Category: College Football (Page 296 of 296)

The Ohio State Buckeyes (#4) will host will host the Texas Longhorns (#2) at the Horseshoe on Saturday night in one of the biggest non-conference match-ups in years. The winner of this game should be the consensus #2 team behind USC in the polls and should be able to control its own destiny for a shot at the National Championship.

The Buckeyes are only a half-point favorite at home, so in the eyes of many the Longhorns are the better team. Here’s why they’re wrong and why the Buckeyes will win this showdown:

1. The Buckeye defense.
The Buckeyes under Jim Tressel are known for their defense, and this year is no different. They have the best linebackers in the country along with excellent defensive backs, making this defense reminiscent of the dominating 2002 defense that led Ohio State to the National Championship. Texas quarterback Vince Young shredded the Michigan defense last year with his running, but I suspect that the Buckeye linebackers will be a much bigger challenge. The Buckeyes will force Young to beat them with his arm, which could lead to some big turnovers.

2. The Buckeyes now have an offense.
For the first time in several years, the Buckeyes have an offense that strikes fear in the eyes of opponents. Their trio of receivers – Ginn, Holmes and Gonzales – might be the most explosive in the country. Jim Tressel completely revamped the offense starting with the Purdue game last year, implementing a spread offense that puts the quarterback in the shotgun and takes advantage of the awesome talent at receiver. The new offense was instrumental in their dominating wins over Michigan and Oklahoma State at the end of last season and it carried over in their opener against Miami. Ginn was constantly double-teamed, leaving Santonio Holmes with single coverage which was exploited with ease by the Buckeyes.

Everyone is focusing on who will play quarterback for the Buckeyes but they are missing the point. Both quarterbacks have excelled under the new offense because they have so many tools, and both quarterbacks bring different skills to the table. If Tressel controls this situation, he will be able to utilize both players and adjust his game plan based on the opponent. Troy Smith in particular can spark an offense with his tremendous running ability. His performance against Michigan last year was just as impressive as Vince Young’s performance in the Rose Bowl.

3. Tressel vs. Brown.
Finally, you have to look at both coaches and give the edge to Jim Tressel over Mack Brown. Brown has never won a conference championship, let alone a National Championship. He finds ways to lose big games. On the other hand, Tressel’s teams excel in big games. Tressel is 3-1 against Michigan and 3-1 in bowl games along with winning the National Championship in 2002. If you give him time to prepare for an opponent his teams are very tough to beat.

Throw in the fact that the game is in Columbus and I have to give the edge to Ohio State. This should be one of the best games of the year as two of the most storied programs in NCAA history face off for the first time ever. Right or wrong, I’ll post again after the game with a recap.

ESPN has fired Trev Alberts, the opinionated college football analyst, after Alberts refused to show up for work. Alberts reportedly complained about playing “second fiddle” on the popular GameDay program.

This is a huge surprise. Alberts and his sidekick Mark May sometimes sounded like two idiots on their College Football Scoreboard program, but they were entertaining and they loved to ridicule each other’s opinions on the show. Does Alberts really think he can get a better gig? He had it made at ESPN. So what if the GameDay guys got most of the publicity. It looks like he let his fragile ego get in the way. What a sap.

Alberts was known for making bold statements and predictions with absolute certainty, which often made him look foolish when he was wrong. For example, in 2002 he was one of many “experts” who claimed that Ohio State had “no chance” of beating Miami in the National Championship game, but he said it so loudly and often that he practically became a villain in Buckeye country.

Alberts and May are the kind of analysts college football fans love to hate. As for Trev, it looks like his off-air personality is just as obnoxious as his on-air personality.

Most of the college football nation was shocked to see Notre Dame dominate Pitt on Saturday. We shouldn’t have been that surprised. Charlie Weis showed that he’s not just a great offensive coordinator. He just might become a great head coach as well. On the other side of the ball, Dave Wannstedt demonstrated again that he’s a mediocre head coach.

Weis is one of the reasons everyone is calling Bill Belichick a genius. Belichick let Weis run the New England offense, and Weis responded by helping the Patriots win three Super Bowls. He’s a brilliant play-caller, and his offense is much easier to implement than the complicated West Coast system favored by Tyrone Willingham. He aslo inherited some serious talent at quarterback and tailback, making the transition to college much easier. Pitt was supposed to have a good defense, but Notre Dame ran and passed the ball like they were playing a high school team.

We also saw a glimpse of how Weis runs a team. He does not tolerate mistakes, and he let one of his defensive players have it on the sidelines in the fourth quarter.

The question now is whether Notre Dame can do some damage to the heavyweights on its brutal schedule this season. I think they can. Michigan is up this week, and Weis must be licking his chops after seeing the Michigan defense give up over 400 yards to Northern Illinois in week one. I like this matchup for Notre Dame.

Reggie Bush has been getting plenty of well-deserved hype as the most exciting player in college football. Pat Forde, however, points out that Bush might be challenged this season by Ohio State’s Ted Ginn Jr. Last season Ginn touched the ball 59 times and scored 8 touchdowns. Naturally, the Buckeyes will be sure to get the ball in his hands even more this season. Ginn might be the fastest player in college football, and the Buskeyes will be a much better team this year, so look for Ginn to give Bush a run for his money.

If SI’s Steve Mandell is correct, we’ll be treated to a Bush vs. Ginn matchup in the Rose Bowl, as he predicts that USC will face Ohio State for this season’s National Championship. That’s not a bad prediction, and it would be a great game. We’ll know early if Ohio State can meet the high expectations, as they host #2 Texas in Ohio Stadium on September 10th.