The Week 11 Run down
posted by TheMOTT at 8:47 PM
0 comments
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Monday, November 07, 2005
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
The Week 10 Run Down
It’s Week Number Ten SportzFanz! The Trojans reclaimed the throne of the BCS, the Longhorns pulled off their perfunctory come from behind victory over Oklahoma State, and the Big Ten race is actually starting to clear up. What a week it was –what a week it will be. The Vols look to earn some self respect this weekend up in South Bend. Meanwhile, Missouri and Colorado look to decide just who will take the Big 12 North Crown. Over in Happy Valley, it’s the Nittany Lions are hemmin and a hawin’ to the tune of “Badge’s, Badge’s, We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Badgers!”. And of course that’s little pigskin game set down in Blacksburg with the Hurricane’s whipping up a storm against the Marcus Vick led Hokies. Yessiree, it’s shaping up to be one hell of a weekend out on the college gridiron, so let’s just get right down to the games on in your area…
The Week 10 TV Schedule
Nov 3 Thu Pittsburgh @ Louisville 7:30P ESPN
Nov 4 Fri Toledo @ Ohio 8:00P ESPN2
Nov 5 Sat Iowa @ Northwestern Noon ESPN
Nov 5 Sat Minnesota @ Indiana Noon ESPN2
Nov 5 Sat Texas @ Baylor 12:30P FSN
Nov 5 Sat Tennessee @ Notre Dame 2:30P NBC
Nov 5 Sat N.C. State @ Florida State 3:30P ABC*
Nov 5 Sat Wisconsin @ Penn State 3:30P ABC*
Nov 5 Sat California @ Oregon 3:30P ABC*
Nov 5 Sat Missouri @ Colorado 3:30P ABC*
Nov 5 Sat Alabama @ Mississippi State 3:30P CBS
Nov 5 Sat Illinois @ Ohio State 3:30P ESPN
Nov 5 Sat Army @ Air Force 3:30P ESPN Cl.
Nov 5 Sat Houston @ UCF 6:00P iPAX
Nov 5 Sat Oregon State @ Washington 6:30P FSN*
Nov 5 Sat UCLA @ Arizona 6:30P FSN*
Nov 5 Sat Texas A&M @ Texas Tech 7:00P FSN*
Nov 5 Sat Miami, Fla @ VA Tech 7:45P ESPN
Nov 5 Sat Stanford @ USC 10:00P TBS
*Denotes Regional Action
NOTE: All times are CST.
The Week 10 Run Down
Nov 3 Thu Pittsburgh @ Louisville 7:30P ESPN
This Thursday night, Wanny and the Pitts travel to Papa John’s Stadium to try and extend their win streak to four. That’s right folks, Wanny’s finally got these boys playing some ball and one game out of the conference lead. Lining up on the other side of the ball to stop them, stands the league’s #1 and nation’s #8 rated offense. Aside from that South Florida aberration, these Cardinals haven’t scored less than 31 this season. Of course, on Thursday Brian Brohm and Michael Bush will be facing a Panther defense that has quietly crept up the charts to 20th in the nation overall and 5th against the pass. On a wild Thursday night in November, look for Wanny’s boys to let it all hang out while Petrino marshals his troops for a signature victory.
Cardinals.
Nov 4 Fri Toledo @ Ohio 8:00P ESPN2
With a run game firmly entrenched, Frank Solich has this Ohio club alive and kicking. They ride a two game win streak into this one and are looking to close out the season and claim a post season berth –something not even the Bobcat faithful thought possible to begin the year. Riding into Athens this week are the Toledo Rockets, with the MAC’s best defensive unit and led by QB Brad Gradkowski. If the Bobcats can open the run lanes against the talented Toledo line, that should free RB Kalvin McRae up to have another career day (he’s rushed for 489 yards in the past two weekends). Of course, they’ll still have to find a way to neutralize a shockingly quiet Gradkowski. As night games on the Deuce go, you’ve just got to love that Ohio has been there and done that already this season against Pittsburg.
Ohio - Solich is cooking up a storm in Athens
Nov 5 Sat Iowa @ Northwestern Noon ESPN
While the Big Ten title race finally started to clear itself up last week, neither of these two teams is completely out of it –well, at least until they smash helmets out on the grid iron on Saturday. Both teams are coming tough losses to Michigan, but Iowa should have the upper hand as the Wildcat defense has yet to stop anyone with a pulse (I still maintain the Spartans blew themselves). The unknown in this one is how the Hawkeye defense will fare against the Spread Attack. This will be their first exposure to that type of offense this season (they don’t play Michigan State or Penn State). If the Wildcats carry last week’s hangover into this one, it’ll be yet another disappointing day in front of the home crowd; however, if the freshman can put that game behind them, this one ought to be fun indeed.
Hawkeyes – They’ve had a week off to rest and will control their own destiny if the Badgers win this week.
Nov 5 Sat Minnesota @ Indiana Noon ESPN2
After getting past Michigan three weeks ago, the Golden Gophers have been in a bit of a free fall dropping back to back home games to Wisconsin and Ohio State. Fortunately, they get a reeling Hoosier team that has been outscored 46-125 the past three weeks. With a healthy Bryan Cupito under center, even if Indiana can find a way to slowdown the nation’s leading rusher (Laurence Maroney), they aren’t going to be able to keep pace with the Gophers.
Sota – leaving the ThunderDome it just what the doctor ordered.
Nov 5 Sat Texas @ Baylor 12:30P FSN
While this game has been nothing more than a laugher in recent years, this one should be much more interesting. Texas will definitely look to come out fast and make a statement, but the Baylor defense is fast enough and good enough to keep pace with these Longhorns –at least for a while. With Texas likely down to its fourth string running back (a Wide Receiver), if Baylor can keep this one close they might just tug on Superman’s Cape enough to put the Horns within reach of the Hokies. Of course, that fourth stringer is a dude by the name of Ramonce Taylor –if you haven’t heard of him before, that’s shocking: this guy’s a Reggie Bush in sophomore shoes.
Longhorns.
Nov 5 Sat Tennessee @ Notre Dame 2:30P NBC
Will Tennessee make the post season? At 3-4 and with games left to play against the Memphis, Vandy, and Kentucky there should be any reason to sound the alarm bells about that one just yet. Even so, the Volunteer Nation would just love to see the Purina Boys travel up to South Bend and hand the Golden Domers their third home loss of the year. Of course, in order to that they will have to (1) put their helmets on straight for the first time since traveling down to Baton Rouge in September, (2) find another ground threat with Gerald Riggs out, (3) get some real production out of the quarterback, and (4) find someway for their defense to stop Brady Quinn, Darius Walker, Travis Thomas, Maurice Stovall, and Jeff Smardzija.
Irish –yeah, that’s about 5 too many weapons for these Vols to stop.
Nov 5 Sat N.C. State @ Florida State 3:30P ABC
Unbelievably, it’s been the play under center that has led the Seminoles this season and not the thundering hooves out of the backfield. Drew Weatherford has been one of the biggest surprises of the ACC this year, leading the conference in total yardage with 2,142 on 176 of 284 passing. He did struggle a bit against the Terrapins tenacious pass defense last week and could easily have another bad outing against a very underrated Wolfpack defense. For NC State, the key will be how much production they can get out of Sophomore QB Marcus Stone. In relief of Jay Davis, Stone has been less than stellar, throwing for just 358 yards on 16 of 44 passing for 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
Seminoles – they should be able to tee off on the young quarterback with rabid abandon.
Nov 5 Sat Wisconsin @ Penn State 3:30P ABC
This should be the game that decides the Big Ten title –no really, we mean it this time. For the Nittany Lions, they just need to win this game to clinch at least a share of the title (if not the darn thing outright –I can’t keep all the tie break rules straight). For the Badgers, a win here and they’ll be in the driver seat with just Iowa left on their conference docket. While ordinarily I would love Barry’s Boys in a big bad, in-the-trenches Big Ten showdown, this season the Badgers defense just hasn’t been it’s usual self (rated 97th in the nation). Fortunately for them though, the offense has been an absolute god send this season (7th in the nation in scoring and 43rd overall). Of course, when you bounce all of that against Penn State’s offensive prowess (Michael Robinson, Deon Butler, and Tony Hunt) along with their defensive credentials (14th in the nation), it’s hard to find any tangible reason to think the Badgers will be able to pull this one out in Beaver Stadium. Of course, that’s just the type of game Barry Alvarez loves to play.
Nitanny Lions – they’ve just got too much mojo right now.
Nov 5 Sat California @ Oregon 3:30P ABC
What happened to the Golden Bears? After storming their way to 5-0, they stumbled against UCLA and Oregon State, but then eeked out the dubbya against a determined Washington State squad. For the Highlighters, they’ve quietly moved up the rungs into shouting distance of USC. Despite the lack of publicity, QB Kellen Clemens is quietly building one of the best resumes in college football with 2,406 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. On top of that, he’s proven to be a substantial dual threat quarterback with 228 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, Cal’s Joe Ayoob has regressed as of late, tossing 6 picks in his last 4 games after opening the season with just 1 pick in as many games. This game should come down to whichever quarterback can have a good game, and in the hostile environs of Autzen Stadium, I just don’t see Ayoob doing it.
The Mighty Ducks – Could they be angling for a post season rematch with the Air Raiders?
Nov 5 Sat Missouri @ Colorado 3:30P ABC
Take away games against #2 Texas and #5 Miami and the Buffalos are undefeated and arguably getting the votes necessary to be a Top 10 team. For the Tigers, it’s been more of the same this season as they’ve looked fantastic one week (creaming some Cornhuskers) and totally apathetic the next (losing miserably to the Jayhawks). Which team shows up this week is anyone’s guess, but if you look behind the numbers you’ll find that, in away games, the Tigers are very plain vanilla (They beat Arkansas State handily, but only managed to get past the Cowboys 38-31, and lost to Kansas 13-3). In the friendly confines of the Hilltop at Folsom Field, Buff QB Joel Klatt has thrown for 1,060 yards, nine touchdowns and just one interception while completing a hair under 70% of his passes. Will the Back’n’Gold Tiger D be able to put a dent in Klatt’s hometown success? I think not.
Colorado – they move one step closer to a rematch with the Horns.
Nov 5 Sat Alabama @ Mississippi State 3:30P CBS
Is it possible for the only undefeated team in the SEC to lose to the only winless team in conference play? Well, technically yes. But practically, no. If the Tide defense shows up at all for this one, it’ll take a near miracle for the Bulldogs to put points on the board in the first three quarters. Of course, this one is in Starksville and in front of a nationwide audience so anything can, and quite often does, happen.
Bama – but they won’t look nearly as impressive as they should.
Nov 5 Sat Illinois @ Ohio State 3:30P ESPN
While the Buckeye’s may have to rely on the rest of the Big Ten to get them a 2005 Conference Title, that doesn’t mean the fire has gone out of their belly. Look for the Buckeye’s to continue the offensive fireworks this weekend against one of the conference’s weaker defenses (and in this year’s edition of the Big Ten, that’s saying something).
Buckeyes.
Nov 5 Sat Army @ Air Force 3:30P ESPN Cl.
The command in chief trophy goes to round two this weekend as the Black Knights travel to Colorado Springs for a ground campaign with the Falcons. Air Force brings the nation’s 8th rated run game into this one, while the Cadets will be trying to find a way to get any kind of offense going against one of the nation’s worst defenses. Interesting fact of the week: After this weekend, Air Force just has one game left in its season while Army will still have three more to go.
Falcons.
Nov 5 Sat Houston @ UCF 6:00P iPAX
The Golden Knights host Houston on PAX’s CSTV coverage Saturday evening. After struggling to find any kind of success over the past couple of seasons, the Knights have finally caught a gear and are sitting pretty atop the C-USA East standings. A win this weekend against Houston should all but assure Central Florida the division crown as they just have UAB and winless Rice left to face. For the Cougars, they can turn the East Division upside down by beating the Knights here and Southern Miss next week. In order to do that, Kevin Kolb will have to find WR Vincent Moore and his rhythm.
Golden Knights – this one will make them undefeated at home on the season.
Nov 5 Sat Oregon State @ Washington 6:30P FSN
Last week, the Beavers were bushwacked by the Stoops Brothers at home. This week, they travel to Seattle for a ‘get well’ game against the 1-7 Huskies. While Ty should have his troops better prepared for this one than a lot of people would expect, the simple fact of the matter is, his secondary is going to have an extremely tough go of it containing Mike Hass, the nation’s top receiver. For the Beavers, they will have play much better on defense in order to steal this on out of Husky Stadium (they’re ranked 111th in the nation in defending the pass and 102nd overall).
OSU – This just isn’t Ty’s year is it?
Nov 5 Sat UCLA @ Arizona 6:30P FSN
Behind the play of Freshman QB Willie Tuitama, this Wildcat team has found renewed offensive punch –and they’re going to need it going up against 7th ranked UCLA. One has to wonder just how many times UCLA can continue to pull the rabbit out of the hat at the end of the game, but in this one the surprise might actually be that the Bruins run away with the victory. If this one was being played in Pasadena I would probably believe that, but since its out underneath the lights in the desert I fully expect the Drew Boys will have their hands full.
UCLA – Two Drews are better than two Stoops, at least this year.
Nov 5 Sat Texas A&M @ Texas Tech 7:00P FSN
Poor, poor Aggies. Their pass defense is reeling and their offense is trying to create any kind of continuity, so what happens? They have to travel out to Tumbleweed Central for a tussle with the Texas Air Raid. For the past couple of weeks, the Tech offense has largely been corralled by very good, fast secondaries; this week however, they should have a banner day against a vastly outmanned Wrecking Crew. It’s not that the Aggie defense is really all that bad, but the secondary just doesn’t have the top end speed necessary to make a read and react style defense work –at least, that’s the type of defense the Aggies appear to be playing lately.
The Air Raiders Shock’n’Awe the Aggies after two weeks of pent up frustration.
Nov 5 Sat Miami, Fla @ VA Tech 7:45P ESPN
It’s the ACC showdown game of the season as the Hurricanes travel to Blacksburg to have a knock down, drag out with Marcus Vick and the rest of the Hokies. Sure, VaTech has an awesome team. And sure, they’ve tagged Mighty Miami in the past. But do they have the physicality needed to stand up to a full blown Hurricane defense, swarming and hitting its way to the nation’s top ranking. Of course, the Hokies might not have to put too many points up on the board as they sport the nation’s #2 ranked defense and the Cane O has noticeably less punch than in season’s past. In a game like this, it might just come down to big plays on special teams. While the logical choice on special teams might be VaTech, Miami’s Devin Hester is one of the most dangerous men in the game.
Miami -- The toughest conference in the country loses its BCS bid.
Nov 5 Sat Stanford @ USC 10:00P TBS
In this week’s dessert game, the Trojans defend their 30 game win streak against a Stanford Cardinal squad that is finally hitting on all cylinders –at least offensively. While their pass defense will play their best game (and then some) to keep this one competitive, watch out for the Cardinal attack on offense with QB Trent Edwards, WR Mark Bradford, and RB Anthony Kimble. This game should give us a good indication as to whether the Trojan defense is finally starting to really gel.
Trojans.
The Week 10 TV Schedule
Nov 3 Thu Pittsburgh @ Louisville 7:30P ESPN
Nov 4 Fri Toledo @ Ohio 8:00P ESPN2
Nov 5 Sat Iowa @ Northwestern Noon ESPN
Nov 5 Sat Minnesota @ Indiana Noon ESPN2
Nov 5 Sat Texas @ Baylor 12:30P FSN
Nov 5 Sat Tennessee @ Notre Dame 2:30P NBC
Nov 5 Sat N.C. State @ Florida State 3:30P ABC*
Nov 5 Sat Wisconsin @ Penn State 3:30P ABC*
Nov 5 Sat California @ Oregon 3:30P ABC*
Nov 5 Sat Missouri @ Colorado 3:30P ABC*
Nov 5 Sat Alabama @ Mississippi State 3:30P CBS
Nov 5 Sat Illinois @ Ohio State 3:30P ESPN
Nov 5 Sat Army @ Air Force 3:30P ESPN Cl.
Nov 5 Sat Houston @ UCF 6:00P iPAX
Nov 5 Sat Oregon State @ Washington 6:30P FSN*
Nov 5 Sat UCLA @ Arizona 6:30P FSN*
Nov 5 Sat Texas A&M @ Texas Tech 7:00P FSN*
Nov 5 Sat Miami, Fla @ VA Tech 7:45P ESPN
Nov 5 Sat Stanford @ USC 10:00P TBS
*Denotes Regional Action
NOTE: All times are CST.
The Week 10 Run Down
Nov 3 Thu Pittsburgh @ Louisville 7:30P ESPN
This Thursday night, Wanny and the Pitts travel to Papa John’s Stadium to try and extend their win streak to four. That’s right folks, Wanny’s finally got these boys playing some ball and one game out of the conference lead. Lining up on the other side of the ball to stop them, stands the league’s #1 and nation’s #8 rated offense. Aside from that South Florida aberration, these Cardinals haven’t scored less than 31 this season. Of course, on Thursday Brian Brohm and Michael Bush will be facing a Panther defense that has quietly crept up the charts to 20th in the nation overall and 5th against the pass. On a wild Thursday night in November, look for Wanny’s boys to let it all hang out while Petrino marshals his troops for a signature victory.
Cardinals.
Nov 4 Fri Toledo @ Ohio 8:00P ESPN2
With a run game firmly entrenched, Frank Solich has this Ohio club alive and kicking. They ride a two game win streak into this one and are looking to close out the season and claim a post season berth –something not even the Bobcat faithful thought possible to begin the year. Riding into Athens this week are the Toledo Rockets, with the MAC’s best defensive unit and led by QB Brad Gradkowski. If the Bobcats can open the run lanes against the talented Toledo line, that should free RB Kalvin McRae up to have another career day (he’s rushed for 489 yards in the past two weekends). Of course, they’ll still have to find a way to neutralize a shockingly quiet Gradkowski. As night games on the Deuce go, you’ve just got to love that Ohio has been there and done that already this season against Pittsburg.
Ohio - Solich is cooking up a storm in Athens
Nov 5 Sat Iowa @ Northwestern Noon ESPN
While the Big Ten title race finally started to clear itself up last week, neither of these two teams is completely out of it –well, at least until they smash helmets out on the grid iron on Saturday. Both teams are coming tough losses to Michigan, but Iowa should have the upper hand as the Wildcat defense has yet to stop anyone with a pulse (I still maintain the Spartans blew themselves). The unknown in this one is how the Hawkeye defense will fare against the Spread Attack. This will be their first exposure to that type of offense this season (they don’t play Michigan State or Penn State). If the Wildcats carry last week’s hangover into this one, it’ll be yet another disappointing day in front of the home crowd; however, if the freshman can put that game behind them, this one ought to be fun indeed.
Hawkeyes – They’ve had a week off to rest and will control their own destiny if the Badgers win this week.
Nov 5 Sat Minnesota @ Indiana Noon ESPN2
After getting past Michigan three weeks ago, the Golden Gophers have been in a bit of a free fall dropping back to back home games to Wisconsin and Ohio State. Fortunately, they get a reeling Hoosier team that has been outscored 46-125 the past three weeks. With a healthy Bryan Cupito under center, even if Indiana can find a way to slowdown the nation’s leading rusher (Laurence Maroney), they aren’t going to be able to keep pace with the Gophers.
Sota – leaving the ThunderDome it just what the doctor ordered.
Nov 5 Sat Texas @ Baylor 12:30P FSN
While this game has been nothing more than a laugher in recent years, this one should be much more interesting. Texas will definitely look to come out fast and make a statement, but the Baylor defense is fast enough and good enough to keep pace with these Longhorns –at least for a while. With Texas likely down to its fourth string running back (a Wide Receiver), if Baylor can keep this one close they might just tug on Superman’s Cape enough to put the Horns within reach of the Hokies. Of course, that fourth stringer is a dude by the name of Ramonce Taylor –if you haven’t heard of him before, that’s shocking: this guy’s a Reggie Bush in sophomore shoes.
Longhorns.
Nov 5 Sat Tennessee @ Notre Dame 2:30P NBC
Will Tennessee make the post season? At 3-4 and with games left to play against the Memphis, Vandy, and Kentucky there should be any reason to sound the alarm bells about that one just yet. Even so, the Volunteer Nation would just love to see the Purina Boys travel up to South Bend and hand the Golden Domers their third home loss of the year. Of course, in order to that they will have to (1) put their helmets on straight for the first time since traveling down to Baton Rouge in September, (2) find another ground threat with Gerald Riggs out, (3) get some real production out of the quarterback, and (4) find someway for their defense to stop Brady Quinn, Darius Walker, Travis Thomas, Maurice Stovall, and Jeff Smardzija.
Irish –yeah, that’s about 5 too many weapons for these Vols to stop.
Nov 5 Sat N.C. State @ Florida State 3:30P ABC
Unbelievably, it’s been the play under center that has led the Seminoles this season and not the thundering hooves out of the backfield. Drew Weatherford has been one of the biggest surprises of the ACC this year, leading the conference in total yardage with 2,142 on 176 of 284 passing. He did struggle a bit against the Terrapins tenacious pass defense last week and could easily have another bad outing against a very underrated Wolfpack defense. For NC State, the key will be how much production they can get out of Sophomore QB Marcus Stone. In relief of Jay Davis, Stone has been less than stellar, throwing for just 358 yards on 16 of 44 passing for 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
Seminoles – they should be able to tee off on the young quarterback with rabid abandon.
Nov 5 Sat Wisconsin @ Penn State 3:30P ABC
This should be the game that decides the Big Ten title –no really, we mean it this time. For the Nittany Lions, they just need to win this game to clinch at least a share of the title (if not the darn thing outright –I can’t keep all the tie break rules straight). For the Badgers, a win here and they’ll be in the driver seat with just Iowa left on their conference docket. While ordinarily I would love Barry’s Boys in a big bad, in-the-trenches Big Ten showdown, this season the Badgers defense just hasn’t been it’s usual self (rated 97th in the nation). Fortunately for them though, the offense has been an absolute god send this season (7th in the nation in scoring and 43rd overall). Of course, when you bounce all of that against Penn State’s offensive prowess (Michael Robinson, Deon Butler, and Tony Hunt) along with their defensive credentials (14th in the nation), it’s hard to find any tangible reason to think the Badgers will be able to pull this one out in Beaver Stadium. Of course, that’s just the type of game Barry Alvarez loves to play.
Nitanny Lions – they’ve just got too much mojo right now.
Nov 5 Sat California @ Oregon 3:30P ABC
What happened to the Golden Bears? After storming their way to 5-0, they stumbled against UCLA and Oregon State, but then eeked out the dubbya against a determined Washington State squad. For the Highlighters, they’ve quietly moved up the rungs into shouting distance of USC. Despite the lack of publicity, QB Kellen Clemens is quietly building one of the best resumes in college football with 2,406 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. On top of that, he’s proven to be a substantial dual threat quarterback with 228 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, Cal’s Joe Ayoob has regressed as of late, tossing 6 picks in his last 4 games after opening the season with just 1 pick in as many games. This game should come down to whichever quarterback can have a good game, and in the hostile environs of Autzen Stadium, I just don’t see Ayoob doing it.
The Mighty Ducks – Could they be angling for a post season rematch with the Air Raiders?
Nov 5 Sat Missouri @ Colorado 3:30P ABC
Take away games against #2 Texas and #5 Miami and the Buffalos are undefeated and arguably getting the votes necessary to be a Top 10 team. For the Tigers, it’s been more of the same this season as they’ve looked fantastic one week (creaming some Cornhuskers) and totally apathetic the next (losing miserably to the Jayhawks). Which team shows up this week is anyone’s guess, but if you look behind the numbers you’ll find that, in away games, the Tigers are very plain vanilla (They beat Arkansas State handily, but only managed to get past the Cowboys 38-31, and lost to Kansas 13-3). In the friendly confines of the Hilltop at Folsom Field, Buff QB Joel Klatt has thrown for 1,060 yards, nine touchdowns and just one interception while completing a hair under 70% of his passes. Will the Back’n’Gold Tiger D be able to put a dent in Klatt’s hometown success? I think not.
Colorado – they move one step closer to a rematch with the Horns.
Nov 5 Sat Alabama @ Mississippi State 3:30P CBS
Is it possible for the only undefeated team in the SEC to lose to the only winless team in conference play? Well, technically yes. But practically, no. If the Tide defense shows up at all for this one, it’ll take a near miracle for the Bulldogs to put points on the board in the first three quarters. Of course, this one is in Starksville and in front of a nationwide audience so anything can, and quite often does, happen.
Bama – but they won’t look nearly as impressive as they should.
Nov 5 Sat Illinois @ Ohio State 3:30P ESPN
While the Buckeye’s may have to rely on the rest of the Big Ten to get them a 2005 Conference Title, that doesn’t mean the fire has gone out of their belly. Look for the Buckeye’s to continue the offensive fireworks this weekend against one of the conference’s weaker defenses (and in this year’s edition of the Big Ten, that’s saying something).
Buckeyes.
Nov 5 Sat Army @ Air Force 3:30P ESPN Cl.
The command in chief trophy goes to round two this weekend as the Black Knights travel to Colorado Springs for a ground campaign with the Falcons. Air Force brings the nation’s 8th rated run game into this one, while the Cadets will be trying to find a way to get any kind of offense going against one of the nation’s worst defenses. Interesting fact of the week: After this weekend, Air Force just has one game left in its season while Army will still have three more to go.
Falcons.
Nov 5 Sat Houston @ UCF 6:00P iPAX
The Golden Knights host Houston on PAX’s CSTV coverage Saturday evening. After struggling to find any kind of success over the past couple of seasons, the Knights have finally caught a gear and are sitting pretty atop the C-USA East standings. A win this weekend against Houston should all but assure Central Florida the division crown as they just have UAB and winless Rice left to face. For the Cougars, they can turn the East Division upside down by beating the Knights here and Southern Miss next week. In order to do that, Kevin Kolb will have to find WR Vincent Moore and his rhythm.
Golden Knights – this one will make them undefeated at home on the season.
Nov 5 Sat Oregon State @ Washington 6:30P FSN
Last week, the Beavers were bushwacked by the Stoops Brothers at home. This week, they travel to Seattle for a ‘get well’ game against the 1-7 Huskies. While Ty should have his troops better prepared for this one than a lot of people would expect, the simple fact of the matter is, his secondary is going to have an extremely tough go of it containing Mike Hass, the nation’s top receiver. For the Beavers, they will have play much better on defense in order to steal this on out of Husky Stadium (they’re ranked 111th in the nation in defending the pass and 102nd overall).
OSU – This just isn’t Ty’s year is it?
Nov 5 Sat UCLA @ Arizona 6:30P FSN
Behind the play of Freshman QB Willie Tuitama, this Wildcat team has found renewed offensive punch –and they’re going to need it going up against 7th ranked UCLA. One has to wonder just how many times UCLA can continue to pull the rabbit out of the hat at the end of the game, but in this one the surprise might actually be that the Bruins run away with the victory. If this one was being played in Pasadena I would probably believe that, but since its out underneath the lights in the desert I fully expect the Drew Boys will have their hands full.
UCLA – Two Drews are better than two Stoops, at least this year.
Nov 5 Sat Texas A&M @ Texas Tech 7:00P FSN
Poor, poor Aggies. Their pass defense is reeling and their offense is trying to create any kind of continuity, so what happens? They have to travel out to Tumbleweed Central for a tussle with the Texas Air Raid. For the past couple of weeks, the Tech offense has largely been corralled by very good, fast secondaries; this week however, they should have a banner day against a vastly outmanned Wrecking Crew. It’s not that the Aggie defense is really all that bad, but the secondary just doesn’t have the top end speed necessary to make a read and react style defense work –at least, that’s the type of defense the Aggies appear to be playing lately.
The Air Raiders Shock’n’Awe the Aggies after two weeks of pent up frustration.
Nov 5 Sat Miami, Fla @ VA Tech 7:45P ESPN
It’s the ACC showdown game of the season as the Hurricanes travel to Blacksburg to have a knock down, drag out with Marcus Vick and the rest of the Hokies. Sure, VaTech has an awesome team. And sure, they’ve tagged Mighty Miami in the past. But do they have the physicality needed to stand up to a full blown Hurricane defense, swarming and hitting its way to the nation’s top ranking. Of course, the Hokies might not have to put too many points up on the board as they sport the nation’s #2 ranked defense and the Cane O has noticeably less punch than in season’s past. In a game like this, it might just come down to big plays on special teams. While the logical choice on special teams might be VaTech, Miami’s Devin Hester is one of the most dangerous men in the game.
Miami -- The toughest conference in the country loses its BCS bid.
Nov 5 Sat Stanford @ USC 10:00P TBS
In this week’s dessert game, the Trojans defend their 30 game win streak against a Stanford Cardinal squad that is finally hitting on all cylinders –at least offensively. While their pass defense will play their best game (and then some) to keep this one competitive, watch out for the Cardinal attack on offense with QB Trent Edwards, WR Mark Bradford, and RB Anthony Kimble. This game should give us a good indication as to whether the Trojan defense is finally starting to really gel.
Trojans.
posted by TheMOTT at 7:24 PM
0 comments
Monday, October 31, 2005
Between The Hashes - Week 9
Between The Hashes
Welcome back SportzFanz to yet another week, Between The Hashes. In each issue we take a look at the College Football landscape and report on the state of all things Grid Iron. On this Halloween Weekend, more than just a few teams got quite a scare: Georgia fighting some demons masquerading as Gators; Texas spotting the Cowboys 30 minutes …again, UCLA uncorking the magic genie …yes, again; Phil Fulmer and the Volunteers getting whacked by The Visor (I’m sure they thought it was just another bad dream), and Northwestern being blown to bits by Michigan –yes, that was a Wolverine that saying ‘Boo’, you can come out now. With so much to talk about and discuss, lets just get right down to the action…
What This Week Will Be Remembered For
The is No Defense Against Da Vince. I’ve been on the fence for a while now, trying to decide who should bring home the Heisman Hardware this year. The top three candidates are obvious, deciding among them who gets the nod is not –at least until this weekend. Reggie Bush, don’t let him get his hands on the ball –he can juke you silly and beat you stupid with his speed. Matt Leinart, you can’t let him sit back in the pocket –he’ll pick you apart with short, crisp throws and then bomb away on your secondary like a battleship shelling the beach. But Vince, ah well, what do you do about Vince Young? No, really: what do you about him, myself and the rest of the defenses in the country would like to know.
You can blitz him and flush him from the pocket, but he’ll evade even your best tacklers, making them look like Pee Wee players stuck in molasses. You can play ‘contain’ and let him sit in the pocket for as long as he likes, but he’ll just pick you apart through the air with his speedy receiver corps and stable of tight ends and running backs. You can even try bringing a mixture of both and to keep him off balance, but if it’s one thing we’ve learned about playing against this young man it’s that the defense is the one kept off balance.
I’ve watched this kid play almost every single game of his young career at Texas. I’ve seen him make silly, stupid mistakes that make you swear and curse, but I’ve also seen him fight with the kind of fire that’s reserved for the rarest of rare athletes –elite’s like Michael Jordon and Tiger Woods. Such was the case on Saturday night against Oklahoma State. Sure, he threw a bad pick –even over threw his receivers repeatedly in the first half, and yes, he fumbled the ball away during the opening fifteen. But do you know what else he did? He reached down into depths of talent, drive, and motivation that everyone stands in awe of: when the chips go down and the rubber hits the road, that’s when #10 picks up his game and goes all in.
Young set career marks on Saturday with 267 yards rushing and 506 yards of total offense. He also set a school mark for longest scramble by a Texas quarterback: 80 yards on the third play of the second half –and he did it by using a pump fake to get a Cowboy DB three feet in the air while he glided past him towards the end zone. Anyone hanging around long enough to watch this one on TBS had to be in awe of the Texas Thoroughbred: Just when you thought ‘maybe Texas really is still, just Texas,’ Vince kicked it into a new gear, a new level. How many levels and how many gears he has is anyone’s guess –I bet he doesn’t even know. But that’s what separates the great from the unbelievable, and Vince Young is truly unbelievable.
Today’s Topic
What’s up with the Big Bad Ten? For a conference that traditionally pride’s itself on power run games and stalwart defenses, this season is certainly a curveball –well, maybe a split finger fastball is more apropos. Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State and Northwestern have all gone the way of the Spread/West Coast Offense, pulling the Big Ten into levels of offensive excitement and flair that they’ve never seen. Of course the down side to all that excitement is that, seemingly, just about every team in this blue collar conference has forgotten how to play a little thing called DEFENSE.
Aside from Ohio State’s 3rd ranked run defense, there isn’t another top 10 rating out there in the Big Ten –in any of the major statistical defensive categories. But what is more worrisome for the conference isn’t that they no longer have stellar, top notch defenses: it’s that they have porous, shaky and increasingly horrible defenses. For example: which conference owns the nation’s two worst rated defenses? If you said the Sun Belt, WAC, Mountain West, C-USA, or even the PAC-10 you’re wrong. The answer is the Big 10 with Northwestern sitting at the bottom (117th) and Purdue right on top of them (116th). In fact, they also got the nations 97th (Wisconsin) and 111th (Illinois) overall defenses. Against the run, they’ve got numbers 114, 102, 96, 90, and 80; against the pass it’s 114, 106, 100, 90, and 80.
To put it a different way, the Big Ten doesn’t have a single squad ranked in the Top 10 in the nation on defense. Ohio State at 13 and Penn State at 14 are the two top defenses in the nation. The next best is Michigan’s at 51st. That’s right, the Big Ten has only two defenses among the FIFTY best in the nation. Isn’t that insane.
Your Instant Impact Quotes of the Week Are:
1. “When you try and tackle Tyrone Moss, you better bring some of your homies.” Andre Ware, part of the ESPN crew during the Miami, Fla.-UNC game. Apparently, the Tar Heels didn’t bring quite enough homies –they gave up195 yards on the ground to Tyrone Moss on Saturday.
2. "Plan on being behind, plan on getting yourself in trouble." Texas Coach Mack Brown, talking to his team right before their game on Saturday. Talk about spooky. Mack hit it right on the head as Texas once more spotted the Cowboys a half, only to come storming back and retake the game at the intermission.
3. "I'm getting stepped on, people were grabbing me, it was pretty special. It was the best stepped-on feeling ever." Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart, after becoming bowl eligible by beating Navy Saturday.
4. "If you're listening out there Ted Ginn Sr., I love ya ... send me some of your players,” Minnesota Head Coach Glenn Mason, after the Cleveland Glenville coach, whose son and former quarterback (Troy Smith), accounted for four touchdowns against the Golden Gophers. Just goes to show: if you can’t beat’em, join’em.
5. "They just didn't have enough at the end, and the other team made the plays we didn't make," Nebraska head coach, Bill Callahan. So let me get this straight: it’s the players fault that Nebraska has lost two straight home games for the first time since 1968, and not the Coaches? Boy, that’s one heck of a coach you Nebraska faithful have there. Yep, one heck of a coach. Tell me this: what has he done to deserve that post, aside from caretaking a John Gruden team to the Super Bowl of course?
6. "He'd tell his little corny jokes, we'd tell ours. Fans laugh, no big deal. But you tell one about Tennessee they think it's insulting or something," Steve Spurrier prior to the South Carolina-Tennessee game this week. I wonder if Peyton –or even the whole Manning family –feel the same way?
7. “If you went into the kitchen for an adult beverage or something, we’ve scored 21 points in the first half of the first quarter.” The beginning of the Michigan-Northwestern game. I would’ve caught who said it, but I really was in the kitchen getting an adult beverage.
8. “That was one of those Apollo Creed plays” Craig Sagan covering the Texas-Oklahoma State game and describing how OSU turned a busted play into a big gain for Oklahoma State. For those of you not wisened into the mental thought process of Mr. Sagan, Apollo Creed was known as the Master of Disaster.
9. “And Secretariat gallops for Roses.” Craig Sagan, calling Vince Young’s 80 yard touchdown scramble on the third play in the second half.
10. “I love Halloween, I don’t need a facemask.” Lou Holtz in the ESPN Studio. Ah, an oldie but a goodie Lou. The only thing better was watching you zing Mark May for his picks last week.
11. “Nate Swift could not have been more wide open if he’d been out in a cornfield.” Gary Thorne as the Nebraska wide receiver created his own zip code inside the Red Zone for a touchdown. How does a receiver find himself in the end zone when there isn’t a defensive back even inside the twenty?
12. "It was the greatest show on turf!" linebacker Bobby Carpenter after Ohio State prevailed in the Thunder Dome for the ninth straight time. Ohio State and Minnesota combined for 76 points, 1,027 yards, 45 first downs, and 10 touchdowns, but surprisingly enough only one turnover.
And this week’s Instant IQ award goes to…
“When it’s breezy, swing it easy.” Ed Cunningham.
“Yo, Yo! Write that one down!” Gary Thorne.
This week’s Super-Stud Awards go to…
1. Vince “The Program” Young, QB Texas – Obviously, Vince makes this list. He joins Missouri’s Brad Smith as the only other player to rush and pass for over 230 yards in a game. Vince finished with a NCAA high 267 yards on the ground and 239 through the air, to go with his 4 touchdowns.
2. Kalvin’n’Hobbs McRae, RB Ohio – Frank Solich’s sophomore is quickly closing in on 1,000 yards for the season. This week he netted 224 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries as Ohio cruised past Buffalo.
3. Steven “Which” Wichman, QB Idaho – Wichman led the Vandals past the New Mexico State Lobo’s this weekend, throwing the little pigskin for 489 yards –ouch!
4. Daniel Smith, WR Idaho – Helping Wichman pick up the victory, Mr. Smith snagged 11 catches for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns.
5. Michael “I’m fast, but I’m not that fast” Johnson, DB Arizona – He was fast enough on Saturday, converting one of his school record three picks into the pig house as Arizona surprised Oregon State.
6. Chub “B.” Small, RB Marshall – With a name like that, Mr. Small deserves this list just for making it out of middle school. On Saturday, the freshman returned 4 kicks for 160 yards and a touchdown, helping the Herd Thunder past the Green Wave, 27-26.
7. Ted “e-Bear” Ginn Jr., WR Ohio State – I think this is the first time Mr. Ginn has made our list all season. Against Minnesota, lucky #7 ran back a 100 yard kick off for a touchdown in less time than it takes most college guys to pound a beer –now, that’s fast.
8. The USC Trojan Offense – In what was widely expected to be a down week for the Trojans, they exploded right out of the gate to pick up their 30th consecutive victory and reclaim the BCS #1 slot. When the dust cleared and the Cougars were picked up off the turf, the Trojans had compiled 745 yards of total offense.
9. Todd “Don’t Be” Blythe, WR Iowa State – In torching the Aggie DBs, he caught eight passes for 214 yards and four touchdowns. To boot, he set the school mark for most receiving touchdowns in a game.
10. Brian “Boom Boom” Calhoun, RB Wisconsin – The Badger’s Back lowered the boom on the Illini for 197 yards and five touchdowns in Wisconsin’s 41-24 win. In so doing, ‘Boom Boom’ tied a school record for most touchdowns in a single game –that’s the second time he’s tied that particular record this season.
Riding the Bench This Week is…
1. Nebraska’s Offensive Line – Minus Two yards rushing last weekend, sixteen yards rushing this weekend –that’s pitiful, ridiculously pitiful for a storied program like Nebraska. To make matters worse, the offensive line gave up a school record 9 sacks against the Sooners on Saturday.
2. Gary Pinkel, Head Coach Missouri – Last week, he had the game plan to make QB Brad Smith the first Division I-A player with better than 230 yards in a single game through the air and on the ground. This week, not only did he forget to bring a game plan, but he forget how to make half time adjustments. The Kansas defense smothered Brad Smith for just 179 yards of total offense, 38 with his feet.
Random Hits and Misses
My moments of clarity and confusion from the weekend are:
1. Notre Dame announced on Saturday that first year head coach Charlie Weis has been rewarded with a 10-year contract extension to ‘ward off’ speculation that the coach may move to the NFL. The contract is believed to be the richest for any coach in the NCAA (somewhere between $30 and $40 million) and runs through the 2015 season. While that all sounds nice and wonderful, I can’t help but have a sense of Déjà vu here: Tyrone Willingham was rewarded in much the same way after starting off his tenure with eight straight victories and, well, we all know how that ended. At 5-2, Charlie is hardly a godsend –yet. True, he’s done magnificent things with this year’s Golden Domer squad, but Ty did the same in his first season so just don’t go counting your chickens before they’re hatched.
2. As happy as the Irish are with their head coach, the Aggies of College Station are increasingly and increasingly less so with theirs. Dennis Franchione was stolen away from Alabama to replace long time Aggie man R. C. Slocum (what is he up to these days, anyway?). Now in his third season, ‘French’ione is just 11-13 overall and 5 -3 this season, and owns the nation’s third worst pass defense and worst overall defense in the Big 12. Was this the kind of success the Aggies expected? The only coach in the Big12 more on the hot seat than Dennis is Husker’s Bill Callahan.
3. This past week saw a new ‘all-divisions’ NCAA scoring mark set: most points scored in the shortest amount of time. The honor goes to the Division II Central Washington Wildcats who put 27 unanswered points up on the board in 70 seconds. How’d they do that, you ask? By scoring putting together a nice offensive scoring drive and then following it up with three quick strike defensive touchdowns, two pick sixes and a fumble return. The previous record was held by Division III Mont Union, who had scored 21 points in 33 seconds in 1996. The Division I record is held, not by Texas Tech, but by Colorado State. In 1997 and against San Jose State, the Rams scored 20 points in 55 seconds.
4. If I hear one more time about how Mack Brown decided to ‘lighten it up’ and download 2,000 songs onto his I-Pod, I’m gonna seriously lose it. How many times can they report the exact same thing? Ok, we get it, enough already: Mack “Daddy” Brown is a player’s coach. Great, now let’s move on…
5. Kudos to Barry Switzer and Tom Osborne. During the OU-Nebraska game, they told it like it is. When asked whether their power run game would be able to compete and win against the Spread Offense, they wasted no time in making one thing very, very clear: Yes, their playbooks will still win national championships, but nobody wants to use them because high scoring, dynamic offenses are all the rage. I would submit, too, that those offenses make it easier to lure in top athletes from around the country, but some places still need to play to their strengths (and I think Mr. Osborne would agree).
6. The Hard Luck Bears continued their odyssey through woe and sorrow on Saturday. This week it was at home against the Red Raiders. Up until the 4th quarter, the Bears largely kept the Air Raid attack in check, trailing just 6-0. In fact, they had several chances to actually take the lead in this one (a touchdown called back and a missed fourth and goal opportunity, proving the most devastating). In the end though, they could only contain these Raiders for so long, finally succumbing to the prick-and-poke Tech attack, 28-0.
7. How in the world have we allowed ourselves to be so fooled? With their 4th loss of the season, the Volunteers have now dropped out of the Top 25. They began the season at #3 in the pre-season, and now join Michigan, Oklahoma, Iowa, Louisville, and Purdue as teams that were ranked in the Top 15 nationally, only to crash and burn once the pigskin started flying.
8. It’s official: Rutgers is the feel good story of the season. It’s been 26 long years since the Scarlet Knights have played in the post season, and now that drought is over. Is this just an aberration for a Big East in flux, or the start of something new? Quirky stat of the week: The last time Rutgers made themselves bowl eligible was in 1982 (although they did not go bowling that year) with a win against, you guessed it, Navy 31-21.
9. Texas Tech’s Taurean Henderson is just 75 yards short of becoming the first player in NCAA history to reach 2,000 yards rushing and 2,000 yards receiving. With the Aggies coming for a visit out on the Tumbleweed Plains, do you think there’s even the slightest chance he won’t grab that record?
10. I think this may be the funniest thing I’ve read in a long, long time, straight from a wire article : Casey Dick, a freshman quarterback who's seen no action in Razorback games this year because he's been redshirted, will start for the Hogs against the Gamecocks on Saturday, coach Houston Nutt said. "He has a strong arm and good instincts. It's hard to explain. He just has 'it.'”
If I Could Be Anyone This Week It’d Be…
A South Carolina Gamecock. Not only did they manage to beat Tennessee on a field goal with under three minutes to go, but they did at Rocky Top –something the South Carolina program has never done before. Equally nice, at 5-3 they are in good shape for a bowl bid with Arkansas, Florida, and Clemson still on the docket. What might even be more delicious (if you’re a Gamecock fan): the last Tennessee coach that lost to the Gamecocks (Johnny Majors in 1992) ‘left the program’ six days later.
Next Week’s Quick Peeks
Pittsburgh @ Louisville –After a two week hiatus, the BEast is finally back on the tube, this time in a Thursday night showdown. Louisville will try to recapture some pre-season magic and climb back up the conference standings. Meanwhile, off-the-radar Pittsburgh has begun playing a little ball: three straight victories over Cincinnati, South Florida, and Syracuse. Can they make it four in a row?
Iowa @ Northwestern – Both teams ride into this one having dropped their last game (and both to the Wolverines, oddly enough). Will the week off for the Hawkeyes prove the difference here, or will Tyrell Sutton and Brett Basanez prove too much for the Iowa defense?
Tennessee @ Notre Dame – The pre-season #3 Tennessee Volunteers travel to South Bend for a tussle with the Fighting Irish. Early on in the year, this one was circled by just about everyone. Now, it’s an after thought, penciled in mainly by those Volunteer faithful hoping that Fulmer can somehow pull a miracle out of his hat and muster back some respect for the downtrodden program. On the other side of the hashes, Charlie Weiss will be looking to jump some more poll slots to finish no lower than 12th in the nation, and so ensure Notre Dame’s return to the BCS.
Wisconsin @ Penn State – It’s THE Big 10 showdown as the Badgers from Camp Randall ship out to Happy Valley to find out who takes control of the race for the conference crown. With Wisconsin’s defense playing worse than I’ve ever seen them, this one may not be the battle that everyone’s predicting –especially with that young, electric offense Joe Pa’s got brewing up in Beaver Stadium. Even so, the Badgers should get a couple of key personnel back on defense and keep this one tight (remember: Barry’s Boys love a good fight).
Army @ Air Force – Over on The Classic, the Commander-In-Chief trophy goes up for grabs: 1-6 Army can still claim the trophy by sweeping Air Force this week and Navy the first week of December. In order to do so, the Army Grunts will have to have their game of the season against the nation’s 8th ranked ground assault and much underrated QB Shaun Carney.
UCLA @ Arizona – Will the Bruins Cinderella comeback run continue this week? ‘Zona and the Stoops Boys says no, but perhaps it’s the Drew Boys who will have the final say on the matter. Maurice Drew and Drew Olson are the one-two punch that drive this Bruin team to heights well beyond what could have been considered normal in the preseason. The Wildcats, meanwhile, have inserted Freshman QB Willie Tuitama into the starting lineup and got an outstanding 13 of 22 for 335 yard passing day out of him against Oregon State last week. Can he do the same against the PAC10’s best pass defense?
Miami, Fla @ VA Tech – The Hokies finally get their headliner game this week. Texas had Ohio State, USC had Notre Dame, the Hokies get the Hurricanes. On Saturday night on ESPN, if you’re even the least bit of a college football fan, you’d better tune in for this one. Marcus Vick and the versatile Hokie offense host Larry Coker’s Hurricanes in Blacksburg. Miami is brining their nation leading defense to the table –one that allowed just 4 yards of offense to NC State during a 29 minute span in the second half. Are the Hokies for ready for that kind of smash mouth?
Stanford @ USC – Despite last week’s loss in double overtime to UCLA, Walt Harris has this Cardinal team on a role. Can they put a stop to the nation’s longest win streak, or will the Trojan offense rip apart another lesser team?
The Wrap Up
Well, that about wraps it up for yet another week Between the Hashes, SportzFanz. As always, it’s been both a privilege and a pleasure. Look for our Weekly Run Down of the games on in your area to hit the shelves in a couple of days. Until then...
Welcome back SportzFanz to yet another week, Between The Hashes. In each issue we take a look at the College Football landscape and report on the state of all things Grid Iron. On this Halloween Weekend, more than just a few teams got quite a scare: Georgia fighting some demons masquerading as Gators; Texas spotting the Cowboys 30 minutes …again, UCLA uncorking the magic genie …yes, again; Phil Fulmer and the Volunteers getting whacked by The Visor (I’m sure they thought it was just another bad dream), and Northwestern being blown to bits by Michigan –yes, that was a Wolverine that saying ‘Boo’, you can come out now. With so much to talk about and discuss, lets just get right down to the action…
What This Week Will Be Remembered For
The is No Defense Against Da Vince. I’ve been on the fence for a while now, trying to decide who should bring home the Heisman Hardware this year. The top three candidates are obvious, deciding among them who gets the nod is not –at least until this weekend. Reggie Bush, don’t let him get his hands on the ball –he can juke you silly and beat you stupid with his speed. Matt Leinart, you can’t let him sit back in the pocket –he’ll pick you apart with short, crisp throws and then bomb away on your secondary like a battleship shelling the beach. But Vince, ah well, what do you do about Vince Young? No, really: what do you about him, myself and the rest of the defenses in the country would like to know.
You can blitz him and flush him from the pocket, but he’ll evade even your best tacklers, making them look like Pee Wee players stuck in molasses. You can play ‘contain’ and let him sit in the pocket for as long as he likes, but he’ll just pick you apart through the air with his speedy receiver corps and stable of tight ends and running backs. You can even try bringing a mixture of both and to keep him off balance, but if it’s one thing we’ve learned about playing against this young man it’s that the defense is the one kept off balance.
I’ve watched this kid play almost every single game of his young career at Texas. I’ve seen him make silly, stupid mistakes that make you swear and curse, but I’ve also seen him fight with the kind of fire that’s reserved for the rarest of rare athletes –elite’s like Michael Jordon and Tiger Woods. Such was the case on Saturday night against Oklahoma State. Sure, he threw a bad pick –even over threw his receivers repeatedly in the first half, and yes, he fumbled the ball away during the opening fifteen. But do you know what else he did? He reached down into depths of talent, drive, and motivation that everyone stands in awe of: when the chips go down and the rubber hits the road, that’s when #10 picks up his game and goes all in.
Young set career marks on Saturday with 267 yards rushing and 506 yards of total offense. He also set a school mark for longest scramble by a Texas quarterback: 80 yards on the third play of the second half –and he did it by using a pump fake to get a Cowboy DB three feet in the air while he glided past him towards the end zone. Anyone hanging around long enough to watch this one on TBS had to be in awe of the Texas Thoroughbred: Just when you thought ‘maybe Texas really is still, just Texas,’ Vince kicked it into a new gear, a new level. How many levels and how many gears he has is anyone’s guess –I bet he doesn’t even know. But that’s what separates the great from the unbelievable, and Vince Young is truly unbelievable.
Today’s Topic
What’s up with the Big Bad Ten? For a conference that traditionally pride’s itself on power run games and stalwart defenses, this season is certainly a curveball –well, maybe a split finger fastball is more apropos. Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State and Northwestern have all gone the way of the Spread/West Coast Offense, pulling the Big Ten into levels of offensive excitement and flair that they’ve never seen. Of course the down side to all that excitement is that, seemingly, just about every team in this blue collar conference has forgotten how to play a little thing called DEFENSE.
Aside from Ohio State’s 3rd ranked run defense, there isn’t another top 10 rating out there in the Big Ten –in any of the major statistical defensive categories. But what is more worrisome for the conference isn’t that they no longer have stellar, top notch defenses: it’s that they have porous, shaky and increasingly horrible defenses. For example: which conference owns the nation’s two worst rated defenses? If you said the Sun Belt, WAC, Mountain West, C-USA, or even the PAC-10 you’re wrong. The answer is the Big 10 with Northwestern sitting at the bottom (117th) and Purdue right on top of them (116th). In fact, they also got the nations 97th (Wisconsin) and 111th (Illinois) overall defenses. Against the run, they’ve got numbers 114, 102, 96, 90, and 80; against the pass it’s 114, 106, 100, 90, and 80.
To put it a different way, the Big Ten doesn’t have a single squad ranked in the Top 10 in the nation on defense. Ohio State at 13 and Penn State at 14 are the two top defenses in the nation. The next best is Michigan’s at 51st. That’s right, the Big Ten has only two defenses among the FIFTY best in the nation. Isn’t that insane.
Your Instant Impact Quotes of the Week Are:
1. “When you try and tackle Tyrone Moss, you better bring some of your homies.” Andre Ware, part of the ESPN crew during the Miami, Fla.-UNC game. Apparently, the Tar Heels didn’t bring quite enough homies –they gave up195 yards on the ground to Tyrone Moss on Saturday.
2. "Plan on being behind, plan on getting yourself in trouble." Texas Coach Mack Brown, talking to his team right before their game on Saturday. Talk about spooky. Mack hit it right on the head as Texas once more spotted the Cowboys a half, only to come storming back and retake the game at the intermission.
3. "I'm getting stepped on, people were grabbing me, it was pretty special. It was the best stepped-on feeling ever." Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart, after becoming bowl eligible by beating Navy Saturday.
4. "If you're listening out there Ted Ginn Sr., I love ya ... send me some of your players,” Minnesota Head Coach Glenn Mason, after the Cleveland Glenville coach, whose son and former quarterback (Troy Smith), accounted for four touchdowns against the Golden Gophers. Just goes to show: if you can’t beat’em, join’em.
5. "They just didn't have enough at the end, and the other team made the plays we didn't make," Nebraska head coach, Bill Callahan. So let me get this straight: it’s the players fault that Nebraska has lost two straight home games for the first time since 1968, and not the Coaches? Boy, that’s one heck of a coach you Nebraska faithful have there. Yep, one heck of a coach. Tell me this: what has he done to deserve that post, aside from caretaking a John Gruden team to the Super Bowl of course?
6. "He'd tell his little corny jokes, we'd tell ours. Fans laugh, no big deal. But you tell one about Tennessee they think it's insulting or something," Steve Spurrier prior to the South Carolina-Tennessee game this week. I wonder if Peyton –or even the whole Manning family –feel the same way?
7. “If you went into the kitchen for an adult beverage or something, we’ve scored 21 points in the first half of the first quarter.” The beginning of the Michigan-Northwestern game. I would’ve caught who said it, but I really was in the kitchen getting an adult beverage.
8. “That was one of those Apollo Creed plays” Craig Sagan covering the Texas-Oklahoma State game and describing how OSU turned a busted play into a big gain for Oklahoma State. For those of you not wisened into the mental thought process of Mr. Sagan, Apollo Creed was known as the Master of Disaster.
9. “And Secretariat gallops for Roses.” Craig Sagan, calling Vince Young’s 80 yard touchdown scramble on the third play in the second half.
10. “I love Halloween, I don’t need a facemask.” Lou Holtz in the ESPN Studio. Ah, an oldie but a goodie Lou. The only thing better was watching you zing Mark May for his picks last week.
11. “Nate Swift could not have been more wide open if he’d been out in a cornfield.” Gary Thorne as the Nebraska wide receiver created his own zip code inside the Red Zone for a touchdown. How does a receiver find himself in the end zone when there isn’t a defensive back even inside the twenty?
12. "It was the greatest show on turf!" linebacker Bobby Carpenter after Ohio State prevailed in the Thunder Dome for the ninth straight time. Ohio State and Minnesota combined for 76 points, 1,027 yards, 45 first downs, and 10 touchdowns, but surprisingly enough only one turnover.
And this week’s Instant IQ award goes to…
“When it’s breezy, swing it easy.” Ed Cunningham.
“Yo, Yo! Write that one down!” Gary Thorne.
This week’s Super-Stud Awards go to…
1. Vince “The Program” Young, QB Texas – Obviously, Vince makes this list. He joins Missouri’s Brad Smith as the only other player to rush and pass for over 230 yards in a game. Vince finished with a NCAA high 267 yards on the ground and 239 through the air, to go with his 4 touchdowns.
2. Kalvin’n’Hobbs McRae, RB Ohio – Frank Solich’s sophomore is quickly closing in on 1,000 yards for the season. This week he netted 224 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries as Ohio cruised past Buffalo.
3. Steven “Which” Wichman, QB Idaho – Wichman led the Vandals past the New Mexico State Lobo’s this weekend, throwing the little pigskin for 489 yards –ouch!
4. Daniel Smith, WR Idaho – Helping Wichman pick up the victory, Mr. Smith snagged 11 catches for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns.
5. Michael “I’m fast, but I’m not that fast” Johnson, DB Arizona – He was fast enough on Saturday, converting one of his school record three picks into the pig house as Arizona surprised Oregon State.
6. Chub “B.” Small, RB Marshall – With a name like that, Mr. Small deserves this list just for making it out of middle school. On Saturday, the freshman returned 4 kicks for 160 yards and a touchdown, helping the Herd Thunder past the Green Wave, 27-26.
7. Ted “e-Bear” Ginn Jr., WR Ohio State – I think this is the first time Mr. Ginn has made our list all season. Against Minnesota, lucky #7 ran back a 100 yard kick off for a touchdown in less time than it takes most college guys to pound a beer –now, that’s fast.
8. The USC Trojan Offense – In what was widely expected to be a down week for the Trojans, they exploded right out of the gate to pick up their 30th consecutive victory and reclaim the BCS #1 slot. When the dust cleared and the Cougars were picked up off the turf, the Trojans had compiled 745 yards of total offense.
9. Todd “Don’t Be” Blythe, WR Iowa State – In torching the Aggie DBs, he caught eight passes for 214 yards and four touchdowns. To boot, he set the school mark for most receiving touchdowns in a game.
10. Brian “Boom Boom” Calhoun, RB Wisconsin – The Badger’s Back lowered the boom on the Illini for 197 yards and five touchdowns in Wisconsin’s 41-24 win. In so doing, ‘Boom Boom’ tied a school record for most touchdowns in a single game –that’s the second time he’s tied that particular record this season.
Riding the Bench This Week is…
1. Nebraska’s Offensive Line – Minus Two yards rushing last weekend, sixteen yards rushing this weekend –that’s pitiful, ridiculously pitiful for a storied program like Nebraska. To make matters worse, the offensive line gave up a school record 9 sacks against the Sooners on Saturday.
2. Gary Pinkel, Head Coach Missouri – Last week, he had the game plan to make QB Brad Smith the first Division I-A player with better than 230 yards in a single game through the air and on the ground. This week, not only did he forget to bring a game plan, but he forget how to make half time adjustments. The Kansas defense smothered Brad Smith for just 179 yards of total offense, 38 with his feet.
Random Hits and Misses
My moments of clarity and confusion from the weekend are:
1. Notre Dame announced on Saturday that first year head coach Charlie Weis has been rewarded with a 10-year contract extension to ‘ward off’ speculation that the coach may move to the NFL. The contract is believed to be the richest for any coach in the NCAA (somewhere between $30 and $40 million) and runs through the 2015 season. While that all sounds nice and wonderful, I can’t help but have a sense of Déjà vu here: Tyrone Willingham was rewarded in much the same way after starting off his tenure with eight straight victories and, well, we all know how that ended. At 5-2, Charlie is hardly a godsend –yet. True, he’s done magnificent things with this year’s Golden Domer squad, but Ty did the same in his first season so just don’t go counting your chickens before they’re hatched.
2. As happy as the Irish are with their head coach, the Aggies of College Station are increasingly and increasingly less so with theirs. Dennis Franchione was stolen away from Alabama to replace long time Aggie man R. C. Slocum (what is he up to these days, anyway?). Now in his third season, ‘French’ione is just 11-13 overall and 5 -3 this season, and owns the nation’s third worst pass defense and worst overall defense in the Big 12. Was this the kind of success the Aggies expected? The only coach in the Big12 more on the hot seat than Dennis is Husker’s Bill Callahan.
3. This past week saw a new ‘all-divisions’ NCAA scoring mark set: most points scored in the shortest amount of time. The honor goes to the Division II Central Washington Wildcats who put 27 unanswered points up on the board in 70 seconds. How’d they do that, you ask? By scoring putting together a nice offensive scoring drive and then following it up with three quick strike defensive touchdowns, two pick sixes and a fumble return. The previous record was held by Division III Mont Union, who had scored 21 points in 33 seconds in 1996. The Division I record is held, not by Texas Tech, but by Colorado State. In 1997 and against San Jose State, the Rams scored 20 points in 55 seconds.
4. If I hear one more time about how Mack Brown decided to ‘lighten it up’ and download 2,000 songs onto his I-Pod, I’m gonna seriously lose it. How many times can they report the exact same thing? Ok, we get it, enough already: Mack “Daddy” Brown is a player’s coach. Great, now let’s move on…
5. Kudos to Barry Switzer and Tom Osborne. During the OU-Nebraska game, they told it like it is. When asked whether their power run game would be able to compete and win against the Spread Offense, they wasted no time in making one thing very, very clear: Yes, their playbooks will still win national championships, but nobody wants to use them because high scoring, dynamic offenses are all the rage. I would submit, too, that those offenses make it easier to lure in top athletes from around the country, but some places still need to play to their strengths (and I think Mr. Osborne would agree).
6. The Hard Luck Bears continued their odyssey through woe and sorrow on Saturday. This week it was at home against the Red Raiders. Up until the 4th quarter, the Bears largely kept the Air Raid attack in check, trailing just 6-0. In fact, they had several chances to actually take the lead in this one (a touchdown called back and a missed fourth and goal opportunity, proving the most devastating). In the end though, they could only contain these Raiders for so long, finally succumbing to the prick-and-poke Tech attack, 28-0.
7. How in the world have we allowed ourselves to be so fooled? With their 4th loss of the season, the Volunteers have now dropped out of the Top 25. They began the season at #3 in the pre-season, and now join Michigan, Oklahoma, Iowa, Louisville, and Purdue as teams that were ranked in the Top 15 nationally, only to crash and burn once the pigskin started flying.
8. It’s official: Rutgers is the feel good story of the season. It’s been 26 long years since the Scarlet Knights have played in the post season, and now that drought is over. Is this just an aberration for a Big East in flux, or the start of something new? Quirky stat of the week: The last time Rutgers made themselves bowl eligible was in 1982 (although they did not go bowling that year) with a win against, you guessed it, Navy 31-21.
9. Texas Tech’s Taurean Henderson is just 75 yards short of becoming the first player in NCAA history to reach 2,000 yards rushing and 2,000 yards receiving. With the Aggies coming for a visit out on the Tumbleweed Plains, do you think there’s even the slightest chance he won’t grab that record?
10. I think this may be the funniest thing I’ve read in a long, long time, straight from a wire article : Casey Dick, a freshman quarterback who's seen no action in Razorback games this year because he's been redshirted, will start for the Hogs against the Gamecocks on Saturday, coach Houston Nutt said. "He has a strong arm and good instincts. It's hard to explain. He just has 'it.'”
If I Could Be Anyone This Week It’d Be…
A South Carolina Gamecock. Not only did they manage to beat Tennessee on a field goal with under three minutes to go, but they did at Rocky Top –something the South Carolina program has never done before. Equally nice, at 5-3 they are in good shape for a bowl bid with Arkansas, Florida, and Clemson still on the docket. What might even be more delicious (if you’re a Gamecock fan): the last Tennessee coach that lost to the Gamecocks (Johnny Majors in 1992) ‘left the program’ six days later.
Next Week’s Quick Peeks
Pittsburgh @ Louisville –After a two week hiatus, the BEast is finally back on the tube, this time in a Thursday night showdown. Louisville will try to recapture some pre-season magic and climb back up the conference standings. Meanwhile, off-the-radar Pittsburgh has begun playing a little ball: three straight victories over Cincinnati, South Florida, and Syracuse. Can they make it four in a row?
Iowa @ Northwestern – Both teams ride into this one having dropped their last game (and both to the Wolverines, oddly enough). Will the week off for the Hawkeyes prove the difference here, or will Tyrell Sutton and Brett Basanez prove too much for the Iowa defense?
Tennessee @ Notre Dame – The pre-season #3 Tennessee Volunteers travel to South Bend for a tussle with the Fighting Irish. Early on in the year, this one was circled by just about everyone. Now, it’s an after thought, penciled in mainly by those Volunteer faithful hoping that Fulmer can somehow pull a miracle out of his hat and muster back some respect for the downtrodden program. On the other side of the hashes, Charlie Weiss will be looking to jump some more poll slots to finish no lower than 12th in the nation, and so ensure Notre Dame’s return to the BCS.
Wisconsin @ Penn State – It’s THE Big 10 showdown as the Badgers from Camp Randall ship out to Happy Valley to find out who takes control of the race for the conference crown. With Wisconsin’s defense playing worse than I’ve ever seen them, this one may not be the battle that everyone’s predicting –especially with that young, electric offense Joe Pa’s got brewing up in Beaver Stadium. Even so, the Badgers should get a couple of key personnel back on defense and keep this one tight (remember: Barry’s Boys love a good fight).
Army @ Air Force – Over on The Classic, the Commander-In-Chief trophy goes up for grabs: 1-6 Army can still claim the trophy by sweeping Air Force this week and Navy the first week of December. In order to do so, the Army Grunts will have to have their game of the season against the nation’s 8th ranked ground assault and much underrated QB Shaun Carney.
UCLA @ Arizona – Will the Bruins Cinderella comeback run continue this week? ‘Zona and the Stoops Boys says no, but perhaps it’s the Drew Boys who will have the final say on the matter. Maurice Drew and Drew Olson are the one-two punch that drive this Bruin team to heights well beyond what could have been considered normal in the preseason. The Wildcats, meanwhile, have inserted Freshman QB Willie Tuitama into the starting lineup and got an outstanding 13 of 22 for 335 yard passing day out of him against Oregon State last week. Can he do the same against the PAC10’s best pass defense?
Miami, Fla @ VA Tech – The Hokies finally get their headliner game this week. Texas had Ohio State, USC had Notre Dame, the Hokies get the Hurricanes. On Saturday night on ESPN, if you’re even the least bit of a college football fan, you’d better tune in for this one. Marcus Vick and the versatile Hokie offense host Larry Coker’s Hurricanes in Blacksburg. Miami is brining their nation leading defense to the table –one that allowed just 4 yards of offense to NC State during a 29 minute span in the second half. Are the Hokies for ready for that kind of smash mouth?
Stanford @ USC – Despite last week’s loss in double overtime to UCLA, Walt Harris has this Cardinal team on a role. Can they put a stop to the nation’s longest win streak, or will the Trojan offense rip apart another lesser team?
The Wrap Up
Well, that about wraps it up for yet another week Between the Hashes, SportzFanz. As always, it’s been both a privilege and a pleasure. Look for our Weekly Run Down of the games on in your area to hit the shelves in a couple of days. Until then...
posted by TheMOTT at 4:06 PM
3 comments
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
The Week 9 Run Down
And Welcome to Week Number Nine SportzFanz! Last week saw Texas do the unthinkable and overtake the Trojans in the BCS poll while the Hurricanes of Miami, without even suiting up, leapfrogged the Tigers of LSU. There was also Michigan’s undoing of the Hawkeye’s 22-game home streak (due, in large part I’m sure, to those pink lockers in Kinnick Stadium), the Northwestern Wildcats throttling the Spartans in front of millions, Auburn failing to find the uprights (or the win) against the Bayou Bengals, and the Golden Bears running down the Washington State Cougars in a come from behind victory.
With so much wackiness and intrigue each and every week, what in the world will happen in the slate of games on this weekend? Will BC make Thursday Night a monumental one for the 2005 season? Will the Wolverines defense relapse and wilt in the face of the mighty Wildcat’s spread offense? Or, maybe it’ll be a Tar Trap down in Miami for the Hurricanes? Who knows, but one thing is for certain: something wicked, this way will come in Week Number Nine (and it won’t be just the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party). To help pick out which pigskin you plan on kicking back with, we’ve got another edition of the College Pigskin Schedule. Now, let’s get down to business…
The Week 9 TV Schedule
Oct. 27 Thu Boston College @ VA Tech 6:30P ESPN
Oct. 28 Fri Colorado State @ New Mexico 7:00P ESPN2
Oct. 29 Sat Ohio State @ Minnesota 11:00A ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Oklahoma @ Nebraska 11:00A ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Wisconsin @ Illinois 11:00A ESPN
Oct. 29 Sat Clemson @ GA Tech 11:00A ESPN2
Oct. 29 Sat Texas Tech @ Baylor 11:30A FSN
Oct. 29 Sat Purdue @ Penn State 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Wash St @ USC 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Maryland @ Florida State 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Iowa State @ Texas A&M 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat North Carolina @ Miami 2:30P ESPN
Oct. 29 Sat Georgia vs. Florida (Jax, Fla) 2:30P CBS
Oct. 29 Sat UTEP @ Rice 5:00P PAX
Oct. 29 Sat UCLA @ Stanford 5:30P FSN
Oct. 29 Sat Fresno State @ Hawaii 6:00P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Michigan @ Northwestern 6:00P ESPN
Oct. 29 Sat Texas @ Oklahoma State 6:00P TBS
Oct. 29 Sat South Carolina @ Tennessee 6:45P ESPN2
*Denotes Regional Action
NOTE: All times are CST.
The Week 9 Run Down
Thu Boston College @ VA Tech 6:30P ESPN
On paper, we’ve got another gem of a match up on Thursday night. In practice though, the past couple of Thursday night games haven’t turned out that way –will the mold to be broken this week? Marcus Vick leads the charge for the Hokies as they look to make a statement about the latest batch of BCS rankings (where did all that silicon love go?). BC, while 6-1 and looking dang good in their games this season, has been lackluster on offense and forced to rely on their #4 ranked run and #34 ranked pass defenses. Will that be enough to slow down these Hopping Mad Hokies in Blacksburg?
Va Tech –and the ‘puters shall love thee once more.
Fri Colorado State @ New Mexico 7:00P ESPN2
Hey, what’s that Ram wearing, a Brass Boot? Yep, it sure is. Fresh off their see-saw victory over Wyoming last week, the Rams travel down to Albuquerque for a meet and greet with the Lobo’s. With a new found ground game to control the clock and tempo, CSU should have no trouble dictating the game on Friday night. Even so, be on the look out for Lobo RB DonTrell Moore, he’s the Mountain West’s most explosive back with 968 yards on 203 carries.
CSU, Rams its way past the Lobos.
Sat Ohio State @ Minnesota 11:00A ABC
Now that the Bucks have jump started their offense against Indiana, they get to try it out against the Gophers in the Thunder Dome. The marquee match up in this game is the Golden Gopher’s Galloping Ground Game (best in the country) against that Beautiful, Bludgeoning Buckeye Beast of a Defense (also best in the country). If Minnesota’s lineman can’t account for A.J. Hawk & Co., the Gophers are in deep trouble as they won’t be able to win in a high scoring affair. However, if Tressle pulls another Houdini act with Tedd Ginn’s touches, this one won’t be a high scoring affair –and that means the possibility of an upset special. Here’s one thought though: what happens if Antonio Pittman’s big rushing day last week was just the tip of the ice berg?
Buckeyes – they find out their O-line really does knows how to run block.
Sat Oklahoma @ Nebraska 11:00A ABC
After last week’s debacle in Columbia, the Cornhuskers return home to face a struggling Oklahoma squad. I say struggling because up until this season it simply would have been sacrilege to think the Baylor Bears could hang with the Sooners, much less push them to double overtime. Of course, it would have also been sacrilege to think that Big Red could be held to negative rushing yardage –against Missouri. While this certainly won’t have the magnitude of a 1971 showdown classic, it will feature teams that are evenly matched –and therefore it should be a whale of a game. Look for the Sooners to pound the ball with Adrian Peterson (if he’s back) while the Huskers continue to forego history and relegate the run game to about as much importance in their attack as in the Air Raiders.
Sooners –Why? Baylor’s Defense is better than Nebraska’s (ah, the sacrilege).
Sat Wisconsin @ Illinois 11:00A ESPN
Now comes the tough part for the Badgers –closing out a marvelous season by playing 3 of 4 on the road. Fortunately, they start this stint with lowly Illinois before having to travel down to Happy Valley. Unfortunately, their defense probably won’t be able to keep even the Illini off the board. What is it with Big10 Defenses this season anyway? Purdue’s sucks. Northwestern’s is even worse (at least statistically, although I think that’s probably more because their offense forces teams to play catch up from the opening bell), Illinois’ ain’t much better, Michigan State’s is ranked 94th in the nation, and even the Badgers typically stodgy D is ranked 90th. In fact, the Big10 only has 2 teams ranked in the top 40 in total defense (Ohio State’s at #3 and Penn State‘s at #16). But I digress, with Wisconsin tallying the 7th ranked scoring offense, this one shouldn’t be much more than a tune up against Illinois’ 115th ranked rush defense –unless of course the Badger Boogie man shows up on Saturday.
Badgers.
Sat Clemson @ GA Tech 11:00A ESPN2
I’m calling this one The Most Painful Game You’ll Want To Watch On Saturday. Why? How else can you describe watching two ACC teams that can’t seem to decide how good they want to be? More to the point, how else can you describe sitting down to watch three and a half hours of Reggie Ball and Charlie Whitehurst? If you’re a logic chain believer, then this one should be easy: Clemson beat NC State 31-10 two weeks ago and NC State beat Georgia Tech 17-14 three weeks ago; therefore, Clemson should win this one in a 24 point cake walk. Me, I’m not big on logic when it comes to College Football.
Yellow Jackets.
Sat Texas Tech @ Baylor 11:00A FSN
To be certain, the Baylor Bears are to be commended for getting off to a 4-3 start (and losing those three games by a combined 19 points –one in overtime and another in double overtime). Even so, it’s way too early to say if this change is the beginning of something new down in Waco, or an aberration that will quickly evaporate come next season. Personally, I’d like to think that Baylor has turned the corner, but I have my doubts. In any event, we should find out a bit more about this Bear team on Saturday when they draw the unenviable task of taking on the Texas Air Raid. Last week, Tech managed to compile 468 yards of total offense, but where held to their lowest point total of the season (17). Can Baylor muster the same type of fast, hard smacking defense that Texas used to harass Cody Hodges and keep the Air Raid from bombing away? If not, then this one will be a long day and result in the most lopsided loss of the season for Da’Bears.
Red Raiders – their back, their bad, and they wanna be Nation Wide.
Sat Purdue @ Penn State 2:30P ABC
This one shouldn’t be good –not even close. The way the Nittany Lion offense has been playing, they ought to light up the Boilermakers like a Christmas tree –especially given that Purdue’s defense is ranked 115th in the nation overall (117th at defending the pass). On top of that, the PSU-D should more than manhandle this Purdue offense of Kirsch, Void, and Bryant. So why both watching? Because if history tells us anything, it’s that this type of game is never, ever that simple. Penn State’s pass defense is their weak link –the Wildcats almost exploited it for the win back in September, and the Boilermakers might be able to do the same here.
The Nittany Lions roar their way back to the top of the Big Ten.
Sat Wash St @ USC 2:30P ABC
While there has been much talk of late about the Cougar’s QB Alex Brink, RB Jerome Harrison, and WR Jason Hill, the fact of the matter is that Washington State hasn’t been able to buy a win in conference play, much less run away with one. Call it underachieving. Call it bad timing. Heck, just call it bad luck, I don’t care. The bottom line is that these Cougars aren’t going to stand a chance against USC if they don’t (A) play perfect and (B) catch the mighty Trojans napping for about 59 and a half minutes.
Southern Cal.
Sat Maryland @ Florida State 2:30P ABC
The Terrapins where steamrolled by Virginia Tech at home last Thursday. Now, they travel out to Tallahassee for a fight with Bobby Bowden and his Seminoles. While its true that the Terps boast the ACC’s worst run defense, it is also true that the Noles own the ACC’s worst run game –and I wouldn’t expect FSU to suddenly find a powerful run game here if they couldn’t do it against the likes of Duke. No, the key in this one will be how well the nation’s 6th ranked pass defense can keep Drew Weatherford and his boys under wraps. The margin for error by Maryland will be small –very, very small.
Seminoles – and they might even get a 100 yard rusher!
Sat Iowa State @ Texas A&M 2:30P ABC
I love that everyone’s talking about how the Texas Longhorns have nobody left on their schedule but patsies –it’s just the kind of talk that gets the dander up on these Aggies and pushes them that little bit extra into the ‘seriously insane’ zone. While much has been made about the backwards steps A&M has taken this year, people are overlooking just how well this Aggie team has been playing at home. Of course, speaking of taking a step backwards, this was again supposed to be the year that the Cyclones took control of the Big12 North (be honest: how many of you non-Red Bird fans thought that too after the Iowa State game?). Instead, the Tornadic Birds struggled against Army, got beaten by Nebraska –and Baylor, and then struggled for the first 30 minutes against the worst team in the conference: Oklahoma State. If there’s one thing the Cyclones have to do to win this game, it’s play suffocating defense. When Reggie gets knocked around, but more importantly frustrated, the Aggie offense goes in the tank and the whole team suffers. If ISU can’t do that, then it won’t matter how well QB Bret Meyer throws the ball.
The Aggies – righteous indignation at being a patsy, especially Texas’s patsy, always brings out the best in them.
Sat North Carolina @ Miami 2:30P ESPN
Who can figure out the Tar Heels? They lose to Georgia Tech and Wisconsin, bounce back against a solid NC State team (when they were playing fantastic defense), get blown out by Louisville, and then beat Virginia in a wacky 7-5 game. Meanwhile, since losing the opener against the Seminoles and getting pushed to triple overtime against Clemson, the Canes have torn through their slate, outscoring opponents 136-20. Ah, but now the intriguing part: those blowouts where against Colorado, South Florida, Duke, and Temple. Hmmm. Against defenses with a pulse, Miami’s QB Kyle Wright has tossed just as many picks as touchdowns: three. If the North Carolina secondary shows up, this one could get real interesting.
Canes – they’ve just got too many weapons for the Tar Heels to keep bottled up forever.
Sat Georgia vs. Florida (Jax, Fla) 2:30P CBS
It’s the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party and you’re invited (and I dare you to find me a larger Indoor Cocktail Party as well). Bulldogs and Gators from all walks of life will descend upon Jacksonville this weekend for their annual grudge match. To make things a wee bit more interesting this season, the Bulldogs are struggling to keep their undefeated season and national championship dreams alive while Florida is, well just plain struggling. Without QB D.J. Shockley, the Dawgs attack figures to be a whole lot more plain vanilla than in previous weeks, but that may be just what the doctor ordered as Georgia’s offensive line will get to focus on run blocking and not covering the dynamic Shockley on one of his scrambles. For the Gators, its all about plugging the Leak, as in Chris Leak. Over the past four weekends, Leak has thrown for just 538 yards, 1 touchdown, and 4 interceptions on 45 of 100 passing –great numbers for a wishbone offense, but horrid numbers for Myer’s spread. If Leak can’t catch fire in this one, expect the Dawgie D to feast on a whole heck of a lot of gator meat.
Dawgs.
Sat UTEP @ Rice 5:00P PAX
Over on PAX, they pick up the CSTV feed on Saturday evening to bring us the Miner-Owl game. On the season, the Rice Owls have looked simply abysmal and now find themselves in the midst of the nation’s longest losing streak (an even dozen). The Miners from El Paso, on the other hand, are just biding their time until next weekend’s showdown with Tulsa –that game should decide bragging rights within C-USA. If the Miners look to far past this Owls team though, they could find themselves struggling to pick up the pieces of a shattered season.
Dem Axe Wieldin’ Miners.
Sat UCLA @ Stanford 5:30P FSN
UCLA is undefeated and the 8th ranked team in the nation. Stanford lost to UC-Davis back in week two, begging the question: should this one even be close –or broadcast? Well, in a word: yes. The Cardinal are still atrocious on defense (which should mean a field day for the Drew boys, Maurice and Olsen); however, Walt Harris finally appears to have this team figured out and playing like they should have been all season long. In consecutive weeks, they’ve edged out the pesky Cougars in Pullman, survived a trip to the desert with Arizona, and blown up a devilish Arizona State team at home. While the Bruins should be able to do just about anything they want on offense, don’t be surprised if the Cardinal can do likewise.
UCLA – but everyone begins to take note of their porous D.
Sat Fresno State @ Hawaii 6:00P ABC
Life after Timmy Chang isn’t so bad for the Warriors as it turns out. That’s because they’ve got another gunslinger by the name of Colt Brennen sitting under center. With him leading this offense, the Warriors have climbed the rungs all the way to #2 in passing offense in the nation (but that comes at the expense of their run game: 115th in the nation). Colt himself is quickly rising to the cream of the crop on the quarterback charts (11th in the nation by last count). He has thrown for 2,450 yards and 21 touchdowns off of an amazing 204-of-292 pass attempts. With Hawaii about as one dimensional as it gets, it’ll come down to Colt and his gun of an arm –and he’ll have to do it against the WAC’s top rated pass defense. Now ordinarily, when a team travels to the Big Island, it’s the offense that rules the day. This time though, I just can’t get that 46-14 Warrior blow out at the hands of Louisiana Tech out of my head.
Bulldogs.
Sat Michigan @ Northwestern 6:00P ESPN
This one ought to be the most entertaining game of the weekend. Michigan already has three losses on the season and travels into Evanston to face a Wildcat team that’s been running wild all over Big10 defenses. In order for Michigan to get the win, they’ll have to prove that their defense has indeed come of age and can stop a spread attack. In order for Northwestern to claim the dubbya, they’ll have to depend on their 117th ranked defense to get a stop on the Wolverines in the 4th quarter. Either way, this should be one heck of a football game. Be on the lookout for Northwestern’s Brett Basanez and Tyrell Sutton –they will be the top two guys the Wolverine Defense tries to tag on every down.
Go Blue – but only because I think their defense is more capable than NW’s of making the crucial stop necessary to win in this one.
Sat Texas @ Oklahoma State 6:00P TBS
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: boredom is the Longhorns fiercest enemy until Thanksgiving. After dusting the mighty Red Raiders last weekend in Austin and managing to claim the top spot in the BCS poll, the Horns travel up to Stillwater for a quickie with the Cowboys. If Texas has its headgear screwed on straight, this one shouldn’t even be interesting (in fact, one would have to even wonder why this game would even get any airtime). Oklahoma State has earned the Big12’s ‘Most Disappointing Team’ award for the first half of the season, getting dusted by their conference brethren 171-64 over a four game stretch (and they haven’t even played Texas or Texas Tech yet). The fact that they are 4-3 is ONLY because of the weakest non-conference schedule in the nation (outside of Lubbock, that is): Montana State, Florida Atlantic, and Arkansas State. As the Cowboys rank either last or next to last in 10 out of the 14 major statistical categories, the most interesting thing happening in this one is seeing how the announcers keep people from turning the channel.
Longhorns.
Sat South Carolina @ Tennessee 6:45P ESPN2
It’s official: Tennessee’s season is dead. When you’re at the tail end of October and you’re behind Vanderbilt in the standings, what more is there to say? Will the Volunteers be able to dust themselves off the matt and show the grit and resolve Michigan did when staring at 3-3? The Gamecocks will be bringing The Visor and his pass attack right at these Volunteers on Saturday. With Tennessee’s offense stuck in quick sand and the weakness of their defense matched up against the strength of S-C, anything could (and probably will) happen in Neyland stadium.
Volunteers – simply because they hate that Visor Guy so much.
With so much wackiness and intrigue each and every week, what in the world will happen in the slate of games on this weekend? Will BC make Thursday Night a monumental one for the 2005 season? Will the Wolverines defense relapse and wilt in the face of the mighty Wildcat’s spread offense? Or, maybe it’ll be a Tar Trap down in Miami for the Hurricanes? Who knows, but one thing is for certain: something wicked, this way will come in Week Number Nine (and it won’t be just the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party). To help pick out which pigskin you plan on kicking back with, we’ve got another edition of the College Pigskin Schedule. Now, let’s get down to business…
The Week 9 TV Schedule
Oct. 27 Thu Boston College @ VA Tech 6:30P ESPN
Oct. 28 Fri Colorado State @ New Mexico 7:00P ESPN2
Oct. 29 Sat Ohio State @ Minnesota 11:00A ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Oklahoma @ Nebraska 11:00A ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Wisconsin @ Illinois 11:00A ESPN
Oct. 29 Sat Clemson @ GA Tech 11:00A ESPN2
Oct. 29 Sat Texas Tech @ Baylor 11:30A FSN
Oct. 29 Sat Purdue @ Penn State 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Wash St @ USC 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Maryland @ Florida State 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Iowa State @ Texas A&M 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat North Carolina @ Miami 2:30P ESPN
Oct. 29 Sat Georgia vs. Florida (Jax, Fla) 2:30P CBS
Oct. 29 Sat UTEP @ Rice 5:00P PAX
Oct. 29 Sat UCLA @ Stanford 5:30P FSN
Oct. 29 Sat Fresno State @ Hawaii 6:00P ABC*
Oct. 29 Sat Michigan @ Northwestern 6:00P ESPN
Oct. 29 Sat Texas @ Oklahoma State 6:00P TBS
Oct. 29 Sat South Carolina @ Tennessee 6:45P ESPN2
*Denotes Regional Action
NOTE: All times are CST.
The Week 9 Run Down
Thu Boston College @ VA Tech 6:30P ESPN
On paper, we’ve got another gem of a match up on Thursday night. In practice though, the past couple of Thursday night games haven’t turned out that way –will the mold to be broken this week? Marcus Vick leads the charge for the Hokies as they look to make a statement about the latest batch of BCS rankings (where did all that silicon love go?). BC, while 6-1 and looking dang good in their games this season, has been lackluster on offense and forced to rely on their #4 ranked run and #34 ranked pass defenses. Will that be enough to slow down these Hopping Mad Hokies in Blacksburg?
Va Tech –and the ‘puters shall love thee once more.
Fri Colorado State @ New Mexico 7:00P ESPN2
Hey, what’s that Ram wearing, a Brass Boot? Yep, it sure is. Fresh off their see-saw victory over Wyoming last week, the Rams travel down to Albuquerque for a meet and greet with the Lobo’s. With a new found ground game to control the clock and tempo, CSU should have no trouble dictating the game on Friday night. Even so, be on the look out for Lobo RB DonTrell Moore, he’s the Mountain West’s most explosive back with 968 yards on 203 carries.
CSU, Rams its way past the Lobos.
Sat Ohio State @ Minnesota 11:00A ABC
Now that the Bucks have jump started their offense against Indiana, they get to try it out against the Gophers in the Thunder Dome. The marquee match up in this game is the Golden Gopher’s Galloping Ground Game (best in the country) against that Beautiful, Bludgeoning Buckeye Beast of a Defense (also best in the country). If Minnesota’s lineman can’t account for A.J. Hawk & Co., the Gophers are in deep trouble as they won’t be able to win in a high scoring affair. However, if Tressle pulls another Houdini act with Tedd Ginn’s touches, this one won’t be a high scoring affair –and that means the possibility of an upset special. Here’s one thought though: what happens if Antonio Pittman’s big rushing day last week was just the tip of the ice berg?
Buckeyes – they find out their O-line really does knows how to run block.
Sat Oklahoma @ Nebraska 11:00A ABC
After last week’s debacle in Columbia, the Cornhuskers return home to face a struggling Oklahoma squad. I say struggling because up until this season it simply would have been sacrilege to think the Baylor Bears could hang with the Sooners, much less push them to double overtime. Of course, it would have also been sacrilege to think that Big Red could be held to negative rushing yardage –against Missouri. While this certainly won’t have the magnitude of a 1971 showdown classic, it will feature teams that are evenly matched –and therefore it should be a whale of a game. Look for the Sooners to pound the ball with Adrian Peterson (if he’s back) while the Huskers continue to forego history and relegate the run game to about as much importance in their attack as in the Air Raiders.
Sooners –Why? Baylor’s Defense is better than Nebraska’s (ah, the sacrilege).
Sat Wisconsin @ Illinois 11:00A ESPN
Now comes the tough part for the Badgers –closing out a marvelous season by playing 3 of 4 on the road. Fortunately, they start this stint with lowly Illinois before having to travel down to Happy Valley. Unfortunately, their defense probably won’t be able to keep even the Illini off the board. What is it with Big10 Defenses this season anyway? Purdue’s sucks. Northwestern’s is even worse (at least statistically, although I think that’s probably more because their offense forces teams to play catch up from the opening bell), Illinois’ ain’t much better, Michigan State’s is ranked 94th in the nation, and even the Badgers typically stodgy D is ranked 90th. In fact, the Big10 only has 2 teams ranked in the top 40 in total defense (Ohio State’s at #3 and Penn State‘s at #16). But I digress, with Wisconsin tallying the 7th ranked scoring offense, this one shouldn’t be much more than a tune up against Illinois’ 115th ranked rush defense –unless of course the Badger Boogie man shows up on Saturday.
Badgers.
Sat Clemson @ GA Tech 11:00A ESPN2
I’m calling this one The Most Painful Game You’ll Want To Watch On Saturday. Why? How else can you describe watching two ACC teams that can’t seem to decide how good they want to be? More to the point, how else can you describe sitting down to watch three and a half hours of Reggie Ball and Charlie Whitehurst? If you’re a logic chain believer, then this one should be easy: Clemson beat NC State 31-10 two weeks ago and NC State beat Georgia Tech 17-14 three weeks ago; therefore, Clemson should win this one in a 24 point cake walk. Me, I’m not big on logic when it comes to College Football.
Yellow Jackets.
Sat Texas Tech @ Baylor 11:00A FSN
To be certain, the Baylor Bears are to be commended for getting off to a 4-3 start (and losing those three games by a combined 19 points –one in overtime and another in double overtime). Even so, it’s way too early to say if this change is the beginning of something new down in Waco, or an aberration that will quickly evaporate come next season. Personally, I’d like to think that Baylor has turned the corner, but I have my doubts. In any event, we should find out a bit more about this Bear team on Saturday when they draw the unenviable task of taking on the Texas Air Raid. Last week, Tech managed to compile 468 yards of total offense, but where held to their lowest point total of the season (17). Can Baylor muster the same type of fast, hard smacking defense that Texas used to harass Cody Hodges and keep the Air Raid from bombing away? If not, then this one will be a long day and result in the most lopsided loss of the season for Da’Bears.
Red Raiders – their back, their bad, and they wanna be Nation Wide.
Sat Purdue @ Penn State 2:30P ABC
This one shouldn’t be good –not even close. The way the Nittany Lion offense has been playing, they ought to light up the Boilermakers like a Christmas tree –especially given that Purdue’s defense is ranked 115th in the nation overall (117th at defending the pass). On top of that, the PSU-D should more than manhandle this Purdue offense of Kirsch, Void, and Bryant. So why both watching? Because if history tells us anything, it’s that this type of game is never, ever that simple. Penn State’s pass defense is their weak link –the Wildcats almost exploited it for the win back in September, and the Boilermakers might be able to do the same here.
The Nittany Lions roar their way back to the top of the Big Ten.
Sat Wash St @ USC 2:30P ABC
While there has been much talk of late about the Cougar’s QB Alex Brink, RB Jerome Harrison, and WR Jason Hill, the fact of the matter is that Washington State hasn’t been able to buy a win in conference play, much less run away with one. Call it underachieving. Call it bad timing. Heck, just call it bad luck, I don’t care. The bottom line is that these Cougars aren’t going to stand a chance against USC if they don’t (A) play perfect and (B) catch the mighty Trojans napping for about 59 and a half minutes.
Southern Cal.
Sat Maryland @ Florida State 2:30P ABC
The Terrapins where steamrolled by Virginia Tech at home last Thursday. Now, they travel out to Tallahassee for a fight with Bobby Bowden and his Seminoles. While its true that the Terps boast the ACC’s worst run defense, it is also true that the Noles own the ACC’s worst run game –and I wouldn’t expect FSU to suddenly find a powerful run game here if they couldn’t do it against the likes of Duke. No, the key in this one will be how well the nation’s 6th ranked pass defense can keep Drew Weatherford and his boys under wraps. The margin for error by Maryland will be small –very, very small.
Seminoles – and they might even get a 100 yard rusher!
Sat Iowa State @ Texas A&M 2:30P ABC
I love that everyone’s talking about how the Texas Longhorns have nobody left on their schedule but patsies –it’s just the kind of talk that gets the dander up on these Aggies and pushes them that little bit extra into the ‘seriously insane’ zone. While much has been made about the backwards steps A&M has taken this year, people are overlooking just how well this Aggie team has been playing at home. Of course, speaking of taking a step backwards, this was again supposed to be the year that the Cyclones took control of the Big12 North (be honest: how many of you non-Red Bird fans thought that too after the Iowa State game?). Instead, the Tornadic Birds struggled against Army, got beaten by Nebraska –and Baylor, and then struggled for the first 30 minutes against the worst team in the conference: Oklahoma State. If there’s one thing the Cyclones have to do to win this game, it’s play suffocating defense. When Reggie gets knocked around, but more importantly frustrated, the Aggie offense goes in the tank and the whole team suffers. If ISU can’t do that, then it won’t matter how well QB Bret Meyer throws the ball.
The Aggies – righteous indignation at being a patsy, especially Texas’s patsy, always brings out the best in them.
Sat North Carolina @ Miami 2:30P ESPN
Who can figure out the Tar Heels? They lose to Georgia Tech and Wisconsin, bounce back against a solid NC State team (when they were playing fantastic defense), get blown out by Louisville, and then beat Virginia in a wacky 7-5 game. Meanwhile, since losing the opener against the Seminoles and getting pushed to triple overtime against Clemson, the Canes have torn through their slate, outscoring opponents 136-20. Ah, but now the intriguing part: those blowouts where against Colorado, South Florida, Duke, and Temple. Hmmm. Against defenses with a pulse, Miami’s QB Kyle Wright has tossed just as many picks as touchdowns: three. If the North Carolina secondary shows up, this one could get real interesting.
Canes – they’ve just got too many weapons for the Tar Heels to keep bottled up forever.
Sat Georgia vs. Florida (Jax, Fla) 2:30P CBS
It’s the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party and you’re invited (and I dare you to find me a larger Indoor Cocktail Party as well). Bulldogs and Gators from all walks of life will descend upon Jacksonville this weekend for their annual grudge match. To make things a wee bit more interesting this season, the Bulldogs are struggling to keep their undefeated season and national championship dreams alive while Florida is, well just plain struggling. Without QB D.J. Shockley, the Dawgs attack figures to be a whole lot more plain vanilla than in previous weeks, but that may be just what the doctor ordered as Georgia’s offensive line will get to focus on run blocking and not covering the dynamic Shockley on one of his scrambles. For the Gators, its all about plugging the Leak, as in Chris Leak. Over the past four weekends, Leak has thrown for just 538 yards, 1 touchdown, and 4 interceptions on 45 of 100 passing –great numbers for a wishbone offense, but horrid numbers for Myer’s spread. If Leak can’t catch fire in this one, expect the Dawgie D to feast on a whole heck of a lot of gator meat.
Dawgs.
Sat UTEP @ Rice 5:00P PAX
Over on PAX, they pick up the CSTV feed on Saturday evening to bring us the Miner-Owl game. On the season, the Rice Owls have looked simply abysmal and now find themselves in the midst of the nation’s longest losing streak (an even dozen). The Miners from El Paso, on the other hand, are just biding their time until next weekend’s showdown with Tulsa –that game should decide bragging rights within C-USA. If the Miners look to far past this Owls team though, they could find themselves struggling to pick up the pieces of a shattered season.
Dem Axe Wieldin’ Miners.
Sat UCLA @ Stanford 5:30P FSN
UCLA is undefeated and the 8th ranked team in the nation. Stanford lost to UC-Davis back in week two, begging the question: should this one even be close –or broadcast? Well, in a word: yes. The Cardinal are still atrocious on defense (which should mean a field day for the Drew boys, Maurice and Olsen); however, Walt Harris finally appears to have this team figured out and playing like they should have been all season long. In consecutive weeks, they’ve edged out the pesky Cougars in Pullman, survived a trip to the desert with Arizona, and blown up a devilish Arizona State team at home. While the Bruins should be able to do just about anything they want on offense, don’t be surprised if the Cardinal can do likewise.
UCLA – but everyone begins to take note of their porous D.
Sat Fresno State @ Hawaii 6:00P ABC
Life after Timmy Chang isn’t so bad for the Warriors as it turns out. That’s because they’ve got another gunslinger by the name of Colt Brennen sitting under center. With him leading this offense, the Warriors have climbed the rungs all the way to #2 in passing offense in the nation (but that comes at the expense of their run game: 115th in the nation). Colt himself is quickly rising to the cream of the crop on the quarterback charts (11th in the nation by last count). He has thrown for 2,450 yards and 21 touchdowns off of an amazing 204-of-292 pass attempts. With Hawaii about as one dimensional as it gets, it’ll come down to Colt and his gun of an arm –and he’ll have to do it against the WAC’s top rated pass defense. Now ordinarily, when a team travels to the Big Island, it’s the offense that rules the day. This time though, I just can’t get that 46-14 Warrior blow out at the hands of Louisiana Tech out of my head.
Bulldogs.
Sat Michigan @ Northwestern 6:00P ESPN
This one ought to be the most entertaining game of the weekend. Michigan already has three losses on the season and travels into Evanston to face a Wildcat team that’s been running wild all over Big10 defenses. In order for Michigan to get the win, they’ll have to prove that their defense has indeed come of age and can stop a spread attack. In order for Northwestern to claim the dubbya, they’ll have to depend on their 117th ranked defense to get a stop on the Wolverines in the 4th quarter. Either way, this should be one heck of a football game. Be on the lookout for Northwestern’s Brett Basanez and Tyrell Sutton –they will be the top two guys the Wolverine Defense tries to tag on every down.
Go Blue – but only because I think their defense is more capable than NW’s of making the crucial stop necessary to win in this one.
Sat Texas @ Oklahoma State 6:00P TBS
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: boredom is the Longhorns fiercest enemy until Thanksgiving. After dusting the mighty Red Raiders last weekend in Austin and managing to claim the top spot in the BCS poll, the Horns travel up to Stillwater for a quickie with the Cowboys. If Texas has its headgear screwed on straight, this one shouldn’t even be interesting (in fact, one would have to even wonder why this game would even get any airtime). Oklahoma State has earned the Big12’s ‘Most Disappointing Team’ award for the first half of the season, getting dusted by their conference brethren 171-64 over a four game stretch (and they haven’t even played Texas or Texas Tech yet). The fact that they are 4-3 is ONLY because of the weakest non-conference schedule in the nation (outside of Lubbock, that is): Montana State, Florida Atlantic, and Arkansas State. As the Cowboys rank either last or next to last in 10 out of the 14 major statistical categories, the most interesting thing happening in this one is seeing how the announcers keep people from turning the channel.
Longhorns.
Sat South Carolina @ Tennessee 6:45P ESPN2
It’s official: Tennessee’s season is dead. When you’re at the tail end of October and you’re behind Vanderbilt in the standings, what more is there to say? Will the Volunteers be able to dust themselves off the matt and show the grit and resolve Michigan did when staring at 3-3? The Gamecocks will be bringing The Visor and his pass attack right at these Volunteers on Saturday. With Tennessee’s offense stuck in quick sand and the weakness of their defense matched up against the strength of S-C, anything could (and probably will) happen in Neyland stadium.
Volunteers – simply because they hate that Visor Guy so much.
posted by TheMOTT at 10:08 PM
5 comments
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Between The Hashes - Week 8
Between The Hashes
Welcome back SportzFanz to yet another week, Between The Hashes. In each issue we take a look at the College Football landscape and report on the state of all things Grid Iron. With so many quality games unfolding this weekend, I’m afraid it’s gonna take us until Saturday to get through it all, so lets just get right down to the action…
What This Week Will Be Remembered For
The shattering of school records being broken and, quite possibly, the night the lights went out in Georgia. In Saturday’s Georgia-Arkansas battle, Dawgs’ QB D.J. Shockley left the game with a sprained left knee after getting twisted around something fierce on a third down scramble up the middle. While he isn’t believed to knee surgery to repair it, he is listed as doubtful for the World’s Largest Cocktail Party this weekend, and that ain’t a good thing as the Bulldogs lacked a noticeable punch without Shockley in the line up.
But how about all those school records that came tumbling down this weekend: The Penn State offense set a record for most points scored in a half with 56. The previous mark of 55 was set on October 11th, 1947 against Fordham (I believe Joe Pa was coaching that one too). The Irish’ Brady Quinn set a trio of passing marks as the Golden Domers pasted BYU for their first home victory of the season. He set marks for most touchdowns in a single game (6), most passing touchdowns in a season (20), and most 400-yard passing games in a season (3). Brad Smith of Missouri set a school record for most total yardage in a game with 480 yards, including an unbelievable 246 yards on the ground against the much ballyhooed Blackshirts of Nebraska. But the cou’de gra of record setters is Auburn’s John Claude-Vaughn-Damn! He set himself up in the school record books as the only kicker to miss 5 field goals in a single game.
Today’s Topic –
I’m not saying that I’m for the idea of a Division 1-A playoff, but I think it is simply a matter of time before the powers that be force it upon us. Fortunately though, Jon Saraceno of USA Today points out a fabulous silver lining about life with a NCAA playoff: Imagine what Winter Madness would be like. In fact, imagine what Winter Madness would do to the NFL. Nowadays, the playoffs are really the only time the NFL adrenaline gets pumping –and that’s usually only when the game is played outdoors in near freezing weather. Whatsmore, when was the last time the Super Bowl was more about the play on the field than the commercials off it?
So I ask you: Would you rather watch the best 8 or even 16 college teams in the country going head to head, hopefully in their own stadiums, for a playoff, or would you rather watch a mostly tired and staid National Football League playoff where some of the teams even have to compete under the guise of something called a ‘wild card’?
In the college format, you’ve got 18-22 year’s flying all over the field on adrenaline and energy, sucked straight from the raucous home crowd that’s boiling over into the ‘freaking nuts’ zone replete with cannon blasts and the marching band belting out the old fight song. Meanwhile in the pro’s, you’ve got neatly formatted 3 hour games with their picture perfect timing of when to cut to commercial and when not to, their canned audio system celebrations and ‘be loud’ scrolling marquees, and let us not forget their oh so blasé ‘sudden death’ overtime format where the only ones hoping for sudden death are those watching.
So I ask you, which would you rather watch if, or when, the NCAA formally requests a Division I-A playoff system: Winter Madness or the NFL Playoffs?
Your Instant Impact Quotes of the Week Are:
1. "I thought it was a good lesson for my son." Charlie Weiss, explaining to the media why he went over to the USC locker room after the game and congratulated them on their come from behind victory.
2. “Hodges' accuracy is so uncanny he can throw it in a trash can from 50 yards." Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder on the Air Raider’s Cody Hodges. Well, that certainly may be true, but if you could actually put a little pressure on him, he might only be able to throw it into a trash can from five yards out.
3. “He gets kissed a little bit –and I don’t mean that, ya know, favorably.” Dave Lapham, trying to find a reason that he said the word ‘kissed’ on camera and during a football game. To his credit, he was trying to explain how Husker QB Zac Taylor got knocked down by a seething, sweaty, 300 pound defensive lineman… but I digress.
4. “It’s turned into a turnover party” Dave Lapham. Good golly, really? What’s next, Dave, a pajama party? ..sorry folks, I must still be a little wierded out by that whole kissing the quarterback thing.
5. “Troy Smith with the ball. Still on his feet… oh, he puts it on spin cycle!” Mark Jones, doing the play-by-play as Troy Smith puts together an amazing scramble for the endzone in Ohio State’s destruction of Indiana. Meanwhile, Rece Davis pounds his fist in shock and disappointment: now he has to come up with another catch phrase for the ESPN Game Break..
6. “That’s one big dude.” Brent Musburger, sizing up Texas’ ‘Big Henry’ Melton, a 6 foot 3 inch, 276 ‘plus’ pound full back. He’s 7% body fat folks –yep, he’s one big dude.
7. “This is where, as a player, you play your guts out all afternoon and then it just comes down to a kick.” Mike Tirico, right before Iowa sent it into overtime with a field goal on the final play in regulation. You know, you’d be one helluva a motivational speaker Mike.
8. “Here’s a naked… Bomar, going ….in the end zone.” DrewGoodman, calling the play as Oklahoma QB Rhett Bomar takes a bootleg to the end zone for the Sooners. Guys, guys, guys. We went through this last season: never leave something like that just hanging out there. That’s just as bad as talking about one player being ‘kissed’ by another out on the field!
9. “Don’t get behind.” One of Bob Davie’s three keys to the game for Auburn. That brought a big ‘well, duh’ from, oh I don’t know, maybe the 2.4 million people watching the game! …and if you listened very carefully you, you could just make out the laughter of Rece Davis and Lou Holtz in the ESPN studio.
10. “Ass-trick” Bob Davie, trying to pronounce the word ‘asterisk’ during the Auburn-LSU game. Yeah, that one pretty much speaks for itself. The only thing worse is that Bob repeated it about six times over the next five minutes.
11. “Damn it Scotty, I need more power!” Bob Davie. Oh, wait, you mean he didn’t say that? Damn. Well, at least Franklin made sure to correct him each time he improperly said the word “ass-trick”.
12. “You gotta lookout for getting ear-holed and watching for his legs on the punt coverage –I hate that!” Craig James in the studio, watching a replay of Reggie Bush’s marvelous punt return for a touchdown. Yeah, but if I were you, I’d watch out for getting ear-holed by John Saunders or Aaron Taylor.
13. “You’ve heard of the long jump, well how about the … head first, jumping through the air for about five yards or so …jump?” Gary Reasons, trying to, find a new Olympic event?, and explain how Rhett Bomar ‘jumped’ along the sideline for a first down.
And this week’s Instant IQ award goes to…
“Mad” Mike Leach for his insightful interview going into halftime against Texas:
Jack Arute, “Will you make any changes [in the second half]?”
Mad Mike, “Well, ….Aaghhh! We need to figure out how to punt the ball.”
This week’s Super-Stud Awards go to…
1. Brad “Mmm, I like Corn” Smith, QB Missouri – What is it about Nebraska that gets him so pumped up? This time, he set a single game school record with 480 yards of total offense, including an unbelievable 246 yards on 28 carries.
2. Brady “Bunch” Quinn, QB Notre Dame – Would the Irish answer the starting bell after that unspeakable atrocity in Notre Dame Stadium last week? Um, let me see: Brady Quinn threw for a school record 6 touchdowns and 467 yards on 32 of 41 passing.
3. Kalvin “n’Hobbes” McRae, RB Ohio – Frank Solich has found his one man wrecking crew. Kalvin took over the top slot for single game rushing day with his 29 carry, 264 yard performance. With all those yards though, one has to ask: how did he only manage to put the pig in the house one time on Saturday?
4. Kenny ‘Nine’ Irons, RB Auburn – It’s not your fault your place kicker missed 5 field goals. Mr. Irons thrashed the vaunted Tiger D for 218 yards on 27 carries. Wow, maybe the ole’ War Eagle should’ve given it to him a bit more often.
5. Jason “King of the” Hill, WR Washington State – The Cougar’s upset bid of Cal came ever so short, but Jason did his part, making the most of his six grabs: 240 yards and three touchdowns.
6. The Missouri Tiger Defense – While your offense, especially Mr. Smith, lit up the Cornhuskers, your defense pitched a whale of a game: holding Nebraska to -2 rushing yards on the day. When did you ever think you’d see Big Red held to negative rushing yardage?
Riding the Bench This Week is…
1. CanesVision, the company that runs the JumboTron for NC State. During the NC State-Clemson game, they flashed images on the crowd with various captions like “Kissing Cam” and “Fan Cam”. All in all, nobody would’ve said a thing about the crowd shots except that they showed one of their own employees up on the big screen with the caption “Mexi-Cam”. While the employee wasn’t offended, it was enough to get the other 60,000 in attendance to stop booing the home team and boo the JumboTron.
2. Referees and play calls. In the Husker-Tiger game, Nebraska battled back to 21-20 but when the Refs missed a call on a big 2nd and 15 for Missouri, the momentum turned back in favor of Missouri. The referee credited the Tigers with a completion despite the fact that the receiver had stepped out of bounds just prior to making the play. Okay, I can believe the referee might have missed the call (he didn’t have a great angle), but the replay was absolutely in your face (despite the fact that Lapham and Land were going on about something completely un-related). Where was the replay official, in the little boys room?
3. Arian Foster, WR Tennessee – Fumbling the ball in the red zone is bad enough. Fumbling the ball in a tight, 3-3 game is worse. Fumbling the ball into and out of the back of the end zone in such a game earns you a spot on this list. Of course, RB Gerald Riggs Jr. also lost a fumble inside the Tide ten yard line and probably should be on this list too…
4. The LSU Receivers – Two easy drops in the end zone would have made mincemeat out of Auburn on Saturday night. Instead, the Bayou Bengals prevailed simply because of the play on Auburn’s special teams.
5. John “Claude” Vaughn “Damn”, PK Auburn – He missed five field goals as the War Eagle’s title run got snuffed out by the Bayou Bengals in overtime 20-17. Quite a change from last season’s nail biter, where Vaughn initially missed a PAT but was granted a second chance due to a LSU penalty. Vaughn nailed it, spring boarding Auburn to an undefeated season with their 10-9 victory over LSU.
6. Referees and play calls – Part II. In the Baylor-OU game, Sooner Rhett Bomar lunged out of bounds trying to make the sticks for a first down. The referee gave him the choice spot, but replay clearly showed that he was at least a yard short of the marker. Why didn’t the ref up in the booth review this play? In the Big12, the booth can review ball spots on the field –as they did during the Texas Tech-Texas game to give the Red Raiders a first down after the ball was spotted short of the sticks. Why didn’t they intervene here?!?
7. The guy in the stands wearing the shirt that read “LSU Twinkies” during the Tiger vs. Tiger game. Yeah, I know your girlfriend was standing right next to you wearing an exact copy, but that still isn’t any reason to embarrass yourself like that. Whomever the ‘Friends Of Twinkie’ are (and I’m sure you know who you are), had better give him grief to no end.
Random Hits and Misses
My moments of clarity and confusion from the weekend are:
1. In good hands with All State, huh? I hope everyone out there has heard that the State of Texas has had to force All State to pay off claims from policy holders who were under mandatory evacuation from Hurricane Rita and then subsequently not allowed to return home for several days. By state law, when such a condition arises the homes in the affected area are automatically deemed ‘uninhabitable’. When a home is ‘uninhabitable’, according to home owner policies, that means you are entitled to re-imbursement from your insurance company for expenses related to being forced from your home. All State, however, saw it differently and refused to pay out those claims. The State of Texas intervened and TWO state courts have now ordered All State to begin making good on the policies that their customers signed. If you’re considering switching to All State (FYI: I am not a policy holder with them), I strongly encourage you to check out this story. In good hands, indeed...
2. Just when you thought the Big East couldn’t be shafted any further by the ‘Majors’: Each and every Big10 game was on TV this week (either nationally or on ABC’s regional telecast). The Big East: the golden goose egg, and it’s not because the WVa-South Florida game was postponed. Can there be any clearer of a message sent to the conference formerly known as the BEast: you aren’t keeping your automatic big boy punch ticket.
3. Which way gets you shnockered faster: drinking every time Musburger says “Jack’a’root” or “pard’ner”, or drinking every time Bob Davie uses a ‘dramatic’ pause to think about what he’s going to say? Discuss.
4. This just in: Texas to win a share of the national title via the old geezer poll. Well, with the number of polls out there, it’s hardly any surprise that you can find ONE that has the Longhorns leaping in front of the Trojans. The Master’s Coaches Survey (yeah, we’ve talked about them before), ranked UT ahead of USC last week and figures to do so again this week with Texas’ trouncing of the Red Raiders. The question that comes to my mind is: how do votes from 16 former college football coaches tally up to 394 points for Texas, but only 389 for USC?
5. The most over-thrown flag this season: By far, it’s the ‘illegal formation’ flag for not having enough men on the line of scrimmage. The most under-thrown flag: The ‘delay of game’ when the play clock reaches zero. At least half a dozen times in each of the past two weeks, I’ve seen this one either missed or ignored entirely. What’s up with that Zebra’s?
6. Ok, I know the Wildcats dusted Michigan State but do you think those two missed field goals and 3 first half turnovers by the Sparties in the red zone helped? I do –I think it made all the difference in the world.
7. Newsflash: Baylor has just been upgraded from the Bad News Bears to the Hard Luck Bears. Despite pushing the Sooners to double overtime IN Norman, they still came up a sandwich short of a full picnic, losing 37-30.
8. The nation’s longest win streak (and no I’m not talking about the Trojans) came to a halt on Saturday as the Mount Union Purple Raiders fell to the Ohio Northern Polar Bears, 21-14. The loss snapped their miraculous 110-game win streak, dating back all the way to October of 1994 (that’s over a decade!). Word has it the Mount Union faithful are so distraught by this turn of events that they’re thinking of firing the whole coaching staff!?!
9. Calculate this one in your computers, Mr. Sagarin: Virginia cast down Florida State last weekend but then stumbled and fell to lowly North Carolina 7-5 this week. They managed just 199 total yards and not a single play of more than 13 as the Tar Heels smothered the Cavs all game long. Yeah, I’m sure your computer system saw that one coming…
10. Title this one under ‘wierdest setting for a football game’: In New York, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle moved their game to Friday morning from Saturday afternoon and barred fans from being in attendance. The only people allowed to watch? About two dozen police officers and a handful of media types. Now I know what you’re thinking: this must’ve been a prison league game, but it wasn’t. The precautions were taken after a Mount Vernon resident was found murdered in New Rochelle last month. In case you were wondering, New Rochelle won the game in convincing fashion, 40-16, and the police have no leads in the case.
11. Louisville won this year’s Keg of Nails trophy with their 46-22 victory over Cincinnati. While an actual Keg of Nails is supposed to weigh 100 pounds, this one is a wee-bit lighter as it’s empty and a replica of the original Keg which was lost about thirty years ago during restorations at the Louisville campus. The other trophy game of the week, The Brass Boot, goes home with the Colorado State Rams, 39-31 victors over the Wyoming Cowboys. The win evened the Border War series at 19 apiece, setting up one heck of a showdown for next year.
Next Week’s Quick Peeks
Boston College @ VA Tech – Yet again on Thursday we have the prospect for an Instant Classic. While the games haven’t worked out that way the past two weeks, don’t expect that to hold here. The Eagles will be loaded for Hokie this week as Virginia Tech looks to remain among the ranks of the unbeaten and pound its chest for some BCS #2 love. If this one were up in Chestnut Hill, I’d give it to BC but down in Blacksburg this one will easily be the roughest game of the season for the Eagles –are they physical enough to handle a 60 minute pounding?
Ohio State @ Minnesota – With two weeks to get over the blocked punt that cost them Paul Bunyan’s Axe against Wisconsin, the Gophers should be well rested for these Buckeye’s. After stumbling for a second time this season against the Nittany Lions, the Bucks have had two impressive victories in a row over Michigan State and Indiana. If they can get their offense going, it should prove the difference as the nation’s #1 ground attack runs head first into the nation’s #1 run stoppers.
Oklahoma @ Nebraska – Getting routed in Columbia this past week, Huskernation is seeing Red all over again. This week they get a strengthening Oklahoma squad that should boast the return of all-world back Adrian Peterson. It could be a throwback classic up in Lincoln if the Sooner ground game can push around the Blackshirts (they didn’t do so well against the Bears’ stingy defense). What’s even more pressing is whether the OU secondary can handle the onslaught Bill Callahan and his CornCoast Offense will attempt to throw at them.
Clemson @ GA Tech – In a match up of two schools that can’t decide if they’d rather rise to the top or float to the bottom, the Tigers pay a visit to the Rambling Wreck. With two weeks off to prepare, will the Yellow Jacket’s Reggie Ball be ready to finally take over a game or will Tommy Bowden’s boys find a way to contain him and take the sting out of these Jackets?
Maryland @ Florida State – Thanks to Virginia, the Atlantic Division in the ACC is wide open once more. A victory by the visiting Terrapins would almost certainly knock the Seminoles out of the race for the division title. But FSU knows this and, after their tune up match against Duke, will be ready to rip/roar their way through the ACC’s worst rushing defense.
Georgia vs. Florida – The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party kicks off this Saturday in Jacksonville. For the Gators, it’s all about the rivalry and removing the Bulldogs from a national title shot. For the Dawgs, it’s all about survival. With DJ Shockley likely out of commission, don’t expect Georgia to bully it’s way past Florida on offense –they weren’t exactly lighting the world on fire when Shockley was in the line up and without him, well… On defense, the Dawgs are just as solid as ever, so that means it should come down to the play of Florida QB Chris Leak: can he or can’t he lead this team?
Michigan @ Northwestern – Northwestern roasted the Spartans this week (although I still contend MSU did it to themselves in the first quarter, thereby keeping us from having a good measuring stick for the Wildcats). Michigan went into Kinnick Stadium and stopped the Hawkeyes home game win streak at 22 (don’t underestimate the importance of that victory, which was incidentally Llyod Carr’s 100th with Big Blue). Will the Wolverines defense be overwhelmed against the spread offense or will they dominate them the way they should have dominated Notre Dame.
The Wrap Up
Well, that about wraps it up for yet another week Between the Hashes, SportzFanz. As always, it’s been both a privilege and a pleasure. Look for our Weekly Run Down of the games on in your area to hit the shelves in a couple of days. Until then...
Rex Frazier is a college football staff writer for football.com. You can reach him at: rexfrazier@earthlink.net
Welcome back SportzFanz to yet another week, Between The Hashes. In each issue we take a look at the College Football landscape and report on the state of all things Grid Iron. With so many quality games unfolding this weekend, I’m afraid it’s gonna take us until Saturday to get through it all, so lets just get right down to the action…
What This Week Will Be Remembered For
The shattering of school records being broken and, quite possibly, the night the lights went out in Georgia. In Saturday’s Georgia-Arkansas battle, Dawgs’ QB D.J. Shockley left the game with a sprained left knee after getting twisted around something fierce on a third down scramble up the middle. While he isn’t believed to knee surgery to repair it, he is listed as doubtful for the World’s Largest Cocktail Party this weekend, and that ain’t a good thing as the Bulldogs lacked a noticeable punch without Shockley in the line up.
But how about all those school records that came tumbling down this weekend: The Penn State offense set a record for most points scored in a half with 56. The previous mark of 55 was set on October 11th, 1947 against Fordham (I believe Joe Pa was coaching that one too). The Irish’ Brady Quinn set a trio of passing marks as the Golden Domers pasted BYU for their first home victory of the season. He set marks for most touchdowns in a single game (6), most passing touchdowns in a season (20), and most 400-yard passing games in a season (3). Brad Smith of Missouri set a school record for most total yardage in a game with 480 yards, including an unbelievable 246 yards on the ground against the much ballyhooed Blackshirts of Nebraska. But the cou’de gra of record setters is Auburn’s John Claude-Vaughn-Damn! He set himself up in the school record books as the only kicker to miss 5 field goals in a single game.
Today’s Topic –
I’m not saying that I’m for the idea of a Division 1-A playoff, but I think it is simply a matter of time before the powers that be force it upon us. Fortunately though, Jon Saraceno of USA Today points out a fabulous silver lining about life with a NCAA playoff: Imagine what Winter Madness would be like. In fact, imagine what Winter Madness would do to the NFL. Nowadays, the playoffs are really the only time the NFL adrenaline gets pumping –and that’s usually only when the game is played outdoors in near freezing weather. Whatsmore, when was the last time the Super Bowl was more about the play on the field than the commercials off it?
So I ask you: Would you rather watch the best 8 or even 16 college teams in the country going head to head, hopefully in their own stadiums, for a playoff, or would you rather watch a mostly tired and staid National Football League playoff where some of the teams even have to compete under the guise of something called a ‘wild card’?
In the college format, you’ve got 18-22 year’s flying all over the field on adrenaline and energy, sucked straight from the raucous home crowd that’s boiling over into the ‘freaking nuts’ zone replete with cannon blasts and the marching band belting out the old fight song. Meanwhile in the pro’s, you’ve got neatly formatted 3 hour games with their picture perfect timing of when to cut to commercial and when not to, their canned audio system celebrations and ‘be loud’ scrolling marquees, and let us not forget their oh so blasé ‘sudden death’ overtime format where the only ones hoping for sudden death are those watching.
So I ask you, which would you rather watch if, or when, the NCAA formally requests a Division I-A playoff system: Winter Madness or the NFL Playoffs?
Your Instant Impact Quotes of the Week Are:
1. "I thought it was a good lesson for my son." Charlie Weiss, explaining to the media why he went over to the USC locker room after the game and congratulated them on their come from behind victory.
2. “Hodges' accuracy is so uncanny he can throw it in a trash can from 50 yards." Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder on the Air Raider’s Cody Hodges. Well, that certainly may be true, but if you could actually put a little pressure on him, he might only be able to throw it into a trash can from five yards out.
3. “He gets kissed a little bit –and I don’t mean that, ya know, favorably.” Dave Lapham, trying to find a reason that he said the word ‘kissed’ on camera and during a football game. To his credit, he was trying to explain how Husker QB Zac Taylor got knocked down by a seething, sweaty, 300 pound defensive lineman… but I digress.
4. “It’s turned into a turnover party” Dave Lapham. Good golly, really? What’s next, Dave, a pajama party? ..sorry folks, I must still be a little wierded out by that whole kissing the quarterback thing.
5. “Troy Smith with the ball. Still on his feet… oh, he puts it on spin cycle!” Mark Jones, doing the play-by-play as Troy Smith puts together an amazing scramble for the endzone in Ohio State’s destruction of Indiana. Meanwhile, Rece Davis pounds his fist in shock and disappointment: now he has to come up with another catch phrase for the ESPN Game Break..
6. “That’s one big dude.” Brent Musburger, sizing up Texas’ ‘Big Henry’ Melton, a 6 foot 3 inch, 276 ‘plus’ pound full back. He’s 7% body fat folks –yep, he’s one big dude.
7. “This is where, as a player, you play your guts out all afternoon and then it just comes down to a kick.” Mike Tirico, right before Iowa sent it into overtime with a field goal on the final play in regulation. You know, you’d be one helluva a motivational speaker Mike.
8. “Here’s a naked… Bomar, going ….in the end zone.” DrewGoodman, calling the play as Oklahoma QB Rhett Bomar takes a bootleg to the end zone for the Sooners. Guys, guys, guys. We went through this last season: never leave something like that just hanging out there. That’s just as bad as talking about one player being ‘kissed’ by another out on the field!
9. “Don’t get behind.” One of Bob Davie’s three keys to the game for Auburn. That brought a big ‘well, duh’ from, oh I don’t know, maybe the 2.4 million people watching the game! …and if you listened very carefully you, you could just make out the laughter of Rece Davis and Lou Holtz in the ESPN studio.
10. “Ass-trick” Bob Davie, trying to pronounce the word ‘asterisk’ during the Auburn-LSU game. Yeah, that one pretty much speaks for itself. The only thing worse is that Bob repeated it about six times over the next five minutes.
11. “Damn it Scotty, I need more power!” Bob Davie. Oh, wait, you mean he didn’t say that? Damn. Well, at least Franklin made sure to correct him each time he improperly said the word “ass-trick”.
12. “You gotta lookout for getting ear-holed and watching for his legs on the punt coverage –I hate that!” Craig James in the studio, watching a replay of Reggie Bush’s marvelous punt return for a touchdown. Yeah, but if I were you, I’d watch out for getting ear-holed by John Saunders or Aaron Taylor.
13. “You’ve heard of the long jump, well how about the … head first, jumping through the air for about five yards or so …jump?” Gary Reasons, trying to, find a new Olympic event?, and explain how Rhett Bomar ‘jumped’ along the sideline for a first down.
And this week’s Instant IQ award goes to…
“Mad” Mike Leach for his insightful interview going into halftime against Texas:
Jack Arute, “Will you make any changes [in the second half]?”
Mad Mike, “Well, ….Aaghhh! We need to figure out how to punt the ball.”
This week’s Super-Stud Awards go to…
1. Brad “Mmm, I like Corn” Smith, QB Missouri – What is it about Nebraska that gets him so pumped up? This time, he set a single game school record with 480 yards of total offense, including an unbelievable 246 yards on 28 carries.
2. Brady “Bunch” Quinn, QB Notre Dame – Would the Irish answer the starting bell after that unspeakable atrocity in Notre Dame Stadium last week? Um, let me see: Brady Quinn threw for a school record 6 touchdowns and 467 yards on 32 of 41 passing.
3. Kalvin “n’Hobbes” McRae, RB Ohio – Frank Solich has found his one man wrecking crew. Kalvin took over the top slot for single game rushing day with his 29 carry, 264 yard performance. With all those yards though, one has to ask: how did he only manage to put the pig in the house one time on Saturday?
4. Kenny ‘Nine’ Irons, RB Auburn – It’s not your fault your place kicker missed 5 field goals. Mr. Irons thrashed the vaunted Tiger D for 218 yards on 27 carries. Wow, maybe the ole’ War Eagle should’ve given it to him a bit more often.
5. Jason “King of the” Hill, WR Washington State – The Cougar’s upset bid of Cal came ever so short, but Jason did his part, making the most of his six grabs: 240 yards and three touchdowns.
6. The Missouri Tiger Defense – While your offense, especially Mr. Smith, lit up the Cornhuskers, your defense pitched a whale of a game: holding Nebraska to -2 rushing yards on the day. When did you ever think you’d see Big Red held to negative rushing yardage?
Riding the Bench This Week is…
1. CanesVision, the company that runs the JumboTron for NC State. During the NC State-Clemson game, they flashed images on the crowd with various captions like “Kissing Cam” and “Fan Cam”. All in all, nobody would’ve said a thing about the crowd shots except that they showed one of their own employees up on the big screen with the caption “Mexi-Cam”. While the employee wasn’t offended, it was enough to get the other 60,000 in attendance to stop booing the home team and boo the JumboTron.
2. Referees and play calls. In the Husker-Tiger game, Nebraska battled back to 21-20 but when the Refs missed a call on a big 2nd and 15 for Missouri, the momentum turned back in favor of Missouri. The referee credited the Tigers with a completion despite the fact that the receiver had stepped out of bounds just prior to making the play. Okay, I can believe the referee might have missed the call (he didn’t have a great angle), but the replay was absolutely in your face (despite the fact that Lapham and Land were going on about something completely un-related). Where was the replay official, in the little boys room?
3. Arian Foster, WR Tennessee – Fumbling the ball in the red zone is bad enough. Fumbling the ball in a tight, 3-3 game is worse. Fumbling the ball into and out of the back of the end zone in such a game earns you a spot on this list. Of course, RB Gerald Riggs Jr. also lost a fumble inside the Tide ten yard line and probably should be on this list too…
4. The LSU Receivers – Two easy drops in the end zone would have made mincemeat out of Auburn on Saturday night. Instead, the Bayou Bengals prevailed simply because of the play on Auburn’s special teams.
5. John “Claude” Vaughn “Damn”, PK Auburn – He missed five field goals as the War Eagle’s title run got snuffed out by the Bayou Bengals in overtime 20-17. Quite a change from last season’s nail biter, where Vaughn initially missed a PAT but was granted a second chance due to a LSU penalty. Vaughn nailed it, spring boarding Auburn to an undefeated season with their 10-9 victory over LSU.
6. Referees and play calls – Part II. In the Baylor-OU game, Sooner Rhett Bomar lunged out of bounds trying to make the sticks for a first down. The referee gave him the choice spot, but replay clearly showed that he was at least a yard short of the marker. Why didn’t the ref up in the booth review this play? In the Big12, the booth can review ball spots on the field –as they did during the Texas Tech-Texas game to give the Red Raiders a first down after the ball was spotted short of the sticks. Why didn’t they intervene here?!?
7. The guy in the stands wearing the shirt that read “LSU Twinkies” during the Tiger vs. Tiger game. Yeah, I know your girlfriend was standing right next to you wearing an exact copy, but that still isn’t any reason to embarrass yourself like that. Whomever the ‘Friends Of Twinkie’ are (and I’m sure you know who you are), had better give him grief to no end.
Random Hits and Misses
My moments of clarity and confusion from the weekend are:
1. In good hands with All State, huh? I hope everyone out there has heard that the State of Texas has had to force All State to pay off claims from policy holders who were under mandatory evacuation from Hurricane Rita and then subsequently not allowed to return home for several days. By state law, when such a condition arises the homes in the affected area are automatically deemed ‘uninhabitable’. When a home is ‘uninhabitable’, according to home owner policies, that means you are entitled to re-imbursement from your insurance company for expenses related to being forced from your home. All State, however, saw it differently and refused to pay out those claims. The State of Texas intervened and TWO state courts have now ordered All State to begin making good on the policies that their customers signed. If you’re considering switching to All State (FYI: I am not a policy holder with them), I strongly encourage you to check out this story. In good hands, indeed...
2. Just when you thought the Big East couldn’t be shafted any further by the ‘Majors’: Each and every Big10 game was on TV this week (either nationally or on ABC’s regional telecast). The Big East: the golden goose egg, and it’s not because the WVa-South Florida game was postponed. Can there be any clearer of a message sent to the conference formerly known as the BEast: you aren’t keeping your automatic big boy punch ticket.
3. Which way gets you shnockered faster: drinking every time Musburger says “Jack’a’root” or “pard’ner”, or drinking every time Bob Davie uses a ‘dramatic’ pause to think about what he’s going to say? Discuss.
4. This just in: Texas to win a share of the national title via the old geezer poll. Well, with the number of polls out there, it’s hardly any surprise that you can find ONE that has the Longhorns leaping in front of the Trojans. The Master’s Coaches Survey (yeah, we’ve talked about them before), ranked UT ahead of USC last week and figures to do so again this week with Texas’ trouncing of the Red Raiders. The question that comes to my mind is: how do votes from 16 former college football coaches tally up to 394 points for Texas, but only 389 for USC?
5. The most over-thrown flag this season: By far, it’s the ‘illegal formation’ flag for not having enough men on the line of scrimmage. The most under-thrown flag: The ‘delay of game’ when the play clock reaches zero. At least half a dozen times in each of the past two weeks, I’ve seen this one either missed or ignored entirely. What’s up with that Zebra’s?
6. Ok, I know the Wildcats dusted Michigan State but do you think those two missed field goals and 3 first half turnovers by the Sparties in the red zone helped? I do –I think it made all the difference in the world.
7. Newsflash: Baylor has just been upgraded from the Bad News Bears to the Hard Luck Bears. Despite pushing the Sooners to double overtime IN Norman, they still came up a sandwich short of a full picnic, losing 37-30.
8. The nation’s longest win streak (and no I’m not talking about the Trojans) came to a halt on Saturday as the Mount Union Purple Raiders fell to the Ohio Northern Polar Bears, 21-14. The loss snapped their miraculous 110-game win streak, dating back all the way to October of 1994 (that’s over a decade!). Word has it the Mount Union faithful are so distraught by this turn of events that they’re thinking of firing the whole coaching staff!?!
9. Calculate this one in your computers, Mr. Sagarin: Virginia cast down Florida State last weekend but then stumbled and fell to lowly North Carolina 7-5 this week. They managed just 199 total yards and not a single play of more than 13 as the Tar Heels smothered the Cavs all game long. Yeah, I’m sure your computer system saw that one coming…
10. Title this one under ‘wierdest setting for a football game’: In New York, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle moved their game to Friday morning from Saturday afternoon and barred fans from being in attendance. The only people allowed to watch? About two dozen police officers and a handful of media types. Now I know what you’re thinking: this must’ve been a prison league game, but it wasn’t. The precautions were taken after a Mount Vernon resident was found murdered in New Rochelle last month. In case you were wondering, New Rochelle won the game in convincing fashion, 40-16, and the police have no leads in the case.
11. Louisville won this year’s Keg of Nails trophy with their 46-22 victory over Cincinnati. While an actual Keg of Nails is supposed to weigh 100 pounds, this one is a wee-bit lighter as it’s empty and a replica of the original Keg which was lost about thirty years ago during restorations at the Louisville campus. The other trophy game of the week, The Brass Boot, goes home with the Colorado State Rams, 39-31 victors over the Wyoming Cowboys. The win evened the Border War series at 19 apiece, setting up one heck of a showdown for next year.
Next Week’s Quick Peeks
Boston College @ VA Tech – Yet again on Thursday we have the prospect for an Instant Classic. While the games haven’t worked out that way the past two weeks, don’t expect that to hold here. The Eagles will be loaded for Hokie this week as Virginia Tech looks to remain among the ranks of the unbeaten and pound its chest for some BCS #2 love. If this one were up in Chestnut Hill, I’d give it to BC but down in Blacksburg this one will easily be the roughest game of the season for the Eagles –are they physical enough to handle a 60 minute pounding?
Ohio State @ Minnesota – With two weeks to get over the blocked punt that cost them Paul Bunyan’s Axe against Wisconsin, the Gophers should be well rested for these Buckeye’s. After stumbling for a second time this season against the Nittany Lions, the Bucks have had two impressive victories in a row over Michigan State and Indiana. If they can get their offense going, it should prove the difference as the nation’s #1 ground attack runs head first into the nation’s #1 run stoppers.
Oklahoma @ Nebraska – Getting routed in Columbia this past week, Huskernation is seeing Red all over again. This week they get a strengthening Oklahoma squad that should boast the return of all-world back Adrian Peterson. It could be a throwback classic up in Lincoln if the Sooner ground game can push around the Blackshirts (they didn’t do so well against the Bears’ stingy defense). What’s even more pressing is whether the OU secondary can handle the onslaught Bill Callahan and his CornCoast Offense will attempt to throw at them.
Clemson @ GA Tech – In a match up of two schools that can’t decide if they’d rather rise to the top or float to the bottom, the Tigers pay a visit to the Rambling Wreck. With two weeks off to prepare, will the Yellow Jacket’s Reggie Ball be ready to finally take over a game or will Tommy Bowden’s boys find a way to contain him and take the sting out of these Jackets?
Maryland @ Florida State – Thanks to Virginia, the Atlantic Division in the ACC is wide open once more. A victory by the visiting Terrapins would almost certainly knock the Seminoles out of the race for the division title. But FSU knows this and, after their tune up match against Duke, will be ready to rip/roar their way through the ACC’s worst rushing defense.
Georgia vs. Florida – The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party kicks off this Saturday in Jacksonville. For the Gators, it’s all about the rivalry and removing the Bulldogs from a national title shot. For the Dawgs, it’s all about survival. With DJ Shockley likely out of commission, don’t expect Georgia to bully it’s way past Florida on offense –they weren’t exactly lighting the world on fire when Shockley was in the line up and without him, well… On defense, the Dawgs are just as solid as ever, so that means it should come down to the play of Florida QB Chris Leak: can he or can’t he lead this team?
Michigan @ Northwestern – Northwestern roasted the Spartans this week (although I still contend MSU did it to themselves in the first quarter, thereby keeping us from having a good measuring stick for the Wildcats). Michigan went into Kinnick Stadium and stopped the Hawkeyes home game win streak at 22 (don’t underestimate the importance of that victory, which was incidentally Llyod Carr’s 100th with Big Blue). Will the Wolverines defense be overwhelmed against the spread offense or will they dominate them the way they should have dominated Notre Dame.
The Wrap Up
Well, that about wraps it up for yet another week Between the Hashes, SportzFanz. As always, it’s been both a privilege and a pleasure. Look for our Weekly Run Down of the games on in your area to hit the shelves in a couple of days. Until then...
Rex Frazier is a college football staff writer for football.com. You can reach him at: rexfrazier@earthlink.net
posted by TheMOTT at 9:27 PM
4 comments
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
The Week 8 Run Down
Ah, it’s Week 8 SportzFanz and there’s a load of action coming your way, so just sit back, pop open a cold one, and relax as we lead you through the weekly College Pigskin Schedule…
The Week 8 TV Schedule
Oct. 20 Thu VA Tech @ Maryland 6:45P ESPN
Oct. 21 Fri Southern Miss @ UAB 7:00P ESPN
Oct. 22 Sat GA Tech @ Miami, Fla 11:00A ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat Michigan @ Iowa 11:00A ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat Ohio State @ Indiana 11:00A ESPN Oct. 22 Sat Northwestern @ Michigan State 11:00A ESPN2
Oct. 22 Sat Nebraska @ Missouri 11:30A FSN
Oct. 22 Sat BYU @ Notre Dame 1:30P NBC
Oct. 22 Sat Wyoming @ Colorado State 2:00P ESPN Cl
Oct. 22 Sat Purdue @ Wisconsin 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat Texas Tech @ Texas 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat USC @ Washington 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat Tennessee @ Alabama 2:30P CBS
Oct. 22 Sat Utah @ UNLV 6:00P ABC
Oct. 22 Sat Penn State @ Illinois 6:00P ESPN2 Oct. 22 Sat Oregon State @ UCLA 6:00P TBS
Oct. 22 Sat Baylor @ Oklahoma 6:00P FSN
Oct. 22 Sat Auburn @ LSU 6:45P ESPN
Oct. 22 Sat Washington State @ Cal 9:15P FSN
*Denotes Regional Action
NOTE: All times are CST.
The Week 8 Run Down
Thu VA Tech @ Maryland 6:45P ESPN
This Thursday we get a gem of a game with the Hokies dropping by College Park for a little Turtle Soup. While the Terrapins started off the season in rough fashion, they’ve finally caught a gear and ripped off three solid victories against Wake Forest, Virginia, and Temple. On top of that, Maryland has been fuming for 365 days now, just itching to get another shot at these Hokies after last year’s 55-6 pasting. Of course, Va Tech managed to put up that score even without super-QB Marcus Vick. If the home crowd can keep these Terps fired up and in the game and RB Lance Ball can run like he did against Virginia two week ago (163 yards and two touchdowns), then the Hokies should have their hands full all the way down to the final gun. But if the Hokie speed and defense is for real, or their special teams takes the home crowd out of it, this one could turn ugly real fast.
Hokies.
Fri Southern Miss @ UAB 7:00P ESPN
After playing lights out against Tennessee in the opener, UAB went AWOL, dropping their last two games to become 3-3. If they can get their offense figured out, they’ve still got a chance to get back in the hunt for a C-USA title as their defense has been playing great and keeping them in the game. On the other side of the hashes, the Golden Eagles have followed a similar path this season. They played Alabama tough in week one before faltering and struggling through the last four to wind up 3-2. With wins over East Carolina and UCF, however, Southern Miss has the inside track on the East Division crown. The key to this one will be getting a solid outing out of Eagle QB Dustin Almond. Two weeks ago against Tulsa he was terrible, completing just 12 of 29 passes for 132 yards and 4 interceptions. Seven days later, he caught fire against UCF, going 23 of 37 for 277 yards and 5 touchdowns. Which Dustin Almond will show up?
Rebels.
Sat GA Tech @ Miami, Fla 11:00A ABC
As the weekend approaches it becomes less certain that this game will even get played. At last check, Hurricane Wilma exploded into a Category 5 and was eyeing the lower Florida Coast. If things work out right and these two get a chance to play this weekend, expect the Canes to give their best Cat 5 impersonation against the Yellow Jackets. The nation’s top ranked defensive unit should have zero trouble manhandling the Rambling Wreck’s O. Does anyone realize that over the last four weeks, Miami has outscored its opponents 136-20? Okay, okay, so those numbers are a little skewed with them playing Colorado, South Florida, Duke, and Temple over that stretch, but still –Miami’s got that swagger back and that definitely isn’t a good thing for anybody that saddles up on the other side of the ball from them.
Canes.
Sat Michigan @ Iowa 11:00A ABC
After hosting the red hot Nittany Lions and vanquishing them from the ranks of the unbeaten, Big Blue travels to the land of the pink showers to face off against a rejuvenated Hawkeye team. After opening their Big10 slate with a loss to the Buckeyes, Iowa has strung together three impressive victories. The only problem with that is that those victories have come against Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana, begging the question: just how ‘improved’ are the Hawkeyes? With RB Michael Hart ready to sled, the Wolverines offense has had a noticeable punch (boy he really takes the heat off QB Chad Henne, don’t he?). For the Hawkeyes to be successful in this one, they’ll have to make the Wolverines one dimensional by shutting down the ground game. On top of that, Hawkeye QB Drew Tate will have to avoid having a ‘State’ game (as in Iowa State and Ohio State). In those games, he went 27 of 50 for just 203 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. So who out there thinks he’ll be able to avoid that kind of let down against an 18th ranked Michigan defense who has, incidentally, already played against the likes of Brady Quinn, Drew Stanton, and Michael Robinson?
Wolverines.
Sat Ohio State @ Indiana 11:00A ESPN
After enduring that painful loss to Penn State two weeks ago, the Buckeye’s salvaged their Big10 title hopes by tearing down the Spartans, 35-24. This week should be nothing more than a tune up for the Buckeye O -and believe me, they need the work. While the Hoosiers are no pushovers on defense, don’t expect their offense to muster much of a threat as the OSU defense should have absolutely no problem manhandling them for 60 full minutes.
OSU.
Sat Northwestern @ Michigan State 11:00A ESPN2
If stats mean anything, this should be the Big10’s most exciting game of the week (how DID it end up on the Deuce?). Northwestern’s spread attack has come out of nowhere this season to storm the Big10 (their 5 point loss to Penn State is looking too shabby now, isn’t it?). But even more impressive than the Wildcat offense has been the Spartan offense led by QB Drew Stanton –tops in the Big10 and 3rd in the nation. What makes this game super-interesting though, is taking into consideration that we aren’t just talking about two very potent offensive attacks, but we’re also talking about two of the nation’s worst pass defenses: the Spartans at 109th and the Wildcats at 115th. With such high octane attacks lined up against such wiffle-ball defenses, this one has a 1,000 yards and a 100 over-under written all over it.
Spartans, in a dizzying assault on the Big10 record books.
Sat Nebraska @ Missouri 11:30A FSN
With Nebraska, Colorado, and Missouri in a dead heat for the North Division, this one should help separate the pretenders from the contenders. While the Tigers have managed to get to 2-1 in conference play, they’ve done so by squeaking past an emotionally challenged Iowa State Redhawk squad and scraping by suddenly apathetic Oklahoma State. And while the Tiger’s mediocrity doesn’t all rest on the shoulders of QB Brad Smith (or his arms and legs for that matter), the same can’t be said of the Black’n’Gold’s Defense, ranked 11th in the conference in rushing defense and dead last in scoring defense. Standing opposite them is a Big Red squad that snuck out of Waco with a victory after getting bushwhacked by the Red Raiders in the prior week. With a steadily improving passing game and a killer Blackshirt Defense though, don’t expect Mizzou to pull this one out even if they come out fast and furious in the first half.
Cornhuskers.
Sat BYU @ Notre Dame 1:30P NBC
Can the Irish pick their hearts up off the turf of Notre Dame Stadium in time for this one? While the Irish are easily one of the ten best teams in the nation, they are also one of the very, very few to have a goose egg in their own Yard. The good news for Irish fans is that they should finally pick up that elusive dubbya this week. The bad news is that it might be a bit closer than everyone is expecting as BYU’s passing game, behind QB John Beck and WRs Curtis Brown and Jonny Harline, is really clicking and the number one weakness on this Trojan team (by far) is its secondary. The difference here though is that the Cougar receivers will look dirt slow to the Irish defenders in comparison to USC’s thoroughbreds.
Golden Domers.
Sat Wyoming @ Colorado State 2:00P ESPN Cl
At the beginning of the season, the Cowboys were looking to wrestle control of the Mountain West away from Utah. Very early on though, that dream quickly evaporated as Wyoming is now a 4-3 squad and riding a two game losing streak. Meanwhile, the Rams have suddenly found themselves sitting right behind TCU in the conference standings and dreaming of taking that Mountain West crown all for themselves. In this one, watch the play of QB Justin Holland. He’s the best the M-West has to offer, and with a trio of able receivers in David Anderson, Johnny Walker, and Kory Sperry, figures to have a big day. Of course, Colorado State and the Mountain West’s top ranked pass defense might have a little something to say about that. If this one were an away game for CSU, I’d give it to the Cowboys in a heartbeat (CSU is abysmal away from the ole Fort, a perfect goose egg on the season at 0-3). Since the Cowboys are riding all the way into town for this one though, the home crowd ought to be able to juice up the Rams’ 99th ranked defense and help them make that game wining stop to seal the game.
Rams.
Sat Purdue @ Wisconsin 2:30P ABC
How far can one team slide in a single season? Everyone’s favorite Big10 dark horse, the Purdue Boilermakers, is now 2-4 and 0-3 in conference play. You could say that losing all everything QB Kyle Orton to the NFL draft was a serious blow to this team, but you’d only be partially right. His replacement, Brandon Kirsch, hasn’t been all warts this season, completing 60% of his passes for 1,625 yards. Nope, the real problem has been on defense where last year’s entire starting unit returned for this campaign and hasn’t played even close to expectations (115th in the nation overall and 117th in pass defense). While Wisconsin is more of a run first team, they certainly aren’t afraid to put it up in the air when the opportunity presents itself –and it will. Even worse for the Boilers, the Badgers appear to have already put their clunker game of the season out there against Northwestern. If the Purdue D can’t tighten up and lure Stocco into making a BUNCH of mistakes, the Badgers offense ought to pull this one out at home in Camp Randall even if their defense isn’t up to the task.
Badgers.
Sat Texas Tech @ Texas 2:30P ABC
Sure, Tech can hang half a hundred on some Division I-AA schools. And sure, Tech can go into Lincoln after last season’s 70-10 blowout victory and still walk away with the dubbya. And yeah, sure, they can prove it wasn’t a fluke by roasting some Wildcat in Lubbock. But can they shock the nation and tame these Longhorns? Their offense will get its yards, that much is certain, but will they get the points? Will they break free from this speedy secondary and gouge them for the really big gains? In order for it to be a Red Raider day, they’ll have to do just that. But even more than simply putting points on the board, if Tech wants to keep this one competitive, RaiderBack Dwayne Slay had better have a career and wreak havoc on Vince Young and the Longhorn’s running backs –if he can catch them. If Tech can’t do that, then this one could very easily be another lopsided victory –although the safe money says it’s much closer than the Orangebloods would like.
Texas shoots down the Air Raid.
Sat USC @ Washington 2:30P ABC
After playing three come-from-behind games in a row with each one closer than the last, the Trojans finally get a breather this week. While the Huskies have begun to show some signs of life on offense, their defense is still abysmal and will have to match up against the nation’s premier offense. Don’t be surprised though if these Huskies manage to put quite a few points on the board against the boys from Southern Cal as the Trojans will absolutely be looking past this one.
SC.
Sat Tennessee @ Alabama 2:30P CBS
Is the Tide for real or isn’t it? After destroying Florida one week and then eaking past Ole Miss the next, it’s anybody’s guess as to just exactly how good this Red Elephant team is. While one would expect the Tide’s defense (tops in the SEC) to carry the day, I wouldn’t bet on it. The Vols have had two weeks to prepare and will probably end up using both Ainge and Clausen in this one (something which, oddly enough, seems work best for this offense). Plus, Tennessee is incredibly good on the road in big games (remember LSU this season –and Georgia last year?). With Bama losing a playmaker a game, I’m having trouble seeing how they’ll maintain their continuity on offense, especially if they can’t run the ball –which they shouldn’t be able to do against a UT line that has yet to give up the century mark this year.
Vols.
Sat Utah @ UNLV 6:00P ABC
How this game makes it onto ABC is anybody’s guess as both squads are bringing up the rear in the Mountain West. With the departure of Urban Meyer, the Ute’s world has been turned upside down. They’re riding a three game losing streak and can’t seem to find any kind of rhythm on either side of the ball. Fortunately for them, they ‘run’ straight into a Rebels squad that has been even worse. With the Utah offense struggling to get a big game out of RB Quinton Ganther, QB Brian Johnson, and WR John Madsen all season, does anyone else out there think this is the week that the Ute’s finally breakout?
Utah ‘runs’ away in this one.
Sat Penn State @ Illinois 6:00P ESPN2
Penn State’s perfect season came to a grinding halt last week in the Big House when Chad Henne found his freshman receiver in the end zone for the game winning score as time expired. This week, the Nittany Lions travel over to Champaign for a confidence builder against the Fighting Illini. With the Big10’s worst rushing offense, scoring offense, rushing defense, scoring defense, and special teams unit, I think it’s safe to say Joe Pa’s youngsters will think this game is easier than practice. But hey, even though Illinois is also the Big10’s second worst team in total offense, pass efficiency defense, turnover margin, and offensive pass efficiency, don’t underestimate them: they’re tops in the conference with kickoff returns (although that may just be because they get scored on so much …I dunno, it’s just a theory).
PSU.
Sat Oregon State @ UCLA 6:00P TBS
See, I told you the Beavers were the best Jeckyl’n’Hyde team in the country. Last week, they ripped the heart out of the Golden Bears on the road, improving to 2-1 in conference play. Meanwhile, UCLA continued it’s perfect season by squeaking past Washington State in overtime. Front and center in the Bruins rise up the Top 25 charts is QB Drew Olson and RB Maurice Drew. While they haven’t posted eye popping numbers on a weekly basis, they have been electrifying over the past two – combing for 12 touchdowns and 1,213 all purpose yards. This week, that dynamic duo gets to cut its teeth against the nation’s third worst pass defense and 106th ranked unit overall. Of course, the bright side for the Beavers is that they’ve got the nation’s most dangerous receiver, Mike Hass, playing pitch and catch with QB Matt Moore. Will the PAC-10’s best pass defense be able to keep him away from the ball? The answer, just like last week, comes down to which OSU team shows up: the kick-your-ass-on-the-road Beavers or the get-their-ass-kicked-on-the-road Beavers. Last week it was the former, this week it’ll be the latter unless QB Matt Moore can improve his game (he’s tossed 5 picks and only 1 touchdown in the past two contests).
Bruins –they’ll remain undefeated until ASU and then shock the nation the following week.
Sat Baylor @ Oklahoma 6:00P FSN
Despite that tough home loss to Nebraska last week, the Bears are still on the hunt to go bowling. In order to do it though, they’ll need to surprise a Sooner squad that continues to improve on offense by leaps and bounds. While last week’s numbers against the Jayhawks may not have shown it, Sooner QB Rhett Bomar is developing quickly and really beginning to ‘get’ this offense. That said, don’t underestimate the Baylor Defense. After facing Reggie McNeal, Bret Meyer, and Zac Taylor the Bears boast the nation’s 6th rank pass efficiency defense –and 20th overall defense. With RB Adrian Peterson and WR Travis Wilson likely out yet again, it’s looking to be another difficult day offensively for the Boomer Schooner. In this one, it comes down to mistakes and special teams plays. Baylor has one of the nation’s best return men that you’ve never heard of in Terrence Nunn (2nd in the nation at 28 yards/return), but OU’s defense should more than make up for any disadvantage its offense or kicking game can dish out.
Sooners.
Sat Auburn @ LSU 6:45P ESPN
This one earns the honor of Most Intriguing Game of the Week. For this one, 5-1 Auburn make’s the trip to the Land of the Big Red Stick to tame the Bayou Bengals. After that opening week loss to Georgia Tech, the War Eagle was all but left for death on the national scene. Fast forward five weeks and Auburn has found itself a backfield and tuned up its defense. The obvious question that comes to mind then is: are they improved enough to hang with the Big Boys? We’ll find out this week. LSU figures to have there hands full and simply must focus for all four quarters in this one. They’ve coughed up the ball 15 times this season and clearly haven’t played up to the level of their talent. Are, as some are saying, these LSU Tigers primed and over due for an offensive explosion? Me, I’m thinking that Auburn Defense is mighty good and those LSU fans are mighty fickle (at least they have been this season).
The War Eagle circles above Death Valley.
Sat Washington State @ Cal 9:15P FSN
Your desert game this week features the Cougars from Pullman, 44-41 losers in overtime against UCLA, going up against the Golden Bears of Berkeley, 47-40 losers in a down-to-the-wire game against UCLA. With both teams losing tight, high scoring affairs in overtime one would assume that Wash State and Cal would match up quiet well, but that just isn’t the case. In this one, it’s the PAC10’s top defensive unit, Cal, bumping uglies with the nation’s 7th ranked offense. Will the Golden Bear line be able to throw back RB Jerome Harrison, their conference’s top sled dog? If so, then Cal should pull out an easy victory as their tandem of QB Joe Ayoob and RB Justin Forsett are definitely the most underrated tandem in the conference.
Cal begins a new regular season game win streak.
The Week 8 TV Schedule
Oct. 20 Thu VA Tech @ Maryland 6:45P ESPN
Oct. 21 Fri Southern Miss @ UAB 7:00P ESPN
Oct. 22 Sat GA Tech @ Miami, Fla 11:00A ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat Michigan @ Iowa 11:00A ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat Ohio State @ Indiana 11:00A ESPN Oct. 22 Sat Northwestern @ Michigan State 11:00A ESPN2
Oct. 22 Sat Nebraska @ Missouri 11:30A FSN
Oct. 22 Sat BYU @ Notre Dame 1:30P NBC
Oct. 22 Sat Wyoming @ Colorado State 2:00P ESPN Cl
Oct. 22 Sat Purdue @ Wisconsin 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat Texas Tech @ Texas 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat USC @ Washington 2:30P ABC*
Oct. 22 Sat Tennessee @ Alabama 2:30P CBS
Oct. 22 Sat Utah @ UNLV 6:00P ABC
Oct. 22 Sat Penn State @ Illinois 6:00P ESPN2 Oct. 22 Sat Oregon State @ UCLA 6:00P TBS
Oct. 22 Sat Baylor @ Oklahoma 6:00P FSN
Oct. 22 Sat Auburn @ LSU 6:45P ESPN
Oct. 22 Sat Washington State @ Cal 9:15P FSN
*Denotes Regional Action
NOTE: All times are CST.
The Week 8 Run Down
Thu VA Tech @ Maryland 6:45P ESPN
This Thursday we get a gem of a game with the Hokies dropping by College Park for a little Turtle Soup. While the Terrapins started off the season in rough fashion, they’ve finally caught a gear and ripped off three solid victories against Wake Forest, Virginia, and Temple. On top of that, Maryland has been fuming for 365 days now, just itching to get another shot at these Hokies after last year’s 55-6 pasting. Of course, Va Tech managed to put up that score even without super-QB Marcus Vick. If the home crowd can keep these Terps fired up and in the game and RB Lance Ball can run like he did against Virginia two week ago (163 yards and two touchdowns), then the Hokies should have their hands full all the way down to the final gun. But if the Hokie speed and defense is for real, or their special teams takes the home crowd out of it, this one could turn ugly real fast.
Hokies.
Fri Southern Miss @ UAB 7:00P ESPN
After playing lights out against Tennessee in the opener, UAB went AWOL, dropping their last two games to become 3-3. If they can get their offense figured out, they’ve still got a chance to get back in the hunt for a C-USA title as their defense has been playing great and keeping them in the game. On the other side of the hashes, the Golden Eagles have followed a similar path this season. They played Alabama tough in week one before faltering and struggling through the last four to wind up 3-2. With wins over East Carolina and UCF, however, Southern Miss has the inside track on the East Division crown. The key to this one will be getting a solid outing out of Eagle QB Dustin Almond. Two weeks ago against Tulsa he was terrible, completing just 12 of 29 passes for 132 yards and 4 interceptions. Seven days later, he caught fire against UCF, going 23 of 37 for 277 yards and 5 touchdowns. Which Dustin Almond will show up?
Rebels.
Sat GA Tech @ Miami, Fla 11:00A ABC
As the weekend approaches it becomes less certain that this game will even get played. At last check, Hurricane Wilma exploded into a Category 5 and was eyeing the lower Florida Coast. If things work out right and these two get a chance to play this weekend, expect the Canes to give their best Cat 5 impersonation against the Yellow Jackets. The nation’s top ranked defensive unit should have zero trouble manhandling the Rambling Wreck’s O. Does anyone realize that over the last four weeks, Miami has outscored its opponents 136-20? Okay, okay, so those numbers are a little skewed with them playing Colorado, South Florida, Duke, and Temple over that stretch, but still –Miami’s got that swagger back and that definitely isn’t a good thing for anybody that saddles up on the other side of the ball from them.
Canes.
Sat Michigan @ Iowa 11:00A ABC
After hosting the red hot Nittany Lions and vanquishing them from the ranks of the unbeaten, Big Blue travels to the land of the pink showers to face off against a rejuvenated Hawkeye team. After opening their Big10 slate with a loss to the Buckeyes, Iowa has strung together three impressive victories. The only problem with that is that those victories have come against Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana, begging the question: just how ‘improved’ are the Hawkeyes? With RB Michael Hart ready to sled, the Wolverines offense has had a noticeable punch (boy he really takes the heat off QB Chad Henne, don’t he?). For the Hawkeyes to be successful in this one, they’ll have to make the Wolverines one dimensional by shutting down the ground game. On top of that, Hawkeye QB Drew Tate will have to avoid having a ‘State’ game (as in Iowa State and Ohio State). In those games, he went 27 of 50 for just 203 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. So who out there thinks he’ll be able to avoid that kind of let down against an 18th ranked Michigan defense who has, incidentally, already played against the likes of Brady Quinn, Drew Stanton, and Michael Robinson?
Wolverines.
Sat Ohio State @ Indiana 11:00A ESPN
After enduring that painful loss to Penn State two weeks ago, the Buckeye’s salvaged their Big10 title hopes by tearing down the Spartans, 35-24. This week should be nothing more than a tune up for the Buckeye O -and believe me, they need the work. While the Hoosiers are no pushovers on defense, don’t expect their offense to muster much of a threat as the OSU defense should have absolutely no problem manhandling them for 60 full minutes.
OSU.
Sat Northwestern @ Michigan State 11:00A ESPN2
If stats mean anything, this should be the Big10’s most exciting game of the week (how DID it end up on the Deuce?). Northwestern’s spread attack has come out of nowhere this season to storm the Big10 (their 5 point loss to Penn State is looking too shabby now, isn’t it?). But even more impressive than the Wildcat offense has been the Spartan offense led by QB Drew Stanton –tops in the Big10 and 3rd in the nation. What makes this game super-interesting though, is taking into consideration that we aren’t just talking about two very potent offensive attacks, but we’re also talking about two of the nation’s worst pass defenses: the Spartans at 109th and the Wildcats at 115th. With such high octane attacks lined up against such wiffle-ball defenses, this one has a 1,000 yards and a 100 over-under written all over it.
Spartans, in a dizzying assault on the Big10 record books.
Sat Nebraska @ Missouri 11:30A FSN
With Nebraska, Colorado, and Missouri in a dead heat for the North Division, this one should help separate the pretenders from the contenders. While the Tigers have managed to get to 2-1 in conference play, they’ve done so by squeaking past an emotionally challenged Iowa State Redhawk squad and scraping by suddenly apathetic Oklahoma State. And while the Tiger’s mediocrity doesn’t all rest on the shoulders of QB Brad Smith (or his arms and legs for that matter), the same can’t be said of the Black’n’Gold’s Defense, ranked 11th in the conference in rushing defense and dead last in scoring defense. Standing opposite them is a Big Red squad that snuck out of Waco with a victory after getting bushwhacked by the Red Raiders in the prior week. With a steadily improving passing game and a killer Blackshirt Defense though, don’t expect Mizzou to pull this one out even if they come out fast and furious in the first half.
Cornhuskers.
Sat BYU @ Notre Dame 1:30P NBC
Can the Irish pick their hearts up off the turf of Notre Dame Stadium in time for this one? While the Irish are easily one of the ten best teams in the nation, they are also one of the very, very few to have a goose egg in their own Yard. The good news for Irish fans is that they should finally pick up that elusive dubbya this week. The bad news is that it might be a bit closer than everyone is expecting as BYU’s passing game, behind QB John Beck and WRs Curtis Brown and Jonny Harline, is really clicking and the number one weakness on this Trojan team (by far) is its secondary. The difference here though is that the Cougar receivers will look dirt slow to the Irish defenders in comparison to USC’s thoroughbreds.
Golden Domers.
Sat Wyoming @ Colorado State 2:00P ESPN Cl
At the beginning of the season, the Cowboys were looking to wrestle control of the Mountain West away from Utah. Very early on though, that dream quickly evaporated as Wyoming is now a 4-3 squad and riding a two game losing streak. Meanwhile, the Rams have suddenly found themselves sitting right behind TCU in the conference standings and dreaming of taking that Mountain West crown all for themselves. In this one, watch the play of QB Justin Holland. He’s the best the M-West has to offer, and with a trio of able receivers in David Anderson, Johnny Walker, and Kory Sperry, figures to have a big day. Of course, Colorado State and the Mountain West’s top ranked pass defense might have a little something to say about that. If this one were an away game for CSU, I’d give it to the Cowboys in a heartbeat (CSU is abysmal away from the ole Fort, a perfect goose egg on the season at 0-3). Since the Cowboys are riding all the way into town for this one though, the home crowd ought to be able to juice up the Rams’ 99th ranked defense and help them make that game wining stop to seal the game.
Rams.
Sat Purdue @ Wisconsin 2:30P ABC
How far can one team slide in a single season? Everyone’s favorite Big10 dark horse, the Purdue Boilermakers, is now 2-4 and 0-3 in conference play. You could say that losing all everything QB Kyle Orton to the NFL draft was a serious blow to this team, but you’d only be partially right. His replacement, Brandon Kirsch, hasn’t been all warts this season, completing 60% of his passes for 1,625 yards. Nope, the real problem has been on defense where last year’s entire starting unit returned for this campaign and hasn’t played even close to expectations (115th in the nation overall and 117th in pass defense). While Wisconsin is more of a run first team, they certainly aren’t afraid to put it up in the air when the opportunity presents itself –and it will. Even worse for the Boilers, the Badgers appear to have already put their clunker game of the season out there against Northwestern. If the Purdue D can’t tighten up and lure Stocco into making a BUNCH of mistakes, the Badgers offense ought to pull this one out at home in Camp Randall even if their defense isn’t up to the task.
Badgers.
Sat Texas Tech @ Texas 2:30P ABC
Sure, Tech can hang half a hundred on some Division I-AA schools. And sure, Tech can go into Lincoln after last season’s 70-10 blowout victory and still walk away with the dubbya. And yeah, sure, they can prove it wasn’t a fluke by roasting some Wildcat in Lubbock. But can they shock the nation and tame these Longhorns? Their offense will get its yards, that much is certain, but will they get the points? Will they break free from this speedy secondary and gouge them for the really big gains? In order for it to be a Red Raider day, they’ll have to do just that. But even more than simply putting points on the board, if Tech wants to keep this one competitive, RaiderBack Dwayne Slay had better have a career and wreak havoc on Vince Young and the Longhorn’s running backs –if he can catch them. If Tech can’t do that, then this one could very easily be another lopsided victory –although the safe money says it’s much closer than the Orangebloods would like.
Texas shoots down the Air Raid.
Sat USC @ Washington 2:30P ABC
After playing three come-from-behind games in a row with each one closer than the last, the Trojans finally get a breather this week. While the Huskies have begun to show some signs of life on offense, their defense is still abysmal and will have to match up against the nation’s premier offense. Don’t be surprised though if these Huskies manage to put quite a few points on the board against the boys from Southern Cal as the Trojans will absolutely be looking past this one.
SC.
Sat Tennessee @ Alabama 2:30P CBS
Is the Tide for real or isn’t it? After destroying Florida one week and then eaking past Ole Miss the next, it’s anybody’s guess as to just exactly how good this Red Elephant team is. While one would expect the Tide’s defense (tops in the SEC) to carry the day, I wouldn’t bet on it. The Vols have had two weeks to prepare and will probably end up using both Ainge and Clausen in this one (something which, oddly enough, seems work best for this offense). Plus, Tennessee is incredibly good on the road in big games (remember LSU this season –and Georgia last year?). With Bama losing a playmaker a game, I’m having trouble seeing how they’ll maintain their continuity on offense, especially if they can’t run the ball –which they shouldn’t be able to do against a UT line that has yet to give up the century mark this year.
Vols.
Sat Utah @ UNLV 6:00P ABC
How this game makes it onto ABC is anybody’s guess as both squads are bringing up the rear in the Mountain West. With the departure of Urban Meyer, the Ute’s world has been turned upside down. They’re riding a three game losing streak and can’t seem to find any kind of rhythm on either side of the ball. Fortunately for them, they ‘run’ straight into a Rebels squad that has been even worse. With the Utah offense struggling to get a big game out of RB Quinton Ganther, QB Brian Johnson, and WR John Madsen all season, does anyone else out there think this is the week that the Ute’s finally breakout?
Utah ‘runs’ away in this one.
Sat Penn State @ Illinois 6:00P ESPN2
Penn State’s perfect season came to a grinding halt last week in the Big House when Chad Henne found his freshman receiver in the end zone for the game winning score as time expired. This week, the Nittany Lions travel over to Champaign for a confidence builder against the Fighting Illini. With the Big10’s worst rushing offense, scoring offense, rushing defense, scoring defense, and special teams unit, I think it’s safe to say Joe Pa’s youngsters will think this game is easier than practice. But hey, even though Illinois is also the Big10’s second worst team in total offense, pass efficiency defense, turnover margin, and offensive pass efficiency, don’t underestimate them: they’re tops in the conference with kickoff returns (although that may just be because they get scored on so much …I dunno, it’s just a theory).
PSU.
Sat Oregon State @ UCLA 6:00P TBS
See, I told you the Beavers were the best Jeckyl’n’Hyde team in the country. Last week, they ripped the heart out of the Golden Bears on the road, improving to 2-1 in conference play. Meanwhile, UCLA continued it’s perfect season by squeaking past Washington State in overtime. Front and center in the Bruins rise up the Top 25 charts is QB Drew Olson and RB Maurice Drew. While they haven’t posted eye popping numbers on a weekly basis, they have been electrifying over the past two – combing for 12 touchdowns and 1,213 all purpose yards. This week, that dynamic duo gets to cut its teeth against the nation’s third worst pass defense and 106th ranked unit overall. Of course, the bright side for the Beavers is that they’ve got the nation’s most dangerous receiver, Mike Hass, playing pitch and catch with QB Matt Moore. Will the PAC-10’s best pass defense be able to keep him away from the ball? The answer, just like last week, comes down to which OSU team shows up: the kick-your-ass-on-the-road Beavers or the get-their-ass-kicked-on-the-road Beavers. Last week it was the former, this week it’ll be the latter unless QB Matt Moore can improve his game (he’s tossed 5 picks and only 1 touchdown in the past two contests).
Bruins –they’ll remain undefeated until ASU and then shock the nation the following week.
Sat Baylor @ Oklahoma 6:00P FSN
Despite that tough home loss to Nebraska last week, the Bears are still on the hunt to go bowling. In order to do it though, they’ll need to surprise a Sooner squad that continues to improve on offense by leaps and bounds. While last week’s numbers against the Jayhawks may not have shown it, Sooner QB Rhett Bomar is developing quickly and really beginning to ‘get’ this offense. That said, don’t underestimate the Baylor Defense. After facing Reggie McNeal, Bret Meyer, and Zac Taylor the Bears boast the nation’s 6th rank pass efficiency defense –and 20th overall defense. With RB Adrian Peterson and WR Travis Wilson likely out yet again, it’s looking to be another difficult day offensively for the Boomer Schooner. In this one, it comes down to mistakes and special teams plays. Baylor has one of the nation’s best return men that you’ve never heard of in Terrence Nunn (2nd in the nation at 28 yards/return), but OU’s defense should more than make up for any disadvantage its offense or kicking game can dish out.
Sooners.
Sat Auburn @ LSU 6:45P ESPN
This one earns the honor of Most Intriguing Game of the Week. For this one, 5-1 Auburn make’s the trip to the Land of the Big Red Stick to tame the Bayou Bengals. After that opening week loss to Georgia Tech, the War Eagle was all but left for death on the national scene. Fast forward five weeks and Auburn has found itself a backfield and tuned up its defense. The obvious question that comes to mind then is: are they improved enough to hang with the Big Boys? We’ll find out this week. LSU figures to have there hands full and simply must focus for all four quarters in this one. They’ve coughed up the ball 15 times this season and clearly haven’t played up to the level of their talent. Are, as some are saying, these LSU Tigers primed and over due for an offensive explosion? Me, I’m thinking that Auburn Defense is mighty good and those LSU fans are mighty fickle (at least they have been this season).
The War Eagle circles above Death Valley.
Sat Washington State @ Cal 9:15P FSN
Your desert game this week features the Cougars from Pullman, 44-41 losers in overtime against UCLA, going up against the Golden Bears of Berkeley, 47-40 losers in a down-to-the-wire game against UCLA. With both teams losing tight, high scoring affairs in overtime one would assume that Wash State and Cal would match up quiet well, but that just isn’t the case. In this one, it’s the PAC10’s top defensive unit, Cal, bumping uglies with the nation’s 7th ranked offense. Will the Golden Bear line be able to throw back RB Jerome Harrison, their conference’s top sled dog? If so, then Cal should pull out an easy victory as their tandem of QB Joe Ayoob and RB Justin Forsett are definitely the most underrated tandem in the conference.
Cal begins a new regular season game win streak.
posted by TheMOTT at 10:59 PM
1 comments
Links
- *FOOTBALL.COM*
- *NCAA Football Blog*
- Google News
- CollegeFootballNews
- Conference Standings
- *NCAA Autographs*
Previous Posts
- The Week 11 Run down
- Between The Hashes - Week 10
- Between The Hashes - Week 10
- The Week 10 Run Down
- Between The Hashes - Week 9
- The Week 9 Run Down
- Between The Hashes - Week 8
- The Week 8 Run Down
- Between the Hashes - Week 7
- The Week 7 Run Down
Archives
