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#Post#: 53--------------------------------------------------
College Football Crackdown
By: adityalakhani1 Date: October 8, 2012, 5:19 pm
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College Football Crackdown by Adeel Bari '15
Through five weeks of the college football season, we’ve seen
some national powerhouses flex their muscles while others shied
away from the spotlight. We’ve also seen teams thought of as
understudies come out from seemingly nowhere to have successful
Septembers.
Numerous college football experts are perplexed by the play of
the USC Trojans, who at 4-1, have not lived up to expectations
with a loss to Stanford and two close scares by Syracuse and
Utah. Many attribute these struggles to poor play from senior
quarterback Matt Barkley, but a large reason for their loss of
domination may be the absence of the experience of more senior
leaders. Of their starting 11 offensive players, only two are
seniors. Likewise, on the defensive end, USC has only two
seniors. An absence of leadership can be a huge factor in
football, especially at the college level, and this is perhaps a
cause of USC’s unusual performance.
However, perhaps the biggest mystery through 5 weeks this
season is the record of the Arkansas Razorbacks. At 0-4,
Arkansas, usually a perennial powerhouse, is still looking for
its first win of the season. During their loss to UL-Monroe,
quarterback Tyler Wilson, a preseason Heisman candidate, was
removed from of the game with a concussion. It may be fair to
say that since the beginning of this calendar year, nothing has
really gone right for the Arkansas Razorbacks football program.
After the sudden firing of former coach Bobby Petrino, the
Razorbacks may not be in sync with their new head coach.
Whatever the case is, Arkansas needs to improve their record
this week against Auburn to be in the run for a SEC title.
Along with the surprisingly negative performances this year,
there have been good ones as well. In week 5, West Virginia
quarterback Geno Smith may have put on the show of the decade
going 45-51 with over 650 passing yards, and not a single
interception. This performance came in the Mountaineers’ 70-63
victory over the Baylor Bears, in which almost every college
football analyst, including myself, was picked to be a shootout
with the lack of defense. Another great performance was put on
display way back in week one by Le’Veon Bell of Michigan State.
The Spartan ran for 210 yards and two touchdowns against a very
potent and capable Boise State defense.
After 5 great weeks of college football action, one can only
hope that the next 5 are just as exciting, action-packed, and
dramatic. There will surely be changes in rankings, new stars
emerging, and possibly further hardships for schools like
Arkansas and USC. But who knows what can happen, its college
football!
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