Week 3 recap

Week 3 didn't exactly go as I had hoped, or even predicted.  While I'm not sad to see some predictions turn out wrong (USC), VT's loss to Pitt is still stinging.


Some interesting trends I noticed about the VT-Pitt matchup.  Going into the game, VT had never lost in any month other than November, while Pitt had claimed all of the November matchups.  Since beginning to follow college football in 2002, I have never seen VT win against Pitt.  The game ended up being VT's first loss on ESPNU, and the only non-conference matchup between the two schools.

If there was one thing the game proved other than VT's shortcomings, it was that the refs need some work as well.  How can you throw a flag for roughing the passer when you don't whistle the play dead until after the QB is tackled to the ground?

We need to get away from conference refs and set up some sort of review board to hold them accountable if they make a mistake during the game.

Moving to the rest of the football world, ULM couldn't make magic happen two weeks in a row, but they took Auburn to overtime.  They could be a school to keep an eye on as they play Baylor and then head into conference play.

I'm glad to see Stanford shake up the top of the rankings by beating #2 USC.

We had quite a few conference games this weekend, so we can continue separating teams into controlling and not controlling their destinies.

And remember, wins or loss in mentioned below are conference only.

ACC
Atlantic:  Everyone still controls their destiny except Wake Forest. By losing to FSU, they need two FSU losses to get back in control.  BC is one loss away from losing control.
Coastal: VT, Miami, and Duke still have complete control.  GT needs two VT losses.  UVA needs one more GT loss.  UNC is out.  This division has given us our first round robin, as VT beat GT who beat UVA.

SEC
East:  Tennessee, Missouri, and Vanderbilt all have divisional losses. Everyone else controls.
West: Arkansas and Auburn have a divisional loss. Texas A&M has a conference loss, but it came from the East.

Big Ten
No conference games yet.

Basically, in the divisional conferences, teams that have a divisional loss do have have control.  Those with a loss from the other division still have control.  In theory, if they run the table in their division, everyone else has at least 1 loss, but they would have all of the tiebreakers.

Big 12
Kansas lost to TCU.  Other than that, no other conference games so everyone else controls.

Pac-12
USC's loss to Stanford is the only conference game so far.  But it's cross-divisional, so everybody still controls.

Big East
Cincy and Rutgers have wins over Pitt and USF, respectively.