Warning: not all posts will be this dry and redundant (and redundant). As the season goes on and we find out who’s actually any good, the coverage will turn to the story behind the story.
Last week’s action…
Oregon State beat Utah 24-7 in Corvallis – The Beavs looked unimpressive in the win over the Utes, sloughing through the game despite Utah missing its quarterback for much of the contest. Oregon State was incredibly focused and effective down the stretch last season, culminating in the 39-38 no-time-left win in the Sun Bowl. The only exception was a flopover loss against UCLA at the Rose Bowl.
Receiver Sammy Stroughter’s soap opera continues as he grieves in the loss of unnamed family members. The Beavers missed his production and new quarterback Sean Canfield looked shaky. Mike Riley had better get this ship tightened up before the Pac-10 schedule begins.
Washington won 42-12 at Syracuse – First the good: Jake Locker’s debut was masterful. The homegrown quarterback ran and threw like a white Vince Young. The team made very few mistakes and didn’t let a weak ‘Cuse offense get into the game in its own house. The defensive line was dominant.
Now the bad: it was against Syracuse. Syracuse quite frankly stinks and is probably worse on Day One of the season than the recently-famed Appalachian State. The Orange (who forced that stupid name change?) couldn’t protect the passer and couldn’t stop the UW running game. The biggest problem was continuing the offensive gameplan when it was clear the passing sets were failing.
Not a red-letter victory, but without doubt a trend-upwards win the Husky fans can feel good about. Boise State just got a bit more worried about next week’s game.
Washington State @ Wisconsin – The Badgers won 42-21, but the story behind the story is how WSU’s offense went right down the field on its first two drives, showing great run-pass balance. More than once, WSU downfield runners reversed field and left the Wisconsin defenders grasping for air.
After taking a quick lead, WSU dried up offensively, lacking the explosiveness to keep the pressure on, and wilted in the face of the Badger power running game. The nail went in the coffin when the Cougars punted with under a minute to go in the first half, then got a penalty tacked onto the return. Wisconsin got a deep pass into the end zone for a two-touchdown lead and the rest was just for show.
Cougar quarterback Alex Brink, the most experienced passer in the Pac-10, really showed his skills. He has a quick release when the routes are open, and used his mobility to buy time and make completions. Wisconsin appeared as advertised, with a big offensive line that will wear down opponents and a functional, efficient passing attack.
To keep track of the Apple Cup matchup, Washington State showed it has a greater diversity of weapons than Washington. WSU’s defense couldn’t hold up against a prototypical Big Ten offense with a huge offensive line, but Washington’s defense benefited from an untalented Syracuse offense sticking with its failing gameplan and not adjusting to the Husky pass rush.
Wisconsin is a much tougher opponent than Syracuse, so I would call it a draw so far.
A note on these games: In the process of claiming Michigan’s loss to Appalachian State “showed the Big Ten was the weakest BCS conference,” Neil Berman of Your Sports NightCap buttressed his argument by suggesting that Wisconsin struggled with a weak WSU team. He further suggested that UW’s win over Syracuse somehow showed more positives for UW than hanging in at a very tough Wisconsin venue showed about WSU. My analyses above speak for themselves, but as a reminder, it’s really too early to draw many conclusions other than that WSU can throw and UW’s quarterback can run.
UCLA won at Stanford, 45-17 – in the debut of Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh, the home team went to 0-7 in its new stadium. We didn’t learn much about Stanford that we didn’t already know – the wide receivers can be dangerous, the defensive line is thin, and the defensive backs lack top-flight talent. That being said, Stanford’s only shot to win this one was to take advantage of UCLA mistakes. Except for two missed field goals, the Bruins didn’t make any.
I thought UCLA looked slightly overrated. Their defense sure didn’t play like a top-ten unit and QB Ben Olson is no Alex Brink.
Cal beat Tennesse 45-31 in Berkeley – Head-case quarterback Erik Ainge got along pretty well with a busted pinky on his throwing hand, but ultimately the offense didn’t have the strength, speed or guts to get on top of Cal.
The mythologic “SEC speed” on defense got totally outclassed. The Golden Bears ran over, through and around Tennessee and scored their first three touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams. Philip Fulmer stupidly punted to DeSean Jackson, the most dangerous player in the west, who broke four tackles en route to a spectacular touchdown.
Except for a period where Tennessee scored 10 points and pulled within a touchdown, Cal dominated the game. They were not afraid to hit the Vols in the mouth and make huge revenge statement after last year’s flop in Knoxville.
Oregon beat Houston, 48-27 in Eugene – this was a game (34-27) until the end of the third quarter. The teams combined for 52 first downs and almost 700 rushing yards. I didn’t see the game so I’m not going to speculate on possible defensive weaknesses, but the huge yardage put up by the Cougars should give any Duck fan pause.
Oregon is in very dangerous territory – happy from a win, the Ducks take their balanced offense to Michigan this weekend, in what could be the most hostile case of rebound victory in history.
BYU 20, Arizona 7 – The Sonny Dykes super-charged offense fell flat in Tucson as the Cougars ran up a 20-0 lead. Willie Tuitama went 26-for-36, but Arizona had to punt eight times and had seven penalties to go with 32 net rushing yards. Now that the heat is officially on Mike Stoops, the Wildcat offense, horrible for years, has the entire staff’s jobs around its neck. Is it basketball season yet?
Arizona State 45, San Jose State 3 – Spartans coach Dick Tomey, the man Arizona should never have let go, couldn’t work much offensive magic without his top two tailbacks. Dennis Erickson’s debut with the Sun Devils saw 520 yards in total offense to the Spartans’ 115.
The schedule doesn’t make it easy for San Jose State – their four-game road trip goes next to Kansas State (who hung tough at Auburn last Saturday), an improving Stanford squad and Utah State. Back-to-back road games at Fresno State and Boise State might all but kill the Spartans’ chances of repeating their 9-4 2006 record. This might be a case of a better team with a poorer record.
USC 38, Idaho 10 – Is there anything to say but we saw this one coming? USC beats season-opening opponent; not news. One thing USC has to work on is finding a tailback they can depend on. The by-committee approach got the job done last season, but they need a LenDale White guy to put in to get the tough yards.
John David Booty has done a fine enough job at quarterback, but with a second trip through the Pac-10 schedule and the loss of USC’s best receivers, I expect we might see something of a slump from him.
…and other games of interest:
TCU (plays Stanford on Oct 13) beat Baylor, 27-0 – Baylor ain’t good, but they’re not the doormat they used to be. I’m impressed with the focus of this win with Texas coming up next week. Star DE Tommy Blake (no relation to UCLA DE Tom Blake) did not play due to an unspecified injury. Horned Frogs go to Texas next weekend. The Longhorns underwhelmed and got outgained in their win over Arkansas State. Texas’ starting receiver opposite Limas Sweed is serving a three-game suspension, although he was supposedly injured anyway. Either way, Texas had better get it together or they’ll be the next poster child for early-season victories that propel mid-major teams to BCS dark horses (see: Oregon State-Boise State, Utah-Texas A&M).
Notre Dame (plays USC and Stanford) got pounded by Georgia Tech, 33-3 – The Ramblin’ Wreck didn’t care who was in at quarterback, although Notre Dame tried all three options. The running-quarterback offense, which had not been successful since the late-90’s Jarious Jackson era, was a failure against the Jackets’ swarming D (two fumbles set up GT scores) run by one of the best defensive minds in the game. In the tradition of Ron Powlus and Brady Quinn, Weis has named freshman Jimmy Clausen the starter to get him a jump on the tradition of four years of under-center overration. (This could be a huge mistake come September 15, given Michigan's total inability to stop running quarterbacks.)
This was the kind of game that got Tyrone Willingham on the hot seat and eventually fired. Yet, Charlie Weis held another passive-aggressive press conference flagellating himself for having the team unprepared, and all was forgiven. The media spent all of August saying Notre Dame would lose 6 games – Weis is Teflon this season.
Tashard Choice’s 196 yards on the ground punctuated the dominance, in Notre Dame’s house no less. (Michigan might want to think about handing the ball off on every play in two weeks.) Recently, only Michigan in 2006 and Purdue in 2004 have hung home defeats on Notre Dame with this much ferocity.
Cool stat of the week: Colorado quarterback Cody Hawkins hasn’t lost a game in his 60 career starts, covering youth ball, high school and now his first college start. He’s also head coach Dan Hawkins’ kid and put in a sterling comeback performance in one of the more underrated intrastate rivalries. (Hat tip: Sunday Morning Quarterback)
The Fulsome Files
Disgusting Excess in Sports Journalism
ESPN’s
While a sweet presentation, it completely ignored the results on the field – an inconsistent but dangerous program under Paul Pasqualoni has become one of the worst teams in Division I-A football under Robinson. Talent and a tough Big East is certainly part of it, but in the place of Pasqualoni’s multiple and adaptable offensive philosophy, Robinson installed a “West Coast” system they don't have the personnel to operate. I know a slick passing game is seen as some kind of zenith of football sophistication, but for heaven's sake, run something you can run.
Leave the memory of the dead with some dignity. Virginia Tech re-centering around a football game after a mentally disturbed student killed 32 people was a feel-good story. (The lackluster performance put in by the Hokie offense was a bit more hair-raising.) But the hours and hours of ESPN runup, retrospective packages, SportsCenter references and on and on got to be a bit much. It’d be a damn shame if a campus tragedy turned into a marketing device for a football team, but that’s close to how ESPN has been using it.
The old names were just fine. The media has rolled over in using the terms “Football Bowl Subdivision” and “Football Championship Subdivision” that replaced “I-A” and “I-AA” in NCAA parlance. They sound ridiculous, FCS and FBS being bandied about. I have to mentally expand the acronyms to remember which is which.
I don’t understand why the change was necessary, except possibly to avoid mixing I-AA football up with its D-II sister (I have noticed a lot of confusion among fans between Div I-AA and Div II). But it would have been just as well to call the two sides I-A and I-B.
I suspect also the NCAA may be upset about its lack of oversight of I-A’s bowl and BCS postseason, and executed the Orwellian language to subtly suggest a perceived illegitimacy of the I-A national championship. (Fear not, the merits of the I-A title system will be meticulously discussed on P10BH throughout the season. A warning, though – if you’re hoping for an exhaustive set of pro-playoff arguments, you should prepare to look elsewhere.)
Floppycock of the Week candidates
A floppycock is a very special designation – one who is unreliable, flakes out, doesn’t follow through or otherwise abdicates responsibility in a way that shames his own respect. It is distinct from terms like a**hole, coward, damn fool, sad sack, and screwup. It is reserved for those whose true occupational impotence is put on stark display.
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, for putting a woefully unprepared Wolverine team on the field in the most embarrassing event in Michigan football history, then appearing bored in the postgame press conference. The performance continued a trend of lame Michigan performances against out-of-conference opponents large and small and magnified longstanding uncorrected issues with Michigan’s passing game, special teams and defensive strategy.
Syracuse coach Greg Robinson, for force-fitting a pro passing game onto an offensive personnel group unable to run it, and for now switching when the Husky defensive line was teeing off in the pass rush. And for letting his team wear those god-awful orange-on-orange uniforms. (I know the team nickname is the Orange, but seriously…)
And the winner is…Greg Robinson, whom not even an ESPN love-in could save on Friday. He’s the wrong guy for the job and should be gone by December if the ‘Cuse AD has the guts to sack the guy he hired barely three years ago.
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