Saturday was billed as Armageddon for the college football rankings and for the most part we got what we expected. Alabama earned a narrow overtime victory over LSU in Baton Rouge, TCU rolled over the out-gunned Kansas State Wildcats and Oregon rolled all over Utah on the road. We did get a few surprises as Auburn fumbled away their game against Texas A&M and lost to an unranked opponent at home, Michigan State’s vaunted defense allowed dang-near half a hundred at home and Notre Dame turned the ball over five times on the road and got routed by the Sun Devils in the desert. My God, this season has been wild! Here are some superlatives from Week 11:
MVP – J.T. Barrett – QB – Ohio State – At some point, we are all going to have start
giving Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett the credit he deserves because as of today, he is leading the Big Ten in yards per completion (9.3), touchdowns & quarterback rating. Saturday night on the road in East Lansing Barrett had the best game of his young career against easily the best defense he has seen or will see this season. The freshman accounted for 386 total yards and five total touchdowns against Michigan State and looked very much in control of the game as his Buckeyes never trailed in the second half. At this point, people in Columbus have completely forgotten about the former Buckeyes quarterback.
Coach of The Week – Art Briles – Baylor – Saturday, the Bears had an opportunity to make some history and Briles had his team completely ready do it. The Bears had never won a game in Norman, Oklahoma, and were looking for their first road win over a ranked opponent since 1991. Things looked bleak early in the game as Oklahoma jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter but the Sooners never got into the end zone again while the Bears crossed the goal line six more times before the beat down was over. By Baylor’s standards their defense also showed out as they only allowed 319 total yards of offense although by anyone’s standards, holding a team to 4-of-13 on third down is pretty good.
Honorable Mention – Justin Fuente – Memphis – Before the season, if I had told you that the first college football team in the ‘Volunteer State’ to earn bowl eligibility would be the Memphis Tigers, I would have been laughed out of the building but that is exactly what Tigers head coach Justin Fuente has done. Memphis came back from down ten points early in the contest and kicked a game winning field goal as time expired to earn their 6th win of the season on the road against a Temple team who was fresh off of their upset win over East Carolina. Big kudos to Coach Fuente out in the River City.
Game of the Week – Alabama defeated LSU 20-13 in overtime – These two programs know the stakes every time they suit up against one another and we know what to
expect most of the time when they each take the field. Saturday night in Baton Rouge was the classic hard hitting, low scoring game that we’ve come to expect. The Tigers took a quick lead in the 1st quarter but Alabama responded with ten 2nd quarter points to take the 10-7 lead into 
halftime. It was all field goals from each team until the end of regulation where the two teams went into overtime tied at 13-13. The Tigers appeared to have the game won with the clock winding down on a three point LSU lead but they were unable to gain a first down so Bama quarterback Blake Sims and company were able to go 55 yards in less than a minute to kick the game-tying field goal. Alabama scored a touchdown on their first overtime possession and forced sophomore LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings into four incomplete passes for the win.
Coach Who Needs To Turn In His Company Car ASAP – Kirk Ferentz – Iowa –
First off, I want to start this off by saying that I really like Kirk Ferentz and there aren’t many coaches who can build and sustain a winner at Iowa. Now with that being said, the dude let his team get walloped on Saturday in Minneapolis. The Hawkeyes had the marvelous distinction of scoring the first and last touchdown of the game and usually that means good things. Not this time. Between scores, Iowa managed to give up 51 points and 429 yards of offense that included almost 300 yards rushing. The Hawkeyes also gave up three turnovers and were held to only 205 total yards of offense. Keep in mind that 76 of those yards were on the first drive of the ball game. For all you math geniuses out there that would be only 129 yards of offense after the 9:13 mark in the 1st quarter. Ouch.
Uniform of the Week – Arizona State Sun Devils – The uniform of the week this week is an example of how to use the ‘grey fad’ in a good way. Arizona State broke out some dark grey unis on Saturday for their nationally televised beat down of Notre Dame. Not a bad look at all but what really set off the set was the white and copper trim (Arizona is known as the Copper State) on the numbers and the amazing helmet. The three colors played off of each other perfectly in the November midday Arizona sun.
Dud Uniform of the Week – Kentucky Wildcats – The dud uniform of the week this week is an example of how to use the ‘grey fad’ in a bad way. Kentucky has been all over the place this season with their uniforms and aren’t getting nearly enough ridicule for the disasters that they have thrown together. Kentucky elected for the mono light grey with the checkerboard blue trim for their game against Georgia and it just didn’t look good. At some point Kentucky has to wear their traditional all blue at home with their traditional white helmet right?
SFR Dud Uniform PSA: There have been dozens of teams that have elected to put their normal logos on their helmets with an American Flag theme to them. I love Ole Glory as much as anyone and admire the schools’ attempts to be patriotic but having your normal uniform with an American flag colored logo on your helmet just looks ridiculous. This week’s culprits: Purdue, Washington, Minnesota & Troy. Here are two examples:
Tune in to the Southern Football Report this and every Saturday morning from 10 am to Noon on Live 101.9 & Rockin 106.3 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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