Football, sweeps, and more football

The second week of the college football season kicked off this weekend and what a second week it was. There were thrilling last second victories, impressive breakout performances, and surprise upsets. Here's some of my impressions from the action:

- The ACC is still bad - Yes I know they went 8-1 against non-conference opponents but Wake Forest, Mayland, North Carolina, and Florida State all needed late heroics to get victories against Stanford, James Madison, UConn, and Jacksonville State respectively. Not exactly a murderers row of opponents. The only two teams that have looked consistent for two weeks has been Georgia Tech and BC. Jury is still out on Miami.

- Speaking of the Eagles, they came within 2 minutes of posting back-to-back shut outs to start the season. Still a question mark on the offensive side of the ball, the BC defense has looked stout though against lesser opponents. They'll need it as they get their first real test on Saturday when they travel to Death Valley for a meeting with the Clemson Tigers who looked pretty good despite the loss to Georgia Tech.

- Houston has a chance - The Houston Cougars have suddenly played themselves into a position to make some real noise this season. They have a talented offense led by underrated Case Keenum and they pulled off the upset of the week with their 45-35 shocker against Oklahoma State in Stillwater. With a big showdown at home against Texas Tech in two weeks, a win there will instantly make the Cougars relevant and start people talking BCS buster as their remaining schedule is filled with winnable contests. Keep your eyes and ears open for this year's flavor of the week.

- Injuries are the order of the day - First it was Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham costing Oklahoma their national title hopes now promising starts for USC and UCLA may be in jeopardy as word has come down that USC QB Matt Barkley is nursing a bruised shoulder and UCLA QB Kevin Prince will miss 3-4 weeks with a broken jaw. It will be interesting to see how true freshman Barkley deals with the injury, luckily for Pete Carroll and the Trojans they have back to back games against Washington and Washington State which shouldn't be heavy lifting for them before their October 3rd showdown at Cal. For the Bruins, losing Prince is much more damaging as they do not have the wealth of talent that USC has even to face the likes of Kansas State and Stanford.

- Ohio State still can't get it done - There has been a lot of talk over the past few years about Ohio State not being able to live up to the challenge of a big game and they proved it again this weekend with the loss to USC. Some have tried to defend them and say that their last two losses have been close (Texas in the BCS last year being the other one). But the fact of the matter is that good teams step up and make the play to win those close games. Both Texas and USC were able to convert 4th downs on late game winning drives and Ohio State simply could not come up with that big stop when it mattered. Despite all their success in the past few years, until they win another of these big non-conference games they will be rightfully haunted by these past losses.

College football was not the only story this weekend as the Red Sox completed a rain soaked (and shortened) sweep of the Rays at Fenway. The combination of those wins with Texas' two losses to Seattle has reduced the magic number to 17 with 20 games to play. There are still reasons for concern with the Sox but if Beckett, Bucholtz, and Lester continue to pitch like they did this weekend the Sox can be considered serious contenders for the post season no matter who the #4 starter turns out to be.

And no I have not forgotten about the beginning of the NFL season this weekend. Matt Ryan and the Falcons got their first victory of the season, there were thrilling finishes in Cincinnati and Green Bay, rookie Mark Sanchez continued the trend started last year by Ryan and Joe Flacco that rookie QBs can start from day 1 in the NFL, and Michael Vick may be playing much sooner that anticipated now that Donovan McNabb has suffered a rib injury. As for Mr. Vick, I have to agree with the ESPN panel that the injury to McNabb is probably the worst thing that could have happened to him. He needed the time to ease back into the game and instead because he is in the sports frenzy that is Philadelphia Eagles football he and coach Andy Reid will feel the pressure to have him play especially if McNabb is out for an extended period and if his backup struggles.