Best Game of the Week:South Florida vs Central Florida-In possibly the last meeting ever between these two schools, the Knights refused to die. Trailing 24-10 in the final minutes, the Knights rallied to tie the game and send it into overtime. Greco and the Knights came close but loss by 3 inches in one of more controversial calls of the year. Overall USF wins 31-24.
Best Player of the Week:Patrick Pinkney(East Carolina)-This kid looked like a Heisman contender in ECU's 24-3 win over West Virginia. For Pinkney and the Pirates this is possibly the beginning of a beautiful season.
Dissapointment of the Week:Ohio State-The Buckeyes looked like the Bobcats in their win over them. If they play this way against USC next week then they have no chance in hell of escaping Los Angeles 3-0. They need to step it up. Fortunately Beanie Wells will be back next week.
Most Impressive Team of the Week:Central Florida-Last year the Bulls killed the Knights 64-12 and it seemed that UCF was mighty inferior to USF but yesterday the Knights prooved that they can hang with the Bulls. Hopefully, UCF can join the Big East soon and be allowed to compete with USF every year.
Numbers:
2-The number of wins Vanderbilt has over Steve Spurrier all time
1985-The last time Florida beat Miami prior to the 26-3 blowout win
0-The amount of touchdowns by West Virginia. The lowest amount of TDs by the Mountaineers since 2001(Rich Rod's 1st season)
51-The amount of consecutive points scored by Wisconsin after trailing Marshall 14-0 in the 2nd Quarter
3-The amount of inches between loss and 2nd chance for the Central Florida Golden Knights in their 31-24 loss to the USF Bulls
4-The amount of blown chances by Maryland in their 24-14 loss to Middle Tennessee State
2-The amount of weeks in a row that Arkansas has had to come back to beat an inferior team...at home
2-The amount of wins Minnesota has(1 more than last year)
Teams to Look out For:
Vanderbilt-The Commodores are 2-0 and they looked like a Juggernaut against a very good South Carolina defense. With Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee at home, Vandy looks to make a run in the SEC East.
Oklahoma-The Sooners scored 50 plus this week again and look scarier than last year. Watch out for the Sooners they're legit. Oklahoma's hardest game may be...
Texas-The Longhorns tore up UTEP last night and look to be in 2005 form again. Can Colt McCoy, Will Muschamp and company keep the fire going?
Missouri-Just an offensive explosion. Mizzou has came out and they have taken Illinois and SEMO to the woodshead. The Tigers hope to keep the offensive explosion going into the Big XII schedule.
East Carolina-Oh they're real they're damn real. The two hardest challenges(Va.Tech and WVU) and past them and now they need to get through UVA, NC State and the C-USA schedule. Is this year the year for the Pirates?
Wisconsin-It was a slow start for the Badgers but by the 3rd Quarter they looked like the team I thought I'd see. In their 51-14 whacking of Marshall, the Badgers prooved once again its better late than never.
Arizona State-The Sun Devils demolished the Cardinal and look to keep it up. With Georgia coming to the desert in 2 weeks. The Devils look to knock off the Dawgs and run the table in the Pac 10.
South Florida-At least according to Jim Leavitt. Leavitt said earlier in the week that they're beyond UCF and is ready to face Miami, Florida, and Florida State. But maybe this team is ready too...
Central Florida-The Bulls aren't the only team ready to move onto big competition. The other night I felt the UCF should be right there with USF...competing with the likes of Florida State, Florida, and Miami rather than lowly but up-and-coming Florida Atlantic and Florida International. Hopefully when, and if the Big East expands the Knights will be included.
Oregon-Maybe the Ducks will continue their success. In Oregon's last three games in the Post-Dixon era, the Ducks have combined for 166 points. This amount beats out the 3 losses after Dixon got hurt where they only managed to score 48 points. I know it maybe early but the Ducks aren't going away without Dixon and Stewart.
Penn State-I know that they're having there problems right now in Happy Valley, but the Nittany Lions look good to start the year. Its as if its 2005 all over again as Penn States offense continues to explode under QB Daryl Clark(or Doug Anderson as my NCAA 07, 08, and now 09 identifes him...story much much later). With Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Michigan State at home and their toughest games in October, the Nittany Lions could possibly make another BCS Bowl run but its all about getting past Ohio State and Wisconsin next month.
Wake Forest-Once again the Demon Deacans proove why they're the crown jewel in the ACC. They took on a very good Ole Miss team and rallied to defeat them. Wake is the team in the ACC. However, its all about getting past the tough games against Clemson and Florida State in order for the Deacans to re-appear in Miami...and this might not be just the Orange Bowl.
Ole Miss-I know the Rebels loss, but it was one of those, "went down fighting" types of losses. The Rebels may not be the same David Cutfliffe team from 2003, but they're looking like it more and more by the day. Lets see what they do against the SEC.
Georgia Tech-The Yellow Jackets have always had a good defense and so far under Paul Johnson it looks good. The Jackets though need to see how its offense can fair against the ACC schedule. So far they're 1-0 in the ACC following their 19-16 win over Boston College. There easier games come against Duke, UVA(at this rate), and possibly Miami but look for tough matches against Virginia Tech on Saturday and Georgia in late November.
Temple-Sure it was a 12-9 loss but they couldn't run the offense well in the monsoon in Philly. I know Temple has never done anything(how they got in the Big East in 1991 is beyond me) but under Al Golden they seem to be improving by the year. If I was them I'd stay in the MAC, but this team should reach the 8-9 win status real soon.
Middle Tennessee State-I know they beat a possibly bad Maryland squad(depends on the weather), but I feel that they're real. Middle Tennessee has always been on top of the Sun Belt dating back to 2001. This season I feel they can pull off upsets over Kentucky or Louisville(not like thats a challenge for them). Watch out for Middle Tennessee.
Minnesota-They're 2-0...I know it sounds like a gun jump but last year this team would've lost to Bowling Green rather then beat it like they did. The Golden Gophers under Tim Brewster should be back on top of the Big Ten real soon. For now they got to worry about road games against Ohio State, Illinois, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Look for them to pull at least 1 or 2 wins in that stretch. They had a Top 20 recruiting class last year and with the additions of two among the top backs in the nation(Hasan Lipscomb and Eric Stephens) the Gophers look to return to a Marion Barber III/Laurence Maroney type run game like in the '04 season.
On the Fall:'
Once Again...The ACC-Duke lost to Northwestern, Maryland lost to Middle Tennessee, Virginia Tech barely escaped Furman(it was 3-0 at halftime), Clemson and The Citadel was actually close for 2 Quarters, Virginia had a competitive game against Richmond, NC State barely beat Royal William and Mary, and Miami got hammered by Florida. With that the ACC is now has a combined record of 13-7 record out of conference with blowout losses to Alabama, USC, South Carolina, and Florida and competitive games with William and Mary, Richmond, and Furman. As The Beatles say...it can't get no worse.
Once Again...The Big East-East coast football sucks its official no team can beat the West. Outside the SEC all east coast teams suck. If the Pac 10 and the Big 12 schedule a best of 20 series(with a tiebreaker being "who can beat a 1-AA team the worse contest" then it would be a clean 20-0 sweep). The Big East, once the savior of East Coast football is a joke of a conference with the ACC. Connecticut had a competitive game against Big East castoff Temple(and once again should NOT have won), Pitt had a competive game against Buffalo(who I see as the next-in-line for a Big East expansion), West Virginia lost to East Carolina, Cincy got hammered by Oklahoma, and Syracuse lost to Akron. So far the Big East out of conference is 8-7. Thanks for making the ACC look good. USF is the savior of the Big East now and they need UCF and ECU there BADLY.
Will Be Back:
South Carolina-I'll say it again NO WAY Spurrier ends his career as a loser in Columbia.
Central Michigan-Speed wise they were overmatched. This isn't the same CMU team from last year nor '06. If it was it'll be a different result. I still think Central Michigan is the best team in the MAC and that Dan LeFevours is the best mid-major QB in the country.
Cincinatti-The Bearcats got a culture shock against Oklahoma. Its really the first real opponett outside the Big East that they have faced since their 2-game series with Ohio State at the beginning of the decade. Bearcats aren't bad, OU is just that good.
Miami-They hung in there with the Gators. In the eyes of me and the rest of the Miami fanbase thats an accomplishment alone. Lets see what the Canes will do for the rest of the year.
Southern Miss-Yes they lost to Auburn but Larry Fedora is a great coach and so far a good recruiter. Look for the Golden Eagles to continue success under this new coach. They may not have SEC speed but they're damn close to it.
Washington-The Huskies got screwed, bottom line. I feel bad for Ty Willingham. Every time he comes close to a big win he gets screwed by some BS call(see USC in 2006 and 2007).
Stanford-I feel that Walt Harris' recruiting is doing no favors for Jim Harbaugh and this game showed it. At least Dirk Koetter left something for Dennis Erickson to work with.
Oregon State-In 2006, Oregon State, in their first 5 games, beat Eastern Washington and Idaho but got beaten down by Boise State and Cal and had a close lost to Washington State. But for the rest of the season, The Beavers fought back and knocked off USC(The Trojans first Pac 10 loss in 3 years at the time), Arizona State(middle of the road bowl team), Oregon(who prior was dominating the series), Hawaii(with the record breaking Junior Colt Brennan and on the Island), and Missouri(1 year prior to the amazing 12-2 run)in the Sun Bowl. There only loss was to UCLA in that time and this was the same Bruins that beat USC in Pasadena. In 2007, they did the same thing this time beating Utah and Idaho State but getting hammered by Cincinatti(2nd in Big East), Arizona State(who was Co-Pac 10 Champs), and UCLA. However, after the 40-14 loss to the Bruins, Oregon State caught fire again and knocked off #2 Cal in Berkeley, #17 Oregon, and Maryland(who beat Boston College and Rutgers). So the Beavers have nothing to worry about. This team always starts slow. Its all about what they do in 2 weeks against the Trojans on ESPN.
Future Uncertain:
Ohio State-The Buckeyes almost lost to Ohio...the Bobcats...Frank Solich...if they come out like that against USC next Saturday look for a complete blowout of the Buckeyes and another National TV humiliation.
Florida-Miami isn't supposed to be that good. For the longest time the Gators only had 1 touchdown. If they think the SEC is going to be like that then they better watch for Georgia and Tennessee. And if they think Miami plays tough wait til they get a load of Florida State in November.
West Virginia-I said it last week, if you can't play defense, you can't win. It was proven this week as the 'Eers lost to East Carolina, with Colorado, Auburn, Pitt, and USF still to come, the Mountaineers may be looking at a December bowl.
Auburn-Again underachievement. I don't believe Auburn is a Top 10 team hence the reason why they're not in my Top 10. If they can't do much against Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Miss I can't imagine what they will do against LSU and Alabama.
Texas Tech-Again, they're not scoring enough and again another offense makes their defense look mediocre. The Red Raiders need to realize defense wins championships and the Run and Shoot can be shut down. Especially by an Oklahoma or Texas team.
Alabama-That game against Tulane looked nothing like opening day Tide but more like November 2007 Tide. Seriously I thought Tulane was going to pull off a Louisiana-Monroe type upset on the Tide.
BYU-The Cougars escaped Seattle by luck. Pure luck. The Huskies should've won and its a fluke that they didn't. Its the 2nd year in a row that a mid-major "BCS Buster" has been exposed by Washington(see Hawai'i and Boise State in 2007).
Illinois-I'd said they'd be back but I didn't expect a performance like I saw against Eastern Illinois. I don't know if its just the stats or was the game really that close? I know its a 47-21 score but EIU shouldn't be scoring 21 points.
Michigan-Good job beating Miami(OH), now lets try to beat Notre Dame, Ohio State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Penn State before we bring out the Champaign.
Speaking of...Notre Dame-The Irish looked bad. It looked like the same exact team that beat Duke and Stanford at the end of last year but also lost to Georgia Tech, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, and USC...oh BTW, Notre Dame has to play those last four this year. Good luck and good night Charlie Weis.
UCONN-The Huskies are the luckiest team ever...I swear. They're the opposite of Washington they get good luck rather than bad. They should not have beaten Temple in '07 and they should not have beaten them this year.
Virginia-Again, its Richmond, it can't be THAT hard.
Clemson-Yes it was 45-17, but the Citadel was in that for a LONG time. Davis and Spiller looked good, but again, its The Citadel. Its not that hard as say, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida State, and Wake Forest.
Pitt-Again if you want to impress anyone then kill Buffalo(not the animal). Instead the Bulls were in it in the 4th Quarter and should've won.
Maryland-This is a disgrace. Ralph Friedgan in this decade has fallen the most on terms of wins. He went from an amazing 31-8 record from 2001-2004 and since he is 26-24. Certainly not the numbers for a team trying to win a major conference.
Arkansas-Again a competitive game against an inferior team. Is the Petrino hire really worth it?
Overall:A weak Week 2 with exception a few teams. But the first two weeks are never good. Week 3 should be the start of the more "classic" matchups. Lets see what Week 3 brings us.
Kansas vs South Florida-This will be a battle of two very good offenses. KU wants to proove they can win outside of conference against another BCS school and USF is ready to proove itself among the elite. You can catch this Friday at 8pm on ESPN2.
Ohio State vs USC-This is the dream match...The Buckeyes versus The Trojans a classic "Rose Bowl" rivalry renewed in the regular season. See it Saturday at 8pm on ABC.
Georgia vs South Carolina-This was one of two losses for Mark Richt and the Bulldogs last year and they hope to avenge it. It won't be easy coming from Athens to Columbia though. Catch it Saturday at 3:30pm on CBS.
Oklahoma vs Washington-This one has a feeling to it. An "this could be an upset, but I want to say it is" feeling. You see I like Jake Locker, he's a great QB but he plays on a bad team. But then again UW always plays good at home in big games. Keep an eye on this one if OSU/USC gets ugly go here. See it Saturday at 7:45pm on ESPN.
Wisconsin vs Fresno State-Its the Crown Prince of the Big Ten, versus the up-and-coming Fresno State. If the Bulldogs can pull it off they have a clear shot for a BCS Bowl bid. See it Saturday at 10:30pm on ESPN2.
Auburn vs Mississippi State-Its a spread attack from Auburn vs the balanced Mississippi State. The Bulldogs defense is tough and look to knock off Auburn for the 2nd year in a row. See it at 7:00pm on ESPN2.
Oregon vs Purdue-This is interesting, Purdue's spread versus Oregon's spread. Its Justin Roper vs Curtis Painter, its Mike Belotti versus Joe Tiller, its Big Ten vs Pac 10. Lets see who can win it. It airs regionally at 3:30pm on ABC(check your local listings).
UCLA vs BYU-Mormons vs Surfers, its round 3 of the Bruins/Cougars trilogy. UCLA took Game 1 in the Rose Bowl last year...but lost the rematch in Sam Boyd Stadium, 3 months later. Now its Game 3 in Provo, Utah. See it Saturday at 3:30pm on Versus.
Georgia Tech vs Virginia Tech-Can the Triple option attack of Georgia Tech vs the tough defense of the Hokies. Can the Yellow Jackets knock off the Hokies for the 3rd year in a row or will Va.Tech finally beat Ga.Tech. See it regionally Saturday at 3:30pm on ABC(check your local listings).
It begins Thursday at 7:30pm with North Carolina and Rutgers on ESPN. Have a good week.
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