College Football Week 9 Awards October 27, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Appalachian State, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Benny Goodman, Brady Hoke, Bret Bielema, BYU, Cincinnati, Death Valley, Dylan Thompson, East Carolina, Florida State, Frank Beamer, Gamecocks, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Hugh Freeze, Jim Mora, Jordan-Hare Stadium, Kansas, Kent State, Kentucky, Les Miles, Let That Be A Lesson To You, Louisville, LSU, Mark Dantonio, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Mike Gundy, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri, Navy, Nevada, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Old Dominion, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, pride commeth, Rebels, Rich Rodriguez, rival, rivalry, rule no. 1, San Diego State, South Carolina, Southern California, Spartans, Sparty, Steve Spurrier, TCU, Texas Tech, Tigers, Trojans, Tulane, UAB, UCLA, UConn, USC, Utah, Utes, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wolverines
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 9] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Glad I’m not him: Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
Lucky guy: Les Miles, LSU
Poor guy: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Desperately seeking a wake-up clue: Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Bret Bielema, Arkansas
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
Desperately seeking … anything: Brady Hoke, Michigan
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Wisconsin (defeated Maryland 52-7)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: East Carolina (defeated UConn 31-21)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: UAB (lost to Arkansas 45-17)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Kentucky (lost to Mississippi State 45-31)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Georgia Tech (defeated Pittsburgh 56-28)
Dang, they’re good: TCU
Dang, they’re bad: Kent State
You know, they’re not so bad: Arkansas
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Minnesota
Did the season start? BYU
Can the season end? Michigan
Can the season never end? Michigan State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 5 Auburn 42, South Carolina, 35
Play this again, too: No. 24 LSU 10, No. 3 Ole Miss 7
Never play this again: No. 10 TCU 82, Texas Tech 27
What? Illinois 27, Minnesota 24
Huh? Miami 30, Virginia Tech 6
Are you kidding me? North Carolina 28, Virginia 27
Oh – my – God: No. 24 LSU 10, No. 3 Ole Miss 7
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 9, pre-week 10)
Ticket to die for: No. 4 Auburn @ No. 7 Ole Miss
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: No. 6 Notre Dame vs. Navy
Best non-Power Five matchup: San Diego State @ Nevada
Upset alert: No. 2 Florida State @ Louisville
Must win: Tennessee @ South Carolina
Offensive explosion: No.10 TCU @ No. 20 West Virginia
Defensive struggle: Florida vs. No. 9 Georgia in Jacksonville
Great game no one is talking about: Kentucky @ Missouri
Intriguing coaching matchup: Rich Rodriguez of Arizona vs. Jim Mora of UCLA
Who’s bringing the body bags? Kansas @ No. 12 Baylor
Why are they playing? Old Dominion @ Vanderbilt
Plenty of good seats remaining: Georgia State @ Appalachian State
They shoot horses, don’t they? Cincinnati @ Tulane
Week 9 Random Thoughts:
- There is a reason they call Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. It is the place where dreams go to die – other teams’ dreams that is. Ole Miss was having the most phenomenal season of the program in about 52 years, and seemed to be on a collision course for vying for the national title. After a neat playing at LSU, that is now seriously in doubt. The really interesting aspect of it all? The score: the Tigers triumphed over the Rebels 10-7. Such an old-fashioned score was, ironically, a great nod to the classic rivalry and the memorable games during the Eagle Day and Billy Cannon eras thereof.
- One cannot recall a more valiant effort given on the part of South Carolina the previous evening. Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier knew going in that he was out-gunned and undermanned going into Jordan-Hare Stadium to face a fearsome Auburn Tigers squad. But the Gamecocks gave it their all, took incredible risks on 4th down throughout the evening – mirabile dictu, they converted more often than not – and almost succeeded in the end. Almost. What ultimately turned out to be South Carolina’s undoing was their quarterback, Dylan Thompson, who had a habit of throwing fade route passes towards the sideline and almost always failing to connect with his receivers, overthrowing them constantly. Granted, over-the-middle passes are always more risky than those thrown towards the sidelines, but Thompson succeeded more often in the middle of the field, and it is a shame that he did not go on that same instinct late in the game. Had he done so, the Gamecocks might have pulled off one of the grandest upsets of the year.
- Few fans outside of the Pacific Time Zone might have witnessed this, but the No. 19 Utah Utes defeated the No. 20 USC Trojans, 24-21. How fitting a score for two teams ranked literally right next to one-another, with the correct, higher-ranked team, winning? Every now and then, the pollsters literally do get it right!
- Pride commeth before the fall. Since a Michigan player made a “little brother” comment about their in-state, intra-conference rival Michigan State at a press conference several years ago, Sparty has gone 6-1 in said rivalry. In an established rivalry between two programs, Rule No. 1 is that you show said rival respect. With the Spartans having humiliated the Wolverines yet again, 35-11, we have just witnessed the potential penalty made manifest for violating said rule. Let that be a lesson to all of us.
College Football Week 5 Awards September 29, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Army, Auburn, Bobby Petrino, Brady Hoke, BYU, Cal, California, Charlie Weis, Colorado, East Carolina, FAU, FIU, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida Internation, Florida State, Gary Patterson, Gary Pinkel, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, James Franklin, Jeff Monken, Jim Mora, Kansas, Louisville, LSU, Mark Helfrich, Marshall, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Mizzou, NC State, New Mexico State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, North Texas, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Old Dominion, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Rich Rodriguez, SMU, South Caroina, South Florida, Southern Miss, Stanford, Steve Spurrier, Syracuse, TCU, Temple, Texas A&M, Tulane, UCLA, UConn, Utah State, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yale
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 5] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Jim Mora, UCLA
Glad I’m not him: James Franklin, Penn State
Lucky guy: Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Poor guy: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Gary Patterson, TCU
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Jeff Monken, Army
Desperately seeking … anything: Brady Hoke, Michigan
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 17 LSU (defeated New Mexico State 63-7)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: No. 1 Florida State (defeated NC State 56-41)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Wyoming (lost to No. 9 Michigan State 56-14)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: South Florida (lost to Wisconsin 27-10)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Temple (defeated UConn 36-10)
Dang, they’re good: Auburn
Dang, they’re bad: Tulane
You know, they’re not so bad: Minnesota
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Indiana
Did the season start? South Carolina
Can the season end? SMU
Can the season never end? UCLA
GAMES
Play this again: No. 6 Texas A&M 35, Arkansas 28 (OT)
Play this again, too: Cal 59, Colorado 56
Never play this again: TCU 56, SMU 0
What? Northwestern 29, Penn State 6
Huh? Yale 49, Army 43
Are you kidding me? Maryland 37, Indiana 15
Oh – my – God: Missouri 21, No. 13 South Carolina 20
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 5, pre-week 6)
Ticket to die for: No. 3 Alabama @ No. 11 Ole Miss (though you don’t want to miss No. 6 Texas A&M @ No. 12 Mississippi State, either, or No. 5 Auburn vs. No. 15 LSU, for that matter)
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: North Texas @ Indiana
Best non-Power Five matchup: Utah State @ BYU (also, Southern Miss @ Middle Tennessee)
Upset alert: No. 14 Stanford @ No. 9 Notre Dame
Must win: Virginia Tech @ North Carolina
Offensive explosion: Arizona @ No. 2 Oregon (Thurs.)
Defensive struggle: Purdue @ Illinois
Great game no one is talking about: Louisville @ Syracuse (Fri.)
Intriguing coaching matchup: Rich Rodriquez of Arizona vs. Mark Helfrich of Oregon
Who’s bringing the body bags? Kansas @ West Virginia
Why are they playing? Marshall @ Old Dominion
Plenty of good seats remaining: Florida Atlantic @ Florida International
They shoot horses, don’t they? SMU @ East Carolina
Week 5 Random Thoughts:
– Having made these types of weekly articles during the college football season for the third straight year, without a doubt, the most difficult thing to accurately predict is the “offensive explosion” game each week. This time, I got it fairly close, seeing as how the score between the Clemson vs. North Carolina game ended at 50-35, in favor of the Tigers. The only problem was, there were plenty other “offensive explosions” to choose from in hindsight, such as Florida State vs. North Carolina State (56-41), or even Cal vs. Colorado (59-53). Even the Army-Yale game kept the scoreboard lit up at 49-43, with the Bulldogs – an FCS team – beating the Black Knights, an FBS team. Still, with a combined tally of 85, the originally-designated game turned out to be a good prediction after all.
– Just for the record, “defensive struggles” are comparatively easier to predict. At a final score of 24-10, the Iowa @ Purdue game delivered reasonably on that prognostication, though Vandy @ Kentucky bested at mark with a final score of 17-7 in favor of the Wildcats. Nevertheless, in this day and age of ubiquitous spread offenses and no-huddles, 24-10 easily qualifies as a low-scoring contest.
– After watching Purdue slowly give the game away to Iowa at home, something occurred to me, in two parts. Yes, the Boilermakers have improved from last year, but they are still inept. Also, having your home stadium only two-thirds full for homecoming is not a good sign.
– In case you missed the fireworks at last week’s post-game press conference, Steve Spurrier tore in to his own team…after [South Carolina] won. Heaven knows the hell there will be to pay for the Gamecock players after coughing it up at home to Mizzou this past Saturday evening.
– Meanwhile, on the West Coast, UCLA is on a roll right now, having thumped a respectable Arizona State team in the desert, 62-27. Mark your calendars for Oct. 11, because if these shadows remain unchanged, the matchup between the Bruins and the Oregon Ducks on that date will be a ticket t0 die for, Pac-12 edition.
– The powers that be at Kansas already fired Charlie Weis from the head coaching position…after only four games…and they were only 2-2 (hey give them credit: they DID beat Southeast Missouri State and Central Michigan). Granted, the program was, over the course of the past two to three years, headed in the wrong direction anyhow, but it still seems odd firing one’s head coach only four games into the season after a 2-2 record. There are two take-aways from this. One is that Charlie Weis is clearly not built to be a head coach. He is a brilliant offensive mind, to be sure, but many men do not have what it takes to lead other men over the hill on the field of battle. Weis is one of those of many. In hindsight, he would have been better off staying at Florida as an offensive coordinator, as that job much more effectively plays to his strengths as a coach. The other take-away is in regards to the questionably hasty firing. This is Kansas, after all, and is yet another thing that explains why the program is a perpetual bottom-feeder, with this being the latest in their strategic blunders.
The 2013-2014 NCAA Bowl Games: The Good, The Bad, and the Intriguing December 21, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Alamo, Arizona State, Armed Forces, Auburn, Baylor, BBVA Compass, Boise State, Bowl, bowl game, Buffalo, BYU, Central Florida, Clemson, college, Cotton, Fiesta, Florida State, football, Fresno State, Hawaii, Heart of Dallas, Holiday, Houston, Idaho Potato Bowl, Kraft Fight Hunger, Las Vegas, Louisiana-Lafayette, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Missouri, national championship, Navy, NCAA, New Orleans, North Texas, Northern Illinois, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Orange, Oregon, Oregon State, Poinsettia, Rose, San Diego State, Southern California, Stanford, Sugar, Texas, Texas Tech, Tulane, UNLV, USC, Utah State, Vanderbilt, Washington
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Oklahoma State and Missouri used to play each other routinely as conference foes, even as recently as 2009. Since Mizzou skipped the Big XII for the SEC, however, that routine came to an abrupt end. Now, they are to meet each other again in the Cotton Bowl.
Ticket to die for: Could it be any more obvious? No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 2 Auburn in the BCS National Championship Game (Jan. 6)
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: (two good ones) No. 20 Fresno State vs. No. 25 USC in the Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 21), and Boise State vs. Oregon State in the Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 24)
Best non-Big Six matchup: Utah State vs. No. 23 Northern Illinois in the Poinsettia Bowl (Dec. 26)
Upset alert: No. 5 Stanford vs. No. 4 Michigan State in the Rose Bowl (Jan. 1)
Must win: No. 12 Clemson vs. No. 7 Ohio State in the Orange Bowl (Jan. 3)
Think there’s enough Crimson? No. 11 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl (Jan. 2)
Old Rivals Reunite: No. 13 Oklahoma State vs. No. 8 Missouri in the Cotton Bowl (Jan. 3)
Offensive explosion: No. 14 Arizona State vs. Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl (Dec. 30)
Defensive struggle: Middle Tennessee vs. Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl (Dec. 30)
Great game no one is talking about: BYU vs. Washington in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (Dec. 27)
Home Field Advantage: Louisiana-Lafayette @ Tulane in the New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 21)
Could be bad for the home team: No. 10 Oregon vs. Texas in the Alamo Bowl (Dec. 30)
Intriguing coaching matchup: Brady Hoke of Michigan vs. Bill Snyder of Kansas State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (Dec. 28)
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 6 Baylor vs. No. 15 Central Florida in the Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 1)
Why are they playing? UNLV vs. North Texas in the Heart of Dallas Bowl (Jan. 1)
Plenty of good seats remaining: Buffalo vs. San Diego State in the Idaho Potato Bowl (Dec. 21)
They shoot horses, don’t they? Vanderbilt vs. Houston in the BBVA Compass Bowl (Jan. 4)
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 Week 6 Awards October 8, 2012
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
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(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.
College Football Week 5 Awards October 1, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Army, Art Briles, Auburn, Baylor, Bayou Bengals, Big 10, Bo Pelini, Boilermakers, Boise State, Boston College, Cincinnati, college football, Colorado, Commonwealth Stadium, Cougars, Dana Holgorsen, Danny Hope, Derek Dooley, Fighting Illini, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Huskers, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky Wildcats, Kevin Sumlin, Kevin Wilson, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, LSU, Mark Dantonio, Marshall, Miami Hurricanes, Miami Redhawks, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee State, Mountaineers, NCAA, Nebraska, New Mexico State, Nittany Lions, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, Purdue, Sonny Dykes, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Stony Brook, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Thundering Herd, Tim Beckman, Towson, Tulane, UCLA, uniforms, unis, Urban Meyer, Virginia Tech, Washington State, West Virginia, Wisconsin Badgers
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COACHES
Wish I were him: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Glad I’m not him: Derek Dooley, Tennessee
Lucky guy: Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Poor guy: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Danny Hope, Purdue
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Tim Beckman, Illinois
Desperately seeking … anything: Kevin Wilson, Indiana
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: North Carolina (defeated Idaho 66-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: LSU (defeated Towson 38-22)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Colorado (lost to UCLA 42-14)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Marshall (lost to Purdue 51-41)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Penn State (beat Illinois 35-7)
Dang, they’re good: Florida State
Dang, they’re bad: Army
Did the season start? Virginia Tech
Can the season end? Indiana
Can the season never end? Oregon
GAMES
Play this again: West Virginia 70, Baylor 63
Never play this again: Louisiana Monroe 63, Tulane 10
What? Cincinnati 27, Virginia Tech 24
Huh? Stony Brook 23, Army 3
Are you kidding me? Penn State 35 – Illinois 7
Oh – my – God: Middle Tennessee State 49, Georgia Tech 28
Told you so: No.5 Georgia 51, Tennessee 44
NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for: No. 5 Georgia @ No. 6 South Carolina
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Miami (Fla.) @ No. 9 Notre Dame (assuming one were to count Independents as “non-Big Six, otherwise, it would be Miami (Ohio) @ Cincinnati.
Best non-Big Six matchup: Louisiana Monroe @ Middle Tennessee State
Upset alert: No. 8 West Virginia @ No. 11 Texas
Must win: No. 17 Oklahoma @ Texas Tech
Get-well opportunity: No. 20 Michigan State @ Indiana
Offensive explosion: Washington State @ No. 18 Oregon State
Defensive struggle: No. 4 LSU @ No. 10 Florida
Great game no one is talking about: Michigan @ Purdue
Intriguing coaching matchup: Urban Meyer of Ohio State vs. Bo Pelini of Nebraska
Who’s bringing the body bags? Kansas @ No. 7 Kansas State
Why are they playing? No. 24 Boise State @ Southern Miss
Plenty of good seats remaining: Boston College @ Army (or, New Mexico State @ Idaho, take your pick)
They shoot horses, don’t they? Arkansas @ Auburn
What we have learned after Week 5:
Remember last week’s predicted “Offensive Explosion”? Scratch that. Yes, hindsight is indeed 20-20, but West Virginia’s Big XII debut against Baylor was far more than an “Intriguing Coaching Matchup” between the Mountaineers’ Dana Holgorsen and the Bears’ Art Briles. The score of the game was so high, in what has become to be a seemingly typical Baylor fashion these days, that one needed oxygen to read the numbers. The Mountaineers made a very splashy conference debut, winning at home 70-63.
Also, remember last week’s predicted “Defensive Struggle”? Scratch that one, too. Penn State defeated Illinois in the Fighting Illini’s home stadium, 35-7. That cannot be attributed alone to the Illini wearing dark blue helmets for the first time since, well, pretty much ever. The available evidence on hand indicates that Illinois has worn orange helmets since at least 1945, if not earlier. I cannot find any photographic record yet of them ever wearing blue helmets, but the search shall continue. Just don’t hold your breath in the meantime. That aside, has Penn State found some offense, or is Illinois that horrible? The Nittany Lions have sputtered offensively practically the whole season until yesterday, while the Fighting Illini were 2-2 going into that game.
The Purdue-Marshall match-up in West Lafayette, Ind., was tagged for this past week’s “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They” slot. The selection was by default, since the odds of a major blowout anywhere else aside from other chosen games seemed much higher. But while the Boilermakers were making gamey mincemeat out of the Thundering Herd in the first half, they let off the gas too soon in the second half. A clearly visible epidemic of dropped passes in the third quarter especially raised concerns for Purdue’s prospects in the Big Ten. Until now, plenty of talk has abounded regarding the Boilers having a very attainable shot at representing the Leaders division of the Big 10 in the championship game in Indianapolis. After this game, some doubts will no doubt linger. Much work is to be done if Purdue is to triumph at home next week against Michigan, and quell the justifiable newfound doubts in so doing. Get it together, Boilers.
The LSU-Towson matchup was to be, on paper, a slaughter so massive as to border on a war crime. Most fans could not even point Towson’s location out on a map (hint: it is a very nice suburb in the northern part of Baltimore). The only factor one can attribute to LSU’s inexplicably close margin of victory (38-22) is that the Bayou Bengals must have kept the playbook very, very limited so as to avoid divulging any trade secrets as they prepare to take on a quietly improving Florida team next week.
The Upset Alert prediction of last week (South Carolina @ Kentucky) seemed to almost come to fruition, as the Gamecocks wasted an entire half, trailing the Wildcats in Commonwealth Stadium by more than a touchdown. Only after they made the proper halftime adjustments did they assert themselves like a top-ten team should, and pulled themselves out of an unnecessary hole with a modest score of 38-17. South Carolina will not have such a luxury of using an entire half of a football game as their learning curve next week, when they will take on cross-border, arch-rival Georgia in what will without a doubt be the game of the week.
Awesome unis:
The Wisconsin-Nebraska game was not only a great game to watch from a purely game-play standpoint, with great execution on both sides of the ball. It was also a feast for the eyes from two teams who historically where rather stodgy uniforms. Both teams had sick-looking alternate, quasi-throwback unis (and we mean “sick” in the hip, with-it, good way!). The Badgers’ red helmets and red shoulders on white jerseys was a feast alone for the eyes, to say nothing of Huskers’ red jersey-pants combo with tasteful black trim, along with the first black helmets the team as ever donned – EVER. The proverbial icing on the cake was the large school letters worn on the front of both teams’ jerseys. All in all, a nice combination of throwback elements from the 1920s, 1940s, and 1950s! Speaking of which, did anybody notice the nice late ‘50s-style numbers on Wisconsin’s jerseys? One word: neato!
While we’re on the awesome uniform topic, it was nice to see LSU where purple jerseys again, as they have been known to do once in a blue moon. Moreover, I am prepared to designate Ole Miss’ road uniforms as the nicest away unis in the SEC. The all-gray is a unique touch, but the red-on-navy blue trim is an unbeatable combination, especially as it scrolls over the shoulders. On the other side of the continent, what is up with Oregon wearing gray pants? This thought especially came to mind as I watched them play Washington State in Pullman, Wash. Did the Ducks not know full-well that the Cougars were wearing gray pants at home? Would it have been too much trouble to wear green pants instead to provide a better contrast on the field? Sheesh.
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