College Football Nation: JW — Foot-in-Mouth Disease? and Tide Rolls

Jeff Hostetler FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

These are the weekends we live for as college football fans. The drama off the field this week, however, was just as good as on the field thanks to Jameis Winston. This week showed a lot of top teams struggling for the victory while others took care of business. Let’s get into the Top-25 action from this weekend.

1. Winston needs to grow up. After his latest antics this week, FSU finally had enough and suspended him for the biggest game of the year. The biggest surprise is that it took this long for Winston to finally be punished for all his off field issues.

With Winston on the bench FSU, backup QB Sean Maguire took over. If you watched the game, it was not how FSU won it, but really how Clemson lost it. The Tigers made six trips into the red zone and came up empty handed all six times. The Seminoles survived in overtime, beating the Tigers 23-17.

2. With an offensive line depleted by injuries, Oregon hung on for a 38-31 road win over Washington State. Despite taking seven sacks behind a makeshift O-line, Marcus Mariota completed 21-of-25 passes for 329 yards and five touchdowns and ran for enough yards to offset the sacks with 58 yards to spare.

3. Alabama certainly showed some resilience in their 42-21 beat down of Florida. Alabama quarterback Blake Sims showed his throwing ability by going off for 445 yards and four touchdowns. He cemented himself as the starter and now looks to be guiding the Alabama offense to the next level. Alabama’s 645 yards of offense is the most ever given up in school history by Florida. Will Muschamp can feel the heat after this game.

4. Oklahoma took all it could handle against West Virginia today. After struggling early, the Sooners pulled away to beat the Mountaineers 45-33. Oklahoma is the favorite to win the Big 12 and make the playoffs, so they will get everyone’s best shot week in and week out.

5. Texas A&M pounded SMU, 58-6. Is this the year the Aggies get over the hump in the SEC West? Auburn held on against Kansas State, 20-14, on the road this week. This was a great warm-up game for Auburn as they hit the meat of their conference schedule.

6. Head coach Dan Mullen finally got his signature win at Mississippi State with a 34-29 win over LSU. With this win, the Bulldogs sent a wake-up call to the rest of the SEC that they are for real.

7. Michigan State rolled over Eastern Michigan, 73-14, and Georgia had the same results by beating Troy, 66-0. Both teams used this week as a chance to work out any last issues before conference play.

8. South Carolina avoided the upset against Vanderbilt by rallying late and holding on for a 48-34 win. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier picked up his 202nd win in the SEC.

9. The Indiana Hoosiers pulled off another upset today by beating the Missouri Tigers, 31-27. This game could be the stepping stone in improving the B1G’s reputation. Wisconsin also helped in that regard by running over helpless Bowling Green, 68-17. The Badgers’ Melvin Gordon had a career high rushing mark with 253 yards along with five rushing touchdowns. He has become Wisconsin’s work horse and could lead them to the B1G title game. Nebraska scored a huge win by beating Miami, 41-31, today. The ‘huskers could be the surprise team out of the B1G this year if it keeps winning.

10. BYU rallied in the second half to beat Virginia, 41-33, and stay undefeated. BYU is looking to be the first bracket buster for the playoffs this year. With the weak schedule and BYU starting out unranked, it could find itself undefeated and left out of the mix at season’s end.

Best of the rest: East Carolina has become a weekly giant slayer by throttling North Carolina,70-41. Michigan could be looking for a new coach after losing to Utah, 26-10. Georgia Tech beat Virginia Tech, 27-24, on a last second field goal. Iowa beat Pitt, 24-20, and helped regain some faith in the B1G.

Great weekend of college football. Just about every top team got all it could handle – and more. What has impressed me this season has been the number of points teams are scoring. We have more than  28 teams averaging more than 40 points a game — so take the ‘Over’ the next time you are considering a friendly wager.

NATIONAL NEWS:

1. Urban Meyer was depressed

2. Nick Saban loves Lane Kiffin

3. Jameis Winston just doesn’t get it

4. Bo Pelini hates officials

5. Texas A&M new jerseys

 

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