Impressions on some of the more meaningful games & teams, across the conferences:
Ohio @ Ohio State
No use delaying this one. How the HELL does Ohio State get into a battle against a crappy team like Ohio U? I understand Beanie Wells was out. I understand they might not wanted to show USC too much Terrelle Pryor. But wtf is up with having Boeckman throw the ball 26 times (more like 35 when accounting for forced scrambles and sacks) while your offense repeatedly sputters out, and not really figuring out until the 4th quarter than the other team can't stop any of your runningbacks because they're getting blown off the line? I don't know how to rate the defense, because on the one hand they forced 5 turnovers and allowed about 35% completions... but on the other hand, Ohio U racked up over 100 yards on the ground and actually looked decent in the first half. As I'm writing this, OSU got dropped to #5 in the AP rankings, and frankly they didn't even play like a top 10 team. Let's hope for their sakes this is out of their systems.
Georgia Tech @ Boston College
In the traditional Saturday all-day-long college football AIM chat, I revealed that I will be openly rooting for GT to win the conference on account of the fact that they're clearly installing a system offense because it is a system offense, with minimal regard for having the personnel to actually run it. I'd like to think that's good enough to cut it in the ACC, and after this game it looks like it is. In the end it came down to the simple football poker rule where a safety, missed FG, two interceptions, and a fumble loses to two missed FGs and three fumbles. Hey, that's why they call it a full house. Or maybe it was a case where if you're throwing it at about 50% completions for under 6 yards per pass, 13 attempts in a better idea (IDEA) than 36 attempts. Hell, I don't know.
BYU @ Washington
Fittingly I'd picked the Huskies on here and the Cougars in my league, as this game was as evenly matched as it could be. BYU had no answer for Jake Locker, but apparently Washington had plenty of answers for Locker as every Huskies' drive but one either went for a TD or less than 20 yards till punting. Forget the BS celebration call, UW could have won this one by being just a little more consistent, as a mere FG more would have won it regardless of the XP. BYU played a strong offensive game as expected, gaining a +138 yardage advantage, but a goalline turnover nearly proved costly.
Oregon State @ Penn State
This game simultaneously answered the question of whether OSU plays anything resembling a defense and whether PSU has a legitimate offense. No, and yes. PSU with an offense is a frightening thing for the rest of the Big Ten.
Mississippi @ Wake Forest
This was a game where I was openly cheering for the upset, just because it would boot the last remaining ACC team from the top 25. Truth be told, WF didn't look like a top 25 team, but fortunately rather than playing the 4th or 5th-best team in the SEC like Clemson did, Wake settled for a team who will probably finish 7th or 8th. Jevan Snead had a strong game for the Rebs, and were it not for the questionable call to have WR Dexter McCluster attempt a pass in the third quarter which led to a WF field goal, this "shocker" might have happened.
Cincinnati @ Oklahoma
The first, third, and fourth quarters went according to script, but whoa Cincy decided to make a game of things in the second. The end result was still a 52-26 victory, complements of Bradford's 395 yard 5 TD performance and a +266 yardage edge overall.
Central Michigan @ Georgia
The Bulldog defense showed Dan LeFevour what it's like to play in a BCS league, taking away his ground game and limiting the Chips' offense to 36 total yards until the game was over at 28-0. Knowshon Moreno was dominant and this was what we'd expect from a title contender.
West Virginia @ East Carolina
This'll be the game that's talked about for week 2. ECU came out with the gameplan of not allowing any big plays (just two plays over 20 yards), controlling the ball (71 plays to 54), and not hurting themselves with mistakes (0 turnovers to 2, and we'll forgive the one missed FG). This was the coupling of a great strategy with superior execution, and the way I see it there's only one explanation. Somebody told the Pirates that WVU was the only ranked team Phil Steele picked to lose this week. With the confidence of knowing that, all they had to do was come out and make it happen. AND IT HAPPENED. Expect to read about this pick until at least 2013.
Maryland @ Middle Tennessee
AAY! CEE! CEE! Dear god, it's worse than we thought...
Miami @ Florida
We said this would be a good barometer of the Hurricanes' status as a team. Despite the 23 point margin, I was impressed. Miami outplayed Florida for most of the first half and managed to control the lines; only trailing at halftime because of a prayer TD pass heaved by Tebow. However, their own offense never got on track - not even for a single drive - and eventually the defense could not hold the Gators who added 17 points in the final 9 minutes. Nonetheless, only trailing Florida 9-3 51 minutes into the game confirms Miami as an ACC contender.
Stanford @ Arizona State
This game went from entertaining and competitive to... whoa, is this really over... in about 15 minutes starting midway through the second. It didn't feel over, and yet ASU was clearly in the middle of a 24-3 outburst. The Sun Devils shut down the Cardinal running game that had baffled Oregon State while showing pretty good offensive balance on their own thanks to RB tandem Dimitri Nance and Keegan Herring.
