The Dream Continues

The best story that no one has been talking about this year just got even better, as Rutgers pulled off a 28-25 comeback victory on Thursday night. This one had it all: a home crowd absolutely frothing, a team winning despite playing a stiff at quarterback, a valiant comeback, big plays, me picking it almost exactly (31-27 Rutgers was the prediction, if I don't mind saying so), one of the worst football programs in history thrusting itself into the national title picture, and my boy Ray Rice playing like a beast. This might be my favorite college football game since that wild USC-Notre Dame game last year.

A few other quick thoughts:

- In predictable fashion, Bobby Petrino stubbornly (arrogantly?) refused to make adjustments at the half, despite the fact that his base defense had no prayer of stopping Rutgers' simple toss play, ever. In fact, if the Scarlet Knights would have just tossed it to Rice 39 times like they did against Pittsburgh, they might have won easily. Petrino appears to be a great teacher, motivator, recruiter, and all-around person, but as a tactician, he is too headstrong. His hubris leads to his downfall.

- I've been taking a lot of heat for having Ray Rice so high in my Heisman Poll, so I can't help but feel validated by his performance. It wasn't just the snazzy numbers (22 carries for 133 yards and two scores), it was the way he ran. Crushing defenders, hitting the hole hard, turning the ball upfield ... he was a monster. I fully expect the rest of the sports media (both traditional and nontraditional) to catch up and put him in the top five, where I've had him for weeks. For the life of me, I don't know what took so long. The guy is averaging 150 yards a game for one of the greatest Cinderella sports stories of the decade. The media usually eats this stuff up. (Also, this game had to help Rice's future pro prospects. He looked an awful lot like DeAngelo Williams out there.)

- Louisville's kick returner is both one of the skinniest and fastest football players I've ever seen. He was worth the price of admission, especially since he was a few lunging arm tackles away from running back two more kicks for scores, in addition to the one he actually broke for six.

- Why did Louisville abandon their two most effective plays: the quick slant and the strong side toss play? Rutgers had no prayer of stopping the Cardinals receivers in one-on-one coverage and only shut down the pass by getting pressure on lead-footed Brian Brohm. All Louisville had to do was employ a three-step drop and hit guys on the slant for big gains. Instead, they kept dropping Brohm back five and seven steps and he was getting slaughtered. Again, the hubris. And as for the running game, they barely ran the ball in the second half despite A) playing with the lead for most of it, and B) the fact that Kolby Smith was shredding people early. Even when they did run, it was just a lame dive into the middle of the line, where Rutgers could offset speed with sheer effort. When Louisville was running that toss play early, they were absolutely blowing the Scarlet Knights away. Very strange.

Now the big question is what to do with Rutgers. They have to avoid slipping in a dangerous game at Cincinnati next week (although Rutgers beat the Bearcats 44-9 last season, Cinci has a pretty solid defense and played Ohio State, Virginia Tech, and Louisville tough this year) and then handle Syracuse, but then they will get another big game against #10 West Virginia. Personally, I think the Mountaineers are a tougher matchup for Rutgers because of their ridiculous speed and willingness to use it, not to mention the fact that the game is on the road. That said, this has been a miracle season so far for Rutgers, so why not one more big upset? Everyone thought they might lose to Navy and they won 34-0. Playing at Pittsburgh was supposed to be their undoing and they won 20-10. Now the big win over Louisville. Something magical is happening.

So what happens if they finish 12-0? They would be champs of a BCS conference with an undefeated record. It is hard to imagine them leaping all the way from their current #13 perch to #2 in a few short weeks, and I'm not even sure if they deserve to. But if they win all their games and get left out, it seems possible that the national title game might suck worse than ever before. The BCS system is just a travesty.

Oh well, the Scarlet Knights don't have to worry about that for now. They can just enjoy a truly memorable victory.

Down Goes USC! Down Goes USC!

I figured USC would dominate the Pac-10 landscape once again on Saturday, but never did I think it would be like this. As you may have heard by now, the mighty Trojans were defeated 33-31 by Oregon State in a game for the ages.

After playing with fire for three consecutive weeks, USC finally got burned. They turned the ball over repeatedly in the first half, gave up several big plays early in the second, and then were turned away on a two-point conversion after a furious comeback in the final quarter. Now the BCS race is wide open, not to mention the battle for a Pac-10 title.

As pre-Aftermath 50 Cent would say, this game had "a lil' bit a everything." Oregon State came out fired up, marching right down the field to take a 7-0 lead. USC quickly responded, but when John David Booty's would-be touchdown pass was underthrown and wrestled away from Dwayne Jarrett by OSU safety Bryan Payton, you could feel that it was going to be a tough afternoon for USC. In fact, the Trojans were lucky to be down just 16-10 at the half, as Oregon State was forced to settle for field goals on several drives despite having a short field.

In the second half, USC looked sluggish coming out of the gates and Oregon State responded, scoring a quick touchdown and then getting a punt return touchdown from do-everything wide out Sammie Stroughter (eight catches for 127 yards in addition to the 61-yard punt return). Suddenly, the score was 30-10. The Beavers nearly scored another touchdown (settling for a 20-yard field goal) before USC started putting up a fight.

The Torjans quickly marched down the field and into the red zone before stalling out. Faced with a 23-point defecit, Pete Carroll was clearly thinking his team would need three touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions to tie the game, so he went for it on fourth-and-goal from the eight. Huge mistake. Monstrous mistake.

I haven't heard anyone even discuss this, and maybe that is fair, since Carroll has been so terrific at USC. Second guessing him on something like this is akin to "what have you done for me lately?" and might not be appropriate. But the fact of the matter is that USC should have kicked a field goal and taken the points there. Oregon State was missing its star running back Yvenson Bernard and was going to have a tough time chewing up clock. Holding a big lead against a heavy favorite is always a difficult task for an underdog in college football (see: Michigan State hosting Notre Dame earlier this year) and USC should have known that the Beavers would start to freak out as the game continued.

Sure enough, Oregon State started playing with its collective hands wrapped around its throat, USC started moving the ball with ease, and suddenly, they were scoring a touchdown with seven seconds left and setting up for a potential game-tying two-point conversion. With that field goal the Trojans passed up, the touchdown pass to Steve Smith (who had a monster game with 11 catches for 258 yards and two scores) would have given them a 34-33 win, without the need for any two-point conversions.

But that's not the way it went down, and the result was a shocking victory for Oregon State. How shocking? They broke USC's 38-game regular season winning streak and 27-game Pac-10 winning streak and in the process defeated the Trojans for just the third time since 1967. And they did it without their best player. Pretty heady stuff.

So now the Pac-10 is wide open. Cal is undefeated and in the driver's seat for the Pac-10 title and automatic BCS bid, since the conference champ is decided by a bizarre tiebreaking system of "who hasn't won it most recently." Seriously, that is the tiebreaker in the Pac-10. The team that more recently won a conference title loses out in the event of a tie. Dumb as can be, but there you have it. So even if the Trojans defeat Cal, the Bears would still have the tiebreaker should they both lose one game. If that is how it goes down, what will become of USC? Will they make a BCS game or even get back in the national title picture? That would require a lot of help and running the table. If not, they could be Holiday Bowl-bound (as have other very good Pac-10 teams that have finished behind USC in recent years, like Cal in 2004 and Oregon last year). Wouldn't that be something?

The Juice is Loose

This Saturday of college football is only a few hours old, but I'm already going on record by saying that the performance of Illinois' freshman quarterback Juice Williams will be the overlooked story of the day.

Maybe I'm impartial to Williams because he goes by the name "Juice," which happens to be the nickname of one of my best friends, but I don't think that is why his ability to lead the Illini to a 23-20 victory over Michigan State this morning was so significant. No, it is more to do with the fact that Illinois - the same Illinois that had lost 24 of its last 25 conference games and is coached by the woeful Ron Zook - was able to go on the road and beat a superior Big 10 opponent.

Now, granted, Michigan State had to be down after the crushing loss to Notre Dame, and granted, the Spartans aren't nearly as potent as the porous Irish defense made them look, but this is still a team that qualifies as at least halfway decent. They were, after all, a 26-point favorite in this contest. And Illinois beat them! On the road!

Perhaps you have to be living in the state of Illinois to really understand the significance of this, but if you don't, just take my word for it: this is a shocking development. And, by my calculation, the credit belongs to one person: Juice Williams. After the Illini were slaughtered by Rutgers and beaten by a hideous Syracuse team, Zook decided to turn the team over to his prized recruit. The initital results weren't good as Illinois lost a home game to Iowa by the score of 24-7 and Juice was a woeful 9-for-32 with three picks.

What a difference a week makes. No doubt it helped to play someone besides Iowa (who I still think is going to beat Ohio State tonight and win the Big 10), but you could also see Juice improve by leaps and bounds after having a full week of practice with the first team offense. He was decisive with his throws, carried himself with confidence, made several big plays, and - most importantly - wrecked havoc with his running ability, rushing 17 times for 103 yards.

It was an absolutely enormous win for a program that is completely off the national radar. However, with the electric Juice Williams coming of age right before our very eyes, it seems that Illinois football finally has something to be excited about for the first time in years.

Giddy With Anticipation About The Black Dahlia of College Football Weekends

(Note: This column originally appeared at BlogCritics.org.)

One of the biggest Saturdays of the college football season is about to sneak up on us. It doesn't feature the bubbling anticipation of opening weekend, nor is it cloaked in the mystique of rivalry week, but when the dust settles on this college football season and BCS bowl bids are being handed out, we might look back on Saturday, September 16th as the most critical day of the season.

Coinciding with a slate of huge games this weekend is the release of The Black Dahlia, the crime thriller from Brian De Palma based on the fabulous novel by James Ellroy. In honor of this highly anticipated film (which inexplicably stars Josh Hartnett, by the way), I am choosing seven De Palma films to represent the seven games taking place between ranked teams this Saturday. After all, why write a sports column if you can't incorporate a cheap pop-culture gimmick?

Carlito's Way: #17 Miami at #12 Louisville. I was tempted to put Scarface here for the obvious Miami connection, but I had to save that little nugget for later. Luckily, Carlito's Way fills in nicely. In the movie, Carlito (played by Al Pacino) gets out of jail and seeks to make a new life for himself, dreaming of a move to the Bahamas. In this game we've got Louisville, trying to get into the national title picture, dreaming of playing in a BCS bowl and boasting a Heisman Trophy finalist (Quarterback Brian Brohm). Unfortunately for Carlito, he has shady friends that pull him back into his old life (the famous quote used to open Jay-Z's In My Lifetime Vol. 1 says it all: "Somebody's pulling me close to the ground."). In the case of Louisville, they lost their star running back Michael Bush and could slip back to the pack if they can't get by the Canes and their stifling defense. Plus, for all the recent hand-wringing in Coral Gables, Miami has a certain aura that can be tough to overcome, especially for teams trying to break through. Essentially, Louisville is trying to become what Miami has been for years and years, but to do so, they have to beat the Canes on Saturday. Of course, Carlito's Way has another perfect quote for that dynamic: "You think you like me? You ain't like me [profanity]. I've been with made people, connected people. Who've you been with?" Exactly.

Snake Eyes: #24 Texas Tech at #20 TCU. Brian De Palma has made some good movies, he's arguably made a few great movies, and he's made some absolutely awful movies. Snake Eyes is a fabulously awful movie made purely for entertainment purposes (at least, I hope so). That's why it is perfect for this game. Texas Tech has a high octane offense that routinely throws up 400 passing yards in a game no matter who stands under center (or, accurately, stands a few yards behind the center in the shotgun formation) and TCU is a conference-hopping running back factory that currently owns the longest winning streak in the nation. The chances of either of these teams landing a BCS bid are slim, but it should make for some nice, mind-numbing entertainment.

Carrie: #15 Oklahoma at #15 Oregon. In 2004, the Sooners knocked off Oregon 31-7 in Norman. In 2005, the two teams met again in the Holiday Bowl when a Ducks squad angry over a BCS snub blew a tire and lost to Oklahoma once again. Needless to say, the men in the strange green uniforms have had this date circled for quite some time. And what better movie to represent Oregon's quest than Carrie, the ultimate horror tale of teenage revenge? It is also an apt comparison in that the Ducks' Nike uniforms are often a horror show in their own right. (Okay, okay, enough about the uniforms.) This battle between OU and U of O features the best high school running back from 2003 in Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson taking on the best high school running back from 2004 in Oregon's Jonathan Stewart. It pits two of the finest coaches in the nation against each other in Mike Bellotti and Bob Stoops. And for all that, it will probably come down to a battle of athletic quarterbacks that weren't supposed to be here. Most people in Eugene figured Brady Leaf to be the Ducks' starting quarterback, and certainly nobody in Norman expected Rhett Bomar to get kicked off the team just weeks before the opener. Yet here are Dennis Dixon and Paul Thompson, squaring off with a potential (if distant) BCS bid hanging in the balance.

The Bonfire of the Vanities: #7 Florida at #13 Tennessee. By all accounts (including my own), this was a horrendous movie. Pacing issues galore, egregious narration from Bruce Willis, and overacting across the board. That said, this poor adaptation of the brilliant Tom Wolfe novel sort of tells the Tennessee story of the past few years. A "Master of the Universe" (as Tom Hanks' Sherman McCoy character refers to himself) is on top of Wall Street/college football, raking in the money/recruits, and generally getting the best of everything. Then, suddenly, it all slips away. For McCoy, he partakes in an illicit affair with a Southern Belle (see, this movie fits the matchup perfectly), gets involved in a hit-and-run in the Bronx, and then is trotted out to a salivating public demanding The Great White Defendant. It is quite a tale and it isn't far from the downfall that Tennessee experienced last year when they started the season #3 in the Associated Press' preseason poll and finished 5-6. This year the Vols have throttled Cal and fended off Air Force to start 2-0 and reemerge as a relevant force in the SEC. I guess it is ironic that they seek to continue their Sherman McCoy-like escape from the depths (in the movie he wiretaps his mistress, entraps her in a lie in the courtroom, and manages to avoid certain prison time, then disappears into the ether as - we are led to believe - a free man with a new perspective) in an epic home game against Florida. You see, the Gators are just two years removed from The Ron Zook Era, which was a bit of mess in its own right. However, under Urban Meyer they are now moving back to the forefront of college football. Despite the falls from grace these two powers have experienced recently, it is safe to say that the only bonfires occurring this weekend will be at the pep rallies on Friday night.

Mission: Impossible: #11 Michigan at #2 Notre Dame. I'm not saying that it is impossible to go into South Bend and beat Notre Dame (although Penn State would argue that it is), but when you look at Michigan's recent history, things don't look good. Lloyd Carr is 0-3 lifetime in South Bend, Michigan hasn't won a road opener in six years, and the Wolverines are coming off a very disappointing 7-5 season in 2005. So let's call it Mission: Extremely Difficult. The good news for Michigan is that they have a ferocious ground game featuring stud junior Mike Hart (not to mention talented backups Kevin Grady and Brandon Minor) running behind a fantastic offensive line. They also have a passing game led by Chad Henne and Steve Breaston that is dying to show what it can do. The Wolverines have more than enough ammunition to take down the Irish. The question is whether they choose to accept their mission (actually the question is which team executes, but that didn't make for a very good ending). Cue the theme music!

The Untouchables: #19 Nebraska at #4 USC. As depicted in the movie (that I suspect was good in its day but really doesn't hold up very well), Eliot Ness' "Untouchables" were a group of incorruptible lawmen that spent their days battling the likes of Al Capone and other mobsters in Chicago during the 1930's. Today, that tag could describe the offense that USC has been trotting out the last four years. Beginning with Carson Palmer and Mike Williams, cresting during the Leinart/Bush/White era, and now the transition to John David Booty and a host of talented backs, receivers, and tight ends, the Trojans have become the most feared offensive juggernaut in college football. Can Nebraska stop them? For that to happen we are going to have to see a sudden and dramatic return to the "Black Shirts" days for the Cornhuskers defense. The other option, of course, is to try to outscore USC. While this is no easy task - especially against So Cal's improved defense - Nebraska might be one of the few teams up to the task. Behind Bill Callahan's explosive offensive scheme and Zac Taylor's (no relation to our 12th President) strong right arm, the 'Huskers might have the right formula to get the job done. (Note: Between Callahan and Pete Carroll, this might be one the better all-time "guys that weren't so good in the NFL but are great college head coaches" matchups. If only we could get Steve Spurrier involved in some way.)

Scarface: #6 LSU at #3 Auburn. Scarface was a bloody masterpiece. I don't mean "bloody" in the way British use the word, but rather in the literal sense ... it is probably the best movie ever made to rely solely on visceral violence. That gore factor alone is perfect for a game that should rank among the hardest-hitting contests of the year, but the "coming up against all odds" element fits as well. In Scarface, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) fights to gain respect and move to the top of Miami's criminal underworld, which is fitting, because both LSU and Auburn have been fighting for respect and a place at the top of the college football world for the last couple of years, cresting with Auburn's exclusion from the BCS title game in 2004 (you know, the year they were drilling people by 40 every game and featuring like eight NFL first round picks, but couldn't get past a wildly overrated Oklahoma team in the old computer rankings). It is a shame that one of these teams will have a loss so early in the year, but the winner becomes one of the favorites to win it all. Perhaps Thunderdome is a better reference ("Two men enter - one man leave"), too bad De Palma didn't direct that one. Anyway. Auburn continues to win with defense and a relentless ground game and only puts the ball in quarterback Brandon Cox's hands when the defense overloads the box. As for LSU, they have been arguably the most impressive defensive team in the country through two weeks and feature an extremely talented but inconsistent quarterback in JaMarcus Russell, a monster athlete with perhaps the best arm in all of football (including the pros). LSU asks its quarterback to make plays early and often while mixing in a running game by committee (spearheaded by Justin Vincent and Alley Broussard). It says here that the most physical (we'll bail out of the Scarface comparison long enough to avoid the term "violent") team wins.

It should be a fantastic weekend of college football - probably the best one of the entire season. Now I just hope De Palma's latest film holds up its end of the bargain.