Ferringo College Football Report: Miami, FSU not Only Florida Teams in Trouble

Well, I had my College Game of the Month going thisin all of football - college or pro. Just three short days
weekend and was treated to three-plus hours oflater Pete Carroll and Co. were ambushed in Corvallis.
frustration, angst and general feelings of dread. IGreat call.- Florida State is just 7-9 over the course
took Missouri laying just a couple of points at homeof its last 16 games. They have the same problem as
against a ho-hum Oklahoma team. The TigersMiami - too many head cases and pure athletes and
proceeded to lay a fantastic egg, losing 26-10 in frontnot enough refined players. Throw in the fact that
of 60,000 disappointed fans.This game definitelythey've both whiffed on their quarterback signings
doesn't count as a bad beat, but I still feel like I wasover the past five years and you have two
on the right side on this one. Yes, I may be delusional.mediocre programs.- This one is courtesy of Stuart
But I'm taking pills and whiskey for that. However,Mandel, and it explains why Notre Dame may be the
there were four separate sequences that doomedmost overrated team in football:"In 2005, Notre
us. And if one of these had gone the other wayDame finished 10th nationally in total offense. This
things likely would've been different:1) Missouri's firstyear it's 34th. The Irish have gone from eighth in
drive, Chase Daniel hit Greg Bracey up the leftscoring offense to 37th. Quinn, the nation's
sideline for 46 yards. Bracey barely stepped out ofseventh-rated passer last season, has slipped to 34th.
bounds at the 26-yard line and Mizzou had to settleWalker, who averaged 99.7 yards per game and 4.7
for a field goal. A touchdown on the opening driveyards per carry in '05, is averaging 82.7 and 4.1 in
may have opened the floodgates.2) After a'06."Notre Dame has improved on defense, allowing
three-and-out on OU's first drive, Missouri took the64 fewer yards per game than it did last year (332.7,
ball and then suffered the blunder that changed thedown from 396.9), but its ranking has only gone up
game. Tight end Chase Coffman dropped - and whenfrom 75th to 61st. In terms of scoring defense, the
I say dropped think Robin Williams in "The Best ofIrish have actually gone down, from 53rd to 65th."-
Times" - what would have been a sure touchdown.You can't say enough about how completely
That score would've made it 10-0 and would havedominant Michigan's defense is.- If Ohio State had to
opened the floodgates.3) Trailing 16-3 at halftime, thetravel to Austin to face Texas right now I think the
Tigers scored in under two minutes the first timeresult might be a bit different than what it was in
they got the ball in the third quarter. It's now 16-10September. The main reason: the maturation of Colt
and Missouri's defense forced another three-and-out.McCoy. The young colt has the benefit of playing on
The Sooners punted and the kick was fielded ata veteran squad, but he's still two touchdowns away
midfield. The Tigers would have had the ball in OUfrom tying the school record for touchdown passes
territory with all the momentum. But an atrocious(24).- Boston College held Buffalo to -12 rushing yards.
roughing-the-kicker penalty occurred when the punterThe Bulls top runner had just one yard on nine
landed on an idiotic Missouri rusher. Oklahoma scoredcarries. I also protest that B.C. may be the ACC's
on the extended drive to go up 23-10 and thingsbest team.- Flip a coin to determine the best team in
were looking bleak.4) However, even after thatthe MAC.- I didn't have a strong feeling either way
disheartening drive the Tigers marched down to theabout last week's Clemson-Virginia Tech game. But
Oklahoma 1-yard line. However, four terrible play callsafter taking one look at the crowd about five
(why keep going to the short side of the field?) theminutes before their primetime match-up, I ran to my
Tigers were stuffed and the game was essentiallycomputer and made a wager on the Hokies. Clemson
over.Again, a loss is a loss and I do apologize.really never stood a chance in that game, and
However, I'm trying to look at it like that was aBlacksburg is still intimidating.- You know those
game that should have went our way but didn't. Thatelements and that wind that dominated the Western
means that the Gambling Gods have something big inMichigan-Eastern Michigan game, holding it to 3-3 at
store for us down the road, and hopefully we mayhalftime and sending it easily under the projected
end up winning a game that we shouldn't.But I'll still42-point total? I expected that to be the situation
kick Chase Coffman in the nuts if I ever see him onthroughout the Great Lakes states this weekend, but
the street.Anyway, here are some random,it wasn't so.The weather clearly was a factor this
scattered thoughts for a bittersweet weekend ofweekend, as the total posted just a 22-29 mark.-
college football:- Two things are going to keep FloridaWhere did Washington State come from?
from playing for a national championship or winningQuarterback Alex Brink is having an outstanding
their major bowl game. No. 1: they takeseason and has the Cougars at No. 25 in the AP poll
waaaaaaaaaay too many penalties. Bettors need toand No. 23 in the BCS standings. They are raking it at
always beware the sloppy team. No. 2: their kicker is6-3 ATS, and have only lost SU to powerhouses
horrendous. Chris Hetland is just 1-for-7 on theAuburn, USC and Cal.- Bad beat for Baylor backers.
season, and may lose his job.- The number of wideThey were down 24-21 and Texas A&M seemed
receivers averaging more than 100 yards per gameperfectly content to run out the clock before Mike
has dropped from 34 in 2005 to 17 in 2006. TheGoodson broke a 64-yard touchdown run with just
number of running backs averaging 100 yards hastwo minutes to play.- Kudos to San Jose State. The
also been cut in half, from 12 last year to six thisSpartans have benefited from a kindergarten
year.- I'm calling it right now: neither Louisville norschedule (five home games to two away games) en
West Virginia are going to run the table in the Bigroute to a 5-2 SU start. However, the schedule is
East. Clearly one of them will lose on Thursday. Butgoing to beef up over the next three weeks and
both also have to travel to Pittsburgh and neither haswe'll see how they handle three Tecmo Bowl
faced Rutgers yet, either. Toss in tricky gamesoffenses in New Mexico State, Boise State and
against teams like Cincinnati and South Florida and IHawaii.- Speaking of the Rainbow Warriors, Hawaii is
think both WVU and Louisville will lose and one ofthe new Boise State. The Warriors are just
them will have two losses.- There were 21 gamesdominating people, posting a 5-1-1 ATS mark in the
last week where a favorite was posted at six pointsmeantime. The Broncos, on the other hand, are 8-0
or less. The underdogs went an outstanding 11-10and looking to crash the BCS party but they are just
straight up in those games. On the whole, underdogs3-4 ATS.- I would say that Texas Christian's 26-3
were just 26-25 ATS.- USC had been flashing all thedemolition of Wyoming was one of the more
signs of a fading team for weeks. With six-point winsimpressive performances of the weekend. TCU is
over Washington State and Washington, and a5-2, but are just sixth in the Mountain West. With a
seven-point victory over Arizona State, the Trojansfavorable schedule in November, look for these
were stumbling like Drago right before he gotHorny Frogs to get hot.Questions or comments for
knocked down by Rocky.And how about Doc'sRobert? E-mail him at Check Doc's Sports site for
Sports own Jordan Adams? On Wednesday Adamsdaily sports betting articles, NFL Schedules, NFL Odds,
proclaimed the Trojans as the most overrated teamand Offshore Betting information.