BC’s Towles knows Louisville
college football
Boston College will have a nativeborn Kentuckian managing its offense against No. 5 Louisville on Saturday at Alumni Stadium.
Eagles quarterback Patrick Towles has the experience and toughness to take the Cardinals’ best shot because he’s done it before. The graduate transfer from Kentucky once played a big role in the gridiron version of the bluegrass blood feud.
Towles played in two games, with one start, against Louisville while with the Wildcats. He completed 14of-28 passes for 176 yards in a 44-40 loss in 2014. Towles would like nothing more than to lead BC (4-4, 1-4 ACC) to its second straight conference victory and take a parting shot at Louisville (7-1, 5-1) in the process.
“(The Cardinals) are an incredibly good football team and they have playmakers all over the field,” Towles said yesterday.
Towles grew up in Fort Thomas, Ky., and his Kentucky-bred grandfather is Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Bunning, who later served his home state in the U.S. Senate.
“Where we grew up, you either like Kentucky or you like Louisville, and my family grew up blue, so this kind of brings back a little bit of that here,” Towles said. “They are an extremely talented team, and we expect a great challenge on Saturday.”
Cardinals quarterback Lamar Jackson drives an offense that leads the nation in total offense (603.3 yards per game), scoring offense (50 points per game) and red-zone touchdowns (35). Jackson leads the nation in rushing touchdowns with 16 and has 22 passing scores.
a&m in first Cfp rankings
Texas A&M was ranked fourth behind Alabama, Clemson and Michigan in the season’s first College Football Playoff rankings.
The Aggies (7-1) were surprisingly a spot ahead of unbeaten Washington in the first of six selection committee rankings. The Crimson Tide (8-0), Tigers (8-0), Wolverines (8-0) and Huskies (8-0) are the only remaining undefeated teams from Power Five conferences and hold the top four spots in the latest Associated Press poll.
The 12-person committee, however, gave a nod to Texas A&M’s strength of schedule. Ohio State was sixth and Louisville was seventh.
The final rankings will be released Dec. 4, with the top four teams moving on to the CFP semifinals on Dec. 31 at the Fiesta and Peach Bowls.
Western michigan, in a rout
Corey Davis caught 12 passes for a conference-record 272 yards with three touchdowns to help No. 17 Western Michigan rout Ball State, 52-20, in Muncie, Ind. The Broncos (9-0, 5-0 MAC) beat the Cardinals (4-5, 1-4) after coming in at No. 23 in the first CFP rankings.
Zach Terrell was 23-of-34 passing for 367 yards for the winning side. . . .
Running back Joe Mixon was suspended for No. 12 Oklahoma’s game at Iowa State for violating team rules. Mixon apologized in a statement for having an altercation with “parking attendants.”