CFB Week 3 (9/11-9/13) News and Picks

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">9:44 AM (5 minutes ago)
Profiles in Disillusion: So much for Mountaineers' Mr. Nice Guy

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

Conquered favorites and other notables picking up the pieces of shattered ambition this week: We, uh, may have made a huge mistake. West Virginia only beat East Carolina by 41 points in '07, so it's not altogether surprising following a 62-point swing in just one year that the Charleston Gazette's Dave Hickman has to remind 'Eer fans that, yes, the sun will come up tomorrow (although even a level-headed, bespectacled columnist might have his doubts when he files that column at midnight, when the smoke from the Appalachian couch fires is blotting out the heavens). Not surprisingly, Michigan obsessive, noted RichRod enthusiast and prominent WVU antagonist Brian Cook was quick to jump in the driver's seat schadenfreude bandwagon, and, well, Mountaineer message boarders suddenly have a hard time disagreeing with him about boss Bill Stewart:

• I was willing to give him at least three before he collapsed it. Never did I think we would look this bad, flat, soft, and lethargic within the first month of his first year.
[...]
• The players gave up before I did today, and the coaches gave up before they did.​

You are upset because you know I'm right. This hire was a huge mistake. Stewart had ONE off-season without RR, Magee, and Barwis and two games into the season the players are playing soft and without emotion.
[...]
• This is yet another thing that Mike Garrison screwed up. He was probably wasted in a luxury box at the Fiesta Bowl and decided what the hell, let's hire Stew.
[...]
• I've kept my mouth shut for the last year. The WVU President was a fraud who is to blame for all this. Stewart is a good ol' boy just like [ex-WVU coach Frank] Cignetti. The players love him. We are in trouble. I saw this happen back in 1977.
And so on, three days and counting. Those are more entertaining when read out loud, by the way. West By God Virginia has the appropriately succinct summation (careful with that one, sensitive clickers).
Also on the Mountaineer message boards: Sour grapes, Slander, Psychosis.+MORE+

Careful what you wish for. Maryland partisans and watchers were baffled by Ralph Friedgen's decision to start Jordan Steffy at quarterback over incumbent Chris Turner, who eventually beat Steffy out for the job in '07, and when Steffy was injured in the Terps' lackluster opening win over Delaware, they got their wish: Turner played the entire game Saturday against Sun Belt who dat Middle Tennessee State, and it was, like, the worst loss ever. Turner get picked three times and the UMD defense give up 400 yards in a 24-14 embarrassment, and he Baltimore Sun's Jeff Barker was left wondering how to fix a quarterback controversy gone very wrong:

I've often thought quarterback controversies can be sort of fun, at least for the fans.​

Fans get to ponder a variety of quarterback possibilities and scenarios. If they don't like the incumbent, they can always imagine that their team's fortunes would improve if only the coach would bring in the other guy to call signals.
â¨But what if the other guy is summoned and isn't the immediate answer?
That takes some of the excitement out of it. Suddenly, all the optimistic speculation is replaced by . . . reality.
The immediate reality for the Terps is that the once-beloved Friedgen is probably coaching for his job over the rest of the year, or, as summed up by Testudo Times,

This is sad.​

On the Terrapin message boards: Indignation, Ultimatums, Denial
Sympathy won't pay Tyrone Willingham's country club membership. Where to begin with Washington, a team heaped with well-wishes since Saturday afternoon for a bad call at the end of a game the Huskies really shouldn't have been in, anyway? When it so clearly comes down to refs there's not much wiggle room in the opinion column, and the Seattle Times' Steve Kelley uses his to blast away for the home team:

"It really should be a no-call," Washington's remarkably composed coach Tyrone Willingham said. "But it's one that they have to call when they see it."​

No, they don't.
Officials should consider the circumstances. They should consider the act and the intent of the act. And, let's be honest, they should consider the player.
[...]
Locker apologized to his teammates after the game. But there really was no need for an apology.
There was nothing excessive in Locker's celebration. Nothing unsportsmanlike.
Referee Larry Farina said officials had to throw a flag, adding: "It was not a judgment call."
Every call is a judgment call. Every holding penalty that isn't flagged is a judgment call.
The new Husky blog UW Dawg Pound says "Oh yeah?" What about the real problems? Like, I dunno . . .

The Times' Bob Condotta rounds up the reaction to the unsportsmanlike call, twice, in fact, and Post-Intelligencer "Fan Blogger" Nathan Ware finds a way to be disappointed in Tyrone Willingham, anyway.
On the Husky message boards: Sympathy (lots and lots of sympathy), Vengeance, Hate.
- - -
â¨Elsewhere in Disillusion: Randy Shannon is fine with that last field goal Florida kicked in the fourth quarter. Urban Meyer will be made to suffer a slow, unmerciful fate when Shannon's nascent tropical depressions are fully-fledged Canes, but it's cool. . . . Building the Dam thinks the Pi Phis posing as the Oregon State defense were alright at Penn State, all things considered. . . . And what are the odds of a post-game thread remaining civil in the immediate aftermath of a nine-touchdown loss? Surprisingly good, actually.






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[RJ Esq]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="col0">Michigan to play two QBs vs. Irish

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• Steven Threet is expected to get his second start, against Notre Dame
• Nick Sheridan, who started the opener, also is likely to play Saturday

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</td></tr></tbody></table>ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez plans to start quarterback Steven Threet against Notre Dame and expects Nick Sheridan to play.
Rodriguez said Monday the rotation would be similar to what it was in the win over Miami of Ohio, when Threet began the game and shared snaps with Sheridan, who was the No. 1 QB in the season-opening loss to Utah.
Sheridan, a former walk-on, has completed 15 of 24 passes for 138 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Threet, a Georgia Tech transfer, has connected on just 14 of 32 attempts for 132 yards and a score. He also has a rushing TD.
The Wolverines (1-1) have scored a Big Ten-low 39 points entering their first road game against the Fighting Irish.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">11:05 AM (3 minutes ago)
5 Things Revisited: Central Michigan Edition.

from Dawg Sports by MaconDawg
If it's Monday, and it's football season, and you're sitting at your desk eating cup-o-noodles to save up gas money for a trip to Columbia, then it's time for us to rehash precisely how wrong i was about the 5 things I thought you'd see during the University of Georgia's matchup with the Central Michigan Chippewas. To review, I predicted you'd see:
1.) The first 300 yard passing effort of the Matt Stafford era. Did I say 300? I meant 200. Oh, he's already done that? Ah forget it. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Stafford didn't look as crisp as he could have, but ultimately got the job done. For the second week in a row, he didn't turn the ball over once. That's the biggest stat of the game in my book. Consonant with offseason reports from Athens, the young man from Texas just looks like a lot more mature player. He also outrushed Central Michigan's "duel threat" quarterback Dan LeFevour.
2) A solid defensive effort from the Central Michigan Chippewas. I predicted that "for the second week in a row, we'll be sitting in Sanford Stadium with the sensation that Mark Richt is driving a Ferrari without ever really shifting out of 2nd gear." I think I was right on this one. Again the offense was a creamy, smooth vanilla. We put up 49 offensive points and 525 yards without doing anything crazier than a tailback screen. Admittedly, Central Michigan plays defense like 1930's France. But if we go from an extraordinary 525 yards a game against a MAC opponent to a merely excellent 425 yards against South Carolina's defense, I think we'll be ok this week.
3) Caleb King. :"Against Central Michigan's porous defense, King will break at least one run of 30 yards plus on the way to the endzone, while Knowshon gets just enough snaps to keep him sharp." Well, Knowshon again stayed under 20 carries, which is good. You can call Tim Tebow Superman all you want, but at the end of the day there's only one SEC back who literally flew this weekend. And while Caleb didn't break the long one I forecast, he did get to the endzone and average 4.0 yards a carry. That's not shabby.
I think one of the stories of the first two weeks has been this offensive line. Yeah, they've not played against the best in the land. Yeah, they've had some dumb penalties. But they've kept Matt Stafford upright and clean better than anyone could have reasonably hoped for at this point. They've also opened up monster holes not only for Knowshon, but for King and Samuel as well. And Cordy Glenn continues to impress me beyond my wildest expectations.
4) Blair Walsh. "Walsh will kick a minimum of two field goals." Yeah, about that. There's a reason friends never take me along on trips to Vegas . . .
5) UGA 55, Central Michigan 21. While last week I correctly predicted the margin of victory, this week I was off. By a measly five points. I'm calling that a win, though you're free to disagree in the comments. Believe me, there will come a week this season where I leave you wondering whether it's finally time for them to adjust my medication, so let me savor this small victory. Other random thoughts from the weekend that was:

• How about Demarcus Dobbs? Everybody knows about the return, but some probably missed the fact that he actually got the start at defensive end. Kudos to him. I'm beginning to wonder if Jeremy Lomax isn't still suffering from the foot/toe injury he was dealing with during camp. He just looks a little slower off the line than he did last season.
• After two weeks and two turnovers, is it safe to say that Joe Cox will be staying after practice to work on handoffs and center exchanges? Let's hope so.
• I was even more impressed with Marcus Dowtin this week than I was last week. The guy's going to be a fixture in our linebacking corps. As our intrepid correspondent Darius Dawgberry pointed out "that guy gets to the ball fast and arrives with bad intentions." I'll just say he's like Rennie Curran with a lift kit.
• Mike Moore is emerging as a threat. First clutch 3rd down catches against Georgia Southern, and now five grabs against Central Michigan. It's good to see the guy living up to the expectations so many had for him when he arrived in Athens.
• Was anybody else as unimpressed as I was with Florida's victory over Miami? I mean, forget the junk points at the end of the game. To me the real story is that they still can't protect Tebow, and he still can't really throw effectively when teams get in his face. When you manage one first half score against Randy Shannon's Miami Northwestern H.S. defense, it's time to go back to the drawing board.
• As much as I hate to say that any young man makes the right decision by turning down a scholarship offer from the University of Georgia, don't you imagine Jonathan Dwyer is kinda glad he's at Georgia Tech? I mean, Paul Johnson's squad is 2-0 and Dwyer is running wild in an offense tailor-made for a big brusing back who's elusive in the open field. If he were at Georgia, he'd likely be fighting with Caleb King and Richard Samuel for 5 carries a game. But at Tech, Dwyer is going to rush for 1200+ yards regardless of his team's record.
• I'm willing to bet anybody the keys to Kyle's Porsche that Skip Holtz gets to ask a question on this week's "Ask Dr. Lou" segment. Both because a) after the Pirates' hot start that would be the sentimental thing to do and b) because Kyle doesn't drive a Porsche. He rolls up to the club in a Chevy with butterfly doors. I'll be back on Wednesday to help you get to know . . .Steve Spurrier. Yes, this chicken's going to come out smothered in the extra spicy curry. Until then . . .

Go 'Dawgs!!!






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[RJ Esq]

McKinley Doubtful Against No. 2 UGA

Preseason All-American WR McKinley

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">11:58 AM (2 minutes ago)
Vigo Clausen the Carpathian Is Here to Lead Notre Dame to Glory*

from The Sporting Blog
While watching the Notre Dame-San Diego State game on Saturday afternoon with Littmann and a fellow SN employee (who was wearing green shorts and a frown the entire time), we noticed three things: 1) Notre dame isn’t very good at football, 2) Bud Light is a great way to rehydrate when hungover, 3) Jimmy Clausen’s receding, mullet-ish hair makes him look exactly like a certain Ghostbusters villain. So, this morning, Littmann spent several hours in the Photoshop lab and emerged with this beauty:

*By "lead Notre Dame to glory" we are referring to Nov. 22, when the Irish beat Syracuse for their second, and only other, win of the season.






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[RJ Esq]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="col0">Miami's James may miss 4 weeks

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• Javarris James sprained his left ankle early in Miami's loss to Florida
• James has been sharing the tailback duties with Graig Cooper

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</td></tr></tbody></table>CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- Miami running back Javarris James has a high left ankle sprain that could keep him out of the Hurricanes' next game on Sept. 20 at Texas A&M.
James was hurt early in Miami's 26-3 loss Saturday at Florida and didn't return.
Miami coach Randy Shannon said Monday that James could miss up to four weeks, depending on how severe the sprain is, but he didn't set a definitive timetable for the junior's return.
With James out, Graig Cooper would become the clear go-to running back. The two are essentially both atop the Miami depth chart.
Backups Derron Thomas and Shawnbrey McNeal could also get considerably more carries.

 

[JumpOnBoard]

Cooper is terrible..he's a scat back.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">2:44 PM (54 minutes ago)
Lamarr Houston Apologizes, Will Return Saturday

from Burnt Orange Nation by PB @ BON
Starting defensive tackle Lamarr Houston's suspension ends at one game and he will return to play against Arkansas this Saturday. Readers of this site know how I feel about him both as a player and upstanding young man, so I'm especially pleased to see him handle this mistake the way he has. From the Statesman:

Houston asked to attend Monday’s news conference to address the media and to offer a public apology. “First and foremost, I thank God that I’m alive. … I’d like to apologize for making a bad decision …. I’m very remorseful. It’s not how I was raised.”
Houston teared up as he recounted how he had apologized for his actions to his 9-year-old nephew, someone who looks up to the Longhorn defender. Houston addressed his teammates the day after the arrest. “That was the toughest thing,” he said.
He said he will undergo counseling, work with homeless people and work with the Mitchie Mitchell Foundation, an anti-drunken-driving group.
​

How you handle mistakes is as sure a sign as any of what kind of man you are. A ten-gallon hat tip to Lamarr for accepting responsibility for his actions. Apology accepted.






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[RJ Esq]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="col0">Hurricane Ike may force stadium change for LSU-North Texas

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• Louisiana is forecast as a possible landfall location for Hurricane Ike
• LSU is considering other venues as part of a contingency plan
• Last week's LSU-Troy game was postponed because of Hurricane Gustav

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</td></tr></tbody></table>BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva said Monday he wants his school's game against North Texas to be played in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night as scheduled, but adds that other venues are being considered in case Hurricane Ike forces a change.
LSU has contacted officials at Texas Stadium in Dallas, Independence Stadium in Shreveport, the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and the Superdome in New Orleans -- although the Superdome would be unlikely if Ike heads for the state, Alleva said.
"Dallas and Shreveport may not be the best places given the direction of the storm," Alleva added. "The safest place to go right now is Atlanta. Hopefully by Wednesday, we'll know where we'll play. We're just keeping our fingers crossed."
LSU was forced to postpone its game last Saturday against Troy after Hurricane Gustav damaged the stadium and much of the Baton Rouge area. Now, Louisiana is forecast as a possible landfall location for Ike. Alleva said the stadium is ready to host the game.
"Our No. 1 priority is to play the game," Alleva said. "Our No. 2 priority is that we want to play in Tiger Stadium, but that may be out of my control."
LSU opened the season with a 41-13 victory against Appalachian State. That game's kickoff was moved up to 10 a.m. on Aug. 30 due to the state's preparations for Gustav. Then, the game with Troy was postponed until Nov. 15 as a result of Gustav. A postponement of the North Texas game would mean LSU would go two weeks without playing a game before opening Southeastern Conference play on Sept. 20 at Auburn.
"We understand the extraordinary times we are going through," LSU coach Les Miles said. "Whatever we need to do, we'll do. Our main option is to play this week's game. Our athletic director has that priority in mind.
"I'm sure we have a quality contingency plan for us to play. I hope Ike goes in another direction not around people and fizzles."

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">1:45 PM (1 hour ago)
Wait: Is Penn State actually good on offense?

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

It's hard to say, not only because I didn't get the Lions' demolition of Oregon State Saturday, and would have tuned out when the score went to 21-0 in the first minute of the second quarter if I had. It was 35-7 at the half, and six of PSU's first nine drives went for touchdowns -- and two of those that didn't ended with a missed field goal and a fumble in Beaver territory after driving 62 yards in six plays, respectively.
The other mystery is how much the Lions' sudden surge offensively has to do with the unveiling of the "Spread HD" and how much has to do with facing an Oregon State defense that -- despite an outstanding, top ten effort last year -- was also completely gashed on the ground by usually hapless Stanford, so much so that I wondered if the Cardinal were on the cusp of a breakthrough. Instead, Jim Harbaugh took his team to Arizona State, it looked like the old, inept Stanford, and the Beavers' collapse in Happy Valley gave us our answer: Oregon State is just awful on defense.
Still, the local press is already seeing the "beacon of light" in Daryll Clark, and assuming the Beavers have not completely collapsed and are capable of finishing at or near .500 and somewhere in the vicinity of "borderline bowl team," Saturday's explosion was far and away a leap over the Lion offense of the last two years:

Remember that all of the numbers against Oregon State came in three quarters, or else (in the case of the per-play averages) were depressed by the fourth quarter, when the offense went into a shell and made no attempt to put points on the board or continue its embarrassing production to that point -- it put up 15 plays of 15 or more yards for the game, and none came in the final frame. It's hard to imagine an Anthony Morelli-directed offense doing that against a defense other than Florida International or Temple.
And maybe that's the biggest change: addition by subtraction. Clark's running ability is the most obvious difference between his game and Morelli's, and it was employed to strong effect against OSU (only five runs, but for 61 yards, and one crowd-pleasing touchdown from an empty backfield set, which would not have been considered the last two years), just as mediocre passer Michael Robinson's athleticism was the difference in another ho hum year and a conference championship in 2005. If the jury is still out, it's going to be out for another three weeks, at least, as the Lions dispatch Syracuse and Temple before hitting the Big Ten schedule running with Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio State in a row through October. Average points against those teams with Morelli as the starter: 16.7, including defensive and special teams touchdowns, and a 4-6 record. If this edition can't top that by at least a touchdown, this was one hell of a mirage.






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[Aztec4Life]

RJ - Would you still take Cal -13.5? The more I think about it, I'm liking the Golden Bears here, but...two TDs on the road? Surely, Maryland is better than Washington State.

:cheers:

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">4:45 PM (1 hour ago)
Mid-Major Monday: Golden Knights, very black hearts

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

Say what you will about Conference USA football, but you can never say they don't care:

UCF fans got hold of Matt Grothe’s cell phone number and bombarded him with hundreds of calls and text messages.​

Matt Grothe’s father, Matt Sr., even received a death threat from a UCF fan on Saturday. Grothe’s family was protected by state troopers during the contest and there were no incidents.
If it was the SEC, I guess, there would have been an incident. Once C-USA learns to follow through on its complete lack of perspective or civility, though, it will be playing with the big boys.
Mid-Major Game of the Week.
While you were admiring Robert Marve's guts and Urban Meyer's restraint with a fourth quarter lead.
- - -
At the start of the fourth quarter, Memphis led Rice 28-13, had scored touchdowns on four of six possessions since the start of the second quarter and had outgained the Owls 375 yards to 194, on its own turf in the Liberty Bowl. The game was in hand, in other words, and I stress that it was in hand against Rice, winner of three games last season and picked to finish last in Conference USA's West Division coming into this season.
So the Tigers are no doubt disappointed, to say the least, that its defense allowed the Owls to march 71 yards in nine plays early in the fourth to cut the lead to eight, then, after the UM offense answered with a touchdown drive to push the lead back to double digits, to move 69 yards for a touchdown and two-point conversion to bring the margin back down to seven with a little over six minutes on the clock. And they must be positively incensed that the Owls were then allowed to march the length of the field, 94 yards, in less than two minutes to tie the game at 35 with 1:15 remaining. Rice's fourth quarter offense: three possessions, 19 plays, 234 yards, 22 points, he vast majority the product of the right arm of Chase Clement.
And surely the Tigers are suicidal that, instead of running the clock out for overtime, quarterback Arkelon Hall provided the inevitable dagger:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/s2tzgtidZmw&hl=en&fs=1" flashvars="undefined" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout​

Tommy West wasn't physically sick, not on camera, anyway, but his agent wasn't feeling so hot as the Tigers dropped to 0-2.
Mid-Major Players of the Week.
Rice's offensive star was versatile tight end and sometimes quarterback James Casey, who caught eleven passes for 208 yards and took his only carry of the game in from seven yards out on a direct snap in the shotgun. . . . Bowling Green defensive end Diyral Briggs, off a big game in the Falcons' upset over Pittsburgh, sacked Minnesota's Adam Weber three times. . . . Tulsa's David Johnson continued his near-flawless start, completing 25 of 33 passes for 418 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions in the Hurricane's 56-26 blowout of North Texas. . . . Ball State receiver/return man Dante Love dominated Navy, racking up 336 all-purpose yards on 20 touches, hauling in a pair of touchdowns and running for another score in the Cardinals' win on Friday. . . . And it's impossible to ignore Patrick Pinkney, default face of surging East Carolina, who threw one very pretty touchdown and had a 161.8 passer rating in Pirates' takedown of West Virginia.

Steppin' Up
The Record vs. the Big Boys
- - -
Hard to say how much credit to give Akron for taking down Syracuse, which would be right at home in the MAC East, or Middle Tennessee for its home win over Maryland, which struggled in its opener with Delaware and hasn't been able to distance itself from anyone recently -- the Terps' biggest non-conference margin the last three years is 17 points, over big, bad, Villanova last September, so it's no surprise UMD didn't respond to the Blue Raiders. The victory is always bittersweet when it causes the other team to begin contemplating firing its coach. You take what you can get.
The big ups this week, obviously, go to East Carolina and even BYU, which didn't cover against underdog Washington but did thump the Huskies in the box score much worse than the ending suggested. Just missing this week's cut: Temple, which led UConn for the majority of the year's most unappealing game to date and only fell short in overtime, 12-9, which could only have been more depressing if it were still allowed to finish in a 6-6 tie. To say the Owls are vastly improved, would be an understatement, I think -- they're a poor man's ECU, and about to make a serious push in the MAC before losing Al Golden at the end of the year. But only one more chance at a BCS opponent, and I don't think Penn State will be as accommodating to a threat as the Huskies.

An Arbitrary Mid-Major Top Ten
- - -
1. East Carolina (2-0): Obviously. Maybe the most impressive start in the country on any level.
2. Utah (2-0): Comfortable win over UNLV, and Michigan's not completely terrible yet.
3. BYU (2-0): Should have beaten Washington without the controversial finish, which seems to be getting enough outrage to hang over the Cougars' head for a while.
4. Fresno State (1-0): Still not sure how valuable the Rutgers win will be; a huge leap this week if FSU can dispatch Wisconsin.
5. TCU (2-0): The overlooked factor of the Mountain West race has outscored New Mexico and Stephen F. Austin 93-10.
6. Boise State (1-0): Nothing to write home about yet, though Bowling Green and Oregon the next two weeks are measuring sticks.
7. Arkansas State (2-0): Couldn't have a better start: upset Texas A&M one week, wipe Texas Southern off the map by 73 points the next.
8. Ball State (2-0): All in all, not a bad defensive effort, and explosive as expected on offense against a respectable Navy outfit. Only 2-0 team in the MAC, but also the only one without a BCS opponent.
9. Tulsa (2-0): Still breaking records on offense, against the worst teams you can imagine.
10. Air Force (2-0): Handled Wyoming the Air Force Way: only four passes against 63 runs in 23-3 snoozer over the Cowboys.
Honorable Mention: Rice (2-0), Central Florida (1-1), Troy (1-0), Bowling Green (1-1), Temple (1-1)
Coming Up
The Week Ahead
- - -
Best Game. Fresno State had one of the best wins of the opening weekend at Rutgers but risks getting buried beneath the hype for East Carolina and the BYU-Utah collision course in the MWC if it doesn't keep its BCS hopes afloat by beating Wisconsin, the Bulldogs' showcase home game/nationally-recognizable trophy of the year. Second half gets the late night USC-Ohio State spillover on ESPN2.
Most Realistic Upset. Oregon State has looked so atrocious on defense its first two games, even the new-look version of Hawaii has a chance to score on the Beavers. We'll at least see if the Warriors found some rhythm after an outrageous second half (42 points after trailing at the break) against Weber State.
Least Realistic Upset. Maryland was ripe for sniping by a less-talented upstart, but Kentucky was solid enough in its opening street fight with Louisville that the Blue Raiders should find their offense swept under the rug in Lexington.
Break Out the Abacus. Southern Miss set a school record for offense two weeks ago against UL-Lafayette. Last week, Arkansas State scored 83 on Texas Southern. These two closed the last regular season with USM winning a 16-10 dud in Hattiesburg, which could be the score at the end of the first quarter Saturday in Jonesboro.






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[RJ Esq]

Aztec--I'd take them up to -14.

 

[RJ Esq]

Andy Christensen Re-Instated to Nebraska Football Team

from Corn Nation by corn blight
Andy Christensen Re-Instated to Nebraska Football Team

Andy Christensen was reinstated to the Husker football team today. He will be suspended for New Mexico State, but be able to practice. One has to wonder how much he can contribute this season as he's already missed a lot of learning.
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this. On the one side, he was found not guilty of sexual assault, but plead guilty to misdemeanors. If you take it from that perspective, he's already served a long suspension.
On the other side, it doesn't represent the Husker program well, and it leaves you wondering how Pelini will handle other discipline as he goes forward in his first stint as a head coach.

 

[RJ Esq]

Scouting Arkansas

By Alan Trubow
AMERICAN-STATESMAN-STAFF
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Record: 2-0
Coach: Bobby Petrino, first year
Last meeting: Texas won 22-20 in Fayetteville, Ark., in 2004.
Notable: Arkansas, which is in the process of learning Petrino's offensive system, has posted back-to-back double-digit comebacks in its first two games, narrow wins over Western Illinois (28-24) and Louisiana-Monroe (28-27). ... The road is about to get much tougher for Arkansas. Saturday's game at Texas is the first of four straight games against ranked opponents for the Razorbacks. ... The Razorbacks have played 15 true freshmen this season, compared to Texas' nine. ... Quarterback Casey Dick has two straight games with 300-plus passing yards. He's only the second Razorback quarterback have two 300-plus games in one season. ... Freshman receiver Joe Adams had seven catches for 89 yards against Louisiana-Monroe last week, while running back Michael Smith had 157 yards on 22 carries.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">7:10 AM (55 minutes ago)
Tuesday Headlinin' asks, what tightly packed space with Hasselhoff doesn't rock, man?

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
• They'll take all the help they can get. So David Hasselhoff has a daughter attending Arizona. So he's jacked about Wildcat football:

​

So what? Mike Stoops needs a sugar daddy among the boosters, and if outscoring Idaho and Toledo 111-16 doesn't provide any job security, a little ironic, quasi-star power can't hurt his cause. Can it?

• You mean they didn't invite hubris? The Arizona Republic's Jeff Metcalfe gets behind the "Bring On Georgia" signs in the ASU student section Saturday, and -- if the prominent Chick-Fil-A logo didn't tip you off -- it wasn't exactly an organic phenomenon:

The signs were courtesy of Chick-fil-A, whose headquarters are in Atlanta and sponsor of what used to be the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Looking at it that way, then, ASU fans waving signs from a Georgia-based company actually is back-handed support of the Bulldogs.​

Sun Devils fans might be better served supporting their team next week by getting their chicken fix somewhere other than Chick-fil-A next week.
If Metcalfe thinks a little subversive sloganeering will keep the delicious Chick-Fil-A juggernaut from selling plump, savory nuggets to budget-minded undergrads in Tempe, he's obviously never had the #1 combo with bacon and provolone. Although Georgia partisans will respect the chikin addiction and inherent corporate manipulation and accordingly cut the Sun Devils some slack in two weeks, we're sure.
• This just in. Speaking of Georgia, and future opponents thereof, Steve Spurrier -- who's not calling the plays, just overseeing his son in calling the plays, and making suggestions, and nixing some other ideas, and, yeah, basically calling the plays -- and Steve Spurrier Jr. aren't sure who their starting quarterback will be Saturday when the Bulldogs roll into South Carolina. Indecision is bad enough in itself, but when it involves Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher . . . I mean, we have to be due for a Stephen Garcia sighting soon. It's inevitable.
Quickly . . .
Texas' Lamarr Houston will be back in the lineup against Arkansas, and the Longhorns are still sorting through their options at running back. . . . The Oklahoman has reached a settlement with the Texas hoaxster who fabricated a story about OU quarterbacks over the summer. . . . The Tebow Child defends Urban Meyer, and would Randy Shannon like some cheese to go with that whine?. . . . Utah has lost another defensive lineman for the season with a broken fibula. . . . Pitt is getting better every day. No, seriously, it is, according to Pitt players. . . . Rutgers QB went through a few scary hours without knowing about his dad on 9/11. . . . Walk-on Bryant Nowicki will replace injured Mark Ortmann as Michigan's left tackle. . . . And the Associated Press only thinks Penn State fans are kidding about starving the family so they can afford to tailgate.






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[RJ Esq]

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2">[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Tuesday Question - The Best Unknown Storyline [/FONT]<hr size="1" width="100%"></td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td>[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Pete Fiutak
CollegeFootballNews.com[/FONT]</td><td align="right">[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Sep 9, 2008[/FONT]</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="2">
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]What's the best story so far that no one is talking about?[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica] <table id="table2" align="right" border="0" cellspacing="4" width="200"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffcc"> Past TQs
- Will the week 1 duds rebound? - Top Week 1 Games - Predict the 2008 Season - Does Sean Lee's injury change your view of spring ball? - Is a CF Final 4 a good idea?
- How good will Terrelle Pryor be?
- 2008 March Madness Picks - What can college football learn from March Madness? - Three Big Spring Storylines
- The Combines are missing ...
- Best & Curious Coaching Hires - 2008 Wish List
- The 3 Big Bowl Questions - What are you most looking forward to from the bowls? - Did the BCS get it right?
- Who deserves a spot more, OSU or WVU? - What BCS matchups do you want?
- 10 Greatest Quarterbacks of All-Time
- 10 Greatest Defensive Players of All-Time
- 10 Greatest Regular Season Games of All-Time
- 10 Greatest Playmakers of All-Time
- 10 Worst Heisman Winners
- 10 Greatest Bowl Games
- All-Time Offensive Team
- All-Time Defensive Team </td> </tr> </tbody></table> [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica] [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2] Pete Fiutak [/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica] Q: What's the best story so far that no one is talking about?[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica] A:Red Wolves and Rice. It's not a quirky energy drink combination.

No one, no one has mentioned anything about an opening day stunner that was just as big as Bowling Green over Pitt. Arkansas State managed to ruin Mike Sherman's debut at Texas A&M with an 18-14 win that the Sun Belt should be able to chirp about for the rest of the year. Formerly the Indians, ASU changed the nickname to the Red Wolves, and now everything appears to be rolling with an 83-10 win over Texas Southern coming after the A&M victory. QB Corey Leonard has the offense humming, and the defense has been fantastic so far at taking the ball away. Home games against Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee, who just beat Maryland, are up next to go along with a date at Alabama down the road.

Rice is the other under-the-radar story. QB Chase Clement and the Owls beat June Jones' SMU team 56-27, and then stunned Memphis with 22 points in just over six minutes, including a pick-six with 11 seconds to play, to win the game. Reality should hit hard soon with Vanderbilt and Texas coming up, but the Owls have been fun so far and should be involved in several shootouts the rest of the way.

Richard Cirminiello [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2][/FONT] <o> </o><o> </o> [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2][/FONT] <o> </o>[/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica] [/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica] Q: What's the best story so far that no one is talking about?[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica] A: Cal. Given up for dead before the start of the season, the Bears have about as good a two-game resume as anyone in the country. Sure, they’ve still got plenty of time to revert back to old habits, but for now, the program is ranked and making a strong case as the next best thing to USC in the Pac-10. Beating Michigan State in the opener showed that Cal has heart, while laying 66 on Washington State proved it may not miss last year’s offensive weapons as much as originally expected. The backfield duo of Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen has been sensational, which is going to open things up for QB Kevin Riley and his young receivers. With upcoming games against Maryland and Colorado State, the Bears should be 4-0 and a few rungs higher in the polls by the time Arizona State visits on Oct. 4. They’ve got the talent to shake things up in the conference, and now they’ve got the momentum to finally forget about last year’s miserable 1-6 slide to the end of the regular season. Absolutely nothing was expected of Cal before the season began. Two weeks in, it has a lot of people adjusting the program’s upside and monitoring its evolution as a potential Pac-10 sleeper. <o> Matthew Zemek</o>[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica] Q: What's the best story so far that no one is talking about?[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica] A: Since everyone is into East Carolina, the season's best under-the-radar story can be found in Nashville, where Vanderbilt saw an opening against a low-football IQ South Carolina team and took advantage of opportunities to win a close game. Not only did the Commodores win, they did it without playing well.

If Vandy learns how to win all the close ones, the SEC's longtime Dore-mat will have a non-losing season and a bowl opportunity. In the world of college sports--not just college football--Vanderbilt reaching a bowl game would show every college president and AD that you can win the right way. Few coaches are doing a more admirable job under more daunting circumstances than Bobby Johnson. The former Furman coach, who doesn't allow profanity to be casually uttered during practices, is genuinely interested in the holistic development of the young men under his watch. If he can take his team to the postseason, everyone in college football would truly win.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica] <o>Steve Silverman
Q: What's the best story so far that no one is talking about?</o>[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica] A: Nobody is talking about a team in Madison called Wisconsin. Two non-conference wins is really not much to brag about, but the Badgers’ 51-14 win over Marshall Saturday should have been good enough to get your attention. In that game, the Thundering Herd came out on fire, jumping out to a 14-0 lead with a big-time ground game. This appeared to be big trouble for the Badgers because this was not two fluke TDs in the first 5 minutes. They built the lead with touchdowns in each of the first two quarters and the Badgers just looked confused. But then the switch went on and the points started flowing like milk in a dairy barn. The Badgers had the lead by halftime and they did it thanks to the passing of Allan Evridge, who completed 17-of-26 passes for 308 yards. If Evridge can throw the ball consistently and P.J. Hill can run, these Badgers may prove to be quite dangerous.
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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">12:25 AM (7 hours ago)
A Slight Decrease in the Number of Plays Lost

from The Wiz of Odds by Jay Christensen
Updating the season-long study on the impact of the new clock rules for 2008. After Marty Couvillion of cfbstats.com added the Week 2 games, he found another decrease in average number of plays per game. In 2007, the average game had 143.43 plays. Thus far in 2008, the average is 134.61 plays. That breaks down to a loss of 8.82 plays a game. Last week the number was 8.7.
The time of an average game remained the same, 3:10, despite a 5:18 marathon between Western Carolina and Florida State. That game had two weather delays totaling 2:14.
With the addition of another 70 games in Week 3, there should be enough data to start drawing conclusions on the new clock rules. We're also going to start examining how the rules are impacting certain teams. Stay tuned. ...
Here is the data through Week 2:
G Plays/G Time/G
2005 717 140.71 3:21
2006 792 127.53 3:07
2007 792 143.43 3:23
2008 139 134.61 3:10
The longest games of Week 1:
Western Carolina-Florida State: 5:18
San Diego State-Notre Dame: 3:39
South Florida-Central Florida: 3:39
Mississippi-Wake Forest: 3:33
Cincinnati-Oklahoma: 3:33
Rice-Memphis: 3:29
Texas-Texas El Paso: 3:39
Weber State-Hawaii: 3:27
The shortest games of Week 1:
Florida International-Iowa: 2:42
Maryland-Middle Tennessee: 2:44
Sacramento State-Colorado State: 2:46
Air Force-Wyoming: 2:48
West Virginia-East Carolina: 2:54
New Hampshire-Army: 2:54
Toledo-Arizona: 2:54
Western Kentucky-Eastern Kentucky: 2:54






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">11:36 PM (8 hours ago)
ESPN: Maryland Needs Quick Fixes Before Cal Comes to Town

from California Golden Bear Football News by Dave
Link.
By ESPN’s Heather Dinich
Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said the Terps need to do a better job from top to bottom -- players and coaches -- when they host California this week. A few players approached him this weekend, disappointed about the 24-14 letdown loss to Middle Tennessee State, but Friedgen said there's little he can do about it now other than stay positive. "I still think this team has a lot of talent on it," he said. "I think we've got a lot of great kids and I believe they've got character. One night doesn't make a season. You've got to keep hanging in there, get ready for the next game. There's nothing we can do about the last one except learn from our mistakes. That's the approach I'm going to take."
He's right -- this team does have talent (not to mention 30 seniors on the roster). Which makes it all the more perplexing why there were so many breakdowns. Part of the problem, Friedgen said, was that the offense is in a new system under first-year coordinator James Franklin. They've also got young players anchoring the running game. But special teams struggled and so did the defense. Friedgen said he's thinking about making a few changes in all three phases of the game, but declined to elaborate. He said there was miscommunication on defense, which doesn't bode well for Saturday, considering Cal -- a team that scored more points in two quarters last Saturday (42) than Maryland has done in two games (28) -- will present similar problems offensively.
"One of the things we've got to do a better job of coaching and getting them to talk to each other," Friedgen said. "They were doing a lot of what we call 'freeze' where they set your defense and then the coaches in the press box get a chance to look at it and they call a play based on what your defense did. We had some things in there to show them one thing and then go to another. Sometimes we didn't communicate the call as well as we should've. They had some unbalanced formations ... we failed to recognize those and get the adjustments right." As for the quarterback play?
"We all could've probably done better," Friedgen said. "Chris (Turner) has played better. That's my take on it." In his first start of the season, Turner threw one touchdown and three interceptions. Friedgen said he'd like to get Josh Portis involved more, but it's tough to find spots for him. Portis was in on 11 snaps in the first two games, but 10 of those plays were rushes. "I think we've got to do more with him, either him throwing it, or him handing it off," Friedgen said. "Something along those lines." And the veteran offensive line? "They're not playing as well as they're capable of playing," Friedgen said. The same can be said for his entire team.
Note: Safety Terrell Skinner is doubtful with a high ankle sprain.







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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">8:52 AM (18 minutes ago)
So, How Was Your Weekend- Virginia

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Virginia, ACC

A look back at the weekend of various and sundry ACC squadrons...

I know how it is around this time of year- only two months ago you bought your copy of NCAA 200-whatever and thought to yourself, "self- this time I'm really gonna go all out with this. I'll finally use the Pistol offense! And do all the recruiting myself! And maybe complete a pass of over 25 yards!" And after a spirited run through, like, the first three years of your dynasty, all of a sudden- the thrill is gone. You enter your game against FCS 1-AA WEST or North Texas at 2-0 and figure there's nothing you want to do less than trudge through the thing in real time. So you pretty much go through the motions the best you can, four-yard run here, slant pattern there, etc. But then you find yourself getting so bored, you start taking silly chances for no real reason, like say, going for it on 4th and 1 at your own 29 when it's obvious there's no way you're getting it. Then, you realize it's the fourth quarter and you could damn well lose the game if you don't snap out of it, so you just run your money plays until you can finish things off and do maybe something worthwhile with your life.

You can probably see where I'm getting with this, the difference being that you're an NCAA Football expert with a reset button, not a Virginia team looking to establish momentum after being exposed as completely out of their depth by USC one week previous. Frankly, this "let's get blown out and then sleepwalk through a couple 1-AA/non-BCS" thing is getting old after the third straight year.
Yeah, that score says 16-0, but mind you- Virginia was up 3-0 in the fourth quarter before they mounted a 12-play, 54-yard drive that extended the lead to an insurmountable (at least the way things were going) 10-0 lead. There were at least four times in the second half where UVA looked like they might lose a lead they might never regain. Maybe I'm just projecting after having invested three hours of watching this thing, but god, Virginia's offense just looked flat-out bored. Mikell Simpson, that same guy whose presence totally rejuvenated UVA's offense last season- 23 carries, 36 yards. Gadzooks! Though I'm certain if you take into account all of his sideways sauntering, it would be double that.

At the very least, you could applaud the defense getting them out of some jams, even though an incredible amount of luck played into it. Throughout, ESPN U's Charles Arbuckle praised Richmond's kicker as one of the best in the country (FCS or otherwise) and he proceeded to have two sub-30 yarders blocked (one by Matt Conrath when he was basically on the ground). He also thought very highly of QB Eric Ward's "decision making," even as he showed a great knacked for getting sacked out of field-goal range on third downs.

Still, Virginia's got two winnable games on the horizon against UConn (looked turrrrble vs. Temple) and Duke (still Duke upon further review), so hey- don't cancel those plans for the Emerald Bowl just yet.





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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">8:18 AM (54 minutes ago)
Morning Coffee Wonders, What's Up With Vince?

from Burnt Orange Nation by GhostofBigRoy

About that small man running everywhere. Texas fans were understandably upset this weekend after UTEP ran for 145 yards against the Longhorns defense. Despite the horrible struggles of the pass offense over the last two years, the run defense has been the strength of the unit. Barker HenryJames wants you to step back from the edge:

The run defense wasn't up to snuff, but people need to step back from the ledge. "We were going to go into the game and give up a little in the running game to help our safeties out," Will Muschamp said in today's Statesman. "We were going to play a little more Cover 2, a little more quarters stretch and be a gap short on the line. We wanted to make them be a little more patient offensively." So we purposely took away part of our run support to help out our young safeties. If it looked like our linebackers were struggling, it's because they had to cover an extra gap.
​

Considering the obvious struggles of the linebackers recently, it's easy to worry this unit won't be any better. Even if Rashad Bobino and Jared Norton continue to struggle at times, the excellent play of Roddrick Muckelroy (14 tackles and a fumble return for a touchdown) should relieve the pressure on the rest of the defense.

Time to prove you belong, VY. Deadspin is reporting that Vince Young "quit" on his football team during the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Jaguars. I didn't watch the game because I live in AFC football purgatory, stuck watching the sorry Texans every week. The story is that Jeff Fisher had to order Young to go back into the game after throwing his second interception. He was hurt two plays later (MRI later today, initial estimates are 2-4 weeks and a sprained MCL). Entering his third year in the NFL, it's time to start wondering if Young will ever be an effective NFL quarterback. Clearly, his time at Texas is sacrosanct and beyond reproach, but I sense a change in VY as he struggles to even be an effective NFL quarterback. In college, he always seemed above the fray, helping opposing players up and patting them on the helmet. I noticed a change once he got to the NFL--he actually seemed chippy at times, he seemed threatened. Besides some struggles in his freshman and sophomore seasons at Texas, football has come easily for Vince Young. It isn't now, and how he responds to his current adversity will ultimately determine his NFL legacy.

Look at Fozzy move. After 12 spectacular carries in his college debut against UTEP, the only question was whether Fozzy Whittaker would move up the depth chart for the Arkansas game. With the history of Mack Brown and Greg Davis, no Texas fan was taking that advancement for granted. Texas fans can go back to worrying about Greg Davis's playcalling. The new depth chart lists Whittaker, Vondrell McGee and Chris Ogbonnaya all as co-starters. Not much new other than that, but Greg Davis noted that he didn't realize Fozzy had 12 carries. Further fodder for those who believe that Greg Davis doesn't know what's going on.

No beddy-bye for Mack and friends. ESPN Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin reports that Mack Brown and his coaching staff missed a night of sleep after returning late to Austin after playing UTEP:

Most Texas coaches didn't sleep on Sunday after the Longhorns returned back to Austin at about 5:30 a.m. after their late-evening game at UTEP. "Because they were already here (at the Texas football office) when we got back, most of our coaches didn't go to bed," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "It makes it a short week for us this week. And it's something we have to look to see if we're doing what's best for the kids."
​

While the lack of sleep will certainly make preparing for the Piggies more difficult, this shouldn't have an impact on the game. Arkansas doesn't have the personnel to run Bobby Petrino's offense yet, so they shouldn't be too much of a threat. Even though none of the current players were at Texas the last time Arkansas came to town in 2003 (no, not even Jordan Shipley), I hope the coaches instill in them the respect for the Hogs the team was missing before. Fortunately, there isn't a tall, ridiculously fast quarterback to worry about. If you're a masochist, this clip is for you.

So the Q package does actually exist? Greg Davis makes excuses explains why the Q package wasn't used against UTEP:

Because their defense is so different, it works better if you spread them out. The more you spread them out, the less confusing it looks. The more they're bunched in, the more confusing it looked.
​

He's trying to eliminate the confusion for the offensive line and Colt McCoy, I think. I don't know what kind of offense Buffalo ran, but they didn't seem to have much confusion in gashing UTEP in the running game. Instead of protecting the offensive line and the quarterback, Davis should have forced them to figure it out. If they messed up at some point, use it as a learning experience. Early in the season I wanted the offense to throw a bunch of different looks out there and see what works. Instead, I don't think this team is any closer to establishing its offensive identity than it was before the FAU game. I'm sure there will be more excuses in store when the Q package isn't used against OU and Fozzy Whittaker spends the game next to Mack Brown. I'm sure John Chiles is frustrated. I am. How does that saying go? Oh yeah, Texas never tries anything new until after losing to OU. Guess there's a reason for it...






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">11:37 AM (1 minute ago)
New stars, but same old Ducks so far

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

If there's one thing we know about Purdue in the waning days of the Tiller administration, it's that the Boilers are among the most reliable outfits in the country: they'll beat who you expect them to beat, they'll do what they need to do to eke their way into a third-tier bowl game, but against any worthwhile opponent, they fall consistently, predictably flat. Purdue's losing streak against non-MAC teams that finish the season with a winning record stands at 16 games and counting, and the margins are getting wider all the time. If there's one thing we can infer about Oregon so far, it's that the Ducks aren't content to play by the script of post-Dennis Dixon malaise: not to read too much into shellacking the very shellack-able defenses of Washington and Utah State, but Oregon's gained more yards through the first two weeks than any team in the country and demonstrated the same kind of balance that defined its nigh-unstoppable attack before Dixon's devastating injury last year, averaging more than 330 yards on the ground and 260 passing despite a very, shall we say, fluid situation at quarterback -- Justin Roper is the nominal starter, but he was knocked out of the Washington game with a concussion and was pulled quickly with a big first half lead against USU for Jeremiah Masoli, with freshman Chris Harper offering the intermittent running threat from the shotgun. The running backs, particularly primaries Jeremiah Johnson and LeGarrette Blount, are putting up fairly absurd per-carry averages, and generally the operation seems perfectly in-step with what we saw for most of 2007, and looks like it still has the diverse array of talent at the skill positions to keep Chip Kelly's kitchen sink spread humming.

All that said, a 7.5-point line seems rather low here. Purdue, of course, should offer more resistance than the first two lambs, although I'm not sure I can be convinced the Boilermakers are that much better on defense than Washington. The home field might be worth something against an inexperienced quarterback, whichever one is taking the snaps at any given moment, and the Ducks haven't shown anything defensively that suggests Curtis Painter won't do some good in answering whatever Kelly's offense puts on the board. But Purdue has a distinct lack of the big play talent Oregon has in abundance, and Painter hasn't shown anything the last two years against any of the better teams on Purdue's schedule -- again, he's 1-9 in significant action against Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and Wisconsin, with the one win coming against last year's lame duck Irish -- that suggests he can do enough to keep the pace by himself.
Anyway, it's early yet for whatever will prove Oregon's late season undoing this time around.
- - -

Oregon 34, Purdue 23






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">11:23 AM (16 minutes ago)
The Problem With Pounding The Ball: Offensive Strategy for Michigan at Notre Dame

from Rakes Of Mallow by CW
There seems to be some corners of the internet that think the Irish need to be a power-I running team simply due to the fact that coaches said they were going to "pound the ball" in the preseason and it makes some fans feel more manly to run the ball down the opposition's throat. With the success of the passing game late Saturday, some Irish fans have begun stating that Weis should just air it out against Michigan, causing others to bemoan this approach, stating there needs to be balance or failure will occur for the third straight season against our foes from Ann Arbor.
Rob and I both fully believe that it is not in this team's make-up to just line up and run off tackle, then play action off of it. In fact, I don't think any Weis-led offense has ever been particularly good at that, whether that team was in the pros or college. When you consider the fact that the strength of this Michigan team is their defensive line, while the Irish appear to have a decent chance of having a good passing game, it seems absolutely absurd to want to play power football. Pass to establish the run, then you can slip in some screens, draws, swing passes and other short routes to keep your opponent honest.

via assets.espn.go.com​

You don't have to stay with a 50-50 balance on offense, but you do just have to do enough to A) Keep your opponent guessing and B) Take advantage of their weaknesses as much as possible. My favorite example of this comes from week two of the 2002 NFL season, when the Pittsburgh Steelers took on Rich Gannon and the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders were a fantastic passing team, as Gannon would win the MVP and lead the team to the Super Bowl tossing it to Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Tim Brown. The Steelers, however, were absolutely laughable in their pass defense (I assure you, it was hilarious, with only the 2004-2006 Irish coming close to matching them in secondary hijinx). So the Raiders had Gannon throw a staggering 64 times, and when they did mix in the run, Charlie Garner looked like Barry freaking Sanders. I'm not suggesting a ratio that wild, but seriously, let's not line up with two tight ends and ineffective fullback to run at an opponent's strength just because it makes you feel like more of a man.
The last three seasons against Michigan, the Irish have scored four relevant touchdowns (I'm not counting the last one in 2006, which sliced the deficit from 342 to negative 7 to 342 to 0; and seriously, four touchdowns in three games?). In those drives, the Irish were in a no-huddle, quasi-hurry up, with no drive lasting longer than four minutes and twenty-five seconds (one was a two play drive after a turnover, so kindly disregard it). There was a steady helping of Darius Walker in those drives, but he was doing what he does best - finding cracks on draws after Brady Quinn, either threw throwing it or simply reputation, had established the pass and had the defensive line getting up-field too recklessly. While Robert Hughes is more of a downhill runner than D-Walk, both he and Armando Allen are more than capable of finding holes without a lead blocker in front of them.


<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W-Plle3bnPo&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="344" width="425">Popout

If Charlie had just retired after the Pitt game, he'd be a legend right now.​

When you consider that Michigan has been staying in a 4-3 against multiple receivers, it seems even more important to run a no-huddle, pass heavy offense. Some clips from Michigan's 16-6 victory over Miami (OH) Saturday. First, from MGo:

Michigan's problems with underneath coverage continued; the little dreads guy on Miami must have caught 4 or 5 little hitch routes that he managed to turn upfield because a late-arriving linebacker-usually Thompson-did not tackle immediately.
​

And then from Dave at Maize n' Brew:

Even on defense things were spotty. This may be a strange thing to say when the defense limits a team to 252 yards and less than 50 rushing yards, but there were holes evident in the linebacking corps and safety positions. On more than one occasion the linebackers were sucked up into the line of scrimmage for no reason, leaving the corners of the line exposed for first down runs. At the safety position, while I thought Brandon Harrison was one of Michigan's best players on Saturday, Stevie Brown had his second straight shaky game. Brown repeatedly found himself trailing receivers that were his responsibility only to be bailed out only by an overthrow or the receiver bobbling a sure catch.
​

Why are we still playing zone against experienced teams and shouldn't there be a few more blitzes? Your guess is as good as mine. For some reason Shafer likes his DBs 10 yards off the receivers. Maybe he thinks it takes the pressure off his linebackers to react to things they're not ready to manage. I don't know. When Michigan brought its linebackers to the line, it left the corners of the line wide open, so perhaps he wanted to limit the ground game, but that is just a guess. Michigan got pressure simply overloaded the Miami line. But when the D Line went mono-y-mono with Miami's very large line, Miami's QB had enough time to make a sandwich, as well as air out a couple of bombs against Stevie Brown or Morgan Trent. When faced with more talented receivers, the pressure and the coverage could be problems.
​

Utah and Miami rushed for 83 combined yards, neither eclipsing more than a yard and a half per carry. The Irish can go no huddle, take advantage of the front seven sucking up towards Clausen and then test Donovan Warren and Morgan Trent if they can get some one-on-one coverage. Warren is going to be (is?) a top-flight corner in the nation, but all the Irish need is one or two big plays down the field to put Rich Rodriguez's offense (which was outgained by the RedHawks on Saturday, despite the victory) in a hole they'd have some difficulty crawling out of.
You may want balance in the offense, which is a noble, acceptable goal. I'd prefer to just score some damn points and repay Michigan for the Yakety Sax of the last two years. If we go into a quick-hitting passing game and Clausen starts throwing interceptions or getting planted into the ground repeatedly, adjust, but don't think the Irish have to be a power running team just because of a few preseason quotes.

​

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[RJ Esq]

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An Introduction: SMU v. Texas Tech

from Double-T Nation by Seth C

<center>

v.

</center>
<center>The Southern Methodist Mustangs (1-1,0-0) v. The Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-0, 0-0)</center> <center>September 13, 2008 @ 6:00 p.m.</center> <center>Television: Fox Sports Net</center> <center>Radio: Texas Tech Affiliates</center> <center>Weather: Lubbock, Texas</center>
The Numbers: [Note by Seth C ] I added a few more numbers, like punt average, kickoff average, sacks, sacks allowed, etc. I thought it added quite a bit more to the picture.
<center> <table border="1" width="90%"> <tbody> <tr bgcolor="black"> <td>BCS Rank</td> <td>Texas Tech</td> <td>Statistic</td> <td>SMU</td> <td>BCS Rank</td> </tr> <tr> <td>89</td> <td>113.50</td> <td>Rushing Offense</td> <td>36.00</td> <td>117</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2</td> <td>416.50</td> <td>Passing Offense</td> <td>348.00</td> <td>9</td> </tr> <tr> <td>52</td> <td>130.63</td> <td>Passing Efficiency</td> <td>158.34</td> <td>26</td> </tr> <tr> <td>14</td> <td>530.00</td> <td>Total Offense</td> <td>384.00</td> <td>57</td> </tr> <tr> <td>24</td> <td>42.00</td> <td>Scoring Offense</td> <td>46.00</td> <td>112</td> </tr> <tr> <td>63</td> <td>123.50</td> <td>Rushing Defense</td> <td>107.00</td> <td>220.50</td> </tr> <tr> <td>110</td> <td>302.50</td> <td>Pass Defense</td> <td>245.00</td> <td>83</td> </tr> <tr> <td>57</td> <td>113.73</td> <td>Passing Efficiency Defense</td> <td>167.88</td> <td>113</td> </tr> <tr> <td>96</td> <td>426.00</td> <td>Total Defense</td> <td>465.50</td> <td>109</td> </tr> <tr> <td>54</td> <td>21.50</td> <td>Scoring Defense</td> <td>46.00</td> <td>112</td> </tr> <tr> <td>35</td> <td>37.00</td> <td>Net Punting</td> <td>41.25</td> <td>7</td> </tr> <tr> <td>27</td> <td>14.89</td> <td>Punt Returns</td> <td>0.00</td> <td>108</td> </tr> <tr> <td>41</td> <td>23.00</td> <td>Kickoff Returns</td> <td>16.07</td> <td>99</td> </tr> <tr> <td>42</td> <td>0.50</td> <td>Turnover Margin</td> <td>1.00</td> <td>25</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9</td> <td>3.50</td> <td>Sacks</td> <td>1.50</td> <td>65</td> </tr> <tr> <td>37</td> <td>6.50</td> <td>Tackles For Loss</td> <td>5.50</td> <td>64</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1</td> <td>0.00</td> <td>Sacks Allowed</td> <td>2.00</td> <td>69</td></tr></tbody></table></center>





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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">10:10 AM (1 hour ago)
Life on the Margins: Devils on the cusp, Tide offense in the red

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

Obsessing over the statistical anomalies and minutiae of close and closer-than-they-looked games that could have gone the other way. Be careful before you judge these games by the final score alone . . .Duke and Northwestern make this space for the second year in a row, although the roles this time are reversed: after losing a game it ostensibly dominated on the stat sheet in '07, Northwestern came out on top Saturday despite a lopsided box score in Durham. You can see why David Cutcliffe was so optimistic about losing a game at home:

Duke coach David Cutcliffe has replayed the film of Northwestern repeatedly so he could study all three phases of the game. After watching it, he told his team that "victory and defeat are both really imposters. The reality is when you look at the tape, you are what you are."​

And Cutcliffe liked what he saw -- even in defeat -- because he also studied the film of last year's win against the Wildcats.
"No comparison," Cutcliffe said. "If you look at last year's game, which we won, we didn't play the better game. We won the battle of the trenches in this game. We were the more physical team. And usually when you do that, you win the ball game."
Usually, but just as Northwestern failed to convert on four different fourth-down conversions at the end of long drives in last year's loss in Evanston, Cutcliffe's Devils left some chances on the field: they had to settle for a field goal after a seven-minute, 87-yard march inside the Wildcats' five-yard line in the second quarter, turned it over on downs in the red zone in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead and had a punt blocked in the first half, leading to a short-field Wildcat touchdown. The Devils almost never go over 400 yards in total offense against anybody -- that's only happened three times in the last five years -- so that's a positive, but apparently they're still a ways from that old rebuilding bugaboo, "learning how to win."

Elsewhere, I don't know how concerned Alabama fans were after building a quick 13-0 lead on a Javier Arenas punt return and a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown against Tulane, which wasn't mounting a serious comeback threat offensively from then on, but unless the Tide's planning on its punt block/return team to deliver a steady stream of big plays through the SEC, the offense was pretty clearly a shrieking red siren Saturday in Tuscaloosa. John Parker Wilson completed just under 50 percent of his passes, averaging just a little over six yards per completion, and Bama's longest gain of the game was 16 yards; there were only five plays over ten yards. If the Green Wave's not good enough to convert that kind of futility into defeat -- and again, that's futility against Tulane -- there at least half a dozen teams left on the Tide's schedule that are. Paired with the dominant performance over Clemson, this is the kind of dud that puts Bama right back at square one in terms of expectations.

Texas A&M has to be satisfied that it won this week, at least, after being outplayed and knocked off in very non-flukey fashion by Arkansas State in Mike Sherman's College Station debut. The Aggies still had no offense to speak of, even after ditching two-year incumbent Stephen McGee for fan favorite Jerrod Johnson at quarterback -- though Johnson threw three touchdown passes, one of them came on a short field following a Lobo turnover, and six Johnson-led drives ended in almost immediate punts; A&M started five possessions in UNM territory, and failed to get anything at all out of three of them.
That said, New Mexico's gains are a little inflated: half the Lobos' yardage came on their final two possessions, 68 and 92-yard drives that pushed a lopsided game within reach with less than a minute to play. Take Brian Cook's axiom to heart here: if a game ends in an unsuccessful onside kick, it's not really that close.






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[RJ Esq]

[FONT=arial, helvetica][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Injury opens door for Pike, Jones[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
By Bill Koch
bkoch@enquirer.com [/FONT] [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]The injury to University of Cincinnati quarterback Dustin Grutza is more severe than the preliminary examination indicated.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]UC coach Brian Kelly said early Monday afternoon that Grutza's recovery from the fractured right fibula he suffered in Saturday's 52-26 loss at then-No. 4 Oklahoma would involve a nonsurgical procedure unless a further exam revealed collateral issues in his ankle.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]That's exactly what happened when Grutza was examined by Dr. Angelo Colosimo later in the day.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Grutza, a senior from Maysville, Ky., is now expected to undergo surgery as early as Wednesday and will likely be out of action for longer than the original estimate of four weeks.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]With Grutza out, junior Tony Pike will be the Bearcats' starting quarterback, but sophomore Demetrius Jones will get an extended look from the coaching staff before UC's next game vs. Miami on Sept. 20 at Nippert Stadium.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Kelly didn't suggest that Jones might start, but this might be a good opportunity for Jones to get some playing time in the no-huddle spread offense - perhaps in the range of 10 to 12 plays per game - as the Bearcats point to next year when Jones could conceivably be the starter.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]"We go into the bye week with an eye toward getting him out there and seeing if he can give us that," Kelly said. "The knowledge base is the bigger issue (with Jones) now. He's physically a lot further along. We feel like physically he can go in and compete. It's the knowledge base of the offense."[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Jones, who transferred to UC from Notre Dame last year, has been working to improve his throwing motion after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum. Although Jones has struggled in camp to throw the ball consistently, Kelly says he has improved in that area.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Pike, a Reading High School graduate, completed 3 of 11 passes for 21 yards and was intercepted once in relief of Grutza on Saturday. He has never started a game at UC.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Last year, Pike played in five games as a reserve and completed 11 passes in 20 attempts for 91 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Against Eastern Kentucky in UC's season opener two weeks ago, he was 5-for-7 for 52 yards.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Meanwhile, former UC quarterback Ben Mauk awaits a decision from Hardin County (Ohio) Common Pleas Judge William Hart on Mauk's request for a permanent injunction that would keep the NCAA from preventing Mauk from playing this season.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]That decision could come as early as today.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]The NCAA has ruled five times that Mauk is not entitled to a sixth year to complete his four years of college eligibility.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Kelly, who has closed practice this week with no media access to his players, was still coming to grips Monday with the most lopsided loss of his brief UC career.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]One thing he learned is that his defense, which is thought to be one of the Bearcats' strengths, needs to be more physical.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]"You can't run sideline to sideline and just be fast," Kelly said. "You've got to come downhill. You've got to tackle and hit people. We've got to be more physical on defense."[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]UC, which received 35 votes in the poll last week, did not receive a single vote this week.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]GILYARD HONORED: UC's Mardy Gilyard was named Big East special teams player of the week for his effort against Oklahoma. Gilyard set a Big East record with 246 return yards and his 365 all-purpose yards was a school record. He returned a kickoff 97 yards for at touchdown - the first UC kickoff return for a TD in 13 years - and caught seven passes for 119 yards.[/FONT]

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">9:52 AM (1 hour ago)
So, How Was Your Weekend- Maryland

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Maryland, ACC

A look back at the weekend of various and sundry ACC teams...

I'll be honest- it sometimes feels like Middle Tennessee State plays something along the lines of 15 games a year. Along with its usual rugged Sun Belt conference sked, they've pretty much played every single school that me or any of my close friends have been affiliated with. Hell, they even look good being run past in Getty image shots. At the very least, they've done their conference proud by taking Virginia to the wire last year, ruining Vanderbilt's best chance to get to a bowl and at least keeping things interesting with Georgia to the point where kids in attendance could at least stay long enough to get drunk.

But damn, the threat is real at Maryland, innit? One week after a 14-7 squeaker against Delaware, Maryland dropped a 24-14 clunker against Middle Tennessee State where Chris Turner didn't exactly solidify his iron grip on the QB situation. When Fanhouse puts out its year-end B-sides collection, maybe they'll include an unreleased gem where I called Maryland one of the ACC's sleepers, because everyone else was picking UNC and many of their losses in 2007 were suspiciously close (word to the anti-UVA). Yes, they're 1-1 with a clean conference slate, but there's also that issue about having no real quarterback and thus, offense- yeah, Da'rel Scott and Darius Heyward-Bey got wheels, but those 60 and 80-yarders won't come so easy against that RUGGED ACC SCHEDULE.

On the other hand, there's also an unreleased gem where Ralph Friedgen is tabbed the ACC coach with the hottest seat; yeah, things could get bad at UVA this year, but the financial commitment made to Al Groh is pretty substantial (and let's not forget the buyout for Pete Gillen) and really, even if Virginia fans are tired of two "rebuilding years" in the past three, they just got to their first NYD bowl in over a deade. God, was it that long ago that Maryland was a constant threat for 10-win seasons, January bowls and stealing recruits left and right from Penn State. So yeah, don't get too cocky Rutgers. This could be your life.





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[RJ Esq]

Ike may threaten Texas-Arkansas

from Bevo Beat

The Longhorn athletic department is keeping a close eye on the path of Hurricane Ike, which could hit the Texas coast about the same time the Arkansas game is scheduled to kick off Saturday afternoon.
“We’re trying to look at all our options,” UT athletics director DeLoss Dodds told the American-Statesman this morning.
Weather conditions will play a factor, as will any mandatory evacuation plans. Dodds said he’d have to consider contingency plans if the state “locks down all our roads and the campus is used for an evacuation spot.”
If the game is postponed, it could be scheduled Sept. 27, when both the Longhorns and Razorbacks have a bye week. But that date presents another set of difficulties since it conflicts with the Austin City Limits Festival, which brings music fans to the city. Hotel rooms could be in short supply, and other travel arrangements undoubtedly would be problematic.

 

[RJ Esq]

[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]Fiu's Cavalcade of Whimsy[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]
a.k.a. Frank Costanza's Festivus Airing of the Grievances [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2]

By Pete Fiutak
What's your beef? ... Fire off your thoughts
Past Whimsies [/SIZE][/FONT] 2006 Season | 2007 Season
- Preseason Cavalcade | Week 1
If this column sucks, it’s not my fault … I was suspended by Joe Paterno after Penn State Police found a “small amount” of marijuana in my former college apartment. It wasn’t my pot so I was allowed to dress, but I didn’t get to play.

“The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons were dead because they were stupid.” ... I'll deny writing this 14 years from now when daughter one goes off to blow $300,000 for four years of higher learning.

You’re supposed to do dumb things in college.

The idea is to explore while learning and experiencing new things both in the classroom and out, and if that includes violating a silly law or two, so be it. You’re supposed to, uh, inhale, drink bad beer, do some random smooching, eat lousy food, and blow off a class here and there when the mood to throw around a Frisbee strikes. Of course, you make up for it all by scrambling like mad pulling all-nighters to cram for exams while learning how to juggle and balance the irresponsibility of newfound freedom with the hard work involved in learning and producing at a high level. That’s the pure joy of college; you’re supposed to screw up and be a little nuts. However, you don’t get that luxury if you’re a high profile athlete, not anymore, and the Penn State players currently in hot water should've known better. They don't get the leeway to make dumb mistakes after all the problems this off-season.

The recently suspended players needed to go above and beyond the line when it came to being as clean as possible, because at Penn State, especially now, mistakes get magnified. Other schools (who shall remain nameless) do a great job of sweeping things under the rug. Penn State punishes, not harshly enough for some, but Joe Paterno deals with things head on. But now things have changed and it's up to the players to be more responsible than they were in the past.

In today’s day and age of instant information, the players know just how fast their mistakes can be magnified. 20 years ago, it took longer for mistakes to get through the news cycle. Now, if you get arrested or get in trouble in any way, you’ll be on a home page in 15 minutes and a message board in five. In the past it was up to the coaches to maintain some semblance of institutional control. Now it’s up to the players, and at the moment, they need to be perfect.
Unfortunately, high-profile college athletes are the ambassadors for the universities. Would you care about The Ohio State University or the University of Southern California in any way on a daily basis at this time of year if the two schools didn’t have monster football programs? The breakthrough in the chemistry lab last week at XYZ State isn’t going to make the AP wire, but the name of the wide receiver who got charged with a DUI will be known by every sports fan, and the school name is always attached to the player. It's not fair, but that's what the players sign up for. They're not regular students.
Would that make Bill Stewart the Sammy Hagar? … West Virginia now seems like a once great band that lost the star singer, said all the right things about being bigger and better than ever, and then came out with an OU812 effort. Alright, let’s start the what-iffing. If Rich Rodriguez was still the head coach of the Mountaineers, do they lose to East Carolina? September 20, 2003 against Cincinnati was the last time West Virginia lost to a non-BCS conference team (the Bearcats were in Conference USA at the time). Under Stewart, the Mountaineers have to quickly show what an aberration this was. To get thoroughly dominated in the second game of the year, and in the first battle against an FCS team, isn't good.

And you have to promise to tone it down a wee bit if it turns out that the Hokies and Mountaineers just plain stink … I’ll throw it out there. Let’s say West Virginia regroups, beats Auburn at home, loses one more game to, say, Louisville, and goes off to the BCS as the Big East champion with a 10-2 mark. Now let’s say Virginia Tech struggles a bit but still ends up winning the ACC title, which isn’t all that far-fetched considering how down the league is. What happens if East Carolina runs the table, sub-question, do the Pirates deserve BCS consideration with one loss to a team like Southern Miss?

If the Pirates do finish without a blemish, it's possible they'll have beaten the ACC and Big East champions, two other ACC teams on the road, NC State and Virginia, last year’s Conference USA champion on the road, UCF, and a good Southern Miss team on the road. Of course, that would mean a win in the Conference USA title game, too.

Do the Pirates deserve to play for the whole ball of wax over a one-loss SEC team, a one-loss USC and/or a one-loss Big 12 champion? Let’s throw one more wrench into the equation. What if BYU achieves its Quest for Perfection with wins over Washington, UCLA, at TCU and at Utah on the résumé? Would you feel happy with two non-BCS conference teams playing for the national title if there aren’t any unbeaten BCS teams? Obviously things like this never work out as planned, but this could be a blast of a storyline as the season goes on. “Oooh fuuudge! Only I didn't say "Fudge." I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!” … Washington QB Jake Locker had to be the team leader as he stood up and apologized to his teammates and coaches for getting nailed with a penalty for spontaneously flinging the ball into the air after his last-second touchdown against BYU. Now the world needs to apologize to Locker for putting the kibosh on any future pure, unfiltered joyful moments from a guy who's obviously everything you’d want in a college player. I sort of prefer the Locker who was caught on camera mouthing an exasperated f-bomb after BYU blocked the extra point attempt.

But as far as the karma police are concerned, the Cougars are still playing with house money after winning the 1984 national title without beating a team with a pulse … It came as no shock whatsoever that 99% of the e-mails to us criticizing the call on Locker came from non-BYU fans, and almost everyone who agreed with it appeared to Cougar die-hards. As I write every time fans of a team feel screwed, put the shoe on the other foot. Had BYU been the one penalized and had Washington ended up blocking the extra point for the win, would Cougar fans be so strict about the celebration rule being followed to the letter? For any other fan base, the answer is obviously no, but in this case I believe more BYU fans than most would’ve accepted it on a rule-is-a-rule theory

“Rehabilitated? That's a bulls*** word, so you just go on ahead and stamp that form there, sonny, and stop wasting my damn time. Truth is, I don't give a s***.” … Former Cincinnati QB Ben Mauk keeps coming up with new pitches in his never-ending quest to get another year of eligibility. He suffered a foot injury early in his freshman year at Wake Forest and later missed a year with a broken arm suffered in the 2006 season opener. He then transferred to Cincinnati where he was a star last season, and now he's trying for a sixth year he feels he should have coming because of the past injury problems. The NCAA has denied his requests on five separate appeals, but that doesn’t mean Mauk is done trying to squeeze out the little life his football career has left. Now there's a new twist; he’s suing to try to get back on the field. I’d mock the effort (and I did a few weeks ago), but I write about college football for a living, have ESPNU on half the day, listen to XMU the other half, and own a wardrobe built by Old Navy. Go get 'em, Ben. You might as well give it a shot, because when it's over, it's over.
“Ooh, the Germans are mad at me. I'm so scared! Oooh, the Germans!”… From an official to the crowd at the Stanford - Arizona State game: “Please do not blow the whistle in the stands or there will be, uh … consequences.” All that was missing was an “and stuff” at the very end

“Well, it's not that I don't like you, but, well to be perfectly honest, I'm just having some trouble getting past the face painting.” … It’s time the guidelines for school sprit through face and body painting be established once and for all.

1) If you’re a college student, going to a game with your face and body painted is more than acceptable, especially if you’re the overweight one with the A printed on your chest to form STATE.

2) If you’re a man over the age of 22 and not in college, you’re not allowed to paint any part of your body, ever, and if you’re over the age of 30 you’re not allowed to wear a jersey. Ever.

3) If you're a man over 22 and you insist on paining a part of your body, you have to go whole hog. Not just a letter on the cheek or a temporary tattoo of the team logo on the bicep, but full body paint. Then everyone will know you’re just nuts and quirky. You're that guy.

4) If you’re a woman, paint any part of your body you’d like, and feel free to take off your shirt in -4 degree weather like some of the insane men do.

Those who don’t learn from history are forced to repeat the eighth grade … If the past has taught us anything, and it hasn’t, we should go into the rest of the year knowing that …

- Iowa obliterates bad non-conference teams at home in September and then has a nightmare of a time against Iowa State. The Hawkeyes and the Cyclones play this week.

- Oklahoma obliterates every team at home and then suffers a bizarre mental breakdown on the road when it just doesn’t show up. And then comes the clunker in the bowl when the team fails to play up to its talent level. At Washington likely isn't any sort of a trap game, but the road trip to Kansas State in late October could be it.

- USC always obliterates a decent BCS opponent early on, and eventually loses its edge on the way to losing to a vastly inferior team. The Trojansthen go on to destroy a Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl causing 84% of the college football world to whine that Pete Carroll’s club belonged in the national title. The other thing we know is that the Trojans shine when the lights are on. If they get by Ohio State, the under-the-radar game to watch out for is at Arizona at the end of October.

- Wisconsin will struggle early against the dregs of college football causing a mini-buzz on the early scoreboard, and then it comes back roaring to win. The Badgers usually step up when they have to, while Fresno State, when properly motivated, can be a buzzsaw at home. This week's matchup between the two should be one of the more interesting showdowns of the young season.

- California will look like a national title contender, Lee Corso will watch one Bears game and be unable to stop raving, and then comes the big loss when it matters most. The Bears play Arizona State, at Arizona, UCLA, Oregon, a USC staring October 4th.

- Clemson will blow an early game, will go on a roll and move its way up the rankings and into everyone’s good graces, and then come up with a dud just when everyone starts to care. At Boston College on November 1st could be when the letdown hits.

- Texas Tech will throw 500 passing yards on the board on everyone, will pull off one big upset, and then stink it up out of the blue by some team whose coach raves about how he thought this was a good matchup. That could happen early on with a trip to Kansas State for the Big 12 opener on October 4th.

Putting the echoes back to sleep … Outside of the classic but illegal shot by Rey Maulauga on Patrick Cowan in UCLA’s upset win over USC in 2006, there hasn’t been a bigger, more explosive nationally-televised hit than the bomb delivered by San Diego State’s Corey Boudreaux on Notre Dame’s Armando Allen last Saturday. Unfortunately, anyone watching that game was probably long asleep by the time it happened.

“You ain’t so bad (Clubber delivers another big hit). You ain’t so bad (Clubber delivers another big hit). You ain’t nothing!” … I got yelled at and was called a bunch of funny names by SEC die-hards for suggesting that their beloved league would lose at least six non-conference games against BCS conference teams. How about losing more than six non-conference games against anyone? Arkansas certainly got by Western Illinois and UL Monroe by the skin of its teeth and is an all-but-certain loss at Texas this week. Ole Miss lost at Wake Forest, Mississippi State lost at Louisiana Tech, and Tennessee lost at UCLA. Time is running out to get to six, but South Carolina could still lose to Clemson, Georgia could have problems at Arizona State, and Auburn could struggle at West Virginia.

The Tomfoolery of Professor Lou Holtz … I’m a huge fan of Lou Holtz’s work on ESPN, so I kid with love. This week’s Holtz line regarding the flag thrown on the Locker play: “It was a shamesty of justice!”
The C.O.W. airing of the grievances followed by the feats of strength
Ten things I’m grouchy about this week.

10. Bill Belichick
Without Tom Brady, give it another ten minutes before Belichick thinks about pulling a Bobby Petrino or a Nick Saban. It should say something about how much better the big-time college coaching gigs are than the pros considering Belichick’s starting quarterback couldn’t get on the field for Pete Carroll.

9. Throwback jerseys
The old school, throwback uniforms are almost always better for a reason. For one, they don’t look like they were put together by a marketing company, and they’re usually cleaner and just more aesthetically pleasing. There’s a reason why the “classic” uniforms of Penn State and the Green Bay Packers work so well. Illinois came up with these beauties (outside of the Nike Swoosh) with a nod to the past in its home opener against Eastern Illinois. Keep them.

8. Weather and the SEC
I started to write this as a quirky blurb and quickly and sadly realized there might actually be an inconvenient truth here. With $2.25 billion in the equation between ESPN and the SEC, are there any clauses in the deal if the unthinkable happens and, within the next 15 years, the southeast part of our country looks far different than it does now? Look at how bad Baton Rouge got hammered by Gustav, and that wasn’t even from a full-force hurricane. Here is where I’d throw in a line about how it might take the polar ice caps to melt for Ohio State to win another national title, but that would be in poor taste.

7. Jimmy Clausen’s hair
We get it, you’re trying to be Sunshine from the God-awful Remember The Titans. At least Ronnie Bass could throw. Fortunately there’s ol’ Chuck Weis with a haircut you can set your watch to. Actually, Clausen wasn’t all that bad considering the team around him doesn’t appear to be appreciably better. He threw two picks against San Diego State, but he completed 21-of-34 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns.
6. Utah State head coach Brent Guy and Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson
Utah State head coach Brent Guy has gone 6-31 in just over four years with the wins coming over New Mexico State (twice), San Jose State, UNLV, Idaho, and a 2006 13-12 shocker over Fresno State. Guy’s Aggies started off the season with a good fight in a 27-17 loss to UNLV before getting bombed by Oregon 66-24. Outside of a major upset, the only real chances at a win will come September 20th vs. Idaho and in the regular season finale against New Mexico State.

The expectations aren’t that high for Utah State. That’s not true at Syracuse, a program that used to be a superpower who challenged for conference championships every year. Greg Robinson has gone 7-31 in his time and things don’t appear to be getting better after losing to Northwestern and Akron, not exactly Florida and USC, by a combined score of 72-38.

5. FCS games
Every FBS team should start off the season against an FCS team to tune up for the real games. However, if the first two weeks were any indication, that likely wouldn't be a fun opening weekend. 53-2. That’s what the big leaguers did to the minors this year so far, and while the top 20 FCS teams are as good or better than the bottom 30 FBS teams, the cupcake matchups this year, outside of a Colorado-Eastern Washington game here and there, have been awful.

4. Florida’s running game
Oh sure, in a blowout against Hawaii, Florida had everyone but Alberta Alligator running the ball with 11 different Gators getting a carry. When it came time to battle in a big game, like last week against Miami, the running backs went bye-bye. Tim Tebow ran for 55 yards on 13 carries and Percy Harvin ran for 27 yards and a score on five carries. The rest of the Gators ran nine times for seven yards. By the way, Tennessee, who’s up next for Florida, allowed just 29 yards rushing against UCLA.

3. Steve Spurrier
Alright Steve Spurrier, it’s time to do some of that ball coachin’ stuff you’re so famous for. You’d think the old fun ‘n’ gun style at Florida could tweaked and adapted to shine in the new spread era, but it’s just not happening on offense. The Gamecocks can’t stop giving the ball away and they’re not getting much of anything on offense averaging a mere 347 yards per game hurt mostly from a madly inefficient passing game. This is Steve freakin’ Spurrier, the guy who won 78% of his games before coming to Columbia. This is the guy who made marginal talents play like world beaters at Florida, and he can’t get a passing game going.

2. The greatest product mankind has ever invented
If you’ve gotten this far in the column, and you’re who I think you are, then here is my heartfelt Thank You for being a loyal reader.

This ad ran over and over again during the late Pac 10 games and a few other local feeds across the country, and yes, it’s for real, and yes, you really do get the lyrics, the ear buds, and the wrist strap. And by the way, if you notice, there are only two songs. Along with the ShamWow!, these are so going to be the CFN corporate holiday presents. Happy Tuesday.

1. BCS Busters
The Big East sucks right now and the ACC is dying faster than prime time network television. The Big Ten has its issues, the Pac 10 and SEC are top heavy, and some of the Big 12 teams have struggled to get though the non-conference portion of the schedule. With that in mind, I vow to limit my use of the term “BCS Buster” to just one per day. East Carolina is good. BYU and Utah are really good. TCU can play with anyone, and Fresno State could easily beat Wisconsin this weekend. The top teams from the non-BCS conferences can do more than just hang around with the big boys, they are the big boys. We shouldn’t be shocked any longer when a Fresno State beats a Rutgers. It should say something when a Louisiana Tech win over Mississippi State doesn’t register a blip on the national scale. The BCS shouldn’t need to be busted, and a team from a non-BCS conference shouldn’t have to run the table to get in. It’s time to take the ten highest ranked teams in America and put them in the BCS, and if an East Carolina or a BYU happens to get in there, fine.
Random Acts of Nutty … Provocative musings and tidbits to make every woman want you and every man want to be you (or vice versa).
- The ultimate obscure stat from the ultimate obscure game. Idaho State’s star WR Eddie Williams caught 17 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown in a 42-27 loss to Idaho.
- Because Ocho Cinco is already taken in this week’s edition of What I’m Going To Change My Name To: Minnesota RB Shady Salamon.
- Auburn's run defense has been terrific so far holding UL Monroe, who gave Arkansas fits, to 84 yards on the ground and stuffing Damion Fletcher and Southern Miss for just 37 yards. Mississippi State, LSU and Tennessee are up next.
- Yes, Tim Tebow desperately needs to work on his touch, but after watching some of the throws he made against Miami, specifically his first touchdown pass which was all arm, I want to know why being a thrower instead of a passer is that big a deal. You know who’s a passer? Chad Pennington.
C.O.W. shameless gimmick item … The weekly five Overrated/Underrated aspects of the world
1) Overrated: The Jamaican track team's success ... Underrated: Lance Armstrong in the 2009 Tour de France
2) Overrated: BrettFavre (said as one name by all announcers) … Underrated: TimTebow (said as one name by all announcers)
3) Overrated: The Geico cavemen ... Underrated: Geico's Mike Wallace
4) Overrated: The fat Jerry Seinfeld ... Underrated: churros
5) Overrated: USC ... Underrated: Ohio State

“You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools/But that's the way I like it baby, I don't wanna live forever” … The three lines this week that appear to be a tad off. I’m always, always going to go 1-2 with these picks (I’m 2-4 after two weeks). It’s what I do, but this week it took something unbelievable for me to not be 2-1. Rice scored 22 points in the final 6:28 with a pick-six to win it with 11 seconds to play to screw up my Memphis pick. I press on.… 1) Western Michigan -7.5 over Idaho, 2) Ohio State +11 over USC, 3) Michigan over Notre Dame PICK

Last Week: 1) Iowa -27 over FIU (win), 2) Miami +22 over Florida (lost), 3) Memphis -3.5 over Rice (lost)

Sorry this column sucked, but it wasn’t my fault … I’m a grown man who has devoted a good portion of the last ten days trying to find information about the foot of someone named Beanie.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">2:46 PM (15 minutes ago)
Weekly Stock Report: Let us now praise the puppetmasters

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

Teams, coaches, trends and where they stand. ↑ UP: Funky offensive overhauls. Last week, the jury was still out on Paul Johnson's flexbone, Tony Franklin's and Rich Rodriguez's spread thingamajigs and the Galen Hall/Jay Paterno "Spread HD" at previously stubborn bastions of the burly iso run, mostly because the opening week competition wasn't much better than going the motions against tackling dummies in practice. All four cashed in on their second go-round Saturday, though, to varying extents: Daryll Clark aced his first real test as PSU throttled Oregon State, Franklin found a passing game and a full time quarterback against Southern Miss and Johnson engineered a fourth comeback highlighted by popping a fullback up the middle for 40 yards for the decisive touchdown.
Even Rodriguez, working without a functional quarterback or offensive line and struggling through another lo-fi affair with one of the weakest teams Michigan will face, got his first win in Ann Arbor and maybe found a viable running back in Sam McGuffie.
And although I don't think you can describe David Cutcliffe's influence at Duke as "funky," but even in defeat, Saturday's 476-yard outburst against Northwestern was one of the Devils' best offensive afternoons in years.
↔ HOLDING: Big 12 hype, Big Ten hate. With Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan and, of course, Ohio State stumbling a bit out of the gate, the "How bad is the Big Ten?" vibe was picking up steam Saturday morning. But they all recovered and won fairly easily, and combined with the Big 12 ran the record for the week to 23-0 for Midwestern heavies. Great work, guys, except, uh, it wasn't exactly the Royal Rumble out there against Ohio U., Miami of Ohio, Eastern Illinois, Florida International, Marshall, Eastern Michigan, Duke, Northern Colorado, Murray State, Nevada, UTEP, Houston, New Mexico, Northwestern State, Southeast Missouri, San Jose State, Louisiana Tech, Montana State, Eastern Washington and Kent State.
Give Oklahoma and Penn State credit for pounding on presumably respectable foes Cincinnati and Oregon State, respectively (although I'm wondering now about the Beavers), and Minnesota for hammering Bowling Green as an underdog, because the Gophers are too desperate to take any victory for granted, even if it comes from the MAC. For the other twenty, call back when y'all start beating each other.

↔ HOLDING: Lightly dozing echoes. Notre Dame did indeed look atrocious in its highly anticipated debut against San Diego State, arguably much worse than Cal Poly San Luis Obispo did in beating SDSU in week one, and disaster was eminent until the smallpox-infested Gatorade kicked in around the start of the fourth quarter, rendering the Aztecs incontinent with the ball near the goal line and propelling the Catholics to suddenly easy plunder on the other end.
But, much as you'll take any excuse to castigate them and their consistently terrible fashion decisions, a) the offense did show some signs of life when it switched to the no-huddle with the game winding down, and Jimmy Clausen does what Jimmy expects to do when Jimmy's put in a situation like that, completing 8 of 9 and two touchdowns, and b) after last year, anything remotely resembling victory to start off with is a lateral step at worst, even under more difficult circumstances than expected (depending on your point of view, maybe especially under more difficult circumstances than expected). We'll see what happens when also idling Michigan comes to town this week for the second-most entertaining cripple fight ever.
↓ DOWN: The Fridge. Some guys come into the season on the proverbial hot seat -- Ty WiIllingham, Mike Stoops, Dave Wannstedt, etc. ("hot" is not an adequate term to describe the molten furniture adorning Greg Robinson's office in Syracuse). And some coach their way there as the weeks move along. The first addition to Death Watch '08: Ralph Friedgen, whose Terps have been so bad in a humble win over I-AA Delaware and a ten-point loss to Sun Belt punching bag Middle Tennessee that UMD partisans are getting wistful for Ron Vanderlinden. At least Vanderlinden could recruit! With his own players, the fast-starting Friedgen's been stuck in neutral for going on five years in a row, and the season could go spinning off the tracks Saturday if Cal does to the Terps what it just did to Washington State.






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">3:46 PM (12 minutes ago)
Charlie Weis would never insult the Wolverines, if only they weren't too stupid to realize it

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Back in April, a loyal pilgrim to Notre Dame's spring scrimmage caught Charlie Weis saying this thing about Michigan -- what was it again?<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0ljJ7SU1E9Y&hl=en&fs=1" flashvars="undefined" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="344" width="425">Popout Ah, yes. "To hell with Michigan." And it was a moderately juicy story for like an hour and a half and everybody forgot about it. This is a rivalry, people, and that's the sort of things rivals should be saying about one another. Go to hell, the hell with you, see you in hell. This is healthy (see what I did there?).
Of course, media trying to drum up interest in a showdown of offenses that combined for 37 points Saturday against San Diego State and Miami of Ohio will throw anything against the wall to see what sticks, and instead of telling the writers "to hell with your manufactured antagonism," Weis took the bait today by means of a minor clarification: when the coach said "to hell with Michigan" and all their excuses for sucking, he was actually complimenting the Wolverines and their fine traditions, if only those maized-up peons weren't too stupid to get it:

At his weekly news conference Tuesday, Weis said the last comment was made out of respect for Bo Schembechler. The former Michigan coach, who died in 2006, was known on more than one occasion to say, "To hell with Notre Dame" — most notably when the Irish turned down a chance to join the Big Ten.​

Weis said he knew his comment would come up this week. Over the summer he had a laugh about it with Schembechler's son, Shemy, a scout for the Washington Redskins.
"Anyone who is a Michigan fan should know and understand that that comment pays respect to Bo and his mentality versus when playing an opponent,” he said. "So take it for what it's worth. But I think that’s a very respectful comment toward Coach Bo's 'To hell with Notre Dame."'
[...]
"At least Bo's kid got it," Weis said.
See, the real Michigan Man understood immediately. I guess it just takes a certain kind of intellect to "get" Charlie. So if all you other posers aren't even respectful enough of your school's history to spin an obvious insult into an homage to your fallen patriarch, well, you know where you can go.






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[RJ Esq]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="col0">Huskers WRs motivated by New Mexico State trash talk

</td><td class="col1">Story Highlights

• Aggies corner: 'We believe our receivers are 10 times better than their receivers'
• Peterson says he'll keep the quote in the back of his mind and use it for motivation
• Nate Swift let out a chuckle when he heard House's quote

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</td></tr></tbody></table>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Todd Peterson says he doesn't appreciate a New Mexico State player's comment about Nebraska's receivers.
Aggies cornerback Davon House said this week that the Aggies' secondary is well-prepared to face the Cornhuskers because "we believe our receivers are 10 times better than their receivers."
Told of House's comment, Peterson said on Tuesday that he's not going to say something that would provide bulletin-board material for the Aggies. Peterson says he'll keep the quote in the back of his mind and use it for motivation.
Nate Swift let out a chuckle when he heard House's quote and, like Peterson, said he wouldn't engage House in a war of words.

 

[RJ Esq]

Added:

CMU -3 (-110)

Tailing CB and Jump on this one. Basically superior team, Ohio might have blown their wad against tOSU, and Ohio's starting QB is out. Boo Jackson is a good backup but threw 3 picks against tOSU. I would expect 1 or 2 more against CMU which has a very good defense.

Also, CMU is 18-6-1 ATS against conference opponents with Lefevour as QB. Gotta love that trend.

 

[CapTwo]

:36_11_6: Death Watch 08- Ralph Freidgen.

Maryland will finish below .500 this year AGAIN, but they will be good for their patented "one upset a year" against a top 25 team..... and that will not suffice anymore.
MTSU loss sealed his fate.

 

[RJ Esq]

Ike may cause Texas-Arkansas postponement

By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The University of Texas athletic department is keeping a close eye on the path of Hurricane Ike, which could make landfall on the Texas coast at about the same time the Arkansas game is scheduled to kick off Saturday afternoon.
"We're trying to look at all our options," Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said Tuesday.
Weather conditions will play a factor, as will any mandatory evacuation plans. Dodds said he'd have to consider contingency plans if the state "locks down all our roads and the campus is used for an evacuation spot."
If the game is postponed, it could be rescheduled for Sept. 27 — an open date for both Texas and Arkansas.
That date, however, would present another set of difficulties since it would fall on the Saturday of the annual Austin City Limits music festival. Hotel rooms could be in short supply and other travel arrangements undoubtedly would be problematic.
Dodds said Texas officials would know more about the situation today.
LSU athletic director Joe Alleva will announce today where the Tigers' football game against North Texas will be played on Saturday. Contact has been made with Texas Stadium in Dallas, the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Independence Stadium in Shreveport and the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans as possible backup locations in the event the game can't be played in Baton Rouge.
New Mexico State will play Alcorn State on Oct. 4 in Las Cruces, filling what had been a bye week. Last week's home game against Nicholls State has been canceled.
Ike already has presented some wrinkles for a couple of Central Texas high school football teams. The Westlake-A&M Consolidated and McNeil-Bryan games have been moved from Friday to Thursday because of expected weather problems in the Bryan-College Station area. Both games will now be played at 7 p.m. Thursday, at A&M Consolidated and Bryan high schools, respectively.
Austin ISD athletic director Tommy Cox said he did not anticipate any local football games being affected on Friday, though scheduled volleyball matches could be postponed if the district's Delco Center ends up being used as an evacuation center to house coastal evacuees.
On Tuesday, the University Interscholastic League announced that rules concerning the scheduling of volleyball district matches would be eased for schools affected by the hurricane.
That means teams that played Tuesday night would be allowed to play another district match as soon as today or Thursday.
In addition, the UIL rule prohibiting football games from being played within a five-day span also would be lifted, so that varsity games impacted by evacuations could be played with as little as four days between contests.
This article contains material from The Associated Press.

 

[RJ Esq]

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Welcome to the Trobuckalypse, Day Three: Beanie's a go, according to Beanie

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

Daily headlines, notes and errata in anticipation of the Game of the Decade of the Year. The L.A. Times hints at some "suspense" in Chris Wells' status for Saturday night, but Beanie left no doubt where he stands physically, or at least where he thinks he stands:

Jim Tressel said today that he expects Ohio State running back Beanie Wells to play against USC on Saturday even though Wells has not taken part in a full practice since injuring his right foot against Youngstown State 10 day ago.​

Tressel was happy with what he saw from Wells on the sidelines while the team practiced Monday.
"I thought Beanie ran very well yesterday," Tressel said today. "I think he ran better than I thought he might. I thing the big thing will be Tuesday and Wednesday work and will that create soreness."
[...]
Tressel said Wells told offensive coordinator Jim Bollman, "I'm ready to carry the ball 45 times on Saturday."
- - -
Emphasis Added
Remembering the oddly Boeckman-heavy debacle in the Superdome in January, OSU fans are more than willing to lend their deep-tissue foot massage talents to the cause between every one of those carries, if that's what the situation demands -- just ask Randy how good that rubbin' feels after a long day at the office park. Ten minutes, and Beanie will never want to put on another pair of shoes again. It's their only hope.
Meanwhile, Pete Carroll spent the day fending off an awful prank caller and reminiscing about how Charlie White cost him a national championship as an Ohio State assistant in 1979. And while some game tickets may be absurdly expensive, they're starting to depreciate, on the whole, along with the expectation that Ohio State can actually make this a game.
Tale of the Tape of the Day . . .

Sweaters vs. Sweater Vests​

Classy, fuzzy, old-fashioned yet timeless, conservative yet also sly, both the sweater and sweater vest can be that little knowing wink among strangers, a subtle signal to passersby that you respect tradition, and you've made peace with your place in the world -- but there's just a little bit more than meets the eye.
Still, our first obligation, as always, is to the truth, which in this case means recognizing that it is neither sweater nor vest that commands our attention: it is, after all, what's on the inside that counts. And that's pretty obvious. Advantage: Southern Cal.
Plausible Scenario of the Day. Beanie Wells roars into the Coliseum jacked on giant vats of industrial strength novacaine coursing through his extremities and carries the Buckeyes on his considerable shoulders with a big run that gets Ohio State on the board quickly. Learning from last year's mythical championship debacle, Tressel goes out of his way to ride Beanie until he collapses and take the offense out of Todd Boeckman's hands as much as possible. Terrelle Pryor adds a pair of first down runs on third down and another big scramble to set up more points. Unable to get OSU off the field, USC's offense fails to find a rhythm in the first half and, looking to get untracked with a big play, commits the disastrous turnover at the start of the third quarter that helps Ohio State go ahead by two scores. From there, the Bucks continue to play Tressel Ball, pressure an increasingly frustrated Mark Sanchez on defense and tighten the sleeper hold on a patented 23-14 slugfest.






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[RJ Esq]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="col0">Spurrier says Gamecocks will play both QBs vs. No. 2 Georgia

</td><td class="col1">Story Highlights

• Both Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley have struggled mightily at QB
• Spurrier said he'd call on many untested WRs with the injury to Kenny McKinley
• S.C. ranks ninth in total offense and 10th in scoring offense among SEC teams

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</td></tr></tbody></table>COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Steve Spurrier's newest strategy for No. 2 Georgia? Two quarterbacks and a bunch of young receivers.
South Carolina's coach ended much of the mystery as to which of the quarterbacks would start against the Bulldogs (2-0). He said he would probably play both Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley.
Spurrier added he'd call on several of the Gamecocks untested wideouts in the increasingly likely event Kenny McKinley, the record-setting receiver and the offense's best player, would miss the game because of a right hamstring pull.
"I would say he's doubtful," Spurrier said Tuesday. "When you pull a hamstring like he did, it's usually a two-to-three week deal. So I don't know."
Spurrier also apparently couldn't decide on a quarterback. Then again, he hasn't had a lot to go on this season.
Beecher, a junior, was named the starter in the spring and opened against North Carolina State. It was a disastrous debut as Beecher threw four interceptions before injuries forced him to the sidelines.
Smelley came on to lead South Carolina to three scoring drives in the 34-0 victory.
So, Smelley started the following week against Vanderbilt as the Gamecocks looked to wipe away memories of last season's unexpected loss to the Commodores. Instead, Smelley threw two interceptions and South Carolina (1-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) struggled to move the ball when it mattered most in Vandy's 24-17 win.
McKinley caught that game's first scoring pass. Soon, he was on the sidelines in street clothes with ice taped to his right thigh.
McKinley, who grew up in Mableton, Ga., says he wants to play since it's the senior's last game with Georgia. He vowed to do all treatments and rehab exercises to get him ready for Saturday's game.
McKinley is an all-SEC receiver who is eight receptions from the school's all-time record.
Without McKinley, Spurrier says sophomores Joe Hills and Jason Barnes, and freshman C.C. Whitlock would get more involved. Hills will start in some of South Carolina's multiple receiver formations, Spurrier said.
Hills and Barnes were part of Spurrier's 2007 recruiting class, a group possessing such speed and potential, some recruiting experts compared them to the top classes Spurrier brought in at Florida.
So far, only fellow sophomore Dion LeCorn has been a regular contributor, giving Gamecock quarterbacks an option when McKinley is triple covered.
Spurrier acknowledged frustration because his receivers hadn't shown more in their second seasons. But he and his staff go by what they see each practice.
"If they can get open and catch the ball, they'll be starters here," Spurrier said. "But when they don't get open and don't catch very many balls in practice, it's just hard to put them out there."
If McKinley doesn't play, 6-foot-5 tight end Jared Cook looks to be South Carolina's main option. He had a career game against Vanderbilt with eight catches for 111 yards.
Still, through two games, South Carolina ranks ninth in total offense and 10th in scoring offense among the SEC's 12 teams.
"We just have to get all the elements together, put them all in one box and go play," Cook said.
That has to include strong play from the quarterback.
Spurrier says Beecher is fully recovered from the shoulder and head injuries that caused him to miss some practice time leading up to Vanderbilt. He and Smelley have split practice reps.
Spurrier has emphasized to both they need to get rid of the ball quicker than they've been. Passers can't count on perfect protection and must weave their way out of trouble sometimes.
"So we're trying to teach our guys to have somewhere to throw it and do a better job of having a throwaway play or place to get rid of it," he said. "That's something we're going to try and do better at."

 

[RJ Esq]

UO's Johnson bounces back from shoulder injury

Posted by John Hunt, The Oregonian September 09, 2008 17:15PM

Categories: Football, Top Stories
EUGENE -- Jeremiah Johnson bounded onto the practice field Tuesday, wearing a brace on his right shoulder and a smile on his face.
"Ain't nothing wrong with my legs, and I have another arm, too," said Johnson, who was injured in Saturday's 66-24 win over Utah State but should start Saturday at Purdue.

Bruce Ely/The OregonianJeremiah Johson dislocated his shoulder applying this stiffarm Saturday to Utah State defender Caleb Taylor.
For Johnson, the senior running back still waiting to burst out of the shadow of Jonathan Stewart, the upbeat frame of mind is his natural state. Unlike Stewart, Johnson is seldom quiet -- even in the middle of August drills or after tearing up a knee or dislocating a shoulder. "He's probably the most vocal captain we've had for a while," said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, who said his running back "more than pleaded" to get back into the game against Utah State after injuring his right shoulder on his only carry.
Following the Ducks
What: Oregon at Purdue

When: 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13
Where: Ross-Ade Stadium
On the air: TV on KATU 2/ABC, radio on KXTG 95.5, KXL 750

Johnson admitted he was a little too vociferous with the training staff after they popped his shoulder back into joint then refused to clear him to play. "I've got to go apologize to them -- I kind of cursed out the trainers," said Johnson, who was moving his right arm all around after the game to prove his shoulder's health.
The injury came on the game's second play from scrimmage. Johnson broke free and ran down the left sideline for a 37-yard gain. But Johnson rarely goes down without a fight, or at least a punch, and he decided to use his familiar stiffarm to try to break the tackle of Utah State's Caleb Taylor.
Johnson, at 5-foot-9, hit the 6-3 Taylor, and that 6-inch difference helped knock Johnson's shoulder out of socket. He couldn't move the arm until the trainers popped it back in.
"I tried to show the fans a stiffarm -- they hadn't seen it all last game," said Johnson, who was coming off a career-best 124 yards in the season opener against Washington.
After missing 11 of his team's 38 games entering this season, the last thing Johnson wanted was to sit and watch again. After all, he had to build on his one-game streak of 100-yard rushing games.
"I said, 'This is my last year, this is my game, I've got to play, I've got to play -- I need to get 100 yards, I'm trying to keep that streak going,'" he said.
And ever the optimist, Johnson put his one-carry performance in perspective.
"You could say I got a good yards per carry," he said.
Johnson is now averaging 10.1 yards per carry this season and 6.6 for his career. Only five times has he averaged fewer than five yards per carry in a game, and three of those were when he was used sparingly as a freshman (while Stewart averaged 3.5 yards for the season).
With Stewart around, Johnson has started only twice in his career. Considered a good NFL prospect, at least as a third-down back, Johnson said the injuries have helped put an emphasis on this season.
"At one time," he said, "I never knew if I would be on the field again."
He's actually a step faster this season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament last season against Washington State (when he flashed an "O" to the crowd with his hands as he was being carted off). And his ability to stop and start hasn't diminished at all. Speed and quickness, Bellotti said, aren't his only tools.
"He sees the field very well," Bellotti said. "We create some vertical seams for him, he finds those seams."
There's also the verbal tool. He's eager to chat with opponents, although he kept that one in the box against Washington:
"I didn't really talk smack because they were being pretty respectable," he said of the Huskies, who went down quietly, 44-10, at Autzen Stadium. "I'm not going to be the bad one and start talking smack."
And he talks with teammates, too. He helped loosen up new quarterback Jeremiah Masoli before the opener, saying, "You never know when there's going to be a Jeremiah and Jeremiah backfield." Sure enough, Masoli got the call, cracked a joke with Johnson, came in to relieve a concussed Justin Roper and did well.
"I've been there, the nervous guy, freshman guy out there, just don't even know what to say to the man standing next to you," said Johnson, voted by his teammates as one of four season captains -- along with fellow seniors Patrick Chung, Max Unger and Nick Reed. "I try to encourage them to do their best, and whatever happens in the end happens."
And if it's an injured shoulder, then opponents probably should watch out for the good one.

 

[RJ Esq]

Spread 'em

Posted by John Hunt, The Oregonian September 09, 2008 15:26PM

Categories: Football

A quick scouting report on the Purdue Boilermakers from Oregon coach Mike Bellotti (or as much as one can discern from a 1-0 team coming off a win over Northern Colorado)...

"Purdue's a good mix of spreading the football, they can run the power running game, do a lot of dropback pass and throw the bubble screen to keep you honest,'' Bellotti said. "A lot of their running plays are long laterals.''
In other words, Purdue spreads to pass, whereas some teams spread to run and some - like Oregon - spread to do both.
For what it's worth, Oregon leads the nation in total offense, and Purdue, well, the Boilermakers have played Northern Colorado.
"Some of that had to do with us, some of that had to do with the opponent,'' Bellotti said of his team's nice stats so far. "From now on, I want it to have to do with us.''

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">8:35 PM (3 minutes ago)
USC's All-American linebacker Brian Cushing, who's already nursing a wrist injury that requires a...

from Conquest Chronicles by Paragon SC

USC's All-American linebacker Brian Cushing, who's already nursing a wrist injury that requires a protective cast, left practice Tuesday with a bruised hip.
​

from Ted Miller, ESPN - Pac-10 Blog
Hang in there big guy...







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[RJ Esq]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="col0">Washington releases Savannah

</td><td class="col1">Story Highlights

• E.J. Savannah has been released from his scholarship
• The star linebacker may transfer to a school outside the Pac-10
• Savannah led Washington in tackles last year as a junior

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</td></tr></tbody></table>SEATTLE (AP) -- E.J. Savannah's football career at Washington is over.
The Huskies' leading tackler and defensive MVP from a season ago has been granted a release from his scholarship, Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said Tuesday. The school said it has granted Savannah's request to be released from his scholarship, provided he transfers to a school outside the Pac-10 Conference.
"Our top priority is to help E.J. earn a college degree, whether that is at the University of Washington or at another institution," Willingham said in a statement. "We have provided him with a tremendous support system during the last three years. I hope he is able to learn from his experience at Washington and become successful in whatever he chooses to do in life."
Savannah's release concludes a turbulent career at Washington after the Bellevue, Wash., native was one of the top prospects in Willingham's first recruiting class.
Savannah was expected to anchor a solid group of linebackers for the 2008 season, believed to be the strength of the Huskies defense. Last year, he led Washington with 111 tackles and ranked sixth in the Pac-10 with 8.5 tackles per game.
But before fall camp started, Willingham announced that Savannah was academically ineligible. This after he broke a bone in his left arm during the spring in a non-football-related incident. Savannah was also held out from the start of spring practice in April. At that time, he was academically eligible but had not "lived up to all the responsibilities of the football team," Willingham said.
Savannah becomes the third significant name to be leaving the Huskies program in the last few months. Over the summer, running back J.R. Hasty and defensive back Jordan Murchison were both informed their scholarships would not be renewed for the 2008 season.
Hasty was the showcase signing in Willingham's first recruiting class at Washington, but never fulfilled his potential. Both Hasty and Murchison transferred to Division II Central Washington and each is starting for the Wildcats, who are ranked No. 8 in this week's Division II top 25.
Savannah could transfer to a Division II school and avoid having to sit out a season, pending resolution of academic issues. He would have to sit out a year if he transferred to another Division I program, because of NCAA transfer rules.

 

[RetroVK]

like the cmich addition rj.

love the info in this thread too.

gl this week

 

[RJ Esq]

Thanks there, VK. Hope you had a good time in El Paso.

 

[RJ Esq]

Adding:

Zona -10 (-110)

Been hemming and hawing over this one. I think the line is tight but low enough to cash. A few things have me troubled. First, UA has not played well away from home recently. Second, UNM has actually put up respectable stats in their 2 losses. Third, UA's OC may be out.

Still, I'll risk it on the thought that UA has their shit together this year and that UNM is playing crappy.

 

[RJ Esq]

4 plays so far. All road chalk. Yech.

 

[RetroVK]

nice number on the ducks.

road chalk is dangerous but those all look good.

 

[RJ Esq]

nice number on the ducks.

road chalk is dangerous but those all look good.

Thanks, dude. That opening Ducks number was ridiculous. Get on the right side of 6 and 7.

If I can't cash with that number, I hope Purdue destroys them.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">10:27 PM (32 minutes ago)
Thoughts on the South Carolina Game

from Georgia Sports Blog by Paul Westerdawg
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Image: Georgiadogs.com</center>
My biggest worry
Let's say South Carolina gets the ball first, returns the opening kick to our 40 and picks up a TD via an early broken coverage. The chickens could then get their feet under them, the crowd would sense hope, and we would be in for a fight all game.

We have two glaring weaknesses right now. The first is kickoff coverage which I think is tragic, and the CB spot not manned by Asher Allen. In other words, the above scenario is within reason.

What Victory Looks Like
If we get the ball first and don't turn the ball over on our first possession, I think we're going to score in convincing fashion. If we follow that up with quality kickoff coverage, we might see a snow ball effect. With a two TD lead early, their fans will start booing and their players will start laying down.

Bubble Burst?
I talked to the world's most optimistic Gamecock fan on Monday. He said the Vandy loss was a "hope robbing experience." This is a guy who was optimistic even during the 0-21 streak, and he told me that he's never seen the Gamecock fans in such a tailspin.

All joking aside, the Gamecock fans are well known for their boundless optimism. This is especially true entering the Georgia game each year. The convergence of the early date on the schedule and their overheated sense of "This is the Year" result in a madhouse feel for our game.

This year could be different. This is only the third season since 1987 that the South Carolina Gamecocks will enter their game against UGA with a loss.

• 2002 - SC entered with a 1-1 record following a loss to UVA in Week 2. However, they had beaten Ohio State in the Outback the year before. That victory combined with a win over 8-4 UGA in 2001, kept Chicken spirits high.
  
  1999 - SC entered 0-1. They lost to NC State in a monsoon. The loss to the Wolfpack made 11 losses in a row overall. Optimism was very low heading into Athens. UGA won big 24-9 in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated.
  
  1989 - SC entered 2-1-1. The tie was at Virginia Tech, and the loss was to a WVU team that went undefeated in '89. Enthusiasm was still pretty high.

The point....this might not be the same optimism fueled team or fan base that we usually see in Columbiaville. Losing 6 of your last 7 has a tendency to take the wind out of your sails I guess.

The first five minutes of this one will tell you what you need to know.

See Also:
-- Data Source: College Football Data Warehouse
-- Tickets: UGA vs. South Carolina Gamecocks

PWD





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[RJ Esq]

This might make Big Ten football watchable:

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</td><td class="cc c">6:02 AM (50 minutes ago)
Ashley Russell Now Prowling Big Ten Sidelines

from Busted Coverage by J Koot

​

It’s Wednesday and our week is complete. [Photo Credit]​

While all of our attention lately has been on EA and Heidi Watney, the Big Ten Network surprises us by bringing in the “incredibly way too hot for this conference,” sideline reporter Ashley Russell (brief mention via Des Moines Register).
You might remember her from work at Rivals and Yahoo!.
We just got to really know her today via these photos that popped into our lives this morning. These superb shots are from some steeplechase event according to the Flickr photog.
Using facial recognition software we are able to determine that, yes, that is the chick you’ll see all year on the Big Ten Network.
Now we have an actual reason to tune in.

​

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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">5:46 AM (1 hour ago)
Wednesday Headlinin': Cutting down the protest, divine intervention and JoPa's search for meaning

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

• Keeping in touch. Joe Paterno on Penn State's 'Spread HD' offense as quoted in the Columbus Dispatch:

"I don't have the slightest idea what 'HD' means. What's it supposed to mean?"​

It's always amazing just how much JoPa really is exactly like you think he is. Just imagine his reaction when he finally sees his favorite movie in hi-def.
More substantively, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a rundown of the incredible attrition on the Lion defense, although I'd add the jury is still out on how much it's "thriving" when the relevant sample size is basically Oregon State.
• All weird things must come to an end. Every day, Jeff Tedford said, there was "somebody chanting something or beating some drum" in the contested oak grove outside Memorial Stadium, for about a year and a half. So it was a sight for sore eyes (and sound for sore ears, I guess, depending on your personal taste) when the Bears came back from throttling Washington State Saturday to find five-sixths of the trees cut down, and nary a Dumpster Muffin in sight:

"It was dark, but you could tell the trees had been cut down," senior outside linebacker Zack Follett said. "It was a beautiful sight."
[...]
"I was shocked; I didn't think I would ever see this," senior fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou said. "I know it won't be done until I'm gone, but it's a relief to know there's a conclusion to what's been going on.​

"I think it became a form of entertainment for us. We got so used to it that it became our own personal YouTube."
If you want to gawk at actual YouTubing of the epic "tree-sit," you could be there all day, but you might want to start here.
• Emmanuel, Emmanuel. Florida's still getting hit with the "no legitimate running back" thing, and -- wait, wasn't Emmanuel Moody supposed to put an end to all that? He was like, the missing link, or something, right? Yeah, whatever happened to that kid? The Gainesville Sun says we're about to find out:

In the final week of preseason practice, it looked like the Southern Cal transfer was on the verge of winning the starting role. Then the season began and — poof — suddenly he was gone.​

Now, he's about to reappear, UF coach Urban Meyer said Tuesday.
"We're expecting a lot out of him," Meyer said. "Yeah, we're going to get going."
Moody "got a lot of work" Tuesday, but I'm not sure what he's going to bring to the show that the combination of Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin and the coterie of diminutive speedsters doesn't. If there's a hitch in the running game -- and that's debatable, statistically -- the culprit is either the front line or the system itself. Unless he's a revelation (hint on that one: he's spent the first two weeks almost entirely on the bench), Moody's just another cog.
• Headline of the day. Via the Knoxville News-Sentinel, on linebacker Ellix Wilson's persistence:

Wilson a starter in his final season after being told to hang in there by God, Chavis​

That's quite a 1-2 punch in his corner, although only one of them can send Wilson on a blitz (hint, hint, coach).

Quickly . . .
LSU still doesn't know where it's going to play for Saturday's ritual sacrifice of North Texas, and Texas is keeping an eye on the Gulf for its game with Arkansas. . . . Terrence Cody, now a svelte 360, admits his weight on a recruiting trip to Alabama: 420 pounds. . . . You've heard of the spread, but South Carolina's running the dread offense. . . . Rick Stanzi will start at quarterback for Iowa against Iowa State, but Jake Christensen is still in the mix. . . . Academically ineligible Washington linebacker E.J. Savannah, who led the Huskies in tackles in '07, was granted a release from his scholarship. And freshman running back David Freeman will get his first start Saturday against Oklahoma. . . . Minnesota's starting running back, Duane Bennett, is out for the season as the latest casualty in the ACL epidemic. . . . Adrian Taylor is starting on defense for Oklahoma after fearing his career was over. . . . Bo Pelini defends his decision to reinstate lineman Andy Christensen after his acquittal on a sexual assault charge. . . . And looking for deals on Arkansas State gear? Looks like your lucky day . . . was, er, Monday. Sorry.






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