Upset Special

Unbelievable. Shocked. Stunned. These words help to describe the past weekend in college football. This past weekend was the craziest weekend that I can recall in recent memory. FOUR top 10 teams in USC, Georgia, Florida, and Wisconsin, all got beat this weekend. The upsets of these teams played a huge factor in the rankings of the latest polls. USC dropped from number one to number nine. Georgia dropped from number three to number 11. Florida dropped to number 12 and Wisconsin dropped to number 18. Georgia was dominated by Alabama in Athens on Saturday night. The Crimson Tide made the Bulldogs look like a high school team out there as they rolled over them. Perhaps the biggest upset was Florida getting beat in the swamp, where they are virtually unbeatable winning 21 of their last 22 games there, by the Ole Miss Rebels. Jevan Snead and the Rebels outdueled Tim Tebow and the Gators, 31 to 30. What can I say about Wisconsin? The Badgers gave up a 19-point lead on the Michigan Wolverines and ended up losing 27 to 25.

With all of the upsets, teams were quietly able to sneak up into polls. Oklahoma rose to number one, a first since 2003, and the Alabama Crimson Tide followed them at number two. LSU, Missouri, and Texas rounded out the top five. Alabama are by far the Cinderella darlings through the first five weeks of the college football season. Heavily scrutinized quarterback John Parker Wilson has led the Tide to an undefeated start and their highest ranking since 1993. We knew the Tide would eventually be a good team, but we didn’t know it would be so soon. Do you think that folks in Alabama are calling for a raise for Nick Saban from 4 million to 8 million? If Alabama keeps it up, I wouldn’t doubt it.

The Boys of Troy?

Many people around the nation have been asking themselves; who will be playing USC in the BCS National Title Game? The Trojans were supposed to storm through the Pac-10 and regular season undefeated. The key words: supposed to. USC is now 2-1 after their loss to the unranked Oregon State Beavers on Thursday night in Corvallis. This is the Trojans second loss to the Beavers in the past three seasons, with both losses coming at Oregon State. The Men of Troy just didn’t look ready to play and Oregon State took advantage of it. The keys to the game were simple: USC couldn’t stop OSU’s Jacquizz Rodgers and Mark Sanchez looked rattled for most of the game. Rodgers couldn’t be stopped as he rushed for 186 yards on 37 carries and two touchdowns. An unbelievable performance for a TRUE FRESHMAN!
This was a huge win for not only Oregon State but for a number of teams. Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, LSU, and other numerous teams better be sending a thank you card to the Beavers. The team that could benefit most from this upset is Penn State. The Nittany Lions demolished the Beavers a few weeks ago and they look like a team on the rise.
Why did we all assume that USC was so great? Okay they did beat Ohio State at home, but that was without Beanie Wells playing and Ohio State can’t win big games against non-conference opponents. They demolished Virginia, but Virginia isn’t a very good team as Duke is favored in their game. This is just another sad case of people overhyping USC and jumping on the bandwagon.

Heisman Hopefuls

    It’s the trophy young football players dream about growing up. They imagine themselves standing on a stage in New York City accepting the most infamous trophy in college sports: The Heisman Trophy. Some things never change. With four weeks of the college football season gone there are some individuals who believe they may have a chance of living out their dream and being the next college football legend.

            Four weeks into the college football season has brought about a few obvious Heisman candidates. These candidates include Florida Gators quarterback and returning Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, and Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno. All of theses candidates are having great seasons and even though Tim Tebow isn’t putting up ridiculous numbers like he did last year, he still has to be included because Florida looks like a much better team than last year. These are all candidates you would expect to see. There are also a couple of dark horses in this years’ race as well.

              BYU quarterback Max Hall is having an extraordinary season. Max Hall has led the Cougars to two straight shutout wins over a UCLA team that beat Tennessee, and Wyoming. Max Hall has thrown for 15 touchdowns this season with seven touchdowns alone in the UCLA game. Could Max Hall be holding the trophy come December? If the 11^th ranked Cougars remain undefeated and become BCS busters, I would definitely say it could be a possibility.

When is Michigan State running back Javon Ringer going to get some respect? He has definitely earned it from his opponents. Ringer leads the nation in carries, rushing touchdowns, and is second in rushing yards. The running back has rushed for 200 yards or more in two straight games. In the second game of the season he recorded five, yeah I said FIVE, rushing touchdowns. Ringer is a true every down back who deserves some credit and I believe that if he keeps up his remarkable season that you will see him in New York as a candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

Statement Weekend

   This past weekend in college football was what I like to call a “statement” weekend.  A lot of teams showed there “true” color this past weekend. While some went out and proved a point, others were shocked and upset.

            The Georgia Bulldogs by far made the biggest splash this weekend. The Bulldogs traveled nearly 2,000 miles across country and played a formidable Pac-10 opponent in primetime, and “spanked” them 27 to 10, yet they are still ranked third in the country. Then there was the “Tiger Bowl.” This game was kind of a shocker in that each team actually scored in the twenties and a team (LSU) won on the road in this matchup. There were two things that were discovered in this game. Number one: LSU found a quarterback in Jarrett Lee. Number two: Auburn still hasn’t found a quarterback.

            If I learned only one thing this weekend it would have to be that the Alabama Crimson Tide are FOR REAL. Alabama laid the smack down on Arkansas on Saturday. The tide won 49 to 14. The 49 points Alabama scored was the highest point total for Alabama in an SEC game since 1990! The Crimson Tide showed they are a threat on defense and offense. Alabama scored on two long interception returns for touchdowns and running back Glen Coffee racked up 162 yards on ten carries and two touchdowns.

            There were also some disappointments this weekend. East Carolina got beat in overtime by a young North Carolina State Wolfpack team and I am making the assumption that there are some problems in Knoxville. The Tennessee Volunteers not only got beat, the Florida Gators manhandled them on Saturday. I doubt that people are singing “Rocky Top” in Tennessee right now and I wonder if they’re asking themselves “Where’s Peyton?”

The East Carolina Pirates!

The 15^th ranked East Carolina Pirates have been without a doubt the best story in college football throughout the first three weeks of this young college football season. The not highly regarded team from Greenville, North Carolina has arguably had the most impressive wins throughout the first three weeks of the season. Unranked East Carolina beat the 17^th ranked Virginia Tech Hokies, at a neutral site, during the first week of the season. They sealed the victory with a blocked punt returned for a touchdown by T.J. Lee in the waning moments of the game. The following weekend they faced the 8^th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers. The Pirates steamrolled the Mountaineers and the game was essentially over by halftime. The final score: East Carolina 24, West Virginia 3. East Carolina had held Pat White and the West Virginia high-octane offense to without a touchdown, a first for the mountaineers since the 2001 season.  This past weekend the Pirates went into Tulane and beat the Green Wave in maybe their toughest game of the season.

             This season could end up being a very memorable one for the Pirates. East Carolina is ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 1999 and in beating the Mountaineers, they also be a top 10 team for the first time since 1999 as well. The key for the Pirates thus far has been the stellar play of quarterback Patrick Pinkney. Pinkey has a quarterback rating of 160.95 with four touchdowns compared to one interception. Not everything is great in pirate land though. The pirates just likely lost their top linebacker, Quentin Cotton, for the season with a right knee injury. The question now is if East Carolina can handle this adversity and finish the season undefeated. The schedule starts to look a little nicer now with their toughest opponent probably being UCF. Can the Pirates be BCS busters? It looks like we will just have to wait and see.

The Week Ahead

What an exciting upcoming weekend in college football! The fourth weekend of the college football season opened up this Wednesday with Louisville beating Kansas State 38 to 29. Louisville was led by freshman running back, Victor Anderson who ran for 176 yards on 18 carries and three touchdown runs of 56, 29, and 27 yards. Louisville looked far from the team that opened up their season against Kentucky. This weekend should be action packed with some quality football games. Florida plays Tennessee, Notre Dame battles Michigan State, and the Georgia Bulldogs travel out west to play a shootout with the Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday night in primetime. This would be enough to count on an exciting weekend in college football except for there is one more game I haven’t spoken of.

            The most intriguing game this weekend has to be the “Tiger Bowl.” The defending National Champion and sixth ranked LSU Tigers travel to Auburn, Alabama to play the 10^th ranked Auburn Tigers. You can count on this game being one with a lot of defense and not much offense (Auburn just came off of a game where the beat Mississippi State 3 to 2!).  This SEC matchup has determined the champion in the SEC West five out of the last seven years. If you remember last year’s game LSU beat Auburn on a touchdown pass in the final seconds of regulation, to keep LSU’s national title hopes alive. A key fact in all of this is that the game is being played at Auburn where LSU hasn’t won since 1998! This weekend should be an interesting one and tell us which teams are for real and which ones are living a fairy tale. 

Trojan Domination

Wow what an exciting past weekend in college football! We saw everything from overtime games, upsets like UNLV over Arizona State, and your handful of routs. This past weekend also brought about a little bit of controversy in the polls. USC remained number one and rightfully so, but Oklahoma managed to leap frog Georgia by demolishing the sorry Washington Huskies. When is Georgia finally going to earn the respect they deserve? Let me ask you this though, when was it actually a bad thing to go into a formidable Southeastern Conference opponents' home turf and squeak out a victory? The SEC is arguably the best conference in college football and has been for years now, but the Georgia Bulldogs still managed to drop another spot to number three in the latest polls, even by defeating the old ball coaches' South Carolina Gamecocks on the road. 

The story of this past weekend has to come from southern California though. The USC Trojans and Ohio State Buckeyes met in "The Collision in the Coliseum." The game was rather a head on collision for the buckeyes, which ran into a concrete wall known as the USC Trojans. The Trojans absolutely destroyed the fifth ranked buckeyes in every aspect of the game and proved they were the best team in the land by demolishing the buckeyes 35 to 3. Ohio State was without Heisman hopeful Chris "Beanie" Wells but the buckeyes simply were outmatched. The question now is whether USC can be beat? I feel that the only team that can beat the USC Trojans is the USC Trojans. Only time will tell, but I will be shocked if you don’t see the Trojans in the BCS National Title Game come January.

The State of The College Football Union Address

Hello everyone and welcome. I am a first time blogger and you will know me all as "Big D." I am writing a sports blog with a focus on college football. My blog will consist of highlights from the previous weekend of college football games as well as a focal point toward gearing up for the upcoming weekend slate of games. This blog will provide readers with a viewpoint on notable games, the Heisman race, star players, key injuries, teams on the rise and decline, upsets, and the mess that is known as the Bowl Championship Series.  

I have chosen to write about college football for a few different reasons. I really enjoy reading and writing sports columns, so I thought to myself why don’t I write a blog about college football. First of all I am an avid football fan who truly enjoys the true nature of the sport. The sport greatly intrigues me because unlike the NFL, student athletes play for the love of the game, not for a paycheck. I am interested in getting more in depth with the sport so I will stress this through statistics, top 25 polls, and stories from around the college football universe. 

Now you are probably asking yourself what makes this anonymous person qualified to write about college football in general. Like I said earlier, I am an avid football fan and I attend football games regularly. I am currently attending a school in the Big Ten Conference, meaning I get to watch top-notch football programs play week in and week out. This gives me an added perspective on college football compared to just your regular fan, who just watches the games on the tube. I also watch programs such as “Sportscenter” and “College Football Live” daily to keep me up to date on the latest breaking news. This is why I feel I am qualified to write on such a broad topic. Please feel free to leave any comments.

“Big D”