College Football Scores 2014: Week 3 Results and Top Stars for Top 25 Teams
The clashes between elite teams were much less common than in the previous two weeks, but Week 3 of the college football slate featured everything from upsets of top-25 teams to dominating performances from the nation's elite.
College football results can be incredibly different from week to week. Just look at South Carolina, who emerged from the brink of becoming unranked to posting a 38-35 home win over sixth-ranked Georgia.
Bleacher Report summed up the result:
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
As per usual, Todd Gurley was a force for Georgia, but he couldn't play defense and South Carolina gashed the Bulldogs defense for 451 total yards. After coming out flat to start the season against Texas A&M, the Gamecocks got right back into the SEC East hunt with the win.
The upsets continued on Saturday in Blacksburg, Virginia to a team familiar with upsets this season. No. 17 Virginia Tech couldn't continue the momentum from its victory the previous week over Ohio State, falling to East Carolina, 28-21, in the weekend's biggest upset.
ESPN SportsCenter broke down that game:
The Pirates took a commanding 21-0 lead, before Hokies quarterback Michael Brewer led his team back to a tie the game with a minute left. But Shane Carden took over at that point, marching East Carolina down the field on a game-winning TD drive.
The loss continued a painful trend for Frank Beamer's crew, as ESPN's Brett McMurphy reported:
Louisville joined Virginia Tech as the top-25 schools that were upset Saturday. The Cardinals were beaten 23-21 by Virginia in Louisville's first conference game on the road as a member of the ACC.
Bobby Petrino's 21st-ranked Cardinals were turning heads in their new conference early on, but they couldn't handle a Cavaliers team that now looks impressive after a close loss to UCLA to open the season.
Like those teams, Oregon found some trouble early, trailing Wyoming 7-0 after one quarter. But the Ducks eventually clicked on offense, with Marcus Mariota leading his second-ranked team to a dominating 48-14 win.
Mariota made this spectacular play for one of his four total touchdowns, per ESPN SportsCenter:
As for teams looking to bounce back, Ohio State washed the bad taste out of its mouth from last weekend's home loss to Virginia Tech with a 66-0 win over Kent State.
J.T. Barrett threw six touchdown passes in a little over two quarters, and the Buckeyes cruised to their most lopsided victory in nearly 20 years, per OhioStateBuckeyes.com's Jerry Emig:
Stanford, like Ohio State, rarely finds itself having to bounce back, but the Cardinal were in that position Saturday. They shut out Army, 35-0, just one weekend after a gut-wrenching loss at home to USC.
While the SEC slate was dominated by the Georgia-South Carolina thriller, a pair of top-25 standouts from the conference also stood out, most notably the Missouri Tigers.
The 20th-ranked Tigers beat Central Florida 38-10 at home on Saturday behind four Maty Mauk touchdown tosses and a stout defensive effort. The Knights notched more first downs than Missouri, but the Tigers defense stiffened when it mattered.
As for Ole Miss, it had no trouble at all dominating Louisiana-Lafayette in the Rebels home opener, winning 56-15. Bo Wallace threw four touchdowns, and the 14th-ranked Rebels scored three more times on the ground to move to 3-0 on the season.
Take a look below at all the finals involving top-25 teams and a list of the best performances in those games.
| No. 24 South Carolina: 38 | No. 6 Georgia: 35 |
| No. 2 Oregon: 48 | Wyoming: 14 |
| No. 14 Ole Miss: 56 | Louisiana-Lafayette: 15 |
| East Carolina: 28 | No. 17 Virginia Tech: 21 |
| No. 20 Missouri: 38 | UCF: 10 |
| Virginia: 23 | No. 21 Louisville: 21 |
| No. 22 Ohio State: 66 | Kent State: 0 |
| No. 15 Stanford: 35 | Army: 0 |
| No. 12 UCLA: 20 | Texas: 17 |
| Boston College: 37 | No. 9 USC: 31 |
| No. 11 Notre Dame: 30 | Purdue: 14 |
| No. 10 LSU: 31 | Louisiana-Monroe: 0 |
| No. 3 Alabama: 52 | Southern Miss: 12 |
| No. 4 Oklahoma: 34 | Tennessee: 10 |
| No. 7 Texas A&M: 38 | Rice: 10 |
| No. 16 Arizona State: 38 | Colorado: 24 |
| No 8 Baylor: 63 | Buffalo: 21 |
| No. 25 BYU: 33 | Houston: 25 |
Shane Carden, East Carolina: 23-of-47, 427 Yards, four Total TDs
Shane Carden, world. World, Shane Carden.
The East Carolina quarterback burst onto the scene with a dominating performance against Virginia Tech, throwing for more than 400 yards against a secondary that caused fits for Ohio State the week prior.
His performance was unlike the others listed in that it wasn't for a ranked team. Rather, it came at the expense of one, as his huge game led ECU to a 28-21 upset over the 17th-ranked Hokies.
ESPN College Football noted his insane stat line:
Carden's play Hokies ranks as one of the all-time best performances against the Hokies, per ESPN Stats and Information:
The senior has been a starter for the Pirates since 2012, and he has been putting up big numbers pretty much since then. But such production never before came against such a talented and respected defense. Carden gashed Virginia Tech early on and came up in the clutch with the game-winning scramble with 16 seconds left to secure the victory.
J.T. Barrett, Ohio State: 23-of-30, 312 Yards, Six TDs, INT
To say that J.T. Barrett would like to forget last weekend's debacle at home against Virginia Tech would be an understatement. Saturday was the first step in erasing that memory.
Ohio State and Barrett showed no mercy in a 66-0 drubbing of Kent State. The freshman quarterback completed 23 of 30 passes for 312 yards and a whopping six touchdowns.
Here's one of his touchdown passes, per ESPN College Football:
Barrett threw three interceptions last weekend against the Hokies and squandered opportunity after opportunity to get the Buckeyes back in it. But if he keeps up his play from Saturday, Ohio State will be just fine—you know, other than already having a loss.
Marcus Mariota, Oregon: 19-of-23, 221 Yards; Five Carries, 71 Yards (Four Total TDs)
Oregon Heisman Trophy contender Marcus Mariota played only just past halftime of the Ducks' 48-14 win over Wyoming, but he certainly made the most of it. He finished with a strong 19-of-23 passing performance for 221 yards. He added 71 more on the ground and scored four total touchdowns.
Mariota even laid out for a somersault touchdown in the front corner of the end zone, which prompted USA Today's George Schroeder to wonder if that's worth the risk:
After dominating the second half last weekend against Michigan State, Mariota has gained some serious steam in the Heisman conversation. While a performance against Wyoming won't be his crowning moment, he padded his stats and brought his best for the short time he was in the game.
Vince Sanders, Ole Miss: Eight Receptions, 125 Yards, Two TDs
Ole Miss has a few members of its receiver corps who can go off any given game. On Saturday, it was Vince Sanders.
The senior wideout caught eight receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns, leading the way for a 56-15 Ole Miss victory. Oh, and he posted that stat line before halftime:
The Rebels' offense—and the whole team, really—is primarily filled with young, budding talent. But a team doesn't get to Ole Miss' caliber without key contributions from the seniors, such as Sanders' big game Saturday.
Maty Mauk, Missouri: 14-of-24, 144 Yards, four TDs, INT (six Carries, 30 yards)
If you haven't already heard, Maty Mauk is quickly establishing himself as one of the SEC's top quarterbacks, and he made another big statement on Saturday.
The Tigers dominated UCF to the tune of 38-10, and Mauk was a huge reason why. He didn't air it out a ton—he had 144 yards passing—but he was efficient in and around the red zone with four touchdown tosses.
The dual-threat passer also made his impact on the ground, turning six carries into 30 yards.
Per David Morrison of the Columbia Daily Tribune, Mauk's start to the season is one of the best in school history:
Missouri now has three of its four season-opening nonconference games out of the way, and the Tigers will face Indiana at home on Saturday. If Mauk continues to play at this level, they could tear through the SEC East and repeat as division champions after all.
Todd Gurley, Georgia: 20 Carries, 131 Yards, TD
It came in a losing effort, but Todd Gurley didn't do much to squander his Heisman Trophy campaign at South Carolina.
Gurley ran for 131 yards on 20 carries and took it to the Gamecocks defense. The Bulldogs were down virtually all game, but it didn't matter—they ran the ball, and Gurley came through.
In fact, the worst decision the Bulldogs made was to not give the ball to Gurley near the goal line when Georgia trailed. The Bulldogs ended up missing a field goal that would have tied the game:
Gurley looks so dominant this season that he's a bright spot even in Georgia's worst moments.
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.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
