I gave Appalachian State far too much credit. The Michigan Wolverines really are awful.
For the second week in a row, Michigan had no idea how to stop a team that lined up with four receivers and stretched the field vertically. The Wolverine pass rush was nonexistent, and the Wolverine secondary was painfully slow.
But everybody knew the Wolverines defense would struggle against the Ducks. That’s why the offense’s performance against Oregon was such a dismal sight to behold.
An offense with Chad Henne, Mike Hart, and Mario Manningam shouldn’t ever be held to seven points at home against one of the Pac 10’s worst defensive teams.
Worst of all was the lack of heart shown by everyone on the Wolverines save their appropriately named running back. In a game they needed to win to make the world forget about the Appalachian State disaster, they showed no fight whatsoever.
They moved the ball pretty well early until Henne made an awful decision to throw into coverage, resulting in an interception. After Oregon took the lead, Travis Minor fumbled the ball back to the Ducks. With the defense desperately needing a stop, there were the Wolverines bamboozled by a Statue-of-Liberty play, then falling over themselves on a faked Statue-of-Liberty play.
With Dennis Dixon making plays instead of mistakes, the Ducks can outscore any team in the Pac 10. Their secondary is one of the best in the West, and their front seven held very tough against a strong Michigan running game.
Clearly the game was a showcase of two teams moving in opposite directions.
For anyone who’s followed the South Florida Bulls, their victory at Auburn isn’t a surprise. The Bulls are simply designed to play SEC-style football.
Their defense is small and fast, but hits hard and tackles exceptionally well. Their secondary is one of the best in the nation. Their quarterback makes plays whenever the team needs one. And most importantly, the team perseveres in tough times.
Even with Delbert Alvarado missing field goals left and right, and even with the Bulls failing to take command of a game in which they forced five turnovers, USF didn’t crawl into a hole and wither.
The Bulls kept giving themselves more chances to win.
The Bulls showed faith in Alvarado, and he forced overtime with a 19-yard field goal with under a minute left. The Bulls had faith in their defense, and they held Auburn to a field goal in overtime. And the Bulls showed faith in their quarterback, and Matt Groethe found Jesse Hester for a 14-yard game-winning touchdown.
Beating a team like Auburn isn’t about playing better football. Beating Auburn is about surviving torture.
Auburn plays tough, plays physical, controls the special teams, makes tons of mistakes, forces you to make even worse mistakes, then breaks off a random big play to break your back.
South Florida lived through the torture of four missed field goals, and the torture of being given five turnovers and being unable to do anything with them.
Through it all, the Bulls showed the mental toughness to keep playing the game with maximum focus. That fortitude will serve them well when the Big East season gets under way.
The Big East has had the horses at the top the last couple of seasons, but now they have the middle class rising up as well. South Florida's win at Auburn and Cincinnati's trouncing of Oregon State really speak well for the conference's depth. The Big East has grown by leaps and bounds in three years, and now, with five well established teams (possibly six if Pittsburgh comes around), the conference might actually be entering one of the best periods in its history.
Paul Johnson is clearly one of the best coaches in America. Thursday night against Rutgers, he made little changes all game long, from running more dive plays out of the triple-option when Rutgers' ends were staying wide to throwing the ball more when the Rutgers linebackers were playing slow to stop the option.
Of course Navy doesn't have the athletes to beat a team like Rutgers, and it doesn't help when their QB is throwing interceptions in the end zone. But that doesn't mean Johnson didn't make all the correct adjustments to put his team in the best positions to win the game.
The Cardiac Cats are back in Northwestern. Before his tragic death, Randy Walker was legendary for fourth quarter comebacks and exciting wins. Pat Fitzgerald followed that blueprint on Saturday when his Wildcats had to come back from 14 down at the half to upend Nevada. The game was won when C.J Bacher found a diving Ross Lane in the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown strike with 21 seconds left.
Wake Forest is still as annoying as it was last year, but the Deacons just aren't getting the lucky bounces they got during their run to an ACC Championship.
Oklahoma's offensive line looks scary. They run people over and don't give up any pressure on Sam Bradford. It's easy for a young quarterback to develop when he doesn't have anyone in his face.
I know a lot of Ohio State's offensive players graduated last year, but geez!
After a tough home loss to Alabama, Vanderbilt still needs five wins to get to a bowl. Yes, I'm still counting.
Buffalo showed that they aren't the most inept team in the nation by trouncing Temple on the road 42-7. Can the MAC trade the Owls for Appalachian State?
Colorado State, BYU, UNLV, and TCU, were all game in facing California, UCLA, Wisconsin, and Texas. Is the Mountain West that much worse than the Big 10?
Great win for the Washington Huskies over Boise State. It's a shame their schedule is so tough. The Huskies are playing so well right now...and still might not make a bowl.
Was there a more fun game to watch this weekend than Texas A&M vs. Fresno State going to triple overtime?
Oregon's talent level has never been questioned the last few years. Their heart has. Beating a Michigan team that's down in the dumps is impressive, but can they keep up their intensity for 10 more games? And will they keep up that intensity against teams that have the players to frustrate the Ducks' game plan? That much is yet to be seen.
South Carolina's defense runs fast and hits hard. Forget their linebackers—the South Carolina cornerbacks put on a clinic of how to tackle. Steve Spurrier has molded his squad into a power team that wins by running up the gut and playing excellent defense. Versatility like that is what makes him one of the best coaches in the game.
Will Notre Dame score an offensive touchdown this year?
ECU proved they can play in the ACC by beating North Carolina. Not a bad first couple of weeks for the Pirates.
Maryland only beat FIU 26-10? Running up the score isn't something I condone, but any team can accidentally put up 40 against the Panthers. As it was, Maryland was only leading 16-7 going into the 4th quarter.
Challenge to readers: Rank these conferences in order—Big 10, ACC, Mountain West, WAC. Right now, I have the Big 10, the ACC, the Mountain West, and the WAC, in that order...but the conferences aren't far apart at all.
How can anybody be high on Hawaii after they struggled to beat a bad Louisiana Tech team? They haven't played anybody of note and their defense looks terrible.
Virginia Tech can take solace in the fact that they wont be the only team destroyed in Death Valley this year.
Somebody predicted that Florida Atlantic would beat Oklahoma State. Yeah, that was (shakes head disappointedly), that was Lee Corso. What a crazy old man.
Unlike Mr.Corso, I know enough about college football to give a logical top 25:
Top 25
1) LSU
2) USC
3) Oklahoma
4) Florida
5) West Virginia
6) Louisville
7) Cal
8) Wisconsin
9) Texas
10) Nebraska
11) Arkansas
12) Rutgers
13) Ohio State
14) UCLA
15) Georgia Tech
16) Oregon
17) Penn State
18) Virginia Tech
19) South Carolina
20) South Florida
21) Tennessee
22) Clemson
23) Boston College
24) Georgia
25) TCU
