Week 2 Recap: This past weekend proved once again why the College Football season is the best in sports right now. It looked to anyone and everyone as if week 2 of the schedule was the weakest and least interesting week of the entire season. There seemed no chance for any major upset, and there didn’t seem to be that many competitive matchups. But just when you think that nothing can possibly happen…it does. And in the end, it turned out to be quite an interesting week.
The Shocker: On second thought, maybe West Virginia won’t be just fine without Coach Rodriguez-even for this season. The #8 Mountaineers lost 24-3 on the road against unranked East Carolina. As astounding as the upset and the point differential are, the most remarkable thing about the loss is West Virginia’s score. Forget who the #8 Mountaineers were playing for a minute or even the fact that they lost by 21 points. They scored only 3 points, getting a 26 yard FG in the second quarter. Do you realize how long it had been since the Mountaineers went without a touchdown? Try nearly 7 years. West Virginia had scored a TD in 81 consecutive games going all the way back to October 25th of 2001 when they lost 45-3 on the road at the hands of then #1 Miami. WV had been able to put 48 points up on Oklahoma in last year’s Fiesta Bowl and they lost relatively little on offense going into this season, so it seemed that they would at least be able to maintain something close to the offensive production that they had the last few seasons. But they are no longer running Coach Rod’s offense, and at least on Saturday, something was very, very different about the Mountaineers.
The Big Least: When Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College left the Big East for the ACC a few years ago, most everyone thought that the Big East would be considerably weaker than the rest of the BCS conferences. Some even called for the Big East to lose its automatic BCS bid. But to everyone’s surprise, the Big East was one of the better leagues in college football in each of the last two seasons, with Big East teams going 8-2 in bowl games, including 2-0 in BCS bowl games. However, it appears that the level of play in the Big East Conference may have finally reached the level that many feared it would immediately following the exodus of 3 of its best programs back in 2006. If West Virginia is a team capable of losing 24-3 to a team from Conference USA (regardless of how good East Carolina turns out to be) the Big East is in serious trouble. The rest of the conference had better hope that the team thought to be second best in the league going into this season—South Florida—proves to be legit, but they needed overtime to hold off another Conference USA foe (Central Florida) this past weekend. Pitt was thought to be the other dangerous team from the Big East this season, but so far they have been among the most disappointing teams in the country. In week 1 they lost at home by 10 to Bowling Green, a team that then lost 42-17 at home this past weekend…to Minnesota!!! Pitt managed to avoid a second straight home loss to a MAC opponent by getting past Buffalo 27-16 in another unimpressive performance. One of the most surprising developments in the last few years has been the emergence of Rutgers--a team that went bowling in 2005 for the first time since 1978—as a solid mid-level team in the Big East. So far this season they have lost their only game, 24-7 at home, to Fresno State of the WAC. Louisville was a National Title contender in 2006 in the first season for the Big East following the exit of Miami, VT, and BC. Last season they fell off and went just 6-6 in their first season without coach Bobby Petrino. This season they were expected to be much improved but they lost to what is expected to be a mediocre Kentucky team, 27-2 at home in week 1, before beating a I-AA opponent this past weekend. Cincinnati may be the best team in the conference, as they managed to say within 26 of Oklahoma on the road this last week. Connecticut was a surprise 9 win team last season, but this past week they needed OT to beat Temple, 12-9. Then there is Syracuse, which just might be, in all sincerity, the single worst team in Division I-A. In the season opener, Syracuse got hammered 30-10 by Northwestern. As stunningly awful as that was, their loss this past weekend is one of the worst losses for any program in the past decade. The Cuse got whipped at home, 42-28, by MAC bottom feeder Akron! So far, Big East teams are 3-7 against Division I-A opponents and 0-3 against teams from BCS conferences. At this point it appears that the Big East may not even be as strong as some of the non-BCS conferences such as the MWC, the WAC, and C-USA.
EC Who?: Just how good are the East Carolina Pirates? That might just be the most compelling question in all of college football at this moment. Skip Holtz took over in 2005 and led the Pirates to a 5-6 record (4-4 in conference) after they had gone a combined 3-20 in the previous two seasons. In 2006, EC went 7-6 (5-3 in conference) and got to a bowl game. Last season they went 8-5 (6-2 in conference) and upset Boise State in the Hawaii Bowl. So they have been steadily improving under Holtz and it appears they are merely taking another step up this season. Admittedly, this most recent step is more like a leap. So far they have knocked off defending ACC Champ Virginia Tech on a neutral field and dominated defending Big East Champ West Virginia at home.
Folks, if you think it’s too early to start talking BCS Buster, know that they will almost certainly not face an opponent this season as tough as either of the teams they have beaten in the last two weeks. They do have road games against 2 more ACC teams, but those teams—NC State and Virginia—look no more dangerous than Duke at this point. They have one of the easier conference schedules of any C-USA team, with pushovers Tulane and UAB on the road, and tougher foes Houston, Memphis, Marshall, and Southern Miss all at home. At this point the toughest game left on their schedule appears to be a road contest at Central Florida. They are 14th in the AP going into this weekend and they only need to finish in the top 12 of the BCS Standings to ensure a birth into a BCS bowl game. It’s not too early to start talking about Conference USA producing its first ever BCS Buster.
The SEC Has Competition: Following Tennessee’s loss to UCLA in week 1, I made the comment to some fellow sports fans that while the SEC might be the best conference as usual (which I still believe it to be), and many people might believe it to be so, you couldn’t definitively say that it was any better than the Big XII at that point. We are now 2 weeks into the college football season, and in my opinion, you still cannot say that the SEC has proved itself to be the clear cut best conference in the land. So far, the Big XII has lived up to the hype and hung right with the SEC. Conference play has yet to commence in the Big XII, with each team in the league playing 2 non-conference games so far. At this point, the Big XII is 22-2 against the rest of college football, 15-2 against Division I-A opponents, and 3-1 against teams from BCS conferences. Granted much of the work done by Big XII teams has been against teams from lesser conferences, and much of it has come at home. Also, the league’s two losses—A&M’s 18-14 loss to Arkansas State at home and Baylor’s 41-13 loss to Wake at home—have been pretty poor. But the decisiveness with which Big XII teams have beaten their foes so far, in some way makes up for the two unflattering defeats and the shortage of formidable opponents. Again, I’m not saying that the Big XII is as good as the SEC; I’m just saying that—to this point—you can’t prove that the SEC is better by looking at the performances on the field.
Ohio State Struggling: While we all hoped with all of our might that Ohio University (or is it University of Ohio?) would somehow end up beating Ohio State in Columbus, we all knew that such a thing could never actually happen. And of course, it didn’t happen, as the Buckeyes eventually won by 12 points, 26-14, saving themselves from suffering a historic defeat. However, they did not play well in any sense, and they needed more than their advantage in talent and depth to win that game.
When I was considering how big of a deal Ohio State’s struggle this past weekend was my first reaction was to downplay it a good bit. I recalled a game early last season when it was still unclear how good Ohio State was going to be. After beating Youngstown State, 38-6, in week 1, the Buckeyes struggled with Akron at home in week 2, leading just 3-2 at half time, and eventually winning just 20-2. They of course went on to go 11-1 last year before losing to LSU in the National Championship Game. Their struggle at home against another MAC team in week 2 this season--after once again hammering Youngstown State in week 1--seemed similar and I thought it could just as easily mean as little as last year’s struggle against Akron had. However, when I went back and looked closely at that game against Akron last season I realized that it was actually nothing at all like the game against Ohio this past Saturday. Back in 2006, the Buckeyes gave up a safety in the opening minutes of the game but then shutout Akron the rest of the way. They had the lead at half time, they were ahead by 11 midway through the third quarter, and with 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter they had already put the game away, up 18 points. While they didn’t win the game the way you would have expected, they weren’t really threatened at any point, and they had control of the game for almost the entire second half. This past Saturday against Ohio was a different story. They trailed 7-6 at half time and at one point in the third quarter they were down 14-6. They were still behind 14-12 going to the fourth quarter before outscoring the Bobcats 14-0 in the final period. More importantly, back in 2006, the Buckeyes dominated Akron everywhere except for the scoreboard, and it was really due to their own mistakes that they were unable to blow the Zips out like one would expect; but this Saturday’s game was just the opposite. If you watched Ohio State this past weekend, you know that they got a lot of help from Ohio, and that they used some somewhat “fluky” plays to pull away. In 2006 against Akron, the Buckeyes dominated Akron on both sides of the ball, outgaining the Zips 363-69, but they got only 1 turnover from Akron while turning it over themselves 5 times. This past Saturday against Ohio, the Buckeyes only managed to outgain the Bobcats 272-254, and this time the turnover ratio was reversed, as they benefited from 5 Ohio turnovers, while only giving the ball up once themselves. Ohio starting QB Theo Scott was injured late in the first quarter due to a late hit and the Bobcats were forced to play the rest of the game with backup Boo Jackson at the helm. Jackson--a Junior College transfer playing in just his second game—threw 3 interceptions, all in Ohio State territory.
The game was decided by a pair of punts late in the game. Still trailing 14-12 with less than 2 minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Buckeyes were forced to punt from their own 35. The punt wasn’t great but it ended up golden, as Ohio muffed it and the Buckeyes recovered it just before it fell out of bounds. The Buckeyes took over at Ohio’s 25 and went in for the go-ahead touchdown in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. Now leading 19-14, the Buckeyes still weren’t out of the woods. The Bobcats marched to Ohio State’s 42 but Jackson was intercepted at the 35. Still, the Buckeyes could not put the game away and were forced to punt. But the Bobcats couldn’t move the ball and had to punt it away, and this time the Buckeyes returned it 69 yards for a TD to finally take complete control of the game with 5:57 to play. Ohio continued to fight and drove right down into Buckeye territory in less than a minute, but Jackson threw yet another pick, this time at the Ohio State 18 yard line with 5:15 to go and that was the nail in the coffin.
If Ohio State really is as good as they should be, considering that they return 19 starters from last year’s team that went to the National Title Game, what was their problem last Saturday? Clearly, they are much less dangerous offensively without Beanie Wells, who missed the game after injuring his foot in week 1. If he is unable to go at all against USC, it’s hard to imagine them having a lot of success offensively against the Trojans. And it is this week’s highly anticipated matchup with USC that seems to be the other likely cause for the Buckeyes’ lackluster performance against Ohio. It looks like an obvious case of a team looking ahead and looking past a weaker opponent. In my opinion, even if the Buckeyes do come up with a great performance against the Trojans and win at USC, they are still very susceptible to a stumble down the road, despite their seemingly navigable schedule. The Buckeyes seem to be a team that is somewhat easily distracted. In 2006 they were expected to roll over the Gators in the National Championship Game and they ended up getting destroyed, and looking incredibly unprepared. Last season they beat Penn State and Wisconsin in back to back weeks to get to 10-0. With the big game at Michigan looming a week ahead, #1 Ohio State lost to unranked Illinois at home. Even if they do beat USC this Saturday, I’m not sure that they will be able to avoid a fall against Wisconsin, Michigan State, or Illinois on the road, or against Penn State or Michigan at home.
The Refs Strike Again: By now everyone is aware of the controversial ending to the Washington-BYU game. It’s obvious to anyone that has seen the highlights that the refs were totally out of line and that Jake Locker did nothing that should have drawn even consideration for a penalty. As someone who saw it unfold live, trust me, it was worse than it looks. First of all, from the moment the penalty was assessed it was obvious what was about to happen. Instead of a 20 yard chip shot extra point to tie the game that would be the equivalent of a 1 foot putt, Washington would have to make a 35 yard kick. BYU took a timeout to force kicker Ryan Perkins to think about it. You just knew that Washington wouldn’t make the extra point. As it turned out, they didn’t even come close, as Perkins’ kick was blocked. The Cougars really snuffed the kick out more than they blocked it.
The officials, the NCAA, and even the Pac-10 has tried to defend the call saying it was “automatic” but thankfully almost no one is buying it. First of all, whenever something happens which could be ruled as a foul, the officials always have the choice of making a “non-call”, so the idea that the official had a gun to his head is ludicrous. Secondly, there simply should not be an “automatic” penalty on the books that even intends to prevent an official from making a “judgment call.” So the officials are at fault regardless, and the NCAA rules committee is at fault for creating such a rule, pressuring officials to uphold it, and for trying to defend themselves and the officials. These types of penalties are unnecessary, destructive, offensive, and they take away from the fairness of the game and the enjoyment of fans, coaches, players, and anyone else involved in the game. They are unnecessary because nothing bad every comes out of a player spiking a ball or throwing it straight up in the air after a touchdown; they take away from the fairness of the game because they punish players and teams for doing nothing wrong; they are destructive because they take away the enjoyment, the enthusiasm, and the passion of players, teams, coaches, and fans; and they are offensive because these rules are almost always driven by one particular view point that is not shared by many coaches, players, students, and fans. The referees should be ashamed of themselves and the suits backing them up should be chastised. Each and every referee involved in that game should be fined and suspended. Teammates celebrating success is what college football and sports is all about. It’s not about the refs. Being anal about late hits and spearing and shots to the quarterback is one thing; being anal about team celebrations is quite another. These types of automatic celebration penalties have no more place in college football than a Terrell Owens or Chad Johnson style TD dance.
Last Week’s Notable Scores
Vandy 24, SC 17 (“There are no Vanderbilts in the NFL” but there are in the SEC, and the Ol’ Ball Coach is looking a lot older and a lot less frightening each year.)
Ohio State 26, Ohio 14 (The Buckeyes look ill without Wells)
GT 19, BC 16 (Jackets get a fairly large road win in their first ACC game under Johnson.)
Michigan 16, Mia(OH) 6 (Michigan unimpressive again.)
UConn 12, Temple 9 (OT) (UConn barely beats the Owls for the second year in a row.)
New Hampshire 28, Army 10 (Somebody needs to do something about this. Army has got to get some help.)
BYU 28, Washington 27 (Poor Coach Ty can’t catch a break.)
UGA 56, CM 17 (The Dawgs flex their muscles after losing #1 ranking.)
Oklahoma 52, Cincinnati 26 (Cinci battled the Sooners for a half.)
Penn State 45, Oregon State 14 (How bad do you ‘spose Oregon State is?)
Wake Forrest 30, Ole Miss 28 (The Deacons get a last second field goal to keep the SEC from achieving another significant victory over the ACC.)
Notre Dame 21, San Diego State 13 (A fumble literally at the goal line saved ND, which had no business winning this one.)
Akron 42, Syracuse 28 (The Cuse is stunningly bad.)
UVA 16, Richmond 0 (The score was just 3-0 with less than 8 minutes to go and UVA got a 60 yd INT TD with 2 minutes left to pad the score.)
EC 24, WV 3 (Simply shocking.)
FSU 69, Western Carolina 0 (Impressive score but WC was 1-10 last year, going 1-8 against fellow I-AA opponents.)
NC State 34, William and Mary 24 (W&M scored 2 late TD’s but NC St. still only outgained them by 22 yards.)
Pitt 27, Buff 16 (1 point game at the start of the 4th quarter.)
Cal 66, Wash State 3 (This score is both good and bad for the Pac-10.)
USF 31, CF 24 (OT) (An entertaining, hard fought game in front of a raucous crowd in Orlando.)
Iowa State 48, Kent State 28 (Last year the Cyclones lost 23-14 to Kent State.)
NW 24, Duke 20 (Northwestern wins this battle of the brains.)
Ark State 83, Texas Southern 10 (Okay, I know Texas Southern has lost 16 straight games, but 83 points?)
Middle Tennessee State 24, Maryland 14 (Ouch.)
Arkansas 28, ULM 27 (Petrino’s Hogs elude humiliation again but not embarrassment.)
Minnesota 42, Bowling Green 17 (The Gophers have already won more games this year (2) than all of last season (1).)
Florida 26, Miami 3 (The Gators didn’t look quite so tough offensively, did they.)
Rice 42, Memphis 35 (Rice stole this one with pick 6 in closing seconds.)
SMU 47, Texas State 36 (Texas St. actually outgained SMU in this one and the Mustangs benefited from a 5-0 turnover margin. An unimpressive first victory for June Jones’ new team.)
Hawaii 36, Weber State 17 (And an unimpressive first victory for June Jones’ old team. Web St. actually led 17-7 at half time.)
This Week’s Notable Games (Last week looked like the weakest on the schedule, this week looks like perhaps the best week of the entire college football season.)
Thursday
UNC @ Rut (Both teams looked bad in their openers.)
Friday
Kan @ USF (Battle of last year’s contenders/pretenders. Very intriguing game.)
Saturday
Cal @ Mary (Cal should demolish the Terps.)
Iowa St. @ Iowa (In this in-state rivalry the unexpected is common place.)
Wash St. @ Bay (Battle of the worst teams from the Pac-10 and the Big XII.)
CM @ Ohio (UGA and Ohio State fans might find this one interesting.)
NM St. @ Neb (New Mexico State is the only Division I-A team that has yet to play a game this year.)
EC @ Tulane (How will EC handle being ranked #14 in the country?)
UGA @ SC (The first test real test for the Dawgs.)
Ark @ Texas (This old SWC rivalry should turn ugly.)
UCLA @ BYU (Rematch of last year’s Las Vegas Bowl.)
Mich @ ND (You have to love how irrelevant this one is.)
GT @ VT (Pretty intriguing ACC battle.)
Aub @ Miss St. (Last year Auburn lost to Miss State at home.)
Okla @ Wash (The Huskies should be in a horrible mood for this one.)
Ohio St. @ USC (The marquee non-conference game of the year.)
Utah @ Utah St. (Hey, it is an interstate rivalry.)
Wis @ Fresno St. (Can Fresno State make it through their tough non-conference slate without a blemish?)
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