Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Big Three? Or the Big Four?

Down in Florida, college football has always been (or at least as long as I've been old enough to be a college football fan) about the Big Three: Florida, Florida State and Miami. In recent years, however, Jim Leavitt has worked hard to build a South Florida program up from, literally, nothing, rising as high as #2 in the polls a couple of years back, before fading back to the rest of the pack. But today the Bulls served notice that they do not intend to simply head up the second tier of Florida football schools, knocking off Florida State in impressive and entertaining fashion.

Coming off the loss of their senior leader and the heart of the team, senior quarterback Matt Grothe, to an ACL injury last week, the Bulls gave freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels his first start, and while there were several times over the course of the game where he looked exactly like a freshman making his first start, it was still an entertaining and explosive performance, despite the pain he caused his coaches at times. Daniels displayed an effortlessly strong arm, explosive speed and tremendous vision, rushing for over 100 yards and throwing for over 200 more on his way to his first win as a collegiate starter, despite two blindingly bad interceptions.

However, the real story is the South Florida defense, which is just littered with hard-hitting athletes. Aside from George Selvie, the guy known to all of the college football community, the Bulls feature at least two other defensive ends who have similar combinations of size, strength and speed, in JuCo transfer Jason Pierre-Paul and senior Aaron Harris. Led by these three, and some athletic beefy tackles inside, the Bulls stuffed a Seminole run attack that riddled BYU's defense last week and consistently put pressure on and hands in the face of FSU QB Christian Ponder.

And as the front seven of USF pressured the 'Nole offense, the secondary was there to clean up and, in a handful of cases, nearly explode their opponents playmakers. The hard-hitting highlight of the day was freshman safety Jon Lejiste coming up from playing deep safety to provide run support and drilling Tavares Presley, forcing a fumble (one of four forced on the day by the Bulls) and leaving Presley stunned on the ground. But other guys like senior safety Nate Allen and senior corner Jerome Murphy, two of the biggest hitting secondary players in the nation, provided some wow moments as well.

Its still too early to know exactly how good South Florida is (much like it is too early to know how good Florida State is, or how good BYU is, or how good Miami is, or really, how good anybody around college football is), and it is likely that over the course of the season B.J. Daniels will make a poor decision or several that costs his team a game, but this much is certain: South Florida will be an entertaining team to watch.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

How the Entire State of Ohio Got Metaphorically Decapitated by a Sousaphone

It all started with the guy dotting the "i" almost decapitating a camera man, and it got more demoralizing from there.

Imagine this. You're a band nerd growing up in Ohio. When you're a freshman in high school you switch from playing the trumpet to playing the sousaphone so that you can have the opportunity to take center stage in one of the best traditions in college football. And, eight years later, you're a senior in college, your team is playing the biggest game of the season, your family is watching oh so proudly from the stands, you follow the bandleader through Script Ohio, get your big moment with the high kicks, and prepare to take your big bow, with the camera and every college football fan in America watching you, and as you take a nice semi-violent bow, your sousaphone drills the cameraman in the head.

Yes. That actually happened.

Somehow, the Ohio State Buckeyes decided to replicate that moment in a football game.

Imagine this. You have been repeatedly beat down at the hands of highly ranked foes for three straight years, to the point where most college football fans across the country are actively rooting for you to lose, just so they don't have to watch you ruin another national championship game. You're playing your biggest game of the season, against the eminently hateable U$C Trojans, who seem exceptionally hateable this season due to their freshman quarterback who seems to have exactly one clue in the world, a clue that was likely planted by Mark Fuhrman. After watching your all-world athlete of a QB (you know, the one that decided to break out a tribute to Mike Vick in the form of eye-black in the season opener), get your team behind the cue ball just a couple of minutes into the game, you spend the next, I dunno, let's say 50 minutes more or less whooping up on the Trojans, gritting your way out to a five point lead behind some phenomenal defense and some workmanlike offense. And then, just as you're about to take your metaphorical bow in front of your family, your friends and the rest of the college football world, some cameraman gets in the way.

How bad did Ohio State need this game tonight? How bad did the entire Big Ten need it? Coming into the game, there were a lot of Buckeye fans who would have been just fine with a loss so long as they weren't publicly humiliated again. I think in the end, this one hurt a lot worse than the debacle in the Coliseum last year.

There were definitely bright spots for the Buckeyes: they played hard, they had some younger guys step up and take their first steps toward proving their worth. But in the end, all anyone will remember is the Ohio State Buckeyes (and perhaps the entire Big Ten) losing another big game.

Oh. That, and the sousaphone player clocking a cameraman.


Elsewhere around the Big Ten:


My succinct notes on Tate Forcier so far: small, excellent runner, decent arm, intangibles out the wazoo.

I'll make no secret of my strong dislike for all things Michigan, which makes it all the more horrible that I really like this guy. I hope he starts a dog fighting ring, or at the very least decks some loudmouth from the WAC so I can build up a nice little bit of hatred for him somehow.

Probably wouldn't have mattered, but did you notice how the clock at Michigan Stadium went from 11 seconds to 9 seconds between the time the kickoff ended and the time the next play started? Gotta love the homefield timekeeper.

Wisconsin got into some trouble early against Fresno State, but came back in the second half to play a brand of football that actually looked like Wisconsin football again, and, in the process, actually pulled out a game they should have lost. John Clay showed a nice little burst of speed that I had never seen from him before, and he seems to get progressively harder to bring down as the game goes on. Throw in a nice set of receiver, the typical massive Wisconsin offensive line, and a quarterback who is a significant upgrade from the last couple of years and this Badger squad could make some noise again and get Bret Bielema back in the good graces of Wisconsin fans.

Sparty being Sparty, and even earlier this year than usual. Excellent.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Rocky Mountain Low

I've now watched perhaps 15 or so football games this season: some real good ones, some total snoozers. And, amazingly, perhaps the most thorough beatdown I've watched so far in this young season was the Toledo Rockets of the MAC taking apart the Colorado Buffaloes of the vaunted Big Twelve. Now, I did watch Cincinnati demolish Rutgers last weekend, and that definitely deserves to be in the conversation, but this was far more of a surprise and more damning to the losing squad. About 40 minutes into this game, Toledo was up 30-3 and Colorado had shown few signs of life. Now, the final was 54-38, but that's including two meaningless backdoor TDs by Colorado and a 4yd TD drive following a UT fumbled kickoff, and even somehow subtracting those 3 TDs doesn't really do justice to how one-sided this game really was.

There are a number of interesting angles to look at regarding this game, but let's start with this head-scratcher: how the hell did Colorado agree to play a Friday night game at Toledo five days after their opener against in-state rival Colorado State? I know Miami of Ohio backed out of a scheduled game sort of late in the process leaving the Buffs in need of a game, but how exactly did Toledo convince Dan Hawkins to come to the Glass Bowl? Now, I'm glad they did agree to it, because this type of thing is not only good for the Rockets, and the MAC, but college football in general. A big conference school deigning to visit somewhere like Toledo, Ohio? Definitely far more compelling that a game against Charleston Southern or Southeast Missouri State that is little more than a paycheck for each school involved.

Now, not only did Colorado agree to visit Toledo, they also let Toledo supply the refs. And while I don't think the refs had any real effect on the outcome of the game, I thought I did catch the umpire smirk a few times when calling a crushing penalty against the Buffs bringing back a first down or more.

Aside from that, how is it that Toledo actually looks to be stocked with more talent at more positions than Colorado? The Buffs just landed Darrell Scott last offseason, the top high school running back recruit in the nation. And you know what? I think I'd rather have Toledo's back DaJuane Collins. Just a few months ago, Colorado seemed set at WR with Scotty McKnight and Josh Smith, not to mention Andre Simmons and tight end Riar Geer. Smith has since transferred but while the others remain, I think Toledo probably has more pass-catching weapons than Colorado, even with their best receiver Stephen Williams nursing an injured shoulder and watching from the sidelines. Sophomore Kenny Stafford, fresman Eric Page and sophomore Danny Noble (now converted to tight end) all sport excellent hands and athleticism to boot. Further, I think Toledo's strong safety Barry Church is probably better than anybody on Colorado's defense. And, gimme Toledo's Aaron Opelt over Colorado's Cody Hawkins any day of the week. Opelt is not only a better passer than Hawkins, but he is more than capable of making plays with his legs, a feature Hawkins does not have.

And, while we're on the topic of Hawkins, I'm assuming that Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins will be spending Saturday working on his resume. I thought he was terrible last week when Colorado State manhandled them, but tonight was atrocious. I can't imagine that he will be back next year, and frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if he was watching Colorado's November games on television.

Now, I don't want to end on that type of negative note, especially after watching that surprising game. We can spend the next week talking about all the things Colorado did wrong, but Toledo did quite a few things right. First-year head coach Tim Beckman has some talent on the team, and his team has definitely shown improvement from last year, and improvement even from week one. It looks like Beckman is on his way toward reviving the Rocket's fortunes following the recent scandals in Toledo and bringing the Rockets back to relevance in the MAC.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

College Football Week One (or most of it, at least)

There are still a couple of games on the schedule on Labor Day, but it has already been an eventful week one, and thankfully there was a good story on Saturday to knock the LaGarrette Blount story off the headline for week one. However, an unfortunate part of that story is the injury to reigning Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford that aided BYU in their upset of Oklahoma. Now, that's not to say that BYU would not have won even had Bradford played in the second half, because they were likely the better team even in the first half with Bradford in there, but it certainly made the Cougar's job easier. Regardless, you've got to hand it to the Cougars as they beat the Sooners in just about every aspect of the game.

The Mountain West scored more points today when Colorado State whooped their in-state rival Colorado up and down the field in the first half, then held on in the second half to complete a nice first weekend for the MWC. Meanwhile, Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins is squarely on the hot seat already. The strength of his offense is his stable of running backs, but time and time again, on first downs he would unleash his undertalented son Cody Hawkins to throw. The younger Hawkins can certainly be an effective quarterback, but he is not capable of carrying a team. Instead, if he was running play action after successful runs by Darrell Scott and Rodney Stewart, he would have much better chances of success.

It wasn't all bad for the Big 12 this weekend, however. Oklahoma State got their season off to a strong start, answering some of the questions about their potential defensive liabilities with a strong showing against SEC powerhouse Georgia. If the Cowboys' defense can maintain that type of success throughout the season, they will be able to challenge for a Big 12 title, given their strong offense.

And, I suppose the Blount situation deserves a bit of a comment, not that it hasn't already been said by others before me. Credit is due to Chip Kelly (not for his game preparation, which to put it bluntly, was horrible for the Boise State game) for his decision in regards to Blount. Kelly let it be known that destructive behavior like Blount's will not be tolerated, but at the same time, in his decision to allow Blount to remain in school and to continue to practice with the team, shows Blount and his fellow teammates that the coaching staff will not turn their backs on a player when that player is most in need of guidance. It would have been easy enough for Oregon to kick Blount out of school (and, for that matter, I'll give a bit of credit to Blount for choosing to stay in school, when it would have been easy for him to just quit and maybe explore options in the CFL or USFL), but instead they have thrown their support behind Blount despite delivering a significant punishment to him for his actions. I've heard people throw around the names Lawrence Phillips and Maurice Clarett in reference to Blount, but I would think that if Tom Osborne had shown the type of discipline towards Phillips that Kelly has shown, and if the Ohio State program had shown the type of support towards Clarett when he was being roundly embarassed in the national media as Oregon has shown, either of those stories could have had different, perhaps happier, endings. While Blount's actions Thursday night are completely unexcusable, I for one will be rooting for him to grow up and make the most of the talent he has.

Other quick thoughts from around the college football world:
  • I hope the Big Ten enjoyed what opportunity they had to beat up on Michigan. This Wolverine team won't contend for a Big Ten title this year, but RichRod is well on his way to rebuilding the program.
  • Just a couple of days ago, the upcoming Notre Dame/Michigan matchup would have elicited blank stares from most college football fans. Now, it is one of the highlights of week two action.
  • Regardless of what happened in the game, it was pretty darn stupid of Ohio State to schedule Navy the week before USC. Not only did the Buckeyes probably not spend enough time preparing for the Navy offense, if they did spend any time prepping for that instead of USC, they wasted valuable time. It would have been much better to try to schedule someone somewhere with similar offense to the Trojans.
  • I really hate it when coaches take a phenomenal athletic talent who also happens to play quarterback and try to box that guy up inside the role of a pocket passer. It's too early to tell whether that is what is happening with Tyrod Taylor at Virginia Tech, but if so, it is not worth the effort. For the Hokie's offense to take off this season, they'll need the full complement of Taylor's skills at QB.
  • UCLA is on the upswing. This edition of the Bruins is not going to challenge for the Pac-10 title (or even battle with Cal and Oregon and Oregon State for the 2nd place spot), but somewhere around the time that this group of kids become upperclassmen, they will be a tough out. Their offensive line looks better than last year (although week two's matchup against Tennessee will give a better test), freshman quarterback Kevin Prince is a signigicant upgrade over Kevin Craft (although Prince still has a ways to go), the offense has far more playmakers, and the defense is as stout as it has been in recent years (despite it relative lack of depth). While anything beyond six, maybe seven, wins is a pipe dream, the program is starting to regain its footing under Rick Neuheisel.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Hitting in football

One of my bigger beefs with the NFL over the last few years (one among many, at least) has been the steady elimination through penalization of hitting. You can't hit a man high, you can't hit him low, and you certainly can't hit a QB anywhere. I understand that you want to eliminate dangerous hitting, but so far as I know, spearing has been a penalty since I was playing Pop Warner 25 years ago.

Well, the NFL's elimination of certain football plays is one thing, but to watch it trickle down to college football is disgusting. Apparently, one of the points of emphasis in college football this year will be to penalize any hits above the shoulder pads. Well, that's all fine and well, but on the first Saturday of the season, a tight game was more or less decided when what should have been a completely legal hit was ruled a personal foul.

To set the scene, Oklahoma State leads Georgia 17-10 about halfway through the 4th quarter. OSU has just taken over at the outer reaches of long FG range and on 3rd and long, OSU QB Zac Robinson delivers a deep ball a little high over the middle to freshman WR Justin Blackmon. Blackmon reaches high to make a play on the ball, and if no Georgia defender lays a hat on him, it is going to be any easy first down in easy FG range. So, smartly, junior strong safety Reshad Jones drills Blackmon, leading with his shoulder pad and right arm into Blackmon's upper chest/shoulder pads. The ball falls harmlessly to the ground, and immediately four (really?!?!? four) yellow hankies litter the ground, resulting in the OSU first down that would have occurred anyway had Jones not made the correct play on the receiver. A couple plays later, OSU punches it in and the game is effectively over.

Now, if that's not bad enough, on the next Georgia drive, Oklahoma State senior linebacker Andre Sexton makes a far more blatantly headhunting hit (which, to me, shouldn't have been a penalty either) and not a single flag is thrown.

It's football. In order to play the game effectively, players need to be able to hit, sometimes violently, in certain situations. Now, I understand if it's a dirty hit. Go ahead. Throw the flag. But a completely necessary legitimate hit that serves a key football goal needs to remain legal.