Week 9 Complete…On to Week 10

Finally, a week without a top 5 shakeup…sort of.  Oklahoma got leapfrogged in the AP and Coaches poll by Oregon, who proved they belong at the top of the Pac 10 by beating USC.  Question is whether they will stay there.  This week they host undefeated Arizona State (who beat Cal last weekend).  The most exciting game turned out to be the rainy Thursday night game in Blacksburg, VA.  Va Tech was given a ton of credit, but it was Matt Ryan who proved his mettle, leading the Eagles to a come from behind victory in a very tough venue.   UConn beat South Florida in a somewhat surprising effort, and UGA pulled out the cocktail party to beat Florida by nearly two TDs.  Who is the team to beat in the SEC East?  Ohio State dominated the hell out of the Nittany Lions, and really shouldn’t be challenged until they travel to the Big House for their annual battle with the Michigan Wolverines.  On to Week 10.

Texas A&M travels to Norman to take on the Sooners.  The Sooners control their own destiny at this point, but an Aggie win would put them back in the driver’s seat, by virtue of their win over Okie State earlier this season.  The Sooners have had a week to prepare, while the Aggies suffered a stinging loss in College Station to the surging Kansas Jayhawks.  Will the Sooners prove that their struggles against Iowa State were the exception, or will the Aggies rule in Norman?

In what may be the game of the week, LSU travels to Tuscaloosa to take on the strange animal that is the Crimson Tide.  If the same Tide that walloped the Vols 41-17 shows up, les Tigres may be in for a wild ride.  If the Tide that lost close games to UGA and FSU (and needed luck to win at Ole Miss, I might add) shows up, it could be a foregone conclusion.  The one thing in Nick Saban’s favor is that he had two weeks to get ready for LSU.  The biggest thing going against him is that Les Miles had the same two weeks to get ready for Bama.  Which team made the best use of their two weeks and is Bama really ready for prime time?

Mizzou, possibly the best team in the North division of the Big XII and now ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 1981, travels to Boulder to take on the resurgent Buffaloes.  The Tigers struggled a bit at home against the Iowa State Cyclones, leading by only a TD late in the 3rd quarter before pulling away, and must travel to a very dangerous venue (remember that the Buffs handed South leader Oklahoma their only loss of the season here at the end of September) to take on an inspired CU team.  The Buffs are fresh off a close win in Lubbock against pinball machine scoring Texas Tech. Colorado actually dominated much of the game before the quick strike Red Raiders put up two late scores to pull within 5.  This Buff defense, which intercepted Graham Harrell 4 times, is for real.  Will Mizzou move one step closer to San Antonio and the Big XII Championship Game, or will Colorado make itself bowl eligible?

Florida State, still lacking an identity late in the season, finally broke a losing skid by toppling the Duke Blue Devils.  Now they must travel to Baaston to take on the Cinderella-ish BC Eagles.  It doesn’t seem to favor the Seminoles, especially with the two extra days that BC has had to prepare following their victory in Blacksburg Thursday night.  Still, if Bobby Bowden has shown anything, it is resilience and cunning.  His team will be prepared to take the fight to the Eagles.  Will the Noles suck the wind out from beneath the Eagles’ wings?  Better question — will the Noles wear those ridiculous ‘Unconquered’ black unis in Boston?

In a game that I’m relatively certain nobody pegged as a ‘game to watch’ before the season started, Arizona State travels to Autzen stadium to take on the skyrocketing Oregon Ducks.  Both teams did the impossible last week, the Ducks stunning the ever-present USC Trojans and the Sun Devils slapping the Cal Bears silly.  Who knew?  ASU, undefeated and rolling, now must face the vaunted spread-and-score offense and wiley Dennis Dixon.  In the land of soul-crushing sound and look-the other-way officiating (sorry, couldn’t help that jab at Oregon home-cooking).  Did nobody else notice the blatant holding on nearly every play by the Ducks last week?  If they could do it last week, they can do it again.  Will the Sun Devils remain atop the Pac-10 (and in the top 5 of the BCS), or will the multi-colored Oregon Ducks climb that ladder?

Stay tuned, sports fans.  These questions and more find an answer this week.

My top 10:

1. the OSU – waiting for the battle in the Big House

2. BC – High atop the ACC and unbeaten

3. ASU – Unbeaten so far.  Tough test at Oregon

4. LSU – Tough test at Bama

5. KU – When will the Jayhawks lose?

6. Oregon – Great O, tough D, home cooking

7. OU – Sooners get aTm after two weeks off

8. Mizzou – Looking like the best of the North

9. WV – Best running team in the country

10. UConn – Did they really beat USF last week?

Week 8 Complete — To Week 9

Being #2 is hazardous to your football health. 

Let it be proclaimed:  You don’t want to be #2.  Not this year anyway.  Yet another #2 has fallen.  A week after Cal fell to Oregon State and two weeks after Stanford pulled off their miracle over USC, it was South Florida falling to Rutgers on the road.  I would be lying if I said it wasn’t expected.  All the characteristics of an upset were in place.  On the road, on Thursday, at night, with a huge bullseye plastered on their collective chests, the South Florida Bulls’ hopes for a perfect season crumbled.  South Carolina’s unexpected loss to Vandy was shocking.  Alabama’s punking of Tennessee was shocking. 

Before the weekend, I never would have guessed that LSU beating Auburn in Baton Rouge would be shocking, but it was.  Auburn had LSU beat.  Down by only a point, LSU had not called a time out and only 6 seconds were left on the clock when they hiked the ball.  Was it to kick the game-winning Field Goal?  No.  It was to have Matt Flynn launch a 22-yard pass to Demetrius Byrd in the end zone as time expired.  After the game, coach Les Miles sounded as if he didn’t even realize what happened.  Obviously happy that they survived, he kept alluding to having enough time on the clock.  Perhaps after reviewing the tape, he’ll have a different take on it.  Skin of their teeth. 

And yet, the most surprising thing in my eyes was a lack-luster performance by the Oklahoma Sooners at bottom-feeder Iowa State.  The painful Sooner performance was enough to allow unbeaten Arizona State and once-beaten Oregon to leapfrog the Sooners despite losses by three teams in their vicinity.  Apparently, the computers don’t like the Sooners’ schedule.  OU is #4 in both the AP and Coaches polls, but 6th in the BCS thanks to the computers.  I suppose it is only fair play that the Sooners now take a hit from the same computers that put them into the 2004 Sugar Bowl after losing the Big XII championship game.

This week, like last week, begins on a Thursday night, as the #2 (gulp!!) BC Eagles must travel to Blacksburg to take on the Va Tech Hokies.  Again, on the road, on Thursday, at night, with a huge bullseye plastered on their collective chests.  The Eagles have one of the best QBs in the country in Matt Ryan, who has thrown for 2,148 yards and 17 TDs with only 6 INTs enroute to BC having a perfect record through 7 games.  The Hokies, on the other hand, got derailed by LSU in Baton Rouge in week 2 48-7.  Since then, they have stayed perfect, blasting Clemson two weeks ago 41-23 in Death Valley.  Will the BC Eagles escape the curse of #2, or will the Hokies maintain their perfect conference record?

Florida and Georgia meet up for their annual Cocktail Party (oops…the NCAA might hunt me down and murder my children for saying it out loud) in Jacksonville.  It should be a fun one.  UGA has been struggling to find an identity much of the season.  They got blasted at Tennessee, but won at Bama.  They lost close to South Carolina, but won close against the same Vandy team that beat South Carolina this past weekend.  About the only thing in the Bulldogs’ favor is the two weeks they have had to prepare for this.  UF, once among the favorites for the BCS championship, finally got back on track in Lexington this past weekend after dropping back to back games to Auburn and at LSU.  The Gators are still in the hunt for the SEC East, and beating the Dawgs would put them one step closer.  Will Tim Tebow further his Heisman claim, or will the Dawgs pull out a win in J-ville?

USC, another odds-on favorite at the beginning of the season for the national championship, lost a ton of respect when they lost at home to bottom-feeder Stanford.  Last week, they became the second team this season to blank the Notre Dame Fighting (pffffft) Irish 38-0.  They did it in South Bend.  The Trojans haven’t really dominated anyone of note.  At the same time, they’ve only lost once.  Whether the ratings beating they took is worthy will be evident this weekend when they travel to Autzen stadium to take on the Oregon Ducks.  The Ducks, in contrast, have stomped on everybody they’ve played (to include Michigan in the Big House).  Everybody but Cal at the end of September.  Cal won by a TD for the first time in Autzen stadium since 1987 on September 29.  Will USC regain their swagger, or will the Ducks prove they belong in the top 5?

Ohio State must travel to Happy Valley to defend their top spot against the Nittany Lions.  Penn State won by 5 points at Indiana this past weekend, which complements Ohio State winning by a touchdown against Michigan State in the Shoe.  Beaver Stadium will doubtless be packed and roaring come game time.  The Buck D is stifling, but the offense has been questionable at times.  Will the Bucks survive their first road test, or will the Lions roar for Joe Pa?

Cal must travel to fiery Sun Devil Stadium for a matchup between nationally ranked Pac 10 teams.  Arizona State is in the top 5 of the BCS for the first time this season.  The biggest win for the Sun Devils was a week 2 drubbing of Colorado in Tempe.  Many are wondering how real the Devils are.  Beating the Bears would go a long way toward establishing that.  Cal is on a two game skid, after becoming the second #2 to fall two weeks ago to the Beavers of Oregon State, and losing last week to the same UCLA Bruins that Notre Dame stomped in their only win.  Before questioning Cal’s strength, one should recognize that they handed Oregon their only defeat a few weeks ago in Eugene, and they beat Tennessee by two TDs to start the season.  Which team will establish legitimacy in the desert?

Stay tuned, sports fans.  These questions and more find an answer in week 9.

My Top 10 for this week:

1. the OSU – tough test at Penn State

2. BC – tough test at Va Tech

3. ASU – Unbeaten so far.  Tough test vs. Cal

4. LSU – Gutsy? Crazy? Take your pick.

5. KU – When will the Jayhawks lose?

6. Oregon – Great O

7. USC – Best performance last week

8. OU – Sooner D is only reason they beat ISU

9. UF – Did what LSU couldn’t last week

10. Mizzou – Dominant against TTech last week

College Football Week 8

Bang, Bang, two more top 5s bite the dust.

Week 7 was very exciting.  Kentucky pulled off a triple-OT stunning upset of top-ranked LSU.  The Tigers had looked unbeatable before traveling to Lexington and failing to get the TD in the 3rd OT.  Then Cal lost to Oregon State, and I do mean LOST to Oregon State.  The Bears were in the red zone with a few seconds left.  And they ran the ball.  With no time outs.  Yeah.  Brilliant. So that put the Ohio State in the top spot, followed by South Florida, BC, OU, and LSU (I guess enough people thought the UK win was a fluke).  In other news, Boise pulled off a quadruple-OT win over Nevada Sunday night on the smurf turf.  Colin Kaepernick was looking a little like Vince Young in the Rose Bowl shortly before being tackled short of the goal line on the two point conversion to seal an amazing 69-67 win for the Broncos that proved just how much more fun college football is to watch than the NFL version several channels away at the same time.

The week begins with South Florida traveling to Piscataway, NJ to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Thursday night.  The Scarlet Knights just ended a two game skid by beating the Syracuse Orange.  They have big play potential, but struggled against Cincinnati and Maryland.  I guarantee you James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) will be in the crowd for this one.  The Bulls, on the other hand, are extremely dangerous and fired up.  They just blasted a Central Florida team that held their own against Texas.  They’ve won at Auburn and they beat West Virginia.  This team is real enough that they might just deserve that #2 ranking.  Will they prove it, or will Tony Soprano’s Knights do the talking?

Two high-flying spread offenses collide as 6-1 Texas Tech travels to Columbia on Saturday to take on the 5-1 Mizzou Tigers.  Mizzou is coming off a tough loss to the #4 Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, while the Red Raiders crushed Texas A&M 35-7 in Lubbock.  The Tigers hung tough in Norman, even taking a brief lead, before a series of mistakes allowed the Sooners to capitalize for the win.  Tech’s lone loss came in a 49-45 shootout at Oklahoma State on September 22.  Graham Harrell is playing very well, but the Raiders will need some kind of pirate magic in their defense to slow down Chase Daniel and Mizzou.  Which score-a-thon spread offense will prevail in Columbia?

Auburn, ever the upset minded team under Tommy Tuberville, is looking to hand the LSU Tigers their second straight loss.  After a defensive slugfest against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville, the Auburn Tigers are on a 4 game tear, including an upset win in the swamp over the Florida Gators.  Les Miles and his LSU Tigers, despite a horrifically nail-biting 3-OT loss in Lexington, Kentucky, are still in the top 5 of everyone’s poll.  They are a tough team at home, among the toughest in the nation, but if Auburn could win in the swamp, they could win anywhere.  Even in Baton Rouge.  Which Tiger will prevail deep down in Loosiana: Aubie or Mike?

Kentucky, facing the second part of a scary home double-header, must now take on Tim Tebow and the Urban Gators.  They must feel pretty fortunate to get both LSU and Florida in Lexington, but at the same time, having to play both is hardly a godsend, especially considering it is in consecutive weeks.  It will be very tough for Andre Woodson and the Wildcats to inspire a repeat performance of their (now mentioned for the third time) triple-OT victory from last week.  Florida, however, is hardly the seemingly unbeatable juggernaut they were last year.  In fact, they are on a two-game losing streak following a home loss to Auburn and a road loss to LSU.  Maybe Tebow and company can take solice in the fact that Kentucky’s mascot is not a Tiger.  Will Woodson and company pull off another stunning upset, or will Super Tim prove his mettle in Lexington?

Michigan, once the whipping boy of the entire nation for their loss at home to App State (and a severe beatdown in the big house to the Oregon Ducks in week 2), are now sitting pretty just below rival Ohio State in the Big 10 standings atop a five game winning streak.  The streak is impressive, considering the rocky start of the Wolverines, the beat downs of Notre Dame (38-0) and Purdue (48-21), and the defensive victory over Penn State in Week 4.  Illinois has played beyond most expectations, partly due to a recruiting boom with the arrival of Ron Zook at the helm.  Losing to Mizzou in week 1 was tough.  Losing at Iowa last week was even rougher, considering how the Illini lost.  Eddie McGee seemingly had the game won with a receiver open in the endzone at the end of the game.  His relief of Juice Williams would have been justified.  Enter Brett Greenwood of Iowa.  In one of those undefinable moments of football, McGee seemed to throw the ball right into Greenwood’s breadbasket for an INT.  Game over.  Now they play host to a white hot Michigan team in Champagne.  Will the Wolverines extend their winning streak, or will the Fighting Illini regroup at home?

Stay tuned, sports fans.  These questions and more find an answer this weekend.

My Top 10 for this week:

1. the Ohio State – still standing

2. BC – good QB play and a tough D

3. USF – possibly the best in the country?

4. ASU – unbeaten and looking strong

5. OU – big win at home against Mizzou

6. UK – biggest win in program history last week

7. South Carolina – Tough, tough D

8. KU – yup, til somebody beats them

9. LSU – tough loss in 3OT on the road

10. Cal – I shouldn’t even put them in the top 10 after the worst clock management in history

Week 7

SHAZAM!  Buster Douglas KO’s Iron Mike Tyson…Oh, Wait, Wrong Sport…

Well, well, well.  Another week of top 10 teams going down.  USC went down to a gutty Stanford club in the Coliseum, Wisconsin predictably lost to an upstart Illini team, and Florida came out on the short end of the stick in Baton Rouge.  South Florida struggled against FAU, while Ohio State and BC dominated Purdue and BG respectively.  The Stanford Cardinal’s performance in LA is the stuff of legend, beating everybody’s unbeatable team, in their house, on two amazing 4th down conversions.  Simply put, what college football is all about.

Oklahoma won the Red River Shootout last weekend, catapulting them up to #6 (and consequently dropping the Longhorns to #23), while Mizzou blasted the Cornhuskers to jump up to #11.  Mizzou is undefeated, and a bit of a surprise, while the Sooners were expected to be undefeated (granted the win in Dallas), and are a bit of a surprise the other way.  The loss in Boulder was painful for the Sooner nation, but the team bounced back against Texas and now faces a Mizzou team that put on an even bigger show against the depleted Husker D than did USC a few weeks ago.  Will the Tigers move on to 6-0, or will the Sooner Schooner triumph in Norman?

Purdue lost some legitimacy when they got trounced at home by the Ohio State University last week.  Michigan lost a lot of legitimacy when they lost at home to Appalachian State (a point of fact that has been beaten into the Big Blue fan base for weeks now).  Will Big Blue reclaim the big house, or will the Boilermakers step up?

LSU travels to Lexington to take on a surprisingly tough Wildcat team.  The Tigers have looked positively unbeatable this year, and manhandled the same Gamecocks that thrashed UK last week.  Andre Woodson has shown himself to be a legitimate candidate for the Heisman trophy (among other things).  Glenn Dorsey (LSU DT) has been spoken of as a potential candidate for the *gulp* Heisman trophy.  Dorsey is as dominant as any D-Lineman I’ve seen in years.  I doubt anybody will give him serious Heisman consideration down the stretch, but that doesn’t mean he’s not legitimate.  It just means the Heisman is an overinflated award that doesn’t go to the BEST player in College football.  Will Woodson establish his claim to the Heisman in a game for the ages, or will Dorsey make another big statement on the national stage?

Colorado beat Oklahoma.  Yes, they lost big on the road to ASU, and yes, they lost close to a tough FSU D, but they did more to reestablish the Big XII North than any other team in the Big XII.  Except, that is, for the team they play this week: K-State.  K-State has beaten Texas two years straight.  These two teams combined to beat the two perennial National title contenders of the Big XII South.  Cody Hawkins has shown how well a freshman can play in his father’s offense.  Big Josh Freeman and Ron Prince have reinvigorated what was once the best team in the Big XII North.  K-State stumbled against Kansas last week, while Colorado buried Baylor.  Will the Buffs step up, or will purple power prevail?

Georgia Tech’s visit to Miami looked promising before the start of the season.  Now that Miami has lost twice and the Yellow Jackets thrice, it doesn’t look as promising.  At the same time, Miami lost to Oklahoma in Norman (by a lot), and lost last week to former Miami head coach Butch Davis and North Carolina.  Time will tell, but Randy Shannon was a player and assistant under Davis and may take some time to adjust to playing his former mentor.  Georgia Tech, on the other hand, has lost two games by a total of 7 points, and got beat at home by Boston College, the current #4 team in the country.  Big wins at Notre Dame and against Clemson have been overshadowed by a muffed punt that led to a TD and a missed field goal last week against the Terps of Maryland.  Will the Canes get back into the ACC hunt, or will the Yellowjackets climb above .500?

Stay tuned, sports fans.  These questions and more will find their answers this weekend.

My Top 10 for this week:

1. LSU

2. The OSU

3. Cal

4. BC

5. USF

6. Mizzou

7. ASU

8. South Carolina

9. OU

10. USC