There were five AP Top 25 games of Week 9 in total and there was one more interesting games’ week again. This week there were SEC showdowns at the top, ranked teams who needed a win to avoid getting upset plus G5 teams fighting for their shot at the playoffs.
Okay, here’s how the really giant video games look like.
Texas A&M: Second Half Comeback Triumphs Over LSU
The two teams with the only losses in the SEC season took their battle for sole possession of first place to the field this past Saturday as No. 8 LSU (6-2, 3-1) met No. 14 Texas A&M (7-1, 5-0). The Tigers took an early lead and were ahead at the half 17-7 from the road. LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier already had two touchdowns including one on a 76 yard pass to receiver Aaron Anderson.
Even with the two missed field goals from LSU the Aggies found themselves with their backs to the wall.
But once again, the Aggies would struggle after the half time break. Head coach Mike Elko made a sswitch at the last minute and took away the starting gloves from Conner Weigman and handed them over to Marcel Reed. BJ Mayes made an interception towards the end of the third quarter and Reed got the Aggies offense going early in the third quarter with a touchdown rush.
With 8:09 left in the fourth quarter, Aggie running back Le’Veon Moss punched it in to make it a two-possession game, and a late field goal by kicker Randy Bond added to the lead.
That is a lead which LSU simply could not contend with and the final was 23-38.
The best player in this game could be credited to Reed who came to the bench and contributed to making the Aggies clinch the match. He ended the day completing just two passes for 70 yards, but he ran nine times for 62 yards and scored three touchdowns rushing. As a result of this performance TEXAS A&M moved to five consecutive scoring drives and achieved the win.
The Aggie defense also made five turnovers in the second half including three interceptions of Nussmeier. Mayes got two of those, and Taurean York secured the third.
This win made the Aggies perfect in the SEC and the leaders of the conference they play in. It took them just the position of No. 10 in the AP Poll and many college football teams camping for the College Football Playoff bid.
LSU posts its second loss on the year and first of the conference slate. Now they are in a very dangerous situation, as another loss will almost certainly knock them out of the playoffs again after they started the season quite brightly.
Vanderbilt is knocked off: Texas wins a close one, 38-26
The Vanderbilt Commodores has been in highlight since they defeated the number one team, the Alabama Crimson Tide. On Saturday, it looked to spring another upset on No. 5 Texas (7-1, 2-1).
On the game’s first drive, Vanderbilt’s defense stopped Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers with an interception. Then, the Commodore’s quarterback Diego Pavia began the scoring with an 18 yard touchdown rush to make Vanderbilt lead 7-0.
Ewers recovered well and passed to his receivers in the first quarter for two-consecutive touchdowns to make it 14-7 Texas. He made another in the closing stages of the second quarter and following a Vanderbilt field goal, the Longhorns took a 21-10 lead into halftime.
Following a Texas field goal, Pavia spotted Junior Sherrill to cut the Vanderbilt score to within one and make the final tally 24-17.
The teams went to what seemed like an infinite fourth quarter without scoring the ball until Texas hit another field goal to make the score 27- 17 within the remaining two minutes. But for Vanderbilt the dream was not at all dead. Adding the final, Ely Stowers scored the final touch by Pavia for a total of three in the remaining forty seven seconds in play.
Vanderbilt was trailing 27-24 on the field and there was only one minute remaining therefore Vanderbilt had to attempt an onside kick. In as much as the Commodores gave their best shot the picture changed as Texas came to life, the clock running out from beneath them and successfully defending the win.
Ewers resembled that, coming back from one of his worst games the previous week against No. 5 Georgia. He completed 27 of 37 passes, 288 yards, accompanied with three touchdowns and two interceptions. After his first-quarter interception, Bortles was precise on 17 consecutive passes to help lead his team to victory on the road.
Longhorn receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. was also impressive with six catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
The second side of the duo, Pavia, didn’t disappoint and contributed to 143 passing yards, 67 rushing yards and three total touchdowns. But Texas’ defense intercepted him twice and the Commodores fell just short of another upset of the AP ranked team.
Texas is now 7-1 for the season, after the win and is well on course for playoffs. They can qualify for both the bid of the SEC champion and the bid in at least an at-large bid.
The loss pushes the Commodores to a 5-3 record and a new rank of 27 in the AP Poll.
Boise State overcomes an air of nondescript hostility: well okay’d snoozefest anyway to defeat conference foe UNLV on Friday night
Friday night the UNLV Rebels (6-2, 2-1 MW) played against the Boise State Broncos (6-1, 3-0) with impressive running back Ashton Jeanty.
The first possession of each team saw them each kick a field goal, then UNLV quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams hit Kaleo Ballungay for a touchdown. This brought the score in favour of the Rebels to 10-3.
Responding to another Boise State field goal, Bronco quarterback Maddux Madsen scored two touchdowns in the last two minutes of the second quarter to help the kick start the offense and give them a 20-10 lead over the half time.
Williams took his team out of the break on a scoring run as he took the UNLV team into the end zone on a 5-yard play. Then, the Broncos had to for a field goal Williams would do it with his arms on the next play, connecting with Jaden Bradley for a 34-yard touchdown pass. This put UNLV ahead for the first time since the first quarter and the score was 23-24.
But it can only be put off for a short time only and Jeanty must be contained. The Heisman hopeful punched in a 1-yard touchdown for Boise State with 12:38 left in the fourth quarter — and it was a five point game.
Unfortunately for UNLV they could not mount a comeback as Boise State’s offense burned over eight minutes off the clock on their final scoring possession to prevent the Rebels from having a chance to get the ball back.
Jeanty had a good game but wasn’t as outstanding as he has been earlier; he made 128 rushing yards and one TD.
Madsen also played very well with 209 yards passing and two total scores on the day.
Still, Williams had a good game with the Rebels. On the day’s performance, he contributed 179 passing yards, 105 rushing yards, three total touchdowns and one interception.
This was a big plus for Boise State because Boise State is still the highest-ranked Group of five team. They also remain perfect in conference games which well position them for the college Football playoff.
This is a hard blow for UNLV as they fall to their bitter rivals and lose a very important conference match, so at the moment the team has 6 wins and 2 losses. The only way the Rebels will be able to make the playoffs is if they are presumably will have to beat Boise State sometime in the playable future but they did not show this on Friday when they could have don it.
