There are 119 Division I-A football teams out there. No one man can follow them all this season. Lee Corso may be the lone exception. But since none of us are him, Blogcritics has appointed a crew to clean up the mess left each week on the co-ed stadiums across the country and summarize (for you, the infallible reader!) the top games, conference by conference.
Big XII
After some big losses within the conference in week three of the season, there were definitely some teams needing to make a big statement moving into week four. The team needing redemption the most may have been Oklahoma, whose controversy-filled game against Oregon was talked about throughout the week. The Sooners were able to put it aside on Saturday and put big numbers on the board, blanking Middle Tennessee State, 59-0. Adrian Peterson ran for 129 yards and three touchdowns, possibly taking the lead in what is a wide open Heisman race.
A week ago, Texas Tech was only able to get 3 points against TCU but the high-powered air attack came back this week. The Red Raiders went for 62 points against Southeastern Louisiana on the back of 509 yards of total offense. Texas Tech opens their conference season next week against undefeated Texas A&M. The Aggies won their final non-conference game against Louisiana Tech, 45-14.
If you had to guess the only other undefeated team in the conference, Missouri probably wouldn’t be the first name on your list. However, the Tigers are 4-0, and are holding their opponents to under 175 yards of offense per game. They stayed perfect with a 31-6 win over Ohio this week. Sophomore quarterback Chase Daniel threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
Texas opened the defense of their conference title with a win in the rain against Iowa State, 37-14. Limas Sweed continued his hot season with seven receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown. The conference season kicks off in earnest next week.
In other action, Nebraska beat Troy, 56-0, and Kansas beat South Florida 13-7. Kansas State, Colorado, Oklahoma State, and Baylor were all losers in their games.
ACC
Week 4 in the ACC just re-confirmed the notion that the conference is experiencing a down year.
The weekend started off Thursday night on ESPN with the Calvin Johnson-led Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets dominating the hapless Virginia Cavaliers 24-7. The game was not as close as the score indicates as Virginia only managed 166 total yards, and the score could have been much worse if GT threw to Johnson a few more times.
Article comments
1 - DJRadiohead
while Temple kept it close in their 41-7 loss to Western Michigan.
Sal, you come up with one every week!
2 - Adam Hoff
Can we turn the comments section into a weekly Heisman debate? I'm curious to see how people feel after this last weekend of games. Smith was shaky and Slaton had a down game. Quinn put up numbers and ND had the big comeback, but I have a feeling the upward tick will be short-lived. Peterson looks like the man. While his 137 and three scores came against a terrible team, he's the only top candidate to have good numbers in every outing thus far. I know you don't like Leak, Radiohead, but he had another solid game for the Gators. And Mike Hart keeps producing, but now has to worry about teammate Mario Manningham stealing some of his thunder. I find this year's race to be particularly interesting. That said, it is starting to feel like Peterson's hardware to lose.
Thoughts?
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
So long as we don't simply include the quarterbacks and running backs of top 10 teams.