CFB Week 14 (11/25-11/29) T&A, News, & Picks

Morning Coffee Thinks It's Time To Beat the Aggies

from Burnt Orange Nation by GhostofBigRoy
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Riddle me this. Since the great writers here at BON have already laid out the case for Texas, analyzed the BCS, broken down the head-to-head debate, and refuted the arguments of rivals, there isn't much room left for analysis. But I do have one significant question. The Harris poll voters have both SEC teams, Alabama and Florida, ahead of Texas and Oklahoma. How does that happen? Alabama is fine at the top, that's to be expected. But Florida in front of Texas? The team that lost to Ole Miss at home? Against a team that lost on the road on the last play in the biggest game in the opposing program's history?
Florida's defining victory was their smashing of Georgia, but the best team the Bulldogs have beat is the increasingly pathetic LSU. Sure, Florida beat two teams that were in the top 10, but neither of those teams looks particularly worthy of those rankings now. Texas owns victories over three teams that are legitimately in the top 12 in the country. If voters are punishing Texas for the more recent loss, they should consider that it came after the toughest four-game stretch any team has played in college football for 60 years. I don't get it.
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This is all a little ridiculous. Not just Florida being ranked in front of the Longhorns, which is certainly a debatable question. The whole system. Dan Wetzel's characterizes the absurdity of the voting system in the following way:
Should Texas get the nod because it beat Oklahoma? Should it be Oklahoma because it put together the most impressive performance of the season in blasting Tech 65-21? Should Tech be considered because a voter likes its coach? How about strength of schedule? Or margin of victory? Coolest mascot? Color scheme? Does it matter who's played the most recent TV game? What if a voter missed one team's impressive performance because he went fishing? A voter's alma mater has been known to come into play. And doesn't he owe the conference that got him a vote in the first place? What about the coach who's still bitter about losing a recruit to a certain school?
​
Wetzel's repeated rhetorical questions highlight a principle problem that writers and bloggers across the country are racing to address: What is the criteria for the polls? This isn't exaclty a new question, but having three of the six or seven best teams in the same country in the same conference division, that competely personal and nebulous set of criterion exposes the flaw in the current system. Then each team ends up with one loss, chaos results, and multiple teams get screwed. Think about it: UT, OU, and Tech are all deserving of BCS bids. But the current system could leave two on the outside looking in, while mediocre squads like Cincinnati and whatever team emerges from the mess that is the ACC, conferences that don't deserve bids this season.
As Wetzel goes on to note, the system also results in members of the Texas sports information department propagandizing sportswriters on Saturday before even Tech knew what had just happened. Didn't work, apparently, but it increasingly politicizes the game of college football. It's only a matter of time with this system before Sports Information departments around the country morph into sophisticated purveyors of propaganda. How long is it until sportswriters look up from their desks to see a beaming Matthew McConaughey asking them to do the right thing? Don't mess with Roger Clemens, he might have some leftover, uh, rage, you know. If the BCS is worth millions of dollars, the Joneses (yeah, I'm talking about Texas) can afford to employ professional lobbyists on their behalf, afford the relentless advertising, research advanced brainwashing mechanisms. Hell, what about out-and-out bribery. That's all about as unsavory as pretty much everything Scott Boras does. Gotta be time for a playoff.
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Mack Brown's take on the BCS. Perhaps the most famous lobbyist in the history of college football, Mack Brown will decline to make the BCS case for the Longhorns until after the Aggie game. He spoke with the team about it on Sunday, before he and the team made the decision not to talk about it, telling the players that they have more impact on where they play at the end of the season than anyone else. Brown is correct in his assessment, especially considering the flat performances against A&M the last two seasons. If ever there is a time for "style points," it's Thanksgiving day against the Aggies.
As much emotion as may be present in the game coming from the maroon side of the field, this Longhorns team has shown all season that they play hard every week. It started after the loss in College Station last season and now the team has the chance to bring that edge full circle and unleash all that frustration on the poor Aggies. There will not be a flat performance on Thursday--the seniors and the junior leaders on the team like Colt McCoy will not allow that to happen. Will Muschamp will not allow that to happen. And Mack Brown, despite his Mr. Clappy side, will not allow that to happen. As if they need any more motivation after two straight losses, one former Aggie is providing some serious bulletin board material...
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Martellus Bennett has diarrhea of the mouth. Martellus Bennett is running his mouth about the Longhorns, callilng Texas "yellowbellies" and noting that the Aggies "always beat Texas." Let's go to the all-time scoreboard, Martellus. Okay, let's see here. Oh yeah, Texas 73, TAMU 36, with 5 ties. That's the big-boy scoreboard (unless you want to talk about national championships, where Texas leads 4-1). So no, the Aggies don't always beat Texas. In fact, for the mathematically challenged (and Aggies), that means that Texas wins about twice for each Aggie victory. Even with victories in the last two meetings between the teams (as if Texas fans need a reminder), the Aggies would need to beat the Longhorns 37 years in a row to tie the series--it couldn't happen until 2044. Since Martellus no doubt couldn't shut his mouth long enough to learn anything in history class, let's take a step back in time: 2003, Texas wins 46-15, 2002, Texas wins 50-20, and 2000, 43-17. Bennett went on to predict an Aggie victory and some more hits on Colt McCoy (or Cart McCoy, quite poor taste there Martellus) by his brother, Michael. Considering that Michael Bennett only has two sacks on the season, that doesn't seem likely.
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That massive vortex of suck? That would be the Aggie football program. Don't stand too close because you could get sucked in. There are few things more frustrating in life than Aggies who can call scoreboard. Even worse when they manage to lose to Arkansas State and get blown out by Baylor. How bad was the blowout to Baylor? The Bears lead 41-7 going into the fourth quarter, having allowed the Aggies 233 yards, while forcing five turnovers (including four picks by freshman quarterback Jerrod Johnson) and giving up third down conversions on only 2 of 9 attempts. And no one is likely to confuse Baylor's defense (94th in total defense and 110th in opponent's third down conversions, at 47.5%) with a good defense.
After a good start to the season, with 18 touchdowns to only four interceptions, Jerrod Johnson has struggled in the last two games, throwing six interceptions against two touchdown passes. The offensive line isn't helping things. They weren't any good to being with and injuries have further slowed the unit, resulting in 33 sacks on the season, three per game. On the other side of the ball, the Aggie defense has sacked opposing quarterbacks only 13 times. The inability to pressure the quarterback has lead to 36.4 points allowed per game, which ranks 113th in the country, right behind lowly Iowa State and 114th in total defense, giving up 455 yards per game. Even when they do manage to stop the opposing team on the first two downs, they allow opponents to convert on 52% of their third downs, edging only lowly SMU in that category. You have that going for you Aggies. In other words, the window for Aggies having scoreboard bragging rights is rapidly closing. Time for a beat down. No more scoreboard. The proper alignment for the universe.
 
Headlinin': Leach votes Oklahoma, but he's not really a poll man

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
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• A pirate never discriminates. Not surprisingly, Mike Leach used his platform Monday to endorse Oklahoma as the top team in the country ("Our experience with that is Oklahoma beat us, Texas did not, so Oklahoma goes above [Texas]"), but the reall news in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal's account is how the good Cap'n proposes to solve this mess if handed the wheel:
Leach has espoused a plan for a 10-game regular season and a 64-team national tournament. Teams not making the field would be allowed to play two additional games for 12 total.
[...]
He likes to point out that Texas high school state champions wind up playing 16 games.
"The guys younger than us can play 16 and guys older than us (in the NFL) can play more than 16," he said, "so I don’t know why we magically only play what we do."
​
Utter insanity backed by plain common sense, in the span of two paragraphs. The most horrific beating of his career hasn't changed the man.
• Wolverines finish what they start (only more competently next time, please). Best possible news for Michigan out of Rich Rodriguez's Monday press conference: Defensive end Brandon Graham, easily the brightest aspect of this year's disastrous season, and running back Sam McGuffie will both be Wolverines in 2009, pending a change of heart/super-positive draft evaluation for Graham and the resolution of "family issues" for McGuffie, who's also dealing with another in a series of concussions after this kick return at Ohio State:
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Brian Cook says cautious w00t, though Troy Aikman reminds young Sam that multiple concussions bad, so bad, they are LaVar Arrington, concussions ... What were we talking about?
• Real Cowboys go all in. You're a real Cowboy, aren't you? Oklahoma State, home of the creepy, exploitive Gift of a Lifetime plan for Cowboys/girls who aim to keep on givin' from beyond the grave, took marketing cynicism to another level for Saturday's Bedlam game with Oklahoma. OSU decided at the beginning of the year to offer seats for the OU game only as part of a season ticket package -- if you wanted to see the Sooners, you'd have to buy a ticket to every Oklahoma State game. The result was a record number of season tickets sold, presumably boosted by Oklahoma fans who can't bear to miss a game, no matter what it costs. But at 39,600, that still leaves 15,000 empty seats for one of the biggest games in the history of the rivalry.
You can still buy Bedlam tickets through the university's ticket office, if you're willing to shill for the six homes games the Cowboys have already won. Otherwise, it's live and die with the scalpers or one of the ticket sites, where they're allegedly going for $200-$800.
Quickly ... The State's Ron Morris already knows Clemson's choice to succeed Tommy Bowden: It's Dabo Swinney. ... Gary Pinkel ended the Washington rumors by signing an extension through 2012 at Missouri, which should also have tight end Chase Coffman back in the lineup against Kansas. ... The win over Notre Dame was nice and all, but the greatest moment in Syracuse sports history? Haven't they had, like, a couple good running backs there, or a basketball team, or something? ... Once-hyped USC recruit Jeff Byers hopes the NCAA will grant him a sixth year of elgibility in 2009. ... Jonathan Dwyer, getting much respek, at last. ... Why is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette parsing levels of vengeance in a game called the Backyard Brawl? ... And it's a good thing Chuck Long didn't break the news of his termination to San Diego State players, who played their game of the year in a win over UNLV before finding out they'd unwittingly sent their coach out on a rare high note.
 
He likes to point out that Texas high school state champions wind up playing 16 games.
"The guys younger than us can play 16 and guys older than us (in the NFL) can play more than 16," he said, "so I don’t know why we magically only play what we do."
Click to expand...

I hate him for his cronyism, but Mike Leach is a friggin' genius.
 
Life on the Margins: Why it's so easy to ignore Iowa State

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
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Kansas State 38, Iowa State 30. ISU's 626 yards was its highest output since 1995 (the Troy Davis years) and third-highest in school history. I only know that because I checked the school records -- if you read the AP recap of this game, Iowa State's offense doesn't figure into the narrative at all outside of a quick stat line for quarterback Austen Arnaud, and even that fails to mention that Arnaud's 493 yards of total offense tied Seneca Wallace's single-game school record. No, it's just the last hurrah for Ron Prince and another loss for the Cyclones, their tenth in a row and 17th straight on the road.
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How can the AP get away with blasé account of one of the most statistically explosive games in Iowa State history? Well, besides Kansas State's propensity for giving up monumental numbers (which is not newsworthy at this point) not much came of all those yards: The Cyclones went 61 yards on the first possession of the game, and missed a field goal; they went 54 yards, inside the K-State 30, before Arnaud was picked off in the third quarter; on the next drive, they marched 76 yards and had first-and-goal from the Wildcat five before Arnaud fumbled away the scoring chance. Arnaud was also intercepted in KSU territory in the second quarter.
It's not like the Cyclone defense did itself any favors: The Wildcats marched for touchdowns on four of their five first half possessions before slowing down dramatically in the second half. But by the time Iowa State mounted two long touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, the hole was too deep. This is the same team that blew a 20-0 lead to Kansas earlier this year, so at some point, a loss is just another loss, and the Cyclones are well past that point as Gene Chizik's second year comes to an end.
Cal 37, Stanford 17. This is not a "proper" game for this feature, as you can see from Cal's huge yards-per-play advantage. Most of that comes from the third quarter, when the Bears turned a close 10-3 game into a 23-3 runaway with a short-field touchdown (28 yards, fudged a bit in the box to count as "Swing Points") following an interception on the first play of the half, then a pair of two-play "drives" consisting of 36 and 14-yard runs by Jahvid Best for one touchdown and a 42-yard run by Jeremy Ross on an end-around to set up another six-yard TD run by Best. Cal slammed the door in a matter of a few plays.
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But the Cardinal moved the ball most of the game, and its blown opportunities, especially in the first half, were legion. After punting on its first possession, Stanford's last three drives of the first half covered 91 yards on 11 plays, 69 yards on 11 plays and 72 yards on 12 plays -- 232 yards altogether, all ending inside the Cal 15-yard line -- and netted three points. The Cardinal came up empty after a missed field goal and fumble on the first two long drives and had to settle for a field goal on the third after facing 2nd-and-goal from the Cal 1.
Stanford also left points on the board on a couple of drives inside the Cal 30 in the second half, first stalling on downs in the third quarter and then throwing the second of three interceptions in the fourth. But the threat seems to have essentially fizzled on the goal line at the end of the first half.
 
http://www.startribune.com/local/35...QDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7EaDiaMDCiUZ

While the Iowa Hawkeyes were scoring at will on the field Saturday night, two fans from the Hawkeye State also were scoring elsewhere in the Metrodome.
Police say that a man and woman were "having relations" in one of the bathroom stalls as a crowd cheered them on.
The man, 26 and from Linden, Iowa, and the woman 38 and from Carroll, Iowa, were cited for misdemeanor indecent conduct. He was released to his girlfriend and she to her husband, police said.
A security guard came upon the scene in the handicapped stall, police said. Police were summoned, and they separated the two.
Both were intoxicated, said Deputy Police Chief Chuck Miner

:36_11_6::36_11_6::36_11_6::36_11_6::36_11_6::36_11_6::36_11_6::36_11_6:
 
'Take that, Texas': OU lands on Sports Illustrated cover

from Bevo Beat

Sports Illustrated devotes its cover this week to Oklahoma’s big win over Texas Tech. The headline on the article inside deals less to do with Texas Tech than with the Longhorns. “Take that, Texas!” it reads, a reference to the death match that the Sooners and Longhorns are engaged in for the hearts and minds of the voters who have a say in the Bowl Championship Series standings.
Writes SI’s Austin Murphy of the mess that is the Big 12 South:
Nor is America ready, one fears, for the round of recriminations and bellyaching about to break out in the Big 12 South, whose top three teams—Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech—now have identical conference (6-1) and overall (10-1) records. Who will play Missouri in the Big 12 title game on Dec. 6 in Kansas City, Mo. (page 36)? If the three win this week (all will be favored), the spot goes to the team that is ranked highest in the BCS standings on Nov. 30.
While one third of a team’s BCS ranking is determined by the average of six computer ratings, two thirds is in the hands of subjective humans who tend to espouse one of two ideologies: The BOW (Body of Work) School takes the longer view. Its members are less susceptible to the pull of current events. Yes, Oklahoma looked like an NFL squad against the Red Raiders. But teams must be judged over the course of a 12-game regular season. And in one of those games the Sooners were beaten by Texas 45-35 in Dallas on Oct. 11. How could anyone elevate Oklahoma over the only team that has beaten Oklahoma? Of course, by that line of reasoning, “you’ve got to keep Texas Tech in front of Texas,” argues Stoops, chief spokesman for the WHN (Who’s Hot Now?) School, who was alluding to the Red Raiders’ last-second, 39-33 victory over the Longhorns in Lubbock on Nov. 1. “What’s logical for one is logical for the other.” Where it might have seemed illogical for Stoops to leave his offensive starters in the game until early in the fourth quarter—Bradford was airing it out when Oklahoma was up by 44—it made perfect sense in the context of the BCS beauty contest, in which style points trump sportsmanship.​
 
This Week In Schadenfreude: Cue the Crying Leprechaun, Then Watch Him Explode

Posted Nov 25th 2008 2:52PM by Brian Cook (author feed)
Filed under: LSU, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, South Florida, Texas Tech, Washington, Wisconsin
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scha·den·freu·de
–noun <table class="luna-Ent"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top">satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> [Origin: 1890–95; < G, equiv. to Schaden harm + Freude joy]

On This Week In Schadenfreude we explore the sputtering rage, gibbering condemnation, and resigned ennui of the college football fan who has recently undergone humiliating defeat. Because even in your darkest hour, someone else is suffering too, and probably worse than you. Unless you are a Michigan fan who has just finished watching the Appalachian State game.
Despite the author's proclivities, TWIS tries to remain balanced in its coverage of the misery inflicted on fans by the teams they love, and attempts to avoid spotlighting one team too heavily before the jump. The Tears of Unfathomable Sadness try to move around.
But, well... it's Notre Dame again, and with good reason. Notre Dame needed a win to get sucked up into the Gator or Cotton Bowls where they would be beaten into oblivion by someone like Texas Tech. Instead, they lose to a 2-8 team with a fired coach. Afterwards, David Bruton cries like a baby and even I, Michigan fan extraordinaire, feel sorry for the guy.
In the aftermath, people go on toaster-throwing fits of rage :
I want to pound my fingers through someone's skull, but I don't know whose. I want to break something, but I don't know what. I want to break into someone's home and take a dump in an inappropriate place, but I don't know whose house and whether to lay chocolate sausage in their fireplace or on their kitchen counter.
​
The Tears belong to whichever fanbase provides the most vicious burst of rage in the aftermath of humiliating defeat (and, every once in a while, humiliating victory). And, uh... yeah...
This season, I have attempted the following:

  • Exercised feverishly, gone for a run and done push-ups. Result: short-term release, rest of weekend still ruined.

  • Put on some Indigo Girls and ironed shirts. Result: even more angry and now slightly gender-confused

  • Kicked a laundry basket down stairs and punched some pillows. Result: short-term release, and the futile sight of a laundry basket rolling down stairs just saddening.

  • Slapped the hell out of a wall and pounded my foot. Result: A strange awakening to my own insanity. Appendage throbbing.
What is wrong with me?
What is wrong with them?
​
Notre Dame, they're yours.

The rest of the week in spleen after the jump.

<table unselectable="on" border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" width="440"><tbody><tr> <td align="middle" bgcolor="#00ccff">BIG TEN</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;" bgcolor="#ffffcc"> Oh, there's more Notre Dame spleen, youbetcha. The craziest place on the internet, ND Nation, went from this in the pregame:
Syracuse is terrible. They are ass on a stick. No good. That's the problem. They are so s----y that the result of this game will not be a good indicator of ND's progress.
Nope. We'll have to wait for the USC game to see how much (if at all) this ND team has grown since SDSt.
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To this in the post game:
If Weis is retained, it will be a 12 game death march next year. It will be a malignancy the likes of which ND has ever seen. The media and our bloodthirsty competition will feed on our manifest incompetence. Weis will suffer a long and public public humiliation. His family will suffer greatly as they watch him founder. ...

And you panty-waisted lace curtain milquetoast Irish f---ing pansies better shut your f---ing mouths about how dirty this candidate or that is. There are no Barry Switzers left in college football. No top coach is unfit for ND. We would be lucky to get any of them - Saban, Meyer, even Spurrier.

This University, its administration, its alumni - a total f---ing disgrace.
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Okay, maybe that's too wordy. How about this zinger?
He's not, as Andy called him, Faust in a fat suit. He's not even that good.
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Oh, snap. If Weis returns next year-and given reports that his buyout is something absurd he just might-this will be Bruins-Nation-vs-Karl-Dorell juicy.
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Wisconsin needed two missed extra points in regulation and one in overtime to beat I-AA Cal Poly this weekend and get the Badgers to bowl eligibility... barely. Imagine the carnage if Wisconsin had taken on Virginia Tech as originally scheduled. In the aftermath of a 7-5 season that started in the top ten, the natives are restless:
Most Embarrasing WIN in Wisconsin History

<hr> We need OT and 3 missed XP's to beat a 1-AA team at Home on Senior Day.

Pathetic.

11 - 9 - 7 wins since Barry chose his successor, I see a pretty disturbing trend here.

WHAT THE F--- DID YOU DO TO MY FOOTBALL TEAM?
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Turn it into a heap of poo, apparently.

Then there's this guy:
This. [DC] Doeren should be fired immediately. No adjustments whatsoever. Linebackers lined up so far off the ball they were in Janesville. This idiot is one of the most incompetent coaches I have ever seen. This moron makes Kevin Cosgrove look like a Rhodes scholar. Get a D Coordinator who doesn't have his head up his butt. I actually want Cosgrove back at this point, thats how bad this clown is. Coach Hank should be laughing his ass off right now. Pathetic.
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I wonder if he knew what a Rhodes Scholar was before Myron Rolle won one?
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Oh, and, yes, Michigan lost 42-7 to Ohio State. At this point the vitriol has mostly been beaten out of Michigan fans, and MGoBlog hunts down and destroys the kind of stuff that features in TWIS. But, hey, newspaper websites are full of sad little beings!

1-17 on 3rd downs....how can that be? I don't care if Captain Kangaroo was the QB.....1-17 is impossible unless you are Trying not to convert.
Its not like OSU was a NFL defense and Michigan was a freshman high school team from Ann Arbor Pioneer.
Thats freking pathetic.....RR needs to look at EVERYTHING he does now and reasses it. because whatever he did this season DIDN'T WORK
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Actually, Nick Sheridan wouldn't look out of place on the freshman football team at Pioneer. And, uh, Michigan scored more points this year than they did last year. They actually gained twice as many yards.

</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="middle" bgcolor="#00ccff">PAC 10</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> Washington State won the Winner Gets To Not Be The Worst Team In Pac-10 History Bowl, leaving Washington in the dust with a flurry of... missed Washington field goal attempts. Yea, truly, the 2008 Apple Cup could not have ended any other way.
But Ty Willingham is done, the 0-12 season is over, and things at Dawgman are looking up!
UW football is dead

<hr> Face it. If we offered Muschamp then Mora is off the table and really has no interest. And if Muschamp declined our offer and took $900k what the hell are the scarves offering. Be prepared to welcome some fired coach from some hell hole college. They will eff this up and I will be done. I have to find someone who cares about football to root for. I think it will be an SEC team. They seem to get it down there. Anyway, we are effed!
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Um, well... someone's probably looking on the bright side?
Seriously..............who would take this job right now?
​
Uh.
Any grifter looking for a way to scam 4 million bucks and get away with it.
​
Guys?
Hugh or Matt Millen?
​
!!! Step away from the keyboard, put it down, and go do something else. I beg you.
Elsewhere, someone responds to the idea of Dennis Franchione reasonably, an opposing fan asks if UW fans are sure they've even got an athletic department (and is mostly agreed with!), and, we've got further justification for our TOIS pick this week:
Just took a quick trip over to Irisheyes.com

<hr> Felt like I was at Dawgman.
​
And we're done here. Finally. Washington fans, I would like to salute you for your fine work this year. May better times follow. They pretty much have to.

</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="middle" bgcolor="#00ccff">SEC</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;" bgcolor="#ffffcc"> It's one thing to barely escape a thunderous first half from Troy and another to completely fail to escape from Ole Miss, which we remind you is Ole Miss. (And, shockingly, is 7-4!) LSU fans are displeased.
I would like to remind readers that LSU did this last year:
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Now, uh, what?
I think Les Miles has been a good coach for us, and he will certainly have an opportunity to right the ship here. But he MUST right it, or at the very least he must do something that will have a good chance of righting it. If Les Miles sticks with the status quo, he is betting his job on the gamble that the secondary play will improve dramatically next year.
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(Emphasis mine.) 2007: win national championship. 2008: lose nutball quarterback and seriously consider starting a Harvard transfer. 2009: job under threat? What planet is this? Oh, it's the planet of people who can't remember anything that took place longer than three months ago. Carry on.
And this guy, well:
Everybody gets an F. Everybody.
Based on the effort I saw out there on Saturday, I'm not going to waste my time trying to find any value in what I saw. It was a purely failed effort across the board. Even the players you might say weren't totally ineffective out there still weren't good enough in any phase of football to make up for the hideous performances of the rest of their positions.
The biggest F goes out to LSU's seniors, who put forth a totally disgusting and disgraceful effort in their last game in Tiger Stadium.
​
Arrrrrgh... must... avoid... all... caps... fail! THOSE SENIORS WON YOU A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP LAST YEAR. Argh argh argh argh.
If there's one thing TWIS has done for me it's clarified which fanbases are the absolute worst in terms of respect for the guys on their team when things are going poorly: Alabama and LSU.
</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="middle" bgcolor="#00ccff">BIG EAST</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;">
Syracuse 24, Notre Dame 23. Cue the crying child:

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Wait, what? I guess I shouldn't have written this section first.
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TWIS usually restricts itself to the ridiculous overreactions of fans, but in South Florida coach Jim Leavitt's case we'll make an exception:

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Leavitt can dish it out (he's repeatedly made sarcastic references to Rich Rodriguez over the past year) but apparently can't take it.
</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="middle" bgcolor="#00ccff">BIG TWELVE</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"> Texas Tech saw its national championship dreams go up in smoke-no, check that. Texas Tech as its national championship dreams riddled by bullets, stomped on, scalped, dismembered, put through a wood chipper, and shot into the sun by Oklahoma. And even during the brutal second quarter this is the kind of stuff you get in an open thread:
This is one of the hardest things i've ever watched.
I'm still VERY VERY VERY proud of our team and the things they have done... the enjoyment i've gotten from this team and this school up until tonight has been one of the best things in my life so far. we KNOW our team is good, we KNOW we can compete...
​
There's no meltdown here, just the occasional downer. In the aftermath people are still sunny about this year and the future.
</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="middle" bgcolor="#00ccff">ACC</td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffcc" valign="top"> Great title from Canespace on Miami's blowout loss to Georgia Tech:
Embarassed, Humiliated, Defeated

​
Though the rest of the blog entry follows apace:
He [Paul Johnson] also showed why he and his staff in their first year are so far ahead of Canes head coach Randy Shannon, offensive coordinator Patrick Nix and Defensive Coordinator Bill Young that it is just astounding.
​
Can you imagine anyone saying this about Miami (Miami!!!) as recently as 2004?
it has become painfully obvious that these Canes have so much work to do before they can truly compete with the big boys.
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Times change fast when you've a school with no money and no fanbase, I guess.
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Inside the Polls: Why is Penn State higher then Utah

from The Mountain West Conference Connection by Jeremy

While Utah fans are excited to go to a BCS game for the second time since 2004, the human polls give the Utes no love. The computers have Utah 5th, but the Harris Poll has Utah 8th and the Coaches Poll 7th.
The culprits here are Penn State, Texas Tech and USC. First off Texas Tech is ahead of Utah by a mere five points, but Texas Tech just came off of a 65-21 loss to Oklahoma who was ranked in the top 5, and on the Utah side they doubled up number 14 BYU 48-24.
A team gets beat by 44 points in the teams first true test on the season. Yes, I know Tech beat Texas at home, but being at home Texas Tech is going to be favored. This road game at Oklahoma was their first true road test and was waxed and voters still think they are better then Utah. Does not make sense, because while Utah is most likely not going to make the BCS title game, stranger things have happened plus Utah wants to finish as high as they can in the polls to help recruiting and get new fans.
Then we have Penn State who is ranked sixth in both human polls ahead of Utah, and this makes even less sense then Texas Tech. Below is the results between Utah and Penn State with the final, score, current record, and the ranking at the time.
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">Utah</td> <td valign="top" width="295">Penn State</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">@ Michigan 25-23 Current Record 3-9</td> <td valign="top" width="295">Coastal Carolina 66-10 Current Record 6-6</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">UNLV 42-21 Current Record 5-7</td> <td valign="top" width="295">Oregon State 45-14 Current Record 8-3</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">@ Utah State 58-10 Current Record 3-8</td> <td valign="top" width="295">@ Syracuse 55-13Current Record 3-8</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">Weber State 37-21 Current Record 9-3</td> <td valign="top" width="295">Temple 45-3 Current Record 4-7</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">Oregon State 31-28 Current Record 8-3</td> <td valign="top" width="295">No. 22 Illinois 38-24 Current Record 5-7</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">@ Wyoming 40-7 Current Record 4-8</td> <td valign="top" width="295">@ Purdue 20-6 Current Record 4-8</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">Colorado State 49-16 Current Record 6-6</td> <td valign="top" width="295">@ Wisconsin 48-7 Current Record 7-5</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">@ New Mexico 13-10 Current Record 4-8</td> <td valign="top" width="295">Michigan 46-17 Current Record 3-9</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">No. 12 TCU 13-10 Current Record 10-2</td> <td valign="top" width="295">@ No. 9 Ohio State 13-6 Current Record 10-2</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">@ San Diego State 63-14 Current Record 2-10</td> <td valign="top" width="295">@ Iowa 24-23 Current Record 8-4</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">@ Air Force 30-23Current Record 8-4</td> <td valign="top" width="295">Indiana 34-7Current Record 3-9</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="295">No. 14 BYU W 48-24 Current Record 10-2</td> <td valign="top" width="295">No. 15 Michigan State 49-18Current Record 9-3</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> As you can see each school played a I-AA team and the ranked opponents are pretty similar, well Illinois was over rated at the time but Michigan State is similar to BYU, TCU is similar to Ohio State, and Air Force is similar to Wisconsin. The overall record of opponents is Utah 72-70 and Penn State opponents record is 70-71. Not much of a difference except that Penn State loss to an unranked Iowa, if the loss was to Ohio State who is ranked in the top 15 then, but to an unranked team yes it was a road g ame but it was a loss. They are very close in their opponents record and the Big 10 might be slightly better in overall depth the top four teams in each league favor the Mountain West, and with all things so equal an unbeaten team should be ahead of a one loss team.
The national media is in love with the tradition of Penn State and the Big 10 because they are an automatic qualifier conference for a BCS and gives the benefit of the doubt to those schools. The reality is that both teams are good but an undefeated team should trump a one loss team, because all the Big 10 honks do not want to admit it they are closer to the level of play of the Mountain West then they are to the SEC or Big XII.
My next post will go over the same scenario as USC, as to why they are ranked higher.
 
Sexy Thanksgiving Dinner

By Phil on November 24th, 2008


As you prepare this week for another family Thanksgiving, we thought it might be fun to look at what dinner could be like at your house this year. That is of course if you are going to have Rachel Ray or Cat Cora cook for you:











<hr> And this girl from Spike TV’s “30 Seconds of a Hot Chick” could make the Tea:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" width="425" height="354">


<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:mvideo:spiketv.com:188172" wmode="window" flashvars="dist=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Eaol%2Ecom%2Fpartner%2Fspiketv%2Fspike%2Dbabes%2D30%2Dseconds%2Dof%2Da%2Dhot%2Dchick%2Dteabag%2Fmgid%3Acms%3Amvideo%3Aspiketv%2Ecom%3A188172&orig=aol" width="425" height="354"></object></p> This one could wash the dishes:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" width="425" height="354">


<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:mvideo:spiketv.com:175480" wmode="window" flashvars="dist=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Eaol%2Ecom%2Fpartner%2Fspiketv%2Fspike%2Dbabes%2D30%2Dseconds%2Dof%2Da%2Dhot%2Dchick%2Ddoing%2Ddishes%2D2%2Fmgid%3Acms%3Amvideo%3Aspiketv%2Ecom%3A175480&orig=aol" width="425" height="354"></object></p> And this one could empty the dishwasher:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" width="425" height="354">


<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:mvideo:spiketv.com:177370" wmode="window" flashvars="dist=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Eaol%2Ecom%2Fpartner%2Fspiketv%2Fspike%2Dbabes%2D30%2Dseconds%2Dof%2Da%2Dhot%2Dchick%2Dputting%2Daway%2Ddishes%2Fmgid%3Acms%3Amvideo%3Aspiketv%2Ecom%3A177370&orig=aol" width="425" height="354"></object></p> Now you are free to go watch some Football.
oh wait…on Black Friday, you are going to need some breakfast:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" width="425" height="354">


<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:mvideo:spiketv.com:171745" wmode="window" flashvars="dist=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Fvideosearch&orig=" width="425" height="354"></object></p> Happy Thanksgiving from Gunaxin.com.
 
The script does not call for Jacquizz Rodgers' shoulder injury to ruin Oregon State's Rose Bowl run

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
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There are two ways to take Jacquizz Rodgers' probable absence from the lineup Saturday, when Oregon State tries to lock up its first Rose Bowl berth in 43 years against Oregon. If you're one of those "conventional thinkers," this probably sounds like bad news: Quizz is the Beavers' MVP, a slashing, Mike Hart-esque workhorse who, despite his size, logged at least 20 carries in nine straight games before leaving OSU's win over Arizona in the first half last week. He averaged 118 yards in those games and put himself and his team on the national map by slaying USC for 186 in September. He might be the one player in the Pac-10 his team can least afford to lose, and Saturday would be the worst possible time to find out. On the other hand, if you're from the school of Major League, The Bad News Bears, The Waterboy, Hoosiers, The Mighty Ducks, A League of Their Own, Little Giants, the 1973 New York Knicks or pretty much any other underdog sports movie ever made, you've seen this too many times to be worried. The Beavers' season is already a contrived screenplay, complete with a rock bottom performance that validated all the skeptics, followed by an obscure hero emerging from the most unlikely place to spark a storybook run that's put the team within reach of its greatest dream, and the chance to avenge its greatest humiliation -- and all that's standing in the way is its Most. Hated. Rival.
This foolishness has been written a thousand times, and it ends one of two ways: Either OSU has to go that last mile without its star, as a team, dammit, or not at all, or Quizz walks into a dejected locker room at halftime of the Civil War, straps on the pads against the doctors' orders, leads the greatest comeback in school history and Oregon State punches its ticket to Pasadena while Phil Knight mugs angrily and is then led away by police for some reason. But the story never ends with the Beavers packing for the Sun Bowl. This isn't some mind-bending Charlie Kaufman downer; it just doesn't work that way. Quizz Rodgers is a likable protagonist, and Oregon State has to pull this out at the last minute. Decades of foolproof narrative convention demand it.
 
A tribute to Aggies everywhere by Heavy Metal Farmer.
Tractoooooor.

Not actually about...

from Burnt Orange Nation by Ultra Horn
<embed class="content-block-fix" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jag7oTemldY&hl=en&fs=1" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout A tribute to Aggies everywhere by Heavy Metal Farmer.
Tractoooooor.
Not actually about Aggies, (at least I think not) but still hilarious. Thanks, Ultra Horn. -HB
 
Midweek preview: Alabama, the nuts-and-bolts

from The Joe Cribbs Car Wash by Jerry Hinnen
Aaarggghh Real Life delay sorry.


It rests on his shoulders. And his hair. It definitely also partially rests on his hair.

Previewin' usually waits 'til Friday, I know, but with the holiday and a bushel of other columnesque stuff to write about this rivalry, I thought I'd get the nuts and bolts stuff out of the way early.

When Alabama has the ball: it comes down to two people. Well, one group of people, and one person.

The first is the Auburn linebackers. I don't think it's much of a secret what the Tide want to do on offense: they're going to try and pulverize the Auburn defensive front on the ground and then find Jones either over the top on on some intermediate route when in need of a first down. Houston Nutt and/or Les Miles-style trickeration is not going to be in the cards this week.

Unfortunately, the Tide are very, very good at the first part of that equation. They're second in the SEC (behind only the Gators and their ridiculous 6.12 mark) and 28th in the country in yards-per-carry. They rank ahead of the same Ole Miss and LSU teams that gashed Auburn for 5.68 and 4.68 yards-a-carry, respectively. This is less than encouraging.

However: 'Bama hasn't exactly been an unstoppable force, either. Tulane, Ole Miss, Georgia, and LSU have all held the Tide to less than 4 a carry, so there's some hope. Unfortunately, how much remains debatable when you realize that the Tulane game sort of looks like a fluke and that the Rebels, Dawgs, and Tigers are all the the top 15 in the country in rush defense while Auburn ranks 45th. In other words, Alabama is better on the ground than teams Auburn hasn't stopped and Auburn isn't as good as the team that have stopped Alabama. Not good.

So that first "group of people" on which Auburn's success rests is the Auburn linebackers. Stevens, Johnson, Bynes, Evans, maybe Pybus for a play or two--they have to play out of their minds. None of the indecision that plagued them against West Virginia, none of the missed tackles that led to big gains against Ole Miss or Georgia. There was improvement against the Dawgs. There will need to be a lot more against the Tide. If there is, the better health of the defensive line means Auburn should be able to keep the Tide under 4 a carry and their offense largely in check.

Because the matchup in the air favors Auburn. For all of the secondary's youth and, essentially, limb-loss, Auburn ranks 26th in the country in pass defense. Neither Ole Miss not Georgia were able to complete a pass longer than 25 yards or so to a wide receiver. Bottom line is that they're a good unit that playing very well and should be even better with Jerraud Powers having been given another week off to heal his hamstring.

On the other side lies the country's 100th-rated passing offense. Don't pay too much attention to that, though: the Tide rank 51st in average per attempt and if you watched their Georgia game (in which 'Bama finished 13-of-16 for 205 yards), you know how deadly John Parker Wilson can be when he's on. But there's no guarantee he will be: if you watched the LSU game, where Wilson finished 15-of-31 for 215 yards and a pick without a TD, you know how inefficient even the 2008 version of John Parker Wilson can be when he's off.

He's the second person on which the fate of this side of the ball will hinge. Auburn is going to almost certainly adopt the same defensive philosophy they adopted against the Dawgs and Rebels: lots of run blitzes and an extra safety pushed up into the box to stop the ground game, paired with plenty of cushion for the receivers to prevent Jones and Co. from getting loose deep. Wilson's shown good touch on the deep balls this year but hasn't always been as consistent underneath--Auburn will most likely give him those throws and if he does find that consistency, well, Alabama will score points and win the game. If he does that and the linebackers aren't up to snuff, Alabama will win in a rout.

When Auburn has the ball: they will use the spread.

There just doesn't seem like there's much of a point in lining up in the I or ace and trying to bang straight-ahead. Alabama has the fifth-best rush D per carry in the nation. It's fair to say Arkansas and Georgia have better rushing attacks than Auburn does, and 'Bama shut them down to the tune of a combined average of 3.02 yards a rush. It's fair to say that Ole Miss and 'Bama are pretty similar in ability to shut down the run; you'll recall how Auburn (save the one big Tate run) got precisely nothing accomplished running right at the Rebels.

So expect a heavy dose of the spread and a lot of Burns trying to find Billings and Smith on outs and slants, with a few shots downfield with Slaughter, possibly. I wish I had good news to tell you about the chances of this strategy working, but, uh ... Alabama holds opponents to fewer yards-per-pass than all but three other teams in the country.

I still think this is Auburn's best chance, though, because it's not like the Tide has faced a murderer's row of talented passers: Jonathan Crompton, Tyson Lee, Cullen Harper, etc. have a way of making the stats look good. Stafford and Snead didn't have great success but they got some things done, and even Jarrett and Lee and--most damningly--Kentucky's Mike Hartline had days that might qualify as "acceptable." Where Wilson can at least assume that the Tide run game will go somewhere, Burns has no luxury: Auburn will not be able to run without him, will not be able to move much at all without him completing passes whenever available. He will need to be superhuman or Auburn will not break the 10-point mark on offense.

When special teams are on the field: Auburn does have one thing going for it: Dust and the coverage units have Auburn 16th in the country in net punting, 2nd in the SEC. Obviously we're long past the stage where we could expect Dunn or the punt return unit to provide anything, but at least Dust should (emphasis on "should") be able to at least limit Arenas's effectiveness here.

Kickoff returns are kind of a coinflip, since the returners (Davis, Arenas) are dangerous on both sides. Arenas does seem to prefer punts--he has yet to bring one of these back for a TD and the 22.6 average isn't terrifying. (He will score Saturday to spite me.) The placekicking edge goes to the Tide; Tiffin's 9-of-14 between 30 and 50 isn't exactly stellar, but it's of course a damn sight better than what Byrum's done and that's before Foot Lauderdale came down with an "inflamed knee." Auburn seems unlikely to try any field goal longer than 40 yards--and thus very likely to get stopped on downs a time or two inbetween 'Bama's 30 and 20.

So all told, special teams should be a net plus for the Tide. Auburn, of course, cannot afford a net plus for the Tide in special teams and will need their best performance of the season here to have any shot at a victory.

Your bottom line: My response to a rational, even-handed evaluation of each team's strengths is this: AAAARRGGGHHH THE PAIN MY EYES IT BURNS IT BURNS MAKE IT STOP WHAT'S HAPPENING.

I think it's fair to expect Auburn to keep the Tide from the same kind of rampage they went on in Athens and Fayetteville. The Tide are going to get their yards on the ground, but as well as Auburn's secondary has played of late the big play through the air--even with Jones freaking around like the freak he is--should be a rarity if not absent completely. It'll take a long, slow, methodical drive and if the Tide are plenty capable of those when Wilson's on, they're not if he's not.

But the special teams has to be seen as a Tide advantage--what quality team has Auburn outplayed on special teams? None--and it's awful hard to see how Auburn's going to get much accomplished on offense. Won't be able to run. Maaaaaaybe will find ways to pass. Burns is going to have to play out of his mind, both running and throwing the ball, and Ensminger's going to have to find ways of getting Fannin the ball in ways that aren't "sweep left." And the cherry on top is that Byrum's injury makes it even more likely that red zone possessions will end in demoralizing nothing.
And, of course, it goes without saying that turnovers of any kind are death sentences.

It will take, in other words, Auburn's best and first complete performance of the season.

Here is the good news: Auburn is still due for its first complete performance of the season. The offense, in particular, is improving and does seem to be ramping up to the point where it turns the yards it's scraping together into points. And yes, I could see that performance leading to the following things: 10-14 points of some variety from the offense; 3-7 points via a huge defensive or special teams (i.e. kickoff return) play; and 14-17 points allowed by the defense. This puts us in the neighborhood of 17-14, 21-17, 20-20 and the random heartache of overtime.

Do I think Auburn has to play near-perfectly to win? Yes. Do I think the odds of that happening are against them? Yes. Am I convinced they're not going to pull it off? Not in the slightest.
 
Don't Bet On It!: Around the S.E.C.

from Dawg Sports by T Kyle King
The final weekend of the regular season is upon us, so every team in the league is diving into the deep end for a final 60 minutes’ worth of action. Even with what I erroneously thought was a bold prediction that Ole Miss would beat L.S.U. (with respect to which C&F quite reasonably asked whether it was an upset if everyone saw it coming), I still only broke even in last week’s S.E.C. picks to fall to 62-16 in conference contests. At this point, I shouldn’t even have to tell you this, but, then again, no one should need a warning label anymore to know that smoking cigarettes is bad for their health, so let me reiterate: Don’t Bet On It!

These are the games on the docket for this week, the first two of which will be played on Friday, November 28, in order to make us even more thankful:

Louisiana State at Arkansas: Does anyone else remember when this game used to be a big deal? You know, like, last year? Although the Tiger faithful have concerns about the direction of their program, this is strictly a brief downcycle for an elite team; that’s a very different thing from being in the position of the Razorbacks, who are suffering the consequences of decades of mismanagement by a self-serving athletic director who hung on too long, tolerance for a climate of rabid fan animosity towards a successful coach that got out of hand even by S.E.C. standards, and the hiring of a quick-fix artist whose commitment issues would make him a fit subject for a Cosmo quiz. Add to that the fact that the Bayou Bengals are looking to end their season on a high note and have revenge on their minds, and it all adds up to an L.S.U. victory.

Mississippi State at Ole Miss: My sister-in-law and her husband are University of Mississippi alumni and we’ll be seeing them at Thanksgiving, so this is a game to which I particularly am looking forward, as it combines family, football, and Thanksgiving leftovers. Who among us doesn’t enjoy watching the Egg Bowl while eating from the deviled egg bowl? I’d pick the Rebels on general principle, but it helps that they’re good and M.S.U. is bad.

<center></center>
<center>That David Cutcliffe is doing a fine job in Oxford. Oh, wait. . . .</center>
Florida at Florida State: I’ll admit it; I had given the Seminoles up for dead, not just as a team, but as a program. It had been my belief that F.S.U. might never be good again, and certainly wouldn’t return to national prominence until Bobby Bowden ceased to stroll the sideline. The ‘Noles, however, have improved substantially. They just haven’t improved nearly enough to compete with Florida.

Vanderbilt at Wake Forest: It seems to me the math on this one is pretty simple. The Commodores beat Ole Miss by six points in Oxford. The Demon Deacons beat Ole Miss by two points in Winston-Salem. Taking home field advantage into account, Vandy ought to be about a touchdown better than Wake. Of course, my math skills weren’t good enough to get me into, say, Vanderbilt or Wake Forest, so I’m going with the Deacs to conquer the Commies.

Kentucky at Tennessee: I have an interesting exercise I would challenge you to attempt. Try to identify the latest date on which you would have looked at me funny had I said to you: "Rich Brooks will outlast Phillip Fulmer as a head coach in the Southeastern Conference." For all the disappointments this season has held in Knoxville, however, the Volunteers proved in their win over the ‘Dores that they are not done fighting for the Great Pumpkin, at least insofar as division rivals the Big Orange historically have owned are concerned. This week will be no exception, as Tennessee will send Coach Fulmer out a winner in his last game at the U.T. helm.

South Carolina at Clemson: I will confess to having a disproportionate degree of interest in this game. Because Georgia will visit Fort Hill in 2013, the Tigers’ next head coach almost certainly will be on the sideline in Memorial Stadium when Mark Richt leads the Red and Black back into Death Valley. Although Clemson football owes its genesis to Auburn through such figures as Walter Riggs and John Heisman, it is to the other half of the Iron Bowl that the Country Gentlemen have been beholden in their modern incarnation: Jess Neely and Tommy Bowden both served as assistant coaches at Alabama; Frank Howard and Hootie Ingram both played for the Crimson Tide; Charley Pell and Danny Ford each played and coached for Bear Bryant in Tuscaloosa. That is why I hope Ron Morris is right that Dabo Swinney will be the next head football coach of the Clemson Tigers. Coach Swinney walked on at ‘Bama as a wide receiver in 1990, was a scholarship player for the Tide from 1990 to 1992, made academic all-S.E.C. and earned two degrees from the University of Alabama, served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater from 1993 to 1995, and coached wide receivers and tight ends for the Red Elephants from 1996 to 2000. As an Alabama guy, he’s just a natural fit for a program at which six of the nine coaches to have served since 1931 have had ties to the Tide. Because I’m rooting for the symmetry that Coach Swinney’s hiring would bring, I’m picking Clemson to win by the shores of Lake Hartwell against the Palmetto State Poultry.

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I will, however, concede the possibility that I may just like my team’s chances against a longstanding rival if that opponent is coached by someone who looks like Jack from "Will and Grace." (Associated Press photograph by Mary Ann Chastain.)

Auburn at Alabama: Don’t think this one won’t be close. Every last one of the Plainsmen’s S.E.C. outings this autumn has been a tight ballgame. The Red Elephants are winning ugly without really overpowering anyone. Auburn has had the psychological edge in this series for the last several years and the Tigers may be battling to save their head coach’s job. Auburn will give the Tide faithful more than their fair share of nervous moments. In the end, though, ‘Bama isn’t about to have its perfect season ruined by its fiercest rival. Naturally, I’ll be rooting for the Crimson Tide, because anybody who hates Auburn is all right by me.

Those are this weekend’s S.E.C. picks, for whatever limited value they may have. While I hope they kept you at least somewhat entertained, and maybe even made you a little bit better informed, I must emphasize---and I cannot stress this strongly enough---that, whatever transpires, you must remember this one thing: Don’t Bet On It!

Coming Soon: National Games of Interest.

Go ‘Dawgs!
 
Auburn's Slide Is Longer Than You Think

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
by Brian CookFiled under: Auburn
ttuberville3.jpg
Tommy Tuberville will be firmly on the hot seat going into 2009 -- if he even makes it that far -- after a season in which one of the finer moments is a 3-2 win over Mississippi State. This is taken for granted. But what are the chances Tuberville turns it around? As recently as last year the Tigers were winning a fairly prestigious bowl once named after a fruit. Surely Auburn will bounce back?

Eh... not so much, actually. The Joe Cribbs Car Wash brings forth a stat that will be harrowing to Auburn fans: yards per play differential. To calculate, just take your averaged yards gained for every snap on offense and subtract yards allowed. And then, if you like Auburn, cover your eyes:
2004: +1.8 (6.4/4.8)
2005: +1.0 (6.0/5.0)
2006: +0.6 (5.5/4.9)
2007: +0.3 (4.8/4.5)
2008: -0.2 (4.6/4.8)
​
That is five years of steady decline, and this offseason the Tigers will be searching for a new offensive coordinator. Again. Who will install a new system. Again.

Even if Tubby gets another year, the writing is on the wall here.
 
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Perspective Piece: Oklahoma-Oklahoma State </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
</td> <td width="3" nowrap="nowrap">
</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Matt Zemek
Staff Columnist
Posted Nov 25, 2008
</td> <td nowrap="nowrap">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

This year, Bedlam isn't just a handy reference to the in-state war between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. In 2008, the "B-word" can describe the BCS standings that loom over this Saturday's showdown in Stillwater like a corrupt Olympic figure skating judge.
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It will be silly, unfair, and bizarre in the extreme, but there's just no denying the reality that will emerge when Bob Stoops brings his troops into T. Boone Pickens Stadium to play Mike Gundy's Cowboys: The object for OU isn't just to win, but to win with flair. The Sooners could turn in several impressive triple toe loops and double lutzes, but if they don't look pretty when they skate, the Olympic judges known as pollsters will downgrade them. The backdrop to this particular Bedlam ballgame will turn a football fight into a theater of the absurd. Such is life in a world where the Big 12 Conference--instead of doing something sensible and making in-division point differential its fifth tiebreaker--chose to give the BCS standings undue leverage in deciding a division and conference championship.

Entering a game this big, normal circumstances would allow for a rather straightforward and respectable portrait of the participants, a profile in which Oklahoma State could be properly appreciated alongside the Sooners. It's been a forward-moving season in Stillwater for a team that has thrown off the shackles of mediocrity and emerged as an upper-tier team in a doggone daunting league. Mike Gundy has tossed aside his YouTube moment from 2007 and shown that he can coach a little bit. The Cowboys solidly mashed Missouri in Columbia, and took Texas to the wall before succumbing by four points on the road in Austin. A win over the Sooners would bump OSU from the Alamo Bowl to the Cotton Bowl, all while giving Texas Tech a division title and a new lease on national championship life. The Cowboys should be commended for what they've done in 2008, but unfortunately, the specter of the BCS will not allow them to receive their due as they prepare for their Big 12 finale.

No, the all-consuming element of this contest is going to be, "How nice will the beauty pageant contest from Norman look in those all-white uniforms with the red trim?"

When OU scores a touchdown, how many decimal points will shift in the direction of the Sooners?

When OSU notches a field goal, how many Harris Poll voters will downgrade OU for "insufficient artistic expression"?

When the Sooners stop the Cowboys only because of a false start by the home team on a fourth-and-1 situation from the OU 42, will the voters in the USA Today Coaches Poll credit OU for the defensive stand, or downgrade the Crimson and Cream for getting bailed out by a mistake from the opposition?

Given that this is a nasty rivalry, with no love lost between the two schools in a state that takes its football very seriously and is obsessed with the ways in which the local media portrays OSU and OU, it will be fascinating to see how the post-halftime phase of this game plays out. If the Cowboys take a 10-point lead late in the third quarter, will OU--realizing that it has lost the style-point competition with Texas--get frustrated and collapse? If the Sooners acquire a big lead, will Stoops continue to pour on the points late into the fourth quarter to gain as much of an "artistic expression" score as possible, with all the figure skating judges looking on across America? And if the Sooners take a comfy but not gigantic lead into the final minutes, will Oklahoma State milk the clock so that OU can't run up big numbers, thereby preventing Oklahoma from gaining those extra aesthetic brownie points with the panel of pigskin pundits that will help determine the contours of the Nov. 30 BCS standings, the most influential non-season-ending standings in the 11-year history of the Bowl Championship Series?

This game will be fascinating, all right, but for all the wrong reasons. If OU wins by seven points, the Sooners might walk off the field feeling something less than fully satisfied. If OU scores a touchdown on a 53-yard pass with 19 seconds left to win by 29 points instead of 22, you might see an ugly brawl marring the proceedings, and the BCS (with an assist from a clueless Big 12 office that needs to revamp its fifth tiebreaker for three-team divisional ties) will be embarrassed to the fullest possible extent. If the nation sees any hint of unusual cat-and-mouse games between these two rivals, the BCS will be to blame for the wholly unsatisfying scenario that would emerge in Stillwater.

Oklahoma is a sexy beauty contest participant, and the Sooners--in their white road swimsuits--will walk onto the Stillwater stage two days after Texas enters the meat market on Turkey Day against the A&M Aggies. Oklahoma State will want to dunk the bathing beauty from Norman, and make the town of Lubbock explode with the biggest roar this side of Harrell-to-Crabtree. But if the Cowboys don't do the deed, we'll only be talking about one thing Sunday morning... and wondering how the Olympic figure skating judges in the BCS system will grade the Sooners in terms of both technical merit and artistic expression.

The more one thinks about this game, the more it seems appropriate that Tonya Harding should be in attendance when the Sooners and Cowboys enter a state of Bedlam once again.

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<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Instant Analysis: Western Michigan-Ball State </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
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</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Matt Zemek
Staff Columnist
Posted Nov 26, 2008
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In a fairer world, Ball State would be able to play a high-profile opponent in a bowl game. That probably won’t happen in 2008, but the conquering Cardinals can at least say this: They’ve finally won the Mid-American Conference’s West Division, and now stand one win away from a conference crown.
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Though bearing a perfect record through its first 11 games, Ball State had won absolutely no hardware entering Tuesday night’s contest. In game number twelve, however, coach Brady Hoke’s boys finally nailed down a MAC West loaded with quality opponents. Just six days after surviving an inspired effort from two-time defending conference champion Central Michigan, Ball State had to win yet one more game against a formidable Western Michigan outfit to, at long last, clinch the division and punch a ticket to Detroit for the MAC Championship Game on Dec. 5 against Buffalo.

Despite playing with the burden of needing to be perfect just to win an incredibly tough division, the Cardinals never faltered on the road to the Motor City. And while BSU’s defense has consistently contained its opponents in 2008, the main reason for this team’s sensational success could only be found in the form of one man, quarterback Nate Davis. Number 13 showed up against the 9-2 Broncos on Tuesday in Muncie, Ind. As a result, Western Michigan left Ball State Stadium with a 9-3 mark. The Cardinals strolled to a 12-0 record, and a piece of pigskin perfection, because they had the best player on the field, and the Broncos didn’t.

Some games require a complex analytical approach. This MAC matchup wasn’t one of them. Davis, a BCS-level quarterback playing in a competitive non-BCS conference, towered above the entirety of the proceedings. This mountain of a man mastered the moment in Muncie, showing the complete toolbox of a supremely skilled signal caller. Like any dominant athlete at the top of his game, Davis bashed the Broncos in all aspects of quarterback play.

Davis threw with zip, rocketing balls into tight windows. He threw with touch when he hit his tight end, Darius Hill, for a 38-yard gain that set up one of Ball State’s five offensive touchdowns. He threw the short ball and the long ball comfortably and confidently. As a thrower, Davis completed 68 percent of his passes without a single interception, all while being aggressive in his approach.

With his legs, however, Davis proved to be no less impressive. On some plays, he turned on the afterburners to gain the corner and outrun the Broncos’ front seven. On other occasions—such as his crucial touchdown run just before halftime, which gave Ball State a 10-point lead the Cardinals only added to after the break—Davis used a combination of muscle and shiftiness to shrug off WMU pass rushers and then slash through traffic to get the job done. All in all, there was nothing Davis couldn’t do. While Western Michigan quarterback Tim Hiller showed a reasonably good throwing arm at times, the Broncos’ field general lacked the footspeed and the ball security of Davis, and that, in short, made the difference in BSU’s comfortable and crowning conquest.

Nate Davis might not be able to play USC’s defense in a BCS bowl, or a highly-touted team like Boise State or TCU in an attractive second-tier bowl, as the BCS and its attendant bowl system continually fail to give most of the little guys a chance for premium postseason showcases in college football. But even if this quality quarterback won’t be able to stare down a big-time defense in a bowl game, the Cardinal leader of a 12-0 team will at least get the chance to win a conference championship, a championship that was very much in doubt until the final game of Ball State’s regularly-scheduled slate.
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Playoffs Will End Politicking? I Think Not

from Roll 'Bama Roll by Nico2.0
Before I get started, let it be known that I'm not picking on Bob Stoops. The guy typically puts together a pretty stellar team and has made some gutsy calls that earned my respect. That being said, I have to disagree with Coach Stoops on something he said in this article about the "campaigning" that goes on toward the end of the season when there's no clear cut Top 2:
“It’s unfortunate. No one likes to do it,” the Oklahoma coach said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. “I think that’s why more and more of us say, `Hey, let’s find a way to get a playoff in place so that we don’t have to do that.”’
​
If only it were that easy. Go to a four team playoff and there'll be serious politicking going on for the fourth spot. With the current rankings, a four team playoff would leave out one loss USC and Texas Tech, not to mention undefeated Utah, who would be punished for being in a weak conference despite beating three ranked teams (and two BCS teams...Oregon State is in both of those categories.) If it is an eight team playoff, then you'll have undefeated Boise State making their case that they should have the last spot instead of a Penn State team that lost to Iowa. No matter how many teams you add, there'll always be someone on the bubble campaigning to make it in.
Everyone, including me, has a theory on how to make the "Mythical National Championship" valid (or at least more valid) and I will be posting that in the near future. I doubt anyone has seen anything quite like what I'm proposing. In the meantime though, Coach Stoops and others will have to be on the campaign trail. It wasn't for the title game, but hey, it worked for Mack Brown in 2004.
 
NFL Cheerleaders: Thanksgiving Edition

<abbr title="2008-11-25T19:46:16-0800">November 25, 2008 – 7:46 pm</abbr> by King Ing Thanksgiving is only a day away! And while we have many things to be thankful for, I don’t want to forget to give thanks for the under-appreciated cheerleaders of the NFL. They bring so much entertainment during lulls in the game. I know I am a fan and there is only one way I know how to show my gratitude. That would be in picture format. As the saying goes, a picture speaks louder than words.
Tennessee Titans



Detroit Lions (typical they don’t have cheerleaders)

Seattle Seahawks

Dallas Cowboys

Arizona Cardinals

Philadelphia Eagles
 
She’s Uncoachable: The Non-Shy WAG and Page 3 Model Nicola McLean

Published by Natty at 9:00 am under She's Uncoachable


From Her Myspace Profile
I’m the feisty, outspoken, funny (even if I do say so myself) glamour model, Page Three girl and TV star Nicola McLean. I’m one of the UK’s most successful Page 3 girls EVER, having appeared on Page 3 in The Sun and The Daily Star regularly for around 7 years - notching up around 300 appearances in total. That’s more than any other Page 3 girl to date. In a readers voting poll in The Sun 2005, I came 4th in the ‘Best Page 3 Girl Of All Time’ poll, beating the likes of Michelle Marsh, Leilani, Jo Hicks, Lucy Pinder, Sam Fox and even Jordan aka Katie Price.
Think she’s boastful?
More importantly, McLean used to be an army cadet, is a current WAG (engaged to a damned soccer player), has posed naked, and has mastered the art of the underboob shot.
More of Nicola after the jump

 
<table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="590"><tbody><tr width="590"><tr width="590"> <td width="528"> Interactive Tuesday: Always Insightful. Ball State defated Western Michigan 45-22 to go to 12-0 and remain sans defeat for the season. This game was brought to you by ESPN’s Interactive Tuesday, a feature as insightful as it is intrusive.
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(Yes, Freek’s back. Cthulu be praised.)
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Headlinin': Cardinals ballin' all the way to 12-0

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
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• Perfecto. If you missed it, Ball State locked up a perfect regular season with a convincing 45-24 rout over Western Michigan, which came into the game with one MAC loss (to Central Michigan, who had no conference losses before going down to BSU last week) and a win over Illinois. All things considered -- the wins over CMU and Navy were much more competitive -- it was probably the Cardinals' most impressive effort of the year, and locks them into next Saturday's MAC Championship against ... survey says ... wait, Buffalo? Seriously? Who's going to protect Turner Gill from the mob of coach-less schools stalking his home at night if the perpetually hapless Bulls engineer an upset for the conference title? The other Tuesday night game was Navy's surprisingly low-scoring, 16-0 win over Northern Illinois, which the Midshipmen took in typical Navy fashion: Quarterback Ricky Dobbs' line for the night was 21 carries for 102 yards and 1-of-1 passing for 32 yards. The loss knocks Northern Illinois to 6-6, which, with the potential shortage of eligible teams, might still get the Huskies into the postseason. Who wouldn't travel for a bowl showdown with the fourth place team in the MAC West?
• One more round of Shady. Kids usually wait to make these decisions, and LeSean McCoy has two more regular season games and a bowl game left to change his mind, but as of Tuesday, the redshirt sophomore is coming back to Pittsburgh next year. That gives the Panthers a good excuse to continue avoiding the slow death of the vaguely West Coast-ish stylings of Dave Wannstedt and Matt Cavanaugh, which have wisely taken a back seat to one of the more underrated backs in the country.
Just in case, though, you might want to catch the Panthers' noon date Friday with West Virginia, which lacks the stakes of last year's Brawl in Morgantown but could have roughly the same theme:
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• At least they didn't tear the goal posts down this time. I don't see any way around mentioning this, since the story is all over the place, but at least it's going past the jump. Yes, there was debauchery at the Metrodome:
Considering the state of the Minnesota Gophers' crippling loss against the Iowa Hawkeyes last weekend, one could reasonably assume some would have rather watched anything but the action on the field.
That's precisely what police said approximately 15 people did when they observed the action going on inside a men's bathroom at the Metrodome last Saturday.
According to a report filed by University of Minnesota Police, the crowd had gathered to cheer on a couple "having relations" in one of the stalls.
​
Okay, fine. It's the Gophers' last game in that terrible building, and they're getting absolutely stomped. As the story says, after four straight losses, even stoic Norwegian farmers have to cheer something. Even Iowa fans, given the Hawkeyes' stellar record there lately, are going to miss the place. So consider it a kind of "reverse christening," a fond farewell to the site of so many exchanges of axes, jugs, bronzed pigs and the like, and let's just move on to more mature subjects. Like the 38-year-old woman's divorce proceedings, for example.
Quickly ... Joe Paterno is out of the hospital after hip replacement surgery, just in time for Thanksgiving. ... I guess Tommy Tuberville realizes his team is going down in the Iron Bowl. Just as long as it's not without a fight. ... Chuck Long didn't see it coming (and why should he, after getting a strong a vote of confidence that he would be back in San Diego in 2009?), but the effort to raise money for his buyout had been underway for weeks. ... More Lane Kiffin chatter on Rocky Top. ... Syracuse's coaching search is in bunker mode. ... Boss Gary Pinkel's deal was just extended, but both of Missouri's coordinators are in line for head jobs at mid-major schools. ... Florida's Mike and Maurkice Pouncey missed practice Tuesday after their stepfather lost a leg in a railcar accident. ... Washington safety Tripper Johnson says he's been sick to his stomach since failing to get into position to break up a crucial long throw in Washington State's comeback win in the Apple Cup. And, having seen the play and specifically commented on Johnson's performance therein during Saturday's live blog, he probably should be. ... How Pete Carroll knows Barack Obama is in touch with the people. ... The Texas media folks spent Saturday text-messaging reminders to reporters of the Longhorns' wins over Oklahoma and Missouri. ... And it will always be Jefferson Pilot to me.
 
Clogging the Middle: Ralph Friedgen on stereotypes and body image in Maryland at Boston College

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Boston College ranks first in the ACC and in the top 10 nationally in run defense for the second year in a row, in no small part because of its massive defensive tackles (see what I did there?). This is how you know you're big: Ralph Friedgen goes out of his way to point out how big you are:
"Their two defensive tackles put together weight 700 pounds," Friedgen said. "[Ron] Brace is 324. B.J. Raji, if he is 323, then I am 180."
Friedgen is not 180.
​
Indeed, he is not.
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Maryland's rushing numbers have been solid, outside of that whole "-12 yards at Virginia Tech" thing a couple Thursday nights ago, but Boston College is allowing a paltry 98 yards per game on the ground to ACC opponents. So the Terps gash them for, what, 250 on Saturday? That's how this game works in this conference, right? I'm on to you, ACC.
 
Heisman race: McCoy, Bradford neck and neck

from Texas Longhorns Football: Orangebloods.com - Texas Football Headlines by Fletcher Rutland
As the temperatures get colder around the country, the race for the Heisman trophy is just starting to heat up. The 925 Heisman voters received their ballots this last week and many voters are still shuffling their rankings from game to game, and if this week's exclusive Orangebloods.com Heisman Poll is any indication, we're all in for a wild ride down the stretch
 
Blog Pollin': Texas on top, and preparing for another calm, civilized, well-reasoned debate with Alabama fans

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Now in its fourth year, the Blog Poll is a weekly effort of dozens of college football-centric Web sites representing a wide array of schools under the oversight of founder/manager/guru Brian Cook at MGoBlog, and now appears on CBS Sportsline. It’s an effort to provide a more rigorous check on the mainstream polls that actually, like, count toward the mythical championship, and enthusiastically shines a light on its voters' biases. But mainly, it’s fun. Oh man, if I thought last week was nasty, imagine the quasi-hell that Alabama fans are about to make my Thanksgiving for dropping the Tide all the way to No. 6. But I don't see that I have any choice here:
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One of the dissenting comments last week, when Bama was fourth, didn't like the idea that it was "OK to lose," and any undefeated team should be ranked ahead of any comparable one-loss team. That seems like the conventional wisdom. But obviously that's not true in every case: Practically nobody outside of some rigid, lunatic fringe that I'm not even aware of ranks Utah ahead of every one-loss team, or Boise State, or Ball State, though none of those teams have lost. I don't, either, because those teams' schedules don't compare to teams playing the highest level of competition.
Frankly, as of this moment, Alabama's doesn't either. Look at the winning percentage of the Tide's opponents to date: 46.4 percent is an atrocious number compared to the competition here, the worst in the SEC and one of the worst major conference numbers in the country; USC's opponents have a significantly better mark even with Washington and Washington State on the schedule (the Huskies' and Cougars' combined 1-20 mark against I-A competition is rivaled by Bama opponents Tulane and Western Kentucky, which are 2-17). Clemson's collapse means 'Bama has no major non-conference wins, and only two -- Georgia and Ole Miss (the Rebels replacing LSU after last week's win in Baton Rouge) -- over appreciably goodcompetition. There is almost no practical difference here between Alabama's resumé and Utah's -- the strengths of schedule (according to Jeff Sagarin) and margins of victory are nearly identical, and the Utes' three/four best wins might be slightly better than Alabama's. So it's either raise Utah or drop the Tide; I chose the latter.
I'm sure there will be a lot of responses along the lines of "Any undefeated team in the SEC rabble rabble rabble" and probably some guns fired into the air, and that's true: When Alabama completes an undefeated season by beating Florida in the SEC Championship, they'll earn more than enough value from that win to move up. For now, blame Clemson, Arkansas, Tennessee, LSU and Mississippi State for failing to live up to their end of the deal.
In other sure-to-please news, Texas does indeed remain ahead of Oklahoma for reasons that have nothing to do with having beaten Oklahoma (though that doesn't hurt): The Longhorns have faced a slightly tougher schedule -- their opponents have the highest collective winning percentage of any schedule in the nation -- and their three/four best wins are the tiniest sliver of a hair better than Oklahoma's. This time next week, though, if the Sooners beat Oklahoma State, expect the corresponding boost in strength of schedule and quality wins to push OU in front.
ACC Row is splitting up a bit, as Georgia Tech, Boston College and Florida State relegate Miami, Wake Forest and Maryland, respectively, to the also-ran bin, also home now to North Carolina after the Tar Heels' weird collapse against N.C. State. The Jackets, Eagles and Noles are clearly ahead of the pack at the moment, so I can't wait to see how that gets screwed up beyond belief on this final weekend.
 
The Wannabe Wagerer: Family matters in the Commonwealth Cup

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Doug Gillett
Hey Jenny Slater's Doug Gillett offers betting advice without bias, malice, or credibility. Or, you know, money. I don’t know what y’all are giving thanks for this week, but the Wannabe Wagerer is giving thanks that he’s only been making the last couple weeks’ worth of picks with pretend money. Two straight weeks of 1-3 results? I could’ve done better flipping a coin. (Sayyyy ... )
The stakes are fixing to get higher, though, as I’ve got not only fake money but real familial relationships on the line entering Rivalry Week: Part Deux. The only sure thing this week is a turkey/cheese grits/apple pie-induced bellyache by Thursday evening; everything else is up in the air.
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The Pick: Virginia Tech (-8.5) vs. Virginia
I’m Willing To Bet: “30 Rock” Season One DVD
Approximate Value: $37.99 at Amazon.com
I've gone back and forth on this game, and honestly, I shouldn't be picking it at all. Not only is it an intraconference matchup, it's an intra-family matchup -- my parents are both UVA grads, while pretty much everyone else in my family went to Tech. So whichever way I go here, someone's gonna refuse to speak to me when the family gets together for Christmas.
Fortunately, they may be too scarred by the sight of their schools' atrocious offenses to waste too much Haterade on little old me. The Hokies are averaging just 17 points over their last three games, and Virginia just 12 per. But the last time I wondered whether either offense in a UVA could manage to match the spread on the scoreboard, Connecticut stomped the ’Hoos by 35 without breaking a sweat. Mom, Dad, I hate to say it, but with an ACC title-game berth on the line, the Hokies are gonna cover the spread for the Commonwealth Cup. Fortunately, Dad’s never expected much from the football team to begin with -- he’s more the type to revel in UVA’s academic superiority -- so he can always console himself with UVA's lengthy list of distinguished alums, including Tina Fey (Col ’92), Sarah Palin impersonator par excellence and star of the funniest show on TV.
The Pick: Maryland (+7) at Boston College
I’m Willing to Bet: 50 pounds of Old Bay seasoning
Approximate Value: $362.50
Yep, another ACC game, ’cause I’m dangerous like that. And not just any ACC game, but a Maryland game. It bears repeating: The Terrapins are the weirdest team in the country this year. They started the season by surviving I-AA Delaware and losing by 10 to MTSU, turned around to jackhammer California and Wake Forest into oblivion, then got spanked 31-0 by 1-3 Virginia a week after the Cavs went down 31-3 to Duke. In fact, the Terps are a perfect 4-0 against ranked teams this season.
A lot of that has to do with some cosmic rule mandating that any ACC team finding itself at the top of its division standings must immediately go down in flames, and the Terps’ karma sets up beautifully for Chestnut Hill, where Boston College is both ranked (#21) and at the top of the ACC Atlantic (well, a half-game behind Florida State, but with BC's head-to-head advantage over the Noles, who’s counting?). The Eagles will also be without starting QB Chris Crane, knocked out of last week’s game against Wake Forest with a broken collarbone. You can pick Maryland to pull the straight upset and I won’t stop you, but at the very least, take the Terps and seven to put a major scare into BC for most of the evening. Your reward for a successful pick: an effective lifetime supply of the greatest seasoning ever, declared to be its own food group by executive order of former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening in 1996.
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The Pick: Texas A&M (+34.5) at Texas
I’m Willing To Bet: One month’s worth of Dennis Franchione’s “VIP Connection” e-newsletter
Approximate Value: $100, if that link is accurate
Here’s another one I’ve been on the fence about. The first time I wrote it down, I had Texas -34, thinking that with the Longhorns still clinging to a very tenuous lead over the Sooners in the BCS standings, Mack Brown -- ever the salesman -- would be looking to run up a massive score to sway a few poll voters to his side. But then there's that extra half-a-point, and five TDs is a lot of gravy for a rivalry game, particularly one the Aggies have won the last two years.
As mediocre as the Ags have been for Mike Sherman, they’re still averaging 26.5 points. Mack may be a salesman, but he's not ready to hang 60 on A&M for the first time in the history of this rivalry. He wouldn't do that on Thanksgiving, would he? Oh, if only A&M’s coach were still writing an electronic newsletter jam-packed with premium information that would give me the inside scoop on how it's going to play out! Does anyone know if Coach Fran is still publishing?
The Pick: Arkansas State (-20) at North Texas
I’m Willing To Bet: Mean Joe Green autograph card
Approximate Value: $99.99 at eBay
As last week’s incorrect selection in the Worst Apple Cup Of All Time proved, I’m hardly an expert at deciphering among crappy teams. When one team is crappy and the other is merely mediocre, though, I think I’ve got a chance. In one corner this weekend, we have Arkansas State, 5-5 but still very much in the running for the Sun Belt title (and don’t forget, the Red Wolves punked Texas A&M in their season opener). In the other corner, we have North Texas, 1-10 and not in the running for anything other than the dishonor of Worst Team In Division I-A.
Nine of the Mean Green’s losses have been by four TDs or more. And while Arkansas State doesn’t have any truly impressive conference blowouts on the résumé, it does have an 83-10 annihilation of I-AA Texas Southern, which tells me they do know how to open up a can when the right opponent presents itself. The Red Wolves won’t beat UNT by 73, but ASU will cover 20 with ease, making the Mean Green’s days of dominance in the SBC look that much more distant -- and the dominating 23-5-1 run under “Mean Joe Green” in the late sixties further still.
 
Texas Still Has Work to Do

from Bevo Sports by Mike
Obviously this year’s Texas vs. Texas A&M football game has more on the line than just bragging rights. The Longhorns enter the game at number two in the BCS, but hold such a slight lead in the standings that many worry that an Oklahoma win over Oklahoma State will propel the Sooners into the Big 12 Championship game and with that into the National Title game.
On top of all the BCS hoopla, Texas also wants to erase the memory of the Aggies ruining their last two seasons. The Aggies are awful, but they were for the last two years so the focus for Mack Brown and his staff has been to keep their players focused on the task at hand. There are some aspects of this puzzle that the football team can control and some that they can’t. The Longhorns must focus all their energy on what they can control.
For this week’s preview we look at what the Longhorns must do to sway a few voters back their way.

  1. Beat the Hell out of A&M. The fans yell it, the team must do it. Even if the BCS wasn’t in the picture the recent history of this game should give these players enough motivation to put it on the Aggies. There is no doubt Texas has had the better team the last two years, but there is also little doubt who wanted the game more. A&M have been more physical than the Longhorns over that stretch and in football the team that hits the other in the mouth first usually has the upper hand. Keep in mind that while players like Colt McCoy have beaten the Sooners twice in their career, they have not beaten A&M. Texas needs to do it big this week.
  2. Don’t let up. Mack Brown is a nice guy. Too nice at times. Coaches like Bob Stoops and Mike Leach make no bones about putting up big points even when the game is well out of reach. And while common sense would suggest that the voters would understand that a win is a win style points do count. There is no doubt that Oklahoma will put a as many points as they can if given the opportunity on Saturday night in Stillwater and Texas must do the same on Thanksgiving night. Texas needs to let their players play the whole game and put up over 60 points. All the voters know that Texas beat OU head to head, but many have given the nod to the Sooners in the polls because they feel Oklahoma has been more dominant in the last few games. Texas needs to put up a huge score on Thursday because the vote on Sunday will likely come down to who looks better this week.
  3. Run the ball. Oklahoma is being viewed as the better team because people feel they have more ways to beat you. Last week against Texas Tech the Sooners did something Texas couldn’t do. They controlled the line of scrimmage and moved the ball on the ground at will. Voters, especially the coaches, want to see balance. Texas has not had balance this year unless the running comes from McCoy. With Foswhitt Whittaker back in the mix and the emergence of a health Vondrell McGee, the Longhorn running game has improved over the last few weeks. The Longhorns need to be able to run the ball when the other team, the announcers, and everybody watching knows they are about to run it. The Longhorns have struggled with that this year, but voting is a what have you done for me lately job and if Texas can come out and dominate it will erase a lot of the concerns people have had about the UT offense all season long.
  4. Shutout. It might be a little much to ask for a shutout, but this team needs something close to that to impress the voters. I think most people consider Texas’ and OU’s offense on par with each other. Oklahoma gets the advantage in most people’s mind because of a perceived opinion that the Sooner defense is better than Texas’. A score of 42-6 would help Texas more than say a score of 65-24. Texas needs to be dominant in every aspect of the game, but a complete whipping of the Aggies on defense would impress the voters tremendously. All eyes will be on Texas this weekend and Will Muschamp needs to prove why he is being selected as the next head coach at Texas.
  5. Remind the voters 45 - 35. This is going to be on the fans. Mack Brown and his staff have rightfully put all the week’s energy on beating A&M. It will be up to the fans on Thursday night to get the word out that what happens on the field should matter the most. It can be done with chants of “45 – 35″ and with the signs that the Longhorn nation is looking to print out and distribute to all the people in attendance. When the cameras go into the stands in between plays or coming back from commercials the viewers at home need to be bombarded with evidence of the victory at The Fair Grounds.
Even with all this done it might not be enough to stay in front of Oklahoma, but at least UT would have done everything they could to get there. If the Big 12 Championship is OU vs. Missouri it will be a match up of two teams Texas beat by double digits on the year. The Longhorns have over achieved for much of the year and deserve to catch a break. Hopefully they will this weekend. No matter what happens just remember: Go Baylor Bears.
 
A Tale of Two Teams: What Clemson-Carolina Means to Both Teams this Year

from Garnet And Black Attack by Gamecock Man


The Famous 1902 Transparency. Check out Photon Torpedo Tube for a story that should make every Gamecock proud (and every Tiger ashamed).
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Like last year, Carolina and Clemson come into their annual slugfest going into different directions, but both could reverse their paths by winning the game. This time, though, the roles have switched. Last year, the Gamecocks welcomed Clemson to Williams-Brice with the weight of a four game losing streak on their shoulders. Beating Clemson would have been a way to partially remove the taint of the lost dreams of what had been a very promising season. Clemson came to town having had a pretty solid season, although they had lost to Boston College the previous week and lost a bid in the ACC Title Game in the process. Of course, the Tigers won that game on a last second FG, ruining the Gamecocks' season and bolstering their 2008 preseason expectations.
This year, things have gone the other way. The Gamecocks, although hardly world beaters, have generally lived up to expectations. If we win this game and our bowl, we will finish the season ranked for the first time in the Spurrier era. Much like Clemson's win did last year, that will likely set up relatively lofty 2010 expectations for Carolina, who returns a lot of players and has a solid recruiting class in the works. Clemson, meanwhile, has utterly failed to live up to their preseason role as a dark horse national title contender. The Tigers removed their battle captain in the middle of the season, replacing Tommy Bowden with Dabo Swinney. Swinney has Clemson playing better football, but this season has been a rough one for the Tigers, and they desperately want to beat us as a consolation prize.
As it should be in any great rivalry, the implications of this game are huge for both teams. For the Tigers, Saturday brings a chance to redeem a horrible season. A win could also give Dabo Swinney, who seems like a very good coach (certainly better than Bowden) and is very popular with the players, a chance to keep his job. A loss, on the other hand, doesn't bode well for Swinney and will plunge Clemson deeper into the abyss of uncertainty. They could lose disillusioned players to the NFL Draft. They could lose the favor of many in-state recruits. Things could get bad. This is a scenario that I would like to see.
What does this game mean for us? In his fourth year, Steve Spurrier needs this win to give him a chance to have his best year in Columbia. A win, and everything appears to be as it should be. We'll be on our way to the Outback Bowl and have a chance to finish the season ranked. That's a good season considering what happened last year. A loss, though, and the program will appear stagnant. This is especially true considering that this game has never been riper for a Carolina victory. Simply put, this is a must-win game for Steve Spurrier and his Gamecocks. I will be extremely disappointed if we don't win Saturday, and I'm not just talking about the kind of disappointment you always get from losing a game, especially to a hated rival. I'm talking about the kind of disappointment you get when you begin to seriously wonder whether your team is ever going to take the next step or whether 6-6 and 7-5 is just your lot in life. This game is a, maybe the, definitive moment thus far of the Spurrier era.
I'll be back on Friday with a preview of the nuts and bolts of the game. Until then, I want to wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time with family and friends. Also, do your friend Gamecock Man a favor and pray that I don't burn my turkey.
 
A Tale of Two Teams: What Clemson-Carolina Means to Both Teams this Year

from Garnet And Black Attack by Gamecock Man


The Famous 1902 Transparency. Check out Photon Torpedo Tube for a story that should make every Gamecock proud (and every Tiger ashamed).
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Like last year, Carolina and Clemson come into their annual slugfest going into different directions, but both could reverse their paths by winning the game. This time, though, the roles have switched. Last year, the Gamecocks welcomed Clemson to Williams-Brice with the weight of a four game losing streak on their shoulders. Beating Clemson would have been a way to partially remove the taint of the lost dreams of what had been a very promising season. Clemson came to town having had a pretty solid season, although they had lost to Boston College the previous week and lost a bid in the ACC Title Game in the process. Of course, the Tigers won that game on a last second FG, ruining the Gamecocks' season and bolstering their 2008 preseason expectations.
This year, things have gone the other way. The Gamecocks, although hardly world beaters, have generally lived up to expectations. If we win this game and our bowl, we will finish the season ranked for the first time in the Spurrier era. Much like Clemson's win did last year, that will likely set up relatively lofty 2010 expectations for Carolina, who returns a lot of players and has a solid recruiting class in the works. Clemson, meanwhile, has utterly failed to live up to their preseason role as a dark horse national title contender. The Tigers removed their battle captain in the middle of the season, replacing Tommy Bowden with Dabo Swinney. Swinney has Clemson playing better football, but this season has been a rough one for the Tigers, and they desperately want to beat us as a consolation prize.
As it should be in any great rivalry, the implications of this game are huge for both teams. For the Tigers, Saturday brings a chance to redeem a horrible season. A win could also give Dabo Swinney, who seems like a very good coach (certainly better than Bowden) and is very popular with the players, a chance to keep his job. A loss, on the other hand, doesn't bode well for Swinney and will plunge Clemson deeper into the abyss of uncertainty. They could lose disillusioned players to the NFL Draft. They could lose the favor of many in-state recruits. Things could get bad. This is a scenario that I would like to see.
What does this game mean for us? In his fourth year, Steve Spurrier needs this win to give him a chance to have his best year in Columbia. A win, and everything appears to be as it should be. We'll be on our way to the Outback Bowl and have a chance to finish the season ranked. That's a good season considering what happened last year. A loss, though, and the program will appear stagnant. This is especially true considering that this game has never been riper for a Carolina victory. Simply put, this is a must-win game for Steve Spurrier and his Gamecocks. I will be extremely disappointed if we don't win Saturday, and I'm not just talking about the kind of disappointment you always get from losing a game, especially to a hated rival. I'm talking about the kind of disappointment you get when you begin to seriously wonder whether your team is ever going to take the next step or whether 6-6 and 7-5 is just your lot in life. This game is a, maybe the, definitive moment thus far of the Spurrier era.
I'll be back on Friday with a preview of the nuts and bolts of the game. Until then, I want to wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time with family and friends. Also, do your friend Gamecock Man a favor and pray that I don't burn my turkey.
 
Don't Bet On It!: National Games of Interest

from Dawg Sports by T Kyle King
Yesterday, I took you around the S.E.C., so the time has come for me to provide you with the national picks for the upcoming holiday weekend. I actually went 3-1 in last week’s nationwide prognostications to improve to 40-31, but I was way wrong about the one I missed, so my usual disclaimer still very much applies. Whatever you do . . . Don’t Bet On It!

Here are this week’s national contests of note, the first of which will be played on Friday, November 28:

West Virginia at Pittsburgh: Both Big East teams sport 7-3 records. The Mountaineers are half a game out of first place in the league. The Panthers are in fourth place in the conference. Can someone remind me again why I think Pitt is having a better season than W.V.U.? There may not be a game anywhere in America involving two B.C.S. conference clubs that features two head coaches in whom I repose less faith than this <strike>chess</strike> <strike>checkers</strike> <strike>tic-tac-toe</strike> rock-paper-scissors match between Bill Stewart and Dave Wannstedt; there has not been so little sideline acumen assembled in a single stadium since Bill Curry coached alone. I’m going with West Virginia for no particularly good reason.

Maryland at Boston College: The only reason this game doesn’t represent a crucial contest in the determination of the Big East bowl pecking order is that both of these teams inexplicably find themselves in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Go figure. In a league as topsy-turvy as the A.C.C., I’m hesitant to pick the better team to win, but surely nothing in nature suggests that a Terrapin is capable of fending off an Eagle, right?

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The namesake of the oldest college of the University of Georgia may have wanted our national symbol to be the bird we’ll all be eating tomorrow evening, but there’s a reason no one ever advocated making a turtle an American emblem.

Fresno State at Boise State: Remember back in the preseason when we thought this one would be worth circling on the calendar? A funny thing happened on the way to the Golden State Bulldogs’ full-fledged return to Western Athletic Conference prominence. The West Coast F.S.U. isn’t a bad team by any means, but the Broncos are the class of the league by a good-sized margin and that fact will not change this Saturday, as Boise State will improve to 12-0. Do not doubt the mojo of the blue turf.

Oregon at Oregon State: This year’s <strike>Battle of the Color-Blind Equipment Managers</strike> Battle of the Webbed Feet (sorry; "Civil War" is not a term my people use, although I’ll be happy to call it "The War Within the State") carries extra added significance, despite the fact that Jacquizz Rodgers’s shoulder injury may represent a departure from the expected script for the Beavers, who are one win away from plunging over the precipice separating the they-haven’t-been-to-the-Rose-Bowl-in-how-long? feel-good story of the college football season from the they’re-being-rematched-in-a-bowl-with-a-team-that-beat-them-how-badly-in-September? ratings-deflating disappointment of the college football postseason. Although the Ducks have matched their in-state rivals in overall record (8-3) and are but a game behind O.S. in the conference standings, Oregon’s wins have come over teams with a combined ledger of 27-62, which is why I resisted ranking the squad from Eugene for so long. Even with Rodgers sidelined, I like Oregon State to close the deal in Corvallis.

Oklahoma at Oklahoma State: Was ever there a team in a more prime position for a letdown than the Sooners in Stillwater this Saturday? The Cowboys, being the "little brothers" in this series, likely take the game more seriously than O.U. Bob Stoops’s troops are coming down off of a huge victory in Norman that has everyone talking about division crowns, poll rankings, and national championships . . . everything, in short, except for Saturday’s game. The Pokes are coming off of an open date and O.S.U. is playing at home. The problem, though, is that Coach Stoops reminded us last weekend how he got the nickname "Big Game Bob," whereas Mike Gundy’s lifetime record against Oklahoma, both as a quarterback and as a head coach, is 0-7. This weekend will make it 0-8 as the visitors register the victory, Sooner or later.

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As long as we’re working a Stephen Colbert theme here, I’d like to remind everyone that Oklahoma is on notice!

I feel <strike>pretty good</strike> <strike>all right</strike> utterly uncertain about <strike>some</strike> <strike>most</strike> all of those picks, so, if I’m not sure, you clearly shouldn’t be. The lesson to be learned from my self-doubt is simple: Don’t Bet On It!

Coming Soon: National Game of Disinterest.

Go ‘Dawgs!
 
For Longhorns, hard lessons were learned by loss at A&M

By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, November 27, 2008
The memories of a late November evening spent at Kyle Field a year ago are nearly too painful for the Texas Longhorns to recall.
The Longhorns' offense committed three turnovers. They scored only a field goal in the first half and reignited only after a 91-yard kick return from Quan Cosby .
The Longhorns' defense had no idea whether the previously predictable Aggies offense would run or pass. And in a bizarre play, a Texas safety tried for an interception, only to knock a cornerback from the tackle and allow a clear path to the end zone.
Even the near-perfect field goal kicker missed an extra point.
The Longhorns' errors all led to a 38-30 Texas A&M victory, Texas' second consecutive improbable loss to the Aggies.
"We didn't play with a lot of emotion; that was clear," recalled Texas offensive tackle Adam Ulatoski. "And I don't know why."
Yet in a perverse sort of way, that failure a year ago led to the Longhorns' successes this season.
"It was a wakeup call for us," said Longhorn senior cornerback Ryan Palmer, who will be playing his final home game tonight. "Everybody had to look at themselves in the mirror and evaluate themselves, what they were doing for the team."
Added Texas defensive tackle Lamarr Houston: "It did help us in that it was a reality check."
This year's version of the Longhorns is a tight-knit group that has yet to suffer the inconsistencies that plagued the team from the year before. Their lone loss was suffered at Lubbock when Texas Tech scored the winning touchdown with one second to go.
Texas is 10-1, is ranked fourth in the human polls and stands second in this week's Bowl Championship Series standings. The only other team in Mack Brown's 11 years to reach 10 wins before the A&M game was the 2005 national championship squad.
And they're in position to compete for their second national title in four years — largely because of what happened in College Station on Nov. 23, 2007.
In the immediate aftermath of that game, Brown ordered far stricter practices. The Longhorns' bowl workouts started at 6 a.m. All starting jobs, save for quarterback, were opened for daily competition. An official depth chart wasn't announced until just before kickoff of the Holiday Bowl.
Accountability was the team focus in every early-morning practice. Brown brought back the "not our standard" drills that had been implemented in 2004. Coaches graded each day's practices. The next day, any player who blew a play or made a lazy tackle was forced to confess his sins while the team did "up downs." The punitive drill called for players to jog in place until they heard a whistle. Then they'd belly drop to the ground and get back up again.
The accountability and camaraderie was evident in the Longhorns' 52-34 win over Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl. And it made the transition into this season.
"This team has done everything we asked of them," Brown said this week. In recent days, he's said this year's season has been the most fun he's had at Texas. "They're deserving of whatever is out there for them if they finish well."
Finishing well was a problem in each of the past two seasons against Texas A&M.
It's been especially problematic for Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, who is aiming to keep his Heisman Trophy chances alive and, more important, to defeat the Aggies for the first time.
If he does lead Texas to a win tonight, it'll be the 31st in McCoy's career, making him the winningest quarterback in school history.
In his two games against A&M, though, McCoy has suffered six turnovers — four interceptions and two fumbles. He was knocked out of the 2006 game with a chin-high hit that sent him to an emergency room for three hours.
McCoy said this week that he has not watched film of last year's A&M game.
One reason is the Aggies have changed up their defensive scheme with a new coordinator. The other is he readily remembers what happened. There's no need for a video reminder.
After last year's A&M game, "we re-committed ourselves," McCoy said. "All the guys who were coming back for (2008), we really took it personal."
Times have changed for Texas, with McCoy's turnaround the most evident. A year ago against the Aggies, McCoy was on the brink of breaking the school record for most interceptions in a season.
In this year's game, McCoy can break the school single-season record for passing yards. He needs only 224 yards to break Major Applewhite's total of 3,357 from 1999.
"Yes, we're planning on winning and playing well," McCoy said. "We know what's at stake."
 
She’s Uncoachable: The Perfect Package and Exotic Dancer of the Year, Taya Parker

Published by Natty at 9:02 am under She's Uncoachable


Kind of sounds like Lex Luger’s old name right? The Total Package. Put it this way, when you have the nickname “The Pefect Package” you better back it up. And believe you me, Taya Parker is pretty close to being that package. And it’s not just because she was on the cover of Penthouse in January of 2008.
Hell it’s not because she’ll take her clothes off all the time. And it’s not because she is the 2007/2008 Exotic Dancer of the Year. And no it’s not because she’s appeared in Playboy’s busty babes.
It’s because she has a fan club with members on all 7 continents. That means people in Antarctica masturbate to Taya in some internet igloo somewhere. Now that’s awesome.
More of the perfect package after the jump

 
The Weekly Buzz

from Big Red Network
Welcome to the Thanksgiving Day Edition of the Weekly Buzz! I've planned nothing special at all, just wanted to say that I'm thankful for the readers who are so dedicated they are looking at this site on a day usually reserved for families and friends.
Texas A&M @ Texas » Mack Brown is rooting for a BCS upheaval. He needs to win this game with style points and a whole bunch of other things out of his control to happen for him. The Aggies have pulled upsets to ruin their season before, and they will try to do it again. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a chance that the Longhorns slip up here. Their average scoring is 17 points/game higher. They average 90 yards/game more. And their defense – unbelievable run stopping coupled with the fewest points/game allowed in the Big 12. They should be able to win with style here, 63-13.
Colorado @ Nebraska » There's not much I can say about this game with an objective viewpoint. Every year, Colorado throws their best stuff at the Huskers and hopes it sticks. This year, their best stuff has only let them get more than 30 points in two games, and more than 20 in only 4 games! No way they can win this game with point totals like that. Even in Nebraska's losses, our lowest point totals have been 28 and 17. If somehow, magically, both of these teams somehow become different teams, the Buffs have a chance. Otherwise, it's the Huskers on top 42-17.
Kansas @ Missouri » This game is being played again in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. This location is almost smack dab in between Lawrence, KS and Columbia, MO, a pure neutral site game if I've ever seen one. Unfortunately, it's been bumped by the Big 12 South game of the week and pushed to an 11:30 am time slot. The Jayhawks are playing for more than pride, they still have the chance for a solid bowl game with a win here. A 6-6 season, while bowl eligible, is a disappointment after their 2007 season. The Tigers are already in the Big 12 Championship game, but they want a solid victory to pad their record going into the Championship game. They need to win this and the Big 12 Title to have their shot at a BCS bowl. I think MU pulls out a big win here in a shootout, 52-35.
Baylor @ Texas Tech » Another team that needs a convincing victory, the Red Raiders better hope they don't “try too hard” to be awesome in this game. Baylor has a way of making teams play to their level. After a hard lost, grueling battle, they've got to avoid a letdown against a team averaging 170 rushing yards/game. We know that Texas Tech has had its share of issues with teams that control the clock, but TT is so efficient that they will get their points on the board if a defense isn't top rated. Baylor is allowing 28 points/game and 395 yards/game. Against an average offensive team in the Big 12, this would be enough, but Texas Tech is not average. This will likely be closer than most people think, but Baylor will be playing against starters the whole game. Bears lose 40-28.
Oklahoma @ Oklahoma State » Both of these teams are in the top half of the Big 12 in almost every stats category. Oklahoma has a slight edge in most of them, especially offensively. The Cowboy's running game is a bit better, but the Sooner rush defense is second best only to Texas. The thing about this game that can't be broken down is how much this has an impact on the whole BCS this year. The Sooners want to get in the Big 12 Title game against Missouri and roll onto the National Championship game. If they don't win this one in convincing fashion, they may not get their shot ahead of Texas. I say Stoops wins a big one here 55-30.
 
Morning Coffee Devours Turkey and Aggies

from Burnt Orange Nation by GhostofBigRoy
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Enemy of the Nation McGee to possibly start. Games against A&M during Stephen McGee's career have been painful affears for Longhorn denizens. Any shot at a Heisman Trophy slipped out of an uncharacteristically subdued (by illness, Texas fans later learned) Vince Young's hands as McGee took on any Longhorn tackler in his vicinity on his way to 108 yards rushing (42.5% of his season total) and his only two rushing touchdowns on the season.
Hit by the Longhorn defense so hard the following year that he was throwing up, McGee and the Aggie triple option marched 88 yards in 16 plays and 8:56, with McGee finishing the drive himself from seven yards out. Of course, that set the stage for two McCoy interceptions and two hits by Aggie defenders that left McCoy unaware of his surroundings for quite some time. Spawning as well questions about McCoy's toughness and his derogatory nickname, Cart McCoy.
And yes, there is more. McGee hadn't yet gashed the Longhorns in the passing game, the talent that helped he and Jordan Shipley break Texas high school aerial records. McGee did so for 362 yards and three touchdowns on 69% accuracy. For McGee that season it was his highest completion percentage (only one other time did he crack 60%), most touchdowns, most yards, and most yards per attempt. This is the long way of saying that McGee performs well against the Longhorns...and anyway from mediocre to poor against everyone else. Despite his lost senior season to injuries and Jerrod Johnson's emergence as the future at quarterback for A&M, the fact that McGee is listed as co-starter against the Longhorns is enough to dredge up a lot of negative memories for UT fans.
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Straight off the wire. Chip Brown's Orangebloods notes on the Wire ($) are always a premier place for Longhorn factoids. Among the news for this week:

  • Chykie Brown is finally healthy since injuring his ankle against Oklahoma State. Chip Brown opines, and I agree, that having Chykie during the Texas Tech game may have tilted it in the Longhorns' favor. I personally believe Chykie would have made a play on the ball that Crabtree caught for the game-winning touchdown.
  • More David Snow at center, as Chris Hall isn't healthy yet. I don't see this is as problem, since I believe Snow beat out an ineffective Buck Burnette for the backup center job and clearly is a talented kid to earn playing time so quickly on a deeply talented, if not always overly effective, offensive line. Let's just hope that he and Colt worked on the under-center exchange that resulted in the fumble against Kansas.
  • Christian Scott will get some snaps against A&M an up-and-down performance against Kansas. He looked sensational on some plays, taking on Angus Quigley in the hole after Quigley injured Blake Gideon and forcing and recovering a fumble, along with several big hits. He looked like the physical presence the Longhorns haven't had for years in the secondary. He also dropped an easy interception and missed three tackles. The question about Scott is his ability to think the game and communicate with his teammates, but there is no doubt that he has the physical skills to excel. When Gideon beat him out, the need for repetitions for the true freshman from Leander kept Scott off the field for most of the season.
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Basketball bullets? Basketball bullets.

  • Damion James and AJ Abrams are adjusting to new roles. It may take them some time to understand them. The game against Oregon was encouraging, as DJ attacked the rim with an efficient performance and Abrams only took one three-pointer, which he made. James must improve his decision in transition, however, because Barnes is going to ask him to push the ball at times.
  • The loss of J'Covan Brown is huge. After Abrams, there aren't any high-volume three-point threats on this team and that makes defending the line all that more important because the Longhorns can't trade threes. As efficiently as James and Atchley hit threes last season, they just aren't high-volume shooters. Could be the weakness that kills the Longhorns in March.
  • Pittman has to stay out of foul trouble, which adds to the Shaq-lite talk. As hard as O'Neal is to officiate, so is Dexy. He needs to understand where his body is and avoid all the cheap fouls he accumulates. He's only managed to play 15 minutes once this season, against Tulane, committing 18 fouls in 49 minutes, or a foul every 2.7 minutes. Trips feels like he's out on a limb supporting the big fella, but he's not alone. Dexy takes up so much space and the kid has great hands, surviving a strong rake at the ball by an Oregon defender before slamming it home. Love the strength. I want Barnes to let him play through foul trouble, but Dexy gave up on really easy drive with foul trouble and that's not going to work on a team that needs consisten defensive effort and execution.
  • Freshman Varez Ward is having similar problems, committing 11 fouls in 36 minutes--one every 3.3 minutes.
  • Rick Barnes allows his players a lot of freedom offensively, but it places a lot of responsibility on the players. It will take some time for this team to mesh offensively, but they will be much better at the end of the season than they are now, as Ricky B said after the Notre Dame game. Watching McAlarney shoot the ball the last two days--that kid has a beautiful stroke and range out to about 27 feet it seems like. There's kinetic perfection in the way he squares, keeps his body silent and strokes the hell out of the ball. Wow, pure. He hit some deep ones against North Carolina that didn't come anywhere near hitting the loose rims in Maiu.
  • Which brings me to Justin Mason, who has been great. He's giving consistently great effort on the defensive end, while playing well enough to claim primary ball-handling responsibility. He's an athletic kid who has improved his explosiveness under Todd Wright to the point that he can do this (how about the sensational crossover, great change of pace) and look comfortable finishing with his off hand. Even though the Longhorns are going to play more two-guard lineups, Barnes still needs to give Mason the freedom to crash the offensive glass, where he is as tenacious as he is at everything else on the floor. He steps up at big moments, even excelling as a weak side shot blocker, as he blocked a dunk attempt by an Oregon big. What a player; great feel for the game. Still can't really shoot, but he can hit a few jumpers when he's in rhythm.
  • When he was coach of the Bulls, Scott Skiles used to say that Kirk Hinrich needed to make professional layups. Clint Chapman needs to learn to make collegiate layups. Including a missed dunk against St. Joseph's, Chapman probably missed five other layups in Maui. If he's not careful, he going to go the way of Matt Hill and never see any burn. For a kid with a decent-looking stroke, he misses way too many free throws, really struggling to hit any at all, going 1 of 8 on the season. Not good, Chappy.
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Give it up for the senior class. As correct as PB may have been to look forward to 2009, if the 2008 season has done one thing, it's illuminated clearly the value to the team of the senior class. They are the last group of players to have contributed on the field to the 2005 champions and deserve plaudits for that.
Roy Miller, Brian Orakpo, and Henry Melton have been sensational on the defensive line. Each of them deserve their own posts recognizing their achievements this season, particulary Melton, who has been the contributor on defense Longhorn fans always wanted him to be on offense. I recall many of my own "Hank the Tank" calls in short-yardage situations, misled though they were. Miller and Orakpo surpass superlatives. Their achievements are obvious even to the most dim-witted observers.
On the offense, the incredible hands of Quan Cosby. Kid finallly failed to catch a couple balls when he was interfered with. Completely unacceptable. He will be missed greatly. OG. Those runs against Missouri and Oklahoma were sensational. All those catches, blitzes picked up. Cedric Dockery, who worked hard to rehab from his ACL tear.
If Texas fans have any respect, they will be on hand to honor the seniors before the game.
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Calling out Longhorn fans, again. Honestly, Texas fans drive me crazy most of the time. They lack energy, passion, intensity. I went to the Hex Rally the other night for the first time and was pretty disappointed. The fans barely filled up South Mall before Intercampus Drive. There was little energy during the cheers, even with the two straight losses to the Aggies. Few cheers for the senior class and little enthusiasm around the players as they walked up underneath the Tower. Hell, the Tower never even lighted orange.
Texas fans show up late for games and leave early. Hey, I know it's hard to maintain your buzz throughout the game when you can't drink in the stadium. Bring a flask or something. It's not a social event where you stand and talk the whole time. That's for the tailgate. Which you need to leave more than 15 minutes before the game starts. I have a feeling there will be several thousand empty seats in the stadium on Thursday evening. Catatonic fans who ate too much turkey and failed to chug a Red Bull before the game. Frankly, I have no expectations, because that way a reasonably noisy crowd might make me happy. Pathetic. No wonder opposing fans consider the Burnt Orange faithful arrogant and entitled. Those fans are probably right. As easy as they are to make fun of, at least Aggie fans are impassioned.
 
good luck this week RJ, just added texas -34.5 and TT over 50.5..... glad to see you on your boys as well.

:ousucks:
 
BC-Maryland preview

from Eagle in Atlanta -- atleagle.com by ATL_eagle
I’ve already rehashed the Syracuse game. Not much needs to be said: it is a different time, different place, different stakes, different team and a different coach. What happens this Saturday will not be because of any jinx or curse. We don’t have Chris Crane, but I think we are all forgetting how much this team accomplished when Crane was giving games away. If Davis can be a “game manager” BC can win.

Narrative talking point that you’ll tire of by the end of the game.
"Maryland is playing spoiler to BC. They can keep the Eagles from heading to Tampa." I think Maryland is past the point of being spoiler. Spoiler means something when you are a losing team or are facing a No.1 type program. While we’ve accomplished more of late, we are still Maryland’s peer. They want to win so they can get to a better bowl and end the season on a high note. I don’t think they are trying to “ruin” our season or help out the Florida State team that crushed them last week.

Three Simple Keys
1. Get to Turner. Florida State had Turner on his back the whole night and the Terps sputtered. Last year as Maryland gashed us, Turner had all the time in the world. We need pressure him early and often.
2. Establish the run. The whole stadium is going to expect us to run. Maryland might as well put 11 in the box. Regardless, we need to move the ball on the ground and take the pressure off of Davis.
3. No special teams’ breakdowns. The blocked punt almost cost us the Wake game. This will probably be a low scoring contest. Any points we hand them could be the difference.

Gambling notes
-- BC hasn’t lost three home games in one season since 2003.
-- Since the ACC expanded Maryland is 7-12 in ACC road games.
-- Maryland has never beaten six ranked teams in one season.
The current line is BC-6.5

Factoid
429 miles separates Chestnut Hill and College Park, Maryland. It is 488 miles from Coral Gables to Tallahassee. Yet no one ever says Miami is out of place in their new conference. Why do we still have to listen to the BC travel costs argument from outsiders?

Scoreboard Watching
We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but pay attention to the Virginia-Virginia Tech game. If the Hokies win, they advance to Tampa. If Virginia wins, Georgia Tech wins the Coastal division.

I hope to see…
Davis succeed. Given how this team has held together all year, I would hate to see the kid meltdown and cost the guys the shot at the conference game.


BC is in trouble if…
Maryland runs the ball well. If the Terps can run, that will eat clock, limit possessions, and keep the score low. It will also reduce the chance for turnovers. Whoever controls the ball and tempo Saturday wins.


Bottom Line
I should be fretting about this game. Worried that we might blow it. Worried that Davis will be terrible. Yet I am optimistic. I think Davis will be okay and the defense will carry the day again.
Final Score: BC 24, Maryland 13
 
'Horns in the barn, with a bang

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
ept_sports_ncaaf_experts-775532233-1227847050.jpg
Texas 49, Texas A&M 9. Quite the campaign rally tonight for Texas: a convincing beatdown on the field, combined with a shrewdly on-message theme in the stands. Colt McCoy embraced his etymological destiny after a pair of losses to A&M with a typically cool, flawless effort despite heavy pressure from Joe Kines' defense, the Aggies were held to -25 yards rushing and the media blitz couldn't have come off more flawlessly for ESPN's cameras. Even the 45-35 Facebook kid held his own with Fowler and Co.
I would say Oklahoma needs to make a similar push -- 39-33/65-21 signs, perhaps, if they could trust pollsters to follow the logic of more than one score at a time -- but there's not much the Sooners can really do besides win. The human polls are already in OU's corner, and the heretofore Longhorn-loving computers only care about the value of beating Oklahoma State, period; the machines don't read style points. So, unlike UT's emphatic appeal to the humans tonight, the only tactic in the Sooners' campaign playbook Saturday is an old-fashioned 'W,' followed by a solid finger-crossin'. It's going to be a fun weekend.
 
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