True to predictions, Cal-Berkeley won its third straight title at the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championships, completed today in Philadelphia. Cal defeated last year's runners-up, Kutztown State, in another thrilling finals match - this one going to overtime before getting the winning try a minute into sudden death.
Meanwhile, the Penn State women also won their third straight title with a dominant 24-7 victory in the finals (after a 31-0 rout in the semis).
Here are the final results from Sunday's play:
Men's Collegiate:
CUP FINALS - QF) Life def. Navy 15-5...Kutztown St def. Indiana 31-12...Arizona def. Arkansas St 7-5...California def. Michigan 31-0. SF) California def. Life 33-5...Kutztown St def. Life 19-14. FINAL) California def. Kutztown St 17-12 (OT).
PLATE FINALS - SF) Dartmouth def. Air Force 20-5...UCLA def. Virginia Tech 27-10. FINAL) UCLA def. Dartmouth 33-5.
BOWL FINALS - SF) St. Joe's def. Alabama 21-14...Notre Dame def. Penn St 22-0. FINALS) Notre Dame def. St. Joe's 22-17.
SHIELD FINALS - SF) Boston College def. Texas 38-5...Temple def. Clemson 21-17. FINALS) Temple def. Boston College 19-12.
Women's Collegiate:
CUP FINALS - SF) Penn State def. American International 31-0...Lindenwood def. Notre Dame College 24-17. THIRD PLACE) AIC def. Notre Dame 10-5. CHAMPIONSHIP) Penn State def. Lindenwood 24-7.
5th/6th place) Life def. Michigan 37-0.
7th/8th place) Kutztown St def. James Madison 17-12.
9th/10th place) Arizona def. Delaware 20-0.
11th/12th place) Notre Dame University def. Boston College 19-5.
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Speaking of rugby...the Penn Mutual Collegiate Sevens Championships are on!
With the pool play completed today for the men, the twenty college teams are being divided into the four cutlery divisions (shield, bowl, plate, and cup...and who decided which of those was the most presitigious? It almost seems exactly backwards to me!). Here are the results from the men's pool play:
Pool A: Cal-Berkeley (3-0), Virginia Tech (1-1-1), Notre Dame (1-2), Boston College (0-2-1).
Pool B: Navy (3-0), Kutztown State (2-1), Air Force (1-2), Temple (0-3).
Pool C: Indiana (3-0), Life University (2-1), Alabama (1-2), Clemson (0-3).
Pool D: Arkansas St (3-0), Michigan (2-1), UCLA (1-2), Texas (0-3).
Pool E: Arizona (2-1), Dartmouth (2-1), St. Joe's (1-2), Penn State (1-2).
So, the groupings for the single-elimination finals tomorrow:
CUP Quarterfinals - Navy v Life University; Indiana v Kutztown State; Arkansas St v Arizona; Cal-Berkeley v Michigan.
PLATE - Dartmouth v Air Force; Virginia Tech v UCLA.
BOWL - St. Joe's v Alabama; Penn St v Notre Dame.
SHIELD - Boston College. v Texas; Clemson v Temple.
In the women's field, three teams went 3-0 in their pool play, setting up the finals tonight: Penn State (two-time defending champs), Notre Dame College (from Ohio), and Lindenwood College (from Belleville, IL). They'll be joined by wild card second place finisher American International College in the semi-finals (AIC plays Penn St).
Meanwhile, the other eight schools play a three-game bracket tournament for places five through twelve, and Life University, Michigan, James Madison, and Kutztown State won the first round to set up two games tomorrow for places 5-8, while Delaware, Arizona, Boston College, and Notre Dame University will compete for places 9-12.
Pool A: Cal-Berkeley (3-0), Virginia Tech (1-1-1), Notre Dame (1-2), Boston College (0-2-1).
Pool B: Navy (3-0), Kutztown State (2-1), Air Force (1-2), Temple (0-3).
Pool C: Indiana (3-0), Life University (2-1), Alabama (1-2), Clemson (0-3).
Pool D: Arkansas St (3-0), Michigan (2-1), UCLA (1-2), Texas (0-3).
Pool E: Arizona (2-1), Dartmouth (2-1), St. Joe's (1-2), Penn State (1-2).
So, the groupings for the single-elimination finals tomorrow:
CUP Quarterfinals - Navy v Life University; Indiana v Kutztown State; Arkansas St v Arizona; Cal-Berkeley v Michigan.
PLATE - Dartmouth v Air Force; Virginia Tech v UCLA.
BOWL - St. Joe's v Alabama; Penn St v Notre Dame.
SHIELD - Boston College. v Texas; Clemson v Temple.
In the women's field, three teams went 3-0 in their pool play, setting up the finals tonight: Penn State (two-time defending champs), Notre Dame College (from Ohio), and Lindenwood College (from Belleville, IL). They'll be joined by wild card second place finisher American International College in the semi-finals (AIC plays Penn St).
Meanwhile, the other eight schools play a three-game bracket tournament for places five through twelve, and Life University, Michigan, James Madison, and Kutztown State won the first round to set up two games tomorrow for places 5-8, while Delaware, Arizona, Boston College, and Notre Dame University will compete for places 9-12.
Friday, May 29, 2015
A little bit o' American Rugby for you this weekend!
Here's the link to the collegiate Rugby Sevens tournament this weekend being held in Philadelphia, and broadcast on NBC (and NBCSN, if anyone actually has that cable station).
It includes a nice "rugby sevens for dummies" section that I'll reproduce here for you:
Rugby sevens for dummies
- Where usual rugby matches are made up of 15 players a side and 80 minutes of total playing time, sevens is a much different variation of the sport.
- While sevens matches are played on a field that is the same size as a normal rugby pitch, teams send only seven players onto the field at a time. The matches are considerably shorter than their conventional counterpart as well, with only two seven-minute halves and a two-minute break for halftime, instead of the usual 10.
- Because of more space and a wide-open pitch, rugby sevens are usually considered to be more exciting, fast-paced and high-scoring than the usual 15 vs. 15 matches. Starting in 2016, the sport will be a part of the Olympics.
The Penn State women and (of course) the Cal-Berkeley men are each two time defending champs and are looking to "three-peat" this weekend.
I'm always fascinated by the format of rugby tournaments - there's a round-robin, four teams in a group preliminary round, just like soccer and most sports of a similar structure, with the first place teams and some wild cards moving on to the championship "knockout" phase (for the men, twenty teams in five groups produce five firsts and three wild cards for the finals; the women have twelve teams and similarly put four in the finals).
But the key difference in the rugby culture (and a cool difference, I think!) is that everyone moves on to a "knockout" round - while the top eight men's teams play for the cup, the next four compete for the "plate", the next four for the "bowl", and the bottom four for the "shield". Every team that comes is guaranteed a couple more games, so they'll play five or six games in all for their trouble of coming - and that's the joy of the trip, isn't it? To get to play the sport you love? As a bonus, those last couple of games are the most likely to be against teams of your approximate talent and accomplishment level! So if you're only the 18th best team, and Cal wipes you out in the round-robin, don't worry! You'll get a couple of games against the 19th and 17th best teams, teams that are also struggling as you are! For any tournament, this is good, but for a school tournament? This is ideal learning for everyone!
It includes a nice "rugby sevens for dummies" section that I'll reproduce here for you:
Rugby sevens for dummies
- Where usual rugby matches are made up of 15 players a side and 80 minutes of total playing time, sevens is a much different variation of the sport.
- While sevens matches are played on a field that is the same size as a normal rugby pitch, teams send only seven players onto the field at a time. The matches are considerably shorter than their conventional counterpart as well, with only two seven-minute halves and a two-minute break for halftime, instead of the usual 10.
- Because of more space and a wide-open pitch, rugby sevens are usually considered to be more exciting, fast-paced and high-scoring than the usual 15 vs. 15 matches. Starting in 2016, the sport will be a part of the Olympics.
The Penn State women and (of course) the Cal-Berkeley men are each two time defending champs and are looking to "three-peat" this weekend.
I'm always fascinated by the format of rugby tournaments - there's a round-robin, four teams in a group preliminary round, just like soccer and most sports of a similar structure, with the first place teams and some wild cards moving on to the championship "knockout" phase (for the men, twenty teams in five groups produce five firsts and three wild cards for the finals; the women have twelve teams and similarly put four in the finals).
But the key difference in the rugby culture (and a cool difference, I think!) is that everyone moves on to a "knockout" round - while the top eight men's teams play for the cup, the next four compete for the "plate", the next four for the "bowl", and the bottom four for the "shield". Every team that comes is guaranteed a couple more games, so they'll play five or six games in all for their trouble of coming - and that's the joy of the trip, isn't it? To get to play the sport you love? As a bonus, those last couple of games are the most likely to be against teams of your approximate talent and accomplishment level! So if you're only the 18th best team, and Cal wipes you out in the round-robin, don't worry! You'll get a couple of games against the 19th and 17th best teams, teams that are also struggling as you are! For any tournament, this is good, but for a school tournament? This is ideal learning for everyone!
Saturday, November 29, 2014
From ESPN Stats: Some facts about WKU's 67-66 upset of Marshall Friday...
Western Kentucky's Leon Allen (237) and Marshall's Steward Butler (233) became the second pair of opposing running backs in FBS history to each rush for over 230 yards in the same game. The other? Maryland's Bruce Perry (237) and Wake Forest's Chris Barclay (243) in 1997.
Western Kentucky and Marshall combined for 133 points today. Including today's game, SMU has scored 106 all season.
The 133 combined points ties the most ever in a game involving a ranked team (No. 9 West Virginia beat No. 25 Baylor, 70-63, in 2012).
Western Kentucky scored more points today in football (67) than it did against Marshall in men's basketball last season (64).
The 15 combined Pass TD (8 by Brandon Doughty, 7 by Rakeem Cato) breaks an FBS record for most combined Pass TD in a game. It's the 2nd game in FBS history where 2 quarterbacks threw for at least 7 touchdowns (also California-Colorado earlier this season: Jared Goff and Sefo Liufau).
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook knew there was going to be a lot of points scored in Western Kentucky-Marshall, as the 76 over/under was the 2nd-highest mark of any of the games today or tomorrow (behind the 80 in Baylor-Texas Tech).The over hit with 7:23 remaining in the 2nd quarter.
This is the first time in Rakeem Cato's career he has thrown at least three interceptions in a home game.
Western Kentucky and Marshall combined to score 49 points in the 1st quarter (28-21 WKU). That is the most combined points in the 1st quarter of any FBS game this season. The previous high was 42 by New Mexico and Boise State on Nov. 8 when New Mexico led 28-14 after the 1st quarter.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
What games are on tap for Week 12?
Of the sixty FBS games this week, the Las Vegas/Reno casino bookies, the folks who make their living by predicting the (perceived!) outcome of the games agreed with the predictions we made based on the tiered rankings we posted on Sunday.
For the record, we predict the outcome of games as follows: Count the number of tiers that the two teams differ by. So, for example, if one team is Tier B and the other is Tier G, there is a five tier difference (C, D, E, F, G) between them. Then, multiply that by 1 1/2 points for the neutral field advantage the higher team would have. Finally, give the home team an extra three points (if they're favored already, add three to the spread; if they're the underdog, subtract three). There's your prediction. (We've been known to adjust for unusual circumstances: when BYU lost their all-star QB, for example, the tiers had not adjusted for that at the time. Similarly, there might be motivating factors - rivalries, etc. - that urge us to change the spread - but we rarely do! More often than not, what you see is what you get...WYSIWYG!
Here are the games that have a significant difference between our forecasts and theirs:
UMass @ Akron Tuesday ... we say Akron by 3, they say by 7 1/2. They win. Akron 30, UMass 6.
Kansas St @ West Virginia Thursday...we say K-St by 1, they say WV by 2 1/2! Our point! K-St 26, WVU 20.
UTEP @ Rice Friday...we say Rice wins by 2, they say Rice by 9. They lead 2-1. Rice wins big, 31-13.
Fordham @ Army Saturday...no forecast from Vegas because Fordham's an FCS school, but we believe they should be favored over Army by a point! Army 42-31.
Eastern Michigan @ Ball St... there are a bunch of routs forecasted where the point difference between a 25 and a 35 point blowout is pointless to quibble over, but in this case, we're going to point out that we see a six-point win for Ball St, and Vegas sees seventeen! They were closer - it was 15. So they lead us 4-1 now...
Maryland @ Michigan... We have the Terps by five, Vegas has Michigan by 4.5! We cheered Maryland's late TD for the win, 23-16!
Florida International @ North Texas...we think it'll be FIU by two; they see UNT by 2! They were on again! UNT 17, FIU 14!
"The Big Game"! Stanford @ California...the home of the greatest, most controversial play in college football history in 1982. We have Cal by 3 1/2, they have Stanford by 6. We were doubly afraid of this one, with all our Berkeley relations...but it was Leland Sanford Junior University with the 38-17 win. Vegas up 6-2 now.
Florida Atlantic @ Middle Tennessee...We see it as even; they have MTSU by 6 1/2! We're counting this one on our side - one is closer to "even" than it is to six! 35-34, Blue Raiders.
Oklahoma St @ Baylor...Another potential blowout, but our spreads differ significantly - we see Baylor by 11; they think the Bears will win by 27! They'd have been spot on if Baylor wanted to run it up...49-28 in bad weather. 7-2, casinos.
Missouri @ Tennessee is the last game we'll compare - we have Mizzou by 1; they think the Volunteers win at home by 3 1/2. Missouri wins, 29-21, so we go into Sunday down four with four to go. Dormie at 7-3 down...
On the pro side, there are only four games to compare:
Cleveland @ Atlanta... We think Cleveland by 1; they see Atlanta by 3 1/2. And thanks to some terrible clock management, we were vindicated by the Browns' last-second field goal.
Cincinnati @ Houston...We think the Bengals win by 1; Vegas says Houston by 1 1/2. And the Bengals won comfortably. Two for two today - we still have a chance!
Arizona @ Seattle...We differ on the effect of the home field: Arizona by 2 on our board, Seattle by six on theirs!
Baltimore @ New Orleans on Monday night...We call it even; they see the Saints with a 3 1/2 point advantage at home. Looks like it may wait until Monday night to determine whether we win or lose!
For the record, we predict the outcome of games as follows: Count the number of tiers that the two teams differ by. So, for example, if one team is Tier B and the other is Tier G, there is a five tier difference (C, D, E, F, G) between them. Then, multiply that by 1 1/2 points for the neutral field advantage the higher team would have. Finally, give the home team an extra three points (if they're favored already, add three to the spread; if they're the underdog, subtract three). There's your prediction. (We've been known to adjust for unusual circumstances: when BYU lost their all-star QB, for example, the tiers had not adjusted for that at the time. Similarly, there might be motivating factors - rivalries, etc. - that urge us to change the spread - but we rarely do! More often than not, what you see is what you get...WYSIWYG!
Here are the games that have a significant difference between our forecasts and theirs:
UMass @ Akron Tuesday ... we say Akron by 3, they say by 7 1/2. They win. Akron 30, UMass 6.
Kansas St @ West Virginia Thursday...we say K-St by 1, they say WV by 2 1/2! Our point! K-St 26, WVU 20.
UTEP @ Rice Friday...we say Rice wins by 2, they say Rice by 9. They lead 2-1. Rice wins big, 31-13.
Fordham @ Army Saturday...no forecast from Vegas because Fordham's an FCS school, but we believe they should be favored over Army by a point! Army 42-31.
Eastern Michigan @ Ball St... there are a bunch of routs forecasted where the point difference between a 25 and a 35 point blowout is pointless to quibble over, but in this case, we're going to point out that we see a six-point win for Ball St, and Vegas sees seventeen! They were closer - it was 15. So they lead us 4-1 now...
Maryland @ Michigan... We have the Terps by five, Vegas has Michigan by 4.5! We cheered Maryland's late TD for the win, 23-16!
Florida International @ North Texas...we think it'll be FIU by two; they see UNT by 2! They were on again! UNT 17, FIU 14!
"The Big Game"! Stanford @ California...the home of the greatest, most controversial play in college football history in 1982. We have Cal by 3 1/2, they have Stanford by 6. We were doubly afraid of this one, with all our Berkeley relations...but it was Leland Sanford Junior University with the 38-17 win. Vegas up 6-2 now.
Florida Atlantic @ Middle Tennessee...We see it as even; they have MTSU by 6 1/2! We're counting this one on our side - one is closer to "even" than it is to six! 35-34, Blue Raiders.
Oklahoma St @ Baylor...Another potential blowout, but our spreads differ significantly - we see Baylor by 11; they think the Bears will win by 27! They'd have been spot on if Baylor wanted to run it up...49-28 in bad weather. 7-2, casinos.
Missouri @ Tennessee is the last game we'll compare - we have Mizzou by 1; they think the Volunteers win at home by 3 1/2. Missouri wins, 29-21, so we go into Sunday down four with four to go. Dormie at 7-3 down...
On the pro side, there are only four games to compare:
Cleveland @ Atlanta... We think Cleveland by 1; they see Atlanta by 3 1/2. And thanks to some terrible clock management, we were vindicated by the Browns' last-second field goal.
Cincinnati @ Houston...We think the Bengals win by 1; Vegas says Houston by 1 1/2. And the Bengals won comfortably. Two for two today - we still have a chance!
Arizona @ Seattle...We differ on the effect of the home field: Arizona by 2 on our board, Seattle by six on theirs!
Baltimore @ New Orleans on Monday night...We call it even; they see the Saints with a 3 1/2 point advantage at home. Looks like it may wait until Monday night to determine whether we win or lose!
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Reviewing another FANTASTIC Saturday in college ball!
- Baylor finally got what was coming to 'em today, and West Virginia finally beat one of those Tier 1 teams it played so well! Justice both ways...
- If Bob Stoops doesn't have open campus tryouts for a new kicker next week, then the Oklahoma coach should have his head examined...
- There are some teams that may sneak up on us when the Final Four are revealed in seven weeks or so (we'll publish a pice on THAT later in the week), and Minnesota may be one of them! Like Auburn last year, the luck of the Jedi is with the, this year...
- Duke / Virginia was as advertised, the Devils winning a tight one with a 4Q TD, 20-13...
- The Bottom Eight was packed with reverse upsets across the board: UMass winning big for the second week in a row, Appalachian St destroying Troy 53-14, Kent St beating the US Military Academy 39-17, and Idaho wins its first game of the year, 29-17 over fellow B8'er New Mexico St...
- Would anyone spotting the Texas A&M Aggies, please report their disappearance to the NCAA...
- The Battle of the University of California was also tremendous, with plenty of lead changes and great plays in UCLA's 36-34 victory over California...
- Ohio St, LSU, Marshall, TCU, Michigan St, Ole Miss and Oregon all demonstrated that sometimes, games DO go as expected, and the top team DOES win fairly easily...
- ... And sometimes, SMU is just as bad as we think they are. Cincinnati defeated the hapless Mustangs 41-3, in Dallas yet.
- Poor Todd Gurley. Your backups are proving that it was more the Georgia offensive line's doing than yours...
- Seven TD passes for USC tonight...game winning FG for Colorado St over their main rivals from Utah St... What happened to Florida and Kentucky today? Did their 3OT game a month ago wear them out (eventually)?... As good as the North Carolina QB looked against the Irish last week, it shouldn't have been a surprise that they could rise up and take out Georgia Tech 48-43...
- Did you see Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong leap the linebacker en route to an almost-TD against Northwestern? Alas, they planted his knee outside the end zone, and Abdullah had to run it in on the next play. the Huskers won 38-17...
- Unlike Georgia's Gurley, it's hard to be clearer as to how important Tayson Hill was to BYU than to watch how they've gone from a 4-0 threat for the title playoff to an 0-3 afterthought following his injury, losing again last night to Nevada-Reno 42-35...
- And last and certainly most, what an epic game between pretentious Notre Dame and criminal coddlers Florida St, won by the Seminoles 31-27 after a last minute score by the Irish was called back on an offensive pass interference call that...well, it took guts to make the call.
- If Bob Stoops doesn't have open campus tryouts for a new kicker next week, then the Oklahoma coach should have his head examined...
- There are some teams that may sneak up on us when the Final Four are revealed in seven weeks or so (we'll publish a pice on THAT later in the week), and Minnesota may be one of them! Like Auburn last year, the luck of the Jedi is with the, this year...
- Duke / Virginia was as advertised, the Devils winning a tight one with a 4Q TD, 20-13...
- The Bottom Eight was packed with reverse upsets across the board: UMass winning big for the second week in a row, Appalachian St destroying Troy 53-14, Kent St beating the US Military Academy 39-17, and Idaho wins its first game of the year, 29-17 over fellow B8'er New Mexico St...
- Would anyone spotting the Texas A&M Aggies, please report their disappearance to the NCAA...
- The Battle of the University of California was also tremendous, with plenty of lead changes and great plays in UCLA's 36-34 victory over California...
- Ohio St, LSU, Marshall, TCU, Michigan St, Ole Miss and Oregon all demonstrated that sometimes, games DO go as expected, and the top team DOES win fairly easily...
- ... And sometimes, SMU is just as bad as we think they are. Cincinnati defeated the hapless Mustangs 41-3, in Dallas yet.
- Poor Todd Gurley. Your backups are proving that it was more the Georgia offensive line's doing than yours...
- Seven TD passes for USC tonight...game winning FG for Colorado St over their main rivals from Utah St... What happened to Florida and Kentucky today? Did their 3OT game a month ago wear them out (eventually)?... As good as the North Carolina QB looked against the Irish last week, it shouldn't have been a surprise that they could rise up and take out Georgia Tech 48-43...
- Did you see Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong leap the linebacker en route to an almost-TD against Northwestern? Alas, they planted his knee outside the end zone, and Abdullah had to run it in on the next play. the Huskers won 38-17...
- Unlike Georgia's Gurley, it's hard to be clearer as to how important Tayson Hill was to BYU than to watch how they've gone from a 4-0 threat for the title playoff to an 0-3 afterthought following his injury, losing again last night to Nevada-Reno 42-35...
- And last and certainly most, what an epic game between pretentious Notre Dame and criminal coddlers Florida St, won by the Seminoles 31-27 after a last minute score by the Irish was called back on an offensive pass interference call that...well, it took guts to make the call.
Friday, October 10, 2014
A few Football factoids to Follow...
* The Philadelphia Eagles have returned seven balls for touchdowns this season, in just their first five games, which is the most in NFL history. Only four teams had six (including Dante Hall's KC Chiefs in 2003), and no one else this season has more than three!
* JJ Watt (occupation: Houston Texan defensive end) has two of those himself, including the amazingly athletic fumble return last night off Andrew Luck, as well as a TD catch as an offensive crossover. Besides being a budding media superstar and (by all accounts) a tremendously nice man, he is the most spectacular and arguably the most valuable defensive player in the league. However, as Colin Cowherd made note of this morning, he is NOT the league MVP, nor will he be. It's basically impossible to imagine a situation where a player who touches the ball twice a game on average is your most valuable, QBs have the huge advantage of handling it and determining the direction of it every single play, and the only other positions with a chance would be the others the handle it regularly - backs and receivers. Watt was spectacular last night...and the Texans lost, again, for the 15th time in 22 games, because their QB play was not up to snuff. In this case, not up to Luck. (Or Manning, or Brady, or Rogers, or Wilson or Brees or any of those top passers that dominate the games they play.
Sorry, JJ - we love you; we really do! But you won't be the MVP.
* Todd Gurley, Georgia's Heisman-candidate running back, got caught puling a Manziel, signing autographs for money. He made approximately $400 by ESPN's estimation, and it may be that his college career is over.
Meanwhile, the Power Five conferences (of which Georgia is a member) are about to start supplying cost-of-living expenses for their players, including insurance benefits and more, which will amount to hundreds of times more money flowing to every football player like Todd Gurley than he just got banned from the game for.
Irony.
* If you're Peyton Manning, six touchdowns from tying Bret Favre's career TD record, and you're playing at the Jets this Sunday in a "who cares" road game before coming home for two important games against SF and SD... How many scores do you throw for this week? Certainly, not six or seven - he'd like to break the record at home, I'm sure. But this IS the Jets, after all, and wouldn't it be nice to get close so he can relax about "IT" happening sometime during that five day span. Our bet: if Peyton doesn't throw at least FOUR (and more likely five!) in New Jersey, it'll be an upset.
* The Cards are probably starting Logan Thomas, late of Va-Tech, at QB against Washington this weekend. Thomas' career stat sheet is remarkable, so I'll remark on it: 1 for 8, for 81 yards. The one was a mistake that the defense whiffed on, leaving the receiver to take it home without interference. Even against Washington, this could be ugly...
* Finally, two unusual college teams to watch out for... the Kentucky Wildcats are a three-OT, missed delay-of-game penalty away from an undefeated record, and the California Golden Bears are a Hail Mary loss to Arizona from a similar 5-0 record. Both teams have shown resilience and the ability to bounce back when down this year, despite meager recent histories... Why not them? Why not this year?
* JJ Watt (occupation: Houston Texan defensive end) has two of those himself, including the amazingly athletic fumble return last night off Andrew Luck, as well as a TD catch as an offensive crossover. Besides being a budding media superstar and (by all accounts) a tremendously nice man, he is the most spectacular and arguably the most valuable defensive player in the league. However, as Colin Cowherd made note of this morning, he is NOT the league MVP, nor will he be. It's basically impossible to imagine a situation where a player who touches the ball twice a game on average is your most valuable, QBs have the huge advantage of handling it and determining the direction of it every single play, and the only other positions with a chance would be the others the handle it regularly - backs and receivers. Watt was spectacular last night...and the Texans lost, again, for the 15th time in 22 games, because their QB play was not up to snuff. In this case, not up to Luck. (Or Manning, or Brady, or Rogers, or Wilson or Brees or any of those top passers that dominate the games they play.
Sorry, JJ - we love you; we really do! But you won't be the MVP.
* Todd Gurley, Georgia's Heisman-candidate running back, got caught puling a Manziel, signing autographs for money. He made approximately $400 by ESPN's estimation, and it may be that his college career is over.
Meanwhile, the Power Five conferences (of which Georgia is a member) are about to start supplying cost-of-living expenses for their players, including insurance benefits and more, which will amount to hundreds of times more money flowing to every football player like Todd Gurley than he just got banned from the game for.
Irony.
* If you're Peyton Manning, six touchdowns from tying Bret Favre's career TD record, and you're playing at the Jets this Sunday in a "who cares" road game before coming home for two important games against SF and SD... How many scores do you throw for this week? Certainly, not six or seven - he'd like to break the record at home, I'm sure. But this IS the Jets, after all, and wouldn't it be nice to get close so he can relax about "IT" happening sometime during that five day span. Our bet: if Peyton doesn't throw at least FOUR (and more likely five!) in New Jersey, it'll be an upset.
* The Cards are probably starting Logan Thomas, late of Va-Tech, at QB against Washington this weekend. Thomas' career stat sheet is remarkable, so I'll remark on it: 1 for 8, for 81 yards. The one was a mistake that the defense whiffed on, leaving the receiver to take it home without interference. Even against Washington, this could be ugly...
* Finally, two unusual college teams to watch out for... the Kentucky Wildcats are a three-OT, missed delay-of-game penalty away from an undefeated record, and the California Golden Bears are a Hail Mary loss to Arizona from a similar 5-0 record. Both teams have shown resilience and the ability to bounce back when down this year, despite meager recent histories... Why not them? Why not this year?
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
How did we do on last week's predictions? Let's find out...
Places We Looked Brilliant:
Arizona not only covered at Oregon... Louisville handled Syracuse with ease...Utah State not only covered, not only defeated BYU, but basically eliminated their chances of success this year by breaking Tayson Hill's leg...we looked prescient picking Air Force over Navy, and California winning a WILD game over Washington State, in which the Wazzu QB threw for a record 744 yards, and was undone by a missed 19-yard last second field goal!...We also projected FCS losses for UC Davis and (surprise, surprise!) Savannah State, and a tight game between Montana State and my alma mater Sacramento State, which turned into a really exciting, back-and-forth 59-56 Bobcat win.
Places We Looked Like Stevie Wonder Judging A Beauty Contest:
San Diego State failing to cover against Fresno State...neither did Texas A&M against Mississippi State, or LSU versus Auburn...Florida barely scraped by Tennessee after switching quarterbacks (probably for good), East Carolina couldn't annihilate SMU after all, who scored 24 points, tripling their season total!...TCU was much better against Oklahoma than expected, and so was Idaho (congrats, Vandals!).
And, Somewhere In The Grey Area Where We All Spend Most Of Life:
NCAA, Florida State 43, Wake Forest 3...Notre Dame/ Stanford had the same three point spread Vegas predicted, as did Oregon State/Colorado. After the Charlie Weis firing, Kansas did as expected and played inspired football...for a while, before West Virginia put them away 33-14. Michigan did indeed play Rutgers close before losing 26-24. Finally, the Boise State / Nevada game was back and forth, as expected, with the Broncos winning a wild game 52-47.
Arizona not only covered at Oregon... Louisville handled Syracuse with ease...Utah State not only covered, not only defeated BYU, but basically eliminated their chances of success this year by breaking Tayson Hill's leg...we looked prescient picking Air Force over Navy, and California winning a WILD game over Washington State, in which the Wazzu QB threw for a record 744 yards, and was undone by a missed 19-yard last second field goal!...We also projected FCS losses for UC Davis and (surprise, surprise!) Savannah State, and a tight game between Montana State and my alma mater Sacramento State, which turned into a really exciting, back-and-forth 59-56 Bobcat win.
Places We Looked Like Stevie Wonder Judging A Beauty Contest:
San Diego State failing to cover against Fresno State...neither did Texas A&M against Mississippi State, or LSU versus Auburn...Florida barely scraped by Tennessee after switching quarterbacks (probably for good), East Carolina couldn't annihilate SMU after all, who scored 24 points, tripling their season total!...TCU was much better against Oklahoma than expected, and so was Idaho (congrats, Vandals!).
And, Somewhere In The Grey Area Where We All Spend Most Of Life:
NCAA, Florida State 43, Wake Forest 3...Notre Dame/ Stanford had the same three point spread Vegas predicted, as did Oregon State/Colorado. After the Charlie Weis firing, Kansas did as expected and played inspired football...for a while, before West Virginia put them away 33-14. Michigan did indeed play Rutgers close before losing 26-24. Finally, the Boise State / Nevada game was back and forth, as expected, with the Broncos winning a wild game 52-47.
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