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Hash marks and hashtags: Oct. 1

By Andrew Walker | Posted 10/2/2016

Wow.

Just — wow.

That’s all that can be said after such a crazy day of college football on Saturday.

There was plenty of intriguing matchups and most of them all lived up to the hype — and then some.

Let’s start with No. 11 Tennessee’s 34-31 victory over No. 25 Georgia.

The Bulldogs were up 17 only to see its lead evaporate. Trailing 28-24 with 10 seconds remaining in the game, freshman Jacob Eason found fellow freshman Riley Ridley for a 47-yard touchdown to re-gain the lead, 31-28.

If anything has been learned thus far this college season, 10 seconds is plenty of time for magic to occur. The Volunteers would continue this trend by accomplishing the improbable.

After the touchdown, Georgia pooch kicked to drain as much time off the clock, which was taken to the Bulldogs’ 43-yard line.

Only four seconds remained in the game. Vols quarterback Joshua Dobbs heaved a pass for the end zone on an old-fashioned Hail Mary. Despite five Bulldogs defenders being in the direct vicinity of Tennessee receiver Jauan Jennings, he came down with the catch and the incredible win:

"I thought we had a chance," Tennessee head coach Butch Jones said. "It's one of those moments in time that you'll remember forever. I've also been on the other end of them, too, and you remember them forever. I think it's a great illustration that you play until the clock hits zeros."

On the other end of the spectrum, one definitely feels for Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.

“Sick way to end the game, obviously,” he said.

Living up to the hype

No. 3 Louisville and No. 5 Clemson sure sounds good, but sometimes these midseason matchups between Top-10 opponents don’t live up to their billing.

That wasn’t the case Saturday.

The game ultimately came down to a key defensive play on fourth down. Louisville wide receiver James Quick was knocked out of bounds, short of the first-down marker, at the Clemson 3-yard line with 33 seconds left.

The turnover on downs led to a 42-36 win for the host Tigers. The game-winning stop encouraged the Death Valley fans that were going crazy the entire night.

It was a tough way to end the game for the Cardinals and Quick. The wide receiver didn’t seem to know where he was on the field. Louisville would’ve had a good opportunity to win the game had he been able to get that extra yard:

The storyline heading into this contest was the matchup at quarterback between Heisman Trophy candidates Deshaun Watson and Lamar Jackson. The matcup lived up to the hype.

Tigers jumped out to an early 28-10 lead as a result of Watson leading four scoring drives in the second quarter.

Then it was Jackson’s turn. The Cardinals scored on five straight possessions to take 36-28 lead with 7:50 left in the game.

Clemson went on to score on its last two possessions and the Tiger defense forced a rare Louisville punt to earn the win.

Watson finished with 20-of-31 passing for 306 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions, while also running the ball 14 times for 91 yards. Jackson, the Heisman frontrunner, completed 27-of-44 passes for 295 yards with a touchdown and an interception apiece. He dominated on the ground, carrying the ball 31 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns.

Clemson remains undefeated at 5-0 and I wouldn’t say Louisville, at 4-1, is dead in the water just yet regarding its playoff hopes. Time will tell as the season progresses.

Harbaugh did what?!

No. 4 Michigan took on No. 8 Wisconsin in a good old-fashioned Big Ten battle at the Big House.

Those who thought this one would be a high-scoring affair were sadly mistaken as Michigan won a defensive struggle by the score of 14-7.

There are a couple key takeaways from this game. The first is the “Human Centipede” formation that Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh rolled out in the first half:

Wait, what?! Talk about an I-formation.

Kudos belongs to the Wisconsin defense for not falling for this one. The Wolverines ran out of the odd formation for only a two-yard line. The Wolverines did score one play later.

Ultimately, this game was a defensive-centered, grind-it-out type of game. The Wolverines were able to break a 7-7 tie in the fourth quarter and seal the win with one of the best interceptions you will ever see:

Jourdan Lewis, are you kidding me?!

"I've seen Odell Beckham do that," Harbaugh said. "The most impressive thing about it was he jumped a little early."

Two changes, two wins

There have been two major changes in college football since my blog last week.

The first was the firing of LSU head coach Les Miles and his offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. The second was the firing of Notre Dame defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder.

When it comes to the Tigers, it was just Miles’ time to go. He was already on thin ice entering the season. A mediocre 2-2 start to the season wasn’t going to get the job done at place like LSU where expectations are always high.

Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish were struggling too much defensively. Whether the poor defensive play was VanGorder’s fault is up for discussion. Ultimately, coaches are held responsible for what goes on during their watch.

Both programs made the best of the respective situations on Saturday.

The Tigers racked up 634 total yards in their 42-7 victory over Missouri, which is a school record against an SEC opponent.

LSU celebrated its victory by giving interim head coach Ed Orgeron a Gatorade shower:

“You could feel the electricity in the stadium,” he said after the game. “This is Tiger Stadium. This is what it’s supposed to be.”

Meanwhile, Notre Dame went on the road to defeat Syracuse, 50-33. However, the Irish still allowed 489 yards to the Orange but found a way to win, regardless.

"I wasn't crazy about going against this offense. I much rather have been going against something a little bit different because of their tempo and how they spread you out and with all the freshman DBs that (we) play. That's not always the greatest matchup," Kelly said, via ESPN. "But I felt like the morale was really good on Wednesday and that's what I was looking to get back. The morale."

Chop, chop

No. 12 Florida State came back to life after trailing 28-14 heading into the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against North Carolina. The Seminoles scored 21 straight to take a 35-34 lead.

Even as Florida State furiously attempted a comeback, the Tarheels were able to win the game on an impressive 54-yard field goal by Nick Weiler. The kicker didn’t hold back his emotions in front of the Seminoles fans:

Gutsy.

Grand Valley State holds on

Ohio Dominican put the No. 2-ranked team in Division II college football on the ropes on Saturday. However, Grand Valley State, escaped with a 24-21 win to improve to 5-0 overall.

Ohio Dominican had 32 total first downs and 464 yards of total offense, but found itself down 17-0 at halftime. ODU went on a 21-3 run, but GVSU picked off three Panthers passes on their final four drives. The final interception was a game-sealing pick by sophomore cornerback Devin McKissic with 17 seconds left, when ODU had gotten to the Lakers’ 5-yard line.

Bart Williams led the GVSU offense by completing 21-of-34 passes for 280 yards and a touchdown. Marty Carter, a sophomore, had 82 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Wide receiver Matt Williams had nine catches for 172 yards and a touchdown:

Grand Valley State will take on Ferris State next week at Lubbers Stadium in Allendale, Mich.

No. 1 Raiders continue strong start

Mount Union, the top Division III team in college football, continued its early-season roll on Saturday. The Raiders defeated Ohio Northern, 38-21, in Ada, Ohio.

Much like the Grand Valley State-Ohio Dominican game, Ohio Northern was able to have its way at times on offense and racked up 468 total yards.

But four turnovers would ultimately doom the Polar Bears, most notably when Danny Robinson returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders a 21-7 halftime lead.

In all, the Mount Union (4-0) defense posted seven tackles for loss, three sacks, blocked a couple kicks and recovered a fumble in the end zone

The Raiders return home next week and play host to Heidelberg for the school homecoming.

U.S. National Team Alumni Spotlight

Each week at Hash Marks and Hashtags, we’ll put the spotlight on an alumni of the U.S. National Team.

This week’s spotlight is on Maryland linebacker Shane Cockerille, a member of the U.S. team in 2013.

Cockerille was one of the defensive leaders for Terps’ during its 50-7, Big Ten-opening win over Purdue on Saturday.

The Baltimore native was second on the team with seven tackles and also added half a sack for the undefeated Terrapins.

Last year, Cockerille was utilized on offense as a fullback and appeared in 11 games. He even had to play a little quarterback in the second half of the Nov. 21 game against Indiana and completed 11 passes for 82 yards while adding 23 rushing yards.

However, this year he is leading the Maryland defense with 32 total tackles while also adding 2.5 tackles for loss.

Talk about being versatile.

We wish the best of luck to Cockerille and all of the U.S. National Team alumni this season and in the future.

Notable quotables:

  • "That was special. I’m really proud of how hard they played, how good they played. We're still a work in progress, but that was a good step forward." — No. 10 Washington head coach Chris Petersen, after his team’s 44-6 victory over No. 7 Stanford.
     
  • "We never use the word revenge. The word we used was atonement — to make a wrong a right. We had a chance to atone for the transgressions of last year's team." — Houston head coach Tom Herman, on defeating Connecticut 42-14 on Saturday, making up for their only loss of the season last year, a 20-17 decision to the Huskies.
     
  • “Credit to Iowa State. They punched us in the mouth several times. We were speaking on the sidelines (saying), ‘This is still our game. We're still going to fight.' And we did.” — Baylor quarterback Seth Russell, on the No. 13 Bears’ 45-42, last-second victory over Iowa State.
     
  • “There's no doubt he's a Heisman candidate.” — No. 2 Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, on quarterback J.T. Barrett, who broke the school record for career touchdown passes in Saturday’s 58-0 blowout win over Rutgers.
     
  • “They're excited about winning. I think they knew if we played hard and got into the fourth quarter that we'd have a chance and we did." — Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson, whose Hoosiers defeated No. 17 Michigan State, 24-21.
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