Buckeye Blogger NetworkMonday’s melange of morning mayhem looks back at an amazing weekend of college football… Just promise to wait until the end of the article to rush the field, OK? Given the news on Campus from Sunday Night, here’s your soundtrack for our special time together.
Classy, Even When Vanquished
It was a great weekend to be an Angry Bird, particularly if you were a Cardinal. Let’s start in Palo Alto.
In what’s become an annual tradition, a highly ranked Southern Cal team derped a game that many expected them to win. While it seemed to have always been the Beavers of Oregon State under the previous administration, the past four years have found a Cardinal thorn in the Trojans’ armor… as unbelievable as it is, September Heisman candidate Matt Barkley has never beaten Stanford in his career. The nice thing, though, is that Chad Henne and Mike Hart have a great support group that will welcome him with open arms.
Saturday we saw the real “teeth” of the NCAA’s sanctions for all things Reggie Bush-esque: While the Bowl Ban was significant in terms of financial benefits and being able to compete for make believe championships and other post-season swag, the real kick of what the folks in Indianapolis handed to Southern Cal as a parting gift is the inability to field a full squad of 85 for the coming several seasons- which creates issues at depth when the offensive line gets banged up (as it did in Palo Alto). Granted, Barkley still is incredibly talented and has amazing weapons- however, without the time to find them it’s essentially a moot point. And once he’s gone, well… we may just get to see how good of a coach the man is, as a number of folks could be successful with the talent depth that they experienced over the past decade. Read More
Sure, there’s games on Monday, but the weekend has been so amazing that we just couldn’t wait to get back in the saddle for our reflections on the games of note. Plus, are we really all that excited about a game that’s all technical and stuff? I thought not. Obvious choice for this week’s soundtrack… happy Labor Day.
Whew… I’ve got to admit, I should have been working out with Coach Mick during the offseason. Saturday found me trying to knock the rust off of my college football regimen, although I can definitely say that I was well hydrated. I’m guessing that’s what happened during the livechat- I hadn’t prepared enough, and brought the jinxation. You can breathe a sigh of relief, though- when I caught the replay on Sunday, my presence made no difference in the outcome… Baby steps, right?
That Isht's Cray, Bray
From the looks of things, a number of teams were still in “preseason” form, and didn’t have their moves down pat just yet. For instance, while I’m sure that Dabo Swinney’s mom is sure proud of him for leading his fellers to victory over North Carolina State, she certainly couldn’t have been too excited that his first steps leading the team onto the turf ended up in a faceplant. That, combined with this excellent display of exuberance are enough to remind Volunteer fans that their team still has some work to do. Which is good… no one likes to peak during the first weekend of games- well, no one outside of the B1G, that is (more later).
Some of the butterflies were even evident in the Southern Idaho State University trip to East Lansing. Sure, the B1G represented well, as Michigan State showed many why they are a favorite for the conference title… but the game turned out to be “off-script” for both teams. For instance, no matter how hard they tried, Rob Harley’s new squadron couldn’t “Sparty” the game away. Shocker. Oh, and SISU broke their streak of beating out of conference teams when they have a ridiculously long time to prepare… effectively ending their bid at a BCS bowl until they join a legitimate BCS conference in the Big Eas…. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t bring myself to type that. The game also gave us a pretty amazing interception- as always, Tim Burke has ALL the great screencaps and stuff from the weekend’s events.
Saturday’s festivities kicked off with Notre Dame pounding the living stuffing out of Navy in their game in the Emerald Isle… Brian Kelly, why you no like America? And then, your boys let this happen?
Man, back in my day, we fought revolutions for less <adjusts tricorner cap>. Read More
It’s here! Week one of the college football season is upon us and it’s time for tBBC College Pick-Em Challenge and my few thoughts on some of the games I picked. I am usually a perfectionist and like to do a lot of research about teams before making an educated guess, but today I am against a deadline and will go with my gut instincts on these. Let’s get started with the top match-up of the very young season. Follow this link to sign up for our pick-em and enjoy the season!
Flexing the Sparty defensive muscle, breaking the Broncos
#13 Michigan St. v. #24 Boise St. – Coach Chris Petersen is one of the better coaches in the country and has had the Bronco’s on the cusp of greatness. He’s turned down some overtures from top programs to stick with what he has built and has an opportunity to pull off a shocker in East Lansing this Friday night. He’s got some talent on his high-powered offense that can crack MSU. It’s not going to happen though as this Sparty team possesses one of the best defenses in the country and are coached by one of my favorites in Mark Dantonio. This wont be a season where Sparty is, well . . , Sparty. MSU 21 – 7
Not sure he will be eating as much as he gets ate by the Alabama D
#2 Alabama v. #8 TTUN – Denard Robinson and TTUN have an opportunity this weekend to send a message to the rest of the country that Wolverweenie football is truly back. The problem with that task is that they are playing the team that won the BCS Title last season and may be just as good this season. Alabama will be on a mission this year and they may have a shot at playing for the title outside of the SEC as USC appears to be the favorite. TTUN will put up a good fight this weekend and gain some respect for the B1G but they wont last against a very talented and well coached Crimson Tide. Alabama 21 – 10 Read More
Yup. Still a thing.
I was recently asked to do a conference preview of the Big East for the upcoming season. Go ahead and laugh. We drew straws, and I got the shortest one, so here I am, writing about the Big East, a conference that only has eight teams competing in football. I know this conference’s football doesn’t inspire a lot of excitement, but hey, you never know, Louisville could come out and win a national title for all we know (doubt it). So now, with all jokes aside, I give you our Big East football preview.
Where does the conference fall in the national rankings – how likely are they to have a team in the Title game?
With the departure of West Virginia, Louisville is the cream of the crop in this conference. They are currently the only team ranked in the AP Top 25, and the conference has no ranked teams in the USA Today Poll. The Cardinals are coming off a 2011 campaign where they went 7-6. Yes, the strongest team in the conference was 7-6 last year, so that should tell you a lot about how the conference compares to others nationally.
Behind Louisville, the next best team is likely Cincinnati, a team that went 10-3 last year, but the Bearcats lost some key players on offense, including quarterback Zach Collaros and running back Isaiah Pead. Past those two teams, it’s Pittsburgh and everybody else. Expect Louisville to get the at-large automatic BCS Bowl bid come bowl season.
In terms of conference strength, I’m going to be blunt. It’s the weakest BCS conference. Put these teams up against any of the other power conferences, and it makes for an ugly comparison… there just isn’t any other way to put it.
Who is the best team in the conference? Who will play for the conference title game (if there is one)? Read More
Things that go "Swoosh!"
Tonight is the last LiveBlog of the season as the Kentucky Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks do battle for the College Basketball National Championship.
As with each round, we’ve got to give a huge “Thank You!” to our BBN Bracket Challenge sponsors- the semis and finals are brought to you by The Buckeye Room. They’re having a sweet deal right now where you can get 20% off your gear by using “MADNESS2012” as the checkout code- even for the cool Nike shirt you see on the right there.
While you’re waiting for the game to start, go check out our partners in the BBN! the Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, and Men of the Scarlet and Gray. Fox Sports Ohio also joins us as usual.
All of these blogs deserve a lot of thanks for making these chats a success. Thanks Guys!
Things that go "Swoosh!"
We’re continuing the Madness here with the BBN! Kentucky and Louisville get going at 6:09 PM EST, with the Buckeyes and Jayhawks tipping shortly after, currently approximately 8:49 PM EST. The liveblog will start at 6:00 PM EST to get you ready for the first of the excellent double-header.
As with each round, we’ve got to give a huge “Thank You!” to our BBN Bracket Challenge sponsors- the semis and finals are brought to you by The Buckeye Room. They’re having a sweet deal right now where you can get 20% off your gear by using “MADNESS2012” as the checkout code- even for the cool Nike shirt you see on the right there.
If you find time during the games, you should check out our friends in the Buckeye Bloggers Network! the Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, and Men of the Scarlet and Gray. Fox Sports Ohio also joins us as usual.
Go Bucks!
Just three more games before someone gets to hoist the prize.
We’re one day away from finding out the answer to that question. The last weekend of College Basketball stands before us, and the Buckeyes are one of the last four teams remaining. They’ve got a tough road ahead, but they’ve certainly got the talent and coaching to make a go of it.
You may recall another Buckeye Basketball Breakdown I wrote about a month ago. In it, I looked at the various traits of College Basketball champions and looked at OSU’s stats to see how the Buckeyes measured up. The answer was mostly satisfactory, but not completely. Also, considering we hadn’t finished the regular season, the data was incomplete.
I want to go back and reanalyze the Buckeyes now that we’re two (very difficult) games away from the Championship. Have the Buckeyes improved statistically, or met any other conditions we couldn’t check yet, to make them look more like a championship contender? That’s what we want to find out.
Allow me to reiterate a thought I had in that previous article. No one champion has ever possessed all of the following traits, but every single champion has owned a majority of them. These are simply traits common to the champions in the last 30 years or so.
As one last gift, I thought that we could include the data for Kentucky, Louisville, and Kansas as well. It should serve as an overall great preview of the weekend!
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