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2: Defensive touchdowns scored by LSU in the first 18 minutes of their 52-3 win over Ole Miss. They could have downed the ball on every offensive snap after that (and not just the last four) and still won comfortably. Rebel quarterbacks Zack Stoudt and Barry Brunetti combined to attempt 21 passes (including sacks). Those attempts netted 21 yards ... and an LSU touchdown.
2.2: Average yards per play gained by Kansas State against Texas. They beat the Longhorns anyway, 17-13. KSU gained 76 yards in two touchdown drives and just 45 yards (in 41 plays) the rest of the way. But they forced two Texas turnovers, stopped the 'Horns on downs twice, allowed just 310 yards overall and sneaked out of Austin with their fourth consecutive win over Texas. The "Bill Snyder is a wizard" meme has caught on quite a bit this season, but ... how else would one explain K-State's 8-2 record at this point? Texas state champions, baby.
4: Players who caught a pass, for either team, in Temple's 42-14 win over Army. Meanwhile, Boise State's Kellen Moore completed passes to 11 players all by himself in the Broncos' 52-35 win over San Diego State.
6: Losses of 30 points or more suffered by Kansas this season. They lost by 30 to Oklahoma, 38 to Kansas State, 42 to Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State, and 43 to Texas, but they saved their best for second-to-last: a 61-7 destruction at the hands of Texas A&M. The Jayhawks gained 197 yards, allowed 469 and got trounced in the turnover battle. A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill completed 21 of 26 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns, and Kansas quarterback Jordan Webb averaged just 2.7 yards per pass attempt (including sacks). Coaches usually get at least three seasons on the job, but it is getting harder and harder to justify that with second-year KU coach Turner Gill. Kansas was showing a little more fight, losing to Iowa State by three and to Baylor in overtime, but then the collapse came.
9: Oregon trips inside USC's 40-yard line. The Ducks lost, 38-35, however, because they failed to score in four of those trips, missing a field goal, turning the ball over on downs and losing two fumbles. USC, meanwhile, scored 38 points on just seven trips. The Ducks were not alone in terms of blown chances, of course. Maryland scored 10 points in six such trips (two missed field goals, two turnovers on downs) in their 31-10 loss to Wake Forest, and Colorado State scored 10 points in five trips (two turnovers on downs and interception) in a 34-10 loss to TCU. Of course ... no offense, fans of the Terps or Rams, but Oregon's loss was just a hair more costly.
12: Alleged quarterback hurries racked up by Georgia's Jarvis Jones in the Bulldogs' division-clinching 19-10 win over Kentucky. Now ... I'm sure Jones had a good game, maybe even a great game. He did, after all, also have 6.0 tackles, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a pass broken up. But ... 12? Really? Georgia and Texas are both chronic exaggerators when it comes to collecting hurries. We need a standardized way to measure a hurry, otherwise it is a rather useless tool.
13: Consecutive games lost by Florida Atlantic, spanning back to last year's 24-23 win over UL-Lafayette on November 13. The Owls are 0-10 in Howard Schnellenberger's final year as head coach, and they have just two more opportunities to send the mustachioed curmudgeon off with a win. They host UAB this weekend, UL-Monroe next weekend. Come on, guys, you've got to win at least one for the old man...
15: Yard line at which the Arizona-Arizona State game ended. Arizona State ran out of time at the Arizona 15, and the Wildcats scored a 31-27 upset. The Sun Devils were done in by three turnovers worth 16.4 equivalent points (as defined here) and missed opportunities, and they fell to 6-5 despite 548 yards of offense. In three weeks, the Sun Devils have gone 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-12 South (well in control of the division lead) to 6-5 and 4-4, in need of a home win over California just to give themselves a chance at a division title.
17: Points scored by N.C. State in drives of fewer than 15 yards. Clemson committed four turnovers worth 21.3 equivalent points, and they constantly handed the Wolfpack ridiculous field position; N.C. State scored on drives of 14 (field goal), 11 (touchdown) and six (touchdown) yards in a surprising 37-13 trouncing of the sleepwalking Tigers.
21: Size of UCLA's lead -- 21-0 -- 25 plays into their 45-6 demolition of Colorado. They gained 155 yards in 15 plays and scored three touchdowns while Colorado gained 32 yards in 10 plays, punted twice, and threw an interception. One of college football's Four Truths is that the first quarter is incredibly important in terms of defining the game. This game was defined, sealed and delivered very quickly. Meanwhile, Eastern Michigan led Kent State by a 13-0 margin after just 27 plays, but they couldn't hold on; the Golden Flashes came back for a 28-22 win, and Eastern Michigan's bowl hopes were dashed.
22: Points scored by Furman in the first 13 minutes of their game versus Florida. They led 22-7 after three consecutive scoring drives and a safety. For the game, the Paladins gained a whopping 446 yards on the Gators, but luckily for Florida, they got their act together and outscored mighty FU by a 47-10 margin the rest of the game. Two pick sixes helped the cause, as did the John Brantley-to-Andre Debose (three targets, three catches, 151 yards, two touchdowns) combination. Debose can only run go routes at this point, but against Furman, that was enough. Eventually.
43: Touches by Fresno State running back Robbie Rouse in the Bulldogs' 24-21 win over a banged up Hawaii squad. Rouse rushed for 176 yards on 37 carries and caught another six passes for 51 yards. FSU has been quite a disappointment this year and are out of bowl contention at 4-7, but they might still be able to save coach Pat Hill's job if they can finish with wins over San Jose State and San Diego State.
And while we're discussing the mighty WAC, kudos for the entertainment value. What the conference has lacked in actual quality, they have made up for with close game after close game. Utah State has played seven games decided by a touchdown or less (they are 3-4 in such games), San Jose State and Louisiana Tech six (they're both 3-3), Hawaii five (1-5). Louisiana Tech seized control of the WAC with, predictably, a tight win over Nevada. The Bulldogs trailed 20-3 with just ten minutes remaining, then unleashed three increasingly unlikely touchdown drives of 84, 89 and 92 yards to pull off a 24-20 win. The WAC, like TNT, knows drama. I think this makes La. Tech the Rizzoli and Isles of the WAC, but I'm not sure.
62: Yards gained in Cincinnati's first seven drives during their 20-3 loss to Rutgers. They picked up the pace over their last five drives, but two turnovers and some beginneritis from new quarterback Munchie Legaux (12-for-31, 158 yards, one interception, three sacks for 29 yards) forced the Bearcats to cede control of the Big East.
66: Receiving yards pulled in by Ohio State's Devier Posey in his return from a nearly season-long suspension. Of course, the Buckeyes lost anyway, 20-14, in part because they gained only 17 yards in passes not directed at Posey. He caught four of five passes, and quarterback Braxton Miller completed just three of 12 otherwise. The one-note passing attack was a theme for the week. Indiana's Dre Muhammad caught nine of 13 passes for 73 yards in a 55-3 loss to Michigan State, and other Hoosier targets caught six of 19 for 69 yards. UConn's Kashif Moore caught seven of 11 passes for 110 yards and a touchdown in a 34-20 loss to Louisville; other targets: 11-for-34 for 143 yards. Florida State's Bert Reed caught four of seven passes for 104 yards, and others caught 14 of 24 for just 96 in a 14-13 upset loss to Virginia.
The single-dimension attack occasionally worked, however. Tennessee passes not directed at Da'Rick Rogers may have been completed just six of 20 times for 73 yards (Rogers: 13 targets, 10 catches, 116 yards, two touchdowns), but the Vols held off Vanderbilt in overtime. Meanwhile, Nick Toon caught six of seven balls in a 28-17 Wisconsin win over Illinois, leaving just six targets, four catches and 23 yards for his teammates. We had a one-note, daily double in Iowa's 31-21 win over Purdue: Purdue's Antavian Edison and Iowa's Marvin McNutt, Jr., combined to catch 18 of 22 passes thrown their way for 248 yards and two touchdowns; everybody else in the game caught just 21 passes for 205 yards.
87: Length of the flukiest, greatest pass of the weekend, an over-the-middle shot from Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III to receiver Tevin Reese ... that ended up in the hands of Kendall Wright. It was the craziest play in a crazy game that saw 83 points, 1,221 yards and the end of an all-time Baylor losing streak to Oklahoma.
101: Plays run by Iowa State in their 37-31 overtime upset of Oklahoma State; the Cowboys, meanwhile, managed just 76. Iowa State allowed 536 but controlled the ball and punctured a gassed OSU defense late. Quarterback Jared Barnett completed 31 of 58 passes for 376 yards and rushed 14 times for 84 yards, and the Cowboys went home with a devastating loss. Granted, the Cyclones did get 18 possessions to rack up this numbers of plays, though. This is a bit notable considering South Carolina and The Citadel combined for 15 possessions (South Carolina won, 41-20), and Alabama and Georgia Southern combined for 14 (Alabama 45, GSU 21). (Meanwhile, Miami and South Florida combined for 17 punts in the Hurricanes' 6-3 win, but that's another story.) They play a different brand of ball in the Big 12.
116: UAB's F/+ ranking (out of 120 teams) heading into last weekend. That makes their 34-31 upset of No. 24 Southern Miss perhaps the most surprising result of the year. Southern Miss outgained the Blazers and racked up twice as many tackles for loss (six to three), but UAB got just enough offense from quarterback Jonathan Perry (236 passing yards, 53 pre-sack rushing yards, two combined touchdowns) to shock the Golden Eagles.
241: Yards generated by Andrew Luck's 32 pass attempts (including sacks) in Stanford's narrow 31-28 win over California in this year's Big Game. He completed 20 of 30 passes, threw two touchdowns and a pick, and was sacked twice. Not a bad game. But a) almost every other serious Heisman contender (sans LaMichael James) performed at a higher level, and b) statistically, he was outplayed by his Big Game counterpart, Zach Maynard, who completed 20 of 30 passes for Cal, was sacked three times, and netted 266 yards in 33 attempts.
321: Yards gained by the arm and legs of Georgia Tech's Tevin Washington in the Yellow Jackets' 38-31 win over Duke. Washington rushed 17 times for 136 yards and threw for 185 yards (in just six completions, naturally), and Tech was able to hold off the Blue Devils. Of course, this wasn't the best run-pass combination of the week; those honors probably go to Wyoming freshman Brett Smith, who threw for 212 yards (23-for-38) and rushed 11 times for 147 yards in a 31-10 win over New Mexico. But that was, after all, against New Mexico, so it probably doesn't count. So maybe honors go to Missouri quarterback James Franklin, who rushed for 155 yards and passed for 172 in a 31-27 comeback win over Texas Tech, a game played without either Missouri's injured star running back (Henry Josey) and suspended head coach (Gary Pinkel).
511: Yards gained by Toledo in their 44-17 win over Central Michigan. And after their recent exploits, I was actually rather underwhelmed.
558: Rushing yards gained by Michigan running back Fitzgerald Toussaint in the Wolverines' past four games. Quarterback Denard Robinson's offensive pace has slowed down, but Toussaint has made up for it. In the Wolverines' 45-17 win over Nebraska, Toussaint gained 138 yards in 29 carries and scored twice. Nebraska's Taylor Martinez and Rex Burkhead, meanwhile, combined to gain just 89 yards in 23 carries. Throw in three Nebraska turnovers (worth 14.5 equivalent points), and you've got yourself a blowout.