The Hybrid: Serenity, Peace, Denard, Iowa, Oklahomaby Bobby Loesch on September 19, 2011 at 10:51AM
Welcome to thee ol' college football column. This week, we have my Q&A beef squasher with Boiled Sports (complete with necessary Biggie and Pac references), serenity, and some stellar SEC games Week 3 was everything Week 2 wasn't. And as glorious, if not completely tumultuous, as the Week 2 experience was, Week 3 was a perfectly welcome change of pace. Sure, Iowa's play for 75% of the game against Pitt was majorly dispiriting, but hey, they rallied from down 21 (and 17 in the fourth) to secure the biggest comeback in school history. As exciting and somewhat thrilling as it was, about mid-way into the comeback, it felt pre-ordained. Maybe I was still numb, coming down from the Michigan-Notre Dame game, but damn, it really felt like Pitt was destined to blow that game. What really stuck with me was ESPN's Brian Bennett words: "And as a veteran Pitt watcher, I can tell you that the Panthers specialize in throwing away games they should win." So yeah, Iowa did what they had to do. Great game, and I'm proud of 'em, but my heart's OK. Michigan State got SPARTY NO'd by Notre Dame. And it was all decisive and stuff. Pretty cool. (Hater in the house.) Tennessee-Florida kinda sucked. Maybe I just hate Florida still. Miami (FL)-tOSU was pretty amazing. The Buckeye offense just didn't exist. Outside of complete garbage time, Ohio State didn't pass for a first down once in the game. How crazy is that? Miami's offense wasn't anything special, but I can say they definitively did stuff. You know, like scoring multiple touchdowns. I found the Buckeye loss validating, not because I'm a mega-hater -- in many ways, I very much am -- but because it was cool to feel validated about thinking they were massively over-ranked. Every damn season is the same, there are teams you just *know* won't be ranked in a few weeks (Notre Dame, always, and this year, Ohio State), but you still have to wait for that validation. It's like how Michigan has started the season unranked the last few years, but then they go 3-0 against mostly no one, and people rank them because they're Michigan. Then they screw it up and lose because they are inferior. It's this destined cycle every time. No other sport quite like it. ![]() Back to Ohio State: they really shouldn't see the Top 25 for the rest of the year, but who knows how they'll play once they get their suspended dudes back. QB is definitely a major issue, though. Braxton Miller is still pretty green -- while his athleticism is there, he still needs to learn more of the playbook and exhibit better ball control. Fifth-year senior and 25 (almost 26)-year-old Joe Bauserman gave Ohio State less than nothing in the Miami game. When you're trying to grade epically bad QB performances, one of my favorite gauges is "if you simply punted the ball every time, would it have been better for the team than the QB running the offense?" After going 2/14 for 13 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, 0.9 yards-per-attempt, -3 yards rushing, and throwing the ball away, like, nine times for no treason, that 'punt' option certainly had to be on the table. Plus they showed Bauserman laughing on the side line. tOSU fans were murderous. Miller -- the mobile, cool true freshman -- might have a bright future, but he should probably be Ohio State's present as well. While he did throw a pick and fumble the ball, his 2/4, 22 yards passing, and 32 yards rushing were astronomical compared to Bauserman. I went into the day thinking Bauserman wasn't that bad, but it truly was one of the most dispiriting QB performances I've ever seen. And I'm a Bears fan. Watching the game with suicidal Ohio State fans was difficult and transcendent. FSU-Oklahoma was really fun. The Florida State crowd brought it, the game was somewhat competitive, the defenses were murderous, and in the end, the best team won-won-won. There is very little else one could ask for from a marquee game like that, outside of better health for Florida State's QB1. I'd like to remind everyone right now to get behind Oklahoma, because they could be our best chance to beat the SEC in the national title. THE HYBRID Quick, Selective Hits On The AP Top 25 1) Oklahoma: BOOMER DAMN SOONER. 2) LSU: Going into this season, I foolishly thought LSU was one of those super-flawed offensive teams that would falter when the needed to put points up. While I still somewhat think that, it's possible I vastly under-estimated their defense. This means they may be of an even more annoying mold: the 'team that really, really sucks on offense whose defense is so stubbornly outstanding, they can still win games against other good teams'. These type of teams are what gave us the Chicago Bears vs. the Indianapolis Colts in an actual Super Bowl. The worst. 3) Alabama: They've been a little too quiet this year, no? Is it possible to 'lurk' while being ranked No. 3? I know they beat Penn State last week, and that was supposed to be important, but Penn State mega-sucks to the point where it might fully taint the game's meaning. And it's only Week 3. 'Bama has a real game this week, though. 4) Boise State: Toled-OH NO. 5) Stanford: I think I saw Andrew Luck threw a pick last week. Well, I mean, I didn't *see* it, but I watched a very small portion of the game and heard he had done it. Update: Argh. 6) Wisconsin: Knocking on the Top 5 door! Russell Wilson is about to go "Country Grammar" up in here. Let me in now! Let me in now! 7) Oklahoma State 8) Texas A&M: These two are the same team. Insanely respectable ranking, still no real impression of if they have any chance to succeed. Meanwhile, if we had a BCS 8-team playoff and the season ended today, well, damn, they'd totally be a part of it. 9) Nebraska: Denard gets a lot of love in this column, but I recently saw Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez actually has more rushing yards than him. I'm not sure if that's because Michigan's first game stats were thrown out because of the lightning cancellation game in Week 1, but regardless, it's impressive. Sure, Martinez only has three touchdowns (to two interceptions) and an amazing completion percentage of 48%, but that just makes him cooler in my eyes. The Rajon Rondo of college QBs. And he's still only a sophomore. The real Rajon Rondo of football: the actual Rajon Rondo.10) Oregon: As a spread disciple, it's still really hard to take Oregon's last two weeks of point totals (56 against Missouri State and 69 [haha] against Nevada) seriously after putting up just 27 on LSU (the Tigers defense not withstanding) and 19 against Auburn in last year's national title. But they are the highest ranked one-loss team for a reason. 11) Florida State: Hey, you gave it your best shot. And you kinda-sorta won me over. 12) South Carolina: They really are doing stuff this year. Plus my dad apparently likes them and may or may not be claiming them as his favorite team. 13) Virginia Tech: I might associate black Mike Vick with this school more than I associate any player with any other school. Does someone have a better pick? And if it's something stupid like Peyton Manning and Tennessee, don't bother commenting. 14) Arkansas: Still don't know what they're good at. 15) Florida: Tebow played wide receiver this week?! Bahahahaha. Is there a clip of this? It has to be bad. I'm going to look for a clip, hold on. /looks for clip Found it! Seriously nothing happens, but it's pretty good. Any analysis of the performance, Bleacher Report? Shots fired! 16) West Virginia: This is so great -- the Morgantown Fire Marshal sent a letter to students, telling them not to burn things as WFV gears up for LSU week. This school brings it every week. 17) Baylor: Wait, Baylor is ranked? 18) South Florida: I feel like things have been kinda quiet with the Bulls ever since they beat Notre Dame. You know what that calls for? Real game look up! ... USF plays one ranked team the rest of the year. Excluding Notre Dame (who was ranked at the time but isn't now), West Virginia will be the only ranked team they play all year, as of right now. Horrible. 19) Texas: So my mega-boy Garrett Gilbert was replaced by Case McCoy, who happens to be the brother of my super-boy Colt McCoy? There are a lot of conflicts of interest going on here. 20) TCU 21) Clemson 22) Michigan: ... .... ... RANKED RANKED RANKED RANKED RANKED, HELL YEAH: (The Michigan Wolverines, I assure you with my life, are not the 22nd best team in the entire sport.) ((RANKED RANKED RANKED)) 23) USC 24) Illinois: I am anointing this the most likable Illinois team of all-time. Everybody loves Zook, they have a cool QB, and their defense is the Robin to Russell Wilson's Batman on my college fantasy football (!) team. As a documented and certified player hater -- send me to the damn ball -- of Illini basketball 2004-05, consider this a small step in the apologetic direction from me. I hope this team rolls people and plays an impressive season. I haven't watched them play a ton yet, but it seems like they've got some pieces. 25) Georgia Tech Dropped from rankings: Michigan State (SPARTY, NO!!!!), Ohio State (PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST), Auburn (I spend one week in their corner, and it all comes crashing down -- just amazing...but not as amazing as this headline), Arizona State (later, bro!), Mississippi State Any Sweet Games This Weekend? Saturday San Diego State at Michigan (22): The LIB'RUL MEDIA is going to try to make this game be about Hoke (boring storyline) going against his old team (super boring storyline). To me, this game is about Michigan avenging San Diego State's victory over Washington State last week, which ended their semi-promising season. Argh. Michigan's Ryan Van Bergen called SDSU the "best team [Michigan has] played," which is odd. Arkansas (14) at Alabama (3): An all-business Game of the Week. Oklahoma State (7) at Texas A&M (8): WHAT. My two maybe bad/maybe good/maybe great teams are playing each other this week? This is awesome. I'm making this my personal Game of the Week, if only because it made me so happy. Shih' gon' get sorrrrted out! Florida State (11) at Clemson (21): I mean, Climpson *is* still undefeated, but...well...meh. Colorado at Ohio State: Oh, you sweet, brave Buffs. Keep them pinned down! ![]() Rice at Baylor (17): Seriously, Baylor is ranked? LSU (2) at West Virginia (16): This is probably the majority pick for Game of the Week, but I don't like WFV's chances much. The LSU defense is just too stupid right now. Still a game worth tracking, at least early on. College Football Bandwagon Every
year, once my actual favorite teams (Michigan, Iowa, Washington State) have been eliminated from the national
title picture (by, you know, losing just one game), my buddy Ryan and I
create what we call the "College Football Bandwagon" which mostly
consists of a list of all the undefeated BCS conference teams minus
Notre Dame (and sometimes others). The goal of the CFB is to fake feel good about
yourself when your "team" makes the national title game. Plus it provides invested, fake rooting interests.Down goes Wazzu! But...College Football Bandwagon 2011? Nope. Two of my three squads have peaced, but Michigan is still doing alive like a warm body. They have an easy game this week, then I think two more crappy games, so it's possible I'll have almost two full months of a real college football season before we get this crap goin'. College Fantasy Football Update Down goes 'Denard' (my fantasy team)! 'Denard' burned -- but didn't crash -- this week as the perfect season is now only a dream of the past. Week 3: While Russell Wilson outperformed Crappy Purdue QB by about 30 points and my always reliable Illini D/ST came to play, Michigan's Roy Roundtree and Junior Hemingway gave me a combined 0 points in the WR spot. How is that possible? Meanwhile, my opponent: his Nebraska kicker dropped 15, Iowa WR Keenan Davis dropped 18, and the Michigan D/ST hung up 21 (playing against Eastern Michigan). I lost 88-72.5. This week: Russell and the boys face off against gems like the Illinois kicker, Illinois QB Nathan Scheelhaase (Hybrid hero), the Ohio State defense, annnnnnd no one else I've heard of. I am favored to win by one point. Though the line has somehow fluctuated from me losing by seven to four to now winning by one point. The action must be heavy for my team in Vegas. ![]() Haha, easiest schedule in the league. Big Ten Rant Before we go back and forth with the Purdue guys, I'd like to give the intro to the immortal Brian Cook at mgoblog (here's him giving a rundown of his podcast this week): The Big Ten has gone from suck to blow. There are no games in the league this week. Seriously, the most interesting matchups are M-SDSU and OSU-Colorado. So we take the opportunity to hit up Jamie for a State of the Big Ten. That state is "not good at football."He's the best. * * * My Q&A with Boiled Sports finally went down this week. Despite them thinking I was a provoking asshole (my words, not theirs), me thinking they were self-serious smuggos, and some childish name-calling being thrown around on Twitter (think: male genitalia), I'd like to think we hashed things out pretty well. Cue the GD Biggie/Pac picture. WHO SHOT YA?Let's do this. On your Twitter handle, I notice you sometimes use terms like "we" and "our". Are there multiple people involved with the account?
BoiledSports: Purdue 1-0 IU 0-1 UND 0-1 bobbystompy: You've gotta be kidding me, talking smack like that when you barely beat MTSU. BoiledSports: That's a fact, not talking smack. bobbystompy: The "fact" defense! Gotta love it. Regardless, congrats on ownin' the state. BoiledSports: Is it okay we're happy with a win and rivals losing? I mean, do we have your permission? bobbystompy: If congratulating you wasn't enough, I'm really not sure what else is left to do. BoiledSports: Oh, my bad. It was almost as if you were being sarcastic. Which you were. bobbystompy: If you're gonna be that kind of crazy, I'm done. BoiledSports: How are we being crazy? Being excited our team won and our rivals lost? Okay, guilty then. bobbystompy: I'm trying to straight up give you props, and it's turned into this disbelief of my sincerity. I said and meant what I said. Now that we can shed the textual constraints of Twitter, what will it take to prove to you I was being sincere? As to your sincerity, if you can't see how we could have taken 'Congrats on owning the state' as a snarky comment, well....I think we both can see how that could be viewed that way. So yes, I fully accept your insistence that you were being sincere as long as you admit you can understand how your tweets could be construed as...less than sincere. Fair? (Note: if that's not fair, that's fine, too.)
Ranking? Above IU and Northwestern. Arguably better than Illinois. Probably below all the others. Purdue also did a home and home with USC during the Tiller years and went TO Hawaii when Colt Brennan was there and Hawaii cutely thought they were Boise. So, you know, I wouldn't say they only play softies like, oh, say Georgia. Tier One (weighing a little too heavily on history so I can unfairly include Michigan here): Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska Tier Two: Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State Tier Three: Minnesota, Indiana Do you think Purdue has a better chance to move up or down in the next five years? Purdue is at a dangerous tipping point. The ship needs to be righted fast or else recruiting suffers, the hole gets deeper and they sink downward. We're very concerned about this very thing right now. Wait, what? No, I meant -- ah, dammit. Seriously, though, I hope this exchange changed/improved your view of Boilermakers in general. What They Said -- A Take On Others' CFB Takes - Klosterman wrote about some random CFB game for Grantland. I didn't actually read the story, but I read the first four paragraphs, and they ruled. - I wanted to use this headline in the Top 25 section for Auburn, and only if they won, but since they lost *and* are out of the section, I'll have to use it here. An amazing tweet from Doc Saturday during the Auburn loss last week: And Auburn's Trovon Reed just fielded and proceeded to run a Clemson punt out of his own end zone. Tackled at the four.Imagine if they won that game. - No Iowa State game to talk about in the ASGTW section, but I still have to send out a best wishes to my boy, Cy. Random Picture I Came Across While Googling Stuff For This Post The 2Pac (me) of the Boiled Sports/Bobby dialogue will be putting on some Biggie (Boiled Sports) and heading to Cali and AZ from tonight through Sunday to watch -- /super gasp -- *four* different baseball games in four days (Dodgers, Angels, Pads, D-Backs). Yes. I know. I hate myself more than you hate me. But Dodgers Stadium is my favorite, so I know that's a lock to be sweet. No idea what the college football viewing situation will be, but I've got some stuff on DVR, worst case scenario. Thanks again to Boiled Sports for coming on and helping us all sort things out. If y'all ever need anything from me or anyone from the staff of TUP, let me know. Ryan Van Bergen sez: "Levitate, Ben Chappell!"Wrapping It Up... Denard. Bobby Loesch is the assistant editor of Tremendous Upside Potential. He can be reached at bobbyloesch [at] gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobbystompy. |
"I might associate black Mike Vick with this school more than I associate any player with any other school. Does someone have a better pick?" -- Ray Lewis and U of Miami. ... What? You think I'm biased. ... Who me? Never!
While I think there's a better example than BMike Vick, Lewis? Come onnnn. He's so B'more.
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