Following Oregon’s embarrassing loss to Boise State on the opening night of the college football season, a Ducks fan was so upset about what he saw from his team’s performance that he e-mail head coach Chip Kelly asking for a refund.

And he got one.

From ESPN.com:

According to the Web site, Kelly replied to Seminary’s e-mail with a question: “What is your address?”

Sure enough, a check for $439, apparently signed by Kelly, arrived in Seminary’s mailbox, according to the Web site. Seminary was so impressed by the gesture, he returned the check to Kelly with a thank-you note, rather than cashing it.

“As a sales guy, it’s really hard to shut me up,” Seminary said, according to the Web site. “When I received that check, I was literally speechless.

“I think of Coach Kelly as a totally different person now,” Seminary said, according to the Web site. “I have a different bond with him now. … Let’s just say he lost every game as an Oregon coach. You would never hear me calling for his head. It just wouldn’t happen. The guy showed an incredible amount of class.”

I wonder what kind of storm Kelly just created for himself after this incident. Now every team he losses, he’s going to have thousands of fans e-mailing him asking for a refund.

Nevertheless, this was a cool gesture by Kelly, who was incredibly upset by the way his team performed in Boise and the actions by running back LeGarrette Blount following the game in which he punched a Broncos player. I think a lot of people will agree with Seminary’s sediments to Kelly and root for him in the future.

That said, he still has to win.

Texas has been waiting almost a year to get the taste of losing to Texas Tech out of its mouth and it did just that on Saturday night as the Longhorns defeated the Red Raiders 34-24.

This wasn’t a very clean game by the No. 2 team in the nation, as Heisman candidate Colt McCoy threw two interceptions and the Texas defense was shredded by Tech quarterback Taylor Potts, who passed for 420 yards and three touchdowns. But the Longhorns did just enough to stay ahead of the Raiders for the entire game and managed to exact revenge on their in-state rivals.

The Longhorn defense also did a nice job giving Potts multiple looks in order to confuse him on several series throughout the game. Texas was also incredibly aggressive, although that allowed Potts to complete some crossing routes that helped moved the chains.

Offensively for the Longhorns, receiver Jordan Shipley had big night, hauling in 11 passes for 75 yards and returning a punt 38 yards for a touchdown to give Texas its first score. The Longhorn offense essentially took what Tech gave them and didn’t try to force the action outside of when McCoy found Dan Buckner down the seams for a 25-yard completion that set up a Cody Johnson 1-yard touchdown run.

Considering Texas was an 18.5-point favorite coming into this game, one would have thought that the Longhorns would take it to Tech more than they did. But on a day where Florida only beat Lane Kiffin’s Volunteers by 10 points and USC lost to Washington, I guess Texas’s sound, yet rather unsatisfying 10-point win over Tech is pretty much par for the course.

Mack Brown’s program will host UTEP and Colorado over its next two games before its big matchup with Oklahoma on October 17.

To use a tried, true and albeit, tired phrase, there are three things we can count on in life: Death, taxes and Pete Carroll’s USC Trojans will be knocked off by an inferior opponent at some point during the season.

In 2006, the Oregon State Beavers were the unranked team to knock off USC. In 2007, it was Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford Tree Logos. Last year, it was Oregon State again who provided the upset and on Saturday, it was Steve Sarkisian’s Washington Huskies (a team that didn’t win a game last year, mind you) that shocked the college football world by beating USC 16-13 in Seattle.

For the second year in a row, USC beat Ohio State and then lost to its very next opponent. The Trojans jumped out to a 10-0 lead against the Huskies, but Washington answered with 10 of their own before halftime before eventually pulling the upset off thanks to Erik Folk’s game-winning 22-yard field goal with only three seconds remaining.

The Trojans were playing without starting freshman quarterback Matt Barkley, who sat out the entire week of practice with an injured shoulder. Redshirt sophomore Aaron Corp made his first career start and while he wasn’t bad (he completed 13 of 22 passes for 110 yards and a pick), he couldn’t come up with the big play throughout the game. Joe McKnight rushed for 100 yards on 11 carries as USC racked up 250 rushing yards, but the Trojans lost two fumbles and when you combine those with Corp’s second half interception, turnovers killed Carroll’s team today.

But let’s give credit where credit is due. Sarkisian has completely turned around the mindset of the Washington program and now has the Huskies believing that they can win on any given Saturday. Junior quarterback Jake Locker is a fine player and can make things happen with both his arm and his legs.

Sarkisian has made Washington relevant again, while Carroll is left scratching his head for the fourth year in a row. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not Carroll sticks with Corp or goes with former Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain assuming Barkley can’t go next week against Washington State.

USC has never been more primed for the taking in the Pac-10. The big matchup in the conference will be October 3 when the Trojans travel to Berkley to face Cal.

Michigan State sophomore quarterback Kirk Cousins played as fine a game as a coach could ask for on Saturday. He completed 23 of 35 passes for 302 yards and thanks to his 17-yard touchdown pass to Blair White with nine and a half minutes remaining in the game, he gave the Spartans an opportunity to once again beat Notre Dame in South Bend for the seventh consecutive time.

But in the span of two plays, Cousins went from potential hero to unfortunate goat. With his team trailing 33-30 with less than two minutes remaining, Cousins and the MSU offense faced a 1st and 10 at Notre Dame’s 18-yard line. On first down, freshman running back Larry Caper got free in the Irish secondary and was alone (seriously, there wasn’t an Irish defender within seven area codes of him) in the end zone, but Cousins lofted the ball too far and it fell incomplete.

On second down, Cousins was flushed from the pocket and he threw a desperation pass over the middle that was intercepted by Kyle McCarthy at the ND 4-yard line. All Sparty needed was a field goal to tie the game but the Irish snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat, hanging on to a 33-30 win.

Not to take anything away from Notre Dame, because Charlie Weis’s offense was great again on Saturday. But if Cousins doesn’t airmail the pass to Caper and the Irish wound up losing, I don’t see how Weis retains his job at the end of the year. I know that MSU has given ND fits at South Bend for over a decade, but this was the same Spartans team that was defeated last week on their home turf by Central Michigan. It would have been hard for Weis to justify losing to Michigan and Michigan State in back to back weeks.

But nevertheless, Weis and the Irish live to see another day. Notre Dame has to do something about its defense though, because Jimmy Clausen (22 of 31, 300 yards, 2 TDs), Golden Tate (7 rec., 127 yards, 1 TD, 1 airborne dive into the MSU band) and the rest of the Irish offense is too good to waste on poor defensive efforts.

It’s my own fault, really. I figured that after Lane Kiffin spent the majority of the offseason running his mouth and making false claims about Urban Meyer that Florida would come out and tear Tennessee a new one when the two teams met in Week 3.

But I came away feeling awfully unsatisfied by the Gators’ 23-13 win over the Vols in Gainesville on Saturday. In fact, I was more impressed with Lane Kiffin’s defense than I was with anything Florida did today. His front four pressured Tim Tebow all game and safety Eric Berry once again proved that he’s one of the best defenders in the nation, if not the best. I thought I was watching Bob Sanders of the Colts with the way Berry played sideline-to-sideline today. I could watch him and Tebow go at it every Saturday. (Did you see that collision in the first half?!)

Again, this was the media’s fault. We all figured that Meyer, a man who had no issue with his team hanging 63 points on Kentucky last year, would put together some magical game plan that would embarrass Kiffin and serve notice that he and Florida aren’t to be f’d with.

But there was no magical game plan. Tebow was good (115 passing yards, 76 rushing yards and a TD on 24 carries), but far from great as he threw an interception in the first half that led to a UT field goal and fumbled in the fourth quarter, which produced a Vols’ touchdown. Florida’s lack of playmakers in the passing game was on full display and it’s apparent that the Gators are hurting without Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy.

Florida’s defense was great again, although Tennessee’s offense is vanilla as it comes. Montario Hardesty is all they have and the passing game is non-existent with Jonathan Crompton under center.

I’m not a Florida fan, but I expected more. I expected the Gators to be up by 30 late in the fourth quarter and tack on another touchdown just for good measure. Instead, I’m left wondering if Florida won’t get knocked off again at some point this year. I know had Tebow not fumbled and the Gators went on to score in that drive, this probably would have been written differently. But if Tennessee had more playmakers on the offensive side of the ball, it’s not unfathomable to think they could have pulled off the upset.

In one of the wildest games of Week 3, Rich Brook’s Kentucky Wildcats edged Louisville 31-27 to win the battle for the Governor’s Cup for the third straight year.

It appeared that the Wildcats would roll early on after they took a 17-7 lead into halftime thanks to a John Conner 2-yard touchdown run with less than three minutes remaining in the second quarter. But three second half turnovers allowed the Cardinals to get back into the game as the lead changed four times in the fourth quarter.

A crucial moment in this game came with just over seven minutes remaining and Louisville up 27-24. The Cardinals’ defense forced a punt, but Trent Guy (who scored on a 66-yard touchdown reception earlier in the quarter) muffed it and the Wildcats recovered at Louisville’s 25-yard line. Three plays later, Mike Hartline found Randall Cobb (who made an outstanding catch while out-leaping the defender) in the end zone to put Kentucky up for good at 31-27.

While the Wildcats can take comfort in their 2-0 start, but their schedule gets a hell of a lot tougher as they host No. 1 Florida and No. 4 Alabama over the next two weeks. After that, Kentucky has two tough road games at South Carolina on October 10 and at Auburn on October 17. Yikes.

Last week, Michigan relied on emerging star, freshman quarterback Tate Forcier, to beat Notre Dame at the Big House. This week, it was a senior running back that stepped up.

In the Wolverines’ 45-17 trouncing of Eastern Michigan on Saturday, Carlos Brown had a career day, rushing for 187 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was a 90-yard rumble in the second quarter to put Michigan up 24-10. The 90-yard jaunt was the third-longest run in Michigan history.

Forcier, the hero last week, threw for only 68 yards on 7-of-13 passing. Of course, he didn’t have to do much as Brown (who had -3 rushing yards on four carries last week against Notre Dame) took over this game from the start.

Eastern Michigan actually hung with UM in the second half thanks to an 11-yard touchdown run by Andy Schmitt to tie the game at 10-10, and a 5-yard Dwayne Priest touchdown run with just over two minutes remaining in the first half to cut the Wolverines’ lead to 24-17.

But the more physical Michigan program started to wear Eastern down in the second half and the Eagles could do nothing to slow the Wolverines in the third quarter. By the time Denard Robinson scored on a 36-yard touchdown run with seven minutes left in the fourth, the game was already over.

No. 25 Michigan (3-0) will open its Big Ten schedule next week at home (what schedule-maker did Rich Rodriguez have incriminating photos of to get four straight home games to open the 2009 season?) against Indiana before playing Michigan State and Iowa in back to back road games to kickoff play in October.

One of the criticisms that Ohio State sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor faced after the Buckeyes’ loss to USC last Saturday in Columbus was that he didn’t use his legs enough to make plays. Not only that, but he was hesitant to throw the ball vertically and often settled for safe passes under 10 yards.

But in OSU’s 38-0 beat down of Toledo on Saturday, Pryor resembled the quarterback that Buckeye fans envisioned he would be last week. He racked up 110 rushing yards and a touchdown on 12 carries while also throwing for 262 yards and three TDs on 17-of-28 passing.

Granted, Pryor did throw two interceptions, but he threw passes of 76, 28, 15, 13 and 12 yards to six different receivers. His 76-yard touchdown pass to Dane Sanzenbacher on the Buckeyes’ third offensive play from scrimmage set the tone for the rest of the game.

This is the Terrelle Pryor that the Buckeyes need to see more of, especially in big games. While it’s nice to see him rack up these kinds of numbers against any opponent, as he continues to develop as a quarterback he needs to trust his arm and legs to make things happen against elite competition.

This was a nice bounce back game for both Pryor and Ohio State. They’ll host Illinois next week in their Big Ten opener before facing Indiana on the road on October 3 and Wisconsin at home on October 10.

While unranked Minnesota did its best to try and knock off No. 8 California at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, the Golden Gophers eventually fell victim to a 35-21 defeat and another dazzling performance by Bears running back Jahvid Best.

While players like Florida’s Tim Tebow, Texas’ Colt McCoy and before he was injured, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford are receiving more Heisman attention, Best remains the one candidate that nobody seems to be talking about, yet could emerge out of nowhere to win the award in 2009.

Best was outstanding in Cal’s win on Saturday, racking up 131 yards and five touchdowns on 26 carries. While Minnesota did a great job bottling Best up in the second half (he only rushed for 17 yards in the second half, compared to the 114 yards he produced first), his two touchdown runs in the fourth quarter sealed the victory for the Bears.

What’s most impressive about Best is his patience. He allows running lanes to appear and once they do, he uses his quickness and explosion to get up field and into open space. And once he does reach open field, he’s virtually impossible to catch unless defenders take the right angles.

Another thing that’s so impressive about Best is that even when he’s bottled up, he still finds ways to gain positive yards. There were several times throughout the game on Saturday where he could have been held for no gain, yet he fell forward for two or three yards to set his team up in a positive situation for the next play. He’s fun to watch and he’s going to give Tebow and McCoy a run for their money in this year’s Heisman race.

I can’t talk about this game without mentioning how impressive Minnesota receiver Eric Decker is. He was the Gophers’ offense today, hauling in eight passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns. His touchdown grab early in the second quarter when he leaped in the air and managed to get one foot down knowing that he would take a hit (and he took a massive hit) was incredible. When he left the game due to an ankle injury late in the fourth quarter, Minnesota QB Adam Weber was completely lost.

If Decker can stay healthy, he’s the type of receiver that pro teams love to place in the slot. He fits that Brandon Stokley, Brian Finneran mold to a T.

Unranked Fresno State was supposed to give No. 10 Boise State its first real test of the 2009 season when the two WAC teams met at Bulldog Stadium on Friday night. But despite a monster night from Fresno running back Ryan Matthews, the Bulldogs couldn’t slow down the Bronco offense as Boise rolled to a 51-34 victory.

This was a closer contest then the final score indicates, although once Jeremy Avery scored on a 67-yard swing pass from Kellen Moore to give Boise a two touchdown advantage early in the fourth, the game started to get away from Fresno.

Still, what an incredible performance by Matthews. The junior tailback rushed for 234 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries and virtually kept Fresno in the game by himself with touchdown runs of 69, 60 and 68 yards. He showed incredible explosion, quickness and vision throughout the night and will no doubt keep Fresno in most ball games. The Bulldogs must get better production out of their quarterback position, however, because Ryan Colburn (14 of 29, 187 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs) struggled.

It’s impressive how Chris Peterson always has his team ready to play. Just when you think Boise will be challenged, they put up 51 points on the road and remind everyone how good they are. The Broncos have a clear path to another undefeated season.

Be sure to check out our college football picks and predictions for Week 3.