NCAA Football 2012 - Week Eight Review

Pretty interesting eighth week of the 2012 season. It certainly has helped us work out which teams - and Heisman contenders, for that matter - are for real, and which ones were masquerading as being for real. Interestingly, Notre Dame are clearly brilliant defensively, and South Carolina have work to do on both sides against A-grade teams. So, without further ado, my thoughts and observations from another Saturday (and Thursday night) on the gridiron!

Nebraska vs. Northwestern

An important 29-28 win for the Huskers, and a good comeback from the team's oft-maligned QB Taylor Martinez but something of a loss for the Big Ten, also oft-maligned, particularly of late. It's no secret that the conference has been on the outer looking in this year - for a variety of reasons, one of which is that there aren't many teams playing good football in 2012 - there were no Big Ten teams in the initial BCS standings released last Sunday and there might not be any this week, either. 

This game in Evanston was pretty much a microcosm of what's wrong with the Big Ten currently. From the opening kick, it was an ugly contest but, in some strange manner, the rampant ugliness of the game, filled with disastrous mental errors, and unforgivable execution breakdowns that had to frustrate the life out of coaches on both sidelines made it a strangely appealing game to watch. And it went right down to the wire.

In the end, it was the T-Magic Show. When it's good, it's really good for Nebraska and in the same vein as Michigan with Denard Robinson running the offense, this is a football team that either lives or dies - and, often, looking absolutely unstoppable one week and, the next, unable to get out of their own way - with the play of it's enigmatic signal caller. This week, Martinez stepped up, throwing for 342 yards and 3 TDs, the crucial play being a 7-yard TD pass to give the Cornhuskers the lead with just over two minutes to play. 

A barely-missed field goal attempt of 53 yards for the Wildcats sailed mere inches wide, and, with star RB Rex Burkhead watching from the sidelines after leaving with an undisclosed injury in the first quarter, Nebraska seem somewhat back on track in the after being thumped 63-38 by Ohio State in their last outing. Of course, with the way the Big Ten seems to be going, it'll probably be all turned upside down again next week.

Rutgers

Sneaking along nicely under the radar is the No.19 Rutgers Scarlet Knights, whose new head coach Kyle Flood has stepped into the shoes of the departed Greg Schiano and the team from Piscataway, New Jersey is 7-0 (4-0 Big East) for the first time since 2006. 

It was a 35-10 victory against Temple in Philadelphia this afternoon, in a game that was viewed by many as a potential trap game for the Scarlet Knights, who have relied on smothering turnover-generating defense and grinding, usually low-scoring offense, to get their first six wins. Indeed, Rutgers were down 10-0 and scored on their first four second-half possessions to storm back into the game, silencing any thought of a loss to the team kicked out of the Big East in 2004.

QB Gary Nova threw four TD passes in something of a break-out game for a signal caller who's taken a back seat to rising star RB Jawan Jamison (113 yards on 19 carries today) and the Knights completely outdid Temple on the ground, a lopsided total yardage count of 368-186 along with three turnovers - including a 19-yard fumble return in the fourth to completely ice the game - the deciding factor in getting over the hump and getting out of the City of Brotherly Love with an important win.

Now the Scarlet Knights figure to get a little more press than they've previously gotten. The Big East is still teetering on the brink, as far as who might win it, but you've gotta like the way Rutgers force turnovers with regularity and Kyle Flood must be right up in contention for Coach of the Year? Oh, and all that talk about how bad the Big East were last year - it was warranted, mind you - should be silenced because, as far as I'm concerned, the Big East is outplaying the Big Ten just at the moment.

Michigan

The Spartans had won four straight against their "big brother" - a few years ago, Michigan RB Mike Hart once called the MSU team the Wolverines' "little brother" to stoke the flames of the rivalry - but the run came to an end in the Big House, handing Michigan QB Denard Robinson his first victory against the Wolverines' in-state rival in his last chance to notch a W.

It wasn't pretty, with one total TD in sixty minutes of football played, but it was strangely compelling - see: Nebraska vs. Northwestern - and the Michigan hero was kicker Brandon Gibbons, who did all his team's scoring, and calmly slotted a 38-yard field goal with 0:05 seconds to play. Robinson had been shut down completely by the Spartans in his previous starts, and he wasn't the shining superstar that he can sometimes be in this game, but he did enough, made enough plays, particularly late in the game on a 20-yard strike to Drew Dileo to get the Wolverines in field goal range, to help his team get what is probably the most satisfying win of the Brady Hoke era after their triumph over Ohio State last year.

It was Michigan's 900th all-time win, an incredible mark no matter which way you look at it!

USC

Yes, it happened against lowly Colorado, but USC's star senior QB Matt Barkley put on one heck of a show inside the LA Memorial Coliseum as the Trojans, beginning a very important home stand that features games vs. Arizona State and Oregon, put the Buffaloes to the sword, a 50-6 whipping of the hapless Buffs.

Before taking a seat in the third quarter, Barkley was like a surgeon, slicing and cutting at the Buffaloes defense. His numbers, quite remarkable despite Colorado's inability to stop anyone this year, were: 19-20 for 298 yards and 6 TDs. His QB Rating was 319.2. Barkley has had some incredible performances during his career, but this might have been the very best of all. Barkley set the school record for career TD passes while WR Robert Woods overtook Dwayne Jarrett, sliding into first place on USC's career reception list and set a school record for TD receptions in a single game.

After weeks of Lane Kiffin leaning on his running game, led by Penn State transfer RB Silas Redd, the USC coach opened up the playbook and let Barkley take control. The Trojan offense, looking like the Trojan offense of old, with Lee and running mate WR Marqise Lee dominating, knocked Colorado's defense around, rolling up  313 yards and 33 points on from 27 first half plays. Barkley led from the front, hitting pay dirt on throws of 39, 29, 17 and 3 yards in the first 35, all in the first 35 minutes of the game. Clearly, Kiffin understands that he'll need to lean on his star quarterback - and rely on the Trojan D to get some key stops - against the opponents to come: Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, Notre Dame.

Kansas State

For anyone who doubted that the Kansas State Wildcats weren't the real deal, watch this game and understand that they are. In a performance that just about mirrored what Matt Barkley was doing for USC, K-State QB Collin Klein lit up the porous West Virginia defense to the tune of 17-19 for 321 yards and 3 TDs passing and 43 yards/4 TDs on the ground.

Then, the Wildcat defense smothered QB Geno Smith, whose Heisman hopes have now well and truly gone up in smoke, restricting that high-powered offense to 7 points - one of the two WVU touchdowns came on a kick return - and 244 yards while forcing two turnovers in front of a stunned Morgantown crowd. It's what Kansas State do. They suffocate and grind and Klein, now surely the unrivaled Heisman favourite, led the offense over and through the 50-point barrier. This was a major statement win.

For the second week in a row, the West Virginia offense was shut down - not just shut down, but rendered completely anemic for 90% of the game - by a fundamentally sound defense and their offense just couldn't keep up. We all knew it was coming. I just never expected it to be such a wide margin of victory. Believe the Kansas State hype, people, because it's all real.

Quick Screens

The Oregon offense is scary good. This from a USC fan who's pretty concerned about having to play them in a couple of weeks. On Friday night, the Ducks faced a pretty good Arizona State team and completely blew them off the park. I mean, decimated the Sun Devil defense in every way imaginable. When it mattered, even the Oregon defense looked good. It was 43-7 at half time and Oregon let their foot off the pedal. The Ducks are 7-0 and about the only team I can see challenging the SEC for college football supremacy.

Another shootout, this one in Dallas, where Southern Methodist, capitalising on some crucial momentum-killing turnovers, two each by three Houston QBs featuring in the game, beat the Cougars 72-42. The Mustangs did it in style, piling on the points - primarily, thanks to three Pick-6 plays and a special teams fumble that led to a score - avenging, along the way, their 37-7 loss to record-setting QB Case Keenum and the Cougars last year. Texas transfer QB Garrett Gilbert had a 4-TD game for SMU. Houston, who have fallen quite considerably after losing Keenum to graduation and former coach Kevin Sumlin to Texas A&M, pretty much beat themselves.

Texas Tech survived the hype of seven days' worth of national coverage for it's dominant victory vs. West Virginia in Lubbock, outlasting a tough Texas Christian outfit in Fort Worth, escaping with a 56-53 3OT victory. The Red Raiders were out-gained 516-387 by the Horn Frogs, but it was a 7-TD game from QB Seth Doege - fresh off of a big game last week against the Mountaineers - that was the difference in this one. That's 13 TDs to just one interception in the last two games for Doege. 

The dream of SEC glory is over the South Carolina. Steve Spurrier's team were soundly beaten by Florida today, going down 44-11 to the Gators, who look like they're back to their championship-winning ways. It was an impressive victory by the Gators, who took advantage of Gamecock turnovers - QB Jeff Driskell threw three of his four TD passes after his defense made a takeaway - and can clinch their spot in the SEC Championship Game with a victory against Georgia next week.

Concern for Ohio State with their star QB Braxton Miller, the greatest beneficiary of the spread system new coach Urban Meyer has been running, knocked out of the game vs. Purdue. It was left to backup QB Kenny Guiton to lead a Buckeye comeback that resulted in a 29-22 OT victory over the Boilermakers. It will be an interesting week in Columbus. Absolutely, OSU are nowhere near the same team without Miller. And the meat of the Big Ten schedule is still to come.

Watch out, because Wisconsin might be getting their once-explosive - and, this year, disappointing - offense on track. In their 38-13 pounding of Minnesota today, the Badgers ran up 337 yards on the ground: 15 carries, 175 yards and 3 TDs for James White + 24 carries, 166 yards and 2 TDs for Montee Ball. If they can produce that week after week, Wisconsin might be right back in the Big Ten hunt.

A week after being comprehensively scored upon by Oklahoma in Dallas, Texas did some scoring of their own, beating Baylor 56-50 and though the Longhorn defense really has to do some work to get better - last week, it was 63, this week 51 points given up - the same does not need to be said of RB Joe Bergeron, who ran the ball 18 times for 114 yards and 5 TDs. He was the difference in a wild night in Austin. Just as well the Longhorns won, after last week's clunker.