The Texas-Texas Tech matchup was being billed as the best game in Week 3, but it certainly didn’t live up to the hype.

That’s because the Longhorns’ defense held Tech to 144 total yards and forced three turnovers in a 24-14 victory.

The Tech offense never really got going and even when it started to show signs of life, somebody would turn the ball over. A Jarvis Phillips 87-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the first quarter was huge because Texas was driving for another score already up 14-0. But even when Tech tied the game 14-14 on a Lyle Leong 15-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Potts early in the second, the Raiders still couldn’t drum up much offense against UT.

The decisive blow for Tech came in the fourth quarter when Garrett Gilbert orchestrated a 23-play, 80-yard drive that took 9:25 off the clock and resulted in a Barrett Matthews 1-yard touchdown catch. Even with over nine minutes left on the clock, you got the feeling that the Raiders were finished.

Tech rushed for minus-16 yards on the night, which was their worst total since October 24 (also against Texas). Ouch.

Welcome back, Mark Ingram. Thanks to Trent Richardson and the 19 other All-Pro backs that your football program has, you weren’t necessarily missed over the last two weeks but it was certainly nice to see you running around again.

And run you did.

In a 62-13 lambasting of Duke on Saturday, Ingram went berserk in his first game since having knee surgery three weeks ago, as he rushed for 151 yards on just nine carries. He also scored twice and on his first handoff (which came on the first play of the game) he broke off a 48-yard run.

Of course, when a team scores 62 points it usually has more than one hero, which the Tide did. Quarterback Greg McElroy threw for 258 yards on 14-of-20 passing for three touchdowns and one interception, while the aforementioned Richardson chipped in 61 rushing yards on seven carries and one score. He also broke free on a long ride himself, as his went for 45 yards.

Fun fact: With Duke’s loss today, ACC schools are now 0-7 against reigning BCS national champions. So, yah, ACC teams.

When Boise State knocked off Virginia Tech on Monday night, their hope was that the Hokies would go on to run the table so that the victory looked great in the eyes of BCS voters come the end of the year.

So much for that idea.

James Madison shocked the college football nation on Saturday by knocking off the Hokies 21-16 in Blacksburg. The Dukes were only able to produce 14 first downs but they forced three turnovers, which included a fumble recovery with 5:21 remaining to seal the game. Quarterback Drew Duzik also ran for two touchdowns as James Madison beat the Hokies for the first time in school history.

The loss destroys VA Tech’s national title hopes, although they haven’t even begun conference play yet so they still have plenty to push on for this season. The biggest blow will likely be felt by Boise State, as their win on Monday night now holds less water than a colander. Thanks to a soft WAC slate, they don’t have another team on their schedule to help prop them up in the eyes’ of voters.

While the Broncos did what they had to do in beating Virginia Tech on Monday, unfortunately the Hokies didn’t live up to their end of the bargain. The coaches will have their vote and will never put a Boise team in the title game when their claim to fame was knocking off a team that was beat by James Madison the very next week.

Just to have football on my television again was enough for me to sit through South Carolina’s 41-13 dismantling of Southern Miss and not have the goofy grin leave my face the entire game, but opening night in college football was largely a dud.

I guess that’s what you get when No. 2 Ohio State opens up with feeble Marshall, or No. 13 Miami hosts the Florida Institute for Dishwashers or whomever the hell they played last night.

But one game did live up to the hype, despite it being one top 25 team against an unranked.

Pundits knew how good Utah has been at home over the years. The Utes hadn’t lost a game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in close to three seasons, winning 18 in a row while also racking up a 7-0 lifetime record against current Big East teams.

That included PITT.

The Panthers got on the board early with a Dion Lewis 3-yard touchdown run, but Utah fired back with 17 unanswered points in what looked like a potential rout. Then PITT added a Dan Hutchins 37-yard field goal with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter to make it, 17-10.

In the fourth, PITT added another field goal and Utah responded with a DeVonte Christopher 61-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Wynn. Just when you thought the Panthers would mail it in, they scored 10 unanswered points in the final 7:59 to tie the game.

Of course, that doesn’t even begin to tell what happened. PITT missed a field goal as time expired, but because Utah called a time out in effort to try and ice the kicker (which is turning out to be one of the dumbest strategies in football), Hutchins got another attempt and of course, nailed a 30-yarder to force OT.

In the extra session, Utah intercepted PITT QB Tino Sunseri (which was a great play along the sidelines), setting up Joe Phillips’ 21-yard game-winning field goal. (The final was, 24-21.)

Perfect.

On a night where the blowout was king, PITT and Utah’s thriller stood above the rest. Thank God football is back…

Here are six quick-hit observations from Texas’ unimpressive 13-12 win over Nebraska in Saturday’s Big 12 Championship.

1. What was that?
Unless you’re a Texas fan, this was a freaking dud of a championship game. Both teams combined for 308 yards of total offense, which is the lowest combined total in Big 12 history. It was almost maddening at times watching these two teams try to move the ball forward. In fact, this game turned out to be the “B Channel” of the night, because the ACC title match was 10-times the game that the Big 12 championship was. What an unimpressive win for Texas.

2. That said, nice kick.
On a day when there were multiple extra points missed, you have to stand back and appreciate the 46-yard game-winning boot that Hunter Lawrence made as time expired. With so much on the line, Lawrence could have folded like your favorite futon in college. But instead, he rose to the challenge and converted the biggest kick of his collegiate career.

3. What a performance by Nebraska’s D.
If Nebraska had anything resembling an offense, then they win this game walking away because their defense was outstanding. For the defense to overcome three turnovers and an absolutely putrid effort by their offense and only give up 12 points was amazing. Coming into this game, the Longhorns were averaging 43 points a game and had the 11th best offense in the nation. Yet, Nebraska made Texas look like a team that had never played a down of organized football. They whipped their ass in the trenches and at times, McCoy’s only option was to take a sack or throw the ball away because he had limited opportunities to make plays. This had to be the single best defensive effort by a team this season that wound up losing.

4. Suh is ridiculous.
How good is Ndamukong Suh? He produced 4.5 sacks, which set a Big 12 championship game record, and also chipped in five tackles for losses. Every time Nebraska’s defense made a big play tonight, Suh had something to do with it. He almost single-handily beat Texas tonight and if there were one defensive player that deserved the Heisman this season, Suh would be it. He’s incredible and has a bright future ahead of him playing on Sundays.

5. Where’s Tommy Frazier when you need him?
I’m hesitant to give Texas’ defense much credit, because Nebraska’s offense was horrible from start to finish. They mustered only 39 passing yards, 67 rushing yards and five first downs (five!). They also turned the ball over three times, converted just 2-of-16 third down attempts and managed just 106 yards of total offense. It’s amazing to think that if they had only scored two touchdowns, they would have won.

6. Uh, maybe Texas-Alabama won’t be a great title game.
If tonight was any indication of how the BCS title game will play out, then Alabama is going to be national champions. Nebraska’s defense is good – very good. But if Colt McCoy and the “high-powered” Texas offense can only muster 202 total yards against Nebraska, what do you think Alabama is going to do to them? McCoy spent more time on his back than on his feet and one could only imagine that the same situation will play out again once Nick Saban reviews the film from this game about two thousand times between now and the national title match.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
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Stanford running back Toby Gerhart rushed for 223 yards and three touchdowns as the Cardinal shocked No. 8 Oregon 51-42 on Saturday.

From ESPN.com:

Andrew Luck completed 12 of 20 for 251 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions to lead Stanford past Oregon, 51-42. Toby Gerhart rushed for 223 yards and three touchdowns.

Stanford finished with 505 total yards. Oregon had been giving up only 301 yards per game.

Sure, Oregon seemed to suffer a hangover from its 47-20 win over USC last weekend. But this was about Stanford’s offense dominating the Ducks defense, and the Ducks offense not being able to keep up.

What does it mean?

It means the Pac-10 is now wide-open. Arizona controls its own fate, but there is so much football left that it’s almost meaningless to speculate.

It means the Pac-10 is out of the national title hunt.

It means the Oregon vs. Boise State rankings debate ends.

And it means Stanford, at 6-3, is bowl eligible. The Cardinal haven’t gone to a bowl since 2001.

This had trap written all over it, although I still thought Oregon would prevail. The Ducks just couldn’t match the intensity it had from last week’s huge win over USC. They were emotionally spent and Stanford took full advantage of it but taking it to them for four quarters. Gerhart was amazing today and his performance may have catapulted him back into the Heisman race.

Boise State stands to benefit the most from Oregon’s loss. Some had started to question whether or not the Ducks deserved to be ranked higher than the Broncos, even though Boise routed Oregon in the opening week of the season. With the Ducks now out of the way, the Broncos can start working on that whole style points thing that they continue to struggle with.

No. 7 Boise State beat Louisiana Tech 45-35 on Friday night. Outside of three minutes in the first quarter when the Bulldogs held a 7-3 edge, the Broncos never trailed and are now 9-0 for the fourth time in six years.

But their performance was hardly enough to convince doubters that they should play for a national title. Boise held a 27-7 lead at halftime after absolutely dominating Tech (who didn’t have a first down the entire period) in the second quarter and they had a chance to come out in the second half and show a national audience just how impressive they can be. Instead, Tech got right back into the ball game thanks to a horrible decision by quarterback Kellen Moore, who was intercepted by Josh Victorian who returned the gift 75 yards for a touchdown to cut the Broncos’ lead to 27-14 early in the third.

Tech then found a way to cut the deficit to 30-28 early in the fourth thanks to some great running by Daniel Porter, a renewed sense of confidence by quarterback Ross Jenkins, an onside kick and some failures on the Broncos’ part.

One of those big failures was Boise’s inability to turn red zone opportunities into touchdowns. They settled for field goals three times on the night because their spread attack was neutralized close to the goal line. And with their inability to run the ball consistently between the tackles, Tech’s defense found a way to contain them and stay in the game.

Boise head coach Chris Peterson doesn’t want to talk about style points because he’s focused on winning games, which is the way it should be. But when his team has a 27-7 halftime lead on an inferior opponent in their house, they have to be able to finish. The Broncos had a similar issue against Tulsa earlier this season in which they allowed their opponent to get back into the ball game in the second half.

There’s nothing Boise can do about its weak schedule. They can’t schedule decent non-conference opponents because nobody wants to play them. But what they can do is take care of business on the field and unfortunately given their situation and the way the college football system is set up, simply winning games just isn’t enough.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
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