Kellen Clemens never saw him. When the young quarterback dropped back in the pocket with six minutes left in the second quarter, he thought he had Jerricho Cotchery open on an out route. With little hesitation, he gunned the ball in the direction of his top receiver and watched it go for six. Unfortunately, for Clemens and Jets fans, those six points belonged to the opposing team, the Dallas Cowboys. Cornerback Terence Newman easily undercut the route and used his world-class speed to return the pass 50 yards down the sideline for his first touchdown of the season. Broken and overmatched, the Jets would lose the contest 34-3.

    Chances are, if you bleed blue and silver, you already know where I’m going with this. America’s Team has opened the 2008 season with zero interceptions for their defense in four games. Only the lowly Detroit Lions, who are just coming off their bye week, have as few. For a team with Super Bowl aspirations, this is unacceptable and needs to be remedied immediately. Considering that the offense has four more giveaways than the defense has takeaways, Dallas is an anomaly sitting at 3-1. Their –4 turnover margin ties the Bengals for the 30th in the league. That’s right, the

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“This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.”

    Through this quotation, Douglas Adams—the British satirist—has unwittingly offered college football fans a simple slogan for their beloved behemoths: stick to Saturdays. Seriously, Thursday nights have become regular, gridiron guillotines for the would-be kings of college football. It seems like every week, with Saturday always just a couple of days away, we hear that familiar whoosh of the blade and there’s a new, freshly anointed helmet in the basket. This week it was the University of South Florida in its dramatic 26-21 loss to unranked Pittsburgh. USF, at the time, had risen to the #10 spot in the polls and appeared to be the Big East’s savior. Not anymore, chop! This is the second consecutive year that the Bulls have had their hopes (and heads?) slashed on a Thursday. In the tumultuous anarchy that was last year’s polls, USF had reached the #2 spot in the country before losing on a Thursday to an unranked Rutgers team 30-27. I’m not making this stuff up, I promise. In the five games that have featured ranked teams on a Thursday this year, the aforementioned schools are a combined 1-4. #24 South Carolina? Chop, courtesy of Vanderbilt. #21 West Virginia? Chop, courtesy of Colorado. #1 Southern Cal? Chop, courtesy of Oregon State. In fact, before Utah's win last night, one had to go all the way back to November 15 of 2007 to find a higher-ranked school that survived the dreaded Thursday night game (#7 WVU beating Louisville 38-31). In last year’s football season, a higher ranked team lost 6 times on Thursdays. In 2006, 7 were upset.  What are we to make of this scary trend? Does the shorter week and, thus, less prep time really play that large of a part in these matches? Do the underdogs play their hearts out because many of them know this will be the only time they’ll be on ESPN? Or, in the spirit of October, is Thursday night just cursed? Whatever the case, this is a trend that has reached a point where it can no longer be ignored. Want a BCS sleeper? Look for a team that sticks to Saturdays.

Continue reading "Thursday Night Plights"

WEEK SIX COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS

25. GT (4-1)
    Considering the fact that a 3-point loss in Blacksburg is the only blemish on its record, Georgia Tech deserves to be ranked in the top 25. In his first year in Atlanta, Paul Johnson is definitely exceeding expectations.

24. TCU (5-1)
    They’re still looking for a signature win, but they’ve won handily in every contest—save an excusable loss to OU. Keep an eye on their Thursday night game (10/16) with BYU.

23. KY (4-1)
    Despite their undefeated record going into the Alabama contest, I wouldn’t have had them ranked. However, in light of their heroic effort in defeat, I’m comfortable moving them up a few slots.

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THE YEAR OF THE RUNNING BACK

    In every NFL draft there is at least one position that is laden with talent. More often than not, this fresh crop of virtuosos wastes very little time in announcing its presence to the rest of the NFL. The hype swells over the course of training camp and preseason, but it all counts for nothing until the promise actually manifests itself on the playing field during the regular season. We’ve seen years (like the class of 2006) that were so diverse they defied designation. We’ve also had years (like the class of 2005) that were a little more singular in positional depth. This year, I believe, we can officially label as “The Year of the Running Back.”

    The first thing that strikes me about this year’s pool of running backs is the pure speed. Let’s refresh our memory on some of their timed forties at the Combine this past year:

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WEEK SEVEN POWER RANKINGS

25. GT (5-1)
This team is looking shaky. Relegated to their third-string quarterback on Saturday due to injuries, they barely escaped a 2-5 FCS school, Gardner-Webb, with a 10-7 win.  If they don’t get healthy soon, this will be last week in the top 25 for the Yellow Jackets.

24. TCU (5-1)
Their offense struggled against Colorado St., but this is a team that could really boost its stock with a W over BYU this Thursday.

23. VANDERBILT (5-1)
Well, the dream of an undefeated season wasn’t likely in the brutal SEC, but they need to beat teams like Mississippi St. This loss comes a week after shocking the nation with a win over Auburn. Can they sustain the effort of previous weeks?

22. MICHIGAN ST. (6-1)

Continue reading "WEEK 7 COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS"

WEEK 8 COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS

25. MIN (6-1)
I can’t believe it’s come to this, but, hey, take it up with Cal, BYU, Vandy, Wake Forest, and Michigan State. Plus, the Gophers did beat the high-octane Illini, and I refuse to reward Ball State with a spot until they beat somebody half-decent.

24. UNC (5-2)
They’ve got to be kicking themselves right now for failing to put away resurgent Virginia. The Cavalier defense really kept their team in the ball game, particularly in OT when they limited the Tar Heels to a field goal. QB Cameron Sexton looked lost at times playing without his favorite target, Brandon Tate. He’s going to have to elevate his game if UNC’s surprisingly good season is going to continue. Clearly, the ACC is still wide open at this point.

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MID-SEASON ALL-ROOKIE RECOGNITION

2ND TEAM

QB = Joe Flacco (BAL): 1216 YDS 3 TD 7 INT 62% CMP 70.5 RTG, 24 CAR 75 YDS 2 TD, 1 CTH 43 YDS

RB = Steve Slaton (HOU): 104 CAR 476 YDS 5 TD 4.6 YPC, 22 CTH 125 YDS 1 TD
         Jonathan Stewart (CAR): 96 CAR 358 YDS 5 TD 3.7 YPC, 4 CTH 12 YDS, 15 KR 23.3 AVG

WR = Donnie Avery (STL): 21 CTH 347 YDS 2 TD, 4 CAR 38 YDS 1 TD, 1 KR 21.0 AVG
           Jordy Nelson (GB): 16 CTH 177 YDS 1 TD

FB = Peyton Hillis (DEN): 3 CAR 14 YDS, 1 CTH 4 YDS

TE = Dustin Keller (NYJ): 11 CTH 128 YDS 2 TD

OT = Duane Brown (HOU)
          Sam Baker (ATL)

Continue reading "MID-SEASON NFL ALL-ROOKIE TEAMS"

MID-SEASON NFL ALL-PRO TEAMS

2nd TEAM

QB = Drew Brees (NO): 2563 YDS 15 TD 7 INT 69% CMP 101.6 RTG

RB = Michael Turner (ATL): 655 YDS 6 TD 4.5 YPC, 3 CTH 11 YDS
         Marion Barber (DAL): 611 YDS 5 TD 4.0 YPC, 32 CTH 276 YDS 2 TD

WR = Larry Fitzgerald (ARZ): 43 CTH 661 YDS 5 TD
           Santana Moss (WAS): 42 CTH 658 YDS 5 TD, 2 PR 44.0 AVG 1 TD (80 YDS)

FB = Leonard Weaver (SEA): 15 CAR 67 YDS, 10 CTH 159 YDS 2 TD

TE = Antonio Gates (SD): 30 CTH 403 YDS 5 TD

OT = David Diehl (NYG)
          Jammal Brown (NO)

OG = Eugene Amano (TEN)
          Rich Seubert (NYG)

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MID-SEASON NFL AWARDS & RECOGNITION

MOST OVER-PUBLICIZED
5. Jeremy Shockey (NO)—When he was acquired in the off-season from the Giants, many lauded the move. On paper, it truly seemed like a “win-win” scenario for both teams. One expert even went so far as to say that the outspoken tight end would have the same type of impact on the Saints as Randy Moss had on the Patriots in 2007 (sorry, Mr. Jaworski). Thus far, having played in 5 of 8 games, Shockey has 200 receiving yards, zero touchdowns, and two lost fumbles. Recently, he lashed out at his new organization for rushing him back on the playing field after he suffered a sports hernia earlier in the season. Even with crucial injuries at skill positions, the 4-4 Saints have had little trouble moving the ball on offense. If Shockey doesn’t score a touchdown shut up soon, he might find out the hard way just how expendable he actually is.

Continue reading "THE ULTIMATE MID-SEASON NFL BREAKDOWN OF AWARDS & RECOGNITION"