Saturday in Review 9/19/09

Wow. What a day to make the first full Saturday in Review of the year. May as well get crackin'. We'll do the usual (Top 25 rundown with news on the Bottom 95 underneath) Let's start at the top:

Tennessee-13, #1 Florida-23

Well, I'll admit that this one surprised me more than a little. I figured we'd be talking about who would replace Lane Kiffin since he got eviscerated in Gainesville. Instead we saw a Florida team that looked a bit vulnerable, a decent Tennessee defense, and a surprisingly close game. Most disturbing for the Gators was how Tim Tebow was contained by a team that no one really considers a threat in the SEC. Sure, he ran for 76 yards and threw for 115, but it was Tennessee. I'm intrigued to see the Gators in Death Valley against LSU when October arrives.

As for the Vols, they ran a hyperconservative offense and kept it close. I'm not sure if they can win with "exciting" (read: spread offense) football this year. I'm also not sure they have to. I'll be the first to admit that Virginia Tech has built their reputation on conservative football. (NOTE: This week proved that Tech can be exciting, see below) I wish Tennessee luck, and I think we might see their hideous, Construction Zone Orange colored font on our countdown this year.

Final note from this game: Tennessee's QB Jonathan Crompton is the most hated man in Knoxville. Tim Tebow is Superman in Gainesville. Tebow had 115 yards, 1 INT, and 1 lost fumble. Crompton had 93 yards and 2 INTs. Seriously, kids. The only difference (at least in this game) was marketing. Just a thought...

Texas Tech-24, #2 Texas-34

This one wasn't surprising. A good team beat a not-as-good team by a reasonable margin. Heck, you don't even need me to review it. I will now use this space for personal expostulation...

If I saw that ad with the GameDay Crew and Mack Brown singing again...I would put an axe through my TV. It was funny at first. One time. After that, it got irritating, and now it's outright infuriating. I get it. You don't freestyle. Please cut it out. Aaaand let's move on to the upset of the day...

#3 USC-13, Washington-16

This game isn't too surprising, even though it's an unranked team beating a highly ranked one. Sure, Washington was winless last year, but having your opponent's former offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator on the sideline has to help...

As for Southern Cal, this sort of defeat happens on a regular basis. It's almost expected of them. The one (read that one, not 2) year they won the national title this millennium was the one year they went undefeated in conference. I really can't wait for the articles claiming that they would have won with Matt Barkley and how this game means nothing and how they should be national champs. Can't wait.

North Texas-7, #4 Alabama-53

I refuse to review this. It's a cupcake game that a team of Bama's caliber has no business playing.

Temple-6, #5 Penn State

I wonder, do teams feel obligated to play one another because they're in the same state? Because this is another one of those matchups that shouldn't happen. After all the crap the Big 10 + 1 have taken for their ability (or lack thereof) to win nonconference games, one of the 3 best teams in conference chooses to face the powerhouse that is Temple?!

Also, the night this game happened, a friend of mine and I text messaged one another regarding the possibility of a Penn State National Title. Here's what we got (all errors are [sic] in advance):

Wes: i'm hoping penn state runs the tables lol
Me: Haha. JoePa!
Wes: where am i?? wheres my pizza
Me: Sir, we just won the national title.
Wes: i need my ensure! get outa my way.....stupid confetti
Me: Sir, we need a shot of you and the trophy.
Wes: my hip!
Me: Sigh... I'll get the stretcher...
Wes: hahahahah we just role played them winning the natl championship....if it happens itll happen just as we said

I agree completely. Also, for continuity purposes: Utah is a boring state.

SE Louisiana-6, #5 Ole Miss-52

(See Bama review, replace "Bama" with "Ole Miss." Move on.)

Florida State-54, #7 BYU-28

Seriously, BYU. You get a shot at running the table and getting into the BCS, and instead you decide not to play defense at home against a team that nearly lost to Jacksonville State last week at home! This really hurts those of us who were hoping for a BYU-Boise State-TCU-Utah-Houston showdown in the BCS this year. It also hurts the argument for a playoff.

However, it DOES help that this makes the ACC look good. No articles about how awful the conference is this week. Just articles on how much better BC would be with Matt Ryan. I'll accept that.

#8 Cal-35, Minnesota-21

Hmmm. This one's problematic. Cal won, and went on the road to do so. Still, I think it's fair to say that the Golden Bears aren't a dominant team. From what I saw, USC will give them trouble, but the good news is that the Bears play them at home. The bad news is, aside from Jahvid Best, Cal looked quite underwhelming against a Minnesota team that stuck with them up until the final moments of the 4th quarter

UL Lafayette-3, #9 LSU-31

This in-state "rivalry" is another excuse for an easy win without being an official "cupcake" game. LSU is a National Championship contender just about every year, while UL Lafayette is normally at the bottom of the worst conference in Division 1-A football. LSU shouldn't play them, and they shouldn't annually get to smack Tulane around in the ultra-one-sided Battle for the Tiger Rag. Try scheduling some real teams for a change. If you lose the games, but are still a good team, then you can make the case for a playoff.

#10 Boise State-51, Fresno State-34

Wow...defense optional football. 987 total yards of offense. (Comparison Stat: Tennessee and Florida combined for 533 yards.) Boise looks like the last, best hope for an undefeated team to crash the BCS this year. Boise's schedule is pretty easy (only real threats: at Tulsa and at Hawaii in consecutive weeks during October) and almost all of the other BCS busters were cut out of the picture during this early upside down week of football.

Fresno, meanwhile, has one of the toughest schedules in football, and they should be applauded for it. Even if they lose every single one of their 7 road games, they at least have the backbone to play these foes, many of whom are outside of their own conference. By comparison other teams' crappy schedules (click those words for some truly amusing scheduling) should be torn up and redrawn, not rewarded with bowl games.

#11 (Really?) Ohio State-38, Toledo-0

Look, I know I pick on the Buckeyes. Some might say too much. These people are from Ohio, though, and they don't count.

Seriously, though, Ohio State is a great example of what's wrong with the BCS: It rewards teams that are the top dog in a seriously weak conference. Ohio State is sitting pretty at #11 (and moving up!) because they play no one! They played USC close, which is admirable, but a loss is a loss. Ohio State's other nonconference games: Navy (barely won), this thrashing of Toledo, and New Mexico State. If they win their conference, they go to the Rose Bowl. Heck, if the chips fall right, they can still easily go to the national title game! So...yeah, you might say this bothers me.

Tulsa-0, #12 Oklahoma-35

While I pity the loss of Sam Bradford, it really happened at the best possible time for Oklahoma. Their games after the QB went down were against Idaho State and Tulsa. The big question is: Who will start for OU when they roll into Miami on October 3? Really, it doesn't matter: Big 12 teams don't respond well to teams with actual defenses, which is why Nebraska will soon be back atop that conference. As you can tell, this game interested me about as much as last year's Oklahoma v. Tulsa grain growing competition. Riveting TV...

#19 Nebraska-15, #13 Virginia Tech-16

A great finish in a game that, frankly, should not have been that close. Tyrod Taylor made an amazing final throw, but he was allowed to do so because the Nebraska D-line committed the unforgivable sin of standing there while he scrambled. Had the lineman taking Taylor down as he threw the ball simply run forward when he was clear (about 2 seconds before he actually did run at the QB), then Tech's got 4th and goal instead of a relatively easy touchdown.

Nebraska's offense was killed by some decent defense and some bad officiating. Before the real Midwestern griping begins, allow me to state that the officials were from the Big 12, not the ACC or another conference. So Nebraska has no one to blame but themselves. Shoulda paid higher.

#14 Georgia Tech-17, #20 Miami-33

Miami's defense looked nothing short of amazing in quashing the option attack of Georgia Tech. While far too much attention is lavished on Miami's (good, but not great) quarterback, their defense forced Georgia Tech into doing the only thing that they are incapable of doing: Throwing the football.

When a specialist team like the Yellow Jackets is forced to become "normal" the results are usually not pretty. It would be like forcing Texas Tech to run the football: Unpleasant for the offense, and easy for the defense.

As for Miami, they scored easily on a team that's middle-of-the-road on defense, which does bode well. Still, I won't buy into the hype that "The U" is back until they win a tough road game at Virginia Tech this coming week. If that happens, however, then I'll be aboard the Miami train right until it inexplicably crashes against Central Florida or Duke. Remember, kids, they are an ACC team...

Texas State-21 (I don't even know their colors...), #15 TCU-56

TCU, in trying to prove they can hang with the big boys, has decided to schedule like the big boys. That is to say, they schedule an opponent they can crush early in the season so that they only have to win 5 real games to make a bowl. Know what? So long as the system that rewards such scheduling is in place, you'll see this repeated every year. I have a suggestion to fix it: It starts with "p" and ends in "layoff."

Rice-24, #16 Oklahoma State-41

Oklahoma State bounced back nicely from their practically inexplicable loss to Houston last week. In fairness, when your whole nonconference schedule is played at home and 3 of the 4 opposing teams aren't in BCS conferences, it would be nice not to have to look at this as a bounce-back game. Still, good to see that 50% of the time a Big 12 team can beat a Conference USA foe. Let's see how they do against 1-AA Grambling State in this coming week's cupcake bakeoff in Stillwater.

#17 Cincinnati-28, Oregon State-18

Now, I didn't watch this one, but judging from the score, I do have an observation:

Cincinnati should be ranked higher than Southern Cal. Why? Because they can win at Oregon State, something the Trojans seem to be incapable of doing...

#18 Utah-24, Oregon-31

It was a bad day for the BCS-buster demographic. Scratch that, it was a horrible day for the BCS-buster demographic, a fact that makes me a bit sad, if unsurprised.

The Utes needed to win this game to: A) Make the case they were as good as Boise and thus deserving of a BCS bid and B) prove they can beat BCS teams in their own home stadiums, something that teams from automatic qualifying conferences are expected to do week in and week out. It's an unpleasant fact, but many times these giant killer teams only play the big boys once a year (admittedly the big schools' cowardly fault) at a major stadium, and then again at a neutral site. Having been to a bowl game I will say this with 100% confidence: it is much easier to beat a big school in a bowl than it is to beat them at their place.

Let's use a big school on the mend as an example: Tennessee. The Vols have not been a real threat in college football for a few years, yet I still venture that many teams pause before thinking they can face 102,000 fans in Neyland Stadium with ease. UCLA came in last week and won at Neyland because they face teams with large fan bases and are used to the environment. If Boise, TCU, Utah, Houston, and BYU rolled into Neyland to play Tennessee, I think maybe 1 of them comes away with a win (Boise). Move the game to a neutral site, and I think the number jumps to 3 of the smaller schools getting the win. Move the games to the smaller schools and force UT to play there, and I think 4 of the smaller schools win (Houston, I'm pretty sure is a fluke) (NOTE: I've been wrong before...) And the sad fact is, that's using a crummy school as an example. Go into a decent school and you might be seeing a buster beat-down

In conclusion, if you want to make the BCS, you have to prove you'd make it in a BCS conference. It's that simple, and Utah failed the test. Alabama lost 1 conference game last year and got shut out of the championship, as did Southern Cal. If you want to hang out with them, you must be willing to suffer the same fate for losing.

Oh, and Utah is a boring state.

Duke-16, #22 Kansas-44

Kansas fans, don't get too excited. Congrats on your 4th victory all-time against the ACC (<-Not sarcasm, as the last ACC win came against Virginia Tech), but to be fair you beat friggin' Duke. Not that major of an accomplishment. #23 Georgia-52, Arkansas-41

Just one question: When did the "defense first" SEC turn into the Big 12? I'm just kidding.

This is one game between 2 teams square in the middle of the conference: Neither as bad as Vandy or Mississippi State, neither anywhere near as good as Florida or Alabama. This score is what statisticians call an outlier: it's an exception rather than a rule.

East Carolina-17, #24 North Carolina-31

I saw a stat on how few points Carolina had allowed early on during this game. It said they had allowed 9 points per game thus far in the season, as well as having one of the top ranked defenses in the nation.

My problems with this statement:
They have played 2 teams.
These 2 teams are the Citadel (1-AA Southern Conference) and UConn (Big (L)East)
They barely (as in, shouldn't have) won one of these 2 games
Using 2 games as an "assessment tool" for how well your season will go is totally idiotic. By this logic, the NFL's Drew Brees will throw, like, 700 TD passes this year and half the NFL and college football teams will not win a game.

As a totally unrelated note: I'm sure ECU's quarterback Pinkney has been playing college football for, like, 9 years. Just an observation.

East Michigan-17, #25 Michigan-45

Dear Michigan,

I appreciate that you're a storied program with loads of talent, pro alumni, and recruiting violations, but until you beat someone other than overrated Notre Dame I refuse to believe that you are "back" on the football landscape. Also, please quit insulting my intelligence by playing 8 home games. That's just ridiculous. Heck, even Ohio State had enough backbone to schedule USC.

Sincerely,
Bones

Tales from the Bottom 95 (or, random thoughts and opinions about everyone else.)

First off, UVa finally has a chance to win a game, and they successfully blew a 4th quarter lead. I look forward to seeing Al Groh get out of this one...Boston College's decision to get rid of Jeff Jagodzinski has worked out really well. The team looks flaccid, got killed in its first real game, and Jags doesn't have a job anymore. The rest of the ACC, I'm sure, appreciates it...Speaking of ACC, Maryland has really looked awful this year. Barely beating a 1-AA school last week, then losing to Middle Tennessee State this week...Note that I didn't drink the "Notre Dame is back" Kool-Aid, and they're proving why again. Barely beating MSU at home, not a good sign...Everyone paid attention to Cal sort of nudging itself past Minnesota, but the other Pac-10/Big 10 + 1 matchup actually went the way of the Midwestern team. Good job and a good win for the Iowa Hawkeyes...Syracuse beat Northwestern in the "Who cares?" Bowl this week...Vandy lost to Mississippi State in the battle for the SEC cellar...Vandy's lone win? My alma mater: Western Carolina (0-3)...Auburn seems to have found something they lost last year: an offense...West Virginia, meanwhile, is reeling without Rich Rodriguez and Pat White. They're probably the second or third best team in their conference, which would be good news if they were in any BCS conference but the Big East...

That's all for this week! See you soon with a Rankings Rant!