NCAA Tournament Opening Thursday in Review

Best game of the day – Syracuse 72, UNC-Asheville 65

For much of the game, it actually looked like Asheville was going to win. Then the zebras got involved. Let it be noted that the day a 16 finally beats a 1, it will be in a year when a non-Power Conference school happens to be a 1 seed. And in that year, it will be in part because the zebras did not get involved. As an aside, that this was the best game of the day shows how awful a day it was, and don't anyone trying to spin it make you believe otherwise. And for those that didn't see it, let's just say if you had either a rooting or betting interest in Asheville winning, you would be screaming... still... 12 hours after the fact.

Honorable Mention – Colorado 68, UNLV 64

Only notable because we got one of the very few frantic finishes with Colorado failing miserably down the stretch against the UNLV press but having just enough legs to avoid coughing up a 20 point lead.

Upset of the day – VCU 62, Wichita St. 59

Considering there were all of two seed upsets all day, one of them had to win. And considering some were thinking Wichita St. had the best chance of anyone to beat Kentucky in this tournament (ha ha to the people who have mancrushes on Pomeroy and his efficiency ratings, its only a tool, just like the RPI and our own eyes), this counts, even if it was perpetuated by upset king VCU (of the Final Four run from the First Four just last season).

Honorable Mention – Colorado 68, UNLV 64

The 22-4 run UNLV ran off to get back in the game after being down 20 was what everyone expected here. Not the other 35 minutes of play where UNLV looked like a bad Pac-12 team.

Player of the day – Jae Crowder, Marquette

25 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals. That is one heck of game in an easy Marquette win over BYU. And if someone wants to question me, look at the stat line again.

Honorable Mention – Royce White, Iowa St.

Best player on the court in the Iowa St/Connecticut game. 15 points, 13 rebounds and playing the point from the power forward position, effectively. Great game for White.

Coach of the Day – Mark Few, Gonzaga

For all of Gonzaga's reputation as a bracket buster and powerful team in the tournament, the results really haven't been there for quite some time. Even the Sweet 16 runs in recent years have been expected because of seeding. While this was also an expected win, the margin and way it was done to poor West Virginia was eye opening.

Honorable Mention – Rick Pitino, Louisville

Nice job by Pitino getting his team ready to play. After losing in the first round last season, Louisville could have easily come out nervous and tight and lost again. After winning the Big East Tournament last week, Louisville could have easily come out lackadaisical and lost. The Cardinals did neither and played its most disciplined offensive game of the season for a workmanlike win over Davidson.

Bonehead of the Day – Roscoe Smith, Connecticut

Some context here:

Today:

I don't know why I'm surprised (also note Calhoun's reaction in both clips, exactly the same). UConn has alternately played like pinheads or selfish jerks all season and often both. This fits the pinhead category...

Honorable Mention – Jeremy Lamb, Connecticut

… and this one fits the selfish jerk category, especially considering this was in the final minute of a blowout loss.

LSU 9, Alabama 6 (OT) Game Thoughts

This was a great game to watch, even with the lack of offense in part because it wasn't a lack of offense, it was great defense. These are two good, but not great offenses that ran up against all-timer level defenses in this game.

Everybody way overshot the score in the various prediction pieces even though this scoreline was a whole lot more likely than the low 20s everyone seemed to be predicting. The reason, we value offense as entertainment and a 9-6 score doesn't feel very epic, especially when predicting it pregame.

The Alabama roster and coaching staff are going to be killing themselves over the result of this game. Rarely does a team that looks like the better team throughout the game playing at home lose, but Alabama made the critical mistakes time after time after time. The list

• Four missed field goals including a long one in overtime
• An interception thrown by a wide receiver off a Wildcat formation (the ball should have been thrown a half second earlier)
• Countless misfires from AJ McCarron, especially in the 3^rd quarter culminating in his interception
• An insanely dumb 12 men in the huddle penalty in overtime
• An even dumber sack taken to really move the team out of field goal range in overtime
• A lack of execution on offense on the LSU side of the field, stalling repeatedly despite numerous chances

LSU has a full blown quarterback controversy coming its way. Jordan Jefferson was far better than Jarrett Lee in this game and made a case he should be the starter moving forward even though Lee was the most efficient passer in the SEC at kickoff. As for Lee, he reverted to 2008 form, throwing two interceptions to triple his season total from one to three.

The front sevens on these teams are very good, but the secondaries really make them go. It's near impossible to throw successfully on either team and that frees up linebackers and defensive backs for blitzes and run defense. The systems are nearly perfect for both teams.

There should not be a rematch of this in the National Championship game. While this was good, another team should get a shot with the small sample size of games we have in college football.

The no rematch talk also goes for Oregon if they win next week against Stanford. Ducks, you had your shot at LSU on a neutral field and got blown out. Next.

College Football Afternoon QuickThoughts Week 10

Northwestern 28, Nebraska 25 – Nebraska was out toughed and out executed by Northwestern. The fans there should be upset at the effort and the lack of anything that their team showed. Northwestern now has a decent chance of getting to the 6 wins needed for a bowl game.

Oklahoma 41, Texas A&M 25 – Sad for Ryan Broyles (out for the season, ACL injury) and the Oklahoma passing game. As for A&M, they were in it, then the 3^rd quarter started and they weren't in it anymore. A different way to stink in the 2^nd half after blowing leads, but stinking in the 2^nd half it was.

Stanford 38, Oregon St. 13 – Stanford deserved to win and was the better team, but this game changed on an awful holding call on Oregon St. in a 17-13 game that negated a big gain into Stanford territory. Stanford immediately smoked the Beavers after that.

Kentucky 30, Ole Miss 13 – Joker Phillips cooled the heat a little bit. Houston Nutt should be fired and never allowed to coach again after running this program totally into the ground.

Wisconsin 62, Purdue 17 – When Ohio St. and Michigan St. completed their bombs to beat the Badgers this game was destined to be ugly and it was, in every sense. Also, Purdue's extreme long shot Big 10 Championship hopes were extinguished.

Air Force 24, Army 14 – The spirit of the Notre Dame Turnover Machine infested Army today. Sloppy game that the Black Knights should have won.

UL-Lafayette 36, UL-Monroe 35, Western Kentucky 10, Florida International 9, Arkansas St. 39, Florida Atlantic 21 – This has turned into one of the best conference races in the country. Arkansas St. in undefeated in Sun Belt play and both UL-Lafayette and Western Kentucky 1 loss.

Southern Miss 48, East Carolina 28 – How did Southern Miss lose to Marshall? Also, the procession to a big time Conference USA Championship Game has possibly begun.

Morning Game QuickThoughts Week 10

Iowa 24, Michigan 16 – We knew little about the Wolverines before this game and we know not much more other than Iowa is even more of a Jekyll and Hyde team in their home/road split. I suspect that Michigan really isn't that good, but the problem is the offense, specifically the square peg round hole problem the coaching staff has with Denard Robinson.

Louisville 38, West Virginia 35 – Mountaineer defense has completed its collapse giving Dana Holgerson the opportunity and reason to bring his own guy in (instead of the inherited Jeff Casteel). For Louisville, who knew that the only thing the offense needed was to fire coordinator Mike Sanford (other than the 7 UNLV fans in the world).

Ohio St. 34, Indiana 20 – Nice moral victory for awful Indiana team, but where is the Ohio St. defense at? Despite winning lately, this defense hasn't been up to normal standards and that side of the ball has been affected much less by suspensions and Tresselgate.

Michigan St. 31, Minnesota 24 – Jerry Kill has the Gophers obviously improving. Michigan St. seems to be headed towards its November doldrums again, but once again the teams they are bad enough that it doesn't matter.

Connecticut 28, Syracuse 21 – Big East LOL.

Florida 26, Vanderbilt 21 – SEC Least continues to play close games when matched together at least. And Florida is going to be bowl eligible.

Iowa St. 13, Kansas 10 – Turner Gill finally got the defense to bother showing up, only to see the offense show little improvement.

NC State 13, North Carolina 0 – What was that Carolina. NC State had seemingly mailed in the season last week only to wake up and beat you again. Are you losing just for the sake of keeping Tom O'Brien employed?

Virginia 31, Maryland 13 – The wheels are totally off for Maryland. The Edsall tenure is already toxic and he will be fired at the first reasonable opportunity. As for Virginia, kudos to Mike London for getting this team bowl eligible for the first time in four years.

TCU 31, Wyoming 20 – The TCU defense still has issues, but rolling up 617 yards of offense is just ridiculous and covers a lot of other problems.

Texas 52, Texas Tech 20 – Three thoughts here: 1, Texas has gotten to the point where they can blow up teams with lesser talent again. 2, the Texas Tech defense is truly awful, shocking for Tommy Tuberville. 3, the Texas Tech win at Oklahoma will be the single most befuddling result of the entire season.

College Football Night Game QuickThoughts - Week 9

Stanford 56, USC 48 (3OT) – A good game with plays being made all over, but not the classic many are saying it is postgame as I write. Andrew Luck is good, Matt Barkley is close to as good, and the running games were equal. Ultimately, games between even teams are decided by the big mistake and USC made 2 of them to Stanford's 1.

Auburn 41, Ole Miss 23 – The Auburn defense is still terrible, but that didn't matter because Ole Miss is miserable in the 3^rd quarter. A sign of bad coaching and yet another reason Houston Nutt needs to go from Oxford.

Ohio St. 33, Wisconsin 29 – What on Earth was the Wisconsin secondary doing on the final play? That said, win or lose, the Badgers are not the same team away from Madison. As for Ohio St., they are certainly maturing and the Big Ten might want to consider actually beating them. All they need is one Penn St. loss to someone else and Ohio St. controls its destiny in that league. Ugh.

Georgia Tech 31, Clemson 17 – Clemson wasn't necessarily bad Clemson here. Georgia Tech got caught looking ahead for the last two weeks and Clemson didn't have an extra week to prep for the triple option like so many teams to beat the Yellow Jackets have had. If there is an ACC Championship game rematch (as there was two years ago), I expect Clemson to win.

Iowa St. 41, Texas Tech 7 – Will the real Texas Tech please stand up? This was a terrible performance coming off of the best game this program has played under Tommy Tuberville. Yet, Tuberville is the common denominator. His Auburn teams were known for playing to the level of their opposition (2004 undefeated team exempted) and they occasionally laid an egg like this (see 2006 loss to Georgia and numerous losses to average at best Arkansas teams).

South Carolina 14, Tennessee 3 – Ugly, ugly game. Tennessee without Tyler Bray is just lost on the field offensively. South Carolina without Marcus Lattimore and with Connor Shaw in the game was nearly as lost but at least has some depth and talent.

Texas 43, Kansas 0 – Can we just move on from Turner Gill and get on with whoever is next in Kansas already? This obviously isn't working. Texas isn't good enough to be holding any team to 40 yards of offense right now.

UCLA 31, Cal 14 – Don't write the tombstone for Rick Neuheisel's coaching career yet. He is still on a flaming hot seat though. Jeff Tedford may have joined him after this shameful performance.

UNLV 38, Colorado St. 35 – UNLV shouldn't beat anyone except New Mexico. Speaking of New Mexico, they aren't likely the beat the version of the Rebels that showed up to this game.

College Football Afternoon Game QuickThoughts Week 9

Oklahoma 58, Kansas St. 17 – This game was a lot like the 2008 game. Oklahoma jumped up early. Then Kansas St. made a comeback before halftime. Then Oklahoma blew the Wildcats away after halftime. As expected. Any chance of a Kansas st. upset ended last week when Texas Tech beat Oklahoma. That ensured a focused performance from the Sooners.

Penn St. 10, Illinois 7 – Nasty, ugly, terrible game to watch. Illinois' offense has had the wheels come off and it allowed Penn St. to do what Penn St. has done all season.

Tulsa 38, SMU 7 – Two weeks ago, SMU looked like Houston's main challenger in C-USA West. Now they are toast and Tulsa is that challenger.

Oklahoma St. 59, Baylor 24 – This game wasn't even that close. Cowboys totally destroyed Baylor in this game. Most of the points from the Bears came during garbage time.

West Virginia 41, Rutgers 31 – West Virginia defensive collapse last week not a mirage. Still have firepower to win against most in Big East though.

North Carolina 49, Wake Forest 24 – Competition getting stronger for Wake Forest. Florida St. win looks like more of an anomaly than most games right now.

Minnesota 22, Iowa 21 – What was that Iowa? No excuse. For a coach on the hotseat, this would be the nail in the coffin. For the seemingly untouchable Kirk Ferentz, it's nothing.

Notre Dame 56, Navy 14 – Nice easy win for the Irish. When they don't fire up the turnover machine, they are really good.

Oregon 43, Washington St. 28 – Wazzu not the pushover they once were, but outcome was never really in doubt.

Georgia 24, Florida 20 – Georgia made numerous errors on special teams and tried to give this game away, just like always. Richt made crazy play calls to get Georgia the needed points and the Florida offense was once again miserable meaning they couldn't take advantage of the mistakes as they customarily do.

Boston College 28, Maryland 17 – Randy Edsall did one of the best coaching jobs in the country last season as the head coach at UConn. This season, he has done the absolute worst and one of the worst of all time. He took a team with a returning quarterback and 14 other starters that won 9 games and turned them into the worst team in the ACC. Shameful job by him and his staff, especially the offensive staff.

Morning Game QuickThoughts Week 9

Arkansas 31, Vanderbilt 28 – Arkansas is the 3^rd best team in the SEC, but there is a huge gulf between the top 2 and them. Vanderbilt is most certainly moving in the right direction under new coach James Franklin.

Virginia Tech 14, Duke 10 – The Hokies are way overrated. The only good team they played blew them out (Clemson) and the Hokies regularly struggle against perceived inferior opponents (see struggle against East Carolina). As for Duke, they are Duke. Did anyone believe they had a chance when they had the ball with under 2 minutes to go and a chance to drive for the win?

Missouri 38, Texas A&M 31 (OT) – Maybe we were too early in proclaiming the end of A&M's 2^nd half struggles... As for Missouri, they are much better than they have shown this season and were due to win one of these games eventually.

Nebraska 24, Michigan St. 3 – Sparty was spent after running Ohio St.-Michigan-Wisconsin gauntlet and Nebraska finally played a complete game to make them pay for it.

Louisville 27, Syracuse 10 – I refuse to acknowledge that there is any logic to results in the Big East.

Florida St. 34, NC State 0 – Shameful performance by NC State. Florida St. is likely to run through the ACC for the rest of the season, not that it matters.

Michigan 36, Purdue 14 – Michigan defense continues to play well. Offense blows up average defenses like Purdue's.

Air Force 42, New Mexico 0 – Never thought it would get worse post-Locksley, but it had. New Mexico has quit.

Midweek Games

Florida International 23, Troy 20 (OT) – This game looked a lot bigger when it was scheduled. Instead it was just a another decent Sun Belt game.

Pittsburgh 35, Connecticut 20 – Panthers are screwed without Ray Graham for rest of the season. That said, UConn secondary is so miserable nearly anyone could throw against it.

Houston 73, Rice 34 – 9 TOUCHDOWNs!?! OK we get it Houston. It still won't help you.

Virginia 28, Miami 21 – Hurricanes showing all signs of being under first year coach: have talent but totally inconsistent. Virginia looks like they are going to a bowl game and they are actually in the ACC race. Nice job by Mike London there.

TCU 38, BYU 28 – Both teams had played weak schedules. This was a measuring stick. TCU passes while BYU's revival seems to be more of a schedule aided mirage.

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.

College Football Afternoon QuickThoughts Week 8

Let me say before I start going through the games that this was the single worst segment of games I think I have ever seen. Blowouts abound all over the place.

Boise St. 37, Air Force 26 – This was the one exception to the blowout festival, and it will kill Boise St. in the polls. With all the other games blowouts, voters were hunting for a close game and this was it, just in time to ding Boise St. in the polls.

Nebraska 41, Minnesota 14 – Why on Earth did I in Los Angeles have this game on my ABC affiliate? As for the game, Minnesota successfully continued its quest to be the worst Big Ten team in the era of scholarship limits.

Virginia Tech 30, Boston College 14 – Hokies started slow, but Boston College lacks the offensive talent to take advantage of anyone starting slow against them.

TCU 69, New Mexico 0 – This is obviously still Locksley's fault.

LSU 45, Auburn 10 – Auburn got penalized, LSU scored and the game got away. Oddly, Auburn didn't play all that badly nor LSU all that well in the first half (21-3 LSU lead). Then the deluge came and it looked really bad.

Florida St. 41, Maryland 16 – New coach Randy Edsall's inability to run any semblance of passing offense has destroyed his previously good young quarterbacks and likely his team for the foreseeable future Remember that his UConn teams were just as abysmal at the quarterback position.

Oregon 45, Colorado 2 – Ducks took it easy in the 2^nd half. Meanwhile, is it more embarrassing to get shut out or score 2 points.

Miami 24, Georgia Tech 7 – The wheels have come off the Ramblin' Wreck the last two weeks. Not a good sign with the Clemson wrecking machine coming to town next week.

East Carolina 38, Navy 35 – Normally a game between two 2-4 teams wouldn't get a mention here, but when one quarterback (ECU's Dominique Davis) completes his first 26 passes and the game ends in controversy (Navy appeared to have won the game but the catch was overruled on replay, dubiously on the Calvin Johnson rule) with a tying field goal off the upright to end the game, it at least deserves a mention.

Texas A&M 33, Iowa St. 17 – Ho hum from Texas A&M. Looks like they are over their 2^nd half yips.

College Football Morning QuickThoughts Week 8

Wake Forest 24, Duke 23 – So which is the real Wake? The one that whipped Florida St. or the one that played this game and last week against Virginia Tech?

Eastern Michigan 14, Western Michigan 10 – Let it be noted that a recovery from 2-22 in the first two years is possible. Ron English has his team at 5 wins for the first time in a long time.

Purdue 21, Illinois 14 – Ron Zook strikes again.

Arkansas 29, Ole Miss 24 – Arkansas was sleeping and Houston Nutt pulled his annual upset... Oh, what? Houston Nutt's team still lost in the annual upset game. He's doomed...

Kansas St. 59, Kansas 21 – There is room for only one good team in the state of Kansas. Not enough talent to support two teams at a high level there. Note that Kansas st. is good, meaning Kansas can't possibly be good at the same time.

Oklahoma St. 45, Missouri 24 – Tigers shot themselves in the foot over and over and over again. They really might be the new Clemson. Those traits will really get them killed in the SEC.

Clemson 59, North Carolina 38 – It appears the Clemson offense is completely unstoppable. Too bad they play in the ACC, putting them at the end of the pecking order for the National Championship game and sending them to the Orange Bowl to play the Big East's annual piece of garbage.

Cincinnati 37, South Florida 34 – Speaking of the annual Big East piece of garbage, it now appears that Cincinnati is the front runner for that honor. Remember that they were blown out by the 8^th best team in the SEC.

Weeknight Games

Arizona 48, UCLA 12 – Neuheisel is lucky that he gets to coach next week after this. I believe he now needs to win out to overcome the embarrassment of this debacle. And that won't be happening with the suspensions. As for Arizona, nice effort after the head coach got fired.

UAB 26, UCF 24 – Didn't see the game, but that doesn't matter. Losing to UAB is just awful for UCF. How long until the crazies down there start trying to fire George O'Leary again?

Syracuse 49, West Virginia 23 – Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? What the heck was that West Virginia? Getting shut down by Syracuse is not terrible. Giving up 49 points to them is .

Louisville 16, Rutgers 14 – And we have more evidence that the Big East is headed for another champion like UConn last year.

College Football Primetime QuickThoughts Week 7

BYU 38, Oregon St. 28 – Beavers are obviously improved, but there will be no miracle run to a bowl game. This one was needed. As for BYU, the spotlight for the season is away and like last year, they are playing well without it.

Western Kentucky 20, Florida Atlantic 0 – Whoever takes over for senile old Schnellenberger has one heck of a rebuilding job, even in the Sun Belt.

Boise St. 63, Colorado St. 13 – Ho hum. The back of the Mountain West is going to get treated exaclty like their WAC counterparts were.

Alabama 52, Ole Miss 7 – Rebels never had a chance, especially with Richardson on his game.

Clemson 56, Maryland 45 – This game proves its not same old Clemson. Heck, Rece Davis led off College Football Final talking about Clemson looking like they were going to have a 'That's Why Your Clemson Moment' only to have Sammy Watkins save them. He is immune to whatever annually kills Clemson.

Virginia Tech 38, Wake Forest 17 – Hokies had their annual ugly loss in the first real test. Too bad for them they won't be beating Clemson in a rematch either.

Georgia 33, Vanderbilt 28 – What was that Georgia? Vandy hasn't moved against any defense with a pulse other than you.

Kansas St. 41, Texas Tech 34 – The importance of swing points and taking advantage of opportunities was illustrated here. Kansas St. was outgained 580-339, but they ran a kickoff back for ta touchdown and forced four turnovers without committing one of their own.

Stanford 44, Washington St. 14 – The 3^rd quarter against Stanford is just unfair. They kill everyone there. And Washington St. was no exception. This game was actually close (10-7) at halftime.

Oklahoma 47, Kansas 17 – Oklahoma obviously wasn't focused against a terrible team. And it was never going to matter.

Oregon 41, Arizona St. 27 – The injuries are continuing to mount at Oregon. The Ducks are lucky this game was at Autzen and not in Tempe.

College Football Afternoon QuickThoughts Week 7

Connecticut 16, South Florida 10 – Overwhelming proof that South Florida's win over Notre Dame was a turnover and weather aided fluke.

Miami 30, North Carolina 24 – Miami lacks killer instinct to finish teams off, but North Carolina was too far behind and made just enough mistakes to sabotage themselves. Remember that this game was 27-3 at one point.

Missouri 52, Iowa St. 17 – Missouri has underachieved thus far relative to its talent level. This game was not underachievement. Iowa St.'s 3-0 start has now been completely confirmed as a mirage by Texas, Baylor and now Missouri.

Virginia 24, Georgia Tech 21 – The Yellow Jackets still have issues throwing the football, especially against opponents with time to prepare. Also, the Virginia offense doesn't have a high ceiling, but they seem to be pretty consistently average. That's enough to win when the defense is really good.

Washington 52, Colorado 24 – Keith Price is really, really good. Colorado is not so good.

Ohio St. 17, Illinois 7 – Ron Zook is a moron. He lost at home to a team that completed one pass (and isn't an option based offense) and he went for it on 4^th and 2 in field goal range down 10 points with a minute to go. He failed and that was the game.

SMU 38, UCF 17 – SMU is on the way to a major showdown with Houston in November for the Conference USA West title. UCF has been aimless since blowing the lead to BYU a few weeks ago.

LSU 38, Tennessee 7 – With Matt Simms and not Tyler Bray, Tennessee had no chance. That said, it wouldn't have mattered considering the 38 points LSU put on the board.

Oklahoma St. 38, Texas 26 – Cowboys didn't look great, but they got the win. That may not be enough to get to the national title game though, especially if Oklahoma loses to someone else and Wisconsin and Stanford remain undefeated. As for Texas, they are obviously improving, but the young talent just isn't ready to beat top ten teams right now.

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College Football Morning QuickThoughts Week 7

Michigan St. 28, Michigan 14 – The Michigan St. defense is one of the five best in all of college football, but the offensive play calling is uninspired this season after Don Treadwell left to take the head coaching job at Miami (OH). It didn't hurt them here, but it could be a big problem against Wisconsin next week. As for Michigan, still a work in progress, but they won't collapse after this loss like they did the last two seasons. The defense is noticeably better and the offense still put up great numbers last season after being squashed by Sparty.

Utah 26, Pittsburgh 14 – See Utes, don't turn the ball over, win the game. Utah has the talent to win in Pac-12, just young and turnover prone. Next season could be very god if they get decent quarterback play. As for Pittsburgh, they show all the hallmarks of a talented but inconsistent team that many talented teams show under first year coaches changing the entire system.

Texas A&M 55, Baylor 28 – A&M offense is going to blow bad defenses like Baylor up, allowing them to survive their awful pass defense. Against the better teams like Oklahoma, this will be a big problem. As for Baylor, the overall defensive talent just can't keep Griffin in some games unless he's perfect.

South Carolina 14, Mississippi St. 12 – This was an ugly football game. The Mississippi St. offense is still floating in the river after what LSU did to it a month ago. And the South Carolina offense seems to be doomed to maddening inconsistency, even without Garcia. The other news here: Lattimore is hurt. Good thing Gamecocks have a bye next week.

Cincinnati 25, Louisville 16 – The Louisville offense is still awful, no matter the coordinator. It's so bad that it allowed Cincinnati to win with a B- level game.

Penn St. 23, Purdue 18 – Nittany Lions continue to win and continue to be totally unwatchable. Nothing more.

Wisconsin 59, Indiana 7 – Ho hum. Especially considering Wisconsin scored 80 in this game last season.

Thursday and Friday game thoughts

USC 30, Cal 9 – Somebody has to be a turnover machine each week this season. Cal was one of those teams and it killed them in a game they could have won despite the lopsided score.

San Diego St 41, Air Force 27 – Ronnie Hillman is better than any of Air Force's players.

San Jose St. 28, Hawaii 27 – This was a terrible game to watch. Hawaii is awful (even moreso than normal) away from the islands this season. San Jose St. is a bad football team, but they are improving just in time to contend in a watered down conference next season.

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Nightgames Quick Thoughts - Week 6

Michigan 42, Northwestern 24 – Denard Robinson is really good, but he makes some dumb throws that keeps the other team in the game on occasion. His 3 INTs had his team behind and allowed Northwestern to make a game of this when they had no business doing so.

Baylor 49, Iowa St. 26 – Iowa St. just doesn't have the overall firepower needed to compete in the Big 12 week-to-week, but if a team falls asleep (like Iowa did) there could be trouble. Baylor didn't go to sleep because they know they will lose anytime they go to sleep at all.

Houston 56, East Carolina 3 – I don't know what to do with Houston. Their only real test was a win over UCLA and the defense is still awful, no matter what the 3 points given up here says. It was only a week ago that UTEP got 42.

Alabama 34, Vanderbilt 0 – Ho hum. Vandy doesn't have the offensive talent but we knew that (see 77 yards of offense against South Carolina). The revelation was, for the first time this season, a downfield passing game from Alabama.

Louisiana-Lafayette 31, Troy 17 – UL-Lafayette has slayed defending champion FIU and conference overlord Troy. The road to a first conference title in school history is now clear.

Nevada 37, UNLV 0 – The score doesn't do this justice. Total yards: Nevada 699, UNLV 110. That's more like it.

Georgia 20, Tennessee 12 – Young Vols just can't run block to save their lives. -29 yards rushing in conference play so far in two games. And the next two are against LSU and Alabama. Meanwhile, the Georgia defense has found itself for the first time since Alabama took its manhood in the 2008 blackout game.

Texas A&M 45, Texas Tech 40 – A&M would have blown yet another lead if Tech was any good. The Red Raiders aren't that good though and A&M survived the second half this week to get its season restarted.

Stanford 48, Colorado 7 – Andrew Luck is really good. Colorado is really bad.

Arkansas 38, Auburn 14 – Ho hum offensive game for Arkansas. Auburn should really think about turning to Kiehl Frazier full time and building for next year. He is obviously going to be the guy over Trotter next season and Trotter looked Bausermanesque tonight.

Nebraska 34, Ohio St. 27 – Speaking of Bauserman, as soon as his defense coughed up the lead against Nebraska with starter Braxton Miller out, this game was over. Bauserman finished 1-0 with an INT in relief of the injured Miller.

UCLA 28, Washington St. 25 – This game was surprisingly well-played. That it was also shows the general lack of talent on these two squads. Also, the UCLA quarterback plague has claimed another victim (Richard Brehaut), putting Kevin Prince back under center.

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Afternoon Quick Thoughts – Week 6

Illinois 41, Indiana 20 – Kudos to Ron Zook for continuing to avoid toe-stubbing. No matter the process (often ugly), 6-0 is 6-0.

Clemson 36, Boston College 14 – The big news is Tajh Boyd's injury. Hopefully for both his team and his league that both need him for national title hopes, the injury isn't bad and Boyd can play next week. If he can't, at least Clemson will have an excuse for its annual stupid loss to Maryland.

Notre Dame 59, Air Force 33 – The Irish fixed the turnover machine and scored at will. If they start turning the ball over again though, the Navy game could be dangerous considering the defense had issues against the triple-option today.

LSU 41, Florida 11 – Gators had no chance with no Brantley. Given the way this played out, the Gators may not have had a chance with him. They were shoved around on the lines all game long (except for on the long touchdown pass to Dubose). Also of note, the LSU punter got a touchdown taken off the board for taunting. Of all the ways for that to happen for the first time, a punter was probably the least expected, bad call or not.

Oklahoma St. 70, Kansas 28 – Kansas scored on its first possession. They should have quit while they were ahead. Oklahoma St. had 56 by halftime and Brandon Weeden threw 5 touchdowns in less than a half of work.

Rutgers 34, Pittsburgh 10 – Pitt showing all the inconsistent signs of being under a first year coach (which they are). Rutgers is obviously improved and is a 2-point loss to North Carolina from being undefeated and near 2006 level at this point.

Oregon St. 37, Arizona 27 – Mike Stoops will be a good defensive coordinator somewhere next season. Oregon St. happily gets its first win of the season against the team against whom it all came unraveled last season with the James Rodgers injury.

Kansas St. 24, Missouri 17 – Kansas St. defense is really good. Bill Snyder has it rolling again and this team is the 3^rd best in the Big 12. As for Missouri, I don't know what to think. They obviously have talent, but something is missing and its not quarterback like the expectation was.

Arizona St. 35, Utah 14 – Arizona St. didn't play well. The 2004 and 2008 Utah teams would have dominated and the 2009 and 2010 Utah team would have won this game. This Utah team gave it away with three turnovers in seven plays after leading 14-13 in the 3^rd quarter.

Virginia Tech 38, Miami 35 – Best game of the day by far. Virginia Tech has major defensive issues though the offense seems to be fixed after the debacle against Clemson last week. Miami is missing that factor that gets the job done in close games at the end.

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Morning Quick Thoughts – Week 6

Oklahoma 55, Texas 17 – The Texas youngsters aren't ready yet causing this game to regress back to its 2000s state of blowouts for Oklahoma.

Georgia Tech 21, Maryland 16 – Somebody can stop Georgia Tech (good omen for Clemson). Maryland might be rounding into form (bad omen for Clemson considering the Maryland is responsible for a huge number of awe inspiringly dumb Clemson losses over the years and that game is next week).

Wake Forest 35, Florida St. 30 – Wake Forest's strategy of redshirting nearly everyone and taking some occasional bad years and beatings because they lack the overall talent of others works quite well. As for Florida St., can we stop giving them the benefit of the doubt in the preseason. This is not Bobby Bowden in the mid-90s and never will be again.

South Carolina 54, Kentucky 3 – Connor Shaw was good (adios Stephen Garcia) while bad Garcia would have been a huge upgrade for the Kentucky quarterbacks (4-26, 17 yards, 4 INTs). The South Carolina defensive line is just insane.

West Virginia 43, Connecticut 16 – West Virginia continued it's trend of starting slow and then blowing teams away in the second half. They might want to get that corrected before it costss them a game they really need in Big East play.

Purdue 45, Minnesota 17 – Purdue is awful. We already know that from the lucky escape against Middle Tennessee and the loss to Rice. So what does that make Minnesota other than the worst major conference team in the country (especially with awful Oregon St. blowing out Arizona as I write this).

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College Football Opening Night Quick Hits

Thank God I had other commitments and watched the 2^nd half of Kentucky-Western Kentucky on tape – Why you ask am I thankful? I could fast forward through parts of this trainwreck. This game was a blight upon the institution of football. All copies of the tape should be burned, all record of its existence striken and all memory burned out of our collective minds. It was bad enough that the twitter consensus was that 3-2 was a better game. Heck, Western Kentucky trended on twitter because so many people were complaining about this thing. Just for the record, Kentucky won 14-3

UNLV-Wisconsin was every bit as gruesome as expected – Wisconsin first team offense: 8 drives, 7 touchdowns, 1 field goal before halftime. Nothing more needed other than saying UNLV's late 4^th quarter garbage time touchdown means they covered the spread of 34.5 points, getting within 34.

Memphis is still the worst FBS team in America – Not that they ever really had a chance against Mississippi St., but the Tigers were atrocious is every phase of the game on their way to a 59-20 beating on their home field.

ESPN picked the wrong game – As it turned out, the best game (and really only good game) or the night was the only game between two BCS conference teams (gee, never would have imagined that). Syracuse came from way behind to beat Wake Forest in overtime. Too bad only the 127 of us that have espn3.com could watch it. Hec those same prior commitments that cost me the UK-WKU game live (thank God) also cost me on this game. I left when it was 20-7 Wake Forest and looking like a certain Demon Deacon victory.

We need a real Thursday night opener – This slate of games was just awful. Of course next year, I will get my wish. With two Chick-fil-a Kickoff games scheduled for next season (Auburn-Clemson and NC State-Tennessee), I expect one to be played on Thursday night and the other Saturday. It just makes sense.

The MAC is finally getting better again – It was only 3 FCS teams and Idaho, but the MAC was perfect on the night. Good for them and good for a league that has been bad pretty much since Ben Roethlisberger and Toledo's core graduated in 2004.

The Louisville-Kentucky game is going to be bad football appointment television – Kentucky was already covered. Louisville got off to a nice 21-0 lead against Murray St. Yes, FCS Murray St. They only won 28-9. Bad offensive performance, but it might be enough against Kentucky.

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Vuelta a España Daily – Sagan takes 2nd stage win of race in bunch sprint

Today's stage: 167 km stage with lots of rolling hills expected to end in a bunch sprint despite a late hill.

Who won today's stage? Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) got his second stage win of the Vuelta. Most impressively, he did it with no teammates as all of them were back in the peloton with team leader Vincenzo Nibali.

What matters in the GC race? Not much. The very top was unchanged. Bauke Mollema did pick up 11 seconds from a combination of winning the intermediate sprint and being in the front group of a small peloton split at the end. Mollema is still 6^th, now 36” behind leader Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) scored no points today and Sagan did with the stage win. Rodriguez still leads, but Sagan is now second and close enough to consider making a move for it. Of course Sagan will have no team support given the presence of Nibali on the roster.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – None of the leaders got any points on either of the early category 3 climbs today. The top three are still Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale), David Moncoutie (Cofidis), and Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo)

White Jersey (Allround) – No changes here either. Mollema is still the leader, followed by Daniel Moreno (Katusha) and then Rodriguez.

Biggest surprise: Nothing. This was a bunch sprint stage from the start and nothing was going to be changing that.

Biggest disappointment: Many of the sprinters, most notably Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) are leaving the race tonight after racing this stage. I know there isn't much for them to do for the rest of the race, but I still think they should try and get to Madrid and the finish.

Other items of note: Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto) most certainly made a tactical error today. Hansen was in the days breakaway with three others. He attacked them late in the stage while they were holding a 2 minute lead. He briefly dropped his break companions, but then watched them claw back and drop him because he expended too much energy attacking them. Ouch... No major changes in the team competition. Mollema being in the positive end of the split along got his Rabobank team a few seconds, pulling them to 1'58 behind Radio Shack.

What is coming tomorrow? A mountain stage that is not a summit finish. It looks like a slightly more difficult version of the Tour de France Col d' Aubisque stage won by Thor Hushovd. The breakaway is likely to get away tomorrow and there is space for GC guys to take some time, especially strong descenders like Nibali.

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Vuelta a España Daily – Huge breakaway gets away for stage win

Today's stage: 167 km stage to the summit finish at the Manzaneda ski resort. First time Manzaneda has been included in the Vuelta.

Who won today's stage? David Moncoutie (Cofidis) attacked his other companions in the breakaway, all 18 of them, early on the climb up to Manzaneda and continued to attack until one stuck. He then pedaled away to an easy stage win by over a minute. The win is his 4^th straight year with a stage win.

What matters in the GC race? We have a new leader. Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) displaced his teammate Chris Froome from the race lead. Wiggins now leads Froome by 7 seconds. 2^nd place entering the day Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard-Trek) finished in Froome's group and fell to 5^th overall, 19 seconds behind Wiggins. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) attacked late in the stage, but he only gained 7 seconds on Wiggins. He trails by 2'56” and is still 14^th.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Rodrgiuez still leads this competition by a large margin over Bauke Mollema (Rabobank). The top actual sprinter is Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), 3^rd place on the stage.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale) was in the breakaway and took points on the early climbs. He now leads the competition by one point over stage winner Moncoutie. Former leader Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo) was not in the break and therefore scored no points.

White Jersey (Allround) – Mollema is still the leader in this competition. In a rarity, the person leading this competition doesn't have another jersey and therefore doesn't need 2^nd (or 3^rd) to wear it. Daniel Moreno (Katusha) is second followed by Rodriguez.

Biggest surprise: Team Sky didn't have Froome try and protect the red leader's jersey. Wiggins is the leader of the team and assumed the race lead, but it was still surprising to see Froome pacing the peloton for Wiggins just as it was to see Thor Hushovd leading a sprint out for this teammate at the Tour de France.

Biggest disappointment: The peloton didn't respond quick enough. I'm all in favor of breakaways despite my usual proclamations on twitter that they are doomed. That said, this was a stage where the breakaway getting reeled in would have made the attacks that much more desperate with the time bonuses at the top.

Other items of note: The team competition continues to be in full swing. Radio Shack leads Rabobank by 2'08” and Leopard-Trek by 2'23”... The race is headed towards consecutive summit finishes with the crown jewel Angliru stage on Sunday before the Monday rest day.

What is coming tomorrow? Sprint stage, probably in the rain. The Galicia region where the race is currently at is known for raining quite a bit, so the expected field sprint could be interesting.

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Vuelta a Espana Daily – Break Stays Away As Peloton Stares At Each Other

Today's stage: 163 km stage with a pair of category 3 climbs, one just 14 km from the finish

Who won today's stage? Pablo Lastras (Movistar) attacked his companions in the daily breakaway just before the final climb and took the stage as those companions weren't able to work together in the final 5km. The break stayed away because the peloton other than Leopard-Trek pretty much refused to work with a big mountain stage coming up tomorrow.

What matters in the GC race? Leopard-Trek had four of the top five riders in the GC entering the day, but race leader Danielle Bennati was dropped on the final climb and the breakaway riders jumped past the others. Lastras is the overall leader by 20 seconds over Sylvain Chavanel (QuickStep).

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Stage winner Lastras assumed the lead in this classification as well, but he holds the leaders red jersey so second place Chavanel will wear the green tomorrow instead of his French national champion jersey.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Lastras, Chavanel, today's leader Paul Martens (Rabobank), Markel Irizar (Radio Shack) and Ruslan Pydgornyy (Vacansoleil) are all tied for the lead. I believe Irizar will be wearing the jersey tomorrow, but it could be anyone other than Lastras or Chavanel who will be wearing other, bigger jerseys.

White Jersey (Allround) – To be listed in the qualification from this point forward, a rider must have scored points in both the Green and Polka Dot Jersey competitions. Lastras is the leader followed by Chavanel, Irizar, Pydgornyy and Martens.

Biggest surprise: The peloton didn't reel the break back in. At one point, the lead was over 8 minutes, then when television coverage started the lead was 6 minutes. It came down steadily after that, but slowly. With 35 km to go, Leopard-Trek pulled off the pacemaking and no other team came to the front, allowing the break to extend its lead by 30 seconds back to 4 minutes. After that, nobody worked really hard until the final climb, giving the stage win to the breakaway. No doubt, the scorching heat up above 100 degrees played a role in the break staying away.

Biggest disappointment: After Lastras attacked, Pydgornyy and Irizar refused to work with Chavanel to chase him down. They were sure they would lose a sprint to Chavanel so they wouldn't work and Chavanel was unable to chase down Lastras on his own (or maybe was unwilling given it could gift the stage win to his non-working companions.

Other items of note: There was a crash today. No abandonments, but Garmin-Cervelo GC contender Christophe Le Mevel was involved... Many of the sprinters lost big time and were nowhere near the front to contest the sprint, even if the breakaway had been reeled in.

What is coming tomorrow? Early mountain carnage. There is a category 1 climb before US tv coverage begins, then a category 3 and finally the monstrous climb up the Sierra Nevada to the first summit finish of this year's Vuelta. Any GC contenders not in good form will be well out of the race if they don't have it tomorrow.

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