Ferringo College Football Report: Miami, FSU not Only Florida Teams in Trouble

Well, I had my College Game of the Month goingJust three short days later Pete Carroll and Co.
this weekend and was treated to three-plus hourswere ambushed in Corvallis. Great call.- Florida
of frustration, angst and general feelings of dread.State is just 7-9 over the course of its last 16
I took Missouri laying just a couple of points atgames. They have the same problem as Miami -
home against a ho-hum Oklahoma team. Thetoo many head cases and pure athletes and not
Tigers proceeded to lay a fantastic egg, losingenough refined players. Throw in the fact that
26-10 in front of 60,000 disappointed fans.Thisthey've both whiffed on their quarterback signings
game definitely doesn't count as a bad beat, but Iover the past five years and you have two
still feel like I was on the right side on this one.mediocre programs.- This one is courtesy of
Yes, I may be delusional. But I'm taking pills andStuart Mandel, and it explains why Notre Dame
whiskey for that. However, there were fourmay be the most overrated team in football:"In
separate sequences that doomed us. And if one2005, Notre Dame finished 10th nationally in total
of these had gone the other way things likelyoffense. This year it's 34th. The Irish have gone
would've been different:1) Missouri's first drive,from eighth in scoring offense to 37th. Quinn, the
Chase Daniel hit Greg Bracey up the left sidelinenation's seventh-rated passer last season, has
for 46 yards. Bracey barely stepped out ofslipped to 34th. Walker, who averaged 99.7 yards
bounds at the 26-yard line and Mizzou had toper game and 4.7 yards per carry in '05, is
settle for a field goal. A touchdown on theaveraging 82.7 and 4.1 in '06."Notre Dame has
opening drive may have opened the floodgates.2)improved on defense, allowing 64 fewer yards
After a three-and-out on OU's first drive, Missouriper game than it did last year (332.7, down from
took the ball and then suffered the blunder that396.9), but its ranking has only gone up from 75th
changed the game. Tight end Chase Coffmanto 61st. In terms of scoring defense, the Irish
dropped - and when I say dropped think Robinhave actually gone down, from 53rd to 65th."-
Williams in "The Best of Times" - what wouldYou can't say enough about how completely
have been a sure touchdown. That scoredominant Michigan's defense is.- If Ohio State had
would've made it 10-0 and would have opened theto travel to Austin to face Texas right now I
floodgates.3) Trailing 16-3 at halftime, the Tigersthink the result might be a bit different than what
scored in under two minutes the first time theyit was in September. The main reason: the
got the ball in the third quarter. It's now 16-10 andmaturation of Colt McCoy. The young colt has the
Missouri's defense forced another three-and-out.benefit of playing on a veteran squad, but he's still
The Sooners punted and the kick was fielded attwo touchdowns away from tying the school
midfield. The Tigers would have had the ball in OUrecord for touchdown passes (24).- Boston
territory with all the momentum. But an atrociousCollege held Buffalo to -12 rushing yards. The Bulls
roughing-the-kicker penalty occurred when thetop runner had just one yard on nine carries. I
punter landed on an idiotic Missouri rusher.also protest that B.C. may be the ACC's best
Oklahoma scored on the extended drive to go upteam.- Flip a coin to determine the best team in
23-10 and things were looking bleak.4) However,the MAC.- I didn't have a strong feeling either
even after that disheartening drive the Tigersway about last week's Clemson-Virginia Tech
marched down to the Oklahoma 1-yard line.game. But after taking one look at the crowd
However, four terrible play calls (why keep goingabout five minutes before their primetime
to the short side of the field?) the Tigers werematch-up, I ran to my computer and made a
stuffed and the game was essentially over.Again,wager on the Hokies. Clemson really never stood
a loss is a loss and I do apologize. However, I'ma chance in that game, and Blacksburg is still
trying to look at it like that was a game thatintimidating.- You know those elements and that
should have went our way but didn't. That meanswind that dominated the Western
that the Gambling Gods have something big inMichigan-Eastern Michigan game, holding it to 3-3
store for us down the road, and hopefully weat halftime and sending it easily under the
may end up winning a game that we shouldn't.Butprojected 42-point total? I expected that to be
I'll still kick Chase Coffman in the nuts if I everthe situation throughout the Great Lakes states
see him on the street.Anyway, here are somethis weekend, but it wasn't so.The weather clearly
random, scattered thoughts for a bittersweetwas a factor this weekend, as the total posted
weekend of college football:- Two things are goingjust a 22-29 mark.- Where did Washington State
to keep Florida from playing for a nationalcome from? Quarterback Alex Brink is having an
championship or winning their major bowl game.outstanding season and has the Cougars at No. 25
No. 1: they take waaaaaaaaaay too manyin the AP poll and No. 23 in the BCS standings.
penalties. Bettors need to always beware theThey are raking it at 6-3 ATS, and have only lost
sloppy team. No. 2: their kicker is horrendous.SU to powerhouses Auburn, USC and Cal.- Bad
Chris Hetland is just 1-for-7 on the season, andbeat for Baylor backers. They were down 24-21
may lose his job.- The number of wide receiversand Texas A&M seemed perfectly content to run
averaging more than 100 yards per game hasout the clock before Mike Goodson broke a
dropped from 34 in 2005 to 17 in 2006. The64-yard touchdown run with just two minutes to
number of running backs averaging 100 yards hasplay.- Kudos to San Jose State. The Spartans
also been cut in half, from 12 last year to six thishave benefited from a kindergarten schedule (five
year.- I'm calling it right now: neither Louisville norhome games to two away games) en route to a
West Virginia are going to run the table in the Big5-2 SU start. However, the schedule is going to
East. Clearly one of them will lose on Thursday.beef up over the next three weeks and we'll see
But both also have to travel to Pittsburgh andhow they handle three Tecmo Bowl offenses in
neither has faced Rutgers yet, either. Toss inNew Mexico State, Boise State and Hawaii.-
tricky games against teams like Cincinnati andSpeaking of the Rainbow Warriors, Hawaii is the
South Florida and I think both WVU and Louisvillenew Boise State. The Warriors are just
will lose and one of them will have two losses.-dominating people, posting a 5-1-1 ATS mark in
There were 21 games last week where athe meantime. The Broncos, on the other hand,
favorite was posted at six points or less. Theare 8-0 and looking to crash the BCS party but
underdogs went an outstanding 11-10 straight upthey are just 3-4 ATS.- I would say that Texas
in those games. On the whole, underdogs wereChristian's 26-3 demolition of Wyoming was one
just 26-25 ATS.- USC had been flashing all theof the more impressive performances of the
signs of a fading team for weeks. With six-pointweekend. TCU is 5-2, but are just sixth in the
wins over Washington State and Washington, andMountain West. With a favorable schedule in
a seven-point victory over Arizona State, theNovember, look for these Horny Frogs to get
Trojans were stumbling like Drago right before hehot.Questions or comments for Robert? E-mail
got knocked down by Rocky.And how abouthim at Check Doc's Sports site for daily sports
Doc's Sports own Jordan Adams? On Wednesdaybetting articles, NFL Schedules, NFL Odds, and
Adams proclaimed the Trojans as the mostOffshore Betting information.
overrated team in all of football - college or pro.