Slip Sliding Away

Don't let anybody tell you that college football isn't interesting. It may be frequently sloppy, and just as often excruciating for the fans of numerous teams, but it is always interesting at the very least. Let me put it into simpler terms.

What I Saw:

• The Big East getting a huge boost. When college football fans see the latest polls on Sunday evening or Monday morning, they may be a bit surprised to see not one but two Big East teams back in the top 15. It was simple process of elimination, as No. 19 South Florida and No. 23 Pittsburgh won their respective games against Syracuse and Navy, while the teams ranked at 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, and 22 all lost. Add in Missouri's embarrassing loss to Texas, and USF and Pitt could find themselves ranked as high as 15th and 16th in the newest poll. Still a bit strange that South Florida could continue to be ranked ahead of the only team that has beaten them, but the bump is a good thing nonetheless.
• Some incredible offense. Eleventh-ranked Missouri was one of seven teams to score at least 30 points and lose. Perhaps the most unusual was the game between UTEP and Tulsa. The Miners and the Hurricane combined to gain 496 yards of total offense in the first quarter (plus a measly 94-yard kickoff return) on their way to a 28-28 score after only 15 minutes of play. The tide changed soon after, as UTEP was outgained 564-99 the rest of the game on the way to what quickly became a 77-35 blowout win for Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane totaled 791 yards of offense. I think I'll go ahead and pick them to win Conference USA now.

What I Didn't See:

Any truly dominant performances outside of Texas. Alabama barely held on to beat Ole Miss, and Penn State started slow before they remembered they were playing Michigan. USC was dominant, but it was a weak opponent, and Texas Tech took their sweet time pulling away from a subpar Texas A&M squad. I'm not certain that any of the teams in the top 10 outside of Texas, USC, and either Ohio State or Penn State (we'll see next Saturday) truly belongs there.

Article Author: Geeves

Geeves is mainly a critic of the sports and entertainment arena, recently shifting his time and resources away from his own middling blogs and into the Blogcritics realm at something resembling full time.

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