Apparently the Oklahoma basketball team benefited from a well-documented bad call in a basketball game a few years back. What goes around comes around. It's a shame those woobs at OU don't realize it goes around to everybody sooner or later.
I've always liked OU football. Somewhere, though, they've gone from a top-shelf program with one of the richest traditions in college football, to a bunch of crybabies. Yeah, they got a bad call. But if they didn't have such a pussy-defense, they wouldn't have given up all those points, bad call or not. Now they are threatening to cancel a game with Washington in a couple of years if they don't get to pick the officials. Do they really think they are the only team to ever loose because of a bad call? It's a fucking football game, for god's sake. I say let the pussies cancel. Little Bobby Stoops is a crybaby. He's infected the entire Sooner nation. RIP OU football.
Haven't felt much like writing today. I had to take dog number two to the vet for his bordetella injection. I guess that sort of threw me off my doing absolutely nothing stride. I still did absolutely nothing, but I never got into a rhythm. Additionally I took some Benadryl this morning and I've been is a sort of fuge state most of the day.
Moving right along to college football. I thought West Virginia looked pretty good last night. They have a crappy defense, and I don't think they'll be able to run against a first rate defense, but they are probably a legitimate top-10 team. Louisville will probably beat them. Louisville will probably loose to Miami this weekend, so I don't think we need to worry about a team from the Big East screwing up the BCS this year. Additionally I look for Nortre Dame to beat Michigan rather handily. Oklahoma should ground Oregon into a paste. Nebraska has no chance against USC, unless all the bad Bush press throws them off their game. Am I leaving someone out?
I finally dug out the DirecTV manual and read the paragraph on troubleshooting. I reset the box thing, per its direction, and haven't had anymore trouble out of it since. So maybe DirecTV isn't as big a POS as I was thinking this time last week.
I've neglected this blog for the better part of a week. Mostly I've been hanging out in Wordpress land. It's a great community, but there's something about blogger that keeps me coming back here, even if it isn't regularly.
Anyway, there are big games to pronosticate, and that's what I'm going to do. The biggest game in the country this week is LSU at Auburn. I've pretty much considered it a toss up, at least until late last night. Then it dawned on me what the difference would be. Auburn's big, veteran offensive line will take advantage of LSU's less experienced front, which will allow Auburn to control the game with their ground attack. It should be a good game, but not as close as most people think. Auburn 31, LSU 21.
The other big game is Florida at Tennessee. Conventional wisdom seems to be that Tennesee's opening game blowout of a talented Fornia team was a fluke. Not so. Last week's close game with Air Force was the fluke. Tennessee was suffering from big-headedness after reading the press concerning their dismantiling of Cal. Additionally, they were looking ahead to Florida, which has become the biggest game on their schedule year in and year out. Tennessee will expose, once and for all, the weakness of Urban Meyer's offensive scheme in a conference of great athletes. I'm not that worried about the injuries on the Vols' side either. They are always deep. Tennessee 38, Florida 24.
I'm watching 267 pound tailback Brandon Jacobs punish Colts defenders. He reminds me of the embarrassment of riches Auburn enjoyed at tailback a few years ago where Jacobs was third string behind Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown. He transferred from Auburn in quest of playing time!
Troy University scared the be-Jesus out of Bobby Bowden and his Florida State seminoles last night. Whether Florida State is over-rated, or Bowden is slipping, is anybody's guess. Never-the-less, it's surprising to me that Bobby would allow his Seminoles to be surprised by the Troy Trojans. The Trojans, afterall, are simply using a play out of the book Bowden used to build Florida State into a national power.
Back in the '70s and '80s Bowden took the Florida State show on the road. At first, and like Troy, they were virtually unheard of and frequently mauled by national powers. All that changed after a few years, though, and by the time the 90s rolled around Florida State didn't have to go on the road. Nobody would have played them had they offered to bring their powerful show to town. Troy is embarking on the same path Bowden blazed. Look for many upsets from Troy in the near-future. Look for Troy to be a national power in the not-too-distant future.
Rowdy Ohio State students rampaged in Columbus after the Buckeyes football victory over Texas. This is embarrassing for the state of Ohio and anyone affiliated with the university. It's seems strange because their program, on the surface and last night at least, was the essence of class.
Texas vs. Ohio State is a coin toss in my opinion. There's just no telling how good either is. They haven't played anybody. I have a hunch Texas has the edge, athlete wise. Ohio State definitely has the superior coach. Whoever wins tonight will be in the driver's seat to lose to USC in the national title game.
UPDATE: Texas has tied the Buckeyes just before the half. They wouldn't have, though, without a terrible call by the Big 10 refs. An Ohio State tackle nailed Texas' quarterback, hard but clean, just after he got the ball away for an incompletion. I just saw it again. It may not be so much a terrible call, as a terrible rule. It was a helmet to helmet, but there was nothing else the Ohio State guy could have done. He just ran over the quarterback. He didn't lower his helmet or anything. Damn. The mandatory penalty on helmet to helmet contact is stupid.
UPDATE: It's 17-7 and it's over. Ohio State is loaded! All bets are off for the pending title game with the Trojans. The Buckeyes will certainly be more battle hardened, having played a much tougher schedule. I've always hated the Buckeyes, and all Big-10 teams, but their brilliant coach has made a fan of me. Jim Tressel is a class act.
Here's how it's supposed to go, at least when 'Bama is where they like to be. At halftime, it's Alabama 7, Vanderbilt 0. Vanderbilt should have negative yardage, no first downs, all that. The final should be something like 21-7, with Vanderbilt scoring their only touchdown late in the game against 'Bama's third string.
The score, in reality, is Vandy 10, Alabama 3, at halftime in Tuscaloosa. The game looks very even. Alabama has turned the ball over a couple of times. There's no reason to think 'Bama won't get them late, but there's no reason to think 'Bama is anything other than a very mediocre football team, not nearly as good as last year. If Vanderbilt manages to beat them, 'Bama has real problems. It'll be a long, painful season.
In reality, no one should expect more. This is their first class in years without scholarship reductions. It's too early to get on Shula. Next year they need to be better. If Shula hasn't beaten Auburn by then, the rednecks will run him off. I look for the Tide to be back in the 2008 season. Not all the way back, but pretty damn close. Whether Mike Shula will lead them back to glory remains to be seen.
It's been difficult for me to get into this. Actually, I've been depressed, and it's only now abating to the point that I might be able to string a couple of coherent sentences together. The long weekend, the new dog, the fate of the world, and my own plight were all weighting me down, but I'm better now.
So, what's been happening in the Outskirts of Reality?
