This USC vs. Stanford game is very sloppy. So many penalties and dumb mistakes.
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
This USC vs. Stanford game is very sloppy. So many penalties and dumb mistakes. [/quote]
One of the clumsiest and wildest games I have ever seen. 19 penalties, the starting inside linebacker for USC ejected, the USC coach flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, the Stanford fullback flagged for a chop block that would have given them the lead.
Oregon had an impressive second half against Michigan State.
Ohio State lost at home which puts a smile on my face. Virginia Tech’s defense put the smack down.
The B1G is officially awful. We have our answer to the “which conference champion will be left home” question.
(Actually, Michigan State played very well at Oregon and, should they run the table, would have a decent shot at the playoff)
The B1G lowlights
Northwestern lost to Northern Illinois
Illinois needed 21 fourth-quarter points to survive Western Kentucky
Nebraska needed a late touchdown to beat McNeese State (FCS)
Purdue lost (badly) to Central Michigan
Penn State sleepwalked through a 21-3 win vs. Akron
Wisconsin needed awhile to get going against WIU
Michigan got absolutely CRUSHED by Notre Dame
Ohio State lost at home to Virginia Tech
Top to bottom, everything is disappointing. The bad teams barely survived MAC or FCS opponents. The “good” teams either played poorly in wins (Wisconsin, PSU) or lost showcase games (OSU’s loss to Virginia Tech is bad…VaTech has not been really good for 2 or 3 years…and Michigan didn’t just lose to ND, they were thoroughly outplayed). MSU’s loss to Oregon was actually a pretty good game (dropping the “former player card” again, when it gets away from you in a road game, sometimes you’re just powerless to stop it and the final score looks worse than it was; for 48 minutes, that was a really competitive game. If Oregon is a top-5 team, then MSU showed that they can compete with anyone).
[quote]JMac31 wrote:
Big perception week for the B1G.
MSU @ Oregon 6:30 FOX
Michigan @ ND 7:30 NBC
VT @ OSU 8:00 ESPN
[/quote]
Yeah the perception is not good…
Looks like ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC champs in the playoffs baring something very strange. ND could also make a run at the playoff with there schedule. BYU is an interesting team and Taysom Hill is fun to watch I wish they had a tougher schedule. Even if they go undefeated they will be untested and probably passed over (which I would understand).
Best case senario for the B1G is MSU and Wisconsin win out while Oregon and LSU win the Pac-12 and SEC respectively while going undefeated… Kind of a tall order.
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Wisconsin needed awhile to get going against WIU*
MSU’s loss to Oregon was actually a pretty good game (dropping the “former player card” again, when it gets away from you in a road game, sometimes you’re just powerless to stop it and the final score looks worse than it was; for 48 minutes, that was a really competitive game. If Oregon is a top-5 team, then MSU showed that they can compete with anyone). [/quote]
- Wisconsin got going very quickly, they got a safety on the opening kickoff lol.
Also Melvin Gordon average just 2.2 yards per carry wow. I did not watch the game, but I heard WIU was stacking the box. They got the blue print from LSU and it worked for a half. Wisconsin needs a passing game or they might be a .500 team in the B1G (and yes I know the B1G is bad).
MSU @ Oregon was the only game I watched in its entirety this weekend. I thought it was two very good football teams. Both teams went on runs and both teams responded. Oregon got rolling and with the home crowd behind them ran away. Probably closer on a neutral field or home field for the Spartan, but Oregon showed they were a better team. A few thoughts:
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Cook was pretty solid, but Mariota was obviously better. I can see both guys in the NFL. Turnovers were key and Cook had 2 INTs (the first was pretty bad and led to an Oregon TD, and second was a bit unlucky but a great play by Ekpre-Olomu took way the Spartan’s last chance). Mariota and the Ducks had no turnovers! Also Mariota is not only fast and mobile but pretty strong too, takes much more than an arm tackle.
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Impressed with Oregon’s D. While the offense was getting going to the second half the defensive forced a few 3 and outs.
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Tony Lippett showed he can be a #1 receiver.
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Kurtis Drummond made some mistakes you don’t want from your senior captain. Let the Ducks get behind him for some EASY scores. I think the MSU CBs held up pretty well. Having 2 solid CBs works well in the conference, but Sparty need more guys in coverage against an offense like Oregon.
Oregon is the real deal, very impressed with how they handled MSU. ND also looked good.
After watching Coach Strong’s post-game press conference last night after that loss, I will say it is going to be a very long year for my Longhorns. I am so disappointed by the press conference that I want him gone today.
Texas Fight. Hook’em Horns.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
Ohio State lost at home which puts a smile on my face. [/quote]
Yep.
[/quote]
Barrett just looked completely lost/inept vs the blitz. I don’t know what % of each thing it is, but some combination of him not identifying blitzers, play calls not being good vs blitzes, and his choice of targets to throw to(cough, Corey Smith every fucking play) led to just an abysmal performance.
Obviously everyone know he’d be a step down from Braxton, but oh my god he looked helpless against pressure, and good lord did VT bring pressure.
[quote]red04 wrote:
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
Ohio State lost at home which puts a smile on my face. [/quote]
Yep.
[/quote]
Barrett just looked completely lost/inept vs the blitz. I don’t know what % of each thing it is, but some combination of him not identifying blitzers, play calls not being good vs blitzes, and his choice of targets to throw to(cough, Corey Smith every fucking play) led to just an abysmal performance.
Obviously everyone know he’d be a step down from Braxton, but oh my god he looked helpless against pressure, and good lord did VT bring pressure. [/quote]
Yeah, I bet OSU fans are wishing they had Guiton for one more year after the way Barrett looked.
[quote]red04 wrote:
Barrett just looked completely lost/inept vs the blitz. I don’t know what % of each thing it is, but some combination of him not identifying blitzers, play calls not being good vs blitzes, and his choice of targets to throw to(cough, Corey Smith every fucking play) led to just an abysmal performance.
[/quote]
I’m gonna try not to play my “former player card” in every single post on this thread, I promise, but it is relevant here. The first couple of college games (at any level) are absolutely brutal at some positions. I was an offensive tackle. By my senior year, with a couple dozen starts under my belt, blitz pickup came pretty intuitively, but as a freshman and sophomore, my head was absolutely spinning, even on pretty simple blitz pickups…I had to “think through” almost every play ("The end is slanting inside. Should I pass him to the guard? Wait, in this protection, is the guard staying home to pick him up, or is the guard working out to the blitzer while I’m locked on the…oh, crap, there goes the LB around me! Shit!)
This will come with experience, but it takes an exceptionally gifted player at QB or OL to outweight the inevitable mental mistakes that will happen with a young player at one of those spots.
IMO, running back and defensive end are the two positions where it’s easiest for a freshman to contribute. A big, fast RB can be plugged and played, and if he’s good enough with the ball in his hands, the coaches can live with an occasional missed blitz pickup (or take him out on 3rd downs when that will be crucial). Defensive end is not an extremely complex position (nor is DT, but very few kids straight out of high school are strong enough to play DT at the D1 college level right away). Depending on the defensive system, an exceptionally gifted DB might be able to play right away, too.
A QB or OL has to have a pretty strong feel for the game because there is just no time to “think through” every play. You have to be able to make those reads bang-bang-bang or it’s too late.
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
[quote]red04 wrote:
Barrett just looked completely lost/inept vs the blitz. I don’t know what % of each thing it is, but some combination of him not identifying blitzers, play calls not being good vs blitzes, and his choice of targets to throw to(cough, Corey Smith every fucking play) led to just an abysmal performance.
[/quote]
I’m gonna try not to play my “former player card” in every single post on this thread, I promise, but it is relevant here. The first couple of college games (at any level) are absolutely brutal at some positions. I was an offensive tackle. By my senior year, with a couple dozen starts under my belt, blitz pickup came pretty intuitively, but as a freshman and sophomore, my head was absolutely spinning, even on pretty simple blitz pickups…I had to “think through” almost every play ("The end is slanting inside. Should I pass him to the guard? Wait, in this protection, is the guard staying home to pick him up, or is the guard working out to the blitzer while I’m locked on the…oh, crap, there goes the LB around me! Shit!)
This will come with experience, but it takes an exceptionally gifted player at QB or OL to outweight the inevitable mental mistakes that will happen with a young player at one of those spots.
IMO, running back and defensive end are the two positions where it’s easiest for a freshman to contribute. A big, fast RB can be plugged and played, and if he’s good enough with the ball in his hands, the coaches can live with an occasional missed blitz pickup (or take him out on 3rd downs when that will be crucial). Defensive end is not an extremely complex position (nor is DT, but very few kids straight out of high school are strong enough to play DT at the D1 college level right away). Depending on the defensive system, an exceptionally gifted DB might be able to play right away, too.
A QB or OL has to have a pretty strong feel for the game because there is just no time to “think through” every play. You have to be able to make those reads bang-bang-bang or it’s too late.[/quote]
I’m a former player as well(DB), I know it takes time, but that doesn’t make it any less sucky to watch as a fan who thought Brax would be carrying the load this year. Barret doesn’t even have a month of starters reps under his belt in practice, so I knew it would be rough, and it’s very excusable, but VT’s style of defense exploited it to a degree I was still not expecting(I didn’t know enough about them as a team, didn’t know they rushed 6 so often).
Thoughts on last weekend and this week:
Big Ten… Wow (again) funny thing is Purdue played ND much closer than Michigan
VT… Wow (at home no less)
Jameis Winston… About what I expect lol. Will make the Saturday night show down with Clemson more interesting. I hope this game is closer than last year since there are not too many games I am excited about this weekend.
[quote]JMac31 wrote:
Thoughts on last weekend and this week:
Big Ten… Wow (again) funny thing is Purdue played ND much closer than Michigan
VT… Wow (at home no less)
Jameis Winston… About what I expect lol. Will make the Saturday night show down with Clemson more interesting. I hope this game is closer than last year since there are not too many games I am excited about this weekend.[/quote]
You have
Clemson vs FSU
Auburn vs Kstate on Thursday as your better games
2nd tier
LSU vs Mississippi State
Miami vs Nebraska
Oklahoma vs WVU
Oregon vs Wash St
I am curious to see how my Bulldogs can hang with the Tigers. Even when they are bad they seem to give LSU a run.
My thoughts after this weekend:
Oklahoma is probably the best team in the country. Stoops looks like he is trying to build a spread team that can be physical if needed and can play D. That is a terrifying combo. Auburn looks like the best team in the SEC. If South Carolina and AandM played again the game would be much closer. There is more parity in college football this year than there ever has been. The Pac 12 and the SEC are weaker than they ever have been and still may be the best two conferences as a whole. There really doesn’t appear to be an elite team this year.
[quote]JMac31 wrote:
Big Ten… Wow (again) funny thing is Purdue played ND much closer than Michigan
VT… Wow (at home no less)
Jameis Winston… About what I expect lol. Will make the Saturday night show down with Clemson more interesting. I hope this game is closer than last year since there are not too many games I am excited about this weekend.[/quote]
The B1G is a mediocre conference now. It still surprises me, but it shouldn’t. The SEC, Big 12, Pac-12, and ACC are all just better leagues. I watched ACC mid-packer Syracuse handily defeat Central Michigan (at Central) one week after Central blew out Purdue (at Purdue). I can’t believe that a depleted Penn State team looks like one of the conference’s best teams, but who else feels good about their first three weeks? I think Michigan State will be sitting pretty for a playoff spot at the end of the season if Oregon keeps winning, because even though everyone’s focusing on this whole “one conference champion will be left out of the playoff!” angle and assuming that it will be the champ from the worst of the Five, MSU has a better chance than anyone else to run the table in their league (and early-season defeats ALWAYS matter less than late season defeats in this kind of discussion).
I’ll tell you a wacky team to look out for this season: Pitt. Their sophomore RB, James Conner, is a MAN. They beat Boston College (at BC) handily one week before Boston College lit up USC (452 rushing yards!!!). If they handle Iowa at home this week, they’ll be 5-0 entering a manageable stretch of ACC games (no Florida State, no Clemson). I would not be surprised if Pitt gets to 6-0 or 7-0 and starts drawing a little buzz.
Of course, now that I said that, they’ll lose to Iowa this week.
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
[quote]JMac31 wrote:
Big Ten… Wow (again) funny thing is Purdue played ND much closer than Michigan
VT… Wow (at home no less)
Jameis Winston… About what I expect lol. Will make the Saturday night show down with Clemson more interesting. I hope this game is closer than last year since there are not too many games I am excited about this weekend.[/quote]
The B1G is a mediocre conference now. It still surprises me, but it shouldn’t. The SEC, Big 12, Pac-12, and ACC are all just better leagues. I watched ACC mid-packer Syracuse handily defeat Central Michigan (at Central) one week after Central blew out Purdue (at Purdue). I can’t believe that a depleted Penn State team looks like one of the conference’s best teams, but who else feels good about their first three weeks? I think Michigan State will be sitting pretty for a playoff spot at the end of the season if Oregon keeps winning, because even though everyone’s focusing on this whole “one conference champion will be left out of the playoff!” angle and assuming that it will be the champ from the worst of the Five, MSU has a better chance than anyone else to run the table in their league (and early-season defeats ALWAYS matter less than late season defeats in this kind of discussion).
I’ll tell you a wacky team to look out for this season: Pitt. Their sophomore RB, James Conner, is a MAN. They beat Boston College (at BC) handily one week before Boston College lit up USC (452 rushing yards!!!). If they handle Iowa at home this week, they’ll be 5-0 entering a manageable stretch of ACC games (no Florida State, no Clemson). I would not be surprised if Pitt gets to 6-0 or 7-0 and starts drawing a little buzz.
Of course, now that I said that, they’ll lose to Iowa this week.[/quote]
Yeah, of the Big 10 schools, its down to Wisconsin or MSU, depending on them running the table and how there one loss plays, LSU could win the SEC west but will probably have one loss anyway. I just don’t see anyone in the Pac 12 beating Oregon. Some good but inconsistent teams, USC and Stanford, and a colossally overrated one in UCLA is about it.
[quote]jbpick86 wrote:
I just don’t see anyone in the Pac 12 beating Oregon. Some good but inconsistent teams, USC and Stanford, and a colossally overrated one in UCLA is about it.
[/quote]
Careful on this. We often assume that the best team is invincible, until someone beats them. I’m not saying anyone on the schedule would be favored against Oregon, but we all know that the best team does not win every game. Oklahoma State cost itself a shot at the national title a couple years ago with a late-season loss to Iowa State that no one could have seen coming.
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
[quote]jbpick86 wrote:
I just don’t see anyone in the Pac 12 beating Oregon. Some good but inconsistent teams, USC and Stanford, and a colossally overrated one in UCLA is about it.
[/quote]
Careful on this. We often assume that the best team is invincible, until someone beats them. I’m not saying anyone on the schedule would be favored against Oregon, but we all know that the best team does not win every game. Oklahoma State cost itself a shot at the national title a couple years ago with a late-season loss to Iowa State that no one could have seen coming. [/quote]
Oh, definitely not saying that it won’t happen. But there isn’t really a game on that schedule where you look at it and go, they have a pretty good chance of beating them. With that said, Stanford, Arizona, or Oregon St are going to be their highest potential for upset, and at this point I hesitate to call Stanford over Oregon an upset anymore.
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Oklahoma State cost itself a shot at the national title a couple years ago with a late-season loss to Iowa State that no one could have seen coming. [/quote]
That was a crazy game. Then OK St. went on the beat Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl. The Cardinal lost there chance at the title LOSING TO OREGON, the Ducks of of course then lost the USC and we had the Bama/LSU rematch.
Going into bowl season that year LSU was the only undefeated even though multiple big conference schools took undefeated records into Nov. Would have been nice to have had a playoff that year.