The first big shake-up weekend of the college football season finished on Saturday night. #3, #6, #7, #8, #9 and #11 all went down to defeat. #3 Clemson was pummeled by #5 Florida State at home 51-14, in the first match-up of Top 5 ranked teams this year. This game was over early in the 3rd quarter, after the Seminoles took a 34-7 lead on their first drive of the second half. Their redshirt freshman quarterback, Jameis Wisnton, threw for 444 yards and 3 touchdowns, and also had a rushing touchdown.
In 3 of the other 5 upsets, Southestern Conference foes beat each other. #6 LSU was edged by Mississippi 27-24. Ole Miss never trailed in this game, as they handed LSU their second loss of the season. #7 Texas A&M lost to 24th-ranked Auburn 45-41, even though defending Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel had a chance to win the game in the end, but they turned the ball over on downs just past midfield. #11 South Carolina was beaten by Tennessee 23-21 on a last second field goal. This was the Volunteer’s first SEC victory of the season.
The other losses by teams in the top 11 ranked teams, were #8 Louisville blowing a 28-7 third quarter lead, and losing to Central Florida 38-35. Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had a good game, but his Heisman Trophy aspirations had to take a hit, because of this loss in their relatively easy schedule. UCLA who had just entered the Top 10 at #9 the previous week, lost to #13 Stanford, who had just dropped out of the Top 10, by a score of 24-10.
The first Bowl Championship Series (BCS) poll of the season came out tonight. Alabama is #1, Florida State jumped up to #2, Oregon is down to #3, Ohio State is #4, and surprising Missouri is #5. This is of course the poll that determines who plays in the 5 major bowls at the end of the season. The BCS is based on the Coaches Poll, the Harris Poll and several computer polls. 2013 is the last season of the BCS, before the 4-team playoff system starts next year. While the playoff system is what many have been wanting for decades, I’m sure there will many complaints about which 4 teams are chosen each year. Personally, I think an 8-team system would be better, as I’ve written in a previous post.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
