The Dawgs Ramblings

10-4 Thoughts

Well, I am still in shock from the games this past weekend. No one could have predicted the upsets and the ensuing shakeup. A day that started with Oklahoma and Florida being part of a perceived top tier, ended with BC, South Florida and Kentucky all vaulting them in the rankings. Now, do I think that BC is better than those teams? Certainly not. But I do know that BC is 5-0 and has met the challenges laid out to them thus far. Win and move on appears to be the motto this year. Parity and competition lies everywhere and the difference between a win and loss may just be execution and avoiding critical turnovers. Ask Oregon and Oklahoma about turnovers late in games.

There was no question that Cameron Colvin fumbled the ball through the end zone for Oregon creating a touchback. I was just surprised that he was that careless with the ball.

OK, so Urban Meyer abided by the rules when calling a timeout to ice the kicker after this ploy had been done in the NFL just a few weeks before. Its bush league, pure and simple since no one even knows a timeout is being called until halfway through the play. This rule will be expedited through the change review process.

Illinois’s only loss is at the hands of number 17 Missouri. Missouri gets its first ‘test’ against Nebraska last week.

Oklahoma’s loss was the most surprising to me. They were up 17 and basically imploded. I expect them to rebound.

Texas has struggled going back to last year when they lost to Kansas St and Texas A&M. They almost lost to Iowa in their bowl game also. With that as their resume, is it really a shock that they continue to struggle? They might just not be too good right now. Did Vince Young cover up many flaws that are just becoming more apparent now?


I love planning my college football watching day. This week I have a disaster recovery exercise in the morning and if everything goes well I should be home by 1 or so which means that I can catch the 2nd half of most of the 11AM games. Illinois and Wisconsin should be great. This will be the first time that I get to see Illinois’ star freshman receiver Arrelious Benn. This is the kid that reneged on his Notre Dame commitment to attend Illinois. He torched Penn St. last weekend and has helped them get off to a 4-1 start as previously mentioned. Wisconsin has looked shaky in all their games but has won so here comes another test in an up and coming team. Also at that time is Syracuse and West Virginia. West Virginia could be without Pat White against the Cuse. I will just tune in to keep an eye on a possible upset as Syracuse does sit at 1-0 in the Big East. BC plays at the same time so that will divert my attention but that’s only available to the 3 subscribers of ESPNU. I do not know if Kansas and Kansas St is on but with the Wildcats crushing Texas last week and Kansas at 4-0, this also could be a quick hit on the remote. Georgia Tech and Maryland are on in addition to Miami and North Carolina so two more games to scout while enjoying the ACC games. That’s 6 games right there before 2:30. God, that’s great.

Now, on to the next set of games.

Lets start with North Carolina St. and Florida St.. The Wolfpack probably have zero chance to win but they are playing Florida St, who is in BC’s division, so if they keep this close then its worth flipping back to. Georgia and Tennessee is a worthwhile game but both teams already have in-conference losses so it gets thrown down the scale of need to watch games. The ‘big’ game is Oklahoma and Texas. With the losses last week, a lot of people say that this has lust its luster. But I disagree. Oklahoma still has a good shot of rebounding if they win out and this game will show if they can recover. Lots of interest in this game. At 3, we have Arizona St and Washington St and with an undefeated Sun Devils team, I will check in on this one also. So far, we have seven hours of must see TV!

As this set reaches the halfway point, Virginia Tech takes the field against Clemson. Interest? Yes. Which is then followed by USC and Stanford. USC dropped a spot in the polls and if they are the USC team from years’ past they cover easily. Then you have Ohio St. and Purdue and both are undefeated! Undefeated Cincinnati plays against Rutgers which will be fighting to regain respect after Maryland.

To end the night we get to laugh some more at Notre Dame and then take a first look at Missouri which starts at 8:15. That’s over 12 hours of scintillating football. I will have the wings ready and a couple of cold ones. How good is life?

Life in the SEC is tough. Tommy Tuberville was on top of the SEC world just a few years ago only to be almost down and out this year after losses to South Florida and Mississippi St. Then they rebound to beat Florida. It’s not tough for a team to get up to play Florida but Tuberville did a great job getting his kids to believe after what must have been a tough emotional start.

Ohio St. has looked very impressive so far. They dominated Washington where USC did not. I just can not get Florida running all over them out of my mind. Can that much change in one year?

I said after the Clemson game that Florida St. garnered some respect with the way they fought back, something that has been missing in past Seminole teams. Now they have wins over Colorado and Alabama. Not bad. I still don’t think they are playing their best ball.

Virginia is 4-1 and their next five games are M. Tenn St, Uconn, at Maryland at NC St and home against Wake Forest. I am thinking a couple of early turnovers from Maryland is all they need to be 9-1.

Many props to Maryland for their’s and the ACC’s big win. That is the way Maryland can perform if they do not turn it over. They shoot themselves in the foot more than any team I can recall.

What I liked about the last game – Gunnell 6 receptions for 97. What I did not – Challenger 1-1. Would need to watch game film to understand that one.

If Andre Callendar has to carry 32 times a game we are in serious trouble going forward. He can not take that pounding week to week.

Bowling Green passes a lot. I predict Dejuan Tribble gets a helmet sticker.

Remember Paul from Cheers? The short, fat guy that actually got a hot chick once? (There is one for every man by the way. Just have to find her.) He was actually called Glen in an early episode.

Here is the ACC bowl selection process. The Peach Bowl is in English to me but the Gator Bowl description is not the clearest thing I have ever seen.

http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/111306aaa.html

People in Syracuse might be getting delusional. I received an email from my uncle predicting an Orange victory. Would love to see it and the optimism coming from Central New York is great. (I actually read the email wrong. He predicted a WV victory). Now it makes sense. But will the cover 26?

It was reported in the Boston Globe that the ACC apologized for four illegal formation calls against BC on Saturday. None of them should have been called. Nice to have the apology but maybe it’s not a good idea if the referees can not call it correctly.

posted by oceanjay @ 9:18 AM