Monthly Archives: September 2011

Let’s dive right in!

Last Week

There were a few games last week that carried early BCS implications and those victories and losses may go a long way in determining who’s in and who’s out come season’s end. It’s hard to rate any game as more important than another, but let’s look back at last week’s key matchups and the results.

A red hot Arkansas team came into Tuscaloosa with confidence, only to leave with bruised bodies and egos. I decided to attend that game to see the highly anticipated matchup of unbeatens in the SEC West and I have to say, it was never close, even when the game was scoreless. Kirby Smart had his defense ready to go. They pressured Tyler Wilson almost all game and gave him little time to find open targets and Arkansas’s ground game was nearly nonexistent. Alabama played a complete game using special teams, offense and defense to score its points. Alabama will need another complete effort this weekend when they visit Florida in the swamp in another highly anticipated matchup of unbeatens. This is an Alabama team that has not hit its stride yet on offense and it better find it before LSU visits on November 5^th.

Clemson continued its September to remember with another victory over a ranked opponent. This time it was Jimbo Fisher’s FSU team that was the victim. I have to give it to FSU. They were without their preseason Heisman Trophy candidate and team captain, QB EJ Manual and put up a good fight. Backup Clint Trickett threw for 336 yards and 3TDs. FSU gets a bye week this week to heel and should make a run at the ACC title from here on out. Still, with 2 losses, their national title hopes are all but over. Meanwhile, with his second straight 300 plus pass yard day against a top ranked team, Tajh Boyd placed himself in the thick of a very crowded Heisman race that I will touch on a little later in this entry.

Much like Alabama did against Arkansas, LSU used a combination of defense, offense and special teams to put away West Virginia in the game of the week picked by the College Game Day crew of ESPN. Winning a road game in Morgantown in no small feat for any program, whether they are expected to win or not. This year’s LSU team has survived its share of storms and last week’s WVU game was just another small victory for a team that has shown more resiliency than any other in 2011. Jarred Lee is not receiving enough credit for his huge roll in leading a talented football team that has had every reason to make excuses. I wasn’t convinced after the Oregon game of anything from this LSU team except that they had the best defense in the country. Now I think they are the most complete team as of now and very deserving of their new No.1 ranking.

Texas A&M took a 20-3 lead into half time over Oklahoma State last week before the Cowboys put down their handguns and grabbed their shotguns. The Pokies came out in the second half firing on all cylinders in what very well may be the country’s most prolific offense. QB Brandon Weeden was lights out in the second half, leading Oklahoma State to 27 unanswered points. He went a remarkable 47 of 60 passing, 438 yards 2 Tds and 0 Ints. If the Cowboys want to keep winning, they better find a way to start faster than they did against Texas A&M. Their schedule only get’s rougher, but they took a giant step last week with a win over A&M. Oklahoma State now has two real challenges left that are circled on it’s calendar. This first is a meeting with red hot Baylor in Stillwater on October 29^th and the next is the last game of the season when it host rival Oklahoma in the battle of Bedlam. Those games will go a long way in determining who wins the Big XII this season.

 

This Week

There are several huge games this week that will continue to help shape the championship picture. Get to a television this weekend and check out:

 

Times are CST.

Auburn at South Carolina        2:30pm   CBS                      

Michigan State at Ohio State   2:30pm   ESPN or ABC

Clemson at Virginia Tech       5:00pm    ESPN2

Alabama at Florida                 7:00pm    CBS

Nebraska at Wisconsin           7:00pm    ABC

 

 

Heisman Race

I love this topic. It’s never too early or too late to talk about it. Everyone has their own opinion of who should win it and why. There is no exact formula or set of standards that a player has to meet to win it, with the exception that the player’s team must have a good record. In my estimation, there are 10 candidates that have a legitimate shot at winning the Heisman Trophy in 2011.

 

It was very hard to choose between Kellen Moore (QB) of Boise State and Robert Griffin III (also known as RG3) (QB) of Baylor for a front runner in this blog, so I will highlight both.. They have both enjoyed remarkable seasons to date. Moore is without a doubt the nation’s most underrated and underappreciated player. Kellen, I don’t know if you access to my blog, but as a former college QB, I can appreciate what I’ve seen from you throughout your career. I certainly can appreciate the job that you have done this season. You have actually gotten better, even after losing two receivers to the NFL and throwing to guys who will never make it there. And as for you RG3, you continue to amaze us all every week with your athletism and redamndiculous 85 percent completion percentage at 12 yards per attempt. We know you aren’t throwing bubble screens for that percentage nor are you a product of a system. You are the real deal buddy. Keep it up!

 

Kellen Moore

Through 3 games, Moore is 83 of 105 (79%) for 995 yards, 12 Tds and 0 Ints. But check this; he has not been sacked even once. Yes ladies and gents, ZERO sacks. The last time I checked, Boise State wasn’t sending lineman to the NFL so this guy is getting the ball out of his hands to all of the right people. Kellen Moore is extremely impressive and if I were an NFL GM, I’d take a long, hard look at this kid. If Tebow is a first rounder, then so is Moore. Barring injury, this guy may be standing at the podium giving a speech for the Heisman if he continues to light it up. There is some stiff competition out there though, particularly coming from the next guy.

 

Robert Griffin III

Through 3 games, RG3 is 70 of 82, (85%) for 962 yards 13 Tds and 0 Ints. He is an electrifying player with the ball in his hands that has developed into one of the top passers in the nation. He is as quick as Denard Robinson of Michigan when running and as lethal as Andrew Luck when passing. He has no weakness as he leads Baylor’s poison spread attack into Big XII play. There are several test upcoming, starting this week against undefeated Kansas State, who will put a much improved defense on the field Saturday than it had a year ago. If Baylor can survive October, then RG3 will give us all reason to believe that he is the man for the prize. That’s a tall task for Baylor but I think RG3 and company just may be up for the task.

Other Notable Candidates (In no particular order):

 

Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina

Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma

Brandon Weeden, QB, Oklahoma State

Andrew Luck, QB, Standford

Lamichael James, RB, Oregon

Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama

Russell Wilson, QB, Wisconsin

Denard Robinson, QB, Michigan

 

I hope you enjoyed this entry. Please leave comments. Thank you.

It’s official. Texas A&M will now be the 13^th member of the Southeastern Conference starting on July 1, 2012. The Aggies will be in the Western Division of the conference, leaving the conference unbalanced for now with 7 teams in the west and 6 in the east. The SEC has not and says it will not invite Missouri to join the conference, but had it done so, Auburn would have moved to the Eastern Division, giving the conference 7 teams in each division. No one is quite sure what SEC Commissioner Mike Slive has up his sleeve, but I’m sure we’ll know a little more in the months to come. I’m just happy that PAC 12 Commissioner Larry Scott felt that there would be “no” real benefit in more conference expansion for the Pacific Athletic Conference. Let’s take a look at what could have happened.

 

If Larry Scott had been open to more expansion, the PAC 12 would have likely gone to a 16 team format, with 4 subdivisions of 4 teams each. One subdivision would have been made up entirely of schools that were formerly in the Big XII. Those schools would have been Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech. That realignment would have set off a ripple effect of realignment throughout the country like we’ve never witnessed before. With Texas A&M already talking with the SEC, Missouri likely would have been invited by the conference as well, leaving Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State scrambling to find and Automatic Qualifying (AQ) conference for home to maintain their paths to play in a BCS game. More than likely, had the PAC 16 been formed, the ACC would have expanded to 16 schools as well with the additions of Pittsburg and Syracuse, who have accepted invitations to the ACC along with UConn and Rutgers. That scenario would have left the Big East short 4 members and would have presented the possibility of the Big East joining forces with the remaining four Big XII schools to form a conference that no longer needs to come up with a name. That conference would have added TCU next season as well.

 

If I could be commissioner of realignment and make all decisions final, this is what I would have done. Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers and UConn would move to the ACC. This makes sense for both money sports, football and basketball and allows rivalries to continue and mean even more due to conference play. I would then move Clemson and Georgia Tech to the SEC and place Georgia Tech in the Western Division. TCU and Boise State would join the Big XII and Texas A&M would remain put, giving the conference 12 schools that geographically make since. If the PAC 12 and the Big XII each needed to have 14 schools like the SEC and ACC, I would then add BYU and TCU to the Big XII and Boise State and San Diego State to the Pacific Athletic Conference. Just going over the possibilities in my head, they seem to be endless with conference realignment. The madness needed to be stopped and Larry Scott made the right call.

 

However, there is some realignment that has taken place. I feel that realignment of teams leaving a major conference to join another is bad for college sports. I think we had it right when Colorado, Nebraska and Texas A&M were still in the Big XII. We had it right when Syracuse and Pitt were in the Big East. Syracuse is actually the founding school of the Big East Conference. I like to see successful programs that are small schools move up to get a piece of the pie. Traditional powers moving due to money is getting out of hand, but I don’t blame any of the Big XII schools, especially A&M. The Big XII is the only conference that doesn’t do equal revenue sharing with each school. Oklahoma and Texas fair much better annually than the other schools due to television appearances. The other schools are sick of that practice, causing Nebraska and Colorado to bail a year ago when told “this is the way it is, deal with it”. I think the conference has learned a hard, but valuable lesson and we’ll see how it manages things from now on. With the Longhorn Network issue still on the table, there cannot be peace among the remaining members of the Big XII. This is a bad move by media giant ESPN and gives unfair exposure to the University of Texas that no other school in the country will have. College football as we know it is in deep water and it’s time for NCAA president Mark Emmert to take a stand for what it right, including revising recruiting rules, scholarship monetary limitations, and rule violation penalties.

If my name was Gene Chizik, I’d make the short drive across the state line every week and play the Georgia lottery. And I would make sure that I had the same four leaf clover in my pocket that he apparently keeps with him on game days. Chizik, much like Les Miles a few seasons ago, has been ridiculously fortunate so far this season and his Auburn Tigers are 2-0. I’ve never witnessed a team that is 2-0 that is as close to being 0-2 as they are. They find a way to win and I like it. I just don’t know how long that luck will last. Only Notre Dame wears four leaf clovers on their helmets and apparently, they don’t work all that well, just ask Denard Robinson. I’m not taking shots at Auburn, but they better get it together or this will be a 6-6 season, as most major publications predicted.

 

Top Teams

 

Oklahoma torched Tulsa in week 1 in a game that wasn’t even close. Landry Jones picked up where he left off last season, completing 75 percent of his passes and recording another 375 yard day, which is the norm in out in Norman. After having an off week in week 2, the #1 Sooners head down to Tallahassee for a show down with #5 Florida State this Saturday. Being this weekend’s most anticipated game, this showdown has BCS implications written all over it. FSU QB EJ Manuel has been very efficient and poised in the two early wins, but will be tested early and often by an athletic OU defense this weekend. People are saying that FSU is back. We’ll know if that is a fair anointing or not after Saturday.

 

LSU has looked fantastic, despite a mess of hurricane proportions brewing for much of August. Jordan Jefferson is yet to be missed in an offense that has been as impressive as any in the country so far. Even more impressive is their defense, which may very well be the nation’s best unit. Oregon is very fast on offense, but the LSU defense even was faster and stronger. That has to be scary for upcoming conference opponents. LSU is always prone to have a letdown game against a sub par opponent, but maybe they’ve finally learned from the past. The Bayou Bengals look poised to take the SEC West by storm, but the November 5^th game in Tuscaloosa will more than likely tell the tale. A late season match versus Arkansas in the battle of the border will also be a highly anticipated game that could decide the fate of the SEC West.

 

The Crimson Tide have yet to break par this season with an unimpressive win over Kent State and a less than impressive win against Penn State. The quarterback position battle seems to be playing itself out with McCarron as the apparent budding star, but expect Saban to play Phillip Sims some this week in a cupcake against North Texas. Junior College transfer Duron Carter, son of NFL great Chris Carter, is finally eligible and Darius Hanks will return to the starting lineup this week after sitting 2 games for playing in 1 game as a redshirt freshman, both complimenting Marquis Maze for an even stronger passing attack. Look for Trent Richardson to finally have a break out game this week and get into the thick of the Heisman race. This Alabama team isn’t there yet and they’ll have a stiff test in two weeks when a very dangerous Arkansas team comes to town with a grudge match in mind. We’ll have to wait until then to find out with the Tide are made of.

 

Rising Sleeper

 

Robert Griffin III was a monster in week 1 with a shocking upset over a TCU team that was preseason #14. It was one of the best shootouts in recent memory with Baylor prevailing 50-48. Griffin went 21-27 for 359 yards, 5 TDs and no turnovers. If he keeps performing like that, expect Baylor to contend for the Big 12 title this season and he will be in New York with a few other Heisman candidates at season’s end. TCU is as good as any team in the Big 12 and Baylor won’t have another test a big until an October 15^th road game at #9 Texas A&M. That game will go a long way in determining who is contending and who is pretending in what appears to be the last year of what we know as the Big 12. As for now, RG3 needs to stay healthy and help Baylor build up momentum for very daunting late season stretch of conference games.

 

Shout Out

 

Shout out to Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers for his performance Sunday versus the Arizona Cardinals. In his first ever game, a road game, he complete 24 of 37 passes for 422 yards and 2 TDs and added another TD rushing in route to a tough 28-21 loss. He broke Otto Graham’s rookie season debut passing record of 346 yards that has stood since 1950. He also tied the total passing yards by a rookie in a game record held by Matthew Stafford, who in 2009 had 422 yards against the Cleveland Browns in week 10. The future looks bright for a once dismal franchise in Carolina.