Tag Archives: University of Georgia

What We Learned Week 3

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  • Geno Smith went to complete 34 of 39 passes for 411 yards, moving past Marc Bulger (8,153) to set the school record for career yards passing (8,191).  He also has thrown for 734 yards and nine touchdowns. All while only throwing nine incompletions in two weeks.  Yes, the same number of incompletions as touchdowns.  Just like RG3 last year. Continue reading →

What We Learned Week 1 Saturday Edition

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  • West Virginia became the fifth team in 15 years to score 65 or more points in consecutive games.  They put up 70 on Clemson in last year’s Orange Bowl and beat Marshall 69-34 Saturday.
  • Missouri’s Marcus Murphy had quite a day in the Tigers’ rout of Southeastern Louisiana.  Murphy became the first Tiger ever with two punt returns for score in the same game when he took punts back for 70 and 72 yards. He finished the game with 180 yards on five punt returns, breaking the school record of 156 previously held by NFL Hall of Famer Roger Wehrli set Oct. 21, 1967.
  • Missouri scored two defensive touchdowns in the first quarter.  The last time Tigers had two defensive scores in a game was 2006 at Texas Tech.
  • Notre Dame scored 50 points against Navy on Saturday. it’s the most points the Fighting Irish have scored in a season-opener since scoring 52 against Purdue in 1983.  It’s the fourth-most since 1920/
  • Tavarres King recorded his sixth career reception of 50+ yards to score for Georgia. Since King’s freshman year in 2009, only two SEC receivers have more catches of 50+ yards: Cobi Hamilton (Arkansas) and Alshon Jeffery (South Carolina), with eight each.
  • Ryan Nassib set new Syracuse records for single-game pass yards (470), passes (65) and completions (44) against Northwestern. The previous pass yards record was held by Marvin Graves, set in 1992.
  • Northwestern allowed 28 points in the 2nd half at Syracuse, blowing a 35-13 lead before coming back to win in the final minute. In 2011, Northwestern allowed the most 2nd half points in the Big Ten. Syracuse allowed 21 second half points in the game. Last year, Cuse allowed 172 2nd half points, 2nd most in the Big East.
  • Urban Meyer led the Buckeyes to 56 points in his Ohio State head coaching debut. It was the 2nd-most points by any Ohio State head coach in their first game on the sidelines in school history.  John Wilce’s team put up 58 in 1913 against Ohio Wesleyan.
  • Urban Meyer is now 4-0 in his debuts as head coach at a new school, winning by an average of just under 23 points. The 56 points scored and the 46-point margin of victory Saturday against Miami (OH) are also Meyer’s highs in a debut at a new school.
  • Penn State hadn’t lost a season-opener since 2001, when they lost to Miami (FL). They haven’t lost a season-opener to a non-BCS AQ conference team (current BCS AQ) since 1967, lost at Navy.  Until Saturday, that is, when they lost to Ohio.
  • Despite scoring 62 points, North Carolina finished three points shy of tying the school record and had its best output since beating Ohio 62-0 under Mack Brown in September 1995.  It was also the Tar Heels’ first shutout since beating Duke 38-0 to close the 1999 season.
  • UTSA picked up it’s first FBS victory, with a comeback win against fellow FBS newbie South Alabama.
  • Cal Lost to Nevada for only the second time at home in 25 tries and first since 1903.
  • Florida won it’s 23rd consecutive opener.  That’s second nationally behind Nebraska’s 27 consecutive opening wins.
  • With it’s win over Tulsa, Iowa State has won nine of it’s last 10 openers.
  • Chase Rettig threw for 441 yards against Miami, the sixth-highest single-game total in school history and most since Glenn Foley threw for 448 yards in 1993.
  • Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez had been known for his running.  Saturday, he showed America he can also pass.  Martinez threw for a career-high 354 yards and rushed for only 10 as the Huskers won their 27th consecutive opener.
  • Wisconsin won it’s 17th consecutive home game, tied with LSU for longest streak.
  • With his third quarter touchdown run, Montee Ball has now scored a touchdown in each of his last 21 games, dating back to 2010.
  • Jim McElwain became the first Colorado State coach to win his debut in 42 years Saturday when the Rams rallied past their arch rival for a 22-17 win over the Colorado Buffaloes.
  • New Mexico scored 66 points in its opener against Southern. That puts the Lobos almost halfway to their total of 144 points scored all last season.  The Lobos scored 38 points in the second quarter, as many as they totaled in the final six games last season.
  • Dustin Hopkins, who is on pace to shatter both the school and Atlantic Coast Conference scoring records, added field goals of 28 and 30 yards and extended his string of successful consecutive point after kicks to 139. Hopkins now has 341 career points, 53 shy of the league and school records.
  • Pittsburgh’s loss to Youngstown State was the school’s first in 11 all-time games against FCS opponents. It was the Panthers’ third meeting all-time against the Penguins. In the previous two meetings, Pitt outscored Youngstown State 79-3.
  • The Penguins, a Football Championship Subdivision program, beat a Bowl Championship Series team for the first time in school history.
  • Andre Ellington ran for 228 yards in Clemson’s win against Auburn. Ellington is the only the third ACC player since 2004 with multiple 200-yard rushing games. Seven ACC _teams_ don’t even have multiple 200-yd rushing games by an individual in that period.
  • Clemson wins consecutive meetings with Auburn for the first time since 1950-51. From 1952 until 2010, they played each other 14 times. Auburn was 14-0. Since then, Clemson is 2-0.
  • Clemson now has a win against an SEC team in 9 of the last 11 seasons.
  • The 84 points that Oklahoma State scored Saturday vs Savannah State is the most by an FBS team since Oct. 1991 when Fresno State dropped 94 on the New Mexico Lobos.
  • Oklahoma State’s 84 points were the most by any full-fledged FBS member since 2000. Western Kentucky scored 87 points against West Virginia Tech in 2007, but the Hilltoppers were reclassifying from FCS to FBS.
  • Oklahoma State had no problem scoring against Savannah State, becoming the first team since the turn of the century to top 80 points in its opener.
  • Oklahoma State’s 84 points are their most in a season-opener… since 19116.
  • After being tied with Missouri State at nine in the third quarter, Kansas State scored 42 consecutive points to win 51-9.
  • Indiana ended a nine-game losing streak — winning for the first time since beating South Carolina State 38-21 on Sept. 17, 2011.
  • Texas State got its first won as an FBS member, when they whalloped a rebuilding Houston squad, 30-13.
  • Alabama ran for 232 yards on 42 carries Saturday against Michigan. The Tide are now 40-0 since the start of the 2008 season when they run for at least 150 yards.
  • The 27-point loss for the Wolverines is the worst loss in a season-opener in the 133 years of Michigan football.
  • With its loss to Rutgers, Tulane lost its 11th consecutive game dating to last year, its longest losing streak since dropping 16 in a row from 1961-63.
  • Arizona, which needed overtime to defeat Toledo, amassed 624 yards to Toledo’s 358 but had two touchdowns called back by penalties, turned the ball over three times and missed the two short field goals.
  • Washington scored its first defensive touchdown since Quinton Richardson returned an interception for a score against UCLA two seasons ago.
  • Ryan Aplin became Arkansas State’s career leader in total offense with 9,075 yards, surpassing Corey Leonard (2006-09) and also became the leader in yards passing with 7,721, to pass Cleo Lemon (1997-2000).  Unfortunately, his team lost to Oregon 57-34.  The Ducks led 29-0 after the first quarter and 50-3 halfway through the second period.

>Rivalry Week Part 2

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>Michigan-Ohio State

   The annual match up between the two Midwest state schools has been held at the end of the regular season since 1935 (with exceptions in 1942, 1986, and 1998). Since 1918, the game’s site has alternated between Columbus, Ohio, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has been played in Ohio Stadium since 1922 and Michigan Stadium since 1927. Through 2009, Ohio State and Michigan have decided the Big Ten Conference championship between themselves on 22 different occasions, and have affected the determination of the conference title an additional 26 times. 

   The inaugural meeting between Ohio State and Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1897 resulted in a lopsided victory for Michigan, with the Wolverines posting a 34–0 win over Ohio State’s Buckeyes. The first game foretold a long Michigan winning streak, with Michigan winning or tying every match from 1897 to 1912 and thereby compiling a 12–0–2 record before the contest was postponed for several years. The Ohio State Alma Mater “Carmen Ohio” was written on the train ride home to Columbus following the 1902 contest, which saw Ohio State losing to Michigan, 86–0. The lyrics and melody (Spanish Chant) have remained largely unchanged since its conception.

   The 1950 contest, known as the Snow Bowl, is perhaps the most famous game in the rivalry. Eighth-ranked Ohio State was scheduled to host the game on November 25 in Columbus amidst one of the worst blizzards on Ohio record. The Buckeyes, who led the Big Ten, were granted the option to cancel the game against Michigan, which would have, by default, given the Buckeyes the Big Ten title outright and won them a trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. Ohio State refused, and the game was set to be played. Amid howling snow and wind, in what was probably the most literal example of a “field position” game, the teams exchanged 45 punts, often on first down, in hopes that the other team would fumble the ball near or into their own end zone. Ohio State’s Vic Janowicz, who would claim the Heisman Trophy that year, punted 21 times for 685 yards and also kicked a field goal in the first quarter for the Buckeyes’ only points. Michigan capitalized on two blocked punts, booting one out of the back of the end zone for a safety and recovering another one in the end zone for a touchdown just before halftime. Despite failing to gain a single first down or complete a single forward pass, Michigan gained a 9–3 victory, securing the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth.

   While Michigan leads the series 57–43–6, OSU has won the last six meetings.

Florida-Florida State

  
The University of Florida has fielded an official varsity football team every season since 1906, with the exception of 1943. Although Florida State College (one of the predecessor institutions of Florida State University) sponsored a varsity football team from 1902 to 1904, the Florida Legislature converted Florida State College into the Florida Female College, the state’s new all-women’s college in 1905. The college’s name was changed to “Florida State College for Women” in 1909, and it remained so until the college became co-educational in 1947, when the modern Florida State football team was established.

   Almost immediately, Florida State’s football coach, players and students began calling for the Gators to play the new Florida State football team. The University of Florida, however, was reluctant to treat Florida State as an equal. A proposed bill mandating that Florida play Florida State in football and other sports was proposed in 1955 but was voted down in the Florida Legislature. However, Florida Governor LeRoy Collins asked president J. Wayne Reitz of the University of Florida to schedule a yearly football series between the two state universities, and the two schools’ athletic directors eventually negotiated a contract that started the football series in 1958.
   
   In an otherwise unremarkable game coming in to this 8th annual contest between the burgeoning rivals, this game established the rivalry in full due to the controversy that surrounded its outcome. In a tight contest, UF led the Seminoles late in the game, 22-19. FSU had the ball at the Gator 45 yard line with 17 second left in the game. On first down, wide receiver Lane Fenner entered the game in place of FSU’s star receiver Ron Sellers. FSU quarterback Gary Pajcic took the snap, Fenner got behind UF defenders, and Pajcic lofted a pass to Fenner in the front corner of the end zone for what appeared to be a game-winning FSU touchdown. However, referee Doug Moseley signaled that Fenner did not have control of the ball before rolling out of bounds and ruled the pass incomplete

   UF ended up holding on for a 22-19 win, but the controversy heated up after the game when photos that apparently showed Fenner making the catch in the endzone were published in state newspapers. Debate over whether or not the play should have been ruled a touchdown continues to this day.

   The Gators lead the overall series 33–19–2, though have only had an 18–17–1 record against the Seminoles since Bobby Bowden became FSU’s head coach in 1976.

Utah-BYU

   The University of Utah (Utah) and Brigham Young University (BYU) have a longstanding athletic rivalry that encompasses several sports. The annual college football game is frequently referred to as the Holy War.  In the 1890s, when BYU was still known as Brigham Young Academy, the two schools started competing athletically.  Both schools were founded by the LDS church, have significant percentages of LDS students and faculty as well as many historical and customary affiliations with Mormonism such as LDS institutes and dry campuses. As much as religion is a common historical foundation for the rivalry, it has also been a source of animosity and many have sought to downplay the aspect of religion. BYU (aka “the Y”) is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“LDS or Mormon Church”). The University of Utah (aka “the U”) is a public state-owned school. Because this rivalry includes a “church vs. state” dimension, many fans of both schools use it as a forum to vent deeply held feelings and perceptions.

   Utah claims that the football rivalry began in the late 19th century, when Utah played the Brigham Young Academy six times between 1896–1899. BYU does not count these games in their official records, since it was not then known as BYU, but BYA. Furthermore, BYU claims that the first of those football games, a 12–4 Utah victory in April 1896, was in actuality a practice-scrimmage to prepare for the following fall season. But whether or not the game meant anything to the schools at the time, it certainly meant a great deal to the fans. At the end of the match, a fight broke out between fans of the two schools.

Georgia-Georgia Tech

   The two schools are separated by 70 miles (110 km) and have been heated rivals since 1893. 

   The first known hostilities between the two schools trace back to 1891. The University of Georgia’s literary magazine declared the school’s colors to be “old gold, black, and crimson.” Dr. Charles H. Herty, the first UGA football coach, felt that old gold was too similar to yellow and that yellow “symbolized cowardice.” Also in 1891, a student vote chose old gold and white as Georgia Tech’s school colors. After the 1893 football game against Tech, Herty removed old gold as an official school color. Tech would first use old gold for their uniforms, as a proverbial slap in the face to UGA, in their first unofficial football game against Auburn in 1891. Georgia Tech’s school colors would henceforth be old gold and white.

   The game has been played 104 times according to Georgia Tech and only 102 times according to Georgia record books. Georgia discredits two games in 1943 and 1944 (both years in which Georgia Tech won) because many of their players went to fight in World War II, though official college football records include the games.

   The record between the two teams is 60 Georgia wins, 39 Georgia Tech wins, and 5 ties.