College Football Saturday: Oregon Caps Night With Shutout Win

Notre Dame is not going to win the national championship. Not in 2012.

There, I said it. I went nuclear on Twitter the moment Tommy Rees took a knee to finish the Irish’s victory over Michigan, putting them at 4-0 for the first time in a decade. Naturally, this being Notre Dame, where everything must be vastly overhyped, the Irish-for-BCS mania instantly kicked into high gear.

Mark Dantonio just wasn’t in a talking mood on Saturday. Michigan State beat Eastern Michigan, sure, but it wasn’t anything convincing. And Dantonio didn’t seem happy at all. So of course he took it out on reporters.

NEXT QUESTION.

Akron took a 23-20 lead before half on a 70 yard touchdown run by Quentin Hines, but Tennessee tied the game with a field goal with 1:12 left in the half.

Box Score Hero: Tyler Bray had a great day, going 27-of-43 for 399 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception.

Cardinals running back Senorise Perry rushed for 74 yards on 11 carries while Smith hauled in five receptions for 50 yards. Younger finished with 74 receiving yards on five catches.

Box Score Hero: Bridgewater, who’s three total touchdowns were the difference. The sophomore quarterback threw for 194 yards in 19-of-36 passing and rushed four times for 16 yards. He also threw two interceptions.

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.

While we’re here, let’s watch some of the many fine college football videos from SB Nation’s YouTube channel:

Clemson’s offense is pretty fun to watch. Its fake field goals are apparently pretty fun to watch, too! On this one, the holder faked a pitch before shoveling to Darrell Smith, who banged his way across the line for the first down. OR DID HE? There is, as you might expect, some controversy. Here’s the best look at how far he got:

Really not easy at all to see how he crossed the line. The refs were satisfied they got the call right, granting the Tigers the ball and the chance to score their second touchdown. This could be a call we end up remembering.

Flawless. Smith found Nicky Baratti in the end zone for the touch... back.

Michigan later completed two interceptions of the standard Denard Robinson “quarterback forward pass” variety, and Notre Dame also just threw an interception. All plays are now interceptions. You have an interception in this game. Nice interception, you!

The extent of the injury to Pullard is currently unknown. If he is unable to finish this game or is slated to miss extended time, it would be a crushing blow to the Trojans defensive unit.

The 6-foot-1, 235 pound sophomore linebacker is one of USC’s top defensive players. The 20-year-old Pullard is a local product and has recorded 25 tackles in four games this season. He also snagged an interception which he took for a touchdown.

Nebraska rolled up 385 rushing yards in a 73-7 win against Idaho State on Saturday, as the Cornhuskers’ evisceration of teams not named UCLA continued.

Taylor Martinez didn’t have to do much in the passing game as a result, but threw for 163 yards and two touchdowns in limited action.

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.

Which means get ready to hear about nothing but Clowney next year (it’ll feel kind of like February 2011):

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.

Old Dominion’s moving up to FBS ball next season. Good thing they’ll be able to bring along quarterback Taylor Heinicke, who’s only a sophomore. Against No. 19 New Hampshire, ODU banged out a 64-61 (yes, football) victory as Heinicke added his name to the college football record books.

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.

Whether Mizzou is READY FOR THE SEC or not, there’s one thing they’re probably going to always be ready for: defending spread offenses. It’s the power offenses they’re supposed to not be ready for, right? Especially ones led by Lattimore?

Sanders did a fine job of giving the Cocks another chance to do it right (which they did, thanks to Lattimore), and Missouri’s definitely going to need to cut out that poke-tackling stuff that happens about halfway in. Sanders looks like a ball of wild energy here, bowling over opponents and teammates alike before the sideline grants everyone some peace and quiet:

Lewis had his ankle rolled up under a pile near the end of the first quarter. During the ruckus, Lewis’ cleat seemed to twist in the opposite direction.

A team of trainers surrounded Lewis on the field to fix the separation and fit him with an air cast, preventing anyone from seeing the gruesome process. Miami head coach Al Golden got on his knees and embraced the pass-catcher on the ground before he was helped onto the cart.

via gif.mocksession.com

One of the least-pressured safeties you’ll ever see, and now Miami has 12 points. You never get to see 12 points!

After scoring with just 45 seconds left on the clock, Central Michigan recovered an onside kick after failing on the two-point conversion, and stormed down the field for an eventual 47-yard field goal by kicker David Harman to stun Iowa with a late, come-from-behind victory, 32-31.

A big personal foul would get the Chippewas into the Hawkeye end of the field, and Radcliff would run the ball to the Iowa 30 yard line before using the Chippewas’ last time out. One Radcliff incompletion later, Harman came onto the field for what was the game winner.

Box Score Hero: Driskel finished the game completing 18 of his 27 pass attempts for 204 yards and a touchdown.

Rankings Ramifications: With the impressive play of sophomore quarterback Jeff Driskel and the way Florida’s defense undressed Kentucky in the second quarter, Florida’s ranking could go up. The Gators were expected to blow the Wildcats out.

After last week’s loss to Pitt, it’s only fitting Virginia Tech might want to disappear, but the Hokies are only hiding a little bit -- with camouflaged helmets and numbers in today’s game against Bowling Green.

The uniforms are for a good cause; it is Military Appreciation day, and VT coach Frank Beamer sold those camo hats to support the Wounded Warrior project.

Most of the college football world is entering the magical phase of the season known as conference play either now, on September’s penultimate weekend, or next week. But with most of the traditional rivalries between teams saved for October or November, there are only a few major clashes on the docket for Saturday, like Clemson’s visit to Florida State, and so Control Your Remote is here to help you figure out what to flick to before the day’s best option kicks off in Tallahassee.

Your guide to the guide: First Choice means this is a must-see game in that block; Last Button Option means you should have that “last” or “return” button on your remote ready to flick back during commercials; Know The (Channel) Numbers runs down games you’ll want to find when Twitter tells you something nutty happened; Cover The Spread is a suggestion for how to feed yourself. All times listed are Eastern.

Week 4 features quite a few marquee games. Some offer betting value. Others do not.

Arizona at Oregon -23: Oregon’s defense has seen everything Oregon can do for years in practice since the Ducks are also a spread team. A team in Year 1 of the spread option takes its show on the road to open up conference play against a much more talented and experienced team. I’ll take Oregon.