You, my friends, get the rankings that you want and deserve. I'll post them and give some feedback.
For those of you not familiar with my rankings, I have two formulae and the BCS results side by side for comparison. Last year, I liked the way RC2 ended versus the BCS rather than RC1. Maybe next year I won't even fiddle with RC1.
Here is a link to the expanded BCS Standings.
Anyhow, without further ado...
RC1 RC2 BCS
1 Oklahoma 10-1 0.9313 1 Texas 0.9518 1 Alabama 0.9872
2 Texas 10-1 0.9302 2 Alabama 0.9431 2 Texas 0.9209
3 Florida 10- 1 0.9262 3 Oklahoma 0.9322 3 Oklahoma 0.9125
4 Alabama 11- 0 0.9239 4 Florida 0.9274 4 Florida 0.8755
5 Texas Tech 10-1 0.9149 5 Utah 0.9141 5 USC 0.7974
6 Utah 12-0 0.9118 6 Georgia 0.8989 6 Utah 0.7858
7 Georgia 9-2 0.8984 7 Texas Tech 0.8973 7 Texas Tech 0.7789
8 Penn State 11- 1 0.8818 8 Penn State 0.8840 8 Penn State 0.7520
9 Boise State 11- 0 0.8799 9 Boise State 0.8810 9 Boise State 0.6581
10 Okla. State 9- 2 0.8758 10 Okla. State 0.8771 10 Ohio State 0.6210
11 Ohio State 10-2 0.8741 11 Ohio State 0.8749 11 Georgia 0.6020
12 Missouri 9-2 0.8605 12 Missouri 0.8625 12 Okla. State 0.5705
13 Cincinnati 9-2 0.8563 13 Cincinnati 0.8595 13 Missouri 0.5589
14 Ball State 11- 0 0.8493 14 USC 0.8526 14 TCU 0.4702
15 FSU 8- 3 0.8453 15 Ball State 0.8511 15 Ball State 0.4379
16 TCU 10- 2 0.8437 16 TCU 0.8453 16 Cincinnati 0.3971
17 USC 9- 1 0.8351 17 Pittsburgh 0.8370 17 Oregon St. 0.3131
18 GT 8- 3 0.8310 18 Mich. State 0.8335 18 BYU 0.2625
19 BC 8-3 0.8163 19 FSU 0.8240 19 Mich. State 0.2218
20 Pittsburgh 7-3 0.8158 20 BC 0.8177 20 FSU 0.1882
21 BYU 10-2 0.8137 21 BYU 0.8166 21 BC 0.1862
22 Mich. State 9-3 0.8136 22 GT 0.8114 22 GT 0.1812
23 WVU 7- 3 0.8011 23 WVU 0.8027 23 Oregon 0.1551
24 UCONN 7- 3 0.7978 24 Nebraska 0.8027 24 Northwestern 0.1130
25 WMU 9-2 0.7848 25 UCONN 0.7996 25 Pitt 0.0413
I've tried several ways to fiddle with this, but for some reason the formatting simply won't work. Sorry it's such a jumble.
Some thoughts:
1. My formulae have never been friendly to USC. It's the overall weakness of their conference, couple with the fact they've played two fewer games than most of the top teams. From a non-formulaic standpoint, their offense just isn't putting up the points it needs to. They'd get destroyed by a Big XII or SEC team.
2. Other than USC being lower and Georgia being higher, everything jells fairly well with the BCS rankings until you get to the very bottom. Note that Georgia's average computer ranking is 9 and they're not too far away from being #7.
3. In addition to USC, Alabama is being held back by its opponents. The only two teams with a tougher schedule than Texas are Arkansas and Utah State.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Child's Play
So, twice a month or so, my dear wife takes the girls to the Family Connections Library and they bring home fun things to play with. I think this time Daddy had as much, or more, fun than the girls.
There was one more of a giant triangle that I made, but I couldn't find it. Oh well.
Crimson and Creamed
That game was competitive for all of a nanosecond. Oklahoma asserted its dominance on both sides of the ball and it was a rout like none I've seen in a long time.
I loved the decision by Stoops to go for the onside kick after being up 28-0 in the second quarter. He went for the jugular. You get it back and most likely score another TD and it's 35-0. If not, your D holds them and gets the ball back. Our neighbors were here and I said "I'm calling it. Time of death: Second quarter, 7:45 remaining."
What does this mean for the Longhorns? In the words of the immortal Jim Mora, Sr.: "Diddly-poo". Here's how it was going to play out:
1. Tech wins and goes to the Big XII Championship Game.
2. OU wins, but loses to OSU in the Bedlam Game next week, giving Tech the Big XII South title, assuming they beat Baylor.
3. OU wins against both Tech and OSU and jumps us in the BCS rankings to claim the Big XII South.
So I wasn't really rooting for either team. I just think OU will give the Florida-'Bama winner a better game. The way I see it playing out is Florida-OU in the BCS Championship Game with Florida winning their second title in three years, with the score roughly 55-35. There's gonna be a lot of points on the board. What OU will need to do is run straight at the Gators. There's just too much speed to try to bounce it outside. And on D, they need to hold contain, which will be hard to do with the track team that disguises itself as the Florida offense.
You heard it here first.
Oh, and maybe I'll put the time in to post my Rankings. The past few weeks at work haven't been conducive to the Rankings, let alone the consistent Monday-Wednesday night commitments.
I loved the decision by Stoops to go for the onside kick after being up 28-0 in the second quarter. He went for the jugular. You get it back and most likely score another TD and it's 35-0. If not, your D holds them and gets the ball back. Our neighbors were here and I said "I'm calling it. Time of death: Second quarter, 7:45 remaining."
What does this mean for the Longhorns? In the words of the immortal Jim Mora, Sr.: "Diddly-poo". Here's how it was going to play out:
1. Tech wins and goes to the Big XII Championship Game.
2. OU wins, but loses to OSU in the Bedlam Game next week, giving Tech the Big XII South title, assuming they beat Baylor.
3. OU wins against both Tech and OSU and jumps us in the BCS rankings to claim the Big XII South.
So I wasn't really rooting for either team. I just think OU will give the Florida-'Bama winner a better game. The way I see it playing out is Florida-OU in the BCS Championship Game with Florida winning their second title in three years, with the score roughly 55-35. There's gonna be a lot of points on the board. What OU will need to do is run straight at the Gators. There's just too much speed to try to bounce it outside. And on D, they need to hold contain, which will be hard to do with the track team that disguises itself as the Florida offense.
You heard it here first.
Oh, and maybe I'll put the time in to post my Rankings. The past few weeks at work haven't been conducive to the Rankings, let alone the consistent Monday-Wednesday night commitments.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Longhorn Football
You knew it was coming. Perhaps you've even pined for it, yearning for my take on that fateful autumn night two weeks ago in Lubbock, Texas.
I'm not going to go into the whole 4th game in a row against a Top 11 team or trying to get up emotionally for the 4th game in a row. I'll just talk exes and ohs.
If you were to tell me that we'd go into Lubbock after that gauntlet and hold Tech to just 30 offensive points, I would've bet the house! And the car. And what's left of my 401K. That is if I was allowed to gamble.
1. This is the biggest game in the history of your opponent's athletic department, not just football. Students had camped out starting on Tuesday for tickets. You know it's going to be loud.
2. You are pinned on your own 2-yard line with said home crowd roaring at military afterburner levels (props to TMQ).
3. Yes, you average better than 4 yards per carry, but you average 12 yards per reception--your bread and butter--and you've almost double passing yards versus rushing yards. If you're as intelligent as a cucumber, you decide a quick slant or at the very least an option to the wide side of the field. Apparently, if you're Greg !%*&^ Davis, you call a slow-developing run into the teeth of a defense just itching to give their crowd one more reason to ratchet up the noise. If A=B and B=C, then Greg Davis is less intelligent than a cucumber.
4. It took 3.5 quarters to figure out what to do on offense after losing Quan Cosby to injury.
5. That pick-six that Colt threw to Charbonnet has been itching to happen for several weeks now. You've seen the Brett Favre coming out where Colt forgets to just throw the ball away. But give credit for Ruffin McNeal having his defense prepared and a few wrinkles to throw McCoy off his game.
6. Tech dominated, flat dominated, the line of scrimmage for 55 minutes of that game.
7. With UT driving for the game-winning touchdown, a smart player falls down at the 1-inch line to take some more time off the clock. If you're the #1 team in the nation and you can't gain 1 inch in two attempts, you don't deserve to be #1.
8. Everybody talks about Blake Gideon's dropped INT, but nobody talks about Earl Thomas taking himself out of the final play. If you watch the replay (by the way, you couldn't miss it because it was all over ESPN.com), you'll see that Thomas (#12) runs slick smooth past Crabtree and onto the sideline. You're a safety. Your job is to hit people and hit people hard. Crabtree's momma should still be feeling that hit. Why didn't you hit anybody? Take a page from the Rodney Harrison playbook and do everything but commit a felony to prevent him from either catching the ball, landing in bounds or making any progress toward the goal-line or sideline.
So our only chance to make the Big XII title game and National Championship game rest on OU and Baylor's porous defenses to shut down The Fighting Mike Leaches? Good luck with that. By the way, this is the best use of the "The Fighting Coaches Name Plural" of any I've seen. The Jeff Tedfords, et cetera just don't have the catchet of the Leaches. Sounds like a CFL summer league team name.
Congrats to Tech on a whale of a game and a downright demolition of the OSU Pokes. See you in Miami.
Finally, it's odd that I am able to have perspective on this sort of thing. But when my preseason expectation was four losses, three at best, I'm excited to see what next year holds. Now if we can just not play down to A&M in a few weeks.
I'm not going to go into the whole 4th game in a row against a Top 11 team or trying to get up emotionally for the 4th game in a row. I'll just talk exes and ohs.
If you were to tell me that we'd go into Lubbock after that gauntlet and hold Tech to just 30 offensive points, I would've bet the house! And the car. And what's left of my 401K. That is if I was allowed to gamble.
1. This is the biggest game in the history of your opponent's athletic department, not just football. Students had camped out starting on Tuesday for tickets. You know it's going to be loud.
2. You are pinned on your own 2-yard line with said home crowd roaring at military afterburner levels (props to TMQ).
3. Yes, you average better than 4 yards per carry, but you average 12 yards per reception--your bread and butter--and you've almost double passing yards versus rushing yards. If you're as intelligent as a cucumber, you decide a quick slant or at the very least an option to the wide side of the field. Apparently, if you're Greg !%*&^ Davis, you call a slow-developing run into the teeth of a defense just itching to give their crowd one more reason to ratchet up the noise. If A=B and B=C, then Greg Davis is less intelligent than a cucumber.
4. It took 3.5 quarters to figure out what to do on offense after losing Quan Cosby to injury.
5. That pick-six that Colt threw to Charbonnet has been itching to happen for several weeks now. You've seen the Brett Favre coming out where Colt forgets to just throw the ball away. But give credit for Ruffin McNeal having his defense prepared and a few wrinkles to throw McCoy off his game.
6. Tech dominated, flat dominated, the line of scrimmage for 55 minutes of that game.
7. With UT driving for the game-winning touchdown, a smart player falls down at the 1-inch line to take some more time off the clock. If you're the #1 team in the nation and you can't gain 1 inch in two attempts, you don't deserve to be #1.
8. Everybody talks about Blake Gideon's dropped INT, but nobody talks about Earl Thomas taking himself out of the final play. If you watch the replay (by the way, you couldn't miss it because it was all over ESPN.com), you'll see that Thomas (#12) runs slick smooth past Crabtree and onto the sideline. You're a safety. Your job is to hit people and hit people hard. Crabtree's momma should still be feeling that hit. Why didn't you hit anybody? Take a page from the Rodney Harrison playbook and do everything but commit a felony to prevent him from either catching the ball, landing in bounds or making any progress toward the goal-line or sideline.
So our only chance to make the Big XII title game and National Championship game rest on OU and Baylor's porous defenses to shut down The Fighting Mike Leaches? Good luck with that. By the way, this is the best use of the "The Fighting Coaches Name Plural" of any I've seen. The Jeff Tedfords, et cetera just don't have the catchet of the Leaches. Sounds like a CFL summer league team name.
Congrats to Tech on a whale of a game and a downright demolition of the OSU Pokes. See you in Miami.
Finally, it's odd that I am able to have perspective on this sort of thing. But when my preseason expectation was four losses, three at best, I'm excited to see what next year holds. Now if we can just not play down to A&M in a few weeks.
Has it really been that long?
The last post was October 20th. At that time, gas was somewhere in the $2.90 range. Tonight I filled up at the BP on 620 & I35 for $1.99.
It hasn't been in the ones since what, 9-11?
Now if only the cost of everything else starts to come down. I'd like to see milk back in the twos again.
It hasn't been in the ones since what, 9-11?
Now if only the cost of everything else starts to come down. I'd like to see milk back in the twos again.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Road Trip!!
My buddy Mike from UT got married this weekend in Albuquerque, NM.
We arranged from some friends to take care of them during the day and Nana to stay with them overnight so we could carpool with the Taps and my buddy Chris. We left at 6AM in the Tap's Odyssey and drove straight through with only a stop in the left armpit of Texas (a.k.a. Lubbock). While in the Quizno's, we hear "Yellow Submarine" over the speakers. At the outset Chris was adamant about the car-ride being the vacation and the time spent in NM was the break from the vacation. Well, I couldn't resist putting it to words: "We all live in a silver Odyssey...a silver Odyssey...a silver Odyssey."
Tap's van came with a TV screen and Chris brought his PS2 and Guitar Hero paraphenalia. Now, when you have 22 hours to kill in van, you can get pretty good at something, and that's just what I did. Now I can't listen to a song without thinking "Man, this would be sweet to play on Guitar Hero." That's just what I do. In college I used to play Freecell and Minesweeper in my head.
We enjoyed hanging out with Mike and his Army buddies on Friday night. We played pool for 2.5 hours or so in this bar that was non-smoking. NON-SMOKING!! YOU HEAR THA T AUSTIN? It's so refreshing to go play pool for a few hours and not come home smelling like an ashtray. I even brought an extra change of clothes specifically for replacing the togs worn to the bar. Needless to say, it was like riding a bike and my partner and I ran the tables for a great deal of the evening.
The wedding was a Catholic wedding, which was a new experience for me since I'd never been to a Catholic service before. At the end they left to a bag-piper leading them through three pairs of sword-wielding Army buddies in their dress blues.
Mike and his bride were to leave the church and go to the reception in his Hummer. A real Army Hummer. The take-up-two-parking-spaces Hummer. The camo Hummer. Well, he needed someone to move said Hummer from across the street to in front of the church. I bet by now you've guessed who he asked to do this most noble of tasks. Yep. Moi. Mike and his bro gave me the instructions on how to start the Beast and I went nice and slow so as not to come within several yards of other cars. After the pictures were done and me and the guys went to the reception, we had to wait for a line of cars to go by. And wouldn't you know, but an H3 Hummer happened to cross in front of us. With indignation and pride befitting such an occasion, I yelled forth "LOSER! I drove the real thing!" Ha. (That gagging sound you hear is my bride after hearing this story the umpteenth time in the past 48 hours.)
After cleaning up from the reception, we headed out to the van to start the trek home. We received several updates about The Game. 14-0. 21-0. 35-0. And on we went. Through construction traffic and Checkpoint Charlie and into the great state of Texas. But we hadn't heard the final score. Luckily, my buddy Knight Rider had left me a voicemail in response to my earlier call with the news: 56-31. Another foe vanquished! We made it home at 8AM Sunday morning, all very tired and ready for some rest. I slept from 9 to noon and then 2 to 4. Then I was able to be a decent Daddy to my very daddy-starved girls. I missed you two. And I can say I love you even more now than I did before the trip.
Thanks to the Fens, Nana and LY & friend for taking such good care of our girls and for the Almighty for keeping us safe especially on the drive home. Thanks to Chris for Guitar Hero and the Taps for their buggy. And thanks to those pesky charlatans of OPEC for allowing the price of oil to go down enough that it didn't add another digit to the national debt for us just to make the 1500-mile journey.
Coming soon, my college football column.
We arranged from some friends to take care of them during the day and Nana to stay with them overnight so we could carpool with the Taps and my buddy Chris. We left at 6AM in the Tap's Odyssey and drove straight through with only a stop in the left armpit of Texas (a.k.a. Lubbock). While in the Quizno's, we hear "Yellow Submarine" over the speakers. At the outset Chris was adamant about the car-ride being the vacation and the time spent in NM was the break from the vacation. Well, I couldn't resist putting it to words: "We all live in a silver Odyssey...a silver Odyssey...a silver Odyssey."
Tap's van came with a TV screen and Chris brought his PS2 and Guitar Hero paraphenalia. Now, when you have 22 hours to kill in van, you can get pretty good at something, and that's just what I did. Now I can't listen to a song without thinking "Man, this would be sweet to play on Guitar Hero." That's just what I do. In college I used to play Freecell and Minesweeper in my head.
We enjoyed hanging out with Mike and his Army buddies on Friday night. We played pool for 2.5 hours or so in this bar that was non-smoking. NON-SMOKING!! YOU HEAR THA T AUSTIN? It's so refreshing to go play pool for a few hours and not come home smelling like an ashtray. I even brought an extra change of clothes specifically for replacing the togs worn to the bar. Needless to say, it was like riding a bike and my partner and I ran the tables for a great deal of the evening.
The wedding was a Catholic wedding, which was a new experience for me since I'd never been to a Catholic service before. At the end they left to a bag-piper leading them through three pairs of sword-wielding Army buddies in their dress blues.
Mike and his bride were to leave the church and go to the reception in his Hummer. A real Army Hummer. The take-up-two-parking-spaces Hummer. The camo Hummer. Well, he needed someone to move said Hummer from across the street to in front of the church. I bet by now you've guessed who he asked to do this most noble of tasks. Yep. Moi. Mike and his bro gave me the instructions on how to start the Beast and I went nice and slow so as not to come within several yards of other cars. After the pictures were done and me and the guys went to the reception, we had to wait for a line of cars to go by. And wouldn't you know, but an H3 Hummer happened to cross in front of us. With indignation and pride befitting such an occasion, I yelled forth "LOSER! I drove the real thing!" Ha. (That gagging sound you hear is my bride after hearing this story the umpteenth time in the past 48 hours.)
After cleaning up from the reception, we headed out to the van to start the trek home. We received several updates about The Game. 14-0. 21-0. 35-0. And on we went. Through construction traffic and Checkpoint Charlie and into the great state of Texas. But we hadn't heard the final score. Luckily, my buddy Knight Rider had left me a voicemail in response to my earlier call with the news: 56-31. Another foe vanquished! We made it home at 8AM Sunday morning, all very tired and ready for some rest. I slept from 9 to noon and then 2 to 4. Then I was able to be a decent Daddy to my very daddy-starved girls. I missed you two. And I can say I love you even more now than I did before the trip.
Thanks to the Fens, Nana and LY & friend for taking such good care of our girls and for the Almighty for keeping us safe especially on the drive home. Thanks to Chris for Guitar Hero and the Taps for their buggy. And thanks to those pesky charlatans of OPEC for allowing the price of oil to go down enough that it didn't add another digit to the national debt for us just to make the 1500-mile journey.
Coming soon, my college football column.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Birthday Week
As you may have heard, I turned 30 on Friday.
But the festivities began before that. Wednesday night, Nana came over to babysit and me and the missus went to Outback for my birthday dinner. I guess they jacked up their prices to pay for all their new place settings, because that was stupid expensive. I'm not going back there again for a long, long time unless someone buys for me.
Thursday night we watched Grey's Anatomy after the girls went to bed. Wow. This show is entering the last season of Alias territory. It's getting just silly with some of the "plot" lines and there's way too much sexuality.
Friday morning, Babe made some chocolate chip oatmeal muffins for breakfast. I had a nice cool ride into work. The day started very well when a major test I run ran completely and all specs were met. Then at the end of the day, I was working on an important special project and I noticed that two analytes were missing at the very end. Thank goodness we hadn't submitted the results yet, or we would've definitely failed. I had another similar project that we submitted on Thursday and passed with flying colors. I got congrats all around, which was a great compliment after having won the Star Award for Q2 last week.
But tragedy struck the C-Fam when Munchkin came down with a fever yesterday. Babe was devastated because she'd planned a surprise party for me to have friends come over to watch the game with me. Munchkin was devastated too. When she woke up this morning, she told me she was sorry that she was sick and my friends couldn't come over. I felt so bad for her. It's not her fault someone brought their germy kid to wherever it was she caught the bug.
Did I mention a game? HOOK 'EM HORNS!!
What a game. I know my Sooner coworkers, the P brothers, are going to harp on the officiating with those two personal fouls that got called against them. My retort? What about the no-call holding penalty on their first drive on third down. When someone is running one way and a split second later is going the other way, there's really only one explanation, right? The best part? When Jordan Shipley caught a slant pass and Quan Cosby came back and absolutely lit up the defender. It was fun watching the replay, especially in slo-mo, where #11 gets decleated. I mean, that's gotta be the highlight of his day, right? I can't imagine anything more fun for a wide receiver than doling out the punishment.
It's been a great week. I would be remiss, however, to not mention the fun Babe had prepared for me when I got home on Friday after work. She had mentioned it before I left for work: a treasure hunt when I got home. It was 30 things she and the girls love about daddy. I'll leave you with some of the highlights:
#1: "Your strong arms. I love that you still pick me up and carry me around some times." - Babe
#9: "The way you spend time with our family..." - Babe
#13: "The way we snuggle on the couch..." - Munchkin
#15: "When we do 'froggy' after bath." - Munchkin
#21: "How you give us Eskimo kisses." - Tiny One
"29: "The way you give the best bear hugs when I run to you after you get home from work." - Tiny One
Thanks so much Babe for all the thought you put into celebrating my birthday. You're the best!
But the festivities began before that. Wednesday night, Nana came over to babysit and me and the missus went to Outback for my birthday dinner. I guess they jacked up their prices to pay for all their new place settings, because that was stupid expensive. I'm not going back there again for a long, long time unless someone buys for me.
Thursday night we watched Grey's Anatomy after the girls went to bed. Wow. This show is entering the last season of Alias territory. It's getting just silly with some of the "plot" lines and there's way too much sexuality.
Friday morning, Babe made some chocolate chip oatmeal muffins for breakfast. I had a nice cool ride into work. The day started very well when a major test I run ran completely and all specs were met. Then at the end of the day, I was working on an important special project and I noticed that two analytes were missing at the very end. Thank goodness we hadn't submitted the results yet, or we would've definitely failed. I had another similar project that we submitted on Thursday and passed with flying colors. I got congrats all around, which was a great compliment after having won the Star Award for Q2 last week.
But tragedy struck the C-Fam when Munchkin came down with a fever yesterday. Babe was devastated because she'd planned a surprise party for me to have friends come over to watch the game with me. Munchkin was devastated too. When she woke up this morning, she told me she was sorry that she was sick and my friends couldn't come over. I felt so bad for her. It's not her fault someone brought their germy kid to wherever it was she caught the bug.
Did I mention a game? HOOK 'EM HORNS!!
What a game. I know my Sooner coworkers, the P brothers, are going to harp on the officiating with those two personal fouls that got called against them. My retort? What about the no-call holding penalty on their first drive on third down. When someone is running one way and a split second later is going the other way, there's really only one explanation, right? The best part? When Jordan Shipley caught a slant pass and Quan Cosby came back and absolutely lit up the defender. It was fun watching the replay, especially in slo-mo, where #11 gets decleated. I mean, that's gotta be the highlight of his day, right? I can't imagine anything more fun for a wide receiver than doling out the punishment.
It's been a great week. I would be remiss, however, to not mention the fun Babe had prepared for me when I got home on Friday after work. She had mentioned it before I left for work: a treasure hunt when I got home. It was 30 things she and the girls love about daddy. I'll leave you with some of the highlights:
#1: "Your strong arms. I love that you still pick me up and carry me around some times." - Babe
#9: "The way you spend time with our family..." - Babe
#13: "The way we snuggle on the couch..." - Munchkin
#15: "When we do 'froggy' after bath." - Munchkin
#21: "How you give us Eskimo kisses." - Tiny One
"29: "The way you give the best bear hugs when I run to you after you get home from work." - Tiny One
Thanks so much Babe for all the thought you put into celebrating my birthday. You're the best!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Happy 30th Birthday Babe!
Happy birthday daddy! We love you so much and hope your day is very special!
We're so blessed to be able to spend it with you.
Love, your girls
*posted by cheryl
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Clarity Indeed
If you go back a couple of days to this post, I mentioned that this weekend would start to bring some clarity to to chase for the BCS National Championship Game.
It's still pretty much a 3-team Mountain West race to become the BCS crasher, although Boise State is making some noise, with their only remaining challenge (on paper, at least) a Thanksgiving battle with Fresno State at home. ECU: Thanks for stopping by. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
The Unbeatens:
Colorado squeaked by WVU in overtime.
Baylor gave UConn a serious run for their money in Storrs, but came up just short.
Terrelle Pryor TCB (Took Care of Business) against Troy.
Those fightin' Soliches were a TD and 2-pt conversion from sending Northwestern to OT.
Alabama blew away Arkansas (not really unexpected considering the Hogs performance to date).
Again, Boise took down a depleted Oregon squad on their 4th-stringer at QB.
Utah survived Air Force.
Wake Forest won a battle of field goals against Free Shoes University. (sorry, that one never gets old)
Ball State beat Indiana, but might be asking themselves "Where is the Love?" His injury probably holds them back from an undefeated season, but who cares after that kind of incident. Reminds you that football is ancillary.
Vandy moves to 4-0 and into the AP Top 25 for the first time since '84.
LSU won a "hot potato" game against Auburn, where it looked like nobody really wanted to win.
Texas Note:
Well, it looks like we're getting "Good Colt" this year, which is great considering the guantlet the Horns will run the rest of the way. He passed the beloved Major Applewhite for career TD passes. Our young secondary gave up 301 passing yards, but that tends to happen when an opponent is behind. They tend not to run the ball as much because it takes too much time off the clock.
It's still pretty much a 3-team Mountain West race to become the BCS crasher, although Boise State is making some noise, with their only remaining challenge (on paper, at least) a Thanksgiving battle with Fresno State at home. ECU: Thanks for stopping by. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
The Unbeatens:
Colorado squeaked by WVU in overtime.
Baylor gave UConn a serious run for their money in Storrs, but came up just short.
Terrelle Pryor TCB (Took Care of Business) against Troy.
Those fightin' Soliches were a TD and 2-pt conversion from sending Northwestern to OT.
Alabama blew away Arkansas (not really unexpected considering the Hogs performance to date).
Again, Boise took down a depleted Oregon squad on their 4th-stringer at QB.
Utah survived Air Force.
Wake Forest won a battle of field goals against Free Shoes University. (sorry, that one never gets old)
Ball State beat Indiana, but might be asking themselves "Where is the Love?" His injury probably holds them back from an undefeated season, but who cares after that kind of incident. Reminds you that football is ancillary.
Vandy moves to 4-0 and into the AP Top 25 for the first time since '84.
LSU won a "hot potato" game against Auburn, where it looked like nobody really wanted to win.
Texas Note:
Well, it looks like we're getting "Good Colt" this year, which is great considering the guantlet the Horns will run the rest of the way. He passed the beloved Major Applewhite for career TD passes. Our young secondary gave up 301 passing yards, but that tends to happen when an opponent is behind. They tend not to run the ball as much because it takes too much time off the clock.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
He Is Who I Thought He Was
With apologies to Dennis Green...
1. Josh Freeman -- After Tim Griffin blogs that he was living up to his own bold preseason predictions, he lays an egg with 2 picks in a loss to Louisville last night. Of course it didn't help that they couldn't run the ball and the D couldn't tackle.
2. Mike Teel -- Rutger's QB has been awful again this year (see point #3) even after he was slated to have a good year.
1. Josh Freeman -- After Tim Griffin blogs that he was living up to his own bold preseason predictions, he lays an egg with 2 picks in a loss to Louisville last night. Of course it didn't help that they couldn't run the ball and the D couldn't tackle.
2. Mike Teel -- Rutger's QB has been awful again this year (see point #3) even after he was slated to have a good year.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Week 3 College Football Recap
CELLAR-DWELLERS REVENGE!
That's the overarching theme for this last few days of pigskin.
In the ACC, Duke defeats Navy to go to 2-1.
In the Big XII, Baylor crushes Wazzou to move to 2-1 as well.
In the Big 10, Minnesota is showing signs of life at 3-0 after its dismal 1-11 season a year ago.
In the SEC, Vandy moves to 3-0 and Kentucky uses some D to move to 3-0 while Jevan Snead and Ole Miss cruised past Samford to improve to 2-1.
In the Pac-10...OUCH!! Just go here to get an idea of the carnage.
In the Big East, well, Greg Robinson should just be a man and step down. Take this little tidbit from the ESPN recap: Greg Robinson continued to struggle at Syracuse, dropping to 7-31 as head coach. The Orange have been outscored 127-51 in just three games this season.
CINDERELLA?
Hot: BYU
Not: Fresno State, Rice, Arkansas State
Luke-warm: ECU, Utah, TCU
The most likely scenario has a team from the Mountain West, but the road is tricky. Utah, BYU & TCU all must play each other. The best-case scenario is either Utah or BYU running the gauntlet because TCU faces some team from Norman in a couple of weeks.
UNBEATENS
Even more clarity will happen this weekend in the chase for the BCS National Championship game as several contenders and undefeateds square off.
Colorado (3-0) welcomes West Virginia
Baylor takes its potent offense to UConn (3-0)
Troy (2-0) goes into Columbus to try to hand the Buckeyes consecutive losses since a long time ago
A plucky Ohio team travels to face Northwestern (3-0)
The SEC starts its meat-grinder by pitting Alabama (3-0) & Arkansas (3-0)
Boise State (2-0) takes on Oregon (3-0)
Utah (3-0) and Air Force (3-0) start the MWC war of attrition
In the ACC, Wake Forest (2-0) and FSU (2-0) face off
Ball State (3-0) and Indiana (2-0)
Vandy (3-0) takes on Ole Miss
LSU (3-0) travels to Auburn (3-0)
It's gonna be a fun week of NCAA Football! Enjoy.
That's the overarching theme for this last few days of pigskin.
In the ACC, Duke defeats Navy to go to 2-1.
In the Big XII, Baylor crushes Wazzou to move to 2-1 as well.
In the Big 10, Minnesota is showing signs of life at 3-0 after its dismal 1-11 season a year ago.
In the SEC, Vandy moves to 3-0 and Kentucky uses some D to move to 3-0 while Jevan Snead and Ole Miss cruised past Samford to improve to 2-1.
In the Pac-10...OUCH!! Just go here to get an idea of the carnage.
In the Big East, well, Greg Robinson should just be a man and step down. Take this little tidbit from the ESPN recap: Greg Robinson continued to struggle at Syracuse, dropping to 7-31 as head coach. The Orange have been outscored 127-51 in just three games this season.
CINDERELLA?
Hot: BYU
Not: Fresno State, Rice, Arkansas State
Luke-warm: ECU, Utah, TCU
The most likely scenario has a team from the Mountain West, but the road is tricky. Utah, BYU & TCU all must play each other. The best-case scenario is either Utah or BYU running the gauntlet because TCU faces some team from Norman in a couple of weeks.
UNBEATENS
Even more clarity will happen this weekend in the chase for the BCS National Championship game as several contenders and undefeateds square off.
Colorado (3-0) welcomes West Virginia
Baylor takes its potent offense to UConn (3-0)
Troy (2-0) goes into Columbus to try to hand the Buckeyes consecutive losses since a long time ago
A plucky Ohio team travels to face Northwestern (3-0)
The SEC starts its meat-grinder by pitting Alabama (3-0) & Arkansas (3-0)
Boise State (2-0) takes on Oregon (3-0)
Utah (3-0) and Air Force (3-0) start the MWC war of attrition
In the ACC, Wake Forest (2-0) and FSU (2-0) face off
Ball State (3-0) and Indiana (2-0)
Vandy (3-0) takes on Ole Miss
LSU (3-0) travels to Auburn (3-0)
It's gonna be a fun week of NCAA Football! Enjoy.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
iPhones
They're handy little devices.
They're a status symbol.
They're also undeniably smug.
You know what I'm talking about, don't you?
When someone sends you an email from their iPhone, what is the last line of the message?
"Sent from my iPhone."
Oh yeah?! You can take your pompous iPhone and stick it where the iSun don't shine!
So, how do you fight back? This is what I do: I end my reply email with "Sent from my PC."
Take that Mac!
They're a status symbol.
They're also undeniably smug.
You know what I'm talking about, don't you?
When someone sends you an email from their iPhone, what is the last line of the message?
"Sent from my iPhone."
Oh yeah?! You can take your pompous iPhone and stick it where the iSun don't shine!
So, how do you fight back? This is what I do: I end my reply email with "Sent from my PC."
Take that Mac!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Sweetness
Nomenclature change: I will now be referring to S as Tiny One and M as Munchkin for those of you who come from C's blog.
You know how fun it is to come home after a long day at the office, right?
Thursday night I came home and walked in the door to nothing unusual. Nana was here and all the ladies were in the kitchen. Mama told Tiny One that Daddy was home and she came running to me, shouting "HI DADDY!" and gave me a firm embrace. What a way to start the rest of your day!
Both of the girls are prone to give their Daddy some Eskimo kisses. I made it a point to teach them at an early age. It's one of the best things in the world for a daddy. And then there are the times when Munchkin comes up unprompted and snuggles with me and tells me that she loves me.
Tiny One is in love with her blanket right now. She'll search around the house for it and when she finally does find it, it's like a long lost love coming home and she screams in delight 'BLANKIE'.
So it's not all sour grapes around here, even though it feels like it at times. Besides, it's kind of like the old work/golf analogy. The worst day with my family is better than the best day alone.
You know how fun it is to come home after a long day at the office, right?
Thursday night I came home and walked in the door to nothing unusual. Nana was here and all the ladies were in the kitchen. Mama told Tiny One that Daddy was home and she came running to me, shouting "HI DADDY!" and gave me a firm embrace. What a way to start the rest of your day!
Both of the girls are prone to give their Daddy some Eskimo kisses. I made it a point to teach them at an early age. It's one of the best things in the world for a daddy. And then there are the times when Munchkin comes up unprompted and snuggles with me and tells me that she loves me.
Tiny One is in love with her blanket right now. She'll search around the house for it and when she finally does find it, it's like a long lost love coming home and she screams in delight 'BLANKIE'.
So it's not all sour grapes around here, even though it feels like it at times. Besides, it's kind of like the old work/golf analogy. The worst day with my family is better than the best day alone.
Ike
What a disappointment!
Last night the weathermen were saying a near 100% chance of rain with up to 4+ inches of rain in the Round Rock area. Now? Just windy and clearing skies. Good thing we didn't water yesterday, huh? I was very tempted to put a sign on our roof that said "Ike, hit it here." But I decided against it.
So now the funny part: Some neighbors were just mowing their lawn, which is a normal thing to do on a Saturday morning. The thing is, the wife was out there with the leaf blower to get the grass out of the driveway. HELLO-OOOO!! You've got 10-15 mph winds with gusts up to 25 and you're using a blower to get rid of your grass. Amazing.
Now we're gonna be lucky just to get a quarter inch.
Last night the weathermen were saying a near 100% chance of rain with up to 4+ inches of rain in the Round Rock area. Now? Just windy and clearing skies. Good thing we didn't water yesterday, huh? I was very tempted to put a sign on our roof that said "Ike, hit it here." But I decided against it.
So now the funny part: Some neighbors were just mowing their lawn, which is a normal thing to do on a Saturday morning. The thing is, the wife was out there with the leaf blower to get the grass out of the driveway. HELLO-OOOO!! You've got 10-15 mph winds with gusts up to 25 and you're using a blower to get rid of your grass. Amazing.
Now we're gonna be lucky just to get a quarter inch.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
The Weekend in Sports
This weekend, the Big XII stood for 12-0. An undefeated record for the week against non-conference foes. Granted, there were some 1-AA squads in the mix, but for a league as a whole to go undefeated speaks volumes about the Big 12's depth. Sorry SEC.
The ACC bounced back to have a slightly better week. Duke is, well, Duke. Va Tech beat 1-AA Furman only 24-7 and Maryland laid an egg against their patsy. NC State found some offense after getting shut out by the other USC, but a 34-24 win over William & Mary isn't anything to be proud of.
The Big 10 went 11-0 for an undefeated week, although the boxscore says the Buckeyes had a lackluster performance against Ohio U; Ohio ain't a walkover. They've got some guy named Frank Solich leading the show.
The SEC did well. Florida handled the U, especially with a horrendous overturn in the third quarter. The official on the spot called it correctly. It wasn't that the receiver was out of bounds, it was that he didn't continue possession after getting knocked out of bounds. Arkansas turned in another poor performance, this time against Sun Belt power UL-Monroe. *snicker* LSU didn't have the stones to tell Troy "Hey, let's just play at your place." I mean eight home games isn't enough. You need that ninth one to make sure you have a successful season. NINE HOME GAMES!! That's hogwash. Or at least bayouwash. Ninnies.
Pac10: The biggest news was the criminally awful unsportsmanlike call against Jake Locker after he punched it in for six with the PAT to tie the game. The ESPN analysts beat it into the ground, but you've got to let the kids have emotion in this game.
The Big Least showed its potential with the battle of the century between UConn and Temple, which ended 12-9 in overtime. Temple? Seriously? Meanwhile, Greg Robinson is just counting down the days until he can go back to being a defensive coordinator, although, giving up 42 against the Akron Zips ain't something he's gonna want to put on his ole résumé.
C-USA can sure put some points on the board. However, it's the Skip Holtz-led ECU Pirates that are making headlines by keeping opponents off the scoreboard. East Carolina absolutely dominated the West Virginia Mountaineers, even though WVU was put on notice by the previous week's Va Tech game.
Jason Whitlock spent an entire column doting on his alma mater Ball State and how they have a shot at crashing the BCS party. Who knows with the way ECU jumped up to #14 in the polls. Dan LeFevour and the Chippewas didn't really put on a good game against Georgia. I bet the CMU brass is glad they took out that huge billboard at the baseball stadium (Comerica Park?) and let ESPN follow LeFevour around during the week.
In the Mountain West, rivals BYU and Utah continue on their march toward their end-of-year meeting to decide not only the conference championship, but possibly a berth in a BCS bowl.
Notre Dame laid a blue-and-gold egg against SDSU. I bet the folks at ND are glad they coughed up all that dough on Weis.
So, I think I said last week that I'd have my rankings out this week, but, to be honest, they look silly with ten Big XII teams in the top 11 spots. It'll take several more weeks before things start to sort themselves out.
In other news, Serena Williams! People call Jevon Kearse "The Freak" because of his size and athleticism, but with Serena able to maintain any semblance of athleticism with her new "size", I mean, that's just incredible. I know it sounds bad to make fun of her because her weight looks like it's getting a little out of hand, but she's supposed to be a professional athlete. For all her fashion sense, she should've known to wear vertical stripes instead of what she wore. The thing is, with her 6-4, 7-5 victory over Jelena Jankovic tonight, the rest of the WTA is on notice if she slims down a little.
The ACC bounced back to have a slightly better week. Duke is, well, Duke. Va Tech beat 1-AA Furman only 24-7 and Maryland laid an egg against their patsy. NC State found some offense after getting shut out by the other USC, but a 34-24 win over William & Mary isn't anything to be proud of.
The Big 10 went 11-0 for an undefeated week, although the boxscore says the Buckeyes had a lackluster performance against Ohio U; Ohio ain't a walkover. They've got some guy named Frank Solich leading the show.
The SEC did well. Florida handled the U, especially with a horrendous overturn in the third quarter. The official on the spot called it correctly. It wasn't that the receiver was out of bounds, it was that he didn't continue possession after getting knocked out of bounds. Arkansas turned in another poor performance, this time against Sun Belt power UL-Monroe. *snicker* LSU didn't have the stones to tell Troy "Hey, let's just play at your place." I mean eight home games isn't enough. You need that ninth one to make sure you have a successful season. NINE HOME GAMES!! That's hogwash. Or at least bayouwash. Ninnies.
Pac10: The biggest news was the criminally awful unsportsmanlike call against Jake Locker after he punched it in for six with the PAT to tie the game. The ESPN analysts beat it into the ground, but you've got to let the kids have emotion in this game.
The Big Least showed its potential with the battle of the century between UConn and Temple, which ended 12-9 in overtime. Temple? Seriously? Meanwhile, Greg Robinson is just counting down the days until he can go back to being a defensive coordinator, although, giving up 42 against the Akron Zips ain't something he's gonna want to put on his ole résumé.
C-USA can sure put some points on the board. However, it's the Skip Holtz-led ECU Pirates that are making headlines by keeping opponents off the scoreboard. East Carolina absolutely dominated the West Virginia Mountaineers, even though WVU was put on notice by the previous week's Va Tech game.
Jason Whitlock spent an entire column doting on his alma mater Ball State and how they have a shot at crashing the BCS party. Who knows with the way ECU jumped up to #14 in the polls. Dan LeFevour and the Chippewas didn't really put on a good game against Georgia. I bet the CMU brass is glad they took out that huge billboard at the baseball stadium (Comerica Park?) and let ESPN follow LeFevour around during the week.
In the Mountain West, rivals BYU and Utah continue on their march toward their end-of-year meeting to decide not only the conference championship, but possibly a berth in a BCS bowl.
Notre Dame laid a blue-and-gold egg against SDSU. I bet the folks at ND are glad they coughed up all that dough on Weis.
So, I think I said last week that I'd have my rankings out this week, but, to be honest, they look silly with ten Big XII teams in the top 11 spots. It'll take several more weeks before things start to sort themselves out.
In other news, Serena Williams! People call Jevon Kearse "The Freak" because of his size and athleticism, but with Serena able to maintain any semblance of athleticism with her new "size", I mean, that's just incredible. I know it sounds bad to make fun of her because her weight looks like it's getting a little out of hand, but she's supposed to be a professional athlete. For all her fashion sense, she should've known to wear vertical stripes instead of what she wore. The thing is, with her 6-4, 7-5 victory over Jelena Jankovic tonight, the rest of the WTA is on notice if she slims down a little.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
NCAA
Football Bowl Subdivision.
Football Championship Subdivision.
What does that crap mean? I think it was just another in the long line of "I'm Keith Hernandez!" moments by the NCAA.
Do you remember that failed two-year experiment with March Madness where they went by the pod names instead of the regional monikers and had everyone confused? Don't give me the East Rutherford Regional. Give me the East Regional. Those things had history. Thankfully Miles Brand and his blowhard minions came to their senses and corrected things.
Here is one man's plea for sanity. Give us back D 1-A and D 1-AA. Those make sense. Don't change things just for the sake of change. That's just stupid.
I will never, NEVER use the terms FBS or FCS as descriptors in this space. Appy State is D 1-AA and LSU is 1-A. Too bad their history had to have inane acronyms associated with it.
Football Championship Subdivision.
What does that crap mean? I think it was just another in the long line of "I'm Keith Hernandez!" moments by the NCAA.
Do you remember that failed two-year experiment with March Madness where they went by the pod names instead of the regional monikers and had everyone confused? Don't give me the East Rutherford Regional. Give me the East Regional. Those things had history. Thankfully Miles Brand and his blowhard minions came to their senses and corrected things.
Here is one man's plea for sanity. Give us back D 1-A and D 1-AA. Those make sense. Don't change things just for the sake of change. That's just stupid.
I will never, NEVER use the terms FBS or FCS as descriptors in this space. Appy State is D 1-AA and LSU is 1-A. Too bad their history had to have inane acronyms associated with it.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Week 1 Recap
So, Texas' green secondary grew up in a hurry on Saturday, with freshman safety Earl Thomas providing some big plays after he'd given one up early in the first quarter. The game could've been much closer, say 28-24, at halftime if we didn't get those two turnovers in our red zone in the first quarter.
Even though that first quarter was rough, at least we weren't Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Pitt or any program from the ACC. The ACC merits special detail with the choke-job by Clemson (raise your hand if you were surprised), Beamerball getting turned on its head (the loss wasn't surprising, just the way it went down), Maryland squeaking by the D 1-AA Blue Hens of Delaware 14-7 and Virginia getting taken to the woodshed at home by the Trojans (when your QB is built like Screech you're in for a long season).
The Book 'em Horns are back after going on hiatus during the summer.
My rankings won't come out until next week since not everyone will play their first game until Saturday. The SEC and Big XII are the class of Division I-A, while the Sun Belt is the only conference with a sub-.500 winning percentage.
The early Heisman hopefuls didn't exactly come out slugging this weekend with a combination of injuries (Beanie Wells) and sub-par performances (Tim Tebow, Michael Crabtree), although I know Urban Meyer and Mike Leach are happy that their squads played a complete team game without focusing on just the star player(s).
I did good today with my Aggie buddies at church. One of them remarked to me after a meeting that he appreciated me not bringing it up and that I showed good restraint. That was most evident when a young kid, about 12 or so, walked past me with his A&M shirt on. I wondered, did he not know the outcome of the game? Was he just trying to provoke? Or was he just supporting his team no matter what? At any rate, I kept my mouth shut, because, after all, he's just a kid.
The guys at work on Tuesday? They're fair game. :o)
Let the fun begin!
Even though that first quarter was rough, at least we weren't Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Pitt or any program from the ACC. The ACC merits special detail with the choke-job by Clemson (raise your hand if you were surprised), Beamerball getting turned on its head (the loss wasn't surprising, just the way it went down), Maryland squeaking by the D 1-AA Blue Hens of Delaware 14-7 and Virginia getting taken to the woodshed at home by the Trojans (when your QB is built like Screech you're in for a long season).
The Book 'em Horns are back after going on hiatus during the summer.
My rankings won't come out until next week since not everyone will play their first game until Saturday. The SEC and Big XII are the class of Division I-A, while the Sun Belt is the only conference with a sub-.500 winning percentage.
The early Heisman hopefuls didn't exactly come out slugging this weekend with a combination of injuries (Beanie Wells) and sub-par performances (Tim Tebow, Michael Crabtree), although I know Urban Meyer and Mike Leach are happy that their squads played a complete team game without focusing on just the star player(s).
I did good today with my Aggie buddies at church. One of them remarked to me after a meeting that he appreciated me not bringing it up and that I showed good restraint. That was most evident when a young kid, about 12 or so, walked past me with his A&M shirt on. I wondered, did he not know the outcome of the game? Was he just trying to provoke? Or was he just supporting his team no matter what? At any rate, I kept my mouth shut, because, after all, he's just a kid.
The guys at work on Tuesday? They're fair game. :o)
Let the fun begin!
Uncle Time!!
This past Wednesday night, we had the pleasure of Cheryl's sister and brother-in-law, along with their daughter, over to our house for dinner and fellowship.
We had visited them at their place near Dallas when we'd gone up to see family in Fort Worth, but Niece was teething and not feeling up to par, so it wasn't a great time.
But Wednesday night, she had a fun time with Uncle Ryan. That title feels really weird since they're not close by and we don't talk to them or see them with any regularity. She really giggled and squealed when I poked her belly button and played peekaboo. She even let me hold her for a nanosecond!
Thanks Niece for my Uncle time. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to some more fun in the future; whenever that is.
We had visited them at their place near Dallas when we'd gone up to see family in Fort Worth, but Niece was teething and not feeling up to par, so it wasn't a great time.
But Wednesday night, she had a fun time with Uncle Ryan. That title feels really weird since they're not close by and we don't talk to them or see them with any regularity. She really giggled and squealed when I poked her belly button and played peekaboo. She even let me hold her for a nanosecond!
Thanks Niece for my Uncle time. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to some more fun in the future; whenever that is.
Friday, August 22, 2008
What A Day!
This is what I saw in the morning while riding my bike to work:
Thankfully I was going against it. Apparently there was a big wreck involving an 18-wheeler on I-35. This is what it looked like when I was riding my bike home from work:
It didn't take long for me to get tired. When I went over the bridge I got my gangsta lean on so it wouldn't blow me off.
And this is what I came home to:
C is such a trooper for dealing with two of these all day long. I love ya Babe!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Overheard At The Dinner Table
M: "Mommy, I finished my chicken nuggets!"
C: "Okay, you can have your tattoo."
C: "Okay, you can have your tattoo."
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