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.

Business As Usual
After weeks of upsets, week 9 in college football was pretty mundane. Yes, Kentucky losing at home to Mississippi State was a bit odd, and USF losing to UConn might have surprised some people(not me). Even Florida getting beat by Georgia(sonuva...) might have caught some people offguard. However, for the most part all the teams that were supposed to win, did win.

Ohio State Solidifies Their #1 Ranking
Prior to this week, the Buckeyes were viewed as sort of the #1 team by default. They hadn't really played anyone of note, but were still undefeated and were playing well. After Saturday night, they seemed to have tightened their grasp on the top spot. Eventhough Penn State isn't a spectacular team this year, Ohio State played balanced all night and shut the Nittany Lions down. I'm still not convinced that they're better than LSU, but right now they probably do deserve to be #1.

More SEC Cannibalism This Week
At some point there has to be an end to the SEC teams beating the hell out of each other, right? Kentucky looked great early in the season. The loss to Florida was understandable, but a loss at home to Mississippi State? The same MSU team that got blown out on the road a week earlier by West Virginia, but knocked off Auburn in September. South Carolina was also looking to rebound from a shocking loss against Vandy last week, but failed to come through in overtime and lost at Tennessee. I'm not sure if the typically strong teams are all just having down years, or of the weaker teams are just getting better. I would like to believe that it's the latter, but I'm afraid that might not be the case.

ASU Has Quietly Moved To #4 In The BCS
Arizona State finished the '06 season with a 7-6 record and fired Dirk Koetter. They brought in Dennis Erickson(yes, that Dennis Erickson), and he has the Sun Devils sitting at #4 in the BCS with an 8-0 record(5-0 in the Pac-10). The showdown against #5 Oregon this Saturday has national title implications, especially for ASU since they're just one of four remaining undefeated teams.

Kansas Has Also Quietly Crept Up The Rankings
Kansas is another of the unbeatens, and has moved all the way up to #8 in the BCS. They control their own destiny in the Big 12 race, and their defense is playing tough week in and week out.

My (insert respective team here) Did This Well
Stay on the bench after scoring touchdowns? Just kidding, sort of, Tim Tebow and the receivers played well but that's about it.

My (insert respective team here) Didn't Do This Well
Just about everything. They gave up too many sacks(6), too many rushing touchdowns and yards(3 & 188) and too many third down conversions(10-13). Matt Stafford looked unstoppable(which he isn't), and even that pick six interception didn't cost his team the game. Florida's defense, which has been dodgy at best all season, looked downright horrible on Saturday. And I still can't figure out how a team with two senior safeties has a secondary that can't stop the pass.

Never Forget. Never, Ever Forget
That's what Urban Meyer said to his team with regard to Georgia's team running off of the bench, and into the end zone to celebrate their first touchdown against Florida on Saturday. I understand that he was looking for a way to keep his team fired up, and I don't believe that he didn't play some part in it occuring, but it seemed pretty shady to me. Two weeks before, at Vandy(who beat UGA for their homecoming in '06), he was out on the field screaming and cursing at his players to stop celebrating. Though, when you're facing a team that you've struggled against in recent times I guess you'll use any tactic to fire your team up. I really shouldn't expect anything else from a former Seminole coach.

Heismens!
Kevin Smith ran wild over Southern Miss last night, to the tune of 175 yards and 2 TD's. He's ranked second nationally in yards, and is tied third in TD's.

Tim Tebow added to his touchdown total by scoring three against UGA, 1 passing and 2 rushing. He now has 30 touchdowns this season(18 passing, 12 rushing).

Consider yourself debriefed.