College Football Week 7 Awards (2021) October 17, 2021
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Air Force, Alabama, Appalachian State, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Army, BYU, Cal, Cincinnati, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Colorado, Cyclones, Dabo Swinney, Dino Babers, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Greg Schiano, Herm Edwards, Iowa, Iowa State, Josh Heupel, Kansas, Kirby Smart, Kirk Ferentz, Lane Kiffin, LSU, Matt Campbell, Mike Gundy, Mississippi State, Nick Saban, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pat Narduzzi, Pitt, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rice, Rutgers, San Diego State, Southern Miss, Steve Sarkesian, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, UMass, Utah, UTSA, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington, Washington State, Wisconsin
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COACHES
Wish I were him: Kirby Smart, Georgia
Glad I’m not him: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Lucky guy: Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Poor guy: Dino Babers, Syracuse
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Herm Edwards, Arizona State
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Pat Narduzzi, Pitt
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Desperately seeking … anything: Greg Schiano, Rutgers
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Alabama (defeated Mississippi State 49-9)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Oregon (defeated Cal 24-17)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Rice (lost to UTSA 45-0)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Purdue (defeated No. 2 Iowa 24-7)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Colorado (Arizona 34-0)
Dang, they’re good: Georgia
Dang, they’re bad: Rutgers
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Iowa
Did the season start? Arizona State
Can the season end? Southern Miss
Can the season never end? Cincinnati
GAMES
Play this again: No. 13 Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26
Play this again, too: No. 12 Oklahoma State 32, No. 25 Texas 24
Never play this again: Virginia 48, Duke 0
What? LSU 49, No. 20 Florida 42
Huh? Utah 35, No. 18 Arizona State 21
Are you kidding me?? Aurburn 38, No. 17 Arkansas 23
Oh – my – God: Purdue 24, No. 2 Iowa 7
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 8)
Ticket to die for: LSU @ No. 13 Ole Miss
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: BYU @ Washington State; also, No. 16 Wake Forest @ Army
Best non-Power Five matchup: No. 15 Coastal Carolina vs. Appalachian State; also, No. 22 San Diego State @ Air Force
Upset alert: UCLA @ No. 10 Oregon
Must win: Wisconsin @ Purdue
Offensive explosion: (inconclusive)
Defensive struggle: Syracuse @ Virginia Tech
Great game no one is talking about: Clemson @ Pittsburgh
Intriguing coaching matchup: Nick Saban of Alabama vs Josh Heupel of Tennessee
Who’s bringing the body bags? Kansas @ No. 4 Oklahoma
Why are they playing? UMass @ Florida State
Plenty of good seats remaining: Washington @ Arizona
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Arkansas-Pine Bluff @ Arkansas
Week 7 Thoughts:
Oklahoma State vs Texas
For the second week in row, Texas has blown a 4th-quarter lead to a ranked opponent. Here’s a fairly disturbing stat to back up this observation. In the 4th quarters of games against Oklahoma and then Oklahoma State, the Longhorns have been outscored 41-7. Head coach Steve Sarkesian clearly has his work cut out for him on that side of the ball. On the other side, it wouldn’t hurt to work on his offense’s performance, either, as scoring only 7 points in those two quarters combined is clearly unacceptable.
Purdue vs Iowa
File this under “Boy, did we get that one wrong/Boy, we didn’t see that one coming”. In what could have potentially been a “body bag” game for Iowa, given Purdue lackluster performance against Minnesota two weeks earlier, the Boilermakers actually showed up to play, and both thrilled their faithful fans and stunned the college football world in the process.
There are many layers one can slice-and-dice this game and the surrounding conditions that came with it. Start with the premise of Iowa’s No. 2 ranking prior to said game. Yes, they were undefeated, but that alone came about under questionable circumstances. In the prior game against Penn State, the Hawkeyes were being outclassed by the Nittany Lions for more than half the game, before the latter’s quarterback was out of the game’s remainder due to injury.
Even had that injury to Penn State’s QB not occurred, and somehow Iowa would have righted the ship anyhow, I nevertheless must propose a thought experiment. If an undefeated Iowa team (that of this season) were to go head-to-head against a one-loss Alabama team (likewise the current team of this season), which squad do think would emerge victorious? Answering ‘Alabama’ would be a no-brainer. Would it not thus be logical that the Crimson Tide be ranked ahead of the Hawkeyes, not withstanding the teams’ respective records, going into this week?
All that aside, the sad fact of the matter is that the Hawkeyes failed to live up to the prestigious ranking that had attained. To close out the broadcast coverage, one of the commentators for ABC observed that “Purdue out-Iowa’d Iowa”. Say what you will about head coach Jeff Brohm, but he put the extra week that he had with last week’s bye to very good use in preparing to take on this strong foe.
Going forward, it shall be very interesting to see how each of the two teams react to this big upset. This time, the Hawkeyes have the bye, with their next game after that being a surprisingly winnable one against Wisconsin. Indeed, the remainder of their schedule is all winnable. Can they bounce back to seize such a opportunity, and to make a great season out of things regardless? Last I checked, 11-1 for a program like Iowa is a great achievement.
For Purdue, can they stop celebrating long enough to re-focus and properly prepare for what lies ahead? Many treacherous teams await the Boilers, starting with Wisconsin next week.
Kentucky vs Georgia
Kentucky is a great team, but face it: Georgia is that much greater. This was plainly discernable going into the game, and the outcome therefore surprised no reasonable party. That said, the Wildcats acquitted themselves well by covering the spread in the last minutes of the game.
Ole Miss vs Tennessee
For the first time in a long time, it felt as though Tennessee was returning to its glory days of the 1990s and early 2000s. Neyland Stadium was positively electric last night when Ole Miss came calling. They put up a valiant effort against a loaded Rebels team headed by their own former head coach, Lane Kiffin. Despite being outmanned, in the end, they were only several yards shy of the opportunity to tie the game at the end of regulation. It’s never a disgrace to lose to a better team, and, moreover, if the players continue to buy in to Josh Heupel’s vision, and the latter can bring in another good recruiting class or two, the Volunteers could continue to be on the upswing and legitimately bring back their glory days.
All that said, shame on the Tennessee fans who threw everything from water bottles to golf balls onto the field near the end of the game. That is very classless; it reflects poorly on the fan base, and on many southern fans at large; the perpetrators of such a classless act need to see the error of their ways, and if some degree of ostracization to help guide them to the light is what is necessary to do so, then so be it. Tennessee fans, do better and be better, so as to be worthy of such aforementioned glory days, should they return.
Looking ahead: Oklahoma State @ Iowa State
Can the Cowboys now handle their own prosperity? They are currently undefeated, ranked No. 8, and now head up to Ames, Iowa, where lately many ranked teams have gone to die. The Cyclones are never to be taken lightly under head coach Matt Campbell. Can he prepare his already-strong team to take down an undefeated foe? Can Oklahoma State’s head coach Mike Gundy prepare his squad to be ready to face proven giant-killers? We’ll find out shortly.
Clemson @ Pittsburgh
Queue the theme music from “The Twilight Zone”. In this upcoming matchup, the Pitt Panthers are ranked (No. 23), whereas the Clemson Tigers are not. It should thus be a very interesting matchup at Heinz Field.
Tennessee @ Alabama
No time for the Volunteers to lick their wounds after a close, emotional loss to Ole Miss. Now they must travel to Tuscaloosa to take on their traditionally most-hated rival. Such is life in the SEC.
LSU @ Ole Miss
Speaking of hated rvials, there is never any love lost between these two. While recently this rivalry has been a bit one-sided in LSU’s favor, the Rebels are now the favored team, and could make this season full of questions for LSU and their head coach Ed Orgeron (who was previously the head coach at Ole Miss) all the more painful. Then again, the Tigers pulled off a mild upset win over Florida, which leads many discerning fans to believe that this game could be a reasonably even, tough matchup on paper after all.
Final thought: can we bring back the “Twlight Zone” theme music for a second? Because Cincinnati is now the No. 2-ranked team in the country. Ponder that for what it is worth.
College Football Awards, Week 12 (2019) November 18, 2019
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, B1G, Baylor, BYU, Cal, California, Clemson, Cyclones, Duke, Florida, Floyd of Rosedale, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Golden Gophers, Hawaii, Hawkeyes, Herm Edwards, Idaho State, Iowa, Iowa State, Jason Candle, Kansas State, Kirby Smart, liberty, Lincoln Riley, Longhorns, Louisville, LSU, Mario Cristobal, Matt Rhule, Middle Tennessee State, Minnesota, Missouri, Navy, Nick Saban, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Old Dominion, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rocky Long, Rutgers, San Diego State, SDSU, SEC, SMU, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State, Toledo, Tom Herman, UMass, USC, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Walt Bell, West Virginia
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COACHES
Wish I were him: Kirby Smart, Georgia
Glad I’m not him: Nick Saban, Alabama
Lucky guy: Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma
Poor guy: Matt Rhule, Baylor
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Jason Candle, Toledo
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Rocky Long, San Diego State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Tom Herman, Texas
Desperately seeking … anything: Walt Bell, UMass
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: BYU (defeated Idaho State 42-10)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Florida (defeated Missouri 23-6)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Rutgers (lost to No. 2 Ohio State 56-21)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Syracuse (defeated Duke 49-6)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: USC (defeated Cal 41-17)
Dang, they’re good: Clemson
Dang, they’re bad: Texas State
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Minnesota
Did the season start? Texas
Can the season end? Georgia Tech
Can the season never end? Ohio State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 10 Oklahoma 34, No. 13 Baylor 31
Never play this again: No. 3 Clemson 52, Wake Forest 3
What? Oregon State 35, Arizona State 34
Huh? West Virginia 24, No. 24 Kansas State 20
Are you kidding me?? No. 20 Iowa 23, No. 8 Minnesota 19
Oh – my – God: Iowa State 23, No. 19 Texas 21
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 12, pre-week 13)
Ticket to die for: No. 9 Penn State @ No. 2 Ohio State
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Liberty @ Virginia
Best non-Power Five matchup: SMU @ Navy (hon. mention: SDSU @ Hawaii)
Upset alert: Syracuse @ Louisville
Must win: Texas @ No. 13 Baylor
Offensive explosion: (inconclusive)
Defensive struggle: Tennessee @ Missouri
Great game no one is talking about: Pittsburgh @ Virginia Tech
Intriguing coaching matchup: Mario Cristobal of Oregon vs Herm Edwards of Arizona State
Who’s bringing the body bags? Samford @ No. 16 Auburn
Why are they playing? Western Carolina @ No. 5 Alabama
Plenty of good seats remaining: Old Dominion @ Middle Tennessee
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? BYU @ UMass
Week 12 Thoughts:
Iowa vs Minnesota
This had to have been one of the biggest face-offs for the Floyd of Rosedale trophy in recent memory. Funny things happen in rivalry games such as this, and a few small errors ended up making the difference in the Hawkeyes’ favor. The Golden Gophers have an easy outing against Northwestern. Such should be a tune-up game for the following week, when Wisconsin comes calling and the berth for representing the Western Division in the B1G title game hangs in the balance.
Iowa State vs Texas
Despite the Longhorns’ offense inexplicably sputtering most of the game, Texas could have won the game after Iowa State missed a field goal with two minutes left in the game. Instead, Texas got an offsides penalty at the worst possible time. It allowed for the Cyclones to get further downfield, kill the clock, and kick the game-winning field goal at the buzzer. No excuses, Tom Herman. Do better.
Looking ahead:
Shoutouts to Texas A&M, Georgia, Missouri, and Tennessee: they are the only SEC teams who had the guts to play real games this upcoming week. While the rest of their fellow SEC members are wasting everybody’s time with pointless body bag games (e.g., Western Carolina @ Bama; Abilene Christian @ Mississippi State), The Aggies, the Georgia Bulldogs, the Mizzou Tigers, and the Volunteers will give us real games this week. Technically, the same should go for LSU and Arkansas. While on paper it’s a glorified body bag game, at least those two teams are keeping it in-conference. To the rest of you in the SEC: get it together. Step up and play real games.
2012-2013 Bowl Games of Moderate Interest (at best) December 14, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Air Force, Aloha, Armed Forces, Aztecs, B1G, Ball State, Bayou Bengals, BCS, Bearcats, Beef 'O' Brady's, Belk, Big 10, Big Easy, Big Ten, Big XII, Blue Devils, Bobcats, Bowl, Bowling Green, Bulldogs, BYU, C-USA, Cadillac Chrysler, Cardinals, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Colin Cowherd, college, conference, Cougars, Cyclones, David Cutcliffe, Duke, ESPN, Ethics, football, Fresno State, game, Georgia Tech, Golden Knights, Hawaii, Hokies, Idaho Potato, Independence, Iowa State, K-car, Liberty Bowl, Little Caesars, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, LSU, MAC, Meinecke Car Care, Michigan State, Military Bowl, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Mountain West, Mustangs, NCAA, Notre Dame, Ohio U, Pac-12, Poinsettia, Red Raiders, Rice, Russell Athletics, Rutgers, San Diego State, San Jose State, Scarlet Knights, SEC, SMU, Snow, Sun Belt, Sun Bowl, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, The Herd, Tigers, Toledo, Tommy Tuberville, triple option, Trojans, Tulsa, UCF, USC, Utah State, Virginia Tech, WAC, Western Kentucky, Yellow Jackets
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Bowl season is almost upon us once again. Yes, friends, things kickoff early as usual, just as they have since roughly 2001. But instead of the New Orleans Bowl doing the honors in getting things started this year, we have the New Mexico Bowl and the Idaho Potatoes Bowl (don’t laugh!) doing said honors this year. The Big Easy Bowl does not commence until Dec. 22, oddly enough.
In any event, I have ranked the bowl games by category, with the major criterion being level of desirability to view, partly on my end, partly on the end of the average viewer who is NOT a certifiable college football addict like yours truly!
The first installment is of bowl games about which I am only moderately interested, at best (all times Eastern Standard):
Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise, Id.), Sat., Dec. 15, 4:30 PM EST
Toledo (9-3) vs. No. 22 Utah State (10-2)
The de facto WAC champ takes on a respectable MAC team that finished 3rd in the western division. The only interesting aspect about this game is that it will be an interesting test to see how strong the MAC truly is against the best of what is seen by most as a traditionally weak conference.
Poinsettia Bowl (San Diego) Sat., Dec. 15, 8:00 PM EST
BYU (7-5) vs. San Diego State (9-3)
The Cougars take on the de facto leader of the Mountain West, in what amounts to a glorified home game for the Aztecs. Despite the numbers not matching, their records have interesting similarities in that both teams lost to at least one Pac-12 team, and both teams also lost to San Jose State (!).
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.) Fri., Dec. 21, 7:30 PM EST
Ball State (9-3) vs. UCF (9-4)
Both the Cardinals and the Golden Knights have nearly identical records, with UCF’s extra loss coming to Tulsa in the C-USA championship game. The only interesting aspect to this game is how a MAC also-ran stacks up against the C-USA runner-up. Everybody was bullish on the MAC this year for the apparent strength the conference hath shewn; now it is time to put up or shut up.
Hawaii Bowl (Honolulu, Hi.) Dec. 24, 8:00 PM EST
Fresno State (9-3) vs. SMU (6-6)
This game used to have a little more of a mystique to it when it was called the Aloha Bowl, and was played on Christmas. Just sayin’! That said, it least this game is another glorified home game for Hawaii team, like it is half the time. A Mountain West also-ran vs. a C-USA team barely eligible does seem to be a slight mismatch in the Bulldogs favor. On the other hand, this will be an interesting homecoming for June Jones, albeit on the Mustangs side this time.
Little Caesars Bowl (Detroit), Wed., Dec. 26, 7:30 PM
Western Kentucky (7-5) vs. Central Michigan (6-6)
It used to be they would pit a middle-of-the-road Big Ten team against the MAC champ. Even then, the game was only moderately interesting, and only to the fan bases of the teams that got the bid to the Motor City. Now, with a Sun Belt Conference also-ran against a plodding MAC team, it is even less interesting. But credit the guys at EDSBS for reminding us that, given the game is in Detroit, the players, as a bonus, the players might get deeds to abandoned key real estate in their gift bags!
Military Bowl (Washington, D.C.), Thurs., Dec. 27, 3:00 PM
No. 24 San Jose State (10-2) vs. Bowling Green (8-4)
WAC near-champ vs. MAC also-ran: we know what ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd would say; “not interested!” Yes, the Trojans (the SJSU kind, not the USC kind) did take the WAC by storm this year, but it’s still the WAC.
Belk Bowl (Charlotte, N.C.), Thurs., Dec. 27, 6:30 PM
Cincinnati (9-3) vs. Duke (6-6)
A decent Big East team takes on a barely-eligible ACC team. That alone does not make most folks interested. So what in addition to that dismal matchup engages anybody? Answer: the intrigue. Who exactly will be coaching the Bearcats, anyhow? And how will David Cutcliffe prepare the Blue Devils for a bowl game that might actually be winnable for them?
Independence Bowl (Shreveport, La.), Fri., Dec. 28, 2:00 PM
Ohio U (8-4) vs. Louisiana-Monroe (8-4)
Something negative, something positive to be said. The negative is obvious if one knows anything at all about bowl history. The Independence Bowl used to be one of the best matchups in the bowl lineup, pitting a Big XII team against an SEC team in a fairly even match. Even before then, the 1995 Michigan State – LSU matchup was memorable, and the 1997 match between the Tigers and Notre Dame was even more so (both ended in the Bayou Bengals’ favor). Remember the “Blizzard Bowl” between Mississippi State and Texas A&M in late 2000? ‘Twas yet another great example of this great bowl game. It is not anymore, though. Now it pits MAC vs. Sun Belt. The Cadillac has been reduced to a Chrysler K-car. Positive: lookee there, the Bobcats made it to a bowl game after all!
Russell Athletics Bowl (Orlando, Fla.), Fri., Dec. 28, 5:30 PM
Virginia Tech (6-6) vs. Rutgers (9-3)
The Hokies have under-performed all the year, and the Scarlet Knights might be a bit demoralized after losing at home to Louisville and losing out on the BCS in so doing. So which team is going to show up? Scratch that: is either team going to show up?
Meinecke Car Care Bowl (Houston), Fri., Dec. 28, 9:00 PM
Minnesota (6-6) vs. Texas Tech (7-5)
Okay, at least it involves a Big Ten vs. Big XII matchup. The only problem is, one team squeaked by into this game while in a conference that is down this year, and the other is facing leadership turmoil in the wake of Tommy Tuberville’s abrupt departure. On paper, the Red Raiders are the clear favorite, but don’t underestimate the power of demoralization.
Armed Forces Bowl (Ft. Worth, Texas), Sat., Dec. 29, 11:45 AM
Rice (6-6) vs Air Force (6-6)
Both teams squeaked into a bowl game. Which one is happier to be there? The happier team is a bit more focused on preparation, which will make the difference come game time. Seriously; it should be called the “Ethics Bowl,” and the fact that I imply derision in that observation is a very sad commentary on our society. On the other hand, Air Force’s triple option ‘grittitude’ is always a pleasure to see for those of us who like real football.
Liberty Bowl (Memphis, Tenn.), Mon., Dec. 31, 3:30 PM
Iowa State (6-6) vs. Tulsa (10-3)
The Cyclones have had some flashes of brilliance this year. The question becomes, will this be enough to overcome the C-USA champs?
Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas), Mon., Dec. 31, 2:00 PM
USC (7-5) vs Georgia Tech (6-7)
My bowl pick for “they shoot horses, don’t they?” Why? Because it is pointless. The Trojans come in to El Paso only 7-5 because they have yet to muster up the discipline needed to take things to the next level, while the Yellow Jackets already have a losing season. Still, the offensive contrast should be interesting to watch, if nothing else.
Next installment: Bowl Games of More Interest
intellectualgridiron 