College football's 7th week started with 15 teams left undefeated and ended with only 10 as No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Missouri, No. 4 Louisiana State, No. 13 Vanderbilt and No. 20 Auburn all were upset.
Some fans would point out that you could hardly call the Oklahoma and LSU losses as upsets since the No. 1 Sooners were playing No. 5 Texas Longhorns and the No. 4 LSU Tigers were playing the No. 11 Florida Gators.
The Texas-Oklahoma contest was a shoot out that Longhorn Coach Mack Brown called "one of the greatest football games I've ever seen." Texas was behind by 11 points twice in the first half and by 8 in the 3rd quarter before winning 45-35 at home.
Longhorn Chris Ogbannaya, a senior making his second start, rushed 15 times for 127 yards, none more important than his 62-yard gain on a play headed nowhere that helped put Texas on top to stay.
Texas' junior quarterback Colt McCoy went 28-of-35 for 277 yards with 1 TD pass and no turnovers. Oklahoma's sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford was not to be outdone, going 28-of-39 for 387 yards and 5 TDs. Bradford found Jordan Shipley for 11 passes, 112 yards and a TD. Shipley also had an electrifying 96-yard return for a TD.
No. 3 Missouri is not as good as its pre-game 5-0 record warrants and No. 17 Oklahoma State proved it by traveling to Missouri and beating the Tigers at home, 28-23, pushing its unbeaten record to 6-0. The loss was the first for Missouri.
No. 11 Florida just took it to No. 4 LSU, leading 20-3 at the half and finishing off the Tigers 51-21 at home. We no longer need to guess which team is better.
No. 13 Vanderbilt's little 15-minute brush with fame is over as the Commodores traveled to unranked Mississippi State and promptly lost 17-14 to the Bulldogs. Mississippi raised its record to 2-4 with the win over Vanderbilt. There are no words to describe the No. 20 Auburn Tigers who lost at home to unranked Arkansas 25-22. Auburn fell right out of the AP Top 25 Poll with a thud.
Between Missouri, Louisiana State and Auburn, it was not a good week to be the Tigers. Kudos to Texas, Florida and Oklahoma State which defended their rankings.
Among the other top 13 ranked teams which won were No. 6 Penn State on the road over Wisconsin 48-7, No. 7 Texas Tech at home over Nebraska 37-31 in overtime, No. 8 Southern California at home 28-0 over Arizona State, No. 9 BYU at home 21-3 over New Mexico, No, 10 Georgia at home 26-14 over Tennessee, No. 12 Ohio State at home 16-2 over Purdue, and No. 14 Utah on the road 40-7 over Wyoming.
Also No. 15 Boise State on the road 24-7 over Southern Mississippi, No. 16 Kansas at home 30-14 over Colorado, No. 21 Wake Forest at home 12-7 over Clemson (another Tiger team), No. 22 North Carolina at home 29-24 over Notre Dame, No. 23 Michigan State on the road 37-20 over unbeaten and unranked Northwestern, and No. 25 Ball State on the road 24-7 over 1-AA Western Kentucky.
The 10 remaining unbeaten teams (in no particular order) include Alabama, Penn State, Texas, Boise State, Texas Tech, Utah, BYU, Ball State, Oklahoma State and Tulsa.
If you look at the Sagarin Ratings for schedule strength this is how the 10 unbeaten teams are ranked from best schedule strength to worst:
Alabama (38th), Texas (43rd), Utah (72nd), Penn State (74th), Oklahoma State (94th), Texas Tech (105th), Ball State (107th), Boise State (111th), Brigham Young (121st) and Tulsa (141st). This would go a long way in explaining why some of these teams are unbeaten. There are 119 Division 1-A schools so you can imagine how tough the teams were that played the last 5 of these unbeaten teams.
Tulsa plays absolutely no one worth talking about and could go unbeaten if they beat 3-3 Arkansas. Tulsa's last victory was over a 1-6 Southern Methodist team and the Golden Hurricane (that's Tulsa) won 37-31. Brigham Young thankfully faces off against Utah in the last game of the year for both schools. Boise State pretty much gets a free ride until Fresno State. Ball State really faces nobody.
Alabama, Texas, Penn State, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech will earn their way by facing far tougher competition.
Alabama, Virginia Tech, South Florida and Pittsburgh were all idle this week.
Other notable performances merit some attention. Penn State's Nittany Lions traveled to Wisconsin and beat the Badgers at home 48-7. It is not easy to beat Wisconsin at home, and for Joe Paterno's team to rip the Badgers apart was impressive.
Michigan is really underwhelming this year, losing again at home in the Big House to Toledo 13-10. The loss marked the first time in its storied history that Michigan has lost to a Mid-American Conference team. Toledo came into the contest with a 1-4 mark and an earlier loss to Florida International.
Oregon State has to be the nastiest 3-3 team in the nation. The Beavers thumped Washington State 66-13, topped Hawaii 45-7, upset Southern Cal 27-21, and is in no mood to explain its losses to Stanford, Penn State and Utah (all on the road). They travel to Washington this week and I would not want to be a Husky when they arrive.
After such a great start to its season, East Carolina now looks very average, losing again on the road to Virginia 35-20.
The new AP Top 25 Poll has the top 10 in this order-Texas, Alabama, Penn State, Oklahoma, Florida, Southern Cal, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Brigham Young and Georgia.
Some games of interest this week include No. 12 Ohio State at No. 20 Michigan State, No. 13 LSU at unranked but dangerous South Carolina, No. 22 Vanderbilt at No. 10 Georgia (the Commodores may lose their ranking), No. 16 Kansas at No. 4 Oklahoma (beware, Jayhawks), No. 11 Missouri at No. 1 Texas, unranked Michigan at No. 3 Penn State (Joe Paterno's eyes get bigger and bigger every week, only exceeded by his appetite for victories), and Hawaii at No. 15 Boise State (could the Warriors do the impossible?).
Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley
Read my other detailed, knowledgeable, interesting articles on college football, including:
"College Football - Week 6: AP's Top 25 Welcomes North Carolina, Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Ball State"
"College Football - Week 5: 9 AP Top 25 Teams Lose, 6 to Unranked Teams, No. 1 USC, No. 3 Georgia & No. 4 Florida All Lose"
"College Football - Week 4: 14 Teams Suffer Their First Defeat - Auburn, East Carolina, Oregon & Florida State All Lose"
"College Football - Week 3: Let There Be No Doubt: USC Crushes Ohio State 35-3 and Is Clearly No. 1"
"College Football - Week 2: East Carolina Smacks West Virginia, Upsets Its 3rd Straight Ranked Team"
"College Football - Week 1: No. 24 Alabama Stuns No. 9 Clemson, East Carolina Upsets No. 17 Virginia Tech"
Find my Blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/Sports.html
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