College Football Corner--pitch and catch between the hedges...

USC is in the top 20—actually both of them are ranked this week. Southern Cal remains #1, but South Carolina made a major step forward by upsetting 11th ranked Georgia in Athens 16-12. Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks pull off the upset despite converting just one of eleven third downs. One shouldn’t take South Carolina lightly—especially since this a very underwhelming SEC: with the exception of LSU and Florida, the league ranges from the beatable (Tennessee and Arkansas) to the downright awful (Mississippi State and Vanderbilt). As impressive as coach Spurrier’s resume is (the national title at Florida, the ACC championship at Duke), winning in a league like the SEC with a program like the Gamecocks would be cement his “superiority”.

VIRGINIA TECH’s national championship dreams took a fatal blow when they lost 48-7 to #2 LSU. It’s not that the Hokies are bad—it’s just that LSU is that good.

UPSIDE—LSU’s the toughest team they’ll face all year—it’s all downhill from here; backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor looked impressive in relief of Sean Glennon—accounting for 106 of the Hokies 149 yards.

DOWNSIDE—Running the football remains a challenge—granted, the Tigers have a dominant defense but preseason All-ACC tailback Brandon Ore continues a pedestrian 2007 with 28 yards on 14 tries. Sean Glennon’s numbers—abysmal (2-10, 16 yards and an interception). Plus, the defense got pushed around (598 total yards) in a manner I haven’t seen from the Hokies in some time (a 50-42 overtime loss to Syracuse in ’02).


MARYLAND won in the Orange Bowl—but not against the usual residents. The 26-10 triumph over Florida International wasn’t as close at last year’s 14-10 squeaker, but Florida International stayed with the Terps into the fourth quarter.

UPSIDE—Perfect offensive balance-135 yards rushing and 135 yards passing.
Keon Lattimore tallies 89 of his 111 yards rushing and his two touchdowns in the first quarter. Henderson dominates defensively with 12 tackles while Kevin Barnes notches an interception for the second straight week.

DOWNSIDE—the offensive line gave up four sacks, while Jordan Steffy continues to specialize in the short stuff: averaging 7.5 yards per pass completion. The “underneath attack” works well against the likes of Florida International and Villanova—how will it fare against #3 West Virginia?


VIRGINIA beat Duke 24-13, right? What a massively uninspiring victory--did it seem at any moment that the Cavaliers were in control? Despite having quite a bit more talent, UVa kept the Blue Devils in this game well into the fourth quarter. Even better, Virginia-North Carolina is this weeks noon game on JP. Infomercial viewership will never be so high.

UPSIDE— Cedric Pearman bounced back from a rough week one at Wyoming with 137 yards, while backup quarterback Peter Lalich came off the bench to guide the Cavaliers to a fourth quarter touchdown. The pass rush looked solid, delivering five sacks.

DOWNSIDE—Special teams was a nightmare. Two bad snaps and a fumbled kickoff return kept Duke in contention well after the game should have turned into a rout. Quarterback Jameel Sewell has yet to find his stride (9 of 14 for 60 yards)—if the problems persist, how soon before the freshman Lalich supplants him?