This game wasn’t pretty. Actually, it was downright brutal at times. There were nine turnovers in total, but this isn’t to say either Indiana or Iowa’s defenses were stellar. Indiana exposed the Hawkeyes’ defensive weakness throughout the first three quarters. Yet, Iowa’s offense exploded out of nowhere in the fourth, leading their team to a 42-24 victory.

Nevertheless, people will continue to downgrade Iowa’s high ranking. Now with a 9-0 record, it’s tough to devalue their season. We’ll see how the rest of today’s games play out, but Iowa is currently one of seven undefeated teams in the Top 25. They don’t demonstrate great football by any means, but damn are their games exciting to watch. They have trailed in eight of their nine competitions this year, and have managed to come back to take each one.

Nevertheless, Iowa and quarterback Ricky Stanzi were shoddy at best until the fourth quarter. People will cite this as justification to knock Iowa down a few slots in the rankings. I completely agree with that sentiment. Iowa, the No. 4 team in the nation, should not trail a meager Indiana squad for most of the game. Stanzi threw five (I know) interceptions today. That’s inexcusable — he would be benched if it wasn’t for their record. But how in the hell have they managed to remain undefeated? The fourth quarter.

Somehow, Stazi came out with an undeterred confidence and immediately connected with star receiver Marvin McNutt for a 92-yard touchdown pass. Minutes later, Stanzi found Derrell Johnson-Koulianos for a 66-yard touchdown. By then, Iowa had found their groove. Stanzi continued to feed the ball to running back Brandon Wegher, who is subbing for the injured Adam Robinson. Wegher exceeded expectations, scoring three touchdowns on 119 yards and 25 carries.

While Iowa fans are drunk on happiness, detractors of the BCS system are fuming. With their improbable season, Iowa’s game against Ohio St. is going to be essential viewing. Who expected that?

Hope all you bettors had the hindsight to take the over in the UTEP-Tulsa game, because the two teams combined for 56 points…in the first quarter. As of post time, UTEP leads 56-35 and it’s only midway through the third quarter.

Nice defensive effort by both teams; the offenses must feel like they’re facing air.

There’s no question how impressive Alabama has been this year in only Nick Saban’s second year. But even as they remain undefeated on the year following a 24-20 win over Ole’ Miss on Saturday, a troubling trend is developing for the Crimson Tide.

In their stunning 41-30 victory over Georgia in Week 5 – a win that catapulted them into the top 5 of the polls – ‘Bama took a 31-0 lead into halftime, only to allow UGA to get back into the ballgame before pulling away midway through the fourth quarter.

The following week, the Tide had a 14-0 halftime lead disappear in a 17-14 win over Kentucky. And after mounting a 24-7 first half lead over the Rebels on Saturday, Saban’s team once again had to hang on for victory.

Granted, the wins over UGA and Kentucky weren’t as close as the final scores indicated. And the Tide defense deserves credit for stifling opponents late in games. But it has to be at least a remote concern that teams have made halftime adjustments to limit ‘Bama’s offense in the second half the last three weeks. Obviously the Tide will gladly take the wins, but at some point Saban would like to see his team play an entire four quarters.

On the flip side to all of this, we might not have even seen Alabama’s best yet.

Despite Michigan spotting them five turnovers and a 19-0 lead at halftime, No. 9 Wisconsin fell short at the Big House on Saturday, 27-25.

Trailing 19-0 late in the third quarter, Michigan cut the deficit to 19-7 after Steven Threet hit Kevin Koger for a 26-yard touchdown pass. The Wolverines followed up that score with a Brandon Minor 34-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to make the game 19-14. On Wisconsin’s first play after the kickoff, John Thompson picked off Badger QB Allan Evridge and took to the house for a 25-yard touchdown to give the Wolverines a 20-19 lead. They extended the lead to 27-19 on a three-yard Sam Mcguffie touchdown run with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

Wisconsin wound up cutting Michigan’s lead 27-25 with only 13 seconds left, then made a 2-point conversion before the play was wiped out because of an ineligible man downfield. Their next 2-point attempt failed, and the Wolverines were able to run out the clock on the change of possession.

I know Michigan has now won 23-straight Big Ten openers and are still one of the more storied programs in the nation, but anyone who watched them in the first half of this game and early in the season knows that this is not the same UM program of years past. And with that, Wisconsin should be embarrassed for losing to a team that handed them scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity in the first half and didn’t even pick up a first down until the third quarter. Michigan deserves credit for not quitting at halftime and the defense stepped up tremendously in the second half, but the Badgers blew a golden opportunity to cash in on all of the upsets going on in college football this week.

Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez doesn’t have his players in place yet, but he can use this win as a huge stepping-stone for the rest of the year. This upset was big not only to show that the Wolverines still have fight in 2008, but also that Rodriguez has his program moving in the right direction.

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.