Friday, October 03, 2008

Week 5 Review/Week 6 Preview

better late than never....

Week 5 Review:
Well, um, Iowa crawled into a cave and handed a sure win to the smart kids from the North Shore suburbs. This one hurt, one of the most painful, gut-kicked, optimism-killing losses of recent memory. I've lost faith in this coaching staff. We need change. I'm not smart enough to know if that means Kirk, or Parker, or probably O'Keefe. But damn, who turns a 17-3 second quarter lead at home into a 22-17 loss to fricking Northwestern?

It's enough to make me give up religion and start going to the Church of Rick Astley.

All glory and praise to the guy who runs this website.

In happier news, Notre Dame finally looked like a complete team in dismantling Purdue. That was the (nearly) total performance we've been waiting for since the Brady Quinn era ended. If the kids play like that all year, we'll be just fine.

Nationally, three of the top four teams lost. A playoff is foolishness. The regular season IS the playoff in college football.

Jayson Stark-esque Stat of the Week: Ohio scored 50 points over three straight weeks (Ohio St, Directional Michigan, N'western), so of course they scored 51 in the very next game (Virginia Military Institute).

Pick 6-ing: Florida's inexplicable loss to Ole Miss (yes, Ole Miss!) dropped TM in the points standings. Quigley had a double whammy with Tigers (Clemson) losing to Testudo (Maryland) and the inevitable loss of his own team (Illini) to his own team (Penn State, who is starting to look scary good against actual competition). Meanwhile, slight increases by three of my teams couldn't offset Wake Forest's loss to Navy, so I lost points as well.


I'm closing the gap, but not exactly how I planned it.

Week 6 Preview:

ND faces the Tree and its Catholic-hating, un-invited band. They've had one good win (Oregon St), and then won the two they shoulda won and lost the two they shoulda lost. I think we'll be fine, if we play like we did in the Michigan/Purdue games.

Iowa prepares to get run over by the Ringer. He doesn't play QB for a Top 5 team, so according to the bylaws of the Downtown Athletic Club, Javon Ringer cannot win or be considered for the Heisman Trophy. However, week in and week out he proves he's one of most outstanding players in the country. Iowa's D will likely hold him in check for 3.5 quarters, at which point exhaustion will set in, and he'll finish with 150 or so yards en route to a 28-10 type win. I mean, c'mon. We scored 17 points, at home, vs. a smart school. I do not think we'll suddenly turn into Missouri or Texas Tech in our first conference road game.

Speaking of the XII:

Nebraska fans, your Bugeaters laid an egg against your first real foe, Va. Tech. Husker Larry wrote me: "I still feel confident NU is on the right track, but it's going to take longer than any of us thought. ... After watching us, I think it will be a struggle to get the six wins needed for a bowl. We just aren't a very good team. The talent slipped way too far for this to be fixed quickly. ... As for this weekend, I imagine Mizzou will hang 50 or more on us."

Sorry Husker reader(s), this week I'm replacing Herbie Husker with crazy pirate coach Mike Leach. Here, he offers his dating tips:



Pick 6ing: OSU at Wisconsin looms as an exciting night game. Auburn at Vanderbilt is suddenly important, with both teams ranked. Texas leaves the Republic for the first time to take on Ralphie in the mountains--they should be fine. South Florida already shit the bed last night against the unranked Wannstache...it's like he's on a mission to ruin my 2008 college football season. Cal looks for a little redemption against Arizona State, in that long climb back to the Top 25.

Other Pick Sixers of note: Mizzou (TM) @ Neb, and two winnable Big Ten road games for the kitty: Illinois @ Meech and PSU @ Purdue. Ball St. should (ought to, not guaranteed) absolutely crush Toledo, who lost 35-16 to Florida International (the team that took whuppings of 40-10 and 42-0).

Maryland is on the edge of the Top 25, and would likely get in with a win over super-hapless Virginia (1-3, lost to Duke 31-3!!) and a loss by anyone in the lower echelons. Look for Ohio to clamp up defensively against a poor W. Michigan team, and get their second win.

Enjoy the games! I'll be on the couch from about 11am to 11pm.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The Tree giving a dirty look to someone at ESPN throwing away paper when there is a recycling bin is right there... CLASSIC!

Scott Mortimer said...

Where's the compelling Major League Baseball playoff talk?