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College Football: Week 8 Recap By Michael Rauch

Week 8 produced some outstanding college football over the weekend. Nail-biters, stunning comebacks, surprises both good and bad. Let’s take a look at what happened conference by conference.

Atlantic Coast Conference
The premier match up between #12 Clemson and #13 Georgia Tech proved to be anything but. The Tigers gashed the Yellowjacket defense for 338 yards on the ground and produced two 100-yard runners in James Davis (21 carries, 216 yards) and C.J. Spiller (16, 116) in the 31-7 victory. Georgia Tech just didn’t show up. Quarterback Reggie Ball didn’t look right all night and did not complete a single pass to the game’s best receiver, Calvin Johnson. It was a game Clemson had to have to keep pace with Boston College in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. BC had handed a loss to Florida State earlier in the day and holds the tiebreaker in the division with their win over Clemson.

Clemson’s toughest remaining game is Thursday night in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech. The Tigers finish out the season with three home games against an improved Maryland team, North Carolina State and South Carolina. Boston College has a much tougher road with games remaining at Wake Forest and at Miami.

In the conference’s Coastal Division, Georgia Tech took a huge hit in the aforementioned loss to Clemson. That makes the Yellowjackets’ game this weekend against the Hurricanes huge for supremacy in the division. But Georgia Tech has the easier schedule after that with Miami still having to face Virginia Tech and Boston College.

Big 12
In the big game for the Big 12 over the weekend, Texas pulled off a close one in Lincoln against Nebraska with a walk-on kicker booting through the winning field goal with 22 seconds left in swirling snow. Although watching the game, it looked like Texas was better on both sides of the ball. But two missed field goals, a blocked extra point, the Longhorns’ suspect secondary and some inventive play-calling kept the Cornhuskers in it. Some have second-guessed Bill Callahan’s decision to call a pass on a third down in their own territory with less than two minutes on the clock. Personally, I found it refreshing to see a coach call plays to win rather than not to lose.

That game could very well have been a preview of the Big 12 championship game. Texas’ biggest tests will be this coming Saturday in Lubbock against Texas Tech and their season-ending rivalry game with Texas A&M. Nebraska has competition from Missouri in the North and the two will face off in two weeks in Lincoln. The Cornhuskers also travel to College Station to face the Aggies.

Speaking of Missouri, the next two weeks will go a long way in telling the Tigers’ fortunes this season. Back-to-back games against Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Big 10
Michigan and Ohio State continue to be the class of the Big 10, looking forward to their showdown at the Horseshoe on November 18. Both teams have cake walks between now and November with Michigan facing Northwestern, Ball State and Indiana while Ohio State takes on Minnesota, Illinois and Northwestern. Barring an upset of gargantuan proportions both should go into the game undefeated.

Wisconsin at 4-1 in conference play does not face Ohio State this year, with its only loss being to Michigan. The Badgers still have to face Penn State and Iowa.

Of course the big news out the Big 10 last week was Michigan States improbable comeback against Northwestern. Down 38-3 in the third quarter, the Spartans came all the way back for a 41-38 victory. This was the biggest comeback in Division 1-A history (or the biggest collapse for all you pessimists).

Pac 10
Cal survived a scare at home against a better-than-expected Washington team. Without starting QB Isiah Stanback, the Huskies took Cal to overtime thanks to a 40-yard TD pass from backup Carl Bonnell as time expired. The Golden Bears took care of business in overtime to keep their conference record unblemished.

USC was idle, but all eyes remain on the upcoming match up between the Trojans and Golden Bears on November 18 at the Coliseum.

Southeastern Conference
The big game had Tennessee holding off Alabama 16-13 in a classic SEC defensive struggle. The East looks to be Florida’s to lose. They hold an advantage over Tennessee when they defeated the Vols earlier in the season and their remaining schedule is a tad less treacherous. The Gators’ biggest tests should come this weekend against Georgia and November 25 at Florida State. Tennessee, meanwhile, has upcoming games at South Carolina, against LSU and at Arkansas.

In the West, Arkansas controls its own destiny virtue of the Razorbacks stunner against Auburn. The Hogs have two big tests upcoming when Tennessee visits on November 11 and LSU comes to town on November 24. Auburn’s road is a little easier with no ranked teams left on the schedule, although Georgia could provide some resistance and the season-ender against Alabama is always a war.

Big East
Three teams sitting at 7-0. West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers. All three play each other in the coming weeks. If any one of the three comes out unscathed it could make for some interesting debate come BCS time.

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