Week 14 Musings Continued

Yikes...never did post this....sorry.

OK....here I am watching this stupid Illinois game at all hours of the night, and I am reminded once again of how mind numbingly stupid most football coaches are. The big surprise is that I am not even going to talk about the Zooker or Less Miles or Bill Stewart. There is a new kid on the black, who can out-meathead the rest of the meatheads. That meathead is Pat Hill, Fresno State head coach. Consider: You are up 19-17 in the 3rd quarter. You score a TD to make it 25-17. Great!! An extra point makes it 26-17, a 9 point lead and a 2 possession game! Whoo, it was a nailbiter there, but now you have some breathing room. except you don't have breathing room because this imbecile went for 2 so he could be up 10, since that it a more tidy score I suppose. Well, now when you don't get the conversion, you are only up 8, and it's still a 1 possession game. Also, even if the other team scores and misses the two point conversion, you still are up only 2, and can lose on a FG. That may have been the worst coaching decision I've seen all year, and in the year of the Dooley/Miles idiot slap fight to the death, that's saying something.

But he didn't stop there. Up 25-23 with about 3 minutes left, he's faced with a 4th down and 1 at midfield. Any moron with any sense at all punts if a FG beats you there. He's facing a Big Ten team whose strength is stopping the run, and he's playing a slender backup running back. His QB has been shredding the Illinois pass D all game. So what does he do? He goes for it. Even worse, he calls a line plunge with the previously mentioned scrub running back. Luckily for him, after his RB stumbled into the line and got blasted for no gain, some idiot line judge marked the ball a full yard ahead of where he was tackled and the leaky faucet replay official didn't have the gonads to overturn the call, so it worked out for him, bringing about a meathead fist pump when the measurement indicated a first down. They subsequently milked the clock down to 20 seconds, since Zook had to rightly use one of his timeouts to challenge the spot and won the game. He should have single handedly lost that game for his kids. Now he'll probably be called some sort of gutsy riverboat gambler. The kind of guy who hits on a 20. As if stupidity should be celebrated.

Speaking of stupidity, what in the hell is going on with this Cam Newton thing? The NCAA rule states that if it's detemines that a player or any family member or representative asked for money in order to commit somewhere, he's ineligible. The NCAA stated that they believe that Cecil Newton asked for money. Cam Newton is still playing. What am I missing here? Apparently, the NCAA concluded that Cam knew nothing of any silicitation of cash by his father. Even if anyone was so thoroughly naive enough to believe that, it doesn't make any difference. Even worse, in the wake of the announcement, was this statement by new NCAA President Mark Emmert (I'm paraphrasing here):

"We recognize that many people are outraged at the notion that a parent or anyone else could 'shop around' a student-athlete and there would possibly not be repercussions on the student-athlete's eligibility," Emmert said in a statement on the NCAA's website. Emmert added that he's committed to "further clarifying and strengthening our recruiting and amateurism rules so they promote appropriate behavior by students, parents, coaches and third parties." He also said the NCAA will "work aggressively with our members to amend our bylaws so that this type of behavior is not a part of intercollegiate athletics."

So guess what...parents, it's open season. Get your loot now, just make sure you don't tell your student athelete about it, or at least make it appear that the kid doesn't know anything. It's a good racket. Just make sure you do it now, because they are eventually going to "amend the bylaws" soon.6-7 last week. 73-86-6 is the record.

1. Auburn -4 1/2(betus) v South Carolina: I really hope that the ball coach wins this one, because I don't want Auburn to win. I'll just leave it at that rather than getting into a diatribe about the multitude of reasons for this. I think Auburn will win this mostly because of their offense...I just don't think that South Carolina can stop Newton from scoring TDs, especially late The first game at Auburn was close, but by the end of the game, SC couldn't do anything to stop Auburn's run. In this one, both teams struggle to sto the pass, and I don't think that there's any doubt that Spurrier will scheme some ways to get some big plays i the passing game, especially with Auburn so geared up to stop Marcus Lattimore. But at the end of the day, even if South Carolina is up late, I just don't see SC getting any stops against them. In the first game, SC had a great situationsl advatage,(coming off a game with Furman while Auburn played an emotional OT game against Clemson). Now the situation isn't as favorable and Auburn has the MNC carrott in front of them. I was close to leaning SC here, but in the end, I can't see Auburn losing this game, and 4 1/2 isn't enough to expect a cover on an outright loss. I'll be rooting for SC, though.

2. @Washington State +6 v Washington: A couple of sad sack teams here, but Wazzou has looked much better as the season has gone along, and completely dominated Oregon St in their last game. They have had 2 weeks off and Washington played a tough game last week against Cal. The Cougs can make their season by winning and thus keeping Washington out of a bowl. I think that motivation and their improved play will be enough in this one, plus, Washington, like Wazzou, can't stop anyone on defense, and the Cougs have been pretty competent lately on offense.

3. Florida State +4 v Virginia Tech: I just got it at 4 at Bodog. The world is expecting Virginia tech to roll in this one, but if you closely look at the matchups, outside of assuming a turnover avalanche to benefit VT, I think most of the edges are with FSU. The Noles have been solid in almost all phases, especially defensively. VT on the other hand, while solid against the pass, has had trouble stopping any competent running game, ranking 92nd in the country in ypc against. FSU has been able to run effectively in almost every game, and I can see the Noles gringing things out inthis one much like they did against Miami, who has a superior defense overall to VT. VT's strength has been the passing game, but they have struggled at times to keep Tyrod Taylor upright, and FSU is 2nd inthr country in sacks. To me, this looks like a very favorable matchup for FSU, and they are the ones getting the points.

4. Nebraska +4 1/2 v Oklahoma: I should probably have my head examined for making this play, because previous experience might tell you that there is no way in hell that the Big 12 is letting Nebraska and the psychopathic Pellini brothers out of Jerry's World with that trophy. I really want to see it though. Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe added his name this week to the list of gutless sympathy hounds by claiming that he and people in his office have gotten death threats from Nebraska fans due to the recent questionable referee calls in their games. I really hate when people do that, especially when the guy in question is supposed to be above the fray. Rather than go to the authorities, though, Beebe instead runs to the waiting arms of the college football media, who then heroically make the courageous decision to attack the unnamed lunatic finge of a fanbase. Boy, that takes guts. Not like "crazy internet fans" isn't an east target. http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/26127215. I don't know about anyone else, but this article made me want to puke. By the way, no authorities have been contacted by Dan Beebe about any death threats, so if he's really concerned about actual death threats, he's doing his family a disservice. http://www.omaha.com/article/20101202/BIGRED/712029770/-1#notes-dallas-police-say-no-investigation-of-beebe-threats. Fuck him. Anyway, back to the game. Nebraska's defense will be the best one that Oklahoma has faced, similar to Texas, who completely shut OU down for the majority of their game. Offensively, Taylor Martinez is questionable, both in his status for the game and his character, but I don't think it really matters who is playing QB for them. Rex Burkhead has been doing a great job in the Wildcat when they've used him there, and Cody Green is capable. Oklahoma will not be able to run the ball, and I think Nebraska will. This will be a very motivated Nebraska team who will be spitting nails in an us against the world type outlook. Even though I'm expecting bad calls against Nebraska, I can't truly believe that the Big 12 will go so far as to assure a loss for Nebraska. If it's an even playing field, I think nebraska wins this one.

5. UCONN +2 1/2 @South Florida: Uconn has a chance to go to a BCS game if they win. They might want to just go ahead and lose, because the uproar from the media at the prospect of them playing in a BCS game will end up bringing them more ridicule than anything else. Screw the media though. We all know the Big East sucks...give it a rest. UConn is coming off 4 straight wins after a shutout loss to Louisville that had everyone assuming Uconn was done. They relish the underdog role, while USF, who doesn't have a whole lot to play for, strugggles in the favorite's role. The only offensive facet of wither one of these teams that's worth a shit is UConn's running game. Jordan Todman figures out ways to grind out yards, and he'll probably do it here as well. Otherwise, the defenses have the big edge in every other facet. I'll take the points with UConn here as they try to make their first trip to the BCs under Edsall.

Others: Leaning toward SMU +9, in the CUSA title game at UCF. These two teams are pretty statistically similar and this game seems to feature an upset almost every year, much like the MAC title game, which held to form last night. Poor Huskies. Now they don't get to return to the Detroit ghetto in 3 weeks to play Florida International, and are stuck going somewhere like San Diego or Mobile. I can see why they are so distraught.....Nevada faces the ultimate letdown situation, having to travel all the way to Ruston, La to play La tech, who is normally a tough out at home. The spread also looks mysteriously low (8). Bad combination: Fishy line, terrible situation for the road favorite, live dog, 75%+ of the public on Nevada. Not sayin, I'm just sayin. I'll be on LT for the heck of it....Matt Barkley is back for USC, so they should be able to handle UCLA in a somewhat short line at the Rose Bowl(6). You all know what I think about UCLA, an it might be time to ponder the possibility that their defense might be as bad as their offense, a frightening proposition. If Kiffin loses this one, another plum job might come open Monday morning. Or maybe even early Sunday morning. Pat haden is like a Pavlovian dog waiting to fire that asshole. ....That's it....take care!!!