After Week 4!

What a Week 4!  We finally learned a few things about some of these teams.  Alabama was about three minutes away from being the first team in the BCS era to shutout three consecutive teams, but was the victim of a 15-play, 8.5-minute, drive in the fourth quarter that led to a passing touchdown.  Auburn earned its third loss before October 1st for the first time in its storied history (program started in 1892 as Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama).  They lost by a mere two points to then second-ranked LSU in what can only be described as an ugly game.  LSU committed 9 penalties (actually 12, but three were declined) and lost two fumbles.  Auburn's Keihl Frazier threw for mere 97 yards and two interceptions.  Fellow SEC West member Arkansas lost to Rutgers despite Tyler Wilson throwing for 419 yards and Cobi Hamilton accumulating 303 yards receiving.  The Razorbacks are a motorcycle wreck -- 'nough said.  In Big Ten news, Michigan had 6 turnovers and only lost by a touchdown to this Notre Dame team that is supposedly "back".  Brian Kelly, just as I suspected, once again pulled Everett Golson in favor of Tommy Rees yet insists that there is no quarterback controversy and Golson is "his guy".  The two teams that impressed me the most were Oregon and Georgia.  Oregon shutout the pioneer of the spread-option, Rich Rodriguez, despite the Wildcats reaching the red zone an incredible six times!  Georgia's Aaron Murray destroyed Vanderbilt's underrated, but obviously susceptible, secondary for 250 yards on 24 attempts.  Georgia's defense also held Vandy to a mere three points after allowing at least 20 points to the likes of Buffalo and Florida Atlantic, which demonstrates they are improving as a unit.  Next week, they could get All-American safety Bacarri Rambo back for the Tennessee game!   How did Clemson drop so many spots in the Coaches Poll?  If the coaches thought Florida State was the 5th-best team in the nation before the game and Clemson the ninth-best, how did a 12-point loss move Clemson all the way down to 16 especially when Clemson led by a touchdown at the half? Ah, the craziness of college football. You have to love it!

1.  R.I.P. Joe Bagwell:   On Saturday evening, shortly before the Auburn/LSU game, a Tigers student assistant coach passed away of a heart attack at the age of 23.  Bagwell was born without a right ventricle and had heart surgery when he was just three.  From everything I've read, he was passionate about football --  in high school he carried around a spiral notebook in which he had hundreds of plays that he tried to get the coaches to run.   Some thought he got the plays from video games and some thought he might have come up with them himself, but the bottom line was he just wanted his school's team to win and he wanted to help them do it.  He never played for Huntsville High School, but he was very involved with the team.  He was a trainer for Auburn last year before being promoted to student assistant coach for the offensive line and special teams.  This was just a young kid, and he had a passion for football.  He didn't even get to see his Auburn Tigers hang in there with LSU this weekend.  I didn't know this kid, but I was saddened when I learned of his death.  If you feel like you want to give anything to the family, the family asks that in lieu of flowers, that gifts be made to the "Clicking for a Cause" fund at Huntsville Hospital Foundation, 101 Sivley Road, Huntsville, AL 35801.  They further asked that attendees of his funeral (9/26/12 at 2pm at Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville) wear Auburn colors which I think is pretty cool!  If Auburn didn’t have a bye week this week, I’d have rooted for the Tigers in Bagwell’s honor!

2.  ULM may have started the next craze:  A few years ago the "Wildcat" formation exploded onto the college football scene.  Now there's very few college or NFL teams that don't have a "Wildcat" package in their offense.  Friday night the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks may have introduced the next exciting offensive formation that the commentators simply referred to as the Warhawk formation.  The formation included three wide receivers, quarterback Kolton Browning, and backup quarterback Cody Wells.  We've seen two quarterbacks on the field before (BYU had a formation that included two quarterbacks and a high school record-setting quarterback turned wide receiver earlier this year, but two of them were lined up as receivers), but never like this.  Browning and Wells were both in the field lined up nearly parallel to the line of scrimmage.  Browning the left-hander to the right of Wells the right-hander and they ran back-to-back read-option plays in the first quarter.   First, Wells took the snap and ran the read-option (he puts the ball out for Browning to take the handoff but watches the defensive end and makes a decision whether to keep it or let Browning take it) and let Browning take it and run to the left side of the field.  Here Browning again has two options:  he can tuck it and run or he can pass it (and he's running to his left so that he doesn't have to throw against his body).  They ran the same play to the right with Browning taking the snap.  After two consecutive significant gains, it forced Baylor to burn a timeout in the first quarter!  This is a dangerous formation because in this case both quarterbacks are running threats.  I don’t think they used this formation enough as it clearly had the Bears on their heels.  Sideline reporter Jemele Hill (who is a fantastic columnist as well) astutely pointed out that Rex Ryan of the New York Jets will be pressured by the media to run this with righty Mark Sanchez and lefty Tim Tebow.  What an impact the Warhawks are having on the game this season!

3.  Remember Sam Durley?  After Week 1 I wrote about the Division III quarterback who broke the NCAA record for most yards passing in a game with 736 yards in a comeback win.  Well, meet Taylor Heinicke of Old Dominion who broke the Division 1 (FBS & FCS) record with 730 yards this weekend against New Hampshire.  Heinicke's team was down 54-38 after three quarters and he led them to a 64-61 win!  What's great about both Durley and Heinicke's record-breaking performance is that it's not as if they were just slinging the ball around going for a record.  They weren't just trying to put up Playstation statistics.  They both did what they had to do to bring their teams back from a deficit to victory (Durley broke the record on a touchdown pass with just 20 seconds left!).  The previous Division 1 (and NCAA) record holder, David Klingler, had a six-year NFL career so there is hope for these two kids!  Durley is a senior, so we may see him in the next NFL Draft or signed as an undrafted free agent.  Heinicke is just a sophomore, so he may go after Durley's record for a couple of more years!

4.  MAC truck making its own way:   I usually try not to talk about conferences as a whole because I think it’s a bit foolish as they all have good teams and they all have bad teams.  Additionally, I am not a blind conference loyalist as many college football fans seem to be.  My favorite team is in the Big Ten, but that doesn’t mean I favor other Big Ten teams above every team from every other conference. All that being said, what a week for the Mid-American Conference!  They knocked off a team from the Big Ten , the Big 12, and two from the Big East!   Central Michigan beat Iowa, Western Michigan beat Connecticut, Northern Illinois beat Kansas, and Ball State beat South Florida.  Eastern Michigan led Michigan State at the half and Akron was actually tied with SEC's Tennessee at halftime! I've said from day one that a team from this conference (Ohio) may well go undefeated and also may well be the first 12-0 team that finishes the year unranked, but Week 3 was good to this conference as a whole.  If you combine that with Louisiana Tech of the WAC thrashing Illinois (52-24) and the stamp Sun Belt's Louisiana Monroe has made on the game, some of these "powderpuff" teams are starting to make some noise.  Am I suggesting that one of these smaller conferences will become one of the "Big Six"?  No.  However, I am suggesting that teams from the "Big Six" may think a little harder when making their nonconference schedule in coming years particularly before the 2014 season when a selection committee is involved.

5.  The next big name in coaching:  As I have previously written, there will likely be two head coaching openings for the 2013 season at Kentucky and Arkansas.  Willie Taggart may top of both programs' wishlist.  While I still think Bobby Petrino will return to the sidelines next season and is a possibility to replace Joker Phillips, I now think Taggart will end up at one of these two schools (or elsewhere if a top program job opening arises).  If his name is unfamiliar it's because he's the head coach of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.  I argued last year that the 7-5 Hilltoppers deserved a bowl selection over a 6-7 California team, for example.  So far, this season, they are 3-1 with wins over Kentucky in overtime and Southern Miss 42-17 (last year's Conference USA Champion).  Their only loss was a Week 3 game at Alabama which they lost 35-0 but did not play poorly.  They sacked AJ McCarron six times and held the Tide to a mere 103 yards rushing.  Taggart is the youngest coach in Division 1 at 35 and is a legend at WKU (he was a star quarterback and his jersey has been retired).  He played and then coached under Jack Harbaugh for the Hilltoppers and later was the running backs coach under Jim Harbaugh at Stanford.  The year Toby Gerhart came in second in the Heisman Trophy (behind Mark Ingram) and won the Doak Walker Award, Taggart was his coach.  Remember the name Willie Taggart, folks.  You'll hear it a lot as season's end nears and don't be surprised if he becomes a name in a major conference next year.  I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to Week 8 when Taggart's Hilltoppers host Kolton Browning and the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks!  I wouldn't be surprised if that game is the deciding factor in who wins the Sun Belt.