2011 - week 3

Another great weekend of football, the big time matchups didn't disappoint. I apologize for the no show last week, sometimes there is just not enough time in the day. I don't get paid for this, so sue me. Anyway, let's jump right in.

A good Thursday nighter.

Mississippi State and LSU was one of the better matchups for a Thursday night game we had seen in a while. Miss State was coming off a heart breaker of a loss to Auburn, and LSU was still rolling along. Miss State is a good team, and would contend for their conference title if they didn't play in this particular conference. LSU pretty much took care of business however, with their defense stifling the opposition once again. They held a normally good offense to just 193 total yards. And hey, LSU QB Jarret Lee actually passed for more than 100 yards, getting up to 213. LSU is not going to run all over people on offense, but they are going to do just enough to win a lot of games. They don't need to score a lot with that defense. Miss State is on the verge, but they are still not there. Final score 19-6, LSU.

Boise State beat Toledo 40-15 Friday night.

The streak is over.

Auburn was somehow still riding a 17 game win streak, longest in the nation, going into last weekend. And after two games of grind it out paired with sheer luck wins, I wondered how long it was going to last. Clemson had something to say about it, especially true freshman Sammy Watkins, who had 10 catches for 155 yards and two scores. But it was the Auburn defense that really lost them the game. No longer is $Cam Newton there to bail them out by scoring when they need him to. In fact, the offense is still quite good. But Auburn is going to have to learn how to stop someone this year. For the first three games, they have allowed total yards of 448, 531, and most recently 624 to Clemson. That's not going to help you win very many games. Final score 38-24, Clemson.

Blowout of the week - Missouri over W. Illinois, 69-0.

Still unimpressed.

I thought this was the best South Carolina team ever? Through three games, including ones against East Carolina and Navy, they have won by a total of 25 points. They had to put on a furious rally to come back from behind to beat East Carolina. And had to get 236 yards and three touchdowns from Marcus Lattimore(the only good thing on the team) to beat Navy by three. Apparently slow starts are how they like to operate. If they do that against the meat of the SEC schedule, it will be a long season. With the way Florida is looking, it may be one and done for the Gamecocks in the SEC title game. I hope so.

Speaking of over hyped at all times.

Notre Dame finally got a win. Some would consider it "impressive" over 15th ranked Michigan State at home, but they're overrated too. The Spartans even out gained the Irish 358 to 275, but penalties(12) and turnovers(2) allowed them to lose the game. One turnover was on the Notre Dame six yard line, you can't be doing that. They even tried to re hash old, good memories by attempting a fake field goal just before halftime, that of course failed miserably. On the other side, Tommy Rees seems to be the "best" option at QB for the Irish. When you pass for only 161 yards, but still win by 18, you'll take that. Jury is still out on Notre Dame. Final score 31-13, Touchdown Jesuses.

The NCAA sanctions/infractions/suspensions bowl.

Maybe the two programs who's players thought free stuff was just a part of the game the most, and who both got caught, also decided to play each other. We all know the Ohio State story, and the more recent story of Miami players who also thought it was ok to receive all kinds of benefits from a booster. Hint, its not ok, never was. Suspensions galore, possible giant sanctions coming for both schools, but you still have to put a team out there. And in Miami's case, they were the only ones who did. Ohio State looked completely out of sorts. Only gaining 209 total yards of offense, and having to rotate quarterbacks to find one that worked. While on the flip side, Miami running back Lamar Miller rushed for 184 all by himself. Miami QB Jacory Harris returned from his suspension, which will become more later I'm sure. He played well though, throwing for a couple of td's. Buckeye coach Luke Fickell just looks lost. He doesn't look like the head coach of an elite program. I'm thinking Ohio State let's him coach for maybe one more year, then they go out and get a bigger name. He's not going to get it done. Final score 24-6, Miami(FL).

End of an era.

A short, not very good era that is. The Garret Gilbert experiment is over at Texas. A highly touted recruit, and what looked to be a ready to go heir apparent to Colt McCoy. But it wasn't so. In 2010, he "led" them to a 5-7 record, their first losing season since '97. Gilbert got the nod to start this year just before the season started over guess who, Case McCoy. Yes, Colt's little brother. But after an unimpressive game one win, he started the second and completed two passes, with two interceptions, and he was outta there. In comes younger McCoy and some guy named David Ash, who apparently only knows how to run the Wildcat formation. I don't think he can actually throw the ball, I have yet to see it. They split time and pull out an improbable comeback victory over BYU two weeks ago. This week younger McCoy(I may call him that from now on) gets the start and splits some time with Ash again, and play well to win big over UCLA in Pasadena. They help Texas put up 488 total yards of offense, and really played efficient football. Oh and don't forget the other younger brother of a former star, Jaxon Shipley, younger brother of Jordan Shipley. So not only did we have to suffer through the McCoy, Shipley fathers were rommates a billion times, now we have to listen to the younger brothers are carrying on the tradition nonsense. And the announcers saying stuff like,"McCoy to Shipley, haven't we heard that before?" HAHA and insert laughing hysterically. Gross. Oh yeah, UCLA is terrible, seems Rick Neuheisel isn't doing a very good job at taking back Los Angeles. Final score, 49-20, Texas.

What?!

Did you say Vanderbilt? Yes, that Vanderbilt. The same program that has been to one bowl game in the last 20 plus years, and is the laughing stock of the SEC. Well that Vanderbilt is 3-0 after wins over reigning Big East champion Connecticut two weeks ago, and a 30-7 shellacking of Ole Miss last week. I watched some of that game, and it literally looked like Ole Miss was the Vanderbilt of old. Completely out of whack, not ever able to get anything going. Analyst Andre Ware said it best, "is it just me, or does Vanderbilt look like the faster, more experienced team here?" The answer was yes. Real test comes this weekend, when they travel to South Carolina.

Impressive stat of the week - Georgia Tech avenges last year's loss to Kansas with 768 total yards of offense. Yes, that is just one team, not the total of both teams.

Best game nobody saw - Houston came back from 34-7 with 5:11 left in the third quarter to win 35-34, nice. Houston QB Case Keenum needs 17 more td's to become the all time leader in touchdown passes in college football history.

Hometown SMU update - The Ponies won big 40-7 over Northwestern State.

And the big one.

A 1 versus 5 matchup in week 3? Yes please. Oklahoma traveled to Florida State in a humongous meeting in this young season. OU QB Landry Jones has struggled on the road in his tenure as the starter, so a win here would do wonders for his confidence. He didn't play outstanding(199 yards passing 1 TD, 2 picks), but he played well enough to get the W. Most importantly, he made the plays when it counted. It was a well fought game throughout. The Noles looked like the Florida State of old. Good defense, and talent all around. But on this night, OU had just a little bit more. Even with OU taking a 13-3 lead into halftime, you got the feeling it still wasn't over. Even when Fla State starter EJ Manuel went out with a shoulder injury, backup Clint Trickett(from Mayberry?) came in and provided a spark. A 56 yard td pass in the fourth quarter to tie it up gave FSU all the momentum. But this time Jones came through. He immediately drove them down, and on a double move, found reciever Kenny Stills open in the end zone to take the lead back. Those were the plays missing in years past with Landry(yes, named after Tom Landry), but not anymore. If he keeps it up this season, OU will make it to the national title game. Final score 23-13, Oklahoma.

Hogs win 38-28 over Troy. Closer than I would have liked.

Until next week.