Predictions were right with the exception of the big game, with Ohio State dominating Texas 24-7. I don't bet against the line because I don't gamble on the games. My father told me years ago that you never gamble on something unless you control the outcome, and I have kept that in mind ever since.
Big Wins
Nebraska 56, Nicholls State 7
Nebraska easily dispensed with Nicholls State as expected. The starting defense gave up one play that allowed Nicholls State to score, but other than that the game was near-perfect. Given that last year's Nebraska's offense had trouble scoring against Maine at the beginning of the season, the fact that we can score easy and often against an opponent we're supposed to crush is a sign that Nebraska under Bill Callahan is coming around.
No doubt most people around the nation are writing off the game against USC. We'll be sharing questions and answers with USC blog Conquest Chronicles this week, so stay tuned for that.
Picture John David Booty below and we'll beat USC.
Source: Lincoln Journal Star
More Here
Mizzou 34, Ole Miss 13
Chase Daniels ran for 89 yards, threw for 243 yards with a TD pass. The Tigers looked pretty sharp from the beginning of this game, and Ole Miss had no answer. Ole Miss was never in this game and Missouri got stronger as the game went on. The Tiger held the Rebels to 162 yards of total offense, while gaining 471 yards themselves.
Mizzou looks like the only other Big 12 North team besides Nebraska that has a legitimate shot at winning the Big 12 North. Most people had picked the Nebraska/Iowa State game as the game to watch, but after watching Missouri Saturday, I'd say the Nebraska/Mizzou match up in Lincoln may have more to say about it.
Baylor 47, Northwestern State 10
Baylor's offense got on track, throwing for 330 yards while rushing for only 20. The Bears defense gave up 329 total yards, but had three interceptions. Baylor scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, obviously after running the defenders out of gas.
Oklahoma State 35, Arkansas State 7
Arkansas State scored first off a Bobby Reid interception as Oklahoma State started sloppy and then turned it on in the second quarter. After the rocky start, it was a nice win for the Cowboys, holding the Indians to 188 total yards.
Texas A&M 51, UL Lafayette 7
Texas A&M got a big win against an inferior opponent with Jorvorskie Lane rushing for four touchdowns. The Aggies scored on their first four possessions, averaged 5.6 yards per carry rushing, with eleven different receivers catching a ball. By the book, they were sharp.
The schedule doesn't get any tougher until Texas Tech on the 30th, with Army and Louisiana Tech up next. At least we can compare how the Aggies do against LaTech as some kind of barometer as to where they are.
Oklahoma 37, Washington 20
Adrian Peterson had 167 yards and two TD's, Paul Thompson had a good game, going 21 of 33 for two TD's and one interception. The bad news for Oklahoma is that they gave up a 100 yard rushing game to Washington's Louis Rankin, who had 17 carries for 112 yards.
Kansas State 45, Florida Atlantic 0
Kansas State's offense overran one of the worst teams in the nation. Florida Atlantic has yet to score a touchdown this season. The Kansas State/Colorado game this year will be a great one to watch, but at least Kansas State can score.
Embarassingly Close
Iowa State 16, UNLV 10
Iowa State nearly lost to UNLV, but it was not the high scoring affair that one would expect. For the second straight week, the game came down to the last play. Big news on this one was that after the ball sailed through the end zone, UNLV coach Mike Sanford kept his team on the field for 15 minutes, protesting that the play wasn't reviewed. It was reviewed, but apparently no one told him. So when the game ended, the ISU plays and Dan McCarney started across the field, but UNLV never came out to meet them.
Iowa State managed only three points in the second half, not a good sign for a team that's supposed to compete for the Big 12 North. The offense had 340 total yards, with Stevie Hicks rushing for 109. The Cyclone's defense allowed backup quarterback Shane Steichen to throw for 180 yards, going 19-27 with one touchdown and an interception. Iowa State needs to improve rapidly, next up is Iowa and if they're playing this way next week, they can expect to be destroyed.
Kansas 21, UL Monroe 19
UL Monroe had a chance to tie this game late, but missed a two-point conversion attempt. Kansas lead at the half 14-7, but had four three-and-outs, two Meier interceptions, and two 80-yard scoring drives. Jayhawk back Jon Cornish finished was just over 100 yards, but the defense gave up 428 total yards to UL Monroe, 377 of them in the air.
I had picked Kansas to finish ahead of Missouri in the Big 12 North, but at this point, I'd have to put them below both Iowa State and Missouri.
Texas Tech 38, UTEP 35 (OT)
Tech's defense gave up some big plays, including a 41 yard flea flicker, and a trick play with Tech had two chances to put the game away in regulation. Tech intercepted a pass with 6:30 left, giving them the ball at the 20 yard line. UTEP held them without a first down, and kicker Tricia missed a 35 yard field goal that ultimately would have been the game winner.
On the last series of regulation, Tech had the ball at their own 36. Time had expired, but UTEP was signaled with two personal foul penalties, giving Tech a shot at a 51 yard field goal and again Tricia missed.
In overtime, Tech stopped the Miners, then appeared to score. The touchdown pass was called back on a holding call, and Tech was also flagged for excessive celebration. Tricia's 49 yard field goal banged off the cross bar and went in, finally ending the game.
Probably a fitting game for a Mike Leach/Mike Price match up. Wackiness everywhere.
The Losses
Colorado State 14, Colorado 10
Colorado lost (as expected, as predicted) to Colorado State. Dan Hawkins started his third string quarterback, Renaldo Jackson, and at times he showed some brilliance. Colorado finished with a little over 100 yards in total offense. Like I said earlier, Colorado will start conference play 0-4.
Ohio State 24, Texas 7
I think Craig James said it best toward the end of the game when he said he wanted to see some fire out of Texas before he'd be willing to vote them very high in the polls. Texas looked flat and leaderless throughout this game.
Ohio State never really stopped the Texas ground game, but the Longhorns insisted on throwing the ball - something that made no sense to me.
What's with Ohio State fans setting fire to couches? I had Minnesota season tickets for three years when they were under Jim Wacker, and the Ohio State fans were the worst to deal with. It isn't enough that they have a winning program - a perennial powerhouse. Learn how to win with some class, eh?
Big 12
All of the Big 12 North teams are 2-0, with the exception of Colorado at 0-2. Same for the South teams, but Texas is tied with Baylor at the bottom of the conference at 1-1. This means absolutely nothing at this time of year, I just like pointing out those things about Colorado and Texas.
Elsewhere:
Notre Dame's defense looked very good in their pounding of Penn State. I had expected a better showing from the Nittany Lions and the game was so disappointing it wasn't worth watching after a while. Next up for Notre Dame is Michigan. Michigan's passing game is poor - Chad Henne hasn't improved much given how long he's been around. You can expect Notre Dame's defense to clamp down pretty hard on Mike Hart.
The game that was worth watching was the Syracuse/Iowa game. Iowa's Drew Tate didn't play in this game, and their backup quarterback looked pretty raw. Syracuse played just hard enough to get the game into overtime, then into a second overtime. In the second overtime, Syracuse had eight chances to get into the end zone, and couldn't get it done. This is what happens when you have a team without depth, they're too tired by the end of the game to win the close ones.
Minnesota looked okay early, but their defense is an absolute sieve. Illinois didn't score against Rutgers?
Frank Solich's Ohio Bobcats are 2-0 to start the season. Turner Gill's Buffalo Bulls nearly started the season 2-0, losing to .... in overtime. It will be fun to watch how Gill does at Buffalo - in fact, it'll be fun watching Gill's head coaching career blossom.
Bo Pelini's LSU Tiger defense crushed Arizona. Crushed them. Not many people ranking LSU real high, though.
Wow. The Packers really do suck this year. First time that Brett Favre has been shut out in his career. First scoreless game for the Pack in 233 games. I won't be wasting much time on the NFL this year.