College Football Week 2 in Review

The process of learning is a very interesting thing.  To some it comes naturally, like riding a bike, which I suppose is a learned skill (just ask my niece, Aspen), and to others, the process is a bit more painful. 

There’s no set method that works better or worse than others, as learning is such an individual journey, but with a few key elements, such as a desire to learn, some talent or capacity for the subject at hand, and a quality teacher or coach, anyone can get there.

Our son Dylan is a learning fool.  He loves it.  His particular natural talents seem to lie in words (Pulitzer!) as he busts out vocabulary words that no two year old should ever know, let alone pronounce, but it certainly makes for entertaining moments at the dinner table.

Because of this, we decided it’s time to start teaching him how to spell, and what better place to start than with his name.  So Sunday morning he wanted a cup that has his name on it, so the Mrs. starts the spelling lesson as she pours his milk. 

“OK Dylan, let’s spell your name,” she says.  “D….”

“.. LICIOUS!!!!” comes the over-exuberant reply.

Michigan 28

Notre Dame 24

The learning curve for Bryan Kelly should not be terribly steep, after taking Cincinnati to a BCS bowl game—scratch that, making them eligible for a BCS bowl only to forsake them and leave the team before the game—but at Notre Dame, things are different. 

For starters, everyone knows who you are and is watching, something not heard of in Cincy. Second, that program is desperate for success and some W’s. 

After the dark years of Charlie Weis, the Domers and their hoards of Alum want to resume national attention for reasons other than their name, but getting there is a whole other story.  As the Irish went up by three over Michigan with three minutes to play, it all came unraveled in a two minute drill as the Wolverines marched down the field and scored as if it's old hat.

I’m somewhat confident that our nanny is never coming back as I’m jumping up and down screaming at the television as Michigan scores the final touchdown upon her arrival at our house.  Nice timing. 

Alabama looked really good…Penn State did not.  Beyond having a starting freshman quarterback, it has to be disheartening when your Heisman winning opponent is out of the game, only to be replaced with his Heisman caliber back up.  Sometimes you just can’t win, and certainly not this Penn State team against THAT Alabama offense.

While the US may not be a caste system, college football is, so let’s have a quick review.  Ohio State, Tier One.  Miami, Tier Two.  Any questions?

Show of hands—anyone regret not putting Oregon on their Top 10 list this year?  (I know you can’t see, but I’m jumping up and down at my kitchen table right now with my hand way up in the air.) 

That’s twice in a row that the Ducks have looked unstoppable (35 – 0 second half), and AP voters agreed, jumping the Ducks over Texas and into the No. 5 spot.  My only defense is that I figured USC wouldn’t be terrible, even with their NCAA sanctions…we all make mistakes (USC 17, UVA 14, seriously).

Keeping things out west, anyone stay up late and enjoy the Stanford beat down at UCLA?  I didn’t think those geeks had it in them, but the Bruins just couldn’t do anything against Stanford’s defense—words I thought I’d never type. 

With 233 yards of offense, one would except a bit more result than goose eggs lined up on the scoreboard, but it wasn’t meant to be as Stanford throws their lot into the Pac-10 title conversation, well ahead of the Trojans, Wildcats, or Beavers.

Watch out for South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore. That man is a beast. I swear he singlehandedly sent a half dozen Georgia defenders to the E.R. as he freight trained the Georgia line into Swiss cheese.  If he wasn’t on anyone’s Heisman watch before, he should be now, and if Mark Richt wasn’t on Monster.com before, he should be now as well.

The ESPN title article was “Texas shakes slow start, beats Wyoming.”  As if that’s news… has anyone seen Texas have a great first quarter? Ever?

Virginia Tech would look good against Texas in the first quarter.  Hell, I could put 100 yards of offense together against Texas in the first quarter.  It’s those other three quarters where they get you. Texas 34, Wyoming 7.

Nebraska showed signs of having an offense—granted it was against a junior college.

Kansas came back to life and bumped off No. 15 Georgia Tech.  The Jayhawks had all but started engraving their tombstone for the 2010 season after a colossal defeat by North Dakota State in week one (it was 6–3, but any loss to a Dakota team is colossal, even if you are a basketball school), but their resurgence into the category of “decent” gives hope to Minnesota who coughed up the Big L to South Dakota this week, 41–38. 

Coming Up Short

Virginia Tech 16

James Madison 21

Need I say more?

Boise State claim to national prominence, “we beat Virginia Tech.”  Man, who won’t beat them this year?  Hell, Army asked to get them on the schedule.

Helmet Sticker

Oklahoma gets the .260 hitters helmet sticker this week as they laid the wood to previously ranked Florida State. 

The Sooners looked like crap in week one, but Stoops and Co. managed to figure things out and resumed playing like a well oiled machine, racking 487 yards of offense and 47 points. 

Too bad Bowden wasn’t coaching that game, as there are few things in life I enjoy more than watching that arrogant prick get the crap beat out of him—I mean, his team. 

I guess when Bowden said “the Big 12 can’t keep up with the speed of players in the south,” after picking FSU to win the game, he must have been referring to someone else.

Michigan QB Denard Robinson racked up 502 yards of total offense, including an 82 yard run (the longest in history at the Irish stadium).  Great work.  That he did it against the Domers, even better.

Errors and Omissions

The ACC Coastal division was listed by several major sports publications as the best division in football this year, behind the SEC West.  In week two, the ACC Coastal played five games, resulting in zero wins.  Granted this premature high praise wasn’t my mistake (Link, Link, Link) but I don’t mind pointing it out.

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