Your teams...a month in.

[WolverineSteve]

Now that we're a month into the season what have you learned about your teams?

Michigan.
To be 4-0 at this point was not that unbelievable. Beating Eastern, Western, and IU looked possible if not probable. Beating ND is always sweet and grows in significance with every Irish win. But what have we learned? The offense is vastly improved. Having a stable full of weapons and someone to distribute the ball to them has made the leap from year one to two amazing. Obviously the tough part of the schedule lies ahead and Tate's health is critical to future successes. On the defensive side of the ball there are obvious concerns. Yardage is mounting at an alarming rate and they look vulnerable in all phases. Pass rush is poor, run stopping is non-existant, and coverage has been soft. That said with the O putting up 30-plus per week the D can be mediocre and UM can win some games...but they must elevate their game to get to mediocre.

Suprises...
The qb play. I knew it would be better (it had to be) but Forcier's calm demeanor and accuracy, especially while on the run, has impressed. Shoelace is a sick athlete, once Gardner gets in AA next year it will be imperative that RR figures out ways to get him the ball.

The o-line. Having to play all the inexperienced guys all year last year is paying off. The running game is benefitting, can Minor and Brown ever both be healthy? Both have looked good when they've been featured.

The depth of offensive speed. It's almost an embarrasment of riches, all the speedy water bug types in the cupboard. Now the recruiting has got to shore up the other side of the ball. There is talent over there, just young and raw, and the d-line is undersized.

Dissapointments.

Mostly the defense. They are young, undersized, and not at all deep. I like Robinson's overall schemes (way better than Shafer experimenting with unproven methods!!!!!!Fuck I hate that guy!!!) and think when he gets more time and talent his units will be strong. I look for the D to improve as the season goes on, something that did not occur last year.

Prediction for the rest of the year...
I don't recall making a pre-season prediction on here, but I was thinking 6 or 7 wins and a lousy bowl game. Now I see UM at worst splitting the remaining games and going 8-4 at least. With a good bounce here or there a bowl trip to Florida (outback or CapOne) is possible, more likely the Alamo but a bowl game is all any UMfan could ask after last season. The future looks good.

How bout you fucks?

[Dinsdale]

After the Blue Turf Beating, it was hard to be objective.

There were a whole buncha question marks -- lots of new guys on O-line and defense.

It took a month, but the O-line is starting to gel, and is letting Masoli get back to being that unstoppable game-changer hewas last year. Not wuite there yet, and If Max Unger was a 99 rating at center, Holmes is a 40... that's a problem with the style of offense Oregon runs.

What's truly been impressive is the depth on defense. For a team that likes to convert defensive studs to play offense and score points, they're deep. Neither of the All American-hopefuls at corner played saturday, and the DB play was still very good (bodes well for next year... damn, we'll miss ya, Walter Thurmond III).

Receivers are starting to learn that you're actually supposed to catch the ball, rather than flailing at it. Going into the Kal game, Oregon was dead-last among BTPF teams in passing... #119. And if someone could explain how it's even possible to be ranked lower than Navy in passing, I'm all ears.

When LeGarrette went all LeGarrette, there were concerns at RB. While it would be nice to have another 240# bruiser, it appears there's still 3 capable runners on the team (I believe one came at the expense of a redshirt, if I'm not mistaken). Running game looks GOOD again.

The play calling on offense sucks balls -- too predictable, which takes away the big strengthy of the goofy-ass spread-option.

The spread-option hasn't put a QB in the ICU for about a year -- Kelley must be learning. That, and I think you could probably shoot Masoli with an elephant gun and he'd still finish the game.


All in all, I'm pretty happy -- except that little hiccup to start the season.

[JayDuck]

Record-wise. We are just about exactly where I thought we'd be. How we got from this:


to this:



in less than a month has been nothing short of spectacular.

College football is funny. Everybody was writing of Chip Kelly as being unable to cut it as a head coach 4 hours into his career. 4 weeks into his career, we might want to rethink that.

We had 3, preseason, top-20 teams on our schedule in our first 4 games. And the lone unranked team, was a Big-10 team, in Purdue. I knew we had a shot at being 1-3...even 0-4 wouldn't have been impossible. I figured the minimum we needed to do was 2-2, and 3-1 would put us in great shape. So, here we sit at 3-1, with USC and Cal each with 1 conference loss already. Next week's SC/Cal game was "supposed" to be for pole position to the Rose Bowl. Now, its an elimination game, with the loser out of the race.

Our defense has been surprisingly good this year. I'm still not sold that Aliotti can get it done as our DC, consistently, but there has been talk all off season that he was acting out Bellotti's defensive philosophy more so than his own. As I said, I'm not sure I believe it, but as long as we get these results I'll take it. Kelly said he wanted our defense to be aggressive and, so far, we have been.

The offense, until Saturday, has been piss poor which was also surprising, since its almost never happened since Kelly's been calling plays for us. But we've improved, on both sides of the ball every week we've played. As dins said in another thread, we've improved every half. We probably hit our improvement cap on Saturday, but if we somehow keep improving we wouldn't lose again.

Surprise players? On defense, its almost everybody. Our linebackers are ridiculously deep right now. About 6 of them have gotten time this year, and all look really good out there. The secondary has been all over the place, regardless of who we've been plugging in. We've got a lot of speed on defense this year, and aren't being content to just let the QB sit in the pocket all day and pick us apart.

Offensively, its just been a surprise that it took so long to get there. Its surprising that Masoli was so bad the first couple weeks. Not surprising how he played on Saturday. Hopefully we see a lot more of Saturday and a lot less of what he did before.

James has been a monster at RB. Just a redshirt frosh, but he was no surprise, we've been waiting for him to see the field for awhile. He was good enough to play last year, but we just didn't have a need with Johnson and Blount carrying the load and staying healthy.

I like our chances this year. Presason I said 8-4 was our worst case, with 11-1 as the ceiling and went with the optimistic prediction of 10-2. 10-2 still looks doable now, though I have no idea if we are going to be consistent now that we've found a groove.

[Cornhusker]

Virginia Tech 16 Nebraska 15
Virginia Tech 31 Miami (ESPN on their jock) of Florida 7
Both games in Blacksburg

We had'um all but beat.

F*%K

[Shoalzie]

How bout you fucks?

This is the offense I think most of us were hoping we'd see from a RichRod team. I said over and over last year that this team just needed the right guy to run the offense and we'll see a turnaround. Gone are the days of the prolific receiver at Michigan...Anthony Carter, Derrick Alexander, David Terrell, Braylon Edwards, et al. They now have a collection of athletes that can make plays in space. Mathews and even Hemingway are throwbacks of more the traditional receiver but you have guys like Stonum and Odoms that are more of the "run after catch" receivers. Carlos Brown has made more eye-popping plays by himself than any Michigan player made all of last year. Robinson has no business throwing the ball anymore...or not at distances greater than 10 yards. He honestly looks like a receiver or back throwing out of an option play. His athleticism is undeniable and he needs to be used in some fashion.

I echo Steve's thoughts about the defense. I think a lot of it is personnel when last year, it was poor coaching. They at least had a more talented defense last year but Shafer was completely clueless. This defense may get better as it matures. Warren and Graham, as expected, are the two best players on the defense and will definitely play on Sundays. I've not been as impressed with the linebackers...namely Obi Ezeh. I expected him to make a huge jump this year but he's not quite what I hoped for. This just isn't a defense capable of winning a conference title and I don't think the offense will be slowed down but I think it'll be a case of Michigan's defense just giving up too much. That may very well happen this weekend against State.

They've fattened up on the bad teams in the first part of the schedule but it's only going to get tougher going forward. The Notre Dame win is a nice feather in the hat for the first part of the season. They've not even been on the road and they've still got to play in East Lansing, Iowa City and Madison. Even the Illinois game will be a bitch just because of their wacky offense, although they've been a major disappointment. Delaware State and Purdue are two wins I'll give them and maybe they split the home games with Penn State and Ohio State. I think 8 or 9 wins is a fair total for this team. Going 5-3 or 4-4 to close will depend on the health of the offensive line and if the defense can grow as the year goes on.

[indyfrisco]

A&M has yet to play a worthy opponent. We are 3-0, but that is a 41-6 W vs. New Mexico, a 38-30 W against Utah St. and a 51-19 win vs. UAB. All at home. All at night. We have Arkansas this weekend on a neutral field. I will withold judgement on our team until after that game. Anything short of winning by at least 21 and I think we go 7-5. If we lose, probably going to end up 5-7.

Our offense has been very good, but like I said, no real competition yet. Jerrod Johnson is impressing though. He leads the team in rushing and is 75-111 for a 67% completion % and has thrown almost 1000 yards in 3 games. 9 TD and 0 INT. Our best WR broke his leg in week 2 so we'll see how this affects out passing game.

My largest concern is our defense. Against 3 patsies, we've still given up over 1000 yards of offense. We are aveaging about 5 sacks a game, but we have not made an INT yet and have only 4 takeaways in all. We seem to let them march down the field, but hold them to field goals in the red zone. Against better competition, that won't fly.

[Van]

The Good

-Great group of Song Girls this year

-The re-loaded LB corp has been outstanding. Michael Morgan is truly a freak, and Galippo has 'future All-American' written all over him.

-Barkley's ascendence

-Allan Bradford is a blast to watch run the ball.

-Getting a nice pass rush from the re-loaded D-line.

-The D is still dominant, overall.

-At least we're not Cal.

The Bad

-Not forcing turnovers. Very few short fields so far for the offense.

-The WRs are barely even noticeable.

-The TB "stable" rotation thing still bothers me.

-Constantly fighting uphill with bad field position.

The Ugly

-Aaron Corp's performance in one full start, plus spot duty elsewhere

-Horrible third down conversion rate, which is what's keeping them fighting uphill all day with bad field position. They aren't moving the chains and getting themselves out of bad field position.

-The Oakland Raiders-esque number of penalties, especially of the drive killing holding penalty variety. Way too many drives are starting off 1st and twenty, which just won't work with an offense as neutered-by-design as this one's been so far.

-The kicking game: all of it. The kickoffs aren't deep enough. Too much return yardage is being allowed. The punt and kickoff return teams can't seem to stop themselves from clipping or holding, which is killing field position. The punter isn't helping either there, with his short kicks, and the placekicker's range barely extends beyond PAT length.

-The neutered-by-design playcalling. In attempting to ease the rookie QBs into the mix they're playing not to lose, which, as always, caused them to lose. They've been in Prevent Defense mode all season, only on offense. They've shortened the effective field the opposing D needs to cover to such a point that they've even managed to somewhat neuter what should be a dominant running game, even as they've completely neutered the passing game.

-They may not be Cal, but they could still lose to Cal. If they go into Berkeley with the same neutered offense they displayed in Columbus and Seattle, and especially if they continue to pile on the drive killing penalties, they could easily lose to Cal.

-The remaining schedule. They still have to go to Berkeley, Autzen stadium and South Bend, and it's looking like UCLA and Stanford aren't necessarily going to be pushovers either. With this offense, there really aren't any pushovers left on the schedule. If they don't begin to open things up they could lose to either Arizona school too.

Prediction: 9-3 is more likely than 11-1. This team doesn't feel like 10-2 right now, so until they begin to show something on offense I'll go with 9-3.

[MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan]

They suck. Any other questions?

[Van]

once you get Mallet out of the pocket he runs like Edgar Martinez.

I would've said Bengie Molina, but okay, I still laughed.

[Go Coogs']

Case Keenum is a winner. Anytime UH is in a close game he is going to somehow pull it out for the W.

The defense is young and inconsistent but they make the big play when they have to. They are definitely feeding off the hype and performance of the offense. I honestly expected them to start off 1-2 or maybe 2-1 with a close victory against Tech. 3-0 was never on anyone's radar.

UH has endured a little bit of luck to capture this 3-0 start, but sometimes a team is just destined to get all the breaks in a dream season. In saying that, UH has still played their two toughest opponents to close games and won. Neither Oklahoma State or Texas Tech lost those games. UH won them.

The Coogs are currently overrated because they have overachieved on the defensive side of the ball. What does have me licking my chops is the fact that the offense has yet to put together a perfectly executed game. Keenum and co. (including special teams) left 23 points on the field the last two games. Two costly turnovers deep in Oklahoma State territory, two missed FGs and a turnover against Tech simply made the games much closer than they actually were.

In the end this team has to rely on the offense. They need to play mistake free football and avoid coughing it up deep in their opponent's territory. Anytime this offense hits the redzone, they need to think touchdowns. Light up the scoreboard and you will most likely win.

As for the remainder of the season, @ Mississippi State, @ Tulsa, and Southern Miss at home are all potential losses. Hell, going to play UTEP on the road next week is a bit scary especially after the Miners got their asses handed to them by Texas. Couple that with all of the emotions and hype surrounding the UH campus this week and the Coogs might not be ready to play on Saturday. We'll see.

I think UH has too many questions on defense to run the table. They will slip up, but I'm not sure where; most likely at Tulsa. I can live with a 12-1 record, a top 25 ranking and a Liberty Bowl bid. That would be sweet.

[Killian]

ND is where I thought they would be, but not where I hoped they would be. I figured they would be no worse than 3-1 at this point, but felt that if Weis had what was necessary to be a great head coach the team would be 4-0. Weis took back over the play calling duties and this team has played much more like the 2005 team when everyone was calling Weis a genius.

Surprises:
The running game. Tony Alford and Frank Verducci have been huge improvements in the coaching department and you can see with the play of Armando Allen and the offensive line. Allen is running hard and is not going down on first contact. While he is still "Almost" Allen (almost breaking that long run), he has turned into a back that can carry a game/team on his shoulders. The offensive line, while still gapeing axe wounds, are much less so this year. They play with fire and heart, but are still too inconsistant. This is nit-picking compared to where they were last year. If Weis sticks around, I really like these moves and think they will lead to a resurgance of the rushing attack.

Jimmy Clausen. Say what you want about the kid, but he is establishing himself as the top pro-style QB in the country. He is as accurate as anyone and has proven to be a very capable leader. I pray that he stays around for next year, but I highly doubt it. He took the leap from Soph to Junior that I was hoping for, and is playing extremely well.

Kyle Rudolph. That kid is on lone from the NFL. If he learns to block, he will be the most complete TE in the country. As it stands, with Gresham out, he is the top receiving TE. That sophomore class is looking better and better.

Dissapointments:
Michael Floyd. Not in his play, just getting hurt. Both injuries (last year and this) were very fluky, but not having him in the lineup hurts. He is the first player I can remember since Rocket that I just enjoy watching play. The kid needs to stay healthy, but there isn't a WR in the country I would trade for him.

Jon Tenuta. Awful play calling in two out of four games this year. His play calling directly resulted in ND losing to UofM and almost cost them the MSU game as well. I honestly feel bad for Weis this year. He knows he is a good play caller, so he tried to hire someone he could trust to take over the defense so he could go back to his strengths. He hires someone who is considered one of the top DC's in college football, and the defense is still playing poorly. This is another reason why ND is not a learn on the job type of place. Had he been a college head coach, he likely would have found someone he could trust by now. You saw less blitzing against Purdue and I think that was a direct call from Weis. Regardless if Weis is retained, I don't think Tenuta is long for Notre Dame.

Overall, I'm pleased. There are things that need work, but I think this team is learning how to win and will be lights out next year if a few certain pieces remain. The injuries have sucked, but every team goes through them. If Floyd were still healthy, I would feel much more confident about the USC game. As it stands now, I think one of ND's young WR's need to make a move against UW and in the bye week to take the pressure off of Tate and Rudolph.

[indyfrisco]

Arkansas is not a particularly good football team. Their line is weak on blitz pickup off the edge and once you get Mallet out of the pocket he runs like Edgar Martinez. Defensively, they tackle very very poorly.

Which is why I said anything less than a 3 TD win concerns me going into conference play.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

The good - there's always next year.

The bad - it's always about next year.

[indyfrisco]

Your teams...a month in.

I thought you were trying to get Jsc to make War and Peace look like a pamphlet.

[indyfrisco]

I've not seen any A&M games either. None have been telecast. :brad:

At least Arkie is on ESPN2. Better not be regional coverage. It is a 6:30 PM game at Cowboys Stadium so hopefully it will be on here.

[indyfrisco]

Fuck $Bill Bryne. Look at this shit for next year.

09/04/10 vs. Stephen F. Austin COLLEGE STATION TBA
09/11/10 vs. Louisiana Tech COLLEGE STATION TBA
09/18/10 vs. Florida International COLLEGE STATION TBA
10/09/10 vs. Arkansas Southwest Classic Arlington, Tex. TBA

[Van]

Wow. That's world class horrid.

[indyfrisco]

I'm almost glad I moved away and had to get rid of my season tickets. We have always scheduled 1 BCS conference school and 3 scabdicks. But the BCS schools have gotten worse and worse as have the scabdicks. I wish the NCAA would not allow a W vs. a 1-AA to count towards bowl eligibility like they used to.

[Van]

Hey, I just noticed that USC's playing thirteen games next season. Besides their usual nine conference games they've got four OOC games. They're also playing seven road games.

Weird schedule.

Their OOC games are @Hawaii, @Minnesota, home against Virginia and home against ND. Pretty weak, all things considered, especially if ND isn't strong.

[Go Coogs']

Houston may not get a BCS bid for next season. Their OOC is actually tougher than this year's.

@ Air Force
@ UCLA
@ Texas Tech
vs. Miss St.
vs. Navy

The first 3 weeks are brutal.

[Dinsdale]

Hey, I just noticed that USC's playing thirteen games next season.

There's some goofy exception that if a team plays @ Hawaii OOC, they get a bonus game.

Oregon State did it a couple of years ago... kinda bullshit, since they get to brag about their mediocre "10 win season"...

10-4.

[M Club]

has lsufreek ever half-assed a day of work?

[M Club]

i agree fully with steve. i don't agree fully with shoalzie.

Gone are the days of the prolific receiver at Michigan...Anthony Carter, Derrick Alexander, David Terrell, Braylon Edwards, et al. They now have a collection of athletes that can make plays in space. Mathews and even Hemingway are throwbacks of more the traditional receiver but you have guys like Stonum and Odoms that are more of the "run after catch" receivers. Carlos Brown has made more eye-popping plays by himself than any Michigan player made all of last year. Robinson has no business throwing the ball anymore...or not at distances greater than 10 yards. He honestly looks like a receiver or back throwing out of an option play. His athleticism is undeniable and he needs to be used in some fashion.

eh, depends what you mean by prolific receiver. if stonum knew how to run a route he could very well be a prolific receiver like those others you mention. there seems to be this mindset that only midgets and other pro-style cast-offs can thrive in dickrod's offense. braylon edwards would run wild in this shit.

robinson's issues throwing have more to do with comfort, not physical ability. once the game slows down for him a bit [hopefully] he's going to be ballz on. he's already much more effective than feagin was last year just coming in to run the ball. he's obviously quicker, but the defense knows what's coming regardless. feagin consistently ran for a yard or two. drob seems to get at least five. that's going to be quite a thing to defend once he develops better vision.

carlos brown, wird. like steve mentioned, it's the great shame of michigan football that those two can't stay healthy. maybe i was too young when wheatley was playing, but i've never seen a michigan back run as hard as minor.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

What about Bike Hart? He was pretty tough to take down for a lil feller.

[M Club]

i mean the physical aspect of it. hart was a tough guy to bring down, fo'sho, but minor simply runs right over people. it's too bad his ankle is a big fat pussy.

[Shoalzie]

eh, depends what you mean by prolific receiver. if stonum knew how to run a route he could very well be a prolific receiver like those others you mention. there seems to be this mindset that only midgets and other pro-style cast-offs can thrive in dickrod's offense. braylon edwards would run wild in this shit.

Forcier does go down the field but their best pass plays are those quick outs and bubble screens where it's about getting a receiver out in the flat in a 1-on-1 with a DB. Prolific isn't the right word but I was thinking more in terms of a pro-style receiver that is more of a medium and deep threat. This spread is a lot of shorter passes to the speed merchants and they gain most of the yards with their feet. I don't think you'll see another receiver in the spread put up the numbers Edwards did in his last two years. Part of that has to do with the fact they have more of a receiver-by-committee thing going. If you want to talk about a receiver from the past the would be great in this offense...I think of what Howard could've done in this offense.

robinson's issues throwing have more to do with comfort, not physical ability. once the game slows down for him a bit [hopefully] he's going to be ballz on. he's already much more effective than feagin was last year just coming in to run the ball. he's obviously quicker, but the defense knows what's coming regardless. feagin consistently ran for a yard or two. drob seems to get at least five. that's going to be quite a thing to defend once he develops better vision.

He's got a live arm but he's no better than Matt Stafford is with the Lions right now where you can throw the ball hard and a long way but you have to be able to hit a receiver in the hands. When he's in the game right now, the immediate thought of the opposing defense, is run first because his passing ability isn't where it should be if he wants to continue to be a QB and not just a gadget player.

carlos brown, wird. like steve mentioned, it's the great shame of michigan football that those two can't stay healthy. maybe i was too young when wheatley was playing, but i've never seen a michigan back run as hard as minor.

My thought going into the season was that Minor could be the best back in the conference. Brown was kind of an afterthought. It would've been great to have that duo at full strength...a kin to a Leroy Hoard and Tony Boles combo. Most successful running back duos consists of back of contrasting styles...one that is more north-south that takes on contact and then the other being more of the flash and dash. Minor and Brown is the type of a duo that would wear a defense down and it would only make guys like Robinson and the speedy receivers even more lethal.

[M Club]

michigan doesn't have much in the way of deep threats right now. if they did, believe me, michigan would eschew a couple of bubble screens and a slant to throw down field. you're right about anyone putting up huge numbers, which is why i said it depends what you mean by prolific.

[Shoalzie]

michigan doesn't have much in the way of deep threats right now. if they did, believe me, michigan would eschew a couple of bubble screens and a slant to throw down field. you're right about anyone putting up huge numbers, which is why i said it depends what you mean by prolific.

Yeah, thinking in terms of those receivers that in the Bo/Lloyd years would be wearing the #1. A guy capable of a 60-70 catch year for 800-900 yards. If you look at the receiving leaders through 4 games, Odoms leads the team with 9 catches and there are 6 guys with at least 5 grabs. 5 different guys have caught TD passes and 4 guys are in the 97-to-111 yards receiving...a pretty good distribution and use of a lot of different players. The common denominator is that these guys can flat out run. As far as deep threats are concerned, I think of Hemingway as being that type of player...not quite speed of a Manningham but he looked like he's capable of stretching the field vertically. Mathews is the possession receiver like a Jason Avant. Stonum and Odoms are the short-to-intermediate route guys.

[Van]

it's too bad his ankle is a big fat pussy.

[Felix]

Boise State

Undefeated and highly ranked in the Polls That Don't Mean Shit (PTDMS) is pretty unbelievable, given the fact they've really only played two competent opponents (Oregon and Fresno State) and reside in the Weak Ass Conference.....being undefeated at this point is not really that surprising, but the Oregon game was the shocker of the year....and to be honest, I'm not sure we'd see the same result if BSU were to play the Oregon team that curb stomped Cal. The offense is always innovative, but to date have been sporadic. The running game is better than it has been in past years, but we haven't really seen what the effect of losing their their best RB (ACL) for the year will have on their run productivity.

The defense has been inconsistent at best-one week they'll completely shut a decent offense down, the next week they give up 234 rushing yards to a single back who scored on runs of 69, 60, and 68 yards. In years past, BSU has prided themselves on not giving up the big play, but this year Fresno exploited the defense for a lot of big plays. Was it an aboration? Don't know, but given the D's performance in the other 3 games, I'd have to think that the Fresno game was more the exception than the rule.....

I don't see any losses on the horizon for BSU, but whenever they play, they're always going to get their opponents best game and crazy things always happen....Tulsa and San Jose will probably be Boise toughest remaining tests, but BSU should win both games going away....what is always going to hurt BSU is their strength of schedule.....if both BSU and TCU get through undefeated, I can easily see the Horned Frogs overtaking Boise as the BCS buster this year....and lets not forget Houston-they could be the "feel good" story of the year, especially given their schedule....

lots of football still to be played

[Harvdog]

Texas is 4-0. We haven't really played anyone out side of Texas Tech. The biggest concerns that I see are with injuries. We had to shuffle the offense line to cover up for a few injuries. The running game is not where it needs to be. Tre Newton is a good runner but lacks high end speed. Vondrel McGee got hurt and has fumbled 3 times this year.

Colt is actually ahead of last years numbers at this point. He is still over 74% completion. I think he has started every game wanting to impress the nation as opposed to going out and letting the game come to him. He has found another receiver in Dan Buckner. We really miss Collins and Cosby. They are a solid group.

Special teams are great. DJ Monroe has taken 2 kick off's back. He is the first player in Texas history to have more than 1 KO return for a TD. Dude is really fast.

Defense is solid. The pass rush is really good. the secondary has grown up. Earl Thomas will be all Big XII and possibly All American.

October is a tough month. Home to Colorado, in Dallas for OU, at Missouri and at Ok. State. If we are 8-0, we will play for the MNC.

[SunCoastSooner]

Hey, I just noticed that USC's playing thirteen games next season.

There's some goofy exception that if a team plays @ Hawaii OOC, they get a bonus game.

Oregon State did it a couple of years ago... kinda bullshit, since they get to brag about their mediocre "10 win season"...

10-4.

I don't think it is a goofy rule. Hawai'i is a pretty big school and the flagship University of its state... if not for that rule they would never be able to pull off a home OOC game because it costs so much to travel out there.

[Degenerate]

Southern Miss exposed KU's lack of pass rush for about three and a half quarters, which will kill them when they face the Big XII south teams. Reesing, Briscoe, Meier, Sharp will all put up gaudy numbers once again that will stand as a testament to what one can accomplish for three years straight against middling competiton. Love the freshman Oporum at RB, though.

I called 8-4 with losses to the south teams plus Nebraska. I see no reason to change it. Suh may win the game for the Blackshirts all by himself. The Hawks have spotty left-side pass protection as evidenced by so many designed rollouts.

OTOH, they are winning the battle in the trenches against the basketball team.

[Danimal]

In terms of overall quality I'm good with the progress we've made, defense and ST's are hands-down better this season, but the VT game did drive me nuts. We need to play CONSISTENT assignment D(dominated VT til had a couple blown assignments on their last drive), avoid costly penalties(had goal to go and got backed out of fieldgoal range), win the turnover battle against the good teams not just the Sunbelt, and take advantage of scoring opportunities. We need to avoid the goofs that will cost you in the closer games. If we can clean it up I like our chances of taking the north, which would be a step in the right direction in terms of the 'skers becoming a top10 team again.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Alabama's defense is as strong as expected. Granted, two games were against high school teams, but VaTech and Arkansas were legitimate opponents. The Razorbacks got nothing on the ground and the great Ryan Mallett passing game never materialized due to the constant pressure Alabama's front seven put on him. The loss of Donta Hightower is huge as the D was designed around his ability to move all over the damn place. Not sure how he can be replaced, but the Tide does have a buncha good LBs. The DBs aren't getting burned (as they did late last year) because the front seven is putting a helluva lot more pressure on opposing QBs than last year's unit did.

The offense is clicking nicely. Greg McElroy (QB) is steady as hell, has the confidence of the coaches and his teammates, and is already able to make the offense far less predictable than his predecessor. Very accurate downfield passer. The rebuilt offensive line is doing a great job as well. The running game has been fantastic. I think Alabama is averaging about 6 yards per carry (I'll check that later) and giving up about 1.5 per carry. 4 running backs have been tearing it up: Mark Ingram, freshman Trent Richardson , Roy Upchurch and Terry Grant all have good stats. Richardson and McElroy...man, what a great new duo! Julio Jones has had limited PT because of a knee injury. If he regains his health, that'll only make Tide opponents suffer more. So nice to be able to stretch the D with a downfield passing game, then destroy them with a great running game.

Patently ludicrous. You have absolutely no business getting excited about this team. They haven't beat anyone. They haven't accomplished anything. Any feelings of passion or excitement should cease immediately. College football is not about excitement, passion, and emotion. This is serious, serious business. Put yourself in a straight jacket on Saturday, for you have no reason to feel even a sliver of enthusiasm until you beat a Florida, or a USC, or a Texas. Take to the game how Steve Vai takes to music. In fact, don't even watch the game. Turn your tv off, hop on your bike, and just ride, man. Just ride.

-Van

[Van]

Solid advice as always from Mvan!

:D