NCAA Football Report (Week 6)
The NCAA season is coming close to the midway point which means that the BCS rankings are just around the corner. Games become more important with every week as the next loss could put a team too far back to recover and push their way back to the top and into the national title picture. As each games get more important the games also get much better with conference play heating up and some teams unable to avoid some of the best teams. This is the time of year where teams begin to play their rivals in the conference in games that can change a season outlook in one snap. Throughout the first few weeks the NCAA has been robbed of great matchups as the best teams in the country face much weaker teams. With this the season has not seen great games unless it is among the middle ranked teams. There have been upsets with some teams losing out on their chance to get to the top of the rankings. At this point though there is no avoiding the best teams as more of the top ranked teams have to take on good teams. This is what happened on week 6 of the season as top teams began facing some tougher competition and because better teams are playing them the holes that have not been seen are starting to emerge more and more. LSU was a top ranked team all year but they had yet to face any big name teams. As a result of this they continued to fall down the rankings and they would take on the Florida Gators to end the fall. The game did not go their way though as their offence was exposed for not being as good as many had thought. The Tigers were always based on defence and had a good enough offence to manufacture enough points to win but this year it seems the offence has taken a step back. The Tigers could not break through the Gators’ defence while the Gators wore the Tigers’ defence down until they finally broke through. It was one of the first big upsets in the top 5 of the rankings all year. The Tigers fell out of the top rankings hurting their chances of returning to the National Championship as they will need some top ranked teams to get upset to get back. The Tigers were not alone this week though as a newcomer to the top 5 also took a big hit. The Florida State Seminoles had quickly moved up the rankings behind some good performances and the play of EJ Manuel. They were still not a very powerful offence throughout their wins and this week the NC State Wolfpack exposed them for the team that they are. The Wolfpack defence did just enough to stop the Noles and take the win pushing them out of the top five and likely keeping them out of the top 5. Two teams fell out of the top 5 this week as the top 25 was changed a lot from the previous week. This is a good thing for football in the NCAA as the competition continues to heat up. The two teams that have so far been untouched are the Oregon Ducks and the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tide have sat at the top of the rankings the entire year and a lot of it has been the weak schedule they have had so far. There is not a lot more room to hide though as they begin an SEC heavy schedule that includes Mississippi State and a rematch with the LSU Tigers. Both of these games and truly any SEC game could derail the Tide’s chances at repeating as a National Champion. The Ducks have beat everyone on their way to the top of the rankings but they have also not faced many top teams. They will not have a big challenge until the end of the season when they take on USC on November 3rd. Both of these teams seem to have a good road to the National Championship but if they sleep on any team in Division I-FBS will find themselves missing a shot at the title. It will be an interesting end to the season every game becomes that much more important while also becoming that much better for the fans as the BCS Rankings are right around the corner and with them begins the National Championship race.
Heisman Watch:
1. Geno Smith, QB (West Virginia)
Another week and another great performance by the Heisman leader in a shootout as Geno Smith once again showed his talent. A week after the 8 touchdown performance of week 5 Smith was at it again throwing for 268 yards and 4 TD. It wasn’t the same stats of the week before but it was a much better team that Smith was facing in the Texas Longhorns. He led one of the most powerful offences in the NCAA once again for a win and that has put him even further above the rest. Smith is now in control of his own future as nobody can do much to unseat him unless he falters at some point. Next week he hopes to once again lead the Mountaineers to a win against Texas Tech University with a big performance against a team they should beat.
Stats (5 Games):
81.4% cmp
1,996 yds
24 TD
0 INT
202.4 rtg
2. Braxton Miller, QB (Ohio State)
Miller is looking to hold on to his spot among the top Heisman hopefuls as he looks to be the main weapon in the Ohio State offence. Last week he was that weapon as he helped the Buckeyes to another Big 10 conference win against Nebraska. He did this both through the air and on the ground as he threw for 127 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 186 yards and a touchdown. It was a great performance by the QB kept Ohio State at the top of the conference. Despite his great performance Miller could see a drop off soon as the Buckeyes will not be allowed to play in the postseason and so despite being on one of the best teams he will not have much longer to try to pass Smith. Next week he will do his best to get there as he takes on Indiana in a matchup that he should take control of.
Stats (6 Games):
61.5% cmp
1,060 yds (106 rsh yds)
9 TD (8 rsh TD)
3 INT
145.0 rtg
3. Collin Klein, QB (Kansas State)
His stats may not be as impressive as the rest of the QBs in the league but Collin Klein is making an impression with everything else. Leading a very strong team in Kansas State Klein has been a solid leader and the player they can lean on when they need to. Klein took control of his game against Kansas throwing for 129 yards and 2 TDs while also running for 116 yards and 2 TDs. That was all in three quarters of work as Klein was able to lead his team to a big lead and sat out in the fourth quarter. Klein is doing everything he can to keep the Wildcats in the hunt as he looks to lead the team through the air and on the ground as the true leader on the stat sheet and in the locker room. Next week Klein will look to do the same thing and continue to challenge Geno Smith as he takes on the Iowa State Cyclones where he should take control for another week.
Stats (5 Games):
67.0% cmp
887 yds (405 rsh yds)
7 TD (7 rsh TD)
2 INT
166.6 rtg
4. EJ Manuel, QB (Florida State)
Stats (6 Games):
70.5% cmp
1,365 yds (181 rsh yds)
10 TD (1 rsh TD)
2 INT
166.9 rtg
5. De’Anthony Thomas, RB (Oregon)
Stats (6 Games):
41 rsh (20 rec)
377 yds (205 rec yds)
9.2 avg (10.3 rec avg)
6 TD (3 rec TD)
AP Top 25:
1. Alabama Crimson Tide (1)
2. Oregon Ducks (2)
3. South Carolina Gamecocks (6)
4. Florida Gators (10)
5. West Virginia Mountaineers (8)
6. Kansas State Wildcats (7)
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9)
8. Ohio State Buckeyes (12)
9. LSU Tigers (4)
10. Oregon State Beavers (14)
11. USC Trojans (13)
12. Florida State Seminoles (3)
13. Oklahoma Sooners (17)
14. Georgia Bulldogs (5)
15. Texas Longhorns (11)
16. Clemson Tigers (15)
17. Stanford Cardinal (18)
18. Louisville Cardinals (19)
19. Mississippi State Bulldogs (20)
20. Rutgers Scarlett Knights (22)
21. Cincinnati Bearcats (–)
22. Texas A&M Aggies (–)
23. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (–)
24. Boise State Broncos (–)
25. Michigan Wolverines (–)
Key Scores:
#6 South Carolina Gamecocks 35 – 7 Georgia Bulldogs #5
– The Gamecocks had faced their best opponent yet as they went out to prove that they were one of the teams to watch in the SEC and they did just that as they easily got past SEC rival Georgia to put the conference on notice
#10 Florida Gators 14 – 6 LSU Tigers #4
– The Tigers had been falling down the rankings as of late with wins coming in less than convincing fashion but this game will be the nail in the coffin for a second run at the National Title as the Tiger defence broke against the Gators
#8 West Virginia Mountaineers 48 – 45 Texas Longhorns #11
– Geno Smith was at it again after throwing 8 TDs in week 5 as he led the Mountaineers in another shootout solidifying his spot at the top of the player pool and continuing to win as they hope to move up the rankings with some help this week
North Carolina State Wolfpack 17 – 16 Florida State Seminoles #3
– The Noles seemed to be on their way to a great run into the National Championship picture especially if they went out and really showed what they were made of against the unranked NC State but the Wolfpack had different ideas as they held the lead to end the Seminoles run
Next Week:
#15 Texas Longhorns vs. #13 Oklahoma Sooners (October 13th; 12:00 pm EDT)
– The Red River Rivalry has always been an intense one but with both teams so closely ranked this year the rivalry game turns into a much more important game than usual although it is hard to make this game more important for both fans
#17 Stanford Cardinal vs. #7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (October 13th; 3:30 pm EDT)
– The Irish have been on the rise as they continue to fight their way back into relevance on the national stage but their longtime rivals from the west will be on hand to try to end their great comeback season
#3 South Carolina Gamecocks vs. #6 LSU Tigers (October 13th; 8:00 pm EDT)
– The Tigers have been falling in the rankings all year and after a loss to Florida they were pushed out of the title picture but all is not lost as they take on the Gamecocks for a chance to move back into the picture with a little bit of help
#22 Texas A&M Aggies vs. #23 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (October 13th; 9:00 pm EDT)
– The Aggies and Bulldogs just made the top 25 this week after two good wins but now they both face off in a game that will mean the difference between staying in the top 25 or getting kicked out of the rankings
The Sport Addiction 
Hey there,
I’m Mike and I’m a writer over at The Farm Club (thefarmclub.net). I stumbled across your blog and I really enjoyed reading it.
At The Farm Club, our goal at the present time is to give college-aged writers an opportunity to have their articles read by thousands, get better as writers and hopefully give them a head start into whatever career they’ll be interested in. Many of our writers are broadcasting or journalism majors and we have writers all over the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and in Melbourne, Australia.
I’d like to express my desire for you to check us out and contribute some articles if you’d like. We are in the belief that the only way to help grow our blog and reach the goals we have set for ourselves is to branch to as many writers we can and get a steady stream of quality content. We currently have 30 writers that write for us on a regular basis, all college-aged, as well as take single article submissions from others that are just interested in piping off about an issue or two.
Comment here or email us at thefarmclubblog@gmail.com if you’re interested! Check out the blog and let us know what you think.
Thanks for taking the time to read this message and happy blogging!
Mike
Hi Mike,
Sounds like an interesting opportunity. I do enjoy writing this blog and having it as my own so I would rather not give it up and with a full time job plus the writing I tend to be very busy so doing another blog would be tough. If there is a way to work around this that would be great if not then I don’t think I would be interested. Glad that you enjoyed reading the blog and hope you keep reading.
Thanks,
Andrew (The Sports Junky)
Andrew,
Another route we could do then is this: If you believe in the goal that we have set forth and want to help it progress, as well as give your blog a little more outreach and get your voice and opinions out there a little more, you could contribute articles that you post on this blog to ours as well.
What we’d basically do is this: You could send us a copy of what you’d like to post, at the bottom we’d say this was written by Andrew, the Sports Junky, his blog is at thesportaddiction.wordpress.com. Obviously it’d have a little more thinking put into it, but basically, then you’d become a contributor who just believed in our cause and wanted to start a symbiotic relationship.
If you want to discuss this further, shoot me an email at thefarmclubblog@gmail.com.
Thanks.
Mike