That was one of the most entertaining games I’ve seen in awhile.  Both teams played a ton of great football on the offensive side of the ball and neither played much defense.  Let me say this, I do not think Jake Locker is NFL ready.  Not even close.  I think that another year with his new coaches and his new system, and I have no problem putting him among the top QB prospects for the 2011 draft.  But this year, he’s just not in the conversation.

On the other hand Jimmy Clausen is NFL ready.  He throws a great deep ball, plays in a pro style offense and has really grown into(meaning physically) a bigtime quarterback.  That Notre Dame team is deep at the skills positions, but it’s Clausen that makes it go.

Back to the game.  This one had so much offense, you have to realize the Fighting Irish only punted twice.  This was a case where both team’s defense played tentative all game long and the offenses exploited it.  You can’t fault the offenses in this game, but anytime more than 80 points are scored the focus for next week for both teams has to be why neither seemed to be able to stop anyone.

Overall a fun game to watch and just puts me more on the Jimmy Clausen bandwagon.

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.  I tweeted yesterday about this game with a very interesting fact.  In college football a team that blocks a punt wins 88% of the time.  And no team has blocked more punts than Frank Beamers Virginia Tech team.

Well lo and behold, the Hokies block a punt for a touchdown, and it carries them to a dominant win over the Hurricanes.  This game was far more one sided than I expected.  The Hokies were able to come out and establish the run game early and maintained it in a game that took place in a steady rain.

On the other side, the Miami run game got stuffed in a hurry and they just could never sustain any drives.  Any Heisman votes Jacory Harris got last week, he probably lost as he was never able to get in any sort of rhythm.  Granted Va. Tech QB Tyrod Taylor didn’t have great numbers either but considering the weather, it was to be expected.

This game was a great example of how a physical team can negate the advantage of speed.  A big part of that came from the weather, but make no mistake the Hokies came out to beat the Hurricanes down, and they did just that.  The most interesting part of this will be how to does the U rebound this week when the Sooners come to town.  Did what Tech did to them linger or will they rebound?  Regardless a team that was all over the national spotlight, not only for the team, but for a quarterback who was all over Heisman ballots, went into a hostile environment and laid an egg the size of the Orange Bowl.

Ya know, I was in the midst of writing an article about how Ole Miss was the most overrated team in the country.   Then Cal goes and mucks that all up for me.  Sorry Cal Bears but I said in my preview if you went in complacent, you could be in for trouble and not only were you in trouble, you got schooled.  I give huge props to the Oregon coaching staff.  They had their team ready and the the Ducks simply out played, out executed, out hustled, out hit, out everything’d the Bears.

And speaking of the Bears.  Shame on me for praising your defense.  You laid down like dogs.  You let a backup running back run all over you, generated almost no pass rush, and allowed Jeremiah Masoli to complete 84% of his passes and 3 touchdowns.

I plan to watch this game again, because I just have to see more specifically what went wrong, but on the surface, it seemed to me that one team really wanted to win and another team just expected to win.  The PAC-10 is still wide open, and Cal could not have done less for their cause than to gaff today.

Football is upon us fanatics.  This week, I decided to flip the script a little.  I normally do my breakdowns of the games I think you have to watch and why.  I still plan to do a little of that, but this weekend, it’s going to be less about the games, and more about the players.  I have a 2 pack of games for you all, but I have my 6 guys you can’t miss for this weekend of football.

My game of the week, and everyone’s game of the week should be (9)Miami traveling to play (11) Virginia Tech.  Miami has been the biggest surprise of the season and have overachieved behind Heisman frontrunner Jacory Harris at quarterback.  But I think the forgotten group in Miami’s asscension is the defense.  A unit that really didn’t have much in the way of expectations has showed themselves to be stout and athletic.  Anytime you travel to Blacksburg, defense is the buzzword.  Tech’s defense has been good for a long time, but this year they have been much more yielding.

The winner here is going to be the team that can control the line of scrimmage.  Both lines have played well for both teams, but for Miami, they’ve shown an explosive offense, while Tech has been less flashy more of a grind it out on the ground and get that run game going to keep Harris off the field.  On paper, Miami looks to be a much more talented team but when you play in Blacksburg anything can happen.  I expect a hard fought physical football game, and an upset looming

The only other game I want to talk about is Cal at Oregon.  I think most people left Oregon for dead, after their loss to Boise State but they’ve rallied, beating Purdue and Utah.  Cal on the other hand is undefeated and have their eyes on the prize and that’s the PAC-10 title anda BCS bowl birth.  Cal is always been loaded on offense, but this year their defense has really stepped up his game.  For Oregon to be successful running back LaMichael James filling in for suspended back LaGarrett Blount is going to have to really get things moving and that means the offensive line is going to have their best game of the year.  Oh, and if Masoli has another game like he did against Minnesota this one will be over quick.

Speaking of running backs, Cal happens to have a pretty good one themselves in Jahvid Best.  With some injuries on offense, Cal is going to ride Best as far at they can. If Cal comes out complacent, they could be in for big trouble.

Who I’ll be keeping an eye on

Ryan Matthews, RB Fresno State-Probably the most explosive back in the country right now, he’s the only hope of the Bulldogs to upset the Bearcats.  Cinci’s defense is solid, bu Matthews is averaging 9 ypc.  Fresno State need to get him going, and keep him on the field, to keep that explosive Bearcat offense on the sidelines.

Colt McCoy, QB Texas-McCoy has been less than stellar thus far this year, so I am hoping to see him open things up some and really start putting up the kind of numbers we expect of him.

Ryan Mallett, QB Arkansas-Mallett has been such a huge get for the Razorbacks, and you can see him each week get better and better.  This week, Alabama poses a huge potential roadblock in his development but in reality has could seriously put himself on the national map.

Arrelious Benn, WR Illinois-After coming into the season under much hype as one of the top pass catchers, he’s laid a massive egg.  He went catchless against Illinois State! He’s got a huge stage this weekend against Ohio State before his stock falls any further.

Jacory Harris, QB Miami-I realize this might be overly obvious, but this really is a make or break week for him.  If he can lead his Hurricane team past the Hokies on the road, it’ll cement him at the top of the Heisman polls everywhere.

Tim Tebow, QB Florida-Make no mistake, Tebow didn’t have a great game last week against Tennessee.  Granted the Gators won, and that’s all that matters, but on some level if you are Tebow, hoping for a second National Title, a second Heisman Trophy and a shot at being a high draft pick it’s not about what you did, but what you are going to do next.