Week 9- Lutzenkirchen!!!!

Auburn

• Philip Lutzenkirchen is phenomenal. That's all there is to it. Not only was he an absolute asset in both the run and pass blocking games, but he made perhaps the play of the year with his one-handed catch, transfer, and dive for the pylon. Clint Moseley seems to have a pretty good rapport with Lutz (who had 2 TD's on the day), so I would look for a slight role increase as the Tigers get into Amen Corner. 
• Clint Moseley's arm strength is a key that the Auburn offense didn't have during the first half of the season. Long passes to Quindarius Carr and Emory Blake showed what had been missing from Gus Malzahn's attack. The long pass opens up the run game, and vice versa, but when the passing threat isn't there, teams can stack the box and make Mike Dyer a non-factor. This is a big step forward for this offense. Great performance for Moseley, albeit against poor competition.
• Give Ted Roof and company credit for the second half adjustments in the run game. Ole Miss dominated on the ground during the first half, but Auburn made adjustments, put more men in the box and made Randall Mackey throw the ball. The result, Mackey proceeded to overthrow receivers by an average of 10 yards per attempt. Good decision Roof.
• At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Eltoro Freeman has taken his game to a new level. We all knew that The Bull had this in him, but we hadn't seen it with any consistency during his time on the Plains. This makes 3 weeks in a row where Freeman has played at an elite level and is a big reason why the Auburn defense is so improved. 
• Neiko Thorpe played one of the worst games I have ever seen from a senior with 4 years of playing experience. Thorpe single-handedly gave up a touchdown by whiffing on tackles on two Brandon Bolden runs, including a 38-yarder and the touchdown run. Thorpe tackled with his head down, not even looking at the ball carrier and payed the price. If he doesn't improve during practice, expect to see more and more Erique Florence as the season goes on. Florence is the future, and already does a lot of things better than Thorpe (like turn and play the ball in the air). 
• The offensive line looked at least somewhat improved this week. AJ Greene still missed to many assignments, but Auburn honestly doesn't have any other options at tackle other than pulling Greg Robinson's redshirt, which won't happen. Chad Slade looked better, and Brandon Moseley and John Sullen looked solid. Georgia will be a big test in two weeks, but the Tigers have two weeks to continue to gel, so I expect a solid performance.
• Yesterday was an excellent example of why Jay Wisner is on the field so frequently. While his physical attributes and raw skills are nothing to write home about, Wisner is the Kodi Burns type, doing the dirty work when it comes to blocking for teammates. He laid several big blocks to spring Mike Dyer and a couple receivers. Trooper Taylor has always said that the guys who get on the field are the ones who learn to block. Take note DeAngelo Benton.
• It was painfully evident how important Emory Blake is to this Auburn offense. After watching a team that couldn't do a thing during the passing game for the last three weeks, Blake came in and immediately made plays. Five catches for 71 yards doesn't really jump out at you, but the element that he brings to the vertical game is irreplaceable.
• This team is young, but the future is bright. At the end of the season, Auburn's only contributors who will leave due to graduation are Freeman, Brandon Moseley, Greene, Thorpe, and Carr. The entire defensive line and backfield will return, and injured freshmen Kris Frost, Sammie Coates, and Chris Landrum should help bolster a group that has already seen 4 true freshmen start this season. If currently redshirting Greg Robinson, Christian Westerman, and JUCO commit Will Latu can successfully integrate into the line, this team has a potential to be very good next season.

SEC

• Vanderbilt will be a team to be reckoned with as long as James Franklin is the coach. For the 2nd week in a row, the Dores took a Top 25 SEC team to the wire. If not for a red zone fumble that was returned for a touchdown or a missed field goal at the end of regulation, the Dores would have knocked off Arkansas. This team doesn't have the talent level of many other SEC teams, but Franklin has inspired a confidence and grit that will keep Vandy from being the SEC dore mat (you see what I did there? huh?).
• Mark Richt has saved his job. After Georgia's victory in the Grande Sized Drinking Festival in Jacksonville, the Dogs are in position to make an appearance in Atlanta. Granted, they will get destroyed by either Alabama or LSU, but it is definite progress for a Georgia team that had seemed to be trending downward for several years. 
• Georgia doesn't control their own destiny, but with South Carolina playing without Marcus Lattimore for the rest of the season, they might as well. The Cocks barely beat a bad Tennessee team, and Alshon Jeffery only touched the ball only three times. That is not a recipe for success, and I don't expect South Carolina to be able to beat both Arkansas and Florida. 
• Mississippi State beat Kentucky for their first SEC victory of the season. I doubt anyone cares other than Dan Mullen.
• In case you have missed the entire season, Alabama and LSU play next week in a game that has the potential to be one of the most epic in recent college football history. 

Nation

• We knew it was only a matter of time before Clemson blew it. It should come to no one's surprise that Georgia Tech was the team to wreck the dream. Tech runs an offense that you won't see anywhere outside of Navy, and is unpredictable week to week. Add in a Tajh Boyd off week, and you have a recipe for disaster. The Tigers should still be able to get to the ACC Championship and thus a BCS bowl, but this is a huge disappointment for Dabo Swinney's team and the ACC as a whole.
• Stanford almost joined the Tigers in Upsetville, needing a triple overtime touchdown to down USC. As you may recall, I have been a bit skeptical of this Cardinal team all season, and this shows why. The Cardinal don't face a very tough schedule, but a matchup with Oregon in a couple weeks looks like trouble to me.
• Goodbye Wisconsin, thank you for playing.
• Big East football makes me puke in my mouth a little.
• Want to know why Houston is undefeated and still only ranked #14? Because they play in a conference where you can put up 73 points on a conference opponent, have a quarterback throw for 9 touchdowns in a game, and have a receiver gain over 300 yards in a game. Add in non-conference games against UCLA, North Texas, Georgia State, and Louisiana Tech, and you see why folks are unimpressed with Case Keenum and the Cougars.
• Nebraska is quietly playing some pretty nice football. The Huskers knocked off Michigan State, and out-defensed the country's 7th best D. Penn State and Michigan still loom, but Nebraska looks to be in pretty good shape in their first year in the Big Ten.
• Kansas State, welcome to big-time football. The next month will be rough for the Wildcats. Oklahoma started what could be 4 straight losses as the Cats actually play competitive teams. Oklahoma State looms next week, and the Cowboys don't look ready to back down any time soon. 

That's all for this week. Try to stay on task this week as visions of Purple and Crimson sugar plums dance in your head. 
 

Week 8- Ouch

Auburn

• To say the game was ugly would be an colossal understatement. The Bayou version of the Tiger was so superior that Auburn looked like a MAC team. Honestly, we should have expected this. Fortunately for Auburn and unfortunately for our sanity, Auburn managed to win 2 games against teams who weren't as good as we thought they were, to give us the illusion that this team might be competitive. If we had our wits about us, however, we would have remembered that this team lost over 30 players from last year's team, is playing about 75% freshman and sophomores, has only 5 healthy senior contributors, has had terrible injury luck, and is about 10 players short of the roster limit. Let's be honest- with everything that LSU has going for them right now and everything Auburn doesn't, this game looked about as it should have. 
• The offensive line was terrible. Gene Chizik can attempt to deflect blame away from them or call it a team breakdown, but there's no denying it. Clint Moseley rarely had time to get throws away, and the run game was almost non-existent outside of a few McCalebb sweeps. 
• Considering the circumstances, Moseley actually performed quite well. He was under duress all game and still came away with some nice throws and decent composure, though there were still times when he held the ball too long. That blame doesn't lie completely on him, however, as the receivers weren't doing a sterling job of getting open. Being without Emory Blake certainly did not help.
• The special teams finally let Auburn down. Stephen Clark came back to earth in a big way, shanking a couple punts and failing to help Auburn win the field position battle. In the return game, Auburn lost its first fumble of the year (last team in the NCAA to do so) as Tre Mason got lambasted by Jarvis Landry. LSU's coverage units were flying down the field and laying the smack down. 
• The defense wasn't terrible. Looking at the score, you probably wouldn't believe this, but they were put in tough positions all game. Robensen Therezie and Chris Davis both got burned by Reuben Randle, and Auburn struggled to get stops late in the game, but it was still an improvement over the efforts during the beginning of the season. However,....
• Gus Malzahn is definitely making adjustments to help the defense, and the offense is suffering because of it. Auburn is working to milk the clock during the entire game, which simply isn't Malzahn's style. You'll recall the last couple of years that Auburn frequently scored on drives lasting less than 2 minutes and were prone to take a shot deep or run multiple trick plays on one drive. To put it plainly, Malzahn can't do what he wants because if he does the defense is on the field more and then unable to stop opponents. Chizik denied this during press conferences each of the last two weeks, but if you have watched the games, you know he is blowing smoke.
• There's always next week. Fortunately for Auburn, that means Ole Miss and a solid chance for a rebound and bowl eligibility.

SEC

• This video is crunk, but even it doesn't do justice to just how amazing November 7th's Alabama-LSU matchup should be. This is a matchup of undoubtedly the top 2 teams in college football, 2 phenomenal defenses, and two uber-passionate fan bases. I'm have no loyalties either way, and I'm still a bit giddy in anticipation. Bama's victory over Tennessee on Saturday was a slow start, but that is part of the allure of both teams. They are big, strong, and deep enough to wear down the opponents and then smash them into oblivion.
• Vanderbilt may have found a little offense in the form of Jordan Rodgers. The passing performance wasn't impressive by any means, but his arm strength and running ability open up the field for Zach Stacy to do his thing, which is what the 'Dores need in order to be successful. 
• Arkansas struggled out of the gates against Ole Miss, but you just knew that the Hogs weren't going to go away and that Ole Miss would blow it. That is exactly what happened, and the Razorbacks continue to roll. 

Nation

• Remember when I told you several weeks ago that I never believe in the legitimacy of Wisconsin? Saturday night is yet another in a long string of disappointing Wisconsin meltdowns under pressure. I still think this is the best Wisconsin team in recent memory, but this club has developed a pension for the letdown. That said, let's take nothing away from the great Hail Mary that won Sparty the game. Great ending.
• Should we have seen an Oklahoma loss coming? Probably. Did I? Not this week. You get the feeling that the Sooners may have gotten caught looking ahead to games against Kansas State and Texas A&M in the coming weeks. As the season has gone on, wins against Texas, Florida State, and Missouri have looked less impressive, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Sooners take at least one more under the chin before the season is over, especially with as well as Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and A&M are playing.
• The Big East, whoof. Syracuse took down West Virginia, Louisville took down Rutgers, and I continue to wonder why the Big East has a BCS bid and why these other conferences are so eager to merge with their mediocrity.
• Stanford, Clemson, and Boise continued to roll, as they should have. The Cardinal gets a bit of a challenge with USC next week, but Oregon is probably their best bet to fall. Speaking of the Ducks..
• Watch out for Oregon as a sleeper to return to the National Championship game. Chip Kelly's squad currently ranks 7th in the BCS, so they would need some help, but its not unfathomable. Boise State will get jumped by any teams playing legitimate competition, and Oklahoma State and Clemson still have work to do. Beat Stanford, and the road to New Orleans for the Ducks doesn't look so tough. LSU-Oregon rematch? Bama-LSU rematch? The BCS may have a different type of controversy on its hand this season.

That's all folks. This week's schedule brings us Florida-Georgia, Nebraska-Michigan State, Oklahoma-KState, and Baylor-Oklahoma State (upset alert? Old allegiances die hard). Should be a pretty good week of games, with marquee games spread out throughout the day. Enjoy!

Week 7

Auburn

• Remember that thing I said last week about Clint Moseley not being a better option? I might have to stand corrected there. We'll see. I'm not ready to tout Moseley as a huge improvement after 7 passes, but I sure was tired of watching the quarterback get sacked or throw a ball that an AU receiver had no chance of catching. Therefore, I will definitely support the change that Chizik and Malzahn made today in naming Moseley the LSU starter, relegating Trotter to holding up signs of George Bush and Chris Todd. I honestly think that the coaches believed that Trotter had much more going for him when they named him the starter, and maybe he did. As struggles mounted, Trotter seemed to lose confidence, and things unraveled quickly after that. I wouldn't expect to see Barrett back starting. In my opinion, its either Moseley or Frazier the rest of the way out.
• Chris Davis is a vital part of Auburn's success. Davis has developed into possibly Auburn's best cover corner and really helps seal off one side of the field. T'Sharvan Bell had probably his best game of the year on Saturday, and will need to replicate it if Auburn has any hope of shutting down Reuben Randle this week.
• Don't look now, but the defensive end position that seemed to have the most depth on the team at season's start is now almost empty. Dee Ford, Justin Delaine, and LaDarius Owens are all out for most or all of the season. Behind Corey Lemonier and Nosa Eguae, the Tigers are left with only Craig Sanders and Joel Bonomolo (who coaches seem to lack confidence in). Devaunte Sigler will shift over as needed to pick up some of the slack.
• Tough news for senior offensive lineman Jared Cooper, who will miss the rest of the season after surgery. Cooper waited a long time to get his shot, and was playing quite well as the pulling guard. Tough break for Jared and the Tigers.
• Steven Clark kicks the ball very high. We know this because neither of Florida's punt returners seemed to be able to track the ball from sky to bread basket. Clark created big turnovers for the Tigers (with a little help from Onterio McCalebb) and again received SEC Special Teamer of the Week honors for his efforts. Meanwhile, Cody Parkey had his struggles, but put one through when it mattered. 
• This defensive line will be flat out terrifying in two years. Auburn's four sophomores- Corey Lemonier, Nosa Eguae, Jeff Whitaker, and Kenneth Carter- are improving steadily, and Lemonier has taken his game to a completely new level. If Mike Pelton can continue to develop these guys, an LSU-type scary line isn't out of the question.
• Not to beat a decaying horse, but wow has this offense been ugly of late. 278 yards? Yuck. 7 complete passes? Hopefully Moseley can light a little spark. 
• Will Muschamp is funny. I know he's coaching on the other sideline now, but I just love watching that man pitch a fit.

SEC

• Georgia looked rather pathetic in the 2nd half against Vanderbilt and still had far and away the best week of any SEC East team. Marcus Lattimore's injury means that South Carolina is destined for a loss or 3 down the stretch, putting Georgia firmly in the driver's seat headed to Atlanta. Tennessee and Florida looked abysmal, while Kentucky looked the best they have all season. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they can't have a bye every week, so that illusion will wear off.
• LSU and Alabama continue to prove that they are not only the best two teams in the SEC by a long shot, but also likely the best two in the country by a pretty decent margin.
• Trent Richardson is heating up, and there's nothing Andrew Luck can do to stop him.

Around the Nation

• Flashback from last week: "Unbeaten teams who still have yet to win any impressive games: Michigan, Kansas State, Houston, Georgia Tech, and Illinois. Houston may run the table without beating a decent team." That didn't take long. Nice victory for Kansas State over Texas Tech. I'll start giving them credit in two weeks when we see what they can do against Oklahoma. My thoughts on Houston remain unchanged. 
• And to further brag, another flashback, "Don't expect Mike Stoops to make it through the season as the Arizona head coach. A loss to previously winless Oregon State certainly didn't help." Fast forward less than 4 hours from the posting of the blog, and Mike Stoops is no longer the coach of the Wildcats.
• Texas A&M trounced Baylor. I'm quite disappointed in the Bears. As many of you recall, I've had a Robert Griffin III man crush for quite some time, and he and Baylor have yet to fulfill my fetish.
• Oklahoma and Wisconsin continue to roll in impressive fashion. Clemson's winning ways continued as well, though the Tigers had a much tougher go of it. Maryland gave them all they could handle, but this Clemson team has something that feels a little special. Or maybe that's just Sammy Watkins. Kid can straight up run play ball in space. 
• Louisiana-Lafayette is already bowl eligible, with their only loss coming to Oklahoma State. I don't know what you do with that, but I figured it was worth noting.
• Very impressive win for Oregon on Saturday who, without the services of LaMichael James and a half of Darron Thomas, handled a pretty good Arizona State team. Thomas and James should return to the next game of significance for Oregon. Fortunately for the Ducks, that game doesn't come for at least three weeks, when they head to play the Huskies of Washington.

That's all for this week. What once looked like a pretty intriguing schedule of games turned out to be quite a few blowouts, and upsets of teams that I predicted weren't very good. Next week doesn't look too much better. Outside of Auburn-LSU, there's no reason to turn on your TV until 7:15 Eastern. The daytime schedule offers nothing of interest, but the night should tell us how good Stanford and Wisconsin are, as they take on Washington and Michigan State respectively. Enjoy folks.

Week 6: The One Where Reality Hurts

Auburn

• Well, that was more like what I expected when October started. Wow was it ugly. 
• Don't blame the defense. For the third week in a row, the defense put on a very solid effort. Even without Stephen Garcia, the Tigers still played strong. Tyler Wilson had one phenomenal quarter (2nd, 13-13 passing), but Auburn did as well as can be anticipated against such a good offense for the rest of the game.
• Eltoro Freeman played out of his mind! Best game that The Bull has played so far in his Auburn career. Linebacker play has been a weakness this season, but with RaRa White, Freeman, and Jonathan Evans coming on, things might be looking up. Daren Bates still isn't tackling well, and Jake Holland still needs to get better, but it's progress.
• Tough to win when you have 11 penalties for 105 yards and three turnovers.
• Saturday was DeAngelo Benton's shot to prove that he belongs on the field. With Emory Blake and Trovon Reed out with injuries, Benton proved just the opposite. In addition to a special teams gaff that should have cost Auburn another turnover, Benton dropped a critical third down pass and had another pass go through his hands, turning into an interception credited to Barrett Trotter. Trotter wasn't good, but that one was on Benton.
• On the quarterback debate: 1)We now know why Auburn went after Russell Wilson this offseason. In addition to Wilson being phenomenal for Wisconsin, Auburn was rightfully concerned about its options. 2) Swapping to Clint Moseley at this point will not do Auburn any good. Trotter beat out Moseley for a reason. 3) Kiehl Frazier is the future, but it was evident Saturday why he isn't the present. Frazier needs to be slowly eased into the quarterback position, and unfortunately for the Tigers, that means the interceptions and growing pains that we saw this weekend.
• Auburn really missed guard Jared Cooper after he left with an injury in the first half. Cooper has been one of the more consistent linemen, and an asset in the pulling guard plays that Mike Dyer has broken big in several games. With Cooper out, the line's consistency was again fractured, a theme throughout the season. 
• For all the pub and hype T'Sharvan Bell has gotten as being Auburn's defensive leader, both in terms of skill and emotion, he has gotten burned a good bit this season. Auburn will be really good in the secondary next season, but the growing pains are a bit difficult to watch at times.
• Stephen Clark shanked his first punt of the season against the Hogs and still managed to average 40 yards per punt. That's pretty amazing. 

SEC

• This says about all you need to know about LSU right now. Impressive performance for the Tigers.
•  South Carolina finally realized that they can't win games with Stephen Garcia at quarterback. The result? Connor Shaw throws 4 touchdowns and the Cocks win 54-3.
• If you thought the Auburn quarterback situation was bad, be glad you aren't a Kentucky fan. Kentucky passers combined to go 4/26 with 4 interceptions. Ouch. Oh, and the Wildcats failed to eclipse 100 total yards for the game.
• Georgia stayed hot (although every time I turned to glance at their game on TV they were getting a penalty). The Bulldogs won their 4th straight, knocking off Tennessee 20-12. A victory against Florida in two weeks could solidify Mark Richt's job for another year.
• Bama continues to maul opponents, and Mississippi State might as well have gotten a week off. Surely UAB can't retain Neil Calloway for another year with Conference USA so wide open for any team to rise to prominence.

Around the Nation

• Texas, meet reality. We all knew you weren't an elite team, and Oklahoma didn't deliver the message kindly. 55-17? Wow Mack Brown. 
• Clemson OC Chad Morris says he expects Tajh Boyd to play this week, after injuring his hip on Saturday. Call me skeptical. If nothing else, Boyd's mobility will be limited. Other than that, Clemson continues to roll.
• Florida State continues to implode. I expected good things. I suppose Wake Forest (4-1, 3-0 ACC) could actually be good. We'll see. For now, though, the Seminoles are a disappointment.
• Don't expect Mike Stoops to make it through the season as the Arizona head coach. A loss to previously winless Oregon State certainly didn't help.
• Arizona State has been pretty impressive so far this season. The Sun Devils took care of Utah pretty handily on Saturday. A matchup with Oregon in Eugene this weekend will give us a better idea of what Dennis Erickson's crew is made of.
• Unbeaten teams who still have yet to win any impressive games: Michigan, Kansas State, Houston, Georgia Tech, and Illinois. Houston may run the table without beating a decent team.

Comment if you please.

Week 5

Auburn

• Well, that wasn't pretty, but it also wasn't a game I expected the Tigers to win, so I'll take a Top 25, SEC road win any day. 
• Stephen Garcia is by far my favorite Auburn player. Man just knows how to get the Auburn defense going and make big plays.
• In all seriousness, the defense really did look much better, but don't get carried away. There was really only one task for the game- stop Marcus Lattimore. If you can do that, the Gamecocks don't have much to fall back on, because Garcia is not a playmaker, and Alshon Jeffery can't make plays until the ball is in his general vicinity. Give credit to the formerly much-maligned Ted Roof for seeing and attacking this weakness. Roof schemed to stop the SEC's leading rusher, and put pressure on the nation's worst 4 year starter. Perfect game plan, pretty solid execution. The tackling looked much better, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.
• Speaking of room for improvement, that offense. Woof! Barrett Trotter had far and away his poorest performance yet, the offensive line didn't help, and if not for those rock-solid, stumpy legs of Mike Dyer and the undying will to win of the man they call Lutz, the great defensive effort would have been for naught. 
• Dyer didn't have his best game (for some reason the off-tackle, pulling guard run that has produced most of his TD's was not to be found), but he helped Auburn dominate the time of possession for the first time this season and beat Marcus Lattimore at his own game. Those little legs just don't stop going, and that was huge for Auburn this week. Interesting that we saw that much Dyer and almost no Tre Mason. Shows how big the confidence gap of the coaches is. 
• Lutz's strip to cause the fumble after the interception may be the biggest play thus far in the season for Auburn. No, I haven't already forgotten the Utah State onside kick or late game heroics against Mississippi State, but this game was a huge for the Tigers as far as confidence goes, especially starting a streak of four games against top 25 opponents. Huge, heady, gritty play from Lutz at a critical point in the game. I know Dyer was great, but Lutz gets the player of the game for that play along with the go ahead touchdown.
• The discussion of the 1 second at the end of the game is absolutely moot. There is no way that South Carolina could have gotten the kicking team on the field, snapped the ball, and still had any shot of making the field goal, all in one second. Don't even get me started on trying to spike it first.
• Give huge props to the special teams again. The SEC did. Steven Clark was SEC Special Teamer of the Week after pinning the Cocks inside their fifteen yard line 5 times, with great hang time and perfect placement. With the exception of the missed PAT, Cody Parkey was again very solid, putting kickoff after kickoff in the endzone. Remember a couple years ago when people were calling for Jay Boulware's head. How quickly things change.

 SEC

• Wow, Alabama. I expected the Tide to take care of Florida, and I didn't expect it to be very close, but wow. Bama looked phenomenal in all aspects of the game. AJ McCarron wasn't great, but he didn't need to be, and he will never need to be. With Trent Richardson and possibly the best defense in the country, this team looks to be bound for New Orleans....
• Unless LSU has something to say about it. The Bayou Bengals had another impressive performance against Kentucky, but then again, who hasn't? A November 5th matchup in Tuscaloosa could very well determine the National Champion.
• Florida may be in trouble. If John Brantley misses significant time, the Gators could potentially lose three in a row. With LSU, Auburn, and Georgia in the next three weeks, things look a bit bleak for Will Muschamp and Co. 
• Speaking of Georgia, the Bulldogs season took a dramatic turn for the optimistic this weekend. Murray and the gang took care of Mississippi State and then watched both South Carolina and Florida fall, placing Georgia firmly in the driver's seat in the SEC East. As I said last week, Mark Richt may yet save his job.
• The Arkansas offense is quite good. The defense is not. Petrino's Hogs welcomed Texas A&M to the conference rudely with an impressive comeback win. Tyler Wilson passed for many football fields and Jarius Wright was 8 yards short of South Carolina's entire offensive output, and he only gets to touch the ball when Wilson says so.
• Tennessee and Ole Miss won games against Buffalo and Fresno State, as they should have. I suppose nothing is certain with Houston Nutt and the Bears errr Rebels these days.

Other, worse conferences

• Ok Wisconsin, I'm slowly coming around. Saturday's destruction of their new conference mate  Huskers was enough to get my attention. As I said last week, this is the best Badger team in recent memory, and they may actually deserve the praise they are getting this year. Looking at the schedule, Russell Wilson and Montee Ball shouldn't have too much trouble running through the rest of the Big 10(?) schedule, though others may have to fall for the Badgers to end up in the National Championship game.
• How bout a pretty great 3 weeks for the Fighting Dabos? Clemson knocked off a ranked opponent in impressive fashion for the third week in a row. This week, Virginia Tech was the victim. Not much more to say here. If the Tigers don't win the ACC, I'm not sure anyone will be surprised based on their track record. To say they are the conferences best team, however, would be an understatement.
• Remember what I said last week about not getting sold too quickly on South Florida? I am a genius. The bulls trounced by a mediocre Pitt team.
• Baylor fell to Kansas State, something I definitely didn't expect. Robert Griffin's interception late may have cost the Bears the game. Don't expect it to happen again. I swear, this time, Baylor really is good. I don't care if I said that every year since Griffin was a freshman. This time I really mean it.
• Big Red River Shootout coming up this weekend. I'm still not buying in on Texas, but I would like to see them at least give the Sooners a challenge.
• Conference USA football is not high quality.