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.

It was the week of the giant killers in college football, as Ole Miss, Penn State and Cal all fell to unranked opponents. In addition to the fourth, fifth and sixth ranked teams, the ninth ranked Miami Hurricanes were downed by 11th ranked Virginia Tech. 40% of the teams in the top ten will be different from the previous week, once again reminding us why they play the games, and why we love college football so much.

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

- O.K. really, the instant replays have gotten out of hand. At one point I was flipping between three channels and all three referees were waiting for word from the replay officials.
- If Wisconsin runs the ball effectively, watch out. Whereas they lost three fumbles last Saturday against Wofford, and fumbled five times total, the Badgers lost only one fumble yesterday. John Clay ran the ball 32 times, opening up the passing game enough for Scott Tolzien to throw 4 touchdown passes.
- Who are you FSU? You play well against Miami, squeak out a victory against FCS Jacksonville State, annihilate BYU and go down to South Florida.
- UNC's lackadaisical offense finally caught up to them. Besides a few big plays here and there, the Tarheels need to figure out a better way to consistently move the ball down the field.
- Fresno State is the best three-loss team in the nation. They've never been out of any game, taking Wisconsin to double overtime, sticking with Boise State's high octane offense up until the very end and playing keep away from Cincinnati all game, allowing the Bearcats to control the ball for just over a quarter. If they had been able to get over the hurtle and stole a win from one of their early opponents, would they have continued to do so? Hawaii is next, and the Bulldogs are looking at a much easier schedule to close out the year.
- Tate Forcier looks like he's the real deal. He's got guts. Down 26 to 21 to Indiana at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Forcier led the Wolverines down the field, diving head first into the end zone to give the Wolverines a three point lead after converting the two point conversion. With five and a half minutes left and trailing once again, Forcier led the Wolverines down the field again to answer the Hoosiers' score. Michigan won the game 36-33.
- The Miami Hurricanes looked absolutely flat against Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech, on the other hand, stepped up their defense after being challenged by the coaching staff and managed to stymie the Hurricanes offense. Funny how the same analysts who were shouting 'Miami's back!' on Saturday morning are now calling such declarations premature.
- You shut down Jahvid Best and you shut down Cal. Oregon looked pretty good to say the least.
- JoPa said he wasn't out for revenge against Iowa. Maybe he should have been. After a 79 yard bomb to begin the game, Darryl Clark managed only 119 yards passing. It was Penn State's only touchdown of the game. Penn State couldn’t manage much offense last year either when Iowa downed the then third ranked Nittany Lions. Maybe Penn State should avoid a top five ranking in seasons they play Iowa.
- Arizona, down star tight end Rob Gronkowski, lost starting tailback Nic Grigsby and backup tailback Keola Antolin to injury, but still managed to beat Oregon State.

Without question, the game of the week was Houston's thrilling victory over Texas Tech. No giants went down in this one, but anybody who stayed up late enough, or stayed in late enough, was rewarded. With a few big boys taking hits on Saturday, a significant shakeup to the top 10 was inevitable.

This week's New Household Name is Arizona quarterback Nick Foles, who replaced Matt Scott as the starting quarterback on Saturday. It was Foles' first career start and he made the best of the opportunity, throwing for 254 yards and three touchdown passes. He probably isn’t a household name per se, but he earned the right to be recognized as the breakout performer of the week.

You might make the argument that Tori Gurley is the new household name based solely on his name and his appearance in primetime on Thursday, but I'm giving it to Foles nonetheless.

This week, Tate Forcier Proved He's Worth The Hype with another breakout performance. This guy is growing up right before our eyes, letting pressure bounce right off of him and leading his Wolverines on game winning drives almost weekly it seems.

Next week's games to watch include Oklahoma's trip to Miami, the always entertaining Michigan/Michigan State matchup, LSU vs. Georgia and Washington vs. Notre Dame. Cal takes on USC 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.

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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.

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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!

Jacksonville State Looks to UF for Answers, Inspiration

And who better to look to? The Florida Gators are the in crowd. They've won two championships in three years and are led by an angelic quarterback who makes the rest of us look like puppy eating sinners. How did they get to this point? Jacksonville State is looking all the way back to 1984 to find out.
The St. Petersburg Times, in their September 14, 1989 edition, recalled that

"the university's football program channeled money and gifts to players, spied on opponents' practices and maintained slush funds."

As a result, the NCAA banned Florida from appearing on national television and banned them from the postseason. They were also docked scholarships. In total, the Gators were deemed guilty of 107 major NCAA violations.

Jacksonville State has followed suit, albeit not entirely. Just as Florida was banned from appearing in the postseason in the mid-eighties, Jacksonville State has been banned from the postseason in 2009. Unlike the Gators of the mid-eighties, though, Jacksonville State has not committed any NCAA infractions. Instead, their punishment stems from the program's failure to meet the standards set by the NCAA's Academic Progress Report for three consecutive seasons. A national television ban was deemed unnecessary.

Still, JSU may be infatuated with the bad boy tactics that have led some of our nation's top programs to glory, fortune and dominance.

The list is overwhelming.

Several Miami Hurricanes of the early nineties are said to have been paid by a local rapper for scoring touchdowns and making big hits. A couple of Seminoles wide receivers received improper discounts at a clothing store in 1997. There was also the 1994 Foot Locker scandal at FSU and Penn State running back Curtis Enis' $1,100 shopping spree courtesy of an agent. More recently, USC came under scrutiny after the Reggie Bush scandal of 2005 was reported, Alabama was busted for the textbook scandal of 2007 and Florida State's online music history class scandal committed between 2006 and 2007 cost the program 14 wins.

There have been plenty of on the field/in the tunnel brawls amongst the nation's top schools--1971 USC/Notre Dame, 1983 USC/Clemson, 1988 Miami/Notre Dame, 1993 Miami/Colorado, 1997 Ole` Miss/Mississippi State, 1998 Florida/Florida State, 2004 Clemson/South Carolina--not to mention plenty of arrests.

In 2008, Gators backup quarterback Cameron Newton was arrested after he stole a laptop from a fellow student and threw it out of a window after being questioned by police. Newton was the fourth Gator arrested in 2008.

The next step for JSU is to find a bad boy to call their own.

Check! Quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, who transferred to JSU after being kicked off of the LSU football team for constantly violating team rules, has been suspended for violating his new team's rules and will sit out the season opener against Georgia Tech before returning to face Florida State the following week.

When it comes down to it, though, every school has slipped up at some point in their program's history. Even the smaller football programs we never hear about have had issues (Dartmouth and Holy Cross brawled on the same day of the infamous Miami/FIU brawl). Too little attention is given to programs trying to clean up their act, play by the rules and/or set higher standards for their athletes; rather, like suburban housewives reading Us Weekly,we find ourselves enthralled by the latest scandal. - 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.