Last week was another exciting slate of college football games. Many Top 25 games came down to the final possessions, like OU/Miami and LSU/Georgia. Notre Dame had another squeaker and a few teams had their BCS and National title hopes smashed. Sam Bradford’s coming back this week, obviously it is a little late. Again it turns out I am a much better predictor of good games, than who actually wins them.
LAST WEEKS PICKS
MY PICK ACTUAL RESULT
USC 31 California 21 Southern Cal 30-3
USC never has problems with teams that are ranked. This was no exception. After the last two games Cal’s season has to be considered a big disappointment. USC now can turn it’s attention to their huge meeting with Oregon later this year.
Tennessee 17 Auburn 14 Auburn 26-22
I wish all the commentators (this includes you loudmouth Charles Barkley) who panned the Gene Chizik hire had to get up and acknowledge the new reality. Chizik has made Auburn relevant already. The offense has finally come together and Turner Gill’s Buffalo is 1-4.
UCLA 33 Stanford 27 Stanford 24-16
Maybe Stanford is for real. I thought UCLA had too much talent, but QB Andrew Luck and sensational RB Toby Gerhart are putting on a show against the lesser Pac-10 teams. Now we see if it can translate to Oregon or USC.
Georgia 35 LSU 24 LSU 20-13
The first 50 minutes of this game was as exciting as reading the phone book, but they sure made up for it at the end. LSU still doesn’t look good enough to beat Florida this week, but you can’t argue with success. Les Miles’ club has found away to win each game and might get lucky enough to not face Tim Tebow
Oklahoma 33 Miami (FL) 21 Miami 21-20
No Sam Bradford. No Jermaine Gresham. No Ryan Broyles. Those are the breaks , but it is tough for an offense to survive losing their top QB, WR, and TE. Miami doesn’t have to make any excuses. They faced a daunting first four games and came out of it a respectable 3-1.
Clemson 27 Maryland 13 Maryland 24-21
Maryland still looked mediocre, and were very lucky to get this victory. Who cares right now though. This program needed a win and they got one. The defense held Clemson to Field Goal attempts late and it worked out for them. I still probably won’t pick them next week, but they at least put some life in their season.
Navy 28 AirForce 27 Navy 16-13
I knew this rivalry game would be close and you can’t get much closer than a 16-13 OT result. Navy came through and now are in a great position to capture another Commander-in Chiefs trophy. Army won’t be a problem yet again.
New Hampshire 31 Towson 14 New Hampshire 57-7
Towson is still a couple of years away from competing with the top of the CAA. UNH showed no mercy and the schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Tigers.
Morgan St. 19 Bethune-Cookman 10 Morgan 24-13
Watch out. The Bears are on the precipice of actually having a relevant season. If they pull off another couple of MEAC victories, the campus might get excited. Coming off the basketball teams NCAA appearance, we might be seeing an athletic renaissance on Perring Parkway.
Johns Hopkins 24 Muhlenberg 20 Hopkins 40-27
Another big win for Hopkins. Keep it up and D3 playoffs are on the horizon.
Best Game by a BCS team: Stanford
Jim Harbaugh has made tremendous strides with the Cardinal. He had the upset of USC two years ago. They were competitive last year and now they are a winning team. Wins over Washington St. and San Jose St. didn’t mean anything. The victory over Washington was great , but any team can have one great effort. The real test is what do you do the next week. Stanford handed UCLA their first loss of the season and made themselves a 3-0 contender in the Pac-10
Best Game by a non-BCS team: Texas- El Paso
When disgraced coach Mike Price got a fresh start at UTEP he led them to bowl games in his first two seasons. Since then things had gotten stale. His tenure was on the hot seat after losing to Buffalo and getting blown out by Kansas and Texas. It looked like a fourth straight season with no post-season was imminent. Especially with highly ranked Houston next on the docket things looked bleak. The Miners refused to give in and put 58 points on the Cougars and breathed some life into their season.
Best Individual Performance of the Week: Jimmy Clausen, QB Notre Dame
Clausen has been playing amazing for awhile. He has become a legitimate Heisman trophy contender. If you want to look at body of work, he has led a come from behind 4th quarter drive to take the lead in four straight games. Michigan had an answer in one of them, but that doesn’t detract from Clausen’s performance. The this week against Washington he didn’t just calmly lead a late scoring drive and a winning OT drive. He also passed for 422 yards. And he did it all on a gimpy leg.
THE NEW LAWSON LAMBERT TOP 25
1. Florida 4-0
2. Texas 4-0
3. Alabama 5-0
4. LSU 5-0
5. Ohio State 4-1
6. Boise St. 5-0
7. Virginia Tech 4-1
8. USC 4-1
9. Oregon 4-1
10. Kansas 4-0
11. South Florida 5-0
12. Cincinnati 5-0
13. TCU 4-0
14. Oklahoma St. 3-1
15. Penn State 4-1
16 Iowa 5-0
17. South Carolina 4-1
18. Auburn 5-0
19. BYU 4-1
20. Miami (FL) 3-1
21. Oklahoma 2-2
22. Mississippi 3-1
23. Nebraska 4-1
24. Georgia Tech 4-1
25. Stanford 4-1
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