2018 Week 2
September 12, 2018
Whoo boy, we had some great action last weekend. Actually we had some MACtion too as it was the annual Big Ten vs MAC challenge.
The big shocker was Eastern Michigan going into West Lafayette and nailing a last second field goal to upset Purdue 20-19. It was a big win for the EMUs. Their sister school struggled a bit as Western Michigan lost at the Big House, 49-3. Boweling Green fell short in a game against new Big Ten member Maryland, 45-14.
Of course both conferences have been pretty aggressive about expansion so it's gotten a little confusing. Ohio State had little trouble with newest MAC member Rutgers. Some of the new Big Ten teams also got involved in the showdown, with easy wins as Central Michigan lost to Kansas and Ball State lost to Notre Dame.
It wasn't just MACtion for the Big Ten - Duke defeated Northwestern in the SAT Bowel, 21-7. Among other brainiac schools, Stanford dispatched Southern Cal 17-3, while Stanford's split squad team played a great game and nearly beat Florida State, losing 36-26.
My Pitt Panthers had a rough second half, as the Nittany Lions ran all over my guys, winning 51-6. Boys' State won the battle of the Great Northwest, knocking off Yukon 62-7. It's been a rough year so far for the Huskies of Whitehorse.
I was watching the ESPN crawl and saw that my daughter Beth Cook scored 79 times against UVA Lynchburg. Usually Beth scores the most when visiting the Lynchburg in Tennessee and the Jack Daniels distillery. Boy that girl gets around sometimes. Her best friend Savannah was scored on a mere 77 times by the Canes. She's such a wannabe.
In the Big 8 Colorado scored late to knock off the Nebraska Cornholio, 33-28. Meanwhile, in a fine intersectional game, Oklahoma ran away from UCLA 49-21 to win that newest of football trophies, Troy Aikman's Buttplug.
The biggest game of the day took place in State College Station Texas as highly rated Clemson held off Texas A&M, stopping a two-point conversion in the closing seconds to win 28-26. The close outcome against a top foe is still a good sign for the Horns.
North Carolina lost to expansion state rival East Carolina, 41-19. Colorado State recovered from a rough start to the season to hold off R Kansas, 34-27.
The NFL keeps on encroaching on college football turf, on Saturday Cincinnati beat Miami 21-0 to get an early jump on the AFC.
One of the top topics of discussion both last year and this year was this whole turnover chain thing. The most recent incarnation started with the Miami team. But last week Florida State for some reason had a turnover backpack. The turnover backpack concept is actually was based on a former powerhouse program.
The Carlisle Indian School team is most famous due to my old neighbor Jim Thorpe. They were a very solid program in the early part of the last century, but they were an impoverished school. Their coach, the famous Pop Warner, actually did everything he could to cut costs. Just like today each team used its own football when on offense, but whenever the Carlisle team got a turnover they'd hide the other team's football in a knapsack then keep it for use in practices. That saved a considerable amount of money. Due to the tribal ties at Florida State, the Seminoles are paying tribute to the Carlisle team by doing likewise with their own version of the turnover knapsack.
Speaking of Florida State, we got a new arrival last week as former FSU gridiron figure Burt Reynolds showed up at the Pearly Gates. We were all very glad to see him, but he was pretty irritated. He kept on saying "I'm looking for Jon Voight and Ned Beatty, where's Ned? Is he over there rooting for the Razorbacks?" We had to inform him that Jon and Ned are still alive and aren't expected here for some time. "Really? They both looked like walking death 20 years ago!" I think Burt will prove to be a fun guy to hang around.
Next week will be a great time in the SEC, with LSU and Ole Southern Miss taking on the teams from Alabama. And let's not forget that fine doubleheader in Texas, with the Buckeyes and Trojans going to Dallas and Austin to respectively take on TCU and the Texas Aggies.