DOWN GOES AUBURN!
Memo to all defending national champions: You will lose when
you play at Clemson’s Death Valley.
The Auburn Tigers became the third team to realize this fact
when they lost to Clemson 38-24 on Saturday. Clemson previously knocked off Georgia
(1981) and Georgia Tech (1991) at home a year after both won a national title.
Early on, it did not look as if Clemson would pull the feat
after Auburn jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
However, Clemson sophomore quarterback Tajh Boyd settled
down in a big way, giving Clemson the lead for good in the third. Boyd threw
for 386 yards and four touchdowns on 30-for-42 passing to lead Clemson in its
first win over Auburn since 1951.
The Clemson offense was equally as impressive, gashing Auburn
for 624 yards and converting on 14-of-18 third down tries.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of the win, “I couldn’t
think of a better place to end the streak in Death Valley, South Carolina,
baby,”
Auburn will try to regroup this week against Florida Atlantic.
MIDNIGHT MADNESS—IN
FOOTBALL?
You are probably wondering why I am writing about an
Oklahoma State 59-33 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
The reason was that this game’s kickoff was pushed back from
its original 9:10 p.m. time, to 12:16 a.m. the next morning due to weather conditions.
The game did not end until 3:35 a.m. local time and despite
the win, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy was not too thrilled about
playing deep into the night.
“I’m not real excited about playing at that time, to be
honest with you,” Gundy said. “There comes a certain point in the middle of the
morning your body’s used to functioning. Whether young people stay up late at
night or not, they don’t exert themselves at 2 and 3 in the morning.”
As for the game itself, the Cowboys led 45-6 over the Golden
Hurricane at one point and cruised the rest of the way through.
The thing that went wrong for Oklahoma State was that junior
wide receiver Justin Blackmon saw his streak of 14 straight 100-yard receiving
games snapped. Blackmon did however catch seven passes for 57 yards and a
touchdown.
SHOWDOWNS IN THE
SUNSHINE STATE
The state of Florida was home to three good showdowns
Saturday, so let’s break them down.
1. Florida dominates Tennessee in The Swamp: Florida
might have beaten Tennessee by the score of 33-23, but the final score definitely
was not an indication of how much better the Gators were than the Volunteers on
this day. Florida held Tennessee to -9 rushing yards and led 30-7 at one point.
Gator senior running back Chris Rainey was a dual threat in the passing and
running games, as he ran for 108 yards and caught two passes for 104 yards.
2. The IneligiBOWL: Both Ohio State and
Miami grabbed many headlines during the offseason leading to this shirt
in the anticipation of the game. However, the Hurricanes beat the Buckeyes 24-6
in a complete reversal of last year’s game. Miami sophomore Lamar Miller ran
for 184 yards as Ohio State’s passing game never quite got going. Braxton
Miller and Joe Bauserman combined to throw for 35 yards on 4-for-18 passing.
3. Florida State played well, but Oklahoma
hangs on: The marquee game of the week between Florida State and Oklahoma
was much closer than last year’s matchup, but the Sooners still won 23-13. The
Seminoles did get up for the big stage though, holding the high-powered
Oklahoma offense to 310 yards. However, Florida State lost quarterback E.J.
Manuel and wide receiver Kenny Shaw in the game and could not hang on in the
end to Oklahoma.
WEEK 3 PREDICTIONS
LSU 27, Mississippi St. 24 (LSU
won)
Miami 27, Ohio St. 24 (Miami won)
Oklahoma 35, Florida St. 31 (Oklahoma won)
Miami 27, Ohio St. 24 (Miami won)
Oklahoma 35, Florida St. 31 (Oklahoma won)
WEEK: 3-0 (1.000)
SEASON: 6-3 (.667)
SEASON: 6-3 (.667)
PREDICTIONS FOR WEEK
4
No. 7 Oklahoma St. 38, No. 8 Texas A&M 35
No. 11 Florida St. 21, No. 21 Clemson 17
No. 2 LSU 24, No. 16 West Virginia 10
