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The 2009 college football season is winding down, and there have been a few surprise players and teams. The best have separated themselves from the rest. Here's a look...
Everybody's talking about TCU and Boise State, but the Houston Cougars out of CUSA is another team that has quietly had a super season with an 8-1 record. Their remaining 3 foes are sporting a 7-20 record, and two of their remaining games are at home.
Case Keenum has been the Drew Brees of the Cougar offense. He currently has 3,815 passing yards on the season with 28 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He is completing 71 percent of his attempts. Keenum tossed for 522 yards on 40 out of 60 attempts with 3 touchdowns in a 46-45 win over Tulsa.
Throughout the nine games this campaign, Keenum notched 500 yard passing performances, two 400 yard games and 3 games of 300 yards or better.
Much like the Saints All-Pro signal-caller, Keenum doesn't get sacked very much. In 472 passing attempts, he's only suffered 12 sacks.
But the Cougar defense has really stepped up as well. Sophomore linebacker Marcus McGraw leads the team with 95 tackles. He's had 5 double digit tackling games with a high water mark of 19 stops against Texas Tech.
Senior linebacker C.J. Caveness is next with 89 tackles. Safety Nick Saenz chips in with 81 tackles. Senior defensive end Tyrell Graham has 6 quarterback sacks.
The Cougars' defense is tops in the conference and 15th ranked nationally.
The Florida Gators will wear futuristic uniforms in one of the 2 remaining home games. It’s the new Nike "Pro combat uniform." There are 9 other teams that Nike selected as well, one being the LSU Tigers who will sport the new togs against Arkansas in their final home game.
This season, Tim Tebow has absorbed a career-high 21 sacks, 3rd most in the SEC. In the last 4 outings alone, Tebow has been sacked 15 times. The Gators have struggled against zone blitzes. Tebow was sacked 28 times in all of 2008.
Also, the Gators have only produced 2 plays of 50 yards or longer - a 77-yard scoring hook-up from Tebow to Deonte Thompson and a 64-yard pass from Tebow to tight end Aaron Hernandez.
Texas quarterback Colt McCoy needs one more victory to tie him with former Georgia quarterback David Greene for all-time wins with 42. McCoy is 41-7 as a starter. He missed out on the Texas single-game passing yardage record by 3 yards, passing for 470 yards against UCF last weekend. Texas running backs’ coach and former Longhorn quarterback Major Applewhite holds the record with 473 yards in one game.
Texas expects to start their 4th different running back in 2009. Cody Johnson (5'11-250) could get the start this week on the road against Baylor. Johnson leads the team with 9 rushing touchdowns. Vondrell McGee, Tre Newton and Foshwitt Whittaker have all had a turn as a starter this season.
Texas will face Baylor this weekend, The Bears feature linebacker Joe Pawelek (6'2-240), a tackling machine who has recorded 392 career tackles, more than any active college player in the country. Former Baylor ‘backer and current San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Singletary had 662 career stops . The NCAA didn't begin officially tracking career tackles until 2000.
The Purdue Boilermakers are struggling at 4-6, but senior quarterback Joey Elliott managed to become the 1st Purdue quarterback since Bob Griese (1966) to beat Michigan in Ann Arbor, 38-36.
Oklahoma State has hardly missed a beat since running back Kendall Hunter was injured earlier this season. Senior Keith Poston has caught fire helping the Cowpokes to a 7-2 record while rushing for 882 yards and 9 touchdowns. Hunter has missed 5 games but returned on Oct. 31 on limited duty.
When Stanford running back Toby Gerhart (6'1-235) going to start getting serious Heisman consideration? His name is starting to pop up now. He has accumulated 1,217 yards and 16 scores on the ground with a 200-yard performance against Washington and 223 yards in the 51-42 win over Oregon last week. This week, the Cardinal travels to USC.
Gerhart is the nation's 2nd leading rusher. He is also a standout on the baseball diamond during the spring. He could be a two-sport draftee.
Former LSU and current Jacksonville State quarterback Ryan Perrilloux (senior) leads the FCS (Div. I-AA) in passing with a 175.21 quarterback rating. He has thrown for 1,931 yards, 19 TD passes and just 2 interceptions. He has chipped in another 225 yards on the ground and 5 more touchdowns for the 6-3 Gamecocks.
Other Louisiana products excelling in the FCS: McNeese State quarterback Derrick Fourroux (6'2-200, Sr.) has flown under the radar for the 7-2 Cowboys. Fourroux is the 10th-rated quarterback nationally with 1,980 yards, 19 touchdown passes with 512 yards rushing and 4 scores. He surpassed the century mark rushing twice with 102 yards against Tulane and 118 yards against Sam Houston State.
Southeastern Louisiana quarterback Brian Babin (17th rated in the FCS) has a 147.58 quarterback rating, 2,079 yards, 22 TD passes and 6 interceptions.
Southern Jaguars defensive back Jason House, a junior from Laurel, Miss., is tied for 2nd nationally with 6 interceptions on the season.
Grambling senior Nigel Copeland has 5 picks for 2009. It will be an interesting matchup next weekend in the Superdome for The Bayou Classic.
The TCU Horned Frogs play Utah this week, and the Frogs will be sporting those new Nike uniforms. Embroided on the inner collar of the players' jersey will be "Don't back down," inspired by the Tom Petty hit song, I Won’t Back Down.
The new helmet will feature 2 red lines from back to front representing the blood that shoots from a Horned Frog's eyes when under attack. The Purple jersey will have "Horned Frogs" in white across the chest above the number.
What happened in Tuscaloosa last Saturday afternoon?
The Crimson Tide plays their best in the final quarter, recording 8 of the team’s 26 sacks and 5 of their 12 interceptions.
The Tigers were held to 9 yards in the final quarter and went 3-and-out on 6 of their last 11 possessions. The Tide defense has only allowed three 4th quarter touchdowns.
Bama players said that LSU's 4 wide receiver set (on one side) caused some problems for them and called for adjustments. Alabama had not seen that alignment prior. Also, LSU's no huddle offense caught the Crimson Tide defense off-guard. Obviously they adjusted.
Why did Navy beat Notre Dame last week for the 2nd time in 3 tries?
If you listen to Navy coach Ken Niumatolo, he said that the Midshipmen knew exactly what to expect from the Fightin' Irish, who showed the same alignments as they did in 2008 with no deviation.
In the Navy option offense, the defense's first and most important priority is to stop the fullback. The Middies’ Vince Murray ran for 104 yards, while the Navy offense piled up 404 yards. The Irish defense has shown some cracks, so could defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta be the fall guy at the end of the season?
This week the Irish travel to Pittsburgh to tangle with the Panthers. Pitt freshman running back Dion Lewis only needed 8 games to reach the 1,000 yard mark. NCAA record is held by 5 players that reached that standard in 7 games.
Now that post season honors begin to roll in, it will be interesting to see if Lewis will be selected for any conference recognition. Only one player in Big East history was selected Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season - Michael Vick.
Defensively, the Panthers have 38 sacks this season. Notre Dame brings a lot of pressure which doesn't always equal sacks. The Irish have 18 sacks, but their pressure has forced 11 interceptions and 6 fumble recoveries.
Texas Tech has managed to maintain consistency in spite of injuries at quarterback. Redshirt freshman Seth Doege is the 3rd signal caller under center this season for the Red Raiders, the 17th ranked team in the AP and 18th in Coaches poll. With the changes at quarterback, Texas Tech is the 2nd rated team in the nation in passing offense at 400.4 yards per game.
The 7-2 Wisconsin Badgers host the 5-5 Michigan Wolverines on Saturday at 11 a.ma at Camp Randall Stadium. The Badgers defense has been stubborn. The Wisconsin offense has scored 8 touchdowns off of 14 turnovers, with 6 scores coming from interceptions. Wisconsin is tied for 10th nationally in redzone offense with 94.3 percent success rate.In all, 27 of the 33 trips have produced touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Scott Tolzien has been solid if not spectacular. He has displayed huddle presence and hasn't gotten rattled. Running backs John Clay and Zach Brown have given the Badgers a potent running attack.
Wisconsin's offense is on pace to average 200 yards or more rushing per game for the 3rd consecutive year. The last time the Badgers held that pace was from 1971-'76.
There is a youth movement at quarterback in the PAC Ten. Half of the teams are quarterbacked by freshmen or redshirt freshmen:
USC-Matt Barkley, freshman
Stanford- Andrew Luck, RS Freshman
UCLA-Kevin Prince, RS freshman
Washington St.-Jeff Tuel, freshman
Arizona State-Brock Osweiler, freshman
The remaining 5 starting quarterbacks:
Arizona-Nick Foles, sophomore
Calif.-Kevin Riley, junior
Oregon-Jeremiah Masoli, junior
Oregon State-Sean Canfield, junior
Washington- Jake Locker, junior
And what about the Trojans struggles on offense. USC's 32 percent 3rd down conversion rate ranks 106th in the nation.
Alabama's Javier Arenas needs 172 yards to break the all-time NCAA record for punt return yardage held by Texas Tech's Wes Welker. Arenas is also 160 yards short of the all-time SEC record set by Vanderbilt's Lee Nalley (1947-49).
Iowa travels to Ohio State this Saturday for a Big Ten battle. Hawkeye quarterback Rick Stanzi went down with an injury last weekend against Northwestern and will not be available for the remainder of the season. Freshman James Vandenberg steps up but is no stranger to success. While at Keohuk High School (IA), Vandenberg set the all-time state single season record with 3,729 passing yards and 49 touchdowns.
Some NFL tidbits...
The Buffalo Bills are 3-5, and when you are losing, there are always lots of rumors. Apparently, there is an underground swell of talk involving Michael Vick being brought aboard next year. Of course, the NFL trade deadline has passed and player tampering is strictly prohibited by the NFL. It didn't stop inquiries. ESPN.com quoted Bills safety Donte Whitner as saying, "I believe Michael Vick would be a good fit and I encourage whoever to bring Michael Vick in."
Trent Edwards is in his 2nd season as the starter but currently nursing a concussion. Backup Ryan Fitzpatrick has handled the quarterback duties in his absence.
Vick has 6 pass attempts with 2 completions for 6 yards as a backup for the Philadelphia Eagles. Vick was signed on August 14.
