15 Thoughts: TL; DR

1.  Not a good day for the B1G:  UCLA rolled Nebraska in Lincoln, erasing an 18-point deficit and rolling up over 500 total yards in a 41-21 victory.  If you were not aware, only 6 days earlier UCLA receiver Nick Pasquale was killed when he was struck by a vehicle.  To go on the road in a tough environment like Lincoln - with heavy hearts - and win going away is a real testament to the Bruin's fortitude.  It is also a testament to the defensive ineptitude of Bo Pelini's Black Shirts.  Yes, they literally wore black shirts.  I don't think that's a good look for anyone anymore...

2.  Akron should have beaten Michigan.  In the Big House.  They squandered two scoring opportunities deep inside Michigan territory, yet still had an opportunity to win it as the Zips sat near the goal-line only to have 4th down pass fall incomplete on the last play of the game.  This would have been a bigger upset than Appalachian State back in '07 because Akron isn't a good football team.  App. State was.  This was probably the "Game-of-the-Day" that no one saw because B1G Network Power!  The Ohio State - Michigan game later in the year doesn't look quite as compelling now, does it?

3.  In other Big Tentastic News, UCF beat Penn State in Happy Valley and Wisconsin derped it away at Tempe against Arizona State in an extremely bizarre ending.  Did you see it?  Me neither.  Word has it that Wisconsin was in a position to win the game with a chip-shot field goal inside of 20 seconds, but the QB ran the ball to the center of the field and actually placed the pigskin down on the turf (that's a fumble, actually).  The refs never blew the whistle, the clock ran down and State escaped because of another inexplicable example of totally horrendous clock management under :30 seconds.  Glad something like this never happens to us.

4.  So, I watched the first quarter of the Tennessee - Oregon game.  The Volunteers started out well enough, proving an old football adage I just made up:  Having a ton of energy and enthusiasm (but absolutely no speed on either side of the ball...on the road...against one of the better teams in the Nation) will get you the following:  A 7-0  lead.  Woo Hoo!

After that, Oregon scored.  And scored.  And scored.  Butch Jones may or may not be a good coach.  Tennessee looks like they are going to sign a Top-10 class.  Tennessee is still a long way from being a good team.  The dearth of talent at any skill position is what stood out the most.

5.  Texas A&M jumped all over Alabama in the first 7 1/2 minutes.  Once Alabama exposed and confirmed what everyone knows about the Aggies defense, this game was essentially over.  That's how Nick's teams roll.  Sure, the margin of victory was 7 points, but outside of the first quarter, was the game even that close?.  Yeah, JFF made a ton of plays and oh, what stupid plays they were!  He's a very good player.  He's also extremely lucky.  It wasn't enough as the Tide, at least offensively, did what they wanted.  The Alabama defense, on the other hand, has some chinks in the armor.  The only two remaining "tests" on the Tide's schedule are Ole miss in two weeks, and LSU in early November - both games in Tuscaloosa.  For a game that had 200 points and 2,000 yards, I was actually rather bored.

6.  Quayvon Hicks in the flat!  Happy thoughts...

7.  I guess the big news out of Columbia last night is that Jadeveon Clowney is going to have to have foot surgery after the season.  Carolina dominated in their 35-25 victory of Vandy, but played some sloppy football in the 2nd half.  Vandy was never a threat to win this game as the 'Cocks shrugged off the Sanford hangover and got a big lead.  Much of the crowd dispersed late in the 3rd quarter.  I quit watching at halftime.

This will never get old...

8.  If Auburn and Mississippi State play ten times I'll kill myself they probably split it right down the middle, 5 and 5.  Mississippi State is not a good football team, but had the lead with under 2:00 minutes to go.  Dan Mullen went for it on 4th and 1 on his own 29, converted...then a few plays later elected to punt just shy of midfield.  Former Georgia signee Nick Marshall orchestrated the two-minute drill to perfect and threw the game winning touchdown to C.J. Uzomah with :10 left to break the Bizarro Bulldogs heart.  It was a signature win good win for the Tigers and, sadly, perhaps the most entertaining game of the evening.

9.  Quayvon Hicks on a wheel-route.  Happy thoughts...

10.  UK played Louisville pretty tough, but may have lost their starting QB Max Smith to a shoulder injury.  Teddy Bridgewater had pedestrian numbers on the day:  16/26 for 250 yards and 1 touchdown.  Not exactly Heisman type stats, but the media controls that narrative anyway.  He'll be propped up back, I'm sure.  This was a bad game.

11.  In other boring news, tOSU routed California, FSU creamed Nevada, LSU bombed Kent State and Georgia Tech used all the genius in their arsenal to dispatch Duke.  These were bad games.

12.  Okay, enough of the recaps.  Georgia has an opportunity this week to fix some things on defense and to experiment a little bit on offense and special teams.  BTW, North Texas rallied to beat Ball State 34-27, amassing over 500 yards of offense.  They certainly have the potential to move the football.  Let's see what Grantham will do with a pocket-passing QB, Derek Thompson, running out of the "I" formation, as opposed to running quarterbacks.

13.  Verne and Gary are really starting to get on my nerves on many, many levels.  I don't know who CBS has in the pipeline, but the shirts up at Black Rock are going to have to start identifying someone for the future...whenever that may be.  Their broadcasts are becoming "canned."  The thrill is gone.  Was it ever there?

13a.  Erin Andrews made a bad career decision.  I stumbled across her new gig on Fox Sports.  I won't make that mistake again.

14.  LSU's offense seems to have stretched their legs a bit compared to last season.  I watched a little bit of their game against Kent State, and do see some improvement in quarterback play.  We've still got plenty of time to worry about this one, but offensive coordinator Cam Cameron seems to be making a difference simply based on what I've seen in my small sample-size.

15.  What did you take away from the weekend?  How bad is Michigan?  Notre Dame?  Does the SEC repeat again as National Champions?  It might be very difficult for a one-loss Conference team to make it all the way to Pasadena.  I simply think anti-Conference sentiment (OMG, the SEC is an offensive conference now Damn Them!) is as big a threat as it has ever been.

Bonus:  Mack Brown was kidnapped last night by a pack of wild Oilmen.  There is no ransom.  Things are not good in Austin.

Until next week...

GO DAWGS!