Southern Football Report: Week 14 Superlatives

Every week this season we have been giving out superlatives and this will be the last week that we give them out for the week. Next week they will be superlatives for the whole season. Last week there were games from Wednesday all the way through late Saturday night and there were some games that came down to the wire while there were also some games that didn’t take too long be decided. Here are some superlatives from last week:

MVP – Brandon Doughty – QB – Western Kentucky – Grant it, there wasn’t much defense to go around in Huntington, West Virginia, on Black Friday but there was plenty of offense, especially on the side of the Hilltoppers. Western Kentucky senior quarterback went 34-of-50 for 491 yards and 8 touchdowns, yes 8 touchdowns. Four of them came in the first quarter as Western Kentucky was able to capitalize on some Marshall turnovers and jump out to a 28-14 1st quarter lead. The Hilltoppers just never went away as they kept pace with the, at the time, undefeated Thundering Herd on their way to a 67-66 overtime victory. Either way, if you throw eight touchdowns in one game, you’re going to earn MVP honors from the Southern Football Report.

Coach of the Week – Gary Anderson – Wisconsin – Easily the least well known head coach of a top 15 team and especially of a division winner. Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson has won ACC Coach of the Year, ESPN can’t get Rich Rodriguez on television enough and Nick Saban is at his Alabama pulpit every hour it seems like. Gary Anderson has won 19 games in his first two seasons in Madison and this year beat a pretty good Minnesota team to earn a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game against a J.T. Barrett-less Ohio State Buckeyes. Coach Anderson has had an easy decision this year: give the ball to Melvin Gordon III at least 24 times a game and everything will be alright.

Game of the Week – Georgia Tech defeated Georgia 30-24 in overtime – This game had it all: two bitter rivals, competitive game, high drama with turnovers, a last minute comeback, overtime & a dramatic finish. Regardless of whether you were cheering for the Dawgs, the Jackets or were just watching the game to see a great game, you were entertained. The two teams went into halftime tied at 7 but both were able to open it up a little bit in the second half with 20 combined points in the fourth quarter alone. With a three point lead late in the 4th quarter, Georgia Tech was able to make good on a short kickoff by the Dawgs and a long run by quarterback Justin Thomas to set up a 53 yard field goal with no time on the clock. In overtime, the Yellow Jackets were able to punch it into the end zone for the lead and then force an interception for the win.

Coach Who Should Turn In His Company Car – Jim Mora Jr – UCLA – I guess Coach Mora and the Bruins thought they had already won the Pac-12 South before they even took the field against the downtrodden Stanford Cardinal on Friday. All UCLA had to do was beat a 6-5 team at home and the South division was theirs and they’d get another crack at the Oregon Ducks who throttled the Bruins back in October. Instead, the Bruins decided to only generate 262 total yards of offense at home against that same Stanford team who lost 5 games in 2014 and lost the Pac-12 South when Arizona defeated Arizona State down in Tucson.

Uniform of the Week – Arizona State Sun Devils – There wasn’t anything really new about the Arizona State uniforms last Friday. To be honest, compared to a lot of their uniforms sets from earlier this season, they were very tame and understated but one thing definitely stood out. Friday, for their Territorial Cup game against rival Arizona, the Sun Devils broke out the old Sparky logo for their helmets instead of the new rising pitchfork that has become so popular among the Sun Devil fan base. The fun part is how the cartoonist who originally drew Ole Sparky had recently been fired by Walt Disney so he fashioned the facial features of the pitchfork wielding devil after the founder if the Disney corporation.

Dud Uniform of the Week – Mississippi State Bulldogs – To be completely honest, the Bulldogs have had less than fortunate uniforms all season long in my personal opinion. Their matte maroon helmets alright but everything else has been pretty homely. Saturday night Mississippi State traveled to Oxford, Mississippi, to take on their bitter rival in the Egg Bowl and decided to break out their ‘Stark Vegas’ uniforms that had gold numbers and trim on the shoes and the helmets. Not a good look.

Tune in to the Southern Football Report this and every Saturday morning from 10 am to Noon on Live 101.9 & Q 92.3 FM to hear high school scores from Friday night as well as college football discussion, debate and previews of the games to come!