Well, you've seen the predictions. Let's see how things shook down. I'll try to make some commentary on the games I actually watched and keep my blathering to a minimum regarding the ones I didn't. I was mostly watching the South Carolina-Tennessee game early (and folks, let's say a prayer for Marcus Lattimore. That injury goes in the file with Theismann's and Prothro's), saw the KSU-Texas Tech game in the middle of the day, and moved between Baylor-Iowa State and Oklahoma-Notre Dame late.
Prediction: Iowa State 40, Baylor 35
Reality: Iowa State 35, Baylor 21
Game Notes: This game was a comedy of errors. The first two drives of the game: Iowa State attempted an onside kick to open the game that didn't even make it 10 yards and was recovered by Baylor. Florence then fumbled on the ensuing drive trying to stretch into the endzone. Iowa State took over and was promptly penalized for a chop block. Baylor then gave all 10 yards back with two consecutive offsides penalties. The Bears finally got a stop, but then a Baylor player was hit by the subsequent bouncing punt and Iowa State recovered. Despite their receivers dropping passes like they were sponsors and the football was Lance Armstrong, the Cyclones picked up a few more yards only to miss a field goal.
It was pretty bad.
The errors continued in the second half. Iowa State took a 21-14 lead into the half and got the ball first in the third quarter, only for Jantz to throw an interception despite having a wide open receiver. That was Baylor's first takeaway in conference play, but their ensuing drive sputtered when the questionable decision was made to line up in shotgun and run a read option on 4th-and-1. The Cyclones took advantage and went up 28-14, and it was all over but the crying for Baylor.
And the errors this night were by no means limited to the field. Fox managed to lose the feed immediately after ISU's fourth touchdown and started airing first a random interview and then a halftime encore. Fans missed the entire rest of the third quarter. Not cool, Fox. After the feed came back, watching five minutes of the fourth quarter made it pretty clear that the Bears had quit, so I switched over to the OU-ND game.
Prediction: Texas 37, Kansas 29
Reality: Texas 21, Kansas 17
Game Notes: At least one person who saw the original prediction expressed surprise that the game looked to be that close. Turns out, it was even closer, in keeping with Kansas' recurrent theme of playing conference opponents closely if they aren't named Kansas State or Oklahoma. I didn't see much of this game, as I was watching the Gamecocks take on the Vols, but yet again at quarterback, the Longhorns found themselves on the horns of a dilemma (heh, heh). And yet again Kansas' anemic offense proved their downfall - the Jayhawks haven't scored more than 20 points in a conference game yet.
Prediction: Kansas State 35, Texas Tech 25.
Reality: Kansas State 55, Texas Tech 24.
Game Notes: Wow. Just wow. I looked at the Wildcats' score against West Virginia last week and said, "ok, but that was West Virginia's defense we're talking about." All I can say now is, Bill Snyder, I believe, help thou my unbelief.
I suppose it says quite a bit about my differences from the apparent prevailing attitude of college football fans that KSU has been my favorite team to watch this year. They aren't fancy. They aren't flashy. What they are is well-rounded. They give their opponents almost nothing through mistakes. They capitalize on opponent mistakes almost automatically. They are utterly atavistic in their approach to the game. A Kansas State drive does not make the Top Ten play reel. A Kansas State drive is not quick-striking. A Kansas State drive is a 9-10 play, 4-6 minute, grinding, pounding thing that breaks your back and crushes your soul before Collin Klein scores on you in some way.
In short, Kansas State is not the best at anything...except executing perfectly. And for me, they are a heck of a lot of fun to watch.
Klein and Hubert absolutely shredded the Tech defense. The offensive play that sticks in my mind is that pretty little shovel pass to rub salt in the Red Raiders' wounds. Make no mistake: Tech is, by Big 12 standards, a very respectable defense. May God have mercy on Baylor and Texas when they go up against KSU, for the Wildcats will have none.
In an amusing quirk, my score prediction for Texas Tech was off by only one point. The only reason for that is a garbage time, face-saving TD pass for Doege late in the 4th.
One last thought: folks have been saying for a couple of weeks that the dropped Oregon-KSU game would hurt KSU. I've seen that as entirely possible...but with KSU sitting above Oregon in the polls, a resurgent Irish staking out a signature victory in Norman, and the Wildcats also putting up impressive numbers on #14 Texas Tech, could it bite Oregon instead? Hmm. I await the release of the BCS standings.
Prediction: Oklahoma State 29, TCU 29, advantage TCU
Reality: Oklahoma State 36, TCU 14
Game Notes: Again, I didn't see much of this game as I was watching the Wildcats demolish the Red Raiders. I'm actually rather pleased with OK State's scoring here - I was only off of their final score by a touchdown. When you consider that OK State finally has their starting QB back, I consider that prediction respectable. TCU came out on fire with a defensive score (interception returned for touchdown) and a Boykin TD pass to go up 14-0, but was utterly shut down from the 2nd quarter on. Great win for the Cowboys; disappointment for the Horned Frogs, who are now 1-3 since losing Pachall to extracurricular activities.
If I had to miss a pick, it was nice for it to be the one game that statistically was the real tossup of the week.
BONUS ROUND!
Prediction: Oklahoma 26, Notre Dame 17
Reality: Notre Dame 30, Oklahoma 13
Game Notes: No bonus for me this week. In the first half, when I could tear my attention from the pillow fight developing in Ames, Notre Dame was looking legit. During a game, the stat that really reflects Notre Dame's performance is the number of veins that can be counted popping out on Brian Kelly's face and neck. They showed a shot of him at the end of the first quarter, his face did not appear empurpled, and nary a vein was to be seen. Not a good sign for the Sooners early.
By halftime the score was 10-6 in favor of the Irish. Annoyingly enough, the OU-ND halftime exactly corresponded to FSSW's Halftime Now Redux. But 5 minutes into the 4th quarter of the ISU-Baylor game, I decided to switch full-time to the game with two teams playing to win. Notre Dame dominated the time of possession in the 3rd quarter, but came away only with 3 points. Nonetheless, with 13 minutes to go in the 4th, the Irish still led 13-6; however, with the Irish facing 3rd-and-7 deep in their own territory, a shot of Brian Kelly yelling at an assistant after the Irish burned a timeout revealed an increasingly plethoric complexion and two veins, one on the neck and one on the temple. Hmm. Not a good sign for Notre Dame.
Well, the Irish failed to convert, punted, and gave the ball back to the Sooners around midfield. Just like that, two plays later, Jones to Saunders for 35 yards, OU was in the Red Zone, and you could almost hear Brent Musburger whispering to himself "they call him the Belldozer" and breathing heavily in the booth.
Sure enough the Belldozer came in, and then he did something almost unprecedented: he threw a forward pass. To put this in context for you Irish fans who may not have seen much OU football, this was as if Mother Teresa suddenly announced one day that she'd decided it was time to hang up the habit and retire to Boca Raton. It is entirely out of character; one simply doesn't expect it to happen. But a couple of plays later Blake got back in character, belldozed his way into the endzone, and it was all tied up at 13.
Uh oh, another shot of Kelly. But the veins had gone back down, though the complexion was still ruddy. Don't let the ruddiness fool you, keep your eye on those veins. Boom! Long bomb from Golson and the Irish were on the OU 15. A couple of plays later, Golson did some dozing of his own. 20-13, Irish.
Sooners headed back down the field. A tipped pass floated invitingly; a diving Te'o nabbed it out of the air. Or did he? Time for a review. Another shot of Kelly. Still red, but now he stood impassively, displaying a decidedly un-Gaelic calm, like Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise (does anyone else think Brian Kelly looks like William Shatner, or is it just me?), not a vein in sight. This was gonna stand. Yup, it did. Field goal for ND ensued.
4-and-out by the Sooners, another Irish TD, and suddenly I'm believing that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are for reals. For Reals. Brent Musburger then suddenly announced that the Irish are relevant again, and I was immediately plunged back into doubt. No! Mustn't let Musburger create doubt! Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut, assuming it survives and predators and doesn't starve first; and there are, as far as I know, no natural predators of college football commentators.
Great win for the Irish. Right now, if I had a vote, I put the Irish at #3 behind Bama and KSU and above Oregon. That, though, is more a function of the fact that the Irish are undefeated through the hardest part of their schedule while Oregon has three tough opponents left to play. To close out the season, ND plays Pitt, Boston College, Wake Forest, and USC. Oregon, however, plays USC, Cal, Stanford, and a surprising Oregon State. If both win out, I think Oregon claws back ahead.
Hard to believe we're well over halfway through the season. Still a lot of great football ahead, though. See ya'll next week.
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