Rambling Like a School Girl part 2
Yesterday was the NFL, today is my favorite sport, college football, and don't worry Ben, it won't be nearly as long. On to the ramblings...
- I can't believe the USC/ Oregon game was not broadcast here on ABC. This absolutely baffles me. The network broadcast the game only on the west coast. They had a double-header of games here and instead of showing (what turned out to be a rout, but was a great game for the first quarter) a game which many thought USC could lose, they showed Catch me if you can. I have nothing against this movie and in fact enjoy watching it thoroughly, but how can you not have a triple header broadcast when the number one team in the country is playing a game at another ranked opponent and conference foe? I am angry with ABC for doing this to me. I just hope that on October 8, there isn't a local game being broadcast, so I can actually watch the Red River Shootout, I'll tell you that much right now. Yup, I just checked the college football television schedule, I'll have to watch the Minnesota/Michigan game instead of Oklahoma/Texas. Great. If anyone has college gameplan, can I come over?
- The Wisconsin/ Michigan game this past weekend was just awesome. Everything about it was great, except for the play of John Stocco for 59 minutes of the game. I did get a little nervous there in the closing seconds when the Badgers were just going about their business, not showing the sense of urgency to get in the end zone which I thought they would be. They were calm and cool down the stretch during the winning drive. You could see how focused the team was during this time, they knew they were going to score, weren't panicing, and most importantly, weren't trying to do anything they knew they couldn't do. I think I was showing more nervousness and confusion trying to get some hotdogs made in the final minutes than the Badgers were as they drove for the winning score. That all goes back on the coaches. Obviously they did a great job preparing the kids for this game and keeping them focused and positive the entire time. The Badgers defeated a quality team and the quarterback didn't even get choked, it was outstanding.
- If there was one aspect of the game which I thought could have been better, it would have been the play of John Stocco. I know I write a lot that all quarterbacks need to do is whatever is necessary to win the game, but until the quarterback draw, Stocco did not look like he could (or even should) even quarterback a high school team. He was 15-32 for 147 yards, no touchdowns and 1 interception. Not good numbers. The team as a whole looked good and did enough to win, but to go through the rest of the conference season, Stocco has to play better.
- The Big Ten had 4 teams in the top 16 in both pre season polls:
(16, 15) Purdue (10,11) Iowa (9,6) Ohio State and (4,4) Michigan. They still have 4 teams in the top 25 of both polls, but only two of the original four remain, (20,22) Purdue and (8,8) Ohio State. The others are: (19,18) Minnesota and (17,17) Wisconsin. Here's the question, was the league overrated (as it seems to often be), or were certain teams just overrated and certain teams underrated?
- A great article here on how well Brian Calhoun has been playing and how big a part of Wisconsin's success has been because of Calhoun and how much they lean on him for production.
- LSU is definitely not going to contend for the national title this season. The first half of their 30-27 OT loss to Tennessee looked like the Tigers were on their way to a rout and making their game against Florida even bigger. 2+ quarters later and they lose their home opener and proved to me they are not ready to win the title in the first year under coach Les Miles. The team is playing for the first time at home this season, the kids are pumped to be back home, the students are pumped to have something to cheer for again, everyone in the area is pumped to have some semblance of normality to their lives, Tennessee is coming in off of a loss, and people are talking LSU/USC for the title. The team jumps out to a 21-0 lead at the half, carries a 24-7 lead into the fourth quarter, watches Tennessee and LSU transfer Rick Clausen come back to tie the game and force overtime, then lets the Volunteers run right through and over them for the winning touchdown after the Tigers settled for a field goal in overtime. National Championship teams don't allow any of the following things to happen; allowing a team to come back from 17 points down in the fourth quarter on their home field, have to settle for a field goal on their first overtime possession, and then let the opponent run the ball for the winning score. LSU looked like it used all of its energy in the first half and had nothing left in the second half, that's it. They looked flat and drained in the second half and overtime, and it was only their 2nd game of the season. Imagine what this team is going to look like in week 12. Granted, Tennessee started the season ranked 3 in the country and was ranked 10th coming into the game, but LSU didn't look like a champion to me.
- Here is a quick sampling of some of the great games you won't want to miss this weekend:
Michigan @ Michigan State- 11:00am ABC. Can the Wolverines get back on track against their in-state rivals after being knocked out of the polls by Wisconsin?
Texas @ Missouri- 11:00am ABC. The Longhorns defense will be tested by a good quarterback (Brad Smith) and are in a hostile environment. The run for Pasadena picks up speed here.
Virgina Tech @ West Virginia- 11:00am ESPN. The Mountaineers are always tough at home and will be a challenge for Marcus Vick and the Hokies.
Minnesota @ Penn State- 2:30 ABC. Both teams are looking to surprise people in the Big Ten. A win here for either team will go a long way to help them this season.
Florida @ Alabama- 2:30 CBS. Ooh baby. The favorite team of my brother and my cousin against my favorite team. Plus, these teams could meet each other again in the SEC Championship game, so a tune-up is always nice. This will be a great test for Urban Meyer and Chris Leak after the home victory against Tennessee.
Notre Dame @ Purdue- 6:45 ESPN. Always a great game, and what else are you going to do before 10:00pm on Saturday night anyway?
-Until next time...
posted by nate at 8:50 PM
7 Comments:
You have to remember, this is a New Mexico team with a good mix of veteran leadership and youth hunger. This is a team which went 7-5 last year after losing a tough bowl game to Army. Kole McKarney is playing pretty well right now at quarterback, they have a solid go to receiver in Hank Bashett, and Dontrell Moore is bruising defenses to the tune of 4.7 yards per carry. This is a tough New Mexico team, one which could win their conference this season, so don't act like Missouri was playing Appalachian State like LSU does in a few weeks.
When you read hostile environment, do you automatically read, "road team will lose"? Hostile environment simply means that it is a tough place to play, which every college football stadium in the land is. I have no doubts that Texas will win this game, which is why I stated the run for the Rose Bowl is going to pick up serious steam after this game. But, the defense of the Longhorns will be tested by an athletic quarterback like Brad Smith. Look at what happened in the Ohio State game. When Justin Zwick, who is okay as a quarterback, was in the game, Texas' defense was dominating. When Troy Smith came into the game, Ohio State took a lead which looked like wouldn't be topped because he was able to scramble around and run through some holes in the defense. This is what Texas has to guard against.
Missouri is always tough at home, one home loss to New Mexico doesn't disprove that. Plus, it is a conference game and Missouri could win the Big 12 North, so this is a huge game for them. It will be a hostile environment for Texas to come into and play and will be a test for their defense, but it is one they will pass.
9:07 AM
Since 2002 (the Brad Smith era) and including 2 games at home this season, Missouri has gone 14-7 in Columbia, including a perfect 7-0 in 2003. They haven't had a losing record at home since Smith took over at quarterback. The Tigers have averaged 34 points at home since then and have been allowing only 21, outscoring opponents by 13 points per game. In their 14 wins, they have outscored oppontents 41 to 15, and have been outscored 34 to 21 in losses, which they have failed ot score more than 13 points in only 1 time, when they were defeated 38-0 by #6 Kansas State in 2002. Take out that game and it is 33 to 24. If you look at their home losses, 4 of the 7 have been to teams ranked in the top 21 at the time. Of those 4, only the Kansas State game was decided by more than 7 points. They are only 1-4 in games against ranked opponents at home since 2002, but always seem to play well in those games anyway. Like I said, Texas is probably going to win, but Faurot Field is a tough place to play.
11:39 AM
Good quarterback and Brad Smith, did I read that correctly? We're still talking about the same Brad Smith who would catch some hype for the Heisman the last few years, and end up flopping? Troy Smith is eight times better than Brad Smith. Mizzouri sucks, they haven't been competitve for three years now. This game will be of little or no interest. The Red River Shootout will be the same way. Texas finally picks up the win. Oklahoma is just bad. Here's the question we should ask. Is Adrian Peterson really the greatest college running back we've seen in the last 20 years, or is he just a good back who benefited from playing for a team with a good college quarterbacks and recievers, and a defense that kept their lead in every game?
11:55 AM
Hey Nate I was able to catch the SC/Oregon game and the Wisconsin/Michigan game on t.v. I think College Game Plan would be a good investment for you from the sound of things.
12:36 PM
I love this, Garcia will come in and blow people out of the water with his accurate comments. Yes, we are talking about the same Brad Smith. Even so, I still think this will be a good game. Although I thought Oregon/ USC would be a good game as well, and look how that turned out. This could end up being exactly the same as that one. As far as Texas/OU goes, if Mack Brown doesn't win that game this year, do you think he'll resign, get fired, or simply kill himself? There is no way OU should beat Texas this year, and it is looking more and more like Adrian Peterson was the beneficiary of a team loaded with offensive talent last season and nothing more.
El Grande, if I had the money, gameplan wouldn't even be an option, it would be installed already. Damn you, your good weather, and your ability to watch college football from 9 in the morning until 9 at night and then go out.
1:13 PM
Has anyone ever used the "next blog" tab on the top of the screen. Yikes!!! Be careful!
2:22 PM
I guess it would take an accounting major to know that going back to 2002 includes the past 3+ seasons, not 2, but I digress.
If anyone is wondering why I didn't include this weekends USC/ASU game in the games to watch segment, there are two reasons. Number 1 is that it is not on in the Wisconsin market. Number 2 is that I really didn't even know the Sun Devils were this good (or at least as good as the number 15 ranking). I apologize for this, but believe me, next time they are on tv and I can actually watch them, I will.
8:24 AM
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