Is anyone else a bit depressed that the regular season is more than half over? Well, cheer up, we have several important Saturdays to go! Here’s what yesterday showed us:
-Another week, another Big 12 team making a mockery of my prediction. 55-14 is not close, West Virginia. Barring a total implosion in the next six weeks, Kansas State should be heading to a very nice bowl game. Collin Klein made a big statement that he should be considered a part of the Heisman trophy picture as well. If the Wildcats win out, they could even find themselves in a National Title Game.
-At halftime, Florida had 29 yards of total offense. In the entire game, Jeff Driskel was 11 of 16 for 93 yards. The Gators rushed for all of 89 yards. They beat #7 South Carolina 44-11. What. The. Hell. I guess it helps when the Gamecocks turn the ball over four times, but still. With the win Florida really takes control of the SEC East and seems destined to go to the SEC Championship game. Florida’s defence is good, but that Offence is gonna need to show much more in the coming weeks if they really want to be in the National Title picture as they will have a difficult schedule coming up.
-Did anyone count how many times the Head Ball Coach threw his visor?
-HUGE win for Michigan, beating Michigan State in a 12-10 defensive slugfest at home. The Wolverines hadn’t beaten the Spartans since 2007 B.R.R. (Before Rich Rod).
-Upset Of The Week: #21 Cincinnati goes down to Toledo of the MAC. Looks like the Big East is going to come down to Louisville and Rutgers, who play each other November 29. Could be a Thursday night game worth staying up for.
-Texas A&M had no answer for LSU’s running game, once they got it going. So maybe next time, they could getting it going a little earlier. Also, the next LSU player who takes a stupid penalty is going to be Mike the Tiger’s Sunday brunch.
-That said, I was impressed with how LSU’s staff adjusted at halftime and how the players didn’t give up when things weren’t going well. It did NOT look good for the Tigers early on.
-Johnny Manziel is going to be a heck of a quarterback. But yesterday served to remind us all that “Johnny Football” is still a freshman and makes Freshman mistakes.
– Another team that weathered a mediocre start to their game was Notre Dame. Yesterday could have been a classic trap game for the Irish, with BYU sandwiched between bigger-time opponents Stanford and Oklahoma. It was closer than many thought, but the Irish came out with the win though, and thats all that matters to the BCS Computers.
– Speaking of the Irish, that running game is for real. BYU has a tough run defence and Notre Dame put up 270 yards on the ground on 41 carries, an impressive 6.59 yards per attempt.
-Unbeaten Oregon State is quietly putting together a nice string of wins. If (and it’s a pretty big IF) they can beat USC in two weeks, the Holy War with Oregon will be a huge game. Should be a really good game regardless, because those are both excellent teams.
-Congrats to quarterback Matt Barkley for breaking Matt Leinart’s USC and Pac-12 career passing TD record, with his 100th, and to WR Robert Woods on his USC single-game TD catch record, with 6. The Trojans routed Colorado and are still looking to get involved in the BCS picture despite the earlier loss to Stanford. Its not likely, and they’ll need help to get there, but if they win out, it could still happen.
-I found a note I scribbled a couple of weeks ago that somehow didn’t make it into this column: don’t overlook Mississippi State in the SEC West. I don’t expect them to beat Alabama next week, but stranger things have happened, and beating LSU is a distinct possibility. Their offense is good, but their defense is very good.
