Well it was a long weekend and I'm almost 2 days late so lets get on with it
Best Game of the Week:Tennessee vs UCLA-I was mighty impressed by the Bruins injury max offense and them managing to hang in there with the Tennessee defense. The most credit for that always goes to the defense, however, as they managed to hold the Vols and shut down Jonathan Crompton. Kevin Craft was the hero here as he managed to rally the Bruins back after a poor start on his own. This kid has a future.
Best Player of the Week:Isiah Williams(Illinois)-Sure the Illini lost but on Saturday night this kid grew before our eyes as he stepped up to be the leader of this football team after they trailed 45-20 in the 3rd Quarter and although they fell short with more time I believe he and the Illini would've been able to pull out the victory
Dissapointment of the Week:James Davis and C.J. Spiller(Clemson)-overall not a very good game for the Dynamic Duo. Clemson's Thunder and Lightning resembled a slight drizzle as Alabama held them to 0 yards rushing in the Tide's 34-10 win over Clemson.
Most Impressive Team of the Week:Alabama-last year the Tide started hot at 6-1 but burned out to finish 7-6. Many people were doubting Bama going into their matchup against the Tigers but Nick Saban and Company shredded the Tigers 34-10 and outgained them in all categories.
Numbers:
74-The amount of yards gained by Youngstown State in their 43-0 lost to the Buckeyes
558-The amount of yards gained by USC in their 52-7 thrashing of Virginia
50-The amount of points scored by Oklahoma in the first half of their 57-2 thrashing of Chattanoga
400-The amount of yards West Virginia gave up to Villanova in WVU's 48-21 win over the Wildcats
0-The amount of rushing yards combined for Clemson's James Davis and C.J. Spiller
373-The amount of wins Joe Paterno has following Penn State's 66-10 win over Coastal Carolina tying Bobby Bowden
349-The amount of rushing yards in Georgia Tech's 41-14 win over Jacksonville State. Close to 1/4 of the rushing yards accumulated by Tech last season
49-The amount of Passing Yards by NC State in their 34-0 loss to South Carolina
404-The amount of Rushing Yards by Wisconsin in their 38-17 win over Akron
2-The amount of points scored by Louisville in their 27-2 loss to Kentucky
5-The amount of Turnovers by Louisville in the same game
2-For the 2nd year in a row Michigan has lost its opener. The last time this happened was from 1987-1990 when Michigan lost 4 straight years to Notre Dame
3-The amount of months til Steve Kragthorpe is fired from Louisville and Gregg Robinson is fired from Syracuse
3-The amount of blown chances Maryland had at scoring in their 14-7 win over Delaware
Teams to Look Out For:
Ohio State-I know its Youngstown State but the Buckeyes looked dang good in their 43-0 thrashing of the Penguins. Beware Trojans.
Speaking of...USC-The Trojans flat out beat Virginia to a bloody pulp 52-7 and look scarier than last year.
Oklahoma-I know its Chattonooga, but the Sooners are hell bent on winning a National Championship and after the demolition of Mocs, OU looks to retain its Big XII title once again.
Missouri-The Tigers offense looks even tougher than last year. Though the defense brings up a lot of questions after allowing 42 points in their win over Illinois.
LSU-Granted its a depleted Appy State, but LSU looks like they're ready to retain the title and get a dynasty born in Baton Rouge.
Alabama-Roll Tide indeed, the Crimson Tide stormed the Georgia Dome and took Clemson to the woodshed. With this win confidence is rebuilt in Saban and the Tide should contend for the SEC Title this year.
Texas-In what many people thought was an upset to be, the Longhorns demolished Florida Atlantic 52-10. Granted its FAU but Florida Atlantic returns one of the best mid-major teams this season and for the Longhorns to demolish the Owls the way they did is a sign that the power in the Big XII South may shift. It all depends on what happens next month in Dallas.
East Carolina-The Pirates looked good, real good, the Pirates are one of the teams I believe could contend for a major BCS game. The first task is done...now they have to beat a harder "Virginia" team...West Virginia and last year the Mountaineers demolished ECU. ECU's secondary is fantastic and WVU should struggle with the pass but the run will be hard for the Pirates to stop.
Bowling Green-I don't know if its Wannstedt or are the Falcons a legit team out of the MAC, we'll see next week.
UCLA-"The Monopoly in Los Angeles is officially OVER". Those words rang in the heads of the Bruins all week and despite Quarterback Kevin Craft's lousy performance in the 1st half(7/18 and 4 picks), he managed to rally the troops along with the defense to beat a good Tennessee squad considered to have one of the best secondaries in the Country. Theres a storm coming over the L.A. Coliseum and December 6th should be an interesting day in L.A.
On the Fall:
Hawaii-I think the Sugar Bowl loss and the Florida loss has killed Hawaii's program possibly for good.
Virginia Tech-The Hokies have seen better days, with Sean Glennon at Quarterback and Tyrod Taylor's inconsistancy along with a depleted defense. It'll be hard for Va. Tech to comeback barring a 2004-esqe miracle.
Ryan Perillioux-You know if he was on LSU playing Georgia Tech he would've been on the other side of the score column. Remember kids...drugs are bad.
Louisville-Who said Hunter Cantwell was a top NFL prospect obvisiously hasn't watched the post-Petrino era of Louisville. Maybe they'll bounce back but under Kragthorpe the Cards have gone NOWHERE but down.
Rutgers-I think its time to wake up in Piscataway because its not 2006 anymore and if Rutgers once to be a top 10 team again they can't lose to Fresno State no matter how good the Bulldogs are.
The ACC-Va.Tech lost to ECU, UVA got killed by USC, Maryland barely escaped Delaware, NC State got hammered by South Carolina, Clemson got pounded by Alabama, UNC barely beat McNeese State, Duke is already better than Va.Tech, UVA, NC State, and Clemson...what happened to this Juggernaut of a Conference we were supposed to get in 2005?
The Big East-Rutgers got beat soundly by Fresno State, Louisville got beaten up by Kentucky, Syracuse is being buried as we speak, Pitt, a preseason Top 25 lost to Bowling Green, and West Virginia looked bad in a blowout WIN. Its literally looking like a two team race between WVU and USF.
Will Be Back:
Illinois-The Illini's offense looked great and the defense will improve as the year goes on.
Appalachian State-The Mountaineers don't play anymore I-A schools.
Clemson-The Tigers will rebound and still win the ACC team. They're still a good team no matter what critics say.
Tennessee-They're a good team, and the only weakness seems to be Special Teams. They will be ready to contend for the SEC.
Oregon State-It was only a close lost and they always have a good defense every year. Expect them to be ready against USC this month.
Syracuse-They have a rich history. Get a good enough coach and they'll be contending for the Big East again.
Michigan-Its only one bad start against a good Utah team. With Miami(OH) and Notre Dame coming before the big one against Wisconsin, the Wolverines have time to turn it around.
Delaware-I-AA playoffs that is
Michigan State-They lost to a good Cal team and their best games are yet to come. Remember they always play tough and good in East Lansing.
Future Uncertain:
West Virginia-Sure they beat Villanova up, but the Mountaineers were OUTGAINED by them. What looks like a blowout looks more like a loss on the stats.
Texas Tech-Yes they beat Eastern Washington, but the Red Raiders high powered offense only scored 49 points and allowed 24. If you're going to allow 24 points to Eastern Washington thats the equilivant of allowing 50 plus against Missouri, Texas, Kansas, or Oklahoma...all 4 teams that the Red Raiders play this year. People are keen on them winning the Big XII South but the question is...how can they?
Washington-This is make or break for Tyrone Willingham. If the Huskies don't win this year then Ty is out the door...and possibly out of College Football. The Huskies schedule don't get any easier as they play BYU, Oklahoma, and Stanford next. Thankfully for the Huskies they're all at home. Unthankfully, 2/3 are BCS Contenders. If Washington finishes 0-4 in this stretch expect Coach Willingham to be out of Seattle.
Pittsburgh-Usually after a disastrous loss like the one Pitt suffered against Bowling Green, teams can either bounce back and be on fire the next week, or flounder out the rest of the year. Michigan didn't respond well to losing to Appy State as they lost to Oregon the following week. But most of the time, teams like Pitt should be able to bounce back. After all its only Buffalo, a team that is on the rise in the MAC under Turner Gil, the best mid-major coach this side of Knoxville, Maryland. Upset Part 2? If Pitt can't win any of their next 3(Buffalo along with Iowa and Syracuse) then that contract extension Wanny got will look REALLY bad.
Maryland-The Terrapins beat Delaware ONLY 14-7. Granted it could've been 35-7 but it wasn't. It was 14-7 and the Terps threw 2 picks and squandered every scoring opportunity. If Maryland can barely beat Delaware I can't imagine what teams like Cal, Clemson, Virginia, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Florida State, Boston College, or maybe there opponet this week...Middle Tennessee, the Prince of the Sun Belt conference(inferior to FAU of course) will do to them. Could there be an upset this week? Maryland needs Chris Turner to start and he will but thats only cause of Steffy's injury otherwise he would transfer to UCLA or something like that where he could I don't know....START?
Mississippi State-The Bulldogs showed promise under Sylvester Croom last year when they went 8-5 and beat Alabama, Auburn and UCF. But the lost to Louisiana Tech is a HUGE setback. I know it was a road game but to lose to La. Tech has to be set back in the minds of many Bulldog fans and players. If they struggle against La. Tech they're definately going to have problems against Auburn, Georgia Tech, LSU, Alabama, and Ole Miss.
Texas A&M-The Aggies lost to Arkansas State...I repeat Arkansas State. Something Dennis Franchione didn't do was lose to a lower-tier I-A school. 18-14...how does that feel?
Arkansas-Bobby Petrino and Company began their marriage trailing Western Illinois 24-14 late in the 4th but rallied back to win 28-24. I know that the team is depleted compared to the Houston Nutt teams of the last two years but this is redicolous when you consider recruiting and everything else.
Kentucky-I know that UK crushed Louisville, but is Louisville really that good? We'll see what UK does the rest of the way in the post-Woodson era.
Central Michigan vs Georgia-The Dawgs are hurt and Butch Davis, Dan LeFevour and company look to pull off the big upset. The game, however, will not air on Television unless you get ESPN360 or gameplan.
Cincinnati vs Oklahoma-The Bearcats know that Ben Mauk is gone but that won't stop Brian Kelly and the Cats from trying to pull a big upset. The game will air Saturday at 3:30pm on ABC.
Miami vs Florida-The Gators want to get back to the National Title Game. The Hurricanes just want to get back period. Look for an interesting chess match between offense and defense but this could turn ugly if UF gets up early. The game will air Saturday at 8:00pm on ESPN.
West Virginia vs East Carolina-Skip Holtz looks to redeem himself and the Pirates from last years 48-7 humiliation. But first they got to upset another top team. Can ECU do it? This game will air Saturday at 4:30pm on ESPN.
Southern Miss vs Auburn-Its speed vs speed. Auburn's spread offense vs Southern Miss' fast offense. Can Larry Fedora and the Golden Eagles manage to pull it off and continue building the Eagles? This game will air on Raycom Sports(check your local listings) at 12:30pm
Texas vs UTEP-UTEP like other Texas teams are determined to dethrone the King of Texas, the Longhorns. Can the Miners pull it off? This game will air at 10:15pm on ESPN2
Texas Tech vs Nevada-This is interesting...the Run and Shoot of Texas Tech vs the high powered Pistol attack of Nevada. With Tech's defense playing the way it usually does look for this to be a battle on offense. This game will air at 9:05pm...check your local listings.
USF vs UCF-Central Florida has one last shot to beat their hated rival USF. In the battle over the Orlando-Tampa area who will win? This game will air at 7pm on ESPN2.
Oregon State vs Penn State-Its East meets West as the Pac 10 battles the Big Ten again. Can the Big Ten pull it off this time? Find out at 3:30pm Saturday on ABC(check local listings).
Ole Miss vs Wake Forest-Its Houston Nutt and his Runnin Rebels vs Jim Grobe's Demon Deacans. In the clash of two conference threats. This game will air Saturday at 3:30pm on ABC(check local listings).
Miami(Ohio) vs Michigan-The Wolverines look to rebound after last weeks lost. Can the Redhawks continue Michigan's home losing streak? Find out Saturday at 12pm on ESPN2.
It all begins Thursday at 8:30pm as South Carolina takes on Vanderbilt on ESPN.
Enjoy the weekend
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