College Football Odyssey

If you paid close attention to the national media, Saturday was going to be a dud.  There was only 1 game among ranked teams (barely, as West Virginia visited TCU).   The oft-jaded  media is focused on the playoff to the detriment of many fabulous stories.  The Odyssey cannot be alone in suffering from Clemson and Alabama fatigue.   Donald Trump should tweet, “sad!”

Saturday turned out to be memorable for many  downtrodden and discouraged.  Some winless teams got off the mat with surprising upsets.  Nobody is mentioning Bowling Green’s amazing 37-29 upset at Miami (Ohio).  Down 30-29, Miami had marched down to the BG 1-yard line with 1:25 left in the game.  Miami’s drive came despite the loss of star QB Gus Ragland earlier in the 2nd half.  Inexplicably, the team formerly known as the Redskins, lined up in the shotgun formation with a backup QB.  It was not as if Bowling Green had stopped Miami all day, as attested by the Red Hawks’ 615 yards of total offense.  The shotgun snap goes awry and an alert Brandon Harris returns the fumble 93 yards for a clinching TD and the first victory for the Falcons.

Nevada was also 0-5 heading into its home tilt against Hawaii.  The Wolfpack was energized by 216 rushing yards from Kelton Moore and 278 passing yards from an accurate Ty Gangi.  This offensive output was more than enough to offset  an explosion of 241 rushing yards from Diocemy Saint Juste.  A week after an embarrassment at Fresno, the Wolfpack won their first game, 35-21, for Jay Norvell.

The worst team in the country heading into Saturday was UTEP.  SO bad that they had shown Sean Kugler the door after an 0-5 start.  SO, SO bad that the Miners incredibly made hapless Rice look good in losing to the Owls 31-14.  The UTEP administration brought back Mike Price last week with Western Kentucky coming to town.  UTEP scored a major win of sorts, sporting a 14-8 halftime lead.

With WKU nursing a 15-14 in the late in the game, Brady Viles missed a 41 yarder, his 3rd miss of the game.  The 17-point underdog held Western Kentucky to 282 yards of offense and, arguably, deserved a better fate.

Two other teams that had been in the doldrums lit up the world on Saturday.  Iowa State’s 38-31 upset of Oklahoma was remarkable in several aspects.  Not only were the Sooners 30-point favorites going into the game at Norman,  the game’s outcome had an air of inevitability.  When the Sooners  went into the tilt with an astounding  74-5-2 series advantage, a degree of complacency was understandable, particularly when Iowa State’s offense was limited to 7 points in their previous game versus Texas.  Worse, for the Cyclones, their starting QB, Jacob Park, became a 12th hour no show with a mysterious “medical” issue.  When Oklahoma jumped out to a 14-0 lead, business at usual seemed at hand.  Except emergency QB, Kyle Kempt, did not get the memo.  343 passing yards later, he engineered a 38-31 upset of the Sooners.  Joel Lanning’s performance was no less heroic.  Last year’s starting QB, turned linebacker, was again stellar defensively, recovering a key Sooner fumble at the Cyclone 5 in the 3rd quarter.  He also spelled Kempt at quarterback in an ironman performance.   All in all a karmic victory that brought down Oklahoma’s haughty quarterback, Baker Mayfield, a peg or two.  At this point, Oklahoma should not even be thinking about the playoff until the Sooners shore up a pass defense that has been torched in two consecutive games in the pass happy Big 12 (Baylor threw for 453 yards against Oklahoma).

Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez only two victories going into Saturday’s game at Boulder were against Northern Arizona and UTEP. So while the Wildcats were not winless technically,……. In the first half, Rodriguez inserted backup QB, Kahlil Tate,  into the game.  327 rushing yards later, Tate set an NCAA record for rushing by a QB,  Doubly amazing, Tate amassed this staggering total on only 14 carries!!  The Odyssey feels bad for Colorado running back Phillip Lindsay.  Tate’s epic effort in UA’s 45-42 upset of Colorado amazingly overshadowed 281 rushing yards by Lindsay. An FBS record was set as this was the first game in which 2 players ran for 250 yards.    If Tate was this good, why had the Sophomore been riding the pine for the season’s first month?

All in all, a wonderful Saturday for many teams, fighting hard times,  who relished their triumph so much more than Alabama did in the Tide’s 28-19 win at Texas A&M.

The Odyssey wishes to share with you over favorite names among FCS players:

1. Hercules Mata’afa     The Washington State defensive lineman deserves top billing after last Friday’s epic win over USC.  Mata’afa spearheads an undersized but very active defensive line that has helped the Cougars to field an atypically strong defense.
2. Finesse Middleton.  The Defensive End for South Alabama must use a hell of a lot of Finesse to compensate for his listed weight of 240.
3. Soso Jamabo is a starting running back for UCLA.  Sadly, the Bruin running game has been, at best, so-so, the last few years.  We cannot fully blame Soso for being so-so.  UCLA has not had a road grading offensive line in years and, understandably, the past 3 years have featured future NFL QB, Josh Rosen.
4. Michael Tarbutt.  Two Sundays ago, UConn mounted a fierce rally from a 41-21 deficit to East Carolina to be within 41-38 striking range.  Tarbutt, the UConn field goal kicker, had a chance from 33 yards to force overtime.  After he missed, the Odyssey suspects that Randy Edsall may have wanted to tar his butt.

Optimism was running rampant in the Twin Cities in August.  Coming off a 9-4 campaign, the administration hired the most hyper-caffeinated coach in America, PJ Fleck, fresh off a monster season at Western Michigan.

The schedule cooperated as well.  The Gophers opened the season with two mediocre teams in Buffalo and Oregon State.  Their third game against Middle Tennessee State looked dangerous but the Gophers received a pass.  Neither of MTSU’s best two players, QB Brent Stockstill or All-Conference USA wide receiver Richie James, were healthy enough to play.  Stockstill’s backup, John Urzua, has been a turnover machine.  The result was an easy 34-3 win for Minnesota.

The Gophers contemplated more good luck.  They had a bye week prior to Maryland’s arrival.  The Terrapins would be coming to town missing two quality QBs in Kasim Hill and Tyrell Pigrome.  3rd stringer, Max Bortenschlager, would get the nod for the Terps.  The 3rd stringer was far from awesome the previous Saturday when Maryland did a 38-10  face plant against Central Florida.

Perhaps Minnesota watched the UCF game film and became complacent.   The Gophers, despite being 13-point favorites, fell to the earth with a resounding thud.  Surprisingly, Minnesota allowed Maryland to run for 262 yards.  Shockingly, the normally stout Gopher rushing attack was limited to 80 yards.   31-24 Maryland.  Kudos to the Terps as one would be hard pressed to find teams, this side of Clemson and TCU, with two higher quality road wins (Maryland upset Texas, 51-41, in their opener in Austin).

The Gophers have yet more positive  luck heading into this Saturday’s game at Purdue.  On September 23rd, two of Purdue’s best defensive players, Ja’Whaun Bentley and Jacob Thieneman, were guilty of targeting infractions in the second half of their loss to Michigan.  All targeters must sit out the next half of their next game.

Yet more Golden Gopher good fortune ensued as Purdue had a bye last week.  Thus, the Gophers will play a short-handed Boilermaker defense in the first half.  Had PJ Fleck become the 21st Century version of Joe Hardy and made a deal with the devil?  If so, it is a capricious devil as the Gophers received their first bit of truly bad luck.  Their depleted secondary will be quite short-handed against Purdue’s pass happy offense.

Will the Gophers be able to take advantage of what has been offered?  Stay tuned.

What do Stanford, Arizona State and Nebraska have in common?

All 3 proud programs have succumbed to a “lower tier” Group of 5 squad this onth.  San Diego State triumphed over those Pac 12 squads in consecutive weeks.  Northern Illinois feasted on two pick-sixes by Nebraska’s turnover machine, Tanner Lee, to propel them to a 21-17 upset.  The Huskie upset so enraged the proud Nebraska program that Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst became a post-trauma casualty/sacrificial lamb. Northern Illinois’ only loss occurred to another Power 5 team in Boston College when their 39-yard field goal attempt doinked off the goal post as time expired.

Tomorrow night, Northern Illinois pays a visit to San Diego State in a pivotal game that may go a long way to determine the “Group of 5” representative in the “New Year’s 6” bowl games.  The Huskies have a situational edge since they rested last week while the undefeated Aztecs played a 3rd consecutive physical game.

On the surface, the Aztecs have an advantage because the Huskies’ starter in their opener, Ryan Graham, got hurt.  However, this is largely an illusion.  Graham was just OK in the BC opener and his backup, Daniel Santacaterina, has been competent.  Neither QB will remind you of Northern Illinois’ two superstar signal callers, Jordan Lynch or Chandler Harnish, in their era of supremacy in the Mid American Conference.

Northern Illinois appears to have a better offensive line than the Aztecs but San Diego State rates to be superior at most other positions, including their stellar running back/kick returner, Rashaad Penny.  The Odyssey will be in the press box and anticipates a low-scoring grinder.

Rick Roeder’s game recap will be in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle.

Before the season, the biggest strength of Michigan State’s team would likely have been considered its running back group,  featuring LJ Scott.  Three lost fumbles later, Scott has been relegated to carrying the football around campus in an effort to irrevocably bond the running back to a football.  Two of Scott’s wayward pigskins were lost in nightmarish fashion at the goal line.  When Notre Dame’s Shaun Crawford stripped Scott at the goal line in the second quarter, the strip proved to be one of September’s most pivotal plays.  Instead of MSU closing the gap to 21-14, the Fighting Irish used the game-changing play as momentum to a 28-7 lead that would prove insurmountable.

However, one Scott has come out of nowhere to excel for the Spartans, Josiah.  The freshman cornerback has been the most effective Big 10 DB in coverage according to the metrics of Pro Football Focus.  Mark Dantonio compared Scott’s freshman year to that of former Spartan great, Darqueze Dennard.

For Josiah, this Saturday’s game against Iowa holds extra intrigue.  Iowa was perhaps the front runner for Scott’s services until late in the recruiting process.  Did the Hawkeyes back off?  Expect Scott to play with a bit extra passion in East Lansing on Saturday.

The most courageous scheduling last Saturday was not by one of the sacrificial lambs (ie, UNLV took $1.3 million to the bank for their beating at Ohio State) but by the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest became only the 2nd Power 5 school to travel to Boone North Carolina to take on Appalachian State.  This was the 23rd meeting between the two schools from the western part of the state, separated by only 92 miles, but the first since 2001.

Former coach Jim Grobe discontinued the series, citing the need for Wake Forest to do everything in its power to get to 6 victories and becoming bowl eligible.  His fear in scheduling the Mountaineers was well-founded since App State had beaten Wake in both the 1998 and 2000 games.  Before App’s recent ascent to FBS status, the Mountaineers were fearsome enough to beat Michigan and garner multiple 1-A national championships.

While the Odyssey admires Grobe, we absolutely hate the thinking that ended the series for 15 years.  College football is so much the worse for not doing everything in its power to promote regional rivalries.  This is doubly so when college football attendance is declining in a number of circles.  Many reasons for such decline exist, led by high ticket prices, the glut of televised games, ever improving TV quality and  increasing entertainment options on the Internet.

Dave Clawson, the Wake coach, said that the previous week’s opponent, Utah State, just did not generate the same amount of interest as the Deacons’ upcoming trip into the hills.  We like to think karma came into play Saturday.   After a sluggish first half, the Wake offense revived and took a late 20-19 lead in a frenzied atmosphere.

Appalachian State lined up for a game-ending and potential game-winning 39-yard field goal.  Blocked!!  Wake Forest survived in a thriller but, truly, college football was the biggest winner in Boone.

The Odyssey appreciates others as well in the endeavor for regional non-conference tilts.  Special shout outs go to Michigan State and Mississippi State.  The Spartans have visited both Central Michigan and Western Michigan this decade.  Notre Dame should take note as the Irish is taking an extended sabbattical from its history-filled, 77-game series with MSU after Saturday’s victory in East Lansing.  Notre Dame’s annual contests with Purdue and Michigan have also been shamefully interrupted.  It appears the Fighting Irish would rather play Duke and Wake Forest.

The Odyssey was in Mobile in 2014 when a stellar Mississippi State team played at South Alabama.  To date, this has been the most electric atmosphere ever at a USA game.  Earlier this month, the Bulldogs visited Ruston to play Louisiana Tech.  Fantastic!  We also LOVE this year’s start of a 13-game contract between Virginia Tech and Old Dominion.  While the two schools are not geographically close (the drive from Norfolk to Blacksburg is almost 5 hours), Virginia Tech’s decision to play Old Dominion regularly  is not riskless in terms of the recruiting wars.

The Odyssey is calling out Arkansas.  Please schedule Arkansas State!!  We know that Frank Broyles thought that Arkansas State was only slightly preferable to the plague, but your great coach has passed on. So should your thinking.

Memo to Alabama:  Do you really think your juggernaut program will suffer if you schedule Troy, South Alabama, or, especially, UAB??  C’mon, is it too much to ask to do right by your states’ fans?

The Odyssey is happy to have Golden Buffalo Matt reporting from beautiful Boulder.  Check the comments to see Matt’s post-game analysis and reaction to the rematch of last year’s Pac12 championship game.

The Huskies visit Boulder as an 11.5 point favorite, undefeated and mostly untested.  Besides a slow first half at Rutgers, Washington has been impressive, particularly against one of the Big Sky’s perennial powers, Montana.

The Buffalos are also undefeated and offer one of the most amazing statistics of 2017.   Colorad0’s opener was against a prolific Colorado State offense that tallied 58 points against Oregon State in its Week Zero opener.  Despite massive losses in the defensive backfield, Colorado held CSU’s potent offense to 3 points.  By the end of the 1st quarter, the Rams had punted 4 times.  This is the same Colorado State team that scored 23 points and rang up 391 yards at top-ranked Alabama last Saturday.  Impressive!

However, Jacob Knipp, the Northern Colorado QB, had several long completions against the Buffs last week.  Somehow, UNC gave CU much more of a test on defense than CSU did!  So, another Jake, Browning, will be coming to Boulder to test the revamped Buff secondary.  Almost makes you flashback to the Jack Nicholson movie, “The Two Jakes.”  Definitely a disappointing sequel to the epic, “Chinatown.”  We expect tomorrow’s sequel between the 2016 divisional champions to be better.

Record heat in Denver yesterday will be giving way to much cooler temps with a 30% chance of PM showers tomorrow night.  The Odyssey cannot wait!

Tennessee should have won its pivotal SEC East game at Florida.  However, for its 2nd straight visit to the Swamp, inexplicable coaching decisions doomed the Vols against its frequent tormentor (The Gators are 21-6 in their last 27 against the Rocky Toppers.  Peyton Manning’s Vols could never beat the Gators).  On the surface, Feleipe Franks’ 63-yard bomb to Tyrie Cleveland on the game-deciding last play, was one piece of gross mismanagement by the Vols’ coaching staff.  And, indeed, it was.  Normally, we would label this as a Hail Mary.  But, in a typical Hail Mary scenario, defensive backs are patrolling the end zone with the same zealousness Donald Trump would like to see in our border patrol agents.  However, this bizarre piece of theater featured Cleveland streaking past a Safety as the Cornerback on the same side of the field decided to advance toward the line of scrimmage to cover a potential short pass!  But, even with these incredible developments, one would expected some other Volunteer defenders to be  sentinels against the deep ball.  Nope!  Barely in the same zip code.

OK, any coach can be the captain of a disasterous play.  For Butch Jones, the last play was just the capper of a hideous day of game management.  If I were to tell you that Tennessee had 7 plays inside the Florida 10, would you believe me if I told you there were no running plays?  One series started with a first down and goal  from the Florida 1.  The first down pass was almost intercepted.  A later pass in the series was intercepted.  If Tennessee had no running game, one could almost understand the curious play calling.  However, the Vols had John Kelly.  The running back was sufficiently skilled to scorch Florida’s D for 141 rushing yards.  Earlier in the game, Tennessee, needing only one yard for a first down, put its QB in the shotgun.

Jones had already provided Vol fans with another nightmare in Tennessee’s last visit to the Swamp in 2015.  After Jalen Hurd scored a touchdown with 10+ minutes left, Tennessee extended its lead to 26-14 before a fateful point after touchdown decision.  Jones elected to kick the extra point, amply demonstrating that he never fully grasped his “7 times tables” in his youth.  Down 27-14, Florida staged a furious comeback, replete with three key 4th down conversion on two drives, to win a 28-27 thriller.  Of course, Jones should have gone for 2 after the Vols’ last touchdown.  In a bizarre twist, the game-winning TD pass from Will Grier to Antonio Callaway also went for 63 yards.

There have been other games in the Jones’ era where defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory (their Oklahoma collapse is one example).

To Jones’ credit, he has recruited well and the 4th quarter effort from Tennessee was impressive in their game against the Gators and their improbable comeback thriller in their opener against Georgia Tech.  However, the program would be immeasurably helped if somebody else was making the key in-game decisions.

The Odyssey believes the most important outcome of a game last weekend occurred at a stadium formerly known as Qualcomm.

Sure, San Diego State’s upset of Stanford puts them #1 at the quarter pole in the race for the coveted Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six bowl hierarchy.

But, potentially, this might be relatively small potatoes compared to the long-term impact on Aztec football and the City of San Diego.  Given the combination of San Diego’s desirable location and excellent prep football (Can you name the 4 Heisman Trophy winners that have prepped in San Diego County in the last 40 years?), San Diego State has been a sleeping giant since Don Coryell was coaching ’em up on Montezuma Mesa (and outdrawing the Chargers circa 1970).

Given the Chargers’ flight north to a 27,000 seat soccer stadium, the City was still reeling from the loss of its most beloved professional franchise.  More than a temporary balm, SDSU’s last-minute comeback win may well transcend one season.

First, the 42,000+ fans could not have helped but notice the new look at the old stadium.   A big Aztec logo at mid-field announced a new reality and the end zones were now proudly basking in Aztec Red and Black.  Aztec signs adorned the stadium, not like the previous half century when the Chargers were the Ivanka Trump of the stadium and the Aztecs were in the same pecking order as Tiffany Trump is to the President.

Just after the Aztecs started their game-winning drive, with under 4 minutes remaining, the lights went out….and stayed out for 23 minutes.  Given that the Los Angeles Chargers would be playing their first regular season home game in Los Angeles in less than 24 hours,  the blackout was appropriate as a solemn funeral dirge for a lost love.

Then SDSU did something the Chargers of recent vintage rarely did.

They pulled out a close game in the final minute.  Pandemonium reigned as the Aztec fans stormed the field for the first time in virtually forever.   Karma was far from done.    Not atypically, the Chargers’ lost their home opener, 19-17, when their kicker missed a 44-yarder that would have won the game.  The Chargers could not sell out a 27,000 seat stadium.  At least half of the attendees were Dolphin fans.  When Dean Spanos’ image appeared on the scoreboard, the boos were lusty enough to almost be heard in Orange County.

Hopefully, the City of San Diego can work out a solution to the Aztecs’ future stadium home.  But, if not, we suggest retaining the old lady, now happily back to its original name of Jack Murphy Stadium.  Because if there are any more nights as magical as Saturday night in San Diego, the sad memories of a lost love will surely keep receding.

There are two big games in Southern California tomorrow and the Odyssey will be covering both of them.  The Odyssey is proud to have Jerry Jones covering the intersectional tilt in the Coliseum.  Believe it or not, there are far more than one “Jerry Jones” in the USA.  Our Jerry played cornerback on the 1972 USC team that proved to be one of John McKay’s 4 national championship squads.  In practice, Jerry had the brutal daily routine of covering Lynn Swann.

The early line on this game had USC favored by as many as 17 points.  Prudently, the line has come down a bit.  USC’s offense may have another field day, even if the Trojans fall short of their massive 622-yard output against Stanford.  Even with the Longhorns’ legendary pedigree, we wonder how focused USC will be in the first half.  USC was clearly sky high for the Cardinal, particularly since Stanford has generally had USC’s number since their shocking 2007 upset of the Trojans as a 41-point underdog.

Texas looked awful in their 51-41 home upset at the hands of Maryland.  Their 10-point loss was deceptively close as the Longhorns scored 3 special teams touchdowns to get as close as 10.  Last week, the Longhorns mopped the field against a weak San Jose State team, so please excuse the Odyssey if we are confused as to which version of the Longhorns will show up.

After the game, please see our comment section as Jerry will help us decipher the outcome of this intriguing matchup.