This will hopefully –I’ve said this before- be a weekly look at the weekend’s football. No promises though…
NCAA Version:
-The Cougars played sloppy, but it didn’t really matter against an obviously overmatched Grambling State team. A 3-0 start is nice, but who the hell knows how good they are? They looked excellent crushing Nevada last week; mediocre the week before against Idaho. The Cougs take a week off, then open Pac-10 play against a reeling Oregon State team.
-The Huskies won their first game in just under a year, and they looked at least moderately impressive doing it. Look, this was a big win no matter who the opponent. Is Idaho any good? Probably not, though they are better than the last few years. The point is this Husky team, unlike the ugly, desultory effort in last year’s only win, looked like they belonged on the field. Next week is Notre Dame. The Huskies have just enough talent to throw a scare into the Irish, and you know they will be motivated.
-Arkansas is a mid-level SEC team. Not good enough to contend for the SEC championship, but probably good enough to snag a lower tier bowl. They come to USC and just get obliterated, 70-17. When is the last time something like that happened? Houston Nutt’s team looked like they had been hit by a train. Oh, and Matt Leinart should keep the beard. Reminds me of the glory days of Dan Fouts.
-About halfway through the first quarter of the Tennessee-Florida game it was pretty obvious Tennessee wasn’t gonna get it done, wasn’t it? And that was before Vol freshman punter Britton Colquitt audibled to a fake on his own 34. Who lets punters audible anyway? Even with the win, I’m not sold on the Gators. That fabled spread option offense didn’t get much of anything done.
-Karl Dorrell has built something in LA’s other school. Admittedly Oklahoma is struggling, but the Bruins dominated them. They looked bigger, stronger and a helluva lot more motivated.
-Michigan State should only schedule power teams. Give them Temple’s schedule and they’ll go undefeated. According to Stewart Mandel of SI.com, the Spartans are 9-1 in their last 10 games against Top 10 opponents, yet under .500 against everyone else. The Spartans beat Notre Dame…again.
NFL Version:
-Am I alone in thinking that the Seahawks victory doesn’t mean much? The Hawks were terrific in the first half, but they just collapsed (AGAIN!) in the second. Does anybody for a minute think that if Vick were healthy the Falcons don’t win? Really, yesterday’s game was a microcosm of the Seahawks the last few years. At times they were brilliant, and everything ran like clockwork. At other times it seems Seattle isn’t even sure what sport they play. This is still an 8-8 team. Of course, that may win the division at this rate.
-Speaking of the awful NFC West, Zygote took me to task for my prediction of two division teams making the playoffs. He’s right. If there were any justice, no team from the NFC West would make the playoffs at this point. The Seahawks are still the same team until proven otherwise. So are the Rams. The Cardinals –let’s be chartiable here- are loosing bandwagoneers with some rapidity. And the Niners, while tough and sometimes inspired, still suck.
-The Vikings suck too. I actually considered this team a Super Bowl contender. That was before 12 turnovers in 24 posessions. Yes, a NFL team that turns the ball over half the time. Yechh… What’s really amazing is that the Vikes might not be the worst team in the NFC Central. The Packers have looked pathetic in losses to Detroit and Cleveland. The Bears and Lions battling (as it were) for the division title? |
-Congrats to Trent Dilfer, one of the class guys in the league, out-dueling Brett Favre in Lambeau. Dilfer led the Browns to Romeo Crennell’s first victory as a head coach, and played brilliantly doing it.
The Panthers bounced back well, though I wonder about Jake Delhomme and the offense. Delhomme was up-and-down all game, and Stephen Davis was held to 3.1 yards per carry. That won’t get it done most days, even with a monster defense. I also wonder about the Patriots. That was the sloppiest game I’ve seen them play.
-The Chargers starting 0-2 is very ugly, especially since the Chiefs are 2-0 and look good doing it. The Broncos tried really, really hard to loose that game, but Drew Brees didn’t let them. Sadly, Brees plays for the Chiefs
Posted by Frinklin at September 19, 2005 09:57 PM | TrackBack