Crossing The (Goal) Line College Edition: September 7, 2010

It’s great to have football back! The first weekend of college football is in the books, and it had some great story lines and tremendous performances. Let’s recap how the Macho Rhino Top 25 did this weekend:

On my picks for week one, I went 19-3. I missed on Washington, Navy, and Pittsburgh. Not a bad start, but I don’t like picking any games incorrect.

1. Alabama beat San Jose State 48-3 – The Tide rolled this week.

2. Boise State beat 8. Virginia Tech 33-10 – WOW what a game! Boise looked like it was melting in the humidity in the second half but when it came time to win, Kellen Moore made great throws and got the W for the Broncos.

3. Ohio State beat Marshall 45-7 – The Ohio State offense looked spectacular and should make for a great game on Saturday against Miami.

4. Miami beat Florida A&M 45-0 – Jacory Harris had a big game and the Canes were far superior to their opponents this week.

5. Texas won at Rice 34-17 – Texas wasn’t too impressive but still won comfortably.

6. Florida beat Miami (OH) 34-12 – A very sloppy game from the Gators. The post-Tim Tebow Gators have some work to be done but this is a talented team that will get better each week.

7. Iowa beat Eastern Illinois 37-7 – The Hawkeyes had no trouble dispatching the overmatched FCS team.

9. TCU beat 16. Oregon State 30-21 – A great game that saw both teams make big plays. A big win for TCU to keep their hopes alive of a run to the BCS Championship.

10. Wisconsin won at UNLV 41-21 – Early turnovers kept this game close but the 
running game took over.

11. Oregon beat New Mexico 72-0 – New Mexico is absolutely terrible. To give up 59 points even against an outstanding offense like Oregon is awful.

12. Nebraska beat Western Kentucky 49-10 – Taylor Martinez started at QB and looked great. The defense gave up a lot of yards to a team that didn’t win a game last year.

13. Auburn beat Arkansas State 52-26 – New Auburn QB Cam Newton scored 5 touchdowns. Auburn has to be a little concerned with their defense.

14. Oklahoma beat Utah State 31-24 – This one went to the wire which can’t be a good sign for the Sooners. Their defense needs to step up this week against the Seminoles.

15. Pittsburgh lost at Utah 27-24 (OT) – A back and forth game that went to overtime. A tough loss for Pitt but a great win for the Utes.

17. Arkansas beat Tennessee Tech 44-3 – Tennessee Tech led 3-0 and then Arkansas scored 44 unanswered points in quarters two and three.

18. Florida State beat Samford 59-3 – The Jimbo Fisher era is off to a good start. Now he’s got his first big test as FSU heads to take on the Sooners.

19. LSU beat 21. North Carolina 30-24 – I give a lot of credit to Butch Davis for getting his team back in this game at halftime and they came very close to a huge come back after trailing 30-10.

20. West Virginia beat Coastal Carolina 31-0 – Mountaineers had no trouble in this one.

22. Penn State beat Youngstown State 44-14 – Penn State trailed 7-3 at the end of the first quarter before pouring it on the rest of the game.

23. Washington lost at BYU 23-17 – Nice game from Riley Nelson of BYU throwing for a couple of TD’s in this one. The Cougar defense pitched a shutout in the second half securing the W.

24. Georgia Tech beat South Carolina State 41-10 – The Yellow Jackets looked great as Josh Nesbitt anchored the triple option attack yet again.

25. Navy lost to Maryland 17-14 – Navy just gave this game away to the Terps. Maryland jumped out 14-0 and then Navy kept driving down to turn it over in the red zone. Navy has to be embarrassed by their performance in this game. Big win for the Terps though and so much for my prediction of an undefeated season for the Midshipmen.

It was not a good week at Ole Miss or Kansas. Both lost to FCS teams at home. Ole Miss squandered a 31-10 lead while KU only mustered 3 points in Turner Gill’s debut. Huge disappointments to start the year for both. On the flipside, Michigan’s season opener couldn’t have gone much better. Denard Robinson was very impressive leading the Wolverine’s offense to a 30-10 win. Rich Rodriguez must have taken the first deep breath of his career in Ann Arbor.

The Big East is not off to a good start and is starting to show how out of date the BCS is also. Preseason conference favorites Pitt and UConn lost their openers and while on the road, they weren’t to rank teams. The Mountain West showed its strength with Utah beating Pitt and then TCU beating Oregon State. The Mountain West doesn’t have the automatic bid to the BCS though like Utah. They need to add them next year especially since they will add Boise State.

Just want to give a mention to the second best game of the weekend before I get to the weekly awards. East Carolina won this shootout 51-49 against Tulsa as it went back and forth most of the game with double digit lead changes. The Pirates pulled it out on a last second play to get new coach Ruffin McNeill a victory in his debut.

The season is off to a good start, and it looks like there’s a lot of parity this year. We’re heading to a weekend with some big games that will solidify a couple more teams as legit national title contenders. I can’t wait for Saturday! Tune back in Thursday to www.MachoRhino.com for our picks on week 2 of the college football season.

GAME OF THE WEEK: Boise State 33, Virginia Tech 30 – This has been hyped for months now and it was fantastic! We got great games coming up this next weekend but it’s going to be hard to top this one. Tyrod Taylor was excellent for Virginia Tech but the Broncos solved him at the end and got the last minute TD to win. I can’t say enough about these two teams but they put on an instant classic for sure.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Jacksonville State – The FCS went on the road in the SEC and beat Ole Miss. That’s a win of a lifetime.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Denard Robision (QB – Michigan) – Huge start to the season as he passed for 186 on 19-22 and ran for 197 yards.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Keenan Robinson (LB – Texas) – A sack, interception and fumble return for a touchdown is a great start to the season.

Top 5 Games Coming Up This Weekend:
Miami at Ohio State
Florida State at Oklahoma
Georgia at South Carolina
Penn State at Alabama
Michigan at Notre Dame

See the Macho Rhino Top 25 for week 2 here and our picks for week 2 games here