Sunday, September 02, 2007

Sunday 09/02 (Very) Quickie: CFB Wrap-Up!

Quick(ie)-hit thoughts from yesterday's CFB opening Saturday:

Appy State upsets Michigan: Biggest regular-season upset in college football history? (The truth is probably somewhere between "ever" and "this decade."

(Think these will become popular? Wait: Just heard that Miss Teen South Carolina, known for her map skills, is going to Appy. In one week, they've gone from national laughingstock to national Cinderella. Has there ever been a bigger one-week turnaround? Add it to Appy's "ever" list!)

I want to see Appy State ranked in the Top 25. And I want to see Michigan NOT ranked in the Top 25.

Michigan proves that preseason rankings are a joke – and played themselves right out of the national title picture, even if they go 11-0 the rest of the way.

Virginia Tech: The healing continues. If only the offense could deliver in a way to give me more confidence heading into Baton Rouge next week.

Cal proves itself as a legit national contender, by beating the toughest opponent of the day. (Meanwhile: Tennessee's status? ABD: All-But-Done.)

Notre Dame sucks: 'Nuff said. (And it will only get worse next week, when they face a Penn St team that hung 59 on Florida Int'l, while pitching a shutout.)

USC didn't win that impressively. Certainly not impressively enough to merit their being No. 1 simply because they were No. 1 a week ago, based on nothing but preseason guessing.

Florida enters Tebow Time: 13/17 for 300 yards and 4 TDs (3 pass/1 rush) in 3 quarters of action in his debut as a starter.

McFadden Time was already here: Carrying over from last year, D-Mac ran for 151 yards and threw a 42-yard TD pass for good measure. Unlike USC, McFadden DID retain his preseason No. 1 status – as Heisman favorite.

West Virginia is effing awesome: Pat White and Steve Slaton jump to the top of my Heisman watch list. Can we have co-Heisman winners... from the same team, no less???

Wisconsin is better than thought. It's defense isn't quite as good. But the offense is much better. The net result affirms their place as a Top 10 team.

Texas is worse than thought. In fact, you have the foreshadowing for next week: Texas hangs on, TCU pitches a shutout. Don't call it an "upset" when the Horned Frogs win in Austin next week.

Speaking of "than thought": I didn't have Georgia in my initial Top 25 last week. Let me be clear: THAT WAS A MISTAKE. That was a VERY quality non-conf win over Oklahoma State.

BC's Matt Ryan should be a Top 5 Heisman contender, at least after Week 1. 400-plus yards and 4 TDs in a big game will do that for a guy.

(Oh, so if Matt Ryan was impressive, what about Colt Brennan, who threw for 400-plus yards and 6 TDs... in the first half.)

Heisman Watch:
1. Darren McFadden
2a. Pat White
2b. Steve Slaton
3. Colt Brennan
4. Brian Brohm
5. Ray Rice
Rising: Matt Ryan, Tim Tebow
Falling: Booty, McCoy
Out: Henne, Hart

(Yes, Hart had a good game. But simply put: No voter will be able to separate the player from the stunning upset loss.)

Looking ahead to next week: A crazy batch of games, including a season-definer for both VA Tech and LSU, a TCU upset-special over Texas and, potentially, another opportunity to piss on Michigan's lost season.

Non-CFB: What is a COACH doing with PEDs? Seriously.

Clay Buchholz pitches a no-hitter... in his second MLB start. A Boston myth has been created.

Sharapova out at US Open. One less reason to watch.

Jags release Byron Leftwich: My favorite player on the team and one of my top "I'm in the bag for him (even though he's not great)" NFL players. Maybe he'll find a place in... KC? Atlanta?

-- D.S.

26 comments:

TJ said...

If pre-season rankings are ridiculous, then it isn't much less ridiculous to try to make definitive rankings after one week of cupcake football. If you lose (Michigan) you're clearly out of the top 25, but it's hard to make statements like "USC doesn't deserve to be #1" because they had some kinks to work out in the first week while they were busy with a workmanlike dismantling of some poor poor doormat.

If you're against pre-season rankings, I think the alternative is waiting at least as long as the Harris Poll waits--one week is a horribly small sample size (for trying to compare whose win was more "worthy" than someone else's), and not really any more useful than guesses based on the jersey name and spring practice.

Richard K. said...

DS,

I'm back from a weekend in South Bend. Anyways I have a few thoughts from yesterday:

1. Not only should Michigan be ranked outside the top 25, but they should be ranked #119 overall.

2. For a second, everyone needs to stop talking about how bad Notre Dame was (and I admit they looked awful). On the flip side, Georgia Tech has been vastly underrated, and Tashard Choice may be a huge Heisman candidate (should have 500+ yards and 6 TDS after 3 games).

3. Colt McCoy doesn't look good.

4. Auburn got bailed out by their defense. That game should have been over much earlier.

5. I wont be suprised when Boston College QB Matt Ryan is a first round pick. That kid is awesome.

Dweeze said...

I love the site, Dan - in fact, I never go to Deadspin anymore. But can we quit linking winning football games to "healing" for VT? If you lost someone that day, does it really help make it better that the football team wins games? Isn't that sort of thought, that sort of focus exactly what is meant when people say that sports cause us to lose perspective about what really matters in life?

pv845 said...

I really think that someone need to vote for App. State and rank them. Even if it only for one week.

The SEC isn't anywhere near as dominant as everyone thinks.

KSU should have won by a lot.
TENN lost.
LSU looked average.
UF was the only team that looked dominant.

This is going to be a season of parity and a disaster at the end.

Sam said...

A rookie pitcher throws a no-hitter and all you give him is ONE LINE! And call him a Boston Myth?? Good to see you hatred of Red Sox makes it tough for you to be a fair writer. The rest of your post is excellent, but don't you think a rookie, regardless of team, who throws a no-hitter deserves a little more love?

Ted Kerwin said...

This Leftwhich thing makes no sense to me. I think he is a superior player to Garrard. I need to go read some articles on this decision, any reccommendations?

PatriotsNation said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PatriotsNation said...

The Pats 16-0 season could be in jeopardy!

Already reeling from the news they won't have safety Rodney Harrison, who was suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the league's performance-enhancing substances policy, the Patriots announced yesterday they will be without Pro Bowl defensive end Richard Seymour for the first six weeks.

The team placed Seymour, who had offseason knee surgery, on the reserve/physically unable to perform list and released 21 players, including quarterback Vinny Testaverde, as part of its moves to get down to the 53-man roster limit.

Josh Putnam said...

Please stop calling them Appy St. If you must abbreviate, call them App. St. or even just App. Thanks, a native North Carolinian

The heroin sheik said...

I Can't believe it. I go to work last night at halftime of the Gator game. I have everything set to tivo the game just so I can see how good Tebow looks. The game sounded great on the radio feed. I get home all boozed up at 3 in the morning and lo and behold the game isn't available in my area on Sunshine sports. I bout threw a bottle through my tv. Sometimes it is a real bitch to watch your team when you live nowhere near them. I bet my cousin is glad she lives in atlanta and wasn't able to see her alma mater get their ass wiped by App St. Pretty exciting day of football from what I can tell. Maybe next weekend I will be able to watch a game. Now if only I can find a bar that caters to Florida fans up here in chicago.

Travis said...

Im not worried about Seymour missing 6 weeks.

Jarvis Green will be a cvery nice fill in for Seymour.


Lets talk about Jason Varitek for a moment... Is he the best game calling catcher in the game? Last night was his 3rd career no hitter caught and he calls the game on his own.

Unknown said...

Shanoff,

I'm a big fan of the site and your writing but your SEC bias is really causing you to hate on USC much more than necessary. Take it down a notch.

Anonymous said...

i have to admit, the app. state upset was one of the greatest 'things' i have ever seen in my life. even outside of sports. you couldn't write a movie quite like that.

shame on you, dan for hating on georgia this early. you should know better. they don't blow up until week 3 or 4.

anyway, penn state/lsu in the bcs championship game doesn't sound so stupid.

you say joe, i say pa.

MP said...

I think Penn St., things staying as they are, will win the Big 10. Anyone want to argue?

I think Ohio State fans, as a giant prank, should wear App. State apparel to the November game.

I also think Cal needs to beat USC to convince me in the slightest that they are legitimate national title contenders.

tobinw said...

Show some love to Oklahoma! In the first half, Sam Bradford was 21 of 23 for 363 yards and 3 TDs, and DeMarco Murray had five rushing TDs in the Sooners' 79-10 demolition of North Texas. Not bad for a couple of redshirt freshmen.

Plus they play Miami next week, that should be one of the elite matchups.

Anonymous said...

I was in attendance at BC-Wake Forest yesterday,Dan.Matt Ryan is unreal with Steve Logan as his offensive coordinator.(former East Carolina coach.

mirthywvu said...

ugh Penn State fans...

weeks ago, even days ago, Penn State is projected to lose 3-4 games this year, and because they shut out...FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL...we're talking championship vs LSU!?!? Morelli will choke and Joe will continue to be a "pruning on the sideline (or press box, haha)" waste of space

Talk about delusional.

TBender said...

The Tech-ND game reminds me about how much I hate Reggie Ball.

Johnny b said...

no no no weeks ago penn state was projected to lose one maybe 2 games; if you looked at teh schedule at michigan is the loss (probably still is); it's tough to beat them at home

I still don't like the talk though i like sneaking up on people

Melbye said...

Here's hoping Brad Childress and Ziggy pick up Leftwich.

My wife is from NC and I lived in VA and they all call it Appy State? Signs in the crowd in last year's championship game said Appy State? What is your deal dude?

Matt T said...

The other big game of the week next week is Georgia/South Carolina in Athens.

If the D plays like they did against Okie State they should be fine.

Andy Roberts said...

I'm not surprised Dan made ND getting smoked all about the Irish. Yes, ND has some major issues (like QB, if Charlie doesn't do the right thing and start Jimmy at PSU).

But ND will never play worse than they did yesterday under Weis. Simply not possible. And Georgia Tech is a very, very good football team. Should CRUISE to the Orange Bowl playing like that.

Matt T said...

Tashard Choice should be on your Heisman watch list.

(and this is coming from a UGA alum)

Unknown said...

he probably wont win, but shouldnt Desean Jackson at least be in your Heisman "watch" after Saturday's punt return for TD? His receiving numbers werent spectacular, but he did draw two pass interference penalties that probably wouldve netted 50 yard gains each if they were called in the NFL.

They were saying that Jackson has a legitimate chance of shattering the NCAA Punt Returns for TDs record, since he now has 6 in only 25 or so attempts. The record is held by Wes Welker, who has 8 in 150 or so attempts. Of course, teams will blatantly stop kicking to him like Tennesse did in the 2nd half on Saturday.

steved104 said...

Dan - the USC comment that they don't deserve to be #1 is short-sighted (as per usual for you these days). They clearly used 1/8 (if not less) of their playbook against a fairly weak opponent. They also didn't start their starting C (injury), lost Cushing (top LB) early, Turner (the #1 WR) didn't play, and we all know about the RB turmoil/transfers/injuries. Give Pete and crew enough credit as they easily dispatched an inferior team without a single complicated play (the entire game was run up the middle and 8-10 yd outs for Booty). Nebraska will be a bit different - SC will be healed and open the playbook - make your "instant judgments" you love so much then.

Bcips24 said...

Sorry to correct you Dan, but Matt Ryan threw for 5 TD's this past Saturday not 4. If BC continues to play with this wide-open playbook for the whole year you will see Ryan post Colt Brennan / Texas Tech QB type numbers by the end of the year against vastly superior opponents. He has to be on the Hesiman watch list.