ONLINE EXCLUSIVE STORY BY DERRICK FRIDLEY
The 2015 college football season is now half way over, and this season so far has been one of the most competitive seasons in recent memory. And with playoff spots on the line each game is important, and that was defiantly true this past week.
This week saw one of the craziest endings I’ve ever seen as instate rival Michigan State traveled to Ann Arbor to play Michigan. The Wolverines had the ball on 4th down with 10 seconds left in the game and up by two, lining up to punt. Punter Blake O’Neil dropped the snap, then tried to punt, fumbled it again, allowing a Spartan to scoop the ball up and run it into the end zone.
It was surely the most surprising finish to a football game that I have ever seen, as Michigan State walked away with the victory, 27-23.
Florida has been a surprise so far this season, remaining unbeaten through six games. Unfortunately for the Gators, they met up with fellow top 10 team LSU.
The game was close, still tied early in the fourth quarter when LSU decided to go with a little trickery, successfully running a fake field goal pass to the kicker to put them on top 35-28. Expect LSU to be a major playoff contender during the 2nd half of the season.
Another top 10 matchup this week came in the SEC as well. The Alabama Rolling Tide is looking to make strides after an early season loss to Ole Miss, facing off against an unbeaten Texas A&M.
The Aggies could not get anything going on offense this week, throwing 3 interceptions, all of which were returned for touchdowns. Alabama running back Derrick Henry also had himself a great game, rushing for 238 yards and a pair of TD’s as Bama won 41-23.
Ole Miss has not gotten off to the start they expected, beginning the season as a SEC title favorite. However things yet again didn’t go the Rebel’s way, struggling to slow down Memphis’s offense as the Tigers routed Ole Miss 37-24, dropping them to 5 and 2 on the year.
Memphis is looking to become a dark horse contender going into the back half of the season, ranked 18th in the FBS and still undefeated.
Lastly, USC was looking to rebound after firing their head coach Steve Sarkisian after last week’s disappointing showing. This week, however, they faced off with Notre Dame in an offensive shootout.
USC showed some promise this week as they put up nearly 600 yards of total offense under their interim head coach Clay Helton and held a 31-24 lead after the third quarter, but someone forgot to tell them that there was a 15 minutes to play.
Notre Dame managed to pull off a pair of late game TDs and added a field goal for good measure to pull off a comeback win 41-31 to keep playoff hopes alive.
In local matchups this week Iowa looked to remain perfect, traveling to #20 Northwestern. The Hawkeyes were led to victory by running back Akrum Wadley, who rushed for 208 yards and 4 touchdowns as Iowa won 40-10.
Iowa is now 7-0 with an off week coming up.
Iowa State took on TCU this week and no one expected the 2-3 Cyclones to fare well at all. Iowa State fought hard, but still fell 45-21 to TCU. Don’t expect ISU’s losing streak to end next week as the face no. 2 Baylor.
As we enter into the 2nd half of the season many big games become important for teams to win to keep their hopes up for a national title opportunity. Next week’s games may be some of the most important ones. One these will be Mississippi hosting Texas A&M, both teams in desperate need of a win.
Also next week, Clemson looks to keep their perfect season alive against a very underrated Miami team. Lastly Texas Tech is looking to upset Oklahoma next week in what will be a great game.
