Second, what did you think of our QB?!? That game actually played out pretty much like I had expected. Ponder looked the part, made a few mistakes, but ultimately led the club to a near miss against a really good team. AD had a huge day, but the recievers and OL that he's working with are about as bad as we've seen around here in quite a while. Not to mention our total lack of a secondary against maybe the top QB in the league right now...all in all it could have been a lot worse. If Ponder continues to improve and leads us to a few wins down the stretch, which I think he will do, I could possibly see some signs of hope for the future. Obviously, we have gaping holes in the OL (LT!), we need a star WR, we need a S and at least 1 more CB. Can we find all of these in the off-season...unlikely, but a nice high pick should fill one of these spots and maybe a gem or two in FA. If nothing else, at least the final half of the season will have something to watch.
- Houston Nutt was angry this week that a local Ole Miss columnist picked the Rebs to lose 49-10 to ARK at home on Saturday. Ole Miss proceeded to blow a 17-0 lead and still lose the game by 4 points, after which Nutt went to the reporter and said, "It ain't no 49-10!" So he's all jacked up and anxious to get back at this reporter after his team blows a 17 point lead to a top 10 team. This is what is top of mind for him? That's why Houston Nutt is a joke and will be jobless come December.
- Last Thursday in the UCLA-ARIZ game right around half time a guy dressed as a referee ran out to the field waving his arms and blowing a whistle. He proceeded to get chased down the field and start stripping off his clothes. It was funnny, and it incited a brawl between the 2 benches. Whatever, right...just a dumb college kid doing something stupid but harmless. Or not. He was charged with a felony! Now the kid could end up serving time for this. Maybe I will re-think my plans for the Iowa game this weekend.
This was such an amazing finish and great moment in college football last Saturday night. I think it was even more fun that Sparty let Becky back in it with those 2 late TD's only to tear their heart out all over again once the red team regained a little hope.
The Becky's were a little premature in celebrating their 6 game National Championship. They still think it's bull$hit that they should ever have to play a road game. Now this week they have their 2nd in a row...it's a conspiracy against the red team! Maybe they'll leave the NCAA and start their own conference.
I was laughing at one of these donkeys on Saturday night, my little guy Jace was laughing at the other...can you guess which is which? Big Bret and his timeout plan didn't make any sense to me at the end of the game Saturday night. Sparty is around mid field and driving to hopefully get a winning FG or shot at a Hail Mary, and Bret continues to use his timeouts for them in hope that his D will make a stop and get the ball back in regulation? In theory, I understand what he was going for, but is this really the right move? You've dominated the last 10 minutes of the game and you have to believe that Sparty was content on sending this to OT and just surviving the final run by Becky. Using the extra timeouts forced Sparty to try and make a big play, which they did, and then allowed them a shot at that last heave to the end zone. Thanks Bret - you are a true Iowan at heart.
Speaking of the southerners...
I hope this guy is sitting by me on Saturday. You know he'll be there. Look out for this guy as well...
P.S.A. : They're wrestlers, you know...all of them...even the feminine ones. This background combined with mass amounts of extremely bad cheap beer creates ugly aggressiveness. They will all have their singlets on under their overalls and they will all be either wearing their headgear or have it in the pickup nearby. Their sleeves will be freshly torn off, for the big trip to the "city" they like to look their best. So you have been warned, any contact with these beings will likely result in a confrontation, because that's what they do. I witnessed 2 Hogeye fans in a Becky bar a few years back watching the Badgers beat them again, and literally these 2 started challenging everyone in the bar to a fight and taking their shirts off and breaking things. They can't help it...it's what they do. Win or lose, they will be jackasses.
So, what else we got. Here's this stat to cheer up all of us Gopher backers: OK was the largest favorite to lose outright this season, the previous "worst" loss...MIN as a 18.5 point favorite losing outright to NMST. Woo-hoo! We are not the worst at something any more! Honestly, I think IND is actually worse than us right now. They also only have 1 win, but it came against a D1AA school in South Carolina State. At least we have a D1 win, right? IND went to Iowa and lost by 21 points. If we're equals with IND, then the lines should swing 6 points in our favor with the home/road reversal, so we should be +15, but we're at 17.5...sounds like a winner to me!
Honestly, I think we are improving in some areas. We've only allowed 1 sack in the last 2 games vs. 13 in the first 5. Our run defense is terrible, but our pass defense has actually been quite decent. Where we're losing these games for the most part is in the turnover battle. We are at a -6 in B10 play right now. We've only been on the + side of the TO margin one time...when we beat MIAOH. Let's hope we can get it all together starting this week.
In the NFL, I have a couple things to discuss.
First, John Fox, HC of DEN, has coached 358 NFL games over 23 years, and Sunday was the first time his team had ever recovered an onside kick. TEBOW?
Speaking of the savior, Cowherd made a great call this week when he said, "you can't be a hero, when the fire you're putting out is one that you started." This is so very accurate, and it seems like most of the world is missing this from Sunday. DEN should have clobbered MIA. The Dolphins WANT to lose. They have nothing to gain by winning. Tebow threw for 24 yards in the first 3 quarters! He dug them into the mess, and then once the Fins laid down we brought them back to win. I feel like the oddsmakers are falling for this crap as well by only making them a 3.5 point dog at home with DET this week. It's not that I want to hate the guy, he's just not very good. But it appears as if something is on his side, so I guess we'll keep watching and see where it goes.
NFL teams off a BYE have always been a good betting trend. This year, teams off the BYE are only 5-6-1 in their next game. I think it's changed a little, at this point to give a team an edge off a BYE I think they have to have a good coach, which only about 1/3 of the league has. They also have to be in the right spot. A team's performance off a BYE can tell you a lot, in my opinion, about their coach. TEN last week, I thought they had a good coach, but they lose to an undermanned HOU team at home 41-7...instantly he goes to the bad coach pile in my mind. There are a lot of "good" coaches coming off a BYE this week (Coughlin, Reid, Belichick, Jim Harbaugh?) Then you also have Jauron and Marvin Lewis off of a BYE with their surprising teams. Tough to not like the chances of any of these guys this week, but I would panic if I see one of these teams come out flat this week. If you can't play with fire after a week off and 2 weeks to prepare for this opponent, then there is something else wrong.
Lots of big games this week in the NCAA, and lots of big lines this week in the NFL - should make for an interesting $100 week!! Good Luck, send me your picks when you can. One last note, for those who paid with a check, I cashed all of those today - sorry for the delay, I actually kind of forgot about them.
WHO HATES IOWA?!?!?
I HATE IOWA.
No comments:
Post a Comment