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.

Down Goes Frasier!
Ok, so Ohio State losing at home to Illinois isn't quite as shocking. In fact, it's more like Roy Jones getting knocked out by Glencoffe Johnson. Surprising to see, but only because one side was overvalued based on past achievements. The Fighting Illini put on a clinic in ball control on Saturday. They ran 27 plays, including a successful 4th down conversion, in the 4th quarter. The Buckeyes ran 3. Illinois held the ball for 13:25, and OSU held it for 1:00. You can't score if you don't have the ball, and Illinois kept it away from the team formerly ranked #1.

The SEC Is Back On Top
It's the strongest conference in the world! There's so much depth that other teams drown just thinking about playing in it! They beat the hell out of each other all season, but would still whip your favorite non-SEC team! Wooo, sorry about that, forgot to turn the SEC homerism machine off. However, with the OSU loss LSU moves up to #1. Right now, we would get an LSU/Oregon matchup for the national championship. That actually seems like it would be a pretty good game. The Ducks have good speed on both sides of the ball, and Dennis Dixon can do some amazing things from the quarterback position. Though, with the way this season has been going I would advise against either fanbase buying their BCS title game tickets just yet.

The OBC Gets Click Clacked
Coach Spurrier must have had flashbacks to the 90's during Saturday's UF/South Carolina game. The Gators rolled up 51 points on his Gamecocks, and that was without the services of their most explosive playmaker, Percy Harvin. Tim Tebow scored 7 touchdowns, and rushed for 120 yards. This morning he's curing sick kids at Shands with his dashing good looks, and this afternoon he'll be turning Lake Alice into the biggest body of Hunch Punch with his sweat.

B.C. Continues to Fall
Last week it was unranked FSU. This week it was unranked Maryland. The Eagles have looked more like dodo birds in their back to back losses, and Matt Ryan's two late TD passes helped make his statline look a little more respectable. However, anyone who actually watched the game realized that anymore "Matty Heisman" this season should be punishable by a slap to the back of the head.

Kansas Is No Longer Quietly Creeping
Kansas had their game against Oklahoma State broadcast in big boy fashion, and they put on a show. They put up 529 yards of total offense, and eventhough they allowed 195 yards rushing they still won 43-28. Their defense didn't look quite as strong as it had in past games, but the offense seemed to click better. They definitely have the talent to win the Big 12, though the season finale against Missouri and a possible Big 12 title game against Oklahoma would both be good matchups.

The Orange Bowl Deserved Better
48-0? Seriously? The Hurricanes are lucky that Michael Irvin, Luther Campbell and Lamar Thomas don't show up at practice and hand out some ass whoopins. The game was over by halftime, but that final Virginia touchdown, off of the Kyle Wright fumble, illustrated perfectly how inept the UM offense has been all season. The most disappointing aspect, however might have been how lax the entire team seemed to be. There didn't seem to be much fight in them, especially not up to the level that was expected for the final Hurricanes game in such a storied venue. The Orange Bowl deserved to go out with a bang, but instead it was more like an embarrassing beatdown in front of your friends and family. This is the way it should be remembered.


My (insert respective team here) Did This Well
Well, if by "team" you mean "Tim Tebow", then they ran the ball extremely well. Tebow accounted for all 7 of the Florida touchdowns, and rushed for 120 yards on 26 carries. Outside of Tebow, Caldwell played well and it was nice to see some other receivers get involved with Harvin out.

My (insert respective team here) Didn't Do This Well
Penalties were a bit of a problem, and the defense did give up some passing yards. However, the rush defense was stout, outside of the 3 touchdowns, though the 2 sacks is indicative of the little amount of pressure they've been able to put on opposing quarterbacks this season.

Heismens!
Tim Tebow. 22-32, 304yds passing, 2TD's, 1INT, 26 rushes, 120yds rushing, 5TD's.

Pat White. 16-25, 181yds passing, 2TD's, 0INT, 24 rushes, 147yds rushing, 1TD.

Kevin Smith. 41 rushes, 320 yards, 4TD's.

Ray Rice. 34 rushes, 243 yards, 2TD's.

Consider yourself debriefed!