College Football Week 10 Recap
Saturday Spotlight: Tennessee vs. Oklahoma
This game did not disappoint and was an entertaining game all the way to the end. However, if you’re a Tennessee fan, you have to feel like your team beat itself against the Oklahoma Sooners. Tennessee committed far too many miscues that allowed Oklahoma to have the upper hand late in the contest. One of the keys to the game was Joey Aguilar limiting mistakes.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t. Looking to go up two scores, Aguilar was stripped on a sack, and the fumble was recovered by R Mason Thomas, who had an amazing effort to shake off a tackle and ran it back 71 yards for a touchdown. Then, after Max Gilbert missed a makeable 37-yard field goal, Aguilar proceeded to throw an interception on back-to-back drives. Factoring in the fumble by Aguilar, the missed field goal, and the interceptions, Oklahoma scored 16 points from those squandered possessions.
Tennessee managed to stay in the game, but were always one possession behind because of everything snowballing on the Volunteers’ offense. Also, Tennessee never established the run because of Oklahoma’s stout run defense, which has stifled many other rushing attacks this season. Everything proved to be too little too late as Oklahoma walked into Knoxville and got the win.
Upset Special: Cincinnati Over Utah
Oops! What a miss here. In control of their own destiny to play in the Big 12 championship, there was an expectation that Cincinnati would play well on the road and make a statement win against Utah. Unfortunately, that couldn’t have been further from what happened. After allowing an early score, the Utah defense stiffened up and didn’t allow the Bearcats to find any rhythm. Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby was rattled in Salt Lake City.
He completed just 11 of his 33 attempts (33-percent completion rate). Outside of Cyrus Allen, none of the Cincinnati receivers had any success. Especially big-play threat Caleb Goodie, who was contained to just two catches for 21 yards. Offensively, Utah’s offense ran all over Cincinnati, piling up almost 500 yards, 267 of them on the ground. That total was the most Cincinnati has allowed all season. Devon Dampier wasn’t great from the pocket, but factoring in his contributions as a runner was too much for Cincinnati to handle. Utah controlled the time of possession, having the football for 40 minutes of the game, and dominated Cincinnati in every facet.
Who Hurt Themselves the Most in Week 10?
Without question, the Texas Longhorns and Arch Manning helped themselves the most. Manning was getting a lot of criticism for not matching the hype he was given entering the season as the favorite to win the Heisman trophy. After a rocky start against Ohio State and average performances against lesser competition, it seemed as if the walls were closing in on Manning. However, his three-touchdown performance this past week put him and the program back on track toward postseason play. For the first three quarters, Texas was dominating, leading Vanderbilt 34-10.
The Longhorns needed a win like that to add to their resume and move their way back into at least a conversation of their viability in the CFP. With the win over Vanderbilt, you can almost excuse their loss at Florida by virtue of also beating Oklahoma and a one-score road loss against Ohio State, which has obliterated their competition this year. Texas is also one game behind Alabama and Texas A&M in the conference standings. Plus, the chaos from Miami, Georgia Tech, and Vanderbilt losing has Texas moving up nine spots in the polls this week. It was a tremendous turn of fortune for Texas.
College Football: Week 11 Spotlight and Upset Special
Saturday Spotlight: BYU vs. Texas Tech
BYU versus Texas Tech could be a preview of the Big 12 title game. BYU has gone undefeated this season largely because of freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who has played terrific football in the closing minutes of games and has developed a reputation for being clutch – as seen against Arizona in an overtime win.
Texas Tech has to be prepared for BYU to heavily feature Bachmeier, who has nine rushing scores. Also, LJ Martin is having a very good season behind the BYU offensive line, with 789 rushing yards through the team’s first eight games.
For Texas Tech’s defense, they have to find a way to limit Bachmeier’s number-one target, Chase Roberts, and David Bailey has to collapse the pocket to force the young quarterback into rushed throws. On the other side, Behren Morton and Caleb Douglas have to connect for big plays if they expect to win. If Texas Tech can force a shootout, they can make Bachmeier a dropback passer so that Bailey and the pass rush can take over. This will be a very important game on the schedule.
Upset Special: Wake Forest Over Virginia
In recent history, this is one of the more one-sided rivalries, with Wake Forest beating Virginia in five of their last six meetings. Picking Wake Forest to win this next matchup is more indicative of the belief that each team’s record may not be exactly an accurate assessment of how either team has played this season. Yes, Wake Forest was crushed last week by Florida State.
However, their prior two losses came from Georgia Tech (who was ranked in the top-10 last week), and the opponent that beat them, NC State, where the Demon Deacons lost very close games.
The Wake Forest defense is one of the more underrated units in the ACC. The unit generates a lot of turnovers and averages at least one takeaway per game this season. Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris has thrown five interceptions compared to 12 touchdown passes. Expect a heavy workload from Demond Claiborne to keep the chains moving for Wake Forest to keep Morris off the field. The ACC standing will flip upside down for a second consecutive week as the Demon Deacons get the win and beat the Cavaliers 24-21.
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