Saturday Warriors

Invincible

2007-01-09T01:35:00.000-05:00

Since hindsight is 20-20, I can now say that I saw this coming all along.

But I couldn't say that at 8:00 ET.

Although I did expect a close game, there's no way on earth that I could have expected this...a 41-14 thrashing (41-7 if you throw out the first fifteen seconds of the game) of the Buckeyes by a Florida team that half of the country thought didn't deserve to be there, yet all of a sudden finds itself as National Champions.

The Florida Gators proved some things on Monday night besides the obvious. They proved that this BCS system that everybody likes to assail on a regular basis might actually have some merit. I mean think about it, would a playoff system have really decided anything? You have a playoff system in college basketball, and don't get me wrong: it works and it works well. But even when the field of 64 is announced, there are arguments about which of the teams that are ranked in the high 30's and low 40's should have been included. You mean to tell me that there wouldn't be angst over why the ninth best team in the country would be unhappy?

I myself am very happy that teams like Boise State can get to experience the thrill of winning the Fiesta Bowl and not having to sully that with a loss to a powerhouse like Florida the following week in a playoff. Would you have remembered the "Statue of Liberty Game" as much as you will if it was a first round playoff game?

There used to be a great thing in this country regarding diversity. It used to be that you could go to any city in America and find stores and restaurants that reflected the culture of the city you were in. Now, you go down any mid-major street in America and you see a Starbucks, a Walmart, a Pizza Hut, a McDonald's. Everywhere! If there's a Blockbuster on that strip it's considered fancy. The last thing I want to see in my sports landscape is the same homogenization that I see on Main Street USA.

But I digress.

If there's something that doesn't work with the system that we've learned this year, it was the failure of the Big Ten to schedule games closer to the National Championship game. It hurt Michigan when being passed at the last minute by a Florida team that played Arkansas while Michigan was idle, and it probably wound up hurting Ohio State as the longer layoff hurt them (see: Tigers, Detroit). But like the song says: Don't hate the player, hate the game. If it means scheduling a Ball State, or heaven forbid a strong team, closer to the day of the SEC title game, then maybe it's something the Big Ten should think about.

Florida was the right choice to play in this game even if they would have gotten their doors blown off. Instead, they come in and use their athleticism to spank the Buckeyes. Teams that are fast and athletic like the Florida Gators always deserve a punchers chance in these games. And quite simply, they were more athletic than Ohio State. The telling comment came after the game when Reggie Nelson was talking about the Ted Ginn injury:

"He should have been playing in the SEC anyway."

To me, that says it all right there. Big 10 fans, when confronted with Florida crashing their Tostitos party, generally became Ohio State fans to prove who the better conference was. Heck, I'd go on Michigan blogs...Michigan blogs...and fans pledged allegiance to Ohio State for the championship game to crush Florida to prove that Michigan belonged. Isn't that kind of like making a deal with the devil?

For Reggie Nelson to believe that Ted Ginn should have been playing in the SEC proves that it's a more athletic conference. And in college football, let's face it, speed kills. You can cover up a lot of mistakes with speed, and you can also make a lot of good quarterbacks run for their life with speed on defense.

I certainly can't say that I blame Big Ten fans for feeling that way. But what wound up happening? USC crushes Michigan, and Florida blasts Ohio State...by a combined 41 points. Instead of Michigan carrying the torches of an undeserved snub, it's USC that's left to wonder what would have happened if that last J.D. Booty pass wouldn't have been tipped and picked by UCLA.

And now all that's left is the final vote to coronate the Gators as National Champs. With the beating that Ohio State took, expect that vote to be unanimous, but do not be surprised if one voter, whether by reasoning that there is only one undefeated team left standing or by making a political statement towards the birth of a playoff system, votes Boise State number one.

The People's Champ

2007-01-02T01:35:00.000-05:00

I return from my long hiatus only to say this...

A hook and lateral to tie the game with seven seconds left?

A halfback option pass in the first overtime to come within a point of Oklahoma?

Then the statue of liberty play to win the game on a two-point conversion?

It was the best game I've ever seen.

Considering that we saw Texas defeat USC just 359 days ago, that's saying a lot.

It doesn't matter who wins next week...Boise State is my national champion.

Unbelievable.

Gotta Be Gators

2006-12-03T01:26:00.000-05:00

The call me "The Mad Stork".

And I'm mad at myself.

I'm mad at myself because when I wrote this piece on why the Florida Gators should be considered serious contenders for the national title, I seriously considered taking the plunge and predicting that they and Ohio State would play for the title. And now that it's going to happen because of Florida's win and USC's unforgivable loss, I lost out on my chance to look like a genius to the three readers this site gets a week.

Did I say it's "going" to happen? Oh, well it's not a sure thing yet. But it sure as hell should be. Because to me, Glendale should be welcoming Ohio State and Florida to January 8th.

Michigan? Been there done that.

But there seems to be sentiment for the rematch...the easy storyline...the easy justification of "well, Michigan gave Ohio State an instant classic a couple of weeks ago...they deserve another shot."

More than Florida? I think no.

First off, nobody gave the Gators much of a chance to do much in the SEC because of their tough schedule. But if you almost run the table with a tough schedule, don't you deserve to gain points for that? Shouldn't the coaches and writers who vote in this thing take that into account? (Then again, what do you expect from the writers...one of which voted Oklahoma 24th because he thought they lost when they actually won...that writer was kicked off the voting process. And hey, why are coaches voting anyway? Aren't they too busy paying attention to their own team?)

My fear is that the voters are going to vote a little bit more with their hearts (Oh, wouldn't a rematch be just grand) than with their heads.

Second, should Michigan really win a national title after splitting two games with Ohio State?

Third, consider this about the two conferences that Florida and Michigan play in. The Big Ten went 33-12 in non-conference play, while the SEC went 41-7. The seven SEC losses were to: Missouri and Wake Forest (Mississippi) Tulane and West Virginia (Mississippi State), USC (Arkansas), Louisville (Kentucky), and Michigan (Vanderbilt). Outside of Tulane, all those teams were either first or second in their division or conference. Not bad.

Now look at the twelve non-conference losses for the Big Ten: Notre Dame (Penn State, Purdue, and Michigan State), Hawaii (Purdue), California (Minnesota), Ohio and Rutgers (Illinois) are all legitimate. But then...

Illinois lost to Syracuse, last in the Big East at 4-8.

Indiana lost to Connecticut (4-7 in the Big East, just a hair above Syracuse) and Southern Illinois (a 1-AA team).

Northwestern lost to Nevada (borderline, but they finished third in the WAC), and to New Hampshire (another 1-AA team).

Ironically, it's Florida's victory over Western Carolina that is probably going to haunt them...along with the lack of "style points" that they accrued due to the fact that they didn't blow out teams. But correct me if I'm wrong: wasn't the BCS designed to take all weight off of margin of victory...or "style points"?

And finally, Florida won their conference! Michigan finished second!!! Does it get more concrete than that?

There you have it...I've made my case. If you read nothing else that I've written (and judging from the site stats, you haven't), I hope you've read this. And I hope you're a voter.

Make the right choice.

Chaos Part Deux

2006-11-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

So you thought that this weekend in college football was going to be just a couple of stale appetizers before the main course next week, right?

Well, there will still be a main course. But today's appetizers were anything but stale.

So I had two games on...side by side today. One game featured Steve Spurrier returning to the swamp to face the college football program that he put on the map.

The other, picked on a whim, was supposed to be merely an excuse to watch Marshawn Lynch play, a rare treat for an east coaster such as myself. California at Arizona.

So what was the difference between the one loss team that remained a one loss team, and the one loss team which is now a two loss team? Simple. It's all in the way they responded to pressure.

Yeah, the Florida Gators had the benefit of the home crowd behind them, while the Cal Bears were in hostile Tuscon to face the Wildcats. But the Gators had the very man who put the Florida Gators on the college football landscape on the visiting sideline. Imagine if...one year after he beat his former program at home...Steve Spurrier marched into the swamp in what is turning out to be a down year for the Gamecocks, and walked away with a victory? Holy cripes! You think the fact that they're making a Tony La Russa book into a movie is annoying, wait until you would have seen the size of Steve Spurrier's ego after winning a game in the swamp with QB Syvelle Newton playing safety? It would have been nothing less than IMAX. (Come to think of it, Spurrier could probably play La Russa in this movie or any movie.)

So when the Gamecocks went up 16-10 it was gut check time for the Gators. Not only do they block the extra point, but they come back with a great drive down the field highlighted by Chris Leak and DeShawn Wynn...and capped by a Tim Tebow TD), but they block the potential SC winning field goal at the buzzer (both blocks by Jarvis Moss). Sure they got lucky as a false start penalty negated a Blake Mitchell pass that put the GC's inside the ten yard line, but luck is the residue of design, and the Gators had one hell of a design.

Not so for California.

Cal didn't have the same kind of luck as Florida...Marshawn Lynch had a 79 yard TD run called back on a block in the back penalty by Lavelle Hawkins, and Cal had to settle for a field goal. Hawkins slipped and fell just short of the goal line on an easy touchdown bomb that turned another touchdown into a field goal. And Desean Jackson had a 63 yard touchdown called back as he stepped out of bounds at the 41 yard line, and that led to the final nail in the coffin, a Ronnie Palmer interception.

But the most blatent rip off came when corner Daymeion Hughes played perfect defense on Arizona's Bernard Hicks and picked off Willie Tuitama in the end zone, only to have the play called back for interference. Chris Henry scored two plays later.

It was a rip off of the highest proportion. It's amazing how referees, college and pros, consistently get this call wrong. It sucked to be Daymeion Hughes at that moment.

But instead of responding with a drive down the Wildcats throat, Nate Longshore threw an ill-advised out pattern that Antoine Cason picked off and escorted to the house for the deciding touchdown.

So call the Bears unlucky if you want...and by the same token you can call the Gators lucky. But both teams earned their fates. Florida has one loss and California has two.

Throw in Texas' and Auburn's second losses, and guaranteed second losses coming up for either USC or Notre Dame, and either Arkansas or Florida (SEC title game), things just got a lot more interesting for Rutgers, Boise State, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wake Forest, and yes...even Louisville.

Chaos.

Chaos

2006-11-10T00:50:00.000-05:00

I don't think you truly understand.

It's mass hysteria on the streets. The Jersey shore might set a new record for most vomit running down the streets...because even the amateurs are out there drinking their faces off after Rutgers' huge victory tonight.

But not only that, Pete Carroll is running around South Central in his underwear...that's how excited he is to potentially have a shot at the national title game.

Matthew McConaughey is tipping cows in Austin.

The men in Florida are making out with the girls at Auburn.

Even the students at Berkeley are skipping their weekly spelling bee social to party.

It's just pure freakin' insanity, and that's not even considering the most amazing aspect of this whole night:

This is Rutgers.

Rutgers!

They hadn't beaten a ranked team since 1988.

They hadn't been to a bowl in 27 seasons.

I mean...they're...Rutgers!

And...they're...on ESPN! Undefeated!!!

Greg Schiano? If you look to the sky tonight, you just might catch a glimpse of this man's stock. He's already the coach of the millennium for what he's done with this program. Thursday night, after his halftime adjustments on defense gave Brian Brohm fits, he will add "Coach of the Year" to his titles. On offense? We saw madness when Schiano put the unit in the hands of Mike Teel, when everyone was wondering why Rutgers wouldn't dance with who brung 'em? But in the second half, we all saw the method. Ray Rice gained 75 yards in the fourth quarter. And that was with eight or nine Louisville defenders in the box!

It was so brilliant, it was insane. And tonight at the Jersey shore (and on one loss campuses across America), insanity rules the night.

Un-freakin-believable.

The Schiano Shuffle

2006-11-09T03:56:00.000-05:00

It's gotten so good at Rutgers, that Governor Corzine is begging for tickets to Thursday night's Big East battle royal against Louisville.

But has it gotten too good?

And I ask that because there seems to be speculation...well, maybe speculation is the wrong term. But rather a widespread assumption that Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano is merely making Rutgers a quick stop on his road to become the head coach at Miami university after this season. The evidence would seem to point in that direction.

In the pollyanic world of Rutgers fans, and those who want to see the little guy win out every once in a while, Schiano stays at Rutgers for the next twenty years and turns this formerly dormant program into the first true powerhouse of the Big East football conference. But when it comes down to a choice of being a big fish in a smaller pond, or a normal size fish in a bigger pond, history has proven that coaches in these positions go to the ocean digs rather than the babbling brook. Right now, with their record at 8-0 entering tonight, Schiano might have gotten too big for the small pond of the Big East.

When I see Schiano, I kind of see Urban Meyer in his final season in Utah. Meyer (along with Alex Smith) took the Utes to unprecedented college football success...but instead of staying and being Mr. Utah, Meyer took advantage of his wild "mid-major" success and was seduced by the SEC and the Florida Gators.

But there's some differences between Schiano and Meyer that gives hope to Rutgers fans. First off, Utah has never really been known as a hotbed of high school talent, at least not in the way that New Jersey is. Now you can say a lot of things about New Jersey...but one thing that few states have on Jersey is the abundance of high school talent that exists. Up until now, nobody has been able to entice Jersey boys to stay at home to play at Rutgers. But with the recent success of the state school, there's a fighting chance. (There's even more of a fighting chance if Schiano considers the plight of one John L. Smith, who left five straight bowl appearances behind at Louisville to underachieve at Michigan State...a Big Ten school, it should be noted.)

One thing we know about Greg Schiano is that he loves to recruit. He's got the Miami pipeline in place that he cultivated while he was an assistant at "The U". But while some would consider that fact a reason to return to Miami, one wonders why he would go to Miami with the pipeline already in place. Now, with the success that Rutgers is enjoying, Schiano has a golden opportunity to do what no other head coach at Rutgers has done, and keep the blue chip Jersey recruits home. And while argues that Jersey recruits might leave for the sun and sand of more glamorous schools like "The U" and "The USC", there are just as many Jersey recruits going to Boston College and Wisconsin. Just a few short years ago, BC had as many players on their roster from New Jersey as they had from their home state of Massachusetts. And my exclusive sources tell me that there aren't any beaches in Madison, WI.

Miami will probably open up the vault for Schiano, in salary and in recruiting budgets...but Rutgers, for a smaller Big East school, is doing quite well by Schiano, paying him over $1 million in base salary plus incentives. But what A.D. Robert Mulcahy should worry about isn't Miami. It's Penn State.

Many (not all) have forgotten about PSU, where Schiano was a DB's coach under Joe Paterno in the early 90's. Schiano remains close to Paterno, and called him for advice on whether to take the Rutgers job (Paterno said no...probably because Rutgers was a dead program, but maybe because he knew of Schiano's fervor for recruiting and wasn't interested in bringing a potential adversary closer to him). So one could wonder whether taking over for a legend at Penn State, and not the mess that is the Miami Hurricanes, could present Schiano's next challenge.

But again, a potential advantage for Rutgers would be this: Once Paterno retires (which could come sooner rather than later if a player were to break his other leg), would Penn State hold the same romance for a lot of recruits as it does with Paterno as head coach? And who better than Schiano to take advantage of that?

Also consider that Mulcahy has a lot riding on Schiano...six other varsity sports at Rutgers were eliminated completely...presumably to help fund the recruiting monster that is college football, and to have a comparable budget to bigger schools in the area, such as Penn State. I wouldn't expect Mulcahy to let Schiano leave without a significant pay raise, plus even more guarantees involving recruiting.

The ironic part to all of this is that these whispers will grow louder if Rutgers pulls off the home field upset against the third ranked team in the country. Too much success may expedite the departure of the man who could become the greatest head coach in Rutgers history. And it could force Greg Schiano to make a decision about whether or not he wants to be known as such, or whether he wants a new challenge...even bigger than reviving Rutgers football.

But don't consider him gone quite yet.

'Ville Bornes

2006-11-03T00:41:00.000-05:00

The day started with a Lee Corso interview on WFAN where he said that Louisville's Hunter Cantwell was a significantly better quarterback than Brian Brohm.

Considering that Brohm was 19 of 26 for 353 yards, I'd like to see what better truly is.

The Louisville Cardinals vault themselves into championship game striking distance with their 44-34 victory over West Virginia which ended WVU's 14 game winning streak.

This game kicks off what will be an extremely interesting week for the conference that has been ridiculed up until West Virginia's upset of Georgia in last year's Peach Bowl. The week ends with another nationally televised matchup in Piscataway as Louisville faces the 8-0 Scarlet Knights of Rutgers.

Wait a second.

Rutgers? Undefeated? Now I know I've been away too long.

When Michael Bush broke his leg on opening night against Kentucky, nobody could have envisioned a Big East title for the Cardinals, much less a shot at the national title game. But here they are with one more ranked team on the schedule to help give them enough computer love to grab that other spot, along with Ohio State or Michigan.

For this to happen, Louisville not only has to win out, but they also have to be the biggest fans of none other than the "U". That's right, Miami. When you look at Louisville's schedule, it's not filled with a bunch of powerhouses. Three Louisville opponents are currently ranked, and two of them wind up playing each other. That leaves Miami, who the Cardinals crunched 31-7. Miami has a couple of ranked games left against Virginia Tech and Boston College, giving Miami a chance to gain so respect back after their multiple disasters this season, and it also gives Louisville a legitimate chance, and maybe their only chance, to gain enough computer points to reach that title game.

Otherwise, it's conceivable that a one loss team, whether it be Michigan, Florida, Auburn or even USC, could leapfrog Louisville and their weak conference schedule to reach the title game. You know I keep hearing that Mark Mangino rant in my head when I think of how the NCAA would love to have a title game featuring Ohio State and Michigan, but would settle for Ohio State and anyone else but Louisville. I can't help but imagine a Bobby Petrino rant coming to a press conference near you.

Choke Standard

2006-09-24T02:03:00.000-04:00

It used to be, back around the early 90's, that if you were looking for a team that was even money to choke an un-choke-able lead, it was the Houston Oilers. Between their playoff chokes to the Denver Broncos and the Buffalo Bills in successive seasons, they were the gold standard when it came to being on the wrong end of spectacular comebacks.

Well now that the Oilers are in Tennessee, and the Titans actually made a Super Bowl, the world has been looking for a new gold standard. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...the Spartans of Michigan State.

They blew a 17 point lead in Michigan two seasons ago. They turned a botched field goal attempt into a bad loss at Ohio State last season. The lead they blew tonight takes the cake.

I mean, does it really matter anymore that State beat the Irish in seven of their previous ten meetings? Is that going to keep Drew Stanton warm tonight? Think of what the Spartans had a chance to accomplish tonight: After all the hubbub about last season's flag incident, and Charlie Weis' alleged "they'll never beat us again on my watch" speech, not only did MSU have a chance to shove it all down his throat, but they had a chance to knock Notre Dame out of BCS bowl contention, while giving themselves a much better resume to work with regarding their own BCS chances.

Even in the first half, when MSU wasn't the most well oiled machine on offense, their defense completely confused Brady Quinn and turned him into mush. And when Jehuu Caulcrick scored on a 30 yard run up the gut to end the third quarter, it should have been game...set...match.

But then Michigan State figured it was time for their disaster of the year.

They had a 19 point lead and the ball in Notre Dame territory early in the third, when penalties forced a third-and-42. That failed drive lead to the first step in the comeback, a 43 yard TD from Quinn to Shark. A Drew Stanton fumble led to the second ND touchdown, but with the Irish leaving three points on the field by missing a two pointer and botching an extra point, the Spartans were still in good shape. But Stanton struck again with a terrible interception to Terrail Lambert to seal the deal for the Irish.

Now all was not lost quite yet, Stanton actually had one more shot to drive his team down the field for a tying field goal, but Stanton was clearly rattled and barely moved the ball before throwing another pick. Compare that to how Daniel Evans drove down the field against Boston College with 33 seconds left, no timeouts, and 72 yards to go, down by five points. Evans completes three big passes...the second one a 20 yarder to John Dunlap on an out pattern to the sidelines which was huge, and the third one the touchdown to Dunlap (which he might have dropped, but there was no camera on the other side of the end zone)...and wins the game. That, my friend, is how you lead your team down the field.

And that is why Michigan, who knew what to do when they had their foot on Notre Dame's throat, will always be the big brother in that relationship.

(By the way, how about a wee bit of Heisman love for Mario Manningham?)

There should be a rule regarding kickers...that if a kicker is known more for what a big kick his father made twenty years ago, footage of said kick should not be shown during his broadcasts of his son's games. Ever since that kick was shown, Tiffin missed two field goals including one that would have won the game in overtime, and an extra point in the second overtime to basically give the game away to Arkansas, which featured a well-below average performance from quarterback Mitch Mustain...except of course, in that second overtime when he hit high school teammate Ben Cleveland to tie the game which was won by a Jeremy Davis extra point. Mustain is now 3-0 as a starter and he's bound to get better, isn't he?

I think I'm going to resign myself to the fact that Urban Meyer's offense is just not going to translate from the Mountain West conference to the SEC. Those who booed Chris Leak at the swamp tonight should probably do the same. Of course, with the way Florida plays defense, that might not matter. But missing Marcus Thomas indefinitely due to a substance abuse suspension is going to hurt...unless, of course, Meyer takes a look at the schedule and sees 'Bama, LSU, and Auburn coming up on the horizon.

I'll say this though...as good as Tim Tebow is running the ball, at some point he's going to have to throw a couple. Sure, Tebow was the Gators leading rusher with 73 yards tonight, but good teams are going to realize that when "15" comes into the game that hey, guess what, it's a quarterback draw. Maybe Tebow isn't great with the arm, but if Meyer is going to keep using him as a fullback, he's going to have to keep a defense or two honest.

Duck Season

2006-09-17T02:00:00.000-04:00

If "Separation Saturday" was an actual holiday where gifts were given and such, the Oregon Ducks might have gotten the biggest gifts of all.

All Bob Stoops would have gotten was hosed.

So unfathomably inconceivable was this victory by Oregon that a Duck alum spent the minutes immediately following the onside kick after the first of two quick scores that won the game resigning himself to the fact that the referees were going to screw the Ducks. But alas, no.

Not only did the Duck special teamer clearly touch the ball before the ten yard wait period (I don't know how much more indisputable that evidence can be), but the pass interference penalty which extended the winning drive came on a ball that was tipped at the line...the penalty never should have been called.

But you make your own breaks in sports, and Duck QB Dennis Dixon was phenomenal in trumping a 213 yard rushing effort by Adrian Peterson. And yes, Oregon is absolutely for real...even if their uniforms seem to favor the side of the sur-real.

Although the Sooners can complain all day about bad refereeing, I'm not going to. Because questionable calls created what will probably go down as the most exciting minute and a half of college football we'll see all year. Between the two scores, the 55 yard return by Reggie Smith, and the blocked field goal at the buzzer, that game has to be the game of the year so far. And that's no small feat, since there were some great games this week alone.

For instance, Florida took a step towards opening some more eyes with their big road win over Tennessee. Opening more eyes was Tim Tebow seeing some action on a few plays...but only in the shotgun, and only for QB draws. Talk about weird sights: Tebow runs two straight QB draws in the red zone, Chris Leak puts the headphones on seemingly to be out of the game for a while, then Urban Meyer tries to quickly change signal callers while UT wasn't looking. Has Darth Visor even thought of that?

But that should teach Volunteer QB Erik Ainge to mock the gator chop after throwing for a touchdown that was called back at the beginning of the third quarter. When are these people going to learn not to mess with karma?

Auburn fans had better be prepared to get hosed when the Top 25 rankings come out, because announcers all over the place seem to love USC after their easy victory over Nebraska, when it seems that Auburn should be next in line after beating a higher ranked opponent. Although Auburn should really be ashamed that they came within six yards of losing to a team that ran the same play fifteen times in a row on the final drive.

Speaking of seeing it coming, we should have seen Clemson coming from a mile away. Five of their last six losses came in some form of overtime, so they were due. And last week the Seminoles had trouble with Troy for crying out loud.

And if Free Shoes U. is struggling, what does that say about Miami? They were trounced by a team which was without Michael Bush, and for most of the second half, without Brian Brohm, who dislocated his throwing thumb and will be out for 3-6 weeks. Miami also wins the Cincinnati Karma Award by coming in and stomping on the midfield logo and then getting stomped on themselves. Louisville is now 2-0 when teams dance on their Cardinal, winning by a combined score of 101-14.

Don't tread on Hunter Cantwell.

Separating Reality From Made Up Marketing Slogans

2006-09-16T01:33:00.000-04:00

Yeah, the title's lame...but someone used "Separation Anxiety" already so I was stumped to come up with something. Here are some quick picks for the big day:

Nebraska at USC: Why is everyone going after Reggie Bush? Have we, as a country, run out of controversies regarding George Bush? USC won't need him today. Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett have a huge height advantage over anybody that Nebraska can throw out there.

USC 45 Nebraska 28

Texas Tech at TCU: Can the Aggies' defense match their offense? I like the Horned Frogs at home

TCU 31 Tech 27

Michigan at Notre Dame: Shark has saved the Irish's bacon a couple of times this season. I expect him to do it again.

Notre Dame 38 Michigan 16

Florida at Tennessee: At some point, Urban Meyer has to win on the road. I think it's today.

Florida 19 Tennessee 13

Miami at Louisville: Louisville's problems are physical. I fear Miami's problems are mental...and physical.

Louisville 17 Miami 7

LSU at Auburn: LSU, who's ranked sixth, is probably the most underappreciated team out there. It would be an affront to LSU to call this an upset.

LSU 26 Auburn 20

Oklahoma at Oregon: Adrian Peterson is a beast. But Jonathan Stewart might match him...and Oregon has more weapons.

Oregon 25 Oklahoma 19

Inadvertent Hiatus

2006-09-14T21:42:00.000-04:00

Sorry to both our readers for the long delay...I was busy trying to figure out how to gain the starting punter's job by stabbing our starter in the leg...I mean, I've been sick.

Fearing that Tim Tebow has gotten any ideas, Chris Leak has found a way to lock up his right arm in a chastity belt.

Meanwhile, Robert Johnson and Casey Dick have been throwing switchblades at Mitch Mustain's right arm.

Five of those switchblades were intercepted.

Rumble In The Sloppy Tropics

2006-09-05T14:57:00.000-04:00

I suppose we had our hint that we didn't really have to watch last night. But what fun would that have been?

Instead, it was fun not only to watch this game, but to watch the prophecies of young Nigel unfold.

Take into consideration if you will, the crux of Nigel's concern for "The U", written in anticipation of Monday night's game:

"What will happen here is going to be an epic battle of the Me-Firsts versus the Gimme-Gimmies. Everyone, it seems, has been sold on the idea of college football as the minor league of the NFL. I resist that notion...But more and more it appears to me, an outsider, that even the players are drinking that particular Kool-Aid, and what we're left with is Willie Williams demanding playing time now, people immediately referring to receiver Sam Shields as NFL-ready before he's stepped on the field, and the idea of star players staying until their senior season becoming as antiquated an idea as it is in the NBA."

You were more correct than you thought, Nigel. Consider that the running theme of the broadcast (other than the 18,000 camera angles provided by ESPN2 that ranged from everything to the coaches, the quarterbacks, and every hot dog vendor at the Orange Bowl...full circle indeed!") was the NFL readiness of players past and present from these two schools. Arizona Cardinal and former Hurricane Edgerrin James basically confirmed your fears as he was interviewed on ESPN, telling Holly Rowe that when you come to Miami, the mentality is three years and out, and everyone knows that.

But why would this attitude so obviously permeate Miami and not the Seminoles? You'd have to say that it has to have done so. Both teams entered last night's game with the same amount of seniors (fourteen), and at times, Florida State played just as sloppy and disinterested as Miami did.

I think because, and this was a theme touched on by the College Gameday guys before the game...the 'Noles had a little (maybe a lot) more pride than the U. Maybe Drew Weatherford is a "dud" as you say, Nigel. But he looked at film at all of his interceptions and realized that he made some horrible decisions. Last night, he made great decisions despite his 50 percent completion rate, and his only interception came on a great read by Brandon Meriweather.

And Gary Cismesia might be cursed. But after the horrifying events against Penn State in January's Orange Bowl, last night was set up for Wide Right IV. Perhaps if the winning kick had happened closer to the end of the game, we would have gotten our sequel. But Cismesia was two for two and while the memories of kicking debacles past haven't completely been forgotten, he certainly shoveled a little dirt on them.

Miami, meanwhile, was sloppy. The largest load of that was due to the excellent halftime adjustments made by Bobby Bowden and his coaching staff, keeping Kyle Wright on the run during the entire second half. Anthony Wollschlager's snap to an under center Wright while Wright was actually in the shotgun showed how rattled the FSU "D" made an impotent 'Cane offense in quarters three and four.

So last night was how Miami responded to getting waxed 40-3 by LSU. That's not good news for fans of the 'Canes. For the 'Canes themselves? For the ones who enrolled in the Miami program as an NFL minor league rather than a major college program? Is it good news for them? I'm not the one to speculate on that.

I'm sure someone will.

Over Before It Begins

2006-09-04T01:49:00.000-04:00

You know that you've missed something significant when you fall asleep at halftime of a game where Louisville is running all over Kentucky...and you wake up in the fourth quarter, and the star running back for Louisville is already on the crawl at the bottom of the screen because he's out for the season.

Michael Bush sees the success that Matt Leinart has in his senior season and decides to forego the NFL for the chance at a Heisman and a Big East title. And this is the thanks he gets. Shame. But Bush it seems took out a $2,000,000 insurance policy for this season according to the good folks calling the game on ESPN. Makes you wonder if a guy like Leinart did the same thing (I'd be surprised if he didn't).

I wonder if Bush would have even been in the game if Kentucky hadn't scored those two late first half touchdowns against Louisville. But because it was still a 17 point game, there's no way you can fault Bobby Petrino for keeping Bush in the game so there's no reason to wonder about that. But here's what I do wonder...if Kentucky scored 21 points off of Louisville's defense (including TD passes of 73 and 80), what , for example, West Virginia's offense going to do against them? And what will WVU's defense do against a team that has to depend on Brian Brohm more than ever now?

Smashing Premiere

2006-09-03T01:25:00.000-04:00

Random thoughts from week one so far...plenty on USC/Arkansas (because that's what's on right now), then to the rest of the week:

John David Booty has certainly impressed the hell out of me. Arkansas isn't chopped liver folks, and they were hanging in with last season's runner up for a good while. But Booty made sharp accurate throws to shred their secondary.

On the other side of that game: Mitch Mustain chucked an interception upon entering that game...but on the very next drive, he hooked up with his high school teammate Damian Williams on a 44 yarder pass, followed up by Mustain scoring on the QB draw. It was the second team USC defense...but still the USC defense that he beat fresh out of high school. Of course, Mustain threw another pick soon after that.
Finally...finally...a useful report from the sidelines. ESPN's Holly Rowe made a great catch by noticing that after both Mustain's TD drive and his second interception, neither first string QB Robert Johnson nor second string QB Casey Dick would say a word to him. I suppose you can't expect a high level of maturity out of college kids, but wow...All these guys have heard all off-season has been Mitch, Mitch, Mitch. No small wonder that the two older quarterbacks must feel like Jan and Cindy to Mustain's Marcia.
This could turn out to be a legitimate rivalry in two years. Between the maturation of Booty and Mustain, and the fact that Arkansas will keep the mental images of Booty throwing the ball up by 23 in the fourth quarter, this is going to eventually become a much more competitive game. Arkansas has plenty of good recruits on both sides of the ball to make future games fun.

And the rest of week one:

Colt McCoy was impressive, but seemed to rely on the talents of Limas Sweed to carry him past North Texas today. Next up? How will McCoy fare when he faces a pass rush and can't rely on the five yard curl?
I know it's not going to be like this every week, but how does Grambling and Hampton wind up on ESPN2, while other games involving top 25 teams wind up on ESPN360 and freakin' pay per view? I sense some conference commissioners are not too pleased this week.
That being said, Grambling and Hampton probably played the most entertaining game of the afternoon. Grambling State has the ball inside Hampton's 10 yard line and somehow doesn't score, Hampton then ties the game with under two minutes to go to force overtime. Hampton scores a TD to lead off OT,...Grambling State then matches the touchdown, but gets the extra point blocked to end the game. They don't call them the Worldwide Leader in Sports for nuttin', folks.
You can definitely tell that the Colorado Buffaloes have been cleaned up. Their good citizens can't even beat the Bobcats of 1AA Montana State!
Notre Dame? Many thought Georgia Tech could upset them, and they were almost right. The Irish are in the same position, to me, as West Virginia. Last season was a renaissance season for them and now they're on everyone's radar for the first time since Ty Willingham's second year. We know how that turned out.
If California is going to lay claim to having this great defense, it would be nice if they could tackle somebody, no?
Let's not forget Rutgers. They marched into Chapel Hill and held a supposedly high powered North Carolina offense to sixteen points. Could Ray Rice really win the Heisman? Could the most coveted individual trophy in college football end up in Piscataway? Yikes!
What formation, exactly, were the Chippewas running at the end of the game against Boston College?
If you haven't seen Jonathon Holland's catch against Nebraska, go on ESPN's website or You Tube or something. Of course, it was Louisiana Tech's only highlight today as they lost to Nebraska 49-10. How scary is Nebraska? Sam Keller is their scout team QB this season. Something tells me Bill Callahan is going to start looking a lot smarter.

One man's Heisman list:

Steve Slaton/WVU
Drew Tate/Iowa
Ray Rice/Rutgers

Just because.

Going Forward...And Looking Back

2006-08-31T02:06:00.000-04:00

Ivan Maisel has an interesting soapbox moment on ESPN.com. If the link confuses you, here it is:

"There's a lot of skepticism, bordering on condescension, about West Virginia. The Mountaineers went 11-1 last season. They beat SEC champion Georgia 38-35 in the Sugar Bowl. They have 15 returning starters, including a quarterback, sophomore Pat White, and a tailback, Steve Slaton, who are as good a one-two punch as there is in the nation.

And people all but hold their nose when they talk about them.

Look, the Mountaineers have an inexperienced defense. I can list plenty of reasons they won't repeat their success of a season ago (even though they do have a soft schedule). But I can give you plenty of reasons why a lot of teams won't be successful this year. It's that kind of season.

The disdain fans have for the Big East is palpable, and ridiculous where West Virginia is concerned. The last time the Mountaineers played, they beat the SEC champion. Some argued that Georgia didn't have a good night or that West Virginia would never survive a season full of an SEC or Big Ten schedule.

My guess is these are the same people who, on other days, complain that we need a playoff so the championship will be decided on the field.

West Virginia did achieve on the field. The Mountaineers should be accorded the respect that comes from the record they had last season. The offense should be lauded and/or feared, depending upon one's allegiance, for what it may achieve this season. If West Virginia falters, I will be the first to admit the Mountaineers are overrated.

But until then, West Virginia deserves to be taken seriously."

It's an interesting double standard that Meisel brings up. All the excuses in the world were used after West Virginia shocked the bejesus out of all of us by beating big bad Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. And considering that if that game had lasted five more minutes the Bulldogs might have won, some of those excuses might be legitimate. But hey, the Mountaineers used their smallish skill players on offense and took advantage of some matchup problems they saw, and that was that.

The problem now with West Virginia is that they can't hide anymore. Nobody, and I mean nobody took the Big East seriously all season long and as a result, thought Georgia was going to walk all over WVU. Perhaps, the Georgia players themselves didn't quite know what they were in for during that first half.

But just like Meisel says, West Virginia does in fact deserve to be taken seriously. And as the reigning champion of the Sugar Bowl, they will be. And therein lies the problem. The East Carolinas, Mississippi States, and Louisvilles of the world aren't going to come into a game with West Virginia thinking they can just throw their helmets on the field and win handily. Heck, even Connecticut with the right game plan and just enough juice from the home crowd could produce a fairly large upset.

Whenever an offense finds success with a new formation...or a new substitution pattern...or whatever, there's going to be a boatload of coaches staying up all night trying to find a defense that will stop it. You can bet that's what the Bobby Petrinos and Sylvester Crooms are doing right now. And if West Virginia drops one of those road games, that's why...not because last season was a fluke.

January: Not What It Used To Be

2006-08-28T01:15:00.000-04:00

So I see, dear Nigel, that you're not exactly psyched for that inevitable Champs Sports Bowl appearance that ESPN's Mark Schlabach has the 'Canes pegged for (versus Penn State, in case you were curious). There goes my Christmas present for you: A 2006 Champs Sports Bowl t-shirt featuring the 7th floor boys or whatever the resident rap group is called this year.

The fact that Miami, if Schlabach is correct (good luck, Mark) would be playing on December 29th, sharing the spotlight with a plethora of other bowl games (and if you're wondering why there's too many bowl games, consider that bowl games are "awarded" to eighth place conference finishers) shouldn't bother you as much as what I noticed today. (Not even SportsCenter's complete simulation of the 2006 college football season which went for two weeks and ended in a fictional playoff system didn't bother me as much as this.)

Do you realize, that you get a BCS game on January first (Rose), a BCS game on January 2nd (Orange), a BCS game on January 3rd (Sugar), followed by the International Bowl and the GMAC Bowl on January 6th and 7th?

Oh yeah baby! When I think College Football in January, I think Tulsa and Akron! I'm going to start marinating my GMAC Bowl chicken wings now!

How did exactly has this not registered with me until today?

I realize that television has become the Grand High Exhalted Mystic Ruler of everything that is team competition, and now that FOX has their grubby sport destroying hands on the BCS, Monday Night has been tabbed as the best night to hold a National Championship game...but you know USC and Texas had a little soiree on a Thursday night that did just fine, thank you very much.

And because FOX decided to fix what wasn't broken, we have a four day gap between the Sugar Bowl and the BCS Championship that's been unfathomably filled in by bowls awarded to MAC teams. You know in my day, January football used to mean something...like last year! Call me irrational, but I blame Jeanne Zelasko...I know her and her maternity outfits had something to do with this.

Well now that I know that all roads lead to Akron, I will set my DVR accordingly. In fact, after Akron plays Penn State this coming weekend, is there any other reason to watch college football the rest of the season? They will have practically written their ticket to the GMAC bowl, now a January bowl game...sticking out on that month's landscape like Keira Knightley at a Star Wars convention.

Tropical Depression

2006-08-15T10:29:00.000-04:00

Ok.
Focus.
Look at the keyboard and type. Even I can't read what I'm about to write.
FSU will probably beat the Canes in a couple of weeks.
There. I wrote it.

Here it is, Johnny, my belated response to last season's "call-out" along with a Hurricanes' 2006 Season guess-a-thon. In the newspaper biz they demand efficiency, and here's your two-for-one, double-gut-buster of a review and a preview.

To wit: the Hurricanes were slapped silly in 2005. Beat stupid. A loss to FSU wasn't just some kind of a fluke, it was a heartless, pathetic, effortless effort that served as an excellent barometer for what was to come.

Sure, no one would have guessed the LSU beatdown would bookend the season so perfectly, but suffice it to say, it doesn't take long to realize that what could have been a dynasty is now just a soulless bunch of players who don't care anymore.

Harsh? Maybe. Accurate? Certainly.

And no, it isn't just that the suspensions will rob the Canes of their top running back and a decent, if underachieving, reciever. It's much worse than that. Hell, I LOVE the idea of Brandon Meriweather firing shots during a home invasion. I wish he would've hit someone. It's the most heart I've seen or heard coming from these players in three years.

Blame the 2002 national championship "game" for stealing the momentum from what could have been One For The Other Thumb, but since that awful day, nothing's really gone right for this club.

Anyway, back to the game. FSU's not even that good this year. QB Weatherford's a dud, they've got holes in their running game and even with a tough defense, I'll still take my little sister to make a field goal over their cursed corps. No, what will happen here is going to be an epic battle of the Me-Firsts versus the Gimme-Gimmies. Everyone, it seems, has been sold on the idea of college football as the minor league of the NFL. I resist that notion, it's why I'm proud to write on this blog.

But more and more it appears to me, an outsider, that even the players are drinking that particular Kool-Aid, and what we're left with is Willie Williams demanding playing time now, people immediately referring to reciever Sam Shields as NFL-ready before he's stepped on the field, and the idea of star players staying until their senior season becoming as antiquated an idea as it is in the NBA.

Is it a glitz-and-glam Florida thing? Maybe. I'd have to ask SoCal folks what they think of their Trojans and Bruins, but I do know that since six (SIX!) Canes were taken in the first round of the 2004 draft, the glare of the limelight has me green around the gills.

Anyhow, I'm going to say a 10-2 season, a loss to FSU and one more slip along the way, either to Louisville or some other stupid team like Georgia Tech. The only inspired effort of the season will come in Game 9, against Virginia Tech, which will either precede or proceed a loss.

Yes, it is a bit depressing to think that this team really doesn't have a shot at the national championship, even though they're ranked as such. And it's not for lack of talent, nor is it even poor coaching. It's something worse. Something ingrained in these players' minds, it seems, that manifests itself on the field.

Can it be fixed?

Not this season.

Swamp Monkeys

2006-08-09T03:10:00.000-04:00

Poor Nigel.

What he's doing in an army base in Alabama I have no idea (it probably should be obvious, but Nigel isn't the army type...is he?) But at least he gets to watch some good football. Not only that, he'll get to watch good football without the aid of Jefferson Pilot (who knew they were that bad?)

The SEC is considered by many to be the best football conference in the country top to bottom. So of course there are many great teams to take a gander at. But here's the question I have, and it may be a stretch but stay with me: Even with a national title race which is wide open, why is nobody talking about the Florida Gators?

The chic and trendy pick for national champion darkhorse will of course be Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks. It probably should be since we are talking about Steve Spurrier here. But you wonder if there's going to be a step backwards for Spurrier's Gamecocks before they take two steps forward. Or at least I wonder. Will there be a bit of overconfidence after last season's wildly successful first season under the ol' ball coach?

For Florida, not only is Chris Leak all SEC, but if he falters, they have a back up that beat him in every category during their spring game in Tim Tebow. And while you say that it may not be a good sign that a supposed all-SEC QB was whupped by a guy straight out of high school, I ask: outside of LSU, where aren't there question marks at QB? Georgia is more unstable at the position than Florida is having lost D.J. Shockley, and Blake Mitchell is more ? than !, at least to start the season. I could certainly take my chances with Leak and Tebow.

The Gators' offensive line is young...too young at the guards with sophomore Jim Tartt and freshman Ronnie Wilson leading the way. And their running game reaks of question marks. But if somebody in the backfield (Kestahn Moore? DeShawn Wynn?) can provide some consistency in Urban Meyer's offense, there's no reason why Leak can't improve on last season's performance...since this will be his first off season where he didn't have to learn a new offense.

Also, is it really that preposterous that an offensive minded coach can ride a very good defense like Florida has to an SEC championship? Brian Billick, after all, did so for the Baltimore Ravens...and he did it with Trent Dilfer!

And look at the schedule for a second. At first glance, it's a tough one. But don't forget it's the tough schedules that are rewarded come BCS time. And most of their toughest games come at home. I'd certainly trade conference roadies at Tennessee, Auburn, and Vanderbilt to get home games against 'Bama, LSU, and Spurrier. And the other toughies on the schedule (Southern Miss, Central Florida) are both in the Swamp. So this tough schedule could actually favor the Gators if all goes well.

In a wide open race to finish in the top spot, there are many worthy candidates. The Gators, who I think can win the SEC, at least merit a mention.

Is Anyone Left?

2006-08-06T00:57:00.000-04:00

I for one am amazed that there's even going to be a college football season this year with all of the suspensions and academically ineligible players we heard about seemingly non-stop...once a day. Heck, as much as I want to explain my absence from this blog as an suspension or academic ineligibility, well I can't do that.

In the Big XII, the story is going to be more about who's not around than about who is around. For Texas, they will have to deal with not only losing QB Vince Young to the NFL, but running back Ramonce Taylor to academic and legal problems which in part caused him to transfer.

Their nearest competitor, Oklahoma, has their own problems...with Rhett Bomar and J.D. Quinn working those Sopranos-like jobs where they hardly show up. (Bomar, by the way, is looking to land on his feet at the powerhouse known as Texas A&M Commerce.

Then of course you have Colorado, who at one point suspended, like...ten players a day or something...but you can't really blame them, look what kind of a role model they had.

The temptation is to just pencil in the Longhorns for another Big XII title. But with QB recruit after QB recruit passing over Texas after seeing Vince Young practice, their plan B at QB might not be as solid as Oklahoma's option Paul Thompson. And that's saying a lot...Bob Stoops is putting on a brave face but they have to be worried about Thompson switching back to quarterback after months without so much as throwing a pass. But the big difference is that Oklahoma has Adrian Peterson in the backfield, and he's a running back with something to prove.

Unfortunately, he'll have to prove it against a Texas defense which will have seven returning starters, just like the offense. The Longhorns may not have national championship talent, but they should still have Big XII talent, and as long as they take care to realize that all eyes point to them, they should be able to get by their conference fairly comfortably. But watch that Longhorns/Sooners matchup in Norman on October 7th.

Careful What You Wish For

2006-07-18T21:21:00.000-04:00

As one of our former colleagues might have put it, it's hotter'n'a Times Square Rolex these days, and that means one thing: swamp ass.
But right along with that particular and unfortunate medical condition comes football season -- the unpaid kind (unless we're talking about Florida State, Ohio State, Florida, Miami, Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma...well, at least D-II players aren't making much).
So as we watch that unnamed colleague join up with Mark Cuban to report on the unfulfilled National Guard duty of Dick Bavetta, keep in mind that an Army base in Alabama is not exactly where you want to be. I know. I'm there.
That's right boys and girls, now you'll be hearing about Alabama and Auburn, as well as Alabama-and-Auburn (AKA the Iron Bowl)right there with more bitching about Miami and ol' Mizzou.
So hooray for the Deep South, where I hear football actually matters.
And to think, I was pissed about being stuck in the Midwest. Karma is a bitch.

Fighting Future

2006-04-21T18:39:00.000-04:00

Those still wondering whether Charlie Weis could channel his old New England Patriot magic into his recruiting can wonder no longer.

Weis has landed Oaks Christian star quarterback Jimmy Clausen, the younger brother of Tennessee QB's Rick and Casey. As is normally the case with younger brothers, many say that Jimmy could be the best of the three...

"Jimmy (6-3, 200) is believed to combine the best of his older brothers. Casey, never quite beloved on the Hill, was a fierce competitor who started 44 games in his collegiate career and went 34-10. He finished second on the Vols' all-time passing yardage list. Rick, the transfer from LSU, was the least physically gifted of the three, but he was a consensus-builder. He was the guy his teammates rallied behind, the heady player who had to use guile to beat you. Jimmy already has the strongest arm of the three. He also has tapped into the knowledge of the older two, often watching game tapes with them to discuss coverages and progressions."-Rivals.com

Some of the throws he's making right now, I couldn't do that until my junior year at Tennessee. -Clausen's older brother Casey Clausen

And now Notre Dame has him...no doubt to not only Brady Quinn's development as a quarterback, but the fact that he'll be leaving in a year, when Clausen will enter as a freshman and replace him. It's a different situation than existed in Clausen's first runner up, USC. They've got John David Booty and two other freshman battling for time this season. Throw in the fact that Weis has already recruited two mammoth offensive linemen, and it was an easy choice for Clausen.

And it was an easy choice for Weis, who now has a quarterback in tow that he isn't going to have to redshirt, as he would have if he had gotten say, Mitch Mustain. Clausen can now come in off of a year of game experience, and not a year of solely practice. Now we're sure that Notre Dame remains in the conversation for at least three or four years from right now. So far, Weis has earned his paycheck.

Bomar Beer Pong

2006-03-13T02:09:00.000-05:00

Looks like someone has been caught with his hand in the keg again.

For the second time in mere months, underage Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar was caught by an undercover cop drinking beer...this time at a New Orleans Hornets game. This followed an incident where a girl poisoned by alcohol led police to a party where Bomar was downing mixed drinks. The latest matter will be handled "internally" (which means Bomar will probably be given a good talking to on the merits of getting plastered in the privacy of your own home).

Here's the difference between college towns and big cities.

Bomar was busted this latest time by an undercover cop, who was sitting in the same section as Bomar. What undercover cop do you know that scans the stands looking for underage football players drinking beer? It certainly wouldn't happen in say...Los Angeles, where the cops were probably buying Matt Leinart his alcohol. Bomar, meanwhile, gets busted for not only being Rhett Bomar (because 20 year old Joe Schmo doesn't get caught sipping beer from a seperate cup as Bomar did), but because he's got a prior record and the OK city fuzz is on to him. It's almost as if the UC was dispatched to follow Bomar. Unbelievable.

Meanwhile, it will be fun to see Bomar turn into Joe Kane before our very eyes.

Youngderlic

2006-03-02T00:33:00.000-05:00

The members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team were asked to take a similar test to the now infamous "Wonderlic" test. As depicted in the movie "Miracle", hero goalie Jim Craig threw the test in the garbage. It wasn't until later in the movie when Brooks admitted to a slumping Craig "I don't want you to take the test, I want the goalie that wouldn't take the test."

Makes you wonder if Vince Young made the right move by bothering to take this here test.

Young, meanwhile, claims that a Texas booster mistakenly stole him the answers to 2005's Wonderlic test.

Spell "CAT":

c-a-t
c-a-t-t
k-a-t
41-38

For more of Wonderlic questions like these, take this quiz.

Hey Vince...CAN YOU SPELL YOUNG

2006-02-27T14:45:00.000-05:00

There is hot rumor circulating around football circles that Vince Young scored a “6” on the Wonderlic Test. Remember, the Wonderlic Test measures the mind. You simply have 12 minutes to answer 50 questions. Forget the arm strength, the dashing speed, the daunting body, and recognize that the boy may have scored a 6! If this rumor is true…do you change your thoughts on Young’s draft status and pro potential?

Over and out,

Socalstar

Who Quits Football To Focus On Architecture?

2006-02-17T01:24:00.000-05:00

Why, Joey Hiben does.

Hiben, who was slated to get more snaps at tight end for Notre Dame with the departure of Anthony Fasulo, and was highly recruited out of high school, is quitting the Fighting Irish football team to focus on, get this, architecture.

While I applaud anybody who would make a gutsy, heart following decision like this, I have to ask...architecture? Who recruited this guy...Ron Powlus or George Costanza?

Hiben hopes to run track for the school at some point while he pursues his primary dream of building the next Trump Casino. (Who says football is the primary way to riches?)

***

So former Heisman winner Eric Crouch hopes to follow in the footsteps of Doug Flutie, and has signed with the Toronto Argos of the CFL. It certainly has been a long strange trip for Crouch since leaving Nebraska. He was drafted by the Rams to play wideout, retired, tried out for the Chiefs and Packers, played safety with the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europe, and now goes to the CFL to return to his Heisman winning position and back up a 42 year old quarterback.

What's next? Crouch Crunch cereal?

Ryan Turns Over a New Leaf...and more

2006-02-16T21:44:00.000-05:00

Ryan Leaf was one of the biggest busts in recent times. However, Ryan has turned over a new leaf, as he as agreed to go back to the college ranks. Leaf, returned to football, joining Don Carthel's West Texas A&M staff as quarterbacks coach.

In other news, the former University of Nebraska star and 2001 Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch is taking snaps again. Guess who? The Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.

We wish these guys the best of luck.

Over and out,

SOCALSTAR

Changing Minds And Frivolous Lawsuits

2006-02-01T01:23:00.000-05:00

After today's signing day, everyone will rightly talk about the recruiting classes of Texas, USC, Georgia and Florida...rightly so. But when a program like Arkansas can get the number one QB in the nation, and then use that to steal a blue chip wideout from Florida (Damian Williams), it all of a sudden makes the SEC a more interesting league to watch...as if the SEC was boring...for the forseeable future.

London Crawford also spurned an SEC rival for Arkansas...the 6'3" receiver was headed to LSU until his latest switch. All Houston Nutt had to do was dangle playing time at Crawford to get him to switch...Arkansas' passing attack, as noted earlier, has been brutal. So good for Nutt and his sneakily sly recruiting ability. Now Nutt just has the tougher job to coach these guys to some SEC wins against the likes of Spurrier, Miles, and Meyer.

***

The origin of the 12th man for Texas A&M is a great story. But shame on the Aggies for waiting until the Seahawks' first ever Super Bowl appearance to sue them for copyright infringement for the use of the term "12th man". A&M only had since 1984 to do it.

The Worst and Most Boring 2 Weeks in Sports

2006-01-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

I love sports. I love playing, watching, talking and attending anything-and-everything that has to do with sports. However, one of the worst aspects of the sporting world are these very two weeks. These two weeks that begin with the end of the collegiate bowl season and end with the super bowl.

Socalstar

Would You Like To See This Billboard Go Up Near USC's Campus?

2006-01-22T01:55:00.000-05:00

If so, then visit this site.

Actually, they've already raised the money, so the billboard is going up. But any further donations go towards Hurricane Katrina relief, so you can actually contribut towards a great cause.

Razor Sharp

2006-01-19T01:55:00.000-05:00

Alex Mortensen might be wishing he had transferred to Georgia Southern.

It was nice for the Razorbacks to get the ESPN analyst's son back in the fold, but Arkansas got the quarterback they really wanted as Mitch Mustain verbally committed to the school for the second time in five months.

No doubt you know the crazy story behind the recruiting of Mustain, but this was huge for the Razorbacks. Along with Mustain, the Razorbacks have recruited two of his high school offensive teammates, tight end Ben Cleveland and wideout Andrew Norman...and Houston Nutt is hoping that these three can help out a pass offense that was 11th from the bottom in passing offense in all of Division 1A in 2005.

Unfortunately, Mustain's signing couldn't change the mind of another teammate, Damian Williams, who has verbally committed to Florida, and is ranked 99th by rivals.com

Some Things You Might Have Missed

2006-01-15T18:29:00.000-05:00

Florida quarterback/receiver Gavin Dickey gives up football for baseball.

He may have more successful in baseball anyway, but you think that the recent signing of Tim Tebow combined with Chris Leak's increased understanding of Urban Meyer's offense had a play in Dickey's decision?

Reggie Bush comes out only after assurances he would be the number one pick.

You would be surprised how often this happens. In fact rumor has it that if Bill Parcells had assured that Peyton Manning would be the number one pick in 1997, Peyton Manning might have come out a year early and had been a New York Jet instead of an Indianapolis Colt. But Parcells would not give any assurances to a college player, Manning stayed in school, and the Jets traded the pick.

Wyatt Sexton leaves Florida State football team after his year long bout with lyme disease.

God has left the building.

Alex Mortensen changes his mind about transferring from Arkansas, and Houston Nutt takes him back.

Chris Mortensen has a kid?

The mass exodus from USC is in full swing.

As crippling as losing their entire backfield is, USC losing offensive linemen Fred Matua and Winston Justice might be just as devastating if not more. In truth, they made the offense go as much as anybody. And when a defense as mediocre as SC's loses an All-American, that side of the ball becomes nothing more than a swinging gate. Trojan fans can now officially start to worry.

WHITE HEADS FOR THE GREEN

2006-01-11T11:09:00.000-05:00

It looks like LenDale White is off to the National Football League. Clearly, BUSH will go higher but I am still beating the LenDale White drum. Again, White is bigger, stronger, and better suited for the rough-and-tough NFL.

USC will miss nearly a million yards, a billion touchdowns, and the ability to make each and every offensive sequence a touchdown threat.

USC does return a handful of offensive stars. Booty is ready to take over for Heisman Matt and don't be suprised to see back-to-the-backup Mark Sanchez taking snaps at QB. Two studs in Sanchez and Booty.

The wideouts from Patrick Turner to Smith to Jarrett are all studs.

The back position could be filled by a myriad of guys. Too bad Socal stud Chauncy Washington can't read or write, the stud high school back has been academically ineligible for two seasons.

Look for incoming recruits to compete.

Over and out,

SOCALSTAR

Your Marcus Vick Crime Of The Day:

2006-01-10T01:04:00.000-05:00

Apparently, Marcus Vick flipped out when he didn't get the extra Chicken McNugget.

Get Used To This Sight?

2006-01-08T17:33:00.000-05:00

Looks like Vince Young is off to the races.

What does this mean?

Well with three seniors leaving on the offensive line, it was probably smart in retrospect for Vince to leave. His value could only go down from here on in.

He'll get to start right away if he goes to the Saints as I have fearlessly predicted (of course I also thought that the spectre of the Saints would keep him in school so what do I know?) The downside? It's the Saints.

But as long as he's prepared for that, he made the correct choice. I'm sure Longhorns fans aren't going to hold a grudge after the way he ended his college career.

The New Class

2006-01-08T01:51:00.000-05:00

For those who missed it, yesterday was the U.S. Army All-American Game in San Antonio, and there were a handful of commitments made during the game.

But there are still two interesting names from the all star game that are still out there to be had.

The Parade Magazine player of the year, QB Mitch Mustain, was originally headed to Arkansas. But then the man that recruited him, quarterbacks coach Roy Wittke, was fired. This pissed off Mustain to the point where he backed off. In a bit of damage control, Arkansas hired Mustain's high school coach, Gus Malzahn, as the Razorbacks' offensive coordinator.

Hasn't recruting gotten mighty silly?

It has reached so much of a frenzy in Arkansas, you wonder if it wouldn't be the best thing for Mustain to go to a school far far away...perhaps a school who's rebuilding at quarterback anyway.

And then there's Michael Goodson.

Goodson apparently woke up this morning with every intention of committing. But then, at the last minute...and I mean the very last minute...no. It seems as if it's between Oklahoma State and Texas A&M for his services, with USC a longshot third option. Goodson verbally committed to OSU but then de-committed. Of course, Goodson wowed the crowd at San Antonio with a long catch and run in the fourth quarter of the U.S. Army game which was Barry Sanders-ish.

The plot thickens.

VT Makes The Right Move

2006-01-08T01:29:00.000-05:00

I applaud the VT administration for putting their foot down. Vick had tons of help, support, resources and opportunities to stay at VT. I am tired of athletic departments putting the ATHLETE before the student. I am not saying what VT did will curtail the present culture of collegiate sports. However, it sure a baby step in the right direction.

Socalstar

Just Movin' On To The Next Level, Baby!

2006-01-07T02:25:00.000-05:00

Update: Marcus Vick is using his permanent suspension from the Hokies as an excuse to turn pro, and put an exclamation point on it with this quote.

Way to teach Marcus a lesson. I'm sure he's crushed.

No really, how exactly do you expect him to react when you coddle him for three years, and then dismiss him when he's going to turn pro anyway?

Maybe I should change my surname to Vick so I can take advantage of said name to get into trouble and not feel any repercussions until it's too late.

Blame for everybody. And make it a double.

Tech Housecleaning

2006-01-06T17:41:00.000-05:00

Michael, Michael, Michael!

That's probably what Marcus Vick, the Jan Brady of Virginia Tech football, is walking away mumbling as he kicked off the team today. Interesting decision from Frank Beamer and AD Jim Weaver, considering that Tech has had a recent history of not being the strictest distributors of justice. So now Beamer and Weaver make an example of a guy who was even money to go the the NFL anyway.

But the flip side of the coin is that Marcus had to pull off something criminal to get this kind of treatment from the program. Recently getting caught doing 38 in a 25 zone might not be that big a deal, but combine that with his impression of "Stomp" on Elvis Dumervil, and his past problems distributing alcohol to underage girls, pot, and reckless driving, and all of a sudden, enough was enough.

In a related story, Marcus Vick and Maurice Clarett will be opening a Wendy's at the Dolly Madison rest stop off I-95 in the summer after Vick gets drafted and cut by the Jets in the fourth round.

***

So Vick gets chucked, Larry Coker fires his assistants (including a guy who's been at the university since the 70's) and Devin Hester is leaving for the pros. Could this be the start of a "Big East to ACC curse"? I would watch my back if I made residence in Chestnut Hill. (Also, a good read on Vick, Miami, and for good measure Notre Dame here.)

***

Wondering what the top teams will be next year? A couple of national columnists are already forecasting the rankings in Top 25 form, and in Top 10 form. Of course, this all changes before another ball is snapped when all these guys turn pro, but what the hey. (Check where each columnist places Cal.)

Also, a good read on what USC faces to return to the top. John David Booty is the heir apparent to Leinart, and it will be interesting to see what happens at the tailback position as Hershel Dennis returns from injury and there are three blue chippers (Stafon Johnson of Los Angeles, C.J. Gable of Sylmar, Calif., and Emmanuel Moody of Coppell, Texas are the backs being recruited) the Trojans are trying to bring to the fold. But as long as that offensive line returns (and by all accounts they all will), the Trojans will be more relevant than people think. And there are still a lot of underclassmen on defense with room to improve. This is shaping up to be a transition year for them, and 2007 will be the year that the Trojans make a serious run for the championship.

To Be Young And...

2006-01-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

It's funny how in this season where you had more bad teams in the NFL than at any time in recent memory (parity...HA!) that the teams involved participated in what was called "The Reggie Bush Sweepstakes".

It is also funny how one college football game changes all that.

So the question now, of course, is should Vince Young declare himself eligible for the NFL draft? The answer, of course, is that Vince Young should do whatever is in his heart and his mind. There will be images of Texas/Ohio State III next January for the title, and about a Longhorn win streak that will approach the plateau reached by USC. Young could very well pull a Matt Leinart, knowing that there is history to be made, and with a second BCS title, they would actually win more undisputed hardware than the Trojans won during their run. There's also one more year of fine Texas co-eds to think about as well (whether he indulges or merely window shops). And there's nothing wrong with that.

There's also the fact that if he declares, and he does indeed become a Houston Texan, he could spend next season backing up David Carr in 2006, rather than playing and trying to lead the Longhorns to back-to-back titles. That's something he has to think about as well.

But not only is the lure of cash out there for Vince, but there also is the fact that Vince Young is ready to enter his profession. Any one of us...anybody...would leave college in a second if they were in the same class and ability as Vince Young in our profession. The difference is that you're not performing micro-biology or trading stocks at the 50 yard line of the Rose Bowl on ABC, so nobody is going to pressure you to stay in school. So whatever Vince Young does I trust will be the right decision for him.

But I'm going to look at this from the pro perspective for a second.

The Houston Texans have David Carr at quarterback. They also have Domanick Davis at tailback. We all know that their problems are at the offensive line anyway. The difference here to me, is that if Charlie Casserly drafts Young, either David Carr goes, or Young sits behind Carr for a year. If Casserly drafts Reggie Bush, nobody necessarily has to go anywhere. Davis can still be a feature back with Reggie Bush on the team. Bush's versatility can line him up anywhere, whether it's in the slot, at the wide out, even alongside Davis for certain plays in the pro set offense. This would probably offset some of the rush that Carr sees game in and game out. So for me, the smarter pick for Houston is still Reggie Bush.

But here is what's happening now...Texans fans are lighting up the switchboard in a provincial frenzy screaming for Casserly to use his pick on Young and keep the Texan in Texas. So from a marketing and ticket selling standpoint, this might force Houston to make a decision that isn't totally predicated on the health of the football team on the field. Provinciality in this case is a bit dangerous. For example you need look no further at the Texans dreadful offensive line. There are a few who believe that Steve McKinney holds the job at starting center, or at least gets more benefit of the doubt, because he's an Aggie of Texas A&M. Now I don't mean to blast McKinney here, but that offensive line is the Houston weak point, and decisions as to who plays there, or anywhere, should not be made on where you played your college ball.

Texan fans should realize that Reggie Bush is a pretty gosh darn good player as well as Vince Young. Fans who are taking part in the canonization of Young also seem to want to blast Bush in the process. And that's simply not fair.

Now let's look at who has the second pick: The New Orleans Saints. The absolute correct pick for the Saints without one shadow of a doubt is Vince Young. Their hole at quarterback was gaping with Aaron Brooks. Now that he's gone it's simply gargantuan. And throw in the fact that you have a team that has had their fan base eroded by not only the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina, but by the antics of owner Tom Benson. Vince Young would provide the New Orleans Saints with a much needed jolt of excitement...a huge reason to make the Saints relevant again. The choice of Reggie or Vince is a tough one for the Texans, but for the Saints? It's a no brainer.

So at this point in the analysis that may be pointless when it is all said and done, I take you back to the 2001 draft when the Chargers who had the number one pick and traded it to Atlanta for another mobile quarterback you might have heard of. In return, the Chargers received the 5th pick which they used on an elusive running back you might have also heard of. The Chargers also recieved two other draft choices (Tay Cody and I believe it was Reche Caldwell), Tim Dwight, and also drafted Drew Brees in the second round as a result of the trade. Not bad, eh?

If the Texans were to make a similar trade, say: number one to New Orleans for number two and a myriad of draft choices to use on offensive linemen galore, and still get the chance to draft Reggie Bush, you still think Texan fans would be disappointed at not being able to grab hometown favorite Vince Young? Well they might be, but they shouldn't be. And I think when the euphoria of the Rose Bowl wears off, Texan fans will understand that. But will the possibility of being drafted by the Saints keep Vince Young in school? Don't be surprised if it does. And for that reason, my fearless prediction is that Vince Young will wind up staying in school for one more season.

Living Up, And Giving It Up

2006-01-05T01:52:00.000-05:00

It's always hard to live up to uber-hype. This was the most anticipated college football game since the BCS system came into existance. And it was extrordinary. It had everything. And it's hard for a lowly blogger like myself to do it justice with mere words, when the pictures and the videotape will live on for years and years.

And Vince Young? What on earth can you say? He's the ultimate one man wrecking crew...a beast. Seven touchdowns in two Rose Bowls plus 467 total yards of offense in the national championship game equal perhaps the greatest big game performer that the Grandaddy has ever seen...and that's saying a lot. You could see it in Young's face at the podium after the Heisman Trophy celebration that Vince put himself...as Elwood Blues would say "on a mission from God".

Well maybe not God...A mission from Brown? In any event, I for one hope Vince Young comes back. Because if he does, the countdown to Texas in next year's national championship game can begin.

But in my humble opinion, the Trojans gave this one away.

It doesn't take a genius (or a blogger) to note that the turning point of the game was Reggie Bush's lateral. Keith Jackson said it best when he noted that the poor chap who Reggie was trying to lateral the ball to didn't expect to get it. If you're on the same team as Reggie Bush, and he has the ball, would you expect to get a lateral? And would you expect a lateral after a run that long? Why? Bush didn't do things like that all year...in fact his entire career! Why oh why would he start now?

But after the Trojans' offense came out in the second half and went bang, bang, bang, Bush's ill advised lateral could have been overcome. I stand by that USC's offense, as a whole, is the greatest the sport has ever seen from the inside out. Two thousand yard rushers, a thousand yard receiver, a nine-hundred yard receiver, and a 3,450 yard passer don't happen in the same season by accident. An eleven man offensive unit has to execute perfectly to attain the success that they've had. Their offensive line gets no pub, but they make it all happen for everybody. And if the game had came down to the Trojan offense in the end, then the USC triple title would have been a reality.

Instead in the end, the game came down the Trojan defense, and their coaching.

The fourth and two. Second blown fourth and short of the game. Would I have punted? Yes. But Pete Carroll made his decision and he has to live by it, so fine, I won't get on him for making the decision that he made. But...if you have the greatest offense in college football, why on the most important play of the season, a fourth and one with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, why do you have the Heisman winner on the sidelines? Yes, LenDale White is your short yardage guy. Yes, you were going to give him the ball. But if Reggie Bush is on the field...mediocre game (for Reggie Bush) or not...he gives the Texas defense another option to think about. Then, you have to worry about a fake to White and a backhand pitchout to Bush on the outside to end the game. Instead, the defense got to key in on LenDale and make a great play to dominate the line and stop him.

So Texas gets the ball. The Trojan defense blitzes on first and second down and it neutralized Young. Then the face mask penalty just kills 'em. Would Vince Young have converted if there was a fourth down in that part of the field? Yeah, probably. But it would have been harder in that part of the field than the red zone. And after that, the game was over. Because if you have a choice to put your chips behind Vince Young, or the Trojan defense...for one play...you pick Vince Young. Heck, for a thousand plays...you pick Vince Young. Carroll goes went to seven DB's to try to neutralize Vince's passing, so he runs through them. Carroll goes big? Young finds wide open receivers. Vince Young can't be stopped. And if he comes back, he won't be stopped next season either for Texas and Ohio State in the 2007 National Championship game.

***

Unsung hero of the game: He'll never get due credit in the shadow of Vince, but Texas TE David Thomas got open, made big catches, and gained big first downs by running over people. He was an integral part of the offense in the first half.

***

Note to...well, everyone, but specifically this time to the Longhorns: Stop with this "We were disrespected...nobody gave us a chance" nonsense. Plenty of people had picked you to win. Stop it. It wasn't Texas against the world. You may have conditioned yourself to believe that to get yourself up for the game (and if that's the case there's something wrong). But now that the game is over, just stop it. And that goes for every number two team in every future national championship game, ever. Because if USC won, we would have heard how too many people gave them a chance, disguised as "we had a bulls-eye on our chests all season", which is equally sickening. So once again, stop it. You are the champs. Everyone loves you now. Stop it.

***

So what's the most ironic part of all this? Is that the state of Texas not only wins the National Championship over Reggie Bush, but the state of Texas will more than likely win Reggie Bush himself.

***

So I've tried to get Matty Kaplan to overcome his fear of opinions and blog for months now. And all that money sunk into therapy has paid off as SoCal's first blog was not only smart, but prophetic (but who is George Zicarelli anyway?) as LenDale White scored three touchdowns. Of course, Matt's first entry comes as the season ends, but I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that we look forward to Matt's in-depth analysis of the Hula Bowl and of Oberlin's spring practice. I for one, can't wait.

***

All and all, what a great bowl season. From Brandon Breazell's two onside kicks to Travis LaTendesse's four touchdowns to the Michigan debacle to Laura Quinn (shameless attempt to gain more hits to the site) to Jeff Samardzija (ditto) to Ted Ginn all the way up to tonight, this bowl season will be hard to top.

White Proves Kaplan Correct

2006-01-05T01:30:00.000-05:00

LenDale White: Rose Bowl Stat Line Prove Kaplan's Genius and Confirm First Post

20 rushes for 124 yards, average 6.2 per carry, 3 touchdowns!

Socalstar

LenDale White Some Love

2006-01-04T01:52:00.000-05:00

Show LenDale White Some LOVE!

LenDale White, behind 1,178 yards and 21 touchdowns, deserves the hype of his backfield colleague, Mr. Reggie Bush. You can’t rush for nearly 2,000 yards, a bucketful of touchdowns, pump out potential back-to-back-to-back national titles, and help lead a team to 32 consecutive #1 spots in the AP and not be considered one of the greatest players in college football! You have got to kidding me when you say he is not "NFL Ready!"

Do not get me wrong. Bush is a great player. But, Bush gets all the ink, the press loves his glistening pearly whites, his chiseled photogenic body, and his myriad of highlights that require motion sickness medicine to be digested before viewing. Hell, when I visited USC, even STRAIGHT girls loved BUSH! In doing so, he has overshadowed White.

There is no question that Bush can blow by collegiate linebackers, shake his tale feather in the open field, and find Tommy-The-Trojan in the end zone. A potential problem lies in Bush barely tipping the scales at 200 pounds and standing 6-feet.

His quick illusive Cinderella feet may not find the glass slippers in the bigger, faster, and stronger NFL, as he found in PAC-10 defenses. The NFL will give him problems. Everyone is fast in the NFL. Everyone is strong in the NFL. Defensive veterans and coordinators will see through the illusive playbook that Norm Chow and Lane Kiffin engineered to allow the smaller Bush to produce gross numbers, like a George Zicarelli Sotherby Wine Auction.

Sure, you can point to Faulk and Sanders as potential examples of small backs that made it work. But, there is no guarantee that Bush will get a sturdy offensive line in NFL. This will present major problems for twinkle-toes to get into the open field. Therefore, impeding his chances of putting up top pick numbers.

White is bigger and stronger. White is a solid 6’2 and 240 pounds. White loves to crack helmets and buck linebackers. His versatility and quickness allow for dangerous dashing cuts. White, unlike Bush, has the body to hit and the speed to dance. White’s combination of speed, size and physical nature earn him a greater rating in my prospect rankings. If I am a GM, White clearly provides more bang for the buck.

Over and out,

Socalstar

An Exclusive Club

2006-01-04T01:38:00.000-05:00

It's January 4th, 2006...and there's a knock at the door at the old broken down frat house at the side of the road...where a uniformed attendant answers the door to greet a young man with an old equiptment bag.

UA:"Hello?"

GC:"Um, hi...my name is..."

UA:"Yes, you're Gary."

GC:"Um, how did you know?"

UA:"We've been expecting you. Come on in and grab a chair."

(So young Gary grabs the striped chair in front of the television, where USC is battling Texas. The uniformed attendant offers him a soft drink and Gary says yes. As the attendant walks away, he is approached by a slight figure...)

XB:"Gary?"

GC:"Yes..."

XB:"Hi, welcome to the club. We've been expecting you."

GC:"Club...what club?"

XB:"This, my friend, is probably the most exclusive club in the history of our great sport, and you are a member."

GC:"Member of what?"

XB:"The Wide Club."

GC:"Wide Club? Is it anything like the Mile High Club?"

XB:"I'm afraid it's nothing like that."

And with that, another gentleman, in his mid-30's, approaches the television area.

DM:"Hi Gary, welcome...we've been waiting for some new blood and it's good to have you."

GC:"Wait, what do you mean new blood? And who are you?"

DM:"My name is Dan...and I see you met X."

GC:"I did...tell me Dan, why does X look so familiar to me?"

XB:"See Dan, someone remembers me!"

DM:"Of course he does...that's because he's been destined to be here."

GC:"But why? Why am I destined..."

DM:"You see, you're the latest member of the Wide Club. We've all cost Florida State a big game with a kick that went wide."

GC:"Wait...I know who you are! You're Xavier Beitia! You blew it against Miami in, what...2001?

XB:"2002. Forty three yards...had a chance to end Miami's 28 game winning streak. It wasn't my fault though...the holder went back too far and the snap was lower than it should have been."

GC:"And you...you're Dan Mowrey!"

DM:"That's right. 1992, missed a 39 yarder against those same Hurricanes. People still call me 'Wide Right', and I punch 'em all in the mouth."

GC:"Wasn't there a guy before you Dan?"

DM:"Ssshhhhhh! He's over there in the corner." (Gary looks towards a gentleman sitting with his legs folded, practicing his paper football kicks, shivering.)

GC:"Isn't that..."

DM:"Yup. Gerry Mowrey."

GC:"Oh boy, he looks awful!"

DM:"Yes he does. Hasn't discussed his kick since. Refuses to. He's the founder and charter member of this club 'ya know."

GC:"Wow. Wait, wasn't there one more..."

(And with that, another gentleman comes into the room with bags of potato chips and six packs of Schlitz)

MM:"Hey guys...is the new kid here yet?"

DM:"Yup, sitting in the commisssioner's chair."

GC:"Hey aren't you..."

MM:"Hi Gary, I'm Matt Munyon."

GC:"I remember you! You missed the forty-nine yarder against Miami in 2000!"

MM:"Yeah, October 7th. Never forget it...hey guys, this kid's going to make a great ambassador for our club. Gary, you don't know how excited we were watching your game, knowing we were getting a new member!"

GC:"Wait a minute? Ambassador? But I'm the new kid...anyway, I don't belong here! I never missed against Miami in the fourth quarter...in fact I hit my field goal attempt against Miami this season."

DM:"Yes, but you see, like we've said, we've all missed big field goals to lose games. But you...you've done us all one, no...two better. You missed an extra point against Penn State that cost your team a regulation victory...and two field goals in overtime!"

GC:"Oh come on though...I hit the game tying field goal in the fourth...that's more than you guys got to do in crunch time!"

XB:"Yes, but the field goal in the first overtime went wide ri..."

(Beitia hits the floor as Mowrey punches him in the mouth.)

DM:"Oh sorry X, force of habit."

MM:"And don't forget the one that hit the upright in overtime number three."

GC:"Come on, Kevin Kelly was every bit as bad as I was...he missed two winners."

DM:"Yeah, but so did you...and he hit the winner in the third OT. You lost."

GC:"No...this can't be. So now what? I mean, I'm in the club, what do I do?"

MM:"Chips and beer. That's about it. And the TV plays an endless loop of 'The Program' and Burt Reynolds movies...unless there's bowl games on."

XB:"Yeah, but Fridays are paper football night...that's a lot of fun! Goggles are required though."

DM:"I've been meaning to discuss that...we have to find a way to institute a mercy rule...these games last too long."

MM:"Hey, who's coming to watch the second half of this thing?"

DM:"Well Billy should be here any minute, and Steve is bringing a six foot Italian hero.

GC:"Billy? Steve? Who are they?"

MM:"Why Buckner and Bartman of course."

GC:"Wait a minute...I have two seasons left! I can redeem myself, no?"

DM:"Oh young Gary, there is no redemption. You earned your place here. You're place is secure. Embrace it...and get comfortable."

Happy New Years...Observed

2006-01-03T01:20:00.000-05:00

It's strange when Christmas and New Year's falls on a weekend. Everything is very subdued...you don't really get a day off for the actual holiday. You get the dreaded "observed" day off, which means that some people don't really get it. And it also means that the New Year's Day Bowls get bumped to January 2nd. Just plain weird.

Speaking of weird...

This is why I should stop making stupid predictions. If I was motivated enough to give my half baked prediction on the Sugar Bowl in the past week, I would have given West Virginia no chance. None. Zero. Well, I wouldn't say I would have given West Virginia no chance...I would have given the whole Big East all-star team no chance.

Actually, now that I look back, I did kind of make a prediction, and I was harsh. I was also wrong. Dead wrong. I have no problem admitting it. Because anyone who in their right mind would pick West Virginia to beat UGA...in Atlanta no less...is either a family member, a West Virginia resident, or just plain kooky. They would have also however, been correct.

The Mountaineers won the Sugar Bowl 38-35 on the strength of the perfect quarter. Georgia obviously believed the press, and started the game not taking West Virginia seriously (would you?) And WVU took advantage with a 28-0 lead as the deadly combination of timely turnovers, perfect execution on the offensive line, and waterbug like quickness from guys like Pat White and Steve Slaton tore down the myth of the bigger, harder hitting Georgia Bulldogs.

Don't blame D.J. Shockley for Georgia's meltdown. He was outstanding in this game running (62 yards) and throwing (277 yards). But turnovers, and the defense's inability to stop White and his quarterback draws killed the 'Dawgs. And with that, the Mountaineers not only won this one for the entire state, but for the entire conference, which was ridiculed as a conference that didn't deserve a BCS berth by, well...me.

And then, the fake punt...on the swinging door formation that caused two straight false starts during the third quarter. I almost thought that the first false start called gave away a fake punt as Phil Brady started rolling to his right on the play before I realized that that's the way he actually punts...on a rollout! But Georgia still couldn't stop Brady when he dashed up on, of all things, a 4th and 5 with all of the momentum going the way of UGA and his bulldogs. That's guts.

And that's playing to your roster's strength, instead of arrogantly fitting strengths into your system as so many other coaches seem to do. And that's why Rich Rodriguez deserves all the credit in the world for getting his team ready to play and execute the game plan to perfection. And although the rankings say that this wasn't an upset of enourmous preportions, and there will be no Jerry Bruckheimer films made out of this game, the Mountaineers certainly climbed that mountain tonight in the Bulldogs backyard on behalf of the entire beleagured Big East.

***

Other observations:

I'm convinced Urban Meyer is fast on his way to becoming Spurrier Jr. Florida's Billy Latsko converted on the first gutsy fake punt of the day...on a fourth and two at their own 17 while up by ten. I loved the look on Meyer's face after the play...that little smirk that was very, shall we say, Darth Visor-esque. You say you can't hate Urban Meyer like you hate Steve Spurrier? Give it time young Skywalker, give it time.

Boy that winning kick by Jamie Christensen for Alabama in today's Cotton Bowl was a duck of the quackiest proportions. But wow it's refreshing to see a college football kicker who doesn't wilt under pressure. Christensen has come through all season long, so why should today be any different?

The most impressive performances of the day, to me, was by Ohio State receivers Ted Ginn and Santonio Holmes. Ginn, whom I've always thought was underused for his talent in '05, was merely being saved for the biggest game of the year...easily his best of the season receiving, with 73 rushing yards kicked in for good measure. And Holmes was brilliant outside of celebrating at the 10 yard line on his touchdown. But their finest moment came on the clinching late TD by Antonio Pittman, as they both held their blocks near the line of scrimmage to free Pittman to seal it. These three, along with the equally brilliant Troy Smith, set the Buckeyes up for a championship run next season provided they all come back.

I would have had something smart and insightful to say about Virginia Tech's victory over Louisville if I had seen any of it. I'm sorry to say I missed a 22 point fourth quarter by Marcus Vick and company to win the Gator Bowl.

And I would be remissed if I didn't mention Barry Alvarez's final game, a 24-10 victory over Auburn in the Citrus Bowl. Alvarez, by all accounts, is one of the classiest coaches ever to roam the sidelines...unwavering in his commitment to academics, while building a moribound football program from the ground up into a tradition filled winner.

Run Mo, Run!

2006-01-02T02:22:00.000-05:00

I guess a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do when he's been cut by the Broncos and in need of cash.

I'm not going to pretend to know what's going on inside that cranium of Maurice Clarett. There are people that write for this here little blog that can give you a better idea than me, and I'm not sure they can do it. But here's what bothers me regarding Clarett:

This is a young man who, smartly or not so smartly, had the world of college football and the NFL by the cajones...challenging the status quo and forcing people to overview stale and understood policies regarding eligiblity, and basically turning the world of football upside down. Did he ever have a chance to change the underclassmen rule? You bet he did.

But then after the decision went against him, what does he do? Well after he (and his mom) lobbies to everybody with words that Maurice Clarett and his ilk are deserving, worthy and ready candidates to take the next step, he goes out and shows by his actions that he and those who follow him are not ready. Because he's now the example. And he could have set an excellent example...even after the fact that he was cut by the Broncos...in showing mental maturity beyond his years and paving the way for others who want to follow in his path.

Instead, those that follow in Maurice's path will be caught first by the Columbus cops.

Greek-Gate

2006-01-01T02:55:00.000-05:00

I see someone's been saving this one for a very special occasion.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram is reporting an internal USC investigation involving possible recruiting violations by former USC football player John Papadakis. Apparently the almuni gives a yearly speech to USC recruits at his restaurant even though former players are prohibited from speaking to recruits.

The article also says that Papadakis called 2004 recruit Jeff Byers a "dumbass" if he didn't go to USC.

Great. The most anticipated bowl game in college football in years and years and years, and it's integrity is jeopardized over Souvlaki and Baklava. Reported by a Texas newspaper no less. Strange coincidence, no?

Crunch!

2005-12-31T00:51:00.000-05:00

Well that was one that Marcus Spears would have been proud of.

One team showed up to the 2005 Peach Bowl, and one team did not...plain and simple. Who showed up to the skirmish at the end of the game? That's debatable. But as for the game, it was won by LSU's dominance at both interiors. They had some good old fashioned outside rushes on defense, and some smashmouth, in your face blocking on the offensive side. Joseph Addai had 130 yards rushing and a receiving touchdown, backup QB Matt Flynn threw for two TD's in place of Jamarcus Russell, and the LSU offense had 301 total yards at the half...which bested the Miami defense's average yards given up in a game by 50.

So is this more of a damnation of Miami than it is a credit to LSU? Some would say yes and I will let them do so (cough...Nigel...cough!) But I instead will focus on the fact that only a team as well coached as this could have laid such a smackdown on a team ranked one spot above them. The fact that this game was won from the inside-out is a credit to Les Miles and his staff. It's also a credit to the whole program that they could end this campaign on such a high note after the way Hurricane Katrina affected their routine. LSU is probably the most beloved team in the state, with Tom Benson and the New Orleans Saints a distant second. So this win means a bit more than usual to the people of Louisiana.

If the Tigers can find some viable options to replace the seniors that will leave holes on both the offensive and defensive lines (not to mention Skyler Green at wideout), LSU will be in the conversation once again for the BCS title game next season.

Meanwhile for Miami, I throw down the first gauntlet for the most talented writer on the board; Nigel Duara after his beloved Hurricanes suffered the worst bowl loss in their history: Has Larry Coker become college football's version of George Seifert? Talk amongst yourselves.

***

Gopher runner Laurence Maroney apparently has his eye on turning pro after his team's loss to Virginia. This means that next year's lethal Gopher backfield tandem will be Gary Russell and Newark N.J.'s own Amir Pinnix, who will be a junior in 2006 after being redshirted in 2003. A name to remember...

Bush Lite

2005-12-30T17:29:00.000-05:00

The player who most affected a college football game this season was obviously Reggie Bush. I'm thinking of the Fresno State game in particular, but you can look at Notre Dame, Washington, or just about any game on SC's schedule where even the bad plays by Reggie Bush (though few) made definite impact in the game.

The '05 Music City Bowl contained a performance by Cavalier quarterback Marques Hagans that puts him second on this list.

His rocket arm passes down the middle of the field in the second half, helped along by Al Groh and his coaching staff's halftime adjustments to get receivers open, made the difference in Virginia's 34-31 victory over Minnesota. The whole world knew that Hagans had to be the man to make the difference...so much so that Hagans even attempted to return a punt in the second half. Not a wise decision as he fumbled the punt away which led to a Gopher touchdown...and Hagans' pick late in the fourth in Cavalier territory could have been the dagger if Minnesota's offense could have gained more than three yards on the ensuing possession.

But Hagans proved himself today to be a talent of significant proportion. And he also showed today that he shouldn't be one of those Antwan Randle-El types who were mobile QB's in college who became receivers or corners in the pros much like they're thinking with Brad Smith of Missouri. Marques Hagans deserves at least a shot to play quarterback at the next level.

Pac-ing It In

2005-12-30T00:40:00.000-05:00

You want to know why the Pac-10 isn't going to ever get any respect?

Well, last night's Holiday Bowl is a pretty good reason.

Actually, last year's Holiday Bowl was a darn good indicator too.

Both games were extremely similar...a top 6 Pac 10 team who's pissed off about not getting a BCS bowl, tanking it against a struggling Big 12 team. Granted, last year's Pac 10 consolation meltdown by California was more egregious and heinous than the one that Oregon (and their ninth uniform combination of the season) pulled against Oklahoma, since the 2004 Bears hardly bothered to show up against Texas Tech, and the Sooners of 2005 are hardly your garden variety Big 12 patsy. After all, the Sooners have played in three of the last five national championship games, and still had Adrian Peterson.

But in a stadium where their entire fan base made the trip to SoCal and creates more demand than supply for tickets, it didn't seem like Oregon had that sense of urgency until they were down 17-7 (and were lucky not to be down 24-7 after Peterson got stripped near the goal line), and Brady Leaf was repeatedly making something out of nothing. Even the touchdown that made it 17-14 was a horror show, since Leaf hit the one receiver that was double covered (Tim Day) while there were three other options wide open.

And could Leaf have made a worse decision on the intercetpion than a receiver well covered by Clint Ingram? Now far be it from me to expect a Leaf to make anything but a bad decision, but they were in field goal range and Brady gave 'em a gift. It was a shame since that last drive contained some incredible plays by a scrambin', trouble escaping Leaf, hitting Terrence Whitehead for 36 yards on a play where Whitehead probably should have been tackled a few different times...and then avoiding a sack twice to hit Jeremiah Johnson to bring the ball to the 19 yard line. But two days later, the Ducks' Leaf cooked their goose.

Happy Holiday indeed.

The Newest Member Of The Eugene Robinson Hall Of Fame...

2005-12-29T18:10:00.000-05:00

Seems that someone has been taking Miami rap song lyrics a bit too literally, no?

Florida State's leading tackler, senior A.J. Nicholson has been suspended by the team for "violating a team rule" after he was questioned by police when a 19-year-old woman accused him of sexually assaulting her.

Now these kind of things happen all the time with pro players, and in some cases, the accuser sees dollar signs in their decision to go to police.

But in this case, with the player being in college, count that out. And the fact that he was suspended without being formally charged by police is equally damning. The suspension was probably for simply breaking curfew, but where there's smoke there's fire. And where there's a lack of senior leadership, there's a blowout loss in Florida State's near future.

Way to set an example.

Oh The Band Is Out On The Field...AGAIN!

2005-12-29T03:09:00.000-05:00

Well that was interesting.

It was also typical Michigan inconsistancy. This team who started number four in the polls, this team who lost to Minnesota at home, then turned around and beat Iowa and Penn State, this is the team that has shown up all season.

And here they go again in the 2005 Alamo Bowl...against a team they really should have handled, they blew a nine point lead in the fourth quarter. Was Michigan upset about not being in a New Year's Day bowl to the point where they let it affect their game?

Maybe at the beginning. If they were distracted at the end, then they were brain dead.

Certainly, there was Mario Manningham's big dropped pass on third and eight with just over two minutes left that would have given Michigan a first down. But then that set up the fourth down play where Chad Henne went to Manningham again, and was interfered with by the defender, not called but the Sun Belt officiating crew.

It was a theme all night as this officiating crew was atrocious...from their inability to get a call right forcing Lloyd Carr to call at least two of this three timeouts to get the replay officials involved...to the fourth down play on Manningham...to the final play of the game.

It wasn't quite Stanford/California, but it was damn close as Chad Henne's final pass was caught near midfield, then lateraled eight times before it got to tight end Tyler Ecker. Two laterals before, the Nebraska sideline thought the play was dead and started running on the field. Meanwhile...hello! The ball is still alive, and here comes Ecker with guys in suits running on the field!

The tragedy of course, is that if Ecker cuts inside instead of heading towards the sidelines...he scores and we have "The Play II", and Bill Callahan probably gets fired again. But Michigan should have gotten one more play out of it as the Sun Belt refs got it wrong again by not calling "illegal entire bench on the field". The Wolves got hosed.

But their season long inconsistancies put them in the prime position to get hosed...and we all know what position that is.

Running Out Of Potatoes In Idaho

2005-12-28T23:38:00.000-05:00

In the end, the Boston College secondary which included Will Blackmon at one point, made the difference. Meanwhile, the Boise State secondary had a hard time stopping...Will Blackmon.

But the incentive for the Boston College Eagles came during their pre-game banquet, where not only did the eatery run out of mashed potatoes...in freakin' Idaho, but the banquet turned into a pep rally for Boise State...where the CEO of the MPC Computers Bowl thought that because his company paid beaucoup bucks to slap their name on the bowl game, he had license to be an idiot and make fun of Mathias Kiwanuka's name during the banquet. The guy's grandfather is assasinated by Edie Amin, and he gets his name dragged through the mud by Mike Atkins in the name of lowbrow comedy. Class.

BC came out angry and motivated, as they took a 24-0 lead in to half time, which almost became 31-0 as BC, taking over the ball near midfield as the Broncos missed on a fourth down conversion, almost converted on a hail mary as Blackmon was stopped at the one yard line right before halftime. But Blackmon had done enough. In addition to playing a little defense during the fourth quarter, he caught 5 balls for 144 yards and a touchdown at his natural wide receiver position.

The Broncos made a valiant comeback as the road team on their blue field at the MPC Computers Bowl. But Jared Zabransky's pass on third down was picked off in the end zone with no Boise State receiver in sight. But credit the first down sack by Nick Larkin for throwing Boise State off their game after Zabransky's 32 yard pass to Vinny Perretta on 4th and nine took the Broncos in the red zone. After the sack, the offense of Boise State was flustered enough to throw away second down and spike the ball to stop the clock. It was because of that play that Zabransky thought he needed it all on third down, and forced the ball into heavy coverage for the pick by Ryan Glasper, and that was your ballgame.

Moral of the story, let the visitors eat...and don't run out of potatoes.

Random Bowl Thoughts

2005-12-28T14:29:00.000-05:00

There's really no reason that Colorado should have been so close in the Champs Sports Bowl, with the whole Gary Barnett disaster still lingering over the program for one final game. But Charlie Whitehurst's first half erratic missiles were keeping the Buffaloes in the game.

But James Davis' 150 yards, and the Clemson defense shutting the door enabled Whitehurst and his surgically repaired throwing shoulder to stay within himself. And when faced with losing Chansi Stuckey for the second half with a concussion, Whitehurst adjusted well and found connections with freshman Aaron Kelly.

Overall this was a disappointing season for Clemson, where they lost three close games at home including overtime losses to Miami and BC...but they're in good shape for next season offensively with Stuckey coming back and Davis and Kelly as sophs. As long as they can find a quarterback on their roster who can manage a game well (Will Proctor?), Clemson won't have a problem on offense. (They'll also need '06 sophomore Alex Pearson to step up as their fullback.) Their vaunted defense is losing six senior starters, including four returning starters from '04. So defensive depth and coaching will be put to the test.

***

So will Rutgers finally have a better shot at recruiting because of the national exposure they received during their high scoring Insight Bowl loss to Arizona State?

Probably not, but they will have a better shot at recruiting because they were smart enough to have James "Tony Soprano" Gandolfini at the coin toss last night. Guaranteed.

***

As for tonight, look for Boise State to upset Boston College for Dan Hawkins (and if they do, that'll mean good things for Colorado's program in the future), and look for Michigan and Nebraska to give us a classic...with Michigan pulling out a late fourth quarter victory in a low scoring affair.

Kicking Extra Points To The Curb

2005-12-25T02:21:00.000-05:00

Enough BCS votes get screwed up you get a movement to outlaw it.

Enough kickers screw up, and before you know it, there will be a movement to outlaw them too.

Think about it...it's for their own good. Not everyone is going to be an Alexis Serna, who can bounce back from a three blown extra point game against the defending national champions to win the Groza award. And not everyone can be a Matt Prater, who was a first team all-conference kicker in Estero high school, yet lose the Hawaii Bowl on a blown extra point.

You have a situation nowadays where kickers, more of whom nowadays are walk-ons for the programs that prefer not to or aren't able to waste a scholarship on a kicker, can only lose games on chippies and don't have the leg to win games on long field goals. So why risk losing a game on an extra point? Why not make two point conversions mandatory on all college football touchdowns? Let's replace those boring extra points with regular plays from scrimmage where even a failed conversion can be credited to good defense, rather than a walk-on kicker?

Ban 'em. Ban the kickers, ban the BCS, and let's ban those bowl games named after flowers while we're at it, shall we?

And The First Scud Is Fired...

2005-12-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

Here's a link from Burnt Orange Nation.

Outstanding!

Random Things To Tie Me Over Until Texas/USC...

2005-12-17T01:08:00.000-05:00

Cedric Griffin becomes part of a robbery/assault probe that involves multiple members of the Texas athletic department.

This is the last thing any college sports program needs, but this combined with three underclassmen announcing their intentions to transfer, and all of a sudden you have "distraction central" for a program that will be under the national championship microscope. That should even the media scrutiny score going into the big game.

Former Iowa star and Oklahoma offensive coordinator Chuck Long set to become the new head coach at San Diego State.

The Aztecs were right in the middle of the pack when it came to passing yards per game and points per game. Kevin O'Connell, who will be a junior quarterback next season, will be the beneficiary of the coaching change as he will be under the tutelage of the man who oversaw a Heisman runner up season (Josh Heupel) as well as a Heisman winner (Josh White). Their problem actually lies in their rush defense...last in the Mountain West conference.

Turner Gill becomes the head coach at Buffalo after 13 seasons as an assistant at Nebraska.

Gill, like Long, gets a division 1A head coaching gig. Gill, like Long, had a successful college career as a quarterback. Gill, like Long, oversaw a Heisman winner as an assistant (Eric Crouch). But Gill, unlike Long, is black. Gill not only waited twice as long as Long, but gets the challenge of all challenges in Buffalo...10-69 since becoming a division 1A team. Now I'm not calling this blatent racism by any means, but there's obviously still a stigma attached to being a black quarterback. Just ask Donovan McNabb.

Oregon screwed out of a BCS bid.

You can't fault the Fiesta Bowl for choosing a Notre Dame/Ohio State matchup. And as I said before, you can fault the athletic department for putting a division 1AA team on the schedule. But don't come crying to me about the Big East getting a BCS bowl when Georgia is beating West Virginia 52-6 on January 2nd.

Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn's sister is dating Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk. Notre Dame and Ohio State to play in the Fiesta Bowl.

I smell "After School Special". My prediction: Quinn's sister Laura will root for Ohio State to win, and Brady Quinn not to die.

But imagine if it was the brother who was the linebacker, and the boyfriend who was the quaterback. Now that's drama!

Colorado and Navy to play in the "San Diego County Credit Union Poinsetta Bowl" on December 22nd.

When exactly does "Chico's Bail Bonds" sponsor a bowl?

I mean, seriously! I'm not going to whine and cry about there being too many bowl games. The more teams that end their season on a positive note, the better for those schools. And it's not like all these bowls are being played on the same day, so fine. Watch the bowls you want, go Christmas shopping during the ones you don't care about. Hooray. But can the powers that be in college football come up with a better bowl than "Poinsetta"? And if a bowl is going to have a dumb name like that, can we find a sponsor with a shorter name than "San Diego County Credit Union?" Come on now, it's not like I'm asking for a better voting system...I've lost hope on that. But this surpasses the "Insight.com" bowl as the dumbest name ever...EVER!

Bush Whacks

2005-12-11T12:21:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's only fair that the most anticipated college football national championship game to date would be balanced out by the most anti-climactic Heisman Trophy presentation, where Reggie Bush not only defeated Vince Young by 933 points (the only reason it wasn't more was because Young was such a clear number two over Matt Leinart), but whooped Young in every single region of the country (yes, even in Vince Young country). But can you think of a season where the three principal candidates for the most coveted trophy in the sport are going to be playing in the biggest game in years?

I guess the whole point of this is that the runaway vote not withstanding, we should consider ourselves lucky. It's the best Heisman class in years, there was no controversy over regions, no vote splitting, and the BCS worked this year.

You might never be able to say all those things in December again.

No-Pa

2005-12-10T01:12:00.000-05:00

More theatre of the ridiculous, as the hype-r-bowl machine is in full swing. Joe Paterno is limiting media access to the players to the bare minimum...zero, in their preparation for the Orange Bowl.

The irony came when a reporter asked how the players were reacting to their first bowl trip in three years, to which Paterno replied:

"You'd have to ask the players"

HA! The same players Paterno has kept away from the media on purpose.

Even though Joe Pa claims he wants to keep his players away from the media spotlight to help them prepare for the game and for their finals, Paterno, when pressed, complained about the media's failure to promote Michael Robinson for the Heisman award. And you get the feeling that Paterno is taking delight in screwing the media.

While it might seem displaced anger to blame the fact that Robinson isn't going to New York (Penn State does have a public relations department, no?) and while I will not disagree with the strategy to keep the players away from the over indulgent hype, I sense that this is more about the multiple calls for his head after the Nittany Lion program took a steep decline before this year. I recently fantasized about Paterno and Bobby Bowden calling it quits at the same news conference immediately after the Orange Bowl, but didn't think in the end that they would do it, that they're not the vindictive type. I still think that way...

...about Bowden.

Puttin' the BS in BCS

2005-12-08T01:41:00.000-05:00

So with a war on terror, a war in Iraq, bird flu looming, a city under water and two other states in shambles after a major hurricane, it's nice to know our congress has it's priorities straight by grilling college football figureheads regarding the BCS.

What's next...enforcing the NBA dress code?

Unbelievable.

How many times do I have to say it? There's no perfect system that is going to make everyone happy...not even a playoff system. The season is either going to drag on too long, or some team somewhere is going to get screwed when the playoff system includes 4 teams, and there are 5 undefeateds.

And why does every single sport have to conform to the same system? Can't there be a sport that does it differently? And can't there be a sport where some of the little guys like TCU and Akron and yes, Rutgers get to end their season on a high note with a bowl victory, instead of a first round playoff loss?

***

Sex parties for recruites, rape allegations, and ripping a girl kicker are obviously tolerated at Colorado. But it's nice to know that we still live in a world where losing three games by a score of 130-22 will not go unpunished. Way to go Colorado!

Duck Duck Goosed!

2005-12-06T00:48:00.000-05:00

Just a quick little post here.

For everyone in Oregon looking for someone to place blame on for getting the shaft on a BCS bowl bid, I know where to look...

Start with the guy who put Division 1-AA Montana on the schedule.

This is a program that once thought big enough to put Joey Harrington on a Manhattan (New York, not Kansas) billboard to make the Ducks a nationally known program.

Surely, they can think bigger than Montana next season.

"I Might Not Show Up"

2005-12-04T00:47:00.000-05:00

Oh I think Bobby Bowden will show up to a bowl matchup with Joe Paterno now that the 'Noles have upset Virginia Tech.

Combined, that coaching matchup would be a record 529 years old.

Forget the oranges. Bring the prunes.

Bobby Bowden coached teams have never lost four games in a row, but that's what they were facing at the ACC Championship game. Instead, not only the two oldest coaches will probably face off, but the two coaches who faced a multitude of criticism...Paterno before this season, and Bowden in the last month.

If these coaches were the vindictive type, I could see them holding a joint press conference after the Orange Bowl, announcing simultaneous retirements, shaking the pantheon of the amateur gridiron to its very core. Two coaches, two enourmously long tenures, ending with not only a simultaneous tip of the hat to the universities that made them the legends they are, but a simultaneous flip of the bird to the factions that wanted to throw these two legends out with the bathwater, in effect saying "see if you can do better!"

Instead, all you'll get is a great football game, coached by two classy individuals. JoePa's Nittany Lions will be the clear favorites, but I didn't give the Seminoles enough of a chance to beat Virginia Tech to even make a prediction, so anything goes with about a month to prepare. It also ensures that USC/Texas isn't the only "must see" bowl on the docket for 2005/2006.

But a double sendoff of two giants of the game? How can you top that?

West Coast War

2005-12-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

They're not as high as they were before, but tickets to this Saturday's UCLA/USC game are still going for about $300 a ticket. Even a parking pass is going for about a buck forty.

It's too bad that UCLA got spanked by Arizona earlier in the season...or else this would be the game of all games...maybe 1 vs. 3! But as is, it's still going to be a big time border war. And that 52-7 loss by UCLA could perhaps put them in a better position to defeat USC. Yes, it's a rivalry game, but with everyone talking about USC vs. Texas practically since October, how could the Trojans not be looking ahead?

For that reason, and for the fact that UCLA has rested for two weeks while accumulating film on USC, expect this to be another slow start for the Trojans out of the gate.

Why UCLA may win: Hard hitting free safety Chris Horton will make his first start of the season to put a hurtin' on Trojan receivers Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith. Drew Olson (who's had a great season in the shadow of Matt Leinart) takes notes from the Fresno State/USC game, and the Bruin passing attack outscores the Trojans by having the ball last. And tight end Marcedes Lewis provides the Bruins with one more weapon than USC can realistically cover.

Why USC will win: First off, they're at home. Yes, there will be a lot of UCLA fans there, but home field will make a difference in the fourth quarter. Also, UCLA run defense has statistically been atrocious this season (219.5 yards rushing per game, as many yards as they've given up passing), while the Trojan run defense has been adequate (116.3 rushing ypg). Reggie Bush must be salivating at facing these guys. Sometime during halftime (when don't be surprised if the Bruins are leading) the notion that this game would put the Trojans in the title game will kick in.

Trojans 44 Bruins 36

Student Defeats Master

2005-11-26T23:37:00.000-05:00

I guess Urban Meyer was ready.

Florida put the smackdown of all smackdowns on Florida State today, and totally made me look like chump number one on my prediction (well, what else is new?) But it got me thinking about the many feel-good surprise stories for this college football season (in no particular order). And it isn't even over yet.

The Florida Gators: It was shaping up to be a tough first season for Urban Meyer, as the Gators went THUD against Alabama, and they weren't scoring Urban Meyer points. But all struggles by Chris Leak and the offense have been forgotten as they've beaten Tennessee, Georgia, and the Seminoles. Beating Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks would have been the icing on the cake, but at least they're not a blood rival...yet. Speaking of which:
Steve Spurrier: Nobody thought "Darth Visor" was going to make the Gamecocks competitive this quick...especially after Syvelle Newton was lost for the season early on. But defeating the Gators and being as close as they were to winning the SEC East was an amazing feat. Next up is to defeat more of the big boys like Georgia, Alabama, and Auburn. Too bad their recruiting class is middle of the pack.
Joe Paterno: Anybody still think he should retire?
The Kansas Jayhawks: Not since 1995 have the Jayhawks made such an impact on the gridiron with Big 12 home wins against Missouri, Nebraska, and today against Iowa State in overtime which knocked them out of the Big 12 title game, otherwise titled "The Right To Get Your Block Knocked Off By Texas.
Alexis Serna: This was the kid who started last season as a walk on by missing three extra points against the defending champs which cost them a huge upset...he ended last season with a scholarship, and he has ended this season as a Lou Groza award finalist.
Notre Dame: I mention Notre Dame because I've noticed that since I put in this counter, most of the small handful of people that visit the site are looking for Jeff Samardzija information. So...Jeff Samardzija Jeff Samardzija Jeff Samardzija! No, seriously: what started out as a touchy situation with the firing of Ty Willingham has turned into a very successful Charlie Weis era so far, which has included a close loss against the USC Trojans, a risky pass play out of the end zone for a dying young boy, and the Fighting Irish standing side by side with the Navy Midshipmen in tribute as their band played the Marine Hymn. Nice.

Of course, not everyone can be winners. Here are some of 2005's stories that prove that:

The Pitt Panthers: Dave Wannstedt took the Big East Champion and ran them into the ground in a mediocre conference.
The Miami Hurricanes: If the rap song caused them to lose to Georgia Tech, they deserve to lose.
Jill Gaulding: The professor who started a crusade against Iowa's pink locker room. Hey, I hear Fred Funk put on a skirt today because Annika Sorenstam out-drove him. Maybe Jill and Martha Burk can burn a Lifetime Original Movie on his front lawn.
Michigan State: One blocked field goal causes John L. Smith to throw everyone under the bus, and before you know it the whole season goes up in flames. How does one spell "quit"?
Kentucky: I know they're historically bad, but if a blonde radio host offers to disrobe on a huge billboard with every Kentucky football win, and they only win 3 games, then there's no motivational skill that will work.
Ron Zook: When does Illinois basketball season start anyway?

Swamp Things

2005-11-26T02:13:00.000-05:00

No extended picks this week, simply because there aren't a lot of even matchups to try to handicap among the Saturday games. One of the only games worth talking about is Florida State visiting Florida.

The matchup is best described here, so the only thing I'll add is that the student (Urban Meyer) isn't quite ready to defeat the teacher (Bobby Bowden)...not even at home.

The return of Leon Washington will make the difference.

Seminoles 21 Gators 20

Bevo-licious

2005-11-25T23:58:00.000-05:00

More like "Escape-o-licious".

This Texas 40-29 win over the rival Aggies at College Station had the potential to be quite ugly. This wasn't like last year's Aggie/Sooner game where A&M practically played the perfect game and lost to the number 2 team in the country...this was a game that the Aggies were sloppy on special teams and still almost won.

Vince Young was not at his best. The A&M defense did a great job containing him on the run for the most part, and Young was less than accurate with his throws. But this is where Mack Brown won the game for them. He adjusted and fed a tired Aggie defensive line a steadier diet of Ramonce Taylor to wear them down, when it looked like Stephen McGee was going to option the Longhorns right out of Kyle Field. It not only illustrated Mack Brown's sharp sense, but it showed the depth of Texas' talent on the offensive side of the ball. Heisman trophy candidate not getting it done today? Let's pound them with Ramonce Taylor. The football watching public may not have respected a depleted Aggie team, but Mack Brown certainly did, and his adjustments and refusal to believe that all Texas had to do was show up to win this game are the main reasons why the Longhorns won this game and are still in line for a date with USC.

Give Stephen McGee a boatload of credit for playing at a championship calibre level for the Aggies. How many teams can boast a freshman that can manage a game against the Texas Longhorns and almost pull out a victory. McGee and Jorvorskie Lane both had 100 yard rushing games today...and although they run an option offense, don't think Pete Carroll isn't going to watch the tapes from this game intently in preparation for the inevitable championship tilt.

The Very Definition

2005-11-20T02:53:00.000-05:00

To those who are advocating Vince Young for the 2005 Heisman Trophy: You are entitled to your opinions. I respect your opinions. Your opinions holds merit.

But you're wrong.

It's trendy for people in the media to say "hey let's not end the Heisman speculation, Vince Young Vince Young Vince Young blah blah blah." This comes from people who are paid to create interest, which in turn creates viewers for various pre-game shows, which in turn creates ratings points. Fine.

But this Heisman race is absolutely over. Done. Wrap.

Two hundred ninety four yards rushing? Five hundred thirteen all-purpose yards? Against the number sixteen ranked team in the country? Those are numbers that light up SMU, or Ohio...or Tennessee Chattanooga. Not a team ranked in the top 20 in the country.

I personally think he wrapped this up with his big performance against Notre Dame. But since then the carries and chances have been limited for Bush. And Vince Young has taken advantage with some great performances against Oklahoma State (in the second half) and against Texas Tech. But tonight against Fresno State I saw, for the first time ever, a running back control the game. What both teams did tonight were a direct correlation of what Reggie Bush did. Heck the only reason the Bulldogs were as close as they were was because of Bush's fumble on the kickoff return in the fourth quarter.

Someone, I forget who, in the national media said that Vince Young should win the Heisman because he is the most valuable player to his team...that without Vince Young, Texas would be worse off than USC would be without Reggie Bush.

Nonsense.

That would be if this was an MVP award. Not for the "most outstanding college football player", just as it does on the official Heisman site. Reggie Bush is 2005's most outstanding college football player. Period. And I'm not so sure the Trojans would be undefeated without Bush...they would certainly have at least two losses.

This is simply a case of the experts aiming to knock down the hype machine they created with USC was left out of the LSU/Oklahoma party in 2003. Now that USC hasn't lost since defeating Michigan in that 2004 Rose Bowl, everyone's looking at any angle they can to tell us that Texas will beat them at Pasadena. Just to be "different". When Texas came back against Oklahoma State, everyone seemed to talk about how Vince Young brought them back. Yet with every USC comeback the storyline read something like this: "What's wrong with USC?" And it extends to the Heisman race as nobody is willing to concede the trophy to Reggie Bush.

Sure, there will be talk of vote splitting out west, with Vince Young skating through to win the Heisman. And to be sure, voting is extremely regional. But to me, any voter in the western part of the country that doesn't vote for Reggie Bush doesn't understand why USC is undefeated. And anyone who brings up Bush's lone mistake tonight, the fumble that enabled Fresno State to move ahead in the fourth, should have their vote taken away. Reggie Bush is the most outstanding football player that the NCAA has to offer this season.

For Shame

2005-11-19T23:23:00.000-05:00

Shame on me for giving Texas Tech no chance to win today.

Shame on me for forgetting about Taurean Henderson, who provided the run game that Tech desperately needed.

But shame on the refs for blowing the call on Henderson's winning touchdown. That might have been the college version of the Vinny Testaverde phantom touchdown from 1998.

And shame on whoever decided to take down the goalposts to prevent the fans from ripping them down...before the final extra point! Yeah, it didn't matter, but calm down!

***

Shame on me for thinking that Jim Tressel was going to walk to midfield, whip off his mask and reveal his true identity: John Cooper! And shame on me for not believing in the magic of Troy Smith and the Ohio State Buckeyes at the big house.

Give Smith all the credit in the world for making tough throws and for kicking in the teeth of the big house on that final drive, which included a gutsy 26 yard throw to Anthony Gonzalez which basically won the game for the Buckeyes. (But doesn't the NCAA have the same rule as the pros where you can't catch a pass if you went out of bounds earlier in the route? Just wondering.)

Shame on Mike Hart's ankle, which was re-aggravated early in the second half. But Hart was ineffective during the game anyway, so shame on him too.

***

Shame on those who live, breathe, and sleep Penn State football who advocated the retirement or the forced removal of Joe Paterno from his position as Penn State football coach.

What JoePa proved today is that no matter what your pedigree as a coach (and certainly pedigree counts for something whether you're coaching in D-1, Pop Warner, or pee wee hockey), every coach needs talent to be successful. Paterno deserves all the credit in the world for taking one of the best recruiting classes in recent memory, along with stud quarterback Michael Robinson, and making them a conference champ...but you need the talent on your roster to become a conference champ.

The game never passed Paterno by. Just the talent...until this season.

***

Shame, shame, shame on the Miami Hurricanes for losing at home to the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech. The ACC was theirs. THEIRS! And what happens? You lose an ugly ugly game to Tech. I mean, was the rap song that big a deal that they let it distract them? No excuse. Georgia Tech pulled even in the distraction category, having Reuben Houston forced back on the team by a judge after being suspended for facing felony drug charges, and receiving two years probation for using 11 academically ineligible football players (17 student-athletes overall). Great Georgia Tech defense? Sure. But after the same Miami offense lit up the Hokies' defense in Blacksburg, you could not have seen this coming. Shame.

The Rest Of The Rivalry Week Picks

2005-11-18T17:20:00.000-05:00

Oklahoma at Texas Tech: Sure, the Red Raiders have averaged about 56 (57.3) points per game on the road, but don't you think an 80-21 flogging of Sam Houston State skewers that just a bit? Cody Hodges is going to get his yards, but they have no running game to speak of...Hodges is going to have to do it by himself and I'm not sure he can do it. Adrian Peterson hasn't matched his Heisman finalist fresman season due to various injuries, but he's topped 125 yards and scored two TD's in each of his last two games. And with the Tech defense giving up a healthy amount of yards on the ground (155.8 yards per game), this has trap game written all over it.

Sooners 38 Red Raiders 26

Boston College at Maryland: The wheels have fallen off a bit for BC, having lost their last two road games. Maryland is just 1-3 at home, but they need one more win to be bowl-eligible, so they have more to play for. Since I lost a chance to pick UNC to upset the Eagles, I'll jump on Maryland's bandwagon this week:

Terps 21 Eagles 17

Alabama at Auburn: The Iron Bowl enters it's 70th incarnation with Auburn leading the series 38-30-1. These teams are playing for the right to play in the SEC title game if LSU slips up against one of their two remaining inferior opponents. Auburn's offense is spectacular but 'Bama's defense is among the best in college football, and should neutralize them. The problem is that Alabama has run out of points. Their offense could only survive so long after losing Tyrone Prothro and their center JB Closner. Which means the Tide defense not only has to be perfect against the Tigers, but they have to score too. That's a lot to ask.

Tigers 17 Tide 16

Also:

Penn State 31 Michigan State 16
Oregon 41 Oregon State 24
South Carolina 19 Clemson 16
USC 48 Fresno State 31

It's On

2005-11-18T04:19:00.000-05:00

Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr admits he never stops thinking about Ohio State.

The Buckeyes meanwhile, have a clock in their weight room that counts down the days and minutes until the Michigan game.

Welcome to the 102nd version of "The Game".

Too bad this isn't for the Big 10 crown...the only way the winner of this game wins the conference is if Penn State loses to MSU, who has basically quit down the stretch since the disastrous field goal attempt against the Buckeyes.

The last 50 times these programs have met, the teams are 24-24-2 against each other. My pick? Mike Hart coming back from injury, and the game being in Ann Arbor will make the difference. Watch for Steve Breaston also...

Wolverines 24 Buckeyes 23

Bizzatches!

2005-11-18T02:36:00.000-05:00

Twenty nine f-bombs.

Fifteen references to "hoes".

Eighteen references to "bitches".

Put it all together and you have the latest scandal to hit the "U"...a nine minute rap song recorded by the "Seventh Floor Crew" two years ago but was recently published on a website, which allegedly included some Miami student-athletes.

Was it recorded in the Luther Campbell wing of the library?

Surely the NCAA frowns on this. But forgive my cynical side for thinking they'd have a swift reaction to this if the record actually made money. When rap artists are celebrated and make millions of dollars off of the same type of songs, how can anyone be surprised that this would happen? Certainly, people have better things to do than to worry when student athletes freely express themselves through a hobby, no?

And any excessive punishment handed down would be the equivalent of rapping a dog on the nose with a newspaper a day after he tinkles on the arm of the coach. There will be discipline, there will be counseling, as there should be. So let's all calm down a bit, shall we?

Bizzatches?

When Men Were Men, And Phil Fulmer Was Scared

2005-11-14T02:07:00.000-05:00

Hope y'all enjoyed those two seasons that Steve Spurrier decided he was going to try his hand at coaching the big boys. Hope you enjoyed watching Spurrier fail, and taking your shots at him...avenging years of Steve Spurrier kicking your butt, and reminding you that he knows more football than you do.

Because now he's back. And you're all finished.

And guess what: in his first year back in the SEC...with South Carolina no less...he might win the conference.

Of course it would take a strange turn of events...the SEC East has to end in a three way tie between the Gamecocks, Georgia, and Florida, which means Georgia has to lose to Kentucky (OK, you can stop laughing now), but the fact that Spurrier can take a perennial enigma...a program that forewent a bowl game last season because of a brawl, only cements his college football legacy, along with his recruiting options for future seasons with wins over Florida and Tennessee.

It also proves that he knows more about football than you.

Sure, Spurrier looked a little strange when he lashed out at ESPN, when he wished aloud that everyone would just say that all teams are pretty good.

He had us going, didn't he? Just another of the mind games that makes him loved by the alumni, and hated by...well everyone else.

There was an old SNL skit that re-aired recently, where host Chris Evert tried to find a post-tennis career...only to find Martina Navratilova at every turn outdoing Evert at every career she tried. Don't you get the feeling that when Phil Fulmer walks away from the sideline for good, there will be Steve Spurrier at every turn out Fulmer-ing Fulmer. He would outsell a Fulmer autobiography by writing a book about Phil Fulmer.

Now, after a brief "getting to know you" period, Spurrier is now back on top...terrorizing everyone in his wake...reminding everyone who's boss.

Brad's Last Stand

2005-11-12T23:19:00.000-05:00

He rounded the corner at a full sprint, weaving between the crowd until he found an opening, dodging extended arms and hurdling outstretched legs, still seeking his target. Every movement would cost him valuable seconds, every hesitation slowing him from his goal.

Brendan Talbert had one last shot, one final chance to get what he needed. He’d grabbed Tony Palmer and Jason Simpson at the press conference, found Derrick Ming and little Marcus King near the guardrail. Now, he needed the one he’d sought after most.

“He’s my favorite player,” Brendan, 10, would say later. Now, he had no time to talk. The reason he came to the game, the reason he’d stayed behind, was walking away from the dispersing crowd.

“Brad! Brad!” he called out. No. 16 turned, flashing that thousand-dollar grin, showing no wear from the 60 minutes of football or 90 minutes of hero worship that followed. Smith took the felt-tipped marker from Brendan’s hand and, as he’s done since going from irrelevant to indispensable against Illinois in 2002, pulled a quick flourish, punctuated by a single stroke to sign the final “h.”

“I got his autograph two years ago, after (the) Nebraska (game),” Brendan said. “But today is different.”

He couldn’t be more right. Or more wrong.

Yesterday meant everything to Missouri. A guaranteed winning season. A likely bowl game. A final chance to play in front of the home crowd.

It was a farewell to the senior class that took this team from ho-hum mediocrity to inspiring wins. It was a thank-you from the coaching staff to a group of players that put this program back on television, back in the spotlight, back in the national conversation.

“That’s the beauty of our business,” said coach Gary Pinkel about measuring success one bowl at a time, one big game at a time.

But yesterday wasn’t different. No different from the Kansas game, the one that could have vaulted Missouri to the top of the Big 12 heap. No different from the Colorado game, the one that could have established this program as a contender for the Top 25. No different from the Nebraska game, the one that stamped out two decades of futility, again.

Ask Brad Smith about the emotion before his last Tiger Walk, his last showing in front of the home team. Ask him if this game’s staggering magnitude clouded his thoughts. “Didn’t really think about it. Of course, it’ll cross your mind, but you try to block it out.”

Ask him if he could have scripted a better ending to his last home game, his last victorious romp through Faurot Field.

“I don’t write the scripts. I’m just an actor.”

Brad Smith doesn’t converse in words. Never has. Watch his mouth, listen to his voice, and you’ll get nothing. It’s always been his feet, his legs, his arms that’ve done the talking. Watch him after the game, lingering among the wet and screaming fans along the east sideline, shaking every outstretched hand, pounding every clenched fist, hugging strangers that love him like a son.
In the fourth quarter, as the records began to fall like dominoes, nothing changed about his play, nothing swayed his sideline demeanor.

Even as the announcer was listing off his career achievements like a carnival barker hawking raffle tickets, every pass flew as it always has, fluttering in a gusty wind from a slightly-below-average arm.

“Brad Smith is now the first player in NCAA history to pass for 8,000 yards and rush for 4,000.” The crowd smiled and cheered.

“Brad Smith is now the all-time Big 12 leader in total offense.” The cheering grew to roar.

“Final score, Missouri 31, Baylor 16.” Pandemonium.

Again, he carried this team as he always has, through another second-half defensive collapse, through fumbles by the running backs, through his own mistakes. Again, he shouldered the considerable weight of impossible expectations and unbridled hope. Again, he came through.
Ask Brad Smith, the reluctant Golden Boy, about four years of winning, losing, exceeding expectations, failing to live up to them, overcoming impossible schedules, putting Missouri back on the map, winning over a reluctant fan base, being considered for a Heisman, jumping over and around and through the meanest and toughest defenses in the country, evading oversized tacklers and overzealous reporters, just missing in bowl games, just winning in big games, taking this city and this school to new heights and walking away from it all.

“I can’t put it into words.”

Sorry I've Been Away So Long

2005-11-12T02:29:00.000-05:00

But I was still reeling over the fact that I should have, and almost, picked North Carolina to upset Boston College, but I wimped out...and look what happened.

So instead of giving you a whole shpiel (because it's late), and at the risk of looking like a lazy schlub, I will just say that Rutgers has lost any good karma they had when they thought they could go in to Louisville and stomp on their logo before the game...then backed that up with a 56-5 disaster. Nice job.

That's why they'll always be Rutgers.

Now, for an abbreviated version of the picks:

Ohio State 34 Northwestern 28
Alabama 13 LSU 10
Texas 56 Kansas 17 (Come on, you're not still on that Kansas bandwagon, are you?)
USC 48 California 13 (Stop with this upset talk already, Lee Corso!)
Georgia Tech 26 Virginia 16
Miami 28 Wake Forest 3
Iowa State 17 Colorado 10
Georgia 24 Auburn 16

Happy Saturday, everyone!

20/20

2005-11-05T23:33:00.000-05:00

Hindsight is. But, keeping that in mind, and having seen the shellacking in Blacksburg, I'd like to take the opportunity here to disagree with my esteemed colleague Dennis Dodd through excerpts of what he said juxtaposed with smarmy retorts by me.

"History will record the moment occurred sometime in this decade. The exact moment isn't important. The reality will be ...
Virginia Tech blew past Miami. Lapped 'em. Passed 'em up.
Better program. Better facilities. Better players."

Bad start, fella. I'm not going to say the talent in Miami is that much better than what the Hokies have. But "blew past?" Come on, the Canes were in the championship game three years ago. The Hokies haven't been since Mike Vick. Better facilities? It's Miami! Versus Blacksburg!! Where do you think the kids rank "facilities" in that comparison. Oh, but he's just getting warmed up.

"Which leads us to Saturday's banner headline: Virginia Tech owns Miami. The Hokies have won seven of the past 10 meetings. They have won the past two, including last year's ACC-clinching victory in the Orange Bowl.

Frank Beamer has literally built the foundation of his program by beating the Hurricanes. With an undefeated season still alive, Virginia Tech's dynasty might just be getting started.

Which means Miami should be looking over its shoulder.

"We got something special going on," defensive end Darryl Tapp said.

Tapp is one of 21 Hokies starters from Virginia. That should blow your mind. Miami has only 17 in-state starters. No. 2 Texas, in a state with 14 million more people than Virginia, has 22 in-state starters."

Allright, there's another one. Come on, 17 starters isn't peanuts. And it's a damn good thing Miami brings in some of these players. Tight end Greg Olsen's from New Jersey. Former No. 1 blue chip Kyle Wright is from California. Future NFLer Eric Winston is from Texas. What's the point? I'd take the kid no matter what his driver's license said. And those years VaTech lost? The Hurricanes were in BCS bowls, either a championship or a big-money payout. Consider my mind blown.

The entire piece is a callused rant in favor of Virginia Tech. Hell, even a close game would've halfway proved his point. But, looking at what happened in this game, I wonder what Dodd's agenda was in witing it. If he honestly believed everything he wrote, it's one thing. But I think it's something else. I think Miami winning this game is more a tribute to how far Virginia Tech has come. If they take this loss like a real team that deserves to be there, they'll be back this season or next, contending for a title and making a ruckus. It's losses like this that show the mettle of a team, and a program.

Maybe next year, Dennis.

All Right Really...Here Are The Picks

2005-11-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

I was disappointing last week. Time to rectify that with a strong showing this week:

Boston College at North Carolina: UNC will be up for this ACC matchup at home, but their inability to run the ball will kill them against a good Eagle defense. Ronnie McGill, who has been rushing well since coming back from injury, will have to go above and beyond if they are to have any hope. BC meanwhile, has given up less than 100 rushing yards per game, so look for that defense to make an injured Matt Baker beat them with his arm.

Eagles 28 Tar Heels 13

Wisconsin at Penn State: How does Penn State stop Brian Calhoun, who some conisder should be a more serious Heisman candidate than Reggie Bush? Meanwhile, Wisconsin has given up an average of 426 yards a game this season, and against a dual threat quarterback like Marcus Robinson, that's a scary stat. This has the makings of a classic, especially with Wisconsin showing they can win on the road.

Nittany Lions 41 Badgers 35 OT

California at Oregon: Oregon goes without their star QB Kellen Clemens, but with a defense that was opportunistic against Arizona. Statistics between the two teams are extremely similar all the way around. California QB Joe Ayoob, who has recently come under fire, will decide who wins this game.

Bears 21 Ducks 20

Miami at Virginia Tech: Points will be at a premium as these are two of the premier defenses in the country. Marcus Vick holds the key for a Virginia Tech win...can he continue to complete passes at near a 70% clip? Will Miami's defense come up with some schemes to stop him? Where Miami has a clear edge and must dominate is on special teams, where Devin Hester has been one of the best in division one. If he scores, Miami wins. Plain and simple.

Hurricanes 17 Hokies 13

Steve Spurrier's Thursday Picks

2005-11-03T17:57:00.000-05:00

Steve Spurrier wanted to make the picks this week:

Texas at Baylor: Why does everybody want to see Texas in the championship game? I mean, Baylor is every bit as good.

Longhorns 21 Bears 21

Auburn at Kentucky: Hey these are two SEC teams...and they're both pretty good.

Tigers 37 Wildcats 37

Alabama at Mississippi State: Two more great SEC teams. Both these squads are pretty good.

Tide 26 Bulldogs 26

Illinois at Ohio State: Ron Zook is every bit as good as Jim Tressel. They're pretty good coaches.

Buckeyes 14 Illini 14

Appalachian State at LSU: LSU has a national championship under their belt, and they're the sixth ranked team in the country. They're pretty good, and so is Appalachian State.

Tigers 31 Appalachian State 31

Stanford at USC: I hate USC. But they're pretty good, just like Stanford.

Trojans 41 Cardinals 41.

Hey, everyone's pretty good...it's impossible to pick a winner!

Trick Or Fake Death?

2005-11-02T14:49:00.000-05:00

Interesting way to celebrate Halloween, no?

What would you think if one of your resident Heisman candidates faked his own death in front of you and your teammates?

The measure of a great practical joke is if you need grief counselors on stand by after you pull it off.

Well played Pete Carroll...well played.

A pox on both your houses

2005-10-31T13:53:00.000-05:00

Cursed hell, the Jayhawks did it again.

Once again, this Missouri team couldn't buy itself a victory against a mediocre opponent, playing down to an under-talented but over-emotional Kansas squad that really, earnestly wanted this game. It's high time to question the heart of this team, and the will to win. Attribute that to the coaching staff.

Gary Pinkel, Missouri's coach, would be far better served with a talentless team. No expectations, no hype and no clutch decision-making. The running game and recievers are quite good, especially for a team that's now barely floating above .500, but it says here that Pinkel does terribly when the lights are brightest.
Not to say that the Nebraska game was a fluke, but the vigor shown in that brawl would be much better applied to a game that this team really needed to win.

Where was the passing game when Kansas put eight men in the box? Where was the defense when everyone knew the Jayhawks would run? And where the hell was the effort when it counted the most?

This rivalry hasn't been nationally relevant since I've attended this school, but it always means something to the folks here. And when a team with clearly less talent scoops three consecutive division games, something has to change. Fire Pinkel, or get him better assistants, people who will shout at him when he calls for a pass on third-and-three. People who will wring his neck when he wants to "keep Brad (Smith) in the pocket." People who will call down to the field and tell him to stop coaching Toledo. Hate it or love it or don't care either way, this team, which really could have done something significant this season, is again awash in mediocrity.

Tear That Script Up

2005-10-29T19:39:00.000-04:00

When Joe Tereshinski scored on that amazing HB option from Thomas Brown, I thought that "Rudy" was about to acquire a sequel. It was a play so improbable that it still won play of the game honors even though Georgia wound up losing the game.

But in the end, the talent of D.J. Shockley was sorely missed. I give Georgia credit for getting Tereshinski involved in some QB draws and trying to keep the Gator defense off balance. But when it came down to it, the confusion created by having a second string QB in the game who doesn't have the familiarity that a first string does (what second string really has that comfort level in game situations?) There was a short circuit on a long pass play to start the last doomed drive, and many of the run plays were stopped cold before they ever got a chance to start.

As for Florida, give that defense a ton of credit for creating those confusions. Sure their job was easier given the fact that Shockley was out, but they made an early 14-0 lead hold up by doing just enough to get the job done. Brandon Coutu missing on two field goals didn't hurt, but don't kill him for the 52 yarder that went off the upright.

This is probably a good time to bring up that Urban Meyer is 5-2. The same 5-2 record that Charlie Weis has at Notre Dame. Weis is a genius, yet Meyer is struggling. Of the four ranked teams on Florida's schedule so far, Meyer has split them, including wins against two teams ranked number 4. Would you rather have that? Or a moral victory against USC?

Is it because Meyer's spread offense isn't putting up 45 points every week as he did in Utah against Mountain West opponents?

Hey, just asking.

The...Friday Picks

2005-10-28T13:46:00.000-04:00

Ohio State at Minnesota: The great run defense of Ohio State against the great rushing offense of Laurence Maroney and Gary Russell. Since the status of QB Bryan Cupito is questionable so close to game time, expect Jim Tressel to show eight or even nine in the box to force either an ailing Cupito or redshirt freshman Tony Mortensen to beat them.

Buckeyes 31 Gophers 17

Texas Tech at Baylor: This is an interesting game because both teams have been victimized heavily by mistakes...Tech at Texas, and Baylor at Oklahoma. The much improved Baylor Bears have more to play for as they look to be bowl bound for the first time since 1994. This could be an upset, but I'll go with Tech's offensive firepower to be too much for Guy Morriss' crew.

Red Raiders 38 Bears 35

Georgia at Florida: If you have a cocktail party and everybody's injured, will there be any alcohol left to drink after it's all used as rubbing alcohol? I don't know why, but something tells me that D.J. Shockley is going to make a Willis Reed type return to the field to spark Georgia. If not, then it's special teamer Joe Tereshinski taking the snaps. For Florida, after coming off a bye week which helps QB Chris Leak rest, they have no excuse not to come out flying...especially on defense. But I expect the Georgia D-line to make the difference against a struggling Gator offensive line.

Bulldogs 17 Gators 14

Michigan at Northwestern: Here come those cardiac kids from Michigan again to take another game down to the wire. Can Michigan's defense stop Brett Basanez and Tyrell Sutton of Northwestern, who have been putting up a ton of points lately? This may be the wrong team for Michigan to let hang around until the end.

Wildcats 37 Wolverines 29

South Carolina at Tennessee: This was a prime candidate for an upset game until Gamecock QB Syvell Newton was diagnosed with a season ending achilles injury, which trumped Gerald Riggs Jr's season ending injury.

Volunteers 13 South Carolina 9

Fresno State at Hawaii: Fresno State hasn't won at Hawaii since 1994, and the Warriors are starting to play well with two wins after starting 1-4. The Bulldogs have to win this game on special teams, but it will not be easy for Fresno State's defense to stop Hawaii at home.

Warriors 51 Bulldogs 49

The Thursday Pick

2005-10-27T17:50:00.000-04:00

Tonight, Virginia Tech looks to stake their claim as one of the top two teams in the country against the 13th ranked Boston College Eagles in Blacksburg tonight.

The Eagles have only given up 77.7 rushing ypg this season, but face easily their toughest test in the Hokies, who feature Marcus Vick at quarterback. The rushing attack for Tech has been balanced, with three backs averaging around 50 yards per game...throw in Vick's 38.1 rushing yards per game and you have many weapons to throw at BC at any given time. And with Mathias Kiwanuka still battling injuries suffered from a cheap shot against Virginia, the rushing lanes will be wider and easier to hit.

Boston College has offensive issues. There's no stability at quarterback, with Quinton Porter most likely going tonight, even after Matt Ryan saved their bacon in relief against Wake Forest in relief. Porter has 8 TD's but also 6 picks this season despite a decent completion rate of 65.2%. And the Tech pass defense has been very strong this season.

Tom O'Brien is going to have to put together a sparkling game plan to beat the Hokies on the road. His only hope is that Tech looks past the Eagles to next week's showdown against Miami. But since BC is ranked, and beating them would be an important step towards sneaking into the computer's top two spots, don't expect the Hokies to look ahead.

Hokies 34 Eagles 13

On Race, Football, School, And Defending Your Country

2005-10-27T02:11:00.000-04:00

I'm the last person to be the spokesman for racial issues in this country, and frankly I don't want the job. I do want to make a couple of observations about what has been going on regarding the Fisher DeBerry comments:

Whether you agree or disagree with the decision by John Regni and Hans Mueh to keep DeBerry, I applaud them for making a decision quickly. The last thing any program needs is a long drawn out process where all anyone in the local and national media is talking about is the controversy du jour. How bad did the Colorado Buffaloes look as the strippers and Katie Hnida controversies dragged on and on until all anyone was talking about on SportsCenter was Gary Barnett's job status. Part of that was due to the cluelessness of the Colorado University braintrust.

Best case scenario: everyone at the Air Force academy can go on with their lives until the next episode, while the discussion begins about race and sports...a serious discussion about stereotypes and perceptions. My only hope is that commentators of any race wouldn't just take a side just out of fear of a backlash against themselves. As long as that is the case, a meaningful discussion can never really get started.

If you want to read a highly intelligent take on the matter which was ahead of it's time, check out what Nigel Duara wrote on this very website about Brad Smith of Missouri. As you read it, think of how it relates to DeBerry's comments.

***

At the annual Army/Navy game, both programs are lauded every year for the fact that producing good football players are merely a stepping stone to producing good men and producing good soldiers. But both programs usually come in to the game with 4 or 5 combined victories so it doesn't matter. Air Force, meanwhile, has only had three losing seasons in DeBerry's 21 season tenure before 2005, so of course it's easy for DeBerry to be seduced by the allure of success, rather than the ultimate and slightly polly-anic mission of producing good men up to the challenge of defending their country.

And with one set of dumb comments, the coach exposes himself as the head of just another football program, where football is of the utmost priority, and everything else takes a back seat. Colleges and univeristies have been making their football programs a priority at the expense of the very reason that universities exist, which is academia. It's not surprising. It's slightly disappointing considering that this is the Air Force Academy, but not surprising. And let me not be mistaken as having a holier than thou attitude on this. If I was, then this would be a college academics blog, not a college football blog. I completely understand that. We watch football on Saturdays...we don't watch students cramming for exams or working a second job to pay their tuition. And I understand that it's the job of a college football coach to be concerned about the well being of his team. If Army and or Navy became winning football programs again, their coaches would be concerned about the same thing, and at all costs.

It is, however, disappointing that DeBerry would think in terms of recruiting "the black athlete", and also that he would let those thoughts creep hin his head in place of the big picture at Air Force. And that's his greatest shortcoming in all of this. "Tomorrow's Leaders Forged Through Competition Today". It says so right on the website.

It doesn't say anything about tomorrow's draft picks.

South Eastern Catastrophies

2005-10-24T23:17:00.000-04:00

Another one bites the dust in the SEC. Gerald Riggs Jr. is out for the season after hurting his lower right leg and his ankle against Alabama.

Are there any offensive weapons left in the SEC? Tryone Prothro: out. Chris Leak: playing hurt. D.J. Shockley: out for this week. Syvelle Newton: Lost for the season. Now Riggs is gone, and that leaves a huge hole in the Volunteers backfield as freshman Arian Foster is getting ready to carry the load.

It's a war of attrition now. The team that stays the healthiest down the stretch wins.

.0007

2005-10-24T14:42:00.000-04:00

That's the margin between number one and number two.

And USC is number two.

The new BCS standings are out and surprise! It's the Longhorns of Texas University at number one, by the slimmest of margins.

Believe it or not, there's a scenario where this works out well for...USC.

Now, Texas can't play the "disrespected" card anymore. "Us against the world" doesn't fly in Austin. USC however, could look upon this as a bit of a slight (not that it should be taken that way) and they'll definitely not go into the Rose Bowl this year as a prohibitive favorite if they and Texas get in.

Although, with UCLA on the schedule, there is every chance that USC doesn't get in. The better the Bruins get, the more the Trojans have to worry.

Also-Ran

2005-10-22T21:17:00.000-04:00

Sit Brad Smith!

This was the general sentiment around campus this week. I'm not kidding, even the exclamation point was palpable. So what happened? This enigma of a quarterback - the same one that lost to New Mexico but just finished filleting Nebraska - might have just earned a spot in the 2006 NFL Draft. He might've just won back some of the most fairweather fans in sports. And I say that as a Miami fan, so take it for what it's worth.

Where did this game come from? How did this inconsistent offense, sieve-like defense and ordinary special teams pull it together to smack the Huskers for the second time in three years?

The scoreboard kind of reflects how this game went. Simply, the Tigers came out steamrolling Nebraska, running up 21 points on Smith's arm and legs. The Huskers made a predictable comeback, but it was Mizzou's unexpected doggedness - some would call it a "will to win," - that actually didn't screw things up, for once this season.

Where does this leave Brad Smith? Last week, it was the true freshman that seemed to take the reins. In a game most of the country blew off as irrelevant (it was), some actual drama took place. Briefly, senior leader Smith couldn't throw his way out of a wet paper bag, so little Chase Daniel took over and led the team back against Iowa State in Mizzou's Homecoming. Suddenly, this game was about many things.

Radio hosts talked about Smith's decision-making, his eagerness to run, his lack of a deep ball. Know who that sounds like? The description of every mid-level black quarterback in the nation. The same stereotypes haunt them all, especially the ones about decision-making, which is really just calling them stupid. Then, here comes Daniel, the golden boy from Texas (yea, he's white) and - presto! - they're praising this thoughtfullness, his toughness, his leadership. Right.

Know what really happened? The Iowa State defense saw the kid come in and keyed on the run. Now, Daniel is the future of Missouri football. He was the EA Sports National Player of the Year, and has a rocket arm. But to say he's a better leader of a team he hasn't led than the guy who made Missouri relevant? Sounds like the folks out here are more than eager to run on the theme of "out with the old, in with the new."

Cut to today's slugfest. The scores that mattered were 21-3, 24-24 and 41-24. That was it, in a nutshell, the opening, middle and endgame. And it was Smith that took Missouri out of mediocrity and into a tie for first place.

Saturday Thoughts

2005-10-22T20:01:00.000-04:00

This Michigan team has to be great for ratings. Every single game of theirs goes down to the wire. The margin of victory/defeat in their last 5 games: 3, 3, 3, 2, and today against Iowa, 3. There are still a lot of people not convinced by them, but don't get them in a close game or you're finished.

How can you be impressed with a team that has lost 41-10? When they're Indiana and the normal margin of defeat from them is more like 56-0. The Hoosiers were in it until well into the second half, and had it not been for a fumble on a punt return in the first quarter (which Indiana got a bit screwed on due to an early whistle that wasn't heeded), it might have gone down to the wire.

And if you're Ted Ginn, how do you let the ball get ripped from your arms? No wonder he hasn't been given a more active role in the offense.

D.J. Shockley's MCL sprain is reportedly going to keep him out of next week's game against Florida. That's a game that could go into overtime 0-0.

Speaking of which, I thought Tennessee and Alabama were going to go to overtime at 0-0. Alabama may not have Tyrone Prothro, but they do have one of the greatest advantages of college football: a kicker that doesn't blow chunks with the game on the line. That has been rare lately, but Jamie Christensen has won two straight for the Tide while struggling to find an offensive rhythm lately with Brodie Croyle. If this was say, Florida State sending their kicker to win the game, they'd still be playing.

Serves Tennessee right for tattling. Nobody likes a tattler.

Everyone is going to talk about Vince Young this and Vince Young that, but Texas showed today why a fast and athletic defense (secondary in particular) is going to give them more than a punchers chance in the title game against the Trojans. They also showed why Cody Hodges and the Red Raiders were in way over their heads...once again...against a quality opponent.

Is Northwestern going to put up 45+ against everyone the rest of the season? Brett Basanez and Tyrell Sutton are two of the more underrated players in college football. Meanwhile, Drew Stanton and Michigan State disappoints the Spartan faithful again at home.

The Thursday Picks (Friday Edition)

2005-10-21T14:52:00.000-04:00

Sorry I'm late. Here's an abbreviated version of the picks:

Northwestern at Michigan State: I give up on trying to figure out the Big Ten and it's goofy trends.

Spartans 38 Wildcats 35

Virginia at North Carolina: Upset alert!!! This is the letdown game for Virginia on the road.

Tar Heels 28 Cavaliers 24

BYU at Notre Dame: Speaking of Letdowns...this could be a big on for Notre Dame but they'll survive, as they do every week, because of Charlie Weis.

Fighting Irish 31 BYU 26

Texas Tech at Texas: Tech is that classic "beat everyone you're supposed to beat" team by punding you with a high flying offensive system. But when bigger, stronger, faster team is across the line, they wilt. Texas...at home...should romp.

Longhorns 41 Red Raiders 17

Tennessee at Alabama: This is going to be a close SEC battle between an offense flying on one wing, and an offense that can't decide who their quarterback is going to be.

Crimson Tide 14 Volunteers 12

Auburn at LSU: Another defensive battle...the question here is: How will Jamarcus Russell perform against a very good Auburn pass defense? This could go either way, but we'll go with home cookin'.

Tigers 20 Tigers 17.

HA HA!

LSU 20 Auburn 17.

BCS Calamities

2005-10-18T14:58:00.000-04:00

The first edition of the BCS is out, and no surprises at the top where USC and Texas occupy the top two spots.

The surprise, oddly enough, centers around Notre Dame, who despite coming within seconds and inched of knocking USC out, sit 16th in the BCS while at 9th in the AP poll. The Irish bombed out in the computer polls.

Of course, this is going to stir a load of debate about why and how the heck computers can judge football teams? And you would be right. Here is what the computers see: 0-2 at home, and one win against a team with a winning record. As long as the teams on Notre Dame's early schedule keep tanking it, that's not going to bode well for them. Teams like Michigan, Pittsburgh and Purdue, who were ranked at the start of the season, are not anymore. Here is what the computers don't see: margin of victory or defeat. So the cry will be that Notre Dame got the shaft, and rightfully so when you see that Oregon, who USC crushed 45-13, ended up three slots ahead of Notre Dame.

However! The cry at the end of the season might very well be that Notre Dame will be the undeserving beneficiary of the new BCS system, which requires nine wins and a top 12 ranking to be eligible for a BCS bowl game (and a $15 million dollar payday, as opposed to say, a two million dollar reward for playing in the Insert Sponsor Here Bowl). The Irish have five left, four at home, and four against teams that seem to be significant inferiors to the Irish on paper. Tennessee is by far the toughest team left on the schedule and they come to the land of Touchdown Jesus...so it looks as if even though they are 16 now, they're not in bad shape for that BCS bowl and that big payday.

The bottom line is, there will never ever be a perfect system for college football...even a playoff system won't solve what ails them. If you have a playoff system, how many teams make it? Four? Great. What happens that season where you have one undefeated team, and 6 teams with one loss? How do you put seven into four and not cheese anyone off? Eight teams? What happens when that two loss team that gets into the playoffs over another two loss team because of computer rankings (ha ha!) goes on a hot streak and wins the whole thing and more columnists run around going ape about it?

Everyone will not be happy.

Looking Back On The Game Of The Century

2005-10-17T00:07:00.000-04:00

A few points now that everyone has calmed down:

I think Reggie Bush won the Heisman on Saturday. You could hold the vote right now. Between his 160 yards rushing, his 35 yards receiving, his three touchdowns, his numerous runs and kickoff returns that made something out of nothing, and his one huge assist in getting Matt Leinart to the end zone, I don't think that there's any doubt that Reggie Bush is not only the best player in college football, but perhaps the number one draft pick in the NFL next season, with a long and fruitful career ahead of him. Tom Jackson from the Sunday morning countdown show called him the second coming of Gale Sayers. He was certainly Sanders-ish on Saturday. And on a day where Leinart wasn't quite right, and LenDale White was basically stopped completely cold, Bush took the number one team in the country on his shoulders and literally pushed them to victory.

It was troubling to see Matt Leinart basically abandon the passing game (I dare to speculate that since the big hit laid on him in the Arizona State game, something hasn't been right with him) and go almost exclusively with the run (which makes Reggie Bush's performance even more amazing, and sets him apart from his backfield counterpart White). But what Leinart lacked in stats and touchdowns on Saturday, he made up for in smarts and leadership. It takes some sharp mind to audiblize on a fourth and nine in front of 80,000 screaming (and in most cases, slightly anebriated) Fighting Irish faithful. And then hits Dwayne Jarrett in stride! A great performance by Leinart in the moments where it mattered most.

I didn't expect Notre Dame to be as competitive as they were...not the same crew that got murdered by USC last season. Charlie Weis is the newest demi-god in South Bend...and while it doesn't justify or rectify the injustice done to Ty Willingham, it does prove that Notre Dame will never lose their tendency to step in it...must be that "Luck of the Irish".

Meanwhile, Charlie Weis says that there's no such thing as a moral victory...a loss is a loss. Well this particular loss isn't going to hurt recruiting.

So in the long run, there are no losers.

Classic

2005-10-15T20:49:00.000-04:00

Boy what a game. I don't know if I've ever seen a more exciting ending.

Oh, you thought I was talking about USC?

Maybe later.

Since everyone and their mother was watching the newest "Game Of The Century", you all might have missed Penn State playing at Michigan. And for the first three quarters, you didn't miss much...the score was only 10-3 Wolverines going into the fourth quarter.

Then, Michael Robinson decided this was a good time to start his Heisman Trophy imitation, with two rushing TD's including the potential game winner with :53 left.

But Michigan started on a drive that as you saw it, you knew it couldn't end any other way than the way it did. Steve Breaston made it happen with a 40 yard return...then Chad Henne went to work. The first play was slightly controversial as he hit his leading receiver Jason Avant, who got his toe inbounds, but the heel of the same foot out of bounds. The play stood as called and the Wolverines made their way to the ten yard line.

With one second left, and 100,001 plus in the stands, again...there was no other way for this game to end. And of course it would be the true freshman from Warren, OH Mario Manningham (the Buckeyes let one get away? Imagine Manningham and Ted Ginn lined up on the same side!) catching his second TD of the evening to end the game and put Joe Pa and his undefeated Nittany Lions away.

Too bad y'all missed it.

Survival

2005-10-15T15:59:00.000-04:00

Alabama had to have this one, with the schedule not getting any easier from here on in. But boy did they make it interesting.

Give Mississippi's defense a boatload of credit for keeping Brodie Croyle from running away with this one as their home crowd kept them in it. But if 'Bama is serious about winning the SEC, they have to expect games like this against everyone in the conference...not just the Auburns and Tennessees of the world, but against everyone.

Some will say the close margin will be a red (crimson?) flag for Alabama, but now that the SEC has their radar set on the Tide, everyone in the conference is going to give them a tough go. And with no Tyrone Prothro the rest of the year, expect many close margins the rest of the way.

Irish Insanity

2005-10-15T01:53:00.000-04:00

I'm as neutral as they come. I went to a college that not only did not have a football program, but whose basketball program was so bad during my education that they lost a coin flip for last place.

But over the last seven days, I now understand why so many people absolutely hate the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

I mean, oh my lord...between the national media fawning over them to all of the same pundits basically writing the epitaph for USC's winning streak, to their pep rally getting national coverage. No wonder people could harbor a special kind of hate for the Irish just as others have a special kind of hate for say, the New York Yankees.

Have we all gone completely insane?

This is the same team that was awful just last season, with the same crew coming back this season. This team beat three ranked teams on the road that are no longer ranked.

And USC is, well...they're US freakin' C!

Matt Leinart? Reggie Bush? LenDale White? Steve Smith? Pete Carroll? Remember them?

I hope that this turns out to be a great game. I think it will, at least for three quarters. But I have to say that a lot of experts predicting an upset are going to be deeply disappointed.

Then again, I could be dead wrong.

The Thursday Picks

2005-10-13T00:05:00.000-04:00

Boy I stunk last week. Time to rectify that...

Wisconsin at Minnesota: Wisconsin is coming off a high octane road loss where Brian Calhoun had a terrific double threat day. Laurence Maroney helped the Gophers to a big road victory against Michigan. Everything points towards Minnesota in this one so the prediction is:

Badgers 26 Gophers 21

Michigan State at Ohio State: OK, there's a Michigan State team member here, and an Ohio State team member. So I'm going to piss somebody off. It's Drew Stanton vs. A.J. Hawk in the key battle of the afternoon. Ohio State is coming off a loss at Penn State while the Spartans are rested, but as we saw with Northwestern, home field counts for a lot in the Big 10.

Buckeyes 35 Spartans 32

Penn State at Michigan: Anyone out there still saying that Joe Paterno is old? The freshman class has done a great job. Something tells me that Michigan will be up for this game and make it close. But PSU will be too fast and too athletic for a banged up Wolverine team. Michigan's only chance is if Steve Breaston has a big game.

Nittany Lions 41 Wolverines 28

Colorado at Texas: Colorado, even with a rushing defense that has given up only 77.6 yards per game, has a Herculean task ahead of them in stopping Jamaal Charles and a Texas team that has a bigger goal in mind. If Texas guards against looking too far ahead to a National Championship game (Mack Brown is already looking at a special season), then Texas will win handily.

Longhorns 38 Buffaloes 21

USC at Notre Dame: Ah yes, the big one. Honestly it's great to see this rivalry mean something again after Notre Dame has basically stunk up the joint for a few years. It's a testament to Charlies Weis' coaching skill that he has taken the same group of people from last season and has made them the 9th ranked team in the country.

Reggie Bush is going to be a little bit gimpy but he should play. We know that Matt Leinart is going to torch a very weak Notre Dame passing defense, but the key will be how the Trojan defense, a defense with a chip on their shoulder, will handle the much improved Irish offensive unit. As much as Charlie Weis has impressed me, USC should pull this one out.

Trojans 49 Fighting Irish 41

Florida at LSU: What is up with the vaunted passing offense of Urban Meyer? Florida has actually been winning games with defense as Chris Leak has had some issues grasping Meyer's spread offense, and now he has to face LSU with a bum shoulder. The Gator offense is very banged up at receiver also and winning in Baton Rouge is going to be a steep hill to climb.

LSU 30 Florida 13

Last week: A very disappointing 2-6

The Heisman List

2005-10-11T14:14:00.000-04:00

As always, one man's opinion:

1.Matt Leinart QB/USC: Back on track after a 360 yard passing game against Arizona. It's tough to have Reggie Bush atop this list when LenDale White is getting the ball more than him. So how about this: The USC offensive line splits the award 5 ways?

2.LenDale White RB/USC: I mean, think about it...this USC offense might have two 1,000 yard rushers AND two 1,000 yard receivers this season. Which one offensive skill player can you really give the Heisman to over the others? So give it to the offensive linemen.

3.Reggie Bush RB/USC: Or maybe, you could give the Heisman to Norm Chow, who created this monster. Or perhaps their new offensive coordinator. Or perhaps USC personnel shouldn't be eligible for the Heisman because this is really a pro team disguising as a college program?

4.Laurence Maroney RB/Minnesota: Back in the race after a big time effort on the road in Ann Arbor.

5.Vince Young QB/Texas: The Oklahoma gorilla is now off his back. He can concentrate on getting Texas to the National Championship game.

6.Brian Calhoun RB/Wisconsin: If Wisconsin had won the game he'd be higher on the list...perhaps in the top three. Calhoun had 122 yards rushing and 128 yards receiving in their 51-48 loss to Northwestern

7.Maurice Drew RB/UCLA: Talk about a phenomenal game...162 yards on punt returns, and 5 all purpose TD's against California to vault him into the race.

8.Brady Quinn QB/Notre Dame: One win vs. USC will skyrocket him on the list next week. One loss and...

9.Brodie Croyle QB/Alabama: Brodie's chance at this award lies in winning the SEC west with a brutal conference schedule...Tennessee is in two weeks, and then the season ends with a home game against LSU, and as usual, at Auburn. (It also lies in his ability to run the offense without Tryone Prothro).

10.Elvis Dumervil DE/Louisville: Because not only must I have a token defensive player, but Dumervil has opened my eyes with 15 sacks and 7 forced fumbles.

The Big Tweak

2005-10-09T01:14:00.000-04:00

That's what you get when you combine the Big Twelve with Weak. Tweak, get it? Now that that's out of the way, it's important to mention that this is the randomest, stupidest, most inexplicable conference in football. That half of these teams get a bowl bid is a joke. There are times, like the SEC in 2002, when there are so many good teams that some of the pretty good ones get shafted by the monster squads. Those are the conferences that need a "half-and-up" automatic bowl bid. Not this one. Let's take a look:
(Teams ranked by formula of: [(Preseason Expectation)X(Crushing Reality)+(Effusive Stink Lines Surrounding Team Bus)])
Oklahoma - Joke, but nothing's funny about it. Brett Rhomar, Rhett Bomar, however you split it, this caretaker QB is not even taking care of the ball! It's Peterson's team, and even before his injury, this team was buried.
Missouri - Come on, fellas. I'm not really a Mizzou fan, even though my diploma might say so. Early-season out-of-conference losses are one thing, but these boys are making the Big 12 look decietfully good. It's not, and neither is this team.
Nebraska - Go back to what you do well. Something's not right when Nebraska throws more than it passes. Something's REALLY wrong when it's relying on Zac-without-a-K Taylor to lift this team beyond mediocrity. So far, so, so bad.
Texas A&M - What a waste of a fine player in Reggie McNeal. This squad could have been good. Could have. But without any reliable playmakers on offense, the Sporting News looks pretty terrible picking this squad to win the conference.
Colorado - Oh, yea. This was going to be the Buffs' year. Lack of a running game plus a defense that bends...and then breaks are not a good sign. If they can stick it to Iowa State, get ready for an ugly Big 12 "Championship" game.
The rest of the pack is pretty much going as expected. A bunch of losers, with one stud team, and of course the surprise/spoiler of Iowa State. Always have to have someone dropping in to stir things up. Unfortunately, this team is better than the No. 8-ranked Hawkeyes it beat, but the Hawkeyes clearly had no business being in the Top 10.
But I would't worry about the Big 12. After all, Texas is clearly awesome, so all that's left is to rely on Mack Brown to come through down the stretch and win big games.
Right.

Burnt Orange River

2005-10-09T01:13:00.000-04:00

So Texas can exhale for the first time in six years.

Two key plays in this game...first was late in the first quarter, when Adrian Peterson left the game with a sprained ankle, probably exacerbating his previous injury.

Second was late in the second quarter, with the score 14-6 Texas. Vince Young had just been sacked, and on the next play was picked off deep in Longhorn territory.

But it was called back on a pass interference call. A questionable one at that.

I thought the play in the second quarter was really a breaking point for us. I am not at all questioning the call, but we thought we had it, then we didn’t, then they went down and got a field goal. Thinking we had the ball at the 30 [yard line], and then not, that was a big swing.”--Bob Stoops

Vince Young might have started to get tentative at that point had that pick counted...and even with freshman QB Rhett Bomar and an overmatched offense, OU might have had a chance at an upset. Instead, Young started feeling it and was gutsy enough to hit Billy Pittman on an atrociously covered route by Reggie Smith with :17 left in the first half, and that was that.

ACC-a-Go-Go and the Big Tweak

2005-10-08T23:40:00.000-04:00

If someone were to ask me to describe my dad in a few words, I would tell them this: His great idea for slighting someone he didn't like but had to invite to a function would be to inscribe the invitation like this "To (invitee) and insignificant other." That is very, very funny to him. In a similar vein, the Hurricanes were again pitted with a low-ranked bottom feeder, but this time managed to squeeze out a blowout. Sound silly? Then what's the difference on paper between "Miami 52, Duke 7" and "Miami 41, Duke 7?" See what I mean? The second appears more of a "good win," the first qualifies as a blowout.
Watching these games on the internet's 15-45 second delay, I always wonder: when the washed-up Miami linebacker has to ask for a bank loan in twenty years, will the president of the bank remember he was on the receiving end of a vicious helmet-to-helmet crunch as Duke's QB? Will this hurt our linebacker's chances? Did he just sacrifice any chance of his kid going to college today because he was in a fiesty mood?
More later.

WAC-ed Out!

2005-10-08T15:54:00.000-04:00

Since when did Brett Banasez and John Stocco morph into Ken O'Brien and Dan Marino?

It was supposed to be a battle of the running backs, and both Brian Calhoun and Tyrell Sutton topped 100 yards. But Banasez and Stocco proved to be bombers and leaders today, making a Big Ten matchup look more like the Western Athletic Conference.

Even when Banasez was pressured and seemingly made a bad throw, it alwayes turned out to be right on the money. And he ran the ball with smarts and guts in the fourth quarter.

Wisconsin came in with a stingy defense...but once Banasez proved that he was going to add another dimension or two to the offense today to compliment the efforts of Sutton and his 234 rushing yards and 3 TD's, the Badger defense was in big trouble.

As for John Stocco, it's hard to play catch-up. But he did it effectively, with four TD's to Jonathon Orr. But his two mistakes, an interception with a 7-0 lead, and an interception with under 1:30 were costly as Northwestern pulled off the 51-48 upset victory...in regulation!

So apparently this was the annual Wisconsin road heartbreaker.

The Thursday Picks

2005-10-06T18:41:00.000-04:00

Wisconsin at Northwestern: This is going to be a battle of runners...Tyrell Sutton for Northwestern, and Brian Calhoun for Wisconsin. The difference is that Wisconsin's defense is much better against the run (77.4 ypg) than Northwestern's (204.3 ypg). This is the time of year where Wisconsin usually loses a heartbreaker on the road...but it will not be Saturday.

Badgers 27 Wildcats 14

Oklahoma at Texas: At this point, the Vince Young and the Longhorns have everything to lose and nothing to gain. But Young and Jamaal Charles are going to run into a stingy Oklahoma rush defense (65.3 ypg). Texas needs to get off to a quick start, or Oklahoma will be in their heads.

Longhorns 24 Sooners 23

Minnesota at Michigan: It's tough to reverse a bad trend when you have to do it on the road...and that's what the Golden Gophers have to do if they want to keep their season from taking another turn for the worse. Michigan's defense has given up it's share of yards, but only nine TD's...they bend but don't break.

Wolverines 21 Gophers 15

Georgia at Tennessee: Suffice it to say that this is an even matchup. D.J. Shockley does a good job of managing a game, and providing just enough firepower to create a comfortable margin. Their defense will make the difference in this one.

Bulldogs 17 Vols 12

Texas Tech at Nebraska: Does anybody really trust either of these teams? This would be a big victory at Lincoln, but a team that really hasn't had any major tests visiting a team that remembers the 70-10 pasting they took in Lubbock next season is not a good combination. Look for a defensive touchdown to make the difference.

Huskers 21 Red Raiders 19

California at UCLA: UCLA has been awful against the run, and Cal can exploit that, with two runners (Justin Forsett and Marshawn Lynch) that average 100 ypg or better. Cal's defense has only given up 4 TD's all year, and they've been stingy. I expect them to continue that.

Golden Bears 24 UCLA 17

Ohio State at Penn State: This is going to be Ohio State's first big road test, and it comes from a surprising team in the undefeated Nittany Lions. Penn State's defense has to exploit the two-headed monster of Justin Zwick and Troy Smith and make them regret their indecision. Meanwhile, A.J. Hawk has a chance to up his Heisman stock by helping shut down Michael Robinson and a much improved Lion offense. This is the kind of game Ohio State always seems to win late

Buckeyes 23 Nittany Lions 21

Oregon at Arizona State: Both teams started strong against USC and faded late. Sam Keller has to look out for an opportunistic Duck defense...Aaron Gipson has 4 of Oregon's eight interceptions. If Keller can stay away from Gipson, the home crowd will carry the Sun Devils through.

Sun Devils 31 Ducks 30

Last week: 11-2

Return to Happy Valley

2005-10-05T17:00:00.000-04:00

The legend of Happy Valley has been rightfully restored. All those who had waited on greatness at Penn State need not wait anymore. Micheal Robinson has learned to lead his team just as Paterno had expected and almost with the same type of arrogance that Vince Young carries himself on the field with. M-Rob and the dandy freshman combo of Derrick Williams and Justin King have done their fare share of electrying the fans and making everything Peachy Paterno all over again. This weekend as the Buckeyes try and right the ship of their Rose Bowl hopes from going wrong, they might be in for a rude awakening. Micheal Robinson can do things with his legs that Vince Young couldn't even dream about doing on the Silver Bullet defense of A.J. Hawk and co. With all the hype made of Vince Young's running skills going into their match-up against Ohio State, the Buckeyes held Young to a total of 76 yards and zero touchdowns. But with almost the best field vision this side of Reggie McNeil, Robinson can scoot whenever he senses pressure and that could be dangerous. While tuning into this match-up you'll have to remember that Ohio State's defense can be far more effective than Minnesota's was a week ago or the Lions might just be as good as their 5-0 record and can drop points on the best of 'em. This game will be exiting and the Lion roar will be intense. The one part about the trip I'm not looking forward to: sitting in the Penn State senior student section on an evening when a "White Out" has been declared. Things could get dicey!