College Football Saturday In 500 Words Or Less

A recap of what went down and what you should take away from Saturday's college football games.

Unfortunately for Oklahoma fans and college football fans everywhere, the nation's best quarterback's college career may be over. Of course, Sam Bradford and the medical team that is examining his right shoulder do not know for certain if he will be able to return or not, but it is discouraging news for Bradford and the Sooner nation, who before the season began planned on gunning for a national title. Those hopes are over as Oklahoma now holds only fleeting hopes of winning the Big Twelve South.

Recapping the day in 500 words or less, this is what Saturday taught us about the season:

- With three losses, Oklahoma's national title hopes are dead and are long shots to win the Big Twelve South. Who in their right mind would criticize Bradford at this point if he chooses to sit out the rest of the season, even if he's cleared to play the Sooners' final couple games? The man was the surefire top pick in the 2010 NFL Draft and, with that now in question, would be wise to protect his draft stock and NFL future as much as possible. Saturday morning, Landry Jones was the future in Oklahoma. Fourteen plays later, he was the present.

- The Iowa Hawkeyes continue to get better and better as the season progresses. On September 13, I called Iowa, "the worst preseason top 25 team to start the season 2-0 in this history of the game." After narrowly escaping Northern Iowa and allowing Iowa State to beat themselves in their first two games, I really believed that statement. Now, the Hawkeyes are the best team in the Big Ten. That's something nobody can contest.

- Nothing says BCS National Championship like the 23 flavors in Dr. Pepper. It says football so much that every Saturday I make my own Dr. Pepper by combining one shot of every drink I have in my refrigerator. It comes out pretty close to the real thing.

- I can't help but think that Ohio State was overrated after they were downed by Purdue. The Buckeyes have not impressed me all year. Call me a downer, but I don't think Terrelle Pryor has lived up to the hype surrounding him as a recruit even if he is only a sophomore. Of course, he's only one man and this can't all fall on him. But anybody who puts on the recruiting spectacle that he did better be Superman.

- Alabama is the best team in the nation. How anybody can say that the Crimson Tide is playing better than the Gators but Florida deserves the #1 ranking is beyond me.

- There has to be some JFK level conspiracy theories after the Florida/Arkansas game. The pass interference in the end zone? Defending yourself from being whacked 25 yards away from the play? I don't know why the referees wasted everybody's time with Florida's second to last possession. Next time just give them the six points and move on. Florida did not win the game; they survived with a little help from the referees. Florida's defense may be the best in the nation, but their offense was far less than impressive on Saturday and has been all season long.

- Texas Tech beat 15th ranked Nebraska to move to 5-2. They're only two losses came against Texas and a highly underrated Houston Cougars team. Mike Leach has established a plug and play offense that allows any quarterback to be successful and throw for a bazillion yards.
- Tyrod Taylor is a passer now. And a damn good one it seems.

With a career day, Mark Ingram Proved He's Worth The Hype on Saturday. This guy is my Heisman frontrunner at this point in the season and anybody who disputes that better have a damn good argument. He rushed for 246 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown on Saturday night. Tim Tebow hasn't done all that much for the Gators this season, yet is still many people's pick for Heisman. Jimmy Clausen had the chance to become the frontrunner if he beat USC, but came up just short, and Colt McCoy had a less than stellar showing against Oklahoma. Even in his least productive game of the season (17 carries for 50 yards—Sept. 26 vs. Arkansas) Ingram managed to find the end zone twice.

Montel Harris of Boston College rushed for 264 yards on 27 carries and scored 5 touchdowns against NC State on Saturday, becoming a New Household Name in the process. Included in the 264 yards was a 70 yard run that set up his 2 yard touchdown run the very next play. It wasn't his first big day of the season. Harris rushed for 179 yards on 25 carries against Florida State on October 3. He rushed for 2 touchdowns in that game as well.

My Heisman ballot if they let me vote:

1. Mark Ingram, Alabama- Third most rushing yards in the NCAA. Carries his team when nothing else is going right.
2. Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame- 14 touchdown passes and only 2 picks. Needs to win a big one. If Notre Dame beat USC, he'd be the consensus frontrunner.
3. Tony Pike, Cincinnati- Consistency, consistency, leadership. I like this guy. Hope he can go next week vs. Louisville.
4. Case Keenum, Houston- Threw for over 500 yards in a loss to the University of Texas at El Paso and has not thrown for fewer than 330 yards in any game this season. The 5-1 Cougars are underrated as a team, and Keenum may be the most underrated quarterback in the nation. Has two quality wins over Big Twelve teams (Oklahoma State and Texas Tech) and defeated Mississippi State of the SEC.
5. Tim Tebow, Florida- Gives Florida a chance to win every week. Hasn't done enough to warrant another Heisman win, though. Florida's undefeated record is in large part due to their defense, while their drop to #2 in the AP poll is largely due to their offense's lacking in big games.

Next week's games worth watching include a Thursday night showdown between two disappointing ACC teams when Florida State visits North Carolina. Ohio State looks to get back on the winning path against Eric Decker and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, as does South Florida when they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers and phenom freshman running back Dion Lewis. Arkansas and Mississippi look to prove they belong in the upper echelons of the SEC when they meet in Oxford. Also on Saturday, top ranked Alabama takes on Tennessee, Clemson travels to Miami, Penn State visits Michigan and Oklahoma takes on Kansas in a Big Twelve showdown. LSU is looking to rebound from a loss to Florida when they take on Auburn, TCU and Brigham Young will fight it out to prove they belong among the elite, while Texas travels to Missouri in the primetime headliner. - Danny Hobrock

Danny Hobrock is a sports journalist who primarily covers college football and professional baseball. He is a contributor for several sports related blogs and is the former editor of a political and current events website.

----------

Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship.

College Football Saturday In 500 Words Or Less

A recap of what went down and what you should take away from Saturday's college football games.

This week taught us a lot about the college season; more so than the previous two weeks. It taught us that reputation might play into the polls more than we'd like to think. It revealed which players we should follow as the season progresses. It showed us how important a quarterback is to a team's success and that continuity at the position is a good thing. Week 3 also taught us a few things we already knew or weren't too surprised to see confirmed.

Recapping the day in 500 words or less, here's what Saturday taught us about the season:

- Where to start? Oh! Washington beat USC with three seconds remaining! It really makes you think: How important is the quarterback position!? Matt Barkley, whose ascent to the top of the depth chart was questioned by many, sat out with a shoulder injury. Aaron Corp, whose snubbing at the beginning of the season was questioned by some, got the start. Barkley hasn't been All-World or anything in his two starts, but he's led a couple of two minute drills to close the half and win the game against Ohio State. If Barkley plays, does he let the Trojans lose?

- On the other side of the ball, how big is Jake Locker's return? Washington was 0-12 without him a year ago. With Locker back under center, the Huskies are 2-1 and took down the mighty Trojans. Who would have thought that next week's Washington/Stanford matchup would determine the early leader in the Pac-10?

- Tyrod Taylor is going to have to become more of a passing threat if Virginia Tech hopes to compete for the ACC Championship. I was, however, impressed with his final drive on Saturday to beat Nebraska. His throw to Danny Coale was near perfect and his scramble on third and goal bought him enough time to hit Dyrell Roberts in the end zone to win the game. He'll have to be more consistent with his passing if Virginia Tech hopes to beat Miami next week.

- Eric Decker is tough. In the process of catching his first of two touchdown receptions, Sean Cattouse dealt a crushing blow to Decker's face. Decker was knocked unconscious momentarily, his mouth was bleeding and he couldn't breathe for a moment. The hit was legal, by the way. It was Decker's second catch of the game. He finished with eight.

- Is there any doubt that Jahvid Best is the best back in the nation? I think not.

- Michael Floyd underwent surgery following an attempted touchdown reception that left him with a broken collar bone. Huge blow to Notre Dame, as Armando Allen and Jimmy Clausen must now carry the Irish offense. Equally as crushing was Arizona's loss of Rob Gronkowski for the season. Gronkowski missed the Wildcats' first three games with a strained back and will have season ending surgery this week.

- Was I the only one who noticed the ridiculous amount of instant replays used to confirm or overturn receptions, ball spots, touchdowns, etc.? The NCAA Board of Whatever Panel Commission will soon vote on whether to use instant replay to make sure that players have tied their shoes correctly. I miss the days when a catch was a catch and a touchdown a touchdown.

- Thirty point underdogs, I can't decide if Tennessee should take a partial win out of Gainesville. No, they shouldn't, but at least they didn't give Urban Meyer the chance to run up the score. And Tebow didn't look too hot through the air against Eric Berry and the Volunteers secondary.

The polls have just been released following an interesting week in college football. USC dropped to 12 in the AP and 10 in the Coaches', while Washington climbed to #24 in the AP and remains unranked in the Coaches'. Miami was the week's biggest riser (9th in AP, 13th in Coaches') following another impressive showing.

This week, Jahvid Best Proved He's Worth The Hype. He's had an impressive start to the season, but Saturday's five touchdowns showed why he's considered the best running back, or football player, in the country. Saturday's five scores was roughly one third of his entire scoring production from last season (16 touchdowns). Scary.

The New Household Name for this week is Eric Decker. Decker caught 8 passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns. He became Minnesota's all-time leader in receptions in the process. He even threw a touchdown pass to boot. This all coming on a day where he was knocked out, required stitches and left the game only when he sprained his ankle on Minnesota's final drive.

Some big games await us next weekend. Fourth ranked Ole Miss looks to continue to prove they belong in the top 5 when they take on South Carolina on Thursday night. In Saturday's early games, never-say-die Fresno State takes on 17th ranked Cincinnati and 22nd ranked North Carolina takes on a Georgia Tech team on the rebound. ABC will air a trio of games in the 3:30 P.M. ET slot: #6 Cal at Oregon, #9 Miami at #11 Virginia Tech and Illinois at #13 Ohio State. Top ranked Florida travels to Kentucky at 6 P.M. ET and Arizona State visits 21st ranked Georgia at 7 P.M. ET. Iowa travels to #5 Penn State in the primetime headliner. - Danny Hobrock

Danny Hobrock is a sports journalist who primarily covers college football and professional baseball. He is a contributor for several sports related blogs and is the former editor of a political and current events website.

----------
Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie Baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship!

USC / Ohio State Already Written

Week One of the 2009 college football season did its part in sorting through the season's contenders and pretenders, and revealed some glaring weaknesses in what many of us thought were solid teams (i.e. Is Joe Cox really 'the man' in Athens?). A top three team fell and lost their Heisman-winning quarterback, a freshman or two came storming onto the national scene, and we witnessed a game for the ages on Labor Day night. But the year's first big-time-uber-mega game with BCS implications has yet to take place. That is, until Saturday when USC and true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley make their way to the 'Shoe to take on an Ohio State team who just barely squeaked out a victory against Navy in the season opener.

Hmm. Somehow I feel like I've already seen the game thanks to the nonstop coverage, speculation and hype surrounding us from all fronts. (It's pretty difficult filing 24 hours of sports news when nobody's being bad. If it weren't for Merriman's and Roethlisberger's accusers, we'd already know the game's final score.) I've heard more about this game from the media than I've heard about the President's back-to-school address to children that has been covered, criticized, defended and brushed off by political pundits and 'analysts' on CNN, FOX News and MSNBC.

The day begins with Barkley stepping off the Trojans bus with his IPod drowning out harassing catcalls and incessant questions from reporters. "How are you feeling?!" they ask. Another shouts, "Nervous, Matt?!" "Buckeye Revenge!!" is screamed from the mouth of an excited student sporting a red and white 'Live Strong' bracelet, khaki cargo shorts and a t-shirt with an ironic slogan printed across the front.

Game time. Barkley and the Trojans take the field to a chorus of boos and more catcalls from amped up and beered up students. Commentators and play-by-play announcers in the booth recall last year's 35-3 Trojans victory. They also discuss the change in the game's location from the Coliseum to the 'Shoe, and wonder if the new Trojans quarterback can handle the pressure of the moment.

Kick off. This is where things get hazy. It's where the streamlined, chronological order of events branches off into two possible scenarios. And the split banks on quarterback play. The winner of this year's USC/Ohio State showdown will come down to which quarterback (OSU's Terrelle Pryor or USC's Barkley) can effectively manage their team and lead their offense down the field. A couple mighty defenses stand in the way of the young quarterbacks.

Advantage Barkley. And it has something to do with Michael Vick. Unbelievably, he's made his way into the USC/Ohio State game having attended neither school nor having ever played against either team in his two years as the Virginia Tech quarterback.

According to some writers, when Pryor paid tribute to Vick via an eye-black patch with 'Vick' inscribed on it, he lost the respect of some loyal members of Buckeye nation. Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote, "…Pryor has shown that he might be the Buckeyes' best player. But now he is sure not their leader." Quarterbacks who fail as team leaders rarely win against a team whose quarterback embraces the role.

Not to say that a true freshman can nab the role of team leader after a single blowout of a much lesser opponent. But I'm not sure that Barkley has done anything to so irk his teammates as Pryor may have done. So based on the leadership issue, and if writers like Livingston are correct, Pryor may face a pitfall or two in leading his the Buckeye offense down the field against the Trojans defense.

So it has been written. An epic battle with two possible outcomes that bank on the welfare of the story's main foes. Of course, this could just as easily turn out to be another flop that gives away its ending in the first twenty minutes. - Danny Hobrock

Danny Hobrock is a sports journalist who primarily covers college football and professional baseball. He is a contributor for several sports related blogs and is the former editor of a political and current events website.

Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship.

College Football Saturday In 500 Words Or Less

A recap of what went down and what you should take away from Saturday's college football games.

After months of anticipation, and now that we've had our fill of football, beer and chicken wings, the 2009 college football landscape begins to take shape. There were few outrageous upsets, and the one top five team that did go down, did so against another very good football team and with their Heisman-winning quarterback watching from the sidelines with his arm in a sling. The first Saturday of the season was less of a day for upsets and more of a day for 'almosts', 'what-ifs' and missed opportunities.

Recapping the day in 500 words or less, here's what Saturday taught us about the season:

- Tennessee's freshman class is good. Everybody's talking about Jonathan Crompton, but it was freshman running back Bryce Brown who steamrolled a few Hilltoppers on his way to the end zone and looked good on almost every carry. Miami and Oregon must be kicking themselves for letting this guy slip through their fingers. Freshman receiver Marsalis Teague was the team's leading receiver, while Nu'Keese Richardson looked pretty good as both a punt returner and as a wide receiver. Anybody who says Tennessee's 63-7 shellacking on Saturday is downplayed because it came against Western Kentucky in their first game as members of the FBS is sorely mistaken. UCLA and Florida are next.

- Navy blew it. Who was Ricky Dobbs throwing to in the end zone? An exceptional running play to put the Midshipmen within two overshadowed and forgotten after a terribly blunderous two-point conversion attempt.

- Iowa can't keep relying on their field goal-blocking unit to win them games. It's only the first week and they've done it twice. Iowa is scratching their heads.... Good teams get over the head scratching. Let's see if Iowa is a good team.

- I'm glad Joe Cox wore a cup. Dez Bryant put his money where his mouth is. Despite the loss, the Bulldogs defense looked pretty good. I'd also like to throw out a nickname for Perrish Cox after watching his 74 yard kick return: Crazy Legs Cox.

- With Notre Dame's 35-0 win over Nevada, Lou Holtz has not yet been proven a crazy person. But we know it's coming. Joking aside, Jimmy Clausen looked really good, as did the entire Notre Dame offense. The defense wasn't too bad either. It was against a less-than-stellar Nevada team, but Touchdown Jesus had to have been pleased.

- It took Tennessee an entire quarter to get on the board against Western Kentucky. It took USC a quarter to score against San Jose State. Why was I more worried about USC's slow start? Was it because I expected a jailbreak from the get-go? Or did I think it had something to do with true freshman Matt Barkley getting the start? USC would eventually get their stuff together, winning 56-3 as Barkley threw for 233 yards on 15 for 19 passing. Also notice how nobody can credit Barkley's winning the starting job to his offseason performance. It's always that something is wrong with Aaron Corp or Pete Carroll was rooting for Barkley. I have another theory.

- BYU looked very good. Even before Sam Bradford went down. I wonder if the Sooners will fall further with Bradford out a few weeks. Unlikely. Idaho State and Tulsa are next. They'll have to run the table to be in the discussion for the National Championship, though.

- Cal's Jahvid Best is the best running back in college football. Alabama's Mark Ingram showed that he's not too far behind.

- Florida begins their regular season on September 19 against Tennessee.

Saturday's over, but Sunday and Monday have a few more games to hold us over until Thursday when the NFL kicks off its regular season. Miami and Florida State are both looking to reclaim their spot in college football relevance, while Ole Miss begins their quest to prove they can hang with the big boys of the SEC. - Danny Hobrock

Danny Hobrock is a sports journalist who primarily covers college football and professional baseball. He is a contributor for several sports related blogs and is the former editor of a political and current events website.