College football Saturday, Week 6: OSU, FSU big winners

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. I’m... I’m so sorry this had to happen to you, Memphis.

I take full blame for this, and apologize for cursing you more than Memphis football -- which is improving! -- has already been cursed.

After Saturday’s 31-28 win by Stanford over Washington, Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian accused the Cardinal of faking defensive injuries in order to slow down the UW offense. Even more drastic, he accused defensive line coach Randy Hart by name of ordering players to drop.

Update: Washington fans have compiled alleged evidence. You be the judge:

That Michigan scored 42 points was pretty impressive, considering an insanely slow pace. The Wolverines and Gophers combined for 629 yards, 114 total plays and just 16 possessions (not including end-of-half). Contrast that with Washington State’s 44-22 win over California: 1,155 yards, 179 plays, 33 possessions. And unlike Michigan, California couldn’t keep the turnovers under control. Five of them turned an otherwise even game into an easy Wazzu win.

Wazzu, by the way? The Cougars are 4-2 for the first time since 2006. Granted, there’s not a sure win left on the schedule; hell, aside form the Utah home game, they might be reasonably solid underdogs in the other five games. But after a rough first season for Mike Leach (which followed a disastrous tenure from Paul Wulff), there is hope in Pullman.

• What happens if we get a Baylor-Oregon title game?

• Oklahoma, Texas to wear gold-trimmed alternate jerseys

Saturday night’s B1G showdown between Ohio State and Northwestern ended in dramatic fashion, as a last-ditch hook-and-ladder attempt by the Wildcats turned into a bizarre game-ending touchdown for the Buckeyes.

The score also covered the spread, costing bookies an absurd amount of coin (h/t CBS Sports).

It’s a significant loss for Oklahoma’s defense -- Nelson, a defensive captain, is a multi-year starter and has appeared in more than 40 games during his Sooners career. He is second on the team in tackles this season with 27 and averaged more than five stops per game. He also has three tackles for loss and an interception return for a touchdown.

• The Eye of Texas: All-access inside the Longhorn Network

Making matters worse, the team also endured a knee injury to Michael Bennett, who is third on the team in receiving yardage. Bennett will have his knee scoped to find out the extent of the injury, Richt said. That will prevent him from playing against Missouri next week.

Marshall’s injury occurred in the first quarter when he was hit low while attempting to catch a pass in the flats. Here is the play in question:

Brian Kelly addressed the setback Sunday, via Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune:

• The Eye of Texas: All-access inside the Longhorn Network

Arkansas lost to Florida on Saturday. Making matters worse, the Razorbacks lost starting cornerback Will Hines for the season, according to Matt Jones of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Hines was carted off the field in the second half after suffering a broken arm.

Hines tweeted the news early Sunday morning.

Note: rankings based on last week’s standings since we were writing these prior to release. Updated standings are here for clarification.

1. Alabama. Failed to cover the point spread against Georgia State in a 45-3 victory over the winless Panthers. FIRE NICK SABAN.

It appears the AP Poll went out on a bit more of a limb than the Coaches’ Poll last week, as five AP ranked teams (compared to three Coaches’ Poll teams) lost in a busy weekend of college football.

Here’s the latest Coaches Poll, which does factor into the BCS.

Not much movement in the Coaches’ Poll, as just three teams ranked in the Top 25 suffered losses this weekend. Arizona State drops out, while Northwestern and Washington fall despite close losses to two of the top teams in the nation -- Ohio State and Stanford. Virginia Tech is in after their fourth straight win, defeating North Carolina on Saturday.

The story of the poll this week is Clemson moving into a tie for No. 3 with Ohio State after blasting Syracuse 49-14 and [edit: USA Today’s original poll results were incorrect; Ohio State still ranks No. 3] Florida State jumping both Georgia and Louisville after demolishing No. 25 Maryland 63-0. The two play on Oct. 19. [Also, the AP Top 25 is now out.]

The Baylor Bears absolutely mauled West Virginia Saturday night, scoring 56 points and putting up over 600 yards in a record-setting first half before setting school records with 73 points and 864 yards of total offense in the 73-42 win.

Let’s start by re-living the action with Baylor’s official highlight video.

Maryland traveled to Tallahassee on Saturday with the hopes of pulling off the upset and beating Florida State on the road for the first time ever. Those hopes were dashed rather quickly and completely, as the Seminoles thrashed the Terrapins 63-0 Saturday afternoon.

The Terrapin defense started out relatively strong, holding Florida State to just one touchdown in the first quarter and two in the second. But once Maryland quarterback C.J. Brown went down with an injury, the entire team fell apart. The Seminoles scored three touchdowns in each of the last two quarters, as Jameis Winston threw for 393 yards and five scores in the victory.

“Obviously a lot of things to work on, but this was a win over a top-20 team on the road, and in this environment,” an upbeat Meyer said.

And as long as you win, the undefeated Big Ten favorite’s flaws are just “things that need some work,” to use Meyer’s words.

Northwestern’s hopes of upsetting Ohio State fizzled out with a fumbled center-quarterback exchange on fourth and inches and a comically ineffective hook and lateral attempt that resulted in a Buckeye touchdown. The ending was not befitting the effort that the Wildcats gave, going blow-for-blow with the Buckeyes on perhaps the biggest stage in the history of Northwestern football.

Carlos Hyde stole the show for Ohio State in this one, carrying the ball 26 times for 168 yards and the Buckeyes’ final three offensive touchdowns, including the score that put them ahead to stay. In his second game back from injury, Braxton Miller was effective if not as spectacular as he was last week against Wisconsin, finishing with 15 completions on 26 passing attempts for 203 yards in the air and another 68 on the ground.

Michael Bennett was the next playmaker to go down, a heavy loss since No. 1 WR Malcolm Mitchell was already done for the year. The wideout also left with a knee injury that appears to be serious. Bennett left in the third quarter and did not return. He suffered a torn ACL on the same knee during practice last season.

It is still too early to know the long-term status of the Bulldogs’ newly injured players. All would be big blows if they do miss extended time, however.

Stanford jumped out to a 10-point lead and the Cardinal were in control for most of the game, but were never able to put away the Huskies. They led by 10 points on several occasions, yet Washington just kept hanging around.

The Huskies cut the lead to three points four different times. The problem for Washington was that Stanford responded quickly on the first three occasions. The Huskies made it a 10-7 game and Stanford responded with a touchdown 52 seconds later. Washington cut the lead to 17-14 and Stanford promptly drove 67 yards for a touchdown. The Huskies cut the lead to 24-21 and Stanford scored a touchdown 1:42 later.

Baylor exploded for an historic offensive output against West Virginia Saturday night, further cementing their status as a main contender for the Big 12 championship as they defeated the visiting Mountaineers, 73-42.

That was all in the first quarter.

Ohio State turned right back to Hyde on the next drive, however. The beefy running back touched the ball on five of eight plays on the 81-yard drive, including a 7-yard run into the end zone to, yet again, give Ohio State the lead, 30-27.

The two teams traded punts late in the game, and Northwestern eventually regained possession on the 16-yard line with 21 seconds remaining. Siemian was sacked on 1st down, and with Northwestern out of timeouts the Wildcats were forced to spike the ball with five seconds remaining. Their attempt at a last-ditch hook-and-ladder play resulted in a fumble into the end zone, which the Buckeyes recovered to cap scoring and cover the 5.5-point spread.

Box Score Hero: Both passing games put up big numbers. Rees went 17-for-38 for 279 yards, three touchdowns and one interceptions. Kelly went 32-for-45 for 340 yards, three touchdowns and two costly interceptions.

Rankings Ramifications: Arizona State could drop out of the rankings. They are currently ranked No. 22 in the AP poll and No. 24 in the Coaches poll. Notre Dame is in the “also receiving votes” section of both polls, so there’s a chance they could climb into the bottom of the Top 25.

No. 13 South Carolina eked out a 35-28 win over Kentucky, their third straight win by ten points or less. The Gamecocks were favored by more than three touchdowns in the contest.

Defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward seemed to echo Spurrier’s sentiment.

Box Score Hero:

Odell Beckham took this game over, racking up 179 yards on nine catches, including a pair of critical touchdowns.

This is a thing that happened during Ole Miss-Auburn:

Hugh Freeze preaches family and working as one -- it’s a big selling point everywhere, but especially at Ole Miss -- and you’re seeing the top of the mountain in the GIF above. It may look simple, but synchronized coaching is far from an easy thing.

Florida took some time to get warmed up, but once they did they cruised to an easy victory over Arkansas, 30-10, on Saturday night.

Rankings Ramifications: Whether Florida moves up or not may depend on the result of the Washington-Stanford game later Saturday night. The Gators are ranked No. 18 in the AP poll and No. 19 in the Coaches poll. Washington is No. 15 and No. 18 in the respective polls, and may drop below Florida with a loss.