The Ole College Try

Once again, I will doing a weekly wrap-up of the college football season, told from a couple of days distance simply to let some of the stories simmer a bit and to gain a bit of perspective. Generally this column will come out on Tuesday. Although you may have a different take on the past weekend, I can only truly comment on games that I have seen, and this is my perspective.

Heisman Watch (Since the World Wide Leader tells us its never too early)

Big 3 Edition

Favorite - Colt McCoy - Texas - 317 yards and 2 TDs in a laugher against Louisiana-Monroe. Of course, McCoy is aided by Tebow playing less than one half and Bradford's shoulder.

Quarterback Edition (other than the big 3)

Max Hall - Brigham Young - 329 yards and 2 touchdowns in Brigham Young's thrilling defeat of Oklahoma, including the game winning touchdown pass with 3:03 remaining.

Running Back Edition

Favorite - Jahvid Best - California - He has the best chance (pun intended) to usurp the big 3, and he started off successfully with 137 yards on only 10 carries in a old-fashioned whooping of Maryland.

Sleeper - Matt Asiata - Utah - Started Utah's potential undefeated campaign with 156 yards (albeit on 36 carries).

Rising - Nobody is rising after only one week.

Falling - Sam Bradford - Oklahoma - due to injury.

Statistical Favorite - Aaron Opelt - Toledo - 423 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 52-31 defeat at the hands of Purdue.

Miscellaneous Position - Jordan Shipley, WR - Texas - 180 receiving yards and 1 TD for Texas. Easily Colt McCoy's favorite target. (And did you hear, they are roommates?!)

Defensive Leader - Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith CB - UTEP - 18 tackles against Buffalo. 18!!! As a cornerback!!!

Player to Watch

Jacory Harris - QB - Miami - A little bit of a homer pick as the Canes are my favorite team. But, it was a helluva start to a very difficult starting schedule with 386 passing yards against Florida State. Even if the Canes are not yet championship material, they will certianly be entertaining.

My New Favorite Player

Byron Haut - Boise State - Boy can he take a punch! (Really this award goes to Jacory Harris). This leads me to ...

Goat of the Week (Player Edition)

LaGarette Blount - RB - Oregon If you even have to ask, but for posterity's sake, his after game punch of Haut, and his tantrums directed towardteammates and security were completely uncalled for. Not sure season-long suspension is the correct penalty though.

Goat of the Week (Coach Edition)

Jim Tressel - Ohio State - A field goal at that point makes the score 32-14, and the game is over. Why did you go for it? Navy almost made you pay!

Predicted BCS Championship Game Matchup
Texas v. Florida - With Florida's schedule, and Sam Bradford's injury, this is the most likely outcome at this point. Still waaaaayyyy too early to tell.

Rant(s) of the Week
Ok, so LaGarette Blount needed to be punished for his behavior, but his entire senior season? Why not suspend him for 4 games plus the bowl? OR the first 3 conference games plus the bowl? His entire senior season - that is just plain ludicrous!

Congratulations of the Week

Brigham Young - Even with the injuries to Bradford and Greshem, this was a huge win for Brigham Young, and could be a big step toward the BCS Championship game for the Cougars.

Under Performance of the Week

Ohio State - Way too close of a game for Ohio State if they want to be in the National Championship hunt.

Iowa - Yes, you get 2 blocked field goals, but the fact that you needed both of them to win against Northern Iowa is pathetic.

Trivia Question of the Week

Florida's Brandon James returned a kickoff against Charleston Southern for a touchdown. In what year was the last time previously that Florida had returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

Matchup(s) to Watch

3. Marshall v. Virginia Tech - Marshall has historically had an effective offense. Virginia Tech is coming off a week in which in gave up 498 yards.

2. Notre Dame v. Michigan - Not because everybody says this is supposed to be a big game, but because it will be interesting to see Michigan's two freshmen quarterbacks Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson in their first big college game. Perhaps Rich Rodriguez does know what he is doing.

1. USC v. Ohio State - Last year we had the Collision in the Colosseum, or as those of you who read this blog remember I correctly predicted USC's blowout by glossing the game "The Suckfest in South Central". Sorry to disappoint you Buckeye fans, but if you couldn't slow down Navy's running game, what do you think you are going to do to Joe McKnight, Stefan Johnson, et. al. Another blowout, which I am calling, "The Horseshit in the Horseshoe".

And So It Begins

As we are solidly in the middle of the first weekend of college football, I figure that there is no better time to unveil my pre-season All-American team. Although there are more than 11 offenseive and defensive players listed, the team is selected to account for the various offenses and defenses used around the country (trip receivers, spread, 3-4, 4-3, etc.). I chose to explain my picks in some instances, and not in others. Why? Because I am busy watching football. Now here are the Pepster Preseason All-Americans.

Offense

QB - Colt McCoy, Texas - Led his team in passing and rushing last year, and his completion percentage is off the charts.

RB - Jahvid Best, California; Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech; Jazquizz Rodgers, Oregon State - Best might be the best player in the country, averaging over 8 yards per carry last year.

WR - Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State; Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati; A.J. Green, Georgia - Gilyard is probably the best player nobody has ever heard of, and A.J. Green is the best sophomore receiver in the SEC, not Julio Jones.

TE - Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma; Aaron Hernandez, Florida - Gresham came back instead of being a sure-fire first round draft pick last year and Florida's offensive hopes depend a lot more on Hernandez than people realize.

T - Trent Williams, Oklahoma; Ciron Black, LSU - Both big and strong, and keys to their respective offenses. Black is a fourth year starter. Williams is the only returning starter on the line for Oklahoma.

G - Sergio Render, Virginia Tech; Rodney Hudson, Florida State- Render is a mountain. Tech will need him to jump start their running game.

C - Maurkice Pouncey, Florida - Florida deserves multiple offensive All-Americans, especially since I did not select Jesus at the quarterback position. And frankly, I can't tell the Pouncey brothers apart.

Defense

DE - George Selvie, South Florida; Jan Jorgensen, Brigham Young - Just watch Selvie play and you will see why. Jorgensen is the conference career sack leader, in a conference that does a lot of passing. My apologies to Greg Hardy and Sergio Kindle.

DT - Terrence Cody, Alabama; Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma - Not only are they immovable objects in the middle of the line, they make plays as well behind it.

OLB - Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri; Eric Norwood, South Carolina - Norwood is a beast, while Weatherspoon just makes tackles.

ILB - Brandon Spikes, Florida; Joe Pawelek, Baylor - You know I watch too much football when I place a Baylor player on my preseason All-American team. I think Spikes is the best player on the Gators, but somehow this will be misinterpreted as a dig at Tebow.

Keep an eye on Sean Spence, Miami.

CB - Trevard Lindley, Kentucky; Janoris Jenkins, Florida - Jenkins is a phenomenal athlete, and Lindley has garnered votes for All-American each of the past two years.

S - Taylor Mays, USC; Eric Berry, Tennessee - The easiest position to select on the team.

Special Teams

K - Shane Popham, Wake Forest - Not that I think is particularly that good, just wanted to see if anybody actually paid attention to whom I selected at kicker, and he seems to have kicked 1,000 field goals against FSU.

P - Zoltan Mesko, Michigan - Simply because of his name.

R - Brandon James, Florida - If he sees a hole, he's thinking touchdown.

Forgive me for any typographical errors, I didn't feel like proofreading with games on the television. Stay tuned for my weekly college football updates.

The Ole College Try

This is your weekly wrap-up of the college football season, told from a couple of days distance simply to let some of the stories simmer a bit and to gain a bit of perspective. I did watch quite a bit of games this weekend, although the replay and coaching issues during the Miami game may have discombobulated me for a while.

Heisman Watch (Big 12 QB edition - well except for the Defense)

Favorite - Chase Daniel - He has to be the odds on favorite now, unless he completely underperforms in a big conference game. Here is the only stat you need to see: Since he has started at QB at Missouri, they have not had a single three and out. NOT ONE! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Sleeper - Colt McCoy - Texas - Normally a Texas QB could never be considered a sleeper, but with all the talented QBs in this conference, and since Colt McCoy is no Vince Young, this is where I will slot him for now. What? McCoy is leading the Longhorns in rushing? Probably not a good sign going into the Red River Battle, but is still impressive nevertheless.

Rising - Sam Bradford - Oklahoma - 372 yards and 2 TDs in a shellacking of Baylor. His yearly totals are 1665 yards and 18 touchdowns to date. You would think that he would be hard pressed to beat his freshman year 176.52 QB rating (which I think was the highest in college last year, but I am too lazy right now to look it up), except for the fact that his sophomore rating to date is 204.97. Read that again! Impressive huh?.

Falling - Todd Reesing - Kansas - He is having a nice season, and can no longer be considered an overachiever for last season. The same cannot be said about the Jayhawks, however.

Statistical Favorite - Graham Harrell - Texas Tech - There is a reason why I called this the Graham Harrell category earlier in the year. 454 yards and 6 TDs passing (plus 1 rushing) against Kansas State. He is also now the leading passing (yards) in Texas Tech history, having passed the prolific Kliff Kingsbury. Remember, this is the team that has passed every down for the past 33 years.

Defensive Leader - Nathan Peppers DT - South Carolina - Mississippi coming off its electric win over Florida, could have thought it was going to go on a roll to make it a very interesting SEC west battle. Peppers made sure that didn't happen by scoring on a 29 yard fumble recovery in the second quarter. This is all I can come up with, as I am holding this category for LSU's Ricky Jean-Francois Jean Luc Picard Rocket Richard Martin St. Louis Vincent Lecavalier makes good on his promise to hit Tebow really hard.

Player to Watch

Demaryius Thomas - Sophomore WR - Georgia Tech - He caught 9 passes for 230 yards in the Ramblin' Wreck's 27-0 shutout over Duke. But, more importantly, HE WAS THE ONLY YELLOW JACKET WITH A RECEPTION, as QB Jaybo Shaw completed 9 of 14 passes, all 9 to Thomas. I know a lot of receivers think that they are the only legitimate target when they step on the field. Apparently Thomas was correct. Jaybo, sounds like he should be my new favorite player.

My New Favorite Player

Sean Spence - LB - Miami - The Dude is absolutely everywhere. Just everywhere. Scored a very important TD against Florida State. Spence is going to be a star. Unless, of course, Ricky Jean-Francoise makes good on his promise. Then I'll have to retire this category.



Predicted BCS Championship Game Matchup

Oklahoma v. Alabama. With the continued emergence of Charles Scott, LSU should probably be here, and I would put them here now, but I just don't want to jinx them before this weekend's game. For now, song girls at play.


Rant(s) of the Week

1. Coaches that don't know how to work the clock when down more than 1 score. Randy Shannon had approximately a 40 yard field goal on fourth down with just over 2 minutes to go down 9. His kicker has been very good this year, and has been successful from over 50. He kicks the field goal, you try to get the onside kick, and if it is successful, you have 2 minutes to score a game winning TD. Instead, Shannon goes for it, ultimately scores the TD, but then only has 15 seconds left with no timeouts to score. The onside kick was unsuccessful anyway, but even if it was successful, no legitimate chance to score a TD. A field goal in that situation gives you the chance. Antone Smith's non-fumble call on the first TD drive notwithstanding. The play was reviewed, the ball was clearly on his hip well before going down. Ugggghhhhh!

Congratulations of the Week

To Utah - the Utes beat upstart Oregon State fresh off their upset of USC. Oregon State should have had the confidence to beat Utah, but yet, they maintained their chance at a BCS bowl with a 31-28 victory to go 6-0.

Underperformance of the Week

To Wisconsin - They failed to take advantage of a clearly underwhelming Ohio State team, losing 20-17.

Trivia Question of the Week

In honor of Bradford's atronomical, QB rating, ahem, Passing Efficiency Rating, who holds the highest single season PER and the career highest PER. This is for Division IA, folks.

Last Weeks Answer

The NCAA Division 1A record for most career games rushing over 200 yards is 11, held jointly by Marcus Allen, Ricky Williams and Ron Dayne.

Matchup(s) to Watch

1. LSU v. Florida - Two top 11 teams, LSU top 5 and undefeated, Ricky Jean-Francoise throwing down the Tebow gauntlet, 8:00 p.m. start time, the Swamp, plus, I'll be there. Definitely the matchup to watch. How and why CBS passed this game for the Tennessee - Georgia tilt, I will never know.

2. Texas v. Oklahoma - So maybe LSU/Florida isn't the most important game to watch this weekend. Showdown at high noon for Big 12 South supremacy, and an inside track to the national championship game.

3. Vanderbilt v. Mississppi State - Not because both teams are great or because this is a scintillating rivalry, but simply to see if Vandy can keep up its momentum and go 6-0 overall, and more importantly 4-0 in the SEC.