College Football Insight Hindsight: Week 1
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College Football |
Even an epic battle between Miami and Florida State couldn't 'save' the ACC
Week 1 of College Football is (sadly) in the books, but now the fun begins. Hindsight is always 20/20, and The Big Nasty Athletic Dept College Football Insight Hindsight Column is no exception. It’s time to look back on the weekend that was and conveniently dissect the inaugural weekend of The 2009 College Football season.
What We Learned…
The ACC sucks. Bad. With 2 wins over FBS opponents (half of those wins coming via an inter-conference showdown between Miami and Florida State that had to produce a winner) and embarrassing losses by Duke and Virginia to Richmond and William & Mary, respectively, The Atlantic Coast Conference has already threw up all over itself one week into the season. Many felt that Miami and Florida State had to bring their A-Games and play in an all-time epic game come Monday night (which they did) in order to save the reputation of the ACC. After all the rotten eggs that were laid out in the ACC henhouse this past weekend, no one game could save the ACC’s reputation. But here’s a valid question for Monday Night’s ‘critical’ Miami vs. Florida State tilt: What if a ranked ACC team (Florida State) lost at home to an unranked opponent (Miami)? Shouldn’t that HURT the ACC’s reputation more than help it, great game or not? The answer should be yes.
Sam Bradford will NOT repeat as a Heisman Trophy winner. The Big Nasty Athletic Dept was not surprised to see Chokelahoma drop ANOTHER big game, but Sam Bradford’s injury was unexpected on all fronts. However, injury or no injury, OU’s offensive line, or lack thereof, confirmed every concern that even the most diehard Sooner’s fan could have about the 2009 Oklahoma squad. This should be the part where I tell everyone not to worry. This should be the part where I tell Sooners fan to calm down. That everything will be all right. That even though your heisman Quarterback is out 2-4 weeks, you have enough talent on offense and defense to get the job done until he gets back and still have a shot at the national title if BYU goes undefeated. But the fact that Oklahoma’s glaring weakness is its offensive line renders all that rich skill position talent useless. How do you expect a backup redshirt freshman quarterback to get the ball to anybody with no protection? And when Sam Bradford comes back, the offensive line will still be bad. Not only is Bradford not repeating as a Heisman Trophy winner, OU is not sniffing a BCS national title.
Sam Bradford was injured early in OU's 'upset' loss to BYU
‘I hate to say I told you so, but…’
Navy DID give Ohio State a nice little scare. Ohio State pulled out the victory, 31-27, but they were 22 point favorites and with just over 2 minutes left in the game, Navy was setting up to score what would be a game-tying 2 point conversion. If that’s not a scare, well then I don’t know what the hell is.
Oklahoma State DID come out FLAT. 307 total yards on offense, only 135 yards passing and 15 penalties for 106 yards in victory. Flat as a board.
Northern Iowa DID cover against Iowa. And they should have won! 2 blocked field goals in the final seconds of the game?! Who does that?
BYU DID Beat Oklahoma outright. Sam Bradford or no Sam Bradford, this game had ‘upset’ written all over it. The Big Nasty Athletic Dept picked BYU due to Oklahoma’s questions on the offensive line. Bradford’s lack of protection was the reason he ended up in a sling while he watched OU’s national title hopes get torn to shreds by the Cougars.
OOPS!
Notre Dame (-14.5) covered against Nevada. I didn’t think they would, but they did. However I’ve still got that Irish-flavored kool-aid sitting on my c0ffee table, and I won’t even think about taking a sip unless they look equally as impressive agianst Michigan. So once again, Domers, let’s see what ya got.
Things to consider going forward…
The Ohio State/USC game should be closer than many think. Don’t be fooled by the ‘scare’ against Navy. Ohio State couldn’t help looking ahead to a matchup at home against USC after what happened to them a year ago at the coliseum. USC will probably go into that game as a favorite, and I am picking them to win the game. But The Big 10 has been the laughing stock of college football for quite some time now, and all this talk of the Big 10 being overrated has to come to a tipping point sometime. Expect an immense effort for both teams, because Carrol v. Tressel II should be nothing short of a classic.
