Random thoughts

by BrooklynHorn on Oct 7, 2007 12:23 AM CDT Comment 5 comments

Not that I've earned the kind of status that you should care about my random thoughts, but here are some interesting talking points on a crucial weekend in college football. [Just to get your mind off of OU for a minute]

*At least our misery has company this week. Who would have thought that the NCAA's two most recent champions (Texas and Florida) would both be suffering 2-game losing streaks and both be 0-2 in conference play? Perhaps Peter and Orson can discuss the finer points of suicide logistics on their weekly broadcast.

*Is John David Booty out of the Heisman race? He had an awful game, throwing several picks that resulted in Cardinal touchdowns in the Trojans' historic loss. And considering conventional wisdom states that the Heisman winner shall always play for a contender, maybe this will be the year we see a break in that tradition, after all, given that criteria, who's left? Maybe Darren McFadden will benefit from all the upsets and pull off a 4-loss Heisman.

*The team that may have benefited most from this season of madness is tOSU. They likely have the easiest remaining schedule of all the teams that are still in contention, and while they've been solid in their wins, I think they have more or less inherited their top-ranking. I pretty much feel something similar about Cal. Interesting to think that Cal has a one-game season (USC, at home), and they control their destiny on their road to New Orleans. Which essentially leaves us with a three horse race between LSU, Cal, and tOSU. Wow.

*Three times this season we've seen the "biggest upset in the history of college football." It started with ASU over Michigan, which was the first time a 1AA team actaully beat a ranked team. Ever. Then Syracuse over Louisville was the biggest upset against the spread. Ever. And now Stanford over USC is supposedly the biggest upset against the spread. Ever. All this in about 4 weeks.

*Poor Nebraska... 41-6?

Don't get me wrong, I hated the huskers when they were winning in the mid-90's, but still, I hate to see this stuff happen to such a proud program. They want so badly to be good again. But one wonders if it will ever happen. In a sport that is increasingly defined by parity and a job pool that sees coaches now preferring towns like Gainesville and Los Angeles over traditional communities such as Lincoln or South Bend, will NU ever get back to the glory days?

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Good thoughts, thanks for posting

One of my own: Nebraska will be back. The money and fanbase behind that program will lure a good coach. Why else does anyone choose to live in, say, Norman, for instance?

One other thought -- Missouri looked great. o.u. has a very tough followup act for next week. The Tigers will be riding high. I am glad to have Iowa State next week. Remember the days when we used to get the Razorbacks the week after o.u.?

by NYCHorn on Oct 7, 2007 9:19 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Cal

I wouldn't say that USC is their only real game left. at UCLA (don't laugh just because they lost to Notre Dame, they can beat anyone or lose to anyone on any given day), at Arizona State, at Washington, and at Stanford (just ask USC, plus it's their biggest rival) are all possible land mines. They'll probably be favored in all of them, but I think they're far from out of the woods. I would definitely rather be in Ohio State's position because (as you mentioned) their road is much easier than Cal's or LSU's.

by Sweed4Heisman on Oct 7, 2007 9:55 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

No love for MU?

All you did was mention how bad Nebraska looked while really MU just looked amazingly dominant. I guess we'll know next week when MU travels to OU

by Romo9 on Oct 7, 2007 11:58 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

They did look very good...

... but you're right, we'll find out if they're for real next Saturday.

by Sweed4Heisman on Oct 7, 2007 12:03 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually

I loved seeing that yellow-out in Columbia.

I should disclose that I was born in the hospital across the street from the stadium, although my family moved several days later, and I've never been able to say I actually lived in Missouri.

But growing up, my parents told me stories about going to the games in Columbia (they had only lived there for a year or so), and the experience they remembered most fondly was the week Nebraska came to town. They described how the streets of town ran red with an army of Huskers, and how the stadium belonged to Nebraska on Saturday.

I guess I just feel like Nebraska is the bigger story (call me ESPN). They had one blow-out loss at home already, and then a few close calls against some weak opponents. Last night seemed like a crescendo of disappointment for Husker fans. It was as if all the hope they had been manufacturing was made of thin paper, and they knew it. "No no, we just need to adjust to this new offense, no no USC is just really good..."

And then last night Missou punched a giant hole right through their pathetic paper hope. Nebraska can't possibly rationalize this one. Missouri was the better team. Far far better. And the reality is that Nebraska is going nowhere.

I'm not taking anything away from Missouri, who is clearly the best team in the north (conference?). But the Nebraska story is several years in the making.

by BrooklynHorn on Oct 7, 2007 12:26 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs