Dear Friends of the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl,
Parity
is alive and well in college football.
Last weekend nine of the top 25 teams lost, including No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 LSU and No. 5 Georgia. The overall strength of the SEC, the top-to-bottom balance of the Pac-12 and Big 12, and the rise of non-BCS upstarts like Middle Tennessee, Ohio and Louisiana Tech, have combined to make this a very exciting and unpredictable year to date.
Last week:
On Saturday I attended the Arizona-Stanford shootout in Palo Alto, one
of the most entertaining offensive displays I've ever witnessed. The
Cardinal won in overtime, 54-48, coming back from a 48-34 fourth-quarter
deficit. Both teams gained 617 yards, both quarterbacks (Arizona's Matt
Scott and Stanford's Josh Nunes) played brilliantly, and the game was
decided by an interception off a tipped pass. I watched part of the game
with Arizona Athletic Director Greg Byrne, whose hiring of Rich
Rodriguez is already starting to pay big dividends for his program.
In
other Pac-12 action, USC won at Utah, Cal bounced off the mat to
surprise UCLA in Berkeley, Oregon throttled Washington, and Oregon State
beat Washington State. The Beavers' win came at a high price, however,
as star quarterback Sean Mannion suffered a knee injury that will keep
him out indefinitely. The Conference currently has four teams in the AP
Top 25--No. 2 Oregon (6-0), No. 10 Oregon State (4-0), No. 11 USC (4-1)
and No. 17 Stanford (4-1), while Arizona State, Washington and Arizona
also received votes. Suffice to say, the quality of play in the Pac-12
is very high this year, which is making several bowl directors happy.
Navy
came from behind to score an impressive overtime win at Air Force,
28-21. The Mids were down 21-13 in the fourth quarter before rallying
behind freshman QB Keenan Reynolds. Ironically, after being plagued all
season by lost fumbles, Navy scored the go ahead touchdown when guard
Jake Zuzek fell on a fumbled snap in the end zone. With the victory, the
Mids are now 2-3 on the year as they move into the heart of their
schedule. The next few weeks will be very telling relative to their
potential eligibility for our game.
This week:
Navy is on the road against Central Michigan (also 2-3), a team that
upset Iowa earlier in the year but has allowed 105 points in its last
two games. Both previous meetings between the teams have been high
scoring affairs won by Navy, 38-37 in 2010 and 63-34 in 2003. Those
games were played in Annapolis, however. Starting quarterback Trey
Miller left last week's game at Air Force with an ankle injury in the
fourth quarter and his status is uncertain for Friday night's game. If
he's unable to go, Reynolds will become the first freshman to start a
game at QB for the Midshipmen since 1991.
The
Pac-12 has three important league games and two high-profile
non-conference contests. Stanford travels to South Bend to take on No. 7
Notre Dame, while Oregon State journeys to Provo to meet BYU. Points
may be at a premium in both games, as the Irish and Cougars boast two of
the stingiest defenses in the country. In league play, all three games
have bowl eligibility implications. Arizona State (4-1) faces a very
tough schedule the second half of the year and needs to pick up a win at
Colorado. UCLA (4-2) and Utah (2-3) are looking to bounce back from
last week's losses, while Cal (2-4) hopes to keep its momentum going at
WSU (also 2-4).
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