Observations from Saturday's Games (Oct. 18)

Sorry for the late post. No internet service last night. Suddenlink sucks.

I have to agree with 'Eye that the early selections on Saturday were weak and not too interesting, but the late afternoon and evening games were a different story. Here are some interesting observations I made on Saturday (and finally reporting on Sunday):

1. I wanna be like Vince (and a little more). If Texas QB Colt McCoy keeps it up he will do Vince Young one better this year. While McCoy is leading the very talented (and now not so underrated) Longhorns to an impressive string of victories, all I can think about is this team could win the national championship (something Young accomplished). McCoy is also the clear favorite right now to win the Heisman Trophy (USC's Reggie Bush beat Young out for the honor). History isn't on the Longhorns side. They are on top of the first BCS poll of the 2008 season. Only two of 12 teams have ever went on to win it all from this position (Florida State in 1999 and USC in 2004).

2. Stop overreacting. Why does Mark May or Kirk Herbstreit become such drama queens when they see Alabama struggle with Ole Miss or Penn State with Michigan (if for just a half)? Haven't they watched the first eight weeks of the season? Eeking out a victory is nothing to be ashamed of, especially when it is a conference game. Georgia didn't look overly impressive against Vanderbilt on Saturday. But the Dawgs won and they are still in the hunt for an SEC championship and potential national title. My high school coach always said he didn't care if he won every game by one point. I agree. There are ugly wins, but they sure are better than pretty loses.

3. New Beast of the East. It's Pitt. The Stache has his boys playing well. A lot of college football beat writers were picking Navy to upset the Panthers yesterday. Pitt responded by rolling to a 42-21 win behind an impressive day from Lesean McCoy (156 yards and three TDs on 18 carries). The Panthers still have some tough contests, but they don't be shocked when they are 11-1 (with a very bad loss to Bowling Green). Up this week Rutgers, followed by an interesting road game with Notre Dame.

4. Don't bet on the ACC. Every time I try to pick a game in this conference I get stumped. How does North Carolina lose to Virginia and Maryland just dominate Wake Forest. I'm done. Not again. I won't pick another ACC game in 2008. Maybe ever.

5. Positive ACC note. Clemson lost in Dabo Swinney first game as interim coach, but the Tigers played with more passion than I've seen out them in two years. I was pulling for them to get the win over Georgia Tech. Dabo was a little to "Rah, Rah" for me on the sidelines, but I understand what he was doing. However, if I was him they would have fired me after the game. When I saw the AD talking to him during the game I would have told him where he should be watching the game (and it ain't the sidelines).

6. Rankings madness. I'm as guilty as anyone else. It was my idea to have a poll on our blog. But I'm officially against any poll before Oct. 15 from now on. Why was Missouri, West Virginia and Wisconsin ranked so high to start the season? From now on we should make teams earn the ranking on the field. I know teams will still fall out of the rankings, but at least the really good teams will flesh out by this time and it will be more accurate.

7. Here comes Southern Cal. So you thought losing at Oregon State would keep Pete Carrol and his USC Trojans out of the national title picture. Well, it may, but following a 69-0 victory against a woefully overmanned Washington State has everyone taking notice again. USC has wicked-mad talent, but stop it. If everyone wants to talk about how Big East teams don't play a strong enough schedule then the same holds true for USC. I think they'll just miss out, but if enough teams slip USC will be in Miami in January. What's funny now is that USC must root for Ohio State to keep winning because that's the only real team on the Trojans' schedule. They get a little boost from Virginia's resurgence.

8. OSU-Penn State game. This is for the Big 10 championship. I don't get excited for Big 10 games very often, but this one should be very interesting. The Nittany Lions struggled for a half with the program that used to be known as Michigan, but like any good team regrouped at halftime and romped in the second half. The Buckeyes didn't screw around at all as they got right in the face of Michigan State and kept the Beanie Wells-Terrelle Pryor show out front.

9. Mike Stoops saved his job. With Arizona's 42-27 win over No. 25 California the Wildcats coach should get his team into a bowl game this year, therefore guaranteeing him a job with Tucson next fall. I applaud the job Stoops and his staff did in pulling out this win. But what is it with the Pac-10 and not being able to win on the road? According to Ted Miller at ESPN.com, the Pac-10 is 8-22 on the road, including a 6-14 record within the conference. Now, would someone tell Colin Cowherd to stop his weekly love fest with this conference.

10. Welcome Tulsa. What took pollsters so long to vote the Golden Hurricane into the Top 25. Tulsa is 7-0 following a 77-35 win over UTEP. The only close game they have had was a 37-31 win against SMU. I admit it, I don't know too much about the Golden Hurricane but this team deserved a ranking before now (unless you wait until now to start the rankings).