October 2007 - Posts
While wondering if the teams from the Boston area are about to take over the world, I’m here to pose this week’s 20 questions:
If it came down to undefeated Boston College and one-loss LSU vying for the final spot in the BCS title game, which team would you want?
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EUGENE, Ore. -- When the Autzen Stadium PA announcer said, "Bring on the Sun Devils," it got a much bigger roar from the crowd than the final gun which brought an end to Oregon's 24-17 victory over USC a few moments earlier.
Yup, it's hard to believe, but there are bigger fish to fry than the Trojans these days.
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When Kirk Gibson limped to the plate and homered in his one and only appearance in the 1988 World Series, Vin Scully said: “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!”
I heard that famous call in my head this morning after thinking about of how this 2007 college football season might end. Only this time, the Florida Gators were the ones taking advantage of a hanging slider and a handful of one-loss teams were collectively playing the role of the dismayed Oakland Athletics.
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As the thrills and spills of the 2007 season continue, I’m here to pose this week’s 20 questions:
With an 0-4 streak currently in progress, does anybody even want to be the No. 2 team at this point in the season? If you’re Frank Beamer, don’t you like your chances on Thursday night, hosting Boston College in Blacksburg?
Who said that a sophomore can’t win the Heisman Trophy? Can the voters really hold class standing against Tim Tebow? Isn’t he clearly the most outstanding player in college football this season?
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With six or seven games under every belt, it’s time to check in on what I call the “alumni approval index,” which is derived from the combination of a team’s overall record with its record versus the point spread (in games that were on the board). For a lot of alums, just winning games isn’t enough. That’s only half of their happiness, if you know what I mean.
I know that point spreads attempt to even out betting rather than serve as scientific predictions of outcomes (Stanford at USC only missed by 42 points), but the guys in Las Vegas know more than most and I would trust their evaluations over those ridiculous six BCS computers … or the Harris Poll for that matter.
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After his Trojans finished off an underwhelming 20-13 victory over Arizona, Pete Carroll tried hard to sell his spin: “This was a really good day for us and a great day for everyone here at the Coliseum … just a heck of a day for us.”
I know that he had a much better vantage point than I did, but I wasn’t buying it. I had just witnessed the same 60 minutes of football. I saw injury-plagued USC stumble and bumble. I heard fans booing the home team for the second consecutive week. I smelled fear in the air as the Wildcats took a 13-10 lead into the fourth quarter. Surely, the Coliseum had seen much better days.
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Amazed that Florida State wasn’t able to exact any revenge on Wake Forest tonight -- for last year’s embarrassing 30-0 debacle in Tallahassee -- I’m here to pose this week’s 20 questions:
In the year of the upset, what in the world is next? Is Ohio State nervous about Kent State this Saturday? (Not likely.) How about Louisiana Tech over LSU on Nov. 10? (Don’t think so.) Perhaps Duke can win at Notre Dame Stadium on Nov. 17? (Stranger things have happened.) Or maybe Cal will get beat at Stanford in the next edition of the wacky “Big Game” on Dec. 1? (That would actually be an appropriate end to the 2007 regular season.)
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NEW YORK -- Having relocated here for the week from the home office in Los Angeles, we’ll turn out attention to the Heisman Trophy race for the first time this season.
With the top 10 candidates having played at least five games this season, there’s enough of a body of work to start handicapping the race to get here for the ceremony on Dec. 8, and, more importantly, all the parties that go on before and afterwards.
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Rich Brooks took a lot of flack several days ago for saying that there are “four or five USCs” in the SEC.
Well … the Kentucky head coach and former Oregon boss had it right all along.
There’s no current on-field evidence to dispute the fact that the Trojans don’t resemble anything superior to LSU, Florida, South Carolina, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. That’s eight SEC teams and none of them have had back-to-back clunkers like the ones USC has put on exhibit in the past two weeks.
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After digesting a frenetic opening month of the college football season, I’m here to pose this week’s 20 questions:
Dan Hawkins has gone on record saying that he isn’t “The Swami,” but don’t you think somebody within the Colorado athletic department has some mystic powers? How else can you explain the Buffs hanging the homecoming tag on that game against Oklahoma? Furthermore, is there some kind of voodoo going on with Hawkins, Chris Peterson and all things “Boise” when it comes to Bob Stoops and the Sooners?
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