college football recap: payback's a b*tch

It wasn't a terribly exciting weekend in college football, unless you're a Maryland fan, I suppose. But I'm not, so meh. Here's the recap:

Basically, your top 10 from last week remains your top 10 for this week. Why? Because there were no upsets. Everyone who was supposed to have won ended up winning big (I'm purposely ignoring that Georgia/Auburn game because it was close). And everyone who didn't play on Saturday didn't move in the polls. All is right with the college football world.

• Unless you play in the ACC of course. What is up is down and what is in is out. I mean, in what universe would the Terps victory over UNC be considered an upset? The thing is, the ACC is so even (for lack of a better word) that anyone is capable of beating anybody. Therefore, I don't really consider UNC's loss an upset, despite the fact that UNC was ranked and Maryland was not.

• In a fun game to watch where I had no vested interest whatsoever, Boston College defeated Florida State 27-17. BC's defense intercepted the FSU QB 3 times which was pretty exciting to see, especially since it was the 5th time this season the Eagle defense had forced 3 or more interceptions in one game.

• Speaking of defense winning games, Virginia Tech, who is widely known for an impressive defense, just couldn't get it together against Miami. It was definitely disappointing to watch the Hokies lose such a close game (16-14). Had they scored a field goal in the waning minutes of the game, they would've clinched the victory. Instead, the Miami defense stopped the Hokies on that drive, sealing the fate of the game. The bright side is that injured QB Tyrod Taylor came back in this game and led the Hokies on their two scoring drives (to be fair, that other Hokie QB I don't like--Sean Glennon--played as well, but he didn't lead any scoring drives).

• Last year, the Trojans' BCS game hopes were dashed by an upset-minded Stanford team. It was our first loss at the Coliseum in forever and it caused the then-#1 Trojans to drop in the polls and eventually led to a Rose Bowl berth against the worst Big Ten opponent to earn a Rose Bowl berth--Illinois. This year, the Rose Bowl seems like a bit of a stretch and the BCS title game is further from our grasp, so Stanford didn't necessarily pose a threat. Still, that close loss was on many a Trojan fans' minds, as USC traveled to Palo Alto to avenge last year's loss against the Trees. For the first half, USC was in classic disorganized form. Stanford made our defense look like crap and our offense could do very little about the suddenly effecient Stanford defense. And then, like the 2nd half team we always prove to be, our offense and defense came alive in the 2nd half. The Trojans went on to score 28 unanswered points in the second half and Stanford's last score came in the last few ticks of the game against our 2nd string defense. We won 45-23 and embarassed the Cardinal in front of a home crowd, but the loss doesn't effect Stanford as much as our loss to them last year.

• Oregon State watch: the damn Beavers won again, this time against Cal, 34-21. They play Arizona next.  Still, a little birdy told me that if Oregon State wins out and claims the Rose Bowl berth, USC may end up in the Sugar Bowl against the SEC championship loser (which would be either Florida or Alabama).  Suddenly, the Sugar Bowl berth is looking pretty SWEET! 

Up next for the Trojans is Notre Lame on November 29th. The Hokies play Duke on the 22nd.