College Football Night Game QuickThoughts Week 8

The nighttime slate of games more than made up for the eye gougingly bad set of games we got in the afternoon.

Michigan St. 37, Wisconsin 31 – The Hail Mary was a textbook example of how not to defend a Hail Mary. Of course with 31 points on the board, Wisconsin shouldn't have been in position to lose this game anyway. The defense screwed this up well before the Hail Mary.

Texas Tech 41, Oklahoma 38 – Auburn fans will recognize this result from the early days of Tommy Tuberville there. There was a reason that every top 10 team dreaded seeing Auburn on the schedule when he was there (and a reason why everyone else pretty much didn't care). Games like this are the reason why. In huge games, he often gets his teams to play well above their ceilings.

Nevada 45, Fresno St. 38 – Wolfpack appear to own the WAC this season. Pat Hill probably just lost his best chance at a conference championship to cap his career.

Western Kentucky 42, UL-Lafayette 23 – The Hilltoppers were blown out by FCS Indiana St. earlier this year, but they now are amazingly in control of the Sun Belt.

Cal 34, Utah 10 – It would help if you bothered in conference play Utes.

Houston 63, Marshall 28 – Case Keenum is now the NCAA Title Offense career leader. He is going to put up enough yards that it will never be caught.

Penn St. 34, Northwestern 24 – The margin of victory is right, but I'm still not sure how this happened. Where did all the points come from in this game? The second half (7-0 Penn St.) was more of a return to form.

Alabama 37, Tennessee 6 – Play a lethargic first half like this in two weeks Alabama, and you will get beat badly.

USC 31, Notre Dame 17 – The Notre Dame turnover machine got revved up again and this was the result. And Dayne Crist should just be happy he got his education since he will never see the field again.

Southern Miss 27, SMU 3 – It appears the Golden Eagles finally have a defense to go with its high flying offense of the last couple of years.

Oregon St. 44, Washington St. 21 – Beavers seem to have found their mojo again. Too late to save this season with both Stanford and Oregon remaining on the schedule though.