College Football round-up

College Pigskin, Week 8 recap.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on college football, and I’d never be able to predict results, but I do follow it quite closely, and I never in a thousand guesses would have thought that #2 Ohio State would lose to Purdue by four touchdowns. That has to be the surprise of the year, if not the millennium. I have nothing against Ohio State, but I will say this: If you allow Purdue to score 49 on you, you’re not a plausible candidate for a national championship. To be fair, Purdue has scored a lot of points this year. That is their fifth consecutive week with 30 or more. They have won four in a row after losing their first three.

#4 Notre Dame had the week off. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton, but it did pay off for them. They will probably rise to #3. Thanks, Purdue.

#12 Oregon got stampeded by Washington State. The game was 27-0 at halftime.

In the ever-surprising American Conference, UCF and South Florida stayed unbeaten, while Houston laid 49 on Navy to improve to 6-1. Only Cincinnati faltered, dropping their first game of the year to Temple in overtime. (That’s not as bad as it sounds. Temple was playing at home, and that team is surprisingly good. They are actually undefeated in conference play.)

And of course, Alabama was Alabama. They took a 28-0 lead in the first quarter, then coasted. They won by 37. That’s just another day at the track for them. Their average game for the year is a win by 38 (54-16). Sagarin’s computer ratings show them approximately a light year ahead of the rest of the field. The good news for those of us who root for underdogs is that Alabama may have a tough game next week. Stress: may. They will take on LSU (which should be #4 in the new polls after Ohio State falls a bit from their #2 perch) in Baton Rouge. If ‘Bama wins that one by 20 or more, you can count on them to coast to the championship game against Notre Dame or Clemson or whoever else can sneak in there.