Highlights Countdown – Week 9
10. Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase's big game (good luck spelling that without help) – The Illini quarterback (I don't really want to type his name again, then realize he is a freshman and it is happening no matter what I want at some point in the next three season) had 315 total yards in an offense that isn't conducive to quarterbacks putting up huge numbers and four touchdowns against Purdue. With him, the Illini have a chance to win out to 9-3. Needless to say, Ron Zook has likely saved his job and Scheelhaase is the biggest reason why (the underrated defense being another reason).
9. Becoming Penn St.'s all-time leading rusher – Evan Royster has had a forgettable season so far except for this one huge game against the Michigan defense (admittedly not the unit it was went Royster first cracked the lineup as a freshman in a 13-9 loss in Ann Arbor). Royster ran for 150 yards and passed Curt Warner on the all-time Penn St. rushing list, quite a feat considering the running backs Penn St. has had over the years (most of whom were pro busts).
8. Duke quarterback Sean Renfree – Renfree played the single best passing game by a quarterback this season (including running, Cam Newton, Taylor Martinez and Denard Robinson have had better overall games) against Navy. The numbers speak for themselves: 28-30, 314 yards and an upset win over the Midshipmen. It will be hard for anyone to top that this season and we only see one or two games like this in the top levels of college football each year, usually from big school quarterbacks against overmatched opponents, not relatively untalented road underdogs.
7. Florida and Georgia's effort – Florida and Georgia entered their annual game with both unranked for the first time since 1978. The first half backed that claim up, then both teams seemingly became the units they were supposed to be all season, at least on offense in a great effort that had a classic finish over the final few minutes and overtime. Now both of these teams need to bottle these efforts with the tests to come in two weeks (Florida hosts South Carolina in the SEC Title Game while Georgia goes to Auburn to attempt to ruin the Tigers' dream season).
6. All-time single game rushing record at Nebraska – 321 yards rushing including 193 yards on three touchdown runs. That was Roy Helu Jr's day against Missouri. No Nebraska runner has ever had a better day. Not Crouch, not Green, not Phillips, not Rozier, not Frazier. Nobody. That is impressive. To think he did this to a defense that largely stopped Oklahoma cold in the running game a week ago.
5. Baylor as a Big 12 South contender – Robert Griffin III deserves to be in the Heisman trophy race. He is the quarterback of a top 10 offensive attack and he has Baylor in the thick of the Big 12 South race. Despite a shootout loss to Texas Tech, the Bears control their own destiny in the Big 12 after beating Texas with another huge effort from Griffin. If they win the Big 12 (don't laugh, it could happen), Griffin might actually deserve the Heisman more than Cam Newton, LaMichael James, Kellen Moore or anyone else. That said, he won't win it barring a collapse by multiple players in the current top three. He started way too far off the radar and the TCU defense suffocated him (the only ones to stop these guys all season).
4. More defense from TCU – Speaking of TCU, they held UNLV to six points meaning Mountain West opponents have scored a grand total of 16 on the Horned Frogs so far this season. That is amazing no matter the competition. With the exception of Oregon St. in the opener and SMU in a weirdly played Friday game, nobody has done anything all season against the Frogs and that includes Baylor and its top-10 offensive attack. I don't expect anything different this Saturday from Utah (though the Frogs may have trouble scoring themselves.
3. Andrew Luck as a runner – Luck scored on a 51 yard run on the first drive of the game and didn't look back on the way a career high 92 yards as a runner. Combine that with no mistakes in the passing game and Luck continued to solidify himself as a possible number one pick in the NFL Draft.
2. Auburn blowing up without Newton running – Newton only had 42 yards rushing against an Ole Miss defense completely devoted to stopping him. Too bad they couldn't stop him as a receiver and they couldn't stop Michael Dyer at all as Auburn had its usual 500+ yards of offense and scored 51 points.
1. Oregon's offense milking the clock – Normally, Oregon scores so quick nobody understands how. In the second half against USC, the Ducks put together three 4+ minute scoring drives and killed the clock in the process beating USC 53-32. An Oregon that actually succeeds in bleeding the clock when it needs to is a scary thought.
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