Football Is Not Just Game, It's A Lifestyle

Men's Basketball Top 25 Poll

2008-03-11T09:45:00.002-04:00

Associated Press Poll

1. North Carolina (52) 29-2
2. Memphis (13) 30-1
3. UCLA (5) 28-3
4. Tennessee (2) 28-3
5. Kansas 28-3
6. Texas 26-5
7. Duke 26-4
8. Wisconsin 26-4
9. Georgetown 25-4
10. Xavier 26-5
11. Stanford 26-5
12. Butler 28-3
13. Louisville 24-7
14. Notre Dame 24-6
15. Connecticut 24-7
16. Drake 28-4
17. Purdue 24-7
18. Vanderbilt 25-6
19. Michigan State 24-7
20. Gonzaga 25-6
21. Washington State 23-7
22. Indiana 25-6
23. Davidson 25-6
24. Brigham Young 25-6
25. Marquette 22-8

() - first place votes received

Nascar Race #4

2008-03-11T09:26:00.003-04:00

Kyle Busch wins The Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch was a factor all day as he kept his vehicle near the front of the field. Nearing the 70-60 laps to go stage, it looked as if Edwards could go for three wins in a row. Edwards No.99 Aflac car, was fast and impressive as he gradually kept his distance from the field. He would have to relinquish the lead with 51 laps to go because of engine failure. Kyle Busch never looked back, leading the last 51 laps and a total of 173 laps. He became the youngest driver to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway and also the first to win in a Toyota manufactured car. The race featured a lot of debris caution, but only one driver Elliott Sadler wrecked his car. Sadler caused three cautions in a row, the final one ending his day.

Top 10 Finish

1. Kyle Busch, Car no. 18, Toyota, 325 laps, 6th
2. Tony Stewart, Car no. 20, Toyota, 325 laps, 32nd
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr, Car no. 88, Chevy, 325 laps, 2nd
4. Greg Biffle, Car no. 16, Ford, 325 laps, 13th
5. Jeff Gordon, Car no. 24, Chevy 325 laps, 1st
6. Clint Bowyer, Car no. 07, Chevy, 325 laps, 7th
7. Kevin Harvick, Car no. 29, Chevy, 325 laps, 8th
8. Matt Kenseth, Car no. 17, Ford, 325 laps, 38th
9. Brian Vickers, Car no. 83, Toyota, 325 laps, 35th
10. Jeff Burton, Car no. 31, Chevy, 325 laps, 15th

Breaking News

2008-03-04T09:51:00.006-05:00

Green Bay legend Brett Favre has decided to retire after an illustrious 17 year career, which 16 years spent in Green Bay. Favre notified Coach Mike McCarthy Monday night and his agent Buss Cook confirmed the news Tuesday. Cook said as of Tuesday morning, Favre has no plans to hold a press conferences.

Favre, a sure first ballot Hall of Famer was acquired in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons. Brett lead the Packers to a pair of Super Bowls in 1996 and 1997, winning it all the first time around. Favre came close to returning to a third Super Bowl the past season, but faltered in overtime of the NFC Championship game to the eventual Super Bowl winners the Giants.

Over his career Favre has set a multitude of records, 275 consecutive starts at QB(including playoffs), 160 wins as a starting QB, 61,655 yards, 442 touchdowns and 288 interceptions. He also has records for completing 5,377 passes and 8,758 pass attempts. He has been to the Pro Bowl 9 times over his lengthy career.

(Photo courtesy of railbirdcentral)

Men's Top 25 March 3rd

2008-03-04T09:42:00.005-05:00

AP Top 25

1. North Carolina (38) 27-2
2. Memphis (21) 28-1
3. UCLA (12) 26-3
4. Tennessee (1) 26-3
5. Kansas 26-3
6. Duke 25-3
7. Stanford 24-4
8. Xavier 25-4
9. Texas 24-5
10. Wisconsin 24-4
11. Georgetown 24-4
12. Louisville 24-6
13. Connecticut 23-6
14. Butler 27-3
15. Purdue 23-6
16. Vanderbilt 24-5
17. Michigan State 23-6
18. Indiana 24-5
19. Notre Dame 22-6
20. Drake 25-4
21. Marquette 21-7
22. Gonzaga 23-6
23. Washington State 22-7
24. Clemson 21-7
25. Davidson 23-6

() - First place votes

NASCAR Race #3

2008-03-03T11:36:00.002-05:00

Carl Edwards wins the UAW Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, winning his second race in a row. Edwards who was penalized halfway through the race when a tire rolled away from the pit box, had to drop to the back of the field. After working his way back to the front Edwards came into the pit under caution with 51 laps to go. The pit crew fell into the same mistake of letting a tire get loose from the pit stall, but they received a break for the infraction. A cameraman interfered with standard pit procedure and the crew member wasn't able to retrieve the tire. After the tire debacle Edwards started third on the restart and regained the lead with 30 laps to go from Roush teammate Matt Kenseth. The bizarre events at Las Vegas were not over, on a restart with 4 laps to go coming off of turn 2 Jeff Gordon got into the left quarter panel of Kenseth sending him spinning out, as Gordon tried to slow up Biffle got behind Gordon and it sent his car flying towards the infield wall. Gordon slammed the wall so hard his radiator flew halfway down the backstretch, Kenseth was lucky as his car didn't hit anything or anyone. The race was red flagged and after the green flag restart with 2 to go, Edwards ran away from Earnhardt Jr and captured his 2nd win a row in the first 3 races. Edwards lead 86 laps which is almost a 1/3 of the 267 laps, the race set a record cautions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with 11 cautions. The Sprint Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next week for the 4th race of the season.

Top 10 Finish

1. Carl Edwards, Car no. 99, Ford, 267 laps, 2nd
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr, Car no. 88, Chevy, 267 laps, 8th
3. Greg Biffle, Car no.16, Ford, 267 laps, 6th
4. Kevin Harvick, Car no. 29, Chevy, 267 laps, 17th
5. Jeff Burton, Car no. 31, Chevy, 267 laps, 24th
6. Kasey Kahne, Car no. 9, Dodge, 267 laps, 37th
7. David Ragan, Car no. 6, Ford, 267 laps, 38th
8. Travis Kvapil, Car no. 28, Ford, 267 laps, 29th
9. Denny Hamlin, Car no. 11, Toyota, 267 laps, 27th
10. Mark Martin, Car no. 8, Chevy, 267 laps, 3rd

Saturday Big Performances

2008-03-02T09:40:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I had the privilege to see some big time basketball performances displayed. Sadly these teams all followed the same theme, they had a one man wrecking crew with an average supporting cast. Another theme is all 3 of these teams lost their games, despite getting big points and effort from their stars.

The North Carolina Tar Heels arrived at Silvio O. Conte Forum looking to duplicate the win against Boston College, a 91-69 thrashing of the Golden Eagles a month earlier. Well this time around BC was going to put up more of a fight, as they quickly jumped out to a lead behind the 3 point shooting of Tyrese Rice. Rice had an unbelievable 1st half, he helped BC get out to a fast lead by hitting 4 3 point shots in a row. With the Tar Heels being in a bit of an earlier slump he continued his shooting feat, hitting 4 more 3 point shots and getting himself to the foul line. At one point in the game Rice was outscoring UNC by himself, he would go on to achieve his career high by the end of the half with 34 points and 8 for 9 3 point shooting. After coming out the 2nd half leading UNC 54-40, it looked like Rice would continue his onslaught as he stripped Thomas at halfcourt and finished the defensive play with a layup. Coach Williams switched up his defensive play on Rice and had Marcus Ginyard cover the 6 foot guard, Ginyard was a great choice considering he has 6 inches on Rice. Behind the 25 points from Tyler Hansbrough, 20 points from Wayne Ellington, and 18 points from Danny Green off of the bench UNC would go on to outscore BC 50-26 in the 2nd half, winning the game 90-80. Tyrese Rice finished the 2nd half with 12 of the 26 points, he finished the game shooting 14-25, 10-11 from the free throw line and 8-12 from the 3 point line. Rice finished with 46 points, 4 shy of achieving the school record and became the 1st BC player with 40 points since Troy Bell in 2001. UNC improved to 12-2 in ACC play and 27-2 overall, as BC dropped to 4-10 in ACC play and 13-14 overall.

(Photo courtesy of AP Press/ESPN)
USC Trojans visited the Arizona State Sun Devils in hopes of improving their run to the NCAA tournament. The first half both teams played to a tie 25-25, but heading into the 2nd quarter is where the game became more intense. ASU would go on a few runs and open up the lead on the Trojans, as the Trojans begin to foul out OJ Mayo begin to really dominate the game. He would start out on either wing with the ball and just drive it right down the lane and finish with a difficult layup. It didn't help that his 3 point shot was falling as well, he hit 7 of his 1st 8 attempts. Even though Mayo was read hot, his team however had most of their big guys on the bench because of fouls and didn't do a good job defensively. The Sun Devils would go on to outscore USC 55-41 in the 2nd half, with 4 players in double digits. Freshman Guard James Harden lead the way with 24 points, Junior Forward Jeff Pendergraph poured in 21 points and 9 rebounds, Sophomore Guard Derek Glasser added 11 points and Freshman Forward Rihards Kuksiks added 10 points, including 2 3 pointers. OJ Mayo finished with 37 points shooting 13-21, 6 for 7 from the foul line and 7 for 10 from the 3 point line, he was the only Trojan in double digits. Both teams have an overall record of 18-10, while USC is 9-7 on PAC-10 play and ASU is 8-8 in PAC-10 play.

(Photo courtesy of AP Press/ESPN)
The Kansas State Wildcats defeated the Kansas Jayhawks earlier in the season to end a Jayhawk 24 year winning streak in Manhattan. Last night KSU was looking for their first sweep of Kansas in the regular season since 1983. This game was star filled, as everyone knows the freshman sensation Michael Beasley who is having one of the best individual college basketball seasons in history. Kansas has it's share of stars from Darrell Arthur to Brandon Rush, they are loaded with great talent. The game tipped off and the tone was set early, KSU was in trouble when superstar Beasley received two quick fouls and had to sit for a period of time. It didn't help the Wildcats when their other forward, Bill Walker and 2nd scoring threat on the team got into early foul trouble as well. It looked as the second foul called on Beasley was a blocking foul since the defender was moving and one of Walker's fouls was wrongly assigned to him. What happened next was inevitable, as KU jumped out to 23 points as KSU struggled to get out of single digits. Coach Frank Martin had no choice and had to play Beasley, he figured out a way to play him the rest of the half. Coach Martin would put Beasley in on offense and when a change of possession would come he would take him out, hence he only played offense aside form the last minute or two. It was a tough game for KSU as they got the lead down to 8 points, but entered the locker room down 41-29. When the Jayhawks came out the 2nd half, they came out for blood. They jumped out to an 11-0 run in the second half behind the shooting of Brandon Rush, who hit a three to cap the run off and 4 points from Darnell Jackson. While Kansas was hot the Kansas State faltered as they missed their first 6 shots of the half. Though a deep deficit Beasley got rolling, as he started to knock down his jumper from inside and outside the 3 point line. He also got to the front of the rim and to the line but it wasn't enough to defeat the Jayhawks. Beasley finished with a quiet 39 points, tying for the 4th most in Phog Allen Fieldhouse. He was the only Wildcat in double figures, finishing 11-23 on the floor, 13-16 from the line and 4-7 from behind the arc. The Jayhawks had 5 players finish in double figures as Guard Brandon Rush lead the way with 21 points, shooting 5 for 9 from the 3 point line as Kansas shot 11 for 23 from the 3 point line. Guard Sherron Collins came off the bench and poured in 18 points hitting 3 three pointers, Senior Guard Russell Robinson had 14 points and 5 assists and 2 three pointers, and both Forwards Darrell Arthur and Darnell Robinson added 10 points each in the win. The annually top 10 Jayhawks improved to 26-3 overall and a tie for the Big 12 lead with Texas at 11-3 in conference play. The Wildcats who started the season hot and handed Kansas there first loss, have became dismal down the stretch. Losing 5 of their last 6 games and 4 in a row, KSU is 8-6 in conference play and a 18-10 overall record.

(Photo courtesy of AP Press/ESPN)

Coach K gets 800th Win

2008-03-01T17:54:00.003-05:00

Coach Mike Krzyzewski received his 800th win in nail biting fashion. His Duke Blue Devils were down as much as 13 at one point to NC State, but rallied to win the game 87-86. Outscored by the Wolfpack 47 to 44 at the end of the 1st half, Duke had to turn things around to avoid 3 road losses in a row. As Duke got behind 70-57 with 12 minutes to go, they rallied within the last 7 and 1/2 minutes to hit 5 3 pointers and go on a run of 14-5, to get their only lead of the 2nd half. Guards DeMarcus Nelson and Jon Scheyer lead the way for Duke, scoring 19 points a piece. Ben McCauley lead the way in a losing cause he finished with 19 points for NC State. The Wolfpack dropped to 4-11 in the ACC and 15-14 overall record. Duke improved to 12-2 in ACC play and 25-3 overall record.

Coach K became the 6th Division I men's basketball coach to reach 800 career wins. In his 33rd season he has a record of 800-264, amazingly he is the third fastest to 800 victories. In 1,064 games, only legendary coaches Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp have reached this milestone faster. Duke finishes their regular season schedule, with a visit next Wednesday night to Virginia and then host their rival North Carolina next Saturday night.

Dallas Cowboys

2008-02-29T10:26:00.002-05:00

Jerry Jones wasted no time signing some of his key components on offense. He signed his All Pro LT Flozell Adams to a 6 year deal worth 42 million, with 15 million being guaranteed the first 3 years. This should make him a Cowboy for the rest of his career considering he is a 10 year veteran. The Boys also tendered 1st time Pro Bowl RB Marion Barber, to a tendered deal worth 2.56 million dollars which is the highest this season. Barber who did a lot of damage coming off of the bench this season, is more than capable of being the all purpose back he has shown over this season. He is an underrated receiver out of the backfield and always runs through at least the first 3 defenders in his path. The Cowboys also finished a tendered deal with defensive end Chris Canty. The deal is worth 2.017 million dollars, the 6ft 7in defensive end had 43 tackles and 4 sacks last season.

Free Agency

2008-02-29T10:15:00.004-05:00

At midnight earlier today, the NFL Free Agency Market opened up. This time of year is when teams can improve themselves outside of the draft. The Free Agency period is valued even more than the draft because, with proven players you have a better idea of what you're getting opposed to a rookie from the draft. Rumors are already swirling about players working on deals, but I will keep things updated about big free agency moves.

Tom Coughlin

2008-02-28T11:26:00.004-05:00

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin received a new 4 year contract extension worth 21 million dollars. Prior to winning Super Bowl 42 this year, he has been under heavy scrutiny about his job performance. Slated to make 3.5 million this year his new contract now bumps him up to 5.25 million annually, which is second only to Mike Holmgren in Seattle. Though Coughlin won the Super Bowl it should be interesting to see how the fickle Giants fans and New York Media receive his salary, if the team doesn't have a lot of success in the future.

LeBron James

2008-02-28T10:42:00.002-05:00

Last night LeBron James made NBA History, becoming the youngest player to reach 10,000 career points. James injured his ankle during the contest against the Celtics but returned, posting a game high 26 points and added 8 boards and 4 assists in a losing effort. As the Cavaliers are still working on chemistry with the new players, it was easy to see that Boston was in control the whole game winning 92-87. At 23 years and 59 days he surpassed Kobe Bryant for the milestone who accomplished the feat at 24 years old and 194 days. James is also the youngest player to score 30 points, 40 points, and 50 points in a game, post a triple double and win an All Star MVP Award.

(picture courtesy of Associated Press)

2007 College Football Season

2008-01-08T10:59:00.000-05:00

Now that the college season has finally come to a halt, we will slowly reflect on how the season came to it's wild end and continue to follow the NFL Playoffs to the very end. While divulging in this subject, we will also stay on course with the college football off season. As we will follow the 2008 draft class, the combine and which underclassmen will enter the 2008 NFL Draft. As a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals and Penn State football, I will also follow the news of these two football teams throughout the off season.

AP Top 25 College Basketball

2008-01-08T10:47:00.000-05:00

1. North Carolina (46) 15-0
2. Memphis (25) 13-0
3. Kansas (1) 14-0
4. Washington State 13-0
5. UCLA 14-1
6. Michigan State 13-1
7. Georgetown 11-1
8. Tennessee 12-1
9. Duke 11-1
10. Indiana 12-1
11. Texas A&M 14-1
12. Texas 13-2
13. Vanderbilt 15-0
14. Butler 13-1
15. Marquette 11-2
16. Mississippi 13-0
17. Dayton 12-1
18. Clemson 12-2
19. Villanova 11-2
20. Pittsburgh 12-2
21. Wisconsin 12-2
22. Rhode Island 14-1
23. Stanford 12-2
24. Xavier 12-3
25. Miami (FL) 13-1

() - 1st place votes

Final Standings for College Football Season

2008-01-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

This poll is provided by the Associated Press

1. LSU (60) 12-2
2. Georgia (3) 11-2
3. USC (1) 11-2
4. Missouri 12-2
5. Ohio State 11-2
6. West Virginia 11-2
7. Kansas (1) 11-2
8. Oklahoma 11-3
9. Virginia Tech 11-3
10. Texas 10-3
11. Boston College 11-3
12. Tennessee 10-4
13. Florida 9-4
14. Brigham Young 11-2
15. Auburn 9-4
16. Arizona State 10-3
17. Cincinnati 10-3
18. Michigan 9-4
19. Hawaii 12-1
20. Illinois 9-4
21. Clemson 9-4
22. Texas Tech 9-4
23. Oregon 9-4
24. Wisconsin 9-4
25. Oregon State 9-4

() - 1st place votes
Dropped from the Final Rankings - Viriginia 21, South Florida 23, Boise State 24, Arkansas 25

2007 Doak Walker Award Winner

2007-12-07T13:34:00.000-05:00

Named after the famous 1948 Heisman Winner, The Doak Walker Award goes to the nation's best running back annually. First presented to the nation in 1990, this award is not only for your athletic performance as a running back, but also that you have good academic standards. This year's winner, Darren McFadden from Arkansas became the 2nd person to win the award twice in a row. Mcfadden finished the year with 1,725 rushing yards and 15 TD's. He won the award in beating out Ray Rice from Rutgers who ran for 1,700 yards back to back and Michigan's Mike Hart, who ran for over 1,200 yards in only 9 games.

(Photo courtesy of wikipeida/flickr)

2007 Jim Thorpe Award Winner

2007-12-07T13:18:00.000-05:00

Down to three very talented finalists, this year's winner Antoine Cason represents Arizona University. This award has been given out annually since 1986, the award is named after one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. The award goes to the nation's best defensive back, this year's winner Cason is third on the team with 71 total tackles. He has accounted for 4 tackles for a loss, 5 interceptions and returned 2 for TD's. He also has returned 2 punts back for TD's, has added 1 sack and 14 passes defended. Cason beat out LSU's safety Craig Steltz and Boston College's Jaime Silva for the defensive position award.

2007 Davey O'Brien Award Winner

2007-12-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

Named after the famed quarterback from TCU nicknamed "slingshot" this award is presented to the best QB in the nation. Since 1981, they have been giving this award annually to the best QB. This year's winner hailed from Florida University, as a sophomore Tim Tebow set a new NCAA record. Being the first 20/20 player in history, Tebow accounted for nearly 4,000 total yards of offense. As he passed for 3,132 yards at a 68 % completion percentage for 29 TD's and only 6 int's. he also accounted for 838 yards on the ground and 22 rushing TD's, totaling 51 TD's for the year. In winning the award he beat out two other talented Qb's in Oregon's Dennis Dixon and Mizzou's Chase Daniels.

2007 Chuck Bednarik Award Winner

2007-12-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

The best defensive player presented by the Maxwell Club, this year's winner continued the trend of Penn State winners in a row. As Dan Connor the senior Linebacker won the prestigious award for PSU's third in a row. Named after the last of the 60 minute men, Chuck Bednarik who was an All-American at Penn as a center and linebacker. Connor beat out DT Glenn Dorsey from LSU and LB James Laurinaitis from Ohio State. Connor led the Nittany Lions and the Big Ten in total tackles with 136 on the year. He also added 7 total sacks(6 solo), 17 tackles for a loss with 6 assisted, 6 passes defended and 1 interception.

2007 Ted Hendricks Award Winner

2007-12-07T12:37:00.000-05:00

From the eight field award finalists, Chris Long from Virginia University emerged as the winner. The award is named after The Great Ted Hendricks from Miami U, where he averaged 100+ tackles a year from his DE position. Long beat out a host of talented defensive ends, including players such as Maurice Evans from Penn State and standout end George Selvie from South Florida for the defensive position award. Chris Long lead a defense that won 5 games by 2 points or 1 point this year. He had 75 total tackles, 35 solo, 21 total tackles for a loss, 17 where solo efforts, he also added 14 solo sacks, 7 passes defended, 2 forced fumbles, 1 interception and 1 blocked kick.

(picture courtesy of Sports Illustrated)

2007 Biletnikoff Award Winner

2007-12-07T11:59:00.000-05:00

The 20 year old freshman receiving phenom, Michael Crabtree became the 14th winner of the Biletnikoff Award. This award has been given out annually since 1994, to the best receiver in the nation. Crabtree led the nation with 125 receptions, 1,861 yards and 21 receiving TD's. He beat out Jordy Nelson of Kansas State and Mario Manningham of Michigan. He became the first winner from Texas Tech to win the award, the first freshman to win, but most importantly the first winner from the Big 12 to win the award.

2007 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Winner

2007-12-05T09:39:00.000-05:00

The 2007 ACC Player of the Year, Matt Ryan takes home the Johnny Unitas Award. Named after the legendary quarterback, it is given to the best senior QB in the nation. Aside from athletic accomplishments, the award is based on character, citizenship, scholastic achievement, leadership qualities, and also athletic ability. Last year's winner came from Notre Dame, as Brady Quinn received the prestigious award in 2006. The award begin in 1987, with Don McPherson from Syracuse winning the first award, which is given out annually.

Matt Ryan finished the regular season with 4,258 yards on 366 of 607 attempts for a 60 percent completion percentage. He also had 28 TD's and 18 int's and a QB rating of 128.5. As one of the finalist, Ryan beat out some of the nation's best quarterbacks. Other finalists included Colt Brennan from Hawaii, Brian Brohm from Louisville, Dennis Dixon from Oregon, and Andre' Woodson from Kentucky. Matt will finish his career at the Champs Sports Bowl on December 28 against Michigan State.

(picture courtesy of Sports Illustrated)

Jay "The Flying Dutchman" Berwanger

2007-12-04T12:19:00.000-05:00

Berwanger was born January,19, 1914 in Dubuque, Iowa. After attending Dubuque HS, he went on to play for Chicago University. Wearing number 99 standing 6ft1inces, 195 lbs John Jacob became a two time All American. In 23 career games, the Maroons "one-man gang" amassed 1,839 total net yards averaging 4.19 yards per touch on 439 attempts. He also threw the football, completing 50 of 146 passes for 921 yards, totaling 22 TD's and kicking 20 extra points compiling 152 total points for his career. He also handled punting and kicking duties, averaging 38 yards per punt on 233 punts. Aside from handling all kicking duties, he also ran kicks back. He averaged 25.7 yards a return on 34 kickoff returns.

The Flying Dutchman went on to become the very first Heisman trophy winner and the only Heisman Trophy winner to be tackled by a future President. Gerald Ford tackled Berwanger in a 1934 contest where Michigan played Chicago. Jay was also the very first NFL draft pick in NFL history, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles but had his draft rights traded to the Chicago Bears. He would not go on to play professionally though because of a contract dispute with George Halas. Berwanger wanted 25,000 dollars for two seasons and Halas felt that it was too much, so he opted out of playing professional football and started a career in business. Jay would go on splitting time in Illinois and Mexico until he passed after a bout with lung cancer on June 27,2002, he was 88 years old.

(courtesy of college football hall of fame)

2007 Bronko Nagurski Award Winner

2007-12-04T10:18:00.000-05:00

As we wait eagerly for the bowl season to kick off and the BCS Games to finish out the season, we have one award figured out already. LSU's DT Glenn Dorsey wins the coveted Bronko Nagurski Award. Presented by the Charlotte Touchdown Club and the FWAA, it is presented to the nation's best defensive player.

Dorsey had 64 tackles, 6 sacks and 12 tackles for a loss, in winning the award he beat out some of the nation's top defensive players. Including last year's winner James Laurinaitis linebacker from Ohio State, Virginia defensive end Chris Long, USF defensive end George Selvie and Kansas CB Aqib Talib.

NCAA Men's Basketball Standings Week 4

2007-12-04T10:10:00.000-05:00

1. North Carolina(23) 7-0
2. Memphis(6) 6-0
3. Kansas(1) 7-0
4. Georgetown (1) 5-0
5. Texas 7-0
6. Washington State 7-0
7. Duke 8-0
9. Pittsburgh 7-0
10. Michigan State 6-1
11. Louisville 5-1
12. Tennessee 5-1
13. Butler 7-0
14. Texas A&M 7-1
15. Indiana 6-1
16. Marquette 5-1
17. Clemson 7-0
18. Oregon 6-1
19. Gonzaga 7-1
20. Xavier 6-1
21. Villanova 5-1
22. Brigham Young 6-1
23. Wisconsin 5-1
24. Arizona 5-2
25. Vanderbilt 7-0

() - First place votes.

2007 Chuck Bednarik Award

2007-12-03T11:00:00.000-05:00

Chuck Bednarik is known as the "last of the 60 minute men" as he played both ways for the 1960 NFL champions, Philadelphia Eagles and also earned three time all american at University of Pennsylvania. This award is given annually to the best defensive player in the nation by the Maxwell Club. Last year's winner Paul Posluszny, represented everything about Penn State's and their dubbed name, Linebacker U.

Dan Connor, SR, LB, Penn State - Connor leads the Nittany Lions in tackles with 136 total, 66 solo and 70 assisted, which ranks 7th nationally and 1st in the Big Ten. He has posted 7 sacks, 6 solo and 1 assisted for a loss of 50 yards. Of his 136 tackles, 17 went for a loss with 11 being solo, he also added one interception to his great defensive year. He has recorded 18 tackles twice this season.

Glenn Dorsey, SR, DT, LSU - The Senior leader for the Bayou Bengals is 3rd on the team in total tackles with 64, 30 solo and 34 assisted. He is second on the team with 6 solo sacks and is first on the team with 12 tackles for a loss, 11 solo and 1 assisted.

James Laurinaitis, JR, LB, Ohio State - Leads the Buckeyes in total tackles with 103, 39 solo and 64 assisted. He has posted 11 tackles for a loss, 6 solo and 5 assisted. He has 5 solo sacks on the year and 2 int's.

2007 Doak Walker Award

2007-12-03T09:49:00.000-05:00

The Doak Walker Award is awarded annually to the nation's best running back. Having good academics also is part of the success it takes to receive this award. Named after the famed SMU running back, who was a 3 time all american and 1948 Heisman Trophy Winner. Last year's winner, Darren Mcfadden is trying to become the second repeat player of the award since Ricky Williams did in 97',98' at Texas University.

Mike Hart, SR, Michigan - The senior leader of the Wolverines has rushed for 1,232 yards on 233 carries, averaging 5.3 yards per carry while rushing for 12 TD's, with a long of 61 yards. Hart rushed for 1,232 yards while missing 3 games. He also caught 7 passes for 43 yards.

Darren McFadden, JR, Arkansas - The junior athlete who is up for the Heisman again this year has had a phenomenal campaign. McFadden ranks 4th in the nation in rushing yards with 1,725 yards on 304 carries averaging 5.7 yards per carry. He has 15 TD's rushing this year with a long of 80 yards. Coming out of the backfield as a receiver, McFadden has 21 receptions for 203 yards for 4 TD's and a long of 37 yards. His receptions and yards rank second on the Razorbacks. To add to all that he does for his team, McFadden also has thrown the ball this year. He has completed 6 passes out of 11 attempts for 123 yards and 4 TD's.

Ray Rice, JR, Rutgers - Rice has been the most reliable force on the Scarlet Knights football team. Rushing for at least 100 yards in all games but three. Ray ranks third in the nation with 1,732 yards on 345 carries for 5.0 yards per carry. He ranks 5th in the nation with 21 rushing TD's on the year. Ray has run for 1,700 yards plus in two consecutive years, to go along with his rushing feats Rice has 23 receptions for 224 yards and a TD.

2007 Fred Biletnikoff Award

2007-12-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

The Biletnikoff Award is given out annually to the nation's best wide receiver. Named after the famed receiver for Florida State and All Pro for the Oakland Raiders. The award was introduced in 1994 in honor of him, last year's winner Calvin Johnson hailed from Georgia Tech.

Michael Crabtree, FR, Texas Tech - The freshman phenom had himself a huge season within the Big 12. Crabtree has hauled in a freshman record 125 receptions, 1,861 yards and 21 TD's where he leads the nation in all categories. His longest reception on the year is 75 yards.

Mario Manningham, JR, Michigan - Though missing one game this year, Manningham caught 67 receptions on the year for 1,096 yards and 11 TD's with a long reception of 97 yards for a strike. He also has carried the ball 12 times for 66 yards.

Jordy Nelson, SR, Kansas State - The senior is a one man wrecking crew for the Wildcats. He is second in the nation with 122 receptions and 1,606 yards. The 1,606 yards set a new record for Kansas State, he set 11 records this year in the process for Kansas State. He has 11 TD's and a long of 68 yards that went for a TD. Nelson also returns punts, he has returned 5 for 264 yards and 2 TD's. Against Texas he had only one punt return and went 89 yards for a score, against Baylor he also had one return for 92 yards that also went for a touchdown.

2007 Davey O'Brien Award

2007-12-01T10:17:00.000-05:00

The Davey O'Brien Award is named after the legendary quarterback who played at TCU, 1936-1938. A winner has been announced annually for the award since 1977. This award goes to the best QB in the nation, here are your three finalists for the award. Last year's award went to Troy Smith of Ohio State University.

Chase Daniel, JR, Missouri - The 6ft QB out of Texas has led the Tigers to an 11-1 record and BCS National Title talk. On the year he has thrown for 3,951 yards(349 for 495 attempts) at 70.5 completion percentage, for 33 TD's and only 9 int's. He also has 93 carries for 258 yards and 3 rushing TD's.

Dennis Dixon, SR, Oregon - The senior QB for the Ducks was an essential part of the team, though his season ended early due to a knee injury, Dixon has good numbers for the amount of games he played in. He has 2,136 yards through the air(172 for 254 attempts) for a 67.7 completion percentage and 20 TD's to only 4 int's. He has also rushed for 583 yards on 105 carries for 9 TD's and a long run of 80 yards for a TD.

Tim Tebow, SO, Florida - The sophomore QB has accounted for 51 total TD's on the year. He has thrown for 3,132 yards(217 for 317 attempts) for a completion percentage of 68.5 and 29 TD's to 6 int's. He has also rushed for 838 yards on 194 carries for 22 TD's on the season.

2007 All Big Ten Conference

2007-11-30T16:03:00.000-05:00

This All Big Ten Football Conference Team was selected by the coaches. Here are the first and second team offense and defense, offensive and defensive players of the year, offensive and defensive linemen of the year and the freshman of the year.

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

QB - Chad Henne, Michigan
RB - Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois
RB - Chirs Wells, Ohio State
WR - James Hardy, Indiana
WR - Mario Manningham, Michigan
C - A.Q. Shipley, Penn State
G - Martin O'Donnell, Illinois
G - Adam Kraus, Michigan
T - Jake Long, Michigan
T - Kirk Barton, Ohio State
TE - Travis Beckum, Wisconsin
K - Taylor Mehlhaff, Wisconsin

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

DL - Greg Middleton, Indiana
DL - Mitch King, Iowa
DL - Vernon Gholston, Ohio State
DL - Maurice Evans, Penn State
LB - Jeremy Leman, Illinois
LB - James Laurinaitis, Ohio State
LB - Dan Connor, Penn State
DB - Vontae Davis, Illinois
DB - Malcolm Jenkins, Ohio State
DB - Justin King, Penn State
DB - Jack Ikegwuonu, Wisconsin
P - Jeremy Boone, Penn State

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

QB - Kellen Lewis, Indiana
RB - Mike hart, Michigan
RB - Javon Ringer, Michigan State
WR - Devin Thomas, Michigan State
WR - Dorien Bryant, Purdue
C - Ryan McDonald, Illinois
G - Rich Ohrnberger, Penn State
G - Kraig Urbik, Wisconsin
T - Xavier Fulton, Illinois
T - Alex Boone, Ohio State
TE - Dustin Keller, Purdue
K - Austin Starr, Indiana

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

DL - Terrance Taylor, Michigan
DL - Jonal Saint-Dic, Michigan State
DL - Cliff Avril, Purdue
DL - Matt Shaughnessy, Wisconsin
LB - Shawn Crable, Michigan
LB - Marcus Freeman, Ohio State
LB - Sean Lee, Penn State
DB - Tracy Porter, Indiana
DB - Charles Godfrey, Iowa
DB - Jamar Adams, Michigan
DB - Dominique Barber, Minnesota
P - Ken DeBauche, Wisconsin

Offensive POY - Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois
Offensive Lineman of the Year - Jake Long, Michigan
Defensive POY - James Laurinaitis, Ohio State
Defensive Lineman of the Year - Vernon Gholston, Ohio State
Freshman of the Year - Arrelious Benn, Illinois

Big Ten Stats Leaders

2007-11-30T14:57:00.001-05:00

The top 5 leaders in Big Ten Offensive Categories.

Passing Yards

1. C.J. Bacher, Northwestern - 3,656 yards
2. Curtis Painter, Purdue - 3,300 yards
3. Adam Weber, Minnesota - 2,895 yards
4. Kellen Lewis, Indiana - 2,839 yards
5. Brian Hoyer, Michigan State - 2,594 yards

Passing Touchdowns

1. Curtis Painter, Purdue - 26 TD's
1. Kellen Lewis, Indiana - 26 TD's
3. Adam Weber, Minnesota - 24 TD's
4. Todd Boeckman, Ohio State - 24 TD's
5. C.J. Bacher, Northwestern - 19 TD's

Passer Efficiency

1. Todd Boeckman, Ohio State - 150.28 ratings
2. Brian Hoyer, Michigan State - 138.91 ratings
3. Kellen Lewis, Indiana - 137.16 ratings
4. Tyler Donovan, Wisconsin - 135.20 ratings
5. Curtis Painter, Purdue - 129.32 ratings

Rushing Yards

1. Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois - 1,526 yards
2. Chris Wells, Ohio State - 1,463 yards
3. Javon Ringer, Michigan State - 1,346 yards
4. Mike Hart, Michigan - 1,232 yards
5. Rodney Kinlaw, 1,186 yards

Rushing Yards Per Game

1. Mike Hart, Michigan - 136.89 yards per game
2. Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois - 127.17 yards per game
3. Chris Wells, Ohio State - 121.92 yards per game
4. Javon Ringer, Michigan State - 112.17 yards per game
5. P.J. Hill, Wisconsin - 108.00 yards per game

Rushing Touchdowns

1. Jehuu Caulcrick, Michigan State - 21 TD's
2. Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois - 16 TD's
3. P.J. Hill, Wisconsin - 14 TD's
3. Chris Wells, Ohio State - 14 TD's
5. Mike Hart, Michigan - 12 TD's

Receiving Yards

1. Devin Thomas, Michigan State - 1226 yards
2. Mario Manningham, Michigan - 1,096 yards
3. James Hardy, Indiana - 1,075 yards
4. Travis Beckum, Wisconsin - 960 yards
5. Eric Decker, Minnesota - 909 yards

Receptions

1. Dorien Bryant, Purdue - 82 receptions
2. Devin Thomas, Michigan State - 75 receptions
3. James Hardy, Indiana - 74 receptions
4. Travis Beckum, Wisconsin - 73 receptions
5. Eric Decker, Minnesota - 67 receptions
5. Mario Manningham, Michigan - 67 receptions

Receiving TD's

1. James Hardy, Indiana - 16 TD's
2. Mario Manningham, Michigan - 11 TD's
3. Brian Robiskie, Ohio State - 10 TD's
4. Ernie Wheelwright, Minnesota - 9 TD's
4. Eric Decker, Minnesota - 9 TD's

Points for the Year

1.Jehuu Caulcrick, Michigan State - 126 points
2. Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois - 108 points
3. Kevin Kelly, Penn State - 104 points
4. Austin Starr, Indiana - 102 points
5. Taylor Mehlhaff, Wisconsin - 100 points

Big 10 Final Standings

2007-11-30T14:46:00.000-05:00

Here are the final standings with the Big 10 football season. The football season has ended a couple of weeks ago and some teams have accepted Bowl Bids already. Every team had at least 3 wins in the Big Ten, aside from Minnesota.

1. Ohio State Conference 7-1, Overall 11-1
2. Illinois Conference 6-2, Overall 9-3
3. Michigan Conference 6-2, Overall 8-4
4. Wisconsin Conference 5-3, Overall 9-3
5. Penn State Conference 4-4, Overall 8-4
6. Iowa Conference 4-4, Overall 6-6
7. Purdue Conference 3-5, Overall 7-5
8. Indiana Conference 3-5, Overall 7-5
9. Michigan State Conference 3-5, Overall 7-5
10. Northwestern Conference 3-5, Overall 6-6
11. Minnesota Conference 0-8, Overall 1-11

Doak "The Doaker" Walker

2007-11-27T14:10:00.000-05:00

Born January 1st, 1927 in Dallas, TX a legend was born. Starting at halfback for Southern Methodist University, Doak Walker became a living legend. He begin his playing career at SMU in 1945 as a freshman but after serving in the U.S. Army in 1946, he continued his career for the next 3 years. Walker standing at 5ft 11inches and 170 lbs was dubbed by sports writers at the time as "Dynamite Doak" and "Dauntless Doak". In one of his more memorable outings, against Texas he made runs of 80,61, and 56 yards all for scores. In his 35 game career at SMU he scored 288 points, 2,076 rushing yards, 1,786 yards through the air(128 of 222 attempts), 454 yards receiving, 750 yards on 50 punt returns and 764 yards on kickoff returns. For his football accolades he won the Maxwell Award in 1947, the coveted Heisman Award in 1948, and Player of the Year by Collier's Magazine in 1949. With his football accomplishments, Walker also lettered in basketball and football. Southern Methodist would compile a 23-5-4 record and won two Southwest Conference championships. After his illustrious college career, Walker would play 6 years with the Detroit Lions. He was voted All-Pro 4 times and led the NFL in scoring twice. Doak was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959 and later voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986. On January 30,1998 in Colorado, Walker suffered a paralyzing injury in a ski accident and with injuries sustained from the accident Doak eventually passed away September 27,1998. His memory was honored in 1990 by the GTE-Southern Methodist Athletic Foundation. They created the Doak Walker award, for the nation's best running back who also has good academics.

2007 John Mackey Award

2007-11-27T11:51:00.000-05:00

The Mackey Award is named after the Hall of Fame tight end, who became only the second strictly Tight End to enter the Hall. Blessed with speed and power, he earned the nickname "Mack Truck". As you may know, this award goes to the best Tight End in the country annually, and with that being said here are the three finalists. The winner will be announced on December 6th, 2007.

Travis Beckum, JR, Wisconsin - Leads the Badgers in receptions, yards and touchdowns. On the year he has 73 receptions, 960 yards and 6 touchdowns. His 73 receptions and 960 yards are 4th in the big ten, and his 6 TD's are tied for 9th in the Big Ten.

Fred Davis, SR, USC - On the season Davis has 49 receptions, 753 yards, and 6 touchdowns, which leads the Trojans in every category. He has a long of 63 yards and averages 15.4 yards per reception. Within the Pac-10 Davis ranks 7th in receptions, 6th in yards and touchdowns.

Martin Rucker, SR, Missouri - The senior tight end has a team leading 75 receptions on the year and ranks second on the team in yards and touchdowns, with 739 yards and 8 touchdowns. Rucker is tied for 4th in the Big 12 in receptions, only behind Crabtree,Nelson, and Amendola who all have over 100 receptions. He ranks 12th in yards and is tied for 9th in touchdowns.

Latest BCS Poll

2007-11-27T11:42:00.000-05:00

I'm only listing the Top 12 of the BCS, mainly because these are the spots that give you a BCS Berth.

1. Missouri .9781
2. West Virginia .9713
3. Ohio State .9192
4. Georgia .8274
5. Kansas .7918
6. Virginia Tech .7811
7. LSU .7744
8. USC .6926
9. Oklahoma .6829
10. Florida .6184
11. Boston College .6169
12. Hawaii .5835

A Rose Bowl berth

2007-11-23T11:08:00.000-05:00

On Thanksgiving Day where most are eating turkey and celebrating the holidays, a game is being played with Rose Bowl implications. An 8 P.M. start in Tempe, AZ where the USC Trojans traveled to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils.

USC received the ball first, and Ronald Johnson made the most of it taking off down field and picking up 49 yards on the opening play. From there the Trojans marched 51 yards in 7 plays, 6 through the air finishing the drive with a 4 yard TD to Vidal Hazelton from John David Booty. The Sun Devils answered right back, Rudy Burgess received the kickoff and got an excellent block. From there he cut across the grain and it was a foot race, David Buehler the USC kicker almost tripped him up before he reached the endzone. The 98 yard return had the game at a 7-7 tie 2 minutes into the game. The next two scores came from the Trojans, Buehler from 42 yards out and on the next drive Booty throwing his 2nd TD of the quarter. He hit Stanley Havili, USC's fullback who was lined up in the slot for a 5 yard strike. Halfway through the first quarter and the score is 17-7 USC. The Sun Devils answered with a 74 yard, 12 play drive that evaporated 5 minutes off the clock. The drive was capped off with a 4 yard pass to Michael Jones from Rudy Carpenter. After getting the Trojans to punt, ASU put together another sustained drive for 60 yards and 10 plays, resulting in a 25 yard field goal by Thomas Webber, a Lou Groza finalist. With the score tied at 17, the Trojans went 58 yards behind 8 plays and finished the drive with a Buehler 20 yard field goal. After stopping the Sun Devils, USC again marched 54 yards in 6 plays finishing the half with a 1 yard plunge by QB Booty, going into the half up 27-17. Though down by 10, Arizona State didn't panic as they are used to coming from behind in most of their games.

After kicking to the Sun Devils and eventually stopping them, the Trojans received the ball and went 35 yards on 6 plays, capped off with a Buehler 37 yard field goal. After that, the third quarter would belong to the Trojans as they rattled off two more scores. The first came behind the arm of Booty, as he fired a pass towards the goaline to Joe McKnight and the freshman walked in from 7 yards out. The second TD came with a well designed play to get Fred Davis, USC's star tight end who is leading the team in receptions and receiving yards. Davis motioned left and stopped behind the left guard and tackle, almost as if he was going to help block down for a wham play. As soon as the ball snapped Davis went across the field towards the right flat and caught a bullet from Booty, then sprinted past two defenders and ran into another and bounced off him and continued onto the endzone. From 34 yards out capping a 71 yard, 7 play drive putting the Trojans up big 44-17. Arizona State did score one more time, with a short field they where able to get the ball in from 2 yards out. it was their easiest rushing play of the night as Dimitri Nance walked in untouched with 8 minutes to go. The score would eventually lead to the final score of the game, 44-24 USC.

This game was part of the key to win a trip to the historical Rose Bowl. USC came into the game needing to win out and a Oregon loss, so far they are a third of the way there. Arizona State came into the game only needing to win out, now they need a Oregon and USC loss to make it to the Rose Bowl. They finish their regular season game with in state rival Arizona. USC controls their destiny alot more, yes they still need an Oregon loss too, but before they can think about that they need to beat crosstown rival UCLA as the Bruins beat them last year 13-9. UCLA handing USC that loss stopped any talk of them entering the BCS title game, and sent them to the Rose Bowl.

This game was not won by a turnover battle, as the score may indicate. USC was just to dominate in the end for the Sun Devils. ASU only had 1 turnover, a lost fumble while USC didn't commit a single turnover. The Trojans held ASU to 16 yards rushing on 35 attempts. Yes Carpenter did result in -23 yards from all the sacks he had taken, but they held their top rusher Keegan Herring to 5 yards on 11 attempts. At one point he was in the negative yards, Dimitri Nance was the team's leading rusher with 19 yards on 9 carries. Arizona State had given up 43 sacks coming into the game, USC added six more before the night would end. The Sun Devils where over matched facing such a strong front 7, lead by defensive end Lawrence Jackson with 4 of the 6 sacks, who now has 10 sacks on the year. The pressure they got on Rudy Carpenter, eventually knocked him out of the game for a series. As his lip was busted and he received medical attention to slow the bleeding. On the other end USC QB had his best game of the season, throwing for 375 yards going 26 for 39 for 67 completion percentage. Ending the game with 5 total TD's, 4 TD's through the air and 1 on the ground. Arizona State and USC are both now, 9-2 overall and 6-2 in the PAC-10.

2007 Jim Thorpe Award

2007-11-21T14:50:00.001-05:00

The Jim Thorpe Award is presented annually to college football's best defensive back. Named after the Jim Thorpe, a great athlete who hails from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Last year's winner Aaron Ross from Texas, bringing home the award to Texas for the second time in a row. Michael Huff won the award in 2005 and was also a Texas DB. The award judges the winners based on performance on the field but also athletic ability and character. Here are the three finalists for the Thorpe Award.

Antoine Cason, CB, Arizona Jr. - Is third on the team in tackles with 69, 55 solo and 14 assisted. Has recorded 4 tackles for a loss and 1 sack. He has 5 int's on the year and 2 have been returned back for TD's, one going for 42 yards and the other 60 yards. Has 11 passes defended and 2 forced fumbles. Runs punts back as well, has a total of 211 yards off of 23 returns and 2 TD's.

Jaime Silva, SS, Boston College, Sr - Leads the Eagles in tackling with 101 tackles, 63 solo and 38 assisted, also has 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss. Leads the team in int with 5 and has returned one back for a TD from 65 yards out. He has 3 passes defended and 1 forced fumble, also has a game high 18 tackles against Florida State.

Craig Steltz, SS, LSU, Sr - Leads LSU in tackles with 73 total tackles, has accounted for 46 solo and 27 assisted. Has recorded 1 sack and added 5 tackles for a loss. He leads the Bayou Bengals with 6 int's and the SEC, he's tied for 4th in the nation with his 6 int's. Also posted a game high against the Florida Gators, registering 16 tackles.

Jimmy Rollins

2007-11-21T10:33:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies very own, Jimmy "J Roll" Rollins on his NL MVP award. He helped propel the Phillies to their first playoff berth in 14 years with his steady play and speed. Rollins was the first player in MLB history with 30 homers, 30 doubles, 30 steals, and 20 triples in one season. He became the first NL shortstop to play in every game in the last 34 years. In winning the award, Rollins becomes the second Phillie in a row to win the NL MVP, behind teammate Ryan Howard last year. Rollins batted .296 with 30 homeruns, 94 RBI's and 41 steals from the leadoff spot, helping Philly make a big run in September. Also he lead the league in runs with 139 and triples with 20. The Gold Glove shortstop received 16 of the 32 first place votes and finished with 353 points, while the Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday got 11 place votes and a total of 336 points, and Milwaukees's Prince Fielder rounded out the top 3 with 4 first place votes and 284 points.

2007 Butkus Award

2007-11-20T13:40:00.000-05:00

Named after the famed Linebacker from Illinois University, the Butkus Award is given to the nation's best Linebacker annually. Last year's winner, Patrick Willis to home the coveted award from Ole miss. Here are the three finalists for the 2007 Butkus Trophy.

Dan Connor, SR, Penn State- Has anchored the PSU defense for the year he has 136 total tackles on the year tied for 1st in the nation, 66 solo and 70 assisted . Also has recorded 7 sacks, 17 tackles for a loss, 1 int, and 6 passes defensed. He has a high of 18 tackles in a game this year, which he has achieved twice.

Jordon Dizon, Sr, Colorado - Leads the nation in solo tackles with 93, with 38 assisted totaling for 131 tackles which ranks 3rd in the nation. He has 11 solo tackles to go along with 4 sacks, 2 passes defensed, a forced fumble and 2 int's, 1 was returned for a TD.

James Laurinaitis, Jr, Ohio State - Leads the Buckeyes in total tackles with 103, 39 solo and 64 assisted. He has posted 11 tackles for a loss, 5 solo and 5 assisted, 5 solo sacks to go along with that, 2 int's and 1 passed defensed.

The Land Grant Trophy

2007-11-19T11:27:00.000-05:00

Penn State traveled to East Lansing, Michigan to take on the 6-5 Spartans. The first score came from Michigan State on a 12 yard completion to Devin Thomas. Penn State followed this up with a 37 yd strike to Deon Butler. After this PSU looked in control, rattling off 17 unanswered points, capped off by a fake field goal run by Kicker Kevin Kelly from 5 yards out. Halfway through the 3rd quarter the Nittany Lions look in control ahead now by the score of 24-7 in the 3rd. Then came the Spartans, storming hard and playing hungry resulting in two TD's in the 3rd quarter. Both TD's where behind the arm of Brian Hoyer pulling the Spartans closer, 21-24. After a string of 3 and outs PSU finally put together a quick drive, capped off with a 4 yard TD run from Rodney Kinlaw early in the fourth. Unfortunately for the Lions, the fight in Spartans would not quit. Michigan State went 40 yards in 4 plays, finishing the drive with a 26 yard pass from Brian Hoyer to Devin Thomas. Michigan State then followed up that drive, with a 80 yard 12 play drive finished with a 1 yd TD run by Jehuu Caulcrick. After the last Penn State drive ended on a Turnover on Downs, they had another opportunity. Yet they failed to convert, behind a pass that was completed but to short and the clock continued to run and eventually expired. Penn State would finish the season 8-4, while Michigan State finished the season at 7-5. The series is now tied at 12-12-1 and the Land Grant Trophy will stay in East Lansing for the time being.

(photo courtesy of AP)

BCS Rankings

2007-11-19T11:09:00.000-05:00

BCS Breakdown

ACC - 4
Big East - 4
Big 10 - 3
Big 12 - 4
MWC - 1
Pac-10 - 3
SEC - 4
WAC - 2

1. LSU .9904
2. Kansas .9488
3. West Virginia .8878
4. Missouri .8707
5. Ohio State .8602
6. Arizona State .8019
7. Georgia .7438
8. Virginia Tech .6796
9. Oregon .6267
10. Oklahoma .5816
11. USC .5672
12. Florida .5432
13. Texas .5137
14. Boston College .4848
15. Hawaii .4249
16. Virginia .4246
17. Illinois .3208
18. Tennessee .3135
19. Boise State .2818
20. Connecticut .2520
21. Wisconsin .1893
22. Clemson .1667
23. South Florida .1232
24. Cincinnati .0983
25. BYU .0856

Duke Basketball

2007-11-13T13:15:00.000-05:00

Well last night I got to see The Blue Devils for the first time this year in their second game of the season. I'll start off by saying that, having 17 turnovers against a New Mexico State team doesn't look good. Six people where involved with the turnover bug last night and aside from Lance Thomas who is a forward, the other 5 where guards. Another thing that needed improvement was the amount of open shots the Aggies where able to get. If they play a team that can shoot, they're going to be in for some trouble. Paulus is running the point again this year, so far he is averaging 3 assist to every one turnover(12 assists and 4 to's). Last year he averaged a dismal 1.23 assist to turnover ratio(124 assist and 101 turnovers). I'm curious to see how he factors in this year handling the ball. In the terms of scoring Jon Scheyer came off the bench and scored 22 points, hitting 4 three's. He is the leading scorer through the two games and if he can keep his production up he'll be the leading scorer through the year. Now the young talent looks promising, they play a key role in offensive production. Kyle Singler gives you a little bit of everything and Taylor King puts on a show at times. The lefty out of Mater Dei can really shoot the deep ball, I love it. Nolan Smith came in from Oak Hill as a point guard, but I have seen him in there with Paulus so I don't think he held to just backing up Paulus at point. With that being said, he is a good talent but from the two games so far it seems he either has a very good game or he has a very bad game. Overall I see this team winning 25 games give or take and maybe skating to the Sweet Sixteen. They're going to have to tighten up on defense though, if they want to make a deep run during March Madness.

This Past Weekend

2007-11-13T13:12:00.000-05:00

Before I update anything I must first say what a wonderful weekend. I got to see my Nittany Lions for the first time in person at Temple, and Ohio State and Michigan lost on the same weekend. To add to all the happiness running around the Bengals kicked 7 field goals in way to a win, it should have been at least 6 TD's though they had a lot of red zone opportunities.

Heisman Race

2007-11-07T10:32:00.000-05:00

This year the Heisman Race has had a definite constant, nobody is really emerging as a true front runner. Around this time of year you would hope to have a definite 5 but with so many great performances and shaky performances the race is still wide open. The next following weeks should show who is going to punch a ticket to New York City. For the most part it looks like dual threat quarterbacks are heading the Heisman headlines. With that being said I am going to give you a few players I feel are garnering Heisman recognition.

Dennis Dixon QB, Oregon - Continues to lead his team to victories and help them in a bid for a BCS bowl game. In his last game against Arizona State who had been previously undefeated he put together a great effort. Going 13 for 22 for 189 yards and 4 TD tosses. He also ran for 57 yards on 11 attempts leading his team to a 35-23 victory over the Sun Devil. For the year Dixon has 2,074 yards through the air at 67.9 completion percentage for 20 TD to 3 int. He also has 549 rushing yards on 103 carries for 8 TD to go along with the passing numbers.

Darren McFadden RB, Arkansas - Arkansas Razorbacks RB Darren McFadden just went absolutely wild hog on the Ol' Ball Coach's Gamecocks. McFadden rushed for 321 yards against South Carolina as he tied an SEC record. He accomplished the feat on 34 carries including an 80 yard burst down the right sideline. He also threw a 23 yard TD pass during the 3rd quarter leading them to a 48-36 victory and a 6-3 overall record. On the year he has rushed for 1,314 yards at 5.9 ypc for 12 TD, 14 receptions for 97 yards and is 2 for 3 passing for 65 yards and 2 scores.

Todd Reesing - Can you say Reesing is sweet as a Reese cup? The 5ft 11 inch quarterback absolutely lit up the Nebraska defense going 30 for 41 for 354 yards and tossing 6 TD passes against the Huskers, leading his team to a 39-76 thrashing of the legendary university. So far Reesing has his Jayhawks number 4 in the BCS polls and continues to prove Herbstreit and Corso wrong, winning every game they pick against them going 9-0 so far. On the year Reesing is 180 for 294 for 2,339 yards and 23 TD to 4 int. To go along with the passing stats he has 203 yards on the ground with 70 attempts, a rushing TD and a 53 yard long.

Pat White QB, West Virginia - The mountaineers had off last week but the performance he turned in the week before, brought his name back into the wide open Heisman race. He accumulated a total 300 yards in his last game, a complete dismantling of Rutgers behind his 156 yards rushing on 22 attempts and 144 passing yards going 10 for 16 with 1 TD on the ground. He also has helped his team to 7th in the BCS ranking. On the year White has 1,070 passing yards for 9 TD and 656 rushing yards at 6.8 ypc with 9 TD and a long of 64 yards.

Tim Tebow, QB Florida - In his last outing he absolutely dismantled Vandy in way to a 49-22 win. Tebow accounted for 5 total TD, going 22 for 27 for 281 yards and 3 passing TD and rushing for 35 yards on 6 carries and for 2 more scores. On the year he has 2,228 passing yards and 21 TD through the air, while he leads the team on the ground with 598 yards and 14 TD. Florida is now 6-3 on the year and ranked 15th in the BCS.

College Basketball Preseason Top 25

2007-11-07T10:17:00.000-05:00

It is time for the college basketball season to open up. I am a huge fan of college basketball, and looking forward to see who emerges as a true front runner. Also I am interested in seeing how Ohio State and Florida do without their stars from last year. Usually the ACC proves to be the toughest conference in the country, but with the emergence of the Pac-10 it looks as they are taking over that spot. Also from seeing how many teams garnered preseason Top 25 rankings, shows how respected the conference is. With that being said here is the Preseason Top 25 Poll for College Basketball.

1. North Carolina
2. UCLA
3. Memphis
4. Kansas
5. Georgetown
6. Louisville
7. Tennessee
8. Michigan State
9. Indiana
10. Washington State
11. Duke
12. Marquette
13. Oregon
14. Gonzaga
15. Texas A&M
16. Texas
17. Arizona
18. USC
19. Arkansas
20. Pittsburgh
21. Stanford
22. Kentucky
23. Southern Illinois
24. North Carolina State
25. Villanova

BCS Rankings

2007-11-05T09:43:00.000-05:00

BCS Breakdown

ACC - 4
Big East - 2
Big 10 - 3
Big 12 - 4
Pac-10 - 3
SEC - 7
WAC - 2

1. Ohio State .9949
2. LSU .9411
3. Oregon .9180
4. Kansas .8431
5. Oklahoma .8393
6. Missouri .7431
7. West Virginia .7419
8. Boston College .6980
9. Arizona State .6932
10. Georgia .6075
11. Virginia Tech .5645
12. Michigan .4916
13. Connecticut .4637
14. Texas .4399
15. Florida .4015
16. Hawaii .3772
17. USC .3759
18. Auburn .3308
19. Virginia .2749
20. Bosie State .2333
21. Clemson .2288
22. Alabama .1669
23. Penn State .1243
24. Tennessee .1049
25. Kentucky .0911

NFL Record

2007-11-05T09:09:00.000-05:00

Coming into Sunday's game, Adrian Peterson was leading the league in rushing with 770 yards and facing the number 3 run defense in the league, giving up 89.0 yards per game. Little did we know that three hours later he would own the single game rushing record, a great treat for the home crowd to witness history. Minnesota doesn't have much of a pass game to begin with, so when Tavaris Jackson got knocked out the game you knew A.P. was going to touch the ball quite a bit. Well to kick of the 2nd half Peterson started off going left on a stretch play, got into the secondary and shrugged off a couple of defenders and sprinted 64 yards for the score. Then with 8 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, he went over right end broke a tackle and sprinted the rest of the way for a 46 yard touchdown. Peterson then started the next drive with a run for a first down and then came the record breaking run, a 3 yard dive into the middle of the line. After that run he broke a record that stood since week 2 in the 2003 season, when Jamal Lewis ran for 295 yards against the Browns. Adrian finished the day with 30 attempts for 296 yards and 3 TD, he now has 1,036 yards on 158 attempts after 8 games. Congratulations to Mr.Peterson for breaking the record, with the great blend of speed and power I'm sure it won't be the only record he breaks in his NFL career.

NAVY 46, NOTRE DAME 44

2007-11-03T18:56:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to the Navy Midshipmen, breaking a streak of 43 years. The streak is one you don't want, it was consecutive losses to one team. After 3 overtimes and 4 hours later it came down to one play. Notre Dame has the ball and just scored a touchdown. When you hit the 3rd overtime you have to go for two there on out and Navy made a stand. navy is now 5-4 on the season and Notre dame drops to a low of 1-8.

Glenn "Mr. Outside" Davis

2007-10-30T17:17:00.000-04:00

Half of the famous duo known as the "Mr.Inside" and "Mr.Outside" Glenn Davis was born in Clermont, CA on the date of 12/26/1924. His career with Army begin in 1943, he enrolled at the Military Academy and as a freshman fullback he gained 1,028 yards in 144 attempts. When his backfield mate Doc Blanchard came to Army in 1944, the 5 foot 9 170 lbs Davis moved to halfback. From that year on history would begin, they both became three time All-Americans and became the only backfield duo to win the Heisman Trophy. Davis finished second on the ballot in 1944 and 1945, 1945 being the year Blanchard won the prestigious award. By then Davis nearly became the first double winner but in 1946 he would have his glory winning the Heisman. With the help of Davis's swift running and Blanchard's power running, Army would go undefeated from 1944-1946 finishing with a career record of 27-0-1 through that span. Most notably with routes of a highly respected Notre Dame teams, 59-0 in 1944 and 48-0 in 1945. He has held NCAA records for yards gained per play in one season, 11.5 yards per carry in 1945. Also he held the record of 8.3 career yards per carry. Blessed with Olympic speed in the 100 yard dash, he often admitted he didn't like to run unless it was running in a team competition. Davis scored 59 touchdowns between 1944-1946, averaging almost 1 touchdown every 9 plays. Davis rushed for 2,957 yards and passed for 855 yards on his way to three national championships. Teamed with Blanchard they scored 97 touchdowns through the 3 year span. A record that stood until 2005 when USC duo Lendale White and Reggie Bush amassed 99 career touchdowns. After graduating Davis spent 3 years in the military before joining the Los Angeles Rams. his career was cut short with a knee injury in 1952. Though he didn't have an illustrious professional career, Davis played for one of the best teams in college football history. Glenn Davis passed away after a long bout with prostate cancer on 3/9/2005, he was 80.

(Mr.Outside left, Mr.Inside right)

(Davis being tackled in a traditional Army-Navy game)

BCS Rankings as of October 28, 2007

2007-10-30T15:41:00.000-04:00

Ok here is the only Ranking that matters this time of year.

Conference Breakdown

ACC - 5
BIG 10 - 3
BIG 12 - 4
BIG EAST - 3
PAC 10 - 3
SEC - 5
WAC - 2

RK TEAM BCS PR
1. Ohio State .9756 1
2. Boston College .9559 2
3. LSU .8879 3
4. Arizona State .8493 4
5. Oregon .8390 5
6. Oklahoma .7920 6
7. West Virginia .7759 7
8. Kansas .7723 9
9. Missouri .6100 13
10. Georgia .5820 18
11. Virginia Tech .5240 8
12. Michigan .4258 20
13. Connecticut .3801 23
14. Hawaii .3627 17
15. Texas .3444 19
16. Auburn .3296 22
17. Alabama .3251 24
18. South Florida .3217 10
19. USC .3177 12
20. Florida .3146 11
21. Wisconsin .1607 NR
22. Boise State .1545 NR
23. Virginia .1535 15
24. Wake Forest .1407 NR
25. Clemson .1353 NR

NFL Week 8 Recap

2007-10-30T15:27:00.000-04:00

So I got 10 out of 13 games correct this week. Considering how easy this week should've been that isn't as good as it looks.

Indianapolis at Carolina - Correct
Cleveland at St.Louis - Correct
NY Giants at Miami - Correct
Philadelphia at Minnesota - Wrong
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati - Correct
Detroit at Chicago - Correct
Oakland at Tennessee - Correct
Buffalo at NJ Jets - Correct
Jacksonville at Tampa Bay -Wrong
Houston at San Diego - Correct
New Orleans at San Francisco - Correct
Washington at New England - Correct
MNF
Green Bay at Denver - Wrong

WVU @ RUTGERS 10/27/07

2007-10-29T15:24:00.000-04:00

It had been raining constantly for the last 3 days prior to the game. Game day morning, it is still raining. We decided to head down to the game anyway, however we didn't arrive till halfway through the 1st quarter. On the way down the rain continually pelted the car and would not let up. Usually a very pleasant ride turned into a frustrating ride, straining to see and water splashing up from the other vehicles added on to the situation. After an hour ride that turned into a two hour ride we arrived at Rutgers Stadium.

When arriving at the stadium we quickly got our things together and headed in. We had excellent seats section 107 row 1 and right on the end. We where sitting behind WVU's bench but more towards the end of the bench. When we sat down the game was already 14-0 by this point and that was the tone of the day.

(White having fun at end of game.)
As the rain continued through the first half the game was getting intense. Rutgers had driven into WVU redzone a few times but a couple of dropped touchdown passes, turned into an Ito field goal. West Virginia answered right back to make the score 17-3 right before the half. Coming out to begin the second half Rutgers held WVU in check for some of the 3rd quarter. Then QB Pat White engineered a couple of beautiful drives. Starting off with a pass to the flat to Owen Schmidt he leaped a RU defender and jaunted down field picking up a quick 20 yards. After a couple of penalties and a long 3rd down they converted by throwing a short pass to Slaton and he quickly turned it into a 51 yard completion. It set up a easy Slaton score off left end. Now pushing the gap to 24-3, by then the RU faithful had started leaving in a mass exodus. Rutgers managed to get inside WVU's redzone twice but turned the ball over on a couple of Mike Teel interceptions. After stopping them the first time in the redzone early in the 4th quarter WVU drove the ball 66 yards into the endzone, mostly behind the legs of Pat White gaining 50 yards on one attempt leading to a Slaton 6 yard score. That would result in a final score of 31-3.

(Slaton being gang tackled.)
The game came across as one team being dominated physically. RU didn't have an answer for White either as he piled up 300 total yards (144 passing, 156 rushing) as a team they gained 254 yards on the ground. Rutgers Ray Rice had another great outing though 142 yards on 30 carries but was not able to reach the endzone, mostly because they where trying to score quickly through the air. Rutgers suffered their 3rd loss of the season and now are 5-3 and 2-2 in the Big East. West Virginia is now 7-1 and 2-1 in conference play.

(A trio of WVU players.)
As a result of going to the game, we have a few pictures from the game. You can find a few more on the link given here.

http://bleedblueandwhite2.blogspot.com

NFL Week 8

2007-10-26T15:03:00.000-04:00

Here are my picks for week 8 of the NFL season.

Indianapolis at Carolina - To much offense, defense is playing well too.
Cleveland at St.Louis - I think the losing streak continues for the Rams.
NY Giants at Miami - They can play this game on mars, Giants still win.
Philadelphia at Minnesota - A.P. handles the clock and the D.
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati - Pitt bounces back, hate to pick against my own team.
Detroit at Chicago - Passing game has been slowed, should awake here.
Oakland at Tennessee - It's Oakland, Need I say more.
Buffalo at NY Jets - Bills play their style, good defense and control clock.
Jacksonville at Tampa Bay - Long day for 2nd QB, Jones-Drew is questionable.
Houston at San Diego - SD needs this win, Teaxans aren't stopping them.
New Orleans at San Francisco - Won 2 in a row, should be 3 after 7:30 PM eastern time.
Washington at New England - Washington's secondary might pose a challenge.
MNF
Green Bay at Denver - "The Genius" goes for 2 in a row in spolight games.

Atlanta Falcons

2007-10-24T18:32:00.000-04:00

Well their season is pretty much looking to shape up into a 4-12 maybe 6-10 season, if they're really lucky. Well after all the Michael Vick controversy, Deangelo Hall is making news again. Earlier in the season he was seen arguing with his head coach Bobby Petrino and now he is calling Petrino out. With the release of Grady Jackson, a 35 year old nose tackle, he accuses Petrino of going into the tank for the season already and preparing for the 2008 season. Hall was quoted saying "they need to cut all 53 of us, because obviously no one is playing where we should be playing." He also related his outburst because he felt they are singling out Jackson because he is an older player. Jackson led the league last year with 13 tackles for lost and his stat line this year read 21 tackles 5 1/2 for a loss and 1 sack. Hall who has already been fined 100,000 dollars this year, is in the last year of his contract.

Red "The Galloping Ghost" Grange

2007-10-23T16:28:00.000-04:00

Born in Forksville, PA on 6/13/1903 he was a halfback for the University of Illinois between the years of 1923-1925. Wearing the number 77 Harold "Red" stood 5 feet 11 inches and weighed 175 lbs. Though not big in stature, his talents led him to be picked for the all century team. He earned the nick name the Galloping Ghost because no one could catch him, he was very fast and elusive. He was football's greatest open field runner up to his time. One of his most notable performances include his debut against Nebraska scoring three times, from 50, 35, and 12 yards out. October 18,1924 The Ghost galloped to his way to 402 yards on 21 carries against Michigan. In the first 12 minutes he scored four touchdowns on runs of 95, 67, 56, and 44 yards respectively. That same year on a cold November day, Grange ran for 300 yards and passed for 177 against Chicago. Another notable date in his playing days, October 31,1925. On this day he amassed 363 yards on 36 carries and recorded two 65 yard TD runs against Penn. Only playing 20 collegiate games he put up astounding numbers, 31 touchdowns and 3,362 yards. Over his entire career dating back to college and his time in the pros he had 4,103 rushing attempts and gained 33,920 yards, that's 8.4 yards per carry. His umber 77 was retired in 1925, the only other number to be retired in Illinois history was Dick Butkus's 50. He was inducted into the college hall of fame in 1951. Red passed on January 28, 1991 he was 87 years old.

(Red without his helmet)

(Red scampering off to a long run)

Throwback Tuesdays

2007-10-23T16:21:00.000-04:00

On Tuesdays I will be incorporating a spotlight for players of the past. Mostly College Hall Of Fames and possibly even NFL Hall Of Famers and Legends. It pretty much goes hand and hand with some players. I absolutely love the players of the old, they helped mold the game to what it is today, also I think the whole "star players have nicknames" back then is pretty cool and fun. Well here goes the first one and definitely not the last. Information on some might be harder to find than others but i will do the best to produce adequate information, so bear with me please.

World Series

2007-10-22T17:32:00.000-04:00

I see that the Boston Red Sox have punched their ticket to the world series last night. Well I am going to stick with The Rockies pulling this one out in 6. I've been called everything from crazy to stupid for this call but I refuse to change up like most do. Pitching is huge during this time of year, it's basically essential the whole year but this is when it get's magnified. I feel that if the Rockies are still hitting good like they've done most of the year, the Red Sox's pitching truly won't matter. Beckett seems like the only true ace in the playoffs, Schilling had a good 2nd game against the Indians and last night they where hitting off of Dice-K but he survived the 5th. Some even say the Indians blew the series? I haven't really watched to much of the series to say if the Indians blew it or not. So time will tell what happens, just wanted to state my pick in case they do pull it out.

Monday Night Football

2007-10-22T17:27:00.000-04:00

I'm looking forward to tonight's game but is it me or is Kornheiser extremely annoying? I really enjoy the show PTI but to me everytime I watch MNF he's always saying the dumbest crap. Seriously if you get to go to the game and annouce it why must you talk like you've never seen a football game???

Heisman Hopefuls

2007-10-22T10:58:00.001-04:00

The Heisman Memorial Trophy is College Football's biggest honor. As the season wears down each week, the race is still pretty open. This year there doesn't seem t be a clear cut winner this year. Almost every team is going to finish with at least one loss, so team's wins and losses shouldn't play that big of a role. With that being said here is my list of Heisman Hopefuls for week 8. I will not have them in any specific order though.

Dennis Dixon, QB Oregon - Led his team to a dominating win over Washington. Threw for 196 yards going 19 for 30 with a TD. Accounted for 99 yards of the team's 465 yards on the ground on 62 attempts. On the year Dixon is 137 for 198 at 69.2% for 1,721 yards and 16 TD and 3 int. Also has 75 attempts for 423 yards and 7 TD.

Matt Ryan, QB Boston College - Has his team in good position so far in the National Championship picture. Had a bye this last week but shouldn't have hurt him, he has great numbers this year on a very good BC team. Ryan has thrown for 2,143 yards so far this year. He is completing at 63.2% 192-304 along with 17 TD and 6 int.

Darren McFadden, RB Arkansas - Off to another good year, helped his team down Ole Miss big. He contributed 22 carries for 110 yards without a touchdown. On the year he has 169 carries for 932 yards and 7 TD. He also has 1 touchdown through the air for 42 yards. McFadden's numbers might be higher already, considering his teammate Felix Jones has 81 attempts on the ground.

Tim Tebow, QB Florida - Is having a good year for being a first time starter. In his last game he had a combined 334 yards and 5 TD. He still has his team in the BCS race despite 2 losses, they're 11th. On the year Tebow has done it through the air or the ground game. Tebow is a pretty efficient passer he has 1,711 yards, 115-174 for a 66.1 completion percentage and 17 TD and 2 int. He also has 125 carries for 578 yards and 10 more TD.

Andre' Woodson, QB Kentucky - Despite 2 losses Woodson is having a phenomenal year. His team is still in the BCS ranking 14th in the race. Woodson was flawless in a losing effort to Florida, completing 35 of 50 passes for 415 yards and 5 TD and no interceptions. On the year Woodson has 2,201 yards at 64.7% completion percentage(191-295). He has 29 TD on the year 3 by rushing and only 4 int.

AP Top 25 Rankings for week 8

2007-10-21T19:41:00.000-04:00

1.Ohio State(57)8-0
2.Boston College(2)7-0
3.LSU(5)7-1
4.Oklahoma 7-1
5.Oregon 6-1
6.West Virginia 6-1
7.Arizona State(1)7-0
8.Virginia Tech 6-1
9.USC 6-1
9.Florida 5-2
11.South Florida 5-2
12.Kansas 7-0
13.Missouri 6-1
14.Kentucky 6-2
15.South Carolina 6-2
16.Hawaii 7-0
17.Texas 5-2
18.California 5-2
19.Michigan 6-2
20.Georgia 5-2
21.Virginia 7-1
22.Alabama 6-2
23.Auburn 5-3
24.Penn State 6-2
25.Rutgers 5-2

Dropped from AP Top 25 Rankings
Tennessee 20th
Texas Tech 22nd
Cincinnati 23rd
Kansas State 25th

()- Are 1st place votes recieved

10/18/07 Piscataway, NJ

2007-10-19T17:49:00.000-04:00

On a beautiful thursday in the month of October my father and I set out to see Rutgers welcome the No.2 ranked team to Scarlet nation. On our way down we reminesced about what we witnessed last year on Novemember 9th, Rutgers upset then No.3 Louisville. I came to the unerstanding that this was not going to be as much of an upset as last year, besides the National Ranking. Mostly because Louisville came in as a juggernaut, we all know they had a big offense and scored quick and played good defense under Petrino. Now with USF all I've witnessed on tv was a win over WVU, which they negate their speed with their own speed. So with WVU being almost practically one dimensional with running read options and throwing short passes which is basically like a long pitch, it was hard to observe USF's talents.

We arrived at the stadium around 6 pm, it isn't a bad ride for us we live in between Quakertown and Philly. Now upon getting there we scalped tickets. It's truly not bad my dad payed 50 bucks for 2 tickets last year and just 60 for two this year. Now upon getting tickets we entered the stadium around 630 or so and watched warmups. We laughed as we watched the student section chant "Overrated" over and over in rythmic pattern. I could relate since they're around my ripe old age of 21 lol.

Now it's 740 pm and its game time baby!! Everybody is all hyped up for the game and the atmosphere is great. Rutgers gets the ball first and they are stopped temporarily. Schiano took a shot and faked a punt and got them inside the 5. Fromt there though they where able only to muster a fg. On the ensuing drive USF scored on a fg. Then they held Rutgers to a stop and proceeded to follow up with a Grothe scramble left for an 18 yd score. I must say the observation I read on Grothe was to the point, he wont amaze you or wow you but he does what it takes to move the chains. He was great at distictive running the read option, he would get his pads down search for a hole and do a good job at splitting between two defenders. He would somehow freeze the two defenders before attempting to split them. I must say it was truly a treat watching him run the read option and also he is an underrated passer. Now the 2nd quarter it went back and forth a bit. Rutgers scored after a long drive to put 7 on the board and USF answered with a fg, then Ito punched one through for RU. Going into the half it was 17-10 and truly the game looked wide open. Now the 2nd half Rutgers stepped it up a bit. They stopped USF on their opening drive then scored on a 69 yd td strike to Underwood, it was a short pass and he bounced out wide and took it to the house. On their 2nd scoring drive of the half Rutgers pulle dout some more trickery, they scored 15 yds out on a fake field goal. Nearing the end of the 3rd quarter USF mustered a fg. For the 4th quarter RU only got a fg up, but USF scored with 9 minutes left to make the score 27-30. I give Rutgers defense tremendous credit though, Rice had a rare fumble on thier own 40 and they stopped USF dead in its tracks with 4 minutes to go. The game ended 27-30 as you all know by now but I wish the refs would have left them play on that 4th and 22 play. That was sad, the team converts a 4th and 22 with 30 something seconds left on the road and you call a penalty, keep your flag in your pocket man. They pulled that last year when the kid from Louisville jumped over then back. I'm not discreding RU for playing good games, I just wish refs would stay out of things.

So the verdict is in, USF was the typical No.2 team in the country this year and therefore was upset. It isn't much of an upset as it looked though, Rutgers matched up well against them. USF also did not take a few advantages they could have had. They did a great job running the read option in the 1st half with Grothe. The 2nd half though Rutgers defensive line created pressure on the pocket forcing Grothe to stay in and when he did flush they caught him behind the line or for a short gain. This was a pivotal part of the win. Grothe is listed at 6 ft even but reality is he is prolly 5'11 maybe even 5'10. Now height plays a part because he would have a hard time seeing over that line when forced in the pocket, BINGO Rutgers makes a great adjustment. Now as I sit here and watch these 1st couple of USF series I am waiting for them to make their adjustment to this. Yes they keep Grothe in the pocket, flsuhed him when they wanted to not when he wanted to but Rutgers was leaving a wide open middle of the field. I was waited for Leavitt or his Offensive Coordinator to make the adjustment. They would come out in 5 wide and rutgers would rush 6. Now with the middle of the field open I was waiting to see them distinguish a hot read and tell him to flash to the middle right? Nope never happened, which interested me greatly because in the first half RU was man to man and they scored off of a short slant over the middle. The man converage gave their WRs the ability to make a play, hence break a tackle and take it to the house like Hester did for his 2nd qtr score. I am not discrediting Rutgers they played a good game, I'm just curious how things would have turned out if they did make that change.

I feel the intangibles of this game relate back to last year a bit. The most obvious one is letting RU hang around and not taking care of business. They let them Linger around on a spotlight game on Thursday night at home, do your really think they would play flat all game?? I believe not. Now in this game dropped passes hurt them. I mean Grothe is truly an underrated passer, people only go on about his running ability but I seen him place some balls where only his guys could get it. It was impressive to see him operate the passing game as well as he did because all I heard was run this and that. It's the same thing that happened to them last year they jsut couldn't catch the ball against RU. Also they got flat out embarassed on National TV, to have 3 fake special team plays fool you is unbelievable for a No.2 team to let happen.

From observations it seems that the Big East is just that type of conference where everyone has everyone's number. I mean it's not like the SEC where its just a downright nasty tough confernece and you can lose almost any given saturday. I mean in the last 2 years Cincy beats Rutgers, Rutgers beats USF and USF beats West Virginia. It is intriguing to see this, it's basically a conference that's always up for grabs till the very end. Nw does it make for good suspense, sure it's fun to watch but I dont think we'll see a BCS championship team from this conference for a while.

Now this BCS thing truly has got to go. I'm fed up with them, they only want teams like the OSU's, Florida's, LSU's, Oklahoma's, Teaxas's and USC's in the National Championship game because obviously they generate the most money for them. The way college football is it's so up and down and a upset can go down any given week. They know if they formed a 16 team playoff system, taking the conference winners as automatic bids and then a select few maybe based on rankings, quality wins, and etc. that they would have to live with who makes it their and not push OSU in for beating no one like they do every year. Yes USF didn't play the best game at all and they deserved to lose but when are we the fans of college football going to realize this BCS is nothing more than a who's who of College Football. Now watch what happens to USF this week, they lost to RU which is a respectable program and let's see where they drop in the rankings high 20's if not out right? Now The USC Trojans lose to STANFORD with their 2nd string QB and they went from 2nd to 10th? Why is that? That loss should have meritted a possible drop out because honest to god they have no quality wins proior to that. My pont exactly, they hope USC can win out and they can throw an average USC team into the BCS title game and if The Overrated Substantionally every year University wins out there you go. They have the game they want. It's ashame because Boise State which I believed Oklahoma would be to pwoerful proved to us that upests are allowed to happen. It was an amazing game and to me that is what the game is about, the best team winning on that any given saturday not the most known team.

Now you are probably wondering why is a PSU fan attending rutgers games? Maybe not? Well my father would get credentials to games and shoot RU and Temple games( I know Temple lol) so as a young kid I would go along. He could always get me and my brother in, When Miami would come up here and kill Rutgers you could always see NFL talent and almost for free back then. Now I believe the best player I've seen right on the sideline had to be Michael Vick at Temple, yes he isn't to smart but anyways it was absoulutely crazy to see him making these moves right in front of you and being said field level is always alot of fun to watch a game. Ok well I witnessed history as the RU faithful say twice in a row. I'm looking forward to seeing West Virginia roll into town next week to take on the Scarlet Knights, once again I will be in attendance. Hopefully I will have pictures, my phone for a all that it cost doesn't get great pictures. So my dad will probably bring his digital cam and a lens with it so he can get pictures. Ok time to go socut some Suburban One hs talent ha ha, and wait for the Blue and White to play Indiana.

Star Player Evaluation

South Florida

Matt Grothe, QB- Looked unstoppable in the first half. Very Smooth runner, had good elusivness and kept the chains moving. Did a good job in placing the ball where only his recievers could get it. 2nd half held onto the ball to long when pressured. Was flushed out of the pocket on RU's Defenses terms, not his own.

Rutgers

Ray Rice, RB-Ray did a great job in keeping the chains moving with his breaking tackle ability. Almost broke a few runs to the house. Gained 189 yards on 31 carries, helping his team control the clock.

The endzone South Florida was warming up in before the start of the game.(Sorry my camera phone picks up so much light.)

Just getting started.

2007-10-19T17:26:00.000-04:00

Well I enjoy covering sports and it's something I want to do in the future as a professional. So I have started this blog as just a practice to improve writing but to also cover sports for fun. It's a busy time of year but my favorite sport to cover will be Football. Feel free to leave comments on posts and pertaining to the topics at hand. Thank you and hope you enjoy your day.