The Hangover Week 5: A Bad Slate of Games Produces Best Action of 2012

Sep 29, 2012; Lincoln, NE, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers receiver Kenny Bell (80)catches the pass in front of Wisconsin Badgers defenders Dezmen Southward (12) and Than Armstrong (36) at Memorial Stadium in the second half. Nebraska won 30-27. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-US PRESSWIRE

Remember when Week 5 was a slate punctuated with ho-hum match-ups? Yeah, that went out the window about as fast as a West Virginia scoring drive.

The bad slate of Week 5 games produced some of the most dramatic finishes in the 2012 campaign. Saturday was a blink-and-you-missed-it kinda game day, but fear not — the Hangover is here to make sense of all that unfolded in the season’s most exciting week yet.

The below series of highlights is dedicated to Bill Simmons, America’s most read reality TV critic, who last week asked:

Good news! This sampling of Saturday’s action is under five minutes each.

The founder of Grantland.com missed out, because several Week 5 contests resembled his catnip, the NBA, in that they became games of runs. I refer not only to West Virginia and Baylor, two teams that produced basketball-like point totals. Consider Arizona-Oregon State, a late night Pac-12 clash pitting two of the conference’s best quarterbacks against one another.

Scott connected with wide receiver Austin Hill with just under six minutes remaining to give UA a 35-31 lead, but Sean Mannion led the Beavers back with a drive of more than four minutes to win. It was a fitting conclusion to a day punctuated with furious finales.

Sept 29, 2012; Landover,MD, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Munchie Legaux (4) passes the ball against Virginia Tech Hokies during the second quarter at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Paul Frederiksen-US PRESSWIRE
Matching Oregon State’s surprising 3-0 start is Cincinnati, which responded to Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas’ late touchdown strike with one of its own. Munchie Legaux’s scoring pass just might have been the play of the day, thanks to Damon Julian’s laid-out effort on the reception. The Big East just might be pretty good, featuring UC, Rutgers and Louisville all among the ranks of the unbeaten. Between them are three wins over out-of-conference BCS league foes, including two from the SEC, and a pair over preseason top 25 opponents.

Conversely, the Big Ten has underwhelmed but someone is guaranteed to win the conference. Why not Nebraska? Well, the answer to that rhetorical question initially looked like Wisconsin. The two-time defending league champion stormed into Lincoln for the first time in conference play and built a sizable lead. The W embroidered on the Badgers’ jerseys could have been accompanied by a T and F, which would have accurately conveyed the Cornhuskers’ first half reaction. Montee Ball showed the first 2012 glimpses of the 2011 Heisman Trophy contending play that changes in offensive coordinator and quarterback hampered. Ball scored two early touchdowns despite rumors he could miss the contest because of concussion syndromes.

Stunned but not dazed, the Huskers got off the mat and threw hay makers in the second half of the Letter People Bowl (a descriptor @ChrisDobbertean coined, more on that in a bit). Taylor Martinez gave the clutch performance long missing from his resume, leading two scoring drives in the third quarter that turned the game’s tide.

Those scores may have also shifted the Big Ten’s tide. Nebraska is an early leader in the Legends division with a victory over the presumptive Leaders frontrunner, and one of the Huskers’ likely divisional competitors started conference play in a hole.

Michigan State was — and stop me if you’ve read this before — unable to establish an offensive rhythm to complement its defensive effort in a 17-16 loss to Ohio State. Quarterback Braxton had another game exceeding the century mark both passing and rushing, and mustered just enough to get the Buckeyes their fifth win. OSU looks like the class of the conference, but alas, cannot win the title due to NCAA sanctions.

It wouldn’t be the first time that arguably the best team from a major conference ineligible for a championship or bowl appearance finished with its league’s best record, though.

OHIO STATE 2012 AND AUBURN 1993 PARALLELS

After the Buckeyes pulled to 5-0, I tweeted there might be a parallel to this team and the 1993 Auburn Tigers. AU was serving its penance for a litany of NCAA violations, including a TV ban. Only those in attendance for the Tigers’ games got to see Terry Bowden guide an 11-0 team to a non-existent SEC championship, begging the question: if a team goes undefeated and no one sees it, did it really happen?

Well, the nation is still watching OSU, which has been on national TV for all five of its games. Otherwise, circumstances for this year’s Buckeyes and those Tigers are remarkably similar. The Big Ten Network’s Tom Dienhart illustrated just how much so.

URBAN MEYER AND MARK DANTONIO HAVE A BUDDING, BITTER RIVALRY

Urban Meyer ruffled no shortage of feathers upon arriving in the Big Ten, and among those irked was Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio. The embers already burning between Dantonio and Meyer had gasoline dumped on them, when after Saturday’s contest word emanated out of East Lansing that Meyer’s staff doctored its shared game film.

More details are sure to surface in the coming days, though initially claims include removal of pre-snap motions.

WILL GEORGIA’S DEFENSE BE OK?
September 29, 2012; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs defensive lineman Kwame Geathers (99) tackles Tennessee Volunteers running back Rajion Neal (20) in the second half at Sanford Stadium. The Bulldogs won 51-44. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE
Georgia’s defense was celebrated as one of the nation’s toughest before the season, and throughout the campaign’s first month has boasted one of the top individual talents in linebacker Jarvis Jones. However, Tennessee scored 44 points in a wild affair between the hedges. UGa. held Vanderbilt to just three points a week prior, but in the outings leading up surrendered at least 20 points every time. Those opponents include Buffalo and FAU.

Now, Georgia’s special teams did its defense no favors. The Vols operated on short fields, scoring on drives from their own 40 or closer on four occasions. Tennessee did gash the Dawgs for nearly 200 yards rushing though, almost 20 percent of the Volunteers’ ground total from a season ago. The returns of Alec Ogletree and Bacarri Rambo should bolster Georgia next week in a critical SEC East showdown with South Carolina, but there’s more Todd Grantham may need to reevaluate in preparation for a Gamecock offense scoring big points since sputtering in Week 1.

adidas OWES MR. K ROYALTIES

The block letter jerseys both Nebraska and Wisconsin sported in Lincoln just might have been inspired by a Kindergarten reading program. The aforementioned tweet referencing the Letter People brought ancient memories flooding back, specifically that one of the characters was football-themed.

Say hello to Kicking Mr. K.

GAME BALLS

Nick Florence & Terrance Williams, Baylor

Alright, West Virginia won. Geno Smith was awesome and so were his receivers; so good was Smith that Heisman pundits were on the Denny Green tip evaluating his Downtown Athletic Club chances. But let’s just give some credit to Baylor and its 63-point performance, which quarterback Nick Florence orchestrated in a performance that would make Robert Griffin III proud.

Florence threw for less than two first downs fewer than 600 yards and five touchdowns. Terrance Williams accounted for an astounding 314 of Florence’s 581 yards.

Terrance West, Towson

CAA representative Towson put a fright into LSU a full month before Halloween, leading at point thanks in part to Terrance West. While West rushed for fewer than 4 yards per rush, the 2011 Jerry Rice Award winner scored two touchdowns against the vaunted LSU defense. How many SEC running backs are going to end the season able to boast that?

Eric Breitenstein, Wofford

Wofford fullback Eric Breitenstein has been a stalwart for the Terrier offense each of the last three seasons, and this year is paving a path to the Walter Payton Award. Saturday he trucked Elon for a ridiculous 321 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Benny Cunningham, MTSU

The Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders came into Atlanta fearless, exhibited in Benny Cunningham’s downright disrespectful treatment of the Yellow Jacket defense. Cunningham rushed for five touchdowns and 217 yards to lead MTSU in its 49-28 rout.