NCAA Re-cap – A Forcier to Reckon With in Michigan

It was all about the Big Ten this past Saturday as both the Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State Buckeyes took center stage.

The Wolverines unleashed Tate Forcier at quarterback and he was amazingly impressive, leading Michigan over the rival Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Big House. Forcier threw the ball, ran the ball, made decisions on the fly and pretty much dominated the Notre Dame defense in the final few minutes of this game. With Forcier at quarterback, Coach Rich Rodriguez has turned Michigan’s program around in less than two years.

In Columbus, the Ohio State Buckeyes were on the verge of a monumental upset of the USC Trojans, but USC, led by freshman quarterback Matt Barkley, proved two tough and scored a touchdown, converted the two point conversion, and kept the Buckeyes from getting into field goal position late in the 4 th quarter. The Buckeyes did beat the NCAA sportsbook betting odds, but Matt Barkley for USC showed that it is possible for a freshman to quarterback a team in one of the toughest places to play in college football. That is, it’s possible if the quarterback is Matt Barkley.

Most Impressive Victory – - USC Trojans

The college football betting line was probably too much in favor of USC, but that shouldn’t detract from the fact that the Men from Troy did what they had to do against a very, very good team in an extremely hostile environment. USC is for real.

Honorable Mention – - Kansas was only playing UTEP but they historically do very badly against non-conference opponents on the road which is one of the reasons the Jayhawks were only favored by 12 ½ points against the spread in this game. They beat the Miners 34 to 7 erasing any doubt of how good they are.

Honorable Mention – - Nebraska Coach Bo Peillini called his defense “soft”. What did the Black Shirts do? They responded by thumping a senior laden team, Arkansas State, and holding that team to only three field goals.

Biggest Upset – - Houston Cougars

The Cougars had no business being on the same field as the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Beating them just wasn’t going to happen, right? Wrong! The Cougars took a big lead into half-time and then, when the Cowboys got back into the game, calmed down and won the game by 10 points.

Honorable Mention – - Michigan was an underdog against Notre Dame and they do deserve a mention or two, but Notre Dame gave the game up. That’s the only way to see it. Still, Michigan beat a Top 25 team which is something they didn’t come close to doing in 2008.

Moving Up…Moving Down

Moving Up – - BYU was awesome when beating up Tulane on Saturday. The fact that they didn’t lose focus after whipping Oklahoma two weeks ago is a testament to their maturity.

Moving Down – - Oklahoma State, obviously, but also Utah who was tied with San Jose State going into the 4 th quarter. BYU should have no trouble against the Utes in 2009.