Two Top-10 matchups, several other Top 25 matchups, a couple shifts in the AP Poll… Let’s get to this week in college football!
No. 1 Alabama 31, No. 7 Florida 6 – The Crimson Tide took this second consecutive matchup of Top 10 opponents as an opportunity to cement their No. 1 ranking. Florida looked completely overmatched, and the Tide forced 4 turnovers, including a pick-6 in the 3rd quarter that iced the game.
Mark Ingram didn’t have a big game (12 carries, 47 yards, 2 TDs), but given the Gators’ ineptitude on offense, he did just enough, even if he didn’t put himself higher on the Heisman list. The performance was enough to drop Florida out of the top 10 to 14 in this week’s AP Poll.
Next up for ‘Bama is No. 20 South Carolina next week on the road, a game I’ll cover below.
No. 4 Oregon 52, No. 9 Stanford 31 – Okay, so I had the way the game would go right yesterday, but I had the teams reversed. Oregon looked extremely impressive after spotting the Cardinal a 21-3 lead in the 1st quarter. They kept chipping away at the lead, and ended up outscoring Stanford 49-10 the rest of the game.
The win was enough to push the Ducks to the No. 3 spot in the rankings this week, jumping ahead of Boise State, who dropped to No. 4. LaMichael James led the way for the Ducks, rushing 31 times for a career-high 257 yards and 3 scores. Stanford after the loss dropped to No. 16.
The victory sets up a potential top-10 matchup for the Pac-10 title on Nov. 26, when current No. 9 Arizona comes to Eugene.
No. 8 Oklahoma 28, No. 21 Texas 20 – The Sooners survived a sloppy finish, including a fumble by QB Landry Jones that bounced out of bounds at the Oklahoma 6, and Texas let a golden opportunity to get a bounceback win after last week’s stomping by UCLA when Aaron Williams fumbled a punt with 1:49 left in the game.
Oklahoma moved up two spots to No. 6 in the poll, while Texas fell out of the Top 25 for the first time in 162 weeks. The last time the Longhorns were unranked was Oct. 15, 2000.
The rest of Oklahoma’s schedule sets up for a Top-10 matchup in the Big 12 Championship with No. 7 Nebraska.
No. 17 Iowa 24, No. 22 Penn State 3 – This was your typical Big 10 slugfest – not a lot of offense (especially for Penn State), but enough for Iowa to knock off the Nittany Lions in impressive fashion.
Iowa continues to be kryptonite for Penn State, winning 8 of their last 9 against the Nittany Lions. Next up for the Hawkeyes: a bye week before back-to-back matchups with No. 18 Michigan and No. 20 Wisconsin in consecutive weeks.
Quick hitters from the rest of the weekend in college football
-No. 2 Ohio State survived a Terrelle Pryor injury and held on to beat Illinois, 24-13. Considering the loss of the Heisman candidate for a good portion of the game, solid win to survive by the Buckeyes.
-Performance of the week belongs to Michigan QB Denard Robinson, who had 495 total yards of offense and 5 TDs. His first big test in the Big 10 comes next week, against No. 18 Michigan State, who looked really good against No. 11 Wisconsin.
-Gaffe of the year nearly happened to two teams on the last play of the LSU-Tennessee game. The Tigers nearly blew a chance to win the game in the closing seconds when they tried to change personnel with the clock running and the ball was snapped past QB Jordan Jefferson to seemingly end the game. However, a penalty was called on the Vols for too many men on the field – 13 men lined up on defense for Tennessee – and on an untimed down, LSU RB Stevan Ridley pushed in for the game-winning TD.
-Even though Boise State dropped to No. 4 after Oregon’s whipping of Stanford, the weekend went well otherwise for the Broncos, with their blowout victory over New Mexico State, Nevada’s win taking them to No. 21, and Virginia Tech coming back to win against No. 23 North Carolina State. The season still sets up for Boise State to be in the conversation for the national title at the end of the year.
Big Games for Next Weekend
No. 1 Alabama at No. 19 South Carolina – You can give the Gamecocks a fighting chance in this game, as they are coming off a bye and nearly knocked off now-No. 8 Auburn at home. However, Auburn ran all over South Carolina two weekends ago, and I can’t imagine anything different from the Crimson Tide.
No. 18 Michigan State at No. 17 Michigan – Let’s see if Denard Robinson can continue his run towards the Heisman Trophy against their in-state rivals, who will probably still be without their head coach for another week.
No. 23 Florida State at No. 13 Miami – Big rivalry game for two teams looking to get back into the national conversation. While both programs are probably a year or so away, a win here moves them up the ladder in the ACC for a chance at a BCS bowl.
Great weekend of action, and should be another great one next weekend! See you all then!
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