Michigan's Big Comeback

The Michigan Wolverines struggled in the first half against the ranked Wisconsin Badgers. Going into the second half the Wolverines were down 19-0. I guess their offense decided to show up in the second half. With about 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, Michigan began to get hot and was on a roll. They scored 3 touchdowns in just 12 minutes and hung on to outscore the Badgers 27-6 in the second half. Michigan's come from behind upset is the second biggest comeback in school history. When the team looked like they were out of the game, the Wolverine defense came up big by shutting out the Badgers in the 3rd quarter and only letting them score 1 touchdown in the 4th, however, the Michigan defense came up big again to stop the 2 point conversion that gave the Wolverines that 2 point edge over thier opponents that eventually was the deciding points in the game. And we cannot forget the defensive touchdown in the 3rd quarter that set the tone for Michigan to go on and win the game. The team showed that they are capable of scoring points in the clutch when they really need it. Wisconsin is a good football team, and it takes some talent to score on them that quickly and easily. With the final score 27-25 in favor of the Wolverines, Michigan may be able to turn their season around with this win. Do not count Michigan out just yet. They may come back and surprise many teams yet to come.

AP Changes Could Mean a Sweet November

The poll is very different than last week and all college football fans know what that means…Its going to be an interesting November. Sitting atop the AP poll this week is Oklahoma, who is actually deserving of this spot. I believe they deserve the number one spot because they have in my opinion on of the top five offenses in the nation because of their Heisman hopeful quarterback Sam Bradford who is in the number one spot for the Heisman as of this week; although Missouri’s quarterback Chase Daniels and Brigham Youngs QB Max Hall are closing in on him. Other teams that have moved up due to the losses of 9 teams in the top 25 are Alabama who moved from 8th to 2nd with the major win over the Georgia Bulldogs. Penn State also moved up six spots to the number 6th ranking in the nation. Other notables moving up were Brigham Young, South Florida, Texas, and a few others. This is all good for the teams that are moving up and just might set up one of the most datable BCS Championships of all time.

The BCS Championship bowl is decided by a computer that gives statistical rankings from human based polls scores of games blowouts and such to decide who are the two best teams in the nation and then these two teams play each other to be crowned the national champion. There is one tiny little problem with this system it really never does come up with the two best teams, because the computer or human usually pick the fan favorites such as USC, OSU, LSU, and so on. They do this I think to try and get better TV ratings because it is a game people would like to see more than let’s say Missouri. This is because big powerhouses make more money and have larger fan support throughout the nation than smaller school do. It’s like in High School all the big 4A and 5A schools get the TV time and the smaller schools don’t ever get to show what they have. The BCS this year is going to be very very interesting because of this weekend of losses. The losses mean that maybe we will have another 2003 BCS bowl with a number 2 facing a number 3. I mean Florida, USC, and Georgia could all still be title contenders even though they have lost one game. Georgia really has the best bet of making it back to the BCS because they lost to Alabama who was ranked in the top ten and is now ranked number 2. Although, since Florida and USC are big school powerhouses and the public really seems to like both of these teams they could also still be contending for the BCS Bowl bid. Really it all comes down to who is number one and number two…most of the time.

Improved Texas Defense

The Texas Longhorns have stepped up their defense incredibly since the season began. Over the weekend, they shut down the Arkansas Razorbacks offense since the opening kick off. Arkansas didn't even know what hit them. Texas's defensive line was able to contain the running back from getting anywhere.The Longhorns limited the Razorbacks to only 11 rushing yards throughout the entire game while Texas rushed for over 200 yards. Arkansas's quarterbacks, Tyler Wilson and Casey Dick, were under pressure the entire time and were sacked a total of seven times. The Razorback's quarterbacks had only a 50% completion rating for their passes and were limited to a season low of 191 total offensive yards. The only touchdown that Arkansas was able to score was a returned fumble recovery by the Razorbacks defensive team. Longhorns dominated the game and crushed their opposition in a blowout of 52-10. Texas has stepped up their defense in the last couple of games recording 14 sacks in the past 2 games. As long as the offense continues to put points on the board, consider this Texas defense to be a hard one to match up against.

What’s Happening in College Football?!?!

With USC, Florida, Georgia, Wake Forest, and Wisconsin all losing this weekend who will be number one in the polls. Well lets first explain how in the hell they lost. I mean Wisconsin and Georgia I thought would lose but not USC, Wake Forest and Florida. Come on USC never loses although I do believe they were overrated but not overrated enough to lose to the Oregon State Beavers I mean come on they are definitely not that bad to lose to a 1-2 team. Although they did, they came back after being down 21-0 after the first half to tie the game but then Oregon capitalized on a USC turnover late in the game and came away with the win 27-21. Now Florida’s loss is not as bad because Ole Miss is a reputable sports college and has been in the past years although they were 2-2 before the game against Florida. After the buzzer sounded the score was 31-30 with Ole Miss on top because of Florida’s turnovers and Tim Tebow’s lack of spectacular plays. Although, I can go and say that it was just Tim Tebows fault because Jevan Snead had one hell of a game. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another it was as if him and Tim Tebow switched places. Wisconsin’s loss to Michigan was not as bad because Michigan has been a very sound team in the past years and has just fallen on some hard times. The main reason for Michigan’s win is that the ground game was definitely up and running against the strong Wisconsin defense. They had two touchdowns and the defense had an interception returned for a touchdown. Now, the Georgia game was a surprise to everyone but me. This is because I knew how good Alabama’s team actually was and realized that they may even be good enough to compete for the BCS Championship. They won the game 41-31 by outgaining and shutting down the Georgia offense. The Wake Forest game was probably the least popular game that was watched this weekend because they played Navy who has been a five hundred team the last couple years and have not beat a ranked team since 1985. Riley Skinner was the real difference maker in the game contributing to five of Wake Forest’s six turnovers and his thrown interception in late in the game sealed the victory for Navy and their first ranked-team win in twenty three years. This is how these teams fell from their spots in the AP (associated press) top 25 poll.

Oklahoma Jumps to the Top

The Oklahoma Sooners (4-0) are now the number one team according to the AP rankings as of September 28 since the formerly ranked number 1 team USC Trojans lost at unranked Oregon State in an upset of 21-27. The Sooners just crushed the TCU Horned Frogs, previously the ranked number 24 team, in a blowout of 35-10. There were several ranked teams who lost their games over the weekend. 5 of these ranked teams lost at home: Georgia, Florida, Wake Forest, Clemson, and East Carolina. With a lot of ranked teams losing lately, should Oklahoma be worried that that they could be the next ranked team to suffer an unexpected loss and drop in the polls? The Sooners starting quarterback Sam Bradford expresses no concern about their ranking. Bradford says, "At this point, being No. 1 means absolutely nothing." He is more focused on getting prepared for the next game.

Oklahoma's defense has been key in its many victories this season. The defense has set the tone for the opponents. Just last weekend, the opposing kick returner broke past the defenders and was tackled at Oklahoma's 15 yard line. Now the Sooners defense had to prevent the number 24 TCU Horned Frogs from gaining these 15 yards and a touchdown. The Sooners came out strong and even pushed TCU backwards for -4 on the next 3 plays and forced them to kick a field goal. With a strong defense like Oklahoma, the offense can go out and play their game without thinking that we need to score to stay in the game. The pressure came off the quarterback to score on every single drive and he was able to relax and have an impressive game. The Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford went 411 yards through the air on only 19 completions with 4 touchdowns and not a single interception. Ever since NFL star Adrian Peterson left the Sooners to play for the Minnesota Vikings, Oklahoma has never had a strong running game. As long as Bradford had a solid passing game, the running game will open itself up and running backs will be able to gain pretty good yardage when the defenses are trying to prevent the passing game. Expect the Oklahoma running game to get stronger as the season goes on and more people realize the threat of their throwing game. If the Sooners offensive and defensive teams continue to play strong in the upcoming games, Oklahoma will be a hard team to stop.

Penn State Offensive Powerhouse

Penn State has one of the best offenses in college football, and in my opinion, is the most diverse. They currently are nationally ranked in the top eight in scoring with 52.8 points per game, rushing with 274.3 rushing yards per game, and total yards with 538.5 yards per game. The No. 12 Penn State offense is led by their quarterback Daryll Clark with seven touchdowns and only one interception. This team looks practically unstoppable on offense.

So what is it that makes this team so great? First of all, they have a solid running game with four regular ball-carriers. Evan Royster leads the ground game with an average of 8.1 yards per carry, and his back-up Stephfon Green has an average of 7.3 yards per carry. So which one of these all-star running backs do you put most of your attention towards? Go for one, and the other will punish you. Not only do the opposing defenses have to watch the running backs, but the quarterback as well. The mobile quarterback Daryll Clark is averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Defenses need to be aware of Clark so that he doesn't scramble away for a big gain when the defenders are focused on the running backs.

Not only can Clark scramble for a first down, but he can also throw the ball to one of his many talented receivers. Penn State has three big target receivers who are all averaging over 14 yards per carry. This means Clark has several recievers that are all capable of making big plays, delivering a stike to opposing defenders. Opposing defenses cannot go asleep against this guy, or he will throw it deep and hit a receiver for a huge gain.

Penn State is 4-0 right now and have blown their opponents away by a minimum of 31 points. Is there anyone who can stop this offensive powerhouse? We will have to wait and see.

Purdue Football…Declining?

Purdue Footballs student support is like France…whenever something bad happens it just rolls over and dies every time a challenge arises. I mean when Purdue loses one game it seems as if the season is over and there is no more football. For instance during the Oregon game the crowd got silent when Oregon started to show up and play and the student section seemed as if they went mute. Come on fellow boilers we need to cheer even when were down that is the only way the team will have faith in themseleves. Another example is when the Chippewas went ahead by one with the two-point conversion I saw some people leave in disgust when there was still time left for a miracle. Come on now a Boiler never gives up on their team so we must never give up on our team and walking out before the game is over is giving up. I believe that Football Team should just start everything over I mean it seems as if the Offensive Coordinator has no “balls” to go for anything because he never signals to go for a 4th down conversion or to go for that two-point conversion. Coach Tiller is just a story in itself, his legacy ended with Drew Bree’s and if you don’t believe check the stats because Purdue has declined significantly since he has left. So the best way to improve our Boiler football is to incorporate fanfare and raise fan support, hire a new head coach and offensive coordinator with some “balls,” and recruit and scout players much better. All in all Purdue Football ain’t that bad but could use some work.