CFB AM: Watch Rick Neuheisel watch son have night of his UCLA life

Published Sep. 14, 2014 6:00 a.m. ET

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Teddy Mitrosilis

Week 3 wasn’t supposed to be this exciting.

That was the general consensus entering a Saturday in which only 17 of the Top 25 teams were in action (two others played during the week and six were off).

Instead, Week 3 was full of superb performances and exciting finishes. The best overall moment, though, didn’t happen on a field.

Former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel works as an analyst for the Pac-12 network, so he was locked in a TV studio while the No. 12 Bruins played at Texas.

When starting UCLA QB Brett Hundley left early in the game with an injury, Rick’s son Jerry entered the game at QB. As UCLA trailed in the fourth quarter, the father found himself in the most stressful of situations – watching his son trying to lead a comeback.

Jerry did, tossing a late TD pass to lift UCLA. A career back-up, it was by far the best night in Jerry’s UCLA career. Afterwards, video surfaced of Rick watching his son, barking instructions and “Come on, Jer!” at the TV, before erupting with the Bruins’ late TD. It’s a great moment. Enjoy the video.

And here’s a photo of Rick watching the Bruins lift his son on their shoulders in celebration and carry him off the field. Very cool.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. The best on-paper game entering Week 3 also happened to be the overall best, with No. 24 South Carolina knocking off No. 6 Georgia at home. It was a game largely controlled by the running backs – South Carolina’s Brandon Wilds was strong with 93 yards and a TD on 14 carries, and Georgia’s Todd Gurley did his thing with 131 yards and a TD on 20 carries – until South Carolina decided to go after the UGA corners. As Coy Wire wrote in his postgame analysis, South Carolina did this by baiting Georgia’s defenders with decoy targets underneath, allowing downfield receivers to get open. Gamecocks QB Dylan Thompson took advantage, completing 21 of 30 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns (one interception).

Georgia tried whatever it could to disrupt South Carolina, even delivering head-butts and vicious shots like this:

It wasn’t good enough, though, and now South Carolina is back in the SEC East race with its playoff hopes alive and well, and the Bulldogs have surrendered their leadership position in both races. The Gamecocks thrived behind their running game, writes Andrew Miller and David Caraviello. The Bulldogs blew a good opportunity, writes Chip Towers.

One image that sums up the night? I believe that belongs to Mr. Thompson:

2. Because one Top 10 team getting upset isn’t enough for this “quiet” week in college football, No. 9 USC made it two by turning in an awful performance at Boston College. The Trojans had 20 total rushing yards while the Eagles ran up 452. I’m not sure how that’s even possible for a team as talented as USC. Former Florida QB Tyler Murphy threw the ball only 13 times Saturday night and also ran it 13 times … for 191 yards and a touchdown.

Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel offer some Week 3 takeaways, leading with this befuddling performance from the Trojans, who now almost certainly have to run the table through the thick of their Pac-12 schedule in order to be in the playoff discussion come December.

3. The other L.A. team had a scare, too, but UCLA was able to beat Texas 20-17. As we mentioned above, Jerry Neuheisel had a special night, going 23-of-30 for 178 yards and two TDs (no picks). Potentially even better news: After looking so poor through two games, UCLA’s offensive line played tougher against the Longhorns, helping RB Paul Perkins run for 126 yards. The most important story of the night other than UCLA’s win was the health of Brett Hundley, who exited early in the game with a left elbow injury and will get an MRI Sunday when the Bruins are back in Westwood.  UCLA now has 10 days of rest before playing at Arizona State on Thursday, Sept. 25.

As for Texas, well, the night started poorly by botching the coin toss and electing to kick after UCLA deferred to the second half (meaning the Bruins would get the ball to start both halves). Charlie Strong wasn’t happy (h/t SB Nation):

Jokes aside, QB Tyrone Swoopes played an efficient game against a good Bruins defense, going 24-of-34 for 196 yards and two TDs with no interceptions. It’s one positive Strong can take from another loss for UT.

Couple other Big 12 notes: Texas Tech got its ass whipped at home by Arkansas, giving up 438 yards rushing; Tech’s porous run D has been a long time in the making, writes Don Williams. On a day when four Top 25 teams went down, No. 4 Oklahoma didn’t give Tennessee much of a chance to pull off an upset, beating the Vols 34-10; the Sooners closed out the season’s first quarter strong, writes Berry Tramel.

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

1. Just when the ACC was starting to build a respected case … sigh.

No. 17 Virginia Tech lost at home to ECU 28-21, as Shane Carden threw for 427 yards and three TDs and Hokies QB Michael Brewer threw two picks. Later, Virginia took down No. 21 Louisville, which could be considered positive or negative since the Cavaliers are an ACC member. I consider it a net negative for the league, because nobody respects the depth of a conference unless there are a few heavyweights at the top. The ACC needed Virginia Tech and Clemson to rise up the rankings and join Florida State as serious national players, and part of that plan was smoked on Saturday. There are other options – North Carolina, Duke or Pitt could make national noise, I suppose – but the ACC doesn’t gain much by Virginia being another average (that’s a compliment!) team.

Of course, Boston College helped the league by upsetting USC. Otherwise, not a good day. We were an Arkansas State upset of Miami away from unleashing all the Big Ten jokes our small minds could handle.

2. Will Muschamp avoided disaster, as Florida beat Kentucky in triple overtime at home. Here’s how every Florida fan felt when Kentucky’s Austin MacGinnis hit a 51-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter to tie it and they all realized at once, “Holy crap – we need OVERTIME to do this? I thought this was supposed to be the easy SEC win?”

It’s clear nobody gave the Wildcats any respect entering The Swamp. Hell, even the Gainesville police didn’t, and it’s their job to make sure the opposing team is treated with respect! But alas, the Gators forced three turnovers and Matt Jones ran for 156 yards and a touchdown on a night Jeff Driskel was just OK, so they move to 2-0 as they head to Tuscaloosa next week to play No. 3 Alabama.

Hey Will, what are your thoughts on needing 3 OTs at home and a condescending law enforcement Twitter feed to beat a team that, with two wins, has already matched its season win total of each of the past two years?

Let’s move on.

Couple other SEC notes: Amari Cooper had another huge game, Blake Sims showed comfort and confidence in the role of starting QB and Alabama crushed Southern Miss 52-12 as it prepares for SEC play. Feels like the Crimson Tide are falling into place.

Everyone, give it up for Derek Mason and the ‘Dores! Vanderbilt got its first win of the Mason era by beating UMass – the Commodores only needed the opposing kicker to pull an atrocious field goal attempt wide left in the final seconds to get it done. Happy days have arrived in Nashville!

One funny moment from that missed kick: Vandy D-lineman Adam Butler was so happy that he hugged UMass’ kicker after he missed the FG. Butler also could be one of the nicest guys around and offered the hug out of genuine support. Either way, it’s fantastic.

3. After last week’s nightmare, the Big Ten is probably happy with having a relatively quiet week. No. 22 Ohio State crushed Kent State 66-0, as QB J.T. Barrett got healthy with six TDs. Penn State improved to 3-0 by beating Rutgers in the Scarlet Knights’ first Big Ten game. And West Virginia got a nice win by beating Maryland 40-37 on the road. OK, that’s enough Big Ten for one week. We’ll catch you guys later.

THREE THINGS YOU MAY WANT TO KNOW

1. One of the most impressive individual performers so far this season has been Pitt RB James Conner, who ran for 177 yards and three TDs against Florida International and made some cool history:

2. USC and UCLA were easily the Pac-12’s biggest stories of Week 3, but an important development happened late in the night when most fans had probably turned off football for the day: Arizona State QB Taylor Kelly appears to have seriously injured his right foot/ankle/lower leg. Kelly was taken to the locker room and came back to the sidelines on crutches with a walking boot on. ASU provided no further information and probably won’t have much to provide until the team gets back to campus from Colorado and Kelly goes through the full evaluation process. Whatever the diagnosis is, it seems Kelly would need a great deal of luck to play against UCLA in a week-and-a-half, and the wait could be much longer than that.

Since that’s pretty unfortunate and depressing news, here’s Marcus Mariota running around doing Marcus Mariota things against Wyoming:

3. Kids: There are effective ways to attack a defense and then this quite ineffective way. Take notes.

LASTLY

I hope you all enjoyed Week 3 and, as always, thanks for supporting CFB AM. My wish is that you wake up each morning with as much joy as Jordan Phillips:

Teddy Mitrosilis is an editor and writer for FOXSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TMitrosilis and email him at tmitrosilis@gmail.com.

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