Marcus Lattimore's Performance Against Navy Puts Him Near the Top of the Heisman Trophy Race: When discussing the preseason Heisman Trophy candidates, Andrew Luck, Kellen Moore, and Landry Jones were always the three quarterbacks thrown around and then everybody seemed to be high on Alabama running back Trent Richardson as the tailback who could win the award. Through week 3, another running back in the SEC has stood out as a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender. Marcus Lattimore has been unbelievable in South Carolina's first three games and the Gamecocks have narrowly escaped from East Carolina, Georgia, and Navy because of Lattimore's performance. The sophmore running back had 112 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns to help the Gamecocks outlast the ECU Pirates 56-37 in week 1. After East Carolina scored in the third quarter to cut South Carolina's lead to 35-31, Lattimore had two straight rushing touchdowns to put the game away for the Gamecocks by giving them a 49-31 lead. In week 2 on the road in Athens against Georgia, Lattimore rushed for 176 yards and 1 touchdown in South Carolina's huge 45-42 conference win. In the fourth quarter, Lattimore ran for a touchdown to give the Gamecocks a 35-31 lead and then ran out the clock with a first down in the final 2 minutes of the game. These two outstanding performances were outdone by his record-breaking week 3 game against Navy. In a very tight and highly contested game, Lattimore ran for an almost unimaginable 246 yards and 3 touchdowns on 37 carries. It was the most rushing yards by a single player in one game under Steve Spurrier, more than Errict Rhett and Fred Taylor ever ran for at Florida when the old ball coach was at the helm. His 246 yards were also a South Carolina school record. If Lattimore continues to run this well, he may become just the second running back to officially (Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy in 2005 was vacated) win the Heisman Trophy since 2000 and just the 6th since 1989 to win the award.
The Top College Football Quaterbacks All Look Very Good: Kellen Moore's huge game on Friday night was just the beginning of a great display from the top college football quarterbacks in week 3. Moore, who never looks like he is phased by anything, meticulously and surgically picked apart a Toledo defense that nearly helped the Rockets pull off an upset a week earlier against the Ohio St. Buckeyes in Columbus. Moore may of had his best statistical game in college as he tied his career high in passing touchdowns with 5 and set a career high with 32 completions in the Broncos 40 to 15 win on the road. He also threw for 455 yards and is now just 6 wins away from becoming the all-time wins leader in college football history. Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson also looked great in the Badgers 49-7 win over Northern Illinois. The senior transfer from NCST has added a dangerous passing and running threat under center for Wisconsin. His 347 passing yards were the most by a Wisconsin quarterback in more than 4 years since 2007 when Tyler Donovan threw for 392 yards against Illinois. Wilson has also thrown more than 2 touchdowns in each of his first three games, as he threw for 3 on Saturday. Lastly, Andrew Luck showed why he is considered the top college football quarterback and the eventual number 1 pick in the NFL draft. Luck had his normal, precise game, as he threw for 325 yards and 2 touchdowns in Stanford's 37-10 win over Arizona on the road. Luck uses his array of tight ends so beautifully, as Levine Toilolo and Zach Ertz both had touchdown catches in the Caridnals victory to improve to 3-0.
Notre Dame Really Needed Their Win Over Michigan St: The last time Notre Dame began a season 0-2 was back in 2007 when they lost to Georgia Tech and Penn St. and ended up finishing the season 3-9. After beginning 2011 with a loss to South Florida and a crushing loss to Michigan, the Fighting Irish were once again facing a 0-2 hole and a huge amount of pressure from the faithful in South Bend. After Notre Dame got out to an early 7-0 lead, the Irish fans were forced to cringe at what must have seemed like deja vu to them. Tommy Rees, who had replaced Dayne Crist after halftime of Notre Dame's first game, was sacked and fumbled the ball over to Michigan St. After getting the ball back, Rees forced a ball in the middle of the field and was picked off for the Fighting Irish's second turnover in two possessions. In Notre Dame's 23-20 loss to South Florida, the Fighting Irish had 5 turnovers including 3 in the red zone. In their next game against Michigan, Notre Dame once again had 5 turnovers including 2 in the red zone and lost to the Wolverines 35-31. However, unlike their previous two losses, the Irish rebounded from their turnovers. Cierre Wood had 2 touchdown runs and Tommy Rees managed the game very well after his early turnovers by throwing for 161 yards and a touchdown. The 31-13 win over the 15th ranked Spartans will take some of the pressure off of the shoulders of Brian Kelly, who has been getting a tremendous amount of heat in South Bend.
Oklahoma Proved A Lot From Their Road Win Over Florida St: Bob Stoops has had an unbelievable amount of success at Oklahoma since he took over the job in 1999, but there are some doubters out there who believe that he can't win the big game, especially when his Sooners are on the road. Stoops and his Sooners quieted those doubters just for now after top ranked Oklahoma went into Tallahassee and beat the Florida St. Seminoles 23 to 13. Oklahoma has struggled on the road in recent memory. In 2009 the Sooners were 1-4 on the road and last year Oklahoma suffered their only two losses in their 12-2 campaign to Missouri and Texas A&M on the road. The Sooners didn't let their previous road woes stop them from knocking off the Noles in front of a record-breaking crowd at Doak Campbell Stadium. Oklahoma also proved that they can win ugly and that they can win with defensive. Landry Jones didn't have his typical game at quarterback. He was held under 200 yards passing for the first time since he came in for Sam Bradford on September 5, 2009 against BYU in his first career game for Oklahoma and threw 2 interceptions as well. Oklahoma's star receiver Ryan Broyles was held under 100 yards for just the 5th time in his last 19 games and didn't have a touchdown catch. However, the Oklahoma defense made a countless number of big plays and forced 3 Florida St. turnovers and held the Seminoles to just 27 rushing yards.
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