Trav's Thoughts

Best wishes to all who have been impacted by Mr Ike this weekend, and to all who are still struggling in the wake of Mr Gustav.

Sorry...in my play by play posts for Notre Dame I forgot some interludes for my blog pals who don't care for sports. Pam says this might up a little bit for it.



I spent a lot of the day studying, so I didn't really have a chance to channel hop the games much. But the good news is that I was able to get my notes organized today, so I'll be able to listen to my lectures more effectively during the week. And I finished that task early, which means that I got to watch OSU vs USC, visit some blogs, and take Sunday off from studying to watch the NFL.

Yay me!

Check it out...my Dodgers have a magic number! It was 13 at the start of the day. For those of you non-sports peeps, a magic number in baseball means the combination of wins and losses a team needs to win the division. So for my Dodgers, it's a combination of 13 Dodger wins or D'back losses in the last 15 games. It's not much of a magic number, but it's been awhile since I got to count it down so I'll take it.

The Dodgers started the day 3.5 games ahead of the Diamondbacks. LA beat Colorado today, while Cincinnati came back late to beat Arizona. So the new magic number should be 11, with the Dodger lead in the NL West up to 4.5 games.

Sorry Songbird! GO DODGERS!

Of course the dominating news for me today was Notre Dame and its win over Michigan. You can check my previous two posts if you're interested in recaps. The Irish didn't have a particulary impressive offensive game, other than sophomore WR Golden Tate who caught 4 passes for 127 yards and a TD. He also ran back 3 kicks for 58 yards.

The key for the Irish was turnovers by Michigan. The Wolverines outgained the Irish on offense, but they kept shooting themselves in the foot by not protecting the football in bad weather.

Notre Dame plays at Michigan State next week.

#16 Oregon was on upset watch against Purdue until a third quarter comeback got them in a position to force overtime. The Ducks pulled out the win, 26-23.

Oregon struggled with turnovers, losing 3 fumbles and throwing 2 interceptions. On top of that, Ducks sophomore QB Justin Roper was on the sidelines with a knee injury during the overtime. Fortunately for Oregon, the defense stepped up and held Purdue scoreless on its second possession in OT. The Ducks ended up winning with 10 points to the Boilermakers' 3 in the overtime.

Oregon plays Boise State at home next week.

On BCS Buster watch, #14 East Carolina scored in the final 2 minutes to survive a challenge by Tulane and remain unbeaten at 3-0. ECU senior QB Patrick Pinkney was an efficient 22 of 32 for 260 yards and 2 TDs, but he also threw an interception. In a recurring theme in many games today, the Pirates turned the ball over 4 times.

After beating 2 ranked opponents, then #17 Virginia Tech and then #8 West Virginia, ECU may have had a bit of an emotional let down in their C-USA opener against the Green Wave.

East Carolina next plays at NC State.

Cal climbed into the Top 25 at #23 last week, but they were dominated by Maryland today. The Terrapins were up 28-6 after the third quarter, and then 35-13 before Cal was able to add a couple of late TDs. The final was 35-27, but the game really wasn't that close.

Cal sophomore QB Kevin Riley threw for 423 yards and 3TDs, mostly because the Golden Bears were behind all afternoon. Cal wasn't able to run the ball against Maryland's defense. The Terps had under 300 total yards of offense, but the key was 141 yards on the ground behind sophomore RB Da'Rel Scott (87 yards and 2 TDs) and freshman RB Davin Meggett (82 yards and 1 TD).

For NY Giants fans...yes, Davin Meggett is the son of scatback Dave Meggett, who played for the Giants (1989-1994), the Patriots (1995-1997), and the Jets (1998).

Cal takes a week off and then hosts Colorado State on Sept 27.

Washington was simply overmatched against #3 Oklahoma. The Sooners thrashed the Huskies 55-14. I have to question Coach Willingham and his scheduling. He has a dynamic young QB in Jake Locker and a decent compliment of talent around him. Yet he schedules 3 ranked teams to begin the season. It's not like he needed to pad strength of schedule in order to compete for a BCS bowl. And even if he did, there are other ways to do that.

He's got 3 ranked teams from the Pac 10 to contend with during conference play. How about scheduling some teams with which you can be competitive, and maybe get a win so this group can get some confidence? The Huskies were 4-9 in 2007 and so far 2008 doesn't look like it's going to get any better.

Washington is home against Stanford on 9/27.

I'm keeping an eye Tennessee because that's my pal Dixie's team. The Vols were all over UAB today, 35-3. Senior RB Arian Foster had 12 rushes for 100 yards, and sophomore RB Lennon Creer ran 8 times for 93 yards and 2 TDs. Tennessee intercepted 3 passes.

The Vols improved to 1-1. Tennessee hosts #4 Florida next.

My pal Turnbaby's Wildcats hung on to beat Middle Tennessee today. Kentucky sophomore QB Mike Hartline was 28 of 47 for 254 yards and 2 TD. The Wildcats had to come from behind with 10 points in the 4th quarter to get the win.

MTSU had a 61 yard completion from senior QB Joe Craddock to junior WR Eldred King with :20 seconds left in the game. UK senior CB Robbie McAtee tackled King in bounds and time ran out to preserve the Wildcats' win.

Kentucky hosts Western Kentucky on 9/27.

So the Pac 10 had some struggles this weekend.

#1 USC (2-0, 1-0) beat #5 Ohio State (Big 10), 35-3
#15 Arizona State (2-1, 1-0) lost 23-20 in OT to UNLV (MWC)
#16 Oregon (3-0, 1-0) beat Purdue (Big 10), 32-26
Arizona (2-1, 0-1) lost 36-28 to New Mexico (MWC)
#23 Cal (2-1, 1-0) lost 35-27 to Maryland (ACC)
UCLA (1-1, 0-1) lost 59-0 to #18 BYU (MWC)
Stanford (1-2, 1-1) lost 31-14 to TCU (MWC)
Oregon State (1-2, 0-1) beat Hawaii (WAC), 45-7
Washington (0-3, 0-1) lost 55-14 to #3 Oklahoma (Big 12)
Washington State (0-3, 0-1) lost 45-17 to Baylor (Big 12)

And as for the AP Top 10?

#1 USC beat #5 Ohio State, 35-3
#2 Georgia beat South Carolina, 14-7
#3 Oklahoma beat Washington, 55-14
#4 Florida idle
#5 Ohio State lost to #1 USC, 3-35
#6 Missouri beat Nevada, 69-17
#7 LSU beat North Texas, 41-3
#8 Texas vs Arkansas, postponed due to Hurricane Ike
#9 Auburn beat Mississippi State, 3-2 (that's not a typo)
#10 Wisconsin beat #21 Fresno State, 13-10

Whew!