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College Football Week 4 Awards September 24, 2012

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
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In just our second week of picking up where the good sportswriters at Yahoo ! left off, here are the week 4 awards for college football teams and coaches – enjoy!

COACHES
Wish I were him: Jimbo Fisher, Florida State (notwithstanding his son’s illness)
Glad I’m not him: Brady Hoke, Michigan
Lucky guy: Al Golden, Miami (Fla.)
Poor guy: Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Jim Mora, UCLA
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Kyle Flood, Rutgers

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Tim Beckman, Illinois
Desperately seeking … anything:  Joker Phillips, Kentucky

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Alabama
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: West Virginia (defeated Maryland 31-21)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did:  Kentucky (lost to Florida 38-0)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  UAB (lost to Ohio State 29-15)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Louisiana Tech (defeated Illinois 52-24)

Dang, they’re good: Oregon
Dang, they’re bad:  Arkansas
Did the season start? Michigan
Can the season end?  Kentucky
Can the season never end? Florida State

GAMES
Play this again:  Marshall 54, Rice 51, 2OT
Never play this again: Nebraska 73, Idaho St. 7
What? Rutgers 35, Arkansas 26
Huh? Oregon St. 27, No. 19 UCLA 20
Are you kidding me? Colorado 35, Washington State 34
Oh – my – God: Central Michigan 32, Iowa 31
Told you so: No. 15 Kansas State 24, No. 6 Oklahoma 19

NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for: No. 12 Texas @ Oklahoma State (or Tennessee @ No. 5 Georgia)
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Louisville @ Southern Miss
Best non-Big Six matchup: Central Michigan @ Northern Illinois
Upset alert: No. 7 South Carolina @ Kentucky

Must win: No. 21 Michigan State vs. No. 16 Ohio State
Offensive explosion: Oregon @ Washington State
Defensive struggle: Penn State @ Illinois
Great game no one is talking about: No. 9 Stanford @ Washington, Thurs., 9 PM EDT

Intriguing coaching matchup: Dana Holgorsen of West Virginia vs. Art Briles of Baylor
Who’s bringing the body bags? Towson @ LSU
Why are they playing? Idaho @ North Carolina

Plenty of good seats remaining: Buffalo @ Connecticut
They shoot horses, don’t they?  Marshall @ Purdue

College Football Week 3 Awards September 17, 2012

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
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It was so much fun.  Every Sunday afternoon in the Fall of very recent years, we looked forward to the sportswriters of Rivals/Yahoo.com giving us their take on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the college football games and teams from the previous day.  Their awards were very informal yet well to the point, and never failed to produce a number of chuckles and at times a few belly laughs.  Those days seem to be gone.  Yahoo!’s online sports section has been given a sleek makeover, but in this new format, the weekly awards seem to have been lost by the wayside.  Maybe one could account for this because one of their main writers, Tom Dienhart, now blogs for the Big Ten Network.  Who knows?  The bottom line is, despite my best efforts, I cannot find it anymore.  What website that is worth its weight in attracting eyeballs would make such an enjoyable weekly post so hard to find?

With all of this in mind, inspiration hit me last night to take it upon myself to dole out the awards instead.  Afterall, I’m an alumnus of a Big Ten program, and have worked with coaches now on a number of “Big-Six” conference teams.  It may not be Rivals/Yahoo!, but if you love college football, you might be apt to find this to be the next best thing.  I have tweaked some of the awards to suit the unique situations that arise from week to week, but for the most part, the awards are the same.  Therefore, I offer the awards for the third week of major college football, and aim to continue to do so until the able writers at Yahoo! ‘get it together’ and resume their Sunday duties.

COACHES
Wish I were him:  Mack Brown, Texas
Glad I’m not him:  Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Lucky guy:  Gene Chizik, Auburn
Poor guy:  Todd Berry, Louisiana-Monroe
Desperately seeking a wake-up call:   Charlie Strong, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man:  Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard:  Joker Phillips, Kentucky
Desperately seeking … anything:  John L. Smith, Arkansas

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did:  Purdue  (beat Eastern Michigan 54-16)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t:  Mississippi State (beat Troy 30-24)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did:   Idaho (lost to LSU 63-14)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:   Pittsburgh (beat Virginia Tech 35-17)
Thought you’d reach a turning point, you didn’t:  Tennessee (lost to Florida 37-20)
Dang, they’re good: Alabama
Dang, they’re bad: Colorado (or Kentucky:  take your pick!)
Ya’ know, they’re not so bad:  Cal
Did the season start?  Penn State
Can the season end?  Navy
Can the season never end?  Stanford

GAMES
Play this again:  Stanford 21, USC 14
Never play this again: Fresno State 69, Colorado 14
Unbelieveable Irony:  Connecticut 24, Maryland 21
What? Ball State 41, Indiana 39
Huh? Notre Dame 20, Michigan State 3
Are you kidding me? Pittsburgh 35, Virginia Tech 17
Oh – my – God: Western Kentucky 31, Kentucky 30
Told you so: Louisville 39, North Carolina 34

NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for:  No. 11 Clemson @ No. 5 Florida State
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup:  Florida International vs. Louisville
Best non-Big Six matchup:  BYU @ Boise State
Upset alert:  Kansas State @ Oklahoma
Must win:  USC vs. California
Offensive explosion:  Arizona @ Oregon
Defensive struggle:  Temple @ Penn State
Great game no one is talking about:  Missouri @ South Carolina
Intriguing coaching matchup:  Mark Richt of Georgia vs. James Franklin of Vanderbilt
Who’s bringing the body bags?  Florida Atlantic @ Alabama
Why are they playing?  UAB @ Ohio State
Plenty of good seats remaining:  Memphis @ Duke
They shoot horses, don’t they?  Maryland @ West Virginia
What are your thoughts, dear readers?  Comments are welcome!