CFB Week 7 (10/7-10/11) News and Picks

Weekend Wrap Up

from Boiled Sports by boilerdowd
"How about now...can I take over now??"

The Yearly BS Summit was a smashing success with the exception of the centerpiece of the meeting...but you already knew that. Our Boilers continue to underwhelm when faced with any opposition that is noteworthy. One of our readers continually reminds us that PSU was favored. I really don't give a damn about Vegas' line; but clearly Joe does...his teams simply don't beat teams they're not favored to beat. A horrible Hawaii team beat a respectable Fresno State team this weekend, aOSU beat an angry, cornered Wisky team at home, a fast-rising UNC team beat the ranked UConn squad pretty handily...all of these games have something in common- their systems trained and then allowed the players to make plays.

Unlike many of Purdue's faithful, I don't lay blame at the obvious targets following the game. Do you honestly believe Painter can no longer throw an accurate pass or that Summers has forgotten how to kick fieldgoals? I don't. But, I do believe both of these guys have been effectively neutered. Outside pressures have clearly crushed them...mentally, they seem to be out of the game. So, of course, Painter will get the start in Columbus Saturday...huh?

Look at the losses of importance over the last 5 seasons...you'll see a ton of them. It's not one player not making a play, it's a potpourri of poor execution and lack of mental toughness. From defenders missing tackles and dropping interceptions, to quarterbacks disappearing, to running backs fumbling, to kickers pushing or hooking key kicks, to wide receivers not being able to create space...the mediocrity that's woven into this program has been a team effort. If Brock Spack's defense shows up (like Saturday), SURPRISE, the offense and/or Special Teams are no-shows...if the offense starts to make noise (i.e. UND '08), the defense will wet the bed. Are you guys getting the point yet? All of these players and the units they're a part of are trained with the same mentality by the same mastermind.

It's not all negative though...I was happy to see Bolden playing. But wondered as I saw it, "Self, if Tiller says Siller is going to be one of the greatest RBs at Purdue by the time he leaves, shouldn't he at least play a few downs every game?" Tardy looked very good at times, when given the opportunity, as did Orton. Smith, to me, seems to be underutilized and would do well as a passing down tight end. Sheets also had some nifty runs, but seemed to shy away from contact...especially when the draw left/right was called and the PSU line seemed to know exactly when it was coming...freaky.

I was also impressed with the play of Ryan Kerrigan & DeVarro Greaves...they looked they the were "running downhill" unlike a few of the defensive linemen.
 
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Who's Hot & Not - Clausen, Beanie, Hawaii </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
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UL Lafayette RB Tyrell Fenroy
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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 Oct 6, 2008
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From the unbelievable UL Lafayette running game to Jimmy Clausen, Wyoming to the Hawaii passing game, here's what's Hot and Not.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]Who's Hot & Not - Week 6[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]

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[SIZE=-1]Past Hot and Not: 2007 Hot & Not[/SIZE] | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
- Week 5
Who’s Hot …
UL Lafayette running game & RB Tyrell FenroyThe Ragin' Cajuns currently lead the nation in rushing averaging 331 yards per game thanks to an epic performance in the 44-35 win over UL Monroe. Including a few big pass plays, ULL had six touchdowns from 52 yards or more on the way to 728 yards of total offense. The running tan rolled for 556 yards with Tyrell Fenroy rushing for 297 yards on 20 carries, averaging 14.85 yards per carry, scoring from 89, 52 and 80 yards out. QB Michael Desormeaux added 149 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, and Jason Cherry ran for 92 yards and a touchdown on two carries. Over the last three games, ULL ran for 414 yards and five touchdowns against Kent State, 335 yards and four scores against Kansas State, and 556 yards and five scores against UL Monroe. Up next is North Texas who has allowed 160 rushing yards per game. Expect that to double.

Ball State RB MiQuale Lewis
Ball State is 6-0 and keeps on rolling on the legs of the diminutive Lewis. All the junior has done has run for 802 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging 5.6 yards per carry, rushing for 95 yards on 11 carries in the opener against Northeastern, 114 against Navy, 154 yards and two touchdowns against Akron, 166 yards and four scores against Indiana, 116 yards and three touchdowns against Kent State, and 157 yards and two touchdowns last week against Toledo. The Cardinals play Western Kentucky next.
Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen
The hot-shot, golden boy recruit is starting to play up to the hype. He was thrown to the wolves as a true freshman, didn't get any time to throw, and completed 56% of his passes for 1,254 yards and seven touchdowns with six interceptions. So far this year, he's doing a better job of taking the safe, easy throws, completing 61% of his passes, and already has 1,248 yards and 12 touchdown passes with six interceptions. However, he hasn't thrown a pick in the last two games and he has three touchdown passes in three of the first five games. The Irish play North Carolina this week.

Florida State RB Antone Smith

For years, Florida State has had a nightmare of a time generating a running game. It was non-existent at best, a complete liability at worst. Senior Antone Smith has changed all of that over the last two weeks rushing for 154 yards and three touchdowns in the 39-21 win over Colorado and 92 yards and four scores against Miami. He ran for 817 yards and three touchdowns last season. FSU's next game is at NC State on November 16th.

Ohio State RB Beanie Wells vs. Wisconsin
No one will be happier if Beanie Wells leaves early for the NFL, where he's expected to be a top ten draft pick if he bolts, than Wisconsin. Over the last two years, Wells has dominated the Badgers with 169 yards, and a career-high three touchdowns in last year's 38-17 win, and he was brilliant in Madison on Saturday night running for 168 yards and a touchdown in the 20-17 win. In two years, Wells has averaged 7.8 yards per carry against the Badgers.
Who’s Not …

Baylor vs. Oklahoma
After beating Baylor 49-17, Oklahoma has run its all-time record against the Bears to 17-0. OU has beaten Baylor by a total score of 646 to 234. That's an average score of 38 to 13.8.

Hawaii passing game
Last season, Hawaii averaged 439 passing yards per game and never threw for fewer than 311 yards, even in the debacle in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia. So far this year, with all the key parts gone, Hawaii is averaging 207 passing yards per game and has yet to hit the 311-yard mark. The Warrior only have one 300-yard passing day, and that came against Weber State. Against FBS teams, the Warriors have thrown for 181 yards and a score against Florida, 154 yards against Oregon State, 225 yards against San Jose State, and 170 yards and two touchdowns against Fresno State. How did the Warriors beat Fresno State? They forced six turnovers and ran for 172 yards. Louisiana Tech is up next. The Bulldogs have the nation's worst pass defense allowing 344.5 yards per game.


Notre Dame's red zone offense
Notre Dame is 4-1 but has the nation's worst red zone offense by far. The Irish have the only attack in America that's scoring less than half the time in the red zone, with nine touchdowns and no field goals in 19 trips inside the 20. Only 13 teams are scoring fewer than 70% of the time on their trips to the red zone, while Oklahoma, UNLV, Pitt, Troy and, shock of shocks, Syracuse, have been perfect.

Wyoming vs. the Mountain West
Wyoming beat Ohio 21-20 to start the season and squeaked by North Dakota State 16-13. However, the Cowboys have stunk it up against the Mountain West losing to Air Force and New Mexico by a combined score of 47 to 3, and that doesn't include the 45-16 home loss to a Bowling Green team that just lost to Eastern Michigan. Going back to last year, Wyoming has lost eight of its last nine conference games and has lost six in a row by a total score of 195 to 65. Up next are dates with Utah and TCU.

Toledo
This was supposed to be the year Toledo was going to become a MAC power again. After losing to Ball State 31-0, the Rockets are now 1-4, with the one win coming against Eastern Michigan, .and has seen its rushing attack fall off the map. After running for 233 scores and three touchdowns against Eastern Michigan and 297 yards and four touchdowns against Fresno State, the Rockets were held to 94 yards and now touchdowns against FIU and 14 yards against Ball State. A trip to Michigan is up next. The Wolverines are allowing just 109 yards per game.
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Profiles in Disillusion: The blame game on the Plains ends mainly in pain

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
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A weekly look at conquered favorites and other notables picking up the pieces of shattered ambition.The natives are restless, and so are the bosses. And the linemen, the running backs, the cheerleaders ... Here's when you know it's a bad Monday: in the process of reassuring reporters you still have a job less than two months into your tenure, your boss still admits, "We've got to find answers." Welcome, Tony Franklin, to two losses in three weeks at Auburn.
Answers are hard to come by after a paltry 208 yards and three scoreless quarters in a loss to Vanderbilt, but center Ryan Pugh has a suggestion: maybe stick with the running game?
"We came out in the first quarter and rushed for about 100 yards and looked like the Auburn of old," Pugh said. "We got our confidence going and then all of a sudden we completely go away from it. As a player, it's frustrating."
Pugh is effectively calling out his offensive coordinator, and he may have a point: play-by-play shows Auburn passed on all six first down plays with Chris Todd in the lineup in the second half, hitting three for 18 yards and ending with the game-clinching interception. All three completions were short of the marker, and only one led to another first down, thanks to a 4th-and-1 run by Ben Tate.
Also note, though, that the Tigers' runs in the second half netted four yards, and running was generally untenable thanks to penalties, down-and-distance and the defense's complete (and justified) lack of respect for the quarterbacks. Kodi Burns, whom Franklin would prefer never throw at all, was forced to pass three times in a row after a holding penalty and then after a false start turned a manageable 3rd-and-3 into a 3rd-and-8 (Burns didn't get the pass off in the latter case: he was sacked). At one point, Todd was sacked on consecutive plays. No wonder the offense gets an F.
The most frustrating thing for Auburn partisans: the second half collapse wasn't a surprise. On the Tiger message boards: Name-calling ... Ultimatums ... Longing for the familiar.
Reality <strike>bites</strike> squirts acid in your eye. Michigan could handle a couple losses when it was just another young, freshman-laden team feeling its way through rebuilding mode. And at least the defense was okay. Winning is like hitting your first good golf shot, though: you start expecting to hit the sweet spot every time. After coming back to take a dramatic Big Ten opener against Wisconsin last week, the Wolverines shanked their chance to keep pace in the conference onto the freeway against Illinois, a 45-20 defensive disaster that left Rich Rodriguez winging random objects around the clubhouse:
"I'm mad, but I'm mad beginning with me," Rodriguez said after Michigan fell to 2-3 on the season after being blown out of a game it led, 14-3, in the first quarter. "I told the team we're gonna be sick when we watch the film.
"We're not a very good football team right now, that's obvious."
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Yes, coach, it is. Anyone holding out hope the defense could salvage a Michigan-esque season might as well scrap that theory: Juice Williams' 431 total yards was the most ever gained against a Michigan defense in like a thousand years of football, and even Rodriguez called the Wolverines' pass coverage "ridiculous." This is the day it became abundantly clear, for anyone who wasn't sure: yeah, so Michigan kind of sucks.
Beware: Maryland Football ahead. After being initially rendered virtually blog-less, Baltimore Sun blogger Jeff Barker recovered with the perfectly analogy for Maryland's inexplicable, 31-0 train wreck at Virginia:
They were warned all week about letting down against Virginia and I believed they understood. But they still came out flat. Isn't that like driving into a ditch that's marked, "BEWARE: DITCH AHEAD."
Okay, listen, it only looks like . It might make sense if he was. Actually, he's trying very hard, and that's what makes it so incredibly disappointing to follow the Terps, who continue struggling to take two steps forward, followed by three massive steps back in one evening. Maybe they should swear off night games?
Elsewhere in disillusion: South Florida hasn't handled prosperity very well. Or maybe a disproportionate amount of its prosperity is against Florida Atlantic and UCF? ... At least Iowa's not getting outphysicaled ... And Kansas State may be hitting the point of no return.
 
Video: Quan Cosby, Roy Miller, and Brian Orakpo talk about Colorado and match-up with Oklahoma

from Bevo Sports by Brian
Houston Chronicle writer Joseph Duarte has posted three brief but good interviews from after Saturday’s game with Texas players. Maybe it’s because I’m not living in Austin but hearing from the players in this casual situation is a rarity. The only video we usually get is from organized press conferences so it’s nice to see them talk in a different setting.
Senior Quan Cosby discusses CU and the Big 12 schedule:
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Roy Miller talks about the difficulty in not looking past Colorado:
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Brian Orakpo talks about the match-up with OU:
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OU set to hang new record on Longhorns

from Fanblogs.com by Kevin Donahue
If things go well for the Sooners this weekend in the Red River Rivalry, the Oklahoma football team will have the privilage of hanging a very special honor on the Texas Longhorns.
According to the stats gurus at The Oklahoman, the Sooners need to score 10 points to become the first school in college football history to score 30,000 points. Oklahoma already leads the nation in points scored all-time, at 29,990.
So... if Bob Stoops has his way, they should be collecting a very special game ball sometime in the first quarter of Saturday's rivalry matchup.
HT: OU-Ron
 
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Big 12: Land of Mystery and Mediocre Pass D

from The Sporting Blog
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Chase Daniel is spitting mad over a Nebraska player hocking a loogie at him in pregame warmups, but heavens knows why: the Nebraska defense, ranked 97th in the nation, did little when given the chance to inflict more substantial damage on Daniel. They allowed him leisurely minutes in the pocket to file his nails, finish up an entertaining episode of Pushing Daisies he'd downloaded to his iPod, and then hit on 18 of 23 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Daniel's not the only QB in the Big 12 giving himself a manicure and observing the clouds from the pocket. Sam Bradford (23/31, 372 yards, two TDs), Todd Reesing (18/26, 319 yards, three TDs), Zach Robinson (186 yards, three TDs on just 10/14 passing) and Colt McCoy (23/30, 262 yards, two TDs) all had large to extremely large days passing the ball. Including Texas Tech is almost unfair, but let's do it just for fun: Harrell went 38 for 51 with 454 yards and six TDs, and just made your puny four TD day online playing NCAA 2008 look limply anemic in comparison.
The Big 12's passing mania shows up on the other side of the ball, too. The conference features seven teams ranked in the bottom half of the national pass defense, including 114th ranked Missouri. Overall, the conference averaged 68th nationally in passing defense after week six; in comparison, the SEC's defensive secondaries averaged 36th overall, while the famously offense friendly Pac-10's passing defenses averaged 58th nationally. (Tops in the nation? Arizona. Don't look so shocked.)
You can read the numbers in a variety of self-serving manners. For instance, if you believe Missouri is overrated by furlongs at this point, you may point to the triple-digit national rankings and project two losses in shootout fashion in the pass-friendly Big 12. However, if you've got money or -- worse yet -- actual emotion riding on Mizzou being as good as you think they are, you may explain it away by suggesting that Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin have been piling up points so quickly that there's little point in playing tight defense, since being up by 30 points in almost every game you play tends to relax the defense a bit.
The correct, objective read would be to say this: if the difference in Missouri's passing defense were marginal, there would be no concerns whatsoever since the Tigers order economy packs of 24 points each by the quarter, and are one of the few teams genuinely capable of scoring triple digits in a game. However, this team is in the bottom 20 in terms of stopping the pass, and statistically as flammable as the SMUs and Florida Internationals of the world. If beating Missouri is a matter of holding serve, and you're inclined to pick an upset remaining on the schedule, you'd pick the team with the best remaining pass defense remaining on the schedule, an offense capable of hanging with Mizzou's, and let them bones roll.
That would be Oklahoma State this Saturday, by the way, the second Big 12 game which could help determine the course of the national title picture this weekend. No pressure, y'all.






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Fulmer to the Big Orange Nation: STFU, I know what I am doing October 6, 2008

Posted by Jai Eugene in SEC Football.
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Tagged near Cool Beans Bar near the Strip

Following a week of criticism from so-called “media experts and fans”, Coach Phillip Fulmer sent a crystal clear message to the 99,000 strong (Memo to those 6000 no-show quitters: please turn-in your tickets), on-hand Saturday night at Neyland Stadium, they are not the “boss” of him.
Heading into their game against highly touted non-conference foe Northern Illinois, the original “fly in the BCS ointment” program, the Vols were in the midst of a two game SEC losing streak. The Vols had recently suffered heartbreaking close losses to Auburn and Florida. Throughout the week preparing for visiting Northern Illinois, Coach Fulmer had become the focus by some of the local and national media talking heads, as deficient in his ability to motivate his team to compete, and come from behind, in any quarter of a close game. In reality these personal attacks failed as the Battle Captain skillfully accepted the critics’ attacks; shifting the media focus off of his young quarterback and back on his broad shoulders.
Coach Fulmer after reading and hearing the not so favorable comments from the liberal left-wing Knoxville and Chattanooga sports media/football message boards , he doggedly set a course to prove these hacks and dullards wrong. His plan was to show the football world that entering the second half and going toe-to-toe at home against a talented NIU team, nothing NOTHING would derail this team of destiny.
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Take that Rob Lewis and Brent Hubbs


In the first half of the game, the Battle Captain masterfully employed an Arian Foster-like red zone approach in dealing with the underrated NIU gridders. In other words, he gave the illusion that he was indecisive, fragile and delicate as he figurtatively ran for the corner when the middle of the field was wide open. During the first two quarters of play, Fulmer’s strategy shocked the confused Big Orange Nation. He allowed NIU to control the clock and the tempo of the game, and all the while the Vols committed numerous penalties: 18 minutes and change for Northern Illinois and 11 minutes and change for the Vols…95 yards total offense for Northern Illinois and 79 for us…0 - 0 penalties for Northern Illinois and 6 - 46 for the Vols.
Heading into the locker room at halftime Fulmer masterfully had the Vols tied with the original “fly in the BCS ointment” NIU Huskies, as he had the Nick Staphens aka the Texas Gunslinger (he was a higher rated QB than Fat Matt Stafford) take a knee in the final 31 seconds remaining in the first half to solidify the misleading 3-3 score. Sure the confused fans were upset, who wouldn’t be upset? They booed the team, but the football-ignorant Big Orange Nation fanbase was but soft putty in the savvy Battle Captain’s oversized bear-claw hands.
Following a patented fiery halftime Fulmer motivational speech (Think: Win one for the Gipper), the Vols came out to score (later in the half) on vertical Touchdown Strike by the Texas Gunslinger. With 30 seconds left in the game the Vols never looked back as they cruised to a smooth win beating the scrappy BCS Busting NIU by a final 13-9.
To all of the haters and detractors, it is clear from this contest that Coach Fulmer is in charge of this football team and program. Vols fans can sleep well tonight secure in the knowledge that they have a competent field general that can will his team to a victory over a highly touted MAC ball club.
Atlanta, engage.
 
Stiff Arm of the Week

from Men of the Scarlet and Gray by el Kaiser
What a welcome sight it was to see the return of the Stiff Arm of Justice®. With so many to choose from, it was hard not use this one.

Yes, the first score, when Shane Carter went for a ten yard ride aboard the SAoJ Express into the endzone, was beautiful. It just didn’t convey the power this one does.
 
Ogbonnaya back atop Texas depth chart

from Bevo Beat
Longhorn coaches have been consistent in their insistence that their depth chart is fluid and doesn’t really matter once a game starts. Nevertheless, senior Chris Ogbonnaya emerged atop the Texas depth chart at tailback on Monday.
Last week, Vondrell McGee occupied the No. 1 spot on the chart, with Cody Johnson listed second. When the game started in Colorado, it was Johnson who got the first crack at carrying the ball, followed by McGee. But Ogbonnaya was the one who made the big plays, including a 51-yard run and a 65-yard touchdown reception.
On this week’s chart, Johnson and McGee are bracketed in an “either/or” situation as the No. 2 tailback. They are followed up by Fozzy Whittaker, who has missed all but one game this year with injuries, and Jeremy Hills.
Brown cited two main offensive concerns for his team this week — tight end after the loss of Blaine Irby (“Where do we go? What do we do?” Brown said) and “getting settled at running back.”
“What we have to do now is review the first five games and look at what is each guy best at,” Brown said.
He said Whittaker’s availability remains uncertain.
 
Charlie Weis Is Looking for a New Kicker

from The FanHouse - NCAAfootball
Filed under: Notre Dame, NCAA FB Rumors
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There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic in South Bend right now. After all, at this time last year the Fighting Irish were 0-5 and well on there way to the worst season in school history. This season they've already surpassed 2007's win total, and are 4-1 while seeming to get better every week. Jimmy Clausen improves with each game, having two consecutive career games, and wide receivers Michael Floyd and Golden Tate give the Golden Domers the ability to score from anywhere on the field.

If there has been a weakness for this Irish team, though, it's been the kicker. Through five games Irish kicker Brandon Walker has made only one of his seven field goal attempts, and he's seven for twenty dating back to last season. After two more misses on Saturday in Notre Dame's 28-21 win over Stanford, Charlie Weis has seen just about enough of Mr. Walker.
"We definitely have to explore Ryan [Burkhart] kicking field goals,'' Weis said Sunday. ''Because in Brandon's case, it's not obviously a case of being able to kick it high enough or far enough. When you're 1 out of 7 kicking field goals, it just doesn't cut it.

''I've heard worse suggestions than that,'' Weis said when asked if sitting Walker for a game or two was an option. ''I don't know the answer to that at this point. We're going to get after this Monday and Tuesday, and we're going to make a decision on what we're going to do.​
''We're not going to go right until game time to see what we're doing on this. A team needs to be ready. They need to know what we're doing. They will know what we're doing. When they know what they're doing, then you guys will know what we're doing. I'm not going to play hide-and-seek on this one.''​
Burkhart currently handles kick offs for the Irish, but I have to wonder if he'll be any better of an option than Walker. After all, the two of them competed for the job during the spring, and Walker won the job. Well, actually he didn't win the job as much as he did less to lose it than Burkhart did.

Whatever happens, it's only a matter of time before the kicking situation in South Bend costs the team a game or two.
 
DUKE AT GEORGIA TECH: FIELD REPORTAGE

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
We got to sit in on the Duke/Georgia Tech game this weekend, and it was, as you would imagine, the odd experience one should expect from a truly odd school: an enormous, two-story-tall inflatable Buzz hovering over the players entrance to the stadium in a “blackout” jersey, the catch-as-catch-can tailgating of the Tech experience, which just sort of happens wherever one can grab some open space and set down a generator, and pleasant experience of watching a college football game with an urban skyline looming just over the lip of the stadium.
You know that if your car breaks down on the way out of the game, you probably won’t be devoured by wolves, and at the worst will be beaten, taken for your credit cards and cash, and then set on fire. Much better than being devoured by wolves, which we think really could happen with a few wrong turns out of Opelika, Alabama. It makes Tech one of the few places where the community around the stadium smells like urine all week long as opposed to only on gameday and perhaps the Friday night before. Consistency: it’s important.
The big football-related deal, however, is the triple-option flexbone of Georgia Tech, an attack now seen two times in person this year. Being a believer in the trend of two, we believe firmly we can make the following judgments about the Jurassic Park of offenses in its return to big-boy, BCS conference football after seeing it twice.

Hello. Smell my hand. Photo by Johnny Crawford, AJC.
1. The offense starts with a colonoscopy. We’ve never seen a quarterback start so far up a center’s ass in our lives as the initial start in the flexbone. It’s only marginally noticeable from television or the booth, but the quarterback starts in a low, low squat under center in the flexbone, presumably to allow the center to start in a full drive block and laungh out, but also to hide the fakery and handoffs going on behind the linemen.
The result, when viewed in a flash, makes it look like a third grader has gone and lined up in full gear for the play. It’s probably also safe to say that the best developed quads on any quarterback in D-1 belong to Tech’s qbs since they spend five to ten seconds on every play in Horse Stance. Sensei approves your disciplined pursuit of Horse Stance, but you must work harder.
2. The first halves will be ugly. For dual reasons: because Paul Johnson has to prod and poke the defense to see which part of the option the defense isn’t defending (since you can’t defend all of it all the time,) and because the other defense is working on full glycogen reserves and not gasping and wheezing on Tech’s fifth eight-minute possession of the game. Yes, it was Duke, but the Blue Devils didn’t really let Tech do much in the first half at all, and what they did allow happened only on the outside, not up the middle to Dwyer.
The second half, though, showed the lingering effects of being hit in the face continuously by a drudging, brutish offense: in every game we’ve seen thus far with Tech, the defense visibly wobbled in the second half, losing form on tackles and showing the lazy announcer’s favorite obvious sign of fatigue: hands on the hips and panting visible from space.
3. Someone’s open. As Demarius Thomas showed, when you’re open in this passing portion of the option game, you’re 24/7 and holidays open. The secondary can be thrown for loops when the outside game begins to work and suddenly getting off receivers’ blocks becomes a matter of national security for them. Toss in, say, about 14 passes or so, and you have DBs choosing 1 or 0, and coin flips do not make for happy gambling football-wise.
4. It can work…enough. Given the offensive midgets of the ACC, the Flexbone thus far gets raves from us. It gasses defenses even on non-scoring drives, opens up big-play passing, and is simply but universally adjustable depending on the opposing defenses’ strengths. Moreover, it’s brilliant watching the aggression of the scheme up close: on every play the offense is surging angrily forward, and there are few downs where the defense gets to pin back their collected ears and dictate what’s happening. At best, the opposing defense gets to grapple for control; at their worst, they’re guessing at top speed who’s going to keep the ball, and anyone who’s ever had a high speed auto accident will tell you that the quality of those choices are poor at best.
Better still, it just seems to make a team nasty from the floor up: a contact-thirsty, pain-inducing, guns-forward offense designed to bludgeon up front and feint at the edges. Verdict: approve.
 
Like a eulogy...only funnier!

So this is a new experience for me, having to blog after a loss. As well as coming to terms with using "blog" as a verb.

I had trouble starting this one, thinking of a jumping off point, which part of the game to analyze or break down first. I can equate this kind of block (or reluctance to write) to the same I felt trying to write a eulogy. (Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us...).
Let me start by deflecting some of the criticism that I am sure is coming Zach Frazer's way. He's our QB, not only our best option with Tyler out, but also extremely competent at performing his duties. Statistically speaking, he was sound. (Then again I am the first to say that there is only one statistic that matters: points on the board.) So how about we try and measure the oft unmeasureables? Leadership, communication, poise. Zach has all of these and then some and I know I speak for our entire team when I say that we are are confident that he can get the job done for us. He was the first to admit that he made some "rookie mistakes" and was "trying to do too much." But, if you're going to criticize him for that, would you rather him "do too little"? ("Yes, I would have thrown that touchdown, but you know, I wanted to do too little.")

I think special teams needed work, but after watching the tape, it's never one major thing. It's always one missed block here, or one there. But when you play a team of high caliber, and make no mistake, UNC fits this bill, they exploit the mistakes that other teams might not (see Hofstra for details). But I think this is a good lesson, especially for some of the younger guys who comprise our team; to win a Big East Championship (we now start conference play) we need to limit mistakes and capitalize on our opportunities.

Time to break it down:

OFFENSE:


  • Donny Brown is an electric runner, a workhorse, and probably the most humble guy you will ever meet.
  • Jordan Todman showcased his speed and fans of UConn Football should take notice. Forget investing in the DeLorean, if you wanna see the future of the program, replay some of Todman's runs this season.
  • The offensive line play was good, led by fellow senior (center) Keith Gray, who Coach Edsall singled out in our team meeting for his exceptional grit throughout the game. His leadership is going to pull us through this week, as we nurse wounds and get ready for Rutgers. While he still might resemble a Koala, I think he does a great job. He was the first to say the D-Line for UNC was physical and made for a long night.

DEFENSE:


  • Bend but don't break. Limit scores to field goals in the red-zone. We did well at this, all things considered. Turnovers in the red-zone and field position made for a tough night. Holding them to the field goal, and then the fumble that put them on the one yard line (I still say we had that recovered). But let me say this about the UNC offensive line, I have seen a lot of different types of players, the highly rated ones who under performed (sorry, UVa) and the big guys who couldn't move as well (sorry I'm not sorry, Syracuse). UNC had some big guys, who were athletic and as technically sound as I've seen on the gridiron since I've been playing. Not to mention exceptionally polite (which I guess is easy when you're up in the second half like that).
  • Again Julius Williams is stealing sacks from me and again I admit that if only I had been a little faster (insert fat white joke here) I'd have had him clean, which is a little frustrating because Griffin from Baylor had the moves to make me look silly, but this kid had no business escaping my grip.
  • Personally I was hoping that UNC would give Paulus another shot at starting. I only watched a few snaps of him on field, but he's from Christian Brother Academy in Syracuse, New York. It' always nice to see more Upstate guys playing.
  • Cody Brown again added to the strong case he is making for the NFL. (Although, I will say that as his roommate on the road, NFL execs might wanna consult me if they need a witness to personal hygiene. Time to shower, Cody. Seriously.)
  • Their running backs were exceptional as well, but it's nothing we hadn't seen as a defense. (training camp versus Downtown Donny Brown...like a track meet...with pads)

SPECIAL TEAMS:


  • Desi Cullen kicks the ball exceptionally well. Especially on kickoff, his depth and hang time are tops in all of Division I (eh hem, "Football Bowl Eligible Division" of the Athletic Program Formally Known as Prince).
  • I know everyone is wondering, so I'll talk about the punt blocks. It was something we hadn't seen on film yet, and it wasn't on our personal protector, like Butch Davis said. It was on our wing position, which has been corrected (several times actually today...). CJ Marck who took over duties for injured (and future crutch-Olympian) Steve Brouse did a good job, so to set the record straight, the blocks were NOT on him.
  • For a team that prides itself on playing "fundamentally sound" this was something that we took to heart as a failure. And be sure we WILL get it corrected. As a side note, generally I don't comment on things I don't have personal experience doing (punt returning, field goal kicking, jogging, being skinny, etc). But as a former long snapper I feel it is within my general scope of knowledge to talk about the punts.
  • (Other things in my general scope of knowledge you ask? Lacrosse, texting, eating, hockey, the occasional steam bath.)

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:

My ankle is coming along nicely, not exactly 100%, but it's there. As a side note, a student trainer was examining it this morning. The exchange went something like this:
"I should get [head athletic trainer] Bob...this is really swollen..."
"Uhh no, that's just how it is...really big. Kinda fat. This is a reccurring theme. Let's move on."


The lights in the stadium went off. A twenty minute interruption to game play. That sucked, but as a I noted to the UNC offensive line, it was simply a metaphor for "Lights-out-Defense." They grunted, apparently not wanting to wax philosophical with me. Truly though, that completely killed the momentum and flow of the game.

Kudos (who says kudos?) to the Marck family, who gave the business to some rude fans in the UConn section. While Mr. Marck looks exactly like a combination of Harry Connick Jr. and Dermot Mulroney (...you know how I know you're Yag? You know who Dermot Mulroney is), he and Mrs. Marck (also in competition for sweetest lady ever) both made the UConn program proud.

After the game we got our pre-flight snack. Chik-fil-A. Only this time instead of fried, my chicken was grilled. Dear Chick-fil-A, stop reading my diary! How else could you have known this is what I craved? Nothing satisfies me more than your grilled chicken, pickles, and partially hydrogenated-gum based-pastry (brownie). Sincerely yours, Fat White Guy.

My girlfriend has asked me to be her date to her cousin's wedding. Only she didn't outright ask me, it was more like an interview, "What exactly do you offer that other wedding-dates might not?" "Well, I will not hit on your relatives or kin, I'll slow dance to corny love songs, and I will shamelessly lead the electric slide." ..."You' re hired!"

I was pissed to see that Baylor lost. I think they are a really talented team. And I know our friends at Burnt Orange Nation have a man-crush on Griffin (keep believin', Peter). I'm hoping they run the table on the rest of their Big 12 games.

Taking a look around the Big East, one word comes to mind. Parity. Not sure what parity means? (Pay attention, WVU...) Everyone is a threat; there is no easy game.

Please continue to email me suggestions for blogs. It makes this more fun knowing that I am answering the questions burning deep in your soul (yes, I'm an Aquarius).
 
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</td><td class="cc c">12:12 PM (2 minutes ago)
There's a sad sort of clanging for Tyrone Willingham

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
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Washington was trounced again Saturday, handily, in the worst conference loss of Tyrone Willingham's tenure. Arizona beat the Huskies so thoroughly -- the score was 48-7 at the end of three quarters, and surely could have been much uglier than the 48-14 if Mike Stoops had inclination to make it so -- that new U-Dub athletic director Scott Woodward felt compelled to issue yet another statement to the effect that he has no plans to fire Willingham as the Huskies' winless season spirals out of control. A public vote of confidence can only mean one thing: Willingham's long-simmering chair has finally burst into flames. It can't be much longer now.
For a while, Washington could get by on the "tough schedule" card: it opened this year with Oregon, BYU and Oklahoma, with Notre Dame still to come; since 2005, Willingham's September schedules have included California, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Fresno State, UCLA, Boise State and Ohio State. It hasn't even all been doom and gloom, if you consider the 4-1 start in 2006 and 2-0 start in 2007, and the brief forays into the top 25 that came with them. At least the Huskies' previous flops were preceded by some rays of hope.
But we're well past the annual gauntlet, and even further beyond any prayers for another cushion against late season collapse. Now all that's left is the collapse, which began in all its Jake Locker-less horror Saturday. This was Arizona, the one Pac-10 program that's rivaled Washington for total futility this decade, its perpetual running mate in the quixotic race for progress, and the Wildcats left Tucson strewn with Husky parts. It was one beleaguered coach at the end of his rope, Mike Stoops, finally beginning to break through, at the same time Willingham's outfit is starting to visibly unravel. Ty couldn't stare his way through a less flattering comparison.
Even in defeat, Willingham's Huskies have been generally competitive losers, too often falling short on the fringe (they lost four games by ten points or less in '06 and six by single digits in '07). Here, though, was Arizona running back Nic Grigsby after Saturday's bludgeoning:
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"Right before the half, we were taking a knee. (Tight end) A.J. Simmons and me were saying, 'Those guys are looking sick over there.' I looked over there and they were not talking to each other, not doing nothing. We sensed they were quitting already. In the second half, we tried to pour it on."
It was 31-7 at that point, and the Wildcats added 17 more in the third quarter before calling off the, uh, dogs. The Huskies' losing streak is at seven now, their longest under Willingham and the longest in the nation as of Saturday, with no relief in sight until the Apple Cup on Nov. 22. Local columnists are comparing him to a beloved, pathetic pet who needs to be put to sleep and measuring the rest of the season in dog years. Husky partisans called after Willingham Saturday with the refrain from The Sound of Music, "So long! Farewell!" Even his supposed champion, Scott Woodward, is already cleaning house, with a major termination and resignation in the athletic department in two-and-a-half weeks since he was made the permanent boss.
All that's left now is the countdown to putting this administration out its misery. Maybe Willingham lasts till election day, but not much longer.






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Cantwell, Long will play on Friday

from Card Chronicle by Mike Rutherford
At his weekly press conference this afternoon, Steve Kragthorpe said that quarterback Hunter Cantwell is good to go for Friday's game at Memphis, and that he could have played if the Cards had been in action this past weekend.
Cantwell suffered a lateral sprain of his left ankle while scrambling against Connecticut on Sept. 26. He missed just one series, but was noticeably hindered by the injury in the game's closing minutes.
“He’s fine,” Kragthorpe said. “In fact, if we’d have played last Friday night he’d have started. So he’s doing fine and practicing full speed. I saw him at 6:15 (this morning) in the hall and he was doing drop backs to show me that he was ready.”
The passing game will also be aided by the season debut of wide receiver Scott Long, who broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his foot on Aug. 18. The junior, who hauled in 27 catches for 358 yards a year ago, was expected to be U of L's No. 1 receiver before the season began.
If you're making a list of reasons to get excited about Friday night (the hell else is there to do on a Monday afternoon?), seeing No. 84 on the field for the first time in '08 should be pretty close to the top. The fact that the game is being played on the road, and on Friday night, should not.
 
Tim Dougherty suspended two weeks

from Card Chronicle by Mike Rutherford
Louisville's special (don't say needs, don't say needs) teams took yet another hit this afternoon as Steve Kragthorpe announced that starting placekicker Tim Dougherty has been suspended two weeks because of "conduct detrimental to the team."
Dougherty took over for freshman Chris Philpott in the second half of the Kansas State game and promptly drilled a 36-yard-field goal, still his only attempt of the season. The St. X product and Purdue transfer is also 4-for-4 on extra points.
The suspension likely means another shot for Philpott, who has missed two extra points and all but one of his three field goal tries, and a closer look for barefoot freshman Jon Payne.
No word on what Dougherty did to warrant the wrath of Krag, but you shouldn't have to look too hard for the most popular rumor.
So, yeah, beat Memphis.
 
Home Cooking Not Good Enough for Fresno

from The Wiz of Odds by Jay Christensen
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oy2pbm86-Jc&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" allowscriptaccess="never" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="470" height="389">PopoutThe end of Saturday night's Hawaii-Fresno State game was a beaut. The Bulldogs overcame six turnovers and a 17-point deficit to forge a 29-29 tie at the end of regulation. All Hawaii had to do was overcome the officials.
Fresno had the ball first and after three plays, set up for a field goal by freshman Kevin Goessling. That's where we pick up this video.
Goessling misses, but baits the referee to call a running into the kicker penalty, setting up a second opportunity for Goessling. Guess what? He missed again.
Hawaii's Dan Kelly then booted the winner from 33 yards, giving the Warriors their first road victory over a ranked opponent.
Interesting fact: Hawaii was penalized 10 times for 82 yards. Fresno State was not penalized.
No wonder BCS teams don't want to play at Fresno.
Thanks to Tombo of Warriors Will Throw.
 
Mid-Major Monday: A note of minor dissent on BYU

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
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I hate to do this, I do, but as BYU further into the top ten and the "BCS Buster" narrative solidifies, I feel some obligation to throw the brakes on runaway Cougar love. If Hawaii's schedule last year was a joke -- and there's virtually unanimous agreement that it was -- BYU's to date is not too far off.There's the 59-0 wipeout over UCLA, and as bad as the Bruins have been, the sheer margin of victory over a mediocre Pac-10 team is worth something. That 's a good win. Otherwise, not so much -- to date, the Cougars have played I-AA Northern Iowa, winless Washington and downtrodden Wyoming and Utah State, which are a combined 2-9, and might be in for a rude awakening when the first BCS standings come out in a couple weeks. Among the BCS computers that list a strength of schedule component, BYU's slate is ranked 118th out of 119 by Anderson&Hester, 136th out of 136 by the Colley Matrix and 116th by Kenneth Massey, none of which rank the Cougars in their current top 20. Only Jeff Sagarin, who ranks BYU 17th and its schedule as the 59th-toughest, comes very close to feeble human opinions.
To be fair, the Cougars will have a couple chances to make up for that, at TCU for a Thursday night game next week and, of course, for a potential blockbuster at Utah on Nov. 22. They're not going to remain in Hawaii territory. Until they navigate the killer Horned Frog D in Fort Worth, though, the incorrigible skeptic in me is resisting the hype.
Mid-Major Game of the Week. With apologies to Akron's 30-27 win over Kent State, UTEP's barn-burning, double-overtime win at Southern Miss was the more exciting -- and, for USM alums who cut our teeth on proud Eagle defenses, more painful, especially on the heels of an equally embarrassing home loss to Marshall -- of a pair of multi-overtime games Saturday, more for the route to OT than the extra frames themselves.
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First, let me say: Damion Fletcher, I love you, and I'm so, so sorry you have to play on a team that repeatedly fails to honor your dominance. Fletcher set a single-game school record against the Miners with 260 yards rushing on 7.6 per carry, ripped off the longest run of his career (56 yards) and passed USM's career rushing mark with a year-and-a-half of eligibility left to pad it. Southern Miss -- a program largely defined by the punt, which awarded its "offensive player of the game" honor to the punter on more than one occasion in my years there -- did not punt once.
But the Eagles also missed three field goals -- altogether, more than 150 "wasted yards" that produced zero points -- while allowing a pair of touchdown passes by Trevor Vittatoe (one of them, incredibly, to someone named 'Tufick Shadrawy'). Up 27-24 in the fourth quarter, UTEP had a chance to close the game after picking off Austin Davis at the USM 40 and driving inside the Eagle five. Standing up for itself for once, though, Southern's defense forced a turnover on downs, setting up an epic, 14-play, 93-yard march for the tying field goal as time expired on regulation. Davis hit seven of nine passes for 82 yards on the drive, including a pair of third-and-long strikes to true freshman DeAndre Brown, but couldn't get USM across the line for the winning points.
Like all the day's missed opportunities, settling for the kick inside the Miner five cost them: after trading touchdowns in the first overtime, the Eagles had to opt for another field goal in the second, then committed a pass interference penalty on the first play of UTEP's possession. From the USM 10, Vittatoe hit Kris Adams for the winning touchdown, the Miners moved to an unlikely 2-0 in Conference USA and Southern Miss -- prolific new offense and all -- is all but finished in the league at 0-2.
Mid-Major Player(s) of the Week. BYU's Austin Collie caught eight balls for 132 and two touchdowns, including a 76-yarder, in the Cougars' win over Utah State. ... No-name Cadet Collin Mooney broke out with 187 yards rushing and four touchdowns in Army's streak-busting win over Tulane. ... Western Michigan's Time Hiller passed for 347 yards and four touchdowns and added another 51 yards rushing in the Broncos' win over Ohio U. ... Florida International receiver T.Y. Hilton hauled in touchdown passes of 65 and 73 yards from Paul McCall in FIU's win over North Texas. ... Somebody has to get credit for TCU's incredible defensive effort against San Diego State, so we'll go with Jerry Hughes, who had two sacks. ... And again, hats off to Damion Fletcher, who had one of the most impressive offensive days in Southern Miss history in the face of wretching defeat.
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Steppin' Up. Conference play means the pickin's for inter-conference upsets are awfully slim, and in four games last week, there was only one, and not a true "upset" at that: Utah's Thursday night comeback over Oregon State. The Beavers were well-position with a late eight-point lead to kick off a clean sweep on behalf of the big conferences, but the Utes repped by rallying for 11 points in the final three minutes. Northern Illinois put the fear in Tennessee, especially after a UT fumble set up a short field goal that cut the Vol lead to four late in the third quarter, but the Huskies went nowhere (backwards, actually) with three chances to mount a winning drive in the fourth.
An Arbitrary Mid-Major Top Ten
This is more of a power poll.
- - -
1. Utah (6-0): Of the five undefeated teams, the Utes have the best combo of "Big Six" wins, at Michigan and over Oregon State, and not a bad conference record over Air Force and UNLV.
2. Boise State (4-0): Win at Oregon should remain a strong value, but with Fresno State losing to Hawaii, there's not much left to help strength of schedule.
3. BYU (5-0): Wiping everybody out, but strength of schedule-wise, there's the meltdown by UCLA, and ... ? The close call at Washington looks sketchier by the week.
4. Ball State (6-0): Hasn't been challenged -- may not be challenged in the MAC -- but the Cardinals' best win is probably Navy. The schedule's just not there.
5. Tulsa (5-0): Ditto. The Hurricane should cruise to the C-USA Championship game on a rainbow slide of points, but what's there to say about any single victory along the way?
6. TCU (5-1): Completely dominating on defense, and a serious contender to derail the Utah-BYU collision in the Mountain West. The Utes and Cougars would have a blemish now, too, if either had Oklahoma on its schedule.
7. Navy (4-2): Not missing a beat post-Paul Johnson. Probably should have lost to Air Force Saturday, but somehow managed to block two punts for touchdowns to offset an awful day defensively.
8. East Carolina (3-2): Off the radar after two terrible losses to N.C. State and Houston, but the Virginia Tech and West Virginia wins (especially the former) are holding up.
9. Air Force (3-2): Still extremely tough to stop on the option and capable of beating anyone on the schedule -- including BYU and TCU (although I wouldn't bet on it).
10. Western Michigan (5-1): Big passing day over Ohio U., WMU's fifth straight win after dropping the opener at Nebraska.
Coming Up
The Week Ahead
- - -
Best Game. I'm going to give Southern Miss one more shot to win me over by competing with Boise State -- not winning, even at home, but just showing up and turning in a fight -- after laying a foul egg on national television against the Broncos last year on the blue turf. The talent gap certainly isn't as wide as these teams' reputations suggest, if it exists at all.
Most Realistic Upset. Memphis hosts old C-USA rival Louisville in the Liberty Bowl on Friday, where the Tigers are used to the kind of high-scoring thriller that gives them the best chance to eke out a win over the Cardinals, who don't seem that awful, after all.
Least Realistic Upset. Michigan's veering into dire straits, but the Wolverines may as well scuttle the ship and start looking for a new captain if they run aground against 1-4 Toledo.
Break Out the Abacus. It's always countin' time when Tulsa's involved, but against the JUCO-level defense of SMU, the Hurricane can name its number. June Jones' Mustangs should put a few touchdowns on the board at home, but not nearly enough to throw a scare into the hottest offense this side of Missouri.
 
BCS Guru released his new standings, using all BCS data except for Peter Wolfe's rankings, as it is not available for the next two weeks. Using a median of dozens of other computer rankings instead is a fair estimate.
Conference leaders in bold.
1) 0.9483 Oklahoma
2) 0.9261 Alabama

3) 0.9121 Missouri
4) 0.8481 Texas
5) 0.7648 Penn State
6) 0.7335 LSU
7) 0.6408 USC
8) 0.6057 Georgia
9) 0.6023 Utah
10) 0.5888 Texas Tech
11) 0.5824 Vanderbilt
12) 0.5071 Brigham Young
13) 0.4896 Ohio State
14) 0.4574 Boise State
15) 0.4365 Florida
16) 0.3530 Virginia Tech
17) 0.3004 Oklahoma State
18) 0.2885 Northwestern
19) 0.2811 Kansas
20) 0.2159 Michigan State
21) 0.1997 Ball State
22) 0.1650 Wake Forest
23) 0.1444 South Florida
24) 0.1101 Georgia Tech
25) 0.0919 North Carolina
Other Conference leaders and independents:
28) 0.0633 Tulsa
36) 0.0204 Notre Dame
49) 0.0000 Navy (Ranked 17 in Sagarin's ELO-CHESS)
BCS AQ Hit List: Three BCS non-AQ conference members are in the top 14.
Utah
BYU
Boise State

BCS non-AQ Hit List: Only one BCS AQ conference member is in the top 14, outside of the SEC and Big 12. Two more are in the top 20.
Ohio State
Northwestern
Michigan State
Last year they added a rule to expand the list of eligible teams to nine wins and in the top 18 if ten eligible teams could not be found in the top 14. Could this rule be needed this year?
 
Postgame: Kansas

from Clone Chronicles by BryceC


It’s been a pretty brutal two weeks for ISU fans, as we’ve experienced some tough losses. Bill Simmons has a quasi-famous "Levels of Losing" column where he points out the various levels of tough losses. I would say Kansas falls in at the Princton Principal, or if you took it really hard, the Guillotine. I would say that the week before was a solid Stomach Punch game. Really it’s a great article, you should take a look at it. I’m not a big moral victory guy, but I honestly expected KU to win and cover (two touchdowns or greater) last weekend so the fact that they came out in dominating fashion really got my hopes up before the breakdown in the third quarter. There were some good things and bad things to be taken away from this one.
The Good:

  • Arnaud started and played the entire game and probably had his best game as a Cyclone. Put up good numbers and effectively moved the offense. So far this season his QB rating is a full 40 points higher than the senior Meyer from last year.
  • ISU had a decent pass rush. Had a few sacks and they weren't all spurred by the blitz. Hopefully continued development along the line will help them continue to put pressure on the passer.
  • Corners did a great job today and Leonard Johnson is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. He should honestly be a lock for 1<sup>st</sup> team All Freshman team. If he keeps getting INT's he might make Freshman All-American.
  • The receivers did a great job and freshman Darius Darks really came out. Sedrick Johnson also had some very positive contributions. I feel a lot better about that unit going into next season with the loss of RJ Sumrall.
  • Grant Mahoney continues to do well. He's only missed one kick outside of the Iowa game. I feel great with him back there for the next four seasons.
The Bad:

  • Kerry Meier is good. ISU made him look like an All-American. The safeties and linebackers really struggle to cover a good TE and that is something that will be exploited by teams as ISU continues through the season.
  • If this team wants to remain competitive in Big 12 football games it's going to have to develop some kind of rushing attack. The team struggles to get consistent yardage there and if the QB's weren't mobile ISU would be in a world of hurt right now.
  • ISU needs to learn to close out the close games. They'll get there but the youth is really holding back some of the athletic potential on this team.

Overall it wasn’t a bad showing by the team even though they lost. I’m not much for quoting the Zooker but I think he said it well when he said in year one, you lose big. Year two, you lose small, year three you win small, and year four you win big. I think they are on track for that with this staff. I love this staff and I’m extremely confident in the future of the program.
I’ve been on the record as saying this before but I think 2009 has the potential to be a breakout season. I expect the team to be undefeated through the nonconference and the schedule is set up so they can be very competitive in conference. An 8-8 record is attainable and they return a lot of players in 2010.

I think it moved...
 
Mustain Prepares to Start

from Conquest Chronicles by Paragon SC
With Mark Sanchez's status uncertain for Saturday's game against Arizona State Mitch Mustain is prearing for his first start. Mustain saw some significant playing time last week against Oregon going 5-of-8 for 11 yards with a TD and and INT. The TD was 59-yqard strike to David Ausberry the INT was an aggressive throw byt Mustain that the Oregon DB made in the endzone for a touchback.
Mustain has had an up and down season this far falling all the way to #4 on the QB "depth chart" at one point but now it appears that with Sanchez possibly out for this Saturday's game (I will believe it when I see it) Mustain is getting prepped for his first start at USC.
[o]ffensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian: "We're going with the mentality that Mitch is the guy or Mark's coming back late in the week."

Mustain, the sophomore transfer from Arkansas, was elevated last week from No. 4 to No. 2 on the depth chart. He is feeling confident after completing five of eight passes for 111 yards, including a 59-yard touchdown to receiver David Ausberry, against Oregon.

"I feel like I'm prepared and on top of the game plan," Mustain said.

Sarkisian said the game plan, if Mustain starts, would be "not huge, but precise."
Mustain had been a bit down in the dumps after having a difficult time progressing with the offense and with the competiton being labled as "open" every week it seemed that someone new was being placed in the back up role with Mustain geting little time with the first team.
I think the loss to Oregon State finally lit a fire under the staff to name a back-up and stick with him until some major mistake caused said back-up to be replaced. Of couse depending on what you read the story is somewhat different.
Carroll said Mustain made a breakthrough two weeks ago during practices that caused him to surpass Aaron Corp and Garrett Green.
"He got comfortable, finally," Carroll said. "He just shifted, I don't know how it changed, but it did."
One example was Mustain signaling wide receiver David Ausberry to change a pass route, which resulted in a 59-yard touchdown [COLOR=darkgreen ! important][/COLOR]pass against Oregon.

That's a head scratcher to me, two weeks ago they were still in preparation for the Oregon St. game and they still named Garrett Green the back-up, go figure.
Hopefully the coaches have seen enough to finally lock in a suitable back-up and remove all the drama from the situation. We lost our mulligan in Corvallis so every game has to be played like its our last one if we want to get to the BCS Title Game. I think its a longshot but you can't take that chance and squander it.
It should be an interesting week of preparation...
 
Tuesday Headlinin': Washington State will take a quarterback anywhere it can find it

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Dude. You're gonna be the QB, dude. Sweet. Already 1-4 and down his top two quarterbacks just five games into his first season, Washington State coach Paul Wulff issued a desperate call for arms last week for Wazzu students willing to take their lumps as a scout team passer. Twenty-nine guys showed up to Monday's tryout, and they were, well, they were out there:Coaches cut the chaffe to four finalists, Jon Koepfgen, Mark Gray, Peter Roberts and Cameron Gredler, and will post the winner this morning -- although he may not see it right away:
"I have to be in a lab at 9," Koepfgen said. "I'll have to have my fraternity brothers text me and let me know."
"Dude, dude ... OK, like, we should totally text him and tell him he got it even if he didn't! Aw, man, he's gonna flip out, dude. He'll be like, 'Yeah, awesome, I'm the quarterback!' and we're like, 'Dude you got burned! You suck!' That would be so sweet. ... Seriously, though, that would be awesome if he gets it."
There may be quarterbacks. We just don't know. It could be a watered-down backup-fest Saturday when Arizona State visits USC, where both starting quarterbacks are opening the week under the frowny-face column of the "questionable" list. ASU's Rudy Carpenter is nursing an injured ankle and will feel his way through practice for the rest of the week, while Mark Sanchez and his bum knee watched from a cart Monday while Mitch Mustain prepared for the start.
ept_sports_ncaaf_experts-235381799-1223384239.jpg
Mustain puts the Trojans in a little bit better position if Sanchez doesn't play than the Devils are without Carpenter, who despite constant muggings behind makeshift ASU lines has started a Favre-like 36 straight games through bumps, bruises, breaks, sprains and bloody lips since he took over as a redshirt freshman. Backup Danny Sullivan is 1-of-8 for -1 yard passing through the first five games, but Dennis Erickson wants Carpenter "pretty close to 100 percent" before he's comfortable with letting him go. I'd argue Rudy hasn't been close to 100 percent since last year's beating against USC, but I wouldn't feel right throwing a gimpy quarterback to the Trojans, either. It's inhumane, man.
How are things working out for you, Bobby? Since a few zealous boosters and a shamed president tried to clandestinely replace Tommy Tuberville with Bobby Petrino in the infamous Jetgate Affair of 2003, Petrino has been hired at Louisville, suddenly left for the Atlanta Falcons, abruptly abandoned the Falcons with games remaining on the schedule for Arkansas and been beaten into a pulp in his first month with the Hogs. One undefeated season and SEC championship later, Tuberville is still sitting ... well, not pretty on the Plains, not with that offense, but attractively enough that there's no ill will between the coaches going into Saturday's Auburn-Arkansas game. Of course there isn't. They're not children. If Tuberville shows up for the pregame handshake wearing a freshly-buffed 2004 SEC Championship ring, "13-0" cap and t-shirt with airbrushed photos of the Tigers' four first round picks in the 2005 Draft while ostentatiously working the words "jet" and "knife in the back" into the brief conversation as many times as possible, it will just be a coincidence, I'm sure.
By the way, if the whole head coach thing isn't working out, would Petrino be interested in a plum offensive coordinator position? Why am I asking? Oh, no reason.
Are you a head coach? Come to Tennessee! It's still too early to pull the plug on Phil Fulmer, but with the Vols sitting at 2-3 with Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Kentucky and Vanderbilt still in front of them, Tom Dienhart is willing to speculate on Fulmer's successor. His early list includes basically everyone wearing a headset under the age of 60: recently fired Raider boss Lane Kiffin, Connecticut's Randy Edsall, Cincinnati's Brian Kelly, Utah's Kyle Whittingham, TCU's Gary Patterson, Wake Forest's Jim Grobe, Missouri's Gary Pinkel, USF's Jim Leavitt, BYU's Bronco Mendenhall, Boise State's Chris Petersen and East Carolina's Skip Holtz. What, no obligatory Terry Bowden buzz? I heard Gene Stallings might be interested, too. Or maybe ... a dark horse?
If you throw out enough names, one of them's bound to be right eventually. So when Tennessee does make a change, remember: you heard it here first.
Quickly ... Jim Harbaugh was reprimanded by the Pac-10 for complaining about the officiating in Stanford's loss at Notre Dame, called by Pac-10 refs despite being in South Bend. . . . Nebraska's Bo Pelini and Missouri's Gary Pinkel mutually agreed to call an end to Spitgate. . . . . Speaking of Missouri, the Tigers have a punter, technically, but why, again? . . . USC's Allen Bradford, banged up and suddenly the odd man out of the Trojans' backfield rotation, is considering a redshirt. . . . It's a good time for a bye week at Alabama. . . . Bob Stoops is optimistic about injured defensive linemen DeMarcus Granger and Frank Alexander's chances of playing Saturday against Texas. . . . And Bill Stewart says West Virginia's slow start is just a little bit of inexperience showing through. Yeah, that four-year starting quarterback and completely intact offensive line still has a lot to learn.
- - -
Photo of Rudy Carpenter being smashed by Rey Maualuga via US Presswire.
 
Hazelton Rumors

from Conquest Chronicles by Paragon SC
This whole situation about Vidal Hazelton wanting to redshirt because of his ankle injury has come to an interesting conclusion…will Hazelton transfer?
USC wide receiver Vidal Hazelton's status remains up in the air with no definite answers if he will play this week, the rest of the season or ever.
Hazelton, who wants to redshirt, said he will undergo an MRI on his sprained ankles today to determine the extent of his injuries. He was able to run routes Monday but said he wants to redshirt.
But USC coach Pete Carroll has not addressed the issue and the coaches appear resistant to granting the redshirt because they feel the ankle injury is not season-ending. There is increasing speculation Hazelton might transfer.
"I'm not thinking about transferring right now," Hazelton said Monday. "I don't think (the redshirt year) will be done anyways. It's up to the man upstairs (Carroll)."
Hazelton is one talented receiver but he has yet to find a consistent groove at USC. He has struggled to make plays and at time hold on to the ball.
Recent comments that he made about wanting to redshirt in order to make him a better man, or something to that effect, raised some eyebrows that there could be a bigger issue just underneath the surface. At times it seems that Hazelton based on his involvement with the offense that he just isn't comfortable here. Even going back to his recruitment it just seemed that there was always some turmoil. His family pushed for Hazelton to go to Penn State going as far to not co-sign Hazelton's letter of intent until the very last minute.
There is something more going here behind the scenes and it hasn't quite come to the surface. Make no mistake he has a lot of talent and if he is healthy and firing on all cylinders he is a great weapon in the USC offense and I do not want to lose him. But if there is something going on in his head that has to be fixed before he can be effective on the field.
This could simply be a phase of frustration about not living up to expectations or it could be issues with academics...I don't know but regardless I would prefer to see him get it all worked out and hit the ground running the to have this black cloud over the program that could be a distraction. Only the coaches, Hazelton and his family know the full story so the rest of us can only speculate...lets hope he gets it back on track he is too potent of a weapon not to have him on the field.
 
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Cavalcade of Whimsy - The Rest Of Your Life </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
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Alabama QB John Parker Wilson
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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 Oct 7, 2008
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What teams will win the next 30 national titles? John Parker Wilson's Alabama should be among the few. The Wisconsin band, Tony Mandarich, the possible BCS blitzkrieg and more in the latest 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]
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By Pete Fiutak
What's your beef? ... Fire off your thoughts
Past Whimsies
[/SIZE][/FONT] 2006 Season | 2007 Season
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Preseason Cavalcade | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
- Week 5
If this column sucks, it’s not my fault … like Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini after the Missouri game, I apologized to the team for such a poor performance. I don’t point the finger. I point the thumb. It all starts with me.

Throw in a six-foot bong and you’ve got a Saturday night Mifflin street house party … The Wisconsin band was suspended indefinitely due to allegations of alcohol abuse, hazing, and sexual misconduct including reports of girls having to kiss other girls in order to use the bathroom on the bus. Uhhhhh, you’re Wisconsin. You know, a next-level, national championship-caliber party school. Alcohol abuse, girls kissing other girls, and boorish behavior is part of the recruiting pitch.

“And what we should do today in band? Instead of playing our instruments regularly? We should play them backwards! That'll be so funny!” … I actually heard one talking head suggest that part of the reason Wisconsin might have lost to Ohio State was because a) the crowd wasn’t really into it because b) the band was suspended and therefore c) the atmosphere wasn’t up to its normal we’ve-got-spirit-yes-we-do-we’ve-got-spirit-how-‘bout-you level. I dismissed this until I heard someone else say this. And then I read it.

The Wisconsin band could’ve played a stirring rendition of Escape (The Pina Colada Song) until it barfed and the Badger defense wasn’t going to stop Beanie Wells.

Yes, a band, especially one as revered as Wisconsin’s, is a vital part of the tradition and greatness of a college football Saturday. But if you watched the game, the lack of background noise was a breath of fresh silence. It was like watching a classic NBA game before Gary Glitter, Crazy Train and Deee-Fense (clap, clap) had to be blared on a non-stop loop.

Really, I’m pro-band, but for just this one game, chalk it up for those who wish they could watch a Michigan game without hearing The Victors after every first down. Give those who have given up on Tennessee games because of Rocky Top their day in the sun. You may now go back to your regularly scheduled tribute to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

Dammit, this always happens! I think I'm gonna score and then I never score! It's not fair! We've traveled a hundred miles 'cause we thought we were gonna score, but now it's not gonna happen! SHUT UP! I'm sick and tired of this! We're never gonna score! It's just not gonna happen! We're just gonna get old like these people, but they've probably scored! But not us! We're never gonna score! WE'RE NEVER GONNA SCORE!!! AAGGHHHH!” The Chicago Cubs tacked on yet another year of futility for their long-suffering fan base after deciding they didn’t feel like playing baseball anymore. Every year, story after story comes out about old people who just want to see a Cub World Series championship before they die, because a bunch of multi-millionaires hitting a ball with a stick more successfully than a bunch of other multi-millionaires would make life complete. With that in mind, what college football teams have no shot of winning a national title in your lifetime?

It’s hard to win a championship. Really, really hard, and unfortunately, most college football teams have no chance to play for a title no matter what they do. It’s college football’s fatal flaw. Because there isn’t a playoff, and one could easily be created to remedy the situation while still maintaining the integrity of the sport, a program could have a once-in-a-lifetime season and still be left out of the championship picture.

Ask 2007 Hawaii, or 2004 Utah, or 2004 Auburn, or 2006 Boise State what it’s like to be perfect in the regular season but have no shot to see if it’s really possible to win it all. Ask 2008 Penn State how this might feel. The Nittany Lions could beat everyone by two touchdowns, but it’s off to Pasadena, not Miami, if Oklahoma and LSU finish the year unbeaten.

Pop quiz. Off the top of your head, how many national titles has Ohio State won over the last 40 years? I’m talking about the real kind … AP, UPI, which turned into the ESPN/USA Today Poll, or after 1998, the BCS. The Buckeyes have won several, right?

One. 2002. That’s it.

That’s how many Michigan has won over the last 40 years, too. That’s also how many Georgia, Clemson, and Tennessee have won.

Think about all the big-name, big time programs that haven’t won a national title over the last 37 years (setting the starting point at 1970, which was right around when the national title was awarded after the bowl games instead of after the regular season, and it was also around when integration for most programs finally kicked in). UCLA hasn’t won one. Neither has Auburn, Iowa, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, West Virginia, Oregon, Michigan State, Purdue, or South Carolina.

Just 21 teams have won at least one national title over the last 42 seasons (Alabama, Clemson, Colorado, BYU, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Pitt, Tennessee, Texas, USC, and Washington), and that’s with split national titles, too. Washington might have lost to Miami in a true national title game in 1991, while Georgia Tech and Colorado would’ve played for the 1990 national championship in today’s day and age. That means 98 college football teams haven’t won an FBS/D-I national title in your lifetime.

Let’s be generous and assume there will be roughly 30 more college football seasons before everything as we know it goes into the tank. Future playoff or no playoff, and knowing how college football has evolved over the last 30 years, how it’ll eventually morph into a plus-one format, and with most of the top programs unlikely to go away over the next three decades, here’s the best-guess breakdown of the national title situation for the rest of your life.

There will be 120 teams when Western Kentucky, joins the FBS ranks next year. 120 teams, 30 years, 30 national titles. Some teams, of course, will double and triple up, so unless you’re on these lists below, thanks for playing, enjoy the veal.

Programs that are almost certain to win at least one national title from now until the end of your life: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, Texas (These eight teams will likely account for 13 of the next 15 national championships.)

Programs that realistically could win a national title before you die (or will at least come really, really close): Auburn, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech (These six teams will account for two of the next 15 national championships.)

Programs that you think will win a national title before you die, but won’t: California, Clemson, Florida State, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, West Virginia

Programs on a good enough track that if everything breaks the right way, and the coaching staffs stay in place, could play for a national title … and lose: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, South Florida, UCLA

Programs that will finish a year unbeaten and will get screwed over by the man and his discriminating system: Boise State, BYU, TCU, Utah

“Yeah, I can’t believe Liberace was Yag. Women loved him, man. I didn’t see that one coming.” ...
Tony Mandarich did steroids while he was at Michigan State? Nooooooo. How did college football’s dirty little secret finally get out of the bag? Now that it’s all out in the open, steroids and human growth hormones certainly won’t be a part of football anymore. Finally, we can close the book on that big, bulky chapter. What’s next, O.J. really is a dangerous felon? The Tom Osborne rehab project didn’t work and Lawrence Phillips really might do something to be landed in jail for 10 years? Yeah, right, and several former Husker offensive linemen didn’t watch that Mandarich interview with more than a little interest.

“It seems to me that the only thing you have learned is that Caesar was a salad dressing dude. Bill, Ted, this is really quite simple. You have flunked every section of this class. Now unless you get an A+ on your final oral report tomorrow, guys, I have no choice but to flunk the both of you.” … 100% guilty as charged on this one on a daily basis. You can’t bring up team history when it comes to figuring out whether or not a team will win. Baylor QB Robert Griffin is 18. The dude was six when the Big 12 was formed. Like he cared that the Bears were 0-for-forever against Oklahoma. Like Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin thought for one second that their Missouri team couldn’t beat Nebraska in Lincoln just because the Tiger program hadn’t won there in 30 years. College football players care about girls, video games, and girls playing video games. All other analysis, and the history of college football, is for those of us who wish girls, video games, and girls playing video games were our main concerns.

However, Tennessee apparently didn’t get the memo … ESPN has to make sure it gets the CBS Excitement Level clause in its billion-dollar deal with the SEC. CBS could pit Custer vs. Sioux, The Godfather vs. Ernest Saves Christmas, Coke vs. Pepsi, or Charlize Theron vs. Rosie O’Donnell at 3:30 EST on a Saturday afternoon and those gross mismatches would be competitive. Sarah Palin could be thrown out there against John Kenneth Galbraith in an open forum debate on economic reform, and if it’s in that time slot on CBS, it would go down to the wire.
“Hi, Eric Stratton, rush chairman. Damn glad to meet you.” … At this point, is it really necessary for the presidential candidates to introduce themselves in their ads?
“Hi, I’m Barack Obama, and I approve this message.”
“Huh? What the … hey ma, get in here. Either the DuMont’s on the fritz again or this guy with the funny ears thinks he’s running for prez-dent of the U-night-ed States.”

If you don’t know who the candidates are by now, you’re probably the one person out there who’ll be affected when the TV signals switch to high definition in February.

ARTHUR: You are indeed brave sir knight, but the fight is mine.
BLACK KNIGHT: Had enough?
ARTHUR: You stupid bastard. You haven't got any arms left.
BLACK KNIGHT: Course I have.
ARTHUR: Look!
BLACK KNIGHT: What! Just a flesh wound
. As part of the media, I demand to know every player’s injury status and just how hurt the stars really are. We’re all going to find out eventually. However, if I’m the coach of a college team, I never, ever, ever release any info about injuries, depth chart changes, or playing status. This isn’t the NFL where you have to release an injury report that’s factual and correct, you know, so the gamblers, er, uh, so the teams know what they’re dealing with. You can say all week long that you’re starting the backup quarterback because the No. 1 man is out due to menopausal complications, and then play your starter anyway. If a player is out, tell everyone he’s going to play. Make the other team prepare for him.

“I guess I realized I'm just Bud Fox. And as much as I wanted to be Gordon Gekko, I'll always be Bud Fox.” “In 20 years, we will be able to remember that we beat UCLA at their house,” beamed Fresno State head coach Pat Hill after the 36-31 win over the Bruins in Pasadena two weeks ago. Yeah, and you’ll also remember the week after when you dropped a doozie of a twozie at home against a bad Hawaii team with six turnovers and a slew of other assorted brain cramps in the 32-29 overtime loss. Yes, Fresno State, we’ve got it. You want to play anyone, anywhere at any time. So does that team up in Boise and it seems to have no problem keeping its head on straight. All that’s missing from your program is a big, huge car with bigger speakers blaring Bad Company.

And do it now before the 219 straight days of snowfall starts … A note to Syracuse. Before Washington snags Lane Kiffin as its new head coach, you politely change the locks on Greg Robinson’s office and you go get the former Oakland Raider head man. Now. Not tomorrow, not after breakfast, now. He might be a rent-a-coach who goes off to take over a real NFL team someday, but he would turn the woebegone Orange program around in a hurry.

The C.O.W. airing of the grievances followed by the feats of strength
Ten things I’m grouchy about this week.

10. Rashard Mendenhall
The former Illinois star left school a year early and signed a five-year deal worth $12.55 million. Now he’s out for the year with a shoulder injury … with over $7 million of guaranteed money to kick back and groove on. Had he fractured his shoulder in a senior year at Illinois, he’d be getting paid a fat load of jack squat. Beanie Wells, Knowshon Moreno and LeSean McCoy, it’s been great having you around. Thanks for playing.

9. Michigan’s spread option
Paul Johnson stepped in at Georgia Tech with no pieces in place whatsoever to properly run his option attack. Somehow, he has his team ranking fifth in the nation and tops in the AC, in rushing averaging 290 yards per game. His Yellow Jackets are 4-1 with a win over Boston College and victories the last two weeks over Mississippi State and Duke by a combined score of 65 to 7. Meanwhile, Michigan is averaging 123 rushing yards per game and needed a miracle/Wisconsin gag to be 2-2 before getting ripped up by Illinois. Either Johnson is truly special, or Rodriguez’s team isn’t making the transition as quickly as it probably should be. It might be both.

8. Undecided voters
If you’re waiting and watching to see how the presidential candidates are handling themselves during the current economic crisis, then yes, you’re allowed to be undecided. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be allowed to vote in a Mr. Tight Buns competition much less this election. If you really don’t know which candidate best represents you and your issues by now, you’re watching too much G’s To Gents.

7. Utah vs. BYU
BYU has a fantastic offense and a strong D. You don’t win 15 straight games as a program without doing something right. Included in the streak is an epic comeback win over the Utes last year. However, for some reason, BYU is being given the benefit of the doubt in the rankings, currently ranked 8<sup>th</sup> in the Coaches’ Poll, when it has played absolutely nobody. BYU has played the third easiest schedule in the nation so far facing Northern Iowa, Washington, UCLA, Wyoming and Utah State. Meanwhile, Utah has faced a mediocre slate, ranking 62<sup>nd</sup> toughest in the country so far, but there are three solid wins beating Michigan at Michigan, Air Force at Air Force, and Oregon State. Meanwhile, BYU struggled to get by a winless Washington and has made its reputation by blasting an inconsistent UCLA. Both of them would lose at Oklahoma like TCU did.

6. “Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum ...”
Here’s the deal, SEC fans. You get to continue to do your little S-E-C, S-E-C chant whenever your conference is brought up or whenever you hear someone dare speak the name of a team from another league, but you must also crank it out for the bad teams. Did Louisiana Tech fans chant W-AC, W-A-C when the Bulldogs beat your Bulldogs from Mississippi State? Did Wake Forest fans chant out A-C-C, A-C-C when in the win over Ole Miss? How about the Pac 10 chant when UCLA beat Tennessee, or “Sun Belt, cha cha cha, Sun Belt, cha cha cha” when UL Monroe beat Alabama last year and almost beat Arkansas this year?

5.
Coaching changes
There used to be a time in the NFL when a team could draft a quarterback, groom him for a few years, and then have him hit the ground running by year three. Now, with the new economic situation in the league, a team can’t have so much money tied up in a clipboard holder. The same goes for college teams. It’s fine to need one year of rebuilding, possibly two, but now, with the way Nick Saban has made Alabama a national title contender in roughly 18 months, Urban Meyer and Les Miles winning national titles in their second seasons, and with the instant success of coaches like Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech, Ken Niumatalolo at Navy, and David Cutliffe at Duke, to go along with what North Carolina’s Butch Davis, Minnesota’s Tim Brewster, and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio are doing with their turnaround projects in their second seasons, watch out for fan bases to get more and more impatient. Realistically, a coach should get one full recruiting cycle to show what he can do, but that’s not going to work. Everyone’s too afraid of a Greg Robinson/Bill Callahan situation.

4. Ads for Time Life’s World and War and Vietnam: An American History DVDs
This week’s annoying ad campaign that played over and over on a college football Saturday is actually for something I might want. The Time Life DVD series on the Vietnam War and the other set on World War II are supposed to be terrific, but the ads are making the brutal and tragic conflicts sound like video games and are being marketed like a Faces of Death series. The World at War set is being billed as “The Mother of All Wars,” like it’s about to battle Kimbo Slice on pay-per-view. They’re selling the footage of death and destruction rather than the historical documentary aspect of the series.

3. South Carolina
South Carolina can’t figure out its quarterback situation, has a woeful running game, a lousy offensive line, a horrendous punting game, and it can’t stop turning the ball over. Oh yeah, and it’s roughly two plays away from being 5-0. That road loss to Vanderbilt doesn’t look so bad now, and the Gamecocks were a fumble away from likely pushing Georgia into overtime. After getting by Ole Miss, watch out for an under-the-radar Gamecock team to potentially be dangerous with home games against LSU, Tennessee and Arkansas after next week’s road date at Kentucky.

2. Tulsa head coach Todd Graham and offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn
Are you fully comprehending the monster Graham and Malzahn have created? Graham made Rice relevant in just one year before going off to Tulsa where he and Malzahn put together the nation’s best offense last season. Fine, so the schedule has been a joke so far (New Mexico has been the toughest test), but the offensive numbers are still frightening. Going back to last year, Tulsa has cranked out 48 points or more in 10 of its last 11 games. After putting up 56 points in back-to-back games against North Texas and New Mexico, the Golden Hurricane took things to another level with 62 points against Central Arkansas and 63 against Rice. Yeah, Central Arkansas and Rice, whoopee, but this isn’t a fluke. If you’re a fan of Syracuse, Washington, and yes, Clemson, give a look at what this Tulsa team is going to do over the next three weeks against SMU, UTEP and UCF before facing Arkansas.

1. A full-on BCS raid
Every team and every year is supposed to be taken on its own merits. You can’t take what happened in the past and apply it to what’s happening this season. However, with 96 wins in nine years and the 2007 Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma still fresh in everyone’s minds, hasn’t Boise State earned its stripes by now? The schedule isn’t good enough for the Broncos to deserve a spot in the national championship game, but if they win out, they should be playing in a BCS game no matter what the Mountain West champion does. The Broncos have played the 19<sup>th</sup> toughest schedule so far, and even there they should be favored against everyone the rest of the way, they have to play five of their next seven games on the road. If they go 12-0, yeah, stick them in.

Then what should happen if BYU or Utah goes unbeaten? How about Ball State? How about Tulsa? Of course, upsets always happen, but the Golden Hurricane will be favored against everyone on the schedule the rest of the way with the possible exception of road dates against Arkansas and Houston. If Ball State stays healthy, it should roll through everyone on the slate outside of a road trip to Central Michigan. According to the BCS guide …

No more than one such team from Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference shall earn an automatic berth in any year. If two or more teams from those conferences satisfy the provisions for an automatic berth, then the team with the highest finish in the final BCS Standings will receive the automatic berth, and the remaining team or teams will be in the pool of teams eligible for selection by the bowls as at-large teams.”

Here’s hoping Ball State, Boise State, Tulsa and BYU or Utah all go unbeaten and they all get in. Remember, we’re not talking about playoffs here. We’re talking about well-paying exhibition games. For every Hawaii – Georgia Sugar Bowl, a Utah – Pitt 2005 Fiesta Bowl and a Boise State – Oklahoma 2007 Fiesta Bowl makes college football better.

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.

- Alabama still might be a year away from being tremendous everywhere but quarterback. John Parker Wilson is doing what he needs to do as a caretaker, but very soon, Greg McElroy will need to start getting in some meaningful work. Remember, Florida used two quarterbacks to win the national title two years ago, and LSU needed Ryan Perrilloux to step in for Matt Flynn late last year.
- Washington coaches, don’t let Jake Locker back on the field until he’s healthy. He’s an elite player who’ll be the cornerstone of the next regime. He’s being a great teammate saying he’d be winning to play another position if needed, but he’s a quarterback with a limitless potential. Let the thumb heal and stick him back under center.
- Everyone’s talking about undefeated BYU and Utah teams, but they could each get picked off by TCU. The dominant performance of last week that you didn’t notice: TCU rushing yards 383 – San Diego State rushing yards -13.
- Because BYU fans don’t hate me enough, a show of hands on who out there would take No. 8 BYU over No. 9 USC, No. 10 Georgia, No. 11 Ohio State or No. 12 Florida?
- Why isn’t Pitt in the top 25 ahead of South Florida? That loss to Bowling Green was obviously an opening week gag. Pitt is 33<sup>rd</sup> in the Coaches’ Poll while South Florida is 20<sup>th</sup>. Meanwhile, Kansas, who lost to USF, is 15<sup>th</sup>.

C.O.W. shameless gimmick item … The weekly five Overrated/Underrated aspects of the world
1) Overrated: Inside the NFL on HBO ... Underrated: Inside the NFL on Showtime
2) Overrated: The Chicago Cubs in the playoffs under Lou Piniella … Underrated: Ohio State vs. the SEC
3) Overrated: Jillian Barberie in the NutriSystem ads ... Underrated: Marie Osmond in the NutriSystem ads
4) Overrated: Chase Daniels allegedly being spit on by Nebraska fans ... Underrated: Stacey Dales on the sidelines in the rainstorm during the Florida State – Miami game
5) Overrated: Vanderbilt’s first half of the season ... Underrated: What Vanderbilt will do in the second half of the season

“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:
Chase Daniel, Missouri
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.

Last week I went 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 opposite of the three teams I’m 100% certain are going to win against the spread. Considering I couldn’t stop going 1-2 the old way, going 1-1-1 last week is a step forward. I’m sticking with the strategy. 5-12-1 overall, I press on by taking the three games I’m sure of … and I’m going the other way. … 1) Nebraska +21 over Texas Tech, 2) Temple +9 over Central Michigan, 3) Texas A&M +3 over Kansas State

Last Week: 1) Stanford +7 over Notre Dame (TIE), 2) Northern Illinois +16 over Tennessee (WIN), 3) Oregon +16.5 over USC (LOSS)

Sorry this column sucked, but it wasn’t my fault … North Carolina’s Bruce Carter blew past my protection team and blocked three of my better blurbs.

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Jeremiah Masoli ignores the score, blows your mind

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
It's a superficial, weak mind that attempts to settle labyrinthine sports arguments like "who's better?" by resorting to the cliché, "look at the scoreboard." Enlightened thinkers understand that head-to-head bean-counting is a poor substitute for a subtle critique of strengths, weaknesses and potential. Take Matt Leinart, for example, who intuitively understood following USC's loss to Texas in the 2006 Rose Bowl that the notion of "the better team" is a fluid concept, not merely a matter of petty wins and losses:
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One of the followers of the tao of Leinart, ironically, is Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who appeared to be on the wrong end of the 44-10 slaughter USC committed against the Ducks Saturday night. You may have thought you were watching a bigger, faster, stronger team right its season by outgaining a capable but overmatched Oregon outfit 598 yards to 239, holding the Duck offense to a punt or turnover on eight straight possessions and intercepting Masoli to set up the final, dagger touchdown from Mitch Mustain to David Ausberry in the closing minutes.
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Oh, ye feeble minds. Let the wise Masoli reveal to you the reality behind the mirage:
"We feel like we're the better team."​

"Tonight they played better than us, and the score indicated that. But I still feel like we're the better team, we just gave that one away."​

"We just made some mistakes that we usually don't."​
"I feel like our football team is better all-around, but they played better tonight, so they got the 'W'.''
You can assess an abstract philosophical question like "who's better?" in any number of closed-minded, "factual" methods. Head-to-head: the Ducks were outscored by 34 points and outgained by 359 yards Saturday, and have lost four of five to the Trojans since 2002 by an average of 19 points. Against the rest of the Pac-10: USC is 41-6 to Oregon's 29-19 and has won or shared six straight conference championships since '02 to Oregon's zero. In the polls: the Trojans have finished six straight seasons in the AP's year-end top four, at least ten spots better each season than the Ducks, who haven't finished in the top ten since 2001, Pete Carroll's first season in L.A. and Jeremiah Masoli's first year in middle school.
But you're thinking about results, man. You need to expand your mind. Instead of talking about wins and losses, you need to think about the essence of Oregon. Think about what would happen on a neutral field, if everyone was healthy, if the Ducks executed every block, threw tight spirals, stopped dropping passes, didn't hold, blow coverages, miss field goals, go for the ball instead of the tackle or commit stupid penalties. Picture what would have happened Saturday night if the game was exactly the opposite of how it actually went, in reality. Who's the better team now?
 
TEN SIGNS YOUR PROGRAM HAS ARRIVED AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
10. Your running back will only conduct interviews in Pterodactyl.


Tennessee: damn these pesky pterodactyls.
9. Your longtime coach is giving the Johnny Cash Folsom Prison Salute to the fanbase at every turn.
8. The coach backstabbed out of the job prior to tubby, middle-finger flashing coach currently holding job emerges from comfortable deprivation tank filled with bourbon to stab back over fifteen years too late.

7. With new starter at qb, offense produced 9 first downs against Northern Illinois and 225 total yards, and this was considered “improvement.”
6. Booing from sorrow-filled, intoxicated fanbase at home games is repelling recruits despite the school having the largest recruiting budget in the SEC.
5. Is being overshadowed by undefeated Vanderbilt team who would likely be favored at this point in the season were the two teams to meet this weekend. Read that again, repeat, wait for eyeballs to fall out of head and roll across table.
4. Tennessee blogs are pretending to actually be Vanderbilt blogs.
3. Your offense (97th) is lagging behind Texas A&M’s nationally (95th). No, use the sharp edge, and cross at the wrists. You want an ‘X’ shape, remember.
2. Jon Gruden has become a viable replacement candidate in the liquid smoke-flavored fantasies of Vol fans. Because you want Bill Callahan, but blonde and addled from two decades of consistent sleep deprivation–that sounds fantastic.
1. This, shockingly, gives us no pleasure anymore.
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This should provide all of the confirmation needed to establish that on today, October 7th, 2008, the Unversity of Tennessee football program has sailed past the dragons on the map and to the very edge of our flat world. Behind them, oceans and the island of one national championship under Fulmer; ahead of them, blank space and cascading water.
 
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle">Tuesday Question - OU-Texas? LSU-FL? PSU-UW? </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
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Oklahoma OG Duke Robinson
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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 Oct 7, 2008
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Tuesday Question ... Oklahoma or Texas? LSU or Florida? Penn State or Wisconsin?
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<table id="table2" align="right" border="0" cellspacing="4" width="200"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffcc"> Past TQs
- Where should BYU, Bama, USC & Penn State be ranked?
- 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: Oklahoma or Texas? LSU or Florida? Penn State or Wisconsin?
A:Oklahoma ... if it keeps Sam Bradford clean. The new quick-passing OU attack is great at getting the ball out of Bradford's hands in a hurry, and the Sooner offensive line is special, but Texas has a killer pass rush with Brian Orakpo turning in an All-America caliber first half of the season. I don't think this will be a blowout in any way, but I'll take the OU offensive balance over the Colt McCoy show.

LSU. I'm not sold on the Florida lines vs. the LSU lines. If the game comes down to the LSU quarterback vs. Tim Tebow, it'll be all Gators, but the speed of the Tiger defense should help keep Percy Harvin and the blazing wheels of Florida skill players in check. LSU will go Big Ten on their ass ... power running, Charles Scott, short passing game.

Penn State on a coin-flip. I'm a little afraid of the wounded animal factor. Wisconsin isn't ranked, no one's expecting anything, and it's going to come out guns blazing as it tries to turn the season around. Penn State hasn't been tested by anyone's lines yet and it'll be in for a major battle with the running game. In the end, the Nittany Lion offensive line will control the fourth quarter in a tight, tight win.

Richard Cirminiello [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2] [/FONT] <o:p> </o:p><o:p> </o:p> [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2] [/SIZE][/FONT] <o:p> </o:p>[/SIZE]
Q: Oklahoma or Texas? LSU or Florida? Penn State or Wisconsin?
A: Oklahoma. I’ve been dead wrong about Texas so far, but this is the game that the curtain gets pulled back on the young Longhorn secondary. Unless the ‘Horns can pressure Sam Bradford relentlessly, which is unlikely, he’s going to pick apart a defense that lacks the stoppers to contain Oklahoma’s wave of talented receivers.

LSU. Beyond Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin, I just haven’t been blown away by Florida this season. The home loss to an average Ole Miss team was a wake-up call that exposed the defense as being slightly overrated. The Tigers have the big bodies up front to dominate the Gator defensive line, springing Charles Scott for long gains and giving Jarrett Lee time to operate.

Penn State. When Ohio State ended Wisconsin’s home winning streak Saturday night, it squashed some of the mystique of playing at Camp Randall. Plus, the Badgers have historically struggled with the kind of spread offense that Penn State is bringing to Madison this weekend.


<o:p> Matthew Zemek</o:p>
Q: Oklahoma or Texas? LSU or Florida? Penn State or Wisconsin?
A: Oklahoma. If the quarterbacks are close to even in this series, the Sooners usually prevail. Texas's brief two-game win streak was the result of enormous advantages under center. This time out (like last year), OU can match Colt McCoy with Sam Bradford. Both should dominate this game, but the Sooners typically offer more of a finishing kick and better defensive playmakers.

Florida. On form, LSU is playing far better football right now, and the Gators are coasting on their talent while not executing at the level they need to. However, this figures to be the game in which Tim Tebow's post-Ole Miss apology-cum-resolution should bear fruit. If the defending Heisman winner was as serious as he appeared to be on the afternoon of Sept. 27--and I don't doubt Tebow's sincerity one lick--then he will max out Saturday night. The fact that this is a night game, not an afternoon game, gives a slight additional push to the Gators, who are a great CBS Sports team, but a terrible Raycom Sports team.

Penn State. Wisconsin will hold down PSU's offense, but Allen Evridge has proven to be far too inconsistent for the Badgers to be able to rise to the very top of the Big Ten this season. Maybe, though, the return of the Wisconsin band will make a difference at Camp Randall Stadium. I'm still not sold on Penn State, but this is a case where I think the opponent just isn't strong enough to pull off the upset.

All in all, Oklahoma is the only team that inspires complete confidence in this set of showdowns. LSU and Wisconsin could very easily win on Saturday.


<o:p>Steve Silverman</o:p>
Q: Oklahoma or Texas? LSU or Florida? Penn State or Wisconsin?
A: Oklahoma-Texas: By the time this weekend is over, Texas will be crying in their Burnt Orange beer once again. Every team has that one nemesis who they can never seem to beat and the Longhorns just can't get the best of the Sooners. Oklahoma will seemingly get the break when they need it most. But it really has nothing to do with luck. Oklahoma is tougher, stronger and meaner and better. They also play defense much better than Texas. Sam Bradford will chew up what passes for the Texas defense.

LSU-Florida: There are no frauds in this game. LSU and Florida are both monster teams but the Tigers are just a little bit more mature and well-developed. The Gators still have flaws and they were exposed in the Ole Miss game. LSU will play tighter and tougher in the fourth quarter and look for the Gators to make one or two big mistakes in the fourth quarter. LSU wins in the end.

Penn State-Wisconsin: This looked a lot better a few weeks ago before Wisconsin fell apart in the second half against the worst Michigan team since 1967. A week later, they played much better against Ohio State but they got nipped at the wire by Terelle Pryor. If Wisconsin was coming into this game undefeated or they had managed to hold off the Buckeyes, they would have had a good chance of leaving Joe Paterno dazed and confused at the end of the game. But this is an outstanding Penn State team that is not going to gack it up in Madison. Penn State will fight off a good start by Wisconsin and win this game going away



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Added:

TCU -14 (-120)

Line dropped down to 14' again and Pinny showing that it should pop back up to -15. Get in there while you have the chance.
 
The Eight Faces of Pain

As a kid I used to love watch Bo Schembechler prowl the sidelines of Michigan Stadium. Just like his mentor Woody, he had no problem telling an official how he felt things were going or instructing a player on the importance of flawless execution. The thing I loved most about watching Bo during these moments was there was no question on how he felt and what he was thinking. He was all-in. As a result, his teams played with fire and emotion.

Watching Rich Rodriguez closely now over the past five games gives me the same sense of emotional transparency. I have no idea on how Bo would have dealt with the 2008 Illinois game if he had been the coach. I like to believe that he would not have needed to deal with it because his defenses would have played better. In any case, RR was not be pleased and is not afraid to show it.

1. Late 1st quarter. Toney Clemons has just caused an illegal man downfield penalty because he lined up incorrectly as a wide receiver. This cost Michigan a touchdown (we scored few plays later). This is the same penalty that gave Michigan the win against Wisconsin.


2. As the momenteum shifted to Illinois in the 2nd quarter, Michigan tried to get the offense back on track. Brandon Minor did not run the correct route, costing the team a chance at a big play and needed to punt again.

3. Again in the mind melting 2nd quarter, the usually spectacular Zoltan Mesko punted the ball into the endzone rather than "pooch" it into a corner.




4. Things don't get better in the 3rd quarter... coming off of a time out, Sam McGuffie was somehow the 12th man field causing an illegal substituation flag.


5. The offense eventually gets a couple of first downs late in the 3rd quarter when Steven Threet and Michael Shaw just fumbled the ball on a simple handoff. Shaw got the most of this lesson, personally I think the error was on Threet.


6. Michigan finally answers after 28 straight points from Illinois with a 4th quarter touchdown. The game is still within reach if we play perfectly from here on out. All momenteum is lost with a blocked extra point.



7. 4th quarter, need a defensive stop. John Thompson gets a pass interference (incorrectly called on Obi Ezeh). Illini receiver was at least 2 yards short of the first down marker. Extended back breaking drive.


8. 4th quarter, Juice Williams has just run 50 yards up the middle of the field in a QB draw. He is caught just short of the endzone. The defense stops them for 2 plays, but gives up a TD on an option play. Game over.
Posted by Andy at <a class="timestamp-link" href="http://spawnofmzone.blogspot.com/2008/10/eight-faces-of-pain.html" rel="bookmark" title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" title="2008-10-07T10:52:00-04:00">10:52 AM</abbr>
 
from Burnt Orange Nation by GhostofBigRoy
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OU gets healthy.
Any premature speculation about OU missing line stalwarts Jon Cooper, Gerald McCoy, DeMarcus Granger, and Frank Alexander appears to be exactly that. Premature. Cooper and McCoy practiced Monday after sustaining minor injuries against Baylor, while Granger and Alexander may be healed in time for the game. Certainly bad news for Longhorn fans, particularly since the offensive and defensive lines are major strengths for OU. However, Cooper may be slowed enough to allow half man/half beast Roy Miller easier access to the OU backfield.
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It's all about the timing.
We've all been there: You've got something going on with that girl you're crazy about, but you can't get together because the timing isn't right for her. Attempting to defend spread offenses requires the same confluence of timing. Either the defensive line must get pressure, or the secondary has to stay on their receivers to disrupt the quarterback's timing.
Easier said than done with the premium placed on getting the ball out quickly. Several times against Colorado Colt McCoy held the ball less than a second before finding an open receiver. On the other side of the ball, Texas sometimes got pressure on Cody Hawkins at around a second and a half. Success against Oklahoma will depend on pressuring Bradford in the 1.5-2 second range.
Press man coverage on the outside could be the key to allowing the defensive line enough time to acquaint themselves with the OU quarterback, Rhett Bomar-style. Given some time by the secondary, the speed of Brian Orakpo and Sergio Kindle on the outside may be too much for the mammoth OU offensive tackles.
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Time to step up, o-line.
Texas fans and coaches aren't happy with the short-yardage production from the football team after failing several times third-and-short situations against Colorado. Greg Davis expects 75% conversion on plays of less than two yards:
We're not doing that. We've got to evaluate what we're doing in those situations, everything from play-calling to personnel groupings.
Davis estimates the Longhorns are converting at around 66% in those situations. In the Colorado game, I think part of the problem was not using a fullback in the power formations, instead going with two tight ends. The loss of Luke Tiemann may be more significant than originally thought. Even though Ullman and Smith are supposed to be the "blocking" tight ends, the Longhorns haven't had much success running the ball from the two tight-end formation. After four games, it appears that the offensive identity of Texas football is a finesse passing team. Not a good sign for those moments when lining up and bludgeoning the other team into submission becomes necessary.
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Better than expected? After losing Curtis Lofton to the NFL after his junior season, the OU linebacking corp wasn't expected to be a strength of the defense. In fact, compared to the excellent defensive line, the linebackers looked like a real weakness on the defense, particularly after two disappointing seasons from highly-recruited Ryan Reynolds. After Reynold's 14-tackle performance against Baylor, which defensive coordinator Brent Venables graded out at a 100, it may be time to re-evaluate. The other two linebackers, Keenan Clayton and Travis Lewis (a converted safety), have 5.5 sacks between them, while the three are the top tacklers on the team. What looked like an exploitable group before the season no longer looks that way, and coupled with secondary play also exceeding expectations, the back seven of the OU defense may well hold their own against a Texas offense lacking Blaine Irby to exploit the seam.
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Chris O knows all-purpose yards. Texas coaches named Chris Ogbonnaya the starter at running back against Oklahoma after his outstanding performance against Colorado. Obgonnaya caught a 65-yard touchdown pass from Colt McCoy on a scramble when McCoy appeared to cross the line of scrimmage, while also breaking of a 51-yard run and another touchdown on a run.
The question remains, however, even after his career-best performance: Is Ogbonnaya the answer at running back? It seems like too big of a leap after one good performance to say that all the running back issues at Texas are resolved, but with Ogbonnaya showing a combination of speed and power not witnessed before in his career, he certainly seems deserving of more touches. With his ability to catch balls out of the backfield and pick up blitzes, he provides a versatility at that position no other running back on the team can. And that looks like enough for him to be a critical part of the game plan against Oklahoma.
 
Breaking down JoePa, breaking down

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
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This summer, back at my old digs, I labeled 2008 the "Paterno Farewell Tour," and week by week, JoePa's impending exit seems more inevitable. It's harder now than it was in July to argue that the 81-year-old has lost control of his team, can't relate to the modern game or younger players, can't recruit or has lost the support of key power brokers -- whatever Paterno's role, Penn State is off like gangbusters, the Big Ten favorite and in the thick of the mythical championship hunt. Nobody has ever really given much thought to his soon-to-expire contract.
No, the issue these days, after another game from the coaches' box with a lingering knee injury of dubious origin, is whether Paterno is even physically capable of the job:
This game, on a clear, sunny, comfortably warm afternoon, was a day when Paterno was in obvious pain. He was on the field for approximately 20 minutes during pregame warmups to talk to Purdue coach Joe Tiller and observe drills, then he went upstairs, limping noticeably. After the game, Paterno wore unmatched shoes and had to steady himself with the podium.
"I have to hold on to something," he said.
At the end of his news conference, Paterno was helped out a side door and into a van, which took him to a waiting Penn State University airplane for the trip home ahead of the team.
An 80-year-old on the sideline is rhetorically dangerous, if you just imagined your grandfather trying to run the show, and this specific situation, in real life, is every bit as fraught as your imagination would suspect. Paterno can't coach with his team on game day or travel with them, and Darryl Clark and Deon Butler both say they're worried about him in the same story, which suggests JoePa can't even stand on his own, much less move around. Contrary to Jay Paterno's optimism, recurring knee injuries at his dad's age don't just get better. It's a safe bet the mismatched shoes were not an attempt to reprise the achingly hip whale pants he once donned for a game in the seventies. At least he can't punch an opposing player or anything from the box. But the longer this goes on, the less likely it ends well.
 
COLT MCCOY HAS BEEN HIT HARD MANY TIMES IN DISGUSTING FASHION

from Every Day Should Be Saturday by Orson Swindle
Colt McCoy has to have taken more late hits and cheap shots than any current starting qb in college football. Perhaps it’s something about the Texas offense and the way they run their quarterback; perhaps it is a hopefully abandoned habit of holding onto the ball too long; perhaps McCoy just smells like fear and cookies and brings out the Darwinian aggression in opposing defenders.
The reasons are beyond our understanding, both because we don’t have the time or space to investigate the question properly, and because we can’t do math. Therefore, if you are a Colt McCoy fan, and do not wish to see his shit get rocked repeatedly and painfully in many horrendous variations, please do not watch any of these.
Contrarily: If you smell fear and cookies just reading this, you may want to click through and enjoy.
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Bonus: Kate Bush REEEEEEEEMIIIIX!!!
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Matador’s Week 7 Notebook

from underdogsofwar.com by Matador
I’m not going to waste a lot of time and space rehashing last week this time. Suffice to say, I came out unscathed in a week riddled with pitfalls for a dog player, so I’m content. The biggest mistake was insisting on forcing an Oregon play, despite being advised by Garfather against it. On the other hand, it isn’t clear that Oregon was last on the list, because I played Virginia for only half a unit and Oregon for a full unit. The two plays netted out well, so I guess you have to accept a manageable number of mistakes. Still, why ask for advice if you’re going to ignore it? I sensed that Garfather was off his normal game a little last week, but apparently not in regard to the Ducks.
The other mistake is losing track of what I was doing in regard to totals plays. I know they’re a crapshoot for me, and the only business I have dabbling at all is to try to create middles. From now on I’ll hedge every one and see how that comes out. I should have been doing that from the beginning of course, but I had several that looked very favorable early and I got too optimistic about it. No more.
I like the way this week is shaping up. Looks like a doggy week, and I’ve been diligent in doing my homework. It doesn’t always pay off, but I’ve put a lot of time in the last two days.
Off the record: I like Troy to win tonight. Unfortunately, I’m not alone so they are road favorites. I swore off any and all road favorites, so I have to leave it alone. Let’s see if I can save myself a few bucks like I did last week.
Last Week:
Point Spread: 1 - 1
Totals: 2 - 3
Money Line: 2 - 4 +0.825 units
Season:
Point Spread: 15 - 11
Totals: 10 - 9 (consider this final, maybe)
Money Line: 9 - 23 +0.535 units
1AA games: 4 - 1
This Week:
Everyone’s notation is a little different. Mine is evolving. At this point, anything in bold is a play already and unbolded indicates a lean, even for games I will definitely be playing.
Point Spread:

Clemson +3
Mississippi St. +3
Arkansas +19 (I also have this as a significant ML play @ +925, but consistent with how I’ve been grading split action plays, it goes in the point spread category).
Possibilities: Syracuse +24, Virginia +6, Illinois -12, Hawaii -7, LSU +6, MTSU PK — These games may ultimately depend on getting a better line.
Money Lines:
Colorado +525
Notre Dame +280
USU +575
Waiting List: NMSU, Tulane, Stanferd, Tennessee, USM, UCLA, CSU, Rutgers (line really sucks), ULM (hard to believe you can’t eliminate a team that gave up 15.0 ypc rushing last week, but hey, it’s the Sun Belt). Other games could be considered if there are large line moves, of course.
Totals:
UL/Memphis Under 57
MOH/NIU Over 41
UCF/Miami Under 52 — A rare mistake. Remember, I’m capping my perception of others’ perception. I’m stuck in a few weeks old mind set. The number went up two points immediatelt after I played it. That happens 1% of the time, at most.
LSU/UF Under 49.5
WMU/UB Under 54
Utah/Wyoming Under 47.5
Arkansas/Auburn Over 38
 
Life on the Margins: Navy asks, Why throw when you can block?

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Obsessing over the statistical anomalies and minutiae of close and closer-than-they-looked games that could have gone the other way. Be careful before you judge these games by the final score alone ... Navy 33, Air Force 27. There's no secret or subtle trick up the Navy's sleeve here: the Midshipmen blocked two punts, one in the first quarter and one in the fourth, and both ended in Navy touchdowns. Air Force can run at will all afternoon, and it did, but that, as they say, is ball game.
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In fact, for all its statistical dominance, Air Force was lucky to be in this game late thanks to a host of AFA miscues: aside from the devastating punt blocks, the Falcons gave up fumbles twice on the first snap of a drive, both inside their own 15, and Navy quickly turned them into a short touchdown (3 plays, 10 yards in the third quarter) and field goal (4 plays, 3 yards in the fourth quarter) for one of the most astronomical "swing point" totals in the short history of the statistic. Air Force also took a pair of solid drives deep into Midshipmen territory, one of them inside the Middie ten, that came up empty via fourth down failures.
Air Force is not impressed -- it already won a game in September without completing a pass -- but Navy nearly one-upped the Falcons Saturday by barely attempting a pass. Playing for Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, backup quarterback Jarod Bryant passed twice, completing one for 38 yards. There's no need to throw when you can block punts on a consistent basis.
Hawaii 32, Fresno State 29 (OT). The Bulldogs dominated on the stat sheet, overcoming a 19-3 hole in the second quarter to claw their way into overtime, but they can't say they didn't catch any breaks -- check out Kevin Goessling in the extra frame, and pay particularly close attention to the kicker after his first attempt to put FSU up three:
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There's a kind of poetic justice to the second miss, which opened the door for Hawaii's winning kick, but Fresno is kicking itself (see what I did there?) for ever letting it get that far in the first place. The Warriors not only needed three interceptions, two fumbles and a missed FSU field goal to get to overtime, but they had to run a kickoff back, too, an early 90-yard dash by Ryan Mouton to establish an early lead.
Again, the slew of miscues killed Fresno by killing decent drives and setting Hawaii up with easy pickings -- UH notched scoring "drives" of 12, 27 and 11 yards following Bulldog giveaways -- but it didn't help that FSU was twice forced to settle for field goals inside the Warrior ten-yard line. Converting either into a touchdown probably would have won the game, as would the chip shot field goal (not shown above) with the game tied near the end of regulation that fell no good.
Including that kick, if you're keeping track, that's three crucial, makable field goals Goessling shanked in the span of a few minutes. Maybe he should focus less on acting like he was run into and more on hitting a clutch kick.
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UTEP 40, Southern Miss 37 (2OT). I wrote about this game Monday, and the many opportunities the Eagles missed, mainly via ill-fated field goals: USM missed kicks from inside the Miner 25 at the end of 55, 52 and 36-yard drives, any of which might have won the game in regulation. UTEP, on the other hand, scored every time it had the ball in Southern Miss territory. With no major, field-flopping turnovers -- the only giveaway of the game, a UTEP interception with nine minutes to play, resulted in a goal line stand by the Eagle defense -- that's more or less all there is to it.
The yardage disparity here is slightly skewed by the length-of-the-field drive that followed said defensive stand, a 93-yard march that could have won the game for USM if it had been able to punch it into the end zone instead of settling for the kick and overtime. But only slightly: the Eagles had a breakout game offensively and gave themselves plenty of opportunities to take command of the game. Those orphaned points, especially on missed field goals, were just too much to overcome.
 
Bradford will probably redshirt...

from Conquest Chronicles by Paragon SC
The buzz with Allen Bradford has been the injury to his hip. It has been described as a torn labrum in his hip. This is a significant injury and I am working on a write-up for it but its going to take time.
But here is what we know right now.
Allen Bradford (torn labrum) will take the week off and undergo and MRI on Friday. If his hip does not feel better by Monday, then he will redshirt.
Let me put this plainly, If Bradford has a torn labrum then he will redshirt. With all the pounding that the lower extremities take will it not allow this injury to heal.
Dan Weber had a post earlier today about how common this injury is.
When UCLA basketball player Josh Shipp suffered the same injury three years ago, and underwent a couple of surgeries for it, his cartilage damage and hip labrum tear was the first UCLA trainers had seen in 33 years.
But over at USC, a pair of Trojans, senior Jeff Byers and another San Bernardino Trojan running back, Michael Coleman, both came up with it and went through the surgery and yearlong rehab that may be facing Coleman.
Second-year USC center Michael Reardon has also recently had surgery for a similar lingering, then eventually painful, injury that seems so hard to pinpoint at first as it comes and goes and doesn't offer much in the way of specific symptoms
Well, part of the reason that this injury is more common is because people are more active. But the reason we hear about it more is because the treatment options have become more sophisticated. The procedure to repair this injury while not in its infancy is still done bya small handful of surgeons but as more surgeons master the technique this will become as common as as other sports medicine procedures.
I hope to have a write-up on this injury later on in the week.
 
Blog Pollin': Alabama rolls on, but here comes the Big XII

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
Now in its fourth year, the Blog Poll is a weekly effort of dozens of college football-centric Web sites representing a wide array of schools under the oversight of founder/manager/guru Brian Cook at MGoBlog, and now appears on CBS Sportsline. It’s an effort to provide a more rigorous check on the mainstream polls that actually, like, count toward the mythical championship, and enthusiastically shines a light on its voters' biases. But mainly, it’s fun.
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Some significant spreadsheet-based elbow grease went into this week's ballot, which turns on three factors: strength of schedule (as calculated by Jeff Sagarin, for shorthand), "big" wins and, to a lesser extent, margin of victory. I won't share them, but there are specific numbers in each of these categories; I'll pass along the grids to anyone who e-mails me. As ever, the lineup is entirely resumé-based, takes every game into account, and gives priority to playing and beating teams worth playing and beating, as opposed to handing Florida International its head.
On the latter scale, Alabama still reigns -- Georgia, Kentucky and Clemson remains the best trio of "quality wins" in the country, and final score notwithstanding against the Wildcats, none was really close -- but the big mover this week is Missouri, for two reasons: a) The Tigers added a ridiculous blowout over a decent team, Nebraska, on the road; and b) Mizzou also got a boost from Illinois, which looked like a serious Big Ten contender in a 25-point butt-kicking at Michigan, dramatically increasing the value of the Tigers' 10-point win over the Illini in the opener. Rounding out the top five, Vanderbilt added its best win, over Auburn, but doesn't move much as the Tigers' stock was rapidly dropping even before Saturday, and the margin of victory category isn't very kind to the Commodores, either. Auburn is also the only win of any note on LSU's schedule to date, accounting for the Bayou Bengals' drop to No. 10. Know this, though: a win at Florida Saturday will put LSU in contention for the top spot next week.
The Big XII contenders have a real statement weekend: both Missouri, dangerously assuming it handles undefeated Oklahoma State, and the winner of the Texas-Oklahoma blockbuster will be right in the mix for No. 1 next week. Alabama takes the week off, and will likely pay for it.
Georgia, California and Florida interrupt "ACC Row" from spots 11-17. There's not much difference between Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Wake Forest, except that the Hokies happen to have beaten G-Tech and UNC, as well as handled Nebraska on the road. If not for the breakdown by the punt team against East Carolina way back in week one, Va Tech would be getting a bit of mythical championship buzz, and at the rate top teams are going down, it might have a chance to make that move if there are no letdowns.
Welcome, Ohio State. The Buckeyes' first notable win of the year gets them into the poll for the first time, at No. 20, and helps USC's climb back into the top ten.
I didn't set out for it to be this way, but on the heels of Monday's skepticism over the Cougars' rock-bottom schedule, I guess I'm the "Anti-BYU Guy" from here forward. This comes mainly from a complete re-evaluation -- i.e., significant de-valuation -- of the blowout win over UCLA, which is virtually singlehandedly propping up the Cougar hype until they get some better-looking skins on the wall. Memo to fellow pollsters: instead of thinking "Well, BYU was in my top 12 last week, so ... " take a fresh look at their victims. The Bruins are a confirmed Bad Team, as is Washington, whose near-upset in Seattle must be a liability for BYU as the Huskies sink farther into the tank. Otherwise, it's filler: Northern Iowa, Wyoming and Utah State.
So the Cougars take a massive tumble this week, all the way out of the poll until they take down someone worth noticing -- TCU, maybe? Until then, they're stuck with Northwestern, Ball State and Tulsa in the "whoop de doo" section of the undefeated club, which the Wildcats will escape in one direction or the other after they face Michigan State this weekend.
As always, I'll begin from scratch, and everything will be completely different next week.
 
Wednesday Headlinin': Eric Norwood did always say he wanted a 'delicious' ride

from Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports by Matt Hinton
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The vandalism is how you know it's love. It's safe to assume that, as a large, college-age male, South Carolina's Eric Norwood ranks cars and dessert high on his list of the finer things in life. He's probably fond of females, as well. But a girl attempting to turn his ride into chocolate cake? Turns out, not so much:
"Some girl put chocolate syrup and flour all over my car," Norwood said. "And it stuck."​
These are the moments that define a budding romance. Under most circumstances, this would be a very endearing attempt on the part of a smitten young woman to show her man she is completely crazy and dangerous and he better get out of the state now. Now! In Norwood's case, though, he told police and reporters that he doesn't know the woman -- whose bizarre vandalism happened to be caught on surveillance cameras, though she hasn't been identified -- or why anyone might look at his 2001 Chevy Impala and think "baked good." Because she is crazy, Eric. Change your number, change your locks and pass out on top of your playbook with one eye open.
Wait, I thought that 'recruiting' stuff was overrated. The Seattle Times' Bob Condotta takes a hard look at Washington's roster -- still the youngest, most freshman-laden in the Pac-10 in Ty Willingham's fourth year, with scholarships to spare -- and traces the Huskies' ills back to the woebegotten recruiting classes of 2004, 2005 and 2006. Only 24 players are left from those sparse, low-ranked hauls, including long snappers and the like. No wonder a full third of the conference's freshman starters are in Seattle.
When they said "We want somebody else," this isn't what they meant. It was "a different Tony Franklin" at Auburn's Tuesday practice, according to players and observers, which isn't quite as exciting for Tiger partisans as it sounds: it was still, you know, Tony Franklin. He was just in "intensity mode":
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The Tony Franklin of old was replaced by a hands-on, animated Franklin who jumped in the fray in an attempt to resuscitate his spread offense. "He had a meeting with us before we went out to practice. He told us, `The old guy is back,'" [receiver Rod] Smith said. "Whoever he was at Troy, he said he's back. I guess we can expect different from him. The intensity he had at practice today was just crazy."
The Tigers will probably rout Arkansas Saturday, anyway, so "Jacked Tony" is probably good straight on through the bye week, until the offense stalls again at West Virginia. Then, it will be "Cerebral Tony": wiser, more mature for his mistakes, in control. "He's not running around as much, not yelling as much. He's just teaching," players will say. Then things will turn around.
In other "Beleaguered Coordinator" news, Tennessee's Dave Clawson says SEC defenses are nothing special when it comes to Xs and Os. It's the Jimmies and the Joes.
Thinking inside the box, maybe napping, if it gets out of hand. Joe Paterno says he'll decide later in the week, but odds are the 81-year-old will be watching from upstairs for the second week in a row when Penn State goes to Wisconsin. Maybe Barry Alvarez can stop by and the two can catch up on old times.
Quickly ... Spitgate lives! Joe Ganz takes exception to Chase Daniel's claim that the Huskers played dirty. And Bo Pelini has more tangible regrets after the loss to Missouri. . . . High school hot shots Joe McKnight and Mitch Mustain are still up and down, up and down at USC. . . . Tennessee suspended a pair of linemen for the Georgia game. . . . Mark Richt said he was wrong about how he was dealing with penalties, re: Georgia's unshakable fondness for them. . . . Jim Leavitt admits he shouldn't have played George Selvie against Pittsburgh. . . . Jim Tressel wants the Big Ten to review a helmet-to-helmet hit on Ohio State's Boom Herron. . . . One morbid lead about West Virginia's Brandon Hogan in the Pittsburgh Post=Gazette. . . . Michigan State might be down three starters against Northwestern. . . . Ron Zook has a heart to heart with Martez Wilson. TCU is still unsure about its starting quarterback going into Colorado State. . . . And Washington State picks its very special scout team quarterback from the student body, a former three-year letter winner in high school.
 
Tennessee suspends 2 linemen for UGA game

Tuesday, October 07, 2008
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee offensive linemen Ramone Johnson and Darius Myers have been suspended for the Volunteers’ upcoming games against Georgia and Mississippi State.
Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer announced the suspensions Tuesday. He says the two are being punished for lack of academic effort and violation of team rules.
Johnson is a sophomore left tackle from Chicago who has played in every game this season as a backup to starter Chris Scott.
Myers, a sophomore guard from Cordova, hasn’t played this season.
The Vols (2-3, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) travel to No. 10 Georgia (4-1, 1-1) on Saturday before hosting Mississippi State next week.
 
[FONT=arial, helvetica][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Three injured Spartans on depth chart for Northwestern game[/FONT]
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Joe Rexrode
jrexrode@lsj.com
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[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]EAST LANSING - Three Michigan State players who could not finish Saturday's game against Iowa because of injuries appear on the team's depth chart for this week's game at Northwestern.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Cornerback Chris L. Rucker (arm), safety Otis Wiley (leg) and receiver Mark Dell (leg) all are listed as starters. MSU coach Mark Dantonio typically does not discuss injuries, although he said he expects Rucker to return at some point this season, and for defensive back Kendell Davis-Clark (shoulder) to be back this week.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Davis-Clark, who was injured in the season opener at Cal, is listed as backup to Danny Fortener at free safety.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]MSU (5-1 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) will be going for its first six-game winning streak since 1999 when it takes on the Wildcats (5-0, 1-0) - who are undefeated after their first five games for the first time since 1962.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]"Coach (Pat) Fitzgerald is doing an outstanding job there, bringing back a lot of the tradition and success they had there when they went to the Rose Bowl (in 1995)," Dantonio said. "They've had a week extra to prepare for us so with that will come some new wrinkles offensively and defensively."[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Kickoff is set for 3:45 p.m. at Ryan Field. The game will be televised by ESPN2.[/FONT]
 
TCU undecided on choice at QB

<!--subtitle--><!--byline-->By Natalie Meisler
The Denver Post

<!--date-->Article Last Updated: 10/07/2008 11:09:38 PM MDT

<script language="JavaScript"> var requestedWidth = 0; </script><script language="JavaScript"> if(requestedWidth < 200){ requestedWidth = 200; } </script>Jackson started last week for TCU. <!--IPTC: -->



<script language="JavaScript"> if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; } </script>TCU coach Gary Patterson will let Colorado State play the guessing game this week when it comes to the Horned Frogs' starting quarterback.
Backup Marcus Jackson shared Mountain West player of the week honors with CSU running back Gartrell Johnson. TCU starter Andy Dalton, who suffered an unspecified knee injury against Oklahoma, did not play last week against San Diego State.
"We will have to see how this week goes, and it should be a game-time decision," Patterson said Monday at his weekly news conference. On Tuesday's MWC coaches conference call, Patterson said the same thing.
Jackson has more quickness and is the better runner. Dalton is more consistent in the passing game, although he hasn't thrown for a TD this season.
Colorado State Football


  • View slide show of UNLV-CSU football
  • Watch video of CSU fans at the Rocky Mountain Showdown
  • Visit the CSU Stats Page for boxscores, MWC standings, team leaders and more
  • Visit Natalie Meisler's All Things Rams blog for a behind-the-scenes look at CSU sports
  • Play Pick'em for the upcoming CSU football game


"I've said they are 1A and 1B," Patterson said. "It's great to know Marcus can come in and take the reins."
CSU coach Steve Fairchild has said the Rams will prepare for both, and TCU's primary focus is running.
Footnotes:
Fairchild said he expects safety Klint Kubiak to rest his ankle and then see if he can try to practice Thursday. . . . CSU has sold or distributed 24,000 tickets for Saturday's 1:30 p.m. kickoff, which would guarantee the biggest crowd of the year. The students still have 4,000 remaining to be picked up.
 
Virginia Tech Receiver Blows a .33 BAC, Gets Arrested, Blames Beamer

from The Sporting Blog
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You know it's a good article when this sentence appears in the body:
He wasn't looking to get in to any trouble, he said, but he ended the night in handcuffs.​
Story of my life, Ike. Story of my life. Ike Whitaker, the Virginia Tech WR in question here, has had an erratic career at Virginia Tech: lack of production on the field, an alcohol-related arrest as a freshman, and now this extremely ill-advised interview following an arrest for public intoxication where Whitaker blew a .33 BAC. It's an impressive number, but not nearly as impressive as the fact that a) the reporter didn't stop Ike from burying himself eyeball-deep in self-justifications, and b) that Whitaker really doesn't seem to think any of this is his fault. In fact, as Chas points out at Fanhouse, Whitaker seems to be blaming the suspension imposed by Frank Beamer for his headfirst plunge into Drinkyland and the public intoxication charge.
I was talking to the cops, explaining to them how hurt I was that I had been suspended ... So I'm explaining to the cop that honestly I'm mad, I'm frustrated and the way I dealt with it was going downtown with some of my friends and trying to enjoy myself as much as possible. And then I got a drunk in public."​
"As much as possible" is right. Whitaker weighs 220 pounds, meaning just getting to .33 takes (according to our crack team of physiologists) somewhere in the neighborhood of eight-to-ten drinks per hour. I've been drunk for months at a time in my life at around 200 pounds, but never, ever have I been able to keep this kind of pace, not even in my most glorious Peter O'Toole bender phases. Whitaker's a bigger guy, but the instant reflex to go and put down that much booze in that little time certainly should ring alarm bells. That's a drinking problem firing up on the launchpad, ready to go if I've ever seen it.
 
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