Tag Archives: Auburn

What We Learned…Week Two

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  • Utah State broke a 12 game losing streak to in-state rival Utah.  The Aggies hadn’t beaten Utah since 1997, and not in Logan since 1996.
  • With it’s win over UConn, NC State is now 9-1 in weeks after a loss, ranging back to 2010
  • Minnesota scored 16 points in the first quarter against New Hampshire. The Golden Gophers hadn’t scored that many points in the opening quarter since 2005 (20 points vs Florida Atlantic). Last season, Minnesota only scored more points once all last season (20 points in second quarter of season finale against Illinois.
  • The last Ohio State quarterback to rush for three touchdowns in a game was Art Schlichter against Illinois in 1978.  Braxton Miller did it Saturday.
  • Penn State starts 0-2 for first time since 2001 and just the 5th time in the last 45 years.
  • Before Sam Ficken went 1-for-5 on field goals for Penn State, the last player to miss four-or-more FG in one game was Josh Zahn of UAB. Zahn was 2-for-7 at Tennessee on 9/25/2010.
  • Auburn “accumulated” -2 pass yards in the first half at Mississippi State. The Tigers are the second team this season to have negative pass yards in a half; Northern Illinois netted -1 pass yard in the second half vs Iowa last weekend. The Tigers last had negative pass yards in a half in 2005, when they had -2 pass yards in the second half vs Alabama.
  • Mississippi State’s win included numerous firsts. The victory broke a string of unsavory trends for the Bulldogs. They had lost 10 out of the last 11 against Auburn — including four straight — and hadn’t won an SEC opener since 1999.  It was also coach Dan Mullen’s first victory against the SEC Western Division’s best four teams. He was 0-12 combined against Alabama, LSU, Arkansas and Auburn until Saturday’s breakthrough.
  • Miami started playing games in 1926, but Saturday’s loss was just the sixth time that the U ever allowed 50 points in a game.
  • Collin Klein now has 5 career games with at least 3 rush TD and 1 pass TD. Since 2000, that is the most of any FBS player.
  • Marcus Lattimore records his 33rd career TD (30 Rush, 3 Rec), tying the school record by George Rogers and Harold Green.  He has played in only 22 games.
  • Clemson’s DeAndre Hopkins is the first player this season with three receiving touchdowns in a game this season, and he did it before halftime. The last player with three receiving touchdowns in a half? West Virginia’s Tavon Austin, who did so in the first half against Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
  • Second straight year the Sacramento State Hornets have beaten a Pac-12 opponent on the road in the last play of the game.  They defeated Oregon State last season.
  • Through two games this season, Notre Dame has turned the ball over just twice, eight fewer than the 10 turnovers the Irish committed at this point last season.
  • Denard Robinson finished with his 3rd career game with at least 200 yards passing and 200 yards rushing. That’s the most of any FBS player since 2000.. one more than Vince Young had.
  • Denard Robinson is the 4th player in FBS this season with multiple 50-yd Rush TD in the same game, joining Duke Johnson, Davon Johnson, and Johnathan Franklin. He is the only Michigan player to do it since at least 2004. Robinson’s longest run in Week 1 against Alabama was 9\nine yards.
  • Denard Robinson now has three career rushing TD of at least 70 yards. That is tied for the most among all active FBS players.
  • Matt Barkley passed for 187 yards and 6 TD, becoming the first FBS player since at least 2000 to have 6+ pass TD and fewer than 200 passing yards in a game.
  • If it seems that no lead is safe in college football, the schools on this list can surely relate. Texas A&M, Memphis, Kansas and Nevada all blew halftime leads on Saturday and are among the the teams that have seen the most halftime leads evaporate since the start of the 2011 season.
  • Florida stepped up its defense after halftime Saturday. Texas A&M averaged 5.8 yards per play in the first half with 28.3 percent of its plays gaining 10 yards or more. In the second half, the Aggies averaged 2.8 yards per play, and managed just one play that gained 10 yards or more. All six of Texas A&M’s second-half drives ended in punts, including four “3 & outs.” The Aggies had no punts in the first half.
  • For a second straight week, Michigan State held an opponent without an offensive touchdown.  The only two touchdowns the Spartans have allowed this season have some on interception returns.
  • Iowa State beat Iowa 9-6 for its first win in Iowa City in 10 years.
  • This was Iowa’s first loss under Kirk Ferentz when they held a team to fewer than 10 points. Before today, they had been 33-0 in such games.  Iowa State didn’t score in the second half.
  • Wisconsin’s last regular season non-conference loss came in 2003 at home against UNLV. It’s last regular season non-conference ROAD loss came in 2001 at Oregon.
  • With Wisconsin’s, Nebraska’s and Illinois’ losses to Pac-12 teams, Big Ten schools are 5-26-1 at Pac-12 schools since 1993 (the year Penn State joined the Big Ten).
  • After showing some signs of rust last week in a 35-21 victory over North Carolina State, Jimmy Hunter caught three touchdowns — the first time since 2003 that a Tennessee receiver ended up with that many in a single game.
  • Tennessee exceeded the 500-yard mark in total offense for a second straight week. The Vols hadn’t gained 500 yards in back-to-back games since 2000.
  • The win is Louisiana-Monroe’s first over a ranked team since joining the FBS in 1994, and it is the school’s first over an SEC team since defeating Alabama in 2007.  The Warhawks are 4-34 against the SEC, with their only other win coming against Mississippi State in 1995.
  • It is also the Sun Belt Conference’s first win over a top 10 team.
  • Six players ran for touchdowns as Georgia Tech (1-1) had 712 total yards, the second-highest total in school history, including 469 yards rushing. The Yellow Jackets had a school-record 768 yards in a 66-24 rout of Kansas in 2011.
  • LSU has won 39 straight against non-conference opponents in the regular season, tying a Football Bowl Subdivision record first set by Kansas State. Next weekend, the Tigers play Idaho, another non-conference opponent, and the game is at home, where LSU has won 19 straight.
  • Mississippi defeated Texas-El Paso 28-10, improving to 2-0 for only the second time in 10 seasons.
  • The Bowling Green Falcons improved to 4-0 in season openers under head coach Dave Clawson.
  • The Ohio Bobcats (2-0), who opened with a win over Penn State, have won eight of nine dating back to last season.
  • Damien Williams’ rushing total of 156 yards was the most for a player in his first game at the Sooners’ home field, and he became only the fourth player at the school to eclipse 100 yards rushing in each of his first two games. Adrian Peterson was the last to do it, in 2004.
  • Casey Pachall and Trevone Boykin combined to complete all 17 passes for TCU — the most in FBS history without an incompletion.
  • Gary Patterson was presented a crystal ball in recognition of his 110th career victory — one more than former school-record holder Dutch Meyer, who led the Frogs to their only AP national championship in 1938. Patterson is 110-30 overall with 10 shutout victories one game into his 12th season.
  • Houston and Louisiana Tech combined for 1,291 yards of offense and 78 first downs in a game that lasted four hours and eight minutes.
  • SMU intercepted seven passes and recovered two fumbles by Stephen F. Austin.
  • Northern Arizona’s win over UNLV was Northern Arizona’s (1-1) first win over an FBS team in 25 years.
  • Oklahoma State freshman Wes Lunt threw for 436 yards, fourth-most in school history and the Big 12 record for a freshman, and connected with Tracy Moore for four touchdown passes

Week 2 Observations

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  • Brandon Weeden rewrote the Oklahoma State record book against Arizona with 42 completions on 53 pass attempts. He finished with 397 passing yards, narrowly missed throwing for 400 yards for the 4th time in his career. Continue reading →

Seattle Regional

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Washington – Washington is another one of the national powers that resides in the Pac 10.  To show you how difficult the conference is, the Huskies earned the 12th seed nationally and that’s after going 9-12 in conference.  They did load up in the preseason, however, as they played in the San Diego Classic, the Cathedral City Classic and Judi German Classic.  Including conference play, Washington played 14 NCAA Tournament teams, going 13-12 against them.

Niki Williams is the statistical giant for this year’s Huskies, knocking 13 balls out of the yard and driving in 50 runs.  Both are team highs.  She also has 11 doubles, which is good for second on the squad.  Jenn Salling is hitting .373, with a team-high 15 two-baggers, 53 hits and 43 RBI, both of which are second best on the squad.  Kimi Pohlman is the only Huskie hitting over .400, as she has a team-high .443 average.  She also has 74 hits, scored 52 times and stolen 22 bags, all of which are tops on the team.

Kaitlin Inglesby is the team’s top pitcher, having racked up a 21-7 record.  She has a 2.25 ERA this season, having pitched 183.2 innings.  In her 38 appearances, she has struck out 137 batters

BYU – The Cougars won their third consecutive Mountain West title when they swept a doubleheader from Utah this weekend.  The team played 14 games against ranked opponents in the preseason and went 5-9 against them, defeating tough teams like UCLA, Texas A&M and California.  The Cougars come into the postseason having won 14 of their last 15.

BYU has six players hitting over .300, but none is having as impressive of a season as Jessica Fitu, who is second on the team with a .382 average.  She has 63 hits, 11 doubles, 12 home runs, 64 RBI and a .691 slugging percentage, all team bests.  Caschjen Atagi has knocked around 10 doubles, 10 home runs and 44 RBI.  Delaney Willard has 11 bombs, nine doubles and 40 RBI

Paige Affleck is the team’s ace.  She compiled a 24-11 record during the season and has a nifty 1.97 ERA.  She’s retired 207 opponents via strikeout.

Portland State – Portland State captured its third Pacific Coast Conference title after having done so in 2006 and 2009. They matched Loyola Marymount, the team they defeated in the finals to win the title this year, for the most conference titles in the nine-year history of the league.  The trip to the NCAA Tournament marks the second in three years for the Vikings.  Portland State faced seven teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and while only winning one of those matchups, they played teams like Stanford, UCLA and Oregon tight.

Jenna Krogh leads a balanced Viking offense with a .405 average, 38 runs and 64 hits.  She also has legged out an impressive six triples.  Lacey Holm swings a big stick for Portland State, as she is second on the team with five round-trippers and leads the squad with 40 RBI.  Carly McEachran leads the team with six home runs and has added 30 RBI, one of two players to have that total.  The Vikings also have three players who have hit four home runs each.

Nichole Latham and Anna Bertrand have identical 16-8 records.  The closeness in statistics is eerie.  Latham has started 24 games and appeared in 28, while Bartrand has started 23 and appeared in 30.  Latham has pitched exactly two more innings (155.2-153.2).  Bertrand has more strikeouts tho with 161, while Latham has 98.

Auburn – While the Tigers’ 39-17 record might not impress people, the wins they have accumulated towards the end of the season show how much they have evolved into a team heading into the postseason.  But in the last three weeks, they have defeated top-10 Georgia twice and upset number three Florida in the SEC tournament’s first round.  They also gave Tennessee a tough time in the semifinals.

Auburn is an even balanced team offensively, as four of their players have at least 44 hits and seven total have 30 or more.  Morgan Estell is hitting .378 and leading the team with 59 hits, including a team-high 17 doubles and tied for the team-high in home runs with six.  Kyndall White and Amber Harrison are also tied for the team lead in home runs with six each.  Harrison also has 16 doubles, making 22 of her 36 hits either doubles or home runs.

If anyone is looking for the true definition of a three-woman pitching rotation, look no further than the Auburn Tigers.  Their three starters have started 19, 19 and 18 games, respectively.  Angel Bunner, who has started 19 games, leads the squad in wins with 16 and also has a team-low 1.58 ERA.  While Lauren Schmalz has 14 wins, she also has the highest ERA, at 3.11.  Jenee Loree is the third on the team with nine wins.  The eerie part is that all three have extremely similar strikeout numbers.  Schmalz has 143, Bunner 113 and Loree 107.

>Cam Newton Reactions

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>We all know the story about Cam Newton and for most people, it just seems to get more and more interesting as we go along.  The NCAA delivered its opinion on the matter the other day and it could not have opened a bigger door for future violations.

The NCAA cleared Newton to compete without conditions, saying it was Cecil Newton and “an owner of a scouting service” — former Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers — who violated amateurism rules.

The NCAA became involved over the summer in investigating the pay-for-play scheme that was discussed during Newton’s recruitment. Two Mississippi State boosters accused Cecil Newton and Rogers of trying to get up to $180,000 for Cam Newton to play for the Bulldogs while the quarterback was being recruited out of junior college last year.

“Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn was aware of this activity, which led to his reinstatement,” Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs, said in a news release.

You have got to be kidding me.  The kid didn’t actually know what his dad was doing?   Why would Cecil ask for money from Mississippi State but no other school?  Especially since Cam originally said that he wanted to go to MSU anyway?   That just doesn’t seem right does it??  The only problem is that this will open a big can of worms that will allow future players do this and get away with it without any repercussions.

If you remember, in the summer a basketball player from Chicago, Anthony Davis, was accused of taking money from the University of Kentucky to give Coach Calipari an oral commitment.  Now, his dad, Anthony Davis Sr.,or other parents accused of doing the same thing have nothing to worry about because it can be claimed that the parent knew about the taking of the money and the player had no knowledge of it.  But how believable is all of this??

Pay for play has been going on for years and now it seems as if it will continue to be going on.  Unless this ruling is just one that is temporary until the NCAA is able to look further into the matter, it can be guaranteed that this practice will continue.  Especially since coaches can recruit kids as young as seventh grade, what’s to say they won’t start then?  If they do, one can only imagine the amount it can grow to until he gives whatever coach a commitment or letter of intent.

But have fun with this NCAA.  Have fun realizing what this has done to the game and that it makes it even more corrupt.  But don’t forget, a kid NEVER knows what his parent is doing and is always the innocent one…