College Football Week 7 Recap: Routs & Rallies

So, another big week in college football... Alabama HANGING ON against Arkansas??? What the hell is going on down there? We'll let that one slide and focus on other action that took place.

TCU... What happened? I'm glad Vegas is paying me out considering I got 8.5... but as a fan of TCU in this one, I'm shocked. For those of you who only saw the final Baylor 61 - TCU 58... you missed the whole story. TCU went up 21 points with 11:39 to go in the game (58-37) on a Pick-6, I was so proud, TCU was "making the statement" I thought they would make. I'm still trying to figure out what in the hell happened over those last eleven minutes... Did TCU think the game was over? Did they start serving cocktails on the sideline? I don't know, I would love to say they started playing the clock and we're playing the "prevent D", but that wasn't the case. For the last 11:30 Baylor was just  better than TCU. The Frogs outplayed Baylor for  the first 3+quarters, but the fourth quarter belonged to the Bears. they just said, "No sir, we are not going to fold, this is our house"... and it was. This was simply the definition of "fighting through adversity" and perseverance. I solute the Bears on an outstanding comeback.

I would like to add, the comeback was so big, Baylor fans themselves were in shock. If you caught the end of the game, the Baylor fans (after scoring 24 points in the final 11 minutes) had the look of "Ahhh what do we do?" and then after a few minutes, there was a consensus that was like... "Ahhh let's rush the field" Yeah... go ahead it was the biggest comeback in your school's history. Get on out there.

Let's move on down to the South Eastern part of the country...

Mississippi State gets their 3rd win in a row against a top 10 opponent 38-23. While the final suggest the Dogs (Mississippi State is  "The Dogs", "The Dawgs" are down in Georgia) handled Auburn (and they did jump out to a 21-0 lead), there was a questionable PI call in the 4th quarter that went against Auburn on a Mississippi St 4th and long. It was the turning point in the game. Instead of it being Auburn ball down 8, Mississippi St. got the huge first down and the drive resulted in another 3 points, that momentum carried over to the kickoff as the Dogs special teams caused a fumble inside the Auburn 20, 2 plays later (after a nice pass from Dak to Malcom Johnson) Josh Robinson punched it in and that was it. The cow bells were out and the rednecks were rockin StarkVegas.

Debbie Downer: Dak, did throw 2 picks on the day, with one of them being in the Auburn endzone (which is a "no-no"), BUT!!! the 367 all purpose yards (246 yards through the air, 121 on the ground) along with 3 TD's (2 rushing, 1 passing) is plenty to cover. The Dogs roll on, and the Heisman talk heats up.

Obviously right now we can't talk about one Mississippi school without discussing the other as well. Ole Miss had an impressive win on the road at Texas A&M. This was pretty much one sided as the Rebels went up 21-0, and then 35-7 with the defense accounting for 14 of Ole Miss's 35 points. There's really not much to say about this... It was an ass whoopin', The Aggie fans were filing out early.

No Gurley... No Worries for Georgia, They rolled 34-0 without Heisman candidate Todd Gurley and let's highlight the big time play from the Georgia D, The Tigers were on their half of the field most of the day, and when they did cross the 50 the Dawgs were taking the ball away. 5 turnovers (4 picks and 1 fumble) on top of 4 "three-and-out's" is the recipe for a shutout. The offensive side of the story can be spun in two ways. "Nick Chubb steps up and carries the load for Georgia" or "The Dawgs deflate the ball in win against Mizzou." In the first scenario we discuss the true freshman, Chubb carrying the ball a lofty 38 times (when an individual RB will  typical carry the ball 15-20... 25 to 30 times max) for 143 yards and 1 TD. In the second scenario, we highlight the success of the run game as sophomore, Brandon Douglass added 65 yards to Chubb's 143, on 13 carries as Georgia ran the ball 58 times on 86 plays (67%), but note the potential balance issue Georgia has going forward, especially with Gurley out, Keith Marshall and Sony Michael (the other standout freshman) gimpy with injuries. I'm not a huge fan of Hutson Mason (as I've stated before), I thought Georgia should have gone with Brice Ramsey or someone younger to get him some experience rather than going with a Sr. with a lower ceiling. I watched the game and I saw a coaching staff that is aware of the issue, Mason only threw the ball 28 times for an AVERAGE of 5.6 yards... His LONG... 14 yards. (He's ONLY averaging 6.5 yards per attempt this season) that's "Quarterback management" right there, Keep the ball away from Hutson, and when he does have it, let's let him do very little with it. To Hutson's credit, he did get a rushing TD on the day. However, it was one of the least athletic plays possible, he damn near tripped over his own feet and actually fumbled the ball JUST as he crossed the plane... Real smooth Huts.. Real smooth... Check out the replay.

Obviously, we don't argue a winning formula, but I am going to raise my hand and say, "There's going to be some guys coming up on the schedule, and they're going to put some men up in the box, what's our plan going to be? this aint no secret." The Dawgs are going to have to be able to throw the ball a little more if they plan on going to Atlanta in December. 

Let's turn our attention out west... and the Pac-12 mess...

The headlines read "USC holds off Arizona's rally"... They should say "Cat's piss it away" or maybe a little more politically correct, the local papers might say "Kicking game kills the Cats". USC got the W 28-26. Zona down 14-6, had a field goal blocked to end the first half. Then after going down 28-13, Arizona came back scoring 13 unanswered. They went for 2 to tie but failed twice after a PI call on the first attempt. Still down 2 with a minute to go, the went for.. and got... the onside kick. Huge! A couple quick hitters and The Cat's were looking at a 36 yard field goal for the win. The snap was there, the kick was up and she was good... Ahh but wait, we had the ever famous "timeout right before" the snap... Let's line up and do it again... Oh shit, pushed it to the right, USC escapes. (On the positive side, Arizona covered the 2.5 spread, winner, winner, chicken dinner! Pay me my money)

Watch the shank here. The whining makes me want to puke. 36 yards, right between the hashes, what else you want sweetheart? Shut up and make the damn kick!

(He doesn't deserve the name Casey, crying like a little [you know what I'd say]... What the hell's a matter with you? You didn't get the job done. You lost... it sucks, so be it... Shut up! Pick your ass up off the ground, dust yourself off, and get your ass ready for the next one.... I could backhand him)

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:11687410

Ok let's get re-focused...

Oregon got their W against UCLA, I was focused on the other 2:30 p.m. games, so not too much to comment on. It really looked like the Ducks were in control the whole way (This was pretty much the theme of the afternoon, beat downs across the country), eventually going up 32 points in the fourth quarter 42-10, with UCLA chipping away late to make it look a little  more respectable than it really was. Final Oregon 42- UCLA 30.

So in the Pac-12 we've got Oregon who still has some challenges left, but they control their fate in the North followed by a very "mediocre" looking Stanford. In the South, USC is now the lead pony, but their conference loss to Arizona State really leaves the division up for grabs. Arizona State, Arizona, and Utah are all in the mix and UCLA has an outside shot, but they're going to need some things to go their way to really get back into this thing.

College Football Week 6 Recap: Stealing the Goal Posts Big

With everything that went down this weekend… Where do we start?

Let's start with what I have to believe is the biggest game of the week was. Alabama going down to Ole Miss. When I mentioned Game Day being at Oxford and all the adrenaline, blah blah blah, I thought to myself as I was writing, “damn... when was the last time they were there? It’s been a long time,” but then thought, “Eli Manning played at Ole Miss and even though they were just ‘good/decent’ I’m sure they were there sometime during his tenure.” It wasn’t till later that I learned that was the first time Game Day had ever been to “The Grove”, had no idea. But boy did they deliver. Game started out REAL slow, I was falling asleep in the first half (maybe because I was a little exhausted from the noon games)  But then here we go with a minute to go in the second quarter, Bama up 7-3 (what a barn burner) we get the questionable no call “face mask” where Bama picks up the resulting fumble and takes it in for 6 to go up 14-3 for the half.  Typically when something like this happens against Bama, the place will go silent and there will be an underlying tone of “oh boy, here we go… It’s over”. But I will say, the crowd didn't go silent, they were actually more into the game. They were pissed (they showed the missed call multiple times at the stadium, and you could hear them just getting angrier and angrier each time they showed it). And to them (and the guys on the field wearing the Ole Miss helmets) there was still a second half to play. And boy did they! They came out Fightin! It was a classic “gritty” performance by the rebels in the second half.

How big was this win? The biggest in the school’s history! You disagree? Ok, you tell me a bigger one. The “preppy’s” took to the field in their popped collared polos and boat shoes after the W to rip down the goal posts. But I guess that wasn't good enough, it appears they stole them. Yes, they stole the goal posts. Check the link from ESPN, I guess they were walking around town with them…  What else do you say?

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11650397/ole-miss-rebels-goalposts-become-star-afterparty

So if someone asks you “How big was that Ole Miss win over Alabama?” You can (and should) answer“It was stolen goal posts big!” Not just “Rush the field” or “Storm the field big!”, or even “torn down post big!” (Or we’ll say “TDP” for short) we’re talking “Stolen post big!”. You see there are levels to these kinds of things… and when you steal the posts that means you've just had the crème de la crème of victory’s. It doesn't get any bigger… Until maybe someone comes up with something new… maybe they take all of the seats in the house with them… I don’t know, but until then, stealing the posts is as big as it comes.

Levels of bigness from low to high (meter applies to the home crowd)

“Fan leave early” – It wasn't much of a game. It was over with at least 10 minutes to go in the game, many times before the start of the 4^th quarter and sometimes at the half.

“General Applause” – Typical and common where the favorite wins as expected. Emotions are usually minimal, as the result is usually foreseen by the general masses.

“The Roar” – less common than the general applause, but common enough. Usually resulting with a late game comeback or a big stop by the defense. Different circumstances result in “The Roar”: 2 equal teams, a favorite coming from behind against an underdog that has over performed, or the highest level of the roar the underdog coming from behind against the consensus favorite.

via clappstar (Flickr)

“Rush the field” aka “Storm field” – A BIG win, sometimes resulting in social society pre determining the level of this game, and other times “heroics” are involved. This is less common than “The Roar”. However, this seems to have become more increasingly common in recent years which has somewhat hackneyed the level of “bigness”.

“Tear down the goal posts” – Uncommon, only taking place once or maybe twice a year at most. It’s even less common from teams that have had a history of success. It’s a massive win.

“Stolen goal posts” – Think about it. The win resulted in the goal posts being stolen… Tearing the posts down just wasn't good enough, they needed to be removed from the stadium as well.  It doesn't get any bigger.

Ok, Let’s move on…

We don’t even need to leave the state to talk about the next big deal going on. I’ll keep this short, Mississippi State, (yeah I’ll say it) is the best team IN Mississippi. Dak Prescott, is the real deal, and I’m telling ya’ll to tune in. This team reminds me very much of the 2010 Auburn Tigers. Obviously Dak, But tthey've got a RB, Josh Robinson that is like  the Michael Dyer of the 2010 Tigers, and with a solid O line, here is their “1 – 2 punch”. When I talked about this game, I thought, “wow Miss St just took down LSU, how are they going to handle success? Are they going to be ready to go against A&M?” and then I thought, “You know, yeah, I think they will, but A&M is seasoned in these kinds of things and I think A&M will get them late in the game”. No Sir, Miss St, was there just handing out the ass whoopins like tootsie rolls at the 4^th of July parade… I said it earlier here, but these guys are real.

Which leads me to the next conversation… Every time I look at the SEC west, I can’t stop shaking my head in disbelief. I just said, Miss St is for real, are they undefeated/ national championship real? I can’t see how ANYONE can get out of the SEC west without AT LEAST 1 loss. Really, I don’t see how they can get out without 2 losses. 

Here is the SEC West:

Alabama: Damn, that’s Alabama.

Arkansas: Ok, not so intimidating, but still a team that can/will beat you if you bring your B game and aren't ready.

Auburn: Well they won the SEC last year, and the way they’re playing, it wasn’t a fluke. (I will admit, I underestimated this team, I thought they would be/look more “average”, not the case right now)

LSU: It’s LSU, NFL talent EVERY year. When they played Wisconsin earlier this year, Wisc looked like a better football team. But LSU just had the athletes to make plays and win the game. I guess you could say “LSU is ‘down’ this year” but what does that really mean? So what, they’re not “crazy good”? They’re just “good” or “crazy”. The best way to describe LSU is, they’re LSU. (and they could still kick your ass if you treat them like they are having a “down year”)

Mississippi State: Go ahead, try and find some stats out there that say this team isn’t the real deal. These guys used to be the “bye week” for Alabama, LSU and Auburn. Not this year. They can flat out play and beat anyone in the country.  <~ That’s a period

Ole Miss: See my comments above, Oxford is on the map. Proof is in the pudding. Here is another team that was considered to be a “bye week”, but not anymore.(Even so, I think they are the second weakest team in the SEC West in front of Arkansas… Yes the team that just beat Bama, That’s how bad ass this division is) – You could say LSU is the second weakest team in the west, fine, are we really going to argue about who is going to finish 4^th, 5^th and/or 6^th in the division?

Texas A&M:  Yeah, they got handled today, but do you really think these guys are chumps? You want to go to College Station and play them? (I’ve got them to finish 4^th in the conference, but what does that even mean? These guys are still going to take down someone that finishes above them)

Ok, so how you plan on getting out of there undefeated? Yeah, you don’t. Can you get out of there with 1 loss? Damn that’s tough. I don’t really think it’s going out on a limb to say AT LEAST 2 of the best 4 teams in the country are in this division. Yes, AT LEAST… Find some arguments otherwise…

Ok, Now that that’s out of the way, we can move on to some other games and teams that ARE VERY RELEVANT, and NOT to be overlooked ( I just have to talk SEC first, it’s just how I function)

TCU!!! I can’t really comment too much on this game as I was focused on the Ole Miss/Bama game. But I was jacked up when I saw TCU go up 14-0 (knowing TCU is a historically strong defensive team) and then saying “piss” when Oklahoma went up 31-24. (I really just dislike Bob Stoops. To me, he’s like the used car salesman, just makes me feel grimy seeing him. I like many teams every week, one of them is whoever is playing Oklahoma). Anyways, TCU got the W 37-33 (in which I am hearing was another wild finish) and the Big 12 is now officially up for grabs! I love it!

And for any of you who had been in a bubble, Arizona beat the Ducks… In Eugene. I will admit, I didn’t think that was going to happen. I saw matchup, and said, “I think the Cats will fight, but that 21 point spread is probably on target… Too much “OOOO” in the second half… Nope, The Cats took down the #2 team in the country and the Pac 12 is wide open (more on UCLA and USC soon)… seems to be the theme across the country.

Let’s just take a little breather and mention some other games….

Northwestern is undefeated in Big 10 play, and you look at it now and say “You know these guys really have a chance to really make something of this season.” It didn’t look that way 2 weeks ago. But they get a W against a pretty good Penn State team (Penn St. was granted bowl eligibility a few weeks back, so they are playing for keeps) and this week Wisconsin. Great win for Northwestern though, I hope they keep winning (and they get to play a certain team from South Bend, Indiana later this year as well)

I guess we can’t talk about the Big 10 without mentioning the continuation of the Michigan Flop. Ouch. (No more commentary needed)

Speaking of a certain team from South Bend. Notre Dame got their big win over Stanford that basically only ND fans knew about given all the other action going on at the time. Whether you love, hate or are indifferent about the Irish, prep yourself. The media LOVES a “good” Notre Dame team. For the next 2 weeks (they play Florida State in 2 weeks) you’re going to hear and learn a lot more about this team (unless they lose to North Carolina). As for some real commentary on this game, I have mixed feeling. If you watched this game, you probably fell asleep like I did in the first half of the Ole Miss/Bama game. It was Ugly… and it was raining… it looked cold as shit. So there was a part of me that said, “You didn’t get Stanford’s best game.” (I hate it when teams get W’s against another teams B game) But then the other part me jumped up and was adamant “Isn’t this what this shit’s about?!” and then I somehow I became even more inflexible “AND It’s not even real grass anymore! Where’s the Mud?!” The Irish got their Win (no matter how shitty it was) and the Cardinal just couldn’t handle the weather and adversity. Step aside.

Other noteworthy games.

• ASU downs USC. On a good ole fashion hail marry… What’s going on in the Pac 12?
• Sparty got their W, and they are right back in the middle of the “playoff” picture.

And I’ll end today, fluffing my feathers (I have to, considering I thought highly of South Carolina, and they have pretty much made me look like a football idiot) with the Utah victory over UCLA. And just so we are clear, Utah was up by 2 scores for a good part of the game. I’ll give UCLA credit for fighting back and actually taking the lead, but they looked like an average team at best. Bret Hundley was on the ground 10 times. (Zero offensive line) and the D was getting run over. Obviously with all the other losses this week, this isn’t “killer” for UCLA, but I don’t really think it matters; I’ve got them with ANOTHER 2, maybe 3 losses.