OREGON’S DE’ANTHONY THOMAS HOPES YOU ENJOYED ANOTHER GREAT WEEK IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL. (AP)
Each week, Campus Union will delve into the fun, the weird and the wacky of college football with a series called “Between The Hashes.” It’s a way to decompress from the madness of the week, and to find a few things that you might have missed.
It might not have been the all-you-can-eat buffet of Week 1, but college football’s second week of action still brought plenty to the table. There were tantalizing storylines, continuations to the hot seat debate (both Texas and USC suffered embarrassing losses) and electric performances in soon-to-be-defunct rivalry games.
But most of that material is reserved for other columns. This is “Between The Hashes,” so here are some of the more offbeat headlines from Week 2.
This week in tailgating
Tailgates sometimes take a week or two to get rolling, but it looks like a few fans are already in midseason form. NFL tailgates can get bogged down with rules, rigid start times and parking authorities. In college, sometimes anything goes. That includes nuptials:
SEC! RT @LauraLMonroe33: You know you are a true VOL fan when you have a combined tailgate / wedding at the game! pic.twitter.com/rwG3sKDoFv
— Cecil Hurt (@CecilHurt) September 7, 2013
Look, there’s a lot of debate about Saturday weddings during football season. This is a great way to completely skirt the issue. Like football? Want to get married? Two birds, one stone.
UVA fans yelling at Oregon fans to stop playing catch in the parking lot …
— Dinich/Adelson (@ESPN_ACC) September 7, 2013
hahahahahahahahahaha Virginia is too civilized for games of catch in the parking lot. When I read this, I could only imagine George Costanza yelling “YOU KNOW, WE’RE LIVING IN A SOCIETY!”
Meanwhile, Michigan’s College GameDay appearance produced a few interesting signs:
#TheMichiganDifference RT @wexler: Also, “Rudy was indicted for securities fraud” pic.twitter.com/WuUgK7lOgn #GameDaySigns — Mike O’Brien (@mpoindc) September 7, 2013
And Batman showed up at the LSU tailgate:
You know. Batman. Just cuz. pic.twitter.com/JT2GK70UB6 — Pod Katt (@valleyshook) September 7, 2013
Well done, everyone.
Players gonna play, tweeters gonna tweet
Just because players have games to prepare for doesn’t mean they can’t get swept up in the social media craze. This week, we have two pretty strong contenders for MVT (Most Valuable Tweet) best Twitter offering.
IT’S ANOTHER GREAT WEEKEND FOR FOOTBALL AND MAKE SURE YOU TURN YO CAPS LOCK ON THE TURN UP IS REAL — DE’ANTHONY THOMAS (@EATBLACKMOMBA6) September 7, 2013
Oregon running back De’Anthony Thomas is great. He isn’t afraid to be himself on Twitter, and we’re all better for it. While I don’t use caps in my tweets, Thomas keeps his caps lock on enough for the both of us.
#WakeForest needs to leave the option to the professionals. @_VL2@theZLazer37 — David Scully (@scullydude) September 7, 2013
Some background for this one: Wake Forest was running the option (and poorly) in an eventual 24-10 loss to Boston College on Friday night. David Scully is a redshirt senior kicker for Georgia Tech, a team which runs the option with great success. Scully decided it’d be fun to talk a little smack about his fellow ACC brethren. He wasn’t wrong; based on their Week 2 showing, the Demon Deacons really shouldn’t run the option at all.
How can I get one of those in my living room?
This is cool. They have a 4 pack of live games on the boards inside the Big House for the students. pic.twitter.com/RZghPlz7Ph — MVictors (@MVictors) September 7, 2013
Michigan put on a show on Saturday night, but students packed the Big House more than three hours before kickoff. To give them something to do, the stadium showed four games at once on the Jumbotron. I’m incredibly envious.
Quote of the week
This honor could (and probably should) go to either Eminem for his appearance in ESPN’s booth or Clemson coach Dabo Swinney for his unabashed ACC pride. Carter Blackburn also deserves mention; while discussing Boston College coach Steve Addazio’s dream beach day, Blackburn said:
For his beach day, [Addazio] had a cooler of coldones, salami, cheese, a knife, and a muscle car magazine.
That’s a fantastic mental image, and my kind of trip to the beach. Still, this week’s honor goes to Georgia wide receiver Justin Scott-Wesley, who made the following remark about his 85-yard fourth-quarter touchdown catch in a 41-30 win over South Carolina:
Justin Scott-Wesley on how open he was on his TD: “You could’ve thrown a grenade and the only person who would have died was me.”
— Seth Emerson (@SethEmerson) September 8, 2013
Wrestlers love college football, too
Networks, please please please please please find a way to work this concept into more games. If ESPN is willing to bring rappers into the booth, it also needs to allow WWE Superstars guest host for a quarter or so every week:
Georgia opening up a can on South Carolina.
— Steve Austin (@steveaustinBSR) September 7, 2013
Huge win vs UF. Proud of my HURRICANE players, coach Golden & staff. One step at a time.. #KeepBringinIt#TheUpic.twitter.com/EPmj9vJuOW
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) September 7, 2013
Hacksaw Jim Duggan went to Mississippi State, so he could even get in the act. This needs to be a thing.
Play of the week
Fat guy touchdown? FAT GUY TOUCHDOWN.
Yes! It’s so beautiful.
Basketball coaches doing football things
When some inclement weather hit East Lansing on Saturday, students needed to get out of Spartan Stadium for their own safety. Rather than sending in security, Michigan State opted for a voice everyone recognizes and respects:
The Memorial UGA I-UGA VIII Mascot Award
Little UGA puppies! (CLICK THIS IF YOU LIKE CUTE THINGS)
Les Miles Honorary Coaching Decision Of The Week
Wilmington StarNews ACC writer Brett Friedlander has the full story, but the coin flip in the Middle Tennessee State-UNC game was a bit of a disaster. Middle Tennessee won the toss and deferred its decision to the second half. But UNC decided to kick. Which meant the Blue Raiders got to receive in BOTH halves. From the story:
“I really don’t know,” Fedora admitted. “I wasn’t real happy. I didn’t really listen to what (the captains) were telling me. I’m not sure exactly when I realized it. When I was talking to the guys on the sideline about getting ready and all of a sudden someone said we’re kicking off and I said ‘okay.’ Then Ron Cherry was looking at me like I was an idiot. I didn’t know why he kept looking at me like that. Then I found out afterwards.”
The Ricky Dobbs All-Stars
A lot of deserving candidates this week, but these noble gentlemen were the standouts:
BYU QB Taysom Hill: 9-of-26, 129 passing yards, 1 INT; 17 carries, 259 yards rushing, 3 TD
BYU rushed for a school-record 550 yards in handing an embarrassing loss to the Longhorns.
Oklahoma State QB J.W. Walsh: 24-of-27, 326 passing yards, 4 TD; five carries, 12 rushing yards, 1 TD in 56-35 win over UTSA
Baylor’s offense: 56 first-half points, 781 total yards in 70-13 rout of Buffalo
Michigan State DL Shilique Calhoun: Pick-six and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, 2 TFL, 1 sack in 21-6 win over South Florida
Tennessee’s defense: Five interceptions, two fumble recoveries and two defensive touchdowns in 52-20 win over Western Kentucky
Utah State QB Chuckie Keeton: 32-of-40, 360 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT; eight carries, 77 rush yards
If Keeton continues putting up these types of numbers, we may have to rename this team in his honor.
Respect to Texas Tech quarterback Baker Mayfield, Rutgers running back Paul James, Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (who is playing at a video-game level right now) and Clemson backup quarterback Cole Stoudt, who went 19-of-20 for three touchdowns in spot duty after the Clemson-South Carolina State game got out of hand.
