Sports Blog To Be Named Later

#1 Alabama def. #10 Arkansas 24-20

2010-09-25T17:13:00.005-05:00

Very convincing game for Alabama. They weren't at their best by any means, especially on defense. But after an incredible start for Mallet and the Razorbacks died down with the game still in reach, it started to look like an inevitably that the Tide would win. Good on them for weathering the storm until Ingram and their O- and D-lines could save them.

Mallett, for his part, was unimpressive. My games of the week of late seem to be designed to sink the draft position of top quarterbacks. Mallett still tends to miss throws high (Gary Danielson suggested that this was the result of poor footwork, which certainly seems possible) and he throws too hard on the underneath passes. A great arm isn't such a huge asset if you can't control it. His last two mistakes were killers for Arkansas - an interception three feet high that kick started Alabama's go-ahead touchdown drive and the ill-fated throwaway that iced the game. I suppose being the goat is an ever-present danger if you're a quarterback, but this was a very unfortunately timed for a guy who wants to win the Heisman and be the top QB taken.

Game of the Week

2010-09-21T21:50:00.004-05:00

Saturday, September 25
2:30PM #1 Alabama at #10 Arkansas
Lots of talk about Ryan Mallett as the first or second quarterback taken in next year's draft. When I've watched him in the past, my impression has been: great arm, great leadership, good instincts, poor mobility, tends to miss high. I'm excited to see the 2010 version and he really couldn't have a better stage: this will likely end up being the premiere SEC matchup of the year. Alabama hasn't played anyone particularly impressive (Penn State is rebuilding!), so this is their chance to show that they're back in 2009 form. Big Questions:
Can Alabama's defense stop Mallett?
What are the Razorbacks going to do about Mark Ingram?
Prediction: I'll be rooting for the Razorbacks (woo pig sooie!), but based on last year, I'd have to say Mark Ingram rolls and carries the Tide with him.

#8 Nebraska def. Washington 56-21

2010-09-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

The best thing I can say about this game is that the weather in Seattle looked fantastic. Even in low definition! Other than that, it was a bit of a sleeper. Despite an absolutely raucous home crowd, UDub QB Jake Locker played perhaps the worst game of his career and Nebraska's Taylor Martinez pretty much showed him how it was done with nearly 300 total yards and FOUR touchdowns. During the rare moments when Martinez wasn't holding the ball, tailbacks Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead ably stepped in. Nebraska's power running game shredded the Huskies defense to the point that Martinez only attempted 11 passes. The only misstep they had was when, up 21-7 and rolling, they inexplicably switched to Cody Green, who promptly fumbled and was removed.

The commentary this week is about 10% Taylor Martinez' coming out party and 90% Locker's draft status. I really don't understand how Locker's draft position could have changed at all. Before this game, what did we have? A stand-up kid from Ferndale, WA with off-the-charts athletic ability and a 98mph fastball who was labeled as a #1 pick not because of his polish, but because of his potential. I think we're in exactly the same position now. If you thought he was worth the project after three losing seasons, I don't see why you would change your mind now.

Game of the Week

2010-09-16T21:16:00.003-05:00

I'd like to watch #8 Nebraska at Washington, but ABC has not announced its lineup yet. If that one doesn't work out, the game of the week will be #9 Iowa at #24 Arizona. I'll check the listings again tomorrow!

UPDATE: I do indeed get Nebraska at Washington...but only in low def. I think I can make out what's going on though! Anyway, it'll be nice to check out the progress of both teams. Nebraska is playing it's first non-cupcake after a breakout 2009, at least on defense. Their offense struggled last year under Zac Lee, but believe there's a new QB in the mix.

Meanwhile, Washington lost to BYU, but should make a bowl game for the first time in a while. And it's always fun to check on Jake Locker, the probable #1 pick in the NFL draft.

Prediction: Nebraska should be stronger on both lines and shouldn't have too much trouble, but if the Cornhuskers can't contain Locker, Washington could be able to keep it close. Let's say Nebraska by 10.

#2 Ohio State def. #12 Miami 36-24

2010-09-12T11:45:00.003-05:00

This one really wasn't as close as it sounds. Ohio State scored eight times to Miami's four and two of three 'Canes' TDs were on special teams. The Buckeyes just settled for field goals on five of those eight. If they had had a real quarterback and just slightly better kick coverage, it would have been more like 48-14.

Pryor...well, you know my feeling on Pryor. It is very likely that we will never again see an athlete of this caliber - this big, this fast, this strong. But athletic ability makes a decathlete, not a quarterback. Pryor doesn't seem to understand the finer points and he doesn't have the touch. He's too quick to run, he throws too hard on underneath passes, too soft on the long balls, and he's really not very accurate. Think of the star Ohio State receivers of the past few years. Robiskie, Hartline, Sanzenbacher (I'd go on, but Michigan fans can't be listing Buckeye receivers all day) - does your mind instantly conjure an image of these guys leaping through the air to make an incredible catch? You know why that is? Pryor doesn't hit 'em between the numbers. The first OSU drive was ended by a relatively un-pressured Pryor throw at least three feet over the receiver's head. Thereafter, they pretty much ran the QB draw on 3rd and long, just like they have for the past two years.

As unimpressive as Pryor was, Jacory Harris was worse. It's true that he didn't get a lot of help from his receivers, but four interceptions is bad no matter which way you slice it. About the best thing I can say for him is that he just keeps on keepin' on, which can't be easy when you weigh 145 pounds.

Overall, not a great win for the Buckeyes, but they did well to keep the momentum even through Miami's special teams fireworks.

Game of the Week

2010-09-07T21:35:00.003-05:00

Saturday, September 11th
2:40 PM CDT: #12 Miami at #2 Ohio State
This is a bit of a throwback to the Big Ten brawn vs. the South speed games. Can Ohio State continue the momentum from last year’s Rose Bowl or will Miami’s speedy defensive ends contain Terrell Pryor enough to show that that game was a fluke? Has Jacory Harris cleaned up the interceptions from a year ago?

Prediction: Didn't manage to see either team last week, but just based on who's back from last year, gotta take the Buckeyes.

Pretenders No More

2010-09-07T21:31:00.003-05:00

College football season started with a bang this past weekend as former upstarts TCU and Boise State proved they’re ready to play with the big boys this year. Well, at least the mid-sized boys who were willing to play them (let’s see if anyone is willing to do it next year…). I thought both games were QB stories, actually:

Boise State def. Virginia Tech 33-30
I’ve been saying for three years that Tyrod Taylor is not a legitimate D1 quarterback (search the blog for Tyrod!) and I stand by my decision. Here’s the difference: After Virginia Tech inexplicably tries to pass for the first down on 3rd and 8 instead of taking another 35 seconds off the clock, Boise State gets the ball back down 4 points with 1:47 on the clock and no timeouts. No matter, because Kellen Moore needs only 38 seconds to take his team 56 yards to pay dirt. Seems like they might have left too much time (1:09) on the clock, right? Not a chance, because without the threat of the scramble, Taylor can’t attack through the air. Essentially, he’s not a dual threat quarterback the way Jake Locker is or Michael Vick was. Taylor has both skills, but they must be used in tandem. Boise State contained him just enough in the early going to make it too late for the Hokies at the end.

TCU def. Oregon State 30-21
Another senior quarterback with all the intangibles leads his team to victory over a team with an overrated quarterback. Oregon State’s Ryan Katz, however, is overrated in a different way. I’m pretty certain he’ll be an NFL quarterback. Fantastic arm, throws a nice deep ball, and he did show some resilience. But he’s not ready yet, and he was asked to do too much too soon. The result: a fade down the stretch which culminated in a snap over his head that effectively ended the game. Andy Dalton may be just the opposite. Probably doesn’t have the tools to be an NFL quarterback, but his experience meant everything. It wasn’t one of his better games, but he made plays with his legs, and showed his toughness and his leadership in overcoming two bad interceptions.

So, what does it all mean? On one hand, Oregon State and Virginia Tech are elite teams in name only. They don’t have the horses to hang with the Tide or the Buckeyes and beating them may only prove that TCU and Boise State belong in the top 25, which everyone already knew. On the other hand, what do these mid-majors have to do? They’ve beaten everyone in their path and everyone else is too scared to get in their path.

Here’s my take: In general, I think you need sustained success to be a true contender and these programs both appear to have gotten lucky on a quarterback other schools misjudged. It could very well be a flash in the pan that will be gone next year when these guys graduate. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that Boise State burst onto the scene by beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2006 season. That was a while and 2 quarterbacks ago. If you consider the recruiting push they’d get from being in the national championship game and the ungodly number of talented football players in California paired with the watering down of the pac-10, they have a real shot at sustained success. TCU, maybe not so much. There’s a reason you hear Andy Dalton compared with Sammy Baugh so much – there hasn’t been anyone else like them at TCU. And yes, there’s a large talent pool in Texas, but UT, A&M and even SMU now that June Jones is there have a pretty good pull. And the SEC and Big 12 are much harder to contend with for players.

Advantage: Boise State. I’ll be rooting for them this year.

College Football: A Guide to the Bowls

2010-01-08T09:25:00.003-06:00

Thursday, January 7, 7PM
National Championship Game: #2 Texas vs. #1 Alabama
The real grandaddy of 'em all!
Prediction: Gotta go with Alabama here. They've looked a lot more balanced on offense and Nebraska gave the Tide's supremely more talented defense a blueprint for how to stop the Longhorns.
Result: Alabama def. Texas 37-21
Just about every year, the national championship game reminds me of why I like the NFL better. This one was certainly no different. Really just a big fat disappointment on so many levels. McCoy was out in about 30 seconds (I found it quite amusing when he said after the game that he'd never been hurt before - I think he's been injured in about 50% of the games I've seen him play. Watch for this issue in his NFL career too), which was doubly unfortunate because it looked like he was actually going to generate some offense. Texas' defense, and especially Sergio Kindle, gave it a pretty good effort, but couldn't overcome the lack of production on the other side of the ball. Alabama sure looked good against Florida, but things were different here, as they made embarassing special teams errors, gave up two long touchdowns to a backup QB who stared down Jordan Shipley on every play, and didn't get their first 3rd down conversion until the 4th quarter. McElroy's definitely trended down towards his average and gave a conservative performance that most of the high school quarterbacks in the country could have equaled. Mark Ingram played okay when he wasn't drinking pickle juice on the sidelines to stop cramping (seriously? cramps are keeping you out of a good chunk of the national championship game?), but I only saw him really break three or four tackles and I'd have to give most of the credit to the offensive line. His little freshman backup outplayed him. Speaking of Alabama's vaunted offensive line, where were they on the five sacks of the apparently broken-ribbed McElroy? When the most compelling story is that a freshman backup quarterback transformed from the least accurate passer in Longhorns history to sort of okay, I'd say you have a lemon.
Yell at the TV Moment: Another moronic 4th down interception. Alabama calls for that fake punt (a whole new level of moronic), the punter throws the ball a few yards short of the first down and Blake Gideon intercepts it. Okay, but why not knock it down and take possession 20 yards closer to the end zone? Maybe you could have had a TD instead of a field goal. Why does no one ever notice this?
Announcing Commentary: Brent was okay, I guess, but is Herbstreit losing it? He had volume modulation issues all night, didn't speak for the first three minutes, and referred to the QBs as Gilbert Brown and Brett McElroy.

Wednesday, January 6, 6PM
GMAC Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Troy
Last chance to see Dan LeFevour and the scrappy little Chippewas!
Prediction: I know absolutely nothing about Troy, and looking at their schedule, the only teams they've played that I've even heard of are Arkansas and Florida...and they got killed. Look for Lefevour to lead his team to victory in his last game.
Result: Central Michigan def. Troy 44-41
A heck of a lot better than the national championship game. I wouldn't mind watching these two teams, and especially these two quarterbacks, play more often. I was a little surprised that the defenses didn't fare better, since it looked for all the world like the two teams were running the same offense. It was a fantastic cap to Dan LeFevour's prolific career, but Troy QB Levi Brown also looked good, very accurate (if a really awkward runner!). You'd think that all of those field goals early would have hurt the Chippewas, but they came back with just enough at the end. Kudos to LeFevour for dealing with all those dropped passes! Hope to see both quarterbacks in the NFL.
Yell at the TV Moment: I know that CMU had an interim coach, but I still have to quibble with some of the decision making. First, down 24-19 in the third quarter, the Chippewas faced a 4th and 2 near midfield and punted. Their defense hadn't really stopped Troy all night and they didn't here either. Only a subsequent kickoff return TD by the shifty Antonio Brown kept it from slipping away. Later the Chips were down 34-27 when a terrific LeFevour pass brought the ball inside the 5-yard line with 1:26 to go. Troy called its final timeout. CMU then called two pass plays in a row, the second of which scored a touchdown with 1:17 to go. Why not run down the clock at least a little? Instead, they left enough time for Levi Brown to drive for the tying field goal.

Tuesday, January 5, 7PM
Orange Bowl: #10 Iowa vs. #9 Georgia Tech
This is a pretty good matchup and I'll be anxious to see how Iowa does. Georgia Tech's rushing offense is powerful, but the Hawkeyes defense is built to stop just such an attack. They will, however, have to account for WR Jonathan Baldwin and his ridiculous stat lines (i.e. Thrown to: 3, REC: 2, YDS: 137, TD: 2). Georgia Tech's defense has been very inconsistent and I'm not sure the ACC has the kind of giant linemen rushing attack that the Hawkeyes are going to bring.
Prediction: One of the main reasons the triple option works is that it requires extra prep time that opponents generally don't have. Iowa has it now and I think they'll be ready. Iowa in a low scoring one.
Result: Iowa def. Georgia Tech 24-14
I really thought Iowa's Big Ten-ness was going to come back and bite them here. They dominated the game early, but failed to put it away when they had the chance, and GT climbed right back in on Ricky Stanzi's standard early pick-six. Luckily for the Iowa, their defense was fantastic all night and Jonathan Dwyer gave them a present by inexplicably running backwards into his own end zone on a stuffed run on the Yellow Jackets' second to last possession. Sometimes, you can't make all the plays yourself. Hats off to the Hawkeyes for their first big bowl win since 1959. They've got a lot of this team coming back, so look for them to make some noise next year.
Chuckle at the TV Moment: I loved Iowa's fake FG call up 17-14 in the 4th quarter, but K Daniel Murray probably shouldn't be running sweeps!

Monday, January 4, 7PM
Fiesta Bowl: #6 Boise State vs. #4 TCU
They should probably rename this one the 'This Proves Nothing' bowl. These two teams are obviously pretty talented, but we were wondering how talented they were next to the big powers, not next to each other. Still, two accomplished offenses and one good defense should be at least entertaining to watch.
Prediction: Good defense trumps good offense. As long as it stays disciplined on the trick plays and wacky (WAC-y?) formations, TCU should be golden.
Result: Boise State def. TCU 17-10
Definitely not what anyone expected out of this one. TCU started the game by spotting the Broncos to a defensive touchdown (an especially bad idea when you're playing a team that's known to have weak defense), and while they didn't make any more mistakes like that, they never really seemed to be the aggressor in this one. I thought the most telling moment came in the third quarter. TCU was down 10-7 and just plodding along when Boise State turned it over near midfield. The Frogs drove into the red zone and it seemed like they finally might wake up a little. But then: QB keeper, QB keeper, hopeless screen pass, FG to tie. No life, then or ever. Most surprisingly, the story of the night was the Broncos' defense, which held TCU to 36 rushing yards and intercepted Andy Dalton three times. Might be time to stop doubting Boise State.

Saturday, January 2, 8PM
Alamo Bowl: Michigan State vs. Texas Tech
Lots of drama to go around here. Texas Tech has no coach and a very suspicious electrical closet that may or may not be surrounded by police tape, and Michigan State has had about half of its team suspended. It's hard to tell who's going to show up and what kind of mood they'll be in.
Prediction: Michigan State is occasionally good and has a decent quarterback in Kirk Cousins, but they've shown a real inability to get the job done when it counts. Despite the circus in Lubbock, I think the Red Raiders will take this one.
Result: Texas Tech def. Michigan State 41-31
Well, Texas Tech did take this one, but it was a very good showing by Michigan State. The Spartans mixed it up nicely and may have set the record for most trick plays in one game by a Big Ten team. Things were progressing quite nicely until QB Kirk Cousins threw what is fast becoming his patented late game interception with five minutes to go. This one was particularly egregious, as he threw from one hash all the way over to the other sideline. Hey kid, your arm's not *that* good. Meanwhile, the Red Raiders don't have Mike Leach, but they still has his potent offense, and they used their speed to great advantage, particularly at the end of the game. Both teams did a pretty good job on defense, but the Spartans couldn't stop 'em when it counted.
Yell at the TV Moment: The Mike Leach controversy is a tough situation. We don't know the facts now and we may never know them. So it's pretty sad to see an adult Raider fan in the stands with a sign that has 'Leach' in a heart and 'Adam' in a circle with line through it. Unless you're Leach, Adam James, or the trainer (who seems to have taken Adam's side by the way), you have no idea what happened and it's pretty low to pick on a 20-year-old kid. I guess ethics isn't exactly the specialty in Texas football, but it's pretty sad to be a 40-year-old bully.

Saturday, January 2 1PM
Papajohns.com Bowl: South Carolina vs. Connecticut
Another interesting matchup here. Connecticut has quietly had a pretty good season, especially if you consider the fact that their five losses were by a combined 15 points. And South Carolina has been inconsistent, which is becoming par for the course for them, but they've also got some big wins, most notably a convincing 34-17 thrashing of Clemson in the regular season finale. And South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia has been getting better with every game this season.
Prediction: Spurrier is well on the way to having the weapons he's been waiting for in this one and he'll have the Gamecocks ready to go.
Result: UConn def. South Carolina 20-7
South Carolina must be the most inconsistent team in the history of college football. In this game alone, they dropped 12 passes (9 on offense and 2 INTs on defense), committed three stupid personal fouls (and one dubious roughing the passer penalty), fumbled more than once including a snap that ruined a FG attempt, overthrew about 10 open receiveres, and made some of the worst decisions of all time. The Huskies' two-headed rushing attack looked good, but they got a gift here. Spurrier said after the game that it was a "sad, sad effort" and he was correct.
Yell at the TV Moment: South Carolina went for a 4th and 19 in that no man's land where it's just a little too far to kick a field goal. QB Stephen Garcia threw a jump ball inside the 10 which was intercepted by UConn's Robert Vaughn. The interception gave the ball to UConn inside the 10, while simply knocking the pass down would have give the ball to UConn 25 yards upfield. This happens a lot and the announcers never say anything!

Friday, January 1, 7:30PM
Sugar Bowl: #3 Cincinnati vs. #5 Florida
This game was somewhat interesting to begin with, but has been made much more interesting by the coach drama on both sides. The questions here are on defense for both teams. Does Cincinnati have the size and speed to hold Florida? Can Florida recover from the Alabama debacle quickly enough to stop the Bearcats' short passing game?
Prediction: I've been tempted to pick Cincinnati since the matchup announcement, but the Brian Kelly debacle happened. Florida rolls over a flat Cincinnati defense. (Go Bearcats)
Result: Florida def. Cincinnati 100-24
Okay, well, I think it was more like 50-24, but it felt like about 1,000,000-24. Nightmarish couple hours for the Bearcats and their fans. Really though, they ought to keep their heads up - being utterly overmatched and playing poorly are two different things. Really makes you wonder exactly how good Alabama is, doesn't it?
Yell at the TV Moment: I know you Gators aren't exactly premed, but was it really a good idea to gatorade ice bath a man with heart problems?

Friday, January 1, 3:30
Rose Bowl: #8 Ohio State vs. #7 Oregon
The Pac 10 has done very poorly up to this point in the bowl season. That said, Ohio State has done poorly against all decent teams for the last three years.
Prediction: Despite my love for the Big Ten, I am officially done being embarassed by the Buckeyes. And, if there's anything Oregon should be able to stop, it's a running quarterback. Ducks run away with it.
Result: Ohio State def. Oregon 26-17
I am very disappointed with this game. After years, YEARS, of Ohio State embarrassing the Big Ten in national games, they convincingly win this one, just so they can remain teetering on the edge of respectability. I assume this is a ploy to get to next year's championship game so they can get blown out there. I will say that this was the best game plan I've ever seen Tressel come up with and by far the best game that Terrelle Pryor has ever played and it leaves lots of questions. Was this a one-time fluke or the sign of things to come in 2010 for the Buckeyes? How much did the Pac-10's incredible terribleness factor into this? This is the marquee game for a surprising run by the Big Ten conference in the Bowl games - is it for real?

Friday, January 1, 12PM
Capital One Bowl: #13 Penn State vs. #12 LSU
This may be the most intriguing bowl matchup of all. In general, LSU is pretty good at the Big Ten beatdown, but it's definitely an off year for them. From Penn State's perspective (and that of the average college football fan), a win against the SEC is a win against the SEC.
Prediction: Really tough call here. Penn State usually doesn't do too well against teams that have a game plan that deviates wildly from 'run up the middle'. LSU's game plan won't be that, but the question is, will it be a game plan they can execute with the talent they have? Breaking news: a recent search of my friend the internet tells me that resident Tiger battering ram Charles Scott will not play. I'm really afraid that I'm just picking this because I want it so bad (ironic because I barely even consider Penn State part of the Big Ten), but I think the Nittany Lions can take this one.
Result: Penn State def. LSU 19-17
I'm delighted to see the Big Ten get a win over the SEC, but I do have to admit that the terrible field conditions were a big help. LSU is iffy this year for sure, but we might have had a different outcome had they been able to use their speed advantage. I'm a big advocate of the go for the throat and put the game away when you have the chance, and I really thought Penn State's conservative play calling (FOUR FG from inside the 10? Is that a new record?!?) was going to kill them, but they held the ball when they had to. Another notch in JoePa's cap.

Friday, January 1, 10AM
Outback Bowl: Northwestern vs. Auburn
Yep, it's the Big Ten thing again. I grew up about a mile from Northwestern's home stadium, so though I'm not a huge fan, I sometimes can't resist. QB Mike Kafka is a great athlete and fun to watch and this is one the Cats might be able to win.
Prediction: I'm going to go with my Chris Todd jinx (despite Northwestern's leaky defense) and pick the 'Cats in a sloppy squeaker.
Result: Auburn def. Northwestern 38-35 (OT)
Wow, was I close to calling this one perfectly! It was a sloppy squeaker all the way (eight turnovers? eight?) and if Northwestern had a halfway competent kicker, they would have won! It would also have helped if Mike Kafka hadn't been on a mission to equal his season interception total. Auburn looked dominant in the first half, but didn't quite put it away and, despite giving up completely on their running game, the 'Cats took advantage later on.
Hilarious Moment: Didn't it look like Northwestern hadn't informed their substitute kicker (who may or may not have been 12 years old) that they were going to fake the field goal? When they all shifted and snapped the ball, he was still standing in his kicking stance looking confused.

Thursday, December 31, 2:30PM
Texas Bowl: Navy vs. Missouri
Probably the least interesting of the ones I'm watching, but I do like to watch that triple option. Mizzou QB Blaine Gabbert was bothered by an ankle injury for the latter part of the regular season, so it will be nice to see him healthy again.
Prediction: Mizzou should show a little better here than they did in their regular season, but I still think Navy's discipline wins the day.
Result: Navy def. Missouri 35-13
Second straight 'fantastic execution by a service academy' game today! Navy was relentless on both sides of the ball, and prolific enough on offense to ovecome three turnovers in the red zone. Mizzou, for its part, had the same problem it has had all year: hard to win if you can't get anything at all going on offense.
Yell at the TV Moment: What in the world was with those QB draws that Missouri kept calling? Every single one ended in a four yard loss. I can look at Blaine Gabbert and tell you that a draw is not a good idea.

Thursday, December 31, 1PM
Sun Bowl: Oklahoma vs. #21 Stanford
If someone had told you at the beginning of the season that this would be a good matchup, could you ever have believed it? Oklahoma's had a pretty terrible season, but Stanford has quite a bit less talent. A chance to see how the Cardinal perform on a national stage once again and also to see what's happened to Oklahoma since they fell off the radar after their loss to Texas.
Prediction: I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I have to go with Stanford. Despite what the media would have you believe, they're not all Gerhart. Sophomore QB Andrew Luck is very efficient, especially considering his limited experience, and I expect the extra practice time will help him a lot.
Result: Oklahoma def. Stanford 31-27
I'd like to say in my defense that I didn't realize that Andrew Luck was not going to play for Stanford. If he had played, I'm pretty certain they would have won. Instead, their game plan was indeed Gerhart Gerhart Gerhart and though they managed to do that out of about 27 different formations, eventually the Sooners caught on. Still Stanford did a good job to hang on. Every time it seemed like it was about to get out of reach, they caught a break or blocked a punt or got an interception. They just didn't have quite enough (quarterback) in the end.
Yell at the TV Moment: I hate when the announcers aren't even paying attention. After one Stanford drive, Craig Bolerjack raved about how Harbaugh trusted backup QB Tavita Pritchard in the red zone. They had called four running plays, one out of the wildcat, for which Pritchard wasn't even on the field. Now that's trust...

Thursday, December 31, 11AM
Armed Forces Bowl: Houston vs. Air Force
This isn't one I'd typically be too excited about, but I wouldn't mind one more chance to see onetime Heisman candidate Case Keenum play for the Cougars. Air Force has also had a nice little season and purportedly has a pretty solid defense. It will be tested by Houston's air attack.
Prediction: I want to go with my gut and take the scorers, but Air Force played tight with TCU and with Utah, which is more impressive than any wins Houston has. Falcons over the Cougars (get it?)
Result: Air Force def. Houston 47-20
Say what you want about service academy football, but you can't argue with the execution. Air Force was this game on solid blocking, accurate throws, disciplined coverage, and just enough creativity to keep the Houston defense guessing. It obviously wasn't Houston's best game, but they would have been outclassed either way.
Best Moment of the College Football Season, Hands Down: Air Force calls its final timeout with just under 20 seconds to go in the first half and the ball inside the Houston 10-yard line. They attempt to run a play, but the quarterback falls down with :12 on the clock. Air Force, knowing it can't stop the clock, has their field goal team ready to go. They sprint on to the field from the 30-yard line in formation, line up and snap the ball with :03 to go. The kicker drills the field goal, and they jog into the locker room without even a celebration. Beautiful.

Wednesday, December 30, 7PM
Holiday Bowl: #20 Arizona vs. #22 Nebraska
Well, I'm not all that interested in this as a matchup, but I'd like to take advantages of all my chances to see Ndomukong Suh. He'll be matched up against a very calm quarterback in Arizona's Nick Foles.
Prediction: Well, I don't know that Arizona's O-line is so solid, so Suh really should cause some problems for them. That said, I doubt Bo Pelini managed to pull an offense (or a rabbit) out of his hat in the last couple of weeks. I'll be rooting for Nebraska, but I think Arizona scores just enough and stops 'Husker RB Roy Helu Jr. just enough to take this one.
Result: Nebraska def. Arizona 33-0
Wow. I thought the SMU win was a surprise, but THIS was a surprise. Nebraska's first touchdown was completely set up by its defense and I thought, well, okay, par for the course. But then the 'Huskers rushing attack exploded! Which set up the short passing game very nicely. Nebraska had some new looks and clearly used their extra practice time to good advantage (I think they may have equaled their point total for the whole rest of the season), but you gotta wonder what Arizona has to say for itself. Your defense has to be pretty terrible to make Zac Lee look like an efficient passer. All joking aside though, kudos to Bo Pelini - the Huskers are back and I bet they can't wait until next year.
Cry at the TV Moment: Nick Foles' stat line: 9/30, 48 yards, INT

Tuesday, December 29, 7PM
Champs Sports Bowl: #15 Miami vs. #25 Wisconsin
Oh, you know me, I try to keep up with the Big Ten. Miami's success has been well documented this year, but Wisconsin has pretty quietly had a decent little season as well with defeats at the hands of top Big Ten teams Iowa and Ohio State and a 'we shall never again speak of this' loss to Northwestern. Wisconsin relies heavily on John Clay in the run game, but Miami should have that handled and it will be up to QB Scott Tolzien to pick up the slack. Meanwhile, the Badgers will have their hands full with 'Canes QB Jacory Harris and his corps of speedy receivers.
Prediction: Gotta like Miami in this one. I can't imagine the Badgers can keep up with this kind of team speed.
Result: Wisconsin def. Miami 20-14
Oh, Wisconsin, I apologize one million times for doubting you. I guess I have to point out that even Northwestern could have taken down this flat and beat up Miami team, but it's still a great, great, great win for you and for the Big Ten! Miami was quite a bit speedier, but they really only showed it in the first 20 and last 175 seconds of the game. Otherwise, Wisconsin's fantastic D-line pressure, bruising running game and, most surprisingly, laser accuracy from QB Scott Tolzien (product of Fremd High School in Palatine, IL!) rendered speed a moot point. It was old school versus sandlot and old school won tonight - love it!
Yell at the TV Moment: Man, broadcasting is for idiots these days. Wisconsin's 1st TD drive was as follows: a lovely pass down inside the five, one run up the middle, and a sweep into the end zone. After the extra point, ESPN went to commercial, came back, and recapped the drive. Who needs a recap of a three play drive?
Random Note: If you had watched only the action *between* snaps, you would definitely have concluded that Miami won in a blowout. Man can those guys celebrate! Meanwhile, good old Wisconsin kept it close to the vest.

Monday, December 28, 4PM
Independence Bowl: Texas A&M vs. Georgia
Nice of these guys not to conflict with the Bears on Monday Night Football. If you haven't gotten a chance to see Aggies QB Jerrod Johnson, you'd be wise to take advantage of this chance. Johnson has completed 60% of his passes for 28 TDs and only 6 INTs and has rushed for 455 yards with 93 of them coming in his spectacular game against the Longhorns. Sophomore WR Ryan Tannehill is also a backup QB and you can expect a trick play or two from him. On the other side, an off year for Georgia (despite incredible talent A.J. Green at the WR spot) presents a chance for the Big 12 to make a statement.
Prediction: This should be a pretty high scoring game. As high as I am on the young Aggies, Georgia has a better record against a much stronger schedule. If Mark Richt can keep his players disciplined, Georgia should have the talent to win this one.
Result: Georgia def. Texas A&M 44-20
So I saw the final score of this one before I watched the game and was pretty darn confused when I watched the teams feel each other out for almost the entire first half. How in the world was Georgia going to get to 44 points when it hadn't scored with 2:35 to go in the 1st half? But then, the Aggies special teams entered the fray and what a disaster! Jerrod Johnson and the hurry-up offense were actually fairly successful (471 total yards) and would have had A&M right in the game, but it's pretty darn hard to overcome four huge special teams gaffes (blocked FG, kick off return TD, blocked punt recovered on the Aggies 2, and a snap over the punters head, also in A&M territory). Georgia, for its part, gained 366 yards, but I think about 150 of them came on bull rushes in the 4th quarter when the Aggies defense was exhausted.
Yell at the TV Moment: None really, other than the announcers mispronouncing Washaun Ealey's name as Washaun Early (that's right, the easy one). I was way too involved in the Bears' overtime win to get that excited about this one!

Saturday, December 26, 7PM
Emerald Bowl: Boston College vs. #24 USC
It's kind of amazing that USC is still ranked after a string of terrible conference losses, but maybe its their consolation for failing to qualify for the BCS for the first time in eight years. Prediction: Haven't gotten a chance to check out BC this year, but a quick glance at their schedule reveals that they haven't beaten a decent team all year. And even with a shaky QB and without half of their skill players, USC still qualifies as a decent team. Trojans should take this one easily.
Result: USC def. Boston College 24-13
Usually I leave the conspiracy theories to my mother, but I'm pretty certain this game was fixed. USC got an awful lot of help from the refs, both in booth reviews and dubious 3rd down penalties. Hilariously, it probably didn't need to be fixed, since BC has a 25-year-old freshman pitcher for a QB. Football players throw to players while baseball players throw to spots and judging by the number of passes Shinskie threw behind his guys, he hasn't quite learned the difference. USC should have taken this one easily, but didn't for two reasons: 1) The combination of RB Montel Harris and the BC offensive line was terrific and 2) Barkley still isn't quite ready to go. Despite all of the praise earlier this year, Pete Carroll knows it too. Nothing says 'I don't trust my quarterback' like a receiver screen behind the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 5.
Yell at the TV Moment: Eh, not a yell really - this was a reasonably calm one to watch...but this announcing team is rapidly becoming hard to deal with. Rod Gilmore occasionally says interesting things, but then Joe Tessitore immediately repeats it, which is pretty annoying.
Random note: I certainly won't argue that Taylor Mays is a once in a lifetime physical specimen, but if he's so good, why does every big play go right through where he was standing at the snap?

Saturday, December 26, 3:30PM
Meinecke Car Care Bowl: #17 Pitt vs. North Carolina
Tough consolation prize for a team that nearly got the Big East Conference's BCS bid. UNC has been very Jekyll and Hyde this year, so it'll be interesting to see not only how they match up with the Panthers, but which UNC team shows up.
Prediction: Dion Lewis will run wild and Pitt's defense should be able to put a damper on the Tar Heels anemic offense.
Result: Pitt def. UNC 19-17
This kind of game was really par for the course for the Panthers this season. Dion Lewis runs wild, Bill Stull is uneven at best while the announcers praise his every move, Dave Wannstedt is seriously outcoached, and Pitt leaves it up to chance in the end. Butch Davis and UNC had a terrific game plan - the play mix on offense was fantastic and took advantage of the skills of T.J. Yates (it's tempting to think he's terrible, but he's really just inconsistent), Greg Little, and especially Ryan Houston (where did this guy come from?) - but didn't quite have the talent to carry it out. They probably also should have rethought leaving the middle of the field wide open on every 3rd down.
Yell at the TV Moment: Greg Little, what a maroon! He's got some serious talent, but punting the ball into the stands after UNC's first TD was one of the dumber things I've seen all year. If I were a pro scout, this kind of boner would make me think twice about drafting a guy. Later in the game, he bowled over the sound guy on the sideline and walked past him onto the field without so much as a glance to see if he'd killed him. Nice kid.

Thursday, December 24, 7PM
Hawaii Bowl: Nevada vs. SMU
I always like to watch Nevada's pistol offense and when Wolfpack QB Colin Kaepernick gets going, he seems to cover five yards with each step. I also wouldn't mind a chance to check out former Hawaii coach June Jones' new charges at SMU.
Prediction: Nevada RB Vai Taua has been ruled academically ineligible and I don't know who his backup will be, which makes this hard to pick. I haven't seen SMU play this year, but looking at their schedule, their best moment is a 28-21 win over East Carolina, which isn't spectacularly impressive. When in doubt, I usually go with the scorers, so I'll say the Wolfpack.
Result: SMU def. Nevada 45-10
Another coming out party for a true freshman quarterback. In this case it was SMU starter Kyle Padron, who torched Nevada's secondary all day (though it is worth pointing out that he had enough time to salt, cut, and eat a steak dinner before throwing on most plays). Had I realized that both Taua *and* Luke Lippincott were out, I might have picked SMU, but the Nevada offense was the least of its problems on a very sour ending note to its season. I said I hadn't seen SMU play this year - judging by their complete unpreparedness, apparently neither had the Wolfpack defense.
Yell at the TV Moment: Why was SMU throwing deep up 38-3 with 8 minutes left? I guess we didn't need much more proof that June Jones was a jerk, but this was low even for him.

Wednesday, December 23, 7PM
Poinsettia Bowl: #23 Utah vs. California
I'm not particularly interested in either of these teams, but this is a good match up between two teams who should be playing each other more often. Cal RB Jahvid Best will not play after that gruesome concussion, but his replacement, Shane Vereen, is pretty good in his own right and will be the center of the Bears' offense. Utah is a pretty well-balanced team and will be looking to prove itself against a major conference team.
Prediction: I haven't seen Utah this year, but their three losses came at the hands of Oregon, TCU, and BYU and they were close against Oregon and BYU. Meanwhile, Cal had an up and down season and was blown out by Oregon, USC, Oregon State and, improbably, Washington. The Utes have a good blueprint and I think they'll win in a close one.
Result: Utah def. California 37-27
This was one of those games that felt like a blowout but never quite was. What it was, however, was a real coming out party for Utah freshman QB Jordan Wynn, who was almost unfailingly calm and accurate. Cal did go up 14-0 early, but then returned to being embarrassingly outcoached as usual. It's really, really hard to believe that Kevin Riley is the best QB on Cal's roster. In the second quarter, Utah realized that RB Shane Vereen was Cal's only weapon and then it was all over for the Bears. A not-so-great cap to a really disappointing season for Cal - seriously overrated early, blown out a couple of times in conference, beaten by a Mountain West team in a bowl game.
Yell at the TV Moment: Two specific coaching complaints for Jeff Tedford. Down 30-21 with 9 minutes remaining and facing a 4th and 3 near midfield, why punt? You need two scores and your defense needs a stop either way. And a minor complaint: Cal's first play from scrimmage was a fake reverse and then the expected Vereen run up the middle. Come on, you're the favorite and Vereen is your workhorse. Forget the trickeration and just block.

Tuesday, December 22, 7PM
Las Vegas Bowl: #18 Oregon State vs. #14 Brigham Young
Here's a chance to see two quarterbacks who should have their names called in April. Oregon State's Sean Canfield and BYU's Max Hall will both be playing in their last collegiate games. Canfield looks more like a prototypical NFL passer and has come charging out of the gates this year after an inconsistent career. Meanwhile, what Max Hall lacks in size and arm strength, he makes up in accuracy and leadership.
Prediction: The Beavers have more weapons (particularly the Rodgers brothers) and should be able to take this one, though they'll have to be sure and account for Cougars LB Coleby Clawson (he of injuring Sam Bradford fame).
Result: BYU def. Oregon State 44-20
Well, the wind certainly didn't help here (it's not often that you see two punts under ten yards and a goalpost net fiasco so severe that a costumed mascot tries to help), but as I mentioned above, this really was the story of two quarterbacks. Correct analysis, incorrect prediction. Max Hall went out in style with some help from twin backfield beasts Harvey Unga and Manase Tonga, while Sean Canfield can't be excited about what he did to his draft prospects. Not only was he inaccurate, the Beavers looked like a team without a leader, which shouldn't happen with a senior quarterback. BYU stacked the box and decided to hold the Rodgers brothers in check and make Canfield beat them. Successful game plan, especially when Mike Riley isn't in an 'adapt the Beavers game plan' mood. OSU was thoroughly outcoached and outplayed.
Yell at the TV Moment: What in the world was Mike Riley thinking with that fake punt on their first drive of the 4th quarter? Yes, it was 4th and relatively short, but you're in your own territory and your offense has been terrible. Even if you pick up the first down, what are the odds that you then drive the rest of the field? Punt the ball and hope for better field position next time.

College Football: Week 14 Wrap-Up

2009-12-06T23:06:00.007-06:00

#7 Oregon def. #16 Oregon State 37-33
I learned all I needed to know about this game in the first half of the first quarter. Oregon's first possession lasted only about 30 seconds and 5 yards before Jeremiah Masoli was intercepted. Oregon State promptly drove 22 yards to the end zone and Oregon was down 7-0 just over three minutes in. I think the way a team reacts to adversity says everything, and what did Oregon do? Marched 77 yards in 8 plays to tie the game. All in all, it was a good showing for Beavers QB Sean Canfield and the magnificent Rodgers brothers, but the trio of Masoli, LaMichael James and returned bruiser LeGarrette Blount was too much to handle. On to Pasadena.

Central Michigan def. Ohio 20-10
Man, I love small time football. Big time record set here though, as Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour became the all time FBS leader in touchdowns. Congrats Dan, hope to see you in the NFL. Oh yeah, the game. Kind of slow, I guess, but Lefevour was good, as was Chippewa RB/WR Antonio Brown. Ohio's QB Theo Scott had some good moments, but was for some unclear reason unable to throw a screen pass, which made it very hard for him to run his offense. He also pretty much gave up any chance to win when he was sacked out of field goal range with the Bobcats down 20-10 in the 4th quarter. Live and learn...

#5 Cincinnati def. #15 Pittsburgh 45-44
Some teams just love to lose. Michigan State, the Buffalo Bills, and now we can add Pitt to the list. This is the second week in a row they blew a game in which they were obviously the better team. Cincinnati didn't look too good either, seemingly hampered by the snow and also by a massive team wide choke in the first half. Looked a little like Brian Kelly didn't have his team ready to play, which of course makes me wonder what the Fighting Irish brass thought. So can Cincinnati stop Dion Lewis? No. Lewis was good, but Pitt's offensive line dominated and Lewis often wasn't touched until he already had a three yard gain. Can Pitt keep the Bearcats from scoring 50? Technically yes, but not really. Did I jinx Bill Stull? Complicated. He wasn't particularly good, but then again, when your running back has 50 touches, how involved can you be? Generally, a shootout doesn't come down to one play, but then the Pitt holder dropped the extra point snap. D'oh.

Arizona def. #18 USC 21-17
How the mighty have fallen! USC somehow forgot AGAIN that McKnight is their best weapon and instead put Mr. Barkley in some tough situations he wasn't experienced enough to handle. The Trojans also used all of their second half timeouts before the closing minutes of the game, which hurt 'em a bit in the end. Maybe this is just because I'm used to them being so good, but it looks like they aren't really trying. And what do you get for that? 6th in the Pac-10 and a bowl date with the Jesuits of the Northeast.

#2 Alabama def. #1 Florida 32-13
I feel kind of stupid for blowing this call. I knew Alabama had a more complete team and I also knew that Florida basically hadn't played a decent team all year (someone called it a 12 game preseason). I just overestimated the Tebow factor. As did Tebow, obviously. And Urban Meyer. And for a lone Florida drive before the half, it looked like Tebow might lead them back into the game. But while Florida's offense was by no means good, the game was lost by the defense, which was on its heels from the very beginning of the game. Alabama put together several incredibly long drives and I actually think what you saw was a 49-13 blowout hampered by Alabama's plodding (although steady) offense. Good news for Texas (and excuse me for being vulgar): McElroy probably shot his wad on this one. It's hard to imagine him playing so far above himself twice in a row.

#3 Texas def. #22 Nebraska 13-12
Blech. If you take this game and the Oregon/Boise State travesty at the beginning of the season, you have disaster bookends to the regular season. Texas looked really really really tight. I kept thinking they would get over it and just throw short passes to Shipley all night, but they never did. The Cornhuskers had a fantastic defensive game plan (kudos to Bo Pelini for providing Alabama with a blueprint) and possibly the best punter/kicker I've ever seen, but on the other side of the ball...well, an ESPN column referred to them as "the team that offense forgot". No matter how many sacks Ndamukong Suh has, 32 yards in an entire half of football just isn't going to get it done. And so, despite the fact that Texas was completely unable to protect Colt McCoy, despite the fact that Texas had significant trouble with a very mediocre team, they're going to the national championship.

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: After Nebraska intercepted Colt McCoy on Texas' first drive, they faced a 4th and 1 in field goal range and Bo Pelini decided to go for it, which I thought was incredibly dumb. Pelini has to know how god-awful his offense is. Even if you make the first down, what are the odds that you make two more and score the touchdown (they didn't, by the way, and kicked the field goal anyway)? And if you don't make it, wow, momentum right back to Texas. I'm usually in favor of making an early game statement, but this was an early game bluff.

In other news: During the Civil War, ESPN displayed a stats comparison between Colt McCoy and Nebraska QB Zac Lee. That's just mean.....Have you ever seen slower crawling than that Oregon lineman's attempt to pick up that Ducks fumble in the backfield? It looked like a slow motion replay.....Sad play of the week: Oregon State is lucky to have a really crappy punt called back because of a false start. On the second iteration, the punter does even worse.....After USC fullback Stanley Havili was called for a personal foul for spiking the ball in frustration after a play, the announcers said they didn't think that should be a penalty. I disagree wholeheartedly. Havili spiked the ball five yards out of bounds forcing the ball boys to crawl under the bench to get it. Despite our incredible ability to tolerate them from athletes, temper tantrums are definitely unsportsmanlike conduct.....Tim Tebow really needs to work on his poker face. I understand that it was disappointing, but who cries during a blowout? You have so much time to get used to the idea!.....Did anyone notice Blake Gideon dropping an INT in much the same manner as he did last year against Texas Tech? Almost cost his team a national championship two years in a row.....Great Musburger quote: Ndamukong is dominating! (He was though. Great to see a defensive player invited to the Heisman ceremony)

College Football: Week 14 Preview

2009-12-02T22:17:00.002-06:00

Thursday, 8PM: #16 Oregon State at #7 Oregon
The Civil War (you gotta love matchups that have special names), Beavers and Ducks, and the battle for who beats Ohio State in the Rose Bowl (I was apparently incorrect about Oregon clinching the Pac-10 with the win over Arizona, but I got that from ESPN, so you can blame them!).
Prediction: Well, I watched a couple of Oregon State games last year, but I haven't seen them this year which means I haven't had a look at former and now again starting quarterback Sean Canfield. But put the fact that the Beavers were routed at home last year with the fact that they have to go into Autzen tomorrow night and you've got yourself a Ducks win. Quack quack.

Friday, 7PM: Ohio vs. Central Michigan
This will be Central Michigan QB Dan Lefevour’s third MAC Championship game in four years. I can’t really say I know how good of a matchup it will be, but Lefevour is always fun to watch and it will be a good nationally televised chance for him to show his stuff to the NFL so he should be ready to go. Remember, this is a guy whose numbers have been better than Tebow’s!
Prediction: Gotta go with the Chippewas here. They've had a great season, including beating Michigan State in September, and they won't drop the ball here.

Saturday, 11AM: #5 Cincinnati at #15 Pittsburgh
Pitt made this one quite a bit less exciting by letting West Virginia beat 'em last weekend. Still, it's for the Big East championship and the automatic BCS bid, which could have big implications for TCU and Boise State.
Prediction: Tough one here. Can Cincy's weak defense stop Dion Lewis at all? Can Pitt hold the ball long enough to keep the Bearcats from scoring 50? Will I contine to jinx Bill Stull? In the end, I think a quick scorer beats a plodder (spoken like a true disappointed Big Ten fan) and I have to pick Cincinnati.

Saturday, 2:30PM: Arizona at #18 USC
This year is the entire Pac-10's chance to knock of USC, so it's fun seeing who takes advatage of it. I was impressed with Arizona QB Nick Foles' performance against Oregon and I'd like to see if he can duplicate it here. Meanwhile, it will be nice to check in on the Trojans, who I haven't seen since they were steamrolled by Oregon.
Prediction: Arizona's on a nice little high after beating rival Arizona State and I think they'll ride it out here. Plus, I learned my lesson about picking USC in the Oregon game...

Saturday, 3PM: #1 Florida at #2 Alabama
The Granddaddy of 'em All. No wait, that's something different. But this one's exciting nonetheless, since it functions like a national semifinal for the second straight year. I just hope Florida will be showing off those white helmets again - those were nice.
Prediction: I do think Florida's defense will have some trouble with Ingram, but you just can't bet against Tebow in these situations. Alabama does have a good defense, but all it takes is a couple of touchdowns. And frankly, I'd rather see a Florida-Texas championship game. Go Gators.

Saturday, 7PM: #3 Texas vs. #22 Nebraska
Big 12 Championship and the last chance for Texas to crumble and give us a little more BCS intrigue. Bo Pelini's team can always be counted on for some decent defense even if the offense and QB Zac Lee are a little...lacking.
Prediction: Texas. Not even close.

For anyone who isn't so into the above games, it might be worth it to watch #21 Houston at East Carolina or South Florida at Connecticut. I'd watch the latter myself if I were going to be home. But alas, people's birthdays take precedence :)

College Football: Week 13 Wrap-Up

2009-11-30T20:22:00.006-06:00

#5 Cincinnati def. Illinois 49-36
Can't say I learned too much here. As expected, Cincinnati has a fantastic offense (that misdirection shovel pass was sweet!), but unfortunately has the kind of defense that allows a team like Illinois to drop 36 points. Illinois has a great talent in Arrelious Benn (how in the world did Ron Zook get him to Champaign?!?), but Juice, despite some improvement, is basically still the same inaccurate quarterback we kept having to watch three years ago. The Illini made a decent show of it, but just couldn't keep up with Pike and the Bearcats in the end.

West Virginia def. #9 Pittsburgh 19-16
Wow, terrible (and pretty boring) showing for Dave Wannstedt and the Panthers. My mom thinks that I might be the jinx for Pitt QB Bill Stull (didn't I do this to Auburn's Chris Todd as well?) and whatever the cause, he looked only marginally better than his bowl performance last year (i.e. the worst performance ever by a quarterback) and did essentially nothing of note until he finally managed to hit Baldwin for the game tying touchdown. Unfortunately, Pitt's defense hadn't gotten it done all night against a relatively one note (Noel Devine) Mountaineer offense and they didn't fare any better at the end. Nice little season saver for West Virginia, but Pitt really should have rethought letting this one get away.

#6 Boise State def. Nevada 44-33
I have to give credit to Nevada for showing some life after being down 20-0 in what seemed like about 30 seconds. Unfortunately, it was all they could do to keep it respectable. Boise State actually didn't pass particularly well (and might have tossed Kellen Moore's invite to the Heisman ceremony down the drain), but their running game more than made up for it.

South Carolina def. #18 Clemson 34-17
I thought this game was a very interesting lesson in momentum. We already know that South Carolina is capable of some good things, but has serious trouble with inconsistency, especially on offense. I hadn't seen Clemson play before this game, but most accounts seem to suggest that they're a pretty good team. Knowing all of this, you have to look at Clemson's two fumbles, one at the outset of each half. Both killed successful drives, one with Clemson already up 7-0 and the other with Clemson down 17-7. What changes if the score becomes 14-0 in the first quarter or 17-14 in the third? Clemson had a few nice pass plays to TE Michael Palmer and redshirt freshman QB Kyle Parker looks like he might be the real deal, but overall, the day belonged to the Gamecocks. Nice win for Mr. Spurrier at home.

#17 Miami def. South Florida 31-10
Wow. I did say Miami would win because of its speed, but I didn't expect this. The Hurricanes dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and quickly flattened both the crowd and the Bulls. Kudos to the Bulls for waking up a little in the second half (hopefully, that's the preview of leadership to come from B.J. Daniels in the future), but this was steamroller just about all the way.

#15 LSU def. Arkansas 33-30 (OT)
Though I really want to hate the SEC, I have to admit that you can almost always count on these games for some entertainment. My goodness does Trindon Holliday have an impact on games. Whether he's speeding by on kick returns, slashing from the running back position, or yes, muffing punts to keep Arkansas in the game, you never forget he's on the field. Impressive for a guy of that size, though it's hard to tell if we're looking at the next Darren Sproles or just a nice cog in LSU's gimmicky offense. Arkansas had some serious problems, most notably lack of pass protection and Ryan Mallett's throws sailing, but found some success in the running game in the second half. That killer Jordan Jefferson interception (LSU leading 17-6 and in Arkansas territory) helped too. The fall: Arkansas' terrible prevent defense on LSU's tying drive and of course, the missed field goal in OT. Just when you thought SEC kickers were getting it together!

Stanford def. Notre Dame
I was actually pretty disappointed by this game. Neither team showed any defense whatsoever and I thought the coaching was suspect for both sides. Notre Dame called a quarterback sneak on 3rd and 2 in the second quarter (your QB already has a black eye!) and had to give the ball back to Stanford for the winning drive because it chose a running play on 3rd and 2 at midfield when its passing game hadn't been stopped at all. On the other side, well, I admit I've watched quite a bit of Notre Dame "film", but Harbaugh and his staff presumably did too, which is why I'm baffled as to how they possibly could have been fooled by Jimmy Clausen lining up at wideout for the Wild Leprechaun then jogging into the backfield and throwing a touchdown pass to a wide open Michael Floyd. Mr. Harbaugh, the Irish have run that exact play before and your safeties should have been prepared or at least watching the second of the two people who is playing out of position in the formation. Anyhow though, the game went pretty much as predicted - Toby Gerhart was next to unstoppable on the ground, Jimmy Clausen was next to unstoppable through the air and Stanford had the ball last. I will say that Stanford QB Andrew Luck looked polished. I wonder if there's any chance that Gerhart will stick around for another year in Palo Alto.

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: On Stanford's final drive, a fantastic Gerhart run brought the ball down to the Notre Dame 3 yard line, where the Irish called their second timeout with 1:03 to go. If I'm Mr. Harbaugh, I'm thinking "hmm, we've been ripped apart on defense all night and I'd rather not give Clausen the chance to tie it. Wait, I don't have to! I can kneel three times and let my Notre Dame-transfer kicker boot the game winning field goal. Or, if I don't want to leave it to one snap, I can kneel once or twice to be sure Notre Dame calls its final timeout and maybe eat a little time and then let Gerhart bash his way in." Charlie Weis realized it and the Irish did not try to stop Gerhart from scoring on first down. So the Irish got the ball back with 59 seconds and one timeout. Only the monumental collapse of the Notre Dame offensive line (bad time for the only two sacks given up!) saved the Cardinal from this blowing up in their faces. And even so, the Irish had a last second shot at the end zone. Is there some kind of etiquette I don't know about here?

In other news: Boise State, if you want to know why you're not being taken seriously, it might be things like a failed two point conversion in the first quarter that injures your #1 receiver.....Friday's ESPN coverage was generally hilarious - did you catch the Now/Ahead/Later teasers for topics the commentators would ignore the game to discuss? How about the 'Jared the Galleria of Jewelry Score Alert'?.....It seems to me that defensive offsides and intentional grounding should not be offsetting penalties. If the defender wasn't offsides, the quarterback probably wouldn't have had to ground the ball.....Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett looks much more polished than at the beginning of the year, but still moves really awkwardly, like his feet are too big - wonder if this is a puppy thing that will go away as he matures or if he's always going to move poorly.....Um, why is Toby Gerhart so incredibly exhausted all the time? I realize he has a bruising style, but he's not the only one. Does he need to be in better shape? Is it just because he's a big guy? I can't imagine NFL teams love to see that.....Stanford fullback Owen Marecic is also their backup middle linebacker. A couple weeks ago, starter Clinton Snyder was unable to go, and Marecic started both ways!

College Football: Week 13 Preview

2009-11-26T15:15:00.005-06:00

Friday, 11AM: Illinois at #5 Cincinnati
A much better matchup since Illinois woke up long enough to save Ron Zook's job. Also, Tony Pike returns as the Bearcats starter, which should settle down their offense a little. The key is the defense, which will need to stop the run to give the offense as many possessions as possible.
Prediction: Cincy by 2 scores - bring on the Panthers!

Friday, 6PM: #9 Pittsburgh at West Virginia
The Backyard Brawl! One more tuneup for Pitt before the matchup with Cincinnati. The Mountaineers aren't great, but Noel Devine always gives them a chance. Pitt's defense will be tested in the run game.
Prediction: Pitt! Their LeSean McCoy replacement should be able to keep up.

Friday, 9PM: Nevada at #6 Boise State
Hard to see Boise State tripping here, but it's always fun to watch Wolfpack QB Colin Kaepernick. Blue turf is a minus though.
Prediction: Boise State passing attack will be way too much for Nevada to handle.

Saturday, 11AM: #18 Clemson at South Carolina
I actually haven't seen Clemson this year, so I'd like to see if they deserve their ranking and get a look at Heisman candidate C.J. Spiller. South Carolina can be good but is fantastically inconsistent - it's always interesting to see which Gamecocks team shows up.
Prediction: Clemson, I suppose.

Saturday, 2:30PM: #17 Miami at South Florida
Haven't checked in on Miami since I jumped off the bandwagon several weeks ago. A game at the always dangerous Bulls is a good chance.
Prediction: This is a hard one, since I'm not certain how good Miami has turned out to be. That sad, Florida teams always have a speedy defense, so I'm counting on the Hurricanes to contain B.J. Daniels. Miami in a closer game than it should be.

Saturday, 6PM: Arkansas at #15 LSU
Back to my old buddy Ryan Mallett, who's having a pretty fantastic year. Meanwhile, LSU is coming off a terrible loss at Ole Miss and probably needs this one to stay ranked.
Prediction: Even though I once swore I would never pick against LSU in a night game at Tiger Stadium, I'm going to pick the upset. Arkansas has gotten better with every game while LSU seems to be on its way down.

Saturday, 7PM: Notre Dame at Stanford
Charlie Weis' job is probably a foregone conclusion at this point, but it's still a big game for Jim Harbaugh and the Cardinal. A lot of eyes will be on this one, which means that Toby Gerhart has a good chance to add to his Heisman resume.
Prediction: Stanford. Notre Dame will put up a good fight on offense, but there's no way they have an answer for Gerhart.

College Football: Week 12 Wrap-Up

2009-11-25T14:41:00.004-06:00

#10 Ohio State def. Michigan 21-10
Not too much mystery here - you can't turn the ball over six times and expect to win, particularly against a team as conservative as Ohio State (1 turnover). That said, Michigan had every opportunity to win. The Buckeyes were run run run as expected (Pryor was 9/17 for only 67 yards!) and Michigan contained it somewhat even if they couldn't stop it and the stats were strikingly even (well, evenly depressing). Here's to a better Michigan, and thus a better Big Ten, next year.

Connecticut def. Notre Dame 33-30 (2OT)
This is really Notre Dame's MO now - offense keeps it close, Golden Tate runs wild, defense is unable to stop the run despite the announcers telling us several times how fantastic Kyle McCarthy is. So I suppose the Irish will get rid of Charlie Weis and I have to say, I think that's a good idea for more than just the wins and losses. I've been a Notre Dame hater my entire life, but even I can admit that they were always classy and I think that's changed under Weis. In this game alone, the Irish had two late hits, LB Brian Smith yelling "what's my mother fucking name" after intercepting a pass, and countless strutting after routine plays. At one point, Tate took a line drive punt back about 15 yards and then was tackled by the first player to touch him and then taunted the UConn sideline. Really? If Notre Dame can't win or be counted on to behave, who are they?

Mississippi def. LSU 25-23
Only caught the second half of this one, but it was plenty. It was a pretty even game and definitely the Runnin' Rebels best of the year. Snead was serviceable and McCluster was fantastic as usual - sweet halfback pass! - but Mississippi wasn't prolific enough to put the game away the way they should have (particularly up 22-17 and inside the 10-yard-line in the 4th quarter). Add in a blocked FG return for LSU and you have a close enough game to produce that bizarre ending - see below.

#11 Oregon def. Arizona
Very entertaining game! Oregon started off great, but then appeared to be possibly trying to throw the game. The one plus of this was that I could kind of see the team that lost to Boise State, which made my 'alien abduction' theory less plausible. Anyhow, AZ QB Nick Foles took good care of the ball and even made some nice plays, but his defense couldn't contain Masoli and LaMichael James and you know the rule: if you can't stop the run, you can't win. Oh, and Ducks WR Jeff Maehl had a terrific Johnny-on-the-spot-type game, which definitely helped set up the run.

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: Definitely the end of the LSU-Ole Miss game. LSU has the ball at the edge of field goal range, about 30 seconds left. QB Jordan Jefferson moronically takes a sack closer to midfield with 26 seconds left and LSU strangely waits until there are just nine seconds left to take the timeout. Jefferson throws a Hail Mary that's caught just inside the 20, but there's not enough time to get another play, either a spike or the game winning field goal off. Obviously, Miles handled the clock poorly and even worse, sold out his quarterback and didn't own up to his mistake after the game. But his real failing, in my opinion, is not considering the possibility that the ball could end up outside the end zone. He has to know that his quarterback can only throw the ball 40 yards!

In other news: The Ohio State-Michigan rivalry has really fallen - the ABC cameras caught a lot of Wolverine fans yawning in the stands.....In UConn's first set of downs in OT#1, the ball was spotted near the 15 and the refs brought out the chains to measure. You gave them the ball at the 25, right? So is it at the 15 or not?.....Oh no, UGA died!.....Arizona and Oregon appeared to be trying to out-do each other in terms of ugly uniforms. Oregon had white names on white jerseys while the Wildcats appeared to be wearing some sort of red unitards.

College Football: Week 12 Preview

2009-11-19T21:46:00.004-06:00

Saturday, 11AM: #10 Ohio State at Michigan
Because I have to. I'm considering watching in the fetal position. Here’s the thing though – Michigan, for all its troubles this season, can score, and the Buckeyes’ scheme completely prevents them from putting games away. So if Michigan focuses on run defense, they could keep the game pretty close. That’s what I’ll hope for. If it doesn’t work out, I can always look forward to the Buckeyes getting stomped by Stanford/Oregon in Pasadena!
Prediction: Ohio State. Michigan doesn’t have the defense to keep even this sad-sack offense in check.

Saturday, 1:30PM: Connecticut at Notre Dame
ND returns to the friendly lepre-confines (bah dump bah!) for a must-win. Connecticut’s offense is up to the task, but the defense is weak. As just about the entire college football world knows by now, this description also applies to Notre Dame. I do think it will be evenly matched, but here’s the thing: ND needs needs needs this game. They may not have ever needed a game like they need this one. They're 2-3 in their last 5 games, fighting like hell not to finish 6-6, and facing a very good Stanford team next weekend.
Prediction: Close as always for the Irish, but they'll make sure to get this one.

Saturday, 2:30PM: #8 LSU at Mississippi
This one's really only a maybe, but if I'm home on Saturday afternoon I'll probably at least check it out. Under normal circumstances, this would be an easy LSU win. But Ole Miss RB Dexter McCluster is on a tear, the Tigers are missing Charles Scott, and the game is in Runnin’ Rebel-land, all of which serve to even the playing field (haha).
Prediction: If Jarret 'Pick Six' Lee was starting again, I'd pick Ole Miss, but Jordan Jefferson returns from a sprained ankle this week. So Geaux Tigers, but I expect this to be Mississippi's best game to date.

Saturday, 7:00PM: #11 Oregon at Arizona
Probably the game of the week in a very weak week (I'm just full of puns tonight). I have to say I don’t really know much about Arizona. The last time I saw them was against Iowa back in September and they’re apparently a decent team now, which means they must look pretty darn different. QB Matt Scott (whom I last referred to as "supremely ineffective" has been benched in favor of Nick Foles and the Wildcats have (sort of...) turned things around. Meanwhile, Oregon can take the Pac-10 with a win here.
Prediction: Oregon’s had some ups and downs this year, but the Pac-10 title would go a long way towards making this an 'up' season. The Ducks (and their uniforms) should be too much for the Wildcats to handle.

Extra game for the mountain dwellers: see if you can get Air Force-BYU in the afternoon game. Air Force came within 3 points of TCU back in October and BYU QB Max Hall is one win away from passing Ty Detmer for the school record.

College Football: Week 11 Wrap-Up

2009-11-16T21:35:00.003-06:00

#5 Cincinnati def. #25 West Virginia 24-21
I had an absolute blast at this game. Our seats were at the 20-yard line, 13 rows up, which was perfect since the first ten rows pretty much had a butt view of the UC bench. Though it certainly wasn't the Bearcats best showing, Cincinnati has a spectacular offense made even better by the combination of Zach Collaros running the ball and Tony Pike throwing daggers. Isaiah Pead is also a pretty nice option on the running attack. The problem, of course, is on the other side of the ball. West Virginia had no pass attack to speak of. Actually, they had no offense at all outside of the extremely slippery Noel Devine and the occasional Jarrett Brown scramble. But the Bearcats still had a heck of a time stopping them, which isn't a good sign. Conclusion: dream season for UC, it's a blast to see how thrilled the students are, they'll have something of a challenge in Illinois and maybe a bit of a David v. Goliath at Pitt (really wish I'd seen that ND game!), and although I'm on the fan bandwagon for good, it's hard to see them avoiding a blowout at the hands of a big school. They'd have to score on pretty much every possession.

#12 Pittsburgh def. Notre Dame 27-22
Embarassingly, I got home on Sunday all excited to watch this game (and I had even managed to avoid finding out the score) and I didn't have it recorded. Not sure how that happened, but I am quite disappointed, particularly since Bill Stull reportedly had a good game and I'd definitely have to see that to believe it. Still, it sounds like I called it more or less right - Clausen was pretty good and kept 'em in it, but ultimately couldn't overcome their hapless defense. The road doesn't get a whole lot easier for Notre Dame, whose schedule was much harder this year than it originally seemed. Connecticut comes to South Bend this weekend and then the Irish close out the regular season at Stanford. They can take down Connecticut if they can stop turning the ball over, but Stanford should kill 'em. And I have to say, I think Charlie Weis needs both games to keep his job.

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: I caught the end of the Iowa-Ohio State game and am now weeping for the Big Ten. After Ohio State barfed up a 14-point lead in eight minutes in the 4th quarter, they got the ball with 2:42 left and the score tied at 24. Play selection: 3 runs, a 3-yard pass, and a pass stopped behind the line of scrimmage. Tressel-ball, my ass. That's just peewee football. Iowa's possession didn't make matters any better. After stopping the negative pass on 3rd down, Iowa calls timeout and gets the ball back on its own 33 with 52 seconds left. Play selection: rush, delay of game, rush to end game. Yeah, I know you got a freshman QB but a) he's played well and b) why not at least take a shot down the field with 20 seconds or so? All you need is a field goal! The general rule is that if you don't play to win, you won't, but I guess they couldn't both lose.

In other news: Good for Northwestern for beating Illinois. The Wildcats are never as bad as you think.....Cincinnati's stadium (second oldest to Penn) really is terrific. Right in the middle of campus, brick all around, small enough that every seat in the house has a great view - kind of felt like a high school state championship game.....Apparently, we were all part of the largest crowd in Bearcats history - just over 35,000.....What an incredible moment when Tony Pike returned for a touchdown pass a few minutes into the game. The crowd loved it!

College Football: Week 11 Preview

2009-11-11T21:57:00.003-06:00

Another light week, because I'm headed to Cincinnati to see my very own live college football game at what Brent Musburger informed me last weekend is the second-oldest stadium in the country!

#25 West Virginia at #5 Cincinnati
Zach Collaros is getting the start for the Bearcats over Tony "Wally Pipp" Pike and while you know I like Tony Pike (and pocket passers!), I'm excited to see Collaros in action. I won't settle for less than 500 yards of total offense. While Cincinnati should win on paper, West Virginia, and particularly Noel Devine, can be a slippery little bugger. And they held UConn to 24 points, which greatly bests the Cincy's defensive "effort" against the Huskies. At the very least, it's hard to see the Bearcats scoring 50 points on the Mountaineers, so their relatively inexperienced defense will have to show up.
Prediction: Cincinnati has this game, then a rapidly improving Illinois team comes to visit, then they end the regular season with what could be the game of the year at #12 Pitt. This is the meat of their season and Coach Kelly will have their eyes on the prize. Go Bearcats!

Notre Dame at #12 Pittsburgh
I'm going to try to convince my friends to watch this one on Saturday, but there's a lot of talk about going out to dinner, so I'm going to tape it so I can watch it at home if necessary. Big game somehow not diminished by Notre Dame's hilarious loss to Navy last weekend. Pitt QB Bill Stull is reportedly playing well (he couldn't be worse than last year, really) and it sounds like the Panthers are the real deal. If Notre Dame can get this one on the road, it will do a lot towards silencing the critics.
Prediction: Tough, because I haven't seen Pitt this year (which is why I will be scouting them for Cincinnati!). But the Irish defense has been lit up by all of the halfway decent teams it has faced and I have no reason to believe that Pitt will fare any differently. Jimmy Clausen will throw for about 800 yards, but it won't be enough...I hope.

Really bummed I'm not going to be able to get #16 Utah at #4 TCU - Mom and Dad, will you watch this one if you get the chance?

The oldest stadium is at the University of Pennsylvania, in case you were wondering :)

College Football: Week 10 Wrap-Up

2009-11-09T22:37:00.004-06:00

#3 Alabama def. #9 LSU
I have to say, I'm not in love with this year's LSU team. They're really gimmicky and they tend to be without the talent and execution to back it up. Still, they had a pretty good chance for a win and might have had it had Jordan Jefferson been able to continue. I admit that I had completely forgotten about Jarret 'Pick-Six' Lee from last year. He seems to have tried to correct his 'touchdowns for the wrong team' problem by becoming an exceptionally slow decision maker. This didn't serve LSU particuarly well and ensured a giant problem once battering ram Charles Scott was hurt. Alabama seemed like the same old Alabama to me - inaccurate McElroy, good defense, a big Julio Jones play, MARK INGRAM - and has clinched the SEC West title and a probable date with Florida in the championship game.

#16 Ohio State def. #11 Penn State 24-7
Conservative as a Republican debate, this one. As usual, Ohio State relied heavily on the scrambling ability of Terrelle Pryor and apparently Penn State hadn't watched the USC tape, because they were unable to keep him in the pocket. Add that to the fact that the Buckeyes absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and Tressel and Pryor both can breathe a little easier this week. You have to like Joe Paterno for what he's done for Penn State and for college football in general, but there were a few times in this game where the Nittany Lions looked a little old...and sad. Big Ten Championship is now the Buckeyes' for the taking.

#5 Cincinnati def. Connecticut 47-45
I think Tony Pike just got Wally Pipp-ed! Cincy coach Brian Kelly continues to insist that a 100% healthy Pike would be his starter, but it would be pretty hard to take the job away from Zach Collaros, who played one of the most perfect games I've ever seen. UConn, led by QB Zach Frazer (apparently a Notre Dame transfer) and RB Jordan Todman, put up a pretty good showing in a game essentially without defense, but it's pretty darn hard to win when you give up nearly 500 passing yards and over 700 total yards.

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: LSU scored a touchdown with 3:19 left in the 3rd quarter to go up 15-10 and Les Miles inexplicably decided to go for the two point conversion. Sure enough, Alabama kicked a FG at the beginning of the 4th quarter - wouldn't 16-13 be better than 15-13. The Tide added a touchdown and a field goal later in the quarter and LSU was left with a 24-15 deficit. Again, wouldn't 24-16 be better? What was he thinking?

In other news: Not only did I call the games wrong this weekend, I *chose* them wrong. I taped LSU/Alabama and Ohio State/Penn State, but I REALLY wish I'd taped Oregon/Stanford and Navy/Notre Dame - go Midshipmen!.....Got some bonus coverage of the end of the Wake Forest/Georgia Tech game and it was exciting. Wake kicked a field goal in its overtime possession and then the Yellow Jackets went for a 4th and 1 en route to scoring a winning touchdown. Kudos to Paul Johnson for having faith in his run game.....Likewise, I loved how Cincinnati went for it on 4th and 1 in field goal range up 40-38 late in the game.....Not much solace, I suppose, but Penn State punter Jeremy Boone made a spectacular tackle on Ohio State punt returner Ray Small

College Football: Week 10 Preview

2009-11-05T19:04:00.005-06:00

Light week due to a severe lack of interesting games. I'll finish this up tomorrow when ABC releases its games, but here's what I'm thinking.

Saturday, 2:30PM: #9 LSU at #3 Alabama / #16 Ohio State at #11 Penn State
SEC
This one has serious national championship implications, which kind of depresses me, since neither of these teams is all that good. Alabama's defense has been impressive but, unfortunately for the Tide, its defense seriously outshines its offense. QB Greg McElroy is a decent replacement for John Parker Wilson, but that isn't saying a whole lot. LSU has looked a little closer to form in the last few weeks, but are still missing the kind of talent they've had in the past.
Prediction: I would expect a relatively low-scoring game, which means it should come down to mistakes. Mr. McElroy unfortunately leads the field here. Geaux Tigers.
Big Ten
This game means more to Penn State, which can all but secure a BCS berth with a win here. Meanwhile, Ohio State has a lot to prove in the midst of an up and down season and questions about its coach, its quarterback, and its offensive scheme. A big win on the road would do a lot to quiet the critics.
Prediction: Last year's game was close, but as I remember was played in the rain, which greatly favored the Buckeye's run-heavy offense. This year, OSU will have to play fair, square, and Beanie-free. Penn State should be embarassed if they can't pick up this one.

*I wish I could record three games at once so I could catch Oregon at Stanford on Comcast Sports Net.

Saturday, 7PM: Connecticut at #5 Cincinnati
Cincinnati's quest to stay unbeaten (and be horribly disappointed come bowl selection time) runs into a Connecticut team that is reeling after a teammate's murder and a season-ending injury to QB Cody Endres. The Huskies are only 4-4, but one of those wins was over Baylor when the Bears still had QB Robert Griffin and all losses came by four points or less. They're a serious underdog here, but then again, the Bearcats have everything to lose.
Prediction: I'm headed to a Cincinnati game next weekend and I wholeheartedly expect to see one of the nations few remaining undefeated teams.

College Football: Week 9 Wrap-Up

2009-11-02T21:31:00.004-06:00

South Florida def. #21 West Virginia 30-19
You guys know I love Matt Grothe. Really, I do. But B.J. Daniels is the kind of athlete that can make your memory really, really short. Whether through the air or on the ground, he absolutely overwhelmed the Mountaineers in this game. The Bulls' defense did their part as well, holding the shifty Noel Devine to just 39 yards. South Florida is trying hard to avoid the quick start/disappointing collapse combination that they've shown in the past two seasons and this is a good start.

Illinois def. Michigan 38-13
Ugh, this was an ugly one. The Illini looked the best they've looked since last year, but this was the same old Michigan story. Missed tackles, utter confusion against a running quarterback, blown coverages, boneheaded decisions by punt returners, bizarre play calls and fumbles. Starting to look very familiar. Michigan is the only FBS team Illinois has beaten this year and the Wolverines should be very, very embarassed.

#1 Florida def. Georgia 41-17
You may find Gary Danielson annoying and he does have a strange obsession with Tim Tebow, but the guy knows what he's talking about. He pointed out near the end of the first quarter that Florida had abandoned that straight up the middle offense (read: constant dive plays) and gone back to its true 2008 spread and he was right on the money. Undisciplined play from Georgia (big surprise) didn't help matters any, but Florida looked unbeatable on offense last year and looked a heck of a lot better this weekend than they had all year. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

#3 Texas def. Oklahoma State 41-14
Not a thrilling one here. It looked like Oklahoma State was trying to set the single game record for most incomplete passes to hit the receiver's hands. And the Cowboys were utterly unable to generate any pass rush on defense. I'm not totally sold on Colt McCoy, but we already discovered against Missouri (and, well, all of last year), that if you give him enough time, he'll pick you apart. Oklahoma State was way behind very quickly and doesn't really have the guns to play catch up.

#10 Oregon def. #5 USC 47-20
Man, I really wish I'd picked Oregon! I was totally going to (I swear), but then I just couldn't imagine the team I saw back at the beginning of September ever even managing to get dressed correctly (I know, I know, arguable considering their uniforms). I will say that I didn't know at the time that half of USC's receiving corps wasn't coming to the game. But to be honest, USC's offense did just fine. Barkley had plenty of time to throw and though he sorely missed tight end Anthony McCoy, they moved the ball all right. But that became moot in a hurry, as Oregon absolutely gashed the Trojans on the ground. You'll often see a team come out and mow down the field on the first drive only to do little else after the defense makes adjustments. I kept waiting for the Trojans to wake up and play contain in the pocket, but they never did (or never could). Great, great, great game for the Ducks and especially for QB Jeremiah Masoli! Speaking of Masoli, he's 5'11/220 - I wonder how many NFL scouts watching the game wrote "OUR NEW TAILBACK"

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: It was more like a 'cry in front of the TV' moment, but it was very depressing to watch Michigan fail on four successive plays from the one-yard line. The Michigan football program I grew up with had many flaws, but scoring from the one-yard line wasn't one of them. And my Desmond Howard jersey and mini football from the late '80s say tradition is very important in Wolverine-land. So I appreciate the improvement from last year and I'm willing to give RichRod another year or two, but I'm worried he'll lose sight of the reason the fans are sticking with him.

In other news: I did manage to watch the second half of the Indiana/Iowa game. A perfect storm there: the Hawkeyes like to cut it close and the Hoosiers like to blow leads.....I thought it was pretty funny that Tate Forcier was wearing a complete fleece muffle under his helmet - he may be in trouble come winter.....It is incredibly hard to not make constant juice jokes when watching Illinois. The Juice has been squeezed!.....Verne Lundquist informed us that Georgia was playing "like a leaking old boat" right after he told told us that they were wearing black helmets that matched their black "slacks".....Georgia's punter, Drew Butler, is the son of former Bears kicker Kevin Butler. Wonder if his teammates call him Butthead or if they're too young (and too not-from-Chicago) for that.....Did you notice how Brent Musberger was getting annoyed at the refs for interrupting his monologues?.....Anyone catch the Auburn/Ole Miss 'attack of the overrated' matchup? Me neither

College Football: Week 9 Preview

2009-10-30T17:21:00.000-05:00

Surprising result in the UNC-Virginia Tech game last night. I didn’t watch because of both other plans and the fact that both teams have been disappointing, but it sounds like it was pretty exciting. Embarrassing loss for the Hokies in Blacksburg.

Friday, 7PM: #21 West Virginia at South Florida
Quick little check-in on the Big East here. I will be a proud attendee of a West Virginia/Cincinnati game in two weeks and a little scouting never hurt anyone. Speaking of Cincy, I’ll be interested to see how South Florida’s young team bounces back from last week's loss to the Bearcats.
Prediction: Haven’t seen the Mountaineers this season, but a look at their schedule reveals that:
a) they lost to Auburn, who as you may recall, was awful against Arkansas
b) their only game decided by fewer than 10 points was a win over Connecticut in which they were outgained 501-387
I predict a bounceback game, and an upset, for B.J. Daniels and the Bulls.

Saturday, 11AM: Nothing. This time, it's a selection of not only poor Big Ten games, but poor Big 12 games as well.

Saturday, 2:30PM: Channel Flip: Michigan at Illinois / Georgia vs. #1 Florida
Big Ten
Tough year for Illinois, but after having Michigan lose the last two games I’ve watched (and going one for their last four), I could use a pick-me-up. Hopefully, I’ll get a pretty convincing one
Prediction: Michigan bounces back, and against a (barely...) D-I team this time!
The Cocktail Party
A more interesting game than it appears on the surface. Yes, Florida is ranked #1, but they’ve looked pretty darn shaky lately. And Georgia put up 52 points on Arkansas, who you might remember did a wonderful job shutting down the Gators.
Prediction: Unfortunately, Georgia's blowout loss to Tennessee makes them unpickable. And I still say the Gators are due for a blowout!

Saturday, 7PM: Channel Flip: #3 Texas at #14 Oklahoma State / #5 USC at #10 Oregon
Big 12
Last trip wire for the Longhorns on their way to the championship? Plus a chance to test my ‘Zac Robinson is a more talented Colt McCoy’ theory. I sure wish the Cowboys had Dez Bryant.
Prediction: Texas. Try as he might, Robinson won't be able to keep 'em in this one.
Pac Ten
I usually don't get to see the West Coast games, so I'm thrilled to get this one. Oregon has made quite a comeback since playing in the world's worst game on September 3rd and has impressive wins over Utah, Cal, and Washington. Meanwhile, USC has only this game in the way of a decent shot at the national championship game. (Well, unless they're planning to lose another ridiculous one, which is always a possibility.)
Prediction: This one's hard. Playing at Autzen is a major home field advantage for the Ducks. And USC has a really bad habit of playing down to opponents. But in the end, I really can't imagine the Oregon team I saw winning this game, even if they are better. Trojans.

College Football: Week 8 Wrap-Up

2009-10-26T21:35:00.007-05:00

Florida State def. North Carolina 30-27
I guess Florida State thought that playing Jekyll and Hyde by game was too boring, so this time, they did it by half! In the first half, they looked really undisciplined, which I thought reflected very poorly on their beleaguered coach. They missed blocks, committed penalties, had trouble with the play clock - ugly stuff. But they apparently all found phone booths to change in for the second half, so all's well that ends well. UNC, for its part, has discovered some extra talent since I saw them last. WR Greg Little and RB Sean Draughn (great name!) played a nice game, but they couldn't overcome the incredible accuracy of second half Christian Ponder. You can see the Tar Heels again on Thursday night (at Virginia Tech) if you like, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

#13 Penn State def. Michigan 35-10
As much as it stinks to watch your team get killed, it was hard to be really upset about this one. Michigan was very clearly outmatched all day. Penn State played its usual brand of conservative football, did a great job getting to manageable 3rd down situations, and executed when it counted. Meanwhile, the Wolverines had trouble executing and seemed to always be looking at 3rd and 11. And turnovers. Oh, turnovers. Nothing could be as bad as that 2008 Michigan/Notre Dame game, but the steady stream of turnovers in the driving rain brought back some bad memories.

Notre Dame def. Boston College 20-16
Didn't get to watch this one, but it sounds like about par for the course: Notre Dame is clearly the better team despite a relatively weak defense, Notre Dame drags it out until the very end and then emerges victorious...at home. Do they ever play away?

#2 Alabama def. Tennessee 12-10
Just caught a few minutes here, but oof, an ugly one. Once Tennessee's offense catches up with its defense, they'll really have something. And Alabama still looks ripe for a 'whoopin...but not from the Vols.

#1 Florida def. Mississippi State 29-19
I guess sometimes you have to win ugly. I really called the wrong top 3 blowout last week. Two weeks ago, I figured, 'well, Tiger Stadium is a hard place to play', but this Florida team really looks hard-pressed to score points. And considering that the defense was a bit cut off at the knees without Brandon Spikes, they needed points in this one. Add that to two interceptions returned for touchdowns, serious problems in the red zone, and some really questionable decision-making (three straight Tebow rushes with goal to go? throwing out of your own end zone up 16 points with four minutes left? punt returner picks up a bouncing kick at the 1 yard line?) and Florida almost let this one get away. I can't believe I forgot about the Dan Mullen angle last week (former Florida offensive coordinator/Tebow confidant, current Mississippi head coach), but I'd have to say he got the best of this matchup, even in a loss.

#3 Texas def. Missouri 41-7
Not too much to talk about here, other than Texas' offensive line, which was fantastic! You can't give a passer as accurate as Mr. McCoy as much time as the Tigers did without giving up a lot of points - 41 to be exact. The Longhorns defense was decent as well, but the Tigers really handicapped themselves with their lack of running game. Incomplete passes on first down are a pretty big killer of drives.

This week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: Back to the inappropriate celebrating. Up 22-13 with under 10 minutes remaining, Florida LB Dustin Doe intercepted a Tyson Lee pass and headed for the end zone with no one in front of him. He began high-stepping at the five yard line and was stripped very close to the goal line by hustling Mississippi State WR Brandon McRae. Replays appeared to suggest that Doe was stripped short of the goal line, but the play stood as a Florida touchdown (I believe Bulldogs coach Dan Mullen has lodged a formal complaint). The real question, of course, is what in the world was Mr. Doe thinking? Score the touchdown, and *then* make a fool of yourself.

In other news: Close calls for Alabama and Iowa this weekend - seems like no one wants to step up and be #1......Wussy punt decisions ruled the day - Florida State, down 17-3 in the second quarter, faced 4th at 4 at the UNC 45 yard line and punted, Penn State looked at 4th and 3 from the Michigan *33* and sent up a net 20 yard punt.....Matt Millen informed us during the Penn State/Michigan game that a pass "becomes a lateral if it's backwards".....They said before the Florida game that LB Brandon Spikes was 'on call', that he would play "if they needed him". Doesn't having an undefeated season call for your best effort? Either you're hurt or you're not.....While the hyper-religious athlete thing sort of creeps me out, I have to say I love how Tebow helps up defenders that tackle him.....I feel that it is my duty to let you know that Dartmouth has snapped the nation's second longest losing streak with a convincing 28-6 victory over Columbia

College Football: Week 8 Preview

2009-10-21T22:32:00.004-05:00

Thursday, 7PM: Florida State at North Carolina
This ACC matchup is worth a look just to see a) if North Carolina can come with anything that even remotely deserves that top 25 ranking they used to have and b) which Florida State team shows up. When FSU QB Christian Ponder is good, he’s fun to watch and they’re playing for Bobby Bowden’s pride right now.
Prediction: I have to go with the Jekyll & Hyde Seminoles here. Consistency has been an issue, but they’re considerably more talented.

Saturday, 11AM: ...nothing. I have a wide selection of terrible and pointless Big Ten matchups. Might take a quick look at Oklahoma State/Baylor just to watch Zac Robinson.

Saturday, 2:30PM: Definitely #13 Penn State at Michigan plus looks at Boston College at Notre Dame and Tennessee at #2 Alabama if there's enough time.
Michigan's back at home this week, which is good because the Big House appears to be the only place they can play well. It's unclear what their quarterback situation is, relative to both Forcier's concussion and Robinson's recent success. Like last year, Penn State has looked good against all opponents except Iowa.
The SEC matchup is intriguing and I'm sure I'd be paying more attention to it if I weren't such an unabashed Michigan fan. I thought Alabama (with the exception of Mark Ingram) looked very weak last week against South Carolina. If safety Eric Berry and the Tennessee defense are ready to go, we could have ourselves a (shockingly low scoring) game.
Prediction(s): Michigan has looked mighty disorganized lately. I think the Nittany Lions can take 'em, even in Ann Arbor. Notre Dame should be able to handle a BC squad whose best win is over shaky Florida State. And as much as I'd like to, Tennessee just doesn't have the offense for me to pick the upset. In fact, they sometimes have no offense at all. Tide rolls.

Saturday, 6:30PM: #1 Florida at Mississippi State
I may not actually be able to catch this one depending on Saturday plans, but if you call yourself a college football fan, you gotta check in on #1 every once in a while. And actually, the Bulldogs played very close with LSU and may have an outside shot at the Gators.
Prediction: Tebow and company are due for a return to form. I'll be hoping for an Bulldogs upset and expecting a Gators blowout. In all honesty, though, the Gators have nothing to play for. They could lose this one and still get into the national championship over an undefeated Iowa.

Saturday, 7PM: #3 Texas at Missouri
Speaking of unimpressive top teams, Texas has played exactly two legitimate opponents - Oklahoma and Texas Tech, against whom the Longhorns looked terrible. Missouri isn't exactly the New Orleans Saints, but when Gabbert is on (and he says his ankle is ready to go), they can score in a hurry. If their defense has a good game, they could be a challenge for the Texas McCoys, especially in Columbia.
Prediction: Ugh, sorry to contradict my own interest-generating statement above, but gotta go with Texas. They can smell the championship bid now and they'll get the job done.

*If any of you Pacific coasters can watch Oregon/Washington and report, I'd much appreciate it!

College Football: Week 7 Wrap-Up

2009-10-20T22:21:00.004-05:00

#8 Cincinnati def. #21 South Florida 34-17
Another in an increasingly long string of sloppy Thursday night games. This certainly wasn’t Cincinnati’s best game, but they managed to pull it out in the end thanks to the running of backup QB Zach Collaros and some very undisciplined play from South Florida. I’m generally a pretty big fan of Bulls coach Jim Leavitt, but add the dropped passes and penalties to the fact that South Florida apparently couldn’t figure out that Collaros wasn’t ready to pass and this game didn’t reflect well on the man who has built the program from scratch. Still, the Bulls have a fairly young team behind freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels and a lot to look forward to in the future.

#3 Texas def. #20 Oklahoma 16-13
This one was a disappointment for a lot of reasons. The obvious one is the re-injury to Sam Bradford, who could easily be the Detroit Lions starting QB right now (okay, maybe there is an upside for him!). I thought Oklahoma outplayed Texas everywhere except the scoreboard. They got great pressure on Colt McCoy, especially after Texas mysteriously abandoned their misdirection running game, and replaced their own weak running game with very effective screens to DeMarco Murray. Take away any one of the Bradford injury, the Bubba Franks fumbled punt, or the Oklahoma pass interference penalty that set up the Texas touchdown and I think it's a (rather sloppy) Sooners win.

#11 Iowa def. Wisconsin 20-10
Solid Big Ten game here. Wisconsin put most of its offense on the shoulders of John Clay and Iowa's defense is the core of the team, but this game really came down to quarterback play. Wisconsin's pass blocking was a little lacking (as it has been all year) and Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi certainly benefited from a great game from tight end Tony Moeaki, but overall the teams played relatively evenly, allowing for Tolzien's interceptions and Stanzi's efficient 218 yards to make the difference for their respective teams. Look out Ohio State (who loses to Purdue?!?), the Hawkeyes are coming.

#6 USC def. #25 Notre Dame 34-27
The more I think about it, the more I realize that this game was actually almost exactly what we all should have predicted. Notre Dame hangs on Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate (why in the world didn't USC keep track of Tate in the slot?!?) to stay close in the first half, USC uses its superior talent and Notre Dame’s relatively weak defense to pull away in the second half, USC starts thinking about Will Ferrell and Spike Lee (who were at the game) and allows a weaker opponent back into the game. In the end, the combination of Clausen's late game heroics (who does he think he is - Forcier?) and a veritable smorgasboard of dubious penalties fell just short for the Irish in the face of Barkley's 380 passing yards and the relentless pressure of the USC defensive line.

#19 Georgia Tech def. #4 Virginia Tech 28-23
Another one of those strange games where you sort of think that the losing team is better even after they have proved they aren't. I think the monotonous nature of that triple option offense has a lot to do with that. It seems like Georgia Tech is just spinning its wheels, but then suddenly they're up 21-10. And though I remain unimpressed with Tyrod Taylor (well, other than his unreal ability to avoid tacklers 1 on 1), the Hokies seemed to have the edge in speed. The best I can figure is that a running offense makes for very long Georgia Tech drives and ultimately short games - the Hokies just ran out of time. Virginia Tech was a rather silly #4, but it's still a big win for the Yellow Jackets and a nice statement especially for their defense just a week after giving up approximately 1 million yards to Florida State.

#2 Alabama def. #22 South Carolina 20-6
This was my second look at both Alabama and South Carolina and, well, I wasn't too impressed. While it was amusing that both quarterbacks had their first pass picked off, the game never really got a whole lot better. The South Carolina offense sputtered ineffectively all night, and sometimes even comically, as when they failed at three straight fade right calls at the goal line and then kicked a field goal. I was kind of waiting for Steve Spurrier to attempt to steal QB Stephen Garcia's jersey in order to play in his place. Meanwhile, poor play from QB Greg McElroy meant that the Tide had to lean heavily on RB Mark Ingram, who luckily responded with a monster game. Alabama stays undefeated, but loses a lot of style points.

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: I try not to complain about the refereeing because I'm aware it makes me sound like a child, but I think the refs have a lot to be ashamed of on the last drive of the Notre Dame game. On a critical 4th down play, receiver Robby Parris made the catch just across the first down marker and a USC player pulled him down by his neck. Parris's foot was firmly planted in the turf at the time and I wouldn't be surprised if his ACL was torn. Unfortunate, but part of the game. No bone-crushing hit, no snap-back, no helmet to helmet contact. Inexplicably, the refs call a personal foul for 'targeting a defenseless player.' Apparently it is now 'targeting a defenseless player' to tackle him. I guess you're supposed to subtly alert him to your presence first. On a subsequent play, the Trojans broke through the Irish offensive line for the 347th time in the game. They chased Clausen out of the pocket and then gave him a shove after he threw the ball. Simple shove within a split second of the ball being thrown, one hand on the chest, Clausen went down on his back. I admit I've seen similar plays deemed as penalties. but it's ticky tacky, especially with less than 30 seconds left! Let the players play the game. When I remember the final drive, I should remember Clausen's heroics or USC's defense, not your stupid stripey face. I was half afraid they were going to find a way to put the ball in the end zone. Notre Dame was awarded five first downs by penalty on Saturday! The refs may not have affected the outcome of the game, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

In other news: I was watching the Cincinnati-South Florida game with a friend who mentioned that Tony Pike bears an uncanny resemblance to "a 30-year-old French dude." Good quarterback though, hope he's okay.....Tough media day for Longhorns receiver and Colt McCoy co-dweller Jordan Shipley. Herbstreit accidentally called him Jeremy Shockley and Brent Musberger referred to him as "the roommate".....Down 10-3 with 3:22 left in the first half, Iowa got the ball on its own 21 and proceeded to run three times and punt to Wisconsin. Why were they so reluctant to try to tie it?.....The announcer during the Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech game informed us all after a nice play by a receiver on a long pass that there was no "analyzation" necessary.....Michigan and Penn State join the too little too late club with respective clubbings of Delaware State and Minnesota. Meanwhile, Ohio State joins the too little right now club with an embarassing loss to Purdue!.....I also watched the Missouri-Oklahoma State game (can't get enough!), which wasn't particularly interesting other than Barry Sanders' induction into the Cowboys Hall of Fame, but I have to wonder why Zac Robinson isn't in Heisman contention. He's like Colt McCoy with more foot speed and a stronger arm.

College Football: Week 7 Preview

2009-10-14T22:09:00.008-05:00

Thursday, 6:30PM: #8 Cincinnati at #21 South Florida
I told you in Week 1 to get yourself a look at Cincinnati QB Tony Pike - if you didn't do it, here's your nationally televised chance. Huge game for the unbeaten Bearcats against a South Florida team that has gotten a major spark from backup quarterback B.J. Daniels (starting QB Matt Grothe went down in week 3 with a torn ACL). And Bulls coach Jim Leavitt, who built the program from scratch, is always good for some entertainment (of both the play calling and sideline antics variety). Somewhat irrelevantly, I'm headed to Cincinnati to see the Bearcats take on West Virginia in November and I'd really, really like them to be undefeated at that time.
Prediction: Tough since I haven't seen South Florida this year. It's hard to imagine they could keep up with Cincy's high octane offense. Cincinnati must find a way to keep Bulls DE George Selvie out of Tony Pike's face, but if they can do it, they'll win big. Arrgh. Bearcats by 10.

Saturday, 11AM: Two games taped and watched quarter by quarter to avoid crawler spoilers!
#20 Oklahoma vs. #3 Texas (Neutral Site)
College football fans, even outside the Big 12, have been looking forward to this one since last year. Oklahoma’s drop out of the national championship race does dull the excitement a little, but not as much as you might think. The Sooners have their Heisman trophy winner back, a lot to prove after losses to second tier teams BYU and Miami (relax, Mormons and 'Canes fans: I mean this in the sense of ‘not a recent threat to win the national championship’), and can still play spoiler. Fans in Norman will appreciate ruining the Longhorns season almost as much as a national championship.
Prediction: This will be by far the best opponent to date for both teams, so it's a tough call. In the end, I haven't seen Oklahoma put together a game against a good team, with or without Bradford. And Texas does have that win over Tech. So....Texas in another wildly entertaining shootout.
#11 Iowa at Wisconsin
I realize it’s not on the scale of the Oklahoma-Texas matchup, but this is a huge Big Ten game between undefeated Iowa and a better-every-week Wisconsin team that is 5-1 with its only loss coming at the Horseshoe. Even though this should be an old school run-first football game (admittedly, I thought that about Iowa last week and I was…wrong), I would guess that this one will come down to the quarterback play. Badgers QB Scott Tolzien was originally a long shot to get the starting job, but he’s managed games well, even in the Horseshoe. Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi has been somewhat shaky, particularly at the beginning of games, but has stepped up in a big way when his team needs him. Consistency will be the key here.
Prediction: I have to take Iowa here. They have a more experienced quarterback, more big play threats, and a faster defense.

Saturday, 2:30PM: #6 USC at #25 Notre Dame
The last few years of this series have been embarrassingly lopsided, but this is the best start for a Notre Dame team in quite a while. Taylor Mays and the rest of the USC defense will be by far the best Jimmy Clausen and the Domers have seen. Meanwhile, the Trojans have a quality win at Ohio State (hey, you know I hate ‘em, but you have to admit that their defense is legit), but have been largely untested since then. Word on the street is that rookie QB Barkley gets better with every game – he’ll have to prove it here. Read: we’re about to find out right now how good both teams are.
Prediction: I sort of hope both teams lose, but failing that, a lot of people are saying either USC wins big or Notre Dame wins in a close game and I’d have to agree with that. Since the Trojans are far superior in talent (albeit possibly inferior in the ‘caring about winning’ sense) and have already proved themselves in a hostile environment, I have to go with the USC big scenario. Plus, it’d be fun to watch!

Saturday, 5PM: #4 Virginia Tech at #19 Georgia Tech
I have to admit that it's possible that my intense dislike of run first quarterbacks like Tyrod Taylor has kept me from giving Virginia Tech a fair shake, so I'm going to watch this one so I know for sure. Georgia Tech is probably not a worthy opponent for the Hokies, but that triple option offense can explode without warning, particularly if they don't have to play from too far behind, so you never know.
Prediction: VT's defense is reportedly good enough to handle a simple attack like this one. I'll take the Hokies by two touchdowns.

Saturday, 6:45PM : #22 South Carolina at #2 Alabama
More interesting than it looks at first glance. This is the beginning of a three game home stretch for the Tide and the next two opponents are Tennessee and LSU, whom you might remember as prominent opponents of the top-ranked Florida Tebows. If Alabama wins these games convincingly, they could be looking at a #1 ranking. So yes, Alabama should beat up on the Gamecocks, but they'll be on their way to some serious respect for doing it. I also haven't seen the Tide play yet and I'm anxious to compare 'em to the Gators.
Prediction: Tide rolls.

College Football: Week 6 Wrap-Up

2009-10-12T21:33:00.002-05:00

#21 Nebraska def. #24 Missouri 27-12
They should really think about canceling Thursday night college football on grounds of dreadfulness. Between Oregon-Boise State (probably the worst game of all time), Mississippi-South Carolina, and this stinker in the pouring rain, Thursday nights have been the pinnacle of awful football. Nebraska's D-line did a good job of pressuring Blaine Gabbert (his bum ankle suffered on the first drive didn't help either), but essentially, this game was won in an ugly flurry of three Nebraska touchdowns helped mightily by Gabbert's first two career interceptions. The only bright spot: national television coming out party for Husker DE Ndamukong Suh (say it with me: En-dom-ah-ken Soo) . A few more games like that and he'll be in the Heisman talk. I heard that five inches of rain fell in Columbia on Thursday - I think the Tigers drowned.

Arkansas def. #17 Auburn 44-23
So did Auburn choke or were they simply overrated to begin with? Chris Todd looked just like I remembered, totally overwhelmed, and the whole team appeared to be sleepwalking in the first half. When they finally did wake up in the third quarter, their much ballyhooed no-huddle offense looked frantic. Todd's fumbled snap under center on 4th and 1 was a pretty good summary of the Auburn's day: unprepared, unenthusiastic, ineffective. Mallet looked just like I remember him from Michigan: huge arm, huge potential, a long way to go.

#9 Ohio State def. Wisconsin 31-13
Poor, poor Badgers. They did a great job containing the Ohio State offense (most OSU points were either scored or set up by the defense and special teams) and established an effective running game (I'm not sure I've ever seen a team run an up-tempo *running* attack before), but in the end, their pass blocking didn't cut the mustard, their inexperienced QB was clearly affected by the rush, and some crucial mistakes forced them to play from behind and took the pressure off of Terrelle Pryor. Still, the Badgers weren't anywhere near as bad as this score would suggest and I'll be looking forward to their matchup with Iowa.

#1 Florida def. #4 LSU 13-3
I was really disappointed with LSU here. First of all, Florida ran the dive basically every other play and gained positive yardage nearly every time. Strike one. The Tigers offense (what is it with all Tigers teams losing this week?) was unimaginative, particularly on third down, and it's extremely odd that they run their option from six yards in the backfield. Makes for a lot of instances with a ten yard run, two broken tackles, and a two yard gain. Strike two. And, as always, Tebow did what he had to do to win. He ran when they needed him and passed efficiently when they needed that. Three strikes. On the plus side, Florida looked pretty ripe for a whoopin' from Alabama, didn't they?

#12 Iowa def. Michigan 30-28
Despite the close score, I thought Iowa pretty handily outplayed Michigan. Ricky Stanzi threw what is becoming his standard pick-six early and that plus more kick return magic from Darryl Stonum kept the Wolverines in the game even though they turned the ball over three times and allowed 200 Iowa passing yards in the first half. The Michigan defense abandoned its poor tackling long enough to get the offense the ball with a chance to win, but the Wolverines (inexplicably minus their boy wonder) couldn't quite get it done. Two down for Iowa, two (Wisconsin and Ohio State) to go. I'll be rooting for them!

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: Don't ask a flanker to do a quarterback's job. Yes, Denard Robinson led the previous touchdown drive, but did you happen to notice that he did it with his legs? You're only down two points despite being outplayed and your defense gets you the ball back in time for the two minute drill, you've got the 4th quarter kid in your quiver and you sit him...to teach him a lesson? So we get the wild Wolverine (the MaizeCat? This is harder than you would think) instead and Robinson miraculously manages to move the ball a few yards before throwing the completely predictable overthrow INT. Hey, lesson learned, RichRod.

In other news: What is with the Huskers and quarterbacks named Zac? Wasn't one of the last ones hilariously named after president Zachary Taylor? Will there be a whole flood of Zacs coming up?.....Speaking of Zac Lee, how in the world did he not recover that fumbled snap after jumping on top of it?!? They might want to check him out to make sure there's not a giant hole in his torso.....A lot of Tigers fans had clearly painted their chests with water based paints, which didn't mix well with the rain. Gotta love that Mizzou education.....Great fake FG touchdown for the Badgers, but you could definitely tell that holder/safety Chris Maragos had practiced that diving reach for the end zone move about a million times with his little friends in junior high.....The Red Lobster Scholar Athlete during the Florida-LSU game was some LSU kid with a 3.3 GPA in Kinesiology. Awesome.....In soccer news, Slovenia beat Slovakia 2-0. Gotta love the crawler.

College Football: Week 6 Preview

2009-10-07T22:01:00.012-05:00

Thursday, 8PM: #21 Nebraska at #24 Missouri
The only thing I’ve seen of either of these teams is a few minutes of the Missouri/Illinois matchup earlier this season. Missouri, and especially the hilariously-named QB Blaine Gabbert, looked great, but it has since been revealed that Illinois has fallen to new depths of terrible-ness. Still, Gabbert appears to be Chase Daniel 2.0 (i.e. taller) and is putting up some incredible numbers. Might be a lot for the Huskers to handle, since their schedule to date is three cream puff victories and a close loss to a Virginia Tech team with a fairly mediocre offense.
Prediction: (all based on hearsay) – Nebraska is back in the mix, but probably isn’t *enough* back in the mix to keep up with Mizzou in the scoring department.

Saturday, 11AM: #17 Auburn at Arkansas
Another chance to check out two SEC teams I don’t know too much about. Gotta see if all the Auburn and especially QB Chris Todd hype is justified. I remember watching him play last year and thinking he was absolutely terrible, but he’s reportedly a whole new man with a whole new arm. Speaking of arms, I’ll enjoy the look at former Michigan man Ryan Mallett and his bazooka arm. Arkansas hasn’t been too good this year, but they’ve always got speed to burn and should be enjoyable to watch.
Prediction: Despite all the controversy surrounding his hiring last spring, Gene Chizik has the Tigers on a tear. They have quality wins over Mississippi State, West Viriginia, and Tennessee and I think they’ll keep the train rolling here.

Saturday, 2:30PM Wisconsin at #9 Ohio State
Should be a pretty decent one. Wisconsin needs it, both for pride as the only unranked and undefeated team, and because Bret Bielema sorely needs a signature win. Wisconsin QB (and Fremd product!) Scott Tolzien looked great in the snippets I saw of games against Michigan State and Minnesota and appears to be the real deal, something the Badgers have sorely missed in the last few seasons. We'll see just how good he is on Saturday - the Buckeyes can be counted on to bring the run defense. Ohio State’s still the better team (despite having a pass-sad quarterback), but this is a bit of a trap game for them.
Prediction: If you can't keep Pryor in the pocket, you can't stop the Buckeyes. I'll be rooting pretty hard for the upset, but you have to like a much faster Ohio State team in this game.
*Might also take a look at Alabama/Mississippi to see if Jevan Snead looks any better (than awful).

Saturday, 7PM: Channel Flip: #1 Florida at #4 LSU / Michigan at #12 Iowa
SEC: Let’s just say I’d be extremely surprised if Tebow does not play in this game. Though Brantley is good enough to get the ball to the Gators speedsters, the game plan looks pretty different without Tebow (and you can bet that's why it's a big secret). Florida is obviously the consensus #1, but they don't yet have a quality win, their best opponents being Tennessee and Kentucky. You can't be totally certain that they're not the new Ole Miss. Meanwhile, LSU beat a decent Washington team and pulled out consecutive thrillers against BCS buster Mississippi State and then Joe Cox and Georgia. Does Florida know how to handle a close game, particularly without its unquestioned leader (or at least without him at 100%)?
Prediction: It's hard without a handle on the Tebow situation, but you can't ever count a Les Miles team out. It's fight night at Tiger Stadium and I gotta take LSU here.
Big Ten: Call it the big conference matchup that got a little less marquee when Michigan lost to its in-state rival last weekend. Iowa's defense and run game are probably best in the conference, but if you think about it, the Hawkeyes have been a bit inconsistent. They had that scare against Northern Iowa, handily beat a terrible Arizona team, played a fantastic second half against Penn State, and then let Arkansas State crawl back into a game they were winning easily. So which Iowa team is going to show up? Meanwhile, I'll be interested to see how a very young Michigan team (and especially their very young, icewater in his veins quarterback) bounces back from a loss.
Prediction: Tate Forcier gives Michigan a chance if they can keep it close near the end of the game, but Michigan's poor tackling + Iowa's run blocking + the speed of Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer (best LB name since Michael Stonebreaker) causing problems for a scrambling Forcier = too much Hawkeyes for the Wolverines to handle.

College Football: Week 5 Wrap-Up

2009-10-04T00:21:00.011-05:00

Once again, I've called all games wrong (well, I guess I knew Dartmouth was going to lose, but that's like shooting fish in a barrel). To be fair, there were two overtime toss-ups, but still, let's take a look at why:

Pennsylvania def. Dartmouth 30-24
Well, it's the closest the Big Green have come to winning in a long time. Watching I-AA football is an odd experience. It looks sort of like the FBS, but everyone is a little smaller, a little slower, and probably is thinking about the philosophy paper he has to write on the bus on the way home. Dartmouth running back Nick Schwieger is my new hero, but other than that, the only really impressive thing Dartmouth did was injure Penn's second and third string quarterbacks (QB1 was inactive for the game).

Michigan State def. #22 Michigan 26-20 (OT)
I didn't actually get to watch this one -- Big Ten Network is still in the doghouse -- but it sounds like Michigan did its thing, coming back in the 4th quarter (boy, if you had told me two years ago that Michigan would be a team known for coming back in the 4th quarter...) and Michigan State almost but not quite did its thing, which is failing to close out a game it has basically already won. And I'm really, really glad I didn't see Michigan's failed fake punt on its own 16. That would have been the Yell at the TV Moment for sure.

Notre Dame def. Washington 37-30 (OT)
Washington had every chance in the world to win this game. Notre Dame outplayed them, but couldn't find the end zone when it counted, partly because of odd coaching decisions (if you're averaging 10+ yards per run on the drive, there's really no reason to run a double reverse halfback pass out of the Wildcat formation) and partly because, try as he might, Robby Parris is no substitute for Michael Floyd. But you can't run seven unsuccessful plays from inside the 2-yard line (should have had more Chris Polk, who ran over people all day, and less Locker in my opinion) and expect to win the game. This is a game Notre Dame won with its defense (well, and some fantastic after-catch running from Golden Tate) and I'll certainly admit I didn't expect that.

#11 Miami def. #8 Oklahoma 21-20
Well, I guess Bradford should have entered the draft. No Heisman, no national championship...I really hope he enjoys the whole Big Man On Campus thing a whole lot. All in all though, I thought it was an odd game. At first, it looked like Oklahoma was going to run away with it in no time. Backup QB Landry Jones does a pretty uncanny Bradford impression, doesn't he? but then somehow, they lost their momentum and couldn't really get it back. And Bradford impression or not, Stoops clearly doesn't trust Jones with the ball. Too many draw plays on 3rd down. Jacory Harris, on the other hand, started slow and finished downhill all the way. At first, it looked like he had never seen a defense that fast and his "touch" quickly turned into "so much air the defender was checking his watch at the interception site". But he made very impressive adjustments and was greatly helped by Miami's truly spectacular kick coverage. Great win for Miami, over a most likely better team.

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' Moment: Proud moment for the Dartmouth punting unit - after the first 3-and-out, the snap goes at least five feet over the punter's head. He runs back to his own 10 or so, clumsily picks up the ball on the run and inexplicably attempts to punt it into the crowd of five or so Penn Quakers. It is, of course, blocked back into his face and the Penn players take it into the end zone. 7-0 Penn. On the plus side, I'm pretty sure the center snapped the ball further than the quarterback can throw it.

In other news: At one point during the Washington-Notre Dame game, the announcers mentioned that Clausen and Locker had bonded over their mutual love of chocolate labs and I almost vomited.....I loved how Washington didn't kneel on the ball with one minute left in the first half. Sarkisian clearly trusts his quarterback and he's been mostly rewarded.....What in the world happened on Jimmy Clausen's backwards pass to nowhere that was handily returned for a Washington touchdown? The face of every single Notre Dame player and fan was a match after that one.....Was it just me or was there a Miami defensive player hurt on pretty much every play? Wonder if they'll be thin this weekend....Incredible atmosphere provided by the Hurricanes fans with the kind of noise you don't usually see outside the SEC. Miami is a momentum team and their fans helped them out here

College Football: Week 5 Preview

2009-10-01T20:26:00.003-05:00

Saturday, 11AM: Pennsylvania at Dartmouth
Yes, really. Thanks to the Big Ten Network's grievous error (choosing to show Northwestern at Purdue), I will not be able to watch Michigan/Michigan State. ABC has decided to cover Iowa/Arkansas State and Penn State/Illinois. Grrreat. Does free me up to watch the old alma mater though, which, much like the old Detroit Lions, has not won since 2007. I won't bother with a prediction (too sad), but I'll be sure to give you a full report.
Still, I will cover the real game for you - #22 Michigan at Michigan State
First real test for the Wolverines, who have a score to settle after losing to the Spartans for the first time in…forever.
Prediction: Michigan by a touchdown. Yes, I’m drinking the Kool-Aid.

Saturday, 2:30: Washington at Notre Dame
Big, big game for both teams. I’ve been looking forward to this one since I saw the Huskies’ opener. It's a chance for Notre Dame to prove itself against a team that's beaten USC and UDub needs to bounce back from a thumping at the hands of Stanford. Irish are already laying the groundwork for a loss with Toegate and the loss of Michael Floyd. Hopefully Sarkisian, Locker and crew can get it done.
Prediction: Washington is the better coached team and should win, but they'll have to score a little more than they have been to beat Notre Dame. I think Washington will come up with this game, but it won't be decided until the end.

Saturday, 7PM: #8 Oklahoma at #17 Miami
I've been looking forward to this one as well, because it just doesn't seem like the same match-up you see all the time. Oklahoma's got the edge in talent and probably size, but Jacory Harris and the Canes will be ready for a bounce back game at home after a poor showing in Blacksburg. Landry Jones has been terrific in replacing Sam Bradford, but this will be his first real test.
Prediction: Oklahoma's D will make the difference (after all, *they're* not missing Bradford and Gresham) and the Sooners won't have too much trouble.
Bonus Points: I’ll also be watching the crawler pretty intently to see what Ohio State does to Indiana in way-too-early anticipation of the Michigan-Ohio State game!

College Football: Week 4 Wrap-Up

2009-09-25T11:17:00.007-05:00

South Carolina def. #4 Mississippi 16-10
I'm pretty sure that crash you just heard was Jevan Snead's draft stock hitting the ground and shattering into a million pieces. He was inaccurate all night, but my favorite part was near the end of the first quarter when he threw into sextuple coverage. You don't see that too often. The story of the game here was the inability of both teams to protect their quarterbacks and Houston Nutt's erroneous assumption that Snead was his playmaker instead of Dexter McCluster. Once he corrected that error, Ole Miss did just fine and essentially just ran out of time (aided by a horrific reverse call with two minutes left in the game). I thought South Carolina's inability to put the ball in the end zone despite dominating the game was going to hurt them, but I guess sometimes you can let sleeping dogs lie. I have to wonder how much Mississippi's killer previous schedule of two cream puffs and a bye week hurt them.

#23 Michigan def. Indiana 36-33
After the first week of the season, I was discussing the Big Ten scores with my family and no one could remember hearing an Indiana score. We were wondering if they still had a football team. It turns out that a) they do and b) it's not bad! They were big and strong and Ben Chappell is a more than capable quarterback. Michigan was lucky to get out of this one with a win after some major mistakes, helped immensely by the Hoosiers' inability to put the ball in the end zone (5 red zone trips, 1 touchdown generally = loss). What worried me the most was Indiana's ability to continue to gain yards after the first hit. Could Michigan's defense be too small or was it just poor tackling? I was actually a little relieved when Forcier threw that moronic interception. I was starting to wonder if the guy was human. But he bounced back to do his 4th quarter 'thang' and all was temporarily well in Wolverine-land. Speaking of Wolverine-land, is there any resident thereof who doesn't feel 700 times more confident when Forcier is in the game instead of Robinson? Robinson's fumble before the half was a perfect illustration of why great athletes don't necessarily make great quarterbacks. You have to trust him with the ball.

#11 Virginia Tech def. #9 Miami 31-7
Ouch, tough one for the 'Canes. Thanks to ABC deciding to only cover this game in low-def, I helpfully recorded an hour and a half of hi-def ESPN news and only got to watch the second half of this one. From what I saw though, Miami did not stop the run on D and the pouring rain probably hampered their pass game quite a bit. Two nearly consecutive pass drops by first year TE Jimmy Graham didn't help in this game, but I have to admit that I and the rest of the college football world may have been a little hasty in jumping on the Hurricanes bandwagon. They didn't look up to the challenge.

Iowa def. #5 Penn State 21-10
Great win for the Hawkeyes! Just like last week, Stanzi was shaky, but he made plays when he had to and the running game and the defense did the rest. As my mom says, Iowa seems to have some sort of voodoo control of Darryl Clark. He's terrific against everyone but them. He produced a stunner on the first play of the game (a gorgeous 79-yard touchdown pass to Chaz Powell) but might as well have sat on the bench for the rest of it. He didn't even bother to change his 'bye-bye national championship' face from last year's version. Iowa's defense kept 'em in it until they seized the momentum with a really timely blocked punt. Then, they were able to run at will until Penn State was out of time. And you thought smash mouth football was dead! Make no mistake though, this wasn't an upset. The Hawkeyes are for real. Stanzi's gotta pick it up a little, but if he does, they'll run the table and be a threat to play for the national championship after the SEC beats each other up.

#17 Houston def. Texas Tech 29-28
Pretty much the first call I've nailed all year (calling college games is a humbling experience). A back and forth game with better defense than I would have guessed and Houston came out on top. This game was tough to analyze, since Texas Tech generally looked unstoppable on offense, even establishing a legit rushing game for the first time all season, but then somehow you'd blink and they were punting. The best I can figure is that in a pass happy offense, you live and die with down and distance. An incomplete pass and one of their patented short yardage over the middle quick slants leaves a 3rd and 6 - one more incompletion away from a punt. Still, a very even game, Houston just had a few more breaks (a little bit of home cooking on the first touchdown - he never had that ball!), home field advantage, and one spectacular goal line stand against a much larger offensive line. Great night for Case Keenum and the Cougars, but they've got a lot of work to do in October.

This Week's 'Yell at the TV' moment brought to you by Michigan Wolverine Greg Matthews: IF YOU HAVE TO DIVE FOR THE PUNT, LET IT GO! I thought he'd left this behind last year, but apparently not.

In other news: Guess we won't have to wait for UNC's harder ACC schedule in October after they were exposed at Georgia Tech this weekend.....Did anyone else see the ref fall over backwards in the end zone in the Ole Miss game? Can't believe the announcers missed it.....At one point, the Mississippi O-line failed to protect Snead against a two man rush.....If you're super-dressed up for the game, you look super stupid when your team lays an egg. I'm talking to you, Happy Valley.....Whoever was directing the coverage of the Texas Tech-Houston game somehow failed to notice that the Cougars like to snap quickly following first downs. I can forgive a replay cutting into a play once or twice, but seven times is pretty ridiculous.....Speaking of laying an egg, what in the world happened to Cal??.....Brent Musberger wins the call of the week on an attempted Penn State field goal: "looks long enough...[five second pause]...no. [cuts to commercial]"

College Football: Week 4 Preview

2009-09-22T22:39:00.005-05:00

**subject to change based on ABC's coverage!**

Thursday, 6:30PM: #4 Mississippi at South Carolina

I'm not stupendously interested here and I imagine I'll just watch a quarter or two of this one, but I can't really turn down a game featuring a top five team, especially when it's the only game on at the time. So this is my chance to get a look at Jevan Snead and the Runnin' Rebels. Plus, Gamecocks (haha!) coach Steve Spurrier usually has a few tricks up his sleeve.

Prediction: Mississippi, I suppose.

Saturday, 11AM: Indiana at #23 Michigan Not the most interesting, I know. But Michigan scored 45 points last week, which I can’t ever remember a Michigan team doing, and I want to see if they can come out with their foot on the gas pedal again.
Prediction: Michigan!! Haven't said that in a while :)
*I have to watch Michigan, but those of you who don't should note two other games in the 11AM slot: potential BCS buster Southern Miss taking on Todd Reesing and the Kansas Jayhawks and Cornell at Yale (that one's for you, Dad!)

Saturday, 2:30PM: #9 Miami at #11 Virginia Tech Prediction: You know Jacory Harris is going to get it done through the air, so it all comes down to Miami’s defense. If they can contain Tyrod Taylor and make him throw, they’ll win.

Prediction: Miami by 10, definitely dependent on their ability to stop the run.

Saturday, 7PM: Iowa at #5 Penn State My first look at the likely 2009 Big Ten conference champ and Heisman candidate Darryl “the reason heralded recruit Pat Devlin now takes his snaps in Delaware” Clark. A last second field goal by Iowa cost Penn State a chance at the national championship last year, so you can bet the Nittany Lions will be ready for this one.
Prediction: If it were in Iowa City, I might be tempted to call the upset take two, but Ricky Stanzi coming off of a shaky game plus the whiteout at Happy Valley = Penn State pretty easily.

Saturday, 8:15PM: Texas Tech at #17 Houston Houston got its top 25 ranking by knocking off #3 Oklahoma State, but there’s a lot of grumbling that Mike Gundy’s team was simply overrated. Dark horse Heisman candidate Case Keenum (I really thought Colt McCoy was the best possible name for a Texas QB, but this one stands up pretty well) and the Cougars can silence the doubters by taking this one at home. It’s always entertaining to watch Mike Leach’s pass happy offense as well, and it looked last week like QB Taylor Potts was just as happy in the system as Graham Harrell. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to see 100 points scored.

Prediction: This would be a lot easier if I had seen the Houston-Oklahoma State game. I would think that the line on the game is pretty even, so I'll take the home team.

College Football: Week 3 Wrap-Up

2009-09-21T21:29:00.008-05:00

#24 North Carolina def. East Carolina 31-17
I know North Carolina is supposed to be good. And I'll admit that they play aggressive defense and occasionally get a pretty pass from QB T.J. Yates, but I gotta say, there was a pretty clear lack of talent on both sides in this game. Tar Heel receiver Eric Highsmith is an able replacement for current NY Giants starter Hakeem Nicks, but other than that, the cupboard looks a little bare. On the ECU side of the ball, Patrick Pinkney was pretty good when he had time to throw, but it was pretty much a moot point, as he rarely did. Relatively easy win for the Tar Heels and their defense looks good enough to stop Georgia Tech next week, but we should know more about 'em when they play Florida State and Virginia Tech in late October.

Notre Dame def. Michigan State 33-30
I always prefer it when Notre Dame loses, but I have to admit that this was a pretty entertaining game. The Irish came within one play of a loss. MSU QB Kirk Cousins had calmly led a beautiful and potentially game winning drive down to the red zone and was in a position to try for the winning touchdown with the tying field goal as a booby prize when he inexplicably threw a jump ball across his body that was of course intercepted by ND safety Kyle McCarthy (who, the announcers informed us no fewer than four times, has a finance degree). Still, the "again?" look on Charlie Weis' face while MSU was driving was enjoyable and one monumentally bad decision aside, I can only hope MSU has come to its senses re: its QB controversy and picked Cousins over his Terrelle Pryor-like (read, good athlete, not a reliable pocket passer) backup, Keith Nichol.

Iowa def. Arizona 27-17
Well, now I do know the name of precisely one player on the Arizona roster: supremely ineffective quarterback Matt Scott. Give the Iowa defense credit - they really made his day tough. In fact, the Hawkeyes dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, which was important because they got a pretty shaky performance from QB Ricky Stanzi (probably because he misses the Fonz). I know there are a lot of Big Ten haters out there, but I think the Big Ten may have passed the Pac Ten this weekend. Nice win for the Hawkeyes. I hope Stanzi's getting his head together for the showdown with Penn State next Saturday night.

Florida State def. #7 BYU 54-28
And Game 1 FSU it was! Christian Ponder was back in fine form and way too much for the Runnin' Mormons to handle. Though frankly, if you're BYU and you're defending 3rd and 2 to 5, don't you know the QB draw is coming?!? Apparently, they didn't, because it beat them about 100 times. I admit I was kind of rooting for BYU, but it's still nice to see the pretenders (hello, Utah and USC) knocked out of the way. Now, if someone could just beat Boise State.

#2 Texas def. Texas Tech 34-24
Bonus game for 'ya - this was on in a bar I was in, so I did end up watching after all. And actually, it wasn't near as much of a blowout as I (or anyone else outside of Lubbock) thought it would be. The Red Raiders pretty sorely missed Michael Crabtree, but Taylor Potts was fairly effective. (Graham? Taylor? If the next one is named Wyatt, I'm boycotting.) For all of his (somewhat manufactured?) oddity, Mike Leach must be one heck of a coach and/or recruiter. Meanwhile, Texas looked a little slow at first -- apparently Colt McCoy had the flu like the rest of college football -- but picked it up towards the end. That McCoy-Shipley combo is tough to stop. It's clear they've spent a lot of time practicing together.

This week's 'Yell at the TV' moment directed squarely at Kirk Cousins: "take the sack, take the SACK, TAKE THE SACK...game over."

In other news: I would get all excited about having called the Washington upset, but everyone called it. That was ripe for the picking.....In the 'too little, too late' category, nice game Terrelle Pryor and OSU. Way to really take it to a cupcake.....I thought Clausen's injury was strange. If I knew I was going to get hit, the absolute last thing I would do is go down on one knee and sit on my foot. That said, it did conveniently allow him to go into the locker room early so that the interception on the Hail Mary pass could go on Dayne Crist's stats and not his.....This is the second straight week where I've seen Michael Floyd drop his second pass of the game while the announcers talk about what great hands he has.....At one point, the announcers praised Notre Dame for "eating the clock" while they were losing.....One of my favorite smash-mouth players, South Florida QB Matt Grothe, is out for the season with a torn ACL. Bummer for him and for the Bulls......Hilarious moment in the Washington-USC game, which I was lucky enough to see the end of: after Locker led the drive into field goal range with the score tied, the Huskies called one more running play to run down the clock and perhaps pick up a few more yards for kicker Erik Folk. RB Chris Polk powered through the line for a four yard gain and the USC linebacker that tackled him got up and strutted around to celebrate his big hit. Talk about taking your eye off of the ball. You can see it for yourself at 5:15 of this video.

College Football: Week 3 Preview

2009-09-18T18:45:00.005-05:00

Saturday, 11AM: East Carolina at #24 North Carolina
East Carolina has become a reasonably legit non-big conference opponent (see Johnson, Chris) and Pirates QB Patrick Pinkney has his moments, but I really just want a look at the Tar Heels. I didn’t really believe the hype last year, but they were pretty impressive in their bowl win over West Virginia (albeit in big part because of current New York Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks), so it’s worth it to check them out. Plus, it’s hard to stomach the thought of Cal beating up on the Golden Gophers, which is my other choice.
Prediction: Haven’t seen either team, but the Tar Heels are supposed to have a good defense, which is generally what you need to make sure to beat a weaker opponent.

Saturday, 2:30PM: Channel Flip - Michigan State at Notre Dame / Arizona at Iowa
Once again, Charlie Weis’ butt is on the hot seat. If he doesn’t win this one, I think there just might be an angry mob waiting underneath Touchdown Jesus. That said, Notre Dame is considerably better than the Spartan team I watched lose to the Central Michigan Raccoons (or something) and should be able to pull out a victory unless they’re planning to utterly collapse (which, for the record, would be fine by me). Meanwhile, Iowa's gotta step up for the Big Ten. One Penn State-beating field goal does not a program make and the Hawkeyes need this one to stay relevant after squeaking by Northern Iowa in the opener.
Prediction: Notre Dame by two touchdowns. No idea on the other one, since I couldn't tell you a single player on Arizona's roster. I'll sure be pulling for Iowa though.

Saturday, 6PM: Florida State at #7 BYU
I know FSU was terrible last week, but I really thought QB Christian Ponder did a nice job against Miami (previously dubbed the swiss cheese zone game) and it’ll be interesting to see how he bounces back. It will also be nice to see BYU go up against a non-Mountain West opponent. Florida State, unlike Oklahoma, is known for its defense and I can’t wait to see Max Hall handle the pressure.
Prediction: This is hard. If we get 1st game Florida State, they could give the Mormons a run for their money. BYU by 10.

Not interested/REALLY hope I don’t miss an upset and look like a moron:
Florida/Tennessee: Really? Lane Kiffin should be selling insurance and would be if not for his daddy. This is really just another chance for Urban Meyer to pointlessly stick it to a hapless opponent. Not riveting TV.
Texas/Texas Tech: I suppose I might get sucked in by this one, but it is my personal opinion that 2008 Texas Tech – (professional holdout) Michael Crabtree - (professional Canadian) Graham Harrell = zero. Revenge isn’t a particularly good storyline when you’re playing a different (and less talented) team.

**If anyone is able to watch USC/Washington or Nebraska/Virginia Tech and give a report, that would be mighty useful.

A Word on Cutler

2009-09-17T21:54:00.000-05:00

Settle down, Bears fans!

A lot of talk this week about whether Jay Cutler is all he’s cracked up to be. Things to remember:

Cutler’s a gunslinger quarterback. We knew that going in. Four interceptions probably reminds you of Bad Rex, and a quarterback who does that consistently obviously won’t last too long, but the buzz on Cutler has always been high reward for high risk. Despite having a bad game overall, you have to admit that Cutler made a handful of plays that Sid Luckman would have been proud of. You were excited to get him because he offers more than just game management – don’t chicken out now.

Two of Cutler’s interceptions were thrown to a spot with no Bear in the vicinity. That’s not a decision-making issue, that’s a mix-up between quarterback and receiver. And that’s something that can be improved.

The fourth and final interception was the slant to Johnny Knox. A slant is a timing pattern. You work on it enough in practice so that you can throw before the receiver makes his cut. Then, it’s up to the receiver to get the inside position on his defender. If you watched the final Bears snap carefully, you would have seen Johnny Knox not only fail to get the inside position, but actually get pushed over by Al Harris, leaving Harris a clear shot at the ball. Really, really not Cutler’s fault, which Cris Collinsworth pointed out, but apparently the local media failed to hear.

And finally, with a debut that bad, the Bears offense has nowhere to go but up!

College Football: Week 2 Wrap-Up

2009-09-12T23:18:00.006-05:00

Central Michigan def. Michigan State 29-27 / Wisconsin def. Fresno State 34-31 (2OT)
Unbelievably, I called the wrong upset, though both games were thrillers. Due to prior commitments and DVR space constraints, I only had a chance to watch Central Michigan and Michigan State. Dan LeFevour was excellent, as usual and has pretty much cemented his spot on the draft watch lists. Despite its failed two point conversion, Central Michigan deserves kudos for playing to win instead of tie and karma agrees – they were rewarded shortly thereafter. I know the Big Ten loves the cream puffs, but they might want to get some even creamier puffs. It’s easier to be the underdog and Central Michigan showed us why. In any event, looks like another tough year for the Big Ten. Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, and possibly Iowa will really have to carry the load.

Michigan def. #18 Notre Dame 38-34
Promoted from Game of the Week to Game of the Season! Lots of fun, particularly since Notre Dame had every chance to win the game and was once again defeated by head-scratcher coaching moves. Clausen tore it up through the air and had Michigan CB Boubakar Cissoko crying for his mommy before the end of the first half. In fact, if you take out the Wolverines’ kick return, my prediction of the passing game carrying the Irish to a 10-point victory was spot-on for the opening 30 minutes. But a missed field goal and an incredibly ill-advised QB draw (Mr. Weis, you have running backs for exactly this purpose) deep in Michigan territory kept 10 points off the board for the Irish. Then, Notre Dame came out oddly conservative in the second half, almost like they were trying to shorten the game, and those two missing scores loomed large as Michigan took the lead. In the much maligned second-to-last possession for ND, the only time they should have been shortening the game, they inexplicably returned to the passing game, leaving Michigan with over two minutes and two time outs to win the game. Michigan’s spread offense isn’t really built for the two minute drill, but Charlie Weis didn’t force its hand. In short, Notre Dame lost because it put too much pressure on its defense in the second half when it should have been leaning on Clausen the way Michigan leaned on Tate Forcier. My brother, a U of M alumnus, said that he will now be naming his first child Tate, boy or girl. I can’t say I would argue.

#3 USC def. #8 Ohio State 18-15
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Terrelle Pryor is a once in a lifetime athlete, but he should be doing the decathlon in the Olympics, not playing quarterback. He can pass on occasion, but he’s unreliable and Tressel clearly doesn’t trust him to take care of the ball. Thus, he limits the playbook for the Buckeyes and makes them easy to defend. All the Trojans had to do on defense was pinch in at the ends to keep Pryor in the pocket, which they did very well. Ohio State was able to put up only 15 points against a relatively lackluster USC defense and even the new-look ‘safe play’ Trojans offense can put up more than that. USC did manage to pull out a win, which was impressive considering how flat they were, but I was baffled by the commentary on the game that likened Barkley to Forcier. Barkley managed in the end to safely deliver the ball to the best player on the team (Joe McKnight, in the 'late game wake up of the week' performance), Forcier WAS the best player on the team. As a traditional pocket passer, Barkley has more NFL upside than his counterpart in the maize and blue, but if I had to play tomorrow for all the marbles, I’d take Forcier.

This week’s 'Yell at the TV' moment: GET A QUARTERBACK, TRESSEL! Or if Pryor can’t be taught to pass, at least teach him to run the option effectively. If you are facing your pitch target when you pitch, you are simply leading the defense his way and you risk a fumble or at least a big loss. It's not rocket science: If you can’t turn up field, keep the ball.

In other news: All three losers this weekend failed to put the game away when they had the chance. Michigan State, Notre Dame, and even Ohio State clearly had the edge on the team they were playing, but left it within 7-10 points when they should have been up 20…..All three winners put the ball in the hands of their best player (LeFevour, Forcier, McKnight) and allowed him to win the game for them. Notre Dame did the opposite, relying on its unproven defense. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!…..ESPN’s fun facts were extremely amusing this weekend - the highlight was a graphic proclaiming that a Wolverine was the ‘high school teammate of Duke QB Thad Lewis’…..I always love to see Mike Gundy lose. When Oklahoma State gets a big boy coach, maybe they'll have a big boy season.....Were Ohio State fans making a horseshoe with the white shirts in the red student section or are they simply incompetent at making an ‘O’?

College Football: Week 2 Preview

2009-09-09T20:25:00.009-05:00

Saturday, 11AM: Channel Flip: Central Michigan at Michigan State/ Fresno State at Wisconsin
I’m busy Saturday morning and neither game is really worth a DVR spot so we’ll see how much I catch, but I’m looking to do some Big Ten scouting. The Spartans are supposedly revived, Bret Bielema’s job is definitely on the line at Wisconsin (deservedly so, since the Badgers have really underperformed recently), and both teams face decent opponents. In fact, Wisconsin very nearly lost to a pretty mediocre Fresno State team last year. If you’ve never seen Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour, you’d do well to get yourself a look. He’s the small school Tim Tebow and he gets better every year. If he’s improved his passing a bit, he’ll have an outside shot at the NFL next year.
Prediction: Hard to say, since I didn’t watch any of these teams last week. Michigan State won’t have much trouble, but Wisconsin could. I’ll call the upset – Fresno State over Wisconsin.

Saturday, 2:30PM: #18 Notre Dame at Michigan
Game of the week for me. It’s rare to get a ‘Come to Jesus’ (pun intended!) game this early in the season for either Notre Dame or a Big Ten team and there’s a real Lazarus feel for both, which have suffered mightily in the last year or two. Both teams looked sharp last week, but how will they handle an opponent (roughly) their own size?
ND Offense/Mich Defense: The Irish have a decent 1-2 punch in receivers Golden Tate and Michael Floyd and I expect Michigan to have some trouble with them. As usual, pass rush is the key. I’m still not sold on Clausen, but I do know that he’ll manage to get the ball to those receivers if Michigan doesn’t put some pressure on him. If Clausen wants to be an NFL prospect, he’s going to have to look like one here.
Mich Offense/ND Defense: The Irish did a good job bottling up Colin Kaepernick last week, but they didn’t have to worry too much about his passing. If Tate Forcier can establish the pass early, he’ll kill ‘em with the run in the second half. Denard Robinson provides a nice burst to the offense, but looked a little ‘sandlot’ for my taste last week. Notre Dame freshman linebacker Manti Te’o had a great debut last week and Michigan’s O-line and tight ends will have to handle him to establish both the running game and the pocket.
Prediction: It absolutely kills me to say this, but Notre Dame by 10. (Go Blue!)

Saturday, 7PM: #3 USC at #8 Ohio State
I would be surprised if this one was close, but it will be interesting to see a) if Matt Barkley is at all nervous in the Horseshoe and b) if Ohio State at least looks like they belong on the same field, which they didn't last year. Ohio State's only hope is that Barkley looks like a freshman. He wasn't asked to do much besides screens at San Jose State, so he's still relatively unproven, Pete Carroll's drooling notwithstanding. On the other side of the ball, I see a game much like the Terrelle Pryor parts of the OSU-Penn State game last year. Essentially, Penn State put nine in the box and Pryor ran on every play anyway, usually for 2-3 yards and a monster hit. That's one way to know what your coach thinks of you!
Prediction: USC pretty easily. OSU desperately needs a QB.

College Football: Week 1 Wrap-Up

2009-09-04T21:24:00.006-05:00

Boise State def. Oregon 19-8
Oof. One of the worst games I've ever seen. Oregon did basically nothing right all night (except for LeGarrette Blount's impressive and oh-so-inappropriate right hook) and Boise State should have won about 41-8. But a couple of embarrassing missed field goals and what seemed like about nine ridiculous turnovers basically kept them from scoring any points. The broadcast team picked Kellen Moore as their player of the game, but should have picked RB Jeremy Avery, whose spectacular cutbacks on sweeps allowed the Broncos to keep Oregon's (admittedly woeful) offense off the field. The best parts of the game were the cuts to Mike Bellotti, who consistently looked like he had swallowed a bug.

Minnesota def. Syracuse 23-20
Entertaining game, if not fantastically played. After giving a balanced offense the old college try, Minnesota finally woke up in the 3rd quarter and just directed every play at Decker, which was much more effective. But of course the real story was the resurgence of Syracuse football. Paulus was good too, even a little better than I expected. Marrone didn't ask too much of him, but he delivered as a game manager and especially as a leader (you can't really do much worse than a bad snap and turnover on your first play from scrimmage, so I thought he did a good job rallying the troops). And his 'I wish I were in the NBA' face after that boneheaded interception in OT was pretty priceless. Overall though, fans were in the seats, there was some semblance of an offense, the defense was hitting hard, Donovan McNabb made an appearance - the Orangemen are back!

Michigan def. Western Michigan 31-7 / #23 Notre Dame def. Nevada 35-3
These are grouped together because the only reason they're interesting is that the winners play each other next week. The Wolverines came out firing and seem to have found a quarterback in Tate Forcier. Still, numerous errors, particularly on special teams leave me a little on edge. Meanwhile, I'm upgrading Jimmy Clausen from 'pale imitation of his brothers' to 'good imitation of his brothers'. Nevada was hapless, but Clausen and Notre Dame looked really comfy. As much as it kills me to say this, I'm worried about Michigan's ability to keep up with the Irish receiving corps.

#5 Alabama def. #7 Virginia Tech 34-24
Sort of dull game, considering how close it was. No obvious Tyrod Taylor mistake, but I still maintain that he's not much of a quarterback. One of my major problems with the spread offense (and there are many) is that it causes people to mistake anyone athletic for a quarterback. On the other side, Greg McElroy had a successful debut and the Alabama defense looked ready for the SEC grind. Nice win for the Tide.

#11 LSU def. Washington 31-23
Not unlike the Minnesota-Syracuse game, though better played. LSU got good performances from its key players--notably QB Jordan Jefferson and the defensive line--and ran away with the game at the end, but the Huskies looked like a different program from last year. Jake Locker threw 45 times with only one real mistake (though a pick-six is a big mistake) and the pass happy offense allowed him to use his running skills late in the game when it really counted and when the Tigers were tired. Heads up, Dawgs, you're back in the mix.

This week's 'Yell at the TV' moment: THROW IT AWAY, GREG!!!

In other news: Needed: innovations in chin strap technology after an incredible number of lost helmets.....You gotta like Max Hall, but BYU just pulled off perhaps the most unimportant upset of all time. If Oklahoma runs the table, they'll still play for the title.....Lots of typos on ESPN this weekend. My favorites were 'Oregon suspsneds LeGarrette Blount' and 'What does Locker and Dennis Dixon have in common?'.....Caught a half of the Cincinnati-Rutgers game. Get yourself a look at Bearcats QB Tony Pike.....Wasn't originally planning on watching Miami-Florida State, but glad I did. Abominable special teams and swiss cheese zone defenses notwithstanding, it was the best game of the weekend.....Jacory Harris just called his shoulder injury a "bad funny bone incident".....I realize hindsight is 20-20, but why in the world did Navy pass for their potential tying two point conversion? This is like Shaq deciding to fool the defense with a three pointer.

College Football: Week 1 Preview

2009-09-02T21:41:00.003-05:00

Thursday, 9:15 #16 Oregon at #14 Boise State
Why I'm watching: The pride of the WAC (that's wack) defends its blue turf against the always uniquely dressed Ducks. The Ducks have a new non-Mike Bellotti coach, but do return Jeremiah Masoli at quarterback. Masoli was knocked out of this matchup last year with a concussion suffered on a late hit. Kellen Moore and his nearly 3,500 2008 passing yards return at quarterback for the Broncos - should be a shootout.
Prediction: Oregon by a touchdown

Saturday, 11AM Minnesota at Syracuse
Why I'm watching: Greg Paulus, of course. We'll see what a four year layoff does to a hotshot high school quarterback. Could be a recipe for hilarity. You also have to like Minnesota's Adam Weber to Eric Decker combination. The Gophers went from 1-11 in 2007 to 7-6 in 2008 and 2009 promises to be their best in a while.
Prediction: Um, Minnesota. And I think Paulus will look pretty overwhelmed overall (you can call a quarterback the point guard of a team, but point guardin' aint quarterbackin'), but should have a few impressive flashes.

Saturday, 2:30PM Channel Flip: Nevada at #23 Notre Dame/Western Michigan at Michigan
Why I'm watching: No real excuse, neither one will be beautiful. I'm a lifelong Michigan fan, which makes me a lifelong Notre Dame hater. And I've gotta know if Michigan is better, if Tate Forcier lives up to the billing, if Jimmy Clausen is still a pale imitation of his brothers, and if we're about to see the crappiest team ever in a BCS bowl thanks to Notre Dame's weak schedule.
Prediction: Notre Dame easily after a shaky beginning/Michigan wins in a closer-than-it-should-be game

Saturday, 7PM #5 Alabama at #7 Virginia Tech
Why I'm watching: Well, it's the marquee game. Greg McElroy is the latest southern boy to step in for the Crimson Tide and though John Parker Wilson's shoes aren't too huge, the team had a nice year - a lot of eyes are on 'em. Meanwhile, Tyrod Taylor has never really sparked my imagination. I think he's a Juice Williams/Terrelle Pryor type of QB - spectacular running threat, can't hit the side of a barn with a pass, not really a quarterback. The Hokies special teams are always worth watching, though.
Prediction: Alabama in a close one, most likely helped by a costly Tyrod Taylor mistake.

Saturday, 10PM #11 LSU at Washington
Why I'm watching: I have to admit I've been on the Jake Locker bandwagon from the beginning and I'm really hoping that this is the year he makes me look smart. Locker returns from a wasted season last year (broken thumb) to new coach Steve Sarkisian, who excels at using his horses wisely (though he had much better horses at USC). Here's hoping Locker has added passing touch to his already accomplished running. LSU's returning from a down year as well and will undoubtedly have some tricks up its collective sleeve.
Prediction: LSU. I'm not really watching this one for the drama.

Long Live The Gunslinger

2007-10-31T21:39:00.001-05:00

I’ve never really had a favorite between college and professional football. They’re different experiences, both exciting in their own right. College is rawer, more emotional, loyalty is everything, where the NFL is beautifully choreographed, certainly thrilling and up-tempo, but more controlled.

This year was the first where college football threatened to take the lead, at least in my imagination. All of those upsets, the shootouts and quarterback of the week contests (Ryan’s Heisman? Tebow’s? Woodson’s? Dixon’s?) had almost edged out the chilling dominance of the Patriots, the unlikely resurgence of the Lions, or the hilarious collection of quarterbacks in Chicago, Carolina, and Buffalo.

But then came the Monday Night Football game of October 29, 2007 and the force that is Brett Favre. Despite the Pack’s 5-1 start (marred only by a rather amusing Jekyll and Hyde upset at the hands of the Bears) the doubters crowed on. He’s too old, too reckless, can’t carry the team by himself, give the ball to Aaron Rodgers already, they said. The Packers played right into it. Favre’s own center introduced him as ‘Vinny Testaverde’s Dad’ while giving the lineups (in my humble opinion, the lineup emcees are a rather poor broadcasting ploy, but this was the most amusing occurrence to come out of them since Street Sense the thoroughbred did the duty for Louisville).

But the man, the myth, the legend was alive and well on a crisp night in Denver and it certainly looks as if Green Bay will laugh all the way to playoffs. The Pack’s normally anemic running game came up with over 100 yards, taking Favre’s pass attempts down to a very reasonable 27 (his previous low was 37 attempts). He made the most of those, completing 21 for 331 yards and taking both Champ Bailey and Dre Bly to the house on passes of 79 and 82 yards, respectively.

He looked calm and confident throughout and perhaps the most telling play was when he went the wrong way on a handoff, found himself alone with the defensive line hot on his trail, and alertly went down instead of trying to make something out of nothing. Not only has he apparently not lost a step, his decision making is better than ever.

Favre’s performance even managed to derail the Jay Cutler drool-fest that Ron Jaworski had obviously been up all night preparing. Incidentally, Cutler looked good in a paler imitation of Favre, but Jaworski’s man-crush was obviously going to be reminiscent of the creepy Gary Danielson-Tim Tebow dynamic and we all did well to ignore it. In fact, the Packer quarterback was so mesmerizing that he upstaged his own wife as well as Vince Vaughn, neither of whom received the heaping dose of Kornheiser worship that they must have been expecting.

Then came the overtime. As Brett Favre trotted out to take the ball at the 18, anyone worth their salt in football analysis knew he was going to go for it all. That’s the beauty of the gunslinger. The downside of course, was that you also knew the chances of Dre Bly catching it instead of Greg Jennings were juuust under half.

But this was Brett Favre’s night. Long live the gunslinger.

A Man's Game

2007-10-12T22:49:00.000-05:00

I didn’t plan for this column to be all about women in sports, and I doubt it will be, but this week featured a real gem from the TBS postseason baseball coverage that was just too good to pass up. Late in the final game of the Indians-Yankees series, TBS checked in with its sideline reporter, Craig Sager (you can recognize him because all of his clothing is striped), for an exclusive from the Indians club.

Sager proceeded to tell us all how Cleveland manager Eric Wedge had a meeting back in Cleveland with the wives and girlfriends of the Indians players to emphasize their responsibility in the upcoming playoff series. What might that responsibility have been, you ask?

Well it turns out that they, yes they, could have a huge impact on the series. He obliged them to take care of the flights and arrangements of family and friends, extra ticket requests, anything outside of baseball. And once they traveled to New York? They were to check out Times Square, take in a show, go shopping, whatever, just stay out of the way and leave the boys to the job at hand.

Wow. A guidebook on how to be a good little wife from a baseball coach.

Probably least pertinent, but still shocking, was the inclusion of the girlfriends in this little pow-wow. Can you imagine having a relative stranger tell you how to live your life or even worse, tell you that you were holding your boyfriend back? “Sorry, honey, we’re going to have to break up, you can talk to your coach for an explanation.”

In addition to subscribing to a theory of gender relations straight out of the 19^th century, Wedge has somehow cast the wives and girlfriends as a legitimate threat to the Indian’s quest for a World Series title. Despite the fact that not one of these women has booted a ground ball or failed to put down a sacrifice bunt, their mere presence is a potential downfall for his boys.

Amazingly, this is not a lone instance. Just last month, Dynamo Kiev, a soccer team in Ukraine recently was ordered to a training camp away from their women because, according to coach Josef Sabo, “women in football are a scourge. They do not understand that men need to work, that they have a hard job to do.” Why do these men blame women for their shortcomings?

Wedge needs a little perspective. Baseball is a job, not a war. And it is a job for those who play it only, not for their families, friends, or lovers. The players are responsible for their own performance, from preparation to post-game interview. Moreover, those who play it are adults and deserve to be treated as such.

Mr. Wedge, trust your players and take your wins and your losses as a man – the women in all of your lives don’t deserve the blame for your failures any more than they deserve the credit for your successes.

A Long Way To Go

2007-10-04T21:29:00.001-05:00

Just about every time there was an occasion for commercial during the world cup, the following quote rang out from a piece of Nike’s ATHLETE line of ads, a campaign meant to advance women’s sports:

“Female athletes have to overcome the bias that their game isn’t as good as the men’s game.”

On and off the field, this World Cup took a giant leap in that direction. We saw a bona fide superstar in Brazil’s Marta, a feel-good underdog in Australia, controversy galore in the United States net, and the eventual victory of the best soccer team in the world. Unfortunately, the leap wasn’t quite giant enough.

The United States, for their part, provided a happy ending for their fans in the third place game thanks to the remarkable leadership of Kristine Lilly. After coach Greg Ryan further complicated team dynamics by hiding behind “team leaders” in his suspension of keeper Hope Solo, the venerable American captain served as the heart of a team desperate for one. Her teammates, for their part, followed her lead. Leslie Osborne in particular challenged every loose ball and spent almost as much time on the ground as on her feet. Lori Chalupny always plays all out and she didn’t disappoint on Sunday. Aly Wagner created a goal by blocking a Norway clear with her face. Heather O’Reilly and Lindsay Tarpley notched the final U.S. goal through the kind of sheer tenacity the American team had been missing of late. And though it perhaps stirred up the controversy once again, Briana Scurry looked more confident and considerably more in control of her defense than she had in the semifinal loss.

The Americans also enjoyed one of the most touching moments in the tournament when Kristine Lilly left the game in the 89^th minute to a rousing ovation from the crowd, who had been cheering for Norway all night. When asked about it later, Lilly smiled and said “This is a moment and this will rack up with one of my top moments in my career because of what we accomplished.” Hats off to her.

All that only made it worse when the halftime show held up the women’s sports bias with a puff piece on the death of Hope Solo’s father earlier this summer. Following widespread criticism of Solo’s comments after the semifinal, the introduction of the halftime piece suggested that “maybe [our] stance would be softened.”

For the sake of American soccer, we all hope the team will eventually forgive her, that she will serve her suspension, pay her debts, and return to her place as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. But the piece was a misguided attempt to evoke sympathy because we all feel uncomfortable with what Solo did. Not because it’s never been done before, not because it’s absolutely unforgivable, but because of who she is and what she represents to us. Vince Carter dogs it in Toronto, Terrell Owens attacks Donovan McNabb and we see it for what it is – inexcusable. But Hope Solo? Pretty girls don’t attack teammates, right? Pretty girls don’t betray their sisters to the media, right? There must be some excuse, some reason.

For the record, I am certainly sorry that Solo lost her father this summer after what sounds like a very difficult relationship with him throughout her childhood. I’m sorry he never saw her play for the national team, and it’s especially poignant that he died of a heart attack only eight days before he was to see her play in New York. She seems like a nice person and she has done wonderfully to keep her focus through what was, I’m sure, a very difficult summer.

We know that she’s sorry, that the real target of comments was Greg Ryan, not her teammate and fellow U.S. keeper, and we hope the team can heal, but to question her character, her determination, her ability to persevere through adversity is insulting. It’s insulting to Hope Solo as a player and a person, and it’s insulting to women’s sports.

As Wambach said, “our team showed today that we have serious character. We’re women of heart.” Indeed they were. But unfortunately, that’s not what stuck out. Women’s sports still have a long way to go.