This past Saturday started off with a brand new FBS rivalry between Georgia Southern and Appalachian State who brought their heated rivalry from the ranks of the FCS to the highest level of college football and it ended with late night blowout wins by USC, Nebraska and Nevada. In between we had last second comebacks (I’m looking at you Missouri), Ivy League upsets (Congratulations Yale) and one coach who didn’t make it to Monday (all applications accepted in Lawrence).
WINNERS
Missouri Tigers – Two Saturdays ago the Tigers were recovering from their last second 
loss to the Hoosiers of Indiana while the rest of us all but wrote them off in last Saturday’s game against South Carolina in Williams-Brice Stadium in a key SEC East game. For almost three and half quarters it looked like we had correctly written them off. Then Missouri scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to narrow the lead from 20-7 Gamecocks to only 20-14 Gamecocks. Then with just over 90 seconds remaining Missouri was able to get another 1-yard touchdown run to take a one point lead. Unlike the previous week, the Tigers were able to keep their opponent out of the end zone in the final minute and earn a huge division win on the road.
Ohio State Buckeyes – I have to admit, I was one of the people that drank the red, black and white Bearcat kool-aid. I actually thought that Cincinnati had a shot to beat the Buckeyes and become the first team from the state of Ohio to bring down the might Ohio State. I was wrong, boy, was I wrong. I’m sure that Cincinnati felt a lot like Rocky did after the first round against Ivan Drago when the first quarter ended and it was only 23-7. The only difference in this story is that it wasn’t fiction, it was as real life as it comes and ended with the Buckeyes hanging half a hundred in the Bearcats’ first game against a Power Five opponent.
Minnesota Golden Gophers – Lost in the Brady Hoke job security discussion, 
Michigan’s concussed player protocol and speculation on who the next Wolverine football coach will be has been how good the Gophers have been and were on Saturday. Minnesota forced two Wolverine turnovers and runningback David Cobb rushed for 183 yards on 32 carries in the big house. Minnesota’s defense held Michigan to only 171 total yards of offense on their way to ownership of the Little Brown Jug for only the third time since 1986. Let’s give a little credit to the ole Gophers.
Yale Bulldogs – When you talk about old school college football rivalries, I’m sure some people bring up Nebraska/Oklahoma and Michigan/Notre Dame but for me, Army/Yale is right up there. Eighty thousand people showed up to watch this game, setting a Yale record that still stands, back in 1923! There weren’t 80,000 people in the Yale Bowl on Saturday but the 40,000+ that were in attendance got quite a ballgame as the Bulldogs earned the Ivy League’s first win over an FBS team since 1996 with their 49-43 overtime win over Army. The Bulldogs committed two turnovers in the game but racked up over 600 yards of offense in the win.
Kentucky Wildcats – It was a celebration in Lexington on Saturday as the Wildcats 
earned their first SEC win since November 26th, 2011! Kentucky’s defense forced three interceptions and held Vanderbilt to only 139 yards of total offense in their 17-7 victory. Kentucky ran the ball 50 times for 183 yards and but also committed three turnovers. The final score was the score at halftime so there was little to cheer for in the second half, but the proverbial monkey is off Kentucky’s back now that they’ve gotten their first conference win in over two years.
LOSERS
Penn State Nittany Lions – Here we are thinking that the Nittany Lions are in great position in a wide open Big Ten conference and having renewed energy from the NCAA levying sanctions against Penn State and then Saturday happened. Penn State was undefeated and playing the abysmal Northwestern Wildcats at home and completely laid an egg, the biggest egg of the season from a team expected to be any good. Northwestern was able to hold Penn State to only 50 rushing yards on the day and in turn forcing sophomore quarterback Christian Hackenberg into 45 pass attempts.
Charlie Weis – Well it’s pretty easy to put Charlie on this list since he lost his job over the
weekend after a 23-0 lost to a poor Texas squad. Oddly enough, a 2-2 start was the last straw after a 4-20 record in the previous two seasons. Weis has yet to prove that he can be a head coach at a major college program and I’m not really sure what Kansas was thinking when they hired him in the first place. This guy couldn’t win games at Notre Dame with all the perks of that job, what made the folks in Lawrence think he would win at Kansas? Constant belittlement of his team to the media, no respect for superiors all on top of pitiful performance on the field were finally what sent Charlie to unemployment.
South Carolina Gamecocks – The 2014 college football season began with an SEC Network special on South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier and his team being ranked 9th in the preseason. Two conference losses to the newest members of the conference later, we are all wondering what in the heck is going on in Columbia, South Carolina. The Gamecocks surrendered a double digit lead in the 4th quarter on Saturday night to put them in a very difficult situation in the conference standings. Two losses already with an upstart Kentucky and a road date with Auburn isn’t a great spot to be in for the Ole Ball Coach.
Tune in to the Southern Football Report this and every Saturday morning from 10 am to Noon on Live 101.9, Rockin 106.3 & Q 92.3 to hear high school scores from Friday night as well as college football discussion, debate and previews of the games to come!
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