The Weekend That Was: September 12th

Thanks for playing, Oklahoma State - In last week's TWTW, I told the Cowboys to be careful with Houston. Coming off an emotional, hard-fought victory and welcoming a high-scoring, chip-on-their-shoulder mid-major to town is a recipe for disaster. Oklahoma State showed no signs of life on offense until midway through the second half, and Houston was already in it by then. And by "already in it," I mean "ahead by double-digits. The initimidation factor was out the window and the Cougars took it to the 'Pokes in Stillwater. Oklahoma State is now a non-factor in the national title race (sorry, it's true), and must find an offensive identity. For whatever reason, they've looked out of synch all year despite returning pretty much everyone to the unit. Weird.

I still hate polls - Further proof that the people who vote in the college football polls don't actually watch college football: Houston is unranked in the coaches' poll and behind Oklahoma State in the AP poll. Read the blurb I just wrote and then let that swirl around in your head a little bit.

Florida is good - Yes, it was only Troy; but it was the way they did it. I watched the Gators with Big Brother, a huge Florida fan, and we both agreed early on that they were going through the motions while waiting for the Tennessee game next week. Next thing you know, Florida rips off about 150 points in a row (only a slight exaggeration) and Troy is looking like a JV team. Those boys are explosive.

Great games all over the place - In a week that was expected to be so-so, the slate produced a ton of close games. I was burning up the remote control trying to keep up with them all. UConn-North Carolina, Michigan State-Central Michigan, Ohio State-USC, South Carolina-Georgia, Oklahoma State-Houston, Michigan-Notre Dame; they all went down to the wire and had terrific finishes.

Gus Malzahn is the man - The former Tulsa offensive coordinator was hired at Auburn to revitalize an offense that was downright putrid last year. Umm, check. Auburn beat Mississippi State 3-2 last year. No, seriously, it was 3-2, I watched it. Last weekend? Auburn beat a much-improved Mississippi State team 49-24 while putting up 589 yards of offense. There will be tougher tests to come, but it's safe to say that Malzahn has the Tigers running (literally) in the right direction.

Matt Barkley - The USC freshman QB is getting a lot of love for his "poise" and "maturity" during Saturday's game at Ohio State. Don't get me wrong, I think Barkley will be an absolute stud for the Trojans eventually. But right now, he's merely average. 15/31 for 195 yards and a pick isn't exactly lighting it up. The praise should be heaped on RB Joe McKnight, who made play after play on the last-minute drive to set up backfield mate Stafon Johnson's touchdown plunge. I like Barkley's ability, but his line and running backs are the reason his team is undefeated right now.

Cal is cruising - Yes, I know they get us excited every year before falling on their sword in the fall, but the Golden Bears have shown a killer's mentality to go with their abundance of talent. RB Jahvid Best gets all of the love, and rightfully so, but QB Kevin Riley has been terrific in his first two games and that defense looks downright nasty. October 3rd they host USC. We'll know everything we need to know about the Bears after that one (assuming Oregon doesn't beat them in two weeks).

Tate Forcier is a stud - The freshman Michigan quarterback was superb on Saturday against Notre Dame. Making play after play, Forcier showed that when all of the parts fit together, coach Rich Rodriguez has a truly dynamic offense. I honestly have no idea where Michigan's season goes from here, but I do know that they'll be in good hands for a few years with Forcier at the helm. Gotta hand it to him.

Teams that impressed me - Michigan, Central Michigan (what grit), Houston, Florida, BYU, Bowling Green (2nd straight week for the Falcons), Indiana, UCLA

Teams that disappointed me - Florida State, Michigan State, Florida State, Ohio State (not that they lost to a better team, but because they played so conservatively for no reason), Florida State, North Carolina, Florida State, Stanford (gotta hold that lead, fellas), Florida State, Colorado, Florida State, Tennessee, Florida State

Games I'm looking forward to this weekend - California at Minnesota, East Carolina at North Carolina, Indiana at Akron, Tennessee at Florida, Tulsa at Oklahoma, Florida State at BYU, Cincinnati at Oregon State, Georgia at Arkansas, West Virginia at Auburn, Texas Tech at Texas

~~ Lank