To very big upsets in college football this week. Let's talk about the OSU boys 1st.
Oregon State over USC 27 - 21. That marks the 2nd trip to Oregon State in a row where they were way overmatched and managed to get a win over the mighty Trojans. Throw in the Ducks victory in Eugene over the Trojans last year and they have lost 3 years in a row in my home state. Since the begining of the 2006 season the Trojans are 2-3 against Oregon and Oregon State, they are 20-2 vs the rest of the county. I'll take that any day. Congrats to the Beavers and how can you not be impressed with 5ft 6in Freshman Jacquizz Rodgers rushing for 186 yards. Very impressive.
Ole Miss defeated Florida today 31-30. Big ups to Ole Miss. I went to Ole Miss last week with they boys to do a little gambling in Tunica and catch the Vanderbilt Comodores game with Ole Miss. Let me just say that the Ole Miss fans know how to party and they are great fans. Even wearing my green and yellow ducks gear I was welcomed in and given alcohol, something I never turn down. It was a great time. They had to make a lot of big plays including a blocked PAT late in the 4th quarter to knock off the 4th ranked team in the country.
Great job to both Ole Miss and Oregon State - Upsets of the week. (Michigan beating Wisconsin was a pretty good game also, overcoming a 19 point deficit in the 2nd half isn't easy.)
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Oregon 63 Washington State 14
Oregon had a much better performance than they had in their last 2 outings, they also played 4 full quarters rather than spotting their opponent point in the 1st half.
Offense - While the offense did gain a total of 505 yards and score 63 points I'm still pretty worried about the passing game. Masoli, Harper and Thomas are all very young and mistake prone so even though the future looks bright right now is still scary. The run game was solid and has been a staple for us this year. 344 rush yards on 53 carries is a good day no matter how you slice it. Junior Legarrette Blount carried 15 times for 98 yards and 3 TD's while Senior Jeremiah Johnson carried 10 times for 88 yards and 3 TD's. We will need that next week going on the road to USC.
Defense - The run defense was outstanding again, giving up only 79 yards on 32 carries, most of that coming late in the 4th quarter. They did give up 191 yards in the passing game to a weak Washington State team. Overall we were able to create 4 turnovers during the game which will be key next week.
Almost at the 1/2 way point in the season and we are 4-1. I'd love to have that Boise State game back and be 5-0 right now but that's not the way we played. 3 of the next 4 games are going to be tough road games begining with USC next week. Home for UCLA (Don't overlook them, they beat TN early and seem to be playing a top 25 team every week this season.)and then on the road for CAL and Arizona State. I'm hoping like crazy that Roper is back for the USC game, we will need more of a passing game to stay with that team. Oregon and Oregon State have had a lot of success against powerhouse USC in the past couple years. Thursday nights upset marked the 3rd trip to the state of Oregon ending in a loss for the Trojans. Oregon will need to play a perfect game and match Oregon States high emotional performance to take that home USC crowd out of the game early and often. Our offense is capable of quick strikes and that is what we will need to do.
A big win today, but it was just Washington State so lets focus on the big game next week.
Offense - While the offense did gain a total of 505 yards and score 63 points I'm still pretty worried about the passing game. Masoli, Harper and Thomas are all very young and mistake prone so even though the future looks bright right now is still scary. The run game was solid and has been a staple for us this year. 344 rush yards on 53 carries is a good day no matter how you slice it. Junior Legarrette Blount carried 15 times for 98 yards and 3 TD's while Senior Jeremiah Johnson carried 10 times for 88 yards and 3 TD's. We will need that next week going on the road to USC.
Defense - The run defense was outstanding again, giving up only 79 yards on 32 carries, most of that coming late in the 4th quarter. They did give up 191 yards in the passing game to a weak Washington State team. Overall we were able to create 4 turnovers during the game which will be key next week.
Almost at the 1/2 way point in the season and we are 4-1. I'd love to have that Boise State game back and be 5-0 right now but that's not the way we played. 3 of the next 4 games are going to be tough road games begining with USC next week. Home for UCLA (Don't overlook them, they beat TN early and seem to be playing a top 25 team every week this season.)and then on the road for CAL and Arizona State. I'm hoping like crazy that Roper is back for the USC game, we will need more of a passing game to stay with that team. Oregon and Oregon State have had a lot of success against powerhouse USC in the past couple years. Thursday nights upset marked the 3rd trip to the state of Oregon ending in a loss for the Trojans. Oregon will need to play a perfect game and match Oregon States high emotional performance to take that home USC crowd out of the game early and often. Our offense is capable of quick strikes and that is what we will need to do.
A big win today, but it was just Washington State so lets focus on the big game next week.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Ducks 1st loss of the season
Wow, 4 games into the season and we've lost 3 QB's. Not a great combination. The Ducks hosted unranked Boise State this weekend and lost their 3rd string QB to a concussion. The game looked pretty ugly for the most part. Our defense played a heck of a game but not enough to pull out a victory like we did last week over Purdue.
Defensive Team - The Ducks defense held the Broncos to 38 yards on 35 carries, pretty solid run D. Star running back Ian Johnson who averages over 5 yards a carry was held to 40 yards on 19 rushes. The pass defense was a little less stellar giving up the big play way to many times.
Offense - The offense spit and sputtered for most of the game, the running backs tried to hold the team together rushing for 227 yards on 52 carries but without a dangerous threat passing the ball the TD's were hard to come by. On the last play of the 4th QTR true freshman Darron Thomas replaced our other true freshman Chris Harper (0 for 3 with 2 interceptions) and tried to rally the troups. Thomas went 13 for 25 with 210 yards and 3 TD's in the 4th QTR alone. Giving us a glimpse of what our future may look like when these two guys get a little older and more comfortable. Roper will be out another week so it looks like we will be splitting time between a couple of people.
4 of our next 5 games are on the road and they include #1 ranked USC in 2 weeks, Arizona State in 4 weeks and CAL in 5 weeks. That is a tough road schedule and we'll have to keep it together and steal a win or two.
We need our QB's healthy!
Defensive Team - The Ducks defense held the Broncos to 38 yards on 35 carries, pretty solid run D. Star running back Ian Johnson who averages over 5 yards a carry was held to 40 yards on 19 rushes. The pass defense was a little less stellar giving up the big play way to many times.
Offense - The offense spit and sputtered for most of the game, the running backs tried to hold the team together rushing for 227 yards on 52 carries but without a dangerous threat passing the ball the TD's were hard to come by. On the last play of the 4th QTR true freshman Darron Thomas replaced our other true freshman Chris Harper (0 for 3 with 2 interceptions) and tried to rally the troups. Thomas went 13 for 25 with 210 yards and 3 TD's in the 4th QTR alone. Giving us a glimpse of what our future may look like when these two guys get a little older and more comfortable. Roper will be out another week so it looks like we will be splitting time between a couple of people.
4 of our next 5 games are on the road and they include #1 ranked USC in 2 weeks, Arizona State in 4 weeks and CAL in 5 weeks. That is a tough road schedule and we'll have to keep it together and steal a win or two.
We need our QB's healthy!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Overrated Teams
It will be interesting to see the rankings this week, Ohio State will fall, but how far?
My top ranked overrated team is Missouri. Ranked #6 last week will at least move up 1 spot to take #5, I don't think they will break the top 4 just yet.
Let me first just state my problem is not with these teams or the kids that play for them. They have good records and are winning thier games, that is GREAT! The college football ranking system fails to take into consideration strength of schedule in many cases. They also use preseason rankings to determine the strength of schedule. While I give these kids all the credit in the world for what they are doing I don't want to see a horrible blow out in a bowl game like last year with GA and HI or USC and IL. Everyone wanted to se GA vs USC last year, that would have been a great game.
Why overrated?
They are 3-0 and the offense is clicking on all cylinders, I don't want to take that away from them. By the end of this season I believe we will see some record breaking numbers from this team. My problem is there schedule. They blew out South East Missouri State and Nevada. Big whoop. Like I stated with Oregons win over Utah State, good win, it needed to be big but lets not go making plans to a championship just yet.
Now, Mizzou did beat Illinois who is a ranked team. I don't think they will be ranked much longer, Illinois will get humiliated this week at Penn State. They will also loose to Ohio State and Wisconsin this year. They also need to watch out for Michigan, by the end of the year I think Illinios will not be making waves like they did last year.
Mizzou also doesn't really play anyone except Texas this year. Kansas is ranked but they are also overrated. The Texas game will show us a lot about Mizzou but I beleive we will see them lose that game and then lose in the Big 12 championship game, like they did last year losing to Oklahoma twice. If Mizzou ends up in a BCS game their fate will be like that of Illinois and Hawaii last year, a blow out. I think Mizzou is a solid 12-18 ranked team.
Kansas is my next overrated team currently at #13. They will drop into the high teens or 20's this week after their loss to South Florida. They also have losses coming up when they play Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas and Mizzou. They may pull out 1 of those games. Kansas had a cupcake schedule last year and made the most of it, thier road is a lot harder this year and we will see what kind of team they really are. They are a good solid team but not top 20 material.
#14 East Carolina will be dangerously close to the top 10 this week. They had solid back to back wins over ranked opponents but I think the #15-20 teams would all beat them. Their schedule is even worse that Mizzou's and if they win out they will probably end up right near the top 5 and get mopped up by someone in a bowl game. Unless they end up playing Mizzou, that may be a good game. I think East Carolina should barely be in the top 25.
Honorable mention. Auburn is a solid team but they are not playing like the #9 team in the country right now. If they continue to play the way they have the past 2 weeks they will get thumped by LSU, Tennessee and maybe even.....wait for it.....Vandy. (OK, Vandy certainly wont 'thump' them, but it could be a good game.) WAKE UP AUBURN! You are a good team, act like it.
So if those teams are overrated who should be in their place?
Penn State has been beating the crap out of people. I'm not completely sold on them because their strength of schedule is not great. In 2 weeks they face Illinois, I believe they will beat them and beat them good. Then you can see a team that faced both Mizzou (who won 52-42 in a shootout) and Penn State.
BYU looked bad against Washington and great against UCLA. They will more than likely go undefeated with their weak schedule so I think they are fight where they belong.
Oregon? I'm not going to say anything about Oregon they way they played this week!
I'll tell you what I'd like to see with rankings. I'd like to see everyone get 3-4 weeks into the season before determining the ranks.
My top ranked overrated team is Missouri. Ranked #6 last week will at least move up 1 spot to take #5, I don't think they will break the top 4 just yet.
Let me first just state my problem is not with these teams or the kids that play for them. They have good records and are winning thier games, that is GREAT! The college football ranking system fails to take into consideration strength of schedule in many cases. They also use preseason rankings to determine the strength of schedule. While I give these kids all the credit in the world for what they are doing I don't want to see a horrible blow out in a bowl game like last year with GA and HI or USC and IL. Everyone wanted to se GA vs USC last year, that would have been a great game.
Why overrated?
They are 3-0 and the offense is clicking on all cylinders, I don't want to take that away from them. By the end of this season I believe we will see some record breaking numbers from this team. My problem is there schedule. They blew out South East Missouri State and Nevada. Big whoop. Like I stated with Oregons win over Utah State, good win, it needed to be big but lets not go making plans to a championship just yet.
Now, Mizzou did beat Illinois who is a ranked team. I don't think they will be ranked much longer, Illinois will get humiliated this week at Penn State. They will also loose to Ohio State and Wisconsin this year. They also need to watch out for Michigan, by the end of the year I think Illinios will not be making waves like they did last year.
Mizzou also doesn't really play anyone except Texas this year. Kansas is ranked but they are also overrated. The Texas game will show us a lot about Mizzou but I beleive we will see them lose that game and then lose in the Big 12 championship game, like they did last year losing to Oklahoma twice. If Mizzou ends up in a BCS game their fate will be like that of Illinois and Hawaii last year, a blow out. I think Mizzou is a solid 12-18 ranked team.
Kansas is my next overrated team currently at #13. They will drop into the high teens or 20's this week after their loss to South Florida. They also have losses coming up when they play Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas and Mizzou. They may pull out 1 of those games. Kansas had a cupcake schedule last year and made the most of it, thier road is a lot harder this year and we will see what kind of team they really are. They are a good solid team but not top 20 material.
#14 East Carolina will be dangerously close to the top 10 this week. They had solid back to back wins over ranked opponents but I think the #15-20 teams would all beat them. Their schedule is even worse that Mizzou's and if they win out they will probably end up right near the top 5 and get mopped up by someone in a bowl game. Unless they end up playing Mizzou, that may be a good game. I think East Carolina should barely be in the top 25.
Honorable mention. Auburn is a solid team but they are not playing like the #9 team in the country right now. If they continue to play the way they have the past 2 weeks they will get thumped by LSU, Tennessee and maybe even.....wait for it.....Vandy. (OK, Vandy certainly wont 'thump' them, but it could be a good game.) WAKE UP AUBURN! You are a good team, act like it.
So if those teams are overrated who should be in their place?
Penn State has been beating the crap out of people. I'm not completely sold on them because their strength of schedule is not great. In 2 weeks they face Illinois, I believe they will beat them and beat them good. Then you can see a team that faced both Mizzou (who won 52-42 in a shootout) and Penn State.
BYU looked bad against Washington and great against UCLA. They will more than likely go undefeated with their weak schedule so I think they are fight where they belong.
Oregon? I'm not going to say anything about Oregon they way they played this week!
I'll tell you what I'd like to see with rankings. I'd like to see everyone get 3-4 weeks into the season before determining the ranks.
Oregon squeaks one out
UGH! What a terrible game we played. Spotting a team 20 points in the 1st half on the road is never a good idea, neither is taking the 1st 1/2 off!
On the 2nd play of the game Purdue had a very nice 80 yard run to take the lead. The Ducks offense and special teams then decided to make it difficult on the offense by giving them the ball just outside the red-zone on 2 occasions. Oregon had to claw and fight their way back into the game.
The good news -
Defensively the game was not as bad as the stats would indicate. If you take away Sheets' 80 yard run he ran for 100 yards on 28 carries. Just over 3 yards per carry is a pretty solid day. The Ducks, along with some big wind, held Painter to 207 yards passing with a just over 50% completion percentage.
The Ducks were able to keep themselves composed and not let this game get away from them. I had a bad feeling going in to halftime that if the Ducks gave up 1 big play in the 2nd it woudl be over. They didn't give up a big play and created a couple of their own.
2nd stringer Legarrette Bount had another tremendous performance rushing for 132 yards on 12 carries and 2 touchdowns. Take away his big run of 72 yards and he still was 11 carries for 60 yards, just under 10 yards per carry. Jeremiah Johnson also pitched in rushing for 96 yards on 17 carries. Purdue's defense was obviously keying on Johnson the whole game so it was good to see Blount jump in there and help out.
The Bad News -
Justin Roper, the Ducks starting QB this season, was 2nd on the depth chart at the seasons begining. He was injured in OT and will be out 2-4 weeks. This means that 3rd string Masoli and 4th strip Harper (a true freshman) will take the snaps this upcoming week against Boise State.
Jeremiah Johnson also left the game in overtime, he seemed to be holding his hip. I don't ahve any word on what the injury is or if he'll miss any time but this is the 2nd week in a row Johnson has had to leave a game. We're already down to the #3 on our QB depth chart, we don't need to be down to #2 on the RB side.
Hopefully the Ducks have got there bad game out of the way and will go back to playing thier brand of football, if they don't they may have trouble with Boise State, let alone the trip to USC that is right around the corner.
It will not surprize me this week if they stay where they are or lose a spot in the polls, both Penn State and BYU dominated in their games and even those Arizona State lost I think those other 2 teams will slide past Oregon this week.
On the 2nd play of the game Purdue had a very nice 80 yard run to take the lead. The Ducks offense and special teams then decided to make it difficult on the offense by giving them the ball just outside the red-zone on 2 occasions. Oregon had to claw and fight their way back into the game.
The good news -
Defensively the game was not as bad as the stats would indicate. If you take away Sheets' 80 yard run he ran for 100 yards on 28 carries. Just over 3 yards per carry is a pretty solid day. The Ducks, along with some big wind, held Painter to 207 yards passing with a just over 50% completion percentage.
The Ducks were able to keep themselves composed and not let this game get away from them. I had a bad feeling going in to halftime that if the Ducks gave up 1 big play in the 2nd it woudl be over. They didn't give up a big play and created a couple of their own.
2nd stringer Legarrette Bount had another tremendous performance rushing for 132 yards on 12 carries and 2 touchdowns. Take away his big run of 72 yards and he still was 11 carries for 60 yards, just under 10 yards per carry. Jeremiah Johnson also pitched in rushing for 96 yards on 17 carries. Purdue's defense was obviously keying on Johnson the whole game so it was good to see Blount jump in there and help out.
The Bad News -
Justin Roper, the Ducks starting QB this season, was 2nd on the depth chart at the seasons begining. He was injured in OT and will be out 2-4 weeks. This means that 3rd string Masoli and 4th strip Harper (a true freshman) will take the snaps this upcoming week against Boise State.
Jeremiah Johnson also left the game in overtime, he seemed to be holding his hip. I don't ahve any word on what the injury is or if he'll miss any time but this is the 2nd week in a row Johnson has had to leave a game. We're already down to the #3 on our QB depth chart, we don't need to be down to #2 on the RB side.
Hopefully the Ducks have got there bad game out of the way and will go back to playing thier brand of football, if they don't they may have trouble with Boise State, let alone the trip to USC that is right around the corner.
It will not surprize me this week if they stay where they are or lose a spot in the polls, both Penn State and BYU dominated in their games and even those Arizona State lost I think those other 2 teams will slide past Oregon this week.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
East Carolina Ranked 14 ?
The new rankings came out today and the East Carolina Pirates have moved all the way up to #14. They did have back to back wins over Va Tech (#17) and West Virginia (#8).
Here's my problem. East Carolina played 2 great games, now they are going to finish their schedule against Tulane, NC State, Houston, Virginia, Memphis, UCF, Marshall, S Miss, UAB and UTEP. If they can win all these games, which they should, they could go undefeated and end up in the top 5 -10. Are they really the #14 team in the country? Right behind them in the rankings are Arizona State, Oregon, Penn State and BYU. If East Carolina was hosting any of those teams would you bet on them? I wouldn't.
Some of these teams in the weaker conferences get past 1 or 2 decent games and play cupcakes the rest of the way. After Arizona State plays UNLV next week they will play #2 Georgia (home), # 23 Cal (away), #1 USC (away) and #16 Oregon (home). 4 Straight weeks, 4 ranked opponents. They also will play home against UCLA who just dropped out of the rankings for inactivity this weekend. Oregon has 3 ranked opponents coming up + UCLA. All ranked opponents will be road games. Penn State, 3 ranked opponents.
UCLA, who just dropped out of the rankings is scheduled to play 7 ranked opponents this season, they have a hell of a schedule. Their out of conference games are TN, BYU, Fresno State. After that they will deal with Oregon, Cal, USC and Arizona State.
I don't think I need to mention that pretty much any SEC team will be facing their fair share of top ranked opponents. Kudos to GA, AL and TN for going out of conference and facing some ranked competition. GA scheduled for 5 ranked opponents, TN has 4, AL has 4. Maybe TN would have been better suited to take a page out of LSU's book and play Troy, Tulane, North Texas and App State for thier out of conference games and they'd more than likely still be in the top 15. They took a risk and will pay the price. Last year they were able to crawl back in to the SEC championship. GA has taken a bigger risk in Arizona State, I think they will win but that is a big road game.
Last but not least the #1 team in the nation, USC. Out of conference they choose #5 Ohio State, Notre Dame and Virginia. Of course all these schedules are picked a few years in advance but no one on USC's out of conference schedule is a cupcake.
I aplaud East Carolina for thier great start, I just don't think they are the #14 team and I sure don't want to see them in a big bowl game if they win out.
Here's my problem. East Carolina played 2 great games, now they are going to finish their schedule against Tulane, NC State, Houston, Virginia, Memphis, UCF, Marshall, S Miss, UAB and UTEP. If they can win all these games, which they should, they could go undefeated and end up in the top 5 -10. Are they really the #14 team in the country? Right behind them in the rankings are Arizona State, Oregon, Penn State and BYU. If East Carolina was hosting any of those teams would you bet on them? I wouldn't.
Some of these teams in the weaker conferences get past 1 or 2 decent games and play cupcakes the rest of the way. After Arizona State plays UNLV next week they will play #2 Georgia (home), # 23 Cal (away), #1 USC (away) and #16 Oregon (home). 4 Straight weeks, 4 ranked opponents. They also will play home against UCLA who just dropped out of the rankings for inactivity this weekend. Oregon has 3 ranked opponents coming up + UCLA. All ranked opponents will be road games. Penn State, 3 ranked opponents.
UCLA, who just dropped out of the rankings is scheduled to play 7 ranked opponents this season, they have a hell of a schedule. Their out of conference games are TN, BYU, Fresno State. After that they will deal with Oregon, Cal, USC and Arizona State.
I don't think I need to mention that pretty much any SEC team will be facing their fair share of top ranked opponents. Kudos to GA, AL and TN for going out of conference and facing some ranked competition. GA scheduled for 5 ranked opponents, TN has 4, AL has 4. Maybe TN would have been better suited to take a page out of LSU's book and play Troy, Tulane, North Texas and App State for thier out of conference games and they'd more than likely still be in the top 15. They took a risk and will pay the price. Last year they were able to crawl back in to the SEC championship. GA has taken a bigger risk in Arizona State, I think they will win but that is a big road game.
Last but not least the #1 team in the nation, USC. Out of conference they choose #5 Ohio State, Notre Dame and Virginia. Of course all these schedules are picked a few years in advance but no one on USC's out of conference schedule is a cupcake.
I aplaud East Carolina for thier great start, I just don't think they are the #14 team and I sure don't want to see them in a big bowl game if they win out.
Pac 10 Week 2
#1 ranked USC and #23 ranked UCLA - Idle
UCLA coming off a big win over the Tennessee Volunteers and USC is getting ready for their match up with #3 ranked Ohio State. I'll bet the USC coaching staff noticed that Ohio rushed for quite a bit on that highly recognized Buckeye defense. USC has 5 running backs better than Donte Harden who gained 63 yards on 11 carries. Oh yeah, USC's O line is just a tad bit better than Ohio's as well. If Ohio State plays the way they played last week this game will be extremely ugly. I'm confident that Wells will be back and that Ohio State will play their A game, I just don't think it will matter.
#15 Ranked Arizona State over Stanford 41-17.
This game went the way it should. ASU is a much better team and Rudy Carpentar looked good in it. He is a dangerous QB and people are going to have to find a way to get hm rattled early or he will find those WR's and put up some points. We will find out soon enough if Dennis Erickson has brought enough Swagger to the ASU Sun Devils, they have a match up with #2 ranked Georgia in 2 weeks.
#18 Ranked Oregon Ducks over Utah State 66-24
Again, this is what should have happened, Utah State more than likely wont win a game this year. The Ducks needed a blow out and they got one.
Unranked Washington losses to #15 Ranked BYU 27-28
Washington played their hearts out, came up a little short. BYU played a solid game but I do believe that Oregon and Penn State should and will pass them in the polls this week. Oregon whooped Washington and BYU could barely beat them.
The call - The unsportsman like conduct call was terrible. I'm not going to sit here and say UW got robbed or they would have won the game, it's just a shame that an official made that kind of an impact on this game. Yes, the rule says you can't throw the ball high in the air. But watch the replay, this is a 20 year old kid who just made the play of his career to put his team in a spot to win and he chuck the ball up in the air. This play is a fantastic example of what is good in college football, kids making plays and being happy about it. Let's say Locker (QB for UW) doesn't go pro, this game should be a great memory for him. Instead it's going to be the game he blew because he celebrated. HE WAS ROBBED!
Unranked Oregon State losses to Penn State 14-45
OSU wasn't in a position to win this game but I'd like to see this game be a little closer.
Unranked Cal blows out unranked Washington State 66-3
Ugly game for Wash State. Cal has 2 more blow outs coming up as they play Maryland and Colorado State before getting a challenge in Arizona State on October 4th.
Unranked Arizona over Toledo 41-16
A solid win for Arizona. The dominated the game and double Toledo in nearly every statistical catagory.
Overall I'd give the Pac-10 a 'B' rating for the weekend. Pretty much did what they were supposed to do. I would have loved to see UW pull it out and OSU at least put up a fight to the Nittany Lions.
UCLA coming off a big win over the Tennessee Volunteers and USC is getting ready for their match up with #3 ranked Ohio State. I'll bet the USC coaching staff noticed that Ohio rushed for quite a bit on that highly recognized Buckeye defense. USC has 5 running backs better than Donte Harden who gained 63 yards on 11 carries. Oh yeah, USC's O line is just a tad bit better than Ohio's as well. If Ohio State plays the way they played last week this game will be extremely ugly. I'm confident that Wells will be back and that Ohio State will play their A game, I just don't think it will matter.
#15 Ranked Arizona State over Stanford 41-17.
This game went the way it should. ASU is a much better team and Rudy Carpentar looked good in it. He is a dangerous QB and people are going to have to find a way to get hm rattled early or he will find those WR's and put up some points. We will find out soon enough if Dennis Erickson has brought enough Swagger to the ASU Sun Devils, they have a match up with #2 ranked Georgia in 2 weeks.
#18 Ranked Oregon Ducks over Utah State 66-24
Again, this is what should have happened, Utah State more than likely wont win a game this year. The Ducks needed a blow out and they got one.
Unranked Washington losses to #15 Ranked BYU 27-28
Washington played their hearts out, came up a little short. BYU played a solid game but I do believe that Oregon and Penn State should and will pass them in the polls this week. Oregon whooped Washington and BYU could barely beat them.
The call - The unsportsman like conduct call was terrible. I'm not going to sit here and say UW got robbed or they would have won the game, it's just a shame that an official made that kind of an impact on this game. Yes, the rule says you can't throw the ball high in the air. But watch the replay, this is a 20 year old kid who just made the play of his career to put his team in a spot to win and he chuck the ball up in the air. This play is a fantastic example of what is good in college football, kids making plays and being happy about it. Let's say Locker (QB for UW) doesn't go pro, this game should be a great memory for him. Instead it's going to be the game he blew because he celebrated. HE WAS ROBBED!
Unranked Oregon State losses to Penn State 14-45
OSU wasn't in a position to win this game but I'd like to see this game be a little closer.
Unranked Cal blows out unranked Washington State 66-3
Ugly game for Wash State. Cal has 2 more blow outs coming up as they play Maryland and Colorado State before getting a challenge in Arizona State on October 4th.
Unranked Arizona over Toledo 41-16
A solid win for Arizona. The dominated the game and double Toledo in nearly every statistical catagory.
Overall I'd give the Pac-10 a 'B' rating for the weekend. Pretty much did what they were supposed to do. I would have loved to see UW pull it out and OSU at least put up a fight to the Nittany Lions.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Oregon Duck VS Utah State Aggies
Oregon defeats Utah State 66-24.
OK, 1st things 1st, Utah State could quite possibly be at the absolute bottom of division 1 football so that score looks exactly like it should. The Ducks needed a blowout and they got it. In years past the Ducks have slacked in games like this and played them a lot closer than they needed to. Last weeks 34 point victory over Washington and this week a 42 point victory is good to see.
The quick strike offense is back. In their 10 scoring drives 3 minutes 25 seconds was the longest. Here's a break down of the scoring drives.
Plays - Yards - Time
11 - 61 - 3 min 19 sec
10 - 83 - 3 min 11 sec
8 - 72 - 2 min 52 sec
5 - 73 - 1 min 19 sec
1 - 51 - 10 sec
7 - 39 - 1 min 45 sec (end of 1/2, this was their 1 field goal)
10 - 60 - 2 min 24 sec
3 - 46 - 47 sec
11 - 74 - 3 min 25 sec
7 - 80 - 2 min 25 sec
They scored fast and often racking up a total of 688 yards. The running backs teamed up on the Aggies for 408 yards on 53 carries, LeGarrette Blount had a breakout game with 18 carries for 132 yards while starter Jeremiah Johnson only carried the ball 1 time for 37 yards. Johnson suffered a shoulder injury on the 1st play of the game. Apparently his shoulder popped out, once they popped it back in he said he was fine but the trainers kept him out. Hopefully he is fine, when the tougher opponents come we will need him.
Justin Roper had a solid game completing 13 of 18 passes for 173 yards 1 TD and 1 INT. My focus is on the future and how Masoli and Harper performed. Chris Harper is a true freshman from Kansas City and was the 14th highest rated High School player last year. Most of the recruiting press this year has gone to stand out Terrell Pryor (Ohio State). Harper played the 4th quarter, completed 4 of 6 with 1 touchdown and ran 4 times for 25 yards and a touchdown. Masoli was 7 of 11 for 44 yards.
The defense was solid giving up 7 points in the 1st 3 quarters before surrendering 10 in the 4th. The Aggies also scored a touchdown on a Masoli fumble. In the 1st half the defense gave up 112 total yards, they would give up another 194 in the 2nd half. The Aggies were held to 88 rushing yards on 31 attempts, 2.8 avg per rush.
Overall it was a solid game, the Ducks were able to do a lot of work and get the ball into the hands of their key back up players to give them some real speed work. Next week we roll into Purdue who defeated Northern Colorado 42-10 last week.
OK, 1st things 1st, Utah State could quite possibly be at the absolute bottom of division 1 football so that score looks exactly like it should. The Ducks needed a blowout and they got it. In years past the Ducks have slacked in games like this and played them a lot closer than they needed to. Last weeks 34 point victory over Washington and this week a 42 point victory is good to see.
The quick strike offense is back. In their 10 scoring drives 3 minutes 25 seconds was the longest. Here's a break down of the scoring drives.
Plays - Yards - Time
11 - 61 - 3 min 19 sec
10 - 83 - 3 min 11 sec
8 - 72 - 2 min 52 sec
5 - 73 - 1 min 19 sec
1 - 51 - 10 sec
7 - 39 - 1 min 45 sec (end of 1/2, this was their 1 field goal)
10 - 60 - 2 min 24 sec
3 - 46 - 47 sec
11 - 74 - 3 min 25 sec
7 - 80 - 2 min 25 sec
They scored fast and often racking up a total of 688 yards. The running backs teamed up on the Aggies for 408 yards on 53 carries, LeGarrette Blount had a breakout game with 18 carries for 132 yards while starter Jeremiah Johnson only carried the ball 1 time for 37 yards. Johnson suffered a shoulder injury on the 1st play of the game. Apparently his shoulder popped out, once they popped it back in he said he was fine but the trainers kept him out. Hopefully he is fine, when the tougher opponents come we will need him.
Justin Roper had a solid game completing 13 of 18 passes for 173 yards 1 TD and 1 INT. My focus is on the future and how Masoli and Harper performed. Chris Harper is a true freshman from Kansas City and was the 14th highest rated High School player last year. Most of the recruiting press this year has gone to stand out Terrell Pryor (Ohio State). Harper played the 4th quarter, completed 4 of 6 with 1 touchdown and ran 4 times for 25 yards and a touchdown. Masoli was 7 of 11 for 44 yards.
The defense was solid giving up 7 points in the 1st 3 quarters before surrendering 10 in the 4th. The Aggies also scored a touchdown on a Masoli fumble. In the 1st half the defense gave up 112 total yards, they would give up another 194 in the 2nd half. The Aggies were held to 88 rushing yards on 31 attempts, 2.8 avg per rush.
Overall it was a solid game, the Ducks were able to do a lot of work and get the ball into the hands of their key back up players to give them some real speed work. Next week we roll into Purdue who defeated Northern Colorado 42-10 last week.
Playoffs in College Football
This is an argument that has been discussed and discussed again. The bottom line to me is that NCAA Division 1 college football is the only major sport, men or women above a high school level that does NOT have a playoff. That is f'n ridiculous no matter how you slice it. The NCAA division 2 schools do a playoff. Are those student athletes just more capable? NO.
Here's my thought on how we should do playoffs. People say 4 team playoffs, 8 team playoffs.
I say 16 teams. Too much? No way.
Most teams take the month of December off anyway, fill those weekends! You could still have all of your meaningless bowl games. Take the top 16 teams by ranking and let them duke it out for 4 weeks. December Madness would be as great as March madness. Think of all the match ups.
Here's what last December would have looked like under my format. (based on week 14 BCS rankings)
1Ohio State Vs 16 Tennessee
2LSU Vs 15 Clemson
3 Virginia Tech Vs 14 Boston College
4 Oklahoma Vs 13 Illinios
5 Georgia Vs 12 Florida
6 Missouri Vs 11 Arizona State
7 USC Vs 10 Hawaii
8 Kansas Vs 9 West Virginia.
ROUND 2 (for this example we'll just assume all the higher ranked teams win)
1 Ohio State Vs 8 Kansas
2 LSU Vs 7 USC dream match up we missed thanks to the BCS
3 Virginia Tech Vs 6 Missouri
4 Oklahoma Vs 5 Georgia
Round 3
1 Ohio State Vs 5 Georgia (now way OK woudl beat GA last year.)
2 LSU VS 3 Va Tech
Championship -
LSU over Ohio State 35 to -7.
In my personal opinion Georgia would beat Ohio State and USC would have beat LSU. GA vs USC was the game I was drooling for last year. Instead I got to watch GA man handle HI and USC destroy IL. Way to go BCS, those were very interesting match ups.
So in this format who would be left out. Teams 17-20 were BYU, WI, TX, VA. Anyone think they'd have a right to complain?
Here's my thought on how we should do playoffs. People say 4 team playoffs, 8 team playoffs.
I say 16 teams. Too much? No way.
Most teams take the month of December off anyway, fill those weekends! You could still have all of your meaningless bowl games. Take the top 16 teams by ranking and let them duke it out for 4 weeks. December Madness would be as great as March madness. Think of all the match ups.
Here's what last December would have looked like under my format. (based on week 14 BCS rankings)
1Ohio State Vs 16 Tennessee
2LSU Vs 15 Clemson
3 Virginia Tech Vs 14 Boston College
4 Oklahoma Vs 13 Illinios
5 Georgia Vs 12 Florida
6 Missouri Vs 11 Arizona State
7 USC Vs 10 Hawaii
8 Kansas Vs 9 West Virginia.
ROUND 2 (for this example we'll just assume all the higher ranked teams win)
1 Ohio State Vs 8 Kansas
2 LSU Vs 7 USC dream match up we missed thanks to the BCS
3 Virginia Tech Vs 6 Missouri
4 Oklahoma Vs 5 Georgia
Round 3
1 Ohio State Vs 5 Georgia (now way OK woudl beat GA last year.)
2 LSU VS 3 Va Tech
Championship -
LSU over Ohio State 35 to -7.
In my personal opinion Georgia would beat Ohio State and USC would have beat LSU. GA vs USC was the game I was drooling for last year. Instead I got to watch GA man handle HI and USC destroy IL. Way to go BCS, those were very interesting match ups.
So in this format who would be left out. Teams 17-20 were BYU, WI, TX, VA. Anyone think they'd have a right to complain?
Friday, September 5, 2008
Volunteers to the West Coast
2 years in a row the Tennessee Volunteers have gone out to the West Coast to pad their stats against a weak Pac 10 team. 2 years they've come home empty handed. Despite a frightening 4 interception 1st half the Bruins were able to pull it out.
Had UT won this game I would have had about 20 emails in my in box to tell me how awful the Pac-10 is, as it turns out I had none. I made 1 phone call to my good friend Matt to rub it in a little.
UCLA, UCLA, UCLA, UCLA
Had UT won this game I would have had about 20 emails in my in box to tell me how awful the Pac-10 is, as it turns out I had none. I made 1 phone call to my good friend Matt to rub it in a little.
UCLA, UCLA, UCLA, UCLA
Vandy over South Carolina
Vandy's 1st home game was last night here in Nashville. I threw on my Oregon Ducks jersey, to the dismay of my fellow season ticket holder friends, and headed off to the game. We got out there early and did a little tailgating on Belmont, threw the pigskin around, played some cornhole. (Cornhole is the worst named game in the world)
On paper this looked to be an easy game for the #24 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. Luckily for us the game is not played on paper. Vandy played with great heart, picked up some big plays when they needed to and took the game. The 1st half was tough to watch, the offense was terrible. If I hadn't been paying attention to the scoreboard I probably would have thought the game was 28-0 S.C. at the half. But Vandy made those big plays to stay within striking distance until the O found it's rythym. The 3rd quarter was great, Vandy went right up the field and looked unstoppable. After taking a 14 point lead the creative offense went right back in to 1st half mode and started being very predictable.
On a random note a guy 2 rows behind us went to Oregon State and his son was in a Beavers jersey. This could very well mark the 1st time that Pac-10 rival jerseys both ended up at an SEC game.
On paper this looked to be an easy game for the #24 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. Luckily for us the game is not played on paper. Vandy played with great heart, picked up some big plays when they needed to and took the game. The 1st half was tough to watch, the offense was terrible. If I hadn't been paying attention to the scoreboard I probably would have thought the game was 28-0 S.C. at the half. But Vandy made those big plays to stay within striking distance until the O found it's rythym. The 3rd quarter was great, Vandy went right up the field and looked unstoppable. After taking a 14 point lead the creative offense went right back in to 1st half mode and started being very predictable.
On a random note a guy 2 rows behind us went to Oregon State and his son was in a Beavers jersey. This could very well mark the 1st time that Pac-10 rival jerseys both ended up at an SEC game.
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