Blitz Points: College Football Top Performers From Week 5
Saturday Blitz Blitz Points Winners Week 5
5. Shane Ray, Defensive End, Missouri Tigers (Defeated South Carolina Gamecocks 21-20)-8 Tackles, 2 Sacks
Maty Mauk sure as heck wasn’t the reason for Missouri’s upset of South Carolina over the weekend. The offense was very pedestrian. But the defense showed up, and Shane Ray led that group up front as he racked up 8 tackles and 2 sacks.
Ray lead a defensive unit that held the Gamecocks to a mere 20 points and made a Spurrier-led offense look very mediocre. This was the worst game the offense played all year, including in the bad loss to Texas A&M to start the season, and Ray deserves lots of credit for that. Yes, Mike Davis had 104 yards, and yes, Dylan Thompson didn’t throw an interception.
But Ray led a rush defense that held South Carolina to only 4.1 yards per carry, and it gave Thompson fits trying to get rid of the ball the entire game. That was the key to the Tigers pulling off this upset, and as a major game-changer, Ray is a Blitz Points winner for that. You have to love those defensive guys that can lead their teams to major upsets, especially when they get very little help from the offense.