College Football Week 10 Awards November 9, 2015
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Arizona State, Art Briles, Baylor, Bob Stoops, Butch Jones, BYU, Charlotte, Clemson, Colorado, Dabo Swinney, Darrell Hazell, Duke, Eastern Michigan, Florida, Florida State, Gary Patterson, Houston, Justin Fuente, Ken Niumatalolo, Kentucky, Kevin Sumlin, LSU, Mark Dantonio, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Navy, Nebraska, North Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers, San Jose State, Stanford, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Tigers, UMass, UTSA, Vanderbilt, West Virginia
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(Note: All rankings are current CFP [week 10] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Glad I’m not him: Gary Patterson, TCU
Lucky guy: Butch Jones, Tennessee
Poor guy: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Ken Niumatalolo, Navy
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Justin Fuente, Memphis
Desperately seeking … anything: Darrell Hazell, Purdue
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Michigan (defeated Rutgers 49-16)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: BYU (defeated San Jose State 17-16)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Colorado (lost to No. 11 Stanford 42-10)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Vanderbilt (lost to No. 10 Florida 9-7)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Oklahoma State (see below)
Dang, they’re good: Alabama
Dang, they’re bad: Purdue
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Memphis
Did the season start? Texas A&M
Can the season end? Rutgers
Can the season never end? Clemson
GAMES
Play this again: No. 1 Clemson 23, No. 16 Florida State 13
Never play this again: Arkansas 63, UT-Martin 28
What? Auburn 20, No. 19 Texas A&M 10
Huh? Navy 45, No. 13 Memphis 20
Are you kidding me? No. 12 Oklahoma State 49, No. 8 TCU 29
Oh – my – God: Nebraska 39, No. 7 Michigan State 38
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current CFP (post-week 10, pre-week 11)
Ticket to die for: No. 10 Oklahoma @ No. 4 Baylor
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: BYU @ Missouri
Best non-Power Five matchup: No. 25 Memphis @ No. 16 Houston
Upset alert: Oregon @ No. 8 Stanford
Must win: Pittsburgh @ Duke
Offensive explosion: Memphis @ Houston
Defensive struggle: Kentucky @ Vanderbilt
Great game no one is talking about: Texas @ West Virginia
Intriguing coaching matchup: Art Briles of Baylor vs. Bob Stoops of Oklahoma
Who’s bringing the body bags? Kansas @ No. 13 TCU
Why are they playing? Western Carolina @ Texas A&M
Plenty of good seats remaining: UTSA @ Charlotte (also: UMass @ Eastern Michigan)
They shoot horses, don’t they? North Texas @ Tennessee
Week 11 Take-aways:
Two quick notes. One, it might time to put the expression “[I]t’s time to put “Clemsoning” to bed” to bed. “Clemsoning,” if you’ll recall, refers to the Tigers usually choking (horribly at that) in big games. They always coughed it up to the then-stud teams of the ACC, especially Florida State. A few years ago, they went to the Orange Bowl to play West Virginia, and lost…horribly! That was early January of 2012. By the time the Tigers – at No. 12 — returned to the Orange Bowl two years later, this time to play No. 7 Ohio State, the situation was considerably different. In what cannot be ignored as a statement game, Clemson beat the Buckeyes 40-35, and have not looked back since. Now they currently sit at the top of the College Football Playoff poll. Bully for them!
The other quick take-away is that it is now November. Teams are what they are at this point in the season. But more to the point, these next few weeks, including this past weekend, will be one of separation. Teams that were hitherto unbeaten – or at least ranked in the top ten – will now start to butt heads. Separation shall thus ensure (read: Alabama’s dominating win over LSU). Indeed, it hath already begun. What a glorious month of college football this shall become!
College Football Awards Week 6 October 13, 2015
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Uncategorized.Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Ball State, Baylor, Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops, Bulldogs, Butch Jones, Cotton Bowl, Crimson Tide, David Shaw, Florida, Gary Patterson, Georgia, Georgia State, Horned Frogs, Hurricanes, Iowa, Iowa State, Jim Harbaugh, Jim Mora, Kansas, Kansas State, Kyle Whittingham, Longhorns, Mark Richt, Matt Campbell, Memphis, Miami, Michigan, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Razorbacks, Red River rivalry, Red River Shootout, Red River Showdown, Sooners, South Carolina, Stanford, Steve Sarkesian, Steve Spurrier, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Toledo, Trojans, Troy, UCLA, USC, Utah, Vanderbilt, Vols, Wildcats, Wolverines
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Texas head coach Charlie Strong celebrates with his team after their incredible upset over rival Oklahoma. Judging by the photo, it seems as though he might have won back the locker room. Photo from the Dallas Morning News.
(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 6] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES Wish I were him: Kyle Whittingham, Utah
Glad I’m not him: Steve Sarkesian, USC
Lucky guy: Butch Jones, Tennessee
Poor guy: Mark Richt, Georgia
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Gary Patterson, TCU
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Matt Campbell of Toledo
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Desperately seeking … anything: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
TEAMS Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Baylor (defeated Kansas 66-7)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Oklahoma (see below)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Troy (lost to Mississippi State 45-17)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Texas (see below)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Michigan (see below)
Dang, they’re good: Baylor
Dang, they’re bad: Miami, Ohio
Can’t Stand Prosperity: USC
Did the season start? Miami, Fla.
Can the season end? South Carolina
Can the season never end? Utah
GAMES
Play this again: Texas 24, No. 10 Oklahoma 17
Play this again, too: Tennessee 38, No. 19 Georgia 31
Never play this again: No. 3 Baylor 66, Kansas 7
What? No. 18 Michigan 38, No. 13 Northwestern 0
Huh? Washington 17, No. 17 USC 12
Are you kidding me? Tennessee 38, No. 19 Georgia 31
Oh – my – God: Texas 24, No. 10 Oklahoma 17
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 6, pre-week 7)
Ticket to die for: No. 7 Michigan State @ No. 12 Michigan
Also: No. 10 Alabama @ No. 9 Texas A&M
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: No. 13 Ole Miss @ Memphis
Best non-Power Five matchup: Akron @ Bowling Green
Upset alert: Louisville @ No. 11 Florida State
Must win: USC @ No. 14 Notre Dame
Offensive explosion: West Virginia @ No. 2 Baylor
Defensive struggle: Vanderbilt @ South Carolina
Great game no one is talking about: No. 17 Iowa @ No. 20 Northwestern
Intriguing coaching matchup: Jim Mora of UCLA vs David Shaw of Stanford
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 3 TCU @ Iowa State
Why are they playing? Louisiana Tech @ Mississippi State
Plenty of good seats remaining: Georgia State @ Ball State
They shoot horses, don’t they? Troy @ Mississippi State
Week 5 Take-aways:
What a weekend of upsets and near-upsets. One obvious near-miss: Gary Patterson’s TCU almost got upset on the road to Bill Snyder’s Kansas State. You just know that the old man was not going to roll over for the vaunted Horned Frogs. In the end, the near-miss cost the Frogs one spot in the rankings, as they are down to No. 3 from the No. 2 spot.
Similarly, Alabama took a while to get going at home against Arkansas. Eventually the Tide decided to start playing football, but they were down to the under-performing Hogs for too long of a time in regulation to be taken seriously as a contending team.
Now the upsets: we all knew that Northwestern was a legitimate team. Most of us thought that the Wildcats playing the Michigan Wolverines would be the game of the week. That turned out, in the end, not to be the case. Jim Harbaugh seems to be building the Wolverrines to become stronger by the week.
Then there was the upset of the USC Trojans, at home, against Chris Petersen’s scrappy Washington Huskies. We were all hoping for a good game, but certainly did not foresee the the embarrassment at home for the Men of Troy – though the subsequent news of Steve Sarkesian’s major alcohol problem certainly explains USC’s volatile performance this season. Let us all wish a complete, sober recover for Sark as he embarks on a rehab program.
Or what about Tennessee? The poor Vols were unable to “close the deal,” blowing leads to both Oklahoma and to Florida, leading to heartbreaking losses in so doing. This time around, however, they had to play from behind, and upset the heavily-favored Georgia Bulldogs in so doing. So much for Georgia’s national championship hopes this year.
But let us not fool ourselves. The biggest upset of the week came in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. All of us, even the team’s fans, had given the Texas Longhorns up for dead, especially after the devastating loss to TCU the previous week. Coach Charlie Strong seemed to have lost the locker room, and he was strategically flailing in terms of not having an offensive or defensive identity.
Perhaps the rival Oklahoma Sooners were just naïve enough to take the bait. The Horns looked like an entirely different team this past Saturday than they did for the entire season leading up to this fateful day. Texas drew first blood late in the first quarter, and, mirabile dictu, did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game. Moreover, Strong somehow regained his identity, effectively playing a run-oriented, ball-control offense that left OU’s defense sucking wind by late in the 4th quarter. It was just enough to hold on and to upset their heavily-favored rival. It also likely saved Coach Strong’s bacon for the rest of the year. Hook ‘em!
College Football Awards Week 11 November 11, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports, Uncategorized.Tags: Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, BC, Bill Snyder, Boston College, Brian Kelly, Buffalo, Butch Jones, Cards, Cincinnati, Clemson, college, Crimson Tide, Doc Holliday, Duke, East Carolina, Florida, football, Gary Patterson, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Gus Malzahn, Horned Frogs, Houston, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Irish, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Kevin Sumlin, Kirk Ferentz, KSU, Louisville, LSU, Mark Dantonio, Mark Stoops, Marshall, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri, Navy, NCAA, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Pat Fitzgerald, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Presbyterian, SEC, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Sun Devils, TCU, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Tigers, Todd Graham, Tony Levine, Troy, Urban Meyer, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Wildcats
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 11] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Todd Graham, Arizona State
Glad I’m not him: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State (hon. mention: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame)
Lucky guy: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Poor guy: Gus Malzahn, Auburn
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Tony Levine, Houston
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Doc Holliday, Marshall
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Desperately seeking … anything: Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 11 Ole Miss (defeated Presbyterian 48-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Penn State (defeated Indiana 13-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kentucky (lost to No. 20 Georgia 63-31)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Wake Forest (lost to No. 21 Clemson 34-20)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Marshall (defeated Southern Miss 63-17)
Dang, they’re good: TCU
Dang, they’re bad: Iowa State
You know, they’re not so bad: Louisville
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Michigan State
Did the season start? West Virginia
Can the season end? Buffalo
Can the season never end? Ohio State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 3 Auburn 35, No. 3 Ole Miss 31
Play this again, too: No. 24 Duke 51, Pittsburgh 48
Never play this again: Marshall 63, Southern Miss 17
What? Texas 33, No. 23 West Virginia 16
Huh? No. 9 Arizona State 55, No. 10 Notre Dame 31
Are you kidding me? No. 14 Ohio State 49, No. 8 Michigan State 37
Oh – my – God: Texas A&M 41, No. 3 Auburn 38
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 11, pre-week 12)
Ticket to die for: No. 1 Mississippi State @ No. 5 Alabama
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Temple @ Penn State
Best non-Power Five matchup: East Carolina @ Cincinnati
Upset alert: No. 16 LSU @ Arkansas
Must win: South Carolina @ Florida
Offensive explosion: Missouri @ Texas A&M
Defensive struggle: Virginia Tech @ No. 22 Duke
Great game no one is talking about: No. 14 Ohio State @ Minnesota
Intriguing coaching matchup: Mark Stoops of Kentucky vs. Butch Jones of Tennessee
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 6 TCU @ Kansas
Why are they playing? Georgia Southern @ Navy
Plenty of good seats remaining: Troy @ Idaho
They shoot horses, don’t they? No. 12 Michigan State @ Maryland
Week 11 Random Thoughts:
- So many good games took place from 19:00 or later on the 8th of November. Start with Louisville at Boston College, which should not have been interesting on paper, but was, unfortunately, due to the Cardinals’ inability to get it together for the first half (they did in the second). Then again, the Cards have always had their troubles with BC! But then came TCU vs. Kansas State. Bill Snyder has put together an excellent team for this year, and the Wildcats being well-coached shows on the field (especially against Auburn early on in the season). But even a good time like KSU was no match for Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs, who are making every statement they can in order to vie for the playoffs.
Or, look at Ohio State vs. Michigan State. After the Buckeyes laid an egg at home to a mediocre Virginia Tech squad, everybody was skeptical as to how good a team they truly were. Leave it to Urban Meyer to coach his talented bunch up to be more than a match for Mark Dantonio’s Spartans.
But it turned out the most important game, and the one with the biggest national title implications was the Alabama-LSU game. In typical fashion, it was a defensive struggle, and just to make things even more exciting / to heighten the already high degree of urgency even further, the game went into overtime. The Crimson Tide still have a brutal slate of games ahead, but their win is certain a step in the right direction for them
- As I have noted before, Notre Dame is overrated. To be sure, I also noted (in other article) that they are enigmatic. But the overrated question mark remained; lurking, hidden, just waiting for the right opportunity to emerge. Thanks be to Todd Graham and the Arizona State Sun Devils to confirm that which us skeptics felt all along. After all, to have the Irish be among the final four, thus displacing a far-more deserving second SEC team in the process, would have been a travesty beyond words: a travesty, thankfully, that will be pre-empted before it even began.
Week 6 College Football Awards October 6, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Arizona, Art Briles, Auburn, Autzen Stadium, Baylor, Boilermakers, Brady Hoke, Buffalo, Bulldogs, Butch Jones, BYU, Cal, California, Cardinal, Central Florida, Charleston Southern, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Clemson, Colorado State, Dan Mullen, Eastern Michigan, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Gary Patterson, Hugh Freeze, Illini, Illinois, Irish, Jim McElwain, John F. Kennedy, Kentucky, Kevin Sumlin, Les Miles, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, NC State, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Purdue, Rebels, Rose Bowl, Sooners, South Carolina, Stanford, Steve Spurrier, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, Utah, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Washington, Will Muschamp, Wisconsin
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 6] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
Wish I were him, too: Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
Glad I’m not him: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Lucky guy: Will Muschamp, Florida
Poor guy: Butch Jones, Tennessee
Desperately seeking a wake-up clue: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jim McElwain, Colorado State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Les Miles, LSU
Desperately seeking … anything: Brady Hoke, Michigan
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 1 Florida State (beat Wake Forest 43-3)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: No. 1 Florida State (defeated NC State 56-41)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Maryland (lost to No. 20 Ohio State 52-24)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Northwestern (defeated No. 17 Wisconsin 20-14)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: No. 5 Auburn (defeated No. 18 LSU 41-7)
Dang, they’re good: Auburn
Dang, they’re bad: Florida Atlantic
You know, they’re not so bad: Utah
Can’t Stand Prosperity: UCLA
Did the season start? Tennessee
Can the season end? Michigan
Can the season never end? Ole Miss and Mississippi State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 11 Ole Miss 23, No. 1 Alabama 17
Play this again, too: Utah 30, No. 8 UCLA 28
Never play this again: Clemson 41, NC State 0
What? No. 12 Mississippi State 48, No. 6 Texas A&M 31
Huh? No. 25 TCU 37, No. 4 Oklahoma 33
Are you kidding me? Arizona 31, No. 2 Oregon 24
Oh – my – God: No. 11 Ole Miss 23, No. 3 Alabama 17
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 6, pre-week 7)
Ticket to die for: No. 2 Auburn @ No. 3 Mississippi State
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Cincinnati @ Miami
Best non-Power Five matchup: BYU @ Central Florida
Upset alert: No. 3 Ole Miss @ No. 12 Texas A&M
Must win: Texas vs. No. 11 Oklahoma in Dallas
Offensive explosion: Washington @ California
Defensive struggle: LSU @ Florida
Great game no one is talking about: Louisville @ Clemson
Intriguing coaching matchup: Gary Patterson of TCU vs. Art Briles of Baylor
Who’s bringing the body bags? Chattanooga @ Tennessee (also, No. 9 Michigan State @ Purdue)
Why are they playing? Charleston Southern @ Vanderbilt
Plenty of good seats remaining: Buffalo @ Eastern Michigan
They shoot horses, don’t they? Louisiana-Monroe @ Kentucky
Week 6 Random Thoughts:
- In all the years I have followed college football closely (two decades and counting), I honestly cannot recall a weekend where the top-ten rankings were turned upside-down with upsets. Indeed, upsets abounded all over the place. To wit, Thursday night, Arizona went into noisy Autzen Stadium and upset the No. 2 Oregon Ducks. Friday night, Utah State beat deceptively-tough No. 18 BYU. Then on Saturday during the noon timeslot, Mississippi State finally earned a big win over a top-ten opponent in Texas A&M. Following that, Ole Miss beat No. 3 Alabama. The last time the Rebels went 5-0, John F. Kennedy was in the White House. If that is not enough, TCU went into Norman, Okla., and upset the Sooners. Let us not forget that out on the West Coast, unranked Utah upset No. 8 UCLA out in the Rose Bowl. So, just so everybody is up to speed, the No. 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8-ranked teams all went down.
- Regarding Purdue’s win on the road at Illinois, it remains inconclusive as to whether or not the Boilermakers have improved that much since stinking out the joint against Iowa on homecoming weekend, or if the Illini are even more inept than Purdue.
- So with all the top-ten teams going down to defeat this past Saturday, how come No. 1 Florida State escaped unscathed? That would not have anything to do with the fact that they played Wake Forest, would it?
- With all the top-ten teams upset, it might have escaped the notice of many fans that unranked Northwestern also pulled off an upset over the No. 17 Wisconsin Badgers. Given the Wildcats’ mediocre performances thus far, none of us saw that one coming.
- I cannot help but surmise that the only thing the saved Notre Dame’s bacon at home against Stanford was the positively nasty weather that no doubt threw the Cardinal a bit off their game. Otherwise, the Irish might have (indeed should have) been exposed.
- For those of us who are waiting for the opportunity for Notre Dame to be exposed as the truly overrated team they are, mark your calendars for Nov. 8, when they play Florida State, followed by Nov. 22. On that date, they play the Louisville Cardinals. Just sayin’.
College Football Week 5 Awards September 29, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Army, Auburn, Bobby Petrino, Brady Hoke, BYU, Cal, California, Charlie Weis, Colorado, East Carolina, FAU, FIU, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida Internation, Florida State, Gary Patterson, Gary Pinkel, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, James Franklin, Jeff Monken, Jim Mora, Kansas, Louisville, LSU, Mark Helfrich, Marshall, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Mizzou, NC State, New Mexico State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, North Texas, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Old Dominion, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Rich Rodriguez, SMU, South Caroina, South Florida, Southern Miss, Stanford, Steve Spurrier, Syracuse, TCU, Temple, Texas A&M, Tulane, UCLA, UConn, Utah State, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yale
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 5] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Jim Mora, UCLA
Glad I’m not him: James Franklin, Penn State
Lucky guy: Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Poor guy: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Gary Patterson, TCU
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Jeff Monken, Army
Desperately seeking … anything: Brady Hoke, Michigan
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 17 LSU (defeated New Mexico State 63-7)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: No. 1 Florida State (defeated NC State 56-41)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Wyoming (lost to No. 9 Michigan State 56-14)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: South Florida (lost to Wisconsin 27-10)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Temple (defeated UConn 36-10)
Dang, they’re good: Auburn
Dang, they’re bad: Tulane
You know, they’re not so bad: Minnesota
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Indiana
Did the season start? South Carolina
Can the season end? SMU
Can the season never end? UCLA
GAMES
Play this again: No. 6 Texas A&M 35, Arkansas 28 (OT)
Play this again, too: Cal 59, Colorado 56
Never play this again: TCU 56, SMU 0
What? Northwestern 29, Penn State 6
Huh? Yale 49, Army 43
Are you kidding me? Maryland 37, Indiana 15
Oh – my – God: Missouri 21, No. 13 South Carolina 20
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 5, pre-week 6)
Ticket to die for: No. 3 Alabama @ No. 11 Ole Miss (though you don’t want to miss No. 6 Texas A&M @ No. 12 Mississippi State, either, or No. 5 Auburn vs. No. 15 LSU, for that matter)
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: North Texas @ Indiana
Best non-Power Five matchup: Utah State @ BYU (also, Southern Miss @ Middle Tennessee)
Upset alert: No. 14 Stanford @ No. 9 Notre Dame
Must win: Virginia Tech @ North Carolina
Offensive explosion: Arizona @ No. 2 Oregon (Thurs.)
Defensive struggle: Purdue @ Illinois
Great game no one is talking about: Louisville @ Syracuse (Fri.)
Intriguing coaching matchup: Rich Rodriquez of Arizona vs. Mark Helfrich of Oregon
Who’s bringing the body bags? Kansas @ West Virginia
Why are they playing? Marshall @ Old Dominion
Plenty of good seats remaining: Florida Atlantic @ Florida International
They shoot horses, don’t they? SMU @ East Carolina
Week 5 Random Thoughts:
– Having made these types of weekly articles during the college football season for the third straight year, without a doubt, the most difficult thing to accurately predict is the “offensive explosion” game each week. This time, I got it fairly close, seeing as how the score between the Clemson vs. North Carolina game ended at 50-35, in favor of the Tigers. The only problem was, there were plenty other “offensive explosions” to choose from in hindsight, such as Florida State vs. North Carolina State (56-41), or even Cal vs. Colorado (59-53). Even the Army-Yale game kept the scoreboard lit up at 49-43, with the Bulldogs – an FCS team – beating the Black Knights, an FBS team. Still, with a combined tally of 85, the originally-designated game turned out to be a good prediction after all.
– Just for the record, “defensive struggles” are comparatively easier to predict. At a final score of 24-10, the Iowa @ Purdue game delivered reasonably on that prognostication, though Vandy @ Kentucky bested at mark with a final score of 17-7 in favor of the Wildcats. Nevertheless, in this day and age of ubiquitous spread offenses and no-huddles, 24-10 easily qualifies as a low-scoring contest.
– After watching Purdue slowly give the game away to Iowa at home, something occurred to me, in two parts. Yes, the Boilermakers have improved from last year, but they are still inept. Also, having your home stadium only two-thirds full for homecoming is not a good sign.
– In case you missed the fireworks at last week’s post-game press conference, Steve Spurrier tore in to his own team…after [South Carolina] won. Heaven knows the hell there will be to pay for the Gamecock players after coughing it up at home to Mizzou this past Saturday evening.
– Meanwhile, on the West Coast, UCLA is on a roll right now, having thumped a respectable Arizona State team in the desert, 62-27. Mark your calendars for Oct. 11, because if these shadows remain unchanged, the matchup between the Bruins and the Oregon Ducks on that date will be a ticket t0 die for, Pac-12 edition.
– The powers that be at Kansas already fired Charlie Weis from the head coaching position…after only four games…and they were only 2-2 (hey give them credit: they DID beat Southeast Missouri State and Central Michigan). Granted, the program was, over the course of the past two to three years, headed in the wrong direction anyhow, but it still seems odd firing one’s head coach only four games into the season after a 2-2 record. There are two take-aways from this. One is that Charlie Weis is clearly not built to be a head coach. He is a brilliant offensive mind, to be sure, but many men do not have what it takes to lead other men over the hill on the field of battle. Weis is one of those of many. In hindsight, he would have been better off staying at Florida as an offensive coordinator, as that job much more effectively plays to his strengths as a coach. The other take-away is in regards to the questionably hasty firing. This is Kansas, after all, and is yet another thing that explains why the program is a perpetual bottom-feeder, with this being the latest in their strategic blunders.
College Football Week 3 Awards September 15, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: 40 Acres, Aggies, Akron, Alabama, Arizona State, Baylor, Boilermakers, Boise State, Boston College, Brian Kelly, BYU, Central Florida, Charlie Strong, Crimson Tide, Florida, Florida A&M, Florida International, Florida State, Fresno State, Gary Andersen, Gary Patterson, George O'Leary, Georgia Tech, Greg Robinson, Hawaii, Johnny Football, Johnny Manziel, Kansas State, Longhorns, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, Mack Brown, Mark Dantonio, Mark Helfrich, Michigan, Michigan State, Nevada, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon Sate, Penn State, Purdue, Rebels, Ron Turner, South Alabama, South Florida, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Todd Graham, USC, Utah, Utah State, UTEP, UTSA, Weber, Western Kentucky, Willie Taggert, Wisconsin, Zips
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 3] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Mark Helfrich, Oregon
Glad I’m not him: Gary Patterson, TCU
Lucky guy: Todd Graham, Arizona State
Poor guy: Gary Andersen, Wisconsin
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Charlie Strong, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: George O’Leary, Central Florida
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Ron Turner, Florida International
Desperately seeking … anything: Willie Taggert, South Florida
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 10 Florida State (defeated Nevada 62-7)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: No. 11 Michigan (defeated Akron 28-24)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Tennessee (lost to No. 2 Oregon 59-14)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Purdue (lost to No. 21 Notre Dame 31-24)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: USC (defeated Boston College 35-7)
Dang, they’re good: Oregon
Dang, they’re bad: Florida International
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Penn State
Did the season start? Texas
Can the season end? South Florida
Can the season never end? Ole Miss
GAMES
Play this again: No. 1 Alabama 49, No. 6 Texas A&M 42
Play this again, too: Oregon State 51, Utah 48
Never play this again: Utah State 70, Weber 6
What? Arizona State 32, No. 20 Wisconsin 30
Huh? South Alabama 31, Western Kentucky 24
Are you kidding me? Texas Tech 20, No. 24 TCU 10
Oh – my – God: Central Florida 34, Penn State 31
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 3, pre-week 4)
Ticket to die for: Tennessee @ No. 19 Florida
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Utah State @ USC
Best non-Big Six matchup: Boise State @ Fresno State
Upset alert: Purdue @ No. 24 Wisconsin
Must win: Kansas State @ Texas
Offensive explosion: Boise State @ Fresno State
Defensive struggle: Hawaii @ Nevada
Great game no one is talking about: Utah @ BYU, or, North Carolina @ Georgia Tech
Intriguing coaching matchup: Mark Dantonio of Michigan State vs. Brian Kelly of No. 22 Notre Dame
Who’s bringing the body bags? Florida International @ No. 7 Louisville
Why are they playing? Florida A&M @ No. 4 Ohio State
Plenty of good seats remaining: UTSA @ UTEP
They shoot horses, don’t they? Louisiana-Monroe @ No. 20 Baylor
Week 3 in Review:
The game that has been billed by the media and built up in the minds of many a fan nationwide certainly lived up to its billing/hype yesterday. No. 1-ranked Alabama is sure to retain atop the mountain of college football rankings after defeating the home team No. 6 Texas A&M in a thriller of a game. The key to the success of the Crimson Tide was figuring out how to contain the Aggies’ QB Johnny Manziel, by not allowing him sufficient access to the outsides of the hash marks and instead forcing him inside, up the middle (both of running and throwing) as a means of containing the threat of his talents. In the end, it worked. Best of all, “Johnny Football” seemed surprisingly humble, contrite, and team-oriented during the postgame press conference. After witnessing all of his antics the previous weeks, this was a rather pleasing development. Time will tell if he truly did learn a lesson or two from this loss, or whether he will devolve back to the cocky, reckless punk he was earlier.
Other random thoughts:
A curious case of both Michigan and Notre Dame arose this past Saturday. The former team had to struggle at home to beat the Akron Zips, and only doing so in the last minutes of play. Meanwhile, Notre Dame, an ostensibly revitalized, nationally viable team under head coach Brian Kelly, had to earn – in every sense of the word – a win against a Purdue team whose performance prior to this game was suspect at best. Perhaps this strange case is a result of a hangover from big game between the two the following week. Lots of media hype and team energy went into that game, and as anybody who has any real experience in college football can tell you, one of the biggest challenges in the sport is trying to get 19-20 year-olds to play consistently week in and week out. Or, it could be at both Akron and Purdue are better than we thought they were. Concerning the latter, it could have been that the Boilers were looking past Indiana State (could you blame them?) and devoted some extra prep time to dealing with the Fighting Irish. Certainly a plausible scenario, no? What remains intriguing about this case is that, in all likelihood, Michigan and Notre Dame will be just fine. But it could also be that Akron and Purdue are on the rise from the doldrums in which both programs have been stuck for the past several years. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, Texas lost another game, this time at home, against a respectable opponent in Ole Miss. The Longhorns were supposed to have gotten things together, so we were told. After all, before last week’s BYU debacle (in which they lost 40-21), they were ranked No. 15 in the nation. This week, the Rebels came into Austin ranked #25. Yet the Horns lost again, this time 44-23. It is conceivable that Texas could turn things around and that the defense could get more settled under new defensive coordinator Greg Robinson. Or, it could be that the wheels are coming off the program, and as much as Longhorn Nation likes head coach Mack Brown personally, it is time for a changing of the guard. Right now, though, things are not looking good on the 40 Acres, and the prognosis for the second Saturday in October is not that rosy, either.
College Football Week 2 Awards 2013 September 9, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Baylor, Boise State, Bowling Green, Brady Hoke, Buffalo, Bulldogs, BYU, Cincinnati, college, Colorado, Dave Clawson, East Carolina, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, football, Fresno State, Gamecocks, Gary Patterson, Gators, Georgia, Greg Robinson, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kentucky, Kevin Wilson, Kliff Kingsbury, Lamar, Lane Kiffin, Longhorns, Louisiana-Lafayette, Mack Brown, Manny Diaz, Marshall, Miami (FL), Miami (OH), Michigan, Michigan State, Mike Leach, Navy, NCAA, Nebraska, Nicholls, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ohio U, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Purdue, Ron Turner, San Diego State, South Carolina, South Florida, Syracuse, TCU, Tennessee-Martin, Texas, Texas Tech, Tommy Tuberville, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington State, West Virginia
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 2] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Brady Hoke, Michigan
Glad I’m not him: Tommy Tuberville, Cincinnati
Lucky guy: Mike Leach, Washington State
Poor guy: Lane Kiffin, USC
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Kevin Wilson, Indiana
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Dave Clawson, Bowling Green
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Mack Brown, Texas
Desperately seeking … anything: Ron Turner, Florida International
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 23 Baylor (defeated Buffalo 70-13)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Michigan State (defeated South Florida 21-6)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Virginia (lost to Oregon 59-10)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: South Florida (lost to Michigan State 21-6)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Kentucky (defeated Miami (OH, 41-7)
Dang, they’re good: Oregon
Sir Charles says “They’re Turrable”: Buffalo
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Texas
Did the season start? Florida
Can the season end? San Diego State
Can the season never end? Michigan
GAMES
Play this again: No. 11 Georgia 41, No. 6 South Carolina 30
Play this again, too: No. 17 Michigan 41, No. 11 Notre Dame 30
Never play this again: Boise St. 63, Tennessee-Martin 14
What? Illinois 45, Cincinnati 16
Huh? Miami (FL) 21, No. 12 Florida 16
Are you kidding me? Navy 41, Indiana 35
Oh – my – God: BYU 40, No. 15 Texas 21
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 2, pre-week 3)
Ticket to die for: No. 1 Alabama @ No. 6 Texas A&M
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Virginia Tech @ East Carolina
Best non-Big Six matchup: Marshall @ Ohio U
Upset alert: No. 25 Ole Miss @ Texas
Must win: Vanderbilt @ No. 13 South Carolina
Offensive explosion: Fresno State @ Colorado
Defensive struggle: Iowa @ Iowa State
Great game no one is talking about: No. 16 UCLA @ No. 23 Nebraska
Intriguing coaching matchup: Gary Patterson of No. 24 TCU vs. Kliff Kingsbury of Texas Tech
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 21 Notre Dame @ Purdue
Why are they playing? Lamar @ No. 12 Oklahoma State
Plenty of good seats remaining: Florida Atlantic @ South Florida
They shoot horses, don’t they? Nicholls @ Louisiana-Lafayette
Week 2 in Review:
Two really good games followed each other consecutively in South Carolina @ Georgia followed by Notre Dame @ Michigan. In the case of the former, the Gamecocks’ season is not lost by losing to a tough Bulldogs squad who had their collective backs against the wall after blowing the season opener on the road to perhaps the best Clemson team that school’s history. Conversely, had Georgia lost two games in a row to start off their season, no matter if they won out for the remaining weeks, the season, by team’s and fans’ standard would have been clearly lost.
In the case of the latter, some degree of poetic justice was achieved in the Wolverine’s victory over the Fighting Irish. It is understandable why Notre Dame saw fit not to renew the rivalry on their schedule, what with trying to broaden their geographic outreach into the recruiting hotbeds, which, to remind certain fanbases, are NOT in the Midwest anymore (Ohio notwithstanding, to an extent, but Ohio State owns that anyhow, and should). But that does not obfuscate the other understandable situation where the Michigan fanbase feels snubbed by a team that still acts as though it is “above it all.” Did I say “poetic justice”? How about vindication?
Meanwhile, going forward, it is worth pointing out that when it comes to the prognostications for the upcoming week, the two most difficult things to predict are the offensive explosion and the defensive struggle. The Michigan-Notre Dame game certainly did not live up to the latter billing (41-30); neither did the West Virginia-Oklahoma game (16-7). One should have reversed those two games into opposite categories, and then we would have had something (in 20-20 hindsight, at least)!
Oh, and the latest news has it that Texas’ defensive coordinator Manny Diaz has taken the fall for the Longhorns’ ignominious loss to unranked BYU. The Horns gave up a school record 550 rushing yards on defense. This means that even though Texas had some very bad teams in the 1980s and some of the 1990s, even they did not give up that much yardage on the ground in a game. Something obviously had to be done. Mack Brown has appointed Greg Robinson (former Syracuse head coach – one of those guys who is better as a vice president than as a chief executive) as the new defensive coordinator, a role that he actually already served in for the team in 2004 (that same team that came back to beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl). On paper, it is a good hire; time will tell if what is on paper will manifest in reality. But regardless, it’s still a step up from the inept display the Longhorn Nation had to endure yesterday.
College Football Opening Weekend 2013: What to watch August 29, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Aaron Murray, ACC, Alabama, Arkansas, Arlington, Atlanta, Auburn, B1G, Bayou Bengals, Bearcats, Big 10, Big East, Big Ten, Bobby Petrino, Boilermakers, Brent Musburger, Brian Kelly, Bulldogs, Butch Jones, BYU, Cal, California, Cincinnati, Clemson, college, Cotton Bowl, Cougars, Cowboys, Crimson Tide, Dabo Swinney, Dallas, Dan Mullen, Darrell Hazell, FIU, Florida International, football, Fort Worth, Gary Patterson, Georgia, Giants, Golden Bears, Gus Malzahn, Herbie, Hilltoppers, Hokies, Horned Frogs, Kentucky, Kirk Herbstreit, Les Miles, Louisiana Tech, LSU, Mark Richt, Mark Stoops, Maryland, Mike Gundy, Mike Leach, Mississippi State, N.C. State, NCAA, New York, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pac-12, Pat Fitzgerald, Peach Bowl, Penn State, Purdue, Rose Bowl, Seahawks, Seattle, SEC, South Carolina, Syracuse, T. Boone Pickens, TCU, Tennessee, Tigers, Tommy Tuberville, USC, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington State, Western Kentucky, Wildcats
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Note: Rankings are based the ESPN-Coaches Poll, not the AP Poll as is usually the case on this blog.
Though many good games kick off the season on Thursday (hello, North Carolina @ South Carolina!) and Friday, the real action begins, as it always does, on Saturday (Aug. 31, in this case). Let us cut through the clutter and focus on the good games to watch.
Noon (12:00 PM, EDT): Let’s face it; in recent years, most noon games have been throw-away games (generally, lots of lower-tier Big Ten, ACC and Big East matchups). This seems to be mostly the case this time around, too (case in point: Florida International @ Maryland, which makes Louisiana Tech @ N.C. State look like a marquee game). Yet one game in this time slot is rather intriguing, that being Purdue @ Cincinnati. Both programs have new coaches. Purdue’s Darrell Hazell is working diligently to breathe new life into a program that has underachieved since the 2003-2004 season. Meanwhile, U-Cincy brought in Tommy Tuberville to provide some stability to a program that lost Brian Kelly to Notre Dame after the 2009 season, and just lost Butch Jones to Tennessee prior to this upcoming one. From a business managerial standpoint, the two new coaches make for an interesting study in contrast in that Hazell’s role is clearly turnaround CEO, while Tuberville’s role is that of caretaker to a program that Kelly built up quite well and Jones did reasonably well in maintaining. Talent-wise, it ought not to be close, as odds are the Bearcats could dust the Boilermakers. Nevertheless, this game is far more interesting than the rest of the game fare offered at noontime, and it goes without saying that this game merits a nod for “Intriguing Coaching Matchup” award.
3:30 PM EDT: Normally, one can always look forward to at least one strong SEC matchup during this time slot, but there are none to be had on this date. Syracuse @ Penn State makes for a poor substitute indeed. BYU @ Virginia is for more intriguing than that. Still…next!
With that said, a potentially good game that few people are talking about occurs at this same time, that being Mississippi State at Oklahoma State. The Bulldogs have grown in strength under head coach Dan Mullen, while the Cowboys have also grown in stature under Mike Gundy’s leadership (not to mention T. Boone Pickens’ money). Seeing these two teams butt heads could be very engaging.
5:30 PM EDT: Granted, this is not your traditional time slot for a Saturday game, but it’s the opening weekend, so who cares? If anybody doubts that Atlanta is one of THE epicenters of college football, then they would be well-served to take not that No. 1 Alabama opens the season in the Georgia Dome against Virginia Tech. On paper, it’s a decent matchup in that a top-tier SEC team is about to take on an upper-tier ACC team. But as decent as the Hokies are, the game could very well be a bloodbath, as odds are the Crimson Tide is going to roll. Still, it’s better than the 3:30 PM options.
7:00 PM EDT: Washington State @ Auburn — now we’re getting somewhere. We the fans are not treated to SEC vs Pac-12 matchups enough, in my estimation, so when it happens, it is always something to be relished. What makes this game especially interesting is that the dread pirate Mike Leach is trying to turn around the Cougars program while Guz Malzahn has just been brought in to revive the Tigers’ very quick fall from grace. Could be interesting, especially when one considers how a Pac-12 team not named USC can handle a hyper-hostile SEC stadium crowd.
The other interesting game that evening is the Western Kentucky vs. Kentucky game in Nashville, Tenn. This too merits an “Intriguing Coaching Matchup” nod in that it also pits first-year coaches at both schools, both of whom came there under radically different circumstances. Mark Stoops took the UK job as a top-rated assistant coach at Florida State, with the mission to turn around a perennially struggling Wildcats squad. Thus far he has made lots of recruiting hype, but the actual product he can deliver on the field remains to be seen. On the Hilltoppers’ end is Bobby Petrino, one of the best coaches in the business, but left his CEO job at Arkansas in disgrace and scandal. The WKU job is a rung or two down the ladder from the jobs he has previously had, thus is objective is twofold: maintain what predecessor Willie Taggart had already built (something at which he is more than adept), and also rehab his reputation. Look out for a possible Hilltopper upset over the Wildcats, as it is always dangerous to give Petrino more than a week to prepare for a game.
8:00 PM EDT: No. 5 Georgia @ No. 8 Clemson — easily the biggest game of the day, if not the whole weekend. Head Coach Mark Richt takes a loaded Bulldogs team led by talented QB Aaron Murray (no relation, sadly) in to Clemson to take on a Tigers program that Dabo Swinney has slowly yet quietly strengthened over the past several years (they did beat a strong LSU team in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, after all). This will be a great opening test for the Bulldogs, who are no doubt looking to eventually unseat Alabama at the number one spot in both the conference and the nation. Odds also are that you will be “looking LIVE, at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.,” as in all likelihood this will be the game that Brent Musburger calls along with Kirk “Herbie” Herbstreit, folks!
9:00 PM EDT: No. 12 LSU vs. No. 20 TCU in Dallas (Arlington, Texas, specifically). Just as Atlanta has its season kickoff Peach Bowl with a SEC-ACC game, over the past few years, Dallas has endeavored to do the same thing with a season kickoff Cotton Bowl of sorts, usually bringing in an SEC and a Big XII team (though there has been the occasional SEC vs Pac-12 game thrown in sometimes, read: LSU vs. Oregon in 2011) as is the case this time. Les Miles almost always has the Tigers up for big games, while it will be a quasi-home game for the Horned Frogs as they have but a half-hour drive (at the most) from their home base in Fort Worth. Moreover, Gary Patterson has built up a strong program over the course of more than a decade, even recently taking TCU to a Rose Bowl just a couple of seasons ago. Moreover, though the Horned Frogs are ranked lower than the Bayou Bengals, they have the good fortune of playing LSU at the beginning of the season, which is historically when the team is most vulnerable to a loss.
10:30 PM EDT: No. 22 Northwestern at California. Normally, the only game one might find on the cable tv guide this late at night is a home game at Hawai’i. Not this time, though. This time, head coach Pat Fitzgerald takes his nimble Wildcats westward from Evanston, Ill., to the west coast. The rankings could be deceiving. Yes, on paper, Northwestern could possibly crush Cal. But that could easily be nullified because of geography. Take a team in the eastern or even central timezone out to the Pacific timezone, and strange things happen to them. Pro teams do not have this issue (say, the New York Giants journeying out to Seattle to play the Seahawks), because they’re older, more mature, and, well, professionals. But in the college game, folks*, you’re dealing with 19-20 year-old kids, who are far more apt to be out of their element when traveling such a distance. Let us also not forget that Northwestern’s internal clock will still be on Chicago time (9:30 PM), not San Francisco time (7:30 PM), which could also make a difference. One could therefore expect a close, hard-fought game, if not even an upset by the Golden Bears. That said, Pat Fitzgerald is one of the most underrated coaches in the business, and has proven to be very adept, time and again, at not only recruiting decent players into a school with the most academically-rigid standards in the Big Ten Conference, but also coaching them up to be competitive in that conference and in bowl games, too. No doubt he’ll have a trick or two up his proverbial sleeve to try to nullify the problems of geography and time discrepancy. We shall see soon enough, as that is why they line up and play.
* Another Musburger-ism, in case you missed the reference!
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