It’s Clear As Day – Week 7

- The first thing you’ll hear when the media talks about Boise State’s victory over Tulsa was that Oklahoma beat this same team 45-0. It’s garbage. The Sooners beat Tulsa in front of a packed house in Norman, on their own turf in their first home game of the season against a legitimate opponent. Boise State played a totally different Tulsa team than the one the Sooners faced. This Tulsa team was in their comfort zone, in front of their own fans and they still got beat up by a very good Boise State defense. In the fourth quarter, when the game needed to be won by running the ball, the Broncos did just that and sealed a victory. If Boise State’s uniforms said ‘Buckeyes’ instead of ‘Broncos’, they would be ranked second in the BCS polls right now. Give them respect for winning a road game on Thursday night, a spot where every other big team in the country loses, instead of finding reasons to slip BCS teams with poor quarterbacks in front of them.

- Speaking of BCS teams with poor quarterbacks – see what we did there? – Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor is the most disappointing player in college football. There isn’t a close second. All the talk about Pryor’s improved mechanics and accuracy was obviously misguided hype. Jim Tressel doesn’t even know how to use Pryor and it’s obvious that this team doesn’t have any offensive identity. Ohio State is a run-of-the-mill program right now that can be carried in big games by their huge crowd and reputation. Pryor averages about 170 yards per game passing and is easily contained when opposing defensive ends don’t try to become heroes. Every team knows that he’ll beat himself when you make him throw the football. Don’t be surprised when Pryor is moved to wide receiver this fall, a move that will enable Pryor to showcase his superior athletic ability without being depended upon to run an offense.

- Miami still has a shot at the National Championship. If Virginia Tech wins the rest of their games, Miami’s loss to them will look very respectable and the momentum they’ve built could carry the Hurricanes all the way to the top of the BCS charts. Texas would have to lose a bad game and USC would have to drop another one too, but it’s definitely possible. The Hurricanes toughest game the rest of the way is probably at North Carolina. Even though they still have a shot, expect this Hurricane team to drop a few more games. They are bound to have a letdown after such a tough opening-month schedule and face teams that they should beat up on during the rest of their ACC schedule.

- If you look at college football as a whole instead of only focusing on the media darlings, you realize how hard it is to win on the road. Virginia Tech, Ohio State and Kansas all lost to teams on the road that they were favored to beat easily. It makes USC’s road victory over Notre Dame and Cincinnati’s win at South Florida look that much better. Don’t overreact to close wins at home either. You try getting 18-22-year old kids to concentrate week in and week out. The reason teams like Florida, USC, LSU, Alabama and Texas are able to win games when they don’t play well is because they have guys with NFL ability making plays for them. Coaches from these programs can also point to the pro scouts in the stands for motivation against some of their weaker opponents as well. Money is the master motivator for kids who come from tough sections America and are trying to make a better life for their family.

- The Big 12 has a great argument for the title of ‘Best Conference’ for a second straight year. What separates them from other conferences is quarterback play. Colt McCoy is head and shoulders above the pack after Sam Bradford’s injury but players like Todd Reesing (Kansas), Blaine Gabbert (Missouri), Zac Robinson (Oklahoma State) and whoever starts at quarterback for Texas Tech make the Big 12 the most exciting conference to watch on a week to week basis. You could argue that the SEC is stronger because they boast some of the best defensive teams in the country but it all depends on which style of football you prefer. The jaw-dropping athletes on the defensive side of the ball make the SEC a minor league for the NFL but quarterback play in the conference is brutal. We’re about two years away from the NCAA mandating the Big Ten and Big East to play all their games during the week or at 12pm ET so the networks can focus on putting a quality product (SEC, Big 12) on the field from 3:30 ET to primetime, without feeling obligated to run garbage games from the slower conferences. The Pac-10 and ACC are hit or miss and can provide great games or stinkers, but at least the overall speed of their games is quick.

- Does anybody want to win the Heisman Trophy? At this time of the season we usually have four or five players who are fighting to separate themselves from the pack. This year there hasn’t been anyone in the country who has taken the college football world by storm and put themselves in a position to win the stiff armed statue. Tim Tebow is probably leading the race right now but if he continues to put up these pedestrian numbers and wins the Heisman, it would be more of a career achievement award than a reward for a great season. If you based the Trophy on who is having the best year statistically and making the biggest impact on their team, you would have to give it to Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen right now. ‘The Ostrich’ kept the Irish in every game this season and without him they would probably be sitting at 2-4. Clausen makes Golden Tate and Michael Floyd look like All-Americans every week by putting the ball on their numbers more often than not. He is the college version of Drew Brees circa 2008 when he didn’t have a defense to seal victories for him.

- Kirk Ferentz is a great coach and we love what he’s done with the Iowa program. That said, we are praying to the football gods that they lose a game in the next couple weeks so we don’t have to realistically imagine the Hawkeyes playing in the BCS title game. A team that barely pulls off a victory – Iowa beat Northern Iowa 17-16 – against a directional school in their own state, struggles to pull away from Arkansas State and only beats Michigan by two points at home doesn’t belong in the BCS title game. Iowa has a defense filled with future pros and a great offensive line but they don’t have the team speed or the playmakers on the outside to give Texas, Alabama, Florida or USC a good game. We’ve seen this movie before. About 30 minutes into it you can tell how it’s going to end and it’s never pretty for the Big Ten team.

- We’ll use this spot to eat some of our words from the past few weeks. First of all, Mike Leach has better control over his team than we thought. He’s rebounded from a couple losses to in-state teams – Texas and Houston – by a total of 11 points to bully his team to a 5-2 record. The Red Raiders are a top 25 team and we should have given Leach the benefit of the doubt when it looked like his players were rebelling against them. Auburn isn’t nearly as good as we thought they were. We loved the way the Tigers ran the ball and controlled the line of scrimmage, but they’ve been exposed by Arkansas and Kentucky in back to back weeks. Their rush defense is atrocious and they don’t have enough offensive firepower to score points in bunches. They still have a reasonably bright future but this team isn’t an SEC threat this year.