CFB Week 4 (9/17-9/20) News and Picks

[RJ Esq]

Wednesday’s weekend reflections and meh…

from Men of the Scarlet and Gray by YNBA
Alright…I have had a few days to take in the massacre and it’s effects
Extreme situations often call for extreme measures. These measures do not include Todd Boeckman on a QB run on 2nd and 22. My god JT, wtf was that? Then again, maybe Todd was rolling out to throw to the TE..*laughing so hard there is significant pain in my side regions*
Every team that plays OSU knows that they are damaged goods right now. I havent seen an OSU team quit like that since Iowa in 2004. No heart…no fire…ridiculous.
Positives from the weekend for OSU…ahem..let’s just move onto another topic.

• Oh wait…Terrell Pryor gets to play a lot more this weekend…or so we are led to believe.

Positives from the weekend for YNBA and some other jottable notes…

• Watched Oklahoma demolish Washington. Seriously Buckeye fans, thank goodness the team wasnt spending the past weekend in Norman. Sam Bradford was nothing short of incredible (18-21, 300+ yards, 5 Touchdowns). Oklahoma (Not USC) looked like a well-oiled machine this past weekend, but the hype wasnt there with the game occurring in LA. Granted, this was Washington’s defense, but OU’s performance was efficient and lethal from the beginning of the game until the very end.

• It was nice to see one of my teams show up this weekend. Liverpool FC decided that it had seen enough of Manchester United’s shenanigans and finally beat them (2-1) for the first time in Premiership play in almost five years. With the exception of a John O’Shea OG, it had almost been the same amount of time since Liverpool had actually scored a goal of any kind against ManU. The Mascherano-Kuyt-Babel connection put the game away in the 77th minute to set the Anfield faithful into a frenzy (Cue Seven Nation army and chant ‘Jav-i-er Ma-scher-a-no’ over and over again). For the non-soccer types, pace and momentum matter just as much in soccer and football, and Liverpool carried the play to ManU for a good portion of the first half and dominated in the second.

• The Columbus Crew settled for a 1-1 draw in Canada against Toronto FC. This draw sealed the deal on Columbus maintaining possession of the Trillium Cup. This draw on Saturday was really a win, as there were no Columbus fans accosted by Toronto FC supporters outside of the BMO, which seems to be occurring with greater frequency as this rivalry continues to grow. Crazy Canadians…

• Champions League Group Stage play began on Tuesday (If you dont understand how the Champions League works…ask…because it is confusing as all get out, then attempt to ponder how crazy College Football would be in this format). Liverpool took out Marseille 2-1, as ‘The Captain’ Steven Gerrard provided some magic in the form of two goals to rally the Reds from 1-0. FC Barcelona also won it’s opening match against Sporting Lisbon 3-1.

• Seems like the media has finally started to lay off of the Buckeyes after this weekend’s performance. Even Pete Fiutak has provided some perspective (See Part III), which is refreshing in that it comes from a national media type, as even the Herbstreit’s of the world have seemed to bash or distance themselves from the Buckeyes as much as possible.

• Painfully going back to the USC game…I am not an expert in the ways of football or schemes, but it doenst appear to me that OSU is any less athletic than other elite teams (NFL draft numbers will generally support this claim). Once you infer that OSU may actually have the same type of speed and athleticism on its squad, the question of what differentiates the teams comes into play. All I know is that from other sports that I do participate, the less you have to think the more effective you are on the field. This especially holds true on defense. If the OSU offense is as predictable as everyone believes, then most teams will be able to pin their ears back and go to town, as they will have a pretty good idea of what is coming almost every time. I am going to stop here on this topic, but think about every time the OSU offense is faced with a 3rd or 4th and short…you’ve already called the play. OSU is running a slow developing play to the tailback. It doenst matter which one it is…you just know it is going to be painful to watch and in a lot of cases it just isnt going to cut it

I think that it is safe to say that no one is giving up on the season (players or fans), but if the current trends including lack of creativity and utter lack of execution at any level continue…this will be a long season. Things dont get any easier this Saturday, as Troy comes to town and is still looking for a signature win against one of the D-I big boys. I hope the Bucks are ready for Troy’s best shot. Maybe it is time for the Buckeye faithful to start singing YNWA before every kickoff…to re-affirm thy friendship to the O-HI-O.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">1:43 PM (11 minutes ago)
Your 2008 Vegas Darling: The Vanderbilt Commodores

from Conquer And Prevail: Front Page Posts by Greg Viverito
Not quite time to book your hotel room for a Vandy bowl weekend, but if you were smart enough to bet the over on Vandy's win total this offseason, it's probably time to get your ticket out.
Way back on July 14, Vegas Watch posted the first win totals for 48 FBS teams. The over/unders were as high as 11 for USC and as low as 3 for (you guessed it!) the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Can't say that I was particularly surprised when that number came out, and if I was a betting man, might not have been on the over myself. Sitting at 3-0 now though, anyone who did bet the over is feeling pretty good about themselves. (On a side note, is it possible that this is the earliest cover of a win total in betting history? I can't imagine it happening any faster...)
Not only that, but according to Jason Logan at Covers, Vanderbilt is also one of the 3 teams in the country (along with Temple and Southern Miss) that 3-0 against the spread this year.
Vandy truly has been the single best bet of the 2008 college football season.
Really, none of this actually matters though. Congrats to you if you saw it coming, but I can't imagine there are that many of you out there cashing in on Vandy this year. Plus, betting lines are a function of public perception, and this year was widely publicized as a rebuilding year for the Commodores.
What I do think is important about all of this is the perspective it can give us on this team's start. Sure we have no idea how the next 9 games will unfold (this isn't a bowl team yet), but for a team that was supposed to be so bad to give us this much to get excited about already is pretty unbelievable.
The fact that people are even talking about the possibility of a bowl game is an accomplishment. It's funny how quickly perception shifts, and I can't tell you how many people I've heard this week (myself included) predicting a bowl berth for Vandy. How many of those same people were predicting that a month ago? I know I wasn't. I'm sure the team will tell you they expected this all along, but for the fans, I would guess expectations weren't as high.
So as we get ready to see what this team can do with their opportunity, let's not lose sight of how the season started. Sure, a bowl game is still the ultimate goal for this team, but for now, let's make sure we enjoy the ride.






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[RJ Esq]

 

[RJ Esq]

Introducing ACC Championship Roulette: Which one's a winnah?

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Round and round she goes, where the frontrunner ball stops, nobody knows ...

This week's bet: North Carolina. Until now, UNC hadn't been 2-0 since Mack Brown was coaching here ten yeas ago. Three in a row would seem almost miraculous, if Coastal Division foil Virginia Tech didn't look like it had at least as many issues as the Heels coming into Saturday's rubber match.

Let 'em Ride. The whole "UNC's a sleeper" thing was based on a) Butch Davis, who cleaned up Dennis Erickson's mess and made Miami smell sweet again, and b) the defense, way young but plenty grizzled after being thrown to the dogs last year. Against Rutgers, though, the offense was right in stride, lifting the cover off a competent T.J. Yates and a first-rate threat in Brandon Tate, a killer with the ball in his hands in every facet and all of a sudden half of the best receiving tandem in the conference along with Hakeem Nicks. Other than maybe Clemson, this is the only offense in the league that looks so far like it's capable of and willing to stretch the field.
Bet the Field. Rutgers is just bad, Officially Bad, possibly approaching its pre-Ray Rice level of bad or even Syracuse Bad, for all we know. An explosive game against the Knights doesn't mean much if half the Big East is about to do the same thing. This is still a young team with an iffy quarterback, and if you still find yourself regretting it when you tap Yates with no consistent running game against Virginia Tech, of all teams, you'll only have yourself to blame.
Payout. 12 to 1. This number could go way up or way down depending on what happens Saturday. The Tar Heels haven't won an ACC title since 1980 and haven't come close since Brown's last year, 1997, but the talent level is at a competitive standard for the first time in ages and both of the top Coastal Division contenders come to Chapel Hill. Historically, it's a bad play; at the moment, it makes about as much sense as putting the chips on any other team's square.

 

[E.T.G.]

What do you think of PSU first half, banking on Temple feeling sorry for themselves after WK3.

On Utah with you, only other game we have in common. Good luck this week and great thread as always

 

[RJ Esq]

I like PSU 1H but that fuckin hook at 14' sticks out. Just hate the number. Might be solid to lay -14 (-125) there.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">3:12 PM (24 minutes ago)
KANSAS STATE AT LOUISVILLE: THE FACTOR FIVE FIVE FACTOR PREVIEW

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Welcome to our Factor Five Five Factor Preview of KSU at Louisville. This used to be six factors, but we tend to count like Aborigines: one, two, many. So actually listing five topics is a bit of a stretch anyway, let alone going to six.
The topic of day: tonight’s matchup between Kansas State and Louisville, the matchup that had to happen because America demanded it, but only in lieu of working or spending time with family, and because the two programs were starving for attention and went to great lengths to get said attention.

Notice the pseudo-stache: slipping Mustache Wednesday under the door!
Category one: Nebulous Statistical Comparisons of Dubious Validity. For K-State: 57 points a game. Kansas State earns plaudits for being explosive! Which they were against Montana State and North Texas, meaning we don’t know anything about them offensively other than Josh Freeman can complete around 75 percent of his passes against mediocre competition, and that he’s nowhere near the man-mountain he was last year when he came into practice using the assumed name “Terrence Cody.”
They’re one more team with no readable baseline at all thanks to early season warmups against no one at all.
Nebulous Statistical Comparisons of Dubious Validity, Louisville: 18.5 ppg, a deceptive total thanks to them facing a Kentucky team who racked up 17 points off Louisville turnovers in their 27-2 loss. Ron English has punted Louisville into an inversion of last year’s team: game-tight on defense, but atrocious on offense, as anyone who saw Hunter Cantwell’s performance against Kentucky will attest. He was throwing the ball to imaginary men and naming the clouds individually at the end of that game, and it was not pretty or funny, even to a sick, sick man like yourself. Defense will save them this year, since the competence transfusion over the off-season was zero-sum affair.
Advantage: Kansas State. We mean, did you see the Louisville offense? Really?
Kansas State, You’ve been factor’d!
Category Two: Mascot: We’d put a picture of K-States mascot here, but two years ago we received a very sternly worded email that K-State ’s hideous mascot, which is really just a man in a football uniform with a cat head plopped on his shoulders, is the exclusive property of the university, and is not to be taken lightly.
Thus, by default, we take the toothed bird, because hostile as he may look, he doesn’t care if you take a picture, unlike some ASSHOLE FAKE CATMEN we know.

THAT BIRD HAS TEETH OMG RUN!!!
Advantage: Louisville.
Louisville, You’ve Been Factor’d!
Category Three: Aura: Kragthorpe versus Prince in a…holy hell, we can’t even psych up the energy for a death match here, so oddly conjoined are these two relatively mystique-immune programs. Steve Kragthorpe might be phenomenally overmatched by his job; Ron Prince dances when excited and has a fetish for tiny running backs. The deciding factor will be…hey, Schnellenberger coached for Louisville, right? Even a trace of his scent in the hallways gives the Cardinals the advantage. (And also gives bystanders a running .05 BAC on contact.
Advantage: Louisville.
Louisville, You’ve Been Factor’d!
Category Four: Names. Louisville wins, no matter what. In fact, we’ll stop here and just say that we’re not even checking Kansas State’s roster. You can’t compete with Louisville’s TE and the only man who can break into Cartagena Prison, get Oscar Juarez out alive, and do it all without scarring a single one of his flawless abs:
Rock Keys, American Patriot, stunt driver, astronaut, and lover.

Advantage: Louisville. (Yes, even with Xzavier Stewart on board at K-State. Can he fly the space shuttle while making love to a model? No, he cannot.)
Louisville, You’ve Been Factor’d!
Grudges? Scores to settle? Sheer cussedness? None. This is Wednesday, and there’s a football game, and…well, you probably just want to watch a football game, and hey-o! Lookie there. A football game. Take a number, world: we have some quality punting to watch. If anything, you probably want to watch Ron Prince Walk it out he walk it out now walk it out now walk it out now walk it out.
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Advantage: K-State.
EDSBS FACTOR FIVE FIVE FACTOR PREVIEW SUM: 3-2, LOUISVILLE: You’ve Been Factor’d! Given the track record on these, this is a good indicator you should put your money on K-State like ten minutes ago. Whatever: this passing fad called “science” will blow over soon enough.






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[RJ Esq]

Maybe Washington will pick up DeMarcus Granger's hospital bill

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Ah, the devastating, career-threatening low blow. In 2007, we had the Auburn chop block on Glenn Dorsey. In 2008, it's an old-fashioned triple team on DeMarcus Granger, apparently directed by Washington center and ex-gangbanger Juan Garcia along with line mates Casey Bulyca and Jordan White-Frisbee, roughly half of ton of angry purple rolling up Granger after little shoving match:

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Oklahoma fans can probably find some other words for it, especially now that Granger is probably out for the season as a result. Although Bob Stoops is very zen for a guy losing an all-Big 12 anchor in the middle of his defense:

"Three guys didn't go and say, 'hey were going to twist his ankle,' said Stoops. "He got caught in the turf and you get double-teamed in there and that happens sometimes. There isn't anyone here whining or complaining about anything."
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I'm not sure that "whining or complaining" would be exactly uncalled-for in this case, actually, when it looks like three guys actually tried to do something much worse that "twist his ankle." Oklahoma has an embarrassment of defensive tackle riches, of course, but Granger was a show-stopping recruit even by Sooner standards in 2006 and now won't be around for the junior-year payoff thanks to an intentional -- albeit legal, until the punch -- attack. I wouldn't be worried so much about "whining or complaining" as I would about never putting a team on the field with Pac-10 officials again. Even when they win, OU can't catch a break in the Northwest.

 

[E.T.G.]

wowow didn't see that happened to granger like that. the auburn chop block last yr was REAL bad.

 

[RJ Esq]

Awful night last night.

K-State's Loss Begins Week 4 Trend for Big 12

from The Sporting Blog
The Ryder Cup at Valhalla was the reason your television set featured Kansas State at Louisville last night. The Vikings swarmed into town, took all the hotel rooms, and pretty soon K-State discovered they'd all been booked. Therefore, your rare Wednesday night game of lightweight-to-interesting football circumstance, the Head-Cats versus the Cards.

If you missed it and want to see something positive that K-State did, let's just get you off to the misleading start you deserve: A fantastic punt return by K-State's Deon Murphy, featuring not one but two death-defying cutbacks that, if they had not worked, would have earned him vomit-inducing gassers with certainty. <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XwbP2zEpqvQ&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout

Fortunately for Deon, Louisville decided good tackling was too strenuous to "waste" on special teams. Unfortunately, K-State's defense noticed this, liked what they saw, and decided to follow suit, allowing Louisville to run for a ghastly 303 yards on the night, helping the Cards polish off a 38-29 win with ease. Thus continues the common understanding that if it says Ron Prince Football, it means maddeningly inconsistent football. Your trendspotting tip of the day: with the first significant non-conference slate rolling through the conference, look for middling results in those games to temper the current mania for Big 12 futures. Colorado has West Virginia, Baylor plays UConn, and Miami plays the Aggies in College Station. Dan Hawkins will surely be ripping phone books in half and hosting motivational walks across burning coals in an attempt to get his linebackers to catch Pat White. (There aren't enough phone books in the known universe to make this happen, but he'll try.)

 

[RJ Esq]

Michigan State Trash Talks UM Playboy Models

Published by J Koot at 5:36 am under Michigan, Michigan State, d-cups

Visited 233 times, 233 so far today

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We continue to delve deeper into the news coming out of the Playboy Big Ten Campus Tour.
Last night the action was in East Lansing where the girls signed autographs in a liquor store.
Yes, right in front of 40 oz. bottles of malt liquor.
And it seems the ladies were in the mood to have a little fun at the expense of University of Michigan Playboy models, according to fine reporting at the Lansing State Journal.

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Wisper family: MSU ladies much prettier than UM ​

(Lynn) Wisper - who posed in the magazine with fellow student Ryan Lovette - said she felt a little like a celebrity signing autographs. A few times, she signed her name along with “Go MSU” or “Go Spartans.”
A senior majoring in hospitality business, Wisper received nothing but accolades from her family and friends.
“They loved the pictures. They said that the girls from State looked the best,” she said. “Much better than U of M.”
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A family that talks smack has hero status with Busted Coverage. Go, family!
But that wasn’t the only stab at Michigan women.

“MSU girls are definitely the hottest because U of M has been keeping ugly girls out of State since 1865,” one Spartans student told the LSJ.
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First it was that pseudo University of Florida chick trash talking the Big Ten. Now the schools are turning on each other.
Can’t we all just get along and naked?
MSU Playboy Ladies:

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UM Playboy Ladies:

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[RJ Esq]

Kirk Herbstreit’s Extreme Tan Removed From Bus

Published by J Koot at 4:10 am under Celeb-Gasm

Visited 166 times, 166 so far today

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An (unnamed) industry source told us a great story this week about Kirk Herbstreit being disappointed how his picture turned out on the side of the ESPN GameDay bus.
It seems he was a little too well done.
Too tan. Almost….um…black!
Herbstreit complained and ESPN did the logical and had the wrap removed for a new, lighter version of Frosted Tips. The new picture made its debut at the USC game.

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Great Photoshop job, fellas, but actually he now looks a little too blown out.
And what’s up with that really brown edge around his hair?
We’ll be keeping an eye on this bus for any other future changes.

 

[RJ Esq]

Free bit of advice, part two. Coach McCarty, please feel free to utilize these same drills when...

from Bring On The Cats by Panjandrum
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Coach McCarty, please feel free to utilize these same drills when coaching the offensive line. It would be nice, after three years, to, you know, gain a couple of yards in the running game.

 

[RJ Esq]

Week 4 Notes and Thoughts…

from underdogsofwar.com by horses
Start off by saying that there are two really tasty looking ‘dogs this weekend; I have played one and am still contemplating the other:
San Jose St +10 over Stanford – Got this at a fairly key number; Stanford has blown SJSU out 3 out of the L4 meetings with the Spartans getting the one-point win in the other game. Stanford has also covered 5 out of the last 6. That being said, this is the best SJSU team in a while as the return of RB Davis gives them balance on offense. The addition of a coupe P10 transfers has rejuvenated the D. I’m impressed with their last two efforts in Lincoln and home to my Aztecs, while Stanford has been dominated on the stat sheet in all three of their contests. Go with the ‘dog in a NOCAL rivalry.
Toledo +7 over Fresno St - Obvious situational play but I was also impressed with Toledo last week and now they’re coming back home for their opener where they have a very legit HFA. Won’t remark too much on Fresneck except to say the situation is exasperated in that they don’t even have a conf gm to play this week. As far as season goals go, this game is almost meaningless to them as the BCS is out. Worst situation possible and I don’t care what kind of lip service they’re giving it, the history points to a subpar effort here. Still haven’t played though
One would think I’d be pretty ecstatic with the week the MWC had (and I am), but it is certainly tempered by the fact that my school was the only team to lose, as the Aztecs fell to the Spartans up in San Jose. In fact, as the entire conference rises to new heights with three legit top 25 teams, the Aztecs are at their depths of their existence. There are many reasons for this, but that is an entirely different post. What should be known is that their very existence is in some jeopardy; the Chargers are free to negotiate with other cities for a stadium deal starting this January. If they leave, Qualcomm Stadium becomes a VERY valuable real estate property with no solvent tenants. You can only have so many monster truck pulls. Without Qualcomm, the Aztecs would have no division I stadium available to them. Padres owner Moores, a known Aztec supported, could step up and offer PETCO…keep an eye on the Chargers starting this offseason; getting a new stadium has proven to be next to impossible and with the right offer…the Chargers could bolt. (sorry).
Moving on…I played two large favorites at the beginning of the week as I put both spreads in the 30’s and I wanted to get them before they went over 28…
Penn St -28 over Temple – Yes, conference opener on deck, but Paterno has remarked on the focus and the maturity of this team. High praise indeed. Temple has played two games and has been ahead in those two games all but 2 minutes…and they are 0-2 SU including a devastating loss on a hail mary last week. Did I mention they are beat to shit on defense and have a MAC game on deck? Penn St has scored 35 in the 1^st half of all their games and should roll here.
BYU -27’ over Wyoming – This is really just one team is really good and the other team really sucks. Everything I read indicates North Dakota St was clearly the better team last week and Wyoming won strictly on turnovers. I guess that gives them confidence, but I think the Cougs can name the score here and will be up for the conference opener. BYU’s goals are clear this year and style points are part of attaining those goals.

At this point I am happier with the BYU bet than the Penn St bet; the B10 opener next week raises a concern as does the fact Temple HC Golden and 5 staff members played for and/or coached with Paterno at one time. There is a concern that this could turn into a ‘friendly scrimmage’ with Temple getting to next week healthier and Penn St getting by and focusing on their conference opener. DeMichele does offer backdoor opportunities as well, something I don’t see so much from the Wyoming pass offense. There is a good chance I’ll buy half of this bet back…
Other leans that could end up as plays this week include Oregon, Kent St, Purdue, Marshall, Boston College, Auburn and Miami (Fl).
So far the year has not been up to par; losing the first two weekends and then eecking a small profit this past weekend. Two losses that kept it from being a stellar weekend was Auburn…I really felt they should have covered this game outgaining Miss St 3:1; in the end though, you gotta give that Bulldog defense some credit. They were outstanding. Also had Arizona St as the last game on an 11 team ML parlay that had no other close games. Turns out a freshman makes a one handed catch on 4^th down for a UNLV TD to send the game into OT where ASU’s All-Pac 10 kicker gets his kick blocked.
The bane of my first two losing weekends have been road underdogs; I swear, you study Steele all summer, come up with some power ratings…and proceed to hop on road dogs such Louisiana Lafayette and Western Michigan in week 1. Thing about road dogs is that I am finding it tough to trust power ratings when it comes to them…first off, they’re on the road…second off, if they’re any kind of significant dog…say over 7…they’re pretty much the inferior team as well. These two factors often make perceived line value irrelevant, since the home team is capable of garnering momentum and completely blowing the road team out. The so-called snowball effect. We saw it in its truest form in Provo this past weekend. Pretty sure if UCLA was +21 people would have seen value and jumped on it…wouldn’t have mattered one bit once the snowball starts rolling.
So far have played two totals this week as well, one of which Mike likes as well:
Idaho/Utah St under 63
New Mexico St/UTEP over 58’
That’s all for now sluts; should be back with a late week post with the rest of my plays and thoughts.
Horses

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">9:01 PM (10 hours ago)
Temple Preview: Yes, It Contains Filth, Flarn, Flarn, Filth.

from Black Shoe Diaries by Run Up The Score

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"Is the glass half-full or half-empty? It depends on whether you're pouring or drinking." -- Bill Cosby​

Who Shot Who In The What, Now?: Temple (1-2) at Penn State (3-0). Kickoff at Beaver Stadium is 12:00 p.m. Or, given the legal action yesterday, "high noon."
Kicking Television: The Big Ten Network brings you the action. Mark Neely, Glen Freakin' Mason, and Kenny Jackson will probably say various things to annoy you.
A Fool And His Money: The Nittany Lions are 28.5 point favorites.
Dubious Statistical Achievements: Funny thing about this game. Penn State is playing an opponent which, after three games, has only trailed for one minute and forty-nine seconds this season. And they're 1-2. Those of you who regularly visited Run Up The Score will know that when it comes to a future head coach at Penn State*, I'm an Al Golden guy. And with Greg Schiano looking absolutely helpless as Rutgers laid consecutive, nationally televised turds on the dinner plates of their fans, Al Golden could easily be rolling into Happy Valley this week with an undefeated Temple squad.
Unfortunately for my Diabolical Golden Scheme, the remnants of Hurricane Hanna didn't cooperate with Temple's plans during an overtime Mud Bowl loss to Connecticut. And then this happened last week:

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Poor Temple.
Lest We Forget: Temple actually moved the ball in chunks during last year's game in Philly. The score may have ended at 31-0, but Temple took the opening kickoff and proceeded down to the PSU 5 before imploding and missing a chip shot field goal. Their third offensive drive died at the PSU 13, their fourth ended at the PSU 10. All of that, with a backup quarterback. Temple came out with a beautiful offensive plan against a better defense than we currently possess, and succeeded.
The Mystery Machine: What is Temple's defense, exactly? Hard to tell. They gave up a bunch of rushing yards to Army, but that's all Army knows. The UConn game was a slopfest, not exactly useful as a data point. That leaves last week's Buffalo game, in which our old friend Drew Willy (you'll remember him torching the PSU secondary last year) threw for well over 300 yards. So...yes. That's Temple's defense.
Son Of Dubious Statistical Achievements: In the 1994 meeting between these teams, Kerry Collins completed 12 passes for 286 yards (23.8 ypc) and wasn't even the game's leading passer. Henry Burris threw for 323 yards...on 23 more attempts. Another weird fact from the Game Notes -- Penn State has scored 35+ points in its first three games. The last time that happened? 1994. Just stoking the fire of your offensive dreams, folks.
This Post Is Worthless Without Another Bill Cosby Reference: Okay, okay. Here's Eddie Murphy's classic Cosby impression (if you're at work and don't know what you're getting yourself into, just wait until you get home, seriously). But this isn't all just about the pudding pop guy. What about proud Temple alums Bob Saget and Daryl Hall? Will nobody speak for the surprisingly dirty comics and blue-eyed soul crooners?
* - At least when choosing among the commonly accepted possibilities.






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[RJ Esq]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="col0">Wells 'questionable' for Troy game

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

• Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said Beanie Wells is questionable this week
• Wells worked out but did not participate in team drills
• Tressel said surgery will not be necessary for Wells' foot injury

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</td></tr></tbody></table>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio State coach Jim Tressel swears that tailback Chris "Beanie" Wells will be back this season. Tressel either doesn't know or isn't saying for sure when that will be.
Wells, sidelined since hurting his right foot in the season opener against Youngstown State, is still taking baby steps with getting ready to play in a game. He has run through some drills with the rest of the Buckeyes running backs, but has not faced contact and has not done much other than gingerly running in a straight line.
"I did see him sweating," tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator John Peterson said with a grin after Wednesday night's practice. "I saw a bunch of sweat on his head. So that was a good sign."
Peterson said he did not know what Wells did in practice, how he was feeling or if he was sore or tired. Ohio State's practices are closed to media.
Team spokeswoman Shelly Poe would only confirm that Wells practiced.
Tressel said at his weekly news conference on Tuesday that Wells is questionable for the 13th-ranked Buckeyes game Saturday game against Troy, but added that Wells had been participating in conditioning and workouts.
"Beanie's still in a day-to-day evaluation process," Peterson said.
Asked if Wells' mysterious injury -- no Ohio State official has given its exact nature or severity, and Wells has not been permitted to speak to reporters -- might require surgery, Tressel said no. Asked if there's a chance Wells might miss the rest of the season, Tressel answered, "I have not heard that once."
Several Ohio State players have said Wells is looking and feeling better every day.
But if Wells is close to being ready to go, that's news to Ben Person. And Person starts at right guard on Ohio State's offensive line.
"I don't think he even practiced," he said after Tuesday's practice.
Yet safety Kurt Coleman, while conceding that Wells did not participate in team workouts, gushed about the possibility of Wells returning.
"He's looking good," he said. "I didn't get to see him much on the offensive side of the ball. But I saw how he's working out. Hopefully he's going to be back this week. He's looking a lot better."
Tressel and several members of his coaching staff said last week that they were encouraged by Wells' workouts on Monday. But when asked to do more in Tuesday's practice, he was extremely sore.
With Wells watching from the sideline the last two games, Ohio State has not been able to run the ball effectively. In a tight 26-14 comeback win over Ohio two weeks ago, starter Dan Herron, Brandon Saine and Maurice Wells combined for 113 yards on 26 carries.
Then in Saturday night's deflating 35-3 defeat at top-ranked Southern California, those three mustered 59 yards on 14 attempts.
"I think our guys have confidence in Danny Herron and Brandon Saine and Mo Wells," Tressel said.
Herron, a redshirt freshman, has started both games that Wells has missed. He said the team missed Wells, but needed to get past that.
"We have a great group of running backs," he said. "Of course, (Beanie) is a great part. But we're all working hard. The team is taking it all on."
Wells' status has reinforced Troy's confidence coming into Ohio Stadium.
"With Beanie (playing for Ohio State), I think we've got a good chance," Trojans safety Tavares Williams said. "Without Beanie, I think we've got a great chance to win. It takes away what they want to do and that's come out and power it right at us."

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">Sep 17, 2008 (14 hours ago)
West Virginia Should Take This Altitude Thing a Little More Seriously

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Colorado, West Virginia, Big 12, Big East

Last week, West Virginia coach Bill Stewart wasn't all that worried about the change in altitude for this weeks game between the Mountaineers and Colorado.

"I just don't think that's a big problem. I think it's kind of comical,'' Stewart said Tuesday. "I lived out there for four years at the Air Force Academy and we were at 6,800 feet. Now, when we went on our retreat with Coach [Fisher] DeBerry, we went up to almost 10,000 feet. Now that's a problem. I jogged up there. But [at Air Force] I ran 100 miles a week, 50 weeks a year for four years.''​

From what I've read this week, Stewart's opinion hasn't changed. I left West Virginia Sunday to attend the game, and have been staying at 8,000 feet above sea level in Conifer, CO (20 minutes from Red Rocks Amphitheater). And I can tell you that the change in altitude has a lot more effect on a persons body than just their ability to exert themselves physically. Given, Boulder is just 5,400 feet above sea level it might not have the same effect as where I am, but still you can't discount the effect it has. I've been plagued by horrible migraines and sinus problems since I arrived. The cure for this is keeping your body hydrated and a good supply of Ibuprofen. Even at that, it is still easy to get winded up here. Seriously, that's the last time I offer to take out the trash!



West Virginia has been experimenting with a piece of equipment, called a Hypoxico Chamber that simulates altitude changes. It's a piece of equipment purchased while Rich Rodriguez and former strength and conditioning coach Mike
Barwis were still at West Virginia. Thus far, it is proving to be as valuable to West Virginia as the former coach. Which is to say, not at all. In order for the chamber to be of any value to an athlete, they would need to train in it extensively for days in a row to prepare for a game at higher altitude. And give that football teams have 85 players on scholarship, it's impossible to get everyone in for some training.



West Virginia traveled to Colorado yesterday to get and extra day to acclimate to the altitude. But if my own personal experiences are any indication, that wasn't long enough. I was out here in the spring and it took every bit of a week for my body to adjust. For West Virginia's sake, I hope I'm a rare exception.






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">Sep 17, 2008 (14 hours ago)
Mid-Week Madness: What Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman would have done as Dr. Sam Beckett of Quantum Leap

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Jonathan Tu

Kansas State visits Louisville tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

• Much like Sam Beckett, the Kansas State gunslinger helps Buddy Holly pen “Peggy Sue.” Unlike the milquetoast Beckett, Freeman offers to upgrade Holly to first class on his flight from Wisconsin to Iowa.
• Freeman still saves the life of Henry Heimlich, but instead of the familiar-to-us technique involving sharp pressure to the abdomen the methodology employed by Freeman calls for slow tempo stomach-drumming in the mamba style while the patient dances atop a flag pole.
• Instead of trying to bluff his way past the security at the Watergate Hotel in order to get his future wife -- a very lost looking Teri Hatcher -- to talk to her father again, Freeman concentrates very hard, squints his eyes and, after a Shaolin-esque humming and moaning exercise, expectorates the June 23, 1972 tape recording of Richard Milhous Nixon asking the directors of the CIA and FBI to help in halting the investigation ... which is picking up steam six days after the Quantum Leap episode in question. Meta!
• Rather than help Jack Kerouac dispense advice to a young woman, Freeman kills the beat poet, saving the author of "On The Road" from causing a million young men and women to embark on poorly conceived journeys into self, art and poorly worded verse. Just for verisimilitude and also because William S. Burroughs is so convincing, the K-State playmaker goes through with the whole take-lots-of-drugs thing.
• Freeman doesn't actually change a thing that Sam Beckett did as Elvis Presley. Instead, the dark horse Heisman hopeful hangs on until the bitter end in the vain hope that he can get the King to die on his toilet instead of merely near it. Destiny's insuperable barriers being what they are, Freeman-King passes away gloriously near the can.






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[RJ Esq]

 

[RJ Esq]

Utah State football: Is the end near for this Guy?

[FONT=Verdana,Helvetica,Arial]By Jared Eborn[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Helvetica,Arial]Deseret News[/FONT]
Published: September 18, 2008
LOGAN — When the lowly Idaho Vandals make their visit to Romney Stadium on Saturday, the game may be seen as a chance for a new beginning for the few remaining supporters of the Utah State football team. It also might be seen as the end.
After last weekend's 58-10 thrashing at the hands of Utah, the whispers coming out of Logan about coach Brent Guy's future grew a little louder.
With a career record of 6-32, Guy has not come close to turning the Aggies into a competitive football team. And after being outscored 151-51 in the first three games of the current season, the pressure is getting heavier.
Only 19,000 fans trickled into Romney Stadium on Saturday to see the loss. Several thousand of those were Utah fans, meaning only 10,000-12,000 Aggie fans attended the home opener against a No. 22-ranked traditional rival.
That there were so many empty seats might not come as a big surprise, though. Utah State hasn't treated its fans to a home victory since Oct. 7, 2006. The Aggies have won only three times in Logan since Guy arrived more than three seasons ago.
Those whispers about when Guy might lose his job became shouts in some corners of Aggie-nation. Post-game radio shows, Internet message boards and fan blogs alike were peppered with calls for Guy's dismissal.
"Utah State, I am willing to make a deal with you right here and now. If you fire Brent Guy RIGHT NOW I will do everything in my power to drive up from Salt Lake for the remaining home games and support our program," wrote one person in a comment following the loss. "I will do everything in my power to get as many of my family and friends to do the same. I will donate money to the BBSF. I'll do whatever I can to help you out. Keep Guy, and I am done with Utah State football until he is gone. I will not come to a single game until he is gone."
Guy acknowledged the fans and administration have reason to be angry.
"In my opinion, that was one of the worst performances that I have coached since I have been here," Guy said of the loss to Utah. "I take total responsibility for it. We could not get anything started on offense, and we were not able to stop them on defense. There were a couple of bright spots on (special) teams. That was it."
According to one USU player, some members of the team have already slipped into complacency and may no longer care.
"We don't know how to win," senior wide receiver Otis Nelson said. "People just don't compete — period. If something goes bad, they don't want to fight back. They don't want to go through adversity, fight back."
After the debacle suffered in the Aggies' home-opener, Guy's emotions were evident.
"We're at ground zero now," he said. "This is one of the worst performances we've had since I've been here. And I take full responsibility for it. When players play as poorly as we did, well then, I kind of take it personal. And I told them that as far as I was concerned we were at ground zero. The towers have come down, and it's my job to figure out how to get them back on track."
And while comparing the most recent loss to the events of Sept. 11 may have been one giant case of hyperbole, it offers a glimpse into the desperation Guy is feeling.
But with the Vandals, which USU beat 24-19 in Moscow last year, coming to town, there is hope — however faint it may be — that Utah State can salvage something from this season. A win would be the Aggies' third straight WAC victory and buffer the pain associated with their lopsided losses to ranked opponents.
A loss, however, may be the tipping point. With BYU up next on the schedule, an 0-5 start would be a near certainty and the view doesn't get better with a two-game road swing to deal with.

<hr width="250">

Brent Guy at Utah State
Overall record: 6-32
Home record: 3-13
Road record: 3-19
Non-conference record: 1-13
WAC record: 5-19
Points per game: 22.0
Points allowed: 36.3
Total home attendance: 188,999
Average home attendance: 11,812

Aggies on the air
Utah State (0-3, 0-0) vs. Idaho (1-2, 0-0)
Saturday, 2 p.m.
Romney Stadium
TV: Altitude
Radio: 1320 AM, 610 AM

 

[RJ Esq]

Big expectations for FIU football stadium

FIU hopes the unveiling of its on-campus stadium will help transform the school into a college football powerhouse.

Posted on Thu, Sep. 18, 2008

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BY PETE PELEGRIN

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DAVID ADAME / FOR THE MIAMI HERALD
A wide view from the top deck during at the new FIU football stadium.
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The ''centerpiece'' is unveiled Saturday, when FIU takes on No. 12 South Florida.
FIU Stadium -- the new $50 million on-campus home of the Golden Panthers -- opens to a standing room-only crowd and a national audience watching on ESPNU.
The new stadium -- which is being built in several phases and is expected to be completed as early as 2015, with a capacity of 45,000 and an upper deck -- will hold 20,000 in the first phase and include the FIU field house, which is set to open in April with a state-of-the art weight-training center for all FIU athletes.
Besides being the home to FIU football, FIU Stadium also will hold professional soccer, high school football games, events, concerts and political rallies.
''This stadium is not only the centerpiece for FIU,'' athletic director Pete Garcia said, ``but it will be an important part of the South Florida community in the years to come, where many of the important South Florida events will be held.''
BY THE NUMBERS
$80 million - Expected cost for the complete stadium project.
$1.1 million - Cost of the FieldTurf playing surface. Former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino helped FIU secure a grant to defray the cost of the new field.
50,000 - Square feet in the FIU fieldhouse, which contains the FIU athletics weight room, FIU locker room, coaches' offices, training/rehab center and FIU ticket offices.
13,000 - Square feet in the weight training room.
6,000 - Season tickets sold this season.
6,500 - Square feet, the size of the Stadium Club, which is open for all suite and club seats holders. The Stadium Club will be the only place where alcohol is sold. The Stadium Club will also host banquets, meetings and weddings.
1,500 - Season tickets sold last season.
1,440 - Club seats.
200 - FIU Bricks sold at $125 each for the FIU Brick Plaza. The personally-engraved bricks have messages and names of FIU fans and pave the entrance to the Stadium Club.
40 - Club suites when the stadium is complete in 2011.
19 - Club suites.
13 - Yards between the sideline and the first row of seats on the south side of the stadium.
7 - Yards between the back of the end zone and the first row of seats.
6 - Team meeting rooms embedded into the west end zone bleachers. These rooms will double on game days as suites with a patio area overlooking the field for the FIU football staff to host recruits and the athletic administration to host donors and alumni. The rooms will also be used as classrooms during the week.
1 - American Idol. Syesha Mercado, an FIU student and finalist on the TV show, will sing the national anthem before Saturday's game against South Florida.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">7:41 AM (42 minutes ago)
Thursday Headlinin': Ron Prince's final countdown?

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

• The truth will set you back a million or two. Either Kentucky's defense is really good, after all, or Kansas State is in for another very, very long season despite those pretty purple pants. See: giving up almost 600 yards, more than 300 rushing, in a lopsided loss to Louisville that wasn't even as close as the 38-29 final Wednesday night. This is the same Cardinal offense last seen laying a zero-point, five-turnover egg against Kentucky, leaving K-State boss Ron Prince to rally his shellshocked charges around a hopeful assessment of continued progress:

"There is no positive or silver lining to any of this," Prince said.
​

Completely true, and thus by his own hand begins the Ron Prince Hot Seat Watch. The honesty is refreshing, coach, but next time (and there will be plenty of next times against the Murderer's Row of Big 12 quarterbacks, believe me), take a page from Tim Brewster's playbook and repeat silently to yourself, "Lipstick on a pig. Lipstick on a pig ..."
• Drinking and driving a lame vehicle. Technically -- and maybe in no other sense, but technically -- a mo-ped is a motor vehicle in the eyes of the law, as Wisconsin's Jonathan Casillas found out when he was pulled over on campus in late August with an unidentified passenger holding on tight and a breathalyzer score that could wilt a flower on Winston Churchill's lapel. That's good for three misdemeanors, which Bret Bielema said were punished internally, "the same way as any alcohol or drug [violation]." This being Wisconsin, I assume that process involves a "lesson" learned through some combination of pre-dawn ice-diving, cow tipping and Brett Favre Aaron Rodgers idol worship. That's only a guess, though.
Elsewhere in chemically-induced Big Ten chargin', two of the four Penn State players initially named for the noise-n-weed "bust" at their campus apartment two weeks ago were formally charged with one count each of marijuana possession. Abe Koroma and reigning Big Ten sack leader Maurice Evans have missed the last two games, to no effect on the Lion defense, and are still awaiting word on their fate from Joe Paterno, who only wants to know, "They were doing what with this 'Mary Jane'?"
• Jerry Jones bless this mess. Dallas unveiled $57 million in Cotton Bowl renovations for the press Tuesday, and the writers left mostly impressed by the expanded seating and structural upgrades. Yes, the classic old stadium has been reduced to Texas-Oklahoma and the Cotton Bowl game itself, and even the latter is bailing in 2009 along with several regular season Big 12 games per year for the Cowboys' state-of-the-art Football Mall, which will hover over downtown or something. Still, tens of millions of public dollars was totally worth it:
The renovations are already having an impact, Mr. Huerta said.
The city recently signed Texas Southern University and the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff to play at the Cotton Bowl.

TSU and UAPB join Texas, Oklahoma, Prairie View A&M, Grambling, Texas A&M-Commerce and East Central U. as Cotton Bowl-featured teams this year. So, yeah, like I said: totally worth it.
Quickly . . .
Jonathan Crompton's ankle is fine and the Tennessee quarterback will start Saturday against Florida. . . . If the early returns are indication, there will be more Nebraska pay-per-view games ahead. . . . Ex-Florida player Mike Nattiel was hit with gun and weed charges in a traffic stop Tuesday in Gainesville. . . . An ankle injury to left tackle Kiante Tripp will ensure even more offensive line shuffling at Georgia. It was a little cool for the Bulldogs' practice Wednesday, too. . . . Pitt linebacker Shane Murray will be back in the lineup against Iowa. . . . Joe McKnight returned to practice Wednesday, migraines/concussion be damned. . . . And USC's Shareece Wright pled not guilty to resisting a police officer at a party, and the judge is not particularly sympathetic.






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">10:03 AM (47 minutes ago)
The Works, Bounces off me, sticks to you-style

from The Joe Cribbs Car Wash by Jerry Hinnen
One of the truly great things about being an Auburn fan during the Tuberville era is that the more Auburn gets ripped in the press, the more Auburn's mocked by opposing fans, the less and less people expect out of the team ... the more confident I get. So particularly when the soundtrack is as mighty fine as it is here, I have no problem with posting the EDSBS video that's made the rounds:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EDdt3UBAi_Y&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout

even if I think the Auburner's version is a little more accurate portrayal of the game:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6h-lP-MADvo&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout

Plus, it has Queen, so music-wise, you can't really go wrong either way here.

Even when the HA-ha's directed in Auburn's, uh, direction have been a little more mean-spirited than Orson's, you have to laugh when they're done up right, as Gump4Heisman's most certainly are. Behold:



Also, your money quote:

This instructional series features the same techniques that produced back-to-back-to-back A.U. punting situations!!!​

At our expense or not, this is the good stuff. Substantially simpler (and with a misquote I've taken the liberty of correcting) but also amusing was JRS's take at Lifetime of Defeats:




Coming from an Auburn fan that's not quite exactly a diss, but if you need any more Auburn-centric slapdowns for your bulletin board TWER has you covered.

Hey, this is fun. Remember when we were promised that Auburn would keep a two-back set handy for red zone situations? So does Evan Woodberry:

During the offseason rubber-chicken circuit, a staple of Tommy Tuberville's stump speech was the promise that Auburn would not abandon its two-back offense entirely and that the Tigers could line up and punch the ball into the end zone when necessary.

So what happened?

"I lied," Tuberville said with a smile.​

Great. But at least now that we've seen how totally ill-equipped the spread is at powering in against a quality defense like Miss. St.'s, we'll look at getting something new installed, right, Tubby?

"What you do is you look at what (opponents) are doing on defense. (Saturday), even out in the open field, that wouldn't have helped any. The best thing you can do, and most teams do on the goal line, is keep it spread out - try to take another guy out of the box instead of having to try to block him."​

#%@&! Well, even if they've got it spread out, as long as Burns is at the controls we can expect to see some improvement. Anniston Star beat writer Luke Brietzke, your thoughts?

Everyone still wants to know about the QB situation, so here's the story: Chris Todd is the starter. He will be the starter unless coaches see a reason for change. If I had to bet, and thankfully I don't, I would bet Todd plays every offensive snap barring injury.​

*head explodes*

All right, some good news. Apparently Lester's going to play, which can't hurt, assuming of course he's going to stop slathering his hands with bacon grease during warm-ups. Auburntron points out the parallels between 2004 and 2008 seem to be growing stronger, though I wish "Offense includes Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, Jason Campbell, and Marcus McNeill" was one of them. And more importantly, LSU's quarterback situation remains, well, a situation. Richard Pittman at ATVS:

In watching the videos, I was struck by something troubling. Andrew Hatch's body language is terrible. He slouches. He shrugs his shoulders. He shakes his head a lot. If you're a believer in body language, it betrays a certain lack of comfort and lack of confidence.​

Pittman admits it may be a "mirage," but you look at the Evil Brandon-esque pick he throws in the highlight near the end of this clip:





you have to wonder.

Intriguing. Tulane head coach Bob Toledo on the two teams his Green Wave has faced thus far:

(He) didn't hesitate to call East Carolina a better team than Alabama, the Green Wave's season opening opponent. Toledo justified his assertion by saying that East Carolina is a more seasoned team that Alabama, which is playing with a lot of younger players. "In my mind they're better than Alabama," Toledo said.​

ECU's a top-notch football team, so this is hardly a slap-in-the-face. But I still figured you'd want to know.

Is it ever not a good time for random Dameyune Craig links? The reference to Craig in the Q&A below sent me on a quick dash to find his stats from the game Poseur was referring to, but I found something probably even more interesting: a fawning Dameyune fan page put together by a supporters' group of the since-dissolved Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe. Amongst the lists of various Craig accomplishments with the Claymores, there's this pic:



which is kind of awesome.

Dude. Come on. A quick follow-up on my recent little run-in with Matt Zemek, the CFN writer who told anyone who believed the Ohio game boded ill for Ohio St. they "know nothing about college football." This week, Zemek attempted to "re-explain" (awesome) his position by pointing out that OSU did, in fact, play with a lot more intensity during the first half vs. USC than they had against Ohio, a brilliant revelation that apparently was all he was really trying to predict in the first place. He writes:

Ohio State didn't get crushed by USC because of anything that happened in the Ohio game. OSU lost because USC had a better team; because Beanie Wells didn't return; because OSU didn't play up to its talent level and because OSU made untimely mistakes.(emphasis added)​

Gee, do you think the reason so many people seemed to know ahead of time that USC was the better team and that Ohio State had a tendency to make untimely mistakes might have been that they paid attention to the Ohio game that supposedly you'd only pay attention to if you knew nothing about football? Cripes, even Stewart Mandel has the good sense to admit when he's wrong.

Etc. Will previews the Tiger Bowl with his usual panache ... the Pigskin Pathos needs sign suggestions ... the shotgun pitch should probably be scrapped ... War Eagle Extra is back in business ... Rodney Scott might not be as soft a verbal as you've heard, though he will check out USF ... and anyone who boos Saturday should immediately be handed a crimson jersey and escorted back to Tuscaloosa, where they take their booing seriously--as in "We resent our athletic director telling us not to boo a team that's just had to flee a hurricane" seriously.

And finally, a programming note. You'll notice there hasn't been any recapping this week; this is because I am a coward and could not bring myself to watch that game a second time when there were other things I could be doing/writing. Hopefully, this will be a one-time thing.





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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">10:01 AM (48 minutes ago)
Post-Game Reaction: Whiskey Lullaby

from Bring On The Cats by TB
Last night's final, 38-29, might seem to indicate that this game was a two-score game. To the uninitiated, it might indicate that K-State and UL played a neck-and-neck game, with Louisville pulling away late for the win. If you thought that, you would be very, very wrong.
Ron Prince hit the nail on the head today. There is no silver lining. There is nothing good to take away from this game. Our offense, outside of a few nice throws by Josh Freeman and runs-after-catch by his receivers, was awful. Our defense looked like the defense from the last four games of last year, out of position and missing tackles.
We've had a few discussions recently concerning midweek games, and the exposure they provide. I never thought I'd turn down a chance to watch my Cats on TV, but last night we saw the other side of the double-edged sword that is a "spotlight" game. They're great if you win or play well against a really good team. But when you go on the road and get your ass handed to you by a mediocre Big East team, they're disastrous. Everybody outside Wildcat Nation now has all the proof they need to say, "See, same old Wildcats."
I wish I could argue with them.
What I liked...
A couple nice runs-after-catch by Brandon Banks and Jeron Mastrud. Freeman will be credited with three TDs on the night, and while he inarguably put the ball on target on all three throws, two of the TDs were due to very nice moves by the receivers after making the catch and the other was due to the fact that there wasn't a single UL defender between Banks and the end zone when he caught the ball.
What I didn't like...
Josh Freeman after the first quarter. In the first quarter, Freeman was 7/10 for 125 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs. Keep that pace up and we're looking at a big night. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Louisville realized in the second quarter that there was no way in hell we were going to successfully run the ball against them, so they went balls-to-the-wall to put pressure on Freeman, and it succeeded. PB posted, sometime early in the second quarter, that Freeman looked amazing when he stood tall in the pocket and delivered the ball with confidence. In the second quarter, he got rushed, started throwing off his back foot (see first INT, off Murphy's hands), and making bad decisions (see second INT, throwing into double coverage). Interestingly, Jason Whitlock managed to get it wrong while simultaneously getting it right this morning. Freeman was a big part of the problem, but it's ridiculous to say that Freeman hurt the team by throwing long completions for TDs. I don't care how short our possessions are, as long as we put points on the board. The problem is, we don't consistently put points on the board. If your short possessions are three-and-outs, then you're in trouble. You think Mizzou fans are complaining that Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin score too quickly? Yeah, didn't think so.
Absolute inability to run the ball. While UL has a good rushing defense, there is no way in hell a K-State team should only rush for 30 yards on 12 carries. There is no single problem with the running game right now for K-State. The offensive line gets no consistent push, leaving our running backs to make moves in the backfield to avoid losses and maybe pick up a couple yards. When our line does execute its blocking well, our running backs aren't good enough to consistently take advantage. God bless Keithen Valentine, he looks like a hard worker, but he is not a playmaker. On our second offensive play of the second half, the line actually opened up a nice hole. Valentine picked up six yards. I remarked to my roommate that a great running back might have broken that one for a long gain, and even a merely good running back would probably have picked up 15 yards. Don't get me wrong, I'd kill for six yards per carry, but our offensive line isn't going to open holes like that consistently, so we need to take advantage of them when they do. God, I miss Leon Patton.
Terrible defensive schemes and worse tackling fundamentals. There isn't much more to be said about this aspect right now, but if I can muster the courage I'm going to fire up the DVR this afternoon and rewatch UL's offensive possessions and keep track of how many times our players missed what should have been easy tackles. Suffice it to say, I HATE the 3-4 and am seriously concerned that Tim Tibesar should have been left as the special team's coach.
Finally, where has bold and daring gone? There was nothing resembling imagination in the play calling last night. It seemed like all we wanted to do was let Freeman drop back and sling the ball all over the field. Which is fine, he's a good quarterback, but the best quarterback won't win a game like that unless he has great players around him (see Daniel, Chase). We didn't even try to run the ball. Not that we were successful anyway. We didn't throw bubble screens to Brandon Banks. We didn't try a halfback pass. We didn't run a reverse to Deon Murphy (he probably would have dropped the ball anyway).
What it means and where we're going...
I'm desperately trying to convince myself that what we saw last night doesn't mean a reversion to the end-of-year slide last season. But I'm having serious issues doing so. In the immediate future, it means we come home to play Louisiana-Lafayette in nine days. The Ragin Cajuns are 0-2 on the season with a blowout loss to Southern Mississippi and a close loss to Illinois. They play their first home game this weekend when Kent State comes to town.
More to come soon.






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[RJ Esq]

Damn.

 

[RJ Esq]

More CFB press conference prank calls. Very funny after linky.

About Those Sword Fights at Baylor

from The Wiz of Odds by Jay Christensen

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">9:02 AM (1 hour ago)
WHY YOU SHOULD HATE TENNESSEE: COUNTRY MUSIC

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Hate Week has been sluggish on these internets this week, mostly because the game itself looms like a possible blowout for Florida, Tennessee fans have been hedging bets and drinking corn liquor from boots quietly in their hovels to prepare, and Florida fans have focused their energies by bitching about Emmanuel Moody’s lack of playing time.
So we had to dig deep to remember just why we hate the whole state of Tennessee, and suddenly one startling, shit-flecked reason splattered up from the depths of our subconscious: Nashville, Tennessee, where country music is processed, compacted, and then released on the world with a great farting noise from the anus of the country music industry.

Johnny hated Nashville. So should you.
Oh, country music didn’t necessarily start this way. Originally country music was written by men and women who barnstormed up from the electricity-free rural cowplots they were born in, and who alternated writing songs about drinking and fighting and fucking with songs about drinking while fucking, fucking while fighting, or about combinations of the three that happened while driving semi-trucks.
You know real country singers because they are either now all dead or semi-retarded from years of excessive alcohol and drug abuse. They did not have six-pack abs and did not manage their money. They died in fiery plane crashes and holding bottles of liquor; they clutched their hearts and fell to the ground when whole pieces of fatback clogged their arteries after years of eating vile road food. They were not pretty.
Their music was about life sucking, and oh wasn’t that a shame, so let’s just have a drink and forget about it. It was, on the whole, fundamentally honest music about life being hard for poor, violent, and uneducated people.
Not self-congratulatory twaddle like…well, like this:
I had a barbeque stain on my white tee-shirt,
And you were killin’ me in that miniskirt.
Skippin’ rocks on the river by the railroad tracks.
You had a suntan line and red lipstick,
I worked so hard for that first kiss.
And a heart don’t forget, something like that.
Okay: so you’re poorly groomed, she’s wearing a mini-skirt (of course), and you propose that you actually skipped stones on a river by a railroad track. How trope-ish of you to cite all of that campy rural imagery in a single verse! Live like you were dying! Oh, only if Tim McGraw. You and the entire industry cranking out music that tells people exactly what they want to hear about themselves and their lives.
Country music plays out now like some kind of long, dumbed-down daily affirmation set to a bland rock beat. You know it’s “country” because occasionally they lay a fiddle down across a verse or two, or reference things like “railroad tracks” or “barbecue,” or sing with obvious planted accents. Hey, Kenny Chesney just wants you to take it easy and relax! Like you were on an island! Not a coup-ish, violent island seething with poverty, but one a them ones where every thang’s okay, and you and your baby got a couple a Coronas and nothin’ to worry ’bout but your tans. HOO-WEEE!!!
That’s one of our favorite things to loathe about country music–the demographic whores who run Nashville have this list of things to sandwich into every song. Hey, people like Buffett? Let’s have lots of songs about how great the beach is! People will love that. Hey, a song about how your hometown is just dandy! And your children and wife are awesome! And everything you’re doin’ is right and good, man.
We would kill someone for a good song about spooky rural murder. In fact, we offer to commit one, just to have a talented songwriter witness it, and then compose a badass song about it. Toby Keith will be on one side, and we’ll be on the other with an RPG. You and your Ford Truck and your shitty goatee, which you wear as the totem against obesity like every other hilljack concerned about their double chin and masculinity, will go up in flames. HOW D’YA LIKE ME NOW? That you’re on fire.
To hell with the state for ruining a fine art form and for becoming the landing pad for spent hair-band rockers desperate to sell their second-rate midlife efforts to an audience with lower standards–namely, country music fans. (See: Bon Jovi. Who says you can’t go home? Oh, only about half the population of New Orleans.)
They lap this stuff up like so much gravy soup at the Golden Corral. They made Patsy Cline go pop, dammit, as unpardonable a sin as has ever been committed in popular music. A populace who aids and abets in the production of such shit needs no pity when their football team bleeds out by thirty points on national television, and deserves none.






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">8:41 AM (2 hours ago)
Rick Neuheisel matches Pete Carroll in one category, at least

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

Of course it takes a Trojan fan to actually do the math on something like this, but math is math, and the numbers after his first loss are not very kind to the early stages of Rick Neuheisel's rebuilding project at UCLA:

By losing 59-0, Neuheisel’s Bruins have now lost their games by the same amount as Carroll’s Trojans during his entire tenure at USC. The Trojans are 78-14 since Pete took over in 2001, and they have lost those 14 games by a combined 59 points. UCLA is now 1-1 under Neuheisel, and lost that one game by 59 points.
​

The Doc encourages schadenfreude among hated rivals even in its nerdier varieties, and even if UCLA hadn't been going out of its way to raise expectations for Neuheisel, you can't ignore the numbers. Double check them if you want.
The rest of this devolves into "Wow, how awesome is Pete Carroll?" -- besides the Trojans' winning all the time, the average margin in those 14 losses is only 4.2 points, and only one, an 11-point loss to Notre Dame way back in 2001, was by more than a touchdown -- but fear not, L.A. fans: Rick Neuheisel is looking you in the eye right now, smiling warmly while confidently putting his hand on your shoulder in a non-threatening manner and promising you in rich, even tones that he'll have the Bruins back on equal footing with those SC crooks before you can say, "Las Vegas Bowl." Everything is still so cool. Just remember: Punting is winning!






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">11:41 AM (25 minutes ago)
Matt Grothe and Todd Reesing can throw, but would you know them if you saw them on the street?

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Do you know this man?

Certainly you'd recognize Todd Reesing if you were a Kansas fan, or if you watched last Friday's mostly brilliant, nationally-televised game between KU and South Florida. Or if, I don't know, you wrote about Kansas for a living or something. Or at least, you'd think you would:
For this week's Lawrence-Journal World, a reporter named Robert Riley took to the streets to ask Lawrencians about Kansas' loss to South Florida. While wandering Lawrence's main drag, Massachusetts St., he ran into a 5-11 male student from Austin, Texas, who is a junior majoring in economics. The student was waiting for some friends outside a store, so he kindly obliged to answer Riley's questions.
As the LJ World's Tom Keegan wrote in a column today, here is how the conversation went:
Riley: “Has the KU football team’s recent loss shaken your faith in the team?” Student: “I sure hope not.”
Riley: “Why’s that?”
Student: “I’m on the team.”
Riley: “What position do you play?”
Student: “I’m the quarterback.”
Ahem. Reesing's not a big guy, has nothing about him that screams "football palyer," and according to the Worldwide Leader during last week's game, has no illusions about his nonexistent pro potential regardless of how many yards or touchdowns he throws. He's a smart guy, as you can tell by the way he plays, likely on his way to a serious grad school. So even in his adopted hometown, a lack of recognition doesn't shake him up.

But what about his similarly undersized counterpart in Tampa, the occasionally-mohawk'd Matt Grothe, now a three-year starter with two wins over West Virginia, who matched Reesing big play for big play last week? Surely by this point, especially after winning the best tit-for-tat offensive shootout of the early season, he recognizes he's a player on the national stage, with ambitions to match.
“Honestly, I don’t have a chance in hell to win the Heisman,” Grothe told The Tampa Tribune Tuesday. “Not just this year, any year. It’s politics.
“We’ve been around for 11 years, it [Heisman] will go to a school that’s been around forever.”
I don't mean to sell Grothe short, so to speak, but in realistic terms, duh. Young Matt is wiser than his years, and smarter than he looks, and obviously doesn't have a chance in hell of winning that trophy thing he references there, probably even if USF pulls off an undefeated miracle. He'll have to settle for being recognized around town, I guess, which may not be as good as Heisman talk, but once again is just a hair better than Todd Reesing.
There's that, and carrying his team through the most entertaining, tightly-wrought game of the year to date between two top 20 teams, a better-quarterbacked game all the way around -- even with Reesing's late, killer interception -- than anything turned in to date than any other two quarterbacks in any other game. If that's worth anything at all.






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[Dmoney416]

BOL this week RJ - interested to see how the Penn St. game pans out.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">Sep 18, 2008 1:05 PM
RUDY CARPENTER: AN ATLAS OF PAIN

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Rudy Carpenter lines up against Georgia this weekend, a matchup most people in Atlanta seem to think may result in Carpenter ending up as a thick reddish/yellow paste on the turf of Sun Devil Stadium. Consider, if you will, the concept we repeated in Hayes vs. Hall this week: that nothing can be done to Rudy Carpenter that has not happened to him already. He’s been benched, taunted by name by an entire defense, was sacked 57 times in the 2007 eason, has taken deathly shots from the Pac-10’s nastiest defenders, and was trampled by a herd of runaway moose as a child. All of this, and he still has 33 consecutive starts under his (hernia) belt.
If his history of playing through hasn’t impressed you yet…well, perhaps a helpful chart will.







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[RJ Esq]

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What to Watch: Week 4

from Bevo Sports by Matt

LSU beating up on Auburn

We finally get to see Texas back in action after the game against Arkansas was postponed due to Hurricane Ike. Last week’s game of the year, USC vs. Ohio State, turned out to be a big disappointment. This week we get to see two of the premier teams in the SEC square off, LSU and Auburn, in what looks to be a knock-down-drag-out fight of two great defenses. It may be a low scoring affair, but it should still be an exciting football game. Let’s see what is going on this Saturday. Remember, I did go 2-1 last weekend against the spread.
Miami (FL) at Texas A&M (+3) - 3:30 PM EST on ABC. The best news in this game might well be the fact that Stephen McGee is injured and might not play. Jerrod Johnson has shown some promise already this season and is probably a better option than McGee. Remember last year when Miami killed Aggy on the national stage? Well you can expect more of the same this year. Aggy will start the season 0-2 at home.
Rice at #7 Texas (-29) - 7:00 PM EST on FSN. After Hurricane Ike I am sure these two teams are ready to get back on the playing field and resume some normalcy. Rice doesn’t seem as bad this year as they normally do, but they still have no shot against Texas. Rice can actually score some points, so this will another good warm-up for the Texas defense before the real schedule starts. Rice might actually be a tough cover, but I see us winning by about 35.
#18 Wake Forest at #24 Florida State (-4) - 7:00 PM EST on ESPN2. Florida St is currently #1 in the nation in overall defense, allowing only 170 yards per game, but that is a little deceiving since they have played two Football Championship Subdivision teams. Wake Forest has owned Florida State in recent years and is the only team to shut-out FSU at home in coach Bobby Bowdens’ career. FSU is the favorite in this game for a reason. They are much more talented in the skill positions and are playing at home. I think this game might be close, but FSU will end up winning by 7 and cover the spread.
#6 LSU at #10 Auburn (+2.5) - 7:45 PM EST on ESPN. By far the premier match-up of the weekend. With two of the best defenses in the country squaring off Saturday night, this has all of the makings to be a 7-6 game. If you only score 3 points against Mississippi St, something is wrong with your offense. Even though they are playing at home, Auburn has the real potential to be shut-out. LSU’s offense is nothing to write home about either, but they should be able to put something together. I see LSU winning this game 17-6.






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[RJ Esq]

Adding:

Teaser CU+9 and UConn -5'

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">7:01 PM (33 minutes ago)
Lord, I Was Born A Gamblin' Man: Week Four Picks

from Rakes Of Mallow by CW
Last Week: 4-6
Overall: 21-12 (2-1 Lead Pipe Locks)
Oh, Vegas, you are good. After cleaning up in weeks one and two, the Upsets started to happen and now the lines are firmly in the "Ehhhh?" zone of being super difficult to pick. After a rough week three, the Gamblin' Man attempts to give you advice on who to pick (or pick against, if you agree with me in the fact I wager sheet has cooled off). A fun, fun weekend of college football, centered around (where else?) the SEC.
East Carolina (-7) over NC STATE - Even though the Wolf Pack barely covered at Clemson last week, East Carolina's starting QB and head coach aren't snipping at each other, so advantage Pirates. Skip Holtz's crew barely survived against Tulane and lost linebacker Quentin Cotton to injury, but I refuse to believe NC State is any good until they provide even the smallest bit of evidence to the contrary. I say East Carolina realizes the need to secure another big win over a BCS opponent after last week's near-slip and deliver.
Alabama (-9.5) over ARKASAS - The Tide also struggled with Tulane, while Arkansas has barely stumbled through an opening month of near losses to Western Illnois and Louisiana-Monroe to reach this point. Maybe Bobby Petrino's offense begins to gel, but I think it's more likely Nick Saban's team regains their Clemson-like edge as they get into SEC play.
GEORGIA TECH (-7.5) over Mississippi State - Tech is farther along in their new offense than Auburn is, they're playing at home and, sweet heavens, did you see the Bulldogs on Saturday night? That half point is perilously dangling there, but come on, Mississippi State? Paul Johnson hasn't let me down yet, and I see no reason to believe he's going to slip up at home in a vaguely exciting non-conference showdown.
Florida (-8) over ROCKY TOP - I think the Tennessee game last year was the first time a lot of people went "Wow, that Tim Tebow kid can play some ball." This team won't be fazed by Neyland, especially since that Tennessee loss at UCLA just isn't looking bad, it slightly resembles a Wall Street investment firm. Plus Percy Harvin is back and feeling good, which doesn't bode well for a defense he tormented in The Swamp last year.

​

MIZZOU (-34.5) over Buffalo - No disrespect to the Buffalos, but the longer they stick around, the more opportunity for Chase Daniel to throw touchdown bomb after touchdown bomb. Twelve touchdowns in his last thirteen drives? The poor Bulls won't know what hit them.
NORTH CAROLINA (-3) over Virginia Tech - Vegas says toss-up, and I agree, but I don't think the Hokies have enough offensive bite to put this out of reach. Still, the Tar Heel confidence must be topping out after the rout of Rutgers, and they're playing at home in front of what should be a very enthusiastic fan base. Tyrod Taylor's legs keep it interesting for a while, but Butch Davis' youth is served as they take the reins of the ACC (at least for one week).
Ball State (+3) over INDIANA - It wouldn't be football season if Indiana was blowing an early game against MAC team. Plus, Ball State is really good, with their flirtation with perfection continuing for a while. Don't expect that Bloomington crowd to be a big factor, even at night. A very tenuous lead pipe lock.

AUBURN (+3) over LSU - LSU, on top of not facing an opponent with a pulse yet, has had their schedule totally screwed up by Mother Nature. This game is always super close, meaning it's probably smart to take whoever is getting the points, especially if that teams happens to be playing at home and sporting a ball-busting defense that's going against a green QB.
Wake Forest (+5) over FLORIDA STATE - So the Demon Deacons own the ‘Noles the last few years, show that they have the same sort of good defense/Riley Skinner combination of the last two years and they're underdogs? You can say that perhaps Jim Grobe's team will be intimidated by playing in Tallahassee, but you'd be forgetting they won thirty-love there in 2006. People will continue to underrate Wake Forest, and they will continue to win. Hopefully.
ARIZONA STATE (+7) over Georgia - Last week was a classic trap game for the Sun Devils, who were obviously looking forward to this hayooge match-up with the Bulldogs, who travel west of the Mississippi for the first time since the heated JFK-Nixon election of 1960 ("SEC! SEC! SEC!"). Maybe Matty Stafford and company were also looking ahead, but they needed a bunch of breaks to survive in Columbia, while ASU gave a SEC team fits last time they hosted one (LSU's miracle victory in 2005). Those events aren't really related, but I can see Rudy Carpenter throwing balance to the wind, chucking it deep and securing the upset.

​

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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">5:19 PM (2 hours ago)
Welcome To Last Week: Beanie Wells Won't Play Against Trojans

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Ohio State, Troy

OH MY GOD HEAD FOR THE HILLS CHRIS "BEANIE WELLS" IS OUT AGAINST THE TROJANS.

... Wait just a darn minute. I remember this panic. It started last week, snowballed into a 35-3 loss, and ended with the destruction of Lehman Brothers and government takeover of AIG. Or something like that.

In one breath today, OSU coach Jim Tressel said that running back Beanie Wells is improving but he is also out for Saturday's game against Troy and there's no guarantee that he'll play against Minnesota the following week.​

Ohhhhhhh. Oh. Those Trojans. The Troy Trojans of Troy (We're From Troy! (But Not That Troy)). Nevermind. Carry on with your lives.





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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">4:42 PM (2 hours ago)
Let the formal education of Terrelle Pryor begin

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

Just because he’s that type of coach, Jim Tressel’s not willing to publicly sweep Todd Boeckman under the rug in favor of a true freshman, but he’s not blind, either. No one had a better vantage point of last week’s double-clutching, pick-throwing collapse in the second quarter than Tressel , and no one has more at stake in getting Boeckman off the field, especially when there’s no every-down back behind to keep him out of the trouble spots that have led to a string of fatal mistakes dating back to last November. So while the public line may be “split time” under center, the Buckeyes are all but out of the mythical championship race, have no reliable options on offense until Beanie Wells returns and couldn’t be in a more obvious spot to hand the offense to Terrelle Pryor. If the double-time humming out of Columbus is any sign, the freshman is probably due for most of the snaps Saturday against Troy, with a chance to make the job his and a much wider margin for error than he had when he outplayed Boeckman last week against USC. But that also means Pryor will have less protection from the coaches: he may have looked more composed than Boeckman, but Pryor saw zero third down snaps against the Trojans until the tail end of the third quarter, with the game already well out of reach, and most of OSU’s ugliest moments – the sack-and-fumble late in the first half, consecutive sacks in the third – came with Boeckman facing third-and-long. When Pryor saw third down action late, he scrambled harmlessly short of the fist down three times and was sacked once.
More than that: can Terrelle Pryor throw? Distance-wise, no doubt, he’s a titan with a heroic, slingshot windup. But at this points, does he a) have any idea what he’s doing with multiple reads, or b) have any accuracy beyond a few yards downfield? Here, courtesy fearless contributor and friend of the blog Holly Anderson, is almost Pryor’s entire passing performance against USC:

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

By my tally:
• One completed out route at the first down line, from a moving pocket.
• Two designed swing passes (no read) out of the backfield, behind the line of scrimmage.
• One designed screen pass at the line of scrimmage.
• One broken play completion off a fumbled snap.
• One incomplete pass downfield, into double coverage, from a moving pocket.
• One incomplete hitch pass at the first down line on second and short.
USC only blitzed once in that sequence (on the fumble drill, plausibly the most promising play because of the instincts and improvisation when something went initially wrong), and there was one thing you didn’t see: an attempt from the pocket that traveled beyond the line of scrimmage. That’s keeping it pretty basic, completely understandable under the circumstances and likely no problem against Troy or the very Sun Belt-esque defense of Minnesota after that, both of which can be plowed into submission a la Ohio U. if all else fails at quarterback.
But on almost every play that the camera allows, you’ll also see Trojan safeties creeping into the picture (pause it at 1:41 and count the red jerseys within six-to-eight yards of the line). In two weeks, OSU goes on the road again, a primetime game at Wisconsin, where drunk and proudly demented Wisconsinites will howl lustily into the night for freshman blood. Wells and the Buckeye offensive line put Boeckman to bed and took over against the Badgers when the chips were down late last year in Columbus, and that seems like a good target for Beanie’s return if his ailing foot isn’t going to go on ailing for the rest of the year. But Wells or no Wells, somebody has to get Wisconsin backing up. If Boeckman can’t be trusted to handle that anymore, Pryor has some growing up to do against Troy and Minnesota, while there’s still a little time.






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[RJ Esq]

Just because:

and

 

[RJ Esq]

Muschamp: ‘I’m not real pleased’

By John Bridges | Thursday, September 18, 2008, 05:14 PM

When will the Longhorns’ young secondary gel?
“I hope Saturday,” Texas’ first-year defensive coordinator Will Muschamp told the Austin Longhorn Club when he was asked that question Thursday.
Muschamp said that, after assessing his unit as a whole after two games, “I’m not real pleased where we are on defense. … We haven’t exactly been dominant. I understand that.”
As his young defenders — the secondary has five freshmen and redshirt freshmen on the two-deep chart — gain experience, Muschamp says he’ll mix in more complex schemes, including a six-defensive back package that he expects to employ Saturday against Rice. He said lost practice time in August, when four defensive backs were nursing hamstring injuries, limited what he could do in the first two games.
“We have more bells and whistles, but it’s not functional if the kids can’t execute,” Muschamp said. “We’re not there yet. We’re holding back for obvious reasons.”

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">9:19 PM (8 minutes ago)
The West Virginia Internet Burns

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Colorado, West Virginia
With West Virginia's 17-14 OT loss to Colorado, they fall to 1-2 in Pat White's senior year. Late in the game, West Virginia permitted the clock to run twice; once this made sense because they were holding the ball for a fourth-down Hail Mary. The first time, though... yeesh.

Erin Andrews described the scene between regulation as chaotic, but the West Virginia sideline has nothing on the West Virginia Scout message board. Sometimes a screencap says a thousand words:

Uh, yeah, This Week In Schadenfreude might mention this.





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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">6:30 AM (25 minutes ago)
DAMN YOU OVERTIME

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Thanks, overtime. We woke up late thanks to Bill Stewart’s SMRT clock management, though to be fair: we owe West Virginia’s kicker a debt of gratitude for getting us to bed earlier than the worst case scenario could have been.
The moment in that game where we realized Bill Stewart could not manage a team came not at the end of the second half–which was really just piling on evidence of an already strong verdict–but at the end of the first half. Bill Stewart took both timeouts with great effort and and insistence in order to make CU punt from their 5 yard line or so. On 4th down with three seconds, Dan Hawkins and Colorado opted to foil the whole thing by looking at the clock, seeing it had 3 seconds, doing some very complex math and then calling a run play…which ran out the clock and took the team harmlessly to the half.
It was a bit like watching the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where the swordsman flails impressively for an instant in the bazaar showdown before Indy grabs his gun and shoots him dead.
And now, for no reason whatsoever: Teenage Riot.
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EQK8C3H9fes&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout
Index coming in a bit.






</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

[RJ Esq]

This gets a separate thread.

From thewizofodds.com. Florida fans hack Tennessee's Wiki page.

 

[RJ Esq]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="899"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td height="42">Phil's Top 25 Record as of 9/18: 43-10 81% (incl Upset Specials)
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</td><td rowspan="5" height="26">Wk of September 18th
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</td><td colspan="2" rowspan="3" height="48">#4
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Georgia
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Arizona St
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Florida
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Tennessee
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td height="35">
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</td><td colspan="4" rowspan="7" height="179">The Bulldogs survived their game last week as South Carolina had three chances to tie it in the 4Q but came up short including a fumble into the end zone for a touchback. That was a key SEC battle for Georgia and now they travel west of the Mississippi during the regular season for the first time since 1967. Arizona St got caught looking ahead to this last week as the Georgia game was their focal point of practices in August and September. That was a “C” game for ASU last week and this week they play with much more intensity than any of their first 3 games and could pull a surprise.
PHIL’S FORECAST: Georgia 24 ARIZONA ST 21
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</td><td colspan="3" height="95">The Gators dominated Tennessee last year at home winning 59-20 and that was with a young defense vs a senior QB. This year UF has a more veteran D taking on a young QB so they should be able to win on the road even in a very hostile environment.
PHIL’S FORECAST: Florida 34 TENNESSEE 20
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">#6 LSU
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">#10 Auburn
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td colspan="2" rowspan="3" height="54">
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</td><td colspan="3" rowspan="6" height="179">Usually when a team has a 315-116 yardage edge (almost 3 to 1 yards) they win 23-0 or somewhere in that range. If Auburn had won by that much over Miss St last week, they would be favored here but instead they are a dog. LSU has 2 inexperienced QBs (Hatch & Lee) with Hatch starting the 1st two games vs a FCS defense and North Texas’ defense (one of the weakest in FBS). Now Hatch will be making his first road start in front of 90,000 hostile fans (much different than large home crowds) and will face one of the best D’s in the country! LSU has scored 3, 9 and 7 points in their last 3 trips here and each of those was with a more experienced QB.
PHIL’S FORECAST: AUBURN 17 Lsu 13
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Buffalo
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Missouri
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</td><td colspan="5" height="81">The Tigers look unstoppable and Buffalo has to be worn out after needing a “Hail Mary” TD pass to beat Temple. This is a meaningless game for The Bulls as they are thinking MAC Title and have Central Michigan on deck.
PHIL’S FORECAST: MISSOURI 59 Buffalo 17
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</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="886"><colgroup><col width="154"><col width="345"><col width="41"><col width="345"><col width="1"></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="top"><td height="48">
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Rice
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Texas
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Alabama
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Arkansas
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</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="890"><colgroup><col width="152"><col width="2"><col width="1"><col width="2"><col width="1"><col width="342"><col width="2"><col width="1"><col width="2"><col width="34"><col width="2"><col width="345"><col width="1"><col width="2"><col width="1"></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="top"><td rowspan="2" height="81">
</td><td colspan="5" rowspan="2" height="81">Rice lost their top two LB tacklers to injury two weeks ago and that will hurt them. Texas has a lot of pent up energy after last week’s game was postponed and will not take it easy on their former SWC rival winning the last 3 by an avg of 54-10.
PHIL’S FORECAST: TEXAS 52 Rice 17
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</td><td colspan="3" rowspan="3" height="137">A pair of undefeated SEC teams battle here and the home team was in a January 1 bowl last year while the visitor played in the Independence bowl. Sounds like a call for the home team until you realize the Hogs are in a rebuilding year and barely got past a FCS team and a Sun Belt team needing 4th down conversions to keep alive drives for late comeback wins. Alabama dominated Clemson and will control the line of scrimmage and roll to a comfortable win.
PHIL’S FORECAST: Alabama 30 ARKANSAS 13
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">UMass
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Texas Tech
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">USF
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">FIU
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</td><td colspan="5" rowspan="3" height="95">UMass is #3 in the FCS in total offense and their only loss this year is to our projected #1 FCS team in James Madison. My computer calls for Texas Tech to dominate and they are tough in Lubbock. Click here to get a half page writeup on the UMass team.
PHIL’S FORECAST: TEXAS TECH 54 Massachusetts 24
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</td><td colspan="3" rowspan="6" height="182">If both teams were playing their “A” game I would call for USF to win this by 49+ points. That is not the case here. FIU is excited to be playing its first game in their brand-new home stadium and is off a bye with a non-conference game on deck. This will be their “A+” game. USF is off their HUGE national TV win over a higher ranked Kansas squad on TV on Friday and next week travels to face an ACC school. The USF players will note that the Panthers have lost their first two by a combined 82-10 and will find it tough to be “up’ for this. These two met in 2006 and USF barely escaped with a 1 point win. USF has too big of a talent edge for me to call for an outright upset by FIU, but it could be closer than you might expect.
PHIL’S FORECAST: Usf 34 FLORIDA INT’L 10
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Troy
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Ohio St
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</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="886"><colgroup><col width="157"><col width="2"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="2"><col width="2"><col width="2"><col width="338"><col width="2"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="22"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="342"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="1"><col width="1"></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="top"><td rowspan="6" height="193">
</td><td colspan="7" rowspan="6" height="193">Do you know that Ohio St actually had a 177-172 yard edge at the half vs USC last week and a 2 to 1 TOP edge? They settled for a FG on a 1st and goal and on another drive deep had TWO TD passes wiped out by penalties and missed a FG . That was without Beanie Wells. They also gave up an IR TD and once they entered the half down 21-3, it was over. My computer knows that Troy rolled up a school record for total offense vs undermanned Alcorn St last week but still calls for OSU to have a 492-188 yard edge and that means a comfortable win. If the Buckeyes win out and go to the Rose Bowl, they won’t have to worry about a rematch with USC because The Trojans will be in the BCS Title game.
PHIL’S FORECAST: OHIO ST 34 Troy 13
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Wyoming
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">BYU
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td height="54">
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</td><td colspan="7" rowspan="5" height="123">I am not overreacting to last week’s blowout of UCLA by the Cougars as this was pretty much my projection heading into last week. I think the Cowboys have played three disappointing and yet somehow they are 2-1 and that just means that BYU will not take them lightly. Check out my Friday Weekly Notes for “Coaches on the Hotseat” which might apply to this game.
PHIL’S FORECAST: BYU 45 Wyoming 10
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">East Carolina
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</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">NC State
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td colspan="9" height="6">
</td><td height="6">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="16" height="13">
</td><td height="13">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="10" height="35">
</td><td colspan="4" rowspan="3" height="48">

</td><td colspan="2" rowspan="3" height="48">
</td><td height="35">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="19" height="4">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="2" rowspan="5" height="193">
</td><td colspan="7" rowspan="5" height="193">How often does a team play its conference opener and give a “C” game effort? Maybe once every few years but that was the case for East Carolina last week which had just knocked off TWO ranked teams and unexpectedly vaulted into the rankings themselves. They survived the game vs Tulane and ironically Tulane’s first opponent Alabama was also playing a “C” game after their upset of Clemson. Last week NC St got an interception return for a TD on the game’s FIRST play, but still lost to Clemson by 18. EC always gets up for in-state rivals that play in the bigger conference (ACC) and I am a little surprised that my computer thinks NC St will gain 324 yards, as I would guess under 250.
PHIL’S FORECAST: East Carolina 27 NC STATE 13
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</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="16" height="2">
</td><td height="2">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="8" height="54">
</td><td colspan="7" height="54"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="12">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Temple
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</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Penn St
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</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td height="54">
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</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="16" height="4">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="8" height="124">
</td><td colspan="7" rowspan="3" height="151">I feel for coach Golden at Temple. An OT loss to Connecticut and then a Hail Mary loss to Buffalo. Temple could be 3-0 right now but they are 1-2 and this one is unwinnable plus they have a MAC game on deck. Penn St has looked great so far and that win over Oregon St looks a little better after the Beavers thrashed Hawaii. I picked the Lions for 2nd in the Big Ten and I look for another impressive win this week. If they get their suspended players back they could keep moving up the polls.
PHIL’S FORECAST: PENN ST 44 Temple 13
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</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="17" height="18">
</td><td height="18">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="6" rowspan="3" height="48">
</td><td colspan="6" rowspan="3" height="48">

</td><td colspan="5" height="9">
</td><td height="9">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="13" height="15">
</td><td height="15">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="7" height="24">
</td><td colspan="4" rowspan="3" height="51">

</td><td colspan="2" rowspan="3" height="51">
</td><td height="24">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="19" height="4">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="5" rowspan="3" height="54">
</td><td colspan="8" rowspan="3" height="54"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="12">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Boise St
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Oregon
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td colspan="6" height="23">
</td><td height="23">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="12" height="5">
</td><td height="5">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="3" height="26">
</td><td colspan="7" rowspan="3" height="54"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="12">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">#18 Wake F
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">#24 Florida St
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td colspan="2" rowspan="3" height="54">
</td><td height="26">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="16" height="4">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="5" rowspan="5" height="137">
</td><td colspan="8" rowspan="5" height="137">Oregon survived last week at Purdue and did lose their QB but have been replacing players with great success in each of their first 3 games. Autzen Stadium is one of the toughest venues out there and Boise has a rFr QB making his first road start. Last year I called for Washington (Pac-10) to end Boise St’s win streak and they did. Boise is 2-11 all-time vs the Pac 10 and won’t be playing their best ball until the end of the year.
PHIL’S FORECAST: OREGON 34 Boise St 13
</td><td colspan="3" height="24">
</td><td height="24">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="12" height="4">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="3" height="95">
</td><td colspan="7" height="95">Florida St still has suspension problems and have not played a FBS school yet. Wake has their best team yet under Grobe. The winner becomes the favorite to win the ACC Atlantic as both teams get Clemson at home. Wake has won two in a row in the series including a 30-0 shutout the last time here.
PHIL’S FORECAST: FLORIDA ST 23 Wake Forest 20
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</td><td height="95">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="12" height="10">
</td><td height="10">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="4" height="4">
</td><td colspan="4" rowspan="3" height="51">

</td><td colspan="4" rowspan="3" height="51">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="17" height="15">
</td><td height="15">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="5" rowspan="3" height="51">
</td><td colspan="5" rowspan="3" height="51">

</td><td colspan="7" height="32">
</td><td height="32">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="15" height="3">
</td><td height="3">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="5" height="16">
</td><td colspan="7" rowspan="3" height="54"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="12">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Utah
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Air Force
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</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td colspan="3" rowspan="3" height="54">
</td><td height="16">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="15" height="4">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="4" rowspan="3" height="54">
</td><td colspan="7" rowspan="3" height="54"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="12">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">S Houston St
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Kansas
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td colspan="4" height="34">
</td><td height="34">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="14" height="4">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="4" height="16">
</td><td colspan="7" rowspan="5" height="154">Air Force was in a great spot last year vs Utah as the Utes were banged up. AF was in a great spot last week as servicemen are trained to get up early and overcome obstacles, so the 10 a.m. start last week was no problem and shifting the game vs Houston to a different city, playing in heavy wind and playing in front a just 2,000 fans gave them a situational edge over a team that was concerned about their home city. This week they take on a Utah team at home with no special situational edges, and I rate Utah as the best non-BCS team in the country so The Utes should get the road win.
PHIL’S FORECAST: Utah 34 AIR FORCE 17
</td><td colspan="3" rowspan="5" height="154">
</td><td height="16">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="15" height="4">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="4" height="67">
</td><td colspan="7" height="67">Kansas is off a loss, so this should be a blowout. Click HERE to get a half page writeup about Sam Houston St.
PHIL’S FORECAST: Kansas 49 Sam Houston St 7
</td><td colspan="4" height="67">
</td><td height="67">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="15" height="22">
</td><td height="22">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="7" rowspan="2" height="51">
</td><td colspan="7" rowspan="2" height="51">

</td><td height="45">
</td><td height="45">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="11" height="6">
</td><td height="6">
</td></tr><tr class="f-sp"><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td height="5">

</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="880"><colgroup><col width="165"><col width="348"><col width="18"><col width="2"><col width="345"><col width="1"><col width="1"></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="top"><td height="54">
</td><td height="54"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="12">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">West Virginia
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Colorado
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td colspan="4" height="54">
</td><td height="54">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="4" height="4">
</td><td rowspan="2" height="51">

</td><td rowspan="2" height="51">
</td><td height="4">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td rowspan="4" height="109">
</td><td rowspan="4" height="109">This will be interesting. I called for East Carolina to beat West Virginia two weeks ago and part of the reason was Pat White’s 5 TD passes in the opener vs Villanova. Going away from the run-based attack is a mistake but Stewart seems to be moving back to less passing. Colorado is a tough test and this will be a game in which we learn a lot about both teams.
PHIL’S FORECAST: West Virginia 30 COLORADO 27
</td><td colspan="2" height="47">
</td><td height="47">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="4" height="5">
</td><td height="5">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td height="54">
</td><td colspan="3" height="54"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="12">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">S Carolina St
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Clemson
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</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td height="54">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="4" height="3">
</td><td height="3">
</td></tr><tr class="f-sp"><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td height="1">

</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="880"><colgroup><col width="164"><col width="2"><col width="345"><col width="1"><col width="19"><col width="348"><col width="1"></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="top"><td colspan="5" height="10">
</td><td rowspan="4" height="67">Clemson gave up an interception return for a TD on the first play last week and still won by 18. They should romp and click HERE to read more about South Carolina St.
PHIL’S FORECAST: Clemson 42 South Carolina St 0
</td><td height="10">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="2" height="51">
</td><td height="51">

</td><td colspan="2" height="51">
</td><td height="51">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="5" height="5">
</td><td height="5">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td rowspan="2" height="54">
</td><td colspan="3" rowspan="2" height="54"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="12">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td><td valign="top" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Fresno St
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="124" height="17">Toledo
</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td><td valign="middle" width="53">

</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td height="1">
</td><td height="1">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="2" height="53">
</td><td height="53">
</td></tr><tr class="f-sp"><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td>

</td><td height="4">

</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="513"><colgroup><col width="164"><col width="348"><col width="1"></colgroup><tbody><tr valign="top"><td height="207">
</td><td height="207">I was really hoping to get Fresno St off a BIG win over Wisconsin (Fresno missed THREE FG’s and lost by 3). I said during the summer that they had a shot of beating all 3 BCS non-conference opponents. They just played in the biggest home game in school history and out of all their first 4 games, this is the one that none of the players even really looked at as Toledo has had a losing record the last two years. The only problem is that Toledo is not the injury-plagued team of last year (which lost 3 defensive starters in week 1 to injury for the season) and the Rockets are 41-6 in the Glass Bowl. The last 7 times that the Rockets have been a home dog, they have won won 6 of those games outright. Toledo becomes the hunter while Fresno, which is used to being the dog, becomes the hunted.
PHIL’S FORECAST: TOLEDO 27 Fresno St 23
</td><td height="207">
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

[RJ Esq]

<table class="card"><tbody class="card-tbody"><tr></tr><tr><td class="ct c">
</td><td class="ctr c">
</td></tr><tr><td class="cl c">
</td><td class="cc c">7:26 AM (1 hour ago)
Friday Headlinin': 'Chaotic' Mountaineers have to fish or cut bait with Uncle Stew

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

• On the bright side, the mountain air is refreshingly clear of burning couch. Pat White remains an alarmingly fast man, but alas, cannot complete a pass across the line of scrimmage, and West Virginia's ambitions are rapidly circling the drain. Who's to blame for a horizontal passing game that had negative yards at halftime and finished with 4.3 yards per completion? Might as well make it Bill Stewart: the Barney Fife of coaches is taking the heat for everything else, from the endless repetition and complete lack of physicality on offense; to the bizarre moment of isolated, eyes-wide-shut prayer or something late in the game; to the blatant clock mismanagement with a chance to move into winning field goal range in the last 30 seconds of regulation; and the "mass confusion" on the WVU sideline as relayed by Erin Andrews prior to overtime, the legend of overmatched Uncle Stew grows by the week. Colorado didn't get anything done offensively for the final 50 minutes of regulation, but Dan Hawkins thought it was awesome, anyway. Bring on Florida State, brother!
• We don't do that around here, son. We don't get caught, I mean. Seriously, now, he didn't do anything a solid majority of his peer group doesn't enthusiastically pursue every weekend, but Virginia starting quarterback Peter Lalich's otherwise routine underage drinking took a series of unfortunate turns: a) He was caught corrupting his future with alcohol over the summer, earning a year's probation; b) He posted Facebook photos of himself looking very stupid; and c) He admitted to violating his probation via drank during a court date on Thursday.
That admission didn't impress the judge, who only ruled Lalich would stay on probation through the original term, ending next July. At the University of Virginia, though, boys will certainly not be boys: UVA quickly bounced Lalich from the team for good. Al Groh -- who was forced into the dismissal from above, says the rumor mill -- will grit his teeth a little harder than usual and go with the pair of veteran who dats largely responsible for the 45-10 disaster in Storrs, while Lalich will probably transfer somewhere that doesn't make terminal decisions based on misdemeanors.

• Whatever happened to statute of limitations? Phil Fulmer won't give a deposition next week for the 416th week in a row since he testified against Alabama in the convoluted Albert Means recruiting scandal, which to date has put one man in jail, left another dead under weird circumstances, led to a $5 million jury award and at least one substantial NCAA payout in hush money and provided the spectacle of Fulmer being served a subpoena at SEC Media Days. So fight on, Phil: as the Means Recruiting Saga lurches toward its second decade, the longer it goes on, the better for everyone involved.
Quickly . . .
Chancellor Philip Dubois recommended UNC-Charlotte start a football program beginning in 2013. . . . Art Briles was the latest "victim" of a very boring prank call during a teleconference with reporters. . . . Sets of brothers on the field and the coaching staffs square off Saturday when South Carolina State gets mowed down by Clemson. . . . Randy Shannon's shaking up Miami's depth chart. . . . Northwestern cornerback Justan Vaughn is out for the season with a shoulder injury. . . . Notre Dame's trying to get the crowd into the "Crank Me Up" cheer. . . . Ohio State blitzed more than a dozen times and barely laid a hand on Mark Sanchez. . . . Georgia Tech receiver Demariyus Thomas will be back in the lineup against Mississippi State. . . . And Chan Gailey will be back in Atlanta with the Kansas City Chiefs, along with seven of his ex-Georgia Tech assistants, scattered among the Chiefs, Jackets and nascent Georgia State.






</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

[RJ Esq]

Stupid Peter Lalich posts his probation violation on Facebook.

UNDAUNTED COURAGE: THE SEMI-FICTICIOUS EPIC THAT IS PETER LALICH'S LIFE

Peter Lalich is a man among men. A mountain bear of a man with a football as a chew toy and a neolithic stone arm from outer space. But no, Lalich wasn't just born into greatness. He had to hit the baptismal fire of life head on in a crazy windmill fashion t
by Danny Ford is God (Scribe)
2 253 reads
Humor
July 25, 2008

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Peter Lalich is a man among men. A mountain bear of a man with a football as a chew toy and a neolithic stone arm from outer space. But no, Lalich wasn't just born into greatness. He had to hit the baptismal fire of life head on in a crazy windmill fashion that only he could pull off with awkward smoothness. Perhaps you have already seen his AMAZING WIKIPEDIA ENTRY. If you haven't seen it, this is unacceptable. Fortunately, I'm here to not only provide you with a link to the article but to also to fill in the gaps that were left out. This is the amazing (semi) true story of one Master Peter Lalich navigated by yours truly with the assistance of a few facebook pictures (thank you public domain laws!)...

Peter Lalich: Harder than galvanized steel... forged in Springfield, Virginia
​

Young Peter was born on May 18th, 1988 to... uh... Peter Lalich who then subsequently... uh, named his son... Peter... after "Pistol" Pete Maravich. Ipso facto, Peter Lalich is a reincarnation of Pete Maravich but with a penchant for football, not basketball. He then grew up and did some rather insignificant stuff until the day he picked up his first football and threw it into the next neighborhood. Unfortunately for Peter, athleticism can't buy you friends at such an early age and he remained in a secluded sect of youngsters that is usually dominated by tall, goofy kids that nervously interact as little as possible with peers. Life was hard for Peter in Pop Warner, little did he know that life was only about the get much harder.

Lalich, like his hero Jack Lambert, was accustomed to losing teeth in his early football years due to his vicious and often raucous style of play.​

The mental toughness that would later show in his UVA years was constructed in searing heat as well as hurricane type storms under thundering skies while practicing and learning from Coach van Gouda at Springfield Middle School. Most of his toughness, as one might assume occurred on the field, actually came from what happened between bells during school. Teenage years can be harsh on a youth, but due to Peter being the "tall, ugly, goofy kid," puberty took it's toll twice as hard on him. At lunch he was relegated to sitting by himself or sitting with the kids that were a hodgepodgery of cracking voices, pimples, and dorkishness. Lalich decided to walk the lonely road... furthering his journey down a war beaten path.
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Next came high school. Still no friends. Still no girls. Still a big ug. Peter experimented with Puka shell necklaces, neon green hat/pink shirt combos, feuax burberry sweaters pulled low, and taking pictures with his arms crossed and his greasy bangs pulled into his face. It can't really be explained in mere words. Thus, the photo journal:





It kinda makes me miss high school myself. Things changed however. Peter got a letter telling him he's got a full ride to UVA. Given natural high school social dictation, within minutes he's got everything he could ever want. Parties, chicks, etc. It doesn't matter that he's one ugly mother now. All of that goes away when ya sign with the Wahoos. Especially when you're buried on the depth chart. That's where the real action is. Simply put, Peter Lalich is the fucking man. He's the Bomb.com. Seriously.

In fact, you should friend him on facebook, immediately. The reasoning behind this is the fact that he gives almost daily inspiration in his status updates ranging from statements like "Peter... snow so white, only thing missin is 7 dwarfs" and "Peter... str8 like arm hair." I teared up when I read " Peter... I just do my pete and everytime i speak my sentences are complete LOLOLOLOL."

More so, Peter Lalich knows people. Want tickets to that Skid Row concert minutes before the show? No worries, Peter already has someone stuffing your tickets AND backstage passes in Will Call as we speak. He's got you front and back. You wanna roll with Peter to lunch? Sure thing. He'll just pick up his Kia Sorrento from that the dealership lends him and be on his way over. Onward to lunch as you're further impressed that EVERYONE KNOWS PETER. Even the people at Moe's shout to him as he enters! Peter Lalich is a Campus Legend. In fact, he coined the phrase and sent it along to the NCAA football game developers, via e-mail... on his Blackberry. Stunningly, he's so amazing that he even lists Rivals.com as his personal website on facebook!

What's that? You want some beer? Oh he's got you covered man. He's got a fake that can get him in anywhere in town. No problem. Most of the times he just skips the line and goes right in without waiting or getting carded! You know why? Cause he's on the fucking football team... that's why. Just let him go in this seedy gas station and get it for you... He'll be back in two seconds with a case of warm Natty Ice that we can shotgun. *fast forward* See dude, here you go. I told you. Peter is the man. He can... dude, you've got a cop behind you and he's pulling you over. Shit. Dude, our parents are gonna be so pissed. Turns out Peter isn't the man. He's just some strange looking dude who gets drunk, shows up to your party uninvited, gropes the girls at your party, drinks your beer and eats all of your food in the fridge, passes out in a puddle of his own vomit in your front yard, and hopefully... maybe one day he might be lucky enough to have a bad acid trip and go nuts in the middle of your neighborhood street. Ah, the life of a struggling back up quarterback. This is where it begins, Peter. Please stay the course because personally, I enjoy a long drawn out downfall.

 

[Throwback420]

GL RJ :cheers:

 

[Timh]

GL today RJ :cheers:

 

[RJ Esq]

Throwback and Tim--Thanks. Not sure I'm going to add any more to today and not really fired up after going 0-2 on the week so far. Good luck to you guys too.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">5:30 AM (3 hours ago)
Your Saturday in Detail: Bloody Rudy

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

Ten hyper-specific predictions. • Casey Dick sets a new career high with at least 45 passes against Alabama, but Arkansas is held below 50 yards rushing and Dick is intercepted at least twice in a comfortable Tide win.
• Rudy Carpenter throws for more yards and touchdowns than Matt Stafford, but Stafford drills at least one awe-inspiring strike between three Sun Devils that earns him another million dollars next April as the moon-eyed scouts wonder, "Rudy who?" Carpenter also suffers twice as many sacks, commits three turnovers and gets caught bawling out his linemen on camera twice, minimum.
• Arizona outgains UCLA by more than 100 yards in the Rose Bowl, but the Bruins find some semblance of a running game behind freshman Aundre Dean, convert a short field touchdown and hold off a late rally by Willie Tuitama to win a game in the mid-to-high teens.
• North Carolina leads Virginia Tech throughout the first half until Macho Harris takes a punt back either for a touchdown or to set up a gimme touchdown that puts the Hokies in front at halftime. Both offenses bog down in the second half and Tech hangs on to win on a late interception with fewer than ten total first downs from its offense.
• Still not trusting its freshman quarterback in a hostile road environment, Miami runs for over 200 yards at Texas A&M, knocks A&M quarterback Stephen McGee out of the game and handles the Aggies by double digits for the second year in a row. Mike Sherman fails to linger following a cursory handshake with Randy Shannon, a diss the Canes vow to avenge with the schools meet again in 2047.
• Javon Ringer carries 25 times for at least 5.5 per carry as Michigan State holds the ball for more than 36 minutes against Notre Dame. Ringer does, however, lose a fumble inside MSU's own 30-yard line, leading to a crucial Irish touchdown.
• Air Force fails to complete a pass in the first half against Utah, extending its streak to seven quarters without a completion until AFA quarterback Shea Smith heaves an option pass for a long score on the Falcons' first play of the third quarter.
• Florida State forces a turnover on Wake Forest's first possession and takes an early lead at home, then fails to score for the next two-and-a-half quarters. The Deacons win on the final drive with less than 100 yards rushing for the game.
• Vanderbilt struggles offensively at Ole Miss, but stays in the game with a blocked punt and moves ahead of the Rebels late, setting the stage for a long, game-winning drive in the final minute that establishes Jevan Snead as one of the better quarterbacks in the conference behind Tebow and Stafford.
• Auburn-LSU gets ugly after LSU's Tyson Jackson knocks Chris Todd out of the game with a non-egregious late hit and Auburn linemen retaliate by attempting to chop block Ricky Jean-Francois, causing a fracas that brings several players off the benches and ends with at least three ejections, helping to open up Auburn's game for the rest of the night.






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">Sep 19, 2008 (16 hours ago)
SEC Eliminator: Auburn and LSU step into the gauntlet

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Two teams enter, but only one team emerges with championship hopes intact from ...

Obstacle 1 Keep Your Quarterback Upright
Not "in a comfort zone," not "in good situations," just "not injured." These aren't bad offensive lines (especially LSU's hulking wall), but with completely green big game quarterbacks across from this year's best versions of the big, fast, platonic SEC defensive line ideal/nightmare, the best Andrew Hatch and Chris Todd -- or Jarrett Lee and Kodi Burns, if necessary -- can be counted on to consistently execute are clean handoffs, a lot of screens and the occasional chuck-n-duck downfield. The worst-case ... they don't want to think about the worst-case.
Remember: the starting signal-callers are out of junior college and the Ivy League, respectively. Just avoiding a concussed ride off the field is an OK night.
Obstacle 2 Run to Win
There will be somewhere in the neighborhood of eight featured running backs between both teams, and it wouldn't be even a little surprising if they get a dozen carries apiece as long as handing off remains viable. LSU seems to be in this mindset all the time, anyway, and although I have a sinking feeling Tony Franklin -- bred in the Mumme-Leach school of aeronautics -- prefers to establish a "running game" via "long handoff" into the flat, Brad Lester and Brandon Tate between the tackles is the Tigers' bread, butter, meat, potatoes and nicotine, in the name of chewing up valuable minutes off the clock, if nothing else.
Obstacle 3 Score a Touchdown (aka, 3 to 2 Won't Do)
Seriously. Field goal > safety is hilarious when Mississippi State is involved, but this is a primetime, fire-in-the-eyes showcase for the standings and the polls with no room for Yakety Sax. There was no sense of sandbagging from Auburn during its offensive vacation in Starkville. So three points against Mississippi State equals what, exactly, against LSU?
The end zone is hardly a foregone conclusion in this series as it is: Last year's game in Baton Rouge was a relative shootout (30-24) with a couple senior quarterbacks, but neither team scored 20 points in regulation from 2004-06, with Auburn winning 10-9 (with Jason Campbell, Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown in the lineup for Auburn) and 7-3 (with JaMarcus Russell and Dwayne Bowe for LSU) in the last two games on the Plains. As hard as sustained drives will be to come by, the big play -- and I literally mean one big play, an advantage to LSU because of its receivers -- could be all that separates these teams from one another, and all that separates this game from Princeton-Rutgers in 1869. It should be riveting, really.






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">Sep 19, 2008 (22 hours ago)
Florida has permission to take off the wrapping

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

If trash talk was worth any points, Tennessee would already be three touchdowns behind Florida for responding to Brandon Spikes' uninspired "You quit on last year's game" with a completely thudding, "Well you tried to run up the score!" Tres Conference USA , Demonte Bolden. Florida did run up the score on the Vols in '07, like they were Tennessee Tech or something. But that isn't Florida's problem.
I'm still in the camp that thinks the Gators don't really have a problem, at least not one they should be worried about here. UF kept the lid on the Tebow Child against Hawaii and was lackluster enough for three quarters against Miami that it might be "struggling" on offense so far. This is fine, as long as it's in relative terms. There's "struggling" through fairly comfortable wins without great numbers, and there's struggling, as in "we have no passing game," which looks like the fate at Tennessee.
The good news for the Vols is that the running game settled down and dominated UAB last week in the second half. The bad news is that it was UAB, and it took a pair of Jonathan Crompton interceptions to throttle down into a sturdier gear. And neither mode ran smoothly at all at UCLA, who, it turns out, may not be all that much better than UAB. Transitive property of the Bruins' collapse at BYU says Tennessee is very bad, and we don't know yet that that is absolutely false.
Relative to last year's humiliation in Gainesville, the one upgrade Tennessee has in its corner -- aside from 100,000 full-throated, whiskey-swilling diehards, obviously -- is a talented, experienced secondary, a group that was still covered in amniotic fluid for that spanking in the Swamp and should be vastly more hostile to the big play than it was then.
But the same is true of Florida's defense, which didn't actually give up any big plays to a much more capable UT passing than it faces Saturday. If ever there was a time to return to the lo-fi, punishing running game that chews up all the time Tebow could be using to circumcise the Vols into tiny, fleshy bits, it's here. But unless UT controls the ball for something like 38 or 40 minutes, I don't see any way Crompton is suddenly good enough to avoid some kind of horrible disaster. It's not nice, but the boos, I say, let them smatter.






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