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College football 2018: Week 10 heroes and villains

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Roar Guru
4th November, 2018
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Another college football weekend is in the books, a real Statement Saturday for many of the biggest schools.

Let’s take a look at who covered themselves in glory and who didn’t, with Week 10’s heroes and villains.

Heroes
Alabama: champions of the SEC West after an authoritative shutout win over LSU, 29-0. What can you say about this team that hasn’t already been said? They are as good a team as Saban has ever had in his tenure.

Georgia: the Bulldogs capture the SEC East in commanding fashion with a 34-18 win over Kentucky in Saturday’s de-facto division title game. The smallest margin of victory for Georgia over an SEC East opponent was 14 points. Domination, right there.

Michigan: an absolute statement win for the Wolverines on home turf against Penn State. Even when it was well and truly beyond doubt, Jim Harbaugh’s team kept playing hard for a 42-7 win that put an exclamation mark on their championship credentials. These Wolverines are for real.

Pittsburgh: a big win for the Panthers over Virginia on Friday night. The 23-13 win gives Pitt control of a crazy ACC Coastal Division.

All thanks to running back Darrin Hall, who totalled 229 yards and three scores.

New Hampshire: huge upset in FCS land, where New Hampshire, 2-6 coming in, defeated second-ranked James Madison 35-24.

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Missouri: their first SEC win of the year is a stunner, 38-17 over Florida. Didn’t see that coming.

Princeton: the Tigers beat the Dartmouth Big Green 14-9 in a battle of unbeaten Ivy League teams.

Tyree Jackson: the Buffalo quarterback accounted for 6 touchdowns as the Bulls moved to 8-1 following a 51-41 shootout victory over Miami of Ohio.

Central Florida: they won’t make the college football playoffs unless there’s all sorts of drama between here and the end of November, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate the Knights’ winning streak, which sits at a nation-leading twenty-one following a 52-40 win over Temple on Thursday night.

Army: the Black Knights held off Air Force 17-14 for their eleventh straight win at home, and, for now at least, they retain the Commander in Chief’s trophy.

Iowa: the Hawkeyes have lost two straight road games, falling 38-36 to Purude, and Kirk Ferentz will have to wait another week for his one hundred and fiftieth all-time win.

Massachusetts: it took three overtime periods, but the Minutemen got the victory, defeating Liberty in a defence-free contest, 62-59.

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Notre Dame: the Irish are 9-0 after a 31-21 win over Northwestern in Evanston. Ian Book has never lost a game as quarterback, and Brian Kelly’s men are likely on a collision course with a playoff berth.

Washington State: Mike Leach’s Cougars are 8-1 after a close, ugly 19-13 win over Cal.

Texas-El Paso: finally, the longest losing streak in FBS football is over. The Miners beat Rice 34-26 to end that ugly skid at twenty games.

College football

Harvard running back Paul Stanton Jr. (29), left is pursued by Yale linebacker Victor Egu (10), right. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)



Villains
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Louisiana State: blown out 29-0 by Alabama at home. The Tigers, who are probably the second- or third-best SEC team, offered nothing to write home about, the loss a wonderful/scary illustration of how much better the Tide are than everyone else in their conference.

Ohio State: the Buckeyes didn’t look great in a 36-31 win over a Nebraska team with only two wins all season (one against Bethune-Cookman). There were fumbles and interceptions on offense and the defense, again, was gashed. Despite their misleading 8-1 record, Ohio State is nowhere near the level of a playoff team.

Penn State: the Nittany Lions were routed 42-7 by Michigan, which means that 2018, PSU is an uninspiring 0-3 against elite Big Ten East opponents, having previously lost to Ohio State and Michigan State.

Louisville: the season from hell continues for Bobby Petrino’s team, and surely Petrino is done at the end of the season now, if not sooner. Saturday’s misery came at the hands of Clemson, who mauled them 77-16, the Cardinals giving up 661 yards in the process.

Utah: control of the Pac-12 south was theirs for the taking with a win over Arizona State in Tempe on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately for the Utes, they couldn’t get it done, falling 38-20 and now, somehow, the Sun Devils are in the cat-bird seat in what’s a woeful division.

Florida State: the Seminoles lost 47-28 to North Carolina State and have a 4-5 record. With their final three opponents – Notre Dame, Boston College and Florida – there is a very real chance that the longest Bowl streak in FBS history ends. The Seminoles need to win two of three, and I can’t see them beating anyone.

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Logan Tyler gets a face mask penalty

Logan Tyler #21 of the Florida State Seminoles gets a face mask penalty (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

Navy: a 42-0 loss to Cincinnati, in which their option offense was diagnosed and blown up, is the Midshipmen’s sixth loss on the trot, and the first time they’ve been shut out since 2012.

Oklahoma State: one week after a stirring win against Texas, the Cowboys drop the ball – literally and figuratively – against Baylor. The Big XII conference is all over the place this year, effectively cannibalising themselves as far as a playoff berth goes.

Northwestern: the Wildcats had a remarkably blemish-free game Saturday night at Ryan Field against Notre Dame – they didn’t commit a penalty or turn the football over – but still couldn’t beat the Irish, losing 31-21.

Oregon State’s run defence: put simply, it was non-existent in the 28-21 loss to USC. The Trojans gained 332 yards on the ground on 44 carries at 7.5 yards per tote. Chief destroyer was Aca’Cedric Ware who amassed 205 yards and three touchdowns.
North Carolina: a 38-28 loss to Georgia Tech sees the Tar Heels sitting at 1-7, the worst record of any team from a Power Five conference.

Miami: a disastrous season continues for the Hurricanes, who entered the season with incredibly high expectations. They’re 5-4 now, coming off a 20-12 loss to Duke, and not getting anywhere near good enough production from the quarterback position.

Defence in the Oklahoma/Texas Christian game: it was basically non-existent. Between them, the Sooners and Horned Frogs combined for 97 points and 1,156 yards in the sort of Big XII shootout we’ve become used to seeing. For the record, the Sooners won 51-46.

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Brigham Young: the Cougars’ final play against Boise State was…weird. They had second and goal at the Boise 2 with 7 seconds left, down 5. So, instead of taking a quick shot to the end zone with a chance for another shot with a few seconds left, they called a quarterback draw. Which was hunted down by a stout Boise defense and time ran out. Not sure what the thinking was there.

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