Wild Day in College Football

Bama Beatdown:

Honestly, who saw that coming?  You could see the confidence in Nick Saban’s squad coming in, and even the untrained eye could see that the talent level in Tuscaloosa is rising, but this good? This soon?  Soon, Saban will be looking for a new program to turn around because once it gets too easy for him, he is looking for his next project.  The first half ‘Bama made it look too easy.  Sufficating defense and seemless offense led to a 31-0 lead at the half.  You knew that Georgia would win the second half and make it look somewhat respectable, but ‘Bama was clearly the better team on both sides of the ball.

Florida Stumbles:

Uncharacteristic mistakes led to the demise of Florida at The Swamp today.  The Ole Miss Runnin’ Rebs took care of business, with a blocked extra point being the deciding factor.  Tim Tebow looks to be experiencing a Heisman Hangover in the opening portion of the 2008 season, with his stats down across the board, culminating in mental lapses leading to costly turnovers.

SEC:

The SEC is once-again looking to be the toughest conference, with the Big 12 nipping at their heels.  Road wins in SEC play are normally hard to come by, although today the conference saw two somewhat surprising road wins (Alabama and Ole Miss).  The SEC East took a big hit today with perennial front-runners Florida, Georgia and Tennessee all losing to SEC West foes.  Surprising upstart Vanderbilt had the week off, Kentucky taking care of Western Kentucky, and South Carolina holding off UAB rounded out the day for the SEC East.  The West looks to be strongly represented this year by Alabama, LSU and Auburn.

Michigan topples Wisconsin and Penn St. tops Illinois:

Michigan gave Ryan his wish, a Wisconsin loss, in stunning fashion.  Wisconsin was in total control throughout the first half and Michigan looked like the same team that was blown out by Notre Dame.  Rich Rod is going to need a year or two to get the Wolverines back on top of the Big Ten.  Threet is not the answer at QB for the spread offense, and implementing the spread offense is going to take some time in Ann Arbor, but Michigan fans can take some positives from their victory today.  The first is that their defense can be dominate, as proven by the second half, and Threet looks to be serviceable at QB until Rich Rod gets his permanent QB lined up.  Penn State took a step forward today beating Illinois by two touchdowns in Happy Valley.  Penn State’s offense was fast and fun to watch, a lot of athletes on that offense and their defense forced the required turnovers to get the job down against Juice Williams and the Illini offense.  Penn State is the team to beat in the Big Ten with Ohio State a distant second.

Oklahoma and Texas Dominate:

Texas feasted on the feeble Arkansas Razorbacks and Oklahoma blasted TCU with a passing clinic by Sam Bradford. The Big 12 has 3 great teams (Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma) but after that what do they have?  The answer is not much, the best non-conference win by a Big 12 school is Missouri’s win over Illinois at the beginning of the year.  Colorado did beat West Virginia, but honestly that win doesn’t mean much this year without Rich Rod at the helm for West Virginia.  Texas has Colorado next week followed by back to back tilts with Oklahoma and Missouri.  Look for the winner of the Oklahoma vs. Texas contest to face Missouri in the Big 12 Championship game with the very real possibility BCS Championship birth on the line.

photos courtesy of the AP via creative commons license

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