Saturday Recap

BYU-CSU: nice to know you can have a sub-par game and win 42-23. If BYU would have played like that last week, they would have lost by 50+ points. For how "close" the cornerback position was during fall camp, I think whomever Brian Logan beat out should have had a chance to play yesterday. His coverage wasn't poor, he always made the tackle right after the guy caught it (or right before the ball got there, leading to one of a half-dozen pass interference calls on him!). If he is the best BYU has, they are in a lot of trouble against Utah State, UNLV, TCU, and Utah, teams that can exploit the matchup there. Colorado State isn't even a passing team and picked on him ALL DAY LONG to the tune of 370 yards through the air. He made a few great plays, but for every one he made he gave up two or three. Time to give another CB a chance, at least split time.

Notre Dame-Purdue: another close game, another comeback by Notre Dame. The problem is: if they are a top flight team, they shouldn't be needing to come back against the likes of Purdue and Michigan State. Notre Dame is not back. Yet. A lot of their key guys are sophomores and juniors, so maybe next year we'll see something more. Consider me not impressed by their performances up to this point. That Nevada blowout looks less good with each passing week, as Nevada gets blown out by team after team.

Kansas-Southern Mississippi: I don't think Kansas is going to be a serious contender in the Big 12 North this year. I know Southern Miss is a good team. They have a solid rushing attack. They have a dual threat QB. They have a wideout or two that will be playing on Sundays. Their defense forces turnovers with regularity. Actually, you know what, Southern Miss could be a serious contender in the Big 12 North. Maybe the Jayhawks aren't that bad after all. Both teams moved the ball easily on each other. Kansas needs to learn to cover a few people in the secondary, they've still got to play OU, Texas, and Texas Tech, and I guarantee you they will bring it a lot harder than Southern Miss. My suggestion: use the nickel package. All game long. Oh, and protecting Reesing would be a good idea too. He was running for his life for most of the second half.

Texas Tech-Houston: 4th and goal from the 1-yard line. You score, you win. You kick a field goal, and, at worst, you go to overtime. I say: GO FOR IT! Mike Leach does and runs a quarterback sneak. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! A spread passing team runs a QB sneak on the goalline. At least spread them out and run a QB draw from the shotgun! Give them credit though, Houston did play tough. If you believe Tech is superior because they play in a BCS conference and Houston isn't really a top 25 team, then you can say the Cougars deserved to win the game, because they played evenly with a "much superior team." But the fact is: Houston is a good team but didn't reallly deserve to win this game, but Texas Tech deserved it even less. If Houston is a top 15 team, they didn't show it tonight (or maybe this is what a top 15 team looks like this year). The fourth quarter was sloppy for both teams. It was littered with poor coaching decisions, poor throws, and poor ball security. With no timeouts and 40 seconds to play, Texas Tech calls a wide receiver screen. When it doesn't work (they get tackled in-bounds after NOT getting the first down), they lost 18 seconds. They ended up running out of time. Poor, poor, poor. Plus it cost me my office pool! The announcers were impressed with Houston being able to beat a "big boy" but they are operating under the assumption that Houston was an inferior team. They did have the game-winning drive in the final minutes, but there was no way Tech was going to stop them: the only time they stopped them all game was on poor play-calls or bad execution by Houston. Case Keenum (Houston's QB) did have a fantastic game through the air, and when Tech did actually cover Houston's receivers, he showed some moxie avoiding pressure and picking up precious yards on the ground, time after time, after time. I'd love to see Houston and Notre Dame play. They have the same MO: underperform for 3.5 quarters and show up the last 7 minutes of the game against a team you should have buried.

Penn State-Iowa: 2 of the 3 perennially overrated Big Ten teams squared off. The one that isn't overrated this year comes away with the W. Of course, now that they'll get all the hype that comes with beating a top 5 team, they too will get a chance to be overrated. And another team's National Championship hopes are dashed in week 4. This game was as ugly as the weather. I lost track of Penn State's turnovers at 37 or so. OK, so it was only 4. 3 of them in their own territory. Plus they had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown, in the 4th quarter, with a 5-point lead. Really, Iowa's offense didn't do anything (and they didn't have to). Now Iowa will get a HUGE jump in the polls, which will last a few weeks until they play a stretch of Michigan, @ Wisconsin, @ Michigan State. Really, who is a top 25 team this year? Who is a top 10 team this year? It is tough to tell. More to come on that later.

Cal-Oregon: no matter who is playing, if one team doesn't show and the other does it will get ugly. Cal scored 3 points after Oregon fumbled the opening kickoff deep in their own territory. And they didn't score the rest of the game! Oregon moved the ball up and down the field. Oregon's season is moving up and down too. They get blasted by Boise State. They eke out a win at home against Purdue. They play miserably against Utah and win because Utah played more miserably. Then they bury Cal, who was one of the few teams in the country that had looked great in each of its first 3 games. Jahvid Best (Cal's RB) looked like a beast, but one man cannot carry a team without some help. Oregon keyed on him after the first quarter and it was tough sledding for him the rest of the way: he would break a tackle in the backfield only to have two more guys waiting for him at the line of scrimmage. And would the real Oregon offense please show itself: Masoli completes over 80% of his passes against Cal, after completing only 25% against Utah. After no TD passes in 3 games, he throws 3 against one of the best defenses on their schedule. More to come on this schizophrenic behavior later as well.

Virginia Tech-Miami: it is amazing what happens when you play a team with a decent defense. After two amazing games against porous secondaries in Florida State and Georgia Tech, Jacory Harris played a team that can get pressure AND cover people. The result: 4 sacks, one interception, and 9 for 25. Can't say that I'm surprised. And I won't be surprised to see a similar result next week against Oklahoma, a defense that held BYU to 14 points and hasn't allowed a single point since: including shutting Tulsa's high-powered offense out (a team that consistently averages over 40 points a game). Miami's D hasn't exactly been lights out either. It was a little surprising that they didn't stop Virginia Tech's rushing attack AT ALL. 272 yards and 5.5 yards a carry, ouch. Again, it won't get much easier next week against Oklahoma either.

Much more I could say, but I'll say it later.