This writer had had a very long day on Saturday involving travelling in a propeller plane across water, being subjected to a Bosnian national telling me about his way of life ('I shit you not') and then being stuck on an island enveloped by fog with little optimism of getting back to the mainland. Eventually I got home at 9.30pm following a 17 hour day of memorable experiences.
Upon my return home, I switched on ESPN to get a College football update and the first two scorelines I saw left me disheartened and disconsolate for the sport in general. College football is all about equal competition and a general rise in challenges throughout the season.
The first two scores were the Ohio State and Louisville victories. Both were blowouts to the nth degree. Ohio State beat Florida A&M 76-0 at home, Louisville beat Florida International 72-0.
It is annoying how these stellar institutions book these silly opponents into there schedule. In week 1, FCS schools can catch a bigger fish cold due to teams not having the luxury of pre-season. Now in week 4, schemes and plays are learnt. Players are up to match speed and full fitness and then the lambs of these two Florida schools are led to the slaughter on the road as these bigger schools run rough shod over all of them.
Ohio State are ranked #4 and will remain #4 because they won by so much no team at 5 or 6 can leapfrog them and they cannot rise unless a 3 team is upset which is unlikely as the majority of most teams in the Top 10 played weak opponents and at home. In fact #3 Clemson went on the road and beat NC State 26-14 led by Tajh Boyd. This is a good road win for Clemson, who will be in the championship game if they run the table.
Alabama hosted Colorado State at home. Colorado State are woeful, and they are forced to travel cross-country. For the Crimson Tide, it looks good to play a Pac-12 side considering the #2 side in the country are the Oregon Ducks. They won 31-6, far from the slaughter expected but what purpose does it serve.
Florida State #8 hosted Bethune-Cook and won 54-6; now I am sure Jameis Winston has had more stressful games of Madden than what he experienced in this game. Florida State will remain the 2nd best side in the ACC behind Clemson.
Credit then to Stanford hosting a conference rival Arizona State, they built up an early lead and won 42-28 to gain the first conference victory; although they did concede three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make the game look closer than it actually was.
Other examples, Miami demolished Savannah State 77-7 and Baylor won 70-7 versus Louisiana-Monroe, Washington beat Idaho State 56-0.
This was a bad weekend for College Football, even the big game Florida versus Tennessee which was 31-17 was overshadowed by the unfortunate sight of Gators QB Jeff Driskel leaving the field and being done for the season with a broken lower left leg in the first quarter. His back-up Tyler Murphy did the job effectively, but the SEC East may well lose a contender. Will Muschamp was understandably gutted for Driskel and his team.
Texas A&M beat Southern Methodist 42-13. Johnny Manziel threw for 244 yards and ran for 102 yards on 12 carries for 2 touchdowns.
This week suffered from the lack of a marquee match-up inter-conference battle and even the lack of the idle Oregon Ducks made it slightly less fun to watch the highlights. In Week 5, things are looking up:
#6 LSU who beat Auburn led by Jeremy Hill's career day travel to #9 Georgia who had their wobbles versus North Texas before Aaron Murray threw for 400+ yards
#14 Oklahoma at #22 Notre Dame; can the Irish defence contain the explosive Sooners attackers
#21 Ole Miss at #1 Alabama; another solid test for the Tide but home advantage should be enough for them
#23 Wisconsin at #4 Ohio State; the first real test for the Buckeyes who seek perfection again this season.
#2 Oregon are at home to California; over or under a 40 point victory?
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