What a crazy weekend it was in college football: huge upsets, massive blowouts, and squeakers — and those were just the Top 25 games!
First, let's talk about the upsets, those ranked teams that lost to unranked ones. Of course, the one that just about everyone's talking about is Oregon's shellacking of Michigan in the Big House. The scuttlebutt here in the northwest all week was that the Ducks were going to get roasted (with a side of mango salsa) since the Wolverines were going to be plenty mad after losing to Appalachian State the previous week.
Most people were predicting a 39-7 final ... only with Michigan getting the win. All I can say after watching that game yesterday is "wow!" I never would have guessed that Oregon would have as easy a time making the vaunted Michigan defense look like a gaggle of blind guys as they did.
Last week, I sort of dismissed the whole Michigan-out-of-the-BCS-hunt talk as jumping the gun, but not this week. With Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Penn State all playing better, the Wolverines will be lucky to be playing in a bowl game after Christmas (those pre-Christmas bowls aren't too prestigious, you know).
Three other upsets occurred among the Top 25 teams on Saturday, one of them not too surprising in my view. That was Washington beating Boise State. I didn't figure that the Broncos would be quite as good as last year's Fiesta Bowl champs, and I kind of figured that the Huskies would be a little better than the past couple years because Tyrone Willingham doesn't tolerate losing for very long. So Washington's 24-10 win at home over the Broncs wasn't that big of an upset in my book. However, the other two upsets — a pair of SEC powers hitting the deck — were.
Okay, so maybe South Carolina beating Georgia 18-12 isn't that huge of an upset, but going "between the hedges" against the No. 11 team is fairly significant. However, much like Washington, the Gamecocks are in their third year under a very successful coach, Steve Spurrier, and he doesn't like losing any more than Willingham does. So, chalk one up to South Carolina being a much improved team and maybe a darkhorse in the SEC title chase.
The final upset, though, is one of significance as South Florida knocked off No. 17 Auburn in overtime, 26-23. The Bulls aren't that far removed from I-AA status (their football program is less than two decades old), but they have been to a bowl game the past two seasons, and took Rutgers down to the wire last year. But to knock off the Tigers in Auburn? Again, "wow."
Aside from the upsets, there were several games in which other ranked teams escaped by the skin of their teeth — all to unranked teams. How about No. 20 Hawaii needing overtime to hold off pesky Louisiana Tech? Or how about No. 23 Texas A&M needing three overtimes to beat Fresno State? Or what about No. 5 Wisconsin having to score the final TD of the game (plus convert a two-pointer) to knock off UNLV 20-13? Then there was No. 16 Nebraska trailing 17-13 to Wake Forest in the third quarter before holding off the Demon Deacons, 20-17.
And there was No. 3 West Virginia down 13-6 at half-time to Marshall before putting them away; No. 12 Ohio State only led Akron 3-2 at the half (what is this, baseball?) en route to a 20-2 win; No. 10 Cal had just a 17-14 lead at half-time on Colorado State and only won by six, 34-28; No. 13 UCLA let BYU get within three in the third quarter before eventually winning by 10; and No. 24 Tennessee had just a 17-16 lead at half-time over Southern Miss before prevailing by 20. Yikes! Maybe a little too close for comfort in a couple of those games.
Finally, there were the hyped games that turned out to be snooze-fests. Of course, the first one was the aforementioned Michigan/Oregon game. Next was the No. 5 Oklahoma/Miami game in which ABC wasted its No. 2 broadcast crew to call a 51-13 rout by the Sooners. Following that was No. 14 Penn State against Notre Dame — of course, any Notre Dame game is hyped — and was pretty close at half-time (14-7, Penn State), but turned out to be a runaway for the Nittany Lions. But the one that takes the cake is No. 2 LSU's dismantling of No. 9 Virginia Tech. Huge game, right? Huge only for the Tigers, who waltzed through a 48-7 laugher. April's shooting tragedy aside, the Hokies simply did not look prepared to play this game.
So that leaves only one Top 25 matchup that wasn't a massacre, an upset, or a close call against a lesser team: Texas and TCU. Well, actually, the game was pretty entertaining for three quarters, with the No. 19 Horned Frogs enjoying a 10-0 half-time lead over the No. 7 Longhorns. But by the end of the third quarter, it was tied at 10, and then Texas turned on the juice to score 24 fourth-quarter points on their way to a 34-13 win.
A quick check of next week's scheduled doesn't really pose many "upset specials," although there are a handful of intriguing games on tap. At the top of the list is the annual Tennessee/Florida matchup in Gainesville. Other games to keep an eye on include Ohio State at Washington, Arkansas at Alabama, USC at Nebraska, and Boston College at Georgia Tech.
Now, I don't think anyone would have predicted Oregon to beat Michigan as bad as they did, or LSU to waste Virginia Tech like they did, or South Florida to knock off Auburn at home. I also don't think many people believe that Citadel can upset Wisconsin, or that Buffalo can knock off Penn State. But that's the beauty of college football, right? One never knows until the final gun sounds.
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Week 2's "in case you weren't paying attention" briefs:
Blowout of the Week: Western Kentucky over West Virginia Tech, 87-0 (that's not a football game ... that's a massacre!)
Busted Scoreboard: Louisville 58, MTSU 42 (100 combined points). Better check the fuses before the next game!
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