Fall Saturdays are a beautiful thing.
Football, MLB pennant races and U.S. Open tennis. A beautiful mixture of sports.
With so many options, however, what’s a gal to choose?
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Eastern Washington-Washington: If you’re one of the uninitiated, first glance at the 59-52 score might seem like Washington escaped an FCS team. Some might even think they played down to an FCS school. Only one of those thoughts would be right.
A halftime stat sheet to make defensive coordinators curl up and weep. #uwhuskies #ewu pic.twitter.com/GbFUNmT6Uf
— Tim Booth (@ByTimBooth) September 6, 2014
For “the uninitiated”, Eastern Washington is not one of those FCS schools of old. There is no rolling over, collect your check and take the loss. No, this Eastern Washington team is a powerhouse. They compete no matter who is on the other side of the line of scrimmage. The Eagles have a high-powered offense led by Big Play VA, Vernon Adams.
Adams had 475 passing yards on 31-46 passing with 7 touchdowns. SEVEN! Against a Pac-12 defense. Adams also rushed for 68 yards on 15 carries. This despite the Husky pressure throughout the game and battling cramps in the second half heat.
OREGON-MICHIGAN STATE: Start fast, finish fast. Or simply just resilient.
Whatever way you choose to describe it, the Oregon Ducks made a statement today with their 46-27 win over Big Ten’s Michigan State Spartans. Early in the second half, it appeared Oregon would be doing their Oregon thing jumping out to an 11-0 lead. The Ducks starting fast is standard fare for an Oregon game. But, as Lee Corso says, “Not so fast, my friend”.
The Spartans would come storming back with 27 unanswered points by early in the third. But, that was all she wrote. Led by early Heisman candidate, Marcus Mariota, Oregon would answer back with 28 unanswered of their own for the win.
https://twitter.com/smartfootball/status/508419503710306305
Oregon has a chin too. Helluva game.
— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) September 7, 2014
USC-STANFORD: Inefficiency in the red zone. Hits and plenty of misses. A text and an athletic director on the loose.
https://twitter.com/LindseyThiry/status/508379036070846464
Shenanigans aside, this was a huge win for USC. Four losses in the last five seasons to Stanford, most of which occurred during USC’s sanction period, meant USC had something to prove. With a new coach in town and some disconcerting events over the past couple of weeks for the Trojans provided an additional challenge.
But, the Trojans pulled it out. Thankful for Stanford’s uncharacteristic inconsistent play. Survived their own poor play.
And survived their AD on the loose:
WHAT ELSE DID I WATCH? Hmm. Might almost be better to ask what I didn’t watch.
I watched most or parts of the following:
- Alabama-Florida Atlantic
- Florida State-Citadel
- UCLA-Memphis
- Oklahoma-Tulsa
- Penn State-Akron
- Notre Dame-Michigan
- Auburn-San Jose State
- LSU-Sam Houston State
- Ole Miss-Vanderbilt
- Arizona State-New Mexico
- Nebraska-McNeese State
- Kansas State-Iowa State
- North Carolina-San Diego State
- Missouri-Toledo
- California-Sacramento State
- Oklahoma State-Missouri State
Throw in some U.S. Open tennis too and you have the makings of a long, fun sports day. After March Madness, this is truly the most wonderful time of the year.
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