Two-Minute Drill: Trojan Deflation - jmik58's Blog

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Two-Minute Drill: Trojan Deflation Stuck

Posted on November 9, 2012 at 02:38 PM.

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College football randawesomeness packed into 120 seconds or less (reading levels not checked); getting you up to speed on the weekend ahead and dropping you off on a gravel road three miles outside of town.

TROJAN BALLS SCANDAL

When Bill Belichik was busted for Spy-Gate he was smart enough to cover his tracks in the future or stop his shenanigans all-together. USC Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin should take a lesson. Controversy has followed Coach Kiffin nearly everywhere he's gone. He's mastered the art of the uncomfortable working environment. From Oakland, Tennessee, and now USC, strange front office relationships, recruiting missteps, the Karma of inherited sanctions have always followed.

Earlier this season it was an illegal move to have a player switch jersey numbers mid-game against Colorado -- I said Colorado! Now a manager has been "fired" after the school discovered the individual purposely under-inflated footballs to help the Trojans in their game against Oregon.

Lane Kiffin knows that many believe he may have encouraged the behavior but is standing firm that this was the act of one rogue manager. Whether Kiffin deliberately instructed the act or not isn't the bottom line. The culture he has promoted is one where someone believes that stupid behavior such as this is actually allowed -- that is the problem.

SIX-SHOOTERS

Apparently the six undefeated teams in FBS didn't get the memo from TMD about America loving to watch trainwrecks. We tune in to watch great teams play well, but we also love seeing the mighty fall. It's why reality tv is so beloved in our country and why thousands of liberals listened to Rush Limbaugh's program on Wednesday, November 7th -- we love to watch and listen to people spin themselves into giant balls of yarn.

Speaking of cat antics, Kansas State should be careful as they take their unbeaten record on the road against TCU this week. Notre Dame shouldn't have any problems with Boston College and Oregon should take it to Cal. Alabama returns home to take on the Texas A&M Aggies -- a game many feel has upset potential. I'm not buying the hype as the Tide likely won't face a team as good as LSU again until the SEC title game. Lastly, Louisville heads to Syracuse for the only real chance at a drop of an unbeaten team.

As much as I'd like to see the plot thicken by narrowing down our list, I'm calling for all six to survive another week. But if not, bring on the yarn.

THE GIRL NO ONE WILL CARE ABOUT

I get it when people are excited about athletes, humans, and especially children "defying the odds." What I also get is annoyed when people in the media overreach on an attempt to find such a story. Enter: ESPN's Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr breaking down a video of a girl playing youth football.

Some nine-year-old girl is really good at pee-wee football. I know, how is your jaw still attached to your face at such a shocking story? Let's get a few things straight. At the ripe age of nine a certain thing called puberty hasn't exactly come into play, and if it has, girls have the advantage. Secondly, the video is run at a faster frame-rate than what the kids are moving. Lastly -- and most importantly -- she'll be nowhere near a football field in ten years unless she's holding pom-poms. But if she is still owning the boys in a decade, send me a video; I might watch then.

PICK ME OUT A WINNER

This time of year it's not so much that you pick the winning teams, but that you...well I don't have a good excuse. Another week of 2-3 isn't going to feed the family, but the bookies are happy at least.

In this week's version of the college football torture chamber I'm advising all teams on my prediction list to sell their assets to the highest bidder -- my poisonous touch is upon you. I'm taking #2 Kansas State over TCU, Tulsa over Houston, Michigan over Northwestern, #16 Stanford over #13 Oregon State, and #1 Alabama over #15 Texas A&M.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

It's your civil duty to vote just as it is to watch college football. Former LSU superstar Tyrann Mathieu also feels it's his duty to watch his career go up in smoke -- pun intended. Perhaps the troubled defensive back should consider enrolling to play for the struggling Colorado Buffaloes after a recent ballot measure was approved in the state legalizing recreational use of marijuana. Recent images of a private press conference have surfaced that may indicate Mathieu's decision. The validity and truthfulness of said image is still up for question, however.

TMD's Meme of the Week: [Click for IMAGE].

ROYAL BONE SALUTE

To honor the passing of former Longhorns coach Darrel Royal, Texas will dawn helmet stickers with "DKR" when they take on the Iowa State Cyclones this weekend -- but that's not all. On the first play from scrimmage the Longhorns have announced they will run a play from the wishbone formation to honor Royal who introduced it to major college football in the 1950's.

LONG SNAPPER SPOTLIGHT

Last but not least, welcome again to the caboose of TMD's football train. Whether for good or bad, long snappers need lovin' too.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I used to be a long snapper -- but I also was a kicker as well. How did that work, you might ask (or maybe you don't care). Well, someone else had to snap for the kicks of course. Enough biographical information though, the bottom line is that long snappers have to be multifaceted, much like this week's spotlight player: Kent State's Chad Bushley.

Similar to myself, Bushley was once his team's long snapper but also the punter. For the Golden Flashes, however, he's filled the snapping duties quite effectively. In fact, he's done so well that the first-year long snapper for Kent State has helped lead the squad to a quietly exceptional record of 8-1 overall and a perfect 5-0 in the conference.

If you're a fan of Bushley or Kent State; just don't read the next section.

TMD's BOLD PREDICTION OF THE WEEK

Miami (OH) will defeat Kent State for their first conference loss of the season, much the way the Redhawks handed Ohio their first loss on October 27th.

(Share your Bold Prediction of the Week in the comments section below)

Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @long_snapper

Comments

# 1 kcharles520 @ Nov 9

Hahaha that mathieu meme is what made me read the article. Funny stuff.

# 2 SkillzKillz719 @ Nov 9

Girl thing was a little harsh. I think we all know she won't be good. And Mel and Todd were just messing around.

Other than that, I thought the article was good.
Hopefully the Beavers can steal one in Palo Alto.
And I think K-State has a real chance to be beaten this week.

My bold prediction is that Arkansas beats South Carolina. Arkansas has massively under achieved and South Carolina is without Lattimore.

# 3 elgreazy1 @ Nov 10

What a waste of talent with Tyrann Mathieu. I hope the guy gets his life in order. But c'mon, kid you have got to give it up for 10+ years while you make millions in the NFL. Afterwards smoke all the pot you want! This coming from an avid smoker.