NCAA Weekend Recap – Virginia Tech, Oregon and Iowa are Big Winners

It was a telling Saturday in college football as some teams, highly ranked and being talked up as contenders for the BCS Bowl Series, were absolutely destroyed.

The cream rose to the top in three key games this week. As 1 ½ point underdogs at home, the Virginia Tech Hokies absolutely dominated the Miami Hurricanes 31 to 7 to put themselves squarely into the BCS discussion and to send Miami out of the discussion talks. Miami has to play Oklahoma next week. That could spell the end of any talk regarding the Hurricanes and the BCS.

Besides Virginia Tech the other impressive team that made a big comeback was the Oregon Ducks. Oregon finally put the ghost of LeGarrette Blount and the Boise State fiasco behind them by thumping, throttling, absolutely dominating the California Golden Bears at home. The Ducks beat Cal 42 to 3 to not only show the rest of the Pac 10 that they are ready to make some serious moves this season but that they are a top contender to take over as the team to beat in the Pac 10. Or, did they? The game was so lopsided that Cal’s poor play may have actually taken away from how good Oregon played. The Golden Bears were obviously overrated going into this game and it showed. Oregon will need to improve off of their victory before being considered a real contender in the Pac 10.

Most Impressive Victory – - Iowa Hawkeyes

Yes, VA Tech manhandled Miami and Oregon beat-up on Cal, but both Miami and Cal were somewhat overrated and both VA Tech and Oregon got to play those rivals at home.

Iowa had to go to Happy Valley as a 10 point underdog and beat a 5 th ranked team. The most impressive thing about the victory was how Iowa’s defense kept Penn State to only 10 points. That’s three terrific defensive games in a row for the Hawkeyes. They held Iowa State to 0 points, Arizona to 17 and Penn State to 10. This is the Big Ten team to watch in 2009.

Honorable Mention – - Virginia Tech looked about as good as they could have on Saturday when taking down Miami. The Hurricanes weren’t nearly as battle tested as VA Tech even though Miami had beaten Florida State and Georgia Tech going into the game. VA Tech had faced Alabama, perhaps the best team in the nation, and Nebraska, a tough Big 12 team. It showed on the field as Virginia Tech decimated the Hurricanes.

Honorable Mention – - Oregon did a good job of putting California in their place, but as I wrote above, Cal was overrated much like Utah, whom the Ducks beat two weeks ago were. California isn’t a bad team, but they aren’t a great team and the Ducks exposed them for who they were. As far as Oregon is concerned, they will need to show more before moving into my power rankings, but an upset is an upset.

Biggest Upset – - Iowa Hawkeyes

It has to be. The Hawkeyes had everything going against them and beat Penn State on the road as 10 point underdogs.

Honorable Mention – - Besides Oregon, of course, South Carolina beat down the Mississippi Rebels this past Thursday. I dropped Mississippi to 22 nd in my rankings because they weren’t covering spreads before playing the Gamecocks and it was apparent to me in that game that the Rebels’ offensive line just isn’t going to cut it in 2009 against the better SEC teams.

Most Impressive Cover but Non-Victory

The Arizona State Sun Devils were 14 ½ point underdogs at one point in the sportsbook against the Georgia Bulldogs. I had to make the Sun Devils a long shot football bet this past Saturday and it paid off as ASU almost pulled off the upset by losing to Georgia 20 to 17. ASU may not do another good thing in 2009. Gamblers can be assured that the Bulldogs probably won’t be close to some of the better teams in the SEC in 2009.

Rich Continue to Feast Well

Florida, Texas and Alabama all won and all covered ATS on Saturday. Florida could have a big issue moving forward as Tim Tebow suffered a concussion. They get a bye this week but then face LSU who didn’t cover against Mississippi State but found a way to win the game.