Saturday was interesting. I got really sunburned at the Troy game, but it was good to finally see Tech do some interesting things on offense (reverse to Calvin!). We need to beat the tar out of UVA this Thursday, but I’ll explain more on that later.
Auburn managed to pull out a victory against LSU in a contest best deemed a “defensive struggle.” But they have the inside track to winning the SEC West, and perhaps the whole thing. What was weird, though, was the strange “announcing the penalty and then reversing the call” thing that happened on LSU’s last drive. I still don’t know if the ball was tipped before the interference occurred. That play is reviewable (I’m pretty sure) but I don’t recall one being announced.
Stranger still was the review at the Oklahoma-Oregon game where the ref said that video provided conclusive video evidence that an Oklahoma player touched the ball first on an onside kick by Oregon, when replay showed that there was conclusive video evidence that an Oregon player touched the ball first. I’m favor of replay, but generally when you have it you should get the call right and not make things worse for yourself. That was the worst thrashing I’d heard officials take on-air since the Alamo Bowl debacle last year, though. (Speaking of this – refs need to take elocution classes or something. These guys are horrible at explaining what they mean on these reviews.)
Florida-Tennessee was good, but even better was FSU-Clemson, especially for what will probably be the most memorable half-time interview this year. (Though it will be difficult to top the Mich. St. coach’s “AND THE COACHES ARE SCREWING IT ALL UP” from last year.) If you haven’t heard, Clemson had a FG and extra point attempt blocked in the first half. When Tommy Bowden was asked about this, he said something to the effect of, “That’s it. We’re not kicking any more. Not for the rest of the game.” And he stuck it, too, execpt for the go ahead score near the end of the game, where they got off a successful extra point.
The ACC just sucks right now. UNC barely beat Furman, NC State lost to Southern Miss, Maryland got destroyed by West Virginia, and Virgnia lost to Western Michigan. I never thought beating Troy and Samford handily would make us look good. We could have 3 or 4 coaches get fired this off season.
Nice analysis of the ACC. I’d like to also mention Boston College’s near loss to BYU. Virginia Tech seems to be the only consistent team in the ACC so far (unless you count Duke as consistently awful).