Helmet Stickers Week Two

Week two was supposed to be a perfect week to go outside and enjoy something other than football. Your favorite team was either playing a school you’ve never heard of or playing a school that’s never heard of your favorite team. Either way, forgone conclusions all around, right? RIGHT?

Wrong. Following week two the MAC sits with four zero-win teams, including NIU. Kent State, Buffalo and Miami round out the rest of the list despite all having FCS teams on their schedule. Will the Huskies be okay without Drew Hare? Hard to declare them dead before MAC play even starts, but it sure looks grim. Kent State is lost on offense and Miami is just, well, lost. Buffalo was on a bye, so they’ve had plenty of time to think about what they’ve done.

Oh, yeah, and I should probably mention the thing that happened in Stillwater.

You can read an exceptionally bad take on the matter here.

Here’s my take.

This play, the “Stunner in Stillwater,” or whatever you’d like to call it, shouldn’t have happened. But Oklahoma State could have made everything a hell of a lot easier by not executing one of the laziest end of game fourth down plays I’ve ever seen. And for what it’s worth, I think any rule that allows you to win a game like that is a dumb one, if for no other reason than how exciting the ending of this game was because it was ignored.

Suggesting that CMU is without integrity because it won’t forfeit a football game is absurd (and so is using the core values from a website to make a point). The referees made a mistake on two occasions, once at the end of the game and once a series or two earlier when Oklahoma State was awarded a touchdown even though they tackled a CMU defender. It wouldn’t have been the Cowboys’ fault that the referees picked up the flag, just as it isn’t the Chips’ fault the game was not declared over.

Somebody has to keep that win, even though neither probably deserved it. Might as well be the team that executed a cool Hail Mary.

So with that, let’s award some helmet stickers!

Week of the Wide Receiver

Jesse Kroll and Corey Willis - CMU

It wouldn’t be right to lead with any other play. The hook. The lateral. All perfectly executed. Kroll and Willis get to be a part of college football history, in both unforgettable lore as well as future officials’ training material. They’ll probably even get an invite to the ESPY’s. Here it is in its entirety:

Corey Davis - WMU

It’s important to consider the competition, but Davis was nothing short of magnificent for the Broncos against North Carolina Central. Seven catches, 150 yards and three touchdowns. That’s some serious efficiency.

Scott Miller - Bowling Green

Davis wasn’t the only one lighting up defenses with limited catches. Scott Miller caught three touchdown passes on just five receptions, including 71 yard scoring grab in the first quarter.

Corey Jones - Toledo

Jones had a perfect 100 yards on Saturday, needing just three catches to do it. Jones hauled in an 85 yard touchdown pass as well, meaning 33 percent of his catches were scoring plays. Small sample size, but still amazing.

Some Love for the Special Teams

Dedrick Cromartie and Malik Dunner - Ball State

Blocked punts are awesome. They’re especially awesome when you really need some points to get back into a game against Indiana. That’s exactly what Cromartie and Dunner did, the former blocking the Hoosier punt and Dunner scooping for the score early on in the fourth quarter.

Cody Thompson and Ronnie Jones - Toledo

Blocked punts are also cool if you don’t really need them, but you do it anyway. Leading 24-3 over Maine in the third quarter, Thompson blocked the kick, and Jones did the rest, returning the block 27 yards to the end zone for his first touchdown as a Rocket.

Louie Zervos - Ohio

Kickers are people too. The Bobcats scored a rushing touchdown early on in the second quarter, and then they were done scoring touchdowns because it was LOUIE ZERVOS TIME (not sure that’s a thing). Zervos put the team on his back and kicked five field goals to keep the Kansas Jayhawks at bay for the remainder of the game.

Butch Hampton - WMU

You know week two was weird when there’s two kickers getting helmet stickers. Hampton wasn’t flashy or anything, but this stat line had to be brought up. 10 extra points, zero field goals attempted. I imagine after the seventh extra point I’d lose focus and miss at least one. But not Butch, “the mullet” (probably not a thing either), Hampton.

A Look at Next Week

The over/under in the Charlotte vs Eastern Michigan game is set at 66, meaning be on the look out for some serious offense in that game. The Bowling Green vs Middle Tennessee State game is set even higher at 71, and maybe Ronnie Moore will join the fun in week three. Central Michigan returns home to face UNLV, and probably won’t need a Hail Mary this time around, so look for even more Chippewa receivers on this list.