College Football Weekly Awards: Oregon Continues to Prove Conference Supremacy
After a week off, the weekly college football awards are back and hopefully better than ever.
An exciting Week 5 added a little more separation between the pretenders and the contenders.
Alabama and Oregon handled their Top-10 challengers as the superior teams they claim to be. Others did not fare so well.
Also, conference play geared up all across the nation last weekend and, thanks to the realignments that start next year, it is the beginning of the end of the conferences many of us have grown to love and loathe.
Conference play always seems to bring something extra to the table. Even the lowliest of underdogs can find their day in the sunshine against an opponent that they know oh so well. A few "Dawgs" definitely had their day last weekend
Several spectacular, stupendous, and just plain stupid plays happened over the weekend, so let us take a look at the highs and lows from Week 5 of college football.
Team of the Week: Oregon
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Oregon revealed a ton of character in their comeback win against Stanford. These constantly maturing Ducks proved an 18-point deficit would not be enough to rattle their Teflon armor.
The deceptive one-two punch of LaMichael James and Darren Thomas is proving to be extremely deadly. They trampled all over the 10th-ranked defense in the country, collecting 612 combined yards and seven TDs.
Oregon's defense did take a hit on the chin early, allowing Andrew Luck to orchestrate four straight scoring drives. The Ducks' D would eventually stabilize after halftime, keeping the Cardinal in check and off the scoreboard for the entire second half.
Alabama definitely deserves some recognition for their trouncing of overrated Florida, but Oregon's win against the rising Cardinal was certainly more resonating.
With the Tide and the Ducks producing weekly sonic boom-type performances, an Oregon/Alabama National Championship game is sounding more interesting and likely.
Offensive Player of the Week: LaMichael James, Oregon
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With every passing week, LaMichael James's Heisman stock is steadily rising.
Headed into the game last weekend, No. 9 Stanford's rushing defense ranked an impressive 35th, allowing just 111.7 yards per game.
James more than doubled that average, bullying his way to 257 rushing yards and dancing the ball in for three touchdowns. His epic performance powered the Ducks past Stanford and dropped the Cardinal's rushing defense to 84th in the FBS.
James' numbers have been eye-popping once again this season: He ranks second in rushing with 178.0 yard per game and has put up two 200-plus yard games.
Oregon will be riding the James train all the way to the top of the BCS. Add the fact that dual-threat quarterback Darron Thomas is conducting this train, the Ducks could be a bigger threat than people may want to admit.
Defensive Player of the Week: Jayron Hosley, Virginia Tech
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Virginia Tech fell behind early to North Carolina State, but huge defensive plays by Jayron Hosley allowed them to come back from what seemed like a daunting 17-point deficit.
Hosley was an outright pest against NC State, snagging three errant passes from Russell Wilson. Two picks eventually led to a Hokies touchdown and one was in the end zone, silencing a methodical Wolfpack drive.
His final interception solidified the win for the Hokies, happening with only a minute left in the fourth quarter with Virginia Tech only up by four. Hosley was stopped just six yards shy of reaching the end zone.
While the offense did do their part to get Virginia Tech ahead, Hosley consistently provided them with golden chances to do so. Without him, there might not have been a comeback.
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Coach of the Week: Don Treadwell, Michigan State
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Michigan State's outstanding upset of No. 11 Wisconsin happened with their head coach Mark Dantonio lying in a hospital bed. This was the second game that he missed due to a heart attack, and the second game that offensive coordinator Don Treadwell was asked to take the reins and emerge as the victor
While the Spartans certainly displayed the lessons learned from Dantonio, Treadwell molded the young men during game time and led them to the first big upset of the Big Ten season.
The Spartans gained 444 total yards and Kirk Cousins threw for three touchdowns on Wisconsin’s otherwise stout defense. Michigan State’s defense never relinquished the lead once their special teams grabbed it with a punt return for a touchdown midway through the second quarter.
Under the direction of Treadwell, the Spartans are quickly climbing the AP Top 25, and are keeping the seat nice and warm for when Dantonio eventually returns.
Best wishes to Dantonio and we hope to see you back soon.
Upset of the Week: Washington 32, No.18 USC 31
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The first-ever Pete Carroll Disciple Bowl ended identically to the way that the departed coach left this rivalry…watching USC lose to the Huskies on a field goal as time expired.
The Trojans jumped out to an amazing 4-0 record to start the season, but they could not withstand their first real test of conference play.
USC’s defense has been a major issue this season, and it finally caught up to them against a much-improved Jake Locker.
After falling flat on his face two weeks ago against Nebraska, Locker came back firing in Southern California, passing for 310 yards and one touchdown. He also flashed his fabled dual-threat abilities, rushing for 110 yards.
A missed field goal by the Trojans with three minutes left set the Huskies up for a 13-play drive that culminated in a 32-yard field goal by Eric Folk, pulling off a huge upset for the second straight year.
The WTF Award of the Week: Florida’s Offense
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Florida.
WTF happened to your offense.
Yes, Alabama’s defense is stacked, but that can’t be the only reason for the plethora of mistakes made by John Brantley and the rest of the offense.
The Gators turned the ball over four times and looked out of their league against the Crimson Tide.
Brantley only completed 51.6 percent of his passes and threw it to the enemy twice. The offense also posted a terrible 3-for-13 on third downs, making it extremely difficult to gain any momentum.
Florida couldn’t get anything going on the ground, either, receiving minimal production from usually explosive running back Jeff Demps (11 carries, 47 yards).
Alabama proved that if you take away Demps and Florida’s running game, the mighty Gators will look awfully fallible.
Conference of the Week: Big 12
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The Big 12 made some impressive strides in Week 5.
Although Texas continues their slide, their loss to Oklahoma exposed maturity in the Sooners offense, especially against a top-tier defense. Two touchdowns from both Landry Jones and DeMarco Murray helped Oklahoma remain undefeated and in the AP’s Top 10.
However, Oklahoma is not the only perfect team in the Big 12 conference. Intrastate rival Oklahoma State is also unblemished on the year, taking home a wild victory against Texas A&M under the Thursday night lights. The Cowboys break into the AP Poll at No. 22 this week and move up the Coaches' Poll to No. 21.
Baylor is also showing immediate signs of life, absolutely abolishing Kansas 55-7 to go 4-1 on the season with their only loss to TCU. One more week like this, and don’t be surprised to see Baylor in the Top 25, too.
If that wasn’t enough, Colorado took down Georgia 29-17. That’s right—the Buffaloes took down an SEC team. Something I didn’t think would happen for at least a few more years.
Buzz Kill of the Week Award: Boise State’s Drops in AP/Coaches Rankings
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Boise State demolished New Mexico State, 59-0, but because this spanking was against a meager WAC opponent, it is somehow dinged against them.
Oregon’s win against Stanford was definitely more monumental than the Broncos’ victory, and they absolutely deserve to be moved up past Boise State in the rankings. But something still doesn’t feel right about the entire process.
The Ducks' outstanding win lets even more air out from the tires on the Broncos' National Championship bandwagon.
Despite grandiose wins in non-conference play, Boise State is going to need much more in order to play for a championship under this unequivocally flawed system.
Great Escape of the Week: No. 12 LSU 16, Tennessee 14
9 of 10Both teams were already heading to the locker rooms. Tennessee had won.
A fourth-down stop at the goal line as time expired had apparently allowed the Vols to sneak away with an enormous 14-10 upset victory.
But the gods of the Bayou blew one last particle of hope towards the LSU Tigers. As it turns out, Tennessee had 13 men on the field on that last play of the game, giving LSU one untimed play from the 1-yard line.
In the true final play of the game, Stevan Ridley hammered the winning touchdown home, letting the Tigers narrowly escape from the jaws of defeat for yet another week.
Amazingly, LSU remains undefeated, but this unbelievable streak of luck has to come to an end soon. Right?
The “Cojones De Grande” Award of the Week: Oregon Onside Kick in Second Quarter
10 of 10Despite just executing a nine-play, 85-yard drive, the momentum of the game (and the lead) was definitely still tilting in Stanford’s favor.
Stanford scored on their first three straight drives, and it appeared that Andrew Luck and the Cardinal were prepared for a good old-fashioned shootout.
Chip Kelly need to change the “MO” and change it fast.
Kelly called for an onside kick, completely catching the Cardinal off the guard and moving the energy of the game back to Oregon’s favor.
The Ducks would score on their next two drives, pulling within a touchdown of Stanford before the half and almost completely erasing a slow and staggered start.
Oregon’s resilience prevailed, and the change in the flow created by Kelly’s ballsy play-call speaks a lot about the lengths that this team will go to win.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
