The All Day Saturday Live Blog: Week 2

I totally need another title for this. Tell me in the comments.

Ohio State is STRUGG-A-LING. Someone named Boo Jackson is breaking their defense down on the scramble, and the basic spread Ohio is running has them flustered and leaving open holes all over the place.

Touchdown, Ohio! Awful snap squirted into the end zone and the Bobcats fall on it. Things are going poorly all over for Jim Tressel’s team.

“In the Ayer” takes us to commercial. Ugh.

Michigan’s only up 10-6 on Miami of Ohio.

The last in-state team to beat Ohio State was Oberlin? That may be Oberlin’s last victory in anything but the coveted “Most Conscientiously Objecting NPR-Listening Vegetarians on Campus” category of the Princeton Review.

Again, Ohio’s up 14-6 with about eight minutes to play in the third; they’re driving, though, and impressively.

Synergy alert: I’m going to be on Matt Sussman and Tuffy Garwood’s Treehouse Fort Radio at about 2:30, talking college football. Hope it’s enjoyable, and if you didn’t catch it live, I’ll put in a link to the archived appearance.

Touchdown, Buckeyes! Dan Herron caps a good, field-length drive, one that mixed pass and run. Ryan Pretorius shanks the extra point, though, so it’s 14-12, Ohio.

When it’s 21-12 in the middle of the fourth quarter, you heard it here first.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football commercials aren’t getting better. Just different.

Ohio’s punting, and tOSU will have it at their 30.

Wisconsin’s up 31-14, Auburn up 14-0, Nebraska’s leading 14-9, Illinois is leading 33-7, and Michigan has entered the fourth quarter, up only 10-6.

Ohio State goes three and out, but the punt goes off a Bobcat and is pounced on by a Buckeye. Great play at the sideline there; it could be reviewed, but I can’t imagine that being overturned.

Just wrapped that appearance. Head over to the link to hear the rest of Treehouse Seis Tres for today.

Ohio State’s up 19-14, just got a pick to stop an Ohio drive, but they will punt with a little over seven minutes to go.

Touchback, and Ohio’s got maybe one or two bullets left in the revolver.

Remember how I was touting Juice Williams’ throwing ability? Well, he’s got two picks today, but he’s also the Illini’s leading rusher with 174 yards and two TDs. So maybe he’s just going to be a pocket passer one week and a scrambler the next.

Michigan’s scored late in the fourth quarter to extend their lead to 16-6.

Big third down for Ohio. Boo Jackson escapes the rush, has Taylor Price a step behind the defender, but he can’t make a pretty athletic catch.

Pam Ward: “You think that would’ve been an easy catch?” First good thing she’s ever said on broadcast?

Ohio State’s Ray Small squirms through the Ohio punt coverage and puts this game away; it’s now Ohio State 26, Ohio 14.

This will still be too close for comfort for Buckeyes fans.

That Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates commercial? A hot mess.

Georgia Tech goes up on Boston College, 19-16. Late in the fourth in Chestnut Hill, and there’s no Matt Ryan to save the Eagles this year.

Boo Jackson is not giving up. Fellow Bobcat Allie LaForce is at the end of that tunnel, after all.

Ohio’s driving, but their time is dwindling.

That pick should really seal it; here comes Terrelle Pryor.

Michigan 16, Miami (OH) 6 is the final from Ann Arbor.

It’s Ohio State 26, Ohio 14 at the end.

I’ve flipped to the Georgia Tech-BC game; Jeff Jagodinski’s team is going for it on fourth and six, but that ball was nowhere near a receiver. GT takes over around the 50.

Georgia Tech is clearly going to win this game.

Bobby Bowden’s doing a transfixing Billy Graham impression on ESPN2.

I have no idea what to watch now. 3:30 is a dead time this Saturday, unless you’ve been waiting all week for Central Michigan-Georgia or Mississippi-Wake Forest. I haven’t been.

Wake scores on their opening drive. 7-0, Deacs.

Jevan Snead, captain of the Reggie Cleveland All-Stars, trots out for Houston Nutt’s Rebels. This will be a high-scoring game if he plays well.

It’s 7-7. I’m trying really hard to care. Really, really hard.

The announcers are talking about a great Rolling Stone article on Tony Stewart; you can find it here.

Riley Skinner gets chased out of bounds and the Demon Deacons will have to punt. Or, well, not really: Ole Miss gives it back to Wake on one of those roughing the kicker penalties.

Ole Miss forces another fourth down; can’t wait to see how this gets screwed up.

Jevan Snead is being allowed the time to read the defense, and he’s making very good throws to open receivers. Wake can’t want to get into a shootout with a team that’s got plenty of offensive talent.

Your scoreboard check: Oregon up 21-0 on Utah State; Oklahoma 14, Cincinnati 7; Georgia 14, Central Michigan 0; Penn State leading Oregon State 21-0; BYU and Washington tied at 14.

The only surprising result for me is Penn State beating down Oregon State early; I think Washington’s a better team than Ty Willingham is given credit for, and though they’ll be lucky to win four games with their brutal schedule and Willingham won’t be the coach in 2009, it’s less because of missing talent and more because Washington fell to the bottom of the Pac-10 and filled the “easy” slots in the schedule with better teams.

These afternoon games have not been that interesting.

Ole Miss cheerleaders are pretty.

Switched to West Virginia-East Carolina; Pirates up 7-0 early. Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge on the call. All of these things make this the game to watch for the next few hours.

Pat White, going out of bounds, leaves the ball a foot from the sideline while trying to reach for the first down. Bizarre play, but ECU gets the ball back.

This gives me an opportunity to pump everyone’s fantasy sleeper, ECU alum and Titans RB Chris Johnson, whose YouTube tribute video has one of the better college-repping raps I’ve heard.

Score check: Penn State 35, Oregon State 7; Ole Miss 14, Wake 10 at the half; Georgia up 28-0 on Central Michigan; Oklahoma 21, Cincinnati 13 nearing the end of the second quarter; Oregon 35, Utah State 14; Washington 21, BYU 14 in the second half.

The Dr. J Dr. Pepper commercial with “Sirius” playing in the background is awesome every single time.

East Carolina’s up 7-0 in this game as we enter the second quarter.

West Virginia’s defense, despite allowing the early score, has looked good. This fourth and one cements that: ECU’s quarterback loses yards on the sneak, and the Gregg Easterbrook Special seems to backfire…

…but somehow, the second effort gets the first down! Incredible.

Some chippiness here in Greenville.

San Diego State, which lost to Cal Poly last week, up 7-0 on Notre Dame.

The WVU-ECU game: physicality, penalties, frustration, and some grit.

John Holmes, one of WVU’s linebackers, went to my high school. I may or may not have just pointed at the screen and said something to that effect with an exclamation point at the end as my voice cracked.

Holding will bring back a Pirates touchdown. Their spread, used for ball control, is giving West Virginia fits.

East Carolina can’t convert a third and eleven, and Ben Ryan makes his first career collegiate field goal to extend ECU’s lead. It’s Pirates 10, Mountaineers 0.

West Virginia’s playing at a higher tempo, moving around, causing match-up problems.

Noel Devine breaks free down the sideline and rips off a chunk of about 40 yards. The guy is about as tall as my little sister and he’s one of the ten fastest players in college football.

There is an intensity level in this East Carolina stadium that’s been there since the first down they converted on Patrick Pinkney’s second effort. I hope it doesn’t leave.

No pressure on Pinkney on this drive. Or this game, really.

Botched field goal will give West Virginia one final drive this half. The pressure that’s been getting to White all half is there, and the second-down completion is fumbled away. East Carolina has it at the WVU 35 with 1:11 and a timeout.

This stadium is going nuts.

That touchdown, a great job of a jump ball getting corralled, only makes it louder. It’s East Carolina 17, West Virginia 3, and this upset is more than just brewing.

It’s East Carolina 17, West Virginia 3 at the half.

It’s still East Carolina 17, West Virginia 3, but now I have salsa chilling in my fridge.

BYU escapes Washington, 28-27, after an excessive celebration penalty on the end of the game-tying TD with two seconds left in the game put the Huskies at the 17 to kick the extra point, which subsequently was blocked. Therein lies some of the beauty of college football.

East Carolina does not look like the non-BCS team in this game. Not at all. Bullying the Mountaineers down the field with this bruising drive in the third quarter.

Touchdown, Pirates. The stadium is one pulsing purple organism.

West Virginia is not coming back, so I’m switching to Ole Miss-Wake.

It’s 27-21 Wake, but Ole Miss has third and 15 with just under three minutes, and though the ball is nowhere close to the receiver, pass interference extends the drive.

Snead sends one out of the side of the end zone. Wake Forest is playing NFL Films music on third downs, which is damn cool.

Going to be a good last two minutes in this game.

Fourth and two from the two-and-a-half, and Jevan Snead does a kabuki dance in the backfield before finding Cordera Eason for the score. Wow.

Extra point is in. It’s 28-27, Ole Miss. Wake has a minute to score and two timeouts to play with.

Wake is trying a short passing game, but unless they’re looking to kick from the 50, I’m not sure there’s enough seven-yard outs in the playbook to make this work.

Bee-you-tee-full play by Riley Skinner to find D.J. Boldin running a deep cross at the 45. There will be a field goal try at the end of this game, it seems.

Deep pass by Skinner draws a pass interference penalty. Wake will have it around the Ole Miss 30.

Sam Swank probably isn’t missing from within 45. This will be from 41.

Jim Grobe ices his own kicker! Swank then dead-centers the field goal. Wake leads, 30-28, and there is but the specter of the band on the field for Ole Miss to grasp at now.

That return doesn’t materialize. Wake Forest 30, Mississippi 28 is your final.

I return to WVU-ECU. It’s still 24-3.

West Virginia has looked as bad as East Carolina has looked good.

Pinkney’s pass hits a Pirate in the hands. They’re throwing with six minutes left. On this Saturday, this team is that ballsy, and that dominant.

West Virginia’s moving the ball a little, but they need scores, not yards.

Ball gets away from Pat White, and I get away from the WVU-ECU game to see UCF’s Joe Burnett return a kick against USF.

I think this may be the most excitement in very jaded Orlando since Caylee Anthony went missing. (God, if you’re reading this…)

The camera at UCF’s stadium was actually shaking as the stadium rocked. Never would I, knowing UCF and some UCF students as I do, have anticipated that.

Consider this blog done. Head on up to the next one.