Week 3 of the college football season continued on Thursday, with LSU facing Mississippi State in an intriguing match-up. Classes in Starkville, Mississippi were cancelled for the highly anticipated game, but LSU’s tenacious defense came to play, as the Tigers survived an early SEC test 19-6.
After nearly pulling off a stunning victory against Ohio State in week 2, Toledo hosted Boise State in a Friday night affair. After keeping it relatively close for about a half, Toledo began to unravel. Kellen Moore threw for 455 yards and five touchdowns and the Boise State offense proved to be too much to handle in their 40-15 victory.
Saturday turned out to be another eventful day, with the game of the week coming in primetime as top-ranked Oklahoma faced off against Florida State under the lights in Tallahassee.
Oklahoma held what seemed to be a comfortable 13-3 lead at the half. After Florida State’s starting quarterback was knocked out with an arm injury midway through the third, the Seminoles were forced to play redshirt freshman Clint Trickett for a majority of the second half. Despite FSU tying the game in the fourth at 13, Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones remained poised and led a decisive drive into the end zone. Kenny Stills capped it off with an acrobatic 37-yard touchdown catch as the Sooners pulled off the late victory.
My Top 5:
1) Oklahoma (2-0)
2) LSU (3-0)
3) Alabama (3-0)
4) Wisconsin (3-0)
5) Stanford (3-0)
Biggest Surprise: Clemson defeating Auburn is my surprise of the week. Clemson, led by head coach Dabo Swinney, always comes out ready to play, but Auburn was coming off of an impressive victory over Mississippi State. Nobody expected Auburn to actually compete in the SEC this year, but I expected the Tigers to make it to their October 1st match-up with South Carolina unscathed.
Biggest Disappointment: My biggest disappointment had to be the manner in which Michigan State lost to Notre Dame. After their miraculous overtime victory a year ago on a fake field goal on fourth down, I expected the Spartans to come out ready to play in South Bend. Quarterback Kirk Cousins played relatively well, but special teams and a late interception proved to be the deciding factors, as the Fighting Irish won their first game of the season by a score of 31-13.
Offensive Player of the Week: South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore, my pre-season Heisman favorite, had one of the best individual performances of the college football season thus far. Lattimore rushed for 246 yards and three touchdowns as he single-handedly helped the Gamecocks avoid an upset bid by Navy.
Defensive Player of the Week: Boston College’s Luke Kuechly had a whopping 23 tackles in the Eagles’ loss to Duke. Kuechly has racked up an incredible 58 tackles through just the first three weeks of the season.
Play of the Week: Tied 13-13 midway through the fourth quarter, Landry Jones connected with Kenny Stills on a 37-yard touchdown. The impressive play turned out to be decisive, as Oklahoma held off Florida State 23-13. Jones to Stills