Here's the deal. We're going to go ahead and put out a couple of $$$ picks this week to stock your bank roll for the weekend. We're due to have a good week, so here we go...
3 star plays:
UAB at SMU (-4.5) - TONIGHT! --- UAB has been awful this year. SMU is actually playing good football. SMU averages 43 points per game at home, while giving up only 14. Looks like a blowout to me. FINAL RESULT: SMU 22 UAB 9 (Gary wins 3)
West Virginia at Louisville (-1) - THURSDAY! --- Louisville has the better defense. West Virginia's been getting by with just scoring points. But if you can't stop the other team from scoring, and you can't score, then how do you win? Louisville should just line up and push around their defensive line all night. Close game, but Louisville wins.
¶ 9:28 AM0 commentslinks to this post
Chris Vernon, 730 ESPN radio in Memphis, had a good interview with Rece Davis from College Football Scoreboard today. I think we're going to try and get a little sit down interview with him for the website.
Anyway, off of that topic and onto this -- Tony Romo is THE MAN. He's apparently pretty smart. You want to be a good quarterback? Throw to your best receiver. At one point in the 4th quarter last night, I noticed the stat that Owens had been thrown to 16 times and had caught 9 of them. I'm not a Cowboys fan, but I know that that team is TEN TIMES BETTER than most teams, but only if you're getting TO the football. I don't care about all his other bullshit, just give him the football. Period.
Other things to look at from this past weekend....
Coach Dennis Fran-phony has quietly led Texas A&M to an 8-1 record with a chance to win the Big XII South if he can beat Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas to end out the year. I'm looking at a probable 8-4 record for these guys.
Amazing how he managed to keep his job another year. It's all karma for the way he left Alabama. I'm sure Aggie fans are ecstatic with an 8-4 season losing to all of their biggest rivals and getting hammered in a lower tier bowl again. Is my hatred for this guy becoming any more obvious? Anyway, College Gameday made their way to Alabama twice while he was the head coach, and we lost both times (once to UCLA and once to Georgia). Here's hoping he can lose another one with the Gameday crew in town this weekend.
Have you ever seen more people happy about a team losing than after USC finally got beat? And the best part was that it wasn't by a really good team, like Cal or Oregon or Notre Dame. It was by Oregon St. A middle-tier Pac-10 team. Just makes me feel all fuzzy inside. Watching them lose was a really good feeling. Next week I want Tennessee and Auburn both to get beat. On last second field goals. Haha.
The USC loss does more than just destroy the Trojans' chances at a 3rd straight BCS title game - it gives the winner of the Big East title game a shot at the National Title (West Virginia vs. Louisville).
Has there been a bigger Big East game in recent memory? The last time I remember there being a HUGE Big East game, Donovon McNabb was playing QB for Syracuse against Miami, in the dome, and it was for the league title. What could be bigger than a Thursday night at Papa John's Stadium in Louisville, KY with the Mountaineers and Cardinals going at it.
I think Louisville wins this game and then gets beat by Rutgers, who in turn gets beat by West Virginia. Then everybody's screwed and the BCS leaves all of them out because the rest of the conference is a fucking joke.
If anybody remembers last year, in Steve Spurrier's first year at South Carolina, he asked the Gamecock players to "just get me to the 4th quarter and I'll outcoach him. Just get me to the 4th quarter."
Well, sadly, for all Fulmer haters, he did get to the 4th quarter with a 17-14 lead, and got swiftly kicked in the nuts. Spurrier's antics always used to piss me off, but there was nothing I enjoyed more in the 90s than watching him bitch slap Fat Phil all over the football team with less talented players, make fun of him after the football game, and then sleeping with Mrs. Fulmer in the locker room just to throw a little fuel on the fire. This year, none of that happened. But I guarantee it does next year. Spurrier's favorite place to win is Knoxville, TN. It'll be more fun than watching Alabama beat the Vols.
And finally, seeing Temple get their first win after having 20 straight losses was refreshing. What's even more refreshing is seeing them beat Bowling Green (who one of my college fantasy football rivals had starting this past week). Nobody will talk about it, but this team has been steadily improving, and will only get better under Golden. He's a good recruiter and a good coach, and he has good people around him. Temple won't challenge for any championships anytime soon, but they'll be in the bowl hunt in Golden's 3rd year. I'll guarantee that.
¶ 6:11 PM0 commentslinks to this post
After flirting with disaster for the past three weeks, Pete Carrolls Trojans were finally knocked off...by the Beavers, no less.
The referees tried everything they could to give USC this football game (every pass that Steve Smith caught on the final drive should have been offensive interference), but it was to no avail, as John David Booty showed, again, that he is no Matt Leinart.
Mike Riley and Pete Carroll after the game.
GO BEAVERS!!!
Mike Riley celebrates. He still looks bored.
Tide fans, aren't you glad he declined the job back in '03? He's just so blah. He wins a big game and he's like "ehh, that's cool." Fuckin West Coasters.
Congrats, Coach Kines and Mr. Saunders. First defensive sack since the Duke game. Feels nice to get back there, ehh? :-)
This is just a damn good picture.
Behold, the 2nd coming of Jared Lorenzen.
Everyone was right. Javier did finally break one.
There aren't too many things to take away from this game. The defense did their part, of course. 1 forced fumble and 1 interception for a touchdown. Special teams came out and had a good game (1 punt return for a touchdown, and Leigh Tiffin even hit the last two extra points -- yes, one of them did go a little bit to the right). Everyone was scared shitless when John Parker Wilson went down, and I think the coaching staff are idiots for letting him go back into the game to start the 2nd half. Remember Brodie coming into the Georgia game back in 2003 when he was injured? Dumb move. The defensive line actually got a sack (props Keith Saunders), and the backup QB, Jimmy Barnes, the second coming of Jared Lorenzen, did have a little zip on his passes and looked comfortable once he had a few reps. He actually threw a red zone touchdown pass to Matt Caddell. Who woulda thunk it?
Bottom line, we looked alright, but still let those guys stay in the ballgame for WAY too long. We were down 3-0 at the end of the first quarter. They had a goal line stand against us in the 1st quarter. That, my friends, is why Shula didn't go for it on 4th and 1 last week at Tennessee...because we can't even line up and whip Florida International on 4th and 1.
post this right now. This is just classic. I remember going to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in October of 1993 and watching drunk Ole Miss fans throw empty Jack Daniels bottles at our football players going into the locker room after the game. Jeez.
¶ 9:15 AM0 commentslinks to this post
Dennis Dodd over at sportsline.com has written a really good article about why we need to keep Mike Shula around. He's got some good points, but I wish he would explain to me WHY THE HELL CHRIS CAPPS IS STILL PLAYING. aaaaarrrrrggghhhh.
But seriously, it's good to hear this side of the story in the media. Very strange how everyone is talking about firing Shula when we're 5-3 and lost to three teams that we're supposed to lose to right now. I don't care how close they were or anything, we are in the middle of a rebuilding year. Now then, next year, if we're sitting at 5-3 at this time, then we might want to start talking, because we're going to have a hell of a football team next year.
Tomorrow, after I finish watching the game, I'm gonna wander down to the New Daisy here in Memphis and watch the best Southern Rock band you've never heard of.
Nah, I'm just fuckin with you. They're not for real, but neither is Clemson. The ACC basically sucks this year. Or you can be an idiot and compare it to the SEC, because everybody is beating everybody. Do you realize that now BC can lose either at Wake or at Miami and still make the title game? ACC Championship game could be Boston College or Wake Forest against Georgia Tech or Miami. Either way, it would suck.
Of course, the SEC Championship game is looking more and more like Arkansas vs. Florida, which would also suck.
I'm sure they'd be great games and all that jazz, but the matchups themselves have no buildup. There's no excitement there.
This was just plain entertaining to watch. I really don't like Tommy Bowden. Not really sure why. Oh well.
¶ 11:31 AM0 commentslinks to this post
I know I've already posted this picture, but it's a classic. Can you imagine this shit at the SEC Championship game or in the Sugar Bowl? Haha..
Oh yeah, and fanblogs.com hit the nail on the head regarding Butch Davis's situation. There's not a chance in hell that he's going to get back into coaching at a place like North Carolina. He doesn't want something that could take years to fix.
You'll probably be seeing this EXACT same scene next year:
and then, a few years down the road, when Davis gets back to the NFL with the 49ers or some other shit team, you'll see this same scene as well:
Thanks again to The M Zone and Roll 'Bama Roll for linking up to my "BCS Nightmare" post. Lots and lots of new readers on the site. Hopefully everyone found the page amusing and insightful.
Anyway... ON TO THE PICKS!!!
I think we'll try a new design this week.
Whatever the # of stars is, that's how many games it counts. So if I have a 5 star game, that means it's worth more because it should be really easy. But if it loses, you're losing 5 times as much (or I'm losing 5 games). So, if my five star play is on Thursday night, and it loses, I start out the week 0-5 rather than 0-1. That should make this MUCH more interesting.
5 star play: BYU (-9) at Air Force --- BYU has shown that they can score on ANYBODY. And they do it a lot. Air Force is a good football team, but once BYU is able to stop their ground attack, they can get behind in a hurry. Their QB will be exposed, so once they get down and have to start passing the football, the score may only get worse. I like BYU big in this game.
FINAL RESULT: BYU Air Force (Gary wins 5) 5-0
4 star play: Illinois at WISCONSIN (-22) --- The Illini's defense is atrocious, and Wisconsin's offense has been firing on all cylinders. The Badgers' defense isn't too bad either. They held the nation's #4 offense to only 3 points at their place last week (Purdue). I think Wisconsin could end up running away with this one. They're really clicking right now.
FINAL RESULT: Wisconsin 30 Illinois 24 (Gary loses 4) 5-4
3 star play: Syracuse at CINCINNATI (-6.5) --- Syracuse is awful at stopping the run, and Cinci's biggest strength, recently, has been their ground attack. They were able to take the ball away from South Florida pretty regularly last Sunday night en route to a 23-6 win. All the trends point to Syracuse covering in this game, but they've put up some fights in losses to West Virginia, Louisville, and Pitt in the past three weeks and may be out of gas here. I think Cinci by a touchdown.
FINAL RESULT: Cinci 17 Syracuse 3 (Gary wins 3) 8-4
Idaho at HAWAII (-26.5) --- I think Hawaii scores at will in this game. Idaho's defense gives up 340 yards and 30 points per game. That's with games against La Tech, Idaho State, Utah St, etc. Just wait until Colt Brennan starts picking apart that secondary, because Idaho gets ZERO pass rush. Should be fun times in Honolulu. Hawaii big in this one.
FINAL RESULT: Hawaii 68 Idaho 10 (Gary wins 3) 11-4
2 star play: WAKE FOREST (-8.5) at North Carolina --- Wake Forest is a power football team. They are going to run on you, no matter who you are. At Ole Miss earlier this year they ran the ball 53 times out of 58 plays. And Ole Miss couldn't stop it (Wake won 27-3). North Carolina is one of the worst in the country against the run, giving up 205.9 rushing yards per game. Wake should clobber this team over and over and over again. NC will be lucky if they have the football for 15 minutes in this game. Wake by at least two touchdowns.
FINAL RESULT: Wake Forest 24 North Carolina 17 (Gary loses 2) 11-6
1 star plays: Notre Dame at NAVY (+13) --- This is by no means saying that Navy will pull the shocker and beat a team that they've lost to 40 something straight games, but I do think it's a lot closer than people think. Navy's defense is a hoss, and Notre Dame is struggling to beat ANYBODY right now (including UCLA at home last week). Navy is basically going to put their entire season on this one game, and that spells trouble for ND. Navy will cover, and it wouldn't shock me to see them pull the upset.
FINAL RESULT: Notre Dame 38 Navy 14 (Gary loses 1) 11-7
Kentucky at MISSISSIPPI ST (+1) --- Miss St is starting to click, and although they're running low at QB, they're getting the job done on defense and offense, thanks to a good rushing attack, and a good run defense. I think the Bulldogs have the better all around team, and their defense should hold Kentucky in check enough to win the football game.
FINAL RESULT: Kentucky 34 Miss St 31 (Gary loses 1) 11-8
Army at TULANE (-5.5) --- Tulane's been throwing the football around like crazy, and after a two week road trip at UTEP and Auburn, they'll be glad to be back home. Army just hasn't shown me anything at all this year to let me know that they can stop a prolific passing attack . I think the Green Wave take this one by double digits.
FINAL RESULT: Tulane 41 Army 27 (Gary wins 1) 12-8
Oklahoma at MISSOURI (-1.5) --- Oklahoma didn't really need Adrian Peterson for last week's win over Colorado, but they'll be feeling the effects against a good Missouri football team. Missouri's been waiting for this game for QUITE some time now, and are beginning to realize that a berth in the Big XII title game isn't out of the question. They're taking care of business, and minus a minor setback against Texas A&M, they've handled the pressure well this year. I think they'll handle Oklahoma a lot easier than expected looking towards the Nov. 4th showdown with Nebraska.
FINAL RESULT: Oklahoma 26 Missouri 10 (Gary loses 1) 12-9
WYOMING (+5.5) at TCU --- TCU hasn't looked very good in their last 3 ball games at all, and Wyoming has been ripping it up after an awful 1-4 start. The game is in Texas, but lately that hasn't mattered (see BYU's demolishing of the Horned Frogs). Look for Wyoming to establish the run early against an overrated TCU defense and then the points will begin to roll in as their quarterback, Karsten Sween, will begin to hit receivers late in the first half. Wyoming wins.
FINAL RESULT: TCU 26 Wyoming 3 (Gary loses 1) 12-10
East Carolina at Southern Miss (-6) --- Southern Miss is pissed off. They had planned on going up to Blacksburg and putting their name back on the national map by playing tough with a reeling Virginia Tech team, and they looked like they had never seen a football. What better team to bring to town than the Pirates from East Carolina. Southern couldn't hang with VT last week, but they'll put a beating on the Pirates, especially since this is a division game. Southern wants nothing more than a rematch with Tulsa in the C-USA title game, and a shot to beat Alabama on national television in the Liberty Bowl. Step one is ECU.
Larry Coker is about to reinstate Ryan Moore, the kid who grabbed a woman by the neck and threw her down, and then threatened another woman as well. Seems a little ironic that he's being reinstated just before the Georgia Tech game after you've lost a couple of guys due to suspension for a fight with FIU.
Coach O is putting his foot down. He's kicked one guy off the team and suspended four sophomores for smoking weed and being at a party that got busted at 3am the night before they left for Fayetteville to play Arkansas. Notice how they were not suspended until AFTER that game.
And on another note: In today's copy of the Huntsville Times, the Alabama notebook section goes over a few things of interest. Keith Brown will not play against FIU this weekend. Of course, I don't think that any of our starters should, but that's just me. Next thing on the table is what Mike Shula said regarding our offensive line.
Bob Connelly admits that the offensive line sucks, and states that true freshman Andre Smith is the best of the bunch. That's not what gets me. Here's what gets me.
"Ironically, Shula said Sunday that center Antoine Caldwell and right tackle Chris Capps were the most consistent linemen in the game."
It's statements like this that make me lose my faith in our head coach. Unless he meant that Capps is consistently FUCKING HORRIBLE then I don't know what games he is watching on Saturdays. Seriously, how can you praise Chris Capps along with Antoine Caldwell? I thought Caldwell was pretty good until they started moving him around the line. Capps is just bad all the time. Every play I've watched him, he sucks. He got beat off the line by guys from DUKE. Christ. Now I'm getting all fired up.
People don't want to tell you this, but it's really going to take something magical for the idiots in the BCS to ever come up with a playoff. Their nightmare isn't having 3 legitimate undefeateds. It's having teams rise up that have no following and no national appeal.
Ladies and Gentlemen...I present to you the REAL BCS Nightmare...
Jan. 8th, 2007 BCS #1 vs. BCS #2
#1 Ohio State vs #2 Auburn
The only way this becomes a nightmare is if Auburn happens to get to this game without winning the SEC Championship. If the nightmare scenario plays out, you'll have a #1 vs. #2, and the #2 won't even be their own conference's champions.
Jan. 3rd, 2007 SEC vs BCS (probably Big East)
Arkansas Razorbacks vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights
The SEC Champion vs the Big East Champion. Wow. What a compelling matchup. If this actually plays out, the BCS is likely to just quit altogether. Think about how low the ratings would actually be for this game. Jeeeeez. It wouldn't even be regionally televised if it was a regular season game.
Jan. 2nd, 2007 ACC vs BCS
Boston College Eagles vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The battle of the Golden Domers. Usually this would be a compelling matchup, but who really cares about Boston College? I'm sure they'd sell tickets, and they'll still get some ratings because of Notre Dame, but nobody cares about this game. There's no hype at all.
Jan. 1st, 2007 Big XII vs BCS
Missouri Tigers vs Boise St Broncos
The Big XII Champs hail from Missouri, and Boise St gets in because of the "non-BCS team finishing higher than 12th" rule. Think about the hype for this game. WHO CARES. If this plays out accordingly, people will be more interested in an Alabama vs Florida State Music City Bowl matchup than this game.
Jan. 1st, 2007 Big 10 vs Pac 10
Michigan Wolverines vs California Golden Bears
This might be the only legitimate matchup of all 5 games. Sad thing is, Michigan will have lost the Big 10 Championship to Ohio State, so it puts a little less shine on the game. Either way, it'd be a hell of a matchup.
That, my friends, is what the BCS is afraid of. Give them one year like this, where the bowls suddenly become irrelevant and nobody is talking about them and the TV ratings go down, and they'll turn to a playoff VERY quickly. I promise.
¶ 8:58 AM7 commentslinks to this post
So, here's the newest up and coming Thug U. 18 players will be suspended at least for this game.
I liked one bama blogger's idea: sit JP, DJ, Keith Brown, and anyone that is of any importance. We should be able to beat this team blindfolded with our 3rd stringers. Get Jimmy Barnes and Greg McElroy some playing time, because JP may get killed against LSU and we'll need somebody with a little experience against Auburn.
Keep the offensive line in there and let them learn how to block dammit. If Chris Capps gets beat against 2nd teamers from FIU, then I quit.
¶ 10:10 AM0 commentslinks to this post
There has been a little talk on other blogs by Alabama fans talking about who we should get to replace Shula at the end of the year if he doesn't beat LSU and/or Auburn to close out this season. Here's a rundown of schools that have stuck with their coaches even when they couldn't beat their rivals:
MACK BROWN - Head Coach - University of North Carolina & University of Texas 1988-present
They all had to grow into their positions. I didn't include Pete Carroll's not so fabulous years as a head coach in the NFL, but you get my point. Everybody starts out at the bottom and it takes YEARS to get to where some of the coaches are today. You can't just expect to hire in somebody and win a National Championship immediately, even though it has been done before.
The coaches that come in and win championships immediately do not have the same success the entire time. Look at Mark Richt and Georgia this year. This is the first year without Donnan's recruits. Look at Bob Stoops and Oklahoma. Look at Larry Coker at Miami. Those are just a few examples.
Bottom line is this: Shula is still young. All of the coaches I mentioned above had to find the correct staff to go around him before they won any championships. Shula has done pretty damn well, considering all of the crap that they've gone through. He is a first time head coach, but he comes from a good coaching family (son of Don Shula), and has mentored under some good coaches (Ray Perkins, Dave Wannstedt, Tony Dungy). He'll get us back to where we're supposed to be if he's given time to do it.
Don't put too much on this season. I hate comparing us to Auburn, but it took a few years before Tuberville got the right players and coaches in his system to be able to consistently win. I think Shula can be better than Tuberville. He's not as sneaky and stupid. As many games and Tommy T has won being the "Riverboat Gambler," it's also cost him that many. Shula, like Stallings, plays the percentages, and sooner or later they will pay off for him.
With that being said, these two HAVE to be gone next year:
Dave Rader Offensive Coordinator
Bob Connelly Offensive Line Coach
That's been our biggest problem over the past couple of years. I don't want to hear about lack of talent or whatever. These are problems with schemes: plain and simple. The guys on the OL don't know how to run block or pass block and it's driving me insane. They should be gone immediately after the Auburn game, before the bowl game.
Oh yeah, and one more thing to look out for:
Jamie Christiansen won't be here next year, so we need to find a kicker, and fast. If Andrew Friedman and Mike Sparks couldn't beat out Tiffin this year, nothing leads me to believe they could beat him out next year. Unless Tiffin can step up and perform without one of those dreaded "Arkansas" type of games, then we could be in trouble, because this is a coaching staff that relies heavily on being able to kick field goals. Just look at 2005.
¶ 3:23 PM1 commentslinks to this post
Here's some of the stuff that went down over this past weekend:
John Bunting is out as coach of North Carolina after this season --- Athletic Director Dick Baddour informed Bunting on Sunday that he is out after this season. Bunting was known for hanging around year after year by pulling off unexpected upsets over teams they had no business beating. This year doesn't look like he's going to pull one out. With Mack Brown at the helm, they went 22-3 in 96-97, but under Torbush and Bunting since then, they've gone 40 and 60 with only one season having more than 7 wins. Not good.
There's supposedly a large list of coaching candidates that could be interested in what some are calling a "sleeping giant" in Chapel Hill. The fact that Florida State and Miami are down, along with the entire conference being mediocre, helps out that somebody could step in and immediately take control of that conference. It'd be a good jumping point to bigger jobs (i.e. Mack Brown to Texas).
Boston College could win the ACC? --- Did anybody really know how important a blocked PAT by Boston College against Clemson in double overtime would be in the 2nd game of the year? Boston College controls their own destiny to go to the ACC title game.
So you're telling me we could have a Georgia Tech / Boston College ACC Championship game. Wow. That'd be almost as compelling as an Arkansas / Florida SEC Championship. Woohoo. Don't you know the people at Dr. Pepper are freaking out about this? They don't want this shitty matchups. They want Miami vs. Clemson, Auburn vs. Florida, etc. Not Arkansas, Georgia Tech, or Boston College. That'd be like having Rutgers win the Big East and showing up in a BCS game. Even better...here's this year's Sugar Bowl matchup: Rutgers vs. Arkansas. That game wouldn't even get regional coverage as a regular season matchup.
A sight we won't be seeing next year... --- Amazing. Coming back from 38 points down in the 2nd half against Northwestern at their place. Some are saying this could spring the Spartans to win out and go to a bowl game and save John L's job. All this does is make people question "Where the hell was this against Notre Dame and Illinois at home?" Ridiculous. I knew Northwestern was bad, but not this bad.
Looks like the Liberty Bowl will be our destination. We have a lot of Alumni in Memphis, and there's a lot of history with us in this bowl game (Bear's first game he coached was here against Penn St in 1959, and the last game he coached in Jan of 82). We'll get to play the #1 team out of C-USA, which is probably Tulsa, so that'll just be a Jim Dandy of a bowl trip.
Good thing for me though, because I'll get to go to the game and then come home right afterwards. Simple enough...haha. Liberty Bowl games are always freezing around here. The temperature sits right at 20 degrees around kick off and either stays there or gets colder as the game goes on.
Oh well...enough about that.
It's looking like we'll find a way to lose the LSU game. Close, but no cigar again. I'm sure we'll come out and look horid against FIU and MSU before playing LSU and Auburn close. Auburn hasn't really played away from home, except for a trip to Starkville in the 2nd game of the season and a horrible display against Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks on a Thursday night in Columbia. If we're going to pull out a big win, it'll be against Auburn this year. And that might make my year. :-)
So here's the outlook for the rest of the season:
beat FIU by a couple of touchdowns beat MSU by a touchdown lose to LSU by 3 points lose to Auburn by 3 points
7-5 season. Either Shreveport, Memphis, or Nashville for the bowl game. Shreveport we get to play a weak Big 12 team. Nashville we get to play a weak Big 10 team. Memphis we get to play the best C-USA team. Hard to decide which one I would want to see more. Whichever one it is, I'm sure I'll be there.
¶ 9:00 AM2 commentslinks to this post
Another game lost after having a lead and floundering it. Rader's fired after this year. He has to be. The offense has no idea what's going on. And this offensive line, which was supposed to be a strength, has become a HUGE liability.
And for all the Chris Capps haters out there, I'm with you. I told my buddies before the game started that Capps would do something fucking stupid to cost us something BIG, and who gives up the sack with 30 seconds left when we were actually moving the football and stopping the clock? Our friend Mr. Capps. His new nickname is skidmark because people just run all over that idiot. SHULA -- GET CAPPS OUT OF THE FUCKING FOOTBALL GAME.
Oh yeah, and nothing pisses me off worse than those goddamn redneck orange-wearing fucks getting on Alabama boards after the game is over saying "Good game, you guys fought hard, it was well played, but the better team won" when they know that if it had been turned around, they wouldn't ever come close to a bama blog again. We may not have won, but we scared the piss out of those faggots and setup a good gameplan for everyone else that gets to play them this year. I hope they lose every game they play and I hope every one of their players breaks something next week. It wouldn't hurt my feelings to see that douchebag Ainge drink and drive after his little victory party tonight and go careening off "ol' Rocky Top." I HATE those Tennessee fucks.
¶ 11:52 PM2 commentslinks to this post
TCU (-11.5) at Army --- TCU should crush these guys. They've had, what, a month off? TCU big here. Especially after two losses. Final Result: TCU 31 Army 17 (Gary wins)
Western Michigan (-2) at Ball St --- Ball St has that big ass Tight End that catches anything and everything thrown near him. That's about it. Western Michigan is a good football team. They've proven it all year. Final Result: Western Michigan 41 Ball St 27 (Gary wins)
Toledo (-1) at Eastern Michigan --- Toledo isn't as good as usual, but Eastern Michigan hasn't won a game yet. I don't look for them to win here either. Toledo scores a lot of points, E Mich doesn't. Go Rockets. Final Result: Eastern Mich 17 Toledo 13 (Gary loses)
Marshall at UAB (-5.5) --- UAB's at home. Marshall beat Hofstra. That's it. Nobobdy else. UAB should win by a touchdown. Final Result: Marshall 31 UAB 24 (Gary loses)
Dennis Dodd said in his weekend preview "Sacrificial Tide?: Sooner or later, Alabama is going to get someone. Tennessee has gone six quarters without a touchdown against 'Bama and Kenneth Darby (162 yards vs. Ole Miss) is hot. Just warning you, Vols."
CollegeFootballNews.com says "Phil Fulmer is 10-3 against Alabama and will get his 11th with several big plays from the passing game and a nice, but not sensational day from the D. This will be closer than many Vol fans might like. Tennessee 26 Alabama 17
Every single "expert" at CFN and at CBS Sportsline has picked Tennessee to win this football game. Very interesting to me. I like the role of underdog.
EDSBS has shamefully picked the Vols to win as well. I'm still on the search to find ONE place that picks Alabama to win the football game.
I'll continue the search in a little bit. And I won with West Virginia last night (-23) so I'm 2-0 so far this week.
¶ 9:16 AM0 commentslinks to this post
I'm giving myself credit for last night because blogger was a jerk and wouldn't let me post. I picked Virginia (-7) over North Carolina. They won 23-0. I'm 1-0 on the week. Here's the rest of the picks.
West Virginia (-23) at Connecticut --- West Virginia's just better. Period. FINAL RESULT: West Virginia 37 Connecticut 11 (Gary wins)
Texas (-5) at Nebraska --- I don't really care what the trends are. Texas is a beast that can score a lot of points. Nebraska's been playing bullshit teams. When they did play somebody decent, they got beat 28-10. I don't care about homefield advantage. Texas wins by a touchdown or more. Final Result: Texas 22 Nebraska 20 (Gary loses)
Wisconsin (-6.5) at Purdue --- Wisconsin is on a roll, and while Purdue is better than we thought they were, I just don't see how they can hang with the Badgers this week. Wisc by a touchdown. Final Result: Wisconsin 24 Purdue 3 (Gary wins)
Ole Miss (+21) at Arkansas --- Ole Miss is an improving football team. Arkansas just came off of a thumping of SE Missouri State. They won't run quite as easily against a decent Ole Miss defense, and Schaeffer's passing game and the rest of the offense, as a whole, are starting to look better. I think Ole Miss will keep this within 21 points, but Arkansas will win the game. Final Result: Arkansas 38 Ole Miss 3 (Gary loses)
Southern Miss (+17.5) at Virginia Tech --- Virginia Tech is the better football team, but there are signs that they're quitting on Beamer. I think they'll win, but it won't be by 17.5. Southern should keep it closer than people think. Final Results: Virginia Tech 36 Southern Miss 6 (Gary loses)
Alabama (+11) at Tennessee --- Bama +11. Because I'm a homer. And because this game is always closer than people think. The visiting team has covered 13 of the last 14 times they've played in this series. Final Result: Tennessee 16 Alabama 13 (Gary wins)
Stanford at Arizona St (-23) --- A good rule of thumb is to never bet on bad football teams, but I seem to be doing that a lot lately. Arizona State is not a good football team, but I do think they're at least 24 points better than Stanford. Stanford has trouble scoring ANYWHERE...much less in Tempe. Arizona St has a high powered offense...at least when it's playing inferior opponents. They should cover. Final Result: Arizona St 38 Stanford 3 (Gary wins)
Fresno St at LSU (-31.5) --- I really don't like this half point here, but I'll take it anyway. When I saw this game, I immediately thought about the whipping the Tigers put on a decent Kentucky team last week. LSU KILLS weaker teams, and there's no reason to not believe this won't be another 49-7 type of game at Tiger Stadium. Final Result: LSU 38 Fresno St 6 (Gary wins)
Washington at California (-23.5) --- Ride your workhorse my friends. Cal's been doing me good lately. Washington just lost their star quarterback, and Cal's been killing good teams lately anyway. So you're going to give me a Cal team that's full speed and healthy, rolling on all cylinders, against a decent team that just lost their star player that had over 70% of their total offense? I'll take the Bears. Final Result: California 31 Washington 24 OT (Gary loses)
I picked a lot this week and ended up with 8 wins and 6 losses. Shitty. Hurts my season total. I'll be back on my game next week, I hope.
This is from a message board. I actually found it over at tidesports.com. Very good read, and oughta give us all a little bit to think about.
Reading over various sources for Alabama Football news and talk it appears that there are more than a few people who just don't understand what is going on with Alabama right now. Over the past few years, some of the more level headed fans have tried and tried to explain it to the "microwave football" fans out there in a way such that they understand the magnitude of what we are going through as a program during the past 5 years.
No matter how we break it down, it all comes back to the difference between being a "microwave" fan versus being a "gourmet" fan.
A microwave fans wants instant answers. They want results now. They want to rip the top off and start eating as soon as possible. One step recipes. These fans get really hot really fast and are usually the loudest complainers when they get burned.
Gourmet fans have a more seasoned approach. They understand the importance of selecting the highest quality ingredients...of taking the time to follow each step in a high quaility recipe to the fullest extent, even if it means waiting a little longer for the results.
They understand that patience in the beginning will make for a truly wonderful experience in the end.
Gourmets also understand that it is impossible to judge a meal based on how it looks and tastes before it is finished cooking. If you judge a chef based off of how a meal tastes at step 5 of a 10 step recipe, you have a very small chance of finding the results satisfactory.
Building a sustainable, perennial championship contender is not a process that can be done overnight. It can't be popped into a microwave for 2 minutes on high. It can't be built in one offseason. Don't get me wrong...it can be faked after one offseason. But a truly sustainable championship contender can only be measured over the course of several seasons.
The process is much, much harder if you are trying to build a global empire but you have to start with a third world country. Make that a highly unstable third world country with several quick regime changes in rapid succession.
When I say that we haven't been as talented as teams like Mississippi State, Ole Miss, etc. I am not making idle observations. I have several recruiting rankings to back up that point.
I have taken a little time to put together a true recruiting analysis to illustrate my point as clearly as possible. ( Recruiting Analysis ) At the top is the timeline of the NCAA sanctions. The bars extend over each year of recruiting that we were affected by the NCAA's punishments. I have included the rankings of the 12 SEC teams along with their overall ranking. I have also provided a breakdown of where we are based on those rankings.
If you breakdown the team recruiting rankings for the players that Shula inherited, Alabama was 10th out of 12 in the SEC in both 2002 and 2003. Only Vanderbilt and Kentucky had worse recruiting classes.
Franchione recruited the 2001 class under the constant threat of an impending NCAA investigation and signed the 2002 recruiting class in the face of devastating NCAA sanctions. Sanctions, I might add, that were announced the exact same week as national signing day (February 1, 2002).
The 2002 recruiting class was ranked 10th in the SEC, 37th overall, and was severely limited due to scholarship reductions imposed by the NCAA with a bowl ban on top of that. These players represent the only redshirt seniors on the entire team. Of the 19 we signed, only 6 are still at Alabama with four of them currently starting (K Darby, Bino, J Simpson, J Clark).
The 2003 recruiting class was also ranked 10th in the SEC, 45th overall, and was also limited by scholarship reductions and the final year of a bowl ban. On top of that, the coach that signed those players wasn't signed until December, so he had no time to save a dismal recruiting class. These players represent the only true seniors and redshirt juniors on the team. Of the 17 we signed in that very margianally talented group, we currently have 5 starters (L McClain, T Jones, C Capps, D Lee). Wallace Gilberry was signed as part of the 2003 class in late June as Coach Shula's first recruit.
Putting those last two thoughts into proper perspective, all of our redshirt juniors and seniors were part of the worst recruiting classes during the height of NCAA sanctions. We had a few gems, but the overall level of talent is as expected considering the circumstances.
When Shula arrived in mid-2003, he came in at the tail end of our scholarship reductions. His first recruiting class was limited due to the lingering effects of NCAA sanctions. With one hand tied behind his back, and a 4-9 record to boot, he went out and put together Alabama's best recruiting class since Dubose and his cheaters left.
More importantly, Shula redshirted most of that class. Instead of going for the quick fix and throwing these underclassmen into the fire to save himself, he allowed these high school kids to come into the Capstone and be coached up before they played a down. This is one of the subtleties of gourmet coaching versus going for the microwave face-saving quick fix.
From the 2004 class...which included DJ Hall, Keith Brown, Antoine Caldwell, Simeon Castille, BJ Stabler, John Parker Wilson, Marcus Carter, and Jeffrey Dukes...we currently have 10 starters and 3 backups.
That's 13 players on the two deep from 2004 compared to 14 from the 2002 and 2003 classes combined.
When we hear talk about a lack of senior leadership, a lack of identity, and a lack of consistency...the primary reason for those three problems is the same: we are a very young team.
How, specifically, can we legitimately be characterized as a young team?
While the other SEC teams are currently playing with redshirt juniors and seniors that were a part of the Top 20 recruiting classes in the entire country, we're using redshirt sophomores and true juniors just so our talent is comparable to what we're facing week in and week out. The other side of that double edged youth-movement sword is that the players Alabama is facing are much more experienced.
On the field, Alabama's inexperience and relative lack of overall talent plays itself out based on the opponent and Alabama's mindset going into the game.
Alabama is not talented enough to show up and win by 30 against lower-tier Division I-A teams. With each successive recruiting class we are starting to become much more talented than these teams. However we still have a ways to go. And we have to get that talent experience to overcome things like mental let downs for lower opponents, dropped passes, missed tackles, etc, etc.
If Alabama shows up highly motivated, we can destroy the lower level teams. But the very nature of these sandwich games combined with our general lack of maturity on the roster cause the fans to endure closer wins against these "inferior" teams than we would like.
It is at these moments that microwave fans start calling for coach's heads. It is also at these times that gourmet fans understand our juniors and seniors aren't necessarily as talented as their juniors and seniors. Consider this: we were ranked at least 10 spots lower than even Ole Miss and Mississippi State back then in the team recruiting rankings.
Also consider that whenever Alabama plays these teams and wins, we aren't winning based purely off of superior talent. When teams are evenly matched talentwise, it comes down to coaching. Yet Shula keeps winning these games.
Now, with our talent level and experience in perspective, consider exactly how badly our outgunned and outmanned team scared the holy hell out of the LSU's, Auburn's, Tennessee's, Florida's, and Oklahoma's at the very top of the college football landscape.
How in the world can a team with lower 30's/40's talent compete with, much less actually beat, teams with several Top 20 recruiting rankings over the years?
If it ain't talent, it must be old fashioned coaching .
When you take time to think about exactly how far Alabama has come under Shula's leadership in such a short time, you have to ask yourself how impressive Shula is now?
Coach Mike Shula has been taking the blame for every loss in his entire tenure at the Capstone. Not once has he said anything about NCAA sanctions or coaching changes when he was asked about his team's performance. Not even in his first year when he only had a month to learn his player's names before the season began with Oklahoma coming to campus the second week.
If you find yourself melting down after each loss and thinking about a coaching change, you might want to be careful when you spout this stuff off that you don't get the roof of your mouth burned.
Better yet, take the time to put all of this into perspective and join the rest of us in the gourmet section. Patience, understanding, and true dedication are the only membership requirements.
Coach Shula, the Alabama administration, and the silent majority of the Alabama Nation will all welcome you with a true understanding of how good it's been and how good it's going to be.
Alabama is supposed crippled by some of the worst ncaa sanctions ever handed down short of SMU's death penalty. Alabama is supposed to be suffering for the wrong doings of the past. Alabama is supposed to be hurting from the punishment we received.
That is the sole intent and entire purpose of the sanctions that the NCAA unloaded on us while we were "staring down the barrel of a gun".
Alabama is not supposed to be competing for championships. Alabama is not supposed to beat teams that are much more talented and experienced across the board.
Alabama is not supposed to be as good as we are.
And I blame that on coaching.
Maybe that's why the American Football Coaches Association selected Alabama head coach Mike Shula as their Regional Coach of the Year last year ( 2005 Regional Coaches of the Year )?
(Did the media say anything about this? I don't remember ever seeing this in print anywere.)
Let the microwave fans keep burning themselves. Let them believe the media's writing on the outside of the frozen prepackaged dinners they're being sold.
We gourmets are going to take our time, savor what's coming, and truly enjoy the high caliber results much deeper than the rest.
Jesus. I mean, seriously, look at this guy. He's a head coach? You're meaning to tell me he's got the highest winning percentage among active coaches? Did God feel sorry for the fat retards of this planet?
Tennessee is only 15-7 at home since the loss to Alabama in 2002. They've already lost one at home to a Florida team that we hung with at their house.
Here we go everybody. I get to predict what Alabama will do in basketball this year. It looks like we have a good team, and we have a lot more experience this year than we did last year. I see no reason why we can't reach 20 wins this season, along with another NCAA tourney appearance. The only thing I'm scared of is the two Final Four teams that are in our league. So that's at least 3 games against last year's Final Four teams (and one against the defending champion).
Hmmmm.
Mon, Oct 30 Crimson/White Game Tuscaloosa Sat, Nov 04 Montevallo (Exhibition) Tuscaloosa Fri, Nov 10 Jackson State Tuscaloosa W (1-0, 0-0)
Paradise Jam (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands)
Fri, Nov 17 Middle Tennessee W (2-0, 0-0) Sun, Nov 19 Iowa W (3-0, 0-0) Mon, Nov 20 Villanova L (3-1, 0-0)
Sat, Nov 25 Texas-Southern Tuscaloosa W (4-1, 0-0) Tue, Nov 28 Louisiana Monroe Tuscaloosa W (5-1, 0-0) Sat, Dec 02 Tennessee State Tuscaloosa W (6-1, 0-0) Thu, Dec 07 Notre Dame South Bend, IN W (7-1, 0-0) Sat, Dec 09 Alabama State Tuscaloosa W (8-1, 0-0)
Coors Classic
Sat, Dec 16 Southern Mississippi Mobile, AL W (9-1, 0-0)
Wed, Dec 20 North Carolina State Raleigh, NC L (9-2, 0-0) Sat, Dec 23 Coppin State Tuscaloosa W (10-2, 0-0) Fri, Dec 29 Lipscomb University Tuscaloosa W (11-2, 0-0) Mon, Jan 01 Oklahoma Tuscaloosa W (12-2, 0-0)
Sat, Jan 06 Arkansas * Fayetteville, AR L (12-3, 0-1) Tue, Jan 09 LSU * Tuscaloosa W (13-3, 1-1) Wed, Jan 17 Vanderbilt * Nashville, TN W (14-3, 2-1) Sat, Jan 20 Georgia * Tuscaloosa W (15-3, 3-1) Tue, Jan 23 Auburn * Auburn, AL W (16-3, 4-1) Sat, Jan 27 Arkansas * Tuscaloosa W (17-3, 5-1) Wed, Jan 31 LSU * Baton Rouge, LA L (17-4, 5-2) Sat, Feb 03 South Carolina * Tuscaloosa W (18-4, 6-2) Wed, Feb 07 Mississippi State * Tuscaloosa W (19-4, 7-2) Sat, Feb 10 Ole Miss * Oxford, MS L (19-5, 7-3) Wed, Feb 14 Florida * Gainesville, FL L (19-6, 7-4) Sat, Feb 17 Kentucky * Tuscaloosa W (20-6, 8-4) Wed, Feb 21 Tennessee * Knoxville, TN W (21-6, 9-4) Sat, Feb 24 Auburn * Tuscaloosa W (22-6, 10-4) Wed, Feb 28 Ole Miss * Tuscaloosa W (23-6, 11-4) Sun, Mar 04 Mississippi State * Starkville, MS L (23-7, 11-5)
SEC Tournament Atlanta, GA
Fri, Mar 09 (E4) Vandy W (24-7, 12-5) Sat, Mar 10 (E2) Tennessee W (25-7, 13-5) Sun, Mar 11 (E1) Florida L (25-8, 13-6)
NCAA Tournament (according to ESPN's Bracketology)
Thur, Mar15 (13) Marist (MAAC Champion) Lexington W (26-8) Sat, Mar 17 (5) Marquette Lexington W (27-8) Thur, Mar 22 (1) Kansas (Sweet 16) San Antonio L (27-9)
¶ 10:00 AM0 commentslinks to this post
FIU kicked 2 kids off the team and indefinitely suspended 16 others. Miami handed down 12 one game suspensions and suspended one guy indefinitely. FIU did the right thing. Miami is doing the bare minimum. RICOLAH!!!! RIDICULOUS!!!
Here are the kids that will NOT be playing against Alabama for FIU.
4 McDuffie, Jr., Marshall DB 6-2 207 Jr. 26 Smith, Chris DB 5-10 207 Sr. 65 Alls, Michael OL 6-2 270 RFr. 44 Bryant, Scott LB 5-11 205 Fr 99 Clarke, Roland DL 6-4 300 Jr. 53 Dominguez, Michael LB 5-11 215 Fr. 27 Ellis, John FB 5-11 220 RFr 30 Fleming, Cory DB 5-11 180 Jr. 98 Jones, Reginald DL 6-2 260 So. 17 Mitchell, Robert DB 5-11 188 So. 54 Newman, Quentin LB 6-1 230 So. 64 Pena, Luis DL 6-3 255 Fr. 96 Penerton, Jarvis DE 6-3 280 So. 32 Reams, Julian RB 5-11 202 So. 22 Singleton, Lionell DB 5-10 175 Jr. 87 Smith, Samuel TE 6-3 248 Sr. 47 Wellington, Mannie LB 5-9 205 Fr. 1 Williams, Chandler WR 5-11 180 Sr.
so their depth chart now looks something like this:
FS 24 Marshall McDuffie, Jr. Jr., 6-2, 204 20 Kent Henderson So., 6-2, 180
SS 26 Chris Smith Sr., 5-10, 207 28 Jeremiah Weatherspoon So., 6-2, 206
RCB 25 Zach Davis Sr., 5-9, 176 17 Robert Mitchell So., 5-11, 177
SPECIALISTS PK 15 Chris Patullo Sr., 6-0, 178 John Paul Fraites Fr., 6-1, 185 P 11 Dustin Rivest RFr., 5-8, 167 Chris Cook Fr., 6-3, 200 LS 78 Dustin Gibson So., 6-6, 263 90 Garrett Rockfeld RFr., 6-1, 212 H 12 Paul McCall RFr., 6-0, 197
¶ 9:32 AM1 commentslinks to this post
Did anybody see the hit that Anderson put on Matt Leinart last night? Awesome man. He's already got 6.5 sacks with 2 forced fumbles this year. Roll Tide, brotha.
Here we go, my friends. This is Alabama vs. Tennessee week. The one week out of the year that I let my ass show, because I absolutely hate those redneck orange lovin Tennessee fans. I live in Memphis, so it's pretty bad around here. UT fans outweigh Bama fans big time in this part of the world, so that makes my hatred for them that much worse.
Gameplan this week basically needs to follow the way Florida beat Tennessee. We've got a better secondary than Cal, Florida, and Georgia, and I'm planning on their run blocking to be atrocious, as it has been pretty much all year. I think we've got a good shot to beat them in Knoxville this year, especially with everyone saying that we suck. :-)
Seriously, I want you guys to listen to the commentary from the broadcasters during this fight. This is an absolute fucking disgrace to the game of football. Larry Coker should be fired, and so should the FIU coach. You do NOT let it get to that point. If there aren't players that are flat out kicked off the team, the NCAA should get involved with this.
I mean seriously, a color commentator who says "you don't come into the OB and talk smack or you'll get yo' butt beat! I was finna' go down there myself! We ready, we ready!"
Are you fucking kidding me?
And we're playing FIU in 2 weeks. I just hope our kids have more sense than to let something like that get started. I don't think it will, simply because that fight was between kids that used to go to high school together, but you never know. Once a thug, always a thug.
Fucking disgrace. This is why we hate Miami. Then they start celebrating after the fight's over. Morons.
Coach Dennis Fran-phony has quietly led Texas A&M to an 8-1 record with a chance to win the Big XII South if he can beat Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas to end out the year. I'm looking at a probable 8-4 record for these guys.
Have you ever seen more people happy about a team losing than after USC finally got beat? And the best part was that it wasn't by a really good team, like Cal or Oregon or Notre Dame. It was by Oregon St. A middle-tier Pac-10 team. Just makes me feel all fuzzy inside. Watching them lose was a really good feeling. Next week I want Tennessee and Auburn both to get beat. On last second field goals. Haha.
The USC loss does more than just destroy the Trojans' chances at a 3rd straight BCS title game - it gives the winner of the Big East title game a shot at the National Title (West Virginia vs. Louisville).
If anybody remembers last year, in Steve Spurrier's first year at South Carolina, he asked the Gamecock players to "just get me to the 4th quarter and I'll outcoach him. Just get me to the 4th quarter."
And finally, seeing Temple get their first win after having 20 straight losses was refreshing. What's even more refreshing is seeing them beat Bowling Green (who one of my college fantasy football rivals had starting this past week). Nobody will talk about it, but this team has been steadily improving, and will only get better under Golden. He's a good recruiter and a good coach, and he has good people around him. Temple won't challenge for any championships anytime soon, but they'll be in the bowl hunt in Golden's 3rd year. I'll guarantee that.
