One-third of the regular season is gone for most teams, unbelievable. 4 games down and still 24 undefeated teams (taking out Texas A&M). First off, let's talk about the game last night. I missed a lot of it because I was at a car dealership most of the night buying a car for my wife, but they had the game on there so I caught a little bit of it. Texas A&M ran 106 offensive plays, compared to just 68 of Oklahoma State. I would be giving praise to Jerrod Johnson for his 400+ yards passing and 5 TDs, but he also had 4 INTs and 1 fumble. One of those interceptions set up the game winning field goal for Oklahoma State. Good game and I'm sad I missed most of it.
There are a few big marquee matchups this week. There are currently 6 undefeated teams in the Big 10, and four of them (#11 Wisconsin at #24 Michigan State, #19 Michigan at Indiana) play this weekend. I would be more interested in the Wisconsin-Michigan State game if there weren't some of the others going on.
The Red River Rivalry game is tomorrow, and that is always a game that shapes the Big 12 south. #21 Texas is coming off an embarrassing loss at home to UCLA and #8 Oklahoma has struggled in 3 of their 4 games so far this year. It will be interesting to see which team is able to shake off the rust and get their wheels going for the rest of the season. One important difference between the two teams: Texas plays Nebraska (Oct. 16), Oklahoma doesn't.
#7 Florida and #1 Alabama will be playing what is likely to be a preview of the SEC championship game. One of them will have an early loss this season and it could go either way. Florida's offense struggled until last week against Kentucky and Alabama finally had a real test (and passed) on the road at Arkansas last week.
#9 Stanford and #4 Oregon face off in the Pac-10 game of the year and this is the game I am most excited for this weekend. I'll post more about this game in a minute.
Tonight has an intriguing matchup. BYU travels to Utah State and both teams are 1-3 with their seasons spiraling out of control. Utah State looked much improved but has fallen apart since then. BYU has just been bad, and is scoring the fifth least number of points in the country. They have scored just 23 points in the last 11 quarters. After Utah State the Cougars play San Diego State and TCU, so they need a win here to avoid a possible 1-6 start.
The Big Ten gets conference play underway this week. Wisconsin and Michigan has been mentioned. Michigan has looked impressive at times and travels to Indiana this week. Last year Michigan needs a comeback to beat Indiana at home, so they could struggle again in this game. Northwestern is undefeated but has had a weak schedule and barely beat Vanderbilt and Central Michigan, so they could be taken out by Minnesota (who has lost to South Dakota and Northern Illinois).
One other game to watch will be the annual Navy-Air Force game. Navy has won the last seven meetings by an average of only 5.7 points and only one was by more than one touchdown. Air Force has a better team this year and might be able to end that streak. Air Force will also be wearing Thunderbird themed uniforms.
Here are the games I plan on watching at least some of this week (times are MDT - why do they have to play the Florida-Alabama and Stanford-Oregon games at the same time??):
Friday 6:00 - BYU at Utah State (ESPN)
10:00 - Louisiana-Monroe at #10 Auburn (ESPNU)
10:00 - #16 Miami at Clemson (ESPN2)
10:00 - Northwestern at Minnesota (ESPN)
12:30 - Navy at Air Force (Versus) - Air Force will be sporting Thunderbird themed uniforms
1:30 - #19 Michigan at Indiana (ESPNU)
1:30 - #21 Texas vs #8 Oklahoma (ABC)
1:30 - Virginia Tech at #23 NC State (ABC/ESPN mirror) - Wish I was getting this game on the mirror
6:00 - #7 Florida at #1 Alabama (CBS)
6:00 - #9 Stanford at #4 Oregon (ABC/ESPN2 mirror) - Will be on ABC here
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