College Football Week 9 Awards November 2, 2015

One of a few missed calls during the hap-hazard, yet incredible, 8-lateral kickoff return finish my Miami in yesterday’s game. Paging Cal-Stanford 1982: you now have competition.

(Note:  All rankings are current AP [week 9] unless otherwise noted.)

COACHES

Wish I were him: Jim McElwain, Florida

Glad I’m not him: Gus Malzahn, Auburn

Lucky guy: Mark Helfrich, Oregon

Poor guy: Mark Richt, Georgia

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bobby Petrino, Louisville

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jeff Brohm, Western Kentucky

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Charlie Strong, Texas

Desperately seeking … anything:  Mike Riley, Nebraska

TEAMS

Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Oklahoma (defeated Kansas 62-7)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Texas A&M (defeated South Carolina 35-28)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Vanderbilt (lost to No. 18 Houston 34-0)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Purdue (see below)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Tennessee (defeated Kentucky 52-21)

Dang, they’re good: Florida

Dang, they’re bad:  UMass

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  Pitt

Did the season start? Arizona

Can the season end?  UCF

Can the season never end?  Houston

GAMES

Play this again:  No. 9 Notre Dame 24, No. 21 Temple 20

Play this again, too:  Oregon 61, Arizona State 55 (3OT)

Never play this again: Arkansas 63, UT-Martin 28

What? North Carolina 26, No. 23 Pittsburgh 19

Huh?  Miami 30, No. 22 Duke 27

Are you kidding me?  Purdue 55, Nebraska 45

Oh – my – God:  Iowa State 24, Texas 0

NEXT WEEK

(rankings are current AP (post-week 9, pre-week 10)

Ticket to die for:  No. 4 LSU @ No. 7 Alabama

Also:  No. 5 TCU @ No. 12 Oklahoma State

Make it a Trifecta:  No. 17 Florida State @ No. 3 Clemson

Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: (none)

Best non-Power Five matchup: Navy @ No. 16 Memphis

Upset alert: No. 13 Utah @ Washington

Must win: Duke @ No. 21 North Carolina

Offensive explosion: Cincinnati @ No. 18 Houston (also TCU @ OKST)

Defensive struggle: Syracuse @ Louisville

Great game no one is talking about:  Penn State @ Northwestern

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Todd Graham of ASU vs. Mike Leach of WSU

Who’s bringing the body bags? Vanderbilt @ No. 11 Florida

Why are they playing? BYU @ San Jose State (Friday)

Plenty of good seats remaining: Hawaii @ UNLV

They shoot horses, don’t they?  Kansas @ Texas

Week 9 Take-aways:

First it was Michigan State’s blocked punt that they recovered and ran back for a score with 0:00 left on the clock to beat rival Michigan in the Big House (they were behind prior to said score).  Last week was followed up by Georgia Tech’s fantastic finish, whereby they blocked a Florida State field goal attempt at home, ran it back for a score and thus broke the tie as time expired.  This week, the Miami Hurricanes – fresh from both a devastating home loss to Clemson and the subsequent firing of head coach Al Golden – made an eight-lateral play on a kickoff return that harkens directly back to Cal-Stanford 1982, for the game-winning touchdown, over then-ranked Duke, on the road.  Three weeks in a row, three fantastic, historic finishes.

Well, sort of.  There were tons of blown calls on that play, including an illegal block in the back (or two), and at one point, one of the lateralling players for Miami had his knee already down before he tossed the ball sideways.  The overlooked calls were so blatant that the ACC suspended the officiating crew the following day.  Could it be that the game result itself be overturned?  We shall all have to stay tuned.

Bobby Petrino must be beside himself.  Despite his able coaching, his players made mistake after mistake on the road against Wake Forest.  Yet somehow they managed to barely win.  Despite consecutive wins, this performance is not a sustainable path.  Something must be done for the team to improve so as to win sustainably.  An infusion of discipline would be both a quick and effective remedy.

Poor Mark Richt.  Despite all the success he has had at Georgia, he just cannot get over the hump.  A statistic during the debacle of a game against Florida (the Gators thumped the rival Bulldogs 27-3 at this year’s World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville) showed that Richt is 5-15 against ranked opponents during his tenure at UGA.  Moreover, he is 5-9 against Florida, despite being 141-51 overall.  The first stat alone indicates that he has peaked during his tenure at Georgia, that he has gone as far as he can with that program.  Some new, dynamic blood in Athens, Ga., would perhaps finally help get the Bulldogs to consistent dominance of the SEC East, while Miami, Richt’s alma mater, has a head coach opening just waiting for a rock-solid fellow such as he.  If such a scenario were to play out, it could benefit both parties concerned, the latter particularly, with a fresh start.

What on Earth has happened to Arizona?  Early in the season, we anticipated they would be a factor in the Pac-12.  Last night, they embarrassed themselves on the road at Washington, after coughing up the game to Wazzu the previous week.  The Wildcats will not have much time to lick their wounds, either, as next week they take on USC, followed by Utah the week after, and the week after that they close the regular season against rival Arizona State, possibly with a 5-7 at this rate (they are current 5-4, and 2-4 in the conference).