Weekly Wrapup

Week 3 Review

- Not a good weekend for the Pac-10. Seven losses including four to teams from the Mountain West, a blowout by Baylor, and California caught sleepwalking against Maryland. Oregon needed OT to beat Purdue, a middle-tier Big Ten team at best. The lone bright spots were USC firmly entrenching itself as the #1 team in the country, and Oregon State dominating an overmatched Hawaii squad. With games against Boise State and Georgia this weekend, the conference has a opportunity to regain some respect.
- Speaking of USC, I'm not at all surprised that they won big. This team always excels against non-conference foes. The last time they lost to one was in the Rose Bowl to Texas for the National Championship. The last in-season loss was to Kansas State in 2002. In the past three years, they've beaten Arkansas twice, Nebraska twice, Notre Dame three times, Fresno State, Michigan, and Illinois. The problem has been surviving the weekly grind of the conference schedule without slipping up to a Stanford of an Oregon State.
- Never underestimate the importance of special teams. Fresno State missed three field goals in their 13-10 loss to Wisconsin.
- My apologies to Connecticut, who I mentioned in a pillowfight last week with Virginia. I thought it would be a low-scoring defensive battle. Instead Connecticut rolled up over 500 yards of offense and scored 45 points. Donald Brown is the star, averaging over 180 rushing yards per game and has already scored eight touchdowns, one behind Javon Ringer of Michigan State for most in the country.
- One storyline to follow all season is whether Michigan makes it to a bowl game. They need all the wins they can get against teams like Notre Dame. Wisconsin and Illinois are up next.


Week 4 Preview
- LSU at Auburn: A tough defensive struggle much like the one Auburn just had with Mississippi State. Both teams will focus on running the ball instead of their inexperienced QBs. The difference may be turnovers, which favors Auburn since LSU has only forced one in two games.
- Georgia at Arizona State: Georgia's offense struggled last week on the road, but it was against a stout South Carolina defense. Arizona State's defense isn't that good, but they will be able to manage more than seven points. Georgia takes another close one.
- Boise State at Oregon: Fresno State's BCS dreams were crushed this past weekend, and it's likely the same could happen to Boise this weekend. Autzen Stadium is always a tough venue for visiting teams, and Oregon is a top ten team. Look for a solid win by the Ducks.
- Virginia Tech at North Carolina: North Carolina followed up a questionable opening week win with a dominant road victory over Rutgers. Virginia Tech is looking more respectable after a close win over a surprising Georgia Tech team. The winner becomes the favorite in the Coastal, and I'll take the home team.
- Wake Forest at Florida State: The much maligned ACC needs another team from the Atlantic to help carry the conference banner like the winner of the game above.
- Northeastern at Syracuse: The Orange find a beatable opponent on their schedule!
- Florida at Tennessee: National title contender Florida goes on the road for the first time to face the defending SEC East champs. Tennessee needs to prove their loss to UCLA was just an aberration, especially after what BYU did to the Bruins.
- Utah at Air Force: An underrated battle of two unbeaten teams in the same conference. Utah doesn't have many landmine games on the schedule, but this is one of them. The Utes should still get the win.