You hear it all the time when people talk about college football. The word rarely escapes conversation. Parity. Surely that must be the case as no highly ranked teams have really had an astonishing victory against a solid (ranked or nearly ranked) opponent. There have been lots of near upsets, and there have been a fair share of upsets. Like we've been talking about, it seems like this season may shape up like 2007 when no top teams were safe.
Meanwhile, in Week Three, the big headline was Washington knocking off #3 USC at home 16-13 on a field goal in the closing seconds. The picture to the right shows the scene on the field after the game. The other two teams in the top three - Texas and Florida - both won by ten and struggled to put away opponents that they should have "crushed", according to the experts (as Lee Corso would say). #1 Florida defeated Tennessee 23-13, and #2 Texas beat Texas Tech 34-24.
Despite the final score, Miami (FL) looked extremely impressive against Georgia Tech. Playing at home, the Hurricanes jumped out to a huge lead early in the game, and hung on to win the matchup of two ranked teams 33-17. In the other matchup of ranked teams, Nebraska's defense failed in the closing seconds and Virginia Tech scored a late touchdown on a Tyrod Taylor bullet pass to win 16-15.
More fun stuff after the jump!
Statistics
- Oklahoma's defense shows up on a few national leader boards. OU is 3rd nationally with 12 sacks. They lead the nation in scoring defense (4.7 ppg). They also lead the nation in rushing defense (40.6 ypg). Despite being only 43rd in pass defense, the OU defense is 9th nationally in total defense (223.3 ypg). They also lead the nation in opponent's red zone conversion rate, only allowing the opposition to score 40% of the time in the red zone. Finally, they lead the nation in tackles for loss (34).
- Believe it or not, Texas A&M leads the nation in total offense (590 ypg). Hard to believe, right? Don't get too carried away, they've put up those numbers against New Mexico and Utah State, and they barely beat Utah State 38-30...at home!
- Landry Jones is 19th nationally in passer rating (159.55). Top three? Ryan Mallett, Jimmy Clausen, and Jacory Harris of Miami (FL) - the Sooners' next opponent. Harris has completed 69.5% of his passes for 656 yards and 5 TDs versus only 2 INTs.
- Ryan Broyles leads the nation in receiving touchdowns with 7. There are three players behind him with 5, including Lyle Leong of Texas Tech.
- Hawaii has two players that are in the top 5 nationally in receiving yards per game. Good to see that things haven't changed in the Aloha state!
- Chris Owusu of Stanford has already returned 2 kickoffs for touchdowns, and is averaging 52.8 yards per kickoff return. Stanford's punt returner - Richard Sherman - has also taken one in for a score, and is averaging 23.3 yards per punt return. Look out Pac 10 Conference!
Jahvid Best of California scored all 5 touchdowns for California as they squeaked out a road victory against Minnesota. He's starting to make a case for Heisman as he is averaging 157 yards from scrimmage per game, he's scored 9 touchdowns, and gets about 8 yards every time he touches the ball.
Colt McCoy Has The Flu Remedy
Hat tip to Tim Griffin of ESPN for this amusing story. Apparently Colt McCoy was sick with the flu during the week. He offers an atypical remedy:
Although his symptoms were gone by game time, McCoy said Monday he still felt out of sorts when the game started. The solution? Eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at halftime, along with grape Pedialyte, a hydration drink for children.
Week Four Look-Ahead
- Upset Alert: The four most likely upsets this week involving an AP Top 25 team, in order, are Iowa over Penn State, Mississippi State over LSU, Texas Tech over Houston, and Oregon over California. Book it. Iowa has had Joe Pa's number over the past few years. It would certainly open up the title race a bit more if Iowa could score the upset. Don't count out Oregon over Cal as the Ducks have been playing better, and LSU has looked shaky in the early going.
- Great Game: Miami (FL) at Virginia Tech is a must see! These are two highly ranked teams who have a lot of good athletes. We find out if Miami is legit, and we can also give ourselves a bit of a scouting report. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech continues their intense non-conference schedule having already lost to ranked Alabama, and defeated ranked Nebraska.
- Turn The Channel: These games will be huge blowouts - Auburn plays Ball State, Ohio State faces Illinois, Florida State plays South Florida, USC rebounds against Washington State, and Texas demolishes UTEP.
- TV: Ole Miss vs. South Carolina on Thursday Night on ESPN. Missouri vs. Nevada on Friday Night on ESPN. Indiana vs. Michigan in the early game on ESPN2 on Saturday. At the same time Michigan State plays Wisconsin on ESPN. ABC has an afternoon trifecta - Cal at Oregon, Miami at Virginia Tech, and Illinois at Ohio State. ESPN2 has an evening double header starting with Florida at Kentucky, and ending with Texas Tech at Houston. ABC shows Iowa at Penn State in prime time. ESPN will be showing Notre Dame at Purdue in prime time.