Week 3 College Football Shoutouts

Right off the bat, I'd like to apologize to the approximately 0 people who had their Friday nights ruined by checking my blog and seeing a conspicuous absence of a Week 3 College Football Preview post. I sincerely apologize and hope I never let you down again. Now, Week 3 certainly wasn't anything spectacular, but it was still regular season college football, which means there's still shoutouts to be, well, shouted-out.

Before I begin lauding the most impressive performances of this week's games, I must take a second to give a belated shoutout from Week 2 to whoever was fortunate enough to watch Week 2's Eastern Washington-Washington matchup. With a final score of 59-52, the Eagles and Huskies gained enough yards to cover the entire state of Washington (not really). The University of Washington did end up with the victory, but to a neutral college football fan, offense won. Eastern Washington QB Vernon Adams Jr. put up numbers that make Baylor's passing attack look like Army's. Adams Jr. completed 31 passes on 46 attempts for 475 YARDS AND 7 TOUCHDOWNS! How is there even enough time in the game for those types of stats to be compiled? Almost equally impressive was a Washington running game that saw 57 carries for 356 yards and 7 touchdowns (in case you haven't noticed by now, a lot of touchdowns going on in this one). True, competitive-'til-the-end shootouts like that don't happen as often as you may think, and from the absolutely non-existent amount of time I was personally watching it, an offensive display of that magnitude won't come around again for a while.

Now, onto Week 3!

Shoutout to Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett for bouncing back strongly from a pretty abysmal passing game in the Buckeyes' embarrassing upset at the hands of Virginia Tech last week (which looks even worse now that Va Tech lost to East Carolina on Saturday). Although Barrett can't quite seem to put together a productive game through the air and on the ground in the same game yet, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer has to be pleased about his young QB's performance, albeit against Kent State. 312 yards and 6 touchdowns against anyone is pretty difficult to do, and even the biggest Barrett skeptics have to admit this game should be a good confidence booster for him. His development over the course of this season will go a long way in determining whether or not Ohio State can still compete for the Big Ten title despite the loss of Braxton Miller.

Shoutout to West Virginia for a quietly enormous win. With a score of 40-37, the Mountaineers pulled out a close game against a competitive squad in Maryland. QB Clint Trickett had without a doubt the best game of his career, hanging 511 and 4 touchdowns on the Terrapins defense. 216 of those yards went to WR Kevin White, who has been tearing up secondaries all year. Pint-sized dynamo Mario Alford also pitched in 11 catches for 131 yards and 2 TD's. Even talented Pitt transfer RB Rushel Shell contributed 98 yards on the ground plus a rushing score. Bottom line is West Virginia, now 2-1, looks to be sending a message to Big 12 powerhouses like Baylor, Oklahoma, and even Kansas State that they are gunning for the conference title despite less love from the AP prior to the season. If the Mountaineers can bring this level of play into the upcoming conference schedule, than there truly could be another team that you can add in the mix for the Big 12 crown.
(Have to give a mini-shoutout to Maryland junior WR Stefon Diggs, who had 7 catches for 127 yards, with 77 of those coming on a long, Stefon Diggs-like touchdown. Diggs' sophomore season was unfortunately limited to six games after he suffered a broken leg against Wake Forest last year, ending his season. Now healthy, Diggs is back to terrifying defensive backs with his game-breaking speed. Expect big things from this guy in the future)

Shoutout to Boston College, who pulled off a stunning upset of USC on Saturday night. USC, whose bandwagon I hopped on after Week 1, allowed Boston College to run rampant on them, as the Eagles piled up 452 rushing yards on 52 carries and 5 touchdowns. QB Tyler Murphy, who only threw the ball 13 times, completing 5 of them for 54 yards, was the leading rusher in the game with 191 yards and a TD. The USC offense played well on the surface, committing no turnovers and scoring 31 points. However, the ground game was somehow worse than the Raiders' rushing "attack" against the Jets, leading to the Trojans becoming one-dimensional and leaning on the pass. QB Cody Kessler continued his outstanding production, throwing for 317 yards and 4 TD's, but that just wasn't enough as the defense could not keep Boston College's offense from the end zone. If I'm making it seem like USC lost more than Boston College won, that is not my intention. Boston College deserved to win this game, and should definitely look to carry the momentum from this win into ACC play where, besides Florida State, there doesn't seem to be an unbeatable opponent for any of the middle-of-the-pack ACC teams.

Shoutout to Arkansas QB Brandon Allen for having to do the least amount of work for any quarterback in the country yesterday while still getting a win. Allen went 6-12 for 61 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, although he did have a rushing score, so props to him on that I guess. Still, with such a meager stat line, how did the Razorbacks manage to obliterate Texas Tech 49-28? Simple, Arkansas RB's Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams went absolutely ape shit running the ball against the Texas Tech defense. Collins, a sophomore and former highly regarded recruit, has been an extremely productive back since the moment he stepped on campus for Arkansas, and Williams was also quite impressive last year as the 1B to Collins' 1A. This season, based on yesterday's box score and highlights, it looks like they are both 1A, and as frightening a dynamic duo as we have in the nation. Collins had 27 carries for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Williams received 22 handoffs for 145 yards and 4 TD's! That's straight up insane! The pair combined for 357 and 6 touchdowns on only 49 carries, good for a YPC of 7.3! Why am I using so many exclamation points?!?! Probably because these two running backs look primed to take the SEC by storm in the upcoming weeks, and I will certainly be on notice to see if they can sustain this type of rushing dominance against the tougher front seven's of the Alabama's and LSU's of the world.

Final shoutout goes to Oregon point guard-turned-wide receiver Jonathan Loyd. From 2010-2014, Loyd served as the diminutive show runner of Oregon's basketball team. Loyd, standing only 5-8, turned in season after season of consistent performances and efficient assist-to-turnover ratios. Loyd's basketball, and athletic, career seemed to have concluded after he exhausted his eligibility on the hardwood. Obviously, this wasn't the case as I hinted at above. Loyd decided to join the Ducks' football program as a wide receiver, having played the position in high school. Being a 5-8 receiver really doesn't get any easier than when you are catching passes from Marcus Mariota. Not expected to be a major contributor anyway, Loyd caught only one pass for one yard through the team's first two games. I wouldn't be awarding him a shoutout if he went another game without a catch, so as you might have guessed by now, in the third quarter of Oregon's rout of Wyoming, Loyd hauled in a 5 yard TD catch from Mariota. It was his only catch of the game, but I'm sure Loyd was more than pleased to put 6 points on the board for his team, and not by banging two 3-pointers. I will be monitoring Oregon box scores very closely for the rest of the year, but unlike plenty of others who do so just to fawn over Mariota's numbers, I will be scanning the receiving stats in the hopes that Loyd can continue to make an impact, large or small, in what is basically an extra year being a major Division I athlete. I love that Loyd realized the opportunity he had in front of him, and simply decided to enjoy and challenge himself at the same time. Good luck to you Jonathan over the course of the season, you know I will be rooting for you.