College football wrapped up its first week of action last night with a tight, but un-spectacular 13-10 finish between (#11) Florida State and (#12) Miami. Here’s a look at what we learned over the weekend and the implications the games had on the Top 25 polls:
(#11) Florida State 13 (#12) Miami 10
Well, in my Game of the Week preview for Bullz-Eye, I thought that this game was going to be a defensive struggle and it certainly played out that way, but I thought Miami would still triumph. The Hurricanes jumped out to a 10-3 lead and held on to it until the fourth quarter when FSU put up 10 unanswered points to win the game. The Seminoles defense stifled Miami all night and held the Hurricanes’ Charlie Jones to only 27-yards on 13 carries. FSU had nothing to brag about on offense either, but a win is a win – especially in this ugly series every year. How much will the Seminoles jump up in the polls with (#9) California losing to (#23) Tennessee?
(#23) Tennessee 35, (#9) California 18
This was a complete beat down of the Vols over California and a game that will ride the Golden Bears all season. Zero points in the first half by California? Tennessee’s Erik Ainge threw for almost 300 yards and junior wide receiver Robert Meachem virtually did whatever he wanted to the Golden Bears secondary in route to two scores and 182 receiving yards on just five catches. Tennessee will probably vault into the top 15, where as California will probably drop dramatically without another top 25 team losing over the weekend.
Quick Shots:
Brady Quinn looked frazzled by Georgia Tech’s defense in the first half of (#2) Notre Dame’s 14-10 win over the Yellow Jackets Saturday night. Quinn settled in nicely throughout the game, however, and even though the Irish weren’t overly impressive, Tech on the road is a tough opening game for any team. (#1) Ohio State had no problems disposing of Northern Illinois 35-12, scoring 21 points in the first quarter alone. Two touchdowns and 123-yards receiving for Ted Ginn Jr.? Scary. Speaking of the Buckeyes, it looks like the pre-season hype of their tilt with (#3) Texas is going to be as good as advertised this weekend with freshman Colt McCoy (that’s just a Texas name if I ever heard one) throwing for three touchdowns in the Long Horns 56-7 thrashing of North Texas this weekend. (#4) Auburn, (#5) West Virginia, (#6) USC, (#7) Florida, and (#8) LSU had no problems with their tune-up games, but (#10) Oklahoma got all they could handle from UAB 24-17. Think (#14) Michigan is a little bit more concerned with Central Michigan this week after the Chippewas almost pulled off an upset over Boston College last Thursday? Probably not, but with a trip to South Bend the following week, the Wolverines better not get caught looking ahead. Where was that potent (#22) TCU offense that everybody is raving about? 17 points against Baylor?
Most impressive showing from Week 1: FSU holding Miami to only 134 yards of total offense, including only giving up two total yards on the ground to all of the Hurricanes backs. I knew the Seminoles D was good, but that’s suffocation at its best.
Least impressive showing from Week 1: California’s 35-18 loss to Tennessee. I know the Phillip Fulmer is on the hot seat so Tennessee was going to come to play and the Vols were at home, but the Bears were just plain whopped on both sides of the ball and looked nothing resembling a top 10 team.
On tap for Week 2: Nothing trumps (#1) Ohio State at. (#3) Texas, but (#19) Penn State at. (#2) Notre Dame is worth a look as well.
Update: ESPN.com is reporting that Texas has moved into the #2 spot in the AP poll, which gives an early season #1 vs. #2 match up this weekend in Austin.
