Week 7 is right here as we glance towards some thrilling convention matchups this weekend that you simply will not need to miss.
The Red River Rivalry recreation is Saturday as No. 1 Texas will face No. 18 Oklahoma on the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. In simply his second profession begin, Oklahoma's true freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. might be making historical past. Oklahoma has received 4 of the previous 5 Red River Rivalry video games, however will Hawkins' poise be sufficient to take down its top-ranked opponent?
No. 3 Oregon and No. 2 Ohio State will face-off as convention opponents for the primary time this weekend, however this is not their first time taking part in in opposition to one another. Ten years in the past, Ohio State leaned on its third-string quarterback to rally the Buckeyes after accidents rocked the group on the place. Ohio State and Oregon met within the nationwide championship recreation that 12 months and the Buckeyes' third-string quarterback did certainly step up.
Our school soccer specialists preview massive video games and storylines to find out about and share quotes of the week forward of Week 7.
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Ohio State-Oregon | Red River Rivalry
New convention enemy | Quotes of the Week
How Cardale Jones stepped up when the Buckeyes wanted him most
Safety Tyvis Powell remembered “all the oxygen” evaporating from Ohio Stadium when J.T. Barrett could not rise up with a fractured proper ankle. Tailback Ezekiel Elliott referred to as it a “shock” seeing Ohio State's quarterback get carted off the sphere in opposition to Michigan a decade in the past.
“J.T. was having a crazy season,” Elliott mentioned. “He probably would've won the Heisman.”
The Buckeyes had already misplaced star quarterback Braxton Miller within the preseason to shoulder surgical procedure. With the season on the road, Barrett was headed for surgical procedure, too.
“It was like, ‘Oh man, here we go again,'” Powell mentioned. “We overcame the Braxton [injury], which was hard enough. We finally got this train rolling and boom, we get hit by another quarterback injury.”
Powell, Elliott and the Buckeyes felt devastated. But in addition they knew their third-string quarterback, Cardale Jones, owned a rocket arm.
“I don't know if I've played with a quarterback with a stronger arm,” Elliott mentioned. “We knew he had all the tools. We just hadn't seen it yet.”
Saturday in Eugene, Ohio State visits Oregon of their first showdown as Big Ten rivals — 10 years after going through off for the nationwide title in Arlington, Texas, the place Jones and fourth-seeded Ohio State accomplished an unlikely championship season.
“The closest person to do what Cardale did was a fictional character by the name of Steamin' Willie Beamen,” mentioned Powell, referring to the Miami Sharks backup quarterback performed by Jamie Foxx within the 1999 movie “Any Given Sunday.”
With Jones, the Buckeyes did not miss a beat. They completed off Michigan, then annihilated Wisconsin 59-0 for the Big Ten championship, to slide into the inaugural four-team playoff. They surprised Alabama within the Sugar Bowl semifinal 42-35. Then, they took down Oregon 42-20 for the nationwide championship. Over these three video games, Jones handed for 742 yards, rushed for an additional 90 and totaled six touchdowns.
“I knew the expectations. I knew the culture we developed,” mentioned Jones, who, till Barrett's damage, had by no means performed a significant snap. “Everybody was expected to do their job, and that's how they treated me, from the coaching staff on down. No one babied me, no one tried to walk me into things. It was, ‘Hey, you know your f—ing job, let's do it.”
Powell realized Jones meant business when he got home from class the Monday after the Michigan game. Powell usually found his roommate playing Call of Duty in the living room. That evening, Jones was at the football facility studying film with then offensive coordinator Tom Herman.
“That was a relaxing factor, like ‘Oh, you are locked in,'” Powell said. “At that time, I knew we'll be superb.”
Later that week, Herman compiled a highlight tape of Jones' best plays from Cleveland Glenville High School and showed it to him.
“He needed to ensure I used to be reassured that hey, I belong right here,” Jones said, “and that I've all the power on the earth to assist us.”
Barrett kept telling him the same: “You're right here for a purpose.”
After thumping Wisconsin, the Buckeyes didn't gather to watch ESPN's playoff selection show. In fact, Jones was driving home to Cleveland when he started getting texts and calls from teammates and coaches, telling him Ohio State had jumped TCU and Baylor, to secure the selection committee's coveted No. 4 seed.
Ohio State fell behind No. 1 Alabama early in their semifinal matchup. But in the second half on third-and-long, Jones lofted a 47-yard touchdown strike to Devin Smith to give the Buckeyes the lead. They never handed it back.
Against Oregon in the title game, Jones kept on completing big passes, matching the play of Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota. Along with a stingy defense — highlighted by Powell's fourth-down, goal-line stuff — and Elliott's relentless rushing, the underdog Buckeyes rolled past the Ducks.
Elliott, who ran for 246 yards and four touchdowns, earned offensive MVP title game honors. Powell, who also had the game-ending interception against Alabama, was named defensive MVP. And Jones, in just a little over three games, cemented an Ohio State legacy. — Jake Trotter
The presence of Oklahoma's Michael Hawkins Jr.
Dontonio Jordan is the founder of 940 Elite, a Denton, Texas-based, 7-on-7 program. And before Michael Hawkins Jr. started eluding SEC defenders, Jordan chased the young quarterback for the better part of two years.
It took until the spring of 2023 for Jordan to finally get Hawkins to join his team for a training session. When Hawkins stepped onto the turf, Jordan needed all of two minutes to identify the young quarterback's poise, the same aura Hawkins has oozed since taking over as No. 18 Oklahoma's starter against Tennessee on Sept. 21.
“I noticed it earlier than he even tied his sneakers,” Jordan, who played wide receiver at Stanford from 2012 to 2015, told ESPN. “I educated with Andrew Luck and I performed with Christian McCaffrey. Guys like which have a sure power. They do not even attempt to do it. It's simply their presence. And Mike Hawkins has that sort of presence.”
Hawkins' composure, as well as his propensity for hurling himself into and over opposing defenders, has defined a brief, yet bright start to life as Oklahoma's quarterback. At the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, 38 miles from the high school field where Jordan first worked with Hawkins, the Sooners' freshman will make Red River Rivalry history against No. 1 Texas.
Hawkins will develop into the primary Oklahoma true freshman quarterback to begin in opposition to the Longhorns within the 120-game lore of this bitter rivalry, in the identical Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex the place he as soon as tormented opposing highschool defenses and realized to throw underneath the tutelage of Kyler Murray's father.
“It means a lot just going to a big stage,” Hawkins mentioned final week. “It's my first time playing in this stadium and against this team, too. So this is a big moment for me.”
Murmurs of Hawkins' instant promise and maturity flowed out of the Sooners' spring and fall camps earlier this 12 months. But ESPN's No. 7 dual-threat quarterback within the 2024 class solely took heart stage after Brent Venables pulled Jackson Arnold earlier than halftime in opposition to Tennessee final month, benching the previous five-star passer simply 5 video games after handing him the reins. Hawkins's composure confirmed when he steadied Oklahoma in an eventual 25-15 loss to the Volunteers. Per week later, when Hawkins made his first profession begin at Auburn, his poise overflowed throughout an 11-point, fourth-quarter comeback, which Hawkins flourished by careening into the end zone on a pivotal, late-game 2-point conversion.
“He's a guy to bet on just from a maturity, process-driven, consistency [standpoint],” Venables mentioned of Hawkins this week. “How he handles tough moments … he's got a lot of really good qualities that maybe sometimes a younger player doesn't have.”
Those qualities rapidly turned clear to Jordan. From that preliminary coaching session, Hawkins joined 940 Elite, and quickly, he was a commanding presence throughout the 7-on-7 program that has produced gamers resembling Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby, Texas Tech freshman All-American linebacker Ben Roberts, Arizona State huge receiver Jordyn Tyson and a handful of Hawkins' Oklahoma teammates, together with defenders Peyton Bowen and Eli Bowen and tight finish Davon Mitchell.
At Frisco Emerson High School, the place Hawkins transferred for his senior season after three years at Allen High School, head coach Kendall Miller noticed Hawkins' traits, too. Beyond the bodily instruments that powered Hawkins' 4,211 all-purpose yards and 55 touchdowns in 2023, Miller noticed one thing particular within the maturity of the quarterback who led Emerson to the 5A state semifinal in his lone season on the faculty.
“He had the same demeanor in the semifinal as he did in Game 1,” Miller mentioned. “I think he's just got something inside of him. If I could just find what he has, I'd go get some of it and give it to a lot of other guys.”
Before he turned Oklahoma's freshman quarterback, Hawkins' poise was a driving drive of his recreation. When he steps onto one among school soccer's greatest levels Saturday, it might be his best asset. — Eli Lederman
Get to know your new convention enemy
These two packages should not completely unfamiliar with one another. In 2017, James Franklin and Penn State held a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl Game. USC then scored 17 factors, together with a game-winning discipline objective within the closing seconds to win one of the thrilling variations of the bowl recreation lately.
Now, seven years later, the No. 4 Nittany Lions are headed again to the West Coast to face the Trojans once more, this time as a convention opponent.
The Trojans are 1-0 (beat Wisconsin) in residence video games in opposition to Big Ten opponents and 0-2 on the street (misplaced to Michigan and Minnesota).
The Nittany Lions have probably the greatest defenses and USC's offense has regarded overpowered within the trenches when going through more durable opponents, which has, in flip, requested a number of its improved however not flawless protection. This isn't precisely the sort of get proper recreation that the Trojans wanted after a brutal loss in Minnesota. But it additionally stands out as the sort of entice recreation that Franklin's group must keep away from on its quest for a playoff spot.
As Lincoln Riley defined lately, Big Ten video games have had fewer possessions and are slower paced than what he and the Trojans are accustomed. Franklin and Penn State, maybe greater than most groups, thrive in such video games.
Riley has argued that the Trojans are two performs away from being 5-0. On one hand, that is not essentially incorrect. On the opposite, they've allowed themselves to lose two video games due to two performs. Whether it is the slower-paced video games with fewer performs, the physicality or just the journey, USC has struggled to carry out. It dropped being ranked No. 11 to unranked after its most up-to-date loss.
This week, the duty will not be any simpler. The Trojans will want a win to maintain any slim playoff or convention hopes alive. — Paolo Uggetti
Quotes of the week
“[They're] not a measuring stick for myself or for this program. Their success doesn't have anything to do with ours. And their lack of success doesn't have anything to do with ours. So we're focused on us — the things that we can control. We compete on the field once a season, and it's a big game, always is.” — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, on whether or not his job is harder when Texas is using excessive.
“I'm buddies with him. He's a good guy. … Man, he's a good player. He can sling it. Ball comes out of his hand well. … He's a dude, for sure. I'm excited to go against him in this big matchup.” — Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, on going through former Big 12 rival and Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel. The two beforehand confronted one another when Howard was at Kansas State and Gabriel at Oklahoma.
“One of the things I think we have to discuss is increasing the size of the runway here and the size of the airport for a lot of reasons, for the university, for the community, for businesses, and for the athletic department. You're talking about adding another two hours on top of your flight. … That's pretty much a whole day.” — James Franklin, on Penn State having to drive to Harrisburg to have the ability to fly throughout the nation to Los Angeles and face new Big Ten member USC.
