(This is a weekly article on Student Union sports covering the most ridiculous stat lines of the week)
EA Sports: It’s in the Game.
It’s hard not to get fired up hearing those words rattle off the walls of your dorm room when you are starting up the NCAA Football video game series. Whether it’s after a hard study session at the library (yeah, right) or after all classes are done for the day (who can wait that long??), students everywhere love going into the virtual world of college football. The best part of these games was building a dynasty at your favorite school and signing that future Heisman-winning, 5-star QB that could put up stats nobody could touch in real life. These video game stat lines rarely happen in the real world, but when they do, they are a thing of beauty. Whether it’s the recent game by Conner Halliday for 734 passing yards and 6 touchdowns, old-school Johnnie Jackson with 3 pick-six’s in one game, or unheralded DB Antonio Perkins with 3 punt return touchdowns in one game, huge games can happen at any position for any player if in the right circumstances. Enjoy seeing these eye-popping stat lines and see who was really on-the-ball during the last week of college football:
Offense: QB Lamar Jackson, Louisville
Stats: 17-23, 286 yds, 6 td, 0 int, 119 rushing, 2 td
This was a very tough decision between Jackson and Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett. Jackson ultimately won because of the added rushing stats and the 1 less interception. I mean, Jackson would have had a great rushing game if he didn’t even throw a pass. But throw in the ridiculous efficiency passing (98.4 QBR) and 8 total touchdowns and this game gets even more incredible. Oh, and he didn’t even play the whole game. Who knows, he could have had more than 10 touchdowns if he was kept in. Now THAT would be some video game stuff.
Defense: DE DeMarcus Walker, Florida State
Stats: 6 total tackles, 5 unassisted 4.5 sacks
While this stat line isn’t very diverse, I can not get over the fact that he got 4.5 sacks in one game (since I know you are wondering, the NCAA record is 6). A bonus is that he wasn’t playing a complete cupcake of a team (although Ole Miss looked like it in the second half). Walker came at the quarterback like frat guys go at a natty lite on a Friday. He was unstoppable and showed how much of an impact he can make.
Special Teams: K Ricky Aguayo, Florida State
Stats: 6-6 field goals, 3 from 40+, 3-3 extra points
Even though he is playing in his brothers shadow (though it looks like that won’t last long), Aguayo had an unbelievable game against Ole Miss. Not only did he go 6-6 on field goals and account for almost half of his teams points, he also outscored 36 (!) FBS teams in week 1, including 5 SEC teams. Among those teams he outscored are perennial powers like LSU, Auburn, USC, and my intramural team (that is because we didn’t score a single touchdown all season last year. Ouch). Very rarely does a kicker have an impact-game like this, and we can only attribute it to one thing: Aguayo was playing on rookie difficulty.
I look forward to seeing who will be On The Ball for week 2 of the college football season. We can only hope it is going to be as exciting as week 1!