The Hangover Cure: Week 4

Key Takeaways. After Alabama and Florida, is anything certain?
The Tide rolled Arkansas for four quarters, and the Gators spanked Kentucky for one, but those were the only two instances of in-conference dominance by unbeaten teams this Saturday. Texas looked vulnerable in their only conference game last week, and LSU needed a goal-line stand to thwart an upset bid from Mississippi State this week, and Michigan needed another Tate Forcier rescue to beat Indiana. Penn State and Mississippi dropped from the ranks of the unbeatens as Iowa’s and South Carolina’s unheralded defenses dominated those games. The one-loss crowd isn’t making things any easier. Once-beaten Virginia Tech and Oregon demolished their top-ten conference foes at home, which just makes their earlier struggles more baffling; Miami and Cal, consequently, have gone from looking great to being wood-chippered. USC was underwhelming against Washington State; Oklahoma’s defense may be the real deal, but their offense still has a Sam Bradford-sized hole that may yet be filled and a Jermaine Gresham-sized abscess that won’t be; Terrelle Pryor’s progression is nonexistent for Ohio State.

And so we’re left with Alabama and Florida, stocked with talent and scary on defense, a slew of mid-major threats (Boise State, TCU, Houston), and a darkhorse BCS squad that feels like a mid-major in Cincinnati. This year feels like it will break either of two ways: Toward clashes of the titans in the SEC Championship and national title game, or toward a dizzingly chaotic free-for-all that ends with Tony Pike holding that crystal football after Cincy tops Houston 49-45 in Pasadena.

The college football gods must have decided the usual roller-coaster would only be improved by blindfolding every rider.

Last week, I wrote this: “South Florida fans are kidding themselves if they think a Matt Grothe-less team is a Big East contender; they may be lucky to be bowl-bound. Next week’s foe, Florida State, is not Wofford, Western Kentucky, or Charleston Southern, and could beat the Bulls by 30.” Then USF redshirt freshman B.J. Daniels ran rings around and threw bombs over the Florida State defense, and George Selvie led a rampage by the Bulls’ front four, and the Bulls claimed a 17-7 victory over the Seminoles in Tallahassee that may expand the state of Florida’s power structure to a Big Four. I was so very, very wrong. Mea culpa.

But when the running game doesn’t work, it’s nice to have Cincinnati’s Tony Pike: The Bearcats had just 16:18 of possession and 57 rushing yards, but Pike threw for 300 yards and three TDs to keep Cincinnati undefeated in a 28-20 win over Fresno State. On the season, Pike has thrown for 1,223 yards, 11 TDs, two picks, and a sterling 70.5 completion rate, while the Bearcats have yet to have a 100-yard rusher and produced more yardage on the ground against Southeast Missouri State, 227 yards, than they have in three games against FBS competition combined.

Blacked Out.

South Florida’s John Lejiste helped the Bulls upset the ‘Noles with a little pain.

Impaired Judgment. The easy selection here is Urban Meyer, who left his star quarterback in a game whose outcome wasn’t in doubt and paid the price, but he was only made to look bad by a cruel twist of fate.

Purdue’s Danny Hope can’t blame the cosmos for calling a timeout with 39 seconds remaining that gave a scrambling Notre Dame team time to regroup. Perhaps Jimmy Clausen would have found Kyle Rudolph in the end zone to win the game for the Irish without the timeout, but Hope will be rightfully second-guessed for taking the time to set up a defense and getting burned anyway.

Potent Quotables. Meyer on Tebow: “It’s like my son. Imagine your son lying on the ground. My knees were shaking.“South Florida’s Jim Leavitt, on their win over FSU: “It changes history. You have to beat them to get talked about. Now I can say we should be talked about.”

Ole Miss’ Bradley Sowell, on expectations: “I’m glad it’s gone so we can get back to working and win some ballgames.” (Whoops.)

Proof. There is no better receiver in college football right now than A.J. Green. The Georgia star caught a touchdown, blocked a field goal, and got away with the sort of subtle push that a savvy wide receiver must have in his repertoire on a catch that put the Bulldogs in field goal range at game’s end.

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