Ten things learned while watching as much college football as possible on a guys' weekend in the mountains of North Carolina:
1. Defensive struggles don't bother me. Sometimes there's nothing better than a well-played, low-scoring game between two defensive juggernauts.
Hard to put Saturday's LSU-Alabama game into that category. When one team misses four field goals and the two teams combine for four interceptions and 13 penalties, it's hard to consider it a work of art.
Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com with the line of the weekend in this column:
If that was The Game of the Century, then I want my 100 years back.
Alabama had 11 possessions Saturday night. Seven of those possessions penetrated LSU's 35-yard line. Alabama scored six points.
2. Of course, I'm not totally qualified to analyze a game I did not watch fully.
Dozed off at some point late in the fourth quarter. No excuse for that. Significant deduction of man points for that cardinal sin.
3. Does LSU have the most impressive secondary in college football history?
Goodness gracious ... just a bunch of physical, athletic dudes who look like they're in the NFL. And this is the year after the departure of Patrick Peterson.
Then again, LSU's entire defense has looked that way for quite some time.
And take a look at the youth on the Bayou Bengals' roster, and they're not exactly going to be fading into obscurity anytime soon.
4. If Clemson's offensive players and coaches watched any of South Carolina's loss at Arkansas, I'm guessing a number of them salivated a bit watching the Razorbacks carve up a defense that was supposedly great coming in.
The Gamecocks are good up front; there's no doubt about that. But the lengthy run of opponents without particularly good offenses obscured the fact that South Carolina has major issues in the back seven.
Bottom line, this bunch hasn't covered well all year. We saw it the last time the Gamecocks played a passing offense worth a darn ... in the second game against Georgia.
Arkansas' surgical passing game was good enough to expose those weaknesses for everyone to see, and Clemson is capable of doing the same.
I've said all along that Chad Morris' offense is a bad matchup for the Gamecocks. If Clemson's defense is able to stifle South Carolina's running game and get off the field, the Tigers can win big in Columbia.
The Gamecocks' offense, by the way, should be renamed the Fun 'N' Punt. Their last three games have produced 16 punts, four interceptions, three lost fumbles and a turnover on downs.
5. Is it me, or does Steve Spurrier look resigned to the notion that his team isn't very good and won't be anytime soon?
ESPN did an interview with him at the team hotel Saturday morning, and he didn't look particularly confident. Looked like a man who had a feeling a butt-whipping was coming.
Wouldn't surprise me at all if he hangs it up soon.
6. There is something wrong with Oklahoma's offense.
The 41 points scored by the Sooners in a rout of Texas A&M were deceiving. They ran for just 3.2 yards a carry, but Landry Jones' inconsistency seemed the most troubling thing. He's known for exceptional accuracy, but he didn't come close to living up to that reputation in this one.
Jones had a legitimate excuse for lacking rhythm; for some reason the Sooners' offensive brain is determined to get backup QB Blake Bell in as a running threat.
It just looked and felt weird. It was overshadowed by the season-ending knee injury suffered by Ryan Broyles, but the offensive sputters are what stood out to me in that game.
7. Clemson's trip to N.C. State in 12 days looks a little more dangerous than it did earlier this season.
Assuming Clemson beats Wake Forest on Saturday -- and we are -- the Tigers will be coming off a division-clinching triumph, and will be seven days from the hate fest in Columbia.
Mike Glennon is not mobile, and that will help Clemson's cause. But he's throwing the ball a lot better lately, and the Wolfpack's defense showed some saltiness Saturday in limiting North Carolina to 165 yards.
Clemson has beaten the Wolfpack seven straight years.
8. Florida State's defense looks really good these days.
I know it was Boston College, whose offensive line isn't good this year. But man, did the Seminoles' defensive line just abuse the Eagles up front Thursday night.
Still have questions about E.J. Manuel and Florida State's offense. And the Seminoles' winning streak has been in part fueled by light fare.
But they do look a lot better than they did in September.
9. James Franklin is doing a really nice job this year at Vanderbilt, even though his Commodores have made some colossal mistakes to ruin their chances of upsets in recent weeks.
He's a fiery dude who doesn't take any crap from anybody, and he seems to do a really good job of keeping his guys motivated.
Wonder if Maryland fans wish he were running the show in College Park?
10. Two weeks after Houston Nutt chided a reporter by bragging that the Rebels didn't lose to Arkansas as badly as the reporter predicted them to, the Rebels went to Kentucky and were blasted 30-13.
Gotta think the Nutt era is coming to a close in Oxford.
Mike Leach, anyone?
LW
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