Week 7 College Football Newsletter

In my opinion, this was the best weekend in college football thus far. It even beat what was coined "Separation Saturday." Apologies to Gators, Hawkeyes, Hokies, Red Raiders, Bulldogs, Wolfpack, Illini, and Tigers fans.

The Bonehead Call of the Week
Even though it was successful, I still consider it to be one of the dumbest moves I've seen in football. Down 7-0 to Nebraska and facing a 4th down from their own 8-yard line, Kansas State faked a punt. If they don't make good on the first down, Nebraska has the ball inside the 15-yard line. I've seen fake punts from midfield, from the 40, but the 8-yard line? That shows a lot of faith in the special teams and defense, doesn't it? Whew.

The Bonehead Play of the Week
This goes to the brawl in the Florida International/Miami (Florida) game. Directly following a score by the Hurricanes to up their lead to 13-0, tension filled the air, as the 'Canes showed up the Panthers. After the extra point was kicked through the uprights to extend the lead to 14-0, an all-out brawl ensued, where 13 players (8 from FIU and 5 from Miami) were ejected. A Hurricanes' player hit an FIU player with his helmet. A Hurricane kicked a Panther while he was down. It was ridiculous and pathetic. Eight Miami players have now been suspended indefinitely. As they did to South Carolina and Clemson a few years ago after their brawl, neither team was allowed to play in a bowl game even though both were bowl eligible. The same type of penalty should be laid upon the Hurricanes.

The Conference Yo of the Week
It's a tough call this week (as it usually is), but I'm going to give the Pac 10 a slight edge over the Big East and the Big XII. Why? The games were all fairly competitive. Stanford lost their 7th straight, but lost by less than two scores, 20-7, which is really good for them. Cal got off to an early lead over Washington State, but the Cougars kept the Bears' explosive offense in check for the rest of the game, finally falling to Cal 21-3. Oregon State and Washington were in a battle until the end in the Beavers 27-17 victory. Oregon and UCLA were involved in a fairly high-scoring affair (go figure, right?), with the Ducks prevailing 30-20. Finally, USC was involved in yet another one-possession game. They were up 21-0 early, but Arizona State scored 21 unanswered after that to tie the game 21-21. USC then scored the go-ahead and eventual winning touchdown midway in the 4th quarter to win 28-21.

The Conference Yo No of the Week
After debating with myself (yes, I do that sometimes), I'm going to award this to the Big Ten. Iowa looked ahead to Michigan and it bit them in the backside, losing to Indiana 31-28. Michigan State continues to reel, getting blown out of the stadium in their 38-7 loss to Ohio State. Illinois lost to MAC phenom Ohio 20-17. Purdue beat up on Northworstern 31-10. Wisconsin pummeled Minnesota 48-12. Finally, Michigan defeated Penn State 17-10. It if wasn't for the ACC, the Big Ten would be the most disappointing conference of the season. Outside of Ohio State and Michigan, the conference has done nothing to impress me.

Game of the Week
Even though it was not nationally televised, I had the privilege of witnessing the Vanderbilt/Georgia game. Vandy controlled the game until late in the third and early in the 4th. Vandy led 21-13, when Georgia scored 9 consecutive points to take the lead. Following a field goal to close the gap to 21-16, Vandy did what Vandy does and threw an interception that was run back for 6. The two-point conversion came up one yard short to lead Georgia to a 22-21 advantage. Vandy faced a 4th down on their last drive and converted by the length of a football. Their drive set up a 30-yard field goal attempt from about the middle of the field. As Vandy so often does in these situations, one might expect that they shank it, mishandle the snap, or get the kick blocked. That wasn't the case here. The kick was as close to perfect as a kick can be and Vandy beat Georgia 24-22!

Biggest Disappointment of the Week
Following Thursday night's game between Virginia Tech and Boston College, I figured I could vent about how poorly the Hokies played. But, somebody had to outdo them. Minnesota and Wisconsin were the teams. The GO-phers were never in the game. Wisconsin dominated throughout and probably could've scored over 80 if they didn't go conservative in the second half. The final was bad enough as it is. Minnesota scored 12 points and the only reason that is is the fact that Wisconsin played Barry Alvarez and his lounge buddies in the 4th quarter on defense. The BAH-gers, even after going conservative and playing Alvarez in the 4th quarter, beat Minnesota 48-12. Ouch! The GO-phers are now 2-5 and much like Michigan State is doing, they're falling fast!

Kudos
The lesser teams. This past weekend, we saw the lesser of two teams outplay their opposition en route to victories in a few games. Auburn came back against Florida to dominate the second half. Indiana fought back every time they fell behind against Iowa. Texas A&M made the most of Missouri's multiple errors to beat the Tigers. Boston College outexecuted Virginia Tech. I already mentioned Vanderbilt's upset win over Georgia.

No Kudos
Officials of the Oklahoma/ISU game. It probably didn't matter, but what I saw at the end of the first half was ridiculous. Oklahoma was up by three scores at the tail-end of the half. This was before ISU tailback Skip Hicks galloped for a good chunk of yardage and went out of bounds at the OU 25-yard line with 16 seconds left in the half. Naturally, one would assume that the clock would stop when Hicks stepped out of bounds. Even if the refs ruled he never went out of bounds (which he did), the clock would stop because he ran for a first down. It would start after they moved the chains. But, the clock kept moving. Once it reached 11 seconds, it went into fast-forward mode and was quickly down to 0. ISU head coach Dan McCarney got after the refs and pointed toward the clock. The head official put those headphones on for a couple seconds to review the play and he waves his arms to indicate that the half was over. 16 seconds disappeared there. OU eventually won 34-9, so it probably wouldn't have mattered, but you never know. ISU could've gained some momentum going into the second half, being down by two scores as opposed to three, but they were never given that ounce of momentum due to the OU clock.

Player of the Week
I'm giving it to two players this week: quarterback Pat White of West Virginia and wide receiver Bowman of Oklahoma State. Pat White set the Big East record for rushing yards by a quarterback, marching for 247 on the afternoon on 15 carries. He also completed 12 of 19 passes for 99 yards (346 overall) and scored 4 touchdowns. Bowman set a school record by catching 13 balls for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns. Those are video game numbers. White averaged approximately 16 1/2 yards per rush and Bowman averaged over 23 yards per reception.

Surprise of the Week
Where did Colorado come from? They were 0-6 entering the game this past weekend against Texas Tech. Most of those losses were tightly contested throughout, but even then, I was not expecting a 30-6 blowout of the Red Raiders in Boulder. Did the offense finally click? Is Texas Tech not nearly the team they've been in recent years? A bit of both? We'll have to wait and see, but the way CU has improved each and every week this year, I would cringe if I saw them on my schedule toward the tail-portion of the season.

Nebraska Game (from an unbiased person's viewpoint)
There's one thing that people need to know about this game and that's the Nebraska run defense stuffed K-State. That's the end of it. K-State's best run play of the game came on a 4th down fake punt at their own 8-yard line. Outside of that bonehead call, I can't remember the Wildcats with one rush that went for more than five yards. K-State was never able to get into a rhythm offensively because of that. The closest they came was at the very end of the first half when quarterback Josh Freeman completed a few passes that allowed the 'Cats to kick a field goal as time expired. Freeman had an average day throwing the football, but that didn't matter for the simple fact that they couldn't run the football.

Offensively, Nebraska stuck to the run. Is it just me, or does it seem that Callahan goes run crazy on the road and is more apt to throwing it at home? I've also noticed that the O-Line for Nebraska appears to be more effective in run-blocking than pass-blocking.

Overall, Nebraska dominated, even though the score may not show that. The main distraction Nebraska had was the fact that they played defending champ Texas the following week in Lincoln. It'd be very easy to overlook K-State, but NU didn't do that, especially their front seven.

I'm still uncertain what Callahan and company are attempting to do with the offense. He was pass crazy a year ago. He appears to be run crazy this year, especially in road games. Lucky and Wilson got the bulk of the playing time in the backfield in the opening few games. Jackson and Glenn have gotten the workload in the past couple games. Purify seems to catch third down passes, but not much more. Glenn was used on third and shorts, but is now being used in a greater quantity. I'm very curious on how Callahan will approach the upcoming game with Texas. Will he treat it like a road game and attempt to keep the ball away from the Longhorn offense by running it time and time again? Will he approach it like he did Kansas with some home run throws? Will it be somewhere in between?

Solich Update
Frankie's Bobcats pulled off another major conference upset, defeating Big Ten Illinois on Saturday 20-17. They beat Pitt last year. With the win, Ohio stays at 2-1 in the MAC conference and improves to 4-3 overall.

Gill Update
Buffalo played Miami (Ohio) close, but fell to the then winless Red Hawks 38-31. With the loss, the Bulls fall to 0-4 in the MAC conference and 1-5 overall.

Rant of the Week: USC
I'm curious, why are "analysts" and "experts" bashing USC? Have they gotten spoiled over the past 3-4 years? Carson Palmer, Mike Williams, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, Reggie Bush, LenDale White, Dominique Byrd, Troy Polamalu, Matt Leinart, etc? They have not won any style points in their Pac 10 games, but who, that's unbeaten, has played a tougher schedule? USC annihilated Arkansas 50-14. That's Arkansas' only loss of the season. That's the same Arkansas team that beat Auburn 27-10, who has beaten LSU and Florida. USC beat a 6-1 Nebraska team 28-10. They beat new and improved Washington State and Washington and the always dangerous Sundevils of Arizona State. The only team they've faced thus far with a losing record is 3-4 Arizona. Will USC stay unbeaten? Who knows. But, if they do, they deserve to play in that National Title. Left on their slate is: 5-1 Notre Dame, 6-1 Cal, 5-1 Oregon, 3-3 Oregon State, 4-2 UCLA, and 0-7 Stanford. At this point, there are only 2 of 12 teams that USC faces who are below .500. Do I think that this USC club is as good as the Trojan squads from the past 3-4 years? No. But, do I think they should be ranked 2nd for what they've accomplished thus far? Absolutely. It'll eventually work itself out anyway (hopefully). Ohio State and Michigan square off, so the loser of that game won't go to the National Championship. USC could very well lose to Cal, Oregon, or Notre Dame. There's no need for analysts to do just that and overanalyze USC for not winning pretty. They've faced off against some quality competition, have a bullseye painted on their back again every Pac 10 team they play, and should only improve as the year transpires.

My Top 119 Poll
1. Ohio State (7-0): 183.8
2. USC (6-0): 177.5
3. Michigan (7-0): 173.9
4. Louisville (6-0): 170.5
5. Florida (6-1): 166.2
6. Rutgers (6-0): 164.8
7. Boise State (7-0): 162.5
8. Clemson (6-1): 160.5
9. Texas (6-1): 159.4
10. West Virginia (6-0): 159.3
11. Auburn (6-1): 158.0
12. Tennessee (5-1): 157.0
13. California (6-1): 153.0
14. LSU (5-2): 152.7
15. Nebraska (6-1): 150.6
16. Notre Dame (5-1): 148.5
17. Wisconsin (6-1): 147.2
18. Boston College (5-1): 146.1
19. Texas A&M (6-1): 145.8
20. Missouri (6-1): 144.8
21. Arkansas (5-1): 144.5
22. Oregon (5-1): 142.4
23. Oklahoma (4-2): 141.5
24. Pittsburgh (6-1): 141.3
25. Georgia Tech (5-1): 140.5
26. Tulsa (5-1): 140.3
27. Iowa (5-2): 131.0
27. Wake Forest (6-1): 131.0
29. BYU (4-2): 130.1
30. Oklahoma State (4-2): 127.0
31. Alabama (5-2): 125.0
32. Hawaii (4-2): 124.8
33. Air Force (3-2): 124.4
34. Florida State (4-2): 123.7
35. Southern Mississippi (4-2): 123.5
36. Washington State (4-3): 121.1
37. UCLA (4-2): 120.9
38. Georgia (5-2): 120.3
39. Navy (5-2): 119.9
40. South Carolina (4-2): 117.8
41. Virginia Tech (4-2): 117.7
42. Miami (Florida) (4-2): 116.9
43. Texas Tech (4-3): 116.6
44. Washington (4-3): 115.9
45. Penn State (4-3): 115.4
46. South Florida (5-2): 114.7
47. Oregon State (3-3): 113.5
48. Ohio (4-3): 111.5
49. Western Michigan (4-2): 111.1
50. Purdue (5-2): 110.4
51. Houston (4-3): 109.9
52. Michigan State (3-4): 109.2
53. TCU (3-2): 109.1
54. Maryland (4-2): 109.0
55. UTEP (4-2): 108.5
56. Kansas State (4-3): 108.3
57. Kent State (5-2): 107.6
58. Utah (4-3): 106.6
59. Connecticut (3-3): 106.3
60. North Carolina State (3-3): 104.3
61. Central Michigan (4-3): 103.2
62. Arizona State (3-3): 102.6
63. Northern Illinois (4-3): 101.8
63. San Jose State (4-1): 101.8
65. SMU (4-3): 101.3
66. Syracuse (3-4): 101.2
67. Indiana (4-3): 100.5
68. Louisiana-Lafayette (3-2): 99.5
69. Minnesota (2-5): 99.3
70. Bowling Green (4-3): 98.0
71. Colorado State (4-2): 97.7
72. Vanderbilt (3-4): 96.9
73. Cincinnati (3-4): 96.7
74. Wyoming (3-4): 96.1
75. Kansas (3-4): 95.9
76. Arkansas State (4-2): 94.3
77. Kentucky (3-4): 93.7
78. Army (3-4): 92.5
79. Nevada (3-3): 92.0
80. Middle Tennessee State (3-3): 88.8
81. Baylor (3-4): 88.0
82. East Carolina (2-4): 85.9
83. Iowa State (3-4): 85.0
84. Arizona (3-4): 84.9
85. New Mexico (3-4): 83.2
86. Akron (2-4): 81.5
87. UAB (3-4): 80.2
88. New Mexico State (2-4): 80.0
89. Idaho (4-3): 79.9
90. Virginia (2-5): 79.8
91. Mississippi (2-5): 79.6
92. Illinois (2-5): 75.4
93. Central Florida (2-4): 75.1
94. Mississippi State (2-5): 74.7
95. Rice (2-5): 73.2
95. Troy (2-4): 73.2
97. Tulane (2-4): 70.8
98. Toledo (2-5): 70.3
99. Ball State (2-5): 68.2
100. North Texas (2-4): 66.6
101. Fresno State (1-5): 64.8
102. Colorado (1-6): 63.8
103. North Carolina (1-5): 62.6
104. Marshall (1-5): 60.2
105. Louisiana Tech (1-5): 58.7
106. Florida Atlantic (2-4): 57.8
107. Northwestern (2-5): 57.2
108. Miami (Ohio) (1-6): 54.1
109. UNLV (1-5): 53.1
110. Louisiana-Monroe (1-5): 52.9
111. Memphis (1-5): 50.7
112. San Diego State (0-5): 50.4
113. Florida International (0-7): 48.5
114. Utah State (1-6): 47.8
115. Stanford (0-7): 45.6
116. Buffalo (1-5): 42.5
117. Duke (0-6): 30.8
118. Eastern Michigan (0-6): 30.5
119. Temple (0-7): 21.8