The Week That Were: 9.25.10

This week’s commentary is brought to you by my inner grumpy old man:

One comment on Eastern Michigan, since all we do is talk Buckeyes here. Throughout the game I was having Dennis Green “They are who we thought they were” flashbacks, although not in ways that were complementary.

Ok, let’s get our weekly dose of Blue Haterade out of the way up front: Maybe I saw this wrong, but it sure seemed as if the Broncos had empty seats in the upper reaches of the visitor’s side of their stadium.  You know, the 30,000 person stadium that they have? If my eyes were right, you’re going to have to go a long way to convince me how you deserve to be considered a “major program” if you can’t fill 30k seats in a game where your opposition only comes from one state over.

Look, I love me some Musberger (note: sarcasm), but yesterday I heard these words fall out of his mouth, “… this is the second team from a BCS qualifier that the Broncos have played this season…” And he was using that as rationale that they should be considered in the national title hunt… Gosh, I wonder what it must be like to play eight or nine or ten teams from BCS qualifiers during the course of a season?

If there are regulations limiting the size of LSU’s “Eye of the Tiger” at midfield, tell me again how a team can have a blue or red field?

Why is/was Oregon State ranked? I know they won’t be after this week, but why were they? I’ve been impressed with some of the things that they’re doing in Corvallis, but I think that they’re still benefiting from those upsets of USC over the past few years. If we were putting together a list of the top PAC10 teams, I’m not sure toOSU would be in the upper half. Oregon, Stanford, USC are the top three; Arizona and UCLA have to be in the conversation based on how they’re playing. This is not a critique of the Beavers, but of ridiculous pre-season polls.

So, it seems as if The Worldwide Leader unveiled the new SECSPN logo during their telecasts of the toUSC/Auburn and LSU/WVA games. I guess CBSEC just wasn’t enough… personally, I miss Jefferson Pilot Sports. As if people weren’t already aware of the bias, at least now they’re up front about it… on every single commercial break or replay.

It will be interesting to see how their “coverage” is impacted by the new Big Twelve-2 and PAC10+2 networks starting up; Texas and friends are on Fox Sports (as is the Big Ten), so get ready to hear about how “slow” they are.  If you doubt that this is a factor, ask yourself how often you’ve heard critique of the BCS now that ABC/ESPN have the rights to all of the games.

Speaking of the Formerly Big Twelve-  Texas showed that the post-McCoy era is going to have some bumps, and Oklahoma had to hold on to emerge victorious against the Chick Fil A’s. Kudos to the Bearcats for a stellar effort. Meanwhiles, Nebraska hosted a putrid effort against the Jackrabbits of South Dakota… I’m not sure anyone is interested in winning that conference. I still believe that’s it’s very possible that we’ll see an undefeated Nebraska squaring off in Glendale against an undefeated Ohio State, only to play again next October and then again in Indianapolis. I should probably start looking for discount family counseling.

Ntre Ame lost to a solid Stanford team… somehow, I’m not as amused as I usually am by Irish failure. Like we talked about during the livechat Saturday, my beef with them was primarily due to Charlie Weis’ hiring, contract extension, and general arrogance. (see what I did there? ‘Weis’ and ‘beef’ in the same sentence). I’d like them to regain a sense of confidence- just enough that they’d want to join the Big T1e2n and find themselves in the middle of the conference relegated to the Alamo Bowl every year.

Well, I’ve waited long enough to express my shock SHOCK that a quarterback in Rich Rodriguez’ system was injured. I hope Denard is OK physically; he’s an amazing athlete and fun to watch. But, you can count on me for a big heaping helping of “I told you so” if he misses significant time this season.

From the little bit of the game that I watched before it was time for “Curious George” (made more sense than the Wolverine defense), I’m still not convinced that TTUN has been tested yet. And by “tested”, I mean “played anyone”. UConn has been shown to be a fraud, The Irish were without their QB for a good portion of the game, UMass is an FCS school, and BGSU was led by a kid who was getting his first start ever. They’ve done what they’re supposed to have done- although I’m not sure that it means anything.

Although, it’s not like the rest of the Big T1e1n was facing stiff competition; Mich1gAAn, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Iowa outscored their opponents 298 to 51. From the “Wait just a gosh darn minute!” files, though, not everyone enjoyed their MAC Snacks: Northwestern and Indiana played relatively close in their games, and Minnesota (more later) and Purdue actually fell to Northern Illinois and Toledo, respectively. Don’t worry, Boilers, it happens at times to the best of teams. And Mich1gAAn. Update: If you think this week was bad, competition wise, the MZone’s taken a look at 2011, and we’re goin’ clubbin’!

Quick grumbles:

• Congratulations to Joe Pa, who led Penn State back to a win against Temple. Doing so continues his streak of not losing to the Owls since before Philadelphia was founded.
• Seriously, Oregon? White jerseys with white lettering for the athletes’ names? Like it’s not hard enough to watch the game with all the ASU fans sporting their colors…
• Get your resume ready, Tim Brewster and Mark Richt. How did these two programs fall so quickly? Georgia is a bit understandable, with the sanctions and arrests and all, but remember when Minnesota had a team so good they deserved a new stadium?
• Along those lines- where can I buy stock in fast food conveyances around the twin cities?
• Arkansas and Alabama… What a great game. I’m not sure that Alabama’s invincible, but I do know that they’re absolutely the #1 team in the country. Interesting, isn’t it, that Saban, Stoops, Tressel all won titles in their second years by emphasizing defense, unlike certain northernish schools.
• Rob’s ODU Panthers dropped their third straight game, and are winless on the season. I’m confident that it’s just a rebuilding process.
• Minot State made the alumni happy at homecoming, winning 34-3. No news if Josh Duhamel made it- there was a crappy movie premier that he had to be at this weekend.

Dadgummit, does anyone just line up and play football anymore? I know the Buckeyes went “hurry up” this past week as well,I’m getting tired of the “hey, let’s hurry up and do something before they’re ready” offensive schemes that are taking over (see Mich1gAAn, Auburn, Oklahoma, Oregon, etc.). I understand that it is within the rules, and teams should do anything they can to win. It just seems to me that it’s saying “Well, there’s no way we can beat you if we had to go head to head- we’re gonna’ try this and see if that works.” Makes about as much sense as “whatever you want to do about expansion, we’ll do that too.“

This week, we get into the “For Realz” part of the season, with both the start of the Big T1e1n season and some prime matchups. The “Dr Pepper Red River Shootout Sponsored by Cowboys Stadium” has both OU and Texas looking to rebound from sub-par performances. Alabama and Florida face off, as does the PAC10’s best in Oregon and Stanford. Sarkesian and Kiffykins meet for the first time in Los Angeles as well- I’d love to be around for that pregame conversation.

In conference ranked foes face each other; most notably, Penn State travels to Iowa City to see if they can’t overcome the Hawkeye jinx they’ve been living under for the past few years. Wisconsin and Michigan State meet in East Lansing- here’s to hoping that the game ain’t a heart-stopper (too soon?). Ohio State travels back up to Champaign to defend the Illibuck- we’ll have lots of coverage about that this week.

Ah, football… even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty amazing. Yessir, in the fall, nothing else matters.