NCAA Football Report (Week 11)
The NCAA has been full of controversy in the past years with more than their fair share of scandals. The majority of these scandals deal with the many recruiting violations that have plagued the NCAA over the past few years. There is one team that has kept out of the spotlight for infractions have been the Penn State Nittany Lions. Under head coach Joe Paterno, who is the winningest coach in NCAA history and the longest tenured coach with 60 years at Penn State, the Lions have been clean. That was until this last week when Penn State was rocked by sexual abuse allegations by the assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. The accusations were mainly from a charity summer camp for children but there have also been reports of this terrible crime occurring at the Penn State campus. Normally these accusations would result in the firing of the assistant coach but there is a lot more to this story than just a simple report and arrest. Over 15 years Sandusky had apparently molested and been sexual with a number of young victims. This included an incident in 2002 when a Graduate assistant witnessed one of the acts and reported it to head coach to Joe Paterno who then reported the incident to the Athletic Director Tim Curley. After the report was filed within the university no charges were filed and nothing was done. November 5th of this year Sandusky was arrested for 40 different charges and the dominoes began to fall. Sandusky was charged along with Tim Curley and Gary Schultz who were charged with perjury and failure to report. Every person charged was removed from any involvement in the University along with head coach of 60 years Joe Paterno. Paterno technically may not have done anything wrong as he did report it but he also did not do much right as he could have easily followed with the AD or could have simply called the police to report Sandusky. He did not do anything right and because of that he did something that has plagued the world for a long time as he is guilty by omission. This is the reason that JoePa was fired as he could have done a lot more to stop this terrible person from continuing his crimes and for the school it was the right decision. Penn State had remained out of the papers for such a long time and now they will not be able to stay in the background as they will always be hurt for what they did. Some people have said that the football program should be cancelled and I believe this is the worst thing that the university could do. There is no reason to punish the kids on the team for the failure of adults off the field. The punishment has been handed out as everyone involved has been removed from the university and are awaiting trial or in Paterno’s case waiting to see if he will face charges. Punishing the kids on the team is not the way to go and the cloud will always hang over the school as they look to recover from this shock. Of course the problem has little to do with the team itself as the focus now needs to be put on the victims and what the school can do for them. Penn State’s program has been one of the cleanest for a long time and with this scandal it all came down as a very dark cloud now floats over the campus and it will take a long time for the school to recover but it will take even longer for the victims of Sandusky to recover. There is still football to be played however and the victims will always be in the minds of every fan and every player in the NCAA as the season begins to wind down.
Heisman Watch:
1. Andrew Luck, QB (Stanford)
Andrew Luck saw his hopes of a National Championship end with a loss to the Oregon Ducks as he could not out perform LaMichael James. Luck did not look as good as he had before taking his first big hit in his hopes for a Heisman Trophy. Luck threw for 271 yards and three TDs but the biggest stat was his two INTs that really hurt his team. Luck is still the front-runner for the Heisman but his campaign took the first major blow as he no longer looks like an absolute lock for the trophy. Luck will need to recover from this loss as he takes on state rival Cal next week and will need to have another great performance to continue his hopes for the Heisman.
Stats (10 games):
70.6 cmp%
2,695 yds
29 TD
7 INT
169.0 rtg
2. Trent Richardson, RB (Alabama)
Richardson got a boost from the Stanford loss and continued his great performance carrying the Alabama offence on his back. Richardson is the Alabama offence as he needs to rush for more than 100-yards for the Crimson Tide to win without him, see the LSU game. Richardson did not run all over the Mississippi State team but he did earn 127 yards and 1 TD as he led the Tide’s offence. Richardson may benefit the most from Luck’s loss but he will still need to perform better against teams that should not pose a problem. If Richardson can take over the game against Georgia Southern if he can get the touches that he needs throughout the game. The biggest obstacle could be Nick Saban who might rest Richardson next week against a much weaker team that could harm his Heisman hopes.
Stats (10 games):
204 rsh
1,205 yds
5.9 avg
18 TD
3. Case Keenum, QB (Houston)
Keenum has been making a fast march up the Heisman list with his great performances that are making defences look non-existent. Keenum has been one of the best passers in the NCAA and has guided his team to an undefeated season that sees them ranked #11 in the nation. Keenum continued to make defences look bad against Tulane but did not repeat his previous performances. He passed for 325 yards and 3 TDs which is not one of his best performances but is still a very good performance by normal standards. If Keenum can continue to perform at the level he is right now there is no telling how far he can go.
Stats (10 games):
74.2 cmp%
3,951 yds
37 TD
3 INT
193.3 rtg
Notable Challengers:
4. Brandon Weeden, QB (Oklahoma State)
73.1 cmp%
3,635 yds
31 TD
9 INT
164.2 rtg
5. Kellen Moore, QB (Boise State)
74.1 cmp%
2,549 yds
31 TD
5 INT
177.2 rtg
BCS Rankings:
1. LSU Tigers (1)
2. Oklahoma State Cowboys (2)
3. Alabama Crimson Tide (3)
4. Oregon Ducks (7)
5. Oklahoma Sooners (6)
6. Arkansas Razorbacks (8)
7. Clemson Tigers (9)
8. Virginia Tech Hokies (10)
9. Stanford Cardinal (4)
10. Boise State Broncos (5)
11. Houston Cougars (11)
12. South Carolina Gamecocks (13)
13. Kansas State Wildcats (14)
14. Georgia Bulldogs (15)
15. Michigan State Spartans (17)
16. Nebraska Cornhuskers (19)
17. Wisconsin Badgers (18)
18. Michigan Wolverines (24)
19. TCU Horned Frogs (–)
20. Southern Miss. Golden Eagles (22)
21. Penn State Nittany Lions (12)
22. Baylor Bears (25)
23. Texas Longhorns (16)
24. Auburn Tigers (20)
25. Florida State Seminoles (–)
Key Scores:
#19 Nebraska Cornhuskers 17 – 12 Penn State Nittany Lions #12
– As Penn State looks to move past the scandal with the first new head coach in 60 years they could not get past Nebraska
#7 Oregon Ducks 53 – 30 Stanford Cardinal #4
– The Ducks took out the Cardinal as they look to move back into the title hunt while the Cardinal will have a hard time getting back with few weeks left
Missouri Tigers 17 – 5 Texas Longhorns #16
– The Longhorns continued their struggle while the Tigers looked to prove that they deserve a spot in the SEC when they move to the conference next year
TCU Horned Frogs 36 – 35 Boise State Broncos #5
– The BCS Buster rivalry continued as TCU beat the Boise State Broncos eliminating the Broncos from the title run and hurting Kellen Moore’s Heisman chances
Key Matchups Next Week:
#16 Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. #18 Michigan Wolverines (Nov. 19th; 12:00 pm)
– Nebraska continues to role as they look to move up the rankings again by beating a tough Michigan State team
#21 Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (Nov. 19th; 3:30 pm)
– With the scandal hanging over their head the Lions will try to beat their longtime archrival the Ohio State Buckeyes
USC Trojans vs. #4 Oregon Ducks (Nov. 19th; 8:00 pm)
– The Ducks look to continue to ride the healthy LaMichael James into a national championship but will need to keep winning and will need some help in the next few weeks
#9 Stanford Cardinal vs. California Golden Bears (Nov. 19th; 10:15 pm)
– Stanford will try to start a new winning streak against their archrival Cal Bears in a classic California rivalry matchup
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