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Reviewing the National Scene: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

Favored Teams not in the ACC

Despite a number of intriguing matchups between ranked and lower ranked or unranked-but-decent teams, there were few upsets over the weekend. The one true surprise was the thrashing TCU put on formerly ninth-ranked BYU, which ended the Cougar's fairly solid chance at playing this year's BCS Buster.

It may seem that the ACC had a few upsets, but while some may have been surprised to see some of that conference's scores, such as Maryland 26-0 over Wake Forest, let's face it: the ACC doesn't count in this discussion because almost all of the teams are equally bad, whether ranked or not. Any game involving Maryland certainly does not count, since the Terps spend their time either beating ranked teams or getting thrashed by unranked ones.

The Bad

Washington State

Southern Cal outgained the Cougars 625 to 116 yards in a 69-0 rout. That, my friends, is dominance.

By the way, those who are complaining that the Trojans ran up the score need to get a life. Pete Carroll basically had all of his starters pulled and was running the ball every down by the third quarter. If you can't stop a team's third string while that team is running a completely predictable offense, then you deserve to get blown out.

The Ugly

The Clemson Tigers

Why shouldn't I enjoy a little schadenfraude at the Tigers' expense? Clemson managed to lose their head coach, a number of star recruits, and a winnable game to Georgia Tech, all in one week. I'd call that an ugly week. Wouldn't you?