Well that was crazy. I don’t know exactly what to say about this last week of college football to be honest. When I said in my last article that we should be prepared for some craziness to happen, I did not exactly think this is how it was going to go. There was a huge shakeup at the top of the rankings with upsets of Miami and Alabama, meaning there are countless scenarios that could happen over championship week to see who gets in to the playoffs. There are still around 8 teams in the running for this thing (wow, that number seems familiar in playoff talks…) and it all hangs on the outcomes of a few of the championship games. For some teams (looking at you Wisconsin) it is win-and-you’re-in. For others (looking at you Alabama), they have to wait and hope that things fall their way. This weekend is going to be one of the most exciting I can remember in college football and you can bet I am going to be glued to my TV the whole day.
As for the top players from the past week, this was one of the first weeks where I didn’t even have to choose between people; there were clear winners on each side of the ball this week. Three guys stood above the rest and earned their spot on the coveted list of video game players of the week.
Offense: QB Quinton Flowers, USF
Stats: 24-45, 503 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT, 20 rushes, 102 yards, 1 TD
Flowers was all over the field in USF’s big rivalry game against UCF. While his team did not end up pulling off the win (more on that later), he had an amazing game. Not only did he pass for over 500 yards, but he also ran for over 100. He has been putting up numbers like this for awhile, and it is made even more impressive considering the competition this game was against. A win would’ve been the icing on the cake, but Flowers easily deserves this spot for his individual performance in this game.
Defense: DE Mat Boesen, TCU
Stats: 10 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 5.5 sacks, 1 FF
Usually a guy with over 3 sacks will be under consideration for this spot. That is what makes it even more crazy that Boesen got 5.5 sacks this past game. That is as disruptive as a defensive performance as I can remember in awhile and is the most disruptive game in TCU history, as he set the school record for a single game. Mat had 6 sacks over the other 12 games, so the 5.5 sacks is a huge padding of his stats to close up the regular season. Baylor QB Charlie Brewer is going to be having nightmares of Boesen for weeks with how many times he got hit by him.
Special Teams: DB Mike Hughes, UCF
Stats: 2 kick returns, 125 yards, 1 (game-winning) TD
In what is arguably the best game of the 2017 college football season, UCF knocked off USF on a game-winning kickoff return with a minute and a half left. This game was going back and forth for a while, with McKenzie Milton and Quinton Flowers throwing touchdowns left and right. It all came down to a tie game with about 1:30 left in the 4th quarter, but Mike Hughes was not about to let this game go to overtime. He returned the ball 95 yards for the touchdown and put UCF up for good, keeping their perfect record in tact.
Check back next week for the Championship Week edition of On the Ball: Video Game Stats!