Week 3 College Football Newsletter

It was called Separation Saturday and for a reason, as there were numerous battles between teams ranked either in the Top 25 or just outside of the Top 25. All but two of those battles were solid. The two blow-outs were so shocking that they even held my interest somewhat, as I constantly closed my eyes, looked away from the screen for a moment, before looking back over and realizing that the scores weren't typos. Enough beating around the bush. Let's get right down to it.

The Bonehead Call of the Week
There were two and in the same game! Army was a huge under to Texas A&M, but hung around until the very end. With about two minutes left in the game, A&M led Army by the score of 28-24. The Aggies faced a 4th and 1 from their own 27. Common sense tells us that Coach Franchione would punt the football and take his chances with the Aggie defense being able to prevent the run-oriented option offense of Army from driving 60-70 yards for the go-ahead and potential winning touchdown. No, Franchione went for it and on 4th and 1, the Aggies halfback iso play was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage. So, Army, down 28-24 had an opportunity to celebrate Christmas early, starting from the Aggie 27-yard line with just under two minutes left in the game and down four points. But, Franchione and the Aggies got very lucky, as Army head coach Bobby Ross wanted to one-up the A&M coach when it came to bonehead decisions. On 3rd and goal from the 4-yard line, with nine seconds left and no timeouts, Ross decided to run the football. They were stuffed behind the line of scrimmage and that was the ball game. Army had two chances to score with it being 3rd down and 9 seconds left. If they had one timeout remaining, the run call would be tolerable, but with no timeouts, it's either make or break on 3rd and goal for the Cadets. Ross took a big gamble, went against the odds, and lost a few bucks in the process. Congrats to the two coaches for playing a game of chess for dummies on Saturday night.

The Bonehead Play of the Week
I'm going to give this to the Miami Hurricanes for their pre-game antics against at Louisville. They stood out at midfield and hopped around on the Cardinal logo. As if the Cardinals didn't have enough motivation as it was, Miami just added fuel to the fire. Louisville then exploded for 31 points on the hyped 'Canes defense en route to a dominating victory over the now 1-2 Hurricanes.

The Conference Yo of the Week
This is a tough call, but I'm going to give this to the Pac 10. USC beat up Nebraska 28-10. Arizona State did likewise to Colorado, 21-3. Oregon defeated Oklahoma, 34-33 (kind of). Washington upset the always tough and stingy Bulldogs of Fresno State, 21-20. Washington State came back against Baylor en route to a 17-15 victory. Arizona improved to 2-1 with a win over a Division I-AA opponent. Cal did likewise to Portland State. The only team to have lost was Stanford, the new doormat of the Pac 10 it seems like. They got smoked by Navy, 37-9. The Pac 10 finished the weekend 7-1, including a 4-0 record against the Big XII. The runner up this week is the Big East with two dominating wins against the ACC.

The Conference Yo No of the Week
I wrote last week that I would continue to give this award to the Big XII until they played some decent competition. I noted that they'd be doing that this past weekend and the only way I'd give the nod to the conference this week was if they were dominated in all those games. I'm tempted, very tempted to do so. Texas Tech scored three points on TCU, in a 12-3 loss to the Horned Frogs. Nebraska, Baylor, Colorado, and Oklahoma all fell to Pac 10 opponents. Iowa State was dominated in the second half by their rival Hawkeyes in a 27-17 loss to Kirk Ferentz's crew. Kansas lost a tough double overtime affair to Toledo. Missouri only beat New Mexico by 10. Kansas State won 23-7 over Marshall. Texas A&M got lucky against Army in their 28-24 win over the Cadets. In the only two dominate wins by the conference, Texas routed Rice and Oklahoma State beat up on Florida Atlantic. Overall, the conference was a combined 5-7. But, the ACC nudged out the Big XII for the worst major conference this weekend. Miami got slaughtered by Louisville 31-7. Maryland got beat up by the Mountaineers of West Virginia 45-24. Virginia lost to Western Michigan 17-10. Florida State fell to Clemson 27-20. Boston College had problems with BYU in their double overtime victory over the Cougars. Troy gave Georgia Tech problems through three quarters before the Jackets woke up and won the game 35-20. Virginia Tech shut out Duke. North Carolina was involved in a shoot-out with Division I-AA Furman. Carolina won that game 45-42! NC State got pummeled by Southern Mississippi 37-17. The one surprise was Wake Forest convincingly defeating UConn 24-13. The ACC finished 6-6, with a 1-2 record against the Big East, a 45-42 win over Division I-AA Furman, a loss to Western Michigan, an overtime victory over BYU, and an embarrassing loss to Southern Miss. The Big XII got lucky this week. They should just be thanking the ACC for stinking it up slightly more than they did.

Game of the Week
Pick a game. The Toledo/Kansas game on Friday was quite the appetizer leading into Saturday's games. Toledo is 1-1 this year against Big XII competition. In those two games against Iowa and Kansas, the Rockets have engaged in a total of five overtimes and have outscored the two teams by the combined score of 80-76. The Iowa/Iowa State game was a one possession contest until a couple minutes left in the 4th quarter. Vanderbilt was a pain in the backside (as usual) to Arkansas in their 21-19 defeat. It took double overtime for Boston College to defeat BYU 30-23. Oregon and Oklahoma were involved in a back and forth tussle with quite the dramatic ending. In a game of field goals, TCU limited the high-flying Red Raiders of Texas Tech to 3 points in their 12-3 win. Tommy's Tigers outlasted Bobby's 'Noles in a 27-20 victory. Texas A&M had their hands full with Army on Saturday night in their 28-24 victory. But, I'm going to give this to the two SEC battles: LSU/Auburn and Florida/Tennessee. Football nuts had to expect blowouts from these games, right? And we definitely had to expect a shootout in the first game. Allright, so I kid. LSU and Auburn was an upgraded version of the Miami/Florida State game in the first week of the season. If you like hard hits, speed and talent all over the field, quarterbacks getting crushed, and an intensity that can only be felt in those SEC rivalry-type games, then LSU/Auburn was a heavenly experience. Only ten points were scored, but I was on the edge of my seat throughout. LSU even had a chance to win the game on the last play from scrimmage. They had the ball inside the Auburn 20, but quarterback JaMarcus Russell's pass was incomplete at the 5-yard line to ensure Auburn's win. The Florida and Tennessee matchup wasn't much different, outside of the fact that there were more big plays from an offensive standpoint in the game. Tennessee led 17-7 before Florida closed the gap to three with a touchdown of their own, 17-14. The 'Vols kicked a field goal to lead 20-14, but the lead wouldn't hold up for long, as Chris Leak and the Gators marched down the field for the go-ahead and eventual winning score. Rivalries are great, but there's something about the rivalries down south that has a little something extra than others around the country. This weekend was a prime example of that.

Biggest Disappointment of the Week
I have to go with Notre Dame. They beat Georgia Tech in a hostile environment to start the season. They then pounced on JoPa's Nittany Lions at home in week 2. Meanwhile, Michigan had looked solid against the likes of Vanderbilt and Central Michigan, but not great. On Saturday, Michigan still looked very solid, but Notre Dame? Whew. They looked as bad as I've seen in quite some time. Brady Quinn was inconsistent and has been through the first three games of the season. But, the receivers didn't help him any. On Michigan's first interception, it came on a pass from Quinn that was right in the receiver's mitts. The receiver allowed the ball to bounce off his chest and right into the hands of the Michigan receiver, who ran the ball in for six. What was even worse (that's tough to accomplish) was the Irish defense. Head Coach Charlie Weiss and the rest of the coaching staff liked to claim that Notre Dame had quickened some on defense. Yeah, they only allowed 27 total points to Georgia Tech and Penn State, but their performance on Saturday has me forgetting all about those two solid outings to start the season. Was the outing on Saturday an aberration for the Irish? How will they bounce back against Michigan State, a team who has handled the Irish pretty well in the past few years? Is Michigan as good as they appeared on Saturday? We shall see, but from what I've seen thus far, it appears that they and Ohio State are head and shoulders above the rest of the Big Ten schools.

Kudos
TCU. I admit it, I picked the Red Raiders to beat the Horned Frogs in this one. Why? I thought the game would be higher scoring and therefore, it'd favor Texas Tech. I was very wrong on that prediction. Not one touchdown was scored, in a Texas Tech game! It was the first time in five years that Tech had not scored a touchdown in a game. While TCU has not won pretty thus far into the season, they've won and have a 3-0 record to show for it. While I still don't look at TCU as a BCS-type team, if they continue to win and end up going undefeated, then it'll be hard to keep them out, especially with two wins over Big XII opponents.

No Kudos For You
NC State. Chuck Amato is in big trouble over in Raleigh. Outside of an ugly 23-10 opening week win over Division I-AA Appalachian State, the 'Pack have lost to the Akron Zips and Southern Miss by the combined score of 57-34. On the season, they've scored 57 points, an average of 19 per game against a MAC opponent, a Conference USA opponent, and against a Division I-AA school. The offense has struggled immensely ever since quarterback Phillip Rivers graduated. The defense was loaded last year, but lost, among others, defensive end Mario Williams. NC State is in a world of trouble this year. The only thing they have going for them is the fact that the ACC looks to be mediocre and rebuilding again this season. The Wolfpack will have to improve, though, and fast, if they want to have any chance at going bowling over the holiday season.

Player of the Week
West Virginia halfback Steve Slaton showed off his goods in the Thursday night game against Maryland. The guy ran for over 100 yards in the first quarter alone, 195 overall, and two touchdowns in the 45-24 victory over the Terrapins. If you haven't watched this guy before, do so if you get the chance. The guy is fast and has some moves. The really scary part is, he's only a sophomore, as is quarterback Pat White.

Surprise of the Week
I'm not shocked that Louisville beat Miami. It was a home game and they've come very close in the past few years to pulling off the upset. What I am shocked about is how the Cardinals won the game. Tailback Michael Bush is gone for the season. Quarterback Brian Brohm got hurt in the game and will be lost for a few weeks. Miami appeared to be very pumped up and there were even some associated with Louisville who made comments during the week that Miami was not the Miami of old. Despite this, Louisville dominated the Hurricanes 31-7. I only hope that Brohm is able to come back for the game against West Virginia. That could be one of the bigger matchups of the season, one that may not get talked about as much, as it involves two schools from the Big East.

Nebraska Game (from an unbiased person's viewpoint)
While it was no surprise that Nebraska lost on Saturday to USC at the Coliseum and it wasn't shocking that they lost by eighteen points, the playcalling by Bill Callahan surprised many, including myself. When Nebraska had the football, it appeared that instead of playing to win the game, they were playing not to lose. Check that. They weren't even playing not to lose. They were simply playing not to get blown out and embarrassed. While I've criticized Callahan in the past for being too pass happy, he was the direct opposite on Saturday and that wasn't any better. If Nebraska had run the ball successfully on a consistent basis throughout the game, then that'd be one thing, but that wasn't the case. Quarterback Zac Taylor was 5 for 9 throwing the football midway in the third quarter before he led Nebraska down the field for their only touchdown. Just before halftime, Nebraska had the football at their own 20-yard line with timeouts to spare and approximately two minutes to work with. What'd Callahan do? Attempt to score some points before the half to close the 14-3 gap some? Especially considering USC had deferred the coin toss and would receive the ball first in the second half? No. Callahan went conservative (a constant theme throughout the evening) and ran the ball a few times to run out the clock. The best play call in the first half was a fake punt which eventually set up a field goal to put the Huskers up 3-0 early in the game. Outside of that playcall, Callahan was more conservative than Nebraska politics. It didn't seem to matter if the down was 1st and 10 or 3rd and 6, you could expect the coach to call a run of some kind. It was as if Ol' Frankie was on the sidelines of the game. Although, to Callahan's credit, he didn't call a reverse on a 4th and inches and didn't call a quarterback draw three times consecutively. So, wait to go Bill! But, his playcalling indicated that he lacked faith in his offense and his team that they had any chance to win the game. Perhaps Billy had a bet going that Nebraska would beat the 18 1/2 point spread and wanted them to play JUST well enough to lose by a 28-10-kind of score. Well Billy, mission accomplished!

Positives I noticed for the Huskers on Saturday were: 1) Special Teams and 2) Run defense. The coverage was solid all night on kicks and punts for Nebraska. Terrence Nunn had a nice punt return, even after getting bumped into by a Trojan who was flagged for interfering with the returnman. The fake punt was quite possibly the best and most exciting play of the night for NU. Congdon kicked in his only field goal attempt. Nebraska's run defense was fairly solid during the course of the game, as well. SC had a few successful runs, but were much more successful throwing the football than running it.

It's difficult to evaluate the Huskers overall so far this season. They seem to have a rather stout run defense, are pretty solid on special teams, and quarterback Zac Taylor has been accurate throwing the football when he's been called to do so. The secondary is potentially a question mark, as is the consistency of the running game. One challenge may be Bill Callahan's playcalling. Zac Taylor was never allowed to get into any rhythm on Saturday like he had in NU's first two games. It appears that Callahan has problems with balanced play calling in big games. He did a fairly decent job of that against Louisiana Tech and Nicholls State, but went away from that gameplan at the Coliseum. It'll be interesting to see what transpires throughout the rest of the season. Up next is Troy, so I'm guessing he'll call a decent game again. But, at Iowa State? Who knows.

Solich Update
Frankie's Ohio Bobcats started off the season with two impressive victories, one over Northern Illinois before they ran into the State University of New Jersey (AKA Rutgers), where the Scarlet Knights took care of business by the score of 24-7. But, hey, Rutgers had beaten Big Ten Illinois 33-0 the week prior, so it wasn't too shabby a performance by Frankie's crew. The Bobcats maintain their 1-0 record in conference and are now 2-1 overall.

Gill Update
Following a heartbreaking triple overtime defeat to Bowling Green a week prior, Buffalo faced another tough MAC opponent in Northern Illinois. The NIU Huskies finally got on track with a 31-13 victory over Gill's Bulls, who fall to 1-2 with the loss.

Rant of the Week: Instant Replay
I've always been an advocate of instant replay, because I don't believe referees should be the ultimate deciders of football games. It's not their games to win or lose. It's their games to keep fair and make sure that one team doesn't get an advantage over the other. This was not the case on Saturday in Eugene, Oregon between the Ducks and Oklahoma Sooners. Following an Oregon touchdown that closed the gap to 33-27 with under two minutes left and no timeouts remaining, Oregon was forced to kick an onsides kick. While they recovered the kick, it was obvious on replay that a Duck touched the ball before it went ten yards. The play was reviewed by the refs for approximately five minutes and they concluded that Oklahoma touched the ball first, so it was therefore Oregon football. Just a couple plays later, Oklahoma was called for pass interference, but the play was reviewed after a Bob Stoops complaint that the pass was deflected. If a ball is tipped before the defender makes contact with the receiver, then by rule, there is no penalty. On replay, it clearly showed that the ball was tipped. It went from a spiral to a wobbly ball on its way to the receiver and for a good reason. The wind didn't pick up from 5 to 60 miles per hour at that instant. The ball was tipped. So, what'd the refs conclude? The ball wasn't tipped, so the penalty remained in effect and Oregon would be aided another 15 yards. They scored on the very next play to go up 34-33 with what would be the eventual winning score. If it was a holding call that they couldn't review, I could tolerate that somewhat. But, a play that can be seen over and over again via replay? There's no excuse to miss that call. I can almost guarantee that if the game had been played in Norman, the proper call would've been made on the onsides kick and Oklahoma would've won after three kneel downs. Just because a team is at home and the refs represent the home team's conference, does not give any excuse for the refs to ultimately give one team an unfair advantage over the other. That's what replay was meant to prevent. That wasn't the case in Eugene on Saturday. If replay isn't going to be utilized properly, what's the point of it in the first place?