November has arrived and with it the most exciting part of the football season.
This is the time of the year where things begin to really heat up and this past weekend provided a few interesting storylines. TCU moving into the top four of the BCS makes them—and not Boise St.—the potential BCS buster this year and deservedly so. Cincinnati is still in the mix as they are unbeaten, in a BCS conference, and still winning even when things are close, as the shootout with Uconn proved. The downfall of Oklahoma came full circle this past weekend as Landry Jones showed his inexperienced and Nebraska picked up a defensive win over the Sooners keeping them out of the end-zone—something that would’ve been unfathomable last year. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers—or Creamsicles as I referred to them on Sunday—made sure there would be no winless team in the NFL this year as the criminal inefficiency of the Packers’ offensive line continued. Mike Singletary will face off against his former team only as coach when S.F. and the Bears kick off NFL’s Thursday night games for this season and some guy named Brett Favre may have the Minnesota Vikings near a division title very soon with a particularly easy schedule through most of November. The Saints and Colts are still unbeaten with both having more trouble than expected and with Indy heading into a primetime battle with New England, there may be only one unbeaten left by the end of this coming weekend; with New Orleans playing St. Louis and Tampa coming up, it may be New England that ends that team’s unbeaten run as well. Like I said, things are starting to heat up.
Iowa runs out of miracles when Stanzi goes down with injury
James Vandenberg was put in an impossible situation this past Saturday, having to replace the injured Ricky Stanzi for the fourth-ranked and undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes in the second quarter of their game against Northwestern. The fact that the Hawkeyes went on to lose the game and its national title chances 17-10.
Stanzi went 4/9 for 134 yards with a touchdown and an interception before getting injured on a rollout in the end-zone. The hit resulted in a Stanzi fumble that was recovered by Marshall Thomas to put Northwestern on the scoreboard.
Vandenberg put on a noble performance going 9/27 for 82 yards with an interception in his fist collegiate start.
However, the cracks in the Hawkeyes young offense finally showed themselves as Iowa committed three turnovers after Stanzi’s exit and failed to score after the first quarter.
The Big-10 will be decided this Saturday when the Hawkeyes face Ohio St.
Quack Attack gets smacked by Stanford
A week before LeGarette Blount’s return, the Oregon Ducks lost whatever outside shot they had at a national title game appearance via a 51-42 loss to unranked Stanford. Oregon still controls their own destiny in the Pac-10, but are tied with Arizona in the conference standings; the two meet November 21.
Toby Gerhart lead the way for the Cardinal with a school-record 223 yards rushing on 38 carries and three touchdown runs. Gerhart scored twice in the first quarter to help Stanford build a 17-7 lead and extended the lead to 45-28 with a 17-yard scoring run near the end of the third quarter.
LaMichael James did his part for Oregon rushing for 125 yards on 18 carries along with 89 receiving yards on four catches.
The game itself became a back-and-forth battle as neither team’s defense could stop the others’ offense. Stanford totaled 505 yards of offense while Oregon racked up 570 yards. Five of the touchdown scores in the game were over 20 yards. The Ducks stayed within ten for the majority of the game after trailing 10-0 early by answering a Stanford score with one of their own.
Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck went 12/20 for 251 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Owusu and Ryan Whalen were Luck’s favorite receivers on this day, both catching four passes. Whalen had 72 yards receiving while Whalen had 111 yards and a touchdown.
Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli went 21/37 for 334 yards and three touchdowns; he added 55 yards and a TD rushing on ten attempts.
Crimson Tide wins another tough one as Ingram continues to shine
Alabama avoided another loss in a high-profile SEC game, but this time it was Mark Ingram and a little bit of luck that helped them pull through.
In the Tide’s 24-15 win over LSU this past Saturday, Heisman hopeful Mark Ingram rushed for 144 yards on 22 carries, but it was sophomore Julio Jones’ 73-yard touchdown catch one possession after he cost Alabama a potential touchdown that iced the game.
Until Jones’ touchdown, the game was very much in doubt and ¾ of another SEC classic.
Charles Scott kept LSU in the game with his power running and finished with 83 yards on 13 carries. However, it was his last carry that will prove more costly to his team than just the loss Saturday; Scott fractured his collarbone on the play in question and will miss the rest of the regular season.
Two plays later Stevan Ridley ran for an 8-yard touchdown that put LSU up 15-10 after a missed two-point conversion.
Tide kicker Leigh Tiffin became the school’s all-time leading scorer with his third field-goal of the game, the kick providing the final score.
There was one hint of controversy in this one (another in a long stretch of controversial calls in the SEC this year). On the possession that resulted in Bama making the score 24-15, LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson made an interception by pulling in what appeared to be an incomplete pass by Alabama. Instant replays showed that Peterson got his left foot clearly in-bounds and was able to drag his right foot onto the field before stepping out of bounds. However, the play was ruled an incomplete pass and Alabama kept the ball.
Brady, Moss help Pats over Miami
Despite the slightly low score, it looked as if the New England Patriots had returned to their 2007 form with Tom Brady and Randy Moss running the show on offense.
The two connected on a 71-yard touchdown and then on the two-point conversion after that put the Pats up for good in their 27-17 win this past Sunday over the Dolphins.
Brady finished with 332 yards on 25/37 passing with a touchdown and an interception.
Moss finished with 147 yards on six catches.
Wes Welker continued to be Brady’s most frequent target with nine catches for 84 yards.
To give credit where credit is due, the Dolphins played a tremendous football game for three quarters and simply hit a wall in the form of the New England defense for the final fifteen minutes.
Chad Henne went 19/34 for 219 yards passing, but Ronnie Brown was the one to throw the Dolphins’ only passing touchdown of the day—a one-yard pass to Joey Haynos in the third quarter.
Ricky Williams scored the other Dolphins touchdown in the game on a 15-yard run. He finished with 33 yards on seven carries.
Terrelle Pryor comes through for Buckeyes in Happy Valley
The main negative during Terrelle Pryor’s two years at Ohio St. is that he could never really come through in the big games against the big teams (the Michigan game hasn’t been competitive in the last two meetings). In the Buckeyes’ 24-7 win over Penn St. this past Saturday, Pryor took a big step in changing that perception.
Pryor provided the Buckeyes’ only first half score on a seven-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, but it was the second half where Pryor really shined. With the Buckeye defense keeping Penn St. at bay, Pryor finished off the Nittany Lions with touchdown passes in the final two quarters. DeVier Posey caught a 62-yard strike late in the third quarter and Brandon Saine caught a six-yard pass from Pryor with 9:47 to go to finish off the day’s scoring.
Pryor finished with 125 yards passing on 8/17 with his two touchdowns and rushed for 50 yards on five carries with his touchdown.
While Penn St. quarterback Daryll Clarke may appear to be the goat in this game considering he was the guy who was supposed to be the clutch player of the two quarterbacks, it was Clarke who was the only bright spot in Penn St.’s poor outing Saturday.
Clarke scored Penn St.’s only points on a one-yard run in the second quarter. He finished the day with 125 yards passing on 12/28 with an interception, but was only able to add 20 yards rushing on 11 carries.
Steelers defense puts on quite the Monday Night show
One of the better looking Monday Night games of the year turned into a potential example of why the Pittsburgh Steelers could repeat as Super Bowl champions. A perfect mix of offense and defense resulted in Pittsburgh running the Broncos out of their own stadium, 28-10.
Kyle Orton was intercepted three times by the Steelers with Tyrone Carter taking one of them back 48 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. Denver’s run game fared no better as the Broncos were held to 27 yards rushing—one of their lowest totals in a game since the AFL/NFL merger of 1970.
Ben Roethlisberger was his usual efficient self going 21/29 passing for 233 yards, one interception, and touchdown passes to Mike Wallace and two to Hines Ward.
Wallace caught four passed for 69 yards in the game while Ward finished with seven catches for 44 yards. It was Santonio Holmes who was the most productive Steeler receiver on this night with six catches for 93 yards, but no touchdown.
It wasn’t all passing as Rashard Mendenhall’s rushing was a big reason Pittsburgh kept the ball seven minutes longer than Denver and why Denver was basically beaten with plenty of time to go.
Without scoring, Mendenhall rushed for 155 yards on 22 carries.
Brandon Marshall, who’s really having a great year considering the off-season turmoil, was the Bronco’s only bright spot catching eleven passes for 112 yards.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The final month of the college football season also begins the NFL’s second—and more exciting—half of the season. It is a time full of games that all have meaning. Gone are the look-ahead’s and the definite slaughters, and gone also is the act of anticipation weeks ahead of time. At the beginning of the season there is always those teams that have certain games that grab people’s attention more than any game preceding them; in the case of the early days of the season, those games are sometimes a month away and every game until then is simply prologue. In the case of November, there is no more prologue, this is the main attraction. In the college football world, there is no more waiting as every game holds value, every week provides multiple huge attractions for fans and analysts alike. With pro football, the importance factor doubles, triples, quadruples with every passing week as we wait to see who will rise from the proverbial ashes and who will fall after providing the illusion of greatness. It is the time of the year that provides iconic matchups and matchups that become iconic if only for one week. It is a time where turkey and red & green lights and the white of snow and the gray clouds hovering above the stadiums and football all converge for a hectic and thrilling two months. That time is here.
