The Farrell Awards: Breaking down a Saturday full of surprises
The 2021 college football season is in full swing! Here are Mike Farrell's biggest takeaways from Week 8.
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FACT OR FICTION: Barion Brown is now a lock to Kentucky
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BIG PLAY BONANZA
Alabama and Tennessee were both moving the ball exceptionally well before the Tide pulled away in the fourth quarter, but kudos need to be given to the evolution of Tennessee's offense. But eventually Alabama's talent won out, as their 1-2 punch at WR in Jameson Williams and John Metchie both went over 120 yards and Bryce Young accounted for over 400 total yards and four scores.
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FIRST HALF DOMINANCE (PART I)
Ohio State came out against Indiana like a team on a mission. At the intermission, they were up 44-7, having scored a touchdown on all six of their first half drives, and added a safety on top of that. CJ Stroud had another outstanding game, throwing for four touchdowns, including one to TreVeyon Henderson who added two more on the ground. Another dominant victory for the Buckeyes who are creeping right back in to the thick of the playoff picture.
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FIRST HALF DOMINANCE (PART II)
South Carolina didn't have a chance at another last second comeback this weekend, as Texas A&M blew them out of the water from the first snap. After going up 31-0 at halftime, at the end of the third quarter it was up to 41-0, with the Aggies having outgained the Gamecocks 463-15. While South Carolina got a couple of cosmetic touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the damage had already been done.
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GETTING GOING
Even though Notre Dame was 5-1, Kyren Williams had not been having the impact that he did last season, as the running back had been bottled up for most of the season. Well, that all changed against USC, as he ran for 138 yards and two touchdowns, and added another 42 yards receiving. The game got close at a couple of points, but the Irish were able to dispatch with a Trojans team that is falling apart before our very eyes.
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BACKING IT UP
Earlier this week, Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke had some bulletin board material for the Wolfpack earlier in the week, saying that he didn't think that they would be able to stop the Hurricanes. Well, he ended up stepping up to the plate and making sure that happened, throwing for 325 yards and four touchdowns with zero turnovers in Miami's 31-30 upset over NC State. Charleston Rambo continued to be one of the best transfer acquisitions of the year, as the former Sooner had nine catches for 127 yards and two scores.
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OFFENSIVE
Wake Forest moved to 7-0 on the season, but it took a barn burner against Army to get there. The Demon Deacons won 70-56, as the teams combined for over 1,200 total yards. Sam Hartman threw for 458 yards and five touchdowns, but perhaps the most impressive stat of the game was the fact that Wake Forest scored 70 points despite only having the ball for 17 minutes.
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NO STYLE POINTS
No. 2 Cincinnati won again, but it wasn't pretty. The Bearcats barely beat 1-6 Navy, and were outgained 308-271. Desmond Ridder and Jerome Ford both had their worst games of the season. As more eyes are on this team, they're going to need more impressive victories to stay in contention for the playoff.
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SLOW START
Who had Kansas up 10-0 at halftime against Oklahoma? Not many people I'm going to guess. So while the Sooners got it going in the second half and won 35-23, this was not the dominant performance we were expecting out of Oklahoma.
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DOUBLE TROUBLE
Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins again both went over 100 yards against Northwestern in Michigan's easy 33-7 win. The two backs also had two touchdowns apiece and made easy work of a Wildcat team that is struggling mightily this season.
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BOUNCEBACK
After losing a heartbreaker to Clemson at home last week, Syracuse went on the road to Virginia Tech and got a huge win for Dino Babers, scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter to beat the Hokies 41-36. QB Garrett Schrader had 410 total yards and five touchdowns to lead the way for the Orange who are back to .500.
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FOR REAL
Pitt has put up some huge offensive numbers all season, but with a questionable loss at home to Western Michigan, no one was really sure what to make of them. But after a solid win over Clemson, including another 300-plus yard game from Kenny Pickett, the Panthers are without a doubt a true contender in the ACC.
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STILL STRUGGLING
D.J. Uiagalelei continued his poor play, and the calls for Taisun Phommachanh will only continue to get louder. Big Cinco had two more interceptions, zero passing touchdowns, and again completed fewer than 50 percent of his throws against an average at best Pitt defense. He's in contention (right next to Spencer Rattler) for biggest disappointment of the season.
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YOU GET AN OVERTIME! AND YOU GET AN OVERTIME!
I can't imagine that there were a lot of people even expecting a close contest between an Illinois squad that got called out by their coach earlier in the week and a top-10 Penn State team. But after a record nine overtimes, including fie consecutive ones in which neither team scored, Illinois managed the 20-18 win and Penn State effectively kissed their chances of making the Big Ten title game goodbye. Illinois actually dominated the game statistically, and the Penn State offense looks really out of sorts.
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X MARKS THE SPOT
In Iowa State's big win over undefeated Oklahoma State, the Cyclones were not able to get anything going on the ground, averaging two yards per carry for the game. But that didn't matter, as Brock Purdy linked up with Xavier Hutchinson 12 times for 125 yards and two touchdowns, and a timely fourth down stop by the defense ensured that Iowa State can still be in the mix for the Big 12 Title.
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GROUND TO A HALT
A week after setting the school record in rushing yards against Florida, Tyrion Davis-Price was completely bottled up by Ole Miss, as the Rebs cruised to a 31-17 victory. Davis-Price had only 52 yards on 17 carries, and as a team, the Tigers averaged 2.2 yards per carry. On the flip side, Ole Miss was able to use their ground attack to rack up 266 yards and three scores.
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JUST RUN IT
With the team's top two running backs now out for the season, Minnesota may have been tempted to put the ball in the hands of Tanner Morgan more often. But that wasn't the case against Maryland - the Golden Gophers ran 56 times for 326 yards and four touchdowns. Ky Thomas and Mar'Keise Irving both went over the century mark as Minnesota got the easy 34-16 win.
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DEUCE GETTING LOOSE
Deuce Vaughn has been quiet the last couple of weeks for Kansas State, but he found the endzone three times against Texas Tech. Skylar Thompson had one of his most efficient games of his career for the Wildcats, completing 80 percent of his passes for 296 yards, while Texas Tech struggled in the second half, blowing a 24-10 halftime lead.
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UCLA DYING
While he only averaged 2.5 yards per carry, Travis Dye made the most of his opportunities, scoring four touchdowns in Oregon's big win over UCLA. Freshman Ethan Garbers had a chance to be a hero late in the game after Dorian Thompson-Robinson was knocked out on the final drive, but DJ James picked him off to seal the victory for the Ducks.
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LIVING IN THE BACKFIELD
In Wisconsin’s 30-13 victory over Purdue, linebacker Leo Chenal was once again dominant on defense. A week after accruing 17 tackles against Army, the junior had nine tackles, 5.5 TFL and 3.5 sacks. The Badgers held the Boilermakers to 206 total yards and forced five turnovers.