According to ESPN is was "Separation Saturday" and because the Worldwide Leader hypes men and women playing a card game I ridicule such marketing ploys by default. The Saturday of action was actually up to the hype. It was like New Year's Day and by Saturday night I had four football games on between CBS, ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. I also had the TV muted so I could listen to UNC play since it was on ESPN which I do not have. It wass great all the way around. Here are my thoughts on the best Saturday of college football so far.
- Just in case no one has yet let me declare that the Brady Quinn Heisman candidacy is over. In fact it was almost DOA anyway but now after three INTs against Michigan on the way to one of the worst thrashings the Irish have ever suffered at South Bend it is officially done. As for the game, holy cow, did Michigan eat the Irish alive. Sure it was not suprising that Michigan won but to do so by dropping 47 points on national title contender and media darling Notre Dame is almost stupefying.
- While I am not disparaging LSU or Auburn as lesser teams a score of 7-3 despite the prowess of the defenses makes it appear that the offenses are a little weak. Especially since people were automatically excusing the game as a "classic defensive battle" I am not saying either team is not a total powerhouse, especially on defense but it struck me as odd that they did not post more points.
- Can I get a field goal kicker? Clemson and Boston College had kicking woes on Saturday and Oklahoma had a potential game winning field goal blocked. The kicking is probably not that bad across college football in general it may just seem that way. If not there are a lot of high school kickers looking to give a shot.
- It was nice to see the Saturday did not pass without instant replay completely screwing someone. Oklahoma was the victim against Oregon when replay failed to reverse the Ducks recovery of an onside kick despite the fact that the video shows the ball was touched before it went the requisite 10 yards. Of course once was not enough so the officials also missed the fact the ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage in the course of calling pass interference on the Sooners. The result was a 34-33 win for Oregon who trailed 33-20 with less than three minutes before the replay officials decided to ignore the replays themselves. Replay on the whole was strange all day. I actually saw several calls reversed which was something I was not seeing much of in the first two weeks. Again I will repeat my position on this: Get the calls right no matter what otherwise get rid of it.
- Who is the next player Louisville will lose to injury? They are very good but will not stay that way if they keep losing key players especially on offense.
- I thought Nebraska-USC was quite the lackluster game for the featued prime time game on ABC. I also think USC, while not quite as good as last season, is easily one of top teams in the country.
- The SEC is every bit as good as advertised. The ACC is showing signs of a serious downturn which is suprising considering all the trouble they went through to bring in some bona fide football schools. The Big East which cried foul on one side for the ACC taking Miami, VT, and Boston College engaged in their own poaching operation to get Louisville in particular. The result of all these shakeups is a Big East is better than the ACC in head-to-head matchups.
- And finally the Lee Corson Sanity Meter moves back toward rational even though he donned the USC helmet backwards. I saw him doing a Cingular commercial with some team mascots and I thought it was funny. So I put him halfway between being rational and being stark naked loopy at 5.5.