College Football Review, Week 3

Hey folks, its time to review the week that was in college football. First, some business:

Music to listen to: Rolling People by The Verve




I’m still a big fan of this band. Get their Urban Hymns album and you will thank me later. Yes, Bittersweet Symphony is on it but I like some of The Verve’s other songs better.

Crush of the Day: Hope Solo (Washington)

Similar to last week, the Crush of the Day will be based on a school that had an eventful weekend. Since Washington earned an upset over USC, I’m going to pick alum, stud athlete and certified attractive woman Hope Solo. Anna Faris finished a close second.

Time to get to the games and my quick thoughts:

Miami 33, Georgia Tech 17: If the Hurricanes can keep this up, they will be national title contenders next year. The majority of the players on Miami are freshman and sophomores, which is a scary thought. We’re still waiting to see if Randy Shannon is an elite coach, but he’s a good recruiter. The reality is that Miami should have never reached its depths based on their talent base. As for Georgia Tech, they just got out-talented.

Boise State 51, Fresno State 34: I watched a decent amount of this game for two reasons. First, I was in on Friday night and second, I did dog Fresno State a little bit last week. I wanted to gain a complete prospective of the Bulldogs. Fresno State isn’t a bad team but Boise State is still the elite team in the WAC and the gap is still large.

Penn State 31, Temple 6: Those boys are going to go undefeated. But respect to the Nittney Lions for playing some of their in-state foes. As an angered Vandy fan who never sees his team play two division I teams within its state, and more on that later, its nice to see Penn State take on Temple. I know that the Owls are an easy win, but it’s a nice gesture. Now if we can get Penn State and Pitt to face each other more often, we may be on to something.

Army 24, Ball State 17: Will the Black Knights go bowling this year? As a New York native, I hope so.

Kentucky 31, Louisville 27: I thought this would be a double-digit win for Kentucky. I didn’t see two snaps of this game so help me out on this one.

Cal 35, Minnesota 21: The Golden Gophers have a nice looking stadium. If Cal doesn’t make the Rose Bowl this year, shame on that program.

North Carolina 31, East Carolina 17: Who’s the second-best ACC team? The reason that I ask this is that the ACC has never gotten an at-large bid in the BCS bowls. Between Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Miami and even Florida State, each of them may stake a claim if their paths stay the same. Something to consider.

Alabama 53, North Texas 7: How good is Alabama really?

Florida 23, Tennessee 13: I didn’t understand why some thought that the Gators were going to win this game by three or four touchdowns. First, Tennessee’s defense is too good for that as we saw on Saturday. Second, Urban Meyer has aspirations beyond running the score up on UT. Florida is competing for a national title and aren’t going to keep their starters in there for risk of injury. Tennessee’s defense has always been decent but the offense, specifically Crompton is awful. Until Tennessee improves it offense, it will always be the fourth or fifth-best team in the SEC, at best.

MTSU 32, Maryland 31: Break up the Boro! Tremendous win for MTSU over Maryland for the second year in the row. Will the Blue Raiders go bowling for the first time in years? I say yes.

Notre Dame 33, Michigan State 30: Still not out of the woods yet, Weis.

Virginia Tech 16, Nebraska 15: Didn’t see this game accept for the end. Good win for Virginia Tech but if that offense doesn’t improve, Miami steamrolls them this Saturday.

Washington 16, USC 13: Respect to Washington for the win and it was a good moment for the program, but two things. I don’t think that it’s as big of an upset because I actually read respected experts picking the Huskies to get the win because second, USC always does this. For some reason, the Trojans find a way to lose these games, whether its to Oregon State, Stanford and now Washington. The best theory that I’ve read on this is that Pete Carroll has such a relaxed program that the team can play loose in big games and bowl contests but can’t stay focused in minor conference games. My counter to that is that even if USC isn’t motivated, they still have enough talent to win these games. I do think that this is the weakest USC team in the past five or six years, which is still good for eight to nine wins but not at the national championship level of the past few years.

Southern Miss 37, Virginia 34: The Cavaliers finally found some offense and still lost.

Oregon 31, Utah 24: Maybe Oregon can recover after that bad first game on and off the field.

Connecticut 30, Baylor 22: When a northeastern school can head to a decent Big 12 school, win the contest and you don’t even feel shock, that shows you how good of a program Edsell has at UCONN.

Cincinnati 28, Oregon State 18: Tennessee will regret not pursing Brian Kelly harder and settling for Lane Kiffin.

Florida State 54, BYU 28: Well, my theory of BYU playing for the nation al title is over now. And now that Utah lost, the chances of the Cougars making a BCS bowl are shot.

Mississippi State 15, Vanderbilt 3: I was at this game and it was boring as the score will indicate. You have to have a more aggressive offensive plan if you plan to compete in the SEC.

Georgia 52, Arkansas 41: Where have the defenses gone? Also, Ryan Mallet does have the best arm and is the best pro prospect SEC quarterback in the league. That doesn’t make him the best quarterback however.

That’s all folks.