THIS & THAT..........THE LABOR DAY EDITION
Word out of Norman Oklahoma is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Sam Bradford, won't know the severity of his shoulder injury for 10 days to 2 weeks. Doctors say he has a Grade II or Grade III A-C joint strain. That's the new term for a seperated shoulder. A Grade II normally requires 2-4 weeks rest, but rarely is surgery needed. A Grade III strain can range from 6-10 weeks & often requires surgery. Bradford, tight end Jermaine Gresham & defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, would all been high 1st round picks in last April's NFL Draft, but all three came back in hopes of returning to the BCS National Championship game. Now Bradford & Gresham are both injured & their status for the 2009 season is unknown. If Bradford can't return for the October 10th meeting with Texas in the Red River Shootout, OU is finished as far as winning the Big-12 South.
While I'm pounding out this post, I have the Miami-Florida State game on TV in my office. Remember not that long ago when the Florida Gators were the third best team in the state? How far the once mighty have fallen. Throw Notre Dame, Michigan & Nebraska into the conversation & you'd have how many National Championships? In the last 25 years these 5 schools won 12 National Championships. Alabama, UCLA, Colorado, Arkansas & Texas A&M are all in the rebuilding process, or in 'Bama's case, they're all the way back after years of being in the middle of the SEC pack. I call the various stages of college turnover reloading, retooling or rebuilding. If your program is so good, you're able to recruit at such a high level, you can stay in the reloading phase for years. If your team is successful for a few years & you lose several of your major stars to graduation, you could be in the retooling stage. If you change coaching staffs, offensive or defensive schemes, come out of NCAA probation or have back-to-back poor recruiting classes, you officially enter the rebuilding process. Did you see the BYU-Oklahoma game Saturday night? OU has been reloading for most of Bob Stoops tenure in Norman. I don't want to pass a kneejerk judgement after just one game, but I thought their possible downfall would be their inexperienced offensive line. BYU ate that line for dinner. OU couldn't get them blocked & the Cougars are hardly one of the top defenses in the country. Notre Dame has been grossly overated for years & I think we're heading down that path again this season. They have a cake schedule, USC & Boston College might be their only opponents to win 8 games. It will also be interesting to see how USC fares with a near-new defensive lineup. What is going on in college football's hierarchy? My very astute nephew points out a major factor in the better balance of power is cable TV. For decades three networks were it, now with the ESPN family of networks, FOXSports, Versus, CBS College HD, Big Ten Network, Mountain West Network & the 3 original networks, there's a hell of a lot of college football being televised every week. Highly recruited kids have a lot of choices, not just the traditional powerhouses, because you can play on TV just about every single weekend at any number of schools. Mizzou played 14 games last season, Linda & I saw 13 of them on TV & Mizzou won't be confused with USC, Texas or Florida right? TV has created this balanced power in college sports & it should continue.
LeGarrette Blount, the suspended Oregon running back who caused such a furor Thursday night after their loss to Boise State, is M.I.A. He retained his scholarship & coach Chip Kelly allowed Blount to continue practicing with the team so that he might stay in shape for his shot at the NFL next spring. Blount started out well, calling Boise State coach Chris Peterson to apologize on Saturday but when the Ducks returned to practice Sunday, Blount didn't show. He was absent from today's practice as well. His good intentions haven't been translated into action so far. I wonder how long Kelly will accomodate Blount if he only comes to practice when it suits him?
Thursday I picked my conference champs & I told you I flipped a coin on the Big East, I couldn't decide between Cincinnati & Rutgers. I went with Rutgers & today they opened their season at home against Cincinnati. They were absolutely demolished 47-15. Very typical of my lousy coin flip history. The Bearcats have a wide receiver & kickoff return man, Mardy Gilyard, who should make a fine pro, if you see a Cincinnati game when you're flipping around the dial, check this young man out, he's number 1.
Buffalo's Turk Schonert became the third offensive coordinator to be fired last week, he was let go Friday night. This came after head coach Dick Jauron was summoned to the Detroit mansion of Bills owner, Ralph Wilson. Think the 90-year old recent Hall of Fame inductee is pulling Jauron's strings? According to many former Bills, it wouldn't be the 1st time. QB coach, Alex Van Pelt, replaced Schonert but Schonert wasn't going to go without a few parting shots at Jauron. "He said the offense wasn't simple enough for most of the players, it wasn't simple enough for him", Schonert said Sunday, "He wants a Pop Warner offense." I have to say, when Terrell Owens was signed by the Bills last March, the national media was talking about the Bills making the playoffs. Playoffs? I don't think so, not with that offensive line, not with a quarterback who holds the ball way too long, not without a pass rush O.K.? I would be amazed if the Bills win 8 games & I'd be equally amazed if Dick Jauron makes it thru the entire season still employed by the Buffalo Bills.
The Colts may be in for a rough start, the heart & soul of their defense, Bob Sanders won't play for at least 5 weeks. His knee just hasn't healed like the doctors thought it would. Their first 8 games? Jax, at Miami, at Arizona, Seattle, at Tennessee, bye week, at St Louis, Frisco & Houston. They should be able to get thru this stretch in good shape.
In a bizarre move, Green Bay kept 3 fullbacks on their 53-man roster. Most teams keep only 1, a few keep 2, but nobody in maybe 30 years has kept 3. Veterans Korey Hall & John Kuhn have been joined by rookie Quinn Johnson. Hall is a decent pass receiver out of the backfield, Kuhn is often the short-yardage specialist, but I don't understand the Quinn Johnson move.
No more mystery in Detroit, head coach Jim Schwartz today chose rookie Matthew Stafford, over Daunte Culpepper, as the Lion's starting quarterback. The Lions open the season in New Orleans.
Chiefs quarterback, Matt Cassel, returned to practice today. The video I watched showed Cassel moving like nothing ever happened, no limp, not favoring either his knee or ankle. Todd Haley said it hasn't been determined if Cassel will be ready for the Ravens on Sunday.
While I'm pounding out this post, I have the Miami-Florida State game on TV in my office. Remember not that long ago when the Florida Gators were the third best team in the state? How far the once mighty have fallen. Throw Notre Dame, Michigan & Nebraska into the conversation & you'd have how many National Championships? In the last 25 years these 5 schools won 12 National Championships. Alabama, UCLA, Colorado, Arkansas & Texas A&M are all in the rebuilding process, or in 'Bama's case, they're all the way back after years of being in the middle of the SEC pack. I call the various stages of college turnover reloading, retooling or rebuilding. If your program is so good, you're able to recruit at such a high level, you can stay in the reloading phase for years. If your team is successful for a few years & you lose several of your major stars to graduation, you could be in the retooling stage. If you change coaching staffs, offensive or defensive schemes, come out of NCAA probation or have back-to-back poor recruiting classes, you officially enter the rebuilding process. Did you see the BYU-Oklahoma game Saturday night? OU has been reloading for most of Bob Stoops tenure in Norman. I don't want to pass a kneejerk judgement after just one game, but I thought their possible downfall would be their inexperienced offensive line. BYU ate that line for dinner. OU couldn't get them blocked & the Cougars are hardly one of the top defenses in the country. Notre Dame has been grossly overated for years & I think we're heading down that path again this season. They have a cake schedule, USC & Boston College might be their only opponents to win 8 games. It will also be interesting to see how USC fares with a near-new defensive lineup. What is going on in college football's hierarchy? My very astute nephew points out a major factor in the better balance of power is cable TV. For decades three networks were it, now with the ESPN family of networks, FOXSports, Versus, CBS College HD, Big Ten Network, Mountain West Network & the 3 original networks, there's a hell of a lot of college football being televised every week. Highly recruited kids have a lot of choices, not just the traditional powerhouses, because you can play on TV just about every single weekend at any number of schools. Mizzou played 14 games last season, Linda & I saw 13 of them on TV & Mizzou won't be confused with USC, Texas or Florida right? TV has created this balanced power in college sports & it should continue.
LeGarrette Blount, the suspended Oregon running back who caused such a furor Thursday night after their loss to Boise State, is M.I.A. He retained his scholarship & coach Chip Kelly allowed Blount to continue practicing with the team so that he might stay in shape for his shot at the NFL next spring. Blount started out well, calling Boise State coach Chris Peterson to apologize on Saturday but when the Ducks returned to practice Sunday, Blount didn't show. He was absent from today's practice as well. His good intentions haven't been translated into action so far. I wonder how long Kelly will accomodate Blount if he only comes to practice when it suits him?
Thursday I picked my conference champs & I told you I flipped a coin on the Big East, I couldn't decide between Cincinnati & Rutgers. I went with Rutgers & today they opened their season at home against Cincinnati. They were absolutely demolished 47-15. Very typical of my lousy coin flip history. The Bearcats have a wide receiver & kickoff return man, Mardy Gilyard, who should make a fine pro, if you see a Cincinnati game when you're flipping around the dial, check this young man out, he's number 1.
Buffalo's Turk Schonert became the third offensive coordinator to be fired last week, he was let go Friday night. This came after head coach Dick Jauron was summoned to the Detroit mansion of Bills owner, Ralph Wilson. Think the 90-year old recent Hall of Fame inductee is pulling Jauron's strings? According to many former Bills, it wouldn't be the 1st time. QB coach, Alex Van Pelt, replaced Schonert but Schonert wasn't going to go without a few parting shots at Jauron. "He said the offense wasn't simple enough for most of the players, it wasn't simple enough for him", Schonert said Sunday, "He wants a Pop Warner offense." I have to say, when Terrell Owens was signed by the Bills last March, the national media was talking about the Bills making the playoffs. Playoffs? I don't think so, not with that offensive line, not with a quarterback who holds the ball way too long, not without a pass rush O.K.? I would be amazed if the Bills win 8 games & I'd be equally amazed if Dick Jauron makes it thru the entire season still employed by the Buffalo Bills.
The Colts may be in for a rough start, the heart & soul of their defense, Bob Sanders won't play for at least 5 weeks. His knee just hasn't healed like the doctors thought it would. Their first 8 games? Jax, at Miami, at Arizona, Seattle, at Tennessee, bye week, at St Louis, Frisco & Houston. They should be able to get thru this stretch in good shape.
In a bizarre move, Green Bay kept 3 fullbacks on their 53-man roster. Most teams keep only 1, a few keep 2, but nobody in maybe 30 years has kept 3. Veterans Korey Hall & John Kuhn have been joined by rookie Quinn Johnson. Hall is a decent pass receiver out of the backfield, Kuhn is often the short-yardage specialist, but I don't understand the Quinn Johnson move.
No more mystery in Detroit, head coach Jim Schwartz today chose rookie Matthew Stafford, over Daunte Culpepper, as the Lion's starting quarterback. The Lions open the season in New Orleans.
Chiefs quarterback, Matt Cassel, returned to practice today. The video I watched showed Cassel moving like nothing ever happened, no limp, not favoring either his knee or ankle. Todd Haley said it hasn't been determined if Cassel will be ready for the Ravens on Sunday.
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