Well a lot of big games this past weekends and pretty much all of them close. Starting at the top: 1. UF defeated a tougher than expected Arkansas team at the swamp. Ark missed a lot of opportunities and as we can see the Gators were aided somewhat by the SEC refs. But in the end it was the Gators. It's hard to go a whole season thrashing everybody by 3 or 4 touchdowns. So midseason close games by the top teams should be expected. That's what we got here. 2. Alabama again showed a powerful running game but that improved QB play that I talked about seems to be diminishing. That bama QB looked pretty ordinary and while it may be good enough to get them to the SECCG he's not good enough for them to win IMHO. Bama defense looked powerful but the most impressive thing about Bama right now is their running game...awesome is the only way to describe it. 3. Texas vs OU. Ugly, Fugly, saving tackle by your Heisman contending QB to save the win. But bottom line is our defense looks good and we won the game. Big Game Bob goes down again to Mr. February! :lol: I guess the question is , are the 3-3 Sooners the losers to 3 ranked teams by a total of 5 points a top 25 team? Maybe...we'll find out in few hours. 4. VaTech/GaTech...another confused defense goes down to the Yellow Jackets triple option. Funny thing is for an option team they suck at pitching the ball, they must have muffed 3 or 4 pitches last night. But that QB is very dangerous when he fakes the pitch and turns it up inside. Va. Tech had no clue on how to stop it. Can you believe they only threw the ball 1x last night. Tyrod Taylor though is another gem to watch. He can really dance around there in the backfield and has a strong arm. He doesn't seem to like to run even though he's excellent, I guess he wants to prove that he's a Pro style NFL pocket passer. He's Michael Vick, not quite as electric but pretty close, thing was Vick was not shy about taking off and running in college this kid is. 5. Ohio State/Purdue: I guess I wasn't imagining things when the Irish defense had a hard time with the Purdue QB and his WR's, they seemed all conference against our defense, but I figured our defense was the problem. Turns out that they are pretty good, Buckeye defense isn't bad and they put some points up and made some plays against them as well. Of course they were helped mightily by Buckeye turnovers, something the Irish didn't do in their game. Maybe there is hope with Hope. 6. UM/Del State. This wasn't really a game, more of a ritual sacrifice. 7. ND/USC. The dreaded "moral victory"? Maybe, we hung tough against a superior foe when it looked like we might collapse. We were in a position to either win with a 2 pt conversion or go into OT. But we did neither. To me Jimmy Clausen showed that he's the best QB in college football given what he did against a D that only had to rush 4 guys to pressure him, that had not allowed any team a TD pass. But what was more impressive was Jimmy running for a TD on a bad hoof and for a big 1st down. Seeing him limp around out there in the 4th QTr was truly inspiring. But it's done and in the can. I'm glad we played well and all but it was still very troubling to lose. 8. Tech/Neb. This was the shocker of the day for me. Tech had their way with Neb last year in Lubbock, I would have thought Mr. Suh and company would have carried the momentum from the Missouri win over to this game at home and run over around and through Tech. But instead they just didn't play well and Tech got another win at Lincoln. Has to be a tough loss for the Huskers. 9.Iowa again found away to win at Wisconsin. I don't know what to think of these guys. They still have to go to Columbus and face Ohio State, but that's the only game left that will be tough for them. IU, NU, Minn are the other teams. Hard to say though how good these guys really are, they just seem to win. 10. Illinois, the Illini are a sad team this year. All that stellar recruiting by Zook seems to have flamed out. Will he be retained at the end of the year? 11. Houston: Look out for the Cougars, they are looking like the best team in CUSA. Unfortunately that bad loss to UTEP will keep them out of any BCS talk. But they are a very good offense maybe as good as most top 25 teams. 12. Texas A&M: OMG WTF????? How could they look that bad? 13. Boise State: Unipressive win vs ho hum Tulsa team. Maybe no less impressive than the rest of the top 10 winners. But BSU needs those big wins to maintain position. Va.Tech was #4 to their #5 but I don't see them moving up to #4, in fact I see them getting jumped by USC. They are still a mortal lock most likely for a BCS game, just no chance at BCS champ game. I fully expect them to be eventually jumped by Cincy if the Bearcats continue to win against better competition. 14. Cincinnati: Brian Kelly quickly becoming the hot coach some what like Urban Meyer was at Utah. He's just winning and winning. He does it with a Heisman Candidate QB or what ever QB is healthy. I don't think there is going to be a big opening this year, mostly lateral type of openings that shouldn't be all that attractive to him unless there is a lot more money of course. 15. Heisman. Sort of a nothing week for the top Heisman candidates. Tim Tebow won but it was a workman like game, Tony Pike is injured again and it was his backup who really secured the win. Jimmy Clausen faced a great defense threw the first 2 TD's against them this year put up the most points against them, but he lost. Colt McCoy won but hardly distinguished himself as a QB, he didn't look good at all. The guy who might be moving up fast is Mark Ingram of Alabama, this guy is a great RB and he had a great night last night I wouldn't be suprised if he moved into #2 behind Tebow in the ESPN Heisman Watch. 16. O'Keefe Top 10. 1. Alabama 2. UF 3. Texas 4. USC 5. Boise 6. Cincy 7. Iowa 8. Ga.Tech 9. TCU 10. Va.Tech
I would pick: Alabama - Strongest team at the moment UF - Not looking as strong as last year, needs the weak schedule to get ready for bama in championship game Texas - Will be undefeated at the end of the season USC - Freshman QB wins at Irish to put pressure on Weis hanging around Iowa - Keeps impressing Boise - Giving the finger to the so called football establishment Cincy - Wins at hostile enviroment in S. FL Miami - Wins at UCF but still shows lack of depth, injurys having impact Ga. Tech - Seems to be getting better, brought confusion to the ACC rankings with win over VT LSU - Almost here by name only, suspect if they can even spell offense this year.
I'll comment on #2: I am certain that the "improved QB play" will be back next week. Teams that stumble a little the week before they play us tend to turn that trend around when we show up. We looked like world beaters against Georgia. I just hope that we can pressure Bama enough to keep them on that downward trend on offense.
Well OU did stay in the AP top 25 at #25 and ranked #26 in the Coaches poll. Irish ranked #26 and #30 in the AP/Coaches poll. Not suprising to me that Boise was jumped by USC and as I predicted Cincy jumped them also, I just figured it would take a few more wins by Cincy for them to jump Boise. From here on out the schedule is going to kill Boise, they may not be able to hold off TCU either if they run the table.
Well the BCS poll was finally released... BCS Standings RK TEAM RECORD 1 Florida 6-0 2 Alabama 7-0 3 Texas 6-0 4 Boise State 6-0 5 Cincinnati 6-0 6 Iowa 7-0 7 USC 5-1 8 TCU 6-0 9 LSU 5-1 10 Miami (FL) 5-1 11 Oregon 5-1 12 Georgia Tech 6-1 13 Penn State 6-1 14 Virginia Tech 5-2 15 Oklahoma State 5-1 16 Brigham Young 6-1 17 Houston 5-1 18 Utah 5-1 19 Ohio State 5-2 20 Pittsburgh 6-1 21 Wisconsin 5-2 22 Arizona 4-2 23 West Virginia 5-1 24 South Carolina 5-2 25 Kansas 5-1
Tom, I hope you're right, but this is 2 games in a row that the Bama passing game has not been solid, IMO. The D and running game (especially Ingram) have been great, but if Bama's going to live up to the high ranking, I think the passing game will eventually have to click. I wouldn't be surprised to see teams put more guys in the box if the passing game doesn't improve.
Terry, I am hoping that your top 3 stay undefeated until conference championship time and that the SEC winner gets matched up with Texas for the championship game. As to who is number 1 it really doesn't matter much to those three as long as they keep winning. I pretty much agree with your analysis of Alabama. As good as they have looked on defense and running the ball they don't look like world beaters either. They didn't score a offensive td last night until late in the 4th quarter. The next 6 weeks are going to be interesting.
Bryan, I don't think that Tennessee will put more in the box. We have DBs that are coming along better than expected. I would expect Monte to let the DBs and MLB handle the passing game. Eric Berry will probably be the spy on Ingram to slow his success. I think you will see less than normal blitzing while we focus primarily on the run game. Blitzing will be the tool we use if Ingram is getting a blow on the sideline and Berry can target the QB. All of that, of course, is simply my opinion based upon what I have seen Monte do this year. That wise old owl is liable to do anything to keep Bama off balance though.
It's been a process for Stoops and Arizona hasn't it? A lot of places would have given up on Mike awhile ago. But they seem to have viewed things in a longer time frame, probably a good thing given the mess that Makovic left you guys.
The blogs in Buckeye Nation are starting to look much like the blogs in Michigan during Lloyd's last years http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2009/10/five-things-purdue-2.html# I understand the frustration with Pryor but the calls for Tressel's scalp in many of the comments on this blog make some of the lunatic fringe on NDNation and the Michigan FBB on Rivals seem almost sane. Hell, if they want to know what rooting for a loser really feels like, let them experience the joy of being a Detroit Lions fan working in an office filled with Packer fans.
Interesting reading. As far his point that TP should have been put on the bench for awhile, one that was made by BuckeyeT, I have to ask who do the Buckeyes have behind Pryor? Also I noted that B10 officiating was called into question! As far as sharing an office with Packer fans, do they grill out in the snow at lunch time! )
Terry, Nah... I'm fine. Pre-Fran I would be having epileptic seizures, but I've mellowed a lot in the last 6 years or so. I'm just waiting to see what happens...
Take your meds before turning on the set for the Tech game, you know Lumpy will hang a hundred on you if he can.
I also thought the comments in the main article about Pryor were interesting. He did have horrible games against both Wisconsin and Purdue and seems to be regressing rather than improving. I think the thing that caused my head to spin were the numerous comments after the article wanting Tressel to be run out of Columbus on a rail. One NC, dominating the B10 since his national championship year, and driving Lloyd into retirement and us poor Wolverine fans to suicidal ideation are not minor accomplishments. Either the posters have short memories or are too young to remember the Bruce and Cooper years. Actually, the folks in the office don't rag on me too much. Pity on me for being born a Detroiter and residual Lions fan are the primary emotions expressed. They vent their real anger on Farve/Vikings and the possibility that the Legislature might increase the beer tax for the first time in decades. Hard to tell which of those two pisses them off more. My guess is the beer tax wins first prize.
Wait! I thought I was the reason Lloyd retired!! Yeah Tressel has been incredibly successful at OSU. I guess they forget the 4 game BCS bowl winning streak, they owned the Fiesta Bowl for awhile there. He may (emphasis on MAY) have made a mistake in bringing in Pryor but then he was only the #1 recruit in the country and incredibly dominating at the HS level...but then so was Ron Powlus!