Week 2 Postlude

It was a very interesting day in college football this past Saturday, and I saw almost none of it, because I was attending the USC-Ohio State game. Among the problems associated with going to a football game is the inability of the person going to the game to actually see any football -- particularly if you have plans to attend some tailgates prior to said game. Not that I'm complaining about being there, but I would have liked to watch some of those games.

There are a lot of things that could be said about this game, but I'm thinking it would be best to keep from rambling too much. One thing I should point out is that almost all of the conclusions people have drawn from the game are dead wrong. Lest I be accused of building up something, then leaving you hanging, let's just jump cut straight to the big game that happened in Columbus, Ohio.

USC over Ohio State

USC won this game for a lot of reasons. Matt Barkley was not one of them. He has good physical tools, but his best plays were when he handed the ball to Joe McKnight. In fact, USC only had problems when they put the ball in his hands. 0 TDs and 1 INT on 14-of-31 passing is not the stuff legends are made of.

Terrelle Pryor also has a lot of work to do on his passing. But with the pressure he was getting all night, his feet kept plays alive and he should be commended for that. But he was making a lot of bad decisions with where to put the ball, and he was making bad throws on correct decisions. Part of me thinks that these are some growing pains as he learns more about the pro-style passing game and how to be a quarterback, but I'm not entirely sure. That may be analysis or it may be wishful thinking as an Ohio State fan; I'm not sure about that, myself.

I've heard a lot of people complaining about the Ohio State coaching in that game. That is nonsense. Tressel and the staff put together an excellent plan that kept Ohio State in the game, despite the fact they were being completely dominated on both sides of the line of scrimmage. When USC needed a yard, they got two. When Ohio State needed a yard, they lost one. And with Pryor making bad passes, they were completely punchless on offense. All they could do was try to win a field position battle, which they almost did.

The only thing I would call a possible blunder that night may have been not kicking the 53-yard field goal late in the game. It was, at best, iffy, since it was really a toss-up play. The ultimate judgment of posterity on that decision depended entirely on the outcome of the game, and a 53-yard field goal is dicey even in a non-pressure situation. But if you can't have faith in your defense to stop an offense over a drive of 80 yards or more -- especially when they have kept the other team out of the end zone, except on a 2-yard drive -- then you are never going to have faith in your defense.

By the way, why does scoring a touchdown on 4th and goal count as a missed 4th down conversion? USC is listed has converting 3-of-4 4th downs, and they got three first downs and one touchdown on those four tries. What sort of sense does that make?

Michigan over Notre Dame

I wanted to see the game, but I was in the process of getting down to the Ohio State campus for much of the aformentioned game, so I could not actually watch it. I have the feeling that it was educational, but I'm not sure that I trust others to give me correct impressions. I did see the final drive and that decidedly showed that Tate Forcier is the guy for the maize-and-blue. I get the feeling that he is going to frustrate a lot of teams through the next few years. Don't be surprised if you see Denard Robinson transfer at the end of the season.

Toledo over Colorado

I appreciate that Colorado was embarrassed by the recruiting scandal, but they sealed their doom once they fired Gary Barnett, who rebuilt that program from the shambles it was left in following the Rich Neuheisel debacle. Aside from the Bill McCartney years, this was a team that was a perennial afterthought in the Big Eight, and Barnett was able to turn them into occasional division and conference champions in the Big XII -- which was not easy when Nebraska and Kansas State were still powerful.

The Buffaloes should let Hawkins finish the season, though. That will give Colorado a chance to put together a proper search. Not that their last search turned out all that well.

By the way, there was another team in this game: the Toledo Rockets. And every time Colorado scored to make it a game, the Rockets scored to make sure it wasn't. It was tighter than the score might indicate, except for the fact that the Buffaloes could not figure out how to play defense.

UCLA over Tennessee

I can't believe I forgot to put something about this game in the precap. But I missed the whole thing, so what am I going to say now? UCLA gets a good win that will help them build confidence going into the conference battles. Tennessee gets a tough loss that will not seem quite so bad if Florida does what they are hoping to do to Tennessee next week. And if Tennessee pulls it out against Florida, then this game will be a distant memory. I'll save my discussion of that until my preweek article.

Houston over Oklahoma State

I expected Oklahoma State to have a victory hangover following their win over Georgia. But how much victory did they have last week?

I thought for sure that the Cowboys would start slow, but I never thought it would be that slow. And I thought they would eventually pull it together and pull out an unimpressive win, but a win nonetheless. Incorrect on that count, because they never actually pulled it entirely together. Why is Oklahoma State so insistent on continuing to make the sort of mistakes you would expect from a traditionally overshadowed, mid-level school? Like, say, an Oklahoma State?

Oregon over Purdue

This win may mean something for the Ducks. This may mean nothing. I don't know at this point. What I do know is that Oregon got a bad taste out of their mouth with this win, and it can help them pull together a good season in the Pac-10. Purdue lost, but this was not an unexpected. They did put together a hard-fought, four-quarter game all the way on the other side of the country, so they are in a pretty good position to make noise once the Big Ten season arrives.

Central Michigan over Michigan State

Michigan State continues to boggle the mind. But Dan... LeFevour? LeFevoeur? LeFevwurwpoajmar?... deserves some respect. He has confounded numerous teams since his arrival at Central Michigan, so I guess one more wild ending shouldn't surprise me. On the Michigan State side of the ledger, they have to pull it together for Notre Dame this week, so they'd better figure some things out fast.

North Carolina over UConn

Admittedly, this did not exactly register on the Richter Scale, but it sounds like it was a very hard-fought game that went down to the wire. I'm sure a lot of mistakes were made, but there were a lot of mistakes made in the USC-Ohio State game, too. This was a solid game between two good teams that (I expect) should finish near the top of their respective, often maligned conferences. Neither team is national title material, so it does not really hurt UConn all that much. But unless there was a serious injury I don't know about, this is a game experience that can only help both teams climb the ladder this season.

Washington over Idaho

I would just like to point out that Washington finally won a game. Thank goodness for that.

Georgia over South Carolina

What the hell happened there? These two teams combined for, what, 17 points last weekend? Again, I was unable to watch any of this game, so I can't get a flavor for it, but what the heck was that?

Anyway, Georgia toughed out a game that turned into exactly the sort of shootout nobody was expecting, so it seems that they can play some offense. Like I said, having not seen the game, it is almost impossible to understand quite what happened there, but the Bulldogs have to be happy about getting the win in a game that seems to have gotten out of anyone's control. And it had to be a confidence booster for an offense that was expected to exit stage left this year.