2012 College Football

[gh]

Marlow's ban was for a mere 24 hours.

[Conor Dary]

How 'bout dat Cardinal!

Yes, down goes USC!

[lonewolf]

Did ya ever notice, results of football games are not always accurately predictable? I did not have personal emotional involvement in the USC-Stanford game but I was kinda empathically pulling for the Cardinal on Marlow's behalf. BTW, what is a Stanford Cardinal? Ya got St Louis and Louisville Cardinals, ya got Catholic Cardinals, ya got cardinal numbers .. ya got cardinal points of compass..ya got cardinal virtues.. ya even got a kinda dark red color..??

[j-a-m]

Marquise Goodwin with a great game, needed just four touches (two carries, two receptions) for 180 yards and two TDs.

[gh]

Cal's Brendan Bigelow (who? they say he was a very good HS sprinter) at one point yesterday had 3 carries for about 150y, including TD runs of 81 and 59y.

I'm thinking they probably haven't used the guy enough!

[guru]

Cal's Brendan Bigelow (who? they say he was a very good HS sprinter)...

They said he was a 10.62, but his actual PR is 10.57. Soph year was his last track season(also 21.37 - as a frosh(!)).

http://ca.milesplit.com/athletes/792214-brendon-bigelow

[j-a-m]

Down by seven with a few minutes to go, and you score a touchdown; do you kick the extra point or do you go for the two-point conversion to decide the game right then and there? It depends:

When it's a high-scoring game, your offense is playing great, your defense isn't; by all means, go for it.

When it's a low-scoring game, your offense is really bad, your defense has given up zero points all day; no, don't go for it, give your defense the opportunity to win the game.

Guess the BYU coach disagrees with me on that, as shown by his play-calling when BYU played Boise State yesterday.

[Marlow]

Guess the BYU coach disagrees with me on that, as shown by his play-calling when BYU played Boise State yesterday.

With 8:03 remaining, BYU backup quarterback Taysom Hill engineered an 11-play, 95 yard drive capped by his four-yard touchdown run. But BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall gambled, electing to go for a 2-point conversion to try to secure the Cougars' first-ever victory over Boise State.
Hill dropped back to pass, was immediately flushed out of the pocket and his on-the-run throw was deflected by linebacker J.C. Percy and fell incomplete into the end zone.
"I wanted to win," Mendenhall said. "We had momentum for the first time in the game, moving the ball offensively. We wanted to capitalize on it. I'd do it again."

I find no fault in that logic.

[j-a-m]

"I wanted to win," Mendenhall said. "We had momentum for the first time in the game, moving the ball offensively. We wanted to capitalize on it. I'd do it again."

That coaching decision was a slap in the face of his defensive players after they did such an outstanding job in that game.

[Marlow]

"I wanted to win," Mendenhall said. "We had momentum for the first time in the game, moving the ball offensively. We wanted to capitalize on it. I'd do it again."

That coaching decision was a slap in the face of his defensive players after they did such an outstanding job in that game.

??!!
What would it have been to the offense who had just driven the field, if they hadn't gone for it? Strike while the iron is hot. Leaving it to overtime brings in all sorts of other variables, that might have had nothing to do with how well the D is playing.

[guru]

How 'bout dat Cardinal!

Indeed...

[Marlow]

How 'bout dat Cardinal!

Indeed...

If Nunes were even half the QB Luck is, that'd've been a cake-walk. it's really hard to win in the PAC-12/14 w/o a pass-efficient attack.

[jazzcyclist]

If Nunes were even half the QB Luck is, that'd've been a cake-walk. it's really hard to win in the PAC-12/14 w/o a pass-efficient attack.

The folks in Boise, Madison and East Lansing feel your pain.

[Conor Dary]

How 'bout dat Cardinal!

Not so good last night against Washington....

[Marlow]

How 'bout dat Cardinal!

Not so good last night against Washington....

The experts (sic) have been praising the Cardinal O-line, the great smash-mouth running game, the great D-line/linebackers, the improved D-backs, and the 'competence' of Nunes. I saw glimpses of it against SC, not much last night . . .

[lonewolf]

[The experts (sic) have been praising .....the 'competence' of Nunes.

I think that is called 'damning with faint praise".

[j-a-m]

Nick Saban considers fast execution on offense unfair:

I just think there's got to be some sense of fairness in terms of asking: Is this what we want football to be?

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/ ... ball-to-be

[Conor Dary]

What a baby. Is he afraid of the Ducks?

[lonewolf]

Suck it up, Nick. You are Number 1.. how much fairer could it be?

[Marlow]

Suck it up, Nick. You are Number 1.. how much fairer could it be?

Zackly! How on earth is the no-huddle, up-tempo offense NOT fair?
Nick, if you think it gives an unfair advantage, then you are welcome to employ it!
The 'safety issue' is a complete red herring!

[jazzcyclist]

Nick Saban makes freshman linebacker write letter apologizing to Missouri for suplex tackle.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-footba ... gh-gary-pi

Do any of you remember back in the day when Turkey Jones did the same thing to Terry Bradshaw and it was no big deal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_BuDursFIg

[KevinM]

Nick Saban makes freshman linebacker write letter apologizing to Missouri for suplex tackle.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-footba ... gh-gary-pi

Do any of you remember back in the day when Turkey Jones did the same thing to Terry Bradshaw and it was no big deal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_BuDursFIg

Sure seems like it should have been, don't you think?

[Pego]

Nick Saban makes freshman linebacker write letter apologizing to Missouri for suplex tackle.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-footba ... gh-gary-pi

Do any of you remember back in the day when Turkey Jones did the same thing to Terry Bradshaw and it was no big deal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_BuDursFIg

I do and Jones should have had his ass roasted. More unnecessary brutality gets eliminated from football, the better the game is going to be.

[jazzcyclist]

Of course I agree with both KevinM and pego. I don't want to go back to the days of Dick "Night Train" Lane trying to decapiate people and the suplex move has no place on the football field. I think it's good that the headhunting and spearing have been outlawed. However, I think the officials should only be in the business of legislating the technique of the hits. I don't think they should legislate the intensity of the hits. I've seen too many games recently when defensive players have made tackles straight of the textbooks and been penalized becasue the offensive player was knocked out.

[Pego]

It is quite early, but here is my prediction for the national championship game.

Alabama - Kansas St.

[Marlow]

It is quite early, but here is my prediction for the national championship game.
Alabama - Kansas St.

Who will beat Oregon?
KsSt looked very beatable vs. a 'good' Iowa St team.

[Pego]

It is quite early, but here is my prediction for the national championship game.
Alabama - Kansas St.

Who will beat Oregon?
KsSt looked very beatable vs. a 'good' Iowa St team.

No questionmarks. Your pairing, please!

[Marlow]

No questionmarks. Your pairing, please!

Bama & the Ducks!

[Conor Dary]

It is quite early, but here is my prediction for the national championship game.
Alabama - Kansas St.

Who will beat Oregon?
KsSt looked very beatable vs. a 'good' Iowa St team.

Oregon was supposed to play KSU but KSU backed out this year. I wonder WHY?

[j-a-m]

No questionmarks. Your pairing, please!

Kansas State - LSU

[jazzcyclist]

Alabama - Oregon

The big question is whether Chip Kelly has an answer for the best SEC defenses when they have more than a month to prepare for Oregon's basketball-on-grass. The Auburn defense that he faced two years ago was very mediocre by SEC standards. Alabama's defense will make Oregon think the game is being played in a phone booth.

[Marlow]

Alabama's defense will make Oregon think the game is being played in a phone booth.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Bama hasn't seen anything remotely like Ore's diversity and speed of attack. Bama will do fine for 3 quarters, but then the wheels could come off. Even after the first 3 fluff games, O's O looks mighty impressive:

Arizona 49-0
Washington St. 51-26
Washington 52-21
Arizona St. 43-21

Bama will get their points, but will they get enough?

[jazzcyclist]

Alabama's defense will make Oregon think the game is being played in a phone booth.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Bama hasn't seen anything remotely like Ore's diversity and speed of attack. Bama will do fine for 3 quarters, but then the wheels could come off. Even after the first 3 fluff games, O's O looks mighty impressive:

Arizona 49-0
Washington St. 51-26
Washington 52-21
Arizona St. 43-21

Bama will get their points, but will they get enough?

We don't KNOW how Alabama would handle Oregon's offense but last year, LSU gave us a pretty good idea. Since LSU had eight months to prepare for Oregon, their defense was fully prepared for a track meet, and at the end of the third quarter they were beating Oregon's offense back to the line of scrimmage, and mocking Darren Thomas by asking him what's taking so long to get the plays off. You can't run people into the ground when they're in equal or better condition that you are. If it does end up Alabama-Oregon for the Crystal Football, Alabama's first two weeks of practice after the SEC Championship Game will more resemble track/cross country practices than football practices, with every workout being done in shorts and tee shirts.

[donley2]

It is quite early, but here is my prediction for the national championship game.
Alabama - Kansas St.

Who will beat Oregon?
KsSt looked very beatable vs. a 'good' Iowa St team.

Oregon was supposed to play KSU but KSU backed out this year. I wonder WHY?

Because the coach is a genius and prefers to play as many cupcakes as possible. In my opinion absolutely the right strategy if you are an SEC, or Big 12 team. If you go undefeated you are likely in the BCS championship game regardless of who you played out of conference.

[jazzcyclist]

Oregon was supposed to play KSU but KSU backed out this year. I wonder WHY?

Because the coach is a genius and prefers to play as many cupcakes as possible. In my opinion absolutely the right strategy if you are an SEC, or Big 12 team. If you go undefeated you are likely in the BCS championship game regardless of who you played out of conference.

I don't know about that. In recent years, Alabama, LSU and Georgia haven't shied away from facing formidable opponents in their season openers, though you do have a point about Florida. And I don't know why you feel that the Big 12 has more credibility than the PAC 12, because the power rankings certainly haven't shown this in recent years. Furthermore, the PAC 12 has a conference championship game which the Big 12 doesn't have, which automatically puts it at a disadvantage when it comes to strength of schedule.