College Football Weekend Finale

The picture for the national championship is becoming clear. The contenders and pretenders are starting to separate themselves. More and more teams are being exposed as the year goes on. Iowa just undressed the Cinderella story that was Michigan State and the same goes Missouri who were just slaughtered by the Cornhuskers. Only one team of my collection of picks was able to win and that would none other than Oregon. I think they are most balanced team in the team in the nation. If they win out, they will face the winner of the Iron Bowl Auburn and Alabama game for the national title in my opinion. Now let jump into the rest of College games. Here are the highlights and lowlights of the weekend.

Michigan State vs. Iowa – As I stated before, I thought this was a team of destiny but not so much after having it handed to them by Iowa. Ricky Stanzi was able to pretty much do what he wanted to the Spartans secondary finishing 11 of 15 for 190 and 3 touchdowns. By the time the first quarter was over, Iowa led 17-0. By halftime, it was 30-0. It was just a dominant performance by the Hawkeyes that blew the race wide open for the Big Ten title. Four teams are now in the hunt for the Rose Bowl including Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Michigan State can kiss that national title aspirations good bye with the loss.

Missouri vs. Nebraska – When ever you let someone run for 307 yards on you, you probably lost that game. In Missouri’s case this holds true emphatically. Roy Helu Jr’s record breaking performance sealed the Tigers fate. Helu Jr broke the previous Cornhusker record for rushing yards held by Calvin Jones who ran for 294 against Kansas State back in 1991. So much for that deserving defensive respect I was harping for at the beginning of this weekend for Missouri. This game looked to be over by halftime with Nebraska sporting a 24-7 lead but the Tigers made a game out of it in the second half. They would come up short and now go back to pretender status. Nebraska takes control of the Big 12 north division with the win.

Oregon vs. USC - The Ducks once again used their up tempo style to take down the Trojans. Lamicheal James did his usual going for 239 yards and three scores while QB Darron Thomas threw for 288 yards and four touchdowns. No team in the country keeps the pace up like the Ducks do. You could see at times the USC defenders getting tired trying to keep up. I must give credit to the Trojans, I thought this was going to get out of hand in a big way but they were sounder on defense in this game. I really wanted to see Matt Barkley perform well in this game but he was mediocre at best finishing 26/49 for 264 yards 1 touchdown pass and 2 interceptions. Oregon marches on to the Pac-10 title and the BCS number one ranking, and will be in the national championship if they can win out.



Other notable games and players:

Auburn – The Tigers continue to obliterate teams offensively putting up 572 total yards of offense on the board against Ole Miss. I saw a lot of experts picking this game for the upset special of the week but I was having none of that. Cam Newton continues to do his Heisman pose on teams, doing it with his arm this time to the tune of 18/24 209 yards and two touchdown passes. Auburn may have lost the number one BCS ranking but they control their own destiny and it will come down to Alabama in the Iron bowl (as fate would have it) and the SEC championship game if they can beat their arch rival.

Baylor – I told anyone who would listen to watch out for the Bears against Texas. I don’t know if you can call it an upset by regular standards but this was the first time Baylor beat the Longhorns since 1997. Qb Robert Griffin passed for two touchdowns and the Bears are now legitimate contenders in the Big 12 south division. Texas continues their inconsistent play that has plagued them all year.

Michigan – They are going through their annual late season slide, losing to Penn State this weekend. The Nittany Lions previously horrible offense was able to put up 41 points and 435 yards to hand Michigan its 3rd lost of the season. Reports are surfacing that if Rich Rodriguez is unable to pull out wins in his last two games this season, he will be gone. Denard Robinson and the Michigan defense please stand up so your coach won’t end up on the unemployment line.

Florida and Georgia – The annual cocktail party actually lived up to its billing this year with the game going into overtime. Aaron Murray looks like a future star in the league but had some timely mistakes for the Bulldogs, with his four interceptions. He just needs more seasoning but coach Mark Richt needs to get all the wins he can the rest of the year to keep his job. Florida still can’t get a grip on its QB situation. The gators pretty much won this game on the ground with Jeff Demps and the recently returned Chris Rainey. Florida still has an outside shot at the SEC east crown with the win but its South Carolina’s division to lose at this point.