College Football Weeks 3 & 4 ! How are our teams doing ?
The top college football team in the country…oh, this is their cricket team !
by Venkat Ravishankar
WEEK 3 & 4 REVIEW
The biggest weekend of the 2013 college football season came and went, the national champions are still on course to complete a 3 peat this year and everything is normal in the world again. Not only did college football go on a roller coaster ride last year when the aggies beat Alabama at Tuscaloosa, the entire sporting field in the US did. This also coincided with the rise of Johnny Manziel and his legend leading to a freshman Heisman winner. They rode this wave up until week 3 of the 2013 college football season.
At this point, it would be safe to say that the acclaimed LSU-Alabama rivalry is in jeopardy with the quality that the two A&M-Alabama games have produced and the hype that this game has started to generate in the last 2 years. With rumors of Manziel moving to the NFL and Saban’s impending departure from Alabama to move to a new challenge, we will have to wait and see how this contest pans out over the next 2 years.
Controversy has reared its head at Oklahoma State, under Les Miles; whilst the NCAA has restored a limited number of Penn State scholarships, and denied USC’s request to reconsider their sanctions.
HOW OUR COLLEGES FARED
Here is a recap of the scores of all the American College Cricket Universities from the past 2 weeks.
WEEK 3
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Texas Tech 20, TCU 10 |
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Arkansas State 41, Troy 34 |
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Minnesota 29, W Illinois 12 |
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West Virginia 41, Georgia State 7 |
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Arkansas 24, Southern Miss 3 |
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Rutgers 28, E Michigan 10 |
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Buffalo 26, Stony Brook 23 |
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Alabama 49, Texas A&M 42 |
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Georgia Tech 38, Duke 14 |
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North Texas 34 Ball State 27 |
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Bethune-Cookman 34, FIU 13 |
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UCF 34, Penn State 31 |
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Iowa 27, Iowa 21 |
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Auburn 24, Mississippi St 20 |
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Ohio State 52, California 34 |
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Florida Atlantic 28, South Florida 10 |
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Mid Tennessee 17, Memphis 15 |
WEEK 4
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Mid Tennessee 42, Florida Atlantic 35 |
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Louisville 72, FIU 0 |
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Ohio State 76, Florida A&M |
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Minnesota 43, San Jose State 24 |
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Pittsburgh 58, Duke 55 |
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Ball State 51, E Michigan 20 |
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Houston 31, Rice 26 |
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Rutgers 28, Arkansas |
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Florida 31, Tennessee 17 |
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USC 17, Utah State 14 |
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Maryland 37, West Virginia 0 |
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Penn State 34, Kent State 0 |
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Memphis 31, Arkansas State 7 |
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Texas A&M 42, SMU 13 |
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Texas Tech 33, Texas State 7 |
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Miami 77, Savannah State 7 |
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LSU 35, Auburn 21 |
MARQUEE GAME RESULTS WEEK 3
Alabama beat Texas A&M 49 – 42….. The most expensive game in college football history proved to be an equally exhilarating experience for the ones who managed to get into Kyle Field paying an average of approximately $600. After 2 mistakes by Johnny Manziel early in the game, Alabama seemed to have taken an unassailable lead going into the 4th quarter. However, the Heisman winner proved his tenacity by tossing a 95 yard TD to Mike Evans and a 4 yarder in the middle of the field to Malcolm Kennedy in the final quarter to make it a 1 possession game. At the end of the day, Manziel’s 2 interceptions and Alabama’s grinding 6 minute drive resulting in a TD sealed the game in Alabama’s favour. Subsequent headlines proclaimed Alabama to have survived Kyle Field by tooth and nail and with Johnny Football grabbing all the major headlines for being the only one after NFL future hall of famer – Drew Brees to have broken down Saban’s defense twice in consecutive seasons. As they say, it was a game for the ages.
Louisville beat Kentucky 27-13…..Top Heisman contender Teddy Bridgewater and the Louisville Cardinals overcame one of the slowest starts this season against a steady Wildcats defense and piled up 339 second half yards forcing 2 turnovers in what was their first test of the season. Bridgewater completed the night with 250 passing yards with a TD.
WEEK 4
Florida beat Tennessee 31-17…..The injury to star quarterback Jeff Driskel did not seem to be a hindrance for the gators against routine opposition. Rather, the Gators were sparked to life amidst a turbulent season and rallied behind backup Junior QB – Tyler Murphy and even their running game seemed to pick up pace. Each of Florida’s 3 running backs scored TD’s to lead the previously 1-1 Gators to a comfortable win over the Volunteers.
Stanford beat Arizona State University 42-28…..After an impressive and controversial victory against Wisconsin in Week 3, ASU seemed to run out of steam against potential title contenders – Stanford. Stanford imposed their running game on a weak defensive front to rack up 241 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns, with their defense forcing 2 turnovers off the ASU offense.
LSU beat Auburn 35-21……One of the most anticipated games of the week fizzled out without too much excitement, as LSU breezed to a 21-0 lead against the Tigers in the first half. Auburn looked like a different force in the second half and got their offense rolling, but were still not good enough to overturn the big deficit. The LSU sophomore running back Jeremy Hill stole the show and along with it seemed to pop up in Heisman talks around the country with his performance of 184 rushing yards totaling 3 TD’s.
BRIEF PREVIEW – WEEK 5……Week 5 promises to play host to a number of mouthwatering games starting from LSU playing at Athens against Aaron Murray and the Georgia Bulldogs which will be the big billed game to watch out for. Following suit are Wisconsin playing at Braxton Miller’s return game and his national champion aspiring Ohio State buckeyes.
The other two games which might be slightly short on entertainment value but still promise an engrossing contest are Oklahoma visiting Notre Dame and their fighting Irish and then lastly the USC Trojans visit to the Sun Devil stadium to play Arizona State University.
Views in this articles are the writer’s, & do not neccessarily reflect those of American College Cricket.
