Aggies Anguish

You have got to feel sorry for the Utah State Aggies, who have now lost three heart breakers--and it is not quite October. Tonight they blew a 24-13 lead with the winning TD for BYU coming on a deflection with 11 seconds left. And engineering the comeback for the Cougars? Former Utah State QB Riley Nelson, who came off bench in second half.

Big Ten Update

Opening weekend for the Big Ten promises to deliver some exciting games. The marquee contest is, of course, 4-0 Wisconsin hosting 4-0 Nebraska. I firmly believe that this game will go down to the wire as Wisconsin is slightly over-rated and the Huskers usually do well on the road. Nebraska will have to scheme well defensively to stop the potent Badger offense, while the Huskers offense will still be searching for balance.
There are some other interesting match-ups tomorrow, namely Ohio State versus Michigan State and Illinois hosting Northwestern. Both OSU and MSU have tossed recent clunkers and so the winner will be in good shape to move forward as a contender. The loser will fall to 3-2 and may not sniff the rankings for awhile. In the battle for the new Land of Lincoln Trophy, Northwestern looks to get back QB Dan Persa and avenge a blowout loss last year that he missed after injuring his Achilles the week before. The Illini, meanwhile, want to prove that their 4-0 start is no fluke.
I like all three of those games to be close.

Tonight's Pick

I like South Florida -3 at Pitt tonight. USF is the better team and bears Big East hopes for a high ranking. That will not mean much tonight but they are the better team.

Pac 12 Update

Since Oregon's opening day loss, the Pac 12 has made more of its headlines off the field. Stanford is the highest-ranked team in the conference and is the only undefeated team in the bunch. Unfortunately, they will be in a dogfight with Oregon all season for the Pac-12 North title as the two marquis programs in the conference are together, rightfully, in the same division. They square off November 12 in Palo Alto so the intrigue until then will center on who can play spoiler up North (Washington?) and who will take charge down South (Arizona State?).

This week's games should not help determine a North front runner as Stanford hosts UCLA and Oregon is off, but there are other key games as Washington travels to Utah, ASU hosts Oregon State (its no longer September so the Beavers might actually show up), USC hosts Arizona and WSU travels to Boulder. Arizona already has two conference losses--to the two best teams in the Pac-12--so they will have to play like a team possessed against the Men of Troy. But USC cannot afford to stumble there as it would give them a second loss and make catching an ASU team that beat them last week that much more difficult. Utah too has a conference loss and must win a huge game versus Washington. That is probably the one game to see this week (4pm kickoff Pacific time, FSN).

Big 12 Update

Will Missouri leave? BYU join? Who knows, but I do know that as the Big 12 scrambles just to keep the conference alive, the play on the field has been superb. The Big 12 is 26-2 in non-conference play--the best in the country--with wins over Florida State, TCU, Iowa and Miami. There are a whopping 7 undefeated squads, although a couple play each other this weekend so that number will soon decrease. Four of the nation's top ten passing attacks, statistically, reside in the conference and the star power is evident on a weekly basis. Who needs Nebraska or Colorado?

But as I have mentioned before, play on the field does not seem to matter during these volatile times. Still, as college football fans, we can sit back and enjoy the show.

The race for top spot in the conference--and there will not be a end-of-the-season title game of course--is certainly wide open and play this weekend will do nothing to alter the perception that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are the front runners. OU plays Ball State, while OSU is off. Still the good slate of games Saturday will go a long way to determining who is up for challenging those big two.

Texas travels to Ames to take on Iowa State with the winner sporting an undefeated mark. The same is true for the winner of Baylor at Kansas State. The other undefeated team in the Big 12 is Texas Tech and they travel to Lawrence to play Kansas. So, expect five teams to go to sleep Saturday night with perfect records. Will Texas avenge last season's home loss to ISU or are the Cyclones their equal? Can KSU stop Robert Griffin and the explosive Baylor offense? Can Kansas finally beat Tech at home after going 0-6 so far against the Red Raiders?

Texas A&M may have had a setback in the second half Saturday, but plan to make plenty of noise the rest of the way. They will look to remain highly ranked with a win Saturday over Arkansas. The Razorbacks have swept the first two games of what was a mini series against A&M, but will now be a full-time rivalry with the Aggies move to the SEC. The game may be as important for the A&M psyche as their ranking after the Oklahoma State loss.

Is the Big 12 the best conference (on the field)? It is too early to tell, but it certainly looks the part. Perhaps a collective hatred of Texas is good for the quality of play.

What We Learned Yesterday

Being that it is 1am here, Monday morning, I am referring to Saturday's slate of college games (although I would love to discuss the Giants big win in Philly).

LSU is looking more and more like the team to beat. They had an impressive September and have enough D talent to scare any team. West Virginia did rally a bit until they forgot that special teams play requires actual tackling and not two-hand touch. And Jarrett Lee will screw up somewhere, but based on the actual play on the field the Tigers have been the nation's most impressive team.

For one half, Texas A&M looked to be their match in their dominant performance against Oklahoma State. But then the Cowboys returned from the break to officially send the Aggies to the SEC with a 30-minute ass-whipping. That the Aggies stuck around until the end bodes well for the rest of their season, but it was still better being in Okie State's shows at game's end.

I'll breakdown the other top teams in a conference-by-conference analysis beginning tomorrow.

Today's Picks

All of my best bets today are early afternoon games, so you can get the anguish out of the way early.
San Diego State +10.5 at Michigan
Battle for Brady Hoke Bowl as former charges, led by his D Coordinator Rocky Long, may win game outright. Getting all of those points is a luxury.
Notre Dame -7 at Pittsburgh
Irish began roll last week. Panthers secondary and o-line are problems, which is troublesome against ND team with good passing attack and pass rush.
Temple +8.5 against Maryland
Owls play hard and continue to get disrespected in Vegas. Maryland has some weapons but will have battle in trenches.
Ohio +4 at Rutgers
One of the better MAC squads should take RU to the wire.
I also love the over in the Okie State-Texas A&M shootout, which is "only" 67.

View From Bennett Avenue

The Big East had to be happy with Cincinnati's rout of North Carolina State last night. Sure it was one a-bit-under-the-radar game, but it was the first ACC-Big East battle since Pitt and Syracuse switched conferences. When you are feeling low, it is sometimes the little things that spark a comeback.
Tonight's BYU-Central Florida match-up is also under the radar, but it should be a good game. BYU is now desperate for a win, while the Knights are desperate for any kind of coverage. UCF won 11 games last year, including a victory over Georgia in the bowl game, and still generated barely a sigh. This game will feature the defenses and I think BYU wins a close one. They had better or their once promising season will spiral out of control.

View From Bennett Avenue

I am a bit confused about the level of attention being awarded the ACC for the moves they made this week in poaching Pitt and Syracuse from the Big East and potentially claiming UConn and Rutgers as well. If these moves were being made because they realized that the fight for basketball supremacy has long been usurped by their rival league, then sure I understand. If you cannot beat the Big East on the court, then steal some of its better programs. But everyone is stating that football is driving the ACC's expansion--as it is elsewhere--and if that is the case then I do not see what all the fuss is about.
Take Pittsburgh. The Panthers have been under-achieving for years. They do not sell out every game in a pro town and do not have a hot coach. I doubt many ACC fans could even name their coach. Yes Pittsburgh is a decent-size market, but it is again a pro town and the chances of a Pitt-North Carolina State game stirring the hometown is slim.
Syracuse is, of course, even smaller. And except for a few seasons in the 1980s and then again in the 1990s, the Orange have not had much to cheer about for close to 50 years. If this is all about football, I have a hard time understanding why Syracuse is so attractive.
It really is a matter of perception. If the Big East accepted East Carolina and Temple tomorrow to replace Pitt and Syracuse, the quality of the league on the football field would remain the same. But the country would perceive of the conference as nothing more than Conference USA with an automatic BCS berth. ECU is arguably the best program in the Tar Heel State at the moment and yet there is no cache in adding them. Temple is an up-and-coming football program with a rich basketball tradition but they were booted by the conference before. Expand even more by grabbing, say, Houston and Central Florida, and the Big East in football would be even stronger than before yet the perception would be that the ACC won the war. Odd.

View From Bennett Avenue

I would love to present to you my anaylsis of the current college football season, but the powers that be in some college programs are too busy overshadowing their product with dopey announcements concerning their abandonment of one conference for another. That Pittsburgh and Syracuse even overshadowed the death of Dave Gavitt with their escape to the
ACC was the last straw for me. The Big East transformed Syracuse and Pitt into national programs and they should have remained loyal. I am tired of this b.s. and want the focus to return to the playing field.

Fashion Week 2011

Welcome to the reality show, "Football Fashion Week."

Admit it or not, fans, clothes make the man...or the team. The look of your favorite team really matters. Uniforms matter. Colors matter. The last thing you want is to be embarrassed by football uniforms. Some fans must be hiding in shame right now.

No doubt practicing for the NCAA-dictated ban on all-blue uniforms on its all-blue field, Boise State was dressed in all white in the neutral-site Georgia Dome, while continuing to avoid all sense of symmetry in helmet designs. I'll give them a grade of A-. The all-white duds helped Boise State assume its on-going role of "good guys" adopted by millions of BCS haters. Plus, the gigantic horse head on one side of the helmet allowed TV viewers to understand they were looking at the Broncos. Not so their Bulldog opponents.

To the benefit--and I use that term advisedly--of the Georgia Bulldogs, the uniform designers at Nike must have watched lots of episodes of Power Ranger TV shows and an endless loop of the 1975 sci-fi film "Rollerball" when standing at the drawing board, red and black markers in hand. Georgia's helmets were silver and set an all-time record for width of center stripe, which turned out red and a garish six inches across. The jerseys were a traditional red with small black numerals. For crying out loud, jersey numbers are supposed to stand in stark contrast to the base color so that both fans in the stands and TV viewers can have some sense of who is doing what. In case anyone has noticed, football players tend to get scattered all over the field as a play develops. Watching on TV, I had no idea what Bulldog was doing what; all I know is that they were doing it poorly. And what was with the back-of-jersey nameplates all spelling out "GEORGIA?" Traditionally (apparently an evil concept in Nike's world), the few schools that choose to include university names have stitched them across the front of the jersey. There was no available space on the Georgia shirt fronts, a spot taken by Nike's bomber squadron chevrons that first appeared on Oregon's oddball look a few years ago. Georgia's grade is an F. A week later the Dawgs went back to a traditional look.

Maryland hosted the Miami Hurricanes at the end of Week 1 and, under the design direction of the nearby UnderArmor company, set a new standard of bizarre. The Terrapins wore helmets that took symmetry and threw it under the bus: the right side of the plastic globe was ablaze with Harlequin checkers of yellow gold and black, while the left side depicted white and red crosses. Was this some commentary on the functions of the left and right sides of the human brain?

As outlandish as the quad-hued Terps appeared, there at least was historical inspiration in UnderArmor's touch. The state flag of Maryland sports black and gold checkers and red and white crosses. It is important to note the school lists all four colors as official and has often used all four on a uniform at once. For example, the 1953 national champion Terps employed red jerseys with white numerals and white helmets with a centered yellow-gold stripe, flanked by a pair of black stripes.

Maryland's 2011 fashion took some getting used to, but I'd give an incomplete B+ grade, knowing there is more to come from UnderArmor this year which could easily change the mark.

In week 2 of the season, Notre Dame and Michigan celebrated the first-ever night game at mammoth Michigan Stadium by donning throwback uniforms. Both looked pretty natty. Personally I like the occasional use of Kelly green by the Fighting Irish. While I can understand the Wolverines wishing to harken back to the halcyon '30s-'40s under Hall of Fame coach Fritz Crisler, why did Notre Dame wish to resemble losing coach Joe Kuharich's 1960 outfit that delivered a disastrous 2-8 record despite a decent amount of future pro talent?

Today's boisterous Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly was decked out in a sharp shade of green that would bring pride to his family heritage. But, the shamrock on a white visor made the poor guy appear to have celebrated St. Patrick's Day by wandering into a saloon on Chicago's Rush Street. Erin Go Bragh, Coach! I wish more coaches would take a page from the fashion playbook of Miami's Al Golden. For Kelly, a white shirt (like Golden's) and green tie might have lent enough class to help the Irish hold off Michigan's last moment winning rally. Or perhaps a bit better pass coverage might have done the trick.

What next? College football is renowned for follow-the-leader. All it would take is for one 5-star quarterback recruit to say, "I chose Maryland because of the really cool helmets!" to send every collegiate athletic director to seek designs more wild than the last. Such is college football these days where impressionable 17-year-olds make many of the decisions. Is Lady Gaga paying attention? There a future riches for you, Lady G.

Can we see ahead--long after Joe Paterno is gone--when notoriously conservative Penn State abandons its traditionally simple blue and white for the school's original colors of black and pink? Yes, it was once the Penn State Nittany Lions in black and pink! I can envision helmets in 2027 in a pink left half with a Paterno profile in black, and a black right side with a lion head logo in pink.

Lord, I hope not. For the record, Penn State slightly dulled down its "unies" this year by removing white collars and sleeve stripes from the contrasting blue jerseys. Good move, sort of.

--Bob Boyles

View From Bennett Avenue

There were a number of television specials this past weekend concerning the role sports played in helping New York City and the nation heal 10 years ago. As I continue to mourn friends lost in the attacks on the World Trade Center, I wonder if that was truly the case.

For one thing, the tragedy that we label 9-11 was not a one-day affair. The attacks did take place on that day but for many of the families touched by the tragedy, the bad news was stretched over a period of weeks if not months. That the Mets won that first game back after the attacks was great and that the Yankees reached and nearly won the World Series was special too, but I am unsure if those games really helped heal the people truly affected by the events of 9-11.

Take my friend Vinnie Kane, a firefighter who died that day. By the next morning we heard that he was one of nine members of his house who did not return home that day. Remember, there was some hope that a survivor or two could be found. So for a few days his family waited. But by the weekend that slim bit of hope had to have been dashed. Then the Kanes had to squeeze his funeral into the busy schedule for both firefighters and their community out on the Rockaways that was particularly hard hit. The mass took place in early October just as the rest of the city was beginning to get back to normal. But in November, some part of Vin was found at the site and his family then "laid him to rest." Even if Vin and the Kane family were huge sports fans, I do not know how meaningless baseball or football games could have really helped his family through weeks of news. mostly bad, and weeks of mourning and suffering. And I also know that New York City would have recovered whether or not Mike Piazza hit that home run, even if it was pretty cool at the time.

You see I feel that the opposite is more true. That important events like 9-11 put everything, like our love for sports, into perspective. Friends and family are what matters. The old Paul Guido would have been frustrated about how pathetic Notre Dame and the New York Giants looked this weekend. But being that those games were wrapped around a picnic to honor Vinnie on Saturday and a trip to his old firehouse on Sunday, I was fine. After all, there are always more games or seasons in sports. In life, that is not always the case.

Today's Picks

I have a lot today, so let's get going.
Wisconsin -21 over Oregon State: Badgers rolling while Beavers always stink in Sept.
Toledo +18 versus Ohio State: Do you have the cojones?
Miss St -6 over Auburn: Bulldogs will score at will.
Cincinnati +4.5 against Tennessee: I liked this a lot better when it opened 2 pts higher.
Nevada +27 against Oregon: Hard to bet against Ducks but that is a ton of pts.
Alabama -10 against PSU: Will be close for 3 Qs until Penn State D wears down.
South Carolina -3 at Georgia: Double digit win.
Temple -15 versus Akron: Owls looked primed for continued success.
No. Illinois -4.5 at Kansas: Statement game for Huskies--until next week versus Wisconsin.
BYU +7 at Texas: Road warriors will need better QB play.
Ball State +20: Hangover Bowl will go to USF but Ball State covers.
Western Kentucky +10 over Navy: Spread makes sense at Navy.
Utah +9: at USC: Utes are just as good.
BC +7.5 at UCF: Eagles didn't look that bad against Northwestern.
Enjoy.

Farewell Lee Roy Selmon

Yet another superstar college football player from my youth has passed away with the recent death of legendary Oklahoma defensive lineman Lee Roy Selmon. I have never been a Sooner fan, yet I rooted for the Selmon brothers as they seemed to be talented members of a great family. The more I learned about the Selmons over the years bore that impression out as everyone had a kind word to say about each of them. But despite their natural friendliness and classroom success, the Selmons were terrific football players and their recruitment was the most important reason for the success enjoyed by OU during their time in Norman.

It has taken me a couple of days to write about Lee Roy's death because of my anger over the many obituaries I have read. I readily admit that the NFL is the most popular sport in this country, but college football is not far behind and Oklahoma football is arguably more significant than that of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Selmons's team. But the obits either ignored his tremendous career at Oklahoma or briefly mentioned it. Why? Because it is not pro football and today's sportswriters have grown up in the modern era where the pro game trumps all. Selmon was a college superstar, winning awards and national titles. That is as important as anything he did before or after. It is really stupid when ESPN makes this kind of mistake as they have been broadcasting college football for decades.

Tonight's Pick

What have we learned so far this young 2011 season? If you have dreams of BCS games dancing in your head, it is prudent to schedule Cupcake U. opening week. Oregon, Notre Dame, TCU and Georgia would all have been better off facing weaker competition this weekend. All four of those teams made the kind of mistakes that one could expect this early in the season. And while it is true that their opponents were in a similar boat, the reality is that most of the Top 25 played someone they could beat even if they played poorly. And compounding the issue for the four mentioned week one losers is that they do not even have a cupcake scheduled for week two, and so to avoid falling to 0-2 Oregon must beat Nevada, ND has to win a night game in Ann Arbor, TCU must win at Air Force and Georgia has to beat South Carolina.
Today I love SMU getting 15 points from an over-rated Texas A&M squad.

Today's Picks

My picks today are a work in progress. My best bet is Northwestern getting 3.5 at Boston College. Both teams look to improve on 7-win seasons and the Cats, with Dan Persa healthy, will be the surprise contender in the Big Ten Legends division. BC still has to prove that they can pass the ball, especially with star runner Montel Harris out with a knee injury. The extra half point was too good to pass up.
I also like East Carolina getting 21 from a South Carolina team that has had too much turmoil this off season and will be looking ahead to the Georgia game. I also think Colorado State (-6.5) will be a bowl team this year and will beat poor New Mexico by 2 TDs. And BYU will be a national contender this season and that path will begin today with a road win over an SEC opponent in Mississippi. Take the Cougars minus 3.
As far as the big games today, I like Notre Dame over USF by 14, Oregon to edge LSU by a FG and Boise State to beat Georgia by 7.
And didn't I write that today's picks are a work in progress? Well, Houston is going to beat UCLA by 10 to avenge last season's upset loss.

Opening Upset of 2011

TCU coach Gary Patterson could not have gotten much sleep last night. If he did, nightmares of Baylor wideouts racing past his DBs would have woken him up. Baylor beat TCU 50-48 thanks in large part to long passes completed against a rebuilt Horned Frogs secondary. But, most importantly, Baylor showed mettle enough to shake off 25 straight TCU points in marching down field late in 4th Q for the winning FG. That was impressive.
Can Baylor build off this win? They should be able to, as long as QB Robert Griffin stays healthy. Griffin completed 21-27 for 359y and 5 TDs. The defense still needs work. As for TCU, there is work to be done but that was to be expected after losing 13 starters. The 25-game regular season win streak is over and the key for coach Patterson is shaking off the loss and focusing on the MWC crown. Defense of that title, in their last season in conference, begins next week at Air Force. At least they will not give up 414y passing in that game.

Picks For Tonight

That was a nice comeback for Syracuse, even if it cost me a pick. The Big East needs all the wins it can get against other BCS conferences too.
There is Friday night football in Texas but it is a battle between Baylor and TCU. With the programs in the state Texas going every which way, this is a statement game for the Bears. I like them in an upset thanks to having the best QB on the field in Robert Griffin. He faces a tall task in the always-stout Horned Frogs defense. It should be a good game.

Tonight's Picks

I went for Wake, +6.5, the under in that game (49) and the over in the Wisconsin game (57). But I want good, clean fun.