College Football - Week 5 (Oct. 2nd)

[Guest]

Funtime Quiz!

2. Greg Davis, offensive coordinator for the Texas Longhorns, is often seen looking at a screen in the booth during games. What is on this screen?

 

a.) Violent Danish pornography

 

b.) Season two, Nash Bridges.

 

c.) Streaming and instantly reviewable video of the opponent's defense

 

d.) A camera trained on his exquisite home koi pond

 

e.) A DVD of The Iron Giant, which is why the Texas offense is so sad.

 

 

 

Correct answer: E. Suuuu-purrrrrr-maaaannnnnn.

[Chisoxillini]

I have this really bad feeling that Michigan might lose to Indiana this week. I hope I'm wrong.

 

Indiana gave up 335 yards on the ground to Akron. Robinson might get 400 yards rushing alone. Michigan wins this one

[TheVolCub08]

Yeah, the lack of depth on this team is unbelievable. We'll get significantly better just from this year to next if all Dooley does is recruit 25 players and not lose any from this team.

 

As best I can tell, Tennessee will bring in 27+ in the upcoming class (backcounting 2, at least), and look to only be losing 16 scholarship seniors. And I don't see a junior on the roster who looks like an early departure for the NFL.

 

So, as of now, it looks like our best case scenario is something along the lines of 82 or so scholarship players next fall. But, our OL will be miles ahead of where they are now, and we should improve at every single position except FB and TE, and possibly DE and MLB. 9 wins is a ceiling for us in 2011, I think.

 

It's a shame that years of being a stupid Cubs fan have made me okay with stuff like that.

[dew1679666265]

As best I can tell, Tennessee will bring in 27+ in the upcoming class (backcounting 2, at least), and look to only be losing 16 scholarship seniors. And I don't see a junior on the roster who looks like an early departure for the NFL.

 

So, as of now, it looks like our best case scenario is something along the lines of 82 or so scholarship players next fall. But, our OL will be miles ahead of where they are now, and we should improve at every single position except FB and TE, and possibly DE and MLB. 9 wins is a ceiling for us in 2011, I think.

 

That seems reasonable. In all honesty, without adding any players, we should have a great line, good to very good receivers and (hopefully) a good to very good QB in the next couple of years. I like the secondary's future, especially if we get Eddrick Loften in the next year or two, and there are some nice LBs on the roster. However, the defensive line just has nobody on it. Hughes can be really good, but other than him it's just roster filler.

 

Despite the bright spots, however, we simply need talent. As I said before, adding depth alone will really help this team but we need some star power too. And not just at the skill positions.

 

It's a shame that years of being a stupid Cubs fan have made me okay with stuff like that.

 

I'm ok with it, but only because it'd be unreasonable to expect better at this point. You can't have the attrition the UT program has had, 2 coaching changes and have no recruiting base and expect to make the kind of leap Alabama made in Saban's first couple of years. It's more accepting reality than accepting mediocrity.

[TheVolCub08]

dew, I cannot agree with you on the Defensive Line.

 

Hughes is the best of the bunch right now, but he takes too many plays off. I like Jackson on the end, and think he could play at an all--conference level next season. And I think we have two beasts in Miller and Smith. Both have all-conference ability, and are playing enough as true freshmen that you have to like their futures here. Smith will stay at DE or play some OLB in the 3-4, and I think Miller will move inside for good this offseason and has an NFL future ahead. I'm just not that down on those 2, and added to Hughes, Jackson, and a returning Ben Martin, our DL will be much improved next season.

 

Plus, I honestly think Gabe Wright is going to surprise alot of folks and sign with UT. Between him, Carson, Miller, and Hughes, our interior line will be very good. Ends will be Smith, Jackson, Martin, and Fowlkes. I think we're going to be just fine. Of course, we absolutely have to stay healthy. But the experience this team is getting now will pay dividends next year.

[E.J.]

I have this really bad feeling that Michigan might lose to Indiana this week. I hope I'm wrong.

 

Michigan will win by at least 10.

This. As long as Denard Robinson doesn't get hurt, Michigan isn't going to lose to any teams like Indiana.

They're mirrors of each other on defense, both have equally capable offenses and it's in Indiana. In fact, Indiana has the edge in the kicking game and a better kick return season so far, though punting is a wash.

 

Hater.

[dew1679666265]

dew, I cannot agree with you on the Defensive Line.

 

Hughes is the best of the bunch right now, but he takes too many plays off. I like Jackson on the end, and think he could play at an all--conference level next season. And I think we have two beasts in Miller and Smith. Both have all-conference ability, and are playing enough as true freshmen that you have to like their futures here. Smith will stay at DE or play some OLB in the 3-4, and I think Miller will move inside for good this offseason and has an NFL future ahead. I'm just not that down on those 2, and added to Hughes, Jackson, and a returning Ben Martin, our DL will be much improved next season.

 

Plus, I honestly think Gabe Wright is going to surprise alot of folks and sign with UT. Between him, Carson, Miller, and Hughes, our interior line will be very good. Ends will be Smith, Jackson, Martin, and Fowlkes. I think we're going to be just fine. Of course, we absolutely have to stay healthy. But the experience this team is getting now will pay dividends next year.

 

I completely forgot about Smith and Miller - you're absolutely right on both of those. I really like the ability of Montori too, if Dooley/Chuck Smith can get him to be less Haynesworth and more John Henderson, he could be the best on the line.

 

Jackson and Ben Martin I think are nice players, but haven't shown to be more than solid ends. And my concern is more 2-3 years from now - since it'll take that long to get good again - and by that time both will have graduated. Martin, I think, has NFL talent, though, and could be a mid-late round pick if he comes back strong next year. My biggest problem with the D-Line is there's not enough talent there currently. For it to be a truly dominant line, we'll have to recruit very well there - as opposed to spots like WR and OL that already have a lot of talent (though not much depth).

 

On a side note, I really like Dooley's recruiting so far. Guys like Pat Martin, Kyler Kerbyson, AJ Johnson, Justin Worley and others have me pretty excited and we're significant players in a number of other top-end players (such as Wright). Early on I was a bit concerned that Dooley would focus too much on good character, system guys and not enough on the top-end talent a BCS conference team needs to win. Most of the recent news, however, makes me feel a whole lot better about him.

[rawaction]

I look for the IU/Michigan to be similar to last year. IU will hang tough early, maybe even get a couple score lead. But I think Michigan will be able to outlast them.

 

Unlike last year though, I don't see IU running for 200 yards and 6 ypc. I also don't see holding Robinson to what he and Forcier did rushing last year (21 carries, 39 yards).

 

I really can't see a scenario where IU ever tackles Denard Robinson. Robinson running on his hands is probably faster than every IU defender. But I also don't see Michigan being able to stop Belcher, Turner, and Doss. Michigan can't really rush the passer, but has gotten some INTs. IU can't turn the ball over and have to at least get 1 or 2 from Denard.

[Guest]

Here's the Football Outsiders Top 25 ranked by S&P+, which to put it simply is a measure like OPS+(two rates added together and normalized for SOS). Some interesting stuff.

 

 

1 Ohio State

2 Miami-FL

3 Alabama

4 Arizona

5 Stanford

6 Florida

7 UCLA

8 Nebraska

9 Iowa

10 Missouri

11 Auburn

12 TCU

13 Oregon

14 USC

15 Boise State

16 California

17 LSU

18 South Carolina

19 Wisconsin

20 Virginia

21 Clemson

22 Kentucky

23 Texas A&M

24 Virginia Tech

25 Arkansas

[hawkeyecub]

Do you like their S&P+ better than FEI?

[Guest]

Do you like their S&P+ better than FEI?

 

Honestly, I'm not extremely well versed in either(read: I've never heard of FEI). The guy who does the S&P+ also is the main author at the Mizzou site I frequent, so I'm much more familiar with S&P+.

[hawkeyecub]

Do you like their S&P+ better than FEI?

 

Honestly, I'm not extremely well versed in either(read: I've never heard of FEI). The guy who does the S&P+ also is the main author at the Mizzou site I frequent, so I'm much more familiar with S&P+.

 

Gotcha.

 

Here's the FEI: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/fei

Not as good now because preseason rankings still factor in too much but it seems like by the mid-late part of the year I usually like the FEI better.

[SpongeWorthy]

Here's the Football Outsiders Top 25 ranked by S&P+, which to put it simply is a measure like OPS+(two rates added together and normalized for SOS). Some interesting stuff.

 

 

1 Ohio State

2 Miami-FL

3 Alabama

4 Arizona

5 Stanford

6 Florida

7 UCLA

8 Nebraska

9 Iowa

10 Missouri

11 Auburn

12 TCU

13 Oregon

14 USC

15 Boise State

16 California

17 LSU

18 South Carolina

19 Wisconsin

20 Virginia

21 Clemson

22 Kentucky

23 Texas A&M

24 Virginia Tech

25 Arkansas

 

This strikes me as a ranking that really doesn't mean much this early in the season.

 

I bet there are several FO writers that wouldn't take almost half of the top 10 over many, many teams ranked below them if their lives depended on it.

[Andy]

I suspect things like UCLA being ranked 7th by essentially a computer when they have a 35-0 home loss to Stanford on the resume is why the BCS powers that be started ignoring computers (which has been largely to their detriment, I think).

[Guest]

I suspect things like UCLA being ranked 7th by essentially a computer when they have a 35-0 home loss to Stanford on the resume is why the BCS powers that be started ignoring computers (which has been largely to their detriment, I think).

 

S&P+ isn't trying to tell you where teams should be ranked.

[SpongeWorthy]

Isn't it sort of implied?

[Guest]

Isn't it sort of implied?

 

To an extent. But the reaction to that shouldn't be "UCLA doesn't deserve to be ranked 7th!" but rather "UCLA has had some pretty good performance against an extremely difficult schedule". UCLA will fall as other teams have their non-con patsies weighed down by conference play.

 

And really, UCLA's schedule is pretty insane so far. 3 BCS Schools and Houston, and those schools are 12-0 when they aren't playing UCLA. That's probably leading them to be an outlier when the SOS adjustment is made. In fact, the BCS-heavy schedule is a common thread amongst several of the out of place schools(UCLA, Miami, Cal, Virginia).

[abuck1220]

apparently the nd/bc game will not be available in iowa on saturday, as abc and espn will be showing stanford/oregon and iowa/psu. my nd fan friend is in the process of losing his mind because of this outright travesty.

[SpongeWorthy]

It's nativist anti-Catholic rhetoric.

 

Probably the Tea Party's fault to be honest.

[CubColtPacer]

apparently the nd/bc game will not be available in iowa on saturday, as abc and espn will be showing stanford/oregon and iowa/psu. my nd fan friend is in the process of losing his mind because of this outright travesty.

 

I'm surprised that Iowa would be showing USC/Washington on ESPN 2 over the ND/BC game. I'm not surprised at all that ABC chose the Stanford game for just over half the country. For those who are getting the ND game in the Midwest and East, it looks like the Stanford-Oregon game should be on ESPN2 which bumps USC-Washington in those areas.

 

You can tell him that the game will be on ESPN3.

[Jon]

SI[/url]"]NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma has suspended receiver Jaz Reynolds indefinitely after he posted what coach Bob Stoops called "insensitive remarks" on his Twitter page about a gunman who committed suicide on the University of Texas campus.

 

An account with the handle JazReynolds posted the message, "Hey everyone in Austin, tx.......kill yourself" on Tuesday, the day of the suicide, followed by a disregard request 5 minutes later. The account was deactivated Wednesday.

 

Stoops says he is "incredibly disappointed that someone connected with our team would react so callously."

 

Reynolds, who has no catches this season, will miss at least Saturday's game between the eighth-ranked Sooners and No. 21 Texas in Dallas.

 

Stoops says that the "rivalry with Texas will not come at the expense of dignity and respect."

[Tracer Bullet]

apparently the nd/bc game will not be available in iowa on saturday, as abc and espn will be showing stanford/oregon and iowa/psu. my nd fan friend is in the process of losing his mind because of this outright travesty.

 

I thought I was your nd fan friend, abuck? WTF?

[SpongeWorthy]

SI[/url]"]NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma has suspended receiver Jaz Reynolds indefinitely after he posted what coach Bob Stoops called "insensitive remarks" on his Twitter page about a gunman who committed suicide on the University of Texas campus.

 

An account with the handle JazReynolds posted the message, "Hey everyone in Austin, tx.......kill yourself" on Tuesday, the day of the suicide, followed by a disregard request 5 minutes later. The account was deactivated Wednesday.

 

Stoops says he is "incredibly disappointed that someone connected with our team would react so callously."

 

Reynolds, who has no catches this season, will miss at least Saturday's game between the eighth-ranked Sooners and No. 21 Texas in Dallas.

 

Stoops says that the "rivalry with Texas will not come at the expense of dignity and respect."

 

That's just lazy writing.

[abuck1220]

apparently the nd/bc game will not be available in iowa on saturday, as abc and espn will be showing stanford/oregon and iowa/psu. my nd fan friend is in the process of losing his mind because of this outright travesty.

 

I thought I was your nd fan friend, abuck? WTF?

 

i meant my second best nd fan friend is mad the game isn't on.

[Jon]

Robert Marve is officially done for the season with an ACL tear. Yet another huge blow to an offense that already lost their starting RB and an NFL-caliber WR.