I'm sitting in the Pittsburgh airport waiting for my flight back to reality.
Before we get into the football, I will say that this was my first wedding of friends from college. Actually, it was my first wedding of friends in general. I now know how a wedding is supposed to go down. I know they're on their honeymoon at this point, but Kim and Kyle are readers of Campus Confidential, so congrats (for the 500th time).
We're starting to see how all of this is coming together. I was able to watch Arkansas-LSU and the end of Texas-Texas A&M on Friday, the first half of Boise State-Hawaii that night and the first three quarters of Virginia Tech-Virginia on Saturday.
Quick funny story. We're on the way to the church for the wedding. I'm in the back seat with my buddy's Blackberry hitting refresh on ESPN.com every .2034 seconds and providing the updates. About 15 minutes before the ceremony, we get a call from Kyle, the groom. Thinking there might be trouble, we answer in a panic only to find out he's calling to see if Tech pulled out the victory. We replied with a "yes, now you can get married in peace."
So, besides the fact that Virginia Tech fans are insane, what else did we learn this weekend?
- 1. Houston Nutt is an LSU killer. As a matter of fact, so is Darren McFadden. It was business as usual for DMac, who found the end zone four times. Nobody wanted to fully come out and say it, but LSU pretty much at it coming. The Tigers weren't putting teams away the way they were in the first half of the season. Les Miles has had his bout with injuries, but when you recruit like LSU has, you should have a solid depth chart. It's really a shame because when the light goes on in Baton Rouge, I still think they can beat anyone in the country. The season was developing much like Florida's last year. Now it's Sugar Bowl at best for the Tigers. As for the Razorbacks, it was nice to see that offense play up to its potential. I've said time and time again there's really no excuse for sluggish performances when you have two of the best running backs in college football. Now, did Nutt save his job? It's only going to get tougher when McFadden goes pro…
- 2. Missouri winning shouldn't have been that big of a surprise. Kansas played the Tigers tough, but there's a distinct difference in the two teams that starts at quarterback. Todd Reesing's resume is pretty much this year's body of work, while Chase Daniel has been going to battle for a few seasons now. There's no question that the Missouri-Oklahoma rematch is the game of the weekend and the most important game of the season. If you've been sleeping on Big 12 football, fear not. We'll get into it this week and get you ready for Saturday.
- 3. The Orange Bowl could be the best BCS game this season. If Virginia Tech exacts its revenge over Boston College on Saturday, we very well could see a VT-Georgia matchup in Miami. This is a take-two from last year's Peach Bowl, where the Dawgs put together a mean second-half comeback against the Hokies. These two teams are playing as good of football as anyone in the country at this point.
- 4. It's not so easy to finish. We've seen Oregon, LSU, Oklahoma and Ohio State kiss their first-class ticket to New Orleans goodbye because they couldn't slam the nail in the coffin (or watch their QB go down with an ACL tear). Next on the chopping block are West Virginia and Missouri. But with the way that Pat White and Steve Slaton can take over a ball game, Rich Rodriguez should have no problem crafting a gameplan to breeze by Pittsburgh. A lot of people want to scoff at WVU in a national title game, but that offense can be put up against anyone's in the country. Just ask UConn. White was a man on a mission and if he can jumpstart the ground game, the rest takes care of itself.
- 5. Illinios, Ohio State, Virginia Tech/Boston College, Georgia, LSU/Tennessee, USC, Hawaii, Big 12 winner, Big 12 runner-up. That's what your BCS is going to look like, off the top of my head. Kansas only dropped to fifth in the BCS, but if Missouri loses this weekend, the Tigers deserve an at-large over one-loss Kansas, right? Could be fodder for a good debate.
We'll get into more later. I have to board the plane here in a second. I saw I have a boat-load of comments from the weekend, so I will address all later.
And I heard something interesting about the Nebraska coaching situation. I'll try to dig into that some later and see what I can report.
10-4 against the spread (thanks Boise...and Kentucky).
Comments (7)
Okay, I don't know why I feel this but I think Missouri is going to stomp Oklahoma. That makes for a very exciting WVU-Missouri championship game. If Missouri loses and Ohio Sate gets in, I don't think OSU can handle WVU. I think it will be another blowout and a boring game.
Adam, if you haven't seen it yet. This is the best penalty ever called in college football. Worth embedding if you're bored.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAMtCCezpfU
Furnk,
That's a recycled call from a jet's Bill's game in 1986.
Between Marty Lyons and Jim Kelly.
This one is a 'Must See'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMBNH98jmK0
recent news out of Fayetteville is that Arkansas and Nutt don't mix well.
Adam, you have so much to write about... lets hear your thoughts on the coaching merry-go-round.
I know they beat ohio State, but if Illinois goes to a BCS game, just more proof of what a joke it is.
Paul, not sure if there's any need for more proof.
The BCS formula works just fine. It's easy to throw rocks and break windows, but I don't see anyone offering up another solution without even worse problems.
Playoffs? Then no one would have cared much about last weeks Kansas Mizzou game because both teams would have still have had a shot at the National Title.
FBS already has a playoff, and every game counts, it's called the regular season.
This has been one of the most exciting years ever for college football, *every* game counts, including this weekends WVU-Pitt game. That wouldn't happen in a Playoff format.