Trav's Thoughts

Wooooooooooooo!!! The Dodgers are in first place after taking the second game in the series from the Diamondbacks, 7-2.

The long haired guy from Boston in the foul batting helmet and baggy uniform drove in 5 runs, and four Dodgers pitchers held Arizona scoreless for 8 innings.

The Dodgers have played one more game than Arizona, so the lead is only a half game. If the Diamondbacks avoid the sweep on Sunday, they'll climb back into first by that same half game.

Sunday is the last time this season that the two teams face each other head to head. Next up, Arizona heads north for 3 games at San Francisco while the Dodgers head south down the I-405 for 3 games in San Diego.

Go DODGERS!



This game was on upset watch early, but #3 Ohio State finally restored order against Ohio University, winning 26-14. OSU played without its best player, junior tailback Chris Wells, who was out with an ankle injury, and it showed in some inconsistency.

The defense played very well, forcing 5 turnovers (4 of those were interceptions) to give the offense a chance to get organized and put some points on the board. OSU got a big punt return late in the fourth quarter to put the game away, and the Buckeyes survived to stay unbeaten and in the race for the BCS championship.

Ohio State's next game is at #1 USC.

East Carolina jumped all over #8 West Virginia, beating the Mountaineers 24-3. Last week the Pirates beat then #17Virginia Tech. Look for ECU in the Top 25 on Monday as an early candidate for BCS party crasher.

ECU senior QB Patrick Pinkney was 22 of 28 for 236 yards and a TD. Now that's efficient. The Pirates also forced 2 West Virginia fumbles.

WVU running backs, senior Pat White and sophomore Noel Devine, ran for 97 and 94 yards, respectively but they couldn't get in the endzone.

East Carolina's next game is at Tulane.

Oregon is #18 and 2-0 after a 66-24 thrashing of Utah State. Oregon had 688 yards of total offense, with 408 of that coming on the ground led by 132 yards from junior RB LeGarrette Blount.

The Ducks were rolling last season until injuries devastated the offense. Oregon ended up losing three straight games starting at Arizona, then at UCLA, and finally at home to rival Oregon State. They finished 9-4, but that offense was practically unstoppable when all the pieces were in place and healthy.

It looks like the Ducks have reloaded and are poised once again to challenge in the Pac 10 and perhaps in the national picture.

Oregon's next game is at Purdue.

My pal Turnbaby had a good day. Kentucky was all over Norfolk State, 38-3, down in Lexington.

I was impressed by the Wildcats and their improved defensive play last week. This week, UK held the Spartans to only 165 yards of total offense. That's big, because despite the 38 points Kentucky put up, that offense is young and inexperienced and needs to play much better when the Wildcats start SEC play.

Both young quarterbacks for UK played well, but the key to the offense was the running game, led by sophomores Derrick Locke (96 yards on 5 carries) and Moncell Allen (71 yards on 7 carries).

Kentucky's next game is at home against Middle Tennessee.

I don't care for Florida or Miami. Miami hung in for awhile with the Gators, but Florida is just a more talented football team. The Gators won 26-3.

Gator junior QB Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy last year as a sophomore. He is an outstanding athlete. He has speed and quickness, an uncanny ability to evade defenders, and strength. But he also showed that he is learning how to be a pocket passer. The only way he competes at the next level in the NFL is to prove that he can lead an offense from the pocket.

Against Miami, Tebow was efficient and pretty accurate. He threw for 256 yards and 2 touchdowns, missing out on a third TD pass on an illegal procedure penalty.

Florida's next game is at Tennessee.

Now other than Notre Dame, I'm pretty much a Pac-10 guy for college football, so here's how the conference did today.

Cal (2-0, 1-0) beat Washington State (0-2, 0-1), 66-3
#18 Oregon (2-0, 1-0) beat Utah State, 66-24
#14 Arizona State (2-0, 1-0) beat Stanford (1-1, 1-1), 41-17
Arizona (2-0, 0-0) beat Toledo, 41-16
UCLA (1-0, 0-0) idle
#1 USC (1-0, 0-0) idle
Oregon State (0-2, 0-1) lost to #19 Penn State, 14-45
Washington (0-2, 0-1) lost to #15 BYU, 27-28

Here are the results for the AP Top 10.

1 USC idle
2 Georgia beat Central Michigan
3 Ohio State beat Ohio University
4 Oklahoma beat Cincinnati
5 Florida beat Miami
6 Missouri beat Southeast Missouri State
7 LSU against Troy postponed
8 West Virginia lost to East Carolina
9 Auburn beat Southern Mississippi
10 Texas beat UTEP