Week 7 Postlude

Well, I am back after a week of traveling and I am ready to talk college football. The wife and I were on vacation and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Now we're back and I can upload files without sweating over wireless security.

It was a mildly interesting week in college football, though it was mostly due to the fact that some of the lower-tier players in the national and conference title races were permanently removed. Except, as usual, in the ACC, where things are a complete mess. Things were not profoundly changed by anything that happened this weekend, save for the removal of a great lot of unnecessary clutter.

Cincinnati over South Florida

I admit, I was surprised by this result. I thought the speed-based defense for South Florida would match up well against the Bearcats, and a Thursday night home game would take its toll on another top team. Boy, was I wrong. Cincinnati was very, very impressive in that game, even as they lost their starting quarterback and entirely revamped their offense to adjust to their backup quarterback's strengths. They certainly put to rest those questions about who the best team in the state of Ohio is this year, though. I ain't gonna lie here, as an Ohio State fan, that is hard to accept.

I have my concerns about Tony Pike's injury, though. Somehow, the idea of my quarterback playing with a steel plate gone wonky in his arm gives me pause. I'm hoping he will be able to play, as I really enjoy watching the kid. And I'm sure he will play just fine in most situations. The problem is that the situations where he will suddenly get pain in that arm are not most situations. But they are the situations where he will actually need it, such as when he is holding on to the ball while getting tackled.

Boise State over Tulsa

No, Boise State was not impressive in this win over a team that Oklahoma slapped around. I think a lot of that is that is simply because Tulsa was thinking they could beat Boise State, while they were merely hoping they could beat Oklahoma. But Boise State plays efficient, disciplined football. And they did the one thing that a college football team needs to do in every game: win. Honestly, if they are one of two undefeated teams left at the end of the season, I think they deserve a chance to at least show whether they can hang with one of the big boys. But before I will admit that possibility, let's see if they can survive the rest of their schedule; yes, they will be favored in every game, but we learned that doesn't mean diddly once the ball is kicked off. For example:

Purdue over Ohio State

All year, I've thought of Purdue as being like a punk rock chick—not particularly attractive, but kind of sexy because they are dangerous. This weekend, they showed why mom and dad should be nervous about their sons spending time around them. The power outage on Ohio State's offense was going to bite them in the rear at some point, it's just that nobody expected it against a team that was 1-5 coming into the game. In addition, the Buckeye defense took the week off as Purdue created and executed a perfect gameplan for Ohio State's defense. On top of that, everything that could go wrong for the Buckeyes did, and almost everything that could go right for the Boilermakers did.

However, for all that, nothing really changed through the results of this game. Purdue has upgraded their chances of going to a bowl from "none" to "almost none", and Ohio State still controls their Rose Bowl destiny. Ohio State, despite what some in and around the program might have imagined, was not in the national title picture. Let's be honest here, the frequent letdowns in big games means that nobody who is not an Ohio State fan wants to see them play in the BCS title game. However, it should be noted that Danny Hope lived up to his surname and Jim Tressel is, once again, under fire for only winning 80% of his games.

Georgia Tech over Virginia Tech

The battle of the Techs did what these ACC games always do: produce an upset and complete chaos. This is exactly why this conference is so exasperating: the only rule that these games seem to follow is "Regression to the Mean". Virginia Tech looked bad. Georgia Tech looked awesome. Neither is the case. Both are around the range of fairly to pretty good. However, the triple option matches up very well with the way Virginia Tech was playing defense, which created a lot of opportunities for the Yellow Jackets. And Virginia Tech, though improved, is still weak on offense.

Virginia Tech was not much of a threat for the national championship. They had a better chance than Ohio State, but they were still likely to find themselves on the outside looking in come Selection Sunday. But there is now a logjam at the top of the ACC Coastal (yes, I had to look that up), as Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Miami are all 1-1 against each other, thus putting the outcome of the division into the tiebreakers... for now. Suffice to say, there is almost no bigger waste of time than attempting to project the outcome of the ACC race. Better to just sit back and watch what happens.

USC over Notre Dame

That Notre Dame was able to hang in and have a chance to take the game to overtime is a testament both to how much they have improved and how much USC lost from last year. Notre Dame is on the cusp of some very good things. I'd give them a 60% chance of making it to a BCS game against their remaining schedule. It will not be easy, though. Mostly because they need to avoid a letdown, which will not be easy after they put so much hope into a game that left them disappointed. Right now, they need to set aside their hopes for a benchmark win and start putting themselves into a position where they have another chance to get one.

USC, on the other hand, showed some weaknesses. They are not up to the absurdly high standards of their previous few years. However, they are the team to beat in the Pac-10 until proven otherwise. Note that the teams from the state of Oregon have yet to weigh in on that matter, as do the not-bad teams at Stanford and UCLA.

Iowa over Wisconsin

They may not always be pretty doing it, but Iowa just keeps winning. But they'd better not start getting cocky; they are not overpowering enough to take a week off, and they have a lot of weeks left.

Florida over Arkansas

Everyone saw that it was a trap game. Everyone said that it was a trap game. Everyone looked at Arkansas and saw a team that has a potent offense that could score points, even on Florida's defense. Everyone looked at Florida and saw a team that is not as explosive on offense as they have been. Everyone was told that Urban Meyer was something like 7-6 against the SEC West coming into this game. Everyone said that this could be the game that could derail Florida's march toward the national championship. So why is everyone surprised that Florida struggled against Arkansas?

Right now, my only concerns for Florida in the regular season are the injury to Brandon Spikes and the potential for injury to Tim Tebow. Because the schedule is a yawner until the SEC championship game.

Texas Tech over Nebraska

I heard a commentator commentate that this was a "shocker". Huh? A Nebraska team that has been decent but not great all year went up against a Texas Tech team that plays in a Big XII South division that is so superior to its North counterpart that nobody bothers to even ask whether that northern division is even closing the gap. And that Texas Tech team plays games against those other teams in that South division, throws the ball all over the field, and collects points like they got them on bulk discount. Nebraska has not shown much offensive firepower all year, they are still thin on defense, and they had trouble defending against Tyrod Taylor's passing when they played Virginia Tech. Of all the ways that Tyrod Taylor can hurt your team, his arm is dead last on the list.

This was a shocker only because Nebraska was ranked 15th, which I don't think anybody outside of Nebraska or its fans thought was correct. Nebraska is better than last year. But they are not a top-15 team. They are still at least a year away from that.

Texas over Oklahoma

Yes, Texas looked vulnerable. Against a ranked team. That is their biggest rival. That lost two games against other ranked teams. By a total of 2 points. With their starting quarterback out due to injury. Refresh my memory, why am I supposed to be concerned?

No, Texas has not looked as awesome as they did last year. But they are still pretty good. And they passed their first real test of a year that has, so far, been putting them to sleep. Maybe they didn't pass with flying colors, but a pass is a pass in a rivalry game. We'll keep a weather eye on them, but I'm not yet ready to say they are overrated and likely to be upset.