McFadden Goes Hog Wild in The Bayou; Historic Meeting In the First State
Can’t catch me. Woo Pig Sooie!!
In what was maybe the best college football game of the season, Heisman trophy candidate Darren McFadden gave one of the great performances of the season rushing for 206 yards and three touchdowns while throwing for one more score in the Arkansas Razorbacks 50-48 triple-overtime shocker over the #1 ranked LSU Tigers yesterday, ending the Bayou Bengals’ National Title hopes.
If McFadden didn’t win the Heisman with yesterday’s performance, he may have become the front runner for the award IMO. DMC had a stellar in his performance, lining up in the wishbone set kept the Tigers defense on it’s heels. McFadden’s touchdowns went for 16, 73 and 9 yards; his touchdown pass was a beautiful 24-yard pass to Peyton Hillis over the middle of the LSU defense that bit on a play-action fake.
The Hogs had their way with the vaunted LSU defense, tallying 513 yards – 385 of which came on the ground.
In the state of Delaware, history was made yesterday as the Delaware Blue Hens and the Delaware State Hornets, an Historical Black College and MEAC representative, met for the first time in a NCAA subdivision playoff game. Omar Cuff ran for a school record 288 yards and 4 touchdowns. He leads all divisions with 36 touchdowns on the season
In what was dubbed “The About Time Bowl” alumni from both schools feel that racism is the reason that the two schools that are 45 minutes apart have never met on the gridiron.
Both schools are ranked in the Top 25 of Division 1-AA polls and have rich football traditions, so after 30 years of chasing their in-state neighbors for a game; the Hornets have allowed fate to decide their first meeting.
It looks like Delaware school officials have used every excuse available not to play D-State, there was even a ridiculous online poll in which it is alleged that students, who no nothing about rivalries would rather see the Blue Hens face now rival West Chester. AD Edgar Johnson has said the schedule will open up in 2012 because the Hens aren’t willing to renege on contractual obligations with other teams. Ex-players and alumni of both schools felt that the game was a long time coming and that the in-state meeting should continue.
A crowd of 19,765 watched Delaware advance to the next round of the playoffs with a 44-7 victory.
I guess Delaware athletic officials will point to yesterday’s score as to why there has never been an in-season meeting between the two schools.
The Starting Five 
November 25, 2007 at 12:13 am
Great game. Again, you have to wonder which 2 teams are going to play for the title. Bcs whatcha gonna do?
November 25, 2007 at 12:16 am
I think it’s going to end up Ohio State and West Virginia.
November 25, 2007 at 12:29 am
Mizzo,
Do you think LSU will drop out of the top 5 with yesterdays lost?
November 25, 2007 at 12:58 am
Yes. They’ve been in too many close games. Flynn doesn’t seem to be able to handle the pressure. They’ve lost two games in triple OT this year. Kentucky and yesterday’s loss to Arkansas. That was a bad pick he threw.
November 25, 2007 at 1:03 am
Mizzo,
You can’t put that all on Flynn. At some point the defense has to step up and make a stop.
November 25, 2007 at 1:42 am
I’m talking about the last play. He basically threw it to the defender like he was running the route. You can’t have that when you want to win a championship.
November 25, 2007 at 1:50 am
The wishbone offense had the LSU defense guessing all game, Dorsey wasn’t 100%, anytime your cornerback has close to 20 tackles that isn’t good.
I would like to see Kansas/West Virginia. Provided Kansas win tonight. I hope Ohio State gets crushed by whoever, I have no love for that school.
November 25, 2007 at 1:50 am
Mizzo,
Your right but your D can’t give up that many points if your trying to win a title either. The O put enough points on the board to win. This loss has to land at the feet of the D. Late pick or not.
November 25, 2007 at 1:53 am
TBR,
Good points. I’m totally with you on THE OHIO STATE. I don’t want to see them win again either. I’m still waiting for the NCAA to bring sanctions down on them. I’m not holding my breath though. HMM, what’s that all about?
November 25, 2007 at 1:59 am
Tressel said that he was totally oblivious to what was going on with Maurice Clarett which is total B.S. as long as he makes those claims they’ll never be hit.
November 25, 2007 at 2:12 am
TBR,
Thats BS. How do they get away wiyh that crap?
November 25, 2007 at 2:28 am
Wow…I watched SO much football this weekend! The Ole Miss-Miss State game was good too…..much love to Sylvester Croom!!!!!!!!
McFadden……unbelievable. That boy is fire!!
FYI to all of the fans of Hawaii’s QB – that boy will get killed in the NFL.
November 25, 2007 at 2:31 am
Miranda,
Mcfadden should be a front runner for the Heisman. His game yesterday was sick.
November 25, 2007 at 2:59 am
Even though West Virginia is up 24 to 7, there D is looking real weak.
November 25, 2007 at 4:54 am
Got something on Croom coming. The tears he shed gave me chills.
November 25, 2007 at 5:06 am
Michelle,
YES IT WAS!! LOLOL!! My whole family was watching that game and went crazy on that TD PASS he threw!!!
Mizzo,
The tears Croom shed, made my mother shed some too….. Watching Croom run around the stadium with the MSU flag….knowing all that he has been trough as he has had to rebuild that program from scratch…it was beautiful.
November 25, 2007 at 5:08 am
Why do those of true nobility have to suffer so?
November 25, 2007 at 8:59 am
I guess West Virginia’s D heard me and stepped up their game. Looks like they will be moving up this week.
November 25, 2007 at 9:39 am
I haven’t been impressed with many teams this season. I am a big LSU fan and I know this team wouldn’t have beaten last year’s team. Flynn was at this best a few years ago when he beat Miami – but that team had guys like Addai and Alley Broussard and Dwayne Boye. Last year’s squad had a tough time with Arkansas in Fayetteville. They won 31-26 and could have easily lost the game.
The defense hasn’t been dominant this season because the anchor of the defense has been injured since the Auburn game. Dorsey means that much to the defense – but – to beat Arkansas and shut down their attack, you must possess the ball. Flynn didn’t sustain drives yesterday. He didn’t get warm until the Hogs were already scorching.
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I haven’t seen the Croom footage today. I wrote something brief about him after the Alabama game.
He’s an official SEC coach killer. Shula, Orgeron…the list gets longer every week.
November 25, 2007 at 9:47 am
We should all be happy his admin stuck with him. He also shook me up when he gave the LSU pre-game speech. Although they were crushed, you could see he was winning over his legion. He’s what the SEC should represent.
November 25, 2007 at 9:48 am
I can’t come up off the props for the Big East this year. I really like WVU – Pat White and the crew – but the last time I saw them, they were catching a beat down in Tampa. The Bulls were goring them and it wasn’t pretty. I’m sure they’re better than that now – but every other team in the conference lost as soon as they had to earn their lofty rankings on the field: South Florida, Rutgers, Cincinnati, UConn. Of course, it all started with Louisville and Brian Brohm.
It’s been an ugly year in the Big East even though so many new squads blew up. I think WVU can play with anyone. I’d like to see them have to defend a team like Missouri or Oklahoma. If they wind up playing Ohio State, it could get ugly in a hurry.
November 25, 2007 at 9:53 am
The parity driving sports these days is amazing. There’s one dominant team and that’s the Pats. I spoke with a Calipari, Calhoun, Howland and a few others about parity. I’ll post the feature next week.
November 25, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I can’t wait to read it. It seems like in college football, the spread of the spread offense is what has equalized the game for so many teams. The spread eliminates the need for elite players on offense – you only need fast players and lots of them. If you have guys who can catch short passes and one guy who is half-way decent down the field, you can play with anyone – even if you don’t have a QB like Pat White.
Kansas’ QB is vertically challenged – and he doesn’t have blazing speed, but he can spread the rock around and hit Marcus Henry deep. That worked all season – until he came up against another team running the same style – but with a better QB and more/deeper receivers. That’s why Missouri lost to Oklahoma.
The Spread Offense is Gridiron Democracy.
November 25, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Great assessment T3 because it’s logical on so many levels. There are so many speed burners on the high school level that just don’t get the op at big time schools because they’re unproven. It seems like the run and shoot is back and can be directly attributed to whom?
Mouse Davis.
June Jones’ present assistant at Hawaii. Davis was June’s coach at Portand State in late seventies when the Run and Shoot dropped on the scene. His teams were comparable to the Loyola Marymount teams. I think PS once put up 107 on someone when Neil Lomax was under center, but I could be wrong. I’ll never forget reading the paper one Sunday morning and seeing that score.
Linebackers and strong safeties just don’t have the speed to deal. The good thing in all of this is that those two positions will become even better athletes as the offense continues to evolve.
November 25, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Mouse Davis can thank the gods for global warming. There are two types of spread offenses: pass first and run first. Some teams spread the field so they can run – others so that they can pass. A few have really good balance. The toughest teams to defend have that balance. Florida and Missouri have excellent balance. Oregon HAD excellent balance. Kansas was a little pass heavy with their spread and it hurt them last night.
I think it’s difficult for teams who routinely play in bad weather to run this offense because the weather imposes “a value-added tax” on ball security. All those hands on the ball in bad weather can be rough – that’s what makes WVU so impressive to me. Pat White is an excellent decision maker and he has very good hands.