Virginia Tech vs Boise State vs Officiating

As the resident Hokie, I suppose it's my civic duty to review this game...I'll try to keep it as unbiased as possible.

#5 Boise State-33, #6 Virginia Tech-30

First off, allow me to address the uniforms: they were hideous. Nike needs to be sued by a group of clothing designers or something. Boise's jerseys were bad, but Tech looked like a team from some 13 year old's poorly written fan fiction about "futureball," a game that combines football with explosions and stripper cheerleaders. (Kinda like the XFL.) Both teams' helmets were nice, though. But you're not here for aesthetics, you're here for analysis, especially since you already know who won the game.

Well, for once a big game lived up to the hype. Aside from the horrible, awful first quarter, this game was danged good. The first quarter, however, was an embarrassment to anyone who happens to root for the team from Blacksburg. Boise's jump to a 17-0 lead owed much less to the Broncos' skill, and much more to outright ineptitude from Virginia Tech. It should be obvious that the debacle of the first quarter factored into the decision, since Virginia Tech outscored Boise by 14 over the course of the rest of the game. I'm aware that it's everyone's first game, but Tech's offensive line looked outright sad during the first quarter, and I'm not really sure they started getting better over the course of the game so much as Tyrod Taylor said "Alright, enough of this." and put the game on his shoulders.

Boise, meanwhile, looked great when it came to shutting down Tech's running attack. Mind you, they did so at the expense of the pass defense. Taylor's not the best passer, but he threw for nearly 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sure, Kellen Moore had better numbers through the air, but he's a passing quarterback. Tech's defense, which was replacing 6 starters, didn't have a shot at shutting down the Boise offense, but they did do OK until they gave up an absurdly long touchdown run in the 3rd quarter.

The salient feature of this game for me (and just about everyone else who willingly wears the clashing colors of maroon and orange) was the officiating. Specifically, the quality of the officiating, which was remarkably poor. Fortunately (I guess) the screwups were pretty much even. Boise State, for example, was called for "running into the kicker" in the 3rd. In all honesty, the Boise State player grazed Tech's kicker and he (like many other kickers) treated the slight touch as though it were a gunshot wound. After the five yard penalty was marched off, Tech proceeded to throw a touchdown on the very next play. But the reason why Blacksburgians (Blacksburgites? Blacksburgers? There needs to be a dictionary for this crap.) are up in arms today is because of the final minute and a half of the game. On the kickoff there was an illegal block in the back. The flag was thrown, and the officials decided that there was no penalty. OK, fine. Debatable, but fine. Later in the drive, Virginia Tech was whistled for a personal foul on a late hit. This call was, simply put, bad. The lateness of the hit was debatable, but if the refs wanted to err on the side of caution, that's OK. What is not OK is that, on Virginia Tech's final possession, a similarly debatable pass interference call was ignored on 4th down. If you want to be a ticky-tack official who calls every little rule infraction, that's fine, but call it both ways. The running into the kicker call and the late hit call were both bad calls, but the block in the back and the pass interference call were bad no-calls. Inconsistent officiating drives fans bonkers, and I am no exception. Or maybe I'm still not over this call. Not that it matters, because they're not going to replay the game on my account.

In conclusion, now that they've beaten the Hokies, I sincerely hope that Boise runs the table and heads to the National Championship game. The chips need to fall right, though, because (as seen above) I choose to focus on the coaches poll, which currently places Boise at number 3. Considering the relative weakness of their schedule, they still need a miracle or two to make the National Title game. What they really need is for Virginia Tech and Oregon State to run the table after they play Boise, the better to make the Broncos look good. As it stands, though, Boise needs every major conference team to lose a game, because otherwise coaches will find an excuse to place any team above them, if only to preserve the BCS monopoly.

Well, that's all. Personally, I think I did alright on avoiding the bias, but I'm curious to get your input. Comment away...

Saturday in Review 11/14/09

We're reaching the end of the season. Fortunately, for some teams (Notre Dame, Maryland, Washington State, etc.) and unfortunately for others (TCU, Boise State, Cincinnati, and other schools with legitimate schedules who would like Texas' spot in the National Title game). Let's take a look at the scores and highlights from the Top 25 and their bottom-dwelling brethren.

#1 Florida-24, South Carolina-14

Well, Florida's officially undefeated in the SEC. They beat everyone set before them, and they'll have little problem beating their next opponent: the mighty Florida International Golden Panthers (3-7).

In all fairness, though, hats off to the Gators for going undefeated in the toughest conference in the country, and for getting a win without any real help from the officials. Am I harping on that too much? Possibly. Doesn't make me wrong, though.

South Carolina, meanwhile, is doing OK under Steve Spurrier, but they seem to have real trouble taking their chicken show on the road. Look for them in the most minor of the SEC's bowls...

#2 Alabama-31, Mississippi State-3

Well, this one was a blowout, wasn't it? Prior to the game, many analysts had wondered if Alabama might stumble against a Mississippi State team that had given other squads trouble in Starkville. Instead, we got this: a 4 touchdown blowout that stopped being interesting during the 2nd quarter. Mississippi State is a team that serves as a nuisance to several teams, but hasn't beaten anyone. At least they could cling the the nuisance thing up until this week. Now they don't even have that one working for them.

Alabama, one-upping Florida's awesome schedule, has the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga this weekend. Even if you buy the whole "tune-up game" argument that big schools use for early-season cupcakes, how do you explain this being Alabama's 11th game of the season? How is that possible? 'Bama's looked excellent in many games this year, and they have no legitimate excuse to schedule a weak team as their second to last game in the regular season. Expect a rant in the #2 spot next week...

#3 Texas-47, Baylor-14

Anyone noticed that the top 3 teams in the country were all on the road this week? Just an observation.

Texas smacked Baylor, which really isn't remarkable at all, since EVERYONE in the Big 12, a fairly weak conference, has smacked Baylor. (Except Missouri, who is bafflingly bad against bad teams). Texas still has two regular season games left, neither of which pose a major threat to the Longhorns chances. Though they might face semi-tough opposition from the North Division Champion (which will be either the Nebraska Cornhuskers or the Kansas State Wildcats) it is still a virtual certainty that the Longhorns will make the title game. I know I wrote a very similar paragraph to that last week, so I apologize. I'll probably do the same next week, so allow me to apologize in advance...

#16 Utah-28, #4 TCU-55

TCU, looking to prove how good they are, snuffed Utah in front of a home crowd, and on ESPN. Once again, we see a blowout in the name of style points, but this one's semi-justifiable because Utah was ranked. A blowout of a ranked team is at least a little more respectable than a blowout of an unranked cupcake. That doesn't make it right, just less reprehensible.

The 'Frogs aren't too shabby, though, and they might even deserve the BCS berth they'll get. They're still not going to go to the national title game, but they will get the national spotlight against a major conference foe. Should be interesting to see.

Sarcasm for continuity: Utah is a boring state.

#25 West Virginia-21, #5 Cincinnati-24

The Big East proved that they could blow calls for their good teams, too! It's refreshing, really, to know that another conference picked up the SEC's trick of making horrific calls that favor the good teams in the conference. Case in point: Isaiah Pead's "touchdown" during the 2nd quarter of Friday's game between 2 of the top 3 Big East teams. (delightful 5 minute YouTube link here)

I appreciate the Cincinnati chicanery, but that is not anything resembling a touchdown. Pead's arm did not cross the goal line, and it looks like he fumbled the ball. I am not a West Virginia fan. Indeed, as a Virginia Tech fan, I think West Virginia fans are a bunch of couch burning nutcases whose contributions to football consist mainly of lowering academic standards so that their inbred, eleven-toed (but super-fast!) running backs can go to college.

That said, West Virginia got screwed. If the refs wanted to give Cincinnati a fighting chance, they would have said "no fumble" and given Cincy the ball on the WVU 1-inch line. That one's defensible, as it might not have been a fumble (though the rule states that the call on the field can't be overturned unless there's indisputable evidence showing that the field call was wrong. The evidence available wasn't indisputable, but I rest my case.) It is absolutely inexcusable that the play was called a touchdown. Go back to the video and look at Pead's reaction at 3:39, when they overturned the call on the field. He didn't think that the ball had broken the plane. And it was in his friggin' hand!

Why am I harping so much on this? Because one could say that the final score (24-21) was affected a wee bit by the touchdown. I know Cincinnati, even if they run the table, probably isn't going to the title game, but it still stinks that they used this touchdown as a critical play in their win. I'm not saying this made all the difference, but it sure as heck helped. That is all. De facto Big East title game coming up on December 5 between Cincinnati and Pitt.

Idaho-25, #6 Boise State-63

The Broncos continue to pummel opponents in search of respect from the BCS. Due to the fact that the teams they're pummeling are all in their conference (the ultimate one-good-team-in-a-bad-conference that is the WAC), then Boise State's quest for respect will have to wait until next season, especially since Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Cincinnati are undefeated teams from automatic qualifying conferences, and TCU plays in a better conference than the Broncos. End result? They'll play the worst of the AQ champs in their BCS Bowl. At present, that'd be Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. (Explanation: Even though the PAC-10 and Big 10 champs will have a worse record than the Jackets, there is no way that the Rose Bowl will allow the guys from the PAC-10 and the Big 10 to miss the party. Far too much tradition/money involved.)

Idaho, whom I had such high hopes for earlier this year, flamed out. They'll probably be in some obscure bowl. Weeeeeeee.

#7 Georgia Tech-49, Duke-10

The trouble with the option is that you can stop it for a quarter, you can't stop it for a whole game. Duke scored the first 10 points of this game in the first quarter, then got demolished for the remainder of the game. Hats off to Georgia Tech who played extremely well this whole season and earned themselves a berth in the ACC title game. A healthy "up yours" to everyone who said the triple option wouldn't work in a major conference against major conference competition. Good luck to the Yellow Jackets going forward, as they have proven themselves to be the best team in the ACC this year. Here's hoping they beat Clemson in the title game (NOTE: Clemson didn't clinch this last week, but they just have to beat UVa this week...)

Duke, meanwhile, will have to wait for a win, either by upsetting reeling, angry Miami at Miami this week, or by beating a fairly pathetic Wake Forest team at Duke in the last week of the season. I'll leave you to decide which is more likely.

Louisiana Tech-16, #8 LSU-24 (Purple still doesn't show up well)

LSU holds on to beat another of its in-state "rivals." Once again, I have a problem with this game even being played, though the score earns a quick raise of the eyebrow because of how close it was. LSU's 8 victories this season have all come against fairly bad teams, something that surpises me. Looking at the record, their Top 10 ranking is actually sort of disturbing. Since I rip Texas on a weekly basis, I suppose we have to be fair and take a look at LSU's wins:

They have beaten 8 teams this season. Of the teams they have beaten, Auburn has the best overall record. Georgia has the best in-conference record of the teams LSU has defeated, and UGA is the only team that LSU has beaten that has a winning conference record. (This includes their opponents from the Sun Belt, C-USA, WAC, and PAC-10.) The two legitimately good football teams that LSU has played thus far have both been home games against Alabama and Florida. Both of those games ended in losses for the Bayou Bengals. My point? Well, LSU might or might not be the 8th best team in the country. For all the hype that the SEC has received, their "third-best" team has played an appallingly weak schedule, especially when you consider they've lost both of the games they played against national powerhouse schools (these games are also the only 2 they've played against currently ranked teams).

Louisiana Tech, meanwhile, came close to beating LSU and came close to beating Boise State. Close, however, doesn't count, and the LTU Bulldogs will be sleeping in once December rolls around, as this loss sealed them as bowl-ineligible for this season.

#25 Stanford-55, #9 USC-21

Many people are making a fuss over the fact that Stanford went for 2 when they were up 48-21. I agree that it was tasteless, but let's take a look at some scores from the 2007 and 2008 seasons. See if you notice a theme:

USC-47, Washington State-14
USC-38, Notre Dame-0
USC-44, Arizona State-24
USC-49, Illinois-17
USC-52, Virginia-7
USC-35, Ohio State-3
USC-44, Oregon-10
USC-69, Washington State-0
USC-56, Washington-0
USC-38, Notre Dame-3

Forgive me if I consider this just desserts. (Regular readers will note that I hate Southern Cal and Pete Carroll) Southern Cal has been guilty of serial score-run-upping, even when they put in their backups. Stanford's last touchdown was scored by a backup running back. So that makes it OK in the gospel according to Pete, right?

Look, I'm not saying that it's OK to run up the score on a prone opponent. But when your opponent's a hated rival with a history of score gouging, I can't blame Stanford for pushing up the score. Or maybe Stanford went for two, as Woody Hayes once put it when asked why he went for 2 when up 36 on rival Michigan, "because I couldn't go for three." We may never know.

Oh, and Stanford's a good football team, and Southern Cal's on the skids this year. Here's hoping they meet Virginia Tech in a bowl, because I would totally go to that game.

#10 Iowa-24, #11 Ohio State-27

An exciting game, albeit one where both teams looked fairly mediocre. The Buckeyes won the game, clinched the Big 10 title, and will get slaughtered by, er, play the PAC-10 Champion in the Rose Bowl. Congrats to Ohio State for punching the first guaranteed BCS ticket. Lest we forget, though, this is the same team that lost to friggin' Purdue 4 weeks ago.

Iowa, meanwhile, has fallen hard from the ranks of the unbeaten, and will finish the season against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Uhhhh, I think they'll win that game, but the way Iowa plays, there's no way of knowing...

Notre Dame-22, #12 Pitt-27

Oh, Notre Dame. You're so...bad. Charlie Weis does so little with so much (and that's not a weight joke). Charlie's going to get fired. It's inevitable. So he may as well start having fun. Only try 2 point conversions. Go for it on all 4th downs. When people ask where the kick teams are, give vague answers. Then, hold the punter and kicker hostage in an undisclosed location and threaten to execute them if he's not kept on staff at Notre Dame. It might work. Or, if it doesn't, we still get a pretty entertaining concept: Charlie Weis: hostage taker. Anyone else smell sitcom?

Pitt, meanwhile, is quietly sneaking up in the rankings. Mind you, their lone loss this year is to NC State, which doesn't bode well for their next two games: at West Virginia, then a home game against Cincy that will determine the fate of the Big East. I look forward to it. Might be fun.

Arizona State-21, #13 Oregon-44

I'm ticked that Oregon has reinstated LeGarrette Blount after that little stunt he pulled (and the punch that he didn't pull) at Boise State. Thus, I'm glad he didn't play in the game. Other than that, judging from the final score of this one and the USC/Stanford game, the PAC-10's back to its old self: Specifically, incapable on defense, but very capable of scoring. That's about it.

#14 Miami-24, UNC-33

Well, Miami loses another one. Again, they lose on the road, proving that the 'Canes really aren't that good away from their friendly confines.

UNC, meanwhile, is an enigma team this year. Capable of beating the fairly good teams in conference (Virginia Tech, Miami) but incapable of beating some of the awful ones (UVa, Florida State). Heck, the only good team they've lost to is Georgia Tech. The only bad team they've beaten is Duke. Welcome to the Twilight Zone, courtesy of the Tar Heel football team. Both these squads should make bowls of the mid-level variety.

#15 Houston-32, UCF-37

Houston loses to the team that Texas demolished last week. While I typically eschew head to head matchups as meaningless (see last season's Penn State beating Oregon State who beat USC who killed Penn State), this one proves (again) that Houston isn't ready to play with the big boys just yet. Special thanks to Central Florida and UTEP for keeping Houston out of the BCS and saving us all from a repeat of that Hawaii/Georgia Sugar Bowl fiasco.

#17 Arizona-16, California-24

Cal's record as an unranked team: 3-0.
Cal's record as a ranked team: 4-3

Maybe the Bears should try and stay unranked...

Arizona, meanwhile, watches their quiet rise to the top of the PAC-10 die a quiet death. Shall we move on? I think we shall.

Indiana-20, #18 Penn State-31

"You know, Indiana's been playing very well these last two weeks. They might just pull off an upset sometime soon." --Me, last week

Guess I was wrong, eh? At least this week. Penn State bounces back from their second loss with a win over a mediocre team in their mediocre conference. As stated previously, look for Penn State to go to some mid-level bowl in the middle of nowhere. Congrats, JoePa!

Texas Tech-17, #19 Oklahoma State-24

Did you know Oklahoma State is still ranked and still playing football? No? Neither did anyone else outside of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Why? Because OSU has played no one, and has managed to get themselves into the Top 20 by doing that. It's not as deceptive as LSU's totally undeserved Top 10 ranking, but it's still bad. OSU has played precisely two teams that are currently ranked. They have two losses. That's not a coincidence...

Meanwhile, Texas Tech is having a hangover after that great year they had last season. They are, however, bowl eligible, thanks to wins over 5 mediocre teams and Nebraska. Congrats, Red Raiders! Enjoy the Big Al's House of Staplers Bowl in Paducah, Kentucky!

Michigan-24, #20 Wisconsin-45

Dear Michigan,

I struggle to keep a straight face when I look back and see that in Week 4 the pollsters legitimately thought you were the 22nd best team in the country. Since that point you have won one (ONE!) game, and that one was against Delaware State, a 1-AA foe. The long and the short of it is that you're not good this year. Your five victories consist of the following: Western Michigan, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, Indiana, and Delaware State. You will only make a bowl if you beat Ohio State this coming weekend, and there are people calling for your coach's head already. It's his second year! Frankly, I hope you make the mistake of firing Coach Rodriguez. Turn yourselves into a coaching carousel program. Look how well it worked for the North Carolina Tar Heels from 1997-2007! Here's looking forward to your last letter of the year next week!

Sincerely,
Bones

PS: Wisconsin, good job. You're a middle-of-the-road team in a mediocre conference. Have fun in the Champs Sports Bowl (NOTE: I didn't make that one up.)

#21 Virginia Tech-36, Maryland-9

Tech beat one of the worst teams in the conference wearing their hideous new road alt uniforms. (Pictures of the number-gradient garbage here. Pay attention to Tyrod's number 5.) Maryland, for their part was wearing black and camouflage jerseys. And the game wasn't close, hence my harping on the fashion. Moving on...

#22 BYU-24, New Mexico-19

Utah is a boring state. Oh, and New Mexico...still winless.

Washington-21, #23 Oregon State-48

Wait, Oregon State's ranked? Oh, and Washington really started to stink after they beat Southern Cal. Short version of this game: No one cares about it outside of the Pacific Northwest. That includes me.

#24 South Florida-0, Rutgers-31

I've maintained throughout this season that the South Florida Bulls have beaten a slew of nobodies and don't deserve to be ranked. This game merely vindicates my anti-USF feelings

#24 Clemson-43, NC State-23

Know what's funny? Clemson could go to the ACC Championship game simply by beating UVa next week. Doesn't that suck? I hope Georgia Tech rips those orange-clad nut jobs in half. Why the hatred, you ask? Because you and I know that the second Dabo Swinney starts losing more than 3 games a year, the same whack jobs that got Tommy Bowden fired will be calling for Swinney's blood as well. Good luck, Dabo. You're gonna need it.

Moving on, now, to Tales from the Bottom 95

Kentucky becomes bowl eligible after beating Vandy...Tennessee looks to follow suit this coming week against the same team...Ole Miss crushed the Vols this week, though...Nebraska defeated Kansas this week, and their game against the Kansas State Wildcats will determine the fate of the Big 12 North...East Carolina killed Tulsa. Anyone want to write an article that they're better than Boise State? No one? Because that's what a ton of pundits did when they compared the Oklahoma/Tulsa game and the Boise/Tulsa game. Idiots...Boston College beat UVa to keep Clemson out of the ACC Championship for one more week...Now that they lack Matt Ryan, I am totally OK with BC winning an ACC Championship...Georgia finally won another SEC game, by beating Auburn...Northwestern wins again, beating Illinois. Illinois, however, is very bad...Lastly, Western Carolina University won a road game! Way to go Cats!

That's all I wrote. See you next week!