Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Week 6 Recap

Some weeks I feel like I'm so far off. I'll let you be the judge of that. Here's the recap of my games to watch from Saturday:

Michigan @ Michigan St. - I called for it to be a battle. And that it was. But unfortunately (for me at least), Michigan St. came out on top. But I was right about one thing... Remember that post about Quarterbacks? Tate Forcier responds to pressure. How about a touchdown pass to tie the game with 0:02 left on the clock? Getting the ball back with 4:47 left in the game, Michigan was down by two touchdowns (20-6). That's when Forcier stepped up and led his team down the field, not once, but twice, tying the game on the last play of regulation to send it into overtime. But it's hard to win in overtime when you're the visiting team. Michigan lost, but I'm still impressed with Forcier.

LSU @ Georgia - Defense. There wasn't a touchdown scored until the 4th quarter of this game. Then Georgia scored; Then LSU; Then Georgia; Then LSU. The two teams started trading touchdowns in the 4th quarter, but the clock ran out before Georgia had another chance. This game came down to the last minute, and both teams looked solid, but I do think LSU has a little more muscle working for them. They'll get tested again next week though when undefeated Florida comes to town.

UCLA @ Stanford - Maybe Stanford is for real. I still think they'll struggle against the likes of Oregon, Cal, and USC (and perhaps ASU too), but for now they look good, starting out their conference play at 3-0. Stanford's Gerhart seemingly ran all over UCLA, chalking up 137 yards on 29 carries, and Stanford walked away with the W.

Washington @ Notre Dame - A win over the one-fluke-big-win Huskies still wasn't enough to get the 4-1 Fighting Irish into the AP top 25 this week, but I was spot on on this game; it was a great game to watch as a football fan. Down by 5 with three minutes left, Clausen went out on the field and put together a great would-have-been game winning drive scoring a TD and getting the two-point conversion. But Notre Dame left Locker too much time on the clock, and he came back and led his team down the field to tack on a field goal to tie it and send the game to overtime. When it was all said and done, ND walked away with the their first overtime win in 5 years.

Ohio St. @ Indiana - Did being the visiting team slow down Ohio St. any? Not really. Ohio St. was out to a 24-7 lead at half time, and it wasn't much of a game after that. Makes me a little nervous for Michigan.

Oregon St. @ Arizona St. - I didn't see any of this game. I only even listened to that last few minutes of it, but as far as I understand, poor ASU was never really in it. A pair of costly mistakes early in the 1st qtr gave Oregon St. great field position, which they capitalized on and got out to 14-0 lead real fast. Before the first half was even over, chants of "We want Brock" [referring to the second string quarterback Brock Osweiler] we coming from the large student section at Sun Devil Stadium. Here's the thing though, I don't blame Sullivan for this game. Want to see something surprising? Sullivan was 32-58 with 338 yards in this game. He threw one interception, but nothing came of it. The mistakes were from 2 things: special teams and, I'm hesitant to say it, perhaps the play calling. Where's the offense? 17 points against the Beavers? And the defense gave up 28 to the Beavers? What?

USC @ Cal - Here's the thing - 3 weeks  ago, i was excited about Cal. The whole country (if not the whole Pac10) was excited about Cal. Today... we're not. I've pretty much all but dismissed Cal. Their all-star running back Jahvid Best has merely looked good in their last few games. Honestly, I was at least expecting a fight against USC, but it was Trojans all the way. Blown out. Jahvid Best was (is?) supposed to be one of the top running backs in the nation, but guess what, after 5 weeks, it's a different  Pac10 running back who leads the nation - Stanford's Toby Gerhart. Where did you go Cal?

Oklahoma @ Miami - I watched this game last night (since I didn't get to on Saturday), and it was a great game. All kinds of Defense AND Offense. How can there be both? Well, it went in waves. First, it was Oklahoma, showing off their very tough defense and quieting the Miami fans, while at the same time, going up 10-0. Then it was Miami's turn, stopping the Sooners drive after drive. I saw some weaknesses in the Canes' secondary, but they're front four were putting on the pressure up front without needing help from a blitz anywhere. Jacory Harris threw 2 interceptions on their first two possessions, which obviously shook up the offense's confidence, but they got back in rhythm and before the game was through, Harris had thrown 19 for 28 with 202 yds and 3 TD's. One word - Composure. He's really a young player, and I was impressed with his ability to keep his composure after throwing two big interceptions early in the game and then get back on his horse and throw 3 TD's.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Games to Watch: Week 5

At first glance at the schedule, there didn't seem to be anything spectacular about this week's games, but a second look showed me  I was wrong. I've got eight games this week that I'm looking forward to; and while I doubt there will be time enough to watch hardly any of them on Saturday, I'm still excited about them.

Here's a quick rundown:

#22 Michigan @ Michigan St., 12:00pm ET - There's nothing like a good rivalry. And though Michigan is 4-0 and Michigan St. is 1-3, everybody knows that records and rankings don't matter when it's rivalry time. With the game at Michigan St., I look for it to be a good battle, but I see Michigan coming out on top.

#4 LSU @ # 18 Georgia, 3:30pm ET - This is a big game because of the rankings. Having played South Carolina, Arkansas, and ASU, Georgia has had as tough a schedule so far as anybody, and they're still ranked 18. Not to entirely discredit LSU, but they sure haven't had as tough a schedule. I think this game will stand to show us who's for real.

UCLA @ Stanford, 3:30pm ET - Did you know that Stanford is leading the Pac10? You probably have because all the sports pages have mentioned it somewhere. But I'm not that excited about it; half the teams in the Pac10 haven't played any conference games yet. Give it 2 or 3 more weeks and then you can start being amazed if Stanford is still up there. I pick UCLA to come in and steal this one from the Cardinal, but regardless, at this point in the season, this is a big game for the Pac10.

Washington @ Notre Dame, 3:30pm ET - I like this game because it's Notre Dame. And I like them. But Washington has Jake Locker, who I also like to watch. Jimmy Clausen's not that boring to watch either though (did you see his game winning drive last week?!). Notre Dame seems to be giving NBC something to be happy about (NBC has a contract to show all of Notre Dame's games through 2015 and were sorely disappointed in the Fighting Irish's dismal performances (bad ratings) last season). This should be a fun game to watch.

#9 Ohio St @ Indiana, 7:00pm ET - Real quick on this one. Michigan struggled to get the W over Indiana last week. Michigan vs Ohio St. is a huge rivalry. I'm just curious to see how Ohio St. handles Indiana at Indiana. I think this game (along with last week's Michigan vs Indiana game) should give us some insight as to what the Ohio St. @ Michigan game will look like at the end of November.

Oregon St @ Arizona St, 7:00pm ET - Go ASU! Oregon St. hasn't shown a whole lot this season, but if ASU wants their stock to keep rising, they need to bowl over the Beavers. I think they can do it, they should be able to do it, and I just like watching my Devils.

#7 USC @ #24 Cal, 8:00pm ET - Here's why this game is important: we want to see who's for real. We know they've both got talent. We know they can both win big games, but USC lost to Washington. What was that? And then the next week, Cal got BLOWN OUT by Oregon (I'm still kinda upset about that one). So this week, the two face off, and I want to know which team wants to stick around.

#8 Oklahoma @ #17 Miami(FL), 8:00pm ET - I'm going forgive Miami for their no show last week in the loss Virginia Tech. This week's game is important. Oklahoma has one of the best defenses in the country, but they're without Bradford (one of the best Quarterbacks in the country), who's still nursing that shoulder of his. When Miami is on, they can beat anybody, I believe that. So let's hope they show up, and it'll be a great game to watch.

So there you have it. Sorry it's eight games this week. But i just couldn't narrow it down.