Where do I even begin this week?
-I cannot believe I’m saying this, but LSU’s offense looked better last year. I expected Mettenberger to be a much bigger upgrade at QB than he has been. It’s not all on him- the Tigers lost two experienced offensive linemen to graduation and another one to injury early this year, plus an excellent receiver in Rueben Randle to the NFL. They’ve got an excellent defense; if the offensive could step it up to “decent”, they’d be a pretty good team.
-Both LSU and Florida are still taking too many penalties, many of them of the stupid variety. Florida may still be a year away but it will be intersting to see them play Georgia and South Carolina in the SEC East.
-As long as we’re on the topic of bad SEC games, let’s talk Auburn-Arkansas. Arkansas is the Bizarro World LSU. Tyler Wilson is a good quarterback, and he looked like I expected him to look heading into the season. But Arkansas missed a 26-yard field goal, and while the defense held Auburn to 40 yards rushing, they allowed 281 passing yards. Auburn, for its part, committed five turnovers in the 24-7 loss. Pulling QB Kiehl Frazier and inserting Clint Moseley after halftime changed absolutely nothing. Through three-and-a-half quarters, the two had been sacked a total of seven times for -72 yards
-You’re slipping, Geno Smith. Only 268 yards and 4 TDs this week? Tsk, tsk. If I could rewind the weekend and watch a game I missed yesterday, Texas-West Virginia would be it; from what I’m seeing in the box scores, it sounds like a good one.
-Speaking of exciting games that I didn’t see, Florida State-NC State went right to the wire as well, with the Wolfpack winning 17-16. I don’t think many people saw that coming.
-I expected a close game between Georgia and South Carolina. I was wrong (although I did pick South Carolina to win). The Gamecocks defense held Georgia, a team with three good running backs, to a total of 115 yards rushing. An SEC Championship between South Carolina and Alabama has potential to be an epic game.
-Ace Sanders from South Carolina is a heck of a punt returner.
– Another weird weekend in the Big Ten: Michigan beat up on Purdue 44-13, Ohio State whomped Nebraska 63-38, and Wisconsin beat Illinois 31-14. On the other hand, Michigan State needed to overcome a 17-point deficit to beat Indiana. Northwestern, trying to go to 6-0 for the first time in eons, lost what was a very close game for about 58 minutes to Penn State.
-I’m not usually a fan of throwback jerseys, but I loved Northwestern’s.
-I guess having an offensive genius for a head coach can only help so much when your defense gives up 56 points. The Charlie Weis turnaround at Kansas is still a work in progress.
-On the topic of Charlie Weis, I think it’s time to admit that *gag* Notre Dame is for real. Manti Te’o is really leading that defence to be a force this season, something that most didn’t anticipate. The strong play of the front 7 has really helped the inexperienced secondary.
-Props to Stanford for battling back to force OT and beat Arizona. I love to see teams show that kind of character.
