#LANCE IS DONE WITH THIS SEASON DAWG | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

junker-town · 6 years

Text

College football’s Teams of the Week, led by your surprisingly dominant Iron Bowl champ

Team of the week? Auburn was the team of the *month*, and the Playoff race is now a gorgeous mess.

Auburn thwarts expectations like few others could. In Gus Malzahn’s five-year tenure, the Tigers had:

began 2013 unranked and made the national title game

began 2014 sixth and finished 22nd

began 2015 sixth and finished unranked

and began 2016 unranked, rose to sixth, then finished 24th.

In writing this offseason’s Auburn preview, I found myself awfully high on the Tigers, and I deemed it terrifying.

My built-in hedge was the schedule. Even a top-10-caliber team might struggle to go better than 2-2 or 1-3 in games at Clemson and LSU and at home against Alabama and Georgia. And there were enough other tricky games on the schedule to suggest that a 9-3 record would be one hell of an accomplishment.

Well, they went 10-2. They were the best team in the country in November. And they’re on the doorstep of a Playoff bid because of it.

Team of the Week (and Month): No. 6 Auburn (def. No. 1 Alabama, 26-14)

The last time Auburn beat Alabama by more than 10 points, Malzahn was four years old. It was still 15 years from when he would walk on at Arkansas, 23 from when he’d score his first high school head coaching job, and 37 from when he’d score his first college job, an ill-fated coordinator stint at his alma mater. It was November 29, 1969, and Alabama’s Bear Bryant was in the only funk of his Bama tenure.

The Tide would go just 12-10-1 in 1969-70 before Bryant adopted the wishbone, sold supporters on integrating his roster, and laid waste to college football for most of the 1970s. And at the end of ‘69, sophomore quarterback Pat Sullivan passed and rushed for a combined 245 yards, and Tommie Frederick’s 85-yard scamper put away an easy 49-26 victory.

This one wasn’t that easy for Auburn. But against what is, per S&P+, the weakest Alabama squad since either 2010 or 2013 — the last two years the Tide lost to the Tigers — Auburn struck first and just kept striking. Truly challenged for the first time all season, Bama self-destructed midway through the second half, and by the time they regained their composure, the game was over.

Jarrett Stidham became the first quarterback since Johnny Manziel to complete 75 percent of his passes on Alabama, Ryan Davis caught 11 balls for 139 yards, and the Auburn front dominated Bama’s banged-up, disoriented offensive line. The Tigers didn’t need a dramatic comeback (as in 2010) or an all-time special teams play (as in 2013). They just straight-up beat Bama.

What that means for the national title race, we’re not sure. Despite a couple of enormous résumé wins, we don’t know how the committee will handle a two-loss team like this — last year, after all, a two-loss conference champion (Penn State) was kept out of the Playoff in favor of a one-loss non-champion it defeated (Ohio State).

Besides, Auburn’s win means the Tigers now have to beat Kirby Smart’s Georgia a second time to win the SEC. Georgia folded like Alabama two weeks ago at Jordan-Hare, but odds are good that the Dawgs will play better the second time around. Plus, the status of Auburn star running back Kerryon Johnson, injured late in the Iron Bowl, remains uncertain.

But that’s a worry for later in the week. For at least one day, we will celebrate an Auburn team that has managed to not only live up to expectations but exceed them, one that sold out of toilet paper for miles around.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Other Teams of the Week

2. Pitt (def. No. 2 Miami, 24-14)

Pat Narduzzi is 21-17 in three seasons at Pitt. His Panthers took a larger step backward than expected when they went 5-7 after back-to-back eight-win seasons, but they did further one of the strangest distinctions in the sport: under Narduzzi, they’re now 2-0 against teams in the Top 3 and 19-17 against everybody else. Almost 10 years to the day that Pitt knocked off No. 2 WVU, the Panthers furthered their reputation by manhandling unbeaten Miami. First you say it, then you do it.

3. No. 15 UCF (def. USF, 49-42) 4. USF (lost to No. 15 UCF, 49-42)

When you play in the best game of the season to date, you both earn a mention. What a slugfest this was, from start to finish.

5. No. 4 Oklahoma (def. WVU, 59-31)

Granted, this was a bit on the melodramatic side ...

... but like many big favorites, OU looked the part on Saturday, scoring on its first nine possessions and cruising against a decent WVU. The Sooners still make you nervous defensively, but Baker Mayfield and the Sooner offense is at a different level than anyone else in college football. They are a win over TCU away from the College Football Playoff.

6. Akron (def. Kent State, 24-14)

In 2005, Akron pulled a stunner, winning two late games to clinch the MAC East, then upsetting NIU in Detroit to win the conference title. J.D. Brookhart's Zips attended their first bowl ever.

Over the next nine seasons, they won an average of 3.3 games per year. Terry Bowden pulled off a bowl win in 2015 but slid back to 5-7 last fall.

This year, however, saw a rebound. Akron started 1-3, then lost two of three in the middle of MAC play to all but give division title hopes away. But they upset Ohio by three points at home last week, then cruised to a win over lowly Kent State to clinch the East after all. Bowden has done a hell of a job in resurrecting that program.

7. Ole Miss (def. Mississippi State, 31-28)

On Thanksgiving night, the Hugh Freeze era officially ended for Ole Miss. Interim coach Matt Luke’s tenure finished with a bang, though, as his Rebels reminded everyone of just how hilariously volatile Freeze’s team could be.

Thanks in part to an injury to MSU’s star QB, Nick Fitzgerald, Ole Miss bolted to leads of 10-0 and 24-6. They made big plays. They taunted. They had fun. And then they damn near blew it all, giving up two late scores and needing an onside kick recovery with a minute left to seal the deal. Whew.

8. Purdue (def. Indiana, 31-24) 9. Buffalo (def. Ohio, 31-24)

Buffalo, Duke, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Purdue, Temple, Texas Tech, UCLA, and Utah won must-wins to reach bowl eligibility over the weekend. We’ll highlight two in particular here.

Jeff Brohm inherited a program that had averaged 2.3 wins per year under Darrell Hazell and won nearly three times that many in his first year. The Boilermakers bolted out of the gates with a 3-2 start but appeared to blow their postseason shot with consecutive one-possession losses to Wisconsin, Rutgers, and Nebraska. But they rallied to win three of four and held off rival Indiana, which was also looking for Win No. 6. Tremendous.

Lance Leipold had to learn how to win all over again. After going 109-6 in eight years at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater, he took on the Buffalo job and went 7-17 in his first two years. Like Purdue, the Bulls began a competitive 3-2, but they lost four consecutive games by a combined 15 points to all but vanquish bowl hopes. But no worries! They took down Bowling Green and Ball State with relative ease, then burst out of the gates and held on for dear life to beat a good Ohio.

10. No. 17 Washington (def. No. 13 Washington State, 41-14)

Rivalries provide more than enough motivation on their own. Eliminated from Pac-12 North contention, Washington instead fought to prevent Wazzu from reaching the conference title game for the first time.

Mission accomplished. The Huskies dominated for the fourth consecutive year — four Mike Leach vs. Chris Petersen Apple Cups have produced four UW wins by an average of, you guessed it, 41-14 — and sent Stanford to Santa Clara.

0 notes