We are two weeks into the college football season and are not yet seeing much in the way of huge surprises. Then again, that a top ACC team has knocked off a highly-ranked SEC team two weeks in a row may show that the SEC’s supremacy may not be what we have expected. Or it could mean that Alabama’s national title opponent this coming Jan. will not be another SEC team. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, Crimson Tide faithful!
Roll, Tide, Roll
Speaking of Alabama, the No. 1 Crimson Tide will take on Texas A&M this Saturday. It was the Aggies that handed the now two-time defending champions with its only loss of 2012, shocking the Tide 29 to 24 in Alabama. With a home audience to root them on, the No. 6 Aggies will be hard to overcome and this writer has them winning again this weekend. With a win, Texas A&M would replace Alabama as the national team to beat this year.
Clemson now finds itself ranked No. 3 in the AP poll following its 52 to 18 victory over South Carolina State on Sat. That win follows its 38 to 35 victory over Georgia to start the season, the first of two big ACC victories over SEC opponents on successive weekends. The second big win had Miami moving past Florida 21 to 16. With its victory, the Hurricanes made their national ranking debut, taking the No. 15 spot in the AP poll.
Fan Record Attendance
Michigan and Notre Dame provided much excitement on the field last Sat. and 115,109 fans filled Michigan Stadium to witness the event, setting an NCAA record. The Wolverines won the game by scoring touchdowns all four times it made it into the red zone as quarterback Devin Gardner threw for three TDs and ran for one more.
One trend that we are seeing this season and will certainly see in greater frequency in the years ahead are games scheduled between teams from the top five conferences. Sure, Clemson-South Carolina State and Ohio State-San Diego State hardly made for interesting fare this past weekend, but the ACC-SEC match ups did. And, with Brigham Young University playing an independent schedule, we’re seeing that the Cougars are hardly afraid to play the Big 5 conference schools. The Texas Longhorns, however, may rethink scheduling BYU in future years after getting trounced by the Cougars 40 to 21. Quarterback Taysom Hill played a big part in that beat down, rushing for 259 yards and scoring three touchdowns.
This year’s Tennessee eleven may not have the strength that past Volunteers have exhibited, but the Pac 12 Oregon Ducks should not take this SEC rival lightly when they play host on Saturday. Easy wins over Austin Peay and Western Kentucky do not give us an accurate depiction of what the Volunteers can serve up, while Oregon showed its fierceness by dismantling Virginia 59 to 10 in week two. No upset is highly likely, but this game could prove to be one of the better cross-regional match ups we’ll see on Sat.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Who thinks that Ohio State is ripe for an upset this weekend? Beyond Cal fans, there may not be too many that think that the Golden Bears will beat the Buckeyes. After all, on Sat. Cal had to rally in the fourth quarter to beat Portland State 37 to 30, a Big Sky Conference member.
What the game did do is to allow the freshman quarterback to gain plenty of confidence as he completed 33 of 51 passes for 485 yards including two touchdowns and no interceptions. Goff went 38 for 63 against Northwestern in his first week, passing for 445 yards including two touchdowns. However, he threw three interceptions including two that were returned for scores.
If Goff stays poised on Sat. we could see a very close game. And the Buckeyes could be in for trouble if they let up on the pedal as they did last weekend against Buffalo. In that game, OSU was up 23 to 0 before the Bulls narrowed the gap to 30 to 20, eventually winning 40 to 20.
See Also — College Football: Charting the Changes
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