Week 2 National Wrap Up- Rough Week In The ACC

Week two had a handful of marquee matchups but only one really lived up to the billing. The Notre Dame vs. Michigan game stole the show and in the end turned out to be a tough loss for the Fighting Irish.

Before I delve in to that and the other games I went into the weekend looking to watch there was one unforeseen surprise.

Virginia Tech got knocked off by JMU? Seriously? That was truly a shocker. It would appear that the Boise State hangover was of the variety that I once heard described as "straight outta West hell."

The Hokies came out wearing something other than their standard uniform for the second straight week and got pantsed by JMU in Lane Stadium. If I’m Beamer I might just stick to the normal unis going forward. Everything else is jinxed. The only reason VT was even playing JMU is that they let Western Michigan out of their buy game so that the Broncos could play Notre Dame. Needing a 12^th game they just called good old JMU. After all they are just right down the road. Talk about your all time backfires. The Deer Hunter and the rest of his cronies might have to swear off football for the rest of the fall and just live in the woods taking it out on the deer.

The real loser in this game was Boise State who needed to be able to hang their hat on that victory over the Hokies for a title shot. That win now looks less than impressive to put it mildly. The BCS Conferences are breathing a sigh of relief and the Fiesta Bowl is licking their chops at another chance to snag an undefeated Broncos squad. Now on to the games that I actually expected to be interesting.

Thursday 9 September

Auburn 17 at Mississippi State 14

Auburn QB Cam Newton looked pretty good but not Denard Robinson good. There is more on that elsewhere. The Bulldogs looked a little tougher than I expected and both teams should be capable of causing problems in the SEC West.

Friday 10 September

West Virginia 24 at Marshall 21

I started my preview for this game with the following.

Hey no fair Doc Holliday knows all of our plays! It won’t matter.

Wrong. Marshall scared the beejesus out of the Mountaineers and ended up falling in OT. The Big East is less than impressive thus far.

UTEP 24 at Houston 54

The Houston rushing attack carried the day in this one and Heisman hopeful Case Keenum left the game in the 3^rd Quarter after getting kicked in the head while attempting to make something resembling a tackle on an interception return.

Saturday 11 September

Georgia 6 at South Carolina 17

Could this be the year that Spurrier finally wins the SEC East? Naaaaaaahhhhh.

Georgia Tech 25 at Kansas 28

Check out Turner Gill and Rock Chalk, Jayhawk bouncing back from a loss to North Dakota State by knocking off Georgia Tech. This was the second of four big blows this weekend that were dealt to teams expecting to compete for the ACC crown. Looks like another lame Orange Bowl is brewing.

USF 14 at Florida 38

The Gators remained sluggish in the first half before tying the game at 7 just prior to the half. Once the second half kicked off Florida started to look a little more like Florida and ripped off three 3^rdquarter TDs en route to the win.

Michigan 28 at Notre Dame 24

I already beat this one up. Moving on to Sparty!

Florida State 17 at Oklahoma 47

After Oklahoma looked sluggish in week one I thought the Noles might give them a game. Not so much. This was just another black eye for the ACC and a reminder that Oklahoma is still capable of playing some very good football.

Miami 24 at Ohio State 36

This game had a lot of potential but Jacory Harris made it very difficult on the Canes by throwing four interceptions. That isn’t going to get it done against anybody, especially not tOSU at The Shoe. Again, the ACC is apparently not ready for prime time.

Penn State 3 at Alabama 24

While the score was respectable at no point did I feel that Penn State had any real chance of winning this game. I will be very interested to see how both of these teams fare in their respective conferences going forward.

Oregon 48 at Tennessee 13

This game was pretty entertaining for a half. In the first half the Vols were gashing the Webfoot D on the ground and the Ducks looked very uncomfortable under the lights in Neyland Stadium. Then the second half started and the Ducks turned it into a track meet. The Ducks had 3 TD plays of over 70 yards in the second half to include a run from scrimmage, an interception return and a punt return.

Stanford 35 at UCLA 0

This was a straight beat down and Stanford never really even looked like they were trying all that hard. The Cardinal ran a very conservative offense and completely controlled the clock. I did think the Stanford defense looked vulnerable at times and had a hard time weighing how much of their effectiveness was their being good vice the UCLA offense being bad. That is always a tough call early in the season but I do expect Stanford to give ND a run for their money when they visit South Bend in two weeks.

Bring on week 3!