College Football Saturday: USC Business To Remain Unfinished

...and still scored a touchdown on a 48-yard run. Because who needs shoes?

Golson finished 14-for-32 passing for 178 yards and no turnovers.

Rankings Ramifications: Michigan State came in ranked 10th and will likely fall, though probably not out of the top 25. Notre Dame was ranked 20th. The Irish are undefeated and should rise into at least the top 15 after this win.

For the third straight week, LSU didn’t have much trouble mauling an overmatched foe, throttling Idaho 63-14 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.

After Idaho scored all 14 of its points in the second quarter, cutting LSU’s lead to 21-14 with under six minutes to go in the half, the Bayou Bengals clicked off the game’s final 42 points, and blanked Idaho 35-0 in the second half.

Florida Atlantic opened the second quarter with a nice drive to even the score, but Murray’s second rushing touchdown and his throw to Michael Bennett would see the game to to halftime at 28-14.

Georgia would put the game to bed in the second half, scoring four unanswered touchdowns before FAU would add a garbage time score. It was a fairly comfortable win for the Bulldogs, and the box score looks very nice.

I do not care that the Utah State kicker missed the game-winning field goal. This was still awesome.

Utah State had a chance to win it, advancing to the Wisconsin 15 with less than a minute left, but a 15-yard penalty backed them up and Josh Thompson missed a 37-yard field goal, giving the ball back to Wisconsin to run out the clock.

Box Score Hero: Montee Ball not only scored the game-winning touchdown for Wisconsin, he also allowed the Badgers to control the clock in the second half. He finished with 38 carries for 144 yards.

The Gamecocks offense sputtered a bit early, but the defense would get them going mid-way through the first. UAB were already leading 3-0, and they were driving down the field for more. Things looked OK, but then this happened:

It was all Gamecocks from that point on. They’d add another pair of touchdowns to take the game into halftime at 21-6, and they’d receive the ball to start the second half.

Rankings Ramifications: Neither team entered the game ranked, and Missouri is unlikely to become ranked as it was not receiving votes before this win.

But Did They Cover? Missouri was favored by 4, so by virtue of a missed PAT, the Tigers cover.

Yes, this is the THEY S’POSED TO BE SEC rivalry, and yes, Willie Taggart is s’posed to be a SEC head coach at some point in the near future. (We call it the Steven Godfrey bump ‘round here.)

Check the national college football scoreboard right here, and look through SB Nation’s many excellent college football blogs to find your team’s community.

Let’s check in with the fans...

Perfect,

... and USC scoring by way of Cardinal-esque HRRRRRRRRNNNNNNGGGGGHHHH HEAVY-LIFTING*:

Next we’ll see Ole Miss and Texas scoring points on each oth-ha ha ha that’s not gonna happen at all.

You see, they’re playing Stanford.

Robert Woods is wise. Always use the chainsaw.

...HEY GUYS CAN ANYONE ELSE SEE ALL THESE PALADINS APPARENTLY ITS THE MASCOT OF A BIBLE COLLEGE HERE IN STATE BUT IT JUST REMINDS ME OF THAT TIME I HAD TO GET ALL THOSE FAVORS DONE IN SHANGHAI I HAD TO GET A PAIR OF CLEAN EYEBALLS BEFORE OUR “MERCHANT SHIP” LEFT PORT AND MAYBE THAT WAS JUST SOMETHING I SAW ON CINEMAX NO MY JAW DOESN’T HURT WHY DO YOU ASK...

Like a Scooby-Doo mystery ghostwritten by Hunter Thompson, that dastardly tweakin’ Tiger Eight Ball was finally unmasked Saturday afternoon, and....

If you look at the box score, this is what you’ll see:

But no. No that doesn’t quite describe it.

The Mountaineers’ passing defense was quite impressive as well, limiting the Dukes to 112 yards in the air.

Box Score Hero: Geno Smith. It’s almost impossible to have a better day than Smith enjoyed against James Madison. The Heisman hopeful was sublime, completing 34-of-39 passes for 411 yards and five touchdowns without throwing an interception.

Check the national college football scoreboard right here, and look through SB Nation’s many excellent college football blogs to find your team’s community.

After throwing a ball carrier to the ground, the 2011 first-team All-Big 12 linebacker struggled to get back to his feet and eventually went back to the ground. Trainers were seen looking at Brown’s right ankle, which appeared to bend in an awkward direction as he made the tackle.

Check the national college football scoreboard right here, and look through SB Nation’s many excellent college football blogs to find your team’s community.

Coach Muschamp probably doesn’t like that.

Statistically, Navy actually outgained Penn State 371 total yards to 341 yards, and also won the time of possession battle, but the advantage on the stat sheet meant very little on the field, as the Midshipmen did not even score until the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter.

Box Score Hero: Much-maligned Nittany Lions quarterback Matt McGloin. The senior was 13-of-21 passing on the day, for 231 yards and four touchdowns. Allen Robinson deserves a tip of the cap as well, after catching five balls from McGloin for 136 yards and three touchdowns.

Clemson put on an offense clinic Saturday against Furman, racking up 498 total yards while only holding the ball for 21:41minutes of play in their 41-7 victory over the Paladins.

Clemson would go on to score 24 straight points without a rebuttal from Furman when QB Tajh Boyd began to air it out more. Both of Boyd’s touchdown passes on the day came on second-half touchdowns of 30-plus to TE Brandon Ford and WR Martavis Bryant.

The win moves Oregon to 3-0 on the season, with Tennessee Tech falling to 2-1.

Box Score Hero: Oregon’s De’Anthony Thomas had 222 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns, without playing most of the second half.

Guessing Nick Saban just isn’t a fan of the Aflac Trivia Question. Either that or someone at CBS is an absolute genius for putting this together. Whatever the case, we have an amazing GIF of Saban tripping the Aflac duck.

All of your arguments are invalid.

For like three years now, Florida’s offense has been a thing of evolving and contrasting mysteries. What is it that they do? It’s different from what they did last week, and definitely different from what they did last year, but nobody yet knows what it is that it is. This trend may be continuing, as of the game going on right now.

Against a fired-up Tennessee defense, drowning in noise and backed up against the checkerboard, going for a little bit of devilry right away did not work:

This is your potty break, college football television audience. At the moment the landscape of Saturday afternoon is littered with merciless blowouts in the Top 25 and beyond:

No. 1 Alabama has a casual (SORRY, COACH SABAN) lead over Arkansas, 38-0.