(This is a weekly article on Student Union Sports covering the most ridiculous stat lines of the week)
When I decided I was going to write a weekly article on the best stat lines of the week, I knew there would be some repeats. However, I never thought for the first four weeks of the season that I would have the same person every week. Lamar Jackson has been truly something else, and while this performance wasn’t his best of the season, he still put up Michael-Vick-in-Madden 04 type of stats. As per last week, I am including a second offensive player because it is only fair. There were plenty of great games this week, plenty of surprises (we see you, Wisconsin and Ole Miss), and plenty of big names who showed up to play. Here are the players who were On the Ball for week 4:
Offense: QB Lamar Jackson, Louisville
QB Riley Ferguson, Memphis
Stats: Jackson: 24-44, 417 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT, 62 rush yards, 2 TD
Ferguson: 20-27, 359 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT, 1 rushing TD
Man, it is still impressive seeing the numbers Jackson is putting up so far this year. This isn’t even close to his best game this year and he still put up incredible numbers. He even came out of the game against Marshall, came back in and led a seven minute touchdown drive as if he never missed a step. But since I have talked about Jackson so much, let’s also appreciate the game Memphis QB Riley Ferguson put up, hopefully helping Memphis fans get over the loss of Paxton Lynch. He had about the most efficient game I have seen this season: high completion percentage, 17.95 average yards per completion, no interceptions, and even added his first rushing touchdown of his career. It did come against a struggling Bowling Green team, but nonetheless was an impressive showing all around.
Defense: DE Harold Landry, Boston College
Stats: 6 total tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 1 FF
Landry set out on a mission against Wagner and came away with a big pot of gold. 5 of his 6 tackles were for a loss, making me think Wagner’s offensive line is a good ole piece of swiss cheese. 3 of those tackles were sacks on the quarterback and he even forced one fumble. There is making a difference in the game, and then there is putting up numbers like Landry did. So far, this has been the most eye-popping stat line I have seen this year on defense. Again, the opponent didn’t show much resistance but this still isn’t a line you see all the time.
Special Teams: K Daniel Carlson, Auburn
Stats: 6-6 field goals, long of 51
Carlson seemed to be the only player on Auburn who wanted to play in this game, and he was the difference. All 18 points that they scored came from the foot of Carlson, which led to a big win over LSU. He made one field goal from 51, and had he even missed one of his six field goals, LSU would have had a much easier time putting together a game winning field goal (they were unable to score a game winning touchdown on the final drive). Even though he is a technically #collegekicker, we need to remember that #kickersarepeopletoo and can be the difference in a game.
Thank you for checking out my article, and I will see you here again next week to (probably) read about Lamar Jackson again!