Anniston Housing

No. 18 Wisconsin upsets No. 1 Ohio State, 31-18
Ohio State is one and done as No. 1, after Wisconsin bullied the Buckeyes all over the field then celebrated by jumping around on it with a few thousand friends.

Read more on AP via Yahoo! News

P.M. Ohio State links: Experts dispute the Buckeyes’ top ranking
View full sizeMarvin Fong,The Plain DealerOhio State’s Brandon Saine scores on a touchdown pass from quarterback Terrelle Pryor in Saturday’s 38-10 over Indiana.Alabama loses to South Carolina. Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor is hobbled as a runner, so he throws for…

Read more on The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Ohio legislators want jobs kept at Wright-Patterson
Ohio’s congressional delegation has counter-punched in a dustup over whether intelligence jobs should be transferred from a center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to a similar facility in Alabama.Ohio’s two senators and its House members signed a letter Friday to Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency , urging him to keep the jobs at Wright-Patt’s National …

Read more on Dayton Daily News

In Ohio, Obama Challenges GOP on Tax Cuts
President Says Tax Cuts Should be Extended for a Struggling Middle Class but Not for the Wealthiest Americans

Read more on CBS News

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

(Editor’s Note: All of the team rankings are based on the Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, and the Sagarin Ratings, Jeff Sagarin’s factual, mathematical ratings among competition between all 245 Division 1 teams.)

Only 7 teams remained on top and on track at 2-0 during the second week of the college football season—Florida, USC, Alabama, California, Boise State, Brigham Young and Kansas.

No. 1 Florida crushed Troy 56-6 behind Tim Tebow’s career-high 4 touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown.

No. 3 Southern Cal saved the best to last against No. 7 Ohio State to win, 18-15, on the road as freshman quarterback Matt Barkley led the Trojans on a 14-play, 95-yard drive to score with 1:05 remaining. The Buckeyes of Ohio State have now lost 7 straight games against top 5 teams, including two national title games and last season’s 35-3 drubbing by USC in Los Angeles.

No. 4 Alabama took down Florida International 40-14 as QB Greg McElroy completed a school-record 14 straight passes. Remember that Alabama was the same school that Joe “Willie” Namath led to a National Championship in 1964, and Kenny “The Snake” Stabler led to another National Championship in 1965. Both Namath and Stabler played for the Crimson Tide’s legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

No. 10 California routed Eastern Washington, 59-7, behind Jahvid Best’s 144 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns, one rushing and another on a 22-yard reception.

No. 11 Boise State shut out Miami of Ohio, 48-0, as QB Kellen Moore went 16-for-26 for 307 yards and 4 touchdown passes.

No. 12 Brigham Young, following up on its 14-13 upset of Oklahoma a week earlier, kicked Tulane sideways on the road, 54-3, as QB Max Hall threw for 309 yards and 2 TDs and Bryan Kaiya scored twice.

No. 25 Kansas whipped UTEP, 34-7, on the road behind Jack Sharp’s 104 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns.

There were 4 genuine upsets as Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Tennessee and Michigan State all hit the turf hard.

No. 20 Notre Dame allowed Tate Focier to throw a 5-yard TD pass to Greg Matthews with 11 seconds to go to give unranked Michigan a 38-34 victory in the Big House at Ann Arbor. Focier, a freshman, went 23-for-33 for 240 yards, 2 TDs, one interception, and ran for 70 yards and a score. Notre Dame’s star QB Jimmy Clausen, now a junior, went 25-for-42 for 336 yards and 3 TDs, but did miss some throws that proved costly.

You can argue about who was the better QB on this day, however, nothing counts but the final score, and Notre Dame again came up a loser in a big game.

After taking down Georgia last week, No. 6 Oklahoma State, a 15-point favorite, let it all slip away while losing to Houston 45-35 at home. The Cowboys need to learn how to ride again; they seem to always have more offense than defense.

UCLA quietly went to 2-0 by upsetting Tennessee on the road 19-15. The Volunteers, a 10-point favorite, are not making much of an impression in the SEC anymore.

The Michigan State Spartans, favored by 14.5, let Central Michigan totally embarrass them with a last-second 29-27 defeat on their home turf. The Spartans had an excellent schedule this year that offered them a chance to run the table (go undefeated) since they drew both Michigan and Penn State at home and did not have to play Ohio State. Instead, Michigan State was out-coached, out-played and deserved to lose.

Five teams went 2-0 and scored good wins to cement their position as up and comers to watch:

No.18 Nebraska, favored by 21, beat Arkansas State 38-9. No. 23 Cincinnati beat 1-AA SE Missouri State 70-3. Unranked Pittsburgh, favored by 10.5, beat a good Buffalo team 54-27 on the road. Unranked Iowa beat in-state rival Iowa State 35-3 on the road.

Unranked and unbeaten Southern Methodist upset UAB 35-33, and they did it on the road. Now don’t laugh at SMU, give the Mustangs and coach June Jones some credit; after all, if you are a fan of Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Rutgers or Georgia, your team is not 2-0, you are 1-1.

Another unranked team that went 0-12 last year finally won its first game in 16 tries as new head coach Steve Sarkisian and new defensive coordinator Nick Holt put together an impressive 42-23 victory over Idaho. Yes, Idaho is no big deal, but Washington is going to start winning and beating better teams than Idaho. You read it here first.

Here are 19 teams who have gone 2-0 to start the season, but their victories have been no big deal considering the competition they have been playing:

No. 2 Texas, favored by 32.5, beat Wyoming on the road 41-10, but could not cover the spread.

No. 5 Penn State, favored by 28.5, beat Syracuse 28-7, but could not cover the spread.

No. 9 LSU, favored by 14.5, beat Vanderbilt, 23-9, but could not cover the spread.

No. 17 Utah, favored by 14, beat San Jose State 24-14, but could cover the spread.

No. 19 North Carolina, favored by 4.5, needed 12 last quarter points to barely beat Connecticut 12-10, but could not cover the spread.

No. 24 Oregon State, favored by 7, beat UNLV 23-21, but could not cover the spread.

So seriously, why are Texas, Penn State, LSU, Utah, North Carolina and Oregon State rated so high? Answer: Do not ask anyone who bet on them to not only win, but cover the spread.

Here are the other 13 teams that are 2-0 in no particular order because frankly, it is too soon to tell if they are really good at all:

Missouri over Bowling Green 27-20, Tulsa over New Mexico 44-10, Hawaii over Washington State 38-20, Auburn over Mississippi State 49-24, South Florida over Western Kentucky 35-13, West Virginia over East Carolina 35-20, Texas Tech over Rice 55-10, Boston College over Kent State 34-7, Minnesota over Air Force 20-13, Southern Mississippi over the University of Central Florida (UCF) 26-19, and Northwestern over Eastern Michigan 27-24.

Also Arizona over 1-AA Northern Arizona 34-17, and Colorado State needed a 4th quarter touchdown to beat 1-AA Weber State 24-23.

Here are 5 teams that won their first game, but really need to play a good team and win to think they are doing anything worth talking about:

No. 14 Oklahoma beat 1-AA Idaho State 64-0, No. 16 TCU beat Virginia 30-14, No. 21 Georgia barely beat South Carolina 41-37, Virginia Tech beat Marshall 52-10, and Rutgers beat 1-AA Howard 45-7.

Every week in college football there are games and victories that cause you to do a double take when you read the score and check out the teams. Here are 3 from this week:

Toledo beat Colorado 54-38 at home, dropping the Buffaloes to 0-2. This caused me to wonder if there have been sinkholes developing in the State of Colorado. Much more and the Buffaloes will fall off the radar screen. Maryland needed an overtime to barely beat 1-AA James Madison 38-35. Louisiana Lafayette upset Kansas State 17-15.

Put a wrap on it Benny, and throw it in the archives; it ‘s time to get ready for college football’s third week of competition.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

In a great example of too little too late, there were 4 upsets of AP Top 25 teams in college football’s 12th week and none of them had any real impact. On the other hand, two favorites won big time road games with big implications as Ohio State buried Michigan 21-10, and Oregon held off a very pesky Arizona team, 44-41.

Last week the 9th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2) beat Iowa to earn their first trip to the Rose Bowl in 13 years. By beating Michigan (5-7 and not bowl eligible), Ohio State won the Big Ten title outright with a 7-1 mark, losing only at Purdue. The Buckeyes led Michigan 21-10 after three quarters and both teams played a scoreless 4th quarter.

The 11th-ranked Oregon Ducks (9-2) were in trouble mid-way through the last quarter when Arizona took a 31-24 lead on a 71-yard screen pass from Nick Foles to Juron Criner, and then the Wildcats had possession and could have won the game by running out the clock.

But a long pass into the end zone was intercepted by Oregon’s Talmadge Jackson III (dude, it’s a name), and that opened the door for Duck quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to tie it up at 31-apiece with an 8-yard pass to Ed Dickson with only 6 seconds remaining.

In the first overtime, Masoli hit Jeff Maehl for a 4-yard score, and Foles hit Juron Criner with a 3-yard strike to send the game into a second overtime. The Duck defense held and Arizona had to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Alex Zendejas. Oregon then proved why it is the better team—Masoli found Dickson for a 22-yard completion and then three plays later, Masoli bulled it in from a yard out and Oregon won, 44-41.

The Ducks’ Masoli accounted for 6 touchdowns in the game—3 passing and 3 running. He went 26-for-47 for 284 yards and picked up another 61 yards on 16 carries.

By winning, the Ducks set themselves up to earn a Pac-10 title and Rose Bowl berth against Ohio State if—and it is a big if—they beat the visiting 20th-ranked Oregon State Beavers (8-3) in a winner-take-all Civil War showdown next Saturday in Eugene.

The Beavers, one of the dirtiest teams in college football (they like to legally hurt opposing players with little things like helmet-to-helmet hits), will invade Oregon’s Autzen Stadium, home of some of the nation’s most raucous, unkempt, nose-picking fans who like to throw unopened cans of pop at opposing players. The Ducks have also been known for throwing sucker punches at opposing players.

They call the annual Oregon-Oregon State rivalry the Civil War for a reason. Both of these teams like to punish each other, so expect it to be a very physical game, especially with a Pac-10 title and a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line.

The four upsets this week that added little to the season included Mississippi (8-3) at home 25-23 over 10th-ranked LSU (8-3), Northwestern (8-4) at home 33-31 over 17th- ranked Wisconsin (8-3), Syracuse (4-7) at home 31-13 over 25th-ranked Rutgers (7-3), and California (8-3) on-the-road 34-28 over 14th-ranked Stanford (7-4).

Stanford did not lose because its battering ram Toby Gerhart did not perform. Gerhart did his part and more, picking up 136 yards on 20 carries (6.8 yards per carry), scoring 4 touchdowns, and carrying defenders on a 29-yard reception that set up Stanford at California’s 13-yard-line with less than 2 minutes left. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, Andrew Luck threw an interception to kill the drive that could have put Stanford ahead and won the game.

In truth, Stanford’s defense simply could not contain the Bears’ Shane Vereen, who rushed for a career-high 193 yards on 42 carries (4.6 yards per carry) and scored 3 touchdowns. It’s tough to win a game when you give up 34 points.

Eleven top-25 teams won home games this week, and the three top-rated unbeaten teams—Florida, Alabama and Texas—all won with authority to keep their image and rep in order.

The No. 1-ranked Florida Gators (11-0) gave the in-state rival Florida International Golden Panthers a lesson they will not soon forget, 62-3. No. 2-ranked Alabama (11-0) shut out 1-AA Chattanooga 45-0. No. 3-ranked Texas (11-0) put a whipping on Kansas 51-20.

Other home victories included 12th-ranked Oklahoma State (9-2) over Colorado 31-28, 15th-ranked Iowa (10-2) shut out Minnesota 12-0, 16-ranked Virginia Tech (8-3) over North Carolina State 38-10, 18th-ranked Clemson (8-3) over Virginia 34-21, 19th-ranked Brigham Young (9-2) over Air Force 38-21, 21st-ranked Miami of Florida (8-3) over Duke 34-16, 23rd-ranked Utah (9-2) over San Diego State 38-7, and 24th-ranked Houston (9-2) over Memphis 55-14.

Four other top-25 teams scored away victories this week. No. 14-ranked Texas Christian (11-0) remained unbeaten by smacking Wyoming 45-10, 6th-ranked Boise State (11-0) kept its slate perfect with a 52-21 clubbing of Utah State, 13th-ranked Penn State (10-2) made it look easy against Michigan State 42-14, and 20th-ranked Oregon State (8-3) slammed Washington State 42-10.

Three top-25 teams were idle—5th-ranked Cincinnati, 7th-ranked Georgia Tech and 8th-ranked Pittsburgh.

Six teams won and became bowl eligible. They included Bowling Green (6-5) over Akron 36-20, Florida State (6-5) over Maryland 29-26, Texas A&M (6-5) over Baylor 38-3, UCLA (6-5) over Arizona State 23-13, Tennessee (6-5) over Vanderbilt 31-16, and Louisiana Lafayette (6-5) over in-state rival Louisiana Monroe 21-17.

Four other games were noteworthy. Temple (9-2) won its 9th straight game 47-13 over Kent State, Central Michigan (9-2) won its 9th game 35-3 over Ball State, hapless Notre Dame (6-5) was upset by Connecticut 33-30 in a second overtime period, and New Mexico (1-10) finally won a game this year by beating red-faced Colorado State 29-27.