Saturday Ramblings

*Today is one of those perfect days weather-wise that makes me feel like a complete waste of space while sitting inside watching football all day.

*The game's not over yet, but Minnesota should feel happy with its performance today, win or lose. I kinda figured California would run the Golden Gophers over, but Tim Brewster's team has done a good job battling back whenever it could have packed it in. Jahvid Best should be Heisman front-runner at the moment, too.

*Too bad if you missed last night's Fresno State-Boise State game--two very physical teams getting after each other. Fresno running back Ryan Mathews put up one of the best efforts you'll ever see in a losing effort, gaining 234 yards on just 19 carries, an average of more than 12 yards per carry. He also found the end zone three times. Even with all the hard hitting going on, though, it seemed like every other play in this game was a 70-yard touchdown.

*The Boise-Fresno game illustrated the problems college officials are having with the new helmet-to-helmet rule. The Bulldogs came out on the wrong end of some questionable non-calls for the second week in a row. I can understand why officials would be hesitant to drop the hammer in some cases, given that it means an automatic ejection. But if you're going to have the rule, you've got to call it.

*I can't believe the buzz about a possible upset in the USC-Washington game today. New coach Steve Sarkisian is off to a good start in Seattle and has some inside info when it comes to the Trojans, but this strikes me as a clear case of jumping the gun. The Huskies didn't win a game last year, lest you forget, Stewart Mandel. Unless Sark can sneak the Seahawks into the purple and gold today, U-Dub is not winning this game. It wouldn't even matter if Mitch Mustain was playing quarterback.

*Please, please, please, please, please don't let Dave Lapham between anywhere near Norman today. There's no more incompetent color commentator out there, and there's no one worse to listen to if your favorite team is struggling. Something about his completely lame-brained, uninsightful analysis just makes it all the more aggravating if OU is having trouble with an underdog. Lapham's overall crappiness in OU's 2005 loss to Texas Tech and 2007 loss to Colorado was worse than any Tebow lovefest I've sat through.