"The Weird and Wonderful From College Football Week 11" - The Ringer

Iceland12

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A huge D-3 upset, the Nebraska Punt, Rutgers, sad losses and more.

I’m not joking when I say Iowa-Michigan, one of the most memorable and important games of the season, was decided by punting. A Coluzzi 54-yarder pinned the Wolverines at the 2-yard line, a play later they lost yardage and gave up a safety, and Michigan lost by one.

But more specifically, it was decided by penalties on punts. Iowa did something I’ve never seen before, turning a fourth-and-10 into a first down after Coluzzi baited back-to-back running-into-the-kicker penalties on the Wolverines. Michigan got a critical go-ahead field goal after a rare roughing-the-snapper penalty kept a fourth-quarter drive alive. But Iowa got its game-winning field goal just a few plays after Michigan was called for a questionable face mask on a punt return with under two minutes to go, pushing the Hawkeyes 15 yards closer to Keith Duncan’s field goal range.

We make fun of Kirk Ferentz. He’s painfully risk-averse, a man who has invested his life savings in oatmeal futures. Even though a recent contract extension has given him the most airtight job security in college football, he still clings to conservative play-calling and oodles of punts.

Saturday night was his masterpiece, a game of punt-related intrigue. Everything bounced in his favor; the flags flew when Iowa needed them to. Even though his one gamble featured a grown man taking a toddler’s tumble, it still somehow worked out. The penalty didn’t give Iowa a first down since it was a dead-ball foul, but it pushed Michigan 15 yards downfield and got one of its linebackers ejected.

Don’t get into a punt battle with Ferentz. You won’t live to see the dawn.





https://theringer.com/2016-college-football-week-11-superlatives-e3ce41defac4#.pxihqn1at
 

Things sure change, Penn State and Wisconsin in the B1G championship, looks like a very realistic matchup.
 




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