As every team—barring Temple—sweeps Week 5 under their respective carpets, we can look back with great hindsight and say, “that was just awful!”
In the only game an American Athletic Conference team was guaranteed a win, Temple blew away Connecticut, 36-10. The other six games, mostly against high-profile opponents, the AAC was beaten by the combined score of 225-81. Hardly a positive for a conference that took umbrage at being left outside the Power 5.
To be fair, USF and Memphis played tough in losses to Wisconsin and Mississippi, while Tulsa lost in triple overtime, while Cincinnati put a scare into Ohio State. SMU is just sad at this stage, and if it can’t turn it around soon, will need to go the way of Old Yeller.
Game of the Week: Texas State Bobcats at Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Tulsa had been heading downhill since their opening win over Tulane, so this game can actually be seen as a positive, or at least a moral victory. Texas State took a 17-3 lead into the fourth quarter, and looked to have the game wrapped up, as Tulsa could get little going apart from a long pass intercepted in the end zone, and a 20-yard field goal.
Then previously embattled quarterback Dane Evans erupted, leading a drive that was stuffed at the one, and when Texas State was shut down on the next drive, Evans took the Golden Hurricane back down the field, this time finishing the drive with a 17-yard pass to Conner Floyd. Texas State started to move again, but a holding penalty killed its drive, and Tulsa took over at their own 25 with 7:10 left.
With the help of some good running from Zach Langer and Mandel Dixon, Evans led the Hurricane on a 17-play, 75-yard drive, which he finished by calling his own number on fourth down from the 1-yard line. With just 10 seconds left on the clock, the game was going to overtime. Tulsa had the ball first, and roughing the passer penalty set up Evans’ 10-yard TD pass to Keevan Lucas.
Texas State hit back when Tyler Jones threw a 5-yard TD pass to Jafus Gaines, setting up the second overtime. Tulsa looked in good shape when a penalty pushed Texas State back on first down, but Jones fired a 35-yard TD pass to Ben Ijah to retake the lead, but Zack Langer tied it up again from four yards out.
In the third overtime, Evans was sacked on second down, forcing him to pass on third, and he misfired, setting up a Carl Salazar field goal. Jones completed another big pass, a 24-yarder to Bradley Miller which put the Bobcats on the Tulsa 2-yard line. From there, Terrence Franks scored his second touchdown of the day to give the Bobcats a big win.
Offensive Player of the Week: Gunner Kiel, Cincinnati Bearcats
I didn’t really want to put Kiel here this week, in part because he’ll spend enough time here, but also because I don’t believe he had anywhere close to an MVP performance. But in the week that was in the AAC, neither did anyone else. In fact, all the other quarterbacks who played for the other AAC teams this week combined for just four touchdowns, the same amount Kiel threw against a strong Ohio State team.
The sophomore completed 21-of-32 passes for 352 yards, and completed scoring passes of 60, 83 and 78 yards to receive Chris Moore. Like the rest of his team, Kiel struggled in the second half as the Buckeyes’ superior depth wore them down. Despite the big loss, it’s not hard to envision the Bearcats and Kiel competing for some end-of-season prizes.
Defensive Player of the Week: Praise Martin-Oguike, Temple Owls
There are surprises every year in college football, and this season, Temple is one of them. Even more surprising, not only was one player good enough to win an award, but the whole unit is pretty damn good.
Now back to the irony of someone called Praise winning a weekly MVP award. The junior defensive lineman had a breakout game against UConn, making six tackles, sacking Chandler Whitmer and forcing a fumble. He also recovered a Whitmer fumble, and dragged one of the Huskies into the endzone for an 11-yard TD, being credited with a couple of hurries as well.
Special Teams Player of the Week: Spencer Smith, Memphis Tigers
The Tigers had their hands full with Ole Miss, but they still gave them a fight. A solid performance from their defense was helped by some quality punting from Smith, who had a hefty nine punts for 386 yards, dropping two inside the 20. More importantly, the Rebels only managed to return three of those punts for a loss of five yards. With Smith pinning the Rebels in their own territory regularly, the defense was able to keep the score from getting out of hand.
Team of the Week: Temple Owls
Remember when the Owls were kicked out of the Big East? They struggled for a couple of years before joining the MAC and having some successful seasons, including making a couple of bowl games. Then Temple returned to Big East/AAC, but finished just 2-10 last season with a new coach at the helm, and there were grumblings of “same old Temple.”
Hold that thought just a moment, as the Owls are 3-1 this season. They lost a tough game to Navy, but hammered Vanderbilt, Delaware State and Connecticut in convincing fashion. While it may be slightly delusional to consider them a title contender, they definitely have to be considered in the running for a bowl game. Their exciting style of play will only make them more attractive.
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