COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 2 OBSERVATIONS

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

Pic: AP

As expected, all of the talking heads were trashing Saturday's slate of games as not having enough marquee matchups. No, there were no games between ranked teams. Yes, there were many games where the point spread was double-digits. But, as predicted here at EC, the so-called "dissapointing" schedule of games delivered several great games that came down to the wire.

A lot of those nail-biters involved Big Ten teams, and frankly, involved them playing pretty poorly against weak competition. The conference didn't represent itself very well in three contests against Mid-American Conference opponents. Marshall was able to hang with Wisconsin (at least for a half). Minnesota pulled away from Bowling Green with three late TDs, but the two teams were in a dogfight for three quarters. Michigan needed to hold on for dear life against the Miami Redhawks to avoid the second straight upset, and the second straight 0-2 start. And the team that has been picked by just about everyone to win the conference, Ohio State, needed three late TDs to beat Ohio University, and avoid the first loss to an in-state opponent since 1921. That is the subject of our first observation:

- When Chris Wells was hurt, I initially thought that it was not the end of the world for the Buckeyes. I figured they still had plenty of offensive weapons, including a deep RB core behind Wells. Man, was I wrong. Saturday's scare in Columbus served notice as to just how important Wells is to this team's success. Without him in the lineup, the offense could do almost nothing against a MAC team. If Wells does not play, and play well, this weekend at USC, they don't have much of a chance, because the more they put the game in the hands of QB Todd Boeckman, the worse off they will be.

- Everyone is talking about it, but the end of the Washington-BYU game was an utter disgrace. THe NCAA has to take a look at the "excessive celebration" rule and the way that the officials interpret it. If there isn't blatant taunting, then why make the call? Not only that, but you can't make that call in the final seconds of a close game and push the would-be game-tying PAT back 15 yards. Ridiculous. That was probably the last straw for Ty Willingham.

- ECU is apparently legit. Who knew? There are now 4 non-BCS teams in the AP top 25 (ECU, BYU, Fresno St, and Utah).

- Penn State is apparently legit and/or Oregon State is abysmal. A lot of people (myself included) thought the Beavers could be a contender in the Pac-10. After a loss to Stanford and an absolute bludgeoning in Happy Valley, it does not look good.

- As expected, the Ole Miss-Wake game was a great one. Ole Miss is going to be a real contender in the SEC, and Wake Forest looks like the best team in the ACC.

- Cincinnati and West Virginia did not do much for the reputation of the Big East. Even South Florida needed OT to beat Central Florida. The race for worst power conference in America is neck-and-neck between the Big East and the ACC!

- The hype for this Saturday's Ohio State-USC game is going to be intolerable. Get ready.