Stacking The HAM Up High: Week Nine National Recap
by Peter Gray on Oct 31, 2011 9:25 AM EDT
in Football
Email
Print
Week Nine, thanks for bringing the crazy to the table. This week featured not one but two undefeated teams making their exit from the national title race, and a third going to triple overtime in order to preserve their unblemished record. That leaves us with only six undefeated teams: Alabama, LSU, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Boise State and Houston. Either Alabama or LSU is guaranteed to lose next week, and Stanford and OSU still have yet to play their toughest opponents. The picture is becoming clearer.
Games of Note
(4) Stanford Cardinal @ (20) USC Trojans
Final Score: Stan 56 - USC 48 (3OT)
For as much as USC has fallen off from their form of a few years ago, they still have tons of top end talent. That talent was on full display last night, as the Trojans gave Andrew Luck and Stanford one hell of a scare before losing in triple overtime. Both Luck and USC's Matt Barkley threw for three touchdowns and an interception, but Luck also had a touchdown on the ground.
A common complaint about Stanford thus far has been that they haven't really played anyone, and that its hard to judge a team based on that level of competition. I think it's safe to say the Cardinal passed their first real test, even if it was by the thinnest of margins. All eyes in the Pac-12 are now firmly directed to November 12th, when Oregon makes its way down to The Farm. The winner will (presumably) win the Pac-12 North, and then (again, presumably) take on Arizona State in the Pac-12 title game.
(8) Arkansas Razorbacks @ Vanderbilt Commodores
Final Score: Piggy 31 - Vandy 28
There are a few teams that make a habit of being thorns in other teams' sides. Vanderbilt is now one of those teams, as they've now taken Arkansas and Georgia down to the wire with substantially inferior talent. The Hogs tied the game when Vanderbilt fumbled on the Arkansas 6 yard line, and LB Jerry Franklin took the fumble 94 yards for a touchdown one minute into the 4th quarter.
This game also had one of the single dirtiest hits I've ever seen in a college football game. Judge for yourself.
(11) Oklahoma Sooners @ (10) Kansas St. Wildcats
Final Score: OU 58 - KSU 17
Oklahoma's sterling run in games following a loss continues, as the Sooner absolutely smoked Kansas State in the second half. The first half was actually very competitive, with the Sooners only taking a 6 point lead into halftime. However, OU then proceeded to drop 35 unanswered. Landry Jones ended up with 5 touchdown passes, and both Ryan Broyles (171)and Kenny Stills (101) went over 100 receiving yards for the day.
Kansas State, it's safe to say, is no longer in the hunt for the national championship.
(15) Virginia Tech Hokies @ Duke Blue Devils
Final Score: VT 14 - Duke 10
This game was a mess. Duke had a chance to win the game at the end, but Sean Renfree threw his third interception of the day with just over a minute left to ice the game for the Hokies. Now let's never speak of this game again.
(22) Georgia Bulldogs vs. Florida Gators (in Jacksonville, FL)
Final Score: UGA 24 - UF 20
Florida's rushing line: 22 rushes for -19 yards. John Brantley only completed 35% of his passes. RIP, Gator offense. This was a huge win for Mark Richt and the Dawgs, as this likely saves Richt's job, and gives UGA only their third win over the Gators since 1998. It wasn't a pretty game (at all), but I'm sure they'll take it in a heartbeat.
Georgia's now won six straight games after starting the season 0-2, and Florida's now lost four straight.
Upset City
(6) Clemson Tigers @ Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Final Score: GT 31 - CU 17
Naturally, as soon as I trust Clemson to win a big game, they blow it. The Tigers turned the ball over four times, and allowed Georgia Tech to sit on a 24-3 halftime lead. The Yellow Jackets ran for 383 yards and held the ball for 39 minutes. That's how you beat a team with an explosive offense.
Missouri Tigers @ (16) Texas A&M Aggies
Final Score: Mizzou 38 - A&M 31 (OT)
In terms of upsets, this is not a huge one. However, it is tough to go down to College Station and win a game, so credit to Missouri for getting their marquee win of the season. As for A&M, their inability to stop Missouri in the fourth quarter doomed them.
Iowa St. Cyclones @ (19) Texas Tech Red Raiders
Final Score: ISU 41 - TTU 7
I'm not sure Texas Tech ever really deserved to be ranked, even after beating Oklahoma, but I'm not sure anyone really saw this coming. Since their win over Iowa, ISU has looked like deep fried garbage. But I suppose anything can happen in Ames, Iowa.
The Rest of the Top 25
(3) Oklahoma St. Cowboys 59 - Baylor Bears 24
(7) Oregon Ducks 43 - Washington St. Cougars 28
(14) South Carolina Gamecocks 14 - Tennessee Volunteers 3
(18) Houston Cougars 73 - Rice Owls 34
(23) Arizona St. Sun Devils 48 - Colorado Buffaloes 14
(25) West Virginia Mountaineers 41 - Rutgers Scarlet Knights 31
Be sure to become a fan of BSD on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter!
24 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
At the beginning of the season when things seemed quite bad,
I watched Florida play in a good game and wondered why we couldn’t be more like them since we were comparable at the end of last season. Shows what I know.
LOL Florida
I imagine this exact thing went through the heads of Florida’s administrators: Let’s hire defensive coordinator from a conference that doesn’t play defense to be our new head coach. Never mind that this school has only ever come within sniffing distance of a MNC when we’ve had an offense first head coach, he’s a hot young coordinator! Coach in waiting at Texas! This will totally work!
GO IOWA AWESOME, now and forever, unless PSU sees them in the B1G CG
Beat Nebraska.
Texas' defensive rankings the last two seasons
2009: 3rd
2010: 6th
The problems at Florida have been injuries at QB, and an unbelievable amount of attrition. They only have 72 scholarship players right now. This isn’t Muschamp’s fault.
What you say is correct
But those numbers are greatly skewed by having vastly superior talent play video game offenses and opponents with no defenses, limiting possessions. Numbers from the Nintendo 12 don’t make sense.
GO IOWA AWESOME, now and forever, unless PSU sees them in the B1G CG
Beat Nebraska.
He also had two very good defenses at Auburn before that
Make fun of Texas all you want, but Muschamp is a good coach. Whether he’s a good head coach has still yet to be determined, but he’s dealing with a mess that is not of his own creation.
And solid defenses at LSU
Yeah, he’s a good defensive coach. Since when has that mattered at Florida? Ron Zook was a good (not as good as Muschamp, granted) defensive coach. Charley Pell was a good defensive coach. Steve Spurrier was a miserable one.
GO IOWA AWESOME, now and forever, unless PSU sees them in the B1G CG
Beat Nebraska.
I don't buy the argument that only offensive/defensive coaches can succeed at certain schools
Before Steve Spurrier started there, basically no one had any consistent success at Florida. Just because the only two coaches that have were offensive-minded coaches doesn’t preclude a defensive coach from doing so. Also, a large portion of the Gators success, at least during the Meyer era, was due to very good defenses.
Meyer had a lot of defensive talent
whether or not he coached good defensive units is debatable. One of the great things about the zone read (and option offenses in general) is its clock control abilities. When you limit possessions and keep your defense from getting fatigued, the raw numbers will make them look better than they are.
Personally, I think Meyer had some decent defenses. But he was an offense-first coach.
GO IOWA AWESOME, now and forever, unless PSU sees them in the B1G CG
Beat Nebraska.
It's difficult to judge defenses..
in that conference. Much like the 1994 PSU team, the defense is often on the field a lot.
Vamonos Mantequilla Vamonos!
by Esteban d' Amur on Oct 31, 2011 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions
After his last college football stint..
I’m not sold on big Charlie as an offensive coordinator. I mean his offenses at ND were decent, but its not like they were blowing teams out of the water.
by Artiefufkin10 on Oct 31, 2011 10:29 AM EDT up reply actions
While PSU has a nice stable of WR's...
Kenny Stills was very interested in PSU. Did he sign with OU before or after PSU closed their WR recruiting?
When was the last time the trio of Florida, Florida St and Miami were all unranked? I don’t know, I’m asking you. Or you.
Duke missed three field goals in that game. Ugh.
Who has the better neck beard: Matt McGloin or Andrew Luck?
I guess that’s why they play the games, but does anyone see Boise or Houston losing to the ham sandwiches left on their schedules?
Yo fumo español
JOE IS LOSING CONTROL OF THE PROGRAM
That neckbeard would have been forbidden in the 80’s/90’s
by Artiefufkin10 on Oct 31, 2011 10:56 AM EDT up reply actions
Eeee, I don't know, man
Luck’s neckbeard is pretty lush, but McGloin’s is bright red. It may be too close to call.
And I'd just like to say
It makes my heart sing to know that the sure fire 1st overall NFL draft pick purposely wears a neckbeard. That right there is a kid that doesn’t take himself too seriously.
Loved watching the end of Stanford-USC
and listening to Musburger’s call, knowing that he probably had a very large sum of money down on the Trojans.
Follow my antics: @DanVecellio
Its the name on the front of the jersey that matters most, not the one on the back. -Joe Paterno
Ugh
These guys weren’t ranked and weren’t discussed, but I was pissed as hell at the Cuse. I watched em last week vs. WVU and they looked awesome. Then Louisville shutem down.
I tuned in to some of that Clemson game. In addition to what Peter points out (39mins of ToP), the announcers were giving Al Groh lots of love. I had forgotten that he ended up as the DCo for Tech. I saw one 4th Q Clemson INT, then Boyd chucked it right back in the end zone. No scores after that. I’m kinda bummed, actually. I was really liking this Clemson squad. But now, hey, who knows? Maybe we’ll see em in a bowl or something….
You should never like Clemson.
They have a history of cheating and being sleazy and their fans are South Carolinians, some of the most detestable people alive.
Tom Bradley for offensive coordinator.
by ReadingRambler on Oct 31, 2011 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions
That's what everybody keeps telling me
But I’m my own man.
I like the color of orange in their unis.
I like the enthusiasm of their fans
I like that their stadium descends into the ground, but remains loud, unlike a similar stadium we know.
I like that it’s called Death Valley
I like that ‘pet the rock’ thing they do on the way into games
I like that they’re packed full with top recruits but don’t seem like douchebags
I really, really like Dabo Swinney
I’m bummed they lost to Al Groh & Paul Johnson
Silly jtot.
But I’m my own man.
That’s what your wife wants you to believe.
I like the color of orange in their unis.
They look like a garbage truck workers’ convention.
I like the enthusiasm of their fans
Screw secession.
I like that their stadium descends into the ground, but remains loud, unlike a similar stadium we know.
Dude, what does this prove? It proves Clemson is trying to get closer to Satan and, jeez, freaking Musselman Stadium in B-Ville is nearly louder than Ann Arbor.
I like that it’s called Death Valley
Pretentious; Clemson isn’t good enough for that title anyway.
I like that ‘pet the rock’ thing they do on the way into games
Even dumber than Notre Dame’s crap. Screw the antics, just play some football, you Southern ingrates.
I like that they’re packed full with top recruits but don’t seem like douchebags
South Carolina has stupid weather.
I really, really like Dabo Swinney
Who the heck named that guy?
Tom Bradley for offensive coordinator.
by ReadingRambler on Oct 31, 2011 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions
South Carolinians
I have been living down here in South Carolina for two years now. The exact same percentage of detestable people are from here as from Pennsylvania or Virginia. (Born and raised just outside of Happy Valley). Open up your eyes before you make stupid comments that reflect badly upon good ole Penn State. It makes me sad when a fan of my team says stupid things like this.
by forrestn20 on Oct 31, 2011 4:49 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
He just likes insulting the south.
It’s his shtick.
"It's never a bad thing thing to vote for the suckiness of tOSU." -RWReese
Follow @Paige2PSU
Yes.
Tom Bradley for offensive coordinator.
by ReadingRambler on Oct 31, 2011 8:52 PM EDT up reply actions
My apologies - you are correct.
South Carolinians are hard-working people like the rest of us who have more than overcome the wrongs committed by past South Carolinians.
I still dislike Clemson fans, but, yes, you are correct and I was wrong to draw such characterizations even if they were for humorous reasons.
Tom Bradley for offensive coordinator.
by ReadingRambler on Nov 1, 2011 12:18 AM EDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
SHOP THE BLACK SHOE DIARIES STORE
