Week seven is going to be an outstanding slate of college football games. First though, before I delve into that, we will look back at week six and update the Top 25. In all fairness there were some intriguing games and some exciting finishes. The local schools (minus Maryland) also had a very good week.
LAST WEEKS PICKS
MY Prediction Actual Result
Oklahoma St. 34 Texas A&M 27 Okla St. 36-31
This game actually accomplished something for both teams. For the Aggies it showed that after a couple of poor years, they now are ready to at least compete with the big boys. For Oklahoma State it was a must win if they are serious about challenging OU and Texas.
Alabama 27 Mississippi 10 Alabama 22-3
The Crimson Tide have been the most impressive team in the country so far. Their defense absolutely dominated the Rebels, holding them to just 72 yards rushing and not allowing a single 3rd down conversion. This game was supposed to be a test. It wasn’t.
Michigan 22 Iowa 17 Iowa 30-28
This is one I got wrong. I just keep underestimating the Hawkeyes. They are working their way up the rankings, but can they keep winning with the talent they have. QB Ricky Stanzi has come through in some clutch situations; but he has been erratic and inconsistent. I guess I’ll keep picking against them and they will keep proving me wrong.
Ohio State 24 Wisconsin 14 Ohio St. 31-13
This was not the prettiest win for the Buckeyes. Their offense only accounted for 8 first downs and 184 yards. Terrelle Pryor was effectively stopped by Wisconsin. But in the end, the W is all that is important (at least in the short term). Two INT’s returned for a touchdown and a 96 yard kickoff return made up for the lackluster offense and gave that W to Ohio State.
Florida 35 LSU 17 Florida 13-3
The overall dominance by Florida was about what I expected and predicted. What I didn’t predict was the complete lack of offense. Tebow played and did what was asked of him, but to finish out the season unbeaten he will need to do more in the future.
Wake Forest 30 Maryland 10 Wake 42-32
Don’t let the final score fool you, the Terrapins defense was completely over matched again. Over 500 yards of total offense by Wake Forest helped put this away early. Maryland will probably not fix the defense this season, but it has to be priority number 1 for coach Friedgen in the offseason.
Navy 44 Rice 17 Navy 63-14
I knew Navy would win this going away, but even I was shocked by the utter destruction. 63 points and 471 rushing yards shows that Rice has no idea how to defend the triple option.
Rhode Island 23 Towson 14 Towson 36-28
A nice win for the Tigers. But they only have two conference wins in their past 14, both against Rhode Island. The true test of the change of attitude brought by Rob Ambrose will be come against some of the tougher CAA teams.
Morgan St. 17 NC A&T 9 Morgan 7-6
If Morgan wants to compete with the big boys of the MEAC they are going to have to find some offense; but you can’t take anything away from what they’ve accomplished so far this season. Donald Hill-Eley has built a suffocating defense that is winning games almost single handedly. In their 4 games against 1-AA competition they are only giving up 9 points a game.
Dickinson 34 Johns Hopkins 31 JHU 23-12
Hopkins is now the frontrunner for the Centennial conference crown. After this embarrassing mistake, I won’t pick against them again all year.
Best Game by a BCS Team: Alabama
Mississippi was all geared up to compete for the SEC West title this year. Alabama was supposed to have a tough time replacing John Parker Wilson. Well, forget all that. The Crimson Tide absolutely destroyed Mississippi and made the voters take notice. They flipped over Texas up to number 2 in the polls after this big win.
Best Game by a non-BCS Team: Southern Methodist
Call up Eric Dickerson. Get Craig James on an internet chat. SMU may actually be back. After going 2-22 in the last two seasons, it became clear why the Mustangs lured June Jones from Hawaii before the 2008 season. In just two years he has improved the talent and attitude at SMU. The win over UAB earlier this year was nice, but beating the defending C-USA champs and preseason favorites East Carolina 28-21 was the moment the SMU program reemerged.
Best Individual Performance of the Week: Jacquizz Rodgers, RB Oregon St.
In what was an important game for the Beavers to keep their Pac Ten title hopes alive, Jacquizz Rodgers came to play. He ran for 189 yards on 33 carries and found his way into the end zone 4 times. He also found the time to make 5 catches for 82 yards and was just an all around nightmare for the Stanford defense. I think Jim Harbaugh is still mumbling ‘Quizz, ‘Quizz four days later.
THE NEW LAWSON LAMBERT TOP 25
1. Florida 5-0
2. Texas 5-0
3. Alabama 6-0
4. Ohio State 5-1
5. Boise St. 5-0
6. Virginia Tech 5-1
7. USC 4-1
8. Oregon 5-1
9. Kansas 5-0
10. South Florida 5-0
11. LSU 5-1
12. Cincinnati 5-0
13. TCU 5-0
14. Oklahoma St. 4-1
15. Penn State 5-1
16 Iowa 6-0
17. South Carolina 5-1
18. BYU 5-1
19. Miami (FL) 4-1
20. Oklahoma 3-2
21. Nebraska 4-1
22. Georgia Tech 5-1
23. Notre Dame 4-1
24. Utah 4-1
25. West Virginia 4-1
Comments on Facebook