New Jersey. Staten Island. If someone throws either of those two-word combos in my direction today, I might punch them in the face. I'm still salty about sitting in three hours of traffic when there was no accident or construction. I made it to D.C. in 4 hours 10 minutes Friday night. About seven hours to get home.
I'm done venting. On Friday I said we would learn a lot from the weekend, so what knowledge was dropped on us?
- Houston Nutt doesn't get it done in the clutch enough. Every year Arkansas loses a game (usually a few) by not coming up big enough in the fourth quarter. Darren McFadden and Felix Jones put the entire team on their shoulders and regain a seemingly insurmountable lead. Then what happens? About 300 consecutive underneath routes and Alabama marches right into the end zone. Is it that difficult to make an adjustment in the middle of a drive? The legend of Nick Saban has begun.
- Confirmation: Louisville cannot play defense. The Cardinals also won't play for a national title. Isn't it fun to watch two very talented quarterbacks, though? Andre Woodson is the real deal. I have to admit, the show ended at 11 p.m., just after Louisville scored the go-ahead. I left the radio studio and when I woke up this morning, Kentucky had won. I had to rewatch the end on ESPNU (or Classic...too many networks to keep track of). But get this: a mid-tier SEC team knocked off one of the Big East bad boys. Shows the depth of the SEC.
- Karl Dorrell should be out of a job. A 44-6 loss to an unbeaten Utah is unacceptable. I don't care if he rallies the troops to beat USC or Cal, UCLA will not be elite if it drops ball games like this. He's having a really, really hard time taking his program to the next level.
- Notre Dame should rethink how good Jimmy Claussen will be. True freshman, bad offensive line, and he's looked terrible. Now, on the flip, Tyrod Taylor at Virginia Tech. True freshman, bad offensive line, and he's looked good. I know Notre Dame played Michigan and Virginia Tech played Ohio, but the two looked completely opposite. Claussen was flat out horrible. There's plenty of time for him to grow, and I am not saying he'll always be horrible. But I think it's a big stretch to say he's the next Joe Montana at this point.
- Oklahoma is making me look dumber and dumber each Saturday. Another impressive outing by Sam Bradford. Texas wasn't Texas against UCF and Nebraska was roasted. OU is looking better and better as the Big XII favorite.
- Boston College can play defense without Brian Toal. The Eagles' win over Georgia Tech was huge. Those might be the two best teams in a weak ACC and Boston College looked very solid. The Eagles haven't had it easy out of the gate and are a comfortable 2-0 in the conference and definitely deserve their Top 15 ranking. Nobody, including Tashard Choice on Saturday night, is running on Boston College's No. 4 rushing defense. Also, 11 takeovers. Gonna win a lot of ball games if you're taking the ball away at that pace. What's Tom O'Brien thinking right now?
- Purdue is going to blow up the Big 10 race this year. That offense is dangerous. Curtis Painter is quietly putting together a impressive resume. His 13 touchdowns are second in the land and the only guy beating him has one more TD and 42 more attempts. Oh, he also hasn't thrown a pick yet. We'll see what happens when the Boilermakers hit the meat of their schedule, but I'm willing to guess they'll burn a team here and there this season en route to a 10-win season, like Campus Confidential predicted in the preseason.
- Tim Tebow can throw. Did you see how Florida manhandled Tennessee? I did and it was ugly. Florida has a lot of talent. I cannot wait for Oct. 6. The saddest part is that I have a ticket to that game but I can't make it because of work on Friday (baseball playoffs). Anyone wanna cover for me? I think LSU has enough, if not more, speed than Florida, so I think the Tigers will take care of business. But we'll cross that bridge in a few weeks.
- Southern California doesn't like to be forgotten about. I'm sure if the Trojans had it their way, they wouldn't take a weekend off. They only gained 10 points in the polls this week, but they looked strong in Lincoln. The Huskers had a mighty energy about them and it did very little. Southern Cal can really run the ball. At one point they crossed the 50 and I said "I bet they're inside the five in two plays." First is a run down to the 20. Next is a run inside the 5. I'm going to think long and hard about who I rank No. 1 on Tuesday morning.
- The radio is fun. If you have XM, humor me by tuning in to Channel 144 on Saturday night. I need a lot of work, but I don't think I said anything that made me sound unintelligent. If I do, just come on here and make fun of me. And, because I want to have the last word, the New Jersey Turnpike sucks.
