College Football Separation Saturday

Three weeks into the college football season and we have our first look as to who will be some of the serious contenders for this year’s national championship with “Separation Saturday.” Don’t you just love these corny names? I guess it gives jobs to the people who excelled in creative writing. Anyway, I thought it at the beginning of the season and I really know it know. There are no great teams this year. No one is great like Miami, USC and Texas of these past four or five years. It will be exciting this season because so many teams are even but none will be great enough to tell your grandchildren about someday.
The most surprising game of the day was definitely Michigan-Norte Dame at South Bend. Everyone knew Norte Dame had big problems after the Fiesta Bowl last year with Ohio State but no one was willing to admit it. The secondary again was exposed as weak spot with quarterback Chad Henne hooking up with Mario Manningham for 137 yards and three touchdowns in a 47-21 Wolverine victory. The offense also failed to impress with Brady Quinn throwing three interceptions and Darius Walker amassing a 60 total yards. Admitting is the first step to a problem and I think we all did that by realizing that Norte Dame is not a great team. Michigan will ride this high for awhile but they will not playing for a national championship because they will get beat by Ohio State.
USC proved that yes, they really are pretty good. John David Booty is going to be another phenomenal quarterback like Palmer and Leinart before him. They have numerous running backs and wide receivers that will be playing on Sundays and their defense is better than a year ago. I called it three weeks ago and I’m sticking with it, the Trojans will be playing in the national championship game. Their surgical dismantling of Nebraska (a touchdown in each quarter) was peerless in a 28-10 win. Booty threw for three touchdowns and three different running backs combining 144 yards. The Cornhuskers might be on the up but they aren’t ready for the big time quite yet.
Auburn showed that they were ready to contend after a 7-3 slugfest over LSU. The victory wasn’t pretty but they got the job done and in the SEC it is about survival not about winning glamorously. Auburn showed the toughness to grind out results and Eric Brock’s game saving tackle inside the five yard line summed up that attitude. It will be surprise if they make it through the SEC undefeated for a second time in three years but after Saturday, we know that they will be ready to battle it out every weekend.
Chris Leak led Florida to a gritty 21-20 over Tennessee by throwing three touchdowns including the game winner. Urban Meyer has the Gators on the right path, but like Auburn, the chances of making it through the SEC undefeated may prove to be to difficult.
Oklahoma’s already fragile national championship hopes were dealt a huge blow with their loss 34-33 loss to Oregon. Despite Adrian Peterson’s 211 yards on 34 carries, the Sooners fell victim to bad luck and bad officiating. Did that onside kick really go ten yards and was that really enough contact to call pass interference that late? There are still glitches to be worked out in the instant replay system. OU however, still had a chance to win the game but the Ducks did well to block the field goal attempt. OU will now have to regroup with conference play right around the corner.
Florida State proved that, yes, they were overrated with their 27-20 loss to Clemson. Is anyone else getting the feeling that the ACC is kind of weird? On any day, anybody could win, they have no consistently good teams.
To wrap it up, Ohio State, West Virginia, Georgia and Virginia Tech all won big to maintain their perfect seasons. The Buckeyes are now the undoubted #1.
We now have a clearer national title picture and I’m still good on my picks from a previous column that USC and Ohio State would be playing in the national championship game. But this is a wide open college football season where everything can change in weekend so stay on your toes and don’t make any of your bets to large.