Frustrating Loss

It was painful watching the Arizona State Sun Devils play on Saturday against the Oregon State Beavers. The Devils seem to have no problems moving the ball or eating yards in chunks. But they couldn't get the key yards when it counted on third downs and made too many mistakes. It was frustrating to watch them get 12, 15, 18 yards and then just stall. They out-gained the Beavers 413-299 yards and had 27 first downs to the Beavers 16. But the Beavers won the game almost by an identical number, but in the reverse - 28-17. It was Oregon State's first road win over the Sun Devils in 40 years and the Devils didn't need it after that close loss at Georgia last week. Not the best way to start the Pac-10 season and I am not sure where Dennis Erickson is taking this program. The Pac-10 seems wide open this year, but seems like the Devils will be looking in from the outside again.

Miami was once again the big newsmaker this Saturday. They went into Oklahoma and beat them 21-20 in a classic. They ran all over them and bounced back from a bad first half. Miami's QB Jacory Harris is a mature dude who recovered well after a bunch of early mistakes. Miami lost badly to Va Tech last weekend. Otherwise they will be in national championship contention after playing four straight ranked opponents to open this season. They are doing good even now with 3 wins considering they were not expected to do anything this season. As for Oklahoma, this defeat pretty much eliminates them from the national title contention. They may still bubble up the Big 12 standings and create some noise, but they won't be playing in the national championship game.

I was a little surprised by the Michigan loss to Michigan State. Tate Forcier looked good as always, but his pass in OT was deflected and intercepted and State cashed in. Tough loss for the kid, but he had a great 4-Th quarter once again. This was one of the few upsets this week which was not upset heavy. I guess the big upset might be next week when Florida visits LSU. Not that LSU Is any kind of powerhouse, but I am not sold on Florida either especially if Tebow is hurting. LSU was lucky winning against Georgia 20-13 and are hoping this will continue next week. It should be a great game. The big game this weekend turned out to be a clunker as USC blasted Cal 30-3. Pac-10 as usual is done in the eyes of the experts and the only savior left might actually be Oregon, who are now doing very well after the season opening loss at Boise State. They might even reinstate RB LeGarrette Blount and that would be the right thing to do. The week was quiet otherwise with Houston losing to UTEP being the only other "upset". No big deal.

In the MLB, Detroit somehow managed to turn a comfortable 3 game lead into a one game playoff with the Twins on the road this Tuesday.