Saturday Review #1 (9/10/16)

Week 2 of the college football season was an interesting one. Many of the nation's top teams were put on "upset alert" from smaller lower conference schools. But most top teams prevailed to go 2-0 (W-L) on their journey to the college football playoffs. We'll start this review with my Game of the Week:

Game of the Week: Arkansas vs #15 TCU 

Now basically everyone came into this game (well I did at least) thinking that TCU would crush Arkansas due to Arkansas's struggles against Louisiana Tech last weekend (Arkansas won 21-20). But surprisingly, the Razorbacks led by junior quarterback Austin Allen, gave TCU a run for their money and actually led the whole entire game being up 20-7 after the 3rd quarter. But TCU, led by junior quarterback transfer Kenny Hill, scored 21 points in the 4th quarter to take the lead but a late touchdown pass from Austin Allen to Keon Hatcher tied the game at 28-28 and sent the game into overtime. In overtime, both teams scored on their first possessions to tie the game at 35 but in the 2nd overtime Arkansas managed to hold TCU to a field goal and the score was 38-35. The Razorbacks needed to kick a filed goal to tie it and send it to a 3rd overtime or score a touchdown to win the game. And on 3rd and goal, Austin Allen ran the ball in to score the game winning touchdown and Arkansas upset #15 TCU 41-38. This game all around was a great game, it was one of my favorite games that I've seen in a while and (besides the fact I've been a Razorback fan since 2010-ish) it was a good ending to a hard fought game and that is why it is my game of the week.

Team/Player of the Week: #13 Louisville Cardinals/QB Lamar Jackson

Typically I wouldn't combine Team of the Week and Player of the Week but the Louisville Cardinals, led by sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson, have been on a tear lately. The Cardinals, who are now 2-0, have outscored their opponents 132-42 in the 2 games that they've played and Jackson has had a total of 13 touchdowns over the span of 2 games. On Saturday, the Cardinals played fellow ACC team, the Syracuse Orange, in their first conference game of the season. Within the first 5 minutes of the game the Cardinals were already up 21-0 and Jackson scored all of those touchdowns with 1 passing touchdown and 2 rushing touchdowns. The final score of that game was 62-28 in favor of the Cardinals. Jackson went 20/39 with 411 passing yards, 1 passing touchdown, and 199 rushing yards with 4 touchdowns. At the moment Lamar Jackson is my favorite to win the Heisman Trophy despite my mutual dislike of Louisville. I know the Cardinals have only played 2 poor teams so far but right now it seems like they can't be stopped and also seem to be a force to reckon with in the ACC. The Cardinal's next game is September 17th against #2 Florida State Seminoles at 12pm (Game of the Week candidate for next week?).

"Sadder"-Day's Upsets/Play of the Week: Central Michigan Beats #22 Oklahoma State

I don't know about you but I appreciate that pun and yes, I came up with it myself. Again, I typically wouldn't combine subjects like upsets and the play of the week but one of the major upsets last Saturday came from my play of the week. Despite many almost upsets last Saturday and the fact Arkansas beat #15 TCU (I know it's an upset but I'm not writing about it again and Arkansas is actually a good team), the one upset that stood out to me was Central Michigan (a MAC team) beat #22 Oklahoma State (a Big 12 team... I know...) 30-27 on a last second hail mary pass into a lateral pass backwards, where Central Michigan ran it in for the game winning touchdown (hence the Play of the Week). A lot of controversy surrounded this game after it ended because of the officials/referees. I didn't watch the game but apparently the referees missed a bunch of penalties and misinterpreted a lot of rules. In fact, one of the misinterpreted rules led to the Play of the Week. Central Michigan was awarded one more play after a penalty when they shouldn't have which led to the game winning touchdown. After the penalty, time expired and the game should've ended but the referees forgot/misinterpreted the rule and Central Michigan scored and won. The referees have since been suspended and the game will not be overturned. Despite the controversy, this is still my "Sadder"-Day's Upset (embrace the pun).
Play of the Week Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a24Vg-0QSzU

September 10th brought us some really great college football games. We saw a lot of close games and some upsets. We also teams come together to honor the victims of 9/11 with moments of silence and t-shirts. I will get into the college football culture and community more when I see Penn State vs Temple on September 17th. There I will write my review of the game and basically my visit to Penn State. Until next time!