Wow where to start? 1. The Hat!!! He pulls out another brilliant trick from the depths of his ass! Where does he come up with this ****? He has a great defense, and while his offense is spotty it has come up big when needed and not by itself lost a game. Like him or not, he's compelling to watch. BTW that was an excellent game! It was tough, hard hitting, inelegant at times, and yet compelling with all the pageantry of college football. Huge crowd, luscious LSU chicks in skimpy beaded costumes. Hard to not like Baton Rouge for a football game. 2. The rest of the SEC pretty much took the week off with everybody playing their favorite patsy low ranked no chance of winning team at home. Result lot's of very big wins by SEC teams against outmanned outgunned no hope opponents. Hopefully the payday was good (BTW just picking on the SEC this week, other conferences will do the same very soon). 3. Big Game Bob!!! God I love to see him go down. Running game getting stuffed in the red zone at critical times. No BCS bowl for Big Game Bob this year. Maybe he should have taken the ND gig! Congrats to the Aggies, my view of the game was that Tannehill has a live arm and can deliver the ball something that Jerrod Johnson was not able to do. And Cyrus Gray looks like he's ready to shine and take over the running game for the Aggies down the stretch. Aggie defense looked great as well bent but didn't break. Also Landry Jones who the talking heads on ESPN were trying to force into the Heisman campaign is vastly overrated. I won't be suprised if OK. State beats them this year. 4. Mr. Feb Mack Brown apparently has resurfaced after several years of being covered for by Vince Young and Colt McCoy. He has more talent than just about anybody, and has the current #1 recruiting class on it's way to Austin. But he still has Greg Davis hanging around his kneck and now the Coach in waiting Will Muscamp and his defense look pathetic. Mack will not resign, Davis will still be the OCoord and if Muschamp wants to he will stay. I think a sacrifical lamb in the person of the OL coach will likely presented. What really ticked me off is that after 5 picks, and no points in 3 quarters, that Mack let him stay in the game. To me it was like having a pitcher who has given up 10 runs, the last 3 by bombs deep into the stands stay out their and take it like a man. Thankfully the KState defense finally wore down and the kid got a couple of garbage time scores to no doubt bolster himself for the next game. And the defense, OMG. KState was not going to throw the ball, and their offense was less diverse than Navy, they ran about a total of 4 plays QB draw, QB duck, option, and hand off to TB. Only 2 players touched the ball for them all night. How simple could an offense be, and yet you can't stop it...oh yeah and the kid running it is not a Service Academy QB who has practiced and practiced the position. He was a WR most recently. Thank God we weren't playing Navy, or Air Force, or Army, they would have scored 70 on us. Take OK State and give the points next week in Austin. 5. Stanford: Not as good as the Ducks for sure, but surely one of college football toughest teams, and a team that once it has you down will step on your neck. No letting up because they feel sorry for you, nope that's not their job. Question is will Jim Harbaugh stay at Stanford or will the Chargers or Forty Niners take a run at him. Or mmmayyyyyyyybe his old Alma Mater Michigan should they decide to replace RR. 6. Baylor.....cinderella carriage turned back into a pumpkin. 7. Iowa State....maybe not a bad team. They deserved to win that game yesterday vs the Huskers. Too bad they didn't make the 2pt conversion, would have been a great story to go along with their win last year in Lincoln. Not that AJ would agree with me. :roll: 8. Ducks...keep quacking along. How bad is Washington? Bad, not bad, I don't know...are they a young building team? I hope the Ducks stay healthy, not necessarily undefeated but not losing because a critical cog goes down. 9. Mich/Illinois. ... I got number weary watching that one. Again Shoelaces does not finish a game. Again Tate Forcier some how figures out a win. The kid doesn't throw a pretty pass, lot of wobbles in them, and I don't know how sometimes he is able to keep plays alive. But he does, has to be sort of frustrating for the DL and LB's chasing him. 10. Iowa got away with one yesterday. The IU kid had the winning touchdown in his hands in the endzone and just flat out dropped it. He'll be transfering to Neb where that is the way they roll! 11. I can't help but notice that George O'Leary has quietly put together a pretty good UCF team, they are tough, run the football and play defense. I wonder what would have happened had he not cheated on his resume. He is clearly a better coach than Willingham was and given the Irish resources he would have recruited better than Willingham. Would he have been successful enough to have still been the coach at ND, who knows but it is an interesting what if. 12. After being taunted by Krebs over his Fantasy success over me even though he hasn't even made a single move since the draft....I crushed him!! I feel on top of the world! 13. TCU, Boise State....had great weekends crushing their opponents, TCU crushing a top 10 opponent at their place and Boise crushing Hawaii not quite as daunting an opponent. TCU seems to have the edge on Boise at the moment if a spot opens up in the BCS. Like JO'Co said though Boise hasn't lost anybody from the team that crushed TCU last year in the Fiesta Bowl. It's a new year and while teams may return many starters it's always a new mix. I personally don't want to see a TCU/Boise BCS Champ game. I'd like to see one of them get a shot at either Auburn or Oregon. 13. Quiet week in South Bend, hopefully coach Kelly has put it to good use, inspite of the beating by TCU the Utah squad should still be heavily favored over the Irish. Next man in ...that's the call in South Bend, he needs to show us that he can put a good team on the field and compete with upper level teams.
I love your write ups Terry and agree on most everything. However I do need to point out on behalf of the SEC that South Carolina and Arkansas played each other. Both ranked and while S. Carolina was not affected by the loss, they still play Florida next week for the East, Arkansas was a very good team and handed S. Carolina their behind. The Gators also played Vandy on the road and while they are not a good team they are an SEC team. The Gators play Appy State in two weeks which fits your description. Stanford, the real deal. Oregon should be in the BCS Championship game. So will Auburn if they remain undefeated. Auburn has a tougher road to stay undefeated, Georgia who is better than their record, Alabama who would like to do nothing better than ruin Auburn's season and then either Florida or S. Carolina in the championship game. TCU in the wings waiting for either team to slip. Big 12, Nebraska now has to be the favorite to win in their last season in the Big 12.
I agree with Bill that you do a great job on the weekly review Terry!!! Bill I agree with most things you say but Vandy is well.... Vandy :shock: While Vandy is on paper in the SEC it sure does not have the pedigree that we come to expect from other SEC teams... I am even willing to bet that an ACC team would beat them easily... :!: :!: :? :? Well let me take that back I was overcome for a moment that we actually played quality football in the ACC.... :cry: :cry:
Ralph, I don't disagree about Vandy, but my point was that they were not an out of conference patsy but a team we play every year. Our out of conference patsy is i two weeks.
:idea: I agree that this is one of Terry's best write-ups. I agree with virtually everything. My adds: - I've been suspicious of South Carolina, Missouri and Oklahoma all year. They're good teams, but not top tier... - The Hat IS entertaining! Watching him is like listening to Howard Cosell. It's a "guilty pleasure" and you can't help yourself... - Stanford is no worse than the 5th or 6th best team in the country. Some unlucky school is going to draw them in a bowl game as Harbaugh auditions for the NFL... - Iowa State appears to be for real. The Cyclones and San Diego State have gotten my attention this year as former doormats that are on-the-rise... - Praying for the Irish. These are the dark times... ........JO'Co
Jim Harbaugh has done one heck of a job at Stanford. If it wasn't for Oregon they might be playing for the BCS title. On Vandy....this is one of their worst editions and even on the road not much of a threat. I have to hope the Gators have now found their way on offense and will be bringing it to the Swamp on Sat. vs SouCar. Steve Spurrier had a habit of taking the week off before big SEC title games ( see FSU losses in non-NC years for UF ). I have no doubt that we didn't see the same Gamecock team vs. Arkansas that we will see this coming Saturday.
Les Miles is the drunk driver of college football. He has no business being out there. You know the whole thing is going to end in a wreck of some sort, but God damn it, you can't not watch. If there was a bar room fight in college football, I'm not sure Stanford wouldn't win it.. and their head coach would be in the front of the line throwing hay makers. I hate that son of a bitch, but I'd take him as ND's head coach in a second. Oregon is the fastest team in college football and it's not close. Bob Stoops has pretty much run his course at Oklahoma I fear.. in a related note, how many years has that DeMarco Murray been there? Seriously, he'll qualify for the AARP before he qualifies for the NFLPA.
I have been a believer in B Kelly right from the start......but you are dead on about Harbaugh. He would instill a toughness not seen around ND in a long time.
They were quick, but the Oregon team I saw in the Rose Bowl wasn't even the fastest team on the field.....admittedly, I have not seen them that much this season. Does the new QB add that much of a dimension over and above Masoli?
Teams are different from year to year. LaMichael James has more experience in the Chip Kelly Offense, and maybe just maybe Darron Thomas is a better QB for this offense than Masoli was. Not to mention it may be that Chip Kelly is a better HC now that he has that year under his belt.
Could be, but I am just not a believer in the quality of their defense. Championship caliber offense to be sure, but I'm just not sold on them defensively....our offense carved them up last year and this years version is much, much better. I'm also a believer in the importance of match-ups....I believe we match up much better against them defensively than we did Wisky up in Madison esp without our starting secondary intact and the risks of loading the box leaving a couple of youngsters all by themselves back there..... But, don't get me wrong, they are fun to watch and if they run the table, they deserve everything they get. More power to 'em....
I certainly can understand your views. And no doubt just like in basketball matchups are important. I have a theory that sometimes these teams like Oregon are so difficult to prepare for with only 1 week that they can just overwhelm an opponent. I noted that Ga.Tech has been a load for it's ACC opponents with it's option offense, but that they have been less successful in bowls. I'm thinking that in the bowls their opponents had plenty of time and tape to prepare for their option based offense and thus more success. I think that is what happened with Oregon/Ohio State. While a team like Wisconsin, just beats on you nothing fancy and if you don't have the beef to withstand the beating they will wear you down and beat you. I don't think it's a speed thing at all or that you need extra practice. Just have to be physically strong at the points of attack. So if OSU has a speed advantage it might not make much difference with Wisky, but that and a month to prepare for an unfamilar offense can make a difference when playing somebody like Oregon.
About Oregon: Yes, their offense is much better and faster this year than it was last year. People seem to forget (I don't) that Masoli was the 4th string QB. He won that spot thru attrition. The kid got hot and they stayed with him. It became a situation in which.. how do you take out the kid who is winning and holding the hot hand? The bottom line is that Nate Costa is better than Masoli and that poor bastard got beat out this year by Thomas. (Nate Costa was suppose to be the starting QB in each of their previous 4 seasons but was lost to injury). If you wonder who Costa is.. he's that SOB who runs the fake 2pt conversion after every first TD. I think in both character and talent, they got better by finally ridding themselves of Masoli. As for their defense.. I'm right there with you. I don't like Aliotti's defense at ALL but they are designed to generate turnovers and big plays. They score and set up scores on defense. It's all about speed, tempo and momentum. The counter to all that is to simply get the ball and hold onto it. (what we saw Ohio State do to them).. The single biggest difference between their team this year and last year though is their offensive speed. Sweet Jesus, they are fast.