College Football -- Week 2

Week 2 didn’t appear to have too many interesting matchups, but like every week of college football, the story lines were anything but boring. We learned that VT still has a long way to go, East Carolina is for real, and Notre Dame still sucks.

Virginia Tech. A rather weak performance against I-AA Furman. We only led 3-0 at halftime, and while our Defense looked good, our offense was horrible. (Interestingly enough, UVa only led 3-0 at halftime of their game against I-AA Richmond, and only won 16-0. Something tells me that the Offensive Coordinators in the Commonwealth need to get better right quick.) Only 2 bad turnovers by Furman that led to 14 points really put the game away for the Hokies in the 2nd half. I doubt we’ll be able to muster much of an offense against a good Georgia Tech team this coming Saturday – it might even match the 6-3 thriller from 1991. Looking at the next 3 games (vs. GT; @ UNC; @ Nebraska), VT could easily be 1-4 when entering October.

Pittsburg St. A big win for the Gorillas last Saturday as they upset #11 Chadron St. 38-31. Offense was the name of the game, as Pitt St. scored on pass plays of 56 and 77 yards, and QB Mark Smith ran 61 yards for the game winning TD with 1:45 to play in the game. The win snapped Chadron State’s 25 game regular-season winning streak. The Division II poll isn't up yet, but I'm sure the Gorillas moved up a few spots with the win.

Ithaca Bombers. The Bombers pulled out a close 17-16 win over Lycoming on Saturday. I have no other information on the game, and Ithaca plays King’s College this weekend. (Isn’t that in Cambridge or Oxford?)

ACC Update. Another weak week in the ACC, without anything to write home about. The good: Wake Forest pulled off a last minute victory over Ole Miss in Winston-Salem to remain undefeated. It’s still worrisome that the best team in the ACC needed a last second field goal to beat the #5 team in the SEC-West. The bad: Duke dropped a tough one to Northwestern, and Miami, while playing well, fell to Florida 26-3. The ugly: Maryland, a team I thought might be a sleeper in the ACC before the season began, lost to Middle Tennessee St. The Fridge should be polishing his resume to become an OC in the off season – because he sure isn’t staying at College Park. (Might he go to VT? He’s friends with Beamer, and Frank desperately needs a new OC who has some creativity. It might happen…) The irrelevant: 5 teams had wins against I-AA foes, including Florida St. pounding Coastal Carolina 69-0. Not much to take from all that. The only ACC game between conference members was a close one down the street in Chestnut Hill, where Georgia Tech outlasted Boston College, 19-16. I’m kind of down on BC this year, so I’m not 100% sure what to take from this, except that GT might be getting better quicker than I thought they would, and BC might be worse than everyone thinks they are.

National Update. The biggest win of the week was East Carolina taking a whipping to West Virginia. I hope the ECU Pirates win the rest of their games; not just because VT lost to them, but because they’re a good team, a nice school, and they remind me a lot of VT before we go the Big East football invitation in 1991. The fans in ECU deserve a good team, and this club could easily run the table the rest of the year. Also, a big shout out to the Wildcats of New Hampshire, for beating Army 24-10. While the Black Knights of the Hudson are only I-A on paper, this continues a trend of UNH beating division I-A teams. Since 2004, UNH has beaten Rutgers (2004), Northwestern (2006), and Marshall (2007). Too bad they can’t seem to get over the hump during the I-AA playoffs and win a National Championship.
Teams on the rise, in my book: ECU; Kentucky; California; Vanderbilt; Penn St.
Teams I’m not impressed with: West Virginia; Colorado; South Carolina; Maryland.
Games to watch in Week 3:
UNC @ Rutgers. A team on the rise in a conference on the spiral (the Tar Heels) vs. a team on the decline in a conference that needs a boost (the Scarlet Knights). Carolina wins a close one.

Kansas @ South Florida. Please, Bulls, beat up these stinkin’ Jayhawks who ruined my New Years last year. South Florida by 10.

Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech. The battle for the Coastal division of the ACC begins with this game. Sage and I will be there to cheer on the Hokies, but I have this strange feeling it won’t be enough. GT 14, VT 13.

Michigan @ Notre Dame. Is it possible for both teams to lose? Michigan 3, ND 2.

UCLA @ BYU. Before the year began, this looked like a BYU blowout. Now, with UCLA beating Tennessee, and BYU having trouble with a weak Washington team, maybe this one will be better than I thought. Actually, I doubt it. BYU by 17.

Arkansas @ Texas. The old Southwestern Conference rivalry is renewed, but Texas has nothing to worry about. UT by 24.

Ohio St. @ USC. The game of the day, and I’ll probably miss most of it, driving back from Blacksburg to Raleigh-Durham to catch our flight back to New England. Ohio St. looked horrible against Ohio this past weekend, and USC had a week off after their dismantling of UVa the 1st weekend of the season. USC is at home. Should be a romp for the Trojans, no? When everything tells you one thing, go with the other. USC 24, OSU 20.

Wisconsin @ Fresno St. In all the non-BCS conference discussion of BYU, Utah, and now ECU, Fresno St. is being forgotten about. I love the fact that this team will go ANYWHERE and play ANYBODY and never complain about it. I’m also impressed that Wisconsin gave the Bulldogs a game in the Valley. That could be their downfall. Fresno St. by 6.

Upset Special: New Mexico over Arizona. Just because I like the nickname Lobos.