With a number of big games on the docket, this weekend’s action was easily the most exciting of the season so far. Here are five things we learned from week 10:
5. The Baylor offense will be fine under the leadership of quarterback Jarrett Stidham.
Yes, I was pretty sure that this would be the case. In fact, I wrote an article about it a couple of weeks ago.
However, Stidham’s performance on Thursday night validated everything I wrote in that piece. Making his first career start against Kansas State — which is never an easy place to play — Stidham played with the poise of a seasoned signal caller. He completed 23 of 33 passes for 419 yards and 3 touchdowns. Stidham also showed tremendous touch when throwing deep, placing his throws where only his receivers could catch the ball.
Simply put: the Bears are every bit as explosive with Stidham under center as they were under Russell. They’ll need that type of firepower over the next three weeks with games against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and TCU.
4. Oklahoma State is the driver’s seat in the Big 12 race
Make no mistake about it: the Cowboys made a statement by throttling defending co-champion TCU on Saturday. Sure, OSU gave up over 663 yards against the Horned Frogs, but it played vintage Glenn Spencer defense in that contest, recording 6 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks, and forcing a season-best 4 interceptions. That’s an outstanding effort against a TCU offense that had thrown only 5 picks all season coming into the contest.
With the victory, Oklahoma State has to like its chances to win the conference and earn a spot in the College Football Playoff. After all, the ‘Pokes draw both Baylor and Oklahoma at home, where they’re averaging 528.2 yards and a net of 2 turnovers per game. While those numbers don’t guarantee a “W,” they certainly make it more likely to happen.
3. LSU – Alabama featured a Heisman Trophy candidate; we were just talking about the wrong running back.
If you’d asked someone who was going to win the Heisman Trophy heading into week 10, just about everyone would have answered, “Leonard Fournette.” After all, Fournette was averaging 193.14 yards per game, and had eclipsed the 150-yard mark in every contest this season.
Then Saturday happened. Intent on stopping the LSU ground game, Alabama’s defense dominated the line of scrimmage all night long, giving Fournette no room to run. As a result, he ran for a season-low 31 yards on 19 carries.
While this poor outing — which clearly wasn’t his fault — doesn’t mean that Fournette won’t win college football’s most prestigious award, it definitely doesn’t make him the favorite to win the award. After all, voters tend to give weight to big performances in big games.
That’s why Alabama’s Derrick Henry should be the front-runner. Playing against the league’s sixth-best run defense (coming into the game, anyway), Henry was absolutely awesome, carrying the ball 38 times for 210 yards and 3 TDs. He was especially in impressive on the final drive, continuing to crank out yardage even with LSU’s defense selling out to stop the run. As a result of his excellence, the Crimson Tide was able to run the final 9:18 off the clock to seal the victory.
It’s also worth noting that Henry is averaging 178.5 yards per game and 7 yards per carry against ranked opponents this season.
It’s tough to argue with those results.
2. Ohio State isn’t going to finish the season as the No. 1 team in College Football Playoff rankings.
Sorry, Buckeye fans, but after what happened on the gridiron this weekend, it’s very apparent that your team will not finish the regular season atop the standings.
That’s not to say that Ohio State won’t make the field if it goes undefeated, because it will. While the Selection Committee might do some crazy things, there’s no way it will exclude a major conference champion that finished the year with an unbeaten record.
However, based on this weekend’s events, the odds of the Buckeyes finishing in the top spot look pretty slim. OSU’s strength of schedule — a popular topic of discussion among college football fans — took a huge hit this weekend with Michigan State’s loss to Nebraska. Without a “W” over a top-10 team (and please don’t say Iowa, because they’re not a top-10 team), the Selection Committee isn’t going to elevate the Buckeyes to the top spot.
Even if Ohio State owned a win over an unbeaten Michigan State team, the committee wouldn’t put the Buckeyes at No. 1 because of transpired on the gridiron last weekend. Current No. 1 Clemson did nothing to hurt its chances of hanging on to the top spot by rallying to defeat Florida State. It’s also highly possible that Alabama will jump the Buckeyes in Tuesday’s rankings because of its impressive victory over previous No. 2 LSU. More on that topic below…
1. Alabama’s defense is the best in the country
Yes, I’m aware that Boston College and Michigan allow only 3.9 yards per play, which is .25 yards better than what the Alabama D allows per play (4.15). However, after watching them in action on Saturday, there’s no denying that the Crimson Tide have the best defense in the country. The Alabama front seven beat LSU up front all night long, limiting Leonard Fournette to just one carry of more than 10 yards, which is quite a feat considering that he had 37 coming into Saturday’s contest.
Of course, it wasn’t just the run defense that stood out. The secondary turned in a solid effort, allowing Brandon Harris to complete just 6 of 19 passes. It also intercepted a pass — Harris’s first pick of the season — early in the third quarter to give the Crimson Tide a commanding 10-point lead.
While the numbers above are impressive, here’s the one that really jumps off the page: Alabama held LSU to just 182 yards of total offense, nearly 300 less than it averaged coming into the game (466).
If that effort doesn’t make the Crimson Tide the best defense in the nation, I don’t know what does.
