Yesterday was my last Saturday before about 2 straight months of travel. So I did what any good college football fan would do… watched 9 hours of ball.
Notre Dame
Here’s why I’m not freaking out about Notre Dame’s loss to Oklahoma yesterday: We played pretty well. There were 4 mistakes that cost us the game, each happened in an instant.
- Left tackle blew an assignment on third down in the first series, resulting in a pick-6 the other way. Total oops. We’re down 7-0.
- Rees delivered the ball to our best receiver, who tipped it instead of catching it, and an Oklahoma player snatched it up. Bad news is that this put us down 14-0 at 13:50 in the game.
- Late in the 2nd quarter, the wrong play got called. They should have run it on 3rd and long instead of trying to force a throw. A field goal would have made the game 14-10 at half instead of 21-7.
- Trailing 21-14 with Oklahoma pinned back on 3rd down, a silly personal foul cost them a first down and ultimately 7 points.
Really, if you watched the game. Outside of those 4 mistakes the Irish were in the game, just playing from behind the whole time. Defense played pretty well, offense moved the ball on the ground very well, and Rees is amazing at changing plays at the line. George Atkinson III is a stud– great 80 yard cut back in the 3rd quarter to cut the deficit to 7.
So it sucks to lose but it’s good to see the Irish finding themselves a little.
San Diego State
There’s no excuse for how poorly they started. Going down 16-0 to New Mexico State was embarrassing to say the least. I mean, NMSU is absolutely horrible. There was a stray dog on the field after the opening kickoff. That’s how ugly it is for them right now.
Fortunately, the Aztecs realized that they are 2 divisions better than them and rattled off 26 unanswered points. This game was far too close. To me, the only upside was that we found a running back in Donnel Pumphrey, who was brilliant. The Aztec defense is really, really bad. Rocky Long has to figure out some things there or we’re going to get run over in the weeks to come. (I believe he will.
Elsewhere in CFB
It starts with USC who finally fired Lane Kiffin after giving up 62 points to Arizona State. That was a bad hire and they held on too long. Your defining character quality as a head coach simply can’t be “jerk.” Oregon and Stanford own the Pac-12 right now and this move ensures that through 2014.
Next up, Alabama finally seems to be rolling. If you just look at the score you’ll think they spanked Ole Miss. But they really struggled in the first half to move the ball. Maybe the shutout will get their offense going? I kind of doubt it. I see them as the 3rd best team in the SEC right now behind Georgia & LSU. They are on upset alert the rest of the way.
Speaking of Georgia & LSU: Dang! What a shootout. These are teams built from the ground up to score against Alabama. Virtually no defensive highlights in that game, but they scored almost as many points as when the men’s basketball teams play.
I know SEC fans live in a sweet tea induced bubble so they won’t believe this. But the ACC & Pac-12 are on the rise and the SEC is on the decline. South Carolina escaped with their life against Central Florida. Tennessee struggled against South Alabama. Even the way that Alabama didn’t steamroll Ole Miss is an indication that the competition is catching up and football is again flattening out. Their non-conference play is so insular that it might not show up entirely this year, but a couple SEC teams slip and we could see the ACC vs. Pac-12 in the big game and the SEC on the outside looking in.
If you haven’t seen this highlight from Barry J. Sanders, son of the NFL great Barry Sanders you need to watch it right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQsykbQXVRA&
And what you need to know about Stanford is that this kid is #2 or #3 on the depth chart… Stanford is that good.
The Adam Report
Week 5 results: 12-5
Way-too-early National Championship prediction: Stanford versus LSU
[Yes, I know LSU lost. But they aren’t out of it.]
Week 6 Predictions
Notre Dame vs. Arizona State – Notre Dame
Nevada at San Diego State – SDSU
Texas at Iowa State – Iowa State (The question is whether Mack Brown gets fired mid-season or “retires” at the end of the season.)
Clemson at Syracuse – Clemson
UCLA at Utah – UCLA
Georgia Tech at Miami – Miami
Ole Miss at Auburn – Auburn
Air Force at Navy – Air Force
Michigan State at Iowa – Iowa
Minnesota at Michigan – Michigan
West Virginia at Baylor – Baylor
Rice at Tulsa – Tulsa
Fresno State at Idaho – Fresno State
Ohio State at Northwestern – Northwestern
Washington at Stanford – Stanford
San Jose State at Hawaii – SJSU
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