Cobs of the Week: Oklahoma, Michigan, Nebraska's Pooch Kickoff, and the Targeting Rule

On a day filled with upsets, we have a few candidates for this week's Cob of the Week for the worst of the weekend. And yep, once again, Nebraska is on there again. Maybe we're just being a little too depreciating here, though. So here are your candidates this week for the Cob.

What's your choice for the Worst of the Weekend?

Oklahoma

Just ten days after pointing out how his Sooners were playing better defense now that there aren't as many great quarterbacks in the Big XII, the Sooners let Case McCoy and Texas gouge them in a 36-20 victory that probably wasn't anywhere near as close as the scoreboard indicated.

Michigan

Hey, with a minute left, the Weasels had a chance to seal a victory over Penn State with a long field goal. But rather than do that, Brady Hoke channeled his predecessor.

But the punt went into the end zone, and Penn State drove the field to tie the game. Michigan kicker Brendan Gibbons had three game winning field goal attempts go awry (one blocked, two missed) before Penn State finally won in the fourth overtime.

Nebraska's Pooch Kickoff

This year, Mauro Bondi has been drilling kickoffs well into the endzone and beyond. Only 15 of 45 kickoffs have been returned, so why ask Pat Smith to pooch kick in the closing minute of the game? Justin Sinz returns the pooch 16 yards to set up DeAngelo Yancey's 55 yard touchdown catch on the next play. Big deal, right? Well, it cost the Blackshirts their first shutout since the 2009 Holiday Bowl.

The NCAA's New Targeting Rule

We knew it was going to happen at some point, and on Saturday, Stanley Jean-Baptiste became Nebraska's first ejected player under the NCAA's new targeting rule.

Credit: BTN

Big Ten referee Tripp Sutter explained to me that his directive is to throw the flag on any hit from the shoulders up where you lead with the head. Under the letter of the rule, it was the correct call. But is it the right rule? And is it being enforced consistently? Against Texas A&M, Ole Miss safety Trae Elston was called for targeting for hitting a defenseless player, yet the instant replay once again overruled the ejection. There were more targeting calls across games than I can recall during a single Saturday. There were not a lot of players ejected. Most were allowed to come back.

So what's your vote for the worst of the weekend in college football?