Zach Zenner had his second straight sub-par performance today. He was held under 100 yards for the first time this season in SDSU's 41-28 victory over Youngstown State. Zach tallied 87 yards on 17 carries with 1 touchdown. Either SDSU's coach has "tweaked" the offense for better overall effectiveness, or Zach might be nursing a lingering injury.
i don't think either of those scenarios are what took place, RW. in my opinion, Youngstown State sold out to stop the run (which sort of worked, although Zenner still averaged over 5 yards-per-carry and scored) and were gambling that SDSU's erratic quarterback Austin Sumner couldn't make them pay ... the box score appears to back up my perspective, but fortunately for the Jackrabbits, that strategy (while limiting Zenner's numbers) didn't pan out.
entering the game, SDSU had averaged barely more than 150 passing yards-per-game, and Sumner had only thrown for 5 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. in this game, Sumner threw for 5 touchdowns (doubling his season total to that point) and 351 yards with only 1 interception.
a team that, i think,
did change their game plan to limit their White running back is Georgia Tech. their starting b-back, sophomore Zach Laskey, was coming off a game where he ran for over 100 yards on just 17 carries and caught a pass for 11 more yards. against BYU, though, he only got to touch the ball 3 times including a 4th-and-1 carry which he converted. he didn't appear to be injured, as he was on the field intermittently throughout the game in a blocking role. since Georgia tech began running the option, i can't think of another b-back who has received fewer touches than Laskey, who "coincidentally" is the White player to have played the position.
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in the SEC, the only two White wide receivers who saw snaps on offense were completely unstoppable: the rarely-utilized Tennessee Vol speedster Zach Rogers and slot machine sprinter Ryan Swope at Texas A&M.
Zach Rogers demonstrates where he should be on the depth chart
Rogers is so under-used that he should ask to be traded. LOL. anyway, he caught 6 passes for 107 yards and 3 touchdowns: from 8 yards, from 37 yards, and from 22 yards. you can see video of the scoring plays by clicking here:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/video?gameId=323012579
the Vols still lost, though.
similarly, Ryan Swope was a dominant force in the passing attack, albeit in a winning effort. Swope caught 6 passes for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns (from 16 and 19 yards, respectively) with a long catch of 50 yards. the Auburn secondary had no answer for him.
Ryan Swope was untouchable for the "real" talents of Auburn
another dynamic White athlete was also a juggernaut in the A&M-Auburn contest: Aggie freshman dual-threat qb, Johnny "Football" Manziel. the frosh passed for 260 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions and ran 9 times for 90 yards and 3 more scores.
if a freshman can be considered for the Heisman, then Johnny Football should be in the conversation, because he has taken the SEC by storm.
you can see highlights of A&M's White blitzkrieg by clicking here:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/video?gameId=323010002
