Week 6 College Football Newsletter

There were four Top 25 matchups that received the most hype this past weekend. The combined scores of those four games was 147-77 (average: 36.8-19.3) with the closest game being Florida's 23-10 victory over LSU. Outside of those four games, though, there were some pretty good matchups on Saturday, including one major surprise, well, major to most. It honestly didn't surprise me much.

The Bonehead Call of the Week
Down 21-10 early in the 4th quarter, Bob Stoops and the Sooners staff called for a lateral at their own 10-yard line. The pass was intended for Adrian Peterson. When the ball sailed over his head, a Texas cornerback picked the ball up and ran it in for 6 to put the Longhorns up 28-10, a lead that was insurmountable. Even though it was a questionable call by the officials to rule it a lateral and a touchdown, they wouldn't have had to make the decision at all if OU didn't call for the dumb play to begin with. With an inexperienced quarterback behind center, an offense that wasn't clicking, and already behind 21-10? Not a smart move on the Oklahoma coaching staff's part.

The Bonehead Play of the Week
This goes to LSU receiver Doucette. Down 14-7 in the 2nd quarter, Doucette muffed a kick return at the two yard line, which he then controlled at the one, until he fumbled it into the end zone. The Tigers recovered the ball which ended in two points being awarded to the Gators for the safety. That put Florida up two scores at 16-7 and they controlled the game from that point forward.

The Conference Yo of the Week
After being so hard on the Big XII in early weeks, I've been quite kind to them of late. This will mark the second consecutive week that they have earned this award. For the second straight week, there were some pretty good and competitive games in the Big XII. Texas A&M and Kansas were involved in a game decided in the last minute for the second straight week. A&M was the victory this time, 21-18. Kansas State came back from two scores down in the final five minutes to defeating Oklahoma State 31-27. Baylor beat Colorado in three overtimes by the score of 34-31. Texas looked very impressive against Oklahoma in their 28-10 victory over the Sooners. Missouri got off to a great start against Texas Tech, led 24-0, before the Red Raiders stormed back to close the gap to three at 24-21. Mizzou then scored the final two touchdowns to improve to 6-0 in their 38-21 win. Finally, Nebraska won a tough road game in Ames in their 28-14 win over the Cyclones of Iowa State.

The Conference Yo No of the Week
It was supposed to be the week of the SEC. While the matchups looked great on paper, they were anything put when played on the field. Arkansas dominated then 2nd ranked Auburn 27-10. Florida got out to an early lead against LSU and never let it up in their 23-10 victory. Georgia got off to a great start, before allowing 51 points to Tennessee in their 51-33 loss to the 'Vols. As expected, Mississippi State got clobbered by West Virginia 42-14. Alabama was up 16-14 on winless Duke going into the 4th quarter before they added a couple late scores to win 30-14. The two best games included three of the worst teams in the conference: Mississippi's 17-10 win over Vanderbilt and South Carolina's 24-17 win against Kentucky.

Game of the Week
There were a few games spoiled by official (go figure, right?), so I won't award this to any of them. To my surprise (and others, I'm sure), I'm dishing this out to the Indiana/Illinois game. It was back and forth from start to finish. Illinois started out hot to lead 14-0, but Indiana stormed back to pull within four at 14-10 and 22-17 at the half. Indiana scored first in the 2nd half to take a 24-22 lead and it was back and forth until the very end, when Indiana kicked the game-winning field goal with no time remaining to win 34-32. No, it wasn't a "huge" game by any means, but when it comes to suspense and entertainment for a full sixty minutes, this was the best game of the week.

Biggest Disappointment of the Week
Which do I pick? I guess I'll go with Cal and Oregon. The Ducks were coming off a bye week and unbeaten at 4-0. Kirk Herbstriet talked them up on GameDay. Both teams took turns spanking Arizona State the previous two weeks, Cal beating up the Sundevils 49-21 before the Ducks won 48-13 over ASU. Looks to be a fun, high-scoring matchup, right? Well, it was for Cal, but not so much for Oregon. Cal dominated from start to finish in their 45-24 blowout of the Ducks. Cal's starting tailback Marshawn Lynch even got banged up in the 2nd quarter and didn't play in the second half. His back-up, Forsett, picked up right where Lynch left off and ran the ball on Oregon like Reggie Bush would to a high school team.

Kudos
Comebacks. Some teams made remarkable fourth quarter comebacks this weekend. Then unbeaten Wake Forest led Clemson 17-3 going into the fourth quarter. But, following a blocked field goal which the Tigers ran back for 6, the game went from potentially being 20-3 and a three score game to 17-10 and a whole new ball game. All-in-all, Clemson scored 24 points in the 4th to win 27-17. Kansas State was down 27-17 with less than five minutes left against Oklahoma State, but scored two touchdowns, the final coming with less than a minute left, to defeat OSU 31-27. Georgia Tech trailed Maryland by ten points in the fourth quarter before Tech came back to win 27-23.

No Kudos
The four hyped games. The losers of the Top 25 matchups this weekend: Oklahoma, LSU, Oregon, and Georgia were anything but impressive on Saturday. Georgia showed up for a half. LSU showed up to turn the ball over. Adrian Peterson showed up in spurts for OU. Oregon didn't show up at all. On paper, the matchups were great, but the losers of the four games didn't look prepared at all. Stoops, Miles, Belotti, and Richt didn't have their teams very well prepared and that showed.

Player of the Week
For the second time this season, I'm giving this to Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge, who completed 25 of 28 passes (89.3%), threw for two touchdowns and ran for another against what was the #1 defense in the country.

Surprise of the Week
Even though I picked Tennessee to beat Georgia, never would I have expected there to have been 84 points scored in an SEC battle like this one... in Athens... featuring the #1 defense in the country. I couldn't have pictured this score even if they played into the 7th overtime. Auburn beat LSU 7-3. Arkansas defeated Auburn 27-10. Florida beat Tennessee 21-20 and LSU 23-10. Those scores all seemed feasible, but 51-33? Not a chance. I was truly shocked by how the game transpired and what the final results were.

Nebraska Game (from an unbiased person's viewpoint)
Even though the Cyclones have underachieved and disappointed all season to this point, they're never a gimme, especially in Ames. They've also found ways to play NU very tough the past few seasons. The same might've held true on Saturday if a couple breaks went their way. But whatever way the ball bounced, NU did appear to have the better team. They ran the ball all over ISU's soft front seven. Tailbacks Glenn and Jackson each ran for over 100 yards and the Huskers only asked Zak Taylor to throw the ball five times in the second half. Why? That's all that was needed. Unlike in the USC game when NU averaged around two yards per rush, they chalked up the rushing yards in chunks in Ames on Saturday. Taylor was efficient when he dropped back to pass. The O-Line opened up some nice holes for the tailbacks. Overall, the offense was effective.

On the other side of the ball, the front seven looked pretty good against the run and pressuring quarterback Bret Meyer. Their secondary wasn't as impressive, but the secondary had extra men on their side in striped suits. So, with the stingy front seven and the extra men in the secondary, the defense looked pretty good overall. They were definitely improved from a week ago when they allowed 32 points to Kansas.

Up next for the Huskers is Kansas State and that's followed by Texas. Nebraska is definitely a better team than Kansas State. The only thing I wonder and worry about is if the players will look ahead to their matchup with Texas. It'll be interesting to see how pumped up and focused the players are next week. Nebraska should win, but in this day and age, you never know.

Solich Update
After losing three straight, Frank Solich and his Ohio Bobcats got a big conference victory on Saturday, beating then 3-1 Western Michigan 27-20. With that, the Bobcats improved to 2-1 in the MAC and an even 3-3 overall.

Gill Update
Gill's Buffalo Bulls got roasted this weekend against Ball State of all teams, 55-25. With the loss, Buffalo fell to 0-3 in the MAC and 1-4 overall.

Rant of the Week: Officiating
Where do they hire college officials? Do people walk in and take a 10 question true/false test and get judged based on that one score? From just the portions of games I saw, there were five ball games with poor officiating. In Michigan's 31-13 win over Michigan State, the Wolverines' first touchdown was not a touchdown at all. The receiver came down with the ball and landed on his shoulder well out of the back of the end zone. It was called a touchdown and never reviewed. The lateral I mentioned earlier in the OU/Texas game was iffy, to be nice. OU already had a tough hill to climb, being down more points than they had scored at that point. But, after that was ruled a touchdown for the 'Horns, the game was all but over. In the battle between Penn State and Minnesota, the Gophers scored in overtime to lead 27-21, but missed the extra point. On 4th and 9 for PSU, Nittany Lion quarterback Morelli's pass was incomplete and the Gopher players and coaches started running onto the field to celebrate. There was a flag thrown by the refs though and Minnesota was called for pass interference. When the replay was shown, it was a very iffy, ticky tack kind of foul. A couple plays later, PSU scored the game-tying touchdown, only to win it with the extra point. USC led Washington 26-20 late in the 4th quarter when the Huskies started a late game drive. The Huskies were out of timeouts and after they completed a pass down inside the 20-yard line, the refs were slow on stopping the clock. When the Husky receiver's knee hit the ground, there were 6 seconds left. The refs didn't stop the clock until there were only 2 seconds remaining. The refs then held a conference, because Washington coach Ty Willingham was pleading the case for there to be more time put up on the clock. The refs stood around speaking to one another. Some UW players motioned to the coaching staff that more time was going to be added. A few players even walked over to the sidelines. USC head coach Pete Carroll was upset, because the refs were taking so long. Finally, the refs decided not to add any time and UW was unable to get the snap off in time. Lastly, Iowa State had their share of bad luck on Saturday night against Nebraska. They had two touchdowns called back via penalty and had another ruled incomplete when replay showed that it was a touchdown. The first touchdown that was called back was legit. There was definitely a hold on the play, but at the same time, it was a very late call. A referee in the end zone threw the flag well after quarterback Bret Meyer scored the touchdown. The second one called back was because of receiver Todd Blythe placing his hand upon a corner's shoulder before catching the ball. It was worse than a defensive pass interference call in the pros. Then, the third touchdown was blatantly shown in the replay. But? The refs didn't even review it! Michigan probably would've won their game regardless of the missed call. Nebraska was probably the better of the two teams on Saturday night. Oklahoma would've had a tough time coming back anyway. But, we'll never know. The refs blew a game for Minnesota and blew a chance for Washington to come away with the upset win against USC.

My Top 119 Poll
1. Ohio State (6-0): 192.1
2. USC (5-0): 182.1
3. Florida (6-0): 181.3
4. Louisville (5-0): 177.2
5. Michigan (6-0): 174.9
6. Boise State (6-0): 163.2
7. Tennessee (5-1): 161.6
8. Clemson (5-1): 158.4
9. Rutgers (5-0): 155.7
10. West Virginia (5-0): 155.3
11. Texas (5-1): 154.7
12. Missouri (6-0): 152.9
12. Notre Dame (5-1): 152.9
14. Auburn (5-1): 150.4
15. California (5-1): 150.3
16. Nebraska (5-1): 147.2
17. Iowa (5-1): 146.1
18. LSU (4-2): 145.9
19. Texas A&M (5-1): 142.8
20. Wisconsin (5-1): 142.0
21. Georgia Tech (5-1): 141.3
22. Pittsburgh (5-1): 140.2
23. Arkansas (4-1): 139.4
24. Tulsa (4-1): 138.9
25. Boston College (4-1): 138.7
26. Oklahoma (3-2): 138.3
27. Texas Tech (4-2): 138.0
28. Oregon (4-1): 136.4
29. Georgia (5-1): 134.9
30. Virginia Tech (4-1): 132.9
31. UCLA (4-1): 131.1
32. BYU (4-2): 128.3
33. Wake Forest (5-1): 127.9
34. Washington State (4-2): 127.8
35. Washington (4-2): 127.5
36. Navy (5-1): 126.3
37. Alabama (4-2): 124.2
38. Oklahoma State (3-2): 122.3
39. Southern Mississippi (3-2): 121.4
40. Utah (4-2): 121.3
41. Penn State (4-2): 121.1
42. Hawaii (3-2): 119.8
43. Florida State (3-2): 117.5
44. South Carolina (4-2): 116.8
45. Michigan State (3-3): 115.5
46. Miami (Florida) (3-2): 115.1
47. TCU (3-2): 115.0
48. Houston (4-2): 114.9
49. Kansas State (4-2): 113.0
50. Air Force (2-2): 112.3
51. South Florida (4-2): 111.9
52. Ohio (3-3): 110.3
53. Kentucky (3-3): 107.6
54. Minnesota (2-4): 107.2
55. Colorado State (4-1): 106.5
56. Purdue (4-2): 106.3
57. Maryland (3-2): 106.0
58. Northern Illinois (4-2): 105.3
59. Syracuse (3-3): 104.3
60. North Carolina State (3-2): 103.6
61. Arizona State (3-2): 103.4
62. Kansas (3-3): 102.4
63. Louisiana-Lafayette (3-2): 102.2
64. Oregon State (2-3): 101.6
65. Western Michigan (3-2): 100.5
66. UTEP (3-2): 99.3
67. Army (3-3): 98.9
67. San Jose State (3-1): 98.9
69. Central Michigan (3-3): 98.7
70. Kent State (4-2): 98.3
71. SMU (3-3): 97.2
72. East Carolina (2-3): 96.7
72. Nevada (3-3): 96.7
74. Cincinnati (3-3): 96.4
75. Baylor (3-3): 95.8
76. Connecticut (2-3): 95.7
77. Iowa State (3-3): 95.1
78. Bowling Green (3-3): 94.5
79. Arkansas State (3-2): 88.3
80. UAB (3-3): 87.6
81. Indiana (3-3): 86.7
82. Mississippi (2-4): 86.2
83. Middle Tennessee State (3-3): 86.1
84. Arizona (2-4): 83.6
85. Akron (2-4): 83.3
85. Vanderbilt (2-4): 83.3
87. Central Florida (2-3): 83.2
88. Wyoming (2-4): 82.7
89. Illinois (2-4): 81.9
90. Virginia (2-4): 81.3
91. New Mexico (2-4): 77.4
92. Idaho (3-3): 74.8
93. Fresno State (1-4): 74.7
94. Toledo (2-4): 74.1
95. New Mexico State (2-3): 73.4
96. Ball State (2-4): 71.9
97. Tulane (2-3): 69.7
98. Mississippi State (1-5): 66.8
99. Marshall (1-4): 66.5
100. Rice (1-5): 66.3
101. North Carolina (1-4): 64.6
102. North Texas (2-4): 63.9
103. Troy (1-4): 63.6
104. Louisiana Tech (1-4): 59.6
105. UNLV (1-4): 58.4
106. Northwestern (2-4): 57.8
107. Memphis (1-4): 56.6
108. Louisiana-Monroe (1-4): 54.5
109. Stanford (0-6): 53.9
110. Colorado (0-6): 53.5
111. Buffalo (1-4): 50.5
112. San Diego State (0-5): 49.8
113. Florida Atlantic (1-4): 46.7
114. Florida International (0-6): 46.4
115. Miami (Ohio) (0-6): 44.9
116. Utah State (1-5): 43.6
117. Duke (0-5): 31.1
118. Eastern Michigan (0-5): 28.0
119. Temple (0-6): 17.5