I said in my picks column that I thought this would be a week of either blowouts or upsets. Turns out I was right, but they didn’t happen where I expected.
I thought Kansas State would be able to take advantage of a Oklahoma team on a down week after their loss to Texas Tech last week. I wasn’t sure that the Wildcats would win the game, but I wasn’t surprised at the 23-17 halftime score. The final of 58-17, however… Ouch.
The night games that I assumed would be ho-hum. Again, I was wrong. Really, really wrong. In fact, in a week of what many assumed were boring matchups, surprises came out of the woodwork. Even from places like Vanderbilt (31-28 loss to Arkansas) and Duke (14-10 loss to VaTech).
Here’s eight things I think we learned in week nine.
- Vanderbilt QB Jordan Rodgers is, wait for it, Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers’ younger brother. Don’t bother writing this down. You’ll hear it again.
- Offenses need to stay “on schedule.” This is the year of “on schedule.” Thanks, Urban Meyer, for introducing the term “on schedule” to every single announcer and play-by-play person in the known world.
- Lane Kiffin is that kid on the playground in elementary school that always managed to find an excuse not to be “it” when playing hide and seek with a lame excuse or ten. His petulant whining about about poor officiating, saying he wanted a timeout with :01 on the clock at the end of regulation, when Robert Woods decided it would be a good idea to run all the way across the field with only seconds on the clock, all while staying mum on the obvious holding penalty that was ignored the play previous. Way to try to ruin a spectacular game, Kiffykins.
- Notre Dame can beat up on service academies again. This is a first step toward getting back to being relevant. Now they need to start beating up on the rest of the teams on their schedule. Baby steps, Irish, baby steps…
- Once again, Baylor’s defense is terrible. Terrible. If I were Robert Griffin III, I’d be packing my bags for the NFL by now.
- Clemson can still clemson themselves and they showed it against Georgia Tech. Unprepared and unaware. Another one bites the dust.
- The Big 10(12) has devolved into chaos. Michigan State loses to Nebraska, Wisconsin loses for the second straight week on a last-second heave and Penn State is somehow atop the conference standings. Up is down, cats are laying down with dogs, it’s pandemonium.
- Lost in all of the weekend craziness is the Thursday night firebombing of Rice that Case Keenum put on. He not only beat the NCAA career record for TD passes, but he did it in style, tossing nine of them. NINE!
