Southern Football Report: Week 3 Winners & Losers

Week 3 in college football was an interesting one even though we only had one game between ranked opponents, there was plenty of drama on Saturday. Here are Week 3’s winners and losers:

WINNERS

Cincinnati Bearcats – We had to wait two weeks before getting our first look at the 2014 Bearcats and it was worth it. Journeyman quarterback Gunner Kiel looked the part throwing for 418 yards and 6 touchdowns in Cincinnati’s 58-34 win over Toledo. Kiel was an LSU committ who ditched the Tigers, transferred to Notre Dame, lost the quarterback competition to Everett Golson and then transferred to Cincinnati. The Bearcats’ offense looked very good last Friday night and that one performance, in my mind, launched Cincinnati to the top of the American Athletic Conference. Sometimes, waiting is a good thing.

West Virginia Mountaineers – When you look at the box score, you see that West Virginia kicked a field goal as time expired to beat Maryland 40-37. If you watched the game you saw a West Virginia team who did everything to win the ball game except win the turnover battle. Three lost fumbles and an interception put West Virginia in a sticky situation at the end of the game but without all those turnovers, West Virginia would have won the game by well over two touchdowns. Quarterback Clint Trickett threw for 511 yards and four touchdowns and led an offense that racked up 694 yards. The Mountaineer defense did pretty good against a potent Maryland offense too, holding them to 4-of-15 on third down.

Boston College Eagles – It was an emotional night for the Eagles regardless of the opponent with all the ‘Red Bandanna’ trim on their helmets, gloves and cleats commemorating a former BC lacrosse player-turned NYC fire fighter who lost his life in the events of 9/11. Then you throw in the 9th ranked Trojans of Southern Cal coming to town in prime time along with a 6-point upset win, you get a pretty amazing night in Chestnut Hill. The Eagles out gained the Trojans 452 to 20 on the ground on Saturday night and averaged over 8 yards per carry.

Arkansas Razorbacks – It was a classic match up of two completely different style of offenses; Arkansas being a grind-it-out power running team and Texas Tech having a high-flying, high octane passing attack. This time it was the power running game that prevailed as Arkansas ran away with a 49-28 out of conference win on the road. The Razorbacks’ two runningbacks Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams combined for 357 yards and 6 touchdowns. Arkansas held the ball for over 40 minutes and racked up 32 first downs in the win. And if you haven’t seen Bainbridge native Rohan Gaine’s hit on a Red Raider receiver, enjoy.

LOSERS

Virginia Tech Hokies – As much credit as the Hokies get for being a top program in the country behind Frank Beamer, they have surely struggled with success the last couple of seasons. Remember a few years back when the Hokies got a big win over Boise State on a Monday night and then turned around and lost at home to James Madison? I do. Well, the ole success bug struck again in 2014, although not as bad, with the Hokies getting a HUGE road win over Ohio State in Week 2 and followed that up with a 7-point loss at home to East Carolina. ECU is a good team but the Hokies need to do better with success if they expect to Beamer to stick around and not retire on his own terms.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons – Has anyone in the country played worst than the Deacons from Wake Forest? They are 1-2 on the season with losses to UL-Monroe and Utah State but they did get a 23-7 win over FCS Gardner-Webb in Week 2. Week one at UL-Monroe was a disaster as the Deacons were held to under 100 yards of total offense in the loss. Well last week was more of the same as Wake was beaten by Utah State and were held to negative yards rushing for the second time of the season on their way to a 12-point loss. The longest rush of the day for the Demon Deacons was 11 yards. It’s going to be a long season at BB&T Field.

Mark Stoops, Head Coach at Kentucky – Now, most of the time the ‘Losers’ category is used to make fun of teams and people for poor play but the Wildcats head man is here because he got shafted on Saturday night in ‘The Swamp’ and everybody knows it. And it’s not like we haven’t seen it before. Remember when Vanderbilt and senior quarterback Jay Cutler got hosed in Gainesville a while back? I know the Commodores do. The Gators had a 4th-and-7 from just inside the 10-yard line and let the play clock strike zero before getting off their game-winning touchdown. Stoops went ballistic on the sideline as well he should have. Mark Stoops was an unfortunate loser on Saturday night.

SEC Officials – Piggy-backing off of the previous loser, it was a rough day for officials in the Southeastern Conference on Saturday night. Missed calls, phantom calls, yard stick conspiracies and play clock mismanagement ruled the day as the only two conference games were riddled with poor officiating. When was the last time you watched an SEC game and said to yourself, “self, these referees are doing a good job.” It sure wasn’t Saturday night and there are a whopping three conference games this Saturday. Good luck fellas.

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