I'm in this much trouble (Image: Palmetto Scoop)
A little stream of consciousness from the weekend
- Bowl Predictions: I'm mostly loving my bowl predictions after this weekend. I know that I have Clemson there as ACC Champs, but look at the rest of that disaster of a league. Clemson is a perfect candidate to be elected King of the Dip Sh*ts. The only picks I'm very iffy on are VT in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl and Ohio State in the title game. Speaking of which...how many times have OSU fans googled "Wells Injury" in the past 24 hours?
- SEC West: With MSU losing to La Tech, Auburn's offense only scoring 2 TDs vs. ULM and Arkansas scoring with 1:49 left to rally against I-AA Western Illinois, you have to think that Ole Miss is making a legit run at 7 wins this season. The Fighting Nutts play at Wake Forest at 3:30 on ABC this Saturday. The idea of a Wake vs. Ole Miss game on a national network in a primo spot is as shocking as the fact that the game has major bowl implications for both teams.
- The Clemplosion(TM): I wasn't shocked that Bama beat Clemson, but I was a little shocked that Clemson didn't make a game of it. In 2003, Auburn gave Cadillac Williams (a junior at the time) 3 or 4 first half carries vs. UGA. At that time, I thought it was one of the worst uses of personnel that I had seen in my lifetime. That was until Saturday Night when Clemson gave its Thunder and Lightening Duo a combined EIGHT carries for the entire game. It's not just that Bama physically dominated and out gunned Clemson along both lines of scrimmage. It's that the Tigers didn't even attempt to fire their pistols. Pathetic really. But still...look at the rest of that joke league.
- The Atlanta Kickoff Game: This is here to stay. The crowd was rocking, the ticket was impossible to get and the media frenzy was off the charts. College Football needs games like this. You can pretty much lock Bama vs. Virginia Tech in for next year. UGA has a road game to give in 2011, and I'd love to see us in a marquee match-up like that. However, we'd have to get Louisville to move our home opener with them back a few weeks to make it happen.
- You Know You Suck When: If you are fighting for your life against a non-BCS opponent at home, and your solution is to put in the QB who couldn't beat out Taylor Bennett at Georgia Tech...you suck. Michigan needed Steven Threet, former GT cast off/refugee, to engineer the game winning drive. The outcome...a loss. The biggest shock of the game was UM's defense giving up 300+ first half yards of offense to the Utes. I'm still a Rich Rod believer, but they are in a world of crap in Ann Arbor.
- Texas A&M Pooped Themselves: If you were to name the 5 biggest whipping boys in Div I every year your list would start with Florida International, Utah State and Idaho, then it would quickly turn to Arkansas State. The idea of losing your first game as head coach of TAMU to ARK State is every bit as incomprehensible to Aggies as losing to Appy State was to Michigan fans. Coach Sherman lacks the overwhelming personal charisma of a Dan Hawkins at Colorado to recover from a loss like this.
- First Loser Leaves Town Match of '08: On Sept. 27th Pitt travels to Syracuse. If Syracuse loses that game, I wouldn't expect Greg Robinson to be the coach in October. After starting the season off with a loss to Northwestern, Cuse is hard pressed to find many more wins on the schedule. If Syracuse wins, I would expect that to be a big follow-up nail in Wannstedt's coffin. There just aren't Ws on that slate for Pitt if they can't topple the mighty Bowling Greener.
- Spurrier Inching Towards Infamy: The last couple of years, we've published a list of Longest Tenured Coaches without a BCS Appearance at their current school. The current Top 10 is sure to have some slots open up for retirements (Rich Brooks possibly), BCS break thrus (Missouri) or terminations (Arizona, Vanderbilt or some one else). With Robinson and Wannstedt both racing towards unemployment, that means that Steve Spurrier should join the Top 10 in 2009.
PWD
16 comments:
PWD-
I like everyone else is just mystified at Clemp-scum. My brother is a big CU guy and he was beyond words late into Saturday evening. Rob Spence continues to try to out think and out motion opponents instead of saying "here's Davis and Spiller - come get'em".
And the Harper call was pure T.B. and very reminiscent of something Jim Donnan would have done - or at least that is how it felt to me.
Lastly, as to the SEC, if Tenn wins tonight, look at the SEC East: (UGA & UF - top 5), UT - road win against Pac 10, USC - shutout at home against ACC, Vandy - blowout road win on TV and UK - their defense destroyed L'Ville. Not too shabby....
(Also if I was Steve Kragthorpe of L'Ville - I might see what paperwork is required to pull my kids out of school early....)
GO DAWGS!!
Clemson did not compete. And usually a long kickoff return is a huge momentum shift. Clemson responded with absolutely nothing. Who has a worse offensive line? Clemson or South Carolina?
I really wished I could have seen the Bama game (not on in Hong Kong). I was perplexed when I woke up Sunday morning to catch the late 3rd QTR score on the interwebs. Then I saw the rushing stats which partially explained the score, but presented the bigger "WTH?!"
So one of the Bowdens is definitely out after this year's Bowden Bowl.
Also, with VT getting embarrassed, is Wake the cream of the crap?
"The Clemplosion(TM)"
Paul - not sure if that is a GSB trademark or an official one, but you might want to make sure you do all the legal/paper work to make sure you get royalities from that term. Awesome...
The only team on UGA's schedule this year with a loss is the team we beat on Saturday, Bama/UK/Tech all look better than we thought, and we lose Jeff Owens for the season. In the immortal words of Ace Ventura: "Holy Testical Tuesday!"
Off topic, but does anyone know if UGA-Central Mich. will be televised? ESPN doesn't seem to have it on Gameplan or 360.
Anonymous @ 10:15 -
I think the UGA - CM game is on Fox Sports South. They reported it here earlier this year that FSS had picked it up.
Central Michigan @ UGA will be on Sunshine Sports Network in Florida, for all you Dawgly Dawgs living down here...
I know that Richt has mentioned this before, but he needs to make sure that Bama isn't getting the inside grease on these Atlanta games. it just makes Saban's recruiting attempts in the area all the easier. Granted, UGA beating the crap out of them in a few weeks will likely quell that storm. Also, you gotta love Saban's recruiting pitch: well, you are better than the players already on the team. I will just kick them off to make room for you.
I like the Atlanta Kickoff Classic idea; its good for Atlanta, its good for college football, and its good watching. I'm sure the people running the game don't care a whole lot about UGA/GT, but I don't think its good for us to have a team like Alabama in this game so often. I know they can guarantee fans in the seats, but there has to be more regional and national programs they can bring in.
Comments on the ramblings with my own:
1) Hats off to La Tech beating MSU. Good win for Derek Dooley! IT was also good to hear Tommy Spangler is the DC at La Tech. I liked that guy when he played for UGA.
2) Missouri's offense is a lot of fun to watch. Defense needs to get better. The Big 12 is going to be an offensive juggernaut and Colorado looked pretty good as well.
3) I thought Clemson would beat Bama so I was even more shocked at how well Alabama beat them. UGA's schedule just got even tougher (even without the loss of Owens). I could not believe that Clemson was manhandled like that. Can Clemson stick with Bowden? While it would be odd, I think that even winning the weak ACC might not save his job.
4) Michigan looked bad in the first half defensively but in the second half they owned Utah. That did not happen against Appalachian State (MA '88) where the defense never figured out how to stop the spread. Neither QB is capable of running this form of the spread. Just to add insult: T. Pryor for the most part looked good for the Buckeyes in limited play. (I am not a RichRod fan BTW).
5)Not shocked by BGSU beating Pitt; more shocked at how ECU handled Va Tech. The game was not as close as the score indicated--ECU made several mistakes that kept the game close.
6) I cannot believe how bad the ACC looked. Discount UVA since it was playing a very, very good team. Heck, Ga Tech had the best showing of any ACC team!
7) The ACC did provide the best story about the parachutists landing at Duke when they were supposed to land at...UNC!
8) It does not get better for the ACC as Miami has to play Florida next week.
This game should be a showcase for the SEC, not just Alabama. It would be good to see a rotating SEC team opening against quality opponent from a quality conference. This means the ACC can no longer be invited.
I just hope no one tries to parachute into the Georgia Dome...
Lock of the week:
Buffalo +14.5 vs. Pitt
The Atlanta Kickoff Classic is meant to make money and thus must appeal to a broad audience. I don't think you'll see a true rotation among SEC/ACC teams, but I think you should mix it up a bit. It seems everyone has the same feelings.
I also read that this will start off as a regional event and slowly move into a national event. So for now we'll most likely see FSU, VT, Clemson, UT, Alabama, Auburn, and LSU playing in these games, but soon I'm sure it'll just be an early season match up of supposed top ranked teams entering the season.
I agree 100%. This game should NOT be a showcase game for Bama. I'm ok with 1 more year of them in that game because their schedule has more flexibility than a lot of other SEC teams in that opening week.
I'm also OK with them playing Duke in 2010 there...in a completely unrelated deal later in the season.
But that game should be a showcase venue for lots of teams.
Games like:
Auburn vs. Miami
LSU vs. FSU
UGA vs. Penn State
Temmessee vs. Clemson
etc. There are tons of combos that would be exciting.
Regardless, the GA Dome should NOT become the new Legion Field.
I would go to any game in the Dome featuring UGA, but I would be particularly excited for:
UGA vs. Texas, Texas Tech, Missouri, Illinois (Revenge of the Zook) West Virginia (Rematch!)
or (if we still include the ACC) North Carolina or Miami.
The ultimate would be
UGA vs. Notre Dame (considering some of the recruits ND has pulled from the metro Atlanta area.
The Clemplosion(TM)-- brilliant.
The Atlanta Kickoff Classic is great. It's kind of like a Bowl game in the very first week.
Go Dawgs! Sic'em!
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