All the Awesomeness that was Week Three of the College Football Season

There are still too many soft, stat-padding , snore inducing games for my taste, but thankfully there are a few teams that are brave enough to schedule real competition. Alabama blew out Arkansas, but the Razorbacks are in their conference and were supposed to be good. As for some of these other games there is no excuse (I'm talking to you LSU, Oregon, and Florida State!).

The schedule is what it is, and lucky for fans there are a lot of teams and players out there that could care less about who is supposed to win. They just come to play ball. As a result we had another weekend that was chock full of awesome plays and poll-busting upsets.

Upsets, Upsets, and More Upsets

After all the hype that everyone (myself included) heaped on USC and their championship hopes, the Trojans have looked like a team that will have enough trouble winning the Pac-12. Matt Barkley had no answer for Stanford Saturday night and looked nothing like someone that should be a Heisman candidate let alone frontrunner (20-41, 254 yards, 2 INTs, 4 sacks). Behind strong games from Josh Nunes, Stepfan Taylor, and the defense Stanford upset the Trojans 21-14. (Trojans fell from No.2 to No. 13 in the AP)

When a No. 20 team takes on a No. 10 team you'd think it would be a good game, but that the No. 10 team should control the game pretty well and win of course. That was not the case when Michigan State took on Notre Dame Saturday. The offense was efficient enough, but it was the beating that the Notre Dame defense gave the Spartan offense that won this one (4 sacks, fumble recovery, 50 yards rushing on 25 carries, 8 passes defended, etc.); Fighting Irish win, 20-3. (MSU fell from No. 10 to No. 21)

During the week when the No. 13 Virginia Tech Hokies were preparing to take on the Pitt Panthers, they had to be thinking that it was going to be an easy game. After all, Pitt was defeated by a FCS team (Youngstown State ) in week one and spanked by Cincinnati in week two. How tough can these guys be, right?

Tough enough! Pitt came out fired up and took it to VT giving them a pretty sound whipping, 35-17. Pitt running back Ray Graham helped the Panthers get out to a 21-0 lead with two rushing touchdowns with the better part of a quarter left before half time. Pitt out-gained the Cavs 537 yards to 324 and forced four turnovers to aid in the upset. (Virginia Tech went from being No. 13 to being unranked)

The Awesomeness

No Saturday would be complete without some great players, known and unknown, making great plays. Here are some of the best of the best that our buddies will be talking about in class or at work on Monday.

The Anti-awesome Award goes to the fans of the Miami Hurricanes. They used the game against Bethune-Cookman as an excuse to hang out in the parking lot and party. As you can see from the picture above there were very few that bothered to actually watch the game (which they won 38-10). Come on folks! Where is your pride? Is the beer inside the stadium that expensive?

The California Golden Bears deserve the Awesome Effort Award. Powered behind the explosiveness of running back BrendanBigelow the Bears gave Urban Meyer's Buckeyes all they could handle before losing 28-35 in the end. Bigelow was a one-man show gaining 160 yards on four carries including a TD run of 81 and 59 yards.

Auburn hasn't been the same since they lost that Cam Newton character. Thanks to guys like wide receiver Sammie Coats making plays when they can the Tigers are not facing obscurity just yet. The Hog Killers--the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks--were in town and looking to win again. Coats gave the Tigers the lead with an awesome Hail Mary grab at the end of the second quarter to give Auburn a 21-14 lead at the half (they went on to win 31-28 in OT).

The play of the weekend did not come on Saturday, but was on Friday. We'll call it the Future College Awesomeness Award. The Oregon Ducks had little trouble with their opponent, Tennessee Tech (63-14 win), and neither did their star recruit from Aloha High in Beaverton, Oregon, Thomas Tyner. The future college star ran for a state record 643 yards and 10 touchdowns in one game.

Before you ask, no, this video has nothing to do with college football, but it is an awesome play that needs to be recognized and enjoyed by the masses. After all, who doesn't enjoy a little girl-on-girl action (even when they have clothes on)?