NCAA College Football Recap - a look at the upsets

NCAA College Football Recap

No ranked teams played each other so there were a lot of blow-outs, but there were some stunners.

The Big Ten (which actually has twelve teams) continues to suck: #13 Wisconsin proved to have no offense at all in a 10-7 loss to unrated Oregon State; #16 Nebraska lost to unrated UCLA.

The Badgers could muster only 207 yards of offense and barely managed to avoid a shutout with a TD in the game's last two minutes. The Badgers are supposed to have a big-time running back in Montee Ball, who rushed for 1900 yards last year, but they could manage only 35 yards on the ground.

#18 Oklahoma State experienced some karmic blowback for its 84-0 trouncing of Savannah State last week. They were absolutely crushed, 59-38, by unrated Arizona. That was quite unexpected, given that Arizona barely survived an overtime game against Toledo last week. The key to today's game was the turnover ratio. Oklahoma State ground out more yardage from scrimmage, 636-500, and more return yardage, 144-18, but committed four turnovers while Arizona played turnover-free. (If you have been reading my statistical analyses of football yardage over the years, you know that a turnover is equal in value to approximately 70 yards of offense.)

In the biggest upset, #8 Arkansas lost to LA-Monroe. I definitely didn't see that one coming. I think Monroe was supposed to be an early-season patsy. They were 4-8 last year, were rated 112th by Sagarin, and were underdogs by 30.5 points. The Monroe Warhawks won't get to rest on their laurels because they will play Auburn next week.