Moving the Chains: Takeaways from college football – Week Ten

I just got back from a trip to New England with shocking news: football is not their most popular collegiate sport in the fall. I’m pretty certain that’s a direct violation of the Geneva Convention. Rather, their most popular sport is soccer – and yes, I’m sure I was in New England and not the one on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. My point: this may help explain why the college football teams in the northeast are so bad. Case in point: Oklahoma – 59, Maine – 14. The more you know.

Florida kicked off November with arguably the toughest five-game slate in a calendar month in the history of college football: Georgia in Jacksonville, Texas in Austin, LSU and Ole Miss at home, and a season-ending finale against Florida State in Tallahassee. When the season began, I didn’t think they stood a chance to win any of them. Putting the ‘no’ in November, you might say.

Then suddenly, it only took one season for *Florida State to go from unbeatable to insufferable. Part of their downfall can be attributed to the departure of star quarterback Jordan Travis. The same thing that is happening to FSU coach Mike Norvell now happened to Urban Meyer at Florida after Tim Tebow graduated: he went from being an unstoppable train to an absolute train wreck in the course of one season.

* FSU is now 1 – 8 after another loss by embarrassing score of 35 – 11 at home to North Carolina. With the possible exception of defending National Champion Michigan (now 5 – 4 after being demolished by #1 Oregon, 38 – 17 – also at home) – no other team has dropped as far this season as the Seminoles.

As for Michigan’s conference rival, #13 Indiana, the Hoosiers upped their record to 9 – 0 after spotting Michigan State an early 10 point lead before scoring the last 47 points of the game. Final score: Indiana – 47, Michigan State – 10.

But I digress. Let’s move on to the Gators’ game against #2 Georgia, one in which the Bulldogs had everything to lose and Florida had everything to gain – most importantly the continued tenure of head coach Billy Napier.

Florida, with their starting quarterback, top running back, top receiver, and best defensive back out for the season, had freshman D.J. Lagway start the game at QB … until he left the game with an injury in the second quarter. Regardless, the surprising Gators still led the Bulldogs 13 – 6 at halftime. However, second half injuries to three defensive backs and less-than-stellar play from the third team QB – his name escapes me at the moment – resulted in an underwhelming 34 – 20 Georgia win. I said underwhelming because, with four minutes left in the game, the score was tied at 20, at which point the injury problem caught up with the Gators. (Rumor has it that a Florida trainer was sent to the local Rite Aid at halftime to buy crutches. The rumor was later proven to be false: the trainer actually went to Walgreens.)

In the biggest Big Ten game of the week, #4 Ohio State traveled to State College to take on undefeated #3 Penn State. The home team took the opening drive and kept the ball for over eight minutes, resulting in a chip shot field goal. Then, a little over a minute later, the Nittany Lions scored on a pick-six for a 10 – 0 lead. Only there are two things you can count on in November: time falling back an hour on the first weekend of the month, and Penn State losing at least one big game. Final score: Buckeyes – 20, James Franklin’s usual late-season Swooners – 13.

#19 Ole Miss – 63, Arkansas – 31. I only mention this game to point out two things. Better make it three. (1) Lane Kiffin continues to recruit top-notch quarterbacks. After Matt Corral, along comes Jaxson Dart. Against the Razorbacks, Dart was 25 of 31 for 515 yards and six touchdowns. (2) Dart wasn’t even the star of the game. That would be receiver Jordan Watkins, who caught eight of Dart’s passes for 254 and five touchdowns, three of them over 60 yards. (3) There are rumors Kiffin may be heading to Florida should Billy Napier be put out to pasture. Count me as one Gator whose feelings wouldn’t be hurt if that happened.

#5 Miami – 53, Duke – 31. The Hurricanes trailed by 11 early in the third quarter, then outscored the Blue Devils 36 – 3 down the stretch. With (my personal) Heisman favorite Cam Ward (25 of 41 for 400 yards and five touchdowns with one interception) taking snaps, that wasn’t a surprise. Ward’s favorite target, Xavier Restrepo, was on the receiving end of eight passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns on his way to setting a new Miami team record for career receiving yardage, passing former record holder Santana Moss. Speaking of records, Ward tied Steve Walsh’s team record of 29 TD passes in a season … with three games still left to play in the regular season.

Team’s with black and gold uniforms are looking good this season. #21 Army upped their record to 8 – 0 with a 20 – 3 win over Air Force, and a surprising Vanderbilt team upped their record to 6 – 3 with a 17 – 7 win over Auburn on the Plains. To date, Army has not been behind in a game at any time this season.

Not all teams look good in black, however. In their 28 – 18 winner over Kentucky, #7 Tennessee wore black uniforms with orange stripes that would have looked better on a chain gang than a football team.

Finally, three times will be saying farewell to their ranking amongst the Top Twelve (Eleven, actually, since Clemson and Iowa State were tied at 11th):

• South Carolina – 44, #10 Texas A&M – 20
• Louisville – 33, #11 Clemson – 21
• Texas Tech – 23, #11 Iowa State – 22

Now that we’re into November, things are starting to become clearer:

The Heisman is Cam Ward’s to lose.

Georgia’s QB Carson Beck doesn’t have a shot at it, not with three interceptions in a game for the third time this season (by comparison; the last two Heisman’s went to QB’s with nine interceptions in their award-winning seasons – combined).

Michigan will not defend its title. They’ll be lucky to make it to the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.

With his record now at 1 – 13 against Top Five teams in his 11 seasons at Penn State, coach James Franklin has some serious ‘splainin’ to do.

Florida is in a world of hurt – literally and figuratively – while rival Florida State appears to be on another planet.

When Nick Saban was still at Alabama, his mentality regarding injured players was ‘next man up.’ The injury situation at Florida has become so dire that Billy Napier might have to settle for something a little more ominous:

‘Last man standing.’

Scott Ludwig lives, runs, and walks in Senoia.  His latest compilation of 101 columns, ‘Southern Accent’, complements ‘Southern Charm,’ ‘Southern Comfort,’ and ‘Southern Hospitality,’ his first three compilations.  Other books in his Southern Exposure series include ‘Finding the Words,’ ‘Portraits of the South,’ and ‘let me tell you a funny story.’  All of his books can be found on his author page on Amazon.