When you find out what’s more exciting and unpredictable than college football during the fall season, let me know.
No less than 5 undefeated teams from the AP Top 25 lost their opener over the weekend, and 3 of them suffered big upsets as well. Seventh-place Florida, ninth-place Stanford, 11th-place Wisconsin, 18th-place Southern California (USC) and 23rd-place North Carolina State all lost.
No. 1 Alabama just brought something horrible to Florida, not just beating but crushing the visiting Gators 31-6 in a humiliation Florida players won’t soon forget. In the battle of arguably the two best current coaches in college football, Alabama’s Nick Saban and Florida’s Urban Meyer, Saban wins this time hands down.
With an Alabama defense like a swarm of thirsty hornets, Courtney Upshaw had 4 tackles behind scrimmage and CJ Mosley returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown, the Gators committed 4 turnovers and couldn’t even smell the zone. Alabama Scoring.
And remember the 15-minute hero from Florida last week? You know, freshman Trey Burton, who scored 6 touchdowns against Kentucky to break Tim Tebow’s record, gained 5 yards on 4 carries. That’s the Crimson Tide defense with style points.
The Tide may not have much to do offensively, but the utter authority of Mark Ingram (who scored twice on short runs) and Trent Richardson is enough to scare any team.
Alabama’s victory was the second most lopsided loss of Urban Meyer’s 6 years of coaching in Florida, and it came before a sea of red of more than 101,000 fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium. What a night for the Crimson Tide faithful, who treat SEC games like Civil War battles against interlopers from the North.
The fourth-ranked Oregon Ducks, a team that seems to come to life after looking like a cooked goose, rose from the dead after the seventh-ranked Stanford Cardinal flew into their stadium and took a very impressive and very quick lead of 21-3 in the first quarter of this matchup for the first time for these two schools as nationally ranked teams.
After seeing Oregon an opening field goal, the Ducks could only watch as Stanford QB Andrew Luck threw an 18-yard TD pass, ran for a 10-yard TD, and then passed for another 10-yard TD. 44 yards.
But it was a pair of sophomores from Oregon who would win the day. QB Darron Thomas would go 20 of 29 (69%) for 238 yards and 2 TDs, and LaMichael James would gain 257 yards on 31 carries (7.65 ypc) and score 3 times on 5-yard and 3-yard runs before finishing off Stanford. with a 76-yard burst in the final minutes.
This game was all about offense as Oregon gained 626 yards and Stanford 518. It would seem that neither team, unlike Alabama, has a defense worth talking about.
The Ducks helped their cause immensely by forcing two crucial turnovers and holding the Cardinal meaningless in the second half while scoring 4 touchdowns. It was the Ducks’ 13th straight win at Autzen Stadium and their 10th straight Pac-10 win.
Stanford hasn’t won a game while in the Top 10 since 1970.
The 11th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers forced 3 early turnovers on the 24th-ranked Michigan State Spartans, but still entered the locker room at halftime trailing 20-10.
Head coach Mark Dantonio, who suffered a minor heart attack following his team’s last-second overtime win over Notre Dame, found himself back in the hospital for this game with a blood clot in his leg. He intended to return to the coaches box.
Enter offensive coordinator Don Treadwell, who led the Spartans to a 45-7 victory over AA Northern Colorado last week. On Michigan State’s crucial drive late in the game, Treadwell called for a successful try in a 4-and-1 situation that ultimately led to the upset 34-24 win.
The Spartans would convert three third downs on the drive before needing all 4 chances to score near the goal line on a 1-yard pass from Kirk Cousins to BJ Cunningham to seal the win.
In the most surprising upset of the week, the unranked Washington Huskies (1-2) traveled to Los Angeles and defeated the 18th-ranked USC Trojans 32-31 for the second time in two years in a packed final play. depression. Field goal of 32 by the wonderful kicker Erik Folk.
Last year at Husky Stadium, Erik Folk made a 22-yard field goal with 3 seconds left to upset then-3rd ranked Southern Cal in what became a landmark victory for first-year coach Steve Sarkisian and his team. Huskies.
“Sark” (Sarkisian’s nickname) and USC coach Lane Kiffin ran Southern Cal’s offense as coordinators for Pete Carroll before Carroll left to become coach of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks this year.
Saturday was javu again, as Folk was forced to wait three timeouts before landing his game-winning kick with, once again, 3 seconds left on the clock.
In one of Sarkisian’s smartest moves since becoming coach of the Washington Husky, he stopped trying to force Jake Locker into becoming an NFL pocket quarterback. He let the fifth-year student be himself by simplifying the game plan and using Locker’s legs and his arm to humiliate USC yet again.
After looking like anything but a Heisman candidate in Washington’s brutal 56-21 loss to Nebraska two weeks ago, Locker reminded everyone why he was considered THE top NFL draft prospect and Heisman Trophy candidate.
He played like a seasoned warrior against USC, going 24-of-40 (60%) for 310 yards and a 44-yard TD pass to Devin Aguilar, and rushing for another 110 yards on 12 carries (9.17 ypc).
Locker nearly scored another TD on a long run in the second quarter, but USC’s Shareece Wright came from behind to fumble the ball through the end zone for a touchback.
In the fourth quarter, Locker was kneed in the head while on the ground near the goal line and knocked out of breath on the same play. Backup Keith Price came on right away and threw a 1-yard TD pass to Chris Izbicki to put the Huskies ahead, 29-28.
Locker re-engineered the long drive that set up Erik Folk’s spectacular game-winning kick on the final play. It was the first win for the Huskies at the LA Coliseum since 1996. The Trojans had won 47 of 48 games on their home field against Washington until losing 3 of the last 5 games.
The fifth undefeated team to go down was the 23rd ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack who were unable to stop the unranked Virginia Tech Hoakies on this day. The Hoakies had a lofty preseason ranking that evaporated overnight with season-opening losses to third-ranked Boise State and AA James Madison.
A different team puts on NC State over the weekend. After being down 17-7 at the half and then down 17 points, the Hoakies found themselves in the second half scoring on 5 of their 7 possessions to launch one of the most impressive comebacks in school history.
In the end, NC State could not keep up, losing 41-30. Virginia Tech’s Tyrod Taylor threw for 3 touchdowns and rushed for another 121 yards, running back Darren Evans added 160 yards on 15 carries (10.67 ypc), and Jayron Holsey intercepted Wolfpack QB Russell Wilson 3 times.
Frank Beamer’s Hoakies have now beaten East Carolina and shut out Boston College to bring their record to 3-2.
The surprise losses hurt Wisconsin, USC and NC State. The Badgers fell from 11th to 20th in the AP Top 25 poll. The Trojans and Wolfpack flew out of the Top 25 along with USC and Penn State, and were replaced in the bottom 4 spots by Oklahoma State, Florida State, Missouri and the Air Force .
Several ranked teams scored big wins that won’t hurt them one bit. They included:
No. 3 Boise State (4-0) shutout the hapless and inept 59-zip New Mexico State. No. 5 TCU (5-0) shutout weak 27-zip Colorado State. No. 10 Auburn (5-0) outscored a weak Louisiana-Monroe team, 52-3. No. 17 Iowa defeated No. 22 Penn State 24-3. And No. 25 Nevada (5-0) took on UNLV 44-26.
No. 6 Nebraska, No. 13 Utah, No. 14 Arizona, No. 15 Arkansas and No. 19 South Carolina were all inactive.
All 4 teams that broke through in the AP Top 25 poll did so by winning. The new 22nd-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys (4-0) defeated Texas A&M 38-35. The 23rd ranked Florida State Seminoles beat Virginia in a road game, 34-14. The Missouri Tigers, ranked 24th, were inactive. And the 25th-ranked Air Force Falcons defeated the Navy 14-6.
Copyright 2010 Ed Bagley