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Thursday, October 28, 2004
Be careful out there everyone, now that the Boston Red Sox have won the 2004 World Series, the world as we know it may be coming to an end at any moment ..... as my friend Mike commented shortly after the last out was recorded, you may see pigs flying outside your window ... anyway as a Yankees fan, the team is my sworn mortal enemy, and I can't stand most of the dirtbags on the team ...... but I do congratulate their long-suffering true fans who didn't give up hope all these 86 years. I can only imagine the partying going on in Beantown right now .... and it's going to be weird next season after it's all over, aren't the fans and the management going to lose their sense of purpose now that they've accomplished this? With no more "curse" to fall back on or worry about breaking, it's gonna be interesting to say the least how this all plays out. Anyway, go Yanks .....
I should note that I went to Atlantic City the other day for some gambling with my good friend Sean-Dogg and his buddy Mike. We went to the Borgata and had a great time, and I even came out slightly ahead ...... I was happy to see my long-time pal who's now a Delaware resident, we don't get to see each other too often so it was cool ...... Sunday, October 24, 2004
I've been meaning to mention that I was honored at a surprise award ceremony recently at work ....... I was presented with the Daily Record 2004 Fantasy Baseball "Anal Leakage" League Championship trophy, some co-workers distracted me and my boss made a presentation in front of the entire newsroom ...... they also took a photo of me, and supposedly it's going to appear in the next office newsletter. I was only joking when I asked them where my trophy was, but they were kind enough to take me up on it. It's bigger than any of my little league or fire prevention poster contest trophies, and I'm proudly displaying it on my desk at work. Now all I need is the companion fantasy football trophy to go with it.
MONDAY AFTERNOON QUARTERBACK (Because I don't do mornings) BIG BLUE RECAP EAST RUTHERFORD - Yes, this report comes from Giants Stadium, I was there on assignment for work so I got to witness this dismal performance first-hand. The Giants fell to the up-and-coming Detroit Lions 28-13 in a game New York should have had easily. Missed opportunities in the red zone and defensive breakdowns really cost them. Kurt Warner threw an interception in the end zone on a lightly tossed ball to Amani Toomer that should have been a touchdown, and two other times in the red zone, the Giants had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns. "We had opportunities to win this football game, and we didn't do it," Warner said. "That's the bottom line. Not getting the big play when we needed it cost us this game." The Giants fell to 3-13 when coming off a bye week despite Tom Coughlin's warnings to his squad leading up to the game. The first-year Giants coach said he felt his team didn't prepare well, although several of his players differed. "We've just gotta execute," said Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey, who had a would-be touchdown grab knocked loose on the team's first possession of the game. "They had a good game against us. We tried doing a lot of things and it seemed like they had an answer for a lot of things. We've just got to play better." The Giants continued to struggle on third- and fourth-down conversions, and the lack of a viable short-yardage back really hurt. Tailback Ron Dayne, the team's 2000 draft pick who faded into obscurity under previous coach Jim Fassel, was seen as one of Coughlin's top reclamation projects entering the season. Dayne actually gained a yard on a fourth-and-one inside Detroit's red zone in the second quarter, but came up short on a third-and-one two plays later on the 1-yard line, forcing the Giants to settle for a field goal. Kick returner Mike Cloud's name popped up as a possible short-yardage replacement during Coughlin's post-game press conference, but the coach didn't seem to take the suggestion very seriously. "I'll think about that," Coughlin remarked. "Thank you for that tip." Things won't get much easier next week, as the Giants travel to Minnesota to face red-hot Daunte Culpepper and the Vikings, who are coming off a dominant 20-3 win over Tennessee. The good news is that New York scored victories in two games at the Metrodome the past two seasons. NITTANY NOTES Totally disgusting offensive display for Penn State against Iowa on Saturday, they lost 6-4 and no, we are not talking about the baseball team here. Two measly safeties, that is all this predictably pathetic high school-style offense could muster, even with the return of one Michael Robinson ("the best player in college football" according to Joe Paterno ... Why? Because he said so) after missing two games with a concussion. I've been giving this team the benefit of the doubt offensively but now I'm ready to throw in the towel, it's just ridiculous. As if things weren't bad enough the team is now becoming the laughingstock of college football thanks to this score against the No. 25 Hawkeyes. PSU twice had the ball inside their opponents' 10-yard line but failed to score, missing an easy 25-yard field goal and throwing an interception on the 1-yard line. There were five turnovers in all, two interceptions by fifth-year senior Zack Mills (who seems to have even regressed beyond his abilities as a freshman and makes some of the worst decisions I've ever seen from a QB) and three consecutive turnovers by Robinson (the team's top receiving threat who was forced under center after Mills was injured, and who looks equally as lost as Mills). Once again the defense played incredibly (Iowa came in averaging nearly 26 points per game and was coming off a 33-7 win over Ohio State) and gave the team every opportunity to win, forcing two turnovers and holding the Hawkeyes to 168 total yards. It actually could have been 6-2 had Iowa elected not to purposely force a safety rather than punt and risk a PSU field goal attempt, as if that might somehow happen. So who is to blame for this debacle? Obviously the offensive line is not performing as expected, there has been little playmaking ability from the skill positions and Mills has been dreadful. However, Mills came to this team as a promising young freshman and all-state QB from Maryland and has gradually gotten worse ... Robinson was a highly recruited all-around athlete touted as the next Michael Vick but has shown ZERO improvement in his limited use at quarterback over three years (the biggest reason he chose PSU over tons of other schools was they told him he could play QB) .... the O-line features several highly recruited high school all-americans, as have many of the offensive lines of years past, yet Penn State has failed to produce a noteworthy NFL offensive lineman in the past decade. Perhaps it's time to take a look at this coaching staff and consider that it may be the cause of this lack of player development, and that it may be time for a change and a fresh perspective (OL coach Dick Anderson has been with the program for 28 years; OL coach Bill Kenney for 17 years; QB coach and Paterno's heir apparent Jay Paterno for 10) .... oh yeah, they tried that by bringing in 65-year old offensive coordinator Galen Hall this year, how has that worked out so far? The Lions have scored a whopping two offensive touchdowns in the past four games, opposing defenses are able to call out the plays before the offense runs them based on the formations, the team is last in the Big Ten in scoring offense, rushing offense, pass efficiency, first downs, red zone offense, fourth down conversion, field goals and time of possession ....... I could go on but I think I'm going to vomit. Anyway, all of this leads me to JoePa, I've been somewhat of an apologist for him the past few years and I believe he deserves to go out with dignity, I also don't think he is the sole problem, but it's time to start thinking about moving on. I don't know if he has too much influence over these coaches, or he's blind to their shortcomings, or what it is, but something has to change now. The program is becoming worse than a joke, it's becoming irrelevant. Granted there is more parity across the NCAA now and a school can no longer expect to be dominant year-in and year-out for decades, but when you cannot even compete with the schools in your conference (one win in their last 11 Big Ten games and counting), and when Iowa has beaten you six straight times in Happy Valley, it's a problem. Four losing seasons in five years is something previously unheard of and unprecedented for PSU but it's reality now. After a while, those crowds of 108,000 that keep showing up week after week are going to dwindle, and those stud high school recruits are not even going to realize Penn State even has a serious Division I football program, let alone a rich football tradition. Things aren't looking great on the immediate horizon, either. This was supposed to be a bounce-back year, but the team must now win out to be bowl eligible (oh, and they play Ohio State at the Horseshoe next week) .... Robinson was considered the favorite to be the 2005 starting quarterback but he's played 80 percent of his career as a tailback and wide receiver because of a lack of capable players at those positions, oh and he also seems incapable of running an offense or throwing a completion .... True freshman Anthony Morelli was supposed to be the quarterback of the future, but after his redshirt was wasted in garbage time against Akron in the first game he's only seen the field to attempt three passes in more garbage time. He didn't play against Iowa despite utter ineffectiveness of the two QBs ahead of him (he did warm up with two minutes remaining, however), Joe just doesn't think he's ready ...... his rival, fellow true frosh and Pa. product Chad Henne (who reneged on his verbal commitment to PSU, by the way) has inexplicably been good enough to start all season for Michigan, however, against equally tough competition and has held his own, winning the praise of experts from all around college football. .......... this terrific Penn State defense (many props to defensive coordinator Tom Bradley) is being wasted week after week by a stagnant and ridiculous offensive system .......... and I'm just sick of it. Something's got to change. But will it? Only time will tell .......... AROUND THE NFL Beware of Jags I told you a few weeks ago not to count out Jacksonville. They had a great performance despite losing at home to Indianapolis in Week 4, then bounced back to surprise the Colts in the RCA Dome on Sunday. Josh Scobee's last-minute field goal sealed the 27-24 win and also made the 5-2 Jags, not the Colts, the surprise leader in the AFC South. The Jaguars are increasingly looking like last year's version of their expansion brethren, the Carolina Panthers, who racked up late victories all the way to a Super Bowl appearance. I saw the signs Eagles WR/hothead Terrell Owens was at it again Sunday in Cleveland. Some of the fans made up some humorous signs poking fun at the loud-mouthed Owens, mostly for some comments Owens made in Playboy magazine about former teammate Jeff Garcia, currently the Browns' quarterback. Owens had insinuated that Garcia, shall we say, played for the other team (and we're not talking about football here), saying "if it looks like a rat, and smells like a rat ....." and so on. Anyway, one sign had a picture of a rodent and read "Takes one to know one," and T.O. proceeded to rip it down after scoring his second touchdown of the game. He also tore down an even more clever sign that read "T.O. has B.O." - pure genius, if you ask me. I guess Owens got the last laugh though, as the Eagles held on for an overtime victory that kept them undefeated. Chief stampede Kansas City set an NFL record by scoring EIGHT rushing touchdowns in their 56-10 win over Atlanta on Sunday - yes, Atlanta, which entered the game 5-1 with the league's top rushing defense. Stud running back Priest Holmes racked up four TDs in the first half alone before leaving with a sprained ankle, and backup Derrick Blaylock matched that with four of his own after that. Too bad former No. 1 pick Larry Johnson of Penn State couldn't have gotten in on the action - his poor attitude and clashes with coach Dick Vermeil have relegated him to the last spot on the bench. Money well spent for K.C., eh? COLLEGE REPORT Zook's goose cooked Anyone surprised that Florida head coach Ron Zook was axed today? The firing comes just two days after the Gators were embarrassed by lowly Mississppi State, 38-31, dropping Florida to 4-3 overall. Zook, of course, had been on the hot seat virtually since the day he took over for beloved "Ol' Ballcoach" Steve Spurrier two and a half years ago. He didn't help his cause either two weeks ago with an incident that occurred at a Florida frat house. Zook was summoned there at 2 a.m. two nights before a Gators game to break up a fight between some of his players and some frat boys. The players had been warned not to return there after a previous incident, and one was injured and couldn't play in the game - but Zook took it a little too far by allegedly telling the frat members, "I'm not going to let you take the [expletive] football team down. ... I will do anything in my power to take this house down." The first-year head coach really didn't have much of a chance to succeed stepping into the shadow of the legendary Spurrier - attention Penn State, please make note of this - and it's unfortunate what happened to him. It could be even more unfortunate for PSU, however, as the Gators will likely target two candidates that were on my post-JoePa wish list, Utah head man Urban Meyer and Spurrier himself. Call it a "statement game" One week after landing third in the first BCS poll of the season (despite being No. 2 in both "human" polls), Oklahoma responded wtih 507 total yards in a 41-10 homecoming win over Kansas. RB Adrian Peterson continued to roll, gaining 126 yards on the ground to surpass Marshall Faulk and Emmitt Smith as the quickest freshman to break the 1,000-yard barrier in a season. He was overshadowed by teammate Jason White, who threw for 389 yards and four TDs. I have a feeling we may be seeing these two on the Heisman ballot in a few months. And apparently their strong showing payed off, as the Sooners jumped to No. 2 in today's BCS rankings. Thursday, October 21, 2004
Wow, happy birthday to me ....
I'm 24 today, feeling a little old. Plus I get to wake up with the sickening feeling of the Yankees' historic loss last night to the Red Sox in the ALCS. It was pretty excruciating, going from a 3-0 series lead and the World Series tickets being printed to four straight losses, to the hated BoSox no less. It was a collapse of epic proportions, maybe the greatest choke job in sports history. Pretty sad .... but I do give the Sox credit, as much as I hate them, I'll admit they were the better team and they did outplay the Yanks. Congrats to the true Red Sox fans also, they've had a lot of horrible losses in their past and they deserve at least one victory to gloat about (of course, let's remember that the curse lives on if they don't win the World Series) .... anyway, they've had their flaws all season and they came back to bite them when it mattered most. It just gives me more of an appreciation for the great Yankees dynasty I got to enjoy from 1996-2001 and what it takes to be a true champion. Anyway, let's take a quick look at what went right, what went wrong, and what should be done to correct things, position by position, for our run at the 2005 World Series ... OF: The acquisition of RF Gary Sheffield was criticized by many after George Steinbrenner personally wined and dined the aging superstar who had some "character issues" in the past. George and Gary proved everyone wrong, as Sheffield became a serious MVP candidate and a true team player. He played hurt all year, and offseason shoulder surgery should make him even better next year. Although his outfield defense left something to be desired, LF Hideki Matsui had an outstanding offensive season and has had a great Yankee career so far. CF Bernie Williams is, of course, an important piece of the core of the team, but he has shown his age recently. Signing CF Kenny Lofton probably wasn't necessary last year, but the team is likely stuck with him as he's 37 years old and owed over $3 million next season. Although he offered speed off the bench I wasn't really impressed with his play overall, not to mention his attitude, and hopefully they can find a creative way to get rid of him. The Yankees are the odds-on favorite to land Astros CF Carlos Beltran, who is sure to be this offseason's hottest free agent. He's been on fire in the playoffs so far, driving his potential price tag up to astronomical proportions, and if Houston cannot find a way to resign him for a hometown discount, the Yankees will likely be one of the only teams that can afford him. I'm sure if George wants him bad enough he'll pay a high price, but it just better not be at the expense of starting pitching. Beltran is a teriffic five-tool player and budding superstar, and I'd love to see him in Pinstripes. However, this would necessitate either Bernie or Sheffield moving to DH or perhaps even 1B to accomodate Beltran. 1B: That leaves us to the Yankees' biggest offseason question, the future of Jason Giambi. It's been a trying year for The Giambino as he dealt with (in no particular order) steroid accusations, offseason knee surgery, weight loss, a stomach parasite, and a pituitary gland tumor, as well as various other ailments. Just a few years ago he was a legit MVP candidate and signed a contract worth over $120 million. Then he wasn't even healthy enough to be added to the postseason roster, leaving the Yanks with role players Tony Clark and John Olerud to fill in most of the year. If Giambi is healthy enough to return (and that's a big if) the organization would probably like to use him almost exclusively as a DH next year. Personally, I'd like to see them move either Bernie or Sheffield to first - both are team players who would almost certainly be willing to do whatever it takes, and I'm sure one of them is probably a good enough athlete to be a decent first baseman. That would make room for Beltran in the outfield and allow Giambi to DH. I'd be comfortable with either Clark or Olerud returning as a defensive backup and a good bat off the bench. Backup Travis Lee is also an option - he was the forgotten man after spending nearly the entire year on the disabled list with an injured shoulder. 2B: The Yanks entered the year with only one positional question mark, and that was the "non-All Star" tandem of Miguel Cairo and Enrique Wilson. The duo combined to do a fine job, sharing duties for the first half of the year before Cairo eventually took over the position. He batted .292 with 42 RBI and stole 11 bases, and proved to be a gritty utility player. He's the Yankees' only starter who's a free agent, but if he doesn't want too much money I'd like to see him return, as opposed to the Yanks trying to bring in Nomar Garciaparra and converting him to 2B as some have suggested. Please, we don't need his tempermental, whiny personality becoming a clubhouse cancer or a target for the New York media. SS: Two words: Derek Jeter. No need to say any more. 3B: Similarly, they're fine with Alex Rodriguez. He's handled the bright lights of the Big Apple well, and although he didn't put up typical A-Rod numbers he's shown that he wants to win and fits in well on this club. I suspect that next year, with the full transition now behind him, he'll have an excellent season. C: Jorge Posada has been another one of the core Yankees since he came up to the big leagues in 1996. He started the season on fire at the plate but a prolonged slump at the end of the year caused some of his power numbers to dip. He's also been banged up and could be prone to the usual catcher drop-off at age 33. I'd like to see the club keep him around long-term because of his heart and leadership, with an eventual conversion to the outfield or 1B. Top prospect Dioner Navarro was dangled as trade bait this year, but he should be held onto closely as the Yanks' catcher of the future. John Flaherty has proven to be a capable backup and should also return in that role. Starting pitching: Now we're really getting to the heart of the problem. The Yanks tried a patchwork approach to replace old heroes Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and David Wells with aging and injury-prone Kevin Brown, promising youngster Javier Vazquez, recovering Tommy John surgery patient Jon Lieber and 60-year old former Yankee Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. They struggled but still survived the season with the AL's best record, but in the final games against the Sox the lack of quality pitching reared its ugly head. Brown started out well enough but inevitably broke down at the worst times and suffered two horrible outings when they needed him to go deep into the game. He also broke his hand punching a wall in a fit of frustration, which certainly didn't endear himself to the organization or its fans. He may be a nice enough guy and I believe he did his best, but hopefully the team will pursue terminating his contract because he made himself unavailable to pitch, saving them from paying $15 million to a struggling 40-year old with chronic back problems. Vazquez struggled big-time in his first season away from Montreal. He consistently made early-inning mistakes that resulted in costly home runs and never really found his groove despite constant work with the coaching staff. He's owed a ton of money and will almost assuredly be back next season. Hopefully an offseason and spring training of working on his mechanics and approach will help him realize the potential he showed with the Expos. Lieber was a pleasant surprise for the Yanks, who didn't really know what, if anything, to expect from him entering the season. He pitched well at Yankee Stadium during the year as well as in the postseason. Lieber has an $8 million option for next year, and the Yanks would be wise to take it up or renegotiate a contract. El Duque was another pleasant surprise after he and the Yanks parted ways a few years earlier. His late season "tired arm" is a concern, and of course no one really knows his age, but he pitched extremely well and should also return to provide depth in the rotation. Mike Mussina suffered from inconsistency as well as an elbow injury, but during his tenure in Pinstripes he's been an above average pitcher and should be penciled in as a No. 1 or 2 starter in 2005. However, the Yanks clearly need to add another quality arm or two (ideally a lefty) to the front of the rotation. One top target should be Florida's Carl Pavano, an emerging 29-year old superstar who pitched over 200 innings last season and is a Cy Young Award candidate. Another pitcher who should be high on the wish list is Phillies left-hander Eric Milton. The lack of a quality lefty arm was a notable ommission from the Yankees' staff, and although I don't believe in having a mediocre pitcher just because he's left-handed, Milton is still a better than average starter who can be dominant. Other free agents who should be pursued include Matt Clement, Brad Radke, Odalis Perez and Matt Morris. This should be the top offseason priority, bringing in quality pitchers who are capable of going deep into games and won't be huge question marks. Esteban Loaiza, who also struggled mightily this season after coming over from the White Sox in a trade for Jose Contreras, is also a potential starter if the Yankees think he can be salvaged, but he could just as easily be gone by next year. Relief pitchers: Here's another sore spot, and a big reason for the Yanks' postseason downfall. They thought they had their answers in the highly overrated "QuanGorMo" combination of new set-up men Paul Quantrill and Tom Gordon and super-closer Mariano Rivera. The three-headed monster started out pretty dominant, but the lack of innings from the starters caused the trio to be entirely too overworked. Quantrill sputtered down the stretch from overuse and was far from his earlier self after removing a knee brace from a previous injury. Things got so bad that he was downgraded all the way down to the last man in the bullpen during the postseason, even below the enigmatic Felix Heredia. "Flash" Gordon was an All-Star and near unhittable during the regular season but wilted like a dead flower in the postseason and was a huge disappointment against the Red Sox. Rivera had another great, 50-plus save season but came down to earth with a few blown saves against the Sox. I'd still take him over any closer in the big leagues right now, but the all-important "bridge" to Mariano needs to be reworked yet again. A deep bullpen has been the key to the Yankees' success for the past decade, and its a necessity next season. The Yanks have high hopes for relievers Steve Karsay and hard-throwing youngster Scott Proctor, but neither they nor the aging Gordon should be the set-up man next year. My idea (and I can't take full credit, former Yankee-turned-analyst Joe Girardi had a similar thought on TV last night) is to bring in free-agent Angels closer Troy Percival and convert him to a set-up man. He's gritty, hard-throwing and proven to be a clutch postseason performer, yet he's likely to lose his job in Anaheim to fiery youngster Francisco Rodriguez. As Girardi said, give Percival the big bucks and convince him the make to move to set-up man in order to build MLB's best bullpen. With Gordon, Karsay, Proctor and the resurrected Tanyon Sturtze leading into Percival and Rivera, this could be the most formidable Yankee bullpen of the past few years. Of course, a quality lefty reliever would be great (Heredia really doesn't count at this point) but there does not appear to be any available around the league. Coaching: We don't really have to worry about The Boss making an impulse move and firing Joe Torre, the way it seemed he might do last year. Joe rededicated himself after last season and signed a contract extension, and although he did make a few mistakes in the ALCS I have full confidence in him as the Yankees manager in 2005 and beyond. Bench coach Willie Randolph seemed destined to become a manager next season, for the Mets or elsewhere, which would pave the way for hitting coach Don Mattingly to assume his duties. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre is the real question mark - he had a public fued with Steinbrenner last year and almost walked away before returning to the Yanks. His old friends Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens are long gone, and he didn't have much success with Vazquez, Brown, Contreras or Loaiza this season. Hopefully he'll also stick around and try to rebuild the pitching staff in '05. We'll have to see how things play out. Front office: GM Brian Cashman has probably the toughest job in sports, being constantly under Steinbrenner's thumb while managing the multi-billion Yankees empire. It's tough to blame him for much of the overspending for aging players, considering he's often under direct orders from The Boss. He probably lives with a day-to-day fear of being fired by Steinbrenner, too, but just a day after this historic loss to the Sox, George pledged his allegiance to Cashman, meaning his job is probably still safe - that is, assuming he still wants it. Hopefully Steinbrenner will continue to give Cashman the breathing room to address the Yankees' needs through free agency, and they'll spend their money wisely. I have no doubt they'd like to make a splash by getting Beltran, who will be no doubt overpaid but is still the top free agent in the league. But the emphasis should be on improving the pitching, which is clearly their biggest hole right now. And that doesn't mean breaking the bank to get Pedro Martinez, who clearly is in decline and would ruin the clubhouse chemistry immediately. Follow the blueprint from the great Yankees teams of the late-90s: unselfish, gritty team players who work deep into hitting counts and do the little things to get on base and score runs; starting pitchers who eat up innings; and a dominant, deep bullpen. Anyway, that's it ........ I should probably get back to work now. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, and GO YANKEES in 2005!!! Monday, October 18, 2004
Had a good weekend, took an extra day off since Jen was home for Fall Break .... we watched some films, went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday a few days early, watched the Yankees destroy the Red Sox in Game 3 ......... fun times. The Yanks blew their chance for a sweep last night, plus they kept The Rick and I at work until after 1:30 in the a.m. waiting to get the game in the paper, but not to worry, they'll put the Sox out of their misery soon enough.
MONDAY AFTERNOON QUARTERBACK (Because I don't do mornings) Pretty bland weekend for me football-wise since Penn State and the Giants both had bye weeks. So let's get right into some other news and notes. AROUND THE NFL Big Ben is the real deal I caught the end of the Dallas-Pittsburgh game ..... I have to tell you, Ben Roethlisberger may prove to be the best QB of the 2004 draft class. Granted, he's only playing now because of an injury to Tommy Maddox, and he's helped by the presence of some very good skill players around him, plus we've barely seen fellow rookie signal-callers Eli Manning and Philip Rivers so far .... but the kid is the first rookie to start 4-0 since Phil Simms in 1970. I saw poise under pressure as he led his team on two scoring drives in a comeback victory against the Cowboys, at one point connecting on nine straight passes. Getting called "the best quarterback since Dan Marino" by Bill Parcells is certainly a nice feather in his cap too. Not bad for a kid who did not play QB until his senior season of high school and spent just three years playing in college. Culpepper is unreal The season statistics just keep getting sicker for Vikings QB Daunte Culpepper. He passed for a career high 425 yards against the Saints on Sunday night and zipped five touchdown passes for a record third time this season. He is now on pace for over 5,600 yards passing and 58 TDs. Unreal! Those are video game numbers. .... It should be noted, however, that he was intercepted twice and also fumbled a ball that was returned for a New Orleans touchdown. Plus, his team only won by seven points against the league's 29th ranked defense. Offensive numbers do not always tell the whole story, unless of course you're talking fantasy football. Unrest in Raider Nation How bad are things for Oakland? WR Jerry Rice, who asked for a trade last week, called the team's 31-3 drubbing at the hands of Denver "the worst of his career." Considering he's been around since the days of leather helmets, that's pretty damn bad. QB Kerry Collins has been much worse than I expected (seven INTs vs. two TDs, 58.3 passer rating) and they allowed the Broncos' breakout RB, Reuben Droughns, to trample them to the tune of 176 rushing yards. Things could still turn around, but I don't think Norv Turner and Warren Sapp are the answers. COLLEGE REPORT Return of the BCS Well the first edition of the much criticized Bowl Championship Series rankings are out today, here's a quick rundown of the top ten: 1. USC 2. Miami 3. Oklahoma 4. Auburn 5. Florida State 6. Wisconsin 7. Utah 8. California 9. Tennessee 10. Georgia There's been yet another tweaking to this "perfect" formula this offseason: Now one-third of a team's ranking comes from computers, one-third from the coaches' poll and one-third from the AP poll. Interesting though, Oklahoma is No. 2 in both polls yet ranked fifth by the computers, which puts them at No. 3 in the BCS behind Miami. It should be interesting to see how the rest of the year plays out .... seven teams are currently undefeated, and a non-BCS school (see: Utah) has never qualified for a BCS bowl. Let the controversy continue. Contenders vs. Pretenders A lot of people were picking No. 19 Arizona State to knock off No. 1 USC on Saturday. It lost 45-7. A few people had No. 6 Virginia over No. 7 Florida State. It lost 36-3. So much for the underdogs. True, the Trojans looked bad against California last week despite winning. But you can't go just by a team's last performance, though - USC dominated this game. As for Virginia, it may have been a darkhorse candidate in the ACC, but it had never won a road game in its history against a Top 10 opponent before, and that sure didn't change this weekend - the Cavaliers didn't even manage a TD against the Seminoles. Oh well, nice tries though. Give that kid a Heisman? A freshman has never won the Heisman Trophy before, but that may change this year. Oklahoma tailback Adrian Peterson is looking more and more like the top player in the country - and he's only 19. The freshman has cracked the 100 rushing yard mark in every game this season, and has over 900 yards on the ground so far. He added 130 this weekend as the Sooners got revenge with a 31-21 win over Kansas State. USC QB Matt Leinhart has been pretty good, Purdue's Kyle Orton was on fire until the past two weeks, and there haven't really been any other players who have elevated their games to a Heisman-esque level so far. Plus, he's already got one supporter - teammate and Sooners QB Jason White, who won the trophy last year and thus gets to participate in the voting. Wisconsin boils Purdue's dream season A week after getting tested by Penn State, Purdue was downright shocked by Wisconsin, losing 20-17 for its first defeat of the year. Holding onto a three-point lead with under three minutes remaining, Orton was hit while diving for a first down, fumbled, and the ball was returned for a Badgers TD. A costly loss not only for the team but also for Orton's Heisman campaign, as a play like that could have helped cement his status but instead can stick in voters' minds as a big negative. Huge win for Wisconsin though - it's the Big Ten's last undefeated team, it could win out (vs. Northwestern, Minnesota, Michigan State and Iowa) and would have an inside track to the Rose Bowl. Lucky bastards. Around the Big Ten Let's stay in my favorite conference for a moment. I thought PSU would have a relatively easy time with the rest of its schedule, but now it's not so clear. They've got Iowa next week, which thoroughly thrashed Ohio State on Saturday. They've got Northwestern, perennial conference doormat which also shocked Ohio State a few weeks ago, plus beat Penn State last year. They've got the aforementioned Ohio State, which was supposed to be the toughest remaining opponent but now has lost three times. And they've got Michigan State, which lost to Rutgers but throughly trashed Minnesota on Saturday (which, in turn, thoroughly trashed Penn State). No one ever said this was an easy conference, but usually there is at least more order than the chaos we've seen this year. And don't forget Michigan, the big boy on the block which seems to struggle with every team it faces. Crazy. Knights prevail against Owls A week after storming to a huge comeback victory against lowly Vanderbilt, Rutgers had to hold its breath against lowly Temple. The Scarlet Knights won 16-6, finally finding the end zone with three minutes to go to seal the victory. The bottom line, though, is Rutgers is now 4-2 on the season and inching closer to that all-important bowl bid I'm predicting. Next up is Pittsburgh, which saved coach Walt Harris' job for another week thanks to a 20-17 upset win over Boston College. The victory proves the Panthers, although they've looked downright horrendous at times, can be dangerous when their backs are against the wall. Wednesday, October 13, 2004
All of us here at Jay's World would like to wish a very happy birthday to our friend Al-Dawg, who turned 24 years young the other day. Can you believe it? Our little Alan is all grown up .......
Thrilling 10-7 win for the Yankees last night in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Red Sox, although it shouldn't have been close ...... That stud Mike Mussina came out on fire and had a perfect game into the seventh inning (who said the Yanks have no pitching?) .... meanwhile his much-hyped counterpart Curt Schilling (who went to the Red Sox specifically to beat the Yankees and win a World Series) was dreadful, surrendering six runs in three innings before exiting. Supposedly he's got a bum ankle ... maybe if that was the case going into the game he should have kept his mouth shut rather than talking about "shutting 55,000 people up" ....... oh by the way, my parents and brother were among those 55,000, my dad got three free tickets to the game (of course I had to work) ...... Anyway the Yankees had an 8-0 lead but the Sox ended up cutting it to 8-7 before Bernie Williams' two-run triple gave the Yanks some insurance runs and Mariano Rivera closed it out. Oh and Rivera had just gotten back from Panama, where he was at a funeral for two relatives who died in a freak accident in his pool ... talk about a great performance. Now I'm anxiously awaiting Game 2 tonight at 8 at the Stadium, it'll be Jon Lieber against Pedro Martinez on the mound as those 55,000 are back again screaming "Who's your daddy?" in unison, should be awesome ...... Let me just remind you that the last time the Bombers faced Pedro they rocked him and afterward he said they are his "daddy". Hah, go Yanks. Also tonight is the final presidential debate between John Kerry and George Bush at 9 p.m., I recommend you set up the VCR (or that newfangled Tivo if you have one) so you can check it out. Could be the last chance to hear some unfiltered chatter from these two before Election Day. It's important, people. Now for some debate humor .... if you checked out the first debate a couple weeks ago you may find these links (one, two) humorous, regardless of where you stand on the candidates. I know I got a chuckle out of them ... and I think we can all agree to support laughter in 2004. Thanks to E. Slavin for the tip. Quick fantasy sports update: In my football league at work, the Nittany Lions improved to 4-1 this weekend and took sole possession of first place. I am going for the Daily Record sweep, after my Springfield Atoms ran away with the fantasy baseball title in a nearly wire-to-wire, 30-point landslide victory. I have yet to receive my trophy, however. In my other football league with my dad (the one that really count$) things are not quite as great, although they are rapidly improving. Ace in the Hole is now 3-2 and fourth in the overall points lead ..... it's been an uphill battle week by week, thanks to some unfortunate draft day selections, injuries, suspensions and overall poor performances (RB Kevin Jones, QB Jeff Garcia, TE Byron Chamberlain, TE Jim Kleinsasser, RB T.J. Duckett, RB DeShaun Foster, RB Onterrio Smith, WR Peerless Price to name a few) .... it's been a patchwork roster every week, but thanks to my Parcells-esque talent evaluation skills and some nice work on the waiver wire, we're right back in the thick of things. Finally I'd like to mention that Jen will finally be coming back to Hamilton for Fall Break tomorrow, I know she misses it, so it should be a fun few days .... thankfully I am off Thursday and Saturday also, so I'll actually get to see her. :) Sunday, October 10, 2004
I had a fantastic weekend in Happy Valley ...... Alan, Ed, Mike and I went up for a visit to see Jen and see the PSU-Purdue game (more on that later) ...... we had a great time, checked out the nightlife, saw a local cover band, took a brief tour of the campus, had some fine dining, went to a pep rally and saw JoePa and a special guest (former Nittany Lion Larry Johnson) took the obligatory photo with the Nittany Lion Shrine, shared some laughs and just enjoyed ourselves. Good times were had by all.
Congratulations to the New York Yankees for beating the Minnesota Twins 3 games to 1 (just as I suspected) .... there was a lot of hype about Cy Young candidate Johan Santana but of course it's gonna take a lot more than that to beat the Yankees ..... now they advance to the ALCS with another matchup with guess who, the Boston Red Sox ...... should be wild, Game 1 is Tuesday night, you won't wanna miss it. MONDAY AFTERNOON QUARTERBACK (because I don't do mornings) NITTANY NOTES As mentioned above I attended the game against Purdue ... we had seats in the corner of the north endzone, about 30 rows up and just next to the Purdue fan section. Not bad. I could feel the excitement leading up to the game .... there was a pep rally the night before that got people fired up, and Paterno was certainly fired up too. He was pretty funny, poking a little fun at Purdue QB Kyle Orton, there was some mumbling and some pounding of the podium, but you could tell he really wanted to win this game. ...... Anyway, there were 108,000 at Beaver Stadium smelling an upset and the atmosphere was as good as I've seen in a long time. The student section actually filled up to capacity by game time and everyone was dressed in white as part of a "White Out Purdue" campaign. I'd love to see this tradition carry on, the stadium would look great with everyone wearing the same color (although it's kind of tough to wear white, especially when it gets much colder out) ..... the crowd was really into the game, even the normally quiet old alumni, and we really felt that with the crowd noise we were affecting the outcome of the game. Indeed, there were a couple damaging false starts called on Purdue that were a direct result of our yelling. Being the second largest stadium in the country, Beaver Stadium should always offer this kind of homefield advantage. ...... The defense played a teriffic game, this unit has really been something special and the future looks especially bright as nearly all key contributors will be returning next season. True freshman LB Dan Connor got his first ever start at the middle linebacker position and played with great poise while leading the defense. This kid is going to be a good one. ..... Another good one is sophomore LB Paul Posluszny, who was unfortunately injured during the game and hopefully will return soon ..... The D made Orton look a lot more ordinary than extraordinary and gave him the toughest test he's had all season. He threw two interceptions (he'd had none entering the game, and Purdue as a team had 0 turnovers) and he was sacked three times (as many as he'd been sacked all year) .... Remarkably it was 10-10 at halftime and we were pretty fired up. The defense only gave up two or three big plays but still did everything it could to keep PSU in the game, short of scoring defensive touchdowns. ...... The problem lies with the offense, which has shown little improvement on what has been the team's biggest weakness the last few years. Offensive coordinator Galen Hall was brought in this season to rectify this problem but hasn't shown much so far. Perhaps it's really JoePa who's to blame, but we may never know. All I can say is that there were a few headscratching offensive calls that really hurt the team in this game, but more importantly there was a lack of execution, especially by the offensive line, which has been a disappointment. It's just good fundamental football, you need a commanding offensive line to compete in the Big Ten Conference, and Penn State has not really had that for the most part in the last few years. It showed again Saturday, as there was hardly a running game to speak of (18 yards, third lowest rushing total in the Paterno era) and much-maligned QB Zack Mills was rushed and hurried all game. True, he's made mistakes this season and hasn't been great, but he's had little help between the offensive line and the lack of offensive playmakers. QB/WR/RB Michael Robinson was out again to recover from his concussion and that really hurt in this game, but you can't use that as an excuse. The fact that he's essentially the top player on the depth chart at three positions is an idictment of the coaching staff for its lack of development talent. It doesn't help that Joe hypes Robinson up to be "the best player in college football" - a good team can overcome an injury to any player, and M-Rob is not a savior or an excuse. Anyway, without Robinson it was good to see some other players step up: true freshman WR Mark Rubin has been impressive, little-used WR Terrell Golden caught a huge TD pass (then got flagged for celebrating and spent the rest of the game on the bench), little-used RB Rodney Kinlaw had a great kick return to help put the offense in a position to win. However, this is not the team's strong point, and asking the offense to put together a drive down 20-13 in the final two minutes needing a TD to tie the game is what really doomed them. There were four incomplete passes (including a desperation heave by strong-armed true frosh Anthony Morelli on the fianl play), pass interference was called and then predictably waved off, and they just couldn't get it done. ...... Anyway, there's work to be done on offense but this game showed even more hope for the future, both in this season and beyond. They have two weeks to get healthy and prepare for a winnable game against Iowa, then a matchup with Ohio State (which is in the dumps now after two losses, and PSU always plays them close) ...... I want to see this team continue to put up a fight. If they do, they could conceivably win out and make a bowl game, which would be a huge accomplishment and a springboard to 2005. BIG BLUE RECAP The surprises just keep coming regarding the New York Football Giants, as they improved to 4-1 with a win over the rival Cowboys. Nearly everything is going right for this team, Tiki Barber has been on fire (122 yards rushing and a TD, 76 yards receiving vs. the 'Boys), kicker Steve Christie rebounded from a miserable game last week to kick four field goals and the G-Men held on to their lead for a 26-10 victory. I got to catch portions of the game on TV and I was pretty pleased with what I saw as they now enter Week 6's bye with as many wins as they had all of last season. Not much else to say, let's just keep it up as the season continues ....... COLLEGE REPORT Now that's what I call a rivalry Texas has been one of the premiere college football programs for a long time now, they're perennially national championship contenders, win tons of games, are consistently in the Top 10 and so on ....... however, for the past five years they've lost to rivaly Oklahoma, and its cause for the Longhorns fans to call for their head coach, Mack Brown, to be fired. That's how important the Texas-Oklahoma game is to these fans. JoePa suffers through five-, five- and three-win seasons in the past four years and plenty of fans are still on his side, and Brown loses one game a year to Oklahoma and everyone wants his head on a silver platter. Now granted, it seems like Brown usually comes up small in the coaching department in big games despite getting the top national recruits year in and year out. I'd be embarrassed too if it was my team, I mean they lost 12-0, got shut out for the first time since 1980 and they got run over by a true freshman who grew up in their backyard but spurned them to become a Sooner. If PSU was getting blasted by Michigan or Pitt year in and year out, I'd be upset too. But still, if Brown should happen to get fired, let's just say I wouldn't mind if he were to wander up to Happy Valley for a job interview in the next few years ...... Shit on Pitt We were riveted to the Temple-Pittsburgh game on TV this weekend, oddly enough ..... Temple was just pounding on the Panthers in the first half and they looked to be on their way to a big win. Should have known better. Pitt rallied for a 27-22 win after falling behind by 13. Pittsburgh may be a horrendous football team, but the Owls are worse (although not by much). Kind of sad that Temple is getting kicked out of the Big East, you'd like to see them be more competitive but they don't really deserve it when you look at the rest of this conference .... U-S-A! There's another underdog that I think we can all agree to root for, and that's Army. They ended the nation's longest losing streak (19 games) with a win against Cincinnati. That's one of the teams replacing Temple, by the way. Anyway, congratulations to Bobby Ross and the Black Knights. AROUND THE NFL You're so unpredictable How crazy is the NFL? It's gotten to the point that you can hardly predict anything from week to week, with the possible exception of the New England juggernaut (19 straight wins and counting) ...... case in point: Detroit didn't win on the road for three straight years. Then on Sunday, they beat Atlanta for their second straight road win. That's previously 4-0 Atlanta ...... Exhibit B: The Chargers were supposed to be the league's whipping boy. They're now 3-2 after a win over Jacksonville, who looked like Super Bowl contenders until a week ago. This despite Byron Leftwich's 357 yards passing after an extreme lack of offense the first few games. ...... Did you know that home teams are now just 38-35 this season? Ridiculous. Wild Broncos OK, so everyone predicts that Denver will just insert RB Quentin Griffin into its lineup this year and he'll automatically rush for 1,000 yards or more, the way Clinton Portis, Terrell Davis, Mike Anderson, and Olandis Gary all did .... Griffin has 156 yards in the opener then gets shut down the next few weeks before getting injured .... Garrison Hearst and Tatum Bell seem like likely replacements but both are also hurt, so who gets the call in Week 5? Unkown fullback Reuben Droughns (127 career rushing yards in five seasons) who proceeds to explode for 193 against the defending NFC Champion Carolina Panthers. Try and figure that one out. I'm convinced they could put me in the backfield and I'd get at least 100 against any team in the league. Sunday, October 03, 2004
Congrats to the New York Yankees, 2004 AL East Champions .... They had a teriffic season but now the real season begins, they start their first-round series against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night at the Stadium .... I'm pumped, October belongs to the Yankees as always so here we go ..........
Hopefully you caught some of the presidential debate the other night on TV .... If you had to pick a "winner" I think you've got to admit it was John Kerry, he just seemed to offer actual facts and answers rather than repeating the same tired attacks and slogans his handlers wrote down on notecards, I think he energized a lot of people who were unsure about him and the polls show the race is now tighter than ever ..... vice presidential nominee John Edwards will debate with Dick Cheney on Tuesday night, that should be interesting, and then Kerry and George Bush meet again in a "town hall" format on Friday, I suggest you try to check those out ..... Interesting incident at work the other night, I spent a few hours trying to hide from a 7-year old girl scout .... this guy from the news department brought in his daughter to work for some reason, so she was going around with her little form trying to sell girl scout cookies to everyone ..... sorry, I just didnt want any, but how do you say no to a kid, especially when her dad is a big-shot supervisor just across the office? You avoid her, of course .... so every time she came near the sports department I'd take off for a smoke break (I don't even smoke) or a bathroom break, or just go read the newspaper somewhere else ..... anyway I escaped her clutches like three times and saw some of my colleagues fall victim to her temptations, but then finally she snuck up on me at my desk and I was forced to buy a box of thin mints that I don't even want ... I saw a few people had like $20-plus orders, talk about sucking up to your boss ......... Anyway here's the fun part: MONDAY AFTERNOON QUARTERBACK (because I don't do mornings) NITTANY NOTES: Ouch, very painful PSU game this weekend, a 16-7 loss to Minnesota. I know this is a tough stretch schedule-wise and in all honesty I did not expect them to win this game entering the season .... but it is somewhat shameful to be manhandled by this team, a team that for years we dominated. The whole state of affairs with Penn State football right now is pretty sad in fact. PSU dominated college football for four decades like only a handful of teams ever had. They were one of the most prestigious football programs in the country, contending for national championships every few years, but now after the past few seasons they have become more of a laughingstock and have seemingly been passed over by tons of other schools. I won't get into the complete rant right now, it's just frustrating after a game like this, but of course I'm sticking with my team and I still do have faith that they'll turn things around, both in this season and over the long haul ... Anyway back to this particular contest, obviously the Gophers have a tremendous running game and their backs amassed almost 300 yards on the ground ... but still the PSU defense was fairly impressive, it's the offense that's putrid. Backup QB-turned-No. 1 wideout Michael Robinson was still recovering from his concussion from last week so that didn't help. QB Zack Mills is still nursing a shoulder injury but still played, and once again didn't look great .... he threw two INTs (eight on the season) and really has had too many mistakes for an experienced fifth-year senior. I guess the coaches don't feel like they have any viable options, third-stringer Chris Ganter wasn't that effective last week .... but there's much-hyped true freshman Anthony Morelli still sitting on the bench after his redshirt was burned in a meaningless game against Akron, why couldn't he come in and try to get something going? What's the point of using his redshirt if he's not going to play the rest of the year? All I have to say is he better see the field at some point soon .... it's been a good sign lately though for the staff that they've been letting some other youngsters play, and they've actually been impressive. Freshman LB Dan Connor has been great, now they've got this other true freshman Mark Rubin kid filling in at WR and he's looked pretty good. At least there is some consideration of changing the way they do things at PSU ...... Anyway, things get even tougher next Saturday with a home date against Purdue, a team that's rolling on all cylinders (more on them in a moment) .... even if PSU falls I still won't count them out from salvaging this season, they just need a strong effort so the team won't get totally disheartened and limp to the end of the year. Plus, I'm going to the game with my friends so it better be a good one. BIG BLUE RECAP: Stop the presses: The Giants are 3-1! Very surprising 14-7 win over Green Bay this Sunday at Lambeau Field. It's kind of hard to tell if the Giants are that good or the Packers are that bad right now .... but still, the defense came up big once again, I love what I'm seeing so far. Green Bay couldn't get anything going offensively in the first half and turned the ball over three times. The secondary (now minus Shaun Williams) is playing aggressively and taking chances; occasionally they'll get burned but they're also able to create big plays on defense, something sorely lacking prior to this year. The G-Men are now an astounding, league-best plus-10 in turnover ration despite Kurt Warner's INT in the end zone. Tiki Barber was tremendous, gaining 182 yards on the ground even though Ron Dayne officially started the game (so far the Ron Dayne Reclamation Project has been less than stellar). Crazy moment just before the half, no score, Packers are driving when Golden Boy Brett Favre gets sacked, whacks his head on the turf and is replaced by Doug Pederson .... Despite an obvious concussion Favre comes back in the game on a fourth down and proceeds to throw a bomb into double coverage to Javon Walker, the two Giants defenders foolishly play the man and not the ball and get burned for a TD .... Favre celebrates like he just won the Super Bowl, he probably thought it was 1997, and the horrendous Fox announcing tandem of Joe Buck and Cris Collinsworth (Troy Aikman is okay) proceed to gush over this corageous act and what a living legend he is ... thing is, Favre probably didn't know what he was doing, plus he made a real sketchy decision but lucked out because of the poor coverage .... if it had been an INT there would be no mention of this, no one would say it was a dumb decision to take a chance like that (much like his poor play in the playoffs last year vs. the Eagles that cost his team the game), I guess that's the unwritten rule of NFL broadcasting, you have to praise the Golden Boy as a superhuman QB ..... Anyway enough griping, Favre wasn't able to play the rest of the game and the Giants answered right back with a hugh 52-yard TD run by Tiki just a few plays later and they went on to win. A positive was TE Jeremy Shockey finally getting more involved with the offense (5 catches, 74 yards), including a crucial TD catch after the team nearly pissed away another possession in the red zone. A negative was the Shockster spiking the ball after a big reception and costing his team a 15-yard penalty, I love the guy because he's on my team but he can't pull that idiotic stuff. Another big negative was kicker Steve Christie ... I'll forget about the 49-yarder he missed in the second quarter (kicking with the wind, mind you) but the missed 30- and 32-yarders on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter when the Giants are trying to go up by two scores and put the game away are simply unforgivable. I have a feeling Tom Coughlin will be bringing in a new kicker shortly. But anyway, an impressive win, this team is really starting to turn things around week by week, and I'm definitely encouraged by what I see. Bring on Dallas. COLLEGE REPORT: Not this time What the heck, Northwestern beats Ohio State? Northwestern, the Big Ten doormat, beats No. 6 Ohio State, the find-a-way-to-win, hang-on-by-the-seat-of-their-pants Ohio State?? Crazy, but true: Wildcats 33, Buckeyes 27 in double overtime. OSU was down by 10 in the fourth quarter, then my friend Rick informed me at work the Bucks had tied it up. We knew they'd find a way to pull it out - but no. Super kicker Mike Nugent misses a field goal in the second OT, then Northwestern scores to win it, first time over OSU in 33 years. Give the game ball to Noah Herron: three rushing TDs, including the game-winner. Shocking. Boilermaker bandwagon and that brings us to another Big Ten team, the aforementioned No. 15 Purdue Boilermakers. They ended a 30-year skid of their own by beating Notre Dame in South Bend, 41-16. Coupled with the OSU loss, and the door cracks opens just a little wider for the Boilermakers to win the conference. Bigger tests remain, but the hype is growing around Kyle Orton (385 tards passing and four TDs vs. the Irish, watch the national media jump on the bandwagon even more) as the team invades Happy Valley in one week. Yikes. Around the Big Least, oops, Big East West Virginia had a real disappointing 19-13 loss to former conference foe Virginia Tech. WVU tried to make a game of it after falling behind early but they couldn't get it done, losing their hopes for an undefeated season. They shouldn't worry though, they're clearly the best team in the conference. ...... Rutgers had an even tougher loss to Syracuse, 41-31 in a game they should have won. After a slow start the teams were trading scores on almost every possession down to the end. The Scarlet Knights take a four-point lead with just over four minutes remaining, then get a huge fumble recovery on the Orange's next drive and are set up in Syracuse territory. But they fail to capitalize after kicker Jeremy "Judge" Ito misses a 43-yard field goal. Sorry, but you simply have to put points on the board there to seal the win. No excuse for the missed field goal, you're in a DOME!!! Anyway Syracuse comes back to score, then RU shoots itself in the foot trying to come back, some freshman lineman gets called for two huge penalties, they turn it over after going for it on fourth down and Walter Reyes punches in a clinching TD with a minute left. The official coming-of-age of the Rutgers program will have to wait, at least for another week. ......... If you want to see a program on the rise look no further than conference newcomer UConn, which roughed up Pittsburgh this week (a week after Pitt nearly fell to I-AA Furman, hah Pitt sucks). What a difference a year makes Things haven't been so great for LSU after winning a share of the national championship in 2003 ... first a loss to Auburn two weeks ago and now a 45-16 dismantling by No. 3 Georgia, a team they beat twice last year, including a blowout in the SEC title game. Guess the Tigers won't be getting in on that BCS controversy again this year ...... 2003 co-national champ Oklahoma has been pretty unstoppable however so far and they could be right back in the thick of things at year's end. AROUND THE NFL: Will they ever lose again? The New England Patriots have somehow now won 18 straight games, tying an NFL record with a 31-17 win over Buffalo. Oh, and they were losing this game 17-10. Amazing. This is a team that just doesn't believe it can lose a game. Defensive lineman Richard Seymour ran in a fumble recovery for a TD late in the game to seal the win. Someone always steps up. Jaguars growing up Kudos to Jacksonville, as I said last week I'd give them props if they kept it close in this one against the Colts and they did, tying the game at 17-17 late in the fourth quarter and then driving into Indy territory after the Colts went ahead by a TD, only to get stopped on a fourth-and-one. A terrific effort by young QB Byron Leftwich in ths one (29-for-41, 318 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT), you can tell this kid is going to be a good one. It would help if the offense continues to improve, WR and first-round pick Reggie Williams should only get better, and with another offensive weapon or two and some more experience this team could be a force in the future. Don't count them out this year either, not many teams could even stay close with this Colts offense. He's still around? After playing relatively well in three losses to open the season, Arizona got its first win of the year and first under Dennis Green, 34-10 over New Orleans. Key in the victory was RB Emmitt Smith - yes, that Emmitt Smith - who rushed for 127 yards and a TD and also THREW for a TD on a trick play. At age 35, most (including me) said he probably should have packed it in rather than going out to the desert to join the hapless Cards, but I guess it would be nice to see him help turn this team around. I think Green will make them into a playoff team eventually, even if Emmitt's not around to see it. Anyway, should have predicted this one .... never count on the Ain'ts to come through against a team they should beat, a week after thumping St. Louis they go and lay this egg, so predictable for this joke of a franchise. |
