Great Weekend...Big Win
Well folks, it doesn't happen often, but when I'm wrong - I'm wrong....and I'll take it. Although Texas looked far from a top 10 team on Saturday night, they did look much improved from game 1 - at least for a half.
Like many of you, I only saw a fraction of the firt half thanks to Aggies defensive clinic they were putting on against Fresno State so I can't really say how they played on the whole, but I know this - they didn't so much as put up a field goal in that time so it couldn't have been that good. So let's get serious here and recap some of the bigger games of the weekend.
Texas over TCU:
Well, like I said, it was ugly early, but they got the engines running late (geez, what else is new). Am I happy with this win? Absolutely, any win by 3 touchdowns is a positive. Am I happy about where Texas is right now as a team? Not really, but there was obviously some vast improvements from weeks 1 to 2. Do I think Texas is a top 10 team right now? Not quite, but I could conceive them being a top 12 or 15 team. I look at those "top teams" and see quite a few who I believe would manhandle the horns right now.
Moreover, I was very underwhelmed by TCU's defense (didn't know what to expect from offense, but it was very ugly). I'd like to think that Texas' offense just pushed them around and showed superior talent, but time will tell. I don't know about you, but I'll be keeping an eye on TCU over the next few weeks and see how their defense responds. TCU's offense is what will kill them. I can't imagine these guys playing in a big-time bowl (BCS) with an offense like that. I was VERY pleased with the running game. I'm still not declaring Jamaal Charles a superstar, but he did rack up 134 yards and averaged just ove 6 yards a carry vs. 3 yards a carry last week - that's a great thing.
But yet again the same issues haunt us - not being able to finish drives and turning the ball over. This time though the TOs are coming from our QB play. That makes 4 INTs in the last 2 games - averaging 2 INTs a game is not a good thing. I will say the tipped ball INT was not entirely Colt's fault although I don't think he made a great throw there. I'm also looking for a receiver to make a play out there - if the ball doesn't hit them directly in the numbers they seem to drop the ball. The exception to this is Jermichael Finley who seemed to make some good plays all over the field. I think you're going to start seeing this guy's number called more and more this year. All in all, our offense needs some work and frankly, I need to see a lot more from Colt to feel comfortable about the season. 6 of 15 on third down conversions is also a very ugly stat - the first conversion came in the 2nd half I believe.
Defensively speaking - I couldn't be happier. They didn't give up a TD to the offense and they held them to a field goal after a first and goal situation. If the offense hadn't turned the ball over I think this would have been a shut out. The secondary guys were playing very physical too - making nice pass beakups and making some great open-field tackles in the second half. I was very pleased with the defense - and all without Orakpo. Kudos to the defense - very pleased to see that.
At the end of the day I'll take the win (and any win at that), but there's quite a bit of work to do if they want to win this conference - if you need any evidence, watch Oklahoma play a game in the next couple of weeks...scary team right there.
Oklahoma over Miami:
There's no question I was expecting more out of Miami in this game - especially on defense - but man, does Oklahoma look like a top 3 team! As a longhorn fan, I'm quite nervous about having to play these guys - I know it's a month off, but they are a well-oiled machine right now. I will say this though - for all the talk about the 2-headed monster at running back, they didn't have a single rushing TD agains Miami...and that's with putting up 51 points. And their leading rusher had 64 yards (and it wasn't White or Brown who had it - they each had about 45 yards. Bradford was a whopping 19 of 25 with 205 yards and 5 TDs. I'm still eager to see the Aggies visit Miami in a couple of weeks - that should be a good game. Luckily for Miami, the aggie game plan (all running) plays into their hands defensively - they will get a chance to use their speed. We'll see though. Either way, Oklahoma looks way impressive - and rightfully so, they're #3 in this week's AP poll.
Texas A&M over Fresno State:
And speaking of the aggies...Look, it was a good win - given these guys' schedule this year, that loss may have been disastrous. Here's the bad news for the aggies, that's not a very impressive team they struggled to beat. Fresno has it's appeal and you love to route for them because they'll play anyone/anywhere. But, this is a team that was 4-8 last year and was shut out by Idaho. BUT, the aggies pulled it out and that was good, especially after giving up the late touchdown drive to close out regulation, that was bad. I'll tell you this, if you can't stop the run, the aggies can beat anyone in the country, but if they can't get it going on the ground, they are hopeless. I don't believe Javorski Lane can ever be an every-down back at this level, not in his current state, but is sure is one hell of an insurance policy late in the game (and in overtime) when the opposing defense is worn down. Again, nice win for the aggies, but they've got a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball.
LSU over Virginia Tech:
Holy cow does this LSU team look good. I don't think many people expected a whole lot from the Hokie offense, but man, I cna't believe how much they shredded their defense - that was impressive. I know we haven't really seen USC really play, but I can't imagine a whole lot of teams hanging with the LSU team if they were to play tomorrow. In two weeks they get S. Carolina at their place which could be an entertaining game, but for the most part, they've only really got Florida at home this year (and at Bama). Matt Flynn looked great and they even Ryan P. looked pretty good - on cleanup duty of course.
Other Notables:
- Can you remember a bigger letdown of a game going into week #3 than the 0-2 Michigan Wolverines hosting the 0-2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish? After the assault that was the Penn State game I was more sure than ever that ND may not win a game this year (when you literally have no defense and a terrible offensive line, it's tough), but something's gotta give here right? Surely Michigan rights the ship here - no way they can lose to this ND team. Here's a question - when is ND going to "Tyrone Willingham" Charlie Weiss? That love affair has to be over with very soon - somewhere around the 0-7 mark I'm guessing. Yet another pro coach who thinks he can "outsmart" the college game.
- Meanwhile, Lloyd Carr and Michigan are quickly working on a buy-out plan.
- Close one Cal, let's not start booking our flights for the BCS game just yet. Colorado State is a quality opponent, but you can't give up that kind of offense to that team...when you still have USC on your schedule.
- Great win for Washington and Ty Willingham - and thank you for subsiding the "should Boise State be discussed every single day" rhetoric just a bit.
- And thank you to Louisian Tech for almost doing the same to Hawaii - we appreciate the effort.
- I'm VERY concerned about Nebraska's defense against USC next week. Perhaps they were looking ahead a bit, but they gave up a lot of yards to Wake Forest's backup QB. And Sam Keller looked shaky with 2 INTs to his 1 touchdown. Turnovers almost lost this game for the huskers.
FedEx Cup:
So couple of things on this real quick. I think most of us golf fans would agree that the idea of a playoff in golf is great. But, this is not quite it. I'll preface with acknowledging that the organizers of this "playoff" will be tweaking the system before next year. Here's a couple of suggestions as you sit down at the drawing board:
- It's not really a playoff if the golfers in the top 10 can choose to sit out for a tournament or two. It's just not.
- When the scoring spans into the 6 digits (e.g. 109,372 to 104,678), it's too complicated. Furthermore, when no one (and I mean NO ONE) who is a fan of the game can figure it out, it's WAAAY too complicated.
- Let me tell you what the top golfers in the world care about - winning majors. Their entire year is planned around getting ready for and competing in the 4 majors. There are probably a couple of other key tournaments that are favorites of the top guys, but the one consistency is the 4 majors. Plan your "tournament/playoff" accordingly. Once the last major is over, you're going to struggle to keep their attention.
- Here's the current scenario: going into the "final" next weekend, if Phil wins the tournament, but Tiger gets second - he still wins the FedEx cup. That's exactly the opposite of a playoff - that's like the BCS.
- When some of your biggest stars complain about aspectst of it - listen to them. They are the ones making you money hand over fist with this whole debacle. Listen to what they say.
NFL Notes:
- When was the last time you saw a quarterback take such command of a game as Peyton Manning did in the 2nd half of the season opener? He was in complete control of that game when he was on the field. The Colts looked VERY good.
- And then the Patriots played today. WOW! They made quick work of the Jets and Randy Moss had a "remember me?" game with over 180 yards and a TD. AFC battles should be fun this year.
- Vince Young had a rough go against the Jaguars today, but they pulled off a very important win for that team. Winning in Jacksonville was a tough feat. It looks like VY will get some help in the running game with Chris Brown playing a great game. Now if we can only find him some receivers...he definitely had a down day though with only 78 yards through the air.
- I think one of the most madening story lines to watch this year will be how long Lovie Smith can continue to stick with Grossman. If should be this team's mission over the next 18 months to acquire a more stable and consistent QB. This is like the Lions' owners sticking with Matt Millen for GM over these last few years.
- And speaking of the Lions...I know they were playing the Raiders, but still...they looked pretty good.
- The number one draft pick for the Texans last year is starting to pan out - Williams had a fumble retuned for a TD and 2 sacks. Nice.
That's all she wrote. We'll do it again later this week as we get closer to week #3 for the college game.
Like many of you, I only saw a fraction of the firt half thanks to Aggies defensive clinic they were putting on against Fresno State so I can't really say how they played on the whole, but I know this - they didn't so much as put up a field goal in that time so it couldn't have been that good. So let's get serious here and recap some of the bigger games of the weekend.
Texas over TCU:
Well, like I said, it was ugly early, but they got the engines running late (geez, what else is new). Am I happy with this win? Absolutely, any win by 3 touchdowns is a positive. Am I happy about where Texas is right now as a team? Not really, but there was obviously some vast improvements from weeks 1 to 2. Do I think Texas is a top 10 team right now? Not quite, but I could conceive them being a top 12 or 15 team. I look at those "top teams" and see quite a few who I believe would manhandle the horns right now.
Moreover, I was very underwhelmed by TCU's defense (didn't know what to expect from offense, but it was very ugly). I'd like to think that Texas' offense just pushed them around and showed superior talent, but time will tell. I don't know about you, but I'll be keeping an eye on TCU over the next few weeks and see how their defense responds. TCU's offense is what will kill them. I can't imagine these guys playing in a big-time bowl (BCS) with an offense like that. I was VERY pleased with the running game. I'm still not declaring Jamaal Charles a superstar, but he did rack up 134 yards and averaged just ove 6 yards a carry vs. 3 yards a carry last week - that's a great thing.
But yet again the same issues haunt us - not being able to finish drives and turning the ball over. This time though the TOs are coming from our QB play. That makes 4 INTs in the last 2 games - averaging 2 INTs a game is not a good thing. I will say the tipped ball INT was not entirely Colt's fault although I don't think he made a great throw there. I'm also looking for a receiver to make a play out there - if the ball doesn't hit them directly in the numbers they seem to drop the ball. The exception to this is Jermichael Finley who seemed to make some good plays all over the field. I think you're going to start seeing this guy's number called more and more this year. All in all, our offense needs some work and frankly, I need to see a lot more from Colt to feel comfortable about the season. 6 of 15 on third down conversions is also a very ugly stat - the first conversion came in the 2nd half I believe.
Defensively speaking - I couldn't be happier. They didn't give up a TD to the offense and they held them to a field goal after a first and goal situation. If the offense hadn't turned the ball over I think this would have been a shut out. The secondary guys were playing very physical too - making nice pass beakups and making some great open-field tackles in the second half. I was very pleased with the defense - and all without Orakpo. Kudos to the defense - very pleased to see that.
At the end of the day I'll take the win (and any win at that), but there's quite a bit of work to do if they want to win this conference - if you need any evidence, watch Oklahoma play a game in the next couple of weeks...scary team right there.
Oklahoma over Miami:
There's no question I was expecting more out of Miami in this game - especially on defense - but man, does Oklahoma look like a top 3 team! As a longhorn fan, I'm quite nervous about having to play these guys - I know it's a month off, but they are a well-oiled machine right now. I will say this though - for all the talk about the 2-headed monster at running back, they didn't have a single rushing TD agains Miami...and that's with putting up 51 points. And their leading rusher had 64 yards (and it wasn't White or Brown who had it - they each had about 45 yards. Bradford was a whopping 19 of 25 with 205 yards and 5 TDs. I'm still eager to see the Aggies visit Miami in a couple of weeks - that should be a good game. Luckily for Miami, the aggie game plan (all running) plays into their hands defensively - they will get a chance to use their speed. We'll see though. Either way, Oklahoma looks way impressive - and rightfully so, they're #3 in this week's AP poll.
Texas A&M over Fresno State:
And speaking of the aggies...Look, it was a good win - given these guys' schedule this year, that loss may have been disastrous. Here's the bad news for the aggies, that's not a very impressive team they struggled to beat. Fresno has it's appeal and you love to route for them because they'll play anyone/anywhere. But, this is a team that was 4-8 last year and was shut out by Idaho. BUT, the aggies pulled it out and that was good, especially after giving up the late touchdown drive to close out regulation, that was bad. I'll tell you this, if you can't stop the run, the aggies can beat anyone in the country, but if they can't get it going on the ground, they are hopeless. I don't believe Javorski Lane can ever be an every-down back at this level, not in his current state, but is sure is one hell of an insurance policy late in the game (and in overtime) when the opposing defense is worn down. Again, nice win for the aggies, but they've got a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball.
LSU over Virginia Tech:
Holy cow does this LSU team look good. I don't think many people expected a whole lot from the Hokie offense, but man, I cna't believe how much they shredded their defense - that was impressive. I know we haven't really seen USC really play, but I can't imagine a whole lot of teams hanging with the LSU team if they were to play tomorrow. In two weeks they get S. Carolina at their place which could be an entertaining game, but for the most part, they've only really got Florida at home this year (and at Bama). Matt Flynn looked great and they even Ryan P. looked pretty good - on cleanup duty of course.
Other Notables:
- Can you remember a bigger letdown of a game going into week #3 than the 0-2 Michigan Wolverines hosting the 0-2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish? After the assault that was the Penn State game I was more sure than ever that ND may not win a game this year (when you literally have no defense and a terrible offensive line, it's tough), but something's gotta give here right? Surely Michigan rights the ship here - no way they can lose to this ND team. Here's a question - when is ND going to "Tyrone Willingham" Charlie Weiss? That love affair has to be over with very soon - somewhere around the 0-7 mark I'm guessing. Yet another pro coach who thinks he can "outsmart" the college game.
- Meanwhile, Lloyd Carr and Michigan are quickly working on a buy-out plan.
- Close one Cal, let's not start booking our flights for the BCS game just yet. Colorado State is a quality opponent, but you can't give up that kind of offense to that team...when you still have USC on your schedule.
- Great win for Washington and Ty Willingham - and thank you for subsiding the "should Boise State be discussed every single day" rhetoric just a bit.
- And thank you to Louisian Tech for almost doing the same to Hawaii - we appreciate the effort.
- I'm VERY concerned about Nebraska's defense against USC next week. Perhaps they were looking ahead a bit, but they gave up a lot of yards to Wake Forest's backup QB. And Sam Keller looked shaky with 2 INTs to his 1 touchdown. Turnovers almost lost this game for the huskers.
FedEx Cup:
So couple of things on this real quick. I think most of us golf fans would agree that the idea of a playoff in golf is great. But, this is not quite it. I'll preface with acknowledging that the organizers of this "playoff" will be tweaking the system before next year. Here's a couple of suggestions as you sit down at the drawing board:
- It's not really a playoff if the golfers in the top 10 can choose to sit out for a tournament or two. It's just not.
- When the scoring spans into the 6 digits (e.g. 109,372 to 104,678), it's too complicated. Furthermore, when no one (and I mean NO ONE) who is a fan of the game can figure it out, it's WAAAY too complicated.
- Let me tell you what the top golfers in the world care about - winning majors. Their entire year is planned around getting ready for and competing in the 4 majors. There are probably a couple of other key tournaments that are favorites of the top guys, but the one consistency is the 4 majors. Plan your "tournament/playoff" accordingly. Once the last major is over, you're going to struggle to keep their attention.
- Here's the current scenario: going into the "final" next weekend, if Phil wins the tournament, but Tiger gets second - he still wins the FedEx cup. That's exactly the opposite of a playoff - that's like the BCS.
- When some of your biggest stars complain about aspectst of it - listen to them. They are the ones making you money hand over fist with this whole debacle. Listen to what they say.
NFL Notes:
- When was the last time you saw a quarterback take such command of a game as Peyton Manning did in the 2nd half of the season opener? He was in complete control of that game when he was on the field. The Colts looked VERY good.
- And then the Patriots played today. WOW! They made quick work of the Jets and Randy Moss had a "remember me?" game with over 180 yards and a TD. AFC battles should be fun this year.
- Vince Young had a rough go against the Jaguars today, but they pulled off a very important win for that team. Winning in Jacksonville was a tough feat. It looks like VY will get some help in the running game with Chris Brown playing a great game. Now if we can only find him some receivers...he definitely had a down day though with only 78 yards through the air.
- I think one of the most madening story lines to watch this year will be how long Lovie Smith can continue to stick with Grossman. If should be this team's mission over the next 18 months to acquire a more stable and consistent QB. This is like the Lions' owners sticking with Matt Millen for GM over these last few years.
- And speaking of the Lions...I know they were playing the Raiders, but still...they looked pretty good.
- The number one draft pick for the Texans last year is starting to pan out - Williams had a fumble retuned for a TD and 2 sacks. Nice.
That's all she wrote. We'll do it again later this week as we get closer to week #3 for the college game.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 10:15 AM
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