Thursday Roundup: Texas A&M Thumps South Carolina, Ole Miss Beats Boise State, and More
In what was obviously the story of the night, the Texas A&M Aggies destroyed South Carolina in a blowout that nobody saw coming, 52-28. Many people were calling for a blowout the other way, and too many clueless analysts though the Aggies were done without Johnny Manziel.
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Enter Kenny Hill. In one night, Hill has made College Station forget about Johnny Football after throwing for a career high 511 yards, finally solidifying just how great of an offensive coach Kevin Sumlin is. The sophomore quarterback now has thrust himself into the Heisman race.
Another exciting point for this team is that the defense looked better Thursday night than it did all of last year. Sure, it gave up 28 points, but it forced Thompson to make a lot of desperate plays and kept the group in check most of the night.
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Gig Em Gazette
More important than Hill’s new stardom or Sumlin’s vindication, however, is that the Aggies now are 1-0 in the conference and won one of the toughest conference games they had. They still have to go to Alabama and Auburn this year, and LSU is at home. But don’t count them out from those other three teams. Texas A&M is going to remain in the thick of things, which shows just how loaded the SEC West is going forward.
Meanwhile, South Carolina fans have major reasons to be nervous. Dylan Thompson was awful in the first half outside of two bombs, and in the second half he was inconsistent. But the offense won’t be the problem going forward. The defense will.
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Garnet and Cocky
Losing so much talent up front and transitioning to a 3-4 really exposed the Gamecocks defense Thursday night. A 3-4 adjustment is always tough, and when you add the fact that you don’t have nearly as many playmakers on the line as you did before the adjustment, it could become a disaster. Especially when you run into an offensive genius like Sumlin.
We were so excited about this being the year the Gamecocks break through and win the SEC, and to be fair, they still control their own destiny. But those offseason transitions cold hurt the team going forward.
South Carolina may be in better position to win the SEC next year. Wait a minute, A&M will have everybody back then too. Look out.
Ole Miss Plays SEC-Style Football Against Boise State
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Ole Hotty Toddy
The Ole Miss Rebels looked like a true SEC team against Boise State. With the game ugly in the first half and Bo Wallace throwing 3 interceptions, the Rebels relied on defense and forcing turnovers themselves to maintain a 7-6 lead. Then finally, later in the second half, the offense hit its stride and the skill players took over.
Wallace managed to throw for 3 touchdown passes and nearly 400 yards as Ole Miss took over in the second half and built up a 28-6 lead, with LaQuon Treadwell and Cody Core coming up with big plays and more than 100 yards receiving each.
The defense also came up big, forcing 4 interceptions.
The Rebels are looking to be serious contenders in the SEC West this year with great recruiting and coaching by Hugh Freeze, and they took a great step in finding their rhythm in Atlanta.
Boise State, meanwhile, had its own share of hideous play but managed to settle down in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately the Broncos hideous play was worse. As already mentioned Grant Hedrick threw for 4 interceptions, but he did manage to settle down and throw for 242 yards, adding a fourth-quarter touchdown to cut the game to 28-13 before the Rebels brought it back to 35-13, which was the final score.
As the post-Chris Petersen era begins, Boise State still has a great shot at the Mountain West Conference, so don’t freak out yet Idaho natives.
Wake Forest off to Rocky Start with Dave Clawson
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With the First Pick
As predicted, Dave Clawson’s first game with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons ended with a 17-10 loss to Louisiana Monroe. That may seem like an awful start to a season, but what needs to be said is that Clawson’s offenses take years to improve. You won’t see much from Wake Forest this year under Clawson, but by year three the program will be in good shape.
Louisiana Monroe, meanwhile, has one win en route to what is hopefully at least a 6-6 season. With plenty of winnable games on the schedule, Wake was a great start.
Trouble for Vanderbilt
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Vanderbilt looked for a coach made up of similar stuff to James Franklin when it hired Derek Mason. The opening result, however, was drastically different. The Commodores started out 3-0 Franklin’s first year but were upset by Temple Mason’s first game. And it wasn’t even close.
Temple won the game by 37-7 and destroyed Vanderbilt any way you slice it. The most telling story is the turnover margin. You can’t win if you have 7 turnovers; Temple only had 2 turnovers. But that wasn’t the only difference. The Commodores only had 278 yards of total offense in one of the most pathetic outings you might ever see from an offensive team. Mason went through three quarterbacks to try to jumpstart his offense, but nothing work.
The Commodores are in serious trouble. Not just based on the fact that they lost to Temple, but if they were to have any shot at a bowl game this was a must-win. Without that game, a bowl appears much less likely now.
Temple, meanwhile, is already halfway toward its win total all of last year. But this team was within a field goal of four of its losses and within a touchdown of another one, so this very well could have been a 7-5 team. An improvement was to be expected this year, but blowing out Vanderbilt on the road threw everybody off. Perhaps this is the first step to a 7 or 8-win season. But they might have trouble forcing 7 turnovers against every team they play.
Rutgers Pulls off a Stunner
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Betsided
For their first act in the Big Ten, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights are going to win a road game against a Pac 12 team that was supposed to be on the rise. Rutgers beat Washington State and Mike Leach on the road 41-38 behind 173 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns from Paul James. This was a game of two drastically different styles, both representative of their conferences: the Scarlet Knights played old school, smash mouth football as they pounded the Cougars by relying on the running game and efficient passing from Gary Nova, while the Cougars played an up-tempo, quarterback heavy, throw it deep every play style that led to 532 yards and 5 touchdowns on 56 attempts from quarterback Connor Halliday.
Old man football won.
The Scarlet Knights might be perfectly cut out for the Big Ten after winning with that style, and Washington State is probably a better team than half of the Big Ten. The only worry for Rutgers is that they play in the Big Ten East, which is disproportionately better than the Big Ten West. And they draw Nebraska and Wisconsin from the Big Ten West, two of the three toughest teams.
Still, a win against Washington State puts them in much better position for a 6-win season than they were in before. Howard, Navy, and Tulane are all winnable non-conference games, and a home game against Indiana is another game that awaits. All that’s left is to find an upset win somewhere, either at home against Penn State or Michigan, or on the road at Maryland. Nebraska, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Michigan State are all unfortunately sure losses, but any of those other games could be an upset. In one night, the Scarlet Knights have propelled themselves to a potential bowl team their first year in Big Ten play.
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Betsided
Meanwhile, Washington State doesn’t need to panic. There’s plenty of football left and lots of winnable games on the schedule, and this is a team good enough to upset a few Top 25 teams in the Pac 12. But as Leach continued to improve the program, this was a bit of a letdown with such excitement going into the season. A 9-win season was probably the most hopeful scenario for Cougar fans, and now that seems unlikely.
There are still plenty of available wins, though. Nevada, Portland State, Utah, and Cal should all be sure wins, as should Arizona at home. That’s 5, and there are a few other potential wins in the mix, but this loss does set them back a bit.