Wk #5: Houdini

This was escape week for many teams:

• FSU escaped by NC State. An injured defense, a slow-start offense and continued off-field asshattery indicate a loss or two in the near future.
• UGA escaped Tennessee for the second straight year. A slow-start was eventually erased by 2nd-half Gurley heroics. But the man can't carry the team all year.
• SCAR did not escape from un-ranked Missouri. This leaves the SEC-East in an interesting position that will not be much clearer until Mizzou plays Georgia in two weeks.
• UCLA escaped from their hum-drum, win-by-a-hair 3 - 0 start and finally showed their wares. They are once again being talked about.
•  TAM escaped losing to a very-much improved Razorbacks team. Though winless in the SEC since last year Arkansas is bound make a statement win by Halloween.
• Washington State losing to Utah after being down by 21. Utah did not escape the "lose the first PAC-12 game of the season" bug that has haunted them four years straight.

Wk #4: Close Calls

Yes - they are all vulnerable and right now no one looks dominant. FSU went to OT to win. Oregon pulled it off in the last quarter. SCAR had to make a big-time comeback to win. Auburn sneaked by (again). Bama was tied with UF in the 3rd quarter. LSU almost made an amazing comeback...but didn't. Hard to believe right now that any of the Top 10 will emerge unscathed.

We are about 1/3 of the way through the season and here is what we have learned:

• Of the SI pre-season Top 10 only Ohio State has dropped out.
• Of the 126 teams:
• 25 remain undefeated
• 7 of those are in the PAC-12
• 5 are in the SEC-West division
• 10 are left out of the Top 25
• Jamies Winston has had one too many hits to the head.
• Jameis Winston didn't get the message he was not to play on Saturday...but the rest of the world did.
• Jameis Winston will not win another Heisman...ever.
• Auburn can now pass - and even pass it deep. Beginning in October they begin a tough SEC gamut...really tough.
• Mississippi State has been under-rated. But the next two games (TAM and Auburn) will tell all.
• BYU is poised to run the table (really) if they keep their head on straight. But they still have work to do. Good enough to win but not dominant.

Apology

A few weeks ago I railed on Urban Meyer for scoring 66 against an FCS team. Now this past week my favorite coach (Mark Richt) did the same thing...except it was an FBS team. I recognize that sometimes the other team is just really, really bad. Plus - there is nothing sweeter or more elusive to a defense than a shutout. Even your 3rd string players want that and will give it their all. Sorry, Urban.

Wk #3: Statement Week

CFB never fails to remind us that even the best predictors are not always correct. Four teams in the T25 fell this week, three of them to un-ranked teams. Ohio State tried to make a statement after losing last week by beating up on Kent State 66 - 0 (just stop it, Meyer). Virginia did make a statement with their win over #21 Louisville (remember they almost beat UCLA in week #1). Boston College made their presence known taking one from USC. SCAR stated that they are not the team we saw in week #1. And ECU plainly stated that they are not to be ignored.

BYU struggled getting to 3 - 0. Coming off the big win at Texas they were a little cocky and not quite as precise as the first two games. That caught up with them and they almost gave the game away. They take on Virginia this week who beat #21 Louisville.

The UGA and SCAR game did not disappoint. Twas a game of two young defenses, two well executed offenses, various questionable penalty calls, and close measurements. In the end, it came down to which defense was not the worst. SCAR held strong when it counted most and got the W. And once again, UGA is chasing SCAR and counting on them to lose. A tough slot to be in and one they've been in many times lately. But hang in there Dawg fans...a 3-point loss to a ranked division rival in their house won't count much down the home stretch.

Yes - the masses will second guess UGAs play calling in the final minutes. I will not. We don't know the ins and outs of what is going on in the heat of the battle. Doing just the opposite of what the opponents (and fans) expect works as often as it doesn't. UGA coaches took the risk and it didn't pay off this time. Hindsight would say feed it to Gurley, burn the clock and take the go ahead touchdown...even if it takes four tries with Gurley. But I'm sure when the call came in that it made sense at the time.

UCLA held on to yet another close win to stay un-defeated. But it was a W over struggling Texas. We'll see what they are really made of when they take on ASU.

Really? I've never seen THIS happen before.

Wk #2: Too Weak

There was indeed some excitement this week but many teams played down a level. It was, as Mark May of ESPN put it, "Stat pad Saturday." Winning scores in the 70s and losing scores of 0 were the result of a few games. Great for padding the stats and checking out your 2nd string, but an embarrassment for the other team.

BYU padded a few stats...but against Texas. At halftime it was anybody's game but BYU did what they oft failed to do last year: made adjustments. And those adjustments paid off in the 2nd half. Yes - there are those that will say BYU was playing an injured / suspended Texas. But remember - that was only the Texas offense. BYU's 41 points came against a Texas defense that was not playing injured / suspended. The Coaches Poll is still unsure about BYU (ranking at #27) but they snuck into the AP at #25. Keep playing like the last two games and they'll see a single-digit ranking (as long as their opponents win a few).

OSU lost. No surprise to me. It has been a whine of mine for a year or more that OSU was held in such high regard (high ranking). Lots of wins but they never looked that great or dominant so their fall to an un-ranked VaTech didn't surprise me on bit.

Also - Oregon had a scare. UCLA not looking as sharp as expected. Nebraska pulled off the win in the final minute. With the exception of MSU the entire Big10 looks in disarray.

Wk #1: Re-thinking

After this first week of the long awaited play-off season, there is some serious re-thinking going on out there. Dang near every sportswriter had FSU and 'Bama in the playoff championship but Week 1 put some question marks on those two programs...

FSU held on to win and were it not for a fumble recovery they may have lost that game. One play away from losing to a non-ranked is not the FSU people were expecting. And Saban and the boys played about the same, finally pulling away in the end but not before a few thousand fans were sweating.

TAM showed that a few years of great recruiting and coaching pays off even though the one-man Johnny Football show left town. A seamless transition - just what a great coach expects. SCAR had their hat handed to them and they've got some work to do. UCLA struggled with a Virginia team that went 2 - 8 last season. They'll need serious OL improvement to allow their playmaker QB shine. OSU and LSU looked rusty and unprepared, even though they pulled out Ws.

We'll see a lot more of this guy.

Georgia played like a team just glad to be healthy and injury-free and have the chance to showcase the talent they couldn't last year. And that they did. They unveiled a deep backfield that will have defensive front fours huffing before half-time. Smart adjustments to their defensive scheme and offensive play calling garnered them a 2nd half shutout, an offensive explosion and the win over a very good Clemson team (beware FSU).

BYU played like they wanted to win. They brought and executed a good game plan and made well timed adjustments. (And it didn't hurt that they showed up a day earlier than last year's east coast first game debacle in Virginia). They proved they can still throw (and catch) the ball, play up-tempo when it makes sense and slow down if necessary, and have a successful, balanced attack. The 150 yards of penalties? So what - first game jitters and just proof they are playing with some passion (thank heaven). They'll give Texas a good run next week.

END-ZONE

From Andy Staples at si.com:

"...Going into a season, we don't really know anything. That's the beauty of this sport. Even the safest assumptions can be turned upon their heads on an annual basis. We can't draw any real conclusions until October, but the constant guessing is half the fun....".