Weekend Madness
HUNTER JAMESON
SPORTS EDITOR
@HJamo
If you are a college football fan, the remaining two months of the season just got a lot more interesting. Unless you were hiding under a rock this weekend, you probably heard about the catastrophic weekend that just occurred. Whether it was last second touchdown passes, game winning field goals, or complete blowouts, this weekend had it all. I got the urge to write about college football after No. 2 Oregon Ducks lost at home to the University of Arizona Wildcats, but thought I should wait until the weekend was over. Boy was that a good decision.
Honestly, I wasn’t very surprised when the Ducks lost on Thursday night because the Wildcats are very talented this year and also because Oregon always seems to fall just short of a Championship. Every year college football analysts predict that this will finally be “Oregon’s year” but they always fall just short with a heartbreaking loss during the regular season. Well this time, they were not alone. The Southeastern Conference is completely loaded with Championship-caliber teams, but somebody has to lose when they play against each other for half of the season.
The day started off with a barn-burner when the No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies traveling to Mississippi to take on their SEC opponent No. 12 Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs ran over the Aggies 48-31, commencing what would be one of the most chaotic days in the last decade for this sport. Across the state, the No. 11 Ole Miss Rebels upset the powerhouse that is the University of Alabama, resulting in pandemonium so wild that the goal posts were ripped out of the ground by crazed fans.
Just as No. 8 UCLA lost 28-30 at the University of Utah, their archrival in the USC Trojans had their season ripped out from under them as well. In what will go down as one of the most memorable plays in Arizona State Sun Devil history, wide receiver Jaelen Strong caught a 50-yard touchdown pass as time expired to shock Trojan Nation.
After roughly six hours of such madness, the No. 5 Auburn Tigers may have had the most impressive win of the day. The Tigers absolutely embarrassed the No. 15 Louisiana State University Tigers 41-7, alerting the nation that their National Championship appearance last season was not just a fluke.
Ultimately, tensions have risen and the pressure is on, creating a perfect storm for the rest of the season. The Arizona Wildcats made the biggest jump in the rankings from unranked to No. 10 in the country. The No. 1 Florida State Seminoles better watch out, because there’s something in the water this year and nothing is for certain after what ensued on Oct. 4. Welcome to October!