Week 3 Recap: Last weekend had been looked forward to with great anticipation due to the presence of a number of intriguing matchups. Most of the buzz centered around what was supposed to be the marquee interconference battle of the season between USC and Ohio State. While the main event turned out to be about as competitive as Operation Desert Storm, College Football again showed why there’s never a bad week. There were a number of excellent ball games from around the country and there was high drama to be found in matchups big and small. If you slept late you missed something and if you went to bed before the last game was over you missed something else.
The Shocker: Oh, Boys and Girls, unless you stayed up with me until the final gun on Saturday then you went to bed not knowing that there was indeed one major surprise in store for us in week 3. 15th ranked Arizona State fell to UNLV at home 23-20 in overtime, losing a game they were favored to win by 25 points. With wins over Utah State and ASU, UNLV has now equaled the total number of games they won in each of the previous 4 season. It just goes to show you that you can’t sleep on anybody even at home. And if you haven’t seen the catch by the UNLV receiver with less than a minute to go in the 4th when the Rebels scored the game tying touchdown, you really need to try and find it on Utube.
Hail Mary: One of the best things ESPN has come up with recently is College Football Overdrive on Saturday afternoons. They give you live look-ins at other action around the sport and that’s huge because you get to see the end of some of the close games. This Saturday I got to see the end of a seemingly inconsequential game between Buffalo and Temple that turned out to be fantastic. Poor Temple can’t catch a break. After losing in OT to UConn last week, they lost on a Hail Mary pass with no time on the clock against Buffalo this week. The receiver was able to box out the defenders somehow. It was pretty sick. A walk off win for the Bulls.
Hail Mary Interrupted: This one you have to see to believe. I wasn’t able to watch the Kentucky game but I was following it closely because I was keeping tabs on how all the SEC teams were doing. I knew Kentucky wasn’t all that strong and that Middle Tennessee State had just beaten Maryland the week before. I was able to monitor the action on the internet through Gamecast. The Cats looked to be in trouble for a while but they seemed to have the game in hand, up 20-14 and inside MTS territory with less then a minute to go. The last thing I saw was that it was 4th down with Kentucky deep in MTS territory and I wondered if they would go for it rather than try a field goal for fear of getting it blocked. I remember thinking to myself that I would kick it to try and put the game away up 9. I kept waiting but I couldn’t get an update. Finally it said final score, Kentucky won 20-14.
It seemed like a normal ending until I saw what had actually happened. Remember the Blue Grass Miracle? When Kentucky did everything a school that isn’t used to winning does when they beat a big time program other than actually winning the game? If you don’t remember, here’s a quick recap. In 2002, the Cats appeared on the verge of upsetting 25th ranked LSU at home for what would have been the biggest win in years for Kentucky. With just 2 seconds to play, LSU had the ball at their own 26 down 30-27. They had no play. They didn’t have time to try and get in position for a FG and there is no play that can get you a touchdown in that situation. A Hail Mary wouldn’t even work because QB Marcus Randall couldn’t throw the ball to the end zone from there, and even if he could, it would take all day for his receivers to get there. The Cats were so sure they had won that they actually poured Gatorade on Coach Guy Moriss at this point. But there was still one play to be played, and Randall dropped back and scrambled. When the clock hit 0:00 fireworks went off as Randall ran around and then heaved the ball as far as he could. As soon as he threw the ball the stands emptied and Kentucky fans rushed onto the field. When he actually let go of the ball he was at his own 18. He threw a low flying rocket down field that bounced off of receiver Michael Clayton at around the 23 and flew about 8 yards farther down field where WR Devery Henderson caught it in stride at the 15, broke a Kentucky defensive back’s diving tackle and ran into the end zone. As Kentucky fans began trying to tear down the goal posts, LSU players mobbed Henderson in the end zone. Kentucky had won the game 33-30. You wouldn’t think something like that could ever happen but if it did happen you certainly wouldn’t think it could happen to the same team twice. But the final play of Kentucky’s win against Louisville last year brought back memories. Down 30-24 with seconds remaining, Louisville was too far away from the end zone for a true Hail Mary, but QB Brian Brohm chucked the ball as far as he could from his own 40. The ball was deflected twice and then into the arms of WR Harry Douglas at the 10. As time expired, Douglas ducked and dodged and tried to find a way to the end zone but he came up short.
Now come back to this past Saturday night. Kentucky had a 4th down at the MTS 15 with less than a minute to play, leading 20-14. As I had hoped, they actually did attempt to kick a field goal that would put the game away but MTS came through with a block. They weren’t able to return it for a TD, however, and the return they did get was hurt by a penalty that moved the ball back to the MTS 38. There were 20 seconds left, they had no timeouts, and they needed a touchdown. It was too far for a true Hail Mary, but Middle Tennessee State QB Joe Craddock tried to throw it as far as possible and some how Eldred King was able to get behind the Kentucky DB’s and make the catch at around the 10. He was headed into the end zone for a miracle touchdown but Kentucky’s Robbie McAtee dove and wrapped around his leg and held on. King tried to stretch but he came up a yard short. They got 61 yards on the final play and they needed 62. Can you imagine some hard core Kentucky football fan (and there have to be some) who had lived through the Bluegrass Miracle sitting in the stands and thinking for a moment that it had happened again? There had to have been enough time between the moment the ball was caught and the moment he was tackled for Kentucky Fan to consider suicide. As for Mr. King, I don’t wish that situation on anybody. 20 years from now he’ll wake up shrieking in the middle of the night and cry himself to sleep after coming up a yard short in his dream just like always.
The Pac-10 has a Bad Day: Aside from USC thumping Ohio State in the big game of the weekend, the Pac-10 had a horrible day on Saturday. Nobody thought that the Pac-10 was very strong this season apart from USC but there was talk even on Saturday morning about how Pac-10 fans were tired of hearing that their conference wasn’t as strong as the Big XII, Big Ten, and SEC. Well, for Pac-10 haters like myself, Saturday was almost too good to believe. All 10 teams from the Pac-10 were involved in non-conference games this weekend and the conference came out 3-7. USC’s win was obviously huge but of the other 2 wins, 1 was meaningless and the other was almost as good as a loss. Pathetic Oregon State, which lost to Stanford and lost 45-14 against Penn State, beat a decimated Hawaii team at home. That’s meaningless. #16 Oregon went to Purdue as a 7.5 point favorite and fell down 20-3. The Ducks came back to win 32-26 in overtime but their performance against a weak Big Ten team doesn’t say much good about Oregon, which lost its starting QB for a month. And this was as good as it got on Saturday for the Pac-10.
The trouble actually began on Friday night when Washington State got blown out 45-17…by Baylor. On Saturday #23 Cal traveled to Maryland as a 14 point favorite over a Terrapins team that had beaten Delaware by 7 and lost by 10 to Middle Tennessee State. Maryland came out punching and smacked the sleepy Bears right in the teeth. The Terps led 28-6 at one point and held on for a 35-27 win. Stanford went up against TCU from the Mountain West and got beat down 31-14. The Washington Huskies came out talking trash in the tunnel to #3 Oklahoma and then shit their pants on the way to a 55-14 humiliation at home. Arizona was trying to go 3-0 and they had a home game against 0-2 New Mexico of the Mountain West, but they somehow managed to end up on the wrong end of a 30-28 score. And then there was #15 Arizona State which lost at home to UNLV, 23-20 in overtime. But as awful as these losses all were, there was no loss quite as bad, nor will there be a loss as bad for any team the rest of the season, as the one UCLA suffered on Saturday afternoon. When Tennessee lost to UCLA in week one I was irate that UT had lost such a game because I knew it would bring shame on the SEC. Nobody seemed to understand why I thought it was so bad a loss. UCLA and Pac-10 people were claiming that Rick Neuheisel had put the Bruins back on the map and things would only get better from here. UCLA had a week off and then traveled to Utah for their game against BYU on Saturday. Last year the Bruins beat BYU at home during the regular season and then lost to them by a point in the Las Vegas Bowl. On Saturday it wasn’t that close. UCLA didn’t score much and BYU did. When the final gun sounded, the Bruins had backed up their win over SEC power UT with a solid 59-0 loss at the hands of BYU of the Mountain West. BYU led 42-0 at halftime and did not bother to score in the 4th quarter. QB Max Hall threw 7 touchdowns and the Cougars outgained the Bruins 521-239, and had 30 first downs while holding UCLA to 13. Over the weekend the Pac-10 went 0-4 against the Mountain West. So much for the Pac-10 not getting enough credit.
SEC Ugliness: The ugliest game of the week even for a fan of defense came in Starkville where the #9 Auburn Tigers held off a 9th inning rally by the Mississippi State Bulldogs to win 3-2. The teams combined to go 3 for 30 on 3rd down conversions in the game, with Miss State going 0 for 14 on 3rd down and 0 for 3 on 4th down. The two place kickers combined to go 1 for 4, missing from 42, 38, and 22 yards out. Auburn outgained the Bulldogs 315-116 but ended up just barley beating Miss State thanks to 12 penalties for 94 yards and 3 lost fumbles.
Auburn led 3-0 at the half but a holding call on a pass from their own end zone resulted in a safety that brought Miss St. within a point with 7 minutes to go in the game. Although Auburn tried hard to allow Sylvester Croom’s team to pull out a victory, the Bulldogs were unable to get it done. We have to blame desperation for some questionable coaching decisions made by Croom during the final minutes. With around 6 minutes to go in the game, the Bulldogs were stopped on 3rd down, setting up a 4th and 1 at the Auburn 41 yard line. The MSU kicker had already missed from 38 yards earlier in the game so the only real choice here was to go for it or punt and the Bulldogs chose to go for it. The only problem was that they didn’t make the decision quickly. Instead they let a number of seconds tick off the clock before wasting 1 of their 3 remaining timeouts. That pretty much made the decision for them and they still got stopped short of the first down anyway. It looked like the Tigers had the game won, but they fumbled it right back to the Bulldogs, who recovered the ball at the Auburn 47 with still 4:48 to go. Again Mississippi State could do nothing with the good field position. It was 4th and 15 and MSU was at their own 48 with a little less than 4 minutes remaining, but they still had 2 time outs left and Auburn had done nothing on offense either lately. But for some reason Croom went for it and they didn’t come close and gave the ball back to Auburn in MSU territory. Again the game appeared over but Auburn fumbled yet again and the Bulldogs recovered at their own 34 with 2:28 left and still 2 timeouts remaining. But this time the Bulldogs were intercepted on their first play and Auburn was finally able to hang on to the ball and run out the clock.
I know the SEC annually has the best defense in the country but this was more than just good defense, it was also ugly offense. Mississippi State had lost to Louisiana Tech earlier this year, and Auburn was only able to win 3-2. They’re going to get better at that new system for sure but maybe the old way of doing things at Auburn wasn’t so bad.
Michigan and Weis’s Knee get Blowed Out: Alright fine, so Notre Dame had a pretty good game this weekend, but at least they did so by making Michigan look awful. And it’s not like the Irish dominated this football game even if they did win 35-17. They got outgained 388-260 and threw a pair of picks. The Wolverines would have beaten ND if they didn’t turn it over 6 times in the rain, losing 4 fumbles and throwing 2 INT of their own. And I have to say that as sad as I was to see Notre Dame succeed, the image of Charlie Weis getting bulldozed from behind by one of his own players made me laugh out loud. It looked like he had been shot in the back. I’ll give him credit for coming back out on crutches and watching the rest of the victory despite the downpour. Then again, what does he care? He’s going to die of a heart attack at some point in the next 15 years anyway so risking life and limb on the sidelines doesn’t scare him much.
Game of the Week: #19 South Florida 37, #13 Kansas 34. For me the best game of the weekend took place on Friday night in Tampa. I was looking to see if South Florida was really as good as I expected them to be this season after they struggled against UCF the weekend before. I was also looking to see if Kansas was as overrated as I thought they were going into the season. I came away feeling that South Florida was indeed for real and the best team in the Big East, but I also came away thinking that Kansas was also for real and better than I thought. In a game of big plays and drastic shifts in momentum, the opposing quarterbacks were the stars of the show. I wouldn’t expect Matt Grothe or Todd Reesing to do much of anything in the NFL but they’ve got everything it takes to be great college football quarterbacks: good arms, grit, determination, and a lot of moxie. Reesing went 34 for 51 for 373 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT, and also ran for a touchdown. Grothe went 32 for 45 for 338 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT, and ran for another TD.
Kansas scored the first 10 points of the game and took a 20-3 lead on a 4 yard TD scramble by Reesing with less than 4 minutes to go in the first half. But SF flew down the field in barely a minute and Grothe got the Bulls in the end zone for the first time on a 28 yard run to cut the deficit in half before intermission. SF stopped the Jayhawks on their opening drive in the 3rd and moved the ball inside the Kansas 10 before settling for a FG to make it a 7 point game. Then with 4 minutes left in the 3rd, a TD strike by Grothe tied it up at 20-20. Less than 2 minutes later the Bulls scored again to take their first lead of the game, and going to the 4th quarter SF was ahead 27-20. Not even a minute into the 4th quarter, a 37 yard TD pass by Grothe capped off a 31-0 run by the Bulls and it looked like SF would end up blowing out Kansas. They had taken complete and utter control of the game.
But Reesing led the Jayhawks on a 13 play, 78 yard drive, capped off by an 18 yard TD strike that brought Kansas back within a score with still almost 10 minutes remaining. Kansas stopped the Bulls for a 3 and out and Reesing brought the Jayhawks down the field again and threw a 14 yard TD pass to tie the game 34-34 with 5 and a half minutes remaining. Grothe took the Bulls into Jayhawk territory but the drive stalled and South Florida was forced to punt and the ball was downed at the 7 yard line of Kansas with 1:54 remaining. The Jayhawks began moving the ball and reached their own 40 where they called a timeout with 41 seconds to play. It looked like Kansas was on the verge of getting into field goal range but on the next play the Jayhawks went deep over the middle and Reesing was intercepted by safety Nate Allen, who took the ball all the way back to the 27 yard line of Kansas. Suddenly it was the Bulls who looked on the verge of winning in regulation. And that’s indeed what happened, as Maikon Bonani booted a 43 yarder through as time expired to give the Bulls a 37-34 win. As much as I gained respect for Reesing and the Jayhawks during the game, I was still glad to see Fat Mangino waddle off the field with his big mouth shut tight.
The Main Event: One of the great truisms is that much hyped events very rarely live up to their advanced billing. That was certainly the case with Ohio State vs. USC on Saturday night. A tremendous amount of talk during the week surrounded around whether or not star RB Beanie Wells would play for the Buckeyes. The Sweater Vest ended up holding Wells out because of his foot injury. On Saturday night it was abundantly clear that all of the attention paid to Wells status was really pointless. Whether or not Beanie Wells played for Ohio State was irrelevant; the Buckeyes could have had Gale Sayers and they still wouldn’t even have beaten the 11.5 point spread. USC ran over them with power, speed, and precision. The talent gap was obvious on all sides of the ball and Ohio State looked beaten early on.
This was of course the 3rd big game in a row in which Ohio State has been manhandled. Just as they did in the previous two championship games against Florida and then LSU, the Buckeyes started strongly and got themselves and their fans all excited. But just as before the momentum didn’t last and before long the game got away from them. After kicking a FG to open the scoring, Ohio State would not score again, as the Trojans put up 35 unanswered points. USC outgained Ohio State 348-207 (!!!) and forced 3 turnovers. Both teams were forced to punt on their opening drive but the Buckeyes moved the ball well on their second drive and had a first and goal at the 5. But they lost 4 yards on each of the next 2 plays and a false start penalty made it 3rd and goal from the 18. They were forced to settle for a FG but they still took the lead, 3-0. Troy immediately responded with a 70 drive for a TD in just 2 minutes and 33 seconds to take the lead 7-3 with a half minute to go in the opening quarter. It was now Ohio State’s turn to answer but their only response was a quick 3 and out. USC was back in the end zone in a flash, going 63 yards in just 3:08 with help from an Ohio State roughing the passer penalty. That made it 14-3 and you had a feeling that USC was in complete control.
But Ohio State showed some signs of life like they did at times in the game against LSU last year. With help from a USC face mask penalty, Ohio State moved the ball all the way to the Trojan 19 yard line on their ensuing drive. A holding penalty moved the Buckeyes back to the 26 but on 2nd and 12 from the 21, Todd Boeckman appeared to have thrown a TD that would have made it 14-10 and they looked right back in the game. But the play was called back by another holding penalty, and the Buckeyes ended up being stopped at the 29 on 3rd down and having to try a FG. They missed a 46 yard attempt so badly that I thought their normal kicker had to have been injured. They were defeated at that point. At least that’s how it seemed looking back, but they did manage to stop USC and got the ball back with 4 minutes remaining in the half. They needed desperately to try and get some points. They got a first down at the 42 but on the next play Boeckman’s pass was intercepted by USC’s LB Rey Maualuga, who out ran every one of Ohio State’s offensive players for a TD that made it official that Ohio State had been exposed again as a phony. On the next Buckeye possession USC sacked Boeckman and he fumbled. The Trojans recovered the ball at the Ohio State 38. Mark Sanchez was intercepted in the end zone right before half time so the score remained 21-3, but not one person in America save the most ardent Ohio State supporters thought for even a second that it could in any way lead to the Buckeyes getting back in the game.
The Trojans scored a pair of TD’s in the 3rd and then called off the dogs, winning by the final of 35-3. Even though this highly anticipated game turned out to look like a 1980’s Super Bowl, it was still fun to see Ohio State get embarrassed. Ohio State fans and Big Ten supporters have tried to fend off criticism over the last few years but it’s getting harder and harder for them to find evidence to suggest that the Big Ten isn’t a second rate conference and Ohio State not just a Midwest power rather than a national power.
On the other hand, USC looked like a team that was essentially flawless. They looked unstoppable. It reminded me of the way they have looked in the Rose Bowl most of the time in the past few years (and not just because they were playing a Big Ten team). They looked like they were rolling in peak form in just their second game of the year. They are scary to be sure and many people are saying this is USC’s best team yet under Pete Carroll. I will say that they definitely look like the best team in the country right now. Everyone expected last season’s USC team to be historically good, but maybe it’s this year’s version that is primed to do something legendary. That’s very possible but it’s a long season and things change. I know it may seem to some people like USC has won 5 National Titles in the last decade, but they’ve in fact only won 1 BCS National Title. They won in 2004 and that’s it. They didn’t win in 2003, despite what some columnists voted in their little poll. They lost in 2005 in the BCS Championship Game. In fact they’ve lost twice in each of the last two years and twice they’ve lost when it didn’t seem that they possibly could. Two years ago USC was essentially guaranteed a spot in the Championship Game if they could just beat an average UCLA team who they were favored to beat by 11 points. They lost. Last season one of their losses came to Stanford at home when they were favored by 41 points. In the week prior to that stunning loss many people across the country were screaming that USC should have been ranked number 1 instead of LSU. So it’s not time to just crown the Trojans. Now, if you want to crown them, then crown them.
Last Week’s Notable Scores
UNC 44, Rut 12 (Heels look like the team we expected, the Big East continues to reel.)
USF 37, Kan 34 (A Friday night classic.)
Mary 35, Cal 27 (Big win for the Terps and the ACC.)
Ill 20, Lou-Laf 17 (Illinois survives despite sleep walking.)
Duke 41, Navy 31 (Duke already has as many wins as their last 3 seasons combined.)
Buf 30, Tem 28 (Bulls win on a Hail Mary.)
Iowa 17, Iowa St. 5 (Iowa beats ISU for just 4th time in 11 years.)
Missouri 69, Nev 17 (Tigers offense looks unstoppable again.)
Bay 45, Wash St. 17 (Wow! Just how bad is Washington State?)
TCU 31, Stan 14 (Another Pac-10 team bites the dust against the MWC.)
CM 31, Ohio 28 (The team UGA smoked beats the team that nearly beat Ohio State.)
ECU 28, Tulane 24 (ECU barley beats weaker conference opponent.)
UGA 14, SC 7 (Dawgs survive first road test.)
Ore 32, Pur 26 (OT-II) (Ducks avoid the upset despite losing QB.)
BYU 59, UCLA 0 (Reality sets in hard.)
PSU 55, Syracuse 13 (The Cuse gets rolled again.)
ND 35, Mich 17 (This one is no longer relevant.)
VT 20, GT 17 (Tech nearly pulls out the win on the road.)
Ore St. 45, Haw 7 (Hawaii has fallen off more than any team in the FBS.)
Aub 3, Miss St. 2 (Tigers win an ugly pitchers duel.)
Ken 20, MTS 14 (Cats hang on by a yard.)
Neb 38, New Mexico St. 7 (NMS finally plays a game but it doesn’t go well.)
Vandy 38, Rice 21 (The Dors are 3-0.)
Marsh 17, Mem 16 (Tigers continue to disappoint.)
Conn 45, UVA 10 (Those of us who knew how bad Virginia is weren’t surprised.)
Okla 55, Wash 14 (Anger fails to inspire Coach Ty’s boys enough to be competitive.)
USC 35, Ohio State 3 (No drama, just domination.)
Utah 58, Utah St. 10 (The Utes dominate their rivals again.)
NM 36, Arizona 28 (Just when you thought the Cats might be on the right track.)
UNLV 23, ASU 20 (OT) (Rebs upset the Devils in the shocker of the week.)
Wis 13, Fresno St. 10 (Badgers escape on the road against the Bulldogs.)
This Week’s Notable Games (Last week there were a few highly anticipated games but USC-Ohio State flopped. This week the fun really starts, as things get serious in conference play and there are also a plethora of interesting non-conference matchups.)
Wednesday
KSU @ Louisville (The Big XII has been dominant and the Big East has been pathetic.)
Thursday
WV @ Col (How will WV respond to the loss at EC?)
Friday
Bay @ UConn (Hey, for those of us with nothing to do on Friday, this will do just fine.)
Saturday
EC @ NC St. (Every EC game will be big until they lose.)
CM @ Pur (Rematch of last year’s Motor City Bowl.)
Akron @ Army (If Army losses this they probably won’t win a game this year.)
Rut @ Navy (Rutgers is desperate for a win.)
Miss St. @ GT (Very intriguing SEC vs. ACC game.)
Ohio @ NW (NW is undefeated!)
FAU @ Minn (Minn is undefeated!)
Troy @ Ohio State (Troy is not a team Ohio State can afford to sleep on.)
Iowa @ Pitt (Will the Big East look better or worse this weekend?)
Bama @ Ark (This game has the potential to be a shocker because no one thinks Ark has a chance.)
Marsh @ S. Miss (Big early game C-USA East.)
WF @ FSU (Huge game in the ACC Atlantic.)
VT @ UNC (Huge Game in the ACC Costal.)
ND @ Mich St. (This one is usually a thriller.)
Rice @ Texas (Texas has won 37 of 38 in this in-state rivalry.)
Mia (OH) @ Cin (“Oldest Rivalry West of the Allegheny Mountains.)
NE @ Cuse (If Syracuse can’t win this they should be kicked out of the FBS.)
Mia @ A&M (Aggies looking to avenge last year’s blowout loss.)
Ball St. @ Ind (Both teams come in undefeated!)
Boise St. @ Ore (Can the Ducks avoid the upset without their starting QB?)
Fla @ Tenn (Once the SEC’s biggest game of the year, this one is still a biggie.)
MTS @ Ark St. (Battle of two teams that have looked great against BCS teams.)
Utah @ AF (Both teams come in undefeated.)
Vandy @ Miss (Battle of two teams desperate to get to a bowl.)
LSU @ Aub (Huge game usually low scoring, hard hitting affair.)
UGA @ ASU (Dawgs first trip out west decades.)
TCU @ SMU (Battle for the Iron Skillet.)
NMS @ UTEP (Battle of I-10.)
No comments:
Post a Comment