Saturday, September 13, 2008

CFB Saturday Random Notes

USC-Ohio State:

There's not much to say -- Ohio State is getting their asses handed to them, even more than either of the past two national-title games.

If I was Terrelle Pryor, I'd wonder what the hell I was thinking signing with Jim Tressel, given how stubborn Tressel seems to be in continuing to play Boeckman, even though USC is destroying him.

(UPDATE: Looks like Tressel is finally going to give Pryor consistent snaps. Given that OSU's national-title hopes are over tonight, he should consider splitting QB snaps more evenly -- or even more in Pryor's favor -- for the next 9 games, too.)

There is no reason for Pryor NOT to be playing -- except that Tressel is proving, once again, how unimaginative he is, particularly in the face of a superior opponent. At this point, please consider that Virginia gave USC a much tougher game than Ohio State. Virginia.

I think Ohio State has played its way out of any chance of being in the BCS title game, even if they win every other game this season by 40 points. Oh, wait, as I type this, another easy USC TD... go figure. This is an embarrassment for OSU -- and a clinic for USC.

No team in the country is close to the Trojans right now. They look so freaking good. So I guess it'll be USC playing/beating whoever in the BCS title game -- Missouri? Oklahoma? SEC champ?

Late-afternoon games:

Georgia-SoCar update: I think that even if/when Georgia wins, they'll drop in the polls. That's both fair and unfair: Fair in that they certainly haven't looked great on offense (and playing D on South Carolina is hardly THAT challenging); unfair in that South Carolina isn't a bad team -- in fact, they have a very good D -- and playing on the road in the SEC is always tough.)

Cripes: I thought Michigan's defense was supposed to be the one thing that didn't suck. They're making Notre Dame look like USC. UPDATE: Cripes, Michigan is awful.

I'm one quarter into Georgia-South Carolina, and I can't tell if SC's defense is that good or Georgia's offense is that overrated.

(NOT overrated: Knowshon, who is the best "conventional" running back I have seen in college football in a long time -- so Reggie Bush doesn't count. There is NO way Knowshon doesn't jump to the NFL after this season -- he's already the best RB in college football, and he has limited mileage on the tires.)

BYU is en route to cementing itself as the BCS-Buster to beat. Absolutely a Top 10 ranking, if they keep up this shellacking of a UCLA team that beat Tennessee...

At some point, BYU stops playing against their opponent on the field and start competing with BCS voters' expectations -- the bigger the rout, the better they'll do in the polls.

If East Carolina doesn't beat Tulane convincingly, do they drop in the polls and lose their mojo? (Um: And if they don't beat Tulane at all, what a complete flop. FINAL: OK, so ECU won...but only barely. What happened to the giant-killer who crushed West Virginia? Today was enough to drop them in the polls, particularly given how high I had them -- 8th.)

Wow, think Oregon was overrated much? We only had one game to judge Purdue, but they certainly didn't seem like world-beaters. Between the Ducks and Bruins, the Pac-10 rep is taking a beating today, regardless of how well USC plays against Ohio State tonight...

UPDATE: Well, Oregon can turn it around. From "crushed by a mediocre Big Ten team" to "big win on the road against an underrated Big Ten team." Obviously, only if they win...

Early-afternoon games
:

Headliner: I think Chase Daniel is going to vault Knowshon Moreno for the lead on my Heisman ballot, regardless of what Moreno does on CBS to South Carolina later this afternoon...

(And Jeremy Maclin may be the most dynamic do-anything player in the country. We'll see what Joe McKnight does tonight, I guess...)

God, did Tennessee and its fans (looking at you, Clay Travis) need this big cushion-y win today, heading into next week's season-maker/-breaker at home vs. Florida...

Illinois fans can't possibly be happy about a near-miss vs. LA-Lafayette...

I'm stumped by Oklahoma State: I had them ranked after Week 1, then dropped them out after Week 2. Now they're rolling it up again on a cupcake in Week 3. I'm waiting on Big 12 season...

David Cutcliffe has Duke going in the right direction...

Northwestern: 3-0 in the non-conference for the first time in about a century...

So much for Cal's early-season momentum. Heading into this game, Maryland was a punchline...

If Ball State holds on to beat Akron and doesn't make my Top 25 this week, they certainly are among the non-BCS teams on the radar (call it a very serious "Also Receiving Votes" team)...

5 comments:

A.P. Boynton said...

Dear Dan,

Moreno is a sophomore. He has to wait 1 more year before jumping to the NFL.


Can Syracuse just fire the entire coaching staff now? Gosh, they are terrible. They made Penn State look like USC.

Michael W said...

Hard to figure out what to think about Oregon/Purdue. The only players on either side to have any consistency was Purdue's offensive line, which seemed to give great protection throughout the game. Aside from that, everybody seemed sloppy.

Here's the scary part about USC: Oregon's down to its third-string QB, it needed some huge special teams plays just to get by Purdue... and it's the best team left on USC's schedule (at least until Notre Dame gets ranked). Pencil these guys in for the Championship game.

Biff said...

Thanks for giving BYU props. It was an amazing game to be at. I remember when I was in high school in So Cal and attended the 1993 BYU - UCLA game at the Rose Bowl and UCLA humiliated us 68-14. This was *sweet* revenge.

One of my favorite plays yesterday was when UCLA had it's first chance to score in the 2nd Q with a FG. The entire crowd was chanting "block that kick". If I believe the media, the refs actually blocked the kick last week against Washington... ;) Well, it was nice to see our team do it again, as a clear statement.

For those not following the Mountain West conference, I'd like to highlight the following:

TCU 31 - Stanford 14
UNLV 23 - Arizona State 20 (OT)
New Mexico 36 - Arizona 28
BTU 59 - UCLA 0

BYU has beat the last 5/6 Pac-10 teams they have played...

Gave UCLA the worst lost since 1929....

Has *yet* to give up a sack this year

Has a ridiculous 3rd down conversion rate: was 13/17 in this game...

Put in their second string about 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter, so please, no accusations of RUTS.

Hopefully the media will start acknowledging the reality.. we are a good team.

Dan Shanoff said...

AP: Moreno is a redshirt sophomore. If you're 3 years out of high school, you're NFL draft-eligible. (See Larry Fitzgerald.) Just wanted to clarify for you. And I'm guessing he's as good as gone. If you're the best RB in college football already, why bother coming back for another year where you can get injured (or putting off NFL millions?)

A.P. Boynton said...

Shanoff, thanks for the clarification. I totally forgot that he had redshirt his first year. Good call. Deduct a point from my total.