College Football Wrap Up: Week 11

Week 11 is in the hamper, and as far as this season goes, it was another week of excitement and definite shakeups in the Top 25.

• Getting down to business this week we had a Thursday game pitting USF against a very tough Rutgers team where we saw a dominating performance on offense for The Scarlet Knights as they trashed USF 31-0.
• South Florida’s thrashing was followed by a tight Friday night game with West Virginia playing a undefeated #5 Cincinnati squad. We saw limited time from Cincinnati’s QB Tony Pike, however he did manage to have two touchdown passes in the little time that he played. With Zach Collaros taking most of the snaps, it gave Pike the opportunity to be 2/4 16yards and two touchdowns to help keep them undefeated as the Bearcats win 24-21.
• On to Saturday’s action, we saw an interesting game in the ACC with #15 Virginia Tech taking on Maryland in what was a poor performance for the Terrapins on both sides of the ball letting the Hokies QB Tyrod Taylor fire up his arm going 13-23 for 268 yards and three touchdowns to easily move past Maryland 36-9.
• Also in the ACC this week we saw the debut of heralded QB EJ Manuel for Bobby Bowden’s unranked Florida State squad due to the shoulder injury sustained by starter QB Christian Ponder. His debut was very much a success going 15-20 for 220 yards and one touchdown helping the ‘Noles past Wake Forest in this matchup for the first time in three years 41-28.
• # 20 Miami was stunned in a matchup against conference partner North Carolina where the Tarheels success came from a very strong defensive performance against the Hurricanes rushing offense, keeping them to barely over 100 yards on the ground. The Tarheel defense also kept QB Jacory Harris to only one touchdown through the air, defeating the hurricanes 33-24.
• In my favorite game this weekend, we saw #18 USC taking on a #17 Stanford team. The Trojans have fallen from grace it seems in the past couple weeks giving up more than 50 points in back- to- back contests. This week USC gave a lackluster performance through the air but had a solid day on the ground with Joe McKnight running for 16 carries for 162 yards and a TD. It was nowhere near enough however, to hold back a hot Stanford team. Touted QB Andrew Luck was 12-22 with 144 yards and two touchdowns. And similar to last week, the game ball goes to RB Toby Gerhart who had 29 carries for 178 yards with a whopping three touchdowns to stun USC 55-21.
• #1 Florida and Heisman candidate Tim Tebow had the luxury of playing South Carolina this weekend that had Steve Spurrier wishing he was still with his former Gator team. The Gamecocks  tried their best in this one but as suspected it was not enough to bring down the beast , Florida wins 24-14.
• In Big 12 action, #3 Texas demolished Baylor with Colt McCoy tossing two touchdowns, both to his roommate Jordan Shipley grabbing the win 47-14.
• #2 Alabama faced Mississippi State this weekend in a matchup that was pretty much one sided with RB Mark Ingram still literally running for his chance at the Heisman gaining 149 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns leading to a victory 31-3.
• # 6 Boise State embarrassed Idaho with QB Kellen Moore throwing for 5 touchdowns in a 63-25 victory, keeping their streak alive at 10-0.
• # 4 TCU taking on a #21 Utah team, with TCU’s Andy Dalton going 17-29 with 207 yards and one touchdown, as the Horned Frogs coasted to victory 55-28.
• ACC leading #7 Georgia Tech keeps romping in the BCS as they faced Duke this past weekend with star QB Josh Nesbitt doing more with his arm this averaging over 30 yards per completion going  6-10 and 195 yards with two touchdowns winning the game easily 49-10.
• #13 Iowa came off a disappointing loss last week after losing star QB Ricky Stanzi, faced a tough #10 Ohio State squad in a very close matchup. Hawkeye QB James Vandenburg faired a bit better this week going 20-33 with 233 yards and two touchdowns. However it wasn’t enough to stop the Buckeyes and QB Terrelle Pryor paired with rushing game of RB Brandon Saine who had 103 yards on the ground with 2 TD’s helping get a victory, 27-24.
• Unranked Notre Dame has been spiraling downwards and with that talk of Charlie Weis’s future as the Irish head coach has been in question as well. Taking on a #9 ranked Pittsburg team , this game was a hard fought matchup against two great offensive teams , but overall I think Charlie Weis is  at fault again for his lack of focus regarding his rushing attack combined with some very stiff playcalling leading to an Irish loss 22-27.
• #11 Oregon continues their march of victories with a convincing win over Arizona State in which the Sun Devils were just simply outplayed on offense by Freshman RB LaMichael James who ran  for 150 yards and three touchdowns keeping recently reinstated RB LeGarrette Blount on the bench the entire game winning this one 44-21.

It has been a truly competitive season as it is nearing its end, and I have been both impressed and disgusted at times throughout this season. Overall it is refreshing to see some of the bigger schools being somewhat overshadowed by the steady performances of the smaller conferences. In the end we all know that SEC is king but now I ask , is that really still the truth with all of the conferences making significant improvements with their recruiting and also with their coaching selections , maybe we are not far from calling the ACC, Big 12, and SEC a trio of powerhouse conferences  in the near future.

In this year’s Heisman race we are still looking for our solid # 1 choice for the trophy in a season where ESPN analyst  Todd Mcshay  states “ in a season where nobody wants to win the Heisman” we have Mark Ingram at the top following his solid performance on Saturday, close behind him is a surprise with Stanford RB Toby Gerhart getting a good number of votes as well, followed by CJ Spillar from Clemson and of course QB Tim Tebow from Florida.

A few key matchups to keep an eye on are Ohio State vs Michigan, California vs Stanford and watch out for a potential upset with Oregon vs Arizona. That’s all until next week, I’ll see you right back here at The Father Life.

Bobby Wren

Bobby Wren is a contributing sports enthusiast living out of El Paso, TX. He is currently involved in business and enjoys cooking for his family in his spare time. Bobby has been married for four years and has two wonderful children.