Another week in the books and that means, we’ve got some more knowledge for the season. A couple of overtime performances but some stellar performances all around for us to pull from. Believe it or not, one of the takeaways from the week actually impacts the playoffs. We’ll get into that, but first…
1) OHLE THE GREAT
On a week where young quarterbacks seemingly “allowed” overtime to roll in. Doug Ohle put the kibosh on that for his Huskies. A tightly contested game between Washington and Auburn where it was coming down to the wire. Auburn’s offense couldn’t put up the points and the pressure on Washington. So from about midfield, with time running out, Ohle avoided the third straight overtime game of the week. One throw and a wide open Lord Helix later saw the Huskies escape with victory. Doug Ohle may not always put up major numbers, but he knows how to win close games.
2) THE TURNOVER KINGS
To the surprise of some, Ohio State has been the early Big Ten favorite. That’s not a shot at Oregon, as both are 2-0, but Ohio State has handled their business easily for two straight weeks. Why is that? How about the fact that this Ohio State defense has forced seven turnovers in the span of two weeks. They forced four in week one, and then three this week. Corner Tom Pence had an interception, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery, which he took 22 yards for a score. The quadfecta, and it helped the Buckeyes to win.
3) NEEDING MORE TIME
Normally, teams are able to settle business in regulation. Meaning, it should only take four quarters for a victor to be decided. Not this week though. Three games went into overtime. Oregon-Florida, Notre Dame-Texas, and Penn State-Miami. That last one took three overtime periods before a victor was decided, and if it wasn’t for safety LaQuarius David we might have seen four overtime periods. Even still, it adds to how impressive this week was. Florida barely had a shot in overtime, since on the first carry of the period, halfback Avery Jordan gave the ball to Oregon (in part because of safety Shaka Black) for the Ducks to seal the game up. Notre Dame had to fight their way back to force overtime, much like Miami did. And then, the Notre Dame defense did their part in the first overtime period.
4) REBOUNDS AND HEARTBREAKS
Some teams managed to respond well from a week ago. Teams like Washington, Notre Dame, and Penn State all looked much better this week than they did in week one. The Huskies and Fighting Irish won their games while Penn State fell just short in the third overtime period. Other teams, like Michigan and TCU, couldn’t quite say the same. Not everybody can win, but a couple teams have got some tinkering left to do before they enter into conference play which determines who goes to the playoffs.
5) SEC = B1G?
Speaking of the playoffs, here’s that point I promised. The claim of the SEC being better than the Big Ten just got quelled this week. Last week, the SEC went 4-2 against the Big Ten. But the script got flipped this week. The Big Ten went 4-2 against the SEC. Add that to how close a lot of the games were this week, and how close the Orange Bowl has been for the last three seasons and this argument can be put to bed. The SEC is not infinitely superior to the Big Ten. They looked pretty even to me in the first two weeks of the season. How does that impact the playoffs? Means when they roll around, it could be anyone’s game and don’t bank on an SEC vs. SEC title game either.
Once again, there’s a lot more we could have covered, but for two weeks of action, we’ve seen a lot change. Some teams have defied expectations, some have met them, others are left wanting. Week three is on the way, and that will be previewed on the Inside Blitz Podcast on Monday at 6:00 P.M. CST. Plus, who knows what storylines will be debated then. Enjoy the weekend all!
