Our coach is lost
Did anyone catch Les Miles calling for a timeout after we picked off the pass with 30 seconds left?
Someone teach Les that the clock stops on turnovers. Also, when there are 11 seconds left in a half and you're facing a 3rd and goal at the 5 with the clock running, just have your offense spike the damn ball. Pay attention to what down it is in that sort of situation. You know, the little things which we expect out of a head coach.
It's now a 3 point game
We are getting outcoached and outplayed.
I'm so pissed I can hardly see straight.
"I'd trade my $2000 FEMA check for a TD!"
HAHAHAHA, glad our fans have a sense of humor about this.
Great adjustments by the Vols
Wow, they moved the ball at will on us that drive with the little quick screens and slants. As expected, Bo Pelini did nothing to adjust our defense during the drive. We'll see how long it takes him to do that.
All of a sudden, it doesn't seem like such a comfortable lead.
More sloppiness from our offense coming up? We'll see...
Moronic end to the half
How did they not know it was 3rd down? SPIKE THE BALL, IDIOTS! You had ALL kinds of time to spike that ball and get off a FG.
I don't think Les even realizes it was 3rd down.
Ugh, we are so damn sloppy. At least he recognizes that.
Tennessee has given us this game on a silver platter, we're up 21-0 and still I don't feel all that great about it.
It could definitely be going better than this
We're just lucky UT has dropped three balls.
I suppose I *could* ask for a better start than this
...but I'd be getting greedy.
Anyway, no more offsides, Kyle!!!
Good God, Tiger Stadium looks good in HD
Fantastic. I've been waiting too long for this.
[Edit: Had wrong link up.]
After that garbage of an effort that was today's game, even erstwhile levelheaded Saints fans seem to be drinking the Kool Aid that there are signs this team could be competitive. We're in Haslett's sixth year, fifth since we were a playoff team, and are showing the same signs we've always showed. Poor discipline, terrible decisionmaking by coaches and players, and general lackluster effort on top of a God-awful defense. I'll probably get flamed for saying what I did on this thread, but frankly, it seems too many feel comfortable in their ability to see the big picture as "New Orleans Saints" as opposed to this individual game, when instead they should be viewing the context of the entire NFL.
We've had plenty of time to make changes. In that time, other teams have gone on to become elite teams, whereas we have continually regressed. Or merely treaded in the waters of mediocrity. Ugh.
Fumbles on end arounds
David Tyree dropped the ball on an end around and picked it up about ten yards behind the line of scrimmage. Started to run upfield, wound up getting absolutely DRILLED by Steve Foley. So he lost three yards. Now, my question is: when this happens, why don't the wideouts or running backs just pull up and throw the ball away? I know that's not their first thought, but that was a busted play that wasn't going anywhere, and Charger jerseys were about to swarm him.
This is the instructional video that gets results!
Hahah, Fred McGriff is so retarded.
Jose Cortez...HAHAHHAH
Did anyone see Larry Allen grab his helmet and shake him after he missed the extra point???? Oh my, one of the funniest moments ever. Perhaps the biggest bitch kicker in the NFL, missing an extra point on the road in the stadium where he used to play (Candlestick/Niners), getting threatened by the strongest man in the NFL - anyone catch the cut of Larry Allen benching 700lbs on MNF last week? Yeow.
And then, Cortez was screaming at the Niner fans after the game who I'm sure were just railing on him all day long, deservedly so since he blows.
Bonnie Bernstein seems fat
What the hell?
The value of good defensive playcalling
Pats left tackle Matt Lyght goes down with a leg injury (carted off the field, unfortunately). Rookie tackle Nick Kaczur comes in for the next play, a 3rd and long, to protect Brady's blindside. Steelers take note, send two towards him, one from the inside (Farrior) and one from the outside (Porter). He's confused, doesn't know which one to block, both get through, and Brady has to immediately throw it away. Punt.
Saints-Vikes game
This really is a battle of two of the worst coaches in the NFL today.
See Miami for what a solid coach can do for a team.
Fox Sports' 1st half fantasy update
For RBs and WRs it shows rushes/yards and receptions/yards respectively, and nothing about TDs. You'd think they know what counts for points in a fantasy game.
Trent Dilfer is amazingly on target today
16/17 for 144 yds. Something about that Colts defense hasn't been too hard for the Browns to figure out. Now, as far as putting points up on the board, that's another matter...I haven't been watching that game enough with the Browns on offense to figure out what's going on.
Vick just threw a horrible pick
Pressured in the pocket, he didn't try to elude the rush, but just threw it right into the hands of a DE who'd dropped into a zone coverage.
Colts around the goal line
Edge on 1st, Edge on 2nd, they never get anywhere, forced to pass on 3rd.
Last week they ran a draw on 3rd from 6 yds out...here they do it again and are stuffed. FG time again.
Warrick Dunn just made a sick cut...
And with 33 seconds left in the first half and the Falcons at their own 20, he busted off a 60 or 70 yard run to turn it from a defensive situation for the Falcons into a solid chance at extending their one-point lead into the half.
Great cut and acceleration by Dunn.
Scratching my head with the Colts offense
They're struggling to move the ball against the Browns.
They were fortunate on a slant route that Reggie Wayne caught and added 45 YAC, but they don't seem to have the confidence in moving the ball that they did last year. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that they can win the close games that aren't shootouts, but it is interesting to see this. The Browns have a good, defensive-minded coach, but they aren't exactly a defensive powerhouse (come on, pulling off a decent game vs Green Bay isn't all that much of an accomplishment any longer).
Culpepper's 1st quarter
5/8, 120 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT
17-0 right now, should be 20-0 (Edinger missed a FG).
Nothing like a game against the Aints to revive anyone's season.
We are garbage. Everyone will give this team a pass because of Katrina, but frankly, I feel like most teams would have responded that first week the way we did, and at least have maintained it a little longer.
Worst of all, our coaches will retain their jobs because this season will be considered a writeoff.
Robert Ferguson TD
Whomever the Bucs DB was who was covering Robert Ferguson got absolutely burned. Ferguson had a step on him and increased it to about six by the time he caught it, all on pure speed, no one tripped.
It turns out
That was the quickest TD in Minnesota Vikings history.
As always with the Aints, we love to help your team reach new highs.
Trademark fast start for the Aints
Aaron Stecker fumbles the opening kickoff. First play from scrimmage, Daunte Culpepper throws his first TD of the year.
We're challenging, and may actually win, but it's only because Travis Taylor's second foot down might have been exactly one millimeter over the white line.
Is Wendy's sponsoring USC?
They have a defensive end named Frostee Rucker.
As the Gophers knocked off Purdue. 46!!!!
Add to that 5 receptions for 59 yards and an incomplete pass, for 52 touches on the day, 273 total yards. Nice.
And just like that
USC has put up 24 points in about a quarter.
Poll on ESPN.com right now
Is USC the greatest team ever? 71% say no. It's funny, the Louisiana vote is 90% no...they're still bitter down there (I'm not, happy to share that title with them - they did everything asked of them, as did we).
Interesting time for that poll anyway, what with SC scoreless through the first 22 minutes. Looks like this is about to change though...
9 min left in 2 2nd quarters
USC down 13-0 at Oregon
Louisville down 21-0 at South Florida
As we know from last week, the SC score could get turned around in about 4 plays, while I just don't know what to say about Louisville.
Oregon is playing some impressive ball right now, and even still they aren't executing perfectly. One missed field goal and a drive that looked like it was down to the 1 yard line got upended and the Ducks (with the blessing of a solid kicker) wound up with only 3 points.
HAHAHAHA...what a joke. Forfeit the second biggest game of their season? There is no way in hell Tennessee would have done that. And mark my words, should they lose to LSU on Monday, there will be no end to the bitching and moaning from the Tennessee faithful. Even if they come out exactly the same sloppy way they did against Florida last week, they'll blame it on the harrowing conditions they had to brave in order to get down to BR.
*GASP* Flying and playing a football game on the same day? OH THE HUMANITY! I am certainly coming around to the Alabama faithful's view of Phil Fulmer.
When wedding "Save the Date"s can be useful
My friend Ankur is getting married soon. As the "Save the Date" card for the wedding, they printed fridge magnets with the details on it. I only have one fridge magnet with a couple business cards under it, and then a stack of stuff on the counter that I would put up there if I had ANOTHER FRIDGE MAGNET. And here come Ankur and Bula to save the day. That's just good shit. May not work for everyone, but clearly served a purpose for me.
Those are the little things that add a twist of happiness to my day. Because otherwise, I'd always look at the stack of stuff and say "Damn, we need another magnet." But when I'm actually at a store that might have said magnets, which is rare anyway, I never think to myself "Hey, let me go to the fridge magnet section, as that's something I need." Because it's not something I write down.
I'm blogging about this because I have nothing else to write about, and as are the rest of the bloggers out there, I am an attention whore.
Sonofabitch, this is certainly not cool.
Mother Nature, you are a dirty whore.
Man the Saints are bad
That was disgusting. 5 turnovers, 13 penalties, no running game, sacked four times.
Just kidding. SIX turnovers. Yech.
Florida center Mike Degory
I'm watching the Florida-Tennessee game on Tivo right now, and that dude was the scholarship athlete of the week or something. Anyway, he has the biggest forehead I've ever seen. You should see it on a 56" screen.
Got the link from
CF Resource.
Anyway, this is a fantastic read. The guy clearly has a great appreciation for CFB history and is adamant that through history it's been defenses which are forced to adapt to innovative offenses, and why he feels we're on the verge of a new revolution with offenses. Makes his point very well.
We'll see how it plays out. One thing that can be said is that it's tough to articulate any sort of counterargument here simply because I don't have his knowledge of CFB history, just the 17 years or so I've been watching since I was old enough to do so; and even at that I don't have a great memory of the late 80s and early 90s, when I just watched for fun and never analytically. As a result I rarely took a lot away from the experience of watching football other than entertainment.
Another thing that can be said is that as soon as the first signs emerge that his theory hasn't yet taken hold, it's oh-so-easy for the uneducated to step up and blindly accuse the guy of being an idiot. Clearly, he is not.
Wow...the end of the Cards-Rams game
Warner drove the Cards smoothly all the way down the field, and he got sacked at the ten on 1st and goal. Rather than getting the players up and spiking it, he tried to run a play. False start with 7 seconds left. 10 second runoff, game over. Shoulda spiked it. Idiotic.
Broncos idiots
Down 14-10 in the 4th, Broncos return man Darrent Williams returns a punt 61 yards for a TD. FLAG - too many men on the field. But not your normal type! As Williams was trotting the final ten yards into the endzone, Al Wilson (I think) comes running off the sideline in celebration, right in front of the ref, and the Broncos naturally got flagged. Stupid penalty, the sort of thing that keeps this Mike Shanahan-coached team from being great.
They mnaged to score anyway, but the point remains - that was moronic.
Colts: just want to reiterate
Colts fans have to be happy with today's win. Manning is going to have off days rarely, but to know they can pull off the victory in the midst of that against a very tough Jags squad means they're growing up. And the nature of their playcalling (i.e. the completely unexpected draw to Carthon to score the winning TD) indicates to me the same thing would've happened had the game been played in Jacksonville.
The Bears
Their 38 points was the most they've scored in a game since 1993. That's a decade of massive sucking. At least they did go 13-3 or so that one year where they got knocked out of the playoffs in their first game. You know, the year Mike Brown returned a pick for a TD every other game (sort of like he did today).
Byron Leftwich is trying to pull off a two minute drill with a gimpy knee
Reminiscent of the game at Marshall when he was injured and his linemen literally carried him down the field so he could get up to the line to run the plays.
And they lose...so close.
Why is Carson Palmer still in, by the way?
The Bungles are up 34-0 with 9 min left in the 4th. As TMQ would say, it is not wise to risk one's karma with the football gods as such.
Joey Harrington can take solace
He's 17/32 for 183, 1 TD and 4 INT....BUT he's not the worst QB in his own division today. Daunte Culpepper is 17/33 for 176, O TD and 5 INT.
Cedric who?
Thomas Jones has had a great day for the Bears. The Lions are hopeless.
The NFC North might be the worst division of all time.
That said...
On 3rd and goal with Carthon in the backfield instead of James, and everyone knew the Colts would pass, Carthon gets the handoff and goes in for the TD. 17 play drive, 88 yards, 8:59 off the clock. Almost no Manning on the drive. Good for Colts fans to know that they can get it done on the ground when they absolutely need it the most.
How much Edge means
Had to come off the field on 1st and goal with a helmet issue. Carthon gets the carry, loses four yards. After a 3 yard pass on 2nd, it's now 3rd and goal from the six. The offense just doesn't work as well with James out.
Mike Rucker just blew through a double team...
...and caused a Brady fumble. Carolina came with a three man front, and Rucker came around the left tackle AND guard to strip Brady of the ball from behind. Carolina (Julius Peppers, as always) recovers at the ten. Huge turn of events. That Carolina defensive line is money.
So much for McNabb's chest injury
He's 23/29 for 342 and 5 TDs.
And just like that, the Pats are back in it
Absolutely HORRIBLE pass by Delhomme, trying to maneuver his way out of the pocket, into the flat gets picked off by some Pats LB and returned 20 yds for a TD. Ugh.
Colts are finally adjusting their game
They're pounding the ball with Edgerrin James. Edge has never rushed for 100 yds vs the Jags, but has 98 yds on 20 carries now.
Manning is overthrowing receivers and throwing into double coverage on out routes, stuff he doesn't normally do (unless he's playing the Pats). Looks like Jack Del Rio did a great job helping his defense analyze film on these Colts.
Great play call by the Jags
Play action out of the endzone, 41 yard completion to Brian Jones way down field. Gus Johnson is going ballistic. And Brent Jones called the play fake in advance. Good for him. Great call. What a gutsy play.
Some more NFL
1) Another pick for Culpepper. Going to be a long year in Minnesota.
2) Manning just got loudly booed off the field. Luckily, Hunter Smith just punted the ball fifty yards and it bounced up and down right at the 3 or so. Jags won't move the ball 97 yards.
3) The Panthers are dominating the defending champs.
Chirag, your boy Gus Johnson is great
Simple fade to the endzone, pretty evident it wasn't going to be a TD, "Jimmy SMIIIIIITTTTTHHHHH!!!!!!! Aww, incomplete."
Looks like the Bucs have found their running game
Cadillac wasn't a fluke last week vs Minnesota. He's running really well on a tough Bills defense.
More NFL stuff
1) Culpepper picked again in Bengals territory. Terrible today. That NFC North is pretty damn awful.
2) I was wrong on the Bears score. 31-6 at the half, not 30-6. Myyyyyy bad.
3) Now Marvin Harrison is dropping balls. Peyton's also way off throwing. Colts offense just got lightly booed off the field.
4) The Bills are wearing the OJ unis again! Are we going to get to see these for the rest of the year? I love those helmets.
Brent Jones (CBS broadcaster)
Just proclaimed that Matt Jones of the Jaguars should be nicknamed "Opie" now that he had to cut his "headbanger" hair. Hah!
NFL observations
1) Minnesota is awful. Wow. Good thing my fantasy team with Culpepper starting isn't my money league team.
2) The Carolina defense is giving Tom Brady problems today. Even LB Will Witherspoon was able to turn a mismatch (covering Troy Brown) into a pick (albeit a very athletic one, tough to say if it was really Brady's fault). Anyway, Brady has been off on a lot of throws.
3) The Jags' D is giving Peyton Manning a lot of problems too.
4) How bad do you have to be to be losing to the BEARS 30-6 at the half?
USC - Arkansas pics
This was the view from our seats.
This is what I was talking about with the lighting at the Coliseum. Look how dark the opposite endzone is.
Ben Watson's 4.4 speed
Was just on display when he ran down Chris Gamble on a punt return...unbelievable!
UCLA - Oklahoma pics
View from our seats
Not a whole lotta UCLA fans showed up for one of their bigger games in recent memory.
Sooner 'tards from the back. The jersey on the one with the pony tail says "YERMOM" on the nameplate
Steve with some Sooner 'tards
Couple quick comments from Panthers-Pats game
1) Ben Watson (TE from Pats) has 4.4 speed. I didn't realize this. Damn!
2) Ken Lucas just ran down Troy Brown from across the field on a sure 70-yard TD, and knocked him out at the one. They scored anyway, but that was impressive hustle. That's the kind of guy any coach would want on his team. Now, as for his actual talent in coverage...we'll see if the Hawks made a mistake in washing their hands of him.
Yesterday was fun
Went to OU-UCLA, tailgating starting at 8:30am. 3 hot dogs and 3 cheeseburgers and a complete annihilation of the OU defense later [edit: and about 10 beers], I got dropped off by the caravan at the Coliseum for the USC-Arkansas game. 25 minutes of football and 42 USC points later, we left, and I have three comments (pics to be uploaded later):
1) The Pac-10 is really good. Won't be surprised if they're the best in the nation by the end of the year. I'm not going to say they're the best just yet, but clearly better than the Big 10 and Big 12. And there are those who believe the offenses are so good that it should overcome any defense in the land right now, but I'm not convinced that anything besides defense wins games. I haven't watched last night's Florida-Tennessee game yet, so I'm withholding judgment on how many decent teams the SEC has. Even still, I'd consider the SEC at six deep (LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Auburn, and Alabama) as better than anyone else.
2) I really think this USC team could compete with the worst NFL teams. People shrug it off as nonsense but back in the days when the College All-Stars would play against the NFL in one game a year, at least once they beat them. And right now, USC is essentially the nation's all star team. And they will be discussed among the best ever.
3) The L.A. Coliseum, while impressive in that it conjures up images of gladiators in ancient Rome, is a rather terrible venue. The lighting is awful! The entire endzone opposite the makeshift stands has no lighting. That whole swath of people were in the dark. The corners near the other end of the stadium (where we sat) also have very poor lighting. And given how far we were from the field (again, pics later), makes for a somewhat frustrating experience. Also, from our end of the stadium, you have no idea what the down and distance are! The tiny digital scoreboard on the opposite end only shows the score and quarter. The down and distance are on the giant scoreboard adjacent to the one jumbotron in the stadium, which we were too close too to see (if that makes any sense - we were on the side of it). I can certainly understand why no NFL team would play there.
4) There are a lot of attractive women at USC. I'd forgotten this.
Yeah, think again. (You'll have to register at the L.A. Times website to read this - but if you're not registered for the big papers around the country anyway, you owe it to yourself to be. Free and takes all of two seconds.)
Messages from those wanting to buy houses — whether intact or flooded — and commercial properties are outrunning those who want to sell by a factor of 20, said Sterbcow, who has set up temporary quarters in his firm's Baton Rouge office.
So my question is, how the hell do these people know what they're buying? You have NO idea at this point if New Orleans is going to be rebuilt mostly as it used to be. Galveston pre-hurricane 100 years ago was bigger than Houston. Since, Galveston's population has increased by maybe 1/3rd, while Houston's has grown hundreds of times over.
You all remember
one of the best Onion editorials of all-time, right? Well, it has become reality. Gillette is introducing the five-blade razor.
Hahahaahhah....
Jeremy Wood of Baton Rouge was given an ultimatum last Thursday by his boss at an insurance company -- show up for a 3 p.m. meeting Friday or be fired.
Wood opted not to go to the meeting so he could catch a flight for Tempe, Ariz., to see LSU play Arizona State.
"It was going to happen anyway," said Wood, a native of Jonesville who played football for Block High School, on the flight home Sunday night. "I was going to leave in a few weeks anyway. This weekend seemed as good a time as any with the game being moved to Tempe. Do you know anybody in the insurance business?"
On Monday, Wood started looking for a new job.
Finding a new job in Baton Rouge might not be so easy for homeboy. At least he got to see a damn good game.
Because Vols fans will have to drive forever to find hotel rooms after the game is over. I understand their concern. Frankly, I think LSU should offer them refunds if they don't want to go at this point, so I'm not sure why they're holding out on that.
CFR has an interesting ranking view. Much as I disagree with it (especially ASU ahead of LSU), the sentiment is well placed and well articulated. Good and generally intelligent comment section as well on this post.
I still think he and Heisman Pundit give way too much credit to sophisticated offense as being the key to good football teams. I'm a big believer that defense wins championships.
The Saints are actually in this poll (though few pick them). We really are America's team all of a sudden.
I'm late with this but mostly because it's pretty much as expected: Saints will play four home games at Tiger Stadium and three in San Antonio.
Still waiting to hear on whether I get a refund for the Saints - Falcons game as that's now going to be in San Antonio.
Also, excitement is pretty high in Louisiana for Nick Saban's return to Baton Rouge, as the Dolphins visit on 10/30.
This is how we roll for football
Small TV will be upgraded soon seeing as it doesn't have a remote.
ASU pics
Gratuitous final scoreboard pic
ASU was kind enough to play the Tiger Stadium intro on their jumbotron for us.
Not a very big crowd; this was attendance right before kickoff
View from our seats
Hat tip, ASU
Was nice of ASU to print the endzones as such.
I got pictures to work!
Theismann the idiot
Mike Patrick just referred to Peyton Manning as "the most prepared player I have ever seen." Theismann the ex-QB took offense and disagreed, said every quarterback has to come in and prepare, Tom Brady for instance (but not just him). Concluded that "I don't think that means Peyton is the only one who prepares," which is CLEARLY not what Patrick said. Patrick called him out on that, and said "I just said he's the MOST prepared I've ever seen." Theismann's response after his little tirade? "Yeah, I agree."
Idiot.
Meanwhile, I found out the other day I'm Yahoo's #1 search result for "I hate Joe Theismann." hahahahhahaahahahahh
There are a TON of Cowboys fans in San Diego
Did anyone hear the crowd when the Cowboys just scored the TD? Almost as loud as when Tomlinson scored a few minutes ago.
Game ball to Aaron Brooks and the offensive line
Played as well as I've ever seen him today. Made his reads, made good decisions on when he needed to run (and still only did it three times), 75% completion percentage, didn't get rattled on that last drive to lead us to the game-winning field goal.
Our offensive line played damn well. We didn't get a lot done on the ground but Julius Peppers was a non-factor and Brooks wasn't sacked once. That is a HUGE accomplishment against the Carolina D Line. Good times.
Griese's deep ball is off
He just had Galloway two yards ahead of two DBs about 40 yards downfield and missed him by a mile. Yeesh.
Tight End
The Saints are finally getting tight end Ernie Conwell into the mix. He has 5 catches for 54 yards so far (8 min to go in the 2nd). When we get that middle of the field option going, this offense can roll. Reminiscent of back in the days when we had Cam Cleeland.
So much so that the Panther free safety just held Conwell going on a seam route to the end zone. Automatic first down, bitches!!
Katrina who?
The Saints just marched the ball 80 yards in 15 plays in 9:37 for a touchdown. All of last year the Saints didn't once score on their opening possession.
And we did it against the Carolina D!!!
NFL Setup
On the big screen, though not in HD, is the Saints game. On tuner 2 on the big screen is Broncos-Dolphins in HD. On the small TV is the DirecTV Game Mix, in which I can see 8 games going on at the same time on one channel.
Laptop open with the NFL.com Scoreboard, Saints gameday forum, and my fantasy real-time updates.
It's Christmas morning here, bitches!!
GEAUX SAINTS!!!!!
First of all, wow.
Second of all, WOW.
That was probably the best game I've ever attended, even though all of it happened in the last quarter.
I am really, REALLY on the ASU bandwagon right now. That was as impressive a performance as I've seen in awhile by a quarterback. True, a chunk of Sam Keller's yards were on simple screens but he floated that ball into so many holes in our zone defense I was stunned. 461 yards and 4 TDs, why hasn't this guy been in the national discussion? I'm looking at The Sporting News' preseason player rankings, and Keller isn't even in their top 20. Guarantee you he is now. I will be paying attention to this team every week from here on out, and I cannot wait until they host USC in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, I am going to have to put everything I think about Bo Pelini on hold. We got shredded. No question about it. Hopefully we can learn how to defend that screen, and maybe start blitzing a little more (the few occasions I noticed that we did, it seemed to work pretty well, though the ASU fullbacks did a great job of picking up blitzes in the 2nd half).
Positives I took away:
1) Jamarcus Russell is a stud. He was calm and didn't get rattled, and his stats would have been far better if his receivers (notably Doucet) didn't have as many drops as they did. Thankfully, Doucet made it up entirely on the last drive with 3 catches, including the game-winning TD.
2) Our running game worked beautifully. This was great to see, though ASU's defense isn't anything to write home about.
3) Our run defense was stellar.
4) The camera guys managed to find the row of ASU hotties in bikinis in the front row, and gave us gratuitous footage of them jumping every five minutes or so. Good times.
5) ASU fans were as graceful hosts as any I could imagine. Hats off to them. In fact, the stadium played LSU's Tiger Stadium video introduction after the ASU intros, which was nice (I have a picture, but am having trouble connecting to Hello right now so I can upload).
All in all, great little day in Tempe. Lots of Tigers fans showed up. We pregamed and postgamed with them. Tailgating in Tempe is really weak, and even the ASU fans admitted it.
Last note: with Notre Dame apparently for real now, USC's schedule doesn't look like quite as much of a cakewalk now. I can't wait till SC plays ASU (Oct 1) and Notre Dame (Oct 15). Those promise to be great fun.
Ok Pac-10 fans, tell me you're well rounded
I have last week's L.A. Times college football preview, and in it are their games to watch.
Sep 3 - Notre Dame at Pitt
Sep 5 - Miami at FSU
Sep 10 - Texas at Ohio State
Sep 17 - OU at UCLA
Sep 24 - Notre Dame at Washington
Oct 1 - USC at Arizona State
Oct 8 - OU vs Texas
Oct 15 - USC at Notre Dame
Oct 22 - Purdue at Wisconsin
Oct 27 - BC at Va Tech
Oct 29 - OU at Nebraska
Nov 6 - Tennessee at Notre Dame
Nov 12 - USC at Cal
Nov 19 - Ohio State at Michigan
Nov 26 - FSU at Florida
Dec 3 - UCLA at USC
In that span of 15 games and 30 teams, here is the breakdown of conference teams who appear worth watching:
Pac 10: 7
Big 12: 6
ACC: 5
Big 10: 5
Independent: 4
SEC: 2
Big East: 1
This is absolutely laughable. And you say SEC fans don't pay attention to the Pac-10? Right now (and granted, it is one week into the season, but Georgia moved up and Auburn moved down) the SEC has FOUR teams in the top 10, three of whom are from the East, meaning there are at least three HUGE games in that mix (Tennessee-Florida, Florida-Georgia, Tennessee-Georgia). This is not to mention the fact that LSU also plays Tennessee and Florida. And note that I'm not even counting Auburn, who prior to last week would have certainly been in this discussion (and frankly, I think still should be). AND I am not even counting the Steve Spurrier factor, certain to make the Georgia (Sep 10) and Florida (Nov 12) games entertaining - though I won't even begin to say those are as big as the games he billed ahead of them (and frankly, Florida-Georgia is not that much lower on a national scale than USC-Cal).
I'm sorry, does the Notre Dame - Washington game have more national prominence than Tennessee traveling to Death Valley on September 24th? OU at UCLA over Tennessee at Florida? OU at Nebraska over the Cocktail Party? Purdue at Wisconsin over Auburn at LSU? The entire SEC represented exactly half as many times as Notre Dame itself? Are you kidding me?
Dig deeeep into Chris Dufresne's article, and you'll find brief mentions of:
Sep 3 - Boise State at Georgia
Sep 17 - Tennessee at Florida
Oct 22 - Michgan at Iowa
Joke.
This is brilliant. Aside from Carolina, the four BEST games are being moved to San Antonio instead of LSU, including the one I bought tickets for a week before Katrina (Oct 16 vs Atlanta).
Ugh. I would not be in the least bit surprised if Ticketmaster or the Saints refused to offer me a refund, seeing as I'm flying in from Los Angeles from this and have no way to get out to San Antonio (a 543 mile drive from New Orleans).
Good deal, at least we'll get that game in.
And of course, will warm us up for the big test against Appalachian State the following week.
Capitalizing on a hurricane to land an NFL franchise. Saraceno is right to rip 'em.
The city of San Antonio is now ahead of the Yankees, Niners, and Gators on my most-hated list.
Michaels
Just pronounced the word HUGE two different ways in two seconds. "Raiders just got a HUUUUUGE block! A EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWGE block!!"
Madden
"This is the first regular season game of the season."
What season is it, John?
Harley Davidson ad
Ok, so apparently, if I buy a Harley, all my dates will end with my date's bra hanging from my bike's handlebar, her clothes strewn all over the pavement in the mad rush to get in the house, and she'll be moaning inside. I'd be there too.
Otherwise, I won't ever get any. Ok, got it.
Madden just said Collins is getting into a rhythm
I'm going to have to disagree. He's had lots of time lately in the pocket and he's overthrowing his receivers on deep routes (and just did on an out route to Moss). Hmmm. He's supposed to have a great deep ball - at least he used to. The one long TD to Moss is the lone example I've seen that he still has that.
"Thanks for Nothing" is the lead.
Good stuff, and unfortunate. At the end of the day, no matter what it claims to be the motive, the NFL is about money. And that's why the Saints are having their "home" opener versus the Giants in New York, rather than San Antonio, Baton Rouge, or Birmingham.
I've got to seriously figure out whether I'm going to become a Panthers or a Cowboys fan when the NFL figures out the PR pitch that'll allow them to move the Saints out of New Orleans. I'm leaning Carolina. My furious hatred of the Cowboys for most of the past fifteen years makes it tough to just switch; though Dallas is still the closest team to my hometown in Louisiana (and hell, I'm still a Texas Rangers fan).
From Crooks and Liars' website
This is the President of Jefferson Parish. Watch it till the end, when he breaks down sobbing uncontrollably.
I've been an ardent supporter of Bush forever, but if he doesn't make sure FEMA heads roll here, he'll have lost me and a hell of a lot of other people who voted for him.
So does everyone else. Sack up, boys. In any event, I have always been under the impression CBS has authority over the matter.
Going to Tempe
Last minute flight: $103
Last minute hotel: $66
Getting to see the LSU Tigers in a season in which I thought I wouldn't be able to thanks to Katrina: Priceless!
So Heisman Pundit and CFR ate their crow, somewhat begrudgingly, over Boise State's annihilation at the hands of UGA. HP says he's wrong for the right reasons, and that the scheme should still work.
I have yet to see any discussion of why the Louisville offense - part of that vaunted six - failed to overwhelm the meager University of Kentucky defense (which as we all know is a bottom feeder in the SEC).
And of course, with the LSU - ASU game move, more discussion elsewhere on his blog of the SEC scheduling cream puff non conference games. Yada yada yada.
[Edit: Oh, and HP is sure digging himself a deep hole by trying to pass off a large part of BSU's ineffectiveness on Zabransky's poor passing, yet failing to do the same for Brandon Cox. Read: when it comes to the SEC defense, it's poor opponent play that allows them to succeed. When it's an ACC defense shutting down an SEC opponent, it's good D. Cobbie, even you've got to admit that Cox's throws were HORRIBLE. Into double - and triple - coverage a couple times. That said, GT did play extremely well.]
[Edit 2: Forgot to link to
CFR's Mea Culpa. Seems to be much more accepting of this outcome than HP.]
Going to be a weird switcheroo going on, starting out on ABC then switching to ESPN when the Cowboys game starts as the regular MNF game. Wonder how the NFL will account for this - as a 9th home game for the Giants? Or will it still be considered a Saints home game?
Interesting. Anyone want to roll with me? Anyone? It's only a 5 hour drive from L.A.! And it's friggin TEMPE!! You all know you want to.
We'll still be heading back out to Tempe in '08, but are trying to get a trip to BR scheduled for ASU next year or '07.
That's the best catch I've ever seen a Fagg make!
Anyone notice on Booker's 30 yard run...
...that he made two SICK cuts within a yard of the LOS? That was impressive.
Kentucky is giving Louisville a run for its money
Are you kidding me? The Kentucky QB just fumbled the ball at the Louisville 2 yard line with 6 minutes left and the Cats down by 7. Ugh.
Do UT fans feel good about today's game?
Just wondering. They roll 60 on their season-opening opponent every year it seems. Apparently they missed 3 extra points. Maybe they just don't care, but I'd be concerned.
Watching the TCU-OU game now
1) Audio is weak...weird.
2) Just learned that OU named as a captain Dusty Dvoracek, who has just completed alcohol and anger management training for beating the shit out of a childhood friend. Good stuff.
Sweet. UCLA has a running back named "Markey"
He is now offically "Biz Markey"
Brandon Cox is not growing up tonight
Just threw his 4th pick, not sure what he was thinking there.
Maurice Drew is putting up a HUGE game for UCLA
He has 190 total yards in the 1st half and three TDs (including a punt return). He is a good runner.
5:50 left, down by 6, 92 yards to go
Auburn could certainly use Brandon Cox growing up really fast right now.
Cox just threw ANOTHER INT
He had his arm hit as he threw, but he had room to step up in the pocket before throwing and should have done so. Auburn was putting together a nice little drive there, down 6 with 8 minutes left.
Interesting stuff, I just don't buy the argument that Boise's offensive PPG totals are impressive because even though their opposition has been inferior to UGA's, those coaching staffs should be getting used to it and adapting. Quotes like this are gonna sting:
Boise could very well destroy most of the SEC, if it were a conference member, in theory.
Oops.
Anyway, I'm officially arguing in hindsight here, though I have in the past tackled a bit of these arguments when I first came across CFR and HP, just not specifically with respect to this game.
See my discussion from August 16th.
Yikes, Brandon Cox just threw another terrible INT
"The evolution of a young quarterback," says the announcer. "Everyone in this stadium is frustrated right now if you're an Auburn fan."
Indeed.
HAHAHAAHA
As soon as I posted that, Reggie Ball threw a pick. Wow.
More thoughts
1) And Clemson finishes off A&M. At least ABC cut back from the Rehnquist obit (God rest his soul) in time for us to see the final field goal.
2) CFR and Heisman Pundit (linked on the right) are going to be eating some serious crow on their Boise State - Georgia call (calling for BSU to win outright). I'll be interested to read their post-mortems on that game, because I'm guessing they will at least be upstanding about it. And it should be some good football analysis. I'll keep you posted. But it's clear that the thesis of sophisticated offenses taking over the game has been dealt a pretty good setback, given the way Georgia's D absolutely dismantled Boise's offense (6 turnovers in the first half, 4 of them through the air).
3) Brandon Cox just threw a HORRIBLE interception into double coverage. He's got some way to go.
4) Ga Tech is running the ball decently on AU's vaunted D down the stretch here. Through 3: 25 carries for 117 yards. Reggie Ball has been remarkably composed. Quite impressive. (Below 50% completion right now, but no INTs - yet.)
5) Glad to see Beck's has taken other beermakers' cue and started inserting random hotties all over their commercials. Good stuff.
Travis Jervey fans take note!!!
Auburn has a white running back!!!
One thing that's somewhat telling to a Saints fan, and other stuff
1) The Saints drafted Oklahoma tackle Jammal Brown in the first round over studs like Texas LB Derrick Johnson (who admittedly had questions swirling around his ability to take on blockers), when we have had a need at LB for a long time in N.O. Well, today Adrian Peterson accomplished absolutely nothing (less than 3 ypc on 22 carries), and OU's offensive line just had a hellish day dealing with TCU. A solid front makes a difference, indeed. Looking forward to seeing Jammal plow through guys all year long for us.
2) I hate that two-layer punt protect formation A&M just used. Almost had it blocked. Have you guys ever seen this? I've seen LSU use worse - I think it was 5 guys up front, gunner on the outside, 4 guys on level 2, and the punter. It was blocked. In fact, I think they did it in the Sugar Bowl vs OU, though my memory isn't perfect on that. [Edit: Oh, and I think A&M's was a 7 man front with big gaps, 3 in the second level, and then the punter.]
3) They're cutting into this great Clemson-A&M game for William Rehnquist obit. With all due respect ABC, I don't care about your desire to beat CNN to the punch. Get back to football, please.
Another note
I see that ASU rolled 63 on Temple. Obviously things are clicking for them. I am now very antsy about LSU's upcoming game against them, seeing as we had to postpone what would have been our warmup game (vs North Texas) due to Katrina. And though we certainly should have rolled in that, it would have been a tougher test than most would think. You can't really argue too much with a squad (North Texas, that is) which has TWO guys in the backfield which have led the nation in rushing in different seasons.
And in case you're wondering...
...We've had two DirecTV tivos (and thus four tuners) working all day, enabling us to flip back and forth between a whole lotta good stuff. The problem? Both are Tivos so we have to block the infrared port on one of them because either controller manages to be picked up by both receivers. Oops.
Chirag would like to add that Dave Wannstedt is AWESOME.
College football update
1) Papa John's cheese sticks are really good. New discovery for me. Thanks, Chirag. I am also eating pancakes that I got to-go from the BC Cafe in Claremont (because I went there for a lunch today and absolutely could NOT leave without the BC's pancakes). Not an entirely good weekend for the body fat percentage.
2) Great day for ND.
3) Big 12 not looking too hot. (OU loses, A&M not looking so hot at Clemson. Whither Reggie McNeal's passing ability?) At least UT rolled 60 on the Ragin Cajuns. Just kick 'em while they're down, assholes. Hopefully Mack can keep OU under 60 this year (seeing as he's failed at that TWICE).
4) Auburn - Ga Tech game is good. Brandon Cox (Auburn QB) could get absolutely NOTHING going until a 2 minute drill in which he completed more passes than he had the entire first half to that point (it was 3 before, and 6 or 7 on that drive). Maybe he can play after all. Auburn's receivers are stepping up for their Q.
5) Great start for the Charlie Weis era. Unlike the start to the Ty era in which they stunned Maryland to open it up, these guys can actually move the ball AND are turning in a great defensive effort.
6) Just when I'm about to post this, Reggie McNeal just threaded a beautiful ball into the endzone for a 30-yard TD pass (after a 49-yard run) to put A&M up 24-22. We have ourselves a burner!!
[Edit: Have I mentioned it's been a great start for Charlie Weis and ND? :D]
Brady Quinn is playing very well, and Jeff Samardzija earlier had one of the more impressive catches I've ever seen for a TD. (Of course, that still doesn't get him off the hook for missing his placeholding duties on an extra point after a later TD.)
College football thoughts from today (so far)
1) Haven't watched TCU-OU yet (it's on Tivo), so I'll get around to it tonight. But this brings about an unfortunate situation for Texas - if they DO beat OU this year, they'll have to deal with the swarm of folks saying "Who cares? OU wasn't that good this year anyway." And if they DON'T beat OU, it'll be only that much worse. Maybe OU can get back on track if Bomar starts from now on.
2) Jared Zabransky just looked awful. Four INT's in the first half and two fumbles. Multiple throws into triple coverage. AT LEAST two other throws (in a string of three plays) that should have been picked. Georgia's D was everywhere it needed to be, and clearly, Boise State just could not keep up with DJ Shockley. Shockley wasn't particularly accurate, overthrowing and underthrowing receivers on multiple occasions.
3) Not a great weekend for anyone who thinks the West Coast teams are underappreciated compared to elsewhere - what happened to UW?
4) I'm so glad football is back. What a great, lazy day of eating like hell and watching television.
Gosh, I'm going all perklempt!
I hate Steve Spurrier. It's good to have him back, so I can hate someone in college football this viciously. Saw the first half only sporadically at the gym, looked like they were off and running, and then it seemed like they had slowed down by the time I got back and tuned in for the 4th quarter.
Midst of all this, I didn't even get to see how the Saints did yesterday.
All I can say is I'm looking forward to a weekend of watching football and not hurricane coverage. Now that W has announced his displeasure (I'm guessing it's appearing in the polls), hopefully the news will start to get better ASAP. I'm guessing
this interview Ray Nagin gave yesterday lit a fire under their butts.
I gave $250 to the
American Red Cross on Tuesday.
(Title link is to Instapundit, who I believe got this thing rolling.)
FYI, massive effort underway in the blogosphere to get this aid thing rolling.
Truth Laid Bear has a list of participating blogs.
CF Resource, as expected, is on top of it as well (specifically for the college football space).
[Edit: Changed the time of this post so it remains at the top all day.]
Let's hope not, but then again, the NFL had no problem letting the Colts screw a city when they moved overnight a couple decades back.
Thread on the Saints forum discussing this. I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed in the general inability to get any sort of enforcement going on in New Orleans. My friend whose LSU season tix I share tells me that one of his colleagues has a son in the NOPD who just gave up and left to go up to Shreveport because of the lack of command and communication down there.
So to recap:
1.
people are getting raped and murdered.
2.
Gunfire is preventing physicians from evacuating hospitals.
3.
Essentials aren't getting to those who need them. 4.
Non-essentials are getting stolen, resulting in a declaration of martial law...
5.
...But law enforcement is largely ineffective (88 troops who went to control the mob at the Convention Center were turned away by that angry mob). Scroll down to 4:15pm on that blog for the relevant post.
6. The mayor and governor are breaking down on national television (no link, you've all seen it).
7.
Meanwhile, we have a Speaker of the House in Dennis Hastert who thinks New Orleans isn't worth rebuilding. Great timing for this statement, you son of a bitch. I hate you.
Bush (who most of you know I'm a big fan of) seems to be taking his goddamn time. Maybe it's not his direct responsibility, but we all know he can get it done - so how long does it take to mobilize national guard from other states? Wasn't it clear on Sunday that we should be prepared for one of the worst natural disasters in our history (
because it was clear to everyone in New Orleans)? Shouldn't they have been prepared RIGHT THEN to mobilize ASAP? I don't understand how it could be nearly 100 hours after the event and STILL we don't have a decent authority presence in the area. There's no excuse for this, and it's despicable. Nagin and Blanco should be breaking down because they've been hung out to dry thus far.
As you can guess, I agree with Josh. I am really angry about this.
This Karen commenter is an idiot. She seems to not realize that looters are firing at army helicopters. People like her really piss me off. Thankfully, most of the folks seem to have more level heads and understand that there's nothing "tragic" about the plight of those who choose to fire at rescue workers. Shoot back, kill them, deter others, and prove to aid workers they can go into New Orleans safely and help rebuild as soon as possible.
Now, they're preventing the sick from getting necessary supplies (from WWL):
1:08 A.M. - AP: Late Wednesday, Tenet Healthcare Corp. asked Louisiana State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard to help evacuate one of its hospitals in Gretna after a supply truck carrying food, water, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals was held up by gunmen.
"We have to close it down because we can no longer ensure the safety of our patients or our staff in that hospital," Tenet spokesman Steven Campanini said of the 203-bed Meadowcrest Hospital.
He said there were about 350 employees and between 125 to 150 patients inside the hospital, which is not flooded and is functioning.
7:37 A.M. - (AP) The evacuation of the Superdome was suspended Thursday after shots were fired at a military helicopter, an ambulance official overseeing the operation said. No immediate injuries were reported.
"We have suspended operations until they gain control of the Superdome," said Richard Zeuschlag, head of Acadian Ambulance, which was handling the evacuation of sick and injured people from the Superdome.
He said that military would not fly out of the Superdome either because of the gunfire and that the National Guard told him that it was sending 100 military police officers to gain control.
"That's not enough," Zeuschlag. "We need a thousand."
