Impressed- depressed and neutral after Week 7 of NCAA Football

Who we liked, disliked and didn’t have any emotion about after Saturday’s round of college football….IMPRESSED

USC

And the ballsy play of the year goes to Matt Leinart for deciding to go for the touchdown in the last play of the game of the Notre Dame clash in South Bend- despite being 31-28 down. Good job that Reggie Bush decided to push him in and the Pac-10 officials didn’t have a replay, eh?

Northwestern

First the Wildcats beat Wisconsin, then Purdue. Who would have thought that the upset gods would have been so busy in Chicagoland this season? We’ll beat that this team are 4-2 and can’t wait to go to East Lansing on Saturday…if they can stop Drew Stanton.

Texas Tech

We weren’t prepared to give them a whole lot of love after their win over Nebraska, but after they dismantled 4-2 Kansas State 59-20 this week, we can now say to prepare for a new version of “In The Air Up There” when they get together with Texas in Austin. Oh, and a quick word at QB Cory Hodges, who was 44/65 for 643 yards, 5 TD and 2 INT on Saturday. That’s pretty darned impressive.

Virginia

One of the biggest let-downs in the ACC last year shocked the nation by giving Florida State its first loss of the year in a 26-21 upset on Saturday night. The question is: will Virginia Tech be next? Texas, USC, and every other team in college football hope so.

West Virginia

Something tells that they were burning couches in the traditional Morgantown  fashion after their 17 point comeback and multi-overtime 46-44 upset against Louisville. This team looks like an odds-on winner for the Big East title. Why aren’t they ranked higher?

Rutgers

Could it be that good college football is back in New Jersey? Rutgers, for years the red-headed stepchild of the Big East, certainly seem so after wiping the floor with Syracuse 31-9 on Saturday.

Boston College

Getting through the potential speed bump by coming back against Wake Forest in one
shows that the Eagles are definitely resilient, particularly after going 20-7 down at half-time and 30-21 down with 3.36 left in the fourth quarter. What was unimpressive was BC QB Quinton Porter, who went 20/41 for 184 yards, 2 TDs and 3 interceptions. Matt Ryan, Porter’s replacement, took over and was much better, going 7/9 for 134 yards and 2 TDs.

Texas

Don’t mess with them- Vince Young’s leadership’s taken college football’s annual choke artists to new heights (on Saturday they slapped Colorado 42-17). And they aren’t choking! If they get through Texas Tech next week, the USC clash is going to be one of the best games that college football’s ever seen…unless, of course, they choke.

Temple

The team with the toughest schedule in college football really should have lost yet another game by 70 on Saturday. They certainly started badly by giving up 27 first quarter points against a potent Hurricane offence. Then, the D played out of their minds and Miami were kept down to just 34. Give them some love, will ya?  

LSU

They may not be “winning pretty”, but hey, the Tigers are winning. LSU ruined the Gators chances of an SEC title, and put themselves in with a shout of going to Atlanta themselves. They screwed up a 17 point against Florida in the third quarter, but the D got it together against and the Tigers pulled out the 21-17 win.

Ole Miss

The SEC’s new dogsbody played with a heck of a lot of heart at Tuscaloosa, but they couldn’t pull it out- losing 13-10 to a last minute field goal. So why are we impressed? Before the game, we’d been discussing whether the Ole Miss team joined the team for a few drinks prior to their games. Now, we might just take back our remarks. Actually, it makes for a good joke, so we probably won’t.

NEUTRAL

Miami

Was it the fact that beating Temple 34-3 was down to good coaching by Larry Coker (in keeping the score down), or the fact that the Hurricanes really weren’t that good against a team who’s schedule is the biggest bitch since Hilary Clinton? The stats say it all: 34 rushing yards, and Kyle Wright’s broken his thumb. Ouch!

UCLA

On paper, UCLA should have run all over Washington State, particularly as the Cougars have made “suck” part of their vocabulary this season. With WSU up 17 points going into the fourth quarter, the fans smelt an upset. However, UCLA, like their Los Angeles neighbors, have a strange knack of coming back in the fourth quarter. And they duly did, overturning a 17 point deficit to win 44-41 in overtime.

Notre Dame   

Whilst we’re impressed that the Irish took USC to the limit, as Charlie Weis said: “Losing’s losing.” We agree. So that’s why we’re neutral.

DEPRESSED

Penn State

One missed call by the Big Ten officials, one good punt return and Chad Henne actually living up to the hype later, it was Lions in tears, not Wolverines.  And the bummer in the Big Blue was compounded by news that freshman sensation Derrick Williams is out for the season with a broken arm. Can they rebound against Illinois? We wait with bated breath.

Alabama

How is a team that crushed Florida only a field goal better than an Ole Miss side? Because Ole Miss suddenly got their act together, or because top wide receiver Tyrone Prothro’s out for the season with a broken ankle because the Tide’s coaching staff decided to keep him in for a drive despite the fact that they were killing Florida? Don’t look now- but their game against an underperforming Tennessee’s gone back to `barnburner’ status. We still love ‘Bama QB Brodie Croyle, who went 22-37 with 234 yards of passing.

Minnesota

You’re beating your biggest rival by 34-32 points with 30 seconds remaining. You’re punting, and it’s indoors, meaning that the ball’s probably going to go a lot further than it would be a Mid-West wind in your face. And then your punting team commits one of the biggest foul-ups of the season. It might be a great audition for America’s Funniest Sports Home Videos, but it screwed up Minnesota’s chances of winning the Big Ten, didn’t it?

Syracuse

A reader wrote to me and said that I should consider Syracuse if they got beaten by Rutgers on Saturday. Four hours and 31-9 later, here we are. Officially, Big Orange has moved to Tennessee.  

Louisville

During July, we were talking about the Cardinals and a possible BCS berth. West Virginia, in beating the Cardinals 46-44, perhaps gave Stefan Lefors’ alma mater the biggest reminder that Big East football ISN’T Conference USA. Sorry!

Florida State

Suddenly, the calls are back out for the head of Jeff Bowden, the Seminoles offensive coordinator. But in reality, it wasn’t a Bowden that killed them- it was QB Drew Weatherford, who went from god (in throwing nearly 400 yards) to goat in Tallahassee after his third interception of the game with less than a minute remaining to hand Virginia a 26-21 victory.

Florida

Urban Meyer may have been happy about the team’s heart, but we think that he’d better look at the defense. This week wasn’t much better than the Bama game-they still gave up 361 yards and 21 points. Ouch. But on the upside, the Gators came back from 17 points down to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Then the offence stopped working/ LSU’s defense got it’s butt back in gear. Watch out Georgia- you might well get it at the World’s Biggest Cocktail Party in early November.

NC State

The American saying of “Love thy TV” is probably not one being used by Wolfpack fans after their latest beating in front of TV lights. This time it was Clemson, who pounded Chuck Amato’s team 34-17.

Michigan State

After they beat Notre Dame, there was talk about the Spartans potentially running the table. But after losing a heartbreaker against Michigan and playing like drunks in the fourth quarter in the Horseshoe against OSU, the Spartans have effectively coughed up their Big Ten chances- again.

Iowa State
After they beat up on Iowa, everybody (including us) was talking a potential Big 12 championship get-together with the mighty Texas. Now, after a 27-24 loss to Missouri and reaching the lows of 0-3 in divisional match-ups, it’s obvious that Iowa State really aren’t that good. Hey, even Baylor have won a game in the Big 12.

Officials

If Big Ten and Pac-10 officials look back at the games they’ve refereed, then they’ll see why people at State College, PA and South Bend, IN are so angry with them at the moment. Michigan’s receiver caught a ball out of bounds during the winning drive of UM’s comeback that the zebras simply missed, and Reggie Bush pushed Matt Leinart into the end zone in the last play of the USC-ND game. That, my friends, is cheating (unless you’re playing rugby).