Opening Weekend Wrap-Up

Here it is, 1:13 a.m. EST and I'm still watching college football ? Some suprises and some things remain the same. Lets look at some of the games that were picked by yours truly:

My opening game between Boise St. and Oregon was a bit of a suprise to me, but I do not consider the outcome an upset. The real upset was the lack of offensive execution by Coach Kelly's crew. The unfortunate post game issue with LaGarrette Blount cost him his collegiate career and takes away a huge part of the Duck offense. That being said, Boise St. controlled the game and should have won be a larger margin. FINAL: Boise St. 19-Oregon 8.

I was SHOCKED by Missouri dominating Illinois. Mizzou QB Blaine Gabbert accounted for 4 TD's and threw for 313 yards in his first college start. On the other side, Juice Williams looked less than effective and star wideout Arrelious Benn left the game in the 2nd quarter due to injury. FINAL: Missouri 37-Illinois 9.

Jimmy Clausen was near perfect completing 15-18 for 318 yards and 4 TD's as Notre Dame rolled. Clausen was not sacked in this game and receiver Michael Floyd looked like a Bilitnekof award winner. The re-tooled Irish defense pitched a shut out over what some considered a very good offensive team. FINAL: Notre Dame 35-Nevada 0.

Finally a really good pick, Oklahoma St. survived some jitters early as they took care of SEC power Georgia. The visitors from Athens drove the ball for a TD on their opening posession but Oklahoma St. settled down. Actually, the Cowboy defense won the game....limiting Georgia to under 250 total yards. Oklahoma St. receiver Dez Bryant made a tremendous TD catch (one of 2 TD's on the day) as the Cowboys avenged their 35-10 loss last year to Georgia.
FINAL: Oklahoma St. 24-Georgia 10.

After a slow start, freshman QB Matt Barkley woke up as did the Trojan offense to the tune of a major blowout against overmatched San Jose St. I thought the Spartans would keep it close for half...I was wrong, they kept it close for about the first 9 minutes, then the landslide. Barkley threw for over 200 yards and his first TD. Joe McNight ran for 149 and a TD. The Trojan defense looked awesome. Pass rush, stopped the run and defended the pass with excellence. The thing I noticed about Southern Cal is they have FIVE running backs that would start for most top 10 teams ! FINAL: Southern Cal. 56-San Jose St. 3.

I was off on the Gators...I had them winning 58-3....wow...missed that one..not much to be said in this game. Speed kills as did the Gators to poor Charleton Southern.
FINAL: Florida 62-Chareston Southern 3.

Currently Cal is up big on Maryland 52-14 late in the 4th. Jahvid Best ran wild in the opening half and Bears QB Kevin Riley is playing like a PAC-10 starter ! Payback....! I don't think I see a Terrapin comeback at this hour !

Just switched on ESPN....with 3 minutes to go, L.S.U. is beating the Huskies 24-16. Not a bad start for Coach Sarkisian....L.S.U. is loaded and Washington has hung in there. L.S.U. needs to open up the offense more, use that outside speed more. I suppose Washington could come back, but I think L.S.U. will hang on.

Okay....the "SHOCKER" of the day ??? And my top pick of the day..Brigham Young upsetting the mighty Sooners ! The unfortunate injury to Sooners QB Sam Bradford made it difficult for Oklahoma to mount any kind of consistent offense in the second half. B.Y.U. QB Max Hall made the throws when he needed them. The real undoing here was the SORRY play of the Sooner offensive line, especially (and I hate to single out one player but...) RT, Cory Brandon. My gawd was he awful ! THREE illegal procedure calls on the FIRST offensive series ??? And a very bad false start penalty on the try for a game tying drive ! It's going to be a LONG year for the Sooners if they don't plug up the holes in the offensive line. The Cougars played without leading rusher Harvey Unga and still beat Oklahoma. The prognosis for Bradford is a sprained shoulder (2-4 weeks). Hello Landry Jones ! Oh yeah, WHY doesn't the Moutain West have an automatic BCS bid ????
FINAL: Brigham Young 14-Oklahoma 13.

Texas blitzed Louisiana-Monroe. Not much to add here, Colt McCoy threw for 317 and a pair of TD's. He looked "okay" but I really don't think the Horns' were up for this game.
FINAL: Texas 59-Lousiana Monroe 20.

The Tide looked "impressive" in their win over Va. Tech. The Hokies were outgained by the Tide 498 to 155 in total offense. Making his first start, QB Greg McElroy threw for 230 yards and 1 TD (and 1 INT). Hokie coach Beamer is now 0-10 against Top 10 teams on the road (and neutral sites). Star wideout Julio Jones was not a factor for the Tide catching 4 balls for 48 yards. FINAL: Alabama 34-Virginia Tech 24.

Syracuse "almost" squeaked one out at home..but fell to Minnesota in OT. Sorry, I can't root for any Dukies...especially a former starting point guard for Coach K's team ! That being said, at least the Orange looked organized ! FINAL: Minnesota 23-Syracuse 20.

HUSKY UPDATE.....with 30 seconds remaining...L.S.U. 31-Washington 16. Tiger QB Jordan Jefferson threw his 3rd TD of the game with 1:23 remaining.

Some good stories and good games...the Buckeyes got a MAJOR SCARE from the Midshipmen.....Anchors Away almost pulled off the shocker, losing 31-27. Terrell Pryor played average and will have to do better to beat the Trojans next Saturday. He threw a pick that lead directly to a Navy TD. The Middies went for a 2 point conversion to tie the game with 1:45 remaining, which got intercepted and run back for 2 points the other way.

How about those Wolverines ! Coach Rodriguez has found a QB OR 2 ! Okay, Dennard Robinson can FLY and has speed to burn..but the Wolverines QB now and for the future is another freshman, Tate Forcier. All Forcier did was throw for 3 TD's to lead Michigan to a solid 31-7 win over Western Michigan. Brandon Graham and the Woverine defense looked stout !

How about the ACC with Virginia and Duke losing to William & Mary and Richmond ? Heck, Clemson RB C.J. Spiller got hurt and lets hope for the Tigers sake it's nothing serious.

Okay, it's now 1:59, my Huskies have lost to L.S.U. and it's time for bed ! To my blog followers "Wayne's World", congrats on the Michigan victory ! I was really impressed with Forcier ! And to "Fletch", your Golden Domers looked very good !