Observations From the Couch
-The Big Ten no longer has a national title contender. Iowa has too many tough road games left to run the table. Penn State looked horrible on national television and the voters will not put Ohio State in the national title game with a loss. The conference race for the Rose Bowl berth will be intriguing but it will not have national title implications. I hate to say it but that is probably deserved. The rosters in the Big Ten are not good enough to compete with the top teams in the country and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
-There could be two "BCS busters" this season. Boise State will certainly reach a BCS game if
they can run the table. The Broncos will be favored by at least twenty points in every remaining game on their schedule and the victory over Oregon is improving every week. TCU beat Clemson 14-10 in Death Valley and moved up to #11 in the rankings. If they can complete a difficult Mountain West schedule without a loss, they will crash the party as well. The Houston Cougars beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders 29-28 in an awesome game late Saturday night. That gives the Cougars two victories over Big 12 opponents (OK State and Texas Tech). Houston's toughest remaining game is at Mississippi State in two weeks. The Bulldogs outplayed LSU in Starkville on Saturday so it will not be easy. Two of these three teams could end up in a BCS bowl in January. I will be rooting for them.-Should Tim Tebow have been in the game when he got crunched by Kentucky and sent to the hospital? If I were coaching Florida, he would not have been in there. But I am not and Urban Meyer has a history of leaving his starters in. This is the way he operates and I don't think he should take the blame for Tebow's injury. It will be interesting to see how the concussion affects Tebow. He uses his body as a weapon and concussions come much easier after the first one occurs. Florida cannot win a national title without him.
-The U is not all the way back. They were stymied by the weather and the defense of the Virginia Tech Hokies. Make no mistake, VT was better but the rain hurt Miami's offense. Jacory Harris had a bad game and Miami never got their offense on track as the Hokies blew them out 31-7. Freshman Ryan Williams carried the ball 34 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns. I said in my week preview that Williams was a stud. I didn't know he was this good. Miami is on their way but Virginia Tech still rules the ACC.
Kudos
-Congratulations to the South Florida Bulls. Head coach Jim Leavitt had been fighting to get Miami and Florida State on the schedule for a few years and he finally got them. Unfortunately, star quarterback and team leader Matt Grothe tore his ACL the week before their contest with the Noles. Enter redshirt freshman B.J. Daniels. Daniels, ironically from Tallahassee, was ignored by Florida State because of their belief in Christian Ponder. The freshman sparkled and the Bulls defense shut down FSU's offense for a 17-7 victory in the Seminoles house. Jim Leavitt was quoted as saying "You have to beat them to get talked about, now we should be talked about." Indeed, if USF can maintain this kind of play they are the chief threat to Cincinnati's quest for a second straight Big East title.-The Oregon Ducks looked awful in their opening game against Boise State. They didn't look very good in week two against Purdue but escaped with a win. Week three was a little bit better as they pulled away from Utah late in the game. California came in with a chance to solidify their top ten ranking and keep their national title hopes alive. Kudos to the Ducks and new head coach Chip Kelly for turning their season around and whacking the Bears 42-3. They completely dominated the game. Oregon outgained Cal by more than 300 yards and held Jahvid Best to 55 yards.
-The Alabama Crimson Tide are the best team I have seen play this season. They destroyed the
Arkansas Razorbacks 35-7 in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday to move to 4-0. Their win over Virginia Tech on opening night looks better after the Hokies took down Nebraska and Miami to move back into the top ten. The running game is very good with Trent Richardson and Mark Ingram. The defense is flat out nasty. However, this team is the best team in the country because of their new found explosive passing game. Greg McElroy threw for 291 yards and three scores. Julio Jones is the best wide receiver in the country but he is not the only weapon. They have several other options that can stretch the field. Marquis Maze looks like a legitimate number two wide receiver. The only negative from this game was the loss of talented linebacker Dont'a Hightower to a knee injury.-I think everyone bought into Washington a little too early. To have them ranked after beating USC was a little premature and Stanford exposed them on Saturday. Jim Harbaugh continues to impress as a coach and the Cardinal blasted the Huskies 34-14 to improve to 3-1. UW will be much better this season than they were last year but they are not a Top 25 team.
Shame on You
-Penn State jumped out to a 10-0 lead over Iowa. They were playing in a "revenge game" at home in front of a primetime white-out crowd. Game over right? Someone forgot to tell the Hawkeyes they were supposed to lay down and die. Iowa is good but Penn State crapped the bed for the rest of the game and dashed their title hopes. The Nittany Lions had four turnovers and Daryll Clark looked horrible. His Heisman Trophy candidacy is over and Penn State was exposed by the Hawkeyes for the second year in a row. Iowa has now won seven of eight against Penn State.-California does this every year. They get off to an encouraging start and people begin to believe
in the Bears from Berkeley. But, every year they manage to completely fall apart and not show up for a couple of weeks. Jeff Tedford has done a nice job at Cal and they are a Top 25 team but they will not be able to take the next step as long as he is the coach. Jahvid Best will not win the Heisman Trophy and the Bears appear on their way to another Holiday Bowl.-Shame on Danny Hope. The Purdue Boilermakers played a bad game for most of the night but a very good comeback left them ahead of Notre Dame with three minutes to play. The Boilers were up 21-17 but Jimmy Clausen had plenty of time to make a comeback. So, instead of blitzing the hobbled quarterback, Purdue only pressured with four men and they gave the Irish receivers plenty of cushion on routes. ND marched down the field. They ran the ball on second and goal and appeared to be getting ready to spike the ball with about 35 seconds left. That would set up a fourth and goal. For some reason, Hope called time out with 38 seconds left to give the Irish two shots at the end zone. They failed on third down but Clausen completed a pass to his tight end and the Irish escaped with a 24-21 win. This Notre Dame is mediocre but Charlie Weis' job has been saved by brain farts for two straight weeks (interception by MSU and timeout by Purdue).
One injury note, Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin is out for the season with a torn ACL. This is really bad news for a Baylor team that I really liked and one of the most exciting players in college football. Baylor would have been a tough out in Waco but they now appear to be headed back to the basement for at least a year.
I will preview week number five on Thursday. Until then, stay vigilant and God Bless America.
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