Top 25 Scores and Afternoon Roundup Part 1

Georgia Beats Tennessee 35-32

Player of the Game: Todd Gurley-28 Carries for 208 Yards, 2 Touchdowns

In the most exciting game among early Top 25 scores, the Georgia Bulldogs are very very lucky. True, Tennessee is a much better team this year, but if Vols quarterback Justin Worley doesn’t miss three series and there’s not a fumble on their own one yard line, the Dawgs are out of contention for the college football title and likely the SEC East race right now.

One aspect of the game is the reason they’re still contenders: Todd Gurley. Gurley is right now the most valuable player among anybody in college football. Unfortunately Hutson Mason is a complete waste of space at quarterback. That could be a killer for the Dawgs for the rest of the year.

But Georgia now has one thing working in its favor: the schedule. The likely two toughest teams in the SEC East are out of the way, and they draw Arkansas from the west. All it comes down to is Auburn as long as the rest of the team outside of Gurley isn’t too incompetent to pull out victories.

The Dawgs still have a chance to do everything they wanted to do.

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Michigan State Beats Wyoming 56-14

Player of the Game: The Entire Offensive Line

The Michigan State Spartans had another blowout victory for their second straight week after beating Wyoming Saturday. And the credit for the game goes to the entire offensive line. The unit carved the way for a total of 338 rushing yards, and the quarterbacks appeared to never be hit.

Jeremy Langford had 137 yards on the ground, and Nick Hill had 71 yards. Connor Cook was taken out early after going 8 of 12 for 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, and Damion Terry and Tyler O’Connor combined to go 8 for 8 with 69 yards and a touchdown backing him up.

Simply put, this was a complete victory that showed the depth of the Spartans. The defense is finally getting better too as it held a decent Cowboys team to less than 100 yards rushing. As long as the linebackers keep improving, this team deserves another shot at Oregon late in the year because they will be much better.

Don’t count the Spartans out just yet. They still have a chance to accomplish all of their goals.

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With the First Pick

Wisconsin Beats South Florida 27-10

Player of the Game: Melvin Gordon-32 Carries for 181 Yards and 2 Touchdowns

Melvin Gordon continues to look like a Heisman candidate. It may have just been against South Florida, but Gordon now has more than 100 yards in three of his first four games plus a 250-yard game last week. And the Badgers are looking better each week as well.

The biggest reason for excitement with the Badgers is that Tanner McEvoy is finally starting to look like a decent quarterback. After playing horrendous in the opener against LSU, a game that he and his receivers lost for the team, the passing game has slowly started to improve each week. McEvoy may not be a superstar, and 160 yards is very pedestrian, but that’s all he needs to be throughout the season.

Wisconsin still looks like the best team in the Big Ten, and they are not a group to be slept on. It’s looking more and more like there will be an epic showdown between Nebraska and Wisconsin to decide who wins the Big Ten West, as Iowa looks further and further away from the picture.

Right now Nebraska would be the favorite, but the Badgers are catching up.

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Kansas State Beats UTEP 58-28

Player of the Game: Charles Jones-12 Carries, 76 Yards, 3 Touchdowns

The Kansas State Wildcats had a pretty good rebound against UTEP this week with a blowout win, and what’s most exciting is how complete of a victory it was. En route to putting up 58 points, nobody for the Wildcats had 100 rushing yards or 100 receiving yards. Jake Waters only had 209 yards and was 10 of 15 passing the ball.

The only cause for concern is the depth of this team on defense. The Wildcats built a 52-7 lead but allowed three touchdowns in the fourth quarter during garbage time. That could be a huge problem going into Big 12 play with so much loaded offensive talent among so many teams.

If Kansas State is to make noise as a legitimate Big 12 contender, and they look like they could, depth on defense is definitely the biggest issue. There’s obviously lots of depth on offense, with so many players getting touches Saturday. But a thin defense could hurt them once injuries start to hit.

But the Wildcats are definitely contenders.