G
Gyno
Guest
??
What have we learned.
What have we learned.
W
wadegarrett
Guest
Nothing yet.
Relax til the day is over
Relax til the day is over
G
Gyno
Guest
most of games are over with... go away
W
wadegarrett
Guest
Watch ur mouth
G
Gyno
Guest
roundhouse
Toronto_Mike
Scent of a Woman
hahaha
W
wadegarrett
Guest
Roadhouse u mean
G
Gyno
Guest
Nah roundhouse, fuk roadhouse.. haha
G
Gyno
Guest
my feelings are getting hurt
G
Gyno
Guest
Neither can STL, lol.. They got 2 hits and won the game..
Series is:
Beltran 2, Dodgers 0..
Series is:
Beltran 2, Dodgers 0..
Toronto_Mike
Scent of a Woman
i've learnt that I'm a sucker for parlays, I've been going 3-1 or 4-1 in my combos because I get greedy with one pick.
I also just figured that some teams just cover ATS one week and then shit the bed next week and then cover the 3rd week. Which means Michigan will cover next week.
I also just figured that some teams just cover ATS one week and then shit the bed next week and then cover the 3rd week. Which means Michigan will cover next week.
Johnnyonthespot
CTG Regular
Mike Leach is an arrogant retard. Fake punt in 3rd quarter was beyond stupid. His team must hate him.
JumpOnBoard
CTG Partner
I miss defense.
Johnnyonthespot
CTG Regular
I agree about Johnny football. Hard to hate. He plays tough, no doubt he was going to pull win out. Little guy runs hard. Much repspect.
bull
Coattailing Cheerleader
I learned that it's time for me to re-evaluate Va Tech. They just keep winning.
And I re-learned what I first learned weeeks ago.- - Purdue is baad baad.
Not that anyone cares, but Villanova is the best team in the CAA, which makes them the best FCS team east of theMississippi
Switch QBs and BC would beat Clemson.
If the points seem to be too low to you, take the points and bet the dog. ex;, Penn State, Ole Miss, and Virginia.
My .02 worth
and finally, I learned that Wade lives in a round house.
Cheers
And I re-learned what I first learned weeeks ago.- - Purdue is baad baad.
Not that anyone cares, but Villanova is the best team in the CAA, which makes them the best FCS team east of theMississippi
Switch QBs and BC would beat Clemson.
If the points seem to be too low to you, take the points and bet the dog. ex;, Penn State, Ole Miss, and Virginia.
My .02 worth
and finally, I learned that Wade lives in a round house.
Cheers
Jimmydafreak
Pretty much a regular
Should win the Heisman again.
CAPital
Pretty much a regular
Mariota
RetroVK
This claim is disputed
I learned Teddy always underachieves against competition ...I gave him the benefit of the doubt on this last year as it happened because he battled injuries but while he is a very good college QB, he is not as special as I thought or had hoped. Granted the talent around him is "eh". He is also fragile so I worry he will be a Sam Bradford type in the NFL
I learned I am one of those "fans" that doesn't understand his favorite football team. Texas played with a chip on their shoulder and when they do that, they are pretty good .... but I can't ever figure out when they will. Imagine if Texas puts it together in time to win the big12.
I learned I need to take a step back and rethink my adjusted pr for Baylor.
Wondering if Clemson needs a big game to be interested. Several pretty crappy performances but not sure what is the "real" Clemson.
Learned Michigan PK won't be mistaken for having the Michael Jordan "clutch gene". I liked him as a kicker going into the game and will hold him in disdain for a bit. 3 GW FG attempts missed. Same game ... Gardner not quite the passer/decisionmaker I thought he was. At least two TD better than psu as far as product on the field yesterday and found a way to lose ,,,, Hoke has them underachieving so maybe he is a lesser coach than I thought.
Without Anne Coulter and Venric Mark nw ain't much.
Anything can happen in a mac, cusa or sunbelt game .. cmich really? fau? fiu? Tulane? maybe Tulane defense half decent? same ecu that put up 50-something on unc and they lose to a powell-led wave?
Oregon ain't sniffing losing a conference game
last two weeks .... thinking I was right about Stanford after all .. should have lost to Washington.
VT luckboxing covers but their defense is really good. laying points with them should be bankroll death but hasn't been.
bad favorites make better dog bets than good underdogs
I learned I am one of those "fans" that doesn't understand his favorite football team. Texas played with a chip on their shoulder and when they do that, they are pretty good .... but I can't ever figure out when they will. Imagine if Texas puts it together in time to win the big12.
I learned I need to take a step back and rethink my adjusted pr for Baylor.
Wondering if Clemson needs a big game to be interested. Several pretty crappy performances but not sure what is the "real" Clemson.
Learned Michigan PK won't be mistaken for having the Michael Jordan "clutch gene". I liked him as a kicker going into the game and will hold him in disdain for a bit. 3 GW FG attempts missed. Same game ... Gardner not quite the passer/decisionmaker I thought he was. At least two TD better than psu as far as product on the field yesterday and found a way to lose ,,,, Hoke has them underachieving so maybe he is a lesser coach than I thought.
Without Anne Coulter and Venric Mark nw ain't much.
Anything can happen in a mac, cusa or sunbelt game .. cmich really? fau? fiu? Tulane? maybe Tulane defense half decent? same ecu that put up 50-something on unc and they lose to a powell-led wave?
Oregon ain't sniffing losing a conference game
last two weeks .... thinking I was right about Stanford after all .. should have lost to Washington.
VT luckboxing covers but their defense is really good. laying points with them should be bankroll death but hasn't been.
bad favorites make better dog bets than good underdogs
Two Utes
Manual Toothbrushes FTW
While Manziel is a great college QB I just don't see him doing it at the next level. Sean Mannion would be my pick if I wanted a QB for my NFL team. If Mannion keeps throwing up the numbers he is and OSU finishes with a good record I could see him winning the Heisman. Just my .02
Johnnyonthespot
CTG Regular
Mannion is awesome.
Jimmydafreak
Pretty much a regular
Agree that Mariota is certainly in the conversation. The difference is A&M is pretty much a one-man show. Without him, that team would sink to the bottom of the division. If Oregon didn't have Mariota, I'm not sure Oregon's fortunes would be much different. In other words, Manziel is college football's MVP.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Br@ssknux
Pretty much a regular
I learned that Brady Hoke is perfectly willing to transfer all the pressure off of himself and on to his FG kicker.
By turtling on the 1st OT possession and "assuming" the FG, Hoke took the easy way out. If he actually ran his offense and tried to score, and then something went wrong, a turnover, what have you, then everyone blames him for taking a foolish chance. If he goes ultra conservative and puts it all on his kicker, he can shrug his shoulder and say, "Hey, what can I do...he blew it." Unfortunately for him, college field goal kickers are just that and not professionals. The reality is that if Michigan ran their offense, they probably would have gotten close enough for a chip shot or even scored the TD. It's true that if Gardner turned the ball over Hoke would have people screaming that he was too reckless, but at least the onus would be on him, and not on his kicker. He wasn't willing to go that route IMO.
Hoke, like a lot of coaches, for some reason cares "how" they lose, as if it matters. It's somehow better to be conservative and miss the FG and lose in triple overtime than it is to have your QB throw a pick and lose because you are being aggressive. Oftentimes, since the aggressive approach is the one you've used and been successful with all game, probably gives you a better chance of winning. Almost every time, when coaches coach "not to lose" losing is exactly what happens.
JumpOnBoard
CTG Partner
Does Hoke not realize you are allowed to take a TO from the sideline?
GatorsLeafsBills
Pretty much a regular
Florida has the best defense in the nation mixed with the worst offense in the nation.
Br@ssknux
Pretty much a regular
A few more thoughts...
I learned that if Memphis could finish a drive they would have won at Houston without much problem. Once Fuente can get those kids believing they can win, and they finish out a game or two, they are going to be tough to handle. The defense is no joke.
The difference between this Oregon team and some of the other high octane non SEC contenders of the past is their defense. That defense is legimately one of the better ones in the country. A good Washington offense in an incredibly electric atmosphere had a lot of trouble.
Rice just continues to just find a way to win in conference.
Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ball State and Massachusetts were all significant home favorites this week. Which one was the only one that covered, or even came close? The answer tells you all you need to know about the MAC.
Purdue is the Illinois of last year, maybe even worse.
Indiana played like dogshit on offense comparatively for them, yet still found a way to put up 28 points on a top 5 defense on the road. Worth noting I think, although they reverted to turnstile mode on defense.
I love that VT has a receiver named "Kalvin Cline".
After the Indiana game, it looked like it was going to be same old same old for Navy as far as covering and being a pain in the ass to people, but after getting stoned by the WKY and Duke defenses, maybe not.
Hopefully Dave Doeren will do himself a favor and install anyone, anything at QB other than Pete Thomas. Syracuse was 119th in pass efficiency D coming in to the game and Thomas went for 4.3 yards per attempt. Any inatimate object would be a better choice at this point. A garbage can, a hockey puck, whatever.
Air Force might have the worst pass coverage defense I've ever seen. Statistically there may be worse, but to the naked eye when watching them, they simply do not cover anyone. Quinn Kaehler, a walk on who would probably be incapable of completing a pass more than 5 yards downfield against a competent defense, torched them for 16.6 yards per completion Thursday night. If they matched up against a high powered downfield passing attack, that team could throw for 1000 yards in a game if they tried to score on every play. Thank goodness they don't play Baylor.
Georgia has played some good passing squads, but geez.....8.0 yards per attempt and a 12/1 TD/INT ratio against. Not very becoming.
I learned that if Memphis could finish a drive they would have won at Houston without much problem. Once Fuente can get those kids believing they can win, and they finish out a game or two, they are going to be tough to handle. The defense is no joke.
The difference between this Oregon team and some of the other high octane non SEC contenders of the past is their defense. That defense is legimately one of the better ones in the country. A good Washington offense in an incredibly electric atmosphere had a lot of trouble.
Rice just continues to just find a way to win in conference.
Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ball State and Massachusetts were all significant home favorites this week. Which one was the only one that covered, or even came close? The answer tells you all you need to know about the MAC.
Purdue is the Illinois of last year, maybe even worse.
Indiana played like dogshit on offense comparatively for them, yet still found a way to put up 28 points on a top 5 defense on the road. Worth noting I think, although they reverted to turnstile mode on defense.
I love that VT has a receiver named "Kalvin Cline".
After the Indiana game, it looked like it was going to be same old same old for Navy as far as covering and being a pain in the ass to people, but after getting stoned by the WKY and Duke defenses, maybe not.
Hopefully Dave Doeren will do himself a favor and install anyone, anything at QB other than Pete Thomas. Syracuse was 119th in pass efficiency D coming in to the game and Thomas went for 4.3 yards per attempt. Any inatimate object would be a better choice at this point. A garbage can, a hockey puck, whatever.
Air Force might have the worst pass coverage defense I've ever seen. Statistically there may be worse, but to the naked eye when watching them, they simply do not cover anyone. Quinn Kaehler, a walk on who would probably be incapable of completing a pass more than 5 yards downfield against a competent defense, torched them for 16.6 yards per completion Thursday night. If they matched up against a high powered downfield passing attack, that team could throw for 1000 yards in a game if they tried to score on every play. Thank goodness they don't play Baylor.
Georgia has played some good passing squads, but geez.....8.0 yards per attempt and a 12/1 TD/INT ratio against. Not very becoming.
G
Gyno
Guest
You're going to hear -- and read -- a ton about Marcus Mariota over the next week. We're at the midway point of the season and it's that time where the media likes to reflect on the past seven weeks, and the sophomore QB is coming off a dazzling show on the road against No. 16 Washington (now No. 20) that left folks gushing. A veteran football coach I know who has been in the game for four decades marveled at what he saw from Mariota on Saturday, texting me, "Ever seen a QB who could run and throw like Mariota? I haven't."
My first thought was Cam Newton. I thought he was superman for college football.
DODD'S POWER POLL
Mizzou jumps to 8
Still, I am curious to see how well Mariota and the Ducks' offense keeps playing as the schedule stiffens. They have a double of UCLA (Oct. 26) and Stanford (Nov. 7) coming up.
"I haven't been around that long but Marcus Mariota's "as good of a quarterback as I've ever been involved with," Washington defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox told reporters after the game. "... He's one of the top two, three fastest guys on the field, he makes extremely good decisions and he's an accurate passer. Special guy."
We've got two "Wow" stats to underscore Mariota's exploits.
The first: This season, he's thrown 17 TDs and run for eight more and has thrown zero INTs.
The second: Courtesy of Ducks SID Andy McNamara: Other QBs facing Washington's defense threw two TDs and seven picks. Mariota's statline: 3-0. Then again, this stat also touches on my "Body Blow Theory" about teams coming off a physical opponent like facing Stanford and then having to get up to speed for Oregon's frenetic pace.
The Ducks, by the way, opened as 37.5-point favorite against visiting Washington State next Saturday. The Cougars are coming off a epic fourth-quarter meltdown against Oregon State, but are also 4-3 with two Pac-12 road wins, but that huge spread shows you the perceived gulf between Oregon and an average conference opponent.
Brown (USATSI)
If Texas' win over Oklahoma is Mack Brown's last Red River Rivalry game, it's a great one to go out on. (USATSI)
Random Stuff
• If this was in fact Mack Brown's last Red River Rivalry game, it was quite a performance to go out on. Texas just looked a lot more focused and like they were the hungrier team, something you haven't been able to say much of late. Case McCoy was much sharper than Blake Bell and Texas kept the chains moving.
AP TOP 25 POLL
Eight SEC teams ranked
In the previous two meetings with OU, when Texas was outscored 118-38, the Longhorns only converted on nine third downs. On Saturday, they opened the game hitting on eight of their first 10 third-down tries and converted on their first five plays on third-and-7 or longer. Ballgame.
The Sooners made only 2 of 13 third-down tries and, once again, the Sooners' QB situation seems to have taken a turn for, like, the fourth time this season. And the Big 12 seems even more unpredictable than it was only a few days ago.
• How explosive is the Baylor system? Try this: the Bears attack not only leads FBS in offense this season, it also lead FCS too.
Huh?
"We're like the Baylor Junior Varsity," Eastern Illinois coach Dino Babers told me Saturday. "Everything that Baylor does, we do. You can't look at us and not see Baylor."
Babers, Eastern Illinois' second-year coach, spent four seasons on Art Briles' staff at Baylor. Four career-changing seasons.
Prior to Babers' time in Waco, he'd been an OC in the Pac-10 (Arizona) and in the Big 12 (Texas A&M), but after four seasons at UCLA, he was unsure if he was going to stay on the staff. In 2008, he went to the Coaches Convention in hopes of lining something up. He'd interviewed with Urban Meyer for a wide receiver job at Florida, and then met with Briles.
"I'd been in [the coaching business] for 22 years before I met Art," said Babers, counting up that he was on 11 different college coaching staffs before linking up with Briles. "He changed my thinking. I never met a man like that before. He's so positive. So forward in his offensive thinking. He's completely committed to what he's doing and he gets people to drink the Kool-Aid."
Babers guzzled that Kool-Aid.
"The system is not the easiest thing in the world to learn," he said. "It probably took me a year and half before I was comfortable with it. The cool thing about it, is the offense never stays the same. First, it's a caterpillar and then it's a butterfly and then. ... It's always green and grown."
Eastern Illinois is averaging 584 yards per game, more than 40 yards better than the next most prolific offense in FCS. The Panthers (5-1) started off the season with a bang, thumping FBS San Diego State on the road, 40-19. Their lone loss was a 43-39 defeat against unbeaten NIU. Babers' QB, 6-foot-3, 220-pound Jimmy Garoppolo, threw for 800 yards and nine TDs and only two INTs in the games against FBS opponents.
Babers says there's a lot of misconceptions about the Baylor system. He points to comments former colleague Nick Holt, then the DC at Washington, made before the 2011 Alamo Bowl.
"Nick and I were on the same staff at UNLV once, and I saw he said, '[Baylor] is exactly like Oregon.' I felt so bad for him. I'm thinking, 'If you play us like Oregon, God bless you.' "
Baylor ended up scoring 67 points and rolling up 777 yards on Holt's defense. Holt was fired soon after.
"The biggest thing about what we do is that no one really understands what we do," Babers said. "People really think it's like Oregon. It's nothing like Oregon. We throw the ball horizontal and vertical. I see us as throwing team. I see Oregon as more of a play-action throwing team. We don't have to play action to throw it."
Like Babers, Garoppolo's stock is skyrocketing. Babers said when he first arrived he had three people inside the EIU program tell him Garoppolo couldn't play in his system. "They thought I needed an option QB," Babers huffed. "My point was, they don't know my system. As soon as I saw him throw five passes in the spring I knew he was my guy.
"Jimmy's got the fastest release I've ever seen. He's super competitive and intelligent. He's gotten so much better with the speed of the game and being a coach on the field." Babers has given Garoppolo the freedom to run the offense at the line this season.
"He deserves to get the keys to the Cadillac at night. The guy's gotten so much better, it's ridiculous."
On the season, Garoppolo has thrown 28 TDs and four INTs.
• What's up with QBs whose last names start with "M" this season? The SEC is stacked with them: Manziel, McCarron, Mettenberger, Murray. The Pac-12 has two more surging into the Heisman picture: Marcus Mariota and Sean Mannion. The latter tends to get lost in all of the talk about Mariota but the 6-5, 220-pounder is putting up such gaudy stats you have to keep an eye on him. The Beavers' season started off with such a clunker, losing to FCS Eastern Washington -- although it's hard to blame Mannion for that. He was 37 of 43 for 422 yards. On the season, he has a 25-3 TD-INT ratio and the fewest passing yards he's had in OSU's six games is 367.
Mannion's improvement in decision-making from last season has been impressive. Coming into this season he had a 31-31 career TD-INT mark. He did have one really bad Red Zone INT on Saturday night at Washington State but overall he was excellent, carving up an average defense. Does Mannion have a legit shot to make a Heisman run? We'll see in the final five weeks -- when they face Stanford, USC, ASU, Washington and then visit Oregon.
• Hats off to Bill O'Brien and Penn State for the four-OT win over Michigan, sparked by a true freshman QB (Christian Hackenberg) and a very underrated group of receivers. For the second consecutive year, the Nittany Lions beat a previously unbeaten, ranked team on Homecoming in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions beat No. 24 Northwestern 39-28 in 2012.
• There is a dominant junior defensive end playing in South Carolina who has been wrecking offenses all season. His name is Vic Beasley. The former high school hoops standout, who also excelled returning punts, scooped and scored the game-sealing TD for Clemson in the Tigers' tense 24-14 comeback victory against Boston College. Beasley was part of a Tiger D that held the nation's leading rusher Andre Williams to only 70 yards rushing and 2.9 yards per carry, both were about half his average. Beasley also had a sack and two TFLs. On the season Beasley has 12 TFLs and nine sacks.
• Connor Shaw: best QB Steve Spurrier's had since. ... The gritty 6-1, 210 senior has a 10-0 TD-INT ratio, while completing 69 percent of his passes and also run for 319 yards this season. I floated the question to my Twitter followers and got a mix of best since Rex Grossman or Danny Wuerffel. I'll say since Grossman, who was the 2001 SEC Player of the Year. Also a nod to the Gamecocks' D, which took one drive Saturday to get locked in and completely shut down Arkansas on the road. The Hogs managed 64 yards on their opening TD drive but their next six series totaled all of 10 yards on 17 plays and produced zero first downs.
• Straight off the Don James Coaching Tree: Nick Saban's team is 6-0. Same as Gary Pinkel's.
Pinkel's team went into Athens and knocked off the No. 7 Bulldogs to give the Tigers their first road win over a Top 10 opponent in 32 years. I know Georgia is really banged up. The Tigers can relate. They were rocked by injury last season, and as I reported Saturday, sustained another big blow when standout QB James Franklin left the game with a Grade 2 shoulder separation, as a source told CBSSports.com, adding that the dual-threat quarterback is expected to miss at least six weeks. On Sunday morning, Gary Pinkel confirmed that it was in fact a Grade 2 shoulder separation but said it was too soon for anyone to pronounce just how long Franklin will be out.
• K-State held Baylor to "only" 35 points and 446 yards, although the Bears were often shooting themselves in the foot. Star WR Antwan Goodley, who had four catches for 129 yards, did have three costly drops, including one on third down late in the game.
• No Charles Sims. No problem. Houston is 5-0 despite being losing their star RB on the eve of the season (he opted to bolt to play at West Virginia) and the Cougars also lost veteran QB David Piland to concussions. Still, Houston is unbeaten and already matched last season's win total. Credit Tony Levine's move bringing in David Gibbs to take over the D. The Cougars lead the nation in turnover margin at plus-2.8, which is a lot better than the next best teams in the stat. It's also very impressive considering the new QB, John O'Korn is a true freshman. UH has forced 18 turnovers in just five games. Better still, they've only turned the ball over four times. Last season, they gave the ball away 35 times.
• Whatever UCLA DC Lou Spanos is saying at halftimes seems to be working. The Bruins are the only team in the country that hasn't allowed a point in the third quarter.
• Beware of the LSU Tigers. Les Miles' young D is growing up fast. They bottled up Florida on Saturday, overwhelming the Gators. Florida's O-line had only allowed seven sacks in the first five games, but surrendered four against LSU. LT D.J. Humphries was flagged for a couple of false starts and UF was held to below three yards a carry on 48 attempts. DE Jermauria Rasco was credited with four hurries.
• Stat of the Day: With Nick Foles starting Sunday for the Philadelphia Eagles, he will become the ninth former Texas high school QB to start an NFL game at quarterback this season. Foles joins Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Matt Stafford, Christian Ponder, Ryan Tannehill, Andy Dalton and Matt Flynn. Of that group, only three of those nine actually played college ball in the state of Texas.
• Stat of the Day, Take II: Johnny Manziel, who has the most "Don't worry, I got this" vibe of any player in college football, rallied Texas A&M on the road in Oxford thanks largely to his 346 yards passing and 124 yards rushing. Manziel's ability to extend plays -- and drives -- is uncanny. The Rebels got A&M into third-and-long situations nine times Saturday night. Manziel turned them into six first downs. That's about twice as many times as most offenses could even hope for. It was Manziel's fourth career 300-yard passing/100-yard rushing game. That's the most in NCAA FBS history. What's even more impressive is the guy's done that in only 19 career games.
• Speaking of Manziel, he shredded Alabama for 562 total yards and 42 points. In Bama's five other games, the Tide has allowed 26 points and 1,041 yards.
• Army's Terry Baggett ran all over EMU, going for 304 yards on only 18 carries in a 50-25 win. Those 50 points were the most scored by Army against an FBS team in 14 seasons.
• He probably has taken more criticism than any QB in the country, but Virginia Tech's Logan Thomas has settled in the past month and now has gone 14 quarters without an INT and the Hokies have won six in a row.
• It has been a very long time since Tulane has been even close to just being decent. But in his second season Curtis Johnson has the Green Wave on top of Conference USA. On Saturday, Tulane notched its biggest win of the season, beating an East Carolina team that came in 4-1. The Green Wave is 5-2, giving Tulane its first season with more than four wins since 2004. Johnson, who was the reason Miami found Ed Reed in Louisiana (the Canes beat Tulane to get Reed) and why Marshall Faulk ended up at San Diego State, has wasted little time showing he's a lot more than just a great recruiter.
"The thing that's really great about it is that we're still so young," Johnson told me Sunday morning. "We started 13 freshmen last season. Those guys are playing out of their minds. They all really believe in what we're doing."
Among the youngsters to keep an eye on: Safety Darion Monroe, the team's No. 2 tackler. CB Lorenzo Doss, a lock-down cover man who Johnson, a former NFL assistant with the Saints, predicts will play in the NFL ("he reminds me of Duane Starks.") Jordan Batiste, a 5-8, 170-pound sophomore Tulane beat Ole Miss to get. Batiste has been a standout at the nickel and has forced two fumbles and picked off a pass. "The way he plays reminds me of the Honey Badger [Tyrann Mathieu]," Johnson says. Nico Marley, a 5-8, 180-pound true freshman listed as a linebacker is the team's No. 3 tackler and second in TFLs. Marley's style evokes memories of his dad, former hard-hitting, undersized LB Rohan Marley, the son of music legend Bob Marley.
The Green Wave beat ECU despite not having starting QB Nick Montana and instead played freshman Devin Powell, which forced Tulane to be much more "generic" scheme-wise. Tulane has a bye week up next. Johnson is hopeful that Montana will be back for the Oct. 26 game when Tulsa visits.
As a reward for Saturday's victory -- and for the terrific start, Johnson is taking an unusual tact with his team. He's giving them the entire week off. "I made them a promise if we won," he told me. "We're pretty banged up and I know they have midterms coming up and this is a tough school. I want them to do well. All they have to do is go lift weights and they can't miss class.
"I guess that's the NFL in me," he said before adding, "I think they thought they'd just won the lottery."
My first thought was Cam Newton. I thought he was superman for college football.
DODD'S POWER POLL
Mizzou jumps to 8
Still, I am curious to see how well Mariota and the Ducks' offense keeps playing as the schedule stiffens. They have a double of UCLA (Oct. 26) and Stanford (Nov. 7) coming up.
"I haven't been around that long but Marcus Mariota's "as good of a quarterback as I've ever been involved with," Washington defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox told reporters after the game. "... He's one of the top two, three fastest guys on the field, he makes extremely good decisions and he's an accurate passer. Special guy."
We've got two "Wow" stats to underscore Mariota's exploits.
The first: This season, he's thrown 17 TDs and run for eight more and has thrown zero INTs.
The second: Courtesy of Ducks SID Andy McNamara: Other QBs facing Washington's defense threw two TDs and seven picks. Mariota's statline: 3-0. Then again, this stat also touches on my "Body Blow Theory" about teams coming off a physical opponent like facing Stanford and then having to get up to speed for Oregon's frenetic pace.
The Ducks, by the way, opened as 37.5-point favorite against visiting Washington State next Saturday. The Cougars are coming off a epic fourth-quarter meltdown against Oregon State, but are also 4-3 with two Pac-12 road wins, but that huge spread shows you the perceived gulf between Oregon and an average conference opponent.
Brown (USATSI)
If Texas' win over Oklahoma is Mack Brown's last Red River Rivalry game, it's a great one to go out on. (USATSI)
Random Stuff
• If this was in fact Mack Brown's last Red River Rivalry game, it was quite a performance to go out on. Texas just looked a lot more focused and like they were the hungrier team, something you haven't been able to say much of late. Case McCoy was much sharper than Blake Bell and Texas kept the chains moving.
AP TOP 25 POLL
Eight SEC teams ranked
In the previous two meetings with OU, when Texas was outscored 118-38, the Longhorns only converted on nine third downs. On Saturday, they opened the game hitting on eight of their first 10 third-down tries and converted on their first five plays on third-and-7 or longer. Ballgame.
The Sooners made only 2 of 13 third-down tries and, once again, the Sooners' QB situation seems to have taken a turn for, like, the fourth time this season. And the Big 12 seems even more unpredictable than it was only a few days ago.
• How explosive is the Baylor system? Try this: the Bears attack not only leads FBS in offense this season, it also lead FCS too.
Huh?
"We're like the Baylor Junior Varsity," Eastern Illinois coach Dino Babers told me Saturday. "Everything that Baylor does, we do. You can't look at us and not see Baylor."
Babers, Eastern Illinois' second-year coach, spent four seasons on Art Briles' staff at Baylor. Four career-changing seasons.
Prior to Babers' time in Waco, he'd been an OC in the Pac-10 (Arizona) and in the Big 12 (Texas A&M), but after four seasons at UCLA, he was unsure if he was going to stay on the staff. In 2008, he went to the Coaches Convention in hopes of lining something up. He'd interviewed with Urban Meyer for a wide receiver job at Florida, and then met with Briles.
"I'd been in [the coaching business] for 22 years before I met Art," said Babers, counting up that he was on 11 different college coaching staffs before linking up with Briles. "He changed my thinking. I never met a man like that before. He's so positive. So forward in his offensive thinking. He's completely committed to what he's doing and he gets people to drink the Kool-Aid."
Babers guzzled that Kool-Aid.
"The system is not the easiest thing in the world to learn," he said. "It probably took me a year and half before I was comfortable with it. The cool thing about it, is the offense never stays the same. First, it's a caterpillar and then it's a butterfly and then. ... It's always green and grown."
Eastern Illinois is averaging 584 yards per game, more than 40 yards better than the next most prolific offense in FCS. The Panthers (5-1) started off the season with a bang, thumping FBS San Diego State on the road, 40-19. Their lone loss was a 43-39 defeat against unbeaten NIU. Babers' QB, 6-foot-3, 220-pound Jimmy Garoppolo, threw for 800 yards and nine TDs and only two INTs in the games against FBS opponents.
Babers says there's a lot of misconceptions about the Baylor system. He points to comments former colleague Nick Holt, then the DC at Washington, made before the 2011 Alamo Bowl.
"Nick and I were on the same staff at UNLV once, and I saw he said, '[Baylor] is exactly like Oregon.' I felt so bad for him. I'm thinking, 'If you play us like Oregon, God bless you.' "
Baylor ended up scoring 67 points and rolling up 777 yards on Holt's defense. Holt was fired soon after.
"The biggest thing about what we do is that no one really understands what we do," Babers said. "People really think it's like Oregon. It's nothing like Oregon. We throw the ball horizontal and vertical. I see us as throwing team. I see Oregon as more of a play-action throwing team. We don't have to play action to throw it."
Like Babers, Garoppolo's stock is skyrocketing. Babers said when he first arrived he had three people inside the EIU program tell him Garoppolo couldn't play in his system. "They thought I needed an option QB," Babers huffed. "My point was, they don't know my system. As soon as I saw him throw five passes in the spring I knew he was my guy.
"Jimmy's got the fastest release I've ever seen. He's super competitive and intelligent. He's gotten so much better with the speed of the game and being a coach on the field." Babers has given Garoppolo the freedom to run the offense at the line this season.
"He deserves to get the keys to the Cadillac at night. The guy's gotten so much better, it's ridiculous."
On the season, Garoppolo has thrown 28 TDs and four INTs.
• What's up with QBs whose last names start with "M" this season? The SEC is stacked with them: Manziel, McCarron, Mettenberger, Murray. The Pac-12 has two more surging into the Heisman picture: Marcus Mariota and Sean Mannion. The latter tends to get lost in all of the talk about Mariota but the 6-5, 220-pounder is putting up such gaudy stats you have to keep an eye on him. The Beavers' season started off with such a clunker, losing to FCS Eastern Washington -- although it's hard to blame Mannion for that. He was 37 of 43 for 422 yards. On the season, he has a 25-3 TD-INT ratio and the fewest passing yards he's had in OSU's six games is 367.
Mannion's improvement in decision-making from last season has been impressive. Coming into this season he had a 31-31 career TD-INT mark. He did have one really bad Red Zone INT on Saturday night at Washington State but overall he was excellent, carving up an average defense. Does Mannion have a legit shot to make a Heisman run? We'll see in the final five weeks -- when they face Stanford, USC, ASU, Washington and then visit Oregon.
• Hats off to Bill O'Brien and Penn State for the four-OT win over Michigan, sparked by a true freshman QB (Christian Hackenberg) and a very underrated group of receivers. For the second consecutive year, the Nittany Lions beat a previously unbeaten, ranked team on Homecoming in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions beat No. 24 Northwestern 39-28 in 2012.
• There is a dominant junior defensive end playing in South Carolina who has been wrecking offenses all season. His name is Vic Beasley. The former high school hoops standout, who also excelled returning punts, scooped and scored the game-sealing TD for Clemson in the Tigers' tense 24-14 comeback victory against Boston College. Beasley was part of a Tiger D that held the nation's leading rusher Andre Williams to only 70 yards rushing and 2.9 yards per carry, both were about half his average. Beasley also had a sack and two TFLs. On the season Beasley has 12 TFLs and nine sacks.
• Connor Shaw: best QB Steve Spurrier's had since. ... The gritty 6-1, 210 senior has a 10-0 TD-INT ratio, while completing 69 percent of his passes and also run for 319 yards this season. I floated the question to my Twitter followers and got a mix of best since Rex Grossman or Danny Wuerffel. I'll say since Grossman, who was the 2001 SEC Player of the Year. Also a nod to the Gamecocks' D, which took one drive Saturday to get locked in and completely shut down Arkansas on the road. The Hogs managed 64 yards on their opening TD drive but their next six series totaled all of 10 yards on 17 plays and produced zero first downs.
• Straight off the Don James Coaching Tree: Nick Saban's team is 6-0. Same as Gary Pinkel's.
Pinkel's team went into Athens and knocked off the No. 7 Bulldogs to give the Tigers their first road win over a Top 10 opponent in 32 years. I know Georgia is really banged up. The Tigers can relate. They were rocked by injury last season, and as I reported Saturday, sustained another big blow when standout QB James Franklin left the game with a Grade 2 shoulder separation, as a source told CBSSports.com, adding that the dual-threat quarterback is expected to miss at least six weeks. On Sunday morning, Gary Pinkel confirmed that it was in fact a Grade 2 shoulder separation but said it was too soon for anyone to pronounce just how long Franklin will be out.
• K-State held Baylor to "only" 35 points and 446 yards, although the Bears were often shooting themselves in the foot. Star WR Antwan Goodley, who had four catches for 129 yards, did have three costly drops, including one on third down late in the game.
• No Charles Sims. No problem. Houston is 5-0 despite being losing their star RB on the eve of the season (he opted to bolt to play at West Virginia) and the Cougars also lost veteran QB David Piland to concussions. Still, Houston is unbeaten and already matched last season's win total. Credit Tony Levine's move bringing in David Gibbs to take over the D. The Cougars lead the nation in turnover margin at plus-2.8, which is a lot better than the next best teams in the stat. It's also very impressive considering the new QB, John O'Korn is a true freshman. UH has forced 18 turnovers in just five games. Better still, they've only turned the ball over four times. Last season, they gave the ball away 35 times.
• Whatever UCLA DC Lou Spanos is saying at halftimes seems to be working. The Bruins are the only team in the country that hasn't allowed a point in the third quarter.
• Beware of the LSU Tigers. Les Miles' young D is growing up fast. They bottled up Florida on Saturday, overwhelming the Gators. Florida's O-line had only allowed seven sacks in the first five games, but surrendered four against LSU. LT D.J. Humphries was flagged for a couple of false starts and UF was held to below three yards a carry on 48 attempts. DE Jermauria Rasco was credited with four hurries.
• Stat of the Day: With Nick Foles starting Sunday for the Philadelphia Eagles, he will become the ninth former Texas high school QB to start an NFL game at quarterback this season. Foles joins Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Matt Stafford, Christian Ponder, Ryan Tannehill, Andy Dalton and Matt Flynn. Of that group, only three of those nine actually played college ball in the state of Texas.
• Stat of the Day, Take II: Johnny Manziel, who has the most "Don't worry, I got this" vibe of any player in college football, rallied Texas A&M on the road in Oxford thanks largely to his 346 yards passing and 124 yards rushing. Manziel's ability to extend plays -- and drives -- is uncanny. The Rebels got A&M into third-and-long situations nine times Saturday night. Manziel turned them into six first downs. That's about twice as many times as most offenses could even hope for. It was Manziel's fourth career 300-yard passing/100-yard rushing game. That's the most in NCAA FBS history. What's even more impressive is the guy's done that in only 19 career games.
• Speaking of Manziel, he shredded Alabama for 562 total yards and 42 points. In Bama's five other games, the Tide has allowed 26 points and 1,041 yards.
• Army's Terry Baggett ran all over EMU, going for 304 yards on only 18 carries in a 50-25 win. Those 50 points were the most scored by Army against an FBS team in 14 seasons.
• He probably has taken more criticism than any QB in the country, but Virginia Tech's Logan Thomas has settled in the past month and now has gone 14 quarters without an INT and the Hokies have won six in a row.
• It has been a very long time since Tulane has been even close to just being decent. But in his second season Curtis Johnson has the Green Wave on top of Conference USA. On Saturday, Tulane notched its biggest win of the season, beating an East Carolina team that came in 4-1. The Green Wave is 5-2, giving Tulane its first season with more than four wins since 2004. Johnson, who was the reason Miami found Ed Reed in Louisiana (the Canes beat Tulane to get Reed) and why Marshall Faulk ended up at San Diego State, has wasted little time showing he's a lot more than just a great recruiter.
"The thing that's really great about it is that we're still so young," Johnson told me Sunday morning. "We started 13 freshmen last season. Those guys are playing out of their minds. They all really believe in what we're doing."
Among the youngsters to keep an eye on: Safety Darion Monroe, the team's No. 2 tackler. CB Lorenzo Doss, a lock-down cover man who Johnson, a former NFL assistant with the Saints, predicts will play in the NFL ("he reminds me of Duane Starks.") Jordan Batiste, a 5-8, 170-pound sophomore Tulane beat Ole Miss to get. Batiste has been a standout at the nickel and has forced two fumbles and picked off a pass. "The way he plays reminds me of the Honey Badger [Tyrann Mathieu]," Johnson says. Nico Marley, a 5-8, 180-pound true freshman listed as a linebacker is the team's No. 3 tackler and second in TFLs. Marley's style evokes memories of his dad, former hard-hitting, undersized LB Rohan Marley, the son of music legend Bob Marley.
The Green Wave beat ECU despite not having starting QB Nick Montana and instead played freshman Devin Powell, which forced Tulane to be much more "generic" scheme-wise. Tulane has a bye week up next. Johnson is hopeful that Montana will be back for the Oct. 26 game when Tulsa visits.
As a reward for Saturday's victory -- and for the terrific start, Johnson is taking an unusual tact with his team. He's giving them the entire week off. "I made them a promise if we won," he told me. "We're pretty banged up and I know they have midterms coming up and this is a tough school. I want them to do well. All they have to do is go lift weights and they can't miss class.
"I guess that's the NFL in me," he said before adding, "I think they thought they'd just won the lottery."
JumpOnBoard
CTG Partner
This guy has lost his mind:
@chengelis: Hoke does not think play calling at end of game was conservative
@chengelis: Hoke does not think play calling at end of game was conservative
E.T.G.
One of trus baby mommas
what a joke. End of that game made me sick. Forgetting the fact that PSU went 70+ yds in 23 seconds with no timeouts to tie the game - how many times are you going to play just for a FG starting on the opponents 25 yard line?!?!?
FootballNut
Pretty much a regular
Wisconsin is the 2nd best team in the B10 and they are going to end up in a BCS bowl. Their defense is very very good led by Borland. Saw them against my Buckeyes and take away that fluke TD at the end of the first half and they really gave OSU some trouble. They really surround the ball and are a great tackling team led by Borland. Run defense is very good and they disguise their blitzes very well. they come from everywhere under their new DC. And of course they have that running game still with Melvin Gordon and James White. Think they will be favorite in every single game remaining and will win out.
