Memorial Day Special: College Football Recap

Who said Week One is boring?

Thursday night, Utah (19) extended the nation's longest winning streak to 15 games, beating in-state rival Utah State for the 12th straight time. Coincidentally, Utah State has lost 12 straight season openers.

However, Utah’s 38-17 win over Utah State was over shadowed the 19-8 victory for Boise St. (14) over the Oregon Ducks (16). Played on the Broncos Smurf Turf, there was very little to say about the Ducks offense (other than their ugly jerseys having feathers printed on their shoulders). Boise State controlled the ball for 43 of the 60 minutes. The real news came when the game that started with handshakes, didn’t end quite the same way. Oregon running back, Blount, who spoke before the game about “keeping emotions in check,” checked his emotions on jaw of Boise State’s, Hout, after Hout tapped him on the shoulder and shared some words I am sure were not “good game.” While Hout did hit the blue turf, nothing was seriously hurt other than his feelings and Blount’s season. He will not be playing with the Ducks for the rest of the year. If you didn’t see this, I don’t know where you have been, but check it out, below.



Not quite as exciting, was the Florida Gators (1) 62-3 victory over Charleston Southern. The Bucs field goal wasn’t the only charity at the Swamp, Florida’s very own Mother Teresa, Tim Tebow spent pregame warm-ups pushing the wheel char of a 7-year old, Atlanta boy with cerebral palsy, signing autographs and handing out practice balls. The youngster is a huge Tebow fan. Funny, I found most people in Georgia hate Tim Tebow.

Texas (2) also eased into their schedule with a 59-20 win over Louisiana-Monroe. Any hope that ULM had of repeating their one time upset of Alabama, with the Longhorns was quieted when the Longhorns showed off their own Monroe, redshirted last season, who sped his way to a TD return in the second quarter. Colt McCoy had a completion percentage of 72.4, which was actually down from last seasons 76.7. Watch out for Texas.

Among the expected results, was USC (4) Quarterback Matt Berkley’s coming out party, with a 56-3 win over San Jose State. Berkley is the first true freshman to start a season opener in USC history. I am holding out to see how he does against the Buckeye’s next week.

North Carolina (21) beat Citadel 40-6, but I know nothing else about that game.
The consistently overrated Notre Dame (23) over came their 15 losses in the last 2 seasons to pull out a 35-0 win over Nevada showing us that maybe this year they actually deserve their ranking at number 23. The Irish had 510 offensive yards, but Charlie Weiss put the biggest effort in South Bend forth, as the hefty coach huffed and puffed his way through a post-game interview.

If you can hear anything over the inevitable cries of always-delusional ND fans who suddenly think they deserve to be number one, it is the sobbing from Oklahoma Sooners (3). The number three Sooners were upset 14-13 by BYU after Heisman Trophy QB, Sam Bradford, went down in he first half with and suffered a shoulder injury. Bradford returned with a sling and street clothes for the second half, but his X-rays were negative (I have no idea what that means. It isn’t broken, which sounds quite positive to me) but what this means for his season is still unknown. However, we all know what one loss does to your season in college football, unless you in the SEC, of course.

Speaking of the SEC. WE said bye-bye to Georgia (13) when Oklahoma St. (9) beat a ranked non-conference opponent at home for the first time since 1975, 24-10. Georgia had 3 turnovers and only 4 third down conversions, clearly missing Matt Stafford, but in their defense, very few ranked teams played rank opponents this week. Plus, they’ll get the SEC freebee.

Before receiving their 15th straight loss, Washington put up a fight against LSU (11), whose lead in the third was a, too close for comfort, 17-13. But the Tigers longest plane ride for a road game in school history ended in a ‘W’ with 31-23 over the Huskies.

The Tide rolled in 800th win in Alabama (5) over Va. Tech (7), but it wasn’t easy. Bama trailed by a point at the half but 2 fourth quarter TD’s put the Hokies to bed. 34-24, Alabama.

The Big Ten underperformed, in general beginning with trouble at the ‘Shoe, where Ohio State (6) skimmed past Navy, 31-27. Buckeyes by 15 in the 4th, made a poor decision to “go for it” on 4th down and didn’t convert, leading to a Navy TD and an interception by Pryor lead to a second Navy TD. The save for OSU came with the rare, return of a 2-point conversion attempt to keep the Buckeye’s from falling out of BCS view.

Iowa (22) eked past N. Iowa, 17-16. Iowa blocked what could have been N. Iowa’s winning field goal at the end of the 4th, as the ball rolled on the field, Iowa players stood and watched, until a confused Panther scooped it up. Ooops. Giving N. Iowa a second chance at the game winning field goal…and it was blocked again to avoid another Big Ten upset.

Lions roar over Akron. (I should write headlines) 82 yrs old Joe Paterno ran out of tunnel with his Nittany Lions, to lead Penn State (9) to a 31-7 over Akron for his 384th win. Penn State played an amazing first half, holding Akron to -2 yards with Daryll Clark tossing three first-half TDs and finished with a career-high 353 passing yards. The second half was less than impressive.

Nebraska (24) racked up a W with a not-so-surprising slaughter of Florida Atlantic, 49-3. Matching the Kansas (25), 49-3 win over Northern Colorado.

Last night Ole Miss (3) outscored Memphis 28-7 in the fourth quarter, including 21 points in the last 6 minutes making what was a relatively close game…not so close. With a final of 45-14, Ole Miss.

Tonight an in state rivalry takes over the state of Florida. Anywhere you go, you hear how the Trailer-hassee Criminoles of FSU are going to blown away by the Miami Hurricanes or the constant tomahawk chopping of FSU fans. Everyone is wearing a jersey and households are divided, but when I heard the chant of “what do you bleed” answered by someone’s distant “ORANGE AND GREEN!” I thought…

“yup, its college football season!” (FINALLY!)