College Football Re-revisited

Project Runway: The ACC?

#2 Michigan 20 Iowa 6

Michigan was able to grind out a victory over a still-sliding Iowa team, marching one week closer to the unbeaten showdown v. the hated Buckeyes. Being without the services of sophmore WR Mario Manningham in these recent games while he recovers from the minor knee surgery may be helping the Wolverines in the grand scheme of a National Title run.

#5 Texas 22 #17 Nebraska 20

Excellent game and clock management by Huskers and ex Raider head coach Bill Callahan (shocking) allowed Texas back in a game they should'nt have been in. Callahan went ahead and passed on a 3rd and 1 play with under 2 minutes left that converted the first down right before the ball was fumbled away. Texas QB Colt McCoy did his best impression of Vince Young minus the African-American thing and drove the Horns to the game winning FG by their backup kicker who only walked on the team so he could travel to the away game sites with the team. I think the young man got what he was looking for except he got exceptionally close to the action.

#10 Notre Dame 20 UCLA 17

The uber-dreamy connection of QB Brady Quinn to WR Jeff Samardzija of 45 yards on a late drive proved the difference. UCLAs defense came up with a huge 4th and 1 stop late, but could not manage a first down on offense. With UCLA forced to punt, the Irish took over on their own 20, and the Bruins defense was not able to get the biggest stop of the day.

#11 Cal 31 Washington 24

Playing from a deficit early and through the majority of the game may have been a surprise for Cal, but games like these will help the Golden Bears as the season continues. An exceptional performance by RB Marshawn Lynch on two sore ankles was the difference. Lynch finished with 21 carries for 150 yards including the 22 yard game winner in OT. Washington put up another great fight on the road in the PAC-10, but as they did at USC, came up just a bit short. The Huskies may be the Vanderbilt of the west coast with its victories razor thin and its losses falling into that moral victory category.

Also: Cal RB Marshawn Lynch's postgame Nascar impersonation on the golf cart at Memorial Stadium was a site to behold and may be my favorite prop oriented postgame celebration ever. Lynch claimed he was mimicking those late night "Ghost Rides" he and his buddies would go on in his hometown of Oakland where they would hang horizontally out of the car and cruise. This evokes memories for me of doing this same thing around my hometown errrr, no. Well done Marshawn.

#12 Clemson 31 Georgia Tech 7

I watched this game before the epic LSU-FSU matchup and some of it during the LSU beatdown on the Bulldogs. The stunning clarity of ESPN High Definition broadcasts was made for games like this. The Clemson uniforms in all purple was a truly beautiful sight and carried RBs James Davis, CJ Spiller and the Tigers to victory over the Yellow Jackets. Holding super talented 45 inch vertical leap oversized WR Calvin Johnson without a catch helps too along with rushing for 1000 yards in a game. Oh, and the whole Clemson team touched that magic rock before running down the hill. Maybe Fresno State Head Coach Pat Hill can find his team a magic rock, I just hope the team doesnt have to don all purple uniforms to find a victory.

#16 Oregon 23 Washington State 34

The sliding continues for the Ducks whose offense seems to be getting worse by the week and the regression of QB Dennis Dixon may be the reason. Oregon could not score until the 4 the quarter when backup QB Grady Leaf was inserted and that proved to be too little too late. Give WSU credit, they are a better team than many picked them to be and Bill Doba has done a nice job thus far up in Pullman.

#18 Boise State 42 Idaho 26

Dennis Erickson's Vandals put up a good fight in the Kibbie Dome, but Boise was led by RB Ian Johnson and his 4 Tds and was able to pull away late. Fresno States next opponent has definately shown weaknesses in pass defense, but exploiting that may be difficult for the Bulldogs who have shown their own set of deficiencies in the vertical game. It would be a definate payback game for the Dogs as the Broncos game into Bulldog stadium in 01' and ripped my and every FSU fans hearts out along with knocking off an unbeaten, SI covering, David Carr led team. Final score of that game was 35-30 as the Bulldogs had the ball inside the Boise 5 yard line and on 3rd down RB Paris Gaines was handed the ball on a super play call and stopped short. On the games final play QB David Carr was pressured and forced to make a bad throw and the dream season was shattered. I dont think these Bulldogs have enough in their tank to upset Boise on the smurf-turf. Although the Bulldogs do have their version of former BSU QB Ryan Dinwiddie in sophmore QB Sean Norton.

#22 Boston College 24 Florida State 19

So how did those black uniforms work out for your team this week Coach Bowden?