College Football Questions and Answers: Week 14

If you were paying attention Saturday, you would have noticed that the mighty SEC went 1-for-4 against the lowly ACC with only Florida posting a win over Florida State.

1.) Who needs to pass the ball when you can rush for 409 yards against Georgia? Not Georgia Tech. GT was 1-6 passing for 19 yards Saturday while they rolled up a 7.3 yards per rush average on what was the 15th ranked rush defense. The performance was so bad for Georgia that they fell from 15th to 42nd, and that’s dramatic given how late in the season it is.

Included in Georgia Tech’s 45-42 win over Georgia was a 26-point third quarter, including two consecutive successful 2-point conversions. That quarter combined with the first half against Alabama makes one wonder what kind of leadership Georgia has on their team. Evidence indicates a shortfall.

Also strange was Georgia’s apparent abandonment of the running game. Running Back Knowshon Moreno was limited to 94 yards on only 17 carries. Georgia went from 7 minutes left in the 2nd quarter to ~8 minutes left in the third quarter with Moreno only getting one carry. That’s not exactly the type of strategy you want to employ when you’re playing a ball-hogging rush happy team, and the net result was a 7 minute advantage in time of possession for Georgia Tech.

2.) I called for a rout of Alabama over helpless Auburn, and that’s exactly what happened. Auburn added three turnovers to a pathetic 170-yard offensive output in a 36-0 loss. Auburn finishes the season 5-7 including losses in 6 of their final 7 games. An awfully disappointing finish for a pre-season top ten team.

3.) Regarding Florida-Florida State, I wrote:

Can Florida State re-ignite former glory to beat their rival? If they’re going to, they’ll need an inspired performance from the defense. FSU has shown glimpses this year of the kind of dominating defense they used to have, and there have also been sparks on offense. They’re getting quality yards on the ground from running backs Antone Smith and Jermaine Thomas. The key will be a mistake-free game from QB Christian Ponder. In Florida State’s three losses, Ponder has thrown seven interceptions, vs. only six the other eight games.

Because this game is in Tallahassee, I like Florida State to cover (15.5) but lose to the unstoppable force that is the Gators right now.

Florida State got enough on the ground to be competitive but got two interceptions from Christian Ponder plus a third chipped in by D’Vontrey Richardson. They also managed to give up 317 net yards on the ground to Florida.

4.) Texas Tech needed 14 points in the 4th quarter to hold off Baylor 35-28. I guess the Red Raiders and Mike Leach were a little mopier than I thought they’d be.

5.) I called the Oregon win over Oregon State, though I was still surprised at the way it came to pass. Oregon State gave up a staggering 694 yards of offense to the Ducks. Four turnovers didn’t help the cause either but losing 65-38 to your biggest rival with a Rose Bowl berth on the line is one hell of a crushing way to finish the season.

6.) Oklahoma State had the Sooners where they wanted them only down by three in the 4th quarter. That is until Oklahoma scored 17 unanswered including the score to put them over 60 with 25 seconds to go. The offensive display was bombastic with each team trading touchdown after touchdown, and over 1,000 total yards of offense. I hate the BCS but I’m anxious to see a Big XII offense against a decent defense.

7.) I called USC big over Notre Dame, 40+ big. That didn’t quite happen with a final score of 38-3. It was every bit of an ass-kicking that the score suggested with USC holding a final yardage advantage of 449-91. The offense may be slightly above average, but that USC defense is very, very special.