Let’s take a quick look at some of the top news stories from around the college football world for the first week of November.
Georgia, Alabama Clinch SEC Divisions
The SEC Championship Game field is set after Georgia and Alabama each clinched their division on Saturday. Georgia and Alabama will meet in Atlanta on December 1 in what will be a rematch of last year’s National Championship game that was won by the Crimson Tide in overtime. Georgia clinched the SEC East for a second straight year with a 34-17 victory over Kentucky on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs are still alive for a berth in the College Football Playoffs with just one loss on the season. Alabama clinched the SEC West with a dominating 29-0 victory over third-ranked LSU on Saturday night. This is just the second time that Georgia and Alabama have met in the SEC Championship game since it was introduced in 1992. Alabama beat Georgia in 2012 and went on to win the National Championship that season. Georgia will be looking to win their second straight SEC Championship after beating Auburn in the title game a season ago.
Tagovailoa Plays Through Knee Sprain
Alabama sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was able to lead his team to a big win on Saturday night despite playing through a knee sprain. The Heisman Trophy hopeful initially injured his knee in a win against Arkansas on October 8, and aggravated the knee sprain on a touchdown run Saturday night. Tagovailoa threw two touchdown passes in the Crimson Tide’s victory over LSU, but also threw his first interception of the season in the first half of the game. Alabama expects Tagovailoa to be ready to play in their next game against Mississippi State.
Texas Tech Quarterback Taken to Hospital
Texas Tech announced that their freshman quarterback Alan Bowman was in the hospital on Saturday night for a recurrence of a partially collapsed lung. Bowman was forced to miss the second half of the Red Raiders loss to Oklahoma on Saturday after taking a big hit late in the second quarter. The quarterback originally suffered the injury in a game against West Virginia on September 29, and had the same symptoms on Saturday. Bowman was unable to catch his breath as he was trying to warm up to start the second half, and was forced to retreat to the locker room with the team medical staff. Texas Tech lost the game by a score of 51-46 to the Sooners.
Utah QB Out For Season
Utah will be without their starting quarterback, Tyler Huntley, for the remainder of the season after he suffered a broken collarbone. The junior quarterback had led the Utes to a 6-2 start to the season before suffering the injury in a loss to Arizona State. Utah had four straight games of scoring at least 40+ points coming into this week, but the Utes chances of winning the Pac-12 South now take a huge blow. Redshirt freshman Jason Shelley will be the starting quarterback moving forward for Utah. Shelley went 4-11 for 59 yards in the second half of the game on Saturday.
Kansas Not Bringing Back Beaty
The University of Kansas has announced that coach David Beaty will not return for his fifth season as coach of the Jayhawks. Beaty was under contract through the 2021 season and is still owed $3 million as part of the extension that he signed in 2016. The school announced that they will honor the terms of the contract and pay Beaty all of the money that he is owed. The Jayhawks lost to Iowa State on Saturday to fall to 3-6 on the season, and just 1-5 in the Big 12 Conference.
Wake Forest QB Out For Season
Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman will be sidelined for the remainder of the season with a leg injury, the school announced on Sunday. Hartman suffered the leg injury in a loss to Syracuse on Saturday to fall to 4-5 on the season. The Demon Deacons have now lost 12 players to season-ending injuries this season. Hartman has started all nine games for Wake Forest this season and has thrown 16 touchdown passes.
