College Football: Week 7 Polls and Schedule

We’re into Week 7 of the College Football Season and there’s been little change in the rankings which have expanded again this week as the BCS makes its appearance. The combination of strength of schedule computers and coaches’ poll goes into placement on the BCS scale so there may be quite a difference in that poll versus the others.

As for this week, the action starts Thursday night with #8 Louisville (5-0) facing their toughest test yet in the 4-and-1 Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The rest of the games will be played on Saturday and, while there should be no surprises for the top 5, #7 Georgia could be struggling. We’ve also got a couple of games between ranked teams that could produce some shakeup in next week’s rankings.

The numbers on the right are for the Associated Press, the Coaches’ Poll, the BCS standings and the CBSSports.com 126. NR means that the team was Not Ranked by that particular poll.

1/1/1/1 Alabama (5-0) The Crimson Tide are on the road to play the Kentucky Wildcats (1-4). There should be no doubt about this one. Roll Tide!

2/2/3/2 Oregon (5-0) The Ducks head north to play the # 16 Washington Huskies (4-1). While the Huskies are a good team, the Ducks are a great one. Ducks win in another high scoring one.

3/4/4/5 Clemson (5-0) The Tigers host the Boston College Eagles (3-2). Another predictable outcome. Boyd and company dominate.

4/3/6/4 Ohio State (6-0) The Buckeyes have the weekend off.

5/5/2/3 Stanford (5-0) The Cardinal play at the home of the Utah Utes (3-2). The Cardinal will do well on the road or not.

6/6/5/6 Florida State (5-0) The Seminoles have the weekend off.

7/7/7/7 Georgia (4-1) The Bulldogs will host the #25 Missouri Tigers (5-0). Georgia may not have their Grade A running game having suffered several injuries. This sets them up for an upset. The Tigers are the team to do it.

8/8/10/8 Louisville (5-0) The Cardinals host the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers (4-1) on Thursday night. I’m hoping that my Scarlet Knights can pull off an upset in this one, but my brain tells me that it will be the Cardinals who will be victorious.

9/9/12/12 Texas A&M (4-1) The Aggies play on the road against the Ole Miss Rebels (3-2). The Aggies win big.

10/11/9/11 LSU (5-1) The Tigers host the #17 Florida Gators (4-1). The Gators aren’t deep enough or good enough to beat the Tigers.

11/13/11/9 UCLA (4-0) The Bruins host the California Golden Bears (1-4). UCLA continues its winning ways.

12/10/8/10 Oklahoma (5-0) The Sooners will host the Texas Longhorns (3-2). The Red River Rivalry. Texas will start Colt McCoy but it doesn’t make a difference. The Sooners win a close one.

13/14/14/13 Miami (Fla.) (5-0) The Hurricanes will have the weekend off.

14/12/13/18 South Carolina (4-1) The Gamecocks play on the road against the Arkansas Razorbacks (3-3). South Carolina wins big.

15/15/15/14 Baylor (4-0) The Bears hit the road against the Kansas State Wildcats (2-3). The only question here is how many points the Bears put up this week. They’re averaging 70.5 points a game in their first four games. While it may be unrealistic to believe they will score more than 70 again this week, they will certainly score more than enough to win.

16/19/17/15 Washington (4-1) The Huskies host the #2 Oregon Ducks (5-0). Ducks over the Huskies.

17/17/19/19 Florida (4-1) The Gators play on the road against the #10 LSU Tigers (5-1). Tigers over the Gators.

18/16/16/16 Michigan (5-0) The Wolverines head to Penn State to play the Nittany Lions (3-2). Michigan remains unbeaten as PSU continues to pay for the sins of the past.

19/18/21/17 Northwestern (4-1) The Wildcats will be on the road to face the Wisconsin Badgers (3-2). Could be a close game as the Badgers always play tough at home. The Wildcats, however, will come out on top.

20/21/18/23 Texas Tech (5-0) The Red Raiders host the Iowa State Cyclones (1-3). The Red Raiders win big in this one.

21/22/23/21 Fresno State (5-0) The Bulldogs will have this weekend off.

22/20/24/24 Oklahoma State (4-1) The Cowboys have the weekend off.

23/23/22/25 Northern Illinois (5-0) The Huskies host the Akron Zips (1-5). The Huskies have a big day.

24/25/25/NR Virginia Tech (5-1) The Hokies host the Pitt Panthers (3-1). Should be a close game. This one is a toss-up and will turn on who makes the most mistakes.

25/NR/20/NR Missouri (5-0) The Tigers head east to play the #7 Georgia Bulldogs (4-1). The Bulldogs are hurting physically. They will also fall to the Tigers this week.

NR/24/NR/NR Nebraska (4-1) The Cornhuskers are on the road to play the Purdue Boilermakers (1-4). The Huskers will win a close game.

NR/NR/NR/20 Arizona State (3-2) The Sun Devils will host the Colorado Buffaloes (2-2). The Sun Devils win by double digits.

NR/NR/NR/22 Maryland (4-1) The Terrapins will host the Virginia Cavaliers (2-3). If the team that dominated West Virginia shows up and not the one that got shut out by Florida State, there should be no contest. Heck, no matter which team shows up the Terrapins win.

College Football: Week 6 Results

Some were high scoring. Some were close. Some had wild finishes. Some went to overtime. There were some great individual performances. In short, a typical week in college football.  Only thing missing was a huge upset or two.

Rankings this week were expanded to include those from CBSSports.com. The numbers are Associated Press, Coaches Poll and CBSSports.com. NR means the team is “Not Ranked” in that particular poll. The team’s current record is in parentheses following their name.

1/1/1 Alabama (5-0) The Crimson Tide had an easy time in defeating the Georgia State Panthers (0-5) 45-3. AJ McCarron completed 15 of 16 passes for 166 yards and four TDs—in the first half. Blake Simms played the second half and went 14 of 18 for 130 yards and one TD.

2/2/2 Oregon (5-0) The Ducks routed the Colorado Buffaloes (2-2) 57-16. A 75-yard TD pass from Paul Richardson to D.D. Goodson put the Buffaloes ahead 10-7 in the first quarter, but that was the only highlight for Colorado. Marcus Mariota scored twice on the ground and threw five TD passes on 16 completions of 27 attempts for 355 yards. Byron Marshall rushed to 122 yards on 23 carries and Bralon Addison had TD catches of 75 and 44 yards as the Ducks improved to 5-0.

3/4/5 Clemson (5-0) The Tigers routed the Syracuse Orange (2-3) 49-14. Tigers led 35-7 at the half. Tajh Boyd threw for 455 yards and five TDs in just three quarters of play. Boyd hit Adam Humphries for TDs of 60 and 42 yards in the first quarter and also had a 40 yard TD pass to Martavis Bryant and hit Sammy Watkins for a 91 yard scoring play before calling it a day.

4/3/4 Ohio State (6-0) The Buckeyes got a scare from the #16 Northwestern Wildcats (4-1) but depth appears to have been the deciding factor as the Buckeyes held on for a 40-30 win. Ohio State trailed by 10 points in the third quarter but proved to be a little too much of the Wildcats. Northwestern used two quarterbacks much of the day. Trevor Siemian was 13 of 18 for 245 yards and two TD passes.  His partner, Kain Colter was 12 of 12 for 98 yards, scored once in the ground, and caught one of Siemian’s TD tosses. Carlos Hyde carried the ball—and Ohio State. He rushed 26 times for 168 yards and three TDs

5/5/3 Stanford (5-0) The Cardinal hung on to defeat the #15 Washington Huskies (4-1) 31-28. Keith Price completed 33 of 48 for 350 yards and two TDs against the Cardinal defense and the Huskies would out gain the Cardinal 489 yards to 284, have 30 first downs to the Cardinal 14, but it wasn’t enough. Ty Montgomery opened the game with a 99-yard kick return for a Stanford 7-0 lead. He later caught a 39-yards pass from Kevin Hogan for another score. Hogan would also score on a four-yard run.

6/6/12 Georgia (4-1) The Bulldogs had to come from behind and then get a little lucky in OT to edge the Tennessee Volunteers (3-3) 34-31. Aaron Murray went 19 of 35 for 196 yards and three TDs. His last came with second on the clock to tie the score at 31 all. While Georgia saw Keith Marshall leave the game with a knee injury, Murray connected with Rantavious Wooten for two scores. Tennessee saw Rajion Neal rush 28 times for 148 yards and two TDs. In overtime, Tennessee’s Alton Howard, in attempting to stretch out across the goal line, lost control of the ball and saw it roll out of bounds for a touchback instead of a touchdown. Georgia’s Marshall Morgan then kicked a 42-yard field goal for the win

7/7/8 Louisville (5-0) The Cardinals beat the Temple Owls (0-5) 30-7. Teddy Bridgewater threw for 228 yards and two TDs in the first half. He finished the day with just those two TDs but was 25 of 35 for 345 yards and no INTs. Temple didn’t get on the board until very late in the fourth quarter, thus avoiding the shutout.

8/8/7 Florida State (5-0) The Seminoles shut out the #25 Maryland Terrapins (4-1) 63-0. Jameis Winston tossed five touchdown passes as he completed 23 of 32 attempts for 393 yards. FSU’s defense held Maryland to just 33 yards rushing on 25 carries.

9/9/10 Texas A&M (4-1) The Aggies had this weekend off.

10/11/6 LSU (5-1) The Tigers ran away from the Mississippi State Bulldogs (2-3) 59-26. It was close at the half (28-23 LSU), it was close after three quarters (31-26 LSU), but that fourth quarter was all LSU. Jeremy Hill carried the ball for LSU 16 times for 157 yards and two TDs. Teammate Kenny Hilliard had just 6 carries for 39 yards but crossed the goal line three times and Zach Mettenberger completed 25 of 29 for 340 yards and two TDs for LSU.

11/10/11 Oklahoma (5-0) The Sooners edged the Horned Frogs of TCU (2-3) 20-17. Brennan Clay had a 75-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to put the Sooners ahead 20-10. Trevone Boykin scored twice on the ground for TCU.

12/13/9 UCLA (4-0) The Bruins remained undefeated Thursday night beating the Utah Utes (3-2) 34-27UCLA’s QB Brett Hundley ran for a TD, threw for a TD and caught a pass for a TD to lead the Bruins to a big road win. To prove he’s not perfect, however, he did throw an INT that Keith McGill returned 19 yards for a Ute TD. That tied the game at 24. Hundley then scooted for a 36 yard TD run with one contact lens. "To be honest, I just saw some black jerseys and I was trying to run away from them," Hundley said. http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/gametracker/recap/NCAAF_20131003_UCLA@UTAH

13/12/19 South Carolina (4-1) The Gamecocks held on to win over the Kentucky Wildcats (1-4) 35-28. Kentucky scored 21 points in the fourth quarter but it was too little too late. They trailed 27-7 when they came alive. In the middle of their scoring surge, Connor Shaw scored on a two yard run and connected with Nick Jones for a 2-point conversion to give the Gamecocks a 35-21 cushion.

14/14/14 Miami (Fla.) (5-0) The Hurricanes beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3-2) 45-30. Canes suffered from four turnovers (two INTs and two lost fumbles) but Stephen Morris tossed three TDs as he went 17 of 22 for 324 yards. Tech had 335 yards rushing on 62 carries but just 66 yards passing.  Miami had 227 yards on 31 carries lead by Duke Johnson’s 22 carries for 184 yards. Ladarius Gunter returned an interception 30 yards for the final Miami score putting the canes ahead 45-23.

15/18/16 Washington (4-1) The Huskies fell to the #5 Stanford Cardinal (5-0) 31-28. See above for more.

16/15/17 Northwestern (4-1) The Wildcats fell to the #4 Ohio State Buckeyes (6-0) 40-30. See above for more

17/16/15 Baylor (4-0) The Bears routed the West Virginia Mountaineers (3-3) 73-42. The Mountaineers won the fourth quarter 21-7 but that was about all they did against the Bears who ran 95 plays, gained 864 yards and had 38 first downs. (WVA had 75 plays, 394 yards and 21 first downs.) Bryce Petty completed 17 of 25 for 347 yards and two TDs and ran for a third, Glasco Martin scored twice on 2-yard runs and Lache Seastrunk had TD runs of 80 and 19 yards for Baylor. Two of WVA’s TDs came from the defense, Karl Joseph recovered a fumble in the end zone in the first quarter (making it 7-7) and Darwin Cook returned an interception 32 yards for the final score of the game. Baylor has scored 69, 70, 70 and now 73 points in their first four games. With Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas as their next three opponents, the scoring may not stop anytime soon.

18/19/22 Florida (4-1) The Gators beat the Arkansas Razorbacks (3-3) 30-10. The Gators fell behind early but rallied strongly. Arkansas led 7-3 when Loucheiz Purifoy had a 42-yd interception return for a score Solomon Patton--who had six catches for 124 yards--added a pair of TDs and as the Gators put up 24 unanswered points.

19/17/18 Michigan (5-0) The Wolverines beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-2) 42-13. Undoubtedly worried about their Coach (Hill had stayed home because he felt ill and then had another seizure), the Golden Gophers never really got untracked. Devin Gardner scored once on the ground and tossed a TD pass but more importantly didn’t toss and INT and didn’t lose a fumble (he did have to recover one of his own) for the Wolverines who had no turnovers since…well, forever. Blake Countess returned an INT 72 yards for the final Michigan score.

20/22/23 Texas Tech (5-0) The Red Raiders routed the Kansas Jayhawks (2-2) 54-16. The Raiders got off to a slow start as they trailed the Jayhawks 10-0 after one quarter of play, but after that…. Texas Tech ripped off 54 unanswered points. Baker Mayfield was 33 of 51 for 368 yards for Tech but didn’t get a TD pass. His replacement, Davis Webb came in with the Raiders leading 37-10 and completed 3 of 6 passes and got two TDs. Go figure.

21/20/13 Oklahoma State (4-1) The Cowboys came from behind late against the Kansas State Wildcats (2-3) to win 33-29. J.W. Walsh was 24 of 38 for 245 yards. His only TD pass came with 4:13 remaining to put the Cowboys ahead for good. Oklahoma State had NO first downs in the third quarter but the defense forced three consecutive turnovers resulting in two field goals.

22/24/NR Arizona State (3-2) The Sun Devils were edged by the Irish of Notre Dame (4-2) in Arlington, Texas. Tommy Rees completed 17 of 38 for 279 yards and three TDs for the Irish. He also tossed on INT that Osahon Irabor returned 37 yards for a Sun Devil TD. The Irish’s Dan Fox returned the favor late in the game returning a Taylor Kelly INT 14 yards for a Notre Dame TD. Kelly went 33 of 47 for 362 yards and three TDs but also tossed two TDs.

23/21/25 Fresno State (5-0) The Bulldogs cruised passed the Idaho Vandals (1-5) 61-14. Derek Carr had 390 yards passing and all five of his touchdown passes in the first 30 minutes. He finished the day 37 of 48 for 419 yards. Davante Adams caught three of those TD passes as he caught 16 for 185 yards. Marteze Waller added two TDs on 19 carries for 157 yards.

24/NR/20 Ole Miss (3-2) The Rebels fell to the Auburn Tigers (4-1) 30-22. Auburn QB Nick Marshall rushed 14 times for 140 yards and two TDs. Bo Wallace was 25 of 48 for 336 yards and two late TDs but also tossed two INTs, one of which Robenson Therezie returned 78 yards for an Auburn score.

25/NR/NR Maryland (4-0) The Terrapins got creamed by the #8 Florida State Seminoles (4-0) 63-0. See above for more.

NR/23/NR Northern Illinois (5-0) The Huskies defeated the Kent State (2-4) 38-24. Cameron Stingily ran for a career-high 266 yards and two scores for the Huskies who had 698 net yards—454 on the ground--and 36 first downs to Kent States 392 yards and 15 first downs.

NR/25/NR Nebraska (4-1) The Cornhuskers beat the Fighting Illini (3-2) 39-19 behind the running of Ameer Abdullah. Abdullah had a career high 225 yards on 20 carries and scored two TDs. Tommy Armstrong started in place of injured Taylor Martinez and led Nebraska to touchdowns on its first three possessions.

NR/NR/21 Wisconsin (3-2) The Badgers had this weekend off.

NR/NR/24 UCF (4-1) The Knights came from behind with two late, yet quick TDs against the Memphis Tigers (1-3) to win 24-17. The Knights’ lineman Chris Martin recovered a fumble in the end zone with 2:05 left.  To tie the game at 17 all. On the ensuing kickoff, Memphis returner Marquis Warford fumbled when he was tackled by UCF's William Stanback. Drico Johnson grabbed the ball and ran 12 yards for the Knights' 24-17 lead. Stanback scored the other UCF touchdown in the third quarter. UCF’s offense was limited to 95 yards in the first half, but they had a 91-yard drive in the third that led to Stanback’s 1-yard TD run that almost doubled their output.

Where's Juan Rico and his Roughneckswhen you need them.

The warm, sunny days we have been enjoying here at the Aerie come with a price: bugs. There's been a huge number of stink bugs and lady bugs coming to the nicely warmed walls of the western corner (right under the covered portion of the porch). They're looking for a nook or cranny into which they may crawl to hibernate the winter away. And on a log home there are plenty of nooks and crannies. In the late afternoon/early evening there are dozens and dozens of the little buggers crawling all over the place or flying about. If you step outside you're going to get landed upon. Luckily they are non-biting!

Every day a few of the pests make it into the house to the great joy of the cats who chase them about and point them out to me. (They aren't stupid enough to eat them although they DO enjoy the occasional moth that gets into the house--much as I enjoy a powdered donut from time to time. Come to think of it, if the two--lady bugs and stink bugs WERE edible, we would have some pretty fat birds outside hanging on the porch.) When the temperature drops during the night some of them fall to the deck and lie there in a stupor. (Or maybe it's the bug spray I sprayed along the base of the wall.) I take that opportunity to crush as many of the stink bugs as possible and then sweep them off the deck. Twenty or thirty a morning has not been unusual. Feels like a scene out of Starship Troopers. (Book. Movie. There's almost a 180 degree difference int he message presented by Heinlein's book and the Paul Verhoeven (director) and Edward Neumeier (writer) film.)

Anyway, I thought this was worth commenting on as I don't recall seeing so many bugs in the time we've November 2006 to present). Seems I wasn't wrong as there's a huge jump nationwide in the stink bug population: Stink Bugs On The Rise In The U.S.

While 2010 was particularly rough, National Geographic noted that 2013 was "shaping up to be another bad year," with 60 percent more bugs reported than the same time last year.

UPDATE: Upon further examination, what we seem to have is NOT an infestation of stink bugs but of boxelder bugs. That makes sense with number of both maple and ash trees around the house and the lack of "stink" when I crush the suckers! They're still a PITA!

Plenty of color closer to home.

SO, Wednesday I drove to the other side of the county in search of fall colors. This morning I drove down the hill to go to physical therapy and realized that the color I missed out at the Grand Canyon was all around me. After therapy, I took out my iPhone and snapped some pictures along the last four miles on the way up the hill. We had just had a brief rain storm and the sun was trying to emerge from behind the clouds. As a result, some of the photos are a bit subdued. Still they are indicative of the blaze of color spread across the hillsides. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Later in the day, Terry and I took Ms. Kitteh to the vets. On the way home, we stopped at several other spots to take more shots. There was more sunlight and we tried to choose areas that were brightly lit. Still, the photos don't do the colors justice. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Fall Colors Have Arrived--maybe.Or, maybe they've come and gone.

I drove out to Leonard Harrison State Park on Wednesday to get a look at what the fall colors might be like along that section of the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. It was overcast and hazy so that caused some of the colors to be subdued but there were also vast swaths of green that were NOT caused by pine trees and many, many trees already defoliated. Was I too early or too late to catch the colors at their peak? I may have to return this weekend to see.

View to the north from overlook at Leonard Harrison SP.

View to the west from overlook at Leonard Harrison SP.

View to the south from overlook at Leonard Harrison SP.

I wasn't the only one out leaf peeping. The parking lot had several dozen cars including at least one from Ontario, Missouri (an RV), New York and New Jersey. There were lots of motorcyclists too. That's not too surprising as Route 6 appears to be a favorite path for bikers. Even the ride into the park on Route 660 is a pleasant experience--especially, I imagine on a bike. It's a meandering, rolling road that is just pleasant to travel on.

Knees Things I Want to Talk About.

My new knees were ten weeks old on Monday, but after the workout they got during Friday's physical therapy session and the swelling and pain I felt all weekend, I would have pegged them as only 6 or 7 weeks of age.

A lot of the pain and suffering was a result of me being lax vis-a-vis my exercise habits while off to Portland for 5 days. Yeah, I did some stretching and spent time on the stationary bike at the hotel, but it obviously was not enough.

This morning I had a session in the therapist's pool and things went pretty well. There's still some pain going up and down stairs even with the water providing some support, but walking on the submerged treadmill--mush of the rest of the workout--was relatively painless.

I'll be back on dry land for Friday's PT bu this time I will have two days of long exercise sessions done at home to support me. Hopefully I'll see some progress, I'm told insurance will only cover PT through the 16th (approximately three months).

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The leaves around the Northern Tier are really starting to turn. There's lots of purples, reds and oranges showing up. The bright yellow of aspen and maple haven't really "popped" yet with the exception of a few trees here and there. If the weather continues nice, I may have to go back out to Leonard Harrison SP at the Grand Canyon to snap a few pictures.

The forecast is for clear skies the next few days and highs approaching 80 degrees by the weekend so, if you're a leaf peeper, this might be a good time to hit the road--or, if you're lucky enough to live in the midst of the fall bounty, take a long look around. I figure you've got about two weeks max.

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Terry and I went out passed Wellsboro yesterday to a produce stand on Rt. 287 to pick up some Cortland apples. Bruce and Sue had brought about a peck of Cortlands with them when they visited a few weeks ago and apples were available at the farmers' market in Mansfield last weekend. We didn't do anything with Bruce and Sue's supply until to day when Terry baked an apple pie with a few of them. The apples at the farmers' market were a tad pricey for me but Pagomar's had the Cortlands for $17 a bushel. I'll turn them into apple sauce within the next day or two. Should produce at least 24 pints for storage.

We also took inventory of our canned goods. Plenty of relish, garlic dill pickles, regular dill pickles, peaches, strawberry jam, blueberry jam as well as some grape jelly still on the shelves alongside the quarts of tomato sauce. Since some of the pickles and jams are several years old, I'm hoping they aged well. I KNOW they will be eaten now that we're more aware of their presence.

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I hear there's a government "shutdown" going on. From the list of agencies and personnel furloughed, all I can say is, "Good! Change the locks while they're away." And while they're at it, there's plenty more under the heading of "Czar" that could probably be slashed--permanently.

I also hear that today was the first day to sign up at the exchanges for Obomacare. Many of the websites designed for that have crashed. Talk about not ready for prime time! Whether because so many people are trying to sign up or are curious about whether they have to sign up; or because the sites were poorly designed, a crash is indicative of the whole ACA. From "We have to pass it to find out what's in it," to the myriad of broken promises ("If you like your healthcare, you'll get to keep your healthcare." "This is going to lower the cost of healthcare in America."), to the number of exemptions granted--illegally--by the administration, this whole thing has been one major screw-up.