Great weekend of college football. We will be having some movement in the Top-10 for sure after certain teams’ performances. The SEC brags about defense but it seems to be the last thing on their mind as every game is played. If there is a year to knock out the SEC from the title game or in the title game, this is the year. No team has shown they are ready to carry the torch for an 8th National Title. The Heisman race is still wide open with new faces showing up every week to stake their claims. Also, if I got a dollar for every time an announcer said, “Take what the defense gives you,” today, I would be a rich man. Now, let’s get into some news, thoughts, and scores from some Top-25 action:
1. Alabama might have won 25-0 over Ole Miss but they had their struggles. Ole Miss ran the poor man’s hurry up offense and Alabama shut it down. Alabama is still the team to beat, but as each week goes by, they are looking beatable. If they do not work out their slow starts, other teams are going to take advantage.
2. GAME OF THE WEEK: LSU went into Athens looking to steal a win and came up short in the final minutes. Georgia’s Aaron Murray led his team to a 44-41 victory over the Tigers. The Georgia Bulldogs went from being knocked out of the National Title picture by Clemson in Week 1 to right back in the mix after today’s big win. We might be headed for another classic Georgia vs. Alabama SEC title game again this year.
3. Clemson had no problem with Wake Forest winning 56-7 today. They are just fine-tuning the machine until they get into the thick of their ACC games . . . meaning . . . when they play FSU. If Clemson beats FSU, they should go undefeated with no problem, unless the “Clemson Syndrome” kicks in and they lose to an ACC bottom feeder. Congrats to Clemson QB Boyd, who has accounted for 100 touchdowns while at Clemson.
4. Ohio State had a statement win today by squeaking by Wisconsin 31-24. Braxton Miller had a Heisman performance by passing for 4 touchdowns in the win over the Badgers. Ohio State has gotten by their toughest game left on the schedule . . . or is it? Ohio State will need to look out for Northwestern next week. It is the trap game that everyone talks about. Enjoy the win tonight but get ready for next week. I did see some nice speed and talent from former Oregon commit Dontre Wilson. Imagine if he had come to Oregon and been in the backfield with De’Anthony Thomas? Of course he would have had to make it past Byron Marshall and Thomas Tyner who are destroying Cal tonight!
5. Florida State struggled early vs. a weak Boston College team but eventually got it rolling for the 48-34 victory. Jameis Winston is still the real deal and even had a Heisman moment by shaking off a few tacklers and throwing a Hail Mary for a TD to end the first half. Florida State is still one of my favorites to win the ACC if Clemson goofs up, but Winston is making it easy to believe.
- FSU looks to be waving their flags all the way to Pasadena this year.
BEST FROM THE REST OF THE NATION:
– Miami’s offensive Juggernaut had another field day, winning 49-21 over South Florida. Al Golden has Miami headed in the right direction.
– Texas A&M and Johnny F. survived another high scoring affair vs. Arkansas. Aggies put the game away late, with a final score of 45-33. Texas A&M shows their offense is working against anyone, but the defense is another story. Johnny F. makes it look so easy sometimes.
– West Virginia upset Oklahoma State 30-21 and shook things up in the BIG-12 race. Great win for the Mountaineers after being pushed around last week by Maryland. I don’t expect much more out of West Virginia this year, while Oklahoma State should rebound.
– Oklahoma 35 Notre Dame 21 Refs 0. You have to beat Notre Dame and the Refs when you go into South Bend and Oklahoma did both. The “Belldozer” showed Oklahoma fans he is the man to start at quarterback, by getting a huge road win for the Oklahoma program.
– A giant slayer is still brewing in the PAC-12 North. Washington beat Arizona 31-13 to stay unbeaten. Washington has been tested this season but we’ll be able to find out who they are when they play Stanford next Saturday down on The Farm and Oregon the following Saturday in newly-renovated Husky Stadium.
– Florida’s Tyler Murphy won his first start ever over Kentucky 24-7 to extend Florida’s win streak over Kentucky to 27 straight games. He showed Florida fans things are going to be okay on offense by completing his first 11 passes. Fair warning to Florida fans, it is ONLY Kentucky, not Alabama or LSU. Gators fans will find out what he is made of in 2 weeks when they head to Baton Rouge.
– South Carolina survived a scare against UCF. South Carolina beat UCF 28-25 but lost starting quarterback Connor Shaw for 2-3 weeks in the process. South Carolina had such high expectations for this season but seems to be cracking under pressure.
– BCS buster Northern Illinois plastered Purdue 55-24. Look for Jordan Lynch to lead his team to a BCS bowl game with nothing major standing in the way for the rest of the season.
– Virginia Tech beat Georgia Tech 17-10 on Thursday. It was not pretty but a victory is a victory. Frank Beamer is hoping his team can build some momentum off of this and carry it deeper into ACC play. Look for Tech to put together a decent season after a slow start with only Miami and Maryland remaining as real threats on their schedule.
What a great day of college football. The matchups will only get better from here on out as conference play really starts to unfold. We know defense has become optional in the SEC this season. Oregon will score on whoever whenever and whatever the weather is. The ACC is still proving to be a decent conference this year with 4 teams still undefeated. The Big-12 race got shaken up with an upset. Upsets are what we love about college football. See: “David slays Goliath.”
This season is turning into the year of the offense. I still think we could finish with 4-5 undefeated teams by seasons end. After seeing how the SEC defenses are giving up points like nothing, it got me thinking. This is the best year for Oregon to win it all. If they meet an SEC team in the title game, they will run all over them. That, of course, is if the SEC teams don’t knock each other out this year, which could very much happen after seeing how the Georgia vs LSU game went. Going to be a great season!
NATIONAL NEWS:
1. South Florida is dirty
2. College football mailbag
3. Georgia’s run game takes a hit
4. EA LAWSUIT settled
5. Quarterback duel
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Jeff Hostetler may not have won a Super Bowl with the Giants ( though his uncle of the same name did). He has been an obsessed college football fan living in Florida ever since the Gators beat FSU in the Sugar Bowl to earn the UF’s first national championship.
Ever since Jeff has immersed himself in everything possible related to college football. He enjoys watching, writing, playing, and otherwise obsessing over all things football. A graduate of the University of Florida, he brings a perspective to FishDuck free of our extreme green & yellow homerism glasses to look at the current landscape of collegiate athletics.