College Confidential

10 conclusions to draw from college football's extended opening weekend, which ends with Albama at No. 1 in AP poll

By Jimmy Burch

jburch@star-telegram.com

College football’s extended opening weekend concluded with Monday night’s overtime victory by Virginia Tech over Georgia Tech, 20-17, in a battle of ACC contenders.

That triggered Tuesday’s updated polls, where Alabama took over the top spot from Southern California in The Associated Press rankings on the strength of Saturday’s 41-14 rout of then-No. 8 Michigan at Cowboys Stadium. The Crimson Tide received 45 of 60 first-place votes, with No. 2 USC receiving 11 and the other four going to No. 3 LSU.

So what conclusions can we draw from the opening weekend of the college football season? Here’s a 10-item checklist:

1. Any neutral observer who isn’t already intrigued by the possibility of an Alabama-USC matchup in the BCS National Championship Game needs to turn in his or her fan card. Both teams were dominant Saturday and the potential matchup of USC quarterback Matt Barkley vs. the Crimson Tide’s rugged defense in a winner-take-all setting is too delicious for words.
2. If the Heisman Trophy race was a sprint, rather than a marathon, West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith would be hoisting the hardware today. Smith completed 32 of 36 passes for 323 yards and four TDs while rushing for 65 yards and another score in a 69-34 victory over Marshall.
3. Florida State defensive end Bjoern Werner, who had four sacks and forced a fumble in the team’s 69-3 rout of Murray State, will need more eye-popping performances to compensate for the season-ending foot injury of Brandon Jenkins, the All-America defensive end on the other side of the Seminoles’ line. Either that, or DE Mario Edwards _ a freshman from Denton Ryan _ must become an impact newcomer in Jenkins’ absence.
4. Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones must develop more comfort with his receivers than he showed in a 24-7 victory over UTEP for the Sooners to win the Big 12. Too much indecision led to too many sacks and near-sacks in that contest.
5. Texas A&M suffered the biggest setback of any team that did not play on opening weekend. Having the Aggies’ opener against Louisiana Tech postponed until Oct. 13 because of Hurricane Isaac means the Aggies will now play games in 12 consecutive weeks, with no bye, in their first SEC season. That’s a demanding physical task, made tougher with a freshman QB at the helm.
6. Private lessons work. Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez, who spent his own money to have a passing guru tutor him this summer, threw for a career-high 354 yards and five TDs in a 49-20 victory over Southern Mississippi. He’s never looked better.
7. Texas tailback Johnathan Gray, the former Aledo standout, will have plenty of company this season in discussions about the nation’s top freshman rusher. Alabama’s T.J. Yeldon (111 yards, TD) and Georgia’s Todd Gurley (100 yards, 2 TDs) hit triple digits in their debuts. Gray (5 carries, 9 yards) did not.
8. Mike Leach is not a miracle worker. The former Texas Tech coach took over a downtrodden program at Washington State and that showed in Leach’s debut, a 30-6 loss to Brigham Young in which Leach’s offense failed to score a touchdown.
9. If the Big Ten has a worthy Top 10 team, it is No. 11 Michigan State. Not No. 19 Michigan.
10. Lack of depth will be a season-long issue at roster-depleted Penn State, where the team was outscored 21-0 in the second half of a 24-14 home loss to Ohio, a MAC school.

 

Twitter: @Jimmy_Burch

 

A Great Day For College Football - #Aggies, #Hogs, #Tide, #Wolverines

This should be a great day to ignore house projects/yard work as well as the telephone.
If you live in North Texas you have one of five games to possibly attend.
If you're too lazy to leave your couch, and there is no shame in that, there are games aplenty on the television machine.

No. 1 Alabama at No. 19 South Carolina, 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS
How many times does Verne Lundquist say "Oh boy" to try to cover up a gaffe?
I keep thinking the Tide will lose, I just don't see it being today.

No. 11 Arkansas vs. Texas A&M, 2:30 p.m. CT, ABC
Mike Sherman needs this more than Bobby Petrino.
This will be a game whereas last season's version of this was not.

No. 12 LSU at No. 14 Florida, 6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN
This should be a good game, but won't. Florida pulls away from an LSU team that can't get out of its own way. Both teams are talented and it should be a fun game of big plays, and self-inflicted pain.

No. 23 Florida State at No. 13 Miami, 7 p.m. CT, ABC
This game is slowly regaining national relevance. Neither team is nearly as dominant as they were in the '90s, but this usually features a half dozen of future NFL players doing crazy junk on the field.

No. 17 Michigan State at No. 18 Michigan, 2:30 p.m. CT, ABC
MSU's coach recently had a heart attack and yet he's going to coach from the booth. Dude, it's a football game. Stay at home and play Halo. MU's Denard Robinson is the most exciting player in college football since VY was killing it in Austin. A game where Keith Jackson needs to come out of retirement.

Colorado at No. 24 Missouri, 6 p.m. CT (no TV)
Worth mentioning because this is the 20-year anniversary of the infamous "Fifth down game" that help give CU a national title.

- Mac Engel

Follow me on Twitter

@MacEngelProf

Nothing the Big 10 Did Over the Weekend Should Count

SUNDAY MORNING HANGOVER FROM COLLEGE FOOTBALL ... 

* TCU coach Gary Patterson said after his team’s win against SMU it was like “Alabama-Auburn”. Do you think Alabama coach Nick Saban will say, “It was like TCU-SMU” after the Tide play the Tigers in November?

(OK, it’s a cheap shot, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t take it. It’s sports. Have fun, people.)

* A huge win for UNT coach Todd Dodge against Florida Atlantic. The Mean Green, who have been beset by injuries unlike no other team in Division I, are 1-3 and 1-0 in the Sun Belt.

Dodge was down to his third-string QB, Riley Dodge, who won all of those games for his dad when the pair were at Southlake Carroll High School. Riley completed 10-of-15 passes for 146 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. He also ran 11 times for 67 yards.

TD lives to coach another day.

* Texas State is 3-1 for the first time since 2005 after it defeated Southern Utah, 42-28. The Bobcats, ranked No. 23 in the I-AA poll, ran for 224 yards.

* Now that Houston is without QB Case Keenum for the season with an injury, the Coogs may be a running team. RB Bryce Beal ran for 123 yards and four touchdowns in UH’s 42-23 win against Tulane. The Coogs are starting a true frosh QB, Terrance Broadway.

* BYU’s last season in the MWC isn’t terribly memorable, mostly the Cougars aren’t very good. BYU lost at home against future MWC member, Nevada, 27-13. True frosh QB Jake Heaps made his first start for the Cougars, and was 24-of-45 for 229 yards.

* Boise State better watch out - Nevada can play. The Wolfies are 4-0, and host the Broncos on Nov. 26.

* Lamar returned to reality. The first-year program was blown out at Stephen F. Austin, 71-3. SR QB Jeremy Moses threw for 353 yards and four TDs, and went over the 10,000-yard mark for his career.

* I have no idea what to make of CUSA. I know no one cares, mostly because the conference has no top 25 team now that UH QB Case Keenem is out. But for the sake of TCU’s strength of schedule, it needs SMU to win that conference. Even if the Ponies win though, the voting masses won’t care anyone beat the CUSA champs’ because no one is clearly better than the other.

* Alabama is the best team in the nation, but I don’t like its chances of running the table again in the SEC. Alabama’s next two games are vs. No. 9 Florida, and at No. 12 South Carolina. On Nov. 6, the Tide play at No. 15 LSU. And, of course, the Tide finish with Auburn. The Tide have to lose eventually, right?

* How much money is being spent on the ad campaign for the new Wall Street movie? I'm seeing that ad in my sleep.

* We don’t know exactly how good Oregon is because it plays in the Pacific Time zone. It’s more proof how badly you need to be in the Central or Eastern time zone, or be Los Angeles, to really get noticed. That said, the Ducks are a serious threat to reach the BCS title game.

* UTEP’s win against Memphis gives the Miners a 3-1 start, their best since 2005. It’s just the sixth time in the last 46 seasons the Miners are won three of their first four games. Lots of tradition in El Paso. But it could save Mike Price’s job.

The game was won after the Miners drove the ball 95 yards in the final minutes to set up Dakota Warren’s 18-yard FG.

* After handling Rice in rain-filled game, Baylor is halfway to six wins to qualify for the What Else Is There To Do In This Town Bowl. Can the Bears get there?

* The Big East is awful. Period. It’s only ranked team, however, No. 22 West Virginia, actually showed itself quite nicely in a 20-14 loss at No. 15 LSU.

* Auburn QB Cameron Newton may be better than Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett. Not as a pro, but as a collegian.

* Did any athletic department stuff their bank account on the backs of its football team more than San Jose State? The Spartans traveled to play at Alabama, at Wisconsin and at Utah; they lost those three games by the combined score of 131-20. If they didn’t clear $2 million off those three losses something is wrong.

* Suspend the idea that the best RB at Alabama is backup Trent Richardson. He’s good, but JR and defending Heisman winner Mark Ingram is better.

* Texas A&M’s best chance to beat Arkansas in two weeks is to get pressure on Hogs QB Ryan Mallett and hope he throws picks the way he did against Alabama.

But the way the Tide ran on the Hogs should give Aggies hope that Christine Michael and Jerrod Johnson can score points.

* Texas’ big home loss to UCLA has to have the people in Lubbock worried. This was the same Texas defense that dominated the Red Raiders.

* Oklahoma had to be looking forward to next week’s game against Texas. The Sooners probably should have lost at Cincinnati on Saturday night, but they were the better team.

* I’ll keep saying this - Nebraska is going to win the Big 12 title game in its last season in the conference. And no one will be grinning any bigger than Tom Osborne.

* The Big 12 North is almost as bad as the Big East. In fact, the whole Big 12 is a bit down this year.

* What the Big 10 did this weekend was shameful. The conference finished a collective 8-2, all at home, against a schedule that was so weak and so lame that fans should have been admitted for free.

The opponents were: Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Bowling Green, Northern Colorado, Ball State, Austin Peay, Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Akron, Temple.

The eight teams that won did so by the combined score of 385-109. Two teams scored 70 points.

Lost in these stupid numbers is that two of schools from this “power” conference actually managed to lose. How?

Purdue should be kicked out of the conference after losing 31-20 to Toledo in West Lafayette. And Minnesota coach Tim Brewster all but signed his “fired” papers after the Gophers lost 34-23 to Northern Illinois.

* TCU needs more style points. Every margin needs to be at least 20 points.

 

- Mac Engel

The "Unlikeable Coaches Bowl" Coming to JerryWorld

Mr. Smiles, Alabama head coach Nick Saban, said on his radio show last night that his team will play Michigan in 2012 in Dallas.
OK - let's help Mr. Saban out here. He didn't mean Dallas. There is no way Michigan plays Alabama at the Cotton Bowl. He meant Arlington and Cowboys Stadium.
Fantastic.
This is big on big.
By 2012, Rich Rod should have his team loaded the way he likes and should pose as a genuine threat to Ohio State and everyone else in the Big 10.
But there are some problems with this game.
1. Will Saban still be coaching Alabama, or will he have fled to the NFL to collect a bigger check? Not that he would ever do that.
2. Will R-Rod's team be on NCAA probation and all of his best players fled elsewhere so they can get their degrees from different schools?
3. Will Alabama be in the NFL by then and playing in Los Angeles?
4. Who to root for?
Both coaches are easily the face of their respective programs. And it's safe to say unless you're a UM fan or a Ala. fan neither Saban nor R-Rod is particularly likeable.
But they win, at least two or three of their players graduate, and they win. So who cares?

- Mac Engel

Early Hangover Observations

The ACC is in serious contention with the Big East as the Biggest Joke Conference in America.
In Week 1 it was a suspended-riddled North Carolina team losing against LSU. Then Va Tech continued the poop parade by losing a glorified home game against Boise State.
But what the ACC managed to do in Week 2 is really impressive.
* No. 13 Va Tech manages to lose a real home game against I-AA James Madison. The Hokies were supposed to be a sleeper national title team. Now it appears they will be asleep for the rest of the season.
* No. 12 Miami demonstrated it's not even close to its proud "U" days as it was defeated by Ohio State, 36-24.
* No. 17 Florida State got popped by Oklahoma by a modest 37 points.
* And No. 15 Ga Tech managed to lose against a Kansas team that lost the previous week to I-AA North Dakota State.
What does this prove? It's not who you beat it's who you know.
The ACC is in the same club as The Big East; both conferences are littered with overrated pretenders. But both will have teams in the big-cash, rich-kids only BCS games in January.

* Preseason polls are garbage. Get rid of them.

* Houston's defense is better under first-year and former Dallas Cowboys d-coordinator Brian Stewart. The Coogs proved that in their 54-24 win against conference rival UTEP on Friday night.
Most of the Cougar love will go toward QB Case Keenum and their PlayStation3 offense; but if the Coogs are going to flirt with the BCS their defense has to be decent. It has been so far, and the Coogs are 2-0.

* Michigan rallied to defeat Notre Dame in South Bend today. The Wolverines are going to be one of the big surprises this season. You can hate Michigan coach Rich Rod' all you want, and probably with good reason. But the guy wins. Guarantee you the people in Columbus, Ohio are noticing this. QB Denard Robinson looks like he may be figuring this thing out; if he does, the Big 10 has another contender.

* In one week Kansas coach Turner Gill took the Jayhawks from one of its worst losses in the past decade to one of its best. How KU managed to score 3 points in a home loss against I-AA North Dakota State and seven days later score 28 points in a defeat of No. 15 Ga Tech in the nation is one of the great early season surprises.

- Mac Engel

Holtz wasn't wise, but he shouldn't be fired

Read through my blogs and websites today, and it seems plenty of people in a huff over Lou Holtz.
For those who didn't hear, the former Notre Dame coach - now a college football analyst for ESPN - fired off a Hitler reference on Friday night when talking about first-year Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez (to paraphrase, he basically implied that Hitler was also a bad leader).
Of course, Holtz came out and apologized quickly for his comment. Fast forward to this morning, where some columnists around the country are calling for Holtz to be disciplined, or fired. Now, what he said was wrong and ignorant, and I think he was sincere with his apology, but to demand he be fired? Easy there people.
What I have a problem with really is the pattern of behavior by some in my industry who take ignorant comments like these and develop some made-up controversy just to generate more page views on their website or gain a larger TV audience. The P.C. police also loves to get involved with these kinds of statements, expressing their "outrage" and calling for protests and firings, but knowingly puts their head in the sand and remains quiet when comments that are much more vile and hateful are uttered (something about double standards have always bothered me).
Bottom line: Holtz was wrong, said something stupid and held himself accountable. What he said basically reinforces a basic lesson our parents taught us ages ago, "Think before you speak."

- Trae Thompson