The NCAA football Week 7 recap of the 6th through 10th ranked teams includes the No. 6 Notre Dame Irish, No. 7 Alabama Tide, No. 8 Michigan State Spartans, and No. 10 Arizona. No. 9 TCU, recapped previously, played and lost to No.5 Baylor.
The No. 6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 6-0 (Independent) beat the North Carolina Tar Heels 2-4 (7th ACC Coastal) 50-43 as the Irish did what they needed to do to overcome their mistakes and win the game with North Carolina. The 93 points in the game were the most NCAA points scored in a Notre Dame game on the schools 84 year history of the Notre Dame Stadium.
At the end of the 3rd quarter UNC 36 and the Irish 35 while UNC only scored 7 points in the 4th while the comeback Irish scored 15 points for the victory. The NCAA game statistics are very similar with the Irish having 27 first downs with 519 yards on 300 passing and 219 rushing with 3 turnovers and 10 penalties for 76 yards, The Tar Heels had 30 first downs with 510 total yards on 326 passing and 184 rushing with 2 turnovers and 9 penalties for 94 yards.
UNC QB Williams had 24 pass completions for 303 yards 2 touchdowns. RBs Williams and Davis had 35 carries for 159 yards and each scored a TD while Receivers Hollins and Morris had 9 receptions for 143 yards with Hollins scoring a TD. Notre Dames QB Golson completed 21 of 38 passes for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns with an interception. RB’s Folston & Golson had 30 carries for 169 yards and Folston scored 2 touchdowns while Receivers Fuller and Folston had 12 receptions for 204 yards with Fuller scoring 2 touchdowns and Folston TD. This NCAA win for the Irish ended a losing streak of 16 by Notre Dame when their opponent scored 35 points or more.
The Tar Heels 2-4 play their next game with Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 5-1 (2nd ACC Coastal) with the game played at Kanan Stadium on Sat. Oct 18th at 7 PM ET, while the Irish 6-0 travel to Florida to play the reigning 2013 Champions Florida State Seminoles.
The No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide 5-1 (3rd SEC West) managed to come from behind this past Saturday to beat the Arkansas Razorbacks 3-3 (7th SEC West) 14-13 and escape losing another SEC NCAA game as the game was played at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas at 6 PM ET and on ESPN.
The Razorbacks were leading the game going into the 4th quarter 13-7, but in the 4th quarter Alabama DB Collins intercepted an Arkansas pass the secured the win for the Tide. Arkansas had 18 first downs with 335 total yards with 246 passing and 89 rushing with 3 turnovers and 4 penalties for 28 yards. The Tide had 10 first downs with 227 total yards with 161 passing and 66 rushing with 2 turnovers and 4 penalties for 30 yards.
Actually, the Tide was out gained 335-227 by Arkansas and the fumbled the ball four times in the game. However, a late 6 yard TD pass from QB Sims to WR Wide late in 4th won the game and eased the pain of last week’s loss to Ole Miss in Oxford.
The Razorbacks came into this NCAA game leading the SEC in rushing averaging 316.6 yards rushing per game, and they rolled in the 1st half of the game with 78 yards, but the Tide defense shut the Arkansas running game down in the 2nd half.
Next week the Tide 5-1 plays at home against No. 21 Texas A&M Aggies (whom more than likely will drop out of top 25) on Sat. Oct 18th at 3:30 PM ET and on CBS TV. Arkansas 3-3 is at home, and plays No. 10 Georgia 5-1 (1st SEC East) at 4 PM ET at War Memorial Stadium in Arkansas.
The No. 8 team the Michigan State Spartans 5-1 (1st Big Ten East) proved to be too much for the Purdue Boilermakers 3-4 (6th Big Ten West) who they beat 45-31 scoring in all 4 quarters. The Spartans QB Cook was 19 of 37 for 238 yards and 3 TDs with 1 interception. RB’s Langford and Hill had 22 carries for 176 yards with Hill scoring 2 touchdowns while Receivers Lippett and Lyles had 9 receptions for 174 yards with Lippett scoring a TD.
The Purdue QB Appleby completed 24 of his 37 passes for 211 yards and 1 TD while being intercepted 1 time. RB Hunt had 12 carries for 96 yards and 3 touchdowns while Receivers Anthrop and Knauf had 16 receptions for 162 yards and Knauf scored a TD.
MSU had 28 first downs with 532 total yards on 238 on 238 passing and 294 rushing yards with 1 turnover. Purdue had 18 first downs with 340 total yards on 211 passing and 129 rushing with 2 turnovers.
Purdue tried to come back in the fourth quarter scoring 2 touchdowns but time ran out on them and the game winning TD came with 1:22 left in the game as the Spartans DB Harris intercepted Purdue and returned same for 15 yards and the score to ice the game for MSU.
Purdue 3-4 next plays at the Minnesota Golden Gophers 5-1 (1st Big Ten West), at their TCF Stadium at 12 PM ET in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Spartans 5-1 play at the Indiana Hoosiers 3-3 (7th Big Ten East) at the Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana at 3:30 PM ET on ESPN.
The No. 10 Arizona Wildcats, now 5-1 (2nd Pac12 South) lost their game Saturday to USC Trojans, now 4-2 (1st Pac 12 South) and the game was played at the Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona as USC survived the late surge comeback by the Wildcats.
The game statistics indicated the Wildcats should have won the game as they had 34 first downs with 472 total yards on 395 passing and 77 rushing with 1 turnover. The Trojans had 22 first downs with 424 total yards and 239 rushing with 2 turnovers.
The Wildcats, also could not overcome the Trojans offensive RB Allen who had 26 carries for 205 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. In the 3rd quarter the Wildcats were trailing 28 to 13 and started out the 4th quarter scoring 13 points to come within 2 points of USC and the Wildcats FG kicker missed 36 yard FG wide right in the last 17 seconds of the game. Arizona trailing 28 to 20 scored a TD and went for the 2 point conversion which failed, leaving the score at 28-26, but then recovered their onside kick to allow them a chance for a last minute win but the kick went wide right as the game ended.
The Wildcats, now 5-1 play at Washington State Cougars 2-5 (6th Pac 12 North) on the 25th of October in Washington, while the Trojans now 4-2 play the Colorado Buffaloes 2-4 (6th Pac 12 South) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on the 18th of Oct.2014 at 6PM ET on Pac 12 Network TV.
So you football fanatics who bet on college football and bet at a sportbook, you should enjoy watching the changes in, specifically the SEC and PAC 12 rankings for NCAA FB Week 8!