Hey it's my birthday weekend and I am taking the free time to watch as much football as possible, so decided to write an extra entry this weekend. There were a lot of close games (a few interesting calls), some upsets, and just some good old-fashioned football.
Techs...Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech clashed in Atlanta. Though I have a definite dislike for VT, I can honestly say that this was a very fun game to watch. Back and forth with displays of good offense and defense. The first half was very defensive and somewhat slow. Georgia Tech's defense looked completely different than the one that struggled against Florida State last weekend. I love watching the triple option (as it was the first offense I truly understood from my time at Sewanee) and the control that Paul Johnson's squad had against the Hokies. GT completed on pass for 51 yards and rushed for more than 300. It should be interesting to see where the Hokies fall in the first BCS rankings...guess they aren't the best one-loss team anymore.
Texas played a close game with Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout (I don't like saying the R.R. Rivalry). I was saddened to see Sam Bradford knocked out in the first quarter. I think that he is a classy player and great competitor. This game was a great Big 12 defensive battle with the defensive lines controlling the tempo. Colt McCoy struggled: throwing for less than 150 yards and a really poor interceptions. Overall offense was not great for either team, with only two touchdowns in the game and 8 total turnovers. It was a sloppy game very much like the LSU/Florida game of last week. But with this game I am a little more accepting because Big 12 games are not always high scoring while I expect that in the SEC.
Texas Tech...beats #15 Nebraska.
The other games of note:
Florida/Arkansas...for the second straight week, Florida has failed to impress me. They looked to struggle offensively with the Razorback defensive line disrupting Tim Tebow a lot. The Gators had four turnovers and gave up 6 sacks and huge plays to a not so great Arkansas team. But Tebow could have tied up the Heisman with his last minute drive leading to the game winning field goal. And of course special teams come into play...Arkansas misses two field goals, Florida misses one. After the last two games, I believe Florida is susceptible to an upset, though the rest of their schedule is pretty easy, except for the SEC championship.
USC/Notre Dame...I did not think this was going to be a close game, but I was wrong. Notre Dame had chances at the end of the game to tie and send it into overtime. I think that Clausen did not manage the clock correctly. With 4th and 10 on the 29 there were :42 seconds left. After 2 plays there were only 4 seconds left in the game. I think that this was a miscalculation on ND's part. They did have two plays from the four yard line and could not score. Can't wait to see USC v Oregon in Eugene.
Cincinnati/South Florida...yes this game was on Thursday night but I thought it was a fun game to watch. The Big East is definitely not a football conference but they have had some talented teams in the past few years. The problem: it is never the same team and it is never consistent. So the up and down of the programs lead to an unimpressive conference. Cincy's Tony Pike was injured in the first half and sophomore Nick Collaros came in ran for a 75 yard TD and led the #8 Bearcats to victory. I would also like to talk about Eric Schwartz...he is the kicker for South Florida and in only his third made field goal of his career kicks one from 50 yards. Awesome.
Alabama/South Carolina...I need to apologize to my friends Megan and Joe who are avid SC fans but I found this game intriguing despite the Gamecock loss. Alabama did not control the game as much as I thought and it was rather close. The end of the first half was amazing...SC kicked a field goal with about 3 minutes left and it looked like Bama was content with running the clock out for the half. But Mark Ingram rushed up the middle for 51 yards and put them in scoring position. Bama kicked a field goal and SC got the ball back with under a minute to play. Immediately I thought that little would happen and Bama would be up 13-3 at half. Three big rushes by Sc put them in field goal position and they kicked a field goal before the end of the half for a 13-6 score.
With all these close games and upsets I am really interested in seeing the BCS standings for teh first time this year...my thoughts or should I more say my hopes:
1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Florida
4. USC
5. Cincinnati
6. Boise State
7. TCU
8. Iowa
9. Miami
10. Oregon
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