Five things we learned Saturday
Posted: Sunday, October 19, 2008 7:25 AM
While striving for half the efficiency of Colt McCoy, we’re back to wrap up Week 8 of the college football season.
Top 10 takes care of business: For the first time in what seems like forever, there won’t be a significant shakeup at the top of the rankings. Saturday came and went with no losses by Top-10 teams. The only slipup this week was No. 9 BYU’s predictable loss at TCU on Thursday. Texas, Alabama and Penn State each passed tests, although in three distinctly different manners. Further down the ladder, it was a rough week for ranked teams that hail from the ACC and Pac-10. Outside of USC, which held a light workout with an intramural team up in Pullman, the rest of the ranked teams from the ACC and Pac-10 -- No. 17 Virginia Tech, No. 18 North Carolina, No. 21 Wake Forest and No. 25 California -- all lost. Tough times along both coasts.
BCS early returns: The unveiling of the first BCS standings of the season is always worthy of some sort of ceremony, but be careful of reading too much into this first edition. There’s such a long way to go that it doesn’t mean much. For example, in last year’s first BCS standings, the top three teams were Ohio State, South Florida and Boston College ... and the Bulls and Eagles eventually finished at No. 14 and No. 21, respectively. Nearly those exact slots were occupied in the first set of standings by USC (No. 14) and Georgia (No. 20), which were considered two of the nation’s best teams on New Year’s Day. The two teams that did play in the title game, Ohio State and LSU, were well slotted at Nos. 1 and 4 in last year’s initial BCS standings, but had slipped to Nos. 3 and 7, in the penultimate set, before rocketing back to the top. There’s no reason to expect that this season won’t be just as wild as we go down the stretch.
Halfway to the Heisman: Since no one ever mentions it when it plays out this way, we will. Colt McCoy laughed in the face of the “Sports Illustrated jinx” on Saturday, completing 29-of-32 and accounting for four touchdowns in Texas’ impressive 56-31 victory over Missouri. In doing so, he solidified himself as the top contender for the Heisman Trophy. Because team success factors prominently into the vote, we’re still a ways away from calling the race, but there is no doubt that McCoy is the leader at this point. With that in mind, if he does take the Heisman home, he’ll owe a large debut of gratitude to the Longhorns defense, which is what sets Texas apart in the Big 12, the home of all the top candidates.
Big Ten title clash: Because the Big Ten doesn’t have a championship game, we’ll hang that tag on Saturday’s showdown between Penn State and Ohio State at the Horseshoe. If the Nittany Lions can win for the first time in their past eight trips to Columbus, it could even mean more than just the league title. Winning Saturday and running the rest of a flimsy three-legged table -- Iowa, Indiana and Michigan State -- would surely get Joe Paterno to the BCS title game. Although there is a bias against the Big Ten due to Ohio State’s crimes against the past two BCS title games, Penn State is the only team in the conference that doesn’t have to worry about that. In the case of the Nittany Lions, the feel-good story of Paterno getting a shot at the national championship at age 81 is something that will resonate extremely favorably with the human element that makes up two-thirds of the BCS selection process.
Weis’ weak week off: Notre Dame took a midseason break last week, but Charlie Weis probably didn’t enjoy it much. Here’s what happened on Saturday to the six teams that the Fighting Irish have built their 4-2 record against: San Diego State got nuked by New Mexico, 70-7. Michigan surrendered 39 unanswered points to Penn State in a 46-17 loss. Michigan State was manhandled by Ohio State, 45-7, in East Lansing. Purdue stayed winless in the Big Ten with a 48-26 loss at Northwestern. Stanford succumbed in the final seconds at UCLA, 23-20. And last and possibly least, nationally-ranked North Carolina blew a 10-3 lead in the final minutes of regulation on its way to a 16-13 overtime loss at Virginia. All of that won’t help Notre Dame in its quest to return to the Top 25. Neither will this Saturday’s game at 0-6 Washington, which pits Weis against his embattled predecessor, Tyrone Willingham.
