So I know there was a lot going on in college football this past weekend, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around that incredible overtime finish between UCLA and No. 18 Tennessee at the Rose Bowl last night.
Maybe it's because I didn't give UCLA any chance of winning the game — especially after Kevin Craft threw four interceptions in the first half — or maybe I overestimated (just a tad) the overall strength of an SEC power like Tennessee.
With the way things transpired on the gridiron over the holiday weekend though, I have to say that there wasn't a much better way to kick off the college football season.
We got things started on Thursday with South Carolina absolutely dominating N.C. State, shutting out a Wolfpack offense that gained only 139 yards total and made Steve Spurrier look like a defensive genius — rather than an offensive one — in a 34-0 laugher.
"It was a struggle but thank goodness we had our defense," the fourth-year coach Spurrier said afterward. "They pitched a shutout ... It's a pretty good start to the season."
I'm not sure how much of a struggle it can be when the other team puts up a goose egg on the scoreboard, but Spurrier still wasn't exactly satisfied with the way his offensive played, which tallied 198 yards in the air and 171 on the ground.
Even so, with a 1-0 start after the first week of play, Spurrier couldn't ask for much more from his kids.
"I'm certainly proud of our defense but they will definitely be challenged more this season," he added. "It was a good win. But our offense needs a lot of work. "
The Gamecocks aren't the only ones who need to work on their offensive production, however.
Take a look at Virginia Tech, who blew a 14-point lead in the final four minutes of its season opener at East Carolina.
The then-No. 17 Hokies, after all, had the lead and were hoping to just milk the clock down and stop one more drive from an ECU offense that gained 369 yards for the day.
But with Tech leading 22-20 with 1:59 remaining, Brent Bowden failed to get his punt away on fourth down as T.J. Lee blocked the kick, scooped up the loose ball and went 27 yards for the touchdown, giving the Pirates a 27-22 lead that they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way.
With one last opportunity, the Hokies couldn't even move the ball down the field on their final possession, netting just three yards and turning the ball over on downs to seal ECU's upset win in Charlotte, N.C.
And after last year's ACC title and Orange Bowl appearance, I'm sure this wasn't the way Frank Beamer envisioned the season starting for his ball club.
Yet if Tech continues to make crucial mistakes late in the game and have its offense go south at the same time, you can bet that Hokie fans will have a lot to be disappointed with this season.
And the same goes for Pittsburgh fans, who saw their No. 25 Panthers suffer an embarrassing 27-17 loss at home to Bowling Green, the newest BCS killer after scoring its second straight opening-season win over a team from one of the six major conferences.
It's not like Pitt hadn't had success before against the MAC. After all, the Panthers were previously 25-2, 8-0 in season openers and 24-0 at home against teams from the conference.
Bowling Green obviously didn't care what history had to say, nevertheless.
"To say the least, I can't tell you how disappointed our football team is considering how much work and effort was put into the start of the season," Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt said. "I thought our players came out and were ready to play."
Still, for as much time and preparation as any team puts in during the season, there's no guarantee that the result will always be a happy one on Saturdays.
Wannstedt, for one, made that clear after Saturday's loss to the Falcons.
"Working hard just gives you a chance to win," he said. "It doesn't guarantee anything. I told the players this is the lesson to learn from this game."
Ranking the Panthers at No. 25 to start the season, after all, was a little premature to me even with the impressive win that Wannstedt's team pulled off against national title contender West Virginia last December in Morgantown and with the talent that he had returning this season.
Now they'll have to turn it around in a hurry as they welcome another non-BCS team (Buffalo) to Heinz Field looking to make the same statement that Bowling Green made this past weekend.
After all, between the upsets scored by UCLA, East Carolina and Bowling Green, in addition to the shootout that we saw Saturday night in St. Louis between Missouri's Chase Daniels and Illinois' Juice Williams, who needed another Appalachian State upset anyway?
Sure, the Mountaineers didn't do the unthinkable at LSU on Saturday, but UCLA made up for it Monday night in Pasadena, Calif., keeping viewers on their toes all the way until the end.
That is, until Daniel Lincoln's 34-yard field goal in overtime sailed wide left, leaving the Bruins celebrating at midfield. Meanwhile, after watching their team finally break through in what became a back-and-forth, push-and-pull struggle for most of the night, the Bruin faithful jumped up and down in utter jubilation at the sight of Lincoln's chokejob.
"You have to weather the storm," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel explained while discussing his team's ability to bounce back from a tough first half. "You never know when you're winning and when you're losing. You don't hope for things. You just keep playing. I was really impressed how they did it."
That was largely true for his red-shirt junior quarterback Craft, who found his rhythm in the second half and led UCLA on an impressive 70-yard drive with less than two minutes remaining in regulation that gave the Bruins back the lead at 24-21.
"[Offensive coordinator] Norm [Chow] did most of the talking [to Craft at halftime]," Neuheisel said about Craft's poor first half, which included four interceptions, with the final one being returned for a touchdown that gave Tennessee a 14-7 lead at halftime.
"I told him that I threw four interceptions when I started out, too. And Terry Donahue waited until the third game to pull me. So I was going to be patient. He stayed in the present. The kids rallied around him and believed in him. You could see him grow in the second half."
And while Craft grew, Tennessee's playmakers disappeared.
The Volunteers certainly had their chances throughout the second half, but Lincoln wasn't able to bail his team out on three separate occasions, making just one field goal try, albeit it was from 47 yards and did force overtime with no time remaining in the fourth.
"You can't put this on Daniel Lincoln," Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said. "Those long field goals earlier in the game — I don't expect him to make a large percentage of those."
But if you can't put the loss on Lincoln, you certainly can put the win on Craft and UCLA's defense, and that's good enough for him, his coach and the Bruins right now.
