Saturday in Review 9/25/10

Another wonderful Saturday here in college football land, complete with a major upset that no one called, the #1 team in the nation surviving a big road test, and the Big 10 proving nothing by playing no one. Let's review, shall we?

#1 Alabama-24, #11 Arkansas-20

Well, first off, I take back what I said about Arkansas: they proved their mettle in this game. No, they didn't pull off the upset, but they're the first team to give Alabama a decent game this season. The Tide ran over San Jose State, clobbered Penn State, and smacked around Duke before being forced into a real fight at Arkansas. Alabama looked extremely flat in the first half, scoring just one touchdown and requiring the best efforts of their defense to hold off a hard charging Arkansas offense. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, Alabama's super evil coach, Nick Saban, worked his dark arts at halftime and somehow scooted his team across with a win. Every team requires some luck and/or a comeback to go undefeated in a season, and Alabama survived a very big scare today. A tough game like this, however, isn't the ideal way to start your conference schedule, and Alabama has a murderous set of games in the coming weeks with a home stand against top 10 ranked Florida and a road trip to a better-than-average South Carolina team. Even though Alabama is better than Florida or South Carolina, Florida will be coming off of an easy win against Kentucky, and South Carolina gets a bye. So if there's going to be an upset of Alabama, look for it in the coming weeks.

In Heisman news: Ryan Mallett looked good for the first three quarters, but he threw 2 interceptions in the 4th. Mark Ingram returned from his injury last week with a warmup against Duke, then showed that he's still got it against a legitimate foe. If Ingram puts up these kind of numbers (157 yards, 2 TDs) against 'Bama's other opponents this season, then he should win the Heisman again, regardless of whether or not he missed the games against San Jose State and Penn State. Mind you, he does have Jake Locker to contend with. Heck, Locker didn't throw any interceptions this week! (<-Cheap shot) Let's move on to a game that's barely even worthy of attention...

Eastern Michigan-20, #2 Ohio State-73

Part one in a series: A whole lot can be said about the ACC and Big East. Stick with me, I'm going somewhere with this. The two conferences named above are mediocre at best. They have won practically no big nonconference games this season, and between the two of them they have one remaining undefeated team (NC State). But the ACC and Big East are at least willing to play ranked teams and road games during their nonconference schedules. The lone Big 10 team to beat a ranked opponent are these Ohio State Buckeyes, who defeated Miami in week 2 at home. The only other Big 10 teams to even play a ranked foe are Penn State, Iowa, and Minnesota, who lost to Alabama, Arizona, and Southern Cal respectively. Missouri is currently ranked, and they beat Illinois, if you'd like to add them (Illinois) to the list. No matter how you slice it, the Big 10 is doing college football a major disservice with its garbage nonconference schedule. Out of sheer vindictive glee, I will now list the Big 10's nonconference foes, in no particular order, courtesy of this article:

UConn, Notre Dame (3 times), UMass, Bowling Green, Eastern Illinois, Iowa State, Arizona, Ball State (2 times), Marshall, Miami (Florida), Ohio, Eastern Michigan (who haven't won a game since November 2008), UNLV, San Jose State, Arizona State, Austin Peay, Middle Tennessee State, South Dakota, Southern Cal, Toledo, Northern Illinois (2 times), Youngstown State, Alabama, Kent State, Temple, Western Illinois, Western Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Northern Colorado, Missouri, Southern Illinois, Fresno State, Vanderbilt, Illinois State, Rice, Central Michigan, Towson, Western Kentucky, Akron, Arkansas State.

So you know what? If you're a Big 10 fan, you have no right to mock the Big East or the ACC. (Except Virginia Tech. They're my team, but they lost to James Madison, so they still deserve the mockery. Unless you're a Michigan fan.) I hope the conference beats up on itself and winds up sending Minnesota to the Rose Bowl.

No, I didn't analyze the game. Look at the friggin' score. And prepare for more of this down in the Wisconsin review...

Oregon State-24, #3 Boise State-37

If you're still here, you've been through a lot. Which is sad, because there's so very much more to go. This game was played up on the blue turf in Boise, and the Broncos used a strong first half to keep Oregon State at bay. Continuing a theme from the novella about the Big 10 that I wrote above, why isn't Boise State the #2 team in the country right now? What has Ohio State done in the 4 weeks that encompass the 2010 season that merits a #2 ranking other than being ranked #2 to start the year? The answer is: nothing. Boise State has beaten 2 ranked teams and slaughtered Wyoming. Ohio State has beaten a single ranked team and destroyed 3 vastly inferior foes. Boise State crossed the country to play their season opener, while Ohio State hasn't left Columbus yet. And, yeah, Virginia Tech lost to a 1-AA foe the next week, weakening Boise's strength of schedule, but at least they (the Hokies) have won 2 games since then. Ohio State's nonconference foes have a combined 4 wins in the 4th week of the season.

I know this is a whole lot of conjecture, and now is as good a time as any to say that I don't think either of these 2 teams is the second best in the country. Look at their opponents: Oregon State's played 2 good teams and lost close games to both, Virginia Tech obviously had their disaster in week 2, and Miami hasn't really played anyone aside from Ohio State, considering that The U's best win is against a Pitt team that looks increasingly underwhelming. Inquisitive readers who are still awake despite all of this reading are now asking, "Well, Mr. Smartypants blogger, who is the 2nd best team in the country?" And my cop out answer is, "I don't know." That's why the season is 12 games long, not 4. If I had to pick a team, I'd say Oregon or Nebraska. Mind you, my support is often the kiss of death. To that end...

UCLA-34, #4 Texas-12

Remember last week, when I said that Texas was going to demolish UCLA? Well, I owe the Bruins an apology. This doesn't look like the same team that spent its first two weeks getting tossed around the field by Kansas State and Sanford. The Bruins beat Houston last week (still not much of an accomplishment since Houston can't play defense) and then came out and beat Texas this week. I'm still not sure how to read UCLA, and I think that their upcoming games with Washington State and Cal should tell us much more about UCLA. Note that they do desperately need to improve their passing attack, which currently sits comfortably at 117th in the country, behind triple option teams like Air Force and Navy. So keep a wary eye on UCLA, and the Pac-10 in general, since the conference on the left coast actually looks good this season.

Then there's Texas. Actually, then there's the Big 12. The Big 12 has been largely shielded from criticism this season because of the mediocrity/awfulness (depending on the week) of the Big East and the ACC. But with Texas struggling against Rice, Oklahoma struggling with Utah State, Kansas losing to North Dakota State, and Nebraska struggling this week with South Dakota State, you kinda figured that this sort of thing was coming. Texas had 5 turnovers in this game, with 4 of those being fumbles. That's not a good recipe to win, and neither is letting the other team have the ball for 11 minutes more than you have it. All 13 of UCLA's first half points were off of turnovers, and it's telling when that score would have been enough points to beat Texas for the entire game. About half of the Big 12 is done with their nonconference schedules, so we probably won't see too many more nonconference upsets out of the Big 12, but keep this game (and the others listed above) in mind when bowl season rolls around.

#6 Oregon-42, Arizona State-31

Oregon's offense was held to its lowest point total this season. Let that sink in for a second, 4 games into the season the lowest number of points this team has scored is 42. Now, I was going to put something on here about Oregon having a video game style offense, but since I've been beaten to that punch by every other college football writer on the planet, I'll just make a note here. NOTE: Those 42 points are impressive, but take note that 2 of the touchdowns on Oregon's side came from the defense. So, while Oregon can still score points with the best of them, they needed the defense's help to do so. Oregon could well run the table in the Pac-10, but if they have to play a team with a good defense in the National Title game, things could get ugly for the Ducks. Should be one heck of a game between Oregon and Stanford next week...they might combine for 100+ points.

South Dakota State-3 (sorry, don't know the colors), #7 Nebraska-17

Nebraska survived a scare at home against a team that had no business being in the game with them. Judging from Coach Bo Pelini's quote after the game (specifically, "[Y]ou have to have consistency. For us to show up like that at home, I'm embarrassed.") I would not want to be on the Nebraska Cornhuskers when practice time comes around on Monday. Hats off to the Jackrabbits for sticking with the Cornhuskers in what might be the most unique matchup of mascots this whole season. Why no, this game wasn't broadcast here in North Carolina, how did you guess?

Kentucky-14, #8 Florida-48

Well, Florida finally looked dominant in a game this season after starting out flat in their first 3. Which is good for the Gators, since they have to go to Alabama this coming week, in what should be a heck of a game. Do not mistake Trey Burton's performance as anything more than an aberration right now, since he delivered this hammering to a team that is not, in fact, very good at all, and is outright mediocre on defense. Kentucky, meanwhile, had its first test this season--and they failed miserably. Don't look for the Wildcats to do much against the SEC this season, though they do have the opportunity to finally break that 26 year losing streak to Tennessee.

PS: Here's a Chris Rainey legal proceedings update. Why? Because the readers of this blog need to know that "Time to Die" isn't a good phrase to text to their girlfriend. Or anyone for that matter.

#9 Oklahoma-31, Cincinnati-29

Another case of the Big 12 looking bad. Yes, Cincinnati is the 2 time defending Big East champions, but their lone win on the season is Indiana State. So Oklahoma, were they actually the 8th best team in the land, should have gone in, taken a relatively easy win, and gotten out. Instead, the Sooners should consider themselves lucky to have escaped from Cincinnati with a win, especially considering their lackluster performance in the 4th quarter. Texas and Oklahoma may have both been revealed as paper tigers this week, though it would be refreshing to see Texas beat Oklahoma next week and eliminate either of those two teams from the national title hunt. Come on, people, we need some new blood in the title game! The SEC has to be tired of just beating Big 12 teams...

Austin Peay-3, #10 Wisconsin-70

Part 2 in a series: ...The saddest part of this entire affair is that the Big 10 is emerging from a time when they were considered as bad as the ACC or Big East. Remember the 2008 and 2007 bowl seasons? In 2008 the Big 10 went 1-6. They were the laughing stock of college football. The only team with a worse record in bowls than the Big 10 was the MAC. 2007 wasn't much better, with the Big 10 going 3-5 and finishing worse than the MWC, SEC, Pac-10, Big 12, and Big East. And the theme of the Big 10 being worse than their rankings indicated all started back in 2006 with Ohio State getting crushed by Florida in the '06 championship game. So the Big 10 has been looked down upon by most football fans and pundits for a few years. And then...

In 2009, the Big 10 had sort of a renaissance. Sure, they only went 4-3 in the postseason, but that was their first winning bowl record since 2002, and 2 of those wins came in the BCS! Every ranked Big 10 team won, and there were no blowouts of Big 10 teams. The conference looked like it was back on track, and this season looked like the year that the likes of Michigan and Ohio State and Iowa could return to national prominence. And then, in the first few weeks of the season, the Big 10 leadership gives us garbage like this. How does slaughtering pathetic nonconference foes prove anything? Congrats, you defeated an obscure school in Tennessee that is most famous for its chant of "Let's go Peay! Let's go Peay!" So, yes, congratulations, your team defeated no one. Just like every other major Big 10 school...

#21 West Virginia-14, #12 LSU-20

It's looking like the Big East won this week's award for worst conference. Sure, the ACC is nothing to write home about, but at least they'll have a ranked team in next week's poll. West Virginia, at least in my independent and mostly uneducated evaluation, is still the best team in the Big East. Of course, that's like being voted "most beautiful" in a competition where the only other contestants are Buster Keaton and Rod Brind'Amour.

LSU looked underwhelming again, and it's really hard to imagine them beating Florida, Auburn, Alabama, or Arkansas. At least they have 'Bama at home, the other 3 they have to play on the road, so I hope that the Tigers enjoyed this little unbeaten streak. It will likely end on October 9 in Gainesville...

San Jose State-3, #13 Utah-56

Am I the only one who thinks that San Jose State's football team should burn their scheduling committee in effigy? They've had to play 3 ranked teams in 4 weeks, which is something that even AQ conference teams have trouble doing. The Spartans lone win has come against their cupcake Southern Utah, a team they narrowly defeated 16-11 last week. Mind you, whoever did the Spartans' schedule also had some bizarre form of schizophrenia, considering that they scheduled 5 nonconference games: 3 are against Top 25 teams, and 2 are against 1-AA (I still don't use the terms FBS or FCS) teams. Who scheduled this? And why? Don't look for San Jose State's record to improve too much, since they still have to play strong conference foes Nevada and Boise State. Congrats to Utah, a team which still exists in a boring state. Don't look for them to suffer much adversity until (as stated last week) they have back to back tough contests with Air Force and TCU.

#15 South Carolina-27, #14 Auburn-35

First off, I direct you to quickly click here, provided you read this before October starts. That's our predictions page on College Football Cafeteria. Notice who the only one to pick this one was. (Sorry, just had to brag. I'm rarely the only one who's right about something. Less so, now that I'm married.)

Also notice that, according to the coaches poll, this wasn't technically an upset. South Carolina still struggles with beating ranked teams, and their one win over a ranked squad came against Georgia, a team that looks less and less intimidating as the weeks roll by and the Bulldogs stay winless in the SEC. As is usually the case with SEC teams, I just can't see either of these two making many waves in a conference that contains Alabama and Florida. Auburn's got the inside track to make waves in the conference, however, as they face no road challenges until a season ending matchup with rival Alabama. But I said that last week. So let's quickly finish this nearly 3,000 word document up...

California-9, #16 Arizona-10

Well, this one was nearly an upset. Cal never could mount a competent offense (kinda like last week), and Arizona suffered a letdown after its big win against Iowa last week, but they squeaked by with a very late score. Cal could very easily turn into a Pac-10 punching bag this season, since they're struggling to mount an offense in a high-powered offensive conference. while it's hard to see Arizona beating Oregon. The Wildcats don't play any ranked teams until late in the season, when their schedule's difficulty curve takes a hard left turn at Crazyville. After playing 1 ranked team in the first 8 games of the year, they then have 3 straight ranked teams to close the year. So don't look for much of interest (barring an upset) coming out of Arizona until November.

#17 Stanford-37, Notre Dame-14

So, anyone want to tell me that Notre Dame is back? Anyone other than Lou Holtz? Seriously, how is it that Charlie Weis had top 25 recruiting classes every year and yet Notre Dame seems incapable of finishing in the top 25? Or even cracking the top 25. Stanford seems to have no trouble scoring, and everyone's making a big deal over Owen Marecic and his scoring a touchdown on defense and on offense. I'd make a bigger deal over the fact that Stanford looks like they could be a force in the Pac-10. Stanford could, however, be a paper tiger, since they have yet to play a ranked team. Guess the game with Oregon will prove it one way or t' other. (<-Southern slang.)

Ball State-0, #18 Iowa-45

Part three in a series: ...And the real problem with the Big 10's nonconference schedule is that no one made a big deal of it until this week. It's like it just came out of the blue for all of us all of a sudden. But we've all known about this for quite some time, it's just that none of us thought, "Gee, it's unfair that the Big 10 plays no one in its nonconference schedule except for a few home games and one trip to Arizona. It seems that if any one team can make it through the conference undefeated, they'll have the fast track to the national title game." But no, here we are, 1/3rd of the way through the season and the Big 10 has 6 undefeated teams because 5 of those teams have played no one! Not one ranked team! So don't let anyone tell you that the Big 10 is doing well, they just have the most favorable schedule known to man. There's no reason to think that the Big 10 is anything more than a giant hoax at this point. And no, I didn't review this one either...

Temple-13, #20 Penn State-22

Part four in a series:...I guess the Big 10 does this so more of its teams can get into bowl games, because Penn State would have lost this game if they were playing virtually any team in an AQ conference. Way to go, Big 10. Your strategy paid off...

Bowling Green-21, #22 Michigan-65

Part five, in letter form:

Dear Michigan,

Congrats, you look like you'll be climbing into the top 20 this coming week. I guess that's an accomplishment. I mean, it's difficult to pull the wool over this many voters' eyes on a consistent basis. You did it last season, and if history teaches us anything, it's the repetition of patterns. "Sudden breakout", rising into the top 20 under the high powered attack of their star breakout quarterback. Sound familiar? It should. Denard Robinson, like Tate Forcier, has looked awesome against inferior foes. The Big 10 has proven so little in the nonconference portion of the season, though, that this could be a wide open year. So enjoy whatever the future holds, Michigan. I myself hope you miss a bowl again, just to see history repeat itself and Rich Rodriguez kicked out. After all, I know the state of Michigan is down and out and needs some inspiration, and they can find a much more inspiring story in the form of your rivals, Michigan State. And, yes, I hope you choked a little when you read that, Wolverine fans...

Sincerely,
Bones

Northern Colorado-7, #23 Michigan State-45

...I guess I won't rip Michigan State too much, but they're just as guilty as any of the other Big 10 schools above of weak scheduling. Indeed, the only reason that they're not getting attacked by the media (or me) as much as the rest of their conference is because of Coach Mark Dantonio's heart attack. We're all glad that Coach Dantonio is feeling better, but come on Michigan State! Play someone in your nonconference schedule! As I believe we've established in previous weeks, no, Notre Dame doesn't count.

Miami (Ohio)-13, #24 Missouri-51

The lone Big 12 team that looked good this week was Missouri, a team I mocked last week as fairly mediocre. I guess I kind of take that back. I mean, they beat Miami of Ohio by 16 more points than Florida did. Take that for whatever the heck it's worth. And now...

Tales from the Bottom 95

Virginia Tech is back to .500. I certainly didn't think I'd be typing that in week 4...NC State took the dominant lead in the ACC, and they'll be hosting Virginia Tech this week. If they beat the Hokies, there's no reason to think that NC State won't be Orange Bowl bound come January...Maryland struggled early with FIU, which isn't a good sign for the Terrapins...Tennessee needed double OT to beat UAB. I guess they were tired after the Florida game. Or they're just not that good...Army beat Duke to go to 3-1. Congrats to the Black Knights, who are halfway to a bowl!...Wake Forest apparently doesn't have a defense, since Florida State shut them out while dropping 31 on the Deacs...Georgia's only win is over Louisiana-Lafayette, which isn't good for the health of Mark Richt's career...Ole Miss pulled to 2-2 by beating Fresno State...Syracuse is 3-1. Unfortunately, they're 1-1 against actual other 1-A teams...Northwestern is still undefeated, but the best team they've beaten is probably Central Michigan...Toledo knocked off Perdue, so take that Big 10!...Nevada's still undefeated. Let's hope they can make Boise's otherwise mediocre conference schedule stronger and boost the Broncos upward...Marshall won by beating Ohio...Hawaii beat Charleston Southern, though I'm unsure who paid for the trip from South Carolina to Hawaii...

That's all for this week. Congrats if you made it. I surely wouldn't have...

Saturday in Review 9/18/10

Well, this is convenient for me. A day with practically no upsets and several games that qualify in the outright murder category. Guess it's time to get down to it...

#1 Alabama-62, Duke-13

Look, it can be argued that this made the ACC look bad, but the best team in the SEC (and, until proven otherwise, the country) beating the worst (or one of the worst) teams in the ACC really isn't headline news. Mark Ingram came back with a vengeance, and Alabama had taken Duke out of this game by the end of the first quarter, which is a rarity even for 1-A vs. 1-AA games. I guess there's not much in the way of a lesson here: Alabama is still good, and Duke is still bad, which really isn't news to anyone.

Ohio-7, #2 Ohio State-43

Ohio State really stepped out of their normal early season comfort zone when they played Miami last week. Fortunately, they boldly went back to playing the likes of Ohio this week. It must be tough being the Buckeyes, what with their eight home games in the 12 game regular season. It's a sad statement that they could lose both of their tough road matchups (at Wisconsin and Iowa) and still make a BCS bowl. The Buckeyes will slaughter Eastern Michigan next week, and they'll probably handle Illinois and Indiana the weeks after that, which will at least make the matchup against Wisconsin on the 16th at least important if not interesting, especially considering that Wisconsin could very easily lose a game between now and then.

#3 Boise State-51, Wyoming-6

Well, look for this to happen a lot in the coming weeks. If Boise gets around Oregon State (not a small task), they could very easily beat the remainder of their opponents by 70. Yeah, Nevada looked good when they thrashed Cal, but Nevada would still need some help from Boise to defeat the Broncos. So get ready for a whooooole lot more scores like this one...

#4 Texas-24, Texas Tech-14

You know, for a game that got a reasonable amount of hype, this one was sort of anticlimactic. The first half was a thriller, and a far cry from that game that everyone kept talking about in 2008. Yeah, I know that the 2008 game was arguably the high water mark for the Texas Tech football program, but the quarterback and receiver who threw the thrilling final pass are long since gone, as is the coach who engineered Texas Tech's rise to national prominence. This game was 14-14 at the half, which is exciting, but not the type of game that most people had expected. While Texas Tech looks decent, Tommy Tuberville still looks like he's uncomfortable coaching a team running a spread offense.

Texas, meanwhile, still has yet to dazzle anyone, but they're undefeated which is more than most teams can say. Gilbert is going to have to step up heavily if Texas is going to be returning to the national championship game. The Longhorns have what should be an easy home game against UCLA prior to the Red River Shootout on October 2, which will (as usual) determine the fate of the Big 12 South.

Baylor-10, #5 TCU-45

TCU put the game away in the first half when they jumped out to a 35-3 lead. Baylor, however, isn't overly good, so this game doesn't prove too terribly much. TCU should be able to handle themselves in their conference, though their games against Air Force and Utah should provide us all with more interesting matchups than whatever the ACC is serving that week...

Since I have the time and the space, allow me to say that Vandy, Duke, and Baylor should all schedule one another to see who the worst snobby private school in major college football is.

Portland State-0, #6 Oregon-69

Oregon is currently averaging 63 points per game, meaning that this game lowered their average. Sure, it's a cupcake game, but Oregon's offense is easily the best in the country right now. Look for Oregon to keep rolling strong until a game against Stanford on October 2 that should be a real shootout. In fact, looking at it now, that is going to be an awesome weekend of college football.

#7 Florida-31, Tennessee-17 (Bonus Bright Orange review, complete with way too many links)

Neyland Stadium is a sight to see. Mind you, it was built in 1924 so scenes like this are common during halftime. Watching 102,000 people squeeze into a corridor designed for about 1/3rd that number is a profoundly disturbing sight. Another disturbing sight is seeing a large, anthropomorphic bloodhound run into the stadium, though that could just be irrational fear on my part. As you can tell, our seats were somewhat high up, but that provided us with a very clear idea of just where the fans of either squad were (Note the Florida fan section in blue).

The game itself was surprisingly good. Tennessee held their own against a Florida squad that clearly ain't what they used to be. The UT quarterback, Phil Simms's son Matt, made some critical errors including an interception in the end zone. Tennessee's defense looked excellent, but their offense looked lost. The same can honestly be said for Florida, which continues to struggle running the shotgun spread. Florida prevailed, however, and the Tennessee students sent them off with a rousing chant of "F*** you Florida" that I imagine didn't make it onto the national broadcast. Florida fans, for the record, travel well, especially since Knoxville is about 8 hours from Gainesville. Since this is, as usual, one of those overly long things that I type on a weekly basis, allow me to just say that 31-17 is one of those scores that looks like a slaughter when you first look at it. You know, that's just 14 points. 14-0 or 21-7 isn't a slaughter, and I think it's fair to say that 31-17 isn't either. Look for Tennessee to go about 5-7 if they keep playing this way, while Florida should crush Kentucky this week then lose by 20 to Alabama the week after that...

#8 Nebraska-56, Washington-21

Jake Locker continues his Heisman campaign with an amazing 73 yard performance featuring 1 TD pass and 2 interceptions. I might be harping on this too much, but the bottom line is that Locker's looked like one of the most overrated quarterbacks this side of Jay Cutler. Locker is like Tim Tebow with all the hype but without the national titles, conference championships, or even the winning seasons. Yeah, you can pin a small amount of this on a mediocre receiver corps and the fact that Nebraska is really good, but the bottom line is that the amount of press given to Locker based upon his potential is completely unreasonable.

Nebraska, meanwhile, continues to impress. Their scrambling freshman quarterback ran for over 100 yards, and he's done that every game this season. It'll be interesting to see how they perform in the coming weeks, considering that they haven't played anyone who's that good. Next week they play a 1-AA cupcake, then they play Kansas State. Then comes the showdown with Texas on October 16.

Air Force-24, #9 Oklahoma-27

Air Force shows everyone just how fun the option is to watch. They also showed that Oklahoma either has trouble getting up for little games, or that they're not that good and Florida State (who the Sooners dominated last week) is just bad. Either way, Oklahoma narrowly skates by yet again. Lost in the shuffle of how awful the ACC is (don't get me wrong, that really should be the lead story) is the story of just how mediocre the Big 12 is. Outside of Nebraska, no Big 12 team has looked dominant, which is sad considering that the Big 12 is packing an utterly mediocre nonconference schedule. Name me the Big 12's biggest nonconference win. It's Kansas over Georgia Tech. 2nd biggest? Oklahoma over Florida State. 3rd biggest? Probably the Nebraska/Washington game listed above. So take that for what it's worth. (Oh, and look for Air Force to give some of the traditional MWC powers a scare this season.)

#10 Iowa-27, #18 Arizona-34

First and foremost, notice that this was nowhere near as large an upset according to the Coaches Poll. The Coaches Poll is no more or less conjecture than the AP Poll at this time, it's just that the Coaches Poll will actually matter come January. Iowa allowed Arizona to jump out to a huge lead, and they seemed destined to make a great comeback until Arizona put together an excellent final drive to seal the deal in front of a very energetic home crowd. Take note that last season, Iowa was probably an 8-4 team that won at least 3 games it shouldn't have. They made the BCS and beat Georgia Tech, true, but let's all be honest about Iowa's legitimacy as a National Title contender last season: there was none.

It was about 100 degrees, something that Iowans probably aren't used to. They also weren't expecting 4 straight sacks on their final possession, in what was arguably the finest show of defense this season. This was a good win for the Pac-10, especially since Oregon and Southern Cal have been stealing the show out west, and it was a better win for Mike Stoops. Arizona proved that they could beat major competition at home, now they have to prove they can do it on the road. I'll make you one guarantee: If they blow a 20 point lead on the road instead of at home, they'll lose the game. Look for Iowa to take a tumble in the coming month, since they have a pretty rough stretch after their last cupcake game next week. Arizona, meanwhile, has pretty smooth sailing until a November series of games with Stanford, Southern Cal, and Oregon.

Arizona State-19, #11 Wisconsin-20

I'll be honest, this one surprised me. I figured Arizona State would get beaten rather handily by Wisconsin, but I forgot that the Badgers have yet to really prove that they're the 11th best team in the country. I only caught the highlights of this game, but let it be known that the blocked extra point is still one of the best and most exciting plays in football. Wisconsin will have the opportunity to prove that they deserve their ranking when their conference schedule opens up in October. Arizona State has the "honor" of being the first Pac-10 team to try and slow down Oregon next week. If they play the way they did against the Badgers, they might only allow 50 points!

Mississippi State-7, #12 LSU-29

Mississippi State should really be glad that Vanderbilt is in their conference. Mind you, currently, Vandy has a better SEC record than Mississippi State. LSU was dominant, but against arguably the worst team in their conference, they shouldn't have needed 5 field goals. At least 3 of those should have been touchdowns. LSU looks like they'll be around the same level as they were last year: OK, but not as good as the teams on top of the conference. Let's just move on...

#13 Arkansas-31, Georgia-24

Well, Georgia's off to a rough start, and as usual the talk of firing Mark Richt has begun in Athens. Firing a coach just because he hasn't managed to win the toughest conference in the country isn't really a rational response. Generally firing a coach leads to a down year or three (see also: Michigan, Arkansas, just about every school that fired its coach in the last 4 years). Also, Arkansas is just beginning to climb upwards, but they're not there yet. The Razorbacks did pass this test, but they have another one coming up this week when Alabama comes to town. If they beat the Crimson Tide this week then I'll confess them as being worthy of their ranking...

#14 Utah-56, New Mexico-14

Utah is undefeated and in TCU's conference but ranked lower than the Horned Frogs. The Utes will put the hammer to whatever teams they can in order to gain the all-important "style points" necessary to get a BCS at-large bid. New Mexico may be in the MWC with TCU, Utah, and BYU, but they're light years away from being in those teams' league. So look for Utah to crush just about everyone they face up until their October 30 matchup with Air Force. A loss between now and then will kill the Utes' hopes for another trip to the BCS. Also, Utah is still a boring state.

Clemson-24, #15 Auburn-27 (OT)

Well, Clemson tried to make the ACC look good, and they came dang close. Since last Saturday was an utter wreck for the ACC, this week was actually redemption week. Had Clemson won this game, it'd go a long way to proving that the ACC doesn't suck nearly as much as everyone thinks it does. Auburn didn't ever look dominant, and I have a hard time believing that they'd have won this game on the road. The Tigers (of Auburn) have another tough test from South Carolina coming in the form of, uh, South Carolina this week. Of all the teams in the SEC, however, Auburn has the best shot at upsetting the status quo (Florida, Alabama dominant, rest of conference far behind) since they "only" play 3 ranked teams between now and a massive showdown with 'Bama on November 26. Auburn doesn't face a major road test until that game, either, which gives them a good chance. But if they play against LSU or Arkansas or South Carolina the way they did against Clemson (i.e. sloppy) then they'll lose long before this season's Iron Bowl.

Furman-19, #16 South Carolina-38

South Carolina beats a team from the local 1-AA conference. No review necessary.

#19 Stanford-68, Wake Forest-24

A team with a high powered offense meets a team that gave up 48 points to Duke last week. Don't read too much into this one, Stanford fans.

Kent State-0, #20 Penn State-24

Well, Penn State bounces back from a loss to Alabama by crushing a team from the MAC. Guess that's a good thing, but come on, JoePa. Kent State (the college) is only 16 years older than you.

Maryland-17, #21 West Virginia-31

There must be a law somewhere stating that every AQ conference has to have one ranked team. That's the only logic I can see for the ACC and the Big East each having a team in the Top 25. Oh, and WVU fans, don't get too cocky. You successfully beat a team that was the worst team in a conference that contains Duke last year. (Picking on the Devils an awful lot in this one, aren't I?)

Massachusetts-37, #22 Michigan-42

Dear Michigan,

I am glad you are back in the Top 25 so I can write you these letters. Just like last season, however, you are in the Top 25 because you've beaten a bunch of teams that really aren't that good and sportswriters and coaches inexplicably want you to be ranked. Do you remember how well things went last season after that 4-0 start against giants such as Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Indiana, and Notre Dame? I remember. You wound up going 5-7, losing every game you played after that 4-0 start except one against 1-AA cupcake Delaware State. Boldly, you have scheduled Bowling Green next week to round out your nonconference schedule. Yes, Denard Robinson has looked great this season. I don't know if you remember, but Tate Forcier looked great at this point last season. So enjoy next week and the following week against Indiana, because it's all going to come crashing down when you play Michigan State.

Sincerely,
Bones

#23 Houston-13, UCLA-31

UCLA isn't that good. Please don't be fooled. It's just that Houston still can't play defense. They couldn't last season, and they're not going to start this season. Please, sportswriters, for the love of all that is good and right with the world, quit getting so high on teams that can score 40 but allow 50. Learn to love defense. UCLA, have fun getting beaten by Texas next week.

San Diego State-24, #25 Missouri-27

It's telling just how confusing the college football landscape is when Missouri, a team that is actually fairly mediocre cracks the top 25. It's also telling that I live in the Southeast when that's all I can come up with here. It's late and I'm tired. Now for...

Tales from the Bottom 95

You all knew this one was coming: Virginia Tech finally won a game! Sure, it was against ECU, but I'll take what I can get...Cal didn't play on Saturday, but I guess I should have mentioned them above. They got knocked off by Nevada. Boise, you have been warned...Michigan State beat Notre Dame by scoring on a fake field goal in overtime. Coach Mark Dantonio then suffered a heart attack later that night. Congrats on the gutsy call coach, and we all hope you recover soon...On a related topic, anyone else think that Notre Dame was grossly overrated? Raise your hand if you did. If you didn't raise your hand then you probably play or coach for Notre Dame...Kansas followed their triumph over Georgia Tech by losing to Southern Miss...Just what the ACC needed...Speaking of Georgia Tech, they beat Carolina in a thriller that 2 weeks ago would have been a ranked matchup. O, how the conference has fallen...Temple beat UConn. Seriously, anyone else think that Michigan was seriously overrated?...Vandy beat Ole Miss, and the Rebels just keeeeeeeep falling...Idaho hammered UNLV...Lastly, the mighty Catamounts of Western Carolina University won their first game of the year, beating Gardner-Webb 28-14 on the road...

That's all for this week. See you next time!

An Open Letter to Pete Carroll

Dear Pete,

First, I’m shocked you took the time to read this, what with your new NFL career in full swing. I just thought I’d take the time to address that little mess you left behind at Southern California. We all know that you’re aware of the sanctions imposed on the rather legendary program by the NCAA, because you made us aware with this super-heartfelt video, in which you admit to no wrongdoing whatsoever. Sure, the wrongdoing was committed by your most high profile player, a guy you recruited yourself, but for some reason no one really called you out on this whole thing until it was far too late for all parties involved.

I’m writing now because the player in question, Reggie Bush, has taken some serious heat for his involvement in a bit of underhanded dealing with an agent, which some consider unbecoming of a college athlete. To attempt to compensate, Reggie Bush recently returned his Heisman. You are apparently aware of this, too, since you released the following statement:

“It is my hope that this situation serves as a teachable moment to all involved, especially for the young athletes and university and high school administrators of tomorrow.”

I hope you’ll forgive the cynicism that is about to be displayed by me and most of the rest of the sportswriting community, but that sounds like a load of hogwash. Pete, we are talking about one of the most dynamic running backs in the last decade of college football. You really expect us to believe that you knew nothing about the whole business, and were merely a bystander as the highest profile player on your team received underhanded deals? Coach, that’s just about totally unbelievable, and your behavior doesn’t match up overly well with the details of the case. When you were riding high on national championships and major bowl wins you were totally uninterested in the concept of leaving LA. Yet after one of the worst seasons in your tenure at Southern Cal, you choose to leave? And shortly afterward the NCAA sweeps in with debilitating sanctions that very realistically could cripple Southern California for the forseeable future.

Anger against you is growing, Coach Carroll, and not without reason. The school is being buried under an avalanche of sanctions that should begin to have their effect in the coming months and years once Southern California begins its conference schedule. The school has also purged itself of any reference to Reggie Bush, taking down banners, posters and jerseys and returning Bush’s Heisman. Bush was forced to return the most important individual accolade a college player can earn, and if he’s really sorry he’ll soon admit wrongdoing. And you? Nothing. You’re getting paid, you’re coaching at the professional level, and you’re not being stripped of anything. There is a massive target on your back, Coach, and it’s only going to get bigger as the other actors in this little tragedy are made to pay their penance.

The heck of it is, Pete, you seem to be a halfway decent guy! There was the whole business with the young boy losing his sight and asking to see a Southern Cal game as the final thing he’d see (link!). Your Camp Pete website is cartoonish and it hurts my eyes, but it’s for a dang good cause! On top of all that, you helped create an anti-gang violence charity in Los Angeles! Pete, is admitting you did wrong such a bad thing? Coaches and coordinators are the only ones getting paid to be there. Supposedly. There are practically no programs in college football that haven’t committed a violation of ethics, recruiting, or both in recent years. So admit that you knew something. Admit that you were wrong, at least a little. American sports fans are a notoriously forgiving lot, and the players at your current level are getting paid anyway.

Pete, allow me to say this in closing: I despised your teams when you were coaching. Every single Saturday I cheered against you and the Trojans. With that said, you were good for the game. People wanted to watch a Southern Cal game during the Carroll Era, either to cheer you on or to boo you mercilessly. You’re an excellent coach, paid players or no. You revived a program back into a proud dynasty, and because the actions taken by people under your command during your tenure could well bring it back down, you should admit wrongdoing, if only to preserve your personal integrity and whatever’s left of the integrity of USC football.

Sincerely,

Bones

(PS to the readers: If anyone knows Coach Carroll, pass this along. Without this part, obviously.)

Saturday in Review 9/11/10

There are days in college football that you just wish you could forget. This day, for most of us in the ACC fanbelt, was one of those. It's not often that every single ranked team from a single conference loses in the same day. It's even less often that one of those teams happens to be your favorite team. And, for the first time in my life, my ranked favorite team lost at home to a team from Division 1-AA. So, with that in mind, prepare for something that has more in common with Ecclesiastes than with a football blog...

#14 Penn State-3, #1 Alabama-24

Well, it's good to know that I was right about something. Ingram or no Ingram, Alabama certainly looks like the best team in the country. Once again, this is way too early in the season to draw in-depth conclusions, but 'Bama has looked dominant in both of its games thus far, and they won't be playing a proven football powerhouse until October 2, when Florida comes to town. Sure, they go to Arkansas in late September, but Arkansas seems to be criminally overrated at present, what with the pathetic non-conference schedule and all. Yeah, I'm filling this up with fluff, but did you watch this game? It was far more one-sided than the scoreboard indicated. (Oh, do note that the rankings here are from the coaches' poll. Forgot to put that in the intro.)

#12 Miami-24, #2 Ohio State-36

Well, so much for that talk of "The U" being back on the national scene. Heck, some idiot on this very blog proclaimed that the ACC looked better than the SEC last Saturday. Oh, wait, that was me. Then this week happened. This week made the ACC look like an underachieving 1-AA conference. This week was so bad that this game, the one I'm not actually reviewing right now, was probably the best performance by an ACC team this week. Wait, 2nd best. North Carolina didn't play.

Miami never really got taken out of this game, they just kept turning the ball over. 4 times, to be precise, all of them interceptions. Ohio State won the turnover battle and won the game. No surprise there, right? Right. Miami, having played this way, still have a realistic shot at winning the ACC, though at this point that's going to be like winning the gold medal in the Olympic ribbon twirling championship.

Wyoming-7, #4 Texas-34

Congrats to Texas' scheduling committee, who have successfully conjured the weakest nonconference schedule imaginable. The Longhorns are playing a slew of nobodies and UCLA. So, scratch that, a slew of nobodies. The last time Texas played a ranked nonconference foe in the regular season was in 2007, when they played TCU. Since then, they've boldly played no one outside of their relatively weak conference. Pardon my cynicism, but why isn't Texas subject to the same cynicism and ridicule that Boise State and TCU are given year in and year out? Texas plays one big game, a neutral site matchup against Oklahoma, each year, and then gets the fast track to the BCS. Yet they're treated as a powerhouse because they were good many years ago and they still are good today, whereas teams that weren't good (or extant) 50 years ago get left in the cold because geography doesn't dictate that they play in the big, strong southern conferences. Sure, there's a solution, but if you read this blog you already know what that is.

Tennessee Tech-7, #5 TCU-62

Doesn't TCU take enough heat for playing in a non-AQ conference? I understand that now that they're a threat, no big school wants to play them, but can't they at least find a 1-A school to play? Anyone? I'm only harping on this because when the year comes to a close and there are, say, 3 undefeated teams left, then the BCS committee will make a point to highlight that at least Texas murdered other 1-A teams.

South Florida-14, #6 Florida-38

Florida's not as good as they once were, but it helps that they played a team from the Big East, a conference which is almost as bad as the ACC. Still, this game should have given the Gator fans pause, because like Miami of Ohio, South Florida wasn't put into the rear view until the 4th quarter, and it was really Florida's defense that held them down, with the Gator offense putting up decent numbers against an inferior foe. It'll be interesting to see how Florida does against their first SEC foe this coming week. Thanks to me marrying a Tennessean, I'll be at that game, so look for some bonus coverage in next week's overly-long mostly unread version of this thing. Plus, it will be in blinding orange-vision, an added bonus!

Idaho-17, #7 Nebraska-38

Nebraska returns a good defense; with Pelini at the helm that's not a shocker. What is a shocker is their quarterback, Martinez, has run for 127 and 157 yards in weeks one and two of the season. Sure, that was against Western Kentucky and Idaho, but do you really think that teams in the Big 12 have defenses that are much better than those squads? Nebraska has something of an uphill climb, considering that they have Texas during the regular season, in addition to their road trip to Washington and the savior of football Jake Locker. Don't be surprised, though, if the 'Huskers grab the Big 12's BCS bid this season, especially since they seem to have a good offense to complement that defense.

#8 Oregon-48, Tennessee-13

Well, this doesn't bode overly well for when Florida visits the orange hole that is Neyland Stadium. Sure, Oregon's no pushover, but their defense isn't as good as Florida's. Tennessee had trouble moving the ball early in the game, and an opportunity to score a large number of points and really take advantage of the home field was lost. Tennessee will have even more trouble moving the ball against Florida next week.

Oregon, meanwhile, has an absurdly good offense, featuring a relatively balanced attack and a misdemeanor or 5. With Southern Cal a non-contender, right now it's difficult to see anyone but Oregon winning the Pac-10. It's also stupidly early to be making declarations about that sort of thing, so let's just move right along...

Iowa State-7, #9 Iowa-35

The Battle for the Cy-Hawk Trophy is one of the more one-sided rivalries in modern college football. Iowa has won 6 of the last 8, and 21 of the last 28 meetings. The Hawkeyes haven't lost in Iowa City since 2002, and Iowa's looked one heck of a lot more dominant to start this season than they did last year. Since they're coming off of a very good season in which they won a BCS bowl, Iowa's got a very real chance to make some noise at the end of the season. They have a fairly challenging trip to Arizona coming up this week, which will tell us much more about Iowa than their slaughter of two overmatched teams will. As you can tell, this game wasn't televised in our area. Moving on...

#18 Florida State-17, #10 Oklahoma-47

Another ACC team goes down, and this one goes down hard. Oklahoma, a team that looked outright flat last week against the Utah State Aggies, came out and slaughtered the Seminoles. ("Slaughter" is apparently the word of the week.) Florida State proved that they can be very good bullies, in the sense that they can beat up 1-AA Samford, and get beaten up when a bigger, badder kid comes to play. In this scenario, the Sooners beat up the Seminoles and took their lunch money. There's just about nothing positive you can say about this performance from Florida State: they turned the ball over frequently, the Heisman talk surrounding Christian Ponder didn't die--it was murdered, and Florida State's defense looked beyond lost in their attempts to stop Oklahoma. Landry Jones was throwing balls over and around Florida State the whole game, and I'm beginning to think that the Heisman trophy that went to Sam Bradford back in 2008 should have gone to the Oklahoma offensive line coach. No one that I know of has claimed that Landry Jones is anywhere near as good as Bradford, yet he just had an extremely good game against a team that theoretically has a decent defense. This bodes well for Oklahoma, since they play in the Big 12.

Speaking of defense, the way Oklahoma's defense played almost made me recant my mockery of Big 12 defenses. Almost. Then I looked again and saw that every single ranked ACC team lost on this particular horrible Saturday, so shutting down Florida State was something of an unimpressive feat. Oklahoma's still got some tough games coming up, with a potential trap against Air Force, followed by a game against underwhelming Cincinnati, followed by the de facto Big 12 South championship game against Texas. It's going to be a somewhat rough month for the Sooners, so we'll see where they are in a few weeks. As for Florida State, with the state of the ACC, they could easily wind up going to the Orange Bowl. Take that for what it's worth.

San Jose State-14, #11 Wisconsin-27

Never let it be said that San Jose State isn't willing to play a tough schedule. Consecutive games against the #1 and #11 teams in the nation, respectively do not lend themselves to having a good season opening. To be fair, the Spartans didn't get slaughtered in this one, though they were down 20-0 when they cracked the scoreboard very late in the 3rd quarter. Wisconsin, however, doesn't look like the 11th best team in the country with back to back close-ish wins over UNLV and San Jose State. The Badgers will play their toughest nonconference foe next week when the Arizona State Sun Devils roll into Madison. There isn't a ranked team on Wisconsin's schedule until the October 16 matchup with Ohio State, and you have to wonder if this rather mundane first half of the season will help or hurt the Badgers, considering that they play the better half of the Big 10 during the last half of the season.

Oh, and on the off chance that one of the 8 people who cares about San Jose State football reads this, the Spartans have a cupcake next week. If there's any team in the country that does deserve one, it's the Spartans. Though they shouldn't get too cocky because...

James Madison-21, #13 Virginia Tech-16

I want to blame this on something. Weather, tiredness, conspiracy theory, anything. I also want to fill this space with a slew of curse words that would get me kicked out of any civilized place on the planet. But that's not how we roll on this blog, so I'll just tell the truth:

Virginia Tech has committed some of the most egregious sins a college football team can commit. They overlooked their opponent this week, assuming that James Madison would go in with their heads hung and provide Virginia Tech with an easy win and a foot massage. The Hokies assumed that everyone had seen them hang with the Broncos of Boise State on Monday night, and that would be enough. It wasn't. But good teams often overlook their opponents, and had this been the case here, I might be willing to forgive this loss.

The second football sin that Tech committed is just about unforgivable: They believed their own hype. Virginia Tech was touted by many preseason polls as having the best backfield in the country, with Ryan Williams and Darren Evans providing a one-two punch that the Hokies would ride right up to an ACC Championship. Instead, Virginia Tech has the 42nd best rushing offense in the country after two weeks behind a mistake prone offensive line, and the whole team seems to have come down with a case of the fumbles. The defense, which defined Virginia Tech football for the last 20 years or so, has allowed a high number of points and doesn't have many takeaways.

Even so, at this juncture, 2 good things can come out of this. 1) Virginia Tech has a horrible season, finishes 2-10 or so and offensive coordinator Bryan "I have never fielded an offense better than 38th in the nation" Stinespring gets fired. That's good for Virginia Tech, since it's been the not-so-secret dream of everyone in Blacksburg since roughly 2002, when he and his 4-and-a-half play offense took over.

2) Virginia Tech recovers, wins the ACC, and goes to a BCS bowl after starting off 0-2 with a loss against a 1-AA team. How is that good, you ask? Well, it shows just how broken the system is and it might be the final straw that breaks the BCS camel's back.

Finally (hey, don't give me that look, you knew this was going to be long), the Hokie loss has put a lot of talk in the air about Boise State's strength of schedule taking a hit. What people seem to not dare ask is this: How good is Boise State, really? They only beat Virginia Tech by 3, compared to James Madison's 5 point win. I know it seems like a cheap shot, but think about it! The media is afraid to criticize Boise because they're everyone's darlings, but suddenly that Oregon State game looms one heck of a lot larger. I guess we'll see on the 25th.

#15 Arkansas-31, UL Monroe-7

If you're still with me after that ridiculous rant about Virginia Tech, then I shall reward you with lightning quick reviews for a bit...Well, less lightning quick and more "not a page and a half long..."

I would just like to compliment Arkansas for being an SEC team willing to play a Sun Belt team at the Sun Belt team's stadium. Next season, I would like to thank Arkansas for being an SEC team willing to not schedule a Sun Belt team at all, though I don't like the odds of that happening. Let's move along...

#16 LSU-27, Vanderbilt-3

LSU might really not be that good, considering that Carolina's B-team nearly beat them, and Vandy held them to 10 points in the first half. A win is a win, though, and LSU is 2-0, and they look to have a clear path right up until they play Florida in October.

#17 Georgia Tech-25, Kansas-28

Everyone's making a fuss over Virginia Tech's loss. Has anyone noticed that a team that lost 6-3 to North Dakota State beat the defending ACC champions? I would also like to point out (and yes, I know this is grasping at straws) that at least James Madison is a good 1-AA team, whereas North Dakota State is not. This game just completed the disaster for the conference on the coast, and Georgia Tech looked every bit as embarrassing as any of the other ranked ACC schools listed above.

#19 Georgia-6, #25 South Carolina-17

Well, South Carolina beat a ranked SEC team! I guess that's the good news. The bad news is that both of these teams played relatively mundanely in this game, and it's hard to see either of them making a serious run in a conference that's weaker than it was last year, but is still the best conference in the country. Neither of these teams should beat Alabama, Florida, LSU, Arkansas, or Auburn, and that means that both look to finish smack in the middle of the SEC. In other words, not much has changed for Georgia or South Carolina...

UNLV-10, #20 Utah-38

Utah...still a boring state. (NOTE: No offense intended to my compatriots on here, it's just that Utah games are almost never broadcast here.)

The Citadel-6, #23 Arizona-52

It never ceases to amaze me the number of good teams that the representatives of the Southern Conference (a 1-AA conference, obviously) play. This season, SoCon teams will play or have played the following: Florida, Arizona, Auburn, Florida State, and South Carolina.

I'm sure other 1-AA conferences have similar stories to tell, but as someone who lives across the street from a SoCon school, I just thought I'd point that out. It's not like this game was close. Or televised. And even I am not pathetic enough to watch the tape delay on that one. Good luck in Iowa next week, Arizona. Moving hastily along to the last big one this week.

#24 BYU-14, Air Force-35

Air Force ran, quite literally, all over the BYU Cougars demonstrating, as Sloppy put it, the proper way to run a triple option offense. BYU came out swinging in the first quarter and then apparently became content with their lead and went home, forgetting to play in the remaining three quarters. Air Force has the potential to make some noise in the Mountain West Conference, provided that they can beat Utah and TCU. I vote that the MWC gets the ACC's auto bid, and that the WAC gets the Big East's. It'll make for a more interesting postseason. And now...

Tales from the Bottom 95

First, congrats on making it this far down...Hats off to UVa for sticking with Southern Cal, a team that isn't ranked in the coaches poll, and thus not on my list. To be fair, the Cavaliers' performance probably says more about the state of USC football than it does about the Cavaliers...Hawaii edged Army by 3. Again, this probably says more about Southern Cal than it does about Army or Hawaii...I'm planning on writing a letter to Pete Carroll, by the way...Cincinnati bounced back from the loss to Fresno by beating--Indiana State. Never mind...Akron continued their long run of mediocrity by dropping a game to Gardner-Webb...It was apparently a bad week for 1-A teams looking for a cupcake, since Minnesota lost to South Dakota...Congrats to Clemson for crushing their terrifying foe--Presbyterian. On a horrible day for the ACC, you showed up to pummel your cupcake. Congrats?...Same to Maryland...Another 1-AA cupcake surprise: Liberty beat Ball State...In "how the mighty have fallen" news, the same Oklahoma State team that was #5 in the country last season in week 2 only beat their Sun Belt foe Troy by 3...Stanford smacked UCLA...

That's all for this week. Next week will hopefully be less depressing.

Virginia Tech vs Boise State vs Officiating

As the resident Hokie, I suppose it's my civic duty to review this game...I'll try to keep it as unbiased as possible.

#5 Boise State-33, #6 Virginia Tech-30

First off, allow me to address the uniforms: they were hideous. Nike needs to be sued by a group of clothing designers or something. Boise's jerseys were bad, but Tech looked like a team from some 13 year old's poorly written fan fiction about "futureball," a game that combines football with explosions and stripper cheerleaders. (Kinda like the XFL.) Both teams' helmets were nice, though. But you're not here for aesthetics, you're here for analysis, especially since you already know who won the game.

Well, for once a big game lived up to the hype. Aside from the horrible, awful first quarter, this game was danged good. The first quarter, however, was an embarrassment to anyone who happens to root for the team from Blacksburg. Boise's jump to a 17-0 lead owed much less to the Broncos' skill, and much more to outright ineptitude from Virginia Tech. It should be obvious that the debacle of the first quarter factored into the decision, since Virginia Tech outscored Boise by 14 over the course of the rest of the game. I'm aware that it's everyone's first game, but Tech's offensive line looked outright sad during the first quarter, and I'm not really sure they started getting better over the course of the game so much as Tyrod Taylor said "Alright, enough of this." and put the game on his shoulders.

Boise, meanwhile, looked great when it came to shutting down Tech's running attack. Mind you, they did so at the expense of the pass defense. Taylor's not the best passer, but he threw for nearly 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sure, Kellen Moore had better numbers through the air, but he's a passing quarterback. Tech's defense, which was replacing 6 starters, didn't have a shot at shutting down the Boise offense, but they did do OK until they gave up an absurdly long touchdown run in the 3rd quarter.

The salient feature of this game for me (and just about everyone else who willingly wears the clashing colors of maroon and orange) was the officiating. Specifically, the quality of the officiating, which was remarkably poor. Fortunately (I guess) the screwups were pretty much even. Boise State, for example, was called for "running into the kicker" in the 3rd. In all honesty, the Boise State player grazed Tech's kicker and he (like many other kickers) treated the slight touch as though it were a gunshot wound. After the five yard penalty was marched off, Tech proceeded to throw a touchdown on the very next play. But the reason why Blacksburgians (Blacksburgites? Blacksburgers? There needs to be a dictionary for this crap.) are up in arms today is because of the final minute and a half of the game. On the kickoff there was an illegal block in the back. The flag was thrown, and the officials decided that there was no penalty. OK, fine. Debatable, but fine. Later in the drive, Virginia Tech was whistled for a personal foul on a late hit. This call was, simply put, bad. The lateness of the hit was debatable, but if the refs wanted to err on the side of caution, that's OK. What is not OK is that, on Virginia Tech's final possession, a similarly debatable pass interference call was ignored on 4th down. If you want to be a ticky-tack official who calls every little rule infraction, that's fine, but call it both ways. The running into the kicker call and the late hit call were both bad calls, but the block in the back and the pass interference call were bad no-calls. Inconsistent officiating drives fans bonkers, and I am no exception. Or maybe I'm still not over this call. Not that it matters, because they're not going to replay the game on my account.

In conclusion, now that they've beaten the Hokies, I sincerely hope that Boise runs the table and heads to the National Championship game. The chips need to fall right, though, because (as seen above) I choose to focus on the coaches poll, which currently places Boise at number 3. Considering the relative weakness of their schedule, they still need a miracle or two to make the National Title game. What they really need is for Virginia Tech and Oregon State to run the table after they play Boise, the better to make the Broncos look good. As it stands, though, Boise needs every major conference team to lose a game, because otherwise coaches will find an excuse to place any team above them, if only to preserve the BCS monopoly.

Well, that's all. Personally, I think I did alright on avoiding the bias, but I'm curious to get your input. Comment away...

Saturday in Review 9/4/10

A glorious (and surprisingly competitive) first Saturday of the year. Let’s hit the highlights and gloss conveniently over some of the more slaughter-oriented games of the day (Side note: numbers represent position in the USA Today/Coaches’ Poll, since that’s the one that factors into the BCS)…

San Jose State-3, #1 Alabama-48

On a day where many SEC teams did not look up to snuff, the Crimson Tide certainly showed up to play. Even minus Mark Ingram, Alabama had very little trouble with the Spartans of San Jose State, which means that my hat is safe. As the defending champs, Alabama was sort of obliged to win this game against inferior competition. Plus, ‘Bama at least had the decency to play another 1-A team, something that many many other squads didn’t have the gumption to do on this particular day. Let’s move on…

Miami (the bad one) (I mean, Ohio)-12, #3 Florida-34

Considering their ranking, this had to be pretty embarrassing for Florida. The defense showed up to play, something for which Urban Meyer should be eternally grateful, since the Gators’ offense apparently all followed St. Timmy to the NFL. Miami was leading this game after the 1st quarter, and Florida’s defense provided the first touchdown of 2010. If this were a report on another school named Miami, that wouldn’t be a big deal. But considering that Florida was playing the 2nd worst team on its schedule, this really isn’t a good sign if you’re a Gator fan. If you’re sick of Florida being shoved down your throat as an ideal team that others should strive to be like, however, this was kinda fun to watch. Florida’s offense never got going at any point in the game, and they looked very frustrated at times with the MAC defense of Miami. The game against South Florida figures to be tougher than this one, so Urban had best get things in Gainesville turned around fast, otherwise he may be taking another leave of absence.

#4 Texas-34, Rice-17

Rice played surprisingly well in this game. The Owls are known for being something of a traditional cupcake for the Longhorns, and it was good to see them fight back. Texas, though, joins a surprisingly large club of teams that didn’t hammer their cupcakes into the ground. Statisticians will tell you that 1 game is the worst possible sample size you can use to draw conclusions, so when the spate of “what week one taught us” articles come out, don’t pay too much attention. Texas plays mediocre nonconference competition, and its quite possible that they weren’t taking this game too seriously. It’s also possible that this game is a troubling barometer that all is not well in Austin, and that Texas is poised for a precipitous fall. The only certainty is that it’s too dang early to tell anything, and that goes for the two games I wrote about above this one, and however many games I’ll write about below this one.

As to the game itself: Texas’ running game saved the day, since Garrett Gilbert looked about as inconsistent today as he did during the National Championship game back in January. Rice didn’t allow any ridiculously huge plays, but they seemed to run out of steam in the 2nd quarter, allowing Texas to wake up out of their funk and take a 24-3 lead before the Owls could score again. Allowing your superior competition a double digit lead is generally how cupcakes allow themselves to get eaten. There are exceptions to this rule (see Bottom 95 section on Ole Miss), but this game wasn’t one of them. Onward, to an actual ranked matchup!

#22 Oregon State-21, #7 TCU-30

It’s been a good week thus far for the BCS busters, though this game was pretty close for much of its early portions. We really can’t read too much into this one, but it was interesting to note that the commentators for this game said that the difference was “the experience” of TCU quarterback Andy Dalton was what made the difference in this game. Simply put, that’s just wrong. Dalton did have 30 more starts than Oregon State’s quarterback, and he ran for 2 scores and threw for another, but he also threw 2 more interceptions. Call it a wash, but don’t call it a difference. Besides which, anyone who was watching the game knows that the difference maker was TCU’s defense…or possibly their hideous new unis.

Utah State-24, #8 Oklahoma-31

Coming off of a bowl season where the Big 12 looked outright mediocre (4-4) the conference had a lot to prove coming into this season. In week 1, they failed to prove much of anything, with both Texas and Oklahoma struggling mightily against lesser foes. At least Texas had the excuse of being on the road. Oklahoma had to nip a team that went 4-8 last season, and they had to do so in Norman. It stands to reason that the biggest problem present in the Big 12 is that the conference doesn’t know how to play defense. Yes, there is an exception to this rule: Nebraska. And of the Big 12 teams in action on Saturday, guess which one looked the best? That’s right…

Western Kentucky-10, #9 Nebraska-49

Nebraska was quite dominant all day, something that is very telling about the status of some very highly ranked teams. You see, having to say “(insert ranked team name here) was dominant all day” in the first week of the season is normally like saying “The sun rose today” or “A Florida player got arrested today.” It should be unremarkable, commonplace, etc. Instead, many teams looked like that number in front of their name was the number of points they were going to score. Nebraksa is leaving their current conference in the lurch after this season, and they have a very real shot at winning the Big 12 in their last year in the conference. Still, let’s not read too much into the first week of the year, nor should we make this post too long. After all, there’s many more Saturdays, all of which will be more interesting than this one.

Eastern Illinois-7, #10 Iowa-37

The SEC and Big 12 looked so crummy today that they grabbed the headlines. That’s somewhat unfair, because the Big 10 played reasonably well. I’m putting this here because the Wisconsin/UNLV game was actually fairly close, the Penn State game is further down, and all the other Big 10 teams will be lost in the shuffle of the Bottom 95.

Plus, this could be a sign that Iowa is going to be the National Champion this year! Sounds ridiculous, yes? Well, last year they made the BCS after needing a blocked field goal to beat Northern Iowa. So, logic says, this team might be even better! But, as we all know, in college football, logic has no place.

New Mexico-0, #11 Oregon-72

Look at the score. No analysis necessary. Heck, Oregon even played a 1-A team in this slaughter, too.

#12 Wisconsin-41, UNLV-21

Wisconsin actually struggled in this game, though they pulled away during the 3rd quarter. I’ll be honest, it was late, and I was about 90% asleep during this game, so analysis here is going to be spotty. How about a random thought: how hard must it be to keep football players (especially the juniors and seniors who are 21+) focused in Vegas? Just throwing it out there.

Youngstown State-14, #14 Penn State-44

1-AA cupcake game, with a predictable result, though the Penguins did have a lead at the end of the 1st. I guess the coaches were out at the nursing home picking up “head coach” Paterno during the first quarter. JoePa’s a great guy, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not the actual coach at Penn State. He doesn’t even wear a headset for crying out loud! There really ought to be a law against this sort of thing, because so long as Joe has a pulse he’ll be the coach at Penn State, which will make his records completely untouchable.

Any hoo, after the 1st, this game was all Penn State, with Youngstown trailing 44-7 before they finally added their last, meaningless, TD with 40 seconds left in the game. Come to think of it, there ought to be a law against that, too.

#16 LSU-30, #18 North Carolina-24

LSU came into this game with a distinct advantage, what with Carolina missing starters on both sides of the ball. And for the first half, everything played out as it was supposed to. Then, after halftime, the narrative took a sudden, dramatic turn at Crazyville. Maybe Butch Davis is a brilliant on-field coach, maybe Les Miles is as dumb as everyone seems to think he is, or maybe the Carolina trainers know Brian McNamee. No matter how you slice it, though, the second half was a thriller, with Carolina’s offense playing very well and with LSU’s whole team looking nothing short of lost.

Don’t get me wrong, though, LSU did do pretty well in the first half, and some exceptional play by TJ Yates in the second half was the entire reason that Carolina stayed in the game at all. As a fan of a team in the ACC, I must say that it’s a good thing they lost those starters, because if those were the backups, then this team would dominate the conference with its starters. LSU, meanwhile, shouldn’t give up hope. After all, they at least beat a team from a major conference, which is more than most SEC teams could say on this day.

South Carolina State-10, #17 Georgia Tech-41

All this game teaches us is that Georgia Tech still can’t throw the ball. They threw for 12 yards against a 1-AA team, which means that if they find themselves down late in a game again, they’d best hope they’re playing a team with a horrible run defense. Not much else can be said about this one, especially when one considers the level of competition that the Jackets were facing.

Tennessee Tech-3, #19 Arkansas-44

Bobby Petrino is right down there with Nick Saban in terms of likability. And Ryan Mallett, according to the ESPN writeup, got his Heisman campaign started by pantsing a 1-AA team. I know I harped on this during the review of Ingram’s injury, but no one commented on that post so I’ll do it again: How does one start a Heisman campaign by slaughtering a vastly inferior foe? Does anyone really think that the voters of the Downtown Athletic Club are going to look at this game in December and go, “Gee, Mallett beat up his 1-AA opponent by 41, instead of just 40. He’s outstanding!” No, they’ll probably look at Arkansas’s conference games and do with this one what I should have done: ignore it.

Samford-6, #20 Florida State-59

Another 1-AA game that went as planned. Was it just me, or did the ACC look better than the SEC today? I’m not saying that the ACC is the better of the two southern major conferences, just that they didn’t need to pull ahead of their cupcakes in the 4th quarter. Sure, the ACC lost its only major matchup of the day, and there’s a very real chance that Boise State could kill Virginia Tech, but on the aggregate, the ACC looked good against its more pathetic competition. Moving right along…

Louisiana-Lafayette-7, #21 Georgia-55

Like Arkansas, Georgia beat their cupcake the way they were supposed to. Nothing to see here, move along.

Arkansas State-26, #23 Auburn-52

Well, Auburn might have some trouble in the SEC, considering that their defense was quite porous on this particular Saturday, but it could be that Arkansas State’s offense is just that good. In retrospect, ignore everything after the comma in that last sentence, because I really shouldn’t have typed it. Auburn proved they can score on a Sun Belt team, and they’d best hope that they still can score on SEC teams, because their defense looks like it’s going to have trouble stopping anything. And let’s move to the last of the 25…

Coastal Carolina-0, #25 West Virginia-31

Well, WVU looks like they might be back. They’re also going to be one of the few Big East teams that might be “good” instead of “mediocre.” But it’s too early to tell. Now, let’s go waaaaay down to:

Tales from the Bottom 95

Let’s lead off with the best upset of week 1: Ole Miss defeated by Jacksonville State. Guess it’s a long way down from this…Tennessee defeated their cupcake in Coach Dooley’s debut, for whatever that’s worth…Kentucky beat Louisville, allowing the SEC to win at least one game against major conference competition…Kansas State beat UCLA, which isn’t a good sign for the Bruins, since they have to go to Texas later this month…Speaking of the Big 12, holy crap, what happened to Kansas?! Turner Gill’s intro to big time football did not go well…Missouri and Illinois was a thriller, pity it’s between such mediocre teams…Lastly, Jake Locker began proving me right by helping Washington lose its first game to BYU. Yeah, Jake played pretty well, but like it or not, the Heisman doesn’t go to guys on teams that lose their first game to BYU, even though BYU’s pretty good…

That’s all for this week, not least because most of the other games were simple slaughters of 1-AA teams. And Virginia Tech’s game just came on. Gotta go!

Thursday in Review (9/2/10)

Thoughts and ramblings on the first round of games, courtesy of a misanthrope (look it up!) with DirecTV...

Marshall-7, #2 Ohio State-45

Here's one of the myriad problems with week 1 of the season: most teams play "warm up" games like this one. I'm curious, though, as to why the lesser teams have to wait a week for warmups. Why doesn't everyone just find a lesser team and pummel them? Or why doesn't college football have a meaningless preseason like the NFL? Instead, we have a system where good teams that take risks are punished, while teams that take the easy road are given a leg up. Sure, Ohio State plays Miami (the good one) next week, but the rest of their nonconference schedule consists of Marshall, Ohio, and Eastern Michigan. Other schools are even worse: Texas' best nonconference foe is UCLA, Nebraska's best is Washington, and there's a host of other examples. Playing one good nonconference game should not be a license to screw around with the other 3, but in our current system this is really the only option. Think about it: Oregon State plays TCU and Boise State. If they drop those 2 games, win their other nonconference game, and sweep the Pac-10, they still go to a BCS bowl, but there's no way they'd play for the title. A playoff with conference winners (or common sense) would remedy this situation and encourage aggressive scheduling. As it stands, we're supposed to be impressed with teams "daring" to play a ranked nonconference opponent, while ignoring weak sauce games like this.

As to the game itself, what do you want? The score tells most of the story, though it was kinda cool to see Marshall run a blocked punt back for their only points. Let's move on...

Florida A&M-0, #13 Miami-45

(NOTE: No real analysis here, game was as dull as a bowling ball)

So to prepare for one another Ohio State and Miami played a mediocre Conference USA team and a decent 1-AA team, respectively. This raises more than a few questions: How is that realistic? Does anyone think that OSU and Miami's 2nd teams couldn't provide more challenge to the starters than these squads? I guess the hitting is more "realistic" with a cupcake opponent, but is that it? Are these games anything more than glorified scrimmages? If Ohio State really is the 2nd best team in the country, then how does pummeling Florida A&M serve as a preparatory step? And will I really continue with the hackneyed gimmick of asking rhetorical questions? The answer to the last one is "no."

#14 USC-49, Hawaii-36

O, how the mighty have fallen! The Southern California Trojans treated this as though it were a major win, the right way to start of the Lane Kiffin era. Really? This? Beating last year's 5th place team from the WAC? Oops, started asking questions again, my bad. Watching the game, though, it was clear that the Trojans are probably going to struggle this year. Hawaii's not anywhere near the best team that Southern Cal will play this season, and Southern Cal never really put them away until about halfway through the 4th quarter when they responded to Hawaii's late score with one of their own. Hawaii's offense kept scoring on a very porous Trojan defense, and only Hawaii's awful defense allowed Southern Cal to win the game. Fortunately for the Trojans, they play a rather pathetic nonconference schedule, meaning that they don't have any real challenges on the schedule until October, which will give the defense some desperately needed time to gel.

As to the Southern Cal offense, they proved that they could score against a WAC team which, unless that team's name is "Boise State," isn't saying much. The SC offense was well balanced, with virtually equal passing and rushing yardage. Unfortunately, they actually hung up LESS yardage than Hawaii did, though that was largely a consequence of field position. Hawaii's not a terrible team, but they're nowhere near the national threat they were considered to be in 2007, and Southern Cal will finish in the middle of the Pac-10 again if they keep playing the way they did on Thursday.

#15 Pitt-24, Utah-27

Normally I'd just riff on Utah for being a boring state, but this was actually the best game of the night by leaps and bounds. The game was a pitched battle, with both teams putting up some rather embarrassing penalty numbers while putting on a very good show. The Utahns (Utahers? Utahites? Utahonians?) who showed up to support the Utes provided a suitably hostile environment to test the Pitt Panthers, a test which the Panthers ultimately failed.

Given that I'm writing this on what is technically Saturday (it's really early...), it'd be a waste of everyone's time to try and describe the entire game. You could have watched the highlights a few hundred times by now. Instead, let's focus on the final play of regulation: the Pitt field goal to send the game into overtime. Just in case you didn't know, the Panthers were driving, trying to win/tie the game with time running out. With 3 seconds left on the clock, their kicker trotted out and nailed a 30 yard field goal. Except that Utah's coach had called a last second timeout.

So they lined it up again, he kicked it again, but this time he missed! Utah wins! Except their coach had called a timeout.

So, for a third time, Pitt kicks a field goal. This time he hits it, Utah's coach doesn't call timeout, and the game goes into OT.

Now, a few seasons ago this was a HUGE deal. Heck, coaches calling timeout to ice the kicker at the last second was such a trend during the 2007 season that it was added as a feature in EA's NCAA game for the following year. Thankfully that trend died down a bit after coaches realized that it had minimal effect on most kickers, and allowed more than a few missed kicks to be retried, therefore completely backfiring on its users. Last season there wasn't much mention of the tactic at all, a far cry from the NCAA meetings in early 2008 where a rule change was discussed to stop the rather underhanded tactic from being used. One can only hope that this trend isn't going to crop up again. Calling timeout while a kicker is on the field is one thing. Heck, one can even wait until the lines are all set. But for crying out loud, why call timeout right before the snap? It's underhanded, it's unnecessary, and most of the time it doesn't even work! Remember this one? And for crying out loud, coaches, if you're going to pull this little stunt, don't do it more than once! If Utah's coach had called one timeout, then allowed the kick, they would have won the game then and there. Instead, in a classic case of shutting the barn door after the horse has already run away, Coach Whittingham did not call timeout on Pitt's last kick, which sailed, in a very ugly line, through the uprights. The timeout tactic is simply low, and it really needs to be addressed by the NCAA somehow. I mean, come on, some of the most famous misses in college history have come after no timeouts at all!

I guess I'm making too much of it, Pitt threw an interception on the first play of OT and Utah won anyway. However, now it is time for...

Tales from the Bottom 95

I didn't announce it on here or facebook, yet, but I have a new home on the web, here's the link! I'll still post everything on here that I did on there, but the other site provides news and updates from many authors instead of just 1...What better way to kick off the season than with the historic Wake Forest/Presbyterian College game? Seriously, that was the first game of the year?...Tulane only beat their 1-AA cupcake by 6. Gonna be a looooong season in New Orleans...South Carolina took care of Southern Miss, which really is problematic. If the Gamecocks had just gone ahead and gotten upset, they wouldn't have gotten their fans' hopes up again...Quick nod to Middle Tennessee State, who held their own against Minnesota right up to the closing whistle, and very nearly won...Buffalo opened up their season (and their new coach's era) with a win...Florida Atlantic beat UAB in what was apparently a very thrilling game. I am basing this totally on the box score, though...

That's all for Thursday. Hopefully I'll be able to do one of these for Saturday as well.