By Nino Colla
Published: September 2, 2007 PrintEmail
Among all the hubbabalub over Michigan's loss to the kind folks at Appy State, there were OTHER college football games going on this weekend.
Of course before that all the talk was surrounding Virginia Tech's emotional game against the East Carolina Pirates. It's been well documented. But once the Wolverines went down, The Hokie Healing Process took a back seat.
So in order to get the rest of the world up to speed, heres some things that happened in College Football this Weekend that you might have never known about until now.
Picture Courtesy of YAHOO! Sports(AP Photo/Ronen Zilberma)
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Colt Brennan threw for 6 Touchdowns and 416 Yards in Hawaii's first game. Oh wait I'm sorry. That was just in the first half. Just to put into perspective how good Colt Brennan is and how the system while it is friendly, doesn't make this QB what he is. His two backups went a combined 11 for 19 with 1 TD, 124 Yards and 2 Picks. What is the lesson here? Colt Brennan is for real and not just any old QB can step into this system and have the mega-success he is having. These numbers translate to say if he was playing for Louisville. He is just as good if not better than Brian Brohm in my opinion. It's also worthy to point out that Hawaii had only 2 plays that didn't involve a QB running. 0 Yards were gained and Brennan stands as Hawaii's rushing leader with 23 yards. 13 Different Players caught a pass in Hawaii's 63-6 Drubbing of Northern Colorado.
Picture Courtesy of YAHOO! Sports(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
BUM RUSHED IN BERKLEY
Cal extracted their revenge of last year's Knoxville Knockout. Love it how I can mesh these words and college towns together, don't ya? Nate Longshore averaged 8 yards a throw and scored 3 touchdowns including one rushing. Overshadowing the great game by Justin Forsett was DeSean Jackson's amazing NCAA Football 08 like punt return. The Vols matched TD for TD early until the 2nd Quarter when the Bears started to pull away. Forsett's TD run in the 4th quarter gave the Bears a 45-31 lead and sealed the deal for revenge.
Picture Courtesy of YAHOO! Sports(AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
#4 TEXAS STRUGGLES BUT HOLD OFF CHARGING INDIANS
No not baseball. The clue there is that the Rangers are awful. I'm talking about the Texas Longhorns and Quarterback Colt McCoy and the Arkansas State Indians. Arkansas State isn't Div I-AA like the Mountaineers of App. State, but they are the pride of the Sun Belt and losing to them would be as equally bad for the Longhorns. While it wasn't close late until the Indians scored a touchdown to make it 13-21, and they never had the lead. It's bad for the number 4 team in the nation to struggle against an easy opponent. Luckily they didn't lose, Michigan did and all their woes are over shadowed. Colt McCoy threw two picks but the Longhorns got a good rushing attack out of Jamal Charles in the late escape.
Picture Courtesy of YAHOO! Sports(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
NOTRE DAME SACKED IN OBLIVION
Notre Dame Quarterbacks were sacked a total of 9 times in Georgia Tech's route of the Fighting Irish were so bad that it negated any sort of rushing yardage their running backs compiled. They lost three fumbles, and let Tashard Choice run all over them for 198 yards and two scores. While the QBs only went 15 for 22, the Georgia Tech blitzing defense was all over the Irish offense all day. Charlie Weis' plans of keeping his starter a secret never really worked. Starter Demetrius Jones went 1 for 3 and was promptly yanked. Evan Sharpley managed to go 7 for 10 but he had the same number of completions as sacks. He then gave way to super recruit Jimmy Clausen who went 4 for 6. If this game is any indication for the Irish, they are going to have a long season. They might just be better off starting Jimmy Clausen for experience and chalking this up as a year to regroup, learn and gain experience for all their future stars.
Picture Courtesy of YAHOO! Sports(AP Photo/Dave Martin)
AUBURN SURVIVES THE PRINCE
It's only fitting that Ron Prince coaches a team that has purple as it's color. So many jokes, so little time. Kansas State at one point led 13-6 in the third quarter before another Auburn FG made it a 4 point game. Then the 4th quarter came and the wheels kinda fell off. A Brandon Cox touchdown pass gave Auburn a lead. Then a Josh Freeman fumble and 40 yard Antonio Coleman return put the K-State Cats to bed. Beating Auburn would have been a statement win for Ron Prince, the up and coming coach of Kansas State. He is ready to put the program back on the map after Bill Snyder's retirement. He is just going to have to wait a little bit longer to tell the world that he has arrived.
WOLFPACK ROAR BACK FROM 25-3 DEFICIT.... DID THEY WIN?
The UFC Knights are one of those teams that have been on the rise. They had the NC State Wolf Pack right where they wanted them too. Up 25-3 at the half, they just needed to put the game away. The only problem with that is they couldn't. NC State came flying back in the 2nd half with touchdowns galore. The only problem with that is they missed the 2 point conversion that would have tied the game. UCF's Kevin Smith rushed for 217 yards off 35 carries and had 2 scores. One was a 80 yard scamper on the first play of the Knights Offensive Season. The NC State comeback was thanks in large part to Harrison Beck. Beck threw for 2 touchdowns in the second half after Daniel Evans went 7 for 10 with a pick and three sacks. The Wolfpack lost three fumbles in the game.
Picture Courtesy of YAHOO! Sports(AP Photo/Butch Dill)
QUICK HITS
ITS DIVISION I FOOTBALL: Lloyd Carr isn't going to into a Dan Hawkins like rant after losing to a Div-IAA program like Colorado did last year. Colorado has seamed to put last year's awful season behind them and the Dan Hawkins era is officially underway and his son is at the helm. Cody Hawkins started at QB and led the team to a Overtime Victory. The replacement to Mason Crosby, Kevin Eberhart kicked a game winning 35 yard field goal after the Bufs picked off a pass in the Rams first OT possession.
CRUNKED STATE: If you don't get it, you never will. Wyoming beat up on the ACC yesterday. Al Groh's Virginia squad lost to Wyoming! This Cavs team really could have used LeBron James. It might have not mattered but I'm sure he could have helped them score more than 3 points.
IT'S RAINING TEBOW: The Legend of Tim Tebow grew more today as the Gators set out to defend their National Championship. Tim Tebow's era as "The Man" also started as he got his first start as QB. It went over pretty well. Tebow didn't waste any time as he went back to what he knew the best. His first TD was a rushing TD. But he got it done in the air throwing for 300 yards and 3 Touchdowns.
DUKE LOST.....: This could have been the only possible win for the Duke Blue Devils this year. The only problem is they got crushed. It took three scores for the Huskies to finally pull ahead of Duke(FG, Safety, FG) in the second quarter. From there on it was all over. Duke added one more touchdown and proceeded to let the Huskies run rampant for 190 rushing yards. The Huskies scored 5 straight TDs in the second half in case you were wondering.
IOWA STRUGGLED: Further proving that I think Iowa is doomed, the Hawkeyes beat the Wolfeless NIU Huskies 16 to 3. It's obvious the Huskies miss the 2,000 some yards Wolfe put up last year. They only rushed for 21 against Iowa.
ZOOKED OFF: The sleep darlings of the Big Ten didn't win their opener against Mizzou. Juice Williams was knocked out of the game in the second quarter after a helmet to helmet hit. He did not return, but Zooker said he should be ready to go next week. Who knows if that impacted the outcome as far as how many points the Illini would score. It certainly didn't stop Chase Daniels from throwing 3 scores and 350 plus yards. Juice's replacement, redshirt freshman Eddie McGee threw 2 picks and was only 54%
BUTCH!: Butch Davis had a successful return to college football. His UNC Tarheels defeated James Madison(Another elite I-AA school!!!) 37 to 14. Nothing really stands out other than Brooks Foster's two touchdown grabs.
SABAN TIDE: Terry Grant led Alabama to a win. Nick Saban won his first game as the ring leader of the Crimson Tide. Big Party!
KIRBY!!!: I think of that big puffy pink thing when I think of Kirby Freeman. Whatever in the department of new coaches. Randy Shannon won his debut as head man of Miami. Kirby Freeman was downright not any good but the Canes beat up on Marshall 31-3.
WHAT QB?: Was there QB discussion in Norman this year? I forget. But who was that guy that used to QB them? Roman man? Brett Romar? NO NO It was RHETT BOMAR!!! YA.. Oh who cares. They got this kid named Sam Bradford. All he did was complete 91% of his passes and led the Sooners to a 79 POINT day. DeMarco Murray had 5 touchdowns.
RIP COACH HEP: Indiana won their first game since the passing of Coach Hoeppner. Kellen Lewis threw for 3 scores and rushed for another. Coach Hep was honored before the game with a video tribute, "HEP" buttons and his wife and kids walking to mid field. A chant of "Terry Hoepnner" broke out in an emotional win for the Hooisers.
