TIDE ROLLS, BOISE TOO, DUCKS AWESOME....ON OFFENSE, LSU WINS IN SPITE OF THEMSELVES, LOCKER GETS REDEMPTION & "SHOELACE" IS INCREDIBLE
Alabama isn't the ultra-dominant team they were last year on the way to the BCS Championship, but they're plenty good. They rolled Florida 31-6 in a game the Gators were never in, not scoring till they were down 24-0. Florida committed 4 turnovers, 3 in their own territory & 1 inside the Bama 1-yardline, it was brutal. The Tide had only 273 total yards but they made the most of the Gator miscues. Florida couldn't run the ball or protect QB John Brantley. I don't know if Alabama is the best team in the country, but until someone beats them, they'll stay number one with performances like tonight.
The last 3-minutes of the Red River Rivalry game between Texas & Oklahoma had me tied in a knot. If you didn't see the game, I won't bore you with the coaching mistakes, sloppy ball-handling & missed opportunities, I won my bet, but it wasn't easy. OU won 28-20 in the 2nd most bizarre finish of the day, OU had a chance to wrap it up, then they didn't, then they did, then they didn't & finally Texas had a shot to tie the game & then it was gone.....poof. Texas played a terrible game & deserved to lose, but OU didn't seem to want it. DeMarco Murray ran for 115 yards & two scores, one a tightrope walk down the near sideline that was a top-10 play of the day. Texas lost last week to UCLA & after their week off next Saturday, travel to Lincoln to face the revenge-minded Nebraska Cornhuskers. Mack Brown has his work cut out for him, this is the worst looking Longhorn team he's fielded since coming to Austin.
I told you yesterday the 43-point spread in the Boise State-New Mexico State game wasn't enough. It wasn't, the Broncos won 59-0. They out gained the Lobos 608 to 194 in total yardage.
I also said the Stanford-Oregon total of 64 1/2 was too low. They surpassed this number with 5:34 left in the 3rd quarter. With 1,144 total yards by the two teams, this definitely wasn't a defensive struggle. Stanford led 31-24 at the half, but were shutout after intermission while the Ducks rolled up 28 points in a 52-31 win. Oregon rushed for a staggering 388 yards with tailback LaMichael James posting 257 & 3 touchdowns. When Jeremiah Masoli was dismissed from the program last spring, there was a lot of doubt as to how effective this offenses' new triggerman, Darron Thomas, could be. He is as good or better than Masoli. he threw three touchdowns & ran one in himself. Oregon will only go as far as this rather shaky defense permits. They can't score 50+ every week. Stanford racked up 518 yards, that's not good & lowly Arizona State rolled up 597 last week against the Ducks.
I've said here all season, Wisconsin is the slowest ranked team I've seen in a long time. I also pointed out their glaring weakness covering kicks & punts. Michigan State whipped the Badgers today, 34-24. In the process, Keyshawn Martin ran a punt back 72-yards for a Spartan score. Even committing 3 turnovers to none, Michigan State had little trouble beating the 11th ranked Badgers.
LSU's Les Miles is one of the poorest clock managers I've ever seen(he's Herm Edwards bad) & yet he escapes with a win more often than not. The guy has a horseshoe up his ass. In the most bizarre ending of the day, LSU blew over 25-seconds at the 2-yardline trying to get the right personnel in the game. Then, with 2 seconds left, the snap goes over the quarterbacks' head, end of game. Not quite for you see Tennessee had not 12 guys on the field, but 13. Move the ball to the one & LSU gets one untimed down & of course they score to win 16-14. Why the Tigers didn't spike the ball with about 23-24 seconds left so they could get people on the field & get the proper play called is beyond me. Unbelievable. At least Miles was honest after the game when he said "we were really lucky." I'll say.
Iowa beat Penn State 24-3 in the snooze-fest of the night. Penn State is almost unwatchable. Unimaginative offense, poor play calling, horrible clock management, ultra-boring uniforms, etc etc etc. The only reason I like watching Iowa is for the play of DE Adrian Clayborn(10 tackles, 4 for loss & a sack) & WR Marvin McNutt's hands.
Washington's Jake Locker hasn't had the kind of year everyone was hoping for, you know a Heisman kind of year. He got some real redemption tonight beating USC in the L.A. Coliseum 32-31 on a 32-yard Erik Folk field goal as time expired. Locker was 24 of 40 for 310 yards & a touchdown. He also ran for 111 yards. The USC defense was nowhere to be found again, the Huskies rolled up 537 total yards on the Trojans. USC gets a chance to avenge their 55-21 beatdown at the hands of the Stanford Cardinal next week. After losing to Oregon tonight, Jim Harbaugh will have the Cardinal ready. Lane Kiffin's Trojans are maybe the 4th best team in the PAC-10, maybe not even that good. I do know they should not be ranked in any poll.
Baylor destroyed Kansas this afternoon 55-7. QB Robert Griffin threw three touchdowns & ran for another as the Bears out-gained the 'Hawks 434-171. Turner Gill has a pretty formidable task in front of him.
From last weeks' coaching hot seat, I said Minnesota's Tim Brewster was really shaky. It got worse today as the Golden Gophers lost their 4th consecutive home game this season to Northwestern 29-28. Also from last week's list was Georgia's Mark Richt & he also lost again, making the 'Dawgs 1-4, not what UGA fans are accustomed to, losing at Colorado 29-27. A.J. Green returned for Georgia & the wide receiver caught 7 balls for 119 yards & two scores. He is the best WR in college football. Please tell the Colorado fans, who rushed the field at games' end, you beat a 1-4 team, act like you've been there before. Really lame.
The Tommy Tuberville-Texas Tech honeymoon won't last long when you get flogged by Iowa State 52-38. Yes, Iowa State, I didn't stutter. That's tem more points than Iowa State has scored in a Big-12 game in eight years. Two things have become rather clear this week, A&M & Tech aren't nearly as good as advertised. But then neither is Texas.
If I had a Heisman vote, O.K. stop laughing, I'd be hard pressed to give it to anyone other than Michigan QB Denard "Shoelace" Robinson. For the 1st time in NCAA history, a player has run & passed for 200 yards in a game twice in a season. Let's remember this is only week 5 & the competition gets tougher in the 2nd half of the schedule, but with Illinois & Purdue still to come, he might do it yet again. Today he ran for 217 yards & threw for 277 on a 10 for 16 passing performance. The kid is amazing, as a runner, he's easily the best running quarterback I've seen this year & he is more than adequate as a passer. The Wolverines needed everything he had as Indiana QB Ben Chappell threw for 480 yards & 3 touchdowns in the 42-35 Michigan win. By the way, Robinson scored the winning touchdown with :17 seconds left on the clock.
Notre Dame was a 31-13 winner over Boston College, easily covering the 3-point spread thank you very much.
Honestly, nothing just jumped off the sheet for tomorrow, I am leaning toward Tennessee -6 vs. Denver & Houston -3 at Oakland but I'll take a fresh look at it in the morning.
The last 3-minutes of the Red River Rivalry game between Texas & Oklahoma had me tied in a knot. If you didn't see the game, I won't bore you with the coaching mistakes, sloppy ball-handling & missed opportunities, I won my bet, but it wasn't easy. OU won 28-20 in the 2nd most bizarre finish of the day, OU had a chance to wrap it up, then they didn't, then they did, then they didn't & finally Texas had a shot to tie the game & then it was gone.....poof. Texas played a terrible game & deserved to lose, but OU didn't seem to want it. DeMarco Murray ran for 115 yards & two scores, one a tightrope walk down the near sideline that was a top-10 play of the day. Texas lost last week to UCLA & after their week off next Saturday, travel to Lincoln to face the revenge-minded Nebraska Cornhuskers. Mack Brown has his work cut out for him, this is the worst looking Longhorn team he's fielded since coming to Austin.
I told you yesterday the 43-point spread in the Boise State-New Mexico State game wasn't enough. It wasn't, the Broncos won 59-0. They out gained the Lobos 608 to 194 in total yardage.
I also said the Stanford-Oregon total of 64 1/2 was too low. They surpassed this number with 5:34 left in the 3rd quarter. With 1,144 total yards by the two teams, this definitely wasn't a defensive struggle. Stanford led 31-24 at the half, but were shutout after intermission while the Ducks rolled up 28 points in a 52-31 win. Oregon rushed for a staggering 388 yards with tailback LaMichael James posting 257 & 3 touchdowns. When Jeremiah Masoli was dismissed from the program last spring, there was a lot of doubt as to how effective this offenses' new triggerman, Darron Thomas, could be. He is as good or better than Masoli. he threw three touchdowns & ran one in himself. Oregon will only go as far as this rather shaky defense permits. They can't score 50+ every week. Stanford racked up 518 yards, that's not good & lowly Arizona State rolled up 597 last week against the Ducks.
I've said here all season, Wisconsin is the slowest ranked team I've seen in a long time. I also pointed out their glaring weakness covering kicks & punts. Michigan State whipped the Badgers today, 34-24. In the process, Keyshawn Martin ran a punt back 72-yards for a Spartan score. Even committing 3 turnovers to none, Michigan State had little trouble beating the 11th ranked Badgers.
LSU's Les Miles is one of the poorest clock managers I've ever seen(he's Herm Edwards bad) & yet he escapes with a win more often than not. The guy has a horseshoe up his ass. In the most bizarre ending of the day, LSU blew over 25-seconds at the 2-yardline trying to get the right personnel in the game. Then, with 2 seconds left, the snap goes over the quarterbacks' head, end of game. Not quite for you see Tennessee had not 12 guys on the field, but 13. Move the ball to the one & LSU gets one untimed down & of course they score to win 16-14. Why the Tigers didn't spike the ball with about 23-24 seconds left so they could get people on the field & get the proper play called is beyond me. Unbelievable. At least Miles was honest after the game when he said "we were really lucky." I'll say.
Iowa beat Penn State 24-3 in the snooze-fest of the night. Penn State is almost unwatchable. Unimaginative offense, poor play calling, horrible clock management, ultra-boring uniforms, etc etc etc. The only reason I like watching Iowa is for the play of DE Adrian Clayborn(10 tackles, 4 for loss & a sack) & WR Marvin McNutt's hands.
Washington's Jake Locker hasn't had the kind of year everyone was hoping for, you know a Heisman kind of year. He got some real redemption tonight beating USC in the L.A. Coliseum 32-31 on a 32-yard Erik Folk field goal as time expired. Locker was 24 of 40 for 310 yards & a touchdown. He also ran for 111 yards. The USC defense was nowhere to be found again, the Huskies rolled up 537 total yards on the Trojans. USC gets a chance to avenge their 55-21 beatdown at the hands of the Stanford Cardinal next week. After losing to Oregon tonight, Jim Harbaugh will have the Cardinal ready. Lane Kiffin's Trojans are maybe the 4th best team in the PAC-10, maybe not even that good. I do know they should not be ranked in any poll.
Baylor destroyed Kansas this afternoon 55-7. QB Robert Griffin threw three touchdowns & ran for another as the Bears out-gained the 'Hawks 434-171. Turner Gill has a pretty formidable task in front of him.
From last weeks' coaching hot seat, I said Minnesota's Tim Brewster was really shaky. It got worse today as the Golden Gophers lost their 4th consecutive home game this season to Northwestern 29-28. Also from last week's list was Georgia's Mark Richt & he also lost again, making the 'Dawgs 1-4, not what UGA fans are accustomed to, losing at Colorado 29-27. A.J. Green returned for Georgia & the wide receiver caught 7 balls for 119 yards & two scores. He is the best WR in college football. Please tell the Colorado fans, who rushed the field at games' end, you beat a 1-4 team, act like you've been there before. Really lame.
The Tommy Tuberville-Texas Tech honeymoon won't last long when you get flogged by Iowa State 52-38. Yes, Iowa State, I didn't stutter. That's tem more points than Iowa State has scored in a Big-12 game in eight years. Two things have become rather clear this week, A&M & Tech aren't nearly as good as advertised. But then neither is Texas.
If I had a Heisman vote, O.K. stop laughing, I'd be hard pressed to give it to anyone other than Michigan QB Denard "Shoelace" Robinson. For the 1st time in NCAA history, a player has run & passed for 200 yards in a game twice in a season. Let's remember this is only week 5 & the competition gets tougher in the 2nd half of the schedule, but with Illinois & Purdue still to come, he might do it yet again. Today he ran for 217 yards & threw for 277 on a 10 for 16 passing performance. The kid is amazing, as a runner, he's easily the best running quarterback I've seen this year & he is more than adequate as a passer. The Wolverines needed everything he had as Indiana QB Ben Chappell threw for 480 yards & 3 touchdowns in the 42-35 Michigan win. By the way, Robinson scored the winning touchdown with :17 seconds left on the clock.
Notre Dame was a 31-13 winner over Boston College, easily covering the 3-point spread thank you very much.
Honestly, nothing just jumped off the sheet for tomorrow, I am leaning toward Tennessee -6 vs. Denver & Houston -3 at Oakland but I'll take a fresh look at it in the morning.
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