1. Marcus Mariota will win the Heisman barring disaster.
The Ducks could lose to Arizona State in the Pac-12 championship, Dak Prescott could score five touchdowns on the road against Alabama and win the SEC as an unbeaten and he still won’t win the Heisman.
Oregon QB Marcus Mariota has the award on lock, as indicated by the Vegas odds. Bovada, for example, gives him 1/5, meaning you’d pay $5 to win $1.
Prescott (13/2), Melvin Gordon (14/1) and Trevone Boykin (14/1) are the other contenders.
If Mariota stays healthy the rest of the season, he’ll win the award.Oregon already has clinched the Pac-12 North. After a bye this weekend, the Ducks face Colorado (2-8) and Oregon State (4-5). In other words, there aren’t any tripwires left on the schedule.
Currently Mariota has thrown for 29 touchdowns against 2 interceptions. He’s also run for eight touchdowns and carried the team at times in spite of an overwhelming number of injuries to offensive linemen.
But with a strong performance this weekend and against Ole Miss, Prescott is likely to finish second in the Heisman voting.
2. Speaking of Oregon, did you see the Utah pull a DeSean Jackson?
Utes receiver Kaelin Clay dropped the ball at the 1-yard line on what would’ve been a 78-yard touchdown to take a 14-0 lead on the Ducks. Instead, Oregon picked up the ball and ran it back for a 99-yard score to tie the game.
A Japanese animation account made a YouTube parody of the play. It’s one of the weirdest videos I’ve seen this week outside of “Too Many Cooks.”
3. Ed Orgeron practically begs for an assistant job at USC.
After a pretty successful run as the interim coach post-Lane Kiffin last season, Orgeron reportedly was furious when athletic director Pat Haden decided then-Washington coach Steve Sarkisian would take over the job on a permanent basis. (USC is 6-3 this season. Sound familiar, Huskies fans?)
USC offered Orgeron a place on Sarkisian’s staff, but Orgeron scoffed and indicated he’d wait for another head coaching opportunity elsewhere.
The former Ole Miss coach took this year off from coaching to spend time with his family. But now he wants back in the game, and apparently the market isn’t as ripe as he thought.
“I will be a USC Trojan forever, and, I don’t know what they’re thinking, but the door to come back there is always open in my mind. If the right situation comes up this year and they ask me to go back, I’d be more than happy to listen,” Orgeron told the Los Angeles Times.
“I’d come back as an assistant. I love the people there. I’m with my family now, but I miss my family there. I miss ’em right now. In the belly.”
Said Sarkisian: “Ed’s a terrific football coach. He’s a friend of mine. I have a great deal of respect for Ed, but quite honestly, we play Cal Thursday night at 6 o’clock.”
4. Minnesota employs public to prep for Ohio State.
The Golden Gophers and Buckeyes already are punch-you-in-the-mouth, slobberknocker type offenses. Now they’ll face off in a game with kickoff temperatures projected in the mid-20s.
But at least the field and stands should be free of snow, at least mostly. Earlier this week, stadium officials offered pay for folks willing to help clear the stadium of snow.
https://twitter.com/TCFBankStadium/status/532315305993711617
5. Former Michigan LB says the program needs to “go back to the ‘hood” to find recruits.
Current Arizona Cardinals LB Larry Foote had some interesting things to say this week on the radio (WXYT-FM in Detroit) regarding the future of Michigan football. Foote, a fourth-round pick by Pittsburgh in 2002 and a Detroit native, said he doesn’t expect San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Whomever the next coach is, assuming Brady Hoke is gone, the team must do a better job of locating football talent, according to Foote:
“They better change up their recruiting. They better get some (coaches) in there that can get some NFL talent. Like I said before, Michigan better go back to the ‘hood. They got too many trust-fund babies in there, and they look like that when they’re playing. They got guys out there that are just happy, they’re happy they’re at Michigan, they’re losing and smiling. And that’s just not Michigan football. And that’s got to change.”
6. An Ohio State offensive lineman wins Twitter.
Not gonna lie, I sucked my gut in after I had a false start on Saturday night cuz I knew they were about to zoom in on me.#beatingthesystem
— Patrick Elflein (@elflein65) November 10, 2014
7. Injuries have swarmed the Oregon Ducks.
TE Pharaoh Brown became the latest victim of a hair-raising, gruesome injury Saturday against Utah, suffering a knee injury that hospitalized him for several days. (Trust me, don’t search for the video. It’s as horrifying as any football injury we’ve seen this year.) NFL analysts were talking about him as a strong prospect. Now Mariota’s favorite target is out for the season, if not longer.
All-American C Hroniss Grasu, also hurt Saturday, is expected to miss time. Potential first-round pick and CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu also left the game against Utah.
Oregon’s offensive line already has waded through all sorts of injuries this season.
8. Trevor Knight needs some tender-loving care.
I’m looking at you, Katy Perry. The Oklahoma quarterback suffered an apparent neck injury in a loss to Baylor on Saturday and won’t play against Texas Tech. The team has ruled out a concussion, but hasn’t revealed much about the injury except to say that Knight is “pretty sore.”
9. One of the ugliest games of the year (Northwestern-Michigan) ended like this…
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
