The College Football Index

Week 1 Final, Aug 31

2: Headlnes about a death or a suspension for rules violation, each, out of the 8 headlines on ESPNís college football page Tuesday afternoon.

1: Years of eligibility remaning for former Michigan State center Brian Ottney when he left school and moved to LA last year. He had a seizure and died Tuesday.



STAT OF THE WEEK:

6: Methods of scoring used by Texas against NMSU in a 10-minute span of the 2nd Q (in order: Kickoff return, TD run, Interception return, FG, TD Pass and PATs)



20, 7: Minutes into the game it took UT begin that scoring and points by which they trailed NMSU when they did.

7: Methods, total, used by UT by the end of the game to win 66-7 (Punt return for TD in 4th).

3: Methods I can think of that UT failed to use (safety, fumble return, 2-pt play)

1: Punts and Kickoffs returned for Tds, each, by Selvin Young.

1: UTís margin of victory in the first-downs war (17-16).

21, 1: Yards and rushing touchdowns by which Texasí back-up QB Vincent Young outrushed and outscored superback Cedric Benson (61-2 to 40-1) ñ that stat comes courtesy of our Hookíem Correspondent, the Rabbi. Hookíem Emergency Back-up Correspondent Lein wrote a teee-rific rant on the talent of Young which I can pass along.





STAT OF THE WEEK RUNNER-UP:

8: Oíclock, in the AM, when myself, Mandy and the rabbi were at Anchorage sports bar The Peanut Farm for kickoff of UGA-Clemson.

Index Recommends: breakfeast burrito.

2: Empty tables in the house, out of about 30. We love our football in the 49th state!

5: Top 25 games on Peanut Farm screens. Head on a swivel, head on a swivel quick quick quick!



17: unanswered points scored by Wisconsin on the road in 24-17, final-minute win over West Virginia.

2: Rank of WVU-Wisconsin on games of the week, behind only the amazing Maryland-Northern Illini Thursday game.

1: Rank, of defensive plays of the weekend, of WVUís leaping, step-behind, tip-at-the-last-possible-second pass deflection in the 2nd Q. Unbelievable play.

2: Bad results of 3rd down play Wisconsin should have gotten in the 4th deep in WVU territory, down 17-10. Wisc QB Lee Evans got hit twice in the backfield and scrambled WAY too long not to get sacked, then, against the sideline he let loose a prayer of a lob down the sideline, into a group of about 6 guys, only one of which wasnít from WVU. Should have been a sack, then should have been intercepted. Instead, it was 17-17. And it seemed like every play was like that. Just a terrific game.



0: Touchdowns given up by USCís first-team defense in its last 4 games.

0: Total money-time experience of USCís key offensive players going into Auburn ñ rookie sophomore running back Hershel Dennis ran the ball for 85 and rookie sophomore QB Matt Leinhart came up with 2 Tds, 23 points and no turnovers. They collectively replaced Heisman-winner Blaine and Raiders steal-of-the-draft Justin Fargas. Iímnot saying either is the second-coming of anybody. But what that proves ñ the same way that weird orbits of far-away stars prove the existence of planets you canít see ñ is that SCís O line is good to go.

2: fumbles forced on consecutive plays in the 3rd Q by USC LB Matt Grootengood, the second of which USC recovered. What was most amazing was that he forced the first fumble from the QB as he sacked him, and on the next play knocked the ball loose from a receiver 20 yards downfield ñ just about as all-over-the-field as you can be, and my snapshot moment of USCís swarming, suffocating defense.

3,4,1: Plays it took USC to convert Auburnís 3 turnovers into 7, 3 and 7 points, which in a 23-0 game is pretty much your whole ballgame.



15, 11, 9, 8: length, in games, of nationís top 4 winning streaks ñ Ohio State, Boise St. USC and K State.



8: UGA players suspended going into Clemson.

2: Defensive starters out with injuries for the game.
0: Returning starters on the Dline.

85-15: Combined score of last 2 Clemson games.

1,000: number of times me, mandy and the rabbi made a ìstreet smartsî joke, after ABC ranked Clemsonís QBís strengths as ìStreet smartsî and ìgreat touchî (ie: canít throw long, canít throw hard).

3: Yardline Clemson was on, trailing only 16-0 in the 4th, when olí Street Smarts threw it straight to UGAís unbelievable David Pollack in the endzone. Ball game.



As a note, I think its important to realize that UGA and USCís twin road shutouts, though totally impressive, were actually very close games until late, where, in both cases, the losing defense realized its sorry offense wasnít going to win and just deflated. About half of both teamís points came in the 4th, after key last-gasp plays went bad.

Neither UGA nor SC showed off an unstoppable offense.

Both, however, showed unbelievable defense.



5: passing plays out of Clarett-less Ohio Stateís first 6 plays.

2: Rushing Tds for Ohio State QB Craig Krenzel, who is my Heisman winner ëtil somebody takes it away.

58: Yards rushing from OSU back named Maurice ñ Maurice Hall.

8: Ohio State homes games last year.

8: Same stat, this year.

0: points at halftime for Washington, which meant my picks for 1 and 2 were scoreless and dominated for the first 6 quarters of the year.



10: points South Florida simply handed over to Alabama in the final minute of the first half of their game ñ on a long pass to set up a TD, then by FUMBLING the ensuing kick-off. So rather than leading 17-7 on the road against a badly rattled, major program with a new, highly questionable coach that gets booed into the tunnel by its fans, they were instead tied 17-up to a major program on the road with an ecstatic sellout crowd and that just realized it was at least 4 TDS better than you. Fair to say Bama, with no less than OU next weekend, was a PERFECT look-ahead victim, and SF, as eminem might say, let it slip.

2: Number of times CBSís announcing team referred to Auburn as ìthe plains