It’s amazing to me the amount of talent that is spread around college football in 2012. It almost makes ranking recruiting classes irrelevant. The fact that a school like Kansas State, located in Manhattan, KS, can field a more competitive team than USC, located in Los Angeles, CA, shows that there is no substitute for good old fashioned coaching players up.
It is much more apparent in NCAA football than the NFL how much coaching matters. There’s such a difference that more times than not, a successful NCAA coach can’t hack it in the NFL (Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier etc.). College coaches have the opportunity to turn a raw talent into a NFL draft pick. The NFL coach has to massage 50 egos. There is certainly a special skill set that is needed in both, but you can’t help but be amazed at seeing an 18-year old raw talent get turned into the next Brian Urlacher or RG3.
BMOC of the Week: Seth Doege, QB, Texas Tech
You can never predict what’s going to happen when a ranked team goes into Texas Tech. The one thing you’ll know is that the home team will put up numbers. Doege was damn near perfect against #5 West Virginia, throwing for 499 yards and six touchdowns in their 49-14 blowout win against the Mountaineers. Texas Tech has a tough one this Saturday when they travel to in-state rival TCU.
They gave HIM a scholarship? Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina
Ok, maybe I’m being a little unfair here due to his prior work, but Lattimore’s performance against LSU last Saturday was pathetic. You have to give most of the credit to the LSU defense, but elite running backs find holes even against the toughest game plan against them. Things get no easier for Lattimore and the Gamecocks as they travel to Gainesville to play the tough Gators defense this Saturday.
Project Runway NCAA: Rutgers University
As far as college football uniforms go, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights up until this year had about the most generic uniform in Division 1. This has changed in a dramatically good way with Rutgers’ new Nike Pro Combat design that they debuted in 2012. Sporting a silver helmet with a dramatic red “R”, the uniform finally lives up to the Scarlet Knights nickname. Rutgers will take these uniforms down the turnpike to Philadelphia to play Temple this weekend.
Small School, Big Time Numbers: Tyler Tettleton, QB, Ohio Univ.
The Ohio Univ. Bobcats have made it into the AP Top 25 thanks to the strength of the arm of Tyler Tettleton. He became Ohio’s all-time leader in touchdown passes this past Saturday with their 34-28 win over Akron. If the last name Tettleton sounds familiar, his father is Mickey Tettleton, who was a catcher for the Orioles and the Tigers for several years. The Bobcats have this week off before traveling to Miami (OH) on the 27th of October.
Thursday Night Social: Oregon at Arizona State, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN
This should be better than your run of the mill Thursday match-up. Arizona State comes off an impressive road win at Colorado 51-17 and now plays host to the #3 ranked Oregon Ducks. The Ducks put a 50 spot on the board with their win against #23 ranked Washington last week. The Ducks and Sun Devils are leaders of the Pac-12 North and South, respectively, and it should be an entertaining shootout in Tempe.
Josh Adams is a contributor to FBSchedules.com. Follow him @Joshthescribe.