As expected, things got much more interesting in NCAA football this week. The handful of dud games were easily overlooked in favor of several exciting matchups and upsets. My Sunday morning thoughts:
-Nice job on the picks this week, me. Way to overrate the Spartans’ D and underrate Notre Dame completely. Ugh.
-What the hell is going on with Arkansas? I thought they had an outside shot at winning the SEC West, and I know I wasn’t alone in that. Don’t get me wrong, losing to Alabama isn’t anything to be ashamed of, and I know the Hogs were missing some starters. But 52-0?
-Speaking of the SEC West, after upsetting Arkansas last week, Louisiana-Monroe nearly made in two in a row against arguably the toughest division in college football. Auburn needed an OT field goal to avoid starting the season 0-3. Louisiana-Monroe plays in the non-BCS Sun Belt Conference. It’s been that kind of season.
-Tennessee lost to Florida, but they hung in there and played a good game through three quarters. After a handful of disasterous seasons, I think the Vols are on their way back to respectability and relevance.
-Stanford doesn’t seem to be missing what’s-his-face, that Andrew guy, too much. Is USC still in the national championship picture?
-Some major scares this week: Wisconsin nearly went down to Utah State, which would have resulted in a 1-2 start for the Badgers; Ohio State played a game against Cal that was probably way too close for comfort for the Buckeye faithful (Ohio State won by a TD), and of couse there was the aforementioned Auburn OT win. Fun stuff, as long as it’s not your favored team being threatened with a loss.
-Then there was an actual upset: Western Kentucky using some “trickeration” on a two-point conversion to beat Kentucky. That red blob thing that is Western Kentucky’s mascot must have been happy.
-Another upset: Pitt- which lost to FCS Youngstown State in Week 1- beat #13 Virginia Tech. Go figure.
-One other notable loss, albeit not on the scoreboard: South Carolina QB Connor Shaw re-injured his shoulder in a rout of Alabama-Birmingham. With SEC play starting next week, that’s a situation to keep an eye on.
Feel free to add your thoughts below and follow me on twitter @LastWordLindsay
