CFB Week 10 (10/28-11/2) Picks and News

[RJ Esq]

2005-06 CFB Record
77-71, +0.52 Units

2006-07 CFB Record
70-48, +51.29 Units

2007-08 CFB Record
53-52, -33 Units

2008-09 CFB Record
37-28-2 +7.3 Units

Tried to make a play last week and upped my bets by 50%. Finished 2-4. Nasty. Back to playing 1 unit per game this week.

Picks
Aggy -3 (-110)
Texas/TT o76' (-110)
Texas/TT u75' (-110)
Minny -6' (-110)
Texas -3 (-110)
Mizzou -21 (-110)
BYU -14 (-120)
Arkansas +7 (-110)

 

[RJ Esq]

 

[RJ Esq]

 

[RJ Esq]

Surprising mistakes prove costly for Cowboys

By Mark Rosner
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Kendall Hunter has a reputation for protecting the football.
Andre Sexton is known for making intelligent decisions.
But both Oklahoma State players failed in those areas on critical plays during the Cowboys' 28-24 loss to Texas on Saturday at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
Hunter, the sophomore running back, was outstanding for most of the game, rushing for 161 yards and a touchdown. But he also fumbled on the Cowboys' second possession, losing the football after an 18-yard run to the Texas 9. Hunter's fumble came when Longhorns Rashad Bobino and Earl Thomas hit him.
"I forgot to cover the ball when I was in traffic," said Hunter, who has lost only two fumbles, one coming a week ago against Baylor.
Sexton, the junior safety, made nine tackles for a defense that held Texas 20 points below its average coming in. But he also made a crucial blunder in the third quarter, negating an interception by teammate Perrish Cox at the OSU 6 with a roughing the passer penalty.
Sexton, charging hard toward Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy, arrived late and shoved him on the face mask.
"That wasn't a smart move," Sexton said.
Two plays later, McCoy scored Texas' final touchdown on a 3-yard run.
Oklahoma State has lost 11 straight games against Texas. The Cowboys have not defeated the Longhorns in Austin since 1944.
OSU coach Mike Gundy is 0-4 against Texas, but he was pleased with his team's effort Saturday.
"Our players played well enough to win the game today," he said.
Gundy fell on his sword, or his playbook, taking the blame for a drive that stalled late in the fourth quarter.
"A couple of poor play calls," Gundy said. "We had those plays planned for those situations, and Texas rallied to them and made some plays. But the plays didn't work, and that's my responsibility."
Gundy did not specify which calls he second-guessed, but on fourth-and-6 at the Oklahoma State 30, the Cowboys ran an inside screen pass for wide receiver Dez Bryant. Bryant was stopped for a three-yard loss by Longhorn tackle Lamarr Houston.
The Longhorns took possession with 2:39 remaining.
Gundy implied that the Cowboys used a short pass route when they needed six yards so that quarterback Zac Robinson would not have to hold the ball too long. Robinson was sacked five times.
"We struggled a little bit on pass protection on sure passing downs," Gundy said. "In crucial situations, you try to get the ball in the hands of your best player. We were trying to get the ball to a good player and let him make a play."

 

[RJ Esq]

Horns feel relief after a game that couldn't end soon enough

As Brown expected, Cowboys brough the fight to Texas

By Kevin Robbins
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, October 26, 2008
His hair streaked with sweat, his team's perfection intact, Will Muschamp sat and stared.
The piece of paper in his hand was full of numbers — digits that explained the way Texas beat Oklahoma State 28-24. Muschamp looked up from them to answer questions in a postgame news conference, but the first-year defensive coordinator seemed more intent on gleaning information than giving it.
Texas won, but at more times deep into the game Saturday than during possibly any other this season, there seemed a real chance the Longhorns could lose.
The No. 1 team in college football twice had to hold the No. 7 Cowboys — late, with the game very much in the balance. Without similar final-minute anxiety, the Longhorns had survived Oklahoma and Missouri, the early stage of one of the most treacherous game-to-game trials in school history. But Oklahoma State gave Texas a knot-in-the-gut scare.
"In a special season, you've got to win games like these," Muschamp said.
Conducted fewer than 30 minutes after the end of a game, the news conference is a difficult place to hide the truth. Players arrive in their uniforms; defensive end Brian Orakpo was removing tape from his fingers during the interrogation. Coaches still have the rasp in their voices.
Minds continue to race. Early in the conference, for example, Orakpo was asked about a certain play.
"I have no idea," he replied.
His linemate, defensive tackle Roy Miller, was asked if relief pervaded the Texas locker room.
"I'm relieved to be out of that game," he said.
Running back Chris Ogbonnaya tried to describe the sensation of watching the other team set up its final play with 6 seconds left — when a touchdown pass from 49 yards, while unlikely, would win the game. The senior from Houston said he felt "a little uneasiness."
He added: "Someone comes up with a miraculous catch? Hearts are broken."
And so is a perfect season.
Head coach Mack Brown sounded terse at times, calling anyone who predicted an easy Texas victory both "foolish" and "stupid." Brown said he told his players at halftime, when the score was 21-14, Texas: "Boys, we've got us a fight. So hang on."
They did. The Longhorns batted down the long, last-second pass from Cowboys quarterback Zac Robinson. Royal-Memorial Stadium erupted. With joy, with triumph and with relief.
"Relief for this game," explained senior defensive tackle Aaron Lewis, "not relief for the season."
Which continues in a week, with a trip to undefeated Texas Tech.

 

[RJ Esq]

Postgame React: Texas 28 Oklahoma State 24

from Burnt Orange Nation by PB @ BON
Before we even get into the details, consider that you could easily argue:
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Match Up</td> <td>Winner</td> </tr> <tr> <td>OSU D-Line vs Texas O-Line</td> <td>Oklahoma State</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Texas D-Line vs OSU O-Line</td> <td>Oklahoma State</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Linebacker Play</td> <td>Oklahoma State</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Secondary Play</td> <td>Even</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Special Teams Play</td> <td>Oklahoma State
</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Texas won in large part because Colt-Shipley-Cosby-Ogbonnaya are near-unstoppable in the short passing game. Though our historical superiority over OSU makes it hard for some Texas fans to admit, in truth--given that Texas was outplayed in several key aspects of the game by an impressive Cowboys squad--this turns out to be quite a win to appreciate. Really. I'm comfortable saying that's the best team Texas has played this year.
Game thoughts after the jump...

Close call... Reviewing the pregame prediction post and the three variables for an OSU win: (1) The Cowboys didn't get a special teams touchdown but took two kickoffs into Texas territory; (2) Kendall Hunter didn't break that long touchdown run but torched the 'Horns for 161 yards; (3) OSU ended two Texas drives by turnover.

Don't crucify the defense... Is our defense as good as they were in the first half against Missouri last week? No. Did Mike Gundy do a phenomenal job of making our defense defend the entire football field today? Absolutely. Did Will Muschamp nonetheless have a solid day today? I'd argue yes, for the following reasons:

1. The defense was without Chykie Brown today--a huge loss.
2. All anyone talked about this week was OSU's offensive balance, which was definitely on display today. And which meant that unless the opposition has a phenomenally elite defense, they've got to strategically pick their spots. Muschamp bet his wad on "No big plays." It was the right move.
3. Dez Bryant before OSU's final desperation drive: 4 catches, 37 yards.

Put another way: one big play collapse by the defense today and Texas is probably 7-1. As it was, Earl Thomas forced a fumble in the red zone, Dez Bryant was doubled all day (forcing Robinson to go to the excellent-but-less-explosive Pettigrew), and the defense held the Pokes to a field goal in the 4th Quarter. Ballgame.

With that said... The tackling was suspect, the middle linebacker play was at times phenomenally bad, and OSU provided the blueprint for how to attack this unit: Be physical and aggressive with our line, always assign a blocker for Muckelroy, ignore Norton-Bobino, and attack Beasley-Palmer where you can. Granted, most teams don't have the personnel to do what the Cowboys were doing, but Longhorns fans need only look ahead a week to see what may be the defense's toughest test of the season.
Shannon Woods and Baron Batch provide enough of a rushing threat from the tailback position to keep a defense honest, while the Tech passing game at its best is a tour de force. Above all else, however, the Red Raiders will have to hope their offensive line can perform as well as OSU's did today: If the Cowboys had emerged victorious, I think they may have been the MVPs. This, from a group I thought would see their success-to-date stymied. Wrong.

Colt McCoy's almost brilliant day. We saw two mistakes from Colt in the red zone today that were straight out of 2007: the pass off his back foot that Cox intercepted (mercifully nullified by a late hit penalty) and the fumble after holding the ball too long in traffic. If nothing else, it was a reminder (to him, to us, to the team) that he can't do everything, all the time.
Amazingly, however, outside those two plays he nearly was freaking perfect. Oklahoma State spent the entire first half playing zone and, with our running game in the toilet, Colt worked the gaps with surgical precision, hitting Shipley, Cosby, and Ogbonnaya over and over and over. Though OSU made some excellent second half adjustments on defense, McCoy was so good that Texas was able to hang on, chewing up clock with one improbable third down conversion after another. Even though it didn't result in points, the 7-minute fourth quarter drive won the game for the 'Horns. At that point, we needed to keep OSU's offense off the field... and we did.
McCoy finished the day completing 38-45 passes for 391 yards and 2 touchdowns. At least four of his incompletions were drops. He had absolutely no help from the running game. And he wasn't derailed by any of his mistakes. The kid's a winner. When it's all said and done 14 months from now, the bar room debates about whether McCoy or Vince Young is Texas' all-time greatest quarterback will be fun. And appropriate.

The offense beyond McCoy. I honestly thought the offensive line had turned a corner against Missouri--so much so that I expected the Longhorns to wear out OSU's defense a bit with the run. Wrong again. We ran our zone stretch play for a grand total of about 3 yards, Ogbonnaya was frequently running towards the sideline searching for somewhere to cut up field, and McGee--despite doing a great job trying his damndest to cut up the field in what was his best effort on the season in many ways--was constantly swimming upstream.
Fozzy? Nowhere to be found. I'm done making any predictions about the guy. If he was available, the coaches must not have trusted his ability to pass block, or... something. I have no idea. I'm just gonna assume he's hurt again and leave it at that.

Texas on third down. The difference in the ballgame:
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Distance</td> <td>Play</td> <td>Player</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-2</td> <td>Pass +3</td> <td>Williams</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-14</td> <td>Pass +22</td> <td>Kirkendoll</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-5</td> <td>Pass +0</td> <td>McGee</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-8</td> <td>Pass +15</td> <td>Shipley</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-5</td> <td>Pass +12</td> <td>Ogbonnaya</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-2</td> <td>Rush +9</td> <td>McCoy</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-6</td> <td>Pass +11</td> <td>Cosby</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-2</td> <td>Pass +34</td> <td>Ogbonnaya</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-4</td> <td>Pass +6</td> <td>Shipley</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-1</td> <td>Penalty +15</td> <td>N/A</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-11</td> <td>Pass +12</td> <td>Cosby</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-3</td> <td>Pass +5</td> <td>Shipley</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-6</td> <td>Sack Fumble</td> <td>McCoy</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-9</td> <td>Pass +20</td> <td>Shipley</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-G2</td> <td>Rush +1</td> <td>Johnson</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

Coaching? Even after asking Texas fans not to be unfairly harsh on Muschamp and the defense, I thought the staff as a whole didn't have its best game today. The special teams were incoherent (A high, tweener kickoff that Cox still gets to field? Really?), the outside run support was embarrassing, and Greg Davis didn't respond terribly well to halftime adjustments made by the Cowboys.
On the whole, everyone seemed a little tense today and for a while it really felt like things might end as they did two years ago against Texas A&M--with a game winning drive by the visitors that we can't answer before the final gun. I didn't think it was a poor performance by the coaches... More like, hmm... I guess I'd say it felt like we played to survive. The flow too often seemed reactive, in contrast to the Cowboys, who I thought were both exceptionally well prepared and playing to win throughout.
At the end of the day, though... Texas won. The Longhorns were just good enough where it counted and the team moves to 8-0. Oklahoma State is a damn good football team. I'm thrilled the team survived today.

The crowd? I'm interested to hear some reports from those in attendance today. Impossible to tell for sure from the telecast, but it sure seemed like a passive, often shellshocked fan base. Frighteningly reminiscent of T+1 2006. Yes? No?

Awards. It wouldn't be a post-game wrap without some awards:

• Offensive MVP: The roommates. McCoy-to-Shipley was a scene to remember today. From the fade in the end zone, to the beautiful double move on the fake screen, to the numerous third down conversions, these two were incredible.
• Defensive MVP: Earl Thomas. With each game, he's more and more aware of where he's supposed to be. Which, as the team's best playmaker in the back seven, is most excellent.
• Play of the Game: Earl Thomas strips Kendall Hunter. On 3rd and 10 from the Texas 27, OSU tailback Kendall Hunter breaks free for a first down and maybe a score but loses the football when Thomas manages to pop loose the football, which Sergio Kindle recovers at the Texas 9.
• Stat of the Game #1: Texas 1 penalty, 10 yards. When you're not at your best in several other areas of the game, the importance of a near-penalty free day is amplified.
• Stat of the Game #2: Texas Time of Posession 33:38. With no running game to speak of, Colt McCoy keeps OSU's offense off the field for the majority of the game. Huge.
• Stat of the Game #3: Oklahoma State 1-for-5 on 3rd Down (2nd Half). Just enough to win. Just. Enough.

Hallelujah. Texas, #1 for at least one more week. Congratulations...

 

[RJ Esq]

Best Signs on ESPN College Gameday - Columbus

from Football Jesus Las Vegas by sportsjesus


Sponsored by: Funny Shirts at Shame-U
Whats with the “horseshoe” ?? the stadium is not shaped like one, it looked pretty enclosed to me ..IF i Draw a “U” and connect the top , its now an “O” , so enough about a horsehoe… Nice effort in colunbus, the Sarah Palin girl was great, let me know who you are !! lets see someone in Lubbock next week with GIANT pair of ears on a Barrak dude..red States almost always beat the blue states in football, ALmost! Ohio State fumbled away their chance to win.. I saw the usual flags, amd a shame-u sign
Whoever held up the “FOOTBALL JESUS ” Sign , 40 minutes into the show - YOU are the man! Next Assignment for Lubbock Fans :” Red Raiders LUV Football Jesus” or something cool and thansk to JOE for the pics..not Joe the Plummer, i wonder if he was there..
Here is the list of the signs I could see on TV : it appears i missed several, that were really good, see the comments: comments

• TRESSEL: Ohio State’s Maverick- You betcha!
• I bought this beer from Ki Jana Carter
• Forget the Dow, in VEST with Tressel
• No Country For Old Men
• Kirk Is Gellin’
• Joe the Plummer says FLUSH the Lions
• Kirk Loves Lee’s Babyarm
• Dear George, PLZ don’t evict us
• Only Criminals wear all white after Labor Day
• Whos older ( Yoda) or ( joepa)
• Helen Keller is Lou Hotz’ translator
• JoePa is Older Than Jesus
• 0-7 since 1978
• JoePa Starts Forest Fires(?)
• Maybin Owns Pryor
• Swearingen =sasquatch
• Old People cant get a Break
• Hi Mom, send Corie’s jason ( ?)
• USS mt Whitney says GO Bucks ( support the troops!)
• Ohio has annexed Jeanette, PA

this would be better if it were true. :The Good( OSU) the bad ( USC) the UGLY( Mich.)and the uglier( PSU)
Thats all i could see clearly, let me know what i missed, and send photos if you got em

 

[RJ Esq]

Best Signs on ESPN College Gameday - Columbus

from Football Jesus Las Vegas by sportsjesus


Sponsored by: Funny Shirts at Shame-U
Whats with the “horseshoe” ?? the stadium is not shaped like one, it looked pretty enclosed to me ..IF i Draw a “U” and connect the top , its now an “O” , so enough about a horsehoe… Nice effort in colunbus, the Sarah Palin girl was great, let me know who you are !! lets see someone in Lubbock next week with GIANT pair of ears on a Barrak dude..red States almost always beat the blue states in football, ALmost! Ohio State fumbled away their chance to win.. I saw the usual flags, amd a shame-u sign
Whoever held up the “FOOTBALL JESUS ” Sign , 40 minutes into the show - YOU are the man! Next Assignment for Lubbock Fans :” Red Raiders LUV Football Jesus” or something cool and thansk to JOE for the pics..not Joe the Plummer, i wonder if he was there..
Here is the list of the signs I could see on TV : it appears i missed several, that were really good, see the comments: comments

• TRESSEL: Ohio State’s Maverick- You betcha!
• I bought this beer from Ki Jana Carter
• Forget the Dow, in VEST with Tressel
• No Country For Old Men
• Kirk Is Gellin’
• Joe the Plummer says FLUSH the Lions
• Kirk Loves Lee’s Babyarm
• Dear George, PLZ don’t evict us
• Only Criminals wear all white after Labor Day
• Whos older ( Yoda) or ( joepa)
• Helen Keller is Lou Hotz’ translator
• JoePa is Older Than Jesus
• 0-7 since 1978
• JoePa Starts Forest Fires(?)
• Maybin Owns Pryor
• Swearingen =sasquatch
• Old People cant get a Break
• Hi Mom, send Corie’s jason ( ?)
• USS mt Whitney says GO Bucks ( support the troops!)
• Ohio has annexed Jeanette, PA

this would be better if it were true. :The Good( OSU) the bad ( USC) the UGLY( Mich.)and the uglier( PSU)
Thats all i could see clearly, let me know what i missed, and send photos if you got em

 

[RJ Esq]

ABC to televise Tech game

from Bevo Beat
It was already announced that next week’s Texas vs. Texas Tech would be played in primetime at 7 p.m. What wasn’t known was which network would show the game.
After Texas’ win over Oklahoma State, ABC decided to pick up the Tech game for national broadcast. The Longhorns also played nationally televised games against Oklahoma and Missouri.


************************


Gameday in Lubbock too. 3rd time for Texas in a highlighted game and 3rd time with Gameday.


Gameday in Lubbock is a sign of the apocalypse. I swear.

 

[RJ Esq]

The Big East Is Officially Irrelevant in 2008

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Pittsburgh, West Virginia, BCS, Big East

There was a time, not that long ago - like less than a year ago - when the Big East looked like it might become the Next Big Thing in the BCS battle. Most of that was thanks to West Virginia, but the conference ascended nonetheless.

The Mountaineers beat Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl and ascended to national title contention last season. Pittsburgh stuffed those chances, but West Virginia bounced back and drilled Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

That win set 2008 to be a big year for the conference.

WVU returned Pat White and Noel Devine. Pittsburgh, which finished 2007 with that huge win at West Virginia, had Lesean McCoy back to anchor a solid team. South Florida, ed by QB Matt Grothe, seemed primed for a BCS run. Cincinnati and Connecticut were set to be spoilers, and so on.

What the heck happened? In terms of staying in the national picture, today was about the worst possible day for the Big East.

West Virginia had that nice win over a down-and-out Auburn squad on Thursday night, and again look like the Big East's BCS favorite after today's debacle. But the Mountaineers already have a couple of losses to East Carolina and Colorado - disappointing losses at best - and are not even ranked at the moment.

No. 14 Pitt had turned into the conference's darling after rolling off six straight victories. Then, the Panthers gave up six touchdown passes to Mike Teel, lost QB Bill Stull to injury and somehow gave up 54 points at home to a 2-5 Rutgers team.

While that was going on, South Florida - once-beaten and in the Top 15 - was bombing against mediocre Louisville. Like Pitt, South Florida will almost certainly dip out of the Top 25 after this weekend. And considering South Florida lost at home to Pitt, the Bulls' BCS chances are essentially finished.

Earlier in the day, before Pitt and South Florida tanked, Cinderella Cincinnati had a chance to establish itself as a conference threat at Connecticut. The host Huskies came in struggling, 5-2, but the losers of two straight.

And they just demolished Cincinnati, 40-16.

So now what?

Well, the conference's automatic BCS bid almost certainly comes down to the Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia on Nov. 28. Whoever wins that game will likely head to one of the big money bowls.

But does anyone care anymore?

Those in the conference will not admit it - and probably will try to play up what I like to call the SEC Angle: "We're all struggling because everyone in the conference is so good" - but this season has turned into a disheartening step back for the Big East. Plus, you look ahead to next year when guys like White and maybe Grothe or McCoy will not be around, and it's hard to see things getting much better.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

 

[RJ Esq]

<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Instant Analysis: Oklahoma State-Texas </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
</td> <td width="3" nowrap="nowrap">
</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Matt Zemek
Staff Columnist
Posted Oct 25, 2008
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The result didn’t come quite so easily for the Texas Longhorns, but the top-ranked team in college football knows that any march to the national championship requires the ability to survive the Saturdays that fall short of perfection. Against an inspired opponent from Oklahoma State University, the leader of the BCS pack did what it had to do.
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Texas received a strong challenge from an opponent who didn’t back down once the Horns powered their way to a 14-point lead. Texas led this game 14-0, 21-7, and 28-14, but the calm and composed Cowboys just kept coming, fighting to the finish in a Big 12 brawl in which the defenses actually stood their ground. Yards proved to be plentiful in Austin—920 yards, in fact—but the scoreboards didn’t sing the way they did in Texas’s previous two triumphs against Oklahoma and Missouri. This tense tilt tested the toughness of Mack Brown’s boys, and although Mike Gundy’s guys never went away, the home team carried the day.

What made this game so fascinating—and the result so impressive for Texas—lay in the fact that quarterback Colt McCoy completed just over 80 percent of his passes (38 of 45), led two more touchdown drives of 90 yards or longer (bringing Texas’s total to five such drives for the season), and had—by comparison—one of his worst games of 2008. The unofficial leader in the Heisman Trophy race continued to make this difficult sport look relatively easy for most of the afternoon, as his offense racked up 504 yards. Yet, his two situational stumbles—a pick and a fumble that kept the Cowboys close--left McCoy’s team vulnerable to an upset loss, the kind of stunning setback that ruins a march to the national title.

Greatness is tested, but also magnified, when teams face a difficult day at the office. An elite squad’s mettle is pushed to the limit, but also revealed, when it confronts a pulse-pounding pressure cooker, the kind of game that emerges when unusual events reduce its margin for error. Oklahoma State has proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it can compete with the sport’s elite on even terms. Texas, though, had the final say, as an untiring defense used a red-zone fumble recovery and late fourth-down stop by defensive end Lamarr Houston—a supremely athletic play on an inside flanker screen—to hold off the final charge of the Sons of Stillwater.

Three formidable Big 12 foes have been foiled. Texas will take this close win and carry added confidence to next week’s latest showdown in Lubbock against Texas Tech. If the Longhorns find themselves in another tight tussle, they’ll be able to use today’s narrow win as a calming mechanism when Graham Harrell tries to gun them down. Today’s win over the Cowboys didn’t win a national title, by any stretch of the imagination. But the 28-24 triumph is exactly the stuff magical seasons are made of.
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

[RJ Esq]

<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Instant Analysis: Virginia Tech-Florida State </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
</td> <td width="3" nowrap="nowrap">
</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Matt Zemek
Staff Columnist
Posted Oct 25, 2008
</td> <td nowrap="nowrap">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

While Joe Paterno and Penn State have climbed the college football heights this season, another celebrated senior citizen has been quietly rebuilding the Florida State Seminoles. Saturday in Tallahassee, Bobby Bowden’s low-key restoration project finally acquired a high-profile push against an opponent with a proud pedigree.
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Don’t look now, but after a series of sad-sack seasons in the South, Florida State has a football team that once again finds itself in the thick of the ACC race. The Noles upped their overall record to 6-1, 3-1 in the conference, after taking down a Virginia Tech team that’s been a mainstay at the top of the standings ever since the Hokies entered the ACC earlier this decade. Being able to beat back Frank Beamer has to rate as a particularly pleasing result for Bobby Bowden, but what also has to have the living legend smiling is the way in which this particular victory was achieved.

Two things stand out in the immediate aftermath of Florida State’s terrific triumph. First of all, the Noles simply aren’t committing the turnovers that have dogged them over the past few seasons, not to mention this year’s one ACC setback against Wake Forest. When Florida State lost to the Demon Deacons on Sept. 20, Bowden grimaced in pain as his offense drowned in a sea of turnovers, seven to be exact. After their first three games of 2008, the Noles seemed headed for the same offensive agonies that had plagued previous campaigns. Little over one month ago, the most exasperating stretch of Bowden’s enormously successful FSU career gave all appearances of continuing. Saturday, though, the delighted patrons at Doak Campbell Stadium got to see why the vibe surrounding their revived program has so noticeably changed.

Virginia Tech has consistently won in the Frank Beamer era by grabbing turnovers and blocking kicks. On Saturday, however, Florida State’s offense and special teams simply didn’t flinch in the face of the Hokies’ pressure.

Seminole quarterback Christian Ponder wasn’t spectacular in this contest, but unlike his predecessors under center, the signal caller delivered an effective performance marked by its ball security and pronounced poise. By refusing to gift-wrap any scores for Virginia Tech, Florida State’s field general literally gave the Hokies no points to Ponder. That fact alone helped the cause for the home team.

In addition to ball security, however, another key component aided Bobby Bowden’s cause against Virginia Tech. The old man’s march to the top of the ACC standings received an assist from the phase of football that has haunted the elder Bowden in his decades on the sidelines. Yes, it’s not a misprint: In a surprising year of revival, the Seminoles have flourished because of field goal kicking, found in the fine form being displayed by Graham Gano.

Florida State is riding a four-game winning streak for many reasons, but Gano’s crunch-time kicking has to rate at the very top of the list. After all the games the Seminoles have coughed up and kicked away over the past two decades, the ability to find a dependable placekicker has made an enormous difference in Tallahassee. Truckloads of triples that sailed wide right in previous years are now being collected without fail, and these accumulations of small-size scores are adding up in FSU’s favor. The value of field goals was never more apparent than on Saturday.

One of the key points in this contest came in the second quarter. Virginia Tech’s Dustin Mays missed from 43 yards, while Gano hit a 50-yarder. The Hokies gave points away—much as the Noles had done in previous seasons—while Florida State stole them, in a classic case of role reversal. Despite being decidedly outplayed in the second stanza, the Noles—partly because of their advantage in the kicking game—stayed closer than they had a right to expect. When Ponder and the Noles’ offense produced two third-quarter touchdowns, FSU found itself with a two-possession lead instead of a one-possession lead as a result.

Gano wasn’t done making a difference, however. His dagger from 46 yards with just over two minutes left in regulation gave his team a two-score margin, essentially salting the game away. On a day when Florida State’s punishing defense knocked out Tech’s two starting quarterbacks—Tyrod Taylor and Sean Glennon—the biggest key for Bobby Bowden’s boys still came down to the kicking position. The Seminoles were solid in every respect, and their offense played its part, but at the end of the day, their kicking game proved to be crucial, more so than anything else.

Gano’s latest exploits against Virginia Tech sustained two streaks that have to be leaving Seminole fans in a state of giddy disbelief. First of all, Gano’s 50-yard bomb gave him a four-game run with field goals of 50 yards or longer. Secondly, this perfect day at the office (three for three on field goal attempts) has Gano sitting at 13 straight made field goals. This kind of consistency was needed for the Noles to overcome Miami. It was needed to hold off N.C. State the previous week in Raleigh. Saturday against a highly-credentialed Hokie squad from Blacksburg, Graham Gano’s kicking quality proved to be necessary—and decisive—once again.

Bobby Bowden has been kicked in the pants, quite literally, in a brilliant career laced with a few stomach-punch setbacks. In 2008, however, the Florida State icon is seeing Graham Gano turn history on its head, and long field goals into a winning formula for a resurgent team that’s making its old man feel that much younger.

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[RJ Esq]

Hello, LSU? It's Knowshon Moreno. I'll call back from the BCS.

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton

Scroll down or click here to join the Doc's game day live blog. Georgia 52, LSU 38. This was a fitting scene: at the same time we witness the official funeral for LSU's defensive reputation -- yeah, there are issues at quarterback, but turnovers or not, that's 50 points and 400-plus yards allowed on a slew of big plays two of the last three weeks, this time at home -- we also witness the rebirth of Georgia's mythical championship ambitions.
Funny how Georgia and Florida both revived their seasons by running it up on the defending champs, and only fitting they get to go into the Cocktail Party on such similar high notes. Either both these teams are what we thought they'd be in the preseason, or LSU has completely collapsed, which is possible. Whatever, for now: It should be winner-take-all next week in Jacksonville, and so it is.
Oh, and about those pre-game phone calls? Knowshon says y'all can give him a ring any time. How do LSU fans feel about this? Not so good, actually. Not so good, and very willing to express it with an "angry fan on camera" classic:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pxdS4JFfC5U&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout​

 

[RJ Esq]

Nothing's automatic, but Colt McCoy is coming alarmingly close

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Scroll down or click here to join the Doc's game day live blog.

Texas 28, Oklahoma State 24. Texas has to finish its schedule before it gets to be a great team, but if/when it gets there, this will be that game, the one that turns into a triumph of the championship spirit rather than a mistake-strewn, near giveaway. The Longhorns' last three drives -- all chances to go up two scores and possibly put the Cowboys away -- ended interception, fumble and turnover on downs, respectively, giving OSU the ball near midfield, prematurely ending an epic 15-play drive that might have clinched the game and setting up the Cowboys' final, desperate opportunity out of their own end zone. This felt more like survival at the end than dragging a bloody carcass through the street, a la Missouri. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I would say Kendall Hunter's big game on the ground against a previously impenetrable UT front is a bad sign going forward, but not when the only serious hurdle over the last four games is next week's visit to Texas Tech. And late game sloppiness notwithstanding, Colt McCoy is still fully In the Zone, as they say, dominating a top ten opponent for the third week in a row. Defensive zones and his receivers' hands both must seem the way the basket looked to Michael Jordan, like big ol' buckets: 11-of-14 on third down, fueling 93, 91, 80 and 84-yard touchdown drives, is as precise and in-command a performance as you can ask for, despite the second half turnovers. Texas Tech can throw some pretty gaudy numbers around, but if anyone can match them blow for blow right now, it's obviously McCoy. He still looks like a 13-year-old kid, but a 13-year-old kid you can set your watch by.
I do have a small problem with Brad Nessler saying after Oklahoma State's final hail mary fell short that Texas is "still number one." According to who? Penn State and Alabama still have big games to play tonight, and both deserve a debate. The votes aren't tallied until Sunday morning. Probably Texas will remain at the top, but the "Win 'n Stay" attitude is a kind of disease at this point in the year. There's no default pecking order, and nobody's owed anything. As always, the only assumption going forward is some degree of chaos.

 

[RJ Esq]

The Old One-Finger Salute

from The Wiz of Odds by Jay Christensen

The locals in Baton Rouge were not pleased during Georgia's 52-38 thrashing of Louisiana State. The Bulldogs' victory ends any hope of the Tigers repeating as Bowl Championship Series champions. Thanks to Mike for the screengrab.

 

[RJ Esq]

LSU Would Like to Pad Your Offensive Stats

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Georgia, LSU, SEC

Once a demon of defensive football, LSU has now given up 50+ points in a game for the second time this year. First, giving up 51 to Florida two weeks ago, and now 52 to Georgia in a 52-38 loss.

Georgia rolled up 443 yards of total offense, but were still short of the 50 point mark late in the fourth quarter. But Jarrett Lee was determined, throwing a lazy ball down field that was easily intercepted and run back for a touchdown by Darryl Gamble of Georgia. His second of the day.

LSU actually had more total yards (495) than Georgia, but three interceptions thrown by Jarrett Lee killed any chance of the Tigers winning the game. The good news for LSU is that they only have one team, Alabama, left on the schedule that will have the firepower to put up another 50. Then again, if you throw up the interceptions like Lee, anything is possible.

 

[RJ Esq]

Mike Teel and LeSean McCoy Were Not What We Were Expecting

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Big East

Coming into today's game between Pittsburgh and Rutgers, the two teams had only surpassed the 30-point mark three times combined.

The strength of the Rutgers team has been the defense by default, because the offense has almost been nonexistent. Likewise for Pitt, although their offense has been able to run the ball effectively and pass only when needed.

But only once has either defense allowed a 30-point game, when North Carolina put up 44 points on the Scarlet Knights. If anything, this was supposed to be a grind-it-out, defensive game.

However, on a day when offense has been the story around college football, these two teams have been anything but themselves.

Mike Teel threw for over 300 yards and five touchdowns in the first half, while LeSean McCoy rushed for nearly 100 yards and three touchdowns. Pitt quarterback Bill Stull wasn't any slouch either, with over 200 yards passing in the first half. Rutgers went into the half with a 34-24 lead.

For Rutgers, the second half was a lot like the first, as they opened up the lead to 48-31 by the end of the third quarter, and forced Pitt to play catch-up in the passing game. McCoy's day pretty much ended at that point, as did Teel's, as Rutgers tried to run the clock out and Pitt passed on almost every play. Teel ended the day with 347 yards on only 13-for-20 passing with six touchdowns, and Rutgers throws the Big East into disarray with a 54-34 win.

 

[RJ Esq]

Shooting Pointe Blank: Baylor

from Corn Nation by Blankman
I’m sure you’re all familiar with the bar table commentary that your buddies make just about each and every time you sit down for a pint. If there’s a wedding, birthday party, bar mitzvah, etc., you can schedule it on game day and some people HAVE to be there. Not me. I have my priorities in line. Unfortunately when called into work during a Cornhusker game…the line, she is somewhat blurred.

So here I am missing my first televised and/or live game in the history of time and I can now say brothers and sisters: I feel your pain. Texting 15 people asking for score updates, having to jump to the lone computer that has access to certain sites allowing us to see scores because we all know that if we could watch tickers (and we do) that nothing would get done. It makes you wonder what Ben Franklin did when he wanted to find out college football scores from across the country.

Normally we’d go by the keys to the game for this article, but I’m going to go from a different perspective this week: The guy who had to work and is extremely pissed off that he missed watching the game. It appears I was mistaken in pushing Baylor’s RB and QB combo to the side, but what I was impressed with was the way errors in play were clamped down on in the second half by Nebraska.

As I had agreed with an individual here on Corn Nation earlier this season, this team is not be the same team that began the season. This is why I go into the next game against the Sooners with a bit of optimism. Do I expect Nebraska to win? Not necessarily, but with no pressure on their shoulders, who knows what could happen? Given when you’ve got the weaponry that Bob Stoops has in this matchup, the talent level is obviously on the side of Oklahoma. That being said I was glad to snag a win (and a safety) against Baylor as I feel that KSU and Colorado should be “W”s both.

End result if that happens: Nebraska finds itself playing in a bowl game and I think that Year One of the Bo Pelini Era can be considered a success. Cart before wagon time there, though as it’s time to concentrate on the TRUE RIVALRY, there, happy now?

What did we learn from this week, boys and girls? Perhaps Castille needs to invest in duct tape and you’d better get used to that frickin’ song.

 

[RJ Esq]

<table class="card"><tbody class="card-tbody"><tr><td class="cc c">The Alphabetical: College Football, Week 9

from The Sporting Blog
Each Sunday during college football season, Spencer Hall offers a letter-by-letter analysis of Saturday’s college football games.

A is for Aporetic. The Greek word for “tending to doubt,” and exactly what some college football writers may not be when evaluating their rankings of Penn State and their relative worth in the BCS.
Penn State did score more than ten points against Ohio State at Ohio Stadium for the first time; even more helpful, that was enough to win against Ohio State and keep the Nittany Lions undefeated.
Under no circumstances, though, does this constitute a demonstration of Penn State’s worth as a national title contender. Their adjusted strength of schedule (82nd) currently not only lags behind Alabama (53rd) and Texas (12th), but also behind Boise State (59th) and even Texas Tech (81st.)
The misty-eyed and sentimental would put JoePa’s team in the BCS title game because of the past: for 1994’s undefeated team, for JoePa’s legacy, for the story itself. None of these reflect what has happened this season, though. Penn State has played very well against a weak schedule, and will not have to play a championship game to win their conference.
If they miss the title game due to their strength of schedule or lack thereof, it will kill a lovely storyline. It will also be the logical and fair thing to do on the part of the voters, who are there to reward the best teams with the most convincing resumes, not to set up misguided tribute games.
B is for Block Party. Florida blocked the first two punts attempted by Kentucky, and then blocked a field goal just for kicks. (TURBOPUNS!) Getting the ball inside the five on your first two drives helps you hit the ground sprinting with rocket-skates, no matter what team you’re facing.
C is for Crowdsurfing. Jim Knox, FSN. He’s slaving away on FSN, but don’t tell Jim Knox that it’s not primetime. Knox began the pregame intro from Oklahoma’s matchup with Kansas State in Manhattan by crowdsurfing the student section, an adventurous choice given his prior experiences doing jaunty intros:

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Way to get back on that horse, cowboy. Live without fear, Jim Knox. D is for Delivery. It’s one thing to make a promise to do something outrageous if your team scores 50 points-plus in Death Valley, but another thing entirely to man up and do it. With Darryl Gamble’s second interception of LSU QB Jarrett Lee and the subsequent touchdown, Georgia broke the 50-point plane and forced Georgia blogger Doug Gillett to live up to his promise to run down Highland Avenue in Birmingham wearing only a Georgia flag.
Because he is a man of his word, he did it. (SFW, but just barely.) College football fans care. Too much. All the time. Sometimes while running almost naked down public streets. Wearing flags. E is for Excelsior. On a related topic, let us now praise the arm of Matthew Stafford. Under the laws of physics, it is impossible to throw a ball in a perfectly straight line, but we dropped physics in college to watch Days of Our Lives. Therefore, we feel secure in saying that Stafford can actually throw a ball in a straight line off his back foot with a defender hanging off his neck.
His arm strength defies belief. Against LSU, he threw what appeared to be a blind heave to find an open tight end tiptoeing along the sideline. A full throw across the body and across the field still whistling into his receiver’s hands with audible force -- the best arm in college football on sick display in Death Valley. F is for Fruitful. Florida scored 63 on Kentucky. Missouri scored 58 on Colorado. Oklahoma scored 58 on Kansas State, 55 before the half. Texas Tech scored 63 on Kansas. Georgia scored 52 on LSU. A fecund day offensively all around in college football saw teams scoring absurd amounts of points in every direction, often in huge gluts. Oklahoma scored four touchdowns in the first and second quarters alone.
G is for Gonzo. The sluggish counterpoint to a day of feverish offense: the twin nightcaps of Penn State at OSU and USC at Arizona. Defense is nice, but the Lions/Buckeyes game was unbearable to watch after a day of 40-yard sprints to paydirt. Ohio State's offense in particular was frustration incarnate. Beanie Wells was held to 55 yards on 22 carries, and never appeared to be in rhythm as a runner.
USC/’Zona was a bit better, but only because of frenzied blitzing by USC’s defense, not because anyone actually did much on offense. Why anyone goes from under center against the Trojans defense mystifies me. Nothing makes Pete Carroll happier than the sight of two blue-chip assassins bobbing over each shoulder of the opposing center, ready to leap spring-loaded over the line onto the ballcarrier. They did this to heightened effect in the second half against Mike Stoops’ team, compensating for a 17-point effort by the offense by crippling almost all Wildcat scoring efforts.

H is for Hurt. The nation’s biggest turnaround continues at Minnesota, who using the rule that there is only so much pain in the universe and that it must be redistributed annually, took their 2007 anguish and poured it into Purdue in a 17-6 win over the Boilermakers at their final homecoming under Joe Tiller.
Minnesota, now 7-1, reserved special malice for Curtis Painter, seen here both gripping his shoulder and serving as a visual metaphor for a Purdue team’s soul, following a 109-yard passing day and a loss to last year’s Big Ten doormat:

This hurts in so many ways.
I is for Incompetence of a Staggering Degree. Big Ten officials have an innovative approach to rules in tight spots: they simply make them up. Officials awarded Michigan a touchdown when Brandon Minor caught a ball clearly out of bounds, but touched the pylon on the way down and pinned it under his foot on the landing.
Rule 4.2:

Player Out of Bounds
ARTICLE 1. a. A player or an airborne player is out of bounds when any part of his person touches anything, other than another player or game official, on or outside a boundary line (A.R. 4-2-1-I and II). A player or an airborne player who touches a pylon is out of bounds.
​

And the ruling on the field -- after replay got a hold of it, mind you:

At least in the SEC, the officials merely assault their own players, not logic itself. Infuriatingly incompetent as the call was, it didn’t matter, as the Michigan Payback Tour continued, and the Spartans won 35-21. (But haha, Spartans! You had to take a cold shower afterwards! Take that, “little brother!”)
J is for Juxtapose. Mike Teel, pre-Pitt: Boo-magnet QB with three TDs the whole year, whose primary achievement came via headslapping a teammate on the sidelines. Mike Teel, post-Pitt: A suddenly potent QB with nine touchdowns after throwing six against the Panthers in a 54-34 victory over the Wannstache. Mike Teel isn’t a bad quarterback, he just prefers to score his touchdowns six at a time, or hardly at all. It’s a style preference, really.
Also, thus continues Pitt’s mischievous trend of blowing games they should win, those rapscallions.
K is for Kragthorpe. With Pitt kindly giving ground, let us praise another oft-critiqued coach -- Steve Kragthorpe of Louisville. The Cards beat South Florida at Papa John’s Stadium, using the power of fresh toppings and heart-stopping garlic butter to give USF their second loss on the season, and keep Louisville alive in the Big East. Kudos go here as well.

L is for Ludicrous. Colt McCoy actually raised his already absurd completion percentage in the Longhorns’ 28-24 victory over Oklahoma State, completing 38 of 45 for 2 TDs, 1 INT, and an 84.4 percent completion rate on the day. The bionic quarterback strolls on to the Big 12 Championship Game and beyond, bloody knuckles and all.
M is for Mankind. The weird spreads from the top at Texas Tech, from Mike Leach down to the exquisitely painted war-mask of lineman Brandon “Mankind” Carter. As Kansas will tell you, though, they will happily drop lethally-executed madness in 50-point batches on your head if you’re not careful.
Go ahead and take the over for the Texas Tech/Texas game, and don’t hesitate to put money on Texas Tech to cover, because in Lubbock odd, odd things happen at night. (We just checked: no full moon, so Texas has that going for them.)
N is for Neanderthal Beatdown. Navy did not attempt a pass in their 34-7 beatdown of SMU, the first team to go without the super-fancy forward pass since Ohio did it in 1997. I would wager that the first word to describe SMU’s defense this morning is sore.
O is for Off the Mat. Bill Stewart was writhing on the mat, seemingly beaten, but as Tommy Tuberville got up to taunt the crowd, Stewart grabbed a folding chair and brained him before locking him in a figure four and putting him down Ric Flair-style.
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VvzQJKf8jXs&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout
Down 17-3 at the half, the oft-critiqued West Virginia coach put the ball in the hands of Noel Devine, had his defense step up, and let it rip. Thirty-one unanswered points and 207 Devine rushing yards later, the coach on the hot seat was Tuberville, and the Mountaineer was running out of gunpowder for his musket. Coach Gomer, coonskin caps off to you for a masterful job on the national stage.
P is for Pressure. Penn State to Iowa, Texas to Texas Tech, and Florida meeting Georgia in Jacksonville -- the season’s overheated Hibachi explodes in a tailgate inferno next weekend. In case you forgot how ridiculously fun this all was, congratulations. November is here to remind you of just that. Bring flame-retardant underwear for the festivities ahead. Q is for Quaking. As in the entire ACC at your bipolar neighborhood bully, UVA. After a mopey, disgraceful start to the season, UVA has switched into full manic mode, beating four in a row including three conference games against UNC, Maryland and Georgia Tech. If they stay on their meds, they’re trouble in the ACC, where anyone with the proper chemistry can claim a conference title no one seems to want.
As it stands right now, the team that lost 31-3 to Duke stands atop the Coastal division, and that is all you need to know about the Nerf Gun Shootout that is the ACC, where a loss is just a starting point for negotiations, and humiliation is heaped in equal parts among member teams.
R is for Rebound. As in off the ground, where LaGarrette Brown used a helpful Arizona State defender as a love seat before getting back up undowned for a 26-yard TD in a 54-20 blowout of the Sun Devils.

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S is for Savvy Editorial Policies. The Knoxville News has a brave, brave feature with the Vols Vent line, an open hotline for Tennessee fans to vent their frustrations after football games. The Alabama edition isn’t up yet, presumably because they’re editing the profanities out of it, but when it does go up, it’s sure to be colorful listening. A sign that the people who run this are brilliant? The line is open from 5:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. only, and closes when the real late-night booze rage kicks in fierce-like.
T is for Tutorial. Jeff Demps, Florida RB, is figuring it out like a superhero who just discovered his powers. Watching him turn a short crossing route from Tebow into a long TD, because defenders really didn’t understand how fast Demps truly is, calls to mind the scene where Tony Stark blasts around his laboratory in Iron Man. “Okay...so I can fly.”
U is for Unfortunate. Your screencap of the night is brought to you by the hairstylings of Alabama fans morose for all of three seconds prior to scoring on a 4th and goal in the Tennessee game.

No further comment needed besides the obvious prediction of future regret and pain based on that haircut.
V is for Void. The SEC is Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and then mediocrity down the stacks, a fact reinforced by Vandy’s loss to Duke, Auburn’s loss to West Virginia, and Mississippi State’s loss to Georgia Tech earlier this season. Add in Tennessee’s loss to UCLA, and even devalue Georgia’s victory over an overrated (at the time) Arizona State team, and as a whole the conference is down in terms of any measures of objective quality wins to justify the “ESS--EEE--SEE” chants of rabid fans.
Aside from the Big Three, the conference’s teams are either rebuilding, retreading or regressing (see Tennessee.) There may be a time for hootenanny SEC chest-thumping, but to speak in the vernacular: this year ain’t it.
W stands for Wispy. As in the Aggie and Cyclone defenses, who combined to give the combined offenses 22 of 30 first downs on the day.
X is for Xenon. The noble gas, that like all noble gases, does not interact in chemical reactions, or a pretty good description of LSU’s tackling against Georgia. LSU not only missed tackles frequently, but also refused to become a factor in the second half, allowing 28 points when a stop would have gotten the Tigers back into the game. A noble performance only in the chemical sense of the word.
Y is for Yes, Brent. ABC’s been saddled with two difficult games to call in a row and a couple of serious, ratings-killing blowouts, and it’s starting to show on ol’ buddy Brent Musburger. Brent was laughing ruefully on air as Ohio State and Penn State ground to a 3-3 tie at the half, presumably coping with the thought of thousands of viewers flipping over to the World Series (which, fortunately for ABC, did not start until after 10 p.m. EDT.)
Z is for Zygote. Terrelle Pryor’s stage in his development as a QB. He is obviously fiendishly talented, but his youth showed with a crucial late fumble that Penn State converted into game-winning points. He will improve and grow, though watching him in Ohio State’s tight-pantsed offense will annoy the living daylights out of me for the next two years at least. On a 3rd and 2, we all knew the zone read was coming, and we all knew it was going to be stuffed because there were nine Penn State defenders in the box. Watching it happen was as fun as chewing aluminum foil as a gameday snack.






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[RJ Esq]

<table class="card"><tbody class="card-tbody"><tr><td class="cc c">The Alphabetical: College Football, Week 9

from The Sporting Blog
Each Sunday during college football season, Spencer Hall offers a letter-by-letter analysis of Saturday’s college football games.

A is for Aporetic. The Greek word for “tending to doubt,” and exactly what some college football writers may not be when evaluating their rankings of Penn State and their relative worth in the BCS.
Penn State did score more than ten points against Ohio State at Ohio Stadium for the first time; even more helpful, that was enough to win against Ohio State and keep the Nittany Lions undefeated.
Under no circumstances, though, does this constitute a demonstration of Penn State’s worth as a national title contender. Their adjusted strength of schedule (82nd) currently not only lags behind Alabama (53rd) and Texas (12th), but also behind Boise State (59th) and even Texas Tech (81st.)
The misty-eyed and sentimental would put JoePa’s team in the BCS title game because of the past: for 1994’s undefeated team, for JoePa’s legacy, for the story itself. None of these reflect what has happened this season, though. Penn State has played very well against a weak schedule, and will not have to play a championship game to win their conference.
If they miss the title game due to their strength of schedule or lack thereof, it will kill a lovely storyline. It will also be the logical and fair thing to do on the part of the voters, who are there to reward the best teams with the most convincing resumes, not to set up misguided tribute games.
B is for Block Party. Florida blocked the first two punts attempted by Kentucky, and then blocked a field goal just for kicks. (TURBOPUNS!) Getting the ball inside the five on your first two drives helps you hit the ground sprinting with rocket-skates, no matter what team you’re facing.
C is for Crowdsurfing. Jim Knox, FSN. He’s slaving away on FSN, but don’t tell Jim Knox that it’s not primetime. Knox began the pregame intro from Oklahoma’s matchup with Kansas State in Manhattan by crowdsurfing the student section, an adventurous choice given his prior experiences doing jaunty intros:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C-Bhboi8MZw&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout
Way to get back on that horse, cowboy. Live without fear, Jim Knox. D is for Delivery. It’s one thing to make a promise to do something outrageous if your team scores 50 points-plus in Death Valley, but another thing entirely to man up and do it. With Darryl Gamble’s second interception of LSU QB Jarrett Lee and the subsequent touchdown, Georgia broke the 50-point plane and forced Georgia blogger Doug Gillett to live up to his promise to run down Highland Avenue in Birmingham wearing only a Georgia flag.
Because he is a man of his word, he did it. (SFW, but just barely.) College football fans care. Too much. All the time. Sometimes while running almost naked down public streets. Wearing flags. E is for Excelsior. On a related topic, let us now praise the arm of Matthew Stafford. Under the laws of physics, it is impossible to throw a ball in a perfectly straight line, but we dropped physics in college to watch Days of Our Lives. Therefore, we feel secure in saying that Stafford can actually throw a ball in a straight line off his back foot with a defender hanging off his neck.
His arm strength defies belief. Against LSU, he threw what appeared to be a blind heave to find an open tight end tiptoeing along the sideline. A full throw across the body and across the field still whistling into his receiver’s hands with audible force -- the best arm in college football on sick display in Death Valley. F is for Fruitful. Florida scored 63 on Kentucky. Missouri scored 58 on Colorado. Oklahoma scored 58 on Kansas State, 55 before the half. Texas Tech scored 63 on Kansas. Georgia scored 52 on LSU. A fecund day offensively all around in college football saw teams scoring absurd amounts of points in every direction, often in huge gluts. Oklahoma scored four touchdowns in the first and second quarters alone.
G is for Gonzo. The sluggish counterpoint to a day of feverish offense: the twin nightcaps of Penn State at OSU and USC at Arizona. Defense is nice, but the Lions/Buckeyes game was unbearable to watch after a day of 40-yard sprints to paydirt. Ohio State's offense in particular was frustration incarnate. Beanie Wells was held to 55 yards on 22 carries, and never appeared to be in rhythm as a runner.
USC/’Zona was a bit better, but only because of frenzied blitzing by USC’s defense, not because anyone actually did much on offense. Why anyone goes from under center against the Trojans defense mystifies me. Nothing makes Pete Carroll happier than the sight of two blue-chip assassins bobbing over each shoulder of the opposing center, ready to leap spring-loaded over the line onto the ballcarrier. They did this to heightened effect in the second half against Mike Stoops’ team, compensating for a 17-point effort by the offense by crippling almost all Wildcat scoring efforts.

H is for Hurt. The nation’s biggest turnaround continues at Minnesota, who using the rule that there is only so much pain in the universe and that it must be redistributed annually, took their 2007 anguish and poured it into Purdue in a 17-6 win over the Boilermakers at their final homecoming under Joe Tiller.
Minnesota, now 7-1, reserved special malice for Curtis Painter, seen here both gripping his shoulder and serving as a visual metaphor for a Purdue team’s soul, following a 109-yard passing day and a loss to last year’s Big Ten doormat:

This hurts in so many ways.
I is for Incompetence of a Staggering Degree. Big Ten officials have an innovative approach to rules in tight spots: they simply make them up. Officials awarded Michigan a touchdown when Brandon Minor caught a ball clearly out of bounds, but touched the pylon on the way down and pinned it under his foot on the landing.
Rule 4.2:

Player Out of Bounds
ARTICLE 1. a. A player or an airborne player is out of bounds when any part of his person touches anything, other than another player or game official, on or outside a boundary line (A.R. 4-2-1-I and II). A player or an airborne player who touches a pylon is out of bounds.
​

And the ruling on the field -- after replay got a hold of it, mind you:

At least in the SEC, the officials merely assault their own players, not logic itself. Infuriatingly incompetent as the call was, it didn’t matter, as the Michigan Payback Tour continued, and the Spartans won 35-21. (But haha, Spartans! You had to take a cold shower afterwards! Take that, “little brother!”)
J is for Juxtapose. Mike Teel, pre-Pitt: Boo-magnet QB with three TDs the whole year, whose primary achievement came via headslapping a teammate on the sidelines. Mike Teel, post-Pitt: A suddenly potent QB with nine touchdowns after throwing six against the Panthers in a 54-34 victory over the Wannstache. Mike Teel isn’t a bad quarterback, he just prefers to score his touchdowns six at a time, or hardly at all. It’s a style preference, really.
Also, thus continues Pitt’s mischievous trend of blowing games they should win, those rapscallions.
K is for Kragthorpe. With Pitt kindly giving ground, let us praise another oft-critiqued coach -- Steve Kragthorpe of Louisville. The Cards beat South Florida at Papa John’s Stadium, using the power of fresh toppings and heart-stopping garlic butter to give USF their second loss on the season, and keep Louisville alive in the Big East. Kudos go here as well.

L is for Ludicrous. Colt McCoy actually raised his already absurd completion percentage in the Longhorns’ 28-24 victory over Oklahoma State, completing 38 of 45 for 2 TDs, 1 INT, and an 84.4 percent completion rate on the day. The bionic quarterback strolls on to the Big 12 Championship Game and beyond, bloody knuckles and all.
M is for Mankind. The weird spreads from the top at Texas Tech, from Mike Leach down to the exquisitely painted war-mask of lineman Brandon “Mankind” Carter. As Kansas will tell you, though, they will happily drop lethally-executed madness in 50-point batches on your head if you’re not careful.
Go ahead and take the over for the Texas Tech/Texas game, and don’t hesitate to put money on Texas Tech to cover, because in Lubbock odd, odd things happen at night. (We just checked: no full moon, so Texas has that going for them.)
N is for Neanderthal Beatdown. Navy did not attempt a pass in their 34-7 beatdown of SMU, the first team to go without the super-fancy forward pass since Ohio did it in 1997. I would wager that the first word to describe SMU’s defense this morning is sore.
O is for Off the Mat. Bill Stewart was writhing on the mat, seemingly beaten, but as Tommy Tuberville got up to taunt the crowd, Stewart grabbed a folding chair and brained him before locking him in a figure four and putting him down Ric Flair-style.
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Down 17-3 at the half, the oft-critiqued West Virginia coach put the ball in the hands of Noel Devine, had his defense step up, and let it rip. Thirty-one unanswered points and 207 Devine rushing yards later, the coach on the hot seat was Tuberville, and the Mountaineer was running out of gunpowder for his musket. Coach Gomer, coonskin caps off to you for a masterful job on the national stage.
P is for Pressure. Penn State to Iowa, Texas to Texas Tech, and Florida meeting Georgia in Jacksonville -- the season’s overheated Hibachi explodes in a tailgate inferno next weekend. In case you forgot how ridiculously fun this all was, congratulations. November is here to remind you of just that. Bring flame-retardant underwear for the festivities ahead. Q is for Quaking. As in the entire ACC at your bipolar neighborhood bully, UVA. After a mopey, disgraceful start to the season, UVA has switched into full manic mode, beating four in a row including three conference games against UNC, Maryland and Georgia Tech. If they stay on their meds, they’re trouble in the ACC, where anyone with the proper chemistry can claim a conference title no one seems to want.
As it stands right now, the team that lost 31-3 to Duke stands atop the Coastal division, and that is all you need to know about the Nerf Gun Shootout that is the ACC, where a loss is just a starting point for negotiations, and humiliation is heaped in equal parts among member teams.
R is for Rebound. As in off the ground, where LaGarrette Brown used a helpful Arizona State defender as a love seat before getting back up undowned for a 26-yard TD in a 54-20 blowout of the Sun Devils.

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S is for Savvy Editorial Policies. The Knoxville News has a brave, brave feature with the Vols Vent line, an open hotline for Tennessee fans to vent their frustrations after football games. The Alabama edition isn’t up yet, presumably because they’re editing the profanities out of it, but when it does go up, it’s sure to be colorful listening. A sign that the people who run this are brilliant? The line is open from 5:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. only, and closes when the real late-night booze rage kicks in fierce-like.
T is for Tutorial. Jeff Demps, Florida RB, is figuring it out like a superhero who just discovered his powers. Watching him turn a short crossing route from Tebow into a long TD, because defenders really didn’t understand how fast Demps truly is, calls to mind the scene where Tony Stark blasts around his laboratory in Iron Man. “Okay...so I can fly.”
U is for Unfortunate. Your screencap of the night is brought to you by the hairstylings of Alabama fans morose for all of three seconds prior to scoring on a 4th and goal in the Tennessee game.

No further comment needed besides the obvious prediction of future regret and pain based on that haircut.
V is for Void. The SEC is Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and then mediocrity down the stacks, a fact reinforced by Vandy’s loss to Duke, Auburn’s loss to West Virginia, and Mississippi State’s loss to Georgia Tech earlier this season. Add in Tennessee’s loss to UCLA, and even devalue Georgia’s victory over an overrated (at the time) Arizona State team, and as a whole the conference is down in terms of any measures of objective quality wins to justify the “ESS--EEE--SEE” chants of rabid fans.
Aside from the Big Three, the conference’s teams are either rebuilding, retreading or regressing (see Tennessee.) There may be a time for hootenanny SEC chest-thumping, but to speak in the vernacular: this year ain’t it.
W stands for Wispy. As in the Aggie and Cyclone defenses, who combined to give the combined offenses 22 of 30 first downs on the day.
X is for Xenon. The noble gas, that like all noble gases, does not interact in chemical reactions, or a pretty good description of LSU’s tackling against Georgia. LSU not only missed tackles frequently, but also refused to become a factor in the second half, allowing 28 points when a stop would have gotten the Tigers back into the game. A noble performance only in the chemical sense of the word.
Y is for Yes, Brent. ABC’s been saddled with two difficult games to call in a row and a couple of serious, ratings-killing blowouts, and it’s starting to show on ol’ buddy Brent Musburger. Brent was laughing ruefully on air as Ohio State and Penn State ground to a 3-3 tie at the half, presumably coping with the thought of thousands of viewers flipping over to the World Series (which, fortunately for ABC, did not start until after 10 p.m. EDT.)
Z is for Zygote. Terrelle Pryor’s stage in his development as a QB. He is obviously fiendishly talented, but his youth showed with a crucial late fumble that Penn State converted into game-winning points. He will improve and grow, though watching him in Ohio State’s tight-pantsed offense will annoy the living daylights out of me for the next two years at least. On a 3rd and 2, we all knew the zone read was coming, and we all knew it was going to be stuffed because there were nine Penn State defenders in the box. Watching it happen was as fun as chewing aluminum foil as a gameday snack.






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[RJ Esq]

ESPN's 'GameDay' headed to Tech vs. Texas

from Bevo Beat
ESPN’s “College GameDay” show, the start to Saturday mornings in the fall for many college football fans, will make Lubbock its home this week for the top-10 battle between Texas and Texas Tech.
It’s GameDay’s first visit to Lubbock, but it’s the show’s third Saturday with the Longhorns this season. The ESPN gang was at the Cotton Bowl for Texas-OU and in Austin for Texas-Missouri.
Let’s just go ahead and rename it the “Texas Longhorn Pregame Show.”
The pregame show airs at 9 a.m. Saturday. ABC will televise the game to a national audience at 7 p.m.

 

[RJ Esq]

Polls Out

from Burnt Orange Nation by 40AS
Polls Out

#1 in both
Unanimous in AP
All but 3 1st place votes in Coaches

 

[RJ Esq]

Post-Game Reaction: Three Hours and Forty-Three Minutes of Frustration

from Bring On The Cats by TB
Our K-State Wildcats lost to Oklahoma, 58-35, yesterday. I don't have much to say in an introduction that I won't say below, so we'll just get straight into the analysis.
What I liked...
...a late-first-quarter and early-second-quarter comeback to tie the game. There will be a lengthy critique of our offensive playcalling in the first quarter below, but it should be noted that the playcalling on the three touchdown drives that tied the game at 28-28 was as good as the first-quarter playcalling was bad. The first touchdown, on the short pass that Brandon Banks took to the house, took advantage of an OU blitz that left Banks in space. I'll always take my chances with that. Also, the touchdown pass to Deon Murphy to tie the game at 28-28 was a good call to take advantage of an OU blitz.
...tough running by Josh Freeman. Freeman had 44 rushing yards before his sacks were deducted, and most of those yards came on scrambles rather than designed runs. Still, he seems to be gaining confidence in his running, and he is really difficult to bring down when he gets rolling.
...the howitzer attached to Freeman's right arm. Some of those passes have to leave his receivers' hands stinging for days. A perfect illustration of his power came in the second quarter when he rolled to his left and, on the run, threw a 65-yard strike to Ernie Pierce.
What I didn't like...
...offensive playcalling in the first quarter. I'm watching the game on DVR as I type this, and here is our playcalling on the first drive.
1st play: Play-action pass, complete to Deon Murphy for 15 yards
2nd play: Pass complete to Logan Dold for no gain
3rd play: Freeman runs for 14 yards. The play called was a pass, but OU blitzed and Freeman had to scramble.
4th play: Play-action pass called, Freeman scrambles for four yards.
5th play: Play-action pass, intended for Brandon Banks, incomplete (after this play they showed Shalee Lehning on camera...heart)
6th play: Pass to Ernie Pierce, complete for 8 yards (first down).
7th play: Pass intercepted by OU (Freeman his on the play)
You'll notice there was not a single designed run in there. None. Not one. And yet, we called three play-action passes. The one called on the first play of the game could possibly be justified because teams often run the ball on the first play of the game, but that only works if the defense buys the fake. In our seven previous games this season, we have run the ball on the first play of the game four times, and two of those runs were against North Texas and Montana State, when our first offensive play of the game came on the opponent's four yard line and one yard line, respectively. Also, one of those, in the Texas A&M game, was a run by Freeman, not a handoff.
Now, here's a look at the plays called on our second drive.
1st play: Play-action pass incomplete, intended for Brandon Banks. Nobody was open, and Freeman basically threw the ball away as Banks was surrounded by three OU defenders.
2nd play: Wide receiver screen pass to Ernie Pierce for four yards.
3rd play: Wide receiver screen pass to Ernie Pierce for a one-yard loss.
Again, not a single running play called, and yet another play-action pass. What the hell? I'm not anything resembling a football coach, but my general belief was you ran the ball to set up play-action passes, not ran play-action passes just because you thought the defense might bite on the fake. So at this point, we've had the ball twice, picked up a couple first downs, had a turnover and a punt, and less than six minutes were gone from the game.
After a long Deon Murphy kick return, we had the ball in OU territory. Next drive...
1st play: Pass incomplete to Jeron Mastrud, almost intercepted
2nd play: Freeman, QB draw off orbit motion by Deon Murphy, no gain (first designed run of the game)
3rd play: Swing pass complete to Logan Dold for 12 yards
4th play: Halfback pass by Logan Dold, complete to Deon Murphy for a touchdown
We scored a touchdown. Beginning a drive on the opponent's 21 yard line always helps. I was happy to see the halfback pass finally brought back, because I think it can be a valuable weapon as long as it's used in moderation.
Finally, our penultimate drive of the first quarter:
1st play: Freeman scrambles on a designed passing play for five yards.
2nd play: Logan Dold rushes up the middle for three yards.
3rd play: Handoff to Deon Murphy off orbit motion for two-yard loss. Punt. Moving on.
...poor decision-making by Freeman. Not only did he have three interceptions, he had several other throws that could/should have been intercepted, including two on our touchdown drive that ended in Jeron Mastrud's touchdown (the tipped pass that ended up complete to Deon Murphy and the touchdown pass to Mastrud himself). Freeman has the arm to make those throws, but sometimes he needs to realize discretion is the better part of valor and make a percentage play. And the interception on the screen pass really needs no amplification, it was just a terrible decision to throw back to a part of the field where he hadn't even been looking.
...another 500+ yard defensive gashing. Sam Bradford had what amounts to a horrible day by his standards, completing only 13 of his 32 passes for 255 yards. But it didn't really matter, because OU shredded our defense with 271 yards rushing on 6.1 yards per attempt.
...no attempt to even establish a running game. As you can see above, in our first four drives, we called exactly three designed running plays. If you look at our overall rushing statistics, you might say that there was no point running the ball because we only averaged 2.0 yards per carry, but that's missing the point. We didn't even try to run the ball on our first four drives, so how would we even know if it was working?
What it means and where we're going...
What it means is we lost to a team that was a lot better than us. I've heard some K-State fans say they are taking a moral victory from this game because OU only scored three points and gained 129 yards in the second half. However, it was pretty clear to me that OU just wanted to get the hell out of Dodge in the second half. Bradford attempted only nine passes, and after the first drive, in which Bradford attempted two passes and got hit on both, OU seemed more than content to protect Bradford, protect the ball, and bleed the clock.
Of course, it also means that next week we're going to Lawrence to play KU. The 'beaks took a beating from Texas Tech yesterday, losing 63-21. While things aren't all Skittles and beer in Manhattan right now, it's not exactly sunny in Lawrence, either. On the bright side, Bob Lutz finally came out of the closet as a shameless KU homer this morning. My hat is tipped to Bob; the first step is always admitting you have a problem. While I'm hardly optimistic about this game, I no longer feel like it's the foregone conclusion I did a few weeks ago.
Around the Big 12...
Texas Tech 63, KU 21: It wasn't even this close, as Jocques Crawford scored a meaningless touchdown with 3:52 left in the game. Crawford also inched closer to his season-long goal of 2,000 rushing yards, picking up 44 yards to up his season total to 168, only 1,832 short of his goal. Todd Reesing had his worst game at KU, going 16/26 for only 154 yards and throwing three interceptions. Tech was as outstanding as KU was awful, rolling up 556 yards and moving to 8-0 (4-0) with next weekend's showdown against Texas looming.
Also, if anyone has a screen shot of the KU students sleeping on the bleachers at Foreclosure Field, please email it to me at bringonthecats @ gmail.com
Nebraska 32, Baylor 20: The Bears, and Robert Griffin in particular, put a bit of a scare into the Huskers in Lincoln, leading the game at halftime and only trailing 24-20 after three quarters. But Nebraska pulled away for a much-needed win to move to 2-2 in conference play. Joe Ganz had a good day for NU, completing 32 of 46 passes for 336 yards and three TDs. Nebraska also picked up 161 rushing yards and controlled the ball for nearly 39 minutes of the game.
Texas 28, Oklahoma State 24: Perhaps the best college football game I've seen this year, as two good teams traded punches the entire game in front of 98,000 fans in Austin. The Horns came out on top, but I came away extremely impressed with Oklahoma State. In fact, after watching the game between an Ohio State and Penn State, I'm firmly convinced that Oklahoma State is better than both of those Big 11 teams. As PB @ BON notes, Texas won this game despite at least arguably losing several key battles within the game. Colt McCoy also threw an interception and Texas lost another fumble. Next week's showdown on the South Plains could be the game of the year in the Big 12.
Missouri 58, Colorado 0: From The Ralphie Report, we hear that this was the first time in 242 games Colorado had been shut out. Ouch. ESPN Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin called it the low point of Dan Hawkins' tenure in Boulder, although I think the home loss to Montana State would have to be right up there. Really, there isn't much to say, other than it's clear Mizzou has regrouped from the disappointment of losing a shot at its most lofty goals and has apparently refocused on winning the Big 12 North and ensuring it gets another shot at a BCS bowl by playing in the conference championship game.
Texas A&M 49, Iowa State 35: It has now been conclusively proven that Iowa State is the worst team in the conference, and A&M checks in at 11th. I'm only curious as to how Iowa State only managed 35 points off 574 yards total offense with only two turnovers. If we can somehow pick up a win in our next three games, we have an excellent chance at a six-win season with Iowa State coming to Manhattan on November 22.
Big 12 Standings
North
Missouri 2-2
Nebraska 2-2
KU 2-2
Colorado 1-3
K-State 1-3
Iowa State 0-4
South
Texas 4-0
Texas Tech 4-0
Oklahoma State 3-1
Oklahoma 3-1
Baylor 1-3
Texas A&M 1-3

 

[RJ Esq]

Post-Game Reaction: Three Hours and Forty-Three Minutes of Frustration

from Bring On The Cats by TB
Our K-State Wildcats lost to Oklahoma, 58-35, yesterday. I don't have much to say in an introduction that I won't say below, so we'll just get straight into the analysis.
What I liked...
...a late-first-quarter and early-second-quarter comeback to tie the game. There will be a lengthy critique of our offensive playcalling in the first quarter below, but it should be noted that the playcalling on the three touchdown drives that tied the game at 28-28 was as good as the first-quarter playcalling was bad. The first touchdown, on the short pass that Brandon Banks took to the house, took advantage of an OU blitz that left Banks in space. I'll always take my chances with that. Also, the touchdown pass to Deon Murphy to tie the game at 28-28 was a good call to take advantage of an OU blitz.
...tough running by Josh Freeman. Freeman had 44 rushing yards before his sacks were deducted, and most of those yards came on scrambles rather than designed runs. Still, he seems to be gaining confidence in his running, and he is really difficult to bring down when he gets rolling.
...the howitzer attached to Freeman's right arm. Some of those passes have to leave his receivers' hands stinging for days. A perfect illustration of his power came in the second quarter when he rolled to his left and, on the run, threw a 65-yard strike to Ernie Pierce.
What I didn't like...
...offensive playcalling in the first quarter. I'm watching the game on DVR as I type this, and here is our playcalling on the first drive.
1st play: Play-action pass, complete to Deon Murphy for 15 yards
2nd play: Pass complete to Logan Dold for no gain
3rd play: Freeman runs for 14 yards. The play called was a pass, but OU blitzed and Freeman had to scramble.
4th play: Play-action pass called, Freeman scrambles for four yards.
5th play: Play-action pass, intended for Brandon Banks, incomplete (after this play they showed Shalee Lehning on camera...heart)
6th play: Pass to Ernie Pierce, complete for 8 yards (first down).
7th play: Pass intercepted by OU (Freeman his on the play)
You'll notice there was not a single designed run in there. None. Not one. And yet, we called three play-action passes. The one called on the first play of the game could possibly be justified because teams often run the ball on the first play of the game, but that only works if the defense buys the fake. In our seven previous games this season, we have run the ball on the first play of the game four times, and two of those runs were against North Texas and Montana State, when our first offensive play of the game came on the opponent's four yard line and one yard line, respectively. Also, one of those, in the Texas A&M game, was a run by Freeman, not a handoff.
Now, here's a look at the plays called on our second drive.
1st play: Play-action pass incomplete, intended for Brandon Banks. Nobody was open, and Freeman basically threw the ball away as Banks was surrounded by three OU defenders.
2nd play: Wide receiver screen pass to Ernie Pierce for four yards.
3rd play: Wide receiver screen pass to Ernie Pierce for a one-yard loss.
Again, not a single running play called, and yet another play-action pass. What the hell? I'm not anything resembling a football coach, but my general belief was you ran the ball to set up play-action passes, not ran play-action passes just because you thought the defense might bite on the fake. So at this point, we've had the ball twice, picked up a couple first downs, had a turnover and a punt, and less than six minutes were gone from the game.
After a long Deon Murphy kick return, we had the ball in OU territory. Next drive...
1st play: Pass incomplete to Jeron Mastrud, almost intercepted
2nd play: Freeman, QB draw off orbit motion by Deon Murphy, no gain (first designed run of the game)
3rd play: Swing pass complete to Logan Dold for 12 yards
4th play: Halfback pass by Logan Dold, complete to Deon Murphy for a touchdown
We scored a touchdown. Beginning a drive on the opponent's 21 yard line always helps. I was happy to see the halfback pass finally brought back, because I think it can be a valuable weapon as long as it's used in moderation.
Finally, our penultimate drive of the first quarter:
1st play: Freeman scrambles on a designed passing play for five yards.
2nd play: Logan Dold rushes up the middle for three yards.
3rd play: Handoff to Deon Murphy off orbit motion for two-yard loss. Punt. Moving on.
...poor decision-making by Freeman. Not only did he have three interceptions, he had several other throws that could/should have been intercepted, including two on our touchdown drive that ended in Jeron Mastrud's touchdown (the tipped pass that ended up complete to Deon Murphy and the touchdown pass to Mastrud himself). Freeman has the arm to make those throws, but sometimes he needs to realize discretion is the better part of valor and make a percentage play. And the interception on the screen pass really needs no amplification, it was just a terrible decision to throw back to a part of the field where he hadn't even been looking.
...another 500+ yard defensive gashing. Sam Bradford had what amounts to a horrible day by his standards, completing only 13 of his 32 passes for 255 yards. But it didn't really matter, because OU shredded our defense with 271 yards rushing on 6.1 yards per attempt.
...no attempt to even establish a running game. As you can see above, in our first four drives, we called exactly three designed running plays. If you look at our overall rushing statistics, you might say that there was no point running the ball because we only averaged 2.0 yards per carry, but that's missing the point. We didn't even try to run the ball on our first four drives, so how would we even know if it was working?
What it means and where we're going...
What it means is we lost to a team that was a lot better than us. I've heard some K-State fans say they are taking a moral victory from this game because OU only scored three points and gained 129 yards in the second half. However, it was pretty clear to me that OU just wanted to get the hell out of Dodge in the second half. Bradford attempted only nine passes, and after the first drive, in which Bradford attempted two passes and got hit on both, OU seemed more than content to protect Bradford, protect the ball, and bleed the clock.
Of course, it also means that next week we're going to Lawrence to play KU. The 'beaks took a beating from Texas Tech yesterday, losing 63-21. While things aren't all Skittles and beer in Manhattan right now, it's not exactly sunny in Lawrence, either. On the bright side, Bob Lutz finally came out of the closet as a shameless KU homer this morning. My hat is tipped to Bob; the first step is always admitting you have a problem. While I'm hardly optimistic about this game, I no longer feel like it's the foregone conclusion I did a few weeks ago.
Around the Big 12...
Texas Tech 63, KU 21: It wasn't even this close, as Jocques Crawford scored a meaningless touchdown with 3:52 left in the game. Crawford also inched closer to his season-long goal of 2,000 rushing yards, picking up 44 yards to up his season total to 168, only 1,832 short of his goal. Todd Reesing had his worst game at KU, going 16/26 for only 154 yards and throwing three interceptions. Tech was as outstanding as KU was awful, rolling up 556 yards and moving to 8-0 (4-0) with next weekend's showdown against Texas looming.
Also, if anyone has a screen shot of the KU students sleeping on the bleachers at Foreclosure Field, please email it to me at bringonthecats @ gmail.com
Nebraska 32, Baylor 20: The Bears, and Robert Griffin in particular, put a bit of a scare into the Huskers in Lincoln, leading the game at halftime and only trailing 24-20 after three quarters. But Nebraska pulled away for a much-needed win to move to 2-2 in conference play. Joe Ganz had a good day for NU, completing 32 of 46 passes for 336 yards and three TDs. Nebraska also picked up 161 rushing yards and controlled the ball for nearly 39 minutes of the game.
Texas 28, Oklahoma State 24: Perhaps the best college football game I've seen this year, as two good teams traded punches the entire game in front of 98,000 fans in Austin. The Horns came out on top, but I came away extremely impressed with Oklahoma State. In fact, after watching the game between an Ohio State and Penn State, I'm firmly convinced that Oklahoma State is better than both of those Big 11 teams. As PB @ BON notes, Texas won this game despite at least arguably losing several key battles within the game. Colt McCoy also threw an interception and Texas lost another fumble. Next week's showdown on the South Plains could be the game of the year in the Big 12.
Missouri 58, Colorado 0: From The Ralphie Report, we hear that this was the first time in 242 games Colorado had been shut out. Ouch. ESPN Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin called it the low point of Dan Hawkins' tenure in Boulder, although I think the home loss to Montana State would have to be right up there. Really, there isn't much to say, other than it's clear Mizzou has regrouped from the disappointment of losing a shot at its most lofty goals and has apparently refocused on winning the Big 12 North and ensuring it gets another shot at a BCS bowl by playing in the conference championship game.
Texas A&M 49, Iowa State 35: It has now been conclusively proven that Iowa State is the worst team in the conference, and A&M checks in at 11th. I'm only curious as to how Iowa State only managed 35 points off 574 yards total offense with only two turnovers. If we can somehow pick up a win in our next three games, we have an excellent chance at a six-win season with Iowa State coming to Manhattan on November 22.
Big 12 Standings
North
Missouri 2-2
Nebraska 2-2
KU 2-2
Colorado 1-3
K-State 1-3
Iowa State 0-4
South
Texas 4-0
Texas Tech 4-0
Oklahoma State 3-1
Oklahoma 3-1
Baylor 1-3
Texas A&M 1-3

 

[RJ Esq]

A big win and a riotous aftermath in State College, Pa.

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton

Certain Penn State students didn't look so good before last year's home loss to Ohio State [Warning: that link may not be for the church-bound this morning], and a much larger number aren't going to come out of last night's win in Columbus with reputations intact following post-game riots back in State College:

A celebration of Penn State’s 13-6 win over Ohio State on Saturday turned destructive as people pulled down light poles and street signs, climbed atop cars and tossed objects off balconies in downtown State College.
Revelers in the crowd, which stretched from Beaver to College avenues, between Garner and Pugh streets, and up to Locust Lane, tore down at least two light poles, a stop sign and a one-way-street sign.
Shoes, water, toilet paper, pots, pans and even a newspaper box were tossed into the crowd. Cars were damaged and several small fires were started, but quickly put out.
Hundreds of people were maced and police were able to clear the streets around 1:30 a.m., after more than two hours of the disturbance.
[...]
Students cheered for Penn State, screamed obscenities about Ohio State, body surfed and climbed street light poles to get better angles for cell phone photos of the crowd.
​

Those amateur cameramen did fairly well, too. You-are-there footage is already floating around the Web, so if you're skeptical of the official reports by The Man, you can more or less see for yourself [Auto content warning: though I detect literally nothing intelligible in the following clip aside from "We are! Penn State!" click at your own risk]:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gPq526ULPXM&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout​

A friend of mine once hypothesized that Black Bloc-type anarchists trolled campuses during big sporting events, looking for opportunities to instigate havoc. Interesting idea, but only if you think college kids are actually vulnerable to political action. Victory and alcohol is far more combustible.
Give the kids this: apparently no one was injured. Just good, clean, old-fashioned property damage and vandalism. I mean, what's college for, right?

 

[RJ Esq]

A big win and a riotous aftermath in State College, Pa.

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton

Certain Penn State students didn't look so good before last year's home loss to Ohio State [Warning: that link may not be for the church-bound this morning], and a much larger number aren't going to come out of last night's win in Columbus with reputations intact following post-game riots back in State College:

A celebration of Penn State’s 13-6 win over Ohio State on Saturday turned destructive as people pulled down light poles and street signs, climbed atop cars and tossed objects off balconies in downtown State College.
Revelers in the crowd, which stretched from Beaver to College avenues, between Garner and Pugh streets, and up to Locust Lane, tore down at least two light poles, a stop sign and a one-way-street sign.
Shoes, water, toilet paper, pots, pans and even a newspaper box were tossed into the crowd. Cars were damaged and several small fires were started, but quickly put out.
Hundreds of people were maced and police were able to clear the streets around 1:30 a.m., after more than two hours of the disturbance.
[...]
Students cheered for Penn State, screamed obscenities about Ohio State, body surfed and climbed street light poles to get better angles for cell phone photos of the crowd.
​

Those amateur cameramen did fairly well, too. You-are-there footage is already floating around the Web, so if you're skeptical of the official reports by The Man, you can more or less see for yourself [Auto content warning: though I detect literally nothing intelligible in the following clip aside from "We are! Penn State!" click at your own risk]:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gPq526ULPXM&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout​

A friend of mine once hypothesized that Black Bloc-type anarchists trolled campuses during big sporting events, looking for opportunities to instigate havoc. Interesting idea, but only if you think college kids are actually vulnerable to political action. Victory and alcohol is far more combustible.
Give the kids this: apparently no one was injured. Just good, clean, old-fashioned property damage and vandalism. I mean, what's college for, right?

 

[RJ Esq]

If Virginia Tech has another November miracle, now's the time

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton

Virginia Tech was knocked out of the Coastal Division lead by Florida State Saturday -- replaced by streaking Virginia, incredibly, which we'll be addressing in this week's edition of "As the ACC Standings Turn" -- but might have much bigger troubles down the road: Quarterback of the Present/Future Tyrod Taylor went down on the first snap of the game with a sprained ankle, the same ankle that cost him three-and-a-half games last year as a freshman, and after the Ghost of Quarterbacking Past, Sean Glennon, emerged from the bench to lead the Hokies to a 13-10 lead at the half, he went down, too, in even more painful fashion with a sprained knee. Quarterback-turned-receiver-turned-emergency-quarterback Cory Holt finished the game, FSU expanded a 17-13 lead to a 30-20 win. Before the last two weeks, Tech had only lost two in a row once since joining the ACC four years ago, in 2006, when it rebounded from back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College to take its last six and finish with the third in its string of four consecutive 10-win seasons. To get there now, at 5-3 and just 2-2 in the conference, the Hokies would have to take four straight over Maryland, Miami, Duke and Virginia, then win the ACC Championship or a bowl game. All four won Saturday, three of them (all but Maryland, which survived NC State) over winning teams, which in this conference counts as a serious hot streak. Tech is going the other way, with both its mediocre quarterbacks in limbo, a middle of the pack defense and uncharacteristically poor special teams, including a roughing the punter penalty with FSU down 13-10 and facing a 4th-and-20 that Frank Beamer said changed the game.
Now: the Hokies are also 13-1 in November since joining the ACC, and won the division after the lone loss (to Miami in 2005). Tech still controls its destiny in the conference; if there's anything to its consistency down the stretch, it has to regroup over its bye week, forge some kind of identity behind whoever's left at quarterback and engineer some sort of autumn miracle.

 

[RJ Esq]

GameDay Signs - Columbus, Ohio

from CollegeGameBalls: College Football at its Finest by cgb
Some great signs from Columbus this Saturday. Unfortunately no one stepped up, took and completed the GameDay Challenge.

Why didn’t Helen Keller scream when she fell off the cliff? - She was wearing mittens.

I’ve heard the stories from the Lou Holtz Joe Paterno seal clubbing trips are legendary.

Does Joe Pa have trouble controling his bowel movements? These signs would agree he does.

Its Quagmire, its Quagmire
Giggidty Giggidty Giggidty

I’de rather have Joe Pa as president though…

I thought it stood for Penn State University, I was wrong.

It had to be shown because Bloodsport is was and will always be awesome.
And who knew, there actually are hot chics at tOSU.

 

[RJ Esq]

Road to Atlanta: Who Can Win the SEC East?

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, SEC

Most teams are just over halfway through their conference slate and the SEC conference championship picture is starting to take shape. There are teams with relatively unobstructed paths to Atlanta, while others will need an awful lot of help. We're going to run them all down so you don't sound like a moron around the water cooler on Monday. We'll start with the East. Look for the same treatment for the more interesting West later today.

With virtually every team sitting on at least one conference loss, it becomes important to understand how the SEC breaks ties (this link also covers basketball, so some of it is more complicated than necessary for football) within the division. This can get complicated in a hurry, but the basic gist is this: in the case of a two-team tie, the head-to-head winner gets it. In the case of a 3+ team tie, CBS and ESPN get to pick.

Just kidding. In the case of a multi-tie, the combined head to head record is looked at first. If all of the teams ended up at 1-1 against the other two, they next look at the divisional record. There are more steps, but once the multi-way tie has been broken, it reverts to the head-to-head match up. Okay, now on with the fun stuff:

1. Georgia/Florida (7-1, 4-1 SEC): both teams are coming off pretty big conference wins, have identical records, and will face-off next week. Both of their losses came against SEC West opponents, and it doesn't really look like anyone else is going to catch them. The winner of the rivalry game formerly known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party will have the inside track. But does the loser have a chance to get back in? Yes!

The losing team will drop to 4-2 in the SEC, while the winner will move to 5-1. In order for the loser of next week's game to make it to Atlanta, they would have to win their two remaining conference games while the other team loses both of theirs (Georgia has Kentucky and Auburn, Florida faces Vandy and South Carolina). That's an unlikely scenario, although smart money gives Vanderbilt and the Cocks a better chance of both beating Florida than Auburn has of sniffing the end-zone against the Dawgs.

Prognosis: the game Saturday in Jacksonville is for all of the [SEC East] Marbles. Win and you've got a good shot.

3. Vanderbilt (5-3, 3-2 SEC): Vandy is off this week, but being only a game back has its advantages. They will need a loss from the winner of Saturday's Georgia/Florida game. If the winner is Georgia (who has already beaten the Commodores) they'll need two losses in the last three games. Meanwhile, Vandy will, in all likelihood, need to win each of their remaining three games against Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Losing to any of them will likely put Atlanta too far out of reach, although it will take at least two losses before they're mathematically eliminated.

Prognosis: They're definitely a long-shot to win, but it wouldn't take anything to terribly crazy to sneak in. Still probably not going to happen.

4. South Carolina (5-3, 2-3 SEC): Are you ready for things to get interesting? The Cocks can still make it to Atlanta! Here's how: first, WIN OUT. A conference loss will immediately eliminate them from contention as the winner of the Georgia/Florida game will finish the season with at most three conference losses. They also need Florida to beat Georgia. Georgia has already beaten Spurrier's Cocks, so if the Dawgs win this weekend, they would have the tie-breaker over South Carolina if it came down to that. Assuming Florida does beat Georgia, they would then need to both of their remaining games. In order for a 3-loss SC team to get to Atlanta, some other teams would need to lose as well. Here's a quick look at exactly what it would take (unhighlighted games are insignificant):

​

Kentucky has already lost to South Carolina and therefore, if SC wins out, they would stave off the 3-way tie with UK/Florida by virtue of being 2-0 against them. They also need Vandy to drop their games to both Kentucky AND Tennessee while beating Florida since Vandy beat South Carolina back in week 2. This is the only way it would work out. Anything happens that doesn't match the chart above kills South Carolina's chances.

Prognosis: Dire. While stranger things have probably happened in college football, they need a LOT of help.

5. Kentucky (5-3, 1-3 SEC): In much the same way that South Carolina still has a shot because they haven't yet lost to Florida, Kentucky has a shot because they haven't yet lost to Georgia. They need a Georgia Cocktail Party win and to win all of their games. What's more, since they've already lost to South Carolina, they need the Cocks to pick up a 4th loss, but it would need to come against UT or Arkansas, since a Florida win would lock Kentucky out of the hunt. Here's what Kentucky's chart looks like:

​

As usual, Tennessee is out of the race. Vandy would be out by virtue of their head-to-head loss to Kentucky (hypothetically) and the rest would fall into place.

Prognosis: Even more dire than South Carolina's.

6. Tennessee (3-5, 1-4 SEC): Eliminated. Having already lost to both Georgia and Florida, and being able to amass -- at best -- a 4-4 conference record, they cannot win the SEC East.

Prognosis: Dead in the water. No chart can save them now.
​

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[RJ Esq]

Darry Beckwith would like a word with CBS regarding Knowshon Moreno's speed

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Not sure what metric Verne Lundquist is using to suggest Knowshon's ES-EEE-SEEE Speeeeeed isn't quite up to par on an icing, 60-plus-yard touchdown romp against one of the most revered defenses in the country (up till Saturday, anyway), but if Moreno's speed isn't great, he can always fall back on his sense of irony:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VNL4pDEvE4M&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout​

He's not going to do a backflip right now (even though he totally can), but Knowshon will entertainingly taunt the Tiger fans who flooded his cell phone with calls and text messages before the game. It's the only proper thing to do.

 

[RJ Esq]

USC vs. Arizona post game analysis

from Conquest Chronicles by Paragon SC
There are a lot of different opinions on last nights win. All the message boards and pundits are all over the map on what happened or what should have happened. I am ecstatic about the win, I really thought that SC was going to lose this game and had the defense as a whole and Taylor Mays specifically not made a number of impressive plays SC would have lost this game. You take the good with the bad and while a close game that led to a victory might be a character builder there were some things that should still be a concern for this team.

On a warm, clear Saturday evening in the desert, the Trojans outlasted Arizona, 17-10, and stayed in contention for a berth in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

USC entered the game No. 5 in the BCS standings, a position that is not likely to change with Texas, Alabama, Penn State and Oklahoma also winning on Saturday.

But the Trojans improved to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference with their fourth consecutive victory since a Sept. 25 upset loss at Oregon State.

"It feels good to get a gutty victory like this and to come through in the very end just in the nick of time," Sanchez said.

The victory was USC's first this season by fewer than 28 points.

"We needed a fight, and that's what it was," receiver Damian Williams said. "We needed to know what it felt like to win a close game."
​

Lets gets this out of the way first. It would appear at first glance that USC, provided they win out, will not make the BCS Title game. Penn State's win over Ohio State pretty much assures that they will finish the season undefeated and without SC winning pretty last night don't expect a lot of love from the polls.
Looking at it again this morning Mark Sanchez had an average game. I have also seen written else where that he was effective, I guess you can call it that. I said he had a good but not great game last night but he simply did not command the team the way he should have. He made some bad decisions in trying to make the big play when the sure thing was right in front of him. Sanchez could have over come some "interesting" play calling had he simply took care of business that he could control. The pick he threw in the first half was clearly telegraphed and the DB jumped the route. Sanchez knows better, I can accept some mistakes as no one is ever mistake free but when coupled with poor throws it magnifies those types of mistakes and makes people wonder about how well he is progressing.
On third-and-one from the Arizona 36, throwing the ball to the end zone when the field is wide open in front of you for a sure first down does not show good decision making. If Sanchez takes the sure thing that drive is extended and SC probably gets some points, instead SC is forced to punt and Woidneck shanks it. Sanchez also had some issues with overthrowing some of his receivers and the usually sure-handed Damian Williams dropped some passes that could have extended drives but he also he also made some good catches as well.
I also saw elsewhere that this is only Mark Sanchez's 10th start so he still may need to work out some kinks. I am not buying it...if not now when? He will be a senior next year, its not like he's a sophomore with a lot games still to play. He has three years under his belt in this offense so now its time that he started to make decisions that reflect that experience. For the most part smart decision making will overcome average play calling.
The running game was great! Stafon Johnson and Stanley Havili did an awesome job of picking up some great yards on the ground and in the air though Havili living on the side line for most of the game cost him an illegal touching penalty but he also completely blew past the Arizona secondary for what would be the winning TD. Stafon Johnson really had the best game on offense gaining a total of 83 yards on 19 carries. So while there were some nice performances in my eyes it wasn't enough. With Arizona's Antolin knocked out the game they Arizona offense became much more one dimensional. USC's offense can't continue to expect the defense to bail them out all the time, they need to make the most of their opportunities and put points on the board with smart decision making.
Sarkisian is an easy target with some of play calling we saw last night. SC ws doing pretty good running the ball so why not continue to pound it in order to wear down the Arizona defense earlier. The whole explanation on that run on 3rd and 7 definitely shows me that Sarkisian still has a way to go before he can sit at the big boy table, the reasoning on that play makes you scratch your head at the least.

Here's the explanations for the worst call of the night, the third-and-seven run that lost two yards and forced USC to punt.
``We were trying to make yards and wanted to go for it on fourth down,'' USC coach Pete Carroll said.
Said offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian: ``We were planning to go for it on fourth down and get yards and I thought we called a good run.''
​

Hey...how about going for it on 3rd down? That was a clear passing play and if its incomplete the difference between the two plays is only a few yards and you still need to punt. I can see the reasoning as the running game was doing OK but when coupled with throwing on running plays when you could have worn down their defense some more just makes the play calling look, well...interesting.
Penalties are still an issue especially that sideline interference call that was made on the last play of game could have been a big deal. SC once again was flagged for some stupid personal-foul penalties.
We hear so much about the talent on this team but there are times that they just seem to play average football on a whole. The defense has more than done their share but the offense still sputters and IT DOES have to do with coaching. There is no way Sarkisian called a good game last night.
Average maybe, good doubtful.
That explanation above about going for it on 4th down shows that Sarkisian is trying to think like Norm Chow. This is not pool where you are thinking three or four shots ahead. Sarkisian may have learned some things from the master but he still needs to get basics down. When the talent is firing on all cylidrs it hides the deficiencies that are always there but when the talent sputters or does an average job those deficiencies move front and center.
Provided SC wins out, it would appear that we are headed to another Rose Bowl with all the talent on the team that would appear, at least to me, that we continue to fall short of expectations. There is a pretty good chance that SC will play Ohio State again if they don't make the title game and even though tOSU lost last night to Penn State this a much improved team and they will want some pay back from September 30th.
Washington comes to town next Saturday so I would expect SC to feast on really bad UW team.
So, we move on after this close win and we get ready for the home stretch.

 

[RJ Esq]

Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Baylor Bears - Postgame Overreaction

from Corn Nation by corn blight
Note the "overreaction". I’m not looking at stats, it’s just an impression about the game as soon as I can post it after it’s completion. Note that I had no beer before or during this game. Ha!

Overall, good game by the Cornhuskers, beating Baylor 32-20. Consider the following:

- Baylor was 0/10 on third down plays, including plenty that were third and short. Good play by the defensive line. Once again, Suh is an awesome force in the middle. Doesn't get a lot of press though, does he?

- Nate Swift has two TD’s, breaks Johnny Rodgers’ All-Time reception record, has another 100-yard game, and had a long punt return called back because of a stupid roughing penalty.

- Lack of consistency still haunts us. Two personal foul penalties by Cody Glenn lead to Baylor touchdowns. The roughing the kicker penalty was dumb. Three big plays in the first half by Baylor kept the game close. Eliminate these and we’d be a pretty good team. With them we’re just above average.

- I suppose at this point it’s too late for me to complain about Lydon Murtha not being the physical guy he’s supposed to be, we’re not giving up many sacks and the offense is performing pretty well. Again, there’s the difference between "pretty good" and above average - not all of that on Murtha obviously, but I’ll single him out because it’s his turn.

- Is it just me, or has the officiating gone into the toilet since replay is being used for every play? I’m not talking about just this game, but overall in college football the officiating is as bad as I can recall.

We move to 5-3 going into Norman next weekend. That’s a big deal. Don’t know what your definition of success for this season is - but for me it’s getting to a bowl game and today’s win over Baylor was a big step in that direction.
Yay! Here's some cheerleaders!

 

[RJ Esq]

Dear SEC: You had your chance. Signed, Florida.

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Scroll down or click here to join the Doc's game day live blog.

Florida 63, Kentucky 5. The Gators' margin of victory in its last two games, over teams that came in with a combined 9-2 record: 114-26. Since losing to Ole Miss, it's 152-33, if you include Arkansas.
That is all.

 

[RJ Esq]

College Gameday: Penn St. vs. Ohio St.

from Tv Tan Line by scotty





Best Sign: "Daryll Clark is Hooked on Phonics"

 

[RJ Esq]

<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Instant Analysis: Texas Tech-Kansas </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
</td> <td width="3" nowrap="nowrap">
</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Matt Zemek
Staff Columnist
Posted Oct 25, 2008
</td> <td nowrap="nowrap">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

The Texas Tech Red Raiders inched by Nebraska and tripped up for a time against Texas A&M, leading numerous observers to view their unblemished record with more than a little skepticism. On Saturday in Lawrence, Kan., Mike Leach’s team began to change a whole lot of perceptions.
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">

A Kansas crew defending its Orange Bowl championship sought to take a commanding lead in the Big 12 North by knocking Texas Tech off its prematurely-assigned perch. Mark Mangino’s men, playing at home and ranked in the nation’s top 25, figured to give the Red Raiders a run for their money. Instead, the lads from Lubbock gave the first serious and significant indication that they might finally be able to battle with the big boys in college football.

Yes, Tech will have to tackle Texas, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State before their season’s through, but after crushing Kansas with conviction, it’s truly time to treat Tech as something more than a tease. Virtually perfect performances such as the one showcased on Saturday demand that level of national respect.

There’s no need to make the issue any more complicated than it needs to be. Simply stated, the quality of this Red Raider rout can be sufficiently summed up in a single declaration of the football facts. When throwing out a possession that started with only 42 seconds remaining in the first half, Tech’s offense scored a touchdown on each of its first eight offensive possessions. That’s right: Quarterback Graham Harrell pitched the pigskin to perfection, and his teammates played their part in this making of a masterpiece. The Red Raiders just didn’t miss. Precisely because Tech held serve so many times, the Jayhawks—outclassed in skill and broken in will—came to a point where they couldn’t respond with any resourcefulness.

Kansas did answer the first two Tech touchdowns in this Big 12 battle, but after Harrell and Co. notched their third straight score to establish a 21-14 lead, the Red Raiders—thanks to a sack of KU quarterback Todd Reesing—gained the first stop of the day, well into the second quarter. When Tech provided the game’s first defensive breakthrough—akin to a break of serve in a tennis match between two ace-popping powerhouses—the emotional calculus quickly and substantially shifted in Tech’s favor. The touchdown train kept rolling for a delighted Mike Leach, whose offense is playing with peak precision, and the rout was on in America’s breadbasket.

One would do well to ask, “What makes this Texas Tech team so special, better—at any rate—than previous teams in the Leach era?” To find the answer, look no further than these five names: Rylan Reed, Marlon Winn, Louis Vasquez, Brandon Carter, and Stephen Hamby. The five members of Tech’s starting offensive line are providing a brick wall behind which Harrell can sling the rock without sweating. By offering supreme security to their gridiron gunman, Leach’s line is enabling a coach’s potent passing attack to reach its absolute peak. Saturday, an overwhelmed Kansas defense found out how high that peak could be.

Bigger battles await Texas Tech in 2008, but after this blowout of a decent opponent on the road, it’s clear that the Red Raiders have achieved a new and higher degree of credibility in the college football world.

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[RJ Esq]

Now Texas Tech is just scary

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Scroll down or click here to join the Doc's game day live blog.

Texas Tech 63, Kansas 21. If this was going to be Texas Tech's breakthrough season, the Raiders had to overcome one glaring number: .375. That was Tech's road winning percentage in Big 12 games under Mike Leach coming into this year, almost the complete opposite of its stellar conference record in Lubbock (23-9). And if there was any place that trend would show up after a long string of cupcakes and bottom dwellers, it would be Lawrence, where Kansas wins about three times as often under Mark Mangino as on the road, and where the Jayhawks ran up one of the longest home winning streaks in the country, back to mid-2006. This is the random road game even good Raider teams regularly lost -- at Oklahoma State in 2005, at Colorado in '06, at Missouri and Oklahoma State again last year. There's a reason KU came in a slight favorite.
So I'd say blowing Kansas out of the stadium was even better for the big picture than the gaudy final score suggests. You'll continue to hear about the offense and the "nine touchdowns in ten possessions" thing, but you already knew that. What was different about this win was the Raider defense, which justified the dubious preseason hype against by far the best offense it's faced to this point. While the first quarter looked like the start of a certain, back-and-forth race from one end of the field to the other Kansas' possessions in the second and third quarters went like this:

That's a pretty good offense held to 15 plays, 19 yards, one first down and three turnovers over two full quarters, while Tech's offense did what it does: score, and score, and score. If the Raiders make their move next week against Texas, the same defense has to show up again.

 

[RJ Esq]

How many times must innocent Americans be subjected to the bawling spawn of Kirk Herbstreit?

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Scroll down or click here to join the Doc's game day live blog.

This is not the first time this has happened: the last time Kirk Herbstreit brought out a couple Li'l Herbies when the GameDay set was in Columbus a few years ago, the younger of the kids was justifiably terrified by the screaming chaos around him, especially the man to his right in a suit and freakish cartoon head, and proceeded to cry his little eyes out on national television. Awkward, man.
Fast forward to this morning: the Herbstreit clan of Aryan miracles has multiplied to four, and Kirk decided to give his spawn another shot at national exposure. The result: another round of helpless, frightened tears and at least one attempt (by the young'un in Herbie's lap) to literally crawl inside his father's suit for protection before being turned around and forced to wave at the bloodthirsty masses surrounding him.
At least GameDay found its next rising star: in a brief, fluffy picks segment, LeBron James thoroughly out-analyzed Desmond Howard. Seriously: right now, between Des and Bron, who would you rather have reading fake questions from "blogs" and demonstrating how to come down with a jump ball? It's not close, really.

 

[RJ Esq]

Oklahoma's Offense? Check. Defense? Ehh...

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas, Big 12

In its first five games this season, Oklahoma allowed 69 total points.

In the 10 quarters since -- as of halftime of today's game against Kansas State -- the Sooners have coughed up 104 points. A troubling trend, to be sure.

There's a weird dynamic in Norman right now. The offense is blowing up again today, with a ridiculous 55 points at halftime against Kansas State. The defense has chipped in by forcing four Wildcats turnovers.

Of course, Oklahoma has also given up 28 points -- despite the four K-State miscues -- and watched Josh Freeman throw for 328 yards.

As we've seen the last few weeks, this seems to be the M.O. for Oklahoma this season. Sure, the defense isn't putting up stellar numbers, but as long as the offense keeps going like this, it's no big deal, right? The answer would probably be yes, if we hadn't already seen what Texas did to Oklahoma.

There are two more teams on the OU schedule that might be able to either: A) match Oklahoma point-for-point, or B) slow Oklahoma's offense down enough to pull a Texas-style upset.

I'm talking about Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders are currently kicking the bejeesus out of Kansas -- on the road -- and might punch into the 70s. Oklahoma State plays at Texas later, but went into Missouri earlier this year, slowed Chase Daniel and then counter-punched with a potent offense of their own.

It'd be easy to shrug your shoulders a little bit and just say "Well, the Big 12 offenses are great this year."

True. For whatever reason, the Big 12 has eschewed defense across the board in favor of scoring in the 40s and 50s every week. Oklahoma's offense has shown plenty capable of reaching those offensive heights too, which is why the Sooners will probably be 7-1 after this game's over.

Still, those two games lurking out there must have OU fans feeling a little queasy.

Kansas State has not found success on the ground yet, but one of the problems for OU the past two weeks was that the Sooners could not take away the pass or the run. Both Texas and Kansas had running backs top the century mark. Interestingly enough, though, lack of pressure up front hasn't been killer. Oklahoma had nine combined sacks in the Texas and Kansas games.

Sam Bradford and the Sooner offense is showing yet again that it's as explosive as any in the country when it's on, and, combined with a few turnovers by the opposition, they're darn near unstoppable. But when the defense can't force those turnovers (SEE: Texas) and the offense gets stalled a little bit, the Sooners are in trouble. It's only really happened in the one loss so far, but with Texas Tech and Oklahoma State looming, it could happen again if the Sooners' defense doesn't stiffen up.

 

[RJ Esq]

Texas Tech moves up to sixth in AP Top 25 poll

from SI.com - NCAA Football
Read full story for latest details.

 

[RJ Esq]

Here's some food for thought:

IF, and it's a big IF, Texas wins next week at Texas Tech, they would have beaten the #1, #5, #6, and #6 team at the time.

That is a run.

 

[RJ Esq]

Berry's hit on Maze. Not to praise the enemy or anything, but I'm more than relieved Maze got back...

from Roll 'Bama Roll by Todd
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kMI4qj0pj3E&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout Berry's hit on Maze. Not to praise the enemy or anything, but I'm more than relieved Maze got back up after taking a lick like that. Berry might not have worked out well on offense, but he can darn sure hit.

 

[cubsker]

Okie St. may be the 2nd best team in the country. no shame in only beating them by 4.

 

[RJ Esq]

October 25, 2008
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<embed src="http://vmedia.rivals.com/flash/contentheadlines.swf?h1=Penn+State+assumes+undeserved+role+as+contender+&h2=&lwidth=620&lheight=60&lshadow=1&sFontColor=000000&sLink=" salign="lt" quality="best" scale="noborder" wmode="transparent" id="rvflash" name="rvflash" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" width="620" height="60"></object> <noscript>Penn State assumes undeserved role as contender

</noscript> Tom Dienhart
Rivals.com College Football Senior Writer
<script language="javascript">document.write("<div id=contentcontainer style='font-size: " + currentsize + "pt;'>");</script> COLUMBUS, Ohio – Back and forth they went.
Ohio State pushed. Penn State pulled. And so it went, for more than three grueling hours.
<!--Start Image--><script language="Javascript">document.write(insertImage('/IMAGES/Player/video/1021-OSUTERRYPRYOR_250.JPG', '', 0, 300, 250, 1, 'Penn State\'s fortunes turned when Penn State\'s Mark Rubin knocked the ball away from Terrelle Pryor.', '', 1225001543000, '', 1144, 'Align=Left'));</script><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="258"><tbody><tr><td width="252">

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</td></tr><tr><td align="center">Penn State's fortunes turned when Penn State's Mark Rubin knocked the ball away from Terrelle Pryor.</td></tr></tbody></table><!-- End Image--> This was a roll-up-your sleeves, black-and-blue classic. It ended Penn State 13, Ohio State 6. It was Big Ten football, with plenty of old-fashioned blocking and tackling.
More important, it kept Penn State steaming toward an unbeaten season … and a date in the BCS title game.
And that's unfortunate.
It's foolish to think a Big Ten team has any business on college football's biggest stage. But the No. 3 Nittany Lions now are poised to play for the championship in Miami. After being off next week, they travel to Iowa, then play host to Indiana and Michigan State. A 12-0 regular-season record is well within reach.
Sure, Penn State's run to 9-0 looks good. The offense has been spectacular, showing balance and explosiveness. The defense is fast, aggressive and opportunistic. And these Lions are resourceful, winning Saturday despite starting quarterback Daryll Clark leaving early in the fourth quarter after getting knocked loopy.
Backup quarterback Pat Devlin engineered the game's only touchdown with 6:25 remaining, barreling through a pile of players on a 1-yard scoring plunge. What else would you expect in a game such as this?
Penn State's defense did its part, limiting the Buckeyes to 287 yards, including just 61 on the ground. And Penn State generated two turnovers, including a fourth-quarter fumble by Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor that the Lions subsequently turned into the touchdown.
<!--START SIDE-->
PENN STATE 13, OHIO STATE 6
WHAT HAPPENED
Penn State was outgained, 287-281, but it didn't commit a turnover and ran better than Ohio State. And that was the difference. The Nittany Lions churned out 160 yards on the ground and limited the Buckeyes – who lost a fumble and threw an interception – to 61.
STAR PLAYER
Penn State RB Evan Royster led all rushers with 77 yards on 19 carries, giving the Nittany Lions room to open an aerial attack that generated 121 yards on 12-of-20 passing.
TURNING POINT
Ohio State had the ball and a 6-3 lead early in the fourth quarter when QB Terrelle Pryor was hit by SS Mark Rubin and fumbled. LB Navorro Bowman recovered at Ohio State's 38. Penn State proceeded to march in for the only touchdown of the game on QB Pat Devlin's 1-yard TD plunge for a 10-6 lead it wouldn't relinquish.
KEY INJURIES
Penn State QB Daryll Clark got his bell rung early in the fourth quarter and didn't return to the game. That's why Devlin was in on the game-turning drive.
ETC.
This was Penn State's first win in Columbus since 1978. The Nittany Lions had been 0-7 at Ohio State as a member of the Big Ten. … Pryor passed for a career-high 226 yards, going 16-of-25 with a pick. … This was the first time this season Penn State was held to fewer than 20 points. … Ohio State has scored nine total points in its two losses. … This is the 10th time Penn State has started 9-0 under Joe Paterno. .. Penn State is off next week, then plays its last road game of the season Nov. 8 against Iowa.

<!--END SIDE--> And then there's Joe Paterno. The coaching legend now weaves his magic from the press box. Maybe he's on to something. Could this unexpected run set up an unbelievable ending for Paterno – the 81-year-old winning his third national championship, then retiring? It would be a fitting bow around a career that has been more embattled than euphoric this decade. But this team – and this conference – doesn't deserve another chance at college football's biggest prize. Besides, Paterno is used to fashioning an unbeaten team, then getting left out of the championship party. That has happened four times: 1968, 1969, 1973 and 1994.
So, please, don't give us Penn State on Jan. 8, 2009, in Dolphin Stadium. Give us life, give us liberty, give us hope for a good game. That means give us Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia or USC. Heck, we'll even take Texas Tech and its diabolical offense and kooky coach. They all have been more impressive than – and likely would beat – any Big Ten team.
Even a perfect Penn State.
We pray that America won't have to watch another Big Ten belly-flop in the BCS title game. The Buckeyes have perfected that dive the past two seasons.
Look at the hideous history. First, there was Florida 41, Ohio State 14. Next, there was LSU 38, Ohio State 24. There is no need for a trilogy. If you've seen one slasher flick, you've seen them all.
Need more evidence that the Big Ten doesn't belong? Have you watched this season? The Big Ten's best non-conference win was Wisconsin's 13-10 triumph over Fresno State. The league had one chance to show the world it was big time – and Ohio State was utterly annihilated by USC 35-3.
Michigan is a mess. Wisconsin is weak. Iowa and Illinois are iffy. Michigan State is mediocre. Northwestern? Minnesota? Please.
Now, because the Big Ten has returned to its own sand box – and it's a small one – we are supposed to believe the school that built the biggest sand castle in the Midwest deserves access to college football's VIP room?
Ohio State has proven that's not the case.
Penn State's mastery of the Buckeyes and a soft schedule shouldn't get them past the BCS bouncer.

 

[RJ Esq]

Big Ten is in a boring State

Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press​

Penn State cornerback Lydell Sargeant comes up with an interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter to help preserve the Nittany Lions' 13-6 victory over Ohio State on Saturday.


[COLOR=#333333 ! important]No one wants to see this conference in the BCS title game again, do they?[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#999999 ! important]Chris Dufresne
October 26, 2008 [/COLOR]
Penn State kicked a field goal, and then Ohio State did.

Ohio State tacked on another, and then Penn State missed one.


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And then, late, an Ohio State quarterback fumbled, and before you knew it people were pulling Penn State's backup quarterback out of a goal-line pile that resulted, with 6 minutes 25 seconds left, in the game's only touchdown.

Joe Paterno, relegated to the Ohio Stadium press box, looked down from high above, with Woody Hayes possibly peering down from even higher.

What tension, what drama, what a job by the chain gang moving those sticks. . . . what in Helena was that?

It was Penn State 13, Ohio State 6, that's what it was.

And you wonder why no one wants to see the Big Ten Conference champion back in another national title game.

On a day when top-10 Florida and Texas Tech each scored 63 points, Oklahoma scored 58 and Georgia scored 52, Ohio State and Penn State pounded each other senseless, and almost pointless, in Columbus, Ohio.

Ohio State is finally two-loss dead, a national nuisance no more, but now Penn State lives and breathes and lurks.

The Nittany Lions are three wins -- against Iowa, Indiana and Michigan State -- from finishing 12-0.

Whether that delivers Penn State to the Bowl Championship Series title game Jan. 8 in South Florida depends on what happens on the field and what gurgles in six computers.

Penn State is No. 3 in the BCS, and probably needs a loss from No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Alabama to get in, if you believe the undefeated champions of this year's best two conferences, the Big 12 and the Southeastern, deserve to settle it on the field.

If it's a close race, though, with three unbeaten teams vying for two spots, might the USA Today voting coaches turn on the Tide in order to make sure Paterno is not denied?

If the choice is between Nick Saban or Paterno?

The coaches turned on Michigan, their No. 1 in 1997, to make sure Nebraska's outgoing coach, Tom Osborne, got half a share of the crown. In 2003, the coaches turned on USC, too, delivering first-place votes to Louisiana State on election day.

Texas and Alabama each won Saturday, but chances are one or both will slip up eventually, which would put Penn State in position to deliver a fairy-tale ending to its hobbling coach, who turns 82 in December.

And if this happens, who cares if the story might be better than another Big Ten team getting sent to defeat against the SEC.

The top 10, for the second straight Saturday, produced little chaos.

No. 1 Texas held on to beat No. 7 Oklahoma State, 28-24, in Austin, Texas, and the moral of that story is: These things happen.

"I heard somebody say this week that this game would be a blowout," Texas Coach Mack Brown said, "and they were fools."

You can't bring your "A" game to Austin every week, and Texas didn't.

But so what?

Texas quarterback Colt McCoy had a pass intercepted and fumbled too. He had seven incomplete passes -- the nerve of this kid.

Every national title winner can look back on a close call or three. Just ask, um, Texas, which won the big BCS sombrero three seasons ago, 41-38, but only because the Longhorns stopped USC on fourth and two.

Two years ago, Florida escaped a near-loss experience against South Carolina and went on to win the national title.

USC went wire to wire as No. 1 in 2004, but that didn't mean the Trojans didn't nearly lose to California or get all they wanted from cross-town rival UCLA.

Everyone remembers Ohio State finished 14-0 and won the national title in 2002 with a shocking win over Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.

Most people don't remember the Buckeyes won games that year by six points (Penn State), five points (Michigan) and four points (Cincinnati and Purdue).

What about 1997, when Nebraska won a share of the title because a ball bounced off Shevin Wiggins' foot into Matt Davison's diving arms for a game-saving touchdown against Missouri?

Texas (8-0) survived -- and advanced.

"When the No. 1 team is playing No. 6, I don't count that as a scare," Brown said. "I call that a close game."

Alabama (8-0) survived Tennessee and Penn State survived Ohio State, setting up a possible November to remember.

Texas, in consecutive weeks, has beaten Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State and now gets to visit No. 8 Texas Tech next week in Lubbock.

Have a nice trip.

 

[RJ Esq]

BCS Realpolitik: The computers come around, but Penn State's still reaching for the top

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
In a perfect world, the Doc would be given carte blanche to publicly torch the Bowl Championship Series in effigy and institute the elaborate, double-elimination battle royale of his dreams. But we live in the world we live in, so each Sunday the Doc looks at what the new BCS numbers mean for the rest of the season. Rooting interest: chaos. Always chaos. Not much changes in the big picture this week, with the exception of Penn State's leap in the computer polls: PSU is third after its win over Ohio State, up from seventh according to the machines last week. It's nice to see everyone getting along, all the way up to the inevitable train wreck when the various tracks fail to sort themselves out over the last month. The computers can't agree on anything past the top three teams, with Oklahoma and Georgia sharing No. 4, Oklahoma State, Utah and Boise State sharing No. 7 and Texas Tech and Florida tied for tenth, all in defiance of the human polls. Past the top three, verily, it is the madness we bargained for.

Sitting pretty. Status quo still favors Texas and Alabama, which both remain ahead of Penn State by a miniscule but solid margin that will only grow if the Longhorns and Tide keep winning -- both UT and 'Bama have better wins on their existing resumés and tougher schedules down the stretch than the Lions and won't be budged from the top by anything short of an upset. And even if Texas loses this weekend at Texas Tech, PSU has to look out from below: the Raiders could be rocketing up the polls with the chance to keep rising against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and the Big 12 Championship still in front of them. In other words, if there are three major undefeated teams at the end of the year, strength of schedule virtually guarantees Penn State is the odd man out.
The flipside of that -- assuming any undefeated team from a BCS conference will play for a championship ahead of a one-loss team -- is that the Lions have a much better chance of running the table against Iowa, Indiana and Michigan State than any of the other undefeated teams on their stretch runs:

Texas has at least two, possibly three (depending on what happens to Kansas) ranked opponents left, assuming the requisite date in the Big 12 Championship; even if Texas Tech does come out of next Saturday unblemished over the Horns, it has an even tougher road to navigate. Alabama has annual bugaboos LSU and Auburn (the Tide has lost 11 straight to division rivals named "Tigers") and the SEC Championship against the Florida-Georgia winner. So Penn State's task now is to take care of its business, then sit and wait for the others to fall by the wayside.

A little help? USC is in very bad shape here. The Trojans remain in front of Florida and Georgia for the moment, but that won't last past this weekend, when the winner of the Cocktail Party earns its biggest win of the regular season and effectively punches its ticket to the SEC Championship. SC can't compete with that with only one ranked team (Cal) left on its schedule. So the Trojans not only need at least three of the four unbeatens to lose, but also need Oklahoma and the Georgia-Florida winner to go down with a second loss, as well. Even if it keeps winning, I wouldn't expect USC to advance any higher than fourth without some highly improbable dominoes falling in its favor.
Oklahoma's chances hinge on winning the Big 12 South, and for that to happen, the Sooners need a Texas loss this weekend and subsequent wins over Texas Tech and Oklahoma State to create a two or three-way logjam that somehow ends with OU crashing the Big 12 Championship. The Georgia-Florida winner needs a Texas or Penn State loss, too, with the added bonus that it can knock Alabama out of the way itself in the SEC Championship.
For chaos' sake. Best case scenario: Texas, Alabama and Penn State all finish undefeated and the Lions complain about the snub all the way to Pasadena. Short of that, losses by Texas and Bama could create an insolvable bottleneck of teams with equally legitimate claims -- between a one-loss Big 12 champion, a one-loss SEC champion and one-loss USC, the difference could be a couple hundredths of a point in some algorithm no one understands.
It's quite possible Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma all end the season with one loss and a mind-bending win triangle against one another. Maybe Georgia edges Alabama on a field goal or something to win the SEC in far less impressive fashion than Bama won in Athens in September. That's the dream, anyway.

 

[RJ Esq]

Penn State 'Won Ugly'? You Missed Something

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Ohio State, Penn State, Big 10

With all due respect to my esteemed colleague here at FanHouse, I have to point out that Ray Holloman missed something in his post on the Penn State victory over Ohio State Saturday night. Not to worry, though, Ray; so far, it appears that a lot of other people have missed it too.

I know, based on seven of the Nittany Lions' first eight games, you all were expecting JoePa's harriers to drop 45 points and 500 yards of offense on the Buckeyes. Since I predicted a 34-31 Penn State victory, I was a little shocked too at how low the score was. (I hedged my bets in the middle of the afternoon, of course.) It turned out much more like both teams' Purdue games, in which Penn State only scored 20 and Ohio State only put up 16.

How did it turn out that way, though? After last week's Terrelle Pryor explosion in East Lansing and, well, Penn State's season, where were the offenses in this game? I mean, if a football game ends up with a 13-6 score and neither team putting up 300 yards of offense, they must be two mediocre teams, right? Don't good teams save their best performances for their best opponents?

Of course not. Great teams never play down to their opponents. Great teams don't just beat up on the little guys; they dominate their high-quality opponents as well. And they especially don't lose big games in their conference seasons. (Great teams are rare. Pretty good teams are common.)

But, whatever. It's a video game world these days, and nobody wants to watch a low-scoring game, even if there's something wonderful about two great defenses going up against two great offenses. Fine. You don't have to buy in to Penn State as a national title contender. If Bama holds serve and somebody gets through the Big XII undefeated, those are the two teams who should play for the title. Even an annoying Big Ten homer like me has to agree.

Some of you out there, however, are in the habit of never, ever giving even the slightest crumb of respect to any team that's not your own, or any team from a different conference. This is for you: There's something Penn State did last night which (a) your title contender didn't do yesterday, and (b) could level the playing field in a most unexpected way.

Maybe you know the story. Penn State hadn't won in Columbus since the Carter administration. JoePa hadn't even scored more than 10 points in any one game in Columbus since then. The Nits came into the Horseshoe last night as the favorite. Favored road teams facing opponents who are roughly their equal have to control momentum as best they can. If the home team starts to get momentum going in their favor, the game can quickly get out of hand. Giving up an early score (or even a big play) can start the process, but what usually makes it happen are the two things coaches hate the most: turnovers and penalties.

On the road, in one of the Big Ten's most hostile environments, against a good team that rarely loses at home, how did Penn State fare?

Zero turnovers. Zero penalties. You read that right. Penn State wasn't flagged once.

If you weren't impressed with anything Penn State did last night (or even all year), you should be impressed by that. That, my friends, is a sign of a team with slush in its veins. Every successful team knows that you have to take your opponents' mistakes and turn them to your advantage.

How do you do that if they don't make any mistakes?

 

[RJ Esq]

Big 12 Football Report, v 1.9

from Burnt Orange Nation by PB @ BON
The week in Big XII football.
THE RUNDOWN

• Texas 28 Oklahoma State 24 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
  
  Over at Barking Carnival, Scipio Tex argues in his always excellent post-game wrap that Saturday's outcome was not the result of Texas being flat:
  
  
  Make no mistake, we brought our A game. The notion that we did not implies that we’d look different if we played them again or that effort was lacking. We wouldn’t. It wasn’t. They’d expose us in the same exact ways; just as we’d expose them. A team that converts 11 of 14 on third down isn’t in B game mode. OSU is a very good team with top flight skill personnel and a physical mindset. They are the team you’d design in a lab to give us fits. They’re just two vials of badass short on defense. This is who we are against that team. Period. There’s a difference between playing badly and being made to look bad. ​
  Once the final cannon sounded with Texas ahead by 4 points, most Texas fans agreed, but Oklahoma State's ability to play toe-to-toe with the Longhorns shocked most burnt orange faithful throughout the actual contest. From the myriad crowd shots on TV showing stunned Longhorns fans to the dozens of comments in the BON open thread implying that Texas could blow out OSU if they would just wake the hell up and play with some damn intensity, it was clear that most Texas fans expected a rout. Of course, after the Missouri performance, it's hard to blame them.
  
  Insofar as I wasn't in love with our game plan or coaching adjustments, I'm not sure I quite agree that we saw Texas' "A game," but I agree wholeheartedly with the spirit of Scipio's point: The closeness of Saturday's battle was affirmation of the Cowboys' strength, rather than some kind of letdown by the 'Horns. Texas beat a great team to move to 8-0.
• Texas Tech 63 Kansas 21 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
  
  Todd Reesing after two drives: 9-10, 98 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
  Todd Reesing the rest of the game: 7-16, 58 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT
  
  What changed? Texas Tech defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeil abandoned the zone under Cover 2 scheme Reesing was picking apart in favor of man under Cover 1. The Tortilla Retort explains:
  
  
  There’s not a damn thing I can really complain about except for our option defense, which I’ll get into later. McNeill adjusted his coverages and leveraged that into sacks and turnovers... I’ve hinted that what makes this unit special is the ability to get pressure on the QB without blitzing. McNeill is starting to use that more to his advantage as we’ve played almost 4 quarters of significant man coverage in our last 6. In those 4 quarters, we’ve outscored our opponents 65-2 getting damn near 2 sacks per quarter. That’s enough punts for Tech to win football games.​
  Lest Longhorns fans dismissively wave off these developments with any "Yeah, but that's Kansas" talk, it's worth pointing out the similarities between Texas' and KU's offenses. The Jayhawks have a mediocre running game which provides little support for their absurdly accurate and gutty quarterback, who succeeds despite lacking any real deep receiving threat. Sound familiar?
  
  Even so, Saturday night will be "Prove it" time for Texas Tech, who have allowed Texas to score 59, 35, 52, 51, and 43 points in the last five meetings--all Tech losses. Even in the Red Raiders' 2002 win in Lubbock the Longhorns managed 38 points, and you have to go all the way back to 2000 to find the last time Texas Tech held Texas under 30 points.
  
  ESPN's College Game Day will once more be on hand to feature what will be the biggest game ever played in Lubbock; Mike Leach's entire 9-year career has been a steady build to this moment. The stakes? Enormous: If Texas wins, the South Division is locked up barring a total collapse. If Tech improves to 9-0, they'd find themselves ranked no worse than #3 and likely controlling their destiny to Kansas City and, even, Miami.
  
  If the last three weeks have seemed intense, the matching 8-0 records of these two teams mean Saturday night will elevate that intensity to a level like nothing we've seen since Texas' last trip to Pasadena. And like nothing Texas Tech fans have seen... well, ever.
  
  Game on, ladies and gentlemen. I advise you to wear a helmet.

Oklahoma 58 Kansas State 35 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]

Mike Venables is 38 years old. Hmm. Is he a man? And thereby fair game for criticism?



Looking at him, I'm not so sure. He looks confused. About his manhood. Like he goes to dance clubs with gel in his hair. I just don't know...

Ah, forget it. Dude makes $400,000 a year; he's fair game. So here goes: OU's defense under Venables rather sucks. And if I were Big Game Bob Stoops I'd consider taking over as defensive coordinator and/or hiring someone else.

Kansas State racked up 28 points and 367 yards of offense on 41 first half plays, and it might have been worse if the Wildcats hadn't coughed up two drive-ending fumbles along the way. Less hair care, more work on the defense, Brent. Yes?

Of course, Oklahoma's offense met no resistance whatsoever on the other side, posting 48 points and 381 yards on 40 first half plays of their own; add in a punt return touchdown and the Sooners entered halftime with a 55-28 lead. Ron Prince should lose his job.

Nebraska 32 Baylor 20 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]

A nice win for Nebraska, who shut out the Bears in the second half to come back from a 14-7 deficit after one quarter to move to 2-2 in Big 12 play. The excellent Huskers blog Corn Nation pinpoints the key to the win:

Baylor was 0/10 on third down plays, including plenty that were third and short. Good play by the defensive line. Once again, Suh is an awesome force in the middle. Doesn't get a lot of press though, does he?​

Au contrair, my friend: Mr. Suh and his cohorts on the defensive line were my non-con MVPs just a few weeks ago. But yeah. Corn Nation has a point, and I think it's fair to say the Huskers--due both to their rebuilding under first-year coach Bo Pelini and the multitude of high profile teams in the conference--are flying a bit under the radar. In truth, that's not necessarily a bad thing as the team grows under Pelini and, even if the Huskers lose in Norman on Saturday night, should they finish the season with a three-game run over KU, KSU, and Colorado, the Huskers would wrap Pelini's first season 5-3 in conference play.

Of course, should they win in Norman, Nebraska would be one more Missouri stumble from the inside track to Kansas City. Either way, Bill Callahan's mess is being cleaned up nicely so far in Lincoln.

Missouri 58 Colorado 0 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]

More than a few folks predicted the Tigers would take out their frustrations with incredible ferocity on the visiting Buffaloes, and boy did they ever. Colorado managed a meager 2.9 yards per play, Chase Daniel tossed 5 TD passes, and Missouri set the table for a four-game stretch that should get them back on track and prepared for a redemption game against the South Division winner.

As for Colorado, they're as far behind the conference leaders as they have been since Hawkins arrived before the 2006 season. The offensive line--young and decimated by injuries--is getting slaughtered, a setback which ruins everything the Buffs want to do on offense. Defensively, they're still a couple years and strong recruiting classes away from being contenders.

Texas A&M 49 Iowa State 35 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]

So close, Longhorns fans! So close! I heard your calls last week to drop the Farmers to 12th in the power rankings and with a loss yesterday I'd have done just that today, but... it wasn't to be. No, sir. Today, we say definitively: Texas A&M is the 11th best team in the conference. You'll just have to accept that. Hopefully Texas will have the kind of season that helps you not think about it.

Give SBN's Aggie bloggers all due credit: their postgame reaction is worthy a hat tip. And the offense under Jerrod Johnson continues to develop nicely, his effort Saturday (31-39 for 381 yards 4 TDs, 0 INT) his best yet this season. Frankly, if I wore maroon overalls, I'd just feel enormously grateful that the Jerrod Johnson era didn't have to wait behind a full season of 'meh' from Stephen McGee.



WEEK 9 AWARDS

BEST WIN: TEXAS, OVER OKLAHOMA STATE Again. Whatever happens going forward, it's truly remarkable the Longhorns will kickoff Saturday night 8-0. What a season.
WORST LOSS: COLORADO, TO MISSOURI Losing to Missouri is no crime, but a 58-0 pantsing by a division rival is beyond disheartening. Worst of all, there's no light in the 2008 tunnel right now. The Buffs are in pitch dark territory.
TOP PERFORMER, OFFENSE (TEAM): TEXAS TECH The Red Raiders racked up 63 points and 556 yards of total offense on the road as Graham Harrell moved past Phillip Rivers for 4th place on the all-time passing list.
BUM STEER, OFFENSE (TEAM): COLORADO The Buffs' offensive line is horrendous. Which means the whole offense is broken.
TOP PERFORMER, OFFENSE (INDIVIDUAL): COLT MCCOY & JORDAN SHIPLEY, TEXAS The bottom line is that Texas loses on Saturday if these two don't go superhuman. Only the 4th quarter turnovers prevents this from being the mot amazing performance of McCoy's career. He's special, and so is Shipley, who at full health is precisely the player so many fans dreamed he could be when he arrived four years ago.
BUM STEER, OFFENSE (INDIVIDUAL): OFFENSIVE LINE, COLORADO Here I am, with my stick, atop the horse, beating away. This unit is bad, bad, bad.
PB'S POWER RANKINGS

Last ranking in parentheses.
1. Texas (1) - Are you ready for a breather yet? How ready must the team be for one? Can they really win all four of these games? I'll second Scipio's call for action: Do your best healing dance for Chykie Brown's ankle.
2. Oklahoma State (2) - They did nothing to convince me they should drop in these rankings. And if I'm a lustful fan at a big name school whose coach is out or on the way out, I'm starting to clamor for Mike Gundy. The former OSU quarterback may not be interested in leaving, but I'd do my best to get his ear.
3. Oklahoma (3) - Time to drop them behind the Red Raiders? A good argument could be made, given the defensive sketchiness, but I'll hold off and let things sort out on the field.
4. Texas Tech (4) - Tech's own murderer's row began swimmingly with the road blowout. Now the insanity begins.
5. Missouri (6) - That's more like it. The Tigers were down, but too good to count out. Finish strong and they can go BCS Bowling.
6. Nebraska (7) - An interesting progress check awaits them in Norman on Saturday night.
7. Kansas (5) - With Texas and Missouri to conclude the season, Kansas desperately needs to beat KSU and Nebraska to get back on track.
8. Baylor (8) - Likely losses to Missouri, Texas, and Tech await, but a home win over A&M would be an impressive notch on Griffin's and Briles' first-year belts.
9. Colorado (9) - How did this team beat Kansas State? (Ron Prince, I'm lookin' at you...)
10. Kansas State (10) - Ronald: You're a bad football coach.
11. Texas A&M (11) - Unquestionably not the worst in the Big 12.
12. Iowa State (12) - I read somewhere this week that Gene Chizik is a candidate for the Clemson job. If true, he'd be insane not to leave Ames, where things are bleak.

 

[pags11]

as always, a truly informative thread...thanks for the info. rj...

 

[Aztec4Life]

Pray, RJ! Pray the TT/Texas line drops to 3!

rayer

 

[RJ Esq]

Pray, RJ! Pray the TT/Texas line drops to 3!

rayer

For whatever reason, it won't happen. I'm amazed that after the games last week, the line is going up. TT was impressive but as Horn says, this was the only game they've been impressive all year.