Packing Up the Grill: Week 3

It was one of those weeks where national championships and BCS berths couldn’t really be won… but they certainly could be lost. Both BCS-conference preseason hopefuls like Iowa and North Carolina and non-AQ schools such as Houston and Air Force found themselves on the losing end of some tough battles. Surprise teams such as Kansas State continue to pop up on the map.  There was but one matchup of Top 25 schools, but what a barnburner it turned out to be! Read on as the Tailgater crew “packs up the grill” on another great weekend in college football…

Though Week 3 may have lacked marquee games, it didn’t fail to deliver entertaining ones.  With some upsets (and near-upsets) sprinkled in, things were as wild as ever.

Best win:  Arizona 34, Iowa 27

This weekend featured a single matchup between ranked teams, and no one was giving the hosts much of a chance.  #9 Iowa was expected to march into Tucson and handle its business against a #24 Arizona team .  Instead, the Wildcats took charge early and hung on late.

A blocked punt on Iowa’s first series put Nick Foles and the ‘Zona offense in excellent field position.   Three plays later Foles found David Douglas for the score and a 7-point lead…following the PAT BY Alex Zendejas.   Does that name ring a bell?  It should.  Alex’s uncles were the famous kicking Zendjas brothers, Max and Luis.  NFL mainstays for years.

Iowa’s next drive ended with a Ricky Stanzi interception, one that Trevin Wade took 85 yards the other way for a 14-0 lead.  And immediately after the Hawkeye offense finally got in gear with a 93-yard touchdown drive, the Wildcats’ Travis Cobb ripped off a 100-yard kickoff return to bump the lead back to 14.

A pair of Zendejas field goals made it 27-7 at the half.  But despite the big advantage, Arizona was about to be tested.  Stanzi found the endzone in the third quarter, then again in the fourth.  And when Iowa picked off Nick Foles with about 8 minutes remaining, the 20-point lead was gone.

Now facing a 27-27 game, Arizona didn’t fold, however.  Instead, Foles engineered a 4-minute, 72-yard touchdown drive, scoring the game-winner on a 4-yard toss to William Wright.  The underdogs withstood a big rally and came away with the hard-won victory.

Honorable Mention 1: Vanderbilt 28, Ole Miss 14

This is Ole Miss’ second appearance of the year in this segment, and both have been due to Rebels’ failures.  Losing to Vandy may not be quite as bad as losing to FCS Jacksonville St (no offense to the Gamecocks) but it’s still a great win for the Commodores.  Vanderbilt abused Ole Miss QB Jeremiah Masoli to the tune of 2 interceptions and a fumble, but what I liked most was the way the team put the Rebels away in the fourth quarter.

Honorable Mention 2: Michigan State 34, Notre Dame 31

Congratulations to Mark Dantonio—it was he and not the vaunted Brian Kelly who won this battle of former Cincinnati coaches.  Though the Spartans were favored, Notre Dame entered the game as the more explosive team.  Michigan State was solid in defense of its home turf, and a fake field goal in overtime sealed the deal.  Talk about guts.

Worst Win: Michigan 42, UMass 37

In a week full of sloppy victories, this was the worst.  Not because UMass is a pushover; the Minutemen are one of the best FCS programs in the nation and could probably compete with any number of FBS teams.  But the loss to Appalachian State, another top-tier FCS team, is still fresh in the minds of Michigan fans everywhere, and for the Wolverines to come so close to repeating that history is terrible.

I can’t put much blame on Denard Robinson and the offense.  For the third consecutive week, D-Rob was a force both on the ground and through the air.  But the defense and special teams were horrific.  Worst of all, after they took control of the game, the Wolverines allowed UMass to get right back into it.  Only an out-of-bounds onside kick in the final couple of minutes salted away this narrow win.

UMass was up 17-7 at one point in the first half before Michigan woke up offensively.  UM was up 21-17 at the break, and even after outscoring UMass 14-0 in the third quarter, they couldn’t deal the knockout blow.  The Minutemen stormed back late, dropping 20 fourth-quarter points on their Big Ten opponent before succumbing by 5.

Before we declare Michigan “back”, the team needs to stop living on the edge, because had one or two plays gone differently, this would have been a major loss.

Honorable Mention 1: Wisconsin 20, Arizona State 19

The Badgers needed an awful lot of help to pull of a 1-point win at home.  A blocked PAT ended up being the difference-maker, which is unlikely enough.  Add to that an ASU kickoff return that ended with a touchdown-saving tackle at the 1 yardline and you have the recipe for a lucky win.  The Sundevils would have surely scored following the return had time not expired on the play.  If not for that 1 little yard, the Wisconsin special teams would have given up two touchdowns on the day.

It was, in all, a lackluster performance against a middling Pac 10 team that had yet to face an FBS opponent.  If this is how the Badgers are going to defend Camp Randall, it’ll be a mighty long Big Ten season.

Honorable Mention 2: USC 32, Minnesota 21

Yes, USC is still here.  Third game, third appearance in “worst wins”.  The Trojans are winning, but they struggled badly with Minnesota, one of the FBS’ worst.  For shame, Lane Kiffin!

Honorable Mention 3: Missouri 27, San Diego State 24

The Tigers needed a last second blown tackle to pull this out.  They were down 24-20 before Blaine Gabbert found T.J. Moe on a 68-yard strike.  The Atzec defense flubbed the tackle and it was game over, but far from an impressive win.

Honorable Mention 4: Texas A&M 27, Florida International 20

Hats off to FIU.  Any time the Sun Belt can take a Big 12 South team to the wire, it’s a good performance.  But what does that mean for the Aggies?

Ingram returned from his injury and looked like his old Heisman-winning self against Duke...

It’s great to have Mark Ingram back. Alabama’s reigning Heisman Trophy winner made his return to the Crimson Tide on Saturday against Duke in Durham and he made his presence known early for the top ranked Crimson Tide.

Duke made a critical mistake before the game even officially kicked off. That was winning the toss and deferring to the 2^nd half. Alabama had absolutely no trouble getting the ball into the end zone on the Duke defense.

Mark Ingram took his first carry of the season on the first play from scrimmage and promptly ran it 48 yards down the field and erased any doubt about his knee not being 100%. Two plays later, Greg McElroy connected with Darius Hanks for a nine yard touchdown.

1:19 into the game, and Alabama had already jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Alabama’s defense would force Duke into a three and out and get the ball back. Alabama embarked on another effortless touchdown drive.

This drive was the Greg McElroy and Julio Jones show. McElroy completed a 12 yard pass to Julio, two plays later hit Julio on a short bubble screen and he ran 35 yards down to the Duke 16.

Two plays after that, McElroy hit Julio for the 3^rd time on the drive, this time in the end zone for a touchdown to put Alabama up 14-0 with less than five minutes into the game….   READ MORE HERE

After three weeks we’re already down to just a half-dozen non-AQ schools with a real shot at taking down the establishment and busting their way into the BCS. The predominance of teams from the WAC and Mountain West — especially the latter, given that all three of the WAC teams listed in this week’s Power Rankings are moving to the MWC — testifies to the real depth of football talent out west. Two more of their schools also found themselves on the cruelest, narrowest of losing margins in big non-conference battles. Next season the Mountain West might be losing BYU and Utah, but the addition of Nevada, Boise State and Fresno State keeps them at the forefront of the BCS Buster fight…

But there’s always going to be some team that keeps the good fight up out east every year as well, and despite seeing Conference USA dropping out of the battle with the defeats of Houston and East Carolina there’s still a dog in the fight as we start to round the quarter pole of the season’s marathon. That certain former BCS squad from Philly is in the fight as well, and they have a real chance to hoot their intentions loud and clear next weekend when they take on a Big Ten powerhouse. There’s been some shifts as we rank the teams on their current projected strength, but everything is penciled in at the moment. There are opportunities yet for each of these teams to write their case in stone for the voting coaches and the Harris pollsters and the six computers to distill and deny at their own peril… READ MORE HERE

Even in a week with relative few premiere games, there were a handful of dismantlings.

Alabama 62, Duke 13—Sure, this was the Crimson Tide and the Blue Devils, two teams at opposite ends of the FBS food chain.  Still, a 28-0 lead after one quarter deserves a mention.  The rushing dominance that ‘Bama showed was downright frightening.

Nebraska 56, Washington 21—Don’t let the 21 mislead you.  Washington was not a factor in the game once the first quarter came to a close.  Nebraska’s backfield ran wild as the ‘Huskers took control.  It’s officially time to put the Jake Locker hype to rest.

Boise State 56, Wyoming 6—I hate to pick on the Cowboys, because they’re consistently one of the bravest teams in the FBS in terms of schedule.  But this blowout was worth noting because BSU beat them more convincingly than Texas did.

Florida State 34, BYU 10—This was a major statement for the Seminoles after last week’s drubbing in Norman, and they made it in style.  A big second half took this matchup from a close contest to a lopsided blowout.

We are two weeks into the college football season and we have one of the more wide open races in recent memory. Mark Ingram came out of nowhere to win the Heisman Trophy last season and with him missing two weeks; his chances of repeating have taken a pretty big hit.

But, we have another player that has really came out of nowhere and taken the college football world by storm.

It’s been an interesting two weeks, and so far here is a list of the Heisman candidates.

The Front Runners

• Terrelle Pryor (QB/Ohio State) – My preseason selection as the Heisman trophy winner hasn’t disappointed thus far. After a strong showing against Marshall in the opening game of the season, Pryor had another strong showing against Miami at the Horseshoe Saturday. He went 12/27 for 233 yards and a touchdown without an interception to go along with his 113 rushing yards on 20 carries and another touchdown. Pryor was the offense for the Buckeyes against the Hurricanes and he is firmly in the Heisman race at this point.
• Denard Robinson (QB/Michigan) – The player that has taken the college football world by storm thus far in 2010 is Michigan QB Denard Robinson. Who could have predicted this kind of performance by Robinson? He followed up his incredible performance against Connecticut with an even more incredible performance against Notre Dame in South Bend on Saturday. He had 502 yards of offense, 244 passing, and 258 rushing with three total touchdowns. It will be interesting to see how Robinson can hold up with the beating he is taking. But, if I had a Heisman vote at this point Robinson would be my pick.
• Kellen Moore (QB/Boise State) – Boise State got the week off following their victory over Virginia Tech on Monday. But, Moore’s chances at the Heisman and Boise State’s chances of playing for the National Championship took a hit without them playing. Virginia Tech lost to James Madison on Saturday and that most likely ended Boise State’s chances of playing for the BCS Title. Moore still has a chance at the Heisman as he will be able to pad his stats with their schedule down the stretch…. READ MORE HERE

Zach Collaros never did get completely comfortable as the Wolfpack bottled him up repeatedly...

When Cincinnati lost to Fresno State in week 1, the team jumped out to a 14-0 lead but fell apart as the game wore on.  In Raleigh against the Wolfpack, the Bearcats had the opposite problem.

Everything went wrong in the first half for UC– the offense was unable to move the ball, the defense was a revolving door, even the special teams suffered.  In a flash, NC State’s Russell Wilson had his squad up 14-0, throwing the ball all over the field as Cincy offered little resistance.

What struck me most about the first 2 quarters was how rattled the offense looked.  Quarterback Zach Collaros looked like a completely different player from the guy we saw last season.  Stepping in for the injured Tony Pike in 2009, Collaros was unstoppable as a scrambler and surprisingly effective through the air.  His performance last season convinced Cincinnati fans that there would be little drop-off in production even as Pike moved on.

But though he finished with decent numbers against the Wolfpack, his start was horrific.  Collaros looked lost, unable to find any receivers or call his own number effectively.  I can’t say I blame him, given the fact that his offensive line was putting up about as much resistance as a 2-ply paper towel….   READ MORE HERE

We are three weeks into the season and there are some coaches who are going to be desperately fighting for their jobs for the rest of the year. Each week provides us with more knowledge on coaches that are on the hot seat and other coaches whose seat has gotten warmer early on in the season. Some seats are cooling down, while some are just heating up…

Caution: Highly Flammable

• Tim Brewster (Minnesota) – Dropping a game to USC certainly isn’t a bad loss in any way, but it’s just another one on a long list of failures for Tim Brewster as the head coach of Minnesota. He’s in his fourth season as the head coach for Minnesota and his record stands at 15-26 and his Gophers are off to a 1-2 start this season and are really lucky to be there. They narrowly escaped Middle Tennessee State in the opening weekend who was without Dwight Dasher, and have dropped consecutive games to South Dakota of the FCS and USC. Next Saturday’s game against Northern Illinois could be a make or break game for Minnesota and Tim Brewster alike.
• Paul Wulf (Washington State) – Another Saturday has passed and there is another loss in the Washington State win column. There was reason for optimism coming into this season for the Cougars, but after getting ripped by Oklahoma State to open the season, narrowly avoiding a loss to FCS foe Montana State, and a loss to SMU on Saturday has really ended the optimistic view for the Cougars. Washington State will not be favored in any game the rest of the season and another one win season is looking like reality for this team and that should spell the end of Wulf’s tenure in Pullman.
• Ron Zook (Illinois) – A narrow victory over Northern Illinois on Saturday knocked a little bit of heat off of Ron Zook, but not a whole lot. Illinois is off to a 2-1 start, but there is still a ton of heat on Zook at this point. The Illini will get a bye week before they open Big Ten play. Their first three Big Ten games? Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State. Unless Illinois pulls off some kind of huge upset, they will likely be 2-4. The Rose Bowl party from 2007 has ended in Champaign and the fan base and AD are looking for new results from Zook that they aren’t likely to get.

Heating Up

• Jeff Tedford (California) – I may be jumping the gun, but you have to think that patience is wearing thin in Berkeley. Jeff Tedford always seems to bring in overhyped teams in Cal every season. Last year, California was expected to contend for the Pac 10 crown, but even with USC having a down season, they only managed a tie for 5^th place in the conference. After a 2-0 start this season, we all started getting the idea that maybe this Golden Bear team was better than we previously expected. Instead, they were rocked by Nevada on Friday night. Pac 10 play gets underway next week for the Bears and Tedford is going to need a decent finish in the conference if he doesn’t want to start feeling the heat.

Uncomfortably Warm

• Rich Rodriguez (Michigan) – I was all set to remove Rich Rodriguez from the hot seat for the time being, but that was before Michigan narrowly avoided a loss to an FCS school in Massachusetts on Saturday at the Big House. The Wolverines had looked impressive in their first two games with wins over Connecticut and Notre Dame, but they struggled mightily against UMass and held on to a 42-37 win. We may have been a little quick on the gun about this Michigan team this year. We won’t get to see what this team is truly made of until they get into the full swing of Big Ten play following their game with Bowling Green this weekend.
• Houston Nutt (Mississippi) – The pressure is on Houston Nutt for the rest of the season. I honestly don’t see him getting fired this year, but his season has to be getting really warm after the Rebels start to the 2010 season. There was already some frustration building after Ole Miss vastly underachieved in 2009 and now the Rebels are off to a 1-2 start in 2010. The loss to Jacksonville State to open the season still stings. They rebounded with a win over Tulane, but they lost their SEC opener to the perennial whipping boy in the conference, Vanderbilt and it was a home game. It won’t get any easier for the Rebels with Fresno State making the trip to Oxford this weekend.
• Dan Hawkins (Colorado) – A second half rally against Hawai’i kept some heat off of Dan Hawkins for the time being as the Buffs have gotten off to a 2-1 start, but that 52-7 loss to Cal last weekend showed us that this team still has a lot of work to do. They get a bye week this Saturday before they finish off non conference play against Georgia at home. It’s likely that Colorado enters Big XII play with a 2-2 record and I don’t see them having much success in conference play which will bring a lot more heat to Dan Hawkins.

More often than not we celebrate all that is go0d in football. But if anything, sports in general and football in particular are as much about the agony of defeat as the thrill of victory — there will always be a losing side to endure the pain of falling short. But it is just as much about how a team loses a game as about whether it loses in the first place. So we’ll take a weekly look at those players who cost their team the game in one way or another:

• Notre Dame special teams – For the second straight week, the Fighting Irish found themselves snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. This time it was a decisive, gutsy fake field goal attempt by the Michigan State Spartans in overtime to overrun Brian Kelly’s squad. The innovative coach has been out-innovated and now finds himself staring at a sub-.500 record a quarter of the way through his first season in South Bend. BCS it ain’t this year for the Golden Domers.
• K Chandler Catanzaro & the Clemson D – It’s hard to pin this loss just on the kicker, and indeed it can’t be. The Clemson defense bogged down in the third quarter, allowing Auburn to tie back up and then take the lead in the game after the battle of the Tigers on the Plains went in the visitors’ favor through the first half. Andre Ellington ran in a tying score in the fourth to send it to overtime. The D did its job there, holding Auburn to just a field goal… and then Catanzaro missed his 32-yarder (after the center double-clutched the ball and made him rekick following a successful try from 27 yards) to end the game. All told this was a huge loss for one of the ACC’s best hopes of relevance.
• Case Keenum (QB/Houston) – Rake the record-breaker over the coals, because the senior signal caller for the Cougars is now done following a torn ACL that’ll have him out for the year and, unless the last-gasp medical hardship appeal to the NCAA passes muster, done with his collegiate career. Even before he went down to the injury, though, Keenum was a shell of his fomer self. No longer a legitimate Heisman pick, he’s looked shell-shocked this season. He was 10-of-18 against UCLA for just 83 yards with a pair of picks. The Houston loss doesn’t fall squarely on his shoulders, but he put his team behind the 8-ball and then came up lame when they needed him most…

Now that a few weeks have elapsed and we have some basis for judgment, it’s time to share our thoughts on how teams stack up in the FBS. The AP poll and the USA Today/ Coaches Poll already provide NCAA fans with a Top 25, and starting in week 8, we’ll be back to debating the BCS Standings.

But the Tailgater crew has its own take on the football landscape. It also knows that when it comes down to the end of the year, what matters most is the Top 10…and perhaps a handful of teams on the fringe– those are the teams that will truly factor into the major bowls. They will ultimately be the BCS participants.

So here, for the first time in 2010, are the Tailgater FBS Top 10 rankings. We’ve compiled a composite list and, in the interests of transparency, are presenting the individual rankings provided by each writer that were used to create the final tally….   READ THE RANKINGS HERE!

AND THE GAME BALLS GO TO…