First off, this happened last night-
…but while that was happening, down in Norman, Oklahoma, the Sooners were down to Texas Tech, 31-7. And, only about a half hour earlier, Notre Dame gave up another 90+ yard fumble return for a touchdown.
It was a weird night, to be sure. It also capped off a terribly boring day, full of blowouts and uninteresting games galore. Oregon vs. Colorado? 45-2. LSU vs. Auburn? 45-10. North Carolina vs. Clemson? 59-38. It was not the best weekend of college football, but it did finish well.
My beloved Irish laid a gigantic shitburger in their first night game in 21 years, an uncharacteristic performance by a Brian Kelly-coached team (12-1 career record) after a bye week. Judging by his press conference statements after the game, he wasn’t about to keep falling on his sword for his team. He put the blame squarely where it belonged; on the players who came out flat, played poorly and made rookie mistakes all night long. I don’t pity the absolute beating their going to get this coming week of practice, but if Coach Kelly’s past is any precursor, I would pity the Midshipmen who have to face the Irish next Saturday.
Out in Boulder, my adopted team finished off the Buffaloes almost before they even got started, ripping off 29 points in the first quarter en route to a 45-2 drubbing, keyed by a backfield full of backups. Good lord, Oregon is fast everywhere. They have one more patsy before facing Washington and Stanford in consecutive weeks. I hope they hang 80 on USC, too. C’mon, Chip, you know you want to…
Instead of rambling on any longer, here are eight things I think we learned yesterday-
- Oklahoma isn’t the real deal, but Wisconsin still sorta is. The Sooners didn’t have what it takes to crawl back into a game they never should have been that far behind in, but the Badgers’ loss was just one of those fluky Spartan Stadium happenings.
- Once Stanford gets rolling, they’re scary. Also, the Huskies run defense wasn’t so great to begin with, at least not against good competition. Nebraska hung 303 on them.
- Clemson continues to not Clemson itself, to the amazement of everyone. They’ve got a pretty clean slate the rest of the way, too. Could they finish 12-0?
- You can stop paying attention to the B1G Ten. Michigan State is probably going to win out and even if Wisconsin does, too, it won’t matter. Though a rematch in the title game would be eminently watchable.
- Bill Snyder is some sort of wizard. I honestly don’t know how else to describe it. I just don’t. Of course, we’ll see how the next three weeks treat the Wildcats. Oklahoma, Okie State and A&M will show the country who these Wildcats really are.
- Boise State, once again, can win out and no one will bat an eyelash. I still say that in a one-on-one matchup against any Top 10 team, the Broncos would win. Shame they’re in such a terrible conference.
- Alabama and LSU- SEC SPEED, DEFENSE and -zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… You gotta love it when two teams are so boringly dominant that most of the country just doesn’t give a single shit about them. November 5th is a date to mark on your calendars, folks.
- There are eight remaining undefeated teams in major college football. Two play each other in a few weeks, one (KST) plays a pissed off one-loss team next week, and Okie State plays a game Baylor squad next week. I don’t think we escape the month with more than five remaining unbeatens.
