Raucous Rebels Highlight Week 3 Summary
WEEK 3 SUMMARY
College football has turned on its head in only three weeks. Texas made a furious fourth quarter comeback, led by freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard. They had all the momentum, and had Cal on its heels. Texas football was on its way back to relevance! Then their kicker missed an extra point wide right (badly). Alabama had Ole Miss right where they wanted the Rebels. At home, revenge game, the higher ranking, a 9-1 record in revenge games under Nick Saban. Someone forgot to mention those things to Hugh Freeze and his team. Ole miss went from a top 15 question mark to top 4 contender in one night. BYU went into the Rose Bowl against The Rosen One and had the Bruins nervous. The Bruins calmed down and prevented another miracle from Tanner Mangum. Week 3 certainly provided us with more questions than answers, but the drama spiked and made most of us drop our jaws with the results.
On and off the field, college football didn’t disappoint. Coaches and announcers voiced their opinions, great plays were made besides Hail Mary’s, and top teams struggled to keep their rankings.
TRENDING UP
Tip Six----Ole Miss went into Tuscaloosa and shocked the nation by upsetting the second ranked Crimson Tide (more later). This effort was aided by some luck on a questionable decision. It all started with a snap almost sailing over quarterback Chad Kelly’s head. Kelly gathered the ball and heaved the ball towards his dependable target, Laquon Treadwell. Only, Treadwell was swamped by two defenders. Rebels receiver Quincy Adeboyejo was in the area also, and as the ball deflected off of Treadwell and the two defenders, Adeboyejo snuck behind them to reel in the tip and race to a 24-10 Rebel lead in the second half.
Coaching feud----Kliff Kingsbury took his opportunity to take a shot at Arkansas coach Bret Bielema this week. Kingsbury’s Red Raiders beat Bielema’s Razorbacks 35-24, and afterwards, Kingsbury had some words for the Hogs’ coach. He proceeded to say Bielema “got his (butt) kicked, and probably will next week against Texas A&M too.” Bielema has caught a lot of heat after commenting on the soft Ohio State nonconference schedule, then proceeded to lose to Toledo and Texas Tech in consecutive weeks. Maybe Bielema should just worry about the Aggies this week instead of talking to the media.
TRENDING DOWN
Buckeyes bothered----If Ohio State was sick of hearing everyone talk about their quarterback play, they didn’t do much to quiet the noise. Cardale Jones was pulled in favor of JT Barrett, who didn’t play much better against Northern Illinois. The Buckeyes better figure things out, even with their soft Big Ten schedule ahead, before they meet Michigan State. They also may want to work on their fourth quarter clock management. Twice the Buckeyes had chances to let the clock run down and end the game. But they snapped the ball with a lot of time on the play clock, giving the Huskies more chances than necessary. The defense stopped NIU both times, but the Buckeyes can’t afford to do that against better competition.
Cornhusker comeback?-----Nebraska was down 33-10 and many were just looking towards next week. Miami had dominated the whole game. Then the Cornhuskers decided to stop feeling sorry for themselves and cut into that deficit, locking the game at 33 in the fourth quarter. That kind of momentum was going to give the Huskers a huge win for the season. Then Tommy Armstrong threw an ill-advised interception to give the ball back to the Hurricanes. Add an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on top of it and the game was all but over quicker than Nebraska had tied it up.
PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK
Keenan Reynolds, Navy----Reynolds only threw for 41 yards, but rushed for 140+ and five touchdowns. That gave the Midshipmen quarterback 70 careers touchdowns, which is the most by a quarterback and fourth most all time.
Leonard Fournette, LSU----This is way too early, but give Fournette the Heisman now. Fueled by comments from the Auburn defense, the Tigers back ran all over Auburn in Death Valley. A 71 yard run for the first play of the game spelled doom for Auburn, and Fournette finished with 228 yards and three touchdowns. Fournette now has rushed for an average of 193.5 yards per game, which is more thann 75 FBS teams.
Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma----The Sooners QB played a solid game against Tulsa, racking up 487 yards passing and four touchdowns, while rushing for 85 yards and two more scores. The Golden Hurricanes were no match for OU and Mayfield, but let’s see how the Sooners do when they play West Virginia next.
Demetrius Monday, Kent State----The Golden Flashes DB did all he could to help his team upset Minnesota. If only his team had a better offense. Monday was great on Saturday, as he picked off two passes and returned a fumble back for Kent State’s only score of the game.
GAME BALL: Fournette. The sophomore showed why he’s going to play on Sunday’s in the future. A game like that against an SEC opponent like Auburn will be hard to reciprocate, but the Tigers will need a solid performance from Fournette every week. Note to Auburn: he has to play another year of college football, so maybe avoid talking about him.
WEEK 1 PREDICTIONS
My pick: LSU 24 Auburn 17 Actual: LSU 45 Auburn 21
Auburn defensive players said “it shouldn’t be difficult” to stop Leonard Fournette. Hindsight is 20/20 but maybe they shouldn’t have mentioned that. LSU dominated this game from the first snap. Led by Fournette and a solid game from QB Brandon Harris, the Tigers had no problem handling Auburn at home. Their defense had another solid game and reminded Jeremey Johnson why he’s not in Heisman contention anymore, although Johnson played better than in his previous two performances.
My pick: Georgia Tech 38 Notre Dame 31 Actual: Notre Dame 30 Georgia Tech 22
This week marks the first week an upset pick made me look foolish. Week 1, the Gophers were one score away from shocking TCU. The next week, Oregon was one play away from beating Michigan State at home. This week, Georgia Tech was brutal. Notre Dame’s defense made life difficult for Yellow Jackets QB Justin Thomas and his offense all day. Will Fuller led the Irish offense and helped settle his backup quarterback, DeShone Kizer, into a groove. Notre Dame is out to prove that they are a solid team that has good depth, while keeping Tech in check for most of the game.
My pick: UCLA 35 BYU 21 Actual: UCLA 24 BYU 23
The Bruins had hear all about the Cougars. The Cougars had heard all about the Bruins. The Rosen One vs. Mr. Hail Mary. However, the defenses really stole the show in this low scoring affair. Rosen was picked off three times before settling down in the second half. The Bruins scored a late touchdown and will look to continue their run next week against Arizona. They hope Rosen got most of the nerves out against a stout BYU defense who showed why it can play with anyone in the nation. While the BYU playoff hopes are almost all but over, they made a valid case for consideration for not only the playoff, but a January bowl game.
My pick: Alabama 28 Ole Miss 21 Actual: Ole Miss 43 Alabama 37
Chad Kelly was poised all night, and his play showed his composure. Ole Miss silenced the Alabama crowd early, and hung on late to produce the upset of the year so far. Many picked the Rebels to lose, simply based off of Alabama’s reputation. But they showed why they should be considered over the Crimson Tide for the playoff, and not just a doormat for Alabama to walk over. Robert Nkemdiche showed the nation why he is nearly impossible to block, and helped the Rebels defense make life a nightmare for Cooper Bateman and Jacob Coker. Ole miss at one point was up 43-24, and caused a rare scene: people leaving the stadium early. While that itself is not rare, people leaving because their beloved Tide is out of the game (so they thought) was a first in a long time. The Rebels launched themselves into the national spotlight and are hoping to keep that momentum going through the rest of the season.
