Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1449 of 1503)

      College Football Power Rankings

      November 6, 2006 /

      With the new AP and USA Today Top 25 polls posting over the weekend, it’s time to take a look at the top 10 in college football.

      These two polls can never just get along can they? The top two spot after Ohio State in both of these polls are always off. USA Today likes Texas at No. 3, while the AP prefers Louisville. As for me, Louisville still doesn’t crack my top five.

      Here is how I see the Top 10:

      1. Ohio State (10-0)
      Previous Rank: #1
      There is no question to me who the two most improved teams are from last year in the NCAA. One is Illinois, who gave the Buckeyes fits in the second half of OSU’s 17-10 victory in Champaign on Saturday. The other one you’ll have to wait until I talk about Florida. As far as the Buckeyes, hey, every program has hiccups at some point during the year. The main thing is that OSU survived and is still standing tall at 10-0.

      2. Michigan (10-0)
      Previous Rank: #2
      Speaking of hiccups, the Wolverines almost choked away a huge lead to a Mid-America Conference team. And not even the best MAC school – it was Ball State. There are only two takeaways from Michigan’s narrow victory over the Cardinals on Saturday. One, the Wolverines won. And two, WR Mario Manningham may not be 100% yet, but he was on the field again for the Wolverines, which is huge.

      3. Texas (9-1)
      Previous Rank: #3
      The Long Horns are really on the outside looking in as far as National Championship. Even at 9-1, I don’t think Texas’s schedule is tough enough to slide into a title appearance. Especially not with Kansas State and Texas A&M left on its schedule. The Wildcats aren’t ranked and with the Aggies losing to Oklahoma on Saturday, they might not be ranked by the time Texas faces them on November 24.

      4. Auburn (9-1)
      Previous Rank: #5
      The Tigers are an interesting case as far as a title appearance. Yeah, Auburn lost to Arkansas. But the Razorbacks keep winning and therefore are making the Tigers strength of schedule look better and better every week. If Arkansas can pull off wins against Tennessee this Saturday and LSU in two weeks, the Tigers might seemingly come out of nowhere to make a National Championship appearance. This all depends on if Auburn doesn’t choke against Georgia and Alabama, of course.

      5. Florida (8-1)
      Previous Rank: #6
      If you read what I wrote for Ohio State, you’re waiting for me to tell you what other team I think has most improved since last year. If you didn’t read what I wrote for the Buckeyes, than what the hell are you doing skipping all the way to #5? Anyway, Vanderbilt is the other team that I feel has come a long way since last season. The Gators still got the job done on Saturday, but I guarantee you it was a lot tougher than maybe Florida expected. Best case scenario for Florida: win out, hopefully play and defeat Auburn in the SEC Championship game and hope that the BCS doesn’t screw you over by ignoring that gauntlet of a season you just went through. Losing DL Marcus Thomas is a huge blow, though.

      6. Louisville (8-0)
      Previous Rank: #9
      If I liked USC a little bit more than I do, I would put the Cardinals at No. 7…but I don’t feel for the Trojans. While Louisville beat a very good West Virginia team, how could the BCS possibly put the Cardinals in the National Championship – even with an undefeated season? If Louisville gets passed over for a title appearance, then maybe this will provoke the Cardinals to put a little more “meat” on their schedule from here on out. In my opinion, Louisville is lucky that Rutgers have been so good this season, because it will appear that the Cardinals played a “decent” schedule.

      7. USC (7-1)
      Previous Rank: #7
      I said it on Saturday night in my college football recap and I’ll say it again now – where was the 42-0 effort all season Trojans? USC has sleepwalked through its entire ’06 schedule and finally got tripped up two weeks ago. Now, the Trojans face a tough three game stretch against Oregon, California and Notre Dame. But every single game will be at home! How did USC get this schedule?

      8. Notre Dame (8-1)
      Previous Rank: #10
      The Irish get this spot by default with West Viringia and Tennessee losing. But hey, that’s not me taking away that hard-fought 45-26 win over North Carolina they just had. Or the wins ND will get over Air Force and Army the next two weeks either. Actually, you want one of my upsets of the year? The Falcons will top the Irish this Satuday.

      9. California (8-1)
      Previous Rank: Unranked
      Boy the Bears have really come full circle haven’t they? Tennessee trounces California in the season opener, only for the Bears to take a full season to come all the way back and re-join the top 10…ahead of Tennessee. Interesting.

      10. Arkansas (8-1)
      Previous Rank: Unranked
      Can I say it again? I hate this #10 spot. West Virginia’s offense is unreal with Pat White and Steve Slaton, but the defense is atrocious. Tennessee fights hard, but I think they’ve been overachieving all year and the loss to LSU sealed that notion for me. And LSU has let me down two before (I picked the Tigers to beat Auburn and Florida earlier in the year). So, why not jinx the hard-charging Razorbacks? Expect Arkansas to fall this week at home against the Volunteers – it’s just the curse of the #10 spot.

      College Football

      College Football Players of the Week

      November 6, 2006 /

      Here are your college football players of the week.

      Remember, if you feel that another player was worthy of higher honors than the two I chose, post the athlete and let me hear why you think he or they were more deserving.

      Here are your top performers of the week:

      Offensive Player of the Week: Colt Brennan, QB Hawaii
      Although Brennan’s Warriors didn’t play the stiffest of competition in Utah State, the quarterback had quite a game on Saturday. Brennan tossed six touchdown passes in Hawaii’s 63-10 win over the Aggies. He also broke Timmy Chang’s single season record for touchdown passes (39). Brennan didn’t stop there, either, as he set a new Hawaii record for consecutive passes without throwing an interception at 182 (he was intercepted in the third quarter on Saturday to halt the mark).

      Defensive Player of the Week: Quinton Culberson, LB Miss. State, Erin Henderson, LB Maryland, J Lehman, LB Illinois
      I can’t decide on which out of these three linebackers had the best day, so I’ll give due to all of them.

      – Culberson had team-high 10 tackles and returned an interception 51 yards for a touchdown in the Bull Dogs 24-16 win over Alabama.

      – Henderson recorded 18 tackles and a forced fumble while leading a defense that held Clemson to just 12 points in Maryland’s 13-12 win over the Tigers.

      – Anybody that saw at least a fraction of the Illinois-Ohio State game saw Lehman in on virtually every Illini play on defense. The kid was a machine in recording 19 tackles, a forced fumble, a sack and recorded at least three tackles for loss in U of I’s 17-10 defeat to the Buckeyes. The guy even spent his time in-between plays orchestrating chants for the crowd…literally.

      College Football

      NFL Sunday Night Game Wrap: Indianapolis 27, New England 20

      November 5, 2006 /

      Well this game didn’t turn out to be the barnburner everybody was expecting (including myself). Yeah, it was close for the entire contest, but the Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning contest was severely lopsided in Manning’s favor. Brady finished the game with four interceptions and no touchdowns, while Manning threw for 326 yards and two scores.

      Besides one quarter, New England didn’t impress me at all. Maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise with the Patriots having to play Indy on just six days rest. But I just expected more from a 6-1 bunch that looked so good in Minnesota on Monday night. Every time New England got something going, Brady would throw a terrible pass for an INT and the Patriots just never seemed in rhythm.

      With the Bears losing to Miami (yikes), the Colts now remain the only undefeated team in the league. I find it compelling that Indy is 8-0, yet have a terrible rush defense and have to virtually put up 20-plus points a game to win. Somebody has to knock this team off, right? Right?

      Most impressed with: You gotta love what Manning did again tonight, but how about Marvin Harrison? That tiptoe grab he made in the end zone for his second touchdown reception was phenomenal. Harrison finished with eight catches for 145 yards and two scores.

      Least impressed with: Brady was brutal, but what about Adam Vinatieri? He missed two field goals – including one at the end of the game that could have sealed the deal for Indy. How quickly the NE fans forget what this guy did for them too. Vinatieri was booed before, during and after every single one of his kicks.

      Don’t forget to check out my NFL Random Thoughts blog on Monday.

      NFL

      Weekend Wrap: Late action in the NFL

      November 5, 2006 /

      After crazy action in the early games, order was completely restored in the late action…almost.

      Quick Shots:
      Anybody want to argue with me that the Pittsburgh Steelers are done? Anybody want to argue with me that Ben Roethlisberger needs to be holding a clipboard right now? After Roethlisberger’s masterpiece against the Raiders last week, Big Ben goes out against the Broncos and gets outperformed by Jake Plummer. Yes, I said Jake Plummer. In Denver’s 31-20 win over Pittsburgh, Plummer threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns, while Roethlisberger threw three picks. Yes, I know he passed for 433 yards, but some of his throws in this game and therefore this season are just painful to watch. Nice game by Javon Walker (six receptions for 134 yards, two touchdowns and one rush for 72 yards and a touchdown)…Here is the “almost” in the order being completely restored out of the late action in the NFL – the 49ers defeated the Vikings 9-3. Okay, moving on…The Browns hung tough with the Chargers, but LaDainian Tomlinson cruised for 172 yards and three touchdowns in San Diego’s 32-25 victory over Cleveland. Phillip Rivers looked good in the win as well, throwing for 211 yards on 19 of 28 passing. The most productive tight end in the league, Kellen Winslow had a solid contest – catching 11 passes for 78 yards. With Cleveland moving the ball pretty well against a normally stout Chargers defense, you know what San Diego is thinking – one game down, three more to go until Shawne Merriman gets back in the starting lineup.

      Most impressed with: Javon Walker is making Green Bay look silly that they didn’t even talk with the guy about a new contract last year before he got injured. LT’s day against Cleveland was equally impressive as well.

      Least impressed with: I’ve said my piece on Roethlisberger. I like the guy, but he just looks like he needs more time to recover from everything he’s had to go threw this season. And I apologize to all the Charlie Batch haters out there, but the guy isn’t that bad and might not lose games to say, oh, the freaking Oakland Raiders!

      NFL

      Weekend Wrap: Early Action in the NFL

      November 5, 2006 /

      Was it opposite day in the early action?

      Quick Shots:
      What a weird day in the NFL and it gets no stranger than Dolphins 31, Bears 13. Rex Grossman was horrible. Joey Harrington was horrible. And I wasn’t there, but I’m sure the food at Solider Field was probably horrible too. Harrington threw two picks, but managed to throw three touchdown passes against a great Chicago defense. Grossman threw three picks and looked a shade worse than how he did against Arizona on Monday night a few weeks ago…The second head-scratchier of out of the early games was the Lions trouncing the Falcons 30-14. Two main takeaways from this contest: One, Detroit’s offense is damn good under Mark Martz. And two, Atlanta’s defense is atrocious without John Abraham. Roy Williams is starting to be a dominant wide out and Kevin Jones runs as hard as anybody in the league…I’ve never seen a team handle an opponent on both sides of the ball, but lose by 14. Despite the 24-10 score, the Packers outplayed the Bills on Sunday, yet two Brett Favre interceptions (one was returned for a TD) killed Green Bay and made the most-awful J.P. Losman a winner…Larry Johnson is starting to run over opponents on a consistent basis like everybody thought he would coming into the year. Johnson rushed for 172 yards and one score in the Chiefs 31-17 win over the Rams. Despite a great day by Marc Bulger (354 yards, one TD) St. Louis can’t defend the run and just came out flat in this contest…Looking at the score, you’d think that the Giants almost let one get away against the Texans. But New York’s 14-10 win over Houston came without several key starters, including Plaxico Burress. Tiki Barber scored his first touchdown of the season and rushed for 115 yards on 17 carries. Despite a nice effort by the defense, Houston’s lack of a running game killed the Texans in the end…Was there a better offseason signing than Drew Brees for the Saints? What a day by Brees, who threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns in New Orleans 31-14 pounding of the Bucs. Devery Henderson caught only three balls, but finished with two touchdowns and 111 receiving yards. With the Falcons losing, New Orleans is back in the drivers seat in the NFC South…Here is when you know you had a good day: The Redskins gave up 378 yards on defense, yet still beat division rival Dallas 22-19. Clinton Portis had a fantastic 38-yard run for a TD in the first half and Mark Brunell (192 yards, one TD) actually looked like an NFL quarterback…I think it’s clear after the Ravens 26-20 win over the Bengals on Sunday that Baltimore is the obvious class of the AFC North. The Bengals are just bad and even let Steve McNair throw for 245 yards…The ass-kicker of the day goes to the Jaguars. Jacksonville cruised to a 37-7 win over the Titans as backup QB David Garrard threw for 177 yards and three touchdowns. On the ugly side the quarterback picture, rookie Vince Young threw three picks, including one that was returned for a score…

      Most impressed with: The Dolphins and Lions get my vote for most impressive in the early games. Not only did the beat good teams, they also beat the snot out of them.

      Least impressed with: Rex Grossman, Michael Vick, Brett Favre and Vince Young did a nice job aiding in their teams losses on Sunday. Vick sure came back to earth didn’t he?

      NFL

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑