All week, college football experts and fans were drooling over the match-up taking place between No. 4 Virginia Tech and No. 15 Georgia Tech. The game featured two of the best teams in the ACC and in the nation, as well as a tantalizing face-off between perhaps the nation's best cornerbacks in Virginia Tech's Jimmy Williams and Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson. All signs pointed to a great game.
An hour of football later, though, one team walked away a loser while the other solidified its position as a legitimate contender for the National Championship. The Hokies of Virginia Tech thoroughly dominated the Yellow Jackets in every aspect of the game, scoring the first 31 points of the game and running away with a 51-7 victory.
Following the style of play that coach Frank Beamer has installed in Blacksburg, the Hokies scored three non-offensive touchdowns-two by the defense, and one on special teams. Virgina Tech's special-teams squad also blocked a Yellow Jacket field goal attempt that could have made the game 7-3 early on.
At one point in the game, Virginia Tech returned two picks for touchdowns and hit a field goal to score 17 points in a span of 44 seconds.
Hokie quarterback Marcus Vick had another strong game, completing 13 of 18 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown. He now has seven touchdowns and just a single interception on the season.
After sneaking by North Carolina State in the opener, Virginia Tech has gone 3-0, hammering out 141 points and allowing only seven. If they can survive a tough ACC schedule, the Hokies look like a prime National Championship contender.
Coming into this season, college football experts were talking of a resurgent Big Ten Conference. With Iowa, Michigan, Purdue and Ohio State all entering the season as contenders, it looked likely that a Big Ten team would be playing in the title game come January.
When Purdue lost this weekend to Minnesota in a 42-35 thriller, it became the fourth Big Ten preseason favorite to fall in a still-young season.
No. 21 Iowa and No. 14 Michigan also lost this weekend, each for its second loss on the season. Just two weeks removed from a crushing defeat at the hands of Notre Dame, Michigan watched as Wisconsin punched the ball into the endzone with 24 seconds left to capture a 23-20 win. The loss knocked Michigan out of the top 25 for the first time in seven years.
Iowa faced a daunting task this weekend, traveling to No. 8 Ohio State. Knowing that it needed a victory to keep any dim championship hopes alive, Iowa fell flat on its face, losing 31-6. It could only muster nine rushing yards on 18 carries against a stout Buckeye defense.
Despite losing to No. 2 Texas on Sept. 10, Ohio State is still very much in the title hunt. If dual-threat quarterback Troy Smith can play like he did against the Hawkeyes- when he threw for 191 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 127 yards and two more scores, the Buckeye defense could be good enough to push the team to a 10-1 finish. Still, Ohio State will need some of the other top teams to falter...
So much for Louisville as a lock to win the reconfigured Big East. Making its debut against South Florida on Saturday after switching from Conference USA, the Cardinals were destroyed by the Bulls 45-15. After a showing like that, Louisville doesn't look like its going anywhere fast, even in the watered down Big East...
This week, it will be No. 18 Arizona State's turn to try to knock out No. 1 USC. After struggling in the first half against Oregon this past week, the Trojans found their stride, easily defeating the Ducks 45-13 and remaining the team to beat in college football. While the Sun Devils have looked impressive this year, losing only a tight game to No. 5 LSU, they will be hard-pressed to beat the high-powered Trojans.
