Seth and Seth Sports Talk

11/5/08

" The Firing of Ron Prince"

10/29/08

Person- All Big 12 quarterbacks: In a Nouns of the Week first, let’s make room at the person spot for the best conference of quarterbacks in college football.  Six of the 13 Semifinalists for the Davey O’Brien Award are from the Big 12 (Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, Texas’ Colt McCoy, Missouri’s Chase Daniel, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell, Kansas’ Todd Reesing, and Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson).  Four are legitimate Heisman contenders.  ESPN’s Pat Forde lists his top three for the Heisman as McCoy, Bradford, and Daniel.  ESPN.com’s home page poll refers to McCoy and Harrell’s Heisman chances.  It will be interesting to see how these quarterbacks play down the stretch with all these awards and, more importantly, conference and national titles, on the line.

 Place- Lubbock, Texas: No. 1 Texas visits No. 5/6 Texas Tech in the biggest game in Texas Tech history.  Both teams are undefeated and have national title aspirations.  Can Tech and their coach Mike Leach, who innovates offenses, has an affinity for pirates, and gives dating advice on his coach’s show, finally break through against the Big 12 South elite and make noise on the national level?  Tech has a complete team this year.  Texas is coming off wins over Oklahoma, Missouri, and Oklahoma State.  Both quarterbacks are Heisman contenders as well.  Showdown in West Texas.  7 p.m. on ABC

 Thing- Rivalry Week, early edition: Most traditional rivalries are played around the last week of the season (Texas-Texas A&M, Missouri-Kansas, Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Alabama-Auburn, Ohio State-Michigan, etc. etc. etc.)  But the Big 12 has a pair of fine rivalry games this week.  Kansas and Kansas State play at 11:30 a.m.  A KSU upset win and this season could get ugly for the Jayhawks, who are 5-3 with a difficult remaining schedule.  At 7 p.m. on ESPN, Nebraska plays at Oklahoma in one of the conference’s most storied rivalries.  The rivalry has lost some edge since they play two years on then two years off in the Big 12 schedule, and OU is a heavy favorite, but this is still a matchup of two of college football’s most storied programs.

 Top 5

Storylines for the rest of the season:

 1.  The National title chase.  Three undefeated BCS Conference teams, two spots in the title game.  Texas, Alabama, Penn State.  What if all three go unbeaten? (not likely)  Which one will bow out first?  What if two or more lose?  Chaos!

2.  The Heisman race.  Can any non-Big 12 quarterback win it?

3.  Which non-BCS Conference team will make it to a BCS bowl?  Utah? Boise State? Tulsa?!?

4.  The Joe Paterno-Bobby Bowden all time wins leader race.  Bowden started the year at 373 wins, JoePa at 372.  This year, Penn State is 9-0 and FSU is 6-1, giving Paterno a 381-379 edge.  Bowden may get an extra game with the ACC title game.  And, will either one retire after this year?

5.  The coaching carousel.  Who gets fired first, Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee or Tommy Tuberville at Auburn? 

Seth Maberry

"Mizzou Wrap-up"

It had been a very long time, or at least it felt like a very long time since Mizzou had been on the good side of the scoreboard. The Tigers pounded Colorado 58-0 Saturday in Columbia to move to 6-2 on the season. It was good to see Missouri respond after a bad couple of weeks, and not only respond, but shut-out a conference opponent. They hadn't done that since 1986. Missouri held the Buff's to just 41 yards on the ground and just 199 yards of total offense. Thats marked improvment from the beating they had taken the last couple of weeks. On the other side of the ball, Chase Daniel and the offense began to look like their old self again. Daniel was 31-37 for 302 yards and 5 TD passes. His favorite target on the day was Jeremy Maclin who caught eleven balls good for 134 yards and two scores. While TE Chase Coffman had 7 catches for just 50 yards, which is below his normal numbers, he did break the NCAA record for receptions by a tight end (one of which was an INCREDIBLE catch in the back of the endzone). While all of this is a very good sign for the Tigers, lets not forget that they were playing a Colorado football team that has serious trouble on offense. I'm not sure of how good a barometer this is of how good Missouri is. As I said during the game last night, Mizzou is caught somewhere between a good team and a great team. The schedule sets up nicely for the Tigers the last few weeks of the season. If they can take care of business against lesser teams, the Tigers will have a chance one more time to prove whether or not they are truly an elite football team.

Next game: Nov. 1 @ Baylor (2 P.M.)

10/6/08

College Football Roundup

 Wow, a lot has happened since I last wrote. Most notably, several top-tier teams have fallen. Of those top notch teams that have fallen in the last few weeks, none is more of a mystery to me than the Florida Gators. Allowing Ole Miss to come into the Swamp and pick up their first SEC victory in nearly two seasons is outrageous. The week before they went to Knoxville and beat what we now know is a bad 2-3 Tennessee team that is 104^th in total offense. They were actually outgained in the game. If not for crucial Volunteer turnovers and big defensive plays, that would have been a much different game. They also struggled for three quarters against Arkansas, before scoring four touchdowns in the fourth quarter.  The Gators are a mystery to me, and so is there quarter back Tim Tebow. I understand that Tebow is a phenomenal quarterback capable of putting up ridiculous numbers (55 total touchdowns may never be matched again), but the team lost four games last season coming off their national championship. While no one can argue with Tebow’s numbers last season, he has lost five games as a starter in a season and half worth of starts.

My thought is that the Gators will ride their defense for success, and not Tebow. The defense hasn’t been the problem so far this season for the Gators, except for giving up 31 against Ole Miss. Florida ranks fourth in scoring defense and 19th in total defense. In ’06, when they won the national championship with Chris Leak at QB, the Gators finished 19th in total offense and sixth in total defense. In ’07 the Gators were 14th in total offense and 41st in total defense, with Tebow at Quarterback.

 Top Ten:

 1. Oklahoma (We will know how good the Sooners really are by Saturday afternoon.)

2. Missouri (The offense is averaging 52 points a game while sitting on the ball during  the fourth quarter three times this season.)

3. Alabama (Have the most quality victories… Clemson and Georgia)

4. Penn State (The Oregon State blowout looks big now)

5. Texas (Best team they have played is Colorado)

6. LSU ( Tough game against Florida this week)

7. Texas Tech (Schedule still questionable: Nevada is best team they’ve played)

8. BYU (Just don’t lose)

9. Vanderbilt (Keeps on moving up until they lose)

10. Ohio State (getting Todd Beckman out at QB is the key to their success) 

Top 10 Toughest Places to Play

I have compiled four most important keys to creating a tough football environment for opposing football teams.  The first is a winning team.  Maybe the most obvious but also overlooked.  Plain and simple, if a team is losing people don’t want to come.  Next it depends on how many people come to the games.  In most instances the more people means the louder noise.  The next two have to do with the construction of the stadium.  Most importantly there must be an upper deck.  With an upper deck there is nowhere for the noise to go.  Case and point, Michigan.  They have the largest stadium in the nation and average close 110,000 people per game, yet they are not very loud because their stadium is one big bowl with no upper deck.  The last step is more helpful than necessary.  Old rickety are the best for noise.  They wobble shake with crowd.  You will notice this in the south where the stadiums have stood forever.  However, it is not always hold true. Here are my top ten toughest place to play.

 10. Ohio Stadium “The Horseshoe” – Ohio Sate

The stadium fills with over 102,000 with only eight night games having been played since its opening in 1922.  It doesn’t even have permanent lights for the games.

9. Bryant-Denny Stadium – Alabama

It’s been sold out for every home game since 1988.  Not to mention the more than 92,000 that showed up for their spring practice game last year.

8. Camp Randall – Wisconsin

At the end of the of the fourth quarter the horns sound marking the begin of the hit song “Jump Around” recorded by the House of Pain.  Everybody, and I mean everybody in the stadium starts jumping to the music.

7. Autzen Stadium “Autzen Zoo” – Oregon

You know how they “pound-for-pound” when comparing people.  Well people-for-people this is the loudest stadium in the world.  It reached the highest amount of decibels in a game ever with 127.2 dB against USC last year, which is amazing since the stadium only seats 54,000.

6. Kyle Field “The 12^th Man” Texas A&M –

Other than the lame story of a student getting chosen out the student section to dawn the A&M uniform, the 12^th man symbolizes the backing of the players by the fans.  Kyle field boasts some of the most patriotic fans and students in the country.

5. Lane Stadium – Virginia Tech

Lane stadium start to rock (no pun intended) with the playing of “Enter Sandman” to the arrival of the team prior to kickoff.  Not to mention that crazy looking Hokie bird.

4. Ben Hill Griffin “The Swamp” – Florida

It is known as the swamp for a reason, which is perhaps its most intimidating feature, the heat.  The name was coined by Steve Spurrier when referring to BHG as a swamp where gators live.  This seems like the perfect place for the birth of a revolutionary sports drink.

3. Neyland Stadium – Tennessee

Maybe it’s the checkerboard endzones, the continuous sight of orange, or maybe it’s the average 38 times the band plays Rocky Top a game with the fans singing along, unfortunately.  Whatever it is teams have a hard time communicating with 102,000 people screaming at the top of their lungs.

2. Beaver Stadium “Happy Valley” – Penn State

Continuously referred to as the best student section in all of football, there they sit thousands strong every game in the frozen tundra that is central Pennsylvania.  It seems like every game is a white out.  So much so you would forget their primary color is blue if the jerseys of the players weren’t so. 

1. Tiger Stadium “Death Valley” (night) – LSU

            There is a reason there is the word “night” in parentheses.  Maybe because if an LSU game isn’t at night it wouldn’t make the list.  However most of their big games are at night, which is when they need the fans more than ever.  The day games just don’t the fans enough time to prepare for the game, and when I say prepare, I mean drink.  The later the game the louder the fans got.  Former Tennessee coach Johnny Majors once said, “For the longest time they popped champagne corks when the anthem got to ‘rockets’ red glare.’ That’s a party.”  However, they haven’t stopped.

10/5/08

Seth Maberry

Long time Tiger fans had a reason to be nervous coming into Saturday night's game at Lincoln, Nebraska. Mizzou hadn't won a game there since 1978, a game that ended in thrilling action. Somehow, in the back of your mind, you were thinking that if there was a game Mizzou would screw up, it was this one. But...this is a different Tiger team. This is a different brand of football. The University of Missouri Tigers waltzed into Memorial Stadium in Lincoln and trounced Nebraska 52-17. It took the Tiger offense all of three plays to score a touchdown. A toss from Chase Daniel to Mr. Maclin. Nebraska tied it up briefly, but then Mizzou took a 14-7 lead a never looked back, leading 31-10 at the break. Even the defense showed up to play. Tiger LB Brock Christopher had a pick 6 to add to a all around great effort by Mizzou. The Tigers played with great balance on offenese with Derrick Washington rushing for 139 yards and two scores (he also caught another), and Chase Daniel passed for 253 yards (18-23) and three TD's. Jermey Maclin had another stellar effort with 5 catches for 89 yards. Against Mizzou's D, Nebraska rushed for a grand total of 79 yards. They did pass for 290, but that was below their season average. Mizzou outgained Nebraska 462-369, which isn't terrible, again due to the amount of time the D was on the field. When the dust settled Mizzou had won 52-17 (it shoulda been 52-10, but Nebraska scored on the very last play of the game). A thirty year drought was over. Revenge never tasted so sweet.

Next game: #17 Oklahoma State (7 P.M. at Memorial Stadium, Faurot Field: Columbia, MO)

Big 12 Nouns of the Week/Top 5

Benjamin Herrold

 Person- Colt McCoy, Texas quarterback: He put up great numbers in four easy wins, with 14 touchdowns, only one interception, and an 80% completion percentage.  Now Texas and McCoy face a tougher test when they play at Colorado this week.  Colorado is 3-1 and has played a tough schedule.  McCoy must now perform at this high level with a greater degree of difficulty, and without thinking about Oklahoma next week.

 Place- Lincoln, Nebraska: Missouri visits Nebraska, where the Tigers haven’t won since 1978.  If they don’t win there this year, it may never happen.  Mizzou’s offense is excellent, but it’s hard to win at Nebraska.  If Nebraska hangs around and gets some turnovers, Mizzou will be in for quite a fight.  There should be a great atmosphere for this Saturday night game on ESPN.

 Thing- Big 12 Conference play: If I had to watch one more Big 12 school pound an overmatched directional state cupcake opponent, I would absolutely lose it.  (Like Bo Pelini on the sidelines.  Two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on a coach in five career games?  Seriously?)  Conference play kicks off with the six ranked teams playing the six unranked teams.  Five of the games are at the unranked schools.  Upset time?  Speaking of which…

 Top 5

Most likely Big 12 upsets this Saturday (coaches poll rankings)

 1.  No. 5 Texas at Colorado- The Buffs are battle tested, Texas is not. 

 2.  No. 16 Kansas at Iowa State- The Cyclones are a gritty, hungry team.  Just a feeling.

 3.  No. 3 Missouri at Nebraska- Lincoln is a tough place to play and Nebraska is improving.

 4.  No. 8 Texas Tech at Kansas State- If KSU can play physical defense.  If not…hide the children.

 5.  No. 1 Oklahoma at Baylor- Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin has talent… but Baylor has NEVER (ever ever ever) beaten the Sooners.  You try picking five upsets in a six game schedule.  Texas A&M is absolute garbage.

Ben Herrold

College Football Nouns of the Week- Week 3

 Place- Jacksonville, Florida: Fresh off a win over Pat White and West Virginia, Colorado looks to add to its 3-0 start with a game against Florida State.  It’s not a true road game, but playing FSU in Jacksonville is about as one-sided as neutral site games get.  Florida State’s defense will be a good test for Colorado quarterback Cody Hawkins.  Colorado looks like they can make some noise this year.  The game is on ABC at 2:30 p.m.

 Thing- The Sea of Red under the lights: Nebraska hosts Virginia Tech in Lincoln at 7 p.m. on ABC.  The Huskers are 3-0, but this is their first test from a major conference team.  (Insert joke about whether the ACC qualifies as a “major conference” these days.)  Virginia Tech is still a solid 3-1 team, and a win would be big time for getting the Bo Pelini Era going at Nebraska.  The game is the NCAA-record 293^rd consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium, the Sea of Red in Lincoln.  The Big Red will need to use the best home field advantage in the Big 12 both this week and next week, when No. 5 Missouri comes to Lincoln for another night game. 

 Top 5

Big 12 Home Field Advantages/Toughest Places to Play

 1.  Nebraska- NCAA record 293 sellouts (and counting), the undivided attention of the state, all that red, all the tradition, and simply the loudest yet classiest fans in the Big 12.

2.  Oklahoma- Similar passion and tradition as Nebraska, huge crowds, and ponies pulling covered wagons.  Oh yeah, very good teams play there, too.

3. Texas- Darrel K. Royal Stadium is big and imposing, a symbol of Texas.  Another tradition-rich Big 12 venue with good teams to guard the home field. 

4.  Texas A&M- home losses to Arkansas State aside, Kyle Field is an epic home field advantage.  The home of the 12^th man sways, sings, yells, and often propels mediocre Texas A&M teams to stirring efforts and big upsets.

5.  Missouri- This has become a great venue and tough place to win in recent years.  Mizzou is 15-1 at home since the start of the 2006 season. 

 Also receiving votes: Kansas State- The whole stadium gets rocking to the Wabash Cannonball.  Go to a game there.  It’s a riotous good time.  

Chris Coffman

"The Vols"

I’ve always heard from sportscasters that Tennessee Volunteer fans are stupid hicks.  Up until recently I was in complete disagreement. As an avid Vols fan it’s been hard to not to notice the talks about firing Phil Fulmer by disgruntled fans over the last couple of years.  The grumblings started in 2005, when the Vols came in ranked #3 and finished the season with a 5-6 record.  Cases can even be made for that season.  They were only lost one game by more than nine points and the team was injury plagued, losing two All-American caliber players in midseason.  The leaving of offensive coordinator Randy Sanders in the middle of the season didn’t help matters.  The only blame I put on Fulmer for that year was the quarterback race between Rick Clausen and Erik Ainge.  Fulmer often liked to start Ainge, but whenever he seemed out of sync he was replaced by Clausen, shattering Ainge’s confidence making him progressively worse as the season wore on.  Clausen was a good leader but did not have the athleticism or football skills to compete in a defensive heavy SEC.  It seems like every time they lose, Fulmer is on the hot seat.  It’s been just over ten years since he won the inaugural BCS National Championship game and Vols fans are getting restless for another title game appearance. It was also in that same year that the Vols last won an SEC championship.  Fans are saying that ten years is way to long for both.  What they tend to not realize is that Tennessee has played in three of the eight SEC Title games since the turn of the century.  Last year they won the SEC East after starting the season 1-2.  In all honesty they should have won the championship game against National Champions, LSU.  A few poor choices by Ainge led to LSU scores inevitably winning LSU the game.  Now the Vols have started this season off 1-2 and the hate is starting to poor in from fans all over again.  Volunteer fans don’t seem to understand the complications of football.  When a new offense is established it generally takes more than 6 months for student-athletes to learn a completely new set of plays.  They also don’t understand that when you play explosive offenses such as Florida, you can’t afford to run the ball two-thirds of the time.  You have to pass to keep up with them in scoring.  There are petitions floating around the Volunteer blogs to fire Fulmer.  Apparently it is now alright to fire a coach in the middle of the season even though history tells us that in all but very rare occasions does it ever work out well.  Not to mention that ticket prices will soar having to pay out Phil’s $5.5 contract. 

Matt Hayes

1.)Virginia- They lost to Uconn in non-conference and only beat RICHMOND 16-0.

2.) Ohio State-Yes they are highly ranked, but they play in the Big 10, lets not give them too much credit and the game was at USC.

3.) @Oregon State-This team lost to Stanford and got destroyed by Penn State.  It is a conference road game, but does that matter in this case?

4.) Oregon- This game is at home, not to mention this team had to go to OT to beat Purdue.  However, Oregon is #17 right now and did look very good in their first two games.

5.) Arizona State-They just lost to UNLV and the game is at USC.

6.) @ Washington State- Next.

7.) @ Arizona- Lost to New Mexico, (MU did too a few years back if you’ll remember) 

8.) Washington- Really does anyone think Washington can beat USC in the Coliseum?

9.) Cal- They lost to Maryland.  Yes it was @ Maryland, but they play in the ACC.

10.) @ Stanford-  No doubt Stanford will play with a swagger, but USC will be out for revenge.  Still nowhere near as tough a game as some road SEC/BIG XII games.

11.) Notre Dame- Don’t get me started

12.) @UCLA- Did you see they BYU game?

Please don’t use the strength of schedule argument when referring to USC this year.  

Brent Foster

As a lifelong Tiger fan I have been there through the good times, and mostly the bad times. My first Tiger game was a November afternoon in 1995 when the Tigers took on Kansas State. I was six at the time and didn’t know a lot about football, Mizzou or Kansas State. But I did know one thing about the Tigers: they weren’t very good. So as I sat through the game it really didn’t come as a surprise to me when someone for Missouri dropped a fourth-down pass in the end zone with less than a minute left to secure a Kansas State victory, their second of thirteen straight against the Tigers. As I got older I began to follow the Tigers more closely, beginning with the Corby Jones era. One of my fondest memories was watching Corby and the Tigers compete blow for blow with mighty Nebraska during the infamous kick catch game. But as the Corby Jones and the players around him graduated Missouri quickly fell back down to Big 12 doormats. The late Larry Smith was fired and it seemed like it was all starting over again. The Tigers were just a flash in the pan. Enter Gary Pinkel, head coach from the University of Missouri. Most people, including myself, didn’t view this as a big hire. He had some success at Toledo and would probably be like the last several coaches at Missouri and have little success and get on with his life. And it started off just like always. An debut loss to Bowling Green. Yes Bowling Green. And it wouldn’t get a whole lot better. Over the next few years I remember similar gasps at Bowling Green the next season, at home against New Mexico, at Troy and several embarrassing losses to bad KU teams. But there was something different about Pinkel that guys like Smith and Bob Stull didn’t seem to have: passion and an undying intensity to do what is best for the team. One of the boldest moves he made was benching senior quarterback Kirk Farmer in favor of red-shirt freshman Brad Smith. It turned out to be of the best moves in Pinkel’s coaching career in my opinion. While that move quickly worked in Pinkel’s favor, people never bought into him. They were always quick to criticize. The first sign something went wrong, Pinkel was to blame. I include myself in this. I have been very critical of Pinkel during his time at Mizzou. Why can’t they make second half adjustments? Or why are they trying to make Brad Smith a pocket passer? Or why don’t they ever line up under center? Why can’t they score when they get inside the five yard line? These grumblings have subsided… for now. I believe that winning makes people shut up faster than anything. I’m writing this because I am starting to believe in Gary Pinkel and what he is doing at Mizzou. I’m also writing this because I feel like the first sign something goes wrong, those Pinkel haters are going to be screaming louder and louder. I know they are out there just waiting for this team to trip up. But guess what, this team is not going to trip up. It took six or seven years to do it, but Pinkel toughed it out and weathered the demons of Mizzou football. I think it’s time Mizzou fans gave HCGP the respect he deserves. And when the day comes and the Tigers hit some bumps in the road (and let’s hope it’s not for a long time) don’t immediately put the blame on Pinkel. The man has proven to me that he can coach. 

9/17/08

Ben Herrold

Big 12 Nouns of the Week:

Person- Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel: We see his leadership and tremendous accuracy on the field, now take a look at the numbers: Three games, 973 yards, 10 touchdowns, only one interception, and a 72.2 completion percentage.  Over the last two weeks, Daniel has more touchdowns (7) than incomplete passes (6).  On the last 13 drives Daniel has quarterbacked, Mizzou has 12 touchdowns and one field goal.  Daniel leads the nation’s best offense, which tops the nation with an astounding 57.7 points per game (almost 40 in the first half) and 597.3 yards per game.  (If you made it to the end of all those stats, I’m proud of you.)

 Place- College Station, Texas: Texas A&M plays host to the Miami Hurricanes this Saturday at 2:30 on ABC.  The Aggies simply have to regain control of Kyle Field if they are going to rebuild their program, which hasn’t won a conference or division title since 1998.  A&M opened the year with a disastrous home loss to Arkansas State, not the way Mike Sherman wanted to start his coaching career with the Aggies.  With its swaying, thunderous, massive crowds, Kyle Field is a great home field advantage.  Time to start using it, Aggies.

 Thing- Weeknight Big 12-Big East Matchups on ESPN: Why wait until Saturday to watch some college football?  Wednesday night Kansas State plays at Louisville on ESPN2, Thursday night Colorado hosts West Virginia on ESPN, and Friday night Baylor plays at Connecticut on ESPN2.  The KSU and Colorado games will help show if they will compete in the Big 12 North.  The Baylor game will show if they will be anything but wretched this season.

 Top 5

Big 12 Quarterbacks

 1.  Chase Daniel, Missouri- See above.  Or watch him against Buffalo Saturday.

2.  Sam Bradford, Oklahoma- He’s very efficient and makes few mistakes while piloting the Sooner machine.

3.  Graham Harrell, Texas Tech- He puts up outstanding numbers, but he’s more than just a system quarterback.  Tech’s best QB ever is among the nation’s best.

4.  Colt McCoy, Texas- If he cuts down on the interceptions (18 last year), he can be an elite quarterback.

5.  Josh Freeman, Kansas State- Probably the Big 12’s best NFL quarterback prospect, the 6’6’’ Freeman has a very strong arm and mobility.  Time for a breakout junior year. 

9/16/08

Seth Herrold

" My Boy Chase Daniel"

Brent Foster

  When you finish the third week of the college football season, you really start to see to develop a sense of how things are going to play out. The big game of USC V Ohio State University ended up more like Brown V Board of Education… total domination and mismatches all over the field. Ohio State did not look like it belonged on the same field. The big thing that struck me about this game is how inept Ohio States offense really is. They couldn’t run and they couldn’t pass. Ohio State will be able to overcome this inept offense because they play in a pretty offensively challenged Big 10 (See the Illinois game Saturday), and will be better when Beanie Wells is back. They will still challenge for the Big 10, but the verdict is in and Ohio State is once again overrated and will not challenge for a national title.

Meanwhile USC may be on cruise control to Miami. Outside of the Trojans asserting themselves as the No. 1 team in the nation, the Pac 10 was horrendous. Starting with a supposedly good Arizona State team losing at home to UNLV, then a UCLA team getting ripped apart by BYU 59-0. And don’t forget a 40 plus point loss by Washington at home against Oklahoma. Oregon nearly blew a big lead at Purdue but held on in overtime. And Cal, losing to Maryland, who lost to Div. 1AA Middle Tenn. State. Baylor put up 45 on Wash. State too. Ouch for the boys out west. This week really showed that there are two conferences in my mind that are far superior this season to everyone else, and you know which ones they are. I could go on and on about this week, but I’m running long so I’ll cut to my top 10 teams.

 

1. USC (Total domination)
2. Oklahoma (Look at Sam Bradford’s completion percentage)
3. Missouri (Continues to roll towards conference play)
4. Florida (I think we will know more after they play Tennessee next week)
5. Georgia (found a way to win on the road when they were struggling)
6. Wisconsin (A win on the road at Fresno State is high quality in my book)
7. Alabama (Not sure they are this good, but scheduling Clemson and beating them counts for a lot with me)
8. LSU (Has looked impressive against lesser competition)
9. South Florida (Showed Big East pride in knocking of Jayhawks)
10. Penn State (They have looked nearly flawless in 3 games. I guess this make OSU the third best team in the Big 10.)

 Have a good weekend everybody and be sure to listen to 88.7 FM Saturday night at 7 as I will be broadcasting the battle for the Hickory Stick as the Truman State Bulldogs and Northwest Missouri State Bearcats do battle from Stokes Stadium in Kirskville.  

Seth Maberry

Mizzou Wrap-up

Yesterday provided much excitement to the 54,000 plus fans that came to Faurot Field on a rainy Saturday to watch Mizzou pound Nevada 69-17. Tiger fans have a lot of reasons to be excited at this point. Heisman hopeful, Tiger quarterback Chase Daniel, threw for 405 yards and four touchdown passes. Three of his TD tosses went to fellow heisman candidate Jeremy Maclin who caught 6 balls for 172 yards and the aforementioned touchdowns. Daniel completed an unbelieveable 23 of 28 passes while becoming Missouris all time passing leader. Missouri's leaky pass defense played very well for the majority of the game, save the final play of the first half where Nevada tossed a 42 yard touchdown pass to a wide open reciever to pull within 38-17 at the break. However, in the second half, the Tiger "D" stepped it up and gave up no points while the Tiger offenese cruised to a school record 69 points. Nevada was only able to pass for 180 yards and rush for another 182, while Mizzou racked up 651 yards of total offense, almost double Nevada's total output. This is the first season in a VERY long time that Mizzou fans can say that have a national title contender in Columbia. The Tigers will begin the week ranked 5th in each major poll (AP, Coaches) and have another cupcake game next week when Buffalo travels to Columbia. The schedule tightens up a bit after that. A bye the weekend of the 27th and then the Tigers travel to Nebraska where they haven't won since 1978. A home game against a solid Oklahoma State squad will be no fun, followed by a trip to Texas to face the 7th ranked longhorns. But, we'll worry about that when we get there. Right now, the Tigers are 3-0 and playing at a very high level. Oh yes, Missouri has lots of reasons to be excited!