by Adam Jones

A quiet family room suggests danger lurks beyond all comprehension. After making the Sunday morning coffee, I figured I needed to investigate, for that's what any above-average parent would do. I found C, the one-year old, perched on the brick hearth next to two Chinese terra cotta soldiers my mother-in-law gave me. C had the same stoic expression as his ancient comrades-in-arms. Not one of contrition-no-more like: "Yeah, I know I'm on the hearth, but if you try and remove me, my boys Po and Lin here are going to have something to say about it." Knowing the relative immobility of Po and Lin and that I outweigh C by about 165 pounds, I was not intimidated and removed him from harm's way.

C is a climber. My first two sons were not. They brought with them their own challenges, but they did not, as a general rule, scale the furniture. B enjoyed ingesting dog food and Z stuck his hand inside the oven a couple of times, but neither of them climbed. I carry with me a fairly dominant risk-averse gene that C's double-helix seemingly lacks. Or, perhaps, it is simply human nature that delights in going someplace that you are not supposed to be.

Rutgers 22, South Florida 20

I can assure you that I have never led off a column with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. I don't need to research this one. They earned their slot with a 5-0 start and a thrilling Friday night victory over a pretty good South Florida team (USF is only a year removed from throttling Louisville, some might recall). Rutgers' underrated Ray Rice ran for 202 yards and the Knights, coached by up and comer Greg Schiano, defended well their rarified air as a member of the top 25. Now they just need a new motto. I like: "Rutgers, we're not Temple so don't screw with us."

College football fans had a treat of a week long before dawn broke on Saturday. In addition to the Friday night thriller, Thursday brought with it two more great games. Auburn outlasted South Carolina at Williams-Brice 24-17 largely because Tommy Tuberville had the, ahem, manliness to call an onsides kick after a third quarter score. The Tigers recovered, cashed it in for a TD and never looked back, holding off a late USC charge to preserve the win. Auburn kept the ball away from Steve Spurrier's offense the entire third quarter, which is about like poking a caged Doberman. I'm sure Tuberville enjoyed every moment of it.

Meanwhile, Brigham Young went to TCU and shocked the Horned Frogs-who have a history of not handling success very well-31-17 behind the strength of two fourth quarter TDs. TCU never could quite stop the Cougar passing attack and had a pair of ill-timed turnovers on top of it.

Saturday was marked by some teams playing up to their standards and some teams playing down to the level of competition.

On the upside, Ohio State was simply too much for Iowa in the day's marquee game. Anthony Gonzales broke it open with a tremendous 30-yard touchdown breaking tackles and reversing field against the grain, chased by Hawkeye defenders who looked a step too slow all night. It left the guys in the booth wondering whether Ted Ginn could be that much faster than the less-celebrated Gonzales. Well, yes he can, but that doesn't mean Gonzales is slow. Iowa had their chances and the fans get major points for an almost-SEC like atmosphere at Kinnick Stadium but in the end the Buckeyes had too much of everything. Ohio State 38, Iowa 17.

Michigan kept pace. The Wolverines showed no signs of stopping their 2006 New Aggressiveness Tour with a 28-14 win over Minnesota. I watched a good deal of this one and never got the feeling that the Golden Gophers were in the game, even at 0-0.

LSU clobbered Mississippi State 48-17. Get this, JaMarcus Russell went 18-20 for 330 yards and three TDs. What is that passer rating? 90% completion percentage with 16.5 yards per attempt? Ridiculous. Somewhat like MSU's likelihood to be successful in the SEC this season.

Tennessee thumped Memphis 41-7. That's a significant outcome: Memphis has historically been a pest to the Vols; this is the first contest in the last seven where Tennessee covered the spread and last year's game was decided by four. This time Erik Ainge was calm and accurate as Rocky Top rolled.

Heisman Default Quinn led Notre Dame to victory over Purdue 35-21. The Boilermakers may be the last hurdle to securing the Fighting Irish yet another deposit at the First National Bank of BCS Bowl. Unless of course Navy or Air Force can summon almost perfect games in their respective stadiums to ruin the Irish cause. No, I am not kidding. The resurgence of service academy football is one of the great stories of the year. Ask Connecticut, who got their clocks cleaned by the Navy option to the tune of 41-17.

Florida found themselves in a dog fight with Alabama. This year, as opposed to last, the Gators had the bigger dog. Florida put together some timely drives combined with generating timely turnovers, including a beauty of an interception return by DB Reggie Nelson to close out the 28-13 final score. The only downside was the Florida throwback uniforms which had a simple "F" painted on the side of the helmets. They reminded me of dunce caps, but maybe it was just me.

Oregon blasted Arizona State (who will play Michigan State in the first annual Emotionally Fragile Bowl) 48-13 and Cal did the same to Oregon State by almost the same score. Conventional wisdom is that one of these teams will challenge USC in the Pac Ten. On the other hand, Washington State did a pretty good job of challenging USC without anyone's help on Saturday. Wazzu had a Hail Mary chance at the end of a 28-22 loss to the Trojans. USC is clearly not the juggernaut of the last three years. Of course Wazzu ain't bad and Pullman is a difficult trip.

Boise State surprised me with the ease of victory over Utah. The Broncos slammed the Utes, 36-3.

Clemson thrashed Louisiana Tech 51-zip and everyone who suited up for Clemson gained 100 yards rushing and went home with a Tommy Bowden commemorative bobble-head.

A few teams disappointed, with some narrowly avoiding defeat and some embracing defeat whole hog.

Nebraska should have put away Kansas two or three times, but the Jayhawks hung around and forced overtime. Big Red escaped with a 39-32 win in front of the home folks while KU's futility in Lincoln stretched to 38 years and counting: Rock. Chalk. Awwww fawk...

Georgia, likewise, was U-G-L-Y without an alibi against Ole Miss, finally putting away the Rebels-who may well be the worst team in the SEC- 14-9. I'm glad I didn't pay to see this. I don't care how beautiful the atmosphere in Oxford is.

Miami, yes the one in Florida, had alls they could stand until they couldn't stands no more and finally prevailed against Houston, 14-13.

While some avoided collapse, Virginia Tech was not so lucky. I would have guessed at this point of the season that most defensive coordinators know who Calvin Johnson is. I would further guess that this knowledge takes on increased importance if Georgia Tech is on the schedule and is even more pronounced in the film room of a conference opponent with a well-earned reputation for solid secondary play. Shows you what I know. Uhm, Virginia Tech, Johnson wears #21. Yes, that's the guy-the one in today's highlight films. Yes, him. Right, my personal favorite was the 53-yard touchdown where he was covered by, well, basically...nobody? Georgia Tech 38, Virginia Tech 27.

Tech's calamity aside, no one quite made the head first dive into the shallow end quite like Michigan State. One week after one of the greatest second-half collapses in NCAA history, our friends the Spartans, led by the intrepid John. L. (yes, we know what it stands for...) Smith, somehow managed to lose to Illinois. Up to this point in the season, I would place Illinois in a heated battle for the title of worst state university team in a BCS conference; only Mississippi kept them from the bottom rung. Illinois had not beaten a Big Ten opponent since 2004 until yesterday when their deliciously-named freshman quarterback Juice Williams led the Illini to victory over the hapless and psychologically damaged Spartans, 23-20.

In other news, Missouri debuted in the top 25 with a 28-13 win over Colorado. Northern Illinois' Garrett Wolfe cracked the 1000 yard rushing mark with a mere 353 against Ball State. Barry Sanders redux? Penn State returned to form with a 33-7 thrashing of Northwestern with nary a trip to the john for Joe Paterno. Finally, in the best ending of the day, Texas Tech's Graham Harrell floated a perfect pass to a perfectly-covered Robert Johnson who made a perfect catch with about a half-minute to play to lift the Red Raiders to a 31-27 victory over a Texas A&M squad that just can't quite get over the hump for Dennis Franchione.

Impressive Showing of the Week: Ohio State

1. Ohio State: I promised I would put the Buckeyes number one if they beat Texas, Penn State and Iowa in September and here they are. I have a question. People keep noting that you really can't mention Buckeye linebacker James Laurinaitis in the same breath as A.J. Hawk. So how may big plays does Laurinaitis have to make on national television before you can make such a comparison? Surely he's close.

2. Auburn and USC: Both went on the road against above average opponents with very good coaches. Both took the best shots the opponents had to give. Both are still undefeated today.

4. The Winner of the Florida/LSU game: It's next week, by the way. Florida gets extra points for scheduling LSU for homecoming. Didn't your AD know that's why God made Kentucky? (Note to Mrs. JonesTop Ten: You thought a Vanderbilt joke was coming, didn't you? It just so happens that Florida plays Vanderbilt in Nashville this season. So there.)

5. Michigan: Why do I get the feeling I am underrating the Maize and Blue? Probably because Chad Henne still makes me nervous and Lloyd Carr is still on the sideline.

6. vacant: This would be where Texas goes. I am being a big baby and protesting the Longhorn's opponent this week. Yes, I know that scheduling is tough and everyone has to drop in a Division I-AA squad every once in a while. I don't care.

7. Louisville: I like the Cardinals a fair amount, but they shouldn't be challenged until November 2^nd against West Virginia. Here's an interesting scheduling quirk. Both Louisville and West Virginia close their schedules with Rutgers, South Florida and Pittsburgh. Does anyone but me think that those three very respectable teams, all capable of pulling an upset, will be just a wee bit pissed-off that they have been reading all season about the WVU/Louisville "Big East Championship Game" on November 2^nd? I am not at all convinced that the best five teams in the Big East aren't as competitive nationally as the best five teams in either the ACC or the (gulp) Big 12.

8. West Virginia: See above. The Mountaineers should be good enough to rise above this mess and close out an undefeated season. That doesn't mean they will.

9. The Loser of the Florida/LSU game: Assuming that team doesn't get clobbered. This may be three slots too low, unless you think neither of these teams could beat Texas-and I wouldn't make that bet, Texas fan or not.

10. Notre Dame: Curse you, Virginia Tech, now look what you made me do. The Irish still need to fix the secondary but the offense looks just fine with Heisman Default throwing to the law firm of Samardzija and McKnight.

Next week rocks with Florida/LSU, Georgia/Tennessee, Texas/Oklahoma and Oregon/Cal, among others. I also will tune in to both Rutgers at Navy and Missouri at Texas Tech to see if the newcomers can stay in the top 25.

For now, I must go and retrieve C from the kitchen table.

You gotta watch these kids every minute.

 

Copyright 2006 Adam Jones

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