College Football Week 7 discussion

[DeToxRox]

Terrible news out of UConn:

Connecticut Huskies starting cornerback Jasper Howard died Sunday morning after an on-campus stabbing, according to The Hartford Courant.

An emergency alert on the school's Web site states that the perpetrator is still at large.

Howard, 20, played in UConn's 38-25 win against Louisville on Saturday.

[MJ4H]

Interesting that 3-3 Oklahoma is #25 in the polls. 3-3 Arkansas (losses to #1 and #2, one of which was very close on the road) is #34. Sigh. At least we are receiving votes now.

Sucks about that UConn CB, too. Wow. Any other news on that?

[Swaggs]

Sad news.

[DeToxRox]

Latest from ESPN:

STORRS, Conn. -- A University of Connecticut football player died Sunday following a stabbing after an on-campus dance, hours after the team's victory over Louisville.

Twenty-year-old Jasper Howard of Miami, a junior and starting cornerback, and a second person were stabbed during a fight early Sunday after someone pulled a fire alarm during a dance at the UConn Student Union, police said. The dance was not related to the game, police said.

Sunday afternoon, police were still looking for the perpetrator.

"We're actively following investigative leads," said Major Ronald Blicher of the UConn Police, when asked if authorities have a suspect.

Howard
Howard

UConn students were being advised to be cautious, but Blicher said police do not believe the incident was a random act of violence.

University President Michael Hogan told The Associated Press the stabbing is a tragedy for the entire university community.

"I was in the locker room after the game yesterday. It was such a joyous moment," Hogan said. "To go from that game and such a victory to the developments at 12:30 last night is such a tragedy."

Police cordoned off the crime scene near the Storrs university's well-known Gampel Pavilion basketball arena.

Blicher said two groups were involved in the fight.

UConn police said one of their officers was approached on Hillside Road around 12:33 a.m. and told that a stabbing had occurred. Police found Howard and another person with stab wounds, university police said in a statement. The name of the second person was not immediately released.

Both were taken by ambulance to Windham Community Memorial Hospital. Howard was later airlifted by Lifestar helicopter to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, where he died from his injuries, police said. The second person was treated and released from Windham hospital.

Howard made a key move in Saturday's game, forcing a fumble just as Louisville was about to score. The Huskies were up 21-13 at the time. They later won 38-25. Following the game, Howard, who led the Big East in punt returns last season, talked to the AP about the play.

"I felt my hand go on the ball and I felt that I had a chance to get it out. I just stripped it out. It was a big play. We needed it," he said.

Hogan, the university president, said the school was arranging for Howard's mother to come to Connecticut.

"It's such a tragedy. All I can say is how sorry we all are and how sad we all are that something like this happened in the middle of our campus," Hogan said.

UConn police were working with a major crime squad of the state police on the case. Hogan said about 40 officers were involved.

[duckman]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Interesting that 3-3 Oklahoma is #25 in the polls. 3-3 Arkansas (losses to #1 and #2, one of which was very close on the road) is #34. Sigh. At least we are receiving votes now.

The voters are rewarding Oklahoma for their tough out of conference schedule and the fact their losses were to three ranked opponents by a grand total of 5 points.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by duckman

The voters are rewarding Oklahoma for their tough out of conference schedule and the fact their losses were to three ranked opponents by a grand total of 5 points.

Fair enough.

[Swaggs]

Oklahoma's ranking is just silly, but so is Ohio State staying in the top 20. Purdue was 1-5 going into their game yesterday and the controlled the whole game against Ohio State.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by duckman

The voters are rewarding Oklahoma for being preseason top 5.

Fixed for you.

[ISiddiqui]

That's a bit too glib. I think the voters realize that Oklahoma with a healthy Bradford could easily be undefeated, and even without have managed to be very, very close against 3 Top 10 ranked teams.

[MrBug708]

Go UCLA *sigh*

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Mizzou lost the game due to the two dropped balls by our WR's. Kemp dropped an easy touchdown which lead to great OSU field position and a TD. 14 point swing.

What on earth are you smoking? How does a WR dropping a pass, really much of any pass, lead directly to great field position and a TD for the other team? Was this on some fourth-and-long desperation play?

I looked over the play-by-play, and I see the following TDs by OSU:

An 80-yard, 10-play drive in the first quarter after a Mizzou field goal (so this can't be it)

A pick-6 in the second quarter (must be the other play you were talking about)

An 8-play 54-yard drive at the end of the second quarter that came after a 29-yard punt by Mizzou. There was an incomplete pass to Kemp on 3rd-and-21 from the Mizzou 25, was that the drop you are talking about? They are already in 3rd-and-21 and had a 29-yard punt and the dropped pass is what handed OSU great field position? Seriously? Plus OSU was on their own end of the field and took 8 plays to score, the dropped ball did not hand them a TD. And to call this a 14-point swing is absurd.

[Matthean]

As a person raised on 'Bama football, even I have a hard time buying into the idea they are the number one team in the country. Nobody has a better defense as they are giving up 41.5% passing completion and 2 TDs with 9 INTs in games excluding Florida International and North Texas. Oh, and that's factoring in them not having two of their best defenders. They have a workhorse RB in Ingram and a stud WR in Jones, but until McElroy becomes consistent, 'Bama is going to be forced to grind out games far more than they should. They also tend to pick some games to shoot themselves in the foot. That simply can't happen if somebody like Florida is on the other side of the field.

I'm still scratching my head with Michigan playing Delaware State. So basically Michigan paid good money to give back ups playing time and not even that useful of time. They used 5 QBs and threw 9 passes.

Always nice to see Auburn and OSU get beat though.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Matthean

As a person raised on 'Bama football, even I have a hard time buying into the idea they are the number one team in the country. Nobody has a better defense as they are giving up 41.5% passing completion and 2 TDs with 9 INTs in games excluding Florida International and North Texas. Oh, and that's factoring in them not having two of their best defenders. They have a workhorse RB in Ingram and a stud WR in Jones, but until McElroy becomes consistent, 'Bama is going to be forced to grind out games far more than they should. They also tend to pick some games to shoot themselves in the foot. That simply can't happen if somebody like Florida is on the other side of the field.

I'm still scratching my head with Michigan playing Delaware State. So basically Michigan paid good money to give back ups playing time and not even that useful of time. They used 5 QBs and threw 9 passes.

Always nice to see Auburn and OSU get beat though.

Yes Michigan vs DSU was useless but hey, they have no bye weeks, so this was better then a bye week in that regard. You get to play starters some so they don't get too rusty, rest up injured guys and basically play a scrimmage for everyone else.

[tarcone]

Iowa is #6. Need to see some losses from the teams above them (and us not losing of course).

GO MIZZOU! And whomever plays Boise, Cinci, Fla and Ala.

Sad day for UConn and family.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

What on earth are you smoking? How does a WR dropping a pass, really much of any pass, lead directly to great field position and a TD for the other team? Was this on some fourth-and-long desperation play?

I looked over the play-by-play, and I see the following TDs by OSU:

An 80-yard, 10-play drive in the first quarter after a Mizzou field goal (so this can't be it)

A pick-6 in the second quarter (must be the other play you were talking about)

An 8-play 54-yard drive at the end of the second quarter that came after a 29-yard punt by Mizzou. There was an incomplete pass to Kemp on 3rd-and-21 from the Mizzou 25, was that the drop you are talking about? They are already in 3rd-and-21 and had a 29-yard punt and the dropped pass is what handed OSU great field position? Seriously? Plus OSU was on their own end of the field and took 8 plays to score, the dropped ball did not hand them a TD. And to call this a 14-point swing is absurd.

Yes, seriously. Come on man.

[Celeval]

Originally Posted by Matthean

As a person raised on 'Bama football, even I have a hard time buying into the idea they are the number one team in the country.

At this point, the #1 ranking is between a bunch of teams who are all flawed - look at Florida's recent games, or Texas being disappointing this past week. Someone's going to step up and win this thing, but nobody has really stepped forward yet.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Mizzou lost the game due to the two dropped balls by our WR's. Kemp dropped an easy touchdown which lead to great OSU field position and a TD. 14 point swing. Another WR let a pass go through his hands that ended up a pick-6. That's the difference right there.

Those blown calls may not have caused us to lose, but they were absolutely atrocious. Mizzou fumble that was down and an OSU fumble that was called down deep in OSU territory. Those hurt too.

Mizzou had every opportunity to win that game but didn't take advantage. It's a shame because the KU and NU losses would have put them right back in the shuffle. Now they have to win at home next week to have any chance at a North title.

I won't disagree, but Gabbert was cleary hurting.. and those int's killed us.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

There was an incomplete pass to Kemp on 3rd-and-21 from the Mizzou 25, was that the drop you are talking about?

Yes, that's the one. Kemp was behind everyone and just flat out dropped a ball. Instead of a 75 yard TD, Mizzou made a lousy punt and gave OSU a great opportunity to score. That's a game-changing moment, whether you'd like to admit it or not. It doesn't minimize that OSU played well. But Mizzou just flat out blew some big plays that honestly weren't even that difficult to make.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Yes, that's the one. Kemp was behind everyone and just flat out dropped a ball. Instead of a 75 yard TD, Mizzou made a lousy punt and gave OSU a great opportunity to score. That's a game-changing moment, whether you'd like to admit it or not. It doesn't minimize that OSU played well. But Mizzou just flat out blew some big plays that honestly weren't even that difficult to make.

Did Kemp punt the ball? Did Kemp play defense? Sure, it may have been a sure TD for Mizzou, and he may be responsible for that, but he's not the one who had them backed up for 3rd-and-21 (which meant the punt was deeper than it needed to be), he's not the one who shanked the punt 29 yards, and he's certainly not responsible for OSU moving 54 yards in 8 plays to score right at the end of the half, so no way you can claim his drop was a 14-point swing. Unless you figure he could have run back-and-forth along the goal line for a couple of minutes and score with no time left and are blaming him for not doing that.

Kemp dropped an easy touchdown which lead to great OSU field position and a TD. 14 point swing.

I'll give you the first 5 words of that statement, but the rest is absurd to claim.