College Football Injuries and Rivalries

 
There is an insignificant game on the schedule this week as Kent State heads to the Big 12 to face Baylor. However, as far as injury reports go, and it should be to anyone who handicapps games seriously, it highlights a key part of studying football: injuries.

Injuries crop up from week to week as football is such a violent, physical game. Many times team depth can be whittled down considerably because of injuries, changing how a side or total might be influences. Penn State, for instance, has a lot of injuries to the linebacking corps, perhaps a factor in their upset loss to Iowa Saturday.

Kent State heads to Baylor without All-American senior RB Eugene Jarvis, who has a lacerated kidney and will miss the rest of the season, a huge blow. Don't be fooled by the 29-19 win over 0-4 Miami last week: Kent was outgained 552-250 and gave up 215 rushing yards!

But poor Baylor suffered an even tougher blow, losing dynamic young quarterback Robert Griffin III (4 TDs, no INTs) to a knee injury Saturday. He was the 2008 Big 12 Freshman of the Year. They do have an experience senior QB to fall back on in Blake Szymanski, who was the starter before Griffin arrived. But Griffin is a terrific talent, a two-way threat. By the way, Kent is 10-6 over the total the last two+ years.

USC has failed to cover the last two weeks with QB injuries, as well. They had to use backup QB Aaron Corp two weeks ago in that stunning 16-13 loss at Washington, then QB Matt Barkley returned Saturday but the whole team looked awful in a 27-6 win over Washington State, one of the worst teams in the country.

They win by 21 points and the fans were booing! They had 115 yards worth of penalties -- 75 yards in the first quarter alone -- that cost them drives and momentum. They fumbled three times, lost two of them. "This is not stuff indicative of playing good football," Coach Pete Carroll said afterward. "We're an unfinished product."

They play Cal this weekend, and what are we to make of the Golden Bears? Sitting in the Top 10 last week, Cal was destroyed at Oregon, 42-3! Nice tune-up for the big showdown with USC, boys. With this great defense, note that USC is on a 19-5 run under the total. USC is 4-0 SU, 3-1 ATS the last four meetings with Cal.

Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen is "doing a lot better" with his turf toe injury and expects to play this week against Washington, head coach Charlie Weis said. They failed to cover in a win over Purdue, as Clausen threw his first pick of the season.

Weis, now in his fifth year, saw his team go 10-15 combined the last two seasons. Saturday night, he saw signs of a more mature squad. "I think the team has changed," Weis said. "Maybe my teams in the past in the same situation might have been frazzled, but this team didn't get frazzled." It helps to have a team 100% healthy, though that is rarely possible in pro and college football.

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