1 Alabama almost went down in the bayou tonight! I picked this game as the “upset game” and during the first half, I was thinking no,no,no should have gone with Bama. Then came the second half and Zach Mettenberger began passing the Alabama defense silly. (over 293 yards, unheard of in Tuscaloosa!). With just under two minutes left in the game, 5 LSU was leading 17 – 14 and it looked like that upset was indeed going to happen. But A J McCarron led the Tide down the field for the game winning TD, scoring on a screen pass to freshman T J Yeldon and Bama is 9 -0, still number 1 and leaves Baton Rouge with a 21 – 17 victory. McCarron was so overcome with emotion, he spent the final moments of the game on the bench with his head in his hand in tears. This was Alabama vs. LSU as we know and love it. Ironically, LSU dominated Alabama for the better part of the game. It truly seemed the unlikely upset was in fact going to occur until McCarron, who had not had a particularly good game, came in and worked his magic. The nation’s longest home field winning streak is over (LSU at 22) and so are the Tiger’s hopes for a shot at the BCS championship. Bama’s hopes are still alive and well after the drama in the bayou!
2 Kansas State survived a late surge by 24 Oklahoma State to remain undefeated but their QB and Heisman front runner, Collin Klein left the game in the 3rd quarter with an undisclosed injury and did not return. He had 254 yards passing and 64 yards rushing before the injury took him out of action. Will need to pay close attention to the status of this development! Final score: Kansas State 44 – Oklahoma State 30.
4 Oregon put on a show in the coliseum with a 62 – 51 victory over 17 USC. The Oregon defense may not have looked up to the standard it had shown earlier against the powerful USC attack but that offense is unlike any other!! Kenjon Barner set a school record, rushing for 321 yards and scored 5 touchdowns. (How is he not a Heisman candidate?) Freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota threw for 4 touchdowns, and Oregon’s total offense of 730 yards along with the 62 points scored was the most ever against a USC team.
With Notre Dame winning in triple OT over Pittsburgh, and all the above action going as it did, will there be any shift in the BCS rankings? We’ll find out tomorrow evening.
The late night game, Arizona State at 11 Oregon State is all tied up 19 – 19. Also, earlier, 13 Clemson rolled over Duke, 56 – 20.
You gotta love College Football, right?
