Assorted bests from college football’s weekend that was.

• Play of the week, offense and defense at the same time. Johnny Manziel, handing off to Christine Michael AND making a tackle. Johnny Manziel is a 7-on-7 team of his own design. We saw this happen in person and still didn’t quite believe it:

• Play of the week, miscellaneous. There’s something almost whimsical about the way this Minnesota helmet logo flutters away from the scene of a collision.

• Trick play of the week. Steve Spurrier’s fake visor toss. Diabolical.

Read More…

Jerry Sandusky received an effective life imprisonment sentence Tuesday morning. (AP)

• Jerry Sandusky, going away. We trade in irreverencies here, but this is not a matter for lighthearted anything (except for this guy, maybe?), so we will give you some facts instead: Jerry Sandusky was sentenced this morning to 30-60 years in prison. Sandusky plans to appeal. SI.com’s Michael McCann has provided a full report.

• Groh puns! Get your Groh puns! Puns by the thousands! Through six games, Georgia Tech is giving up an average of 431 yards per contest, and Paul Johnson apparently thinks that’s about enough. Defensive coordinator Al Groh’s firing was announced Monday afternoon. Said Groh: “I feel positive that this is a good time in life to move on to a new situation.” Hard to argue with that.

• It is news that Frank Spaziani is not yet fired. Boston College sources have confirmed that Brad Bates will become the school’s new AD.

• Injury report story hour. Following Oregon State’s official release on the matter of Sean Mannion’s knee, we don’t know a great deal more than we did yesterday. The weeks Mannion will miss are still set at “undetermined.” What we do have now, however, is a statement from coach Mike Riley on Mannion’s backup, junior Cody Vaz, and an attempt to dispel that pesky “No one but Sean Mannion has taken a snap at quarterback in 14 games” fear. “Cody is a good quarterback; he’s been preparing for this for a long time. He’s had a ton of reps; in fact he almost had as many as Sean did during fall camp. Cody knows what we are doing, he gets rid of the ball fast and he’s accurate.” He’ll have to be, at BYU.

Read More…

Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion will miss time after undergoing knee surgery. (AP)

Jarring news out of Corvallis late Monday afternoon, via Beavers beat writer Lindsay Schnell: Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion, currently averaging close to 340 yards per game at the helm of a national top-10 passing offense, has sustained a knee injury of unspecified nature or severity and will have to undergo surgery before returning to the team.

Head coach Mike Riley was mum on any other details, indicating only that Mannion injured himself while handing the ball off against Washington State in Week 6 and that there was no date set for his return to action. Mannion threw 16 touchdowns and 18 interceptions quarterbacking for the Beavers in 2011, but has dialed his game up as a sophomore, completing 107-of-169 pass attempts for 1,358 yards and throwing seven touchdowns and four picks in four games this season. His personal improvement has helped spark a team-wide improvement, and the No. 10 Beavers have been one of the biggest surprises of the 2012 season as a result.

Of immediate concern is Oregon State’s Week 7 opponent: The Beavers will face an extremely stingy defense on the road in Saturday’s game against BYU. Oregon State hasn’t done a great deal of running this season; Mannion and receivers Markus Wheaton and Brandin Cooks have provided the majority of offensive momentum by themselves. No other quarterback on Oregon State’s roster has attempted a pass this season, according to the NCAA’s statistical database.