I’ll be providing a new weekly review of the weekend that was in the NCAA.
Heavily Favored Trojans Go Down (Again)
Once again USC lost to an overmatched conference foe. This time, the Washington Huskies took down the Trojans. Don’t get me wrong, Washington is a very improved team. They played the 7th ranked LSU Tigers very tough. Steve Sarkisian is going to put this former power program back on the map, but they aren’t there yet making this a game that USC should not have lost. Then again, neither was Oregon State in ’08, neither was Stanford in ’07, and neither was UCLA in 2006, but the Trojans still managed to lose each game. Had they won any of these games, they would have played for the National Championship. If we are going to get on Jim Tressel for losing big games, shouldn’t we get on Pete Carroll for losing one of these games every year? Carroll is a great coach and a great recruiter, but shouldn’t we put some of the blame on him? His team should be able to get up before every game and even if they don’t, they should be able to recover in time to win these games against such lesser teams. This can’t all be on the players. This is more of a coaching issue.
Sure, we can blame the loss on Matt Barkley being hurt and Aaron Corp making his first career start and sure we can blame it on Steve Sarkisian, USC’s former Offensive Coordinator and the coaches that he took with him to Washington from USC but those are just more excuses for a football program that shouldn’t need to make up excuses. The athletes that USC recruits are just too talented to lose games like this. Southern Cal needs to start winning these games and if they don’t, Pete Carroll will never claim his second BCS championship.
Moral Victory?
After Lane Kiffin and his Tennessee Volunteers lost to the Florida Gators for the fifth straight season, many experts are calling it a moral victory for Kiffin’s squad because the top ranked Gators only beat the Vols 23-13. What? Is that what the once-proud Tennessee program has come to? Celebrating losses? When should a loss to one of your top rivals ever be considered a moral victory?
I do agree that Tennessee’s defense played very well, but they played very well in 2008 against the Gators in a 30-6 loss as well. This is why I don’t understand why the way Tennessee played defense is suddenly a blueprint on how take down the Gators. Actually, Tennessee’s defense only allowed 243 total yards in 2008 and allowed 323 yards this year. In fact, Tebow had a lower completion percentage, less yards rushing and less yards passing in their 2008 meeting. Had Tebow not uncharacteristically fumbled in the fourth quarter while Florida had a 23-6 lead, it’s likely the end result would have been the same 30-6 score.
Can Florida Be Beaten?
Monte Kiffin is an incredible defensive mind, but I’m not sure that his scheme is what made the Vols play so well on defense. Instead I believe it was players like LB Rico McCoy, All-American Safety Eric Berry and a pretty good Tennessee pass rush.
Do I agree that Florida could have some problems? Yes. I think they can potentially be run on up the middle if a team has a really dominating offensive line and you can use a ball-control offense to keep the ball out of Tebow’s hands. This running game could open up the play-action pass, but Tennessee’s Jonathan Crompton and his WRs were not good enough to take advantage of this situation. Then again, with Florida’s talent in the back 7 and their pass rush, I’m not sure a team even could take advantage of this anyway. Sam Bradford and Oklahoma’s high scoring offense didn’t seem to be able to, scoring just 14 points in last season’s BCS Championship game. With Brandon Spikes in the middle, he could make up for an opposing team that is strong up the middle in their line and has a good running game. And like the rest of the team, they are still very capable players in the middle of Florida’s defensive line. Still, there is hope for the rest of nation – no team is unbeatable, but Florida is and should be the odds on favorite to win it all right now. Florida does need to find a playmaker at WR to replace Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy. They thought they had one in Freshman Andre Debose, but he is out for the season with a hamstring injury. There is talent there, but no one really stepped up on Saturday.
Is the U “Back?”
Most experts and pundits have already answered this question with a resounding yes. I nearly put them in my top 5. Yes, they were a dropped pass away from losing their opening game to rival Florida State but came away with a 38-34 victory on the road. Miami’s defense had as much trouble stopping Christian Ponder and FSU as they had stopping Miami, but FSU’s blowout win over BYU helps Miami’s raise Miami’s stock quite a bit. After Florida State dropped 54 points in Provo against the Cougars, Miami’s defense doesn’t look so bad.
The ‘Canes then took on a team in Georgia Tech that scored 41 points and gained an astounding 421 yards rushing and took a 41-10 lead into the fourth quarter last season. Last Thursday was very different. After a nice 13 play, 45 yard drive to open the game that netted a field goal, Georgia Tech couldn’t get much going. Miami answered with a quick four play, 75 yard drive that ended in a Jacory Harris touchdown pass and the ‘Canes never looked back. Miami held the Jackets to just 94 yards rushing. Last year’s ACC Offensive Player of the Year, Jonathan Dwyer had just seven yards on five carries.
Jacory Harris has been the story for the ‘Canes. So far he’s completing 69.5% of his passes, is passing for 328 yards per game, has thrown 5 TDs and has 2 interceptions, but the ‘Cane’s defense is what will make or break the season. If they can keep playing the way they played Thursday night, they will be hard to beat. Saturday will be their offense’s toughest test as they face the Virginia Tech Hokies in Lane Stadium.
So Much for the MWC and the BCS
The Mountain West Conference has tried to get an automatic bid into the BCS, but has been unsuccessful in their bid thus far. Maybe now we know why.
The MWC has had one team (Utah) win two BCS bowl games. The ’04 Utes lead by Alex Smith went undefeated and destroyed Pittsburgh 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl. Last year’s Utes were even more impressive. They finished their season with a Sugar Bowl win over Alabama 31-17. The Utes beat an Alabama team that finished the 2008 regular season unbeaten.
The 2009 Utes had their 16 game winning streak snapped by the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, losing 31-24 in Autzen Stadium. Utah cut a 21-7 deficit to 28-24 but the Utes could not get any closer. Utah gave up 217 yards rushing to an Oregon team that is without starting RB LeGarrette Blount for the remainder of the season. Oregon isn’t exactly a powerhouse team either. They opened the season by being dominated by Boise State. Then they barely survived a game against a bad Purdue team last week. Utah fell out of the top 25 after previously being ranked 18th.
It was even worse for the 7th ranked BYU Cougars. After upsetting Oklahoma 14-13 and then dismantling Tulane 54-3, national title talk emerged in Provo. That talk quickly went away after the Cougars were blown out at home by Florida State. Christian Ponder and company scored early and often in route to a 54-28 victory over BYU in Provo. The Cougars gave up 512 total yards, including 313 yards rushing. The Seminole defense all forced five turnovers, including three Max Hall interceptions. So, not only did BYU’s BCS hopes come crashing down but so did Max Hall’s Heisman hopes. He now has as many touchdowns as he does interceptions (Six). The Seminoles on the other hand, made people forget about their terrible performance against Jacksonville State (a 19-9 win in which they trailed with a minute left), put themselves back into the top 25 and back onto the national radar. Who wouldn’t love to see Miami-FSU part 2 in Tampa for the ACC Championship?
TCU is still unbeaten but probably doesn’t have the schedule to get into the BCS. TCU must travel to BYU and host Utah in conference. TCU handled one of the two worst teams in the ACC, Virginia, but face their stiffest test this Saturday in Memorial Stadium against the Clemson Tigers. Clemson is a three-point favorite.
Why Give Love to Notre Dame?
Call me unimpressed. Jimmy Clausen has been very good but his team has not. After being unable to stop Michigan’s True Freshman QB Tate Forcier virtually all game in a 38-34 loss in the big house, Notre Dame allowed 30 points against the Michigan State Spartans. They would be just 1-2 if Larry Caper would have been able to haul in a pass from MSU QB Kirk Cousins. At worst, MSU would have tied the game if not for Cousins’ ill-advised pass on 2nd and 10 at the Irish 18 yard line that was picked off by Kyle McCarthy. Remember, this was a Michigan State team fresh off of a loss at home against Central Michigan.
Now, Notre Dame’s top big-play Wide Receiver this season, Michael Floyd is out for the season after breaking his collar bone on a near touchdown. Floyd had just 13 receptions in the first three games, but those 13 receptions went for 358 yards and five TDs. Golden Tate is a very good WR, but now another target outside of TE Kyle Rudolph must step up. Notre Dame’s defense needs to improve a lot after giving up a combined 68 points to Michigan and Michigan State.
Charlie Weis may have saved his job for another week, but I’m not sure how long he can keep this up, because Notre Dame’s easy schedule suddenly doesn’t seem as easy. Michigan was supposed to be a win for the Irish. After playing at Purdue, the Irish must deal with Washington, which was probably checked off as a win before the Huskies upset USC. They also must play USC and Boston college, a team they have lost six straight times to, at home. They have road trips to Pittsburgh and an improved Stanford team. Sure, there schedule isn’t overly difficult but with the way their defense is playing, there is still potential for what would be an extremely disappointing 8-4 season.
Performance of the Week
Greg Paulus, QB, Syracuse
The former Duke Point Guard playing in just his third career college football game had two turnovers, but made up for it by going 24-35 for 346 yards with two TDs. Paulus also rushed for a TD in a 37-34 upset win over Northwestern. After taking a 27-21 lead, the Orange feel behind 34-27. Paulus lead his team on a six play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 13 yard TD pass from Paulus to Mike Williams (who was also outstanding, catching 11 balls for 209 and two TDs). After Syracuse intercepted a pass, Paulus started his final drive on the Northwestern 39. He completed two more passes to set up the game winning field goal, a 41 yarder by Ryan Lichtenstein as time expired giving Paulus and the Orange their first win.
The Heisman Favorite
As good as QBs Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy are, neither has played up to their potential this season. Tebow was rather pedestrian in his first “real” game of the season against Tennessee after playing two cupcakes, passing for just 115 yards, rushing for 76 yards and turning the ball over twice (one Interception, one fumble). Tebow is 39-58 for 540 yards with five TDs and one interception in three games. He has 148 yards rushing and three TDs. McCoy threw one TD and two interceptions against rival Texas Tech and is 75-110 with 859 yards through three games. He has six TDs and four interceptions. He also has one rushing TD.
Jahvid Best, the junior RB from California, has been the nation’s best player so far. I’m not sold on Cal but I am certainly sold on Best as the nation’s best back. He rushed for 131 yards and FIVE TDs as Cal avoided the upset at Minnesota. Best has 412 yards on just 53 attempts this season. That’s an average of 7.8 yards per carry which is actually down from his 8.1 ypc last season. Best has eight TD runs. He also has seven catches for 59 yards and another TD, giving him eight total.
If Best does not keep it up in Cal’s next two contests, which are probably the Bear’s two biggest games of the year, at Oregon and home against USC, Miami QB Jacory Harris and Houston QB Case Keenum could get into the race. With all that being said, I expect both Tebow and McCoy’s numbers to improve throughout the season.
My Top 10
It’s early for any kind of top 10. Many teams on this list (Florida, Cal, Penn State, & Ole Miss) are yet to be really tested. Ole Miss, Penn State, and Cal all face top 25 caliber teams this week, so things should become a little clearer after the weekend. This is a mix of pre-season expectations and current performance.
1.Florida
2.Alabama
3.Texas
4.California
5.LSU
6.Miami
7.Penn State
8.Ole Miss
9.Boise State
10.Cincinnati
Game of the Week for September 26
Miami @ Virginia Tech
The Line: Miami -2.5
College GameDay will be at College Station to cover Iowa and Penn State, but they should be making the trip to Blacksburg. Then again, Kirk Herbstreit isn’t announcing the Miami-Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech QB Tyrod Taylor has really struggled this season but made big plays when he had to last Saturday against Nebraska. First, Taylor scrambled and found Danny Coale on an 81 yard pass with just over a minute to go. Then, just three plays later, he avoided several tackles and extended a 3rd and goal with his feet before throwing an 11-yard touchdown to Dyrell Roberts. Taylor has to be MUCH more consistent if the Hokies want to have any shot at defeating the Hurricanes.
The Hokies will give Jacory Harris his toughest test defensively, but Harris has been fantastic this season and has handled just about everything anyone has thrown at him. The ‘Canes also seem to have found their running game, rushing for 184 yards against Georgia Tech.
Virginia Tech will have to rely on the run and after the way Miami defended Georgia’s Tech powerful rushing attack, I’m going to have pick the ‘Canes to cover, leave Blacksburg unbeaten and continue their surprising early season run.
Ole Miss on Upset Alert
South Carolina +5 over Ole Miss
Ole Miss has yet to prove themselves. South Carolina defeated a probable bowl bound NC State team in their house with an incredible defensive effort, winning 7-3. The offense got back on track a week later, but the Gamecocks came up just short as they failed to convert a 4th and goal inside Georgia’s 10 yard line and lost 41-37. Junior QB Stephen Garcia has shown improvement since the first game. He has 683 yards and is completing 62.7% of his passes compared with a 53.3 completion % last season. He has three TDs and two interceptions.
Rebel QB Jevan Snead does have 5 TDs and 384 yards but Ole Miss has played Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana so far. Snead struggled against the Tigers, throwing two interceptions in a 45-14 win. Ole Miss has a very tough run defense and South Carolina has just seemed to find their running game, improving each week, and rushing for 287 yards in a win over Florida Atlantic last week.
I think Steve Spurrier may have finally found his Quarterback and the home crowd combined with a Thursday night atmosphere will give 4th ranked Mississippi their first loss of the season.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and an avid college football fan. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)