Saturday Opinions - October 27, 2007

Thursday night’s game was going along as I predicted for most of the game. Boston College struggled against their first real test. Virginia Tech was leading going into the final minutes of the game 10 - 0. Boston couldn’t do much against the strong defense of the Hokies. The Hokies didn’t lead by much, but that’s not too surprising considering their weak offense. Then Matt Ryan took over with just over two minutes left in the game. He connected on his first touchdown pass, leaving the Eagles trailing by 3, with not a lot of time on the clock. Boston College opted to try an onside kick, and they recovered it. Now it was a game. Boston College drove down the field and put themselves in a position to tie or win the game. Ryan throws a touchdown pass that is negated by holding penalty. Ryan tries again, and this time, there is no penalty. Ryan put the team on his shoulders in the final minutes of a game and willed them to a victory. They proved themselves against a tough defense, and a tough conference opponent. Ryan also showed Heisman-like poise in the final minutes of the game. If he continues like this for the rest of the season, his name will be mentioned in the same sentence as Doug Flutie when referring to great BC quarterbacks. Boston College proved worthy of their ranking that night.
Why is it that Boise State doesn’t play on Saturdays? They have played 8 games, and only 3 of them have been on a Saturday. They’ve played a couple of Thursday night games, and then some very non-traditional Sunday night and Friday night games. This gives them an opportunity to be seen, but only if people realize that they are even playing. Many don’t. This could be why, they have yet to jump back onto the national stage. They suffered one loss early in the season, and since then won all of their games. They haven’t played anyone too tough, but they have proved that they are a good team. If they manage to win the rest of their games, Chris Peterson will have suffered only one loss in his first two years of coaching. That is phenomenal. Boise State was on display Friday night, normally reserved for High School football. They were playing the normally tough Fresno State. They played without their star running back, Ian Johnson. They were able to hang on and beat the Bulldogs 34-21. I like this team, and think that they are as good as most of the BCS conference teams out there. They won’t get their due until they beat Hawaii and win the WAC.
Now we reach Saturday. Most of the early games were not very interesting. There were a couple, and some that ended up being good games regardless of their irrelevance in the national scheme and even the conference scheme. But on the National scene and a key game for the Big East title, West Virginia battled Rutgers, in New Jersey. The Mountaineers came our firing. They had a healthy offense for a change. Slaton and White were in form. White rushed for 156 yards and a touchdown, while Slaton was held under a hundred yards, but tabbed 3 touchdowns. Rutgers was unable to stop West Virginia, and couldn’t get anything going on offense. Their only points came off a field goal in the second quarter. Ray Rice continued to rack up the yards, but couldn’t get close enough to the end zone. West Virginia showed that they should still be in the discussion for the national title conversation.
What is going on with Texas Tech? They have been fantastic offensively all year, and then last week they are stopped by Missouri, and today, Colorado shut them down. On the other hand, Colorado has vastly improved on their last season. Dan Hawkins is doing what he did in Boise, and is turning these Buffaloes into a good team. They need to fix some of their more confusing losses such as Florida State and Kansas State, but they are on the right track. The Big 12 North needs to keep an eye out for this team, they are returning in the next few years.
Andre Woodson made a great case for his Heisman status last week, even in a loss against Florida. He played extremely well, and threw for 5 touchdowns. This week, a should win game against Mississippi State, Woodson hurt his status dramatically. Not only did Kentucky lose, but Woodson did not perform. He threw 3 interceptions, and two touchdowns. He was also sacked 3 times. Kentucky was sporting a ranking of #14 going into this game. There is a chance that they will drop out of the rankings. This should have been their year.