CFB Week 11 Recap: It’s Raining Ducks and Frogs

Nov 14, 2011

With all the turmoil and negativity swirling around college football the past week, and with all due respect to the victims of the Sandusky scandal, it was nice to be able to get back to on-field action this weekend.

And not only were many of the Week 11 matchups intriguing, most of them actually lived up to the billing, with two Top 5 teams – Stanford & Boise - falling from the ranks of the unbeaten and a number of contests going right down the wire.

Just as the after effects of the Penn St. situation will be felt for a long time to come, the repercussions from Week 11 will alter the landscape of the 2011 bowl season.

How? Glad you asked.

-Ducks prove worthy of title game rematch with LSU
While the Oklahoma State Cowboys were b**chslapping Texas Tech to the tune of 66-6 and Alabama was hoping that a win against Mississippi State would help them inch towards a rematch with the Tigers, Oregon all at once crushed Stanford’s title hopes, ended Andrew Luck’s Heisman campaign, and vaulted themselves back into the national championship picture thanks to a 53-30 defoliation of the Cardinal.

As of today, the Tigers and Cowboys are on a collision course for Bourbon Street, but there is plenty of football to be played between now and January 7. Should the Pokes and/or Bayou Bengals pull a Herman Cain, Oregon would have a legitimate claim to a title game berth based on its current 9-game winning streak following a season-opening loss to LSU.

By annihilating Stanford - forcing Luck and the Cardinal into committing 5 turnovers while rushing for 232 yards – Oregon made a statement to the rest of the nation that the Ducks are a true title contender.

-Boise State’s slim BCS bowl hopes end on another missed field goal
Last year all that stood between Boise State and a BCS bowl bid was a tough Nevada team. In that memorable game, the Broncos had to chances to win, but kicker Kyle Brotzman missed field goals at the end of regulation and in overtime, and the Wolfpack walked away with a 34-31 victory.

Flash forward to Saturday afternoon in Boise, and all the Broncos had to do was defeat their Mountain West nemesis, TCU, and a trip to a BCS game was all but assured.

But the bad kick bug bit the Broncs again, as freshman Dan Goodale’s 39-yard attempt went wide right, allowing the Horned Frogs to snap Boise’s 65-game home winning streak and crush the Broncos’ title dreams again.

The most memorable aspect of this classic contest between the two best BCS busters was when TCU coach Gary Patterson decided to go for two points after the Frogs got a touchdown with just over a minute left to make the score 36-35 instead of settling for a tie and overtime. The gutsy strategy worked, and now TCU will win the MWC in its final season in the conference, while Boise will probably be relegated to the Poinsettia Bowl once again. Better accept that Big east bid, Boise!

-Nebraska hangs on to deal Penn State another dose of devastation
No amount of on-field accomplishments can wipe out the shame of the scandal that rocked Happy Valley last week. But a victory over the Cornhuskers, which would have put Penn St. in the drivers seat for the Big Ten Leaders title, would have gone a long way towards edging the university and its loyal fans back to some sense of normalcy.

But amid heavy hearts and classy displays of sportsmanship by players, coaches and fans from both sides, Nebraska held off the Nittany Lions, 17-14 in a game that had nearly as much drama on the field as off.

Despite trailing by 17 midway through the third quarter, Penn State valiantly rallied to pull within three points late in the game. But the Huskers stopped Silas Redd on fourth down with a minute and a half to go, and with road games against Ohio State and Wisconsin left, the Nittany Lion faithful now have to deal with a disappointing end to a once promising season on top of everything else.

-Quick hits:

Clemson capped a 14-point fourth quarter comeback with a field goal at the buzzer to edge Wake Forest, 31-28 and seal the ACC Atlantic crown
Georgia erased all memories of the “Occupy Mark Richt’s job” movement from earlier this season with a 45-7 thrashing of Auburn that puts the Dawgs in the driver’s seat for the SEC East title.
It wasn’t the fact that Texas lost to Mizzou that was so shocking -although that was surprising - but how it lost: by scoring the fewest points by a Longhorn team since 2004 in a 17-5 defeat to the Tigers. Good thing Mack Brown is so beloved in Bevo-land…
One week after losing 52-45 to Oklahoma State and two weeks after allowing 58 points to the Sooners, Kansas State finally won a high scoring affair with a 53-50, 4OT thriller over Texas A&M. Didn’t the Big 12 used to be known for defense? No wonder its disintegrating.
Speaking of the Big 12 and embarrassing, Baylor barely avoided what would have been the most embarrassing loss of the year when it came back from a 24-3 second half deficit to beat lowly Kansas, 31-30 in OT. I’m not sure what exactly went wrong with Baylor this season, but look for the Bears to top many “Biggest disappointments of 2011″ lists when the season is over
Remember when Florida State versus Miami meant something? Evidently neither do the current players from either team. Yeesh.