There is plenty of great stuff happening this time of year, so let’s look at some quick hits today and see what’s going on:
The Game’s Quick Hits
Preview: #14 Georgia Tech (2-0) vs. #20 Miami, FL (1-0) – For the second consecutive week, Georgia Tech gets featured in the Thursday night primetime game. They are taking a trip down to visit Miami, who are coming off a bye week after their impressive opening week win over Florida State. In that game, QB Jacory Harris seemed to grow up and turn into a star right before everyone’s eyes. He looked extremely poised and much better than at any point last season. The Hurricanes are slowly rebuilding and looking more like the dominant teams from the ‘90s. The whole team is built on speed and they look like a dangerous threat. Georgia Tech did not look as good last week as they blew a 24-0 lead against Clemson, but did find a way to pull out a 30-27 victory. The key for Tech is establishing the running game and consistently moving the ball with it all game. When Clemson forced Georgia Tech to pass last week, the Yellow Jackets were miserable. QB Josh Nesbitt was horrible as he only could complete 3 of 14 passes. I am thinking that Miami’s defense is good enough and fast enough to hold Georgia Tech’s running game in check. They also looked explosive on offense against Florida State and I would expect Harris and the rest of the offensive unit to exploit the holes that Clemson found in Georgia Tech’s defense. This is a huge game in the ACC Coastal Division and the winner will get a leg up in the division. The division features 4 ranked teams, so this game is a critical one. I expect Miami to rise to the occasion at home and pull off a win. I think they have slightly better talent than Georgia Tech and they also have had longer to prepare for this game. From what I have seen on the field so far this year, the Hurricanes just look like a better team.
- On Tuesday it was reported that TNA wrestling’s Kurt Angle was found not guilty of violating an ex-girlfriend's order of protection, and charges of possessing human growth hormone and driving with a suspended license were dropped. He still faces an assault charge, however. Angle’s attorney was able to prove in court that he had a legal prescription for the drug Hygetropin and apparently his claim that he was driving around looking for a hotel as opposed to stalking his ex-girlfriend was believed by the judge. Well I am glad to see Angle beat these charges if he did indeed not do anything wrong. We have all read the stories about Angle potentially being addicted to pain pills and how he works himself to the bone and has put himself in danger because of the physical demands of professional wrestling. Some of these stories could be overblown and I would like to think that Angle is taking care of himself and not heading down a dangerous path. Way too many wrestlers have passed away at a young age and many have speculated that Kurt Angle could eventually fall into that category. I sincerely hope that will not be the case. TNA caught a huge break here as it would not look very good on them if their World Champion was found guilty of these charges. I will hold out judgment on the assault charges, but I could find that as being believable. Angle is an extremely intense individual from most accounts, so I think he might be capable of losing his cool out of the ring. But he will have his day in court on those charges and we’ll just have to see what happens.
- The NFL handed down a fairly hefty fine to the New York Jets, general manager Mike Tannenbaum, and former head coach Eric Mangini for failing to report QB Brett Favre’s biceps injury last season. The league hit the Jets organization with a $75,000 fine and Tannenbaum and Mangini with a $25,000 fine each. By doing this, the NFL is sending a clear message that failing to report injuries will not be tolerated. It seems to me that Mangini’s “secrets” are not paying off too well. I have to agree with these fines because you need to keep the competitive balance of the league in order and it is a requirement of every team to report injuries, pure and simple. Favre is walking away unscathed in all this, but I have to say that if he had any hand in trying to tell the Jets not to report his injury, then I think he should reimburse Mangini and Tannenbaum for the fine. That seems like the fair thing to do if he had any part of all this.
- Reports indicate that the rising star linebacker of the New England Patriots, Jerod Mayo, will be out about 6-8 weeks after spraining the MCL in his right knee. There was fear that Mayo’s injury was season ending, but that does not appear to be the case. This is another big injury blow to be added to the list after the 1st week of season. New England’s defense was already struggling to improve and the injury to Mayo does not help. After the departures of Mike Vrabel and Tedy Bruschi, Mayo has been calling more defensive signals and his significance to the defense has only increased. His injury will hurt the team and now it might be that much easier for opponents to put points on the board against the Patriots. New England faces a stiff test this week as they travel to New York to play the Jets. They might catch a break facing a rookie quarterback in Mark Sanchez, but the Patriots could be ripe for an upset if they do not play better than they did against Buffalo.
- In other injury news, Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid said that QB Donovan McNabb is making progress in regards to his injured ribs, but his status for this Sunday against the Saints is still “iffy”. McNabb did not practice yesterday and QB Kevin Kolb worked with the first team. Reid made it clear that Kolb will start and newly acquired QB Jeff Garcia will back him up. If McNabb starts, Kolb will be the backup and Garcia will be the emergency #3 QB. I am not sure how much “progress” McNabb is making, but if he is able to play, the Eagles might need him to win a shootout with the Saints…It was also reported that Kansas City Chiefs QB Matt Cassel was looking better in practice and running more briskly. There is still hope that he will play on Sunday against the Raiders, but there has been no official word from the team…
- This just in: Bears QB Jay Cutler was disappointed with his performance against the Packers on Sunday and he vows to do better this week against the Steelers. Wow, really? Well gee Jay, you couldn’t do much worse. Even without Troy Polamalu in the lineup, things will not be any easier for Cutler when the Steelers come to town. Good luck…
- Ohio State coach Jim Tressel is catching flack from all sides for his conservative play calling in the wake of the Buckeyes’ 18-15 loss to USC. It was another failure for Tressel and Ohio State in a high profile game and fans are starting to get irritated and are suggesting that Tressel give up on calling the plays. Tressel’s philosophy is basically built on playing for field position, avoiding turnovers at all cost and relying on defense and special teams to win the game. This was evident in the USC game as he elected to kick a field goal on 4th and goal from the USC 1-yard line early in the 2nd quarter, punted on a 4th and 1 from the USC 45 in the 3rd quarter, and punted again in the 4th quarter instead of trying a long field goal attempt. Immediately, I am having images of Herman Edwards in my head and he’s yelling “HELLO! You play to win the game!” I think that the criticism is warranted because Ohio State definitely was too conservation against USC. Tressel has a dynamic quarterback in Terrell Pryor, yet he doesn’t let Pryor run around as much as he should to try and create plays. Pryor is not a pure pocket passer and he is better when he’s able to scramble and create. Just trying to run, run, run and then punt to protect a slim lead is not that great of a strategy. Without question, Tressel has a long track record of success and should not be in danger of being fired or anything. But at some point, he is going to have to find a way to win these big games because the fans, media, and the school itself will only be able to put up with the disappointments for so long.
- Floyd “Money” Mayweather made some waves yesterday by claiming his race is a factor in how he is viewed. He lashed out at his perceived unfair treatment from the public and the media by saying, "If you're rich, you're a rich n-----. If you're poor, you're a poor n----. If you're smart, you're a smart n-----. At the end of the day, they still look at me as a n-----." Mayweather also went on to say that if he was white, he would be the biggest athlete in America. Sorry Floyd, but you got this one wrong. It is not your race that is holding you back, it is your attitude and the way you carry yourself. I will simply offer up Tiger Woods as an example. Tiger is one of the biggest sports figures in America and the world and he is black. So does everyone view Tiger Woods as a n-----? No, they don’t. And that is because Tiger Woods carries himself with dignity and respect and he’s not out acting like a fool. Now I know a part of boxing is being a showman to try and sell fights and Pay Per Views. But Mayweather goes beyond that with an arrogance and cockiness that turns people off. He claims that anything negative a guy like Oscar De La Hoya does gets swept under the rug and no one criticizes him. Well maybe that is because De La Hoya is respectful, gracious and doesn’t run his mouth all the time. And maybe that is because people like De La Hoya and Woods don’t have police investigating a shooting outside a skating rink and seizing handguns, ammunition and bulletproof vests from their home and cars, unlike Mr. Mayweather. People perceive you as a “n-----“ Floyd because you tend to act that way. You are free to live your life how you please and have whatever lifestyle you want. But everyone else is also entitled to their opinions about you and they don’t like what they see. If you want respect, you earn respect from your actions and how you carry yourself, it’s that simple.
- As of right now, the long time manager of the Atlanta Braves, Bobby Cox, is not committing to return to the team in 2010 for his 25th season. Cox was supposed to retire at the end of the 2008 season, but that did not happen. The criticism of Cox has increased in recent years as Atlanta stares at not making the playoffs for the 4th consecutive season. This is a far cry from the glory years of the team which included 14 straight National League East titles, five pennants and a World Series title. He says that he still loves the game and the competition and that it would be tough to walk away. Cox is currently 4th on the all-time wins list for managers with 2,403 entering Wednesday’s games. I have to say that at this point, Bobby Cox has earned the right to walk away from the game whenever he chooses. He is one of the greatest managers of all-time and will most likely get into the Hall of Fame. I used to love watching the Atlanta Braves teams of the 1990’s. They were an exciting group to watch and their standard of excellence was only matched by the Yankees during that period. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz were just beasts on their pitching staff and they had stars in Dave Justice and the “Crime Dog” Fred McGriff who could put runs up on the board. It is amazing they did not win more World Series titles with those teams, but I am glad they got the one. Without that title, history would most likely paint those teams as a failure and the players as choke artists. It is a cruel fate that the early 1990’s Buffalo Bills could not escape. If Atlanta did not win a World Series, the Bills would have company as the greatest “losers” of all-time. I wish Cox well on whatever he decides. He is one of the greatest managers in MLB history and he will have a lasting legacy when he finally calls it quits.
- And finally, Linda McMahon has stepped down as the CEO of the WWE and has announced that she will be running for a U.S. Senate seat. Really? Does anyone really think she has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning? I am sure that Linda is a smart woman and a highly capable person, but as we all know, politics and political campaigning is all about mudslinging and tearing the other person down. What is going to happen when her opponents try to dig into Vince McMahon’s closet and paint Linda as just part of some sideshow with wrestlers? Fair or not, I don’t see he standing much of a chance in all this and I don’t think it is a smart move.
Showing posts with label ohio state. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ohio state. Show all posts
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
AP Top 25 Poll - Week 2 (9/14/09)
Amid the excitement of NFL opening Sunday, the new AP Top 25 poll was released yesterday afternoon. Let’s take a look at how things shake out for this week:
1 Florida (56) 2-0, 1491 pts, PR: 1
2 Texas (1) 2-0, 1404 pts, PR: 2
3 USC (1) 2-0, 1396 pts, PR: 3
4 Alabama (2) 2-0, 1328 pts, PR: 4
5 Mississippi 1-0, 1145 pts, PR: 6
5 Penn State 2-0, 1145 pts, PR: 7
7 Brigham Young 2-0, 1122 pts, PR: 9
8 California 2-0, 1058 pts, PR: 10
9 LSU 2-0, 951 pts, PR: 11
10 Boise State 2-0, 945 pts, PR: 12
11 Ohio State 1-1, 840 pts, PR: 8
12 Oklahoma 1-1, 835 pts PR: 13
13 Virginia Tech 1-1, 749 pts, PR: 14
14 Georgia Tech 2-0, 683 pts, PR: 15
15 TCU 1-0, 609 pts, PR: 16
16 Oklahoma State 1-1, 445 pts, PR: 5
17 Cincinnati 2-0, 407 pts, PR: 23
18 Utah 2-0, 405 pts, PR: 17
19 Nebraska 2-0, 365 pts, PR: 22
20 Miami (FL) 1-0, 364 pts, PR: 20
21 Houston 2-0, 341 pts, PR: NR
22 Kansas 2-0, 271 pts, PR: 24
23 Georgia 1-1, 260 pts, PR: 21
24 North Carolina 2-0, 250 pts, PR: 19
25 Michigan 2-0, 169 pts, PR: NR
Dropped from rankings:
Notre Dame 18
Missouri 25
There was not a great deal of movement in the top 10 this week and most of the teams held steady. Florida continues to be the overwhelming #1 in the country, again receiving 56 out of 60 1st place votes. USC’s win over Ohio State was good enough to siphon 1 first place vote away from Texas. The top 4 remained the same and the biggest fall of the week was suffered by Oklahoma State. Their loss at home to Houston cost them 11 spots as they tumbled all the way down to #16. The loss also exposed Oklahoma State’s defense and they are not as strong as they appeared last week. This will be a big problem against the high powered offenses in the Big 12 and I suspect that the Cowboys will be suffering at least 1 or 2 more losses this year. They will seriously need to regroup if they hope to still score a major Bowl game invite at the end of the year. The defense needs to find some answers or QB Zac Robinson and WR Dez Bryant need to kick it into another gear.
Speaking of Houston, the huge win for the Cougars leaped them into the Top 25 at #21. It has been 18 long years since Houston has been in the Top 25. Back then, QB David Klingler led the Cougars and they were ranked as high as #10. However, blowout losses to Miami (FL) and Illinois dropped them out of the Top 25 and they haven’t been a player on the national scene since. Houston will hope for a better and longer stay this time around. I was highly impressed with the Cougars’ offense and they can light up the scoreboard with the athletic talent they have. In a small bit of irony, I think Houston could be this year’s Oklahoma State. They will rely on the offense to try and outscore their opposition and hope the defense can do enough to protect the win. This was the formula Oklahoma State used last year and now Houston will have to do the same. If they keep scoring like they did Saturday, they could have a really good season.
Also joining the Top 25 party this week are the Michigan Wolverines. As I expected, their huge win at home against Notre Dame was good enough to sneak Michigan into the poll at #25. This is the 1st time Michigan has been ranked since the end of the 2007 season. It appears that the Wolverines are for real and will be a player this season. They are entering a soft spot on their schedule, so if they can avoid a letdown, they will stay in the poll. I now expect Michigan to obviously overachieve this year, but I still don’t think they are up to Ohio State and Penn State’s level yet. The loss by Notre Dame dropped them out of the Top 25 completely and they were joined by Missouri. The shaky win against Bowling Green was not enough to keep the Tigers in the poll.
Ohio State’s loss to USC only cost them three positions in the poll as they dropped from #8 to #11. I will be interested to see how the Buckeyes rebound. The loss is not a season killer, but now they will have to win their huge game against Penn State later this year to have a shot at a BCS Bowl game. Confidence could be an issue as Ohio State continues to fall short in big games.
The “BCS busters” all had a good week 2 and they continued to inch up the rankings. BYU jumped 2 spots from #9 to #7, Boise State also jumped 2 spots from #12 to #10, and TCU slid up one spot to #15. All of these teams will control their own destiny if they continue to win.
The biggest jump inside the Top 25 this week belonged to Cincinnati. I guess that a 70-3 massacre of Southeast Missouri State is worth something after all. Cincinnati jumped up 6 spots from #23 to #17. After not being ranked at all to start the season, Cincinnati could now become a major player if they keep winning. The Big East is a part of the BCS, so the Bearcats are now the long and away frontrunners to score a major Bowl game bid for the 2nd consecutive season.
Finally, the less than impressive wins by Georgia and North Carolina put them perilously close to falling from the rankings. Georgia’s defense did not show up against South Carolina and the Bulldogs were lucky to outscore them and produce a goal line stand at the end of the game to steal a 41-37 win. Georgia fell from #21 to #23. The Tar Heels needed a holding penalty in the end zone which gave them a safety to defeat Connecticut on Saturday, 12-10. The close call dropped UNC 5 spots from #19 to #24.
1 Florida (56) 2-0, 1491 pts, PR: 1
2 Texas (1) 2-0, 1404 pts, PR: 2
3 USC (1) 2-0, 1396 pts, PR: 3
4 Alabama (2) 2-0, 1328 pts, PR: 4
5 Mississippi 1-0, 1145 pts, PR: 6
5 Penn State 2-0, 1145 pts, PR: 7
7 Brigham Young 2-0, 1122 pts, PR: 9
8 California 2-0, 1058 pts, PR: 10
9 LSU 2-0, 951 pts, PR: 11
10 Boise State 2-0, 945 pts, PR: 12
11 Ohio State 1-1, 840 pts, PR: 8
12 Oklahoma 1-1, 835 pts PR: 13
13 Virginia Tech 1-1, 749 pts, PR: 14
14 Georgia Tech 2-0, 683 pts, PR: 15
15 TCU 1-0, 609 pts, PR: 16
16 Oklahoma State 1-1, 445 pts, PR: 5
17 Cincinnati 2-0, 407 pts, PR: 23
18 Utah 2-0, 405 pts, PR: 17
19 Nebraska 2-0, 365 pts, PR: 22
20 Miami (FL) 1-0, 364 pts, PR: 20
21 Houston 2-0, 341 pts, PR: NR
22 Kansas 2-0, 271 pts, PR: 24
23 Georgia 1-1, 260 pts, PR: 21
24 North Carolina 2-0, 250 pts, PR: 19
25 Michigan 2-0, 169 pts, PR: NR
Dropped from rankings:
Notre Dame 18
Missouri 25
There was not a great deal of movement in the top 10 this week and most of the teams held steady. Florida continues to be the overwhelming #1 in the country, again receiving 56 out of 60 1st place votes. USC’s win over Ohio State was good enough to siphon 1 first place vote away from Texas. The top 4 remained the same and the biggest fall of the week was suffered by Oklahoma State. Their loss at home to Houston cost them 11 spots as they tumbled all the way down to #16. The loss also exposed Oklahoma State’s defense and they are not as strong as they appeared last week. This will be a big problem against the high powered offenses in the Big 12 and I suspect that the Cowboys will be suffering at least 1 or 2 more losses this year. They will seriously need to regroup if they hope to still score a major Bowl game invite at the end of the year. The defense needs to find some answers or QB Zac Robinson and WR Dez Bryant need to kick it into another gear.
Speaking of Houston, the huge win for the Cougars leaped them into the Top 25 at #21. It has been 18 long years since Houston has been in the Top 25. Back then, QB David Klingler led the Cougars and they were ranked as high as #10. However, blowout losses to Miami (FL) and Illinois dropped them out of the Top 25 and they haven’t been a player on the national scene since. Houston will hope for a better and longer stay this time around. I was highly impressed with the Cougars’ offense and they can light up the scoreboard with the athletic talent they have. In a small bit of irony, I think Houston could be this year’s Oklahoma State. They will rely on the offense to try and outscore their opposition and hope the defense can do enough to protect the win. This was the formula Oklahoma State used last year and now Houston will have to do the same. If they keep scoring like they did Saturday, they could have a really good season.
Also joining the Top 25 party this week are the Michigan Wolverines. As I expected, their huge win at home against Notre Dame was good enough to sneak Michigan into the poll at #25. This is the 1st time Michigan has been ranked since the end of the 2007 season. It appears that the Wolverines are for real and will be a player this season. They are entering a soft spot on their schedule, so if they can avoid a letdown, they will stay in the poll. I now expect Michigan to obviously overachieve this year, but I still don’t think they are up to Ohio State and Penn State’s level yet. The loss by Notre Dame dropped them out of the Top 25 completely and they were joined by Missouri. The shaky win against Bowling Green was not enough to keep the Tigers in the poll.
Ohio State’s loss to USC only cost them three positions in the poll as they dropped from #8 to #11. I will be interested to see how the Buckeyes rebound. The loss is not a season killer, but now they will have to win their huge game against Penn State later this year to have a shot at a BCS Bowl game. Confidence could be an issue as Ohio State continues to fall short in big games.
The “BCS busters” all had a good week 2 and they continued to inch up the rankings. BYU jumped 2 spots from #9 to #7, Boise State also jumped 2 spots from #12 to #10, and TCU slid up one spot to #15. All of these teams will control their own destiny if they continue to win.
The biggest jump inside the Top 25 this week belonged to Cincinnati. I guess that a 70-3 massacre of Southeast Missouri State is worth something after all. Cincinnati jumped up 6 spots from #23 to #17. After not being ranked at all to start the season, Cincinnati could now become a major player if they keep winning. The Big East is a part of the BCS, so the Bearcats are now the long and away frontrunners to score a major Bowl game bid for the 2nd consecutive season.
Finally, the less than impressive wins by Georgia and North Carolina put them perilously close to falling from the rankings. Georgia’s defense did not show up against South Carolina and the Bulldogs were lucky to outscore them and produce a goal line stand at the end of the game to steal a 41-37 win. Georgia fell from #21 to #23. The Tar Heels needed a holding penalty in the end zone which gave them a safety to defeat Connecticut on Saturday, 12-10. The close call dropped UNC 5 spots from #19 to #24.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
College Football Week 2 Review
On paper it looked as though this was going to be a pretty uneventful and unexciting weekend of college football action (outside of the huge USC-Ohio State game of course). But there was some great drama to be found after all, so let’s take a review of the important results:
#3 USC 18, #8 Ohio State 15 – It looked as though Ohio State was finally going to get the monkey off their back and get a huge win on a national TV stage, but they once again fell short. This was a very hard fought game and it heavily favored Ohio State’s style of play. It was a defensive battle that focused more on special teams and field position instead of sheer offensive firepower. For the most part, USC’s offense did not look that good. Freshman QB Matt Barkley looked like a freshman and the whole team did not do much until the final drive of the game. Barkley was finally able to step up and drove the Trojans 96 yards for the game winning touchdown. Ohio State looked a little better than USC on offense, but QB Terrelle Pryor did not have as much of an opportunity to create with his legs as he should have had. I will give credit to USC’s defense for keeping them in the game and giving the offense a chance to win it. At this point, I may have to concede that USC could be a real threat for the National Championship. However, I still think that Barkley’s inexperience will catch up to him one week and the Trojans will lose a game this year. Ohio State should not be ashamed of their performance, but this is not any sort of confidence booster and now they will have to try and fight back into BCS position. At this point, they will face a must win against Penn State to have a chance.
Michigan 38, #18 Notre Dame 34 – Once again, Notre Dame came up short in a big game that could have provided Coach Charlie Weis some breathing room from his critics and could have propelled Notre Dame towards a potential BCS Bowl game. This was a great college football game and will probably go down as one of the best in the storied Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry. Both teams traded shots at each other back and forth and neither defense played particularly well. Notre Dame’s defense certainly did not play the type of game that they did last week against Nevada. The star of the game turned out to be Michigan freshman QB Tate Forcier. He was cool and calm all day and made the big plays that Michigan needed. QB Jimmy Clausen and the Irish were just as good, but they made a mistake at the end of the game by throwing the ball and not trying to force Michigan to use their timeouts when they had a 3 point lead. That allowed Forcier to drive Michigan down the field and he won the game by throwing a 5-yard TD pass to WR Greg Matthews with 11 seconds left. This win now proves that Michigan is for real this season and I would expect them now to easily make a bowl game and they will most likely make the Top 25. I don’t think they will turn into a dominant team by any means, but they are going to overachieve this year. Notre Dame’s dream of a major BCS run is probably shot and they will settle down into a solid, but not spectacular year. Hopefully Lou Holtz is ready to eat some crow.
Houston 45, #5 Oklahoma State 35 – The biggest upset of the day came courtesy of the Houston Cougars, who went into Oklahoma State and came out with a 10 point victory. I did speculate in my preview that this would be a great test for Oklahoma State’s defense and it could be closer than some people thought. Chalk up a great prediction from me and mark it down as a miserable failure for Oklahoma State’s defense. They looked terrible out there and nothing like the team that shut down Georgia last week. The Cowboys let Houston totally dictate the pace of the game and it turned it into a shootout. Normally, the Cowboys are happy to play that type of game, but they were not as efficient as Houston on offense and they could not keep up. Houston QB Case Keenum looked great and he sliced up Oklahoma State’s defense. I have to say that the Cougars are definitely impressive and they have a ton of weapons on offense. They should be able to make a Bowl game this year and they could surprise more people along the way. Oklahoma State now needs to seriously regroup because I think they can kiss any BCS Bowl game dreams goodbye. You can not win on a consistent basis by winning shootouts. I thought their defense might be up to the challenge based on last week’s game, but it seems like it is not. It seems like the logical conclusion is that Georgia’s offense just came out flat and out of sync and that made the Cowboys look good.
#17 Utah 24, San Jose State 14 – Utah was able to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 16 games, but it was not without a major fight. The game was tied 7-7 heading into the 4th quarter and Utah was finally able to shake San Jose State late in the game. Since USC killed San Jose State last week, this obviously proves that Utah might not be on a level with the likes of the Trojans. But a win is a win and Utah will try to march up the polls and see if they can be a BCS buster.
#19 North Carolina 12, Connecticut 10 – North Carolina needed a holding call in the end zone that resulted in a safety to narrowly avoid being upset by Connecticut. I also stated in my weekly preview that this could be a pretty good football game and was worth paying attention to. Obviously, it was pretty ugly and a defensive struggle, but it did almost produce an upset. Both defenses showed up in this game and neither team could do a damn thing on offense. I thought if North Carolina’s D showed up like it did last week, they would have little trouble winning. The only problem is their offense, especially the running game, stayed home. It seems like Connecticut will give every team they play a tough game and they could end up being a spoiler in the Big East. North Carolina could also be a factor in the ACC if their defense stays this strong, but will need more offense in those games to contend for a conference championship.
#21 Georgia 41, South Carolina 37 – Wow, was this a crazy game…so much for that old stat about these teams not being able to score more than 18 points against each other. This game was a back and forth slugfest that featured a kickoff return TD, an interception return TD, a safety, a blocked PAT, and tons of penalties. It came right down to the wire as well. South Carolina drove the ball all the way down to Georgia’s 7-yard line with 22 seconds left in the game, but QB Stephen Garcia’s 4th down pass was broken up on the goal line. You can never count out a Steve Spurrier coached team, so expect South Carolina to pull an upset at some point during the season. I don’t know exactly what to make of Georgia. They got the offense cranked up this week, but the defense fell apart after putting in a solid effort last week against Oklahoma State. It spells out inconsistency to me, and I believe Georgia will most likely not challenge LSU or Mississippi for the SEC West division title.
#25 Missouri 27, Bowling Green 20 – Missouri played an extremely bad first half and had to rally from 13-0 and 20-6 to beat Bowling Green. As good as Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert looked last week, he looked equally bad in the first half this week. He did recover to throw 2 TD passes in the second half to get a win for the Tigers. Missouri is still a young team and I do not really expect them to hang around the Top 25 all season. They seem likely to lose at least a game or two, but they should easily be able to make a Bowl game.
#1 Florida 56, Troy 6
#2 Texas 41, Wyoming 10
#4 Alabama 40, Florida International 14
#7 Penn State 28, Syracuse 7
#9 BYU 54, Tulane 3
#10 California 59, Eastern Washington 7
#11 LSU 23, Vanderbilt 9
#12 Boise State 48, Miami (OH) 0
#13 Oklahoma 64, Idaho State 0
#14 Virginia Tech 52, Marshall 10
#16 TCU 30, Virginia 14
#22 Nebraska 38, Arkansas State 9
#23 Cincinnati 70, Southeast Missouri State 3
#24 Kansas 34, UTEP 7
The above results are what you call taking care of business. As expected, there were a great deal of cupcake games out there and about half of the Top 25 feasted on them. Florida, Texas, and Alabama all got off to slow starts on Saturday. But by the time the 4th quarter rolled around, they had it in cruise control and were on the easy road to victory.
Penn State did look choppy again in their win over Syracuse, but they were never in danger and they had control of the game the entire time. Penn State will need to get better though because Ohio State, even with their loss to USC, looks strong and will really give the Nittany Lions a game.
Even though rain played havoc on them, LSU still looked shaky for the second week in a row and they let another underdog hang around. Vanderbilt was only down by one touchdown midway through the 4th quarter until LSU scored late to put the game away. It seems like LSU, Georgia, and Mississippi all look a little questionable to start the year and who knows what team will win the SEC West and get a shot at Florida in the SEC Championship game. But at this point, I am not sure any one of the three will be able to give Florida any sort of challenge.
Oklahoma, their defense, and QB Landry Jones tried to make a statement that they will keep fighting. They destroyed Idaho State and gave up only 6 first downs. TCU got off to a great start as well, as their defense only gave up 7 first downs the entire game.
The Game’s Quick Hits
- The Dany Heatley trade speculation is finally over as the Ottawa Senators traded Heatley and a fifth-round draft pick to the San Jose Sharks for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a second-round draft pick. So it turns out that the rumored 3 team trade that I mentioned yesterday was indeed just a bad rumor. However, the Sharks were still involved in this deal. San Jose needed to do something to shake up their team after continued failures in the playoffs. Heatley is a dangerous scorer when he is focused and playing well, but it will remain to be seen whether he delivers in crunch time during the postseason. He should be able to help San Jose remain a top level team, but as it always is with the Sharks, things change in the playoffs. The Senators got some good value back in return, but I am not sure if it matches the value of a motivated Dany Heatley. Michalek is only 24-years old and had 23 goals and 24 assists last season. He is a good player with the potential to get better, but I doubt he will become a consistent 40-50 goal scorer. Cheechoo had a brilliant 2005-06 season when he scored 56 goals, but he has dropped off ever since. He had only 12 goals and 17 assists last year. Unless a change of scenery really sparks his career, he seems destined to just become a role player. So in my estimation, the Sharks got a good deal in this. But, we will have to wait until playoff time to see just how good of a deal it is.
- In other NHL news, the Calgary Flames have invited former All-star and Stanley Cup winner Theo Fleury to training camp for a tryout. The 41-year old Fleury has been away from the game for 6 years as he battled to get himself sober after alcohol addiction. Fleury had 455 goals and 633 assists in more than 1,000 career games with Calgary, the Colorado Avalanche, the New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks between 1988 and 2003. Although I am not sure how much Fleury has left, this could be a really good story and I hope that he makes the team and gets to play in a game. I always appreciate a good comeback story and it is a big thing to overcome a substance abuse problem. Addiction can destroy your life, so I hope Fleury is able to stay on a good path and I wish him luck on his comeback attempt.
- Well it looks like the Richard Seymour saga is finally over. Late on Friday it was reported that Seymour was planning a trip out to California and would in fact report to the Oakland Raiders and be ready to play in Monday night’s game against the Chargers. It looks like the “5 day letter” did its job because Seymour did not get a new contract and did not get a promise that the Raiders would not slap the franchise tag on him next year. He will not lose any money this year, which he was in danger of doing by not reporting to Oakland. So now the story starts to come out. Seymour probably had a sense of what New England might have done with his contract status before the trade and he wanted the same from Oakland. Looks like it did not work at this point. The NFL is a business and it sucks for Seymour that he got shipped to the Raiders, but he is under contract so he has no right to start making demands. Again, I would think a player that has grown up in the Patriots organization would be a professional. Seymour was pushing it and I am glad to see that he blinked. His goal should be to have the best season that he can and then the money will take care of itself. It does him no good to bitch and moan and sandbag this season. He finally did break his silence on Saturday and says that the trade “blindsided” him and he claims he made no demands. He had personal issues to take care of and is excited to join the Raiders. Well that is nice to hear, but I am willing to bet there was some sort of talk about money and his contract.
- Brett Favre has been named a captain for the Minnesota Vikings this season after being with the team for only less than a month. So I guess this blows up the whole “schism” story right? There is no question that Favre is a tremendous leader and has a burning desire to play the game and to win. While he might not have gone about joining the Vikings in the “right” way, he is going to go in there and do the best he can. I still believe that Favre will be able to steady the offense for the Vikings, manage the game, make some big plays, and most importantly, lead them to victories. I still believe that the Vikings are the slight favorites to win the NFC North due to Favre’s presence.
- The Memphis basketball program got some bad news as it was revealed that sophomore forward Angel Garcia had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will miss the 2009-10 season. This is a big blow considering that Garcia, who is 6-foot-11 and missed last season due to NCAA eligibility issues, was expected to step up and help a team that is now down to 8 scholarship players. The loss of Coach John Calipari is going to hit Memphis hard I believe. I can see them slowly slipping away from being a national powerhouse. Calipari was the draw to the school and frankly, I have never even heard of their current coach, Josh Pastner. My prediction is that Memphis will go downhill until they hire another big name coach who has a proven track record of success.
- Major League Baseball will not take any actions against New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez for past performance-enhancing drug use. MLB was investigating Rodriguez to determine if he lied about the exact period of time he admitted to using PEDs. Apparently, the investigation did not turn up anything new and he will not be punished. I’m at least pleased to hear that they didn’t find out about any past use from Rodriguez. Even though he was using steroids for a few seasons, I still contend that Rodriguez is one of the best players in Major League history. The guy had his greatest year in 2007 when he was clean and even with a bad hip this season, he is still hitting home runs and being productive. Take away his “steroid years” and Rodriguez would still be a Hall of Famer. And in other Yankees’ news, SS Derek Jeter had 2 hits Friday night to pass Lou Gehrig on the Yankees’ all-time hit list with 2723. That is an amazing accomplishment to have, but unless Jeter goes on a tear and wins multiple World Series titles again, he will not be able to reach the great pantheon of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle.
- BMW Championship: Tiger Woods entered the weekend and the 3rd round of the BMW tied for lead and had a chance to take control of the tournament. Mission accomplished. Tiger was on absolute fire as he shot a course record 9-under par 62 to finish at 16-under par for the tournament. This gave him a 7 shot lead over Brandt Snedeker and Marc Leishman. I said yesterday that I expected Tiger to take care of business this weekend and win, but I didn’t expect this good of a performance today. When Woods plays like this, he is impossible to beat and everyone is fighting for second. Not much else to say on this. Tiger will cruise home to victory tomorrow and grab the FedEx Cup points lead heading into the Tour Championship, the final event of the Playoffs. It seems like it will be a tall task for anyone to beat him.
- U.S. Open Update: Rain held off enough to allow for play to continue at the U.S. Open and #3 seed Rafael Nadal wasted no time finishing up his quarterfinal match against #11 seed Fernando Gonzalez. Nadal dusted him off quickly, winning 7-6, 7-6, 6-0, and he will now face #6 seed Juan Martin del Potro tomorrow in one semifinal. The women had their semifinals next after another lengthy rain delay and the match between unseeded Kim Clijsters and #2 seed Serena Williams ended in bizarre fashion. Williams was down 1 set and 5-6, 15-30 when she faulted on her first serve and then was called for a foot fault on her second serve. Serena then proceeded to yell at the lines official who made the call and told her “I will stuff this ball down your f**king throat”, among other things. Williams had already received a code violation earlier in the match for slamming her racquet, so this second offense cost her a point at 15-40 and the match was over. This was totally crazy and certainly something that I have never witnessed before. Clijsters had dominated the action and obviously, Williams was frustrated. The foot fault call by the official was a bad judgment call at that point in the match, but the way Williams lost her cool and what she said was uncalled for and she paid the price. Clijsters now moves onto the final to face #9 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who beat unseeded Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets.
#3 USC 18, #8 Ohio State 15 – It looked as though Ohio State was finally going to get the monkey off their back and get a huge win on a national TV stage, but they once again fell short. This was a very hard fought game and it heavily favored Ohio State’s style of play. It was a defensive battle that focused more on special teams and field position instead of sheer offensive firepower. For the most part, USC’s offense did not look that good. Freshman QB Matt Barkley looked like a freshman and the whole team did not do much until the final drive of the game. Barkley was finally able to step up and drove the Trojans 96 yards for the game winning touchdown. Ohio State looked a little better than USC on offense, but QB Terrelle Pryor did not have as much of an opportunity to create with his legs as he should have had. I will give credit to USC’s defense for keeping them in the game and giving the offense a chance to win it. At this point, I may have to concede that USC could be a real threat for the National Championship. However, I still think that Barkley’s inexperience will catch up to him one week and the Trojans will lose a game this year. Ohio State should not be ashamed of their performance, but this is not any sort of confidence booster and now they will have to try and fight back into BCS position. At this point, they will face a must win against Penn State to have a chance.
Michigan 38, #18 Notre Dame 34 – Once again, Notre Dame came up short in a big game that could have provided Coach Charlie Weis some breathing room from his critics and could have propelled Notre Dame towards a potential BCS Bowl game. This was a great college football game and will probably go down as one of the best in the storied Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry. Both teams traded shots at each other back and forth and neither defense played particularly well. Notre Dame’s defense certainly did not play the type of game that they did last week against Nevada. The star of the game turned out to be Michigan freshman QB Tate Forcier. He was cool and calm all day and made the big plays that Michigan needed. QB Jimmy Clausen and the Irish were just as good, but they made a mistake at the end of the game by throwing the ball and not trying to force Michigan to use their timeouts when they had a 3 point lead. That allowed Forcier to drive Michigan down the field and he won the game by throwing a 5-yard TD pass to WR Greg Matthews with 11 seconds left. This win now proves that Michigan is for real this season and I would expect them now to easily make a bowl game and they will most likely make the Top 25. I don’t think they will turn into a dominant team by any means, but they are going to overachieve this year. Notre Dame’s dream of a major BCS run is probably shot and they will settle down into a solid, but not spectacular year. Hopefully Lou Holtz is ready to eat some crow.
Houston 45, #5 Oklahoma State 35 – The biggest upset of the day came courtesy of the Houston Cougars, who went into Oklahoma State and came out with a 10 point victory. I did speculate in my preview that this would be a great test for Oklahoma State’s defense and it could be closer than some people thought. Chalk up a great prediction from me and mark it down as a miserable failure for Oklahoma State’s defense. They looked terrible out there and nothing like the team that shut down Georgia last week. The Cowboys let Houston totally dictate the pace of the game and it turned it into a shootout. Normally, the Cowboys are happy to play that type of game, but they were not as efficient as Houston on offense and they could not keep up. Houston QB Case Keenum looked great and he sliced up Oklahoma State’s defense. I have to say that the Cougars are definitely impressive and they have a ton of weapons on offense. They should be able to make a Bowl game this year and they could surprise more people along the way. Oklahoma State now needs to seriously regroup because I think they can kiss any BCS Bowl game dreams goodbye. You can not win on a consistent basis by winning shootouts. I thought their defense might be up to the challenge based on last week’s game, but it seems like it is not. It seems like the logical conclusion is that Georgia’s offense just came out flat and out of sync and that made the Cowboys look good.
#17 Utah 24, San Jose State 14 – Utah was able to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 16 games, but it was not without a major fight. The game was tied 7-7 heading into the 4th quarter and Utah was finally able to shake San Jose State late in the game. Since USC killed San Jose State last week, this obviously proves that Utah might not be on a level with the likes of the Trojans. But a win is a win and Utah will try to march up the polls and see if they can be a BCS buster.
#19 North Carolina 12, Connecticut 10 – North Carolina needed a holding call in the end zone that resulted in a safety to narrowly avoid being upset by Connecticut. I also stated in my weekly preview that this could be a pretty good football game and was worth paying attention to. Obviously, it was pretty ugly and a defensive struggle, but it did almost produce an upset. Both defenses showed up in this game and neither team could do a damn thing on offense. I thought if North Carolina’s D showed up like it did last week, they would have little trouble winning. The only problem is their offense, especially the running game, stayed home. It seems like Connecticut will give every team they play a tough game and they could end up being a spoiler in the Big East. North Carolina could also be a factor in the ACC if their defense stays this strong, but will need more offense in those games to contend for a conference championship.
#21 Georgia 41, South Carolina 37 – Wow, was this a crazy game…so much for that old stat about these teams not being able to score more than 18 points against each other. This game was a back and forth slugfest that featured a kickoff return TD, an interception return TD, a safety, a blocked PAT, and tons of penalties. It came right down to the wire as well. South Carolina drove the ball all the way down to Georgia’s 7-yard line with 22 seconds left in the game, but QB Stephen Garcia’s 4th down pass was broken up on the goal line. You can never count out a Steve Spurrier coached team, so expect South Carolina to pull an upset at some point during the season. I don’t know exactly what to make of Georgia. They got the offense cranked up this week, but the defense fell apart after putting in a solid effort last week against Oklahoma State. It spells out inconsistency to me, and I believe Georgia will most likely not challenge LSU or Mississippi for the SEC West division title.
#25 Missouri 27, Bowling Green 20 – Missouri played an extremely bad first half and had to rally from 13-0 and 20-6 to beat Bowling Green. As good as Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert looked last week, he looked equally bad in the first half this week. He did recover to throw 2 TD passes in the second half to get a win for the Tigers. Missouri is still a young team and I do not really expect them to hang around the Top 25 all season. They seem likely to lose at least a game or two, but they should easily be able to make a Bowl game.
#1 Florida 56, Troy 6
#2 Texas 41, Wyoming 10
#4 Alabama 40, Florida International 14
#7 Penn State 28, Syracuse 7
#9 BYU 54, Tulane 3
#10 California 59, Eastern Washington 7
#11 LSU 23, Vanderbilt 9
#12 Boise State 48, Miami (OH) 0
#13 Oklahoma 64, Idaho State 0
#14 Virginia Tech 52, Marshall 10
#16 TCU 30, Virginia 14
#22 Nebraska 38, Arkansas State 9
#23 Cincinnati 70, Southeast Missouri State 3
#24 Kansas 34, UTEP 7
The above results are what you call taking care of business. As expected, there were a great deal of cupcake games out there and about half of the Top 25 feasted on them. Florida, Texas, and Alabama all got off to slow starts on Saturday. But by the time the 4th quarter rolled around, they had it in cruise control and were on the easy road to victory.
Penn State did look choppy again in their win over Syracuse, but they were never in danger and they had control of the game the entire time. Penn State will need to get better though because Ohio State, even with their loss to USC, looks strong and will really give the Nittany Lions a game.
Even though rain played havoc on them, LSU still looked shaky for the second week in a row and they let another underdog hang around. Vanderbilt was only down by one touchdown midway through the 4th quarter until LSU scored late to put the game away. It seems like LSU, Georgia, and Mississippi all look a little questionable to start the year and who knows what team will win the SEC West and get a shot at Florida in the SEC Championship game. But at this point, I am not sure any one of the three will be able to give Florida any sort of challenge.
Oklahoma, their defense, and QB Landry Jones tried to make a statement that they will keep fighting. They destroyed Idaho State and gave up only 6 first downs. TCU got off to a great start as well, as their defense only gave up 7 first downs the entire game.
The Game’s Quick Hits
- The Dany Heatley trade speculation is finally over as the Ottawa Senators traded Heatley and a fifth-round draft pick to the San Jose Sharks for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a second-round draft pick. So it turns out that the rumored 3 team trade that I mentioned yesterday was indeed just a bad rumor. However, the Sharks were still involved in this deal. San Jose needed to do something to shake up their team after continued failures in the playoffs. Heatley is a dangerous scorer when he is focused and playing well, but it will remain to be seen whether he delivers in crunch time during the postseason. He should be able to help San Jose remain a top level team, but as it always is with the Sharks, things change in the playoffs. The Senators got some good value back in return, but I am not sure if it matches the value of a motivated Dany Heatley. Michalek is only 24-years old and had 23 goals and 24 assists last season. He is a good player with the potential to get better, but I doubt he will become a consistent 40-50 goal scorer. Cheechoo had a brilliant 2005-06 season when he scored 56 goals, but he has dropped off ever since. He had only 12 goals and 17 assists last year. Unless a change of scenery really sparks his career, he seems destined to just become a role player. So in my estimation, the Sharks got a good deal in this. But, we will have to wait until playoff time to see just how good of a deal it is.
- In other NHL news, the Calgary Flames have invited former All-star and Stanley Cup winner Theo Fleury to training camp for a tryout. The 41-year old Fleury has been away from the game for 6 years as he battled to get himself sober after alcohol addiction. Fleury had 455 goals and 633 assists in more than 1,000 career games with Calgary, the Colorado Avalanche, the New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks between 1988 and 2003. Although I am not sure how much Fleury has left, this could be a really good story and I hope that he makes the team and gets to play in a game. I always appreciate a good comeback story and it is a big thing to overcome a substance abuse problem. Addiction can destroy your life, so I hope Fleury is able to stay on a good path and I wish him luck on his comeback attempt.
- Well it looks like the Richard Seymour saga is finally over. Late on Friday it was reported that Seymour was planning a trip out to California and would in fact report to the Oakland Raiders and be ready to play in Monday night’s game against the Chargers. It looks like the “5 day letter” did its job because Seymour did not get a new contract and did not get a promise that the Raiders would not slap the franchise tag on him next year. He will not lose any money this year, which he was in danger of doing by not reporting to Oakland. So now the story starts to come out. Seymour probably had a sense of what New England might have done with his contract status before the trade and he wanted the same from Oakland. Looks like it did not work at this point. The NFL is a business and it sucks for Seymour that he got shipped to the Raiders, but he is under contract so he has no right to start making demands. Again, I would think a player that has grown up in the Patriots organization would be a professional. Seymour was pushing it and I am glad to see that he blinked. His goal should be to have the best season that he can and then the money will take care of itself. It does him no good to bitch and moan and sandbag this season. He finally did break his silence on Saturday and says that the trade “blindsided” him and he claims he made no demands. He had personal issues to take care of and is excited to join the Raiders. Well that is nice to hear, but I am willing to bet there was some sort of talk about money and his contract.
- Brett Favre has been named a captain for the Minnesota Vikings this season after being with the team for only less than a month. So I guess this blows up the whole “schism” story right? There is no question that Favre is a tremendous leader and has a burning desire to play the game and to win. While he might not have gone about joining the Vikings in the “right” way, he is going to go in there and do the best he can. I still believe that Favre will be able to steady the offense for the Vikings, manage the game, make some big plays, and most importantly, lead them to victories. I still believe that the Vikings are the slight favorites to win the NFC North due to Favre’s presence.
- The Memphis basketball program got some bad news as it was revealed that sophomore forward Angel Garcia had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will miss the 2009-10 season. This is a big blow considering that Garcia, who is 6-foot-11 and missed last season due to NCAA eligibility issues, was expected to step up and help a team that is now down to 8 scholarship players. The loss of Coach John Calipari is going to hit Memphis hard I believe. I can see them slowly slipping away from being a national powerhouse. Calipari was the draw to the school and frankly, I have never even heard of their current coach, Josh Pastner. My prediction is that Memphis will go downhill until they hire another big name coach who has a proven track record of success.
- Major League Baseball will not take any actions against New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez for past performance-enhancing drug use. MLB was investigating Rodriguez to determine if he lied about the exact period of time he admitted to using PEDs. Apparently, the investigation did not turn up anything new and he will not be punished. I’m at least pleased to hear that they didn’t find out about any past use from Rodriguez. Even though he was using steroids for a few seasons, I still contend that Rodriguez is one of the best players in Major League history. The guy had his greatest year in 2007 when he was clean and even with a bad hip this season, he is still hitting home runs and being productive. Take away his “steroid years” and Rodriguez would still be a Hall of Famer. And in other Yankees’ news, SS Derek Jeter had 2 hits Friday night to pass Lou Gehrig on the Yankees’ all-time hit list with 2723. That is an amazing accomplishment to have, but unless Jeter goes on a tear and wins multiple World Series titles again, he will not be able to reach the great pantheon of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle.
- BMW Championship: Tiger Woods entered the weekend and the 3rd round of the BMW tied for lead and had a chance to take control of the tournament. Mission accomplished. Tiger was on absolute fire as he shot a course record 9-under par 62 to finish at 16-under par for the tournament. This gave him a 7 shot lead over Brandt Snedeker and Marc Leishman. I said yesterday that I expected Tiger to take care of business this weekend and win, but I didn’t expect this good of a performance today. When Woods plays like this, he is impossible to beat and everyone is fighting for second. Not much else to say on this. Tiger will cruise home to victory tomorrow and grab the FedEx Cup points lead heading into the Tour Championship, the final event of the Playoffs. It seems like it will be a tall task for anyone to beat him.
- U.S. Open Update: Rain held off enough to allow for play to continue at the U.S. Open and #3 seed Rafael Nadal wasted no time finishing up his quarterfinal match against #11 seed Fernando Gonzalez. Nadal dusted him off quickly, winning 7-6, 7-6, 6-0, and he will now face #6 seed Juan Martin del Potro tomorrow in one semifinal. The women had their semifinals next after another lengthy rain delay and the match between unseeded Kim Clijsters and #2 seed Serena Williams ended in bizarre fashion. Williams was down 1 set and 5-6, 15-30 when she faulted on her first serve and then was called for a foot fault on her second serve. Serena then proceeded to yell at the lines official who made the call and told her “I will stuff this ball down your f**king throat”, among other things. Williams had already received a code violation earlier in the match for slamming her racquet, so this second offense cost her a point at 15-40 and the match was over. This was totally crazy and certainly something that I have never witnessed before. Clijsters had dominated the action and obviously, Williams was frustrated. The foot fault call by the official was a bad judgment call at that point in the match, but the way Williams lost her cool and what she said was uncalled for and she paid the price. Clijsters now moves onto the final to face #9 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who beat unseeded Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Sore Sooner Shoulder downs Oklahoma
I thoroughly enjoyed watching all the great action today on college football’s opening Saturday, although one thing did irritate me. I have no idea who decided that people in Baltimore should get the Michigan vs. Western Michigan game over #9 Oklahoma State vs. #13 Georgia. I was highly pissed off seeing this because I was looking forward to watching a great game between two top 15 teams. When you have regional coverage and you have two teams from Michigan, shouldn’t that game only go to the surrounding areas around Michigan? Total bullcrap! Anyway, let’s take a look at some of the important results from yesterday’s games:
#20 BYU 14, #3 Oklahoma 13 – Without question, the biggest story from yesterday’s action was the injury to Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford. Bradford took a hard hit late in the 2nd quarter and his throwing shoulder was driven into the ground. He ended up being diagnosed with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder. This type of injury usually will keep a player out 2-4 weeks depending on the grade of the sprain and how much pain the player can deal with. With Bradford out in the 2nd half, the game became a real defensive struggle. Both Oklahoma and BYU came to play on the defensive side of the ball. Oklahoma backup QB Landry Jones could not get anything going and BYU was able to hold Oklahoma’s run game in check. A late surge and huge drive was orchestrated by BYU QB Max Hall, who won the game for BYU by throwing a 7-yard TD pass with 3:03 left in the game. Obviously, this win is huge for BYU and it now gives them a huge boost and will allow them to try and become the latest BCS buster. For Oklahoma, the hopes of a National Championship season may now be over. They will have to rely on their defense and running game until Bradford can return. Bradford may now be hard pressed to make a run at winning the Heisman trophy for a second straight season. Pollsters do take injuries into account, but Oklahoma will have to make a major statement when Bradford returns and hope their offensive line gels because they were the source of Oklahoma’s problems last night.
#4 USC 56, San Jose State 3 – For the first quarter of this game, USC looked extremely sluggish and it seemed as if talk of contending for a National Championship, let alone a Pac 10 title, might be a little wishful thinking. Oh how suddenly things can change. USC quickly kicked it into gear in the 2nd quarter and ending up cruising and blowing out San Jose State. Freshman QB Matt Barkley started slow, but he settled into the game going 15-for-19 for 233 yards and 1 TD and let the Trojans’ powerful running game and stingy defense take over. Barkley and the Trojans will get a much tougher test when they travel to Ohio State next week. Before this week, many assumed that Ohio State would go into that game as the favorite, but that might change this week…
#6 Ohio State 31, Navy 27 – And the reason why it might change is because Ohio State received a huge scare at the hands of Navy. Ohio State did not have many problems moving the ball and scoring, but the problem was that they struggled getting a handle on Navy’s triple option offense. The Buckeyes also made a crucial mistake by going for a 4th and 2 instead of kicking a field goal that would have given them a 32-14 lead. Instead, they were stuffed and the momentum changed for Navy. They were able to eat up huge chunks of yards on the ground and kept making big plays until they got to within 29-27. The dream of a monumental upset died though when Navy threw an interception on the 2-point conversion and Ohio State returned it for 2 points of their own to win the game 31-27. Navy is certainly no slouch and they come to play every week, but now many are wondering how good Ohio State will be this year. We will find out next week and USC might be favored to win even on the road. It will most likely come down to how USC freshman QB Matt Barkley handles the pressure of his first huge college game.
#5 Alabama 34, #7 Virginia Tech 24 – The score of this game was certainly closer than it should have been. I really enjoyed watching this one as it was a hard fought contest and pretty fascinating. Alabama was not very sharp early on in this game and they allowed Virginia Tech to hang in it by giving up a kickoff return touchdown, coughing up two bad turnovers, and committing a few silly penalties. While this was happening, Alabama was absolutely punishing Virginia Tech when it came to ball control and the ground game and ended up outgaining Virginia Tech 498-155 in yards. The talent gap between the two teams finally showed up in the 4th quarter as Alabama was able to pull away and win the game. The Crimson Tide defense looks like a beast and if the offense can continue to improve, Alabama might have a shot to give Florida a run if the two meet in the SEC Championship game. Virginia Tech has a great deal of work to do, but it seems like they still might be able to have success in an obviously weaker ACC.
#9 Oklahoma State 24, #13 Georgia 10 – As I mentioned earlier, I was very mad I did not get a chance to watch this game on TV. Georgia got off to a very quick start, driving right down the field and taking a 7-0 lead. It seemed as if this might be a mismatch, but the Oklahoma State defense surprisingly stepped up huge and held Georgia in check until the Cowboys’ offense was able to shake out of a sluggish start. QB Zac Robinson hooked up with his star receiver Dez Bryant for 2 TDs and Oklahoma State was able to cruise home to victory. The performance of the defense is a great sign for Oklahoma State. Many assumed that they would need to try and win shootouts and outscore their opponents every week, but that might not be the case. The Cowboys could end up being real players in the Big 12 now, especially with the early struggles of Oklahoma. Georgia will obviously need to find some answers on offense or they will not be able to make a serious challenge in the SEC. It looks like replacing Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno might be a tough task.
#11 LSU 31, Washington 23 – Washington was able to put in an inspired effort to hang with LSU, but it was not enough for them to pull off a victory. I was surprised that Washington was able to hang with LSU for so long, but I guess the 2500 mile road trip actually can take a toll. LSU was able to put together some good drives in the 2nd half to take over the game and they looked pretty solid. It should be a great race in the SEC West this year, but Alabama would have the inside track in my opinion.
#12 California 52, Maryland 13 – Well my home state Terps put in a thoroughly embarrassing performance last night. I thought they might be able to hang close with Cal, but it is obvious that they are nowhere close to Cal’s level this year. Costly turnovers and numerous mistakes killed Maryland and Cal RB Jahvid Best just ran wild over them. I’m sure Cal was looking for revenge in this game after last year’s loss at Maryland, but it was worse than that. I am getting a bad feeling that the Terrapins are just not that good this year and they might struggle to make a bowl game. However, the entire ACC had a hard time this weekend, so maybe Maryland can have enough success in the conference to get to .500 and be bowl eligible.
#22 Iowa 17, Northern Iowa 16 – This game almost turned into the biggest upset of the weekend. It was a mighty struggle for Iowa. They were able to develop no sort of rhythm on offense and they blew many opportunities that would have allowed them to put the game away. I did remark in my preview that Northern Iowa is one of the top teams in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) and they could hang around in this one. That prediction was absolutely true as Northern Iowa looked like the more together team out there and they almost were able to use that to overcome the talent gap. Iowa had to block two 40-yard field goals in the final seconds to avoid the upset. Iowa will need to make some serious improvements or it could be a very mediocre season for them.
#23 Notre Dame 35, Nevada 0 – Maybe all the talk about Notre Dame being a serious contender is actually true. The Fighting Irish turned in an extremely impressive performance as they beat up on Nevada in every facet of the game. QB Jimmy Clausen looked more mature and he seemed like he was in mid-season form as he threw for 315 yards and 4 TDs. Notre Dame had huge plays on offense and their defense was able to keep Nevada’s running game and QB Colin Kaepernick in check and off balance. It seems as though Notre Dame may hang around all year and they could surprise everyone.
#1 Florida 62, Charleston Southern 3
#2 Texas 59, Louisiana-Monroe 20
#9 Penn State 31, Akron 7
#15 Georgia Tech 37, Jacksonville State 17
#19 Utah 35, Utah State 17
#21 North Carolina 40, The Citadel 6
#24 Nebraska 49, Florida Atlantic 3
#25 Kansas 49, Northern Colorado 3
As you can see, 1/3 of the Top 25 was able to take care of business and cruise in their “cupcake” games to start the year. Florida and Texas looked pretty sharp and they could be on a collision course for the BCS Title game in January.
And on two final notes…it seems as though Michigan was able to rally around Coach Rich Rodriguez and they beat Western Michigan with no trouble at all. And in Tennessee, the Lane Kiffin era began with a 63-7 stomping of Western Kentucky. I hope Lane enjoys this one because it might be a different story when Tennessee plays Florida.
The Game’s Quick Hits
NFL Cut Down Day: One of the most surprising cuts happened early in the morning Saturday as it was reported the New York Giants cut WR David Tyree. Tyree was one of the heroes of Super Bowl XLII, making a tremendous against his helmet catch to prolong the winning drive for the Giants. Obviously, Tyree did not develop into enough of a big play receiver for the Giants to keep him. If anything holds the Giants back this season, it will most likely be the lack of a threat at WR.
Even though QB Colt Brennan is on IR and out for the season now, the Redskins cut former Missouri QB Chase Daniel. This comes as a bit of a surprise since I though Daniel had some potential and was a solid QB at Missouri. Of course when we are talking QBs and the Redskins, Daniel Snyder will not be satisfied until he gets a superstar at the position. The Redskins will now only carry QBs Jason Campbell and Todd Collins on the 53 man roster.
Another big surprise was The Raiders cutting QB Jeff Garcia. I have no idea why in the hell Oakland would cut him, but I guess that is why the franchise continues to lose year after year. The Raiders lured Garcia to Oakland with hopes that he would have a fair shot to beat out JaMarcus Russell for the starting job, but it is obvious now that Al Davis was not going to give up on Russell and demote him. I believe though that Garcia would be a team player and accept the role and the Raiders are fools for not keeping him because it is always a good thing to have a solid backup QB in the NFL. Hopefully Garcia can find another job out there because I believe he still has some juice left and he can help a team.
The Bills ended up cutting RB Dominic Rhodes after signing him in the offseason. With RB Marshawn Lynch being suspended for three games, it seems puzzling that the Bills did not stick with a solid veteran back like Rhodes. And with the performance of their offense in the preseason, the Bills need all the help they can get.
- Sean O’Hair was able to fire a 7-under par 64 to catch the steady Jim Furyk at 12-under par and share the lead after the 2nd round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. The pristine conditions in the morning allowed a slew of players to shoot low rounds and set the pace between 8 and 12-under par after two rounds. Tiger Woods played later in the day and again was not able to put everything together. He did manage to sink some putts on the back 9 however, and ended up shooting a 4-under par 67 to put him 7 shots back at 5-under par heading into the final two rounds. I still maintain the opinion that Tiger is too far off of his best game to have a chance to win this tournament. He is fighting his putter too much and at a tie for 28th place, I think too many people are between him and the top of the leaderboard. He almost made me eat my words last week, but I don’t think he gets that close this time. Unless he goes out and shoots a 63 or 64 tomorrow…
- MLB News and Notes: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera had a bullpen session on Saturday and reported no pain in his sore left groin and might be able to return to the mound on Sunday. Obviously, the Yankees need a healthy Rivera to have a shot at winning the World Series. A big hitting lineup will only take you so far and it is going to take solid pitching and someone who can close down games to get the job done. Rivera is still in fine form this season, leading the majors with 38 saves…A federal judge has dismissed Roger Clemens' defamation suit against his former trainer, Brian McNamee and Clemens can not file the suit again, only appeal it. This was a pleasing bit of news to see. I have no love for Roger Clemens and have always though he was an arrogant jackass to be quite honest. It seems pretty obvious that he was using performance enhancing drugs, yet he continues to deny it in hopes of saving his chances to make the Hall of Fame and chooses to try and sue his trainer, who I believe is telling the truth. Of course this could end up being a money grab attempt by McNamee, but when the guy is only a trainer, I don’t think he was lying to Congress. I hope something comes out later to bust Clemens further because I can not stand the guy and his attitude.
- The United States soccer team rallied from a 1-0 deficit to defeat El Salvador 2-1 in a World Cup qualifying match last night. Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore scored for the U.S., who is now in prime position to qualify for their 6th straight trip to the World Cup. Congratulations to the U.S. team on a nice win. Although soccer will never become a huge phenomenon in this country and the U.S. stands no chance in hell of winning a World Cup any time soon, it is still nice to see them get to compete with the best in world every four years. I am not trying to hate on soccer, but it is just a fact that the best athletes in this country choose to play football, baseball, and basketball over soccer. Soccer is the only sport out there in most of the rest of the world, so I can not foresee a time when U.S. soccer will be on top of the world.
- Reports are saying that Indy Car racer Danica Patrick will start to race in some NASCAR events next year and may begin a transition to the NASCAR circuit. Sources are saying that she will not give up Indy Car racing entirely and would only compete in select Nationwide and Truck Series events next year. She will not take a full plunge into NASCAR until she is sure she could do well and is looking to take a path similar to the one Tony Stewart took. I will give some credit to Patrick for actually proving over time that she has the skills to compete. She has steadily improved in the Indy Car standings every year and has shown potential. I used to think that she was just a hype machine and would fizzle out, but she does have talent. I would still like to see her actually win some races, but maybe that is still to come on the horizon.
- U.S. Open Update: Things are starting to get interesting as we hit the first weekend of the U.S. Open. Andy Roddick, who came in as the #5 seed and brimming with confidence after his epic Wimbledon final with Roger Federer, was taken out in the 3rd round by 55th-ranked John Isner in five sets. Men’s #1 seed Roger Federer, who got tested by #31 seed Leyton Hewitt, and #4 seed Novak Djokovic both needed four sets to survive and advance. Federer got off to a slow start by losing the first set, but he showed his championship will to win by playing through it and reeling off 3 straight sets to win. On the women’s side, the surprise of the tournament continues to be 17-year old American Melanie Oudin, who beat #29 seed Maria Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
#20 BYU 14, #3 Oklahoma 13 – Without question, the biggest story from yesterday’s action was the injury to Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford. Bradford took a hard hit late in the 2nd quarter and his throwing shoulder was driven into the ground. He ended up being diagnosed with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder. This type of injury usually will keep a player out 2-4 weeks depending on the grade of the sprain and how much pain the player can deal with. With Bradford out in the 2nd half, the game became a real defensive struggle. Both Oklahoma and BYU came to play on the defensive side of the ball. Oklahoma backup QB Landry Jones could not get anything going and BYU was able to hold Oklahoma’s run game in check. A late surge and huge drive was orchestrated by BYU QB Max Hall, who won the game for BYU by throwing a 7-yard TD pass with 3:03 left in the game. Obviously, this win is huge for BYU and it now gives them a huge boost and will allow them to try and become the latest BCS buster. For Oklahoma, the hopes of a National Championship season may now be over. They will have to rely on their defense and running game until Bradford can return. Bradford may now be hard pressed to make a run at winning the Heisman trophy for a second straight season. Pollsters do take injuries into account, but Oklahoma will have to make a major statement when Bradford returns and hope their offensive line gels because they were the source of Oklahoma’s problems last night.
#4 USC 56, San Jose State 3 – For the first quarter of this game, USC looked extremely sluggish and it seemed as if talk of contending for a National Championship, let alone a Pac 10 title, might be a little wishful thinking. Oh how suddenly things can change. USC quickly kicked it into gear in the 2nd quarter and ending up cruising and blowing out San Jose State. Freshman QB Matt Barkley started slow, but he settled into the game going 15-for-19 for 233 yards and 1 TD and let the Trojans’ powerful running game and stingy defense take over. Barkley and the Trojans will get a much tougher test when they travel to Ohio State next week. Before this week, many assumed that Ohio State would go into that game as the favorite, but that might change this week…
#6 Ohio State 31, Navy 27 – And the reason why it might change is because Ohio State received a huge scare at the hands of Navy. Ohio State did not have many problems moving the ball and scoring, but the problem was that they struggled getting a handle on Navy’s triple option offense. The Buckeyes also made a crucial mistake by going for a 4th and 2 instead of kicking a field goal that would have given them a 32-14 lead. Instead, they were stuffed and the momentum changed for Navy. They were able to eat up huge chunks of yards on the ground and kept making big plays until they got to within 29-27. The dream of a monumental upset died though when Navy threw an interception on the 2-point conversion and Ohio State returned it for 2 points of their own to win the game 31-27. Navy is certainly no slouch and they come to play every week, but now many are wondering how good Ohio State will be this year. We will find out next week and USC might be favored to win even on the road. It will most likely come down to how USC freshman QB Matt Barkley handles the pressure of his first huge college game.
#5 Alabama 34, #7 Virginia Tech 24 – The score of this game was certainly closer than it should have been. I really enjoyed watching this one as it was a hard fought contest and pretty fascinating. Alabama was not very sharp early on in this game and they allowed Virginia Tech to hang in it by giving up a kickoff return touchdown, coughing up two bad turnovers, and committing a few silly penalties. While this was happening, Alabama was absolutely punishing Virginia Tech when it came to ball control and the ground game and ended up outgaining Virginia Tech 498-155 in yards. The talent gap between the two teams finally showed up in the 4th quarter as Alabama was able to pull away and win the game. The Crimson Tide defense looks like a beast and if the offense can continue to improve, Alabama might have a shot to give Florida a run if the two meet in the SEC Championship game. Virginia Tech has a great deal of work to do, but it seems like they still might be able to have success in an obviously weaker ACC.
#9 Oklahoma State 24, #13 Georgia 10 – As I mentioned earlier, I was very mad I did not get a chance to watch this game on TV. Georgia got off to a very quick start, driving right down the field and taking a 7-0 lead. It seemed as if this might be a mismatch, but the Oklahoma State defense surprisingly stepped up huge and held Georgia in check until the Cowboys’ offense was able to shake out of a sluggish start. QB Zac Robinson hooked up with his star receiver Dez Bryant for 2 TDs and Oklahoma State was able to cruise home to victory. The performance of the defense is a great sign for Oklahoma State. Many assumed that they would need to try and win shootouts and outscore their opponents every week, but that might not be the case. The Cowboys could end up being real players in the Big 12 now, especially with the early struggles of Oklahoma. Georgia will obviously need to find some answers on offense or they will not be able to make a serious challenge in the SEC. It looks like replacing Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno might be a tough task.
#11 LSU 31, Washington 23 – Washington was able to put in an inspired effort to hang with LSU, but it was not enough for them to pull off a victory. I was surprised that Washington was able to hang with LSU for so long, but I guess the 2500 mile road trip actually can take a toll. LSU was able to put together some good drives in the 2nd half to take over the game and they looked pretty solid. It should be a great race in the SEC West this year, but Alabama would have the inside track in my opinion.
#12 California 52, Maryland 13 – Well my home state Terps put in a thoroughly embarrassing performance last night. I thought they might be able to hang close with Cal, but it is obvious that they are nowhere close to Cal’s level this year. Costly turnovers and numerous mistakes killed Maryland and Cal RB Jahvid Best just ran wild over them. I’m sure Cal was looking for revenge in this game after last year’s loss at Maryland, but it was worse than that. I am getting a bad feeling that the Terrapins are just not that good this year and they might struggle to make a bowl game. However, the entire ACC had a hard time this weekend, so maybe Maryland can have enough success in the conference to get to .500 and be bowl eligible.
#22 Iowa 17, Northern Iowa 16 – This game almost turned into the biggest upset of the weekend. It was a mighty struggle for Iowa. They were able to develop no sort of rhythm on offense and they blew many opportunities that would have allowed them to put the game away. I did remark in my preview that Northern Iowa is one of the top teams in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) and they could hang around in this one. That prediction was absolutely true as Northern Iowa looked like the more together team out there and they almost were able to use that to overcome the talent gap. Iowa had to block two 40-yard field goals in the final seconds to avoid the upset. Iowa will need to make some serious improvements or it could be a very mediocre season for them.
#23 Notre Dame 35, Nevada 0 – Maybe all the talk about Notre Dame being a serious contender is actually true. The Fighting Irish turned in an extremely impressive performance as they beat up on Nevada in every facet of the game. QB Jimmy Clausen looked more mature and he seemed like he was in mid-season form as he threw for 315 yards and 4 TDs. Notre Dame had huge plays on offense and their defense was able to keep Nevada’s running game and QB Colin Kaepernick in check and off balance. It seems as though Notre Dame may hang around all year and they could surprise everyone.
#1 Florida 62, Charleston Southern 3
#2 Texas 59, Louisiana-Monroe 20
#9 Penn State 31, Akron 7
#15 Georgia Tech 37, Jacksonville State 17
#19 Utah 35, Utah State 17
#21 North Carolina 40, The Citadel 6
#24 Nebraska 49, Florida Atlantic 3
#25 Kansas 49, Northern Colorado 3
As you can see, 1/3 of the Top 25 was able to take care of business and cruise in their “cupcake” games to start the year. Florida and Texas looked pretty sharp and they could be on a collision course for the BCS Title game in January.
And on two final notes…it seems as though Michigan was able to rally around Coach Rich Rodriguez and they beat Western Michigan with no trouble at all. And in Tennessee, the Lane Kiffin era began with a 63-7 stomping of Western Kentucky. I hope Lane enjoys this one because it might be a different story when Tennessee plays Florida.
The Game’s Quick Hits
NFL Cut Down Day: One of the most surprising cuts happened early in the morning Saturday as it was reported the New York Giants cut WR David Tyree. Tyree was one of the heroes of Super Bowl XLII, making a tremendous against his helmet catch to prolong the winning drive for the Giants. Obviously, Tyree did not develop into enough of a big play receiver for the Giants to keep him. If anything holds the Giants back this season, it will most likely be the lack of a threat at WR.
Even though QB Colt Brennan is on IR and out for the season now, the Redskins cut former Missouri QB Chase Daniel. This comes as a bit of a surprise since I though Daniel had some potential and was a solid QB at Missouri. Of course when we are talking QBs and the Redskins, Daniel Snyder will not be satisfied until he gets a superstar at the position. The Redskins will now only carry QBs Jason Campbell and Todd Collins on the 53 man roster.
Another big surprise was The Raiders cutting QB Jeff Garcia. I have no idea why in the hell Oakland would cut him, but I guess that is why the franchise continues to lose year after year. The Raiders lured Garcia to Oakland with hopes that he would have a fair shot to beat out JaMarcus Russell for the starting job, but it is obvious now that Al Davis was not going to give up on Russell and demote him. I believe though that Garcia would be a team player and accept the role and the Raiders are fools for not keeping him because it is always a good thing to have a solid backup QB in the NFL. Hopefully Garcia can find another job out there because I believe he still has some juice left and he can help a team.
The Bills ended up cutting RB Dominic Rhodes after signing him in the offseason. With RB Marshawn Lynch being suspended for three games, it seems puzzling that the Bills did not stick with a solid veteran back like Rhodes. And with the performance of their offense in the preseason, the Bills need all the help they can get.
- Sean O’Hair was able to fire a 7-under par 64 to catch the steady Jim Furyk at 12-under par and share the lead after the 2nd round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. The pristine conditions in the morning allowed a slew of players to shoot low rounds and set the pace between 8 and 12-under par after two rounds. Tiger Woods played later in the day and again was not able to put everything together. He did manage to sink some putts on the back 9 however, and ended up shooting a 4-under par 67 to put him 7 shots back at 5-under par heading into the final two rounds. I still maintain the opinion that Tiger is too far off of his best game to have a chance to win this tournament. He is fighting his putter too much and at a tie for 28th place, I think too many people are between him and the top of the leaderboard. He almost made me eat my words last week, but I don’t think he gets that close this time. Unless he goes out and shoots a 63 or 64 tomorrow…
- MLB News and Notes: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera had a bullpen session on Saturday and reported no pain in his sore left groin and might be able to return to the mound on Sunday. Obviously, the Yankees need a healthy Rivera to have a shot at winning the World Series. A big hitting lineup will only take you so far and it is going to take solid pitching and someone who can close down games to get the job done. Rivera is still in fine form this season, leading the majors with 38 saves…A federal judge has dismissed Roger Clemens' defamation suit against his former trainer, Brian McNamee and Clemens can not file the suit again, only appeal it. This was a pleasing bit of news to see. I have no love for Roger Clemens and have always though he was an arrogant jackass to be quite honest. It seems pretty obvious that he was using performance enhancing drugs, yet he continues to deny it in hopes of saving his chances to make the Hall of Fame and chooses to try and sue his trainer, who I believe is telling the truth. Of course this could end up being a money grab attempt by McNamee, but when the guy is only a trainer, I don’t think he was lying to Congress. I hope something comes out later to bust Clemens further because I can not stand the guy and his attitude.
- The United States soccer team rallied from a 1-0 deficit to defeat El Salvador 2-1 in a World Cup qualifying match last night. Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore scored for the U.S., who is now in prime position to qualify for their 6th straight trip to the World Cup. Congratulations to the U.S. team on a nice win. Although soccer will never become a huge phenomenon in this country and the U.S. stands no chance in hell of winning a World Cup any time soon, it is still nice to see them get to compete with the best in world every four years. I am not trying to hate on soccer, but it is just a fact that the best athletes in this country choose to play football, baseball, and basketball over soccer. Soccer is the only sport out there in most of the rest of the world, so I can not foresee a time when U.S. soccer will be on top of the world.
- Reports are saying that Indy Car racer Danica Patrick will start to race in some NASCAR events next year and may begin a transition to the NASCAR circuit. Sources are saying that she will not give up Indy Car racing entirely and would only compete in select Nationwide and Truck Series events next year. She will not take a full plunge into NASCAR until she is sure she could do well and is looking to take a path similar to the one Tony Stewart took. I will give some credit to Patrick for actually proving over time that she has the skills to compete. She has steadily improved in the Indy Car standings every year and has shown potential. I used to think that she was just a hype machine and would fizzle out, but she does have talent. I would still like to see her actually win some races, but maybe that is still to come on the horizon.
- U.S. Open Update: Things are starting to get interesting as we hit the first weekend of the U.S. Open. Andy Roddick, who came in as the #5 seed and brimming with confidence after his epic Wimbledon final with Roger Federer, was taken out in the 3rd round by 55th-ranked John Isner in five sets. Men’s #1 seed Roger Federer, who got tested by #31 seed Leyton Hewitt, and #4 seed Novak Djokovic both needed four sets to survive and advance. Federer got off to a slow start by losing the first set, but he showed his championship will to win by playing through it and reeling off 3 straight sets to win. On the women’s side, the surprise of the tournament continues to be 17-year old American Melanie Oudin, who beat #29 seed Maria Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
