Ferringo College Report: Oklahoma in Trouble After Peterson Injury
By Robert Ferringo of Doc's Sports Picks
Here are the few college football thoughts I could pull out of my hazy memory from last weekend:
- To me - not to sound like some WE-watching, Oprah-loving woman - the most heart-breaking story of the weekend was the Adrian Peterson injury. The guy was playing in front of his father for the first time ever in college - even though his father is a felon and drug dealer - and he broke his collarbone scoring his second TD in garbage time of their 34-9 victory over Iowa State. Karma?
I'm actually really surprised this doesn't happen more often. With all of the hits that RBs and QBs take, why the hell would someone recklessly throw their body into the end zone to celebrate? Hitting the ground hurts, man. I don't care if you are wearing pads. In fact, I retract feeling bad for AP. He's now in the Gus Frerotte Hall of Fame for ridiculous sports injuries suffered while celebrating a touchdown.
Also, I would have to say that I was quite surprised that the Sooners were installed as 13-point favorites this weekend over Colorado. I know the Buffaloes have been a disaster, but it's still tough to bounce back after losing one of the top five skill players in the nation.
- That's too bad about Navy quarterback Brian Hampton. I'm very interested to see how that Rutgers game would have went if he hadn't dislocated his knee about nine minutes in. Also, I think Navy definitely would've been big trouble for Notre Dame, but not with a doe-eyed QB leading the way.
- I guess everyone can get off the Florida bandwagon now. Tommy Tuberville was right: there's no way anyone was going undefeated in the SEC. I still think that it's the best conference, and I still think that the winner of the SEC championship - Florida, Tennessee, Auburn or LSU - should face Ohio State.
- Anyone who gets hot and bothered by the first BCS rankings is a degenerate. (Also, I love how ESPN touts this stuff as a Big Deal, then tells people not to overreact, then has its commentators talk about not overreacting ad nauseum, then brings on some idiot to do nothing but rant and rave about the BCS. Someone bomb Bristol.)
- I'm still kicking myself about not going big on Boston College last week. But it's the same thing every week as QB Matt Ryan is the Steve McNair of the NCAA. You just never know how healthy that guy is going to be. He's already been pegged as questionable again this weekend as the Eagles head to Florida State.
- It's amazing to me that West Virginia scores as many points as they do even though they only throw the ball around 15 times per game. I mean, Pat White and Steve Slaton running for 410 rushing yards IN ONE GAME is something that we haven't seen since Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen were a combo on Tecmo Bowl.
- I can't believe that people are still getting sucked into betting on Southern Cal. They are a good team, there's no doubt about it. But they've been ravaged by injuries and are nowhere near the dynasty that they once were. They would lose by about 17 to West Virginia, Ohio State or Florida.
While we're at it, Virginia Tech (representative of the entire ACC) and Georgia getting upset really shouldn't have been much of a surprise to anyone. OK, so it's odd that the Bulldogs lost outright, but they've been squeaking by inferior competition for about a month now. Va. Tech is just awful. They beat up a bunch of cupcakes and they earned their ranking on reputation alone. Again, just like the ACC.
- Those of you that thought that this was the weekend Fresno State got in the win column were, um, wrong.
- God hates mimes.
- I really like Nebraska.
- There is no truth to the rumor that a Florida International player shanked a Miami player, and then was offered a scholarship to play for the Hurricanes. That is patently false. Remember: Miami was the victim.
Oh, and ESPN was not exploiting violence for profit and ratings by replaying the footage of the brawl over and over and over and over and over and over again. Mickey and Minnie would never do something like that.
- Tough times for Toledo quarterback Clint Cochran. His mysterious injury has been more top secret than Iranian nuclear secrets, but he got on the field for the first time in about a month last weekend against the suddenly potent Kent State. Cochran's two series went thusly: incompletion, INT returned for a touchdown, completion for -3 yards, sack, and incompletion. Thanks for coming out.
- Free Lamar Thomas!!!
- Keep an eye on news out of Iowa State about quarterback Bret Meyer. He was absolutely creamed by OU's Rufus Alexander at the end of last week's game. A cheap shot, really. It could be a concussion and there could be lingering effects.
- Damn you N.C. State!!! The Wolfpack had gone up on Wake Forest 14-10 and had seized control of the game. Some schlub hit a 53-yard field goal with about two minutes left in the half to cut it to 14-13, but all the momentum is with State. Sure enough: safety, free kick, touchdown. The Deacons scored 12 points (random number) in 1 minute, 41 seconds and my cover sailed away. You get what you deserve, Amato.
- Here are my own personal rankings of the BCS conferences:
1) SEC
2) Big 10
3) Pac-10
4) Big East
5) Big 12
6) Sun Belt
7) ACC
OK, so the Sun Belt thing is a joke. But I can't stress enough how awful the ACC is.
Questions or comments for Robert? E-mail him at robert@docsports.com or check out his Insider Page here.
