Blowouts were the common theme in Week 9. Even some teams who had to come from behind wound up winning by large margins. The game of the day was arguably in the ACC where Miami used a pair of late scores to beat Wake Forest by one. There wasn't a lot of drama this week, so let's hope it's just the calm before the November storm.
ACC Football
Heels upset cost ACC (JP Giglio)
"North Carolina's win, and USC's loss, cost the ACC a real shot at $4.5 million. Virginia Tech, even with two losses, had a strong chance at an at-large bid to a BCS bowl, which was a driving force idea behind expansion. Florida State and Miami both played in BCS games in 2000, 2002 and 2003, but the ACC hasn't sent two teams to the BCS in first five years of expansion, or since the series was formed in 1998."
ACC power rankings: Week 10 (Annette)
"3. Virginia Tech (5-3, 3-2; LW: No. 2): The Hokies won the award for most surprising loss of the week -- maybe the season -- as they fell at home to a North Carolina team that was looking for its first conference win. The Hokies’ defense, which has been inconsistent all season, couldn’t shut down one of the nation’s worst offenses, but UNC offensive coordinator John Shoop called a great game and had the Tar Heels prepared."
ACC Football Power Rankings, Nov. 2 (ACC Sports Journal)
"The AP story from Nashville the other night said Georgia Tech retained sole possession of the ACC’s Coastal Division lead. We’ll forgive the scribe, who is not alone in failing to recognize the sudden beast that is Duke football."
OTB’s ACC Power Poll: Week 9 (On The B.Rink)
"Hokies? Hello? Are you there? Still in Atlanta? Well, you had a game Thursday and well, you lost again. You’re Virginia Tech–you are the ACC’s top dog–you cannot lose games like this. North Carolina is a horrible loss for Virginia Tech–definitely eclipses the Maryland loss for Clemson earlier this season. We expect a lot from the Hokies and they have not met our probably unrealistic expectations this season."
Down the stretch they come (Instead of Texting)
"Virginia Tech (5-3): Should become bowl eligible against East Carolina on Thursday. The key word there is "should." The Hokies looked like a national title contender two games ago but lost to Georgia Tech and inexplicably fell to North Carolina."
Clemson 49, Coastal Carolina 3
Clemson vs Coastal Carolina 49-3 (Shakin The Southland)
"Emphasis clearly shifted to the WRs in the passing game, and I wanted to see the younger guys get involved, but it shows in the execution. More fucking screens, more pre-Wake Forest playcalling. This game was useful in getting some catches for alot of young guys, but still I wonder.....where the hell is Marquan Jones? Where was Dwayne Allen today?"
Coastal Carolina Wrapup (Block-C)
"We may have started out slow and taken Coastal lightly, but in the big picture we kind of needed that light load to refresh ourselves mentally and physically. Plus, we cruised while snoozing, so look at that bright side before you start chumming your anger sharks."
Boston College 31, Central Michigan 10
Eagles 31, Chippewas 10 (BC Interruption)
Brian takes time off from shopping for an ottoman with Mrs. Brian: "On offense, it took a half of football to cure the Notre Dame hangover and really get the ball moving. Shinskie had trouble hooking up with wide open receivers on long routes early in the game, including missing a wide open Justin Jarvis, Colin Larmond Jr and Clyde Lee III. All three routes could (should?) have ended with touchdown passes. Shinskie's decision making is slowly getting better, but as Spaz likes to point out, the offense is still very much a "work in progress.""
Grade report: Central Michigan (Eagle in Atlanta)
"I had a bit of concern when we did not look sharp early and let CMU hang around most of the first half. Then to the staff’s credit, we made adjustments and pulled away. There were no distractions. There was no sense of malaise. We put Notre Dame and the transfers behind us and won. We have now achieved our first benchmark for success. There is still so much to play for. Let's hope Spaz gets the guys peaking at the right time."
Florida State 45, NC State 42
Florida State's Offense Again Bails out Horrible Defense (Tomahawk Nation)
"In fact, if they look to the offensive side of the ball, they would see offensive coaches who work hard. Offensive coaches who are on top of the game, keeping up with an ever-changing industry. They demand more from their players, and those players trust them enough to give more. And that combination of talented players trusting hard working innovative coaches is working miracles. Jimbo Fisher and his offensive staff are single-handedly saving Florida State's program. Despite Bowden's every effort (or lack thereof) to cripple the program he supposedly loves, Fisher and Co. just will not let it die."
Simplistically Random and Frighteningly Meaningless Thoughts (Scalp Em)
"And speaking of trick or treat, kudos to Jimbo Fisher in designing that trick play. You know the one where Jermaine Thomas runs right drawing the defense, fumbles the ball perfectly where only he can recover it, pick it up and reverse field back to the left gaining numerous yards. Sure had the Wolfpack fooled."
FSU 45, NC State 42 (Backing The Pack)
"I'm running out of ways to describe the same thing every week. There was no reason to expect significant improvement defensively--not against the best offense we'll see all season--but I thought perhaps we might come out of the bye with a few screws tightened. Nope. And after a slow start, this game was just as advertised, a back-and-forth scorefest with little margin for error."
I'm Out of Theories, Answers and Ideas (Yet Another...)
"In what universe should a team lose a game in which they post 538 yards of offense? In which the starting QB throws for 349 yards and FIVE touchdowns? Where your team averages 7.8 yards per play? All things are possible on Planet Archer...where Defense goes to die. Where the 10-yard cushion is the norm and player confidence drops to all-time lows."
Duke 28, Virginia 17
It’s time to believe! (Blue Devil Nation)
"Coach Cutcliffe and his staff continue to surprise the college football world in just their second year in Durham and a change in culture is happening in more ways than one.. Duke and Virginia went toe to toe for most of the game, but a consistent and resilient game plan allowed Duke to push their record to 3-1 in the ACC and 5-3 overall."
Textbook (From Old Virginia)
"Most lessons from yesterday's game are pretty obvious and you don't need me to tell you them and I'm not going to insult your intelligence by doing so. "We Suck" is the general gist of all of them, and you can get that from the media and everyone else. One thing ESPN won't mention, though, is the page from the textbook on How To Get Yourself Fired As Head Coach that we got to see written afresh yesterday. It's a huge book, by the way. Massive. Coaches are writing new entries every year. Dennis Franchione has a whole chapter. Al Groh's new entry was on display on 3rd and 9 near midfield."
Miami 28, Wake Forest 27
Miami 28, Wake Forest 27 (AllCanes)
"Before nitpicking the hell out of Miami's win at Wake Forest, let's remember one thing - the Canes pulled it out. It was ugly, sloppy and frustrating, but it was a win. Better to be in Miami's shoes this morning than Wake's. It's also better to sit at 6-2 and in the top twenty than 5-3 and unranked."
Tricked: Miami steals a victory over Wake Forest (Blogger So Dear)
"You all didn't think they'd hold on, did you? Show of hands: who thought the Deacs had any chance to win after Devon Brown fumbled the punt and Miami got it at the one? Thought so. It's just amazing how many different ways Wake Forest can lose games. I wish I had that kind of imagination."
Georgia Tech 56, Vanderbilt 31
Vanderbilt Post-Game Thoughts (From The Rumble Seat)
"I don't know what Paul Johnson (or Dave Wommack) does to our defense but the seond half of this season is turning our defense into a second-half squad. Vandy quickly drove down the field to put up a field goal and they immediately dried up. Three points and that was it. Three points, and then Jon Dwyer took over (God Bless Him)."
National College Football
Tennessee 31, South Carolina 13
Post-game awards: Tennessee vs. South Carolina (Rocky Top Talk)
"Best trick. Warming up in all orange and then making the switcheroo right before racing out of the tunnel in black jerseys and orange pants."
Texas 41, Oklahoma State 14
Texas Routs OSU 41-14 in Stillwater (Burnt Orange Nation)
"The outcome was: exceptional. Heading into this game, I felt good about Texas' chances, but I figured the 'Horns wouldn't pull away until the 4th quarter, when the difference between the two defenses would be most pronounced. Instead, for the second straight week the outcome was all but decided by halftime. Not only did Texas's score with 9 seconds left in the half give them a commanding 24-7 lead, but the touchdown was a beautiful 11-yard strike to Malcolm Williams in the back of the end zone."
Florida 41, Georgia 17
Evil Tim Tebow Wins (Alligator Army)
"Not even black helmets could stop Tim Tebow today, as the Gators rolled Georgia 41-17, putting UF six wins away from a fourth National Championship. We can make a statement like that because Florida's win was a demolition from each unit; from Caleb Sturgis 56 yard field goal to UF's linebacker corps forcing four turnovers. They truly played like a National Championship team. But it always begins and ends with Tebow. Today, we finally saw that other side of our quarterback; Evil Tim Tebow."
In denial. (Hey Jenny Slater)
"Our play is sloppy and inconsistent because the decisions being made at the top are sloppy and inconsistent. It's bad enough that we're eight games into the season and still throwing things at the wall to see if they'll stick; sadly, we appear to have torn through our Bag Of Things To Throw so completely that we're down to uniform switcheroos, which is even worse."
Cincinnati 28, Syracuse 7
Syracuse-Cincinnati Postmortem (TNIAAM)
"Cincinnati was nice enough to say that Syracuse "played harder" this year than they have in year's past. Unfortunately we're starting to turn into the special-needs child of Big East football. "He tried really hard, good for him!" The pleasantries are over, I think. We know that this team plays harder. We appreciate it. But we need wins now. Even if those wins don't lead to a bowl game, that's almost besides the point. We need wins to validate the work these guys are doing and to prove these errors are temporary."
TCU 41, UNLV 0
TCU Shuts Out UNLV for Best Start since 2003 (Mountain West Connection)
"This is the last time I am mentioning this, but TCU's offense is for real and they are not just scoring points because of defense returns, or field position from defensive stops. This game Andy Dalton passed for a modest 188 and three scores, but the rushing attack was just under 392. Their offense averaged 8.3 yards per play which is over two yards then their normal average and over one yard then the national leader per game in that category."
Iowa 42, Indiana 24
This Is Getting Fairly Ridiculous: Iowa Wins, 42-24 (Black Heart Gold Pants)
"So, um, yeah. Just your run of the mill 18-point win against the dregs of the conference? Right? RIGHT? Or not. Aside from a quick-strike touchdown drive in the fourth quarter and one of the most insane pick-sixes you'll ever see, Iowa absolutely sleep-walked through the first three quarters--and Ricky Stanzi's four 3rd quarter interceptions had us all wondering if maybe James Vandenberg was a better option for the fourth quarter."
Boise State 45, San Jose State 7
Broncos move to 8-0 on the season (OBNUG)
"Moore was clutch against San Jose, converting some important third downs and making some pretty throws. He finished with typical Moore numbers: 21-for-33, 278 yards, 3 TDs, no picks. And he's going to get better in his junior and senior years? I can hardly imagine that at this point."
Oregon 47, USC 20
My Best (Football) Day Ever (Addicted To Quack)
"I can't help but wonder if years from now, will we look back at this defeat of USC as a regime change in the Pac-10? Last night after the game I told friends and co-ATQers JShufelt and dvieira that I was dubbing this game a "Hostile Takeover". It was a coup. The current government was sacked, their leaders shamed, and Carroll The Smug exposed for all the public to see. All foreign eyes are now on the Pac-10 waiting to see what will happen next."
Let the gnashing of teeth begin (Conquest Chronicles)
"I think it safe to say that 2009 is officially a retooling year...not a rebuilding year because we have the talent. The question now becomes what do we do with all of this talent. They are clearly not playing up to expectations...The past few weeks have seen one of the better defenses in the country get exposed."
Routing USC (George Schroeder)
"The Ducks are playing as well as anybody in the country. Maybe the best. It’s unfortunate they have very little chance to reach the BCS Championship Game. First, because they lost (and too many other teams remain unbeaten). Second, because the loss came to Boise State, one of those unbeatens. It’s possible Oregon could reach the big game, but unlikely."
LSU 42, Tulane 0
LSU 42 - Tulane 0: Snap Judgments (And The Valley Shook)
"At first blush, it was not exactly a dominating performance. Tulane had 216 total yards, including two substantially long drives, one of which ended in a missed field goal and the other of which ended in an interception. Tulane got nothing going on the ground, however, getting credit for only 26 rushing yards on 20 attempts, helped along by 3 sacks of Ryan Griffin for -22 yards."
Penn State 34, Northwestern 13
It Was A Slow Turning Engine (Black Shoe Diaries)
"A lot of the game wrap-ups today cite Kafka's injury as the setback Northwestern would never overcome, but I'm not sure he would have maintained his early consistency. The veteran quarterback was also completing 77% of his passes, 10 points higher than the season average he has posted against lesser defenses. I suspect we would have seen some regression to the mean."
Ohio State 45, New Mexico State 0
Farming for the Soul (Eleven Warriors)
"Haters will be haters: Terrelle Pryor took 3 steps back in the first quarter, but certainly seemed to begin to right the expectations ship before going down with a hamstring injury. If you expected 78-0, kindly get real and/or return to the bomb shelter you’ve been for the better part of the last decade. The defense is every bit as a filthy as we knew it was, and yes, the offense still needs to work on their basic sentence writing before they can start trying to write in cursive."
Oklahoma 42, Kansas State 30
The Return Of Ugly Football (Crimson And Cream Machine)
"It was ugly at best Saturday night for Oklahoma. We saw things from this team that we had hoped were buried for the season. Instead there were false starts, holding penalties and the resurrection of the, "and 45 yards to go" phrase. However, can we all just agree than an ugly win is better than a pretty loss?"
Nebraska 20, Baylor 10
Positivity Ain't That Hard To Find! (Corn Nation)
"It was a youth movement on offense. Cody Green got his first start, as did Khiry Cooper. We saw a lot of youth on offense, as Dontrayevous Robinson (D-Rob, D-Tray, Tray-Rob, all suggestions for a nickname, vote!) played a lot of this game. The offense actually fell down when (guy for whom I'd like a nickname) left the game. Kind of like losing Rex Burkhead, eh?"
Illinois 38, Michigan 13
The Only Thing Corey Liuget And I Will Ever Have In Common (mgoblog)
"In my case, and probably in yours, you had not actually been punched in the dong unless you had decided at some point that going outside with your buddies and punching each other in the dongs was preferable to watch the metaphorical dong-punching that started when Roy Roundtree's knee hit the ground at the one yard line and has not, to my knowledge, stopped."
Air Force 34, Colorado State 16
Air Force dominates CSU 34-16 (Mountain West Connection)
"The Air Force Falcons (5-4, 4-2) were in control the whole game as they took down a struggling Colorado State (3-6, 0-5) team 34 - 16. Tim Jefferson started and played well for the Falcons with two passing touchdowns. Colorado State actually won the time of possession battle but couldn't muster much against the Falcons defense."
Stuff Only I Care About
850 The Buzz is Dead. Long Live 620 The Buzz. (Joe Ovies)
"THEE Blog is dead. This will be the last official post. Final stats: Over 3 million visits, 6 million page views, and nearly 110,000 comments since March of 2006."
Improving a quarterback’s throwing motion (Smart Football)
"There’s an old coaching adage that "you can’t change a throwing motion! A quarterback either can throw or he can’t. Period." You hear this all the time, this idea that a quarterback’s mechanics can’t be changed. Commentators, football dads, and coaches proclaim, "It’s impossible to change a quarterback’s throwing motion. Just coach his footwork." Older quarterbacks in particular get subjected to this tunnel vision."
The $7,500 Fail Whale… (The Lost Ogle)
"Yep. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation just paid Saxum PR $7,500 to create and "analyze" a Twitter account. There’s no word if ODOT also bought the clear coat rust protection, extended warranty and a credit report monitoring service, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did."
Edmond: Week 9 Recap (Bob Przybylo)
"Ooh boy, the Antlers just made their life difficult. A 21-7 home loss to Altus was not what the doctor ordered. It was up for grabs as it was scoreless at halftime. Deer Creek couldn’t get its running game going and had four turnovers. That is not a good recipe for Grant Gower’s club. Alex Christensen had the lone touchdown on a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter. Deer Creek is at Lawton MacArthur and needs a win to guarantee a spot, or else it might be one of those weird night of scoreboard watching and district point calculations."
Sabres Split Weekend Games (Die By The Blade)
"This might be the worst game the Sabres have played all season and yet they came away with a 3-2 overtime victory. In the recap we showered Ryan Miller with praise but maybe we should have been even more complimentary of his performance. The stats above, only include the even strength stats. I can't even imagine what they would look like if we added the power play time."
Missing Link (The Goose's Roost)
"The anticipation necessary to see that pass and see Connolly free in the middle. The great pass and the play Connolly makes. The head fake blocker side is what sold that goal, and not many players on this team can do what Timmy did. All of that goes into a few brief moments that completely change the game."
50 years of goalie masks (Puck Daddy)
"They reveal something psychologically about the man behind the mask, whether it's Vesa Toskala's desire to be ferocious or Martin Brodeur's conservative understatement or Ray Emery's love of pugilism. In the case of Chris Osgood of the Detroit Red Wings, his no-frills mask reflects his flash-less, blue collar approach."
The man who changed the face of hockey (The Copper & Blue)
"21 minutes later Plante was back, sporting a few more stitches and a new piece of equipment: a fibreglass face mask. He had been trying it out in practice for some time, but Habs coach Toe Blake had refused to allow him to wear it in a game. Plante, cut yet again, decided to call Blake's bluff and refused to return to the game without the facial protection. In an unfriendly city with no other options available, Blake had no choice but to relent."
Alex Ovechkin's Awesome October (Japers' Rink)
"But as impressive as he's been so far, this isn't the best single-season 13-game goal-scoring spree of his career, a distinction that belongs to the stretch between January 5 and February 5 of 2008, during which he scored 15 goals. This is, however, the most goals he's scored in a 13-game span without mixing in a hat trick somewhere along the way, and his six multi-goal games in 13 games is a personal best."
One Month In, What Do We Know? (Second City Hockey)
"Finally, I'm really tempted to cancel free speech when it comes to Patrick Kane. I just can't fathom how anyone can't be blown away by this kid's play this year, and what you could possibly complain about. He's backchecking, fighting through checks to make plays, creating chances off a forecheck, and absolutely dominating shifts, periods, and games when he gets time. But go ahead and do it anyway, it's hilarious for the rest of us."
Dissecting the Red Sox Roster: Batters (Over the Monster)
"David Ortiz: Perhaps the biggest single question mark on the Red Sox going into 2010 is Big Papi. Obviously, he is on the decline. Obviously, he's not due for a big contract in 2011 if any at all. And obviously, so long as he doesn't somehow find his way into pin stripes, he's due to go down as one of the all-time Sox if only for his contributions in '07 and especially '04. But next year anything could happen."
BtB 2009-10 CAA Preview (Blogging the Bracket)
"The Monarchs return all five starters, led by Lee, a 6-10 Finnish-American who averaged almost 16 points and 6 rebounds a contest last season. Taylor preaches defense, and opponents only managed an average of 60 points a game last year. However, the Monarchs could score a bit more, as Lee was the only player to average in double figures last season."