CFB Week 4 (9/17-9/20) News and Picks
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
End of the UK-MTSU game:
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Not Good Enough: Coach Leach on offense: Red Raiders ‘in for long year’
September 15, 2008 · Print This Article
Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree caughs up the ball upon impact with the field as SMU's Derrius Bell hangs on his back, Saturday night in Lubbock. Crabtree finished the night with 164 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell releases the ball downfield before SMU defender Julian Herron approaches from behind. Harrell finished the night with 418 passing yards and five touchdowns. (Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Mike Leach has been accused in the past of caring too much about his team’s offensive stats while not winning a championship.
Saturday wasn’t one of those times.<!-- OAS AD end -->
Leach specifically said Texas Tech’s still-gaudy offensive numbers are masking substandard play in the first three games of the season. If it continues, Leach added, the Red Raiders are “in for a long year.”
He heaped criticism on quarterback Graham Harrell and the Tech receivers, right after a 43-7 rout of Southern Methodist on Saturday in which Harrell threw five touchdown passes and All-American Mike Crabtree caught three.
“What we’ve done, quite honestly, for 21/2 games I don’t consider acceptable,” Leach said. “I don’t know at what point they think we arrived. This group of quarterbacks and receivers, we haven’t done anything impressive. I don’t think it’s impressive at all other than some numbers inflated by some explosiveness and the efforts of others. As far as any steadiness, there’s nothing impressive.”
Tech (3-0) advanced in the polls Sunday, to No. 10 in the coaches poll and No. 11 in the media poll.
Leach exempted most of the team from his criticism - the defense that had a shutout for 56 minutes, the running backs who had 297 yards rushing and receiving and the offensive line that opened the running lanes and allowed only one sack.
What’s bugging Leach is that his receivers are dropping too many passes and Harrell has played unevenly without his usual accuracy.
“How can (receivers) drop the ball when you throw it as much as we do?” Leach said. “When you come away from a practice where you throw 270 to 300 balls and drop two? The fact that we’ve had a little success in the past, it gets candy coated. Oh, they’ll come along.’ Baloney.
“When it hits you in the hands and you drop it, when you get re-routed out of bounds. When you throw the ball short and out of bounds all the time. … Right now, we’re nothing special, not at quarterback or receiver.”
Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell releases the ball downfield before SMU defender Julian Herron approaches from behind. Harrell finished the night with 418 passing yards and five touchdowns. (Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal).
That description didn’t fit much of the rest of the team. Baron Batch broke a 43-yard touchdown in the first quarter, putting him on the path to a career-high 98 yards on 10 carries, and Shannon Woods added 13 attempts for 86 yards. Aaron Crawford, the third running back the Raiders normally use, didn’t suit up because of a turf toe injury.
“It’s fun to have coach Leach put (responsibility) on us and give us opportunities like he did tonight,” Batch said.
SMU came in having scored 27 and 46 points in its first two games and ranking No. 9 in the nation in passing, but Tech intercepted Mustangs freshman quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell five times. Tech safety Daniel Charbonnet set a school record with three.
“He’s a true freshman,” Charbonnet said. “He’s probably never seen a defensive line like ours that rushed him that well. He’s probably never seen linebackers that really are physical with receivers and stuff like that. I attribute a lot of it to that - our defensive line and linebackers getting after him.”
Charbonnet could have had five interceptions. Another throw by Mitchell was coming right to Charbonnet, but cornerback Jamar Wall picked it off in front of him. Later in the game, a receiver tipped a pass just beyond Charbonnet.
Tech finished with five interceptions, one short of the school single-game record.
“We knew they were going to throw the ball a lot, so this was our opportunity to go in and take it,” Wall said. “Our scout team guys probably gave us best look we’ve had in a long time.”
SMU avoided its first shutout in 39 games when Aldrick Robinson caught a touchdown pass in the game’s final four minutes.
“I thought the kids played well, played hard,” Tech defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said. “We knew they could move the ball and throw the football, so I was proud of us responding to their offense.”
September 15, 2008 · Print This Article
Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree caughs up the ball upon impact with the field as SMU's Derrius Bell hangs on his back, Saturday night in Lubbock. Crabtree finished the night with 164 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell releases the ball downfield before SMU defender Julian Herron approaches from behind. Harrell finished the night with 418 passing yards and five touchdowns. (Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)Mike Leach has been accused in the past of caring too much about his team’s offensive stats while not winning a championship.
Saturday wasn’t one of those times.<!-- OAS AD end -->
Leach specifically said Texas Tech’s still-gaudy offensive numbers are masking substandard play in the first three games of the season. If it continues, Leach added, the Red Raiders are “in for a long year.”
He heaped criticism on quarterback Graham Harrell and the Tech receivers, right after a 43-7 rout of Southern Methodist on Saturday in which Harrell threw five touchdown passes and All-American Mike Crabtree caught three.
“What we’ve done, quite honestly, for 21/2 games I don’t consider acceptable,” Leach said. “I don’t know at what point they think we arrived. This group of quarterbacks and receivers, we haven’t done anything impressive. I don’t think it’s impressive at all other than some numbers inflated by some explosiveness and the efforts of others. As far as any steadiness, there’s nothing impressive.”
Tech (3-0) advanced in the polls Sunday, to No. 10 in the coaches poll and No. 11 in the media poll.
Leach exempted most of the team from his criticism - the defense that had a shutout for 56 minutes, the running backs who had 297 yards rushing and receiving and the offensive line that opened the running lanes and allowed only one sack.
What’s bugging Leach is that his receivers are dropping too many passes and Harrell has played unevenly without his usual accuracy.
“How can (receivers) drop the ball when you throw it as much as we do?” Leach said. “When you come away from a practice where you throw 270 to 300 balls and drop two? The fact that we’ve had a little success in the past, it gets candy coated. Oh, they’ll come along.’ Baloney.
“When it hits you in the hands and you drop it, when you get re-routed out of bounds. When you throw the ball short and out of bounds all the time. … Right now, we’re nothing special, not at quarterback or receiver.”
Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell releases the ball downfield before SMU defender Julian Herron approaches from behind. Harrell finished the night with 418 passing yards and five touchdowns. (Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal). That description didn’t fit much of the rest of the team. Baron Batch broke a 43-yard touchdown in the first quarter, putting him on the path to a career-high 98 yards on 10 carries, and Shannon Woods added 13 attempts for 86 yards. Aaron Crawford, the third running back the Raiders normally use, didn’t suit up because of a turf toe injury.
“It’s fun to have coach Leach put (responsibility) on us and give us opportunities like he did tonight,” Batch said.
SMU came in having scored 27 and 46 points in its first two games and ranking No. 9 in the nation in passing, but Tech intercepted Mustangs freshman quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell five times. Tech safety Daniel Charbonnet set a school record with three.
“He’s a true freshman,” Charbonnet said. “He’s probably never seen a defensive line like ours that rushed him that well. He’s probably never seen linebackers that really are physical with receivers and stuff like that. I attribute a lot of it to that - our defensive line and linebackers getting after him.”
Charbonnet could have had five interceptions. Another throw by Mitchell was coming right to Charbonnet, but cornerback Jamar Wall picked it off in front of him. Later in the game, a receiver tipped a pass just beyond Charbonnet.
Tech finished with five interceptions, one short of the school single-game record.
“We knew they were going to throw the ball a lot, so this was our opportunity to go in and take it,” Wall said. “Our scout team guys probably gave us best look we’ve had in a long time.”
SMU avoided its first shutout in 39 games when Aldrick Robinson caught a touchdown pass in the game’s final four minutes.
“I thought the kids played well, played hard,” Tech defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said. “We knew they could move the ball and throw the football, so I was proud of us responding to their offense.”
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">8:07 PM (4 minutes ago)
The offense: how bad was it, really?
from The Joe Cribbs Car Wash by Jerry Hinnen
There have been, as you might have noticed, several different reactions to Auburn's offensive output against Mississippi St. These have ranged from "Tony Franklin should be torn apart by wild jackals" (certain Auburn fans on the interwebs) to "Boy, that completely, utterly, totally sucked, but maybe it'll get better" (probably the majority of Auburn fans) to "actually ... okay" (Will Collier) to "Not good enough to win in the SEC? No offense ... we just did win in the SEC" (TWER). But, even assuming there is such a thing, what's the right way to respond? Is there a way to see an accurate picture of how poorly or how "well" Auburn's offense actually played Saturday?
If it's possible at all, I'd figure the way to do it would be to look at the MSU box score and compare what Auburn's offense accomplished there with what they've done in their other games under Tony Franklin and over the course of 2007.
I'm going to to take what might be a slightly controversial approach to these comparisons, namely that total yards and, more importantly, yards-per-play are better indicators of offensive performance than the final score. Blasphemy, I know, and I will readily admit it's a particularly dangerous assumption when we're talking about an offense that has to this point displayed some serious structural flaws when it comes to converting yards into points inside the 20. Nonetheless, not to take issue with my blog-colleagues at the Auburner, the score's simply not everything--if Derek Pegues had run an Auburn punt back to the 1-yard line, State had punched it in from there, and the final had been 9-3, would that mean you'd rather face LSU this week with the Bulldog offense rather than Auburn's? I didn't think so. The more yards you rack up, the more scoring opportunities you generate and the better the odds get you put some points up; this was the first time since 2000 Auburn posted more than 300 total yards and managed to not score a TD.
Obviously, game conditions and opponent strength and other wanky stuff can affect those numbers--for instance, Auburn's total yardage from Saturday is likely a little misleading, since the Auburn defense was able to give the Tiger offense possessions that a competent opposing offense would have time-of-possessed out of the game. Nonetheless: they're worth looking at.
And so I have, and this is what I've found:
It's the worst offensive performance yet this season, not much doubt about that. No surprise there, of course, but even taking into account how much better State's defense than UL-Monroe's or Southern Miss's, you have to say it's almost as disappointing as it looked. After averaging 5.6 a play and 5.1 a play in their first two games, Auburn sank to 4.4 against MSU, with a corresponding drop from 406 and 380 total yards to 315--despite only running two fewer plays than against ULM and four fewer than against USM.
It's worth pointing out that the passing game blew against ULM (3.1 an attempt ... eesh) and the running game was pretty well absent against Southern Miss (3.2 a carry) but the offenses stayed well afloat thanks to their success in the other half of the gameplan. Against Miss. St, not so much: 3.6 a carry and a full yard drop in yards-per-pass-attempt to 5.9. You didn't imagine the occasional downfield success: yards-per-completion stayed relatively high at 11.0. But that just illustrates how rarely Auburn actually completed one of their passes.
Now, if you take away all the penalties, the turnovers, and the failure to penetrate the end zone, you could chalk the problems up to adjusting to a defense of State's caliber and call it, eh, "passable." But add in the penalties, turnovers, and red zone issues? This was ugly. Not www.firetonyfranklinasinsethimonfire.com ugly, but ugly.
For better, for worse, it's not all that different from last year. Auburn's numbers for the 2007 season--where, if you need the reminding, they finished 97th overall in total offense--remain embarrassing: averages of 4.8 yards a play and just 335 yards a game. In SEC play, things got even worse: the Tigers averaged 319.6 yards an outing. So, essentially, the apocalyptically bad clunker the Tigers turned in last weekend was, in fact, almost par for the 2007 course in terms of total yards. Somewhere on the Auburn interwebs (I can't find where) someone mentioned that Auburn's yardage output was better than six Tiger performances from last year; that's correct, as Borges' bunch finished with less than 300 yards against Kansas St., South Florida, Arkansas, LSU, Georgia, and Alabama. And even with that level of offensive struggle, buckets of turnovers against USF, and a certain throw into the end zone in the dying seconds in the sweat of Baton Rouge, Auburn finished 3-3 in those games. If Auburn manages to keep their head above that 300-yard waterline, perhaps they'll fare even better with what appears to be an even-better-defense-than-before-even-if-it-seemed-impossible, yesno?
Well, maybe No. The total yards thing is fun, but again, the yards-per-play stat is illuminating: the only games in which Auburn slid below the 4.4 posted Saturday were K-St. (4.3), USF (4.1), Arkansas (3.8), and UGA (3.3). Even when looking at the avalanche of suck that was the Auburn offense in '07, the performance against Miss. St would still stand out in this metric as particularly sucky. Again: consider all the extra mistakes that don't show up in yardage totals and it gets even worse. Also consider that even with Kodi Burns playing most of the game with an eight-play playbook, Auburn averaged nearly a half-yard better per play last year against State--4.8 to 4.4--than they did this year. Ewwwww. (Just for reference's sake: the 5.6 and 5.1 a play probably represent some form of improvement from 2007, but it's hard to say: Auburn didn't play any teams with equivalent defenses to ULM's or Southern Miss's. New Mexico St.'s the closest analogue, but they're coached by Hal Mumme; I'm thinking the 5.9-a-play Auburn posted against the Aggies is less impressive than the marks against ULM or USM.)
So at the bottom line of this comparison, we're forced to say: No, the 3-2 game doesn't truly represent the bottoming out of Auburn's offensive struggles the last two seasons. (That would be the UGA game last November and its 216 total yards. Three seasons? Try the 171 total yards and pick-a-palooza against Georgia the year before. Stupid Dawgs.) But it sure as hell isn't enough to be encouraging, either. In short: even on the basis on Saturday's game, Auburn's offense hasn't noticeably regressed from Borges to Franklin. But it hasn't taken the slightest meaningful step forward as of yet, either.
In conclusion: When you look at the Auburn defense and the scorched-earth, leave-none-alive policies its adopted in spite of the protocols laid out by the Geneva Convention, it's just plain silly to say the Tigers can't win the big games on their schedule with their current offensive scheme. During Week 2 of last year the offense was, without question, an even larger train wreck than it was Saturday: five turnovers, 290 yards, 4.1 a play. Three games later they were beating Florida in the Swamp. It can be done, particularly with the team still learning the offense and the coaching staff still feeling their way around.
Yes, Byrum has to make his kicks, the backs have to stop fumbling, and Franklin has to find a way to get the ball in the end zone--if none of that happens, Auburn could roll up 600 yards a game and it wouldn't matter a whit. But if they can manage that, 3-2 will continue to be the fluky fluke it was and is. With a softer schedule, one close call already safely notched in the win column, and what I'm just about ready to already declare the best defense of Tubby's Auburn tenure, I think it's perfectly safe to say that not only is the Mississippi State game not a sign of impending season disaster, but that Auburn is on track to raise themselves back up onto the 10-win plateau.
But alas and alack, with this defense available, I'm not sure if even 10 wins is going to feel genuinely outright satisfying. (Depends on the Iron Bowl. And while we're on the subject, stop me if I've told you this one before, but I'd much rather have my team's worst performance of the season involve outgaining an SEC team by 200 yards on the road rather than being outgained by 140 yards by a CUSA team at home.) That might be the most entitled, spoiled-brat-of-an-ungrateful-fan statement I've made on this blog, but it's true: with this defense and this schedule, even an average offense could get Auburn to Atlanta and beyond. The offense we saw Saturday wasn't "average," though. Good enough to eke out a win in Starkville? Yep. Good enough to beat the likes of Vandy or Arkansas? Probably. Good enough to beat any other team on the schedule you'd care to name, if the breaks go Auburn's way and the red zone stuff is mostly sorted out? I'd say yes.
But an SEC title isn't going to be won on breaks. A BCS bowl berth out of this conference isn't going to be earned one 13-7 victory at a time. That Auburn's offense was 3-2 bad was bad luck and easily correctable mistakes; that it looked bad, period--2006/2007 bad--was not. It will have to improve to get the defense where its ferocity deserves to go, and if we don't see that improvement Saturday, it'll be time to start asking if we'll see it at all this season.
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</td><td class="cc c">8:07 PM (4 minutes ago)
The offense: how bad was it, really?
from The Joe Cribbs Car Wash by Jerry Hinnen
There have been, as you might have noticed, several different reactions to Auburn's offensive output against Mississippi St. These have ranged from "Tony Franklin should be torn apart by wild jackals" (certain Auburn fans on the interwebs) to "Boy, that completely, utterly, totally sucked, but maybe it'll get better" (probably the majority of Auburn fans) to "actually ... okay" (Will Collier) to "Not good enough to win in the SEC? No offense ... we just did win in the SEC" (TWER). But, even assuming there is such a thing, what's the right way to respond? Is there a way to see an accurate picture of how poorly or how "well" Auburn's offense actually played Saturday?
If it's possible at all, I'd figure the way to do it would be to look at the MSU box score and compare what Auburn's offense accomplished there with what they've done in their other games under Tony Franklin and over the course of 2007.
I'm going to to take what might be a slightly controversial approach to these comparisons, namely that total yards and, more importantly, yards-per-play are better indicators of offensive performance than the final score. Blasphemy, I know, and I will readily admit it's a particularly dangerous assumption when we're talking about an offense that has to this point displayed some serious structural flaws when it comes to converting yards into points inside the 20. Nonetheless, not to take issue with my blog-colleagues at the Auburner, the score's simply not everything--if Derek Pegues had run an Auburn punt back to the 1-yard line, State had punched it in from there, and the final had been 9-3, would that mean you'd rather face LSU this week with the Bulldog offense rather than Auburn's? I didn't think so. The more yards you rack up, the more scoring opportunities you generate and the better the odds get you put some points up; this was the first time since 2000 Auburn posted more than 300 total yards and managed to not score a TD.
Obviously, game conditions and opponent strength and other wanky stuff can affect those numbers--for instance, Auburn's total yardage from Saturday is likely a little misleading, since the Auburn defense was able to give the Tiger offense possessions that a competent opposing offense would have time-of-possessed out of the game. Nonetheless: they're worth looking at.
And so I have, and this is what I've found:
It's the worst offensive performance yet this season, not much doubt about that. No surprise there, of course, but even taking into account how much better State's defense than UL-Monroe's or Southern Miss's, you have to say it's almost as disappointing as it looked. After averaging 5.6 a play and 5.1 a play in their first two games, Auburn sank to 4.4 against MSU, with a corresponding drop from 406 and 380 total yards to 315--despite only running two fewer plays than against ULM and four fewer than against USM.
It's worth pointing out that the passing game blew against ULM (3.1 an attempt ... eesh) and the running game was pretty well absent against Southern Miss (3.2 a carry) but the offenses stayed well afloat thanks to their success in the other half of the gameplan. Against Miss. St, not so much: 3.6 a carry and a full yard drop in yards-per-pass-attempt to 5.9. You didn't imagine the occasional downfield success: yards-per-completion stayed relatively high at 11.0. But that just illustrates how rarely Auburn actually completed one of their passes.
Now, if you take away all the penalties, the turnovers, and the failure to penetrate the end zone, you could chalk the problems up to adjusting to a defense of State's caliber and call it, eh, "passable." But add in the penalties, turnovers, and red zone issues? This was ugly. Not www.firetonyfranklinasinsethimonfire.com ugly, but ugly.
For better, for worse, it's not all that different from last year. Auburn's numbers for the 2007 season--where, if you need the reminding, they finished 97th overall in total offense--remain embarrassing: averages of 4.8 yards a play and just 335 yards a game. In SEC play, things got even worse: the Tigers averaged 319.6 yards an outing. So, essentially, the apocalyptically bad clunker the Tigers turned in last weekend was, in fact, almost par for the 2007 course in terms of total yards. Somewhere on the Auburn interwebs (I can't find where) someone mentioned that Auburn's yardage output was better than six Tiger performances from last year; that's correct, as Borges' bunch finished with less than 300 yards against Kansas St., South Florida, Arkansas, LSU, Georgia, and Alabama. And even with that level of offensive struggle, buckets of turnovers against USF, and a certain throw into the end zone in the dying seconds in the sweat of Baton Rouge, Auburn finished 3-3 in those games. If Auburn manages to keep their head above that 300-yard waterline, perhaps they'll fare even better with what appears to be an even-better-defense-than-before-even-if-it-seemed-impossible, yesno?
Well, maybe No. The total yards thing is fun, but again, the yards-per-play stat is illuminating: the only games in which Auburn slid below the 4.4 posted Saturday were K-St. (4.3), USF (4.1), Arkansas (3.8), and UGA (3.3). Even when looking at the avalanche of suck that was the Auburn offense in '07, the performance against Miss. St would still stand out in this metric as particularly sucky. Again: consider all the extra mistakes that don't show up in yardage totals and it gets even worse. Also consider that even with Kodi Burns playing most of the game with an eight-play playbook, Auburn averaged nearly a half-yard better per play last year against State--4.8 to 4.4--than they did this year. Ewwwww. (Just for reference's sake: the 5.6 and 5.1 a play probably represent some form of improvement from 2007, but it's hard to say: Auburn didn't play any teams with equivalent defenses to ULM's or Southern Miss's. New Mexico St.'s the closest analogue, but they're coached by Hal Mumme; I'm thinking the 5.9-a-play Auburn posted against the Aggies is less impressive than the marks against ULM or USM.)
So at the bottom line of this comparison, we're forced to say: No, the 3-2 game doesn't truly represent the bottoming out of Auburn's offensive struggles the last two seasons. (That would be the UGA game last November and its 216 total yards. Three seasons? Try the 171 total yards and pick-a-palooza against Georgia the year before. Stupid Dawgs.) But it sure as hell isn't enough to be encouraging, either. In short: even on the basis on Saturday's game, Auburn's offense hasn't noticeably regressed from Borges to Franklin. But it hasn't taken the slightest meaningful step forward as of yet, either.
In conclusion: When you look at the Auburn defense and the scorched-earth, leave-none-alive policies its adopted in spite of the protocols laid out by the Geneva Convention, it's just plain silly to say the Tigers can't win the big games on their schedule with their current offensive scheme. During Week 2 of last year the offense was, without question, an even larger train wreck than it was Saturday: five turnovers, 290 yards, 4.1 a play. Three games later they were beating Florida in the Swamp. It can be done, particularly with the team still learning the offense and the coaching staff still feeling their way around.
Yes, Byrum has to make his kicks, the backs have to stop fumbling, and Franklin has to find a way to get the ball in the end zone--if none of that happens, Auburn could roll up 600 yards a game and it wouldn't matter a whit. But if they can manage that, 3-2 will continue to be the fluky fluke it was and is. With a softer schedule, one close call already safely notched in the win column, and what I'm just about ready to already declare the best defense of Tubby's Auburn tenure, I think it's perfectly safe to say that not only is the Mississippi State game not a sign of impending season disaster, but that Auburn is on track to raise themselves back up onto the 10-win plateau.
But alas and alack, with this defense available, I'm not sure if even 10 wins is going to feel genuinely outright satisfying. (Depends on the Iron Bowl. And while we're on the subject, stop me if I've told you this one before, but I'd much rather have my team's worst performance of the season involve outgaining an SEC team by 200 yards on the road rather than being outgained by 140 yards by a CUSA team at home.) That might be the most entitled, spoiled-brat-of-an-ungrateful-fan statement I've made on this blog, but it's true: with this defense and this schedule, even an average offense could get Auburn to Atlanta and beyond. The offense we saw Saturday wasn't "average," though. Good enough to eke out a win in Starkville? Yep. Good enough to beat the likes of Vandy or Arkansas? Probably. Good enough to beat any other team on the schedule you'd care to name, if the breaks go Auburn's way and the red zone stuff is mostly sorted out? I'd say yes.
But an SEC title isn't going to be won on breaks. A BCS bowl berth out of this conference isn't going to be earned one 13-7 victory at a time. That Auburn's offense was 3-2 bad was bad luck and easily correctable mistakes; that it looked bad, period--2006/2007 bad--was not. It will have to improve to get the defense where its ferocity deserves to go, and if we don't see that improvement Saturday, it'll be time to start asking if we'll see it at all this season.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Cavalcade of Whimsy - What Went Wrong For OSU </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
USC RB Joe McKnight
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</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Pete Fiutak
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Sep 16, 2008
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Besides Joe McKnight running wild, what went wrong for Ohio State against USC? The reason why neutral officials must be used in non-conference games, the five relative sleepers to watch out for, and much, much more in this week's Cavalcade of Whimsy.
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[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 | Week 2
If this column sucks, it’s not my fault … I wasn’t paying attention and Notre Dame DE John Ryan crashed into me from behind.
“It takes a big man to admit he was wrong. And I am not a big man.” ... Dressed in my tuxedo, I stand up and address all the parts of my brain after picking Ohio State over USC.
“Life goes on. (laughter fills the room). A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms... Enthusiasms... What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy?”
- Dames! (yells one part of my brain)
- Boozin'! (yells another)
“Baseball. (cheers and applause) A man...A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part … of … a … team.
- (all parts of my brain nod in agreement) Teamwork...Teamwork
“Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. lf his team don't field...what is he? You follow me? No one. Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? l'm goin' out there for myself. But...l get nowhere unless the team wins.”
I then take a baseball bat and violently bash the part of my brain that allowed me to take the Buckeyes.
Yeah, I picked Ohio State to beat USC. And Cindy Crawford has a mole.
While giving all due credit to USC for the fantastic win, Ohio State has become a fascinating study in underachievement.
It’s like the program has become Chuck Knoblauch and can’t throw to first anymore. It’s a brain lock and a basic malfunction, and it wasn’t always this way. If you remember, there was a reason everyone handed the Buckeyes the national title before the 2007 BCS Championship game against Florida. This used to be a tremendous big-game program under Jim Tressel with a win in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl win over Miami for the national title, Fiesta Bowl victories over Kansas State and Notre Dame, and yearly wins over Michigan.
I’ll excuse the loss in the 2008 BCS Championship, LSU was the better team, and it was sheer hubris run amok against Florida as the Buckeyes got fat, lazy, and tattooed by a great Gator team, but this loss to USC was something different. Ohio State gave it a shot for about a quarter, realized it wasn’t going to happen, and failed to adjust. USC knew it was going to win, while Ohio State appeared to be hoping for the best.
Tressel said he has to give everything a hard look in the analysis of his program after the USC loss. Here’s what he’ll find after the year’s biggest non-conference game.
1) Terrelle Pryor. The inside word leading up to the game was that Pryor was going to bring something special. The Buckeye coaching staff had been waiting to unleash the freshman superstar and was going to use him like Dennis Dixon or Vince Young, who had each beaten the Trojans by running wild. There was one problem with this: it worked. It’s forgotten in the post-game haze, but Ohio State moved the ball extremely well when Pryor was in. However, Ohio State had to know that the USC coaching staff was going to adjust. For some inexplicable reason, the Buckeyes took out Pryor even when everything was going just the way the coaching staff had wanted. You never mess with what works, and by halftime, the window to use Pryor as mainly a runner had slammed shut. USC was winning big and was going to be happy with Pryor as a passer in comeback mode.
2) Talent level. These things always change on the fly after the workouts and the Combine, when everyone gets a chance to find the pimples on the beauty queens, but as of right now, even after the loss, if all the players who should leave early for the NFL end up jetting, Ohio State fielded around 12-to-15 players who will be taken in the 2009 NFL draft, not including Beanie Wells. Around seven Buckeyes are expected to go in the top 100 picks, and there are at least five others, like Pryor, who saw time and will someday be drafted. USC has roughly 7-to-10 players who’ll go in the 2009 draft, with the mother-load going pro in 2010 and 2011. In other words, it’s not a speed and athleticism issue. This Buckeye team will keep the NFL heaven packed with fresh souls.
3) Beanie. It did matter, and anyone who makes some off-the-cuff statement about Beanie not being able to play defense is missing the point. USC didn’t take the Beanie-less Ohio State running game seriously unless Pryor was in. When Todd Boeckman was under center, the Trojan defense pinned it ears back and sent the house to get to the immobile quarterback, took its chances with its secondary, which didn’t work out well early on, by the way, and let the middle of the defense deal with the backup Buckeye running backs. If Beanie had played, USC wouldn’t have been able to bring the funk every time Boeckman was in. This is a running back who might be one of the first ten players taken in the 2009 Draft, if not No. 1 overall. Of course his absence, even as a decoy, played a role.
4) The lines. And this is why USC would’ve won even if Beanie had played, if Pryor had taken 80% of the snaps, and if Ohio State had its head screwed on straight. The USC offensive line that’s still trying to gel with a few new starters ended up dominating the Ohio State front four. As Mark Sanchez put it after the Virginia game, he had time to grill steaks back there. How many times was Joe McKnight running for four yards before getting touched? On the other side, Ohio State never adjusted to the USC blitzing or the effectiveness of the Trojan defensive line.
Ball game.
“An Army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe. And Sergeant Hulka isn't always
gonna be there to be that big toe for us.”… I’m not quite sure if Tressel is to be commended for keeping Beanie Wells out or if this whole situation is even more bizarre and curious than it appeared. For a guy with a bum hoof, Beanie looked awfully spry sprinting past half his team into the locker room at halftime.
What happens when you get your officials from a Buffalo Wild Wings ad … Officials are a different breed of cat, and you don’t get to the D-I/FCS level if you’re not good and if you’re not fair and impartial. However, the NCAA has to mandate a rule that forces a neutral officiating crew to handle non-conference games. The integrity of the games and every bad call comes into question whenever there’s a blip on the radar.
The first thing everyone pointed out after the Jake Locker celebration fiasco against BYU was that the call was made by a Pac 10 officiating crew, as if to insinuate that a Mountain West official would’ve made a call he normally wouldn’t have to protect his conference’s team. Fortunately, a potentially bigger officiating controversy never came to light because of the final outcome of the Wisconsin – Fresno State game.
While several teams over the years have wussed out on their commitments to play at Fresno State, Wisconsin honored its home-and-home contract and played in a terrific watershed game for both teams late Saturday night. In the week leading up to the game, Badger head coach Bret Bielema called Fresno State head coach Pat Hill and asked if he wanted to use Big Ten officials for the game in Fresno and WAC officials for next year’s game in Madison. Hill said no, partly because this was the biggest and most important home game in the history of the program and he wanted every little advantage possible. He had seen his team be on the wrong side of way too many calls over the years in other people’s ball parks. So the tone was set from the start. If anything seemed the slightest big askew, this game with potential BCS implications was going to have a cloud of controversy.
Sure enough, with 3:17 to go in the third quarter of the tight battle, Wisconsin, up 13-7 but with all the momentum on Fresno State’s side, dealt a devastating blow by forcing FSU WR Devon Wylie to fumble on the Bulldog 18. The Badgers recovered and was already in field goal range. The play was reviewed, and as plain as the mustache on Pat Hill’s face, Wylie caught the ball, took one step, then another, was blasted, dropped the ball, and Wisconsin recovered. But the review was taking too long. The announcers in the booth were wondering why, and Ed Cunningham, the sideline reporter who was right in front of the play, commented that it was clearly a fumble.
Bulldog ball.
Not only had the replay official blown the call, but he reversed it without any sort of conclusive evidence to show it was a fumble. It was just the opposite; the camera had the perfect shot and the perfect angle. Fresno State marched to a field goal and it was game on for a tight fourth quarter.
Wisconsin eventually held on to win, but was flagged for seven penalties for 53 yards while Fresno State was tagged twice for 15. There’s no need for the hint of any impropriety or favoritism. Just use third-party officials from now on and fans won’t have to wonder every time a bad call is made.
Speaking of Badgers … Five teams not to sleep on. These five aren’t getting a whole bunch of national play, but they’re looking sharp to start the season and have the potential to rise up and do what Missouri and Kansas did last season.
1) Wisconsin – That win over Fresno State was good. Really good. There was a reason many were picking the Bulldogs to win, and it’s not because they were at home. Wisconsin needs better quarterback play, but the defense is getting healthier with the return to form of several players who were injured throughout last year. Helping out QB Allan Evridge is the return of All-American tight end Travis Beckum to full strength. The offensive line is as good as it’s been in several years, the backfield is loaded with good runners, and there’s enough speed and athleticism to hang with the biggest of the big boys.
2) Oklahoma State – Fine, so beating up Washington State, Missouri State and Houston might not seem like that big a deal, but this Cowboy team is more than good enough to turn into more than just a fly in the Big 12 South ointment. The defense isn’t going to be a rock, but the offense will play with anyone thanks to a tremendous line, a steady quarterback in Zac Robinson, a deadly running game, and a playmaking receiver in Dez Bryant. There might not be enough in the bag to win the South title, but there will be at least one big win over a Texas or Oklahoma to make it close.
3) TCU – It’s been all about BYU and Utah so far on national scale, but Gary Patterson’s club will have its shot to make some big-time noise over the next several weeks. There might not be the flash or dash of the Utes or Cougars, but the defense is aggressive and effective while QB Andy Dalton has been sharp so far. This is the type of team no one pays attention to until it’s 10-2.
4) Penn State – Lost in the headlines of the suspensions and off-the-field troubles has been a dominant start by a loaded team with enough talent to win the Big Ten title. This team is eerily reminiscent of the 2005 squad that went 11-1 with an Orange Bowl win over Florida State, except that this year’s team has more explosion in the running game and the young, talented receiving corps is all grown up. Even with all the losses on the defensive line, Penn State is allowing just 250 yards and 12 points per game.
5) Oregon – Don’t dog the close call at Purdue. Yeah, the Boilermakers blew it by not getting a field goal in regulation to win the game, but Oregon showed heart in a gut-check comeback performance against a strong team with a tremendous quarterback in Curtis Painter. Nick Reed deserves All-America recognition as one of the nation’s best pass rushers, while Max Unger and the offensive line might be the best in the Pac 10. The Duck running game lost Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart, but it’s better than ever averaging 323 rushing yards per game. If they can keep a quarterback alive for more than one game, they’ll have a legitimate shot at beating USC.
Maybe by then Michael Irvin will be able to break out of his shell after all these years … Awwwww, poor Miami. Those soft and sensitive Hurricanes had their feelings hurt by that mean Urban Meyer when he allowed his Gators to kick a (gasp!) field goal in the final minute of the 26-3 UF win a few weeks ago. How dare Florida actually keep trying against an in-state rival with all those potential recruits watching?
Miami, the program known for its conservative, understated, IBM, button-down style over the last 25 years deserves better than to lose by 23 instead of 20. In future blowouts, maybe Miami can politely ask the other team if it wants to leave a bit early to go get blizzards at the DQ.
Oh, those Canes are going to get their comeuppance alright against that, as Warren Sapp called Meyer, “classless dirtbag.” Just you wait, because in 2013, when the teams are scheduled to play again, Miami will maybe get to kick a late field goal of its own. Ooooohhhhh, that will be a great day to be a Cane. Of course, by that point Meyer will be in year three of rebuilding the Cincinnati Bengals and head coach Bronco Mendehall’s butt will have to cash the check that Meyer wrote, but just you wait. Miami will have its revenge, and then everyone can meet in the middle of the field for a hug and everyone will be happy again.
Now if he had said “lipstick on a cougar,” then there would really be an issue … I don’t like dumb people. More than that, I don’t like smart people who have to waste their time, and use poor judgment, to appeal to the stupid.
Michigan, we’re you really that upset about the “to Hell with Michigan” comment from Charlie Weis? If you really need something like that to get fired up and play your best, your team sucks. That was a polite kiss on the cheek compared to what many Wolverine fans had to be saying after the two early muffed kickoff returns that all but gave the queen to the Irish. At least the comment drummed up a little attention to what used to be the best matchup in the game not all that long ago.
The C.O.W. airing of the grievances followed by the feats of strength
Ten things I’m grouchy about this week.
10. John Parker Wilson
Did Alabama not run an offense under Bear Bryant? Not to dog QB John Parker Wilson, but 6,321 yards of total offense seems a tad low to be the all-time leader at a place like Alabama. Then again, it’s not like J.P.W. beat Joe Namath or Ken Stabler for the record. Brodie Croyle previously held the mark, and now Wilson is No. 2 behind Croyle for the most passing yards in school history. The great Andrew Zow is now No. 3.
9. Not flagging defenders for celebrating
Considering the response I received for thinking it moronic to agree with the flag being thrown on Jake Locker a few weeks ago for the celebration penalty against BYU, we have a large segment of the toe-the-line public that obviously never goes a mile over the speed limit and always gets water at the drink machine when it’s just as easy to hit the Sprite button. So why isn’t there any call to throw a flag on 99% of the big defensive plays? Every defender pops up and does a little dancy thing to call attention to himself after a big hit or a broken up pass, and it’s always party time whenever there’s a sack. I’m for letting the guys play and allowing them to express themselves as long as they’re not excessive, but I counted over 25 times defensive celebrations that were far worse than what Locker did.
8. The resurgence of the former play-callers
I was going to rip on a few one-time superstar offensive geniuses who relinquished their play-calling duties this year, but the three in my wheelhouse had great weekends. Charlie Weis blew out his knee and blew away Michigan, Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen pulled off the shocker against Cal, and Steve Spurrier, despite the loss, coached a masterful game against a far superior Georgia team. Of course, Rick Neuheisel might have a word of two with Norm Chow about that trip to Provo.
7. The G2 Life
After decades of pumping their sugar-water on the world and fattening up America’s youth, Gatorade has now come out with the lower-calorie G2 drink. The marketing campaign revolves around “living the G2 life,” which from the looks of it means a lot of sitting around doing nothing, and in the case of Alonzo Mourning, remembering when you had a career. “You’re always an athlete. Hydrate like one.” The slogan should actually be, “You’re too porky to drink the real stuff, so for now, drink the lesser version, heal up, and hit the treadmill.”
6. Penn State vs. Georgia in the 1983 Sugar Bowl
The Big Ten Network shouldn’t be able to include Penn State’s classic 1983 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia in its series of the Big Ten’s Greatest Games. Penn State was an independent team up until 1993. It’s like the ACC trying to take a little bit of credit for the national title Miami teams.
5. Yet another Texas superstar
The University of Texas in Austin is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading institutions of higher learning. A top 50 school according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings, it’s more than just a place where people go to watch football. Even so, there has to be some concern that yet another superstar football player has turned out to be a little nuts. Ricky Williams set the bar high (with an ongoing attempt to get higher), Cedric Benson gave it a run, starting out by bawling on draft day, and now Vince Young quit on his team, got hurt, and then appeared to be mentally unstable to the point of people worrying about his safety. His press conference, when he explained how he “hurted a little bit,” didn’t exactly help the UT academic reputation. By the way, have Houston Texan fans formally apologized for dogging the Mario Williams selection?
4. Viva Viagra cougars
I’d like to go one commercial break during a college football Saturday without hearing the word erection.
So how does that first screening go for the real husbands of the trophy wife models in the Viva Viagra ads (excluding, of course, the woman whose TV husband dresses up in the bad tux) or the ads with the couples who end up in separate tubs?
“Uh gee, honey. Great job. Uhhhh, yeah, you were, um, great. Yeah, really believable. You seemed like you really wanted to, um, you know, with him … yeah, it seemed like you two were a real couple. Remember that time I got you those roses a few years ago?”
3. Waking up early
Nice going, Cal. It’s not like the Pac 10 has this reputation for being a rough and tumble slobberknocker of a conference, and then the Bears go out and come up with a clunker against an inferior Maryland team partly because it was hot outside and the game started early. Apparently, some of the Cal players had been commenting on the heat and humidity at game time, but the bigger issue appeared to be the noon start eastern time, or nine on the left coast. College kids might be used to sleeping in late, but football teams are different. Most get up way early to start workouts or get to morning classes so they can go to practices in the afternoon, but for some reason, Cal appeared to be a bit lethargic and sleepy in the first half against the Terps. Cal’s Pac 10 brethren that got whacked by the Mountain West didn’t have any time change excuses.
2. Cam Cameron
A big hug and a balloon bouquet goes out to embattled NFL official, Ed Hochuli, who’s generally acknowledge as one of the best in the game, but completely and totally whiffed on a late fumble call in the San Diego – Denver game.
Down seven with one last chance to score, Bronco QB Jay Cutler lost the ball in a clear fumble that would’ve sealed the win for San Diego. But Hochuli blew the play dead calling it an incomplete pass, and Denver went on to win. To Hochuli’s credit, he immediately took the blame for the missed call and apologized for his mistake. After the tap dancing done by the officials after the Jake Locker fiasco in the BYU-Washington game a few weeks ago, hiding behind the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the game, it was refreshing to hear an official own up to an error and admit he flat choked. It was a sincere mistake and an even more sincere, swift admittance of guilt, but that still wasn’t enough for San Diego Charger head coach Cam Cameron who whined after that the situation still wasn’t acceptable despite the apology. It was a mistake and the man didn’t try to hide from it. End of story.
1. Notre Dame
Missing the Ohio State – USC pick is one thing, a Trojan blowout was hardly a surprise. The Notre Dame win over Michigan was the real stunner among the big games.
For all the weeping and gnashing of teeth, Notre Dame is on a living, breathing four-game winning streak. However, it’s a brutally ugly roll, and the Irish might be wide open for a cruel dose of reality soon.
Remember, we went through this before when the Ty Willingham era first started. The Irish wasn’t pretty, but it was winning thanks to a slew of takeaways, big plays from the special teams, and getting every conceivable break in the book. Of course, Notre Dame had something to do with creating the good fortune, but it was all a mirage. As soon as the breaks stopped, or started to go the other way, Ty’s group became exposed as a mediocre team. That’s why it’s still hard to figure out the 2008 Irish.
The offense is awful, averaging 301 yards over the first two games. The passing game is far more efficient than last year, but there’s no running game. The defense came up with a few stops against anemic San Diego State and Michigan offenses, but there’s been no pass rush and problems against the pass. However, the O line hasn’t allowed a sack, that was big against a strong Michigan pass rush, and the offense has taken advantage of almost every opportunity. It was a dream world for the Irish against Michigan. Two early Wolverine fumbles on kickoff returns, 14 points, and Michigan had to play catch-up with an offense ill-equipped to go on a big run with the passing game.
Even with all the problems, the 35-17 win has to be considered among the big shockers of a shocking weekend, and it could be even more amazing if the Irish beat a strong Michigan State team in East Lansing. This team is starting to find a way, and confidence could make up for all the other issues. If nothing else, Notre Dame football bears watching again.
Random Acts of Nutty … Provocative musings and tidbits to make every woman want you and every man want to be you (or vice versa) a.k.a. things I didn’t feel like writing bigger blurbs for.
- Alright Big 10 bashers, if not this conference, then who? The SEC and Big 12 are the top two, the Pac 10 stunk it up this weekend and the Big East and ACC continue to be no big whoop. So isn’t the Big Ten the No. 3 league by default? There’s nothing wrong with Penn State, Wisconsin and yeah, Ohio State.
- Remember, roughly 117 other teams would’ve likely lost to a fired up and focused USC team in the Coliseum.
- There’s the classic line that the only person to ever stop Michael Jordan was Dean Smith. I’m starting to get that feeling with Matthew Stafford and Mark Richt. Against South Carolina, Stafford threw a ball to A.J. Green up the right sideline that maybe ten current NFL quarterbacks could’ve made. Stafford also showed off surprising straight-line speed on a key run. However, with this Bulldogs team, bombing away takes a back seat to the running game.
- Last week I said it was unacceptable for any man over 30 to wear a jersey. Check that. Convinced by a few of the seasoned e-mailers, yes, I’ll change the rule book to allow men over 65 to wear jerseys again. Then it becomes quirky, and not sort of sad. On a similar note, I’m still in negotiations with the wife to be allowed to date again when I hit 85. She won’t budge off of 90.
- Hopefully one of the fine family of networks sucks it up and shows the Temple-Buffalo game again. Like the classic 1984 Boston College Flutie game over Miami, the Bulls’ win over the Owls was fantastic even before the improbable game-winning Hail Mary to give UB the win. Bull head coach Turner Gill and Temple head man Al Golden will meet someday at different programs in a game of much greater importance and much more national attention. These two are among the brightest young coaching stars in line for far bigger gigs.
C.O.W. shameless gimmick item … The weekly five Overrated/Underrated aspects of the world
1) Overrated: Tom Hammond and Pat Haden giggling during their call as they realized Notre Dame football might be fun this year ... Underrated: Kirk Herbstreit giggling when Ohio State was playing well in the first quarter, and then taking a “here it comes” tone.
2) Overrated: Matt Leinart … Underrated: Matt Cassel
3) Overrated: The Beanie Wells situation ... Underrated: Needing armed guards to move the KFC secret recipe as the company changed offices
4) Overrated: Suspended players ... Underrated: Penn State’s first three performances
5) Overrated: Lehman Brothers collapse ... Underrated: Not having any money to invest in the first place
It’s ridiculously early, but … what the heck. My Heisman ballot if I had to turn it in today would be: 1) Chase Daniel, QB Missouri, 2) Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma, 3) Knowshon Moreno, RB Georgia, 4) Max Hall, QB BYU, 5) Colt McCoy, QB Texas
“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. During these tough economic times, you can count on me going 1-2 each week. You’ll do better than in the stock market right now (I’m 3-6 after two weeks). I press on.… 1) West Virginia -3 over Colorado, 2) Ohio +11 over Northwestern, 3) Rutgers -5 over Navy
Last Week: 1) Western Michigan -7.5 over Idaho (Win), 2) Ohio State +11 over USC (Loss), 3) Michigan over Notre Dame PICK (Loss)
Sorry this column sucked, but it wasn’t my fault … I was trying to gleefully celebrate being done with writing it for the week and then East Carolina police ruined my fun.
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USC RB Joe McKnight
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</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Pete Fiutak
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Sep 16, 2008
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Besides Joe McKnight running wild, what went wrong for Ohio State against USC? The reason why neutral officials must be used in non-conference games, the five relative sleepers to watch out for, and much, much more in this week's Cavalcade of Whimsy.
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[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 | Week 2
If this column sucks, it’s not my fault … I wasn’t paying attention and Notre Dame DE John Ryan crashed into me from behind.
“It takes a big man to admit he was wrong. And I am not a big man.” ... Dressed in my tuxedo, I stand up and address all the parts of my brain after picking Ohio State over USC.
“Life goes on. (laughter fills the room). A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms... Enthusiasms... What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy?”
- Dames! (yells one part of my brain)
- Boozin'! (yells another)
“Baseball. (cheers and applause) A man...A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part … of … a … team.
- (all parts of my brain nod in agreement) Teamwork...Teamwork
“Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. lf his team don't field...what is he? You follow me? No one. Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? l'm goin' out there for myself. But...l get nowhere unless the team wins.”
I then take a baseball bat and violently bash the part of my brain that allowed me to take the Buckeyes.
Yeah, I picked Ohio State to beat USC. And Cindy Crawford has a mole.
While giving all due credit to USC for the fantastic win, Ohio State has become a fascinating study in underachievement.
It’s like the program has become Chuck Knoblauch and can’t throw to first anymore. It’s a brain lock and a basic malfunction, and it wasn’t always this way. If you remember, there was a reason everyone handed the Buckeyes the national title before the 2007 BCS Championship game against Florida. This used to be a tremendous big-game program under Jim Tressel with a win in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl win over Miami for the national title, Fiesta Bowl victories over Kansas State and Notre Dame, and yearly wins over Michigan.
I’ll excuse the loss in the 2008 BCS Championship, LSU was the better team, and it was sheer hubris run amok against Florida as the Buckeyes got fat, lazy, and tattooed by a great Gator team, but this loss to USC was something different. Ohio State gave it a shot for about a quarter, realized it wasn’t going to happen, and failed to adjust. USC knew it was going to win, while Ohio State appeared to be hoping for the best.
Tressel said he has to give everything a hard look in the analysis of his program after the USC loss. Here’s what he’ll find after the year’s biggest non-conference game.
1) Terrelle Pryor. The inside word leading up to the game was that Pryor was going to bring something special. The Buckeye coaching staff had been waiting to unleash the freshman superstar and was going to use him like Dennis Dixon or Vince Young, who had each beaten the Trojans by running wild. There was one problem with this: it worked. It’s forgotten in the post-game haze, but Ohio State moved the ball extremely well when Pryor was in. However, Ohio State had to know that the USC coaching staff was going to adjust. For some inexplicable reason, the Buckeyes took out Pryor even when everything was going just the way the coaching staff had wanted. You never mess with what works, and by halftime, the window to use Pryor as mainly a runner had slammed shut. USC was winning big and was going to be happy with Pryor as a passer in comeback mode.
2) Talent level. These things always change on the fly after the workouts and the Combine, when everyone gets a chance to find the pimples on the beauty queens, but as of right now, even after the loss, if all the players who should leave early for the NFL end up jetting, Ohio State fielded around 12-to-15 players who will be taken in the 2009 NFL draft, not including Beanie Wells. Around seven Buckeyes are expected to go in the top 100 picks, and there are at least five others, like Pryor, who saw time and will someday be drafted. USC has roughly 7-to-10 players who’ll go in the 2009 draft, with the mother-load going pro in 2010 and 2011. In other words, it’s not a speed and athleticism issue. This Buckeye team will keep the NFL heaven packed with fresh souls.
3) Beanie. It did matter, and anyone who makes some off-the-cuff statement about Beanie not being able to play defense is missing the point. USC didn’t take the Beanie-less Ohio State running game seriously unless Pryor was in. When Todd Boeckman was under center, the Trojan defense pinned it ears back and sent the house to get to the immobile quarterback, took its chances with its secondary, which didn’t work out well early on, by the way, and let the middle of the defense deal with the backup Buckeye running backs. If Beanie had played, USC wouldn’t have been able to bring the funk every time Boeckman was in. This is a running back who might be one of the first ten players taken in the 2009 Draft, if not No. 1 overall. Of course his absence, even as a decoy, played a role.
4) The lines. And this is why USC would’ve won even if Beanie had played, if Pryor had taken 80% of the snaps, and if Ohio State had its head screwed on straight. The USC offensive line that’s still trying to gel with a few new starters ended up dominating the Ohio State front four. As Mark Sanchez put it after the Virginia game, he had time to grill steaks back there. How many times was Joe McKnight running for four yards before getting touched? On the other side, Ohio State never adjusted to the USC blitzing or the effectiveness of the Trojan defensive line.
Ball game.
“An Army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe. And Sergeant Hulka isn't always
gonna be there to be that big toe for us.”… I’m not quite sure if Tressel is to be commended for keeping Beanie Wells out or if this whole situation is even more bizarre and curious than it appeared. For a guy with a bum hoof, Beanie looked awfully spry sprinting past half his team into the locker room at halftime.
What happens when you get your officials from a Buffalo Wild Wings ad … Officials are a different breed of cat, and you don’t get to the D-I/FCS level if you’re not good and if you’re not fair and impartial. However, the NCAA has to mandate a rule that forces a neutral officiating crew to handle non-conference games. The integrity of the games and every bad call comes into question whenever there’s a blip on the radar.
The first thing everyone pointed out after the Jake Locker celebration fiasco against BYU was that the call was made by a Pac 10 officiating crew, as if to insinuate that a Mountain West official would’ve made a call he normally wouldn’t have to protect his conference’s team. Fortunately, a potentially bigger officiating controversy never came to light because of the final outcome of the Wisconsin – Fresno State game.
While several teams over the years have wussed out on their commitments to play at Fresno State, Wisconsin honored its home-and-home contract and played in a terrific watershed game for both teams late Saturday night. In the week leading up to the game, Badger head coach Bret Bielema called Fresno State head coach Pat Hill and asked if he wanted to use Big Ten officials for the game in Fresno and WAC officials for next year’s game in Madison. Hill said no, partly because this was the biggest and most important home game in the history of the program and he wanted every little advantage possible. He had seen his team be on the wrong side of way too many calls over the years in other people’s ball parks. So the tone was set from the start. If anything seemed the slightest big askew, this game with potential BCS implications was going to have a cloud of controversy.
Sure enough, with 3:17 to go in the third quarter of the tight battle, Wisconsin, up 13-7 but with all the momentum on Fresno State’s side, dealt a devastating blow by forcing FSU WR Devon Wylie to fumble on the Bulldog 18. The Badgers recovered and was already in field goal range. The play was reviewed, and as plain as the mustache on Pat Hill’s face, Wylie caught the ball, took one step, then another, was blasted, dropped the ball, and Wisconsin recovered. But the review was taking too long. The announcers in the booth were wondering why, and Ed Cunningham, the sideline reporter who was right in front of the play, commented that it was clearly a fumble.
Bulldog ball.
Not only had the replay official blown the call, but he reversed it without any sort of conclusive evidence to show it was a fumble. It was just the opposite; the camera had the perfect shot and the perfect angle. Fresno State marched to a field goal and it was game on for a tight fourth quarter.
Wisconsin eventually held on to win, but was flagged for seven penalties for 53 yards while Fresno State was tagged twice for 15. There’s no need for the hint of any impropriety or favoritism. Just use third-party officials from now on and fans won’t have to wonder every time a bad call is made.
Speaking of Badgers … Five teams not to sleep on. These five aren’t getting a whole bunch of national play, but they’re looking sharp to start the season and have the potential to rise up and do what Missouri and Kansas did last season.
1) Wisconsin – That win over Fresno State was good. Really good. There was a reason many were picking the Bulldogs to win, and it’s not because they were at home. Wisconsin needs better quarterback play, but the defense is getting healthier with the return to form of several players who were injured throughout last year. Helping out QB Allan Evridge is the return of All-American tight end Travis Beckum to full strength. The offensive line is as good as it’s been in several years, the backfield is loaded with good runners, and there’s enough speed and athleticism to hang with the biggest of the big boys.
2) Oklahoma State – Fine, so beating up Washington State, Missouri State and Houston might not seem like that big a deal, but this Cowboy team is more than good enough to turn into more than just a fly in the Big 12 South ointment. The defense isn’t going to be a rock, but the offense will play with anyone thanks to a tremendous line, a steady quarterback in Zac Robinson, a deadly running game, and a playmaking receiver in Dez Bryant. There might not be enough in the bag to win the South title, but there will be at least one big win over a Texas or Oklahoma to make it close.
3) TCU – It’s been all about BYU and Utah so far on national scale, but Gary Patterson’s club will have its shot to make some big-time noise over the next several weeks. There might not be the flash or dash of the Utes or Cougars, but the defense is aggressive and effective while QB Andy Dalton has been sharp so far. This is the type of team no one pays attention to until it’s 10-2.
4) Penn State – Lost in the headlines of the suspensions and off-the-field troubles has been a dominant start by a loaded team with enough talent to win the Big Ten title. This team is eerily reminiscent of the 2005 squad that went 11-1 with an Orange Bowl win over Florida State, except that this year’s team has more explosion in the running game and the young, talented receiving corps is all grown up. Even with all the losses on the defensive line, Penn State is allowing just 250 yards and 12 points per game.
5) Oregon – Don’t dog the close call at Purdue. Yeah, the Boilermakers blew it by not getting a field goal in regulation to win the game, but Oregon showed heart in a gut-check comeback performance against a strong team with a tremendous quarterback in Curtis Painter. Nick Reed deserves All-America recognition as one of the nation’s best pass rushers, while Max Unger and the offensive line might be the best in the Pac 10. The Duck running game lost Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart, but it’s better than ever averaging 323 rushing yards per game. If they can keep a quarterback alive for more than one game, they’ll have a legitimate shot at beating USC.
Maybe by then Michael Irvin will be able to break out of his shell after all these years … Awwwww, poor Miami. Those soft and sensitive Hurricanes had their feelings hurt by that mean Urban Meyer when he allowed his Gators to kick a (gasp!) field goal in the final minute of the 26-3 UF win a few weeks ago. How dare Florida actually keep trying against an in-state rival with all those potential recruits watching?
Miami, the program known for its conservative, understated, IBM, button-down style over the last 25 years deserves better than to lose by 23 instead of 20. In future blowouts, maybe Miami can politely ask the other team if it wants to leave a bit early to go get blizzards at the DQ.
Oh, those Canes are going to get their comeuppance alright against that, as Warren Sapp called Meyer, “classless dirtbag.” Just you wait, because in 2013, when the teams are scheduled to play again, Miami will maybe get to kick a late field goal of its own. Ooooohhhhh, that will be a great day to be a Cane. Of course, by that point Meyer will be in year three of rebuilding the Cincinnati Bengals and head coach Bronco Mendehall’s butt will have to cash the check that Meyer wrote, but just you wait. Miami will have its revenge, and then everyone can meet in the middle of the field for a hug and everyone will be happy again.
Now if he had said “lipstick on a cougar,” then there would really be an issue … I don’t like dumb people. More than that, I don’t like smart people who have to waste their time, and use poor judgment, to appeal to the stupid.
Michigan, we’re you really that upset about the “to Hell with Michigan” comment from Charlie Weis? If you really need something like that to get fired up and play your best, your team sucks. That was a polite kiss on the cheek compared to what many Wolverine fans had to be saying after the two early muffed kickoff returns that all but gave the queen to the Irish. At least the comment drummed up a little attention to what used to be the best matchup in the game not all that long ago.
The C.O.W. airing of the grievances followed by the feats of strength
Ten things I’m grouchy about this week.
10. John Parker Wilson
Did Alabama not run an offense under Bear Bryant? Not to dog QB John Parker Wilson, but 6,321 yards of total offense seems a tad low to be the all-time leader at a place like Alabama. Then again, it’s not like J.P.W. beat Joe Namath or Ken Stabler for the record. Brodie Croyle previously held the mark, and now Wilson is No. 2 behind Croyle for the most passing yards in school history. The great Andrew Zow is now No. 3.
9. Not flagging defenders for celebrating
Considering the response I received for thinking it moronic to agree with the flag being thrown on Jake Locker a few weeks ago for the celebration penalty against BYU, we have a large segment of the toe-the-line public that obviously never goes a mile over the speed limit and always gets water at the drink machine when it’s just as easy to hit the Sprite button. So why isn’t there any call to throw a flag on 99% of the big defensive plays? Every defender pops up and does a little dancy thing to call attention to himself after a big hit or a broken up pass, and it’s always party time whenever there’s a sack. I’m for letting the guys play and allowing them to express themselves as long as they’re not excessive, but I counted over 25 times defensive celebrations that were far worse than what Locker did.
8. The resurgence of the former play-callers
I was going to rip on a few one-time superstar offensive geniuses who relinquished their play-calling duties this year, but the three in my wheelhouse had great weekends. Charlie Weis blew out his knee and blew away Michigan, Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen pulled off the shocker against Cal, and Steve Spurrier, despite the loss, coached a masterful game against a far superior Georgia team. Of course, Rick Neuheisel might have a word of two with Norm Chow about that trip to Provo.
7. The G2 Life
After decades of pumping their sugar-water on the world and fattening up America’s youth, Gatorade has now come out with the lower-calorie G2 drink. The marketing campaign revolves around “living the G2 life,” which from the looks of it means a lot of sitting around doing nothing, and in the case of Alonzo Mourning, remembering when you had a career. “You’re always an athlete. Hydrate like one.” The slogan should actually be, “You’re too porky to drink the real stuff, so for now, drink the lesser version, heal up, and hit the treadmill.”
6. Penn State vs. Georgia in the 1983 Sugar Bowl
The Big Ten Network shouldn’t be able to include Penn State’s classic 1983 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia in its series of the Big Ten’s Greatest Games. Penn State was an independent team up until 1993. It’s like the ACC trying to take a little bit of credit for the national title Miami teams.
5. Yet another Texas superstar
The University of Texas in Austin is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading institutions of higher learning. A top 50 school according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings, it’s more than just a place where people go to watch football. Even so, there has to be some concern that yet another superstar football player has turned out to be a little nuts. Ricky Williams set the bar high (with an ongoing attempt to get higher), Cedric Benson gave it a run, starting out by bawling on draft day, and now Vince Young quit on his team, got hurt, and then appeared to be mentally unstable to the point of people worrying about his safety. His press conference, when he explained how he “hurted a little bit,” didn’t exactly help the UT academic reputation. By the way, have Houston Texan fans formally apologized for dogging the Mario Williams selection?
4. Viva Viagra cougars
I’d like to go one commercial break during a college football Saturday without hearing the word erection.
So how does that first screening go for the real husbands of the trophy wife models in the Viva Viagra ads (excluding, of course, the woman whose TV husband dresses up in the bad tux) or the ads with the couples who end up in separate tubs?
“Uh gee, honey. Great job. Uhhhh, yeah, you were, um, great. Yeah, really believable. You seemed like you really wanted to, um, you know, with him … yeah, it seemed like you two were a real couple. Remember that time I got you those roses a few years ago?”
3. Waking up early
Nice going, Cal. It’s not like the Pac 10 has this reputation for being a rough and tumble slobberknocker of a conference, and then the Bears go out and come up with a clunker against an inferior Maryland team partly because it was hot outside and the game started early. Apparently, some of the Cal players had been commenting on the heat and humidity at game time, but the bigger issue appeared to be the noon start eastern time, or nine on the left coast. College kids might be used to sleeping in late, but football teams are different. Most get up way early to start workouts or get to morning classes so they can go to practices in the afternoon, but for some reason, Cal appeared to be a bit lethargic and sleepy in the first half against the Terps. Cal’s Pac 10 brethren that got whacked by the Mountain West didn’t have any time change excuses.
2. Cam Cameron
A big hug and a balloon bouquet goes out to embattled NFL official, Ed Hochuli, who’s generally acknowledge as one of the best in the game, but completely and totally whiffed on a late fumble call in the San Diego – Denver game.
Down seven with one last chance to score, Bronco QB Jay Cutler lost the ball in a clear fumble that would’ve sealed the win for San Diego. But Hochuli blew the play dead calling it an incomplete pass, and Denver went on to win. To Hochuli’s credit, he immediately took the blame for the missed call and apologized for his mistake. After the tap dancing done by the officials after the Jake Locker fiasco in the BYU-Washington game a few weeks ago, hiding behind the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the game, it was refreshing to hear an official own up to an error and admit he flat choked. It was a sincere mistake and an even more sincere, swift admittance of guilt, but that still wasn’t enough for San Diego Charger head coach Cam Cameron who whined after that the situation still wasn’t acceptable despite the apology. It was a mistake and the man didn’t try to hide from it. End of story.
1. Notre Dame
Missing the Ohio State – USC pick is one thing, a Trojan blowout was hardly a surprise. The Notre Dame win over Michigan was the real stunner among the big games.
For all the weeping and gnashing of teeth, Notre Dame is on a living, breathing four-game winning streak. However, it’s a brutally ugly roll, and the Irish might be wide open for a cruel dose of reality soon.
Remember, we went through this before when the Ty Willingham era first started. The Irish wasn’t pretty, but it was winning thanks to a slew of takeaways, big plays from the special teams, and getting every conceivable break in the book. Of course, Notre Dame had something to do with creating the good fortune, but it was all a mirage. As soon as the breaks stopped, or started to go the other way, Ty’s group became exposed as a mediocre team. That’s why it’s still hard to figure out the 2008 Irish.
The offense is awful, averaging 301 yards over the first two games. The passing game is far more efficient than last year, but there’s no running game. The defense came up with a few stops against anemic San Diego State and Michigan offenses, but there’s been no pass rush and problems against the pass. However, the O line hasn’t allowed a sack, that was big against a strong Michigan pass rush, and the offense has taken advantage of almost every opportunity. It was a dream world for the Irish against Michigan. Two early Wolverine fumbles on kickoff returns, 14 points, and Michigan had to play catch-up with an offense ill-equipped to go on a big run with the passing game.
Even with all the problems, the 35-17 win has to be considered among the big shockers of a shocking weekend, and it could be even more amazing if the Irish beat a strong Michigan State team in East Lansing. This team is starting to find a way, and confidence could make up for all the other issues. If nothing else, Notre Dame football bears watching again.
Random Acts of Nutty … Provocative musings and tidbits to make every woman want you and every man want to be you (or vice versa) a.k.a. things I didn’t feel like writing bigger blurbs for.
- Alright Big 10 bashers, if not this conference, then who? The SEC and Big 12 are the top two, the Pac 10 stunk it up this weekend and the Big East and ACC continue to be no big whoop. So isn’t the Big Ten the No. 3 league by default? There’s nothing wrong with Penn State, Wisconsin and yeah, Ohio State.
- Remember, roughly 117 other teams would’ve likely lost to a fired up and focused USC team in the Coliseum.
- There’s the classic line that the only person to ever stop Michael Jordan was Dean Smith. I’m starting to get that feeling with Matthew Stafford and Mark Richt. Against South Carolina, Stafford threw a ball to A.J. Green up the right sideline that maybe ten current NFL quarterbacks could’ve made. Stafford also showed off surprising straight-line speed on a key run. However, with this Bulldogs team, bombing away takes a back seat to the running game.
- Last week I said it was unacceptable for any man over 30 to wear a jersey. Check that. Convinced by a few of the seasoned e-mailers, yes, I’ll change the rule book to allow men over 65 to wear jerseys again. Then it becomes quirky, and not sort of sad. On a similar note, I’m still in negotiations with the wife to be allowed to date again when I hit 85. She won’t budge off of 90.
- Hopefully one of the fine family of networks sucks it up and shows the Temple-Buffalo game again. Like the classic 1984 Boston College Flutie game over Miami, the Bulls’ win over the Owls was fantastic even before the improbable game-winning Hail Mary to give UB the win. Bull head coach Turner Gill and Temple head man Al Golden will meet someday at different programs in a game of much greater importance and much more national attention. These two are among the brightest young coaching stars in line for far bigger gigs.
C.O.W. shameless gimmick item … The weekly five Overrated/Underrated aspects of the world
1) Overrated: Tom Hammond and Pat Haden giggling during their call as they realized Notre Dame football might be fun this year ... Underrated: Kirk Herbstreit giggling when Ohio State was playing well in the first quarter, and then taking a “here it comes” tone.
2) Overrated: Matt Leinart … Underrated: Matt Cassel
3) Overrated: The Beanie Wells situation ... Underrated: Needing armed guards to move the KFC secret recipe as the company changed offices
4) Overrated: Suspended players ... Underrated: Penn State’s first three performances
5) Overrated: Lehman Brothers collapse ... Underrated: Not having any money to invest in the first place
It’s ridiculously early, but … what the heck. My Heisman ballot if I had to turn it in today would be: 1) Chase Daniel, QB Missouri, 2) Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma, 3) Knowshon Moreno, RB Georgia, 4) Max Hall, QB BYU, 5) Colt McCoy, QB Texas
“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. During these tough economic times, you can count on me going 1-2 each week. You’ll do better than in the stock market right now (I’m 3-6 after two weeks). I press on.… 1) West Virginia -3 over Colorado, 2) Ohio +11 over Northwestern, 3) Rutgers -5 over Navy
Last Week: 1) Western Michigan -7.5 over Idaho (Win), 2) Ohio State +11 over USC (Loss), 3) Michigan over Notre Dame PICK (Loss)
Sorry this column sucked, but it wasn’t my fault … I was trying to gleefully celebrate being done with writing it for the week and then East Carolina police ruined my fun.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">10:52 PM (7 hours ago)
#20 Utah @ Air Force
from Block U by JazzyUte
AT
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</td><td class="cc c">10:52 PM (7 hours ago)
#20 Utah @ Air Force
from Block U by JazzyUte
Date & Time: September 20, 2008, 2:00 MST
TV: Versus
Radio: KALL 700
Location: Falcon Stadium, Colorado Springs, Colorado
All-time series: Air Force leads 14-10
Last meeting: 2007, Air Force 20, Utah 12
A lot has changed since the Utes lost to the Falcons a little over a year ago. While it felt like Utah's season had quickly slipped away, they were 0-2, the Utes have solidly rebounded, going 12-2 since and have cracked the top-20 nationally. Not bad. For Air Force, they went on to win nine games and then watched as most their offense graduated. Now the two teams meet again, but both in dramatically different shape than they were in 2007. For Utah, that isn't a bad thing, but for the Falcons, their youth still continues to be a question mark.
For both teams, Saturday's game will be a measuring stick, especially for Utah, who very well could face their toughest test of the season thus far. The Utes are ranked, rolling and already being mentioned as a possible BCS Buster, however, that won't mean a lick if they leave Colorado Springs 3-1. And though Utah is the better team with more experience, it is possible. The Falcons are very well coached, good at home and always seem to play Utah tough, which is why they're the only conference team Utah has a losing record against.
Air Force hasn't really played a tough first three games, defeating Southern Utah, Wyoming and Houston, but they are playing well. On offense, Shea Smith is not the type of quarterback you expect to carve up Utah's stout secondary, as he's only completed 48% of his passes and has thrown the ball only 28 times. What Air Force will rely on is their traditional option offense and running game, which should be a concern for the Utes.
Kyle Halderman is the team's leading rusher, averaging 79 yards a game, while Shea Smith is second with 76 a game. Their ground game leads the conference at 358 yards a game, which is only second to Navy -- another option team -- in the country. If Utah is going to win, they will have to clamp down on the option and Falcon running game and force them to pass. Which won't be easy, however, Utah does have the 15th best run defense in the country, at least in terms of yards per game allowed. That could prove to be a problem for the Falcons, since it's very unlikely they can produce anything through the air.
The Falcons' defense so far this season isn't bad, but it isn't great, either. They give up about 106 yards per game on the ground and 187 yards through the air. Again, not terrible, but far from great. In fact, their pass defense only ranks 4th in the conference, so it shouldn't be a surprise if Brian Johnson airs it out a bit.
In their last game, Air Force defeated Houston 31-28, yet didn't play a flawless game. Even after opening a 31-7 lead in the 3rd quarter, they had to hang on, as the Cougars rolled back and nearly tied the game before losing by 3. In that game, Houston had 534 yards of total offense, with 362 in passing and 172 on the ground. This was a game where the Falcons lost nearly all the statistical categories, yet still managed to win. But that is Air Force football, they are very disciplined and will wait for an opening to beat you. It's interesting to point out that in that game, Smith had zero completions. Zero. They won by dominating with the run, bulldozing all over Houston and you should expect them to at least try the same against the Utes. Of course, the Utah defense probably is a bit better than that of Houston.
If Air Force plays like they did in most of the second half of their game against Houston, Utah will win. I don't expect that to happen, but I also don't expect Air Force to put up 380 rushing yards on Utah, either. So this game will come down to a few key plays, probably on special teams. That means no more fumbled returns and I don't think that can be stressed enough. Thankfully, I don't expect another special teams performance like what we saw against Utah State and if there aren't those issues, Utah should win. They have more talent, experience and most importantly, confidence. Plus, I think they remember last year's stinging defeat and should be fired up.
This game will be tight, I don't expect a blowout and won't predict one. The Utes are good, the Falcons are good, but Utah is probably better. The fact it's in Colorado Springs helps Air Force and they should be fired up to play a ranked opponent. But I don't see that being enough to overcome Utah's advantages. I expect the game to be close through three quarters and Utah will pull away in the fourth, winning 35-21.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Who's Hot & Who's Not - 2008 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
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</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Staff
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Sep 13, 2008
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The hot and not aspects of the college football world this week.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]Who's Hot & Not - Week 3[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][/FONT][SIZE=-1]Past Hot and Not: 2007 Hot & Not[/SIZE] | Week 1 | Week 2
Who’s Hot …
Kentucky defense
Kentucky? Defense? After three games, Kentucky is giving up just 251 yards and 6.33 points per game allowing two to Louisville, three to Norfolk State, and 14 to Middle Tennessee. It was almost more against for the Blue Raiders, but a game-saving tackle on a Hail Mary ended the drama. Western Kentucky is up next after getting hammered 41-7 by Alabama last week.
North Carolina WR Brandon Tate
One of the nation's most dangerous all-around players, Tate, a senior, ran three times for 106 yards, caught four passes for 93 yards and a touchdown, returned a kickoff 56 yards, and returned three punts for 142 yards and a touchdown in the season-opening win over McNeese State. Against Rutgers in a 44-12 win, Tate, ran for 19 yards and a touchdown, caught four passes fro 138 yards and a score, and returned two kickoffs 58 yards. Virginia Tech is up this week.
Baylor and QB Robert GriffinBaylor has its star to build around for the next four years. Griffin is a high-caliber hurdler, and he's a great-looking young quarterback who has stepped in and completed 33-of-53 passes for 548 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Last week he ran for 217 yards and two scores against Washington State as Baylor won 45-17. On a two-game winning streak, the Bears play Connecticut this week.
Missouri QB Chase Daniel
It's all working for Daniel and the Tiger offense. Mizzou leads the nation in total offense, Daniel is fourth in the nation in passing efficiency, seventh in total offense. In his last two games, Daniel has completed 39-of-45 passes (87%) for 750 yards and seven touchdowns without an interception. The Tigers play Buffalo next.
Oklahoma State running game
Navy leads the nation in rushing. That's what Navy does. Air Force is second, but it's also dead last in passing. Oklahoma State averages 212 passing yards per game, but it's also third in the nation in rushing cranking out 334 yards per game on the ground. After rushing for 174 yards and three touchdowns in the season-opening win over Washington State, the Cowboys ran for 379 yards and four touchdowns against Houston, and last week had three different players hit the 100-yard mark with 450 rushing yards and seven scores in the 57-13 win over Missouri State. Troy is up next. The Trojans are seventh in the nation in defense and is only allowing 78 rushing yards per game. Who’s Not …Virginia Losing to USC 52-7 is one thing, but getting bombed 45-10 by Connecticut is another. The offense is non-existent, averaging a mere 234 yards per game. Only Florida International is worse. The defense, supposedly the strength under head coach Al Groh, has been equally bad against the run and the pass allowing 203 yards on the ground and 216 through the air. A road trip to Duke is next.
Washington State
The Paul Wulff era hasn't exactly gotten off to a rousing start. The Cougars are 0-3 so far getting blasted 39-13 by Oklahoma State, 66-3 by Cal, and 45-17 by Baylor. The offense, once a dominant staple for Wazzu, is 117th in the nation averaging a mere 234 yards per game, while the defense is 111th in the country and second-to-last in points allowed. Portland State is un next, and then it's Oregon. Air Force passing
Air Force is back to being Air Force averaging 358 rushing yards per game, second behind Navy, and is dead last throwing the ball and 115th in pass efficiency. So far, the Falcons have completed 11-of-23 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown with an interception ... in three games. Against Houston last week, Air Force went 0-for-7 throwing the ball. Next up is Utah, who's 12th in the nation in pass defense.
June Jones and Hawaii
The breakup hasn't gone well. June Jones's SMU team is 1-2, but 0-2 against FBS teams, losing to Rice and Texas Tech by a combined score of 99 to 34 with five touchdown passes and eight interceptions. Meanwhile, Hawaii has taken a bit of a drop since the end of last year. In the last three games against FBS team, Hawaii is 0-3 losing to Georgia, Florida, and Oregon State by a combined score of 142 to 27. Hawaii plays San Jose State next week while SMU hosts TCU.
Memphis in close games
Memphis lost its opener against Ole Miss, but the last two games have been heartbreakers. The Tigers lost to Rice 42-35 two weeks ago by allowing 22 points in the final 6:28 including a pick six for the winning points. Last week they lost to Marshall 17-16 to go 0-2 in Conference USA play. Next up is Nicholls State, who has yet to play this year after canceling its opener against New Mexico State because of hurricanes.</td></tr></tbody></table>
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</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Staff
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Sep 13, 2008
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The hot and not aspects of the college football world this week.
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]Who's Hot & Not - Week 3[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][/FONT][SIZE=-1]Past Hot and Not: 2007 Hot & Not[/SIZE] | Week 1 | Week 2
Who’s Hot …
Kentucky defense
Kentucky? Defense? After three games, Kentucky is giving up just 251 yards and 6.33 points per game allowing two to Louisville, three to Norfolk State, and 14 to Middle Tennessee. It was almost more against for the Blue Raiders, but a game-saving tackle on a Hail Mary ended the drama. Western Kentucky is up next after getting hammered 41-7 by Alabama last week.
North Carolina WR Brandon Tate
One of the nation's most dangerous all-around players, Tate, a senior, ran three times for 106 yards, caught four passes for 93 yards and a touchdown, returned a kickoff 56 yards, and returned three punts for 142 yards and a touchdown in the season-opening win over McNeese State. Against Rutgers in a 44-12 win, Tate, ran for 19 yards and a touchdown, caught four passes fro 138 yards and a score, and returned two kickoffs 58 yards. Virginia Tech is up this week.
Baylor and QB Robert GriffinBaylor has its star to build around for the next four years. Griffin is a high-caliber hurdler, and he's a great-looking young quarterback who has stepped in and completed 33-of-53 passes for 548 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Last week he ran for 217 yards and two scores against Washington State as Baylor won 45-17. On a two-game winning streak, the Bears play Connecticut this week.
Missouri QB Chase Daniel
It's all working for Daniel and the Tiger offense. Mizzou leads the nation in total offense, Daniel is fourth in the nation in passing efficiency, seventh in total offense. In his last two games, Daniel has completed 39-of-45 passes (87%) for 750 yards and seven touchdowns without an interception. The Tigers play Buffalo next.
Oklahoma State running game
Navy leads the nation in rushing. That's what Navy does. Air Force is second, but it's also dead last in passing. Oklahoma State averages 212 passing yards per game, but it's also third in the nation in rushing cranking out 334 yards per game on the ground. After rushing for 174 yards and three touchdowns in the season-opening win over Washington State, the Cowboys ran for 379 yards and four touchdowns against Houston, and last week had three different players hit the 100-yard mark with 450 rushing yards and seven scores in the 57-13 win over Missouri State. Troy is up next. The Trojans are seventh in the nation in defense and is only allowing 78 rushing yards per game. Who’s Not …Virginia Losing to USC 52-7 is one thing, but getting bombed 45-10 by Connecticut is another. The offense is non-existent, averaging a mere 234 yards per game. Only Florida International is worse. The defense, supposedly the strength under head coach Al Groh, has been equally bad against the run and the pass allowing 203 yards on the ground and 216 through the air. A road trip to Duke is next.
Washington State
The Paul Wulff era hasn't exactly gotten off to a rousing start. The Cougars are 0-3 so far getting blasted 39-13 by Oklahoma State, 66-3 by Cal, and 45-17 by Baylor. The offense, once a dominant staple for Wazzu, is 117th in the nation averaging a mere 234 yards per game, while the defense is 111th in the country and second-to-last in points allowed. Portland State is un next, and then it's Oregon. Air Force passing
Air Force is back to being Air Force averaging 358 rushing yards per game, second behind Navy, and is dead last throwing the ball and 115th in pass efficiency. So far, the Falcons have completed 11-of-23 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown with an interception ... in three games. Against Houston last week, Air Force went 0-for-7 throwing the ball. Next up is Utah, who's 12th in the nation in pass defense.
June Jones and Hawaii
The breakup hasn't gone well. June Jones's SMU team is 1-2, but 0-2 against FBS teams, losing to Rice and Texas Tech by a combined score of 99 to 34 with five touchdown passes and eight interceptions. Meanwhile, Hawaii has taken a bit of a drop since the end of last year. In the last three games against FBS team, Hawaii is 0-3 losing to Georgia, Florida, and Oregon State by a combined score of 142 to 27. Hawaii plays San Jose State next week while SMU hosts TCU.
Memphis in close games
Memphis lost its opener against Ole Miss, but the last two games have been heartbreakers. The Tigers lost to Rice 42-35 two weeks ago by allowing 22 points in the final 6:28 including a pick six for the winning points. Last week they lost to Marshall 17-16 to go 0-2 in Conference USA play. Next up is Nicholls State, who has yet to play this year after canceling its opener against New Mexico State because of hurricanes.</td></tr></tbody></table>
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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Tuesday Headlinin': By Mark Sanchez's barely scrutable facial accessories, thou art healed!
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
• Official moppet of Ohio State's eternal shame. Adam Rose at the L.A. Times gets behind Mark Sanchez's "Garenn Figueroa" eyeblack" during the Ohio State game: not surprisingly, it was in "honor" of a lil Trojan who has cancer, per Pete Carroll's suggestion (the eyeblack, that is, not the cancer, which Carroll is only still in the process of conquering). This is a touching and noble gesture, rather than the completely random, hilarious, probably vulgar thing that would immediately take the Internet by storm until the inevitable late afternoon backlash, as I was hoping. Doctors will run tests this week to determine if Sanchez's four touchdown passes increased the boy's T-cell count. You know who would have had the best eyeblack messages? David Foster Wallace, man. So sad.
• A moderately more comfortable version of awesome. Percy Harvin vowed Monday to "turn it loose" against Tennessee, which can only mean he's preparing to enter some kind of worm hole to the end zone unknown to mortals since, well, since Percy Harvin was in high school:
• I refuse to be unimpressed. You may have heard Auburn scored three points Saturday against Mississippi State, a team that lost to Louisiana Tech. You might infer from the evidence Auburn is not very good offensively. You might also be some kind of sucker, according to Les Miles:
Well, maybe. But I'm pretty sure Tubs and Tony Franklin were waiting to break out "Holding in the End Zone" and "Losing Three Fumbles, Including an Unforced Dropped Pitch While Trying to Run the Clock Out" just so LSU would have to prepare for it. What else could be in that bag?
Quickly . . .
East Carolina will be without all-conference linebacker Quentin Cotton for the rest of the year. . . . Oklahoma defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger has a sprained foot, but may not miss any time with the Sooners entering a bye week. . . . Georgia is looking for more national exposure by venturing into the Pac-10. You know what would really help exposure? Better blocking. . . . Tennessee guard Anthony Parker struggled through UAB with a little tape and a lot of "IV fluid stuff. . . . Iowa's looking to unveil the rare two-quarterback offense with Ricky Stanzi and Jake Christensen listed as co-starters against Pittsburgh. . . . Linebacker Reed Williams and receiver Wes Lyons will be back in the lineup for West Virginia Thrusday against Colorado (Tickets available!). . . . Returning from a food-poisoned blowout tour in L.A., the Columbus Dispatch's Rob Oller lets it rip on pretty much anything he can thing of. . . . USC's Marc Tyler is a regular on the Metrolink train that crashed Saturday morning (because of text messaging?). . . . Texas A&M's Stephen McGee is still uncertain for Saturday when Miami comes to town. . . . The first and only time a group of Dave Wannstedt players will be referred to as "sleek, quick athletes," and that's a negative against Iowa's huge offensive line. . . . If only Oregon could combine Chris Harper and Jeremiah Masoli, they'd have a hell of a quarterback. . . . And following some apparent run-ins with humidity-wrenched Kansans last Friday, the South Florida athletic department has a message for Bulls fans, via the Tampa Tribune's Brett McMurphy: You don't live in Orlando. I'm sure some of them do, though, right? Maybe they're the problem.
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</td><td class="cc c">6:38 AM (15 minutes ago)
Tuesday Headlinin': By Mark Sanchez's barely scrutable facial accessories, thou art healed!
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
• A moderately more comfortable version of awesome. Percy Harvin vowed Monday to "turn it loose" against Tennessee, which can only mean he's preparing to enter some kind of worm hole to the end zone unknown to mortals since, well, since Percy Harvin was in high school:
When asked when was the last time he’s felt this good, Harvin said, “My 10th grade in high school. (The heel) has been nagging me since high school. I did the long jump and played basketball and ran track. All those years it was tearing the bone in my heel. We’ve got it all figured out now. I feel 100 times better.”
If you play how you feel, as the cliché goes, Harvin will score 200 touchdowns Saturday and leave Phil Fulmer's massive shadow etched onto the 41-yard-line at Neyland Stadium. But he still won't be able to convince Urban Meyer his actual running backs are lame. Give up the dream, coach, and burn the torches you have.• I refuse to be unimpressed. You may have heard Auburn scored three points Saturday against Mississippi State, a team that lost to Louisiana Tech. You might infer from the evidence Auburn is not very good offensively. You might also be some kind of sucker, according to Les Miles:
"I think he held down some of the options that he had," the LSU coach said Monday.
"Maybe," Miles added, Tuberville didn't "show everything that he has."Well, maybe. But I'm pretty sure Tubs and Tony Franklin were waiting to break out "Holding in the End Zone" and "Losing Three Fumbles, Including an Unforced Dropped Pitch While Trying to Run the Clock Out" just so LSU would have to prepare for it. What else could be in that bag?
East Carolina will be without all-conference linebacker Quentin Cotton for the rest of the year. . . . Oklahoma defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger has a sprained foot, but may not miss any time with the Sooners entering a bye week. . . . Georgia is looking for more national exposure by venturing into the Pac-10. You know what would really help exposure? Better blocking. . . . Tennessee guard Anthony Parker struggled through UAB with a little tape and a lot of "IV fluid stuff. . . . Iowa's looking to unveil the rare two-quarterback offense with Ricky Stanzi and Jake Christensen listed as co-starters against Pittsburgh. . . . Linebacker Reed Williams and receiver Wes Lyons will be back in the lineup for West Virginia Thrusday against Colorado (Tickets available!). . . . Returning from a food-poisoned blowout tour in L.A., the Columbus Dispatch's Rob Oller lets it rip on pretty much anything he can thing of. . . . USC's Marc Tyler is a regular on the Metrolink train that crashed Saturday morning (because of text messaging?). . . . Texas A&M's Stephen McGee is still uncertain for Saturday when Miami comes to town. . . . The first and only time a group of Dave Wannstedt players will be referred to as "sleek, quick athletes," and that's a negative against Iowa's huge offensive line. . . . If only Oregon could combine Chris Harper and Jeremiah Masoli, they'd have a hell of a quarterback. . . . And following some apparent run-ins with humidity-wrenched Kansans last Friday, the South Florida athletic department has a message for Bulls fans, via the Tampa Tribune's Brett McMurphy: You don't live in Orlando. I'm sure some of them do, though, right? Maybe they're the problem.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">7:30 AM (52 minutes ago)
Morning Coffee Mourns for Block
from Burnt Orange Nation by GhostofBigRoy
Flight of the Owls delayed. The Rice Owls left Nashville on Monday after being stuck there after their Saturday loss against Vanderbilt. With Houston ravaged by Ike, the Owls spent Sunday in Nashville starting their game week preparation for the Longhorns. It will be interesting to see if the devastation at home in Houston and the shortened game week will impact the play of the Owls on Saturday. Mack Brown, ever the gentleman, offered use of the Longhorn's facilities to the Owls for practice this week, noting that "this is a time bigger than football." Indeed. The Longhorns began preparation for Rice on Thursday, but the players took Friday and Saturday off. With so many players from the Houston area, the players need to re-focus after their time off. This may be a time when football, and sports in general, can be a needed refuge.
As VY's world turns. The Vince Young saga enters its second week. On Monday, Titans coach Jeff Fisher disputed claims that it was the team's psychologist who said that Young had contemplated suicide last week, instead blaming it on Young's marketing manager, Mike Mu. The team psychologist, Sheila Peters, and Jeff Fisher met with Young last Monday evening before deciding everything was fine and leaving. It was Mu who called Fisher concerned that Young had a gun and had talked about suicide, prompting Fisher to call the police. Fisher also mentioned that Young may not have his starting job when he returns from his MCL sprain, saying it may benefit Young to watch Kerry Collins lead the team. The latest development is that Adam Schefter of NFL Network's NFL GameDay Morning reported on Sunday morning that Young asked out of the Titan's playoff game at halftime last year in their loss to the Chargers. Not the best time to be a Vince Young fan. Here's hoping that he can resurrect his image and find the success that appears to be eluding him right now.
Already a Major impact? IT's Bill Frisbie speculates about the early impact of Major Applewhite on the Texas offense. Chris Ogbonnaya mentioned that Applewhite places great emphasis on ball security, something Jamaal Charles struggled with during his time at Texas, consistently failing to maintain the crucial three points of contact--forearm, bicep, and chest. As a former quarterback, Applewhite has also helped the running backs with what Obgonnaya terms "eye exams." That involves the running backs' pre-snap read of the defense to identify their blitz pick-up responsibilities. However, Applewhite's influence extends beyond the running backs. Colt McCoy credits Applewhite for helping him check down to the running back when no receivers create separation downfield. All that is well and good, but I think Longhorn fans, myself included, are more interested in hearing about the impact of Applewhite on the offensive play-calling. Unfortunately, that's exactly the type of news unlikely to leak out of the program. Mack Brown controls the message coming out of his team about as well (and as tightly) as the Bush administration. I mourn again my inability to be a fly on the wall during offensive game-planning meetings.
Wear black today, for Block. Michael Griffin played in the Titans game Sunday against the Bengals with a heavy heart. While he intercepted his first pass of the season against Carson Palmer, Griffin arrived late to Cincinnati after one of his beloved pit bulls, Block, died Saturday evening. Fortunately, Griffin was able to play the game with the knowledge "my dog is looking down on me." Good thing that all dogs go to heaven. Longhorn fans may recall that Griffin breeds pit bulls and watches Animal Planet in lieu of Sportscenter. While Griffin's loss diminishes somewhat with news of the devastation along the Gulf Coast beginning to trickle out, I'm sure every Longhorn fan who has lost a pet can identify with Griffin's pain. I know I can.
From the land of Miscellany. No changes to the depth chart this week...Adam Ulatoski's nickname is "Mumbles."...Barking Carnival has two great posts up, one about the 1965 Orange Bowl against Alabama and the other about UT quarterback great Bobby Layne...Cedric Golden ranks the top 5 quarterbacks who've played at Texas under Mack Browns...ESPN's Tim Griffins calls the Longhorns the biggest losers in the Big 12 this weekend after Ike's postponement of the Arkansas game.
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</td><td class="cc c">7:30 AM (52 minutes ago)
Morning Coffee Mourns for Block
from Burnt Orange Nation by GhostofBigRoy
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cookiecake
New Member
I dont post much but wanted to add some thoughts to the texas game.
rice will not be the only team distracted, texas has 30 players on roster from the coast area whose family were affected. rb chris Oby said on a radio show that his parents were staying with him throughout the storm and that he not the only one on the team with house guest.
also although last week techniquely was a bye week for the horns they practiced hard until thurs getting ready for arkansas. even though arkansas is down mack brown and the horns were preping hard for that game. So i wouldnt cap this game as if ut had come off a full bye week of rest.
of course rice is the more distracted team as rj had great info on their weekend but ut is not without and if there is one thing i know is a distracted 18-22 year old is a tough thing to lay 30pts with
also off field stuff aside the owls are a pass happy team that will be a good test for the horns questionable 2ndary before seeing the big12 qb of tech, ou mizzou
with both teams in questionable mental focus and the strength of rice being the weakness of texas D it seems 30pts is too high, the potential for the back door fist f*$& seems high
great info on everything will be with you on acouple
rice will not be the only team distracted, texas has 30 players on roster from the coast area whose family were affected. rb chris Oby said on a radio show that his parents were staying with him throughout the storm and that he not the only one on the team with house guest.
also although last week techniquely was a bye week for the horns they practiced hard until thurs getting ready for arkansas. even though arkansas is down mack brown and the horns were preping hard for that game. So i wouldnt cap this game as if ut had come off a full bye week of rest.
of course rice is the more distracted team as rj had great info on their weekend but ut is not without and if there is one thing i know is a distracted 18-22 year old is a tough thing to lay 30pts with
also off field stuff aside the owls are a pass happy team that will be a good test for the horns questionable 2ndary before seeing the big12 qb of tech, ou mizzou
with both teams in questionable mental focus and the strength of rice being the weakness of texas D it seems 30pts is too high, the potential for the back door fist f*$& seems high
great info on everything will be with you on acouple
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Yeah, Texas has their own issues with Houston area players but they get to stay at home in Austin and not worry about lack of power, etc.
Like to see how Horn sees it but I think it's solid as hell. If the lowest margin in the last 5 years is 22 points and every other margin is 40+, I feel good.
Like to see how Horn sees it but I think it's solid as hell. If the lowest margin in the last 5 years is 22 points and every other margin is 40+, I feel good.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">10:42 AM (40 minutes ago)
Kicking the Tires: Louisville
from Bring On The Cats by TB
No permanent Internet solutions yet, but it's working well enough at this point for me to write the UL preview. You can check out SB Nation's Louisville blog, Card Chronicle, for more on Louisville, but I understand a lot of Louisville is without power because of the remnants of Hurricane Ike, so there isn't a whole lot new at the site.
Players to Watch
K-State
Passing -- Josh Freeman: 34/45, 520 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 260 yards per game
Rushing -- Keithen Valentine: 24 carries, 104 net yards, 4.2 ypc, 1 TD
Receiving -- Brandon Banks: 9 catches, 183 yards, 3 TDs, 92.5 ypg
Louisville
Passing -- Hunter Cantwell: 35/66, 355 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs, 177.5 ypg
Rushing -- Vic Anderson: 24 carries, 145 net yards, 6.0 ypc, 1 TD
Receiving -- Doug Beaumont: 14 catches, 160 yards, 0 TD, 80 ypg
Statistics that are fun to look at...
Scoring Offense
K-State: 3rd, 57.0 ppg
Louisville: 65th, 26.5 ppg
Total Offense
K-State: 18th
Louisville: 86th
Scoring Defense
K-State: 10th, 8.0 ppg
Louisville: 46th, 18.5 ppg
Total Defense
K-State: 6th, 198.0 ypg
Louisville: 4th, 193.0 ypg
The Cardinals are 1-1 on the season. In week one, UL dropped a rivalry game to Kentucky, 27-2. The same week K-State was demolishing Montana State, UL defeated Tennessee Tech, 51-10. Not to get too far afield here, but Tennessee Tech has since defeated SEMO, 29-27; that's the same SEMO team Mizzou annihilated 52-3. Also, Kentucky is 3-0 on the season, with wins over Norfolk State (38-3) and Middle Tennessee State (20-14).
Louisville's offensive deficiencies against Kentucky probably scared small children and sickened those who love football, but the Cards looked better against Tennessee Tech. Still, Cantwell's numbers on the season are nothing special, and I will be very disappointed if we permit this game to turn into a shootout. Our defense must tackle better, though, and must do a better job stopping the run. Running back Vic Anderson will see to it that we pay if we are not prepared to stop the running game.
Defensively, Louisville does not give up yards or points easily. This will be easily Josh Freeman's sternest test to date (duh), and it will be very telling for the rest of the season how he handles this game.
One other thing I noticed in watching UL's opening week matchup with Kentucky. Cantwell has perhaps the slowest delivery of any quarterback I've seen since the 1980s. He looks like he's winding up an old fire-engine as he rears back to throw. Let's hope that gives Ian Campbell and his defensive line mates a little extra time to get into the backfield and put pressure on Cantwell.
On a final note, it doesn't look like we're going to have a lot of success running the ball on UL, but I hope to God we at least try. We all saw what happened to that school down the river on Friday night when they completely abandoned the running game, and that could be us if we don't try (side note: the Jocques Crawford-for-2,000-yard watch now stands at 64 yards, or 1,934 short of his goal for the season).
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</td><td class="cc c">10:42 AM (40 minutes ago)
Kicking the Tires: Louisville
from Bring On The Cats by TB
No permanent Internet solutions yet, but it's working well enough at this point for me to write the UL preview. You can check out SB Nation's Louisville blog, Card Chronicle, for more on Louisville, but I understand a lot of Louisville is without power because of the remnants of Hurricane Ike, so there isn't a whole lot new at the site.
Players to Watch
K-State
Passing -- Josh Freeman: 34/45, 520 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 260 yards per game
Rushing -- Keithen Valentine: 24 carries, 104 net yards, 4.2 ypc, 1 TD
Receiving -- Brandon Banks: 9 catches, 183 yards, 3 TDs, 92.5 ypg
Louisville
Passing -- Hunter Cantwell: 35/66, 355 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs, 177.5 ypg
Rushing -- Vic Anderson: 24 carries, 145 net yards, 6.0 ypc, 1 TD
Receiving -- Doug Beaumont: 14 catches, 160 yards, 0 TD, 80 ypg
Statistics that are fun to look at...
Scoring Offense
K-State: 3rd, 57.0 ppg
Louisville: 65th, 26.5 ppg
Total Offense
K-State: 18th
Louisville: 86th
Scoring Defense
K-State: 10th, 8.0 ppg
Louisville: 46th, 18.5 ppg
Total Defense
K-State: 6th, 198.0 ypg
Louisville: 4th, 193.0 ypg
The Cardinals are 1-1 on the season. In week one, UL dropped a rivalry game to Kentucky, 27-2. The same week K-State was demolishing Montana State, UL defeated Tennessee Tech, 51-10. Not to get too far afield here, but Tennessee Tech has since defeated SEMO, 29-27; that's the same SEMO team Mizzou annihilated 52-3. Also, Kentucky is 3-0 on the season, with wins over Norfolk State (38-3) and Middle Tennessee State (20-14).
Louisville's offensive deficiencies against Kentucky probably scared small children and sickened those who love football, but the Cards looked better against Tennessee Tech. Still, Cantwell's numbers on the season are nothing special, and I will be very disappointed if we permit this game to turn into a shootout. Our defense must tackle better, though, and must do a better job stopping the run. Running back Vic Anderson will see to it that we pay if we are not prepared to stop the running game.
Defensively, Louisville does not give up yards or points easily. This will be easily Josh Freeman's sternest test to date (duh), and it will be very telling for the rest of the season how he handles this game.
One other thing I noticed in watching UL's opening week matchup with Kentucky. Cantwell has perhaps the slowest delivery of any quarterback I've seen since the 1980s. He looks like he's winding up an old fire-engine as he rears back to throw. Let's hope that gives Ian Campbell and his defensive line mates a little extra time to get into the backfield and put pressure on Cantwell.
On a final note, it doesn't look like we're going to have a lot of success running the ball on UL, but I hope to God we at least try. We all saw what happened to that school down the river on Friday night when they completely abandoned the running game, and that could be us if we don't try (side note: the Jocques Crawford-for-2,000-yard watch now stands at 64 yards, or 1,934 short of his goal for the season).
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Fallout of losses rattles through college football
UCLA among many forced into comeback mode after recent defeats. Ohio State, Michigan are questions. Arizona State, Kansas may get help from schedule. Fresno State, South Carolina, Cal are hurting.
Chris Dufresne
September 16, 2008
It's called "makeup" speed.
You need it in your secondary, but you also need it on your schedule.
Some schools have it; others call Fresno home.
Here's a damage assessment on how recent losses might impact the hopes and dreams of schools that had hopes and dreams.
Sun may rise
* Arizona State.
This program has always performed better when no one's looking . . . and now no one's looking.
Saturday's overtime home loss to Nevada Las Vegas knocked Arizona State from No. 15 to O-U-T of the Associated Press media poll and took two quarts of luster off this week's game against No. 3 Georgia.
Sun Devils quarterback Rudy Carpenter told reporters Monday, "We can change everything in one week." But it's already too late to tell Chris Fowler that.
ESPN's "GameDay" crew was all set to come to Tempe until what should have stayed in Vegas (UNLV) didn't stay in Vegas.
The schedule is such, though, that Arizona State (2-1) could rip-roaringly get back in the national title chase if it were to beat No. 3 Georgia on Saturday and No. 1 USC on Oct. 11.
"Although we didn't play well -- that's an understatement -- there are a lot of things left to play for," Coach Dennis Erickson said. "There is a whole season ahead of all of us."
That's good news for Arizona State, but only if the Sun Devils are actually any good -- and we're not sure about that.
* Kansas. The Jayhawks' loss on a last-second field goal at South Florida would have been tougher to recover from if all they had left to play was last year's cupcake schedule. Kansas, though, dropped only six spots to No. 19 in the AP and has four Big 12 games left against schools currently ranked in the top 12.
Last year Kansas didn't play three of those schools -- Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech -- and lost to the fourth, Missouri.
Pollyanna, meet pie in the sky
* Ohio State. Voters who have been waiting to poll-mug the Buckeyes for putting us through those last two miserable title-game performances got their chance when USC sent Ohio State home with the "three" in 35-3.
Let there be no doubt: an electorate looking to deny the Buckeyes a third consecutive title-game trip will suppress Ohio State for as long as it's ethically possible, maybe even longer.
A drop to only No. 14 in the coaches' poll, though, with almost three months of ball left to play, may not be enough to hold back a team that has every chance to run the Big Ten while scoring wins against top-25 teams Wisconsin, Penn State, Illinois and soon possibly Iowa.
Unless voters are determined to drop Ohio State a spot with each victory earned, there is still a far-fetched hope -- or is it dread? -- that we haven't seen the last of the Sweater Vests.
"We still have a chance to win the Big Ten and make it to the Rose Bowl," Ohio State guard Ben Person said.
Why stop there?
* Michigan. About that 35-17 loss to Notre Dame, two weeks after that home loss to Utah . . . don't worry about it?
Oh, there's definitely reason to worry, but hang with us here. Last year, Lloyd Carr's last as coach, the Wolverines opened 0-2 after losses to Appalachian State and Oregon and were left for road kill along with various other Big Ten mascots (Gophers, Hawkeyes, Wildcats).
Michigan then ripped off eight consecutive wins, met Ohio State with a Rose Bowl bid on the line and ended up beating defending national champion Florida in a bowl game.
Not that any of that's going to happen this year, but a win against Wisconsin in Ann Arbor on Sept. 27 would make Michigan 1-0 in the Big Ten.
"It's like we have our second season now," first-year Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez said. "The first season is over."
End games
* South Carolina. Steve Spurrier thought he could make chicken salad out of Gamecocks history, and things were looking bright after an opening win against North Carolina State pushed South Carolina into the top 25.
But opening 0-2 in the Southeastern Conference East, no matter how tough the losses to Vanderbilt and Georgia were, is going to be tough to overcome even with makeup speed games left against Louisiana State and Florida.
* Fresno State. It was an all-or-nothing game against Wisconsin, and Fresno State ended up with the nothing. The Bulldogs played tough, had chances to win, but they needed to beat Wisconsin on the way to 12-0 to have any reasonable chance of making a Bowl Championship Series game.
Fresno State isn't helped now by the fact its schedule doesn't look as tough as it did two weeks ago. Rutgers, the team Fresno State worked over on Labor Day, just got routed by North Carolina.
And UCLA, which shocked Tennessee on Sept. 1, just hobbled home from Provo after a 59-0 loss to Brigham Young. That takes a lot of the schedule traction out of Fresno's trip to the Rose Bowl on Sept. 27.
* UCLA. The Bruins' shocking win over Tennessee was fairy dust and not the Rick Neuheisel starter-kit for something big.
Brigham Young framed UCLA's season for what it's going to be: a long one. Last year, UCLA tried to spin ugly losses to Utah and Notre Dame by leading the Pacific 10 Conference race for a spell before the Bruins fell to their final resting place.
Two weeks after post-Tennessee giddiness, the Bruins are in survival mode. Nothing on the schedule, not even the "oomph" against USC at the end, is likely to salvage a transitional season.
* California. It was going so well. Jeff Tedford finally chased those protesters out of the trees and the Golden Bears opened with impressive wins against Michigan State and Washington State.
A sleepy-eyed, sunrise-service loss at Maryland, though, probably doomed the romantic title hopes of a team that was one play last year from being No. 1.
For anyone even thinking Cal was ever in the chase, not even a win at USC on Nov. 8 gets the Golden Bears back in it.
UCLA among many forced into comeback mode after recent defeats. Ohio State, Michigan are questions. Arizona State, Kansas may get help from schedule. Fresno State, South Carolina, Cal are hurting.
Chris Dufresne
September 16, 2008
It's called "makeup" speed.
You need it in your secondary, but you also need it on your schedule.
Some schools have it; others call Fresno home.
Here's a damage assessment on how recent losses might impact the hopes and dreams of schools that had hopes and dreams.
Sun may rise
* Arizona State.
This program has always performed better when no one's looking . . . and now no one's looking.
Saturday's overtime home loss to Nevada Las Vegas knocked Arizona State from No. 15 to O-U-T of the Associated Press media poll and took two quarts of luster off this week's game against No. 3 Georgia.
Sun Devils quarterback Rudy Carpenter told reporters Monday, "We can change everything in one week." But it's already too late to tell Chris Fowler that.
ESPN's "GameDay" crew was all set to come to Tempe until what should have stayed in Vegas (UNLV) didn't stay in Vegas.
The schedule is such, though, that Arizona State (2-1) could rip-roaringly get back in the national title chase if it were to beat No. 3 Georgia on Saturday and No. 1 USC on Oct. 11.
"Although we didn't play well -- that's an understatement -- there are a lot of things left to play for," Coach Dennis Erickson said. "There is a whole season ahead of all of us."
That's good news for Arizona State, but only if the Sun Devils are actually any good -- and we're not sure about that.
* Kansas. The Jayhawks' loss on a last-second field goal at South Florida would have been tougher to recover from if all they had left to play was last year's cupcake schedule. Kansas, though, dropped only six spots to No. 19 in the AP and has four Big 12 games left against schools currently ranked in the top 12.
Last year Kansas didn't play three of those schools -- Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech -- and lost to the fourth, Missouri.
Pollyanna, meet pie in the sky
* Ohio State. Voters who have been waiting to poll-mug the Buckeyes for putting us through those last two miserable title-game performances got their chance when USC sent Ohio State home with the "three" in 35-3.
Let there be no doubt: an electorate looking to deny the Buckeyes a third consecutive title-game trip will suppress Ohio State for as long as it's ethically possible, maybe even longer.
A drop to only No. 14 in the coaches' poll, though, with almost three months of ball left to play, may not be enough to hold back a team that has every chance to run the Big Ten while scoring wins against top-25 teams Wisconsin, Penn State, Illinois and soon possibly Iowa.
Unless voters are determined to drop Ohio State a spot with each victory earned, there is still a far-fetched hope -- or is it dread? -- that we haven't seen the last of the Sweater Vests.
"We still have a chance to win the Big Ten and make it to the Rose Bowl," Ohio State guard Ben Person said.
Why stop there?
* Michigan. About that 35-17 loss to Notre Dame, two weeks after that home loss to Utah . . . don't worry about it?
Oh, there's definitely reason to worry, but hang with us here. Last year, Lloyd Carr's last as coach, the Wolverines opened 0-2 after losses to Appalachian State and Oregon and were left for road kill along with various other Big Ten mascots (Gophers, Hawkeyes, Wildcats).
Michigan then ripped off eight consecutive wins, met Ohio State with a Rose Bowl bid on the line and ended up beating defending national champion Florida in a bowl game.
Not that any of that's going to happen this year, but a win against Wisconsin in Ann Arbor on Sept. 27 would make Michigan 1-0 in the Big Ten.
"It's like we have our second season now," first-year Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez said. "The first season is over."
End games
* South Carolina. Steve Spurrier thought he could make chicken salad out of Gamecocks history, and things were looking bright after an opening win against North Carolina State pushed South Carolina into the top 25.
But opening 0-2 in the Southeastern Conference East, no matter how tough the losses to Vanderbilt and Georgia were, is going to be tough to overcome even with makeup speed games left against Louisiana State and Florida.
* Fresno State. It was an all-or-nothing game against Wisconsin, and Fresno State ended up with the nothing. The Bulldogs played tough, had chances to win, but they needed to beat Wisconsin on the way to 12-0 to have any reasonable chance of making a Bowl Championship Series game.
Fresno State isn't helped now by the fact its schedule doesn't look as tough as it did two weeks ago. Rutgers, the team Fresno State worked over on Labor Day, just got routed by North Carolina.
And UCLA, which shocked Tennessee on Sept. 1, just hobbled home from Provo after a 59-0 loss to Brigham Young. That takes a lot of the schedule traction out of Fresno's trip to the Rose Bowl on Sept. 27.
* UCLA. The Bruins' shocking win over Tennessee was fairy dust and not the Rick Neuheisel starter-kit for something big.
Brigham Young framed UCLA's season for what it's going to be: a long one. Last year, UCLA tried to spin ugly losses to Utah and Notre Dame by leading the Pacific 10 Conference race for a spell before the Bruins fell to their final resting place.
Two weeks after post-Tennessee giddiness, the Bruins are in survival mode. Nothing on the schedule, not even the "oomph" against USC at the end, is likely to salvage a transitional season.
* California. It was going so well. Jeff Tedford finally chased those protesters out of the trees and the Golden Bears opened with impressive wins against Michigan State and Washington State.
A sleepy-eyed, sunrise-service loss at Maryland, though, probably doomed the romantic title hopes of a team that was one play last year from being No. 1.
For anyone even thinking Cal was ever in the chase, not even a win at USC on Nov. 8 gets the Golden Bears back in it.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
PAUL JOHNSON AIN’T WORRYIN’ BOUT NO MORONS
from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Paul Johnson gives some hope to the few surviving followers of physiognomy. He’s cantankerous, aggressive, and has a face designed to scowl from the sidelines with redneck gloweraciousness. When he smiles, it looks wrong, as if someone were pulling the fleshy edges of his face in the wrong direction like an alien was wearing his flesh as a suit. He looks like your high school coach. He sounds like your high school coach. He may actually be your high school coach working under an assumed name after entering the witness protection program, for all we know.
I’d smile, but that would just make everyone uncomfortable.
He also doesn’t give a good goddamn what you damn teevee morons think, either.
He said that while watching a replay of the game, he heard the TV announcers questioning the move, too.
“I think you’ve got to try to win the game,” he said.
“The guys who do the game, they’re morons…I don’t worry about what they say.”
Josh Nesbitt was sacked, and Virginia Tech took over.
For the record, the announcing team were two people named Terry Gannon and David Norrie, so we can’t verify whether they’re morons or not. If Paul Johnson thinks they’re morons, though, we’ll agree, especially if we turn around and see the Johnson looking over our shoulder right now, because we don’t know if we could handle Johnson yelling at us. (No one likes to see a grown man in tears.)
from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Paul Johnson gives some hope to the few surviving followers of physiognomy. He’s cantankerous, aggressive, and has a face designed to scowl from the sidelines with redneck gloweraciousness. When he smiles, it looks wrong, as if someone were pulling the fleshy edges of his face in the wrong direction like an alien was wearing his flesh as a suit. He looks like your high school coach. He sounds like your high school coach. He may actually be your high school coach working under an assumed name after entering the witness protection program, for all we know.
I’d smile, but that would just make everyone uncomfortable.
He also doesn’t give a good goddamn what you damn teevee morons think, either.
He said that while watching a replay of the game, he heard the TV announcers questioning the move, too.
“I think you’ve got to try to win the game,” he said.
“The guys who do the game, they’re morons…I don’t worry about what they say.”
Josh Nesbitt was sacked, and Virginia Tech took over.
For the record, the announcing team were two people named Terry Gannon and David Norrie, so we can’t verify whether they’re morons or not. If Paul Johnson thinks they’re morons, though, we’ll agree, especially if we turn around and see the Johnson looking over our shoulder right now, because we don’t know if we could handle Johnson yelling at us. (No one likes to see a grown man in tears.)
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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Is the ACC reduced to beating Miss. State for 'some respect'?
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
The ACC's taken a lot of heat lately -- this is what happens when a league has no offense and allows Wake Forest to come from nowhere to win a rain-soaked, 9-6 championship game one season, then makes empty seats grow for its showcase game of the year the next ...
And, yes, the conference hit rock bottom after a terrible opening weekend, thanks to flops by alleged division powers Clemson and Virginia Tech and disinterested, sick puppy routines by N.C. State and Virginia on national television. We all get it: the ACC has some image problems.
But does the Atlanta Journal-Constitution think the little conference that could is so hopeless, so desperate for any win at all against the mighty SEC, that Georgia Tech has to claim "ACC Pride" against Mississippi State? The same Mississippi State that's 14 games under .500 and en route to its seventh losing season in eight years? The Bulldogs that have failed to break the top hundred in total offense every year of Sylvester Croom's tenure, and barely scratched their way into the "Also Receiving Votes" section of the polls during last year's turnover-fueled "breakthrough"? That have carried the SEC flag this year by losing to Louisiana Tech and netting a hilariously meager safety-via-penalty in a loss to Auburn that reached near-Medusa levels of unwatchability?
Actually, yeah. The AJC does think the ACC is that desperate -- and lucky for its storyline-hungry beat writers, so do the Jackets themselves:
- - -
Emphasis added
See where the ridiculous Conference Wars have left us, in a world where "Snubbed by Georgia" can be transmogrified into the equivalent of "Snubbed by Mississippi State," and players at a program that's been to eleven straight bowl games can have "a chip on their shoulder," at home, against one of the losingest major outfits in the country. You know, to prove they "belong with the best in the nation."
Tech is a 7.5-point favorite, by the way. I dunno if the Jackets can cover that -- can they manage to put a touchdown and a field goal on the board against a mighty SEC defense? Who do the oddsmakers think they're dealing with here -- Louisiana Tech?
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</td><td class="cc c">8:38 AM (2 hours ago)
Is the ACC reduced to beating Miss. State for 'some respect'?
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
The ACC's taken a lot of heat lately -- this is what happens when a league has no offense and allows Wake Forest to come from nowhere to win a rain-soaked, 9-6 championship game one season, then makes empty seats grow for its showcase game of the year the next ...
But does the Atlanta Journal-Constitution think the little conference that could is so hopeless, so desperate for any win at all against the mighty SEC, that Georgia Tech has to claim "ACC Pride" against Mississippi State? The same Mississippi State that's 14 games under .500 and en route to its seventh losing season in eight years? The Bulldogs that have failed to break the top hundred in total offense every year of Sylvester Croom's tenure, and barely scratched their way into the "Also Receiving Votes" section of the polls during last year's turnover-fueled "breakthrough"? That have carried the SEC flag this year by losing to Louisiana Tech and netting a hilariously meager safety-via-penalty in a loss to Auburn that reached near-Medusa levels of unwatchability?
Actually, yeah. The AJC does think the ACC is that desperate -- and lucky for its storyline-hungry beat writers, so do the Jackets themselves:
“Especially watching ESPN and stuff, all that talk about the SEC and how great the SEC is” grows tiresome, junior A-back Greg Smith said last week. “When next week comes, we’re definitely going to be focused on getting some respect for the ACC.”
[...]
Greg Smith, who was recruited by Georgia but not offered a scholarship, said that reality adds to the animosity.
“Most of the guys are from the Southeast,” said Smith, who is from Stone Mountain. “The ones that weren’t recruited by SEC schools will definitely have a chip on their shoulder and go out and play a little bit harder against those teams, to show that we belong with the best in the nation.”[...]
Greg Smith, who was recruited by Georgia but not offered a scholarship, said that reality adds to the animosity.
- - -
Emphasis added
See where the ridiculous Conference Wars have left us, in a world where "Snubbed by Georgia" can be transmogrified into the equivalent of "Snubbed by Mississippi State," and players at a program that's been to eleven straight bowl games can have "a chip on their shoulder," at home, against one of the losingest major outfits in the country. You know, to prove they "belong with the best in the nation."
Tech is a 7.5-point favorite, by the way. I dunno if the Jackets can cover that -- can they manage to put a touchdown and a field goal on the board against a mighty SEC defense? Who do the oddsmakers think they're dealing with here -- Louisiana Tech?
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Percy Harvin is Ready to Be 'Cut Loose'
from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Florida, SEC, NCAA FB Injuries
The Florida Gators are off to another good start this season, winning their first two games in rather impressive fashion, and doing so despite the fact that Percy Harvin hasn't been around to contribute much thanks to heel surgery. Now the Gators are preparing to open their conference schedule against the rival Tennessee Volunteers, and for all those Vols fans out there who had been hoping Harvin would still be limited by his heel, I've got some bad news for you.
Percy is feeling better than ever and it looks like he's going to be the centerpiece of the Gator offense once again this weekend.
That can't be a very comforting feeling for Tennessee fans this weekend, nor the rest of the SEC.
from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Florida, SEC, NCAA FB Injuries
Percy is feeling better than ever and it looks like he's going to be the centerpiece of the Gator offense once again this weekend.
"Coach just came to me and said he's ready to cut me loose," Harvin said Monday, speaking publicly for just the second time in 2008.
Harvin's right heel had bothered him since his high school days in Virginia Beach. It was initially treated as tendinitis at Florida, but the pain persisted and eventually caused soreness in his knee and hip.
"I guess to describe it is like somebody stabbing me in the back of my foot," Harvin said. "It got to a point where I couldn't bend. Sometimes in the weight room I couldn't squat all the way down. It was causing bad tendinitis in my knees, and my hips were going all kind of crazy because I was over-planting on my other leg. It just caused all kinds of injuries to me."
Yep, that's right, Harvin hasn't been healthy the entire time he's been in Gainesville yet it didn't managed to stop him from racking up 2,477 yards (rushing and receiving) and 15 touchdowns his first two seasons there. Now he says he feels better than he has at any time he's played since he was still in the 10th grade.Harvin's right heel had bothered him since his high school days in Virginia Beach. It was initially treated as tendinitis at Florida, but the pain persisted and eventually caused soreness in his knee and hip.
"I guess to describe it is like somebody stabbing me in the back of my foot," Harvin said. "It got to a point where I couldn't bend. Sometimes in the weight room I couldn't squat all the way down. It was causing bad tendinitis in my knees, and my hips were going all kind of crazy because I was over-planting on my other leg. It just caused all kinds of injuries to me."
That can't be a very comforting feeling for Tennessee fans this weekend, nor the rest of the SEC.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Tuesday Question - Who's No. 2? </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
Oklahoma RB Chris Brown
</td> <td width="3" nowrap="nowrap">
</td> <td valign="top"> <table width="60%" bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Staff
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Sep 16, 2008
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If USC is everyone's No. 1 team, who's second best right now?
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">
<table id="table2" width="200" align="right" border="0" cellspacing="4"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffcc"> Past TQs
- The best unknown storyline - 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=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2] Pete Fiutak [/SIZE][/FONT]
Q: Who's No. 2, and if it's USC, who's No. 1?
A:If everyone's playing at the peak of their capabilities and they're all on a neutral field, I might take Oklahoma over USC, but right now, the Trojans have to be No. 1. I have a gut feeling Florida might end up winning the whole ball of wax, but right now I'd put the Gators third behind USC and OU, and I'd have Georgia fourth.
On a wait and see note for the No. 2 slot, and this is for down the line, I want to see a bit more out of Wisconsin. At some point, the defense will finally be healthy, and with the offensive line playing well, I wouldn't be totally shocked if the Badgers had the type of team that could beat a USC or Oklahoma by going smashmouth. Remember, Wisconsin has been solid against the SEC in bowl games, and this team is better than the ones that played well against Tennessee and Arkansas in the last two bowl seasons. I wouldn't put UW at No. 2 right now, but ask me again in a few weeks if the quarterback play improves.
Richard Cirminiello [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2][/FONT] <o
> </o><o> </o> [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2][/SIZE][/FONT] <o> </o>[/SIZE]
Q: Who's No. 2, and if it's USC, who's No. 1?
A: First off, the Trojans own the best win of any school through three weeks, earning the top spot without much debate. The only school with an argument for USC’s pole position is Oklahoma, which has scored at least 50 points in all three of its victories and is playing as well as any program in the country at this early stage. Naturally, there’s a long way to go, but the Sooner offense has looked unstoppable and QB Sam Bradford is playing as if he plans to be the second sophomore in two years to win the Heisman Trophy. We’ll know more when the schedule brings games with Texas, Kansas, and Texas Tech, but laying 52 on a pretty good Cincinnati defense and beating Washington by 41 on the road is the start of a solid brag sheet. Yes, size, as in margin of victory, does matter. If your ballot has anyone other than USC and Oklahoma in the top two slots, respectively, you’re probably being a contrarian just for the sake of being different. Georgia was too close for comfort in a 14-7 win over a mediocre South Carolina team. Ditto Florida, which wasn’t all that impressive against Miami. Missouri? Now you’re getting warmer. The Tigers do have a win over No. 23 Illinois and have been as explosive as Oklahoma in their three wins. Mizzou is a close No. 3. Very close. <o> Matthew Zemek</o>
Q: What's the best story so far that no one is talking about?
A: Who's No. 2? This early in the season, it doesn't (and shouldn't) matter. But if you had to put a gun to my head, I'd say Oklahoma. But if Georgia goes to suburban Phoenix (a place the Sooners haven't fared well in, even though the suburb is Glendale and not Tempe) and rocks Arizona State this Saturday, that opinion would change in a hurry.
All in all, nobody should get too worked up about this particular debate at this point in time. That's the No. 1 thing to remember about the No. 2 team in college football.
<o>Steve Silverman
Q: Who's No. 2, and if it's USC, who's No. 1?</o>
A: USC is definitely No. 1. This may be the best of the great USC teams under Pete Carroll and that's quite a mouthful. The defense is good enough to set the tone, while Carroll's previous teams had dominant offenses and good-enough defenses. Now both sides look absolutely awesome and probably will the rest of the season barring any catastrophic injury.
Oklahoma is the No. 2 team in the country. With all due respect to Georgia--full credit to Tony Soprano--the Sooners are just an offensive monster. It all starts with triggerman Sam Bradford who throws a beautiful pass, gets it away quickly and is deadly accurate. Bob Stoops senses he has a team that can go all the way and he coaches only one way -- full out. The Sooners will make it to the national championship game or die trying. I think they make it.
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Oklahoma RB Chris Brown
</td> <td width="3" nowrap="nowrap">
</td> <td valign="top"> <table width="60%" bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Staff
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Sep 16, 2008
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
If USC is everyone's No. 1 team, who's second best right now?
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">
<table id="table2" width="200" align="right" border="0" cellspacing="4"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffcc"> Past TQs
- The best unknown storyline - 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=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2] Pete Fiutak [/SIZE][/FONT]
Q: Who's No. 2, and if it's USC, who's No. 1?
A:If everyone's playing at the peak of their capabilities and they're all on a neutral field, I might take Oklahoma over USC, but right now, the Trojans have to be No. 1. I have a gut feeling Florida might end up winning the whole ball of wax, but right now I'd put the Gators third behind USC and OU, and I'd have Georgia fourth.
On a wait and see note for the No. 2 slot, and this is for down the line, I want to see a bit more out of Wisconsin. At some point, the defense will finally be healthy, and with the offensive line playing well, I wouldn't be totally shocked if the Badgers had the type of team that could beat a USC or Oklahoma by going smashmouth. Remember, Wisconsin has been solid against the SEC in bowl games, and this team is better than the ones that played well against Tennessee and Arkansas in the last two bowl seasons. I wouldn't put UW at No. 2 right now, but ask me again in a few weeks if the quarterback play improves.
Richard Cirminiello [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2][/FONT] <o
> </o><o> </o> [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2][/SIZE][/FONT] <o> </o>[/SIZE]Q: Who's No. 2, and if it's USC, who's No. 1?
A: First off, the Trojans own the best win of any school through three weeks, earning the top spot without much debate. The only school with an argument for USC’s pole position is Oklahoma, which has scored at least 50 points in all three of its victories and is playing as well as any program in the country at this early stage. Naturally, there’s a long way to go, but the Sooner offense has looked unstoppable and QB Sam Bradford is playing as if he plans to be the second sophomore in two years to win the Heisman Trophy. We’ll know more when the schedule brings games with Texas, Kansas, and Texas Tech, but laying 52 on a pretty good Cincinnati defense and beating Washington by 41 on the road is the start of a solid brag sheet. Yes, size, as in margin of victory, does matter. If your ballot has anyone other than USC and Oklahoma in the top two slots, respectively, you’re probably being a contrarian just for the sake of being different. Georgia was too close for comfort in a 14-7 win over a mediocre South Carolina team. Ditto Florida, which wasn’t all that impressive against Miami. Missouri? Now you’re getting warmer. The Tigers do have a win over No. 23 Illinois and have been as explosive as Oklahoma in their three wins. Mizzou is a close No. 3. Very close. <o
> Matthew Zemek</o>Q: What's the best story so far that no one is talking about?
A: Who's No. 2? This early in the season, it doesn't (and shouldn't) matter. But if you had to put a gun to my head, I'd say Oklahoma. But if Georgia goes to suburban Phoenix (a place the Sooners haven't fared well in, even though the suburb is Glendale and not Tempe) and rocks Arizona State this Saturday, that opinion would change in a hurry.
All in all, nobody should get too worked up about this particular debate at this point in time. That's the No. 1 thing to remember about the No. 2 team in college football.
<o
>Steve SilvermanQ: Who's No. 2, and if it's USC, who's No. 1?</o
>A: USC is definitely No. 1. This may be the best of the great USC teams under Pete Carroll and that's quite a mouthful. The defense is good enough to set the tone, while Carroll's previous teams had dominant offenses and good-enough defenses. Now both sides look absolutely awesome and probably will the rest of the season barring any catastrophic injury.
Oklahoma is the No. 2 team in the country. With all due respect to Georgia--full credit to Tony Soprano--the Sooners are just an offensive monster. It all starts with triggerman Sam Bradford who throws a beautiful pass, gets it away quickly and is deadly accurate. Bob Stoops senses he has a team that can go all the way and he coaches only one way -- full out. The Sooners will make it to the national championship game or die trying. I think they make it.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Lester back at practice
from Auburn Tigers Football -- AuburnSports.com Headlines by Bryan Matthews
Just three days after being carted off the field with his neck immobilized, Auburn running back Brad Lester was back at practice Tuesday. Check inside for the latest on Lester and his chances of playing against LSU this Saturday
from Auburn Tigers Football -- AuburnSports.com Headlines by Bryan Matthews
Just three days after being carted off the field with his neck immobilized, Auburn running back Brad Lester was back at practice Tuesday. Check inside for the latest on Lester and his chances of playing against LSU this Saturday
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Graham Harrell calls his shot
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Graham Harrell threw for 418 yards and five touchdowns Saturday in Texas Tech's 43-7 obliteration of SMU. You know, steady as she blows. Still, Cap'n Mike Leach was miffed enough with eight dropped passes to replace the skill guys with a pair of linemen, Brandon Carter and Stephen Hamby, at the regular Monday press conference. And the big guys confirmed that, yeah, it was just as easy as it looked -- maybe a little easier:
“I think the funniest play out there -- nobody noticed it -- Graham comes up to check with 5 seconds left (on the play clock),” Hamby said. “I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ Because we’re about to get a delay of game.
“He looks over at Crab and says, ‘Just run a vertical! Just run a vertical!’ I look up and the defensive backs are thinking he’s lying. Crab. Vertical. Touchdown. I looked at Graham and said, ‘Real mature. Real cool.’
“He was like, ‘Did you like that?’”
Is there no end to your cruel bag of tricks against the flailing ragamuffins of Conference USA and what they perceive as "pass coverage," Leach? Frantically yell out to the defense what's coming at the last second, then do exactly what you said? That's why the man is an innovator.
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Harrell threw five touchdown passes, [Michael] Crabtree was the target on three, and Harrell more or less told the Mustangs one was coming.
“I think the funniest play out there -- nobody noticed it -- Graham comes up to check with 5 seconds left (on the play clock),” Hamby said. “I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ Because we’re about to get a delay of game.
“He looks over at Crab and says, ‘Just run a vertical! Just run a vertical!’ I look up and the defensive backs are thinking he’s lying. Crab. Vertical. Touchdown. I looked at Graham and said, ‘Real mature. Real cool.’
“He was like, ‘Did you like that?’”
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">11:59 AM (1 hour ago)
The Mountain West's great week
from Block U by JazzyUte
Saturday, the Mountain West arguably had its best week in conference history. Not only did all but one team win, the conference was a crushing 4-0 against the supposed better Pac Ten. And it wasn't like these teams were playing probable bottom feeders, either.
Arizona was off to a fast 2-0 start, destroying Idaho and Toledo by a combined score of 111-16, yet lost to the Lobos in Albuquerque. UCLA two weeks ago surprised Tennessee in Rick Neuheisel's first game in Pasadena, yet their trip to Provo to play BYU turned into a nightmare when they left with a 59-0 loss. Stanford, who had defeated Oregon State -- Utah plays them soon -- in the opening week, were worn down in their game against TCU, before eventually rolling over in their 31-14 loss.
But the biggest surprise came late in the night when UNLV -- yes, UNLV -- shocked 15th ranked Arizona State in Tempe. Likely the biggest win in program history, it catapulted the Rebels to a 2-1 start and has positioned them for a nice run to six or more wins, which no one would have thought possible just a week ago when they were still licking their wounds from that 42-21 loss to Utah.
All of this when traditional BCS conference powers are slipping. The ACC is struggling, the Big East is back to its pre-2005 days and now the Pac Ten, often thought to be one of the deepest conferences in the country, looks like a one trick pony. Maybe that can change, especially with Oregon, but the Pac Ten is already 0-5 against the Mountain West and that could get worse, as the Utes take on Oregon State at home, while Cal hosts Colorado State -- though a win for them is unlikely.
So is this a fluke? Perfect timing? Or is the Mountain West really bridging the gap between their conference and the BCS? We probably won't know for a couple of years, but this is definitely turning out to be the best year in Mountain West history. There are four undefeated teams, BYU, Utah, TCU and Air Force, while two are ranked, with TCU on the cusp and most importantly, three legitimate BCS busters. Never before has that happened in any non-BCS conference and it's very possible the Mountain West has two top-ten teams later in the season, along with possibly two other ranked conference foes. It could be the 1994 WAC on steroids if that happens and if it does, it begs the question: can an undefeated Mountain West team play for this year's MNC? Maybe.
Ok, probably not, but if TCU can somehow manage to beat Oklahoma in Norman again, it could open the door to such a scenario. That won't be easy, as this looks to be one of Bob Stoops' best teams and while TCU is good, it's hard to see them walking into that stadium and getting another victory in a three year period, though stranger things have happened.
Regardless of that, though, last weekend was pretty amazing for the Mountain West and even though it may not be lasting, it helped bring the Mountain West back to the forefront, where it hadn't been since Utah's 2004 season. Over the past few seasons, the conference has consistently been ranked behind the WAC in quality, after Saturday's events, I don't think that will happen again for a while.
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</td><td class="cc c">11:59 AM (1 hour ago)
The Mountain West's great week
from Block U by JazzyUte
Saturday, the Mountain West arguably had its best week in conference history. Not only did all but one team win, the conference was a crushing 4-0 against the supposed better Pac Ten. And it wasn't like these teams were playing probable bottom feeders, either.
Arizona was off to a fast 2-0 start, destroying Idaho and Toledo by a combined score of 111-16, yet lost to the Lobos in Albuquerque. UCLA two weeks ago surprised Tennessee in Rick Neuheisel's first game in Pasadena, yet their trip to Provo to play BYU turned into a nightmare when they left with a 59-0 loss. Stanford, who had defeated Oregon State -- Utah plays them soon -- in the opening week, were worn down in their game against TCU, before eventually rolling over in their 31-14 loss.
But the biggest surprise came late in the night when UNLV -- yes, UNLV -- shocked 15th ranked Arizona State in Tempe. Likely the biggest win in program history, it catapulted the Rebels to a 2-1 start and has positioned them for a nice run to six or more wins, which no one would have thought possible just a week ago when they were still licking their wounds from that 42-21 loss to Utah.
All of this when traditional BCS conference powers are slipping. The ACC is struggling, the Big East is back to its pre-2005 days and now the Pac Ten, often thought to be one of the deepest conferences in the country, looks like a one trick pony. Maybe that can change, especially with Oregon, but the Pac Ten is already 0-5 against the Mountain West and that could get worse, as the Utes take on Oregon State at home, while Cal hosts Colorado State -- though a win for them is unlikely.
So is this a fluke? Perfect timing? Or is the Mountain West really bridging the gap between their conference and the BCS? We probably won't know for a couple of years, but this is definitely turning out to be the best year in Mountain West history. There are four undefeated teams, BYU, Utah, TCU and Air Force, while two are ranked, with TCU on the cusp and most importantly, three legitimate BCS busters. Never before has that happened in any non-BCS conference and it's very possible the Mountain West has two top-ten teams later in the season, along with possibly two other ranked conference foes. It could be the 1994 WAC on steroids if that happens and if it does, it begs the question: can an undefeated Mountain West team play for this year's MNC? Maybe.
Ok, probably not, but if TCU can somehow manage to beat Oklahoma in Norman again, it could open the door to such a scenario. That won't be easy, as this looks to be one of Bob Stoops' best teams and while TCU is good, it's hard to see them walking into that stadium and getting another victory in a three year period, though stranger things have happened.
Regardless of that, though, last weekend was pretty amazing for the Mountain West and even though it may not be lasting, it helped bring the Mountain West back to the forefront, where it hadn't been since Utah's 2004 season. Over the past few seasons, the conference has consistently been ranked behind the WAC in quality, after Saturday's events, I don't think that will happen again for a while.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">2:59 PM (20 minutes ago)
You’re Prayers Have Been Answered
from Buckeye Commentary by Massey
At his weekly press conference today, Tressel hinted that the fans would most likely have a new starting quarterback by the end of the season. Hell, I will not be surprised if the Buckeyes have a new starting QB by the end of the month.
Tressel has been backed into a corner largely by his own actions. After trying to shuffle Boeckman and Pryor in an effort to spark a dormant offense, he only sparked a controversy. It became clear on Saturday night that Boeckman lacks the right stuff to lead the team against significant competition. It became clear this afternoon that Tressel understands that Boeckman’s snaps are numbered.
Judging from the tone of Tressel’s voice I get the distinct impression that Pryor will be given every opportunity to succeed and take the starting job. If he comes in and has a great series, I expect to see him back the next series, and so on until the coaches feel he should come out.
Tressel said Pryor would take about 50 percent of the snaps this Saturday. I will take the over on that one.
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</td><td class="cc c">2:59 PM (20 minutes ago)
You’re Prayers Have Been Answered
from Buckeye Commentary by Massey
At his weekly press conference today, Tressel hinted that the fans would most likely have a new starting quarterback by the end of the season. Hell, I will not be surprised if the Buckeyes have a new starting QB by the end of the month.
Tressel has been backed into a corner largely by his own actions. After trying to shuffle Boeckman and Pryor in an effort to spark a dormant offense, he only sparked a controversy. It became clear on Saturday night that Boeckman lacks the right stuff to lead the team against significant competition. It became clear this afternoon that Tressel understands that Boeckman’s snaps are numbered.
Judging from the tone of Tressel’s voice I get the distinct impression that Pryor will be given every opportunity to succeed and take the starting job. If he comes in and has a great series, I expect to see him back the next series, and so on until the coaches feel he should come out.
Tressel said Pryor would take about 50 percent of the snaps this Saturday. I will take the over on that one.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">3:38 PM (7 minutes ago)
Life on the Margins: Irish follow the bouncing ball, Air Force will just keep it on the ground, thanks
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 . . .
Notre Dame 35, Michigan 17. The Irish pulled the full "margins" trifecta: multiple, unforced opponent turnovers leading to both multiple short field touchdowns for the Irish and the suicide of long drives drives on the other end, with a defensive touchdown for ND to boot. This is how you can double someone up on the scoreboard without coming close to handling them on a down-by-down basis.
The Wolverines gift-wrapped this thing right out of the gate, with unforced fumbles on their first offensive possession and a kickoff, leading to easy Irish touchdowns (if there is such a thing) and setting Michigan up in comeback mode for the rest of the game. From there, the Wolverines had to settle for a field goal inside the Irish 10, fumbled inside the Irish 10 and threw and interception inside the Irish 20 -- at least 10 and as many as 18 points left on the board. The late fumble return for touchdown adds to Notre Dame's "swing point" haul, but didn't affect the outcome by that point in the game.
Still, loss or not, Michigan should come away feeling better about its prospects for the season than it did after either of its first two games. Notre Dame's offense didn't do much when not handed a readymade scoring opportunity, and Michigan's offense, when not dropping the ball on the ground, looked like a functional unit for the first time, with a viable quarterback in Steven Threet and a potential star in Sam McGuffie. And there's no way they lose four fumbles again in a single afternoon.
Air Force 31, Houston 28. First a word of admiration for Air Force: the Falcons outgunned a fairly high-powered UH offense despite completing zero passes in seven attempts, an unheard of statistic for a winning team as far as I'm aware in the annals of the modern game. Their one-dimensional success is a testament to the commitment, execution and perseverance of our future defenders and purveyors of death from the sky, as well as to the utterly hopeless future of the Houston defense, fresh off allowing 699 yards to Oklahoma State a week earlier.
As usual for a team running at will, Air Force was in control of this game virtually throughout, leading 31-14 heading into the fourth quarter. But Houston's offense isn't all garbage time stat-padding -- both offenses moved the ball by equal measures for most of the game. The difference was AFA sophomore Reggie Rembert, who returned a punt 53 yards to set up a short-field Falcon touchdown in the second quarter, and ended a red zone threat by Houston with an interception in the fourth. For its part, Houston fumbled away obe drive and lost another on downs in Falcon territory in the first half, missed a field goal early in the fourth quarter and couldn't get Air Force off the field after cutting the lead to three.
It's a good thing for the Falcons, too, because if they'd lost, what kind of offense can't complete a damn pass?! There's no anesthesia like winning.
Virginia Tech 20, Georgia Tech 17. There are no "Swing Points" by the specific definition, despite the Jackets' three turnovers. None of them put the Hokies in immediate scoring position. But Va Tech did turn Yellow Jacket mistakes directly into points, capitalizing on a fumble to spark a 43-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter and a midfield interception to drive inside the G-Tech 10 for a field goal early in the fourth.
Most impressive for the Hokies, though, is probably this: when Georgia Tech responded to that kick with its best drive of the day, a nine-play, 76-yard, four-and-a-half-minute touchdown march to tie, Virginia Tech immediately responded in kind with a 76-yard, five-minute drive that drained the clock and ended with the winning field goal. So where the Jackets were more consistent, they struggled to finish drives; and where the Hokies struggled to get moving on offense, as usual, they still don't come any more opportunistic than Virginia Tech.
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</td><td class="cc c">3:38 PM (7 minutes ago)
Life on the Margins: Irish follow the bouncing ball, Air Force will just keep it on the ground, thanks
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 . . .
Still, loss or not, Michigan should come away feeling better about its prospects for the season than it did after either of its first two games. Notre Dame's offense didn't do much when not handed a readymade scoring opportunity, and Michigan's offense, when not dropping the ball on the ground, looked like a functional unit for the first time, with a viable quarterback in Steven Threet and a potential star in Sam McGuffie. And there's no way they lose four fumbles again in a single afternoon.
Air Force 31, Houston 28. First a word of admiration for Air Force: the Falcons outgunned a fairly high-powered UH offense despite completing zero passes in seven attempts, an unheard of statistic for a winning team as far as I'm aware in the annals of the modern game. Their one-dimensional success is a testament to the commitment, execution and perseverance of our future defenders and purveyors of death from the sky, as well as to the utterly hopeless future of the Houston defense, fresh off allowing 699 yards to Oklahoma State a week earlier.
It's a good thing for the Falcons, too, because if they'd lost, what kind of offense can't complete a damn pass?! There's no anesthesia like winning.
Most impressive for the Hokies, though, is probably this: when Georgia Tech responded to that kick with its best drive of the day, a nine-play, 76-yard, four-and-a-half-minute touchdown march to tie, Virginia Tech immediately responded in kind with a 76-yard, five-minute drive that drained the clock and ended with the winning field goal. So where the Jackets were more consistent, they struggled to finish drives; and where the Hokies struggled to get moving on offense, as usual, they still don't come any more opportunistic than Virginia Tech.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Thursday Night Throwdown </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
</td> <td width="3" nowrap="nowrap">
</td> <td valign="top"> <table width="60%" bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By John Roberts
Posted Sep 16, 2008
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West Virginia gives their conference a chance for some respect as they travel to Colorado. The Buffaloes are looking for a national statement that they are ready for primetime.
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THURSDAY NIGHT THROWDOWN
9-18-08
All Times Eastern
Main Event
West Virginia at Colorado
Time: 8:30
TV: ESPN
Line: West Virginia by 3.
Importance of the Game to West Virginia: Now would be a nice time to start playing, Mountaineers. After an embarrassing loss to East Carolina (not because they lost, but because they got beat by 21 and mustered just three points), they had an off week. They will be itching to get back out onto the field. At least, they should be. If they have any hope of getting back into the national title picture despite one loss, they have to play great football the rest of the way. A win over a Big 12 team on the road would go a long way to doing that. The Big East could use a win like this.
Importance of the Game to Colorado: The Buffaloes are 2-0, but looked sloppy in their win over Eastern Washington. They are thinking about big things this year, like being what Kansas was a year ago. They need to come up with a win like this one to really get into the national consciousness. It is true that West Virginia’s loss took some luster off of them, but beating them would still register on a national level. There is no doubt about that. This could be a program turning win for Colorado.
Quote from Bill Stewart, West Virginia head coach: “The Mountaineers have been working very hard since their loss at East Carolina. We came back and had a nice lifting and film session the day after the game, and hopefully it was a good mental and good ‘get-out-the-soreness’ day. We really concentrated on the blocking and tackling fundamentals of the game, and Wednesday and Friday we had more of a lighter practice with kicking and I ran them hard. We’re still early in the season. We’re up to game three.”
Quote from Dan Hawkins, Colorado head coach: “I have said many times, I tell our guys ‘You know life asks to be your best every day, but our schedule demands it.’ I mean you better get after it and you better have you’re a game on every single day.”
Breakdown:
West Virginia Offense vs. Colorado Defense: The West Virginia offense hinges on Pat White’s ability to run the ball and make plays in the passing game when he needs to. White is being asked to throw the ball more this year. That worked against Villanova, but failed against East Carolina. White is capable of throwing the ball, but he needs to be able to run the ball first and foremost. He is completing over 70 percent of his passes on the season. Noel Devine is a quick running back who can make people miss. Devine is a special player who needs to break some big plays to get the Mountaineers offense into gear early. He is averaging 6.7 yards per rush. The Mountaineers are yet to score a rushing touchdown on the season. The Buffaloes has been OK so far this year. They are allowing just 2.5 yards per rush. Opponents are completing 66% of their passes, but for just 8.3 yards per completion. That is a very impressive number. Brad Jones has been in on four tackles for a loss including two sacks for the Buffaloes defense through two games. Jeff Smart has 20 tackles already this season. Cha’pelle Brown returned an interception for a touchdown already this year. West Virginia will struggle to get any big plays in the passing game, and will need Devine’s speed and White’s escapability to show up if they are going to score a lot of points on Colorado.
West Virginia Defense vs. Colorado Offense: True freshman Darrell Scott is getting a lot of attention for the Buffaloes. He is the team’s leading rusher, but averaging just 3.9 yards per rush. He has also has three catches out of the backfield for 33 yards. Cody Hawkins is in his second year as the starter. He is completing nearly 72% of his passes. He has thrown two interceptions on the season. Scotty McKnight leads the team with eleven receptions for 14.3 yards per catch. The offensive line has allowed just two sacks on the season. The West Virginia defense has been bad on third down, allowing opponents to convert 53% so far this year. The pass defense has been a big problem with it. Opponents are completing 67% of their passes for over 11.5 yards per catch. JT Thomas has been the team’s best defensive player so far. He has 16 tackles and 2.5 for a loss. Mortty Ivy has an interception and 14 tackles, while Quinton Andrews also has 16 tackles. The Mountaineers defense has been solid against the run, and not awful against the pass, but they have to stop team’s from converting third downs, something they could not do much against East Carolina, which kept the Mountaineer offense from getting into a rhythm and wore the defense out. Look for Hawkins to have some success throwing the ball, but for Scott and the running game to have their struggles.
Prediction: This is very much a toss up game. On paper, Colorado has been the better team so far. However, the Buffaloes have not faced a team as good as East Carolina either. Both teams will struggle to score points. The defenses, while not great, are good enough to hold the other offense down. However, West Virginia should be fired up and should be ready to play in this one after their last performance was such an embarrassment. The jacked up home crowd for the Buffaloes will be huge, and they will keep this one close the whole way, but they don’t quite have enough to win this game yet. West Virginia 24, Colorado 20.
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</td> <td width="3" nowrap="nowrap">
</td> <td valign="top"> <table width="60%" bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By John Roberts
Posted Sep 16, 2008
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
West Virginia gives their conference a chance for some respect as they travel to Colorado. The Buffaloes are looking for a national statement that they are ready for primetime.
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">
THURSDAY NIGHT THROWDOWN
9-18-08
All Times Eastern
Main Event
West Virginia at Colorado
Time: 8:30
TV: ESPN
Line: West Virginia by 3.
Importance of the Game to West Virginia: Now would be a nice time to start playing, Mountaineers. After an embarrassing loss to East Carolina (not because they lost, but because they got beat by 21 and mustered just three points), they had an off week. They will be itching to get back out onto the field. At least, they should be. If they have any hope of getting back into the national title picture despite one loss, they have to play great football the rest of the way. A win over a Big 12 team on the road would go a long way to doing that. The Big East could use a win like this.
Importance of the Game to Colorado: The Buffaloes are 2-0, but looked sloppy in their win over Eastern Washington. They are thinking about big things this year, like being what Kansas was a year ago. They need to come up with a win like this one to really get into the national consciousness. It is true that West Virginia’s loss took some luster off of them, but beating them would still register on a national level. There is no doubt about that. This could be a program turning win for Colorado.
Quote from Bill Stewart, West Virginia head coach: “The Mountaineers have been working very hard since their loss at East Carolina. We came back and had a nice lifting and film session the day after the game, and hopefully it was a good mental and good ‘get-out-the-soreness’ day. We really concentrated on the blocking and tackling fundamentals of the game, and Wednesday and Friday we had more of a lighter practice with kicking and I ran them hard. We’re still early in the season. We’re up to game three.”
Quote from Dan Hawkins, Colorado head coach: “I have said many times, I tell our guys ‘You know life asks to be your best every day, but our schedule demands it.’ I mean you better get after it and you better have you’re a game on every single day.”
Breakdown:
West Virginia Offense vs. Colorado Defense: The West Virginia offense hinges on Pat White’s ability to run the ball and make plays in the passing game when he needs to. White is being asked to throw the ball more this year. That worked against Villanova, but failed against East Carolina. White is capable of throwing the ball, but he needs to be able to run the ball first and foremost. He is completing over 70 percent of his passes on the season. Noel Devine is a quick running back who can make people miss. Devine is a special player who needs to break some big plays to get the Mountaineers offense into gear early. He is averaging 6.7 yards per rush. The Mountaineers are yet to score a rushing touchdown on the season. The Buffaloes has been OK so far this year. They are allowing just 2.5 yards per rush. Opponents are completing 66% of their passes, but for just 8.3 yards per completion. That is a very impressive number. Brad Jones has been in on four tackles for a loss including two sacks for the Buffaloes defense through two games. Jeff Smart has 20 tackles already this season. Cha’pelle Brown returned an interception for a touchdown already this year. West Virginia will struggle to get any big plays in the passing game, and will need Devine’s speed and White’s escapability to show up if they are going to score a lot of points on Colorado.
West Virginia Defense vs. Colorado Offense: True freshman Darrell Scott is getting a lot of attention for the Buffaloes. He is the team’s leading rusher, but averaging just 3.9 yards per rush. He has also has three catches out of the backfield for 33 yards. Cody Hawkins is in his second year as the starter. He is completing nearly 72% of his passes. He has thrown two interceptions on the season. Scotty McKnight leads the team with eleven receptions for 14.3 yards per catch. The offensive line has allowed just two sacks on the season. The West Virginia defense has been bad on third down, allowing opponents to convert 53% so far this year. The pass defense has been a big problem with it. Opponents are completing 67% of their passes for over 11.5 yards per catch. JT Thomas has been the team’s best defensive player so far. He has 16 tackles and 2.5 for a loss. Mortty Ivy has an interception and 14 tackles, while Quinton Andrews also has 16 tackles. The Mountaineers defense has been solid against the run, and not awful against the pass, but they have to stop team’s from converting third downs, something they could not do much against East Carolina, which kept the Mountaineer offense from getting into a rhythm and wore the defense out. Look for Hawkins to have some success throwing the ball, but for Scott and the running game to have their struggles.
Prediction: This is very much a toss up game. On paper, Colorado has been the better team so far. However, the Buffaloes have not faced a team as good as East Carolina either. Both teams will struggle to score points. The defenses, while not great, are good enough to hold the other offense down. However, West Virginia should be fired up and should be ready to play in this one after their last performance was such an embarrassment. The jacked up home crowd for the Buffaloes will be huge, and they will keep this one close the whole way, but they don’t quite have enough to win this game yet. West Virginia 24, Colorado 20.
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Aztec4Life
Montezuma Mesa Survivor
With you on KSU this week bro. Leaning heavily to Penn St, but...there is a stat that worries me. Temple has been shut out by Penn St two years in a row. If the Owls offense uses that as a rallying cry, and Temple manages to put up 10-13, it will be difficult for the Nittany Lions to cover a 4 TD spread.
Thoughts? GL this week!
:shake:
Thoughts? GL this week!
:shake:
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Vols' Crompton sits with sore ankle
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</td></tr></tbody></table> KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Jonathan Crompton did not participate in all of Tennessee's practice on Monday in order to receive treatment on his right ankle.
Crompton also sat out a few practices in the Vols' off week before facing UAB to rest his ankle.
Neither Crompton nor coaches were available to talk about the junior quarterback's ankle after practice.
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</td></tr></tbody></table> KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Jonathan Crompton did not participate in all of Tennessee's practice on Monday in order to receive treatment on his right ankle.
Crompton also sat out a few practices in the Vols' off week before facing UAB to rest his ankle.
Neither Crompton nor coaches were available to talk about the junior quarterback's ankle after practice.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">5:39 PM (53 minutes ago)
Meme watch: Let the Greg Robinson successor derby begin
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Everyone has that one job in their life where they know they're fired before they're officially fired. In his job, Greg Robinson is so fired, he was fired yesterday. He was fired last year. This season, year four of Syracuse's post-Pasqualonian purgatory, is just a formality, just in case Robinson knew what he was doing all along and engineered a miraculous turnaround. But there will be no turning. No redemption.
He was fired when 'Cuse lost to Akron, and double fired -- once for each conference win in his tenure -- after Saturday's predictable no-show against Penn State. The sentence is written in the sacred blood of Ernie Davis, affirmed by Jim Brown's booming voice and upheld by the restless spirit of Donovan McNabb. The worst part is just waiting for the blade to fall, although whatever happens when it does could never be as grisly as Orange football since Robinson took over in 2005.
He's so fired just three games into the season that the bloodthirsty mob has already turned from the gallows in search of a face fresh enough and naive enough to walk into the horror show Robinson created. The national guys throw a few names against the wall -- 'Cuse alum Randy Edsall of UConn is a favorite, though Tom Dienhart leads with young-ish offensive guys like Chip Kelly, Steve Sarkisian, Illinois' Mike Locksley and Buffalo's Turner Gill, who also shows up alongside Tulsa's Todd Graham and a bunch of MAC guys on Brian Bennett's makeshift list for ESPN -- but the one that's sticking locally: Lane Kiffin.
The Raiders' boy wonder coach is every bit as finished in Oakland as Robinson is in Syracuse, and he knows 'Cuse AD Daryl Gross from their more successful days at USC. Kiffin fits Deinhart's young, offensive-minded profile, and the Post-Courier's Donnie Webb has heard through the grapevine Kiffin would be interested in upstate New York when he's finally bounced by Al Davis.
As a matter of fact, they can just switch terrible teams right now: Robinson can go back to the pros, where he was much more comfortable coaching talent he could draft or buy off in free agency rather than recruit, and Sarkisian can come back to his element in college, scheming with players who are actually younger than him. It's not like either team would be worse.
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</td><td class="cc c">5:39 PM (53 minutes ago)
Meme watch: Let the Greg Robinson successor derby begin
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
He was fired when 'Cuse lost to Akron, and double fired -- once for each conference win in his tenure -- after Saturday's predictable no-show against Penn State. The sentence is written in the sacred blood of Ernie Davis, affirmed by Jim Brown's booming voice and upheld by the restless spirit of Donovan McNabb. The worst part is just waiting for the blade to fall, although whatever happens when it does could never be as grisly as Orange football since Robinson took over in 2005.
He's so fired just three games into the season that the bloodthirsty mob has already turned from the gallows in search of a face fresh enough and naive enough to walk into the horror show Robinson created. The national guys throw a few names against the wall -- 'Cuse alum Randy Edsall of UConn is a favorite, though Tom Dienhart leads with young-ish offensive guys like Chip Kelly, Steve Sarkisian, Illinois' Mike Locksley and Buffalo's Turner Gill, who also shows up alongside Tulsa's Todd Graham and a bunch of MAC guys on Brian Bennett's makeshift list for ESPN -- but the one that's sticking locally: Lane Kiffin.
As a matter of fact, they can just switch terrible teams right now: Robinson can go back to the pros, where he was much more comfortable coaching talent he could draft or buy off in free agency rather than recruit, and Sarkisian can come back to his element in college, scheming with players who are actually younger than him. It's not like either team would be worse.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Don't worry about PSU. They're covering 35 at home against Temple, even if Temple scores 14.
They're not letting up prior to Illinois.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
<-- She says good luck this week
If you get her to come over and say it to me in person, I'll send you a gift basket from Pier One.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Texas players reflect on Ike
Eighteen scholarship players, along with offensive coordinator Greg Davis, have ties to area impacted by hurricane.
By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
These were the Hurricane Ike tales told by the Texas players and coaches:
Offensive coordinator Greg Davis is hosting a houseful of relatives who evacuated from the Golden Triangle.
• It took running back Chris Ogbonnaya more than a day to get in touch with his father, who rode out the storm in Houston.
• Defensive end Brian Orakpo, a Houston native, said most of his family is lucky enough to have electricity. The same can't be said for his sister, who also lives in Houston.
Hurricane Ike, which had a savage impact on Houston and the upper Texas coast over the weekend, also played havoc with some of the Longhorns. Eighteen scholarship players, along with Davis, have family members in the area.
Coach Mack Brown said Monday that family members of all his players who were impacted by Ike have been accounted for, although some still didn't know the extent of the damage to their homes.
"We've learned in dealing with hurricanes in the past, you never say forget it and move on, because the people that are affected so much can't forget it," Brown said. "They're dealing with it more (Monday) probably than they were this weekend because they know of all the things that happened.
"So what you try to do is move forward, and that's what we're doing."
Former Longhorns also had problems. Frank Okam and Drew Kelson evacuated to Austin from Houston and visited Longhorns practice Sunday. Casey Hampton, now a starter with the Steelers, was trying to contact his family in Galveston, which took the hurricane's direct hit. After Hampton was drafted in 2001, he bought his mother a home about eight blocks from the Galveston seawall. He still has 30 to 40 relatives who live in the area.
Things were even worse for the Rice Owls, Texas' next opponent. The Owls played Vanderbilt in Nashville on Saturday, but couldn't return to Houston until Monday afternoon. Rice reopens its classrooms today, but many players still were without electricity. Brown called Rice coach David Bailiff to offer Texas' practice fields in case the Owls didn't have a place to work out.
Once last Saturday's game against Arkansas was postponed, Brown allowed his players to take off Friday and Saturday. Coaches kept in touch with the players and recruits impacted by the storm throughout the weekend.
"I sat through a day (of Hurricane Wilma)," said UT defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, recalling his experience with the hurricane that hit Miami in 2005. "That was nothing I'd wish on anybody."
Muschamp said he still was worried for defensive backs Earl Thomas and Deon Beasley, who are from flood-ravaged Orange. "That's a tough deal for them," Muschamp said.
All players returned for a rare Sunday workout. Players likened it to one they'd have for a Wednesday during game week. They were off Monday.
Some players were available to talk about the anxieties they experienced over the weekend.
"I had a hard time getting hold of my dad," said Ogbonnaya. "Our house took on a little damage. There was some flooding, some broken windows. He got power back Sunday night.
"It was an eye-opening experience."
Eighteen scholarship players, along with offensive coordinator Greg Davis, have ties to area impacted by hurricane.
By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
These were the Hurricane Ike tales told by the Texas players and coaches:
Offensive coordinator Greg Davis is hosting a houseful of relatives who evacuated from the Golden Triangle.
• It took running back Chris Ogbonnaya more than a day to get in touch with his father, who rode out the storm in Houston.
• Defensive end Brian Orakpo, a Houston native, said most of his family is lucky enough to have electricity. The same can't be said for his sister, who also lives in Houston.
Hurricane Ike, which had a savage impact on Houston and the upper Texas coast over the weekend, also played havoc with some of the Longhorns. Eighteen scholarship players, along with Davis, have family members in the area.
Coach Mack Brown said Monday that family members of all his players who were impacted by Ike have been accounted for, although some still didn't know the extent of the damage to their homes.
"We've learned in dealing with hurricanes in the past, you never say forget it and move on, because the people that are affected so much can't forget it," Brown said. "They're dealing with it more (Monday) probably than they were this weekend because they know of all the things that happened.
"So what you try to do is move forward, and that's what we're doing."
Former Longhorns also had problems. Frank Okam and Drew Kelson evacuated to Austin from Houston and visited Longhorns practice Sunday. Casey Hampton, now a starter with the Steelers, was trying to contact his family in Galveston, which took the hurricane's direct hit. After Hampton was drafted in 2001, he bought his mother a home about eight blocks from the Galveston seawall. He still has 30 to 40 relatives who live in the area.
Things were even worse for the Rice Owls, Texas' next opponent. The Owls played Vanderbilt in Nashville on Saturday, but couldn't return to Houston until Monday afternoon. Rice reopens its classrooms today, but many players still were without electricity. Brown called Rice coach David Bailiff to offer Texas' practice fields in case the Owls didn't have a place to work out.
Once last Saturday's game against Arkansas was postponed, Brown allowed his players to take off Friday and Saturday. Coaches kept in touch with the players and recruits impacted by the storm throughout the weekend.
"I sat through a day (of Hurricane Wilma)," said UT defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, recalling his experience with the hurricane that hit Miami in 2005. "That was nothing I'd wish on anybody."
Muschamp said he still was worried for defensive backs Earl Thomas and Deon Beasley, who are from flood-ravaged Orange. "That's a tough deal for them," Muschamp said.
All players returned for a rare Sunday workout. Players likened it to one they'd have for a Wednesday during game week. They were off Monday.
Some players were available to talk about the anxieties they experienced over the weekend.
"I had a hard time getting hold of my dad," said Ogbonnaya. "Our house took on a little damage. There was some flooding, some broken windows. He got power back Sunday night.
"It was an eye-opening experience."
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">8:09 PM (21 minutes ago)
Meaningless "SportsCenter" Statistic: K-State's 'Night Game' Record Under Ron Prince
from Bring On The Cats by Panjandrum
If you're anything like me, you watch a lot of ESPN, and if you do, you've undoubtedly noticed that they like to throw completely meaningless statistics out there for public consumption in the hopes that some sort of trend can be identified:
"That's right Stu. Since 1968, the New York Yankees are 275-34 in weeks following a drop in the Dow Jones Index. Knowing this, we can expect to see a strong surge this week in their series against the Devil Rays."
Okay, I made that up. But the point still stands; they like to find a meaningless statistic and try to make more out of it than there really is.
So, in that same vein, I decided to do my own investigation and give you a meaningless statistic to help you in your prediciton for tomorrow's game against Louisville...
What? K-State is 0-4 in all road games that started after 6 PM?
Yikes. We can only hope that's a streak that's broken tomorrow. I think it will be.
PJ's Prediction: KSU 34 - Louisville 24
P.S. - TB, we're all glad that you're still alive and going to class.
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</td><td class="cc c">8:09 PM (21 minutes ago)
Meaningless "SportsCenter" Statistic: K-State's 'Night Game' Record Under Ron Prince
from Bring On The Cats by Panjandrum
If you're anything like me, you watch a lot of ESPN, and if you do, you've undoubtedly noticed that they like to throw completely meaningless statistics out there for public consumption in the hopes that some sort of trend can be identified:
"That's right Stu. Since 1968, the New York Yankees are 275-34 in weeks following a drop in the Dow Jones Index. Knowing this, we can expect to see a strong surge this week in their series against the Devil Rays."
Okay, I made that up. But the point still stands; they like to find a meaningless statistic and try to make more out of it than there really is.
So, in that same vein, I decided to do my own investigation and give you a meaningless statistic to help you in your prediciton for tomorrow's game against Louisville...
- K-State is 8-5 in all games that started after 6 PM.
- K-State is 3-2 in televised games begun after 6 PM.
- K-State is 1-1 in games that are shown on ESPN after 6 PM.
What? K-State is 0-4 in all road games that started after 6 PM?
Yikes. We can only hope that's a streak that's broken tomorrow. I think it will be.
PJ's Prediction: KSU 34 - Louisville 24
P.S. - TB, we're all glad that you're still alive and going to class.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Big 12 Football Report, v 1.3
from Burnt Orange Nation by PB @ BON
A weekly report on the weekend of Big 12 football.
Previous weeks: 1, 2
THE RUNDOWN
BIG XII SOUTH
Idle: Texas Longhorns (2-0), Texas A&M Aggies (1-1)
Idle: Kansas State Wildcats (2-0), Colorado Buffaloes (2-0)
BEST WIN: BAYLOR, OVER WASHINGTON STATE My boy Robert Griffin proved he could dominate a cupcake two weeks ago, and this week he took care of the bottom of the BCS barrel. Baby steps, sure, but they sure are impressive. Art Briles is going to have himself a fine football team in 2010.
WORST LOSS: IOWA STATE Obviously.
TOP PERFORMER, OFFENSE (TEAM): MISSOURI Do the Tigers have the nation's best offense? So long as Jeremy Maclin is out there, I think it's a pretty easy argument to make. Defending the Tigers is outrageous because of what Maclin can do: Leaving him in man coverage begs for disaster, but committing safety help opens up Missouri's formidable running game. By the way, starting October 11th, Texas faces Oklahoma, Missouri, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech, in order. Will Muschamp will earn his paycheck.
BUM STEER, OFFENSE (TEAM): IOWA STATE I'm not sure what we'd do without Iowa State; the rest of the Big 12 was on fire this Saturday. This conference is the best offensive group in the country by a wide, wide margin.
TOP PERFORMER, OFFENSE (INDIVIDUAL): JEREMY MACLIN, MISSOURI I was asked this summer by In The Bleachers to pick the national title game participants and I went with Florida against Missouri. The choice of the Tigers was 100% about Maclin.
BUM STEER, OFFENSE (INDIVIDUAL): OFFENSIVE LINE, KANSAS It's too bad for Todd Reesing, who impresses the hell out of me--equal parts talented, smart, and gutty--but his offensive line just isn't very good this year. That hurts the pass protection but, more importantly, makes Kansas one dimensional without any ability to rush the ball.
PB'S POWER RANKINGS
Last week's rank in parentheses.
1. Oklahoma (1) -TCU visits Norman representing Oklahoma's first opponent with a solid defense. If the Sooners tee off again... yikes.
2. Missouri (2) - The defense remains a (big) concern, but this offense is the nuts.
3. Texas (3) - The schedule went from Scary to Absurd with the postponement. After Rice this week, Texas will play vs Arkansas, at Colorado, vs OU in Dallas, vs Missouri, vs Oklahoma State, at Texas Tech.
4. Texas Tech (4) - The Red Raiders are playing B+ football right now--good enough to cruise through their soft non-conference schedule, but not good enough to make any noise in the Big 12. Harrell needs to be much crisper than he has been thus far.
5. Oklahoma State (5) - We know this team can steamroll bad defenses. We don't know anything else yet.
6. Nebraska (7) - Nebraska has quietly put together three solid wins over mediocre opponents. They'll rest a week, then find out where they stand with a three-game stretch versus Virginia Tech, vs Missouri, and at Texas Tech.
7. Kansas (6) - Close, but no cigar. There's a lot to like, but Kansas' deficiencies are too problematic for them to make another run in the Big 12.
8. Kansas State (8) - A real run this year requires Josh Freeman to play as well against real opponents as he has through two games against cupcakes.
9. Baylor (10) - RO-BERT GRI-FFIN! [clap clap clap-clap-clap]
10. Colorado (9) - The more I look at this team, the more I think they're closer to a 4-win team than 8.
11. Texas A&M (11) - Beergut has a new blog! That's the best I can say for the Aggies right now.
12. Iowa State (12) - You have to win the Corn Bowl, Gene. You just have to.
from Burnt Orange Nation by PB @ BON
A weekly report on the weekend of Big 12 football.
Previous weeks: 1, 2
THE RUNDOWN
BIG XII SOUTH
Idle: Texas Longhorns (2-0), Texas A&M Aggies (1-1)
- Oklahoma 55 Washington 14 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
Are there any Sam Bradford doubters left? Certainly for 2008, with this supporting cast, there shouldn't be. The sophomore completed 18 of his 21 passes Saturday for 304 yards and 5 more touchdowns, giving him 12 on the season, against just 2 interceptions. He's leading the nation in completion percentage (79.0), is second in passer rating (214.4), and hasn't been sacked yet this season. Not that the Sooners are one dimensional: Oklahoma's averaging 217 yards per game on the ground, as well. Add it all up and you get 7.0 yards per play on offense so far this year. Gaudy? Oh, yes, but we have to note that the Sooners haven't faced anything resembling a real defense yet. They will this week when TCU comes to Norman. The Horned Frogs are second nationally in total defense through three games--all wins (at New Mexico, versus Stephen F Austin, vs Stanford). Something's gotta give. - Baylor 45 Washington St 17 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
PB's favorite non-Longhorn player Robert Griffin exploded Friday night in Waco, leading Baylor to a blowout win and scooping up Big 12 Player of the Week honors in the process. The numbers? Could have come from another #10:
11 rushes, 217 yards, 19.7 per attempt, 2 TDs
7-15 passing, 129 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
I could gush again about how much I love Griffin, but in this case I'll let the video do the talking:
- Oklahoma State 57 Missouri State 13 [Box / Recap]
Two rushers averaging 9+ yards per carry last week apparently wasn't enough for Oklahoma State, as they upped that to three rushers who averaged over 10 yards per carry this Saturday. Keith Toston (11 carries, 148 yards, 1 TD), Beau Johnson (13-138, 2), and Kendall Hunter (11-132, 2) combined to anchor a Cowpoke rushing attack which amassed 492 yards rushing on just 56 carries for an eye-popping 8.0 yards per carry.
"But... but... it was Missouri State!" I can hear you object. Remain skeptical all you like, but consider this before you totally waive off the accomplishment. - Texas Tech 43 SMU 7 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
A week after an ugly night in Reno, Graham Harrell delivered the kind of performance we've come to expect (31-48, 418 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT) in helping lead the Red Raiders to an easy win over the visiting Ponies. Nice as that was for Tech fans to see, the silly passing numbers aren't nearly important as Mike Leach's commitment to the running game, which was exceptionally productive on Saturday to the tune of 194 yards on 27 carries (6.7 per attempt). Texas Tech's offense is always tricky to defend, but it's truly nightmarish to defend when the running game is grooving. Last season the Red Raiders managed an atrocious 3.1 yards per carry rushing; as their offense became one dimensional, they began to struggle. Though the running game was productive in the early going last year as well, it's so far, so good in 2008.
Idle: Kansas State Wildcats (2-0), Colorado Buffaloes (2-0)
- Iowa 17 Iowa State 5 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
This game was tied 3-3 heading into the 4th quarter before Iowa put away the Cyclones on an 81-yard punt return for a score by Andy Brodell, who Texas fans may remember from not so long ago. This game was as ugly as its box score indicates, with 5 interceptions lowlighting the offensive struggles. Iowa State simply couldn't run the football effectively, allowing Iowa to force Austen Arnaud into a role as sole gamemaker for which he's not yet ready. - Nebraska 38 New Mexico State 7 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
553 yards of total offense on 8.1 yards per play isn't anything to sniffle at--even against a lowly opponent like NMSU. Huskers quarterback Joe Ganz ran for a score, passed for another, and even hauled in a touchdown reception as Nebraska for the third time this season handled comfortably an inferior team. - Missouri 69 Nevada 17 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
Missouri yawns at Nebraska's numbers. Deservedly so: 651 yards of total offense at 10.0 yards per play is just obscene. Jeremy Maclin is the key, of course, and he was in full bloom on Saturday, scoring on strikes of 80, 49, and 14 yards as part of his 239 all purpose yards. There's not much to say about Missouri right now, and won't be until three weeks from now when they open conference play at Nebraska; the Tigers get Buffalo at home this Saturday before enjoying their bye week. - South Florida 37 Kansas 34 [Box / Recap / Blog Coverage]
What. A. Game. Though the Jayhawks certainly have nothing to hang their heads about, the loss must be especially disheartening insofar as it revealed weaknesses which are likely to hamstring them throughout Big 12 play. Most damning, Kansas was beat soundly at the line of scrimmage on offense. The Jayhawks can't get any push to create running room, nor are they great in pass protection, which puts an enormous amount of pressure on quarterback Todd Reesing. Damn did he try--and nearly succeed--in doing it all himself, but it's too much to ask. Without improvement from the offensive line and the emergence of a running game, Kansas is going to find itself on the wrong end of several shootouts like Friday's this season.
BEST WIN: BAYLOR, OVER WASHINGTON STATE My boy Robert Griffin proved he could dominate a cupcake two weeks ago, and this week he took care of the bottom of the BCS barrel. Baby steps, sure, but they sure are impressive. Art Briles is going to have himself a fine football team in 2010.
WORST LOSS: IOWA STATE Obviously.
TOP PERFORMER, OFFENSE (TEAM): MISSOURI Do the Tigers have the nation's best offense? So long as Jeremy Maclin is out there, I think it's a pretty easy argument to make. Defending the Tigers is outrageous because of what Maclin can do: Leaving him in man coverage begs for disaster, but committing safety help opens up Missouri's formidable running game. By the way, starting October 11th, Texas faces Oklahoma, Missouri, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech, in order. Will Muschamp will earn his paycheck.
BUM STEER, OFFENSE (TEAM): IOWA STATE I'm not sure what we'd do without Iowa State; the rest of the Big 12 was on fire this Saturday. This conference is the best offensive group in the country by a wide, wide margin.
TOP PERFORMER, OFFENSE (INDIVIDUAL): JEREMY MACLIN, MISSOURI I was asked this summer by In The Bleachers to pick the national title game participants and I went with Florida against Missouri. The choice of the Tigers was 100% about Maclin.
BUM STEER, OFFENSE (INDIVIDUAL): OFFENSIVE LINE, KANSAS It's too bad for Todd Reesing, who impresses the hell out of me--equal parts talented, smart, and gutty--but his offensive line just isn't very good this year. That hurts the pass protection but, more importantly, makes Kansas one dimensional without any ability to rush the ball.
PB'S POWER RANKINGS
Last week's rank in parentheses.
1. Oklahoma (1) -TCU visits Norman representing Oklahoma's first opponent with a solid defense. If the Sooners tee off again... yikes.
2. Missouri (2) - The defense remains a (big) concern, but this offense is the nuts.
3. Texas (3) - The schedule went from Scary to Absurd with the postponement. After Rice this week, Texas will play vs Arkansas, at Colorado, vs OU in Dallas, vs Missouri, vs Oklahoma State, at Texas Tech.
4. Texas Tech (4) - The Red Raiders are playing B+ football right now--good enough to cruise through their soft non-conference schedule, but not good enough to make any noise in the Big 12. Harrell needs to be much crisper than he has been thus far.
5. Oklahoma State (5) - We know this team can steamroll bad defenses. We don't know anything else yet.
6. Nebraska (7) - Nebraska has quietly put together three solid wins over mediocre opponents. They'll rest a week, then find out where they stand with a three-game stretch versus Virginia Tech, vs Missouri, and at Texas Tech.
7. Kansas (6) - Close, but no cigar. There's a lot to like, but Kansas' deficiencies are too problematic for them to make another run in the Big 12.
8. Kansas State (8) - A real run this year requires Josh Freeman to play as well against real opponents as he has through two games against cupcakes.
9. Baylor (10) - RO-BERT GRI-FFIN! [clap clap clap-clap-clap]
10. Colorado (9) - The more I look at this team, the more I think they're closer to a 4-win team than 8.
11. Texas A&M (11) - Beergut has a new blog! That's the best I can say for the Aggies right now.
12. Iowa State (12) - You have to win the Corn Bowl, Gene. You just have to.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Notebook: Keeping up with Ike
By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Keeping up with Ike
Longhorn players from the Houston area said their families reported no major damage from Hurricane Ike.
Middle linebacker Rashad Bobino said his family's home in La Marque had a leaking roof, and a fence was knocked down.
That's about the extent of the problems suffered by the family home of Fozzy Whittaker, who grew up in Pearland.
We're still checking on Orange natives Deon Beasley and Earl Thomas. About one-third of Orange was flooded.
The news wasn't good for former UT offensive line coach Tim Nunez. He lives near Galveston and lost his home.
Gold nominated
John Gold has been added to the Ray Guy Award list. The award honors the nation's top punter.
The walk-on played his first college game Aug. 30 and is averaging 41.3 yards per punt on seven kicks.
Rice memories
Did you know: Linebacker Sergio Kindle made his first career tackle against the Owls in 2006. He was coming off an ankle sprain, and Rice was his first career game.
Meanwhile, tailback Vondrell McGee enjoyed his first extensive action a year ago against Rice. He came in with second-team quarterback John Chiles and ran for 80 yards on eight carries. It's still his best game as a Longhorn.
By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Keeping up with Ike
Longhorn players from the Houston area said their families reported no major damage from Hurricane Ike.
Middle linebacker Rashad Bobino said his family's home in La Marque had a leaking roof, and a fence was knocked down.
That's about the extent of the problems suffered by the family home of Fozzy Whittaker, who grew up in Pearland.
We're still checking on Orange natives Deon Beasley and Earl Thomas. About one-third of Orange was flooded.
The news wasn't good for former UT offensive line coach Tim Nunez. He lives near Galveston and lost his home.
Gold nominated
John Gold has been added to the Ray Guy Award list. The award honors the nation's top punter.
The walk-on played his first college game Aug. 30 and is averaging 41.3 yards per punt on seven kicks.
Rice memories
Did you know: Linebacker Sergio Kindle made his first career tackle against the Owls in 2006. He was coming off an ankle sprain, and Rice was his first career game.
Meanwhile, tailback Vondrell McGee enjoyed his first extensive action a year ago against Rice. He came in with second-team quarterback John Chiles and ran for 80 yards on eight carries. It's still his best game as a Longhorn.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Rice a frequent salve for UT rushing game
By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Rice defense often has a therapeutic effect on an ailing Texas rushing game.
Just go back to last year, when three Longhorns runners collectively averaged 5.7 yards a carry in a 58-14 victory over the Owls.
Or try 2006. Texas won 52-7 and two UT backs surpassed 100 yards, with the offense gaining 333 on the ground. It represented the only time in 2006 that any Texas back achieved 100 yards.
UT coaches are hoping for a similar, soothing result Saturday when the seventh-ranked Longhorns meet Rice at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
The Longhorns aren't so much struggling on the ground as they are looking for consistency or a big play. The Texas rushing offense ranks 40th nationally among 119 teams, averaging 177 yards a game.
Quarterback Colt McCoy, thanks to his 103 yards in the opener, is the leading rusher with 111 yards. His 25-yard scamper against Florida Atlantic is the longest rush of the season.
Then three tailbacks are within 25 yards of each other, led by Vondrell McGee's 81.
It's why the Texas coaches have released a depth chart with three co-starters at tailback. Either McGee, Fozzy Whittaker or Chris Ogbonnaya will start against the Owls. The only certainty is that Cody Johnson will be the tailback in the jumbo, short-yardage package, with defensive tackle Roy Miller as his fullback.
"I'm not pleased where we're at running the ball," offensive coordinator Greg Davis said last week, before he knew Texas' game against Arkansas would be rescheduled. "Historically, other than 1998, we've started a little slow in the run game. And we've ended up being pretty proficient at it. Hopefully that will be the same again."
And that brings us to Rice. After three games, the Owls are allowing 144 yards a game on the ground, only 74th-best in the country. The stat is somewhat misleading because Rice kicked off the season against Southern Methodist, which used its backs for only six carries.
Last Saturday, Vanderbilt gained 273 yards and scored five rushing touchdowns against Rice. Major Applewhite, Texas' running backs coach, said the Commodores gashed the Owls primarily via the zone play, with the quarterback under center, handing off to his backs.
Applewhite said Tuesday that he still doesn't know who will start Saturday. Nor did he say who the coaches had tabbed for Arkansas before Hurricane Ike forced the game's postponement.
Although the running numbers aren't eye-popping, Applewhite said his backs are performing well because they've yet to lose a fumble. He said they've also blocked well enough to allow for McCoy to complete 76 percent of his passes. Each completed pass is going for 11.45 yards.
"Sometimes that's the same thing as a 40- or 50-yard run," Applewhite said.
McGee, who started the first two games, said he believed Whittaker would have started last Saturday against Arkansas had the game been played.
Both backs have struggled with mild knee injuries. McGee, who has 81 yards on 18 carries, sprained his right medial collateral ligament in the opener against Florida Atlantic. He wore a brace against Texas-El Paso, but plans on ditching the protective knee sleeve against the Owls.
Whittaker's only action came against the Miners. He spelled McGee, rushing for 71 yards on 12 carries. He missed the opener because of lingering effects from a left MCL sprain in mid-August. Whittaker said Tuesday he's suffered no problems since UTEP, with the unscheduled bye week helping both backs. The two believe the rotation will last through the season.
"It'll probably never stop," McGee said. "It's not necessary to know who the starter is."
But if history is an indication, they'll have a big game against the Owls.
By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Rice defense often has a therapeutic effect on an ailing Texas rushing game.
Just go back to last year, when three Longhorns runners collectively averaged 5.7 yards a carry in a 58-14 victory over the Owls.
Or try 2006. Texas won 52-7 and two UT backs surpassed 100 yards, with the offense gaining 333 on the ground. It represented the only time in 2006 that any Texas back achieved 100 yards.
UT coaches are hoping for a similar, soothing result Saturday when the seventh-ranked Longhorns meet Rice at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
The Longhorns aren't so much struggling on the ground as they are looking for consistency or a big play. The Texas rushing offense ranks 40th nationally among 119 teams, averaging 177 yards a game.
Quarterback Colt McCoy, thanks to his 103 yards in the opener, is the leading rusher with 111 yards. His 25-yard scamper against Florida Atlantic is the longest rush of the season.
Then three tailbacks are within 25 yards of each other, led by Vondrell McGee's 81.
It's why the Texas coaches have released a depth chart with three co-starters at tailback. Either McGee, Fozzy Whittaker or Chris Ogbonnaya will start against the Owls. The only certainty is that Cody Johnson will be the tailback in the jumbo, short-yardage package, with defensive tackle Roy Miller as his fullback.
"I'm not pleased where we're at running the ball," offensive coordinator Greg Davis said last week, before he knew Texas' game against Arkansas would be rescheduled. "Historically, other than 1998, we've started a little slow in the run game. And we've ended up being pretty proficient at it. Hopefully that will be the same again."
And that brings us to Rice. After three games, the Owls are allowing 144 yards a game on the ground, only 74th-best in the country. The stat is somewhat misleading because Rice kicked off the season against Southern Methodist, which used its backs for only six carries.
Last Saturday, Vanderbilt gained 273 yards and scored five rushing touchdowns against Rice. Major Applewhite, Texas' running backs coach, said the Commodores gashed the Owls primarily via the zone play, with the quarterback under center, handing off to his backs.
Applewhite said Tuesday that he still doesn't know who will start Saturday. Nor did he say who the coaches had tabbed for Arkansas before Hurricane Ike forced the game's postponement.
Although the running numbers aren't eye-popping, Applewhite said his backs are performing well because they've yet to lose a fumble. He said they've also blocked well enough to allow for McCoy to complete 76 percent of his passes. Each completed pass is going for 11.45 yards.
"Sometimes that's the same thing as a 40- or 50-yard run," Applewhite said.
McGee, who started the first two games, said he believed Whittaker would have started last Saturday against Arkansas had the game been played.
Both backs have struggled with mild knee injuries. McGee, who has 81 yards on 18 carries, sprained his right medial collateral ligament in the opener against Florida Atlantic. He wore a brace against Texas-El Paso, but plans on ditching the protective knee sleeve against the Owls.
Whittaker's only action came against the Miners. He spelled McGee, rushing for 71 yards on 12 carries. He missed the opener because of lingering effects from a left MCL sprain in mid-August. Whittaker said Tuesday he's suffered no problems since UTEP, with the unscheduled bye week helping both backs. The two believe the rotation will last through the season.
"It'll probably never stop," McGee said. "It's not necessary to know who the starter is."
But if history is an indication, they'll have a big game against the Owls.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Wednesday Headlinin': McKnight's mental malady mystery
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
• We didn't recruit him for his brain, anyway. Joe McKnight is dealing with some kind of head pain suffered against Ohio State, described in virtually every account as a migraine (caused, perhaps, by his very wise decision to stare into the Coliseum lights during the game). The L.A. Daily News' Scott Wolf, though, says McKnight briefly left the game with a concussion in the second quarter, and wonders: what's with all this migraine talk? It could be Wolf is just wrong about the concussion, as Pete Carroll didn't mention it Tuesday and said, "I'm not worried (about the migraines) until they tell me I should be." So which sounds more fun: that Wolf is a lone concussion conspiracy nut, poring over bootleg CAT scans with a magnifying class and dodging ominous warnings from Mike Garrett, or that Pete Carroll is ignoring the violent shifting of his players' brains and harbors no regard whatsoever for their mental health or long-term well-being? The truth is out there, and no doubt your gut will find it.
In other running back injury news, that one dude from Ohio State, whatever his name is -- Beano, something like that -- anyway, he was back at practice Tuesday and might play this weekend against the much friendlier Trojans of Troy, depending on how practice goes the rest of the week. And though he was held out of contact, Brad Lester was on the field for Auburn, incredibly, after a nasty-looking neck/head injury against Mississippi State. You'd think when they have to run MRIs for brain damage, the down time would be more than two days, but when the neuroscientist says you can go, then you can go.
• We're going with the one guy. The other guy, our prayers are with him. The Michigan quarterback derby has come to an emphatic end, with Steven Threet making a vast leap forward against Notre Dame and getting a sturdy vote of confidence from Rich Rodriguez as the starter going forward. And opening day starter Nick Sheridan, who was intercepted twice in five passes against the Irish?
• Actually, coach, we are focusing on the positive. Tommy Tuberville was getting a little miffed at incessant questions about how much Kodi Burns will play against LSU Saturday after last week's resounding offensive thud against Mississippi State, so he started putting questions to the reporters Tuesday. And they were ready for him -- after, you know, diving into the weekly stat release back at the office:
Quickly . . .
Tim Tebow has a great time on road trips, actually, thanks for asking. Although Florida is not as tough outside of the Swamp. . . . Nice job by the Birmingham News' Ian Rapoport on Saturday's Cody Luigs-Terrence Cody sumo match when Alabama visits Arkansas. . . . Ron Zook has a personnel epiphany. . . . UCLA's holding open tryouts on offense (uh, the defense gave up 59 points, too). . . . Paul Johnson is a lot like Bobby Knight, in a good way (that is, depending on who you ask). . . . And cry Gary Pinkel a river, why don't you?
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
In other running back injury news, that one dude from Ohio State, whatever his name is -- Beano, something like that -- anyway, he was back at practice Tuesday and might play this weekend against the much friendlier Trojans of Troy, depending on how practice goes the rest of the week. And though he was held out of contact, Brad Lester was on the field for Auburn, incredibly, after a nasty-looking neck/head injury against Mississippi State. You'd think when they have to run MRIs for brain damage, the down time would be more than two days, but when the neuroscientist says you can go, then you can go.
• We're going with the one guy. The other guy, our prayers are with him. The Michigan quarterback derby has come to an emphatic end, with Steven Threet making a vast leap forward against Notre Dame and getting a sturdy vote of confidence from Rich Rodriguez as the starter going forward. And opening day starter Nick Sheridan, who was intercepted twice in five passes against the Irish?
"Nick is still in our thoughts a little bit,'' Rodriguez said.
That sounds more like something you'd say about someone suffering from a horrible disease than a quarterback you might ever put on the field again, and in fact that may help explain some of Sheridan's problems: he' bravely gutting his way through plantar walkonitis, also known as Limp Arm Syndrome. And he is not alone.
"Why don't you write about the offensive line?"
You mean the one that has 18 penalties in three games?
"Why don't you write about the running backs?"
The ones who have lost five fumbles in the last two games?
"Why don't you write about the special teams?"
The one that missed two field goals last week?
Uh, on second thought, you were saying about the quarterbacks? Really, I could talk about those guys all afternoon!You mean the one that has 18 penalties in three games?
"Why don't you write about the running backs?"
The ones who have lost five fumbles in the last two games?
"Why don't you write about the special teams?"
The one that missed two field goals last week?
Quickly . . .
Tim Tebow has a great time on road trips, actually, thanks for asking. Although Florida is not as tough outside of the Swamp. . . . Nice job by the Birmingham News' Ian Rapoport on Saturday's Cody Luigs-Terrence Cody sumo match when Alabama visits Arkansas. . . . Ron Zook has a personnel epiphany. . . . UCLA's holding open tryouts on offense (uh, the defense gave up 59 points, too). . . . Paul Johnson is a lot like Bobby Knight, in a good way (that is, depending on who you ask). . . . And cry Gary Pinkel a river, why don't you?
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Hit of the year so far. Idaho St QB should be dead after this upper-cut with the helmet. I don't know how this didn't get flagged.
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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FSU’s Most Important Game This Season Is Wake Forest
from ScalpEm.com by NoleCC
By Bill Kristoph
Forget about Christian Ponder’s non-guarantee guarantee of a win Saturday night. See that picture up there? That’s the last time Wake Forest visited Tallahassee and Doak Campbell Stadium. That’s from the night when the Demon Deacons embarrassed once mighty Florida State 30-0. That’s when fans were rooting for a bad snap on a Wake Forest punt in the 4th quarter, just so the Noles wouldn’t shut out. That’s when I participated in the wave with about 1,000 other people. It’s the only time I’ll participate in one of those.
Make no mistake about it Seminole fans, Saturday night’s contest against Wake Forest is the biggest game of the year for FSU. The outcome sets the tone for the rest of the season. Win and FSU is a mighty ACC contender, especially against a generally weak-so-far ACC. Lose and FSU is searching for a soul, knowing it’s far better than FCS teams, but not having a clue where it stands in regards to its peers. Win and my 7-5 prediction can be tossed out the door (even though I predicted a win against Wake). Lose and my 7-5 isn’t so far from the truth while the Noles struggle to find an identity.
If there’s ever been a must win for the Seminole football program, it’s Saturday night. ESPN2 will be there in HD glory. The nation has an opportunity to watch a rebuilt offense and improved defense. The fanbase is desperate for more wins, it’s apparent in the stands that winning is much more palatable than losing. This game is big. This game shows recruits that FSU is on the way up and not stagnant. This game potentially shows off Jimbo Fisher’s offense, the desire of the players to win and the work ethic of the 2008 edition of the Seminoles.
Don’t be fooled Seminole fans, the Demon Deacons are a good football team, led by probably the best QB in the ACC, Riley Skinner. They always give the Noles trouble and they’re a top 25 team at the moment. They had a bye week heading into Saturday’s game, so they’ll be extra prepared for the Garnet and Gold. On the bright side for the Seminoles, Preston Parker returns. Corey Surrency is a stud, and the defense is solid, solid, solid. If special teams can hang in there, specifically on field goals and extra points the Seminoles have a legitimate shot to beat the Deacs. This game is huge for the rest of 2008… who would have thought that 10 years ago?
Be loud, be proud, go Noles!
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</td><td class="cc c">4:38 AM (3 hours ago)
FSU’s Most Important Game This Season Is Wake Forest
from ScalpEm.com by NoleCC
By Bill Kristoph
Forget about Christian Ponder’s non-guarantee guarantee of a win Saturday night. See that picture up there? That’s the last time Wake Forest visited Tallahassee and Doak Campbell Stadium. That’s from the night when the Demon Deacons embarrassed once mighty Florida State 30-0. That’s when fans were rooting for a bad snap on a Wake Forest punt in the 4th quarter, just so the Noles wouldn’t shut out. That’s when I participated in the wave with about 1,000 other people. It’s the only time I’ll participate in one of those.
Make no mistake about it Seminole fans, Saturday night’s contest against Wake Forest is the biggest game of the year for FSU. The outcome sets the tone for the rest of the season. Win and FSU is a mighty ACC contender, especially against a generally weak-so-far ACC. Lose and FSU is searching for a soul, knowing it’s far better than FCS teams, but not having a clue where it stands in regards to its peers. Win and my 7-5 prediction can be tossed out the door (even though I predicted a win against Wake). Lose and my 7-5 isn’t so far from the truth while the Noles struggle to find an identity.
If there’s ever been a must win for the Seminole football program, it’s Saturday night. ESPN2 will be there in HD glory. The nation has an opportunity to watch a rebuilt offense and improved defense. The fanbase is desperate for more wins, it’s apparent in the stands that winning is much more palatable than losing. This game is big. This game shows recruits that FSU is on the way up and not stagnant. This game potentially shows off Jimbo Fisher’s offense, the desire of the players to win and the work ethic of the 2008 edition of the Seminoles.
Don’t be fooled Seminole fans, the Demon Deacons are a good football team, led by probably the best QB in the ACC, Riley Skinner. They always give the Noles trouble and they’re a top 25 team at the moment. They had a bye week heading into Saturday’s game, so they’ll be extra prepared for the Garnet and Gold. On the bright side for the Seminoles, Preston Parker returns. Corey Surrency is a stud, and the defense is solid, solid, solid. If special teams can hang in there, specifically on field goals and extra points the Seminoles have a legitimate shot to beat the Deacs. This game is huge for the rest of 2008… who would have thought that 10 years ago?
Be loud, be proud, go Noles!
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Nike bends time and space to brand Ernie Davis' shoes
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
There are those rare brands in the world you know on sight, almost instinctively. Insidious logos that imprinted themselves on your brain before you could speak, that transcend the linguistic and cognitive middle men and lunge directly for your MasterCard as your neurons are still gearing up for "blink." The Golden Arches. The Coca-Cola script. The AT&T Death Star. Uh, MasterCard.
But only one monolithic, world-dominating corporate logo has developed the capability to travel backward in time to imprint itself on people and objects that existed years before its conception. So, the Nike swoosh, created in 1971, showing up on Syracuse's new statue honoring Ernie Davis, who died of leukemia eight years earlier, in 1963, is all just a big mistake, is it?
Soon, every athlete who ever lived will bear The Swoosh.
The Swoosh will control governments.
It will control art.
It will be the defining symbol of humanity, until it becomes history itself!
Yes, with Ernie Davis, you have only begun to understand the eternal omnipotence of The Swoosh.
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
But only one monolithic, world-dominating corporate logo has developed the capability to travel backward in time to imprint itself on people and objects that existed years before its conception. So, the Nike swoosh, created in 1971, showing up on Syracuse's new statue honoring Ernie Davis, who died of leukemia eight years earlier, in 1963, is all just a big mistake, is it?
No, it wasn't a marketing deal, Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross said. The sculptor simply made a mistake.
"Easy fix," Gross said in an e-mail today. "The sculptor is on it and will make it perfect."
What fool deigns to believe he can remove The Swoosh from its chosen apparel, modern, bronzed, anachronistic or otherwise? Do you believe Bruno Lucchesi simply made a mistake, or took liberties with the old photograph of Davis he was working from to create the statue? Don't you see? The Swoosh was already in the photograph. Soon, it will be in every photograph, on every sculpture, beckoning the nude angels in every fresco to "Just Do It." The Swoosh conquered the present easily, too easily, and it has conquered the future. But as for the past, the first black Heisman Trophy winner is only the beginning."Easy fix," Gross said in an e-mail today. "The sculptor is on it and will make it perfect."
Soon, every athlete who ever lived will bear The Swoosh.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
[SIZE=+2]Houston Cougars taking temporary refuge in Dallas
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]12:34 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 17, 2008
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]By BOBBI ROQUEMORE / The Dallas Morning News[/SIZE] Houston, which lost to Air Force, 31-28, Saturday in a home game moved to SMU because of Hurricane Ike, was still in North Texas as of Tuesday. The team's status is "day-to-day," Houston sports information director Chris Burkhalter said, and while the Cougars would like to return to Houston, "There's not a lot to go back home to."
The Cougars have been practicing at Valley Ranch and Texas Stadium in preparation for their game Saturday at Colorado State. "The Dallas Cowboys have been very gracious to us," Burkhalter added.
Regardless of whether they fly out of Houston or Dallas, the Cougars head to Denver on Friday.
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]12:34 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 17, 2008
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]By BOBBI ROQUEMORE / The Dallas Morning News[/SIZE] Houston, which lost to Air Force, 31-28, Saturday in a home game moved to SMU because of Hurricane Ike, was still in North Texas as of Tuesday. The team's status is "day-to-day," Houston sports information director Chris Burkhalter said, and while the Cougars would like to return to Houston, "There's not a lot to go back home to."
The Cougars have been practicing at Valley Ranch and Texas Stadium in preparation for their game Saturday at Colorado State. "The Dallas Cowboys have been very gracious to us," Burkhalter added.
Regardless of whether they fly out of Houston or Dallas, the Cougars head to Denver on Friday.
JPicks
Pretty much a regular
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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</td><td class="cc c">11:10 AM (28 minutes ago)
YOUR HALF-BAKED, I’M HUNGRY LET’S EAT IT ANYWAY MEME: BIG 12 WOOOOO!
from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
There’s a reason you won’t hear Big 12 teams chanting “Big 12!” after victories over out of conference teams. The first is that SEC teams bind together in such circumstances thanks to our cultural proximity to a barter economy, the rule being that the closer you are to actually exchanging animal hides for money, the more likely it is that you will bond with people with totally different power interests simply because of proximity. (I hate me some proles, but when we get to tusslin’ with East Asia, we’re all Oceanians!)
Barry Switzer in an afro has nothing to do with this post, and you don’t care because it is awesome.
If the Big 12 are our new robot overlords–and it well and truly may be, per punditry–we should come up with something to chant to taunt other conferences, and not “big 12 football clapclapclap,” since the kids on the Left Coast already bit that one, and you don’t want to follow their lead, now do you? That only leads to horrific losses to the Mountain West, and we like you too much to do that to you.
The early resume, though, is as cheap and tawdry as a weekend in Nuevo Laredo with Barry Switzer: poor Willingham’d Washington got annihilated by Oklahoma, Washington State took a double beating courtesy of Oklahoma State and (AAAAAGHHHHSSPIDERS) Baylor, and those are just the brand namers. The biggest scalps metaphorically on the board: Illinois, who Missouri outsprinted in St. Louis, and Cincinnati. On the whole, unimpressive. The only team who’s proven much of anything is Kansas, who at least demonstrated baseline goodness by playing a tenacious game against South Florida, and thus shutting up assholes (us) who slagged on them for playing directional gimmes instead of actual games.
The literal scalp on the wall? Very impresive: Howard Schnellenberger’s, who Will Muschamp delidded as the result of an ill-advised bet before the 52-10 FAU/Texas game. “It’ll grow back,” said Schnelly, patting the head-sized bandage and sipping on a barrel of scotch. “It always does.”
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</td><td class="cc c">11:10 AM (28 minutes ago)
YOUR HALF-BAKED, I’M HUNGRY LET’S EAT IT ANYWAY MEME: BIG 12 WOOOOO!
from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
There’s a reason you won’t hear Big 12 teams chanting “Big 12!” after victories over out of conference teams. The first is that SEC teams bind together in such circumstances thanks to our cultural proximity to a barter economy, the rule being that the closer you are to actually exchanging animal hides for money, the more likely it is that you will bond with people with totally different power interests simply because of proximity. (I hate me some proles, but when we get to tusslin’ with East Asia, we’re all Oceanians!)
Barry Switzer in an afro has nothing to do with this post, and you don’t care because it is awesome.
If the Big 12 are our new robot overlords–and it well and truly may be, per punditry–we should come up with something to chant to taunt other conferences, and not “big 12 football clapclapclap,” since the kids on the Left Coast already bit that one, and you don’t want to follow their lead, now do you? That only leads to horrific losses to the Mountain West, and we like you too much to do that to you.
The early resume, though, is as cheap and tawdry as a weekend in Nuevo Laredo with Barry Switzer: poor Willingham’d Washington got annihilated by Oklahoma, Washington State took a double beating courtesy of Oklahoma State and (AAAAAGHHHHSSPIDERS) Baylor, and those are just the brand namers. The biggest scalps metaphorically on the board: Illinois, who Missouri outsprinted in St. Louis, and Cincinnati. On the whole, unimpressive. The only team who’s proven much of anything is Kansas, who at least demonstrated baseline goodness by playing a tenacious game against South Florida, and thus shutting up assholes (us) who slagged on them for playing directional gimmes instead of actual games.
The literal scalp on the wall? Very impresive: Howard Schnellenberger’s, who Will Muschamp delidded as the result of an ill-advised bet before the 52-10 FAU/Texas game. “It’ll grow back,” said Schnelly, patting the head-sized bandage and sipping on a barrel of scotch. “It always does.”
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Thank you, sir. I added it to the rotation.
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
Maybe Steve Spurrier should stop calling plays, but for real
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
There's nothing like the "heir apparent" to derail a finely-tuned offensive machine, or at least whatever semblance of functioning offensive philosophy a famous papa has spent his career cultivating. Famous sons working under dad are always a harbinger of doom: Florida State's empire began to collapse when Bobby Bowden promoted Jeff Bowden to replace Mark Richt as offensive coordinator in 2001; Penn State began to ossify as soon as Joe Paterno gave Jay Paterno the reigns to the Lions' quarterbacks and passing game in 2000; even Skip Holtz, now the hottest up-and-comer on the block, was demoted from offensive coordinator to quarterbacks coach when he worked for Lou Holtz at South Carolina. If USC's dominance has an achilles heel, it must be the impending promotion of tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator/insane person Brennan Carroll. So when Steve Spurrier said this summer he was ready to cut the cord on both of his babies and hand over the bulk of play calling duties to Steve Spurrier, Jr., South Carolina's rock-bottom offensive performance to start the season was clearly prophesied. Except, wait, who's been calling the shots, again?
from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
"I haven't given over (the play-calling duties) as much as I thought I was going to, to be honest with you," Spurrier said. "I wish play-calling was our biggest problem here. We haven't run it, thrown it or caught it very well."
Spurrier said he still hopes to delegate more of the play-calling responsibilities to his son as the season progresses, but added, "Obviously, me calling them hasn't made a difference. We've got a lot more problems than where the play came from."
Steve Senior has been dialing up about 75 percent of the Gamecocks' plays through the first three games, which -- having watched most of all three -- is roughly identical to the failure rate of the offense when N.C. State has not begun to slowly roll its helmets off the field. Know this, too: whatever problems sons have working in dad's shadow, aging coaches have a much worse time in their own shadow. If the Cock 'n Fire isn't raining terror on SEC secondaries like the old Fun 'n Gun, maybe it's time to revert to the original will script and give the kid a chance to sully the family trade on his own. He'll never learn any other way.Spurrier said he still hopes to delegate more of the play-calling responsibilities to his son as the season progresses, but added, "Obviously, me calling them hasn't made a difference. We've got a lot more problems than where the play came from."
RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
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RJ Esq
Prick Since 1974
<table class="card"><tbody class="card-tbody"><tr></tr><tr><td class="ct c">
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</td><td class="cc c">1:23 PM (3 minutes ago)
BLOGTOBERFEST! WOBBLY MOPED EDITION
from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Blogtoberfest: because bug-eyed Fulmer never, ever goes out of style.
–Dear Greg Easterbrook: please don’t write about college football. You suck at it most whoreaciously. Love, the universe and the cheap, bloodthirsty Onthespot who run it.
–Badgers linebacker Jonathan Casillas will be in court Friday to face DUI charges for having a .15 and pushing it to the limit on a moped. Mark Hasty uses this as a chance to reference the infamous chalupa incident at Kansas, a note worth the whole article by itself.
–Todd Reesing is no one. Please move on.
–Tampans are a friendly, accommodating people!
KU alum Brent Kassing, 39, of Winter Park, attended the game with his cousin’s family. In all, they had five children ranging in age from 4 to 15.
“I must have heard ‘[expletive] you!’ about 200 times,” said Kassing, who complained to USF officials in an e-mail. “It was a terrible environment. I had never experienced that at an away game.”
In other words: homefield advantage achieved, Bulls! Change nothing.
–Joe Cribbs Car Wash examines the likelihood that Auburn was sandbagging leading up to LSU. If that was sandbagging, it nearly resulted in auto-entombment.
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</td><td class="ctr c">
</td></tr><tr><td class="cl c">
</td><td class="cc c">1:23 PM (3 minutes ago)
BLOGTOBERFEST! WOBBLY MOPED EDITION
from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Blogtoberfest: because bug-eyed Fulmer never, ever goes out of style.
–Dear Greg Easterbrook: please don’t write about college football. You suck at it most whoreaciously. Love, the universe and the cheap, bloodthirsty Onthespot who run it.
–Badgers linebacker Jonathan Casillas will be in court Friday to face DUI charges for having a .15 and pushing it to the limit on a moped. Mark Hasty uses this as a chance to reference the infamous chalupa incident at Kansas, a note worth the whole article by itself.
–Todd Reesing is no one. Please move on.
–Tampans are a friendly, accommodating people!
KU alum Brent Kassing, 39, of Winter Park, attended the game with his cousin’s family. In all, they had five children ranging in age from 4 to 15.
“I must have heard ‘[expletive] you!’ about 200 times,” said Kassing, who complained to USF officials in an e-mail. “It was a terrible environment. I had never experienced that at an away game.”
In other words: homefield advantage achieved, Bulls! Change nothing.
–Joe Cribbs Car Wash examines the likelihood that Auburn was sandbagging leading up to LSU. If that was sandbagging, it nearly resulted in auto-entombment.
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