Around the Nation: Quick Takes Sep 2

Lots of fun yesterday, lots of highlight reel plays, and lots of surprises.  Here's the rundown of the top 25 and a few teams of interest to Nebraska fans:

#1 USC 49 Hawaii 10
USC scored early and often while Hawaii couldn't score until it was already 35-0 in the third quarter.  This is exactly the type of game USC needed to cement their #1 status, and exactly the type of game Matt Barkley needed (378 yds, 4TDs, 0 INTs) to get his Heisman train rolling.  Penn State transfer RB Silas Redd was also impressive racking up 56 yards and a touchdown on just 9 carries.

#2 Alabama 41 #8 Michigan 14
As good as USC looked, this type of performance should allow Bama to leapfrog the Trojans in the polls.  I expected Alabama to dominate, but I didn't think it would be so complete.  Denard Robinson was supposed to challenge the re-built Tide defense, but he could only manage 227 yards of total offense and threw 2 picks.  Freshman running back TJ Yeldon stole the show in the game of the week running 11 times for 111 yards and a TD.  Some worried that the Tide defense would experience some drop-off, but Nick Saban is in plug-and-play mode with his athletes and the Tide dominated one of the best offenses in the Big Ten.  Once again, the SEC shines on national TV while the Big 10 is clearly a step behind.

#3 LSU 41 North Texas 14
Not much to talk about here.  The Tigers had two running backs with 100+ yards rushing, and new QB Zach Mettenberger was efficient, throwing for a TD and a pick.  The Tigers showed an uncharacteristic weakness on defense, allowing an 80 yard TD pass right before halftime, but take away that play, and the Mean Green only gained 139 total yards.  It should be another good year in Baton Rouge, and you won't want to miss the Bama game the first week of November.

#4 Oklahoma 24 UTEP 7
What a weird game.  What possible reason could Oklahoma have for traveling to lowly UTEP?  Why was it 7-7 until the third quarter?  What would this game have looked like if UTEP hadn't missed three filed goals?  All very good questions.  Suffice it to say that Oklahoma is thankful that this was the 9 o'clock game and not many people stayed up to watch it. Lots of issues to fix in Norman this week.

#5 Oregon 57 Arkansas State 34
The final score is a little misleading as it was 50-10 at the half, but Oregon can't fell too good about getting outscored 24-7 in the second half and allowing 530 total yards to the Red Wolves.  Nebraska fans, being the worriers that we are, might not want to overlook the Wolves when they come to town in a few weeks.

#6 Georgia 45 Buffalo 23
Living in Georgia, I would be remiss if I didn't mention this game.  I caught Buffalo's drive right before half time in which they marched the whole field in 50 seconds and were just shy of a TD that would have made it 20-24 at the break.  It didn't end up mattering, since Georgia pulled away in the second half, but it showed that Georgia is not as good on defense as everyone said they would be all summer.  Also from what I saw, Aaron Murray looked like an average QB, and based on game 1 doesn't belong in the discussion for the Heisman trophy.  He just didn't have the gravitas, the "it" factor you would expect from a Heisman quarterback.  That and he only hit 15of 26 passes against a 3-9 MAC team. Georgia needs to make use of this good use of this game film in practice; this sort of effort won't cut it against SEC teams. 

 #7 Florida State 69 Murray State 3
Florida State racked up 606 yards and only allowed 156 to the FCS Racers.  Florida State has been pretty disappointing recently, but this is a great start for the Seminoles.  If EJ Manuel wants to mount a serious Heisman campaign, he needs to do better than 16/22 for 188 yds, 1 TD and 1 INT.  I get that he didn't play a whole lot, but he'll have to do better his next time out.

#10 Arkansas 49 Jacksonville State 24
Folks wondering what lingering effects the Bobby Petrino scandal might have on the ultra talented Arkansas team were treated to a sloppy matchup against a game FCS foe.  Jacksonville State actually led 14-7 at one point, and were only down 11 points until two quick Arkansas TDs at the end of the third quarter put the game away.  The Razorbacks lit it up through the air, but only managed 164 yards rushing.  That's going to have to change come SEC time.

#11 West Virginia 69 Marshall 34
Geno Smith looked outstanding going 32/36 for 323 yards and 4 touchdowns, and adding 65 yards and another touchdown on the ground.  This is supposed to be a rivalry game, but Marshall has been far from competitive in recent years.  If West Virginia is serious about a run at the Big 12 championship, this is way they need to play to get it done.


#12 Wisconsin 26 Northern Iowa 21
Only 387 yards and 26 points against an FCS team?  I wondered if losing the entire offensive coaching staff would hurt the Badgers, and it did.  The good news is that Wisky has three manageable games to figure it out before traveling to Lincoln.  The Badgers need to improve a defense that allowed 300 yards and 3 touchdowns to the Panthers. 

#14 Clemson 26 Auburn 19
Seems like forever since Auburn rode Cam Newton and a tough defense to a national title, but it was only two seasons ago.   Playing on a neutral field in the Georgia Dome, Clemson rolled up 320 yards rushing with 231 from running back Andre Ellington, and won a big game with their best player, WR Sammy Watkins, on the bench.  Clemson's defense gave up 374 yards in new coordinator Brent Venables' debut, but also forced 2 turnovers and held the Tigers to 3 field goals in the second half.

#15 Texas 37 Wyoming 17
In an important year for Texas and Mack Brown, the Longhorns get off to a good start with a win over a decent Wyoming team.  Texas had two RBs over 100 yards, and got an efficient performance from QB David Ash.  The defense did what we've come to expect from a Texas defense, except for an 82 yard TD by Robert Herron in the first quarter, and overall it was an easy night in Austin.

#18 Ohio State 56 Miami (OH) 10
Didn't watch this one, but I saw Devin Smith's fantastic one-handed grab after the Buckeyes were down 0-3 after one quarter.  I can't wait to hear about how amazing Urban Meyer is and how perfect a fit Braxton Miller is for his offense, and how great Ohio State is gonna be from now on.  Sarcasm aside, 538 yards of offense and no turnovers is a pretty decent start to the Meyer era.  Allowing 300 yards passing to a lowly MAC team is not going to fly, but for now we can chalk it up to first game jitters and instead, laud the Buckeyes for allowing -1 yards rushing to the Redhawks.

#19 Oklahoma State 84 Savannah State 0
Talk about a glorified scrimmage.  I don't know exactly what to make of a game like this.  Are the Cowboys that good, or are the Tigers that bad?  Hard to say, but the score didn't set a record.  Back in 1916 Oklahoma State beat Southwestern Oklahoma 117-0.  Fun fact.

#22 Kansas State 51 Missouri State 9
Looking at the final score, who'd have thought K-State only led 9-6 at the half, and 16-9 midway through the third quarter?  Credit K-State for finishing this one strong, but they'll need to start faster against the stronger teams on their schedule.

#23 Florida 27 Bowling Green 14
Oh how the mighty have fallen.  For the record I really like Will Muschamp and I do think that he'll have success at Florida, but he made a mistake hiring Charlie Weis and it will be a while before he has an offense good enough to contend for a title.  As long as he keeps up in recruiting however, it's a matter of when not if.  For now though, Florida fans can't expect better than 3rd place in the SEC East behind South Carolina and Georgia.

Purdue 48 Eastern Kentucky 6
Eastern Kentucky is not a good team by any stretch of the imagination, but credit Purdue for dominating the Colonels from start to finish.  With the Leaders Division looking mighty winnable after Wisconsin's struggles yesterday,  Purdue threw their name in the hat with the beatdown.  Next week's game against Notre Dame is going to tell us a lot about the Boilermakers.

Indiana 24 Indiana State 17
A win is a win at this point of Kevin Wilson's tenure at Indiana, but he can't feel too great after the Hoosiers had to sweat this one out against the Sycamores.  Clearly there aren't any gimmes on Indiana's schedule so a huge improvement on last season's 1-11 record is not a given. 

Ohio 24 Penn State 14
As I predicted, there was way too much talk about JoePa in the buildup to this game, but once the game got going, the announcers backed off a little bit.  This game was pretty fun to watch, plenty of action and drama, and a dominant second half by the Bobcats.  Penn State looked pretty good in the first half, but the lack of playmakers at the skill positions, coupled with turnovers prevented them from seizing some early momentum and getting way out ahead of Ohio before halftime.  Ohio came out on fire in the 3rd quarter, and Tyler Tettleton was able to lead the Bobcats to a solid win, and establish them as a darkhorse BCS buster.  Penn State on the other hand, wilted under pressure and even though the offense showed promise, they wilted under pressure and it's going to be a long dark week in Happy Valley. 

Northwestern 42 Syracuse 41
I'm not the first to say it, but I'll gladly repeat it: Northwestern is not going anywhere until they can play better defense.  Blowing a 35-13 third quarter lead is inexcusable, even if your starting QB is hurt.  Credit the Wildcats for pulling off the victory (with a little help from the refs), but it's not gonna be like that in the Big 10 season.  Also somebody smack NU coach Pat Fitzgerald for me.  Calling timeout right after a Syracuse timeout with 2 seconds left and the whole field to go?  Didn't he know that people were dying for his game to be over so ESPN2 could switch to the Nebraska game?  Pretty darn inconsiderate.

Iowa 18 Northern Illinois 17
Since Iowa has been designated our official rival, I suppose I should be glad that they struggled with a MAC team, but I can only muster a little bit of huaghty disdain at reading the score.  Iowa?  Eh.  I think Michigan ends up a bigger rival in the end.  Still, it does my heart good to see a "rival" struggle.  I guess.

Notre Dame 50 Navy 10
I hate Notre Dame as much as anyone, but you can't deny this is pretty impressive.  Notre Dame still gave up 349 yards of offense, but that only turned into 10 points for the Midshipmen who gave Notre Dame 4 turnovers.  As any Nebraska fan can tell you, losing three fumbles is not conducive to a great triple option attack.  Playing a de facto home game in Dublin, Ireland, the Fighting Irish took care of business and with another dominant game against Purdue, the Irish will be in my top 25.

Iowa State 38 Tulsa 23
I mention this game because I like Paul Rhoads and because former Nebraska QB Cody Green now starts for Tulsa.  Tulsa led 16-7 after the first quarter, but Steele Jantz (gotta be in the top 10 football names ever) and Iowa State used a big second quarter to pull ahead and win pretty easily.  Green's final stats weren't awful (23/49 for 198 yards 2 TDs and 2 INTs) but it wasn't enough to get it done against one of the more underrated teams in the country.

I don't know how quick those takes were, but there you have 'em.  Thanks for reading and look for a more extensive review of the Nebraska-Southern Miss game later this evening.