Scary Week at the Top
There is an old saying that says that in order to win a Championship, you need to have a scare game. We all saw the Boston Red Sox have a few of them in this year's playoffs. USC, Oklahoma, Texas, and Cal all had one on Saturday. Everyone of those four teams trailed at one point in the game, many late, and yet managed to pull out the victory to keep hopes for a championship alive. The most disappointed team on Saturday was the Auburn Tigers, who sat out the week and saw time and time again, a chance to move up in the BCS rankings slip away.
Quick Thoughts:
- How good are the offenses on the teams in the Big 12 South? On Saturday, the top 5 teams in the conference (we can skip Baylor...though Texas A&M did that and lost, but we don't have that problem) put 210 points on the board. What is more amazing is that they did it all against each other. So what does that say about the defenses of the Big 12 South?
- Last week, the hopes of North Carolina rested on the leg of freshman kicker, Connor Barth. Apparently, his performance against Miami was so inspiring as to cause someone on the Tar Heel campus to dress as Barth for Halloween. This week, Barth had a chance to help North Carolina pull a shocker again. Down by three with a little over a minute remaining, Barth attempted a 54 yard field goal to tie the game. The kick fell just a few feet short of the crossbar, turning the ball over to Virginia Tech who ran the clock out for the win. You can't pin the loss on Barth. Anyone who has watched football long enough knows that 50-plus yard field goals are not automatic, especially in college where the has marks are wider. You can give the North Carolina team credit, especially their coach Jim Bunting. This team got trounced by Utah. The loss to Utah was so bad that many teams would have packed it in right there, especially considering how young the North Carolina team is. However, that is not what happened. In the last two weeks, North Carolina has shocked Miami, and played Virginia Tech, a team with a chance to win the conference, down to a last second field goal. With such a young team, you can only project out what they may be able to do in coming seasons, which would be a big change down in Chapel Hill. As Virginia Tech coach Frank Beemer said after the game, "They keep getting better and they're a tough team to play."
- Another tough team to play lately has been Cincinnati. You remember Cincinnati. They were the team that snapped Army's 19-game losing streak. After that game, quarterback Gino Guidugli said their team must be the laughing stock of the country. Since that game though, the Bearcats have won 3 straight, this week against 21st ranked Southern Mississippi. Not one of those 3 wins has been by less than 11 points. They have the longest winning streak of any team in the conference and they are the only team in the conference to beat a ranked team all season. Cincinnati has 2 more games left before the end of the regular season for them, against South Florida and Louisville. Neither of those games will be easy for Cincinnati, but if they win just one of them, they will be bowl eligible. Being from Conference USA, they most likely won't be playing in one as the conference doesn't have the number of tie-ins that the big boys do. It would still be a great accomplishment for them just to be considered. They were 2-4 after the Army game and all hope looked lost. They have proved the last 3 weeks that they still have it.
- I am nominating my all name team for the year so far:
- Virginia T: D'Brickashaw Ferguson
- Oregon State DT: Sir Henry Anderson (Yes, Sir is part of his first name. He is not a knight.)
- Oklahoma DB: Chijioke Onyenegencha (Pronounced close to "I'm a gonna get ya!")
- I will likely take some heat for Purdue still being ranked in the Top 25 in the MRI, even after 4 straight losses. This is made even worse because they are consistently ranked above the team which beat them (This week Iowa). They are barely above .500 and they are 2-4 in conference. However, their four losses have come by a combined total of 10 points, which in case you were watching was exactly how many Miami has lost by in the last two weeks. Purdue keeps finding ways to lose games. On Saturday, they were unable to generate much offense, especially with Kyle Orton out, until the end of the game which made it close. Another loss should do them in, though, another win and they are in a bowl. That should come against Indiana, though they still have a shot to beat Ohio State next week, more so if Orton can play.
- Yes, there was a lot of contact on the 4th down incomplete pass that ended Overtime for Miami against Clemson. However, you have to give Clemson Defensive Back, Tye Hill a lot of credit. He was absolutely mugging Miami receiver Lance Leggett. That is, until Brock Berlin released the ball. Once the ball was in the air, the only thing that Hill did was get close and make it look like he was trying to get the ball. Hill raised his arms away from Leggett's body and was able to persuade the referees that he did not interfere. The win for Clemson was their fourth in a row, and probably their biggest of the season. Inspired by the play of their defense, Clemson came back from a 14 point deficit at halftime to tie and send the game to overtime. Running Back Reggie Merriweather gave them the lead in the extra period on a one yard run, capping a fine performance which saw him gain 117 yards and score all of the Clemson touchdowns. Clemson next plays Duke before finishing the season against in state rival South Carolina.
- Want to know what is wrong with the BCS? Boston College could win its next three games and be the Big East champions. They may be ranked lower than 15 in the polls if that happens. 14 teams could be better than them and they still get 14 million dollars. They may not even be in the Top 25 in the MRI if they win the next three games because one is against Temple. $14 million and all they have to do is beat Temple. Hey, all you guys on television who say that Utah doesn't deserve a spot (especially the ESPN announcer from Wednesday night who refuses to rank Utah higher than 10th in his AP vote), guess what team has a harder strength of schedule than both West Virginia and Boston College. Yes, that would be Utah.
- Someone should have told the weather man at Oregon State that Halloween was last Sunday, not yesterday. I watched...uh, tuned into...the game between USC and Oregon State on Saturday night. Saying that you watched something under those conditions is stretching the truth a little. The fog was so thick that when they ran plays and had the camera shot from up in the stands, you could not see the ball on the field. You could tell on most plays that the camera man was just guessing who had the ball, or who the pass was intended for. The only game I have ever seen with worse fog was an NFL playoff game between the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles, appropriately named The Fog Bowl. Give credit to both teams for playing hard despite the tough conditions. USC got lucky they pulled out a win this week. Three more and they are going to Miami.
Ok, time to let my brain decompress from the weekend now. Enjoy the rankings
this week.
