Weekend Watching

Last week was a bloodbath for top 25 teams during a week that looked innocent enough on paper. This week has more matchups of top 25 teams playing each other so look for the polls to be in movement again. #8 is already down with Kentucky's loss to #11 South Carolina yesterday. Other top 15 teams playing unranked teams with chances for upset are #5 Wisconsin v. Illinois and #12 Georgia vs. Tennessee. #2 USC plays Stanford and will be looking to score 100 after moving down last week with a victory. On to the top 25 teams facing off this week.

Oklahoma vs. Texas--The Red River Shootout would have been a matchup of top 10 teams and then last week happened. Oklahoma fell apart in the second vs. Colorado and Texas gave up an interception return, a kickoff return, and a punt return for touchdowns in the rare hattrick of scores in a 41-21 loss to Kansas State. Oklahoma is 10th in the nation in total offense with a balance of 225 yards rushing and 270 yards passing per game led on the ground by Allen Patrick and DeMarco Murray. Sam Bradford has only thrown 4 interceptions with half coming last week. Defensively the Sooners only give up 263 yards of offense. However, last week the Sooners were held to 230 total yards and gave up 381 in the loss. Oklahoma only managed to covert 1 out of 9 third down conversions. Texas will try to continue the trend this week with a defense ranking 22nd in the nation overall and and offense ranking 35th. Jamaal Charles leads the Longhorns with 108 yards rushing per game and Colt McCoy has thrown for 1254 yards thusfar, but also 9 interceptions.

Virginia Tech vs. Clemson--VT has quietly moved back up the polls after the debacle at LSU with wins over Ohio, William and Mary, and UNC. Not exactly a murderers row of competition. Sean Glennon is the model of mediocrity and has been the backup for Bryan Randall, Marcus Vick and now gets a chance to signal plays into Tyrod Taylor. Taylor is a true freshman that been granted the very prestigious number 5 (Marcus' old number). The wearer of that number can be arrested three times before thrown off of the team. The most pressing concern for VT this season on the field is the lack of a run game as Branden Ore is only averaging 3.5 yards per carry. Against LSU the Hokies ran for only 71 yards. Clemson is 4-1 and coming off of a loss to GT last week in which the Tigers only managed 3 points and 228 total yards. James Davis and CJ Spiller make up the one-two punch for the Tigers in the backfield with 655 yards combined. Cullen Harper has thrown for 12 touchdowns and only 1 interception. First team to double digits wins, possibly by double digits.

Ohio vs. Purdue--The Buckeyes were the big winners last week moving up to number 4 in the polls. Chris Wells has 540 rushing yards for OSU, but the story (as always) is the defense. Ohio State is number 2 in total defense, three in scoring defense, four in rushing defense, and 6 in passing defense. Did you know that James Laurinaitis is the son of wrestler Animal? If not you haven't seen OSU play in the last two years. On the other hand Purdue is led by the offense which is 35th in rushing, 14th in passing, 10 overall, and 8th in scoring. Quarterback Curtis Painter and running back Kory Sheets must have big games, but the key may be Dorien Bryant the Boilermaker receiver with 40 catches on the season already.

Florida vs. LSU--LSU is sick. Their defense is 1st against the run, 1st in pass efficiency, 1st overall, 2nd in scoring, and 4th against the pass. The Tigers are also 3rd in turnover margin and 10th in the nation in sacks. Offensively LSU comes in waves with 6 running backs averaging over 5 yards per carry and both Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux able to quarterback the team. Perrilloux is assuming a Tebow-like role for the Tigers this year with special packages and goal line formations. Florida lost to Auburn last week 20-17. Having watched the game I was shocked at the lack of a playmaker in the backfield other than Tebow. Tebow carried the ball 19 of the 28 times Florida ran with WR Percy Harcy carrying the second most with 4. Florida uses the pass better from the spread than WVU, but has no one else to divert attention from Tebow on the runs which could spell trouble versus the front 7 of LSU. They like white meat.

Nebraska vs. Missouri--Missouri is undefeated, but this game is on at the same time as Florida/LSU, ND v. UCLA, Cincy v. Rutgers, and Ohio State v. Purdue so not many will be watching. If you do watch it, check out Chase Daniels, he is good.