College Football Roundup Week One

(5) Boise State spanks (19) Georgia 35-21

The first thing I thought of watching Boise systematically destroy Georgia in the second half of Saturday’s game is how much like the 2005 USC Trojans the Broncos look. Right down to the calm, not-necessarily NFL-ready senior leader at quarterback. Okay so Doug Martin isn’t exactly Reggie Bush, but that team was equally great at systematically destroying teams.

No one really thought Georgia had a shot here, did they? As soon as Boise realized they couldn’t run it through Georgia’s D-line, they took to the air and Kellen Moore was brutally effective. Georgia might have great linemen, but their secondary is as bad as ever. Remember that when Stephen Garcia makes them look good next Saturday.

Nebraska 40 Chattanooga 7

I don’t want to be a dick to Taylor Martinez, but he had a whole offseason to learn how to pass better and I’m pretty sure he spent that time repeatedly messing with his ratings in NCAA Football 2011.

That said, some Big Ten team is going to make them throw to win, and that’ll be it for the Huskers just like it was last year. Even Denard Robinson had to evolve. Then again, there’s a pretty good chance the Huskers are going to kill everyone in year one in their new digs.

Ball State 27 Indiana 20

I just remembered why the no-huddle didn’t work last night. It’s because Terry Heppner and Bill Lynch already tried it with the exact same results. The offense sucks too badly to keep the ball for long stretches, so they have these 55 second possessions and the defense is on the field for like 92 plays per game. Why did I go to a non-football school, damn it all? WHY!?!

Case Keenum is back, in case you didn’t notice.

If you had to gamble on what would cause the Bruins to lose to Houston Saturday before the game, I’d imagine most people would have thought it would be the Bruins’ hilarious version of the pistol that cost them again. Turns out Richard Brehaut actually looked pretty good and that the Cougars were just that good Saturday afternoon.

Nice to see Case Keenum back in action as a sixth-year senior as well. Especially as he’s helping make Booter feel better by pounding in the first nail in Rick Neuheisel’s coffin.

USC: home of bland offense only Ned Flanders could love

Don’t let the stats deceive you. USC was horrible on offense on Saturday in their 19-17 win over Minnesota. Excuse me, hapless Minnesota. I think it’s in our contract to call them that.

While they gained a ton of yards, the Trojans couldn’t score and Matt Barkley had that Farve to Sharpe mindlock going to receiver Robert Woods all game. The USC offense was every bit as bland as it was during the final years of Pete Carroll’s tenure there. The running game was mediocre at best, and, though there were some big plays, the Trojans were mostly safe and max-protect in order to hide their young offensive line.

19 points against Minnesota sucks and Lane Kiffin knows it. That said, at least USC has the balls to be the only team in the country to play only BCS-conference opponents. For that, they get respect.

Oregon was inspired by Notre Dame, apparently.

The Irish turned the ball over five times to a weak, inferior opponent with a good defense. Oregon did essentially the same thing with four, despite having the gift of Jarrett Lee starting for LSU and throwing for under 100 yards.

This is hardly it for Oregon, but their offense was definitely exposed by Auburn and LSU in their last two games.