Week 5 Recap
You know we’re in the middle of the season when we had our first week 6 game on a Tuesday. There’s also a game tonight, but I’ll save coverage –in at least one case a recap– for when I get to previewing week 6.
Now the fun begins: recapping the most interesting week in some time… 2007’s Week 5!
WEEK 5 RECAP
(highlights only, I can live without every MAC game…)
Arky State beats Memphis: This is a bit of an odd game to review, since Memphis played again last night and they went through a horrible tragedy just a few days ago. However, I must say I wasn’t surprised they lost this Thursday game to the hard-playing Indians. This game was actually scheduled for week 2, but had been moved due to weather. So far the only bad game for Arkansas State was against Tennessee (they had the close loss at Texas in week 1).
Boise State over Southern Miss: Hey: Boise may not be a BCS contended this season, but they’re still the same team that terrorizes the mid-majors. No surprises with this dominating victory.
South Florida’s Friday night upset over WVU: What a great game to watch. I really didn’t expect them to win, but they were really pushing around the Mountaineers (who lost Pat White). Moffitt proved to be every bit as good as advertised –he really came off as a decent guy in the pre-game coverage. This was South Florida (So-Flo?)’s first sell out in Raymond James, and you could tell the people were a bit new at the whole college-football-mania thing from how people paused before storming the field (go forward, young students –this is what makes college football a fun thing to do!). So now we have a football program that’s been around for just over a decade ranked in the top-10. Wow. All of a sudden all the dregs of D-IA look all the more embarrassed. This is just pure speculation (because I doubt they’ll go undefeated –to much giddiness for a team to handle), but what happens if they go undefeated? I hope they go into their game with Cincy undefeated –that would be the BCS-implicated game no one would’ve seen coming –period.
VT over UNC: 17-10, VT is definitely overrated this year.
Michigan defeats(?) Northwestern: This game was alarmingly close (to a team that lost to Duke). The Wolverines have a ways to go before people tout them as a dark horse for winning the Big 10. Then again, things aren’t looking too rosy for the Wolverines, who may end up retroactively going 0-4 to start the season due to a little problem…
LSU semi-squeaks by Tulane: Lets be clear: Tulane is awful. First year coach Bob Toledo is competent (he helmed a UCLA team that came within a Miami minute of playing in the 1998 title game), but even he had to try a multitude of trick plays to try and throw off the exceptionally talented Tigers. Let’s be clear: The Green Wave were not very good in the first half, even trying their tricks (most of which failed spectacularly), but they did keep the game very close for 30 minutes (10-9). So when LSU finally put them away, it wasn’t like an in-conference opponent, it was a weaker team. That’s why the Coaches and Harris Polls kept USC as #1 by a significant margin (USC close game was against a conference foe that’s proved competent this season). The funniest part of the razor thin LSU-USC space in the AP Poll? This is the same poll that all of the Tiger-nation decried as a “sham” poll when the 2003 national championships were handed out… I guess they would have to proclaim USC as “the real #1 team” this week… ah, the delicious irony.
Illinois surprises Penn State: They’ve finally turned the corner. Ron’s finally got enough of his super-talented recruits to start winning games. He needs a catch-phrase… how about “Do you know what the Zooker’s got in the cooker?!” (Maybe not…)
Miami (FL) over Duke: Not exactly a dominating win, but not as alarmingly close as last season’s post-FIU game.
UConn over Akron: UConn is possibly the most suspect 5-0 team this season.
Army over Temple: The Cadets are priming up for their chance to take revenge on Notre Dame. This may be their best chance to revenge all 13 losses since their last victory in 1958.
Purdue adds L #5 for ND: The scary thing was the second half, where backup Evan Sharpley nearly got the Irish back into the game (208 yds, 2 TDs, 1 INT). Normal people would say Clausen has a person to get nervous about… but that’s not Charlie Weis.
Indiana over Iowa: It’s still not clear whether Indiana is good or Iowa is just really bad. Stay tuned.
South Carolina over Miss. State: Meh, this game didn’t do a whole lot to develop the bigger picture so much as confirm what we expected.
Texas A&M over Baylor: To think: there are well-funded boosters who’ll no longer get Dennis Franchione’s secret personal insights on this game and his players. Such a tragedy!
Navy over Air Force: I now have faith in the Middies: Air Force isn’t bad, and they may be able too get that 500 lb gorilla called “Notre Dame’s guaranteed win” off their back.
Georgia over Ole Miss: Coach O didn’t have any surprises, and UGA brought the expected dose of pain.
Kentucky trounces FAU: This guaranteed-win game ended up being padding. Schnellenberger was proud of his alma mater, but even he thinks the ‘Cats likely won’t be undefeated. The last time UK was ranked this high, they were under probation (1977).
BC over UMass by 10: This week had so many crazy moments in the top-25 that no one complained when BC moved up in the rankings after an uninspiring victory over a D-IAA team.
Colorado Buffs up Oklahoma: Hawk Love is spreading through Boulder. This was part one of the 1-2-punch that said (1) the Big 12 North is back and (2) Texas A&M is now #1 in the Big 12 South standings…
Nebraska over ISU: Finally, the Huskers look like they can play both sides of the football. Just in time to keep themselves in the top-25.
Utah 34, Utah St. 18: ‘Cause the Utes ain’t that bad.
Miami (OH) 17, Syracuse 14: ‘Cause the Orange still are that bad.
Kent State fells Ohio: Damn you, Solich, why do you torture me with your inconsistent league play?!
Wisconsin squeaks by Michigan State: Thanks to everyone else losing, the Badgers are #5 and highly suspect.
MD slaps down Rutgers: Caught with its hand back in the top-10 cookie jar, Rutgers finds its hand slapped once more. I hope this doesn’t kill all their support.
Louisville defeats NC State: The Cards needed this OOC victory, time to salvage the rest of their season.
K-State exposes Texas: So Texas was exactly what we thought they were. In the biggest home defeat in Mack Brown’s tenure, Prince’s Wildcats proved they’re back (and wouldn’t it be awesome if it were the other Prince…). They were very close to being undefeated.
GT over Clemson: GT showed the other side of their maddening inconsistency, and Clemson showed why they never get respect. Two coaches on the perpetual hot-seat stay on course for the season.
Oregon defaults a game to Cal: This game was worth my subscription to ESPN GamePlan. What a fight… what a disappointment! If you missed it, the game ended on a fumble on the 1 yd line that went out the endzone for a touchback/change-of-possession. It should’ve been either the tying score or the play before the tying score. This game should’ve gone into OT. Nah… instead a wannabe hero screwed the Ducks and Cal boosts up to #3. This is also the reason why some voters moved UO up to #5 (but not enough, they landed at #14).
San Jose St. over UC Davis: Lose to the D-IAA Aggies? Hey, SJSU might lose to Stanford, but it isn’t Stanford.
Nevada over UNLV: Did UNLV disappoint or can this be filed as a “rivalry upset” (in which case anything can happen)?
UTEP over SMU in OT: The exciting game no one watched for week 5. 48-45? Now that’s a party.
Hawaii over Idaho: With GamePlan I enjoyed seeing the game played in the bizarre airplane hanger that is the Kibbie Dome. Brennan stole the show, possibly to the detriment of his Heisman campaign, by throwing 30-49, 369 yds, 3 TDs but also managing a school-record 5 INTs! He also ran for a TD.
Florida State over Bama: Karma was on Bobby Bowden’s side. He finally got to play his beloved alma mater, and he beat them.
UCF over UL-L: Not a big surprise, but –dammit– the Knights are lookin’ good for CUSA play.
Bowling Green over WKU: I feel the transitional Hilltoppers were confused because WKU is coincidently located in Bowling Green, KY.
UCLA over Oregon State: In a 40-14 beat down, the Bruins demonstrated how they can be awesome in one game but always be subject to flopping the next. The next game is against Notre Dame, I don’t know who should look out…
TCU over Colorado State: FYI: The Rams are in one of the worst losing streaks in the country. A damn shame for Sonny Lubbick.
Texas Tech 75, Northwestern St. 7: Now that’s the heartless TT offense I know…
UVA over Pitt: The Panthers look like a mess, UVA seems to have got its act together after disappointing early.
Middle Tenn. St. 47, Florida Intl. 6: Why were the Golden Panthers allowed to move up to D-IA? Here’s the box score: first half was 47-0 MTSU, fourth quarter was 6-0 FIU.
Vanderbilt over EMU: The Commodores (3-1) are hoping to reach the magic “6″. I think they’ll get a bowl invite if they do since fans may come out of the woodwork for what might be their only shot for another two decades…
Arkansas 66, North Texas 7: Y’know, maybe hiring that HS coach wasn’t such a great idea…
Oklahoma St. over Sam Houston St.: There were orange shirts proclaiming “I’m a Man! I’m Forty! Go Pokes!” 
Like the vast majority of college football fans, I support Gundy. I also think the press is being way too transparent in defending its own like a lame gang.
USC fails to give the game to Washington: This game was all-USC, Washington just sort of followed the Trojans’ lead to a 27-24 loss. The Trojans out-gained the Huskies 460–190 –but then there was the three turnovers, 16 penalties (for 161 yards! Almost as many yards as the Huskies’ offense), as well as a missed a field goal and blocked punt with just over a minute left that led to a U-Dub TD and onside kick that USC recovered. This was as close to a game where one team’s raw talent overcomes another team’s youth and inexperience. The game is similar enough to the Oregon State fiasco last year (33-31 Trojan loss) that Carroll is obviously hoping its as close as it gets.
New Mexico St. over Arkansas-Pine Bluff: NMSU nearly lost their gimmie game against a D-IAA to benefit breast cancer. GamePlan had it (though they had the worse A/V I’ve seen, the colors were all off), and I can confirm the pink accents. Very classy, I actually wish other (more prominent) teams would do that as well.
You can sort of see pink socks and arm-bands here:
Ohio St. over Minnesota: Despite the 30-7 final score, the Gophers actually played pretty well in their surprise-mustard uniforms. Ohio State is benefiting from the same Big 10 malaise that’s keeping Wisconsin pumped up. Both appear as overrated beneficiaries of the week 5 upset wave.
Oh, and the Golden Gophers’ website proudly declares that you can buy limited edition mustard jerseys just like the Gophers wore in their hapless loss… joy!
Adding insult to injury, the Gophers (and their supposed super-recruiter Coach Tim “Not Punky” Brewster) lost one of the nation’s top punter-recruits to the cursed Badgers. Think about that: the Badgers are #5, the Gophers 1-4. How hard is it to recruit a punter to a team that’s terrible? That’s where punters want to play.
Auburn over Florida: Guess the Tigers have the Gators number these days. That kicker is ice.
Arizona 48, Washington St. 20: The pecking order of the bottom half of the Pac-10 took another step forward to clarity…
Fresno St. 17, Louisiana Tech 6: Fresno State is my dark horse for WAC champion.
Cincinnati 52, San Diego St. 23: The Bearcats are proving they’re a solid team, can’t wait to see how they do in a very interesting Big East this year.
Arizona St. 41, Stanford 3: My god, Stanford is awful. It only gets worse for the Farm: Starting redshirt-senior QB T.C. Ostrander, who was sacked seven times by the Sun Devils, had a seizure on Sunday (he appears okay) and is not going to play against USC. That means redshirt-sophomore Tavita Pritchard, with only three passes in his career, gets the start against USC in the Coliseum. The last team to win in the Coliseum other than USC was Stanford way back in September of 2001 –three coaches ago– when they were helmed by Tyrone Willingham. This won’t be the team to break that streak. Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh made things a little personal with Pete Carroll –the question has been “will Carroll run up the score… whether he means to or not“? (I’ll probably move some of this to the preview of week 6)
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