College Football Wrap Up: Week 8

Well folks, Week 8 is under wraps and after all of the upsets last week, it was a surprisingly slow week for the Top 25.

• We saw #2 Alabama struggle with their offense against an unranked Tennessee team that was very unhappy with the penalties that were called during the course of the game and their Coach Lane Kiffin let the SEC know his frustrations regarding the officials. Senior  Defensive tackle Terrence Cody blocked not one but two field goals in the fourth quarter helping Alabama win by two points in the final minutes.
• # 1 Florida also had some trouble in the first half of Saturday’s game against Mississippi State but was able to pull out what Heisman hopeful QB Tim Tebow called an “ugly win” for his squad. However he also said that he is happy with the way the offense stayed tough and was able to grind out some tough yardage against a very tough Mississippi State defense intent on stopping Tebow.
• #3 Texas had their way with the Missouri defense with Heisman Candidate QB Colt McCoy passing for 269 yards and three touchdowns in a game that the Longhorns put out of reach with a 41-7 victory.
• #4 Iowa continued their unbeaten streak moving the Hawkeyes to 8-0 on the season with a narrow victory against Michigan State keeping their title hopes alive for one more week. One part awesome performance from their defense mixed with one part last second TD pass from Ricky Stanzi to Marvin McNutt was the formula for a narrow Hawkeye victory 15-13.
• #5 USC finished with a potential scare for the second week in a row, letting their lead diminish in the last quarter of Saturday’s game against Oregon State. Matt Barkley was able to avenge last year’s loss, despite his gunslinger mentality, bringing the Trojans record to 6-1.
• # 6 TCU had themselves an interesting game against a now unranked BYU team with QB Andy Dalton, throwing for 241 yards and three touchdowns while BYU QB Max Hall only had one touchdown on the day giving a 38-7 win to the Horned Frogs and effectively dashing their hopes for the Mountain West Conference. #7 Boise State is still undefeated as well following a win against Hawaii. It arguably wasn’t even a game as QB Kellen Moore had a career day throwing five touchdown passes. Safety Jeron Johnson shored up the Bronco defense with tow interceptions and also recovered a fumble on the opening drive.
• # 8 Cincinnati had to take the field against Louisville without their star QB Tony Pike , however backup QB  Zach Collaros had a splendid day of passing throwing only two incompletions on 17 passes with 253 yards and three touchdowns while the offense as a whole racked up a whopping 468 yards of total offense making it an easy win 41-10.
• #9 LSU’s offense finally looked the way that Les Miles is accustomed to. Jordan Jefferson threw for a career high 242 yards and two touchdowns against a tough Auburn defense to keep them within striking distance of Alabama in the SEC conference rankings.
  # 10 Oregon is slowly showing that are a very serious team despite the setbacks from the beginning of the season as they embarrassed the only team to beat USC this season, Washington. QB Jeremiah Masoli did great coming back from a knee injury but it was really running back LaMichael James who showed off his talent running for 154 yards and two touchdowns to beat down the Huskies and remain at the top of the Pac-10.
• # 11 Georgia Tech is Leading the ACC march due to some great QB play from Josh Nesbitt and an offense that ran for 362 yards against a weakened Virginia Cavaliers program. Virginia never really stood a chance with a final score of 34-9.
• #12 Penn State played a road game against Rich Rodriguez’s Michigan team, and the Lions QB Daryll Clark did not disappoint, with a total of 4 TD’s along with 230 passing yards to lead Penn State to their first victory since 1996 in Michigan’s stadium.
• #13 Virginia Tech had a bye this week and they are looking forward to playing the Tarheels this upcoming Thursday.
• #14 Oklahoma State played a conference game this week against Baylor and Cowboy QB Zac Robinson sure came to play with an almost flawless effort completing 23-27 of his passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns leading them to a 34-7 victory. I still wonder where Baylor would stand if standout QB Robert Griffin wasn’t injured for the season.
• #19 Miami was the one surprise this week as they continued with their difficult schedule against conference rival Clemson. It was a shootout on both ends with each team’s QB playing very tough. Miami’s Jacory Harris was 17-27 with 256 passing yards and 2 touchdowns while Clemson QB Kyle Parker opened up the artillery passing for a whopping 25-37 with 326 passing yards and 3 touchdowns including the overtime throw to Jacoby Ford which led to a 40-37 Tiger win.
• # 17 Ohio State played a lazy Minnesota team this week and cruised to an easy 38-7 victory. Buckeyes’ QB Terrelle Pryor threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns along with 104 yards on the ground and a rushing TD showing his critics that he still has some flashes of potential that we have yet to see consistently.
• Previously unranked and Bradford-less Oklahoma showed they are still a force to be reckoned with defeating #25 Kansas 35-13. Backup QB Landry Jones led the Sooners with 252 yards and a touchdown while Kansas QB Todd Reesing was picked off on his first three possessions. The Sooners effectively salvaged their season and broke back into the Top 25 at #22.
• In other news outside the Top 25 this week, I think Florida Sate played one of the best games of the week on Thursday night in an away game against North Carolina where we saw Seminoles QB lead his team back from a three touchdown second half deficit. Christian Ponder threw for  a career-high 395 yards and three touchdowns.  Jimbo Fisher looked like his old self on the sidelines and it seems that things are looking better for Bobby Bowden increasing the potential return for ’10. Unranked Arizona State is coming off of a loss to unranked Stanford and is going to be taking on # 24 Cal this upcoming week. ASU is going to need QB Danny Sullivan to bring his A game and show why he is considered a sleeper in the conference.

I am excited to see how this week shakes out as we have some key conference matchups and rivalry games to be on the lookout for. A few games to keep an eye on include the matchup of the week, #5 USC vs 10 Oregon, in addition, you won’t want to miss # 3 Texas vs #14 Oklahoma State, and lookout for a potential upset with #1 Florida against unranked Georgia . In the Heisman vote so far, it is looking very good for Alabama Running Back Mark Ingram in the number one at the moment, followed closely by Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen and Florida’s own Tim Tebow. College football never fails to excite this time of year, so make sure to tune in and watch your favorite team this Saturday; you never know what can happen.Come back to The Father Life each week for college football wrap up.

Bobby Wren

Bobby Wren is a contributing sports enthusiast living out of El Paso, TX. He is currently involved in business and enjoys cooking for his family in his spare time. Bobby has been married for four years and has two wonderful children.