teke184

SF really doesn't want this one... They'd stopped the Saints, but it took 12 men on the field to do it, giving them a 1st Down in the process.

Plus: The Saints have a rushing game for the first time in almost 2 months Minus: As a result, it looks like Brees' streak of 300-yard games is dead unless he throws for 110 yards in the next 8 minutes.

TD #4 for Reggie Bush

Bush just took a screen pass for roughly 75 yards.

Reggie Bush has 3 TDs today, which is more than his TD total to this point this year. (The two he had to this point were a rushing TD and a punt return. These are 2 rushing TDs and a reception.)

There's about a 0.000001% chance that Michigan doesn't play in either the BCS title game or the Rose Bowl. Plus if Florida plays in the title game then the Sugar Bowl is almost certainly going to replace them with LSU. I'm so tired that I forgot that Michigan would go into the Rose Bowl if they didn't go to the title game. Regarding Florida though, a HUGE strike against them is that they played Western Carolina. Other than that, it's hard to definitively say that they shouldn't be there, as they played more high quality teams, even if their schedule didn't turn out to be too deep. If Georgia wouldn't have collapsed, their computer ranking would be better. It seems like there's a chance of another split title, but that's if Ohio State loses in the title game. Which I think they will. If Florida can dig up a good reason why Western Carolina is on their schedule, I could give them a pass for it. If they'd had a team from a BCS league in that slot and had to replace them because they pulled out of the game, that would be enough for a pass from me. Example- Virginia Tech pulled out of a game with LSU a few years back. They were finally able to put Oregon State in that spot, but there was a danger of them only being able to fill it with a poor-quality team because most teams were already tied up that weekend.

As far as I'm concerned, Florida and Michigan are damn-near equal but, considering Michigan already played Ohio State and lost, Florida should get the nod. It ain't gonna happen, though, because the computers and some pollsters will keep Michigan at #2 and we'll get a rematch of the ABC-ESPN circlejerk game of the millennium instead. (Not that it wasn't a good game, but ABC and ESPN are NOTORIOUS for overselling top Big Ten and PAC Ten teams as opposed to teams from the Big East, Big 12, SEC, or ACC. It's goddamn sickening unless you're a fan of one of those two leagues.) That being said, Florida getting screwed helps my team, LSU, out in a big way. Michigan going to the title game means a Rose Bowl of LSU and USC, which should help exorcise some of those demons from the 2003 BCS clusterfuck that have lingered. Florida going to the title game means LSU goes to the Sugar Bowl to face Notre Dame, which I'd be less enthused about. The Sugar Bowl is good, but I'd rather them face Louisville or Michigan than Notre Dame, who got friggin' STOMPED by the two Top Ten teams they faced this year. I want a REAL game, not the annual "Notre Dame goes to a big bowl thanks to NCAA Affirmative Action and gets stomped as a result" party that's happened the last twelve years when the Irish have gotten a bowl bid. (Their last bowl win was the 1994 Cotton Bowl over Texas A&M. Their last win in what is now a BCS bowl was in the 1992 Sugar Bowl over Florida.)

Florida-Ohio State is a possibility... Florida's up 17-7 right now at the half on a Top 10 team in Arkansas. The prejudice against a Michigan-Ohio State rematch may push Florida over the top.

The USC hate is big here because they're getting blowjobs from the press despite losing to Oregon State, while Florida and Michigan lost to the #10 and #1 teams, respectively.

WOW. Game, UCLA, with that INT off the deflection.

Man, UCLA is taking it to USC. UCLA's runners are gashing the USC ends and John David Booty is looking like crap. I can't wait for the traditional post-upset Evangel player meltdown from Booty, much like his brothers did at LSU and Brock Berlin did at Miami.

Didn't Frank Gore get a single-digit score like a 5?

Art Shell's perception by his players may be altered by the fact that he used to work directly for the NFL and, in effect, was a flunky of The Man.

I haven't seen the interview, but that sounds freakin' stupid. However, I'm not sure if it's stupider that he believes it or that he came out and said it.

I can definitely see Brett doing both considering the teams on their schedule (Bears, Jets, Lions, 49ers, Vikings).

I'll go with #1 and #3. I'll also go with Drew Brees breaking Dan Marino's record for passing yards in a season, as well as putting together a string of *7* 300-yard passing games. (I'd say this Sunday against the 49ers is a given, but the 7th game would be against the Cowboys. Maybe if Colston, Henderson, and Copper can keep beating out Roy Williams...)

Even as much of an LSU homer as I am, I'm not taking that report at face value. I'm interpreting it as "AD Skip Bertman is making a big pitch to the Rose Bowl and it's been implied to him that the Rose and Orange have some interest". As far as Florida falling out of the BCS if they lose on Saturday, all I can say is "tough shit." LSU went 10-1 last year in the regular season before losing the SEC Title Game to Georgia and dropping to the Peach Bowl because they were passed over for a BCS bid in favor of Ohio State (9-2) and Notre Dame (9-2). They dropped below several teams they beat that year when that happened, including Auburn (Capitol One), Alabama (Cotton), and Florida (Outback). (Admittedly, LSU got screwed by the fact that they'd played in the Capitol One Bowl the year before against Iowa... who was going to the Outback Bowl that year, not that the Capitol One and Outback were outright snubbing them.) The only reason it worked out well was that the Peach was able to snag a Top 10 team in Miami, which made the Peach the most attractive non-BCS bowl last year.

How about finding some real receivers who can catch the ball or buy the Denver Broncos O-line and assistant coaches or buy some blocking full backs like Lorenzo Neal, Tony Richardson, Kleinsasser for Michael Vick. The Falcons have put approximately 15 different receivers around Vick over the past 6 years and only Alge Crumper has worked out. That tells me that the problem is more likely with Vick than with any of his receivers. Take a look at Vick's cousin Aaron Brooks as an example. He had Joe Horn, Devery Henderson, and Donte Stallworth as his top three WRs last year and couldn't do shit. Brees has come into town with pretty much the same set of receivers and is putting up some of the best passing numbers in the league. (Horn and Henderson are still there, while Marques Holston replaced Stallworth, who went on to be Donovan McNabb's #1 receiver when healthy.) The main difference has to do with mental ability, as Brees is capable of reading the field and properly timing passes to the right receivers. Brooks, OTOH, was athletic but slow to pass and would consequently get sacked for a HUGE loss, fumble while passing, or throw an INT. I'll bet that Matt Schaub can come in with the current set of Falcons recievers and linemen and do much better within three weeks once they all get on the same page. However, we'll probably not see this because Vick is getting paid so much money that the coaches feel they have no choice BUT to play him no matter how much he sucks at throwing the ball.

Anyone else on here seen the list of salaries each NFL team is paying this year? No WONDER the Atlanta owner is pissed right about now, as he's paying Michael Vick $20 million this year and the team as a whole $110 million (tops in the league) to look like a bunch of bush-leaguers.

With the exception of Ohio State vs. Wake Forest, I'd certainly pay to watch those games. Additional storylines would even be in place for LSU-Oklahoma (rematch of 2003 title game) and Louisville-Auburn (Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville was nearly replaced by Louisville coach Bobby Petrino after 2003 season.).

That's a half truth. Carroll came to a practice and walked up to this guy, who thought he had no fucking chance to play at Southern Cal, and was looking at places like Colorado and UNLV. It's really hard to walk up to the coaches of those programs though, because most of the guys are mystified. It's like Carroll has this aura about him. Recruiting as a big-school coach cuts both ways... You can have the guys that approach you, or you have the guys that you approach. The quality of the recruiter, IMHO, is better tested when they DON'T get the recruit they wanted, as you see what happens when the effort they've expended doesn't pay off. In a positive case of this, Nick Saban had recruited Matt Mauck to play for him at Michigan State. Mauck decided against college football at that time, as he'd been drafted by an MLB team and decided to play in the minors. Saban's recruiting of him stuck and, once his baseball career was over, he decided to go back to football under Saban, who was now at LSU. Mauck became the QB of LSU during the 2001 SEC Title game and later led the Tigers to the 2003 National Championship. (DT Chad Lavolais from that same LSU team was in a similar situation, as he was academically ineligible for several years and worked at local prisons as a guard, but pulled his life together to come play for the people who recruited him years before.) In a negative case of this, one of my HS teammates who now plays in the pros was recruited heavily out of HS by many major programs at that time, such as Florida, Notre Dame, LSU, Northwestern (this was just after their Rose Bowl visit in the mid-90s under Gary Barnett), etc. While he was recruited by all of those big-name programs, he chose to go to the patsy of the SEC, Vanderbilt, instead for several reasons. At least three of them were that: 1. His family would be able to see him play on TV and in person (He's from Baton Rouge, which is LSU Tiger country), while Big Ten games were rarely, if ever, shown locally and don't play in the South except during bowl season 2. He'd be guaranteed an opportunity to play RB instead of DB, which is what most programs were recruiting him for. (He became an All SEC DB once he was moved over, but he wanted that opportunity at RB first) 3. He'd get a solid education out of it, no matter what. Steve Spurrier had made drop-in visits to my HS to recruit him, along with Travis Minor, who was the other local standout that year at one of the bigger schools across town. When Spurrier found out that he was going to Vandy instead of Florida, he wasn't happy. I found out much later that Spurrier had flipped out and started badmouthing the Vanderbilt program to him, then had approached his mother in a local store and tried to confront her over his choice to go to Vandy over Florida. While I've made a number of derogatory comments about Spurrier in the past, mainly because of the rivalry between LSU and Florida that was pretty one-sided until recently, hearing these stories have made me lose a lot of respect for him. He completely lost it over a guy that was talented and upstanding (high moral fiber and academics), but probably wasn't going to be a factor at Florida for more than one season given their depth on the roster. I think that this should at least give people an idea of what kind of sense of entitlement some of the coaches have when it comes to recruiting.

BTW- The Bears have to play the Vikings, Rams, Bucs, Lions, and Packers. They'll beat the Bucs and Lions easily. The Rams will be dead in the water since they don't have Orlando Pace blocking. The Vikings and Packers COULD pull off wins, but a 12-4 Bears team with only two NFC losses would likely retain a first-round bye.

Chicago will probably pull out a first-round bye because their last five opponents are so pathetic. The race for the other berth will be determined by the Cowboys-Saints game in a few weeks, as I don't think that Seattle will be able to pull it off. The Seahawks still have to play the Chargers and Broncos. The other three games are against the Bucs, 49ers, and Cardinals. I'm predicting a 3-2 finish, possibly 2-3 if the 49ers pull off the upset again. The Saints have to play the 49ers, Giants, Cowboys, Panthers, and Redskins. They should probably go 3-2, as they should beat the 49ers, Redskins, and Giants. They have the ability to go 5-0, but it requires shutting down Romo as well as Steve Smith. The Cowboys have to play the Giants, Saints, Eagles, Falcons, and Lions. That should be an easy 4-1, if not 5-0, given that four of these five teams are skidding towards rock bottom.

I doubt the NYG do better than 2-3 over the home stretch. Dallas, Carolina, and New Orleans will likely beat them, while Washington and Philly are unknowns right now. (Washington was able to beat Carolina last week, while Philly is having their traditional "We don't know WTF to do without McNabb" snit on both sides of the ball.) The three I mentioned as sure-thing losses are teams that have superb passing games and lots of speed at WR. Combine that with a depleted DB corps and you'll see Romo, Brees, and Delhomme put up 300+ yards each. (That's not a stretch for Romo or Brees right about now, but Delhomme played like shit against the Redskins on Sunday)

Not sure if you guys read this, but part of why Farve started this week was that Rogers is on IR for the rest of the year. He got hurt last week, as he was QBing while Farve was being checked on the sidelines.