Category: College Football (Page 295 of 296)

Three carries from Adrian Peterson. In the end, that’s probably what hurt Oklahoma the most in the latest Red River Shootout.

Well, that or Texas QB Vince Young’s electric performance: 241 passing yards, 3 TD, and 46 rushing yards. Or maybe it was Billy Pittman’s four-catch, 100-yard, two-TD display. Or Jamaal Charles’ 114 rushing yards…on EIGHT carries. That’s 14.3 yards/carry, folks. Or how about the Longhorns’ defense, which held the Sooners to 172 total yards and forced two turnovers.

Okay, so this was a blowout, plain and simple, in every facet of the game. And in the end, Texas’ 45-12 drubbing of Oklahoma, their first win in the last six games of this rivalry, gives the second-ranked Longhorns an open road to the National Championship game, assuming they don’t slip up against Texas Tech on October 22.

Mack Brown has put together some great teams at Texas, but he hasn’t been able to get over the hump against Bob Stoops and the Sooners. So many excellent seasons have been spoiled by losses to Oklahoma. Can they finally do it this year? This year the Longhorns are 14.5 point favorites over the Sooners.

The key to the game will probably be the health of Adrian Peterson. Oklahoma needs a healthy Peterson to have a chance in this game. If he can carry the ball 30 times and be effective, Mack Brown and the Longhorns might once again blow their chance at a National Championship.

Penn State is 5-0 for the first time in years, but they’ve racked up those wins against a pretty weak schedule. This weak reality sets in as they host the #6 Buckeyes in an old-school matchup. Ohio State is a 3.5 point favorite on the road.

One of the reasons for Penn State’s success thus far has been Paterno’s willingness to finally play freshman. The young wide receivers have helped to spark the Nittany Lion offense. Yet this week they face an Ohio State defense that completely dismantled Iowa. Paterno has been gushing about the Ohio State defense this week, calling it one of the best he has ever seen. We’ll see if they can live up to those lofty statements this week. Ohio State should win without too much trouble.

The biggest game of the week involves the SEC showdown between #6 Florida and #5 Tennessee. Urban Meyer has Gator fans giddy again, while Tennesse opened with a not-so-impressive win over UAB. I’ve compiled some perspectives on the game from “experts” around the web.

John Harris of CollegeFootballNews.com sees Florida winning a close one. Money quotes:

“Typically, Florida comes into this game with a powerful offense and a ho-hum defense. Even though they’ve tangled with Wyoming and La. Tech, you can see that this might be the most talented unit since the 1998 bunch that featured Jevon Kearse and Fred Weary. LB Brandon Siler is a beast inside and he’ll have it out for Gerald Riggs all game long. The Tennessee secondary, on the other hand, got sliced by Leak last year and the revamped unit got shredded in the second half against UAB. The implication is that Gator WR Chad Jackson has to be licking his chops. Although UT has left Gainesville the last two times with a W, the Gators should end that short streak on Saturday. Florida – 29 vs. Tennessee – 27”

Yet Harris sees Casey Clausen as an asset for the Vols:

“Since Clausen became the starter late in the 2004 season, he’s been tremendous, even when he’s come into the game in a relief role as he did against UAB. The one trait that Clausen seems to have over Erik Ainge and even over his older brother is the ability to see the whole field and find the mismatch, if one exists. He uses the whole field and will find any of his versatile wide receivers anywhere on the field. The senior doesn’t seem to get rattled and he seems to have the respect of the entire offense. Now, he’s going to see a much more athletic and better defense than Ainge saw last year in Knoxville, and he’ll have his hands full with that bunch. But, Clausen has a guy named Riggs that can help take some of the focus off of the nifty lefty, so keep an eye on how much play action the Vols use and how successful he is in finding the open man in the intermediate to deep areas of the field.”

The Palm Beach Post questions whether Chris Leak can get it done for the Gators:

“Quarterback Chris Leak might never fit Urban Meyer’s offense as well as Alex Smith did at Utah last season. Leak is off to a so-so start, despite a school-record 17 straight completions, which featured four shovel passes and two screens, in the opener against Wyoming. On Saturday, he floated several throws into coverage that a team better than Louisiana Tech might have intercepted. Leak’s longest run was 5 yards, and he’s averaging less than half a yard on 17 carries. He should improve, but must do so against Tennessee, Alabama and LSU.”

The Gators are favored by 6.5 points. That seems high to me. The game is just too close call.

Many of us thought that the Big Ten was the best conference in football this season. It still might be the deepest, but the top three teams took a hit last night.

The big game of course was the Ohio State/Texas matchup in the Horseshoe. Vince Young led Texas to a spectacular late touchdown to snach a victory from the Buckeyes. The football game lived up to all the pregame hype, and it’s a shame either team had to lose. Both Vince Young and A.J. Hawke showed why they are special football players. Too bad we don’t have a playoff system in college football, because I’m sure both fans would love to see these teams play again. Now Texas has a clear shot at playing for the National Championship if they can finally manage a win over Oklahoma.

No. 3 Michigan lost at home against the resurgent Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The Michigan offense looked very weak, as Chad Henne looked more like a freshman quarterback. Charlie Weis has Notre Dame playing great football, and they’ll get another good test next week against Michigan State.

Finally, No. 8 Iowa got creamed by Iowa State. The Hawkeyes lost their quarterback in the second quarter, but that’s no excuse for their poor performance yesterday. maybe this Iowa team was overrated.

Each of these teams will probably bounce back to have good seasons, but for a while no Big Ten team will be part of the national Championship controversy, That may change as more teams get knocked off, but for now the Big Ten will have to sit on the sidelines.