Impressed- Depressed- Unmoved on Week 5 of the College Football Season

Upset Saturday. What a day. The question is is: What DIDN’T Impress, Depress or Unmove Alex Ferguson on Week 5 on the College Football season?IMPRESSED

COLORADO

When Allen Patrick gave Oklahoma a 24-7 lead early on in the third quarter, Colorado looked dead. But then Cody Hawkins sparks off the offense, the Buffs get even, Kyle Eberhart’s last second kick puts Boulder into frenzy. Could this team win the Big XII North? With ‘Team Hawkins’ on the throne, rule nothing out.

KANSAS STATE

Josh Freeman may enjoy his donuts, but boy, can he throw. His special teams aren’t too bad either – and they managed to take advantage of some sloppy Longhorn defending, as they made Texas the first name on its barbecue this season. And by this evidence, I’m not ruling more upsets out.

CAL/OREGON

The nation was expecting a shoot-out. However, both sides showed their speed on both sides of the ball, and Oregon only had a 10-3 lead at halftime. However, in the second half both offenses got the pulses racing – one of the big facts why this one went down to the wire. The reason why I’m not depressed about either? Both of these teams looked like BCS Contenders.

AUBURN

After blowing a 17-3 lead in The Swamp, you kinda expected a team that lost to South Florida and Mississippi State to crumble when the Gators took the game back. But the Tigers battled, with brilliant plays on defense to hold a high-octane offense at bay, and then Brandon Cox’s throwing and Wes Bynum’s kicking combined for a bit of magic to give the National Champions the chop.

LSU

Only up by a small margin at the half, the Tigers burst into life in the second period to go 5-0. The ever-dangerous running duo of Keiland Williams and Jacob Hester scored a couple of touchdowns each to quieten the hostile fans. And the other thing about this win? Les Miles didn’t try and run up the score at the end of the game.

WASHINGTON

Despite being putting up a quarter of Southern Cal’s offense, the Huskies grabbed their opportunites and scared the crap out of Trojan fans. It was only an onside kick recovery that rescued USC from total disaster.

OHIO STATE

Coming into Minnesota on `Upset Saturday’, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the Buckeyes might slip up in Gopher land. Four quarters and 30-7 later, it looks at though the Big Ten will – again – be decided at the Big House in November.

ILLINOIS

The special teams were superb and the defense took advantage of four Penn State turnovers to pull of this monster upset. Freshman Rejus Benn — who scored a wonderful 90 yard touchdown early on and then another one later – looks like something special. Suddenly the Illini are a frightening prospect for Big Ten.

GEORGIA TECH

For the last two games, Georgia Tech’s defense really hasn’t shown up, giving up 52 points in total to BC and, erm, Virginia. However, they crippled the running attack of CJ Spiller and James Davis, limiting them to just 62 yards rushing between them. True, they rode out their luck, blocking one field goal and watching as another four missed their mark, but with a `D’ like this, who would bet against them?

MARYLAND

Before the game, people were jabbering non-stop about Ray Rice and how he – like Steve Slaton did a few weeks before – would stomp all over the Maryland ‘D’. However, Maryland came out like a demon possessed, containing Rice to just 92 yards on the ground and causing three turnovers. And on the the other side of the ball, Keon Lattimore was the star running back, picking up 124 yards.

UNMOVED

ARIZONA STATE

Yaaaay! The Sun Devils and Dennis Erikson are 5-0! Who have they played again? And the end of October, when they play four straight games against Cal, Oregon, UCLA and USC, we’ll see how good this team are. Methinks they’ll be lucky to go 1-3 in that period of games….despite what Kirk Herbstreit says.

SOUTH FLORIDA

The Bulls may have caused six West Virginia turnovers, but they gave up four of their own. Better teams than the consistently overrated WVU would taken advantage of USF’s generosity. Props on the result, though.

WISCONSIN

Wisconsin seem to be another version of Texas, flirting with disaster during almost every game, giving up a load of yards to less superior offenses. This week highly-touted quarterback Tyler Donovan gave up 2 Interceptions and his defense 564 yards, but still managed to win. However, against Ohio State and Michigan they might not be so lucky.

SOUTHERN CAL

Like Wisconsin, the 4-0 Trojans gave up 16 penalties and a whole lot of yards to Washington, and only just squeaked by – despite dominating the offensive numbers. They also had two starters injured – which could come back to haunt them when they play California and Oregon.

DEPRESSED

WEST VIRGINIA

What is it about Steve Slaton when it comes to big TV games? Last year Slaton was the TD villain against Louisville and Rutgers, and this year (two fumbles, plus a `dropped’ pass that was grabbed for an interception) it was the same. I hate to ask this question, but what good is a brilliant running back in the NFL when he can’t come up with the goods in the games that matter?

ALABAMA/ FLORIDA STATE
When Florida State finally took the lead in the third quarter, it really rescued one of the more miserable games of the year thus far. Xavier Lee came in and immediately bettered a hopeless Drew Weatherford, and FSU had the upset. But my gosh, what a dull upset it was.

PENN STATE

Not only did the special teams give up an early touchdown, but the defense against Illinois was compared to that of Louisville when the Cardinals were shellacked by Syracuse. Oh, and Antony Morelli’s three interceptions – and Rodney Kinlaw’s fumble — didn’t help either. Can it get better against Iowa? Methinks not.

FLORIDA

The Gators were so bad in the first half that it was frankly a miracle that they were only behind 14-3. But in the second half, Tebow and the likes made good enough plays to tie Florida up and even put them in the prime position for victory…which they blew. If they defend like this against LSU, the Gators are going to be Tiger meat in Baton Rouge.

OKLAHOMA

Maybe they were looking ahead to the Texas game, or maybe, as  their humble coach Bob Stoops described, they were “outplayed and outcoached”. And now, next week’s Red River rivalry looks 100% more unattractive – although beating the Longhorns by 47 will probably easy Sooner Nation’s pain.

TEXAS

The Longhorns have been riding their luck all this year…and it ran out against Kansas State as they were roasted by a firey Wildcat side, led by Josh Freeman. Quarterback Colt McCoy once again looked the Heisman pretender, and the Longhorns again are one game away from second place in the Big XII South.

MIAMI FLORIDA

After they torched Texas A&M, you would have thought that the Duke Blue Devils would be Hurricane meat come Saturday. Unfortunately, the Canes only prevailed 24-14, icing the game with only three minutes to go. This team might get to a bowl this year, but they are a shadow of the Miami of old.