College Football Week 8 Awards October 20, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Al Golden, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Boise State, BYU, Central Florida, Charley McClendon, Charlie Strong, Clemson, Clemsoning, college, Dabo Swinney, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Furman, Gary Pinkel, Gators, George O'Leary, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Houston, Hurricanes, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Jimbo isher, Kansas, Kansas State, Kevin Sumlin, Les Miles, Louisville, LSU, Mark Richt, Miami, Miami (Florida), Michigan State, Missouri, Mizzou, Navy, NCAA football, Noles, North Carolina, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Red Raiders, Rutgers, SEC, Seminoles, South Carolina, Stanford, Steve Spurrier, sword of Damocles, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tigers, twilight zone, UCF, UCLA, UMass, Vols, Volunteers, Western Michigan
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 8] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
Glad I’m not him: Les Miles, LSU
Lucky guy: George O’Leary, Central Florida
Poor guy: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Desperately seeking a clue: Charlie Strong, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Al Golden, Miami (Fla.)
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Desperately seeking … anything: Mark Richt, Georgia
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Baylor (defeated Iowa State 71-7)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Miami (defeated North Carolina 27-23)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Arkansas (lost to Alabama 52-0)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Iowa (lost to Ohio State 34-24)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Georgia Tech (defeated Syracuse 56-0)
Dang, they’re good: Florida State
Dang, they’re bad: Southern Miss
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Louisville
Did the season start? Northwestern
Can the season end? Georgia
Can the season never end? Missouri
GAMES
Play this again: No. 24 Auburn 45, No. 7 Texas A&M 41
Play this again, too: BYU 47, Houston 46
Never play this again: Baylor 71, Iowa State 7
Forget about this one, too: Georgia Tech 56, Syracuse 0
What? Central Florida 38, No. 8 Louisville 35
Huh? No. 24 Auburn 45, No. 7 Texas A&M 41
Are you kidding me? Ole Miss 27, No. 6 LSU 24
Oh – my – God: No. 5 Florida State 51, No. 3 Clemson 14
Told you so: Tennessee 23, No. 11 South Carolina 21
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 8, pre-week 9)
Ticket to die for: Tennessee @ No. 1 Alabama
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Pittsburgh @ Navy
Best non-Big Six matchup: Boise State @ BYU
Upset alert: Tennessee @ No. 1 Alabama
Must win: No. 20 South Carolina @ No. 5 Missouri
Offensive explosion: Boise State @ BYU (Friday)
Defensive struggle: Michigan State @ Illinois
Great game no one is talking about: Houston @ Rutgers
Intriguing coaching matchup: Gary Pinkel of Missouri vs. Steve Spurrier of South Carolina
Who’s bringing the body bags? Florida Atlantic @ No. 11 Auburn
Why are they playing? Furman @ No. 13 LSU
Plenty of good seats remaining: Western Michigan @ UMass
They shoot horses, don’t they? No. 6 Baylor @ Kansas
Week 8 in Review:
Rarely is there a week when there are so many upsets, that it’s impossible to give all of them their just due. Normally, four categories are enough, from “What?” to “Oh-My-God”. Yet this time around, we needed several more categories, for the undefeateds and top-ten teams ended up dropping like flies. To wit: No. 7 Texas A&M fell to Auburn, No. 6 LSU fell to Ole Miss. Stanford, after paying dearly for taking a game off and thus laying an egg against Utah, turned right around the following week and took out undefeated, then-No. 9 UCLA. Do we have to remind ourselves of how then-No. 8 Louisville (now No. 18) basically gave the game away to now-No. 21 Central Florida? Say this out loud: Missouri beat Florida. In so doing, the reader is likely to ask oneself, “in what Twilight Zone or alternate football universe does that happen?” Yet it did; what’s even more other-dimensionly is that Mizzou was actually ranked ahead of the Gators when they triumphed (No. 14 vs. No. 22, respectively). The Tigers, still undefeated, are now ranked at No. 6.
Then there was the purported “ticket to die for” of the week, and on paper it certainly was that, what with then-No. 3 Clemson at home against then-No. 5 Florida State in a titanic intra-conference clash — on paper, at least. The only problem was, the Seminoles showed up for battle, whereas the Tigers, apparently, not so much. The ‘Noles asserted themselves from the opening kickoff to the final whistle of the game, and demolished the home team, 51-14, despite Clemson’s hitherto superior ranking. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was hoping that the team could put an end to the concept of “Clemsoning”, (look up the second and third definitions of the term on Urban Dictionary), but after last night’s performance, that concept shall live on for a while longer.
Meanwhile, let us compare the heretofore Top Ten to today’s new rankings:
1.) Alabama
2.) Oregon
3.) Clemson
4.) Ohio State
5.) Florida State
6.) LSU
7.) Texas A&M
8.) Louisville
9.) UCLA
10.) Miami (Fla.)
Today (Oct. 20, 2013)
1.) Alabama
2.) Oregon
3.) Florida State
4.) Ohio State
5.) Missouri
6.) Baylor
7.) Miami (Fla.)
8.) Stanford
9.) Clemson
10). Texas Tech
Curious to note: Alabama and Oregon are still No’s 1 and 2 respectively. So far, so good. But Florida State, now at No. 3, leapfrogged over Ohio State, who is still at No. 4. Mizzou, having beaten some formidable teams, has skyrocketed to No. 5, while Baylor sits at No. 6 (personally, I find the latter’s offense more potent than the former; were it only that the two could knock heads in a BCS game!). Meanwhile, the Miami Hurricanes, laboring in the shadow of the NCAA’s Sword of Damocles, have quietly crept up to the No. 7 spot in a spectacular turnaround under Coach Al Golden’s leadership. Stanford is back in the top ten after defeating hitherto unbeaten UCLA, and Clemson remains in the top ten at No. 9 despite a thrashing at home against the Seminoles. Tech rounds out the new top ten, and appropriately so, given that they’re currently unbeaten. That current status, however, shall be seriously called into question the following week, though, as they shall play Oklahoma on the road, then Oklahoma State and Kansas State at home, then they face Baylor and cap things off against Texas. The truly brutal part of the schedule is about to commence for the Red Raiders, hence they shall have the opportunity to prove their worthiness of their new ranking. As LSU’s Charley McClendon said long ago, “[I]n football, and in life, you’ve got to keep proving yourself.
Oh, and don’t look now, but Auburn has climbed up to No. 11 from the No. 24 spot.
On a related note, two programs who were once esteemed as “football factories” but had something of a decade-long slump seem to have returned to that status this year; Florida State and, to a lesser extent, Tennessee. The former demonstrated that convincingly before a national, prime time audience. The latter demonstrated that over the course of the past three weeks by giving Georgia the fight of their lives on Oct. 5, then coming back to beat South Carolina yesterday. No longer is playing the Vols a relative “gimme” on the SEC schedule as it was several years ago. Everyone else in the conference ought to be put on notice.
College Football Week 1 Awards 2013 September 4, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Air Force, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Bill Snyder, Bobby Petrino, Boise State, Buffalo, Butch Jones, BYU, Cincinnati, Clemson, college, Dabo Swinney, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Washington, FBC, FCS, Florida, football, Georgia, Hugh Freeze, Idaho, Indiana, Indiana State, Iowa State, James Franklin, Jordan-Hare, K-State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Kevin Wilson, LSU, Mark Richt, McNeese State, Miami (OH), Michigan, Mike Riley, Mississippi, Missouri, NCAA, Nebraska, Nicholls State, North Carolina, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon State, Purdue, Rocky Long, San Diego State, Sanford, SEC, South Alabama, South Carolina, South Florida, Southern Utah, Syracuse, Tennessee, Tennessee-Martin, Toledo, Towson, Tulane, Utah State, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Western Kentucky, Wyoming
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That special time of year has come yet again, when college football teams all throughout the land knock heads to see who is the best. Moreover, now that the first week of college football has past, it is now time to give out the first weekly awards for the year!
(NOTE: all rankings are Week 1 AP up to “Next Week”, in which case they are for Week 2)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Glad I’m not him: Mark Richt, Georgia
Lucky guy: Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
Poor guy: James Franklin, Vanderbilt
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bill Snyder, Kansas State
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Kevin Wilson, Indiana
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Mike Riley, Oregon State
Desperately seeking … anything: Rocky Long, San Diego State
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 3 Oregon (beat Nicholls State 66-3)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: No. 18 Nebraska (beat Wyoming 37-34)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Purdue (lost to Cincinnati 42-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: North Carolina (lost to South Carolina 27-10)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Indiana 73, Indiana State 35
Dang, they’re good: Alabama
Sir Charles says “They’re Turrable”: San Diego State
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Georgia
Did the season start? BYU
Can the season end? Iowa State
Can the season never end? Clemson
GAMES
Play this again: No. 8 Clemson 38, No. 5 Georgia 35
Play this again, too: Ole Miss 39, Vanderbilt 35
Never play this again: Indiana 73, Indiana State 35
What? McNeese State 53, South Florida 21
Huh? Eastern Illinois 49, San Diego State 17
Are you kidding me? North Dakota State 24, Kansas State 21
Oh – my – God: Eastern Washington 49, No. 25 Oregon State 46
Told you so: Western Kentucky 35, Kentucky 26
NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for: No. 6 South Carolina @ No. 11 Georgia
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Toledo @ Missouri
Best non-Big Six matchup: Idaho @ Wyoming, or Utah State @ Air Force
Upset alert: No. 14 Notre Dame @ No. 17 Michigan
Must win: Miami (OH) @ Kentucky
Offensive explosion: West Virginia @ No. 16 Oklahoma
Defensive struggle: No. 14 Notre Dame @ No. 17 Michigan
Great game no one is talking about: Syracuse @ No. 22 Northwestern
Intriguing coaching matchup: Bobby Petrino of Western Kentucky vs. Butch Jones of Tennessee
Who’s bringing the body bags? San Diego State @ No. 2 Ohio State
Why are they playing? Tennessee-Martin @ Boise State
Plenty of good seats remaining: South Alabama @ Tulane
They shoot horses, don’t they? Buffalo @ Baylor
The First Week in Review:
The previous week’s “Ticket to Die For” was obviously the Georgia-Clemson game, and it lived up to its billing, remaining close and hard-fought for all four quarters. Georgia fans do themselves and their team a disservice, however, by lamenting that their season is now in the tank and that it is time to jettison head coach Mark Richt. Let us keep in mind that Clemson right now is on fire, and has their best offense in roughly 30 years if not the whole history of the school. The Bulldogs losing to such a team at that moment is no disgrace.
That said, there’s no rest for the wicked regarding Georgia, for now their hated cross-border rival South Carolina comes to Sanford Stadium this next weekend. The Bulldogs might be in danger of starting the season 0-2, which which really send the UGA faithful into a panic.
Meanwhile, Alabama is such a good team, that even with several offensive miscues throughout the game, they still handily defeated a respectable Virginia Tech squad 35-10. Still, it was a rough week for the SEC. As somewhat prognosticated, Washington State did give Auburn plenty to deal with in their rather narrow loss at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Georgia’s rather heartbreaking loss in Clemson was already noted. Kentucky lost much worse than what the score (35-26) to Western Kentucky in Nashville, Tenn. Yes, I know that the last game mentioned is an outlier in that A, this is Kentucky we’re talking about here, not, say, LSU, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, or even Auburn or Arkansas. On the other side of the coin, Western Kentucky is no ordinary Sunbelt Conference team, either, as they are coached by Bobby Petrino, likely giving the Hilltoppers a decisive edge over the rest of their conference competition, or even chronic SEC cellar-dwellers for that matter.
One thing that particularly sticks out about the past week, though, was the resounding success that FCS teams had over FBS teams. Time was — very recently — that when D-1A (pardon me, FBS) teams scheduled D-1AA (pardon me, FCS) teams for a game, it was an easy win for the former, and the latter got a relatively hefty paycheck (by their standards) to take a drubbing. Not anymore. Southern Utah beat South Alabama 22-21; Towson defeated UConn 33-18; North Dakota State upset Kansas State 24-21; Eastern Washington also upset Oregon State, 49-46; McNeese State thrashed South Florida, 53-21; Eastern Illinois did the drubbing on San Diego State, 40-19; if that’s not enough, Northern Iowa also beat Iowa State, 28-20. To be sure, most of the aforementioned FCS teams (Towson, E. Washington, E. Illinois, and N. Iowa) are ranked, whereas most of their defeated FBS counterparts are, well, sucking (yet it still does not account for K-State’s or Oregon State ignominious losses). Still, this is a powerful wake-up call that FBS vs. FCS are no longer gimme-games for the former. We’ve been warned.
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!
You too can put together a Top 25 CFB preseason poll! February 17, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Alabama, AP, Auburn, B1G, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Boise State, Braxton Miller, Cal, Charlie Weis, Cincinnati, Clemson, college, conference, Duke, Florida, Florida State, football, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, LSU, MAC, Manti Te'o, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, NCAA, Nebraska, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pac-12, preseason, Purdue, ranking, San Jose State, SEC, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tim Tebow, Tommy Tuberville, top 25, UC, Urban Meyer, USC, Utah State, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Will Muschamp
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Ever wanted to make a college football Top-25 preseason ranking but just didn’t know how? Well, now you do! Thanks to the hilarious writers at SBNation’s Every Day Should Be Saturday, we now have a guide at our disposal to put such a list together and look like prognostication geniuses in so doing! I have taken the liberty of quoting the guiding text to give you reference while we play along. The quoted text from the actual (and funny) guide page is given in italics.
1. Alabama. Look, maybe you have a perfectly strong case for some other school, but if you go off the reservation right away, the readers are going to suspect something is amiss. Stay with the pack here and, if the Tide stumble, you’ll be one of many mistaken scribes, not a distinct and lonesome idiot.
Alabama looks and sounds like a winner to me!
2. Big 12 or Big Ten team. BOOM! Because you started comfortable, those stupid readers didn’t see this knowledge roundhouse coming. Pick a team that didn’t meet expectations in 2012 and talk about how they’ll be “hungry” and “focused” because of it.
Michigan, perhaps?
3. SEC team. Mention how battle tested playing in the conference will leave this team by the end of the season. Then hedge by saying SEC play could eat them alive. SPORTSNIGMA!
Texas A&M; they’re really hot right now. Seriously, so much for them having to get behind Arkansas like we all predicted last year!
4. Ohio State. Emphasize how good the team looked in the first year of a new system. Ignore that they barely beat Cal, Indiana, and Purdue. Clunky suggestion that Braxton Miller could be the next Tim Tebow. Obliquely suggest Urban Meyer could quit at any week for any reason.
Ohio State, and this is why I didn’t put them at the No. 2 spot like I would have otherwise.
5. Oregon or Stanford. Sh-t, you meant to put one of them higher, but that much backspacing seems like a real pain in the ass. Say something here about how you’re being cautious not to put too much stock into a big bowl performance.
Stanford, for reasons of coaching continuity.
6. Team Coming Off A Big Bowl Performance. Clemson-Louisville national championship game ahoy!
Okay, I’ll bite. What the heck; let’s put Louisville in there for the fun of it!
7. SEC team. Which one? Any one THAT’S JUST HOW DAMN GOOD THEY ARE MAN. (Seriously, though, not Auburn.)
Seriously; definitely not Auburn! Already put Texas A&M in there, so let’s have LSU fill this slot, shall we? Or maybe South Carolina; yeah, definitely the Gamecocks. They’re doing quite well right now.
8. Notre Dame. Yes, Irish fans are going to be super pissed at the perceived disrespect, but that’d be true even if you ranked ND numbers one, two, and three simultaneously. Don’t fight a losing battle. Just slot them here and suggest that they could be better off without Manti Te’o.
Notre Dame; and they might not miss Manti Te’o that much if their highly-ranked recruiting class has any teeth to it, unlike “highly-ranked” recruiting classes under Charlie Weis.
9. Oregon or Stanford (whoever you didn’t put at 5). Say something about how they’ve lost a lot of key pieces. Is it true? Players graduate, don’t they?
Oregon, for reasons of lack of coaching continuity.
10. ACC team. You’ll need to construct a paper fortune teller and write the names of four plausibly successful teams twice each. Be sure you only do it twice, because if you write out “Georgia Tech” three times on the same piece of paper Paul Johnson appears out of nowhere and insists on rearranging your pantry.
Well, we already put Louisville at No. 6, so we might as well put Florida State into this one.
11. Team that will likely have three losses before Halloween. Your obligation in preparing this ranking is not simply to come up with a sensible accounting of the top 25 teams heading into the season. It’s also to provide us with teams destined to leave unreasonable expectations unfulfilled. Who will be this year’s Arkansas? THE POWER IS YOURS!
Ole Miss, because expectations are high due to their half-way decent team from last year and No. 7-ranked recruiting class this year.
12. Team with the highest ranked recruiting class that you have not yet included. I mean, all that talent wouldn’t be going to a bad team, would it? And I bet half of them start right away! (note: I do not know how recruiting works)
I want to put Florida here, because they’ve got the No. 4-ranked recruiting class, and I’ve got to stick ‘em somewhere! But, skip down to No 14, and you’ll find out that cannot be done, according to this system. So, we’ll put in Oklahoma.
13. This is exhausting. You really deserve a lemonade, and maybe even an oatmeal cookie. I mean, people bitch about preseason rankings, but then they lap them right up like hungry dogs. Do they not understand how market forces work? Oh, um, Michigan State. Whatever.
Georgia; gotta stick ‘em somewhere.
14. Florida. “Will Muschamp is driving a truck with a great engine and no brake pads. Will Muschamp is eating a sandwich with meat and no bread. Will Muschamp is developing a model that explains how light behaves like a particle but not as a wave.” Metaphor them to death in this middle section.
Okay, NOW we’re allowed to put Florida in there.
15. School that was good six years ago and has stunk since. Because these things are cyclical, or something.
USC, anybody?
16. Team stocked with seniors that have mostly underachieved up to this point. They just want it more, man. That’s why they’re fighting in spring practice. Out of love.
Michigan State, perhaps?
17. Big 12 team with a miserably weak non conference schedule. Basically, this is between Texas Tech, West Virginia, Kansas, and Kansas State. Kansas is out for reasons of being Kansas, so just pick one of the other three and feel like a genius up to, but not beyond, Week 5.
West Virginia is the safest pick out of the three, at least through Week 5. After Week 5, it might be Texas Tech. Just sayin’.
18. Big East team. Start out by noting that the conference had a better bowl winning percentage last year than the every other AQ conference. Pretend you knew that Memphis was joining this year without looking. Realize that the team you pick could join the ACC before this gets published. Shrug, and continue trying to beat Jetpack Joyride.
Cincinnati, because after U of L, UC is the only Big East team that comes to mind, and goodness knows what could happen with Tommy Tuberville at the helm.
19. Team that was terrible but hired a trendy coach. You’ve already won me over, Cal, in spite of me.
Okay, let’s go with Cal. Let me waste another space on something ridiculous, why don’t you!
20. School from a non AQ conference. Again, this is mostly an exercise in antagonizing fans, so just find a Mountain West or MAC team that could plausibly win eight games and put them here. Then say something snide about the Big Ten.
Ah, so THIS is where you put in Boise State!
21. Scandium. Don’t think it belongs here? Check your atomic numbers, clown.
Okay, now they’re being downright silly. Not funny, just silly. Let’s go with LSU.
22. Team with a coach on the hot seat. If you’re not sure who qualifies, just pick any coach that hasn’t won a conference title in the last two years and say he’s on the hot seat.
Texas, because even though I love Mack Brown as a person, he ought to be on the hot seat after three consecutive seasons of underperformance.
23. Almost there! Pick any team, say this is a make-or-break season for the program, and move forward.
Auburn, because after the horrible year they had last season, we’ll now see how quickly they can bounce back.
24. Duke.
Are you kidding me? Alright, we’ll play along for the funny hell of it.
25. Team that barely made a bowl last year. “Trial by fire has made them stronger” sounds way more optimistic than “holy sh– they needed a punt return touchdown to beat Sweet Valley High.”
Heck, Purdue barely made it to a bowl game last year, but I’m certainly not putting them at No. 25! I’d put somebody like Nebraska in there, but I don’t know if it fits the template. Screw it; I’ll put Nebraska in anyway.
Now, let us see how this ranking plays out, according to the above formula:
- Alabama
- Michigan
- Texas A&M
- Ohio State
- Stanford
- Louisville
- South Carolina
- Notre Dame
- Oregon
- Florida State
- Ole Miss
- Oklahoma
- Georgia
- Florida
- USC
- Michigan State
- West Virginia
- Cincinnati
- Cal
- Boise State
- LSU
- Texas
- Auburn
- Duke (groan!)
- Nebraska
I know, I know; LSU is ranked way too low, and it bothers the heck out of me, too. Just for fun, let us compare this with the current 2013 AP preseason Top 25 poll:
- Alabama (no surprise there!)
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Notre Dame
- Texas A&M
- Georgia
- Stanford
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Florida State
- Clemson
- Kansas State
- Louisville
- LSU (beats not being ranked at all!)
- Oklahoma (I knew they were overvalued!)
- Utah State (there had better be a darn good reason for this!)
- Northwestern (quite plausible, actually)
- Boise State (are you sure you want them that high, AP?)
- Texas
- Oregon State
- San Jose State (huh?)
- Northern Illinois (I guess they felt compelled to stick a MAC team somewhere)
- Vanderbilt (also plausible; have you seen their recruiting class lately?)
- Michigan
- Nebraska
For starters, I’m really regretting sticking Michigan in that No. 2 slot, but the formula called for a Big Ten team, and Ohio State was already locked in to No. 4; what was I to do? The Florida State ranking, though, seems pretty spot-on, and many others (Alabama, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Stanford, South Carolina, and Nebraska are within one or two rankings). Yes, it’s all in fun and jest, to be sure, but it shows that sometimes these whacky formulas work, other times, not so much. And it still sticks in my craw that it compelled me to under-value the Bayou Bengals, and grossly over-value Michigan.
The potentially existential problem at the University of Texas February 10, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Politics.Tags: 3M, academia, academic, B1G, Berkeley, Big Ten, brand, Cadillac, Cal, Carrier, Chevrolet, Chevy, critical, culture clash, doctorate, DuPont, education, engineering, equity, Evergreen, Florida, G.E., G.M., GE, General Electric, General Motors, GM, Golden, Great Lakes, Harvard, higher ed, Hoosier, Indiana, institution, Ivy League, leftism, Lockheed-Martin, Magnum, marketable, marketing, Marxism, masters, Michigan, Minnesota, Pac-12, Packard, Penn State, prestige, professor, public, Purdue, R&D, research, school, SEC, secondary, state, Texas, UCLA, undergrad, United Technologies, university, USA Today, UT, vocation, Washington, Wisconsin, world-class
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On the surface, it seems there has never been a better time to be a part of a major university, particularly the state-funded type. Education remains in high demand, after all, and those working as full-time academics (extra emphasis on “full-time”) make good money. Individual states take pride in their flagship schools as being centers for world-class research, that some of the most cutting-edge, world-changing advances in technology, from electronics to engineering to chemistry to medicine, have come out of these sorts of universities. Note that I said “some” research, for just as many cutting-edge discoveries have come out of R&D departments in General Electric, General Motors, DuPont, 3M, Magnum Research, Lockheed-Martin, and the like (note that they are all for-profit companies in the private sector!).
But that stipulation aside, these flagship schools are often viewed with some degree of prestige. Pennsylvania, for example, rightly takes pride in the academic excellence at Penn State, as it is regarded as a “public Ivy.” Ditto for the University of Michigan in the Great Lakes State, or for both Indiana and Purdue Universities in the neighboring Hoosier State. The Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota are also known for quality, world-class research and are thus a source of pride for their respective states. Same can be said for Cal-Berkeley and UCLA in the once-Golden State or for the University of Washington in the Evergreen State. Even the SEC, not necessarily known for its academic prowess overall compared to the Big Ten or even the Pac-12, nevertheless has a good example of a big, state flagship school with good academics (though a recent development, to be sure) in the University of Florida. And yes, the adjective “state” also means “public,” with college tuition being more affordable for in-state students than if said students were to attend private schools for their higher education instead.
So what is the problem? Well, the issue has two large, important dimensions. At the heart of said issue is an existential crisis that seems to be gripping the University of Texas, another great example of a state flagship school that has good academics both at the undergrad level as well as the graduate one. This existential, if not outright identity, crisis is the result of something of a culture clash within the vaunted institution. USA Today reports that opposing factions within the school have very different visions for the direction and purpose of the UT. The conflict basically goes this way: do we focus on the prestigious aspects of the school, or do we make it more accessible? It’s basically a Cadillac vs. Chevy argument. Cadillacs are much nicer and classier, but Chevys will still get you where you need to go without breaking the bank in the process. Both arguments have merit, but which way should the university go?
The prestige/class argument certainly has its place, but has severe limitations. Undergrads usually choose their school based on its academic reputation, yet said reputation comes from research done by faculty and doctoral students. Just because a professor is a leading researcher in his field does not necessarily mean he will be effectively imparting that insight to the undergrads. In fact, in all likelihood, he might farm out that teaching to his teacher’s assistants, themselves concentrating on establishing their own reputations in academia. The only way an undergraduate student would have a course taught be one of these hypothetical leading professors is if they take an arcane course that is directly within the narrow scope of the professor’s arcane research, as Dr. Thomas Sowell points out. Such is often the case at Harvard and the other Ivy League schools, but less so at certain places like Purdue.
This leads us even further into the problem with “prestige.” While some research is very useful in the real world, other research, not so much. If the cutting-edge research is within the fields of engineering, medicine, food science, agriculture, chemistry, computers/electronics, or even business management to an extent, then all those things can translate to useful applications to advance our standard of living in the real world. But if a professor is a leading researcher in sociology, communication, “women’s studies,” or “critical theory” (i.e., Marxism), so what? How does a degree in a field of that sort of related study translate into marketable skills, which, now more than ever, are key to getting a job in a tough economy?
Long gone are the days when just having any old degree will get you a decent-paying job. Employers look for specific skills to make specific contributions to their companies’ productivity. Therefore, if major universities wish to remain relevant, the other argument goes, then they must adapt their teaching curricula to meet these more basic student needs so that said students, once they graduate, can be productive elements of society, and thus truly get their money’s worth.
Specifically, employers are looking for – depending on your industry, and yes, I’m generalizing here – nurses, engineers, chemists (to an extent), I.T. professionals/computer engineers/programmers, and accountants, not to mention HVAC technicians, plumbers, the latter two do not even require a four-year degree insomuch as a vocational certification. Getting a degree in sociology will not help fulfill employers’ needs.
I for one lean towards the latter camp, but coming from an academically-oriented family myself, I fully sympathize with the other side’s point of view. Where I part company with the other side is the blind eye they turn to, if not outright abet, all the side-effects that come with the purely theoretical, no-real-world-application side of academia. To put it bluntly, one does not hear a peep of Marxism, or any other permutation of Leftist philosophy from engineering or medical schools. Perhaps many a chemistry professor might vote for all the local, state and national Democrat lefties du jour, but one hardly hears any of their ideology trickle down into the classroom. Ditto for engineering professors, or even math professors, though one is likely to find some conservatives in those camps and others where part of their profession is making sure that the numbers actually, you know, add up.
That can hardly be said for many courses in communications, English, sociology, “critical theory/studies,” any ethnic study one cares to choose, or even many – though thankfully not all – history courses and pretty else everywhere else within the purview of liberal arts, sadly.
The irony in the existential debate surrounding the University of Texas is that it has the resources to do a mix of both. It has the resources to offer trade-oriented education to the majority of its would-be undergrads, while at the same time offer English, History, Foreign Languages, Math and Science courses to the kids who want to teach in those disciplines at the secondary (i.e., high school level). If kids within the latter category want to continue their studies as actual scholars in those fields, UT ought to have the resources to accommodate that to an extent, as well as continue in the world class research in which the former camp takes so much pride.
A potential problem with this approach is that, yes, it can muddle the brand, and would run the risk trying to make the University of Texas all things to all people, which hardly anybody outside of G.E. and Carrier/United Technologies are capable of doing. Muddying the brand is problematic enough. Packard tried that in the 1930s in order to survive the Great Depression. Rival Cadillac already had the luxury of having the low-priced Chevrolet brand within the larger General Motors conglomerate. As an independent, though, Packard reasoned that it needed to make low-priced models just to survive, but in doing so, it compromised the prestige of the brand. As any marketing professor worth his or her salt will tell you, though, the solution would have been for Packard to come with its own low-priced flanker brand so as to not compromise the brand equity of its famous luxury marque.
Sounds simple in theory, but for higher education, it is not. If UT were to adopt this idea, how could the ‘man on the street’ differentiate the practical vocation-oriented training from the prestigious research that is normally associated with such an institution? Ultimately, it should come down to individual employers’ ability to be able to see how employment candidates from that school can translate the practical knowledge they have learned into applied abilities to benefit the companies, without regard to prestigious research done elsewhere at such a huge school.
This brief exploration of the opposing issues by no means will settle this huge argument in Austin. But approaching market forces might compel the university to adapt some version of this proposed hybrid model, prestige or no prestige. This discussion is surely to be continued.
2012-2013 Bowl Game Awards January 10, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: A.J. McCarron, ACC, Alabama, Arizona, Auburn, Bama, Baylor, BCS, Bill Belichick, Bill Blankenship, Bob Stoops, Bowl, Brian Kelly, championship, Charlie Strong, Chick-Fil-A, Clemson, college, conference, Cotton, Crimson Tide, FBS, FIghting Irish, Florida, football, game, Georgia Tech, Heart of Dallas, Idaho Potato, Lane Kiffin, Louisville, Mack Brown, Mark Dantonio, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, MSU, national, NCAA, ND, Nebraska, Nevada, NFL, Nick Saban, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Outback, Patrick Higgins, Peach, Pittsburgh, Purdue, SEC, South Carolina, Southeastern, Stanford, Sugar, Sun, Texas, Texas A&M, title, Toledo, Tulsa, U of L, UCLA, USC, Utah, Utah State, West Virginia
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What, you’d think I’d be lying down on the job just because the regular season is over?
COACHES
Wish I were him: Charlie Strong, Louisville
Wouldn’t be bad to be him, either: Nick Saban, Alabama
Glad I’m not him: Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Lucky guy: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Poor guy: Patrick Higgins, Purdue (interim coach)
Desperately seeking a clue (long-term, notwithstanding the win): Mack Brown, Texas
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Bill Blankenship, Tulsa
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Lane Kiffin, USC
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Texas A&M (beat No. 11 Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 4, 41-13)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Florida (see below)
(Dec. 15-31)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Purdue (see below)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Louisville (see below)
(Jan. 1-7)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Alabama
Thought you wouldn’t get your butt kicked, you did: Notre Dame
Dang, they’re good: Alabama (and Texas A&M!)
Dang, they’re bad: Purdue
They can’t be that good: Oklahoma State
Dang, they’re overrated: Notre Dame
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Mississippi State (lost to Northwestern in the Gator Bowl, Jan. 1, 34-20)
Did the season start? USC
Can the season end? West Virginia
Can the season never end? Louisville (or Clemson, though really, Louisville more so!)
GAMES
Play this again (Jan. 1-7): Outback Bowl – No. 10 South Carolina 33, No. 18 Michigan 28
(Dec. 15-31)
Play this again: Peach, I mean, Chick-Fil-A Bowl — No. 14 Clemson 25, No. 8 LSU 24
Also, play this again: New Mexico Bowl – Arizona 49, Nevada 48
(All Bowls)
Never play this again: Heart of Dallas Bowl – Oklahoma State 58, Purdue 14
Don’t bother with this one again, either: Idaho Potato Bowl – No. 22 Utah State 41, Toledo 15
What? Chick-Fil-A Bowl — No. 14 Clemson 25, No. 8 LSU 24
Huh? Holiday Bowl — Baylor 49, No. 17 UCLA 26
Are you kidding me? Sun Bowl — Georgia Tech 21, USC 7
Oh – my – God: Sugar Bowl – No. 21 Louisville 33, No. 3 Florida 23
Wow, dude: BCS National Championship – erstwhile No. 2 Alabama 42, erstwhile No. 1 Notre Dame 14
Cal Sport Media / AP Images
That’s why you line them up and play. My father repeated this mantra to me as I was growing up. Going in to the BCS National Championship game, it seemed as though Notre Dame and Alabama were rather evenly matched on paper. The Fighting Irish had some rather impressive wins on their resume this year, far more impressive than the mediocre schedule they had played in recent years. Beating a tough Stanford squad at home, going on the road to humiliate Oklahoma, and then closing out the regular season on the west coast to beat USC, all in the same year, is no small feat. With such a record, it looked like Notre Dame was back, ready to butt heads with the big boys for national prominence.
Moreover, it was supposed to be a down year for the SEC, remember? Michigan played South Carolina down to the wire (though seriously, the overall outcome was as predicted, if not by a slightly truncated margin of error), and an underachieving Nebraska challenged a, well, underachieving Georgia squad. Mississippi State, for what a great regular season had – by MSU standards, at least – came for naught when they coughed it up to Northwestern in the Gator Bowl. The most striking example of building the case for a SEC down year was the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. No way, under normal circumstances would LSU lose to Clemson, though to be sure, the ACC team has been known to pull one over on the SEC team in that bowl game (remember the 2001 Peach Bowl between Auburn and North Carolina?). No. 3 Florida inexplicably losing to No. 21 Louisville can also add fuel to that fire (not that U of L’s win is something to be rued outside of SEC country!).
Forget that the SEC had three losses going into this game. The conference was 5-3, to be exact; still a winning record. Look at the Bama team itself. They had graduated tons of talent to the NFL. Quarterback A.J. McCarron was not a transcendent player at that position (as one often expects on a team that would be in the running for the national title). The offensive line was young and inexperienced. The Crimson Tide’s defense was not overwhelming, either, especially when compared to the smothering D’s of recent champion squads. When paired up against the other team, one could readily predict some clearly potential mismatches. After all, Notre Dame’s receiving corps was big and talented, and proved to be a game-winning factor throughout the season, as the Irish’s opponents had no answer for that part of their offense.
But there was more. What gave the Irish the strong look of national viability was that Coach Brian Kelly had done an amazing job of massively upgrading the team’s defense. At a school this is much more academically rigid as ND, certain recruiting restrictions tend to put the defensive side of the ball at a disadvantage. One can recruit smart linemen, quarterbacks, tight ends, and receivers, after all, and they are out there. Defense is another issue. Never as well-choreographed as offensive, players on that side of the ball tend to be a bit more reckless, and often have to be to make key stops. Making good grades and doing what defensive players have to do to succeed on the field is oftentimes an incompatibility. Yet Kelly somehow made it work.
So how did things turn out they did? Even yours truly predicted a close game, at least until some time in the 3rd quarter. Turns out, in hindsight, we all made the same mistake we made going into the 2007 BCS game. That year, Ohio State was the undefeated, No.1 team. Florida got in the game almost as an afterthought. Yet despite a touchdown by the Buckeyes on the opening kickoff, the Gators dominated from then on, leaving many viewers in a state of shock and disbelief, and also to ask each other: how did we not see this coming?
The answer comes in two parts. The simplest part is, they are SEC teams. Florida then and Alabama this year played in the most brutal of all college football conferences. Anybody who emerges as the conference champion is battle-hardened, battle tested, and ready and able to go toe-to-toe with anybody else in the country. If one does not believe that the SEC, despite its down year this year, is still not the best conference in the country, you are both blind and detached from reality. For one, SEC teams have won every national title since the 2006-’07 season; that’s seven consecutive years and counting. But even more to the point, the NFL is the ultimate truth serum when it comes to who produces the best players in college football. One NFL team general manager once observed that you could field a competitive team in the pros just by drafting players out of the Southeastern Conference. Lots of money, along with people’s mortgages and livelihoods, rest on making such key decisions – think about that.
So Ohio State then, and Notre Dame this year, were frankly NOT consistently playing the same level of competition that SEC teams face week in and week out. It’s fine for Notre Dame to beat Oklahoma on the road, but to turn right around the struggle at home to Pittsburgh the next game should have raised a few more eyebrows than it did.
The other part to explain how Bama ended up dominating Notre Dame is that Nick Saban is the best college coach in the business. He learned his grinder’s work ethic from his father growing up in West Virginia, and learned how to be detail-oriented as an NFL assistant under Bill Belichick. Being detail-oriented is a transferrable skill that works well at either the college or the pro level. Saban knows how to prepare. Alabama might have seemed relatively weak (compared to recent teams) having to go from one tough game to another (LSU then Texas A&M, for example). But give Saban a full month to prepare, and the team’s true potential shines through. Pay no attention to the Tide getting humiliated to Utah in the 2008 Sugar Bowl; pay attention to Saban’s, and the team’s, more recent body of work, that being three national titles out of the past four years. They say that hindsight is 20-20, and in this case, it most certainly is: Bama played better competition throughout the year, had even better overall athletes, and are guided by the best coach in the business. Sometimes, you have to line them up and play just to be able to see those things with sufficient clarity.
Some thoughts on the Bowls as of Dec. 28 December 29, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Arizona, B1G, Bearcats, Belk, Bengals, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Blue Devils, Boise State, Bowl, Brent Musburger, Capital One, Champs Sports, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Citrus, college, Duke, ESPN, football, Golden Gophers, helmet, Hokies, Holiday, Independence, Kirk Herbstreit, Las Vegas, LeGarrette Blount, Little Caesars, MAACO, Meinecke Car Care Bowl, Minnesota, Mountain West, NCAA, Nevada, New Mexico, Ole Miss, Pac-12, Red Raiders, Ronald Reagan, Russell Athletics, Rutgers, Scarlet Knights, SEC, Tangerine, Texas, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Washington
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From azstarnet.com; try to ignore the Arizona player bumping into the ref and instead, focus on how cool their unis look, along the with the awesome color contrast between Arizona’s and Nevada’s helmets!
The New Mexico Bowl kicked off the season to a surprisingly auspicious beginning. I say “surprisingly,” because let’s be honest; nobody thought that the first bowl game of the year would be that swell, and moreover, it seemed as though Nevada had the game well in hand by the end of the 3rd quarter before Arizona managed to make a pretty good game out of things yet and scored 18 unanswered points to pull ahead at the end, 49-48. And to think that I predicted that the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 would be the bowl season’s “offensive explosion,” yet so far, the results of the New Mexico Bowl have fit that distinction more than any other of the 2012-2013 bowl span.
But wait, there’s more! As more teams unveil special bowl game helmets (read: Cincinnati, Virginia Tech), the jury will still be out until Jan. 7 to decide this ultimately, but thus far, the Arizona-Nevada matchup is definitely the “most aesthetically pleasing helmet contrast,” with the Wolfpack sporting their dark blue helmets on one side, and the Wildcats sporting their special red domes on the other!
Moreover, it will be very difficult for any other team to top the Wildcats for the “sartorial splendor” award, as they have set a new precedent. Normally, if a team has dark blue and red for their colors (technically, Cardinal and Navy Blue, as is the case for both Arizona and Ole Miss), the modern precedents have been something along the lines of 1) dark blue helmets, dark blue jerseys, and either white or gray pants, or white helmets, or 2) white helmets and pants with dark blue jerseys, or 3), dark blue helmets, red jerseys, and white or gray pants. What Arizona did was break through normal precedents and set a whole new one with red helmets, dark blue jerseys, and red pants. It does not get much better than that!
Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports
Speaking of good games, this year’s MAACO Bowl of Las Vegas turned out to be a ‘dandy’ of a game, folks! There are times when you swear that ESPN does actually have a crystal ball in some secret location on their Bristol, Conn., campus, because they sent their front-line crew of Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit to call the game, reflecting on the fact in real time that it was worth tuning in to see! Either that, or it was an elaborate rouse to get Musburger in touch with Chan Lo and the Chinese Triads to settle his gambling debts: who knows? That having been said, what on Earth was Boise State doing wearing those god-awful matte black helmets instead of their pretty metallic blue domes? Sometimes it pays to leave well enough alone; such is what Washington did with their tasteful combination of metallic gold helms, white jerseys and purple pants.
Of all places, this pic came from Bengals.com!
The Belk Bowl also exceeded expectations in terms of a competitive, watchable game. Only two things overshadowed Duke’s first bowl game since the mid-1990s: 1), Cincinnati’s garish, red, carbon fibre-colored helmets, a first in football helmet decor, and 2), the Bearcats ultimately won. Still, it was nice that the Blue Devils wore their tasteful royal blue helmets instead of their generic-looking white ones, which overall made for a nice helmet contrast between the two teams as they played each other in Charlotte. Moreover, keep in mind that the Bearcats pulled off the win with basically a five-man coaching staff (for purposes of comparison, college teams usually have about 10 coaches on staff, not including graduate assistants).
Another very interesting teams’ helmets contrast took place on Dec. 28 in the Russell Athletic Bowl, formerly the Champs Sports Bowl, formerly the reincarnated Tangerine Bowl (basically, the other bowl game they play in the Citrus Bowl before the real Citrus Bowl game, which is now called the Capital One Bowl. Got all that?). Rutgers put up one heckuva fight against Virginia Tech, but came up a field goal short in overtime of tying the Hokies after the first round in overtime. But the contrast was nevertheless unique in that the Scarlet Knights had their newly characteristic chrome shells, while the Hokies sported new, matte maroon helmets with an orange decal of a “Hokie,” which, from what us fans can deduce, is basically a turkey bird on a roid rage. Virginia Tech has undertaken numerous helmet styling experiments during the 2012 season, some kind of interesting, some downright head-scratching. The white helmets with turkey feet clearly belonged in the latter category!
Oh, and the guys at EDSBS, you boys have some ‘splainin’ to do! You ranked the Meinecke Car Care Bowl of Texas last among your list of the 35 bowls for this season. In the words of Musburger, the game turned out to be a real ‘dandy.’ Thanks to the realignment of bowls, this Texas Bowl is about the only B1G vs Big XII matchup we have to look forward to, as the Alamo Bowl no longer affords us that luxury. The game did not disappoint, as Minnesota and Texas Tech butted heads in dramatic form practically from the whistle giving the green light for kickoff. The game remained close and competitive for the whole 60 minutes, though a turning point came when a Red Raider receiver pancaked a Golden Gopher defensive back in the end zone and walloped him — right in front of the back judge. That led to the player, No. 22, to be summarily ejected from the game (and due to an arcane NCAA rule, he shall also have to sit out the opening game next year, too). LeGarrette Blunt would no doubt be proud. A third and goal near the one became a third and goal at about the fifteen. The next play was botched, leading to a field goal. Minnesota called a timeout just as the ball was snapped, and on the next, true snap, the Gophers blocked the kick! A sure TD was reduced to, well, nothing. Yes, in the end, the Red Raiders won on a last-second field goal. Still, the game was riveting from the opening kickoff to the very last play, and that’s all we fans can ask for in any of these bowl games.
In all frankness and honesty, the 2012-2013 bowl season has been overall underwhelming this far. The Little Caesars Bowl and the Independence Bowl (oh, my, have the mighty fallen!) have been nothing about which to write home, and similar things can be said for most of the other bowls up to this point. But having said all that, it is worth pointing out that there have been some high points thus far, and odds are, it can only get better from here. After all, Ronald Reagan himself was known to joke that if one searches through enough mounds of manure, sooner or later one is bound to find the pony!
2012-2013 Bowl Games of High Interest December 26, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Aggies, Alabama, Alamo, Andrew Luck, Auburn, B1G, Badgers, Baylor, BCS, Bears, Big 10, Big Ten, Big XII, Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops, Bowl, Brent Musburger, Bruins, Bulldogs, Capital One, Cardinal, Cardinals, Chick-Fil-A, CHip Kelly, Citrus, Clemson, college, conference, Cornhuskers, Cotton Bowl, Crimson Tide, Ducks, Fiesta Bowl, FIghting Irish, Florida, football, Gator, Gators, Georgia, Granddaddy, Herbie, Holiday, Hotlanta, Jerryland, Kansas State, Kevin Sumlin, Kirk Herbstreit, Kwanzaa, Lou Holtz, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Mississippi State, national championship, NCAA, Nebraska, Nike, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, Outback, Pac-12, Peach, Pro Combat, Rose Bowl, SEC, Sooners, South Carolina, Southeastern, Stanford, Steve Spurrier, Sugar Bowl, Teddy Bridgewater, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, voodoo, Washington, Wildcats, Wisconsin
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As mentioned in the previous installments, 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!
To find a complete bowl game schedule where each game is found in order of date and time each game is to be played, go here.
This third installment is of bowl games about which I am VERY interested (as usual, all times are Eastern Standard). Happy Kwanzaa (LMAO! I’m sorry, I just can’t say that with a straight face!).
Holiday Bowl (San Diego), Thurs., Dec. 27, 9:45 PM EST
Baylor (7-5) vs. No. 17 UCLA (9-4)
My [potential] “offensive explosion” bowl game for the 2012-2013 season. To paraphrase the guys at EDSBS, what’s better in a bowl game than seeing both teams’ offensive coordinators emptying the most shameful corners of their playbook? Better yet, it pits bears vs. bruins; how often does one see that in a bowl? Just sayin’!
Alamo Bowl (San Antonio), Sat., Dec. 29, 6:45 PM
No. 23 Texas (8-4) vs. No. 13 Oregon State (9-3)
Yes, I’ll admit, I’m a bit biased. After all, I was part of the team that won the 1998 Alamo Bowl, arguably one of the more memorable games in the series. But that aside, the Alamo Bowl is always a good matchup. Is it quite as good as when it was Big Ten vs. Big XII? The realignment to a Pac-12 vs. Big XII matchup has not watered things down any, at least not yet. Remember last year’s offensive explosion between Baylor and Washington? That one is not soon to be forgotten, either. This time, the Longhorns are playing, which automatically makes it good. Granted, Oregon State is favored on paper, but do not underestimate Texas’ home field advantage, given that their campus is only a little over an hour away.
Chick-Fil-A Bowl (Atlanta), Mon., Dec., 31, 7:30 PM
No. 8 LSU (10-2) vs. No. 14 Clemson (10-2)
Nothing like closing out the old year by watching a classic SEC-ACC matchup in Hotlanta! Of course, there have been plenty of such “classic” matchups on paper over the past several years, but they have usually amounted to rather one-sided affairs in favor of the Southeastern Conference. You’ll have that. After all, not all Peach Bowls, er, Chick-Fil-A Bowls can be like the Auburn-North Carolina game back in 2001! In any event, the funny guys at EDSBS have come up with three possible scenarios of how this one will play out (all with varying degrees of probability – refer to game ranking #6). I particularly like the “LSU blowout” scenario!
Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, Fla.), Tues., Jan. 1, 12:00 PM
Mississippi State (8-4) vs. No. 20 Northwestern (9-3)
My “great game that nobody is talking about,” for it pits two scrappy teams struggling for respect in their respective conferences. Better yet, it’s a very dramatic culture clash within the bowl season, for the only private school in the B1G meets, well, the “clanga-clanga” of cowbells. It also makes for an intriguing coaching matchup in one coaches favors the pass while the other favors the run. How can a viewer lose with this whole proposition?
Outback Bowl (Tampa, Fla.), Tues., Jan. 1, 1:00 PM
No. 10 South Carolina (10-2) vs. No. 18 Michigan (8-4)
The matchup is intriguing on the surface alone. One side is a traditional blue blood, figuratively and literally. They won the first ever bowl game and gave birth to the college fight song as we know it today. Oh well, and Michigan also has the most wins of any football program, ever. The other side, South Carolina, is something of a late bloomer. A relatively late joiner of the SEC, for years they had been a conference doormat prior to the Lou Holtz and especially the Steve Spurrier eras. But this game is where the newcomer will take down the old guard, should everything work out on paper. Yes, that’s a rather dry way of putting it, but if I made any allusions that the Gamecocks should bury the Wolverines underneath the pavement for some horrified archaeologists to discover a century or two later, well, I might get accused of plagiarism, or something.
Capital One Bowl (Orlando, Fla.), Tues., Jan. 1, 1:00 PM
No. 7 Georgia vs. No. 16 Nebraska
First of all, let us get this out of the way right now and admit that this game is not quite as interesting as the Outback Bowl, but it’s interesting nonetheless. If Nebraska had their hands full against a 7-5 Wisconsin team at a neutral site, good Lord, what is the seventh-ranked Georgia squad going to do to them? Second, what on Earth are the Cornhuskers doing being ranked 16th in the AP after a such can of whoopass had been opened up on them in Indianapolis? All that being said, the only thing that Nebraska has going for them (and I mean the only thing) is that the Bulldogs are a senior-laden team that was underachieved all season, and be very, very aware of such teams when they show up in bowl games, as they are likely to disappoint.
Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.), Tues., Jan. 1, 5:00 PM
Wisconsin vs. No. 7 Stanford
The good news for Wisconsin is that they caught Nebraska off guard during the Big Ten championship game and have earned a third-straight berth to the Granddaddy of Them All. The bad news for Wisconsin is that they must face a Stanford squad that is arguably more formidable than last year’s Andrew Luck-led team. The Cardinal can more than match the Badgers in the trenches, and that instantly takes away their competitive advantage. More bad news: barring the possibility of Stanford breaking out their black helmets and all-cardinal Nike Pro Combat unis, this bowl game will be the matchup of the generic uniforms. The good news for all of us is that we will be “looking live,” as ABC’s front line crew of Brent Musburger and Kirk “Herbie” Herbstreit will be calling the game, folks!
Sugar Bowl (New Orleans), Wed., Jan. 2, 8:30 PM
No. 21 Louisville vs. No. 3 Florida
Yeah, yeah, I know that I filed this upcoming game under “who’s bringing the body bags?” That’s my safe prediction. My less-than safe prediction, shared by others, is that Florida’s occasional quarterbacking ineptitude might align itself with Louisville’s occasionally vulnerable secondary. Of course, even if both of those things click simultaneously, it’s not that safe of a bet that the same clicking will occur between the Gator’s formidable defense against the Cardinals’ Teddy Bridgewater, as sad as I am to say. Then again, it is the Big Easy, and the Charlie Strong can always dial up some voodoo magic.
Fiesta Bowl (Mesa, Ariz.), Thurs., Jan. 3, 8:30 PM
No. 4 Oregon vs. No. 5 Kansas State
When two teams in a bowl game that are very closely ranked square off, it is almost always interesting. But the game is watchable for other reasons as well, such as the intriguing contrast between the two teams. In one corner, wearing purple trimmed with white and silver are the Wildcats, with old man Bill Snyder working his magic albeit with a conventional offense. In the opposing corner, wearing some sort of green trimmed with yellow (we think: it could be black, silver, or something else, for that matter), is Chip Kelly’s Ducks, along with his progressive, hurry-up, hyper-drive offensive play. Think of the overall interest amounting to a weird variation on the old saying that “opposites attract.”
Cotton Bowl (Arlington, Texas), Friday, Jan. 4, 8:00 PM
No. 9 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Oklahoma
Old conference rivals reunite in a relocated classic bowl game (used to be in, well, the Cotton Bowl, now it’s in Jerryland). What makes the matchup even more interesting is that the Aggies’ current head coach, Kevin Sumlin, was at one time an assistant under Sooners’ head coach Bob Stoops. That notwithstanding, in all likelihood the pupil will become the teacher. Oklahoma is another one of those teams about which to beware, that being a team with lots of seniors that has underachieved all year; rarely does a team like that come through victorious during bowl season. Moreover, during the later part of the regular season, Coach Sumlin was coaching A&M so well that it seemed as though they could beat anybody in the nation. With that being said, this will be a major test to see whether or not they can beat anyone in the postseason.
BCS National Championship (Miami), Mon., Jan. 7, 8:30 PM
No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Alabama
On one hand, it is unlikely that Notre Dame has ever encountered any team with Alabama’s overall athleticism. On the other hand, Notre Dame has won lots of close games, and there is some skill to that. Ultimately, the game will come down to one of two things: will the Irish receivers be too much for the Crimson Tide’s secondary, or will Bama’s offensive line gradually take over in the middle of the third quarter? The result of the game will hinge on either contingency.
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
College Football Week 14 Awards December 3, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Alabama, Arkansas State, Army, B1G, Baylor, Big 10, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Bo Pelini, championship, Charlie Strong, Charlie Weis, college, Florida State, football, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Gus Malzahn, Kansas, Kyle Flood, Louisville, Mack Brown, Mark Richt, Navy, NCAA, Nebraska, New Mexico State, Nicholls, Nick Saban, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Pac-12, Rutgers, SEC, South Alabama, South Florida, Stanford, Texas, Texas State, UCLA, West Virginia, Wisconsin
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(Note: All rankings are week 14 AP polls unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Nick Saban, Alabama
Glad I’m not him: Mark Richt, Georgia
Lucky guy: Charlie Strong, Louisville
Poor guy: Kyle Flood, Rutgers
Desperately seeking a clue: Charlie Weis, Kansas
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Gus Malzahn, Arkansas State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Desperately seeking … anything: Mack Brown, Texas
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Oregon State (beat Nicholls 77-3)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Stanford (beat UCLA 27-24 in the Pac-12 championship)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kansas (lost to West Virginia 59-10)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Georgia Tech (lost to Florida State in the ACC championship)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Texas State (beat New Mexico State 66-28)
Dang, they’re good: Alabama
Dang, they’re bad: South Alabama
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Nebraska
Did the season start? Rutgers
Can the season end? South Florida
Can the season never end? Wisconsin
GAMES
Play this again: No. 2 Alabama 32, No. 3 Georgia 28
Never play this again: No. 15 Oregon State 77, Nicholls 3
What? No. 8 Stanford 27, No. 16 UCLA 24
Huh? Louisville 20, Rutgers 17
Are you kidding me? No. 21 Northern Illinois 44, No. 17 Kent State 37
Oh – my – God: Wisconsin 70, No. 12 Nebraska 31
Told you so: Baylor 41, Oklahoma State 34
NEXT WEEK
Only one regular season game is to be played next week, which is the annual Army-Navy game: a cherished American tradition. Go Armed Forces – God bless our troops!
intellectualgridiron 