Student Body Right... Student Body Wrong...  

Um, so I was better than terrible last week. I guess it's going to be a long road back to respectability. Fortunately, it's a long season, so there's still hope. Look, we're not perfect over here. Frankly, as bleak as things were, at least I split the games in which the big man and I differed, a clean 1-1-1 record. So there's hope.

I was right about:

Darren McFadden. He is remarkable. Absolutely remarkable. He was a tweaked hamstring away from single-handedly winning the game against Alabama. Frankly, if they'd put him in coverage, it's probably a W. As it was, it was disappointing to watch a singular performance undermined by a complete inability to play defense.

I was wrong about:

Speaking of defense, I was wrong about Louisville. I know I said that they didn't have a defense. And I was certainly right about that. But I clearly had a screw loose looking at the Kentucky game. I basically forgot that when you can't play defense, and you're playing a great offensive team, it means your own offense can't make a mistake. Not a single one. None. So when Brohm threw a bad pick early in the game, I had a feeling that things would not end well for the Cardinals. The winning play was a case in point. At a time when Kentucky desperately needed a deep strike, the Louisville defenders couldn't be bothered to be within twenty yards of a wide receiver streaking down the sidelines. Yikes. That was a negative defensive play. Possibly the worst defensive play I've ever seen.

I was right about:

USC destroying a BCS foe on the road. It's like the Jewish New Year, you're never sure exactly when it is, but it happens every year at some point in September. USC looked absolutely filthy in dispatching the Huskers. They were DOMINANT on both sides of the ball. Scarier than that, they finally found themselves a running back (Stafon Johnson, who ran hard and made huge yards). You know Booty and the receivers will get themselves clicking, and if they have a balanced attack, they may be unstoppable.

I was wrong about:

Florida. Wow. Young? Maybe. I underestimated them last season, and I haven't learned from my mistakes. Tebow looked phenomenal. The defense didn't exactly look young and inexperienced. Repeat? It's still a little early for that conversation, but Florida may have entered the tier with Oklahoma, LSU and USC.

I was right about:

UCLA being super-frauds. Dorrell will always find a way to lose. This was a let-down of epic proportions. The #11 team in the country got HOUSED by an 0-2 Utah squad that had losses to a weak Oregon St. and an uninspiring Air Force squad. This is not a good Utah team, and they destroyed UCLA. Wow. Has any team ever gotten more hype over a single win? It looks like the memories of that USC win are officially history.

I was wrong about:

Washington. Look, I'm not convinced that Ohio St. has what it's going to take offensively to win the Big Ten. But Washington completely self-destructed after hanging tough for almost half the game. This was a much better win that people will give Ohio St. credit for. The Big Ten is absolutely WIDE open after Michigan's melt-down. I could see four or five teams winning it, mostly because there isn't a dominant team.

I was right about:

Wisconsin being overrated. Seriously, 31 points to the Citadel? Um. That's terrible.

I was wrong about:

Arkansas having enough defense to win shoot-outs. They should enter defenses anonymous with the pathetic Louisville bunch. Wilson was fantastic on Saturday night, but that Hogs defense was even worse than I'd thought.

I was right about:

Georgia Tech not quite being ready for prime time. Everyone got excited about that Notre Dame domination, but now that the true state of the Domers is known, it looks like it was greatly inflated. Boston College dominated them on both sides of the ball. That game was not at all close.

I was wrong about:

Tennessee. My sleeper pick seems to have slipped into a coma. There is no shame is losing to Florida and Cal, both on the road, but they didn't show a pulse on Saturday. They ain't dead yet, but I may have to pull the plug.

It was another week where I was more wrong that right. But we're turning things around, starting NOW.