College Pigskin, Week 4

The week in college football:

There were no significant upsets in the top echelon this week. The top 12 teams all won, although Stanford and Oklahoma required an overtime to pull it off.

The Stanford result was no surprise since they played Oregon, which is also excellent (#20 coming in).

The Oklahoma game was another story. They definitely showed a few chinks in the armor by nearly losing a home game to Army, and producing fewer yards from scrimmage than the unheralded Knights. The Oklahoma weakness was their rushing defense, which allowed 339 yards on the ground to the cadets. (That’s slightly misleading because Army rarely passes. But still – if you know it’s going to be a rushing play, which it almost always is with Army, you should have more success slowing it down.)

Further down the list, there will be some shake-ups in next week’s polls:

#13 Virginia Tech was blown out of the water, allowing 49 points to lowly, previously winless Old Dominion. Allowing Old Dominion to score 28 in the fourth quarter will probably drop VT totally off the Top 25 list. (And would cost the defensive co-ordinator his job in a just world.)

#14 Mississippi State was shellacked by … (wait for it) … Kentucky! The Wildcats are no longer the patsy of the SEC. They are 4-0, with two conference wins, both of which came against Top 25 teams (at the time). Kentucky will probably climb into the Top 25, so it seems their fans will now have something to do before basketball season.

#15 Oklahoma State lost big at home (41-17).

#17 TCU dropped a road game to the Longhorns.

#23 Boston College was pummeled by lowly Purdue, which had not previously won a game. But at least BC got to sniff the Top 25 list, if only for a moment. Don’t expect them back. The ACC is tough. They Eagles face a grueling second-half schedule and will probably finish with 4-5 losses.