CFB Week 12 (11/13-17) News and Picks

[RJ Esq]

Mississippi State: So Repulsive...and Yet, I Can't Look Away
By SMQ
Posted on Thu Nov 15, 2007 at 11:30:51 AM EDT


Fact: if Vanderbilt wins one of its last two against Tennessee or Wake Forest, the SEC will have eleven bowl-eligible teams. This is unusual historically, but not this year: the ACC has "only" seven eligible teams at the moment but a chance at ten if Miami, Maryland and/or NC State each win one of their last two; ten of eleven are already eligible in the Big Ten; Louisville needs one more win and Pittsburgh two to give the Big East seven minimally qualified teams out of eight. And none of them, under the circumstances, is as unlikely as Mississippi State, and possibly none as plainly ugly.
State can't win the SEC West - the Bulldogs can technically tie LSU, if they beat Arkansas and Ole Miss and the Tigers impossibly lose to the same two teams in successive weeks; then, there's still the matter of the 45-0 opening night beatdown in Starkville backing LSU's already-secured position in the SEC Championship - and thank heaven for that. By whatever measure you put on the table, the Bulldogs are the bottom dwelling laughingstock we've come to know and mock through Jackie Sherrill's last three seasons in Starkville and Sylverster Croom's first three, none of which resulted in more than three wins, or more than two in the SEC.

<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> <caption align="top">Miss. State vs. SEC under Croom</caption> <tbody><tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(164, 74, 74) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">Offense</td> <td align="center">Rush Yds.</td> <td align="center">Per Carry</td> <td align="center">Pass Yards</td> <td align="center">Rating</td> <td align="center">Scoring*</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">2004</td> <td align="center">149.5</td> <td align="center">4.4</td> <td align="center">141.4</td> <td align="center">91.1</td> <td align="center">13.9</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">2005</td> <td align="center">113.0</td> <td align="center">3.3</td> <td align="center">137.4</td> <td align="center">86.9</td> <td align="center">9.8</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">2006</td> <td align="center">87.1</td> <td align="center">2.6</td> <td align="center">187.5</td> <td align="center">98.9</td> <td align="center">15.0</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">2007</td> <td align="center">128.7</td> <td align="center">3.2</td> <td align="center">125.0</td> <td align="center">86.6</td> <td align="center">15.8</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(164, 74, 74) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">Defense</td> <td align="center">Rush Yds.</td> <td align="center">Per Carry</td> <td align="center">Pass Yards</td> <td align="center">Rating</td> <td align="center">Scoring*</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">2004</td> <td align="center">219.8</td> <td align="center">4.7</td> <td align="center">188.8</td> <td align="center">131.6</td> <td align="center">27.5</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">2005</td> <td align="center">152.3</td> <td align="center">3.9</td> <td align="center">197.5</td> <td align="center">127.9</td> <td align="center">22.9</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">2006</td> <td align="center">99.5</td> <td align="center">3.1</td> <td align="center">227.0</td> <td align="center">140.7</td> <td align="center">25.1</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">2007</td> <td align="center">165.0</td> <td align="center">4.2</td> <td align="center">190.8</td> <td align="center">109.7</td> <td align="center">26.0</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
* Scoring does not include defensive or special teams touchdowns.
- - - The team is better in one respect, pass efficiency defense - opposing quarterbacks this year are completing a lower percentage of their passes for far fewer yards per attempt - but that hasn't reduced opponents' scoring overall and hasn't been accompanied by noticeable improvement in any other area. MSU still can't throw (it's last in the SEC in passing and total offense and 117th nationally in passing efficiency despite a dramatic improvement in sacks allowed; the Bulldogs' long pass in any of their wins is just 33 yards, against Tulane), can barely run, and is cumulatively about 100 yards and 10-12 points per game worse than the rest of the league on average, which is exactly the margin by which Arkansas is favored to win this weekend in Fayetteville. This sounds about right.
Why, then, was my first reaction to thiscomment, left Wednesday about my decision to rank Kentucky at all, to disagree:

• Kentucky's ONLY notable win as far as I can tell is that LSU game. They played Florida close too, but the Mississippi State loss is awful.
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Yes, all is proceeding according to plan...excellent...excellent!
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If you see a team that isn't demonstrably better at moving the ball or preventing opponents from moving than its undeniably awful predecessors, Mississippi State is indeed an awful loss. But if you see a six-win team that's upset three different then-ranked favorites still either residing in or receiving votes in every recognized poll, playing on the road Saturday to match its conference win total over the last three seasons combined, and it is significantly less awful - especially when you add that the Bulldogs' four losses are to two teams currently ranked in the top ten (LSU and West Virginia), another in the top 20 (Tennessee) and another that was in the top ten when it played MSU and was still there as late as mid-October (South Carolina). In fact, on wins and losses alone, it's almost comparable to the similar turnaround in Illinois, which also has three very good wins over ranked teams, a pair of "acceptable" losses and one sketchier loss (MSU has South Carolina, Illinois has Iowa). Anyone who has watched these two teams play knows the comparison is ludicrous - Illinois has legitimate weapons on offense, has beaten more teams more soundly and been more competitive across its entire schedule than Mississippi State, which has needed timely turnovers to salvage abysmal offensive efforts in the upsets over Auburn and Alabama. Illinois lined up and ran its offense and defense and beat Ohio State down-to-down, and no one can conceive of Mississippi State doing the same thing. And we don't have to imagine it: in the same situation against a top-ranked conference overlord to start the season, we saw MSU trounced in the aforementioned laugher against LSU. If you get any more specific than wins and losses, Mississippi State is still a bad team - statistically, anecdotally, aesthetically (yes; just try to watch the offense).
Those are the means. But if Mississippi State beats Arkansas Saturday, it will be favored to beat Ole Miss (0-6 in-conference) in the Egg Bowl, and if it does that, too, these will be the ends: 8-4, 5-3 in the SEC, tied for second place in the West with the Auburn-Alabama winner with tiebreakers over both and a passable shot at the Cotton Bowl.
So when we say (and I do mean "we") Mississippi State is an awful team, are we talking about the means or the ends? You can apply the same question to Virginia, UConn or any other "winning ugly" scrappers, but whatever other questions you ask, it can't be denied that - unlike UVA and UConn to date - Mississippi State has played a quality schedule and ostensibly succeeded against a significant portion of it. When assessing the value of beating the Dogs, or the demerits of losing to them, or where MSU might fit into the polls its own self, does it matter how it met those ends? Or only that they were met? Or would you like to see them try to slow down Darren McFadden first?

 

[RJ Esq]

VIRGINIA: NOT Yag AND PROUD

Not Yag, and that needs to be said if you’re gonna wear that outfit.
Virginia’s fight song is played to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne” and has the following lyrics:
We come from old Virginia,
Where all is bright and Yag.
Let’s all join hands and give a yell
For dear old UVa.
Antiquated verbiage is common enough in fight songs, but UVA students have gotten around singing the word “Yag” by hollering “NOT Yag!” over the lyric when sung. This counter has drawn the ire of Yag and lesbian student groups, who claim the “NOT Yag!” cheer…
“…marginalizes the Yag community by creating an environment in which certain people who may or may not identify as Yag do not feel welcome.””
So there’s heated student editorials (”Not Yag and proud of it,” by a freshman at UVA), a lot of hooting and poop-tossing going back and forth, and flyers being handed out urging people not to sing the “NOT Yag” cheer when the song is sung. The whole thing reeks of tempest-in-teapot, especially when you consider some of the other hidden antiquated or potentially offensive language in fight songs and alma maters.
For instance:
1. Advocacy of murder of outsiders.
Once two strangers climbed on rocky top,
Lookin for a moonshine still.
Strangers aint come back from rocky top,
Guess they never will.
2. Bizarre pagan bear worship, as in Cal’s “Fight for California:”
Our sturdy Golden Bear,
Is watching from the skies,
Looks down upon our colors fair,
And guards us from his lair.
2. Um…intrastate mass homicide, as in Georgia Tech’s “White and Gold:”
So then it’s up with the White and Gold
Down with the Red and the Black
Georgia Tech is out for a victory
We’ll drop our battle axe on Georgia’s head, CHOP!
So, a bit of a tiff about being Yag or chanting “not Yag” might be the least of a university’s worries, really, what with every other fight song on the planet openly and giddily pushing for the murder of an opponent. (HT: Fesser.)

 

[RJ Esq]

More Legal Trouble For Penn State

Posted Nov 15th 2007 1:50PM by Tom Fornelli
Filed under: Penn State Football, Big 10, NCAA FB Police Blotter

At the rate the Nittany Lions are going these days, the Penn in Penn State is going to stand for Penitentiary before long.

First it was Anthony Scirrotto and his teammates getting into a brawl at an off-campus apartment in April, then there was running back Austin Scott being accused of rape and basically getting kicked off the team earlier this season, and now we have a few more Nittany Lions in trouble with the law.

Penn State defensive tackle Chris Baker and backup linebacker Navarro Bowman were charged with assault Thursday over a campus fight in which police said a man was kicked and punched.

Baker, of Windsor, Conn., and Bowman, of District Heights, Md., were arraigned Thursday on charges including felony aggravated assault and two misdemeanors, simple assault and disorderly conduct. They were also charged with summary harassment and stalking.

Police said they were called to the Hetzel Union Building early Oct. 7 to break up a fight during a party. One man suffered a bloody nose and lip after he said he was kicked and punched "by numerous people,'' according to a police criminal complaint. The man was treated at the scene by paramedics.
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Baker, of course, is the same Chris Baker that was involved with Scirrotto during the off-campus fight last April. It's good to see that the young man has learned his lesson, and is keeping his nose clean.

Along with Baker and Bowman, cornerback Knowledge Timmons will also be receiving a summons in the mail for the fight any day now.

No word on whether any of the three will play this weekend, but even if they do, I wouldn't invite them to any parties afterward.

 

[RJ Esq]

Is Missouri Being Overlooked?

Posted Nov 15th 2007 1:08PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Kansas Football, Big 12, Missouri Football, The Word

For all the talk about undefeated Kansas, there's a team in their own conference with nearly just as much at stake these next few weeks in the Missouri Tigers. Yes, Missouri is 9-1 with a loss to Oklahoma and thus likely out of the national championship race.

However, if the Tigers win their next game and beat Kansas, they will be on their way to the Big 12 Championship Game for a rematch with Oklahoma. Win there and it's a BCS appearance. Strong play from quarterback Chase Daniel and some unexpected stumbles from the other two Heisman front-runners could vault their quarterback from out of nowhere into becoming the next Heisman Trophy winner.

It's not out of the realm of possibility.

Most intriguing is that Las Vegas thinks the Tigers are plain better than the undefeated Jayhawks.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Another clash college football observers are anticipating is the Nov. 24 meeting between Kansas and Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City for the right to play Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship. That contest certainly will have national title implications. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]"I like what Kansas is doing, but K-State is its only win over a ranked team this season and that K-State team was just blown out by lowly Nebraska 73-31," Boyd observed. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]"It will take a win over Mizzou and a Big 12 title game victory before I'm ready to jump on this bandwagon." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]White likes Missouri over Kansas and is looking at the Tigers as a 2 1/2 to 3-point choice. LVSC's weekly power ratings have Missouri sixth and Kansas ninth. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]It's put up or shut up time for the boys from the Show Me State. Their loss to Oklahoma was closer than the score indicated and keyed by a fumbled exchange between quarterback and tailback. That's not how you want to go down to a power team like that and I have a hunch the Tigers are motivated enough to shake off their choke job ways and steamroll to the Big 12 Championship game for that rematch.
[/FONT]
But then again maybe not, Kansas is pretty good. Show me!

 

[RJ Esq]

Kansas Shouldn't Look Past Iowa State

Posted Nov 15th 2007 12:46PM by Mark Hasty
Filed under: Kansas Football, Big 12, Iowa State Football

On paper, this week's Kansas/Iowa State game looks like little more than a Jayhawk tuneup for next week's KU/Mizzou slugfest. The Fightin' Manginos are 10-0, after all, while Gene Chizik's lowly Cyclones are a humble 3-8.

Go ask Bob Stoops how humble the Cyclones are. They gave his Sooners all the fight they wanted. Better still, go ask Ron Prince and Dan Hawkins if the Cyclones are any good. They'd have to say "yes," since the Clones just beat K-State and Colorado in back-to-back games.

Okay, so ISU lost to a Football Championship Subdivision team. It was Northern Iowa, currently the #1 team in the FCS. Also, that was back in September. Since the season's halfway point, the Cyclones have shown marked improvement week by week. The season's low point was a 56-3 beatdown by Texas (Gene Chizik's last employer), but then ISU hassled Mizzou for three quarters. The next week they almost got Oklahoma, 17-7.

From there, ISU ran over K-State and mounted a great comeback to overtake the Buffaloes. So if the question is whether the Clones can hang with KU long enough to make this game interesting, that question has already been answered four times and the answer is "yes." But can they pull the upset?

In a college football season where anything can happen and already has, you have to know they can. Kansas had better come into Saturday's game wide awake, or they too won't survive the brutal siege of the 2007 college football title chase.

 

[RJ Esq]

Out of his league

Weis' struggles prove problem with NFL-bred coaches

Posted: Thursday November 15, 2007 12:29PM; Updated: Thursday November 15, 2007 1:44PM

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In the midst of his third season at Notre Dame, Charlie Weis holds a 20-15 record.
Heinz Kluetmeier/SI


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</td></tr></tbody></table>Let's start with a fairly obvious realization: Charlie Weis is a terrible college football coach.
Sure, he looked great the past two seasons when he was leading a pair of veteran-laden Notre Dame teams to consecutive BCS bowl berths. One day in the future, he may well do the same.
But when faced this season with the ultimate test of a college coach -- the universal challenge of molding a team full of talented but inexperienced players into a cohesive and successful squad -- Weis has failed miserably. It shouldn't be entirely surprising, after all, he had no prior training.
Regardless of whether Weis' 1-9 Irish win or lose their last two games against Duke (1-9) or Stanford (3-7), Notre Dame's 2007 season will go down as one of the worst debacles ever orchestrated by a college coach. Hopefully, it will also serve as a cautionary tale to athletic directors around the country when hiring their next coach: That leading 20- and 30-something professionals to Super Bowls does not automatically render a coach capable of leading 18- and 19-year-old college kids.
"The college game is about a lot more than Xs and Os," said SuperPrep recruiting analyst and longtime college football follower Allen Wallace. "The Irish have a very intelligent coach. But this season showed [Weis] has a significant amount to learn about the college game and putting a team together."
If the 2007 season has been a learning experience for Weis, Notre Dame is footing an extremely expensive tuition bill.
In October 2005, seven games into Weis' tenure, school administrators decided they'd seen enough from the former New England Patriots guru to merit investing an additional 10 years and more than $30 million in him. Under Weis' watch, quarterback Brady Quinn had morphed from a struggling sophomore into a flourishing junior. Weis was universally hailed for his game plan and play-calling in a near-upset of then top-ranked USC. And highly ranked recruits from around the country were already falling all over themselves to play for him.
It seemed clear at the time that Weis was the perfect guy to return the Irish to glory -- and maybe one day he will. This season, however, a Notre Dame team backed with all the resources an NBC television contract and never-ending stable of donors can buy, and comprised of no fewer than 25 Rivals.com four- or five-star recruits, has not been remotely competitive against most of the teams on its schedule. While one might argue Michigan and USC have more talented rosters, Notre Dame's last two conquerors, Navy and Air Force, most certainly do not.
The coach seems as mystified as the rest of us as to how this could happen.
"The analysis that really has to take place is where, in fact, is the breakdown," Weis said after last Saturday's 41-24 loss to Air Force. "If I had that answer, we wouldn't have the problem."
The "breakdown" Weis refers to is one that's apparently taking place on a near-daily basis on the Irish practice field. Presumably, Weis and his assistants are teaching their players how to correct their mistakes, yet Saturday after Saturday, those same players go into a game and make the same mistakes.
Ten games into the season, Notre Dame's blockers still look helpless against oncoming blitzes. The running backs are still not finding the holes (if there are any). The receivers are still not running the right routes. The defensive backs are still blowing the same coverages.
Either Weis has managed to assemble a roster full of athletes incapable of following instructions (highly unlikely) -- or the coaches aren't getting their message across effectively (more likely). That's where Weis' background comes into question.
The NFL/college paradigm

Prior to his 2005 arrival in South Bend, the 51-year-old New Jersey native had never played or coached at the collegiate level. His credentials for the job were: a) His reputation as an offensive guru; b) his anticipated recruiting cachet, what with those four Super Bowl rings; and c) the fact that he graduated from Notre Dame.
Though Weis himself claims that, "My greatest attribute professionally is as a teacher" -- how much teaching had he really had to do prior to this season? Tom Brady and Weis' other Patriots protégés arrived as fully developed professionals. Quinn and the other veteran stars Weis inherited at Notre Dame had at least played college football. Teaching guys a playbook is one thing; teaching them how to play is another.
"In the NFL, those 53 guys, for the most part, have already figured it out," said USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who spent the 2004 season as an assistant for the Oakland Raiders. "A lot of these kids coming in, they're so talented, they've gotten away with a lot of things they can't get away with in college -- a defensive end who only uses one pass-rush move, a receiver who runs the wrong routes. Those are the kind of things we have to teach our kids what to do.
"We have to be great teachers. If your technique is wrong, you'll get beat 75 percent of the time."

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Super recruit Jimmy Clausen has struggled mightily, and Notre Dame's offense ranks last in total offense with 218 yards per game.
Al Tielemans/SI


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</td></tr></tbody></table>Poor technique is a far more plausible explanation than lack of talent -- because the Irish, while young, are plenty talented.
Weis' past two recruiting classes both garnered consensus top-10 ratings. ND's roster situation -- which includes 22 first- or second-year players on the 44-man two-deep -- is not all that different than that of 7-3 Florida, which has started 20 such players at various points this season, including sophomore stars Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin.
Yet for all their acclaim as recruits, first- and second-year Irish players like quarterback Jimmy Clausen, tailbacks James Aldridge and Armando Allen, tackle Sam Young and cornerbacks Darrin Walls and Rasheon McNeil look overwhelmed whenever they step on the field. "Notre Dame has a lot of players who could have gone wherever they wanted," said Wallace. "It doesn't look like some of them have improved very much."
Notre Dame is not the first school to learn the perils of hiring an NFL-bred head coach, most of whom, like Weis, are almost robotic in their approach to the game.
Nebraska's Bill Callahan (who led the Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl) and UCLA's Karl Dorrell (a former Denver Broncos position coach) are likely down to their last days. Their teams, much like the coaches, have been marked not only by their underachieving record but a visible lack of emotion. Similarly, Pittsburgh's Dave Wannstedt, a 10-year NFL head coach, is just 15-17 in three seasons at his alma mater. Georgia Tech has a modest .581 winning percentage (about the same as Weis' .571 mark) in six seasons under former Cowboys coach Chan Gailey.
"It's very interesting how success in the college game requires a much more flexible person," said Wallace. "You're talking about younger athletes who don't have as much time to learn their playbooks. They're powered much more by factors like emotion, not paychecks."
It's no coincidence that one consistent exception recently to this NFL/college paradigm has been USC's Pete Carroll, a guy who wears his emotion on his sleeve and whose success is attributed in large part to the way he "connects" with his players. (Is it any coincidence that those same methods drew scorn and two pink slips in the pros?) Sarkisian, Carroll's offensive coordinator, echoes Wallace's sentiment that Xs and Os play a lesser role in the success of a college coach.
"The hardest part, until you deal with it, is that you're managing 110 kids, and they all have their problems and their issues, whether it's their classes or their girlfriend or not playing enough," said Sarkisian. "Not every kid's going to come in and rush for 1,000 yards. They all think they will, but for the most part it's not going to happen. How do you keep them motivated? A lot of stuff goes into that."
Over the past six years, USC's coaches have shown little hesitation throwing some of their more highly touted recruits into the fire as freshmen, from former stars Shaun Cody, Mike Williams and LenDale White to current standouts Keith Rivers, Taylor Mays and current freshmen Everson Griffin and Joe McKnight. That doesn't necessarily mean the coaches throw the full playbook at them, said Sarkisian.
"We try to identify what they do best within the first four or five days of training camp," he said. "When we go into games, we try to use them in a way where they know what they're doing well."
Failure to adapt

Through comments made over the course of the season, it's become evident that Weis -- despite knowing he'd be relying heavily this season on younger players -- was slow to adapt accordingly, and, in fact, made several decisions that showed little regard for the unique nature of coaching younger players:
• In a philosophy straight out of the NFL handbook but practically unheard of in college, Weis limited full-contact preseason practices to keep his players "fresh" for the season opener and limited "live" action during the first few weeks of in-season practices. Never mind that many of his key contributors had never played in a live college game.
Only after watching Michigan push his team around in a 38-0 loss the third week of the season did Weis institute more full-contact practices, but there's still an evident lack of physicality when watching their games.
"The pace of practice is quite a bit slower in the NFL," said USC's Sarkisian, whose team goes "full contact" nearly every day in the preseason and three days a week in-season. "We practice at a very high level. There's a lot of competition going on."

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</td></tr></tbody></table>• Suiting his reputation as an Xs and Os guy, Weis spent nearly the majority of the preseason preparing solely for the opener against Georgia Tech, including installing a version of West Virginia's spread-option offense specifically for since-departed QB Demetrius Jones.
When neither the plan nor the quarterback worked in a 33-3 loss ... it was back to the drawing board for Week 2, complete with a new QB (Clausen) and a whole new plan for the players to learn. Jones wound up transferring, while Clausen and Evan Sharpley have shuffled back and forth ever since.
"[Starting Jones] was how we felt was the best chance we had to win the first game," said Weis. "But as we settled in, Jimmy was playing the best for us in practice and deserved to be the guy. And then when it got to the point where he was a little worn out, he no longer was as good as Evan being on the field."
Between the on-field battering he's taken and the constant yo-yoing with Sharpley, Clausen's already fragile, freshman confidence is presumably shattered.
• While Weis has said on numerous occasions that "I probably adapted more this year than I have in my whole coaching career," and that he's not "being closed-minded about my approach to football," there's been little evidence that Weis has tailored his strategy to the unique nature of his squad.
The most obvious example was his now-infamous decision to pass on a potential game-winning field goal attempt against Navy. While it's true kicker Brandon Walker was no shoe-in to hit the 41-yarder (he'd missed six of his previous eight attempts), it's more puzzling why he would put faith in a struggling quarterback (Sharpley) playing behind an ever-shaky line to magically convert a fourth-and-eight play.
"It was going against the wind, and in practice he couldn't make it from there," Weis explained afterward. "That's why we didn't kick it from there. That was a pretty simple one."
Notre Dame wound up allowing one of its national-worst 49 sacks on the play and eventually lost in triple overtime, ending a 43-game winning streak against the Midshipmen.
A program stain

To his credit, a purportedly humbled Weis has not hesitated to accept the blame for Notre Dame's woes, criticizing his own job performance on multiple occasions.
"Rather than sit there and make excuses and talk about the volume of numbers in the upper classes, you just have to say you didn't do a good enough job of putting them in a position to win," he said after the Navy game. "I take all the responsibility."
Weis, however, is one of the few vested parties who will not pay a price for this disastrous season. He will still pocket his $3 million-plus for what has essentially been a year of on-the-job training.
Meanwhile, the 80,000-plus spectators who pack Notre Dame Stadium every week -- many of them traveling great distances to be there -- have wasted untold dollars and energy supporting a woefully prepared team, not to mention the immeasurable humiliation their university has suffered. Lord only knows how much money NBC has lost on its investment.
And while Weis may "know I'm going to be here for a long time," as he recently proclaimed (the fact that he's sitting on the potential top-ranked recruiting class for 2008 certainly provides some job security), it's safe to surmise several of his assistant coaches will soon be unemployed.
''I'm still feeling we're way too inconsistent in how we play," he said after last week's loss. "Therefore ... you have to evaluate the teacher and the teaching to see why [we] aren't progressing.''
It doesn't take a football savant to evaluate Weis' performance this season: He gets an F. If this were high school, he'd have to repeat a year before advancing.
Unfortunately, there are no mulligans in college football. The stain of Notre Dame's 2007 season will never be erased.
The only potential positive is that maybe now a few athletic directors might give pause before throwing money at the next hot NFL name.
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[RJ Esq]

Va. Tech will continue to use two QBs

Posted: Thursday November 15, 2007 6:01PM; Updated: Thursday November 15, 2007 6:01PM

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- It took all of two series against Florida State for Virginia Tech and coach Frank Beamer to see the potential of using both Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor at quarterback, sometimes switching them out in the middle of a series.
The Seminoles loaded the box on Taylor's second play behind center last Saturday, intent on stopping him from running. The freshman, though, noticed that wideout Justin Harper had one-on-one coverage, and hit him on a skinny post for an easy touchdown.
It helped that the defensive back fell down, but the lesson was still clear.
"It told Florida State that they can't do that," Glennon said of trying to anticipate a running play. "As soon as I saw the defense line up and they had eight guys in the box and every linebacker was coming, I said there's a good chance that someone's going to free up right here. ... That was a pretty easy pitch and catch."
It's little wonder, then, that the No. 10 Hokies plan to stick with the strategy on Saturday when longtime rival Miami visits. The key is not becoming predictable.
"We don't want to have it so when Sean's in the game, they're going to throw the ball and when Tyrod's in the game, they're going to run the read options and quarterback draws," Glennon said this week. "Then it gets predictable."
The shuffle worked well for the brief time the Hokies were able to use it before Glennon, the drop-back passer in the tandem, suffered a concussion on a scramble. Taylor then finished up looking nothing like a freshman, but Beamer said after having each as his starter at times during the year, he's now sold on using them both.
"We have two quarterbacks who do different things, but they both can win," Beamer explained this week. "We'll try to get the best out of both of them."
A week ago, Beamer said the idea of using two quarterbacks is difficult, and he saw that when he tried it with Bryan Randall and Marcus Vick a few seasons ago. But those two had very similar styles, he noted, and splitting their time by quarters was counterproductive, depriving either one of ever really getting into a rhythm.
Now, the switching will be made based on the play being called, and both quarterbacks have been told that they don't need to be looking over their shoulder, fearing that a mistake will cost them their half of the job-share.
"We talked with the quarterbacks and made it very clear that if you go in and have a bad play, that's not going to be the last play you run that day," Beamer said.
"I don't want either of them thinking 'Hey, I have to make a great play' or 'If I make a bad play, I'm out of here,' so we wanted to make that very clear."
Beamer said he and his coaches had bandied the idea of using both for a while, and that offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring even called to talk to the staff at Florida, which used Tim Tebow and Chris Leak last season and won the national title.
"Defenses gameplan certain defenses for this quarterback and this defense for the other quarterback," Beamer said. "That'll happen. I don't think the significance of that part is as great as what we hope to gain from taking the best from each of them."
Saturday's game is largely meaningless, a rarity in this series that often determined the Big East champion when both were in that league. But the Hokies hope to win and stay sharp heading into their game at Virginia the following Saturday.
That one will determine the ACC's Coastal Division champion and representative in the ACC Championship game, a trip to a Bowl Championship Series bowl on the line.

 

[RJ Esq]

Michigan-Ohio State: Goodbye To All That
By SMQ
Posted on Thu Nov 15, 2007 at 06:20:19 PM EDT


Once certain popular tics hit such a saturation point that mainstream media is picking up on it, it's time to pull back a bit. The New York Times writes how beards are suddenly, inexpilcably'in' among some ill-defined subset of trendsetters, it's probably time to dust off the ol' straight edge (or you can do what I did when I read that story a while back: assume that by the time the New York Times identifies something as hip, it's so played it's all the way past played and back around to hip again. The Old Lady has her finger on the pulse more than you think...)
Rece Davis does this all the time, with phrases like the ridiculous "Here come the Fighting [Insert Coach's Name]s!" or "pick six," a potentially useful shorthand that, post co-option by Davis and various other Leader heads, inevitably makes any casual user sound like an obsessed frat guy going to camp outside the Bristol compound with that guy who can't get enough ESPN Mobile, hoping to touch Skip Bayless or something. This year, Davis has taken to noting certain players seem to have been in school for a long time - almost too long, "like twelve years," usually about kids who don't seem like they've been around for very long at all (Darrell Blackman?), thus forever relegating to cliché the occasional, mild humor that accompanies thoughts like,"Generations of Iowa State fans have looked to Bret Meyer for inspiration."

He gets caught, sure, but the other guy doesn't get free in the first place.
- - -

I say all that because my first thought about Saturday's de facto Big Ten Championship in Ann Arbor is that it's Chad Henne and Mike Hart's last regular season game, and I can't think of any teammates who could be possibly be a better fit for the cliché: It really does seem like Henne and Hart have been playing at Michigan forever, almost long enough it's like they've been granted tenure, or some kind of `player emeiritus' status. This is not the case, if you were wondering - the game is littered with four-year starters, and there are more than half a dozen guys on Michigan alone that have been around longer than either Henne or Hart, including Jake Long and a bunch of scrubs you've never heard of no matter how many times you've read the entire play-by-play breakdown on MGoBlog. Four years is four years. Every senior makes it. Then again, 2004 is a long, long time ago. I've moved an astonishing seven times between three states since the start of that football season, picked up a couple degrees, quit two jobs and recycled the same lame Halloween costume for different crowds three years in a row (although I don't think I've bought any new shirts). Three coaches in the Big Ten were fired, one retired and two died. In fact - and this is the sort of thought you have for a second and then dismiss because it can't possibly be true - the more I think about it, the harder time I have remembering any current player playing as a freshman in 2004. There are a lot of them out there, but I can only come up with a couple names - Erik Ainge, Brian Brohm, Thomas Brown - I remember actually watching then, and those only from one specific game in each case. There are a couple quarterbacks off the top of my head (Meyer, Andrew Woodson). Andre Caldwell at Florida, Xavier Adibi at Virginia Tech. Your team has no doubt had its own valuable and justly beloved figures proudly representing your school with excellence throughout George's Bush's second term.
But I can't say I necessarily remember any of those players as freshmen, not very well, not like Henne and Hart, who were almost instantly ubiquitous; none of them so quickly became the face(s) of one of the most high profile programs in the country, and none of them succeeded so spectacularly out of the gate: behind the freshman stars, the 2004 Wolverines won the Big Ten and came within a few seconds and one point of outduelling Vince Young in the Rose Bowl, where Henne threw for four touchdowns.
Michigan has played that well since (virtually the entirety of 2006) and returned to the Rose Bowl - consider: Henne has thrown a school record 84 touchdown passes, and since his first start against San Diego State, Hart has topped 90 yards in 31 of 35 games in which he's logged at least 15 carries, including every single game he's played over the last two regular seasons; he is so so slow in the open field, but there is no contemporary parallel for that level of consistency from a running back. Michigan is 36-13 in games at least one of them starts and has scored at least 17 in 45 of those games, etc. Imagine Michigan fans, following these two faces more than any others on a weekly basis for three months over four years, in the end spending the better part of a full cumulative year of their lives watching Henne and Hart grow, praying to false gods and any powerful entity who might conceivably hold vigil over their injuries, and finishing each season more and more disappointed.

Love me, America!
- - -

Great players' legacies should be based on their entire body of work, but even if I've never spent any time in the Upper Midwest, I know enough about the gleeful antagonism between Ohio State and Michigan to know that's not exactly how it works. Saturday is the last chance the kids who started together with such promise four years ago, and have largely lived up it, have to go out alongside Lloyd Carr without the oft-referenced albatross of being the "Michigan Men" who never beat Ohio State, never won a bowl game, never won the Big Ten outright (the 2004 title was a tiebreaker situation over co-champ Iowa) and ultimately never capitalized on tthe full possibilities. Injuries, Sun Belt refs, Troy Smith, Appalachian State, and so forth. Always good, never quite good enough at the end. Saturday's script could be more dramatic - it could be last year's Ohio State-Michigan game. Or both teams could have won last week, extending the season winning streak between them to 20 games.But is the ultimate, almost melodramatic redemption story fr the unfulfilled, ailing stars and their grizzled, maligned taskmaster in his last go-round against the persistent nemesis. This game is also, fittingly, maybe the one time Michigan has most needed both of them healthy and at their best. Hart has been considered the engine of the offense from the beginning, mainly because of what happens to it when he's out of the lineup, as he was for most of the disastrous 2005 campaign. One of the questions on Wednesday night's discussion with Football Outsiders was "Who does Michigan need more against Ohio State: Chad Henne or Mike Hart?" For most of their careers - the first 48 games, to be precise - I would have said Hart, without question. But the answer now is that the Wolverines clearly need both of them. Michigan has beaten good teams this year without Henne (Penn State) and without Hart (Illinois), but last week at Wisconsin was the first time since they stepped on campus Michigan has played with Henne and Hart both on the sideline. And it was, in all phases, a disaster. If Hart is the motor, the juice that makes the offensive pistons go, we saw in Madison that Henne is the brain, and an offense with Ryan Mallett at the helm right now is one running around with its head cut off. Henne has to play for Michigan to not lose - chances of overcoming Ohio State's defense if Mallett does anything approximating his erratic, mistake-assured horror show in the pocket last week are virtually nil - and Hart has to play for the Wolverines to win. This is, of course, just as it should be.

 

[RJ Esq]

OREGON/ARIZONA: THE FACTOR SIX SIX FACTOR PREVIEW

For tonight’s extremely important political campaign entitled “Oregon at Arizona,” we bust out the Factor Six Six Factor Preview, where we weigh the six least important factors between the two teams to decide who will be the victor in tonight’s <strike>lone chance to prove to the East Coast that Dennis Dixon does, in fact exist</strike> Pac-10 game.
1. Mascot
2. Head coach.
3. Team name.
4. General aura.
5. Best roster name.
6. The “Factor Six” factor
This is science. Doubt it and die a fiery death when the evil hand of Werner Von Braun strikes you dead with its cold, logical fury.
1. Mascot
Oregon’s got Daffy Duck wearing a shade of green commonly found in only the most pustulent of infected wounds. Disney and dazzlingly unfashionable duds should have your inner Tim Gunn running into the arms of Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat, who being somewhat scruffy, wizened, and casually dressed in camo (as they are here) pretty much look like half the people who live in Arizona.
Consider, though, the fact that behind the smiling bill and jaunty duds, there lies a killer in the empty, giddy eyes of the Oregon Duck.

<object height="355" width="425">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nkbKjtuNJhQ&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></object></p> That’s a mascot who’ll ride or die with you, lawya.
Advantage: Oregon
Oregon, you’ve been factor’d!
2. Head coach
Oregon. We’ve heard multiple times that of all the guys you would like to have a beer with in the ranks of coaching, it’s Mike Bellotti. We’ve heard this from numerous people whose opinions we trust on the matter. And his wife is crazy and attacks sportswriters in the booth, so you know you’ll have something to talk about, at least: women, man. Women.
Whereas, if you had a beer with Mike Stoops, you’re bound to begin with the same line, even if you prepare another one in advance.
You: So, um…you’re Bob Stoops’ brother, right?
Mike Stoops: (Hits you in the face with an ashtray.) Bartender! Shots! NOW!
Advantage: Oregon.
Oregon, you’ve been factor’d!
3. Team Name:
Wildcats. By many, many furlongs. Ducks are forever bitching at you to feed them cheap white bread, leaving greasy shit all over lakeshores and park lawns, and refusing to let our Great Dane devour them whole without a chase. A wildcat, as a feral cat of some sort wandering the Great American southwest, at least serves a purpose by eating rats, something a duck would never do, as far as we know.
If you do possess video of a duck eating a rat, we want to see it, not only for the fact that this would be a the most badass duck this side of Darkwing Duck, but it would finally allow us to displace the “cow eats duck” video from our brain. Remember, don’t keep the sad in–spread it via the magic of the internet.

<object height="355" width="425">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/saOOn2G16gE&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></object></p> Advantage: Arizona.
Arizona, you’ve been factor’d!
General Aura.
John Mackovic coached at Arizona within the past five years. Until that odor of anti-charisma completely drifts away from the atmosphere over Tucson, Oregon wins this one running away. Plus, Rich Brooks thinks any pick but Oregon here would be bullshit–after all, they play on Rich Brooks field.
Advantage: Oregon.
Oregon, you’ve been factor’d!
5. Roster name.
Oregon’s a bit thin here. Fenuki Tupou? It’s not even properly outlandish enough for a Polynesian name, what with it only having six vowels. What’s a properly vowel-laden Polynesian name? Arizona’s linebacker Apaiata Tuihalamaka, with eleven mighty vowels in his name, that’s vowelfest from the islands for ya.
Advantage: Arizona.
Arizona, you’ve been factor’d.
6. The Factor Six Factor Six.
We choose the random factor of “your quarterback often looks as if he’s about to devour the ball,” which Oregon wins hands down. Dennis Dixon has the knack for being photographed with the ball held just under his mouth as if he were about it devour it much like Mark Mangino would.
(ZING! This is a cheap shot. Mangino would have his with tartar sauce and batter fried. Totally different thing there.)
So many of us hunger for victory…but only Dennis Dixon actually goes out there and tries to eat it, one touchdown at a time.

Advantage: Oregon.
Oregon, you’ve been factor’d.
Summary: Oregon in a landslide. Got a spare kidney? Hope so, because we’re wagering it on an Oregon victory here.

 

[RJ Esq]

Trend Watch: Can Arizona Upset Oregon?

Posted Nov 15th 2007 3:47PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Oregon Football, Pac 10, Arizona Football

Personally, I don't see it happening but let's take a look at something interesting here.

What jumps out at me is this Las Vegas Sports Consultants' Top 30 ranking. Scroll down the list a bit. Ok, maybe scroll down all the way. See that, right there at #30? That's Arizona (! ! !)

They're not a terrible team, but Arizona clearly has its issues as their coach may get fired and as recently as three games ago lost 21-20 to Stanford. However, Las Vegas obviously sees something in them and even more notable is the company they keep.

Nearby to them in the rankings are two solid teams who have already knocked off a #1 team this year. There's #28 Kentucky who knocked off #1 LSU a few weeks back. There's also #27 Illinois, victors over #1 Ohio State last weekend. Hmm . . .

Not convincing enough? Well, keep in mind that Arizona is at home and they're red-hot these last two weeks, scoring 48 and 34 points in victories over Washington State and UCLA. As noted by the wise guys, Arizona has turned things around with their offense in a hurry and they are dangerous.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Normally, total overhauls like this take at least a season or two to start showing progress – see Nebraska. However, in Arizona's case, the year-over-year difference is obvious. The Wildcats offense has scored almost 13 more points per game this season, going from 16 points last year to 28.5 points this year.[/FONT]
​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Finally, this is a weird setting for both teams. The Pac-10 doesn't play very often on Thursday nights so the unfamiliar prep times may cause sluggish play for one or both teams. The last time we saw a Pac-10 team on Thursday, Oregon State was getting manhandled by Cincinnati.[/FONT] Anyway, just something to keep an eye on. This season has been madness and an Arizona victory over Oregon - improbable as it seems - only adds to the insanity. Be sure to stop by our First and Second Half Live Blogs of tonight's game.

Oh, and let it be known that Oregon isn't alone in these worries - Kansas better be on the lookout as well.

 

[RJ Esq]

Jarod Bryant Will Start Vs. Northern Illinois



...via report on Bill Wagner's blog.

 

[RJ Esq]

Best video I can get of Colt McCoy's TD run vs. Tech. Taken off the UT scoreboard right after the play:

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3E6PmX24kaA&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3E6PmX24kaA&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

 

[RJ Esq]

Good video of Jamaal Charles' 75 yard TD run from the week before vs. OK State:

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3ZXKhby8cs8&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3ZXKhby8cs8&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

 

[RJ Esq]

View attachment 12944

 

[RJ Esq]

They All Fall Down
By SMQ
Posted on Fri Nov 16, 2007 at 02:58:21 AM EDT


Quite literally, sometimes.

It's amazing to think Dennis Dixon and Brady Leaf weren't really that far apart at the start of the fall - the air left that sideline the second Dixon's knee gave way and never returned, and from the looks of things may not for the rest of the year, if the offense of nightmares' out-of-sync bungling after being suddenly sucked into the vortex of humility is any indication - the Leaf Experience has been good now for six losses and zero victories as the majority offense over the last two years.
Arizona, meanwhile, has won three straight games and beaten a top ten team in Tucson for the third straight season, which makes the Wildcats' overall futility that much more frustrating.
Oklahoma, West Virginia, Arizona State et al: enjoy the sunnier BCS prospects while you can. Before it happens to you.

 

[RJ Esq]

BODY COUNT, BODY COUNT: WEEK TWELVE

The important injuries for week twelve of the college football season. Most are factual.

Body Count’s in the house.
Mike Hart and Chad Henne both limp into the Ohio State game. Hart is playing through a high ankle sprain and will likely play. Henne has a leg injury and also suffers from being Chad Henne, and will likely play in between ill-explained appearances by Ryan Mallett.
On tOSU’s side, Chris “Beanie” Wells is struggling through ankle and wrist injuries. He’ll play.
Percy Harvin was hospitalized earlier this week for a sinus infection and will miss the Florida Atlantic game this weekend, the second he’s missed due to illness. A high-performance machine like him is bound to spend some time in the shop, man.
Kentucky’s Rafael Little will play against Georgia this weekend after making “significant progress” from a back injury.
Colt Brennan is officially “probable” for tonight’s game against Nevada, which starts at 11:00 p.m., when we will be officially “hammered to bejeezus” at a birthday party.
Cornerback Vontae Davis is also feeling drunk on Concussionade, and is questionable for Illinois’ game against Northwestern.
Running back Tashard Choice’s knee is also probable for Georgia Tech due to a knee injury for the game against the suddenly pulse-having North Carolina Tar Heels. When asked what the odds are of Choice playing, Coach Chan Gailey answered, “Oh, about 7 to 5.”
Guard Will Arnold and LB Daryl Beckwith are doubtful and questionable for the LSU Tigers’ game against Ole Miss this weekend, making them either injured or admirably skeptical of all things around them.
Maryland RB Keon Lattimore is questionable with a hamstring injury. When reached for comment, coach Ralph Friedgen said “Mmmm, ham. String.”
Texas Tech wide receivers Todd Walker, Lyle Leong, and L.A. Reed are all questionable for the Red Raiders’ game against the Oklahoma Sooners, taking Texas Tech’s total wideout corps down to a mere 16 healthy receivers.
Oklahoma will be missing Auston English, who would find playing with a metal rod in his broken foot difficult, so they’re not gonna let him play. DT Steven Coleman, though, will play despite a strained abdominal muscle.
Minnesota’s entire secondary is out due to the effects of a three-month long collective seizure.
Virginia Tech’s caught injury fever as WR Eddie Royal, QB Sean Glennon, LB Vince Hall, and RB Branden Ore are all dinged for their home game against the ‘Canes. Ore’s ankle injury is the most serious of the collection.
Miami’s offense is out with circulatory problems leading to an inability to score or maintain drive.

 

[RJ Esq]

Is Duke Playing For Ted Roof's Job?

Posted Nov 16th 2007 12:40PM by Ian Cohen
Filed under: ACC, BCS, NCAA FB Coaching, Duke Football

What exactly does Ted Roof have to do in order to get fired? I don't mean that in the Isiah Thomas sense, where Roof has a high profile position with a track record of blatant (and possibly illegal) incompetence. No, this is more of a question of when Duke is going to stop subjecting themselves to the soft bigotry of low expectations and decide to be more than a welfare recipient once ACC teams have to tithe their bowl winnings.

Roof's numbers stack up similarly to his predecessor Carl Franks, but that's not really what matters when you consider the ACC has never been weaker as a whole than it has been during Roof's tenure and that after seemingly turning a corner earlier this year, they're getting regularly blown out again. The truth is, you can look at schools similarly situated to Duke and likely remember their last season of glory quite easily. Vanderbilt beat UGA and Tennessee last year, and although they haven't broken a 23-year bowl drought just yet, they've been consistently competitive over the past couple of years in the nation's most demanding conference. And their athletic department runs intramurals, fer cryin' out loud. Stanford beat USC just this year, and Jim Harbaugh at least appears to have the mindset to get the Cardinal back on the right track. Baylor...well, they haven't committed any murders, so they've got that going for them. But most damning is the fact that Wake Forest WENT TO THE ORANGE BOWL just last season. And mind you, this was the culmination of years of near misses...not to mention that Wake has a smaller enrollment than Duke, similarly stringent academic requirements and nowhere near the national name recognition. And you don't think the students would get behind a winner in Durham?

It's tough to say what move Duke will make, but there's a chance that Roof might be able to temporarily save his job by beating Notre Dame this upcoming weekend. Of course, all 1-9 teams aren't created equal, but even if it's a 1-9 Notre Dame, it's a 1-9 Notre Dame that just got destroyed by Air Force AT HOME and would currently be in last place in the chase for the Commander in Chief trophy.
The underlying argument in all of this is that if Duke fires Roof, who's falling on the grenade? Let's keep in mind that Al Golden (who was once seen as a long-term replacement for Joe Paterno) went and took a head coaching job at Temple of all places, and although they had to switch to the MAC to punch their weight, they've had some modicum of success. Baylor convinced Guy Morriss to jump after he went to a bowl with Kentucky. Considering Duke's name recognition amongst high school students and the low expectations, this isn't a death sentence for an ambitious young coach who might not be ready to handle a football factory. I mean, imagine someone going 4-8 in their first season in Durham. They're already more than halfway to catching Roof or Franks.

 

[Timh]

You know RJ, I thought I read a fair amount but you are unbelievable with the content of your threads. I'm behind capping this week, with CBB starting and I've been trying to work that hard because there are a lot of bargains early in the year. I'm going to get up early Sat. and put in some work on the CFB and I'll pop back in with some thoughts. GL

 

[RJ Esq]

Good shit, Timh.

I may end up playing 3 tomorrow. Being ultra -selective so may be none or only a couple.

 

[RJ Esq]

Dennis Dixon's Oregon Career Is Ovah

Posted Nov 16th 2007 10:33PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Oregon Football, Pac 10, Heisman, Breaking News, The Word, Arizona Football

Finito. No mas. Retire the jersey time. Done.

Dennis Dixon completely tore the ACL in his left knee in Oregon's win over Arizona State on Nov. 3, and convinced Oregon's coaches and doctors to let him try and play in the Arizona game last night.

After leaving last night's loss in the first quarter when the knee faltered again, Dixon will now have season-ending surgery, bringing his UO career to a close. That was the word on a conference call featuring UO coach Mike Bellotti and team physician Dr. Bob Crist this evening.
​

It was fun while it lasted but that show just came to an end. Oregon's a different team without him and it showed last night. Their runaway Pac-10 Championship and BCS game hopes are now teetering. Dixon's Heisman Trophy crashed the minute he crumpled to the turf last night and Arizona's victory obviously ended their BCS Championship Game hopes.

What a cruel blow to both Dixon and the team. The senior was a middling draft prospect to begin with but this late-season injury will deeply interfere with his ability to train and test ahead of next April's draft. Fortunately for Dixon he has a minor league baseball opportunity to fall back upon, but even that won't last much longer unless he learns to hit the curve ball.

Dixon's final line:

172/254 passing (.677), 2136 yards, 20 touchdowns, 4 interceptions,161.2 rating
105 carries, 583 yards (5.6 average) 9 touchdowns

 

[RJ Esq]

Houston Nutt Reportedly Gone From Arkansas After 2007 Season

Posted Nov 16th 2007 9:13PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: SEC, Arkansas Football, Breaking News, The Word

We didn't start the fire, it was always burning since the (Hog) world's been turning

Multiple sources have confirmed with 40/29 sports director Mark Lericos that Nutt will be leaving at the end of the season. Sources could not confirm whether Nutt would offer his resignation, be fired or possibly accept another position.

There is no word of any plans for an official announcement. The Razorbacks still have two games left to play this season.
​

Something titled 40/29 News doesn't normally scream reliability, but this is Arkansas we're talking about, there isn't a New York Times bureau within sight so vague confirmation will have to do. Don't scream at us if they got this wrong. Not that I'm smarting about the whole 'Alabama newspapers flubbed the news of Alabama hiring Rich Rodriguez last year' thing. Nah.

We'll save the obit for later, Captain Chaos' insane downfall requires more official confirmation since his demise could be greatly exaggerated - that cat has nine lives.

 

[RJ Esq]

Does Cullen Harper Deserve More Heisman Buzz Than Matt Ryan?

Posted Nov 16th 2007 8:23PM by Ian Cohen
Filed under: Boston College Football, Clemson Football, ACC, BCS

Going into Death Valley this Saturday, we have two QB's battling for national recognition. One has thrown for over 2,400 yards with 66.5% completion percentage and a staggering 26/4 TD-INT ratio. The other, while having racked up over 3,200 through the air, has completed 59.4% of his passes and thrown at least two INT's in his last three games and is a miracle drive away from a three game-losing streak. Care to guess which one was in the Heisman discussion for most of the year and which one is Clemson QB Cullen Harper?

Now, I'm not saying that Harper necessarily should divert attention away from the mindblowing statistics of a Tim Tebow or Chase Daniel, but the fact that he's only now getting any kind of mainstream media recognition is somewhat indicative of the inertia that often plagues awards-givers-types. Senior+QB+winning team= HEISMAN CANDIDATE!!! Even better if he's a traditional, drop-back type that will almost certainly draw comparisons to QB's who play "the right way."

Granted, Ryan can turn his fortunes around with a win against Clemson and a victory in the subsequent ACC championship against either UVA or Virginia Tech. But check his career stats, and you'll find that his 24-13 INT ratio stands as by far his best. I won't say that he's got "bust" written all over him, but if I don't see at least one predraft Glen Foley comparison, well...people haven't done their homework.

 

[RJ Esq]

Andre Brown Cleared to Play Against Wake

N.C. State running back Andre Brown has been cleared to play at Wake Forest, the Wolfpack announced on Friday afternoon.

 

[RJ Esq]

Kansas Is Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose

by CrossCyed Fri Nov 16, 2007 at 07:38:19 PM EDT

Heading into tomorrow afternoon's game, it feels strange to say, but there's a feeling of optimism around Ames. There really shouldn't be. Kansas is the lone undefeated BCS team, while Iowa State is in last in the Big 12 North. Kansas has a high powered offense, as well as a top defense. Iowa State has struggled to put up points for most of the year.
So why should we think Iowa State has a shot at all?
The Clones head into Lawrence on something called a winning streak - a yet unfamiliar term in Ames - after an 11 point win over Kansas State and a 3 point win over Colorado. Kansas beat the same teams by 6 and 5 respectably. So it's fair to think that the teams aren't that far apart. Sure, Kansas blew out Nebraska and Toledo, two teams that beat Iowa State, but I think to say that the current Cyclones probably fare better against the Rockets and Huskers.
Kansas will also likely come into the game wound tighter than a jacket across Mark Mangino's back. With BCS #2 Oregon falling last night to Arizona, Kansas is the de facto #2 - a dangerous spot to be. It's hard to believe that the Jayhawks aren't looking ahead to Missouri or the Big 12 Championship, because, really, why should they be scared of a team with losses to Kent State, Toledo, Northern Iowa and Nebraska. Of course, Iowa State has beaten just as many teams that are ranked right now as Kansas.
Ever since the Texas game, Iowa State has been a different team. I don't know what it was about that ass-whuppin that kicked Iowa State into gear, but some decent football followed. ISU put the fear of God into Oklahoma, hung with Mizzou every step of the way on the road, a two-possession win over Kansas State and a come from behind win over Colorado. No longer are we the laughingstock of the Big 12.
A turnover margin in favor of Iowa State gives them a chance to be in the game. Kansas has an epic offense, but the Cyclones have stymied both Sam Bradford and Chase Daniel - at least to the extent that the two can be stymied. What really matters is if the ISU offense can keep up. In what will be the last game of both Bret Meyer and Todd Blythe's careers, wouldn't it be nice to send the two out on one of the highest of highs?
Maybe this Saturday can tell us if Chizik has really righted the ship. With a McCarney coached team, I'd have to wonder if we could get blown out. Now, Chizik has already proved himself as a rather competent gameday coach who can apparently even adjust the space-time continuum (Oklahoma and Colorado games) if things are not to his liking. ISU has never beaten a team ranked any higher than 7th. If things are really changing, maybe Iowa State has a chance.
Really, now, why the hell not? We've seen so many top ranked teams fall this season, including to teams with losing records. ISU has been playing football like at least an average team as of late. Tomorrow is a classic trap game for Kansas. ISU is a team with nothing left to lose but a chance to play spoiler.
Sometimes, things can break just right. Maybe tomorrow will be one of those days.

 

[RJ Esq]

Friday Quarterback
By SMQ
Posted on Fri Nov 16, 2007 at 06:16:28 PM EDT

You know what I’m thinking, guys? What if we just cut the whole ‘late season collapse’ thing this year. Whaddaya think?
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Finally, We’ll Learn About...
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Clemson is outright ACC Atlantic champion with a win over Boston College, an outcome predicted by exactly one outlet in the preseason: Street and Smith’s. That lack of prognosticative respect is fairly shocking given the Tigers’ talent and lack of high-end competition in the division (every team in the Atlantic except N.C. State had some picker in its corner, including Maryland and Wake Forest) but makes perfect sense given Clemson’s M.O. under Tommy Bowden – since 2001, the first year of post-FSU opportunity for advancement, no Clemson team has finished better than 5-3 in the league or survived without losing at least two games to unranked conference opponents. Even at 8-2, this version has played one team in the current polls in its first ten games, Virginia Tech, and was blown out of that game in the first quarter. So Clemson skeptics can be forgiven their hesitancy to jump on the bandwagon, even at home, at night, with an apparent speed advantage over reeling Boston College. What we know about Bowden’s teams over the last six years is that they always lose this crucial, make-or-break game, and that perception won’t change until they win it. For its part, with a loss, B.C. might inherit the ‘choker’ tag: the Eagles have been in the driver’s seat in the Atlantic on the first weekend of November each of the last two years, and if they fall as expected Saturday for the third week in a row, will have blown it both times.
Most to Gain
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I talked everything at stake for Michigan on Thursday: not only beating Ohio State for the first time in three years, winning the Big Ten championship and securing another trip to the Rose Bowl, but avenging the season-crippling humiliation against Appalachian State and sending Henne, Hart, Manningham, Long and Carr out as something other than very good players who spit the bit in the biggest games. Ohio State has a lot to lose, too – from mythical championship game to Outback Bowl in two weeks? – but “never beat Ohio State” is a heavy burden to carry out of town for a group that has been more than capable from the beginning (they’ll worry about the “never won a bowl game” thing in another month).
Most to Lose
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With Oregon’s fall Thursday night, if all goes according to plan, the Big 12 will go into next weekend virtually assured of putting its champion in the mythical championship game. Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma should all be comfortable winners – the Jayhawks are overwhelming, 26-point favorites to wipe out Iowa State and the Tigers and Sooners are both eight-point favorites over Kansas State and Texas Tech, respectively (both pretty conservative estimates, if you ask me, given what Nebraska and Texas did to KSU and Tech last week) – and if they are, the only thing standing between a play-in game between OU and next week’s Kansas-Mizzou winner in the Big 12 Championship will be Oklahoma State, next Saturday’s visitor to Norman. A loss by any of those three this week, though, threatens to topple the entire pyramid.
...AND ALL THE CHILDREN LEARNED TO MULTIPLY BY SEVEN...
In the miserable realm of blowouts and other morbid curiosities.
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Inevitable Massacre of the Week
In the days of the eleven-game schedule, this week immediately prior to the traditional season-ending rivalries was a week off for a lot of teams, and for a lot of them, it still is, if you disregard the enormous profit and injury risk of staging a game against a marshmallow from the gooey middle of the Sun Belt. Three different SEC teams hosted the SBC on this weekend last year, and Florida (-35 against Florida Atlantic) and Alabama (-25 vs. UL-Monroe) uphold the young tradition Saturday. The Gators actually brought in Western Carolina for ritual slaughter in this slot last November, so FAU is something of a step up for them. Keep reaching for the stars, guys.
Florida International Line Watch
After last week’s bye, Florida International’s string of cruel defeat remains at 21 games, the longest losing streak in the nation. This week, the Panthers have one of their best chances to win in the last two years, as mere 3.5-point underdogs to visiting UL-Lafayette, which sits at 2-8 and earlier this season lost a game to I-AA McNeese State by three touchdowns .
Lame Game of the Week
The worst, Jerry.
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No game will ever “top” for sheer lameness Wednesday night’s nationally televised, 18-punt, seven-turnover turkey between the Ohio-based Miami and Akron, but Notre Dame and Duke resolve to give it a go. Between them, the Devils and Irish are 2-18, 0-3 against service academies and rank among the worst in the country in almost every single major stat category:

<table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"> <tbody><tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(164, 74, 74) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">
</td> <td align="center">Duke</td> <td align="center">N.D.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right">Rush Offense</td> <td align="center">119</td> <td align="center">118</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="right">Pass Offense</td> <td align="center">71</td> <td align="center">111</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right">Total Offense</td> <td align="center">116</td> <td align="center">119</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="right">Scoring Offense</td> <td align="center">108</td> <td align="center">118</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right">Rush Defense</td> <td align="center">78</td> <td align="center">103</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="right">Pass Efficiency Defense</td> <td align="center">113</td> <td align="center">46</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right">Scoring Defense</td> <td align="center">102</td> <td align="center">95</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="right">Pass Efficiency</td> <td align="center">68</td> <td align="center">113</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right">Sacks</td> <td align="center">T-55</td> <td align="center">109</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="right">Sacks Allowed</td> <td align="center">116</td> <td align="center">119</td> </tr> </tbody></table> By the numbers, this is virtually guaranteed to be the most inept game you’ll ever see, the Iminently Resistable Force running half-speed into the Quite Easily Moved Object. In fact, it could be the first meeting in history of the nation’s two lowest-ranked teams in the same major category (in this case, rushing offense). Something, as they say, has to give – both teams are almost as bad at stopping opposing offenses as they are at moving the ball their own selves – but who could’ve guessed Notre Dame would come into any game this season leaning on its secondary as the most reliable element of the team? Somehow, I still doubt Devil QB Thaddeus Lewis will be very intimidated by that.
WE CAN REBUILD. WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY.
Bouncing back.
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• Connecticut: The Louisville game in September notwithstanding, no team has served as a more consistent salve for teams in “bounce back” mode than the Orange<strike>men</strike>. Repita, por favor: “It should be a rule in the Big East: lose three in a row, skip straight to Syracuse.” It’s only been one in a row for the Huskies, but they’ll take it.
• California: Bears are only touchdowns favorites at Washington off four losses in five games. At least that’s better than the Huskies’ seven losses in eight.
• Oklahoma State: The Cowboys actually give up slightly more yards per game than Baylor, 456-454. The Bears, do not, however, average 497 on offense, and they’ll drop their eighth straight as a result.
Upwards...
GAME OF THE CENTURY OF THE WEEK!
Ohio State at Michigan
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What’s at Stake: See above. The Rose Bowl is no consolation prize (Jim Tressel has never taken a team there). But where Michigan has pride and redemption and other high emotional stakes on the line in addition to the rivalry and conference championship, Ohio State adds the simple practical matter of still being in the mythical championship hunt – Oregon’s loss and the inevitability of at least two of the Big 12 powers losing at one another’s hands means the Buckeyes are but a mere LSU loss away from the heat of the battle with an impressive enough performance here.
Ohio State Wants: On its eight-game winning streak, Michigan put it together on defense – Brandon Graham, Donovan Warren and Brandent Englemon shored up some of the personnel problems, and the unit that was so viciously gashed the first two weeks hunkered down and held the next eight offenses it faced to 290 yards per game, including 253 total to the same Illinois scheme that racked up 260 on the ground alone last week in Columbus. And then, Wisconsin: the wounded Badgers had their best game running against a Big Ten defense against Michigan, at full strength, and it wasn’t inflated by a long run or the Wolverines’ notorious whimsy against the spread option; it was the kind of straight ahead, stop-us-if-you-dare pounding Ohio State calls its bread and butter, and almost certainly portends a heavy does of Chris Wells against the defense that yielded the most spectacular run of his young career last year:

<object height="305" width="365">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/t6x7Vax2RMA&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="305" width="365"></object></p> You will notice, however, that that run was hardly of the straight-ahead, pounding variety described above and employed by the Buckeyes most of this year. Last year’s game was part of the lore of Michigan vs. The Spread in large part because Troy Smith could be trusted to make good, quick decisions from the shotgun with receivers who were largely wide open against hopelessly trailing Michigan DBs (and, in the most unfortunate cases, linebackers...*cough*Chris Graham!*cough*), thus softening the interior for runs like Wells’ and Antonio Pittman’s similar jaunt in the third quarter against what had previously been one of the impenetrable walls in modern history against the run. Michigan’s secondary is not particularly better than last year’s, but, sans Smith and two first round draft picks at receiver, neither is Ohio State’s passing game, and certainly neither is Michigan’s front seven. Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline have been much better than adequate in place of Ted Ginn and Tony Gonzalez (their numbers are nearly identical to their predecessors’ at the same point last year), but after Todd Boeckman’s sudden, three-interception meltdown at home against Illinois last week, the situation is ideal for Tressel Ball in its purest form. This is not necessarily a conservative, run till you drop approach from start to finish; Tressel has shown a tendency to be aggressive in spots and take his shots off play-action on first down and on second-and-short situations, such as the second quarter touchdown Smith lobbed to Ginn on 2nd-and-1 last year, or the first down play-action bomb Boeckman launched to Robiskie that broke open the Washington game in September after OSU trailed at the half.
Michigan’s defense has to care more about Wells than Boeckman to take advantage of this, and Ohio State has been very good at making defenses overly the concerned with the run. This starts by gaining good yards on first down (OSU averages 4.8 on first down carries for the season), because the relationship between Boeckman’s performance and down-and-distance has been pretty clear:

<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> <caption align="top">Ohio State Passing on 3rd Down</caption> <tbody><tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(164, 74, 74) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">To Go</td> <td align="center">Att.</td> <td align="center">Comp. %</td> <td align="center">Conversion</td> <td align="center">TD:INT</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">1-3 yds.</td> <td align="center">15</td> <td align="center">80.0</td> <td align="center">66.7</td> <td align="center">4:0</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">4-6 yds.</td> <td align="center">31</td> <td align="center">74.2</td> <td align="center">54.8</td> <td align="center">5:0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">7-9 yds.</td> <td align="center">26</td> <td align="center">69.2</td> <td align="center">43.3</td> <td align="center">2:3</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">10+ yds.</td> <td align="center">19</td> <td align="center">36.8</td> <td align="center">31.6</td> <td align="center">3:1</td> </tr> </tbody></table> If Boeckman looks like a hero, it’s because Wells and the offensive line dragged him into the right situations.
I am operating under the assumption, as Ohio State must be, as well, that Henne and Hart are going to play, and of the two I would think OSU would be swarming the line of scrimmage with every intention of making Henne’s separated right shoulder click until it falls off. The Buckeyes are in position to disrupt the zone running game by getting quick penetration, something they’ve done extraordinarily well at times – see ten tackles for loss against Wisconsin, which OSU held to 12 yards rushing two weeks ago (twelve!) – and, after the Badgers’ success manning up on Michigan’s receivers last week, might leave Malcolm Jenkins and Donald Washington to their devices in an effort to blow up the Hart attack; this will have very much to do with whether Jenkins can hang with Manningham as effectively as Jack Ikegwuonu did last week, and whether Michigan makes any effort to test him. The Buckeyes have only allowed three passes all season go for more than 40 yards, and none for more than fifty.
Michigan Wants: First of all, for Henne and Hart to play; if it’s Ryan Mallett and/or the backup running backs, i.e. the disastrous collaboration from the future that stunk up Camp-Randall in its first ever incarnation last week, this game is over. And even if Hart can go, if Henne can’t, or his shoulder is still enough of a problem that he’s no more effective than the live-armed but scatter-brained Mallett, this game is probably over, because – despite its astounding success running against the Buckeyes last year – Michigan’s offensive line has not been consistent enough to expect it to push around the nation’s fourth-ranked run defense. Illinois’ success was based on the spread option and Juice Williams’ ability to cause indecisiveness with his potential to run, and Michigan just doesn’t do anything like this. Penn State made some headway on the ground, I’d project a long day for the running game if the Wolverines don’t show very quickly that Henne’s arm is okay and they’re not afraid to destroy his precious tendons forever if that’s what it takes to finally beat these bastards. This means balance on first down and at least one early shot downfield, just to let them know it’s on. If the deep threat isn’t there, Hart may be overrun.

Bringing it all back home.
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Then again, despite the odds, Mike Hart does not get overrun: he’s topped 100 yards in every game he’s played this year and gained at least 90 in every regular season game last year, including probably the performance of his career against a Buckeye defense that, statistically, anyway, was better against the run than the one he faces Saturday. It’s mostly the same defense, with the exception of the tackles, so the Wolverines have to think they can still grind their bread with Hart as long as his ankle holds up. Illinois won last week by bleeding the clock dry in the second half, and Michigan’s best bet will also be to stay on the field as long as possible. Defensively, questions linger about Michigan against the run after the debacle in the trenches against Wisconsin, and about Ohio State’s tackles against speed rushers after last year’s mythical championship asskicking – again, you have to go that far back to see the Buckeyes in a come-from-behind situation that allows edge rushers to pin their ears back, because the line has been so effective in keeping Wells going and Boeckman out of trouble. The key for Michigan is the former: if the defensive line can hold up on first and second down and create obvious passing situations (see the chart above), we’ll see what kind of problems Sean Crable and Brandon Graham create for Alex Boone and Kirk Barton around the end.
Constants: You can’t be a major player these days without a modern, balanced passing game, but both of these teams still hew to old run-first cloud-of-dust identity. The running backs are the stars on both offenses and the first priority for both will be winning the shoving up front in order to keep the entire playbook open. Both offenses (especially Ohio State’s) may come out determined to show they’re not going to play close to the vest, but at some point both will also say, “Screw it, time for the ploughhorse.”
Variables: Henne and Hart’s health. Michigan is dead in the water without them. Both of them. I can’t imagine they won’t start, but will they hold up for four quarters? . . . Key matchups on both defenses: Malcolm Jenkins’ ability to cover Mario Manningham man-to-man, thus freeing up the safeties and linebackers against the run; and Ohio State’s tackles against Michigan’s speed on the outside. It could get ugly for Boeckman if Boone and Barton relapse into mythical championship form (olé!).
The Pick: Michigan is the sentimental pick, again, but even if Henne and Hart came in at full strength, the Wolverines’ defense is a liability against an offense as physical and efficient as Ohio State’s. The middle has never gelled for Michigan since it lost Alan Branch and Dave Harris, and that alone makes the potential for a big game from Wells is greater than a big game from Hart. Ohio State has just been the more consistent, better-coached team all season, and Michigan is in no position to replicate the heretofore unseen weaknesses Illinois exploited with its athletic quarterback. Hart may come up big, after all, but my metaphorical money says Henne will not.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Ohio State 27</td> <td>•</td> <td>Michigan 18</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Boston College at Clemson
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Big game with crystal clear stakes: both teams are 8-2 with a pair of conference losses, winner represents the Atlantic division in the ACC Championship. They’re also going in very different directions now: Boston College has lost two in a row (and, frankly, it could easily be three, if you think back to the frantic Thursday night comeback after 56 minutes of flat offensive failure in Blacksburg) and given up season-high numbers in the process to a pair of mediocre-at-best offenses from Florida State and Maryland, while Clemson has rebounded from its own humiliating performance against Virginia Tech by outscoring its last four foes by an average of five touchdowns. Yes, two of those games were blowouts of Central Michigan and Duke, which you may disregard; the others, though, were convincing takedowns at Maryland and a particularly impressive 44-10 rout of Wake Forest last week, the worst loss anyone’s handed the Deacons since 2004. The Eagles do have a potential saving grace in their run defense, which still ranks second in the country, but even that has deteriorated over the last three, with Tech and Maryland each topping 100 yards (no other offense had managed that through B.C.’s first seven games) with nothing approaching the rippling explosiveness of C.J. Spiller and James Davis. I haven’t seen Clemson since its Labor Day win over Florida State, but I was impressed then with the Tigers’ speed and general athleticism, just as I was watching them demolish Georgia Tech last year in a situation similar to this one. This hasn’t been the case in the half dozen good looks I’ve had at Boston College over the same period – the Eagles are a well-coached team that executes its assignments and forces opposing offenses into an inordinate number of mistakes, but man-for-man, Clemson has been better and should be able to move the ball with its more balanced offense if the proverbial head is in the game.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Clemson 31</td> <td>•</td> <td>Boston College 19</td> </tr> </tbody></table> West Virginia at Cincinnati
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The first thing I check against any opponent of West Virginia is its run defense, and Cincinnati’s is okay on its face: the Bearcats are 13th nationally and have impressively held eight of nine opponents under three yards per carry (I-AA SE Missouri State averaged 4.7 on UC in the opener, but lost 59-3, so I’m going to disregard that). There is the matter, though, of allowing 260 on 5.7 in a loss to Pittsburgh, and moreover the fact that I don’t know if it’s fair to compare other running games to West Virginia’s – not only in scheme, since a lot of teams with athletic quarterbacks run some version of the spread option these days, but in talent and execution, where none of those teams can touch the White-Slaton-Devine collaboration. Cincinnati has hung around in the Big East race by being an opportunistic, turnover-fuelled team all season, but where the Bearcats are third in the nation in turnover margin, WVU is fourth; the Mountaineers are also quietly fourth in total defense. Russell Levine from Football Outsiders liked Cincinnati straight up in our talk Wednesday night, but I see no match for WVU’s firepower.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>West Virginia 36</td> <td>•</td> <td>Cincinnati 20</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Kentucky at Georgia
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I picked against Georgia last week, but I’m completely on board with the resurrection of the Bulldog offense at this point. Really: Georgia, of all teams, has scored 42 points three straight games, two of them against Florida and Auburn, a burst not coincidentally corresponding to the emergence of Knowshon Moreno in the UGA backfield, an advantage Matt Stafford has exploited to full effect. Kentucky, on the other hand, is 97th against the run, having allowed over 200 in three of its last four and well over 300 in earlier wins over Kent State and Arkansas. I think this means exactly what it looks like it means. André Woodson has been sacked eleven times over the last three games.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Georgia 38</td> <td>•</td> <td>Kentucky 21</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Oklahoma at Texas Tech
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It’s a given the Raiders are going to get their yards one way or another – Graham Harrell is three yards against Missouri shy of topping 400 yards passing in every single game this season, an unreal and ultimately unpersuasive number. Harrell’s been intercepted nine times in his last three games against teams that aren’t Baylor – that would be Missouri, Colorado and Texas – and the Tech defense has allowed 131 points (46.3 per) in those three losses. The Raider D has allowed 233, 212, 217, and 283 on the ground in four of its last five, along with the 215 it gave up to UTEP and an embarrassing 366 to Oklahoma State earlier in the season; Mike Leach changed coordinators after that game, but the defense still hasn’t stopped anybody. They’re fun out there, but that won’t hold up once Oklahoma put its head down. Bob Stoops is 6-1 against his old coordinator, all of the wins by double digits.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Oklahoma 46</td> <td>•</td> <td>Texas Tech 28</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Penn State at Michigan State
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Penn State has found its running game in a pair of unlikely sources, Rodney Kinlaw and Evan Royster (the Lions are averaging 210 per game over their last six), and just in time to catch the flagging Spartan defense, which has been steadily gashed over its last four games, including big yields to Iowa and Purdue. The thing with Anthony Morelli is, when PSU can run and give him time, he can make the routine throws that keep drives alive. He doesn’t have to be a creator here. Also over the last six games: only Ohio State has topped three yards per carry against the Penn State defense. Another case of two teams moving in different directions.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Penn State 29</td> <td>•</td> <td>Michigan State 20</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Missouri at Kansas State
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Kansas State is kind of a mystery: like everyone in the Big 12, the Wildcats are continuing to roll on offense (averaging 461 yards and 38 points over the last five), but the 73 points/702 yards to the lamest of lame duck teams at Nebraska is an all-time dealbreaker. At least Missouri has a veneer of defense, a thin one, not that it’s needed it with Chase Daniel. I’m a little frightened to think what the Tigers might do if the same KSU defense from last week shows up here – the eight-point line strikes me as scandalously low for a team coming off such a loss.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Missouri 48</td> <td>•</td> <td>Kansas State 27</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Mississippi State at Arkansas
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The Bulldogs have done an admirable job defensively, hanging in games and forcing turnovers to win a few of them despite an even lower-octane passing game than Arkansas’, if you can imagine that. But the last time MSU lined up across from a pair of weapons on par with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, West Virginia rolled up 31 points in the first half. Remember LSU? The Bulldogs do not handle explosiveness very well, and even if nagging injuries keep Jones out of the game, they don’t come more explosive than McFadden. I would give more thought to the upset here if MSU had a chance to crack 17 points on offense, but the way Wesley Carroll has played at quarterback, there is no reason to expect that.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Arkansas 24</td> <td>•</td> <td>Mississippi State 13</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Miami at Virginia Tech
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It doesn’t seem possible for Miami to be worse offensively than it’s been the last two weeks, against the best defense in the ACC – the school of Kelly, Erickson, Testaverde, Walsh, Torretta and Dorsey currently ranks 110th in passing offense after finishing three of the last four games with under 100 yards through the air. There is no recourse except throwing Javarris James and Graig Cooper into the line over and over again, and I have a good idea what that might look like:

<object height="305" width="365">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cYe_EeBsfi8&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="305" width="365"></object></p> That's just an approximation.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Virginia Tech 27</td> <td>•</td> <td>Miami 6</td> </tr> </tbody></table> - - -
It's Heated and Ultimately Meaningless Territorial Rivalry Time!

Vanderbilt at Tennessee
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Commodores need a win here or at Wake Forest to become OMG Bowl Eligiblz! for the first time in a quarter century, but Tennessee appears to be playing like Tennessee for a change; the Vols have somewhat quietly won six of seven and still control their destiny to win the East. Which, as always, means pain and a must-win next week for Vanderbilt.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Tennessee 31</td> <td>•</td> <td>Vanderbilt 13</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

A trophy’s not a trophy unless it’s an axe.
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Wisconsin at Minnesota
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Minnesota has to hold the Badgers to 456 yards of offense to drop its average total defense for the season under 519 yards per game, thereby inching ahead of 2002 Eastern Michigan to avoid the title of “Worst Defense of the Decade.” The Gophers have a chance if Tyler Donovan doesn’t play – a chance of avoiding becoming the laughingstock of modern defensive football, that is, if Wisconsin is feeling merciful. As far as avoiding an 0-8 Big Ten debut for Tim Brewster? Nil.<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Wisconsin 37</td> <td>•</td> <td>Minnesota 17</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Purdue at Indiana
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The Boilermakers have dropped two straight but continue to move the ball on offense, where Indiana, already bowl eligible, went into a shell on offense against Northwestern, of all teams, last week. The Hoosiers may be eligible, but so are nine other teams in the Big Ten: they probably have to win here to guarantee the first bowl since 1993, and I’m riding with the Purdue offense. The Boilers tend to beat the teams they’re supposed to at the bottom of the league; they’ve won five straight in this series.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Purdue 40</td> <td>•</td> <td>Indiana 31</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Northwestern at Illinois
- - -
The Wildcats inexplicably stopped one spread option attack last week against Indiana to get its elusive sixth win. What did Illinois do last week, again? Oh, right...yeah, this may not be so close.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>Illinois 34</td> <td>•</td> <td>Northwestern 16</td> </tr> </tbody></table> N.C. State at Wake Forest
- - -
Fortunes have flipped dramatically here in the last month: the Wolfpack have ripped off four straight after a 1-5 start, Wake has been dragged to earth by two straight losses. The Pack has found its rhythm with running back Jamelle Eugene and Daniel Evans at quarterback: he has seven touchdown passes during the current streak.
<table> <tbody><tr> <td>

</td> <td>N.C. State 22</td> <td>•</td> <td>Wake Forest 19</td> </tr> </tbody></table> - - -
Remember, friends: open thread Saturday morning. Be there or be square, which, contrary to popular opinion, it most definitely is not hip to be. It is hip to leave comments on the Internet! Do your duty.

 

[RJ Esq]

Did Charlie Weis Offer to Resign?

Posted Nov 16th 2007 5:43PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Notre Dame Football, ACC, Breaking News, The Word, Duke Football

That's the latest rumor per Los Angeles Daily News USC beat reporter Scott Wolf.

Rumor Of The Day

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis offered to resign but was told it would not be accepted.
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I know, I know, it's coming from USC so take it for what it's worth (and with Wolf, it's not always worth a lot). I realize Notre Dame's in a tough position, but with Weis rumored to have a $21 million buyout, it would be almost criminal for Notre Dame not to accept his alleged resignation offer.
Again, if true the Irish brass must really be in love with his incoming recruiting class to put any measure of faith in him after his performance this season. The won-loss record is bad enough, but once the winning stopped it gave people the opening to take shots at his almost universally disliked disposition. He's now the coaching Barry Bonds without all the cool records or indictments.

Meanwhile, Duke's making Saturday's game against Notre Dame their Super Bowl.

 

[RJ Esq]

Cavs' Peerman to miss rest of season

Posted: Friday November 16, 2007 5:33PM; Updated: Friday November 16, 2007 5:33PM

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Virginia tailback Cedric Peerman will miss the remainder of the 2007 season because of a foot injury.
Coach Al Groh said Friday that Peerman had surgery on his right foot Wednesday. Peerman was injured during the Cavaliers' at Middle Tennessee on Oct. 6 and hasn't played since.
Peerman led the Atlantic Coast Conference in rushing going into the Middle Tennessee game. He finished with 585 yards and five touchdowns in six games.
Groh also says redshirt freshman linebacker John Bivens will miss the remainder of the season to have surgery on his left knee. He had three tackles in seven games this season.