Wisconsin "Ball" over Nebraska in Big Ten opener.

Nebraska finally got a taste of some Big Ten action, but it will be one that they would rather forget after getting whipped 48-17 by Wisconsin.  Hard to believe that Nebraska actually led at one point in this game (14-7), but had nothing in the bag as they were out scored 41-3 the rest of the way.

With Wilson leading the way, the Badgers could very
well find themselves contending for a national title.

Also making his Big Ten debut was Badger QB Russell Wilson, who threw for 255 yards and 2 TDs while running for another.  Coming into the season, Wisconsin's ability to contend for the conference title received a major boost when Wilson came aboard after a record setting career at NC State.


There were some questions regarding Wisconsin's defense, but they went a long way toward answering some of them, picking off Huskers' QB Taylor Martinez 3 times, all of which resulted in touchdowns.  2 of those touchdowns were just part of a 20 point effort in the 2nd quarter, as the Badgers put their foot on the pedal and never looked back.


Not to be left behind, RB Montee Ball had himself quite the evening, rushing for 151 yards and 4TDs on 30 carries; moving this tally to 13 TDs this season.  At Wisconsin, the running back position has never lacked any depth.  Ball is just the latest to star in a position that has featured names like John Clay, PJ Hill, Anthony Davis, Michael Bennett and Ron Dayne, the NCAA's all-time rushing leader (in Division 1, at least).

Madison, WI is a long ways from Lawrence or Ames.

Bo Pellini's reign at Nebraska started in 2008 and over that time, he has used his reputation as a defensive guru to restore some pride to a tradition that was famously hailed as the black shirts.  Over the last two years, Nebraska had one of the nation's best pass defenses, which played a big part in their consecutive Big 12 title appearances.  If they had an offense to match, they might have been playing for bigger things.


When Nebraska switched to the Big Ten, the revival of the black shirts was a key reason why most pundits felt the Cornhuskers would be able to contend for the conference title right away.  However, given Saturday's performance, they clearly have ways to go.


Looking at the remainder of Wisconsin's schedule, their biggest game will probably be the matchup against Illinois, who are off to a surprising 5-0 start.  Other than that, there's some decent teams, but none that could seriously challenge them for the division crown.


At this point, it wouldn't be a bad bet to pencil in Wisconsin as participants in the inaugural Big Ten title game.

Tigers on the prowl.

If anybody hasn't been paying attention to the Clemson Tigers, their body of work over the last 3 weeks should be enough to merit a look.  


First, they started by knocking off defending national champions Auburn 38-24 (in impressive fashion too), ending Auburn's 17 game win streak.  Then, they continued their recent home dominance against Florida State, winning 35-30.  And for their final act, they traveled to Blacksburg, VA, (a very tough place to play) and basically just dominated Virginia Tech, winning 23-3; becoming the first ACC team to beat ranked opponents 3 weeks in a row.

Hokies QB Logan Thomas could not escape the eye
of the Tiger.

Their wins against Auburn and Florida State came within the confines of their vaunted "Death Valley" stadium, and most pundits didn't give them much of a chance against Virginia Tech; being that this was Clemson's first outing away from home.  Like I mentioned earlier, not too many teams come out looking good after a visit to Blacksburg.  However, the Tigers had other plans.


While their offense took most of the most of the plaudits over the last few weeks (and rightfully so), it was Clemson's defensive performance that stole show, holding the Hokies to only a field goal, while forcing 2 turnovers (an interception and fumble recovery), and 4-16 on 3rd downs.  Also of note, Clemson snapped Virginia Tech's 12 game win streak in league play.


With Miami facing NCAA sanctions, and Florida State not quite where they were hoping to be at this point in the season, Clemson has not wasted any time to stake their claim as possibly the best team in the conference.  Of course, they still have that showdown against Georgia Tech on October 29, in what will likely be a preview of the ACC title game.

Tajh Boyd's performances has opened
eyes across the landscape.

Outside of Georgia Tech's "triple option" attack, Clemson has a very potent offense led by sophomore QB Tajh Boyd.  A native of Hampton, VA, Boyd has been nothing short of exciting, passing for over 1400 yards and 14 TDs against 2 INTs.  Should he keep up at this rate, he will most likely be the first Tiger QB to get serious Heisman hype since the days of the recording setting Woody Dantzler.


Also another player worth mentioning is freshman receiver, Sammy Watkins.  Over the last couple of weeks, he emerged as Boyd's favorite target, making big plays in the wins against Auburn and Florida State.  While he had an off day against Virginia Tech, junior Tight End Dwayne Allen picked up the slack.  Also chipping in were running backs Andre Ellington and Mike Bellamy (whose 31 yd TD run sealed Clemson's win over the Hokies).


The ACC has proven to be a very unpredictable "dog eat dog" kind of league.  Today you're hot, tomorrow you're not; you can never really know who's going to win on any given weekend.  While Clemson are sitting pretty at the moment, even they know there's still some work to do if they are to win the league.

Dabo Sweeney has had a lot laugh about over
the last three weeks.

After going through a tricky conference schedule, Clemson close their regular season on the road against the rival South Carolina Gamecocks.  While a loss to the Gamecocks wouldn't ruin the Tigers' shot at a BCS bowl, it would wipe out any shot at a national title should Clemson find themselves in that position.


Whether Clemson emerges as the top team out of the ACC remains to be seen, but what we know is they'll definitely put on quite the show.

Asphyxiation & Meltdown (A&M)

It's been almost 10 years since Texas A&M kicked off with a preseason Top 10 ranking.  All it took was a fortnight for them to drop out of the Top 20, after yet another second half meltdown; this time at the hands of the Arkansas Razorbacks, a one time South West Conference rival.


One week after watching a 17 point half-time lead disappear against Oklahoma State, the Aggies seemed determined to put that performance behind them with 5 first half touchdowns (all rushing), racing to a 35-17 lead before the interval against their future SEC division foe.  Once again, they came out flat in the second period, getting outscored 25-3.


For a while, the Aggies seemed to be in control of the game, running the ball at will against an Arkansas defense that couldn't stop the run even if they tried.  As a team, A&M totaled 381 yards on the ground; Christine Michael ran for 230 yards and 3 TDs on 32 carries, Cyrus Gray had 95 yards and 2 TDs on 17 carries, while QB Ryan Tannehill pitched in with 56 yards on 5 carries.  On any day, if you passed those stats onto someone, they'd probably tell you that the Aggies won.  However, despite getting gushed for all those yards, Arkansas came up big when it mattered the most, stopping Michael for no gain on a rush attempt on 4th & 2 late in the game.


A&M had been faced with "4th & short" situations during the 3rd quarter.  With the Razorbacks still reeling, A&M opted to punt rather than go for the kill.  The decision to punt on both occasions gave Arkansas some confidence that they could stop the Aggies, which is what they eventually did.  The momentum started to swing in their favor and next thing you know, Arkansas comes out on top.

Weeden (l) and Wilson both combined to torch the
Aggies for 948 yards through the air.

The running theme during these two losses has been the porosity of the Aggies pass defense.  Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden passed for 438 yards, while Arkansas' Tyler Wilson went bananas, passing for 510 yards.  Along with the 900+ yards, both QBs combined for 5 touchdowns and no interceptions.  You'd figure that maybe the Aggies would make the necessary adjustments, seeing that there was nothing unpredictable about what Arkansas or Oklahoma State was doing, but whatever they did probably didn't work.  With a lot of "pass happy" schools on the Aggies remaining schedule, you can be sure that those teams will be taking notes and studying some film.


It has been 16 years since Texas A&M beat a team from the SEC, but with them moving on to that conference, they may not have to wait any longer.

Different venue, same script.

So it may not have been the Alamo Bowl, but not much seems to have changed between Oklahoma State and Arizona since their last encounter in December.


The Cowboys got off to a fast start, scoring on their first three possessions.   Brandon Weeden looked he was going to complete every pass he attempted, Joseph Randle and Jeremy Smith looked like they were going to run over, around or through any defender in sight, and Justin Blackmon looked like he was going to catch everything thrown in his direction.  Oklahoma State operated with surgeon-like precision, and machine-like efficiency jumping to a quick 21-0 lead.


Then either Arizona got a little better, or the Cowboys got bored; but somewhere along the way, someone took their foot off the pedal.  Arizona finally got on the scoreboard in the second half, and had enough chances to actually turn a potential blowout into a contest, but credit to the Cowboys defense for hanging tough and making plays when they needed to.

Arizona really had no answer for Justin Blackmon

The Wildcats suffered from the same problems that plagued them in their last encounter against the Cowboys.  They could move the chains, make some plays, but just could not score.  The running game was held in check, and while they gained momentum with their passing game, they faltered at crucial moments; such as turning over the ball on downs despite reaching their opponents goal line.


What left me scratching my head for a few moments was the Wildcats execution on defense. For some reason they opted for a "man-to-man" approach leaving Justin Blackmon free to take their lunch money.  The end result; 12 catches for 128 yards and 2 touchdowns.  They probably forgot that he's the current Biletnikoff Award winner.


If this is any indication, it looks like the sun will be setting on Arizona a little faster than they are planning.  Their next two games will be against Oregon and Stanford; two teams that will  feature heavily not only in the conference title race, but also the in the national picture as well.  Luckily, Arizona plays in the Pac-12 South Division, and with USC on probation, might actually get to make something out of whatever's left.


Oklahoma State's next plays Tulsa next; a game that serves as a great warm-up ahead of their showdown against Texas A&M the week after.  I wonder what uniforms they'll break out next.

Four-letter acronym for hypocrisy.....

I'm sure that I am not the first person who is confused by the hypocrisy of the NCAA, and neither will I be the last one.  A lot of sports analysts are on the offensive as well, in the wake of the recent suspensions handed out to six Ohio State players who traded autographs for tattoos, and for selling other memorabilia as well.  Among the five players suspended include, QB Terrelle Pryor, RB Dan Herron and WR DeVier Posey.


They have been ordered to repay back anywhere between $1,500-$2,500 and will miss the first five games of the 2011 season.  Here's the kicker though; they have been allowed  to play in the 2011 Sugar Bowl against Arkansas because according to the NCAA, they were not "properly educated" on the rules regarding their "amateur" status.  And there lies the rub.


Give me a break!!  I wouldn't buy this excuse for even half the price!  So these players won't play the first five games of next season, but they're allowed to play in their bowl game, despite their infractions?  Ohio State's first five games of next season are: Akron, Toledo, Miami (FL), Colorado, Michigan State; except for the Miami game, the rest of the fixtures will be in Columbus, OH.  The Buckeyes might go 4-1 at the very least on that schedule; otherwise, it's a sweep.  Another thing to consider is that these players are eligible for the NFL draft, so don't be surprised if they make the jump to the NFL and skip their punishment altogether.


No disrespect to Arkansas, who very much deserves to be in the Sugar Bowl.  They pushed Alabama to the wire, traded blows with Auburn, beat South Carolina convincingly (in Columbia, SC too; and this was the same Carolina team that played for the SEC title), and they beat a great LSU team.  Once again, no disrespect to Arkansas, but it's Ohio State that is the bigger draw in this match-up.  An Ohio State without it's star quarterback, running back and receiver isn't exactly good for ratings.  Do the math and get back to me.


This is probably the same reason that Cameron Newton will lead Auburn into the national championship game, despite being the subject of a "pay-for-play" deal orchestrated by his father.  In Cam's case, he claimed that "he didn't know" his father was trying to auction him off to the highest bidder.  I'm not accusing Newton of anything here, but please, try and tell me that Auburn would have beat South Carolina in the SEC title game had Newton been declared ineligible.


Earlier in the season, Georgia receiver A.J. Green was suspended for the first 4 games after he admitted to selling his jersey from last year's Independence Bowl.  North Carolina started the season with 12 players suspended for various school/NCAA violations.  Last year, Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant was suspended for the remainder of the season, because he lied about having met with an agent.  Dez did not take any money or sign any contracts, so I was thinking that maybe a two-game suspension might suffice.  In another case, Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, was forced to miss the 2004 Alamo Bowl and the first game of the 2005 season after it was discovered that he took $500 from a booster.


I hope you can understand why I'm confused.  Don't get me wrong, because I'm not condoning what either of these guys did.  What I'm failing to understand here is why some players got punished right away, while the current group of Ohio State players don't get punished at all?  I could sit here and scratch my head all day long, and still won't get it.

I'm going to let ya'll mess with this one; I'm folding!!