Bleacher Report - Articles by Andy Hutchins

Matt Cassel: The Humblest Who in Whoville

Andy Hutchins — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:32:37 -0500

Either Matt Cassel’s being genuine, or he’s an idiot. Let’s dissect.

Cassel told ESPNEWS on Thursday:

“This is Tom’s team. The Patriots have been Tom’s team. He’s built that franchise up with his own two hands. He’s the guy, and he was the MVP the year before. I realize that. He’s been such a mentor for me that I would say, "No, there is no quarterback competition." But I’ve learned so many things from Tom, and hopefully it’ll help me in my career.”

He also told Comcast SportsNet:

“If the situation is what it is, then I would accept it and I would continue to do what I have done my entire career which is work hard, put my best foot forward and continue to work on the things that I need to and put out my best effort.”

Now, it’s been rumored that the Patriots would slap Cassel with the franchise tag in order to avoid losing him. It’s a bit absurd to expect Cassel to revert to his clipboard-holding duties after leading the Pats to a 10-5 record while managing games in the way Tom Brady did en route to stardom.

That’s especially true when Brady’s tortured rehab is considered: there’s no guarantee that Brady will be ready when training camp starts or when the first weekend rolls around, and he’s definitely going to be more immobile after major knee surgery.

The Patriots know they have one healthy quarterback who acquitted himself nicely this year, and it isn’t the guy who led them to Super Bowls.

Cassel’s also let them know, through these comments, that he’s going to be fine with at least sticking around for the early results on Brady’s knee. This gives the Pats the flexibility to keep either or both of the two for 2009, shop one of them before or during the season, or let the situation resolve itself in open competition.

For a franchise that avoids turmoil at every turn, that’s a wonderful thing. I highly doubt that Bill Belichick would have been eager to keep a player who demanded a starting spot, and that would have forced New England’s hand.

This lets them play all of the angles.

Now, Cassel’s also taking a risk here.

It’s unlikely his stock is going to be higher after next season, with only playoff success likely to burnish it, and anything from injury to regression from the mean lurking to torpedo him.

He’s got a great, cushy situation in New England, with a couple of wonderful receivers, the NFL’s sixth-best running game in 2008 and a stout defense that allowed him to win games by being a part of the team rather than the key cog.

If he’s banking on Brady not being able to go, or being a less-effective iteration of himself, Cassel could slide into that role by the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010, and there are few better situations for a quarterback than New England’s.

So Cassel gets to look humble with a shrewd move, and New England gets all its options open as a result.

Posted in NFL

Puzzle Pieces: Adventures in Student Journalism

Andy Hutchins — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:12:20 -0500

Perhaps this will be a recurring series.

But, for today, I’m taking aim at the hometown paper.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I wrote for the paper I will be discussing today, covering men’s and women’s golf for the Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 semesters.)

The Independent Florida Alligator is a proud bastion of student-run newspaper journalism. Go to the paper’s Wikipedia page and you can read about its huge daily circulation (35,000), distinguished alumni (Carl Hiaasen and Philip Graham lead the list), and unusual status as a paper unaffiliated with the university it serves.

Its reporting and editorial content are derided as the stereotypical liberal claptrap you see in a college paper. The accuracy of that charge varies by the day.

But The Alligator is most often perused by students for its sports section. The alligatorSports crew, many of whom I have met, corresponded, and worked with, usually does an excellent job of covering the snarled sprawl that is the University of Florida’s cohort of varsity sports.

This is especially true in football, where the sports staff often is fighting not just local media, but also national reporters from ESPN, and, this year, The New York Times, which has profiled Jeff Demps and Tim Tebow in recent weeks, for scoops on beat reports and the best possible angles on profiles.

I usually read and enjoy the few pages devoted to sports every day.

Not today. Today, errors abound.

Editor Brian Steele’s article on blocked punts gives us this gawky gem

"It was UF’s fifth and sixth blocked punts of the season."

It’s the standalone third paragraph in the online version of the story, but it gets rolled into the second paragraph for print. The phrase could be fixed in a number of ways, such as making it a clause of the prior sentence, pluralizing it, or attributing both blocks to Carlos Dunlap there and not further into the body of the story. It wasn’t.

In Bobby Callovi’s article on UF’s women’s soccer team, he mentions Urban Meyer in the first paragraph and then slips this ponderous paragraph into the end of the story.

"Losing is never fun, but there were a few bright spots that came from the defeat."

The questions about whether the first phrase is empirically true frame a debate for another day. The crime here is the totally trite sentence, a clear use of journalistic filler in the place of statistics or actual insight.

Likewise, Christopher Yazbec’s piece on UF women’s basketball remarks on “the best part about losing,” but at least he had the good sense to not write, “Losing is never fun.”

Evan Drexler’s section-leading story on Tim Tebow’s Heisman campaign is just one more decibel in that echo chamber, and the comatose lede doesn’t help.

"The Gators had such a dominating night on offense that coach Urban Meyer decided to take quarterback Tim Tebow out of the game before the third quarter was complete."

There are about three hundred other ways to write that, and about two hundred of those might get readers to do something other than snore into their Starbucks latte du jour.

For example:

"The reigning Heisman Trophy winner stalked the sideline in Saturday’s second half."

"But what UF’s Tim Tebow did in the first half against Vanderbilt was more than enough to both put the game out of reach and reignite his Heisman hype machine."

That’s not the best lede ever, but it draws you in and segues to the rest of the article. It took me about three minutes to write, and it’s better than Drexler’s.

Star writer and cult hero Mike McCall contributes the class of the sports section proper (Phil Kegler’s front page story is also quite good) with a story on the Gators’ surprisingly solid secondary. But even he flubs his approach, burying one of the quotes of the season from Urban Meyer, about strong safety Ahmad Black, in the seventh paragraph.

“He’s like a cat. If you throw him, he’s always going to land in football position.”

Never mind what “football position” is, or how exactly one would throw an athlete as muscular as Black: Urban Meyer is now comparing his players to felines, and that is a slippery slope. In two weeks, Chris Rainey may be “cheetah-esque,” Brandon Spikes “leonine,” and Ron(nie) Wilson “like Garfield, if you replaced an affinity for lasagna with one for firearms that violate the Brady Bill.”

It’s a golden quote, and it loses a lot of oomph being hidden in the middle of plain text as it is. That could have been worked into the lede, used as a closing bit, or at least belabored. Instead, it’s a throwaway zinger that is made less funny by the company it keeps.

But, oh Lord, all of the section pales in majesty to Karl Hyppolite’s laudatory column on the Gators’ recent hot streak. In writing that has Bill Plaschke weeping at the splendor, Hyppolite begins:

"Faster than a speeding bullet."

Boy, that’s original. I’ve never heard that one applied to St. Tebow, erstwhile messiah, before. (Also, that’s not quite a sentence.)

"That’s how fast the Gators are storming to Atlanta."

Oh wait, never mind. We’re going on a speed jaunt, I can tell.

"Colder than a 38-degree night in Nashville. That’s how cold and cutthroat the Gators have been in their past five wins."

Or not. I guess using two forms of cold in two sentences is forgivable, especially when you change the meaning from chilly to heartless mid-thought. That shows creativity. (No other point of reference for cutthroat, though: Geena Davis could have used the shout-out.)

"Stuck between a rock and a hard place. That’s where opponents have found themselves when they face the Gators’ rare combination of speed and toughness."

Wait, now are rocks fast? As fast as speeding bullets? (Or is it the hard place that’s fast? I can never tell.) At least the parallelism makes the sentence fragments work, though I can’t see how the parallelism makes up for the clichés.

"No, Vanderbilt didn’t stand a chance in Saturday night’s 42-14 loss. They rolled out of bed, put on their uniforms, and stormed the field only to realize they were playing a road game in their own stadium."

The use of “night” and “rolled out of bed” is clever, see, because the game was at 7 PM local time in Nashville, and that’s usually when football players in SEC programs leave the warmth of their covers to greet the day on Saturday. We’ve got our second use of “storm” as a verb base in the first five paragraphs of this article.

Oh, and Vandy didn’t actually play a road game in their own stadium. Perhaps, with so many Florida fans in attendance, it felt like one, but it wasn’t one, and that’s not accurate to write.

"Maybe it was the knowledge that their Commodores didn’t stand a chance. Or maybe it was the knowledge that Kevin Costner and Modern West were in town for one night only. Whatever the cause, Saturday night’s game was a road game for UF in name only."

“They” has turned into “their,” and no one knows whether that refers to Vandy’s players or fans yet. At least we’ve reiterated the road game claim more fairly.

(And apparently Kevin Costner actually does front a country band that may have been in Nashville on Saturday, but it required Google for me to confirm that. As a plugged-in sports and music guy, I shouldn’t have to Google to get the references you make, sir.)

"UF doesn’t play road games anymore. Each game seems to be a traveling show that’s a cross between a pep rally and a party as the Gators make their way to the raves that will take place later in Atlanta and Miami."

Oh, mercy. It’s like a five-game stretch in which UF has played two games on the road in cities more than 600 miles from Gainesville, one game at a neutral site with exactly half of the fans cheering for the other team, and two games in the Swamp somehow turned into Carnival.

Look, the knock on Florida in recent years when it’s come to national consideration during bowl season is the fanbase’s apathy towards traveling. That’s why Florida’s only been west of the Mississippi for a bowl twice since Steve Spurrier took over, traveling to Arizona for a national championship game on both occasions.

There are SEC schools that travel in droves. Florida is not one of them, unless there’s evidence of exodus from Gainesville that Hyppolite can see on the road. (And he does travel to road games, while I don’t).

It’s more plausible to believe the Orange and Blue’s hues have outnumbered the colors of depressed fan bases in Fayetteville and Nashville on their true road trips, and Gainesville’s proximity to Jacksonville fueled a great Gator turnout for the Florida-Georgia game.

Also, “raves” is probably not how I would describe UF tailgates.

"And you know no one parties like the folks in Atlanta and Miami."

I went to a Jay-Z concert in Miami. I’ve never been to Atlanta. But I’d wager that the denizens of New Orleans would take issue with this statement.

"After the past five games, which have looked more like matchups between the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals, I’m ready to say the Gators are the best team in the country.

"No team can match UF’s combination of flash (Percy Harvin, Chris Rainey, and Jeff Demps), toughness (Brandon Spikes), and swagger (the whole team)."

It’s true, the Gators have looked quite good, and perhaps good enough to be mentioned in the discussion with the behemoths of the Big 12. But the tired Globetrotters/Generals analogy? It’s like Hyppolite lives in a world where college students would appreciate that reference instead of a Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice allusion.

Oh, and flash, toughness, and swagger are not quantifiable football statistics. The New England Patriots have those things, the USC Trojans have those things, and the Dillon Panthers have those things. Two of those teams have lost in part because of swagger, and the third is fictional.

Perhaps tabbing the offense’s potency and nodding to defensive tenacity, and then backing up both with stats, would be a better idea.

"They’ve made every phase of the game worth watching. I’m used to ignoring punts, but you can’t with Brandon James returning them for touchdowns or Demps racing past everyone and blocking the kick."

At the end of the day, we’re still watching punts. We lose. (Oh, and Carlos Dunlap had both of the blocks on Saturday.)

"It’s not that the Gators are blowing teams out. College football teams have been running up the score for decades. It’s the way it’s being done.

"UF is outplaying opponents in every phase of the game. What’s a team to do if you can’t stop the other guys from scoring, can’t score yourself, and can’t even get a punt away to at least make the Gators break a sweat on their way to the end zone?"

Capitalize on turnovers and blown coverages by a young secondary and win late thanks to a crucial special teams play? (Wait, this happened? This year?)

"The answer is not much. I’m at the point where I think only Texas Tech and Texas can possibly take down UF."

Good to know, considering UF will not be playing either until a potential national championship game. I suppose we’ll have to wait until after the Gators beat the consensus top team in the country in the SEC Championship to see a real challenge.

"Their offenses have the speed to match the Gators’ defensive athleticism, and they’re talented enough defensively to keep the Gators from scoring every time they have the ball."

Guess what? Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech recruit athletes on defense, too. Mere athleticism hasn’t seemed to help against the Big 12 barrages this year. If anything, the Gators can rest their laurels on great man coverage that has limited the deep ball against every team not coached by Houston Nutt.

"Thankfully, Penn State got out of everyone’s way and lost to Iowa so we could have a proper national championship game rather than the type of one-sided thrashing we’ve seen the past two seasons."

Aww. I thought you liked the “endless possibilities” of the BCS, Karl!

"And as Urban Meyer stood with his arm around his wife, Shelley, with his players reveling in the fact that they had taken over Nashville, he smiled as the band played the fight song."

Say it with me: whiplash. There was about as much connection between those two paragraphs as Barack Obama had to William Ayers. (I promise, I’ll phase out the election humor after this week.)

"It was a smile filled with confidence. A confidence of what is sure to come (a berth in the Southeastern Conference championship game) and what could be (a second national championship in three years)."

I’m not sure you can have a confidence “of” something. Maybe “about” something, and certainly “in” something. But “of” just doesn’t fit.

"January 8, 2009."

Are you crossing your fingers for a digression about the Mayan End of Days, too?

"That’s the day all of that could come true."

Rats. (Also, “all of that could come true” sounds like a slogan the Mouse House would use. Not necessarily the greatest choice for a college newspaper.)

Now, there’s one bad column in a college newspaper.

Big deal.

Hyppolite’s usually a decent writer, and he happened to have this poor effort printed. It’s also understandable that the section would suffer some from the aftereffects of driving home from Nashville and having both time connected to the Internet and time to twiddle the nuts and bolts of the sections dramatically reduced.

But there’s an epidemic of editing errors nationwide as copy desks dwindle, and lazy, mediocre writing is not going to cut it in a shrinking sports journalism market.

I have all the sympathy and respect in the world for the work ethic of the students who write for The Alligator, and, in particular, the sports section. Know that, if you’re currently on staff and reading this, you’ve gotten farther than I have there, and I salute you for that.

It’s when I see writing that I feel I can trump, though, that I wish I’d stuck around.

NCAA Poll Patrol: Week 12

Andy Hutchins — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:07:34 -0500

It’s going to be a bi-weekly feature this season.

This week, it comes before The Hangover Cure, which you’ll get Monday.

As always, your rankings for this week are here. I’ll be using No. N to denote the Nth team in the AP Poll, and #N to denote the Nth team in the BCS Rankings. (I try to ignore the USA Today Poll if possible, for reasons we’ll get to in a bit.)

So, the questions of the week:

Why is Alabama ranked ahead of Texas Tech in all human polls but behind them in the BCS computer average?

In short, and in what may be the answer to many questions in this column: a lack of creativity.

No. 2/#2 Texas Tech was ranked ahead of No. 1/#1 Alabama in both the AP and USA Today preseason polls, but was leapfrogged by the Tuscaloosa Pachyderms in the AP Poll after the second week of the year and in the USA Today Poll after the Tide swept Georgia aside.

But since, ‘Bama has struggled with four-loss Kentucky and Ole Miss teams and required overtime to give a then-two-loss LSU team its third defeat of the year; Texas Tech had its overtime scare against Nebraska, but came back against the rugged, proven Texas team and annihilated both Kansas and a mildly overrated Oklahoma State squad, and has certainly looked better of late.

Were it not for an unwritten rule about not dropping teams unless they lose, one that’s especially potent as the crop of unbeatens gets culled, Texas Tech would be ahead of Alabama in the human polls like they are in the computers, where greater emphasis on strength of schedule and statistical perspective puts the Red Raiders ahead, 980 to 97, in percentage of computer points available.

(Aside: there are six computer polls used in the BCS, and each awards points for position in its Top 25, 25 for the top slot, 24 for second, and so on. Texas Tech is no worse than second in any computer poll, while Alabama is third in one.)

It’s not something that will matter should Tech and ‘Bama continue to win. But if Tech loses to Oklahoma, which will be the trendy pick of the next fortnight, being second instead of first may mean a drop from below the top that not only knocks them out of national championship contention, but puts them behind Texas (who TTU beat) and Oklahoma (who they would have lost to) in the BCS, making it easier to pass up the light-traveling Lubbock team for their brand-name compatriots with the guise of higher rankings as the reason.

Which BCS buster has the best shot?

It’s Utah. The No. 8/#7 Utes’ 13-10 nailbiter against TCU confirms that this team is the most battle-tested of the current triad of mid-major unbeatens, and it doesn’t hurt that the BCS computers love them, too, putting them fourth ahead of both Florida and Oklahoma; Anderson and Hester’s poll has them third, ahead of all but the BCS conference unbeatens.

And herein lies our problem. The Utes have demonstrated proficiency against their schedule in ways Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, USC, and Penn State have not, and yet they languish behind all of those teams in the AP Poll and back of all but the Nittany Lions in the BCS rankings.

The Utes’ marquee win is against now-No. 15/#18 TCU, which stopped half of Oklahoma’s offense in those two teams’ meeting, but that pales in comparison to even the twin wins by USC and Penn State over ranked Ohio State, now No. 10/#11, and both the Trojans and Nittany Lions have a few other impressive wins over BCS conference teams.

But the Utes don’t have losses like those two teams’ road defeats, or Texas’ to Texas Tech, or Oklahoma’s to Texas, or even Florida’s home debacle against Ole Miss, and that’s the question du semaine: what’s most important, quality of victories, quality of team, or team record?

There’s no sign that the first two will be subsumed by the latter this year, so the Utes, and non-BCS brethren Boise State will probably ensure themselves spots by winning out. Ball State will merely be able to win out and hope the Big East and ACC continue to be unimpressive; considering the putridity arrayed in those two consortia, the Cardinals would look good for the BCS with a zero in the L column.

Speaking of, how are those conferences doing?

Poorly. The numbing effects of numerals continue.

Both teams in those two conferences that were ranked and played Week 10 games, Florida State and South Florida, lost; North Carolina and Maryland escaped unscathed because they didn’t play.

This week, there were six Big ACCeast teams in the final seven slots in the AP Poll, and of those, only North Carolina, Florida State, and Pittsburgh won. UNC’s win came against ranked Georgia Tech, and West Virginia and Maryland both lost to unranked teams, the Mountaineers falling in dramatic fashion after scoring 11 points in the last 18 seconds against Cincinnati.

That loss puts Pitt squarely next to Cincy on the Big East’s rather large driver’s seat; the Panthers and Bearcats play on November 22nd, and if the Queen City’s squad wins, they will be essentially home free, with woeful Louisville and Syracuse bookending the game against Dave Wannstedt’s team.

But if Pitt wins, West Virginia could claim a share of the Big East by beating the Panthers on the following Friday and setting up a three-way co-champions scenario. The Big East helpfully outlines the procedure for that here: basically, each team would be 1-1 in a “mini-conference,” so the highest ranked BCS team would get the bid.

With Pitt currently the highest-ranked team in the conference at No. 22, though, it may be all a futile effort if Utah and Boise State stay undefeated, because those two teams will swipe automatic bids from the Big East and the ACC should no team run its schedule and land in the BCS top 12.

The same trouble may perplex the ACC, where I believe every team but North Carolina State has a chance to win their division and, then, in the conference championship game, the conference.

No. 16 North Carolina’s the highest-ranked ACC team this week, and they would probably rise to the BCS top 12 by winning out while Missouri (to the Big 12 South champion), Oklahoma State (to Oklahoma), and Michigan State (to Penn State) all sustained the losses they should, then jumping Ball State in the final rankings based on strength of schedule, a win in the ACC Championship Game, or whatever excuse the pollsters gin up to get the larger Tar Heel fan base to travel.

Now, with just inferior Maryland, NC State, and Duke left on the schedule, if North Carolina loses, it woul likely be to Florida State in that ACC title game. which would probably only flip the script by replacing UNC with FSU in the above paragraph.

This is the ACC, though, where Wake Forest can be unranked in both human polls and still be #23 in the BCS, and where Virginia can be shut out by Duke, beat North Carolina, shut out Maryland, and plummet from sole possession of first place to sole possession of fifth in the Coastal Division in two weeks.

Nothing should be taken for granted.

Which team that isn’t ranked in the AP Poll deserves to be? Whose spot should they take?

Air Force; Tulsa.

The Falcons have only lost to Utah and Navy, and by a combined 13 points, while rolling up a 5-0 road record against teams that have beaten SEC (Wyoming over Tennessee), Pac-10 and Big 12 (UNLV over Arizona State/Iowa State) schools. Tulsa, meanwhile, has exactly one win over an FBS team above .500, a Rice squad isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, and lost to Arkansas, which could be the worst team in a diminished SEC.

The good news is that Air Force could knock off BYU and TCU in coming weeks to bolster their resume, while Tulsa will play just one other winning team, Houston, and has little to no upward mobility.

I’ll see you Monday for a Hangover Cure.

The Sojourn to South Beach: Week 11

Andy Hutchins — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:53:24 -0500

There was some turbulence in Texas this Saturday.

And it fouled up some flight plans.

Your standings are here , and other excellent analysis can be found here .

Friends of Destiny

There are only two teams left who can run their slate and set a flight date for Miami.

Texas Tech

The biggest pothole in their route is gone, as Tech won’t be facing another team higher ranked for the rest of their season. But the next two obstacles aren’t much easier to get around: an Oklahoma State team that controls its own destiny in the Big 12 is coming to Lubbock for the Night of the Nouveau Riche this Saturday, and the Red Raiders must take a road trip to Norman to see the jet-fueled Sooners.

I slate Tech first here because I think, with a home game against Okie State, a road game against an Oklahoma team Mike Leach has beaten before when there was more defensive talent in Norman, a potential come-down visit from Baylor, and the Big 12 Championship, Tech’s got a substantially easier road than Alabama.

Having a bye week between two of the Big 12 South leviathans helps, but no shadow of the suddenly incandescent Florida Gators is the key.

Alabama

I called Alabama’s schedule the toughest of the unbeatens as of last week, and it remains that way. Baton Rouge will welcome Nick Saban with all manner of pitchforks and improvised incendiary devices, and you can be certain there will be more than a modicum of vengeance in the Bayou Bengals’ minds after getting embarrassed by the SEC East.

Mississippi State could go Crooming once more, though the game isn’t in the Delta Bermuda Triangle that is Starkville. And though the Iron Bowl is on paper a game in which Rammer Jammer could be favored by three touchdowns, Auburn may be playing for Tommy Tuberville’s job and would love nothing more than to torpedo Bama’s title hopes with what would be a huge upset.

At the end of that road, this team gets rewarded with Florida unless something unfathomable happens to the Gators. Bama’s work is far from done.

Puckering Up for Destiny

These two teams are next in line for the BCS Championship should the teams above falter.

Penn State

The Nittany Lions need to win out convincingly and hope Joe Paterno’s got as much sympathy from the voters as conventional wisdom believes. The White and Blue have one road game, at Iowa, and one likely ranked team, Michigan State, left, and they’ll be favored in both of those games and in a home date against Indiana.

There’s some danger in the trip to Iowa City, but given how Penn State bottled up Beanie Wells, Shonn Greene may be neutralized quickly. The same goes for the Spartans’ Javon Ringer. There’s also an infinitesimal chance that the overmatched Hoosiers could pull what would be the upset of the season in Happy Valley.

But it may not matter if Penn State can’t be persuasive in those wins, as Florida is going to have a more splashy slate to finish and a chance for an emphatic case against Alabama in the SEC Championship.

The best-case scenario is Texas Tech losing, because more chaos in the Big 12 can only be good for the Lions. The nightmare is going undefeated and being passed by a one-loss Florida team. Both are conceivable.

Florida

The Gators established themselves as the class of the one-loss teams with nationally televised woodsheddings of LSU and Georgia, and they’ll have a few more chances to impress against Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Florida State, and then, in the dream SEC Championship, against Alabama.

The road date at Vanderbilt this Saturday screams trap, especially after the emotional win over Georgia, but this team has seemed driven and flop-proof since its loss, and it’s hard to imagine the constellation of talent in orange and blue could fall to offensively neutered Vandy. South Carolina comes to the Swamp for a home game against a less impressive team than the version a less wise Florida team housed 51-31 last year in Columbia.

The Florida State game will be similar to Alabama’s date with Auburn, but scarier, as the Seminoles have the talent to compete with the Gators and the sort of offensive schizophrenia that could result in unexpected pyrotechnics that could scorch either squad.

Alabama’s the only hip-high hurdle left, and the Gators have looked more impressive than the Crimson Tide in recent weeks. A lot could go wrong, and the gimme against The Citadel isn’t going to help anything, but Gainesville has some reason for exuberance.

Got Transitive Football Herpes from Destiny (And Want Her to Love Someone Else)

These three teams need more than one loss while winning out to get into the title game.

Oklahoma State

The Cowboys made the mistake of losing to the first of the three Big 12 South titans it played. Now, even to get into the Big 12 Championship, the squad from Stillwater needs not only to beat Texas Tech and Oklahoma, but also to hope that those wins lead pollsters and the BCS computers to judge OSU as better than Texas at the end of the regular season.

There’s more upward mobility for the ‘Boys than any other team in this column, as they play two teams more highly regarded than they are, one on the road and the other in a rivalry. They also play Colorado, a challenge that should be equal to Barack Obama trying to win his home state of Illinois, and would get either Missouri or Kansas in the Big 12 title game, neither helping their resume much.

There’s pretty much no way Okie State leapfrogs Florida without a loss by the Gators, but they can certainly reserve the next place in line.

Oklahoma

The Sooners find themselves in the exact same situation as their in-state brethren: with a loss to Texas on their resume and hoping for help just to get to that soft drink-sponsored game. Bob Stoops’ crew has an easier path to the spot behind Florida, getting both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State at home, but the tradeoff is that home wins may impress a little less.

There’s no reason that, should all the undefeateds lose, this team wouldn’t be checking Orbitz in mid-December, but the Sooners would need to win out to ensure that scenario, and it requires a few upsets out of their control.

USC

The Trojans fell in the most recent rankings despite tearing into Washington, and it seems clear that the challenges provided by Cal, Stanford, Notre Dame, and UCLA, none with fewer than two losses, will not be imposing enough for SC to impress.

The Men of Troy need both of the current SEC division leaders and Penn State, at least, to lose, though even in that scenario, a one-loss Texas team would probably stay ahead of the Trojans and meet Texas Tech in Miami should the Red Raiders win out. It’s possible for USC, but, then again, Will Ferrell could also make another funny movie—possibility does not imply likelihood.

Destiny’s Just Not That Into You

The BCS Championship Game is out of reach.

Boise State/Utah

The Broncos and Utes needed to move up with an undefeated falling on Saturday. That they won’t is just another signal that the mid-majors’ year in the BCS Championship Game is yet to come.

Georgia

Thanks for playing, Dawgs. Injuries on both lines and a brutal schedule—with a cross-country road game, resurgent Alabama, LSU in Baton Rouge, Florida at Jacksonville, and now no home date until Nov. 29—KOed the preseason poll darlings, who will be lucky to make a BCS at-large berth after their poor showing this Saturday

They fell out of the top 10 in the BCS standings and don’t have much room to make up for it. Plus, the BCS can have no more than two teams from the same conference unless they meet in the BCS title game, meaning that the Bulldogs would need to be selected in lieu of either Florida or Alabama—and that simply won’t happen.

ACC/Big East Champions

The damage gets worse and worse. I suspect West Virginia’s got a good shot at earning an automatic BCS bid at this point, but the ACC is clearly going to cannibalize itself.

My BCS Guesses

Rose

USC (Pac-10 champion) vs. Ohio State (at-large)

Orange

Maryland (ACC champion) vs. West Virginia (Big East champion)

Fiesta

Oklahoma State (Big 12 champion) vs. Boise State (WAC champion, automatic bid)

Sugar

Alabama (SEC champion) vs. Texas (at-large)

BCS Championship

Penn State (BCS No. 1) vs. Florida (BCS No. 2)

The Anniversary

Andy Hutchins — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:30:01 -0400

Let me explain what this is about.

I started this blog about a year ago after being urged by a speaker in an 8:30 Monday morning Intro to Journalism class to start one. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but I knew I liked sports enough to write about that.

So I have.

This blog takes its name from the famous Teddy Roosevelt quote:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.”

I liked it as a celebration of sport and an explanation that rationalized what I would be doing, not as part and parcel of the arena itself, but in observation of it, and it has always, as I write, research, and edit posts, reminded me of that.

I know that what I say or write about what people far more athletic and dedicated to physical pursuits really doesn’t mean anything; the pageantry, pomp, and circumstance all melt away before any game. Storylines artificed by columnist, journalist, and pundits alike are subsumed by the glory of these games.

And that’s really what sport is about: glory. Whether it’s in the one moment on a pitch in Pakistan when the goal is scored in the 87th minute, or in the walk-off home run at Wrigley Field, or in a great block in the Pop Warner game in the autumn breeze down the street, people play sports because they offer the opportunity for moments, games, seasons, years, and decades of glory.

Sports give us the chance to hold the joy crystallized in a moment like that in our memories forever, and infinite chances for other scintillas of glory. In failure, there is glory, too: valiant losers hold their heads high, and the heartbreak involved in a close loss is as potent as the soar of the spirit a win induces.

And then there is the flip side of glory: shame. Schadenfreude is a commodity, whether it comes from mocking another fan’s favorite team or watching a hated player strike out with runners on in the bottom of the ninth. The morals of sport exalt those who do things the “right” way, respecting rules, competitors, and the sanctity of the game, and reserve scorn for those for do things the “wrong” way, bending the rules or besmirching the essential spirit of competition.

Sport is where I find much of my human drama, with a cast of millions from every imaginable paradigm. These are people, we often forget, living, breathing, thinking people who commit their heart, soul, and body to their avocations or professions, and just happen to do it on fields and through playing games. No one is an automaton; these people are not bits and bytes, but breaths of pathos here and there.

The glory, the drama, the shame, the emotion: all of this is wrapped up in the other forces we recognize as shapers of society. Race, gender, class, nationalism, individualism, unity: sports give us ways to let these concepts mingle and stir, and it is often on a playing field, especially in American society, that the first societal changes emerge from the miasma wearing a jersey.

Sport is important, and relevant, fraught and freighted with the hopes of billions of people who play, watch, exult, cry, and generally revel. Sports fascinate.

And, for me, they provide an outlet.

I’ve always loved writing for writing’s sake, something I realize more and more each day. I luxuriated in books as a young child, poring over stories of ironclads in my elementary school library; I chortled at the humor in the Harry Potter books I learned to love and learn from as I passed through my early teenage years; now, I relish the details of language, the little twists and turns in a well-written story, the images an author can paint with the right words, the emotions one can evoke with mere words.

But I’ve been using my words to describe sports for almost as long as I can remember. My mom remembers me narrating virtual gridiron clashes while holding the brick that was the NES controller and playing my first few video games; to this day, when I play Madden or any other sports game, I feel compelled to announce what’s going on, to craft story arcs for my digital dopplegangers.

My first work of fiction involved Brett Favre and Reggie White; my exploits on soccer fields and hardwood floors in my younger years remain valuable to me less for the athletic performance and more for the stories and what I take from them.

I observe sports closely, enjoy them thoroughly, and have thoughts and opinions about them constantly. With this blog, I’ve finally gotten the forum to let some of those things spill from my grey matter to black words on white backgrounds.

And, since one year ago today, when I used a Clipse song to introduce myself, I’ve been quite happy to have it. I’ve ruminated on all and sundry, from another Clipse-track-as-title piece on Alex Rodriguez to an early acclamation of Chris Paul, from an examination of how the Heisman Trophy has been awarded recently, one of my best early posts, to some perspective on a USA Today piece from last fall, the first piece to earn a link from a bigger blog.

The first time I made Deadspin’s Blogdome, there was definitely celebratory jumping. Since then, I’ve been back a few times, sometimes as the top link; finally, this week, one of my posts became the link for a full post. I’ve been linked to by the excellent Every Day Should Be Saturday for helping coin “quarkback” and a little ditty about Jamar Hornsby, TrueHoop linked to my piece about fines and flops in the NBA, and I got one huge link from ESPN, which I’ll get to later.

Because of my interest in the sport, The Arena also has strong national college football content, and some of my best work has been on The Hangover Cure, a weekly series of postgame recaps. As a University of Florida student, I’m always attuned to the Gators, and that’s given me the opportunity to wonder what kind of pro Tim Tebow would be, speculate about their speed, and smile through the storm. (I’ve even live-blogged Florida’s spring game.)

Live blogs have become my milieu more than anything else; I love pouring thousands of words of as-it-happens analysis into a subject, and I’ve been told I do it quite well. There are 19 entries under live blog on my site, and they range from just about every Florida Gators football game this year to contemporaneous accounts of a never ending game via GameCast, the politics-and-football preview section in the Orlando Sentinel, the 2008 WNBA Draft, the NIT Selection Show, and Rick Reilly on PTI.

Of course, I’ve live-blogged sporting events, too, including a late-night effort on the United States’ gold medal men’s basketball game and an interesting live blog of the playoff round of the U.S. Open that was also a live blog of a live blog of a live blog and is the most-viewed post I’ve written.

I try to spice up those live blogs with humor, but some of my funniest stuff is in gentle parody and mocking, whether in open letters to Todd McShay and Brett Favre, in scripting alternate versions of NBA commercials, in developing new words and in applying for head-coaching positions.

Some of my best work, on the other hand, is serious, thoughtful, nuanced, and personal. I tapped into my memories of Sundays past to explain why I would be rooting for Tiger on Open Sunday, and I used my experiences on soccer fields to discuss the case of Jericho Scott. I wrote a long, complex piece on changing my allegiance as a basketball fan, and I’ve marveled at the power of the moment before, like when Jason Lezak hit the wall. I even rejoiced in the start of the Aaron Rodgers era with a vaguely allusive post.

I try to view sports not just as basic, popular entertainment, but as a powerful force, and I try to capture that in what I write. But in the world of sports blogging, with a thousand different and valuable voices, it’s easy to get outshouted.

I don’t use any profanity on this site, I don’t post anything that I feel would be unsafe for work viewing, and I don’t link to anything that isn’t in line with what I want to do with the site. In the realm of sports blogging, where pictures of attractive women are almost expected and profane rants are often great hooks, I have no problem with others posting those things, but I have not and never will.

Because of that, and because the adage in blogging, and, really, most media, is that content is king, I don’t get hits like other blogs do because I refuse to compromise my content for hits.

The first post on this blog was a year ago today, and The Arena has accumulated just under 50,000 hits since then. About a quarter of those hits came from the ESPN link I mentioned (scroll down to 9:43 AM), and though I’ve had a number of posts go over a thousand views each since then, thanks to links from bigger sites, I’m convinced, talking to other bloggers and observers of the blogosphere, that it isn’t my content that’s the problem.

Instead, I want to build a community.

In my travels on the Internet, I comment on all manner of sports blogs. I’m part of the commentariat at Deadspin, The Big Lead, EDSBS, and I read many more. I know how much fun that is for me, and how much that adds to the site. (And I know that helping out can help strengthen that community, too.)

I know there’s no way I can instantly match the followings those blogs possess. But I know more than a few people who read The Arena on a regular basis, and I’ve gotten compliments from all sorts of people on things I’ve written; I’d love those people to leave comments. I want to turn occasional readers into frequent visitors, and one-time link-followers into occasional readers.

In that first post, my first words were, “This is mine and yours.” It still is, and will always be, mine, because writing is cathartic and therapeutic for me. These posts are mostly things I have bouncing around my head, and it’s both a joy and a relief to let some of those words spill onto the canvas of this blog; I think about sports far too much for those thoughts to be left to fester in my brain. (If I did allow them to stew, I think I might turn into Skip Bayless, and the world doesn’t need one Skip Bayless, much less two.)

I want your feedback, your criticisms, your brickbats, and your chortles. If you disagree with me, tell me why; if you agree, tell me why. If you enjoy a turn of phrase, I’d be happy to know what it is; if you see a mistake, point it out to me. Commenting is as easy as putting a name and email in those lines at the bottom of a post. It will never get you spammed, and it may just result in a better post or an argument more valuable than the post itself.

If you have ideas for me, I’d love to hear them; if you have content for me, I will always consider using it. I’ve been holding off on introducing content I didn’t write until this post, but I have something creative that was sent to me ready to post and welcome submissions of all types.

I know you have your circuit when you browse the Internet, and I know it would take a lot for my little blog to supplant the things that you actually need to do. I try to throw links to posts up in my Facebook status and have reworked some of them as Notes, but I would love for that traffic and those comments to come back over here.

If you bookmarked thearena.wordpress.com or thearenablog.net, and came back every so often, I would be grateful; if you read a post or two, I’d be eternally grateful, and if you commented, I might buy you a small animal. (I said might.)

I know a great many smart, opinionated, and talented people, and though I think I’m a good writer, I can always be bettered by the views of that cast of characters. And, yeah, having other people around is fun and makes this a little more worthwhile.

My thoughts go into this on a daily basis, and those thoughts will continue to be dedicated to this, regardless of whether The Arena gets a million or a dozen hits a day. I have all sorts of new ideas for features, including one joint venture with Melt Your Face Off that you can read more about here and some new recurring bits I’ll trot out this week.

You remember that Roosevelt quote from above? There’s another, related one that I like:

Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness.

There’s a lot that’s wrong with sports blogging: homophobia, misogyny, racism, stereotyping, and intolerance run rampant in a forum where anonymity provides a cloak to those who would hide behind it and spew vitriol and invective.

I started this blog in part to prove that the essential task in sports blogging need not be done as crudely as it is done elsewhere. For a year, I believe I’ve done that.

And I’m proud of that.

And I’m proud of this, a little thing that I started on a whim and have turned into my one of my favorite things to do. I genuinely enjoy this, and I’m happy to share it with you.

So, please, join me in wishing The Arena a happy anniversary.

And then come back.

Posted in Columns

College Football Poll Patrol: Week 10

Andy Hutchins — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:06:44 -0400

Here we have another weekly feature.

(All rankings used are from here. All rankings denoted with a No. are from the AP Poll.)

This week, I’m making and taking questions. (No, seriously—if you put one in the comments, I will answer.)

Why is USC ranked ahead of Georgia and Florida?

This is one of the mysteries that’s been part of this year: Of three one-loss teams that lost on the same weekend, USC has consistently been the one at the head of the pack. Florida’s been ahead of the Trojans in the AP Poll for three weeks, but the Trojans are ahead of the Gators everywhere else and ahead of the Bulldogs in all three Top 25 rankings (AP, USA Today, BCS).

USC lost on the road, sure, while both Florida and Georgia took their losses at home. But Florida and Georgia have both beaten LSU, and handily, and Florida’s got a road win against Tennessee and a home win against Miami, while Georgia’s dumped Arizona State on the road and beaten Vanderbilt at home.

Do USC’s wins against Oregon and Ohio State really count for more in the pollsters’ eyes and the computers’ brains, or does their loss against Oregon State count less?

I’m going to guess that USC benefited from being the first to lose. After the shock of their loss came the shock of Florida’s, and then the carnage in Sanford Stadium. It was easy to forget how badly Oregon State outplayed the Trojans after watching turnovers and a blocked extra-point sink the Gators at home and seeing Alabama make like Sherman for a half in Sanford Stadium against the Bulldogs.

It’s true that USC fell about as far as the first two did that first week, plunging eight spots from No. 1 to No. 9, while No. 3 Georgia dropped to No. 10 and No. 4 Florida landed at No. 13. But because they were higher up before the loss, USC stayed in front of both SEC schools, and that’s helped the Trojans maintain a position ahead of the Gators and Dawgs to this day.

It’s also probable that the win over Ohio State, because the Buckeyes remain higher in the polls than LSU, is a bigger bonus for the Men of Troy than the diminished and split returns UF and UGA got from their respective victories over the Tigers. (And heck, USC’s win over Virginia might be better than we know; more on that in a bit.)

Still, whichever SEC team wins their game on Saturday should leapfrog USC with another quality win added to their resume, and USC won’t have another comparable victory on its schedule to compensate.

Why is Utah ahead of Boise State?

This one appears to be more a matter of timing than anything else. An unranked Utah edged a ranked Michigan in Week One and entered both human polls while the Broncos languished in Also Receiving Votes. Since then, the Utes have only played two FBS teams that currently have winning records and had to rally against both Air Force and Oregon State.

Compare that to Boise State, which entered the polls only after a 37-32 win over then- and now-ranked Oregon, which took 19 fourth quarter points from the Ducks to get even that close. The Broncos haven’t played anyone of note other than that—except maybe Bowling Green, whose upset of Pitt is looking like one of the more unlikely wins of the year—but their margin of victory in those games hasn’t been slimmer than 13 points.

So why, exactly, right now, is Utah ahead of Boise State in all three polls?

It’s because pollsters overrated what now we know is a bad Michigan that will require a miracle to be bowl-eligible, and Utah played them before that was known. If Boise State plays Oregon in Week One and Utah plays Michigan in Week Three, the roles are reversed.

This is a case of chronological confusion that can’t be resolved by pollsters who submit ballots by moving teams that win up and teams that lose down. Boise won’t have a chance to rise above Utah unless the Utes lose.

The good news is that Utah will get a couple of chances to validate itself in home games against TCU and BYU, and that if both teams go undefeated, they will both be in BCS bowls, rendering their relative places moot, so there’s not much that can be negatively impacted for either school by this.

But if these were underdog teams from BCS conferences, like, say, Northwestern or Vanderbilt, with more than lip service chances to make the BCS Championship Game, we might have a titanic problem.

Just how bad are the ACC and the Big East?

The ACC seems to have a conference-wide allergy to the Top 25. Six different ACC teams have been ranked in the AP Poll entering the last two weeks, and five of them have spit the bit trying to protect their position. Only Florida State, which beat Virginia Tech after basically forcing the Hokie Bird to play quarterback, survived having a number next to their name.

In the Big East, both ranked teams, South Florida and Pittsburgh, responded to their numerals by putting up shocking numbers of their own, and ones that the AP Stylebook says should be spelled out.

For USF, it was the eight yards rushing the Bulls totaled in a road loss to Louisville. Pitt apparently let a high school stock its secondary, because I can’t think of any other way Rutgers’ Mike Teel could throw for six TDs at any level of organized football.

In the debris of those woeful weekends come a handful of theoretically dead teams to claim conference crowns.

West Virginia, which is, I’m told, the same team that was stomped by East Carolina and lost a game against Colorado that seared retinas, is the only undefeated team in the Big East, and their game against Connecticut this week becomes a critical one.

Florida State, which committed approximately two bazillion turnovers in losing to a Wake Forest team that may not possess an offense, and Maryland, which lost to Middle Tennessee State and got shut out by a Virginia team the world thought was moribund, lead the Atlantic Division.

And none other than that Virginia team, the one that lost its first three games against FBS teams by a combined score of 128-20, that lost to Duke by 28, is riding a four-game winning streak and by itself atop the Coastal Division.

So, to answer the question: horrifically, putridly, sensationally, inspiringly bad. If the ACC and Big East were cities, Dickens would write books about life in them; if they were movies, Uwe Boll would have produced them; if they were television shows, MTV would air them.

If the season ended today, neither conference would have a team in the BCS. Unless Florida State, currently No. 15 in those rankings, can go undefeated for the rest of its ACC slate and avoid a beatdown at the hands of Florida, it seems unlikely the ACC team in the BCS won’t seem like an interloper.

And in the Big East, the highest-ranked team in the BCS is South Florida. They’re No. 23. Dismal doesn’t even begin to describe that.

Who could make the biggest leap this week? Who could fall the furthest?

The biggest opportunity belongs to Texas Tech, which would fly up to the top three with a win over Texas and could definitely be atop the polls if the Red Raiders beat their in-state foe convincingly.

No other team in the Top 25 stands to gain as much ground with a win. Neither Florida nor Georgia would rise more than two spots with a win, though a blowout could vault either team to the top of the heap of one-loss teams.

The falls are all going to belong to the non-BCS conference schools, but the most likely to fall furthest is probably No. 19 Tulsa, which finally plays a defense that could match up with its athletes in the Gus Malzahn Revenge Special against Arkansas.

The Golden Hurricane would fall out of the Top 25 with a loss, and though Utah, Boise State, and TCU would tumble with losses, none would fall out of the teens, I think.

When will I see this feature again?

Next Monday.

The Hangover Cure: Week 9

Andy Hutchins — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:01:57 -0400

I’m not above a little cross-promotion.

Look here for the inspiration. (And read that.)

No Air

Colorado usually plays in the thin air of Boulder. Chase Daniel and Missouri’s defense left the Buffs breathless on Saturday.

Daniel returned from two weeks of tip-free service as the Quarterback Presented By Domino’s Oven Baked Sandwiches, going 31-of-37 for 302 yards with five touchdowns and just one interception in the Tigers’ 58-0 rout. But the more important and more impressive performance was the shutout Mizzou’s much-maligned defense pitched.

They held a young and somewhat shaky Colorado offense to under 200 yards of total offense, forced a turnover, limited the Buffs to 4-of-16 on third down, and ended one of the longest active scoring streaks in the nation, one that dated to 1988.

Missouri is not a national title contender at this point, and the Tigers are going to have an uphill road to playing in January, looking up at the four superior Big 12 South teams. But if their defense can key an upset in the Big 12 Championship, a berth this team should cruise to unless Kansas finds brakes for its own free-fall, Missouri could be the key to another season of BCS chaos.

A Milli

Penn State, we thought, was different. We thought there was a fantastic offense, the wonderfully named Spread HD, to run roughshod on the plodding Big Ten teams, backed by a better-than-decent defense that would surprise by shutting down teams like Ohio State.

Uh, no: we’ve seen this production before, and it’s no different from the teams we’ve called the class of that conference in the last five years.

In a 13-6 game that was essentially an advertisement for the 1970s, Penn State’s spread was neutralized by Ohio State’s disciplined defense; it’s not a fast crew in scarlet and grey, but they are seasoned, and they shut down the Nittany Lions for most of the game, allowing a field goal after one big offensive play and a touchdown on a short field.

And Penn State’s defense figured out how to shut down Beanie Wells (uh, hit him?), and, by doing that, turned Terrelle Pryor’s run/pass options into sack/scramble/ incomplete decisions. Ohio State’s offensive line was as porous as it has been all year, and Pryor’s mobility helped with that, but Penn State was basically able to set the tone of the game up front.

Blame the loss on Pryor, if you want, because his fumble, the result of poor ball security, was crippling, and his interception a minute from the final whistle was a product of poor decision-making and trying to do too much. But he did about as well as you could expect any freshman quarterback to against a top ten team; two turnovers, and enough offense to be able to send the game to overtime on the final drive; to expect more is to ignore the fact that program saviors past (Vince Young, Danny Wuerffel) and present (Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow) all had their stumbles early in their careers. I hold Pryor to a high standard because I think he combines some tremendous physical gifts with great instincts, but expecting him to never lose, or to be the sole reason Ohio State wins, is as much folly as laying all the blame for this one on his shoulders.

Ohio State lost this game because they’re not as good as Penn State. And Penn State couldn’t put Ohio State away because they’re not as good as, for example, the USC team that splattered the Buckeyes earlier this year.

We hope, every time, that the class of the Big Ten will be a different and nationally competitive team; instead, we were duped once more by one of the many pale imitations of the Ohio State team that used Maurice Clarett, the “phantom” pass interference call on Glenn Sharpe, and generally overpowering line play to make the Big Ten style something to ape.

And, every time some team tries to compare, the result is never better than fair.

Put On

It was Homecoming. It was a celebration of Mr. Two Bits. It was the one team that’s been a guaranteed W for a generation.

And so, the Florida Gators put on a show on Saturday.

Winning the field position battle is easy when your frightening special teams develops a new facet and puts two Tim Masthay punts five yards behind him, setting up two short touchdowns. Getting in the other quarterbacks’ heads is easy when the coverage is limiting him to dinks and dunks that result in a 3.5 yards per attempt for the game. Stomping a team is easy when the score is 28-0 at the end of the first quarter, and the field goal to staunch the bleeding at the beginning of the second is blocked.

The trip to the woodshed that was Florida’s 63-5 win over Kentucky looked so effortless, so free of actual exertion, that Nicolas Cage and Keanu Reeves are going to star in the movie.

Everything the Gators did on Saturday looked easy. Tim Tebow threw a pick and fumbled twice; but he picked up those fumbles and the defense turned that turnover into just a field goal for the Wildcats. Jeff Demps wasn’t used as often or as creatively as against LSU, but he still managed to turn himself from the fourth or fifth receiver on a pass play to the touchdown scorer, blazing past the ghost of Bob Hayes and the entire Kentucky defense on the sort of exhilarating play Percy Harvin’s supposed to make. Harvin was an effortless scorer twice, on a sweep and on a perfect pass from a harassed Tebow, and, more importantly, he didn’t get hurt. Ahmad Black scored on a interception that was forced by pressure from both the defensive line and the linebackers. Tebow was more effective on the ground than he has been since last year.

Oh, and the offensive and defensive line, now becoming the maulers this team’s been lacking since 2006, pounded Kentucky on both sides.

The rap on UF during Tebow’s tenure as quarterback is that the team revolved around him on offense and rejected the very idea of defense.

This year, minus a baffling loss to Ole Miss that was unexpected then and seems like an homage to past teams now, that hasn’t been the case. Florida has been a diverse, Swiss Army Spread on offense, the R(ainey) and D(emps) Department’s vaunted Quantum Wing whirring at full blast as quark-sized speedsters slip through seams and burn turf en route to points, while the defense has been opportunistic at times and solid throughout, struggling only with gimmick formations and mobile quarterbacks.

Tebow’s been asked to make the plays he needs to in the passing game and resist the urge to ram himself into large and vicious men; he’s done that. The defense has been asked to shut down teams instead of hanging onto leads, and it’s done that.

This was a depleted Kentucky team, to be sure, wiped by a physical, emotional, comeback win over Arkansas last week and pockmarked by injuries all over both sides of the ball. But some of these same players factored into the scare that the Wildcats put into Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It was clear from early in the first quarter that the Gators would not be allowing the same thing to happen to them.

Friday night, the Steve Miller Band played Gator Growl, UF’s annual homecoming pep rally. Saturday afternoon, the show was in the Swamp.

And with Halloween on the horizon, these Gators are rounding into terrifying form.

All Summer Long

All summer long, we heard about how good USC and Ohio State were, that they were young teams who started clicking late last year and were putting their talent together to resemble the behemoths of yesteryear.

Nope. Wrong. Not happening, not even with assists from some of their past assets.

Ohio State’s line is Olsen twin-thin, and Terrelle Pryor’s mobility has been covering for that for a few weeks; it’s the Troy Smith Theory at Ohio State, that a mobile quarterback can cover for other things. And Beanie Wells is one of the better running backs the Buckeyes have had since Eddie George.

But James Laurinaitis is a pale imitation of Hawks and Katzenmoyers past, this offense doesn’t have anything like Ted Ginn or Terry Glenn.

Likewise, Mark Sanchez is more John David Booty than Matt Leinart or Carson Palmer. Joe McKnight, for all the wishes heaped upon him, is not Reggie Bush, and the stable of wide receivers in no way resembles Keyshawn Johnson, Mike Williams, or Dwayne Jarrett.

So it doesn’t matter that this is one of the best collections of defensive talent that’s been together for the Trojans, from Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga to Taylor Mays. Against half-decent teams like Arizona, who USC edged 17-10, it’s going to take everything the defense has to keep the inconsistent and mistake-prone offense in the game. There’s not many of those left on the schedule, so USC is going to have as good a shot at Miami as any other one-loss team.

But we should remember that these teams are not what we thought they were.

Viva la Vida

Somewhere along the way this year, Florida and Georgia swapped brains.

Now, it’s the Gators who are on the warpath, while the Dawgs fight every week with explosive offense and exploding defense.

Darryl Gamble took Jarrett Lee’s first pass to the house to put the Red and Black on top, and it was an SEC shootout from there. Knowshon Moreno got loose for a touchdown; Matthew Stafford passed for 249 yards and two scores; Charles Scott thundered for 144 yards and two TDs; Jarrett Lee matched three picks with three scores.

The smoke clears, it’s a 52-38 win, and Georgia’s suddenly flammable defense has allowed 497 total yards. Daniel Ellerbe, Rennie Curran, and Asher Allen were supposed to be dominant, not yield 309 through the air to the sensational tandem of Lee and Andrew Hatch. Georgia’s grinding, ball-control offense has turned into a quick-strike assault triggered by Stafford and Moreno’s occasional breakaway run.

And this reminds me of the team that Florida was last year: all offense, all the time, and the defense plays well when it wants to. That team’s a good one, no doubt, but not one a fan can be confident about entering any big game.

Of course, it’s appropriate that Florida’s taken their script out of Georgia’s ‘07 yearbook.

Behind a line that is opening craters where once there were holes and holes where there were defenders, Demps, Rainey, Harvin, and Tebow are compiling some absurd rushing numbers and transforming these Gators from the bomb-heavy spread they were last year to the Quantum Wing their head coach wants them to be. In the three games since the Ole Miss upset, Florida’s gone over 200 yards rushing and scored 11 TDs on the ground.

And the Gators have gone from a talented young defense to an impressive, fast, disciplined squad. There’s still little to no pass rush, but these Gators stuff the run early, let their offense build a lead, then cover beautifully for the rest of the game. Only on two short-field possessions and one end-of-half fusillade did LSU move the ball effectively and aerially, and theirs were the only successes in this three-week period.

This team is good. Really good.

Entering the week of The World’s Largest Outdoor Non-Alcoholic Beverage (And Certainly Not Cocktail) Party, Florida and Georgia are staring at fun house mirrors that apparently bend space-time. C’est la vie, and viva la vida.

Disturbia

Joe Paterno has a national championship contender.

That means, as you know if you saw the Brandi Carlile-backed tribute to the craggy visage of the Penn State coach, that we will be hearing and reading no less than four trillion words between now and either the Nittany Lions’ first loss or an early January game in Miami.

I’m all for giving credit where it is due, but the most Paterno has done in the last few years is recruit, relax the rules on recruiting, and, uh, like, oversee some stuff, right? The man is a shell of the fiery guy who was truly a visionary leader in the football sense, taking Penn State from obscurity to notoriety, and, eventually, the Big Ten.

But we need to resist this. Talk about Penn State’s recent troubles with the law. Talk about the stellar cast of characters around JoePa. Talk about how good the players on the field really are.

Just don’t canonize the head Lion in winter this fall. I don’t particularly feel like drowning in a tsunami of superlatives.

I Kissed a Girl

In Northwestern’s game against Indiana, a touchdown was scored. Two Northwestern coeds celebrated the success of that play in their own way. And then Northwestern ended up losing that game, to a team that had no Big Ten wins coming in, and missing one more chance to be in love with winning or being a candidate for a New Year’s Day bowl.

Also not in contention for that sort of love: Vanderbilt, woefully inept on offense against Duke; Pittsburgh, getting torched by the immortal Mike Teel and Rutgers; USF, unable to run the ball against Louisville; Boston College, crushed by North Carolina; and Georgia Tech, falling to the somehow decent Virginia team that (gulp) leads the Coastal Division of the ACC. Hot and cold, indeed.

Closer

Texas was going to have to do this at some point.

Oklahoma was down by two scores when it came time to rally. Missouri was dead and buried by the second quarter.

But Oklahoma State stuck around. And, in the end, Texas gutted this one out.

Their defense stifled Zac Robinson all day and Kendall Hunter when they needed to, and the offense kept the ball long enough at the end of the game to make a comeback preposterous. Oklahoma State may be the most balanced team Texas has played, and they certainly played the best defensive game anyone has against the Longhorns all year. As good as they were, though, Texas was better.

There’s something about this team, the sort of moxie that flows out of a few leaders on either side of the ball, the sort of poise that makes the team better when the game is closer. And as this team proves itself time and again against some of the best teams in the country, in comeback and blowout and clenched-teeth fashion, Texas gets closer and closer to South Beach.

American Boy

No quarterback has been better for his team than Colt McCoy has been for Texas than, perhaps, Ken Dorsey was for Miami early this decade.

McCoy is a playmaker with pinpoint accuracy, a gunner who understands the importance of not throwing interceptions. He’s poised in any situation, mobile enough to avoid pressure, and is the emotional center of his offense. He’s the best quarterback in the conference with the best quarterbacks, the best player on the best team in the country. He doesn’t have the arm of Stafford, the physique of Tebow, the speed of Pryor, the height of Harrell, or the motion of Bradford.

It doesn’t matter. Colt McCoy is better than all of them, and it’s partly because, interception and second-half fumble on Saturday set aside, he doesn’t make mistakes. He’s about the best game manager a team could have, and he’s proficient in the other realms of offense (scrambling, throwing deep) that help him make plays while he’s letting Texas’ talent make plays.

He’s going to win the Heisman, barring injury or Hindenberg-level crash. He’s going to lead a team to the Big 12 Championship and perhaps a national championship, unless Texas Tech can score with the ‘Horns next week or a Big 12 North team can find a shipment of talent somewhere in the next month.

But, beyond all that, he’s definitely got the name for the part.

College football is just better when one of the biggest names for the Texas Longhorns is as Texas as Colt McCoy.

Paper Planes

Dynasties are fragile things. Ask Tennessee and Michigan.

The rain kept falling on the Vols and Wolverines on Saturday, in losses to Alabama, which choked the life out of Neyland Stadium with a punishing, methodical demolition in an SEC grinder, and to Michigan State, which rode Javon Ringer for almost 200 yards and avenged a half-dozen losses to the Maize and Blue this decade.

Michigan looks like a lock to miss a bowl for the first time since alum Gerald Ford was President; Tennessee has yet to score more than 14 points against an SEC team not named Mississippi State, and is staring an eight- or nine-loss season in the face if their offensive ineptitude lingers.

Just ten years ago, Tennessee was a year removed from Peyton Manning’s brilliance, and Michigan was the defending national champion; Big Blue had Charles Woodson in its immediate past, and “Rocky Top” was going to be played for a national championship not long from then.

And now, their banners are in tatters, their fan bases are angry, and coaches have burned through their goodwill or are trying to do so in one season.

It doesn’t take much rain to make a paper plane go down.

Live Blog: Florida Gators vs. Kentucky Wildcats

Andy Hutchins — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:23:07 -0400

It’s another Raycom Sports Special.

Don’t let that get you down.

While I was on the radio of the Internet, talking about the spread in the Big Ten and Big 12, Florida had the longest drive that never crossed the 50 I’ve ever seen. Chas Henry’s punt landed inside the 20, and Kentucky will start from there.

Two runs for four yards, and it’s third and six. Kentucky’s trying to run around Florida’s speedy defense, and that is not a successful tactic so far.

The pass by Mike Hartline to the left flat gets about three, and Kentucky will punt.

And it’s blocked! William Green flies through to smother it, the ball rolls around within ten yards of the end zone, and the Gators will have the ball inside the 5 after Tim Masthay gets flagged for “illegal kicking.”

The ever-popular fake-to-Tebow-Smash is quite operational: an excellent fake to Jeff Demps gets a defender to commit, and Tim Tebow goes up the middle for a touchdown. He’s just one rushing TD shy of Emmitt Smith’s school record, and UF takes a 7-0 lead after the extra point.

Tony Dixon receives the ball at the three and a solid Will Hill hit at the 18.

The Wildcats come out with two backs in the shotgun, and the play is a shovel pass to the trailing back; UF’s seen that in practice, and Brandon Spikes stuffs it.

Another pitch to the outside, this one well-blocked, and it’ll be third and one.

On third down, Mike Hartline, with time, can’t find anyone. Kentucky will punt, and Tim Masthay will try to get this punt off.

Not so much. It’s another block, this one by Jeff Demps, and the ball again skitters out of bounds around the goal line. Florida will have the ball near the painted area, and it’s going to be first and goal from inside the 1.

Now, I usually don’t pick on Raycom. But I will today, as Brandon James goes through the tiniest of creases to score again. When Raycom displays a red zone graphic, not only is it overlaid on the players and the field so as to obscure everything underneath it, the graphic does not extend to either the 20 or the lower sideline. That’s just bad.

Florida, after the extra point, has 14 points and 17 total yards; Kentucky has had more punts blocked than there have been earned first downs in this game.

The kickoff goes for a touch-back, and the Wildcats will take over at their 20.

Alfonso Smith goes left for a couple of yards. On second down, Joe Haden zips to the out route and dives at the ball, but can’t hold on to the interception.

Kentucky calls timeout.

Three rushers on third down, and Hartline throws down the left sideline; Major Wright makes a great play to bat down the ball.

The punt is off! But it’s short, rolls out of bounds just past midfield, and that’s not going to help UK win the field position battle.

Jeff Demps marks the first deployment of the R & D Department’s Quantum Wing Offense as auspicious, slicing through the Kentucky defense and picking up 15 yards on a first-down carry.

Then, a pass to Louis Murphy near the sideline; then, Chris Rainey joins the Quantum Wing; then, a face-mask penalty.

And UF is within 20 yards of paydirt again; Percy Harvin covers those very fluidly on a sweep, and the R & D Department uses the Division of Hurt to make it a three-score game. It’s 21-0 after the point after, and Kentucky hasn’t been this shell-shocked since Daniel Boone died.

Kentucky will finally have the ball past their own 20 to start a drive! It’s just at the 21, but, hey, the Wildcats would be happy with a first down at this point. Hartline badly overthrowing a receiver who had a step on the defense will not help with that.

The screen to the left gets about five yards. It’s fourth and five, even though Raycom only showed us two offensive plays. I am interested in how that happened.

The punt goes to Brandon James, and he gets Florida to about their own 40.

Tebow runs left and delivers a shot to get five yards on first down.

Demps slides through a slit on an interference pattern, gets about eight yards, gets a first down. Demps, again, on that first down, gets 12 yards.

Mike Pouncey goes to the ground holding his left knee after that play.

Tebow takes a big hit on a blitz and delivers a perfect strike to Harvin, who strides into the end zone for points 22-27; the 28th sails through, and this is a beat-down.

Randall Cobb comes in for Mike Hartline, and one of the Daves slurps his “unbelievable” athletic ability. So far, that’s meant a too-fast pass to the right that fell incomplete and a screen. I’m not seeing it.

It’s third and five, and Cobb completes a pass to the right flat, and Kentucky will have to punt. Again.

The Gators have given up on blocking punts at this point, and this one’s a good one, bouncing to near the 20.

Tebow goes right on an option, keeps it, drops the football, and wrenches it out of a pile against four Wildcats. So that’s an interesting gain of one.

On second down, Tebow throws a nice floater that doesn’t actually float far enough; he’s picked off, and Kentucky will have the ball at the UF 37. The hand-off goes left for about six or seven, but a holding hankie will bring this back.

Okay, it’s actually an illegal shift, and Kentucky will have first and 15; Dixon gets some great blocking on the outside, and he almost gets a first down around the corner.

Still, at the end of the first quarter, it’s Florida 28, Kentucky 0.

Kentucky’s in the red zone, which means the return of that graphic, with added Florida defense overlay, and the ‘Cats do just about nothing on first and second down. It’ll be third and 11.

Florida shows blitz, brings six, and Haden almost gets the pick. Instead, it’ll be fourth down.

In a development that surprised absolutely no one, the kick is blocked, Joe Haden getting a piece of of it, and Florida will return it to about their own 30.

Chris Rainey is bottled up on first down. Something happens on second down to get a shorter third down.

On that third down, a crossing route to Jeff Demps, who gets a great Riley Cooper block and outruns a cheetah, a gamma ray, and the Kentucky defense down the sideline for the touchdown. It’s 35-0 following the PAT, and you can’t even do that in video games. (I know. I’ve tried.)

Kentucky receives the kick and immediately gets a holding penalty. They’re running out of feet to shoot.

First down, Cobb goes right, and Spikes and Carlos Dunlap toss him for a loss.

Kentucky has to take a timeout on second and 14.

Hey, a first down! Cobb finds EJ Adams over the middle for 15, and it’ll be a first down.

A pass to John Conner in the left gets about ten and moves the sticks.

The run up the middle of that first down is ineffective, what with the ball carrier getting snatched up and thrown for a gain of negative yardage. Second down, and Cobb scrambles and is flustered, missing an open man in the flat; third down, and he’s in a similar situation, but he escapes, goes right, and picks up another first down.

Cobb throws left on first down and gets another one. Kentucky football: all our offensive adequacy on one drive! A quick run up the middle nets two, and Cobb goes left and gets about five. It’ll be third and three.

Cobb goes up the middle, pivots, and gets about three on a spin. An unnecessary roughness penalty on Matt Patchan will give Kentucky their second red zone possession.

I mean, really, why would you want to associate yourself with something that’s this poorly produced, Honda Generators?

Cobb drops back, sets, and is the picture of Chris Leak in 2004, firing well past his receiver in the end zone. Again, on third down, an incomplete pass in the end zone, and Kentucky will attempt to kick a ball in the air.

It worked! It worked! And Kentucky’s only down by 32.

Florida comes out on first down and Rainey cuts through the middle for about 12. So the defensive adjustments are waiting until halftime.

Kestahn Moore is on the field and carrying the ball, and it’s not the fourth quarter: that’s how you know how dominant the Gators have been today.

Raycom’s research department is working on the history involved in blocking three kicks, and I can smell the smoke from their Apple Lisa from here.

Meanwhile, Florida’s mixed the run and the pass and gotten across the 50 again. Ho and hum.

Have I mentioned that the red zone graphic doesn’t extend to either end of the red zone?

James gets an option pitch on the left, and gets about nine.

Tebow keeps it and makes a spin move to put Corey Brewer to shame, getting about four and a goal-to-go series of downs. He goes straight up the middle and steps into the end zone, tying Emmitt Smith’s school record for rushing touchdowns with the 36th score of his career.

And Raycom honors Mr. Two Bits, the Florida institution otherwise known as George Edmondson who has lead a “Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar, all for the Gators, stand up and holler” cheer at all but three Gators home games since 1949. He was feted before the game, also Florida’s Homecoming, as the 86-year-old will retire from his role at the end of this season. Great story, his, and no one will take the role from him except Albert the Alligator, who will don a Two Bits costume and do the cheer starting next year.

Kentucky did something to get the ball near midfield, but their Hail Mary gets tipped and is snagged by a Gator with his feet on the line, so we’ll go to halftime.

At halftime, the score is Florida 42, Kentucky 3.

I ventured onto campus to get my lunch during halftime. At the University of Florida, there is no more dead time on campus than during football games. Buildings could catch fire and no one would know until at least halftime.

The opening kickoff of the second half goes out of bounds, and Kentucky will get to see what that big F in the middle of the field looks like again.

Mike Hartline comes out as the quarterback, and he’ll probably return to the sideline for good, after Markihe Anderson’s blitz turns into an Ahmad Black pick-six. It’s 49-3 and Florida’s offense hasn’t done anything yet. Less than ten seconds have run off the clock, and the margin has gotten even wider.

Yikes.

It’s Hartline in the backfield again, and the hand off goes right for a yard. A dump-off to John Conner gets seven and gets Conner a nice Brandon Spikes-sized welt. On third down, it’s a run to the left, and the referee’s spot looks like it’s going to force Kentucky to punt.

Kentucky makes it by about a micron, and uses that first down to throw right and play Hot Potato with the ball. Second and ten.

The pass is quick, to the left, and gets seven. It’s a third and three, and the crowd gets loud for the hell of it. Jermaine Cunningham validates the volume with a great move to get loose up the middle, pressures Hartline, and forces the incomplete pass.

James returns the punt for about ten yards. At this point, it doesn’t matter that he’s been almost entirely neutralized.

Tebow to Demps on a screen for a couple of yards on first down. Rainey, in the run game and the passing game, at all angles, chewing up swaths of yardage.

Florida backs up on a penalty, and it doesn’t matter; Tebow finds Deonte Thompson over the middle for a nice gain. Moore gets a carry on second and six, and gets maybe a yard or two.

Third and five: five wide, Tebow can’t find anyone, runs for it and gets the first.

Even Kestahn Moore looks good in this one: he goes left on a hand-off, breaks a tackle, makes someone miss, and moves the chains again. More Moore on that first down gets four or five, but yellow appears on the field and Florida will not like what that signifies. They’ll move ten yards back, and have a red zone possession outside of the red zone.

Demps’ efforts with a screen almost get the Gators back within the 20, but the second down pass to Percy Harvin (remember him?) gets batted down, and Florida will have to throw on third down.

Tebow runs left and has a lot of room; he gets 13 and needed a few more inches. Florida will call timeout, and with Tebow coaxing the crowd, we go to commercial before the short fourth down.

Florida’s going to go for it, and Tebow goes left, gets the first down on a spin, fumbles, and picks it up. So an eventful three-yard gain, indeed.

First and goal is a run up the middle by Brandon James, who does not get in. A holding call (indicated initially as one on Kentucky, which would have been something else on a rush from inside the 1) will back UF up to the 11.

Demps and Rainey take first and second-down duties, and together move UF to the 4. Moore gets the third-down carry, and gets a chance to score, but falls inches short.

The Gators will go for it, and, leaping, Kestahn Moore scores. The battle-tested senior gets a TD in front of the Homecoming crowd, and Tebow exults for him. It’s 56-3, and, uh, that’s a lot.

Kentucky fumbles and recovers the kickoff. Hartline’s first down throw is incomplete. At least the second-down carry goes for nine, and Hartline plunges for the new set of downs on third and short.

Florida plays the longest third quarters in the history of the world, I swear. This one started something like an hour ago and still has a minute of game time left.

Second down, short run by Cobb. Third and seven, screen pass, no movement of those orange things on the sidelines.

Masthay will punt. Florida doesn’t rush, and the punt lands in the end zone.

John Brantley comes in. Kestahn Moore stays in, carries, and fumbles, though the ruling on the field says otherwise. (The ball was out about a split-second before his knee came down, but there may not be enough evidence or a chance for that to be overturned.)

Mercifully, the third quarter is over, and the score is Florida 56, Kentucky 3.

It looks like Brantley’s going to be the quarterback for at least this series; he runs left for a few, then throws right to Moore, who gets about ten.

Brantley and Moore combine for another ten yards on two downs. And it’s going to be a bunch of short, boring runs from now until the final whistle. Right as I type the above, Brantley goes deep to David Nelson, who hangs on to the ball as a defender hangs on to him, and fights his way into the end zone. It’s 63-3 post-PAT, and I’m running out of ways to say that.

The Gators haven’t beaten an SEC team by more than 40 since some guy named Steve Spurrier was playing golf in Gainesville. Florida did it twice in 2001, dumping Vanderbilt 71-13 in 2001’s Homecoming and shutting out Mississippi State 52-0 earlier in the year.

The Wildcats have a third and one. Cobb is in at QB. Some big boy gets the first down.

First down: Florida shows blitz, a lineman flinches, and Markihe Anderson gets flagged for a neutral zone infraction. Kentucky, on first and five, sends that big boy, Moncell Adams, right up the middle, and he goes right over Lorenzo Edwards for another first down.

Edwards gets him back on that down, wrapping Adams up for no gain.

One of the Daves: “When it’s 63-3, you’ve got to find some other games.” That’s exactly the kind of attitude a broadcaster needs.

Edwards gets another tackle, nailing Cobb on a scramble, on second down, and will be credited for another after he chases Cobb out of bounds on third down.

Cobb gets the first on fourth and one, but gets hammered by Brandon Hicks. On first down, he throws high and late, and it is incomplete.

On second down, Wondy Pierre-Louis makes a blind bat, bringing his hands up as the receiver does and knocking away what could have been a touchdown. Great play from a guy who’s been somewhat shaky this year.

Third down, and the pass is complete, but short of the first down. Personal fouls offset, and Kentucky will go for it; unless the yellow line is entirely wrong, it didn’t happen.

The referee confirms it, and Florida gets the ball back at their own 6.

If this game doesn’t have enough offense for you, it’s Oklahoma 55, Kansas State 35 on whatever local access channel is showing that. That one is in the third quarter and only has seven second-half points so far.

Someone I’ve never even heard of, who doesn’t even merit a name from the Daves, who go to a Tebow montage. (It’s Vincent Brown, listed as a corner-back, and he’s rushed thrice for six yards and forced a punt.)

“Anyone who thinks Tim Tebow is not as productive as last year is crazy.” Yeah, I can’t imagine how diminished numbers in every single meaningful category would represent less production, Dave.

The snap on the punt goes through the punter’s legs, and it turns into a safety. So Florida’s special teams have scored almost as many points for Kentucky as the Wildcats’ offense has. Nice.

How uneventful is this game? We’ve got a bit of Steve Miller Band doing “The Joker” from last night’s Gator Growl.

Meanwhile, Joker Phillips’ star is subzero cool at this point.

Kentucky’s offense is starting to move down the field, but that’s probably to be expected when playing against the you-get-off-the-bench-once-a-year string.

The Wildcats are in the red zone. What this means, I don’t know, but at least they’re there, and letting the clock run. On the last play of the game, the rifled pass is incomplete.

At the end of this one, the final score is Florida 63, Kentucky 5.

A thoroughly dominant game from Florida for the second outing in a row. The Gators were never challenged in this one, blocking two punts early and going up 28-0 by the end of the first quarter, but they were the far superior team in every aspect of the game. Tim Tebow was efficient through the air and on the ground, and the R & D Department of Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps deployed the Quantum Wing to great effect. Demps, in particular, was practically untouchable up the middle and blew by defenders on a dump-off he took to the end zone while his Nikes disintegrated. (Or something like that.)

Florida’s defense stifled Kentucky in the first half and held tough with its second string in the second, stopping a full four-down red zone possession in each. The former allowed the special teams unit to block another kick, the first field goal of the game, and the latter was tenacious defending against an athletic quarterback on fourth down. (The final possession of the game also resulted in a red zone hold, but it was rushed, didn’t go four downs, and is one of those statistics that only means something on a stat sheet.) The Gators forced just one turnover and had no sacks, but their secondary covered brilliantly all day, eliminating any semblance of a deep attack Kentucky could have had, and the line-backing corps was quick to shut down the run and mitigate the scrambling ability of Patrick Cobb.

There’s really no good news for Kentucky in this, except for Cobb’s composure, though he was ineffective, in a hostile road environment. Florida fans can further be pleased by the fact that Percy Harvin, apart from one early touchdown catch, didn’t do much and, because of that, didn’t take many hits; the worry for this team is that freshman sensation Janoris Jenkins left the game early with an injury.

Florida looks better than any other SEC team right now, and few teams nationally (Texas, of course, and maybe USC and Penn State) can compare to the way these Gators are laying waste to their schedule right now. The match-up with Georgia next week will be a great one.

See you for the Hangover Cure.

The Hangover Cure: College Football Week Eight

Andy Hutchins — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:32:08 -0400

Life is a movie. So I’m dropping knowledge.

(If you got that reference, I will mail you two shiny nickels. It’s tangential to this.)

Crimson Tide

It’s easy to say that this Alabama team is good.

They proved that much in burying Clemson’s season and condemning Tommy Bowden to a midseason canning in a half-hour of game clock, and likely doing the same, on the road, in the face of a “fearsome” blackout, to Georgia’s national title dreams.

But ‘Bama, besides a thorough beating of Arkansas, hasn’t exactly set the world on fire against lesser foes, letting a Hurricane Gustav-wearied Tulane team stick around forever with sloppy play, then surviving late charges by Kentucky and Ole Miss.

Now they will be without gargantuan defensive tackle Terrence Cody for an indefinite interval, with just three weeks until their date against a physical LSU team in Tiger Stadium.

Yet this Alabama team reminds me strongly of another SEC team in recent memory: the 2006 Florida Gators.

Like those Gators, this Tide squad seems to play to its competition, rather than at its own peak; the offense is congealing around a senior quarterback with a sheik’s collection of young thoroughbreds at the skill positions; the defense is solid, keeps the team from surrendering leads, and will be underrated all year long, mostly thanks to a junior college transfer who made an enormous impact.

There’s a set of parallels with last year's LSU’s team too, but I don’t think they’re as strong. At this point, it really doesn’t matter: Alabama’s schedule is easier than either of those teams’ late-season slates, with climbing-out-of-the-crater Tennessee at Neyland next, that post-Bleauxout LSU team, and offensively inept Mississippi State and Auburn to finish.

This team seems to have survived a pair of SEC scares, which is usually the limit for a true national championship contender.

This year, everything could come up Crimson.

Training Day

The movie has one character who basically rules Los Angeles with all the street acumen he’s sharpened over his long career. The ethics charges leveled against him bounce harmlessly, and the idealistic young guy who gets paired with him can’t do anything but deal with it as he gets dragged further and further into the abyss.

Unfortunately for Washington State, there was no twist on Saturday.

USC played Alonzo Harris, shellacked Wazzu 69-0, took a 41-point lead at halftime as most of their first team exited, saw Mark Sanchez throw for 253 yards and five TDs in that first half, had three backs go over 100 yards rushing while the Trojans attempted one pass after Sanchez departed, rolled up 625 total yards and yielded just 116, conceded just four first downs, and ended the Cougars’ 280-game scoring streak, one that dated to the first term of the Reagan Administration.

USC is capable of looking like a behemoth: Against teams without Jacquizz Rodgers, the Trojans defense has allowed 7, 3, 10, 0, and 0 points, and their offense is balanced, deep, and strong in the trenches. It remains to be seen whether another naive young punk can see through that scary veneer.

Courage Under Fire

Penn State trailed 10-0 and 17-7 on Saturday. Shadows of their long losing streak to Michigan grew longer in Happy Valley. The recent history of folding in big games seemed likely to repeat itself.

But Michigan wouldn’t score after midway through the second quarter, and the Nittany Lions shoveled 39 straight points on that ignominious streak and chucked some dirt in the direction of the other claim.

Evan Royster rushed for 174 yards, Daryll Clark was unspectacularly effective, and Penn State’s speed on both sides of the ball dominated the second half, which went 32-0 to the squad from State College.

Fallen

Wisconsin was a top 10 team entering Sept. 27, less than a month ago.

In their games since, they have been upset in heartbreaking fashion by Michigan and bested in similar style by Ohio State, housed by Penn State, and embarrassed by Iowa.

The Badgers’ defense has allowed 103 points in those four games after yielding just 41 in its first three; Allan Evridge went from effective to execrable in a matter of weeks; and the offense has committed 13 turnovers in those four losses after committing four in the three wins.

A month ago, “On Wisconsin” might have been a worry at Camp Randall. Now, with the Badgers dwelling with Indiana in the Big Ten cellar, Wisconsin on a schedule is a likely win for an opponent.

He Got Game

Terrelle Pryor is not like you or me.

I wouldn’t have done what Pat Forde reveals Pryor did; I wouldn’t have even considered it. I know there’s no really comparable situation for me, but there’s nothing that would compel me to tell someone to take me out of such a situation if I didn’t prove myself. Even if I said it, I might not mean it.

That’s because I don’t have the deep vein of confidence Pryor has and the talent to match. The pride of Jeannette High glided around and past Michigan State on Saturday. He’s as fluid a runner on the football field as Usain Bolt is on a track, all long legs and angles, neither stress nor effort evident.

Though he’s maybe Vince Young’s match in that aspect already, his Gas Station Special in the passing game (7-of-11 for 116 yards and a score) against the Spartans showed he’s turning his wheels into a weapon through the air, moving defenders around and breaking down zones so receivers can break loose.

The angles a quarterback can create when moving around or out of the pocket often ruin the possibility of jumping routes and make small windows gaping holes. Pryor, no older than I am, seems to understand this, and that’s something his athletic predecessors (Young, Michael Vick) and contemporary (Tim Tebow) have struggled with throughout their careers.

His arm strength and touch need work, and he needs to go from game manager with game-changing talent to game-changer with game-managing skills. But Terrelle Pryor is a prodigy who will pan out.

The Hurricane

While Arkansas plays Ole Miss this week in the Giggity Bowl, I’m more excited about their game in two weeks. You know, the one against the most statistically overwhelming offense in America, which happens to be masterminded by the guy, Gus Malzahn, who inadvertently triggered the beginning of the end for Houston Nutt in Fayetteville?

Tulsa has topped 60 three times and 70 once; only SMU managed to hold the Golden Hurricane under 40. The team gives up almost 30 points a game (27.1, to be precise), and somehow, its margin of victory is 29.4 points per game. The defense has allowed only one opponent under 20 this year, and Tulsa’s still more than doubled up every team but Central Arkansas and SMU.

David Johnson has almost half as many passing touchdowns (31) as he had career passing attempts entering this year (63). He’s thrown three or more scores in every game this year and has two six-TD performances.

USC had 625 yards of total offense this Saturday? The Golden Hurricane’s perfect storm averages 624.7 yards of total offense, has only netted less than 600 twice this year, and fell nine yards short of a mind-boggling 800 in their 77-35 decimation of UTEP this weekend.

Most importantly, Tulsa is 7-0, and Arkansas is their only remaining nonconference game. A date at Houston could be rough, but if Malzahn’s meteorological menace can blitz the Hogs, there’s no reason, short of some special seeding technique or an aberrant deep well of pass rushers somewhere in C-USA, that Tulsa can’t go undefeated.

And man, would they make that look fun.

Man on Fire

Texas is unequivocally the best team in the country.

That sentence is thanks to Colt McCoy, who has triggerman skills we haven’t seen since perhaps Danny Wuerffel or Ty Detmer. McCoy’s game log for this year may be from NCAA 09, with 19 TDs to three picks, one game with fewer than 200 yards through the air, an astonishing 81.2 percent completion rate, and two games in which he misfired twice and thrice.

In fact, his “worst” game of the year was a 20-for-29 performance against UTEP, still just a hair shy of 70 percent, usually a high-water mark for field generals, and especially ones who’ve attempted as many passes (197 through seven games) as McCoy has.

Then there’s his newfound running ability, which, though diminished in his last two outings, earned him more yards than any other Longhorn in every game prior to Colorado and has given Texas six TDs, second only to hulking gatecrasher Cody Johnson.

And of course, there are the stories like this one about his moxie and poise.

Talk about Brian Orakpo or Sergio Kindle or the scary nature of Texas’ defense all you want—it was shocking, returning from dinner after missing the whole of the first half Saturday night, to turn on the TV and find a 35-3 margin on the scoreboard to begin the second, and more because of the second figure than the first.

That defense, though, has allowed over 30 points to both Oklahoma and Missouri, and all McCoy does is ignite an offense that’s yet to score fewer than 38 and has crested half a hundred four times. McCoy may not be as dynamic a college quarterback as Vince Young, and he’s not ever going to be as legendary as the specimen who preceded him.

But when his career in Austin is over, he may be remembered as better.

Déjà Vu/The Manchurian Candidate

There will be another BCS snafu this year. Count on it.

There’s a lot to process here, but there are two key pieces of information in charts.

1. The No. 1 team in the BCS when it is first released has gone to the BCS Championship Game in each of the past five years.

2. Only one team in the history of the BCS, No. 12 LSU in 2003, has made it to the BCS Championship Game after not being in the top 10 in the initial rankings.

What does that mean? Well, it means that Texas, despite having to play Oklahoma State and travel to Lubbock, has to be an odds-on favorite to make the title game.

It also means that teams in the lower half of the top 10 in the BCS may need more than a little help to get to Miami for that game this year.

It’s conceivable that either Georgia or Florida could run the table and stand as a 12-1 team on BCS Sunday, but if a currently undefeated Big 12 South team and Penn State are both unblemished then, too, it would be difficult to take a one-loss team with a slightly more difficult schedule over an undefeated.

Oklahoma has it easier: They would beat two current top 10 teams and potentially a third for the Big 12 Championship should Texas lose twice. USC will soar as Ohio State does, and if the Buckeyes beat Penn State this week, that may be a bigger win for the Men of Troy than Jim Tressel’s troops.

But say LSU goes unbeaten the rest of the year and Florida beats them again in the SEC Championship, with only Texas staying undefeated in the Big 12 and Penn State falling to Ohio State this weekend or, say, Michigan State down the road.

Do the Gators edge USC with a stronger overall strength of schedule, or does USC’s win over Ohio State, maybe its only one over a team that will be ranked on BCS Sunday, count for more?

It’s these sorts of scenarios that make college football endlessly interesting, sure, and that ensure that we’ll have two teams who managed not to lose at the right times playing for a national championship. But the field is as black and blue as ever; is comparing bruises to find the nicest peach better than putting a bunch of them together and seeing who stands last?

Oh, and I’m calling Ohio State the Manchurian Candidate of this year, because if that team gets back to the title game by dominating for the rest of the year while the Big 12 South beats itself up or USC loses a close one again, I’m pretty sure the Football Bowl Subdivision will qualify for Homeland Security attention.

Comments? Suggestions? Disagreements? Leave ‘em.

The Hangover Cure: Week 7

Andy Hutchins — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:45:23 -0400

It’s extra-potent and time-aged.

Inspiration is from here; you’ll need to read that to fully get these.

The Hole in the Dike

The Big Ten and PAC-10 are horrible this year; really, truly horrible, the kind that makes you wonder whether relegation would work in the NCAA. But at least there are two very good teams there as flagships in USC and Penn State.

All the Men of Troy did on Saturday was obliterate Arizona State 28-0 while committing five turnovers. Teams do not usually win games when committing five turnovers; they certainly do not often shut out the opposing team when the offense coughing up the ball to the opponent more times than there were end zone trips. But USC’s fantastic defense seems to have fully recovered from its Jacquizzing, allowing just 229 yards of total offense, harassing ASU quarterbacks into a 15 for 37 performance through the air, and forcing four turnovers of their own. USC shouldn’t lose another game this year if their defense plays like that, and though the PAC-10, with only SC and California in the rankings, is awful, the Trojans at least keep them above such excuses for conferences as the ACC and Big East.

Ditto for Penn State, which went into hostile Camp Randall and made music by House of Pain quite appropriate with a 48-7 throttling. Daryll Clark, unquestionably the best quarterback in conference at this point, had two TDs on the ground and one through the air, staking the Nittany Lions to such a lead that uber-recruit Pat Devlin got to play a little in the fourth quarter on the road against a formerly ranked opponent. Penn State’s a legitimate national title contender in the mold of Ohio State squads past (we won’t talk about this year’s pale imitation, highly overrated even as just a top-15 school), with a nice, solid defense, a serviceable bright game manager under center who can make a throw here and there, and a strong collection of talents in the secondary, linebacking corps, and at the offensive skill positions. There’s no game the Paterno Pride shouldn’t win down the stretch, though Michigan State will be a challenge, and considering their competitors in the race for a BCS National Championship berth all boast tougher schedules, it’s hard not to install them as an odds-on favorite to show up in Miami this year.

(It should be mentioned, too, that the flip side of the title applies to Wisconsin and Arizona State, two teams slip-sliding into mediocrity from high postseason perches. Perhaps Dennis Erickson and Bret Bielema are not quite what their predecessors were.)

Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?

Jimmy Clausen is going to be a great college quarterback. And Notre Dame might just catch up to him.

Clausen was statistically wonderful against North Carolina on Saturday, throwing for 383 yards and two TDs and leading a potent Irish offense that seems to be finding the rhythm Brady Quinn’s team had as a senior under Charlie Weis. Of course, it’s a young, sloppy crew, as evinced by the five turnovers, including four in the second half. But, as the optimist points out, even with the Tar Heels committing none, the offense had a chance in the waning moments of the game to win with a touchdown. That’s not something that normally occurs with such a wide turnover margin.

Credit that to Jimmy Clausen. It’s Clausen who built Notre Dame’s lead in the first half and Clausen who kept the Irish in the game as UNC stormed back in the second. He’s the key to this team once again going bowling this year and looking like a BCS favorite in years to come. The defensive talent will congeal, and the running game will grow slowly, but Clausen already has the moxie and arm to lead ND to a surprising finish this year, and, maybe, an upset or two to be determined.

The Very Clumsy Click Beetle

You know how there’s things in life that you struggle at, and struggle at, and struggle at, until you finally just barely get it? That was Texas Tech on Saturday.

I can’t imagine this team in a Big 12 Championship Game; I can’t quite understand how this team is in the top ten. But I will say that they clicked at just the right time on Saturday, Graham Harrell finding Michael Crabtree for 47 yards on a late fourth and four, waterbug Eric Morris scoring in overtime on a sweep, and corner Jamar Wall sealing the win with a pick on the next possession.

Just wait until something big, bad, and scary visits Lubbock. Say, uh, Texas.

The Mixed-Up Chameleon

The team that was supposed to be able to do everything this year was having an identity crisis.

Georgia wasn’t the power running team they hoped to be, not without Trinton Sturdivant and half of the rest of the depth chart at tackle. Georgia wasn’t the balanced offensive team they thought Matthew Stafford and a clutch of good receivers would make them. Georgia wasn’t even the dominant defensive team that they could have been, not while trying to block out memories of their funereal blackout and how Alabama’s ground game churned the Dawgs into kibble.

Then, on Saturday, in their annual trap game against Tennessee, Georgia got some of its color back. The defense allowed one yard rushing. Matthew Stafford threw for over 300 yards. Knowshon Moreno went over the century mark on the ground. The offense kept the ball for 42:04 and recorded 29 first downs to the Vols’ 10. Even the 11 penalties for 76 yards weren’t that bad.

The showdown against Florida in Jacksonville to kick off November looms once more as a titanic clash, but only if the Bulldogs can wipe the floor with an offense-free Vanderbilt team this weekend and beat LSU with anything resembling the bell-ringing fury the Gators did. Should they do both, that’s the game of the rest of the year.

Do You Want to Be My Friend?

Oklahoma State is a legitimate top-ten team. Mike Gundy must be pleased.

The year after his coaching staff’s decision to switch from the talented Bobby Reid to the less-touted Zac Robinson set off the “I’M A MAN” firestorm, the Cowboys have quietly turned into the scariest non-brand name in the Big 12. They’ve proven better than Missouri, trammelling that vaunted offense by procuring three of Chase Daniel’s throws and winning a back-and-forth game in Columbia on Saturday night. I’d wager they’re better than Texas Tech, with a defense and a running game, and they may have the best chance of derailing Texas’ run to a Big 12 title.

But what’s more important is that this could be the sexy, Oregon-of-the-Midwest sleeper of 2008. There’s nothing to suggest that this team won’t continue doing what they’ve done offensively, and their big win came on the road because their defense grew up in a matter of hours.

The rest of the schedule may be brutal, but the Cowboys went from dangerous to BCS threat in one night, and yet they still won’t get the respect they deserve.

The Very Quiet Cricket

The other team from Oklahoma played a great game on Saturday. The Sooners only lost because Texas played a nearly flawless one.

Colt McCoy was every bit the gamer and poised passer he looked like against the nobodies of Texas’ early schedule, and his receivers were fantastic, especially with Quan Cosby’s blocking work and . The Longhorns’ Will Muschamp Boom MFer Doom defense (I’m trademarking that) shut down Oklahoma’s running game and made Sam Bradford just uncomfortable enough to make mistakes in the second half. And, most importantly, the team appeared forged of titanium, recovering from deficits throughout the game and never wavering. This was the biggest win of the season, a convincing, whistle-to-whistle victory at a neutral site over a very good-to-great team, just nipping Alabama’s destructive-cum-blase performance at Sanford Stadium. That, and Texas’ lack of a scare against a lesser team, makes the Longhorns #1 in my poll.

Dragons Dragons

It’s not just the Big 12 that’s frightening this year. Look south of the Oklahoma-Kansas border.

There’s Texas at the helm, followed by Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech; that’s three of the last five BCS conference unbeaten and a former #1 team that will stay in the top ten all year. If any one of these teams wins out, it will be in the BCS Championship Game; Oklahoma and Texas would both have a chance at Miami with one loss.

You have Baylor, led by the wheeled and allergic-to-interceptions Robert Griffin III, definitely the best freshman quarterback in the country this year. At this point, I will be shocked if Baylor doesn’t have at least five wins against a murderous schedule that includes all four of the teams above, Missouri, Wake Forest, and a date at UConn, an unfathomable feat at the outset of the season when all and sundry predicted the Bears to be abysmal.

Even the vortex of fail that is Texas A&M at the moment cannot ballast the the unbelievable lightness that is the Big 12 South at this point. Here there be dragons, yes, and flying high.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Florida had a lot of demons to exorcise in The Swamp on Saturday night.

They did that so well it made my head spin.

The Gators made Bleauxout one hell of a headline by letting the speed around Tim Tebow run circles around LSU rather than by putting every egg in the Tebow Child’s basket. Percy Harvin, Chris Rainey, and Jeff Demps all made plays, combining for 331 yards and 3 TDs on 30 touches, streaking by and through an LSU defense that has experience and speed. The UF offensive line, shaky to this point this year, had just one bad play, on an ill-advised first down passing play that led to Tebow getting the ball stripped when the game was out of reach, and otherwise totally neutralized the scary LSU front four.

And the defense took any concerns about stopping the run and covering speed in space and made observers wonder why those were concerns in the first place. Charles Scott gained just 35 yards, and 18 of those came on a carry as time expired. Most of LSU’s ground game came on that play, a pair of trick plays to Trindon Holliday and Richard Murphy, and Andrew Hatch as the option quarterback; there was no cohesion whatsoever for the Bayou Bengals in the running game. Brandon Spikes picked off two passes and Janoris Jenkins emerged as a shutdown corner, and Florida finally got a bit of pass rush, harassing Jarrett Lee into a 23-of-38 performance.

Oh, yeah, and Florida controlled the field through special team, Chas Henry getting a couple of good punts, Demps almost completely neutralizing Holliday on kick returns, and Brandon James weaving his way by blockers for some magic of his own. Plus, the Gators discombobulated LSU to the point that the Tigers had multiple delay of game penalties, including one on a kickoff.

This was as complete a demolition of one supposedly good team by another as we have seen this year. (I say supposedly because LSU’s marquee victory was at home against what seems to be a putrid Auburn team, and they allowed more points to the Tigers, 21, than any other team not named Arkansas, Southern Miss, and Louisiana-Monroe.) And I rank it as the most impressive blowout of this season, edging USC’s crushing of Ohio State, because Florida did something most fans were shocked to see.

LSU scored touchdowns at the end of the first half with a 60-yard field after an odd ruling on a kickoff and to start the second half on their best drive of the night. Every Florida fan watching was waiting for the three-and-out-to-quick-TD move that would have swung momentum entirely to LSU and condemned the Gators of the Tim Tebow Era to another season of shrinking in the face of adversity.

The AP puts the next drive best:

Tebow hardly flinched this time around, responding with a 67-yard TD drive that included a perfect pass to Louis Murphy down the sideline and a few nifty runs.

“That was a huge drive,” Tebow said. “That’s the big difference between this year and last year. We knew we had to put a drive together. I think that’s where you see a difference now, a more mature team, a more poised team. We drove down the field. That was a huge touchdown for us. It gave us the momentum back.”

That pass to Murphy was one of the best of Tebow’s career, the drive assuredly his most timely. It wasn’t all about him on this night, with Florida’s awesome arsenal deployed to its fullest extent so far and him more comfortable at the controls than he’s ever seemed; it’s the synthesis of his unique skill set and UF’s startling speed that made UF morph from very hungry caterpillar to beautifully fearsome butterfly on Saturday night, and that drive was all that in microcosm.

And with that drive, he became more than Tim Tebow, Heisman winner; now, he’s Tim Tebow, leader of the most dangerous one-loss team in America, pilot of another terrifyingly good SEC juggernaut, and potential national champion on his own terms.

And on that note, I’m out.

The Hangover Cure: Week 5

Andy Hutchins — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:14:46 -0400

In Week Five, Upset Season 2.0 went live. (Sorry.)

Back to the Future

It was heartbreaking for this Florida fan to watch the Gators lose yesterday. But the manner in which they succumbed to Ole Miss was even more frustrating.

The Wheel of Offense came back from the 2007 season. The inability to stop a running back late in the game after doing a good job against him returned from the LSU game last year. The secondary’s aversion to covering wideouts, the hallmark of the second half of last year, reared its head late. The offensive woes on third down came back from the Ron Zook era. The lack of a featured running back haunted UF as it has since Earnest Graham (well, maybe Ciatrick Fason) left Gainesville.

This year was supposed to be different. There was a proven quarterback, or so we thought. There was speed everywhere, or so we thought. There was a young defense learning to discipline itself, or so we thought.

This team, we thought, was a National Championship contender.

I think we thought wrong.

Back to the Future Part II

Ignore the Sports Illustrated covers, the invocations of Grantland Rice, and the Shaun Alexander proclamations of a new Bear Bryant run if you want.

But you can’t deny that ‘Bama’s back.

If Alabama can play the way they played in the first half last night for even one half of each game for the rest of the season, there isn’t a college squad out there that could withstand this brutal Crimson Tide.

It starts with the hulking offensive line and the vicious defensive line; it’s the trench play that the Bear would be proud of that keys this team, whether it’s by paving boulevards for the capable stable of Glen Coffee, Mark Ingram, and Roy Upchurch or through punching holes in opposing offenses with the elephantine Terrence Cody.

Heck, John Parker Wilson even looked like Joe Willie Namath on one throw, a gorgeous, looping bomb to Julio Jones in the corner of the endzone that was maybe the prettiest play all Saturday.

I’m not ready to crown anyone the national champion just yet, and I haven’t even seen Oklahoma for a full game, but the way that Alabama team played, it is going to be difficult to pick against them for the rest of the year.

After Saturday, the game I’m most excited about this year is the return of Nick Saban to Baton Rouge in November; you want some hate, some pain, some fire, you’ll want to be in or watch Death Valley that night.

Airplane!

Surely this isn’t Penn State, right? Surely there’s a hideous, offense-free loss somewhere on the schedule? Surely there’s a rash of defensive injuries waiting to sideswipe the season? Surely, JoePa is going to get hurt and the team is going to rally around him and then lose one on the road, right?

Well, what I know is that the “Spread HD” that Daryll Clark and Derrick Williams fuel has looked good against a conference opponent, now, and that this defense is a throwback in all the right ways. I worry a bit about how they’ll deal with the spread offenses Ohio State with Terrelle Pryor and a revitalized Michigan team will throw at them, but I think Penn State is surely the class of the Big Ten and clearly a top ten team.

And don’t call this too early: Penn State has a legitimate chance to play for the national title.

Ghostbusters

Don’t look now, but not only is Notre Dame 3-1, but the Irish actually have reason to smile at this point.

That win over Michigan in the sprinkles in South Bend? Well, now it’s a win over a team that beat a top ten team. The loss to Michigan State? It was to a team with a Heisman-worthy player on the road. Saturday’s victory over Purdue? Well, this team nearly knocked off Oregon and probably has another upset in it.

The potential pitfalls of North Carolina and Navy still lurk, and there’s only the most minuscule chance that this team could upend USC at season’s end, but Jimmy Clausen is quietly improving and the young team is quietly getting solid by the week. By virtue of their pathetic schedule, they’ll be bowling for sure, but, for the first time under the Ty Willingham/Charlie Weis regimes, I could see this team winning a bowl game.

It may not be waking up the echoes. But there are definitely ghosts sleeping a little less comfortably.

The Goonies

I quote from Wikipedia: “While sometimes called a fantasy film for its improbable, child’s-dream-come-true storyline, The Goonies does not actually use supernatural elements.”

Swap some nouns, and try telling that to Wisconsin fans today.

Michigan played its worst half of football and went down by 19, then forced the Badgers into their worst while playing its best in the second half, storming back with 27 straight points and defending just well enough to hold off Wisconsin in the 500th game at and biggest comeback ever in the Big House.

There had to be something magical for Steven Threet to take off for a 50-yard run, or for Michigan to look as good, then as bad, as they did, logic tells us. But the reality we saw was so fantastic it had to be true.

Ishtar

The scene was all set for Georgia to be great. The blackout was supposed to be intimidation squared, and the black shirts and black endzone lettering added to the ambience.

Then a certain Alabama prediction came true.

The Dawgs were drowned by a tsunami of 31 Crimson Tide points in the first half. They couldn’t stop anything. They couldn’t get Knowshon Moreno loose. They couldn’t even rely on Matthew Stafford arm, which went from cannon to Chad Pennington over the course of the night.

They scored 30 points in the second half and never made the game close. They allowed no points in the third quarter and never seemed like they had stopped ‘Bama.

When ESPN cut to shots of Uga VII in a mobile fridge at the end of the game, even he looked disgusted. Last night was a letdown of massive proportions.

48 Hours

The storyline of the weekend, though, was that the 48 hours from Thursday to Saturday everything proved that we thought we knew was wrong and that looking back just a little ways could perhaps give us the answers we seek.

Suddenly, Oklahoma is again among the nation’s best, having survived the early-season jitters of past years, and the Red River Shootout will probably pit top-five teams. Suddenly, it’s the Old World powers in the SEC West that are rising up, with Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee all falling in inter-divisional play on Saturday. Suddenly, it’s the traditional powers like Alabama, LSU, Penn State, Texas and Brigham Young that look great, and ones like Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and, yes, even Florida State that look better than they have.

There’s a fleet of interlopers around, certainly, from SEC East leader Vanderbilt (my body actually made a weird noise as I typed that) and undefeated Northwestern to unbeaten and untested Missouri (I think we can say that Illinois is no better than perhaps good on defense after last night) and the battle-hardened, beef-squashing South Florida team that smacked NC State and will just improve with Mike Ford at tailback. Plus, Duke’s 3-1, so check your local forecasts for the Rapture.

And this storyline will change as we head into October and beyond. There’s an SEC shocker or two waiting, and a Big 12 team may still collapse, and USC could rebound and look scary again, and I could go on forever with possibilities.

But what we should know by now, really, is that we know nothing, and that the ride is much more fun this way. See you next Sunday.

(The Photo of the Week is over here.)

Posted in College Football, The Hangover Cure

Florida-Ole Miss: Smiling Through the Storm

Andy Hutchins — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:15:42 -0400

It’s easy to write about chaos and schadenfreude from afar.

At your doorstep, it feels different.

There’s not a Gator in Gainesville feeling good today.

Tim Tebow, head bowed, in shadow.

And the sickest of all, rightly, will be Tim Tebow.

Tebow’s third-quarter fumble on an exchange with Brandon James in the backfield led to a tying touchdown by Ole Miss, and his Gators would never recover the lead, allowing a long touchdown pass from Jevan Snead to Shay Hodge in the waning moments of the fourth quarter, missing the extra point on their subsequent scoring drive, and, finally, seeing their reigning Heisman Trophy winner stopped on the trademark Tebow Smash on their last possession.

Tebow showed, again, that his poise as a passer disappears under pressure. Ole Miss’ Greg Hardy harassed Tebow all day, and the Gators’ running game, blessed with a stable of supposedly capable backs, was reduced to the Tebow and Harvin Show, the two combining for 25 of UF’s 35 carries and 89 of its 124 yards.

It was all too “Back to the Future” familiar for fans who watched the 2008 Gators turn into the 2007 squad, complete with baffling fumbles, reliance on Tebow and Harvin to do everything for the offense, and human kindling in the form of, surprisingly, Major Wright in the defensive backfield.

The Rebels, to their credit, played an excellent game.

The fumbles Florida coughed up were on a handoff miscue that was Tebow’s fault; and for Aaron Hernandez and Harvin, on great plays by Ole Miss defenders who ripped the ball out of Gator arms. Their defense in general played disciplined zones, yielding gains over the middle but little around the edges and nothing deep.

Snead showed up when needed with a pair of perfectly timed and well-placed throws, one on a screen over the mammoth Carlos Dunlap to Cordera Eason, and one to Hodge in stride, both for TDs.

The “Wild Rebel” formation kept Florida from loading up the blitz packages that put Snead on his back a few times and wore all-everything linebacker Brandon Spikes down; Spikes was a monster in the first half, but his name was scarcely uttered in the second.

There’s blame to go around, for the abysmal blocking on the extra point attempt Ole Miss stuffed, for Tebow’s uncharacteristic sluggishness and missing composure, for play-calling that only started spreading the ball to players other than Harvin and Tebow when it was too late. (www.firedanmullen.com will not be an inactive WordPress blog for long.)

Certainly, UF’s best offensive play in the second quarter on an underthrown pass that a safety tipped to the Gators’ best wideout who happened to have an open sideline to streak down did not presage a great state of affairs.

Neither is squandering Percy Harvin’s best game in Gator blue, a 268-yard, two-TD tour de force that is as clean a bill of health as he could get.

But, more than the blame, more than the shame associated with finding their own Oregon State and losing to the Rebels for the third time this decade, I must remind myself and you that this is the beauty of the game.

I can’t, on Friday, embrace the chaos of college football’s uncertainty and parity and, on Saturday, bemoan my team’s failure to poke its head above that rising tide.

There’s no such thing as a safe game anymore, not in the mighty SEC, not in the “Pac-9″ Pac-10, not in the cauldron of the Big House, not under the watch of Saint Bobby, not against the fluke offenses of Dread Pirates and Quarterbacks Brought to You By Pizza Hut’s P’Zone, not now.

The nature of college football has shifted so seismically, we will be feeling aftershocks for years to come. One came in Corvallis on Thursday; another, in The Swamp on Saturday.

And I welcome it.

Every Saturday should be dangerous. Every Saturday should be competitive.

And if every Saturday is like this one, then every Saturday should be special.

Posted in College Football, Columns

The Saturday Speculator: Week 5

Andy Hutchins — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:38:00 -0400

I’m going to spare you a lot of prologue.

Just go read this, okay?

Home teams are listed first in my picks, if you care. My picks are in bold. And over the last two weeks, I went 31-6 (15-3 in Week 3 and 16-3 in Week 4), bringing my season total to a quite healthy 70-12 mark. But it’s already 70-13 before Saturday.

Oregon State vs. USC: Thanks a lot, Trojans.
Maryland vs. Clemson: The two most spectacularly streaky and consistent inconsistent teams in the ACC play in College Park. But these Tigers have to loose the terrible twosome of James Davis and C.J. Spiller, right? Right?
Ohio State vs. Minnesota: I think Tim Brewster’s Magic Gopher Carpet Ride ends against Terrelle Pryor. The freshman may not have been polished against Troy, but he needs only to be effective for this team to win so long as their defense isn’t turning to putty as in Los Angeles. The Buckeyes win in a walk.
Florida vs. Mississippi: I keep waiting for Mississippi’s Ed Orgeron talent to meet with Houston Nutt’s coaching acumen for an upset, but they’re apparently both distracted by the gals in The Grove. It’s an early game and on Raycom Sports, the sort of low-profile thing the Gators have stumbled on from time to time, and the 2007 game in Oxford required Herculean stuff from Tim Tebow on the ground, but I can’t see a loss.
Auburn vs. Tennessee: It would be easy to say that Tennessee’s due for an out-of-nowhere win against an SEC opponent, maybe one in the vein of their clobbering of Georgia last year, but I watched some of the UCLA game and all of the Florida game. Jonathan Crompton, I knew Erik Ainge. Erik Ainge was a friend of mine. Jonathan, you’re no Erik Ainge. Tigers roll.
UCLA vs. Fresno State: There are games that just frustrate the hell out of the prognosticator in me; anything involving UCLA this year is going to fit that bill. There was hope in the Kevin Craft Project for a half, but that’s gone up in smoke faster than Ludacris’ pool house. But Fresno struggled against Rutgers and Toledo and got ground to a pulp against Wisconsin, so the Bulldogs‘ bandwagon is a little light. I’m not jumping on, either.
Texas vs. Arkansas: Texas gets to look good again by beating up the SEC’s worst team. At least Mississippi State has a defense. The Longhorns will have no problems, and I would take the points if the spread is anything less than 35.
East Carolina vs. Houston: I can’t imagine Patrick Pinkney playing as poorly for the Pirates (say that five times fast) as he did down the stretch against NC State, but, then, I wasn’t expecting the fairly good ECU defense to collapse without a couple of glue players. Houston’s nothing special, and that means the Pirates are my pick, but I’m not going to be surprised either way.
Michigan vs. Wisconsin: I think Wisconsin’s overrated, with a win over Fresno State as their respectable victory so far, but Michigan’s only a little bit underrated, and there’s still no semblance of a cohesive offense in Ann Arbor. Any other year, with a bit more enthusiasm in the Big House and a little more talent on the field, I’d take Big Blue, but it’s going to have to be the Badgers for me.
Wake Forest vs. Navy: The government makes, Wake takes. (I couldn’t resist.) Demon Deacons keep a zero in the loss column.
Oklahoma vs. TCU: If you listened to EDSBS Live this week (and if you didn’t, you should), you heard Peter Bean teasing Orson Swindle/Spencer Hall about his inability to believe in anything but a close game here. And, well, my thought has been classic Lee Corso, that it’s going to be closer than the experts think, and I can’t quite come up with a reason to change that.
NC State vs. USF: I’ve written about this, but, basically, though I believe in the now-injured Russell Wilson, NC State’s still not very good with him, and without him and the talented Nate Irving, it should be a long day for Harrison Beck, and he’s going to be very well acquainted with George Selvie by the end of the Bulls‘ win.
LSU vs. Mississippi State: This game last year was not pretty. And guess what, Wesley Carroll? You’re still Wesley Carroll, and the Tigers don’t lose to Wesley Carroll.
Georgia vs. Alabama: It’s going to be brutal, it’s going to have at least one play where Knowshon Moreno makes you sit up in your seat, it’s going to wake people up to just how ahead of schedule Baby ‘Bama really is, it’s going to be close until the end, and, of course, it involves John Parker Wilson being trusted to win a game. Because of that, I’m taking the Bulldogs.
Utah vs. Weber State: Because the Mountain West gets cupcakes, too! The Utes win huge.
Penn State vs. Illinois: Remember when I was yapping about how Juice Williams was the second-best quarterback in the Big Ten? Well, I was hoping you didn’t, because the new best guy, Penn State’s Daryll Clark is going to be giving Illinois fits and leading the Nittany Lions to a win Saturday night, and I wanted to say something about him coming from nowhere. Rats.

Quick Hitches

Trindon Holliday is going to do something big this weekend. No one will want to be Harrison Beck or Rich Rodriguez on Sunday. The blackout in Athens is going to be a damn cool sight between the hedges.

In a world starved for Heisman candidates and reluctant to embrace Chase Daniel (more on this next week), Javon Ringer’s standard performance against Indiana to kick off the day will be enough to maybe get his name on ESPN.

A meteor will hit the Pittsburgh-Syracuse game and no one will notice. (I wish harm on no one, but people watching that game need lobotomies and refunds.)

Northwestern’s Tyrell Sutton gets a camera on him to do something special this weekend, and his quarterback, C.J. Bacher, gets to show he’s one of the Big Ten’s best.

North Carolina-Miami will be a good game; Colorado-Florida State will not.

The SEC will look even better than last week, and though Washington will get its first win against Stanford, the Pac-10 will be mentioned as the worst conference in America.

I’ll be blogging the Florida game, but, beyond that, who knows?

Questions, grievances, additions, corrections? Leave a note.

Posted in College Football, The Saturday Speculator

The All Day Saturday Live Blog: Week 4

Andy Hutchins — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:12:41 -0400

Starting nine minutes past noon. I’m good.

East Carolina starts by forcing a three and out, but a muffed punt squanders some of the field position; Iowa’s in the red zone on their second possession in the first five minutes of their game against Pittsburgh, thanks to a LeSean McCoy fumble.

Pitt holds, and Iowa makes its field goal. Ohio State’s just scored to go up on Troy early.

Iowa’s only given up eight points all year, and they were to Maine, Florida International, and Iowa State. So they’ve barely been tested.

Wait, Terrelle Pryor’s starting? Apparently, yeah: he had that first TD pass for the Buckeyes.

East Carolina’s up 7-0 on NC State. And we learn that NC State hasn’t scored against an FBS school since November. Eeek.

Another punt for the Wolfpack; it’s their third, and this one’s a touchback. Their drives have gone punt, punt, interception returned for a TD, punt.

Pitt’s backup quarterback, Greg Cross, makes people miss on a 17-yard jaunt to the end zone. It’s 7-3, Panthers.

NC State’s got the ball on the East Carolina half of the field, and a first-down post route gets them into field goal range; another pass takes them to the edge of the red zone.

State’s struggling to punch it in. Third and eight from the 11, a scramble, a throw, but no first down. So Tom O’Brien’s team will go for it.

Russell Wilson runs on a designed draw, and gets a first down and to the one.

Then, of course, a fumble, and a ten-yard loss.

Pam Ward makes a cogent point: Iowa’s away shirt and Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys are barely different. You know, except for the Hawkeye logo being swapped for the Steelers’ iconic one.

Pitt converts a third down to end the first quarter.

NC State, in for six. The stadium gets loud, and Andre Brown gets the kudos for a great job getting open for Russell Wilson as the pocket disintegrated.

East Carolina has a third and five in suddenly hostile Raleigh, and the talented Mr. Irving, State’s redshirt sophomore linebacker, Nate, bats the pass away. The Wolfpack get good field position.

Troy’s kicked a field goal to make it 7-3 in Columbus.

Remember that NC State field position? It dissolved into a three and out.

Touchdown, Alabama, on the ground. Arkansas, not looking good.

An ECU third down turns into a touchdown to Davon Drew, who just sort of shrugs off any feeble attempts to tackle him on a long run after the catch.

Here comes East Carolina, moving the ball well. They have a third and one at about midfield, and Norman Whitley slices through the line to get it.

Nate Irving’s up on a trainer’s table. Uh-oh.

Commercial for the final game at this Yankee Stadium; good job by the team to let fans have their piece of the day on the field, too. It’s a great sports weekend, with a great slate of college football today, the Ryder Cup going on, possible clinchers in baseball, the last game at Yankee Stadium, and a couple of excellent NFL matchups tomorrow.

Pitt’s up 14-3 and punting from its own end zone.

Alabama just scored again. 14-0 in Fayetteville.

Russell Wilson with an expertly thrown spiral to the dirt on third down, and East Carolina will probably have the last possession of the half.

If Iowa’s going to stay close in this one, it’s going to take more good play from Shonn Greene, who just broke loose for 32 yards up the sideline. Iowa’s passing game isn’t looking healthy.

Patrick Pinkney throws a pick, and a Pirates wideout rips it out of the DB’s hands. Net gain of about twenty yards, and that play’s a crushing one.

I flip to the Arkansas-Alabama game, carried by Raycom Sports here in Gainesville, and I see two awesome things: one, the national scoreboard is brought to us by Woodmen of the World, and, two, Casey Dick fires a strike right to Javier Arenas.

Unfortunately, he’s wearing the wrong shirt, and takes it to the house to make it a lot to zilch, Alabama. (Okay, it’s 21-0.)

Troy’s just scored to keep it close in Columbus; it’s 14-10, Ohio State.

Harrison Beck enters the game for NC State and immediately completes it deep for some 30 yards. The change-of-pace quarterback might work here.

Pitt’s got a 14-10 lead, too, with 1:14 left in the half.

Pam Ward: “Saturday night, two of the top teams in the SEC meet. That’s tonight.” She’s fantastic.

It’s halftime in Raleigh, and the score’s East Carolina 14, NC State 7; at Heinz Field, it’s Pittsburgh 14, Iowa 10 at the half.

And now, it’s Ohio State 14, Troy 10 at the half.

Alabama’s all over Arkansas; it’s 35-7.

The Infinite Mystery of Raycom Sports: the yellow line just jerked mid-play.

Nice, low-scoring football games today, folks. Well, except in Happy Valley, where Penn State is woodshedding Temple. The Nittany Lions are up 31 at the half.

The University of Alabama commercial uses the tagline “Crimson Is…” and features much feathered male hair. So it’s as perfect for that school as possible.

Iowa has a linebacker named Pat Angerer and a picture that matches. Wow.

Jake Christensen comes back in the game for the Hawkeyes, and he’s instantly more effective than he was in the first half, with a nice throw on a bootleg.

Iowa, going for it from midfield on fourth and one, gets a delay of game penalty. Was there really a time when Kirk Ferentz was considered a great coach?

NC State’s just scored on a pretty throw by Wilson, and the game in Raleigh is tied at 14.

Troy has the ball in Ohio State territory; East Carolina just crossed the 50 on some gutty running after the catch by Jamar Bryant.

Norman Whitley, running free. He scores, and the Wolfpack crowd is muted. East Carolina’s up by 7 again with a four-play drive.

A quite strange shot of a running pool in the NC State facilities. Really, people think there isn’t a lot of money floating around in college athletics?

Russell Wilson with a brilliant scramble and a spot-on throw across his body and across the field, but the receiver lets it bounce through his hands.

Troy didn’t score the time before, but they’ve got the ball and are moving now.

It’s not the furthest west Georgia’s ever gone for a game — the Dawgs have gone to Hawaii for a bowl game — but this trip to Tempe is the first time many of the players have been out of the Eastern Time Zone. That’s going to affect them.

Georgia Tech’s up 31-0 on Mississippi State. I’m going to say this does not bode well for the Auburn team that could only muster a field goal against the ‘Dogs.

And Jake Christensen is doing good things in relief: he scrambles in and makes it 17-14, Iowa, at Heinz Field, as the break-in update tells me.

Russell Wilson is playing very, very well.

LeSean McCoy, doing the same on passes from Bill Stull, who Ray Bentley has problems comparing to Donovan McNabb not because of racial differences, but because he can’t remember McNabb’s name.

Then, a flea-flicker! It glances off a receiver’s hands, and Pitt will have to keep chipping away instead.

Patrick Pinkney has really been good in the second half for East Carolina, and he’s going to need another good drive to put away NC State; the Wolfpack got another field goal to make it 21-17, and that’s the score entering the fourth quarter.

Pitt scores and is up 21-17.

An ESPN cut-in shows me that it’s a Pryor-to-Robiskie TD in Columbus that put tOSU up by 11. Pryor’s showing some nice touch on deep throws today.

Ohio State gets a TD to make it 21-10. I don’t think Columbus is exhaling until they see the score on SportsCenter tonight, though.

Iowa hits a field goal, and it’s 21-20 in Pittsburgh; in Raleigh, NC State has just gotten a four-down goal line stand to keep the Pirates from increasing their lead.

East Carolina gets their own big stop, and NC State will be punting from within their own 20, still down 21-17. This hasn’t been a scoring orgy, but it’s been a good, solid football game.

Central Michigan and Purdue are tussling; it’s 17-17 in that one.

Norman Whitley takes it inside the Wolfpack 10 for East Carolina. A running game is a nice development for the gritty Pirates, who aren’t quite a consistently good offense.

Patrick Pinkney rollout left: no gain on second and goal. Patrick Pinkney rollout right: incomplete pass on third and goal. The Pirates will settle for the field goal and a 24-17 lead.

Pitt, third and four, a screen pass, and the ball is swatted rudely to the turf. An absolutely awful play call there; Pitt will punt, and it’s a 60-yarder that goes for a touchback.

Ohio State’s up 28-10 now. Crisis averted. Purdue’s back on top of Central Michigan, too, at 24-17.

I’m not entirely sure either team deserves to win this Pitt-Iowa game.

NC State will have four shots from the five with two minutes left on the clock. I’m probably going to be changing locations after this one, so there might be a couple of minutes of lull.

There’s either an incompletion or a TD! No catch, says the ref; yes, catch, the replay demonstrates. Another great throw by Russell Wilson there.

NC State gets their TD confirmed, and will kick for the tie.

It’s in. It’s 24-24. And East Carolina will have just under 90 seconds to change that.

Pinkney throws for a first down, but there’s a holding flag, one of the few in this game. NC State’s waving towels from the bench.

Pinkney waits about three weeks and evades half of central North Carolina on the second first down, but there’s only 22 seconds left on the clock.

Overtime looms as Pinkney gets away from another tackler, but his receiver can’t catch it, and it’s going to be third and 20. Nothing doing there, either, and after a punt that will be one of the longest in ECU history, we’re playing bonus football in Raleigh.

ECU’s on offense first, and they’ve notched one first down.

Purdue’s up 30-25 on Central Michigan with about a minute left.

Pinkney has time, is blindsided, and fumbles. NC State picks it up and will be able to win with a field goal.

Then the Wolfpack lose yardage on first down. Then a Wolfpack runner breaks right, gets a first down, and will give NC State a great chance to win.

Andre Brown, on that first down, straining, churning, reaching, scoring.

The final in Raleigh is the death knell for East Carolina’s BCS hopes: NC State 30, East Carolina 24, in overtime.

And now, to Rocky Top, for Tennessee-Florida.

I’m switching locales. Be back soon.

CBS opens by calling Tim Tebow a “phenomenon.” This bodes well for those who want to be covered in slobber by the end of the first quarter. I could deal with that not being the case.

At least we get Verne Lundquist calling Neyland Stadium an “ancient facility.” The Orange Crush comes on the field with the opening of the T, and the Gators come on to a cascade of boos.

“Just your average Saturday afternoon,” Verne says. How wonderful it is.

Stat of the day so far: in its last two games against Florida, Tennessee has no rushes long than six yards.

Cute little game with the cards, there, boys.

Brandon James bobbles the kickoff, then repents by bringing it back to the Tennessee side of the 50.

First snap is a run by Percy Harvin for a couple of yards. Emmanuel Moody quadruples his rushing total this season on one carry, picking up a first down with a slice up the middle; then, Moody matches his season total for carries in the first two minutes with a two-yard first down carry.

Tebow will pass on second down, and he misses Riley Cooper badly.

A shovel pass on third down to Aaron Hernandez nets nine and moves the sticks.

Tebow gets hit in the backfield after a fake reverse. The facemask penalty on Tennessee is going to negate that, though, and Florida’s got first and goal three minutes into this game.

Tebow keeps it, gets a few yards on first down. On second, he keeps it on a fake pitch, and gets stood up at the one or two. Neyland gets loud for this third and goal play.

I swear to God: I said jump pass a second before the snap.

And it is a jump pass to Aaron Hernandez for the touchdown. Jonathan Phillips puts the extra point between the uprights, and it’s 7-0, Gators.

Miami and Texas A&M will be tied at 7 after a UM extra point.

Tennessee gets nine on its first first down, but nothing on second down. There’s some fisticuffs, and a flag comes out; it’s a personal foul on Tennessee, and it’s now third and 15.

Two enormous hits: Crompton gets nailed on a backside blitz, and Janoris Jenkins forces a fumble on the throw to the flat. UF picks it up, and they’ll start their drive from just outside the 20.

Tebow skies one over Harvin in the end zone on first down, then Urban Meyer gets nailed for a sideline interference penalty to back the Gators up to a second and 15.

The screen to Louis Murphy gets about negative four yards; it’s third and 19.

Tebow gets pressured, escapes the pocket, then flicks a flip of a pass to Kestahn Moore to get seven yards. Just a great improvisational play, one we’ll see on ESPN tonight.

Jonathan Phillips puts in the field goal, and it’s 10-0. Florida’s out of the blocks early in this one, something that didn’t happen against either Hawai’i or Miami.

Speaking of: the ‘Canes force a punt and will have decent field position on their second drive.

Sweet play in the Michigan State-Notre Dame game, a fake end-around to a deep throw, but Brian Hoyer can’t quite hit his receiver.

A nine-yard rush by Arian Foster, and it’s the longest one in three years in this series for the Vols. Good poodle-type (read: hanging on the ankles) tackle by Joe Haden.

A good throw after a run for a first down gets about eight, but Brandon Spikes snares the second-down rusher for a loss of one; on third down, Crompton throws to a covered receiver on play-action, and he’s lucky it’s only deflected and not intercepted.

Brandon James is apparently coated in Vaseline or something. A totally effortless, shimmying, shaking return for James, and this is turning into a landslide. It’s 17-0, Florida, and we’re still in the first quarter.

The return for Tennessee gets to the 25, and Foster gets a couple on the ground; same concept in a trick formation on second down and it’ll be third and five.

Crompton converts with a nice pass, then gets another with a good pass to FSU transfer Brandon Warren. Flags fly on the subsequent first down, and the offsides on UF wipes out the yards on the screen to Warren.

Foster, on first and five, goes left and gets nothing.

The Gerald Jones at QB formation gives Tennessee a first down and a good gain on a sneak; Spikes’ shoestring tackle may have saved some points there.

Another first down on a first down pass; this is looking like the Florida defense of 2007, after looking more like the defense of 2006 for two possessions.

Montario Hardesty gets about eight on a first-down carry, and the Vols will switch sides with a lot of confidence in their offense.

At the end of one in Knoxville, it’s Florida 17, Tennessee 0.

I’m apparently watching WGFL, “The Gator Station for the Gator Nation.” Neat.

Hardesty bounces off a blocker and gets a few yards on second and one; it’s a first down in the red zone for the Volunteers.

Upset alert in Columbia, where Mizzou’s only up 27-21 on Buffalo, and the Bulls, who, mind you, are probably best known for doing absolutely nothing at the FBS level, have the ball. Blame three turnovers for the closeness of that one.

Nothing doing on first down for UT. Spikes gets his fifth tackle of the day.

Five-yard neutral zone infraction on Florida makes it second and five, but the toss right to Foster gets a couple of inches, if that.

Crompton hits Luke Stocker across the middle, and though he’s stopped short on his first effort, the fourth or so gets the Vols a first down with room between the chains and the football.

Arian Foster attempts to leap over the goal line from the three. Uh, no.

On second and goal, a miscue by Crompton, who drops the ball after hitting the blocking back in the hip, then kicks it. Of course, Florida recovers, and Tennessee’s still scoreless.

This is getting sort of ugly.

Tebow stands in the end zone to start this drive in the shotgun, and he’ll keep it and get one. In this situation in 2007, there was a long play-action pass.

On second down, a gain of about six for Tebow on the ground. Tebow calls timeout as time dwindles before the third and three.

CBS is pushing their college fantasy football pretty hard.

Tebow keeps it and gets about four yards.

Fulmer told CBS yesterday that his team had no leadership, apparently. That would be a bit troubling for me.

The option to Harvin got five on first down; on second down, he gets, as Verne wonderfully puts it, “keelhauled” after seven or eight on another option pitch.

An illegal shift penalty turns first and ten into first and 15, and the option on that first down gets perfectly covered, making it second and 18. Timeout before it, though.

After UF’s blistering start to this game, their offense has sputtered a bit.

Moody goes up the middle for five. A late flag, but the two unsportsmanlike penalties offset, and it’ll be third and 13.

On that down, Tebow rifles one to Harvin, who finds a chasm in Tennessee’s zone coverage and racks up about 12 yards after the catch; a facemask tacks on another 15 yards.

Moody for two on first down; Harvin for five on second.

Pressure forces a wobbly lob to Carl Moore, who almost pulls it down.

UF will go for it, and there’s a false start, but the replay’s iffy. Phillips will kick, and it’s true from the 40.

It’s now a 20-point lead for UF with under five minutes to go in the half.

Short kick plus decent return gets the Vols to the 39; Foster finds a crease for six on first down, then, after a delay of game, Jones does some work to get a first down.

On that first down, Ryan Stamper stops Jones; second down, and Crompton gets hit and throws the ball off of Carlos Dunlap’s helmet, incomplete.

Third down, incomplete, but a pass interference call moves the chains.

Short gain of three on first down, then a pick on second down.

That pick gets explained by an “illegal participation” penalty and Gary Danielson imitating Moses Malone in calling the UF defense a four-four-four.

Then Crompton throws one to the sound guy to the right, missing a double-covered man and ignoring single coverage to his left.

Finally, on third down, he turns left, and hits senior Josh Briscoe, who takes it down to the 5. Tennessee will have a good shot at the end zone when the game returns after a timeout.

Hardesty plunges off the left and gets three. 45 seconds and ticking now, and on second down, Hardesty is stuffed. Tennessee will use its timeout, and they will probably have to throw to ensure enough time for at least a field goal try.

Empty backfield for UT, and the pass to the middle is tipped by Ahmad Black.

Now, on fourth and goal, Tennessee’s going for it. It’s picked by Janoris Jenkins.

Rocky Top is deathly silent but for the shouts of Florida faithful.

Fulmer: “I wanted to get the daggone touchdown,” of the fourth down call; then, “We believe we can win this game.”

We come back for the second half and Verne informs us that a lot of the Vol fans have left. The returner makes those still there jump out of their seats with a wriggling return to get good field position.

First down’s a short run; the second down throw is to nothing in particular and bounces off a Gator helmet; third down is a sack.

Brandon James inexplicably calls for a fair catch at the 8.

Nothing worthwhile on first or second for UF, and Tebow goes right for a loss on third down.

The punt’s very good, and a flag at the end is a block in the back, putting Tennessee further back than the spot they had on the first drive.

Tennessee gets a false start to make it first and 15, then five on first down. Then, a great run by Foster is called back for holding, and he gets only a few on the run to the left on second and 20.

Third and 17, and Tennessee should be throwing; Crompton drops back, finds no one, and is tackled after a scramble for four or five.

On the punt, James fakes the pitch to Harvin, then worms his way across the 50.

Tebow comes out and fires a dart to Riley Cooper for five. Moody gains about nine on a handoff from the spread, and I’m dangerously close to issuing a mea culpa for things I wrote this week.

Chris Rainey gets his first carry, and picks up five or six.

Hey, look, a third and one, and Tebow’s carrying, and he’s picking up the first down. Go figure.

The spread is wearing down this Tennessee team on this drive. Harvin for four, then Tebow with a carry for one on second and six.

Tebow, off his back foot, avoiding the blitz, and a great throw on target to Harvin in the front left side of the end zone.

Gary: “Uh oh, he’s learning.”

Tennessee gets saved from a three and out by a pass interference penalty on Jenkins, then capitalizes with a throw in front of human kindling Jacques Rickerson that gets about 25 yards.

Some runs by Tennessee capped by a 12-yard scramble by Crompton, who gets popped into Kentucky by Joe Haden. More short runs and it’s third and six for Tennessee at the 11. Crompton waits, throws, hits Luke Stocker, and Stocker fights and gets in for the touchdown.

Replay is going to check whether his knee was down first; it clearly is, and the ball should be at about the two-foot line.

Time runs out on the third quarter with Crompton blithely unaware and the score Florida 27, Tennessee 0.

This has not been a really good game.

And to the three-quarter-yard line we go.

First and goal: no dice. Second and goal: Crompton rolls left and gets it on his second effort. And Tennessee’s going for two, because, as Gary tells us, “Eight times three is 24, and you add a field goal…”

The ball is tipped and falls incomplete at the line, so the score is Florida 27, Tennessee 6.

There’s absolutely no drama here, and the fans barely sound alive.

A short kick, and Tate Casey will return. Some room for Moody on first down; he gets eight. Harvin gets a first down on the next carry. Moody again, for five or six. Rainey, left, for three.

It’s a thresher of sorts, with Tebow being the big scythe to follow it; he hammers through the middle for a first down on third and one.

Miami’s up huge on Texas A&M, by the way: it’s 41-10 there.

A deep throw to Cooper draws a pass interference penalty; then, Moody, again, for a first down.

Tebow throws one past the checkerboard. With 10:18 left, UF calls timeout, and this game has a can-we-get-it-over-now feel to it, even from this Florida fan.

The Gators fail to put it in the end zone, and Phillips will take and make his third field goal of the day. It’s Florida 30, Tennessee 6, and pharmacists selling Ambien in Knoxville out of luck after this one.

John Jones is the injured Gator after a kickoff return.

Then, after a good pass to Gerald Jones, holding on the first down, and Phil Fulmer’s hat adds a few stripes as he stretches it and frets.

Jonathan Crompton with a Tebow-esque play, throwing while falling, completing to Foster for whatever makes this third and two.

How very close to a great play that was: Markihe Anderson pulls the ball from a Vol’s chest on a twenty-yard throw. The “Gator Bait” cheer descends from the stands in Neyland.

Fourth down is a near-pick, and the ball goes over on downs.

Two runs up the middle, and Tebow’s strike to Louis Murphy gets a foot in on a box-out sort of play down the sideline; it’s reviewed, and the ref confirms “it was a good catch.”

Tebow’s throw right on first down is rather underwhelming, but Rainey makes that memory evaporate by squeezing through two holes about a foot or two wide.

Florida’s final timeout is called. The CBS cameras pan over Neyland and see stands that look like a perversion of their classic checkerboard end zone.

UF grinds inexorably toward the end zone, Rainey left, Tebow right, into a cameraman on the sidelines. The little pat on the head he gives will be replayed a few times.

UF will go for it on fourth and nine instead of kicking a field goal, and Rainey will get just a couple. The Vols will take over at their 10.

A run by Foster for one, and a near-fumble on second down, and a near-interception on third and two. Tennessee punts and it goes out of bounds just past the 50.

Tebow will kneel and start chomping; another knee, and time will tick down as the field is flooded by grinning Gators and demoralized Volunteers. This one was never in doubt after the first fumble in the first quarter.

Brandon James is the CBS player of the game, and should be, for slithering for field position all day and a touchdown in the first quarter. About the only mistake the Gators made was James’ bobble on the opening kickoff; from there, it was a dominant performance from a stifling defense and an offense that looks like death by a thousand cuts with serious ball control chops.

The final from Knoxville: Florida 30, Tennessee 6.

It didn’t even feel that close.

For my four readers: I won’t be live again for a while, because I’m about to go play some real-life football, but I’ll be back for some of the night’s action.

Also: Boise State’s 37-32 win over Oregon just went final.

I think it’s safe to say I could never have played college football after that flag football game. I’m even more sore than Chris Todd will be after this game.

LSU has been, save the odd fluke pass from Todd, dominant in this quarter. Good defense gets a pick on a fourth and one, there, and the Bayou Bengals waste no time in getting into War Eagle territory.

Jarrett Lee, another laser to Brandon LaFell.

Then, the halfback pass by Keiland Williams! Touchdown!

Les Miles’ grapefruits are engorged tonight.

Auburn’s slowly working their way down the field; nibbles and bites and third-down conversions, but Todd throws another pick. And considering how LSU’s moving the ball, it’s looking like Auburn’s going to need more than dribs and drabs.

Wake Forest 12, Florida State 3 is the final from Tallahassee.

Colt David ignores my pleas for a fake and notches a 32-yarder and puts LSU up, 20-14.

Big Auburn pass play gets the War Eagle train down to the red zone.

A great throw to Robert Dunn in the corner of the end zone, and just like that, Auburn’s up 21-20 and Jordan-Hare is going insane.

Andrew Hatch looks like he’s on Mars. Unfortunately for LSU, Jarrett Lee looks little better on a poor throw well beyond his receiver on second and 11.

Third and 11 will be made harder is Demetrius Byrd is off the field; Lee fires one to the chain gang, and LSU will punt with about five and a half minutes remaining.

And Auburn’s trying to give it back in turn, with a run for nothing, then a pass to the waterboy, setting up third and ten. Ben Tate is nowhere near a first down, and LSU will have about four minutes from the time the ball gets to the returner’s hands.

Jordan-Hare is full of hate right now. Good run for Williams on first down.

Screen to Jared Mitchell moves the sticks.

Another nice play to get the Bayou Bengals to about the 30; then, Charles Scott rams through the middle and over the yellow line.

Andrew Hatch, still unsure what state he’s in. It’s going to be a very hostile one in a few minutes, as Brandon LaFell makes a great move around the corner on a duck from Lee and scores.

They go for two and the throw to the corner of the endzone isn’t quite there. So it’s LSU 26, Auburn 21, and the Tigers have three timeouts to go the length of the field and get it into the end zone.

Auburn’s got 51 seconds and a spot just across the 50, thanks to a couple of decent plays and a roughing the passer penalty, and then a fierce rush from the left side and a sack that erases the penalty entirely.

Auburn gets to fourth and 25, and it’s complete, but not long enough. Auburn will lose, but not for lack of trying from Chris Todd.

“We thought that it would be a fistfight in the ditch,” says Mike Patrick. “And it was.”

So it was, the sort of game that takes every ounce of soul and heart the players can muster and forces them to sweat it out over three hours in the deep Southern heat of the night; this one wasn’t the classic last year’s Les Miles ball-brained call produced, or the defensive gems of earlier this decade, but there was nothing disappointing about the second half of this one.

Now, to Arizona State-Georgia. It’s 24-10 in favor of the Dawgs, and Georgia returns from a commercial with a naked bootleg by Matthew Stafford that gets them all the way down to the 4.

Three straight runs, and no touchdown, but the last one’s up for review.

Georgia will not get a TD, but they get the kick, and it’s 27-10.

Uh, stuff happened. Then the game ended at Georgia 27, Arizona State 10.

I started this at 12:09 this morning; I end it at 11:31 tonight.

Farewell, and come back for The Hangover Cure tomorrow.

Posted in College Football, Live Blogs

The Saturday Speculator (Week 4)

Andy Hutchins — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:42:14 -0400

All killer, no filler.

West Virginia vs. Colorado: I definitely would have picked the Mountaineers, seduced by the potential of Pat White and Noel Devine playing for redemption with a defense that isn’t as bad as it used to be. But I would have written about how Boulder does weird things, especially at night.
East Carolina vs. North Carolina State: The Wolfpack have become a trendy upset pick with ECU losing LB Quentin Cotton for the season. But NC State was offensively impotent against BCS conference opponents this year, and the Pirates are still rugged enough to dominate the trenches.
Troy vs. Ohio State: Beanie, no; Boeckman, yes. And Troy’s the type of team that gives Ohio State fits, with a tempo-based spread that will get a touchdown or two in this game. But the Buckeyes are sure to be angry after the beatdown they took last week, and this is a get-right game.
Temple vs. Penn State: The Fightin’ BRAAAAAAINS are quietly the most impressive team the Big Ten. But continuing to demonstrate that against schools like Temple isn’t going to be enough for the Nittany Lions to be a real national title contender.
Alabama vs. Arkansas: My Theory of the (SEC) West, apologies to Turner, this year: teams not known as Arkansas are better than they appear. Thus, the Crimson Tide roll.
South Carolina State vs. Clemson: Clemson’s actually looked better since their Week 1 implosion against ‘Bama. And the Tigers are more than enough for S.C. State.
Buffalo vs. Missouri: The only question is whether Chase Daniel throws five touchdowns or six; the Tigers will romp, despite the Bulls’ improvements over the last couple of years.
Wyoming vs. Brigham Young: BYU’s had its scare this year, and the Stormin’ Mormons shouldn’t have another game as close as Washington for a long time if they can play within shouting distance of the level they were at while throttling UCLA. Cougars, and big.
Florida vs. Tennessee: I’m not buying that things will be different at Neyland, or that there’s a lot of revenge in store for the Gators after the 59-20 assault and battery last year in the Swamp. What I do buy: Arian Foster will be better than he has been so far this year, but it won’t matter, because the Gators have a healthy Percy Harvin and just need to keep Tim Tebow upright.
Boise State vs. Oregon: This isn’t as good a Boise State team as in years prior, and the Electriducks are without a proven quarterback. But Oregon has a good running game. But Boise State has a decent defense. (I’ve agonized over this all week.) I’m taking the Ducks.
Utah vs. Air Force: I know something like squat about these two teams. So I’m picking the Utes.
South Florida vs. Florida International: FIU is a waste of the Golden Panthers moniker, and USF can’t have a letdown game against a team as bad as this. Right? Bulls in a walk.
Massachusetts vs. Texas Tech: UMass will keep this close for a quarter, but there’s not a single athlete on the Minutemen squad who can hang with Michael Crabtree. The Red Raiders will have no problem pulling away.
Rice vs. Texas: Rice is the best team Texas has played yet this year, but these Longhorns are going to be underrated until they punk one of the Big 12’s big boys. (So until Oklahoma.)
Sam Houston State vs. Kansas: Sam Houston State? The Jayhawks are just making up cupcakes to pay to play at this point. At least former Oklahoma QB Rhett Bomar is party to this one.
Wake Forest vs. Florida State: This could be the most dramatic game of the weekend. Wake has discipline that FSU lacks, but FSU has talent Wake would kill for. If it comes down to a kick, I’m not betting against the Demon Deacons’ Sam Swank, and that informs my pick.
LSU vs. Auburn: The Tiger Bowl should probably be as low-scoring as it has been in recent years, with Auburn struggling to find any rhythm against Mississippi State, and LSU still quarterbacked by a Harvard JV transfer in Andrew Hatch. I’m impressed by both defenses, too. So I’m taking the Bayou Bengals and calling Trindon Holliday the gamebreaker.
Georgia vs. Arizona State: Georgia, not accustomed to being outside the Eastern Time Zone, may start slowly. The Bulldogs defense, especially, won’t end that way.
Fresno State vs. Toledo: Toledo is far, far removed from the years when Chester Taylor was running for them. The Bulldogs just want to get back on the horse after Wisconsin ground them to dust last week.

Hitch routes: No one will want to be Rudy Carpenter, Bobby Bowden, or Jonathan Crompton on Sunday; Percy Harvin will have over 150 yards of total offense; Chase Daniel will not play through the third quarter for Mizzou; North Carolina will upset Virginia Tech; Javon Ringer will continue to be a darkhorse Heisman candidate; the Pac-10 will continue to look weak; the Big 10 will have a good Saturday.

See you later for live bloggery.

Posted in College Football, The Saturday Speculator

The Mystery of Emmanuel Moody and the Promise of Percy Harvin

Andy Hutchins — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:13:56 -0400

If the University of Florida has anything of certainty in its football program besides Tim Tebow and a retinue of Bull Gators who want to see their team win, it is speed.

Speed is what makes Percy Harvin a killer—and speed may have killed Emmanuel Moody’s chances at becoming a star on Saturdays in the Swamp.

Going into and coming out of bye weeks, it’s rare for local media in Gainesville to have anything substantive to report or opine on. This is why Chas Henry got a feature in the sports section of the Independent Florida Alligator, the daily student paper that services UF but is not affiliated with the university.

(Full disclosure: I covered UF’s men’s and women’s golf teams for the Alligator in 2007-08 but do not currently work for the paper.)

But with Tennessee on the horizon, there have been two articles from Friday and today (from Mike McCall and Brian Steele, both excellent reporters) that tell as much about this season for the Gators as any ink printed or text posted by anyone so far this year.

The first deals with the sojourn of Emmanuel Moody. McCall writes:

"Moody rode into town with high expectations, which—fair or not—had him pegged as the first feature tailback since coach Urban Meyer arrived in Gainesville in 2005."

Moody confirmed this last fall, saying, “That’s the reason I transferred was to be a feature back. USC is all about the rotation and getting everybody time, sharing time.

“I just want to be the feature back.”

But the fantastic quote is buried between those two (italics mine):

"No one seems to doubt that Moody will eventually master the offense—'If Chris Rainey can pick it up, (Moody) can pick it up,' offensive tackle Jason Watkins said—but even then, he’ll have to outperform Moore, Rainey and Jeff Demps to see the number of carries he hoped for when he decided to transfer."

Rainey, from what I’ve heard from UF circles I run in and from all reports I’ve read, is not the brightest bulb in the box.

It’s probably thanks to his gifts for gab and his public declarations of how good it is to be Chris Rainey that he’s acquired this rep, but as a fellow UF student, I can pretty well assert that Rainey isn’t taking human sexuality because it’s a prerequisite for biology majors.

If Rainey’s not quite burning the midnight oil off the field, though, he burns grass on it.

He’s been tabbed as a replacement in Harvin’s slash role while the junior from Virginia Beach has been rehabbing his heel, and he’s renowned as a speedster not just during games, but in unsanctioned footraces against one of the best high school sprinters ever, fellow Gator RB Jeff Demps, and West Virginia waterbug Noel Devine.

His speed, though, is offset by his size, just like that of Demps. Neither is listed as taller than 5'9" or heavier than 185 pounds, and SEC defenders would probably snap either or both in two given a clear hit.

That’s why they’ve been touted as the perfect change-of-pace backs for Urban Meyer’s offense, but never the sort of feature back the Gators profess to want to take the onus to bruise people off of Tim Tebow.

Moody stands six feet tall and weighs 210 pounds, according to his ESPN page. He’s not built for sprinting like Rainey or Demps, but with his size, he shouldn’t need to as a feature back, instead wearing down the defense by battering them over the course of 20 carries.

Here’s the problem: During his time at the University of Florida, chances are Moody will never get that many carries in one game.

The last time a UF player not named Tebow—who, because of broken plays and his scrambling, had three games fit this category in 2007—carried the ball 20 times, the Gators beat Tennessee.

In Neyland Stadium. In 2006.

That’s a long, long streak to have between games like that, certainly, and especially for a coach who will prattle on about finding a feature back until the ESPN cameras go off.

Moody was rightfully hailed as the cure to whatever ills relying on your quarterback to be your halfback produces (like, say, a 9-4 season) when he transferred from USC in fall 2007.

But if Moody was going to do so, he would have already done it—because now, with the return of a rejuvenated and ripped Percy Harvin, Moody is redundant.

Harvin’s listed at 5'11" and 195 pounds on his ESPN page, and I’d guess that he played at something around that last year, getting in the range of 10-15 touches a game against the SEC and taking more than a handful of hard shots.

Now he looks like this.

There are muscles on that man that do not exist on some NFL players, and the fearful whimpering Clay Travis does on that page isn’t even the best tribute in the media today about his potential.

From Steele’s article:

"Not to mention that Harvin put on 20 pounds of muscle this offseason. Last season, Harvin said he was benching around 325 pounds. Now he’s up to 420. For those counting at home, the difference is about the size of a female UF cheerleader."

And, from the same article, from UF linebacker Brandon Spikes:

"'He gets it and boom,' Spikes said."

Uh. Oh.

I would assume, of course, that the weight cited above is from one maximum lift, the typical max-out attempted to throw a gaudy number up for one’s own ego. To put this in context, Julio Jones, Alabama’s 6'4" beast of a freshman wideout, reportedly maxed out at 305 pounds, if you believe that ESPN page.

Now certainly, Harvin has had a world-class weight room and plenty of time to work on his upper body since undergoing offseason heel surgery; Jones hasn’t had similar circumstances.

But Percy Harvin, lest we forget, is also fast. (NSFW language.)

Jones ran a 4.56 40 at a 2006 Nike combine (scroll down) and probably runs around 4.5 now. Harvin’s probably no less than two-tenths of a second faster, considering he’s run a 4.24 if you give any weight to Rivals.

Now he’s gone from being about as strong as Jones, who is about as strong as most college wideouts get, to incrementally stronger—and Brandon Spikes, who came to UF in Harvin’s class and sees him every practice, says he hasn’t lost his signature “boom” at all?

The sound you just heard was probably Phil Fulmer dropping a full box of Danishes.

But it could well have been Emmanuel Moody dropping his head in regret.

Harvin’s now probably on par with Moody in terms of strength, and he’s always had a few steps on him, clocking just shades better than 4.5 in the 40.

And if Moody can’t beat out Kestahn Moore, the fumble-prone back who has always been touted as a prospective workhorse, for his carries, why should he be able to take some from Harvin, whose ground game gave UF’s offense its only dimension beyond Tim Tebow in 2007, and whose blinding speed helped diversify the Gators’ attack in their 2006 title run?

Wouldn’t you want more from the proven gamebreaker, not more from the unknown who hasn’t quite grasped the offense and has all of two carries and two yards for your team?

Wouldn’t you want the guy whose speed sparks YouTube videos and Heisman hype, not the guy who languishes on the bench and is a walking question mark?

Emmanuel Moody came to UF as the answer to a question. He’s only a junior, and he might yet be that answer.

But I promise that a fully healthy Percy Harvin means that question need not be asked again this fall.

The Hangover Cure: Week 3

Andy Hutchins — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:19:29 -0400

I commented on blogs Saturday rather than blogging here.

Still, I looked better than all but Missouri, Oklahoma and USC.

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

Anthropologists will look back on this Saturday and recognize it as the day the Pac-10’s claims to being the best or second-best conference in America died.

BYU stomped UCLA. Oklahoma thundered past Washington. Maryland upended Cal. UNLV beat Arizona State in overtime. TCU thumped Stanford. Friday night, the lowly Bears of Baylor crushed Washington State. New Mexico beat Arizona. Oregon barely squeaked by Purdue in double overtime.

Apparently, leaving the West Coast and/or playing out-of-state, non-directional, non-FCS schools is what trips up the Pac-10, which means there’s going to be a lot of middling seasons on the coast.

The only bright spot was USC’s win over Ohio State, and, at this point, that might not be worth much, given how poorly the Buckeyes played.

And considering the Big 10’s struggles, I’m hearing rumors that the Rose Bowl might be renamed the Wilted Awful Stuff Your Girlfriend Rejected Bowl.

The Angry Beavers

Oregon State won. So they might take umbrage to the above.

Like I care.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

If you’ve never seen Avatar, I don’t blame you, but the concept of the show is that there’s a young boy who travels the world learning the secrets of wise old people and using them in the fight against evil.

To me, that applies to the University of South Florida. Last year, they started fast and then found ways to lose games they should have won. This year, it’s the reverse.

Last week, the defense held on to stop UCF after some poor fourth-quarter play; this week, the defense gave up a couple of late scores to a very good Kansas team, but the offense made enough plays to get the Bulls in field goal range, and a USF kicker made a clutch field goal for the first time since the City of Tampa adopted the Gramatica family.

Given how shallow the Big East is, it’s not unfathomable that the Bulls, now past their two early tests, could be undefeated until November or December. If so, I’m not betting against them when they travel to Morgantown.

CatDog

I was high on Oregon the first two weeks, but now, after nearly laying a Nike-sized egg at Purdue, I’m not sure what to make of them.

Justin Roper, who had been an excellent triggerman for the first two weeks, left the game in overtime with knee trouble, and threw two picks prior to the injury.

The running backs, who had been waving back at opposing defenses en route to the end zone, suddenly started fumbling. The defense, quite good against Washington and Utah State, couldn’t contain a Purdue team until it really mattered.

So which Ducks are the real ones?

I’m going to hope that it’s the electric ones we saw the first two weeks, and their schedule, which doesn’t take them out of the Pacific Time Zone again and has just the nightmare date at USC left as a game where Oregon won’t be favored, will allow them to show that form.

Having Chris Harper mature into a real quarterback, one who, like, throws and stuff, would help.

Inspector Gadget

Missouri has the best passing game in the country. I won’t go so far as to say it’s the best offense, thanks to Oklahoma and USC’s balance, Georgia’s possession of Knowshon Moreno, and Florida’s explosiveness, but Missouri’s aerial assault is going to weather all the flak it takes this year.

Chase Daniel is completing 72 percent of his passes, has almost 1,000 yards through three games, and has thrown just one interception against his ten TDs. Jeremy Maclin’s the best slash player in America. Chase Coffman is probably going to win a Mackey Award playing in this offense.

The defense hasn’t faced anything since Illinois to be scared of, and won’t until Texas, so it’s going to be difficult to judge Mizzou as a complete team for a while. But, boy, is that offense good.

Legends of the Hidden Temple

You know how on the show, it got to the point where a team could only win if they swept the challenges and got all the Pendants of Life, then had a fortuitous route to the artifact in the temple that swung around the Shrine of the Silver Monkey?

That’s what scoring on USC’s defense is going to be like this year. It’s stout against the run, menaced Todd Boeckman all night, and allowed no big plays downfield.

About the only gripe one could have is that Terrelle Pryor did get some yards with his feet, and the old liabilities of the pro-style system against the spread offense were momentarily resuscitated.

Oregon’s the only name of note that could challenge this team when motivated. With that caveat, which is more than a minor worry for a school that’s trademarked the stunning lapse against a team with no business beating it, the Trojans should start checking Orbitz for the best tickets to Miami.

The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo

Uh, why are Penn State and Wisconsin suddenly the best teams in the Big 10? Anyone?

Zoey 101

Georgia didn’t play well against South Carolina by any conventional pundit’s metric.

But in this rugged SEC, which just gets better and better (it’s a collective 26-6 right now, and three of those losses are in-conference), a win is the only possible measure of playing well.

Georgia’s going to have to win two or three more close games this year even to make the SEC Championship Game; Florida’s schedule is too comparatively easy for the Dawgs to stick around the conference title race after one poor showing.

And, in a year when it looks like there’s going to be an unbeaten in USC, it defies logic to think that the backdoor routes to the title of the 2006 Florida and 2007 LSU teams will be available to the Dawgs.

So there’s going to be Saturdays like this one. Georgia just needs to make sure, despite whatever kooky hi-jinks transpire over the course of the episode (and, yes, this team will see many twists and turns) they come out with the win at the end. (I’m thinking Knowshon Moreno can take care of the teen pregnancy.)

Freakazoid!

Joe McKnight is not quite human. He glides across the field, makes jukes that make Kirk Herbstreit go straight to the video game comparison, and generally appears more elegantly fast than everyone else in pads on the field.

Is he the next Reggie Bush? Perhaps. But, for now, he’s the first and only Joe McKnight. That’s enough.

Super Sloppy Double Dare

Michigan and Notre Dame. Auburn and Mississippi State. Really, I need not say more.

But I will: the entire Big Blue-Golden Domers game was an exercise in settling the echoes for good, and only Michigan’s allergy to possession made a still-anemic Irish team look good. I wouldn’t say either of these teams is good; looking at their schedules, I would be surprised to see either not bowling at year’s end.

On the other hand, Auburn and Mississippi State both played great defense for 60 minutes, with the Tigers holding the Bulldogs without a third-down conversion in 14 tries.

And though I’m pretty sure both offenses could have gone four or five overtimes without a touchdown, the fourth quarter from Starkville was the most entertaining quarter of football on Saturday; a slobberknocker with a ton of fumbles, it summed up a weekend of tenuous play from the entire nation pretty well.

Photo of the Week

I’ll try to find one every week; you can find this week’s here.

The Saturday Speculator: Week 2

Andy Hutchins — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:44:34 -0400

Here’s where I’m going to throw out my predictions for the Top 25 games for the week and other mostly totally erroneous opinions about the upcoming Saturday’s slate of action.

I have last week’s picks, the ones I would’ve made, tucked down there, too, so you can consider this the kickoff of The Saturday Speculator.

Just so you know, I’m picking every game the Sporting News’ crack online team deems worthwhile.

(24) South Carolina at Vanderbilt: I would’ve taken the Gamecocks, probably by 24-6 or something. Oops.
Eastern Illinois at Illinois: I’m on record as calling him “arguably the best quarterback in the Big Ten,” so, yeah, I’m on the Jumbo Juice bandwagon; Illini, 45-10.
Marshall at Wisconsin: Wisconsin’s highly overrated, like every year, but Marshall isn’t even rated. Badgers win, 34-17.
Ohio at Ohio State: I know more Ohio alums than tOSU grads. This may or may not be because no one has ever graduated from Ohio State. Still, this is the week Terrelle Pryor gets to insert himself into the hype surrounding next weekend’s trip to SoCal; Buckeyes, 52-14.
Southern Miss at Auburn: The 2008 version of the War Eagle spread sputtered last week, and a test will come against a team that debuted its own tweaked spread under Larry Fedora. The Golden Eagles made sweet, sweet music to the tune of 633 total yards, including 426 rushing yards last week. If Auburn doesn’t come out firing, this one is close to the wire. Still, Tigers have Sen’Derrick Marks, and Southern Miss doesn’t, so 31-24.
BYU at Washington: The Ty Willingham Farewell Tour That Suspiciously Resembles The Bataan Death March (TYFTTSRTBDM) continues, Cougars win big, 41-17.
Cincinnati at Oklahoma: Cincinnati could grind it out and keep this close. Could. Sooners, 70-14.
Central Michigan at Georgia: The real trouble spot for Georgia isn’t the Chippewas’ Tebow clone, Dan LeFevour. It’s Knowshon Moreno’s ACL. Bulldogs, 45-19.
Utah State at Oregon: If I were to pick an animal that would be a lot of fun to watch in a mine, it would be a duck. (And Oregon’s a lot better than Utah State.) Ducks, 48-21.
Mississippi at Wake Forest: This is a sexy upset pick that might come true, but I think Wake Forest’s just a little too good on defense for the very green Jevan Snead. Demon Deacons, 30-21.
Oregon State at Penn State: This is a sexy upset pick for the lobotomized of the world who think losing to Stanford isn’t symptomatic of a program’s free fall. Nittany Lions take care of business in their first game against a real team, 28-13.
West Virginia at East Carolina: This is a sexy upset pick for those who don’t realize West Virginia has Noel Devine and Pat White. Mountaineers, 45-20.
Louisiana Tech at Kansas: Louisiana Tech upset the Fighting Sly Crooms last week. Mark Mangino won’t let that happen to this Kansas team, but it could be tight late if the Jayhawks sputter early as they did against Florida International. Jayhawks, 35-21.
Southeast Missouri State at Missouri: This is like bringing a spork to a knife fight. Tigers, 58-7.
Tulane at Alabama: Nick Saban is really one of the 10 best college coaches out there. His freshman class is testament to that, and they will again lead this Alabama team. Crimson Tide, 34-13.
USF at UCF: It’s funny that for years UCF has been trying to get called just that in the press, rather than Central Florida, and in the listings for this game, it’s usually South Florida that gets the extended treatment. The Bulls battered the Knights last year, have never lost to them, and won’t on Saturday. Bulls, 38-27.
Troy at LSU: LSU has about two more weeks to put together something resembling an SEC quarterback, but their defense and running game make sure that Troy, which would give any other SEC West team some trouble, is naught but nuisance. Tigers, 42-20.
Miami (FL) at Florida: I can’t say I don’t think that both teams are revved up for this, because all reports out of Gainesville are that players were overlooking Hawai’i for this game. But I think Miami needs this win a lot more than UF does, and I think the heart Randy Shannon’s been putting the pads to for two years will stir just a little on Saturday night. Then Tebow will take over. Gators, 49-27.
UNLV at Utah: Utah looked good, but not great, in beating Michigan. UNLV knocked off Utah State last week, but don’t look for them to pull the Beehive State Public School Double: Utes, 33-20.
Texas Tech at Nevada: Can’t fault Nevada’s Chris Ault for trying to schedule the big boys, because the next game for the Wolf Pack is Mizzou. Red Raiders roll, 63-27.
Stanford at Arizona State: Now, this is a potential upset if Stanford can put Rudy Carpenter on his back. I don’t think they can pressure him for four quarters, but they can for three. Sun Devils, 34-24.
Texas at UTEP: Texas will be the most underrated team heading into the Red River Shootout, at which time Oklahoma will remove that brand with all the surgical deftness of a thresher. UTEP? UTEP’s pretty bad. Longhorns, 56-17.

The names on everyone’s lips after this week will be Terrelle Pryor, Tim Tebow, Justin Roper, DeMarco Murray, and Trindon Holliday.

No one will want to be UCF quarterback Michael Greco on Sunday morning.

The most impressive team this week will be Oklahoma, followed closely by Florida and Ohio State.

Notre Dame and Michigan will both be unimpressive; Georgia Tech will lose.

I would have been 19-4 against the SN slate last week, and, bonus prediction: they’ll never realize their numbers are wrong.

And I’ll be back next week. Feel free to chime in with comments.

The Hangover Cure: Week 1

Andy Hutchins — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:37:16 -0400

I used to run a Facebook group that discussed NCAA football, and what I thought of as the crowning achievement of that group’s short life was the Sunday morning post I wrote and dubbed The Hangover Cure.

It’s coming here, now, and belatedly. Enjoy.

Disaster Movie

It has to be Clemson laying an elephantine egg against Alabama.

Tommy Bowden’s boys came in ranked in the Top 10 nationally, fail to score an offensive touchdown, allow ‘Bama to race out to 14-0 and 23-3 advantages, accrue just eight more total yards (188) than the Tide did passing yards, rack up zero total rushing yards, give just eight carries combined to C.J. Spiller and James Davis, and commit only one turnover in the biggest letdown of Week 1.

Hell, they even got ‘Bama, which should still be no better than the second-best team in the SEC West, the cover of Sports Illustrated. An anti-game ball to you.

Burn After Reading

Those documents about how Florida’s Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps were custom-engineered by Germans for speed and comfort? Incinerated in a pile behind The Swamp, just like Hawaii’s defense.

Filling in for Percy Harvin in the speed role, the duo split eight carries and rolled up 134 yards and two scores.

UF’s offensive line and wideout blocking helped, certainly (stone-mitted Riley Cooper made the downfield block of the year so far on Rainey’s TD), but those holes only needed to be open for a half-second or so for the former sprinters who made Urban Meyer’s offense just that much more dangerous.

They also made it possible to talk about the University of Florida’s football team without Tim Tebow for a week. That’s phenomenal.

The Longshots

Oregon shouldn’t be this good a year after falling from the dizzying heights of 2007, losing Dennis Dixon first to every possible injury a leg can sustain and then, with wrecking ball Jonathan Stewart, to the NFL Draft.

And yet, there the Quack Attack was, shredding a Washington team that allowed 30 second-half points and almost 500 total yards and flummoxing Jake Locker into a 12-of-28 performance through the air that averaged just 3.7 yards per attempt.

Theirs is a potent offense again, behind guru du jour Chip Kelly, and the secondary, led by Patrick Chung, will be the only one in the Pac-10 that can stymie the thoroughbreds who play in the Coliseum.

Kung Fu Panda

Speaking of USC, isn’t zen master Pete Carroll’s use-by date long gone? Shouldn’t his USC teams have plummeted to a hole of NCAA penalties and 3-9 seasons by now? Doesn’t karma work?

Virginia would say no. Victims of a 52-7 brutalizing that made Mark Sanchez’ star a little shinier, the Cavs yielded almost 200 yards to the weekend’s four Trojan Horses of the Apocalypse (C.J. Gable, Joe McKnight, Allen Bradford, and Stafon Johnson) and converted just two of twelve third downs in the face of the fearsome SC defense.

The Trojans are again probably the deepest team in the country, and it seems like their offense has caught up to the perennially decapitation-friendly defense; with the Pac-10 down this year, and Beanie Wells likely to be diminished for their Sept. 13 clash with Ohio State, the Carroll Carnival could be back in Miami to win another BCS title in January.

After all, Oklahoma still has skidmarks from the last time the game was there.

Traitor

There is no truth to the rumor that Rooms-To-Go locations throughout the state of West F. Virginia were sold out this week in anticipation of mocking blazes in Morgantown.

But Rich Rodriguez’ Michigan debut, a lackluster 27-22 defeat to a good Utah team that, given Big Blue’s offensive awakening late in the game, could be cited by John McCain as a sign the war will be won, surely gave the folks who loaded up on pitchforks something to do.

Yeah, there’s something troubling about allowing almost 400 yards to renowned gridiron powerhouse Villanova, and yes, East Carolina over the ‘Neers is the trendy upset pick this week, but for one glorious stretch of fall, vindication came to the hills of Appalachia.

The Dark Knight

Isaiah “Juice” Williams is Illinois’ taker of souls, and despite his team’s 52-42 loss to the nitrous oxide-chugging Missouri Tigers, there is much to be proud of in Champaign.

Williams crammed what used to be half a season’s aerial work into his first game, throwing for 452 yards and five touchdowns, but the most important number he notched was 61.9, his completion percentage.

While he’s still going to be knocked for being a more effective runner than passer, this was a strong first step in establishing himself as arguably the Big Ten’s best quarterback.

Death Race

You know how the SEC is eternally slurped for being the toughest conference in America?

Well, disappointing performances by Mississippi State, Tennessee and Arkansas aside, the SEC was damn impressive in Week 1, with all its Top 25 squads not coached by a large orange cream-filled donut schools winning impressively (Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Alabama) and South Carolina thumping NC State.

And though it’s technically from Week 2, Vanderbilt’s surprise win over South Carolina makes the East look far deeper than it probably is.

Not a bad week for a conference that is still suffering from whatever shamanic curse saddled it with the abomination of Raycom Sports, which, during the Florida-Hawaii game, displayed graphics that obscured the field of play, consistently mangled descriptions of play, and, in the coup de grace, posted a scoreline that left Raycom in the third quarter while the game moved into its last stanza.

Tropic Thunder

If I had to pick a national championship matchup for Miami at this very second, it would be USC and Florida. The Gators look faster than any team in the country and much improved on defense, and the Trojans look like a juggernaut that could sweep through their schedule unblemished.

The Wackness

Why is Heisman voting so weird? Well, the guy topping my ballot threw just one TD last week.

Tim Tebow: He’ll be here until another stellar performance unseats him or UF loses.
Chase Daniel: Surgically lethal against Illinois.
Mark Sanchez: Needs more big weeks against better teams.
Pat White: Could only win if WVU goes undefeated.
Knowshon Moreno: Georgia will continue to pound the ball.

There will be a Blog Poll, starting next week, I promise. Leave notes, suggestions, brickbats in the comments. And I’ll see you Saturday for magnificent live-bloggery.

An Open Letter to Brett Favre

Andy Hutchins — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:40:34 -0400

Dear Brett,

You have been my favorite athlete and my sporting hero since I was six years old. But now, and only now, I am compelled to write you a letter. And it’s not fan mail.

Brett, your ongoing affair with football has gone past being just one to remember. You’ve created a fiasco that’s going to be more damaging to your legacy than any postseason interception could ever be, and you’ve stretched this past anything resembling a breaking point, leaving even words like “saga” and “ordeal” inadequate descriptors.

You’re the gunslinger of lore, sure, but in this incarnation, Brett, you’re the grizzled old gambler, never quite sure when to run, now holding losing cards and waiting an eternity for the other guy to blink.

And now, there’s one great out.

There’s an out for you, an out for the Green Bay Packers, an out for the NFL, and an out for the greater good of humanity.

See, it’s not a question of whether the Packers would let you play. Clearly, they’re committed to Aaron Rodgers as the starter.

But if you had merely ignored their request for more time, applied for reinstatement last week, and come into camp with the attitude toward football you’ve shown in recent weeks and even three-fourths of the talent you possessed no less recently than January, the team would have had a backup better than their starter, and photographic proof of it.

In that position, with you looking like you could deal with trying to win (and, let’s not kid ourselves, winning) your job back, the team would have faced fan backlash of an unimaginable degree.

The only reason Ted Thompson effigies aren’t being sold in Milwaukee-area Targets is because you screwed that one up.

By not understanding that not even you, arguably the most important player/figure/icon in NFL history, are bigger than the simple rule of Darwinism, by not comprehending that you needed to be open to the idea of proving your skills over one last summer rather than waltzing back into your starter’s role, you gave the Packers the upper hand.

They gave you as many chances to come back to them as possible. When you rejected that, rejected the terms of your employer for your continued employment, you lost what little authority you could have had.

And thus, I can’t blame the Packers for trying to make their situation as good as possible while letting you twist in the wind, gab to Greta van Susteren, and give ESPN their chance to take down your laurels and discover some of their imperfections.

There had been whispers that you were holding the Packers’ future hostage with your 'will-I-or-won’t-I' dance with retirement in recent years; that your quest to get the Packers to stock up on playmakers for one last Super Bowl run was as quixotic as trying to get Amy Winehouse off drugs.

But you were right on the second front. Last year, a young Packers team with you at the helm was in the NFL’s top five for the whole season, and came up one poor fourth quarter and an awful overtime interception short of that Super Bowl berth.

And next year, with the team’s young core a year more seasoned, things looked even brighter.

Then, in the shadows of one of your career’s most crushing losses, you put your usual pair of off-season shades on, retired to Mississippi, then, tears streaming, voice cracking, you retired from football.

The whispers were confirmed, quietly, as the Packers etched your name in the proper places and sighed their relief that your soap opera was over.

And then, you changed your mind. Though you had every opportunity to return to the team and compete for your job and, in two days, return everything to its normal state by simply outclassing Aaron Rodgers, you raised, counting on the Packers' front office not to call your legend status.

In any other year, they wouldn’t have. But Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson, bolstered by the evidence that their rebuilding plan, their change, contributed to the improvement of the team more than your play could, did the unthinkable.

They called.

So here we are, Brett: at the final table of this tortuous, torturous tournament. And it’s you and the other guy, and it’s for all the marbles; the whole enchilada. For your legacy as a football player, for your legacy as a Packer, for your future as either the legendary messiah of the green and gold or the pariah who parted ways acrimoniously and blew up bridges because burning them wouldn’t have been enough.

And incredibly, that guy has given you one last chance to walk away from the table and is willing to pay a king’s ransom for that result.

You would be a fool not to consider your options, of course.

You could re-raise, and show up at camp, letting all hell break loose. You could come back to the game as a Viking or a Bear, play with people you sort of know, go 8-8 this year and re-retire in late December, kicking yourself for believing it would be different.

You could hold, and be traded to the Jets or Buccaneers. You'll struggle behind substandard offensive lines, feel totally alien in either of two very different cities, cultures, and locker rooms, and come in third in the AFC East or bow out in the first round of the playoffs after winning the NFC South.

You might hang around for a year in either place, hoping it gets better. But it won’t.

You could fold, and go back to mowing your lawn and firing footballs through tire swings, wearing in another scarlet swooshed hat as you work your handicap down to single digits.

But, really, that’s just leaving money on the table, makes you look stupid, and leaves everyone exasperated instead of satisfied.

You’ve already passed the point of sharing the pot; coming back to the Packers, giving you and the team the best chance at a Super Bowl, and writing one last fitting coda to your story after a bizarre twist.

But, in true Hollywood fashion, your best option is the one that wasn’t on the table until the last minute. You’re holding $20 million cards, and you don’t even need to flip them over to claim the prize.

You go home and build some schools and houses, becoming the single biggest Hurricane Katrina relief donor. The Packers go to make the playoffs this year, falling short of the Super Bowl but getting close enough to get there in 2009 or 2010.

Roger Goodell doesn’t have to go off his meds and hold someone in contempt of the People’s Great NFL Imperial Court to stop you from wearing a different jersey. Fans everywhere go on with their lives. ESPN goes on to produce a twelve-part miniseries chronicling this July, and John Clayton finally gets his proper portrayal: Phillip Seymour Hoffman goes on to win an Emmy for the role.

Take my advice, Brett. Go. Do it. Take the money.

And run.

Glorious Quotes from Urban Meyer

Andy Hutchins — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:48:55 -0400

From this article in Sunday’s Gainesville Sun:

"The evening began at 6:30 with a pep talk from Gator coach Urban Meyer.

"In addition to introducing his staff and pumping up his program, Meyer also told the prospects that no walking, yawning or slacking of any kind would be tolerated.

"'If a team comes in here without energy and togetherness, we’ll beat them by three touchdowns,' Meyer told the assembled players." (italics mine)

Well then, what was Tennessee coming in with last year? Apathy and anarchy?

And Florida State, last year and in 2005? (Actually, those answers are Bobby Bowden’s players and Jeff Bowden’s playbook, respectively.)

It may just be an innocuous quote. Consider, though, that Meyer had to know reporters were there and scribbling, and that the event is as much about seeing players as it is getting seen in the media.

Even if it wasn’t intentional, it’s a great subliminal by a guy who’s mastered the arrogance of being the Head Gator without being quite as obnoxious as the Ol’ Ball Coach.

Even the AP Makes “Misktakes”

Andy Hutchins — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:00:49 -0400

So I went to ESPN.com to read their British Open recap, which, at this point, is just AP copy, as is usually the case very shortly after any event.

And I get this (italics mine):

SOUTHPORT, England — Turns out Padraig Harrington’s wrist was strong enough to hit all the right shots in the British Open. Better yet, it was strong enough to lift the silver Claret Jug.

Harrington became the first European in more than a century to win golf’s oldest championship two years is a row, smashing a pair of fairway metals into the par 5s Sunday that allowed him to pull away from misktake-prone Greg Norman and hold off a late charge by Ian Poulter for a four-shot victory.

I mean, that’s just damn funny, right? (As of 3:41 PM EST, it’s fixed.)

The Hornets: Less of a Poseur With James Posey?

Andy Hutchins — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:03:07 -0400

The Wednesday after baseball’s All-Star Game is the quietest day in American sports; really the only one that doesn’t have a substantive event from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, the PGA Tour, or NASCAR.

So little things, like James Posey signing with the New Orleans Hornets, make big news. (And, as a newly minted Hornets fan, I’m paying more attention to this than most.)

John Hollinger isn’t a fan of the move. I am.

Hollinger’s been doing great work for a while with making statistical analysis as important to and informative about basketball as it’s become to baseball; it’s good for fans and GMs alike.

But there’s something about the feel of adding a player like Posey that numbers will never quite replicate, as Joe Morgan and Murray Chass will no doubt tell you. (I’ll get to that.)

New Orleans might well have continued their rise to perennial dark horse championship contender by keeping their late first-round draft pick (Portland took Darrell Arthur with the 27th selection) or spending it on a slashing, mid-range gunner like Chris Douglas-Roberts or Mario Chalmers.

Adding a guy who’s acquired two rings in the last three years, though, shows a commitment to winning now and a faith in the plan that GM Jeff Bower has developed around Chris Paul, the manna from heaven that fell into the Hornets’ lap.

New Orleans, with Paul at the point, Peja Stojakovic at the three, and David West and Tyson Chandler down low, has one of the better nuclei in the NBA. However, their bench, which trotted out youth in the form of Julian Wright and Hilton Armstrong and foolhardiness in the body of Jannero Pargo, their long-range game, which is basically Stojakovic and the streaky Morris Peterson and Pargo, and their defense, which allowed Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker to aerate them at times this postseason, all needed upgrading.

Bringing in Posey as the go-to sixth man makes all three of those things better now.

He’s got the experience and energy to make a difference off the bench, as demonstrated in these playoffs, the three-point range to stretch the defense when Stojakovic is off the floor and keep the defense from keying on the Hornets’ potent Paul-and-West/Chandler pick-and-roll game, and he’s got the length and savvy, at 6′8" and 31, to bother twos and threes alike.

Certainly, Hollinger’s contention that Posey’s an older Julian Wright is a valid one; Wright was the best player from the shallow bench in the 2007-08 season and it’s unlikely that adding a better player in his mold gets him more time.

Posey, though, brings shooting skills that Wright doesn’t have yet (even if, as Hollinger notes, he’s almost exclusively parked beyond the arc) and he could be a mentor for the player we could be describing as a more athletic Bruce Bowen in a few years’ time.

And the point Hollinger brings up about Posey’s age and production can’t be taken lightly, either; the Posey of this postseason probably doesn’t help New Orleans win 65 games in this regular season or any one for the lenght of his contract.

But he’s not being paid handsomely with hopes of home-court advantage: His payday is a signal that New Orleans hopes to be serious title threat not in 2010-11, but in 2009.

Sure, it’s probably a little too much, at $25 million over four years, but there are really very few bargains in the NBA in any case, and only in extraordinary circumstances (Boston this year, the Lakers in 2003-04) can even championship contenders add significant role players for a song.

Yet I’ll bet even noted skinflint George Shinn won’t regret a dime, though, if Posey is instrumental in getting the Hornets through the gauntlet that is the Western Conference and over whichever Celtics, Pistons, or Cavaliers team is waiting in the Finals in the next couple of years.

And that has something to do with the exquisite timeliness of this maneuver, too. The iron is hot in New Orleans right now, with the post-Katrina exodus returning to the city in larger numbers and genuine enthusiasm for this team, making Shinn’s dreams of staying in Oklahoma City hard to recall.

Slipping from second to seventh in the West in the upcoming season would destroy a lot of that excitement, and because excitement moves needles and bolsters bottom lines in the form of TV revenue and season-ticket sales, Shinn would have been fool to make it seem like the Hornets were simply overachieving (which, frankly, they were, to some extent) this past season and still years off their track.

Adding a veteran with a championship pedigree gives New Orleans at least the semblance of actual effort to win a title in the near future.

And there’s something to be said for the potential for one fantastic postseason in the current system of NBA parity. The Pistons, one of the best three franchises of the decade (I’ll count the Spurs and Lakers in there, too), have as many titles as the Miami Heat, who, in hindsight, seem to have won theirs with a transcendent series from an oft-injured star at the best possible time and little else.

Why try to build slowly to a dynasty rather than load all the bullets for a better single shot?

Yes, the Hornets do need frontcourt help (fellow Celtic champ and New Orleans native P.J. Brown would be a good target) and would like to add another piece at the two to take some of the load off of Paul’s creating ability, but this is a step in the direction of a title.

James Posey may not be the perfect move, but it’s a very good one.

At least, the Hornets can pose as champs-to-be in October.

The Greatest Day In Sports, Ever?

Andy Hutchins — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:02:17 -0400

Sunday was indisputably a day full of drama, mostly thanks to some guy I was cheering for finding another way to make golf riveting theater.

But was it one of the best days in sports history? Let’s examine.

The best way to do this, I think, is to break it down by event.

108th U.S. Open Final Round: Forget Tiger for just a second, if you can.

Rocco Mediate, a glib 46-year-old journeyman and regional qualifier with no majors, five PGA Tour wins (none since the 2002 Greater Greensboro Open), a history of maladies, and a healthy Official World Golf Ranking of 158th. He has a FedEx Cup ranking of 128th, has no statistical ranking higher than his 16th in eagles on tour this year, went to little-known Florida Southern and isn’t even the best golfing alum, thanks to two-time Open champ Lee Janzen.

But on Sunday he became the first person since 2004 to finish the grueling U.S. Open under par with an even-par 71, and did so while playing with a more talented former champ, Geoff Ogilvy.

A combination of equal parts—simple accuracy off the tee, sound scrambling ability, and a few clutch putts (even though he missed a few)—enabled Mediate to stay in red numbers down the stretch while others wilted, and his grins and repeated on-camera “wows” made the father of three a lovable underdog and foil to the Colossus in Crimson.

Were there no Tiger, no 12-foot miracle on the 72nd hole, Mediate would be the oldest U.S. Open champion in history today.

But that performance (and Lee Westwood’s own gutty two-over 73 and Heath Slocum’s amazing bogey-free 65, tied for fifth-best round on Sunday at the Open) cannot hold a candle to Tiger Woods, who, if he is not the best golfer to ever walk the earth, is certainly the most magnetic, most dramatic athlete of his lifetime.

And Tiger, if that putt had not gone in, would have suffered his first final round defeat after holding the lead entering Sunday in a major, and to a regional qualifier, a blow that would erase much of the invincibility myth he carries (much stronger than his lost lead in the last qualifier to win the Open to Michael Campbell in 2006).

Instead, Tiger—despite struggling off the tee throughout his round and playing truly splendid golf for only about four holes in the middle of his round, despite bogeying the 13th hole at Torrey Pines for the first time in his career, and despite two borderline awful shots on the 18th—burnished his father’s prophet credentials and added a verse to his Ballad of Wounded Knee.

(In my mind, that song sounds like this.)

It’s not even clearly Tiger’s most dramatic Sunday at a major championship. His 2000 duel with Bob May down the stretch at Valhalla in the PGA Championship and his total disregard for the laws of golf, physics, and life in making the Chip Heard ‘Round the World at Augusta in 2005 were both unforgettable.

But Tiger’s 12-footer was the most important putt he’s ever made. And this round was the gutsiest Tiger’s ever played.

It was beyond phenomenal.

NBA Finals game five: Let me be clear: The Los Angeles Lakers will not win this series.

If they have even the vaguest prayer of winning two straight in Boston, they might want to find a way to redirect the Celtics’ team plane to Vancouver or Acapulco, or spike Paul Pierce’s Gatorade with horse tranquilizer, or convince Kevin Garnett not to show up again.

But Sunday night fanned that tiny flicker of hope.

Kobe Bryant again played as inconsistent a game as possible, starting hot and not making a good play down the stretch except his swipe of the ball from Pierce on a potential game-tying possession and subsequent dunk (the most Jordanesque thing I can ever remember him doing).

But on a night when Garnett was as anonymous as a double-double can be, when Rajon Rondo was, well, bad, and when the loss of Kendrick Perkins was actually an insurmountable obstacle for an NBA team, Pierce had 38 and nearly won the Celtics a title by himself.

There was little drama in this game until the waning moments of the fourth quarter, and Kobe’s steal removed the possibility of a game-winner. But on a night when anything would pale in comparison to Tiger Woods, it was about as good as it could have been.

Euro 2008, Turkey-Czech Republic: For a soccer fan, this was nirvana.

The highly ranked Czech Republic had a two-goal lead with 15 minutes left in regulation, and one of the best keepers in the world, Petr Cech, defending it.

And then the impossible happened.

Turkey poured in three goals in the next 14 minutes and rampaged back from the dead to eliminate the Czechs from Euro 2008, Cech’s hands of glue turning to stone and his defense swapping places with the Florida Gators’ secondary for fun.

I didn’t watch one minute of the game, and missed that comeback in particular while watching the last few minutes of Tigerbole before the final round, but you need look no further than this animated report to know that this game is already legendary.

Oh, and in other soccer news, the United States stomped Barbados.

NASCAR: On a Sunday with Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant working on their legacies, NASCAR would need something special to even find the radar of the average sports fan.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning his first race since 2006 fits the bill.

It’s the best possible outcome NASCAR could have had—placement on the ESPNews ticker for a few hours, and it shores up the unavoidable storyline of this season: Will Junior finally win a title?

Little E’s had a great season so far, his best, outpacing his title-winning teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and morphing from mere fan favorite to series powerhouse with Hendrick Motorsports, but his strong finishes lacked an exclamation point to announce him as a legitimate contender.

Sunday rectified that, and NASCAR has to be salivating about the idea of a new-school rivalry between series leader and bad boy Kyle Busch, the current driver most like Junior’s dad, and its uncrowned king, deciding the title this year.

But maybe the more exciting news came off the track, with the word that Joey Logano, the 18-year-old wunderkind fresh off a Nationwide series victory, will probably race in the Sprint Cup series before the year is done.

NASCAR’s been in a slump in recent years, losing the glitz race to the Danica Patrick/Helio Castroneves' surge of popularity for IndyCar, and this Sunday showed that it is at least on the way back.

MLB: The New York Yankees won their fourth straight and finished a sweep of Houston, but may have lost Chien-Ming Wang in the process. The Cubs are 20 games above .500, Willie Randolph is hanging on a strand of floss, and, in news that has given the year 1997 a heart attack, Ken Griffey Jr. might accept a trade to a contending team like, eh, the Tampa Bay Rays.

For a Sunday in June, pretty packed.

College World Series: Cinderella may be a pug if Fresno State has its way.

It’s just part of a topsy-turvy College World Series that will also pit number one Miami and number two Florida State in an elimination game today.

Tennis: While Roger Federer extended his streak, Rafael Nadal started one of his own.

It may not seem like much right this second, but Wimbledon is in two weeks. Nadal’s never looked stronger, and Federer’s faltered at times this year. A changing of the guard may be imminent.

NFL: There were no reports of arrests.

NHL: Gary Bettman, sadly, is still commissioner of the NHL.

That’s a lot in terms of variety and drama, I think, and the most momentous day in sports in my lifetime.

And ever? Maybe.

Tiger Woods and Why I'll Root for Him Today

Andy Hutchins — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:46:33 -0400

Tiger Woods turned in some of the most spectacular golf you will ever see on the back nine at Torrey Pines on Saturday, rolling in two long, snaking eagles putts and pitching in a miracle chip for birdie from a ridiculous lie on the 17th.

But there are more powerful reasons why I’ll root for Tiger today.

There’s no shortage of hyperbole about Tiger in the papers or on the airwaves today. Rick Reilly, in one of his first on-camera pieces for ESPN, went so far as to compare Saturday’s performance to “getting to see Sinatra sing, Koufax pitch, or Chuck Yeager fly,” adding, “The gods have chosen Tiger.”

And, yes, Tiger can turn golf into a glamour sport by hitting all the marvelous shots, but he’s never been more like the local duffer than he will be today. And he’s still got 18 holes between donning some swoosh-adorning, form-fitting crimson shirt and his third U.S. Open title.

Pained by his surgically reconstructed knee, we won't see the Tiger who ripped majestic drives off the tee and surveyed his handiwork in that victorious pose, driver twirling. Instead, we'll witness a slightly less fierce version, one just as likely to be bent over and grimacing in pain as the ball veers far left or right as to be coolly confident.

Now, of course, even Tiger’s miscues are epic. The rough landing of an errant drive is still probably 300 yards from the tee box. But make no mistake, even though his knee will probably be treated with a cortisone shot or four before the round, it will hurt Tiger, and, as he mentioned in a post-round press conference, will do so capriciously.

Suddenly a guy who’s fought a swing with prodigious length and sometimes ponderous accuracy most of his career, finds tee shots even more challenging. His fantastic wood and iron play saved him this week, but that strength could be sapped in a second.

This, of course, doesn’t mean he’s not Tiger Woods, owner of 13 major championships and arguably the greatest golfer to have ever picked up a putter. And it doesn’t mean he won’t throw something unfathomable at the course and win by eight strokes.

But it means that unfathomable round, more than on any other Sunday at a major in his career, could just as conceivably be an 80 should all of the nightmare scenarios converge.

And yet, if Tiger potentially winning as an Everyman for once isn’t enough, there’s the emotional heft of Tiger Woods in contention at the U.S. Open on Father’s Day.

He’ll be there for the first time as a father, as wife Elin gave birth to daughter Sam a day after last year’s Open. And though his late father, Earl, wasn’t at either of his previous triumphs, he’ll certainly be there in spirit, thanks to one of his dad’s quirks.

This weekend saw Tim Russert, one of America’s most prominent touchstones for the father-son relationship, pass away. It would be great theater to now see a man so thoroughly shaped by his extremely close relationship with his father point skyward to acknowledge the past, and then hold his present and future in his arms.

I am no fan of journalists rooting for storylines, for the easy column in Monday’s paper. Unquestionably with a Tiger win today the fawning columns will write themselves.

But I am a fan, not a journalist. And I have always been a fan of Tiger Woods, watching his successes and failures with my own father on many a Sunday.

My dad won’t be on the couch next to me today. He’s on an extended business trip and won’t be back in town for a couple more weeks.

But I’ll be texting him, calling him, and finding a way to share this with him.

So I’m rooting for Tiger to give me something unforgettable to share.

Cycling, Cycling, Wherefore Art Thou, Cycling?

Andy Hutchins — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:29:19 -0500

The short answer to that question is California.

The longer answer, though, is sad.

I turned on Versus (or VS, or We Show Hockey Network, or whatever it’s called) last night at, oh, maybe 3 AM Eastern, and I caught the last few minutes of what I assume was Stage 2 of the Tour of California. And, lo and behold, it was compelling: There was a breakaway at the end of the stage that happened maybe five seconds too soon, and the renegade was swallowed by a hard-charging pack led by Tom Boonen, who won the stage and, I assume, a trip to a winery to be named later.

But what shocked me was how good the sport was to watch, contrasted with how obscure it seems.

Cycling, after all, is wonderful to watch, thanks largely to the dryly witty British announcers Versus employs, and relatable to all who have ever been atop a bicycle. At last count, that included everyone on Earth over the age of seven, including those who do for purposes of defense, and excluding really, really lame bloggers. (Specifically, the one who writes this blog.)

The athleticism required, a fusion of immense strength, inexhaustible stamina, and steely will, is remarkable, and the agonies of a tour are ghastly. Cyclists put themselves through hell for pennies on the dollar, racking their bodies, and, in our steroid-swept times, their souls for answers to one simple question: Who can get from Point A to Point B fastest?

Unfortunately, the sport mortgaged its future for the present years ago with lax rules and laughable enforcement, and cycling became the sham sport of the public eye in the summer of 2006, with Landis’ literally incredible Stage 17 win followed by the hell that broke loose.

Look, I know that Lance Armstrong isn’t conquering the cycling world in the name of cancer survivors and America right now. (Machochip has him opening up a bike shop for the common man or woman who wants to smell uncommonly good after a ride.) I know that the hopes we had for Floyd Landis taking that mantle evanesced in the wake of failed testosterone tests and petulant appeals.

(An aside: Honestly, given what evidence I’ve read of, Landis is either a bigger liar than Nixon or the victim of a ludicrously huge conspiracy, and given that that same conspiracy would no doubt have snared Armstrong, too, I tend to believe the former.)

And I know that Armstrong, the pure, avenging American hero in the world’s sport, may be as pure as dirt, and that the only things he avenged may have been the slings and arrows of those doing their job without the aid of modern chemistry.

But the sport, pardon the pun, is on the road to respectability. Is one period of negligence enough to torpedo its appeal forever?

I should hope not.

I Pity Baltimore Raven Terrell Suggs

Andy Hutchins — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:15:20 -0500

I know I shouldn’t be complaining from my palatial basement about the monetary gifts due to the superstar athlete who entertains me and the rest of the world immensely.

But I think maybe Terrell Suggs is being a little petty, arguing over $814,000 and disputing the Baltimore Ravens’ franchising him as a linebacker and not, more lucratively, as a defensive end.

I mean, that’s only enough to buy this 2007 Rolls-Royce Phantom two-and-a-half times. It could only put Suggs and entourage up for, by my count, a little over four months at the Bellagio in Vegas. Hell, it barely covers these nice digs in upscale Melbourne Beach, Florida, in case he wants a house within an hour of NASA.

$814,000 is nothing, really. It certainly couldn’t help someone else, or anything like that. (It does, though, pale in comparison to his alma mater’s largest gift: Good for you, Ira Fulton!)

Nah, I stand behind Terrell Suggs. He’s a stand-up guy, after all, having never been convicted of anything.

Go get your money, Slugger.

NBA: Hawks, Heat to Replay Closing Minute of Game

Andy Hutchins — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:15:12 -0500

Maybe the one good thing Shaquille O'Neal has done this NBA season was something he didn't do.

Thanks to an NBA ruling that found an official scorer was incorrect in ruling the Miami Heat center had fouled out of a December 19th game with the Atlanta Hawks, Shaq will get a do-over.

Everyone else will, too.

In an extraordinarily unusual move, the NBA announced Friday that the Hawks and Heat would replay that game's final 51.9 seconds before the teams' next meeting March 8th in Atlanta.

The game's scorer, provided, per NBA rules, by Atlanta, erroneously credited a foul by Miami's Udonis Haslem to O'Neal with 3:24 remaining in the fourth quarter. When O'Neal later picked up a foul with 51.9 seconds left on the clock in overtime, it was recorded as his sixth, resulting in his disqualification.

The Heat filed a protest, and for the mistake, which he termed "grossly negligent," Commissioner David Stern fined the Hawks $50,000 and ordered the fifth replay in league history and first since 1982.

In the meantime, the Hawks, who eventually won the contest 117-111, and the Heat will have their respective win and loss removed from league standings.

All stats accumulated in the game will not be official until completion of the game in March.