Over The Pylon

Exciting weekend for college football, and sort of unexpected. Only one game between Top 25 teams (USC-OSU), and that one turned out to be a doozy. Upsets of Oklahoma State and Notre Dame, and the emergence of Tate Forcier as a Forcier to be reckoned with all made the weekend memorable.

Ball State Report: The Cardinals now have a week to ready themselves for the Black Knights of Army, and what could potentially be either the turning point or the early beginning to the end of this season. A victory means the heat gets turned down a bit and the vociferous outcries of anger about Stan Parrish get quieted. Temporarily, at least. A loss spirals things further out of control, and no one wants that.

Kentucky Report: The Cats had an off week, and now face the task of preparing for archrival Louisville. The Cardinals are certainly nothing to write home about recently, and have given no evidence that this year will be any different. Big Blue has to stay focused and not overlook this team, but I think most Cats fans and probably more than a few Louisville fans expect this to be a bloodbath.

On to the weekend…

The Good

• USC: Kudos to the Trojans for not taking the easy way out and scheduling cupcake after cupcake. Their game at Ohio State was a classic to watch and one that propels USC into the national title conversation. Their freshman QB Matt Barkley was cool, calm, and collected… impressive to say the least for a 1st year player on the road at the Horseshoe.
• Central Michigan: After a season opening loss at Arizona, not many gave CMU a shot to upset Michigan State. Riding behind Dan LeFevour and the flukiest luck ever, they did just that as LeFevour become the MAC’s all-time leading offensive player.
• Toledo: Helping also to restore the MAC’s reputation was the Rockets who absolutely decimated Colorado on Friday night. The MAC gets few chances to beat a BCS conference school on national television… kudos to the Rockets for taking advantage of the opportunity.

The Bad

• Ball State: The Cardinals join schools like Duke and Virginia, not in academic prestige, but as an FBS school that was defeated this season by an FCS school. With the loss to New Hampshire, rock bottom is close.
• Oklahoma State: A week after the Cowboys christen a new stadium, defeat Georgia, and demand some attention in the national title race, they go and lose to unranked Houston. It was the third consecutive time OSU gets ranked in the Top 5 and loses their next game. Shameful.
• Miami (OH): After getting shutout in their season opener 42-0 by Kentucky, Miami had nowhere to go but up as they ventured west to play Boise State. Unfortunately, staying on the same level was also an option, as they were blanked 48-0. 2 games, yet to score. Next week is Western Michigan… at least there’s a chance they’ll find the end zone.

The Ugly

• Maryland: When you need overtime to defeat FCS James Madison, after you were dismantled in Cal the week before, that ain’t good. The Terps are 1-1, but could very easily be 0-2. It looks as if the tradition of Maryland playing up or down to their opponents continues.
• North Carolina: The Tar Heels traveled to Connecticut and looked more like Duke than a ranked UNC team. The Heels appear Jekyll and Hyde as their season opener against the Citadel was a dominating performance.
• Florida State: The Seminoles close out our ACC uglyfest by underachieving against Jacksonville State. After losing their season opener against Miami and having a short week, no one expected the Noles to be perfect. They won, but didn’t erase any of those doubts or questions… they just created more.

OTP Helmet Stickers
From Alan

• Tate Forcier, QB, Michigan: 23/33, 240 yds, 2 TDs, INT, 13 rushes, 70 yds, TD in a gigantic program redefiner against Notre Dame. In one fell swoop, Forcier saved RichRod, ruined ND’s season, put Weis on the hotseat, and returned Michigan to the national rankings.
• Case Keenum, QB, Houston: 32/46, 366 yds, 3TDs, INT in a monumental upset of Oklahoma State.
• Aaron Opelt, QB, Toledo: 15/23, 319 yds, 4 TDs, 8 rushes, 102 yds, 2 TDs in a nationally televised game against Colorado.

From Edge

• Matt Barkley, QB, USC – not an impressive three quarters by the numbers, but this 19-year-old came through when it counted most and led an offense with veteran poise to a victory against a tough Ohio State.
• Rahim Moore, S, UCLA – an intercepting machine this season, Moore grabbed two against Tennessee to make sure the Kiffin Era doesn’t go without at least one loss.
• Adam Gunn, LB, Pitt – three sacks for Gunn against Buffalo, with five on the year so far.  Watch this senior – there’s some promise for this guy.

Filed under: ACC, Ball State, Big 10, Big 12, Kentucky, MAC, Pac 10, Weekend Carnage |