13.10.03
College Football: Firstly, rereading my blurb on the fact that FSU is overrated, I realised that what I wrote was, at best, incoherent. Perhaps I should have said that FSU was overrated; people had overrated them on the basis of big wins over Maryland (which is respectable, and easily their best win to date), Colorado (which has since allowed nearly as many points to Baylor as they allowed at FSU), and Duke (which is, to say the least, a basketball school; the last time they had a team which approached decent, Fred Goldsmith was the coach back in the mid-'90s). And what I can't figure out with B.J. Symons is that he failed to throw for 300 yards against SMU, while throwing for more than 400 in each of the other games. Perhaps he was pulled early, a conjecture which seems to be supported by the fact that he threw
Six teams that were previously undefeated lost:
- Minnesota: I think I dissected this yesterday, but Minnesota had this game won! They just allowed Michigan to put up a 31-spot in the 4th quarter to win the game by 3. They'll need to bounce back if they're going to avoid the Music City Bowl.
- Florida State: I devoted time to them earlier. They're overrated, having beaten such powerhouses as Carolina and Duke, Maryland and ekeing out a win against Ga Tech, and beating a bad Colorado team. Then Bowden blames the weather for his loss against Miami. Um...okay. I guess the sun was shining on the Miami sideline, eh?
- Arkansas: All I'll say to this is that if Auburn had played like this at the beginning of the season, there may well be 4 undefeated teams in major conferences. Will the Auburn-LSU game decide the Western division's representative in the SEC Championship?
- LSU: I don't know why LSU lost this game. Like I wrote yesterday, Ron Zook, whatever else he may be, is a master motivator and salesman. And he sold the Gators on playing a good game. Perhaps, too, there was an element of LSU overlooking this. After all, if LSU can beat big, bad Jawja, then surely they could beat a young UF team down on its luck.
- Nebraska: I'm sure that Mizzou will agree that the Blackshirts are back. Especially after putting 41 up on NU, and pulling away in the 4th quarter.
- Ohio State: I devoted more time to Robert Reynolds' antics than the game; Ohio State isn't a great team, and it seemed, during the length of the streak, that they played to the level of the competition. During the streak, they squeaked out wins against teams as varied as Cincinnati, Purdue and Miami, Bowling Green and NC State. Not to mention that, to this point, they're winless on the road this season.
Leaving 5 undefeateds in I-A, three in BCS conferences:
- Texas Christian: They ended the second-longest home winning streak in I-A when they beat South Florida in Tampa 13-10. Although they'd probably lose to one of the three undefeated teams from major conferences, I wouldn't bet heavily against them.
- Northern Illinois: They beat Maryland, and they won at Alabama. If they go undefeated, I would be offended (but not surprised) if they didn't get a BCS bid.
- Virginia Tech: Syracuse was the first of 4 games, over the next 4 weeks, against opponents that Tech hasn't played well against in the last 2 years, going 1-7 (0-4 last year). If they can win the next 3, then I really like their chances to get to the Sugar Bowl. As a side note, it's heartening that Tech stopped Walter Reyes; last year, in the 4 games it lost Tech allowed damn near 1000 yards rushing.
- Miami: Perhaps the biggest regular season game remaining in college football this season is 1 Nov, when Miami travels to Blacksburg. Someone made the point that "you have to have a heart 4 sizes too small not to root for Jarrett Payton". Maybe. And I might root for him. But not on 1 November. In any case, Miami proved that they were looking ahead of West Va. That 3 touchdown lead they had in the 2nd half against FSU showed me something.
- Oklahoma: The best team in the country. Or, at the very least, the best big game team in the country. When they get motivated, they're very difficult to beat. And they hung half a hundred on Texas as easily as they did against Iowa State. Right now I would have to say they're the clear favourite to get to the Sugar Bowl.
Right now, I'd have to say that the Sugar Bowl will be Oklahoma - Va Tech.
Pro Football: Right now the Seahawks look strong, even if they beat the Niners and Rams each by a single point in Seattle. Of course we'll learn more at the end of the season (two of their last three games are at San Francisco and at Saint Louis), but, right now I would have to make them the favourite to win the NFC West. I think I covered everything else yesterday.
Zuletzt: In my blurb about the Jets yesterday, I mentioned that I didn't realise that Vinny Testaverde was starting. Of course, I realised (about 18 hours after I posted the blasted thing) that Vinny has started since the beginning of the season, and that I was confusing him with real injured starter Chad Pennington (side note: Pennington is, apparently, 50-50 to go against Philly). What I failed to account for was the fact that Vinny hasn't had a performance this good in 2 years. Add to that the fact that Buffalo, since their loss to Miami, has really stunk out loud, especially offensively. Mea culpa. And, yes, I'm an idiot. I should have caught that.
More later - R.
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