(This is a weekly article on Student Union Sports covering the most ridiculous stat lines of the week)
This college football season keeps getting weirder and weirder which is adding more and more excitement into the last couple weeks of the season. After the first College Football Playoff rankings had a controversial number 4 in Texas A&M, they proceeded to get beaten by a Mississippi State team that is hoping for just a bowl appearance this season. To add insult to injury, the team they were ranked ahead of, the Huskies from the University of Washington, laid a beatdown at Cal. To add even more insult to injury, the team ranked number 6, Ohio State (yes, i purposely left out the THE), laid an even bigger beatdown on a top 10 team in Nebraska. Not a great week for Texas A&M, with apologies to fellow writer Ryan Plugge for having to deal with that from his team. Also throughout the country: Alabama won, Lamar Jackson is good, and water is still in fact wet. Speaking of Lamar Jackson, even with a good performance this week, he did not make the cut for my stat line of the week. Check out who took the top spot:
Offense: RB D’Onta Foreman, Texas
Stats: 33 carries, 341 yards, 3 TDs
Somehow getting lost in the excitement of the season, Foreman has put up a stellar season for the Longhorns. Not only is he leading the NCAA in rushing yards per game, he hasn’t dipped below 120 yards in a game yet this season and has a touchdown in every game but one. He is not much of a threat to catch the ball out of the backfield as he only has 3 catches for 44 yards, but with the way he has been moving the ball on the ground, they haven’t needed it. As for his performance in week 10, Foreman was just unstoppable and Texas has no qualms about continuing to feed him the ball. The win over Texas Tech helped Texas get within a game of a bowl appearance, with tough games against West Virginia and TCU with Kansas sandwiched in between. If I were Charlie Strong, I would continue to give Foreman the ball and hope he can ride D’Onta right off his hot seat.
Defense: LB Jayon Brown, UCLA
Stats: 19 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Yet again, there was no completely eye-popping defensive performances this week. And while Jayon Brown did not stuff the stat book, his 19 tackles in a game is still impressive nonetheless. Being able to cover the field like Brown does is extremely valuable in the middle of a defense, and he has had 4 games with double digit tackles this season. He also must have a thing for the Colorado football players, as last game he played against them he made 18 tackles. It is not easy following up a guy like Myles Jack in the UCLA linebacking core, but Brown has done more than enough to prove that he belongs in that spotlight. Things are not as good for UCLA as a whole, as they are on a four game losing streak and now are on the outside looking in for bowl eligibility.
Special Teams: WR Quadree Henderson
Stats: 2 kick returns, 111 yards, 1 TD, 1 punt return, 17 yards
As with defense, there was no performance that I felt I absolutely needed to include here, so Quadree gets the nod for this week combined with his pedigree for big special teams plays. He has made the list before a couple weeks ago, and returns again (pun intended) after another kick return touchdown. The vision and speed that he displays on his kick returns are very impressive, and the results are there: he currently leads the NCAA this season in kick return touchdowns. Unfortunately, even with Henderson’s 100 yard touchdown they were unable to pick up the win against the U and drop to 5-4 after a 5-2 start (with a now very impressive win over Penn State). More bad news: next up for the Panthers is a trip to visit the always-electric Deshaun Watson and #2 Clemson.
Join me again next week for another edition of On the Ball: Video Game Stats of the week!