What a weekend

I know I say this every weekend, but it was a great sports weekend. Not so much for some of the teams I follow, but there was plenty to watch.

Even though this is a football blog, let me start with baseball. I've watched closely as the Mets and Padres have tanked their seasons over the last few days. ESPN covers it extensively and asks people to rank the Mets' collapse with other chokes. When I was on people put it at the top, which I find ridiculous, given the other choices.

At least the Padres get a chance at redemption tomorrow (7:30 Eastern on TBS). Likely Cy Young winner Jake Peavy takes the mound in Denver against Josh Fogg. That the Padres are only -145 favorites in this pitching match-up speaks volumes about the direction in which these teams are headed.

Isn't it ironic that Tony Gwynn's son might be responsible for keeping the Pads out of the playoffs?

Okay, back to football, the stated topic of our little blog.

On Friday, River Hill (Clarksville) continued to make their case to be the best team in the Baltimore area by posting a 57-0 win over Hammond (Columbia). They have now outscored their opponents 184-0 in four games. They take on Howard County's only other undefeated team, Wilde Lake (Columbia) this Friday. We'll have a preview of the key players on Thursday.

Michael Campanaro accounted for five TDs on Friday. Read more about this weekend's top performers here.

In the D.C. area, DeMatha rolled St. John's 35-6. Friendly (Fort Washington), likely the state's best team, beat McDonough(Pomfret) 40-0.

Call Saturday what you will —"upset Saturday," "train wreck Saturday" — five of the Top 10 went down. Of the five who did win, only Ohio State did so easily.

It would be easy to attribute several of these upsets to look-ahead games: LSU and Florida and Texas and Oklahoma all face off next week. In Texas' case, I just don't think the Longhorns are that good.

Of all the teams I've watched thus far, I am most impressed by Ohio State, who dominated Minnesota. Their defense is scary good. I'm not sure that Wisconsin will be able to score more than 20 against them.

That may not be enough fr a Wisky win, because the Badgers defense has been scary bad. When Jack Ikegwuonu has missed time, like against the Citadel and saturday's 37-34 close call against Michigan State, they seem incapable of making a stop. They did however come up with big third and fourth down stops against the Spartans.

Ike was suffering from an unidentified illness. The State Journal discusses the D0 here.

Wisconsin is off to Champaign this weekend to take on Illinois, who is really good. I don't know how Ron Zook talked all these kids into attending Illinois, but I expect they'll beat at least one more ranked team this year.

Before we leave the Big 10, I want everyone to see the uniforms the Gophers wore on Saturday by clicking on that link. Looks like they saw the Eagles' ugly challenge and raised.


Leaving the Big Ten behind, how wide open is the Big 12 now? I still feel like Oklahoma is the favorite. Missouri is probably the team to beat in the North, but it appears Colorado and Kansas State have the ability to push them.

In the ACC, how about Maryland's win at Rutgers? Nothing like a total meltdown to inspire you to upset a Top 10 team on the road the following week. I didn't watch a lot of this game, but I think the box score tells the story. Run the ball. Run it some more. 239 yards on the ground! Here's a Post story.


South Florida should request a patent on how to beat West Virginia. Rutgers' loss puts the Bulls in the Big East penthouse, but as Louisville and Rutgers found out last year, it's not always an easy place to stay.

Holy crap! It's midnight. Look for more this week.

--Nate Sandstrom

Lockdown

Well, I took the lead in my picks pool last week going 7-3 in weekend college football action. Here are my locks for the weekend, one for each day. I am not responsible for your mortgage payment. Picking three favorites doesn't bode well.

Rutgers (-15.5) vs. Navy
Rutgers won at Navy 34-0 last year. Navy only beat Temple 30-19 last week, although they did out-yardage the Owls by 166 yards.
The Scarlet Knights should be focused. This game is sandwiched between Buffalo and Norfolk St.
Rutgers 35 Navy 14

Nebraska (-8) at Wake Forest
Nebraska won 31-3 in ’05 meeting, but game was closer than the score (3 defensive TDs on turnovers) and the drop off from injured Wake QB Riley Skinner to Brett Hodges may not be too much.
But Nebraska looked scary good against Nevada, and the Wake defense against an overrated BC squad? Not so much.
Nebraska 41 Wake Forest 21

Dallas (-6) vs. N.Y. Giants
I think Dallas is the most overrated team in the league. This is how little I think of the Giants.
The last two between have been high-scoring affairs, but I foresee defense playing a bigger role in this game. I don’t know how the Giants are going to move the ball without Tiki, who clearly knows everything.
If it matters, I’m going against a trend of the Giants covering in their last three trips to Dallas.
Dallas 20 N.Y. Giants 6

Upset Special
N.C. State (+14.5) at Boston College
Yes, they lost to C. Florida. Yes, they lost Toney Baker and Anthony Hill for the season. But I love former coaches taking on their old team.
Tom O’Brien returns to Alumni Stadium wearing Wolfpack Red, with a team that edged a much better B.C. team on a 34-yd TD pass with eight seconds left last year.
N.C. State’s rush defense got gouged last week, but running the ball is not exactly the Eagles strength.
N.C. State 27 Boston College 24

--Nate Sandstrom