Welcome to the parade of random thoughts that are my Week Eight Midweek Musings.
Louisville-Clemson
This game eventually turned into the blowout everyone expected, but the first quarter was sloppy. Louisville’s first three drives ended with an interception and two lost fumbles. Clemson started with a field goal, but their next two drives ended in picks. The score was 17-3 at the half, and the final was 45-10, but a rough start like that in a playoff game will be a lot harder to recover from. The Tigers have not looked like the Clemson of the last few years thus far.
UNC-Virginia Tech
This game turned into the longest in ACC history (6 OT!) and gave us a chance to see the new OT rules in action. Starting this year, teams alternate two-point conversion attempts after four overtime periods. After some very collegiate kicking (two misses for Va Tech, a miss and a block for the Tar Heels), the two-point tries came into play.
I have to say, I like this rule. It cuts down on the number of hits players have to take, and it mitigates the increase in injury risk to exhausted players. If hockey games can end in a shootout, football games can end this way.
American Conference
SMU and Cincinnati have very quietly gone unbeaten in conference play until this point. They don’t play each other in the regular season, so their conference championship on December 7th has the potential to be an important game.
The Sooner Schooner
By now, you’ve probably seen the video of the Sooner Schooner tipping over and dumping people onto the field after an Oklahoma touchdown. I don’t know how this happened without any injuries. Here’s the video, if you haven’t seen it.
And you probably remember this incident with the Schooner last season. Again, very lucky that this man wasn’t injured.
And while finding these videos, I also turned up this one of a 1993 spill, very similar to what happened this past weekend:
Is this really a good idea?
Alabama
A high-ankle sprain to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa seems like it would be a big story in college football. However, coach Nick Saban seems to think Tagovailoa will only be out of action for 10-14 days. That means he’ll miss the Arkansas game this weekend- probably not a big problem for the team. The week after is their bye week. At the moment, that means he would be back under center Nov. 9 to face LSU. As far as the timing of the injury goes, it couldn’t have been much better for the Tide. (Seauxry, LSU fans).
Washington
I wrote two weeks ago that Washington had a chance to get back into the rankings, especially if they could beat Oregon. Well, they had gotten back up to #25 after a 24-point win over Arizona in week seven. The Huskies have again dropped out of both the Coaches’ and the AP polls after losing (narrowly) to Oregon this weekend. Their roller-coaster ride continues.
Illinois
After a valiant comeback attempt a week ago against Michigan, it must have been incredibly gratifying for the Illini to upset #6 Wisconsin. I watched the Michigan game and was impressed with how Illinois battled back after a disastrous first half. Lovie Smith, whom I’ve always liked as a coach, has those guys playing very hard for him.
The highlight of the Week
I had a couple of plays in mind from the early games, but this was the clear winner. I imagine most of you know what’s coming:
O’Brien’s story has been picked up far and wide, including the on TODAY show’s website. I can’t imagine I’m the only one whose apartment gets dusty from those videos.
Those are my Week Eight Midweek Musings! Remember to check back next week for my thoughts on Week Nine.
