Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Akron, Arizona, Arkansas State, Army, Auburn, Ball State, Bayou Bengals, Big East, Big XII, Bill Curry, Bill Snyder, Bo Pelini, Bobby Petrino, Boston College, Cardinals, Carrier Dome, Charlie Strong, college, Colorado, Commonwealth Stadium, Crimson Tide, Cyclones, Danny Hope, Dave Doeren, DeWayne Walker, FCS, Florida, football, Gary Patterson, Gene Stallings, Houston, Hyde, Iowa State, Irish, Jekyll, Jim Colletto, Joker Phillips, Kansas State, Kentucky, Longhorns, Lou Holtz, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, Loveliest Little Village, LSU, Memphis, Mississippi State, Missouri, Mitch Barnhart, Mizzou, Mountaineers, N.C. State, NCAA, Nebraska, New Mexico State, Nick Saban, North Carolina State, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Orange Bowl, Oregon State, Paul Chryst, Pitt, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Red Raiders, Rich Rodriguez, Rutgers, Sam Houston State, Samford, SEC, South Carolina, Stanford, Sun Belt, Syracuse, TCU, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tigers, Toledo, Tom O'Brien, Troy, Tulane, Tulsa, UCLA, UMass, Vanderbilt, Vandy, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Wildcats, Wofford, Wolfpack
(Note: All rankings are current AP [post-week 10, pre-week 11] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Nick Saban, Alabama
Glad I’m not him: Rich Rodriguez, Arizona
Lucky guy: Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Poor guy: Paul Chryst, Pittsburgh
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Tom O’Brien, N.C. State
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Dave Doeren, Northern Illinois
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Danny Hope, Purdue
Desperately seeking … anything: DeWayne Walker, New Mexico State
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Stanford (beat Colorado 48-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Florida (beat Missouri 14-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Temple (lost to No. 11 Louisville 45-17)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Pittsburgh (lost to No. 4 Notre Dame, 29-26, 3 OT)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Vanderbilt (beat Kentucky 40-0)
Dang, they’re good: Texas A&M
Dang, they’re bad: Purdue
Can’t stand prosperity: Arizona (lost to UCLA 66-10)
Did the season start? Missouri
Can the season end? Memphis
Can the season never end? Louisville
GAMES
Play this again: No. 1 Alabama 21, No. 5 LSU* 17
Never play this again: Northern Illinois 63, UMass 0
What? No. 16 Texas A&M* 38, No. 15 Mississippi State* 13
Huh? No. 23 Texas* 31, No. 18 Texas Tech* 22
Are you kidding me? TCU 39, No. 21 West Virginia* 38, OT
Oh – my – God: UCLA 66, No. 22 Arizona* 10
* rankings are from Week 10 as opposed to Week 11
NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for: No. 15 Texas A&M @ No. 1 Alabama
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: (no really good match-ups)
Best non-Big Six matchup: Louisiana-Monroe @ Arkansas State
Upset alert: No. 11 Louisville @ Syracuse
Must win: No. 22 Mississippi State @ No. 9 LSU
Offensive explosion: Baylor @ No. 14 Oklahoma (or Tulsa @ Houston)
Defensive struggle: Missouri @ Tennessee
Great game no one is talking about: No. 13 Oregon State @ No. 16 Stanford
Intriguing coaching matchup: Gary Patterson of TCU vs. Bill Snyder of No. 2 Kansas State
Special Election Night Special: Ball State @ Toledo (Red vs. Blue)
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 4 Notre Dame @ Boston College
Why are they playing? Louisiana-Lafayette @ No. 7 Florida
Plenty of good seats remaining: UMass @ Akron (notwithstanding Tulane @ Memphis)
They shoot horses, don’t they? Army @ Rutgers
Week 10 in Review:
Bama passes the test: Last week’s “Ticket to die for” certainly lived up to its billing, as The Crimson Tide duked it out with the Bayou Bengals in Death Valley. A normally mistake-free Alabama reversed that trend throughout much of the game and started making more mistakes than usual. Top-notch opponents tend bring out more mistakes than usual, to be sure. In the end, Bama’s offense finally decided to start executing. This sudden development clearly caught LSU’s defense off guard, and The Tide easily scored a TD when all they needed was a field goal to tie. With only a minute to go, LSU failed to score on the second Hail Mary play. Bama passed the test against what might be its toughest opponent of the entire regular season.
SEC Breathers: Between this and upcoming Saturday and the one to follow, it seems as though the bulk of the SEC, stud and cellar-dweller alike, will take a breather from beating up on one-another and instead focus their brutal energies on lesser opponents, be they, say, fodder from the Sun Belt Conference (e.g., Louisiana-Lafayette at Florida), or FCS teams. Case in point: Samford ventures up to Lexington to play Kentucky in two weeks. Alabama will no doubt easily dispatch with Western Carolina that same day. Missouri is somewhat an exception in that they will play middle-of-the-road Big East foe Syracuse. A curious annual constant is Wofford getting annihilated by South Carolina. Tennessee already had their little break with Troy. Vandy will conclude its season by taking its respective break against Wake Forest. Arkansas barely escaped from their little breather, beating Tulsa only 19-15. Auburn’s break, though, also comes two Saturdays from now when Alabama A&M comes to the Loveliest Little Village on the Plains. Even Texas A&M is getting in on the act and playing Sam Houston State on the 17th. Curiously, no such break comes for Ole Miss, Mississippi State, or LSU. Still, do the teams that are taking a break, either this week or next, feel that their conference schedule is so brutal that they think they need such breaks before it is time for the ol’ sprint to the finish? As a suggestion for improvement, surely Notre Dame could be squeezed in to one of these schedules, as the Irish feel they are “back,” and could be given an opportunity to test that idea. It would give the fans a lot more excitement than Wofford or Sam Houston State, that’s for sure.
Jekyll-and-Hyde Longhorns: At first, it seemed as though Texas was caught off guard by West Virginia’s high-powered offense and narrowly lost in a high-scoring game. That idea quickly vanished in Dallas the following week when the Horns got embarrassed by Oklahoma. Squeaking by Baylor in an even more high-scoring affair than that against the Mountaineers raised further concerns about Texas’ defensive woes (poor fundamentals, inability to make basic tackles, etc.). Then, inexplicably, they win on the road. And not just on the road, but in Lubbock, against Texas Tech, which in recent years has been one of the toughest places to play in the Big XII Conference. Even more inexplicable is, while Texas did have occasional recurring issues with their defense (the same sort that has visibly plagued the Longhorns for the last month), by virtue of holding the Red Raiders to only 22 points, the defense clearly made key stops this time.
Granted, Texas Tech’s offense has been a tad inconsistent this year, scoring 49 points one week then being held to 24 the next, and so on. Nevertheless, they walloped West Virginia and won in a shootout over TCU, making everyone take notice of their high-powered offense.
The “so-what” in all of this is that one of the hallmarks of a well-coached team is that you know what sort of performance to expect from week to week. Was the past month a temporary slump for Texas, or are they to be up for one week, down for the next? Time will tell if their defeat of Texas Tech has halted the bleeding, or if they will perpetrate the apparent “Jekyll-and-Hyde” mystery with a sub-par performance against Iowa State next week. Conversely, if they obliterate the Cyclones at home next week, it will bode well for the rest of the season, when they will need it the most against TCU, followed by No. 2 Kansas State.
Quietly undefeated: The Louisville Cardinals are 9-0 for the first time in program history. Not even Bobby Petrino managed such a feat when he put the Cards on the map and coached them to their first ever Orange Bowl-berth/victory. The only team that defeated them in that memorable 2006-2007 season was Rutgers, in Piscataway, N.J. Interestingly enough, that is where Louisville concludes its regular season this year, potentially for all the marbles in the Big East. But before the Cards look too far ahead, they need to focus on the next game. Syracuse is their next opponent, and Louisville takes them on in the Carrier Dome, where they are tough (though not impossible) to beat. Coach Charlie Strong would be well-served to remind his sophomore-dominated team that this upcoming match-up is a potential trap game, and that they must focus their preparations accordingly.
Another one bites the dust: The University of Kentucky opened up the floodgates in 1996 for a whole slew of coaching changes at years end when they fired Bill Curry. Soon after that, the inept Jim Colletto of Purdue resigned, and at season’s end, so did Lou Holtz and Notre Dame and even Gene Stallings at Alabama, just to name a few. Could UK have started a similar apparent chain reaction in 2012, having just fired Joker Phillips? Time will tell. Joker was, by all accounts, an honorable representative of the Wildcats, and A.D. Mitch Barnhart was lavish in his praise of the man in an open letter on UK’s official website. Ultimately, it was a business decision. Phillips simply lacked the skill set to effectively lead the largest revenue generating division of UK’s athletic brand (he was 12-23). At best, only about 10,000 fans showed up at Commonwealth Stadium to see the Wildcats get trounced by traditional conference bottom-feeder Vandy. Obviously the program has been headed in the wrong direction for the past couple of years, and Mitch Barnhart made a prudent business decision to try to rectify this problem.
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Aggies, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Bayou Bengals, Big 10, Big 12, Big Ten, Big XII, Boston College, Butch Jones, BYU, Charlie Strong, Cincinnati, college football, Cotton Bowl, Cougars, Dallas, Dana Holgorsen, Danny Hope, Florida State, Fordham, Gary Pinkel, Gene Chizik, Geno Smith, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kevin Sumlin, Les Miles, Longhorns, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, LSU, Mack Brown, Miami Hurricanes, Michigan State, Missouri, Mountaineers, N.C. State, NC State, NCAA, Nebraska, Nick Saban, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Pac-12, Paul Chryst, Pittsburgh, Purdue, SE Louisiana, Skip Holtz, SMU, South Carolina, South Florida, Steve Spurrier, TCU, Temple, Texas, Texas A&M, The Swamp, Tigers, Towson, Tulane, UAB, Utah State, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Washington State, West Virginia, Will Muschamp
(NOTE: all rankings are current AP [post-Week 6, pre-Week 7] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Glad I’m not him: Danny Hope, Purdue
Lucky guy: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Poor guy: Mack Brown, Texas
Desperately seeking a clue: Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Butch Jones, Cincinnati
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Gene Chizik, Auburn
Desperately seeking … anything: Skip Holtz, South Florida
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Kansas State (beat Kansas 56-16)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Florida State (lost to N.C. State 17-16)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Miami (Fla.) (lost to Notre Dame 41-3)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Indiana (lost to Michigan State 31-27)
Thought you wouldn’t get your butt kicked, you did: Georgia (lost to South Carolina 35-7)
Dang, they’re good: South Carolina
Dang, they’re bad: Virginia
Did the season start? South Florida
Can the season end? Southern Miss
Can the season never end? West Virginia
GAMES
Play this again: No. 5 West Virginia 48, No. 15 Texas 45
Never play this again: UAB 52, SE Louisiana 3
What? Temple 37, South Florida 28
Huh? Iowa State 37, No. 23* TCU 23
Are you kidding me? Arkansas 24, Auburn 7
Oh – my – God: N.C. State 17, No. 12 Florida State 16
NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for: No. 11 Texas vs. No. 17 Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, Dallas (Notwithstanding No. 3 South Carolina @ No. 9 LSU)
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Louisiana Tech vs. Texas A&M
Best non-Big Six matchup: Fresno State @ Boise State
Upset alert: No. 17 Stanford @ No. 7 Notre Dame
Must win: Purdue vs. Wisconsin
Offensive explosion: No. 5 West Virginia @ Texas Tech
Defensive struggle: No. 4 Florida vs. Vanderbilt
Great game no one is talking about: No. 6 Kansas State @ Iowa State
Intriguing coaching matchup: Paul Chryst of Pittsburgh vs. Charlie Strong of No. 18 Louisville
Who’s bringing the body bags? Boston College @ No. 12 Florida State
Why are they playing? Fordham @ No. 21 Cincinnati
Plenty of good seats remaining: SMU @ Tulane
They shoot horses, don’t they? No. 8 Ohio State @ Indiana
*USA Today poll
Week 6: Some thoughts looking back and going forward:
Do scores like that still exist in football? Yes, the showdown in The Swamp between LSU and Florida was an obvious defensive slugfest that many could foresee. But that pales in comparison with the near-baseball score eked out by Utah State at BYU on Friday night. The Cougars narrowly triumphed over the Aggies by an underwhelming 6-3. On a cheerier note, the two teams’ respective uniforms were in perfect contrast to one-another. Utah State sported dark blue helmets, white jerseys and dark blue pants, while BYU had the exact opposite of white helmets, dark blue jerseys and white pants. One rarely sees such a mirror-opposite contrast these days!
Speaking of defense struggles, though: The predicted low-scoring affair between the Gators and the Tigers did indeed manifest itself, as Florida triumphed at home only by 14-6.
On the other side of the coin: Yours truly, well, truly whiffed on predicting the “offensive explosion” game. Normally, a Pac-12 match-up, or some game including Baylor or West Virginia (or both, in hindsight!) are rather safe bets. But bets are not guaranteed: case in point, Oregon State defeated Washington State 19-6 in what could only be called a “workmanlike” performance. What is much more ironic, though, is that the REAL offensive explosion turned out to be Ohio State’s win over Nebraska in a 63-38 shootout. I know; the terms “Big 10” and “shootout” rarely go together, which is probably why such an offensive explosion possibility was so cavalierly overlooked.
New contender in town: West Virginia has made an impressive debut in the Big XII thus far. They first drew notice by winning their inaugural conference matchup at home in thrilling fashion over Baylor last week. Now, they have proven that the previous week’s victory was no fluke by winning a hard-fought game over the Texas Longhorns in Austin. Whether or not the Mountaineers are here and here to stay as a force to be reckoned with in their new home conference is a matter for continued discussion. Do they have just the right amount of key players with an exceptional quarterback in Geno Smith, or has Dana Holgorsen put something together that can sustain WVU as a perennial top-ten program? Time will tell, and while the Mountaineers are on a roll, plenty of tests remain.
Wanted: Rapid Recovery: Too many fans assume that college football teams can play on an even keel. That might be remotely, sporadically possible if you are coached by someone whose first name is Nick and whose last name is Saban. Aside from that, too many fans forget that we’re dealing with 19 year-olds, and as such, they are prone to the emotional roller coaster, and their collective performance periodically thus dips. An emotional win at home can temporarily drain your incentive to focus in practice the following week, and so seven days after that big win, you can come out flat on the road. It happens all the time.
The reason this is brought up is because Texas just lost a hard-fought game at home. Mack Brown shall surely prove what he is made of as he and his staff diligently try to rally the troops as they prepare to take on arch-rival Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, which is easily one of the biggest games of the year, period.
Meanwhile, in the SEC: Georgia may be good, but South Carolina is clearly better. What on paper had to have been a knock-down, drag-out match-up turned out to be a rout in favor of the Gamecocks, who have just advanced from No. 6 to No. 3 in the AP ranks in the wake of LSU’s loss to Florida and Florida State’s surprising upset at North Carolina State. But it does not get any easier for Steve Spurrier’s squad, as they now have to take on Les Miles’ Bayou Bengals in Baton Rouge this upcoming weekend, before having to go to The Swamp to take on Will Muschamp’s resurgent Florida Gators the week after that. Translation: great win, guys. No we have to do it all over again. And again.
With that in mind, make no mistake about it: Spurrier has built a juggernaut in Columbia. They are physically impressive, and currently, effective, on both sides of the ball. As a cautionary note, though, do not be surprised if the Gamecocks emerge from the next two engagements 1-1.
Speaking of LSU: As much as it pains me to say this, we ought to acknowledge that perhaps LSU is a tad overrated. The reasons are simple: the Tigers struggled to move the ball at home against Towson (!), beat a mediocre Auburn by only two points, stagnated for a half against Idaho, and got only seven first downs against Florida.
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