College Football Week 6 thread

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Lots of great games in the top 25 this week. Here's a sample of the better ones on the schedule........

- Thursday, October 2, 2008
7:30 PM ET
Pittsburgh (3-1, 1-0 Big East)
(10) South Florida (5-0, 2-0 home)

9:00 PM ET
Oregon St (2-2, 1-1 Pac-10)
(15) Utah (5-0, 2-0 MWC)


- Saturday, October 4, 2008

12:00 PM ET
(6) Penn St (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten)
Purdue (2-2, 2-1 home)

3:30 PM ET
Kentucky (4-0, 1-0 away)
(2) Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC)

3:30 PM ET
(7) Texas Tech (4-0, 1-0 away)
Kansas St (3-1, 3-0 home)

6:00 PM ET
(13) Auburn (4-1, 2-1 SEC)
(19) Vanderbilt (4-0, 2-0 SEC)

7:00 PM ET
(24) Connecticut (5-0, 1-0 Big East)
North Carolina (3-1, 1-1 ACC)

7:10 PM ET
(5) Texas (4-0, 1-0 away)
Colorado (3-1, 3-0 home)

8:00 PM ET
(23) Oregon (4-1, 2-0 Pac-10)
(9) USC (2-1, 0-1 Pac-10)

8:00 PM ET
(14) Ohio St (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten)
(18) Wisconsin (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten)

9:00 PM ET
(4) Missouri (4-0, 0-0 away)
Nebraska (3-1, 3-1 home)

I'm hoping to see a repeat of this scene Saturday night in Lincoln........

2saltwound.jpg (image)

[larrymcg421]

Miami-FSU at 330 on Saturday. Gotta win this one, Randy.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Looks like a handful of chances for teams on the rise to shoot themselves in the foot.

Kentucky @ Bama stands out to me that way. Auburn & Vandy should be pretty interesting in terms of outcome, 'Dores could legitimize themselves with a win that would probably also label Auburn as having a fatal flaw. And UConn almost faces a trap game of sorts at Chapel Hill, where if they win people figure UNC isn't very good while if they lose people figure the Huskies aren't very good.

[DeToxRox]

Michigan vs Illinois will be interesting. I suspect Illinois will win this one, but if Michigan can contain Juice and make him throw, I like our chances on defense.

Offensivley .. Well, it's a mixed bag.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Michigan vs Illinois will be interesting. I suspect Illinois will win this one, but if Michigan can contain Juice and make him throw, I like our chances on defense.

Offensivley .. Well, it's a mixed bag.

I suspect Illinois will win as well. Juice really has been passing the ball a lot of late, though I am not sure if that's a good thing for Michigan. Their secondary has been pretty mediocre so far this season. They've been burned for some big pass plays, particularly in the games against Utah and Norte Dame.

I don't think Michigan's offense is quite as bad as it looked in the first half last week, or quite as effective as it looked in the second half. If I had to choose, based on what I've seen to date, I would say the offense tends to play more like they did in the first half then the second, which is a bit depressing, but not all together surprising given the new system, the inexperience of most of the players, and the lack of real talent at the QB position.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Bo Pelini decided to toss out some bulletin board material for Mizzou (though I doubt they'll need it). A sampling:

On Chase Daniel: "I don't know if he's as good as I've seen."

On Nebraska's defense: "We're going to play the best we possibly can and try to shut (Missouri) out."

Pelini: Nebraska's goal is shutout vs. Missouri - NCAA Football - SI.com

[Dr. Sak]

I've said this before and I'll say it again, any team who needs bulletin board material, especially a team that is ranked in the top 5 and hasn't won at a certain place since 1978, is a team that is going to lose.

Bo Pelini has coached in the SEC, and there have been some really good QBs in there...Peyton and Eli Manning. So to say that Chase isn't better than either of them is not much of a stretch.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

I've said this before and I'll say it again, any team who needs bulletin board material, especially a team that is ranked in the top 5 and hasn't won at a certain place since 1978, is a team that is going to lose.

Bo Pelini has coached in the SEC, and there have been some really good QBs in there...Peyton and Eli Manning. So to say that Chase isn't better than either of them is not much of a stretch.

As I mentioned, I don't think the bulletin board material is needed in this case. I do think that Daniel's decision-making and leadership on the field is comparable to Peyton. Whether that translates to the NFL when he's done at Mizzou is a totally different situation. There's obviously a physical difference that won't play well to NFL scouts.

I hope to hear the following quote from Daniel after the game:

"Yes, I threw 5 TD's against this defense, but it's not the best defense I've ever seen."

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

"Yes, I threw 5 TD's against this defense, but it's not the best defense I've ever seen."

That'd be the truth.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

This takes me back to one of the better quote exchanges I've ever seen. It all started with the following.......

Asked how he felt about losing back-to-back Monday night games to Missouri and Iowa State, Kansas senior Gregory was quoted as saying there was no need to panic, adding: "It's not like we lost to Texas A&M and Baylor. We lost to two good teams."

Several days later, Gregory and the Jayhawks lost to Baylor in Waco, which prompted the following........

"I think they can panic now, because they got beat by Baylor." - DeMarcus Minor, Baylor guard

"It wasn't like we beat Duke or North Carolina. It was only Kansas." - Terry Black, Baylor guard

[Galaxy]

Anyone watching the Pitt-USF game?

[Galaxy]

Pitt knocks off #10 South Florida.

[Galaxy]

Utah and Oregon State are on Versus.

[JeeberD]

I think this is the third iteration of this thread this week...

[Z²+]

Huge win for Coach Wanny and the Pitt program. After the opening game loss to Bowling Green, and the scare vs. Syracuse, it looks like this team may have found its stride. The Big East is wide open this season, I think this game puts Pitt in position to take the driver's seat.

And Shady McCoy has some incredible moves. He took over the game with his athleticism and made the USF defenders look bad all night.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

I think this is the third iteration of this thread this week...

I didn't even realize they had Tuesday/Wednesday games this week. Any way to merge the threads? If not, I'll just delete this and find the other one.

[JeeberD]

I'll take care of it...

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

I'll take care of it...

Thanks.

[Galaxy]

5 minutes left, Utah is down by 1.

[Galaxy]

Utah got the 2-point conversion to tie it up!

[Galaxy]

Tremendous comeback by the Utes. BTW, why are the fans storming the field? They do realize they beat Oregon State, not USC.

[vex]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

As I mentioned, I don't think the bulletin board material is needed in this case. I do think that Daniel's decision-making and leadership on the field is comparable to Peyton. Whether that translates to the NFL when he's done at Mizzou is a totally different situation. There's obviously a physical difference that won't play well to NFL scouts.

I hope to hear the following quote from Daniel after the game:

"Yes, I threw 5 TD's against this defense, but it's not the best defense I've ever seen."

Chase Daniel and leadership. Two things I never thought I would see together.

[Vegas Vic]

The Mountain West owns the Pac Ten.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Tremendous comeback by the Utes. BTW, why are the fans storming the field? They do realize the beat Oregon State, not USC.

Because they are Ute Fans....you have to understand...they were chanting BCS.

TCU and BYU will bring them back down to reality.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by Vegas Vic

The Mountain West owns the Pac Ten.

Unreal..The Mountain West is a good conference...it's probably the best of the non-BCS conferences, but they can't recruit quite the level of talent the PAC-10 can.

Even the PAC-10 going undefeated against the MWC in a particular season would be news...The other way around? Unreal....Terrible, embarrassing season for the PAC-10.

Go Stanford against ND on Saturday.....you can win this one, gentlemen.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Even the PAC-10 going undefeated against the MWC in a particular season would be news...The other way around? Unreal....Terrible, embarrassing season for the PAC-10.

The Cal Bears did beat Colorado State, so its not quite a sweep. I think the Pac 10 is ok this year, its been mostly the bad teams in the pac 10 losing to the good teams in the mountain west. I think the only real upset was UNLV over ASU. Other than that, none of the results have really been surprising, have they?

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

The Cal Bears did beat Colorado State, so its not quite a sweep. I think the Pac 10 is ok this year, its been mostly the bad teams in the pac 10 losing to the good teams in the mountain west. I think the only real upset was UNLV over ASU. Other than that, none of the results have really been surprising, have they?

I suppose not. BYU beating UCLA by 40+ at the Rose Bowl was surprising, even though BYU is, in fact, a better team than UCLA.

However, the PAC-10 should never even just win one game against the MWC. At worst, it should be close to even.

The PAC-10 is bad this year, make no mistake. It is fighting with the ACC for worst BCS conference.

The only saving grace is that colege teams can be quite different at the end of the year than the beginning. I wouldn't be too stunned to see the PAC-10 be competitive during bowl season, but I'm not optimistic.

It's not doomsday, or anything, though. It's just a bad beginning to the year. Embarrassing, but I know mass firings won't be talked about. That ain't how we do it on the west coast. Willingham will be fired. That should be it, unless Arizona goes winless the rest of the year.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Looks like a handful of chances for teams on the rise to shoot themselves in the foot.

Kentucky @ Bama stands out to me that way. Auburn & Vandy should be pretty interesting in terms of outcome, 'Dores could legitimize themselves with a win that would probably also label Auburn as having a fatal flaw. And UConn almost faces a trap game of sorts at Chapel Hill, where if they win people figure UNC isn't very good while if they lose people figure the Huskies aren't very good.

Yup on all acounts. That Auburn-Vandy will be the most interesting. Is Vandy actually improved enough to take on a big guy when they aren't sneaking up on them? Bama is set-up for a let-down after a big win, but they are at home. That hasn't exactly meant as much for Bama over the past few years, but I think Saban needs to make the home field mean something.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Unreal..The Mountain West is a good conference...it's probably the best of the non-BCS conferences, but they can't recruit quite the level of talent the PAC-10 can.

Even the PAC-10 going undefeated against the MWC in a particular season would be news...The other way around? Unreal....Terrible, embarrassing season for the PAC-10.

Go Stanford against ND on Saturday.....you can win this one, gentlemen.

The recruiting between the two has been pretty hot and heavy over the years. The fact BYU and Utah are battling it out between UCLA and USC for prized recruits and sometimes winning says a lot.

I personally feel the top of the MWC should dominate most of the Pac-10.

BTW the BYU pasting of UCLA happened in Utah at Lavell Edwards Stadium.

I just think your beginning to see parity pop up even more and with some great recruiters in the MWC now, it's going to be a tough battle for all the Pac 10 schools.

As for BYU it doesn't hurt that my old High School (Timpview) is churning out Div 1 talent over the years like Harvey, the Reynolds brothers, Bills brothers, Covey, Ashworth, Hafoka, and more. They are undefeated for almost three years straight now and are nationally ranked.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by vex

Chase Daniel and leadership. Two things I never thought I would see together.

Dear vex,

Me either. Why the hell did I balk at giving him a scholarship?

Sincerely,
Mack Brown

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Pitt knocks off #10 South Florida.

I think I'm going to cry. Second year in a row South Florida has a BCS Bowl in its sites early, then drops a winnable game...

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I think I'm going to cry. Second year in a row South Florida has a BCS Bowl in its sites early, then drops a winnable game...

I wouldn't count the Bulls out yet. In fact, they may still be the most likely team to take the Big East's BCS spot if they can rebound from this loss. There's a pretty good chance no one will get through the Big East unscathed this year. Louisville already lost a conference game, WVU has dropped two OOC games and looks shaky, Cincy's QB is hurt, Rutgers looks lost and Syracuse is Syracuse. UConn needed several turnovers to beat Louisville and their QB is hurt. Pitt almost lost to Syracuse last week, so I really can't see them running the table.

It should be a fun year to watch, though the Big East champ may not be ranked in the top 15 for the first time in a while.

[st.cronin]

FWIW, Football Frontier's conference rankings:

1. Big 10
2. Big 12
3. SEC
4. Mountain West
5. Big East
6. Pac 10
7. ACC
8. Independents
9. Conference USA
10. WAC
11. MAC
12. Sun Belt

[JonInMiddleGA]

The Associated Press

Friday, October 03, 2008

Knoxville — Tennessee will start Nick Stephens at quarterback on Saturday night as the Volunteers look to spark their offense against Northern Illinois.

Coach Phillip Fulmer announced Friday that Stephens will replace starter Jonathan Crompton, who was forced to compete for the job after going 8-for-23 for 67 yards in the Vols’ 14-12 loss to Auburn. Tennessee (1-3) is off to its worst start in 14 years.

“We need a lot more production form the quarterback position, and Jon’s had his opportunities in the ball game,” Fulmer said. “Nick has made progress and he deserves a chance to see how he does in a football game.”

Neither quarterback was available to talk to the media after the announcement.

Offensive coordinator Dave Clawson has said Crompton has practiced well all season but hasn’t been able to turn that into strong games. he’s thrown four interceptions and only two touchdowns passes.

The quarterbacks split practice time with the first-team offense this week. Fulmer said both players performed well preparing for the Huskies (2-2).

Stephens’ only college game experience came late in a 35-3 win against UAB. He attempted two passes, one a 42-yard pass to Brandon Warren and the other an incompletion.

“He’s had ability all along,” Fulmer said. “He’s a young guy, hasn’t played yet, so I’m anxious to see how he does.”

Fulmer and Clawson discussed putting Stephens in at quarterback during the Auburn game as Crompton struggled but decided against it.

Fulmer said Crompton might still get a chance to play again but refused to say when that might be.

Stephens, a redshirt sophomore, has as much of a grasp on the Vols’ playbook as Crompton has, Clawson said. That means Clawson shouldn’t have to make many playcalling adjustments with Stephens playing instead of Crompton, a redshirt junior.

“If he calls it I can run it. That’s how I feel,” Stephens said Wednesday. “He should have all the confidence in me to go out and call a game. I go out and I know the playbook.”

[MizzouRah]

Thankfully.. the wedding reception we are attending is close to where I live, so at about 7:30, I'm sneaking out to come home and watch my Tigers!

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by The Associated Press

Coach Phillip Fulmer announced Friday that Stephens will replace starter Jonathan Crompton, who was forced to compete for the job after going 8-for-23 for 67 yards in the Vols’ 14-12 loss to Auburn. Tennessee (1-3) is off to its worst start in 14 years.

Phat Phil is starting to feel the heat, that's for sure.

[larrymcg421]

How bad is Stephens? I'm just wondering, because I'm amazed that a guy could go 8-23 for 67 yards and still get to compete for the starting job.

[st.cronin]

I think the real issue is Cutliffe being gone.

[Karlifornia]

Stanford stole a QB recruit from UT.....disregarding some possible crazy underlying issue (I'm not talking about booing UT versus the game against Florida...if this kid is that afraid of boos...then he has the heart of a paper tiger), the fact that Stanford lured away a Vol recruit is....AWESOME.

Let's go, Stanford!

[MacroGuru]

I was disgusted at the way we played last night against Utah State. We jumped up to an Early lead in the 1st, we manhandled them. Then, they started to believe their own hype and was brought down to earth. The last 3 qtrs were painful to watch. We won, but we can never ever play like that for the rest of the season.

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

I think the real issue is Cutliffe being gone.

That's what I think, too.

On a side note, WVU is going pretty much head to head against UT for 5 or so of our biggest recruits. It's interesting because early in the year there were many WVU people rooting against UT thinking that if Phil got fired it'd help our recruiting, and if Phil and Groh (at UVA) both got fired, we'd be all set. (VT only has 15 or so scholarships this year, so it'd make a lot of Virginia talent ours for the taking.) Lately, there has actually been a lot of talk that if Phil gets fired in December, the next coach could actually be better/a sexier name and make things tougher for us with some of these guys. In other words, if they actually get a decent coach down there, we could be in trouble.

It's funny how that works. It's arguable that the biggest recent event for WVU's program was Wannstedt coming back in the 4th to beat Syracuse and then beating USF a few days later. He probably saved his job in a 5 day span after the loss to BGSU had him on the ropes. The scariest thing for the Big East could be a competent coach moving in at Pitt with all the talent they've built up.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Stanford stole a QB recruit from UT.....disregarding some possible crazy underlying issue (I'm not talking about booing UT versus the game against Florida...if this kid is that afraid of boos...then he has the heart of a paper tiger), the fact that Stanford lured away a Vol recruit is....AWESOME. Let's go, Stanford!

Eh, the kid got hit with a couple of issues that occurred back in California while he was in Knoxville and his whole family realized how difficult the cross country thing could be. It's not a lifestyle that everyone is willing to deal with & for everybody's sake I think it's better he figured that out now instead of after he was on board.

[Passacaglia]

Am I a dork for noticing that Desmond Howard was holding a G2 pen?

[Vegas Vic]

1st offensive series for OU against Baylor: 53 yard TD pass from Sam Bradford to Manuel Johnson.

7-0, Oklahoma.

[sterlingice]

Kansas looking like crap. They still can't run the ball at all and keep giving the ball to Iowa State on a short field, so it's 14-0 Cyclones at the end of the 1st quarter

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

GT dominates Duke in total offense, TOP, and most everything else ... and manages a whopping 3-0 lead at the half.

[sterlingice]

Kansas still looking like crap, now a fumble and int, fg by the Cyclones and it's 17-0 and Iowa State has the ball again.

SI

[sterlingice]

Now 20-0 Iowa State

SI

[Vegas Vic]

End of the 1st quarter: Oklahoma 28 Baylor 0. The Sooners had 223 total yards in the 1st quarter.

[sterlingice]

The defense is barely stopping anyone and the offense cannot run at all so Iowa State is just sitting back for the pass. We just look awful.

SI