Onto what you've been anxiously waiting for, the weekend results of my college predictions. As Warner Wolf would say, "Let's go to the videotape":
Game #1 - Cincy (+3) vs. Temple
I call this game "referee-gate", because I sat here and watched the entire game and realized that the referees took the game away from Cincy. Right before halftime, the game was tied 10-10, and Cincy was driving for a field goal to take into the half. The Cincy offense stalls, and the field goal kicker trots out onto the field and calmly hits a field goal to put the Bearcats up 13-10. Or so I thought. Wait a second.....the referees are congregating. No good can come from this. The referee gets on the microphone and says, "The ball was not marked ready for play. Retry the field goal." WHAAT! WHAT! The ball was not marked ready for play! You have one job. Put the ball down, and get the hell out of the way! Why would you put the ball down if it was NOT marked ready for play. In what universe do you live in, referee? So, after that five minute meltdown and commercial break, they come back and what do you think the Cincy kicker does? Misses the damn field goal! Of course. To top it off, he misses two more later on in the game and the Cincy defense disappears in the fourth quarter and overtime and Cincy ends up losing the game 23-17. See what happens, officials? You take the game out of the hands of the players (sometimes) and the game comes down to a judgement call or one single call. I understand that the referees have a hard job, and I wouldn't want to be one for a hot second, but if you're going to make that call, at least explain it or clarify it. Why would you put the ball down if it was not marked ready for play? I doubt the center stole the football from you, ran it back to the line of scrimmage and hiked the ball to the holder.
Enough ranting about that game. I lost, deal with it. Onto the winners (and one more loser).
Game #2 - Iowa (-9) vs. Maryland
Yay, a winner. Winner, winner, front line winner. Pay the man. The Bizzaro Maryland team showed up this week. The Maryland team that lost to Temple showed up. Not the superhuman performance that the Terps put up against the #9 team in the country (Texas). Pop quiz: what's Texas's only loss this year so far? No, not Oklahoma. No, not Texas Tech. No, not Texas A&M. No, not Baylor (although all good guesses). MARYLAND!! MARYLAND! That just goes to show you that in football, any team can win on any given day. Any given Saturday or Sunday, baby. Maryland and its run-happy offense was stymied by the Hawkeyes, who held the Terps to just 115 yards of total offense and just 7 first downs. This is pretty impressive, given that the Iowa quarterback only threw for 86 yards in the entire game. The Maryland defense couldn't get off the field. They were on the field nearly every couple of minutes, and the Hawkeyes offensive line dominated the Terps weary defensive line in the shutout victory. Yay, I even up my record for the week!
Game #3 - Western Michigan (-4) vs. Central Michigan
I had a feeling about this game. No, I did not have a fever and the only prescription was more cowbell. I had a premonition. Western Michigan was going to come out and destroy Central Michigan without breaking a sweat. It's like Western Michigan was Ivan Drago and Central was Apollo Creed. Yes, Central hung in there for a while, but once LeVante Bellamy ran for a 29 yard touchdown run and Jon Wassink scored three TD's, Central was down for the count. They scored 10 points late in the game, but by that time, Western probably had the Scoobies in anyway.
Game #4 - Washington State (-3) vs. Oregon
Just watch college gameday from last Saturday to get a vibe of what the atmosphere in Pullman, WA was like for this game. It looked like that party from "Married with Children" that was so large that the National Guard had to start "other parties" to get it to burn itself out. The fans at Wazzou were so amped up that the Cougars had to be amped up too. And, when you're amped up, many players play at or near their highest levels. I know when I played sports, I always wanted to be as pumped up as I possibly could because I thought I could do anything when I was pumped up. Go run through that wall? OK! Go climb that tree? OK! I think Mike Leach could've asked the Cougs to run to Oregon and back and there would be a caravan on the highway. I thought Washington State was due, and I think Oregon was looking back to last week's game where they beat Washington in come from behind fashion. Oregon slept on the Cougars, and now they're paying the price.
Game #5 - Minnesota (+4) at Nebraska
Umm....the less said about this game, the better. Good for Scott Frost, getting his first win at Nebraska. Bad for Minnesota, who had the game within 6 points (28-22) before disappearing and allowing the Cornhuskers to score 56 points and end up blowing them out.
So, all in all, I finished 3-2 for the week. Not terrible, but not my best, either. I can't go 4-1 every week!
Early games that I like this week:
Iowa (+6.5) at Penn State
Boston College (+3.5) vs. Miami, but ONLY if A.J. Dillon plays
Army (+1) at Eastern Michigan
Washington State (+3) at Stanford
NC State (-2) at Syracuse - NC State is PISSED off that Clemson shut them out, and they'll take it out on Syracuse.
Navy (+24.5) vs. Notre Dame - Notre Dame ALWAYS plays to the level of its' competition.
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