Game of the Week: Over the offseason, the USC Trojans joined the Big 10 in hopes of contending for a national championship. The Trojans started the year 2-0 and had to travel to Michigan to face the defending national champions. This would be the first test of the year for the Trojans as they wanted to start off on the right foot in the Big 10. Michigan started off the game strong as Kalel Mullings ran for a 53-yard touchdown to start the game 7-0. Donovan Edwards from Michigan, continued the dominance of the run game, as he rushed for a 41-yard touchdown and gave Michigan a 14-0 lead. USC finally got on the board as kicker Michael Lantz buried a 29-yard field goal right before the end of the half. Michigan led at halftime 14-3 and were hoping to continue their dominant run game. Starting off the second half, USC’s quarterback Miller Moss, threw a 9-yard touchdown to Duce Robinson. Michigan’s lead was now just cut down to 4 as USC was still in the game. Next time out, Miller Moss threw a ball that Will Johnson intercepted and he returned into the endzone for a pick-6. Michigan’s lead was increased to 10. Miller Moss then threw two more touchdowns to give USC the lead and leave Michigan in shock. However, Michigan proved to be a dominant team. With 37 seconds left, Michigan ran in for a score to win the game. Michigan ended up defeating the Trojans 27-24.
Other Games: Utah and Oklahoma State were ready to battle as both teams were looking for this big win to put on their college football playoff resume. With Utah’s star quarterback Cam Rising, dealing with an injury, they would have to rely on freshman Issac Wilson. Utah’s running back Micah Bernard, rushed for a career-high 182 yards and led #12 Utah to a big win on the road. Issac Wilson threw for 207 yards and 2 touchdowns in place of Cam Rising. On the other hand, Oklahoma State’s quarterback Alan Bowman, was benched in the first half after only starting the game 8 of 22 for 89 yards. Later on in the game, Bowman was put back in and led a comeback but ultimately fell short of the win. Bowman ended the game with 206 yards and 2 interceptions. Oklahoma State’s head coach after the game said, “offensively, we were awful, we couldn’t get any QB play today”. Oklahoma State ended up taking this loss but even with this loss, there is still hope of making the 12-team college football playoffs.
Tennessee traveled to Norman, Oklahoma to face off against the Oklahoma Sooners and this game had all the hype to be a great one. However, it was never close. Nico Iamaleava threw for 194 yards to lead the Volunteers over the Sooner 25-15. Tennessee’s defense held Oklahoma to only a total of 222 yards and looked dominant out there. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupal also had a huge game as he used to play at Oklahoma and this game meant a lot to him. After the game, Heupal was fired up and ended up crushing Oklahoma offensively and defensively.
All around, this weekend was amazing and next week is supposed to be even better with games like Georgia vs. Alabama.
