Recovery Period
Recovery Period: That's the theme for many college football fans this week. It's time for teams to regroup and get their groove back heading into the last couple of weeks of the season.
Before I jump into my agenda here, want to respond to a couple of comments from Saturday's posts.
Jeavan Sneed - The Great Scapegoat?
I think not. I don't believe I implied this in my Saturday's post, I did not intent do if I did, but the Texas loss had very little to do with Jeavan Sneed's performance. You simply can't throw a freshman into a game like that (believe it or not he's a year younger than Mr. McCoy), tell him that the defense is going to crap out for the game and expect a whole hell of a lot. It's simply not realistic. Backup freshman QBs just don't come in and take games over like that on the road - at least not very often.
You may or may not remember this, but of the 17 or so missed passes, almost half were dropped by the receivers. In one offensive series, the ball was thrown to the tight end on 3 straight plays - he dropped 2 of them and caught one for 2 yards. Everyone was dropping passes. And the other half of those plays Sneed just overthrew his target. What's the point? The point is in both of those instances, he was making the right reads. He picked up on the open receivers, they just couldn't convert.
Bottom line is I believe that McCoy NOT being in there had more to do with this game than Sneed being in there, if that makes sense. And yes, I do believe that had McCoy played the whole game Texas would have won. If only the refs would have called TD the first two times the Horns punched it in the end zone - pathetic officiating.
So Who Is The Real #3 Team Now?
I think there are 2 here - Arkansas and USC. But, you have to give the edge to USC because they have the head-to-head victory. But, is there anyone who believes that if these 2 teams played right now, the outcome would be the same? I think USC might still edge them, but maybe not and it would be damn close (I think).
The bigger thing to consider is that both of these teams have a couple of VERY lose-able games coming up - especially this weekend where Cal visits USC and in two weeks when LSU visits Arkansas. I still contend that Notre Dame is going to get destroyed by USC regardless of what happens to Cal. Is there a team out there that has benefitted more from these big losses than ND? I talked about Texas potentiall falling ass backwards into the championship game, these guys may do the free fall of the ages if they happen to sneak in.
Bottom line here is that although it seems quite obvious now, we still actually have quite a bit of football to play. This thing could shake out in a whole slew of ways - we shall see. All I know is that the Horns have a good amount of work to do before securing a BCS game, but there is no question that they are out of the title hunt - just in case you were still clinging to some wishful thinking.
So Who Really Needs This Game More: Aggies or Horns?
If you would have told me coming into this season (or even a couple of weeks ago) that the Texas/Aggie game would help determine the Big 12 South I would have laughed in your face. Rrrriiiiight. So who really does need this game more?
Is it the Aggies who have continuously over-achieved all year long only to have their hearts ripped out on 2 consecutive weeks, losing by a point each of those weeks? Or is it the Longhorns who came out and got absolutely humiliated on, what turned out to be, the most important night of their year? It's a tough one.
The question here is what are the Aggies really playing for at this point? I know, they want to play in the best bowl they can so that matters, but that rarely motivates teams who are looking to go from the Houston Bowl to the Holiday Bowl. Are they playing for their coach? I don't know the answer to that. Does Fran's career come down to this game? It might. His record against the top teams in the Big 12 is terrible - he REALLY needs one. He's lost to Nebraska, Tech, Oklahoma and now he faces Texas. The funny thing is, he should have won all 3 of those games. That's what makes you question Fran right there. Losing games he's supposed to win - hell, he pretty much had victories in the bag.
Texas on the other hand has some wounded pride. Or at least they should! When healthy, I still contend that this Texas team is a top 7 team. I'm not ready to bury them yet b/c they lost a game by 3 on the road where the starting QB was knocked out on the first drive. You would hope that they have a feeling that they need to play to prove something to themselves and to the country. Historically, Texas will turn around after a loss and take it out on the next couple of opponents - especially after losing games they had no business losing.
If Texas ends up not making it to the Fiesta Bowl it will be solely on them for that failure. This team has had lapses like this in the past, but they are too good to completely cave at this point. I think Texas makes a statement game against the Aggies. It's still 2 weeks off, we don't know Colt's status (although sounds like he should be fine) and anything can happen between now and then, but I'm going to go with Texas winning here. It may not be a blowout, this game rarely is, but look for Texas to play a solid game and come out with a win. The Big 12 Championship game is a whole other story and I'm not even thinking about that right now.
MEMO TO...
Texas Fans - Settle down! I'm shocked at how many people out there refuse to understand how devastating losing a starting QB can be. Yes, it sucks they lost. Yes, the game was played very poorly by Texas (especially the defense). And yes, they should have won the game even without Colt. But, they didn't. And guess what? They're still probably going to go to exact same bowl they would have gone to had they won the game so please, calm down.
Texas is still a very good team - and a team that is most certainly better than their #13 BCS ranking (behind Boise State is a joke). Kansas State simply played with more energy and emotion whereas Texas just seemed shell shocked - especially when Colt left. Tell me if you really think Kstate would be within 2 touchdowns if these teams played 3 more times. But guess what, they lost and they don't get make-ups. Get over it and PLEASE stop it with the whole "this is typical Mack Brown stuff." Do you have any idea how hard it is to win all of your games in any given season? Furthermore, do you know how hard it is to win, or even play for, a national title 2 consecutive years? That's why it almost never happens. Teams like USC are anomalies. Conferences will be up one year and down the next. If anyone had paid more attention to Kansas State and what they've done this year (and who they've played), this might not be as big of a shocker as it seems. And for those of you who keep asking, "I just don't see how this can happen." It can and does happen. Look at USC losing to Oregon State. Look at Florida who should have lost to S. Carolina and damn-near lost to Vanderbilt. Look at Cal. Look at Auburn. It happens every year.
They've got 2 weeks to regroup and get healthy (I think the injuries this team has dealt with this year has been downplayed than any other team's injuries) and then close out the season at home against a big rival on national TV. They will bounce back and as I said, probably go to the same bowl they would have gone to anyway.
AROUND THE NFL:
- Yet again I took one on the chin in my NFL pool. Man I suck at picking against the spread.
- So it would appear we're on an every-other-week type of schedule with the Bears. Nice win last night - the NFC championship will probably go through Soldier field this year.
- The one great thing about the NFL is that even with Indy taking an off week against the Bills, that win continues to help them. If this were the BCS they would be knocked down a spot or two (unless they were USC).
- The bright spot in the Bengals monumental collapse was Carson Palmer - VERY impressive numbers; 31-42 for 440 yards and 3 TDs
- What in the world happen to the Atlanta Falcons? I feel like we ask this same question every single year about this time.
- For some reason I'm just dying to see how the Saints end up this year - they are quite the enigma.
- Dallas fans: Tony Romo is still pretty darn good. He looks like he's having fun in there which is a good thing for Big D.
- I'm not sure if TO leads the league in dropped passes or not, but he's got to be darn close. Jones should dock him $10K for every dropped pass. That would seem excessive if you didn't know how much money he made. It's a lot.
- Marvin Lewis will be out as Bengals coach this year - he's a superb D-coordinator, but I don't think he's got head coach chops.
- Vince Young had his best performance of his young career on Sunday as the Titans lost a heartbreaker to the Ravens. Anyone who saw that game got a glimpse of what VY will be doing week and week out in a couple of short years. The kid simply knows how to make plays.
- Speaking of the Titans - it was nice to see VY make a quick dump off pass to old Texas teammate Bo Scaife that led to a 13-yard touchdown. Nice play Bo.
- Reggie Bush with another game-turning fumble. If you haven't put this together yet let me open your eyes to something: Because the national media has chosen to forget about the aclolades they showered on Bush before the season, I'm going to remind all of you every week how average of an NFL player he is right now. He'll get better, no question, but as of today, he's as mediocre as an NFL player can be.
- 4 more touchdowns for Tomlinson. I'm not sure there's a better player in the league right now.
- Will Joe Gibbs please, for the love of God, give Jason Campbell a chance at QB??? You're playing for NOTHING right now.
- Here's something that may sound crazy - I think the Houston Texans are slowly chipping away at goodness. Or is it that they just have the Jags' number? I think Kubiak is making this team better. Andre Johnson is superb and Carr is a very solid QB. This team may be ready to take the next step - which for them may resemble getting to .500.
- Uh-oh, looks like the Dolphins are starting to pull a "last year" - winning some impressive games when it matters the least.
Before I jump into my agenda here, want to respond to a couple of comments from Saturday's posts.
Jeavan Sneed - The Great Scapegoat?
I think not. I don't believe I implied this in my Saturday's post, I did not intent do if I did, but the Texas loss had very little to do with Jeavan Sneed's performance. You simply can't throw a freshman into a game like that (believe it or not he's a year younger than Mr. McCoy), tell him that the defense is going to crap out for the game and expect a whole hell of a lot. It's simply not realistic. Backup freshman QBs just don't come in and take games over like that on the road - at least not very often.
You may or may not remember this, but of the 17 or so missed passes, almost half were dropped by the receivers. In one offensive series, the ball was thrown to the tight end on 3 straight plays - he dropped 2 of them and caught one for 2 yards. Everyone was dropping passes. And the other half of those plays Sneed just overthrew his target. What's the point? The point is in both of those instances, he was making the right reads. He picked up on the open receivers, they just couldn't convert.
Bottom line is I believe that McCoy NOT being in there had more to do with this game than Sneed being in there, if that makes sense. And yes, I do believe that had McCoy played the whole game Texas would have won. If only the refs would have called TD the first two times the Horns punched it in the end zone - pathetic officiating.
So Who Is The Real #3 Team Now?
I think there are 2 here - Arkansas and USC. But, you have to give the edge to USC because they have the head-to-head victory. But, is there anyone who believes that if these 2 teams played right now, the outcome would be the same? I think USC might still edge them, but maybe not and it would be damn close (I think).
The bigger thing to consider is that both of these teams have a couple of VERY lose-able games coming up - especially this weekend where Cal visits USC and in two weeks when LSU visits Arkansas. I still contend that Notre Dame is going to get destroyed by USC regardless of what happens to Cal. Is there a team out there that has benefitted more from these big losses than ND? I talked about Texas potentiall falling ass backwards into the championship game, these guys may do the free fall of the ages if they happen to sneak in.
Bottom line here is that although it seems quite obvious now, we still actually have quite a bit of football to play. This thing could shake out in a whole slew of ways - we shall see. All I know is that the Horns have a good amount of work to do before securing a BCS game, but there is no question that they are out of the title hunt - just in case you were still clinging to some wishful thinking.
So Who Really Needs This Game More: Aggies or Horns?
If you would have told me coming into this season (or even a couple of weeks ago) that the Texas/Aggie game would help determine the Big 12 South I would have laughed in your face. Rrrriiiiight. So who really does need this game more?
Is it the Aggies who have continuously over-achieved all year long only to have their hearts ripped out on 2 consecutive weeks, losing by a point each of those weeks? Or is it the Longhorns who came out and got absolutely humiliated on, what turned out to be, the most important night of their year? It's a tough one.
The question here is what are the Aggies really playing for at this point? I know, they want to play in the best bowl they can so that matters, but that rarely motivates teams who are looking to go from the Houston Bowl to the Holiday Bowl. Are they playing for their coach? I don't know the answer to that. Does Fran's career come down to this game? It might. His record against the top teams in the Big 12 is terrible - he REALLY needs one. He's lost to Nebraska, Tech, Oklahoma and now he faces Texas. The funny thing is, he should have won all 3 of those games. That's what makes you question Fran right there. Losing games he's supposed to win - hell, he pretty much had victories in the bag.
Texas on the other hand has some wounded pride. Or at least they should! When healthy, I still contend that this Texas team is a top 7 team. I'm not ready to bury them yet b/c they lost a game by 3 on the road where the starting QB was knocked out on the first drive. You would hope that they have a feeling that they need to play to prove something to themselves and to the country. Historically, Texas will turn around after a loss and take it out on the next couple of opponents - especially after losing games they had no business losing.
If Texas ends up not making it to the Fiesta Bowl it will be solely on them for that failure. This team has had lapses like this in the past, but they are too good to completely cave at this point. I think Texas makes a statement game against the Aggies. It's still 2 weeks off, we don't know Colt's status (although sounds like he should be fine) and anything can happen between now and then, but I'm going to go with Texas winning here. It may not be a blowout, this game rarely is, but look for Texas to play a solid game and come out with a win. The Big 12 Championship game is a whole other story and I'm not even thinking about that right now.
MEMO TO...
Texas Fans - Settle down! I'm shocked at how many people out there refuse to understand how devastating losing a starting QB can be. Yes, it sucks they lost. Yes, the game was played very poorly by Texas (especially the defense). And yes, they should have won the game even without Colt. But, they didn't. And guess what? They're still probably going to go to exact same bowl they would have gone to had they won the game so please, calm down.
Texas is still a very good team - and a team that is most certainly better than their #13 BCS ranking (behind Boise State is a joke). Kansas State simply played with more energy and emotion whereas Texas just seemed shell shocked - especially when Colt left. Tell me if you really think Kstate would be within 2 touchdowns if these teams played 3 more times. But guess what, they lost and they don't get make-ups. Get over it and PLEASE stop it with the whole "this is typical Mack Brown stuff." Do you have any idea how hard it is to win all of your games in any given season? Furthermore, do you know how hard it is to win, or even play for, a national title 2 consecutive years? That's why it almost never happens. Teams like USC are anomalies. Conferences will be up one year and down the next. If anyone had paid more attention to Kansas State and what they've done this year (and who they've played), this might not be as big of a shocker as it seems. And for those of you who keep asking, "I just don't see how this can happen." It can and does happen. Look at USC losing to Oregon State. Look at Florida who should have lost to S. Carolina and damn-near lost to Vanderbilt. Look at Cal. Look at Auburn. It happens every year.
They've got 2 weeks to regroup and get healthy (I think the injuries this team has dealt with this year has been downplayed than any other team's injuries) and then close out the season at home against a big rival on national TV. They will bounce back and as I said, probably go to the same bowl they would have gone to anyway.
AROUND THE NFL:
- Yet again I took one on the chin in my NFL pool. Man I suck at picking against the spread.
- So it would appear we're on an every-other-week type of schedule with the Bears. Nice win last night - the NFC championship will probably go through Soldier field this year.
- The one great thing about the NFL is that even with Indy taking an off week against the Bills, that win continues to help them. If this were the BCS they would be knocked down a spot or two (unless they were USC).
- The bright spot in the Bengals monumental collapse was Carson Palmer - VERY impressive numbers; 31-42 for 440 yards and 3 TDs
- What in the world happen to the Atlanta Falcons? I feel like we ask this same question every single year about this time.
- For some reason I'm just dying to see how the Saints end up this year - they are quite the enigma.
- Dallas fans: Tony Romo is still pretty darn good. He looks like he's having fun in there which is a good thing for Big D.
- I'm not sure if TO leads the league in dropped passes or not, but he's got to be darn close. Jones should dock him $10K for every dropped pass. That would seem excessive if you didn't know how much money he made. It's a lot.
- Marvin Lewis will be out as Bengals coach this year - he's a superb D-coordinator, but I don't think he's got head coach chops.
- Vince Young had his best performance of his young career on Sunday as the Titans lost a heartbreaker to the Ravens. Anyone who saw that game got a glimpse of what VY will be doing week and week out in a couple of short years. The kid simply knows how to make plays.
- Speaking of the Titans - it was nice to see VY make a quick dump off pass to old Texas teammate Bo Scaife that led to a 13-yard touchdown. Nice play Bo.
- Reggie Bush with another game-turning fumble. If you haven't put this together yet let me open your eyes to something: Because the national media has chosen to forget about the aclolades they showered on Bush before the season, I'm going to remind all of you every week how average of an NFL player he is right now. He'll get better, no question, but as of today, he's as mediocre as an NFL player can be.
- 4 more touchdowns for Tomlinson. I'm not sure there's a better player in the league right now.
- Will Joe Gibbs please, for the love of God, give Jason Campbell a chance at QB??? You're playing for NOTHING right now.
- Here's something that may sound crazy - I think the Houston Texans are slowly chipping away at goodness. Or is it that they just have the Jags' number? I think Kubiak is making this team better. Andre Johnson is superb and Carr is a very solid QB. This team may be ready to take the next step - which for them may resemble getting to .500.
- Uh-oh, looks like the Dolphins are starting to pull a "last year" - winning some impressive games when it matters the least.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 9:04 AM
1 Comments:
You didn't go far enough. Anyone ragging on Jevan Sneed has rocks in their head.
Imagine this scenario, on the road, in a night conference game, the starter QB goes out, a TRUE freshman comes in and leads the offense to 28 points while the defense craps out.
Here is a better idea...heap praise on Jevan and rag on ANYONE playing defense (preferably those senior DB's).
Get a hold of yourselves, whatever school Jevan transfers to is getting a hell of a player.
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