Buffalo Rumblings
Two transfers showing well in new home; WR1 battle continues
It certainly wasn’t the most compelling batch of games we’ve ever seen this past weekend, with ranked matchups quickly turning into blowouts while a couple of top-five ranked Big Ten teams had minor scares against non-ranked foes.
first-ranked Oregon ran through No. 20 Illinois 38-9 in a game that was never close. The Ducks soundly controlled things on both sides of the ball all four quarters.
Third-ranked Penn State won over Wisconsin 28-13 despite their quarterback going down with injury late in the first half. The Nittany Lions trailed 10-7 at halftime and it was a one-point game late in the third quarter. The defense clamped down and a couple of timely long scoring drives closed out the action.
Similarly, No. 4 Ohio State’s offense experienced failure to launch in this game, which kept unranked Nebraska hanging around the whole afternoon. The Buckeyes couldn’t run the ball with efficiency and only ran 47 total plays. Nebraska had a fantastic game plan to take the air out of the ball and kill clock to keep the game close throughout. The Cornhuskers took the lead early in the fourth quarter before the Buckeyes’ defense finally shut things out to the tune of 13 tackles for loss.
Fifth-ranked Texas had their hands full with No. 25 Vanderbilt in Nashville. The Commodores are feisty and a nuisance to highly ranked teams. We can firmly state that this is the best Vanderbilt team in some time. However, it wasn’t quite enough this past Saturday. Even with a late score, Texas was still able to overcome 27-24. The Texas offense has shown their flaws in recent weeks, with the lackluster play of quarterback Quinn Ewers and an offensive line hitting some speed bumps. They’ll get a bye week to get things right as they approach the end stage of the season.
Eighth-ranked LSU was victim to a big-time comeback from No. 13 Texas A&M after they were sparked by a mid-game quarterback change from Conner Weigman to Marcel Reed. Reed, the better natural athlete and runner, threw up 31 second-half points. Although, much of the game was given away by LSU’s second-half turnovers, to which there were four of them. Reed only threw the ball twice for 70 yards, while Weigman was ineffective. It was an epic collapse and failure to protect a multiple-score halftime lead. Simply protecting the football likely gets the Tigers a win if the situation is replayed.
Twelfth-ranked Notre Dame rocked No. 24 Navy 51-14. The Midshipmen were athletically outclassed. Navy accumulated six turnovers while the Irish didn’t turn the ball over once. It was a losing formula in plenty of ways. The game was never competitive.
Speaking of never competitive... No. 15 Alabama took No. 21 Missouri to the woodshed to the tune of a 34-0 beatdown. Missouri threw for 72 yards on 24 attempts including three interceptions. Star receiver Luther Burden III had three receptions for three yards in the...
