In Week 4 we're not going to focus as much on the few upsets that occurred or the large margain victories by favorites, but more on the but on the poor refereeing. We also want to take a look ahead at the biggest matchup of the season so far, as the Big Ten's Nebraska Cornhuskers meet the Wisconsin Badgers.
Holy Toledo!, the fix is in
Many college football bettors couldn't believe
what they were seeing! Was this another "Tim Donaghy situation" where
there the referee was blowing calls to pre-determine the game? Needless to say, Syracuse, New
York became a popular place last Saturday.
Toledo vs. Syracuse
With 2:22 left in the game, Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib connected with Alec Lemon for an 18 yard touchdown pass. Well, Lemon ended up being
sour for the Toledo in more ways than one. Place kicker Ross Krautman came out
to kick the extra point, that would give Syracuse a 3 point lead at 30-27.
It was clearly evident that the kick drifted wide left, but the kick was deemed good by the referee on the field and the play was reviewed by the instant
replay officials. Obviously, this play should be overturned and the score would
be 29-27 with Syracuse leading. The instant replay judge confirmed the kick as
good, leaving everyone stunned!
This miscall would eventually end up having a bearing on the outcome of the
game as it made it a 30-27 Syracuse lead and Toledo took the game into overtime
with a Ryan Casano 20 yard field goal. In overtime, Krautman was called upon
again and this time rightfully put the ball through the uprights on a 28 yards
field goal kick to give Syracuse the victory.
Sportsbooks had released lines anywhere from 2 to 2.5 points with Syracuse as the college football odds favorites. This
has the Toledo bettors in an uproar. If Krautman's regulation extra point was
called "no good", Toledo would've won the game outright and people
wouldn't have lost money unjustifiably, even if Toledo was unable to make the
regulation field goal at the end. The Toledo backers would have suffered a push
at worst.
The Syracuse bettors are elated because they got lucky off of either a bad call
or a pre-determined call by the official or upstairs judge. Either way, someone
got hurt here and it makes people bring up the Tim Donaghy scandal and question
whether sports betting is fixed or not. You be the judge, you make the call.
Upsets
Temple at Maryland
I don't know if I was so shocked about the outcome of this game. The previous
week, Temple had outdueled the Penn State Nittany Lions for almost the
entire game, but were unfortunate enough to be beaten off of the guts of the
Penn State play calling. Temple hasn't beaten Penn State in 70 years, and they were eager to break the streak.
Temple came into this game as an 8 point underdog and took control of the game
right from the start and crushed the Terrapins, 38-7
USC at Arizona State
The Trojans are ranked in the top 25 with quarterback Matt Barkley leading the
team. Barkley is a Heisman Trophy candidate and up until Saturday, USC had
played better than people had thought that they would play. The Trojans aren't
eligible for post-season play and some people, including myself, thought that
they wouldn't give a full effort with less to play for.
Arizona State was a 2.5
point underdog at home, but defeated the Trojans quite easily with a final score of 43-22. It will be
interesting to see how USC responds in Week 5.
Florida State vs. Clemson
At the beginning of the season,
much was expected of the Seminoles, and this game might be seen as a minor upset to some. They were coming off of a 23-13 defeat to
the number 1 team in the land, the Oklahoma Sooners, and that game might have
deflated the Seminoles balloon. This weekend they played at Clemson and suffered a 35-30
defeat as a 2.5 point underdog. Florida State will get a much needed week off
and look for them to come out strong in their next outting against Wake Forest.
Close Calls
There's two games that come to mind when I think of close calls this past week.
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
It seemed that the Irish would come into this game with a lot of momentum after
a 31-13 victory over the 15th ranked Michigan State Spartans. Pittsburgh abused Irish quarterback, Tommy Rees, for most of the game, as they took a 12-7 lead going into the final quarter.
In the 4th quarter Rees was a perfect 8 for 8 as he connected with Tyler Eifert
for the winning 6 yard TD pass with 7:50 left in the game. Notre Dame then
completed the comeback with a 2 point conversion and held on to defeat the Panthers.
Oklahoma State at Texas A&M
The 5th ranked Cowboys trailed this one at halftime, 20-3. With 4 minutes left
in the 3rd quarter, quarterback Brandon Weeden threw a 4 yard touchdown pass to
Tracy Moore to give OSU a 24-20 lead. In all, the Cowboys scored 20 unanswered
points to take over the game.
Texas A&M came back late with a touchdown
pass and a safety, but in the end they fell one point short of the Cowboys.
Some other higher ranked teams that handled their opponents in simple fashion
were Oklahoma in their game against Missouri. The Sooners didn't get the cover but they got the
victory. The LSU Tigers handled West Virginia on the road quite easily, taking the 47-21 win.
Nebraska and Oregon both covered and took care of their respective opponents
quite easily and Boise State kept their record unblemished with a 20 point
victory over Tulsa.
A Look at the week ahead
Now the focus switches to inter-conference rivalries
In the SEC, 12th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks host the Auburn Tigers. That
should be a nice SEC battle of two top level teams in one of the best conferences
in the nation.
Penn State travels to Indiana in what looks to be an easy victory for "Joe
Pa" and the troops, while Michigan looks to have a cakewalk in a Big-Ten matchup
against Minnesota. A very solid matchup pits two evenly Big 10 teams in
Michigan State at Ohio State
ACC matchup has undefeated number 25 Georgia Tech visiting the N.C. State
Wolfpacks. 21st ranked Clemson visits the 13th ranked Virginia Tech Hokies in
another battle of two undefeated teams
Pac 12 Conference see's the big-time underdog Bruins of UCLA visit the
undefeated Stanford Cardinal. Look for an inferior UCLA team to put up a fight
and possibly cover the point spread in that matchup
USC should get back on the winning track as they host the Arizona Wildcats. The Boise State Broncos should have an easy time of it as they face Nevada in what appears
to be a "no contest".
The Matchup of the Week
In Big Ten action the Nebraska Cornhuskers visit the cheese state of Wisconsin
to battle the Wisconsin Badgers. This is a matchup of the two best teams in the
conference and two of the best teams in the nation. Both teams covered in their
last game and are coming off of huge performances.
Who will be the team to prevail in this matchup? Will it be Taylor Martinez and
the Nebraska Cornhuskers in their 1st season in the Big Ten or quarterback
Russell Wilson with a 218.4 quarterback rating in a balanced offensive attack
for Wisconsin?
I'll be following this matchup all week, so stay tuned as we follow each team heading up to the opening kickoff. Will the
Cornuhuskers be able to stamp their mark in the Big-Ten? You don't want to miss it.