Virginia Tech treated their fans in Blacksburg on Saturday to a victory over one of the hottest teams in college football. With a win, Miami would have taken a large first-place lead in the competitive ACC. Unfortunately for them, Virginia Tech came in prepared and eager to please their hometown crowd. Their defense was able to control Miami’s star quarterback Jacory Harris, sacking him three times and forcing one interception. More importantly, Hokies quarterback Tyrod Taylor ran the ball very well, receiving excellent pass coverage to the tune of 75 yards. Running back Ryan Williams was also vital, racking up two touchdowns and 150 yards on 34 carries and two receptions. Hard to believe he’s just filling in for the injured Darren Evans.

After saying this week he looked forward to playing in front of a hostile crowd, he fumbled as he was being sacked on his fifth play, setting up a Hokies touchdown, and his day never got much better.

Harris threw an interception that set up another score and pushed the Hokies lead to 31-7 lead. By then the fans who had braved the horrid conditions wanted to stay and enjoy every minute.

Harris and the Hurricanes did drive 46 yards in five plays for a touchdown just 1:43 into the third quarter, pulling them within 21-7. After Miami forced the Hokies to punt, they drove to the Virginia Tech 30 with a chance to make the quieting crowd really nervous.

Instead, with the help of two drops by Jimmy Graham, Miami faced a fourth-and-13 from the 33, went for it and Harris’ 9-yard completion to Dedrick Epps came up four yards short.

Before this game, Miami found themselves ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 2005. It’s been a grueling road as Virginia Tech was their third ranked opponent in as many weeks. Fans have high hopes for Jacory Harris and company as the Miami football program is suddenly important once again. We’ll see if they can take something from this loss and rebound next week against Oklahoma.

Perhaps some thought Oregon could pull off an upset by a few points, but nobody expected a blowout by these proportions. While Oregon did everything right, Cal just didn’t do much of anything. It’s strange to think the score was tied at three apiece after the first quarter. From then on, Cal decided to completely stop playing. It’s hard to even point out their mistakes. What’s obvious is that Oregon knew exactly what to do against their opponents on both ends of the field. After Oregon’s opening day loss to Boise, coach Chip Kelly is slowly getting this team back on track. This doesn’t mean he’s through refunding distraught fans, but Oregon football should definitely feel good about this win. We knew Oregon had talent — it was just a matter of when they would devour a high-ranking team.

Oregon seamlessly shut down Cal’s touted combination of quarterback Kevin Riley and running back Jahvid Best. This was the finest defensive effort of the day as Riley had trouble finding anyone open on every possession and potential Heisman candidate Best was limited to 55 yards rushing. Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, however, couldn’t have been better, completing 21 of 25 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Funny enough, Masoli came into this game without a single passing score. Obviously, this is quite a turn around. And who caught all of those touchdown passes? Just Ed Dickson. In a truly remarkable performance, Ed Dickson caught 11 passes for 148 yards.

Everything fell into place today with Chip Kelly’s Ducks. On the other hand, Jeff Tedford’s Golden Bears are left wondering how everything fell apart.

The Florida-Miami rivalry isn’t quit what it used to be. The game was largely close throughout, but the Gators used a 17-point fourth quarter to top the Canes 26-3 Saturday night in “The Swamp.”

It was over when… Tim Tebow’s 14-yard TD pass to Aaron Hernandez came on the Gators’ sixth play from scrimmage and only 2:26 into the game.
Gameball goes to… Tim Tebow, who threw for 256 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 55 more yards.
Stat of the game… 1.6: Miami only averaged 1.6 yards per carry and had 61 rushing yards in the game.

Randy Shannon has Miami’s football program moving in the right direction but Saturday night’s game proves the Canes have a long way to get on Florida’s powerhouse level again. Unfortunately a game like this is a killer for Miami in the Florida recruiting war. They just don’t have any offensive firepower.

They didn’t score a touchdown until the second half but Vanderbilt reached pay dirt three times in the final two quarters to stun No. 24 South Carolina 24-17 in Nashville Thursday night.

It was over when… Jared Hawkins powered his way to two straight first downs to allow the Commodores to run out the clock.
Gameball goes to… Vanderbilt. The offense, defense and special teams all contributed to help the Dores claim their first home win over a ranked team since 1992.
Stat of the game… 2-0 The Commodores are off to a 2-0 start for only the second time since 1989. Big deal? It is when you haven’t had a winning record since 1982.

They couldn’t get their offense going in the first half against SC, but Vandy was the more physical team throughout and eventually started to move the ball effectively. Senior wide out Sean Walker is fun to watch and he had a nice 29-yard run on an end-around to set up the Commodores’ go-ahead touchdown.

And good for Vandy. Too long they’ve been the whipping program for powerhouses in the SEC. Starting 2-0 might not be a big deal for most college football programs, but it’s given the Commodores a lot of confidence to start the season.