Florida State’s biggest issue isn’t turnovers or talent, it’s a lack of urgency – plain and simple. It’s always hard to get a team “up” every week, but the Seminoles are better than what they showed against Jacksonville State (19-9 win) and South Florida (17-7 loss). Coaches hate these games, when you play a “lesser” team from your own state. If you win, you’re supposed to and if you don’t, it’s an issue. Basically, there’s no upside to it. Unfortunately for Bobby Bowden and Jimbo Fisher due to Saturday’s defeat, it just got a little bit harder to recruit in the state of Florida.
VA Tech not ready to be forgotten. After they lost during the opening weekend, many wrote off the Hokies as another ACC team that couldn’t measure up. Well, look who’s back. Bud Foster and Va Tech’s smothering defense shut down the Hurricanes 31-7 and seizing control of the Coastal Division. The Hokies rose 16 spots in the Harris Poll this week to #6 and are back in the hunt for the BCS National Championship.
It won’t be Florida and Texas for the BCS National Championship. Even ignoring Tim Tebow’s concussion from the weekend which has to be determined ramifications, it appears that the 2009 campaign will be more unorthodox than most. With teams falling left and right in the Top 10, what are the likelihood that the pre-season #1 and #2 teams will run the table undefeated? Not likely. Remember, it’s only happened once in the BCS era (2004 with USC and Oklahoma)
Jahvid Best can’t do it all by himself in the Pac-10. Cal QB Kevin Riley needed to make five to six big completions in key situations on Saturday. He didn’t make one, consistently missing or overthrowing wide receivers. The result is that Oregon clamped down on Heisman RB candidate Jahvid Best, holding him to 55 yards rushing and the Bears offense to just three points. Even if Riley had made the throws, Oregon was on such a roll it might not have made a difference, but it would have made for a much more interesting game.
I’m really impressed with Chip Kelly. After Oregon’s season opening loss to Boise State and the LeGarrette Blount aftermath, everyone questioned whether Kelly was the right person to succeed retiring coach Mike Bellotti. The following week, they struggled to defeat Big Ten bottom feeder Purdue and the questions continued to build. In week 3 they ended the nation’s longest winning streak by beating Utah 31-24 and now appear to be rolling based on their beatdown of Cal. With USC still making a trip to Eugene, don’t be surprised if the Oregon Ducks are in a BCS bowl game.
Boise State could win the AP National Championship (at least). Say what you want about their schedule, but Boise State is sitting at #5 in this week’s AP poll. With #1 Florida still having to play #4 LSU next weekend (perhaps without Tebow) and likely #3 Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, as well as #3 Alabama playing #4 LSU later this year, it’s likely that we will have at most one undefeated team. Based on their current ranking (highest in regular season and school history), it’s not out of the question the Associated Press could award a national title to the Broncos.
If you’re in the Top 5 right now, proceed with caution. The top of the rankings has been a revolving door, with a number of different teams moving in and out. Ole Miss loses to unranked South Carolina. Oklahoma State loses to Houston. USC to Washington. Oklahoma to BYU. Cal to Oregon. Miami to Virginia Tech. Penn State to Iowa…..the list goes on. The bottom line is any team can beat any other team on Saturday. That’s what makes this game so great.
What about you? What stood out to you from the weekend?
