the magic from last week’s home win over Ohio State again, falling 23-13 to Michigan State in East Lansing.

Oregon: a week after the disappointing Washington State loss, the Ducks were easily handled by a surprising Arizona outfit, losing in embarrassing fashion 44-15. It seems a lifetime ago now that the Ducks beat ranked Washington.

Texas Christian: remember when the Horned Frogs led Ohio State back a month or so? Well, that same team has taken a disastrous nosedive since, and it’s about as bad as it can get now, falling to Big XII conference bottom dwellers Kansas.

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Louisville: the season of discontent continues, with the Cardinals belted 56-35 by Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon. I don’t see how Bobby Petrino keeps his job past this season. And maybe not even that long.

Mark Richt: a season with so much hope coming in has fallen apart down in Miami. The Hurricanes looked listless at best Friday night in a 27-14 loss to Boston College. The coach is going to have to answer some tough questions about the quarterback play of both Malik Rosier and N’Kosi Perry.

Southern California: the first home loss in the Clay Helton era isn’t going to make for an easy week for the already-beleaguered head coach. The Trojans are 3-3 in Pac-12 play now, nowhere near good enough by their lofty standards. I believe Helton is out at the end of the year, but a few more losses might accelerate that timetable.

Iowa: had a chance at making a real run to the Big Ten championship game before their sloppy loss to Penn State. Quarterback Nate Stanley, who’s impressed this year, picked a bad week to have his worst performance of the season.

Texas: okay, so maybe Texas aren’t back, after all. Despite rising into the top five nationally, the Longhorns once more displayed how inconsistent they are, losing what always loomed as a trap game against Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The Pokes controlled the game for the most part, winning 38-35.

Virginia Tech’s run defence: the Hokies had a miserable day against Georgia Tech’s triple option offense, giving up 465 yards on 78 carries, at nearly 6 yards a tote. Not good numbers for Bud Foster’s group.

Missouri: the Tigers are yet to win an SEC game this season, falling in heartbreaking fashion to Kentucky on Saturday night.

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Washington: the Huskies lost 12-10 to California in a game where star quarterback Jake Browning was actually benched. It’s been a rough season for Chris Petersen’s men.

Wisconsin: the Badgers lost to Northwestern and, strangely for a school that prides itself on running the ball, they’re third-worst in the country, averaging just over 78 yards per game. It’s been a strange old season.

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