Well last night the slipper fell off the foot of the USF Bulls amisdt a strong outing by Ray Rice (41 Carries 187 Yds) and a string of mistakes by USF. Grothe looked incredible at many points during the game but wilted in many key situations and tried to do too much or wait too long to make a decision. The sack on 1st and 10 from the 50 for a loss of 12 with 1 minute left was unacceptable. The resulting spike leaves you with a lost down and a 3 and 22 without running a positive play when you are driving the ball. That is the dumbest thing I've seen in, well a week. Since Cal's back-up QB scrambled for 8 yds on 1st and 10 from the Oregon St 15 down three with no timeouts and 17 seconds left to lose the game instead of throwing it away. Yesterday's win (I won't call it an upset because let's face it, USF has been ranked all of 4 weeks in their history and Rutgers is streaky and inconsistent) has all but assured one thing, The National Championship game will include one or more teams with one or two loses. There is no other way to have a game. IF for some reason BC runs the table in a decent ACC does anyone really want to watch a Boston College v Ohio St National Title Game. Well besides Doug Flutie and Kirk Herbstreit. The only way to have an enjoyable, exciting National Title Game is if it includes an LSU, South Carolina, Oklahoma or USC. NCAA needs a playoff. Complain about missed time and all that, but let's face it, if your team is good enough to make the playoff, your kids aren't going to class anyways, unless of course you are Boston College.
LET THEM PLAY!!!
Not using this as an excuse but the 3rd and 22 at the end of the game was not Offensive Pass interference. Sure people (including DG2) are going to say you're just making excuses but think about it. The rule is, Offensive pass interference occurs when the offensive player(s) uses blatant contact to gain an advantage. In the game of football offensive pass interference is generally called when the receiver extends their arms to gain separation. The ball was a perfectly thrown Fade Stop (Go past the sticks, if the DB is running with u stop, ball will be to your back shoulder) and the receiver did not extend his arms. His arms were on the DBs back but there was no push. It was an situation where the refs are assuming that on a 22yd conversion attempt there is going to be a penalty, either a DB holding or a push off, so that when any contact occurrs, no matter how small, they throw a flag. These are 18-22 yr old kids playing a sport they love and you're gonna take the game into your hands. Same with the personal foul calls that were iffy at best resulting in a different complex of the game. Go back to my post from April about the NCAA tourny. I'm not saying the refs cost USF the game, they did that to themselves, but honestly Stripes? Let the kids have fun.
RAINBOW WARRIORS
Hawaii remains undefeated and is one of the remaining undefeated teams in the country (OSU, BC, Hawaii, ASU) begging the question, can they sneak into a BCS game like Boise St did last season. Looking down the line it is fair to assume that Boston College will be bitten by the (upset) bug. Arizona State still has to play Cal, USC and Oregon and I am going to assure you now, Ohio State will lose at least one game this season. As a result those teams can be expected to fall in the BCS. USF can run the table if they get past Louisville and UCONN in november on the road (thank global warming) and if Colt Brennan can limit his picks (9 in last two games, 1 in the 5 before.) Hawaii can sneak into the top 8 of the BCS rankings and bid for a major bowl off the Island for the first time in school history.
SO LONG JOE
Yesterday ESPN pulled the biggest (expletive) tease in the history of sports. They set up the contract offer like it had been accepted for 15 minutes and then told the nation Joe Torre had rejected the Yankees offer. I'm not gonna blab on about this, but it was a good choice for Joe. He has been disrespected by The Emperor for the last 5 years and deserves better. I feel that the only way to keep the team intact is to hire someone the older players respect half as much as Joe, and that in my opinion is another person named Joe. I feel Girardi has the respect of Jeter, Rivera and Posada. He could handle the team and was a leader on that team in the mid-90s when all of those three were coming up. He is a proven leader and coach. Donny Baseball is a NY legend and has been on Torre's staff with the same respect as Girardi. However there is one major difference between the two....EXPERIENCE. Girardi has a manager of the year trophy with a young team and a terrible staff (minus D-Train during April-June). Plus the players don't have to adjust from ok Joe to ok Donny.
Lost Letters/Questions of the Day
Dear Cleveland,
Aren't you glad this isn't softball?
- Josh Beckett
Wouldn't it be great if Manny hit a ball and "pimped" it only to watch it get snagged above the wall by Sizemore or Guitteirez?
Has anyone been worked harder since the 1920s than Ray Rice was last night?
College Upset Bug
Ohio St v. Michigan St - only slight because of it being at OSU
LSU v. Auburn - same reason, home field edge for LSU
USC at ND - nobody has ever had a six game win streak against ND. Sharpley can be dangerous with time and don't forget the long grass in Southbend to slow USC who might be without Two-Name Booty)
Cinci at Pitt - Pitt's O put up 42 in a loss to Navy. If they get a defense Cinci could be caught looking ahead to USF
Live Well,
DG1
No comments:
Post a Comment