Black Friday college football: Hate Week warms up

Rankings ramifications: The Tigers came in ranked No. 7. A loss would’ve dropped them into the low teens at best, but that didn’t happen. They could move up if, say, No. 5 Oregon loses. Then again, they could be passed by No. 8 Stanford or No. 10 Florida State.

Box score hero: Arkansas quarterback Wilson put up 397 total yards, but on the offensive side we’ll go with LSU’s Jarvis Landry, who did this on his way to 75 yards, and Odell Beckham, who was good for 114 and made the snaking, tackle-breaking 47-yard catch-and-run that all but put this one away. Hey, he had the play of the game last week too.

The play happened in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Tyler Wilson dropped back to pass and threw an incomplete pass Linton’s way. Linton tried to dive for the pass (which was incomplete) and hit his head. After lying on the ground for several minutes, Linton did walk off.

From strictly a football perspective, Linton’s loss shouldn’t dramatically impact Arkansas’ game-plan, as the Razorbacks look to upset No. 7 ranked LSU. On the season, Linton has yet to carry the ball a single time, and has just four catches in 2012 for a total of 37 yards. His biggest play of the season was a 19-yard reception against Kentucky back on October 13.

But in November 2011, the tide began to turn. After scoring just 23 total points in their first three MAC games, they averaged 28.5 points in their next four games and won four of five to finish the season. And in 2012, the running back duo of junior Dri Archer and sophomore Trayion Durham has simply been incredible. The defense has actually regressed (to 48th in Def. F/+), but Kent State is 10-1 for the first time ever thanks to the run game. Archer ran for 222 yards versus Army, Durham went for 260 combined against Western Michigan and Rutgers, the two combined for 233 versus Akron and 323 versus Miami (Ohio), and Archer exploded for 241 versus Bowling Green, 153 on these two runs (the second one is absolutely magnificent, especially considering Bowling Green’s defense has been outstanding over the second half of the season).

Oh yeah, and Ohio’s defense ranks 109th in Rushing S&P+. Like Nebraska below, Kent State stalls when it falls into passing downs, but Ohio has not really proven it will be able to force passing downs. Archer and Durham, one of the nation’s most enjoyable duos, could have another big day.

“If we only win one game this year, it better be that one.” If your school has a game that causes fans to say such things, it’s probably scheduled for this weekend. College football’s regular season begins to wind down with hate all across the map, and big stakes even besides bragging rights and rivalry trophies.

No. 1 Notre Dame sit back and scout its title game opponent for the rest of the season if it can get past USC in Los Angeles, Nos. 2 and 3 Alabama and Georgia have to first get past outmanned state rivals before they take on each other for what could be the other Miami spot, No. 4 Florida looks to make its own championship case against No. 10 Florida State, and even No. 5 Oregon has faint title hopes against No. 15 Oregon State.