Colorado
Granted, there's some stiff competition - from, amongst others, Kansas - but if the CU Buffaloes aren't the worst program in all of FBS football, then I'd be very surprised. It seems that the team from Boulder, CO, who have been in the wilderness for a long time, even before their move to the Pac-12, just cannot conjure up a win. They started the season with a disastrous loss to in-state rival Colorado State (who haven't won since), and have notched just the one victory since then. That says very little good about CU.
Coming off the bye week on Thursday night against Arizona State, the Buffs scored ten points in the final 24 seconds of the first half to trail by just three points, but whatever momentum they'd gained late in the second quarter was crushed by ASU's Rashad Ross returning the opening kickoff of the second half an even one hundred yards. Colorado didn't score again, with ASU piling on 31 unanswered for a 51-17 rout. What that means for already-embattled head coach Jon Embree (nothing good, I'm sure) remains to be seen, but the entire CU program is in dire straits, the laughing stock of the Pac-12.
This is a program that needs to be ripped down and, literally, started from scratch before serious, long-term damage is done. And Buffs fans thought it was bad when Dan Hawkins was head coach!! At least they had something of a pulse back then, despite inconsistent offense - a lot of it from the coach's son, QB Cody Hawkins - but whoever thought that the firing of Hawkins would turn the program around was sorely mistaken. It's becoming embarrassing now.
Red River Rivalry
Like others, I hadn't been completely sold on Texas' re-emergence this year, mostly because their defense had been gashed - particularly on the ground - a lot, especially over the last two weeks. And sophomore QB David Ash, starting without any competition from other signal-callers, really hadn't faced a good defense. Nor had Ash felt much pressure from a pass rush, the pocket that his O-line had provided pretty much stood up allowing the second-year quarterback to make some plays.
That's why I was hesitant about the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma. The Sooners can rush the passer like few others, especially in the Big XII. Despite their loss to Kansas State, which featured ill-timed turnovers and, quite frankly, was against probably the best tesam in the conference, Oklahoma still looked like a team who could challenge for the conference title. QB Landry Jones holds a lot of OU records for a reason - he's a good quarterback - and he's developing a nice cache of weapons. Oh yeah, and the Sooners have a pretty good defense going, too.
Heading into the classic match-up in Dallas, generally, across the field, Oklahoma were the best defense that Texas had seen in 2012. I wanted to reserve my judgement. Just as well, because the Longhorns were completely murdered from the outset. As far as insipid, uninspired, ill-disciplined and generally lacking-in-fundamental-football-skill goes, this was as bad as I've seen from any elite-level college football team in a long time. When they weren't tackling, they were giving away bad penalties. Or both. The offense sputtered and died, snuffed out by a ferocious OU defense that barely let up all day. Ash, so good in two previous starts, looked like he had in the Cotton Bowl a year ago: woefully out of his depth. The injury he sustained late might have major ramifications for the Longhorns' season. Backup Case McCoy may well be carrying this team on his shoulders now.
It was 36-2 at half-time - game over, effectively - and Oklahoma led 56-8 with half the fourth quarter to play. Coach Bob Stoops took the foot off the accelerator then, and Texas, against mostly OU back-ups, managed to put on 13 points, with QB Case McCoy in the game in relief of Ash, but it was little more than window dressing. The tale of the tape will say thus: on the biggest regular-season day in Big XII football, the Longhorns were outclassed, outplayed and horribly embarrassed by a motivated, passionate Oklahoma Sooners outfit. They were red-hot today, the boys from Norman, and they deserve all the credit in the world.
For Texas fans...well, that's two years in a row OU's put a beating on your team. And QB Landry Jones (20-36, 319 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT), for all those who marginalised him (particularly those in predominantly burnt orange), as 3 straight wins vs. Texas at the State Fair in Dallas.
Michigan
It's fair to say that, when on song, there is a certain electric, undeniable quality about Michigan football and Denard Robinson. The record-setting quarterback had another brilliant outing vs. Illinois on Saturday - it was a rarity in that he threw for more yards than he notched up on the ground - despite a momentary injury scare where the hearts of everyone associated with U of M football would have nearly flipped over. Yet, Robinson returned to the fray, and he had the Wolverine offense humming. He has an uncanny ability to make good players look terrible when it comes to missing tackles, a fact referenced by Illini head coach Tim Beckman after the 45-0 loss.
The defense was on fire, too. Led by the feisty linebacker Jake Ryan - whom head coach Brady Hoke described as one of the most unorthodox football players he's ever known - they shut out the Illini, completely blanketing sophomore QB Riley O'Toole who entered the game after starting QB Nathan Scheelhaase was knocked out with concussion-like symptoms in the second half. The Big Blue defense held Illinois to a measly 134 yards of total offense. Illinois had a pitiful 13 yards to half time. Even on special times, Michigan dominated. They were A+ in all three phases of the game, and it showed.
What seemed like a disastrous season - a hammering by Alabama in Arlington and an ugly loss to Notre Dame in South Bend that was marred by turnovers left, right and centre - is now looking up, because the Wolverines are 2-0 in the Big Ten and have a chance to go 3-0 with cross-state rivals Michigan State coming into Ann Arbor next Saturday. Michigan will be looking to break a 4-year losing streak against the Spartans.
Play next week like they played this week and the Wolverines will be tough to beat. And that's the rub with this Michigan team, led so charismatically by Robinson, and Robinson's big issue is consistency. The team go as he goes; he's their beating heart. When he struggles, they struggle. When he's playing lights-out, so is everyone else. But the big guess each week is whether the Good Denard or the Bad Denard comes out to play. For all those on Michigan's Big Ten schedule down the stretch, if it so happens that Good Denard makes an appearance, watch out!
West Virginia vs. Texas Tech
I've long suspected than when the Mountaineers come up against an offense just as good as theirs that goes hand-in-hand with a unit on the other side of the football who can actually make a proper defensive stop. They ran into that combination today, in the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and the result was a highly-authoritative 49-14 victory for Tommy Tuberville's men behind a career day for QB Seth Doege, who shredded a Mountaineer defense that's been shredded often this year, going 32-42 for 499 yards with 6 TDs and 1 (very unlucky; deflection) INT.
So, a team inside the AP Top Five falls to an unranked opponent for the second week in a row - it was Florida State losing to North Carolina State last week, in a close game - but this one was a rout. The Mountaineers were hardly in it from the outset, giving up a whopping 676 yards and failing to score a solitary point between 4:44 gone in the first quarter and 3:14 to play in the last. In that stretch, the Red Raiders scored 35 points.
It was a rout on a windy in Lubbock, where WVU head coach Dana Holgerson apparently had a problem with punting - he rarely did it, even going for it on long fourth down yardage - and where QB Geno Smith's Heisman chances likely took a beating. Smith, the focal point of the Mountaineer offense for all of this season, and absolutely the country's favourite for the Heisman, finished a disappointing 29-55 for 256 yards and one TD. Not Heisman numbers at all. Until they can get some proper defensive play, West Virginia won't win a Big XII championship or anything else. Basic tackling would be a start. The rest of the season should be interesting, particularly if their defense doesn't get any better.
Quick Screens
LSU took some of the starch out of South Carolina's ambitions of an SEC championship in 2012, but the Tigers offense still lacks a whole lot of punch. On the flip-side, the defense did wonderfully to contain an offense led by QB Connor Shaw and RB Marcus Lattimore that ran roughshod over Georgia seven days before.
Still yet to trail in a football game this season, Notre Dame continued their remarkable resurgence with a gritty, at times ugly 20-13 OT win against Stanford in South Bend. despite being without QB Everett Gohlston for the end of the fourth quarter and all of the overtime frame. At all of coach Brian Kelly's previous stops, it's taken 3-4 years for him to really start getting results that make the fan base and alumni happy. This happens to be Kelly's third season in South Bend. Notre Dame are for real. Their defense is red-hot.
Alabama keep on rolling, and are clearly the very best football team in FBS at the moment. They showed it against Missouri. The SEC newcomers were no match for the rolling Tide, who were up 28-0 early in the second quarter, and by that stage the contest was well and truly over. 'Bama triumphed easily, 42-10, out-gaining the hapless Tigers 524-163 in total yardage. A lot of that was thanks to RB Eddie Lacy, who helped himself to 180 yards and 3 TDs on eighteen carries. Good luck beating the Tide in 2012.
No starting QB Sean Mannion? No worries, or so it seems for Oregon State who survived what many - myself included - thought might be a trap game against Brigham Young. Not so; the Beavers left Provo, UT 42-24 winners. Mike Riley might be in line for Coach of the Year at this rate.
Texas A&M just beat Louisiana Tech, 59-57. Know why? QB sensation Johnny Manziel. His work on the night: 24-40 for 396 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT through the air. Oh, and he managed a 179 yards and 3 TDs on 19 rushes, too. My goodness, Kevin Sumlin and the Aggies have unearthed a good one in College Station!
Not looking like the National Title contenders they were purported to be - and I was hoping they would be - in 2012 are USC. Some strange play calling from Lane Kiffin, who seemed to want to avoid QB Matt Barkley throwing the football deep to his star WRs Marqise Lee and Robert Woods, saw RB Silas Redd, the Penn State transfer, do most of the work, and the Trojans eeked out a strange 24-14 win vs. Washington in Seattle. Barkley was just 10-20 for 167 yards, a TD and an INT. Redd, on the other hand, toted the rock 26 times for 154 yards and a TD.
Kitch's Beast of the Week: Seth Doege and Johnny Manziel were right up there in contention, as were Denard Robinson and Eddy Lacy, but for impact on a football game, you can't go past Oklahoma's back-up QB Blake Bell. They call him the Belldozer, and he specialises in goal-line situations while Landry Jones finishes out his senior season as starter under centre. Bell scored 4 TDs in the red zone in the first half in Dallas, the major reason why Texas were well and truly of the contest before the second half began. Bell's numbers: 11 rush, 31 yards, 4 TDs and a pass of 13 yards. How's that for devastating, quick-strike effort?
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