While Week eight did in fact look great, I have to say that I had a bad taste in my mouth leading up to it. I sat and wondered why that was for the longest time and then remembered that Week Eight is the Return of the BCS Standings!!!. Duhn Duhn Da Naaaah! Let the complaining begin! Computers and computer nerds will now tell us who the number one team in the land is. This week’s winner: Oklahoma! Not Oregon… Oklahoma! Forget it. I’m not even going to spend the 10 pages I need to explain this.
Instead, I’ll say Happy Birthday to my Mom! Happy Birthday Ma’! While she is a much bigger NFL fan and probably only reads this because I write it, she does follow the college football blog loyally. Thanks mom.
Let’s get on with…
GAMES OF THE WEEK:
#11 Missouri over #1 Oklahoma 36-27
Oklahoma turned the ball over 3 times and gave up 16 points in the 4th quarter. Hope they enjoyed being the #1 team for a week. Their defense also gave up 486 total yards. Wow. Not that I thought Oklahoma should have been ranked number one this week, but I did think they had a better defense than that. Congrats to Missouri who now sits at 7-0 and in control of the Big-12. They should also get a big push from the computers this week and could be sitting in the top 5 come Sunday afternoon. But, next week is going to be a big test on the road at Nebraska.
#4 Auburn over #6 LSU 24-17
I’ll admit I laughed a few weeks ago when somebody said they thought Cam Newton was the front runner for the Heisman. I’m not laughing any more. He is leading Auburn in every category. This week he only passed for 86yds and 0TDs going 10 for 16. But, he ran the ball 28 times for 217 yards and 2TDs. Auburn is now 8-0 and the SEC’s last remaining undefeated team thanks to Mr. Newton and should be able to cruise to the Iron Bowl matchup against Alabama at the end of the year. LSU has a top 10 defense and lives by that defense. However, in this back and forth game they just had no answer for Newton and Auburn’s run game.
#13 Wisconsin over #15 Iowa 31-30
What a game! Fake puts, 8 lead changes, a final drive to win it and positioning for bowl games for both teams. Ohio State has the Big-10 under control for the moment, but both of these teams were looking to make a claim on Saturday night. Did you know that with the Badger’s win this series is now all tied up at 42-42-2? They’ve played each other 86 times and this was a great one to tie it all up. Man I wish I could have seen this game.
#16 Nebraska over #14 Oklahoma State 51-41
What happens when Oklahoma State’s offense meets Nebraska’s defense? A low scoring game right? Nooooo. Offense! Offense! Offense! See below for our player of the week from this game. Nebraska to me got two wins this week. One they erased the loss to Texas last week and two they beat another top 15 team to help them get back up in the rankings. They also showed that they are a much better team than they were last week by going on the road and taking care of business. The Huskers are now 6-1 and have a chance to take back the Big-12 next week when Missouri comes to town. I hope they win so they can have a shot at leaving the Big-12 as Champs.
DON’T CALL THEM UPSETS OF THE WEEK:
Unranked Iowa State over #19 Texas 28-21
Unranked Syracuse over #20 W. Virginia 19-14
Unranked Baylor over #22 Kansas State 47-42
Don’t call them upsets! Anybody could have seen these coming. Listen, I’m not even going to justify each of these losses with a comment. Only K State was playing on the road and not even in a “tough” environment at Baylor. Texas just got back into the rankings by beating Nebraska last week and now they just lay down for Iowa State? W. Virginia hasn’t looked all that great all year, so no surprise that a 4-2 Syracuse came in and beat them. The 20-25 spots in the rankings should be a revolving door from here on out.
BEAT DOWN OF THE WEEK:
#2 Oregon over UCLA 60-13
The Ducks are ready to be the Nation’s #1 team. They should have been this week, (yes, I know they were the AP #1, but we have to live with the system we’re given by the almighty BCS) but they weren’t. Oregon is really tough at home and this week was no exception. Tons of yards (582 total/312 passing/270 rushing), a backup running all over the place while the starter got some rest (Alston Jr. 8 carries for 75yds and 3TDs) and a QB that is damn good (Thomas 22/31 for 308yds and 3TDs and 5 carries for 48yds); Oregon’s offense is scary! This week they travel to USC (the one in California) and hopefully we won’t see them as the next #1 team to get knocked off.
Honorable Mention to #10 Ohio State putting up a 49-0 score on visiting Purdue.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez. If you’re talking about the Heisman, this guy has got to be in the conversation. This week he led Nebraska to a great win after losing last week by going 23 for 35 for 323yds and 5TDs. That’s right 5TDs! He also ran for 112yds on 19 carries. Remember, this guy is a FRESHMAN! He may be just a freshman, but he is impressive. And, while he may be in the conversation, he’s just a second place candidate at this point.
Just to take a quick look here at the 2 QBs I talked about this week and their numbers so far:
Cam Newton; QB Auburn, 6’6” 250lbs. Junior: Passing: 90/138 for 1,364yds and 13TDs with 5INTs. Rushing: 157 carries for 1,077yds and 14TDs with 0 fumbles.
Taylor Martinez; QB Nebraska; 6’1” 205lbs. Freshman: Passing: 66/111 for 1,046yds and 8TDs with 3INTs. Rushing: 100 carries for 870yds and 12TDs with 0 fumbles.
PILLOW FIGHT OF THE WEEK:
Thankfully I didn’t buy that plane ticket to Vegas that I was talking about. Last week I picked Akron over W. Michigan as my pillow fight. The Western Michigan Broncos beat the Zips 56-10 driving Akron’s record this year to 0-8 overall and 0-4 in the MAC. Ouch. It must suck to be an Akron fan in these dark times.
This week I’m going to try and rebound like Nebraska and make a trip to the Patriot conference. I’m going with the Bucknell Bison (1-6, 1-1) to defend their house against the visiting Lafayette Leopards (1-6, 0-1). What is the Patriot conference you ask? Why it’s the power house that includes: Lehigh (5-2), Georgetown (3-5), Colgate (4-3, but they have clean teeth), Holy Cross (4-4 but leading the Nation in Hail Marys), Bucknell (1-6), Fordam (3-5) and Lafayette (1-6).
Thank you for reading. This is the end.
About Me
- AJ
- Charleston, SC, United States
- "Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." -Henry David Thoreau
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7 comments:
You are correct, sir. I do read this just because YOU write it. Thanks for the b'day wishes--it was a great weekend!
We've heard all this buzz about Baylor being a bowl team for a while; people bought that, they just didn't buy that they were actually a "good" team. Well, maybe they aren't a great team but you must keep in mind that K-State's defense is perhaps the slowest and least athletic of any bcs conference school.
Please don't fall into the trap of believing that "computers" are to blame. They are not. There is a man (well, most likely a man but possibly a woman) behind those curtains, telling them what to do. But wait, even the people behind the computers aren't telling the computers exactly what they want to... they are told what can and can't be considered, sort of handicapping their estimates. But, when asked to choose which rankings to trust, I'll choose those with the least amount of "opinion." Come on pre-season polls and everything after that are tremendously based on opinion. At least the computers try to combat that. But, like I have said, momentum is not usually considered, especially for the "computers." In one sense, however, I completely agree with the statisticians. If the whole argument for keeping the bcs is that it keeps the regular season important, then every single game should count the same. It doesn't. That is why Va. Tech was ranked last week. Yeah, I believe they will be a top 25 team at the end of the year, but justify a top 25 ranking over other teams after beating only NC State. What, do Duke and ECU and Wake and Central Michigan and a crappy BC qualify making up for a two losses, one to James Madison? Please. That's a pile of horseshit. I never thought K-State deserved to be ranked, but they definitely deserved to be ranked over Va. Tech. A lot of teams did. And I have a problem with this Pollspeak website that criticizes voters who are placing teams differently than other voters. Come on, that is the whole point of having multiple voters. If Kirk Herbstreit is always the most correct voter then why not make him the only voter? Right, the Buckeyes would always be in a bcs bowl... wait, they are. This shit just pisses me off. People don't consider the computers polls (which they are) and want the polls to be computers (which they shouldn't be).
NIU is going bowlin' and in control of the MAC.
Sorry for the rant. I'm a little bit drunk. It's Sunday night.
Thanks for the write-up. I really appreciate it.
Computers (or the people behind them) hate the Ducks! Auburn is your BCS #1 this week jumping Boise and Oregon. Hmm...
Mr T was also correct--99.9% jibba jabba
After his last press conference, I may have been mistaken when I sort of defended Derek Dooley a while ago. He may very well be cccrrrraaazzzzzzzyyyyy!
Hey! what happened to the countdown clock??? I'm countin' the days, but enjoyed seeing how many HOURS 'til you're home too!
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