By now I am sure you have seen highlights of the USC’s shocking loss at the hands of the Beavers last night. Oregon State has 2 really embarrassing losses at the hands of Stanford and Penn State and were thought the be a pushover for the Trojans.
You can usually turn off a game like sometime in the second quarter, but it was around then you knew this one was going to be a dog fight. USC’s offense came out flat while their defense was getting pushed around. Give a lot of credit to the Beavers and head coach Mike Reilly who didn’t shy away from aggressively attacking on offense rather than trying to hold on to their lead for dear life.
The 4th quarter was great as you were just waiting for the other shoe to trop on USC’s comeback. It never came, and the result was the first unbelievable upset of the year.
The question to ponder now is what looks better on a BCS bowl resume at the end of the year? USC has a great win against Ohio State, but now an embarrassing loss to Oregon State. Meanwhile a program like Ohio State might knotch a couple of mildly impressive wins (Penn State, Wisky, Illinois being candidates), but lack a staple win.
Jim Rome touched on this briefly this morning. Ohio State gets crushed in their biggest games, yet avoid disaster in small games, while also logging solid conference wins. USC is the best big game team in the country but lays eggs to the likes of UCLA, Stanford, and Oregon State.
While Ohio State is now notoriously known for falling in their biggest games, they avoid these huge upsets as their 6 losses have come at the hands of a team who has gone to a BCS bowl game (assuming USC makes on this year).
Moving onto this weekend, its a pretty solid slate of games
Purdue takes on Notre Dame in a game that can put some added heat back on to Charlie Weiss. This game is a pick em, and I think the Boilermakers should come out victorious.
Wisconsin travels to Michigan as a 6 point favorite. Michigan has not looked good at all thus far and will have a very tough time hanging with a much more balanced and experienced Badger team.
Couple of interesting games in the South during the day as Florida State hosts Colorado, who are coming off their big win agaisnt West Virginia. Auburn has to deal with a downtrodden Tennessee team in what should be a low scoring defensive game.
The night slate of games is pretty sexy. Virginia Tech takes on Nebraska in the remember when we were good bowl. Oklahoma looks to flew their muscle agaisnt a ranked TCU team. But the real showstoppers are the night games on ABC and ESPN.
Georgia hosts Alabama in the game of the day and are favored by a TD. If Saban can log a win in Athens, Alabama will officially be back on the national scene. Georgia is looking to move up in the rankings after USC’s debacle as they have a showdown with Florida looming in the coming weeks.
In the Big TEN Illinois is a whopping 15 point underdog to Penn State. A line that is a raising a lot of eyebrows in a game that I believe will be a bit closer than that spread. Whomever wins this game puts themselves in great position to win the Big Ten.
All in all it should be a great weekend.
