Sporting Fools
Sporting Fools
Sporting Fools
Sporting Fools
The frequent and occasional humorous musings behind two of the World's greatest underappreciated sports minds.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Technical Difficulties.......Major problems with blogger kept me from getting my score predictions on here...
For the record I picked:
UNC, Clemson, Virginia and Georgia Tech in the ACC
and
FSU, Va. Tech, Florida, USF, UCF, Florida Atlantic and La-Monroe in the state-related games.
For the record I picked:
UNC, Clemson, Virginia and Georgia Tech in the ACC
and
FSU, Va. Tech, Florida, USF, UCF, Florida Atlantic and La-Monroe in the state-related games.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Blogpoll #10This week's blogpoll is here and my individual ballot is here.
-- I've had Virginia Tech above Texas for about seven weeks now. Why? Because I think they are a better team and they've defeated better competition. If they played on a neutral field Virginia Tech would win by a touchdown, if they played in Blacksburg, Va. Tech would win by two scores and if they played in Austin I believe UT would win by six points or less.
-- Sorry Alabama, just now feeling it...And it hurts me because Warren St. John is a fellow member of the Lakeland family of Newspapers...But they can't score and there's no way in hell they are covering 17 on the road against Mississippi State this week.
-- This UCLA teams reminds me of the 1997 UCLA team that quietly goes undefeated and will eventually run into a bad roadblock. Lucky for them I think they can barely survive until Dec. 3.
-- TCU is getting dangerously close to the Top 15.
-- Eventually Section Six is going to have a cross-conversation with me regarding this week's FSU-NCSU game (a game I'm quite worried about).
-- I've had Virginia Tech above Texas for about seven weeks now. Why? Because I think they are a better team and they've defeated better competition. If they played on a neutral field Virginia Tech would win by a touchdown, if they played in Blacksburg, Va. Tech would win by two scores and if they played in Austin I believe UT would win by six points or less.
-- Sorry Alabama, just now feeling it...And it hurts me because Warren St. John is a fellow member of the Lakeland family of Newspapers...But they can't score and there's no way in hell they are covering 17 on the road against Mississippi State this week.
-- This UCLA teams reminds me of the 1997 UCLA team that quietly goes undefeated and will eventually run into a bad roadblock. Lucky for them I think they can barely survive until Dec. 3.
-- TCU is getting dangerously close to the Top 15.
-- Eventually Section Six is going to have a cross-conversation with me regarding this week's FSU-NCSU game (a game I'm quite worried about).
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Random News Items...-- Pete Carroll and LenDale White "punk" the USC beat writers with an eloquent prank. Carroll is one of my faves and when you talk to him you see why he's so successful in the college game. He's a big kid. [Pasadena Star-News]
-- Miami agrees to play Florida International in the first official "Miami-Dade County Bowl"...Right now the agreement is for 2006 and 2007, but I'm expecting a 25-year contract when it's all said and done...Prediction: FIU wins their first game in this series in 2054. [Miami Herald].
-- Charlie Weis' 10-year extension will make him the highest paid coach in college football. [ESPN.com]
-- And on that same note Jason Whitlock comes strong in a column about the "Great Weis Hope" that will get him called some names, but he makes some excellent points. [ESPN.com]
-- Miami agrees to play Florida International in the first official "Miami-Dade County Bowl"...Right now the agreement is for 2006 and 2007, but I'm expecting a 25-year contract when it's all said and done...Prediction: FIU wins their first game in this series in 2054. [Miami Herald].
-- Charlie Weis' 10-year extension will make him the highest paid coach in college football. [ESPN.com]
-- And on that same note Jason Whitlock comes strong in a column about the "Great Weis Hope" that will get him called some names, but he makes some excellent points. [ESPN.com]
Monday, October 31, 2005
Weekend Rewind....I actually did this Sunday morning, but my computer crashed and out of frustration I refused to do it again...But I'll try.
Miami-UNC: Miami decided to sleepwalk through the first half and Carolina couldn't take full advantage of it when Jaworski Pollock dropped a sure touchdown that would've given the Tar Heels a 23-7 lead. Miami decided to actually play football in the second half and effectively took the ball out of Kyle Wright's hands and allowed Moss to lead them to victory. Carolina's coaching staff deserves the assist for refusing to run the ball in the second half after being so effective in the first. Miami has no chance against Virginia Tech unless Kyle Wright gets real good real quickly.
Minnesota-Ohio State: I feel bad for Glen Mason's teams. They just can get over that hump in the second half of the season. I thought that winning the little brown jug would be a step in that direction for the Gophers. Ted Ginn Jr. looked like he was shot out of a cannon on that kick return. Antonio Pittman might be the player that gets the Buckeyes into the BCS, they needed something from the running game to keep the pressure off of Troy Smith. Laurence Maroney is still a baaaaaaad man.
Texas Tech-Baylor: I caught enough of this game to know I didn't miss anything.
Florida-Georgia: Florida made 14 points stand despite the offense going into complete shut down mode after the first quarter. At least Meyer made the adjustments that I and every other columnist in the south suggested in the last month. He went to a max protection set and did some solid non-option runs. Maybe, just maybe this Meyer guy is getting the hint. As for Georgia, they had many opportunities but everytime they were stopped it was in a position when D.J. Shockley probably would have made the difference. It's a tough way to be eliminated from the national title race.
Florida State-Maryland: Well Drew Weatherford finally made a play on his own. This was a good game, I had serious feeling that Maryland would win and they played great in the middle quarters. FSU's running game doesn't exist. Maryland was dead last against the run in the conference and FSU couldn't really get much going until late in the game. It's nice to finally see what a healthy Willie Reid can do. FSU beats N.C. State on Saturday and they win their half of the ACC.
Michigan-Northwestern: Stop the presses, Michigan actually played a strong all-around game for the full sixty minutes. What's even more amazing is they way they played on offense without Hart in the backfield. I expected the drama department to really score in the high 30s against the Wolverines, but Michigan's defense continues to improve week to week.
Texas-Oklahoma State: Stat of the weekend: Texas has outscored Oklahoma State, 118-0, in the last three second halfs between the two teams. As Texas was trailing all I thought about was the 2004 game when OSU had the 35-7 lead only to lose by 21. This was basically a carbon copy of that game. And yes, Vince Young is a major threat to USC's lock on the Heisman trophy, no doubt about that.
Tennessee-South Carolina: Spurrier took Fulmer for a walk again and did it was a team that's half as talented. Not surprisingly someone had to pay for this loss and it was offensive coordinator Randy Sanders [Wire]. Only the dumbest of fans think that Sanders is the problem, he doesn't have an ounce of authority anyway. I expect Fulmer to follow him out of the door after this preseason Top 5 team finishes 6-6. Meanwhile Spurrier is one win away from bowl eligibility and if his defense continues to play this well, he might be feeling good about his chances against Florida on Nov. 12.
Miami-UNC: Miami decided to sleepwalk through the first half and Carolina couldn't take full advantage of it when Jaworski Pollock dropped a sure touchdown that would've given the Tar Heels a 23-7 lead. Miami decided to actually play football in the second half and effectively took the ball out of Kyle Wright's hands and allowed Moss to lead them to victory. Carolina's coaching staff deserves the assist for refusing to run the ball in the second half after being so effective in the first. Miami has no chance against Virginia Tech unless Kyle Wright gets real good real quickly.
Minnesota-Ohio State: I feel bad for Glen Mason's teams. They just can get over that hump in the second half of the season. I thought that winning the little brown jug would be a step in that direction for the Gophers. Ted Ginn Jr. looked like he was shot out of a cannon on that kick return. Antonio Pittman might be the player that gets the Buckeyes into the BCS, they needed something from the running game to keep the pressure off of Troy Smith. Laurence Maroney is still a baaaaaaad man.
Texas Tech-Baylor: I caught enough of this game to know I didn't miss anything.
Florida-Georgia: Florida made 14 points stand despite the offense going into complete shut down mode after the first quarter. At least Meyer made the adjustments that I and every other columnist in the south suggested in the last month. He went to a max protection set and did some solid non-option runs. Maybe, just maybe this Meyer guy is getting the hint. As for Georgia, they had many opportunities but everytime they were stopped it was in a position when D.J. Shockley probably would have made the difference. It's a tough way to be eliminated from the national title race.
Florida State-Maryland: Well Drew Weatherford finally made a play on his own. This was a good game, I had serious feeling that Maryland would win and they played great in the middle quarters. FSU's running game doesn't exist. Maryland was dead last against the run in the conference and FSU couldn't really get much going until late in the game. It's nice to finally see what a healthy Willie Reid can do. FSU beats N.C. State on Saturday and they win their half of the ACC.
Michigan-Northwestern: Stop the presses, Michigan actually played a strong all-around game for the full sixty minutes. What's even more amazing is they way they played on offense without Hart in the backfield. I expected the drama department to really score in the high 30s against the Wolverines, but Michigan's defense continues to improve week to week.
Texas-Oklahoma State: Stat of the weekend: Texas has outscored Oklahoma State, 118-0, in the last three second halfs between the two teams. As Texas was trailing all I thought about was the 2004 game when OSU had the 35-7 lead only to lose by 21. This was basically a carbon copy of that game. And yes, Vince Young is a major threat to USC's lock on the Heisman trophy, no doubt about that.
Tennessee-South Carolina: Spurrier took Fulmer for a walk again and did it was a team that's half as talented. Not surprisingly someone had to pay for this loss and it was offensive coordinator Randy Sanders [Wire]. Only the dumbest of fans think that Sanders is the problem, he doesn't have an ounce of authority anyway. I expect Fulmer to follow him out of the door after this preseason Top 5 team finishes 6-6. Meanwhile Spurrier is one win away from bowl eligibility and if his defense continues to play this well, he might be feeling good about his chances against Florida on Nov. 12.
