The Morning After: Week 3

Out of all the conferences, the Pac-10 had the defining weekend. While Washington and Cal were hammered, the rest of the conference had a great weekend. Even in a loss Arizona State had a great weekend. The Sun Devils were a blocked extra point away from defeating Wisconsin in Madison. The rest of the conference made statements.

- UCLA finally had a breakthrough on offense. The Bruins scored 31 points and actually held the high powered Houston offense to 10 points. Needless to say the Bruins needed this victory. They already lost their first two games and they have to play at Texas next week. Slick Rick needed this victory badly.

- USC continues to win even though the team is on probation for the year. USC struggled though against a win less Minnesota team that lost to South Dakota a weak earlier. I fully expect USC to start losing once conference play starts, but they'll still be a tough team to play.

- Oregon thrashed another non-conference opponent (this time poor Portland State). The Ducks start conference play this week at Arizona State and next week at home against Stanford. I'm the idiot who said the Ducks would miss Jeremiah Masoli and struggle this season. So much for that. It doesn't matter who the Ducks quarterback is when they have LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner at running back. Their match-up in a couple of weeks against Stanford will definitely be a must watch game.



- The other impressive Pac-10 team this weekend was Arizona. The Wildcats jumped out to a 27-7 halftime lead only to blow it in the fourth quarter. Arizona quarterback Nick Foles should receive national attention after leading Arizona down the field for a fourth-quarter, game-winning touchdown. As soon as Iowa tied the game, I thought Arizona was going to lose this game. They blew the lead and the momentum. For all tenses and purposes, I thought Arizona was done. They weren't and that showed me a lot about this team.

The Craziest Sequence of the Week: Michigan State defeats Notre Dame on a fake field goal attempt in overtime. There's controversy over whether or not Sparty should have been flagged for a delay of game. Then it's finally confirmed that the refs indeed made the right decision with the non-call. Sparty coach Mark Dantonio suffers a heart attack right after the game. He'll be fine. Dantonio won't coach this week, but he surly won't miss Wisconsin and Michigan. One hell of a 48-hour span.


I would hate to be Mark Richt right about now: It was pretty much known that Georgia coach Mark Richt needed not just a winning season to keep his job, but he needed an outstanding season after two previous disappointing seasons. After last Saturday's last second loss to Arkansas, Richt will be lucky to receive another year in Athens. Todd Grantham was suppose to improve the defense. Not the case because Arkansas racked up over 400 yards on the Georgia defense. Mark Richt is on the Tommy Tuberville express out of Athens.

BCS Projections
Title Game: Alabama vs. Ohio State
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Boise State
Fiesta Bowl: Texas vs. Arizona
Orange Bowl: West Virginia vs. Clemson
Sugar Bowl: South Carolina vs. Nebraska

Despite Clemson's loss to Auburn this weekend, I'm picking them to win the ACC. What other team can you name that is good enough to win the ACC? I'm also picking South Carolina over Florida for the 2nd SEC team in a BCS game. Even though Florida is undefeated, they haven't been very impressive. I have Texas and Nebraska representing the Big XII right now. I have Nebraska over Oklahoma because Oklahoma wasn't overly impressive against Air Force last week.

Video of the Week: Nothing better than a one-handed catch combined by the dulcet tones of Brent Musberger. Too bad Clemson lost in overtime on a miss punt.