Miami Florida 21,(12)Florida 16
Since all scumbags originally move to Florida after being caught (Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers,etc), the state has adopted a new motto: “Florida a very sunny place for shady people.” At once a great rivalry, now not a major blip on the landscape of college football.
Story of the game was mistakes for the Gators. Florida had five turnovers and was 1 of 6 in the redzone. You can’t go on the road and commit that many mistakes and expect to win. QB Jeff Driskell has all of the tools but he made some very poor decisions that took points off the board for Florida. Play of the game happened with just over four minutes to go. Driskell was sacked by Miami DE Tyriq McCord. McCord forced the sack and recovered the fumble at the Gators 4. Miami went in two plays later to put the Hurricanes up 21-9. Driskell had one last chance but took a sack with 20 seconds to go. One of those plays where he has to know better. It was a horrible game for Driskell. Florida decided to recruit Driskell over Teddy Bridgewater. OUCH!!!!
Miami QB Stephen Morris has a big arm and made a beautiful long touchdown pass in the first quarter. After that he showed why he isn’t rated higher. Poor decisions and bad over-throws kept the game close.
The pro prospect that looked the best was Florida DT Dominique Easley. The “U” couldn’t block him. He showed a great speed rush and bull rush.
The “U” brought 115 high school recruits to the game. They hope this game brings them back to national prominence.
(23)Baylor 70, Buffalo 13
It was a much better start for Buffalo. In the first series Joe Licata hit Alex Neutz for 54 yards and it helped set up a Bo Oliver one yard score. The Bulls needed to get a better running game going with Oliver. Then the flood gates opened and didn’t stop until Baylor had a 63-13 lead. Bryce Petty seems to be following nicely in the RG III and Nick Florence footsteps. Petty went 13 of 16 for 338 yards and two touchdowns. The Bears had over three hundred yards of offense in the first quarter. The Bulls secondary was abused. The most impressive thing was that Baylor scored 63 points by early in the third quarter and all of their scoring drives were under two minutes. Baylor’s offense is just as fast as Oregon’s if not faster.
Lache Seastrunk maybe the best running back in the country. He has rushed for over 100 yards in seven consecutive games. Seastrunk had 150 yards on only 17 carries. Throw his name not only as maybe the best running back in the draft but with this offense into the Heisman race for sure.
Lone bright spot for Bulls was Alex Neutz, who caught 6 passes for a career high 197 yards and a touchdown.
(11)Georgia 41, (6) South Carolina 30
Aaron “Big Game” Murray was 1-9 against top 15 teams coming into the game, but he answered his critics in this one throwing for 309 yards and four touchdowns. Georgia defense replaced eight starters from last year and it showed in a poor performance against Clemson. The 30 points might seem like small progress but it was a better performance from the Bulldogs defense.
Gamecocks star DE Jadeveon Clowney had another sub-par performance. The Bulldogs did run away from him but he was a non-factor all day long. Todd Gurley is a stud running back. He is big, strong, tough runner. Gurley gained 132 yards on 30 carries.
The play of the game happened in the fourth quarter with Georgia up 34-30 and facing a 3rd and 13 from its own 15. Murray scrambled away from Clowney and hit speedster Justin Scott-Wesley for an 85 yard bomb. South Carolina did bring the ball downfield but were stopped on fourth and goal from the Bulldogs one. The Bulldogs gained 536 yards against Clowney and company. Things got so bad that two South Carolina coaches got into a fight on the sidelines. At least they hit someone; you can’t say that for many of their players.
(17)Michigan 41, (14) Notre Dame 30
Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner wore number 98 in this game to honor Michigan’s first Heisman winner Tom Harmon. Harmon was a great runner along with a war hero that later became a sports broadcaster. His son Mark was a UCLA quarterback and now the star of NCIS. Gardner threw for four touchdowns in leading the Wolverines to victory in front of the largest crowd ever to watch a college football game at the “Big House” (115,109). Gardner did have one bonehead play that let ND back in the game. With Michigan up 34-20 early in the fourth Gardner scrambled back into his end zone and blindly threw a pass that was picked off by ND star defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt.
The key drive of the game happened after ND pulled within four 34-30. Gardner led the Wolverines 77 yards on 10 plays for the touchdown that put the game on ice. Two questionable interference penalties aided the drive.
There may be only one more game left in this series because, to quote Brady Hoke from earlier this summer, Notre Dame is “chickening out” on this series after 2014.
(19)Northwestern 48, Syracuse 27
Northwestern faked injuries in the fourth quarter last week in beating Cal. Pat Fitzgerald brings disgrace to an egg head school. To make matters worse, the acting was in a range on a level that might impress the likes of Kevin Costner, Vin Diesel or even Keanu Reaves. But I am sure it was most appreciated by self appointed “Bureau of Public Safety” Watchdogs “Czar Nicholas” Saban of Alabama & Brett “Blowhard” Bielema, newly of Arkansas, who have been bellowing about the “DANGER” of these newfangled offenses that don’t allow their over-sized defensive behemoths the opportunity to rest. This puts them in grave danger of– well, you know, missing tackles, not being able to manhandle blockers & pile-drive running backs into the turf on a play after play basis.
Of course, when asked about this during their press conferences this week, the two Cro-Magnon defensive specialists actually pretended that they thought the Northwestern players were actually, honestly, really hurt & this proved their point about safety being the major issue.
When asked about the safety issue this week, Washington State Coach Mike Leach laughed: “Of course it is only defensive-oriented coaches who are spooning this slop. I guess in the name of player safety, we 0ffensive-oriented coaches should ask for a ban on blitzing that would really make the game safer.”
This week there was no need to fake injuries. The Wildcats rolled up 581 yards of offense building a 34-7 halftime lead and cruising to victory. For Syracuse, transfer QB Drew Allen had another horrible game. Allen was picked off four times as the Orange fall to 0-2 under Scott Shafer.
(2)Oregon 59, Virginia 10
The Sultan of Brunei has less palatial estate than the Oregon’s Ducks football complex. Phil Knight will be consulting on the Sultan’s new bathrooms in his palace. On the Ducks’ first series, Marcus Mariota took a third and five play up the gut for 71 yards untouched for the first touchdown of the game. You had a feeling that it was game, set, and match. The Ducks went for two, which we love and the rout was on. Mariota threw for 199 and rand for another 122 yards. Mariota and De’Anthony Thomas are so fast the Cavaliers never knew what hit them. Thomas ran for 124 yards and three scores. How quick is the Ducks offense? They scored 59 points and yet their time of possession was only 17:48.
(3) Ohio State 42, San Diego State 7
Braxton Miller went down in the first series of the game with a sprained knee. He takes too many hits. The running QB’s have to be smart with the punishment that they take and he needs to do a better job of getting down and taking fewer hits. “Pope” Urban Meyer said that Miller wasn’t hurt too badly.
San Diego State lost by 21 at home to Eastern Illinois (Mike Shanahan and Sean Payton’s alma mater) last week, so no shock that this was a blowout. Kenny Guiton is a solid player that like Miller can beat you with his arm or his legs. Guiton threw for only 146 yards but was also the team’s leading rusher with 83 yards on the ground. Guiton helped save the Buckeyes undefeated season last year with a come from behind win over Purdue.
(16)Oklahoma 16, West Virginia 7
It’s hard to believe that these are the same two teams that played the 50-49 thriller last year. That was one of the games of the year. This year’s version was a yawner.
Dreamius Smith had a great 75 yard touchdown run in the first quarter getting by a pair of Oklahoma tacklers on way to the endzone and giving West Virginia a 7-0 lead. Unfortunately for the Mountaineer fans, that was the end of the offense. The Oklahoma defense did their impression of the mid-70’s Sooners defenses led by the Selmon brothers. The problem for Oklahoma is their best offensive player is WR Jalen Saunders and they don’t have a quarterback that can get him the ball. Trevor Knight beat out running QB Blake Bell at the start of the season but he’s not the answer. Knight was pulled in the fourth quarter. Without a passing game, the Sooners ran the ball 57 times for 316 yards. Maybe next week they can run the triple option with Bell as QB.
BYU 40, (15)Texas 21
Tough week for Mack Brown explaining why he didn’t try to recruit FSU quarterback Jameis Winston after he said he wanted to play for Texas. Now this game didn’t help Mack. Brown’s day’s maybe numbered in Austin. Instead of Winston, Texas has David Ash at QB. Ash is no Winston.
The BYU offense under Bronco Mendenhall will never be confused with Lavell Edwards’s old offenses in Provo. BYU was hoping that the home crowd prayers from Church of Latter Day Saints could summon the necessary Divine Inspiration to finally give the offense an occasionally touchdown instead of settling for stinking field goals. What do you know– it worked. BYU rushed for the most yards in school history– 550. That happens to be the most yards Texas has ever given up on the ground. At what point was Brown or defensive coordinator Manny Diaz ever going to put a spy on BYU QB Taysom Hill? Hill threw for only 129 yards but he rushed for 259 and three touchdowns. Jamaal Williams ran for 182 yards as well behind a revamped offensive line for the Cougars. Can’t imagine 679 yards of offense is going to sit well with the alumni in Austin.
(9)LSU 56, UAB 17
LSU was one of the clear winners of week one. The nation now looks at them as one of the major contenders for the national title. I hate to admit it but Zach Mettenberger has improved tremendously from last year. Mettenberger threw five touchdown passes against an over-matched UAB squad. Odell Beckham Jr. is a man amongst boys. Beckham accounted for 331 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns. Beckham even returned a missed field goal 100 yards for a TD. Can Cam Cameron actually be making that much of a difference with this offense? It’s hard to believe, because we have never been a fan of Cameron whether he has been at Indiana, Miami or Baltimore.
Washington State 10, (25)USC 7
It’s no secret that we love Mike Leach because of his style of offense and his care free non coach-speak answers to questions. Likewise, we have no love lost for Lane Kiffin who is the definition of the “Peter Principle” of being promoted to your maximum level of incompetence. So it was with great joy that we watched the Cougars pull the upset over the Men of Troy.
The Trojans’ offense was the major question coming into the game. USC has offensive weapons all over the field. You want two stud WR’s, they have them. You want a stud RB, they have one. You want a stud TE, they have one. Only problem is they have no quarterback and their offense is more conservative than John Boehner. USC’s two quarterbacks threw for 53 yards of offense. It was pathetic to watch. First rounder in next years draft, WR Marqise Lee caught eight balls for 28 yards. With nine minutes to go Lee caught a 4th and 7 pass and could have dove for the first down but instead went backwards to try to make a big play and gave the up the first down. WSU completed a 3rd down screen pass from Connor Halliday to Dom Williams for 49 yards that set up the game winning field goal with 3:15 left.
Finally: Before EJ Manuel was named starter, Mike Leach was asked this week on his radio show “What does Jeff Tuel have to do to beat the Patriots?” Leach’s response was “I have no clue; he never won a game here.” Tuel was 4-22 at Washington State.
