College Football Week 5 in Review: Ohio State and Texas Move On, Oregon Rules, Offenses Roll

David Ash connected with Jaxon Shipley 3 times in a big win over Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Photo by Sue Ogrocki of the AP.

Historic Powers Ohio State and Texas Get Close Wins

Best sign of Gameday. Nickelback appears to be the low hanging fruit this year.

College Gameday was in East Lansing for the Buckeyes clash with the Michigan State Spartans.  The Spartans were the immovable force on run defense and the Buckeyes were the unstoppable force on offense.  The Buckeyes had the upper hand in this matchup, rushing for 204 yards on the way to winning 17-16.  Even though they caused three turnovers, the Spartans couldn’t capitalize enough to pull out a close win.  Ohio State isn’t eligible to participated in the Big-10 championship game, but it appears that if they could, they would surely make the game and probably win it.  No team appears to be as complete as the Buckeyes or have the right personnel to fit their system like the Buckeyes.

Texas traveled to Stillwater, Oklahoma to take on a young Cowboy’s team that had an 8-0 streak at home.  The Longhorns were in a constant battle for the lead throughout the game and David Ash’s quarterback play is what got Texas the win.  Ash only threw 7 incompletions, throwing 30/37 for 304 yards and 3 touchdowns.  All the touchdowns were caught by Jaxon Shipley, younger brother to former Texas wide receiver Jordan Shipley.  While the Texas defense underperformed, the offense that has been poor for years is picking up the slack.

State of Oregon Rules the PAC-12

Oregon State went in to the desert Saturday night to play the three-point favorite Arizona Wildcat.  The Beavers blew a 17-0 lead in the third quarter before trading scores until the fourth.  Sean Mannion led two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter with the last score coming with just over a minute to go.  The biggest difference between this year’s team and last year’s team besides the ability to stop the run, produce runs longer than 6 yards, and also the improved quarterback play.  Sean Mannion went 29/45 for 433 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions.  He’s already thrown for over 1,000 yards and 6 touchdowns with a 64.4% completion rate.

Only thirty minutes after Oregon State kicked off, the Oregon Ducks kicked off against Washington State at Century Link field.  The location had seen two huge upsets in the past six days and some thought the arena had enough magic left for one more upset.  Oregon went up 20-9 at the end of the first before letting the Cougars back in the game.  At halftime the score was 23-19 Oregon due to shortened fields resulting from an interception return and a kickoff return. The first ten minutes of the second half Oregon scored 21 unanswered points.  Kenjon Barner had 20 carries for 195 yards and 3 touchdowns while also icing the game with an 80-yard run at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Offenses of Texas A&M and West Virginia Could Not be Stopped

Presented without comment.

West Virginia led off the day with one of the most impressive offensive performances in recent memory.  The Mountaineers squared off against Baylor where both teams combined for 133 points and 1507 yards, just shy of a mile.  Geno Smith only threw six incompletions while throwing 8 touchdowns.  I also don’t know the last time a team scored 70 points and didn’t cover the spread.

Texas A&M played Arkansas at home where the Aggies recorded their first conference win over an SEC foe.  The Razorbacks are obviously one of the most dysfunctional teams in the country but they looked totally lost losing 58-10.  This is one of those season’s where if it were a video game you would start over or just move on to the next season and pretend it never happened.  Texas A&M gained 716 total yards.  Aggie quarterback Johnny Manziel threw for 453 yards, rushed for 104, and had 4 total touchdowns on the day.

LSU and Florida State Swap Places in Top 25

At one point LSU was losing to Towson at home.  Towson went up 9-7 with 5:15 left in the second quarter.  The final score was 38-22 in favor of LSU but part of me really wanted Towson to win just for sheer chaos.  Hearing people try to justify the biggest upset in the history of college football would have been entertaining.

Florida State beat South Florida 30-17 a week after beating Clemson 49-37.  In years past this would have been a classic game for the Seminoles to drop, but against a tricky non-conference opponent Florida State took care of business.  They were rewarded with jumping LSU for the number three spot in the AP Top 25 poll.

Other Notes: Georgia’s Running Backs, Penn State beats Illinois, and the ACC Struggles

Georgia had to dismiss star running back Isaiah Crowell before the season for getting caught with drugs and having a gun with the serial number scratched off, straight out of The Wire.  The Bulldogs have found two dynamic tailbacks who are freshmen.  In the last game Keith Marshall had 10 carries for 164 yards and two touchdowns.  Todd Gurley rushed 24 times for 130 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Both entered beast mode for one week in Georgia’s 51-44 win over Tennessee

Georgia fans love UGA, and UGA ice sculptures, and alcohol that runs through an UGA ice sculpture.

Penn State has won three games in a row now.  After beating Navy and Temple the Penn State Lions beat Illinois in Champagne.  The 35-7 romping was a revenge dish best served cold.  If you don’t recall, Illinois had eight recruiters on campus as soon as humanly possible after the NCAA put the Penn State program on life support.

Florida State was the only other team other than Clemson to record a good win this week.  Middle Tennessee rocked Georgia Tech to the tune of 49-28.  Virginia Tech got beat by the Cincinnati Bearcats.  The Hokies offense has been uncharacteristically bad while the defense hasn’t lived up to year’s past.  Virginia was beaten by red-hot Louisiana Tech 44-38 despite outgaining the Bulldogs by 240 yards.

Players Of the Week

Johnny Manziel was the man against Arkansas.  He threw for 453 yards and rushed for 104 yards.  He led the Aggies over the faltering Arkansas Razorbacks, 58-10.

Geno Smith threw for 687 yards and 8 touchdowns in the Mountaineers’ 70-63 win over the Baylor Bears.  He had only 6 incompletions all game.

Highlights of the Week

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