College Football Debriefing

Each week, after all of the games have been played, I'll re-visit some of them and give my take(synonym for biased, slightly informed opinion). It's called the debriefing because whatever happened during your chosen team's game you probably felt like you were part of a crime scene, or maybe a terrorist attack. Whether you thought you were robbed by the referees, or got to witness some WMD's exploding in your stadium, this is where we'll re-open fresh wounds and examine the positives and negatives. But since we're all college football fanatics, probably mostly the negatives.

Upsets, Upsets, Come Get Your Upsets!
What appeared to be a relatively docile college football weekend shook up the polls and shattered dreams. Five of the top ten lost(Oklahoma, Florida, WVU, Texas & Rutgers), as did two other ranked and previously unbeaten teams(Clemson & Oregon). It was like bizzaro college football world opened up, and started sucking in teams.

LSU Back On Top
Despite a slow first half against Tulane, LSU moved past USC into the #1 spot in the AP Poll. Both teams have the ability to put lots of points over the course of 60 minutes, but LSU's defense is much tougher. They deserved to get moved up.

South Florida Benefits From The Shake Up(So Does Kentucky)
So what FBS team from Florida is currently ranked the highest? Florida? No. Miami? Uh uh. FSU? Wrong again. UCF? Nope. It's the University of South Florida, which maxxed out their win against West Virginia on Friday night with all of the upsets on Saturday. They're currently sitting at #6, while the next closest Florida school is UF at #9. And no, that's not a typo. Kentucky has crept up to #8 in the football rankings. Andre Woodson continues to lead the Wildcats extremely well, and has them sitting alone atop the SEC East. Bizarro world indeed!

My (insert respective team here) Did This Well
Uh, cut down on the penalties? 7 for 44 yards was less than usual, but they came at the most inopportune times. Personal foul on special teams? Illegal formation on a successful fake punt? Gun, bullet, foot. The Gators didn't allow any sacks either. Woohoo...

My (insert respective team here) Didn't Do This Well
Hmmm...win?!? Actually, Florida's rushing average was way down, and when your starting "tailback" carries the ball three times for four yards things probably aren't going too well.

Heismens!
Graham Harrell put up another 5 passing TD's, as Texas Tech hung 75 points on the powerhouse that is Northwestern St. He's leading the country in pass yards, and has 24 TD's to just 2 INT's.

Mike Hart turned in another 100+ yard performance, going for 106yds and 1 TD. UCF's Kevin Smith has another monster day, rushing for 223 yards and 3 TD's. Smith has to get mentioned now, as he's third in the nation in rush yards(713) and first in rush TD's(10).

Michael Crabtree gets some space because he's racked up almost 1,000 yards receiving through five games and has 14 TD's. Sure, Texas Tech is a pass heavy offense, but those numbers are pretty impressive, especially for a freshman.

Thursday Night Is Fun Again!
After a down week last week, we get another good Thursday night matchup. This time it's the #8 ranked Kentucky Wildcats going on the road to face the #11 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina's pass defense has been pretty good so far, though their rush defense gives up an average of 200 yards per game. However, Kentucky's rush defense hasn't been any better giving up an average of 203 yards per game, and their pass defense is weaker than USC's. It should be another good SEC matchup.

Consider yourself debriefed!