Saturday, September 3, 2011

Labor Day weekend

College football is back, and the NFL lockout is over. Hooray!!

High School Division: The Ada Bulldogs look poised for another successful season. Last Friday, Ada slaughtered local rival Hardin Northern 53-7. Last night, star QB Konnor Baker had another outstanding game, throwing 5 touchdown passes and running for another score as the Bulldogs chewed up Spencerville 55-21 in Ada's home and conference opener. Senior Chris Beaschler has emerged as the starting center and a defensive stalwart.

Division III: #14 ranked Ohio Northern defeated the Battling Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan 38-20 in Ada for the season opener for both teams. Washington University (St. Louis) defeated Knox College 28-10. Randolph-Macon got their season off to a good start at home defeating Methodist 43-7.

Big Opening Games: A few schools opened with difficult opponents. #5 Boise St. vs. #19 Georgia, #4 LSU vs. #3 Oregon.

Upsets, Anyone?: In a game that was hard to top for excitement, Baylor squeaked past #14 and favored Texas Christian 50-48. Baylor was up by 24 points at the end of the third quarter before a furious TCU comeback put the Frogs in the lead by 1 point with 5 minutes to go. Baylor then drove to score their only points of the fourth quarter, a field goal, with just over a minute to go to claim the victory. Big 12 (or 9 or 8 or ?) schools should expect a tough game from Baylor this year. Baylor QB Robert Griffin III completed 5 TD passes. Ball State upended Indiana 27-20 in the Colts' stadium in Indianapolis. Kentucky tried valiantly to lose to Western Kentucky but managed to win 14-3. #23 Auburn trailed most of the game but managed to edge Utah State 42-38.

I-AA Happenings: On Friday night, Georgia State lambasted Clark Atlanta 41-7. Showing that GSU has something in common with the bigtime schools, GSU suspended their top 2 QBs before the game, but they had punter/wide receiver Bo Schlecter to fill in and lead them to victory. Richmond finished strong to upset Duke 23-21 in Durham. Northern Colorado lost to Div. II Lindenwood 22-20.

Trophy Games: #24 West Virginia rained on Marshall for the Governor's Cup on Sunday afternoon 34-13. Speaking of rain, violent thunderstorms forced the game to be called off in the middle of the third quarter after substantial rain delays.

Our Teams, Triumphant: In the tradition of scheduling an easy game to open, a number of our teams were seen eating cupcakes. Mizzou defeated local hero Zac Dysert and Miami (OH) 17-6 in Columbia. #13 Virginia Tech bulldozed App. State 66-13. Arizona State warmed up by clobbering I-AA Cal Davis 48-14. Bowling Green vandalized Idaho 32-15. Illinois overcame a slow start to whip Arkansas State 33-15. #22 Florida ate up Florida Atlantic 41-3. Vanderbilt pummeled Elon 45-14. North Carolina overruled I-AA James Madison 42-10. QB Bryn Renner of UNC completed over 95% of his passes against JMU, nearly breaking the national record for completion percentage. Michigan, playing their first game for new coach Brady Hoke, chewed up Western Michigan 34-10. Colorado State fended off a last second New Mexico rally to overcome the Lobos 14-10. Colorado lost to Hawaii 34-17 across the water. With the toughest schedule in the country, Hawaii seemed to be one of CU's best chances to win. It will be a long season.

High Crime Area: New coach Randy Edsall led Maryland over scandal-riddled Miami 32-24. It was tough to decide what was uglier, the suspensions of Miami players or the Maryland uniforms. Despite lots of suspended players and with new coach Luke Fickell to replace the disgraced Jim Tressel, #18 Ohio State unzipped Akron 42-0.

Our Teams, in Grief. Virginia rolled over William and Mary 40-3.

Nationally Ranked: #11 Wisconsin put down the Rebels of UNLV 51-17 with the former NC State QB Russell Wilson leading the way.

Pentagon: Navy rammed I-AA Delaware 40-17. Air Force led South Dakota by thirty points early in the 3d quarter but did not finish well, defeating South Dakota 37-20. Army got bitten by the Northern Illinois Huskies

Conflict of Interest: Former Notre Dame head coach and now ESPN commentator Lou Holtz always picks Notre Dame to win, no matter how badly their season is going. This weekend, though, he had to pick against the Irish, because his wife of 50 years insisted that he pick his son, Skip's, team, South Florida. Oh, the result? In a game repeatedly delayed by weather (ringing down the thunder, literally), South Florida defeated the #16 Irish 23-20.

Counting Down from Big 12: After last season, Colorado left to join the Pac 12 and Nebraska left to join the Big 10 (which now has 12 teams). Recently Texas A & M announced that they were leaving, probably for the SEC. Oklahoma's president has announced that OU is considering leaving the conference. Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State all seem to be considering their options. Will the last school still in the Big 12 turn off the lights?

Undefeated and Untried: Peabody Conservatory, Emory.

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