*Official* 2007 College Football Thread

[SnakeCharmer]

Mike Hart (RB for Michigan) showed a lot of class here:

"I wouldn't call it embarrassing because that takes away from them," Hart said. "We're disappointed. I can tell you that.

"It is one of the biggest losses ever, but give all the credit to Appalachian State."

[SnakeCharmer]

Lou "sufferin' suckatash" Holtz needs to be fired.

Worst. 

Broadcaster. 

Ever.

That lisp has got to GO.

[Triforcer]

We'll see whose laughing when the Bucks capture that big ol' championship trophy in January.  2002 was supposed to be a rebuilding year or something, too.

[SnakeCharmer]

Oh look.

Notre Dame is getting stomped by Georgia Tech to the tune of 19 to nada.

[Montague]

We'll see whose laughing when the Bucks capture that big ol' championship trophy in January.  2002 was supposed to be a rebuilding year or something, too.

Buckeyes aren't winning any NC's with that offensive line. I say this as a die hard OSU fan.

Gah Tech beats ND 33-3. Cheesecake Charlie could go 3-8 this year.

[cmlancas]

28-13! USF v Elon. Go Bulls!


I went to the game. We looked a little shoddy on offense, Groethe looked a little raw, but Mike Ford is a monster. If they click in week two, look out Auburn, our defense is going to eat you up.

[SnakeCharmer]

What a day of college football.

Notre Dame going down like a 2 dollar hooker that was just offered a 50 spot...

Michigan getting beat by a I-AA team (albiet twice defending national championship I-AA team)...

Cal beating Tennessee with Tennessee brand football.  What little I saw of the Cal/Tenn game, Cal just lined up and knocked the taste out of Tennessee's mouth.  I gotta wonder though...How bad is the second string quarterback if Tennessee is playing Ainge with a broken pinky on his throwing hand? 

Auburn going to the wire against Kansas up until the last couple minutes.  Kansas was picked by many to win that game, despite Auburns ranking.  Auburns OL is in trouble.  Cox took a beating tonight.  He'll be feeling it tomorrow.  After seeing them in action tonight, I know recant my statements about USF's chances against them...



Alabama...

Oh, sweet, sweet Alabama.

Offense:  A-
Dominated like they should.  John Parker Wilson looked sharp, accurate.  Nice zip on the ball.  OL finished blocks, running backs found their holes and hit them like a Auburn fan beats his wife after a loss.  Terry Grant has some serious jets; to paraphrase/quote the SI article, "he runs like something bad is after him".  Jimmy Johns is a man; a beast.  WR's blocked like machines, and really laid the lumber on some people when Wilson took off running.  Backups produced, looked sharp.  Only thing keeping this from being an A+ was the lack of the long ball.  Granted, with the ground game on track the way it was, there was no need to really even toss it up.  But it would have been nice to see what they could do, and the one pass they tried to go deep, the ball seemed to float a bit too much.   For a 'plain' offense, they put up some nice numbers, like they SHOULD.

Defense:  C+
Great pursuit.  Average tackling.  Fast.  Good Gawd Almighty are they fast.  But small and undersized.  Defense should have truly dominated.  Tendency to give up a big play.  Disciplined.  Will get pushed around by SEC offensive linemen.  Going to be Alabama's Achilles heel.  In past seasons, the defense has carried the team.  This season, the offense is going to have to produce.  They can't take a game off. 

Special Teams:
Kick Off:  C+
Leigh Tiffin needs more leg.  Good pursuit and coverage.

Kick Return:  A+
Javier Arenas should his speed and vision.  Will be a threat to go all the way every time he touches the ball.

Punt:  C
Coverage was average, punt was average.  Nothing spectacular.  Granted, Alabama only punted once.

Punt Return: B
Blocking was little suspect.  Arenas, given a couple blocks, will be high stepping into the end zone.  That kid is talented.

Field Goal:  F
Leigh Tiffin, without a doubt, is the worst kicker in I-A football.  Hell, he'd be lucky to make a Div I-AAA team.  If his dad wasn't Van Tiffin, he'd be cleaning jockstraps.  No leg, inaccurate.  How Shula EVER saw fit to give him a scholarship is beyond me.  Oh, I know.  Tiffin is a nice last name to have at Alabama.   Fuckin' Shula.... 

Overall: I'm pleased.  Offense looked like it should, defense played about like I expected them to be.  There's stories going around about how much weight people lost under the training regime Saban and co have had them under, as well as this summers practices, but wow...The defense needs some weight behind them.  They're small.  Fast, and pursue well, but it won't matter when a hardnose running team comes to down.  A speedy defense is easy to overcome:  You run straight at it; with your bigger backs.  It was good seeing Saban taking an active role, whereas the previous wingnut that was there looked lost every time the camera panned over to him.  No jumbo package.  Nothing seemed to change no matter where they were:  the offense looked the same on the 50 as it did on the 1.  Good, solid performance to build some confidence with.

[Trippy]

Cal beating Tennessee with Tennessee brand football.  What little I saw of the Cal/Tenn game, Cal just lined up and knocked the taste out of Tennessee's mouth.  I gotta wonder though...How bad is the second string quarterback if Tennessee is playing Ainge with a broken pinky on his throwing hand? 

The speed that Cal has is eye-popping. I missed recording the play as it was happening but here's the replay of DeSean Jackson's punt return for a touchdown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GFEOseUQWU

What's amazing as well is near the end you can see number 4 on Cal, Jahvid Best the California 100 meter High School champion, blazing past DeSean Jackson looking for somebody to block like Jackson was standing still. Best, a true Freshman runnng back, later on had his own nifty 34 yard run as well.

Offense-wise Tennessee was able to match Cal but the difference was that punt return TD and a QB sack fumble that Cal returned for a touchdown.

[CmdrSlack]

We'll see whose laughing when the Bucks capture that big ol' championship trophy in January.  2002 was supposed to be a rebuilding year or something, too.

You really need an aircraft carrier with a banner making statements like that.

[Daeven]

The Utes get off to a great start by having their new stud JC transfer running back breaking his leg and the QB (4th in the nation in total offense in 2005 before redshirting with an injury last year) dislocating his shoulder....all in the first half.

It's the Beavers baby. They'll chew your motherfucking ankles off.

[Paelos]

I didn't see much of the Cal-Tenn game, but I give credit to the Pac-10 here. This was a legit matchup of two teams in the conferences who actually had a chance to go either way, rather than USC playing Arkansas or some shit and declaring superiority. Cal surprised me, but I really hope they can back it up against USC, otherwise it's a worthless win. Also, this raises the question of whether or not Tennessee is headed for another year where they suck so hard they fall out of the top 25. I really don't think they are that solid on defense the way Cal pushed them around, and that's a freaking disaster waiting to happen against teams like Florida and Georgia where the QBs are very dynamic as well.

Georgia looked great against OK St. and surprised a lot of people by blowing it open as big as they did on offense. The O-line blocked very well on runs and adequately enough for the first game of the year on passes. They controlled the clock well on offense and made big stops on D. Overall, it was a solid win against a team that threatened early but then faded away in the second half.

Bama won big in a game they were supposed to win big in. This will of course open more national championship talk from the Bama fans. The first big test comes next week with Arkansas, so I'm still deferring judgement until then on this squad. Should they destroy an SEC team, we may have a true turnaround happening.

App State showed up Michigan and made them look like little girls. This diminishes a lot of the Big 10's credibility this year when your top ranked team got stomped, but they still have Wisconsin to fall back on. If anyone loses to Michigan now, they'll take a much bigger tumble in the rankings. Ohio State will look good this season early on because they don't play anyone seriously until the very end, but I don't see that program turning any heads this year playing Youngston, Akron, and Kent State as your out of conference games.

Georgia Tech beating Notre Dame is just hilarious because it was an asswhooping. I hate both teams, but I hate Notre Dame's smug asses more. Suck on that for a while, Irish.

[Musashi]

Cal beating Tennessee with Tennessee brand football.  What little I saw of the Cal/Tenn game, Cal just lined up and knocked the taste out of Tennessee's mouth.  I gotta wonder though...How bad is the second string quarterback if Tennessee is playing Ainge with a broken pinky on his throwing hand? 

The pinky didn't seem to bother him, as his day was pretty good despite the loss.  It was pretty much an offensive show with Cal's special teams (they have SKILL in skill positions) making the difference in the game.

I didn't see much of the Cal-Tenn game, but I give credit to the Pac-10 here. This was a legit matchup of two teams in the conferences who actually had a chance to go either way, rather than USC playing Arkansas or some shit and declaring superiority. Cal surprised me, but I really hope they can back it up against USC, otherwise it's a worthless win. Also, this raises the question of whether or not Tennessee is headed for another year where they suck so hard they fall out of the top 25. I really don't think they are that solid on defense the way Cal pushed them around, and that's a freaking disaster waiting to happen against teams like Florida and Georgia where the QBs are very dynamic as well.

Not trying to be a dick, but how would Cal losing its third to last game against the overwhelming consensus best college football team the past few years make their other wins worthless?  If that's the only game they lose all year, and they'll probably lose, then I'll take it.  It would be great if they win, but I'm not getting my hopes up.  Their defense would have to make some serious strides from what they displayed last night.  Granted Tenn is no turd, but still.  They'll probably lose that game and take it out on Stanford.  If they get close to top 5 ranking by remaining undefeated until then, and they probably will with all the Tedford hype floating around, then a loss to USC will probably not hurt their ranking that much.

Also:  Musberger yelling at hippies in trees = money!

PPS: 

Dear SEC,



Love,

Cal

[Paelos]

Not trying to be a dick, but how would Cal losing its third to last game against the overwhelming consensus best college football team the past few years make their other wins worthless?  If that's the only game they lose all year, and they'll probably lose, then I'll take it.  It would be great if they win, but I'm not getting my hopes up.  Their defense would have to make some serious strides from what they displayed last night.  Granted Tenn is no turd, but still.  They'll probably lose that game and take it out on Stanford.  If they get close to top 5 ranking by remaining undefeated until then, and they probably will with all the Tedford hype floating around, then a loss to USC will probably not hurt their ranking that much.

Well for starters, that was the only game you had a moderate chance of losing for the next two months. If you happen to lose to the powerhouses that are Oregon, Oregon State, or Arizona, that's an entirely different issue. My point was that if you don't beat USC, you don't win shit. You don't win the conference, you don't win a national title shot, and you basically waste a quality win at the beginning of the season that was one of your 3 possible stumbling blocks in the road to success. I give Cal kudos for actually accepting the SEC challenge and playing a team that's not a whooping boy in our conference. USC would never do that in a million years because they are a bunch of cowards who don't need to play anybody worth a damn outside the conference to get top-billing every year. Until we get a playoff and everything isn't decided by polls alone, human stupidity will reign and teams will try their best to skirt as many tough games as they can. It's just counter-intuitive and I hate the fact that USC takes advantage of it every single year.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the Pac-10 because I think they suck. I hate the Pac-10 because you can take a month and a half off to relax in your season before facing off against your tough games. LSU has to play VA Tech, Florida, Auburn, and Arkansas, all top 25s and all spread out. USC plays #20 Nebraska, then doesn't play another ranked opponent for TWO months. Florida plays Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, and Florida State just to cap it off. I mean the chances that USC is gonna lose anything are astronomically low. They don't even have to show up until mid-November for heaven's sake.

[Trippy]

Yup, it sucks to be in the SEC.

[sigil]

Bama plays Vandy Next week.

Bama Historically has real trouble with the Dores. If they win decisevly, it will be a clear sign of change within the program.

I don't talk National championship until we're undefeated after LSU.

I do think Bama will have a nice season.

[Paelos]

Ah yes, Vandy. I was thinking two weeks ahead. My point still stands about Bama v. Arkansas, so I guess I'll have to wait a while longer before we get a good look at the true team.

[Musashi]

Stuff

National Title Shot!  I'm honored to even hear the words.  Also humbled.  I think I just peed a little.

I guess you're right in that sense.  But I was more or less saying they could still finish well with one loss to USC.  Not to mention the fact that 'The Tedford Era' is the most excitement we Cal fans have had out here since we knocked over the Stanford band.  It's fun being an optimist when your team seems like it's finally crawling out of the dregs.  Sure losing to USC will be a disappointment, but it's way better than the college football vacuum in the Bay Area before Tedford showed up.  I mean, but for tuba incident, have you even heard of Cal outside the Bay Area since at the very least the 80's?  The 70's?  And hey, we DID beat USC a couple years ago, so it's at least possible.  Although even I think that was a fluke.  But a consecutive ranked finish?  That will be really good for Cal.  So, okay, you got me, this season will probably be pointless for national title hopes.  But for now please indulge us this one opportunity to gloat - just this once...

But I'm definitely not going to argue about the infinite stupidity which can be found in NCAA Football and BCS rules.  Neither would anyone with living cells in their brain.   That's a long thread though.  And yea, USC is kinda Notre Dame West.  One day Carroll will retire or go back to the NFL, their big recruiting draw will go bye-bye, and we'll probably go back to laughing at the Pac 10 once again.

[Paelos]

National Title Shot!  I'm honored to even hear the words.  Also humbled.  I think I just peed a little.

Yours was the only team in the top 25 who actually proved themselves in a quality matchup in Week 1. Add in the fact that you don't have another ranked matchup for 7 weeks, and there's a very realistic chance you'll be 6-0 going into UCLA. There's an outside shot that Oregon might sneak into the Top 25 if they too can beat Michigan, but we'll see. Either way, I don't see them as much of a stumbling block for a Cal team if they can contain Dixon running around like a crazy bastard since his accuracy kinda sucks.

[Hoax]

re: Cal

Lots of fun to watch them play, we'll see if they can close out their easy games and if third time's the charm against a school they had every chance of beating two years running.

re: Michigan

This is a big loss, but really they need to fire Carr.  Also we'll see how they rebound.

re: The Ohio State University & big10 in general

We'll see, gonna need more running game, the easy out of conference schedule is a plus as they are working on fitting the pieces into place.  The OSU v Michigan game will still play a part in who wins the big10.  Illinois should have won vrs Mizzou, tough day for the conference but not that big of a deal.  Wisconsin played like favorites versus Wazzou and won comfortably at the end after fucking up hella much on special teams.  That "TE" Beckham is going to play in the nfl, for sure.

[cmlancas]

Upset watch update: USF 35, Auburn 24.



Oh wait, that's a few days early.

[Montague]

re: Cal

Lots of fun to watch them play, we'll see if they can close out their easy games and if third time's the charm against a school they had every chance of beating two years running.

re: Michigan

This is a big loss, but really they need to fire Carr.  Also we'll see how they rebound.

re: The Ohio State University & big10 in general

We'll see, gonna need more running game, the easy out of conference schedule is a plus as they are working on fitting the pieces into place.  The OSU v Michigan game will still play a part in who wins the big10.  Illinois should have won vrs Mizzou, tough day for the conference but not that big of a deal.  Wisconsin played like favorites versus Wazzou and won comfortably at the end after fucking up hella much on special teams.  That "TE" Beckham is going to play in the nfl, for sure.

Really tough to get a good read on the Big 10 right now but my gut tells me this year the conference flat out sucks. OSU is decent but they're a year away from NC contention. The running game isn't as bad as it looks (yet) because YSU stacked the line with 9 guys in the box and even went goal line on 1st and 10 a couple of times to take away the run. Michigan is a wildcard. They have the talent on offense to beat anyone but Carr is phoning it in. My guess is he pulls an Earle Bruce and announces his retirement a couple of weeks before the OSU game. Wiscy looks good but I'm not sold till Bielema beats Michigan or OSU. Penn State looked good vs. Miami Dade High eerrrrrr Florida Intl. The rest of the conference sucks out loud except maybe for Iowa.

[WayAbvPar]

Missed the Cal/Tenn game, but watched the video. Holy Christ those uniforms are fugly.

Watch out for Jake Locker. He is going to be a BEAST by the time he gets done at U-Dub. They will probably get whipped by Boise State this week, and will definitely get whipped in Columbus the week after, but they have a good young team.

[Slayerik]

They should have fired Lloyd Carr like five years ago. The guy royally sucks. I have been watching MI forever and I can just predict his shitty calls half the time. 

[cmlancas]

So just for the record, I'll be trying out for the kicker spot on Monday at USF.


Bullshit. Our kicker may have lost us the game.


EDIT: GO MOTHERFUCKING BULLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sigil]

Great win by South Florida. Excellent work.

[Nevermore]

USF should crack the top 25 with that win.  Great game to watch.

In other news, how can Michigan not fire Carr after that debacle vs. Oregon?  Can Michigan and Notre Dame somehow both lose their game next week?  You'd think it couldn't be possible, but the way those two teams are playing you never know!

[Paelos]

South Florida has a huge advantage on Auburn this year. Auburn has lost almost all of its offensive line, its great running back Kenny Irons, and has to rely solely on the playmaking ability of Cox. Also, South Florida sits in second best spoiler position that it can in the schedule, sitting in the middle of Auburns very easy home schedule. Everybody knows that a good football team gets up for their first game, which is against Kansas State. Everybody also knows that you don't want to lose your first SEC matchup, which is against Mississippi State in the 3rd week. Right there in the middle in the 2nd week is South Florida, just begging to get overlooked.

Why will they be such an upset probability against Auburn you ask? Well, for starters, South Florida has two of the best cornerbacks in college football, both of which will be playing in the NFL, Trae Williams and Mike Jenkins. They will make Cox's day very very hard, because you can't throw around them, not to mention that defense records 2.5 sacks per game. They cover both sides of the field like a blanket. Also, I'd take their QB who led the team in passing, rushing, and scoring last year against Cox's talent any day of the week. The dude is a playmaker and he's only a sophomore. If they can get Mike Ford to establish a ground game, Auburn is royally screwed.

I wouldn't normally say I called it. But I did.

Go Bulls.

[cmlancas]

I wouldn't normally say I called it. But I did.

Go Bulls.

I felt bad for UGA in their loss -- I only caught the tail end of the game, what happened?

Anyway, the Bulls have some tightening up to do: Ford looked a little weak in the second half; the kicker can't hit a field goal to save his life; and Groethe needs to stop taking huge sacks. Was anyone else surprised that USF doesn't run more bootlegs/waggles? I kept screaming at the television last night because they kept running that fake stunt shit.

Edit:

Everyone who isn't in this yet should join. Hurry up and show me your college football prowess. Plus, the league is thin so far, even though it is early.
Plus, I want to gloat over all of you who don't pick USF over Auburn. <3

[Paelos]

I wouldn't normally say I called it. But I did.

Go Bulls.

I felt bad for UGA in their loss -- I only caught the tail end of the game, what happened?

We couldn't get the ball in the end zone, period. You can't win trying to kick field goals in a highly defensive game, and SC put in a TD. We didn't. Also, we made a very stupid decision to go for it on 4th down in the 3rd quarter instead of playing field position when we were only down by a TD, and it blew up in our face. SC scored a FG making it a 10 point game, and we could never climb back in it. Also, late penalties screwed us completely.

[Trippy]

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the Pac-10 because I think they suck. I hate the Pac-10 because you can take a month and a half off to relax in your season before facing off against your tough games. LSU has to play VA Tech, Florida, Auburn, and Arkansas, all top 25s and all spread out. USC plays #20 Nebraska, then doesn't play another ranked opponent for TWO months. Florida plays Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, and Florida State just to cap it off. I mean the chances that USC is gonna lose anything are astronomically low. They don't even have to show up until mid-November for heaven's sake.

That's no longer true thanks to Oregon being ranked now and Auburn dropping out. Also USC has to play their ranked opponents on the road except for UCLA while LSU gets to play all of theirs at home.

[Hoax]

VT being ranked at all was such a mother fucking joke it hurt.  Everyone I know called that game versus LSU as being the biggest nonevent of the weekend.  Sympathy AP rank?

Henne + Carr = Hart should just quit that fucking team.  Seriously it would be the greatest injustice ever if he was hurt playing for those two fuckups.  I'm not sure he has a future on Sundays but even so..

Fucking safety on a  running play, goddamn Ohio State...

UGA looked terrible, I wish I saw any of the Tenn game & that Auburn game was damn fun.  The best game of the weekend though was the Fresno State game.  They should have won but 3OT is always awesome in college.

[Murgos]

Going to be a bad season for me, UF and USF games are going to be keeping out of any clubs and purely in sports bars for the rest of my Saturday's.

At least the waitresses and bartenders at sports bars tend to be good looking females with skimpy clothing.

[SnakeCharmer]

Re SC vs UGA:  Not having a horse in that race, it was nice to see the ol' Ball Coach pull off the win.  Having UGA pretty much hand it to him aside, it was a fairly dull game, IMHO. 

Re USF vs AU:  THAT was a helluva game.  Nice win by USF, proving me totally wrong about my earlier prognostication.

Re ND vs PSU:  Loved seeing ND get beat.  I'm a closet Penn State fan; how can you not love Joe Pa?

Re LSU vs VT:  I hate Frank Beamer with a passion, and loved every minute of that spanking.  Was like watching a pro team versus a pop warner team. 

Re Michigan vs Oregon:  What the hell has happened to Michigan??  They have completely derailed. 

Re Alabama vs Vandy:  Ugly win, but I'll take it.  The running game of Alabama is it's saving grace right now, with JP Wilson having some early season struggles.  Defense continues to shine, oddly enough.  Rolando McClain is a beast at middle linebacker, Terry Grant and Javier Arenas are superstars in the making, if not already.  If the passing game comes around, which it will, they'll be hell on wheels if they can keep up the running game and the defense continues to get better and better.  Lots of surprises in that Alabama defense:  The aforementioned true freshman McClain taking control of the defense, Rashad Johnson at free safety is playing lights out, Lorenzo Washington providing a solid anchor at nose guard, and Wallace Gilberry going nuts at the end position.  Nick Walker on offense (TE) is making plays, Terry Grant moves like nobodies business and playing much bigger than his size, and Javier Arenas is a human highlight reel everytime he takes the field.  That 69 yard punt return was an absolute work of art. 

SabanSteele are working wonders with a young undersized (albiet blazing fast) defense that is going to get better and better every game. 

13 points given up in two games?  I'll take it, regardless of competition.

[sigil]

Don't read too much into it yet Snake. Bama will face its frist real, if one dimensional, threat this week.

[Roac]

I felt bad for UGA in their loss -- I only caught the tail end of the game, what happened?

Dueling field goals for most of the game.  USC spent several of the last 5 minutes doing running plays, and pulling them off with 3 1st downs in a row, but mostly just to burn the clock up.  They almost screwed up on a 3rd and 4; a short lateral pass or simple dive to try and pick up a few yards would've been best, to either get a 1st or stay within FG range.  Instead they tried to get fancy, and lost considerable yardage which put them out of FG range for the 4th.  UGA had a good passing game, which was good for them in not eating up the last minute and change on the clock.  They did good at driving back down the field, nearly made a longshot touchdown pass, but lost their chance with several penalties in the last half minute that stacked up to 3rd and... I dunno, 25 or so.  I was dealing with kids and missed all but the last 7 minutes (sans score updates every so often), but far as I can tell it was the only bit of the game worth watching.  But against Georgia I'll take it.  GO COCKS!