1. Florida W vs. Kentucky 41-7
One Word: Domination. 495 yards vs. 179. Florida jumped out to a 31-0 first quarter lead. That's something I have a hard time doing in the NCAA 2010 football video games even when I use Florida! The this game won't be remembered for the domination, it will be remembered for The Tebow Hit. Late in the 3rd quarter, Tebow was sacked by Kentucky's Taylor Wyndham and had to be taken to the hospital where he remained overnight for observations. Of course, Tebow also came into the game with the flu so it really was a bad week for him. But with a bye week coming up, he should be, and by extension the Gators, should be fine before the LSU game.2. Texas W vs. UTEP 64-7
One word: Domination. After a couple weeks in a row of sluggish first half play, the Longhorns put a complete game together with this victory. 639 yards vs. just 53. UTEP's only score of the day came on a 49 yard interception return. The Horns only gave up 9 yards on the ground McCoy a relatively pedestrian 28/35 286 yards 3 TD 1 INT. Vondrell McGee had over 100 on the ground, and Jordan "Ghost" Shipley added 122 through the air. Next up for Texas after a bye week is a date with Colorado before the all important Red River Rivalry vs. Oklahoma.3. Alabama W vs. Arkansas 35-7
4. Ole Miss L vs. South Carolina 10-16
Welcome back to earth Ole Miss. It happens very often that a team with lofty preseason projections falls flat on their face in a game where they should win. Usually, that happens to a team that is not used to those types of predictions (or USC). And Thursday ESPN games tend to claim a lot of victims. Ole Miss didn't look good in the game, but they are still a great SEC West team. The October 10th home game vs. Alabama will show where Ole Miss really is in that division. 5. Penn State L vs. Iowa10-21
Almost half of SportsNation picked this as the top ten upset game of the week, and they were right. Iowa came into the game having won 6-of-7 against Penn State, and now we can make it 7-of-8. More importantly however, this loss pretty much takes Penn State out of the BCS title picture. For a one loss Big 10 team to make it in, all the teams in the SEC and Big 12, and even USC, will have to end up with two losses. That's not likely to happen. Penn State jumped out to an early lead with a 79 yard pass from DAryll Clark to Chaz Powell the first time PSU touched the ball. A field goal brought the lead up to 10-0 and it looked like Penn State was gonna roll. But a safety and field goal by Iowa in the first half brought it back to a game. But it was 16 4th quarter points by the Hawkeyes , led by a blocked punt for a touchdown, that put the game out of reach. Even with the BCS title nearly out of reach, the Rose Bowl that comes with a Big 10 title is not. Ohio State looked very good, and Michigan is clearly back, so it looks to be a very fun three way fight for the Big 10 title this year. State has what should be a cakewalk road game against Illinois this weekend before a pair of tuneups vs. Eastern Illinois and Minnesota (which may be a relatively difficult game) before a big match up at the Big House vs Michigan. 6. Cal L vs. Oregon 3-42
Cal, WTF?!?!?!?! This was easily the biggest egg-laying performance of the weekend. 524 yards vs. 207. Jahvid Best WAS the best running back in the nation and a possible Heisman front-runner, but only 55 yards on 16 carries is not going to get it down. All Cal has to do is have an efficient performance by QB Kevin Riley to win games, but 12/31 for 123 is not the way to do it. Duck QB Jeremiah Masoli finally rememberd how to play quarterback oing 21/25 for 253 and 3 touchdowns, his first on the season. Cal opened the game well with a field goal in the first minute of the game...but after that.....yikes. 42 unanswered points for the Ducks destroyed the Bears. It doesn't get much easier for Cal at this point however with a date with USC on the schedule this weekend. Its ok Cal, at least you don't have to wear uniforms that look like that!7. LSU W vs. Mississippi State 30-26
Can't say much that went well for LSU in this one other than at least they got the win. The Bulldogs bested LSU in first downs (21-12), and in total yards (374-263) but it really was turnovers that killed the Dawgs in this one. Tyson Lee was just 15/38 for only 172 yards with 1 TD, but most importantly 3 costly turnovers. A Patrick Peterson interception return for TD got the scoring kicked off for LSU, but MSU stormed right back with an Anthony Dixon TD run. The teams traded touchdowns again in the first quarter before LSU scored on a 2nd quarter field goal. State ahd the chance to take the lead at the end of the half with a chip shot field goal, but they elected to go for a touchdown, and it failed. Down just two points early in the 4th, it looked like State might have a chance but a 93 yard punt return by Chad Jones put LSU in control. MSU stomed back with a field goal to bring it to within 6, but an amazing goal line stand by LSU with 1 minute remaining the in the game ended all hope. LSU took a purposeful safety with 51 seconds left, but State could not get the ball down the field and the Tigers survived. It doesn't get any easier for the Tigers from here however with back to back games against the SEC East best Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators.8. Boise State W vs. Bowling Green 49-14
I hate to say it, but Boise State is legit again this year. They have a quality win vs. Oregon - a team that just DEMOLISHED a supposedly great Cal team - and dominating performances against Miami (OH), Fresno State, and Bowling Green. I don't know what to say about this team that hasn't already been said. QB Kellen Moore is so smart and just athletic enough to be dangerous. Moore went 17/21 for 247 and 2 TDs. Running back Doug Martin had 100 on the ground too. I'm sure I will say this every week, but there doesn't seem to be a way this team can lose in the regular season. And if they win out, they will be in the BCS picture.9. Miami L vs. Virginia Tech 7-31
Miami must have started to believe their own hype going into this game. All the media, including me, were saying how great this team is and that they were going to win the ACC. Oops, we forgot about Virginia Tech. After a loss to Alabama and a near loss to Nebraska, everyone seemed to forget about the Hokies. Well, not anymore. The Hokies still have plenty of issues in the passing game with Tyrod Taylor going just 4/9, but he wasn't needed very much. Ryan Williams added 150 and 2 scores on the ground - Taylor had 75 of his own, and the defense help Miami to just 209 yards. Jacory Harris, a possible Heisman candidate went just 9/25 for 150, Zero TDs and an INT. If not for Cal, this would have been the WTF game of the game of the day. But its not all bad for Miami. Everyone pegged the Hurricanes 2-2 after their start of the season as what they needed to be on the way back, and they have already guaranteed that. The bad news? Game four is next weekend against Oklahoma with Sam Bradford possibly back in the lineup. After the OU game it does get easier however with Florida A&M and UCF. Clemson should be very winnable, as should Wake Forest, and Virginia is just terrible. @ North Carolina will be tough, Duke will not be, and South Florida is a huge question mark. Worst case for the Hurricanes: 7-5 and a bowl game. Best case - 10-2 and possible at large BCS game. All is not lost in Coral Gables.10. Oklahoma BYE
Oklahoma avoided the upset bug by simply being off for the weekend. Next up is a date with the Hurricanes (and the potential return of Sam Bradford) before a tuneup against Baylor, and the big showdown with the Longhorns in Dallas on October 17th
Top ten will look VERY different for next weekend's Recap. Check back all week for updates and PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS
What do you think of how this week's games have affected the polls? It seems like pollsters are having to make some tough decisions beyond the top 3 teams. I notice LSU is #4 now, and that makes sense as they are a 4-0 SEC team, but on the other hand, their performance against MS State last week doesn't look like a #4 team. And what about Auburn? In the same division as LSU (and Bama) and have the same 4-0 start. Granted, their sole SEC opponent wasn't good (LSU's only somewhat better). I certainly don't enjoy seeing Auburn do well, but I have to admit they are doing much better than I thought they would. I doubt it will last, but if it does (at least for a while), how many wins will it take for them to break into the top 25?
ReplyDeleteWeeks like this are why I think you shouldn't have polls until at least week 6 - maybe as late as week 7 or 8. The way Ole Miss has played to this point, they probably shouldn't even be ranked ahead of either Auburn OR South Carolina.....and yet they are still in the top 20 while both Auburn and USCe are not in the top 25 at all. Auburn's defense hasn't looked great to be sure, but they are getting pretty big victories so I think should be ranked and if I had a vote, I would be ranking them. LSU is not a number 4 team for sure. This will all begin to sort itself out now that conference play is starting though, but if we didn't have preseason polls, I wonder what the polls would look like right now. I think you would have the same top 3, but I bet Cincinnati would be higher, Houston would be higher, LSU would be lower, and Auburn would be ranked somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell happened to Washington? Will they be able to regroup and compete in South Bend?
ReplyDeleteNotre Dame has showed some major weaknesses this season. Michigan did beat them, and both Purdue and Michigan State probably should have beaten them. So they do have some vulnerabilities, but will probably take care of business at home.
ReplyDeleteNow, if the reason Washington lost was a look ahead week of practice to get ready for ND, well thats a different story then. Washington will be hungry to prove their win wasn't a fluke and wants to beat another major college football all time power again. I think Notre Dame wins, but very very close.