Week 2 Revisited

In order to establish some of the accountability that the so-called experts in the media rarely exhibit, I’ve decided to start analyzing my analysis, so to speak, following each Saturday’s action. The talking heads on ESPN frequently make unfounded claims on Saturday morning, only to act as if they’d never made them when they don’t come true. And when the 1% of their “shocking” predictions does actually happen, they would have you think they were, in Rick’s words, “Nostra-fucking-domas.”

So now, when I make my own uninformed predictions during the week, I will afford you people the opportunity to point and laugh on Monday after the Texas offense makes me look like a jackass.

Here we go:

Oregon State @ Boise State
My Prediction: BSU - 38, OSU - 35
Actual Result: BSU - 42, OSU - 14

At the end of the first quarter, I was feeling pretty good about this one. At halftime, I thought I had it pegged. I just knew the Beavers would mount a comeback, but fall a little short. I kept waiting…and waiting. But it never happened.

Not only did I underestimate Boise’s defense, which held OSU in check for three whole quarters, but their running game as well. Granted, the Beavers’ decent numbers against the run last year were probably more a result of complete ineptitude against the pass than anything else. But 302 yards rushing is impressive nonetheless.

Good win for Boise.

Auburn @ Mississippi State
MP: AU - 34, MSU - 7
AR: AU - 34, MSU - 0

Sly’s got some problems. Moving on…

Mississippi @ Missouri
MP: Ole Miss - 27, Mizzou - 24
AR: Mizzou - 34, Ole Miss - 7

I think I read too much into Ole Miss’ win over Memphis and not enough into new Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel’s performance in the season opener. He totally outplayed Brent Schaeffer, accounting for 322 total yards and two touchdowns, while Schaeffer threw three interceptions.

Daniel also had 92 yards rushing, while Ole Miss’ QB was held to 1 on 11 carries. It looks like the Rebels still have a long way to go on both sides of the ball.

Penn State @ Notre Dame
MP: ND - 31, PSU - 20
AR: ND - 41, PSU - 17

Notre Dame’s offense was not going to get shut down two weeks in a row, and they came through with a 40 point effort in the home opener. They got off to a slow start, but Penn State dropped two potential interceptions on the goal line that led to two Irish field goals.

Quinn was lights out after that, throwing two TD passes in the second quarter. As for the defense, they were helped out a ton of dropped balls, but you can’t discount the first team’s allowing just a field goal.

I don’t even think Lou Holtz saw this being so one-sided.

Clemson @ Boston College
MP: CU - 24, “BC” - 17
AR: “BC” - 34, CU - 33

I guess we all should have seen this coming. Same old Clemson. Couldn’t cover kicks, couldn’t find the end zone from inside the five in OT, couldn’t make an extra point.

"I would say special teams hurt us," Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said. "I don't think it takes a genius to figure out how we'd win the game."

But apparently, it does take a genius to coach his best team ever to a win over a middle of the pack ACC team.

Texas State @ Kentucky
MP: UK - 41, TSU - 20
AR: UK - 41, TSU - 7

Sinbad can only do so much.

Arizona @ LSU
MP: LSU - 27, UA - 10
AR: LSU - 45, UA - 3

Outside of Southern Cal, the Pac-10 has been embarrassing. This did manage to make the LSU-Auburn game even more compelling.

Minnesota @ California
MP: UCB - 30, UM - 21
AR: UCB - 42, UM - 17

This weekend’s results turn Cal and Tennessee into huge question marks. Either way, DeSean Jackson is good. I mean, really good.

Georgia @ South Carolina
MP: UGA - 13, USC - 10
AR: UGA - 18, USC - 0

Funny how the defense pitches a shutout the night after Erk Russell’s death (too bad the same can’t be said for Georgia Southern). It was a defensive battle, as expected, but who would’ve thought Georgia could post two terrific goal line stands in one night to blank a conference team on the road?

You’ve got to feel awful for Joe T., but Stafford really showed me something Saturday night. I knew he could make all the throws, but what really threw me was the fact that he only seemed to make one glaring freshman mistake all night (the first interception). It looked like he made some good checks at the line and even showed he can move around a little bit.

The late injuries on the line worry me a lot, but I’m definitely encouraged by this week’s performance.

I’d also like to see some more of the Lumpkin/Brown backfields we saw on the opening drive.

Ohio State @ Texas
MP: UT - 27, OSU - 24
AR: OSU - 24, UT - 7

I really got burned on this one. The thing I take away from this game, more than anything, is that Texas post-Vince Young looks a whole heck of a lot like Texas pre-Vince Young.

From what I was able to see, Colt McCoy (aside from the third quarter interception) played a pretty good game, at least good enough to give them a chance in the fourth quarter. But the offensive line wasn’t nearly as effective as I had anticipated and the receivers dropped a ton of passes.

They seemed to be playing “not to lose.” Sound familiar? That’s the phrase that haunted Mack Brown before #10 came to Austin and started making him look like a genius.

I don’t want to take anything away from Ohio State, though, because they came away with a convincing win on the road in the second week of the season. The questions I had (the running game, the secondary) have been answered for now, but I’m still not sure I’d rank them number one at this point.