On College Football: Providence's Paye almost helped Michigan come back at Penn State
Week 8 saw a white-out at No. 7 Penn State as it entertained No. 16 Michigan. There’s a local angle to this game as the Michigan defense features a Hendricken graduate, junior defensive lineman Kwity Paye, from Providence. Paye, who as a child escaped a civil war in Liberia and migrated to the United States, had arguably his best game this year leading the Wolverines in tackles with 10 and constantly pressuring Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford.
When Paye committed to Michigan he was a relative unknown and the 986th ranked player. He is now clearly an impact player who could someday be playing on Sundays. He sat out the previous week at Illinois with an injury but returned with a vengeance.
It looked like a rout early with the Nittany Lions opening up a 21-0 lead. Slowly Michigan began to creep its way in and closed to 28-21, with first-and-goal at the Penn State 7 yard line with about three minutes left. On fourth-and-3, Michigan wide receiver Ronnie Bell dropped a potential game-tying touchdown and over 110,000 fans breathed a huge sigh of relief. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s record against Top Ten teams fell to 1-11 and 0-7 on the road. Of course, Harbaugh was quick to criticize the officiating: “(I) thought some of our receivers were getting tackled.”
Yeah, right.
◘ No. 6 Wisconsin, a 30-point favorite, provided the biggest upset of the year, losing 24-23 to Illinois on a 39-yard field goal on the final play. The Badgers, who had a nine point fourth-quarter lead, gift-wrapped the game with two turnovers, including one inside three minutes and leading 23-21. Wisconsin’s defense had four shutouts in six games this year and never trailed until it all fell apart on the final play. The Badgers fell to No. 13.
◘ The PAC 12 remained relevant when Oregon fought its way back from a 14-point second half deficit and defeated No. 25 Washington in Seattle, 35-31. The Ducks kept their CFP hopes alive with the victory and it was quarterback Justin Herbert who rallied his team by completing 24-38 for 280 yards and four touchdown passes. He was the difference maker.
◘ Speaking of last-second victories, No. 15 Texas escaped against coach Les Miles’ Kansas team on a last-second 33-yard field goal, winning 50-48. Kansas is now 2-5 but what a victory that would’ve been for a program which can’t compare with Texas’ talent and resources. Still think Texas is back?
What’s new
You knew it was going to happen. Fox studio host and former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer’s name is being mentioned as a candidate for the Florida State job. Never mind that Willie Taggart is still the coach. The Seminoles have been irrelevant for four years now and fell to 3-4 after losing 22-20 to Wake Forest. It says here Taggart’s gone even if he salvages a bowl bid but Meyer comes with a lot of well-known baggage. He’s a great coach but hasn’t always portrayed great character.
Programs like FSU are willing to overlook that to get back in the national championship discussion. That program has all the resources, specifically money, to offer any coach his asking price. For his part, Meyer has denied he’s interested in any coaching job and FSU AD David Coburn emphatically denied the rumor, “ If Coach (Taggart) were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, we would not target Coach Meyer, period.” Interesting that “the old football coach,” Steve Spurrier, now 74 years old, was also linked to the job.
◘ Right now, my early Heisman favorites are quarterback Joe Burrow of LSU, quarterback Jalen Hurts of Oklahoma and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama. Tagovailoa is out at least two weeks with a high ankle sprain after having surgery so that could affect his chances. Jonathan Taylor is the best running back in the country but his fumble and loss against Illinois hurt his chances.
◘ What are the best college football stadiums in sports? Well, here’s our Top 10, and their capacities. Notre Dame Stadium (80,795); Husky Stadium (70,083), Washington; Memorial Stadium (81,500) Clemson; Camp Randall (80,321) Wisconsin; Memorial Stadium (90,000) Nebraska; the “Shoe” (104,944) Ohio State; Beaver Stadium (106,572), Penn State; Kyle Field (102,733) Texas A&M; the “Big House” (107,601) Michigan; Tiger Stadium (102,321) LSU. Keep in mind announced attendance at these venues regularly exceeds the “official capacity”. There were numerous omissions here for various reasons including attendance figures this year due to team performances (Tennessee, Florida State and Miami) and the lack of enthusiasm due to team’s dominance (Alabama).
First four in: Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma. Next four out: Penn State, Clemson, Georgia and Notre Dame.
