Conference Calls: Tonight I Dine on Turtle Soup
All the Hits: Viewers at home are still recovering from Virginia Tech linebacker Brett Warren's assassination attempt on Darrius Heyward-Bey, a hit that had the Maryland wideout reeling as he left the field on Thursday night. (Speed ahead to 6:45 or watch it here close up about a third of the way in.) Then there was Hokie running back Darren Evans's arguably NSFW assault on Terps free safety Terrell Skinner, just one of a lineup of Terps defenders whose jerseys wound up stamped with #32 in maroon and gold as the red-shirt freshman rusher set the one-game rushing yards record for his school. Highlight hits: Hokies have them.
What Virginia Tech didn't have, at least going into Thursday night's game, was a bowl-game berth to prove. Ranked #23 before their 23-13 loss, Maryland still had an uphill battle to overtake #22 Florida State for the Atlantic Division lead in the ACC. Three losses doesn't put you out of contention in the ACC (what a conference), but there's no clear-cut path by which the Terps could proceed.
Continue playing like they did Thursday, and Maryland's rightly out of it. They looked small against the Hokie rush game and defenders when there weren't any legitimate size differences. Virginia Tech's offense hasn't mobilized this season, and even in Thursday's victory, notwithstanding Evans the team's performance was unremarkable: 127 yards passing -- numbers consistent with its average 120 passing yards per game, second to lowest in the ACC—and a mere 6 successful third-down conversions on 15 attempts.
September photo of Maryland pyrotechnics by Flickr user Rob Shenk used under a Creative Commons license.
But open that many holes against the defense, and something's bound to get through. Maryland wasn't able to dent Virginia Tech's offensive line, and Evans profited for it, picking wide-open lanes and accelerating. On the other side of the ball, Maryland wasn't able to limit the damage to mere dents against its own offensive. Hurried throughout the game, Terps quarterback Chris Turner was sacked three times for a whopping 26 yards lost.
Virginia Tech held onto the ball for 37 minutes as compared to 22 minutes of Maryland snaps. When you have time of possession disparity that large but a score as close as the final between these teams, you look to the loser's offensive line. Sure enough, Maryland's front line didn't give Turner time enough to do more with 240 yards passing. The Hokies play good defense. But not such stellar defense that it's acceptable to post -12 yards rushing for the game against them.
Otherwise On The Home Front: Virginia Cavaliers quarterback Marc Verica completed 23 passes on 45 attempts for 279 yards -- decent, if not for the three interceptions. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons, decked out in gold for homecoming, won 28-17 in game that proves them bowl eligible and puts them on a path for the ACC championship.
South Carolina State smashed the hapless Howard Bison, scoring 28 points in the second quarter alone for an embarrassing 56-0 romp. Howard couldn't keep the Bulldogs away from quarterback Floyd Haigler, who was sacked five times.
Across the Country: Alabama narrowly avoided a repeat of last week's big upset against a number-one team, winning 27-21 in overtime against LSU, a team that's played as well as anyone over the last decade.
A 17-0 shutout didn't give fans much to root for in the favorite Boston College-Notre Dame rivalry -- unless you're a fan of Boston College. That's five straight victories against the Fighting Irish (not that that's the most daunting feat imaginable or anything).
Texas Tech got a scare early when Oklahoma State scored on a fumble by Tech's Graham Harrell. But that was nearly the only mistake the imperturbable quarterback made, ably reading and dismantling an OSU defense that changed formations nearly every play, winning 56-20.
Texas might as well've had the bye, playing the easiest team in their schedule, Baylor University, and winning 45-21. This game's a non-factor as to whether they rise in the coaches' poll and AP rankings or get leapfrogged by #5 Florida.
While most of the top 25 BCS games went in a predictable fashion, Joe Paterno and the #3 Nittany Lions lost a damned close one against unranked Iowa on a field goal -- a field goal on top of needless penalties, turnover-provoking winds, and some fourth-quarter missed opportunities. A heartbreaking loss for Penn State fans who hoped to send Paterno off with one last national title, but Penn State fans knew this was no mean feat: They've lost five of their last six matchups against Iowa.