COLLEGE FOOTBALL SATURDAY WEEK 2, HERE'S WHAT I SAW
Saturday wasn't exactly scintillating with exciting matchups between ranked teams, the lone exception was Alabama & Penn State. Realistically, the Nittany Lions have no business in the top-25, like Notre Dame, they're ranked there every preseason on reputation alone. The game proved why, PSU QB's were 12 for 39, they turned the ball over 3 times & were never in the game once the Tide took a 7-3 lead in the first quarter. Bama won 27-11, the lone Penn State TD coming with less than 2-minutes left in the game. So what was there to see?
All in the family.
Texas won 50-games with Colt McCoy at quarterback. His favorite receiver was always Jordan Shipley, his roommate. Both have moved on to the NFL & have already begun to make their mark at the next level. It's fortunate for Mack Brown that he continued recruiting both families. After a dismal first half in which starter Garrett Gilbert threw for just 8-yards on a 2 for 8 performance & 2 interceptions, Brown pulled the plug. He inserted freshman Case McCoy who erased a 13-3 halftime deficit to BYU & led the Longhorns to a 17-16 win. McCoy was near perfect, 7 of 8 & 3 of them went to his roommate, Jaxon Shipley. Honest to God. Shipley also threw a 23-yard pass completion on an end-around. maybe Mack ought to stay with proven bloodlines, it appears the younger siblings might be an effective hookup too.
With a name like that, is he a quarterback or a soap opera character?
The "coveted" CYHAWK trophy was at stake in Ames Iowa Saturday as the interstate battle between Iowa & Iowa State was fought. It took 3 overtimes, but Iowa State took home the trophy. Sadly, they broke it during the post game celebration. Iowa State's QB Steele Jantz(I told you), lit up the Hawkeye defense with 25 completions in 37 attempts for 279-yards & 4 touchdowns.
My buns are nice & toasty, could you turn off the heat?
Georgia coach Mark Richt was already on the hot seat after finishing 6-7 last season. His Dawgs were embarrassed by Boise State last week, funny how that keeps happening to Bronco opponents. Richt's team played even worse football Saturday. Don't let the 45-42 score fool you, Georgia seemingly couldn't get out of their own way enroute to an 0-2 start. South Carolina scored on an interception return, a fumble return & a 265-pound defensive end took a short snap on a fake punt & lumbered 68-yards for a score. Tailback Marcus Latimore rushed for 176-yards for S.C. If the Bulldogs don't beat next week's opponent, Coastal Carolina, by about 50-points, the "torch & pitchfork crowd" might be outside Richt's office next Saturday night.
Even our bird's game is off.
Before every Auburn home game they release their eagle, "Spirit," to soar around Jordan-Hare Stadium. It gets the faithful worked into a frenzy. On Saturday, Spirit, much like the football team, lost his bearings & crashed into the plate glass window of a luxury box. That set the tone for Auburn's afternoon. Like the bird, they survived, beating Mississippi State, 41-34 with a goal line stand in the last 15-seconds of the game. Punter Steven Clark, a Kansas City boy, bailed them out over & over with his booming kicks. Auburn has the nations' longest winning streak, but in no way are they a contender for the SEC crown again this season. Yes, they lost Heisman winner Cam Newton & defensive stalwart Nick Fairly, but their problems go beyond graduations, this team isn't focused. They have a trip to Clemson next week, then a homer vs. Florida Atlantic, after that it gets significantly tougher with road games at South Carolina & Arkansas. Florida at home before another road game, this time at LSU.
Oh, well that makes perfect sense Coach Pinkel.
If you thought Gary Pinkel's back-to-back timeouts before his placekicker attempted a 46-yard field goal to beat Arizona State in regulation was crazy, wait till you hear his explanation. He said he was trying to draw ASU offsides, giving kicker Grant Ressel a shorter kick. Of course he forced Ressel & the kicking unit to freeze until there was less than 3-seconds left on the play clock. And then do it all over again. Any chance this "iced" his kicker? Honestly I'm a big Gary Pinkel supporter, but that decision was one of the worst I've ever seen a coach make with a game on the line. By the way, running back De'Vion Moore suffered a high ankle sprain last night & will be lost for a couple of games, one of them vs Oklahoma.
And I thought Mizzou's secondary got torched...........
Did you see the two defenseless secondary's in the Notre Dame-Michigan game? Jeez, even I might have been able to catch a pass in that game. Receivers on both sides running free thru the secondary. Receivers double-teamed & still able to catch a pass without being touched. Pass interference right & left. Seven touchdown passes in the game & 5 interceptions. I'll admit it was exciting television, but to be honest, it was horrific defense by both teams. Michigan QB Denard Robinson completed only 11 passes, but they went for 338-yards! That's over 30-yards per completion! That's unheard of in a game between two storied programs. Notre Dame's Michael Floyd caught 13 passes for 134-yards & the only reason he didn't catch a TD pass was there were so many open receivers for Irish QB Tommy Rees to chose from. Not only could neither team cover anyone, they couldn't tackle the receivers once they caught the ball. There were 3 TD passes in the last 1:12 of the game, it was crazy, the game winner coming with 00:02 remaining. Michigan prevailed 35-31, beating the Irish for the 3rd consecutive year. That's the first time that's occurred since 1906-08.
Exactly why are they ranked every single year in the preseason poll?
I touched on this before, Notre Dame, like Penn State, receives enough preseason votes to be ranked in the top-25. But then they start playing & fall out of the poll quickly. Then both get better bowl bids than they deserve...but that's another rant for another time. The 0-2 Irish have gained well over 1,000 yards of total offense in their first two games. But they have 9 turnovers which has absolutely killed them. They don't take care of the ball & it's the reason they're 0-2. I was impressed somewhat with QB Tommy Rees & WR Floyd is an NFL 1st round pick, but their secondary gets lost in space, milling around aimlessly. Coach Brian Kelly might get this team turned around, but he has his work cut out for him.
It's a touchdown, no it's not................yes it is.
The NCAA instituted a new rule before the season began. Any pre-score celebrations will result in the touchdown being taken off the board & the offending team given a 1st down at the 1-yard line. Start taunting or showboating & you might have to score that touchdown twice to get credit for it. In tonight's Utah-USC game, the Utes lined up to attempt a field goal that would send the game into overtime. The kick was blocked & USC's DaJohn Harris scooped up the loose ball & headed for the end zone. The Trojan bench erupted & 20-30 players plus a few coaches ran onto the field way before harris crossed the goal line. It didn't affect the outcome as the clock had run out during the play. But after conferring, game officials decided to take the 6-points off the board keeping the final score 17-14 in USC's favor. Then nearly two hours later, the PAC-12 Conference overruled the officiating crew & restored the touchdown, making the final 23-14. Think this didn't cause a helluva lot of screaming & yelling in Las Vegas sportsbooks? I need to talk to my pals in Vegas to find out if the books paid out initially on Utah & then had to pay USC bettors as well. My guess is once they paid the Utah bettors, the game was official in their eyes, regardless of what the PAC-12 did to change the score.
It sure wasn't pretty, but we won.
Ohio State didn't play well again but once again they were fortunate enough to be playing a lesser opponent who would eventually self-destruct. A 66-yard punt return & 12 Toledo penalties insured the Buckeyes survival at 27-22.
Milestone for "Beamer Ball."
Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer won his 200th game Saturday when the Hokies outlasted East Carolina. One of the true good guys of college sports, Beamer chose to stay in Blacksburg even tho he had a number of higher paying job offers. His players are very well coached & many of them do well in the NFL.
Thank God he's alright.
Minnesota coach Jerry Kill collapsed on the sideline & went into convulsions as his Golden Gophers were attempting to tie New Mexico State in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter. Kill had a seizure & was rushed to the hospital. The former Northern Illinois head coach, now in his 1st year at Minnesota, has experienced seizures since he underwent surgery to remove part of a kidney that was cancerous. Dehydration was believed to be the cause of the seizure & he was reported to be in stable condition.
Next week I'm looking forward to:
#1 Oklahoma at #5 Florida State
Missouri State at #14 Oregon(my wife will hate this, but if the Ducks can score 69 on Nevada, they could hang 80 or 90 on the Bears. Maybe they'll be merciful & play the game in their street clothes instead of their hideous Nike feathered unis)
#15 Ohio State at Miami(with all the suspensions on both teams, you will truly need a scorecard.)
Top performers:
Oregon QB Darron Thomas who completed just 13 passes but 6 of them went for touchdowns.
Michigan WR Junior Hemingway who caught just 3 passes for 165-yards & a touchdown. Folks that's 55-yards per catch. But it was against Notre Dame's secondary so that does diminish the feat somewhat.
Houston quarterback Case Keenum who went 26 of 41 for 458-yards & 5 touchdowns.
All in the family.
Texas won 50-games with Colt McCoy at quarterback. His favorite receiver was always Jordan Shipley, his roommate. Both have moved on to the NFL & have already begun to make their mark at the next level. It's fortunate for Mack Brown that he continued recruiting both families. After a dismal first half in which starter Garrett Gilbert threw for just 8-yards on a 2 for 8 performance & 2 interceptions, Brown pulled the plug. He inserted freshman Case McCoy who erased a 13-3 halftime deficit to BYU & led the Longhorns to a 17-16 win. McCoy was near perfect, 7 of 8 & 3 of them went to his roommate, Jaxon Shipley. Honest to God. Shipley also threw a 23-yard pass completion on an end-around. maybe Mack ought to stay with proven bloodlines, it appears the younger siblings might be an effective hookup too.
With a name like that, is he a quarterback or a soap opera character?
The "coveted" CYHAWK trophy was at stake in Ames Iowa Saturday as the interstate battle between Iowa & Iowa State was fought. It took 3 overtimes, but Iowa State took home the trophy. Sadly, they broke it during the post game celebration. Iowa State's QB Steele Jantz(I told you), lit up the Hawkeye defense with 25 completions in 37 attempts for 279-yards & 4 touchdowns.
My buns are nice & toasty, could you turn off the heat?
Georgia coach Mark Richt was already on the hot seat after finishing 6-7 last season. His Dawgs were embarrassed by Boise State last week, funny how that keeps happening to Bronco opponents. Richt's team played even worse football Saturday. Don't let the 45-42 score fool you, Georgia seemingly couldn't get out of their own way enroute to an 0-2 start. South Carolina scored on an interception return, a fumble return & a 265-pound defensive end took a short snap on a fake punt & lumbered 68-yards for a score. Tailback Marcus Latimore rushed for 176-yards for S.C. If the Bulldogs don't beat next week's opponent, Coastal Carolina, by about 50-points, the "torch & pitchfork crowd" might be outside Richt's office next Saturday night.
Even our bird's game is off.
Before every Auburn home game they release their eagle, "Spirit," to soar around Jordan-Hare Stadium. It gets the faithful worked into a frenzy. On Saturday, Spirit, much like the football team, lost his bearings & crashed into the plate glass window of a luxury box. That set the tone for Auburn's afternoon. Like the bird, they survived, beating Mississippi State, 41-34 with a goal line stand in the last 15-seconds of the game. Punter Steven Clark, a Kansas City boy, bailed them out over & over with his booming kicks. Auburn has the nations' longest winning streak, but in no way are they a contender for the SEC crown again this season. Yes, they lost Heisman winner Cam Newton & defensive stalwart Nick Fairly, but their problems go beyond graduations, this team isn't focused. They have a trip to Clemson next week, then a homer vs. Florida Atlantic, after that it gets significantly tougher with road games at South Carolina & Arkansas. Florida at home before another road game, this time at LSU.
Oh, well that makes perfect sense Coach Pinkel.
If you thought Gary Pinkel's back-to-back timeouts before his placekicker attempted a 46-yard field goal to beat Arizona State in regulation was crazy, wait till you hear his explanation. He said he was trying to draw ASU offsides, giving kicker Grant Ressel a shorter kick. Of course he forced Ressel & the kicking unit to freeze until there was less than 3-seconds left on the play clock. And then do it all over again. Any chance this "iced" his kicker? Honestly I'm a big Gary Pinkel supporter, but that decision was one of the worst I've ever seen a coach make with a game on the line. By the way, running back De'Vion Moore suffered a high ankle sprain last night & will be lost for a couple of games, one of them vs Oklahoma.
And I thought Mizzou's secondary got torched...........
Did you see the two defenseless secondary's in the Notre Dame-Michigan game? Jeez, even I might have been able to catch a pass in that game. Receivers on both sides running free thru the secondary. Receivers double-teamed & still able to catch a pass without being touched. Pass interference right & left. Seven touchdown passes in the game & 5 interceptions. I'll admit it was exciting television, but to be honest, it was horrific defense by both teams. Michigan QB Denard Robinson completed only 11 passes, but they went for 338-yards! That's over 30-yards per completion! That's unheard of in a game between two storied programs. Notre Dame's Michael Floyd caught 13 passes for 134-yards & the only reason he didn't catch a TD pass was there were so many open receivers for Irish QB Tommy Rees to chose from. Not only could neither team cover anyone, they couldn't tackle the receivers once they caught the ball. There were 3 TD passes in the last 1:12 of the game, it was crazy, the game winner coming with 00:02 remaining. Michigan prevailed 35-31, beating the Irish for the 3rd consecutive year. That's the first time that's occurred since 1906-08.
Exactly why are they ranked every single year in the preseason poll?
I touched on this before, Notre Dame, like Penn State, receives enough preseason votes to be ranked in the top-25. But then they start playing & fall out of the poll quickly. Then both get better bowl bids than they deserve...but that's another rant for another time. The 0-2 Irish have gained well over 1,000 yards of total offense in their first two games. But they have 9 turnovers which has absolutely killed them. They don't take care of the ball & it's the reason they're 0-2. I was impressed somewhat with QB Tommy Rees & WR Floyd is an NFL 1st round pick, but their secondary gets lost in space, milling around aimlessly. Coach Brian Kelly might get this team turned around, but he has his work cut out for him.
It's a touchdown, no it's not................yes it is.
The NCAA instituted a new rule before the season began. Any pre-score celebrations will result in the touchdown being taken off the board & the offending team given a 1st down at the 1-yard line. Start taunting or showboating & you might have to score that touchdown twice to get credit for it. In tonight's Utah-USC game, the Utes lined up to attempt a field goal that would send the game into overtime. The kick was blocked & USC's DaJohn Harris scooped up the loose ball & headed for the end zone. The Trojan bench erupted & 20-30 players plus a few coaches ran onto the field way before harris crossed the goal line. It didn't affect the outcome as the clock had run out during the play. But after conferring, game officials decided to take the 6-points off the board keeping the final score 17-14 in USC's favor. Then nearly two hours later, the PAC-12 Conference overruled the officiating crew & restored the touchdown, making the final 23-14. Think this didn't cause a helluva lot of screaming & yelling in Las Vegas sportsbooks? I need to talk to my pals in Vegas to find out if the books paid out initially on Utah & then had to pay USC bettors as well. My guess is once they paid the Utah bettors, the game was official in their eyes, regardless of what the PAC-12 did to change the score.
It sure wasn't pretty, but we won.
Ohio State didn't play well again but once again they were fortunate enough to be playing a lesser opponent who would eventually self-destruct. A 66-yard punt return & 12 Toledo penalties insured the Buckeyes survival at 27-22.
Milestone for "Beamer Ball."
Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer won his 200th game Saturday when the Hokies outlasted East Carolina. One of the true good guys of college sports, Beamer chose to stay in Blacksburg even tho he had a number of higher paying job offers. His players are very well coached & many of them do well in the NFL.
Thank God he's alright.
Minnesota coach Jerry Kill collapsed on the sideline & went into convulsions as his Golden Gophers were attempting to tie New Mexico State in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter. Kill had a seizure & was rushed to the hospital. The former Northern Illinois head coach, now in his 1st year at Minnesota, has experienced seizures since he underwent surgery to remove part of a kidney that was cancerous. Dehydration was believed to be the cause of the seizure & he was reported to be in stable condition.
Next week I'm looking forward to:
#1 Oklahoma at #5 Florida State
Missouri State at #14 Oregon(my wife will hate this, but if the Ducks can score 69 on Nevada, they could hang 80 or 90 on the Bears. Maybe they'll be merciful & play the game in their street clothes instead of their hideous Nike feathered unis)
#15 Ohio State at Miami(with all the suspensions on both teams, you will truly need a scorecard.)
Top performers:
Oregon QB Darron Thomas who completed just 13 passes but 6 of them went for touchdowns.
Michigan WR Junior Hemingway who caught just 3 passes for 165-yards & a touchdown. Folks that's 55-yards per catch. But it was against Notre Dame's secondary so that does diminish the feat somewhat.
Houston quarterback Case Keenum who went 26 of 41 for 458-yards & 5 touchdowns.
I'm a huge Pinkel supporter like you, but I agree, what the hell was he thinking????Listened to your radio show last week, pretty good but it's too short.
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The Auburn bird story cracked us up. We're definitely not PETA material I suppose.
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