There were a couple of big college football games over the weekend that had national championship implications... and then there were the wild and crazy games in the Big 12. On Friday night, an injury-riddled 7tth-ranked Stanford went up north to play 10th-ranked Washington. And the Huskies showed that they just might be BCS contenders, dominating on both the offensive and defensive lines in a 44-6 rout of the Cardinal. Saturday afternoon, 8th-ranked Wisconsin faced 4th-ranked Michigan in what turned out to be an old-time Big 10 defensive struggle. A fourth-quarter 46-yard touchdown pass by Michigan was the difference in their 14-7 victory. Saturday night, 5th-ranked Louisville traveled to Death Valley to take on 3rd-ranked Clemson in a battle for ACC supremacy. Clemson bottled up Heisman candidate Lamar Jackson in the first half and, on the strength of three touchdown passes, took a seemingly safe 28-10 lead into halftime. But Louisville roared back in the second half scoring 26 unanswered points to take a 36-28 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Clemson responded with two late touchdown passes, the latter a 31-yard strike with just a little over three minutes remaining to take a 42-36 lead. Louisville had one last drive to win the game but came up just short of a first down at the Clemson 2-yard line on fourth down with under a minute remaining. Louisville's defensive backs were just unable to contain the Clemson receivers. And, after being held in check in the first half, Lamar Jackson came alive, ending up with 162 yards rushing and 27 of 44 through the air for 295 yards. Clemson's Deshaun Watson was just as good, racking up 397 total yards.
Clemson and Michigan have solidified their places in the top 5 and Washington should move up close to that position as well, considering how dominant they were.
It was also the opening weekend in the Big 12 and just take a look at some of these scores and numbers:
- Texas Tech 55 - Kansas 19; 917 total yards
- Oklahoma St. 49 - Texas 31; 1,123 total yards
- Baylor 45 - Iowa State 42; 1,112 total yards
- Oklahoma 52 - TCU 46; 1,048
Ok, there was one other game in the conference and West Virginia beat Kansas State 17-16, but even in that low-scoring game there was a respectable 708 yards in total offense. I'm not complaining - these are great games to watch; no lead is safe. But it might also explain why the Big 12 will probably be excluded for the BCS again this year, just as they were two years ago. What's more interesting is how the conference ended up this way. It is really driven by the perennial doormats of the league, TCU, Baylor, and to some degree Texas Tech, deciding to convert to a run-and-gun style of football in order to recruit better players and improve fan interest. Their success has made pretty much all the other teams in the conference, with the exception of the two Kansas teams, adopt the same style. And it will only get more crazy if Houston joins the conference as it is rumored to want to do. It may not win national championships, but it sure makes for exciting football.
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