Rambling's Week 9 CFB Recap

Another pleasant Saturday of couch surfing and college football, so without anymore than that let's look at the games and how the top 25 fared...

Thursday, October 27, 2011:

Rice at #17 Houston, 7:00 pm, After a sloppy start on a wet and slippery field Houston rolled Rice and had their way in this game. Keenum became the record holder for career touchdown passes. Winner: 1-0 ATS: 1-0

Saturday, October 30, 2011:

#11 Michigan State at #14 Nebraska, 11:00 am ESPN, Nebraska's defense showed up in a big way today as it held the Spartans to 3 points. The Blackshirts looked liked the defense we expected to start the season, with the cornerbacks being the most notable of the improvements. Michigan State looked flat and you could tell that there was some residual from the past couple weeks. Winner: 2-0 ATS: 1-1

Missouri at #16 Texas A&M, 11:00 am FX, A&M has decided to spit up again and like a small child the seem to be forgetting that they can play defense in the second half. Credit Missouri with a very good road win in conference play. Winner: 2-1 ATS: 1-2

Purdue at #18 Michigan, 11;00 am ESPN2, Michigan continues to show how much it has improved on defense under the guidance of Brady Hoke and Greg Mattison. Purdue is showing that even with Michigan down the talent still isn't available to win these games consistently. Winner: 3-1 ATS: 1-3

#10 Arkansas at Vanderbilt, 11:21 SEC Network, Arkansas got really lucky today in Nashville as they came back from a halftime deficit and then survived a late drive by Vandy to win by a missed FG. Winner: 4-1 ATS: 1-4

#12 Virginia Tech at Duke, 11:30 pm, And Just as you think Virginia Tech is starting to figure it out on offense they go and score 14 on Duke and you're right back to being worried about that side of the ball. David Cutcliffe has to be happy with the progress he's making at the toughest FBS coaching job. Winner: 5-1 ATS: 1-5

Washington State at #7 Oregon, 2:00 pm, Oregon beat Washington State convincingly but have yet to string together the type of wins that made them national title contenders a year ago. Winner: 6-1 ATS: 1-6

Baylor at #3 Oklahoma State, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN2, RG3 is talented and an NFL talent but Oklahoma State was clearly the more talented and polished team in Stillwater. Winner: 7-1 ATS: 1-7

#9 Oklahoma at #8 Kansas State, 2:30 pm ESPN, I thought Kansas State would put up more of a fight in this game, but Oklahoma looked like a team that was pissed off and looking for someone to beat on. Winner: 8-1 ATS: 1-8 

Illinois at #19 Penn State, 2:30 pm ABC/ESPN2, I don't know why I continue to think that Penn State games will have scores above 20 but I do, however Penn State does continue to win and win in some surprising ways. This week they won on an 80 yard scoring drive win under two minutes to play. Winner: 9-1 ATS: 1-9

#22 Georgia vs Florida, 2:30 pm CBS, The SEC East just looks bad but the Bulldogs continue to set themselves up for a division title as they beat a Brantley led Gators team in a grind it out game in Jacksonville. Winner: 10-1 ATS: 2-9

#25 West Virginia at Rutgers, 2:30 pm ABC, This game was much closer than the final score would indicate as Rutgers was leading deep into the fourth quarter before two West Virginia scores wrapped up this contest and kept the Mountaineers alive in the Big East. Winner: 11-1 ATS: 2-10

Navy at Notre Dame, 2:30 pm NBC, ND finally exercised it's little brother demons by trouncing Navy at home on Saturday. Winner: 12-1 ATS: 3-10

Colorado at #21 Arizona State, 5:30 pm, Colorado is the Kansas/Ole Miss of the west and Arizona State reinforced that this week. Winner: 13-1 ATS: 3-11

Iowa State at #20 Texas Tech, 6:00 pm, Iowa State pulled it of in blowout fashion giving them 2 wins no one expected heading into the respective weeks. Winner: 14-1 ATS: 4-11

Ole Miss at #23 Auburn, 6:00 pm ESNPU, Ole Miss is a bad bad team in any conference. I had this game called perfectly til' a end of game score by Ole Miss. Winner: 15-1 ATS: 5-11

Kansas at #24 Texas, 6:00 pm Longhorn Network, Kansas continues to prove that futility can span coaching staffs, while also proving that all teams can look good. Winner: 16-1 ATS: 6-11

#13 South Carolina at Tennessee, 6:15 pm ESPN2, The ending left me as empty with the initial promise of this game. Winner: 17-1 ATS: 7-11

#5 Clemson at Georgia Tech, 7:00 pm ABC, Clemson finally Clemson'd and I should have known it with a bye week to come and Tech running the triple option. Georgia Tech finally looks like the team they were 3 weeks a go. Winner: 17-2 ATS: 8-11

#6 Stanford at USC, 7:00 pm ABC, A week after crushing Notre Dame, USC loses on a fumble by on e of the key contributors to their success up until that point. Stanford squeaks out a victory in 3 OT. Applause needs to be given to USC and the effort their showing. Winner: 18-2 ATS: 9-11

#15 Wisconsin at Ohio State, 7:00 pm ESPN, Wisconsin losses it's second heart breaker in a row on the road on a late touchdown by Ohio State making the race for the Leaders division completely in the much maligned hands of the Nitanny Lions of Penn State. Winner: 18-3 ATS: 9-12


Another Banner evening for college football as we saw a great finish in Columbus, Georgia Tech knocking of Clemson, Iowa State ripping through Texas Tech and Stanford and USC in 3 overtimes. That all came after a good finish to Ark-Vandy, A&M-Missouri and Penn State-Illinois.