- The ACC Opens Weakly
- Last season, I made the argument --successfully, I think-- that the ACC was a good league. Though they didn't have any teams in the national title race, they had about 12 teams (out of 12) that were good enough to go to a bowl game. The #5-12 teams in the ACC would dominate the #7-12 teams in any other league, even though #s 1-4 would struggle. Despite the effectiveness of that reasoning last season, the ACC's national profile took another hit on opening Saturday when most of the teams lost.
- The ACC was 4-6 in games against teams from other leagues Saturday, including 0-3 against teams from BCS automatic-bid conferences.
- The ACC was 0-2 against the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision ("the minor leagues"), as the University of Virginia got thumped 26-14 *_at_home_* by the College of William & Mary, and Duke got whipped *_also_at_home_* by the defending FCS champion Richmond Spiders.
- Wake Forest fell *_at_home_* to the Baylor Bears, allowing that team to snap its 12-game/3-year road losing streak against BCS squads.
- Virginia Tech, the ACC's flagship school, was beaten by Alabama in Atlanta. The lost by a smaller margin than Clemson did in this game last season, but still, they lost
- Among the ACC's up-and-coming schools, Maryland was massacred 52-13 at Cal, and NC State was shut down *_at_home_* by South Carolina.
- The ACC schools that did win did so against lower division foes, as BC, Clemson, UNC & GaTech beat up on Northeastern, MTSU, The Citadel, and Jacksonville State, respectively.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
College Football 2009 Arrives At Last!
A few thoughts on the opening weekend of the 2009-2010 college football season:
Monday, May 25, 2009
We are the Champions!
US President Barack Obama welcomes the North Carolina Tarheels men's basketball team to the White House. The Tarheels, coached by Roy Williams and led by Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson, are the champions of the NCAA's 2008-2009 men's college basketball season. Link below:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ap-obama-tarheels&prov=ap&type=lgns
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ap-obama-tarheels&prov=ap&type=lgns
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Starbury Bursts Free; Celtics would be wise to steer clear
Are the Celtics actually going to take a chance on this guy?
I thought they wanted to WIN!
He'd be fine for the Heat, though; those jokers can't get much worse.
I thought they wanted to WIN!
He'd be fine for the Heat, though; those jokers can't get much worse.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
The Transitive Property
After a glance at the scores over the first half of the season, one may have reason to believe that Florida State is in big trouble as they travel to Georgia Tech for today's featured Atlantic Coast Conference football matchup.
Remember, Florida State was shut down at home by a score of 12-3 at home against Wake Forest on September 20th. Of course, Wake was SMASHED at Maryland on October 18 by a score of 26-0. Maryland, in turn, was brutalized 31-0 by Virginia in Charlottesville on October 4th. That same Virginia team was embarassed 31-3 by Duke in Durham on September 27th. And Duke got stomped 27-0 by Georgia Tech in Atlanta on October 4th. So, if GaTech shut out Duke, which routed Virginia, which shut out Maryland, which shut out Wake, which shut down FlaState; why wouldn't GaTech absolutely annihilate Florida State in their game today?
Well, actually, in this year's ACC there are plenty of good reasons, but... I'll have to save that for another post!
Remember, Florida State was shut down at home by a score of 12-3 at home against Wake Forest on September 20th. Of course, Wake was SMASHED at Maryland on October 18 by a score of 26-0. Maryland, in turn, was brutalized 31-0 by Virginia in Charlottesville on October 4th. That same Virginia team was embarassed 31-3 by Duke in Durham on September 27th. And Duke got stomped 27-0 by Georgia Tech in Atlanta on October 4th. So, if GaTech shut out Duke, which routed Virginia, which shut out Maryland, which shut out Wake, which shut down FlaState; why wouldn't GaTech absolutely annihilate Florida State in their game today?
Well, actually, in this year's ACC there are plenty of good reasons, but... I'll have to save that for another post!
Southern Conference Smackdown
Re: #3 Wofford at #2 Appalachian State
I do not recall ever seeing a college football game matching two teams in the top FIVE of the national rankings with an outcome quite like this one. In short, Appy State delivered a beatdown of possibly unprecedented proportions. That is, the Mountaineers from mountainous western North Carolina pulverized the Terriers from hilly northwestern South Carolina by a whopping score of 70-24 at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina last night.
ASU opened a can of whoop-ass on Wofford, and in front of a national television audience watching the game as broadcast on ESPN2, no less. And folks, it could've been worse. Appalachian's star quarterback Armanti Edwards sliced up the Terrier defense with 367 yards passing on ONLY 19 attempts (!!!) and tacked on 73 yards rushing as well. But, after Edwards tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brian Quick to stretch the ASU lead to 56-24 with a full FOURTEEN MINUTES left in the fourth quarter, Appalachian pulled the quarterback out of the game. The backup proceeded to lead two more touchdown drives with a strictly all-rush offense. Staggering.
Especially considering that Wofford came into the game ranked THIRD nationally in the Division I College Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as I-AA). The Terriers were 6-1 and had averaged 45.0 ppg against their six FCS opponents. Their only loss was by a mere ten points, 23-13, on the road against Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) foe South Carolina! In short, ASU beat Wofford by 36 pts MORE than South Carolina did.
Of course, it should be pointed out that even in this game, Wofford's offense played strong. They rolled up an impressive 497 yards of total offense, including 393 yards on the ground, behind TWO 100-yard-rushers. Unfortunately, they couldn't hold on to the ball, and their four fumbles and three interceptions repeatedly set up Appalachian State with great field position. ASU converted enough of those turnovers into scores to turn this anticipated "showdown" into a laugher.
I do not recall ever seeing a college football game matching two teams in the top FIVE of the national rankings with an outcome quite like this one. In short, Appy State delivered a beatdown of possibly unprecedented proportions. That is, the Mountaineers from mountainous western North Carolina pulverized the Terriers from hilly northwestern South Carolina by a whopping score of 70-24 at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina last night.
ASU opened a can of whoop-ass on Wofford, and in front of a national television audience watching the game as broadcast on ESPN2, no less. And folks, it could've been worse. Appalachian's star quarterback Armanti Edwards sliced up the Terrier defense with 367 yards passing on ONLY 19 attempts (!!!) and tacked on 73 yards rushing as well. But, after Edwards tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brian Quick to stretch the ASU lead to 56-24 with a full FOURTEEN MINUTES left in the fourth quarter, Appalachian pulled the quarterback out of the game. The backup proceeded to lead two more touchdown drives with a strictly all-rush offense. Staggering.
Especially considering that Wofford came into the game ranked THIRD nationally in the Division I College Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as I-AA). The Terriers were 6-1 and had averaged 45.0 ppg against their six FCS opponents. Their only loss was by a mere ten points, 23-13, on the road against Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) foe South Carolina! In short, ASU beat Wofford by 36 pts MORE than South Carolina did.
Of course, it should be pointed out that even in this game, Wofford's offense played strong. They rolled up an impressive 497 yards of total offense, including 393 yards on the ground, behind TWO 100-yard-rushers. Unfortunately, they couldn't hold on to the ball, and their four fumbles and three interceptions repeatedly set up Appalachian State with great field position. ASU converted enough of those turnovers into scores to turn this anticipated "showdown" into a laugher.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Scores From Week 4
Following up on the last post, the results:
- at #16 Penn St 45, Temple 3
- at Pittsburgh 21, Iowa 20 - The Hawkeyes stung in a rare nonconference eastern trip.
- at Northwestern 16, Ohio 8 - Wildcats jump out to 16-0 halftime lead & hold-on as leading rusher is injured in 2nd half.
- at Georgia Tech 38, Mississippi State 7 - Yellowjackets run wild on the defense that held Auburn to a mere 3 pts the week before; perhaps ACC weakness was overstated?
- at #13 Ohio State 28, Troy 10 - Buckeyes only marginally better against Troy's Trojans than they were against USC's; pulling away after struggling to a mere 14-10 halftime lead.
- at #23 Clemson 54, South Carolina State 0 - Clemson rolls againt in-state foe.
- at Syracuse 30, Northeastern 21 - Hapless Orangemen barely hold-on against I-AA foe.
- Boise State 37, at #17 Oregon 32 - Broncos roll to 37-13 lead in the stadium of its ranked Pac-10 foe, and holds on against a furious comeback for a huge victory.
- #18 Wake Forest 12, at #24 Florida State 3 - DemonDeacons win a game without a touchdown; combined score of 42-3 in last two games between these two teams in Tallahasee.
- Vanderbilt 23, at Ole Miss 17 - 'Bilts goal line stand secures victory in a game that was tied 17-17 at the half.
- #6 LSU 26, at #10 Auburn 21
- #3 Georgia 27, at Arizona State 10 - Bulldogs overcome the shock of their first western regular season road trip in nearly a half-century by stifling the Sun Devils.
- #25 Fresno State 55, at Toledo 54 (2OT) - West coast teams have been getting throttled left & right when they've travelled to the eastern time zone this season, but the Bulldogs pull one out in the Glass Bowl.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Games To Watch - Sept 20, 2008
Yes, this is being posted late. I was out until the early morn Fri. night and didn't have a chance to get this posted before now.
Early Games:
*** Temple (1-2) at Penn State (3-0) - The Nittany Lions are in the Big T(el)e(ve)n and the Owls are in the MAC, but I kinda feel like this game should count in the Big East standings, since both schools have Big East roots.
***Iowa (3-0) at Pittsburgh (1-1) - The Hawkeyes make their first trip to "the Pitts" since 1952. They may get some inadvertent support from the home fans, since their uniforms look so much like those of the Pittsburgh's beloved Steelers (pro football team).
This game is significant, schedule-wise, because it's a rare Iowa vs Big East matchup. Iowa's schedulers seem to have historically looked west to Arizona and south to Texas when they booked nonconference games against non-Midwestern teams. The Hawkeyes played a home-and-home with Syracuse over the 2006-2007 seasons, but prior to that, their last Big East foe was Miami-Florida in 1992. Indeed, Syracuse (last vs. in 2007), Cincinnati (1990) and Pittsburgh (1952) are the ONLY schools in the current Big East football roster that Iowa has EVER played against.
***Ohio (0-3) at Northwestern (3-0) - Normally, an 0-3 team wouldn't be expected to pose much threat playing on the road at a 3-0 team, but Frank Solich's Bobcats have played three quality teams, been in every game to the end, and very nearly stole a victory at the Horseshoe in Columbus, OH! They may be the best 0-3 team in the country. Meanwhile, NU has played three cupcakes and struggled with every one. This could get interesting.
***Mississippi State (1-2) at Georgia Tech (2-1) - The Bulldogs try to rebound from their embarassing 3-2 home loss to Auburn last week as they face coach Paul Johnson's triple-option Yellowjacket offense in Atlanta. Though GaTech routinely includes SEC teams on their schedule (indeed, they were in the SEC until 1963), this is the Ramblin' Wreck's first matchup w/ MSU since 1929! That's especially remarkable since MissSt & GaTech were in the same conference for 31 years (1933-63)!
***Troy (2-0) at Ohio State (2-1) - The Buckeyes might find these Trojans only slightly easier to beat then last week's squad; Troy is unbeaten w/ a win over the same Middle Tennessee State crew that gave Kentucky a tough game last week and beat Maryland the week before that.
***SC State (2-1) at Clemson (2-1) - Hard to believe this is the first-ever meeting between these two. Considering that the Tigers have already whipped the Citadel & close the season with South Carolina, a win here could put them on the path to the undisputed state championship!
Mid-Day Games:
***Northeastern (0-2) at Syracuse (0-3) - The Orangemen, having already been crushed 30-10 by Northwestern, now try their hand against a school from the other direction.
***Boise State (2-0) at Oregon (3-0) - The Broncos get their first test of the season in their first-ever matchup against the Mighty Ducks of Oregon.
Evening Games:
***Wake Forest (2-0) at Florida State (2-0) - For any fan who has followed college football for a number of years, it has to boggle the mind that undefeated Florida State would be an unpopular pick at home against Wake Forest, but that is where we find ourselves. Against the backdrop of history, it is also remarkable to consider that none of the true underclassmen (freshman, sophomores and juniors) on the Florida State team has ever beaten Wake Forest. Still, the as-yet untested Seminoles will indeed be trying to erase today the memory of the 30-0 loss that the Demon Deacons inflicted upon them in their last trip to Tallahasee in 2006.
***Vanderbilt (3-0) at Ole Miss (2-1) - Given the toughness of the SEC schedule, both teams need this win to have a decent shot at getting the 6 victories necessary to qualify for a post-season bowl game.
***LSU (2-0) at Auburn (3-0) - The annual king-maker game for the SEC West. Though LSU has won two BCS championships in the last 5 years, they have struggled each year with Auburn in this Tiger vs Tiger battle. Since 2000, the series is tied at 4-4 with the combined scoring also tied, at 144-144. For its part, Auburn has to feel overlooked nationally; they went 33-5 overall from 2004-2006, but are not typically included in the national championship conversation and are often overshadowed by the bigger name SEC programs at LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee & Florida.
***Georgia (3-0) at Arizona State (2-1) - In addition to being an early matchup of quality teams, a big challenge for each participant, and an important strength-of-schedule measuring stick for all Pac-10 & SEC teams, this game is remarkable because Georgia is playing a game in Arizona!! Folks, the Bulldogs do not travel. Typically all their non-conference games are either at home or against in-state rival Georgia Tech! The last time Georgia played a regular season game in the Western Time Zone since losing at USC in 1960! But forget about the West, Georgia hasn't scheduled a game outside of the SEC area (AR, LA, MS, AL, KY, TN, GA, SC) since a trip to Miami in 1966!!! And if you count Miami as Southeast, then it goes back to 1965 when the Bulldogs played games at North Carolina and Michigan!
***Fresno State (1-1) at Toledo (1-1) - Battle for bragging rights in this WAC-MAC matchup. The Bulldogs first trip to the Eastern Time Zone since opening the 2003 season at Tennessee in Knoxville.
Early Games:
*** Temple (1-2) at Penn State (3-0) - The Nittany Lions are in the Big T(el)e(ve)n and the Owls are in the MAC, but I kinda feel like this game should count in the Big East standings, since both schools have Big East roots.
***Iowa (3-0) at Pittsburgh (1-1) - The Hawkeyes make their first trip to "the Pitts" since 1952. They may get some inadvertent support from the home fans, since their uniforms look so much like those of the Pittsburgh's beloved Steelers (pro football team).
This game is significant, schedule-wise, because it's a rare Iowa vs Big East matchup. Iowa's schedulers seem to have historically looked west to Arizona and south to Texas when they booked nonconference games against non-Midwestern teams. The Hawkeyes played a home-and-home with Syracuse over the 2006-2007 seasons, but prior to that, their last Big East foe was Miami-Florida in 1992. Indeed, Syracuse (last vs. in 2007), Cincinnati (1990) and Pittsburgh (1952) are the ONLY schools in the current Big East football roster that Iowa has EVER played against.
***Ohio (0-3) at Northwestern (3-0) - Normally, an 0-3 team wouldn't be expected to pose much threat playing on the road at a 3-0 team, but Frank Solich's Bobcats have played three quality teams, been in every game to the end, and very nearly stole a victory at the Horseshoe in Columbus, OH! They may be the best 0-3 team in the country. Meanwhile, NU has played three cupcakes and struggled with every one. This could get interesting.
***Mississippi State (1-2) at Georgia Tech (2-1) - The Bulldogs try to rebound from their embarassing 3-2 home loss to Auburn last week as they face coach Paul Johnson's triple-option Yellowjacket offense in Atlanta. Though GaTech routinely includes SEC teams on their schedule (indeed, they were in the SEC until 1963), this is the Ramblin' Wreck's first matchup w/ MSU since 1929! That's especially remarkable since MissSt & GaTech were in the same conference for 31 years (1933-63)!
***Troy (2-0) at Ohio State (2-1) - The Buckeyes might find these Trojans only slightly easier to beat then last week's squad; Troy is unbeaten w/ a win over the same Middle Tennessee State crew that gave Kentucky a tough game last week and beat Maryland the week before that.
***SC State (2-1) at Clemson (2-1) - Hard to believe this is the first-ever meeting between these two. Considering that the Tigers have already whipped the Citadel & close the season with South Carolina, a win here could put them on the path to the undisputed state championship!
Mid-Day Games:
***Northeastern (0-2) at Syracuse (0-3) - The Orangemen, having already been crushed 30-10 by Northwestern, now try their hand against a school from the other direction.
***Boise State (2-0) at Oregon (3-0) - The Broncos get their first test of the season in their first-ever matchup against the Mighty Ducks of Oregon.
Evening Games:
***Wake Forest (2-0) at Florida State (2-0) - For any fan who has followed college football for a number of years, it has to boggle the mind that undefeated Florida State would be an unpopular pick at home against Wake Forest, but that is where we find ourselves. Against the backdrop of history, it is also remarkable to consider that none of the true underclassmen (freshman, sophomores and juniors) on the Florida State team has ever beaten Wake Forest. Still, the as-yet untested Seminoles will indeed be trying to erase today the memory of the 30-0 loss that the Demon Deacons inflicted upon them in their last trip to Tallahasee in 2006.
***Vanderbilt (3-0) at Ole Miss (2-1) - Given the toughness of the SEC schedule, both teams need this win to have a decent shot at getting the 6 victories necessary to qualify for a post-season bowl game.
***LSU (2-0) at Auburn (3-0) - The annual king-maker game for the SEC West. Though LSU has won two BCS championships in the last 5 years, they have struggled each year with Auburn in this Tiger vs Tiger battle. Since 2000, the series is tied at 4-4 with the combined scoring also tied, at 144-144. For its part, Auburn has to feel overlooked nationally; they went 33-5 overall from 2004-2006, but are not typically included in the national championship conversation and are often overshadowed by the bigger name SEC programs at LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee & Florida.
***Georgia (3-0) at Arizona State (2-1) - In addition to being an early matchup of quality teams, a big challenge for each participant, and an important strength-of-schedule measuring stick for all Pac-10 & SEC teams, this game is remarkable because Georgia is playing a game in Arizona!! Folks, the Bulldogs do not travel. Typically all their non-conference games are either at home or against in-state rival Georgia Tech! The last time Georgia played a regular season game in the Western Time Zone since losing at USC in 1960! But forget about the West, Georgia hasn't scheduled a game outside of the SEC area (AR, LA, MS, AL, KY, TN, GA, SC) since a trip to Miami in 1966!!! And if you count Miami as Southeast, then it goes back to 1965 when the Bulldogs played games at North Carolina and Michigan!
***Fresno State (1-1) at Toledo (1-1) - Battle for bragging rights in this WAC-MAC matchup. The Bulldogs first trip to the Eastern Time Zone since opening the 2003 season at Tennessee in Knoxville.
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