WEEK 4’s IN THE BOOKS–AND HERE’S WHO’S GOT THE POWER!
LUCK–This term is tossed around loosely by a lot of pundits, and certainly by me. I absolutely realize that there is a whole lot of hard work put in by each player on the field prior to the games. I know they practice their technique and timing, study their plays, watch film, lift tons and consult with their coaches. I also know that sometimes luck is a major factor in the outcomes of games.
One recipient of some luck coming into last week’s games was Arizona State. Their luck? That the referees didn’t spot the ball quicker or that Wisconsin’s QB didn’t spike the ball instead of kneeling kept Wisconsin from running another play or lining up for the short, potentially game-winning field goal. This bit of luck then must have been overlooked by most bettors and line-setters, because they should have gotten beaten worse than the final margin of 14 (AZ St won the 4th quarter 21-3). One line I saw had the game set at 8.5 points.
But, the luckiest team in the land on Saturday had to be Virginia Tech. I had VA TECH coming into the game ranked 34th while Marshall was 71st. Marshall had them 21-14 from 9 minutes left in the 2nd until 3 minutes left in the 4th. They had some chances to put VA TECH away only to throw a pick, miss a kick or do something else stupid.
Following a 15 yard gain on 4th and 13, VA TECH had the ball at Marshall’s 2. Thomas sprinted right and threw a pass towards wide open Willie Byrn heading to the corner of the endzone. A woeful pass. As the pass was dropping two yards short of Byrn, a Marshall defender heading towards the sideline tipped the ball BACKWARDS AND BACK IN PLAY AND RIGHT INTO THE ARMS OF WILLIE BYRN! In the third overtime, Marshall was called on a pretty sketchy pass interference penalty (the announcers thought so as well) in the end zone that set up VA TECH’s final score. On Marshall’s final possession, they had a receiver who had his jersey pulled completely over his shoulder pad by a VA TECH defender while entering the end zone. This kept him from making a play on the pass, but the penalty wasn’t called. Congratulations, VA TECH.
The second luckiest team this week was Florida, for two reasons. The first is easy to see. They played Tennessee. The second is that, from Jeff Driskell’s season-ending injury, they may have found themselves a gamer to take the snaps in Tyler Murphy. I know he started off looking nearly as bad as Driskell, but he turned it on in the 2nd quarter with his arm and his legs. This young man may have needed the opportunity and the confidence of his coaches to start to shine. In saying this, I’m not glad that Driskell broke his leg. I feel bad for him, but Florida may have found the quarterback they’ve been seeking since Tebow left to give their offense an identity.
RANDOM THOUGHTS–NC State may be pretty good, and they could have possibly beaten Clemson if they had protected the ball.
I’m not sure how good Fresno State is because of my doubts about Boise State, but Fresno’s coach Tim DeRuyter should make some lists of those looking to can their coaches.
Saw Houston Nutt on a football roundtable. I wonder if he’s called Austin yet. I wonder if Tuberville has called Austin yet.
Just because Saban says he isn’t interested in the Texas gig doesn’t mean he’s not or at least taking the phone calls.
Heard a lot about Texas this weekend, but I didn’t hear anyone say anything about Mack keeping his job. Did the 10 point win over Kansas State buy him any time? Probably not. As bad as Texas has played, entering the game ranked 102nd, Kansas State has been worse–ranked 117th before the game.
I hate Virginia Tech’s uniforms and helmets. Not as bad as I hate Maryland’s, but there’s plenty of hate to go around.
Maybe Oregon isn’t that good since Tennessee looks awful. If David Ash has another concussion, will Texas win any more games this season?
Why is Florida kneeling on the ball with over three minutes left? They ended up punting.
USC’s game is on my radio station for the second week in a row. I live in Atlanta.
I saw the kick return, but, really, how is North Texas tied with Georgia in the 3rd quarter?
Arkansas swallowed the olive.
Mississippi State looked better against Troy, but it’s Troy, people.
Auburn may end up pretty good. I can see them splitting games with Ole Miss and Arkansas.
There’s no shame in Ohio State playing FAMU, but why were they throwing the ball so much and so late?
I was off a little with predicting that BAYLOR and ULM would be a close one.
Love him or hate him, Jeremy Hill is GOOD! He had over 150 yards rushing in the first half for LSU, and sat the entire 4th quarter after gaining 183 yards.
LSU needs to seriously tighten up that pass defense.
Charlie Weiss needs to be fired now for saying that the turnover that ended LA TECH’s chances in the loss to Kansas 13-10 was a “signature” moment. LA TECH entered the game ranked 116th with their only win coming against LAMAR.
Skip Holtz needs to be fired for giving Charlie Weiss a signature moment. (stole this from my brother)
SEC WEST–Not much to learn from this weekend except that LSU is still alive, at least for one week, for big things and that Arkansas isn’t ready for prime time. Auburn won the second half against LSU 21-14, and they played better in all phases of the game. LSU’s win over Auburn boosted them to the top spot in the rankings while Georgia is still 2nd. I hope my mother-in-law and kids cooperate and let me watch the entire game Saturday. Ole Miss and Alabama play this weekend, and I think Ole Miss can keep this one fairly close. A&M will try to hang 70 on Arkansas.
Oregon, Ohio State, Clemson and Florida State look like they have the offenses to take the crown from the SEC, but we don’t know how any of them will fare against a GREAT defense. Clemson has beaten Georgia, but Georgia’s defense isn’t GREAT.
SEC EAST–Some are disagreeing with me, but I think Florida plays better with Tyler Murphy taking the snaps. Tennessee sucks! I saw on Twitter that Missouri had a good win. Then, I saw it was over Indiana. Georgia hosting LSU is HUGE! And, it may be too close to call. Both teams can look great, and both have their demons that the other can exploit. Even if Georgia wins this game, they may not have a cakewalk the rest of the season. I think Florida and Georgia Tech may have enough bullets to put them down.
BIG 10–Even though I had Notre Dame ranked higher, I thought Michigan State would beat them. I’m not sure if Michigan is the worst 4-0 team ever, but they are the worst 4-0 team I’ve ever seen. Besides these two games, did anyone watch any of the other teams play?
Big 12–West Virginia may be the worst 2-2 team EVER. Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma are still undefeated, but it’s hard to say if any of these teams are very good. We’ll get a better idea Saturday when Oklahoma plays Notre Dame.
PAC 12–Get off my radio, USC. I wish Utah State had won the game. Utah may be good. Maybe. Stanford is probably good, but Arizona State was over-ranked. Washington State and Stanford play, and some are looking for the upset. Washington–Arizona is an elimination game to keep an eye on. Jim Mora is showing a lot of class. He never did while coaching the Falcons.
ACC–Florida State is still scary good–at least on offense. Clemson survived a tough one against NC State, but we don’t know how good State is yet either. Maryland is undefeated and looks good so far. I’m not sure if they’ll win more than 7. GEORGIA TECH got a little bloodied coming from 13 down to win 28-20, but you can’t count them out of any game. Do you hear that, Georgia?
THE RANKINGS–Lots of open dates and weak opponents led to a reshuffling at the top. Strength of schedule also had its effect. But, a lot of teams are starting to show their strength, and they may hold on to their spots.
| WEEK 4 | ||||||||
| 1 | LSU | 15.28329 | 4 | – | 0 | 11 | ||
| 2 | GEORGIA | 15.0153 | 2 | – | 1 | 2 | ||
| 3 | OREGON | 15.0071 | 3 | – | 0 | 1 | ||
| 4 | UCLA | 13.96313 | 3 | – | 0 | 3 | ||
| 5 | ALABAMA | 12.65312 | 3 | – | 0 | 5 | ||
| 6 | WASHINGTON | 12.48753 | 3 | – | 0 | 4 | ||
| 7 | UCF | 12.07496 | 3 | – | 0 | 6 | ||
| 8 | WASHINGTON ST | 11.78033 | 3 | – | 1 | 7 | ||
| 9 | MICHIGAN | 11.31855 | 4 | – | 0 | 10 | ||
| 10 | CLEMSON | 11.31778 | 3 | – | 0 | 18 | ||
| 11 | MIAMI | 10.8561 | 3 | – | 0 | 8 | ||
| 12 | STANFORD | 10.72199 | 3 | – | 0 | 28 | ||
| 13 | GA TECH | 10.57604 | 3 | – | 0 | 21 | ||
| 14 | NOTRE DAME | 9.930067 | 3 | – | 0 | 31 | ||
| 15 | USC | 8.688601 | 3 | – | 1 | 35 | ||
| 16 | TEXAS TECH | 8.671672 | 4 | – | 0 | 25 | ||
| 17 | RUTGERS | 8.202548 | 3 | – | 1 | 58 | ||
| 18 | OKLAHOMA ST | 8.019396 | 3 | – | 0 | 13 | ||
| 19 | MARYLAND | 7.86195 | 4 | – | 0 | 43 | ||
| 20 | FLORIDA ST | 7.703966 | 3 | – | 0 | 14 | ||
| 21 | FRESNO ST | 7.536 | 3 | – | 0 | 30 | ||
| 22 | OKLAHOMA | 7.387604 | 3 | – | 0 | 15 | ||
| 23 | ILLINOIS | 7.360184 | 2 | – | 1 | 16 | ||
| 24 | MISSISSIPPI | 7.306442 | 3 | – | 0 | 17 | ||
| 25 | MISSOURI | 7.296315 | 3 | – | 0 | 51 | ||
| 26 | FLORIDA | 6.897337 | 2 | – | 1 | 56 | ||
| 27 | UTAH | 6.787759 | 3 | – | 1 | 94 | ||
| 28 | MINNESOTA | 6.441207 | 4 | – | 0 | 40 | ||
| 29 | BUFFALO | 6.368617 | 1 | – | 2 | 19 | ||
| 30 | NORTHWESTERN | 6.163465 | 4 | – | 0 | 20 | ||
| 31 | OHIO UNIV | 6.11623 | 3 | – | 1 | 23 | ||
| 32 | BAYLOR | 5.902897 | 3 | – | 0 | 48 | ||
| 33 | AUBURN | 5.873412 | 3 | – | 1 | 12 | ||
| 34 | VIRGINIA TECH | 5.853215 | 3 | – | 1 | 34 | ||
| 35 | NORTHERN ILL | 5.587426 | 3 | – | 0 | 22 | ||
| 36 | OHIO ST | 5.452843 | 4 | – | 0 | 27 | ||
| 37 | LOUISVILLE | 4.690216 | 4 | – | 0 | 29 | ||
| 38 | HOUSTON | 4.626789 | 3 | – | 0 | 55 | ||
| 39 | PITTSBURGH | 4.26501 | 2 | – | 1 | 54 | ||
| 40 | ARIZONA ST | 4.243219 | 2 | – | 1 | 24 | ||
| 41 | ARIZONA | 4.219931 | 3 | – | 0 | 33 | ||
| 42 | NAVY | 3.618537 | 2 | – | 0 | 36 | ||
| 43 | TEXAS AM | 3.337644 | 3 | – | 1 | 44 | ||
| 44 | SOUTH CAROLINA | 2.925895 | 2 | – | 1 | 42 | ||
| 45 | UTAH ST | 2.405645 | 2 | – | 2 | 26 | ||
| 46 | COLORADO | 2.260319 | 2 | – | 0 | 46 | ||
| 47 | PENN ST | 2.172676 | 3 | – | 1 | 59 | ||
| 48 | WISCONSIN | 2.150349 | 3 | – | 1 | 66 | ||
| 49 | NC STATE | 2.019329 | 2 | – | 1 | 39 | ||
| 50 | MICH ST | 0.676883 | 3 | – | 1 | 47 | ||
| 51 | NORTH CAROLINA | 0.311808 | 1 | – | 2 | 45 | ||
| 52 | TEXAS ST | 0.283475 | 2 | – | 1 | 41 | ||
| 53 | TENNESSEE | 0.153283 | 2 | – | 2 | 38 | ||
| 54 | MIDDLE TENN | 0.116065 | 3 | – | 1 | 69 | ||
| 55 | VIRGINIA | 0.050155 | 2 | – | 1 | 49 | ||
| 56 | NEBRASKA | -0.50148 | 3 | – | 1 | 57 | ||
| 57 | INDIANA | -0.69207 | 2 | – | 2 | 32 | ||
| 58 | WYOMING | -0.9358 | 3 | – | 1 | 60 | ||
| 59 | MISSISSIPPI ST | -1.13199 | 2 | – | 2 | 75 | ||
| 60 | UNLV | -2.02 | 2 | – | 2 | 61 | ||
| 61 | IOWA | -2.12836 | 3 | – | 1 | 64 | ||
| 62 | ARKANSAS | -2.14714 | 3 | – | 1 | 37 | ||
| 63 | NORTH TEXAS | -2.22238 | 2 | – | 2 | 62 | ||
| 64 | TEXAS SAN ANTONIO | -2.23692 | 2 | – | 2 | 73 | ||
| 65 | EAST CAROLINA | -2.30021 | 2 | – | 1 | 63 | ||
| 66 | BYU | -2.48351 | 1 | – | 2 | 9 | ||
| 67 | SYRACUSE | -2.6345 | 2 | – | 2 | 76 | ||
| 68 | TOLEDO | -2.80436 | 2 | – | 2 | 83 | ||
| 69 | ULM | -2.85791 | 2 | – | 2 | 53 | ||
| 70 | MEMPHIS | -2.87231 | 1 | – | 2 | 107 | ||
| 71 | NEVADA | -2.98506 | 2 | – | 2 | 80 | ||
| 72 | TCU | -3.41886 | 1 | – | 2 | 72 | ||
| 73 | RICE | -4.33371 | 1 | – | 2 | 52 | ||
| 74 | KANSAS | -4.34952 | 2 | – | 1 | 93 | ||
| 75 | CINCINNATI | -4.42623 | 3 | – | 1 | 90 | ||
| 76 | BOISE ST | -4.52936 | 2 | – | 2 | 65 | ||
| 77 | MARSHALL | -4.53384 | 2 | – | 2 | 71 | ||
| 78 | TEXAS | -4.76388 | 2 | – | 2 | 102 | ||
| 79 | KENTUCKY | -4.88828 | 1 | – | 2 | 78 | ||
| 80 | OREGON ST | -5.29923 | 3 | – | 1 | 96 | ||
| 81 | BOSTON COLLEGE | -5.49047 | 2 | – | 1 | 82 | ||
| 82 | VANDERBILT | -5.49232 | 2 | – | 2 | 87 | ||
| 83 | NEW MEXICO | -5.57059 | 1 | – | 2 | 84 | ||
| 84 | CALIFORNIA | -5.60175 | 1 | – | 2 | 81 | ||
| 85 | SMU | -5.79661 | 1 | – | 2 | 85 | ||
| 86 | SAN JOSE ST | -5.85358 | 1 | – | 2 | 67 | ||
| 87 | UL-LAF | -6.09129 | 2 | – | 2 | 101 | ||
| 88 | KENT ST | -6.13785 | 1 | – | 3 | 74 | ||
| 89 | DUKE | -6.23487 | 2 | – | 2 | 68 | ||
| 90 | WAKE FOREST | -6.48107 | 2 | – | 2 | 103 | ||
| 91 | WEST VIRGINIA | -6.81939 | 2 | – | 2 | 70 | ||
| 92 | OLD DOMINION | -7.16006 | 2 | – | 2 | 91 | ||
| 93 | UAB | -7.35563 | 1 | – | 2 | 92 | ||
| 94 | PURDUE | -8.0282 | 1 | – | 3 | 86 | ||
| 95 | TULSA | -8.23064 | 1 | – | 2 | 95 | ||
| 96 | BALL ST | -8.46515 | 3 | – | 1 | 110 | ||
| 97 | BOWLING GREEN | -8.98934 | 3 | – | 1 | 99 | ||
| 98 | TROY | -9.01247 | 2 | – | 2 | 79 | ||
| 99 | SOUTHERN MISS | -9.5121 | 0 | – | 3 | 100 | ||
| 100 | TULANE | -11.2003 | 2 | – | 2 | 97 | ||
| 101 | COLORADO ST | -11.4572 | 1 | – | 3 | 106 | ||
| 102 | FLORIDA ATLANTIC | -11.5545 | 1 | – | 3 | 77 | ||
| 103 | IDAHO | -12.3823 | 0 | – | 4 | 105 | ||
| 104 | ARMY | -13.2604 | 1 | – | 3 | 88 | ||
| 105 | HAWAII | -14.5844 | 0 | – | 3 | 104 | ||
| 106 | AKRON | -14.9807 | 1 | – | 3 | 89 | ||
| 107 | ARKANSAS ST | -15.1269 | 2 | – | 2 | 50 | ||
| 108 | SOUTH ALABAMA | -15.3822 | 2 | – | 1 | 113 | ||
| 109 | WESTERN KENTUCKY | -15.7921 | 2 | – | 2 | 114 | ||
| 110 | MIAMI (OH) | -15.8787 | 0 | – | 3 | 108 | ||
| 111 | AIR FORCE | -16.059 | 1 | – | 3 | 112 | ||
| 112 | UTEP | -16.3619 | 1 | – | 2 | 111 | ||
| 113 | CENTRAL MICH | -16.6323 | 1 | – | 3 | 109 | ||
| 114 | EASTERN MICH | -16.984 | 1 | – | 3 | 98 | ||
| 115 | NEW MEXICO ST | -17.1752 | 0 | – | 4 | 115 | ||
| 116 | LA TECH | -21.0729 | 1 | – | 3 | 116 | ||
| 117 | KANSAS ST | -23.622 | 2 | – | 2 | 117 | ||
| 118 | CONNECTICUT | -30.267 | 0 | – | 3 | 118 | ||
| 119 | IOWA ST | -32.3622 | 0 | – | 2 | 119 | ||
| 120 | SOUTH FLORIDA | -36.3895 | 0 | – | 3 | 121 | ||
| 121 | SAN DIEGO ST | -37.2205 | 0 | – | 3 | 120 | ||
| 122 | WESTERN MICH | -53.6193 | 0 | – | 4 | 122 | ||
| 123 | TEMPLE | -55.2068 | 0 | – | 3 | 123 | ||
| 124 | UMASS | -57.6808 | 0 | – | 4 | 124 | ||
| 125 | FLORIDA INT | -76.3237 | 0 | – | 4 | 125 | ||
| 126 | GEORGIA STATE | -146.086 | 0 | – | 4 | 126 | ||
As usual, I hope you enjoyed the games, this post and this week.
Let me know what you think, and keep coming back.
Thanks,
Bill
PS: I need to thank Scott Long and Gregg Doyel for their web and Twitter mentions. Eyeballs mean everything. Also, due to Gregg’s mention, I will begin contributing columns to the site http://www.morethanafan.net. Come read some columns, leave some comments and click some ads. One more thing, don’t forget about visiting the other pages like the donate page.
Thanks again.
WHO'S GOT THE POWER IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL????? 