Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Akron, Arizona, Arkansas State, Army, Auburn, Ball State, Bayou Bengals, Big East, Big XII, Bill Curry, Bill Snyder, Bo Pelini, Bobby Petrino, Boston College, Cardinals, Carrier Dome, Charlie Strong, college, Colorado, Commonwealth Stadium, Crimson Tide, Cyclones, Danny Hope, Dave Doeren, DeWayne Walker, FCS, Florida, football, Gary Patterson, Gene Stallings, Houston, Hyde, Iowa State, Irish, Jekyll, Jim Colletto, Joker Phillips, Kansas State, Kentucky, Longhorns, Lou Holtz, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, Loveliest Little Village, LSU, Memphis, Mississippi State, Missouri, Mitch Barnhart, Mizzou, Mountaineers, N.C. State, NCAA, Nebraska, New Mexico State, Nick Saban, North Carolina State, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Orange Bowl, Oregon State, Paul Chryst, Pitt, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Red Raiders, Rich Rodriguez, Rutgers, Sam Houston State, Samford, SEC, South Carolina, Stanford, Sun Belt, Syracuse, TCU, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tigers, Toledo, Tom O'Brien, Troy, Tulane, Tulsa, UCLA, UMass, Vanderbilt, Vandy, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Wildcats, Wofford, Wolfpack
(Note: All rankings are current AP [post-week 10, pre-week 11] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Nick Saban, Alabama
Glad I’m not him: Rich Rodriguez, Arizona
Lucky guy: Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Poor guy: Paul Chryst, Pittsburgh
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Tom O’Brien, N.C. State
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Dave Doeren, Northern Illinois
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Danny Hope, Purdue
Desperately seeking … anything: DeWayne Walker, New Mexico State
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Stanford (beat Colorado 48-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Florida (beat Missouri 14-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Temple (lost to No. 11 Louisville 45-17)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Pittsburgh (lost to No. 4 Notre Dame, 29-26, 3 OT)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Vanderbilt (beat Kentucky 40-0)
Dang, they’re good: Texas A&M
Dang, they’re bad: Purdue
Can’t stand prosperity: Arizona (lost to UCLA 66-10)
Did the season start? Missouri
Can the season end? Memphis
Can the season never end? Louisville
GAMES
Play this again: No. 1 Alabama 21, No. 5 LSU* 17
Never play this again: Northern Illinois 63, UMass 0
What? No. 16 Texas A&M* 38, No. 15 Mississippi State* 13
Huh? No. 23 Texas* 31, No. 18 Texas Tech* 22
Are you kidding me? TCU 39, No. 21 West Virginia* 38, OT
Oh – my – God: UCLA 66, No. 22 Arizona* 10
* rankings are from Week 10 as opposed to Week 11
NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for: No. 15 Texas A&M @ No. 1 Alabama
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: (no really good match-ups)
Best non-Big Six matchup: Louisiana-Monroe @ Arkansas State
Upset alert: No. 11 Louisville @ Syracuse
Must win: No. 22 Mississippi State @ No. 9 LSU
Offensive explosion: Baylor @ No. 14 Oklahoma (or Tulsa @ Houston)
Defensive struggle: Missouri @ Tennessee
Great game no one is talking about: No. 13 Oregon State @ No. 16 Stanford
Intriguing coaching matchup: Gary Patterson of TCU vs. Bill Snyder of No. 2 Kansas State
Special Election Night Special: Ball State @ Toledo (Red vs. Blue)
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 4 Notre Dame @ Boston College
Why are they playing? Louisiana-Lafayette @ No. 7 Florida
Plenty of good seats remaining: UMass @ Akron (notwithstanding Tulane @ Memphis)
They shoot horses, don’t they? Army @ Rutgers
Week 10 in Review:
Bama passes the test: Last week’s “Ticket to die for” certainly lived up to its billing, as The Crimson Tide duked it out with the Bayou Bengals in Death Valley. A normally mistake-free Alabama reversed that trend throughout much of the game and started making more mistakes than usual. Top-notch opponents tend bring out more mistakes than usual, to be sure. In the end, Bama’s offense finally decided to start executing. This sudden development clearly caught LSU’s defense off guard, and The Tide easily scored a TD when all they needed was a field goal to tie. With only a minute to go, LSU failed to score on the second Hail Mary play. Bama passed the test against what might be its toughest opponent of the entire regular season.
SEC Breathers: Between this and upcoming Saturday and the one to follow, it seems as though the bulk of the SEC, stud and cellar-dweller alike, will take a breather from beating up on one-another and instead focus their brutal energies on lesser opponents, be they, say, fodder from the Sun Belt Conference (e.g., Louisiana-Lafayette at Florida), or FCS teams. Case in point: Samford ventures up to Lexington to play Kentucky in two weeks. Alabama will no doubt easily dispatch with Western Carolina that same day. Missouri is somewhat an exception in that they will play middle-of-the-road Big East foe Syracuse. A curious annual constant is Wofford getting annihilated by South Carolina. Tennessee already had their little break with Troy. Vandy will conclude its season by taking its respective break against Wake Forest. Arkansas barely escaped from their little breather, beating Tulsa only 19-15. Auburn’s break, though, also comes two Saturdays from now when Alabama A&M comes to the Loveliest Little Village on the Plains. Even Texas A&M is getting in on the act and playing Sam Houston State on the 17th. Curiously, no such break comes for Ole Miss, Mississippi State, or LSU. Still, do the teams that are taking a break, either this week or next, feel that their conference schedule is so brutal that they think they need such breaks before it is time for the ol’ sprint to the finish? As a suggestion for improvement, surely Notre Dame could be squeezed in to one of these schedules, as the Irish feel they are “back,” and could be given an opportunity to test that idea. It would give the fans a lot more excitement than Wofford or Sam Houston State, that’s for sure.
Jekyll-and-Hyde Longhorns: At first, it seemed as though Texas was caught off guard by West Virginia’s high-powered offense and narrowly lost in a high-scoring game. That idea quickly vanished in Dallas the following week when the Horns got embarrassed by Oklahoma. Squeaking by Baylor in an even more high-scoring affair than that against the Mountaineers raised further concerns about Texas’ defensive woes (poor fundamentals, inability to make basic tackles, etc.). Then, inexplicably, they win on the road. And not just on the road, but in Lubbock, against Texas Tech, which in recent years has been one of the toughest places to play in the Big XII Conference. Even more inexplicable is, while Texas did have occasional recurring issues with their defense (the same sort that has visibly plagued the Longhorns for the last month), by virtue of holding the Red Raiders to only 22 points, the defense clearly made key stops this time.
Granted, Texas Tech’s offense has been a tad inconsistent this year, scoring 49 points one week then being held to 24 the next, and so on. Nevertheless, they walloped West Virginia and won in a shootout over TCU, making everyone take notice of their high-powered offense.
The “so-what” in all of this is that one of the hallmarks of a well-coached team is that you know what sort of performance to expect from week to week. Was the past month a temporary slump for Texas, or are they to be up for one week, down for the next? Time will tell if their defeat of Texas Tech has halted the bleeding, or if they will perpetrate the apparent “Jekyll-and-Hyde” mystery with a sub-par performance against Iowa State next week. Conversely, if they obliterate the Cyclones at home next week, it will bode well for the rest of the season, when they will need it the most against TCU, followed by No. 2 Kansas State.
Quietly undefeated: The Louisville Cardinals are 9-0 for the first time in program history. Not even Bobby Petrino managed such a feat when he put the Cards on the map and coached them to their first ever Orange Bowl-berth/victory. The only team that defeated them in that memorable 2006-2007 season was Rutgers, in Piscataway, N.J. Interestingly enough, that is where Louisville concludes its regular season this year, potentially for all the marbles in the Big East. But before the Cards look too far ahead, they need to focus on the next game. Syracuse is their next opponent, and Louisville takes them on in the Carrier Dome, where they are tough (though not impossible) to beat. Coach Charlie Strong would be well-served to remind his sophomore-dominated team that this upcoming match-up is a potential trap game, and that they must focus their preparations accordingly.
Another one bites the dust: The University of Kentucky opened up the floodgates in 1996 for a whole slew of coaching changes at years end when they fired Bill Curry. Soon after that, the inept Jim Colletto of Purdue resigned, and at season’s end, so did Lou Holtz and Notre Dame and even Gene Stallings at Alabama, just to name a few. Could UK have started a similar apparent chain reaction in 2012, having just fired Joker Phillips? Time will tell. Joker was, by all accounts, an honorable representative of the Wildcats, and A.D. Mitch Barnhart was lavish in his praise of the man in an open letter on UK’s official website. Ultimately, it was a business decision. Phillips simply lacked the skill set to effectively lead the largest revenue generating division of UK’s athletic brand (he was 12-23). At best, only about 10,000 fans showed up at Commonwealth Stadium to see the Wildcats get trounced by traditional conference bottom-feeder Vandy. Obviously the program has been headed in the wrong direction for the past couple of years, and Mitch Barnhart made a prudent business decision to try to rectify this problem.
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Air Force, Arizona, Arkansas, Army, Auburn, Big 10, Big Ten, Bob Stoops, Brian Kelly, Bryant-Denny Stadium, Buffalo, Bulldogs, Butch Jones, Central Florida, Charlie Strong, Cincinnati, Clemson, cocktail party, college, Colorado, Crimson Tide, Dan Mullen, Danny Hope, Darrell Hazell, Duke, East Carolina, Fighting Illini, Florida, Florida State, football, Gators, Georgia, Hoosiers, Horned Frogs, Huskies, Illinois, Indiana, Joker Phillips, Kansas, Kansas State, Kent State, Kentucky, Kevin Sumlin, Kyle Flood, Louisville, LSU, Miami, Milan Puskar Stadium, Mississippi State, Missouri, N.C. State, Navy, NCAA, North Carolina, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Ohio, Ohio State, Ohio U, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, Purdue, Rutgers, SEC, SMU, Southern Miss, spread offense, Stanford, Steve Sarkesian, Tarheels, TCU, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, toilet bowl, Troy, Tulsa, UAB, UMass, USC< Alabama, Washington, West Virginia
(Note: All rankings are current AP [post-week 9, pre-week 10] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
Glad I’m not him: Kyle Flood, Rutgers
Lucky guy: Charlie Strong, Louisville
Poor guy: Butch Jones, Cincinnati
Desperately seeking a clue: Joker Phillips, Kentucky
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Darrell Hazell, Kent State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Desperately seeking … anything: Danny Hope, Purdue
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Oregon (beat Colorado 70-14)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Texas (beat Kansas 21-17)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Auburn (lost to No. 16 Texas A&M 63-21)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Kansas (lost to Texas 21-17)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Navy (beat East Carolina 56-28)
Thought you wouldn’t get your butt kicked, you did: Texas Tech (lost to No. 3 Kansas State 55-24)
Dang, they’re good: Kansas State
Dang, they’re bad: Temple
Can’t stand prosperity: Ohio U. (lost to Miami [Ohio] 23-20)
Did the season start? Texas
Can the season end? Purdue
Can the season never end? Notre Dame
GAMES
Play this again: No. 7 Georgia 17, No. 8 Florida 9
Never play this again: No. 3 Oregon 70, Colorado 14
What? Michigan State 16, Wisconsin 13, OT
Huh? No. 10 Georgia 7, No. 8 Florida 9
Double Huh? Washington 20, No. 13 Oregon State 17
Are you kidding me? Kent State 35, Rutgers 23
Oh – my – God: Arizona 39, No 18 USC 36
Told you so: No. 12 Louisville 34, Cincinnati 30, OT
NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for: No. 1 Alabama @ No. 6 LSU (notwithstanding No. 2 Oregon @ No. 9 USC)
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Tulsa @ Arkansas
Best non-Big Six matchup: SMU @ Central Florida
Upset alert: No. 10 Clemson @ Duke
Must win: Texas @ No. 20 Texas Tech
Offensive explosion: Arizona @ UCLA
Defensive struggle: Miami (Ohio) @ Buffalo
Great game no one is talking about: No. 16 Texas A&M @ No. 17 Mississippi State
Intriguing coaching matchup: Kevin Sumlin of Texas A&M vs. Dan Mullen of Mississippi State
Who’s bringing the body bags? Colorado @ No. 15 Stanford
Why are they playing? Troy @ Tennessee
Plenty of good seats remaining: UAB @ Southern Miss
They shoot horses, don’t they? UMass @ Northern Illinois
Week 9 in Review: Upsets and Conference Toilet Bowls Abound
The whole purpose of a given “Toilet Bowl” is to pit the two worst teams against each other to find which is, in fact, the worst of the worst. Such was determined twice yesterday. In the Big 10 Toilet Bowl, Indiana trounced Illinois 31-17, in the Fighting Illini’s home stadium, no less. Illinois, now 2-6, is now the undisputed – though clearly not undefeated – bottom-feeder of the conference for this season. They are winless in the Big 10, and have no time to lick this very revealing wound, as next week they venture into Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State.
Meanwhile, in the Toilet Bowl, SEC Edition, Missouri defeated Kentucky in CoMo (which is what the locals refer to as Columbia, Mo.) by a similar score, 33-10. Kentucky is in a sadly familiar spot in the most brutal of conferences in college football. What is even more revealing, though, is UK’s response in the wake of the loss.
“It’s tough, because we knew we were better than those guys,” so said Kentucky tailback Raymond Sanders. Better than them, even when losing by 23 points? Such denial of reality is why head coach Joker Phillips has merited the above award for the week (see: Desperately seeking a clue).
Undefeateds going down: Fewer teams remain undefeated today than when they woke up to play games yesterday. Rutgers was the highest-ranked team in the Big East before going down to one-loss Kent State. Inexplicably, the Golden Flashes’ sole defeat came at the hands of Kentucky.
Mississippi State’s first defeat of the season was the most understandable of all first losses of the year, given that they were going up against No. 1 Alabama, in Bryant-Denny Stadium, no less. The Bulldogs’ head coach, Dan Mullen, said it best going into the weekend when he pointed out that, “[Y]ou’ve got to try to run the ball (on Alabama) whether you’re having success or not.” Despite Mississippi State’s best efforts, they were very slowly and methodically ground down by the Crimson Tide, 38-7.
On the West Coast, undefeated Oregon State lost that distinction in their loss to Washington. Steve Sarkesian’s Huskies have earned the reputation of being a “giant killer” of sorts this year, as they handed previously-undefeated Stanford its first loss of the year as well. Keep an eye on the program on the rebound in Seattle.
Finally, Florida was another team to bite the proverbial dust and suffer its first loss to Georgia in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville, Fla. Though scoring was relatively low (17-9 in favor of the UGA Bulldogs), there were plenty of plays to keep the crowd enthused. In the end, the old adage of “the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins” rang true yet again, which explains how the Bulldogs reigned victorious.
More chrome: North Carolina – of all bloody teams! – has jumped on the chrome dome bandwagon, as they sported chrome-silver helmets during their last-minute upset over rival N.C. State. Moreover, the main decal was an oversized Tarheel logo (the Carolina blue-colored foot with the tar on the heel), in breaking with the traditional “NC” decal they usually display. On all-dark blue jersey and pants ensemble complimented a very different look for a team normally known for its “Carolina blue” helmets and jerseys. Oh well: it beats the trendy “matte” look!
Choke-lahoma: That moniker was earned/demonstrated yet again last night, as Oklahoma squandered a golden (if you’ll pardon the expression) opportunity to hand Notre Dame its first loss of the year. Stoops and company have nobody to blame but themselves for deliberately holding themselves back. They had an offensive line capable of controlling the line of scrimmage, and yet they repeatedly passed up on the opportunity to establish a ground attack. On the passing side of things, they also held themselves back by concentrating on short-yardage increments that are the bread-and-butter of the one-sided spread offense. They did this while being thoroughly capable of throwing the ball further down the field, and by not doing this, never forced the Irish secondary to respect either the deep threat or the short yardage attempts. Head Coach Bob Stoops has proven once again to be something of a schoolyard bully of the coaching ranks; arrogant and blunt with reporters, lots of bluster, but having little to, er, “bring,” when genuinely challenged.
Looking ahead: some other games to keep an eye on, aside from the upcoming games listed above includes Air Force @ Army in an all-service academies showdown. Another intriguing matchup is TCU venturing into Morgantown, W.V. to play the Mountaineers. The big question going in to that game will be, how will West Virginia respond to two consecutive drubbings after being ranked so high in the polls? Moreover, how the Horned Frogs will handle the Milan Puskar Stadium crowd is a question no doubt in the back of the minds of many a fan and observer. In the wake of the SEC “Toilet Bowl” 2012, Missouri takes on Florida and Kentucky takes on Vanderbilt, meaning that the respective cellar-dweller status of either team is unlikely to change anytime soon. After Oklahoma was embarrassed at home to Notre Dame, how will they respond at Iowa State, a team that has shown surprising formidability this year? Can Duke show that it has staying power by bouncing back after a tough though understandable loss to Florida State in time to put up a good fight against inconsistent Clemson? More importantly, can USC bounce back from being upset in the desert by Arizona in time for a primetime showdown against Oregon at home?
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