College Football Week Three 2009 in Review

No longer do we have a top ten with perfected records. This week, Oklahoma bust into the number 10 spot with a blemished season. The rest of the AP top 10 are still unmarred after week three:

Washington wide receiver #3 James Johnson breaks down field, Image: Newscom

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Alabama
4. Mississippi
5. Penn State
6. California
7. LSU
8. Boise State
9. Miami
10. Oklahoma

What’s significant to note is who is not there anymore. And really, that boils down to my favorite team to bash, USC.

Sorry, USC fans. This was supposed to be an easy week for you. The Trojans took on Washington, and after a week at Ohio State’s horseshoe, everyone thought that this would be a relaxing game. Only Matt Berkley couldn’t start, so Aaron Corp took his place. And then Washington actually turned out to be good. Now, Washington already lost to LSU, but they took the moment of the 42-23 win against Idaho from Week Three and used it to beat back USC 16-13. The Trojans had absolutely no passing game, and the Huskies took advantage of that.

It was also a hard week for the MWC. BYU lost at home to Florida State, who is proving not to be a totally terrible team. So MWC fans put their confidence in TCU and Utah instead. TCU pulled through with a thorough beating of Texas State, but Utah was another story. They lost on the road to Oregon, and I couldn’t help but chant “overrated” in my head a bit. They were ranked too high after wins to just Utah State and San Jose State. So now, it’s up to you, TCU.

The week started off with an upset, though, so I guess it was Week Three’s fate to have a bunch of games that pissed people off. Thursday gave us #20 Miami beating #14 Georgia Tech 33 – 17. They’re done. Miami has more than proved that the deserve to be in the top ten. Georgia Tech has more than proved that they deserved to be dropped from the rankings completely. On Friday, Boise State (#10) won against Fresno State 51-34, but don’t be too fooled by the score. Boise State played like crap, both the teams’ defenses sucked, and the game looked like it might go either way for awhile there.

And then there was the Florida – Tennessee game. Coming into this game, my money was on Florida, but I knew that Tennessee wasn’t just going to lie down and take a beating – and they didn’t. The Vols put up a fight, but also knew when they were bested. I think the main problem here was that Kiffin played it safe. Rather than making big plays, which was what they needed for any hope of winning against the Gators, they chose to hold back, focusing more on not doing anything stupid than on taking risks. Florida won 23-13, but it was a good game.

Some other games of interest:

• #13 Virginia Tech beat #18 Nebraska 16-15. VT just has a strong defense, and the game ended up coming down to possession time at the end. Kudos to Nebraska’s kicker, who kept the Cornhuskers in the game.
• Michigan State lost a heartbreaker to Notre Dame on Saturday. With a final score of 33 – 30, we’re beginning to see just how disappointing this Fighting Irish team really is. They should have killed MSU.
• In what I like to call “the battle of who sucks less,” Washington State beat SMU 30 – 27 in overtime.