College Football Week 6 Thread
 

Sure it's a little early, but this season's just starting to get interesting after this past weekend... take a look at these games which looked blah a few weeks ago, but now look huge:

Kentucky @ South Carolina - 2 top 15 teams on Thursday night... surprise!

Wisconsin @ Illinois - winner will battle Michigan and Ohio State for top 3 in conference

Kansas @ Kansas State - KU looking to beat a real opponent, K-State looks to return to being a top 25 mainstay after a couple of down years

Ohio State @ Purdue - Purdue could seriously legitimize itself as a top Big Ten team behind Curtis Painter with a huge home win... and those home night games are tough for highly ranked opponents

Cincinnati @ Rutgers - Winner becomes top challenger to USF in conference race... any of those 3 teams would be a huge Cinderella story into the BCS.


Then you have the matchup that was destroyed by this past weekend:

Oklahoma v. Texas - Way to look ahead, guys! You too, Florida!

Well, I guess that ends Woodson's Heisman hopes. Kentucky had too many mistakes and South Carolina capitalized.

Seeing what Louisville has done since woodson went to town on them, was the hype deserved? I mean, he beat Louisville and Arkansas, who both look very average so far...

You list KU vs. KSU as huge and omit #25 Nebraska at #17 Mizzou? C'mon!

KU's a basketball school and has beat 4 'sisters of the poor' schools. Let's not get all crazy now.

MU beats NU by 13 points.

You have to read the OP better, Mizzou ;).


Unless you also think that Nebraska vs. Mizzou looked blah. He was paying you a compliment! ;)

DIVISION II, BITCHES! SETON HILL HOMECOMING VERSUS WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN!

BITCHES!

Calm down, Patrick Ewing.

Tulsa at UTEP tomorrow night. Two teams without a defense. This could be a game that with more than 100 total points...

Stupid reading comprehension.

I'm a bit jumpy with the approaching kickoff. I'm likely not thinking straight (most would argue this is a common occurance). :)

Interesting note about the MU-NU game. An e-mail was sent to the entire student body from Coach Pinkel. Thought this part was interesting given previous discussions on this board about people running on the field........

It seems that the SEC is a bit "coach heavy", with 4 coaches having one a National Championship and 6 having won SEC championships.

What does everyone think about them being able to co-exist? It seems to me that someone has to lose out (and by the rumor mill, the current front runner seems to be Fulmer).

If Fulmer goes, does that thin things out enough that the remaining coaches can get ther share of SEC/National Championships to keep the boosters happy? Does it make it worse in that Tennessee might go and get another "big name" coach that just keeps the picture muddled?

I think that some school outside the SEC is going to get a real good head coach soon and I was wondering what other people thought.

Wanna talk D2...

Pitt State vs. NW Missouri State @ Arrowhead!!!

That game is always a lot of fun. I've been to it before. Great matchup.

Texas was not a victim of looking ahead. We're just not a very good football team.

Oklahoma was partially a victim of looking ahead. They are not as good as they looked the first few games. Either way they are much better than we are. IMO the smart money is on OU to cover. Objectively speaking I really see this as a 3 TD or more Sooner win.

But I'm playing the Texas moneyline. If we keep it near close we can win. We need a lot of mistakes from Bradford.

It will be our last chance for a couple of years in this game. Our program is in a state of disarray right now, even if most of the information is not publicly known. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

Wesleyan is a former "heavyweight champion of college football."

http://www.barkingcarnival.com/huckl...n-goes-florida

Oh, shit. Seton Hill is fucked. :(

Last week really took a lot of the wind out of the sails on this game. I honestly have no idea what to expect. Before last week, I would've said OU by 3 touchdowns. But OU was beaten in a different way than Texas was. Both teams made mistakes, certainly, but OU was just worn down by Colorado (something I didn't expect at all) while Texas was done in by special teams and turnovers.

Two things I'm looking at in this one. 1. Whether Texas can protect McCoy (or Chiles; I'm not really convinced McCoy plays). OU wasn't able to get pressure last week against Colorado. If they can't against Texas, it's a tight game. 2. Like you mentioned above, how is Bradford in his first RRS? The OKC kid has been around the rivalry for years, but playing in it for the first time has to affect him. Does he get flustered or stay cool and calm like he did against Miami?

I have to quote this article I read from the Statesman. I don't care who you are; this stuff is funny...

I think OU wins, not by a blowout but not a close game, either. Like last year, but reversed. I'm not particularly jazzed about the game, even though I'm going for the first time since '99. This ought to be fun.

What happened to Louisville's offense?

By the way, if Texas loses it will be only our second 4-game conference losing streak since 1956.

IS Utah really under-the-radar- good or is Louisville so utterly overhyped its pathetic?

Utah handing out an ass kicking tonight.

Both. No, seriously... Utah beat down UCLA as well (who, yes, is overrated as well), and Louisville lost badly to Syracuse.

Though its now looking like Louisville has tightened the game up.

Crap, I jinxed Utah's D.

Utah is not good. The teams they beat have slow and no talent defenses.

Didn't Utah lose fairly handily to some bad team?

Edit: Ah, yes...UNLV.

Craziest year of college football I can remember. I will start voting in the FOFC Top 25 next week. There are a lot of teams that will probably be in that wouldn't have made it preseason.

Unfortunately Texas' performance hasn't been a surprise.

Say what you want about their quality, but the Bruins' D is not slow. You should probably actually watch a game they play in. Also, NFL scouts will tell you there is talent on the UCLA D, too. But they know that better than I do.

Strike a nerve huh? I watched one game of UCLA's and they lost to the same team I am watching now. I understand they had a few turnovers but Utah looked faster then them. 44-6 means something ain't right and I know UCLA recruits better players.

Actually, no, I was correcting you, because you obviously watched the aberration in what has otherwise been a fast and talented defense going back to 2006. That Utah game wasn't a speed-talent issue, it was a coaching-effort issue.

You need to watch a team more than once on their worst day to know what's up with them.

I really think Louisville has talent. Petrino recruited very well. You can probably chalk a little of it up to transitioning to a new coaching staff, but the bottom line is that they are just incredibly poorly coached on defense. I mean, how do you blow a coverage like they did in the last 30 seconds against Kentucky and do the exact same thing the very first play the next week against Syracuse?

Kragthorpe is clearly an offensive guy, so my guess is they'll bring in a new defensive coordinator next year and get some of this straightened out. Unfortunately for them they'll probably lose a few more that they shouldn't have in the meantime.

Your defense in 2006 didn't look fast to me against Florida State. Drew Weatherford who I am consider to be a C- QB had a good game against your defense.

UCLA is fast running in track shorts in the spring but they don't play fast. They are soft, too, which helps.

Read any preview or scouting report you want. You'll find out if there is one thing UCLA's defense has, it's speed. Florida State wasn't our best game either. What were you doing on December 3 last year?

No talent defenses don't place players on postseason or preseason All American teams either.

Give it up, you're out of your element here. You probably couldn't name one player on UCLA's defense.

Now, if you were to say UCLA's defense gives up too many big plays, isn't big at all, is extremely inconsistent, and, yes, IMTG, plays soft at times, then you have an accurate picture of the D. To say they're slow and have no talent, though, is like saying they're not in blue. It's just not true.

Chief is going crazy this year, every week he seems to go off on someone else

Lets see the times I have seen UCLA play they lost to a faster team Florida State and Utah. Now based on what I have seen with my own two eyes your team is slow and struggles against teams with speed. If you want to continue to debate my ability to interpet what I have seen on the field be my guess but the fact they are your team may be hindering your ability to be objective.

Miami isn't looking to good.

Maryland player (missed the name - usually a backup LB, but starting today due to an injury) gets into a head-to-head collision with one of his own guys and is down on the field - strapping him to a board to take him off. Not a pretty looking hit, but the player is awake and seems to be speaking.

Maryland leads GT 7-0 in what's been a pretty sloppy game so far.

Illinois looks pretty good on offense, Mendenhall is a beast. He had 96 yards in the 1st quarter.

Color me impressed with the Illinis

The Illini WR Benn is going to be an absolute stud.

Ok I praise them and they go on a "lets see how many stupid plays we can run before Wisconsin takes the ball away" run.

Illinois is absolutely loaded with talent, no surprise that Wisconsin is having a tough time.

Player was moving his extremeties, and has been brought ot a trauma center. The news isn't nearly so good for GT, down 14-3 with Maryland driving again after a Tech fumble.

Randy Shannon needs to be fired.

Carolina is laying a major beatdown on Miami. UNC looked pretty good but not great against VT last week, and Miami has been decent, but this isn't even funny anymore.

Illinois now up 17-0 on Wisconsin in the 2nd quarter.

Maryland now 21-3 over GT, early 2nd quarter.

2x edit to add: Choice breaks into the open field ... and heads for the sidelines, looks like the hamstring may have gotten him again :( And now he's back in, apparently a cramp got him instead of the hammy.
He's got over 90 yards in the first half and yet GT still trails by a bunch.

Overrated is also known as PJ Hill.

Illinois is looking good. That spread offense is a killer in the Big Ten.

Holy shit North Carolina beating the living hell out of Miami....

GT's defense trying to keep the Jackets in the game, with a strip-fumble-recovery-TD with under a minute to go in the half. If Tech comes back in this game, Friedgen will be second-guessed for that call - dropping back on third and long instead of running the clock out. It's a ways off, though - GT down 21-10 at the half.

Holy Crap, Mark Mangino is FAT.

Woot, Badgers make it 17-13. Illinois fan is nervous.

GT now back within 21-17 with 8 mins left 3rd quarter

7-3 Wyoming leads with 6 minutes in the first quarter, in the Wyoming-TCU game.

Miami has scored 20 unanswered points.

GT couldn't pull off a 2-point conversion to tie, but forced a quick punt from Maryland - trailing 26-28 with the ball about halfway through the fourth quarter.

You've never seen "jowls" before, have you?

Anyways, KU just put 6 on the board but botched the extra point snap, giving them only a 3 point lead, 27-24 with about 6 minutes to go.

SI

How is Mangino a coach, doesn't he has to sign an insurance policy with the school?

Damn... Tech misses a 52-yard field goal with 0:54 to play that would have given them the lead. Plenty of distance, just hit it a few feet offline. GT has two timeouts, but it's going to take something huge to get back in it.

Maryland picks up the first down, and that'll be the game. If nothing else, this game was a good one for Taylor Bennett - 22 for 34, for 309 yards and a TD, particularly after a so-so first quarter.

1st down and I think that's game for KU, up 6 with 1 to go- KSU only 2 timeouts.

First win for KU in Manhattan since the 80s. A good chance to start 7-0 with Baylor and at Colorado next. But then the schedule gets brutal with @ Texas A&M, Nebraska, @ Okie State, Iowa State (breather), and then Mizzou @ Arrowhead.

SI

Woo! Game!

SI

Well, they did manage to keep it close but couldn't pull of the upset.

technically, if they had won it wouldnt have been an upset...they were ranked #5, illinois was unranked...record aside, you cant call that an upset if they had

Yeah, a disappointing loss for Whisky, but not at all unexpected. In terms of talent, Illinois is close to the top of the Big 10. Its odd talent, though - Juice doesn't seem like the ideal qb for the offense they run, but somehow it works.

The line was Illinois -3. Badgers were the underdog.

Well, if I thought Wisconsin was one of the top 5, or even 15 teams in the country, then maybe I'd agree with you.

If this game were at home and Lance Smith were able to play Wisconsin probably wins, but without their best running back not having the playmakers on defense to be able to slow down the Illini offense I didn't think they'd be able to win. I think not having Smith at OSU is going to doom them also.

Colt McCoy looks like and sounds like he hasn't hit puberty yet.

SI

Tennessee handing Georgia their a$$ thus far. Georgia looks awful.

Wyoming is up 21-7 on TCU into the 4th quarter. And Wyoming has the ball with 11 minutes to go.

Just not many games going on right now

SI

The Spartans make me sad.

Who else is ready for Stanford/USC?!?! I have to be at work an hour after kickoff......Something tells me that isn't a bad thing.

Stanford backup QB Tavita Pritchard is making his first start, in place of fifth-year senior T.C. Ostrander, who had a seizure at Gordon Biersch last Sunday. Pritchard the nephew of former Washington State QB Jack "The Throwin' Samoan" Thompson.

The game is on versus at 4 pm pacific time. If anyone likes to see a massacre, tune in! I think the spread is Stanford +40.5

SI,

I was getting a little worried when Kansas started to implode late (dropped TD pass and interception off the helmet). Hopefully that will shut up the KSU fans who have been spouting blowout all week. I was not going to be a happy camper if Kansas gave that game away and I had to hear KSU fans spewing their nonsense all week. I've already heard a number of excuses from some KSU fans, lol.

Wyoming also beat Virginia to start the season, who has gone on to be pretty successful in the ACC so far - is Wyoming a better team then people thought?

Wyoming is good. But TCU obviously can't play well on the road either.

I'm very ready for it. :)

dola , South Florida really looking like the #5 team . lol 7-7 against Florida Atlantic Owls at halftime.

Agreed, at least the OU-Texas game has been entertaining so far.

A testament to the Big Easts strength

You mean like Josh Freeman and his "we win that game 9 times out of 10" from last year ;)

Don't get me wrong- we had a lot of things going for us. I was so happy KSU won last week because they'd be too high coming into a game where we had an extra week to prepare. Coach may be fat (morbidly so), but he's very good at preparation and he took a page out of the Bill Snyder book, giving KU a smart bye before going to Manhappiness.

SI

I too was happy for the KSU win over Texas as well since it brought the national exposure to the game. It was great to see the Kansas - KSU game get the hype it deserved. Hopefully Kansas can follow it up with a good game over Baylor.

Kind of ironic for a Michigan fan to be the one saying this.

And I never said Michigan was good but let's face it, every team in the Big East who has gotten the ball has dropped it thus far. Not to say USF is done but Lousville, WVU and Rutgers have all have their chance to make everyone who says the Big East is awful eat crow and instead, they lose to teams who aren't even near the top of their conferences.

I thought the last 2 BCS wins over the SEC and ACC champs were pretty good. Plus the 5-0 bowl record last year.

Louisville has some serious defensive coaching issues, and Rutgers did choke a bit against Maryland, but WVU's loss this year was within the conference to the then #18 team in the country, and they are now in the top 10. I personally doubt USF has the offense to finish the year in the top 10, but I don't think that makes WVU's loss that embarrassing, especially not for the reputation of the conference.

USF is coming off the biggest win in the program's history. They played like it was the super bowl. I'm not the slightest bit surprised they are having a let down this week. It happens all the time in college football. That's all.

Illinois is 3-0 in the Big Ten. Iowa is looking to be 0-3. Just a year or so ago, Ron Zook was a punchline, and Kirk Ferentz was rumored to be headed to the NFL.

This is the first time I've really seen Bradford and Oklahoma's passing game is impressing me.

VT has 50 total yards but are winning 17-0. lol

Tech looked good, especially when they kept doing the SAME THING over and over and over again and whooping us with it. Our defense, which has looked pretty solid all season, was really what let us down this week, almost lost the game for us. I don't know if it was just because Henderson was out, but they looked absolutely clueless out there. The number of times the ball was either run straight up the middle or we gave the QB way too much time and let him get off a bomb (how the HECK did we not sack him once!)...it was difficult watching that 2nd half, I must say.

Good to hear that Costa (I think that's his name) was moving his extermeties. That happened right in front of where I was sitting, and looked scary as hell. All we could see in the stands (at about the 20) was that he kept kicking his legs and wasn't acting "normally," it was seriously eerie. I haven't seen any injury update on Crummey, I think he either dislocated or broke his ankle. That's going to be a major blow. :(

We have a bye next week, hopefully Henderson will be healthy for homecoming on the 20th.
/tk

So is Tommy Bowden done at Clemson after this season?

Lance Smith is Wisconsin's best running back?

USC's offense is very disjointed so far with receivers dropping passes and a failure to move the ball consistently, but Havili just had one of the nicest 3rd down runs for 6 yards or so I've seen this year. Great second and third effort in which he looked like he was going to be stopped well short. A play or two later, a 31 yard pass gets them inside the 2, but that would never have happened without Havili making that play.

Arkansas having trouble holding onto the ball and only leading Tenn-Chattanooga 14-9 nearing halftime.

Having watched both of them play in several games this year, I'd definitely say so. Hill can pick up yards behind Wisconsin's great offensive line, but at 230 pounds he's rarely the physical of a runner. He'd gain more yardage if he were more willing to make contact instead of avoid it. Smith is an explosive back who I think is more of a more dangerous runner to opposing defenses than Hill.

I am absolutely speechless about how bad that playcalling was from USC. Doubly so with a brand new center and guard out there.

LSU is going down.

Agreed. Very disappointing first half. Hopefully, Pete and the staff can make some adjustments in the 2nd half.

Yup. I also agree that they may or may not have the staying power to keep it up all season, but this was a typical trap game on FAU's home turf. Glad to see USF finish it, though. FAU's got some athletic players; their Tight End hurdled a USF player just after a catch when the USF player hadn't gone very far in his dive. The guy cleared something like 5 feet, twas pretty amazing.

Pick 6 for the Cardinal! The Tree is hanging tough!