Back in the Saddle
Well gang, I don't know what to tell you. Between being out of town and Ella's birthday party last week and weekend, I just couldn't get a new post out. That's OK, it's given me time to digest the Texas loss, as well as some other observations.
I know this is often a topic amongst the talking heads this time of year, but this year I think it could be coming to fruition - are we headed towards imminent chaos yet again with the BCS? Let's take a quick look at what I'm talking about:
The Big Dogs - If you ask most people today I think they would tell you that in all likelihood, it's a 4-team race with the OU, Okie State, LSU and Alabama - the good news being these teams play each other between November and December so these guys have to be thinking "win and we're in".
The Big Dogs Who Don't Get As Much Love - Wisconsin and Stanford. Make no mistake friends, these two teams are VERY good and can beat any team on any given day in any stadium. Wisconsin gets it's toughest (and last real tough) showdown today when they visit East Lansing tonight. This should be a great football game as MSU has one of the toughest run defenses in the country - bad news for them is the Badgers finally have a balanced offense with a dynamic QB. Stanford on the other hand still has to play Oregon and as is the case with most Pac 12 showdowns, this will come down to which team's defense makes the most big plays. If I'm betting, I'm taking Stanford by 10 in that showdown. If these teams finish undefeated and are left out of the big game.....watch out. Especially if some one-loss team manages to find itself in the big game.
The Other Guys Who Are Good, but No One Believes It - Clemson and Boise State. You know how I feel about Boise, I've been singing their praises for years now. Accept it, they're really good and can beat anyone. How do I know? Because they always do it. Clemson on the other hand is quite a surprise and although I do see them stumbling somewhere along the way, don't underestimate their ability to go undefeated in a down year for the ACC.
The Point - In theory we could have Clemson, Boise State, OU/Okie State, Bama/LSU, Wisconsin and Stanford all finish the year undefeated. That's 6 potential undefeateds. Good luck with that BCS endorsers....
Texas' Growing Pains
I don't know what else to call it. I think what most frustrated me about the Okie State game is they were in it, with chances to win the game in the fourth quarter and they completely blew it. Don't get me wrong, the Cowboys are very strong this year and if I'm being perfectly honest, I think they came into this game a little cocky after watching what OU did to the Horns the week before. I know it's frustrating, but I also realize that our offense simply isn't very good and extraordinarily inexperienced. Our offensive line just flat-out sucks. I'm certainly not going to throw any of the coaches under the bus having just got here and in their first year, but if that isn't a priority for this program going into offseason and recruiting than I've lost complete faith in Mack and company.
It wasn't all craptacular though - 2 areas that have me feeling optimistic are the defense and the running game. I know I just said our O-line sucks, and they do, but Malcolm Brown and Fozzy are a great combination and you can clearly see Brown getting stronger and stronger as the season goes on - will be interesting to see if he hits a wall right around Thanksgiving (not uncommon for freshman getting a lot of playing time). He IS the power runner we've been hoping for all these years.
The defense - we are still giving up big plays here which is troublesome, but we're offsetting it by making more big plays. I am optimistic about the improvement of the secondary between OU and OSU - they were a f'ng joke against OU, but they came back and played really well against OSU so that was good to see. I still often get blinded by anger with the big plays - OSU had 4th and 9 on our 35 and ran a draw up the middle for a TD. That was ridiculous on so many levels. But, to be fair, when you run certain blitzes/stunts, you're gambling - you're either going to make a big play or give up a big play. Texas did the latter.
One more area in need of drastic improvement is the front 4 - Texas has more sacks than only 1 team in the Big 12....Kansas. Texas has 7 sacks this year. As comparison, OU has 26. That has to get better...and fast.
Outside of Brown, our offensive just isn't there yet and frankly, they won't be there this year. I like that they finally settled on Ash, but I did find myself quietly asking the question after OSU...did sticking with Ash in this game give us anything? Not sure, but it is better in the long run, I know that. And please, let's give the trick plays a little bit of a break, can we? How about using that time in practice to get some extra work on blocking and having plays take less than 5 minutes to develop.
As I always remind you loyal readers, I picked an 8-4 year for the horns with a possible 9-3 in there. I'm pretty much removing 9-3 from the equation. Our lack of offensive improvement has me worried about Mizzou and Kstate, and our defensive consistency issues has me REALLY worried about A&M and Baylor. I can see Texas beating Mizzou, and maybe Baylor, but not Kstate or the Aggies.
My last note on the horns - a quick memo to Mack Brown - Texas faithful is probably the most patient it's ever been this year knowing very well that we've got an entirely new staff with a whole sh*t-load of new/young players to break in. Soak it in this year Mack because next year, I can assure you expectations will be sky high and performances like we saw in Dallas 2 weeks ago will NOT be taken lightly. Mack knows better than anyone how irrational Texas fans are - get ready, it will be back in full force next year.
Around the Country
Something we've all heard here and there - and something I'm hearing more and more which prompted this rant - is that college football's regular season is a defacto playoff. This has got to be stupidest thing I've heard in a while around CFB. Someone please explain this to me. As I alluded to above, we are on track to have multiple undefeated teams, not to mention a lot more 1-loss teams who are still very good. On top of that you throw in the ridiculous poll system we operate around - I've said it before and I'll keep saying: there is nothing more stupid and ridiculous, in any level of sports, than the college football poll system. You've got AP poll (which crowns their own champion independent of anyone/anything else), you've got your coach's poll (hmm....why are we making coaches fill out polls again?), you've got your Harris poll (I'm pretty sure someone just made this up one day and we all just went along with it) and finally you've got your BCS poll which is some sort of combination of all of these (minus the AP poll).
Seriously? This is exactly the kind of thing our government would come up with to solve the problem - let's continue to add more and more ambiguity and complexity to something that needs a pretty simple fix. Look, I'm not going to go off on the need for a playoff or anything like that, but DO NOT throw the "the regular season is a playoff" bullsh*t at us - it's simply wrong. It's nothing more than a slogan for BCS apologists to throw out there to defend the system.
OK...Just One More Rant (just because I like continually stirring the conference sh*t talking pot)
Here's your homework folks. Get a piece of paper and on one side write down the Big 12 schools top to bottom. On the other side, write down SEC schools top to bottom. Yes, I realize the SEC has 2 more teams, but humor me here......ok, you got it? Now tell me this - show me where exactly the SEC is head and shoulders above the Big 12 this year. Both have 2 tier 1 teams at the top so take those out. Both have a couple of bottom feeders at the bottom (Kansas and Iowa State; Kentucky and Vanderbilt) so take those out. Now look at the rest....that's what I thought.
NFL
I was watching CNN the other night when news broke of Gadahfi's death - there was video of his body covered in blood and bullet holes and I thought - what a sad f'ng state of affairs in this world when you can show this on television and it doesn't even phase us. I was sitting at a bar and everyone was nonchalantly starring up at it and going about their business (including eating). Can you imagine if images like that were suddenly put on television in the 80s? People would freak out.
Meanwhile, to the people of Libya, good luck with all of that....
I'm happy to hear we're pulling out of Iraq by end of year because frankly, if we leave now, or leave 10 years from now, it won't change the fact that corruption and violence will continue to take hold in that region. I give it 5-7 years before Iraq becomes Iran junior. We'll be back there in a decade, guarantee it.
As we look back on the Iraq war - 2 things come to mind:
1. Can anyone recall a more ridiculously bad and stupid decision in the history of this country? Now I do believe in my heart of hearts that Sadaam had WMD of sorts at one time - even if just testing/trying to create them. But to invade that country in the manner that we did and on the "evidence" that we ad, and to stay there like we did, was such a monumentally bad decision...it's frustrating. Yes, I know Sadaam was a bad guy, but there A LOT of bad guys in this world, we don't invade them.
2. America must realize that when it comes to the middle east - we don't get it and we never will, so just stay out of it. You want oil? Go to Canada, or GO GET YOUR OWN!!!! We could put troops in every f'ng country over there and stay there for a year or for a decade and when we leave, it will be as if we were never there within months. Just stop. Please. We've got plenty to deal with and worry about in our own backyard.
Whether you're a fan of South Park or not, try and catch the documentary 6 Days to Air which chronicles the making of a South Park episode. I find it most fascinating that on day 1 they literally have nothing but an idea (sometimes not even that). Fascinating watch. Makes me appreciate the show that much more - it's funny. It's really, really funny.
Have a great weekend folks.
I know this is often a topic amongst the talking heads this time of year, but this year I think it could be coming to fruition - are we headed towards imminent chaos yet again with the BCS? Let's take a quick look at what I'm talking about:
The Big Dogs - If you ask most people today I think they would tell you that in all likelihood, it's a 4-team race with the OU, Okie State, LSU and Alabama - the good news being these teams play each other between November and December so these guys have to be thinking "win and we're in".
The Big Dogs Who Don't Get As Much Love - Wisconsin and Stanford. Make no mistake friends, these two teams are VERY good and can beat any team on any given day in any stadium. Wisconsin gets it's toughest (and last real tough) showdown today when they visit East Lansing tonight. This should be a great football game as MSU has one of the toughest run defenses in the country - bad news for them is the Badgers finally have a balanced offense with a dynamic QB. Stanford on the other hand still has to play Oregon and as is the case with most Pac 12 showdowns, this will come down to which team's defense makes the most big plays. If I'm betting, I'm taking Stanford by 10 in that showdown. If these teams finish undefeated and are left out of the big game.....watch out. Especially if some one-loss team manages to find itself in the big game.
The Other Guys Who Are Good, but No One Believes It - Clemson and Boise State. You know how I feel about Boise, I've been singing their praises for years now. Accept it, they're really good and can beat anyone. How do I know? Because they always do it. Clemson on the other hand is quite a surprise and although I do see them stumbling somewhere along the way, don't underestimate their ability to go undefeated in a down year for the ACC.
The Point - In theory we could have Clemson, Boise State, OU/Okie State, Bama/LSU, Wisconsin and Stanford all finish the year undefeated. That's 6 potential undefeateds. Good luck with that BCS endorsers....
Texas' Growing Pains
I don't know what else to call it. I think what most frustrated me about the Okie State game is they were in it, with chances to win the game in the fourth quarter and they completely blew it. Don't get me wrong, the Cowboys are very strong this year and if I'm being perfectly honest, I think they came into this game a little cocky after watching what OU did to the Horns the week before. I know it's frustrating, but I also realize that our offense simply isn't very good and extraordinarily inexperienced. Our offensive line just flat-out sucks. I'm certainly not going to throw any of the coaches under the bus having just got here and in their first year, but if that isn't a priority for this program going into offseason and recruiting than I've lost complete faith in Mack and company.
It wasn't all craptacular though - 2 areas that have me feeling optimistic are the defense and the running game. I know I just said our O-line sucks, and they do, but Malcolm Brown and Fozzy are a great combination and you can clearly see Brown getting stronger and stronger as the season goes on - will be interesting to see if he hits a wall right around Thanksgiving (not uncommon for freshman getting a lot of playing time). He IS the power runner we've been hoping for all these years.
The defense - we are still giving up big plays here which is troublesome, but we're offsetting it by making more big plays. I am optimistic about the improvement of the secondary between OU and OSU - they were a f'ng joke against OU, but they came back and played really well against OSU so that was good to see. I still often get blinded by anger with the big plays - OSU had 4th and 9 on our 35 and ran a draw up the middle for a TD. That was ridiculous on so many levels. But, to be fair, when you run certain blitzes/stunts, you're gambling - you're either going to make a big play or give up a big play. Texas did the latter.
One more area in need of drastic improvement is the front 4 - Texas has more sacks than only 1 team in the Big 12....Kansas. Texas has 7 sacks this year. As comparison, OU has 26. That has to get better...and fast.
Outside of Brown, our offensive just isn't there yet and frankly, they won't be there this year. I like that they finally settled on Ash, but I did find myself quietly asking the question after OSU...did sticking with Ash in this game give us anything? Not sure, but it is better in the long run, I know that. And please, let's give the trick plays a little bit of a break, can we? How about using that time in practice to get some extra work on blocking and having plays take less than 5 minutes to develop.
As I always remind you loyal readers, I picked an 8-4 year for the horns with a possible 9-3 in there. I'm pretty much removing 9-3 from the equation. Our lack of offensive improvement has me worried about Mizzou and Kstate, and our defensive consistency issues has me REALLY worried about A&M and Baylor. I can see Texas beating Mizzou, and maybe Baylor, but not Kstate or the Aggies.
My last note on the horns - a quick memo to Mack Brown - Texas faithful is probably the most patient it's ever been this year knowing very well that we've got an entirely new staff with a whole sh*t-load of new/young players to break in. Soak it in this year Mack because next year, I can assure you expectations will be sky high and performances like we saw in Dallas 2 weeks ago will NOT be taken lightly. Mack knows better than anyone how irrational Texas fans are - get ready, it will be back in full force next year.
Around the Country
- Sucks to be Tech - getting to go to Norman....and it's on prime-time television. Good luck with all of that.
- How's that addition of Utah and Colorado working out for you Left Coast guys? Colorado is so completely terrible it's unbelievable to think how a program that was so good in the 90s can be so completely bad right now....and they have been for a while. Meanwhile, this just in, Utah doesn't have Urban Meyer or Alex Smith anymore.
- I alluded to Stanford above and their match up with Oregon coming later this year, but don't sleep on the Huskies who visit Palo Alto today. This will certainly be the toughest test either team has faced thus far this year - I'm taking Stanford in a landslide.
- So you're saying there's a chance.....it's so very small, but yes, I give Auburn a small chance against LSU today. The Tigers (the Louisiana ones that is) will be down a few players, including should-be heisman candidate at defensive back, Tyrann Mathieu. Make no mistake, this definitely hurts, but if I'm Les Miles, I'm not sweating too much. The other Tigers (the Alabama ones) are breaking in a first-time starter at QB. Should be interesting - only thing Auburn has to do is keep it close....which they have a knack for doing.
- USC at Notre Dame.....when was the last time this match up go so LITTLE hype and coverage? 10 years? 15 years? I couldn't say, but it's been a long time.
- Today's trap games: Washington at Stanford, UNC at Clemson, Auburn at LSU, Mizzou at Okie State. Take your pick folks.
- All in all a pretty quiet weekend....which means there's bound to be an upset looming.
Something we've all heard here and there - and something I'm hearing more and more which prompted this rant - is that college football's regular season is a defacto playoff. This has got to be stupidest thing I've heard in a while around CFB. Someone please explain this to me. As I alluded to above, we are on track to have multiple undefeated teams, not to mention a lot more 1-loss teams who are still very good. On top of that you throw in the ridiculous poll system we operate around - I've said it before and I'll keep saying: there is nothing more stupid and ridiculous, in any level of sports, than the college football poll system. You've got AP poll (which crowns their own champion independent of anyone/anything else), you've got your coach's poll (hmm....why are we making coaches fill out polls again?), you've got your Harris poll (I'm pretty sure someone just made this up one day and we all just went along with it) and finally you've got your BCS poll which is some sort of combination of all of these (minus the AP poll).
Seriously? This is exactly the kind of thing our government would come up with to solve the problem - let's continue to add more and more ambiguity and complexity to something that needs a pretty simple fix. Look, I'm not going to go off on the need for a playoff or anything like that, but DO NOT throw the "the regular season is a playoff" bullsh*t at us - it's simply wrong. It's nothing more than a slogan for BCS apologists to throw out there to defend the system.
OK...Just One More Rant (just because I like continually stirring the conference sh*t talking pot)
Here's your homework folks. Get a piece of paper and on one side write down the Big 12 schools top to bottom. On the other side, write down SEC schools top to bottom. Yes, I realize the SEC has 2 more teams, but humor me here......ok, you got it? Now tell me this - show me where exactly the SEC is head and shoulders above the Big 12 this year. Both have 2 tier 1 teams at the top so take those out. Both have a couple of bottom feeders at the bottom (Kansas and Iowa State; Kentucky and Vanderbilt) so take those out. Now look at the rest....that's what I thought.
NFL
- Lions, Niners and Raiders, oh my. These are some damn good football teams here folks. Don't ask me how it happened, but it did. Raiders overpaid for Palmer (shocking, I know), but it was a good move to get him. I guess it's better than Oakland wasting the pick on a clown like Jamarcus Russell or Heyward-Bay.
- Tim Tebow time in Denver I see. Be careful what you wish for Broncos' fans - of course if you're going to go down in flames this year, at least do it with a flashy QB who may actually have a future here. I like Orton - he's a solid, serviceable QB in this league and on the right team can do a lot of good things. I'm surprised they couldn't find a taker for him before trade deadline.
- I have like 7 byes on my fantasy team this weekend - sweet drafting Ryan. The good news is I get to play Colt McCoy - likely the only time (my other QB is Brady).
- I know it's early, but I don't remember seeing a team play as well as the Packers are right now (save for the '07 Patriots). They look ridiculous good and I'm not sure who's going to stop them. Not saying they'll go undefeated, but I mean when it counts, who's going to beat them out of the NFC? I can't find that team.
- Anyone else out there think Ray Lewis will play at this level into his 40s? That dude is sick.
- MVP thus far: Aaron Rodgers. Go look at his stats. Unreal.
- Def POY: Suh, Lions
- Off POY: Rodgers
- Off ROY: Andy Dalton, Bengals
- Def ROY: Von Miller, Broncos
- Coach of Year: Schwartz, Lions
I was watching CNN the other night when news broke of Gadahfi's death - there was video of his body covered in blood and bullet holes and I thought - what a sad f'ng state of affairs in this world when you can show this on television and it doesn't even phase us. I was sitting at a bar and everyone was nonchalantly starring up at it and going about their business (including eating). Can you imagine if images like that were suddenly put on television in the 80s? People would freak out.
Meanwhile, to the people of Libya, good luck with all of that....
I'm happy to hear we're pulling out of Iraq by end of year because frankly, if we leave now, or leave 10 years from now, it won't change the fact that corruption and violence will continue to take hold in that region. I give it 5-7 years before Iraq becomes Iran junior. We'll be back there in a decade, guarantee it.
As we look back on the Iraq war - 2 things come to mind:
1. Can anyone recall a more ridiculously bad and stupid decision in the history of this country? Now I do believe in my heart of hearts that Sadaam had WMD of sorts at one time - even if just testing/trying to create them. But to invade that country in the manner that we did and on the "evidence" that we ad, and to stay there like we did, was such a monumentally bad decision...it's frustrating. Yes, I know Sadaam was a bad guy, but there A LOT of bad guys in this world, we don't invade them.
2. America must realize that when it comes to the middle east - we don't get it and we never will, so just stay out of it. You want oil? Go to Canada, or GO GET YOUR OWN!!!! We could put troops in every f'ng country over there and stay there for a year or for a decade and when we leave, it will be as if we were never there within months. Just stop. Please. We've got plenty to deal with and worry about in our own backyard.
Whether you're a fan of South Park or not, try and catch the documentary 6 Days to Air which chronicles the making of a South Park episode. I find it most fascinating that on day 1 they literally have nothing but an idea (sometimes not even that). Fascinating watch. Makes me appreciate the show that much more - it's funny. It's really, really funny.
Have a great weekend folks.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 8:10 AM
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