I'm not even referring to the Virginia Tech-Miami game, either. (Though that was pretty crummy. Sean Glennon looked horrific. We won't address it any further.)
No, I'm referring to the demise of one of my all-time favorite blogs ever. FireJoeMorgan.com. You have to understand where I'm coming from, that blog is basically the inspiration for this little rinky-dink affair that you're currently reading. And so, even though they won't see it (and almost no one will read it) this is my nod to the FJM guys. Thanks to dak, Junior, and KT. Your contribution to the world will be missed.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Maryland vs Virginia Tech, with a side of Utah/TCU
#23 Maryland-13, Virginia Tech-23
Give me a moment to savor this...Ahhhhhh.
OK, let's analyze: First off, the score of this game actually makes it appear closer than it is. I have always hated big play intensive teams. You know, the schools who rely on 4 plays a game to win or lose it all. Maryland is one of those schools. Were it not for one play, on which the Tech defense utterly failed to stop a screen pass, the score would have probably been 23-6 or 23-9. Maryland's offense was nothing short of pathetic on the ground, which enabled Tech to pressure the Maryland QB (Who has hideous hair. Just a thought.) into throwing pathetic passes for minimal gain. But the defense wasn't the only good thing for the Hokies...
Darren Evans was a show stopper in the game on Thursday night. He was quick, dynamic, etc. etc. There are a few cautionary points I will make however:
1) This was a game against Maryland. Let's not have the Hokie nation screaming that this guy is the next Lee Suggs. Yet.
2) What was with all the camera shots of Evans' young son asleep? It's like ESPN picks a plot line to follow and shoves it down your throat for a few hours, regardless of how tired of it you are. I wonder what they would have done with all that time had Evans gotten hurt on the first drive or had an awful game? Probably showed some old Matt Ryan footage.
3) Evans' son slept through most of the game. It was kinda cute. But after the game Erin Andrews walks up to Evans and the last question she asks before the team huddles up is, "Your son James slept through most of the game. How does that make you feel?" What the heck?! You're gonna tell the guy "Oh, good game, your kid missed it." In fairness, Evans took it well, despite the utterly inappropriate question, and he will be able to hold this over James' head for a long time:
"Dad, how come you don't come on my field trips?"
"How come you slept through my record-breaking performance on national television?"
4) In the final minutes of the game, Maryland had to know that the ball was going to Evans. Keep the clock running, etc. So it stands to logic that they put 8 guys in the box, tried to slow down Evans, and went away at least TRYING to grab a win. Except...they didn't. Evans ran all over the Terps on that final drive, and they went down like a turtle who'd forgotten how to swim. Sad, if a bit unsurprising.
#12 TCU-10, #8 Utah-13
Utah is still a boring state.
TCU apparently only brought its offense for the first quarter, and they still almost won. I don't like the Utes' odds against any BCS team. Unless, of course, it's the Big East champs...
Give me a moment to savor this...Ahhhhhh.
OK, let's analyze: First off, the score of this game actually makes it appear closer than it is. I have always hated big play intensive teams. You know, the schools who rely on 4 plays a game to win or lose it all. Maryland is one of those schools. Were it not for one play, on which the Tech defense utterly failed to stop a screen pass, the score would have probably been 23-6 or 23-9. Maryland's offense was nothing short of pathetic on the ground, which enabled Tech to pressure the Maryland QB (Who has hideous hair. Just a thought.) into throwing pathetic passes for minimal gain. But the defense wasn't the only good thing for the Hokies...
Darren Evans was a show stopper in the game on Thursday night. He was quick, dynamic, etc. etc. There are a few cautionary points I will make however:
1) This was a game against Maryland. Let's not have the Hokie nation screaming that this guy is the next Lee Suggs. Yet.
2) What was with all the camera shots of Evans' young son asleep? It's like ESPN picks a plot line to follow and shoves it down your throat for a few hours, regardless of how tired of it you are. I wonder what they would have done with all that time had Evans gotten hurt on the first drive or had an awful game? Probably showed some old Matt Ryan footage.
3) Evans' son slept through most of the game. It was kinda cute. But after the game Erin Andrews walks up to Evans and the last question she asks before the team huddles up is, "Your son James slept through most of the game. How does that make you feel?" What the heck?! You're gonna tell the guy "Oh, good game, your kid missed it." In fairness, Evans took it well, despite the utterly inappropriate question, and he will be able to hold this over James' head for a long time:
"Dad, how come you don't come on my field trips?"
"How come you slept through my record-breaking performance on national television?"
4) In the final minutes of the game, Maryland had to know that the ball was going to Evans. Keep the clock running, etc. So it stands to logic that they put 8 guys in the box, tried to slow down Evans, and went away at least TRYING to grab a win. Except...they didn't. Evans ran all over the Terps on that final drive, and they went down like a turtle who'd forgotten how to swim. Sad, if a bit unsurprising.
#12 TCU-10, #8 Utah-13
Utah is still a boring state.
TCU apparently only brought its offense for the first quarter, and they still almost won. I don't like the Utes' odds against any BCS team. Unless, of course, it's the Big East champs...
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Phil Phulmer Phired?!
(Apologies for the awful post title)
It's like the powers that be want me to write about this. By now it's old news in the college football world that Phil Fulmer has been fired as the head coach at Tennessee. This is not a surprise. To anyone.
What's sad is that they didn't have the decency to wait until the season was over. Seriously, Ty Willingham got axed but is holding onto his job until the season ends, Tommy Bowden was just dumped for some guy named "Dabo," and Tommy Tuberville won't be at Auburn next season unless the Tigers win out.
But let's get back to Fulmer. I've never understood the purpose of telling a coach not to come back BEFORE the season ends! It provides almost no inspiration for this team to do anything for the remainder of the year. Tennessee's not very good--and with their coach gone no matter how well they do, they have no real impetus to improve.
Fulmer's problem is that he's in the "Win it now!" SEC. He lasted for a long time, and he did very well in the conference. The man had a great string of wins and teams. And while Tennessee hasn't been the same since the turn of the century, Fulmer will go down as one of the best things to ever happen to Tennessee football. Tennessee will eventually be back as an SEC contender, but Coach Fulmer will be remembered as the one who got them to the top in the first place.
Good luck to the next coach in Knoxville. In today's football climate, you've only got 3 years to prove yourself, so you'd best hope the recruits are good this year.
It's like the powers that be want me to write about this. By now it's old news in the college football world that Phil Fulmer has been fired as the head coach at Tennessee. This is not a surprise. To anyone.
What's sad is that they didn't have the decency to wait until the season was over. Seriously, Ty Willingham got axed but is holding onto his job until the season ends, Tommy Bowden was just dumped for some guy named "Dabo," and Tommy Tuberville won't be at Auburn next season unless the Tigers win out.
But let's get back to Fulmer. I've never understood the purpose of telling a coach not to come back BEFORE the season ends! It provides almost no inspiration for this team to do anything for the remainder of the year. Tennessee's not very good--and with their coach gone no matter how well they do, they have no real impetus to improve.
Fulmer's problem is that he's in the "Win it now!" SEC. He lasted for a long time, and he did very well in the conference. The man had a great string of wins and teams. And while Tennessee hasn't been the same since the turn of the century, Fulmer will go down as one of the best things to ever happen to Tennessee football. Tennessee will eventually be back as an SEC contender, but Coach Fulmer will be remembered as the one who got them to the top in the first place.
Good luck to the next coach in Knoxville. In today's football climate, you've only got 3 years to prove yourself, so you'd best hope the recruits are good this year.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Rankings Rant 11/2/08
Wow! No updates in, like, a week? More than a week! Who runs this thing?! *looks in mirror* Oh.
Might/might not do a Saturday in Review. Who knows? Not I! The Rankings are much more fun to look at this week. We're using BCS rankings here. To prove computers screw up too.
Nick Saban and Alabama got rewarded with the #1 slot in the nation be beating...Arkansas State?! How the heck did that happen?! Now I am certainly not knocking the Crimson Tide. In my humble opinion (and what do I know?) they should have been #1 that week Oklahoma lost to Texas. But apparently it's a college football sin to move to #1 during a bye week. So here we are, eh? 'Bama's the team to beat it would seem, and I look forward to seeing what happens to them from here on out. For now, however, I have no complaints with the Tide as the #1 team in the land.
I stand corrected on Texas Tech. This, friends, is a good football team. They're fairly predictable (53 pass attempts compared to 28 run attempts) but danged if it doesn't work. I guess this is less of a rant than analysis. Meh...
Penn State's still at #3. I sincerely hope they get a shot at the title. It's hard to argue against Texas Tech and Bama (Ooooo, that'd be a good one.) But still. JoePa's a legend (even if he's not a great disciplinarian) and it'd be good to give him a shot. Frankly, weak Big 10 or no, I have a problem if a 1-loss school gets in ahead of an undefeated Penn State team.
I also have a problem with Utah at #8. Not that they're not the 8th best team in the country (they're not, but let's ignore that for now). No, it's more of the fact that they're ahead of Oklahoma State, but behind USC. This is not right. Oklahoma State lost to the #1 team in the country, beat then-number 3 Missouri (who I was totally wrong about...), and plays in one of the 2 best conferences in the country! USC (who, admittedly, I hate with a passion. Keep that in mind if you like being objective) lost to Oregon State and plays in the third-worst BCS conference.
Conclusion: If Utah is "better" than Oklahoma state, then they're "better" than USC too. Utah could beat Washington State by 69, too.
An old "friend" is still hovering in the top 15. #11 Ohio State. I need someone to rationalize this for me. They drop a few spots after losing to Penn State, then move up during a bye week. I'm not OK with this. Who has Ohio State beaten?! They're not in a good conference, and the 2 good teams they've played have defeated them. USC crushed them, and Penn State beat OSU in the Horseshoe! Weird...
Georgia's gone from preseason #1 to a middle of the road SEC team. Still good, but after what Florida did to them on Saturday...the Dawgs have some work yet to do before they hoist that ugly crystal football again.
At #14 sits Missouri. I am of the opinion that any time you beat Baylor by 3, you deserve to stay where you are in the rankings. So I'm glad they didn't move up. As a side note: Chase Daniel, I am sorry for jinxing you...
Ball State sits at #17. I hope they do well. I also enjoyed how, when Tulsa lost the ESPN commentator said "Another fly in the ointment gone." Wow. Do people really think that lowly of non-BCS schools. I mean, Boise State-Oklahoma was a thriller. Utah crushed Pitt in the first BCS game featuring an outsider. Sure, Hawaii stank in the Sugar Bowl last year, but what's with the phrase "fly in the ointment." That kinda screams "elitist conspiracy" to me. Frankly I was hoping for a Tulsa/Utah title game...
Stat o' the day: UNC's record against schools from Virginia: 0-2
UNC's record against schools from the other 49 states: 6-0.
Best hope their 1-AA opponent next year isn't the Richmond Spiders...
As a side note 4 ACC teams are ranked this week. That's impressive. What's sad is that the highest ranked one is UNC. They're the #19 team in the land.
I am curious as to how Maryland is #23 and Cal is #21. Is this anti-East Coast Bias bias? I mean, same record, Maryland's beaten more ranked teams (side note: 1 was Clemson. So...). The kicker, clearly is that these 2 teams played each other. And in that head-to-head matchup, the winner was...Maryland? No, wait, I must've read that wrong. No, no, it was Maryland. I watched that game. Maryland dominated in that game for 3 quarters. How in the heck are the Golden Bears "better" than the Terps?! Isn't that what the rankings are supposed to indicate?! Maryland plays in a mediocre but balanced conference, and has defeated the team ranked 2 slots above them! Cal plays in a conference with one good team, 6 OK to fairly bad teams, and 3 awful teams. AND they lost to Maryland. I am sorry, but that's just wrong.
Oh, and congrats to West Virginia. The only Big (L)east team in the BCS rankings. I'm not going to rant on this...I'm just saying that without Pat White we'd be talking about UConn here.
Might/might not do a Saturday in Review. Who knows? Not I! The Rankings are much more fun to look at this week. We're using BCS rankings here. To prove computers screw up too.
Nick Saban and Alabama got rewarded with the #1 slot in the nation be beating...Arkansas State?! How the heck did that happen?! Now I am certainly not knocking the Crimson Tide. In my humble opinion (and what do I know?) they should have been #1 that week Oklahoma lost to Texas. But apparently it's a college football sin to move to #1 during a bye week. So here we are, eh? 'Bama's the team to beat it would seem, and I look forward to seeing what happens to them from here on out. For now, however, I have no complaints with the Tide as the #1 team in the land.
I stand corrected on Texas Tech. This, friends, is a good football team. They're fairly predictable (53 pass attempts compared to 28 run attempts) but danged if it doesn't work. I guess this is less of a rant than analysis. Meh...
Penn State's still at #3. I sincerely hope they get a shot at the title. It's hard to argue against Texas Tech and Bama (Ooooo, that'd be a good one.) But still. JoePa's a legend (even if he's not a great disciplinarian) and it'd be good to give him a shot. Frankly, weak Big 10 or no, I have a problem if a 1-loss school gets in ahead of an undefeated Penn State team.
I also have a problem with Utah at #8. Not that they're not the 8th best team in the country (they're not, but let's ignore that for now). No, it's more of the fact that they're ahead of Oklahoma State, but behind USC. This is not right. Oklahoma State lost to the #1 team in the country, beat then-number 3 Missouri (who I was totally wrong about...), and plays in one of the 2 best conferences in the country! USC (who, admittedly, I hate with a passion. Keep that in mind if you like being objective) lost to Oregon State and plays in the third-worst BCS conference.
Conclusion: If Utah is "better" than Oklahoma state, then they're "better" than USC too. Utah could beat Washington State by 69, too.
An old "friend" is still hovering in the top 15. #11 Ohio State. I need someone to rationalize this for me. They drop a few spots after losing to Penn State, then move up during a bye week. I'm not OK with this. Who has Ohio State beaten?! They're not in a good conference, and the 2 good teams they've played have defeated them. USC crushed them, and Penn State beat OSU in the Horseshoe! Weird...
Georgia's gone from preseason #1 to a middle of the road SEC team. Still good, but after what Florida did to them on Saturday...the Dawgs have some work yet to do before they hoist that ugly crystal football again.
At #14 sits Missouri. I am of the opinion that any time you beat Baylor by 3, you deserve to stay where you are in the rankings. So I'm glad they didn't move up. As a side note: Chase Daniel, I am sorry for jinxing you...
Ball State sits at #17. I hope they do well. I also enjoyed how, when Tulsa lost the ESPN commentator said "Another fly in the ointment gone." Wow. Do people really think that lowly of non-BCS schools. I mean, Boise State-Oklahoma was a thriller. Utah crushed Pitt in the first BCS game featuring an outsider. Sure, Hawaii stank in the Sugar Bowl last year, but what's with the phrase "fly in the ointment." That kinda screams "elitist conspiracy" to me. Frankly I was hoping for a Tulsa/Utah title game...
Stat o' the day: UNC's record against schools from Virginia: 0-2
UNC's record against schools from the other 49 states: 6-0.
Best hope their 1-AA opponent next year isn't the Richmond Spiders...
As a side note 4 ACC teams are ranked this week. That's impressive. What's sad is that the highest ranked one is UNC. They're the #19 team in the land.
I am curious as to how Maryland is #23 and Cal is #21. Is this anti-East Coast Bias bias? I mean, same record, Maryland's beaten more ranked teams (side note: 1 was Clemson. So...). The kicker, clearly is that these 2 teams played each other. And in that head-to-head matchup, the winner was...Maryland? No, wait, I must've read that wrong. No, no, it was Maryland. I watched that game. Maryland dominated in that game for 3 quarters. How in the heck are the Golden Bears "better" than the Terps?! Isn't that what the rankings are supposed to indicate?! Maryland plays in a mediocre but balanced conference, and has defeated the team ranked 2 slots above them! Cal plays in a conference with one good team, 6 OK to fairly bad teams, and 3 awful teams. AND they lost to Maryland. I am sorry, but that's just wrong.
Oh, and congrats to West Virginia. The only Big (L)east team in the BCS rankings. I'm not going to rant on this...I'm just saying that without Pat White we'd be talking about UConn here.
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