Posted: November 19th, 2012
Let’s recap Week 12, shall we?
Game of the week: No. 14 Stanford at No. 1 Oregon
Final score: Cardinal 17, Ducks 14 (OT)
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On Campus
Erie Times-News staff writer Bob Jarzomski and sports editor Jeff Kirik team up to bring you On Campus, Read more about this blog.
Posts tagged ‘Geno Smith’
Posted: November 13th, 2012
Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 12.
Game of the week: No. 14 Stanford Cardinal (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12) at No. 1 Oregon Ducks (10-0, 7-0 Pac-12), Saturday, 8 p.m., WJET (ABC)
Pregame rant: The Ducks are No. 1 in both national polls and second in the BCS standings, but all that will mean nothing if they fall to Stanford.
They won’t, though. The Cardinal aren’t going into Eugene with a redshirt freshman quarterback and beating the Ducks in their final regular-season home game.
Don’t get me wrong. Kevin Hogan is good. Real good.
He was clutch in last week’s win against Oregon State in his first collegiate start. In addition, Stanford is first in the nation in rushing defense.
The Cardinal are allowing 58.60 yards on the ground. So they’re up to the challenge of stopping Heisman candidate Kenjon Barner, who is second in points with 120 (20 TDs) and fourth in rushing (136 ypg.).
Barner had what looked like a right hand or wrist injury against Cal. He’ll likely play Saturday, but if it keeps him from being the difference maker he is, the Ducks could be in the trouble.
The problem for Stanford is it will have the same problem every other team has had against the Ducks. You fall behind early and can’t go score for score with them.
Say Stanford trails 14-0 or 17-3 or 21-10 by the midway point in the second quarter. It will be down 42-20 going into the fourth.
No one can go score for score with the Ducks. No one.
Posted: October 22nd, 2012
Let’s recap Week 8, shall we?
Game of the week: No. 9 South Carolina at No. 3 Florida
Final score: Gators 44, Gamecocks 11
Pregame rant: Despite losing to LSU, South Carolina can still find itself in the SEC title game, but must beat the Gators to do so. To see Steve Spurrier go back to the place he starred as a player and as a coach and knock off Florida would be one his biggest wins ever.
However, South Carolina better shore up that run defense if it plans to upend the Gators. The Gamecocks allowed LSU to bang ‘em for 258 yards on the ground.
Florida is averaging 233.33 yards rushing and will be content to win a low-scoring affair, as it did against LSU, rather than play score for score.
Post-game commentary: The Gamecocks fumbled away this one.
Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel threw three of his four touchdowns off South Carolina turnovers as the Gators put South Carolina’s championship dreams on arctic freeze.
The Gamecocks had four total turnovers with three being fumbles. When the going got tough for them, they got ran out of stadium.
As for the Gators, a win this week against Georgia in Jacksonville all but seals up a spot in the SEC title game. Their final conference game is Nov. 3 at home against Missouri, which is 0-4 in SEC play.
Posted: October 15th, 2012
Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 8.
Game of the week: No. 9 South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1, 4-1 SEC) at No. 3 Florida Gators, (6-0, 5-0 SEC), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WSEE (CBS)
Pregame rant: Despite losing to LSU, South Carolina can still find itself in the SEC title game, but must beat the Gators to do so. To see Steve Spurrier go back to the place he starred as a player and as a coach and knock off Florida would be one his biggest wins ever.
However, South Carolina better shore up that run defense if it plans to upend the Gators. The Gamecocks allowed LSU to bang ‘em for 258 yards on the ground.
Florida is averaging 233.33 yards rushing and will be content to win a low-scoring affair, as it did against LSU, rather than play score for score.
Posted: October 8th, 2012
Let’s recap Week 6, shall we?
Game of the week: No. 8 West Virginia at No. 11 Texas
Final score: Mountaineers 48, Longhorns 45
Pregame rant: Could have easily chosen one of the two SEC match ups of Top 10 teams, but this Big 12 match-up is so intriguing.
Heisman Trophy front-runner Geno Smith is coming off an Megatron performance – 656 yards passing, 8 TDs – in last week’s 70-63 win against Baylor. However, the Bears came into the game ranked 113th out of 120 teams in pass defense.
Baylor is now last in the nation in that category.
Can WVU torch Texas, which is a modest 43rd in pass defense? Don’t think so, but I also don’t see the Longhorns slowing down Smith and Mountaineers, either.
Post-game commentary: Smith only threw four touchdowns for the Mountaineers in their Big 12 road debut against the Longhorns. Smith got some help from WVU’s run game in the form of Andrew Buie, who rushed for 207 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries.
On WVU’s game-sealing drive late in the fourth, Buie closed it out with five rushes for 42 yards and a touchdown. The Mountaineers are still suspect on defense, but made a big stop in the fourth to help them stay unbeaten.
Posted: October 1st, 2012
Here are three games worth watching in Week 6.
Game of the week: No. 8 West Virginia Mountaineers (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) at No. 11 Texas Longhorns (4-0, 1-0 Big 12), Saturday, 7 p.m., WXFP-66 (FOX).
Pregame rant: Could have easily chosen one of the two SEC match ups of Top 10 teams, but this Big 12 match-up is so intriguing.
Heisman Trophy front-runner Geno Smith is coming off an Megatron performance – 656 yards passing, 8 TDs – in last week’s 70-63 win against Baylor. However, the Bears came into the game ranked 113th out of 120 teams in pass defense.
Baylor is now last in the nation in that category.
Can WVU torch Texas, which is a modest 43rd in pass defense? Don’t think so, but I also don’t see the Longhorns slowing down Smith and Mountaineers, either.
Posted: October 1st, 2012
Let’s us recap Week 5, shall we?
Game of the week: No. 14 Ohio State at No. 20 Michigan State
Final score: Buckeyes 17, Spartans 16
Pregame rant: First road of the season won’t be an easy one for the Buckeyes in their Big Ten opener. How well sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller handles this will determine if Ohio State remains unbeaten.
Miller has seven rushing TDs, seven passing TDs, but more importantly, he’s completing 61.2 percent of his passes. Last season, he only completed 54.1 percent of his passes.
He may find it much tougher to execute against the Spartans, who have only given up two passing touchdowns. Ranked sixth in the nation in total defense, Michigan State is giving up just 3.94 yards a play.
Post-game commentary: Michigan State intercepted Miller once, forced two more turnovers, but didn’t corral the Ohio State quarterback when it mattered.
Miller rushed for a game-high 136 yards, threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to give Ohio State a 17-13 lead late in third, but more importantly, picked up a big first down to help the Buckeyes close out the game.
Posted in: Big Ten, Big Ten Network, Football, NCAA, Penn State, Photos, Schedule, Television, Video
Posted: September 24th, 2012
Here are three games worth watching in Week 5.
Game of the week: No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) at No. 20 Michigan State Spartans (3-1), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WJET (ABC)
Pregame rant: First road of the season won’t be an easy one for the Buckeyes in their Big Ten opener. How well sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller handles this will determine if Ohio State remains unbeaten.
Miller has seven rushing TDs, seven passing TDs, but more importantly, he’s completing 61.2 percent of his passes. Last season, he only completed 54.1 percent of his passes.
He may find it much tougher to execute against the Spartans, who have only given up two passing touchdowns. Ranked sixth in the nation in total defense, Michigan State is giving up just 3.94 yards a play.
Posted: September 24th, 2012
Let us recap Week 4, shall we?
Game of the week: No. 10 Clemson at No. 4 Florida State
Final score: Seminoles 49, Tigers 37
Pregame rant: So much talent on both teams here, but if the Seminoles are a national title contender, they’ll handle the Tigers.
Allowing just 103.33 yard a game and a total of three points, Florida State is first in the nation in total defense and scoring defense, but two of its three wins are against FCS schools Murray State and Savannah State.
Clemson will test that defense with its array of playmakers lead by junior quarterback Tajh Boyd, who is 63-of-86 for 747 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.
Post-game commentary: The Tigers just couldn’t keep up with the ‘Noles, who scored 28 straight points after falling behind 31-21 in the third quarter.
EJ Manuel had a sensational game, going 27-of-35 for 380 yards and three touchdowns. Too bad Clemson and FSU are in the same division in the ACC. Like to see a rematch of those two.
Posted: September 20th, 2011
Let’s recap Week 3, shall we?
No. 16 West Virginia (3-0) at Maryland (1-1)
Pregame rant: This will be the first road game for the Mountaineers, but that’s not the major concern. New Maryland head coach Randy Edsall is not only one of the best coaches in the country, he’s had two weeks to prepare for WVU.
Postgame commentary: When a team has a 34-10 lead as WVU had and the opponent comes back and has a chance to win it in the end as Maryland had, games like that are bound to end with a turnover. Danny O’Brien had completed 14 straight passes for 94 yards before throwing an incomplete pass and an interception on his final two passes as WVU survived, 37-31. Got to give the Mountaineers credit for holding on, but when Edsall gets better players, Maryland will be a beast in the ACC.