Notes on the Nation:
Recap:
I was on the road again this past weekend, but I did manage to catch a little bit of the Texas-Texas Tech game on the radio. You have to applaud the job that Mike Leach has done out there in Lubbock. He's stuck with his pass heavy offense throughout these years and has managed to get some better recruits on each side of the ball, to the point where they can store a ton of points and also play decent defense.
I wasn't surprised to hear about Florida beating Georgia. After what happened last season, everyone knew that Gators team would be coming out with vengeance.
I'm starting to think that the Big East doesn't deserve a spot in the BCS this season. I think Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are the two best teams in the conference right now. But after this upcoming week, that could all have changed. I can honestly say I think the Mountain West Conference may be a better league top-to-bottom.
I'm still scratching my head on the ACC, too. It reminds me of the SEC a lot, except the teams are not as talented. I guess the Pac-10 besides USC is also in the same boat.
Top 25 (not reflecting Thursday night's Utah-TCU game)
1. Alabama
2. Utah
3. Penn State
4. USC
5. Texas Tech
6. Florida
7. Boise State
8. Oklahoma
9. TCU
10. BYU
11. Oklahoma State
12. Texas
13. Missouri
14. LSU
15. North Carolina
16. Pittsburgh
17. Ohio State
18. Georgia Tech
19. California
20. Cincinnati
21. Georgia
22. Florida State
23. Wake Forest
24. Arizona
25. Louisville
Looking Ahead:
I wasn't expecting this game to mean much in the beginning of the season, but Louisville versus Pittsburgh could actually determine the Big East Championship this year. Yeah, I'm surprised I'm stating this, too.
We can say the same thing about the North Carolina versus Georgia Tech match-up. I never imagined the Yellow Jackets would be this decent this fast under Paul Johnson's option attack. I figured it would take at least one season of lumps, but I've once again been proven wrong.
Let's not forget Alabama at LSU. Nick Saban returns to Baton Rouge as a No. 1 ranked team. Emotions will be high. The Crimson Tide need to win this game if it wants to remain in the national title hunt and will be tested strongly by the riverboat gambler Les Miles.
However, the game of the week may be Texas Tech versus Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders find themselves in the midst of running a gauntlet like the Longhorns were. OSU previously lost to Texas earlier in the year, thus by comparable opponents Texas Tech should have the edge. This should be another offensive explosion, just like every other Red Raiders' contest.
California at USC should be another high scoring affair. It probably won't be on at all around Buffalo unless you have the Game Plan package, so it's one of those games you can keep track of online.
Heisman Watch:
1. Tim Tebow QB Florida
2. Graham Harrell QB Texas Tech
3. Sam Bradford QB Oklahoma
4. Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech
5. Colt McCoy QB Texas
My BCS:
Title Game: Alabama vs. Utah
Fiesta: Texas Tech vs. West Virginia
Sugar: Florida vs. Georgia Tech
Orange: Boise State vs. Oklahoma
Rose: Penn State vs. USC
+1 Format:
Alabama versus USC
Utah versus Penn State
8-Team Playoff:
Alabama versus West Virginia
USC versus Texas Tech
Florida versus Penn State
Georgia Tech versus Utah
16-Team Playoff:
Alabama versus Louisiana-Lafayette
TCU versus Oklahoma
Texas Tech versus Georgia Tech
West Virginia versus USC
Utah versus Tulsa
BYU versus Boise State
Florida versus Oklahoma State
Ball State versus Penn State
The Bull Breaker
Recap:
Nice victory for Buffalo this week. The Bulls have now tied last year's win total and seem on the verge of being bowl eligible for the first time since moving back to Division 1-A several years ago. They did this not only on Election Night, but against Miami (Ohio), whom they never had beaten up until Tuesday night, and also did it on the Bulls' first ever nationally televised game.
The offense was there again on Tuesday doing what they do best: Willy hitting the long balls to Roosevelt and the other wide outs. Starks is really turning into a Mariano Rivera type for the Bulls in that he's starting to find ways to close out games, running the ball down the defenses' throats late in the game and eventually hitting off long touchdown runs.
The defense did a good job of trying to force fumbles. The one concern I have was that Miami was able to punch the ball up the middle on a lot of quarterback draws. The other teams left on the schedule most likely took note of that.
Looking Ahead:
The weeknight games continue for the Bulls as they next play on Thursday night at Akron. If the Zips win this Saturday, they will remain tied with Buffalo in first place of the Mid-American East. Thus, this could be a showdown to determine who goes out to Detroit for the MAC Championship game.
In the beginning of the year, I didn't see much coming out of this Akron squad. But you need to give credit to Zips head coach J.D. Brookhart for being able to field a decent MAC team.
Akron has wins over Army and Syracuse this season and also lost to Cincinnati by just two points, thus the Zips are definitely not slouches. Dennis Kennedy carries the bulk of the load in the running game for Akron while Chris Jacquemain has done a good job under center.
Originally, I felt that this would be an easy win for Buffalo on the road. However, the Zips are a much more formidable foe then everyone projected them to be. The Bulls will need to play another mistake free game such as it did against Ohio if they want to win this match-up and take sole possession of first place in the division.