Week 5 Recap: Ummm…yeah…so that happened. To hell with the people who don’t understand that the college football season is one long tournament! Every week is another round and it lasts from August 28th to January 8th. It’s a strange tournament I admit. Nobody knows whether it’ll be single or double elimination until it’s over; a team might never lose during the tournament and not end up playing in the championship game; two teams with two losses each might play in the championship game instead; there are scores of consolation prizes along the way; the rules of the tournament could change seemingly at any moment; the tournament sometimes ends with the matter of who the real champion is still undecided; it’s not fair and it isn’t rational. But thank Darwin we have this 20 week playoff instead of the 4 week playoff at the end of a regular season that would surely make the most sense and provide the most clarity but wouldn’t be even a tenth as much fun.
The First Landslide Week of the Year: There was something in the air this week and it was obviously contagious. We’ve seen similar weeks like this past one a number of times in recent seasons but this was the first March Madness-like week of the year. 6 ranked teams fell to unranked opponents, including 3 in the top 10, and 2 in the top 5. The #1, #3, #4, and #9 ranked teams in the country lost this last week, and 3 of those teams lost to unranked teams, 2 of them at home against unranked teams.
Week 5 Starts with a Big Bang on Thursday Night: Last week began in about the best way possible. It began with the one thing you thought couldn’t possibly happen. It began with a shocker that is indisputably the biggest upset of the season so far and may very well be the biggest upset we see this year. This deserves much discussion. It was a fascinating story that needs to be retold in detail. While a lot of other very important things happened in week 5, this first major event dwarfed everything else by comparison.
Setting the Stage: #1 USC was in action on Thursday night against Oregon State. For college football fans not attached to USC or Oregon State it was an interesting game because USC hadn’t played in 11 days and had only played 2 games all season, so it was another chance to get a look at the top team in the country. But it wasn’t all that interesting for non-USC fans hoping to see the Trojans lose because there was simply no chance of it happening. If it was Oregon or Cal or somebody like that then at least it might be interesting for a quarter but not Oregon State. The Beavers really didn’t play much of a role at all in the matchup. All that was on stage on this night was USC; the opponent really didn’t matter because the issue was how many points the Trojans would win by, not whether they would win or lose. Vegas had USC as a 24 point favorite.
By this point USC had been elevated to near legendary status. They were ranked 3rd in the AP and 2nd in the USA Today preseason polls but when they obliterated UVA, 52-7, on the road in week 1, they caught just about everybody’s eye. They jumped up to #1 in both polls and remained #1 in both polls in each of the next 3 weeks, during which time they hosted #5 Ohio State in the most anticipated non-conference game of the season, and dominated them 35-3. In the polls following week 4, the Trojans got 62 of 65 1st place votes in the AP and 56 of 61 1st place votes in the USA Today. While USC had looked better than anyone in the country, the rest of the Pac-10 had looked awful. Nobody thought anyone in the Pac-10 could challenge the Trojans and many were saying that the weakness of the Pac-10 might end up hurting USC because they wouldn’t end up with any wins over teams that anyone regarded as good.
How it Began: And so it was that USC traveled to Corvallis, Oregon last Thursday night to play the Beavers, who everyone knew sucked because they had lost to Stanford and been destroyed by Penn State in their first two games. Most people were glad that USC got the ball first because it was going to be interesting to see how many points the Trojans would put up on OSU’s defense. But USC only returned the kick to the 16 and went 3 and out on their first possession and punted. It wasn’t a great punt and the Beavers ended up with good field position. With one play they were in USC territory, with 5 plays they were inside the 20, and on the 8th play of the drive they scored on an 8 yard TD pass to James Rodgers to get on the board first, 7-0. USC DB Taylor Mays was called for a personal foul on the play. The Trojans wanted the play reviewed because they didn’t think the ball had crossed the goal line but the call stood. This was interesting, as it was just the second TD allowed by USC on the year and the first since the 1st quarter of their opening game against UVA. USC had been down 3-0 to Ohio State and had then outscored them 35-3 the rest of the way. You expected USC to do something similar in this one the rest of the way. Still, the one thing you knew at this point was that Oregon State wasn’t at all intimidated.
The 15 yard penalty against USC allowed the Beavers to kick the ball deep into the end zone for a touchback on the ensuing kickoff. Again, USC went 3 and out and had to punt. This time they got a much better punt, however, and the Beavers started at their own 18. But they started moving the ball again, with midget running back Jacquizz Rodgers (James’ younger brother) doing a lot of the work. With help from another 15 yard penalty against USC, the Beavers moved it all the way to the Trojan 24, but on 3rd down QB Lyle Moevao was sacked for a 9 yard loss. With Oregon State having to go with their backup kicker in this game, that took the Beavers all the way out of field goal range. They were going to have to punt. You figured that was an absolute buzz kill for OSU because everyone knew they needed all the points they could possibly get. But OSU got the punt down at the 7 yard line and the 1st quarter ended with OSU having held the Trojans off the board and leading 7-0. When it Got Interesting: Still, nobody was taking this game seriously; it was just interesting that USC hadn’t played all that well yet. They were going to have a hard time scoring 50 points at this rate. On the final play of the 1st quarter the Trojans had converted on a 3rd and 1 to give them a first down for the first time in the game. But on the opening play of the 2nd quarter Mark Sanchez was sacked and the Trojans wound up with a 3rd and 15 from their own 13. OSU got flagged for offsides, giving Troy 5 free yards to make it 3rd and manageable, but Sanchez tried to run for it on 3rd down and he came up short. USC would have to punt again from deep in their own territory. So far, USC’s offense hadn’t gotten off. Oregon State got good field position near their own 40 and it would be on this third drive that folks watching on TV felt their eye brows raise up and folks listening on the radio felt those ears perk up. Jacquizz Rodgers rushed for 10 and then 9 to get the ball into USC territory. On 3rd and 5 from the 35, Jacquizz got the ball and got the first down at the 30. On the next play he went 15 yards to the 15. It looked like the Beavers were in position to get points this time but they really needed 7. Unfortunately they hurt themselves with a false start and ended up with a 3rd and 11 from the 16. Moevao came up with a huge conversion, completing a pass for 14 yards to Sammie Stroughter down to the 2. On the next play, the 5-foot-7 and 185 pound Jacquizz drove through the USC line and into the end zone for a touchdown. It was 14-0. Hello, what’s this? Hey. This could be something.
I’ve got to tell you that at this point the thing going through my mind was Stanford. It was USC’s loss at home to Stanford the year before when they were ranked #2 and favored by 41. Suddenly I not only believed that this could happen; I was convinced that it was going to happen.
When it Got Super Duper Serial: In their first two games the Trojans had allowed 1 touchdown and just 10 points in 8 quarters. They had already allowed 2 TD’s and 14 points to the Beavers in a quarter and a half this night. On their 4th drive USC finally moved the ball, using a 26 yard pass to get into Beaver territory for a first down at the 36. On 2nd down they ran for 13 yards down to the 23 but a holding penalty moved it all the way back to the 33 and brought up a 3rd and 7. USC went to a bit of a tricky play with a pitch to Joe McKnight and he fumbled it. OSU recovered and took over at the 42. USC had come up empty and Oregon State was just 5:12 away from taking a 14-0 lead into the half. Jacquizz Rodgers went back to work on the USC defense. Runs of 7, 8, and 4 yards took the ball to the USC 39, but Jacquizz was stopped for a 1 yard loss that brought up 3rd and 7 from the 40. Moevao would have to do it with his arm and he did it again, once more hooking up with Stroughter for 15 yards and a first down at the 25. Jacquizz got stopped for a 1 yard loss on the next play but it was now evident that USC was crowding the line and focusing everything on trying to stop the Quizz. On 2nd down, Moevao dropped back and dumped it off to Jacquizz and he took it all the way inside the 10 for a 17 yard gain. The clock was ticking down under a minute but OSU stayed with the run and Jacquizz was thrown for a loss on first down and OSU called a timeout with 26 seconds to go in the half. They had 1 timeout left but they stayed with the run on 2nd and goal from the 11 and Jacquizz got to the 7 and was stopped. The Beavers used their final time out with 15 seconds left. It was 3rd and goal from the 7. USC used a timeout of their own to make sure they stopped the Beavers here to force a FG try. Everyone knew that OSU had to throw the ball now that they had no timeouts and it was 3rd and goal from the 7. You just hoped that they wouldn’t take a sack and lose the opportunity for a chip shot field goal or get intercepted. Moevao threw incomplete and it looked like OSU would have to settle for a FG try, but there was a bit of a tussle towards the end of the play and suddenly USC’s big nose tackle Averell Spicer retaliated against one of the OSU linemen by taking a swing at him. The refs saw him and threw an enormous flag. Personal foul, half the distance to the goal, 1st and goal at the 3 with under 10 seconds left. They were only 3 yards out now but it would still be too risky to try a run. OSU was going to take another shot and Moevao dropped back and fired a very risky pass, trying to fit a ball in to James Rodgers. It looked like Moevao had indeed made the big mistake that he absolutely had to keep from making and had thrown a pick that would keep it just a two score game instead of OSU at least having a chance for a chip shot field goal. USC CB Kevin Thomas had the ball within his reach but it went off the tips of his fingers, bounced right into the arms of Rodgers, and he secured it while chopping his feet to make sure he stayed in bounds for the touchdown. It was the biggest play of the game. On the play, Spicer was called for another personal foul and was removed from the game by Pete Carroll who chewed him out on the sidelines. USC was imploding and OSU was not only taking it to them, they were going for the jugular and making the absolute most out of this chance. It was 21-0 as the teams headed for the locker rooms at halftime.
But You Knew They Would Make a Comeback at Some Point: The near interception that went for a touchdown to make it 21-0 was absolutely huge, because now USC would not just have to beat OSU in the second half, they would have to blow them out. They needed to outscore them by 21 in the second half just to tie it. But of course nobody was over confident. We’d seen USC play poorly against Pac-10 teams like this a dozen times and eventually they would take control and sometimes you forgot that they were ever behind. USC would certainly make defensive adjustments at halftime, you figured they’d get rolling offensively in the second half, and you knew they would have a sense of urgency and a great focus for the final 30 minutes. But if you were like most people, you were rooting for USC to lose, and 21-0 at the half was better than anything you would have allowed yourself to hope for. And guess what? OSU would get the ball first in the second half. Their first drive figured to be very important. Would they be able to move the ball as they had throughout the first half or would USC immediately come out and execute the adjustments necessary to stop them? OSU started at their 32 and on 1st down USC threw Jacquizz for a loss of 4. The Trojans forced a 3rd and 13 and Moevao threw incomplete. Three and out and a punt. Not the way you wanted to see things start in the 3rd quarter. McKnight returned the Beavers punt about 10 yards to give Troy the ball near their 40 and they immediately began to move the ball. They ran for 10 and threw for 11 and Sanchez ran for 4 yards on a first down play, reaching the OSU 37. But the Trojans were called for another cheap shot and the personal foul moved them all the way back across midfield to their own 48 where they would have a second and 21. Sanchez threw incomplete on 2nd down and hit Patrick Turner with a pass on 3rd down but Turner came up 9 yards shy of the first down. It was 4th and 9 from the OSU 40. The Trojans decided to go for it. Sanchez came through, completing a pass for 14 yards and a first down to keep the drive going. On the next play, Sanchez found Ronald Johnson in the end zone for a 26 yard TD pass to get the Trojans on the board and silence the crowd momentarily. It was 21-7 but so far the Trojans had answered all of the questions in this second half. They had stopped OSU for a 3 and out, converted a 4th and long, and gone right down and scored a TD on their opening drive. So, here they came.
On their second drive of the second half, the Beavers gave the ball back to Jacquizz and tried to ride him. He picked up 9 yards on 2 carries and Moevao got the first down with a sneak. Quizz picked up 9 on 2 carries again and this time he got the ball on 3rd and 1 but the Trojans stuffed him for no gain. With a 4th and 1 at their own 40, OSU had to punt and USC took over at their 30 with all kinds of time remaining. This time USC was barley challenged as they marched down the field, with Sanchez doing most of the work, throwing for 15, running for 3, then throwing for 11 and a first down inside the Beavers 30. 2 plays later, Sanchez found Damien Williams streaking down the sideline wide open and he hit him in stride for a 29 yard TD pass to make it a 1 score game with just under 3 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter. At this point in the game you started to think that OSU would not be able to finish it off. The Grip on Victory and History Slipping: The momentum shift was obvious and it continued as a holding penalty during the return on the ensuing kickoff gave OSU horrible field position at their own 7. So far the Beavers had just 17 yards in this quarter. With the Trojans determined to contain Jacquizz, Moevao was going to have to start to try and make some plays. That was a risky situation because you feared he might make a mistake. The Beavers got 8 yards on a run and a pass on their first two plays, bringing up a 3rd and 2 from their own 15. Instead of trying to pick it up with the run, Moevao dropped back and found a receiver for an 11 yard completion and a first down at the 26. This was huge. The Beavers realized that they weren’t going to win this thing if they played not to lose. They had to go for the win and throwing it on 3rd and 2 when everyone was looking for the run was the way they were going to get this done. On the next play, Quizz went for 14 on the ground. A false start, an incompletion, and a short completion put the Beavers in a 3rd and 13 situation from their own 37 as the clock ran out in the 3rd quarter with OSU still hanging on to a 21-14 lead. Moevao threw incomplete on the first play of the 4th quarter and OSU had to punt. Again, it looked like they would be unable to stem the tide of the oncoming Trojans. On the punt, McKnight tried to get something out of the return and fumbled. This was just the kind of thing that might save the Beavers but McKnight fell on it to avoid the disaster. OSU would have to stop Troy the hard way.
On 1st down, Stafon Johnson ran for 16 and another 1st down at the USC 45. The Trojans were coming down to score and tie it; you could see it way ahead of time. But Johnson was stuffed on the next play and Sanchez threw incomplete on the next to bring up 3rd and long. Sanchez hit Williams at the 50 but he was stopped 5 yards short of the first down and the Trojans decided to punt it back to the Beavers. This was a nice stop by OSU but you still thought it would only delay the inevitable, as the Beavers would be backed up at their own 18. With 12:51 to play, the Beavers decided to try and cross up USC by going to the air more often. It worked for 22 yards and then 7 yards on the first two plays of the drive but Moevao was incomplete on second down and then on 3rd and 3 he got a pass to Howard Croom but USC made the tackle to stop him a yard shy of the first down. They had a 4th and 1 from their own 49, and Mike Riley had enough confidence in his defense to call for the punt team. It turned out well, as Johnny Hekker got off a boot that USC allowed to roll all the way to the 6, where they took over with just under 11 minutes to play. Big Opportunity Missed: Perhaps it was the field position shift that turned things back in favor of OSU’s defense, but the Beavers forced a 3 and out, as Sanchez threw incomplete on 3rd and 5. The Trojans would have to punt from way back near their own goal line and Greg Woidneck did not get much on it. The Beavers took over at the USC 42. Jacquizz rushed for a first down on 2 carries and 2 plays later the Beavers had a 3rd and 2 at the USC 24. It appeared they would at least be in decent range of a field goal if they didn’t convert but a TD would be huge. Instead of running for it they tried to pass for it again and this time Moevao was incomplete. During the early moments of the game, the announcers had mentioned that OSU was going with their backup kicker, Sean Sehnem, but I had thought to myself “oh, well that won’t matter in this game.” Ever since OSU went up 14-0 I had been thinking to myself “I wonder if not having their normal kicker is going to come into play.” Well now we were going to find out. In a close game it would obviously seem to be a major problem for the Beavers not to have their best kicker but perhaps the backup was decent. He had an enormously huge 41 yard attempt that could put OSU up by 2 scores with 7 minutes to go. The announcers said he had been kicking the ball too low in warm-ups and he did it again when it counted, clubbing it straight into the line for a blocked kick. The Beavers had gotten to USC’s 24 and come away with nothing and now USC was still within 1 score with 6:52 left.
Weathering Another Storm: The Trojans took over at the 24 and Sanchez dropped back to pass on 1st down. Here the Trojans killed themselves with another penalty, this one holding, and that left them with a 1st and 20 from the 14. Sanchez threw incomplete on the next 2 plays. It was 3rd and 20 from the 14. This play could end up determining the winner of the game. Sanchez set up a pass to McKnight and he made you nervous for a moment but came up 7 yards short of the first down at the USC 21. Time was running out on USC. They got a boost, however, from a booming 50 yard punt that pushed OSU back to their 23. With 5:40 to go, you knew OSU had to give it to Jacquizz now. He got them 1 first down, rushing for 7 and then 11 to the 41, and this was huge, as USC was forced to take their first timeout with 4:48 to go. Jacquizz was stopped on the next play and USC called timeout. He got 4 yards on the next play and USC called their final timeout with 4:01 remaining. On 3rd and 6 from their 45, OSU put the ball in Jacquizz’s hands again and he picked up 4 yards to make it 4th and 2. Oregon State would have to punt it away but they had taken time off the clock, forced USC to use all of their timeouts, and moved the ball close to midfield. Hekker delivered another gem and this one was downed at the USC 2 yard line. They would have to go 98 yards in 3:15 with no timeouts to tie the game.
It’s Gonna Happen: Sanchez threw incomplete and then connected with Johnson for 12 yards to the 14. On 1st and 10, Sanchez fired the ball down field to his left and overthrew his man. Greg Laybourn didn’t miss his chance to put the game away, intercepting the pass and returning it back up the middle, 28 yards, down to the USC 2. It had happened. It was going to happen. Only a miracle could save Troy now. With 2:43 to go, the Beavers called a timeout to discuss what to do. The Beavers could simply down the ball 3 times, run almost 2 minutes off the clock and then either try a chip shot field goal or try to run for a TD. But they decided not to bother with any of that and Jacquizz took the ball and ran into the end zone for a TD to put the Beavers up 2 touchdowns, 27-14. When you think about it, this really helped USC because it kept the clock from moving and at this point time was more valuable to USC than points. Basically, they had a better chance of scoring a TD, getting an onsides kick, and scoring another TD in 2 minutes and 40 seconds than they did of scoring 10 points in 40 seconds. When Sean Sehnem missed the extra point, you realized that maybe there was no such thing as a chip shot field goal with this guy, and considering the problem he was having kicking line drives, it made the risk of a block and run back for a TD greater. But now you just hoped that that stupid missed extra point wouldn’t come back to haunt the Beavers if USC somehow scored twice in the final160 seconds.
The Bogey Man Gives us One Last Scare: It seemed outlandish that USC could still win this thing, but their odds had certainly gone up a lot since OSU decided to score right away instead of running some clock. Things were more uneasy when Ronald Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards all the way to the OSU 40. With OSU in prevent, Sanchez threw for 12, 9, and 5 yards with the clock running. On 1st down from the 14 he hooked up with Patrick Turner in the end zone for a quick TD to make it just a 6 point game. They had taken just 1:20 off the clock and now they were within an onsides kick and a touchdown of winning the game!
Put it in the Books: There was still a minute and 19 seconds left if Troy could recover the kick. But everyone could finally celebrate when David Buehler’s kick went right to one of the guys on the OSU hands team and he caught it and fell on the ground. The Beavers downed it 3 times and the clock ran all the way to triple zero as the fans flooded the field. The Beavers had pulled off the upset nobody thought could happen. It might even be more accurate to say that they pulled off the upset that nobody even considered.
This Was No Fluke: Oregon State simply outplayed, outcoached, and outfought USC. They outgained them by 30 yards, 343-313, and had 6 more first downs (22-16). USC went just 2 of 10 on 3rd down conversions, committed 7 penalties for 84 yards, and turned the ball over twice. OSU did not turn the ball over once and they had the ball for 9 minutes and 40 seconds more than the Trojans. Jacquizz Rogers carried the ball 37 times and ran for 186 yards on USC, scoring 2 TD’s. He caught 2 passes for 27 more yards. His brother James caught 6 balls for 36 yards and 2 TD’s. The Rogers brothers combined for 189 rushing yards on 40 carries, 63 receiving yards on 8 catches, and 4 touchdowns. Lyle Moevao completed 18 of 28 passes for 167 yards, 2 TD’s, and no picks. The Beavers held Joe McKnight to 10 yards on 7 carries, no TD’s, and a fumble.
Significance and Impact: This was a major upset. USC was favored by 24 points and they lost by 6 but it goes way beyond just the spread. For one thing, this was an Oregon State team that had lost to Stanford and gotten absolutely obliterated by Penn State earlier this year. And it was also the way that USC lost. They got run over by a midget running back and shutout in the first half by a defense that gave up 36 to Stanford and 45 to PSU. They never led in this game and they were down 27-14 with just a few minutes left before they were able to score a quick TD against a prevent Oregon State defense. It’s true that they would have had a decent shot to win if they had recovered the onsides kick, but the way I look at it, they really should have lost by double digits. It’s amazing what an awful loss like this will do to a team’s image. I mean, you find yourself going back and looking at everything USC did before this game in a different light. USC was ranked 3rd and 2nd in the polls in preseason but they vaulted to number 1 immediately after their blowout win at Virginia in week 1. It impressed just about everybody. I still think it’s an impressive performance but it’s clearly not as impressive as it would have been in most seasons. While most people understood that UVA was way down this year, I don’t think the majority of college football fans really knew how down UVA was. Since getting stomped by USC in week 1, the Cavaliers have struggled to a 16-0 win at home over Richmond of the FCS; gotten whipped by UConn, 45-10; and gotten absolutely crushed by Duke, 31-3! USC’s dismantling and dismembering of #5 Ohio State was a second incredibly impressive performance. But the win over Ohio State really started to look less impressive even before it took place. The Buckeyes continue to look average in many ways and while it would be silly to say that Ohio State would have beaten USC with a healthy Beanie Wells, I think it’s clear that they are a very, very different team without him.
For all of these reasons and more, the Trojans have taken a pretty remarkable fall in the eyes of the college football nation over the last week or so. It was yet another example of how people are still just way, way too eager to make profound statements about teams and way too quick to make assumptions about the future. After just 2 games, instead of simply saying, “Wow! USC looks like the best team in the country!” the most frequently repeated statement by analysts all over the United States was that “this might just be Pete Carroll’s best team ever!” Instead of merely stating that “USC looks to be in a strong position to make a run at playing in the BCS Championship Game,” people essentially said that USC was going to go undefeated because there were no real challenging games left on their schedule. During the days leading up to this game, there was a lot of talk about how the Pac-10 was so bad it was going to keep USC out of the National Championship Game despite being undefeated. How silly does all of that talk sound now? I mean, I know that the media is naturally going to act rashly and overreact but I find myself less and less surprised when teams built up as unbeatable and given almost legendary status by the media wind up falling flat on their faces.
The Other Stunner: After USC fell to OSU on Thursday night we should have known that we were headed for a crazy week. If Oregon State’s win over USC was the biggest upset of the year so far—and it most certainly was—then Mississippi’s win over #4 Florida in the Swamp last Saturday was definitely the second biggest upset of the year so far. The Gators were favored to win by 23 and they ended up losing, 31-30, for their first defeat of the season. Ole Miss had already proven itself to be much better this season than they have been in years, having beaten Memphis in week 1 and nearly upset Wake Forrest on the road in week 2. But they were coming off a loss at home to Vanderbilt and they had lost 9 straight SEC games and 14 straight SEC road games. The Gators had won lopsided games over Hawaii, Miami, and Tennessee, and yet they had still won in a way that was not really all that impressive. They had been very fortunate in the turnover department, they were getting a lot of big plays from their special teams, and Tim Tebow wasn’t off to anywhere near as good a start as last year when he won the Heisman. The Gators had won 23 of their last 24 games at the Swamp.
Unlike the game between Oregon State and USC, this game was greatly affected by turnovers and big plays. Florida could easily have won this game if any one of a number of big plays had gone differently. They outgained the Rebels by 118 yards, 443-325, and had a first down edge of nearly 2.5 to 1, achieving 14 more first downs than Mississippi (24-10). However, after going their first 3 games without committing a turnover, the Gators lost 3 fumbles on Saturday, and only turned the Rebels over once. Tim Tebow completed 24 of 38 passes for 319 yards, 1 TD and no INT’s, but he was sacked 3 times and lost a fumble. Lost in the Gators’ shocking defeat was an absolutely monster day by Percy Harvin, who ran 10 times for 82 yards and a TD and caught 13 passes for 186 yards and a TD. Unfortunately, he also fumbled in the game and that’s what will probably be remembered. The Gators converted on just 1 of 11 3rd downs and went just 2 for 4 going for it on 4th down. What the stats don’t show are some curious coaching decisions by that prince of all coaches (according to the many analysts who swing from his nizuts), Urban Meyer. Rebs Dodge Early Bullet, Strike Early Blow of Their Own: After stopping the Rebels for a 3 and out on Mississippi’s opening possession of the game, the Gators moved right into Ole Miss territory on their first drive. They converted a 4th and 1 from their own 44 on a run by Tebow and had a 3rd and 1 at the Ole Miss 28. But they lost 2 yards on 3rd down and instead of trying for a 47 yard FG, Meyer had his team go for it on 4th and 3 from the Rebel 30 yard line. Kicker Jonathan Phillips came into the game 4 for 4 on FG tries on the season but his longest attempt so far had been from 40 yards out. On 4th and 3, Tebow threw incomplete and the Rebels took over on downs. Having avoided giving up a score to the Gators on Florida’s first possession, the Rebels then marched 70 yards for a TD, with QB Jevan Snead going in from 1 yard out for the opening score and a 7-0 lead. The 1st quarter ended with Florida on the move but with the Rebels still ahead 7-0.
Florida Starts to Take Control: The Gators drive stalled at the Ole Miss 14 and they settled for a 32 yard field goal that got them on the board and made it 7-3. On the ensuing Ole Miss possession, Snead was picked off at his own 48 and the Gators took over at the Mississippi 43. The Gators went right after Ole Miss to try and capitalize on the quick change. On the first play of the third Florida possession, Tebow hit Harvin for a 43 yard TD pass to put the Gators on top for the first time in the game, 10-7. The Rebels great return man Mike Wallace brought the ensuing kickoff all the way out to midfield but Ole Miss stumbled and bumbled on their next 3 plays and wound up punting from their own 35 on 4th and 25. The Gators took over at their own 43 but they couldn’t do anything with the field position and punted. The Rebels punted it back to them and the Gators moved back into Ole Miss territory, with Tebow hooking up with Aaron Hernandez on a 24 yard completion. But at the end of the play, Hernandez fumbled and the Rebels recovered it at their own 35. It was the first Florida turnover of the season. But it didn’t seem like it would hurt them, as Mississippi punted, and the Gators marched 81 yards for a touchdown, with Tebow going in from 1 yard out to give Florida a 17-7 lead. There was only a minute left in the half but the Rebels got another great kick return into Gator territory. This time it looked like they might not waste it, as they got a first down at the Florida 17 but once again they self destructed. After a gain of 3 yards on first down, they moved back 14 yards due to offensive pass interference, moved back 5 more for a false start, threw incomplete on 2nd down, moved back 5 more yards for a delay of game, and then on 3rd and 31 from the 38, Snead threw incomplete. With only seconds remaining in the half, the Rebels decided to go for it on 4th and 31 rather than trying a 55 yard field goal, and Snead threw incomplete to end the drive with no points. The Gators ran the final 10 seconds off the clock and headed into their locker room having scored 17 unanswered points, leading by 10.
The Gators’ Nightmare Third Quarter: The Gators didn’t appear to be in any danger as the second half began. Ole Miss wasn’t a bad team but the Gators weren’t going to blow a 10 point lead at home. And they got the ball first in the 3rd quarter. Strangely, the Gators would probably have won this game if they had kicked off to start the 3rd quarter. On the second play of their first drive of the second half, Percy Harvin got the ball on 2nd and 2 from the 28 and ran for 6 yards before losing the football. Ole Miss recovered at the Florida 34 yard line. Ole Miss moved to the 15 but on 3rd and 1 the Gators stuffed the run to bring up 4th down and the Rebels had to settle for a 33 yard field goal that brought them within a touchdown with the score 17-10.
So far Ole Miss was not doing a good job of taking advantage of scoring opportunities but they were still in the game, down just 7 with almost a full half left to play. The Rebels kicked off to the Gators and once again it would have been better for Florida to have kicked off to Ole Miss and played defense. Because on the first play of their second drive of the 3rd quarter which began at the 21, Tebow tried to run and was stopped for a 3 yard loss and at the same time fumbled the football. Ole Miss recovered at the Florida 18 yard line. The Gators had not turned the ball over once in their first 13 quarters of football this year but in the last 2 quarters they had turned it over 3 times. Hell, they had now turned the ball over on each of their last 2 plays from scrimmage. But once again it looked like Ole Miss might squander their great opportunity. Snead threw incomplete on first and second down, leaving a 3rd and 10 from the 18. On one of the bigger plays of the game, Snead found Cordera Eason for an 18 yard TD strike, and just like that the game was tied with just a few minutes gone in the 3rd. 
Things had started about as badly as possible for Florida in the second half and they didn’t get better on their 3rd possession. They went 3 and out and on 4th and 13 from the 30, punter Chas Henry kicked a ball off the side of his foot that went just 16 yards. With a 5 yard penalty for an illegal shift added on, the Rebels took over at the Florida 41. However, the Rebels squandered the opportunity yet again. After gaining just 1 yard on 3 plays, the Rebels punted for a touchback. Florida got a couple of first downs on their 4th drive of the second half and then punted it back to Mississippi. The Gator defense may have been getting a little tired from having to defend their end zone constantly over the last 20 minutes, because on 3rd and 2 from the Florida 40 yard line, Dexter McCluster broke free into the Gator secondary and went all the way for a 40 yard TD to give the Rebs a 24-17 lead. They had now answered Florida’s 17 point run with 17 unanswered points of their own. Brandon James helped Florida to get some momentum by returning the ensuing kickoff 45 yards to midfield. Finally the 3rd quarter—most likely the worst quarter the Gators have had during Meyer’s time at Florida—ended with the Rebels leading 24-17 over the 4th ranked Gators at the Swamp.
Florida Comes Back but Ole Miss Isn’t Done Either: Despite all that had happened there was a whole quarter left to play and you still felt certain Florida would come back and win. James’ return got them going again and they went 49 yards for a score, with Tebow going in from 1 yard out to tie it up at 24-24. The Gator defense stopped Mississippi on their next drive and the Gators got the ball back at their own 46. Now they would take the game over you thought. They got a first down at the Ole Miss 37 but Tebow was sacked for an 8 yard loss on the next play and they actually ended up having to punt. Henry’s punt gave Ole Miss the ball at their own 11 but it was still tied with a little less than 7 minutes to go. Florida’s defense looked to be about to give their offense the ball back as Ole Miss had a 3rd and 7 from their own 14, but Snead and receiver Shay Hodge turned in a play that helped make up for some of the Rebels’ missed opportunities from throughout the game. Snead found Hodge and he made the catch and then burned the Gator secondary, going 86 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. With 5 and a half minutes left, the Rebels had a 31-24 lead in Gainesville.
Getting Late, Gators in Trouble: The situation was now fairly serious and the Gators responded as you would expect them to, marching down the field on a 68 yard TD drive, with Harvin dashing into the end zone from 14 yards out. It looked like things were going to be all knotted up with 3 and a half minutes remaining on the clock. But then the Gators had one of those random, fluky bad breaks go again them. It was one of those random fluky events that often play a role in the outcome of close games. It was the same type of thing that they benefited from a few times back in 2006 on their way to the National Championship. Kicker Jonathan Phillips’ extra point try was blocked, leaving the score 31-30 in favor of Ole Miss. Obviously, that changed the complexion of the game dramatically. Instead of just having to keep the Rebels from scoring and either going for the game winning score or taking the game into OT, the Gators now needed to get the ball back and score or else they were going to lose.
The defense stepped up again for Florida and forced a 3 and out. The Gators used 2 of their timeouts and had 1 remaining as they took over at their own 22 with 2:05 to play. They flew into Rebel territory, moving 37 yards in 3 plays for a 1st down at the Ole Miss 41. With his defense on its heels, Rebel coach Houston Nutt called a timeout with 1:22 on the clock. On the next two plays, Tebow dropped back to throw and fired downfield but he overthrew his receiver on both occasions, bringing up a 3rd and 10 from the 41. The Gators went with a running play, putting the ball in the hands of Brandon James and he went 9 yards before being stopped a yard shy of the first down marker at the 32. The Gators only needed a FG to take the lead and from here it would have been a 49 yard kick. But Meyer didn’t hesitate, he had the Gators go for it on 4th and 1. Everyone knew what was coming. Tebow was going to go straight ahead. But the Rebels got penetration and Tebow was hit in the backfield and did not even get back to the line of scrimmage. It was all over. The Rebels just kneeled the ball once and the clock ran out with the Rebels 1 point better than the Gators on the scoreboard. Significance and Impact: Obviously this was a huge win for Ole Miss and it is Houston Nutt’s first signature win as head coach in Oxford. As far as the two programs are concerned, I think you’d have to say that this win is bigger for Ole Miss than the loss is for Florida. Every once in a while one of the teams usually at the top in the SEC—Florida, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee—loses to one of the teams usually at the bottom of the SEC—Mississippi, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Kentucky—and it’s really not that big of a deal. Ole Miss actually appears to be pretty good this year and Florida will move on from this game. But for Ole Miss this game won’t soon be forgotten. Ole Miss had lost their last 16 games against ranked opponents and 8 of those losses had been by 6 points or less. They had lost their last 14 against those big 5 SEC foes (Florida, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee). This type of win might remain a rarity but this win at Florida will be special for Rebel fans. Or we might look back in a few years and say that this was the game that marked the beginning of one of the better periods in Ole Miss history, the period under the leadership of Houston Nutt.
Tebow of 2007 May Never Come Back: While Florida will move on from this loss and they may well win the rest of their games and end up National Champs, they have not yet lived up to the expectations that many had for them going into this season, including me. With all of that talent, all of that experience, the Heisman winner coming back for his junior year, and all of those weapons on offense around Tebow, I thought Florida would be the toughest team in college football this season. But it hasn’t exactly turned out that way. The defense has been strong, they’ve made a ton of big plays on special teams, and until last week they had won each game handedly, but they just haven’t been right offensively. I don’t know what the reason is but Tim Tebow has not been the offensive force that he was last year. I could understand a slight drop off because he had a ridiculously good season last year but so far this year he’s just been a different player. Last year he completed 66.9% of his passes for an average of 251.4 yards a game, throwing an average of 2.46 TD’s per game. This year in 4 games he has completed 60.8% of his passes for an average of 202.0 yards per game, throwing an average of 1.50 TD’s per game. So you can see his accuracy, yards, and TD numbers are down. Now, he has yet to throw a pick this year which is solid but still. He was sacked 13 times in 13 games last year; he’s been sacked 6 times through 4 games this season. And the most drastic difference in his game has really been as a runner. Last year he averaged 68.8 yards a game on the ground, averaging 4.3 yards a carry, and averaging 1.77 rushing TD’s a game. Through 4 games this season he has averaged just 31.3 yards a game on the ground, 2.6 yards per carry, and 0.50 rushing TD’s a game. Although Urban Meyer has denied it at times, we have all heard that Florida planned to use Tebow less like a running QB this season due to concerns about injuries. We’ve heard that they were concerned about the pounding his body took last year when he was essentially the entire Florida offense for 13 games. But to me, the running part of Tebow’s game is what made him such a weapon. Maybe coaches and coordinators are just better prepared for him this season now that they have a year’s worth of film and they’ve had a year to scheme and figure out how to contain him.
Can You Kick a Field Goal or Do You Just Not Think You Need To?: One other question I have about the Gators’ loss last week is why they don’t have a better kicker. Florida always has good kickers. They were supposed to have a freshman place kicker this year that hit a 60 yarder in the spring game. Where did he go? I mean, on Florida’s first drive of the game they went for it on 4th and 3 from the Ole Miss 30. Are you telling me they don’t have a kicker that can make a 47 yard field goal? Maybe it was just Meyer being cocky as usual. Remember, as Gary Danielson has told us a thousand times, he didn’t come to Florida to kick field goals you know. But then on the final drive of the game they were down by 1 and they had 4th and 1 at the Ole Miss 32 and they went for it again and failed. Was that Meyer being overconfident again or can Jonathan Phillips not hit a 49 yard field goal?
Tide Rolls Through the Bulldawg Blackout: I have to admit that I had a bad feeling about going to the black jerseys and the blackout for the Alabama game. This isn’t the Bulldawg Blog so I won’t dwell on this for long but why did they have to bring out the black jerseys again for this game? The original blackout against Auburn last season was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Last Saturday night’s blackout against Alabama was an absolute nightmare. It’s one thing to get steamrolled by a team at home; it’s quite another thing to get steamrolled by a team at home wearing all black and with 90,000 of your fans wearing black and with ESPN Game Day in town and with the game shown on primetime on ESPN and when you’re ranked #3 in the country and when you were ranked #1 in the preseason. But this is really more for the Bulldawg Blog.
As far as the game, it was the most highly anticipated matchup of the week, featuring a pair of 4-0 teams ranked 3rd (UGA) and 8th (Bama) in the country. Before the season this just looked like one of the 9 or so tough games on Georgia’s schedule but it really didn’t stand out as being one of the 2 or 3 toughest tests for the Dawgs. Bama was expected to be a solid but not spectacular team and Georgia would have them at home and at a pretty convenient time. They would already have 4 games under their belts but it wasn’t late enough in the year that they would be banged up or worn down. So this wasn’t the game that most people thought would trip Georgia up. And I guess this game didn’t really trip Georgia up. Let’s be honest: the Dawgs got routed. The final score was 41-30 but this was not an 11 point game. Bama led 31-0 at halftime and 41-17 with 3 minutes left. 
Georgia’s defense could not slow down Bama during the first half when the game—for all intents and purposes—was decided. The Alabama offensive line had no more trouble with Georgia’s defensive line than they have against any of the other defensive lines they’ve dominated this season. Georgia’s defensive backs simply could not cover Bama’s skill players. It’s true that Bama had good field position almost every time they got the ball in the first half and the Georgia defense was on the field a lot in the first half and got no help from their offense. But the Dawgs wouldn’t have been able to stop Bama if they started at their own 5 yard line each time. They never came close to stopping them. Though they did stop Bama for the most part in the second half, they could not hold them when they really needed to following the long punt return TD that pulled them to within 14 points early in the 4th quarter. Offensively, Georgia’s line got dominated in the first half. There were no holes to run through and Matt Stafford was forced to get rid of the ball quickly or be crushed. It was ugly. Georgia turned it over twice in the first half, shanked a punt, and committed a multitude of mindless penalties similar to the ones they have been committing all season. It caught up to them on Saturday night. Tide Makes Blackout Irrelevant Right Away: Let me say that the blackout and the black jerseys were a tool used by the coaching staff to give the team some swagger and confidence and to show fan support and unity; it’s not just an intimidation tactic, although it seems like that’s the way most people view it. Having said that, I’m sure that Alabama saw the black jerseys and the blackout as a personal challenge. I think it ended up motivating them. And they pretty much answered all questions about whether or not the blackout, the hostile crowd, the pressure, or the Georgia defense for that matter would have any affect on them when they took the opening kickoff and went on an 11 play, 80 yard drive for a touchdown while taking 6 and a half minutes off the clock.
Dawgs Got a Break but Gave it Right Back: Now, while Bama’s opening drive was impressive, it wasn’t quite as simple as I made it sound in the paragraph above. The Dawgs nearly saved themselves. After Bama gained 4 first downs without any real difficulty at all, the Dawgs defense finally stiffened for a moment and forced Bama into a 3rd and 12 at the UGA 23. If the Dawgs could hold them on this play they would force a FG attempt which wouldn’t be half bad considering how quickly the Tide had gone from one 20 yard line to the other. But Bama had a great play called and they executed it well, setting up a middle screen to one of the backs who took it for a first down inside the Georgia 10. A flag was thrown in the backfield and I had to assume that it was either an ineligible man down field or holding and I was quite relieved because that play would have been a back breaker. But there was also some action taking place at the point of the tackle and it was soon apparent that there had been a fumble and the Dawgs were jumping up and down and then the official said it was Georgia’s ball. This was huge, as it would mean that Bama wouldn’t get any points at all out of this long drive. However, it turned out to be the first of a number of cruel turns of events for Georgia fans that night, as the officials had actually thrown the flag for a blow to the head of the quarterback, meaning there was no fumble, and Bama would have an automatic first down at the 11. Two plays later Bama scored their first TD. Obviously this was a big moment in the game. I don’t really know what difference it would have made in the end because the Dawgs couldn’t move the ball and they couldn’t stop Bama from moving the ball, so eventually I think Georgia would have lost anyway. But it would definitely have changed things and at least made things competitive for a while.
No Answer, More Mistakes: The Dawgs actually moved into Bama territory right away on their first drive but it stalled around midfield and Georgia punted. Bama’s second drive started at their 35 and they marched right down the field again with help from another Georgia roughing the passer penalty and soon they were inside the UGA 5 yard line. The Bulldawgs stopped Bama on 3rd and 1 from the 4 and Bama settled for a FG to make it 10-0. The first quarter ended with the Tide having dominated the opening period just as they have in every single one of their games this year.
No Answer, Another Mistake: Any time Georgia was forced into an obvious passing down during the first half they had basically no chance of success because Stafford would be running for his life before his receivers could even run their routes. The Dawgs had to punt again from their own 29 on the second play of the 2nd quarter and the usually dependable Brian Mimbs made a bad situation a lot worse with a horrible 19 yard kick. That gave Bama the ball at midfield and they went 48 yards in 5 plays for a TD without much effort.
AJ Green Summons the Spirit of Freddy Brown: Trailing 17-0, the Dawgs began their 3rd possession with a 3 yard run and then Stafford scrambled for 5 yards to set up a 3rd and 2 at the UGA 30. The Dawgs basically had to convert here and it looked for a moment like they had, as Stafford threw complete to AJ Green for a first down and more but even a simple thing like this turned into disaster. Green caught the ball but in turning to go up field he lost control of the ball and basically threw it into the arms of an Alabama defender who returned back deep into Georgia territory. This play stood out as the one that summed up the first half for Georgia. Things simply could not have gone worse in the first 30 minutes of the game for UGA and if you didn’t see the game and I could only show you one play in order to give you an idea of what it was like, I’d show you this play. In a split second it went from Georgia’s best play of the night to their worst play of the season. At this point you pretty much knew that Georgia was in major trouble. They almost had to hold Bama to a field goal here because a touchdown would basically mean a 4 score lead for the Tide. You can get 24 points with 3 TD and 3 2-point conversions but that’s not going to happen because if you score a TD down 24-0 you’re going to kick the extra point. Twice it looked like the Dawgs defense might bow up and hold Bama to 3 points. They forced a 3rd and 6 from the 17 but John Parker Wilson simply dropped back and threw the ball to a wide open receiver for a 10 yard gain and a first and goal at the 7. The Dawgs forced a 3rd and goal from the 4 but Bama back Roy Upchurch went untouched up the middle into the end zone to make it 24-0.
And the Train it Won’t Stop Going No Way to Slow it Down: At this point the game was not over and the Dawgs certainly could at least come back and make the game competitive, but Georgia’s chances of actually winning this game were now extremely slim because they would have to outscore the Tide by 25 points the rest of the way. It’s not that a 24 point deficit with almost 7 minutes left in the 2nd quarter is an insurmountable lead; the problem was Georgia was getting dominated on both sides of the ball so it was going to be difficult for the Dawgs to outscore Bama by 25 points for the remainder of the game even if they played for 2 weeks. But again, the Dawgs could definitely make the game competitive if they went down and scored a TD on their next possession and then scored on their opening possession of the second half. Even if they just got a TD and a FG they would be right back in the game. But they really had to score on this drive and at the very least they had to get some first downs to give their defense a rest so that they could hold Bama the rest of the half. The Dawgs gained 15 yards through the air on their first play of their 4th possession and two plays later they had a 3rd and 5 at their own 40. This was a crucial play and everybody knew it. The UGA coaching staff decided to call a timeout to make certain they had a play that would pick up the first down or at least get within a yard or two so it would be possible to go for it on 4th. The Dawgs decided to try to throw for it but Stafford had no chance. The defense swarmed in and he wasn’t even able to get out of the pocket and throw it away and he got called for intentional grounding. That play pretty much decided things. Bama was going to get the ball back and the Dawgs defense that had been on the field for almost the entire half was unlikely to stop them. Even if they did, if the Dawgs couldn’t do any better than they had on that last 3rd down, even after taking a timeout, it was probably better that they just start running the ball to eat the clock so that it couldn’t get really, really ugly.
Alabama’s Walk-Through—er, I Mean Their 5th Scoring Drive: The Dawgs punted and Bama took over at their own 37. This time Bama wasn’t really even going up against anybody, it was almost as if they were just running through their plays on the field by themselves. It took just 6 plays for Bama to go 63 yards, with Wilson finding a wide open Julio Jones for an easy 22 yard TD pass that put the game away. It was hard to believe that it was actually 31-0 but it was. It was no longer a question of winning or losing. Now you had to wonder how bad this was going to get from here. I mean, I guess if Georgia had gone down and scored to go into the half with the score 31-7 it would have still been mathematically possible for them to come back. But Georgia had now played almost 10 quarters of football against teams from BCS conferences over the last 3 weeks and they had scored a total of 41 points, so why in the hell would they ever be able to score 31 points in 2 quarters, let alone score 31 points while shutting out Bama the rest of the way. It was over.
Georgia Has a Chance to Score but Everything Goes Wrong Once Again: The Dawgs got a good kickoff return and moved the ball into Bama territory, calling a timeout with 23 seconds left in the half, facing a 2nd and 2 from the Alabama 35. But on the next play, Stafford was intercepted at the 4 and thus the Dawgs headed to the locker room down 31-0 at home.
Significance and Impact: This was a huge game in the SEC and also in terms of the national landscape of college football. This game dramatically changed each team’s status and standing in college football. For Georgia, this was a devastating loss. It wasn’t the loss that was so devastating; it was their poor performance. Had they lost to the #8 team 23-20 it would have been big obviously because every loss in college football is enormous. But it would have been a respectable loss. But getting dominated at home by Bama is very different. To this point Georgia had been ranked highly based almost solely on their performance in the latter part of the previous season and on the perceived strength of their roster. That’s why they came into the season as the preseason #1. It really had nothing much to do with their performance on the field this season. In fact, their performance on the field this season led to them falling out of the #1 spot. Anyway, that view and opinion of the Bulldawgs that led people to vote them #1 in the preseason no longer exists. This loss eradicated those perceptions. In many ways, the perception of Georgia has changed due to this loss in a way similar to how the perception of Clemson changed after their loss to Alabama in week 1. I still think Georgia is a very good team that is capable of beating most of the teams in the country. I still think they could end up winning the National Championship. But the idea that this Georgia team is truly special or something is out the window. Despite the fact that they just got worked at home, the Dawgs should be in every game they play this year, and if they were to find a way to win all of the rest of their games through good play and good luck, they’d definitely have a shot at playing for the National Championship just as Florida did in 06 and LSU did last year. At least now the pressure is off.
For Alabama, if their rout of Clemson at the Dome in week 1 marked their return to relevance nationally, their rout of Georgia last week announced that they had arrived as a national power. Bama is back and those of us who have mocked Bama fans over the years are going to have to learn to deal with it. No, they’re never going to be the power that they were under Bear Bryant, but no program will ever be like that again. They have, however, become one of the elite teams in the SEC and in the country. It’s actually good for college football and it’s absolutely good for the SEC. Look at how the ACC has fallen as a result of the decline of the programs of Miami and Florida State. The SEC needs Alabama to be a great program just like the Big XII needs Nebraska to get its act together. Big Ten schools may not like playing against Rich Rodriguez but they should be glad he came to Michigan. The Big Ten needs Michigan and Penn State to be good. Now, in case anyone is wondering, nobody needs Notre Dame to be good, although East Coast sports radio stations and sports bars definitely love it when they are. No, nobody needs Notre Dame for shit. Actually, that’s not entirely true. We need them to be horrible because whenever they are even close to being decent people start thinking they are great and they end up ruining one of the BCS bowls with their presence. 
Wild Day for the ACC: The ACC is just a weird conference this year. There are no great teams; not one. I can’t even figure out which teams in the ACC are good. One thing we should all have figured out by now is that Clemson is Clemson and that means an average to above average team but certainly not one that belongs in the top 15. I was one of the idiots who bought into the idea that this year’s Clemson team was the one that was finally going to play up to its level of talent and achieve greatness. Wrong. Same old Clemson. Last Saturday the #20 Clemson Tigers were 11 point favorites over Maryland at home but they lost, 20-17, to fall to 3-2 on the season. They came into the year ranked 9th in the country but they have lost 2 of their 3 games against FBS opponents this season and they did not receive a single vote in the latest AP Poll. They led 17-6 at the half over the Terps but they committed 3 turnovers and got shutout 14-0 in the second half. Since losing to Middle Tennessee State in week 2, the Terrapins have gone 3-0 with wins over Cal and Clemson.
The one ACC team that I thought might be a great team before last week was Wake Forrest. They had played 3 teams from BCS conferences so far and gone 3-0, winning over Baylor and FSU on the road and beating Ole Miss at home. Last week #16 Wake Forrest was a 17 point favorite against Navy at home and they somehow wound up losing 24-17. They lost to the same Midshipmen that lost by double digits to Ball State and Duke earlier this year. 
The ACC is currently not a very good conference but I do think they will get better in the next few years. Two programs I believe are on the rise are North Carolina and Miami. Those two teams squared off at Dolphin Stadium last Saturday in one of the better games of the week. The Heels were coming off a heartbreaking loss to Virginia Tech and were without their starting QB TJ Yates. Miami was coming off an 18 point thumping of Texas A&M in College Station and was favored by 7.5. Things went according to plan for most of the game, as Miami scored the first 14 points of the game and led by 10 with under 10 minutes to play in the 4th quarter. Then on 3rd and 10 from the UNC 26, QB Cameron Sexton hooked up with stud WR Hakeem Nicks for an 84 yard TD strike that brought the Heels within a FG. They intercepted Canes QB Robert Marve on Miami’s next possession but the Heels missed a 53 yard FG try that would have tied it up with 3:50 to go. UNC stayed at it though, and stopped Miami on 3 and out while using all 3 of their timeouts. The Canes would still have been in decent shape if their punter hadn’t shanked a 24 yarder that gave the Heels the ball at their 44. UNC quickly drove down to the Miami 14 and on 2nd down and 10, Sexton threw a 14 yard TD pass to Brooks Foster to give the Heels their first lead of the game with less than a minute to go in the game. It looked like the Canes were cashed, trailing by 4 with only 46 seconds left but they got a pass interference call to move to midfield and then Marve threw a 29 yard strike to get Miami to the 20 and they called a timeout with 15 seconds on the clock. Marve threw incomplete on 1st down and then threw into the end zone on 2nd down from the 20 but Trimane Goddard came down with an interception to save the win for UNC. 
You know who actually might end up being the best team in the ACC? It might end up being Virginia Tech. Everybody kind of dismissed VT when they lost to East Carolina in week 1 but they haven’t lost since then. And when you think about it, that was a fluky loss, with ECU scoring the go-ahead TD on a blocked punt in the 4th quarter. VT won 20-17 over GT at home in week 3 and 20-17 over UNC on the road in week 4. This past Saturday they were 7 point underdogs on the road against Nebraska and they ended up handling the Cornhuskers in Lincoln, 35-30. The Hokies led by double digits for most of the second half and hung on for the win, recovering a fumble at their 44 with 5 seconds left to end Nebraska’s last chance drive. Interesting Opening Week of Big Ten Play: All of the Big Ten teams except for Purdue played their conference opener last week. The games were mostly as boring as the Big Ten always is but there were a couple of surprises. In my opinion, the biggest surprise was Michigan’s 27-25 win over #9 Wisconsin. I know the Badgers were only favored by 4.5 and that it was in Ann Arbor but I didn’t think they’d lose to a Michigan team that has struggled so far in Rich Rodriguez’s first season. And honestly Wisconsin had no business losing this game, which they appeared to have in the bag until late. This game featured 9 turnovers. The Badgers outgained Michigan by 116 yards, 384-268, and held the ball for over 22 more minutes than the Wolverines. Michigan’s offense had looked awful in their first 3 games and they looked horrific during the first half of this one, gaining just 1 first down and committing 5 turnovers while being shutout 19-0. The crowd at the Big House was silent most of the day until halftime when they booed the Wolverines off the field.
But by the end of the day they would be rocking and rolling as the Wolverines played turnover free ball in the second half and staged the second largest comeback in Michigan history. Wisconsin led 19-0 and had a 1st and 10 at the Michigan 39 in the 3rd quarter but the Badgers didn’t score and had to punt and the Wolverines finally got into the end zone with 2 and half minutes remaining in the 3rd. Michigan’s comeback continued in the 4th quarter as they scored a second touchdown to make the score 19-14 with 10 and a half minutes left in the game. On the first play of the ensuing Wisconsin drive, DB John Thompson cut off a pass by Badgers QB Allan Evridge for an interception at the Wisconsin 25 and he took it all the way to the house to give Michigan the lead. The crowd went bonkers. Michigan went for 2 but couldn’t convert and the score remained 20-19. But the Wolverines weren’t done. They had their crowd back behind them now and would score again to cap a 27-0 run that took place over about 12 minutes of game time. With a little over 5 minutes to play, the Wolverines led 27-19. 
The Badgers tried to wrestle the game back from Michigan, driving deep into Wolverine territory on their next drive. They had a 2nd and goal from the 5 yard line but Evridge was sacked and lost the football and Michigan recovered with 1:42 to play. The Badgers had all 3 timeouts left and they would use each one of them while holding the Wolverines to 3 and out and forcing a punt that gave them the ball back at their own 36 with a minute and 19 seconds left in the game. Evridge was sacked again for a loss of 7 but on 2nd and 17 from the Wisconsin 29, Evridge hooked up with PJ Hill for a 20 yard completion and a first down at midfield. A 29 yard strike from Evridge moved the ball to the Michigan 27 as the clock continued to run down. Finally Evridge found David Gillreath in the end zone for a 22 yard TD with 13 seconds left on the clock. That made the score 27-25. The Badgers went for 2 and Evridge got a ball to Travis Beckam for the apparent game tying conversion but the Badgers were called for having an illegal man downfield. They tried it again but this time Evridge threw incomplete. The Badgers tried an onsides kick but it went out of bounds and the Wolverines had the victory, 27-25, dealing Wisconsin its first defeat of the season.
As far as point spread, that wasn’t even the biggest upset in the Big Ten last weekend. For some reason Iowa was favored by 9.5 at home against Northwestern. NW came into this game 4-0 but they fell behind by 14 points and would never have been able to win this game if Iowa had taken better care of the ball. Iowa fumbled on 1st and 10 from the NW 22 on their first drive of the game but they led 3-0 at the end of the 1st quarter and they scored a TD to go up 10-0 early in the 2nd. NW got on the board with a FG but Iowa scored a TD with just over 2 minutes left in the half to make it 17-3. After stopping the Wildcats for a 3 and out, the Hawkeyes called their last timeout of the half and prepared to get the ball back with 1:14 left in the 2nd. Iowa looked to be in good shape. They were going to get the ball likely around their 40 with plenty of time to get in position for a FG and at the very least they would go to halftime with a 14 point lead. But on the punt, return man Andy Brodell fumbled and the Wildcats recovered at the Iowa 33. The Wildcats took full advantage, going 33 yards in 5 plays for their first TD of the game to cut the score to 17-10. They went to the locker room at halftime with all the momentum and the momentum carried over to the second half as they went 74 yards in just 4 plays and a minute and 30 seconds to get their second touchdown. It looked like we had a tie ball game but NW kicker Arnado Villarreal missed the PAT and the Cats were still behind, 17-16. But moments later the Cats would be back in business, as the Hawkeyes fumbled the ensuing kickoff, giving NW the ball at their 19. The Cats had a first and goal at the 5 but an offensive pass interference call backed them up 15 yards and they ended up having to try for a 34 yard field goal. Villarreal’s troubles continued, as he missed to keep it a 1 point game. 
The score was still 17-16 early in the 4th when the Hawkeyes moved into NW territory and looked on the verge of padding their lead. But on 2nd and 3 from the Wildcat 38, Iowa RB Shonn Greene fumbled and NW recovered. The Cats went 62 yards in 12 plays for the go-ahead TD. The Cats went for 2 and missed to keep the score at 22-17 with a little less than 8 minutes to play. Iowa punted on their next possession but then held NW to 3 and out and got the ball back at their own 28 with 4:16 to play. Iowa flew down the field, going 64 yards in 9 plays for a 1st down and goal at the NW 8. There was close to a minute and a half left on the clock and Iowa still had a timeout but they passed on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th down and QB Richard Stanzi threw 4 straight incompletions to turn the ball over to the Cats on downs. NW kneeled the ball twice to run out the clock and move their record to 5-0. 
Ohio State opened the conference schedule at home against Minnesota. The Buckeyes led 20-3 at the half, 34-6 early in the 4th quarter, and eventually won 34-21 to deal the Gophers their first loss of the season. Beanie Wells was in action for Ohio State, rushing for 106 yards on 14 carries. Terrelle Pryor was 8 of 13 for 70 yards passing and a TD, and ran 8 times for 97 yards and a pair of rushing TD’s. Pretty impressive for the youngster. 
The most attractive matchup of the week was between #24 Illinois and #12 Penn State at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. This figured to be a bit of a shootout between a pair of teams with explosive offenses. PSU outgained the Illini by 50 yards, 422-372, and had 5 more first downs (24-19). Both teams squandered scoring chances. PSU led 21-14 at halftime and went on to win 38-24 to get to 5-0 on the season. 
Usually if someone told me they were going to watch the Indiana-Michigan State game I would suggest they put some coffee on and make sure to have a crossword puzzle handy, but this week’s Indiana-MSU game was different. You still needed to keep the mute button nearby for mandatory 5 minute breaks of silence between each 15 minute segment of listening to the broadcast team of Pam Ward and Mike Tomczak, but this was an absolute barnburner that featured 970 yards of total offense, 49 first half points, and a stunning, game breaking 9 point swing that was one of the more memorable moments of week 5. MSU RB Javon Ringer carried the ball 44 times for 198 yards and 1 TD. There were 2 safeties in this game; scoring plays of 78, 79, and 82 yards; and a blocked punt. MSU led 27-22 at the half but Indiana nearly took control of the game late in 3rd quarter on what turned out to be the most important play of the game. Trailing 34-29 and backed up at their own 3 yard line, the Hoosiers were in need of a big play on 3rd and 8 and they got one when backup QB Ben Chappell threw out of his own end zone to a wide open Terrance Turner who made the catch and beat everybody, going 97 yards for a TD that appeared to give Indiana a 35-34 lead. But their was a flag on the play. Guard Cody Faulkner was called for holding and the play came back. Not only that, Faulkner was called for holding in the end zone, which resulted in a safety, giving the Spartans a 7 point lead, 36-29, and forcing the Hoosiers to kick the ball to MSU. Indiana never recovered and the Spartans went on to win 42-29. Avast There Matey! The Pirates Lose Again: Shiver me timbers! The Pirates got raped by the Cougars, arrrrghhh. I’m so glad that ECU has fallen quickly and quietly back into obscurity. I didn’t think I could take 3 more months of discussion about whether a Conference USA team should play in a BCS Bowl. And now that they’ve lost twice in a row to bad teams, perhaps we won’t have to hear about or from Skip Holtz again this year. Having to hear from one Holtz is more than enough, thank you very much. East Carolina mania reached its peak after week 2, when the Pirates came in at #14 in the AP Poll following wins over Virginia Tech and West Virginia. The next week they had to come from behind to pull out a 28-24 win over Tulane and they moved back a spot to #15. In week 4 they lost at NC State in OT, 30-24, and promptly got dropped to #23. Last week they were inexplicably favored to win by 10.5 points but got smoked at home by Houston, who was previously 1-3 on the season. The Cougars dropped 621 yards of total offense on the Pirates, outgaining them by 346 yards. Houston went up 38-17 in the 4th quarter and went on to win 41-24. ECU didn’t receive a vote in the latest AP Poll.
FIU Taking a Serious Run at Decency: Over the previous two seasons, the Golden Panthers of Florida International University in Miami were probably the absolute worst team in the FBS, going 0-12 in 2006 and starting 0-11 in 2007 before beating North Texas in the their final game of the season to end the NCAA’s longest losing streak at 23 games. 2008 hasn’t started off easily for the Panthers, but you can start to see them making some strides ever so slightly. In week 1 they traveled to Kansas and lost 40-10; certainly nothing to brag about but much better than the 55-3 beating they took in Lawrenceville last season. In week 2 they took a step back, losing 42-0 at Iowa. But after a week off, they came back in week 4 and gave in-state rival USF all it could handle before coming up short in a 17-9 defeat. In week 5 the Panthers went back on the road, this time to Toledo. They came into the game as 18.5 point underdogs and fell down 13-0 in the 1st quarter but they got back into the game in the 2nd quarter and trailed just 16-14 at halftime. In the second half, FIU shutout the Rockets while putting up 21 points en route to a gigantic, 35-16 win. It was their first win on the road since 2005 and snapped a streak of 16 straight losses on the road. It was their first ever win over an FBS team not from the Sun Belt Conference after 15 straight losses against such teams. Pretty neat, Golden Panthers. Pretty neat.
I Just Want to Say a Few Things Briefly About the Hatred I Have for Notre Dame: Did you know that there is not one week during the season when all of the Big Ten teams play conference games? There’s always one team that doesn’t play a conference game and that’s of course because the Big Ten Conference doesn’t have 10 teams, it has 11 teams. Each Big Ten team only plays 8 of the other 10 teams a season but they don’t have a conference championship game because they only have 11 teams, not 12. My worst nightmare is that some year when Wisconsin and Ohio State don’t play each other they will both go 12-0 against the rest of the Big Ten and some MAC teams. And they’ll both end their seasons in mid-November like all Big Ten teams and they’ll be off while the rest of college football is playing for 3 more weeks. When the dust settles, they’re the only undefeated teams left and wind up playing each other in the National Championship Game. The fact that such a scenario is even possible is ridiculous and the people who are solely responsible for all of this are those has-beens in South Bend, the Notre Dame Fighting Child Molesters.
This is because Notre Dame refuses to do what everyone else in the world realizes they should do and that is join the Big Ten as a twelfth team so that the conference is balanced and can have two divisions and a conference championship. They insist upon remaining an independent even after every other team in the FBS has joined a conference other than the 2 service academies, Navy and Army. Only Notre Dame has remained unwilling to join a conference because in their minds they are still something special. They don’t need a conference. They want to make their own schedule and they want all the money and their own TV rights. And yet they still demand on having as much of a chance to play in a BCS Bowl as all of the teams from BCS conferences. They have insisted that the BCS create separate guidelines just for them. They get to make their own schedule and they get to be eligible for a BCS bowl if they finish high enough in the standings. So you have a situation like this year in which Notre Dame plays an easier schedule than any team from a BCS conference and they could very easily end up in one of those bowl games. What needs to happen is the NCAA needs to unilaterally place them in the Big Ten. And it’s not like it’s any dumber to call a 12 team conference the Big Ten than it is to call an 11 team conference the Big Ten. Now I’m done.
Only Three Teams Still Harboring Dreams of a Winless Season: With Rutgers taking their frustrations out on Morgan State with a 38-0 whipping last week, FIU pulling off the stunning win at Toledo, and Ohio putting a 51-31 hurting on VMI, there are just 3 teams left with a chance to finish the season without a win. We lost half of the 6 teams last week and we almost lost 4 teams from the ranks of the unlost-to last week. Army was a 28 point underdog on the road against Texas A&M but they hung around with the Aggies, scoring a TD with just under 9 minutes to play that brought them within 4 points. But on 4th and 3 from their own 47, the Knights were stopped short of the first down and A&M took over with 3:58 left and ran the clock out to hang on for a 21-17 win. The loss was Army’s 10th in a row and dropped them to 0-4 on the season. As we know, Army could very likely go winless this season, although I still think they might beat Eastern Michigan at home in a few weeks.
The only remaining hopeful from a BCS conference is Washington, which missed a good opportunity to get their first win last week against Stanford at home, losing 35-28. They also lost their star QB Jake Locker to injury. At this point I think Washington could finish the year without a win. They have 8 games left; 4 at home and 4 on the road; 7 against the Pac-10 and 1 non-conference. They have road games at Arizona, USC, Washington State, and Cal. I can’t seem them winning any of those games except for the one against WSU, but that’s a rivalry game. They have home games against Oregon State, Notre Dame, Arizona State, and UCLA. I believe they could win any of those games but I wouldn’t bet on it if they don’t have Locker. North Texas remains without a win after a 77-20 loss on the road against Rice on Saturday which dropped them to 0-4. FIU's win at Toledo canceled what looked like a definite matchup of winless teams in week 5 when the Mean Green are set to host the Golden Panthers. This will be one of NT's best chances to get a win this year but if they don't win they will still have a number of other chances playing in the SBC.
Last Week’s Notable Scores
Oregon St. 27, USC 21 (The biggest upset of the year so far.)
Conn 26, Louisville 21 (UConn’s luck in close games continues.)
Ohio State 34, Minn 21 (Gophers lose for the first time this year.)
Mary 20, Clem 17 (Another bad loss for the Tigers.)
Michigan St. 42, Ind 29 (Spartans prevail in a shootout.)
Duke 31, UVA 3 (Holy shit!)
Pitt 34, Cuse 24 (Come on Pitt! You’ve got to beat the Cuse by more than 10.)
Ball St. 41, Kent St. 20 (BSU stays undefeated.)
NW 22, Iowa 17 (NW stays undefeated.)
UNC 28, Mia 24 (One of the best games of week 5.)
Miss 31, Fla 30 (Second biggest upset of the year so far.)
A&M 21, Army 17 (That’s pretty pathetic for A&M.)
Ohio 51, VMI 31 (Ohio gets off the schnide.)
Texas 52, Ark 10 (Hurricane Whatever-his-name-was could only delay this beating.)
Mich 27, Wis 25 (Big win for Michigan; bad loss for Wisconsin.)
Aub 14, Tenn 12 (Another tough loss for the Vols; they may go 6-6.)
Hou 41, ECU 23 (Bye bye to the Pirates after 2 straight L’s.)
Fresno St. 36, UCLA 31 (Good win for Fresno.)
FSU 39, Col 21 (FSU’s first win over an FBS opponent.)
ND 38, Pur 21 (ND isn’t good; their schedule is bad.)
Rut 38, Morgan St. 0 (Rutgers gets off the schnide.)
WV 27, Marsh 3 (WV is 8-0 in the battle for the “Friends of the Coal Bowl” Trophy.)
Navy 24, WF 17 (Back to back wins over teams from BCS conferences for Navy.)
Okla 35, TCU 10 (Oklahoma might be #1 for a while. No repeat of 05 upset.)
FIU 35, Tol 16 (Huge win for FIU.)
LSU 34, Miss St. 24 (SEC teams haven’t beaten Miss St. as badly as they should have.)
Ok St. 55, Troy 24 (This time Ok St. avoids the upset.)
Bama 41, UGA 30 (Big time win for Bama; huge disappointment for UGA.)
PSU 38, Ill 24 (Another solid performance by PSU.)
VT 35, Neb 30 (Pretty nice win for VT on the road, 4 straight wins since loss to ECU.)
NM 35, NMS 34 (Lobos win “Battle of I-25” for 6th straight year.)
Nev 49, UNLV 27 (Nevada wins its 4th straight Fremont Cannon.)
SJS 20, Haw 17 (Loss for Hawaii snaps 15 game conference win streak, 8 game home win streak, 9 game home conference win streak; first home conference loss since 2005.)
This Week’s Notable Games (Last week conference play continued to heat up with some interesting matchups in the SEC, ACC, and Big Ten. The most anticipated game last week—Bama-UGA—turned out to be one sided. Hopefully Ohio State-Wisconsin will be better this week. And finally conference play gets rolling in the Big XII. There’s college football all week long and you’ve gotta love it.)
Tuesday
FAU @ MTS (Big game in the SBC. Hey, it’s fucking football on Tuesday night, man!)
Wednesday
LT @ Boise State (Always fun to see Boise St. play and they are legit BCS buster.)
Thursday
Pitt @ USF (A win for Pitt would be huge but USF is only Big East team still alive for National Championship.)
Mem @ UAB (Last year Mem beat UAB to end 7 game losing streak against them.)
Ore St. @ Utah (Can the Beavers make it 2 big upsets in a row and do it on the road?)
Friday
BYU @ Utah St. (Chance to see BYU play and it’ll probably be 70-0 or something.)
Cinci @ Marsh (Got nothing here but it’s college football on Friday and that’s cool.)
Saturday
PSU @ Pur (Have to think Penn St. gets to 6-0 but it’s their first conference road game.)
Duke @ GT (Battle of 2 teams off to surprisingly good starts in the ACC.)
BC @ NC St. (Tom O’Brien looking for win in 2nd game against his old team.)
Rut @ WV (This had become a nice rivalry but both teams are way down this year.)
Okla @ Bay (#1 Sooners are 17-0 all-time vs. Baylor.)
SC @ Miss (SC needs this win pretty badly but they haven’t beaten Miss since 1979.)
Stan @ ND (ND has won 6 straight over Stan but I’m not without hope.)
Army @ Tulane (Army still without a win.)
Kentucky @ Bama (Both teams undefeated. Will Bama have a letup?)
ASU @ Cal (I still don’t know how good ASU is but this should tell us more about both teams.)
Ill @ Mich (Can Michigan win back to back games over decent teams? They’ve won 6 straight over Illinois.)
FSU @ Mia (Remember when this was one of the marquee games of the year? Seems like a long time ago.)
Navy @ AF (Remarkably, Navy was won 5 straight over Air Force after losing 19 of 21 from 82 to 02.)
Aub @ Vandy (Pretty cool that Game Day is in Nashville for this one. Win for Vandy would be epic.)
Conn @ UNC (UConn is undefeated but without QB Lorenzen.)
ULL @ ULM (“Battle of the Bayou.”)
Ball St. @ Tol (Ball State is 5-0.)
Tex @ Col (In 05 Big XII Championship Game Tex won 70-3 but remember Colorado beat Okla at home last year.)
Wash @ Ariz (Coach Ty still doesn’t have a win this year and now Locker’s hurt.)
Ore @ USC (I think the Ducks are playing USC at a bad time.)
Ohio State @ Wis (I think this is easily the biggest game of the week.)
Missouri @ Neb (Tigers have lost 15 straight in Lincoln.)
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