CFB Odds and Sods: Brady Hoke Seals His Fate, Bret Bielema Has The Beard of Destiny
By Ty Duffy
College football took a pre-Thanksgiving weekend fast on Saturday. The “action” was a nationally irrelevant B1G West race. Not much in the way of intrigue or unexpected results. This set the stage for the feast next week.
Florida State may be 2013 Auburn, sans the spectacular and avec a more sour narrative. Jimbo Fisher’s talented delinquents edged the pedestrian Boston College Eagles 20-17 on a late field goal at home. That could be “BC that picked off USC” or “BC that barely beat VT/Wake and lost to Colorado State,” depending upon one’s point. The Seminoles move to 5-0 in one-score games in 2014. Critical injuries have played a role, but none of those opponents ranks in the Top 20.
The Seminoles have not proven they belong in the playoff. But, the important point is, unlike just about everyone else, they have not proven they do not belong. Crediting Florida State for their schedule is hard. Blaming them for scheduling Florida, Notre Dame and Oklahoma State non-conference not panning out is unfair. Be thankful we’re discussing a semifinal berth, not whether the Noles deserve a one-off shot against the SEC Champ for the title.
Ohio State scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns and cleared Indiana by enough points to avoid further scrutiny. Keep an eye on that run defense though. The Buckeyes gave up 228 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries to Tevin Coleman. OSU was not exactly airtight against Michigan State and Minnesota. That should not matter against Michigan. That may very much matter if Ohio State meets Melvin Gordon and the Badgers in the B1G title game.
Baylor handled Oklahoma State with ease. Maybe things get weird next week in Lubbock Arlington. But, this should come down to whether the Bears can beat Kansas State at home. Beating TCU head to head will overcome the fact TCU beat Minnesota non-conference and Baylor played no one.
Mississippi State ate the sandwich, crushing Vanderbilt 51-0. But, that may not have been the most important shutout from last weekend for the Bulldogs. Ole Miss lost 30-0 to Arkansas in Fayetteville. That means, if Auburn loses to Alabama, Mississippi State’s two best wins would be 8-4 and, potentially, outside the Top 20. Ohio State and Baylor would both have at least one better one and another on par. That will be interesting when it comes down to the talking.
The Good
Rushing Record… Melvin Gordons’ FBS single-game rushing record lasted…a week. Oklahoma freshman Samaje Perine ran for 427 yards and five touchdowns on 34 carries against Kansas. Perine has 640 yards and eight touchdowns combined the past two weeks. He also went for 242 against West Virginia earlier this season. Misdemeanor woman-hitter Joe Mixon still worth the PR hit? We were going to say dropping 400 on Nebraska’s defense was tougher than Kansas. Then we just laughed.
The Beard of Destiny… The Razorbacks are looking up. After earlier SEC moral victories, Arkansas has back to back actual ones over LSU and Ole Miss. Both ranked opponents. Both shutouts. The Hogs are heading to a bowl game and could do the conference a solid by knocking Missouri out of the title game next week. Don’t expect Bret Bielema to shave, even when that thing gets stupid itchy around bowl season. Dan Mullen may not be the SEC West coach a certain program up north is looking for.
Mean Mugging… The facepaint thing is weird. It’s also working. UCLA beat down USC 38-20 for a third-straight rivalry win. The Bruins are close to where many predicted them to be preseason. If UCLA beats Stanford at home next week, they hold the tiebreaker over the Ariz/ASU winner. Worryingly for Trojan fans, the blatant disparity between the teams had little to do with talent.
The Not So Good
Goose Eggs… Virginia Tech lost 6-3 to Wake Forest, in overtime, after a 0-0 end to regulation. The teams produced 488 yards combined on 142 plays and zero points when the ball was not spotted for them at the 25. The only positive from this matchup was the defining screengrab for the end of the Frank Beamer era. He built the program. He may need to step aside to see it flourish again.
Maryland and Rutgers Fergodsakes… Brady Hoke made his firing all but official, with Michigan blowing a 4th quarter lead to lose 23-16 to Maryland. The Wolverine offense had five sustained drives of 50 yards or longer. One produced a touchdown. That’ll lose you an evenly played game. Michigan has been a malaise of its own making for more than a calendar year. That does not constitute “adversity” and, sadly for Michigan, that’s no longer “extraordinary.”
They are ND… INotre Dame has cascaded from playoff talk to mediocrity in a few short weeks. The 31-28 loss to Louisville was their fourth in five games and the second-straight at home by a field goal. Defeat on the road against USC next week would sit the Irish at 7-5. Maybe the loss of Joe Schmidt was too much for Notre Dame to bear. Maybe the Irish, whose best win is by a touchdown over a not so great North Carolina at home, just aren’t very good.
Video of the Week
A UVA bro sang Journey into a fake goose. White folks have never stopped believin’.