Official 2009-10 NCAA Football thread

[Jode]

Wow, I can't believe it took until Sunday morning for this one to get kicked off, much less that it took me to do it! Okay, here goes:

 

1. ROLL TIDE! If my boys were only going to play one half of offensive football, I'm glad it was the second half this time. Virginia Tech is a very good team that will take the ACC again this year, and they played a respectable game of smashmouth defense. In the end, though, the strength, speed, and stamina of Alabama was just too much. This D will take its place among the great ones of Tide past, I am sure.

 

Offensively, Greg McElroy is composed and accurate at QB, the O-line is regrouping well after losing two stud linemen last year, and Julio Jones continues to be a force of nature at WR. Best of all, we've got an absolute mule team in the backfield, led by Mark Ingram (150 yds, 2 TDs) and Roy Upchurch (90 yds, 1 TD, in which he utterly TRUCKED a VT defender at the goal line). Quote of the day goes to Mark Ingram, when asked after the game about a minor bang on the knee he received late in the game. Will you be back next week for the FIU game? "Yes ma'am."

 

2. Uh oh, Oklahoma. Not good. Props to BYU, though, who still had their hands full, whether or not Sam Bradford was in the game. They pulled off a manful upset. Congrats to BYU, and best wishes for Bradford.

 

3. Oh, come on, Ohio State, really? You nearly get whacked by Navy in your own house? (I'm winking at you, Stepay.) I hope you weren't looking past this one to USC next week. Hope they don't smoke you too bad.

 

4. I am pleased that Washington made a game of it against LSU. If my cousin hadn't made the long trip to see that game, I'd have been pulling for the Huskies all the way, since I hate LSU no matter how much I love my cousin. They will not be the doormat of the Pac-10 this year, it seems.

 

5. Yeehah, Lane Kiffin. Your Vols stomped on Western Kentucky. Good for you. You still have written millions of dollars in checks with your mouth that your Vols' asses must cash. You heard it here first: the Third Saturday In October, otherwise known as the Bama-UT game, will be a bloodbath. Prepare to be pwned, you bigmouth. But that's nothing compared to the hurt that Florida is going to deliver on September 19. Nick Saban lets the bulletin board stuff go, but Urban Meyer tends to hold a grudge. Final score: Florida 73, Tennessee 9.

 

6. Stay classy, LeGarrete Blount. I hope that cheap shot was worth your entire NFL career. Have fun bagging groceries back in Florida. As you may imagine, my neighbors here in Oregon are none too thrilled.

 

7. Speaking of Florida, it's looking like once again, the true national championship will be played in the Georgia Dome between Alabama and Florida. Begin conference smack-talk/BCS complaining on my mark..... MARK.

[MAJUSCULE]

I'm not a big football fan, but I did live in Gainesville for a year. Therefore, CHOMP CHOMP! GO GATORS! We're going for three!

[stepay]

Just saw this today.

 

I'll agree with you Jode about the poor poor performance of Ohio State against Navy, and I blame Coach Tressel 100% for that. He said days before the Navy game that he was going to get Bauserman (the second string QB) into the game. That is not the message to send to the team or to Navy for that matter. Tells both teams that this is a walk in the park for the Buckeyes, and that makes the Buckeye players play less intensely and Navy get all amped up about being disrespected. Besides, it's not like Terrell Pryor has loads of experience. He should have been in the whole time until the game was well in hand, and of course that was not the case. Killing an inferior opponent is a better idea than playing down to their level. USC must be licking their chops.

 

That said, the Buckeyes have a bad offensive line and are weak at running back and at the kicker position. In order for them to have even an average season for them, Pryor is going to have to carry this team. I see 4 losses this year, the first of which comes against USC on Saturday.

 

On to your Crimson Tide though, I'm not yet convinced they are a national championship contender. Virginia Tech is ALWAYS overrated, and Florida appears to be the cream of the crop in the SEC this year. I see your team losing at least twice.

 

While I think the SEC is still in the discussion about who is the best conference, I think it has gotten slightly worse each of the last three years and aren't a sure thing as the top dog this year. LSU's poor performance (even though they won) against a HORRIBLE Washington team is evidence of that.

 

I'd prefer that NO conference has a conference championship. That way no one can say anything is unfair. The year Florida beat the Buckeyes in the title game, the conference championship actually vaulted Florida to that game. They would have been outside looking in if not for that championship game.

[MikeT156]

Let's face it, the Big 10 sucks. I'm in Nittany Lion country; we are in the Big Ten, and the Big Ten REALLY sucks. Sorry to repeat myself repeat myself, but it's obvious. The best of the Big 10 teams get their asses kicked in big games. USC embarrassed Penn State in the Rose Bowl last year. USC will smoke Ohio State, as usual. Business as usual for REAL football teams.

 

Mike T.

[stepay]

Let's face it, the Big 10 sucks. I'm in Nittany Lion country; we are in the Big Ten, and the Big Ten REALLY sucks. Sorry to repeat myself repeat myself, but it's obvious. The best of the Big 10 teams get their asses kicked in big games. USC embarrassed Penn State in the Rose Bowl last year. USC will smoke Ohio State, as usual. Business as usual for REAL football teams.

 

Mike T.

 

I do agree in general with what you're saying (over the last 3-4 years anyway) that the Big Ten sucks, and I do think USC is going to beat Ohio State this year again, but I would really like to see USC play in a bowl game that wasn't right in their own back yard. I think there should be a rule that you can't play a bowl game in your own state. USC playing in the Rose Bowl is ridiculous.

[Marzzz]

That's one of the reasons I think there should be a playoff- my own version was seeding the top 8 teams and all games except the final at the higher seed's home stadium. Wouldn't you love to see Florida playing in the snow in December?

[Jode]

Hey, Mississippi State and Texas A&M played one hell of an Independence Bowl in one hell of a snowstorm in 2000. Not exactly normal weather for College Station or Starkville. Or Shreveport, for that matter.

 

Can't say a great deal of positive things about Bama's mostly sloppy win over FIU, but here's one that warms my heart: I can't believe we could lose Mark Ingram and Julio Jones and be just fine depth-wise. That's one hell of a plus to take away from today. Trent Richardson - a freshman! hee hee - is just a hoss, and some guy named Mark McCoy I'd never heard of caught for 100 yards and a touch by halftime. Greg McElroy continues to be a cool-headed field general - tossed a school-record 14 straight completions on his way to going 18-of-24 for 241 yards. This program is slowly, patiently being shaped into a powerhouse by Nick Saban. If not this year, expect large things from Alabama for years to come.

 

Thanks, Buckeyes, for making a game of it this time and not simply lifting your skirt for USC.

 

I would be happy that Notre Dame lost, except that it means Michigan won. But I sure can be happy for UCLA, because it means Tennessee lost at Neyland Stadium. That should prepare Lane Kiffin for the pain that Florida is going to inflict on him in seven days. I was really hoping Troy would scare Florida like last year, but, um, no.

 

So Houston beats OK State at home. Doesn't say much for Georgia, does it?

[Marzzz]

I would be happy that Notre Dame lost, except that it means Michigan won.

Which made me very happy! That frosh QB was something else, wasn't he?

[Jode]

What have we learned so far today?

 

- USC is not as good as some would have you believe, nor is Washington as bad. And Jake Locker is an absolute stud - did you see him fire that missile on 3rd and long, on the run and across his body, to keep the game-winning drive alive?

 

- Either Tennessee doesn't stink as badly as I'd like, or Florida's not as good as they should be. Both are probably true, but only the latter makes me happy. They made a game of it in the Swamp. Makes me glad Alabama's got the Vols at home. Rocky Top, you'll always be, second in the SEC!

 

- Charlies Weis' job is safe for another week. Whatever.

[Marzzz]

Jabba the Weis' job is safe for another year- ND will run the table against weaker opponents (save for a slaughter at the hands of USC) and then get absolutely demolished in a BCS game.

[RABid]

Louisville's coach is on a timer though they did better than expected against Kentucky.

 

Kentucky lands two of the best QB's for the freshman class and still starts the QB that struggled last year. At times during the Louisville game he looked like he panicked.

 

[mate stubb]

Holy crap. My home-town conference is disintegrating before my eyes. I grew up with the Mizzou Tigers and the Big 8 (well, big 2 little 6).

 

Nebraska gone, Colorado gone, where will Mizzou end up?

[Chris Link]

Moe,

 

My Jayhawks are f***ed. Mizzou seems to be on the outside looking in at the Big Ten right now. And they got all this talk started last year bringing up a possible move to the Big Ten. And now they're talking the rump Big 12 teams to the Mountain West or Conf USA.

 

Nebraska fans are ecstatic. And no small part of it is sticking a thumb in the eye of Texas.

[richwhite9]

The Kansas AD Lew Perkins just resigned under pressure. He was at UConn from 1990-2003 when the Football team went to Division I, Gampel Pavilion was built and during the first of the men's and women's basketball's national championships.

 

These dominos never fall where expected. UConn and Kansas and the BE are in rumored talks for contingency purposes as Rutgers and Syracuse are rumored to be in the Big 10s 16-team expansion plan.

 

Rumors here are equally crazy going from the SEC raiding 4 ACC teams and forcing the ACC and Big East to merge as one 16-team conference to 5 BE teams going to the Big-10 as they want to wrap up the Tri-State NYC market (Uconn, Rutgers, Syracuse w/ Missouri and Nebraska). Then there's Notre Dame angst.

 

Right now the betting odds are for the Big-12 orphans to go the Mountain West Network.

 

Nothing will surprise me including Kansas and Kansas State going to the BE for a couple seasons while the smoke clears.

 

Then there's the Baylor, Texas A&M, Kansas. KSU to the SEC rumors :>

 

[Joe Muscara]

Holy cannoli, I hadn't heard all of that. All the news we get here are about the Big 12 to PAC-10 schools, and how they're trying to get Baylor in on that, and UH (Houston) is trying to get in on the action too.

 

I truly hope the ACC survives intact.

[richwhite9]

As you know in Texas there are those that want SMU and TCU added to the Big-12. The six Texas teams will form a division and negotiate television separately.

 

 

 

 

[Chris Link]

Texas has never shown any inclination to share it's TV revenue, unlike the Big Ten where all share equally. Can't say as I blame them, but without more equal revenue-sharing it was going to be tough to hold the league together.

 

Nebraska fans are happy to be sticking a thumb in the eye of UT, for once, instead of the other way around. They pointed out yesterday that NU didn't initiate any of this, that Mizzou and Colorado were openly lobbying to move, and that UT let it be known they were talking to the Pac 10, SEC and Big Ten. NU will get blamed for the breakup, however. Road games this fall should be interesting.

 

I hadn't heard about KU, et al to the Big East. That's interesting. I'll have to go to the KC or Lawrence papers websites.

[richwhite9]

Mountain West is going to offer Kansas, KSU. That would get them to 12 teams, a playoff and a likely BCS autoqualifying bid.

 

There are those still pushing for the Big East:

 

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sports/blogs/Watch-This/Remaining-Big-12-schools-to-the-Big-East-gaining-momentum-96137294.html

 

A likely BE conference would look like:

West East

Louisville UConn

Cinci Syracuse

Kansas Rutgers

Kansas St West Virginia

Missouri Pitt

Iowa State USF

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/23104/big-east-should-look-west

[Chris Link]

So UT had their bluff called by not only the Cornhuskers but by the PAC 10.

 

They will get their own potential cable TV deal, but are left with a shrunken Big 12 without enough teams for a playoff game (The "Tentative Ten" was one suggestion I read today), secure in the knowledge that KU, MU and any of a number of other schools will jump at the chance to get the hell out of town at the first opportunity.

 

 

[kanker.]

Everything that the Big 12 has mentioned regarding revenues is "potential"

 

I'm expecting more backroom dealing by the remaining Big 12 teams. My personal take as a Big 10 fan would be that somehow the Big 10 steal Kansas and Kentucky from their respective conferences, snag Notre Dame, and draw 1 other big school. The football would be incredible, but imagine Kansas, Kentucky, MSU, Michigan, IU, Purdue, and Ohio State, a bunch of traditionally great programs, getting their collective butts in gear and getting down to business. That would be one HELL of a fun thing to watch year in and year out.

[richwhite9]

Texas AM was ready to go to the SEC citing battered wife syndrome.

 

Their Message boards are funny.

 

Today they worship Bevo's big nasty balls and the $20 million cash haul.

 

More on the Texas mascot:

 

Bevo I was originally named "Bo" but came to be called Bevo during his service.

 

Bevo II once charged an SMU cheerleader, who had to defend himself with his megaphone.

 

Bevo III escaped from his enclosure and ran amok across campus for 2 days.

 

Bevo IV once attacked a parked car, while Bevo V broke loose and scattered the Baylor band.

 

More recent Bevos have had a more peaceful tenure.

 

Bevo XIV will be remembered for saving the Big 12 and bringing home the greenbacks.

[Joe Muscara]

Rich, why all the hate on UT?

 

(Note that I don't have any allegiance to their sports teams. I'm just wondering.)

[richwhite9]

No hate for UT in basketball anyway.

 

We are in the middle of a home and away with them in BB. I know we are trying to get them for football but it would be like offering the Christians to the Lions.

 

They are a great program. Rick Barnes is an old Big East guy coaching Providence after Pitino from 1988-1994.

 

 

Who know? Maybe we can beat them in football. We beat Notre Dame and Michigan last year. Pundits cite that as a sign of the Apocalypse.

 

UConn beating either program was a travesty for the alumni.

 

Charlie Weiss all but got fired mid-season and Rodriquez has one more chance to get it right. UConn and Michigan open their seasons at Michigan on Sept 4th. A win means coach Rodriguez is a dead man walking.

 

OTOH a win also means our Coach will likely get poached by a Southern program with deep pockets before we can book the Longhorns at Yankee Stadium. It would be the only fitting venue now that College Football is returning to NYC and the Big East is booking games there.

[Chris Link]

As the dust settles (for now), an analysis from the Omaha World-Herald:

 

A positive effect for the Huskers

 

By Lee Barfknecht

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

 

In the world of sports, we keep score. So its time to calculate winners, losers and survivors from the conference realignment craziness that ate up the past month of our lives.

 

Winner: Nebraska

 

By moving to the Big Ten, NU gains massive benefits academically, nails down long-term athletic security and never has to deal with Texas braggadocio and politics again.

 

By anyones definition, thats a Triple Crown.

 

The key is the Huskers werent running away from anything. They are running toward a truly transformational opportunity.

 

Put aside the athletic discussion for now. This move to the Big Ten clears the runways for the University of Nebraska system the states largest enterprise to fly into previously restricted air space.

 

Hundreds of millions of dollars more research money is expected. Higher caliber faculty will be more easily recruited. That in turn attracts better students, who later want to stay in the state because of enhanced job opportunities and will start businesses of their own that will boost the economy.

 

Oh, and the football wont be all bad, either.

 

And did we mention Texas wont be around? As Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez said about the Big Ten: "There wont be any bullies in the meeting rooms."

 

Winner in its own mind, loser in public perception: Texas

 

I guess were assuming Texas had some good public perception left.

 

The Longhorns helped chase two members out of the Big 12, bullied five others into giving them their lunch money and then passed themselves off as saving a beloved damsel in distress.

 

Never mind, I guess, that while "rescuing" the Big 12 you flirted with the Pac-10 and the Big Ten.

 

Now, the "Dont Mess With Texas" folks wield more power than ever.

 

But is this nothing more than the reincarnation of the old Southwest Conference? That lopsided league sent Texas athletics into a tailspin in the 1980s and early 1990s that it didnt pull out of until the Big 12 was formed.

 

This had better work, because UTs recent maneuvering might make it difficult to find another conference willing to do business.

 

Loser: Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon

 

This may have been the worst performance by a politician named Nixon since Richard.

 

Three days after the Big Ten announced it would study expansion, he took it upon himself to invite Missouri to the party.

 

"Im not going to say anything bad about the Big 12," said Nixon, who then did just that. "But when you compare Oklahoma State to Northwestern, when you compare Texas Tech to Wisconsin, you begin looking at educational possibilities that are worth looking at."

 

The problem, Your Highness, is that in the Big Ten, its "Dont call us, well call you."

 

After Nixons grandstanding, the call never came. Missouri became one of the five leftovers who luckily were saved when the Big 12 bubble-gummed itself together.

 

Nixon tried to reclaim the headlines last week by proclaiming that the Big 12 will be a better basketball league without Nebraska. What a bold statement, considering that the Huskers havent won a conference title in 60 years.

 

By the way, anyone have that score from the first round of the Big 12 tournament in March?

 

Ah, here it is: Last-place Nebraska 75, NCAA-tourney bound Missouri 60. The win boosted NU coach Doc Sadlers record over MUs Mike Anderson to 6-4.

 

Winner (at least temporarily): Dan Beebe

 

The Big 12 commissioner saved his league and his job despite losing two family members.

 

Its been chic to hammer Beebe with criticism, but a decent amount of that has been misdirected.

 

Beebe didnt make the Big 12s current TV deals, he inherited them. He didnt set it up so that those two deals expire four years apart, the league founders did. That hamstrings the Big 12 in collecting a powerhouse deal.

 

And he operates in a "weak commissioner" system where the prime power rests with the board of directors.

 

Beebe isnt blameless in watching other leagues pass the Big 12 by. Now, hell have his hands full trying to keep this uneasy alliance from implosion.

 

The current over/under is four years.

 

Winner: Jim Delany

 

The Big Ten commissioner bolstered his credentials as college athletics preeminent power broker.

 

When the Big Ten revealed its expansion plans on Dec. 15, at first it looked like a publicity mission to placate that leagues football coaches who complained about being overshadowed the final two weeks of the season.

 

But as the idea grew and the research came in, the Big Tens business overshadowed some of the bowl season and much of the college basketball season.

 

Losers: Employees of athletic departments and conferences unwillingly dragged through the drama of realignment.

 

I talked to athletic directors who put hirings on hold because they couldnt tell candidates what league they would be in. I talked to candidates who backed away because they worried about budget limitations if the BCS-level position they pursued all of a sudden would become a non-BCS job.

 

Perhaps even harder hit were the hundreds of mid-level workers whose lives were slammed into park by all the speculation. The number of innocent folks held hostage by all this was a distasteful consequence.

 

Not quite a winner but better than a loser: Colorado

 

CU has always been a peculiar fit in the old Big Eight and now the Big 12.

 

Its a mountain school in a flatland league. Its in a different time zone from all other schools. And it has slightly different socio-political views than league brethren. Foes dont call it The Peoples Republic of Boulder for nothing.

 

So going to the Pac-10 is good. Colorado always has recruited heavily in California, and has many top alumni there.

 

But this wont be easy. Colorados financial problems havent gone away. Travel will remain a chore in the new league. And Dan Hawkins is still the football coach.

 

Survivors: The five Big 12 "leftovers": Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Baylor

 

Im not going to pick on these schools for banding together and offering Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma "protection" money to keep the Big 12 together.

 

The mission was to preserve a spot in a BCS league. The method may stink, but it probably was the only option.

 

The scary thing, after reviewing these events, is that this column probably will need to be written again by about 2013.

 

Contact the writer:

 

444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com