We
begin this week’s column with an old echo, one
that again has the weather playing a major role
in shaping college football events. Hurricane
Rita, at mid-week a category five storm, made ADs all
along the western gulf coast revamp their team’s
weekly proceedings. The biggest impact was again felt
in Louisiana, where the SMU-Tulane tilt was moved up,
and LSU had to wait til Monday night to host SEC rival
Tennessee. The Vols were set to arrive on Saturday for
that night’s game, but wiser heads prevailed.
The Monday night showcase – usually reserved for
the NFL’s chosen matchup – meant that (except
Sunday) every night of this week will have college football
as a primetime feature. It was clear for us last year
that, with games starting to dot the week as early as
Wednesday, any part of the week ending in the word “day”
is a viable target for the NCAA to bump a game. Such
an open-ended scheduling policy allows for altered games
to not have to wait until season’s end to be played,
an option that minimizes the impact of weather impediments.
Still, with this never-ending hurricane season we have
all been experiencing (which officially lasts through
November), LSU and Tulane might wind up cramming their
entire slates into December.
Speaking
of Tulane, their 31-0 drubbing of SMU poses a real interesting
breakdown of logical sorts. See, the week after TCU
went into Norman and shocked the college football world
and the Sooners 17-10, SMU handily beat the Horned Frogs.
Everyone jokingly saw this sequence and wondered just
how well SMU might actually do against OU - the team
their defeated opponents had just whooped a week earlier.
Technically, if a team wins, they should be able to
beat those who have lost to their defeated foes, right?
Now, add to that logic Tulane beating SMU and one figures
that Tulane might just be better than the Sooners.
Given that the Green Wave is top-ranked and OU 42nd
for total defense, one just might begin to wonder…
Southern
Cal got a scare in Autzen Stadium Saturday night, but
their talent survived over Oregon’s will. Oregon
made USC react or lose, going out 13-0 to then force
the Trojan’s hand. Forty-five points later and
the Ducks were wondering (as are we) just how good Southern
Cal must be. But many of us saw how Oregon’s marginal
D would struggle to hold any lead, if one could be established.
The Trojans head into Arizona State this week and then
into South Bend two weeks later, so their work is somewhat
cut out. But how fair is it that USC gets four
of its last five at home, only needing to take
one trip (to the Bay area) after late October. Once
you factor in that ASU and ND both rank in the lower
echelons for total defense, only USC’s November
tilt in Berkeley and their closer versus UCLA look challenging
for the two-time defending champs. But then, there’s
Texas and Virginia Tech…
NEWS
FLASH: Beamer Ball is back!!! Virginia Tech served notice
that its defense and special teams are in top form,
again, making foes realize that either dimension alone
can beat them. With 105 kick blocks in 214 games under
head coach Frank Beamer, everyone goes into a tilt versus
Tech knowing how the Hokie’s special teams win
games for them. But it is Tech’s No.3-rated total
defense that has the ACC shaking…that, their No.2
scoring D, their No.3 passing D (efficiency), and their
third-rated TO-margin (+2.25). All of these wrapped
up in one are what make up “Beamer Ball”,
and their 51-7 win over then-No.15 Georgia Tech –
a quality team – reflects dominance in
all of these areas. See, GT was riding high
on QB Reggie Ball’s dual abilities until this
beat-down, which proves much more about VT’s swagger
than it does about the Yellow Jacket’s lacking
talent. VT also serves notice that it has its eyes set
on the BCS’ top game, the Rose Bowl, and will
possibly become like 2004’s Auburn team by going
undefeated, only to then be kept out of any national
championship scenario(s). What happens if four teams
deserve a title shot? Or five?
Michigan
State’s freshman Javon Ringer may be the
best RB you have yet to hear of. With 194 yards
on 13 carries, Ringer led the Spartans to a 61-14 win
Ron Zook’s Illini. State’s No.2 offense
is led by underdog Heisman candidate Drew Stanton’s
73% completion percentage and his 13:2 TD:INT ratio.
Factor in the 24th-best scoring D and you get that their
next two games (home versus Michigan and then at Ohio
State) make or break the Spartan’s entire campaign.
Two tough games like this could not come at a better
time, with MSU playing its best ball of the season right
as these two juggernauts come calling. Michigan has
much to prove as “overrated” has become
the main Wolverine adjective now used. Only Wisconsin
(who MSU doesn’t play) has as good of a shot as
any of these other three at snagging the Big Ten crown,
so watch the next few week’s developments to see
the best race this conference has seen in some time.
The
Tennessee-LSU matchup that was postponed until Monday
was a real treat for viewers who already had too many
games on their Saturday night docket. By putting off
this great matchup for an extra two days, we saw a showcase
of talent and fortitude from beginning to end. This
“tale of two halves” ended (of course) with
the Vols pulling it out 30-27 in OT, ostensibly the
better team in the game’s latter stages. Tennessee
had to fly in the day of this game, and their jetlag
was evident as they struggled to get on the same page
those first two quarters. But Phil Fulmer’s boys
came out of the locker room totally recharged after
the initial 30 minutes, whereas LSU relaxed due to its
21-0 dominance from the first half and then got clocked
in the mouth accordingly. The Vols just totally outplayed
the Tigers with more heart and determination, and Fulmer
gave new LSU head man Les Miles a nice introduction
to the SEC. Tiger QB JaMarcus Russell got ahead
of himself at the close of the first half, blowing a
deep drive by running the ball as time dwindled and
not getting either out of bounds or a first down to
stop the clock. Time ran on and then out as LSU tried
desperately to get its FG-unit in place with no timeouts.
The gimme chip-shot from the Vol’s five yard-line
would have given the Tigers those three marginal points
that would have kept Tennessee from sending it into
OT and subsequently winning. With LSU still the likely
winner of their SEC half (West), there could be a rematch
in Atlanta come December 3rd’s conference championship
game.
What
happened to Louisville? After beating two BCS-aligned
non-cons (Oregon State and Kentucky), the Redbirds went
into the sweltering heat in Tampa confident they could
beat an unproven South Florida squad. What they ran
into was a Bulls’ 25th-ranked total D good enough
to force three TOs and keep Louisville down at all of
the right moments. This game was won on the ground –
USF out-gained UL 251-104 – and proved why UL’s
win over in-state rival Kentucky exposed the very elements
needed for the Bull’s big 45-14 route. Louisville
had been publicly vocal about their ability to go undefeated
in their inaugural Big East campaign. Still likely to
win the conference, Louisville now has its work cut
out and a bullseye on its back, so don’t be surprised
when other tough Big East foes continue to exploit their
marginal defense (ranked 64th) and struggling special
teams. Hey, Cardinals, do us all and yourselves a favor:
don’t brag about anything with a first-year starter
at QB and a defense that only holds UK to 24 points
– this is not what national champions are made
of. Kudos to anyone who saw this one coming.
Epilogue note: Elvis Dumervil, who had set the NCAA’s
two-game sack record the prior weeks, was held to five
total tackles, no sacks, and no forced fumbles (he had
two in each of the record-setting games). The question
is this – why didn’t the double-teams Dumervil
garnered help the rest of UL’s D lockdown USF’s
running attack?
Lagniappe Miami’s
23-3 win over a punchless Colorado squad clearly means
that the mantle of “second best conference”
has officially been passed from the Big XII to the ACC
(there are three top 10 ACC teams versus one from the
Big XII, and six top 25 ACC squads vs. three from the
Big XII)…Speaking of polls, what
kind of boat was missed by voters such that Purdue came
in ranked No.11 against unranked Minnesota only to lose
42-35 in double-OT? Similarly, Wisconsin flew under
the radar unranked until they beat the overrated Wolverines.
Now ranked 17th and 18th respectively, the Badgers’
and Gophers’ surges prove that such “flavor
of the week” poll voting doesn’t
often reflect teams’ genuine worth…Penn
State is 4-0 for the first time since 1999, showing
marked improvement over their recent ugly past. But
with five of their last seven foes ranked (after none
of its first four were), Joe Pa has proven little so
far as to where the Nittany Lions will probably wind
up…This weekend’s Virginia
Tech-West Virginia tilt features Division-I’s
No.3 and 4-ranked total defenses, respectively. Accordingly,
with the 79th and 57th-rated offenses, can you
say “under”?...Temple,
now an unaligned school (dropped out of the Big East)
that has been looking at possibly cutting its football
program entirely, is 0-4 in likely its swan song season.
As stated before, to allow a program at a great learning
institution like Temple to fold is exactly what the
NCAA should be focusing upon, not the financial ends
of advertising and television. With five of their last
seven opponents being bowl teams just a year ago, expectations
of either a winning season or of another year of an
Owl program become rather impossible, at best...Houston’s
Willie Gaston and Ricky Wilson lead D-I for passes defended,
but the Cougars rank 109th for pass defense…Fresno
State is well on its way to repeating last year’s
feat of allowing 27 total punt return yards –
not per game, but for the entire campaign. After three
(of 12) games played, the Bulldogs have allowed only
three yard on a total of two returns. Their coverage
is good, but it’s Mike Lingua’s hang time(s)
that allow State’s tackler’s to do their
jobs so well…UCLA will likely
roll toward higher rankings if the Bruins can continue
this season’s trend of not turning the ball over
yet…Florida-Alabama looks like
a possible matchup for the SEC crown. The two play on
CBS at 3:30pm this Saturday…and
finally, congrats to Charlie Weis in winning the “Ty
Willingham Bowl” 36-17. Washington’s
only chance would have been if Willingham had been allowed
to go over and coach the players he recruited to South
Bend. But hey, Ty, realize, that by starting out 1-3
in Seattle, you have not raised expectations so high
that any losing spells would spell dismissal, the problem
you encountered at ND by taking off 8-0, only to then
finish 13-16. Lesson learned - build slowly and many
fans will come; build too quickly and their disappointment
will tear you down…
We
begin this week’s column with an old echo, one
that again has the weather playing a major role
in shaping college football events. Hurricane
Rita, at mid-week a category five storm, made ADs all
along the western gulf coast revamp their team’s
weekly proceedings. The biggest impact was again felt
in Louisiana, where the SMU-Tulane tilt was moved up,
and LSU had to wait til Monday night to host SEC rival
Tennessee. The Vols were set to arrive on Saturday for
that night’s game, but wiser heads prevailed.
The Monday night showcase – usually reserved for
the NFL’s chosen matchup – meant that (except
Sunday) every night of this week will have college football
as a primetime feature. It was clear for us last year
that, with games starting to dot the week as early as
Wednesday, any part of the week ending in the word “day”
is a viable target for the NCAA to bump a game. Such
an open-ended scheduling policy allows for altered games
to not have to wait until season’s end to be played,
an option that minimizes the impact of weather impediments.
Still, with this never-ending hurricane season we have
all been experiencing (which officially lasts through
November), LSU and Tulane might wind up cramming their
entire slates into December. 
