Saturday Football Fever

Because of work, I didn’t get to watch a lot of football this week, so you’re getting the abbreviated version this week.

- For as much as they hate him, at least Rich Rodriguez won football games.  Think that the Mountaineer fans are wishing he was still around?

- Give Art Briles a few more years and Baylor will actually be pretty good.  They looked very competitive against Connecticut and they’ve got a young team.  The might win a few games this years that folks thought would be unwinnable.

- Mississippi State has done a complete 180 from the end of the last year.  They finished strong and have looked bad this year.  Sadly, I think this could be Croom’s farewell tour in Starkville.

- So much for ECU being the BCS buster.

- Rutgers is back to being Rutgers.  I guess the wins left with Ray Rice.

- Is Vanderbilt for real?  I can honestly say that I’m glad Bama doesn’t play them this year.

- After the Arkansas game, I’m looking forward to the showdown against UGA this coming Saturday.  It’ll be a physical, low scoring, close game.  And I can’t wait.

Filed under: Weekly Thoughts

Tags: alabama crimson tide, arkansas razorbacks, art briles, baylor bears, connecticut huskies, east carolina pirates, georgia bulldogs, mississippi state bulldogs, rich rodriguez, rutgers scarlet knights, sylvester croom, vanderbilt commadores, west virginia mountaineers

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m watching the UNC-Rutgers game.

Some thoughts, midway through the 3rd quarter:

- Rutgers is simply being out-played and out-coached.  They don’t look prepared and they aren’t executing.  The look flat.  They are leaving receivers wide open and can’t get pressure on the QB.  Just awful.  I wonder if Greg Schiano is wishing he’d taken one of those big time offers he was rumored to have gotten in the off-season.

- UNC will be a force in the ACC.  Butch Davis may even have them competing for a title this year, given the sad state of their conference.  They played a lot of youg guys last year who are now developing into solid players and in some cases studs.

- Rutgers fans started filing out of the stadium during the 3rd quarter.  That just shows you what a little bit of winning will do to the fan base and expectations.  You don’t have to be Alabama or Michigan with a tradition of winning to have raised expectations.  Even lowly Rutgers can raise the expectations of fans to unrealistic heights.

Filed under: Game Thoughts

Tags: acc, alabama crimson tide, greg schiano, michigan wolverines, north carolina tarheels, rutgers scarlet knights

Good Lord.

I am watching the UNC-Rutgers game on ESPN.  It’s halftime, and a segment has started up called “Dr. Lou.”  It’s Lou Holtz dishing out college football advice.

Is this for real?  He’s some of the agonizing highlights:

- He starts off stating that he gets asked all the time when is he going to retire (I hope to God its soon).  His answer “When you retire, you never get a day off.  Think about that.”  No shit?  I’ll keep that in mind, Dr. Lou.

- Pete Carroll asks about the effect that history has in these big games (like USC-OSU).  Dr. Lou’s answer:  After rambling on about some crazy guy named Jim, he boils it down for us – “History helps the team that blocks and tackles the best in a game like this.”  WTF?  Way to drop some knowledge on us, Doc.

- James Laurinatis asks how his coaches sweater vest will be received in southern California.  Dr. Lou’s response: “When I went to USC, I didn’t want wear a sweater vest, I wanted to wear a bullet proof vest.”  Was that a thinly veiled racist comment Lou?  Are you the reason Tyrone Willingham was fired from Notre Dame?

He goes on to talk about the end of the Washington vs. BYU (not sure how sweater vests got us here).  He offers an excellent suggestion (foolproof, according to the good doctor) on how to avoid controversy like what happened at the end of the game: don’t keep score.  GENIUS!!

At that point he said something about closing, but I didn’t catch it since I had gotten up to pour a drink (Lou Holtz has that effect on me).

I can’t believe that they continue to let this guy be an analyst.  As an analyst, you are expected to be able to analyze the sport (generally one that you’ve been involved in for your entire life) and offer some sort of meaningful analysis about the game, teams and players.

I am still confused as to how Holtz meets these criteria.  He and Corso are the reason why I am slowly moving away from watching ESPN’s college football coverage.

Filed under: Misc News and Thoughts

Tags: byu cougars, espn, james laurinatis, lee corso, lou holtz, north carolina tarheels, notre dame fighting irish, ohio state buckeyes, pete carroll, rutgers scarlet knights, tyrone willingham, usc trojans, washington huskies