Greetings. I think West Virginia just scored again. I know most people are in awe about the 70 points they dropped on Baylor. I will agree that is one dynamic offense. But I left that game with more questions then answers. Like what is wrong with your defense? It wasn’t just the 63 Baylor put up but 34 to Marshall and 21 to Maryland as well. I think we will find out a lot about the Mountaineers this Saturday night when they face Texas. If they do to Texas what they did to Clemson in the Orange Bowl this past January people are going to have to take this team as a legitimate National Championship contender. Right now it seems like the voters agree with me having a wait and see attitude. West Virginia is ranked 8th in the new polls. We said goodbye officially to Stanford, Baylor, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State this week and their dreams at a National Championship. There are also some real surprises and teams playing much better then some thought. Rutgers, Miami, Northwestern and Louisiana Tech are all having surprising years so far. And let’s give Penn State and coach O’Brien a lot of credit. After suffering a few tough losses Penn State has come back and played good football. And I was sure he had Saturdays contest with Illinois circled. If you recall it was them who sent no less then eight coaches to roam the campus after their players became eligible to recruit. I know they wanted that game bad and it showed on the field.
What a weekend we have coming up! I see six games that are a must see. UCONN at Rutgers, Nebraska at Ohio State, LSU at Florida, West Virginia at Texas, Georgia at South Carolina, and Miami plays Notre Dame at Solider Field in Chicago.
This weeks five things :
1) Can we just send Arkansas home for the season now? I couldn’t tell you exactly why this team went from a top 10 preseason National Championship contender to a door mat but not only have they lost worse they have quit. I saw a team that was trailing 14-10 and driving for the lead late 2nd quarter Saturday. Then I saw a misread and interception that a high school quarterback usually would avoid. But this isn’t a high school quarterback. This is Tyler Wilson. The same guy who would have gone high up in the 1st round had he done the right thing and come out of school after last year. Like a few others he has done neither himself nor his team any favors by staying because the effort just isn’t there. This team lost its starting quarterback for a game and they went from top 10 to maybe one of the worse teams in the SEC. I am sure John L Smith will be fired and should be. After all you cannot fire an entire team because if you could, they should.
2) Could LSU just be staying vanilla on purpose up to this point or are they not that good? While other teams handle their business by beating smaller and less talented teams by 50 and 60, the Tigers beat Auburn 12-10 two weeks ago and got by Towson, yes Towson, 38-22 this past weekend and were actually trailing in the 2nd quarter. I wouldn’t put it past the Mad Hater to keep it simple until the important games but that Auburn game was to close for comfort. The next four weeks LSU faces Florida, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Alabama. I just don’t see them coming through unblemished.
3) All of football, not just college, needs to give some of the advantage back to the defense. We need to increase the contact rule from five to at least 10 yards. The Mel Blount rule went into effect due to one person being so dominant that receivers could not get off the line of scrimmage. So they overreact and make it just five yards you are allowed to make contact with the receiver. This has given all of the advantage to the offense and it’s not a level playing field. I miss the old days of a 17-14 well played games on BOTH sides of the ball. Yes we actually can have a great game without scoring 100+ points. I hate the way the game has become like flag football. Some rules are needed for safety but this rule does not put players in any danger and would improve the game immensely. This weekend 18 or 35% of the games played on Saturday had 70 points or more! 6 games had more then 90!! Numbers don’t lie.I don’t agree that more offense sells. It cheapens the game to give one side of the ball all of the advantage.
4) Now on to a totally different situation: Army-Navy. Navy gets shut out by San Jose State and Army manages only a field goal against Stony Brook College? Wow, a combined 3 points. But you know what, they get a pass. These players have more important things on their mind. Like protecting us everyday. They can do no wrong in my eyes. Thank you for all of your service. If you have never been to an Army-Navy game put it on your bucket list. To watch the soldiers walk in pregame is something you have to see.
5) I love the passion Urban Meyer has instilled in the Buckeyes. They cannot play in a post season bowl, but you can already see Ohio State is a team that will be a perennial top 10 team for many years to come under Coach Meyer. He is a top 25 coach of all time already. The Nebraska game this Saturday is a must-watch for that reason for me. The game won’t mean anything in the National Championship picture but I have my eye on this squad already for 2013.
Winner with Ohio State, loser with Cal. Cal is again like Arkansas, so poorly coached and they just doesn’t bring it. It takes a lot for me to drop a team off of my watch list, but I have seen enough from that team this year.
Picks coming on Friday with many more good games to choose from this week. These are only words to a paper, but when I say support your local animal shelter each week please take some thought and consider donating. Winter is coming and so many homeless animals need help. Twenty bucks goes a long way there, so if you have the means or the time try and help something who cannot help itself.
