This Week in College Football 9/27 - 10/1

[UZI Suicide 0]

Those statistics are a result of the receiving corps, pure and simple. The ASU corps doesn't compare, especially when you include Bush.

 

I don't care what his completion percentage is; I counted at least seven occasions against Oregon where Leinart had an open receiver, and threw it ten feet out of bounds. Every time I watch USC, there's open receivers every play, tons and tons of yards after the catch, and a lot of mediocre throws by Leinart.

 

The only game I've ever seen USC play where I was even remotely impressed with Leinart was the Orange Bowl last year.

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Leinart was 18/24 passing in each of USC's first two games. He wasn't quite as efficient against Oregon (23/39, which is still pretty damn good) but that was mostly because he started the game off a little rocky, as did USC's entire offense. He was 11-of-14 passing with 2 TD's in the second half though. That's pretty damn good, I don't know what you expect from him, 100% passing efficiency in every game?

 

As far as the talent level, yes USC has great skill position talent, but what QB gets it done without great players around him? That's like putting down Peyton Manning for playing with Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison.

 

People often overlook the fact that last year, Leinart was basically the only returning starter on the offense except for the Tight End. USC was replacing their entire O-Line, starting RB (Herschel Dennis) and starting WR's (Mike Williams and Keary Colbert), and he still won the Heisman.

[Fökai 0]

I don't think that Leinart will ever prove to people that he's a great quarterback. In the era of parity, rarely do quarterbacks ever prove themselves. From the looks of it, he'll be drafted to a team that desperately needs a quarterback, but does have a strong supporting cast. Honestly, do any of these usual non-playoff teams have a quarterback for the future?

 

ARI, BAL, CHI, CLE, DAL, DEN, DET, HOU (Carr could be on the outs), MIA, OAK, STL, TEN and WAS. All of these teams could scrap their current situation if Leinart dropped to them in the draft.

[jwpeer 0]

There's no way Leinart is a better QB than Omar Jacobs.

 

When I watched Jacobs play it reminds me of how Roethlisberger handled himself at Miami of Ohio. Or how Byron Leftwich played at Marshall. He just has an air of professionalism about him that few college qb's ever have. That translates to the NFL. The poise and ability to make things happen is real talent.

 

 

Omar Jacobs will probably end up the 2nd QB taken, and he's going to go to a better team because of it.

 

That's not to say that Leinart is BAD. He has talent and will possibly have success, I just see a lot more of a sure thing in Jacobs than Leinart. And honestly, I think a guy like DeAngelo Williams out of Memphis is a safer pick than Leinart...and Reggie Bush for that reason

 

 

I like Reggie Bush but his size and skillset do not translate to a specific NFL position (Is he tough enough to be a 20-30 carry a game player, is his speed good enough to get separation from NFL CB's? Lots of question marks), whereas D. Williams is very similar to LT in ability (Similar, not necessarily equal.)

 

Just my thoughts

[Guest Ether]

Who's going to want to go to Pitt after this ugly start?  Add that the Big East is a total joke now... I can't see most of their hopefuls wanting to go there.

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Because it is a BCS conference and, in Pitt's case, the opportunity to play right away. Nebraska looked painful last year, but they were able to keep their recruits that they got early in the season, picked up some more after the season, and had a top five recruiting class.

 

Wannstedt will be around because he has only coached five games and is doing so with Walt Harris' players. One of Walt's biggest flaws was his inability to recruit and develop quality lineman. I don't know the numbers for the d-line, but Pitt has had only two o-line drafted under Walt's watch - Bryan Anderson by the Bears in the 7th round in 2003 and Rob Petitti, a steal by the Cowboys this year in the sixth round. Pitt has usually fared poorly against quality opposition (save Virginia Tech) largely because of poor line play. This season has been no different - one or both line units played poorly in each of the four losses.

 

With this past game, give Pitt credit. They could have very easily packed it in being down 27-0. As it is, they still fought and if one or two plays went their way we'd be talking victory right now (damn you Ryan Hart why couldn't you have fumbled on the hash mark)

 

As far as recruiting goes - which will determine if Dave Wannstedt will be a sucess or failure at Pitt - Pitt is doing very well so far. Pitt has committments from just about every player in Western Pa (including the #1 rated tight end) that they wanted, with the top player making a decision Monday (Pitt is still in the running). I would like to see them nab a few more o-lineman.

[jwpeer 0]

Heck if it wasn't for that fumble by Palko we would have most likely won as well. (Can't blame him for the lost, he's the one that made us competitive at all)

 

 

I'm really looking forward to next year with Wanny's recruiting class. He's constantly touting how good it's gonna be, and how he'll get these linemen. I just hope this is true, because I would love to see a power running Pitt team with a tough and athletic D-line to match

[SilverPhoenix 0]

To everyone that's calling doom and gloom for the Big East, because of Pitt and Louisville's losses....are you even looking at the bigger picture?

 

No Seriously? Yeah, the Panthers fucking suck this year, but it seems like they're going to go 1 - 10 or 2 - 9 (The only team I see that they can even hope to beat is Cincinatti), with no hope of sniffing a Bowl Bid or winning the Big East. Hyped or not, they won't finish well, (the only thing holding them back from an 8th Place Finish is the Bearcats, which are worse.) and they won't make the BCS Game, so fuck them.

 

Neither of those teams will finish above 6th , and they won't sniff .500. Right where teams that suck should be.

 

As for Louisville, wait and see if South Florida gets beaten by 3 or more touchdowns today, or if they lose in their next 3 games before you call their season lost. They could possibly still win out, and go 10 - 1, which isn't a horrible record, no matter how you slice it. It isn't like USF will finish in the bottom 10, or even 40 at this rate. (Note, this may change in a few weeks.)

 

Overall, the Conference can and needs to do better aganist their Big 6 brothers (Yes, I said it.) if it doesn't want to be ridiculed so badly. Though, honestly, unless all 8 teams went 4-0 with their OOC records, ESPN and friends will find a way to bash the Big East, this is just a fact. Screw the media, the conference just needs to show up and win. But to call doom and gloom because the Hyped teams lose games is just self-fulfillment in the wrong direction.

 

Either way this weekend is big for the conference, and I smell an upset.

[cabbageboy 0]

If USF stays within 3 TDs of Miami today (on the road) I'd be shocked.

 

I'm not all that offended that U of L lost to South Florida, in fact we lost to them 2 years ago in a great OT game down there. They aren't a hideously untalented team. If this had been a similar tough loss I wouldn't have been embarrassed, but it's like there was no real effort shown...the D couldn't stop anything USF did.

 

Going in, U of L was supposed to be about 10 notches above whatever dregs the Big East had to offer (actually USF was a previous C-USA jobber, making this more inexcusable since they should have been familiar). That loss for U of L last week was program killing kind of bad...Big East losing its BCS bid level bad.

 

I watched this similar scenario unfold for U of L in 2002, coming off a great 11-2 year. It was predicted then U of L could be the first non BCS team to crash the dance...and then we went like 7-5.

 

In regards to Pitt, they're even more of an embarrassment. I'm amazed anyone can defend Wannstedt here and try to trash Walt Harris. Hell, Pitt was a mediocre team last year but somehow won the BE at 8-3 and got to the BCS. Wannstedt is using most of the same players and the record likely will be reversed (3-8).

[Damaramu 0]

Corso and Herbstreit picked OU. I think we'll still beat KSU but they've always given us a tough game and we suck this year.

[Urban Warfare 0]

Corso and Herbstreit also picked Ohio State against Texas.

[Urban Warfare 0]

14-0 Michigan early.

[Slayer 0]

Corso and Herbstreit also picked Ohio State against Texas.

Well, technically Ohio State was winning the game for 55 minutes out of the 60 (snicker)

[Damaramu 0]

Baylor just got a long gain on Texas A&M. Nothing would make my day more than seeing Baylor beat Texas A&M for a second straight year. My most hated team in the country is Texas A&M.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Might as well turn in your OU fan card then.

[Damaramu 0]

Might as well turn in your OU fan card then.

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Why b/c I hate Texas A&M more than Texas? If you've paid attention in the past 5 years Texas A&M has given OU 10x more trouble than Texas has dreamed of.

And I have other personal reasons stemming from when I played rugby at OU to hate A&M.

[Damaramu 0]

Methinks Texas is wearing their Crimson and Cream colored glasses this week.

[Slayer 0]

Morgantown has a monorail?!

 

What'd I say? Monorail!

What's that word? Monorail...

[Urban Warfare 0]

The fact that Florida Atlantic is within three of Louisville is just scary.

[Damaramu 0]

Dammit I don't want to watch this Texas/Mizzou game. I want MSU/Michigan!

And I'm forced to watch ISU/Nebraska this afternoon as opposed to USC/ASU.

Regional coverage sucks.

[Guest I miss Test.]

UNC returns the opening kickoff for a TD. Holla.

[Guest *KNK*]

Dammit I don't want to watch this Texas/Mizzou game. I want MSU/Michigan!

And I'm forced to watch ISU/Nebraska this afternoon as opposed to USC/ASU.

Regional coverage sucks.

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That's funny because Im in the same boat as you, only opposite. I don't care for Michigan/MSU although it's close. I just hate each team equally and I'm stuck with Minnesota/Penn St and Illinois/Iowa.

 

I'd also rather see ASU/USC over those games. Why does the network assume that because I live in the general BIG TEN region, that I care about Penn State. I live in Ohio, I'll understand giving us Michigan games but Penn State? No. Just give us the local (by local I mean LOCAL as in 2-3 hours from here) team and the major games. Penn/Minn isn't a "major" game.

[Urban Warfare 0]

Get GamePlan. I have it (the online version) and am having a great time with it.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Thank God I have the New York ABC affiliate because they're showing USC/ASU so I'm not stuck with PSU...

[Guest *KNK*]

Get GamePlan. I have it (the online version) and am having a great time with it.

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That's a virtual waste of money considering College Football is pretty low on my list of concerns.

 

I'm just saying "Regional" action isn't really in play when you give us a game for a team that's 5-8 hours away.

[Damaramu 0]

Get GamePlan. I have it (the online version) and am having a great time with it.

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If only I could afford it........

 

But does it give you those games that are on ABC regional coverage? Or just games that aren't televised anywhere?

[Urban Warfare 0]

You get all the regional games. So you live in Oklahoma right? So you'd get MSU-Michigan but not Texas-Missouri because that's on a regional station.

 

Edit: Sometimes you get some PPV games. For example, the first week, I got Florida-Wyoming which was only on Sun Sports in Florida and I'm fairly sure it was a Pay Per View game even for those in Florida.

[jwpeer 0]

That's funny because Im in the same boat as you, only opposite. I don't care for Michigan/MSU although it's close. I just hate each team equally and I'm stuck with Minnesota/Penn St and Illinois/Iowa.

 

I'd also rather see ASU/USC over those games.  Why does the network assume that because I live in the general BIG TEN region, that I care about Penn State. I live in Ohio, I'll understand giving us Michigan games but Penn State? No.  Just give us the local (by local I mean LOCAL as in 2-3 hours from here) team and the major games.  Penn/Minn isn't a "major" game.

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I'm just as pissed that I'm getting Penn State/Minn (I live in pgh)

 

I don't want to watch penn state, I'm a pitt fan that's the LAST team I want to see. I'll watch the highlights later to see Maroney run for 12 td's

 

 

I want ASU/USC.

 

 

Gag me.

[Guest *KNK*]

For anyone who cares, Michigan leads MSU 31-24 with just a minute to go in the game and the Spartans have the ball.

[Urban Warfare 0]

I think you mean 10 minutes in the fourth.

[Guest *KNK*]

I think you mean 10 minutes in the fourth.

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Yeah...the close caption covered the other 1. My bad.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Wow Rivas goes wide right and UM-MSU should head to overtime...