2016-09-12 08:25

It was not the most exciting weekend of College Football, but for sure it had some exciting moments.

For example do we have a new attendance record with 156.990 people watching the Tennessee - Virginia Tech game.
That's almost 40.000 more than the prior record, achieved by the use of the Bristol Motor Speedway, which interior was transformed to a football field for that game and a FCS game next weekend.
Funny thing is, the Speedway has 160.000 seats, so it was NOT sold out and we might see another game toping that record on a sequel to that game (or maybe already next week.)

Another example for excitement has to be the Oklahoma State - Central Michigan game, which ended in controversial call and a Hail Mary + Lateral play which changed the outcome of the game WITH ZERO TICKS ON THE CLOCK!
What happened?
On 4th down did the leading Oklahoma State team decide to play the down with 4 ticks left in the game.
The QB did throw a high pass deep into the Central Michigan half of the field with time expiring.
Flag on the play.
The team was called for intentional grounding, since no receiver was near the ball when it went out of bounce.
That usually results in a loss of down and since usually a game can't end on a penalty and OSU had 4th down, the referees gave Central Michigan a 1st down with ZERO ticks on the clock.
Then this happened:


The thing is, there is an exception on the rule 'game can't end on a penalty' and it involves a loss-of-down-penalty.
It seems in that case, if such a penalty is accepted, the game ends if no time is left.
Don’t ask me, where this makes sense.
The crew did acknowledge that miss call AFTER the game (and probably after some phone calls) and status now is that the crew and the instant replay crew both were suspended because of that extra play. The result of the game still stands, Central Michigan won.

A side note regarding a strange event which had implications on the Florida State - Charleston Southern game.
CSU has suspended 14 players for violating NCAA rules.
The players had used financial aid meant for books to purchase other items.
According to the players they were told to spend the money fast, otherwise it would have been gone, but they were not told that spending it on other items than books would be a NCAA violation.
They were given the choice to be suspended for 1 game either against FSU or against the first conference opponent. Not sure if there is a real choice.
I think the university did manage this issue worst case possible.
And that does not include the question why the players even had the chance to spend the money on other stuff than books.
Why were the books not just given to them and the money were never in their hands?
NCAA violation because of book money ...

Let's have a look at the BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 2

Sat. Sept. 10 - 7:00 PM ET
Arkansas @ #15 TCU
This was for sure a nice game to watch.
Arkansas was leading 14-0 at the half.
Then came TCU and made it a tie game.
Arkansas had missed a field goal in second half, and TCU had missed a game winner from 28 yards out before the end of the regular time.
In fact it was blocked by Arkansas.
So they went to overtime.
First OT gave both teams a TD, second overtime gave TCU only a field goal and Arkansas QB was able to push himself into the endzone against several tacklers to get the touchdown and the win.
Great effort.
Arkansas 41 - TCU 38 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 1-5

Sat. Sept. 10 - 12:00 AM ET
Penn State @ Pittsburgh
This rivalry has some history and importance in the past and I think this weekend it had at least the intensity.
It started a bit as expected, with Pitt playing a bit better than Penn State.
The Lions had some turnovers and the Panther did capitalize on that and lead 28-14 at the half.
Then in 2nd half did the Panthers errors came up, but Penn State was only to get the gap a bit less wide, were within 1 TD away from Pitt.
When Pitt led 42 - 31 it looked like a done deal, when suddenly Penn State scored a TD and converted a 2-point-conversion.
42-39 now.
Pitt was forced out with 3-and-out and Penn State started marching over the field.
But over that drive at some point did Penn State throw an interception and the game was over.
Penn State 39 - Pittsburgh 42 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 2-5

Sat. Sept. 10 - 7:30 PM ET
BYU @ Utah
I'm not sure whether this game will be taught about a long time from now, but for sure it had an epic start and ending.
It started with an interception return TD which gave Utah a 7-0 lead.
Utah tried to make up for that and fumbled on two consecutive drives, which BYU did convert into 2 field goals.
7-6 at that point.
Utah had even 2 more interceptions in that half, but BYU was not able to capitalize from the 1st one, but scored on the 2nd one a few plays later.
The Utes did think about that and decided to have one descend drive and score a TD on their own.
The teams went to the locker room with a Utah lead, 14-13.
The 2nd half was almost similar error prone and Utah kicked 2 FGs at some point, leading now 20-13, when BYU did realize the game would be over soon.
On a 13 play drive they marched over the field and scored a TD.
With 18 ticks left on the clock did the BYU coach decide to go for 2 to win the game and Utah did crush the BYU QB on the probably designed pass play and the scramble into the turf to win the game 20-19.
Ok, you can decide of that's epic, but still a nail biter.
BYU 19 - Utah 20 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 3-5

Sat. Sept. 10 - 7:30 PM ET
North Carolina @ Illinois
This was an open game for more or less 1 quarter.
It was 17-14 at that point, for UNC and from that point on it went downwards for Illinois, slowly.
I think they smelled some hope when they forced a safety against UNC, but they were unable to convert anything out of it and the teams did split at the half with UNC leading 24-16.
In the 2nd half was Illinois not able to get much going and did therefore lose ground with every Tar Heels drive.
They Illini were only able to force North Carolina to punt once in 2nd half and they also force a missed field goal.
All other drives of the Tar Heels were scoring drives, resulting in a 48-23 win.
North Carolina 48 - Illinois 23 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 3-5

Sat. Sept. 10 - 10:00 PM
Texas Tech @ Arizona State
This must have been fun to watch.
If you like a defense driven game, you are completely wrong here.
ASU running back Kalen Ballage did tie the NCAA record for TDs in a game with 8! (Is that called a double Bundy?)
He had 7 rushing TDs and 1 receiving TD.
In my preview I had seen Texas Tech winning this, since their offense can score fast and often, but I did not see a total failure of their defense, allowing the Sun Devils not only to counter the Texas Tech scores, no, they were able to outscore them.
ASU did lead at the half 37-34, and only their (obviously only sometimes) sharp playing defense did deny TTU some scoring drives which help the Sun Devils to extent their lead a bit further.
Overall the game featured 123 points.
Texas Tech 55 - Arizona State 68 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 3-6

Other interesting games:

Fri. Sept. 9 - 8:00 PM ET
#13 Louisville @ Syracuse
Syracuse never had a chance and won it 62-28.
Jacks interesting games Score: 3-3

Sat. Sept. 10 - 7:30 PM ET
Iowa State @ #16 Iowa
You know when you are in trouble when your team did score only 3 points over a game. Iowa won 42-3.
Jacks interesting games Score: 4-3

Sat. Sept. 10 - 7:00 PM ET
Northern Illinois @ South Florida
South Florida did made no prisoners and won that game very convincing 48-17.
Jacks interesting games Score: 5-3

Sat. Sept. 10 - 8:00 PM ET
Virginia Tech @ #17 Tennessee
As mentioned on top, the game set a new attendance record, which is a bit of a surprise, since this game had no real impact at all.
The Vols did win 45-24.
Jacks interesting games Score: 6-3

Sat. Sept. 10 - 8:00 PM ET
New Mexico @ New Mexico State
A surprising close game and it was won by the underdog, New Mexico State 32-31.
Jacks interesting games Score: 6-4

Sat. Sept. 10 - 10:15 PM
Washington State @ Boise State
This was not as high scoring as expected, but the winner was still Boise State, winning 31-28.
Jacks interesting games Score: 7-4

And some other results which might be interesting:
Clemson has some trouble against Troy, winning only 30-24, which did cost them some spots in the rankings.
Houston won against FCS team Lamar 42-0, which is nothing special. Special is, the game was delayed for 3 and a half hour after its start because of lightning. The game lasted 6 hours and 18 minutes in total.
Georgia did escape Nicholls 26-24. The FCS team came back in the 4th quarter but were denied a win.
East Carolina did win against North Carolina State 33-30. Big game of James Summers, ECUs QB.
Cincinnati did win against Purdue 38-20.
Army won their second game in a row, this time against Rice, 31-14.
Ohio did beat Kansas 37-21. If Jayhawks fans had hope for the season, it sure took a hit after that home loss.
Bowling Green did barely win against North Dakota (FCS) 27-26.
Navy won against UConn 28-26.
Upset of the day is Illinois State (FCS), which has won NEVER against a Big10-school, won on a last second field goal against Northwestern 9-7. On the road!
Wake Forest did beat Duke 24-14.
Eastern Illinois (FCS) won against Miami (OH) 21-17.
North Carolina A&T (FCS) did beat Kent State in 4!!! OT 39-36.
Mississippi State won against South Carolina 27-14.
San Diego State did beat Cal in a high scoring game 45-40.
Arizona had some trouble against Grambling State, but won 31-21.
Hawai'i won their 1st game of the season against Tennessee-Martin (FCS) 41-36.

Tags: Block of Granite