College Football Week 6

What a Saturday! We had a lot of tight action involving Top 10 teams, including a pair of Tigers getting mauled in the SEC. Lets start on the Plains, where the Razorbacks of Arkansas came into Jordan Hare and controlled the entire game start to finish and beat the Tigers 27-10 (W on line). Yes, these were the same Hogs that got pasted at home vs the men of Troy earlier in the year. It seemed Temple dressed as the Auburn run defense cause they got toasted all day uncluding yielding 2 100 yard rushers. Once the Tigers got down, they really showed as I wondered about last week they lacked the firepower to get back into this puppy. It would have been difficult to run the table in the SEC anyway, but the Razors are now in firm control of the SEC West division. Then the Bayou bengals from LSU got taken behind the woodshed in Gainesville. LSU really could not get anything going offensively mainly driven by the fact they could not run the ball at all. Their offensive line really got exposed today. The Tiger defense played relatively well, but their special teams really let them down fumbling a punt in the first half, then fumbling the opening kickoff to the second half which directly resulted in a safety. LSU now has two losses, and is completely out of the National Title picture, and most likely, the SEC title as well. Keeping the SEC theme going we move to the night game between the hedges between the Dawgs and Vols. UGA went up early in this game and appeared to be in control. Until the third quarter rolled around and UT turned it up on both sides of the ball, and Ainge really started getting time in the pocket to pick apart the Dawg secondary. Turning point of this game was the blocked punt in the 4th that pused the lead from 31-27 to 38-27. The Dawg defense really had no answers once the Vol snowball started rolling. X a 1pt loss to the Gators, and Tennessee would be getting a lot of recongition around the country. Lets move to the Big Ten where OSU stepped out of conference and buried Bowling Green 35-7 (L on line). Did not catch any of this game, but it looks as though it went as expected. T. Smith had good stats, and the Buckeyes appear to be on cruise control right now. Michigan faced Michigan St. in a rivalry game and had no problems dispatching the Spartans 31-13. Mike Hart was just too much for the Spartans, along with Michigans defensive pressure. Wolverines have a HUGE one next week in Happy Valley on Saturday night. Remember what happened last night game there? Thats right, they beat the Buckeyes last year 17-10. Michigan does have a 9 game win streak against the Lions, and Penn St. is not nearly the team they were last year as evidenced by their lucky victory today at Minnesota. USC put a ton of winning streaks on the line against the Washington Huskies in SoCal and it came right down to the last seconds. Washington stayed in this game all day, and this game ended on a very controversial timing issue. This game was not on in Philadelphia, so I didnt see it live. But it seemed there was 6 seconds left when they earned a first down, yet the clock operator in the LA Coliseum had a quick finger and the Huskies did not even get off another play in the Trojan red zone. Trojans have struggled the last 3 weeks, and they clearly are not the team they have been in the past. But, they are still solid and getting better every week. Lets move on to the Mountaineers who stepped out of conference in a semi big way and at least faced a team on the road from a BCS conference. It could be argued, but stepping out to play Mississippi St, who could be the weakest of all BCS teams is not really that impressive. This game was tight until late third quarter just as I predicted last week. However, in the end, the running game of the Neers was too much for the Bulldogs. The Big East has really improved this year, might even be better than the ACC in my opinion. However, I do not see anyone challenging them outside the Cardinals from Louisville. Speaking of Louisville, they pounded Middle Tenn. St on Friday night. Not much to say regarding that one. Red River Shootout was this weekend in a game I caught a lot of. Texas handled Oklahoma 28-10 outscoring the Sooners 21-0 in the second half. Colt McCoy continues to impress and grow up as the weeks pass by. Peterson, really the Sooners only offensive weapon, had a great game as he continually showed his strength, speed, and smarts on the field. Stoops even put him out there running back kickoffs and punts. He is a special player, but fact is Thompson is just not getting the job done under center. And their defense has underachieved this year. With this victory, the Horns are firmly in control of the Big 12 South, and hence, the Big 12. And lastly, the Ducks and Bears battled it out Sat night in Berkeley, and it turned out to be not much of a battle. The Bears offense just tore apart the Oregon defense, and the volatility of the Ducks offense really cost them. Cal has to be considered the main challenger to the Trojans. They would be undefeated if it wasnt for the loss in Knoxville opening weekend. That loss is looking better by the day for Tedford and Co. Here is the way I see things after Week 6. New this week I am going to include 5 teams that are on the verge of the rankings:

1- Ohio St. 6-0 (Keep winning, and still have most impressive road win of anyone)
2- Florida 6-0 (If they run table in SEC, they better get an invite to Glendale; huge battle next Saturday night in Auburn)
3- Michigan 6-0 (Really looking impressive; they own Penn St)
4- USC 5-0 (Undefeated, and in major conference; enough said)
5- W. Virginia 5-0 (First of the next tier of teams)
6- Louisville 5-0 (Hopefully they get everyone healthy before showdown with Neers)
7- Texas 5-1 (Keep improving, could still sneak in title game in watered down Big 12)
8- Tennessee 5-1 (Ainge looking very solid; schedule could be worse)
9- Notre Dame 5-1 (Officially on cruise control until USC matchup)
10- California 5-1 (Might be best all around Pac 10 squad)

Next 5 in alphabetical order: Auburn 5-1, Clemson 5-1, LSU 4-2, Missouri 6-0, Nebraska 5-1