If Iowa ends up being the only Big 10 bowl winner I'm gonna have a hell of a laugh and then go on to worry about next season's Iowa team.Originally Posted by robsam
The way it's going today I might actually have that laugh. Depends on if Ohio State shows up or sits around worrying about suspensions and the like. And if TCU can pull off the Rose Bowl.
Edit: My bad, I didn't even know Illinois was in a bowl. And apparently they won. Still gonna laugh.
Last edited by Knightsaber; 01-01-2011 at 02:48 PM. Reason: Woops
So Pitt supposedly just fired their new head coach over the domestic violence stuff that surfaced yesterday. Both Pitt and Maryland are going to discover that the grass isn't always greener with their "not good enough for our unreasonable expectations" moves.
Johnny Majors is still available.
The Rose Bowl has been fun so far. I don't normally pay attention to the bands, but Wisconsin looked pretty cool during halftime.
Really not good day for the Big 1G
Wiscy goes down.
There was some terrible clock management during their last drive. They were playing like they wanted to ice the clock. It was like they assumed the 2-pointer was guaranteed if they got the TD. They needed to go no-huddle and score as fast as possible because if they didn't get the 2-pointer and they only had one TO left, they were fucked. And that's what happened.
Good on Wisconsin for at least fighting back today, Penn State also showed some grit, but this is a dark day for Big 10 fans. I'm an SEC guy, and Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina have shamed us to some degree this bowl season so I sort of know how it feels, but wow...the teams from the fine state of Michigan were truly horrible today.
Now hoping little UConn can beat Oklahoma in the nightcap.
Don't forget the Badgers missed a field goal.
They also gave up a good shot at a touchdown in the final minute of the first half. All that time on the clock and they just wasted it and went for a field goal.
I hate the phrase "pick-six", but that one by UConn just made me very happy. Go you Huskies, go!
It's called a TAINT (Touchdown After INT).
I thought the Badgers were doomed by really really bad field position. Hard to score from your own 5.
I now love the phrase "pick-six". Damn you to hell, sir, to Hell I say!
This game is such a mismatch, even though the score is relatively close it's obvious the Sooners have more talent watching from home in Norman than UConn can put in the game right now. I'm hoping for an upset, but UConn isn't ready for this stage.
Please, please let something happen so everyone can quote that after UConn wins.
Last edited by robsam; 01-01-2011 at 06:53 PM.
Blame Bill Simmons.
haha, I remember that now, I haven't kept up with his columns this year at all, thanks to my horrible work schedule that has turned me into a vampire.
Don't worry his columns haven't changed any since you last read them. He uses the same jokes and dated pop culture references.
It was nice to see UConn make this a game and even keep us hopeful through three and some quarters, but our passing game is just so. painful. to. watch.
I give UConn full props for coming in and playing hard the entire game. They never gave up, and they made it respectable. But it really was like watching a Big-10 vs MAC game. Once in a while a MAC team pulls an upset....but not most of the time.
U-Conn just doesn't have the guns a team like OU can field. And now that their one star has declared for the NFL, I'm guessing they will sink back to being a basketball school again for a while.
What little I saw of UConn's passing game... yes, I agree. I saw enough to know that UConn had no chance, and moved on.
You have to be able to throw to have success against Stoops' defenses.
If he can't throw against Nebraska, how's he going to fare in the NFL? I know everyone up there thinks that Locker is the bees knees, but he's a late rounder at best. He may have the physical size to play the position, but he certainly hasn't shown that he has the passing skills.
As for Nebraska, they simply didn't want to be there, and it showed. I was at the game, and I started having doubts the day before while at an alumni event. The crowd could barely muster any enthusiasm, and while tailgating before the game everyone seemed pretty apathetic. Once we got in the stadium it was obvious who was excited and who wasn't. Hell, we didn't even sell our allotment of tickets.
The frustrating thing is our offense. When it works, we win 56-21. When it doesn't, we lose 19-7. (Or 9-6 or 23-20.) I'm not really one to call for coaches to be fired, but we need to make changes to the offensive staff. This is two years in a row where our D plays lights out and our offense can barely complete a pass.
Wow, ESPN is saying Maryland has hired Edsall from UCONN. Mike Leach still unemployed.
True, but at least give him some NFL-quality receivers at least. The only WR on UW's team that might have an NFL career right now is Kearse. He's Locker's main weapon and UW's best reciever. But he was completely shut down by Nebraska in both games.
You also have to realize that UW's offense has been crippled all season by the lack of a Tight End. We had a stud TE in Middletown coming into fall practice, but he was dismissed for violation of team policy. The next up was Izbicki and despite the fact that he was a very highly ranked TE coming out of high school he's been a bust. He's had two receptions all year. It's been so bad that he's been benched and UW's had to rely on a converted linemen to just block. A good TE is a quarterback's best friend, especially against teams like Nebraska.
Sarkisian's also big in USC's pro-style offense, which is obvious since he ran it for a bunch of years. But UW is also lacking a decent FB, which is crucial for a USC system.
Look, he's not perfect, but the kid is special. Yes, he needs work. We're hoping he gets drafted late because the odds are he gets in an Aaron Rogers situation where he's not needed to save the team and play immediately. Instead, he can sit a few years and learn behind a quality NFL starter. And it'd probably be good if he got away from Seattle, as much as we'd love him to be a Seahawk. Staying close to home just seems like a bad idea, ala Jake Plummer at Arizona.
I've also read draft specialists all remark he's also the most frustrating prospect to evaluate because of the team around him. You have to keep context in mind. Football is a team sport; and the fact is that Willingham gutted this program. You couldn't do more damage if you were intentionally trying to sabotage things. His recruiting was awful (he'd rather spend time on the golf course), his player development was awful, and he ignored the basics, such as weight training. When Sarkisian and his staff replaced Willingham they were appalled that Locker could bench more than any of his linemen. I'm not kidding. Locker benched more than any of his linemen. Plus, going 0-12 was a gigantic mental disaster to the program's psyche.
Sarkisian's had to rebuild everything. He got hired late in 2008, so he's only really had one real recruiting class so far. The depth is so terrible that UW has had to play 18 freshmen this year. The O-Line had to be reconfigured practically every game because they were getting blown up and Locker played with a fractured rib in the second half of the season because his O-Line sucked. On top of that, according to Sagarin, UW had the #2 toughest schedule in America.
Things are starting to turn around. Sure, Nebraska didn't want to be there, but you still explain how our DT beat a quadraple team to throw your QB to the ground.
So, Locker's going to have to prove what he can do at the Senior Bowl and the Combine. But despite all the shit he's gone through he's displayed nothing but maturity, intelligence, class, and perseverance. And despite his terrible stats, the NFL scouts are still very very intrigued with him. I'd like to see Locker and Luck switch teams and see what happens to both in each situation.
That all sounds great, but when you compare his stats to other QBs in the Pac 10, he's not anywhere near the top. Hell, even Jeff Tuel from Washington State (which certainly has no NFL-caliber receivers and only won two games all year) passed for more yards, had a better completion percentage, and threw 18 TDS with 12 picks to Locker's 17 TDs and 9 picks.
I know he's the local kid who stayed home, skipped the draft to help his team, and that's all very commendable. But UW fans get a little over-zealous in how they view him.
Well if he sucks so bad why is he showing up in most of the mock drafts out now in the mid first round?
QB's aren't drafted purely on stats. Locker has leadership and other things in his favor, but more importantly he's viewed as undeveloped with huge potential. That's why he'll likely get drafted pretty high when it's all said and done.
Well, if I had replied to this last night, I'd have pointed to the fact that they have done very well in getting talent into the program in recent years, and that you could have said the same thing a couple of years ago when Donald Brown left for the NFL after being the entire offense that year. I'd have said it with pretty good confidence that next year they'd be competitive again, at least in conference and against all but the very best OOC, once they worked everything out.
... but now that it looks like Edsall is going to Maryland, I completely agree, and I'm going to go back to being happy that we still have Calhoun and Auriemma around.
First of all, I didn't say he sucked. I merely pointed out that his statistics aren't at or near the top in the Pac 10. And I don't think you can make excuses for him in that area (UW doesn't have an elite corp of WRs, the TE sucks, our schedule was tough) when there are other QBs in the Pac 10 who are on worse teams and put up equal or better numbers.
As for who gets drafted where, if everyone knew what they were doing Ryan Leaf wouldn't have been drafted with the 2nd pick, and Tom Brady would've been drafted way before the 199th pick.
I've got nothing against Locker. I hope he gets drafted and has a long career in the NFL. But I also hope it's far, far away from Seattle because the fans there have tunnel vision when it comes to him and that hasn't always worked to his benefit.
Same here. However, I did not move on. :)
Man, TCU is going to own the Big East for the forseeable future.
I forget how this works. Does tcu play the winner of oregon-auburn now?
-Or-
After rolling oregon and subsequently getting their title taken away because of the newton stuff does auburn give the trophy directly to tcu or does something have to happen first?
College football and the ncaa usually piss me off but this year they managed to take it to new heights.
That post is EXACTLY why I hoped TCU would lose yesterday.
Meh. Auburn fans were twice as obnoxious in 2004.
How much money is Florida blowing on all these coordinators?
It got me thinking about how I'd pick my staff if I were a head coach for a big college football team. Is it a good idea to take NFL guys that might bolt for another pro job? Is it safe to take a rising star on the college level, like a master of the hot new trend on offense? Athletic directors will be throwing head coaching money at them in no time.
I'd like to know more about the Charlie Weis thing. Why is he coming back to the college level?
I hope you're being sarcastic. Expecting your head coach not to beat his wife is hardly what I'd call "unreasonable expectations."
They throw 5 DB's out there, and their LB's are basically safeties. Their DL are basically given free rein to maul and rush without worrying about run containment. Nebraska's defense is specifically geared to stop the pass and to make your QB look bad.
As Hanacker said, just be glad you're getting the benefit of the doubt this year instead of shafted like you were in 2004.
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