BlogsProgramming Note
by cocknfire
on Jan 5, 2009 5:43 AM EST
in General
I leave for Tallahassee in a few hours -- this might be the last thing I write on the Internet here in Atlanta, at least for a while. I won't have apartment-based Internet until Wednesday, though I might be able to find some wi-fi somewhere in Tallahassee to do some things between now and then. I know you'll all miss my GMAC Bowl preview if I don't get to it, but we'll see. If nothing else, there will be some championship game preview stuff up late Wednesday or early Thursday.
See you all then.
0 comments | 0 recs
Bowl Preview: Fiesta Bowl
by cocknfire
on Jan 5, 2009 5:40 AM EST
in Football
Fiesta Bowl, 8 p.m. ET, FOX
What it is: The showcase for yet another aggrieved former national championship competitor. (These guys realize that a playoff would also only produce one champion -- right?)
The Teams: No. 9 Ohio State, No. 3 Texas (BlogPoll)
How Ohio State got here: Because the BCS has to include an annual game where Ohio State gets annihilated by a merciless competitor. It's actually in the contract. In any case, the Buckeyes looked less than stellar in its second game against Ohio and then -- like clockwork -- got waxed by Southern Cal in its third game. They then dashed off five wins, four in the powerful Big Ten, before losing to Penn State and winning three more. How thi$ qualifie$ Ohio $tate for a po$ition in the Fie$ta Bowl e$cape$ your$ truly. RB Chris "Beanie" Wells ended up playing no role in the Heism@n Trophy race, but only because he missed three games; Wells had 1,091 yards and 8 TDs on 191 carries in nine games, and rushed for more than 100 yards seven times, 94 yards another time and 55 yards against Penn State.
How Texas got here: 45-35, BABY!!! Oh, that's right; this isn't the national championship game. Yes, well... Texas lost 39-33 to Texas Tech, should have gone to the Big XII Championship Game, but didn't, and so ended up with a less impressive resume than Oklahoma -- a team the Longhorns beat. (Please don't make me go through the whole Big XII argument again.) The unquesitonable leader was QB Colt McCoy, who completed almost 78 percent of his passes for 3,445 yards, 32 TDs and 7 INTs in his junior season.
College football fans care because: You can't miss the annual Ohio State FAIL Bowl.
SEC fans care because: Laughing at Ohio State is fun. And should make us feel a little bit better after The Bowl That Shall Not Be Mentioned.
Watch this game if ... : You like college football. Or hate Ohio State.
The result: Texas 45, Ohio State 35
0 comments
| 0 recs
|
Bowl Preview: International Bowl
by cocknfire
on Jan 3, 2009 3:26 AM EST
in Football
For an update: I'm 18-12 overall and 4-26 against the score. (Really, Georgia, it would have killed you to allow Michigan State to score one more point?)
12 p.m. ET, ESPN2
What it is: A way to keep Canadians from infiltrating college football by showing them a bad game.
The Teams: Buffalo, Connecticut
How Buffalo got here: By having what Auburn officials obviously felt was a worse season than Iowa State. Actually, the Bulls started out 2-4, looking for all the world like they were about to have the kind of season that, well, Buffalo always has. They won five straight, lost to Kent State, then breezed past undefeated Ball State to win the MAC Championship Game. It's hard to pick their most dangerous offensive weapon among: QB Drew Willy, who completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,091 yards, 25 TDs and 5 INTs; WR Naaman Roosevelt, with 96 receptions for 1,312 yards and 13 TDs; or RB James Starks, who carried the ball 259 times for 1,308 yards and 15 TDs. But that offensive explosiveness has often been matched by the Bulls' opponents, who scored 27.5 ppg, and four of Buffalo's eight wins were by less than seven points.
How Connecticut got here: How does a Big East team ever get into a bowl game? Connecticut won five straight to start the year, looking like the favorites for the league championship. Then the Huskies lost five of their last seven -- the only two wins coming against Syracuse and eventual Big East Champions Cincinnati. (Because it's the Big East, and why not?) Little went right for UConn: Senior QB Tyler Lorenzen completed just 48 percent of his passes while playing in eight games. But RB Donald Brown did rush for 1,822 yards and 17 TDs on 338 carries. He fell short of 100 yards just twice: when he ran for 82 against West Virginia and when he rushed for 96 against South Florida.
College football fans care because: There are four games left. This is one of them.
SEC fans care because: It's a chance to watch Turner Gill coach, think about Gene Chizik at Auburn, and laugh at Jay Jacobs.
Watch this game if ... : You can get past the idea of college football being played in Canada.
The result: Buffalo 34, Connecticut 28
0 comments
| 0 recs
|
Changing the World, If Only for a Night: Utah Defeats Alabama
by cocknfire
on Jan 3, 2009 2:29 AM EST
in Football
At some point Friday night, everyone watching the Sugar Bowl came to the same conclusion: This is not a fluke. The better team is winning this game.
You can talk about the absence of Andre Smith all you want -- and anyone who doesn't think line play is important needs to only watch a recording of this game. You can ponder whether Alabama was "ready" for the game or not, whether they "bought into the hype" or not. You can talk about missed kicks and Julio Jones' dropped passes and the like all you want. But the better team won.
If you were to break this game down by quarters, Alabama really only "won" one of them: the 2nd. Utah steamrolled them in the first, building up a 21-point lead that would have been enough to win the game. The Tide's offense was held to 208 yards -- 31 of them rushing -- a single TD and 15 first downs. Utah contained Julio Jones (7 receptions, 77 yards), though Jones helped some by dropping some passes he would normally grab. CB Robert Johnson had two interceptions, while his teammates on the front seven often had Alabama QB John Parker Wilson scrambling for his life. Stevenson Sylvester had three sacks in the game.
Utah QB Brian Johnson, meanwhile, played beautifully, completing 27 of 41 passes for 336 yards and 3 TDs, often hitting receivers in stride on short- and medium-range passes that Alabama was unable to stop. The first quarter, he guided the offense to two scores in their first 10 plays. And he got plenty of time to throw; I count two sacks in the play-by-play. For the most part, the Utah offense avoided the fatal turnovers that capsize so many upset bids. They converted six of 14 third downs, often in crucial situations.
Really, would you rather have him or John Parker Wilson?
It would be easy to oversell this win, either in terms of its impact on the national picture or its effect on Alabama. After all, let's remember that Oklahoma has won two consecutive Big XII Championships after its loss to Boise State and will play for the national title next Thursday.
But the Mountain West has raised a very tricky question for the BCS: Why not us? At this point in the bowl season, the MWC might have the best two wins in the country: TCU's dominant (if only one-point) defeat of Boise State and Utah's victory Friday. Are the ACC and the Big East really more deserving of an automatic bid than the Mountain West?
As for the question of whether Utah should be voted No. 1 -- let's slow down a minute. I'm certainly not ruling out putting them in first place on my BlogPoll ballot, but there are other games to be played, not least of which is Thursday's showdown in Miami.
Meanwhile, the SEC had a good day aside from the Alabama loss, moving to 5-2 with Ole Miss' waxing of Texas Tech and Kentucky's bizarre comback against East Carolina. Those games, particularly the Ole Miss win, should not be dismissed in considering how the SEC has done this postseason.
Utah's victory, though, will be remembered far longer. As well it should. It's naive to think that the college football world will be reordered after Friday's game. But, for a short while, the Utes were on top of that world.
Where they belonged.
12 comments
| 0 recs
|
Sugar Bowl Open Thread, Second Half
by cocknfire
on Jan 2, 2009 9:48 PM EST
in Weekend Threads
Continue the conversation here.
216 comments | 0 recs
Will I Sing "Yea, Alabama"? The Tide Finds Out What a Ute Is
by cocknfire
on Jan 2, 2009 7:10 PM EST
in Football
Cotton Bowl, 8 p.m. ET, FOX
I made a deal last week with my Tide-loving sister, who's convinced that Alabama is going to blow out Utah in the Sugar Bowl this year: If Alabama wins by more than two TDs, I will sing "Yea, Alabama" on the inaugural broadcast of Team Speed Kills Now, scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday. (Don't worry, I'll warn you before I break out into song.)
To be clear, I still expect Alabama to win the Sugar Bowl and do so comfortably. But even before the suspension of Andre Smith, I still had a notion that anyone expecting Utah to crash back to Earth Hawaii-style was probably wrong.
(W-L chart does not include Alabama's 31-20 loss to Florida in SEC Championship Game.)
It's tough to weigh the two teams' performance during the year against each other. The Mountain West Conference is the best mid-major out there, and is likely better than some BCS conferences. But it ain't the SEC. The Michigan win looks worse than it did back at the beginning of the season, while the Oregon State and TCU victories have aged well.
Likewise, Bama's opening waxing of Clemson looks worse than we thought it was, and the LSU loss was losing value rapidly before the Bayou Bengal's victory against Georgia Tech earlier this week. But the Georgia win, the one that really put Alabama at the forefront of the national title debate, is still strong.
RB Glen Coffee and Co. should do well enough, even without Smith, but the loss of the Outland Trophy Winner is going to make it harder against a good Utah run defense. QB John Parker Wilson should only have to do enough -- if, though, he's force to do more, WR Julio Jones will be the key player in the game.
On defense, the Tide should be able to pressure Utah. It won't be Hawaii-vs.-Georgia, but even the Utes know that Terrence Cody isn't exactly a MWC-caliber player.
Ludwig feels confident his team has the offensive weapons to move the ball on the Tide, but he admits the Tide has some defensive weapons he isn't sure how to prepare for, such as 365-pound All-America tackle Terrence Cody.
"He's different than any we've seen," Ludwig said. "I'm anxious to see how we match up inside against that young man. We'll try to work the ball on the perimeter a little bit, but Alabama's also very fast. There are some unique challenges that that individual presents against us."
Utah QB Brian Johnson can throw the ball and run if needed, and Utah has plenty of other weapons. But they're not used to playing a defense as tough as the Tide's.
If Smith were there, this game would have a better chance of turning into a romp. But he's not, and the Tide will suffer slightly because of it. Alabama 31, Utah 17
3 comments
| 0 recs
|
One More Chance to Make History: Kentucky's Battle with .500
by cocknfire
on Jan 2, 2009 4:48 PM EST
in Football
Liberty Bowl, 5 p.m. ET, ESPN
There have been a few chances this offseason for mid- or lower-tier SEC programs to win a bowl game that would have propelled them to near-historic heights. One of those teams, Vanderbilt, won a thrilling if not picturesque showdown with Boston College; the other, South Carolina, seemed to be going throw the motions as Iowa ran them off the field.
So now we come to Kentucky, the only other team that can really make program history -- the first time the Wildcats have strung together three winning seasons since a four-season stretch from 1953-56. (Bear Bryant started that one, by the way.)
Because of the vagaries of calculating winning percentages, the Wildcats actually lost a few slivers of a point off their all-time mark during the regular season, going from .50306 to .50303. (The old ties mess things up.) They can actually move up to .50346 with a win against East Carolina today.
Yes, that East Carolina, the onetime "BCS Buster" who dropped out of consideration with an awful three-game slide against N.C. State, Houston and Virginia.
Of course, most fans look askance at Kentucky's bowl eligibility because of the cupcakes like Norolk State and Western Kentucky on the schedule. And, for the most part, the losses against other quality and mediocre teams seem to back that up; only the 17-14 loss at Alabama and the 42-38 loss to Georgia resemble good showings against quality opponents.
How this game goes depends on whether you think the Kentucky defense was as good as it looks on paper or whether you believe giving up 63 points to Florida (helped by special-teams and offensive mistakes) or 31 to Vanderbilt (again, mistakes) is the truer picture.
As with most two-choice questions, it's probably "somewhere in between." Meanwhile, new starting QB Randall Cobb is out and old starting QB Mark Hartline is back in. That should be the difference as Kentucky misses history. East Carolina 24, Kentucky 23
2 comments
| 0 recs
|
Jan. 2 Open Thread
by cocknfire
on Jan 2, 2009 2:45 PM EST
in Weekend Threads
You know the drill.
Cotton Bowl, Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech, 2 p.m. ET
Liberty Bowl, Kentucky vs. East Carolina, 5 p.m. ET
Sugar Bowl, Utah vs. Alabama, 8 p.m. ET
378 comments | 0 recs
A Better Game Than You Think. Unless It's Not -- Mississippi's Chance to Defeat Tech
by cocknfire
on Jan 2, 2009 1:40 AM EST
in Football
Cotton Bowl, 2 p.m. ET, FOX
The margins have come down some since ESPN set it's AMERICA'S CHOICE crawl at the bottom of the screen, but the general idea remains the same: College football fans at large think that Ole Miss has no chance to win the Cotton Bowl against the Red Raiders.
And who can blame them, really? The last impression most national fans had of the Rebels was their upset victory at Florida back in September. After all, it was an upset, right? Ole Miss had defeated only Memphis and FCS team Samford, had lost to Wake Forest and Vanderbilt, and was at the beginning of a long, slow rebuilding process under Houston Nutt -- right?
A funny thing happened on the way to futility: After narrow losses to South Carolina and Alabama, the Rebels ran off five straight. They quietly became the third-best team in the SEC.
The Red Raiders, meanwhile, were plundering the Big XII like good pirates, defeating Texas, annihilating Oklahoma State and saying a healthy "arrgh" or two along the way. The 65-21 pasting in Norman shocked many by its margin if not its outcome, but the idea of Texas Tech as a TD machine never faded.
There is a chance for Mississippi to win this game, but only one: Get pressure on QB Graham Harrell. At the end of the season, Ole Miss displayed a marauding defensive line -- but it didn't always show up in the opposing signal callers' lines in the box score. Arkansas QB Casey Dick threw for 282 yards, his most productive SEC game of the year; Auburn QB Kodi Burns threw for 319 yards (but three interceptions against zero touchdowns); and LSU QB Jordan Jefferson made almost as much of an impression in the 31-13 loss to the Rebels as Ole Miss did in one of its best games of the year.
Yes, there are ways for the Rebels to put points on the board. QB Jevan Snead and all-purpose threat Dexter McCluster, who rang up 1,100 yards and 6 TDs rushing and receiving this year, have to spark Mississippi's offense. Even a great defensive effort is going to hold Texas Tech to 21-28 points.
But the Rebels need that great defensive effort, and they need everything else to break their way. Playing a hunch, I'll say they do. Mississippi 31, Texas Tech 24
9 comments
| 0 recs
|
To: Southern Cal and Texas Boosters; Subject: Kindly Shut Up
by cocknfire
on Jan 2, 2009 12:48 AM EST
in Football
This is brought on by nothing more than some general complaining around the Web, likely to become louder, about the fact that the invincible Southern Cal Trojans and the Texas Longhorns were somehow deprived of a chance to play in the BCS Title Game.
Get a grip.
I don't like the way the BCS does things, though I'm not sure I have a workable solution seeing as how I don't want a multi-game playoff. That said, the only team that has ever had a legitimate gripe about missing the BCS Title Game is 2004 Auburn. (If you want to be generous, I suppose you could throw in 2004 Utah and 2006 Boise State, but I digress.)
Because, you see, all but one time in the 11 editions of the BCS, there has been a relatively simple formula for getting into the title game from one of the six auto-bid conferences: Win your games. That is completely in your control. Win every game you play, and your ticket is all but punched.
Texas can't blame the pollsters for missing the title game this year; nor can Southern Cal. Because the pollsters don't play the games and don't slip up against lesser competition. (And, by the way, where is the preliminary wailing over the fate of Alabama, who won more regular season games than anyone else in the country, then lost respectably to a Florida team that was obliterating every other team that dared to face them?)
If either Texas or Southern Cal had ended this year as the only undefeated BCS team in the country, they'd be in the Championship Game. But they couldn't, and in fact they lost to teams who were, in all likelihood, inferior. Texas couldn't beat a Texas Tech team that couldn't even stay on the same field with the Oklahoma Sooners that the Longhorns were supposedly so much better than. Southern Cal couldn't beat Oregon State, a team that got waxed by the same Penn State team that the Trojans dismantled Thursday.
Are Oklahoma and Florida the best one-loss teams in the country? On that, the BCS critics are probably right: We might never know.
But, please, spare me the whining about how unfair this outcome is to Southern Cal or, should the Longhorns win Monday, to Texas.
Both had a chance to make sure no could deny them the right to play for the championship. They blew it. And they have no one to blame but themselves.
28 comments
| 0 recs
|
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
New FanPost
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
Southeastern Conference Standings
(updated 1.2.2009 at 11:56 PM EST)
| East | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
Florida Gators
|
7 | 1 | 12 | 1 |
|
Georgia Bulldogs
|
6 | 2 | 10 | 3 |
|
South Carolina Gamecocks
|
4 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
|
Vanderbilt Commodores
|
4 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
|
Tennessee Volunteers
|
3 | 5 | 5 | 7 |
|
Kentucky Wildcats
|
2 | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| West | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
Alabama Crimson Tide
|
8 | 0 | 12 | 2 |
| Mississippi Rebels | 5 | 3 | 9 | 4 |
|
LSU Tigers
|
3 | 5 | 8 | 5 |
| Arkansas Razorbacks | 2 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
|
Auburn Tigers
|
2 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| Mississippi St. Bulldogs | 2 | 6 | 4 | 8 |
Next Game
Florida Gators
@
Oklahoma Sooners
Wednesday, Jan 7, 2009, 8:15 PM EST
FedEx BCS National Championship Game - Dolphin Stadium, Miami, FL