So this was a sort of pseudo uneventful weekend of college football. Not that some pretty exciting things didn’t happen, but we’re at the point in the season where there have been enough crazy upsets and huge wins for teams that I’m not really surprised by anything anymore. My viewing this weekend was limited again, but I was able to catch the Florida State game on DVR and I watched a bit of the end of the Texas Tech games. So hear are my thoughts from the weekend.
Florida State’s win was pretty satisfying. For me, its not just getting the win, but I want to see us play a solid game in getting a win. I felt like we played a pretty complete game and didn’t make too many mistakes.
Our defense brought a little nostalgic tear to my eye. In our performance, particularly our defensive ends, I saw the FSU defenses of the 90′s that regularly struck fear into the hearts opposing quarterbacks. Our defense had six sacks, three by DE Everette Brown (beast), an interception returned for a TD by DT Neefy Moffett, and we limited Clemson, who has two of the best runners in college football, to 79 yards total rushing. That’s a performance Mickey Andrews can be proud of.
I’m surprised and pleased by our rushing output. During our glory days we weren’t known as a rushing power, but we’ve been putting up great numbers on the ground and, if I remember correctly, Antone Smith is leading the ACC with 11 rushing touchdowns. That’s a particularly impressive accomplishment considering we’re starting all sophomores and freshmen on our O-line.
Last thing on the ‘Noles. Graham Gano is a special-teams breath of fresh air in Tallahassee. Anyone who’s followed college football in Florida knows that kicking has been the Achilles heal in critical situations many times over for FSU. Right now Gano has successfully kicked 17 straight field goals and has hit a 50+ yarder in five straight games. The streak will end at some point, but until then I’ll enjoy the ride.
Moving on, Graham Harrell is a stud. I caught the end of the Texas Tech game and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a quarterback look so composed and comfortable running his offense. Credit due to the offensive line for giving him the time to throw, but I was struck by how relaxed Harrell looked. He had all the time in the world, he knew it, and he calmly picked apart the Texas defense. Very fun thing to watch.
Penn State’s loss to Iowa is an unsurprising surprise. No way they should have lost that game, but that has been happening a lot lately. We’re at the point now where you don’t question if its going to happen on a weekend, you just wonder who its going to be. The worst part about the whole thing is that it would have been great for Joe Pa to have an undefeated season at such a late stage in his career. The irony of the whole thing is Paterno’s response to a question about his team’s position in the BCS earlier in the week. He said he wasn’t paying any attention to it and he was only worrying about Iowa cause they were a good team. I wonder if that wasn’t trickling down to his players, because they obviously didn’t show up to play.
