College Football Weekend Recap: Dec 12, 2020

Each week we will have our recap of the weekend that was in college football. A quick look at the teams who impressed, the players who starred, some takeaways and final thoughts. With Championship weekend next the playoff race is down to the final few teams. Here is our recap of the weekend that was in college football.

Teams That Impressed

North Carolina

North Carolina and Miami played in what was supposed to be the marquee game this past Saturday. Instead, the Tar Heels jumped all over the Hurricanes early and turned the game into a showcase for North Carolina football. Mack Brown’s team dominated from start to finish in a 62 – 26 drubbing of Miami.

The North Carolina running game set the tone on offense. Javonte Williams and Michael Carter were unstoppable. They were decisive and ran with power and elusiveness, breaking several long runs where they made Miami defenders miss tackles or simply ran through them. By games end, Carter had 308 rushing yards and Williams had 236. The duo ran for five touchdowns, while leading the way for a running attack that totaled 554 rushing yards at 10.1 yards per carry. North Carolina did not need to throw the ball much, but they were efficient when they did throw it. The Tar Heels passed for 224 yards, averaging 11.2 yards per attempt. The offense dominated Miami all game, totaling 778 yards and averaging 10.4 yards per play. In a match-up of top 20 teams, the Carolina offense put on a performance for the ages.

The defense did not have the statistical dominance the offense did, but helped set the tone and build a big lead early. Miami drove 50 yards for a field goal on their opening possession of the game but the Tar Heels clamped down after that. The next five drives for Miami resulted in four punts and a turnover on downs. North Carolina held the Hurricanes to 44 yards on those five drives and helped their offense build a 34 – 3 lead. The Hurricanes scored some points after that, but the game had already been decided. The defense shutdown the Miami running game, as none of the Hurricanes backs had any success. D’Eriq King led the way with 53 rushing yards but the running backs accounted for just 29 yards on 14 carries. North Carolina’s defense helped the offense build a big lead, then held on to secure a huge win for the program.

Miami was ranked tenth in the country coming into this game, with their only previous loss coming against Clemson. North Carolina pummeled a good team on the road to finish the regular season, showing the program is trending way up. The Tar Heels still have a bowl game to go in the 2020 season, but fans should be excited about what’s to come in 2021.

Georgia

Georgia took on a Missouri team that had won five of it’s last six games, but dominated for a 49 – 14 win. The Bulldogs scored the last 35 points of the game, controlling the game on both sides of the ball for a convincing win.

The Bulldogs offense has thrived with JT Daniels behind center. He was strong for the Bulldogs again on Saturday, completing 16 of 27 passes for 299 yards and 3 touchdowns without an interception. Daniels has added the downfield passing game to the Georgia offense and balanced out the attack, creating running room for a talented stable of backs. Georgia’s balance was on display Saturday, the team ran for 316 yards and passed for 299 yards. The Bulldogs had two running backs run for over 100 yards and two more ran for over 40 yards. The offense was balance and used a variety of weapons to overwhelm the Missouri defense. After breaking 30 points only once without Daniels, the Bulldogs have gone over 30 points in all three games he has started, topping 40 in the last two. Georgia’s offense is significantly better than it was a month ago and should continue to improve as their quarterback gains experience.

Defensively, the Bulldogs dominated Missouri on all but one drive this game. The Tigers scored on an eight play 75 yard drive in the first quarter and did little else offensively the rest of the game. The Tigers other 12 possessions all gained less than 30 yards, with ten of them going for less than 20 yards. Georgia limited Missouri to 11 first downs, 22 rushing yards and just 200 yards of total offense in the game. The defense was a brick wall against the run and rushed the passer effectively, recording only 1 sack but 12 quarterback hurries. Azeez Ojulari had five hurries by himself. Georgia gave Missouri little space to make plays, tackled well and forced the Missouri offense off the field on third down. The defense has been strong most of the year despite battling a litany of injuries to key players, but Saturday was an excellent effort for the unit.

Georgia did not qualify for the SEC championship game, but appear to have found their quarterback for 2021. With Daniels leading the way and abundance of talent on the roster, the Bulldogs will be tough to beat going forward.

Stars From The Weekend

QB – Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA

Thompson-Robinson was expected to be a perfect fit in Chip Kelly’s offense at UCLA. Those expectations are starting to become reality in 2020. Thompson-Robinson was excellent in the heartbreaking loss against the Trojans on Saturday. He completed 30 of 36 passe for 364 yards and 4 touchdowns with 2 interceptions. The dual threat quarterback also ran for 50 yards on 10 carries. Thompson-Robinson did all he could to upset the rival Trojans on Saturday, including drive his team 51 yards to set up the go ahead field goal with 52 seconds to play, but it was not enough as USC scored a late touchdown and won the game 43 – 38. Thompson-Robinson has excelled behind center for the Bruins this year and should lead the way for UCLA in 2021.

RB – Michael Carter, North Carolina

North Carolina dominated Miami in the running game. Michael Carter led the way with a career day for the Tar Heels. He ran for 308 yards and 2 touchdowns on 24 carries and caught 2 passes for 9 yards. Carter had several runs where he showed off his explosiveness as well as his ability to make defenders miss. Time and time again, Carter danced through the Miami defense, leaving defenders grasping at air. The senior running back was unstoppable Saturday and closed out the 2020 regular season with a bang.

WR – Dillon Stoner, Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State went into the Baylor game without their two biggest weapons. Chuba Hubbard opted out for the remainder of the season and star receiver Tylan Wallace was out with a knee injury. The Cowboys needed skill players to step up and Stoner definitely rose to the occasion. He caught 8 passes for 247 yards and 3 touchdowns in a dominating performance against the Bears. Stoner accounted for all but 100 of the Cowboys receiving yards as he proved to be an impossible cover for the Baylor secondary. The senior tied a career high for receptions and set a new career highs for receiving yards and touchdowns on Saturday.

DE – Mike Tverdov, Rutgers

With the win over Maryland on Saturday, Rutgers has now won any big conference games in 2020 (3) as they had in the last four seasons combined. Senior defensive end, Mike Tverdov, had five tackles for loss this season but had not recorded a sack before Saturday. He had a huge game against the Terps, tallying 5 tackles and 3 sacks and a quarterback hurry. Tverdov’s third and final sack of the game came in overtime on 3rd and 13, when he beat his man to the inside and wrapped up the Maryland quarterback attempting to escape the pocket. The five yard loss led to a missed 50 yard field goal, preserving the win for the Scarlet Knights.

LB – Nefi Sewell, Utah

Utah beat Colorado 38 – 21 this weekend and Nefi Sewell had another big day for the Utes. The star linebacker is making his second appearance as a star of the weekend after stuffing the stat sheet with 11 tackles, a tackle for loss, a fumble forced, an interception and a pass break up against the Buffaloes. Sewell has been excellent as a junior this year, making big plays every weekend. Saturday was no different, Sewell’s athleticism and instincts allowed him to read and react quickly and make several big plays. Sewell has become a leader on the Utes defense and has elevated his game to a new level, it’s a shame the 2020 season has been cut so short by Covid because Sewell has been a lot of fun to watch.

Iowa’s defense dominates against Wisconsin

No one expected Iowa and Wisconsin to play in a shootout this Saturday. Both teams have struggled at times offensively and both defenses have played very well in 2020. Iowa’s offense played well enough to win, but it was the defense that led the way to a dominant 28 – 7 win.

The first half was as dominant a performance as a defense can have. The Hawkeyes not only kept the Badgers off the scoreboard, they kept on their side of the fifty yard line for the majority of the half. The Badgers ran seven plays on the Iowa side of the field, three consecutive snaps at the Iowa 49, the third of which was a punt and a four play possession that started at the Iowa 40 and resulted in a turnover on downs. All of that despite Wisconsin starting the drive at their own 39 or better on four possessions. Iowa held the Badgers to 66 yards on nine first half possessions and built a 6 – 0 lead going into the half.

The only score for Wisconsin, who fared only slightly better in the second half, came after an Iowa fumble set the Badgers up at the Hawkeyes 25 yard line. Even after a special teams disaster set Wisconsin up at the Iowa five yard line, the defense stepped up and made an interception to turn away Wisconsin again. Wisconsin managed just 225 yards of offense on 71 plays, a mere 3.2 yards per play. Iowa suffocated the Badgers offense in every way, pressuring and rattling quarterback Graham Mertz and dominating upfront to hold the vaunted Wisconsin running game to 1.7 yards per carry. Iowa’s defense has gelled well in a shortened season and is leading the team to success.

Iowa will play Michigan next week to close out the regular season with a game they should be favored in. The Hawkeyes lost their first two games of the season but have won six in a row since. Kirk Ferentz and company have had another strong season, despite the pandemic.

LSU upset’s Florida and clears up playoff picture.

The Tigers were a heavy underdog on Saturday, but made enough plays on offense and defense to pull out a 37 – 34 win over the Gators. As much as the Tiger’s made plays it was also a matter of Florida making big mistakes, including a huge one that ultimately sealed the Gator’s fate.

LSU has had a difficult season. Several players opted out before the season began, including superstar receiver Ja’marr Chase, standout nose tackle Tyler Shelvin and starting cornerback Kary Vincent among others. Derek Stingley, the top cornerback in the country, has been in and out of the lineup with injuries since the start of the season. As the losses began to pile up more players have left the program including Terrace Marshall (opted out to prepare for the draft) and Arik Gilbert (opted out to potentially transfer). LSU was not expected to compete against a one-loss Florida team that appeared to be headed for a showdown with Alabama and a chance to make the College Football Playoff.

LSU showed up to play. They played sound defense. They moved the ball, even with a true freshman quarterback running the offense. They made big plays, like Eli Ricks’ interception return for touchdown. They got some fortuitous bounces, including one off a defenders helmet to lead to an interception. Then with the game all tied up and fourth down coming up, Florida made a play to help them. Marco Wilson made the key tackle on third down and ended up with the LSU player’s shoe in his hand. He could have dropped it, handed it to the ref or tossed it aside, but instead Wilson did his best Kyle Trask impression, throwing the shoe downfield in celebration. The referee in turn threw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct and Cade York drilled a 57 yard go ahead field goal that would end up being the game winner.

LSU’s win likely knocks Florida out of the Playoff race. It also means Alabama is in, whether they win or lose on Saturday. In addition to the Crimson Tide, Notre Dame is sitting pretty with an undefeated record and will likely be in regardless of the outcome Saturday. Ohio State whose season was shortened because of the Big Ten’s incompetence and Covid should be in as long as they win on Saturday. The Buckeyes would be an undefeated Big Ten Champion and at 6 – 0 they will have made it further into their season with an undefeated record than Florida or Texas A&M. If Clemson beats Notre Dame they are in as well, their only loss was in overtime against Notre Dame without Trevor Lawrence and several key defensive starters. If Ohio State or Clemson lose, things could get interesting. That would open the door for Texas A&M, Cincinnati, USC or the Big 12 Champions. There are still a few variables, but LSU did a lot to clear up the College Football Playoff picture on Saturday night.

Closing Stats

• North Carolina had 778 yards of total offense against Miami at 10.4 yards per play.

• North Carolina ran for 554 yards on 55 carries against Miami (10.1 yards per carry).

• Georgia held Missouri to 22 rushing yards on 22 carries (1 yard per carry).

• Georgia ran for 316 yards on 45 carries against Missouri (7 yards per carry).

• Pittsburgh ran for 317 yards on 54 carries against Georgia Tech (5.9 yards per carry).

• Minnesota held Nebraska to 111 passing yards.

• Northwestern ran for 411 yards on 58 carries against Illinois (7.1 yards per carry).

• Northwestern held Illinois to 107 passing yards.

• Rutgers recorded 7 sacks against Maryland.

• Oklahoma State held Baylor to 86 passing yards.

• Florida State ran for 324 yards on 43 carries against Duke (7.5 yards per carry).

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2019 Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman: Temple vs North Carolina Image taken by Michael Smith is licensed under CC BY 2.0.