Party in Jersey!

How about that Big East Conference?!?!? Two weeks in a row, two great games. The unraveling of the top 10 is beginning, could we see more this weekend??? I think we just might...

Rutgers 28/Louisville 25:
OK, so I had a write-up ready to post before the game, but I never made it to it (in-laws in town). So I'm scraping it and starting over. What a terrific game this was. On one hand, I felt Rutgers made a handful of just bad mistakes and that was the reason they weren't tied or at least closer than 11 points at halftime. It seemed as if no one wanted to make a play. Oh yea, and a blocked field goal isn't like a punt - you may want to jump on it. That silence you heard was the whistles NOT being blown - PICK UP THE BALL AND RUN!! Mind boggling.

Talk about putting all together. People will be talking left and right about how this proves the Big East is weak or that Rutgers is worthy of BCS Championship nods, etc. Either way, Rutgers played an absolutely terrific game. They were well prepared for Louisville's offense and plum shut them down. Kudos to those guys and to Rutgers fans - that was a big BIG win. Rice was spectacular - 132 yards and 2 touchdowns. Louisville's defense is still questionable at best, I just don't think Rutgers has a terrific offense outside of Ray Rice at running back (say that 5 times real fast). The QB Teel is not so hot.

I was worried about Louisville having a let down following last week's win - I really think that played a big part. Brohm was terrible and his coach was kicking his ass all game. Will be interesting to see how these guys bounce back - they still go to Pittsburgh and host South Florida, both pretty good teams.

One thing I will say; I was a bit surprised that Rutgers wasn't more aggressive with a minute and a half to go in the half. I felt like they could have made a good run for a field goal or even a TD. Clearly it didn't matter. What a way to end a game too - 5th sack of the game. But, either way, I think you have to be more aggressive down by two scores going into the half.

Don't you know the Rutgers kicker is so thankful for an over-aggressive defensive end!! What a travesty that would have been had they lost in OT. Lucky bastard.

Oh yea, and this is REALLY good for Texas. And for the record, I had picked Rutgers winning 33-31, I swear!

Texas Tech (6-4) at Oklahoma (7-2):
Does anyone remember the phantom win that Tech had last year in Lubbock? 3 back-to-back-to-back insanely bad calls led to Tech stealing a win away from the Sooners. Well, payback's a bitch sometimes. Look for Tech to, yet again this year, get stopped cold in its tracks as the Sooners hold the Raiders to unusually low stats.
Oklahoma - 31
Texas Tech - 17

Boise State (9-0) at San Jose State (6-2) - UPSET SPECIAL???:
I got nothing here - I just really want BSU to lose so it diminishes the chances that Texas will play them in the Fiesta Bowl, have a let down and lose.
San Jose State - 35
Boise State - 28

Tennessee (7-2) at Arkansas (8-1):
It's tough to call it an upset special when the teams are so close. Tennessee is coming off of a loss - that's not good for the Hogs. The Vols' losses have come at home whereas they have looked surprisingly good on the road. Arkansas is switching QBs and they have a strong reliance on the running game - which will keep it close as the Vols' rushing defense is ranked in the bottom half of the conference. However, you think they may be a bit disgruntled and looking for payback after the LSU game? Arkansas is too shaky on offense given the QB situation, but they do have the RB who can make some plays and McFadden alone should keep them in the game if he's on. On the flip side, the biggest question will be can Vols backup QB Jonathan Crompton build on his nice outing from last week. Hopefully they won't need him to make any 40+ yard plays to come back and win - if they can keep him mobile and within 20 yard passes, I think Tennessee wins this game.
Tennessee - 28
Arkansas - 24

Oregon (7-2) at USC (7-1):
The most intriguing element of this game is USC - have they finally put it all together? I know they were playing the worst team in the Pac 10 last week when they abused Stanford, but the word on the street is they looked like a different team in terms of the little things. Oregon is, however, no pushover - they can move the ball and they can score quick - the Ducks are averaging 253 through the air, but they are also putting up 206 on the ground as compared to USC's 145. In classic Pac 10 fashion, this may come down to who has the ball last. Here's one stat for you - since 2001, when USC scores more than 30 points they only have 3 losses - when that gets up to 40 and 50 points or more, they have not lost. What's the morale here? Keep the Trojans below 30 points. Unfortunately for the wardrobe show that is Oregon, that's easier said than done.
USC - 38
Oregon - 31

Nebraska (7-3) at Texas A&M (8-2):
Yet again, the Aggies are playing in a big game this weekend. Still a heartbreaker loss from last week. Franchione seems to be taking some heat from last week's conservative play - and deservedly so. Once I can see, but twice? Thought I was watching the Horns from 3 years ago. Still, he's got this Aggie team at 8-2 following a 5-6 season. Unfortunately for Fran, his record against the conference "elite" is abysmal including Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. He's got 2 of those to close out the year.

With that said I'm picking the Aggies to nut up and pull out a close win here. If they lose this I'll be paying extra close attention to Aggie chatter and news.
Texas A&M - 27
Nebraska - 23

Texas (9-1) at Kansas State (6-4):
I will say this, Kansas State has overachieved this year behind yet another freshman QB. With that said I see a huge blowout coming this Saturday. Texas' stock is rising following the USC loss and other "close call" games by the surrounding teams in the polls. With the Louisville loss and a big win this weekend, Texas may be in prime position. Look for Colt to have another solid game although not as many yards/TDs as recent games. KSU has a very weak running defense which should allow our backs to control the clock and hopefully breaking a couple of big ones. Look for Texas to continue to build it's resume with a nice road win against a winning, bowl team.
Texas - 49
Kansas State - 17

Keep an Eye on…
S. Carolina at Florida. The Ball Coach got his former school last year, but it will be tough in the swamp. Still, Florida seems to be barely hanging on at times - and who can blame them!! Go back and take a look at the schedule they've played this year. It's impressive and it's not done.

They had a semi-down game last weekend against Vanderbilt and may be wearing down. Just a heads up…

Stay tuned later this weekend for the wrap-ups on the games and my take on the "Colt for Heisman" talk. Outlandish? Premature? Deserved? Probably a little of all 3.

Enjoy the games this weekend.

NFL Quick Hits

• In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Colts are real good. Road wins at Denver and at Foxboro on 2 consecutive weeks as well as a road win in New York against the Giants in week 1. They may not be winning as impressively as last year, but the results are the same. This seems like a different team – albeit with zero run defense. They’ll need to improve in that area (like cut the yards/game they’re giving up in half). I going with the Colts ending the season at 14-2 and defeating the New York Football Giants in the Super Bowl (Manning Bowl). Sorry Bears fans, let’s give it another week or two.
• And speaking of the Bears – is it me or is this the exact same Bears team we saw last year? That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I’m going to have to see some more consistency out of Grossman before I declare him an undisputed number 1 QB.
• Here’s a memo to Cowboys fans – Tony Romo is a pretty darn good QB. It’s early still, but he’s showing a lot of good things.
• On the other hand – Terrell Owens may be the most over-rated player in the league right now. I know we all probably have the same opinions of him as a person, but at the same time you could always fall back on, “well, he’s a great receiver.” Not anymore – Terry Glenn is head and shoulders better than Owens right now – so are a lot of other receivers in the league. Gotta be hard on Jerry Jones (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha).
• Here’s a memo to the folks at Fox Sports – your pre-game show with Jimmy Johnson, Terry Bradshaw et al is bad enough – but now you’re airing it on the radio???? If you haven’t experienced this let me just tell you it is TERRIBLE!! It’s arguably the worst talk radio I’ve ever heard in my life. Whoever had the idea to do this should be fired it’s such a bad idea. Please stop it Fox.
• Team to watch over the next 3 weeks or so – Kansas City Chiefs – they are quietly winning some nice games (3 straight over winning teams).
• Drew Brees has to be one of the nicest surprises coming into this year – especially given the surgery he had in the off season. He is most definitely the number 1 reason they are doing so well right now. If he stays healthy, this is definitely a playoff team. And if he keeps it up, look for his name in the mix of MVP candidates.
• And because Drew Brees is the Saints’ MVP right now, Reggie Bush IS NOT! Someone needs to tell Bush that in the NFL, sometimes getting 1 or 2 yards the hard way is a good thing – you’re not going to score a 50-yard TD every time – in fact, rarely will you do that. Reggie is the easily the 3rd or 4th best player on the team right now. Last Sunday, 11 carries for -5 yards. Not so easy when you're playing against top notch competition week in and week out AND without an all-star team to play with is it?
• Welcome, Roy Williams, to the next level of the game – we’ve been waiting for about a year. When will Matt Millen get fired so we can get Roy some help???
• I can’t for the life of me understand why Vince Young doesn’t use his legs more in the offense in Tennessee – I’m not saying he should do it the majority of the time, not even close, but once or twice would be good. He’s too athletic not to do this more often. Teams aren’t even defending him against the run. Coaches should mix in a little bit of this from time to time - it works.
• Most intriguing game for next Sunday – Bears at Giants – both defenses are banged up a bit, the Giants are really hurting with injuries. I think the entire starting Defensive Line is hurt or out for the Giants. And Urlacher is questionable. Should be a good game either way.
• Reports are that Fisher may be the next head coach in Dallas. I think this is a really good fit for them, but the #1 question is can he stand working for Jerry Jones for more than 3-4 years? That seems to be most people’s threshold.
• What will this mean for the Titans and VY??? That’s the million-dollar question. If Fisher goes Chow is definitely gone (probably back to the college game somewhere).

Saturday Observations

You see what I told you, no need to be nervous at all Horns fans. That was me that said that, right? Rrrriiiiiiight!!!

- And yet again Colt McCoy continues to amaze and turn heads (I can just copy/paste this into this thing every week now it seems). I'll touch more on this later this week, but I've been a bit surprised to hear all of this "McCoy for Heisman" talk - predominately from the Austin media. My first reaction is no way, not just yet. But, I can't but to let that thought linger a bit longer after last night's game. He is VERY quickly becoming a premier QB in the country and just think, next year there won't be any Troy Smith or Brady Quinn and Colt will STILL have those receivers/RBs at his disposal. If he keeps this up, and folks continue to struggle (see Steve Slaton) he may just find himself in the thick of the discussion before it's all over with.

- Kudos to the Texas defense for coming out and making a statement game. Texas held OSU to 203 total yards last night (123 through the air and 80 on the ground) - that's less than half of what they average. Plus, they only gave up 3 points (you'll remember that the TD was on a return). This was the kind of game they needed against a quick-strike and lethal offensive team. The secondary really came big. And by the way, mark Aaron Ross down as an All American right now - he's been the one consistent piece of a very shaky secondary this year. Did you see his tip-to-himself-interception? If you haven't, go find it on highlights. Unbelieveably athletic play.

- So much for the guys in Vegas screwing the Vols, they clearly knew something no one else did. I'm referring to the line in the LSU/Tenn game. LSU had a worse record, had looked terrible against ranked teams this year, was ranked lower and going into Knoxville - and LSU was favored???? I was baffled at that. But look who's laughing now. What a tremendous game that was - both teams played pretty damn well too (sans for the barage of turnovers throughout the game). That was a HUGE win for Les Miles' bunch and something they can build on. I can't believe Tennessee's defense was abused like they were, especially at the end. And give Russell credit, that kid made some big plays on the last drive. Good win for LSU.

- And finally, Bob Stoops easily has the biggest pair of stones in the country. Let's see, on your own 30 with under 2 minutes to go; offense had been anemic most of the second half; 1 point lead; it's 4th and inches and you're on your own 30 yard line. You don't get it, A&M kicks a field goal to win it. And they get it (twice really). That was an enormous gamble by Stoops and one that showed he had all sorts of faith in his defense. This game did have some crazy stats - both teams rushed for over 200 yards, but both teams also passed for less than 90 yards (OU only had 39 passing yards). This was a great win for the Sooners and a heartbreaker for the Aggies - nice bit of coaching by Fran and company holding OU to a field goal in the second half after starting out down 14-0 in the first quarter.

- I'm officially sold on Texas A&M being a pretty damn good football team. I will be interested to see how they respond next weekend against Nebraska. They were right there in this game and their defense played especially well. Going into next year they will definitely need to develop a passing game though - that's a definite weakness right now. And finally, the one black eye for the Aggs last night was the penalty on that 4th and inches - how in the world do you come out of a timeout on the biggest play of your season so far and have 12 guys on the field? It wasn't even one guy running off before the ball was snapped; they had 12 guys lined up on defense. It didn't matter, but that was just sloppy. Can you imagine of they stopped the runner on the play??? That's what you love about Aggies right there.