Blair Kerkhoff’s college football conference call
About those potential upsets in Big 12 play, with five ranked teams hitting the road … never mind.
Four visitors — Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Texas Tech — won convincingly. Kansas turned in the only close shave, holding off Iowa State by two. The league’s other ranked team, Oklahoma State, won easily at home.
It sets up two battles of titans on Saturday: Oklahoma-Texas in the annual bloodbath in Dallas, and Missouri taking on Oklahoma State in Columbia, a game that matches two of the nation’s top offenses.
•RISING: Someone explain Virginia’s 31-0 victory over Maryland. The Cavaliers had just been pasted by Duke, had lost five straight to Division I-A competition dating to last year and ranked last nationally in total offense. But they rolled up 427 yards of total offense against a Terps team that probably would have entered the polls with a victory. “You guys must think I’m out here trying to throw these games,” Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. The wolves will stop howling for Virginia coach Al Groh, at least this week.
•FALLING: Check out the Coastal Division standings. On the bottom is Miami, a 41-39 loser to Florida State. The Hurricanes fought back from a 24-3 halftime deficit. “Do we have a long ways to go?” Miami coach Randy Shannon said. “Yeah, I think so.”
•THIS WEEK: A nonconference weekend except for a good one on Thursday when Clemson visits Wake Forest. A Tigers victory would give every team in the Atlantic Division at least one loss.
•RISING: So this is the Pittsburgh everybody was talking about in the preseason. The Panthers, fresh off their upset at South Florida, sit atop the Big East standings, an unlikely locale after the season-opening loss to Bowling Green. The rebound victories over Buffalo, Iowa and Syracuse didn’t exactly win over skeptics. Beating the Bulls did.
•FALLING: All the mistakes Connecticut didn’t make in crafting a 5-0 record were saved up in a lopsided loss to North Carolina. Three punts were blocked (by the same player, Bruce Carter), three interceptions by quarterback Zach Frazer and a boatload of penalties.
•THIS WEEK: Cincinnati joins New Mexico State of the WAC in becoming the last teams in America to play a conference game. The Bearcats play host to Rutgers on Saturday.
•RISING: It wasn’t pretty, but Michigan State’s 16-13 victory over Iowa allowed the Spartans to keep pace with the league’s top dogs. The game was clinched when linebacker Adam Decker crashed and stuffed Shonn Greene for a 3-yard loss on fourth and 1.
•FALLING: Well that was fun, wasn’t it, Wisconsin? From national championship contender to last place in the conference in two weeks. The Badgers needed one stop against Ohio State and freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Instead, the Buckeyes went 80 yards for the game-winner and handed Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema his first home loss.
•THIS WEEK: Two of the four with perfect league records meet. No, not Penn State-Ohio State. It’s Michigan State at Northwestern. Also, the Badgers’ gantlet continues with a visit from Penn State.
•RISING: Oklahoma State had a flawed performance against Texas A&M and still doubled up the Aggies 56-28. The running game was slowed, and it took quarterback Zac Robinson some time to get going. But that’s how good, at least offensively, these Cowboys are.
