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by
Raphielle Johnson
Well, another week is in the books, and some
interesting things took place on Saturday. First off, June Jones held Colt
Brennan out of Hawaii's game against Charleston Southern for precautionary
reasons. The 66-10 win would have been a good opportunity for the Heisman
candidate to pad his stats, but it's probably wise to make sure he's healthy for
the balance of WAC play. Tyler Graunke (22-26 for 285 yards and 3 scores)
performed well in his absence, and C.J Hawthorne had two touchdown receptions.
The last game of the day was an expected beating, but the same couldn't be said
for the afternoon. Here are ten observations from this past Saturday. Feel free
to chime in with a comment or email whenever you wish. Thanks for reading.
1. Louisville still can't tackle worth a lick.
All year the Cardinals have had issues on the defensive side of the football, be
it tackling or missing assignments. But unlike their first two games, both
runaway wins, the unsolved problems led to the Cards' second straight loss, this
one 38-35 at home to previously winless Syracuse. The first play from scrimmage
for the Orange, a 79-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Robinson to Taj Smith, was
a harbinger of things to come as it looked like Smith was plopped down in the
middle of the field like an electric football piece. Seriously, for those of you
who caught this game, did you see Smith running the entire time, or like me did
he just "show up" on the screen at the end of Robinson's throw? Brian Brohm
threw for 555 yards, and Harry Douglas had another big game (but he was lost in
the final minute to an undisclosed injury), but when you turn the ball over four
times in addition to eleven penalties and the aforementioned defensive issues,
you're going to have a tough time winning. Even if it is 0-3 Syracuse.
2. Two other teams with porous defenses: Texas
Tech and Oklahoma State.
So, which is worse: you lose a game thanks to 610 yards allowed, even though
your quarterback threw for 646; or you win a game despite allowing 718 yards of
total offense? Apparently, winning the game cures some of the ills, especially
if you're Oklahoma State. Brandon Pettigrew's catch and run into the end zone
(note to Brandon: try not to land directly on your hip the next time you dive
into the end zone without a defender within five yards of you) capped a 49-45
offensive festival that wasn't decided until what would have been Michael
Crabtree's fifteenth catch of the day carrom off of his hands in the end zone
with eleven seconds left on the clock. The fallout: tirades from both coaches (OSU's
Mike Gundy on an article focused on the demotion of QB Bobby Reid in an Oklahoma
City paper; Tech's Mike Leach on his teams play), and Tech defensive coordinator
Lyle Setencich deciding that he'd had enough (or possibly someone deciding for
him that he'd had enough). Setencich will take a new role within the athletic
department, and assistant head coach Ruffin McNeill will be the interim
defensive coordinator. What puzzles me about this game is that both teams had
(and still may have) designs on challenging Texas and Oklahoma at the top of the
Big 12 South. No. Scoring isn't a problem, but when you can't stop anyone, you
don't need to worry about a conference title.
3. After Saturday, I don't know when (or if) Penn
State will beat Michigan again.
Even with 1-2 Michigan struggling on defense, this was seen as a defining game
for Penn State QB Anthony Morelli. He's played well in games the Lions should
win, but the big games for the most part have been an issue for the senior. You
can add the 14-9 loss in Ann Arbor to that list. He threw no interceptions, but
15-31 for 169 and no touchdowns won't get the job done. Michigan did a good job
slowing down Penn State's running game, holding the Lions to 101 yards on the
ground. Without a strong ground game, it became evident that Morelli was unable
to exploit the Michigan secondary. And I don't care how many games Michigan may
end up losing, but at this rate Mike Hart MUST be in New York for the Heisman
proceedings. 44 carries for 153 yards and a touchdown, Hart has carried the
Wolverines all year long. The win is Michigan's ninth straight over Penn State,
and with games coming up against Northwestern (spread offense, but besides RB
Tyrell Sutton the Wildcats don't have the athletes to punish Michigan) and
Eastern Michigan, UM should be 4-2 when Purdue comes calling on October 13th.
4. UCLA bounces back on the legs of Chris Markey
and survives a wild fourth quarter.
Markey lit up Washington for 193 yards rushing, including a 72-yard touchdown
run, in the Bruins' 44-31 win at the Rose Bowl. Why's this a good sign for the
Bruins? In previous seasons, a loss like the 44-6 whipping at Utah last week
would be the beginning of a freefall that would usually result in a record
somewhere around .500. But UCLA, whose next two are at Oregon State (the
Beavers, to be frank, look nothing like the darkhorse that many expected them to
be in the Pac-10 this year), and home against Notre Dame, could be in good shape
heading into their bye week ahead of the October 20th game against Cal. Whenever
Ben Olson comes back, or if Patrick Cowan remains the starter, strong efforts
from Markey and Khalil Bell will be key if the Bruins hope to hover near the top
of the Pac-10. As for the Huskies, for the second straight week the defense
didn't execute well in the second half. This could be a product of their
opposition (Ohio State and UCLA) being too talented or adjusting to their scheme
at halftime, or the Dawgs simply not having the needed depth right now. But that
will come in time.
5. A serious case of brain lock cost Utah State
dearly against San Jose State.
As if giving up the lead on a touchdown with just under one minute left was bad
enough, the Aggies failed to field the subsequent kickoff, and the Spartans were
able to run out the clock for the 23-20 win. After David Richmond's 31-yard
touchdown reception, three Aggies descended upon the short kickoff near
midfield...only to have no one recover the ball. It's bad luck like this that
usually happens to a select few, and USU happens to be one of those programs.
6. Speaking of bad luck following around certain
programs, how about Duke.
The Blue Devils, who managed to put up more than 500 yards of offense on
Saturday at Navy (including 428 passing and four touchdown for QB Thaddeus
Lewis), had a 43-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter. A two-game win streak
for the Devils seemed to be well within reach...until the Midshipmen went on a
run, closing it out with a Joey Bullen field goal as time expired to win 46-43.
Backups at kicker (Bullen) and quarterback (Jarod Bryant) did in the Devils in
the fourth quarter but look at this as a positive for Duke. The Devils can put
some yards (and points) in the board, which could spell doom for someone
overlooking them later this year. But they are competitive, which was hard to
say for most of 2006.
7. When Duke and Notre Dame play on November
17th, Duke could be favored even though they're on the road.
OK, probably not, but that may not be as farfetched as it seemed before the
season started. Despite signs of a pulse from an offense that put up two
touchdowns against Michigan State, Notre Dame still only managed 203 yards of
offense in the 31-14 defeat, the school's first-ever 0-4 start. For the
Spartans, even though he only threw for 135 yards, Brian Hoyer did have four
touchdown passes, a far cry from his play against Pitt the previous week. Back
to Notre Dame, they head to West Lafayette to face one of the nation's most
prolific offenses in Purdue. Luckily for ND, MSU running back Javon Ringer won't
be there. But QB Curtis Painter and WR Dorien Bryant will be in attendance,
making 0-5 a distinct possibility.
8. Don't read too much into Florida struggling at
Ole Miss.
Yes, many (including myself) expected the Gators to go into Oxford and blow away
the Rebels. But the trip to Oxford can be a tricky one for SEC foes. "We may
lose the game, but we won't lose the party" is a popular saying at Ole Miss, and
this could result in visitors sometimes relaxing a little too much. Ed Orgeron's
bunch did compete throughout, but don't look at the 30-24 result as a reason to
take the Gators out of the national title race. Tim Tebow once again got the job
done on the ground and through the air, helping the Gators put up more than 500
yards of offense. But the Rebels can take some things out of this one as well,
especially the play of QB Seth Adams (18-31, 302 yards and two scores). Lee
Corso may be right: there are no bad teams in the SEC.
9. Even after their bad loss at Wyoming, Virginia
is 3-0 in the ACC.
Add the Cavaliers to the list of teams looking to give two quarterbacks playing
time. Incumbent Jameel Sewell was mediocre (at best) in Laramie, allowing
freshman Peter Lalich to see some time under center. Well, looks like Al Groh
and his staff are onto something, and thanks to a 28-23 win over Georgia Tech
lead the Coastal Division at 3-0. Of course, their other two wins are over Duke
and North Carolina, but those were must-wins for the 'Hoos with games against
Wake Forest, Miami and Virginia Tech to end the season. RB Cedric Peerman leads
the ACC in rushing yards so far, but if they want to keep this roll going the
turnovers need to be limited (three on Saturday). Next up is struggling Pitt at
home, and to frank this is the kind of game that conference title hopefuls must
win.
10. If the Heisman is only going to go to a
player on a championship-caliber team, then they need to change the description
of the award.
Believe me, I know the history of the award, how Notre Dame's Paul Hornung is
the only winner to have played on a losing team. The definition of the Heisman
Trophy is that it is given to the "most outstanding college football player".
Nowhere in that statement does it say "must be in the running for a BCS bowl or
conference title". I have no problem with using a team's success as one of the
measuring sticks for who gets the trophy; I just have a problem with people
ruling out certain guys already just because their team has lost a couple of
games. If guys such as Michigan's Mike Hart and Louisville's Brian Brohm
continue on their current pace and are worthy of consideration, then they should
get it. Plain and simple. Handing someone a trophy just because they played on a
championship team when there's a more worthy candidate numbers-wise make little
sense to me. If this is how the voting will go, change the description of the
award to show this. Then again, it's only September, far too early to start up
this Heisman talk. Good night.
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