CFB Week 6 (9/30-10/4) Picks and News

[RJ Esq]

Profiles in Disillusion: Singling out the Vols in a weekend of Eastern discontent

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Conquered favorites and other notables picking up the pieces of shattered ambition this week.

Alone again, un-naturally. One thing about being a top five, national contender with a stunning disappointment in September: one loss doesn't knock your entire season off track. Yes, Georgia and Florida fans may be humiliated, chastened, doing some soul-searching. But they also realize that, at 4-1 apiece, they still have some hope, they aren't looking for scapegoats and are hardly at the point of losing all perspective. The fallout from Saturday's losses doesn't get much worse in those parts than a Gator blogger bemoaning the fumbling fates or a newspaper columnist writing that the Bulldogs "lack greatness." And there is not even a tiny question about who'll be lining up at quarterback for UF or UGA.
By contrast, scroll on down to the bottom of the SEC East standings, and at least you'll find some unanimity among Tennessee fans about one aspect of their 1-3 anti-heroes, courtesy the ever-useful polling of the Knoxville News-Sentinel:

Keep in mind that, other than Crompton, no other members of this select panel have attempted a real college pass (Gerald Jones' dropped screen thingy against Auburn notwithstanding). Still, based on the relative enthusiasm for the mysterious "Other" -- there are no potential QBs on the UT roster other than those listed here -- Vol partisans are apparently more comfortable with no quarterback at all than with Jonathan Crompton. And watching Crompton Saturday, it's hard to say I blame them: seven points from an entire second half on Auburn's side of the field seems like a pretty good reason to pack in the expectations for the rest of the year. I mean, the locals are dissecting the keys to beating Northern Illinois Saturday, and after the Huskies' 37-0 shutout against Eastern Michigan, that doesn't seem so academic.
The good news, for now: Stephens will get his shot to replace Crompton this week in practice. I stress for now, until Stephens actually gets into a game. On Volunteer message boards: Defensiveness. ... Worst-case scenarios. ... Nostalgia.
Greg Robinson and beyond the infinite.The Syracuse Post-Dispatch's Donnie Webb has unearthed what he believes to be the "Mona Lisa" of sideline ineptitude during Cuse's fourth quarter collapse against Pittsburgh -- the single worst coaching decision Greg Robinson has ever made, just after Pitt tied the game at 24 apiece:

With Syracuse's offense desperate to answer, Robinson inserted true freshman tailback Antwon Bailey into the game. Bailey had yet to play this season through the first four games. Now, he was being asked to generate some ground game at a pivotal point in the game. Bailey rushed for 2 yards on his first carries and 3 on his second. On third down, there was confusion just getting the play called from the sidelines. Cameron Dantley barely got the snap in time to beat the play clock and was thrown for a 4-yard loss on what may or may not have been some type of quarterback draw. The end result - three and out. Pitt scored on the next possession with what proved to be the winning points ...
[...]
Robinson said tailback Doug Hogue had sprained his ankle and that starting tailback Curtis Brinkley [who at that point had over 100 yards on just 14 carries -- ed.] needed a chance to catch his breath. Of course, why did Brinkley need to catch his breath after the Pitt offense ripped off an 89-yard drive that took 4 minutes and 41 seconds?
​

Brent Axe passes along some rumblings that Robinson's house may be up for sale and/or is contract has either been bought out or is in the process of being bought out. Syracuse has a bye this week, and only two games in the month of October, after which everyone's attention will be consumed by Orange basketball. So if Daryl Gross is going to drop the hammer on G-Rob, it seems the time is now.

Head Coach: 'We're too hopeless to care if we actually win right now.' How bad is football in the Evergreen State? Oh-and-four Washington lost both the game and its only quality player Saturday against Stanford, is about to lose its coach, opens the week as an 18-point underdog to Arizona, and Washington State is wishing it had it so good.
The Cougars have won a game, at least, against I-AA Portland State, but even in that effort lost their top two quarterbacks. Otherwise, WSU has given up 66 points to Cal, 45 points to Baylor and 63 points Saturday to an Oregon offense led by a fourth-team, true freshman quarterback. There's no hiding from that kind of suck; even first-year boss Paul Wulff is abandoning all hope for 2008:

Afterward, first-year coach Paul Wulff copped a plea that may jar some WSU faithful. Essentially: Don't be looking for a lot of victories in 2008. The Cougars are going to have to embrace incremental progress, and it may be evident only in the darkness of a coach's film room.
"Right now," Wulff said, "we're taking any kind of victories. The [magnitude] of the score is what it is. We're not going to get caught up in it."
[...]
"If we lose a game, we lost it," Wulff said. "If we win it, we win it. The score is not our issue right now."
​

Well, there's always the Gameday flag, I guess.
Elsewhere in disillusion ... They're writing an unexpectedly early eulogy for Clemson's season, just like for every other Clemson season under Tommy Bowden, at one point or another. ... At least Nebraska, uh, fought to the end? Seriously, Nebraska, I know last year was bad and all, but moral victories? At home? Against an unranked opponent? How the mighty fall.- - -

 

[RJ Esq]

Coaches question the future of the 'Q package'

from Bevo Beat
Fans aren’t the only ones who are questioning the purpose of the “Q package” — Texas’ two-quarterback formation when John Chiles joins Colt McCoy in the game.
Mack Brown and his offensive coordinator, Greg Davis, both indicated Monday that the formation might have a brief future.
“The Q package right now hasn’t brought us anything much,” Brown said. “We’ll continue to look at it. … It doesn’t look like it’s going to be as involved as we thought at the beginning of the year.”
Added Davis, “It hasn’t been as productive as we’d thought.”
Both cited the development of Texas’ young receivers as a reason that the “Q” has seen only limited use. Davis cited James Kirkendoll, Malcolm Williams and Brandon Collins as players who’ve stepped up at receiver, making it less critical that Chiles line up as a receiver.
Davis said that Chiles continues to need as many snaps as he can get in practice at quarterback, perhaps stunting his development as a receiver. “John isn’t far enough along as a quarterback to spend all his time at receiver, learning the nuances of that position.”

 

[counselor]

24 points in conference is a ton, even for a shitty team like A&M. If Okie State gets up and starts scoring, A&M may not be able to keep within the number.

However, A&m is 10-2 SU against the Cowpokes with an average score of 28-20. The last time Okie St won by 24+ was in 2003 when they beat A&M at College Station, 38-10.

Historical record (pay particular attention from 1996-Present as those games are in conference):



You'll note that the only years that Okie State beat A&M by more than 24 were 2003 and 1988.

Fair enough. The only retort I would have is that this is the worst team A&M has had since 1996...

:shake:

 

[counselor]

I want this shirt:

You should be able to find something you like here or here.

Good luck!:tiphat:

 

[RJ Esq]

Counselor--Agree on this being the worst A&M team in years and I meant the other shirt, buddy.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">2:34 PM (2 hours ago)
College Football's Overachievers and Underachievers Against the Spread

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: NCAA FB Gambling

Sure, one can watch a team through the first few weeks of the season and compare them to arbitrary expectations or against their rankings -- assuming they were ranked to begin with. But another measure is to look at their record "against the spread". Now is particularly a good time so early in the season when the book hasn't been written about each time and the betters and oddsmakers are still catching up to performance.

For example, Vanderbilt is now 4-0 against the spread. In a very isolated sense, they continue to outperform expectations this year. So too does No. 5 Texas, who is now 4-0 against the spread. How about No. 2 Alabama? Well, they're 4-1-0 so far in beating the spread. In-state rival Auburn with their anemic offense is just 1-4-0. Another disappointing team is Clemson who is now 0-3 against the spread.

Congratulations go out to Turner Gill, coach at Buffalo whose Bulls have beaten the odds to a 4-1-0 mark so far. Similarly, coach David Cutcliffe is now 3-0 against the spread at Duke. Both are tough places to coach at and succeed, and success is sometimes more a game of beating expectation than raw victory totals.

Fresh off a BCS Championship, LSU has started the year 1-2 against the spread. Chalk this up a bit to their being a known quantity with perhaps too much respect from the oddsmakers and betters. Ohio State has failed to cover in any game and is now 0-4 ATS. Same with disappointing Pittsburgh, also at 0-4.

And finally there's No. 1 Oklahoma, who despite high standards has put on an all-out offensive blitz early in the season to cruise to a 3-0 mark against the spread.






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">2:19 PM (2 hours ago)
70-3 still stings in Boulder

from Bevo Beat

Mack Brown said today that the 2005 Big 12 championship — the last time Texas played Colorado — was ancient history and that he wouldn’t dust it off to show his team.
Texas absolutely crushed Colorado that day, 70-3 in Houston’s Reliant Stadium.
While Texas has moved on, some in Colorado have not, according to a story in Boulder’s Daily Camera.
The loss to Texas capped a painful period in Buffalo football history, writes Kyle Ringo:

The negativity of the period had taken a toll on recruiting and it was exposed that day, more than any other, in the final score. The Buffs had gone from a top-25 ranking in mid-November to three straight losses by the combined score of 130-22. Wide receiver Patrick Williams was just a youngster at the end of his redshirt freshman season staring at the scoreboard in Reliant Stadium in Houston in utter disbelief. “I can remember looking up in the third quarter thinking, ‘Man, they might score a hundred. We got to stop these guys,’ ” Williams said. “That was a very good football team and I take my hat off to them, but I have never felt more embarrassed.​

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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">2:18 PM (2 hours ago)
BLOGTOBERFEST! AL GROH COACHBOOK EDITION

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Whoever made the Al Groh Coachbook: We love you, but in a noncommital, beaten by Duke, “Meh” kind of Al Groh way. “Al Groh became a fan of Van Halen” is probably our favorite little detail in a well-layered casserole of parody.
In further Facebook news: We thought Pete Carroll might just let the Facebook status hang for a few days as he watched film of the Oregon State game and helped negotiate the bailout package: but you can’t stop Pete Carroll from charging headlong into the future.

WIN FOREVER. Except on Thursdays.
Principles: we have them. Holly took a stand this weekend.
Inadvertently funny. Perhaps calling the Auburn offense the “offensive” is appropriate, if incorrect in a grammatical sense.
Our schedule does not get any easier. Our offensive is virtually last in every statistical category. Franklin please shave and please for the love of god get a first down, that’s all I ask.
Save that for the Octagon, Mr. Pelini. Bo Pelini is one of the few coaches who really looks like he could step in and play a few downs with authority, and perhaps that explains why he picked up a 15 yard unsportsmanlike call in the loss to Virginia Tech while arguing with officials: he looks like he’s about to flying squirrel attack someone.
That’s great news! Further injuries as Jim Tartt gets injured on Florida’s o-line.
Punting would be preferable to what’s currently going on. Lloyd Carr will not be the next head football coach at Syracuse, which Matt helpfully points out, but still mentions because it’s fun to watch people’s heads explode every now and then.
We prefer the cowrie shells and tarot cards. Football Outsiders attempts to take on the dangerous question of “meaningful college football stats.”






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[RJ Esq]

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The rumor-tastic Greg Robinson Successor Derby: Lloyd Carr?

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

When last we left the search for Greg Robinson's successor at Syracuse, evidence was mounting that soon-to-be-terminated Raiders coach Lane Kiffin was the man for the job. That made sense: Kiffin has been a college coach most of his career and has connections with his old USC boss, Daryl Gross, current 'Cuse AD and open antagonist of his coach the last two weeks. The Post-Standard's Brent Axe has heard through the grapevine that Robinson's house may already be for sale and his contract could have already been bought out. With Kiffin still waiting for the pink slip in Oakland, though, there have been much weirder sightings around campus back East, and I'm not talking about Ernie Davis' anachronistic shoes:

I have confirmed through three separate and independent sources that Lloyd Carr was in Manley Field House today. Still no word on what was discussed. This is now confirmed in my mind.
​

That was Friday, a few days after Axe heard whispers that Carr was at the Carrier Dome for the Orange's only win of the season -- probably the only win it will get, period, unless Rutgers is really that bad -- over I-AA Northeastern. Maybe his presence is good jus jus or something: the rumored Carr sightings have corresponded with a win and a solid three-quarter effort against Pittsburgh before a late collapse, which might as well count as victory by the Orange's recent standards. Axe apparently reported the Carr sightings on his radio show, as well.
Orange message boards, of course, proclaimed "Lloyd Carr is Syracuse's next coach" as soon as his name came up, which 'Cuse beat honcho Donnie Webb emphatically trashed Friday night as "BS, nonsense, stupid, dumb, reckless and disappointing." Gross was in L.A. Friday night for the premiere of "The Express," according to Webb, so he couldn't have been hobnobbing with Carr in the quad. And who brings potential coaches on campus to interview, anyway? Those things are done as far away as possible from the rumormongers, in places like, uh, Los Angeles.
Of course, Carr to Syracuse makes approximately zero sense. Carr to anywhere but a golf course, armchair-testing laboratory or reality show based on antagonistic halftime interviews makes zero sense. He spent virtually his entire career at Michigan as the embodiment of the grumbly but loyal "Michigan Man," and retired for a lack of energy and rumored health problems. If any job needed the full-blooded vigor of a young man willing to go from dawn till pre-dawn the next day, then start over again, it's Syracuse.
But the only other name with the tiniest shred of local traction outside of Kiffin? Terry Bowden, whose interest in seemingly every open position of the last decade has gone unrequited. But as long as we're throwing names around, and Robinson's still technically employed, why not?
- - -






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[RJ Esq]

Florida practices for 90 minutes under lights

GAINESVILLE -- In an effort to shake the doldrums of Ole Miss 31, UF 30, the No.12 Florida Gators football team practiced from around 8:30 to 10 on Sunday night. Practicing on Sunday during the regular season is a rarity for the Gators, who normally rest the day after a game before grueling practices on Monday and Tuesday.

Because of NCAA rules limiting the number of hours teams can practice during the week, Florida must alter its practice schedule one day this week to adjust for practicing on Sunday. Expect the change to come early in the week. (Perhaps on Monday.) Florida (3-1, 1-1 in SEC) plays at Arkansas (2-2, 0-1 in SEC) on Saturday.
A few notes from practice...

--Safety Will Hill (hamstring), offensive lineman Maurice Hurt (neck) and receiver Omarius Hines (undisclosed injury) did not practice with the team and instead jogged and worked with trainers.
--Florida's first-team offense and defense went against scout teams. Ball security was a big theme. (Florida fumbled five times, losing three, against Ole Miss.)
--Could offensive linemen Corey Hobbs and Ronnie Wilson get a shot at left guard this week? You better believe it.
--Back-up free safety Justin Williams had an interception.

 

[RJ Esq]

Mid-Major Monday: A nice, quiet weekend for BYU, where poll-jumping is easy!

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

BYU didn't play a game Saturday, but might have had the best weekend of any team that didn't happen to wipe out a top five rival on the road on national television. Losses by Georgia, USC, Florida and Wisconsin bounced the Cougars all the way up to eighth according to the AP, seventh by the coaches and ninth in the Harris Poll -- you know, that one that gets no attention except for its counting for a full third of the BCS rankings. The Y's recognizable brand and early exploits have it on the map early enough, and any team good enough to slide into the top ten before October is good enough to start thinking about the national championship, right? Only if you think that BYU being ranked ahead of the Trojans, Gators, Bulldogs, Buckeyes and Badgers right now means it will hold that status by default for the rest of the year, while hoping enough of the teams still in front fall away with losses. I wouldn't bet on that -- not because BYU won't keep winning (quite the opposite), but the Cougars won't be in the national spotlight in a meaningful game again until the November showdown with Utah. There may be relatively massive stakes on the line there if both teams are still undefeated, but while they're putting the rest of the Mountain West out of its misery, Saturday's more high profile victims will be bouncing back with stronger efforts, wins voters will actually see. If it comes down to USC or a one-loss SEC team with wins over three or four ranked teams and a championship game win fresh in the pollsters' memories, it doesn't seem likely BYU will get the vote absent absurd acquiesence to auto-promotion. Given what its schedule will look like as UCLA continues to bite the dust and MWC patsies pile up, BYU almost certainly won't deserve the vote; the big games just aren't there.
If somehow it comes down to BYU/Utah against Ohio State, though, I'm not sure even the meh-ness of the Mountain West -- record against the Pac-10 notwithstanding -- can keep voters from exercising their distaste for the prospect of another Buckeye championship. Good thing all of those fantasies are still a long, long time away.
Mid-Major Game of the Week. The first half of Buffalo's trip to Central Michigan shaped up as a less spectacular Auburn-Mississippi State redux -- after a solid opening field goal drive, Buffalo wound up punting for the rest of the half and led by the unlikely score of 5-3 at the break. Suddenly, the floodgates opened: following a fumble on its first possession of the third quarter, Central Michigan tore off four straight scoring drives, running up 24 points on a touchdown run by Dan LeFevour and two by Ontario Sneed, along with a Andrew Aguila field goal, in a little more than a quarter-and-a-half.
Buffalo kept pace with a couple long touchdown drives (66 and 63 yards) of its own, and after falling behind 27-18 on Sneed's second TD run, managed to get running back James Starks into the open on a 65-yard touchdown pass to pull within two with a little over 1:30 to play. Of course, the Bulls -- conquerors of Temple on a Hail Mary earlier this month -- came up with the ensuing onside kick on their own 42.
Exactly one minute, thirty-four seconds and 39 yards later, A.J. Principe -- who we'll assume is a direct descendant of World War-insitgating archduke assassin Gavrilo Princip, just for the drama of it -- lined up on the Chippewas' 29 to drive home the biggest win in Buffalo's short I-A history. Players held hands. Lungs refused to exhale. Eyes refused to blink. Car alarms in the parking alarm suddenly ceased. And Principe's kick grazed the right upright and spun away, no good.
What did you expect? UB already got its Hail Mary. You want a double-digit comeback in the final two minutes over the two-time, defending conference champion after an onside kick, too? On the road? In the same month? What goes around comes around. Deal.

Steppin' Up. "A for Effort" nods to Army and UL-Lafayette, which pushed Texas A&M and Kansas State, respectively, well into the fourth quarter. But the only big game prizes Saturday weren't quite as shocking as either of those attempts: Fresno State was fully expected to be UCLA in the Rose Bowl (the Bulldogs failed to cover, in fact), and while Navy hanging on to bring down Wake Forest was surprising enough, the Deacons aren't that far out of anyone's talent bracket, even the Midshipmen's. When Wake runs into another well-coached, disciplined team, the advantages it has against, say, Florida State fall by the wayside.
Mid-Major Player(s) of the Week. Houston's Chase Keenum lit up East Carolina's once-vaunted defense for 399 yards and three touchdowns on 36-of-44 passing in the Cougars' 41-24 win. ... Ryan Mathews' 166 yards on 7.9 per carry paced Fresno State in its win at UCLA. ... Rice's Chase Clement threw five touchdowns, four of them to Jarrett Dillard in the Owls' 77-20 obliteration of butterfinger-y North Texas. ... UL-Lafayette tailback Tyrell Fenroy and quarterback Michael Desormeaux accounted for 429 of the Cajuns' 509 total yards in ULL's 45-37 loss to Kansas State. ... And Memphis' Clinton McDonald had three solo sacks, two assisted sacks and another QB hurry in the Tigers' win over Arkansas State.

An Arbitrary Mid-Major Top Ten
This is more of a power poll.
- - -
1. BYU (4-0) Cougars just playing out the string until the winner-take-all game with Utah.
2. Utah (5-0) Ditto the Utes, except beating Oregon State isn't as automatic as it looked this time last week.
3. Boise State (3-0) Another favorite to run the table with no more BCS teams in the last nine games and Fresno State coming to the blue turf.
4. Tulsa (4-0) There's Arkansas, but as bad as the Razorbacks look, the Hurricane will be favored the rest of the way, too, at least into the C-USA Championship.
5. Fresno State (3-1) Even a close triumph over UCLA is an impressive one: Pac-10 road wins don't grow on trees. But the Bulldogs still have to do something about their porous run defense.
6. Ball State (5-0) The Cardinals shouldn't lose a game before a trio of the biggest MAC showdowns in November. Like Tulsa, you won't hear much from them before then, until someone looks up and says, "Hey, these guys are 9-0," because not many of those nine are worth any bleating. Maybe Navy.
7. TCU (4-1) Completely stuffed Oklahoma's running game, and still never had a prayer in Norman.
8. East Carolina (3-2) Two big non-conference wins still count for something, but two bad in-conference losses do, too. A completely ordinary C-USA team all of a sudden. At 1-2, a bad C-USA, even.
9. Navy (3-2) The flexbone rolls. The Midshipmen never beat a ranked team under Paul Johnson, or any "Big Six" team that finished with a winning record. Either that streak was broken Saturday, or Wake Forest had better watch out.
10. Air Force (3-1) Probably not a Mountian West contender, but still waiting to embarrass your defense at the first hint of fatigue.
Honorable Mention: UNLV (3-2), Western Michigan (4-1), Louisiana Tech (2-1), Central Michigan (3-2)
Coming Up
The Week Ahead
- - -
Best Game. Navy and Air Force don't necessarily have to throw a pass Saturday in Colorado Springs. The Falcons have already won once this year without completing a pass; it's just the next logical step. C'mon, we know you don't want to. Just run that sweet, sweet option and variants thereof, over and over, and we'll love you forever.
Most Realistic Upset. Maybe it's not actually that "realistic," per se, but fresh off a 37-0 shutout of Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois is ripe to give Tennessee's offense some kind of problems as the Vols try to find something, anything, to work with at quarterback.
Least Realistic Upset. Western Kentucky managed all of 15 yards passing at Kentucky last Saturday. The Hilltoppers will be lucky to get off 15 attempts against Virginia Tech, and even luckier to actually complete one.
Break Out the Abacus. Ball State and Toledo are two of the top three scoring teams in the MAC, especially BSU, which has scored at least 35 in all five of its wins and topped 40 in four of them. For their part, the Rockets put up 41 on Eastern Michigan and 54 in the double-OT loss to Fresno State before turning it over four times in last week's shocking loss to totally hapless Florida International.

 

[RJ Esq]

Michigan State 42, Indiana 29.

from The Hoosier Report by John M
I was out of town on Saturday and forgot to Tivo the game, so my comments will be fairly short. It's for the better, I suppose. Watching the 97-yard TD pass that turned into a safety for holding in the end zone probably would have taken years off my life. Here's the box score. Spartans Weblog is a must-read during basketball season, but I didn't realize that he had branched out into football so extensively. Read the whole thing, as they say, but here's his recap of the game. My thoughts, which, again, are entirely box score-based:

• Surprisingly even offensive numbers. MSU modestly outgained IU, 497-473. IU had a slight edge in yards per play, 6.6 to 6.4. IU punted 7 times, MSU 6 times.
• The difference, apparently, was turnovers. IU had 3, MSU 0.
• Marcus Thigpen had another nice game, with 113 yards on 9 carries. As is often the case, Thigpen got the bulk of the yards on a big play, a 78 yard run. Still, even taking the big run out of the equation, he averaged 4.3 on the other carries. He was a beast catching the ball as well, with two catched for 94 yards, and adding a receiving TD to his two rushing TDs.
• Shades of Cam Cameron: Lynch played Lewis and Chappell at the same time, lining up Lewis as a WR. Both had respectable performances passing (actually, Chappell was only 11-23), and it will be interesting to see how this develops.
• Demarlo Belcher joined the attack, with 73 yards on four catches.
• No sacks! The 2007 team is looking like a one year wonder.
• Javon Ringer brutalized us, of course.

Overall, it sounds like it was a frustrating game to watch, but I can't be too discouraged considering MSU's strengths. Now, IU enters the most crucial stretch of its season. IU plays at Minnesota this week, then Iowa at home, then at Illinois, then at home against Northwestern. To make it to a bowl game (I'm assuming 7 wins will be required), IU almost certainly must go 3-1 in the next four weeks. And even going 3-1 would require IU to beat dangerous Central Michigan and either pull a major upset against PSU or Wisconsin or beat Purdue in Joe Tiller's last home game. The Ball State loss remains a killer, obviously. More on the apparently improved Gophers later.

 

[counselor]

Counselor--Agree on this being the worst A&M team in years and I meant the other shirt, buddy.

Huh? Oh, right...

 

[RJ Esq]

Oregon State @ #15 Utah

from Block U by JazzyUte

AT

Date & Time: Thursday, October 2nd, 2008, 7:00 MST​

TV: Versus
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Radio: KALL 700
​

Location: Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah
​

All-time series: Oregon State leads 9-4-1​

Last meeting: 2007, Oregon State 24, Utah 7​

Facing their biggest test yet, Utah hosts Oregon State this Thursday. They'll be looking for a bit of revenge after last season's loss, but more importantly, a 6 and 0 start. It won't be easy, however, as the Beavers are coming off the biggest win in school history, after they upset #1 ranked USC. It marks the first time Utah and Oregon State have met in Salt Lake City since 1992, a 42-9 Utah victory.​

The Beavers struggled at the beginning of the season, losing their opener against Stanford and then getting blown out against Penn State. But since that 0-2 hole, they've won their last two games and are hitting their stride at just the right moment, especially on offense. That will provide Utah with a challenge they've really yet to see this season, a decent offense.​

Leading the offensive charge is freshman tailback Jacquizz Rodgers, who carved up USC's defensive line last Thursday on his way to 186 yards. And though Utah's run defense has looked stout this season, Rodgers will be their biggest test yet. He basically put the Beaver offense on his shoulders last week and carried them to victory, abusing what was supposed to be one of the best run defenses in the country. USC had only allowed about 46 yards per game on the ground prior to Thursday's contest with Oregon State. Now, it's a bit higher. So the Utes, who rank fifth nationally in that regard, can't take that ranking for granted.​

Outside of Rodgers, Oregon State has a pretty solid passing game, as well. They're led by Lyle Moevao, who has thrown for 1,089 yards on the season and has a completion rate of 62%. Against the Trojans, he went 18 of 28 for 167 yards and two touchdowns. That was actually his least effective performance, at least through the air, on the season. Of course, that also has to deal with the fact the Beavers relied on their ground game more than anything and why not, it worked. But this just adds a new dimension to Oregon State's already powerful offense.​

Defensively, it's a different story for the Beavers. They don't boast the toughest defense Utah will see this season, so for all the power they have on the offensive side of the ball, it's a different story when it comes to defending the opposing team.​

It's not that their defense is bad, it isn't, it just isn't great, either. The Beavers give up about 27 points per game and against their toughest competition, Stanford, Penn State and USC, that total rises to 35. However, the strongest aspect of the Oregon State defense is their pass defense, as they rank just below Utah in pass yards allowed in a game (171). That defense will prove to be a test for Brian Johnson, who has struggled at times this season when the opposing team pressures. Of course, it should be noted the Beavers haven't played a pass oriented offense much at all this season. Stanford opted to run the ball, Penn State is more known for their ground game as well and Mark Sanchez was able to throw for 227 yards, even in a loss. That should bode well for Johnson, bearing in mind he doesn't stumble when pressured.​

Another issue with the Beaver defense is their inability to really stop the run. Unlike last year, when Matt Asiata went out, the Utes are a threat on the ground. If for whatever reason Johnson struggles, they can rely on their running game to move the ball. Oregon State gives up 148 yards per game, or more than the Utes average.​

Overall, the Beaver defense gives up a total of about 319 yards per game. Which ranks 40th in the nation. That type of defense isn't going to strike fear into Utah's heart, but they are capable of making plays and if Brian Johnson is forced into a couple of turnovers, it could swing the game their way.​

This game is a perfect opportunity for Utah's defense, because it provides them the chance to make a statement. But it also gives the Utes offense a chance to play a complete game, something they have not been able to do all season. Though I think the offense has looked fluid most of the year, there have been execution mistakes that have kept them from being scary good. The Beavers' defense offers a good middle ground for Utah, one that isn't too tough, but not too easy, either. If the Utes can put points on the board and defend well, they should win. I know that sounds totally obvious, but it's the truth.​

Thursday night, Utah will be facing an opponent fresh off the biggest upset of the season and will be provided a chance for that statement win. While Michigan may prove to be a good victory down the line, when it happened, everyone chalked it up to the Wolverines being a bad team and not Utah being a good one. If the Utes beat Oregon State, it will be a victory framed by their good play and not Oregon State's ineptitude. That is what is on the line here and I expect Utah to take full advantage of it. I also expect a very close game, with Utah pulling out the 35-28 victory.​

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">9:12 PM (1 hour ago)
K-State Status Entering Conference Play

from Bring On The Cats by TB
Four games in the books, and we stand 3-1. In the old days -- and by that, I mean pre-2003 and post-1995 -- that would have been pretty bad. Given the expectations coming into this season, I wouldn't have considered 3-1 a disaster. Certainly not the disaster it appears to be after the last two weeks.
Some people think a win is a win. Some think style points matter. While style points certainly matter in a very tangible way for teams competing for a spot in the mythical national championship game, they also matter in a different way for teams who are merely fighting for bowl eligibility.
Take last weekend's game against Louisiana-Lafayette for example. It goes down in the books as a win. But it was an eight-point victory over a team whose only win on the season was against Kent State. I should remind you that Iowa State has also defeated Kent State this season. On top of that, we gave up more than 500 yards of total offense and more than 300 yards rushing to a team that plays in the Sun Belt Conference.
Thus, we enter the Big 12 portion of our schedule, and I could not be more pessimistic. But here is an analysis, statistically and otherwise, of where we stand.
Offense
Even when you take into consideration the unimpressive level of competition, the K-State offense has been pretty good. As a team, the offense is averaging 298.8 yards passing and 440 total yards per game. Those yardage numbers have led to a 47.0 points per game average.
As expected, Josh Freeman has been at the center of the offense's general success. His line for the year reads 77/115 (67 percent), 276 yards per game, 11 TDs, two INTs. That's good by anyone's standards.
The rushing game has been anemic, but perhaps a spark has been found. In the last game against ULL, wide receiver Lamark Brown was moved to running back and, presto, he rushed for 125 yards on 4.2 yards per carry.
On the receiving end of Freeman's bullets has been transfer Brandon Banks. Through four games, Banks is averaging 115 yards per game and has scored six touchdowns. Overall, the receiving corps has been very solid, with five different players scoring touchdowns thus far.
One particularly pleasing statistic is the rate of touchdowns this team has scored when the offense penetrates the red zone. On almost 70 percent of possessions in the red zone this season, the Cats have ended with a touchdown. While that only ranks in the middle of the Big 12, it's certainly a welcome change from last season, when we put up six less than 60 percent of the time we drove inside the opponent's 20.
What else is positive? I can point to penalties, where we're tied for third in the conference with only 51.8 penalty yards per game (last year we averaged 75.2, dead last in the Big 12). Perhaps we should also mention sacks allowed, where we lead the Big 12 with a nice goose egg. As a whole, the measurable offensive numbers generally stack up quite nicely, thank you very much (all stats courtesy NCAAFootball.com):
Josh Freeman, 8th nationally in passing, 24th in scoring
Brandon Banks, 1st nationally in receiving yards per game
12th nationally in team passing, 23rd nationally in total offense, 11th nationally in passing efficiency
So why, despite all these impressive numbers, am I still a little concerned about the offense?
It starts with the running game, or lack thereof. K-State is averaging an anemic 142.5 yards rushing per game, which means we are being outrushed by 64 yards per game. While we have scored 10 rushing TDs this season, a lot of those have been on one-yard dives by our man-mountain quarterback (Freeman has six rushing TDs on the season). And finally there is the Louisville debacle, where we abandoned the rushing game completely, only attempting 12 rushes in the entire game.
Next up comes Freeman's play against Louisville. The Cardinals have by far the best defense the Cats have faced this season, and against them Freeman had by far his worst game of the year. He threw two interceptions, one being a terrible decision and the other, while not a bad decision, was at least partially due to his poor mechanics on the throw. The lack of a running game against UL permitted the Cardinals defenders to go after Freeman like Mark Mangino goes after a buffet, and Freeman did not react to the pressure well. His production suffered, he made poor decisions, and we lost. Not all his fault, but disconcerting considering the level of defense we will face in conference play will be much more like Louisville than like North Texas.
Speaking of which, while the offensive numbers have been impressive, they must be considered in the context of the opposition. Below is a breakdown of the defensive numbers of North Texas, Montana State, Louisville and ULL, and our production against those teams.
North Texas: 172.5 rushing yards/game (K-State 165), 315.8 passing yards per game (K-State 306), 488.2 total yards per game (K-State 471), 54.8 points per game (K-State 45)
Montana State: 122.5 rushing yards/game (K-State 177), 176.2 passing yards/game (K-State 304), 298.8 total yards per game (K-State 481), 31.2 points per game (K-State 69) (***Note that Montana State's stats are compiled against FCS competition)
Louisville: 70.8 rushing yards/game (K-State 30), 181.2 passing yards/game (K-State 313), 252 total yards/game (K-State 343), 23.0 points per game (K-State 29)
Louisiana-Lafayette: 261.5 rushing yards/game (K-State 198), 198.5 passing yards/game (K-State 272), 460.0 total yards/game (K-State 470), 35.8 points per game (K-State 45)
As these numbers show, the only game in which we significantly outperformed the opposing team's season averages was in the Montana State game, and MSU was playing up a level against us. We should expect to put up those kinds of numbers against such a team. What is particularly distressing to me is our inability to put up rushing yards that even come close to what our opponents give up on average. Even against anemic UNT, our offense contributed to the low side of UNT's rushing average for the year.
Defense
There really isn't much to say about the defense that numbers can't express, so I'll just get right to it (stats again courtesy NCAAFootball.com).
Rushing defense: 104th nationally, 206.5 yards/game
Passing defense: 22nd nationally, 164.0 yards/game
Total defense: 77th nationally, 370 yards/game
That pretty well sums it up, but we might as well look a little deeper while we're at it. The passing defense seems decent, right? Yeah, I'd take any unit that's in the top 25 in the country. Unfortunately, I think the reason we're giving up few yards passing is that our opposition 1) hasn't been very good yet, and 2) has realized we can be exploited much more expeditiously by the run than the pass.
North Texas averages 27 rushing attempts/game. Against K-State, they ran the ball 26 times. Montana State averages 41 rushing attempts/ game; against K-State, they ran the ball 36 times. Louisville averages 42 rushing attempts/game; against K-State, they ran the ball 55 times. Louisiana-Lafayette averages 45 rushing attempts/game; against K-State, they ran the ball 51 times.
The numbers in bold indicate the disparity between the opposition's rushing attempts since it was well and truly proven that we are atrocious at stopping the run. If there was ever any doubt, it has been removed. The way to beat K-State is to hand the ball off to a running back, any running back, and have him run forward. If there isn't a hole, whoever is in his way will probably miss the tackle.
So we can't stop the run and we may or may not be able to stop the pass. That doesn't sound like a recipe for success.
Outlook
Eight regular season games remain, and the Cats need three wins to get to bowl eligibility. Of course, as poor as we have looked this season and the gap between when we were last on the national radar -- probably 2003 -- means that seven wins may be required to ensure a bowl berth. In that case, we have to win a minimum of three games, and more likely four, to get to a bowl.
The remaining schedule includes four games against nationally rated opponents (Texas Tech, Oklahoma, KU, Missouri), and three games against teams currently rated in the top 10 (Texas Tech, OU and Mizzou). While the last two seasons' tilts with Texas have shown me that no game should be written off, the defense has shown weaknesses much earlier than either of those teams did, leaving me very skeptical that wins against any of these teams can be achieved. Thus, we will need to win at least three and possibly all four of our games against Texas A&M, Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa State. Every single one of these teams is eminently beatable, but we play on the road in two of them, and the road hasn't been kind to us in the Ron Prince era.
What this all boils down to is the very, very real possibility that this team could finish 4-8 or 5-7 this season. I explicitly stated before the season that the mere number of wins and losses this year would not decide whether Prince should stay or go, and I stick by that. However, it has become quite clear that the deficiencies we saw at the end of last season have not been adequately addressed.
I can't remember ever dreading a Big 12 slate more. Let's hope I'm wrong.






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[nawlins51]

Good read as always RJ. Gl this weekend.About to break the card down.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">7:31 AM (51 minutes ago)
OMG Obama LOL @ UTEP couple

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
You thought you enjoyed the late-night, on-air lovin' captured by sharp ESPN2 cameras during Texas' visit to UTEP? Imagine if that was the only ten seconds of non-pundit television you were allotted for the week.

Assuming it's real, this photo is either another populist reason for James Davis to vote for the man (that other dude, whoever he is, he just wouldn't get this), or more evidence of the Democrat's affinity for the filth and depravity tearing apart the moral fabric of our nation. The Doc is an equal opportunity spinster, even if it makes more sense that Obama was just rooting for his Longhorn friends.
I think my bookshelves are better than Obama's, by the way, although that's a calculated move on his part, I'm sure. You know the old political saying: laugh at embarrassing moments on camera, and stay away from elitist shelves!






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[RJ Esq]

Tuesday Headlinin': Danny Ware's a Dawg, all the way down

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
• Smells like team spirit. Okay, so an ex-player gets arrested. That's always a black eye. So he gets arrested following a home loss for standing in the middle of traffic with "a 24-year-old Dallas woman" at 2 a.m. Certainly sounds like a sour end on an already forgettable night. But if you're a Georgia fan, at least you can't fault former running back Danny Ware's allegiance to the alma mater:

I'm sure that's not the first time the Athens-Clarke County jail system has encountered face paint in a mug shot, but cheerleader-style cheek logos on a 225-pounder with a Super Bowl ring? Somebody give that man $500 for bail (yeah, but seriously, hold the ring for "observation," though).
• Everybody's feeling it. We're hitting October, and the injury list shows it. Joining Jake Locker, Ryan Miller, Jahvid Best and Knowshon Moreno on this week's ballot for "Most Valuable Offensive Injury," UConn quarterback Tyler Lorenzen will miss 6 to 8 weeks -- i.e., possibly the rest of the regular season -- after surgery on his broken foot. This comes just as the 5-0 Huskies' season gets interesting: West Virginia's apparent implosion has left the Big East wide, wide open, and UConn could be (or could have been) plausibly undefeated when it visits South Florida on Nov. 23. Instead, mark the Huskies down as a touchdown underdog Saturday at North Carolina. Is that a slap in the face of Lorenzen's replacement, Notre Dame transfer Zach Frazer? Scott Lunn will have none of it.
Better luck for other Big East quarterbacks: Pat White will play against Rutgers with a sketchy thumb (not that the Mountaineers need him, the way the Knights have started), and Hunter Cantwell should good to go for Louisville's Friday date with Memphis in two weeks. And incredibly, South Florida linebacker Brouce Monpremier is targeting an Oct. 18 return against Syracuse, less than a month after he was air-lifted off the field with a scary-looking neck injury.

• The Tebow Child is sorry, and loves you all. Per the St. Petersburg Times relays Tim Tebow's press conference mea culpa following Florida's loss to Ole Miss, from the moment the questions ended and the quarterback lingered at the podium:

"I just want to say one thing," he began.
"To the fans and everyone in Gator Nation," he trailed off.
He paused.
Then he launched into a passionate promise.
"I'm sorry, extremely sorry," he said. "We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal. It's something that's never been done here. But I will promise you one thing. A lot of good will come out of this.
"You will never see any player in the country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push the rest of the season. You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season. God bless."
​

The Gators immediately went about putting their money where their star's mouth is, scheduling a rare Sunday night practice. The overriding theme: ball security, of course -- although maybe it should have been, "Free Tebow."
Quickly ... USF may also miss all-American DE George Selvie this Thursday against Pittsburgh. . . . There may not be much of the 'Q package' in Texas' future. . . . Dissent brewing at USC? Allen Bradford, buried in the Trojans' six-deep backfield, wants the ball in his hands. . . . On the other side of the ball for SC, Clay Matthews wll start at linebacker against Oregon, but Rey Maualuga is still "day to day". . . . Alabama has scored on four of five opening drives, and the one it didn't, Javier Arenas brought a punt back before the offense's second drive. . . . Not so fast on South Carolina's plans to start Stephen Garcia at quarterback against Ole Miss, an Kenny McKinley's dad says the injured Gamecock receiver has no plans to redshirt. . . . Kansas State safety Gary Chandler was suspended indefinitely until he resolves an arrest for driving with a revoked license. . . . And news flash: commercials make games longer. Film at eleven.

 

[RJ Esq]

Could not NOT post this. Jebus.

The Perfect Use Of SC ‘Cocks Jersey - Modeling

from Busted Coverage by J Koot

All photos via South Carolina’s new hero and photographer Charles Silvey ​

While Jimmy Traina at Extra Mustard is on the hunt for chicks wearing professional team jerseys, our editors have been tracking the NCAA ladies.
Say hello to xxElectraxx.
BC just became a huge fan.
‘Cocks freshman QB Reid McCollum (#14) is lucky guy. The last time a hot chick wore a college jersey the guy went on to a big NFL contract and a nickname. Maybe you’ve heard of Horse Balls and Sara Jean Underwood?
[Charles Silvey Photography]
[xXElectraXx]

​

 

[JumpOnBoard]

Weird Tebow comments....the transcript from Meyer's post game locker room comments got leaked too:

Meyer: Fellers, I’m not quite sure what to say. I guess I’d like to start out by saying I’m proud of each and every one of you, and I’d like to tell you that I’m really pleased with the effort I saw, the desire to win, and your total refusal to roll over and lose the game. I’d like to tell you that… but it’s all bull----. The polish is off the turd. You ----ers are make me sick.

Spikes: Say what???

Meyer: Sorry, got caught up in a moment of brutal honesty, and, you know, honesty’s really not my thing. I’m generally at my best when I’m lying my sorry ass off to players. But this isn’t recruiting, so…

Tebow: Coach, I just want to apologize for not winning the game.

Meyer: Gee, Timmy, that’s really swell, but, uhhh, take a quick look around the room and tell me what you see.

Tebow: Well, uhhh, I guess lockers… some dirty towels… uhhh… oh, and showers. I like showers!

Meyer: Notice anything else?

Tebow: Hmmm… several guys wearing Tim Tebow outfits?

Meyer: Those are uniforms.

Tebow: Right, Tim Tebow “uniforms.”

Meyer: Timmy, those are your teammates

Tebow: Teammates?

Meyer: Yes, other players on the team.

Tebow: Team?

Meyer: Yes, Timmy. A functional unit of people working together for a common goal.

Tebow: You mean, like, getting Tim Tebow into the end zone?

Meyer: Like getting Florida into the win column, which, by the way, is something we’ve never done when trailing in the second half since you’ve been at Florida.

Tebow: I’m (sniff) sorry, Coach. You’re right (sniff sniff) and you’re such an awesome guy. No one will work harder to make us win, especially since we’re better than everyone else and deserve to win (sob). I’ll work harder to score and to run and to awkwardly heave the ball downfield. I’ll will us to…

Meyer: Save it for your worshippers, Timmy.

Tebow: I’m sorry.

Meyer: Whatever. Can anybody tell me what it takes to make a champion?Tartt: Biscuits and mustard?

Meyer: What?

Tartt: Maybe some o’ them French-fried ’taters?

Meyer: Jim, go outside and dig a hole.

Tartt leaves the lockerroom.

Meyer: Somebody do me a favor and lock the door behind him.

Tebow: I’m sorry I didn’t lock the door. I promise to work hard to dig a better hole.

Meyer: Don’t be ridiculous Timmy. How could you dig a bigger hole than a fumble on our own 18, giving us back-to-back turnovers on consecutive plays?

Tebow: I hadn’t really thought about it that way.

Meyer: We didn’t recruit you to think.

Cooper: Can I wash my hair now?

Meyer: Shut the ---- up.

Pierre-Louis: At least it’s early in the season.

Meyer: What???

Pierre-Louis: It’s early in the season.

Meyer: (blink)

Pierre-Louis: I’m just sayin’… You know, it’s early in the season.

Meyer: (blink… blink blink)

Pierre-Louis: …so, you know, we still have time to…

Meyer: How are you even on this team?

Tebow: Team?

Meyer: Look, we just lost at home to Ole Miss. Ole Miss. And it’s not like there was a Manning at quarterback. It was that kid we told we were recruiting Tebow as a linebacker.

Doe: (chuckling) That was a good one!

Meyer: Shut the ---- up.

Doe: Sorry.

Tebow: Hey, that’s my line.

Meyer: Hey. Shut… the ----… up.

Tebow and Doe: Sorry.

Meyer: Has it occurred to any of you how embarrassing this is for me?

Harvin: For you? How do you think we feel?

Meyer: I dunno. How did you feel when you put the tater on the carpet on our 34 on the second play of the second half?

Harvin: Hey, I had 186 yards of offense.

Meyer: Goody gumdrops.

Harvin: Did it occur to you to maybe give me the ball when we needed one lousy yard?

Meyer: Do I need to remind you that I’m your coach?

Harvin: Do I need to remind you what I did to an official in high school?

Meyer: Simmer down, Percy.

Harvin: Don’t make me break this bad foot off in your ass.

Meyer: Save your foot; we might need it for extra points.

Tebow: I promise (sob) to work harder on extra points.

Meyer: Timmy, you don’t kick.

Tebow: Why not?

Meyer: We leave that to the kicker.

Tebow: Kicker?

Meyer: He’s one of your teammates.

Tebow: Teammates?

Meyer: Ye gods.

Pouncey: What now?

Meyer: Now we go to Arkansas.

Other Pouncey: To play Houston Nutt?

Meyer: No, that was Houston Nutt that beat us today.

Pouncey: So who’s beating us next week?

Meyer: We’re not losing next week!

Other Pouncey: How do you know?

Tebow: I’m going to will this team to victory.

Meyer: Timmy…

Tebow: Yes?

Meyer: SHUT THE ---- UP!

Tebow: Sorry.

Haden: You already said that.

Meyer: Holy ----. Do you realize that a mere 4 hours ago I was hailed as a genius? Now I have the same record as that school out west.

Rainey: FS…

Meyer: HEY! Don’t say it! You know I refuse to say or hear their name.

Rainey: Yeah, but we lost to an SEC team. They lost to Wake Forest.

Meyer: The SEC team that beat us lost to Wake Forest.

Rainey: Oh.

Meyer: Yeah.

Rainey: Dang, sometimes it’s not nice to be me.

Meyer: I know the feeling.

 

[RJ Esq]

You guys really need to go check out her profile. Nice pics. One of my favs:

 

[RJ Esq]

<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Tues. Question - Where Should (__) Be Ranked? </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">

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</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Staff
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Sep 30, 2008
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It's one of the toughest calls of the early part of the year. Where should BYU, Alabama, USC and Penn State be ranked? The CFNers try to figure it out in this week's Tuesday Question.
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">
<table id="table2" align="right" border="0" cellspacing="4" width="200"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffcc"> Past TQs
- Is the MWest better than the Pac 10? - If USC is No. 1, who's No. 2? - The best unknown storyline - Will the week 1 duds rebound? - Top Week 1 Games - Predict the 2008 Season - Does Sean Lee's injury change your view of spring ball? - Is a CF Final 4 a good idea?
- How good will Terrelle Pryor be?
- 2008 March Madness Picks - What can college football learn from March Madness? - Three Big Spring Storylines
- The Combines are missing ...
- Best & Curious Coaching Hires - 2008 Wish List
- The 3 Big Bowl Questions - What are you most looking forward to from the bowls? - Did the BCS get it right?
- Who deserves a spot more, OSU or WVU? - What BCS matchups do you want?
- 10 Greatest Quarterbacks of All-Time
- 10 Greatest Defensive Players of All-Time
- 10 Greatest Regular Season Games of All-Time
- 10 Greatest Playmakers of All-Time
- 10 Worst Heisman Winners
- 10 Greatest Bowl Games
- All-Time Offensive Team
- All-Time Defensive Team </td> </tr> </tbody></table> [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2] Pete Fiutak [/SIZE][/FONT]
Q: Where should (blank) be ranked? ….
A:Alabama - If it's possible to do the co-No. 1 thing, I'd put Bama there along with Oklahoma. The Sooners have been flawless so far, but the Tide has shown toughness, both mental and physical, and the lines are destroying everyone. John Parker Wilson has been deadly when given time to throw.

Penn State - Top five. I'm still not sold on Daryll Clark when the pressure is on in a really tight game (and I hate having to look up how to spell Daryll every time I refer to him). However, the offensive line is among the best in America, the receiving corps is playing like the veteran group that it is, and the running game is tremendous. It's unfortunate, but this team might get dragged down in the court of public opinion because of the bad PR problem for the Big Ten.

BYU - Ehhhhhhh, tough call on a lot of levels. Do I think it's one of the ten best teams in America? No, but it could certainly beat anyone in the county on the right day. I continue to have a problem with the struggles against Washington, and while the blasting of UCLA looks decent now I'm not convinced the team would be more than a No. 3 in any of the BCS leagues outside of the Big East. Put them at ten and put a ceiling on the top five unless they're blowing everyone away by 40 ... and they just might.

USC - Bottom of the top ten. The talent is there, but the question marks at the beginning of the season are still there. The offensive line is still coming together. The receiving corps is average, certainly nothing special. The defense should be a killer, but it didn't play like it against Oregon State. I'm not handing USC a spot in the national title on name and talent alone. This team has to earn it after the Clunker in Corvallis.

Richard Cirminiello [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2][/FONT] <o> </o><o> </o> [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2][/SIZE][/FONT] <o> </o>[/SIZE]
Q: Where should (blank) be ranked? ….

A: Alabama – No. 1. The Tide has beaten Clemson, Arkansas, and Georgia by an average score of 41-18...and all outside the state of Alabama. Good luck finding a program with a better resume through the first month of the season.

Penn State – No. 5. The only thing I’d alter here is to bump the Lions ahead of Texas, which will wind up getting exposed over the next month, and has yet to beat an opponent that’s remotely close to being ranked.

BYU – No. 13. I love what Bronco Mendenhall is doing in Provo, but No. 8? Really? How many programs would be 4-0 if they started the year against Northern Iowa, Washington, UCLA, and Wyoming? Plenty. Even though each lost last week, Georgia, Florida, and USC should all be ahead of the Cougars.

USC – No. 9. I expected the Trojans to be No. 9 or No. 10 after sleeping through the Oregon State game, so no beef from here. Of course they should be dinged hard for the loss, but does anyone really think there are more than 10 programs better than USC? Think again.

<o> Matthew Zemek</o>
Q: Where should (blank) be ranked? ….
A: Keeping in mind, of course, that polls are bad for college football and that rankings don't mean anything until early November ...

Alabama should be No. 1. Oklahoma might have more of a reputation under Bob Stoops, and would probably be favored by Vegas against the Tide, but Bama has actually done more to deserve its ranking. Throttling Georgia in Athens says more than any OU win to date.

Penn State should be somewhere around seven or eight. Top 10-worthy for sure, but not yet able to graduate to the head of the class. Beat Wisky and Ohio State, and we can reserve a comfy spot in the top three for JoePa.

BYU? Not in the top 10, that's for sure. Let's try 13. What quality scalp have the Cougars claimed? Boise State's win at Oregon is more impressive than anything BYU has done to date. Mind you, the Cougars were this writer's preseason pick as a BCS-buster, and this is a fine football team, but it's not better than the big boys from the power conferences.

USC? Probably just outside the top 10, right around BYU (say, 14). This team should climb back up as the season progresses, but right now, it doesn't warrant a particularly lofty ranking.

<o>Steve Silverman</o>
Q: Where should (blank) be ranked? ….
A: Alabama -- I get the feeling that this team has undergone the full Nick Saban effect and is ready to go for the whole thing. You dominate teams like Clemson and Georgia, and it's time to talk title. I think when all is said and done, Alabama may be playing for the national championship but I am going to continue to let the Crimson Tide earn its way up the ladder. I'll put them fourth right now with LSU and Missouri (along with No. 1 Oklahoma) ahead of them.

Penn State -- I would make Penn State No. 7 right now. In addition to how I spelled things out for Alabama, I think Texas and Texas Tech deserve to be ranked higher than the Nittany Lions. I know JoePa bashing has gone out of fashion, but I just think Mike Leach's Red Raiders would be more prepared for a head-to-head meeting than Penn State. Texas Tech would whip them big in Lubbock and would be competitive for 60 minutes in Happy Valley.

BYU -- I'll rank the Cougars 9th. You have to love their explosiveness and killer instinct, but I still don't think they could play with the big boys on a consistent basis. They could probably give Missouri or Texas a good game but what if they had to face a gauntlet-type schedule the way they would in the Big 12 or SEC. They would lose at least 2 regular season games..

USC -- The Trojans are a solid No. 8. They were ill-prepared against Oregon State and I don't remember the last time you could say that about a Pete Carroll team. Maybe it was the last time they went to play at OSU. Nevertheless, I believe this ranks as one of Carroll's most talented teams and they will prove it the rest of the season. Don't be shocked if they end up playing for the national title if they get a break or two along the way.



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[RJ Esq]

<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Cavalcade of Whimsy - The Upset Fallout </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">

Tennessee head coach Phil Fulmer
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</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td valign="middle" nowrap="nowrap">By Pete Fiutak
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Sep 30, 2008
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After a weekend of wild upsets there's plenty to sort out. From Florida's play-calling to dealing with USC, and from Wisconsin's collapse to musing about the Phil Fulmer situation, Pete Fiutak tackles the wild weekend in this week's Cavalcade of Whimsy.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]Fiu's Cavalcade of Whimsy[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]
a.k.a. Frank Costanza's Festivus Airing of the Grievances [/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2]

By Pete Fiutak
What's your beef? ... Fire off your thoughts
Past Whimsies [/SIZE][/FONT] 2006 Season | 2007 Season
- Preseason Cavalcade | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
If this column sucks, it’s not my fault … I was wearing a black shirt while writing it. The blackout so freaked out and intimidated Alabama that it got up 31-0 before I figured out what was happening.

“Pressure? Here it's kill or be killed. Make no friends and take no prisoners. One minute you're up half a million, the next, boom. Your kids don't go to college and you've lost your Bentley. … Unless you can explain exactly what happens at the end of Trading Places, you aren’t allowed to have an opinion on the nation’s current economic crisis. The smartest economic minds in the history of the planet can’t even figure out how this all should work. Of far more importance, the smartest college football minds I know couldn’t see last weekend’s bizarre meltdowns coming, either.

Yeah, everyone I talked to and trust sort of liked Alabama over Georgia in a flip-a-coin sort of way, but no one gave a thought to Ole Miss over Florida or Oregon State over USC. If you’re a college football fan, you live for weekends like this. Even though a lot of “experts” and analysts saw their picks crash and burn, it was worth it. This last weekend is the reason why we love this sport.

With that in mind, here are five potential out-of-the-blue, screw-up-the-season upsets to look out for over the next few weeks. Three will be blowouts for the favorites, one will be close, and one will come true.
1. Oklahoma at Kansas State, October 25^th
2. Alabama at Kentucky, this weekend
3. Missouri at Iowa State, November 15^th
4. Boise State at San Jose State, October 24^th
5. USC at Arizona, October 25^th

Marty: “Why don’t you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?”
(pause)
Nigel: These go to eleven ... Instead of whining about the fewer number of plays per game thanks to the new time-clock rules, like Florida head coach Urban Meyer did this week before the Ole Miss debacle, why not just be better at calling the plays you actually have?

To many, comparing Meyer to LSU head coach Les Miles would be like comparing Chris Rock to Carrot Top, but on fourth and one on the Ole Miss 32, would you rather have Miles calling the play, considering how he’s made a living over the last few years on coming by gambling when the game is on the line, or would you want the ill-fated, Meyer-called, Tim Tebow power run?

However, there should be a bylaw that puts USC into the championship game if Ohio State goes to the Rose Bowl … There’s going to be an ideological and philosophical debate to deal with if USC wins out and there aren’t two clear-cut teams deserving of the national title spots. On the one hand, would you bet the ranch on anyone other than maybe an unbeaten SEC champion, like LSU or Alabama, or possibly an unbeaten Oklahoma, over USC in the BCS Championship game?

Knowing what you know about how Pete Carroll and his staff prepares the team for the really, really big games, come the end of the year, as long the Trojans win out, it’s going to be tempting to not give in and want to see them play for the national championship. On the other hand, USC lost to a mediocre Oregon State team. On the deserve scale, losing in Corvallis isn’t as bad as losing to Ole Miss at home, and it’s far better than losing at home to Stanford in 2007, but it’s still an unacceptable loss for a team playing in a struggling conference with national title dreams.

Now here’s the real debate. What if it’s Cal that wins out and not USC? Certainly losing at Maryland is just as acceptable as losing at Oregon State, and the Bears’ win over Michigan State might turn out to be just as impressive as USC’s win over Ohio State. Will Cal get the same respect that USC is certain to receive by winning out, or is it all about name brand name, glitz and glamour?

In this week’s Be Careful What You Wish For department (cough, Rose Bowl, cough) … Fine, I’ll say it. If Oregon State’s Jacquizz Rodgers could run for 186 yards and two touchdowns on USC, what would a possible No. 1 overall draft pick like a healthy Beanie Wells do? Completely lost in the post-game haze of the 35-3 USC win over Ohio State was the way the Beanless-Buckeyes were moving the ball on the Trojans in the first half before the disastrous pick six thrown by Todd Boeckaman. No, Ohio State wouldn’t have won that game no matter what, but it would’ve been far more interesting with Terrelle Pryor and a healthy Wells in the backfield from the start.

If you think that’s hard, try finding Corvallis … Pure gold from Oregon State RB Jacquizz Rodgers after his tremendous performance against USC and how he did it. “I’m a small dude. They couldn’t find me.”

Now he’d be happy to get the lead role in that new Benji flick ... If you’re wondering why coaches always look for the bigger job and the better payday, look no further than the bizarre decline of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, whose career has gone into the tank faster than a post-Medellin Vinnie Chase.
Ferentz was the hot name on everyone’s list for top jobs, both college and pro, after going 31-7 from 2002 to 2004 with some marginally talented teams. A generally likeable guy who created a reputation of producing strong teams with tremendous offensive lines, the world was his for the taking. But instead of becoming another Bob Stoops and making the program into a perennial superpower, Iowa has struggled, mainly because Ferentz was never able to consistently bring in the next-level talent to sustain the success.

Since beating Nick Saban and LSU in a classic Capital One Bowl on New Year’s Day 2005 (yes, a Big Ten team really did beat someone from the SEC), Iowa has gone 22-20, has gone 0-2 in bowl games, and has beaten just one decent team, 2005 Wisconsin in Barry Alvarez’s final game. After losing to Pitt and Northwestern in back-to-back weeks, and with a shaky quarterback situation and mediocre play on the lines, things don’t appear to be much better. Are you listening, Greg Schiano?

You take one down, pass him around, 98 spread quarterbacks left on the wall …. If you choose to run a spread offense, you can’t complain when your quarterbacks go down faster than your approval rating after being interviewed by Katie Couric.

West Virginia’s Pat White and Washington’s Jake Locker are just two of the high-profile superstars suffering hand/thumb injuries. Cincinnati just lost Tony Pike after starter Dustin Grutza got knocked out with a broken leg, Oregon is losing quarterbacks faster than it can change into yet another ugly version of its metallic pea and highlighter-yellow uniforms, and other spread teams, like Eastern Michigan, are trying to get their quarterbacking houses in order thanks to injuries. There’s a reason the NFL doesn’t run the spread, and it’s the same reason it didn’t run the wishbone back in the 70s and 80s. If you run the read-option spread offense, your quarterback is going to get hit and hit a lot. College teams need to be prepared with several backups at the ready.

“Why should I change my name? He’s the one who sucks.” … Just like you can’t name your kid Michael if your last name is Bolton, Jackson or Jordan, you can’t name your kid Rod if your last name is Stewart. It’s a good thing the Colorado star freshman is really good, rushing for 166 yard against West Virginia and 197 yards against Florida State.

Another 777 point drop in the market and that West Virginia buyout will end up being worth about five cheeseburgers and a Frosty … No matter what you think about Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez, the guy can coach. Half of the battle is about making adjustments, and he and his staff actually got the spread offense to work in the second half against Wisconsin with the most-unspread quarterback ever, Steven Threet. However, RichRod made a critical error that 95% of all coaches continue to make.

With just over ten minutes to play, the Wolverines were on an incredible momentum run as John Thompson took a tipped Allan Evridge pass into the end zone for a 20-19 Michigan lead. Rodriguez chose to go for two and try for a three-point advantage, just like the chart says to do. Coaches, repeat after me … you only go for two when you have to. You only go for two when you have to.

About six minutes later, Sam McGuffie scored on a three-yard run and Michigan, smartly, kicked the extra point for an eight point lead. The percentages are in your favor to make a team tie you on a two-point conversion. Of course, had Rodriguez opted for the extra point after the Thompson score, Michigan would’ve been able to kick the extra point to go up nine after the McGuffie touchdown and it would’ve been ball game. Instead, Wisconsin marched to a touchdown and had a shot to put it into overtime. Rodriguez was bailed out of his bad decision because All-America tight end Travis Beckum didn’t know where he was supposed to line up and got flagged on the key two-point conversion attempt.

“Yes, a mighty wind's a blowing 'cross the land and 'cross the sea/It's blowing peace and freedom, it's blowing equality./Yes, it's blowing peace and freedom, it's blowing you and me.” … Great job Arkansas of putting that extra prep time for Texas to good use. Thanks to Hurricane Ike, the September 13^th game got moved to last week and the Hogs got blasted 52-10. That was supposed to be a week off, and now Bobby Petrino’s boys have a nice four-week stretch of Alabama (a 49-14 loss), Texas, Florida and at Auburn. There’s no truth to the rumor that Petrino wants to delay the game in Gainesville in the hopes of Hurricane Laura taking a wicked about-face.
The C.O.W. airing of the grievances followed by the feats of strength
Ten things I’m grouchy about this week.

10. The NCAA and Reggie Bush
How in the name of Kim Kardashian’s stupid onion has USC not been nailed with anything regarding the whole Reggie Bush investigation? How has USC, along with just about any other top 25 team you can swing Myles Brand’s hypocricies at, not had anything come down from the NCAA in any way? The last time we’ve heard from the NCAA on a large ruling was with the whole goofy Rhett Bomar vacated-wins fiasco at Oklahoma. That only came about because Oklahoma blew the whistle on itself. If you’re a midrange program trying to become a national player, you’re nuts not to cheat your tail off. The NCAA has decided not to mess with the billions of dollars that are rolling in from this golden era of college sports. Speaking of which …

9. Tim Tebow jerseys
Thanks to everyone at the Gainesville Quarterback Club for having me down there to speak last Tuesday. Walking around the Florida campus, it was all Gator football everywhere you looked, and it was all about Tim Tebow. No. 15 jerseys were everywhere, they were all over the bookstores, the students, and in ads for Gator football. Millions of dollars are being made off of Tebow’s talents at the school, on the networks, and by the NCAA. It’s time (annual rant alert). Let the players be able to do endorsement deals, and let them have agents. Don’t pay them, but let them use their name and talents to make some side money. It’s only fair, and eventually, the players will figure this out.

8. The Tina Fey bailout plan
Oh sure, the Sarah Palin impersonation is brilliant, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that Fey ruined Saturday Night Live when she was the head writer. Unbelievable timing and fortunate resemblances don’t excuse what happened to the show under her watch.

7. And it never, ever works
A team has come up with a momentum changing turnover around the opponent’s 38-yard line midway through the second quarter. What’s the knee-jerk line that comes from every analyst? “Here’s where you should try a quick strike.” This has been said time and again ever since there’s been televised football. Every fan is thinking the same thing, and so are both coaches. No, it’s not a bad thing to simply run your normal offense and hand it off between the tackles.
6. Travis Beckum getting on the field
This isn’t the NFL. If a kid is hurt, he’s hurt, and he shouldn’t be on the field playing. If he can play, especially in a big game, then get him out there. Wisconsin superstar Travis Beckum hasn’t been healthy all season long, and his absence was sorely missed for the first 55 minutes against Michigan. But when the team needed to go on a late drive to try to tie the game, Beckum was on the field and ended up catching two passes for 17 yards before getting flagged to an illegal formation penalty to screw up the decisive two-point conversion attempt.

Apparently, according to UW head coach Bret Bielema, the medical staff had given the O.K., but Beckum said his hamstring didn’t feel right before the game. This is where the adults have to step in and as the coach, Bielema should’ve either forced his supposedly healthy player to play, or if Beckum really didn’t feel right, then shut him down and don’t let him hurt himself further. If a player can play on a key drive, then he should be able to play the rest of the game, too.

5. And it’s pronounced Fyoo-tack, no Foo-tak
The guy’s one of the leaders in the Heisman hunt. It’s Missouri QB Chase Daniel, not Daniels. Also, it’s Ole Miss, not Old Miss, as in the name slaves used for the wife of a plantation owner.

4. Big Ten credit for Tom Brady
Oh, Big Ten, so now you want to take credit for Tom Brady. The Big Ten conference is running a promo during its games showing kids who want to be tough like former Minnesota running back Marion Barber or Iowa safety Bob Sanders, and it starts out with a kid saying he wants to “lead like Tom Brady.” It’s not like the Big Ten did any promoting of Brady when he was at Michigan. The guy followed national-title winner Brian Griese and was supposed to be pushed aside for wunderkind Drew Henson, but he ended up having a nice career going 20-5 with 5,351 yards, 35 touchdown passes, and two Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors in 1998 and 1999. By the way, Ohio State’s Joe Germaine was the First Team All-Big Ten quarterback in 1998, and Drew Brees was the second teamer. Brees was the first teamer in 1999.

3. Miami vs. Florida State
This used to be college football. While it was sold as one of the marquee games of the season as recently as 2004, the matchup has fizzled over the last few years since Miami joined the ACC. This was supposed to be the yearly ACC title game matchup, but instead, Miami has become shockingly bad while Florida State has fallen from its unrealistically high pedestal. For roughly 15 years, this was more than just the best rivalry in college football, it was the best showdown in sports. Now it’s like the Rolling Stones in concert. The new stuff sucks and the old standbys are sort of sad.

2. Tyrod Taylor
Where would Virginia Tech be right now if 1) Frank Beamer made the right quarterback call on day one and 2) there wasn’t the blocked punt by East Carolina? Completely glossed over by all the upsets was a very nice win by the Hokies at Nebraska last weekend. The 20-17 wins over Georgia Tech and North Carolina have been largely ignored, but those will turn out to look better and better as the season goes on. Against the Huskers, Taylor was calm, cool, and efficient completing 9-of-15 passes for 171 yards while running 15 times for 81 yards and a score. However, Taylor was redshirted to start the season and Sean Glenon completed 14-of 23 passes for 139 yards with two interceptions in the loss to East Carolina. Had the Hokies won that game, they’d be in the top ten right now.

1. Phil Fulmer
I’m dusting off everything I said about Lloyd Carr over the last few years and applying it to Phil Fulmer, the embattled head coach at Tennessee.

If you believe your head coach isn’t getting the job done and should be fired, fine. I’m not one of these people who believe a college football head coaching job should be any more permanent or stable, beyond a reasonable amount of time, than any other job. For every Rich Brooks who pulled up out of the abyss to turn a program around, there are countless other coaches who were allowed to stick around an extra year or two and ended up making things worse. And if you’re Tennessee and you believe you should be a player in the national title race every year, then yeah, Fulmer, after 16+ years as the head man, should probably be replaced.

After all, the SEC arms race has gone nuclear with Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Les Miles, Tommy Tuberville, and Mark Richt presiding over national title-level monsters, and with superior coaching talents like Houston Nutt and Bobby Petrino about to turn their respective teams into nasty killers. Tennessee can’t afford to fall behind. The word rebuilding doesn’t work in Knoxville. You know who’s rebuilding this year? LSU. Auburn. Florida, to a point. They’re all still in the SEC title hunt.

Tennessee is 1-3 with a win over UAB and losses to UCLA, Florida, and Auburn. The offense is cranking out a mere 341 yards per game, the passing game is non-existent, and there’s been little pass rush. These are not positive times.

However, that UCLA game, as bad as it looks considering the way the Bruins have gone into the tank, was a one-time thing. The UCLA coaching staff had been treating that game like the BCS championship for six months, and it took Kevin Craft and the Bruin offense to stand on their heads in the fourth quarter to pull off the upset. Florida, even after the loss to Ole Miss, could still play for the national title by winning out, and losing 14-12 at Auburn is absolutely nothing to get upset over.

Fans have short memories and high expectations. Remember, Tennessee 1) played for the SEC title last year and lost to the eventual national champion, 2) beat a solid Wisconsin team in the Outback Bowl, and 3) won ten games for the third time in five years. Also remember that Tennessee started out 1-2 last year and then tuned everything around with a shocking win over Georgia.

Fulmer is 148-48 as the Tennessee head man. The guy has won 76% of his games while coaching in the best conference in America for almost two decades. He has a national title, two SEC titles, has coaches in three other SEC championship games, and has kept Tennessee among the best teams in the nation. Of course, he hasn’t actually won an SEC title since 1998 and his bowl record is a mediocre 8-7, but he’s a winner who's going to be run out of town if he doesn’t get a big win soon.

Yeah, this is a rebuilding year with David Cutcliffe leaving his offensive coordinator duties and going off to Duke. Four-year starting quarterback Erik Ainge is gone. There’s going to be an offensive transition, even if the play appears, well, offensive. However, with a defense this good, the team should turn things around and be 8-4, 7-5 at worst.

It might be time for new blood and 17 years usually is too long for a coach to be in one spot, but just remember, whomever comes in, you’ll probably be happy if he ends up with Fulmer’s résumé when he’s all said and done.

Random Acts of Nutty … Provocative musings and tidbits to make every woman want you and every man want to be you (or vice versa) a.k.a. things I didn’t feel like writing bigger blurbs for.

- The must-see game of the weekend that you should watch, but won’t: Rice vs. Tulsa. Rice is coming off a 77-20 win over North Texas and has one of the nation’s most dynamic offenses once it gets into a groove. Tulsa leads the nation in total offense averaging 601 yards per game. These two are going to throw about 1,200 yards of total offense and about 90 points on the board.
- Don’t get too hung up by the Big 12 having all those teams in the top ten and the top five. That’ll quickly change once conference play kicks in and the teams start picking each other off.
- Nothing against Toledo, but way to go FIU. The sad-sack Golden Panthers hadn’t won a road game since a 31-29 victory over UL Monroe in mid-2005 and had lost 26 of their previous 27 games overall. The offense hasn’t just been bad, it’s been among the worst in the nation by far, but it was able to come up with 35 points in the win over Toledo. Unlike the glee of a pro team bombing, it isn’t fun when a college team stinks. The FIU veterans are going to remember this win the rest of their lives, and for the fans who have stuck with the program, they deserve it.
- After making a great catch on the late touchdown against Michigan, Wisconsin WR David Gilreath chucked the ball as he popped up. It was an instantaneous act of excitement that should’ve been flagged according to the rule book. There wasn’t a penalty called, and why? Judgment. In the super-charged emotion of a huge play with potential Big Ten title implications, the official didn’t ruin a great game with a dumb penalty that would’ve defined the ending and overshadowed Michigan’s epic comeback.

C.O.W. shameless gimmick item … The weekly five Overrated/Underrated aspects of the world
1) Overrated: Tim Tebow in the clutch ... Underrated: Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead, who originally signed with Florida before No. 15 committed.
2) Overrated: CNN … Underrated: Dave
3) Overrated: The Purdue transition ... Underrated: The play of the Notre Dame offensive line
4) Overrated: Rosh Hashanah ... Underrated: Rush Hashanah marathon on VH1
5) Overrated: Florida going 81-9 in home games since 1994 ... Underrated: The Gators losing the two times I’ve ever been in Gainesville

“I hearby designate Colt McCoy, Texas as my First Choice to receive the Heisman Memorial Trophy awarded to the most outstanding college football player in the United States for 2008. To the best of my knowledge he conforms to the rules governing this vote.”

My Second Choice Is: Javon Ringer, Michigan State
My Third Choice Is: Sam Bradford, Oklahoma

“You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools/But that's the way I like it baby, I don't wanna live forever” … The three lines this week that appear to be a tad off.

Now I’m not just losing, I’m losing in flames going 4-11 overall after my three picks last week weren’t even remotely close. These are desperate times, so I’m going Costanza. If every instinct I’ve had has been wrong, then the opposite would have to be right. Therefore, I’m going with the exact opposite of what I believe this week as I take the three teams I’m 100% certain are going to lose against the spread. … 1) Stanford +7 over Notre Dame, 2) Northern Illinois +16 over Tennessee, 3) Oregon +16.5 over USC

Last Week: 1) Arkansas State +1 over Memphis (LOSS), 2) Colorado +6 over Florida State (LOSS), 3) UCF -5 over UTEP (LOSS)

Sorry this column sucked, but it wasn’t my fault … USC quarterback Mark Sanchez got me in the huddle to fire me up after a lackluster start, but I could never figure out Oregon State’s draw trap play. Sanchez ended up whipping his mouthpiece in disgust as he walked off the field.
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[RJ Esq]

Two cheap shots by Boise St safeties in the game vs. Oregon:

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[RJ Esq]

You HAVE to click the link and read this story. Games on TV get plays sucked out of them vs those that are not. Fuck!

The Commercial Factor Pushing Up Length of Games?

from The Wiz of Odds by Jay Christensen

 

[RJ Esq]

Another LOLz Post

from The Tide Druid by TideDruid

There are plenty of Bama-Kentucky laughs after the jump…

 

[RJ Esq]

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND (GO!) STATE

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
So, Tim Tebow has to walk past a church sign suggesting people pray for him every day, or at least live in a town where someone, presumably in order to catch the eye of parishioners who’d rather head on down to Panera, grab a bagel, and spend Sunday morning doing something else rather than sit in church, puts his name on a church sign to attract attention:
“I’m going to pray that [Tebow] is true to his faith because if he falls and gets caught up in some kind of scandal it will be bad for Christianity,” Brown said.
Brown doesn’t know Tebow but says the quarterback is an important role model. The minister says if Tebow gets into trouble, then the image of Christians could suffer.
“I know the story of David, so we know it’s possible for all of us to fall,” Brown said.
If the Crusades and Worship Jamz haven’t done it by now, it’s not going to happen if Tim Tebow gets caught doing anything remotely un-Christian. What will happen is that people who see this will see you as a hucksterish attention whore who uses our beloved weepy baby-rhino in the most cliched and cheap of manners to drive just one more soul into that church and get their tithes. Oh, and that we need to crack out one of the internet’s Bronze Age Classics, the church sign generator, to do justice to other church signs in the college football universe.
(HT: Sports by Brooks.)

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">9:31 AM (26 minutes ago)
Florida's real issues, or: Beyond the Tebow Child

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

About a week after one of its columnists wrote, "the more I think about Urban Meyer's no-risk approach on offense, the more brilliant it seems," another veteran Gainesville Sun scribe has an equal and opposite reaction: Free Tebow!

I think the emphasis on having Tebow become a better pocket passer has backfired to a point. We saw it Saturday against Ole Miss when Tebow was sacked three times and that doesn't include the pass he threw to [offensive lineman] Maurkice Pouncey under pressure or any of the others that went awry because he held the ball too long.
That's not Timmy being Timmy.
[...]
I'd let Tebow be Tebow, let him pull it down and run when the play isn't there. Get him out of the pocket to throw on the run more. Tell him it's OK again to be the guy he was last season.
​

The guy Tebow was last season averaged 15 carries per game, which is exactly the number he had Saturday, including three sacks and five short-yardage/goal line situations (three of those were on fourth-and-one: the first two were successful; the third, of course, was not). It's hard to say Tebow's performance in the pocket Saturday was bad or anything -- 319 yards passing was the second-highest number of his career, and a new high against an SEC defense; he wasn't intercepted; and his efficiency rating (142) was identical to his rating in last year's win over Ole Miss -- but maybe Pat Dooley has a point: when Ole Miss threatened to upset the Gators in 2007, Tebow put on the cape, carrying 27 times for 166 yards. This year, his longest carry was for nine yards, and his second-longest was for two; he finished with seven and one of the three killer Florida fumbles.
This seems like less of a strategic problem along the lines of "Let my Timmy go," though, than a tactical problem (see what I did there?) in keeping offensive linemen and/or actual running backs healthy, and especially in holding on to the ball, which is essentially random (see: three turnovers in one game after zero turnovers in the first three). The line played the second half with a pair of injured starters and is moving defensive tackles into the rotation as fast as the MRIs are coming back. In fact, when you gain 443 yards and score 30 points at home, it's hard to press on about offensive problems at all.

Florida's diagnosis is more dire than that, because it's exactly what everyone guessed would be the Gators' Achilles heel before the year; it was their Achilles heel last year: even when it plays generally well, the secondary is still prone to allowing the big play. Jevan Snead's 86-yard touchdown bomb to Shay Hodge, on 3rd-and-7, when a stop might have effectively put the game away, was only the biggest yet allowed in two years by a group that hasn't made the expected progress from freshman targets to sophomore stars. Both of Snead's touchdown passes were on third down, and another third down completion set up Dexter McCluster's 40-yard, go-ahead touchdown run through the flailing Gator secondary in the third quarter. Snead's efficiency rating for the game was 138.8, ten points better than the number that left Florida's pass efficiency defense ranked next-to-last in the SEC last year.
So Florida probably does need to find some way to unleash the full gamut of Tebow despite its issues on the offensive line, just as it did last year. But before the offense goes back to the future, the first priority has to be getting the defense to be as unlike 2007 as possible.






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[RJ Esq]

He must be reading my thread:

Oddsmakers bet Beavers they can't do that again

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

Convincingly dispatching the near-consensus, monolithic No. 1 team in the country is one thing, but can Oregon State handle ... Mountain West country? Not according to Vegas, which not only tagged the Beavers as 10.5-point underdogs at Utah to open the week, but has already been forced to raise the Utes' bar to –12 in less than 24 hours. The only other line with that kind of wiggle is Florida's line at Arkansas: the Gators have moved from 22-point favorites Monday to 24.5-point favorites today. For the record, yes, the Mountain West does have an outstanding 5-1 mark against the Pac-10 through the first month of the season. If you're that into indicators, though, you may have also noticed the Beavers' 24-7 trouncing of the Utes last year in Corvallis. Not saying it's going to happen that way again -- OSU's last road trip was a feeble shellacking at the hands of Penn State. Maybe that was the real Beavers, and the team that pushed SC all over the field last Thursday some hepped-up mirage. Twelve points is just a suspiciously wide margin over a typically slow-starting team (OSU started 2-3 in 2006 and '07, and finished 8-1 and 7-1, respectively) that just knocked out the CFB version of young Mike Tyson, if you ask me. But, hey, it's your money.
The Trojans, on the other hand? Oh, they'll be just fine: Oregon comes into the Coliseum Saturday a 16.5-point underdog. At least that one has come down by half a point so far (go results!).
In other interesting, notable and borderline crazy lines this week:
• Minnesota, one week after extending its Big Ten losing streak to nine games, is a full touchdown favorite over Indiana, a 2007 bowl team that beat the Gophers last year by 20 points.
• Oklahoma State opened the week a whopping 23.5-point favorite over Texas A&M, and the spread's already up to 24.5. OSU has beaten A&M by that much twice: in 2003, with Les Miles on the sideline, and in 1988, with Barry Sanders on the field/in the end zone.
• After a less-than-spectacular debut in a hostile, primetime road environment, Ohio State is a two-point favorite at Wisconsin. Since the spread at USC was double-digits even when Beanie Wells was expected to play, and before the Buckeyes completely laid an egg in front of the entire country in L.A., all hail Terrelle Pryor, I guess.
• Not necessarily weird, but telling of something: Missouri is a ten-point favorite at Nebraska, where the Tigers have lost 16 straight since 1978. I don't have the specific lines for all those games, but I'm pretty sure it's been even longer than that since Mizzou actually went into Lincoln as a favorite. Like, maybe before the concept of the point spread even existed.

 

[RJ Esq]

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TO THE PAIN: YOUR UNIVERSAL INJURY REPORT

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
The injury report. It’s feeling sprain-y in here.
Player, injury: Jake Locker, Washington. Broken right thumb. In case 0-4 by wide margins doesn’t convince you that Washington is in an “abandon all hope” stage of existence, perhaps this will: Jake Locker, in addition to being out 6-8 weeks, might not even come back at the same position:
“It is possible,” Willingham said. “I can’t tell you where right now. But he is a tremendous athlete, and the ability to play five, six, seven positions exists.”
Net loss: Realistically, nothing. This flaming corpsepile of a season just gets one more body thrown on it for Washington. It’s a particularly tough nail in the coffin of the Willingham era.
Tray Blackmon, Auburn. Broken Wrist. Tommy Tuberville says Blackmon will likely play with a cast on his hand.
Net loss: None whatsover, since any reduction in grip and tackling will be made up for now that someone who borrows the nickname “Little Ball of Hate” will now have a club on the end of his arm. That’s a push at worst for someone who once knocked the sex midget out of Kenny Irons.
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Jahvid Best, Cal. Dislocated left elbow. Elbows aren’t one of the joints you think about coming out of joint, but in football kinetic force loosens even the most stubborn of limb-junctures. Best will miss the game this week against Arizona State due to the injury suffered against Colorado State.
Net loss: Substantial for one game, but not disastrous, as Best in on pace to return against Arizona. You’ll have to find your green-vomiting football player fetishes elsewhere until then.
Tyler Lorenzen, Connecticut. Broken right foot. Connecticut’s starter yielded the spot to Zach Fraser after injuring the foot against Louisville this past Friday night. He’ll be out for six to eight weeks depending on how long it takes for his traitorous foot to heal.
Net loss: None for Donald Brown, at least: the nation’s leading rusher–and no, you did not know that–will eat up even more digits in play selection now that the starting qb is out.
Knowshon Moreno, Dannell Ellerbe, Tripp Chandler, Georgia. Bruised elbow, sprained knee, shoulder. Ellerbe and Moreno are “questionable” (will be out there) while Chandler is “doubtful” (doubtful.)
Net loss: Their opponent, the bye, will challenge them–especially with Athens’ forever tempting traffic violations scene, where daredevil kids attempt to outdo each other in racking up meaningless tickets with multiple infractions. STOP THE MADNESS.
Florida: Jim Tartt, Emmanuel Moody, Ryan Stamper, Marcus Gilbert. Ankle X 4.
All ankles, all from the Ole Miss game.
Net loss: Bad, but it will be against Arkansas, so only slightly bad. Unless Arkansas, you know, throws a streak route against the Florida defense and then completely blows the mind of Major Wright.






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">2:36 PM (seconds ago)
Morning Coffee Isn't Scared of Buffaloes

from Burnt Orange Nation by GhostofBigRoy
What happened to the cool Longhorn logo Morning Coffee always uses? I dunno,it seems to have been lost from the archives as well, but the show must go on...Just imagine it's there, people. Liar. --PB--

Beware the Rak. According to my source embedded deep within the Arkansas football program (we'll call him Squealing Piggy), LT Ray Dominguez is a psychological wreck this week. He only managed several hours of sleep Saturday night before awaking in a cold sweat suffering from night terrors. He reportedly hasn't slept since. The cause? Well, Brian Orakpo, of course, the Defensive Player of the Week. Orakpo spent Saturday afternoon running around Dominguez, knocking Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick out of the game with one particularly vicious hit. To Dominguez's credit, he was able to tackle Orakpo several times, the only issue being the illegality of the move. Orakpo wasn't just rushing the quarterback, however, maintaining his contain and stopping a reverse on the second play and stretching one running play to the sideline. This is the season that Longhorn fans expected from Orakpo last year before the illegal chop block against Arkansas State in the first game.

Buffs panties still twisted. It appears the Buffaloes haven't gotten over the 70-3 beatdown Vince Young and the Longhorns laid on them in the 2005 Big 12 Championship Game. Which is understandable. The extent to which they haven't gotten over it, however, is not. CU coach Darian Hagan explains:

I remember warming up and those guys were laughing and joking over there. They didn't respect us. We thought we could go in there and hang with them. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be 70-3. And then in the fourth quarter, blitzing and piling it on, I didn't think that would happen, but it did.
What they did was pretty much try to clown us on a national stage, but you can't carry that. We have to let it roll off our back, but it's going to be in the back of our minds, I can tell you that.
​

Cry me a river, dude, seriously. Let me break this down by points: 1) Vince Young and his teammates always joked before games--because it's just how they stayed loose and because mediocre teams like the Buffs weren't a threat, 2) Joel Klatt was knocked out of the game in the third quarter, if you don't like that, run the ball or take him out, 3) actually, I believe the Buffs did get clowned on a national stage since there isn't anything else to call 70-3, and 4) Mack Brown called off the dogs--the Longhorns scored all 70 points in the first 36 minutes of the game. Texas could have dropped 100 in that game, but didn't because Mack Brown is no Steve Spurrier. Sorry you got clowned, Hagan, maybe you should move past it.

Death of the Q Package? After an unsuccessful game for the Q Package (about the only thing that went wrong in the 52-10 demolition), Longhorn coaches wondered out loud about its future. According to the coaches, the reasoning is twofold: the young wide receivers are playing well and Chiles needs to develop at quarterback. I don't think many Longhorn fans will disagree with that assessment since many have been saying the same thing. James Kirkendoll and Brandon Collins have both shown flashes of elusiveness that suggest they need the ball in their hands more often. Elusiveness that Chiles did not show Saturday. Chiles also didn't run the correct route on the first series he was in, forcing McCoy to pull the ball down and run. A triple option play killed a drive later in the game. Since the offense is operating on every cylinder but the Q Package, the coaches need to determine if Chiles has a future at Texas as a quarterback or make a serious commitment to developing complimentary plays for the package.

Why the Buffs don't scare me. While OU's stunning loss last season in Boulder is all the argument necessary to establish to difficulty of winning at CU, the game on Saturday just doesn't scare me. Sure, there are a lot of things that could go wrong, like turnovers and poor special teams play, but besides a couple decent returns by Arkansas, neither of those potential problems scare me. Neither do the players on the CU team. I wrote a while back that I wasn't impressed by Cody Hawkins, who won't have much success, if any, throwing from the pocket against the Longhorns. Considering that the team is missing three offensive linemen, there probably won't be a pocket most of the game. They don't have any receivers other than Josh Smith, who is a threat, but the only player who scares me is little Rodney Stewart, the redshirt freshman running back who torched West Virginia. He will be the first serious challenge for the Texas run defense and, at 5-6, will test the Longhorns' ability to tackle. Scipio Tex has a good analysis of the game up at Barking Carnival, expounding on basically the same points I just made.

Carl Spackler admires the groundskeeping. Bill Murray stopped by the office of Mack Brown on Friday to get a look at the football field before attending the Arkansas game on Saturday. Always the comedian, the transcript of his interview on MB-TF is quite funny. He mentions that he had only been to Austin once before, driving through with Dan Akroyd headed across country. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. It's worth reading, but this is the best quote:

I was in Manhattan last year, I think it was the day Texas lost to Kansas State, and they just about tore the whole city apart. Kansas State beating Texas, that's bigger than the wheat coming in. That's big.
​

He also mentioned that the Texas staff made him a customized Texas jersey with his name on it "in about 90 seconds," expressing amazement they could do it that quickly. Interesting stuff. Hopefully, he came away from the weekend something of a fan of Austin and UT football.






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[RJ Esq]

I hope Tech Defense reads this quote

from Double-T Nation by Plano Jeff
http://www.kansas.com/sports/story/545869.html

"I think we can put 40-plus points on them," junior wide receiver Brandon Banks said.
​

This is quoted from the Wichita Eagle, September 30, 2008. I used to live there so I read the paper online occaisionally. I am, however more concerned with our offense playing up to their potential. I think the defense is steadily improving, but like many sports writers and fellow Double T Nation members, I am not happy with Harrell's progress this year. Saturday could be a great day for us or it could be last year's Oklahoma State game, though I don't think K-State has OSU's fire power.

 

[RJ Esq]

Life on the Margins: UConn rages against the 'passing' and 'consistent defense' thing

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Obsessing weekly over the statistical anomalies and minutiae of close and closer-than-they-looked games that could have gone the other way. Be careful before you judge these games by the final score alone ... UConn 26, Louisville 21. Someone went to the trouble of setting virtually every single positive play UConn had Friday night to Rage Against the Machine, which is useful for our purposes (the positive plays, that is, not the Rage Against the Machine) because it shows the strength of selective editing:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dSyWol5iFNU&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">Popout​

In fact, it was about this one-sided for most of the night, but largely in the exact opposite direction. Donald Brown had another monster game on the ground for the Huskies, but with Tyler Lorenzen out with a broken foot, the passing game collapsed into a running game of "please don't throw an interception." Meanwhile, Louisville had two 100-yard rushers, averaged almost three yards more per snap than the Huskies and went on six drives that covered at least 45 yards, to UConn's three. A 229-yard deficit is at just about the furthest possible edge a team can feasibly overcome in total offense.
The Huskies, however, got much, much more out of their opportunities, as you can see in the Cardinals' astronomical "wasted yards" category -- where UConn came away with points every time it crossed into Louisville territory, UL came up short on the Huskies' side of the field by fumbling at the end of its opening 60-yard drive and by failing to convert on fourth down from the UConn 31, 27 and 29, respectively. And with a chance to pick up a first down and run out the clock in the fourth quarter, Hunter Cantwell somehow elected to trow the dangerous pass you see around the 4:08 mark of the above clip, directly into the arms of Lawrence Wilson, who took it in for the winning points with a little over two minutes to go -- a classic point of divergence in "Good Team over Bad Team" if ever there was one.
Ole Miss 31, Florida 30. The Gators' problems are well-chronicled here and elsewhere, but to Ole Miss' credit, you can't get much more opportunistic than this.

Fifteen "wasted yards" is an incredible number. When the Rebels were stopped, they were stopped. They didn't screw around with moving the chains a time or two, or flipping field position. None of that: Ole Miss went three-and-out (or, in the case of a quick interception in the second quarter, worse) eight times. Of the six possessions that actually netted a first down, five went for scores, three on 70-plus-yard touchdown drives. It was almost literally all or nothing.
Florida, on the other hand, blew all kinds of opportunities -- a failed fourth down inside the Rebel 30 to open the game, settling for a field goal inside the red zone, fumbling in Rebel territory in the second quarter, punting from inside the Ole Miss 40 in the fourth quarter, the crucial missed extra point and, of course, failing on the decisive 4th-and-1 from the Rebel 32 to effectively end the game.
San Jose State 20, Hawaii 17. As supposedly high-flying WAC games go, this one was pretty ugly. The Warriors had won 13 of the last 14 and 13 straight against non-BCS teams on the Island, and were apparently on their way to extending that streak with a 17-7 lead at the half. After striking on a 67-yard touchdown from Kyle Reed to David Richmond on its first possession of the game, SJSU punted on five straight possessions before the half, four of them three-and-outs. Hawaii outgained the Spartans more than two-to-one.

In fact, it's hard to give San Jose much credit for climbing back into the game in the second half when Hawaii so adamantly insisted on it: the Warriors' second half possessions went Interception, Punt, Fumble, Fumble, Interception, Missed Field Goal, Interception, Turnover on Downs. San Jose scored its second touchdown on an eight-yard drive following one of the fumbles, tied the game with a field goal after losing seven yards off an interception, and finally went ahead on a 47-yard field goal after its third pick of the half set up the offense at the Hawaii 30 -- from whence it failed to gain a yard before the decisive kick with two minutes to go.
Add that all up, and SJSU's offense netted exactly one yard on the three drives that put it over the top. But Dick Tomey's been around long enough to know you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, especially in conference games, where his Spartans are now 1-0.

 

[RJ Esq]

UW's Locker may switch positions while healing

from SI.com - NCAA Football
Read full story for latest details.

 

[RJ Esq]

Spurrier may sit captain Munnerlyn vs. Ole Miss

from SI.com - NCAA Football
Read full story for latest details.

 

[RJ Esq]

Sween back as Wyoming's starting quarterback

from SI.com - NCAA Football
Read full story for latest details.

 

[RJ Esq]

Texas A&M QB McGee uncertain vs. Cowboys

from SI.com - NCAA Football
Read full story for latest details.

 

[RJ Esq]

OU's Granger, Alexander may return for Texas

from SI.com - NCAA Football
Read full story for latest details.

 

[RJ Esq]

Donald Draper Motivating Moment of the Week: Kansas State

from Double-T Nation by Seth C

​

via assets.sbnation.com​

Donald Draper is a television character in the wonderful series Mad Men. Mr. Draper is an advertising agent in 1960, but he's more than that. He sells ideas and what better way to sell you, the Texas Tech fan, than to hear from the absolute best. This is your Donald Draper Motivating Moment of the Week:
The Jesus Speech.
If there's anything that I believe it's that Captain Leach is buying what Don Draper is selling. He's tried it one way and although there are many out there that think that Captain Leach is still set in his ways, you're wrong.
He's not.
We're not interested in that.
What we are interested is in things changing.
If you don't believe then thank you for your time.
Granted, it's going to take a little bit longer than overnight, but we're committed to change and committed to excellence.
From the improved running game to switching coordinators in the middle of the freaking season, Captain Leach is not wasting time any more. We've tried it the old way, but it's different this year, we're no longer satisfied with #4 in the Big 12. Those days are gone.
Don't be a non-believer.

 

[RJ Esq]

TV images from tvtanline.blogspot.com:

 

[RetroVK]

Great information thread as always ... nice pictures too .... poor fau ...

 

[RJ Esq]

Florida LB Doe will have double hernia surgery

from SI.com - NCAA Football
Read full story for latest details.

 

[RJ Esq]

Tedford reopens Cal's quarterback competition

from SI.com - NCAA Football
Read full story for latest details.

 

[RJ Esq]

Tennessee deciding between QBs for NIU game

from SI.com - NCAA Football
Read full story for latest details.

 

[B.A.R.]

Great thread as always...

I got a play for you...call you tomorow night.

 

[Yanks27Sox9]

dude...like we talked a bit about...i'm becoming convinced that the Seminoles are the side to be on.

 

[RJ Esq]

BAR--Let's do it. Give me a call or text.

Yanks--Me too. Getting 3 in that game is nice.

 

[RJ Esq]

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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">6:33 AM (1 hour ago)
Wednesday Headlinin': Syracuse rumor alert goes code blue

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

• Greg Robinson's clock ticks closer to midnight. The Raiders fired Lane Kiffin Tuesday, as expected, freeing up the odds-on favorite to take over the smoking pile of wreckage at Syracuse. The boy wonder coach's old boss at USC, current 'Cuse AD Daryl Gross, told the Syracuse Post-Dispatch last week, "Hypothetically speaking, Kiffin would be a candidate in any coaching search here if one were to take place and if he was available." As of Tuesday night, scratch "hypothetically." The Orange have a bye Saturday, then maybe its two toughest Big East games, at West Virginia and at South Florida, before another bye. If it's Kiffin they want, he could be in by the end of the month.
• He's our best player at 19 of 24 positions, we have to put him somewhere. Jake Locker's injured thumb has made quarterback a no-go for at least the next month, but what about ... safety? As long as the doctors clear it, Washington's unquestioned star would be open to playing another position, until he can step back into the shotgun, in hopes of salvaging whatever's left from the ashes of an 0-4 start and Ty Willingham's job. Locker's into it because he doesn't want to "live life scared or tentative." What do you think, offensive coordinator Tim Lappano?

“I’m not going there.”
​

Willingham basically agreed, calling a potential position switch "inappropriate" when the focus is on getting Locker back at quarterback ASAP. Anyway, they're not sure yet that Jake Locker with no control over the ball still isn't better than his fully healthy backup, whoever that is.
To the south, meanwhile, Cal's 445 yards and 43 points per game has convinced Jeff Tedford the Bears need a switch at quarterback. Cal's already going into Arizona State without Jahvid Best at running back, and with nominal starter Kevin Riley on a game-and-a-half schnide after the loss at Maryland and a 6-for-13 start against Colorado State. Nate Longshore was better against the Rams and both will split time this week in practice.

Quickly ... In case you missed it, Middle Tennessee beat Florida Atlantic on a 32-yard pass as time expired Tuesday, completing a ten-point Raider comeback in the fourth quarter. . . . Tampa native Erin Andrews is going home for Thursday night's game between South Florida and Pitt. . . . Quarterbacks Nick Stephens and Jonathan Crompton will both play for Tennessee against Northern Illinois. Crompton may keep the job in practice, but offensive coordinator Dave Clawson has seen enough to know he has to give Stephens a shot in real time. . . . Florida linebacker Dustin Doe will have surgery today for a dreaded "double hernia," and miss the Gators' next two games. . . . Alabama is one of the least-penalized teams in the country. Funny you mention it, though, when penalties don't matter. . . . Georgia's in such dire need of tight ends, it's converting lineman Kiante Tripp. . . . Auburn wants to get Mario Fannin more involved in the offense. . . . Minnesota's date with Indiana may be the Gophers' biggest game of the season. . . . DeWayne Walker is looking for a way to fix UCLA's third down defense. . . . Miami's secondary is doing okay, but, you know, every now and then an interception would be nice. . . . Iowa's Shonn Greene should be in the lineup Saturday against Michigan State. He's rushed for 100 yards in all five games. . . . Oklahoma's DeMarcus Granger was supposed to miss most of the rest of the regular season, maybe all of it, after a cheap shot injury at Washington, but now the all-Big 12 defensive tackle might be back in time for Texas. . . . Ohio State expects Wisconsin to be very, I guess you could say, violent. . . . And the Cincinnati Enquirer's Paul Daugherty sees the light. How is he only recognizing this now?






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[RJ Esq]

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</td><td class="cc c">6:12 AM (1 hour ago)
Throw the Flag: The Cynic’s Guide to College Football, Week 5

from Hugging Harold Reynolds by noreply@blogger.com (Hugging Harold Reynolds)
We’re now roughly a third of the way through the regular season and what have we learned? That after the SEC and Big 12 there is a really big gap to the third best conference. That there’s something to be said for brains (Stanford, Northwestern, Duke and Vanderbilt are a combined 15-3). That no matter how high or low the expectations, Tommy Bowden will continue to not meet them. That Tennessee is in a whole lot of trouble. That if the Mountain West isn’t the third or fourth best conference in the country, they can certainly do a very good imitation of it. And that there’s still a lot to love about this crazy, mixed up sport. Unfortunately, there’s also a downside. And it’s my job to find it. So here are this week’s lowlights.


1. God Bless You, Oregon State.

Early last week, USC coach Pete Carroll raised a few eyebrows when he said that USC’s schedule was “ridiculously difficult.” Whether or not he was talking about Oregon State we’ll never know, but let’s all thank the Beavers anyway for saving us from the scourge of the “what ifers.” Prior to last Thursday’s game against the Beavers, I can’t tell you how many articles I read asking, “What if USC, the Big 12 champion and SEC champion all run the table?” The worst were the conspiracy theorists who were convinced that the BCS, the polls, daylight savings time, ESPN and the Knights Templar were all engaged in some massive conspiracy to keep their team/conference out of the BCS title game. Fortunately, Oregon State saved us from a few weeks of whining. (Although a few more wins under Penn State’s belt and they can reignite the “controversy.”)

It’s a little early for Halloween, but that didn’t stop the orange-and-black of Oregon State.

(For my money, the only ones more annoying than the BCS conspiracy theorists are the playoff gurus. You know, that guy in your office who not only insists that college football needs a playoff but spends every waking moment calling sports radio shows and frequenting message boards to outline his own version of a workable playoff system. Yes, we all know a playoff would be nice. No, you’re not the first person to come up with a system that could work. And no, it’s not gonna happen. Accept it. Move on.)
​

2. Bad Manners

Note to Georgia: if you’re going to ask your fans to shell out their hard-earned money to buy black clothing for a game, the least you can do is bother to show up on time. I mean, whatever happened to Southern courtesy?

Was Alabama just that good? Or was Georgia just that bad? Yes to both. True, the Tide dominated UGA in pretty much every phase of the game. But the Bulldogs certainly did their share to make this game a lot less interesting. Look at Alabama’s first possession for example: with Alabama driving, Georgia CB Prince Miller was called for pass interference in the end zone, moving the Tide into striking distance. Three plays later, Akeem Dent was flagged for roughing the passer, which negated a fumble recovered by Georgia. Bama scored two plays later and the rout was on. That pretty much summed up the first half—even when Bama didn’t do something right, the Bulldogs would screw something up and turn it into a net gain for the Crimson Tide.

To their credit, the Dawgs did turn things around and play much better in the second half, outscoring Bama 30-10. But playing half the game won’t cut it. Black jerseys may be slimming and fashionable, but there’s no such thing as fashionably late in football.

​

The black body paint will be easier to remove than these fans’ memories of the game.
​

3. Iowa: Not the Last Axe to Fall?

There’s a saying that the cover up is usually worse than the crime. And while I would certainly never maintain that to be the situation in a rape case, things are rapidly unraveling at the University of Iowa. Last week, two top university officials were fired for failing to properly respond to rape allegations against two Hawkeye football players. This case has been percolating for some time and, while I don’t claim to be a legal expert or know how this will end, something tells me things are going to get darker yet. Throw in LB Dezman Moses’ public intoxication arrest last week and that brings the total up to 19 Iowa players arrested in the last two years. Before the season, I predicted that this would be Kirk Ferentz’s last season on the Iowa sidelines. It’s possible to keep your job with lots of legal problems and off-field issues (see also Paterno, Joe). It’s possible to keep your job if you’re not achieving fan expectations (see also Fulmer, Philip). But it’s awfully hard to do both (see also Barnett, Gary). After three straight ten-win seasons from 2002-2004, Iowa has gone 7-5, 6-7 and 6-6 in the three years since. And, since starting 3-0, the Hawkeyes have now lost back-to-back games to the likes of Pittsburgh and Northwestern. For a coach who was once considered to be the next can’t-miss coaching superstar, another Big 10 collapse and .500ish season likely won’t cut it.


4. Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

Staying in the Big 10, did anyone have a worse ten seconds than Indiana on Saturday? Here’s the scenario: Playing at home, the Hoosiers were down to Michigan State most of the day. With two minutes to play in the third quarter, they trail 34-29 and are backed up to their own one yard line. After two plays, they’d moved it to the three when, on third and eight, Indiana QB Ben Chappell hit WR Terrance Turner who, with the Bloomington crowd going nuts, proceeds to jet 97 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. They just missed one little thing—a little piece of yellow cloth sitting in the end zone. Holding. In the end zone. Safety. So instead of getting seven points on the board, the Hoosiers gave two more—and the ball—to the Spartans. Absolutely killer. With that nine-point swing, the air pretty much went out of everyone wearing Hoosier red and Indiana wouldn’t challenge for the lead again.

Fortunately, many Hoosier fans were spared having to see the horror.
(Photo courtesy The Wiz of Odds.)
​

5. Cheaters Never Win. Yeah, Right.

For some really interesting reading (and surprisingly thorough research by sports blog standards) about the seamy underbelly of college football, check out Barking Carnival’s ten-part (!) series on the history of cheating.


6. Notes from the Road

And on the plus side this week, I had the opportunity to attend Saturday night’s aforementioned Virginia Tech/Nebraska game. Met lots of great Husker and Hokie fans at The Watering Hole, Misty’s and Sidetracks the night before the game. And, if you’re a sports fan at all, be sure to add Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium to your “list of college football shrines I must see before I die.” While both teams have struggled at times this season, I got to see a glimpse of the future, and I have to say that things are looking up for both programs.

Tyrod Taylor did a lot of things well. He was able to keep plays alive with his legs and made some nice throws on key third down plays. Most importantly, he did a good job of managing the game and not trying to force the issue. While I’ve been critical of Virginia Tech’s offense this season, I came away impressed with Taylor and, if he continues to mature, he could be a very good quarterback. Combine that with the Hokies’ stout defense and special teams, and they could be a force in the ACC.

As for Nebraska, they still have their problems. After four years of Bill Callahan’s pass-happy offense, the Huskers’ offensive linemen really don’t know how to run block. The defense still has too many mental mistakes and missed tackles. But the effort is definitely there. VT scored to go up 18 with 6:54 left in the third quarter. A year ago, this team would have folded like a cheap lawn chair. This year, the Cornhuskers kept fighting, pulled to within five and gave themselves a shot to win the game in the final seconds. While it may not be in the near future (three of NU’s next five games are vs. #4 Missouri, at #7 Texas Tech and at #1 Oklahoma), brighter days are ahead for the Huskers.

Oh, and did I mention I got to meet Erin Andrews after the game? So not a bad weekend.

A good way to close out a football weekend.​

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