The week in review
Random thoughts on the past weekend in college football (except that Tennessee-UCLA is about to kick off, so I’d better be quick)
It’s good to be the king
Larry Fedora and Houston Nutt had wildly successful debuts in the state of Mississippi. Fedora’s offense set new total yardage and rushing records for a game. Nutt, well, he didn’t make a stupid face on the sideline.
It’s good sucks to be the king
Mike Sherman loses his debut at aTm (remember kids, Larry Fedora is from College Station- to quote Eagle78, “just sayin’”) and Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas Razorbacks had to score late to hold off Western Illinois 28-24.Â
The ACC- you, you’re not good
Losses by a listless NC State, Va Tech, and Clemson get the conference off to a terrible start. My crack research staff tells me that no ACC team beat an FBS team on opening weekend (Wake Forest did beat Baylor, but come on, do they count as FBS?)
Sylvester got Croomed
Much to the dismay of the fellas over at sixpackspeak.com, Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom, he of the doubled salary thanks to an offseason extension, took his version of the Bulldogs up to Ruston, Louisiana (like high school, except it’s Saturday night) and promptly lost to Terry Bradshaw’s version of the Bulldogs, Louisiana Tech, by a score of 22-14. In the game, he limited star running back Anthony Dixon to 18 carries, replaced his starting quarterback, Wes Carroll, who led the team to stirring wins vs. Alabama and Auburn last year, with a JUCO transfer, and saw MSU turn over the ball five times. Last year, MSU thrived on creating and taking advantage of turnovers. Suddenly, Croom is back squarely on the hot seat, extended contract and all.
Tressel: nice call
Leaving Beanie Wells in the game against Youngstown State? Nice call. Now Wells is hurt and his status for the big matchup against USC week after next is questionable.
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Bobby Bowden’s FSU Seminoles didn’t play on opening weekend, and their first two games are against Western Carolina and Chattanooga. That’ll get you ready to play Wake Forest and the rest of the ACC. (Actually, as bad as the ACC is, that’s actually not a problem.) Joe Paterno’s team throttled Coastal Carolina and had nobody arrested all weekend.
And finally…
“That feeling right now is just unexplainable. Watching USM as a child growing up and then getting to play in front of thousands of fans, and score a touchdown, it’s a feeling like nothing that can be described.” - Southern Miss RB and Hattiesburg native Bubba Kirksey, who is a JUCO tranfer who rushed for over 100 yards and scored in his first game for the hometown Eagles. Looks like he should have been recruited here two years ago.
