by Slate Quicksilver
Painful week for some (yours truly included), elation for others.
(2) Alabama showed up for a football game in the SEC championship game while (1) Florida showed up for Georgia Tech's basketball game about 5 miles north. As a result, Alabama's offense went bananas. Florida's offense wasn't terrible, but a backbreaker of an interception sealed the deal. Down 18, Tim Tebow tried throwing the ball through Javier Arenas rather than slightly over his head to a wide open Aaron Hernandez in the endzone. Sadly for Tebow and luckily for Alabama, Arenas' body is made of what physicists know as "solid matter" of a denser material than a pigskin football. That left the game at 18 points and Alabama owned the clock for the rest of the game. It can't be said enough how bad that INT was. UF forced a 3 and out immediately after that INT and then drove down to the redzone in 90 seconds. They lost it on 4th and short, but consider that UF was 20 yards from being down 5 with 7 minutes left.
But that is an irrational fan's view. Though several other sources have pointed out the same plausible scenario, there is no proof that their defense could have stopped Mark Ingram in the last minutes in a close game seeing as hwo they couldn't do it even in garbage time.
Alabama goes to the national championship game and Florida likely goes to the Sugar Bowl. Florida has no reason to cry (a 22 game winning streak with a national championship is nothing to be uncontent with) and Alabama has a great deal to be proud of (great game plan with excellent execution).
(3) Texas dodged an assassin's bullet marked "(22) Nebraska." A last second field goal after an official's review of the time was the difference. However this may be a Pyrrhic victory as Nebraska quite literally drew up the recipe on how to shut down Texas. Alabama needs just to watch the tapes, pay minimal attention and repeat what they saw. Colt McCoy was confused all night by a shifting defense, so we'll have to see what Alabama's thunderous defense does to repeat Nebraska's tune.
In what turned out to be a great game, (5) Cincinnati needed a last minute touchdown to defeat an upset hungry Wannstache-led (15) Pittsburgh team. Pitt had a go-ahead TD with about 90 seconds left but MISSED THE EXTRA POINT. Ouchies. Cincy, likely, will play in the Orange Bowl against Georgia Tech.
(6) Boise State is undefeated, again, after destroying New Mexico State. If anyone will be getting screwed this year, it would be Boise State. Fiesta Bowl or Poinsettia Bowl... tough fall if its not the Fiesta Bowl.
(7) Oregon won the Pac10 after beating Oregon State in the Civil War. It was an excellent game, but Oregon's offense was amazing in the second half. They went TD, TD, FG and run out the clock in order to kill off Oregon State. Most impressive.
The Rest of the Top 25:
(10) Georgia Tech beat The Clemson CJ Spillers 39-34 in Tampa in the ACC championship game. CJ Spiller went bonkers with 4 TDs, but GT's offense was one step ahead of the Spillers and will probably play Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl.
Arizona went to the Coliseum and beat (18) USC... LOLZORZ! USC is now no longer ranked. This season, for the Men of Troy, will probably be forgotten and stripped from the history books and blamed on poor QB play from their frosh QB Matt Barkley. Yet, stats and logic point to the pathetic defense. Either way, they fall to 6th in Pac10 while Arizona is tied for 2nd with 3 other teams. Well done, chaps.
Washington smashed (19) California. Washington was perplexing this year. They beat USC early, but lost to a few bad teams. However, no one can disagree that they aren't going in the right direction and kudos to Steve Sarkisian for doing it so quickly.
East Carolina nipped (22) Houston despite Case Keenum hitting the multi-ball jackpot ramp 3 times to get 500+ passing yards. If you look at Keenum's numbers this year, make sure you are wearing protective lens as your eyes may pop out of your head. 43 TDs/9 INTs and 5449 yards passing with a bowl game to come. East Carolina was touch of a disappointment, but still went 9-4 with a bowl game to come. A subtle and quiet 9-4, but Skip Holtz to Notre Dame... anyone? Just a thought.
(23) West Virginia outlasted Rutgers in a mostly pointless game. West Virginia and Rutgers are two teams that could jump to Big East prominence if Brian Kelly does leave Cincy and that program goes back to meh-ness.
The Rest of What Matters:
The MAC Championship was on Friday (did you know that?) and Central Michigan won and they are now ranked... good for them. Montana, yes the D2 school, obliterated SF Austin 51-0, yes the D2 school, to continue their dominance this season (no seriously go look at their schedule/results) and upped their case for joining the Mountain West or WAC. In the only Sun Belt coverage you'll get all year, FAU beat FIU in the Shula Bowl. A late FG gave UConn a win over USF in the cold. And finally, WisCANsin smashed Hawai'i in the warm climes of Honolulu.
Be ready for our bowl picks and final final word for the season in a few weeks. Good Night, America!
Showing posts with label USC is quite teh overrat'd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USC is quite teh overrat'd. Show all posts
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Final Word for College Football Week 11
A few close calls for the big teams, but a sunny week in the land of college football. Unless, of course, you go to USC where it is a severe weather warning with a tornado watch and 45+ mph sustained winds.
(1) Florida was two fingertip drops in the endzone from Riley Cooper (and 3 missed FGs) from making their win over South Carolina a blowout. What the haters will take away is another "close" win for the Gators who are supposedly fatally flawed on offense while the fans of the Gators will see this as a defensive pillaging. Yes, the Cocks put up 14 points in the first half, but the second half was a complete unplugging of the Carolina offense. 31 TOTAL yards given up to a Steve Spurrier offense. I had never seen Captain Spurrier look as depressed as he did after Garcia's game clinched INT.
(2) Alabama made short work of Mississippi State. 'Bama kind of stumbled out of the gate but the sound of inevitability drowned out even the loudest of cowbells in Starkville (how are those not illegal?). In the end, Mark Ingram went for 149 yards on only 19 carries. Though I don't see the Heisman in his future, I do see an explosive NFL career.
At halftime (3) Texas was up 40-0 at Baylor. Though this is no shock to anyone in the Western Hemisphere, it should be pointed out that Texas doesn't even have to try for the rest of the season to get to the national championship game. It begs the question "Will Colt McCoy be benched to keep him healthy?" The reason this is worth asking is because he is in the Heisman hunt. It would be terrible to see him hurt against Texas A&M in a game they will win by 70 with or without him.
(4) TCU jacked up (16) Utah. This game was never close as the freshman QB for Utah looked scared and bad all day. After a talk with Iroquois, we can almost guarantee TCU in the Sugar Bowl against the loser of the UF/Alabama game.
On Friday, (5) Cincinnati dodged West Virginia's upset bid. Really, WVU scored late to make this closer, but they halted Cincy's offense in an efficient manner. Cincinnati now has Pitt left (with Illinois before them) in the de-facto Big East Championship. That game will be the first game in the Big East with any meaning without a team named West Virginia, Miami or Virginia Tech in about 20 years (or so).
The Rest of the Top 25:
(6) Boise State ripped in state rival Idaho apart. They put up 42 in the first half alone and after a talk with Iroquois can guarantee a Fiesta Bowl bid against either an ACC or Big East team.
(7) Georgia Tech started slow, but eventually overwhelmed Duke. ACC Coastal champs for the Jackets... perhaps a rematch with Clemson?
(8) LSU got all they could handle with Louisiana Tech. La Tech last week held Boise State close but lost and this week went into the 4th quarter down 17-13... props to them.
Stanford (as a staffer on this humble site said they would) beat (9) USC in the Coliseum. No, they didn't just "beat" them, they ruined USC. Absolutely ruined them. 55-21 is the most points USC has given up at home since 1966 and the worst home loss since then as well.
(11) Ohio State beat (10) Iowa in overtime. In OT, Iowa had the ball first. 3 plays later it was 4th and 26 and Iowa out of FG range. The Terrelle Pryor Overrated Watch Sponsored by Matthew McConaughey's Acting Career will remain at "Styx" (the band). It will not be upgraded thanks to play that could only be described as "50% percentile."
(12) Pittsburgh may have landed the deathblow to Charlie Weis's tenure at Notre Dame. They almost blew it and a questionable fumble call sealed it, but the Wannstache finally won a big game that they NEEDED to win.
(13) Oregon decimated Arizona State's defense all day to lead to a large victory. Barring a loss on the way out to Oregon State, Oregon is probably smelling roses and Ohio State.
North Carolina handed (14) Miami a loss for the second year in a row in this year's installment of the Butch Davis Bowl. Four INTs of Jacory Harris was the clincher.
UCF ended (15) Houston's almost-fantasy season in Orlando, the city of fantasies and talking mice. Case Keenum still put up large numbers but had 3 INTs.
California nipped (17) which effectively ended Arizona's dark horse bid for the Rose Bowl.
(18) Penn State was the victim of another Indiana blown lead.
(19) Oklahoma State had a shockingly low scoring win over Texas Tech. At the beginning of the season, one with knowledge of these teams would have predicted that it would have been raining points in Stillwater. Yet it was a 24-17 win for the Cowboys.
(20) WisCANsin was the first to officially say good night to Michigan's bowl chances this year. Michigan needs a win against Ohio State to get bowl eligible... which won't happen.
(21) Virginia Tech obliterated Maryland who is just plain awful.
(22) BYU had a bit of a scare against winless New Mexico. 24-19 was about 50 points closer than most expected this game to go.
(23) Oregon State killed Washington's bowl hopes with a resounding victory in Corvallis. The Beavers are still in the Rose Bowl hunt and it requires a win over Oregon in the upcoming Civil War.
Rutgers forced (24) USF into playing one of the worst games of offensive football in recent years.
The rest of what matters:
The CJ Spiller show continued as Clemson smoked NC State. Florida State beat Wake Forest to stay bowl eligible. Boston College beat Virginia in a sleeper. Mizzou beat Kansas State to muddy the Big XII North picture even more. Iowa State is now bowl eligible after nudging Colorado. Nebraska's defense made it clear that they are back in a shut down of Kansas. Oklahoma's offense showed up 2 months late in a crushing of Texas A&M. Louisville beat Syracuse in a game that set offensive football back 86 years. Minnesota edged South Dakota State proving once and for all that South Dakota does, in fact, have schools. Northwestern survived a late flurry by Illinois. Michigan State won a shootout over Purdue to get bowl eligible. UCLA flattened Washington State... but that's kind of the style these days. Dexter McCluster went bananas against the recently armed and dangerous Tennessee defense for an Ole Miss win. Kentucky = Bowl Eligible... Vandy = terrible. Georgia snuck by Auburn. Finally, Arkansas routed Troy.
(1) Florida was two fingertip drops in the endzone from Riley Cooper (and 3 missed FGs) from making their win over South Carolina a blowout. What the haters will take away is another "close" win for the Gators who are supposedly fatally flawed on offense while the fans of the Gators will see this as a defensive pillaging. Yes, the Cocks put up 14 points in the first half, but the second half was a complete unplugging of the Carolina offense. 31 TOTAL yards given up to a Steve Spurrier offense. I had never seen Captain Spurrier look as depressed as he did after Garcia's game clinched INT.
(2) Alabama made short work of Mississippi State. 'Bama kind of stumbled out of the gate but the sound of inevitability drowned out even the loudest of cowbells in Starkville (how are those not illegal?). In the end, Mark Ingram went for 149 yards on only 19 carries. Though I don't see the Heisman in his future, I do see an explosive NFL career.
At halftime (3) Texas was up 40-0 at Baylor. Though this is no shock to anyone in the Western Hemisphere, it should be pointed out that Texas doesn't even have to try for the rest of the season to get to the national championship game. It begs the question "Will Colt McCoy be benched to keep him healthy?" The reason this is worth asking is because he is in the Heisman hunt. It would be terrible to see him hurt against Texas A&M in a game they will win by 70 with or without him.
(4) TCU jacked up (16) Utah. This game was never close as the freshman QB for Utah looked scared and bad all day. After a talk with Iroquois, we can almost guarantee TCU in the Sugar Bowl against the loser of the UF/Alabama game.
On Friday, (5) Cincinnati dodged West Virginia's upset bid. Really, WVU scored late to make this closer, but they halted Cincy's offense in an efficient manner. Cincinnati now has Pitt left (with Illinois before them) in the de-facto Big East Championship. That game will be the first game in the Big East with any meaning without a team named West Virginia, Miami or Virginia Tech in about 20 years (or so).
The Rest of the Top 25:
(6) Boise State ripped in state rival Idaho apart. They put up 42 in the first half alone and after a talk with Iroquois can guarantee a Fiesta Bowl bid against either an ACC or Big East team.
(7) Georgia Tech started slow, but eventually overwhelmed Duke. ACC Coastal champs for the Jackets... perhaps a rematch with Clemson?
(8) LSU got all they could handle with Louisiana Tech. La Tech last week held Boise State close but lost and this week went into the 4th quarter down 17-13... props to them.
Stanford (as a staffer on this humble site said they would) beat (9) USC in the Coliseum. No, they didn't just "beat" them, they ruined USC. Absolutely ruined them. 55-21 is the most points USC has given up at home since 1966 and the worst home loss since then as well.
(11) Ohio State beat (10) Iowa in overtime. In OT, Iowa had the ball first. 3 plays later it was 4th and 26 and Iowa out of FG range. The Terrelle Pryor Overrated Watch Sponsored by Matthew McConaughey's Acting Career will remain at "Styx" (the band). It will not be upgraded thanks to play that could only be described as "50% percentile."
(12) Pittsburgh may have landed the deathblow to Charlie Weis's tenure at Notre Dame. They almost blew it and a questionable fumble call sealed it, but the Wannstache finally won a big game that they NEEDED to win.
(13) Oregon decimated Arizona State's defense all day to lead to a large victory. Barring a loss on the way out to Oregon State, Oregon is probably smelling roses and Ohio State.
North Carolina handed (14) Miami a loss for the second year in a row in this year's installment of the Butch Davis Bowl. Four INTs of Jacory Harris was the clincher.
UCF ended (15) Houston's almost-fantasy season in Orlando, the city of fantasies and talking mice. Case Keenum still put up large numbers but had 3 INTs.
California nipped (17) which effectively ended Arizona's dark horse bid for the Rose Bowl.
(18) Penn State was the victim of another Indiana blown lead.
(19) Oklahoma State had a shockingly low scoring win over Texas Tech. At the beginning of the season, one with knowledge of these teams would have predicted that it would have been raining points in Stillwater. Yet it was a 24-17 win for the Cowboys.
(20) WisCANsin was the first to officially say good night to Michigan's bowl chances this year. Michigan needs a win against Ohio State to get bowl eligible... which won't happen.
(21) Virginia Tech obliterated Maryland who is just plain awful.
(22) BYU had a bit of a scare against winless New Mexico. 24-19 was about 50 points closer than most expected this game to go.
(23) Oregon State killed Washington's bowl hopes with a resounding victory in Corvallis. The Beavers are still in the Rose Bowl hunt and it requires a win over Oregon in the upcoming Civil War.
Rutgers forced (24) USF into playing one of the worst games of offensive football in recent years.
The rest of what matters:
The CJ Spiller show continued as Clemson smoked NC State. Florida State beat Wake Forest to stay bowl eligible. Boston College beat Virginia in a sleeper. Mizzou beat Kansas State to muddy the Big XII North picture even more. Iowa State is now bowl eligible after nudging Colorado. Nebraska's defense made it clear that they are back in a shut down of Kansas. Oklahoma's offense showed up 2 months late in a crushing of Texas A&M. Louisville beat Syracuse in a game that set offensive football back 86 years. Minnesota edged South Dakota State proving once and for all that South Dakota does, in fact, have schools. Northwestern survived a late flurry by Illinois. Michigan State won a shootout over Purdue to get bowl eligible. UCLA flattened Washington State... but that's kind of the style these days. Dexter McCluster went bananas against the recently armed and dangerous Tennessee defense for an Ole Miss win. Kentucky = Bowl Eligible... Vandy = terrible. Georgia snuck by Auburn. Finally, Arkansas routed Troy.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Final Word for College Football Week 9
Dull week to finish off October... unless you go to Oregon. Or Boise State, for that matter.
(1) Florida dismantled Georgia at the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Joe Cox threw eleventy billion INTs, Tim Tebow broke the all time rushing TD record and the Gators clinched the SEC East crown with a month still to play. Florida's offense looked leaps and bounds better than in previous weeks and Tebow reactivated the deep passing game. No word if this will be a trend, because UGA's defense features a pillow-like toughness aspect. It's a long trip back to Athens from Jacksonville and the for the 17th time in 20 years, it was just a little bit longer.
(3) Texas buried (14) Oklahoma State alive in Stillwater. It wasn't the Longhorn offense that was excellent, it was the defense that didn't let the Cowboys do anything. Will Muschamp didn't really need to, but he blitzed time and time again and made Zac Robinson regret the day he decided to play football instead of going to art class. Texas now is guaranteed a free run to the Big XII championship game now that the Cowboys have rolled over.
(4) Iowa continued to baffle the college football universe by defeated Indiana by what looks to be a commanding score. However in the 3rd quarter, Indiana was up 21-7 and on the Iowa 5 yard line. Then came a pick 6 that bounced off of 4 people before it fell into a running Hawkeye's hands. Iowa didn't look back from there. They still have Ohio State, so let's not sign off of the undefeated season just yet. (Did I just put faith in Terrelle Pryor?)
(5) USC's overrated-ness finally caught up to them as (10) Oregon handily defeated them. Their annual in-conference loss to a bad team finally caught up to as they ran into another legit team in their conference. It wasn't just that Oregon won, it's that Oregon wiped the floor with USC. It was so bad, Pete Carroll even looked slightly visibly angry. Oregon ran for more than 350 yards and the USC defense spent most of the day bend over a barrel waiting for it all just to end. Finally we can declare USC overrated with clear evidence. As for Oregon, I think we can say that they are back on track after their hiccup in week 1.
(6) TCU continues their march to being undefeated by running over UNLV and then backing the car up and then parking over their lifeless skulls. TCU has San Diego State next week (easy win) and then a huge game with Utah. Utah is the last hope to take them down. After reading that sentence, how sick did you just get?
Rest of the Top 25:
(7) Boise State blew up San Jose State. Unlike TCU, there is no game in Boise's future that could be a loss.
(8) Cincinnati took care of Syracuse in what could only be described as "meh" style. 28-7 is a win, but Syracuse is just not a good team. Yet again, we have another unbeaten. However Cincy's path is a tricky one: They still have West Virginia and they finish at Pitt.
(9) LSU crushed Tulane 42-0. LSU needed to get their offense on the tracks again (granted it was Tulane's defense) before they got to the game with Alabama next week. Remember that if LSU wins, they get to backdoor the SEC championship game. Yes, gay double entendre intended... they probably shouldn't go even if they do beat 'Bama.
(11) Georgia Tech was in a dogfight with Vandy for a while, but eventually the inevitability of the triple option's success wore down the Commodore defense. I have been told Josh Nesbitt is a dark horse for the Heisman. We'll talk about that if GT runs the table here on out.
(12) Penn State took 3 quarters to finally remember that they left the parking brake on. It was 13-13 going into the 4th quarter and then Penn State struck for 3 TDs in a very short amount of time to take care of Northwestern.
(13) Virginia Tech, on Thursday, was stunned by North Carolina at home by a last second FG. We should all remember how terrible UNC was a few years ago, and now realize that Butch Davis is sick recruiter/coach. They have turned around fully and quickly with a terrifying defense and an "ACC blandness central committee" approved offense.
(16) Utah had more trouble than you'd like to see a team who is the last hope to take out TCU have with Wyoming. They were down 10-9 going into the fourth quarter before getting 13 on the board.
(17) Ohio State finally scored more than 40 points! Yay! The Terrelle Pryor Overrated Watch Sponsored by M. Night Shyamalan will stay at "Capri Sun Juices" thanks to a slightly productive game. He was still below 50% in completions and did not "Wow" anyone at all, but he didn't turn the ball over. So we keep the Watch at "Capri Sun Juices."
(19) Miami survived a legit season ending upset bid from Wake Forest. Miami was down 27-14 going into the 4th quarter, but then Jacory Harris went into "Shaft" mode and busted some motherfuckas. Remember that while Georgia Tech can win out to take the ACC Coastal crown, Miami did beat them. A GT loss equals a Miami opportunity to literally play in front of hundreds of people at the ACC Championship game.
(21) West Virginia lost to South Florida in Tampa. This is bad for both schools. Bad for WVU because it is a loss. Bad for USF because now they will think they are good again.
(22) South Carolina got embarrassed by Tennessee. Man did Tennessee look stupid in those black uniforms. I mean really stupid. Not stupid as in: "I hate Tennessee and thus I hate whatever they do." No, that is hardly it. That orange color is puke orange and is terrible and I thought that any attempt to cover it or replace it would be welcomed. Well, black was not the replacement we were looking for, ladies and gentlemen. Oh yeah, South Carolina losing means UF wins the SEC East a month early.
(23) Notre Dame blew out a team (technically) on the road so I guess we should wheel out the Jimmy Clausen Heisman Hope Train again. Worse still about this, it was against Washington State who would have trouble stopping a Pop Warner team. About the JCHHT, I have a theory. Notre Dame has no shot at a BCS game. So all the Irish have is the "maybe" hope that Clausen can somehow get accidentally put on the ballot and then have some hanging chads and maybe win due to strange circumstances (all the SEC voters decided to vote for... let's say... Jevan Snead.
It took 59 minutes and 40 seconds but (24) Cal completed their comeback over Arizona State.
(25) Ole Miss experienced one of those regular and totally normal Houston Nutt failures wherein he loses to an inferior in-conference team. Good night, Ole Miss. It was real and all, but we both knew you weren't #4 in the country.
The rest of everything:
Did you ever think you'd see the day when FSU would have to score late in a shootout with N.C. State just to get back to 4-4? Neither did we, and neither did we see Duke being 5-3 (3-1 in conference!) after beating Virginia. Clemson surprised no one by blowing out a school called "Coastal Carolina" which suggested that the school should be made of sand and the football players have shells instead of helmets. Boston College ran over Central Michigan who already used their one win over a BCS school already this year. Nebraska got back on track thanks to the fact that they got to play Baylor. Mizzou smashed Colorado. Texas A&M ran over Iowa State. Texas Tech demolished Kansas which brings the Fightin' Manginos (mascot: Econo-sized bag of Ranch Dipped Fried Cheese Balls) back to complete mediocrity (at least basketball starts soon). Oklahoma had a touch of trouble with Kansas State, but pulled it off. Rutgers got a late TD to beat an emotional UCONN. Louisville had a handful with Arkansas State. WisCANsin smahed Purdue to pieces. Illinois woke up the offense to hang 500 yards (and 38 points) on Michigan. Michigan State found a new way to lose a heartbreaker: This time it was the refs forgetting the rules of football (if you are laying on your back with the football... you are down, right?) Temple proved how much they hate America by beating Navy on a late TD. Oregon State continued UCLA's march to terribleness. Arkansas went nuts on Eastern Michigan early, but the EMUs pushed back in the second half at least. Finally, Mississippi State edged Kentucky in the SEC "blah" matchup of the week.
(1) Florida dismantled Georgia at the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Joe Cox threw eleventy billion INTs, Tim Tebow broke the all time rushing TD record and the Gators clinched the SEC East crown with a month still to play. Florida's offense looked leaps and bounds better than in previous weeks and Tebow reactivated the deep passing game. No word if this will be a trend, because UGA's defense features a pillow-like toughness aspect. It's a long trip back to Athens from Jacksonville and the for the 17th time in 20 years, it was just a little bit longer.
(3) Texas buried (14) Oklahoma State alive in Stillwater. It wasn't the Longhorn offense that was excellent, it was the defense that didn't let the Cowboys do anything. Will Muschamp didn't really need to, but he blitzed time and time again and made Zac Robinson regret the day he decided to play football instead of going to art class. Texas now is guaranteed a free run to the Big XII championship game now that the Cowboys have rolled over.
(4) Iowa continued to baffle the college football universe by defeated Indiana by what looks to be a commanding score. However in the 3rd quarter, Indiana was up 21-7 and on the Iowa 5 yard line. Then came a pick 6 that bounced off of 4 people before it fell into a running Hawkeye's hands. Iowa didn't look back from there. They still have Ohio State, so let's not sign off of the undefeated season just yet. (Did I just put faith in Terrelle Pryor?)
(5) USC's overrated-ness finally caught up to them as (10) Oregon handily defeated them. Their annual in-conference loss to a bad team finally caught up to as they ran into another legit team in their conference. It wasn't just that Oregon won, it's that Oregon wiped the floor with USC. It was so bad, Pete Carroll even looked slightly visibly angry. Oregon ran for more than 350 yards and the USC defense spent most of the day bend over a barrel waiting for it all just to end. Finally we can declare USC overrated with clear evidence. As for Oregon, I think we can say that they are back on track after their hiccup in week 1.
(6) TCU continues their march to being undefeated by running over UNLV and then backing the car up and then parking over their lifeless skulls. TCU has San Diego State next week (easy win) and then a huge game with Utah. Utah is the last hope to take them down. After reading that sentence, how sick did you just get?
Rest of the Top 25:
(7) Boise State blew up San Jose State. Unlike TCU, there is no game in Boise's future that could be a loss.
(8) Cincinnati took care of Syracuse in what could only be described as "meh" style. 28-7 is a win, but Syracuse is just not a good team. Yet again, we have another unbeaten. However Cincy's path is a tricky one: They still have West Virginia and they finish at Pitt.
(9) LSU crushed Tulane 42-0. LSU needed to get their offense on the tracks again (granted it was Tulane's defense) before they got to the game with Alabama next week. Remember that if LSU wins, they get to backdoor the SEC championship game. Yes, gay double entendre intended... they probably shouldn't go even if they do beat 'Bama.
(11) Georgia Tech was in a dogfight with Vandy for a while, but eventually the inevitability of the triple option's success wore down the Commodore defense. I have been told Josh Nesbitt is a dark horse for the Heisman. We'll talk about that if GT runs the table here on out.
(12) Penn State took 3 quarters to finally remember that they left the parking brake on. It was 13-13 going into the 4th quarter and then Penn State struck for 3 TDs in a very short amount of time to take care of Northwestern.
(13) Virginia Tech, on Thursday, was stunned by North Carolina at home by a last second FG. We should all remember how terrible UNC was a few years ago, and now realize that Butch Davis is sick recruiter/coach. They have turned around fully and quickly with a terrifying defense and an "ACC blandness central committee" approved offense.
(16) Utah had more trouble than you'd like to see a team who is the last hope to take out TCU have with Wyoming. They were down 10-9 going into the fourth quarter before getting 13 on the board.
(17) Ohio State finally scored more than 40 points! Yay! The Terrelle Pryor Overrated Watch Sponsored by M. Night Shyamalan will stay at "Capri Sun Juices" thanks to a slightly productive game. He was still below 50% in completions and did not "Wow" anyone at all, but he didn't turn the ball over. So we keep the Watch at "Capri Sun Juices."
(19) Miami survived a legit season ending upset bid from Wake Forest. Miami was down 27-14 going into the 4th quarter, but then Jacory Harris went into "Shaft" mode and busted some motherfuckas. Remember that while Georgia Tech can win out to take the ACC Coastal crown, Miami did beat them. A GT loss equals a Miami opportunity to literally play in front of hundreds of people at the ACC Championship game.
(21) West Virginia lost to South Florida in Tampa. This is bad for both schools. Bad for WVU because it is a loss. Bad for USF because now they will think they are good again.
(22) South Carolina got embarrassed by Tennessee. Man did Tennessee look stupid in those black uniforms. I mean really stupid. Not stupid as in: "I hate Tennessee and thus I hate whatever they do." No, that is hardly it. That orange color is puke orange and is terrible and I thought that any attempt to cover it or replace it would be welcomed. Well, black was not the replacement we were looking for, ladies and gentlemen. Oh yeah, South Carolina losing means UF wins the SEC East a month early.
(23) Notre Dame blew out a team (technically) on the road so I guess we should wheel out the Jimmy Clausen Heisman Hope Train again. Worse still about this, it was against Washington State who would have trouble stopping a Pop Warner team. About the JCHHT, I have a theory. Notre Dame has no shot at a BCS game. So all the Irish have is the "maybe" hope that Clausen can somehow get accidentally put on the ballot and then have some hanging chads and maybe win due to strange circumstances (all the SEC voters decided to vote for... let's say... Jevan Snead.
It took 59 minutes and 40 seconds but (24) Cal completed their comeback over Arizona State.
(25) Ole Miss experienced one of those regular and totally normal Houston Nutt failures wherein he loses to an inferior in-conference team. Good night, Ole Miss. It was real and all, but we both knew you weren't #4 in the country.
The rest of everything:
Did you ever think you'd see the day when FSU would have to score late in a shootout with N.C. State just to get back to 4-4? Neither did we, and neither did we see Duke being 5-3 (3-1 in conference!) after beating Virginia. Clemson surprised no one by blowing out a school called "Coastal Carolina" which suggested that the school should be made of sand and the football players have shells instead of helmets. Boston College ran over Central Michigan who already used their one win over a BCS school already this year. Nebraska got back on track thanks to the fact that they got to play Baylor. Mizzou smashed Colorado. Texas A&M ran over Iowa State. Texas Tech demolished Kansas which brings the Fightin' Manginos (mascot: Econo-sized bag of Ranch Dipped Fried Cheese Balls) back to complete mediocrity (at least basketball starts soon). Oklahoma had a touch of trouble with Kansas State, but pulled it off. Rutgers got a late TD to beat an emotional UCONN. Louisville had a handful with Arkansas State. WisCANsin smahed Purdue to pieces. Illinois woke up the offense to hang 500 yards (and 38 points) on Michigan. Michigan State found a new way to lose a heartbreaker: This time it was the refs forgetting the rules of football (if you are laying on your back with the football... you are down, right?) Temple proved how much they hate America by beating Navy on a late TD. Oregon State continued UCLA's march to terribleness. Arkansas went nuts on Eastern Michigan early, but the EMUs pushed back in the second half at least. Finally, Mississippi State edged Kentucky in the SEC "blah" matchup of the week.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Final Word for College Football Week 7
By Slate Quicksilver
Big games in the college ranks this week. Some teams rolled, others got rolled. The top 10 saw 2 teams fall and 4 teams dodge bullets. College football is certainly in full swing now.
(1) Florida sleepwalked through Arkansas and barely survived. It is true that Arkansas missed 2 FGs (UF missed one) and really Florida's defense is the sole reason they won this game. A hyper-conservative offense and 4 FUMBLES were big contributors in the Razorback upset bid. Credit the Hogs for getting to Tebow all day, but credit the Gators for learning from last year's Ole Miss debacle and not abandoning the run. Florida has fallen to #2 (no shocker...) but it isn't like Alabama crushed South Carolina...
In fact if you took away (2) Alabama's early pick 6, South Carolina was in striking distance for the entire game. The Tide's offense carried solely by Mark Ingram's decision to bulldoze any and all people who opposed him... he rushed for 246 yards on only 24 carries! Stephen Garcia was his normal erratic self, going 20/46 with that pick six, but he played admirably. It was the Gamecocks lack of running the ball to get important first downs that killed them.
If you are keeping score at home, Alabama has allowed 24, 14, 7, 7, 20, 3 and 6 points this year. Florida has allowed 3, 6, 13, 7, 3 and 20 point this year. If both teams play in the SEC Championship game and if both teams' offensive and defensive trends stay the same (mediocre offenses, pants-soiling causing defenses) the SECCG will be an 8-6 defense-fest.
(3) Texas nearly got clipped by (20) Oklahoma despite re-killing Sam Bradford early. 8 turnovers really muddied this game and Colt McCoy didn't go nuts as expected. The biggest stat was OU's complete embarrassment of a running game. They had a grand total of -16 rushing yards. This forced OU backup Landry Jones to try to pass his way to the victory. That did not happen. (Side note: Colt McCoy vs. Landry Jones is probably the best matchup of QB names the BigXII has ever seen. Colt McCoy... good Texas name. Landry Jones... Tom Landry + Jerry Jones!?!?! If those aren't perfect names for BigXII powerhouse teams' QBs... I don't know what is.)
(4) Virginia Tech got smacked down by (19) Georgia Tech in Hotlanta. Tyrod Taylor was not horrible and neither was the Va Tech running game. But GT's triple option went bananas rushing for 309 yards. VT D-coordinator Bud Foster's head exploded after the game destroying all buildings within a .75 mile radius. GT, channeling their inner 1940s stat line, threw a total of 7 times. It really has to be noted that other than Miami, GT's offense has run everyone over this year stopping only to clear dead bodies out of the wheels wells on occasion.
(5) Boise State on Wednesday(?) held on to stave off a late charge by Tulsa. It is at this point that we, as a people, must come to the realization that BSU is going to coast to an undefeated season. Yes, we talked about the potential of this doomsday scenario at the beginning of the year, but we thought that surely Oregon would take care of them (stupid Ducks) and that maybe either Fresno State or Tulsa could trip them. They now have a straight and undisturbed torpedo run on an undefeated season lined up. Will this finally be the year that a team like Boise State crashes the championship game? We know between Florida and Alabama there will be a loss and Texas is not in the clear just yet. This is going to be an interesting second half of the year.
Rest of the Top 25:
(6) USC did not obliterate (25) Notre Dame as 97% of the country had hoped. Credit Front Butt with cooking up a good offensive game plan and not eating it before the band finished the national anthem. This killed the Irish's last gasp at getting to a BCS game and may have sealed Front Butt's pink slip. This also raises questions about USC, who supposedly a team made of world-beaters and ninja robot assassins. This site makes no bones about it. ND is VERY OVERRATED due to several games they SHOULD HAVE LOST BUT DIDN'T DUE TO RIDICULOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. USC should have brutalized them, but couldn't. This suggests that it may be a down year in Trojanland.
(7) Ohio State finally lost an in-conference game to... BWAHAHAHAHA... Purdue. 5 turnovers slit the Buckeye's wrists and Purdue's place kicker might have made himself a nice paycheck in the NFL making a 55 yarder and went 4/5 to seal the day. The Terrelle Pryor Overrated Watch is being raised 2 levels this week from "people are starting to make pamphlets stating the theoretical case that he could be overrated" to "Kate Hudson". He skipped "The Toughness of an Actual Caribbean Pirate Circa 1700" thanks to the loss. By the way, Ohio State does not require an independent "Overrated Watch" because "Ohio State" is already a level in the TPOW and it is just about as high as you can go.
As expected (8) Cincy beat down (21) USF, who folded like a lawn chair in the second half. Cincy, like Boise State, has a great chance of going undefeated.
(9) Miami was a bit slow to get started, but Jacory Harris found his shiny shoes and kick started the flyness-train. UCF put a fight, but no one beats Jacory Harris when he puts on his shiny shoes.
(11) Iowa continues its trend of being undefeated yet not winning any game convincingly by outlasting WisCANsin.
(12) TCU pillaged Colorado State. Next week TCU gets BYU. That will be some non-power conference football to watch.
(14) Penn State unplugged Minnesota by completely shutting them out. It snowed in Happy Valley on Saturday. For a Floridian who moved to Michigan not long ago, this is terrifying because it is mid-October.
TTech walked into (15) Nebraska's house and managed to pull off a victory. TTech is now ranked, whereas Nebraska takes the loss and drops from the top 25. Worse still, the BigXII north is going to be an ocean of mehness. K-State is 2-1 and in first place. Bill Snyder will not die.
(16) OK State blew up Mizzou, who left their offense in the locker room after halftime.
Despite having to deal with a mega hissy fit from his son and the hell he will catch from the ol' ball 'n' chain, Dan Hawkins sat his son in favor of the backup QB due to poor play. The result? Unranked Colorado ends the (17) Kansas hope train. Why is it that whenever Colorado beats anyone who is ranked when they are not, they rush the field? Seriously. You beat a terrible team undeserving of their rank. This does not equal taking down a #1 team in the nation.
(18) BYU got it's 500th win as a program over San Diego State. This has to feel good for the Stormin' Mormons, but remember that a good deal of those victories were against teams like: San Diego State.
(23) Houston smoked Tulane after a slow first half.
(24) Utah was not to be outdone by arch-rival BYU getting their 500th victory, so they got their 600th win as a program over UNLV. This has to feel good for the non-Mormons in Utah, but remember that a good deal of those victories were against teams like: UNLV.
The rest of everyone:
Clemson ran over Wake. BC exploded on NC State who is going in the wrong direction. Virginia's course correction continued over Maryland. Iowa State won their first BigXII game in like 234 years over Baylor. Kansas State nuked Texas A&M. The Wannstaches are 6-1 (good for Pitt) after beating Rutgers. UCONN soundly beat Louisville, Steve Kragthorpe is not going to be there much longer. West Virginia seemed to take it easy on Marshall. Sparty showed up late for homecoming against Northwestern (a noon game and to be fair MSU is a party school...) but took care of business. Michigan feels like a big man right now after totally beating up D2 Delaware State. The Fighting Zookers lost to Indiana in a game that would have put even meth-heads to sleep. Army lost to Temple (Temple... we're at war and clearly you are on the terrorist side). Navy survived a fight with a rapidly improving SMU. Cal took of business over UCLA. Arizona let Washington off the hook last week with two late TDs, so this week Stadford extended the Wildcats with the same courtesy. Arizona State struck gold late to beat Washington. Georgia stomped on Vandy. Mississippi State beat Middle Tennessee State. Ole Miss killed UAB to try get their offense oriented in the correct direction. And finally we here at PLS would like to salute Kentucky for beating Auburn for the first time since 1966.
Big games in the college ranks this week. Some teams rolled, others got rolled. The top 10 saw 2 teams fall and 4 teams dodge bullets. College football is certainly in full swing now.
(1) Florida sleepwalked through Arkansas and barely survived. It is true that Arkansas missed 2 FGs (UF missed one) and really Florida's defense is the sole reason they won this game. A hyper-conservative offense and 4 FUMBLES were big contributors in the Razorback upset bid. Credit the Hogs for getting to Tebow all day, but credit the Gators for learning from last year's Ole Miss debacle and not abandoning the run. Florida has fallen to #2 (no shocker...) but it isn't like Alabama crushed South Carolina...
In fact if you took away (2) Alabama's early pick 6, South Carolina was in striking distance for the entire game. The Tide's offense carried solely by Mark Ingram's decision to bulldoze any and all people who opposed him... he rushed for 246 yards on only 24 carries! Stephen Garcia was his normal erratic self, going 20/46 with that pick six, but he played admirably. It was the Gamecocks lack of running the ball to get important first downs that killed them.
If you are keeping score at home, Alabama has allowed 24, 14, 7, 7, 20, 3 and 6 points this year. Florida has allowed 3, 6, 13, 7, 3 and 20 point this year. If both teams play in the SEC Championship game and if both teams' offensive and defensive trends stay the same (mediocre offenses, pants-soiling causing defenses) the SECCG will be an 8-6 defense-fest.
(3) Texas nearly got clipped by (20) Oklahoma despite re-killing Sam Bradford early. 8 turnovers really muddied this game and Colt McCoy didn't go nuts as expected. The biggest stat was OU's complete embarrassment of a running game. They had a grand total of -16 rushing yards. This forced OU backup Landry Jones to try to pass his way to the victory. That did not happen. (Side note: Colt McCoy vs. Landry Jones is probably the best matchup of QB names the BigXII has ever seen. Colt McCoy... good Texas name. Landry Jones... Tom Landry + Jerry Jones!?!?! If those aren't perfect names for BigXII powerhouse teams' QBs... I don't know what is.)
(4) Virginia Tech got smacked down by (19) Georgia Tech in Hotlanta. Tyrod Taylor was not horrible and neither was the Va Tech running game. But GT's triple option went bananas rushing for 309 yards. VT D-coordinator Bud Foster's head exploded after the game destroying all buildings within a .75 mile radius. GT, channeling their inner 1940s stat line, threw a total of 7 times. It really has to be noted that other than Miami, GT's offense has run everyone over this year stopping only to clear dead bodies out of the wheels wells on occasion.
(5) Boise State on Wednesday(?) held on to stave off a late charge by Tulsa. It is at this point that we, as a people, must come to the realization that BSU is going to coast to an undefeated season. Yes, we talked about the potential of this doomsday scenario at the beginning of the year, but we thought that surely Oregon would take care of them (stupid Ducks) and that maybe either Fresno State or Tulsa could trip them. They now have a straight and undisturbed torpedo run on an undefeated season lined up. Will this finally be the year that a team like Boise State crashes the championship game? We know between Florida and Alabama there will be a loss and Texas is not in the clear just yet. This is going to be an interesting second half of the year.
Rest of the Top 25:
(6) USC did not obliterate (25) Notre Dame as 97% of the country had hoped. Credit Front Butt with cooking up a good offensive game plan and not eating it before the band finished the national anthem. This killed the Irish's last gasp at getting to a BCS game and may have sealed Front Butt's pink slip. This also raises questions about USC, who supposedly a team made of world-beaters and ninja robot assassins. This site makes no bones about it. ND is VERY OVERRATED due to several games they SHOULD HAVE LOST BUT DIDN'T DUE TO RIDICULOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. USC should have brutalized them, but couldn't. This suggests that it may be a down year in Trojanland.
(7) Ohio State finally lost an in-conference game to... BWAHAHAHAHA... Purdue. 5 turnovers slit the Buckeye's wrists and Purdue's place kicker might have made himself a nice paycheck in the NFL making a 55 yarder and went 4/5 to seal the day. The Terrelle Pryor Overrated Watch is being raised 2 levels this week from "people are starting to make pamphlets stating the theoretical case that he could be overrated" to "Kate Hudson". He skipped "The Toughness of an Actual Caribbean Pirate Circa 1700" thanks to the loss. By the way, Ohio State does not require an independent "Overrated Watch" because "Ohio State" is already a level in the TPOW and it is just about as high as you can go.
As expected (8) Cincy beat down (21) USF, who folded like a lawn chair in the second half. Cincy, like Boise State, has a great chance of going undefeated.
(9) Miami was a bit slow to get started, but Jacory Harris found his shiny shoes and kick started the flyness-train. UCF put a fight, but no one beats Jacory Harris when he puts on his shiny shoes.
(11) Iowa continues its trend of being undefeated yet not winning any game convincingly by outlasting WisCANsin.
(12) TCU pillaged Colorado State. Next week TCU gets BYU. That will be some non-power conference football to watch.
(14) Penn State unplugged Minnesota by completely shutting them out. It snowed in Happy Valley on Saturday. For a Floridian who moved to Michigan not long ago, this is terrifying because it is mid-October.
TTech walked into (15) Nebraska's house and managed to pull off a victory. TTech is now ranked, whereas Nebraska takes the loss and drops from the top 25. Worse still, the BigXII north is going to be an ocean of mehness. K-State is 2-1 and in first place. Bill Snyder will not die.
(16) OK State blew up Mizzou, who left their offense in the locker room after halftime.
Despite having to deal with a mega hissy fit from his son and the hell he will catch from the ol' ball 'n' chain, Dan Hawkins sat his son in favor of the backup QB due to poor play. The result? Unranked Colorado ends the (17) Kansas hope train. Why is it that whenever Colorado beats anyone who is ranked when they are not, they rush the field? Seriously. You beat a terrible team undeserving of their rank. This does not equal taking down a #1 team in the nation.
(18) BYU got it's 500th win as a program over San Diego State. This has to feel good for the Stormin' Mormons, but remember that a good deal of those victories were against teams like: San Diego State.
(23) Houston smoked Tulane after a slow first half.
(24) Utah was not to be outdone by arch-rival BYU getting their 500th victory, so they got their 600th win as a program over UNLV. This has to feel good for the non-Mormons in Utah, but remember that a good deal of those victories were against teams like: UNLV.
The rest of everyone:
Clemson ran over Wake. BC exploded on NC State who is going in the wrong direction. Virginia's course correction continued over Maryland. Iowa State won their first BigXII game in like 234 years over Baylor. Kansas State nuked Texas A&M. The Wannstaches are 6-1 (good for Pitt) after beating Rutgers. UCONN soundly beat Louisville, Steve Kragthorpe is not going to be there much longer. West Virginia seemed to take it easy on Marshall. Sparty showed up late for homecoming against Northwestern (a noon game and to be fair MSU is a party school...) but took care of business. Michigan feels like a big man right now after totally beating up D2 Delaware State. The Fighting Zookers lost to Indiana in a game that would have put even meth-heads to sleep. Army lost to Temple (Temple... we're at war and clearly you are on the terrorist side). Navy survived a fight with a rapidly improving SMU. Cal took of business over UCLA. Arizona let Washington off the hook last week with two late TDs, so this week Stadford extended the Wildcats with the same courtesy. Arizona State struck gold late to beat Washington. Georgia stomped on Vandy. Mississippi State beat Middle Tennessee State. Ole Miss killed UAB to try get their offense oriented in the correct direction. And finally we here at PLS would like to salute Kentucky for beating Auburn for the first time since 1966.
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