A week ago offered perhaps the best weekend in the history of regular-season college football. And it was supposed to be but a warm-up to this weekend.
What made last week so great was an abundance of unpredictable upsets.
Colorado stunned Oklahoma. Kansas State upended Texas for the second year in a row. South Florida made itself the team to beat in the Big East with its second-straight win over West Virginia. Maryland beat last year’s Cinderella team, Rutgers, by 10. Illinois won its first big game in the Ron Zook era by upending JoePa and Penn State. And finally, Auburn dropped the defending-champion Florida Gators in the Swamp (hallelujah).
Most importantly, Georgia dominated Ole Miss 45-17 on the legs of Thomas Brown and freshman phenom Knowshon Moreno, who combined for 270 rushing yards and four TDs.
This week, we have the traditional blockbuster matchups that fans circled on their calenders in June. Florida travels to LSU, Oklahoma and Texas meet in the Red River Shootout, Georgia heads to Tennessee, where Mark Richt has never lost a game, and Virginia Tech heads south to Clemson.
But it is some of the games that nobody thought would be significant a few weeks ago that will make this weekend truly great.
In the Big 12, the Missouri/Nebraska and Kansas/Kansas State matchups are actually equally important in the Big 12 title race as the Red River Shootout, if not more so. Cincinnati is suddenly a player in the Big East and a victory over Rutgers would make the Bearcats’ Nov. 3 tilt against South Florida the game of the year in the Big East. No, really, it would.
And that’s not even mentioning last night’s game between Kentucky and South Carolina, two top-11 teams that have combined for one ACC title (South Carolina in 1969) and two SEC championships (Kentucky in 1950 and a shared one with Georgia in 1976).
Even Ron Zook and Illinois could control their own destiny in the Big Ten with a victory over Wisconsin.
Of course, given last week’s upsets, I probably haven’t even mentioned what will be Saturday’s best game. Such is the beauty of college football.
Reach Wade Askew at
