National Review: Week Three

Heh, Silas.

Game of the Week: (21) Stanford 21 - (2) USC 14

You can always count on USC to lose one game they're supposed to win. After a scare from Syracuse last week, it was the Trees who did the Trojans in this year, shocking the Fightin' Kiffins in Palo Alto by a score of 21-14. The Stanford win capped the team's perfect mark against quarterback Matt Barkley, who will leave USC 0-4 against the Cardinal. The former #25 had two touchdowns on 13 carries for a whopping 17 yards.

It still might be premature to say that Silas will not win a national title this year though. While Alabama-LSU IV looks like a possible January matchup, there's nothing saying the Tigers' first and second-string quarterbacks won't go down, leaving Rob Bolden to lead them through the SEC. Hey, it could happen.

Best of the Rest

Pittsburgh 35 - (13) Virginia Tech 17

Two of BSD's favorite punching bags went at it on Saturday, a true battle of the titans: LOLPitt vs. The Elite-est Team This Side Of The Mississippi (And The Other Side As Well). After a blowout loss to Cincinnati which followed a loss to FCS opponent Youngstown State, Pitt was looking for a spark to get their season going and it came in the form of the Chokies who allowed their future ACC mates put 537 yards of offense on the board, Pitt's highest total since 2000. It was the fourth time in the past five years that Virginia Tech lost an August/September game when they were ranked in the top-15. Tino Sunseri, who seems to be playing in his tenth year at Pitt, threw for three touchdowns while Ray Graham ran for another two.

(19) Louisville 39 - North Carolina 34

While Pitt was pretending to be a real football team for one week, preseason favorite to win the Big East, Louisville, nearly blew a 36-7 halftime lead to North Carolina, but hung on for a 39-34 victory. The Cardinals moved to 3-0 on the season, keeping up with Cincinnati and Rutgers who are also undefeated Big East teams.

Of course Denard Robinson will continue to be talked about as a Heisman contender even though he got lit up by the Alabama defense, but here's a name to consider for the list: Louisville QB Teddy Bridgewater. Through three games, he is completing 82% of his passes for 855 yards and five touchdowns. Not mind-numbing stats by any stretch of the imagination, but there's no one blowing away the pack yet so far in the early season.

Utah 24 - (25) BYU 21

In the Holy War, BYU missed two kicks in the final second (getting a second chance due to penalty), Utah fans rushed the field three different times and the Utes came out with a 24-21 victory. Who knew that the Penn State basketball student section made the trip out to Salt Lake City this weekend?

Auburn 31 - Louisiana-Monroe - 28 (OT)

The Warhawks of ULM almost took control of the SEC West on Saturday, coming back from a 28-14 defecit against winless Auburn, but a Cody Parkey field goal in overtime thwarted a second upset bid and got the Tigers their first win of the season. Kolton Browning followed up his stellar performance from last week against Arkansas with 237 yards passing to go along with 58 rushing yards and four total touchdowns. Louisiana-Monroe continues its tough early schedule next week against Baylor, under the lights in Waco.

Western Kentucky 32 - Kentucky 31 (OT)

Speaking of the almighty SEC, Kentucky lost again. After an opening weekend loss to state rival Louisville, the Hilltoppers from Bowling Green made the trip north to Lexington to beat the Wildcats on a halfback pass on the two-point conversion in overtime to win it. That's two Sun Belt wins over the SEC in the past two weeks. Look, the Big Ten isn't showing much this year, but please, go on and tell us how great the SEC is from top to bottom.

I also included this in here because I spent a summer at WKU on an internship and watched a few practices when they were going through winless seasons. It's great to see a team five years into the FBS start to succeed.

Notable Hilltopper alumnus: Rod "He Hate Me' Smart

Best Of The Rest

(1) Alabama 52 - Arkansas 0

(5) Florida State 52 - Wake Forest 0

(9) West Virginia 42 - James Madison 12

(14) Texas 66 - Ole Miss 31

(16) TCU 20 - Kansas 6

(18) Florida 37 - (23) Tennessee 20

Rutgers 23 - South Florida 13

Hawaii 54 - Lamar 2

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