College Football Saturday Recap

College Football Recap

First of all, thoughts go out to Coach Mark Dantonio over the victorious Michigan State Spartans.

#2 Ohio State's struggles against the Illinois Fighting Illini have been overstated. For pete's sake, they won the game and Zook's squad is almost always capable of putting up a fight against Jim Tressel. Heisman Candidate Terrelle Pryor is obviously the key to the Buckeye offensive squad. And, to be honest, he didn't look that bad. 24 points will win almost a variety of Big Ten contests and Ron Zook will almost always have talent on his squads, although he won't know what to do with his riches. The ability to limit Ohio State to 290 total yards and only 31 minutes time of possession is commendable. Ohio State lost the turnover battle in this game. That is a rarity. Don't expect Ohio State to struggle against the top teams in the Big Ten. Football isn't mathematics; transitive chains are logical, but certain teams can put up great games against great teams. And, these tend to, in the end, mean nothing, unless they become a regular occurrence. Sorry, Sagarin.

That being said, myteamisbetterthanyourteam.com is a fun website.

Everyone knew that #1 Alabama was an amazing squad. Deep down, everyone knew that #7 Florida was undeserving of their high ranking. That being said, don't blame Urban Meyer for the team's struggles. He is attempting to rebuild this squad. Florida penalty yardage = 50. Alabama penalty yardage = 47. When Urban Meyer is able to find space for his playmakers, IE Jeff Demps and sometimes Trey Burton, Florida can move the ball. Trey Burton looks like a stud athlete, one capable of making plays in the future. He's only a Freshman. I won't bet on the Gators this season. They are a bit behind the 2007 Florida Gators squad (The Tim Tebow released the Kraken season). Their defense could be better. Urban lost Major Wright, Brandon Spikes, Carlos Dunlap, and Joe Haden. It's a rebuilding year. In the SEC, it tends to happen. When the time comes, Nick Saban will have to deal with the same problems Urban Meyer is facing right now.

I was wrong to doubt #4 Oregon's offense. Stanford and Oregon are in similar leagues. They aren't in the same league, if that makes any sense. Playing in Autzen Stadium is always rough for opposing quarterbacks. It's almost as rough as standing next to a jet as it takes off. It should be noted that Stanford doesn't play like a pretender. They play like a contender. It's a long season. Don't count a Cardinal Pac-10 title out of the equation just yet.

Quick quip: Former Notre Dame Head Coach Bob Davie can't count to eleven, but Tennessee Head Coach Derek Dooley can't count to twelve.

My picks for this week (incorrect in bold, underlined)

Florida over Alabama
Ohio State over Illinois
Boise State over New Mexico State
Stanford over Oregon
TCU over Colorado State
Boomer Sooner over Hook 'Em Horns
Auburn over Louisiana-Monroe
Michigan State over Wisconsin
LSU over Tennessee
Miami (FL) over Clemson
Iowa over Penn State
USC over Washington
Michigan over Indiana
NC State over Virginia Tech
Nevada over UNLV (Pending, but Nevada is up 28-14 at halftime)

Ohio University over Eastern Michigan
Notre Dame over Boston College, because Notre Dame was better than his dream job.