There was a period of time not so long ago that, despite a few SEC National Championships, the Big 10 prided themselves on being arguably the strongest conference in football.
It's safe to say that time has come and gone.
Alcorn State 3, JMU 42
If you listened to me on the radio on Saturday morning, I predicted that, despite a sloppy start, JMU would win by a score of 48-10. After watching the game on Saturday, I'd have to say I was pretty much dead on here. JMU completely outclassed Alcorn State, as well they should have. The Dukes are not in the Braves' league. They're not even in the same galaxy, as was evidenced by ASU coach Jay Hopson naming JMU the best 1AA program they'ved played in 20+ years, as well as specifically naming the 2012 iteration of the Dukes the best team in college football.
JMU throttling Alcorn State isn't news. I barely even need to write about it here, other than to acknowledge that the players took the field Saturday night and that I tailgated through what was nearly a flash flood in the hours leading up to the game. No, the news here is the injury to tailback Dae'Quan Scott. The roommates and I were a little concerned for his health, so I hit up some sources to get the deets here.
Good news folks. Scott estimates he'll be back on the field in about two days. That's noteworthy, because JMU will need all the help they can get at FedEx this weekend.
I could go into JMU-WVU this weekend, but I will save that for later in the week. Tony and I will definitely talk about the game extensively on radio, and I've got a column coming out Thursday that will talk about the game extensively, so just follow me throughout the week to catch some snippets regarding the September 15 showdown that has unofficially been dubbed the Chase Kiddy bowl.
Louisiana-Monroe 34, #8 Arkansas 31
Tyler Wilson is a good quarterback. Arkansas has a good offense. But just like Michigan, and as we will find out soon, just like Oklahoma, Arkansas was massively overhyped this past offseason. Personally, I think any competent offense in the SEC is capable of becoming a media darling just because it's such a contrarian way to play in that conference these days.
I don't wanna take anything away from ULM because it's a solid if not spectacular team, but the truth of the matter is that this is a team JMU would beat 4 or 5 times out of 10 at minimum. Maybe JMU is a bad benchmark to use because they're so incredibly good this year, but tegardless, a top team Arkansas is not.
All that being said, the Hogs dropping out of the top 25 is a massive overreaction. Tyler Wilson got knocked out of the game for crying out loud. This team will rebound.
#18 Oklahoma State 38, #22 Arizona 59
There are three things that everyone learned from this game, and I already knew all three.
1. It is very hard to replace two first round draft picks and still be an elite, BCS-level team.
2. Wes Lunt is a capable quarterback, especially for a true freshman, but Oklahoma State is not a true Big 12 title threat.
3. Rich Rodriguez is very good at designing offense, and if you want to beat him, you better be prepared to outscore him. You'd think Gundy would be prepared for something like that, but clearly Arizona was more prepared than he expected.
So what's up with the Big 10? Here's a slate of games that made me scratch my head.
#13 Wisconsin 7, Oregon State 10.
The two-time reigning Big 10 Champs almost just got shut out by Oregon State. OREGON STATE, PEOPLE. This is a team that lost to an FCS school last year. A bad one.
Maybe it's time to accept that Danny O'Brien just actually isn't that good, and stealing ACC quarterbacks might not be a reliable offensive scheme.
Montee Ball, kiss that Heisman good-bye.
#16 Nebraska 30, UCLA 36
Nebraska was my preseason pick to win the conference-- probably because Taylor Martinez reminds me of Pat White-- so I am a little surprised by this.
Then again, if you caught my tongue-in-cheek, Big-10-usually-sucks-on-the-west-coast-and-should-probably-stay-in-the-midwest-if-they-want-to-continue-winning reference in the pregame, you know I'm not really that surprised.
Penn State 16, UVA 17
UVA is a good team. 8-win team. No shame in losing to the Cavs in the Ville.
Wait, Penn State's kicker was 1/5 on field goals? He missed an extra point after a touchdown?
Okay... maybe a little shame then.
Seriously here, when guys started defecting, everyone talked about Silas Redd and how it was such a huge loss to Penn State's depth at runningback. I was more concerned with the loss of their starting kicker over a backup skill position guy. Looks like I was right again. Thanks twitter! You contine to make me look smart and dumb, all at the same time.
Iowa State 9, Iowa 6
Just... wow. #takeanap
Much like Wisconsin, the Hawkeyes are as bad as they seemed in week 1.
Not many other good scores from the weekend. Lots of crappy games to be honest. We'll do some predictions later this week, check back then.
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