Thoughts after Week 3

LSU's defense is flat out nasty.  And if the offense is able to keep them off the field so they're rested when they get back out there...well, that's just not fair.  What they did to Mississippi State on Thursday night bordered on assault and their game this Saturday against West Virginia will solidify if this defense is ready to carry the Tigers to another National Title.

Ohio State, did you watch the Friday night game between Boise State and Toledo?  See how a good team puts away lesser competition by three touchdowns?  Your school president needs to keep his Buckeye hole closed this year.

Penn State is brutal on offense.  Neither quarterback instills any kind of confidence that they can move the ball at all.  They better make the most of the opportunity against Eastern Michigan next week, because I don't think they can get over 25 against any team in the Big Ten.  Which is too bad, because the defense seems fairly good and is just getting wasted.  The only positive I took away from the squeaker of a win against Temple was that Penn State's cheerleaders have improved dramatically.  And Temple fans, you aren't looking too bad either.

UCLA...why does Kevin Prince continue to play quarterback for you?  He completed as many passes to Texas as he completed to Bruins (3).  Put the Bruins in a deep hole to start and no chance to rely on the running game to shorten the game down and beat the Longhorns.  Coach Neuheisel can't be liking his chances of returning next year, but that will give him lots of time to set up his NCAA Basketball Tourney pools.

Wisconsin isn't a dark horse for the BCS Championship anymore.  They have to be in the conversation.  Russell Wilson gives them a dimesion at quarterback they haven't had in Madison and they are going to be tough to beat with the balance they bring to offense.

Florida might be back.  It's only one game against a somewhat decent team, but the Gators looked very good against Tennessee.  Their defense isn't up to LSU's standard, but it's pretty good.  And most importantly, they seemed to have figured out how to get the ball from the center to the quarterback and QB John Brantley's decision making seems to have improved as well.  They still commit way too many penalties, especially pass interference calls, and if they don't get that fixed, they're going to have problems against the best of the SEC.

Mississippi...how are you 2-5 against Vanderbilt since 2005?

Duke...save a copy of The Herald Sun tomorrow as you are in first place in the Coastal Division of the ACC.  You'll get to sit there for two more weeks before you get back into conference play with a visit from Florida State.

Utah turned BYU into a bakery, creating seven turnovers and absolutley blitzing them 54-10 in the Holy War.  Where has BYU's prolific passing attack of yesteryear gone?

Oklahoma State vs. Tulsa had to be one of the strangest games ever played.  Not because the Cowboys routed Tulsa again, but because weather delays caused the game to start at almost midnight and it didn't end until after 3:30 in the morning.  Like I mentioned to some friends a few weeks ago, "In my day, when I watched college football, they played in the rain."  I understand the safety concerns and the liability issues but it sure seems like we're getting soft

Picks for Sept. 16-17 Games

Rebounded a little bit last week, going 2-1 (thanks Iowa for not being able to hold a lead, or to make a 4th down stop, or finish off the Cyclones) and bringing the overall record to 3-4 for the season.  Four games this week, starting with Friday night.

Boise State -20 at Toledo - Boise State loves these showcase games and tends to show the country what they can do against so called "Little Sisters of the Poor".  The Broncos will steamroll Toledo at Toledo, a team Ohio State barely got by at home, and will get no credit for doing so.  And we'll listen to the ESPN commentators comment about what a good college quarterback Kellen Moore is but that he doesn't have the size, speed or arm strength to make it in the NFL and that he's a system-quarterback.  Hmmm...reminds me of another quarterback from the 80's who was a little short, a little slow, couldn't throw the long ball, was part of an offensive system.  And like Moore, was deadly accurate, an assassin with the game on the line, and just kept winning until people finally had to take notice.  How do you think the talking heads would view Joe Montana if he was playing college today?

Central Florida -5.5 at Florida International -  Florida International got a nice win last week at Louisville.  Unfortunately, beating the Cardinals isn't something to get too excited about.  Central Florida went 11-3 last year with a bowl win over Georgia and has started off 2-0 this year.  They will be too physical for the Golden Panthers and put them away early.

Oklahoma -3 at Florida State - I'm a little hesitant with this one because the Sooners seem to have their problems on the road.  But with a veteran team led by quarterback Landry Jones and a solid defense going against EJ Manuel, I like the Oklahoma to buck the trend and take out the Seminoles.  Interesting stat on this one:  The ACC is 0 for their last 32 against Top 5 teams.

Nevada -6 at San Jose State - This number just seems too low, but then the people in the desert have made a lot of money off of people who think that the number seems too low.  I just don't see it on this one.  San Jose State is a really bad football team who made a decent showing against a not so good team last week (UCLA).  The Spartans won't be able to keep up with the Wolfpack and this one will get out of hand in the first half if Nevada doesn't turn it over.  Nevada will run wild and the sting of the ugly blowout loss to Oregon last week will be relieved some here.

Week 10 Top 10 and Thoughts

The season moves into it's final chapters with the opportunity for more 2007 deja vu, especially with LSU lurking around.

1. Boise State - The plastering of Hawaii this weekend was every bit as impressive as TCU's throttling of Utah.  Hawaii came in on a roll, their top ranked passing offense was completely shut down by the Broncos defense and Boise State's offense had their way with the Warriors.  Kellen Moore threw for over 500 yards in a little over three quarters.
2. Oregon - They fall back a spot after a lackluster first half against Washington.  But like they've done all year, they made the adjustments at halftime and got over 50 again.  The Ducks are the 1A team this week.
3. TCU - That was an absolute "red-headed stepchild taken out behind the woodshed" beating of Utah this past Saturday (ironically led by the red-headed QB Andy Dalton).  The defense has now allowed 23 points in the last 6 games and no one has scored mre than 7 against them in that stretch.  They move ahead of Auburn because...
4. Auburn - Played Chattanooga and gave up 24 points to them.  That's unacceptable.  If you hold Boise State and TCU to the "must destroy the lesser opponent" standards, when you drop down to take on a Div-IAA opponent, that means you have to do it on offense and defense.  And I have a sneaky feeling that Georgia is going to ruin Auburn's season before Alabama gets the chance.
5. Stanford - The Cardinal are the big mover this week, moving from 9th to 5th.  Stanford crushed a good Arizona team, but because the East Coast goes to sleep as soon as their 7pm EST games end, they don't get to see the best one-loss team in the country.  Other than the loss to Oregon and the last-second victory over USC, no one has been closer than ten points.
6. Wisconsin - A slow start against Purdue, but they got moving in the second half and beat the Boilermakers soundly.



Even I think I'm nuts!

7. LSU - And who is that lurking around, racking up win after win in scratch-your-head fashion?  It's the other Tigers in the SEC West.  LSU needs some help, but they have the chance to sneak into the SEC Title game and maybe even the BCS Championship.
8. Nebraska - Fortunate to escape with a win over Iowa State this past weekend, they'll demolish Kansas this weekend, and if QB Taylor Martinez is 100% healthy, look for them to win by 45 or more.
9. Oklahoma State - I wanted to put them in the 8th slot after their rout of a pretty good Baylor team, but I can't rank a team ahead of a team they lost to when they have identical records.  Cornhuskers 51, Cowboys 41. Nebraksa #8, Oklahoma State #9.
10. Michigan State - Took care of business against Minnesota and are still in position to finish 11-1 and go to the Rose Bowl, but will need some help from Wisconsin's opponents.

On the outside loooking in:

• Utah - You can't get run out of your own building in the first quarter like that.  The Utes weren't even competitive in the game against TCU and hopefully for them, this doesn't lead to a crash and burn finish to the season.  Utah! Don't feel sorry for yourself and go out there this weekend and crush Notre Dame.
• Ohio State - I still keep asking...who have they played?  There schedule is no better than TCU or Boise State's.
• Alabama - You're done.  Thankfully, I won't have to listen to Nick Saban pleading his case about his great one-loss defending National Champ should have the opportunity to defend it's title.  As they always say when they won't give the fans the playoff we want, "Every game in the regular season matters.  IT is the playoff."  With two losses, you're out.

Other thoughts on the games this weekend:

Wow.  Who would have guessed that after they're home loss to Baylor that Texas would be even worse at Kansas State? (Oh, yeah.  I did, picking the Wildcats to win outright as underdogs.) Kansas State beat the mighty Longhorns 39-14 with a grand total of 9 passing yards on four attempts.  They had no passing yards through the first 2 1/2 quarters. And a Mack Brown staff couldn't figure out what play K-State Coach Bill Snyder might be calling next and maybe load up for it?  This game was even uglier than it looked, with Texas being down 39-0 at one point and Longhorn QB Garrett Gilbert's five interceptions, including 3 straight passes.

Navy.  Where the hell did that come from? You take out Notre Dame easily then have a letdown the following week and let Duke beat you.  You then keep it close with East Carolina for the first 29 minutes of a 21-21 tie before going off like the 16-inch guns on the battleship USS Missouri and outscoring the Pirates 55-14 the rest of the way, setting a school scoring record with 76 points.  Who says the triple-option can't work in today's college football?

Illinois' triple-overtime 67-65 loss to Michigan was entertaining, but Wolverine fans have to wonder if their team can stop anybody. 

Impressive hurdling by Arizona State running back Cameron Marshall in the Sun Devils loss to USC.

Florida starts to come to life just when Steve Spurrier needs them to be playing like they were in week two.  South Carolina, in the Swamp, with the winner capturing the SEC East and the tripto the SEC Championship.  It would be nice to see the Gamecocks not flame out for once in the home stretch of the season and give those long-suffering fans a reason to put on their best cocktail dresses and head to Atlanta.

There was no way Colorado Coach Dan Hawkins was going to keep his job at the end of this year, but blowing a 45-17 lead with 11 minutes left, to Kansas, one of the worst teams in football this year, just brought the end about that much faster.  Think he wishes he was still coaching Boise State?

Fortunately for co-Big 12 North member Missouri, Colorado got the headlines as the biggest meltdown in the conference.  Missouri had a 17-3 lead on Texas Tech with under a minute to play in the first half.  The Tigers decided that was enough points for the day and ended up losing 24-17

Finally, congratulations to Joe Paterno on his 400th victory.  He's the one who hooked me on the Nittany Lions and college football so many years ago, and for that, I'm eternally grateful.