College Football- Week 7 Recap and Week 8 Preview
Well, I didn’t think anyone in the SEC would be able to finish the season unblemished, but I do have to say I’m suprised to be sitting here in the middle of October with no undefeated SEC teams still standing. As much as I love SEC football, all of the complaining from the coaches about how it is “impossible” and “miraculous” to finish the season undefeated in such a tough conference is frankly getting a little tired.
Ironically, the SEC was the first conference to experiment with expanding to the twelve team format and for reasons that were mostly monetary. If indeed that decision has made going undefeated in the SEC “impossible”, than the blame rests with the conference for creating its own demise. But in all seriousness and truth, if Ohio State was playing in the SEC, they would win all of their games. The SEC has a lot of great teams and is therefore in my opinion the most exciting conference to consistently watch week after week, but what it lacks is that one super-power team. It isn’t that the teams are unable to win out due to the difficulty of their schedules, it is simply that no team is dominant enough to finish the season undefeated. There’s my two cents. In other news this past weekend:
- Two programs, Miami and Oklahoma, have now officially hit rock bottom for two completely different reasons, one of which I sympathize with and one of which I do not even come close to feeling sorry for. We’ll start with the program that deserves sympathy, and that is clearly Oklahoma. After what has seemed like three months of doom complete with star QB Rhett Bomar’s dismissal before the season began to the incredibly tough break caused by abysmal replay officiating in the Oregon to being embarrassed by rival Texas, Sooner fans had surely believed that things couldn’t get any worse. That was, of course, until OU lost all-world tailback Adrian Peterson for the season in the final minutes of the game after he fractured his collar-bone diving into the end zone. That’s a pretty freak accident if you ask me, and the Sooners have my sympathy as they struggle through the remainder of possibly the most cursed season ever. Miami, on the other hand, has always been thuggish, but brutally brawling with a Florida International team that poses no threat to anyone pushed its already questionable character reputation over the edge. Everything about this incident, from the violent acts demonstrated on the field to the local television commentary in its midst and the subsequent slap on the wrist to everyone involved is shameful and disgraceful. Shame on “The U” in the “OB”.
- As mentioned earlier, Auburn topped Florida 27-17, leaving no more SEC undefeateds. Auburn’s placement at 4th in the first BCS standings ahead of undefeated West Virginia is puzzling enough, and certainly raises some questions as to whether a one loss SEC champ, Big 10 runner up or one-loss USC would get the nod into the national championship over an undefeated West Virginia or Louisville. I haven’t formulated my opinion yet, but time will tell the story of what has all the makings of yet another BCS debacle.
- In Big Ten action, the story of the day was clearly my Hoosiers pulling off their biggest win since 1987 and shocking Iowa 31-28 in Memorial Stadium. For those of you counting, that’s two straight Big Ten wins for the Hoosiers, who as timing would have it now will have their momentum stopped as they enter Columbus. Ohio State has really seperated itself from the rest of the nation in my book, and their 38-7 thrashing of Michigan State demonstrated this in every aspect. Michigan survived a close game in Happy Valley as I predicted without star wide out Mario Manningham. Penn State has to be the best three loss team in the country right now though, and they played the Wolverines and the Buckeyes as tough as anyone will all season.
- USC escaped its third straight Pac-1o game in which they socred under 30 points and won by a single possession. Arizona State gave them fits. Oregon and Cal both beat the Sun Devils by over 25 points. Getting worried? At this point, I would be shocked to see USC finish the season undefeated, as Notre Dame, Oregon, Cal and UCLA all remain on the schedule. In fact, unless their play improves I can’t really see them winning three of these.
TOP 25 OF THE MATTY
- Ohio State (7-0)
- Michigan (7-0)
- USC (6-0)
- West Virginia (6-0)
- Texas (5-1)
- Notre Dame (5-1)
- Louisville (6-0)
- Arkansas (5-1)
- Auburn (6-1)
- Florida (6-1)
- Tennessee (5-1)
- California (6-1)
- Clemson (6-1)
- Georgia Tech (5-1)
- LSU (5-2)
- Oregon (6-1)
- Nebraska (6-1)
- Boise State (7-0)
- Oklahoma (4-2)
- Boston College (4-2)
- Rutgers (6-0)
- Wisconsin (6-1)
- Wake Forest (6-1)
- Iowa (5-2)
- Georgia (5-2)
HEISMAN WATCH
- Troy Smith, Ohio State
- Steve Slaton, West Virginia
- Brady Quinn, Notre Dame
- Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech
- Chad Henne, Michigan
GAMES TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND
I will be in Carlsbad, California spending the weekend at the Four Seasons with my wife as we celebrate the completion of our first year of marriage! But if I’m lucky, I’ll get to sneak away and watch some football Saturday. I love waking up at 7 am and watching Gameday on the Pacific! In Pacific time…
#5 Texas at #17 Nebraska, 9 AM PST, ABC
These are the best two Big 12 teams remaining, and Nebraska gets a shot to put is program officially back on the map at home against the defending champs. Nebraska has played well though has been relatively untested. They showed some defensive prowess early in their only challenging game, a loss to USC. Texas will enter hostile territory but I have a tough time seeing Nebraska scoring too many points in this one against the Longhorns’ stellar defense. Offensively, I give Texas the edge as well, with Colt McCoy beginning to find his comfort zone. Texas 35, Nebraska 17.
#24 Iowa at #2 Michigan, 12:30 PM PST, ABC
Iowa essentially destroyed its season last week as the Hawkeyes were humbled against a pesky but inferior Indiana team. It’s possible they had their sights on this one a bit too early, and after they leave the Big House Saturday they are going to wish they spent less time worrying about this game and more time concentrating on the winnable Indiana game. Iowa looks to me to be outclassed on both sides of the ball here, and having to go on the road doesn’t help things. Michigan 38, Iowa 14
#20 Boston College at Florida State, 12:30 PM PST, ABC
This game doesn’t excite me terribly, except for the chance that the winner could make a late run and sneak into the ACC championship and the fact that it is a must-win for both teams. BC may have to play without their QB, and the Seminoles have to be hungry after disappointing losses to NC State and Clemson. Florida State is the more talented team, and I like their chances to get back on track here against a Boston College team that has overachieved to this point. Florida State 28, Boston College 20
#14 Georgia Tech at #13 Clemson, 4:45 PM PST, ESPN
This is probably my favorite matchup of the day as the ACC’s best face off in a night game with hopes of getting a leg up on a BCS berth. I’ve liked Clemson from the start of the season to win the conference as they stand an extra point away from a 7-0 record. However, Georgia Tech has looked very strong and Calvin Johnson is making a quiet run at the Heisman. I expect to see some defense in this game, but the winner will be the one who can make the most big plays offensively. I think Clemson is a little more well-rounded on both sides of the ball, but Georgia Tech should give them a battle. Clemson 23, Georgia Tech 20
October 18, 2006 at 9:51 pm
I was waiting for your update because there were many notable events in College Football last weekend. In increasing order of importance:
- Miami should cancel their football program. And I used to be a fan. Just pull the plug, and start over in 3 years. Like a fraternity, these guys need to go. Thats all I can say.
- Why did Adrian Peterson dive into the end zone? Very sad. Should he go pro now?
- I was heartbroken to watch the Gators fall. I really thought they could do it. Good call on the Auburn defensive forcing turnovers to win the game. Will they meet again in the SEC Championship? I hope so.
- I really want USC, West Virginia, and Louisville to lose. I want their to be a controversy about which 1 loss team should go to the game. And I want it to be the Michigan / Ohio State loser. Or Florida.
- The Hoosiers are back. If I was Hep, I would play the second string in the Ohio State game so they don’t get hurt and throw away their chance of winning two more and going to a bowl. And lets be honest, Ohio State could injure the whole team.
Thoughts on the Eric Gordon grab?
October 18, 2006 at 11:59 pm
Commodity, thanks for all the questions and comments! Here are my responses in order of your post:
- I am not sure if I would go so far to say that Miami should cancel its football program, but the argument can certainly be raised, and that is not a good thing at all. I think all programs need to start taking character into consideration when recruiting in addition to athleticism. What kills me most about the entire situation has been Coker’s apparent apathy about its seriousness. I could go into a whole tirade on how it is American culture’s fault, the NBA’s poor examples for youth, etc, etc, but this isn’t a political blog. Maybe it should be…
-It appeared to me that Peterson did dive into the end zone to avoid being tackled. He doesn’t strike me as the type of player that wants to be a show boat. I am quite upset about it because he’s probably the best pure college back since Eddie George, and I don’t see him returning, especially after what Oklahoma has had to endure this season. That said, he does seem to be a bit injury prone, which will hurt his draft status, so if he takes that into account there is a chance that he stays. I’d bet against it, but I sure hope he’s back next year.
-It still looks to me like Auburn and Florida will meet in the SEC title game, provided Arkansas loses to LSU and Tennessee. I think the Gators are in regardless thanks to their wins over the above mentioned as long as they don’t lose to Georgia or South Carolina which they shouldn’t. I wouldn’t mind seeing Arkansas play Florida for the title though, those Razorbacks are tough. I have them ranked 8th, the highest of the SEC teams, which is exactly where they belong until someone in the SEC beats them.
- I am almost ready to put my life savings on the fact that USC loses at least once. In fact, I think it is more likely that they lose twice than that they go undefeated. The argument will arise if a Big East team is able to escape unscathed. On the one hand, the rise of teams like Rutgers and Pittsburgh into the Top 25 makes Lousville and West Virginia seem less likely to finish undefeated. On the other, if they do finish undefeated, it looks to me as if wins over these teams will add to their schedule strength which will probably push them in over a one loss team. But Rutgers is no joke. They are very capable of beating one or both of these teams. And if they do, I would have to agree that the Michigan/ Ohio State loser would probably have dibs on the open title spot, but watch out for Texas too if they win out and Ohio State beats Michigan. They would probably sneak in over the Wolverines and the SEC champ, unless it’s Auburn, and then it will be chaos.
- I was unaware today that a 6-6 record gets a team into a bowl game, I thought that since the expansion of the schedule to 12 games you would have to be 7-5. But since Division IAA games don’t count towards the record anyway, the Hoosiers wouldn’t have benefited from beating SIU. So let’s consider them 4-2 in bowl-relevant games. This weekend I think they have a huge chance to get a MORAL victory by trying to keep the game within three touchdowns, and for that reason I would play the team. They are starting to click now and resting anyone for fear of being mauled might diffuse some of the synergy that has formed within the team. As it is, I think they have a really good shot to beat Michigan State, Minnesota and Purdue, which would put them at an unthinkable 7-4 against Division 1A opponents. Go Big RED!
- Speaking of the Big Red, what a weekend! Getting Gordon was probably even bigger than beating Iowa if you ask me. I just hope it was done legally. The whole thing went down kind of strangely, but it doesn’t look like there is reason to believe that anything illegal happened and I hope it stays that way. And I really hope that Rivals #3 Derrick Rose comes to Indiana to play with his buddy! He would complete what would be the best recruiting class at IU since 1989.
Thanks for the thoughts!
The Matty
October 25, 2006 at 6:09 pm
[...] The Florida Gators have not played since the ambush by Auburn on October 14th. Recent commentors agree that Florida will bounce back like a rock; and will fall off the charts by losing to Georgia this weekend. And ahh..let’s not blame the officials this time. [...]