Category: College Football (Page 84 of 296)
Oklahoma is off to a 4-0 start, but it’s one of the more strange 4-0 starts I can remember seeing.
The Sooners struggled in Week 1 with Utah State, destroyed what was thought to be a very good Florida State team in Week 2, squeaked by a solid, but not elite Air Force team in Week 3 and just minutes ago survived a scare from a less-than-stellar Cincinnati team. All that matters is the 4-0 start, obviously, but isn’t it a little alarming that the Sooners seem to be playing down to some of their opponents?
Since winning the national title in 2000, Bob Stoops-coached Oklahoma teams have a slightly disturbing habit of losing to inferior teams. Stoops often catches crap for losing in bowl games, but to me, stuff like that is forgivable. It’s when a team loses concentration and struggles to put away a team that it should have no problem burying that I worry about.
One problem Oklahoma runs into is that I’m sure these teams make this the biggest game of their season. Utah State could go 1-11, but if the win is over Oklahoma, fans will never forget that team. Tonight’s near-giveaway against Cincinnati could also be attributed to having Texas next week. It’s the biggest game on the schedule for the Sooners, and perhaps they started to look ahead a little too soon.
Again, the Sooners haven’t lost any of these games this year, and maybe Utah State, Air Force and Cincinnati will go on to have great seasons, we don’t know yet. We do know that these aren’t isolated incidents, however, and the precedent for losing one is there.
While the face of college football is constantly changing, one thing seems to remain a constant: If you can play good defense and run the ball, you’re going to win a lot of football games.
Alabama has those qualities, which is why its the reigning national champion, and the current No. 1 team in the country.
The Tide fell behind today, but on the back of its defense and run game clawed back into its game with Arkansas and eventually picked up a 24-20 win in front of a raucous crowd in Fayetteville.
Mark Ingram ran for 157 yards, many of which came with one or more Razorback on his back. His counterpart Trent Richardson added 85 more yards, and the team finished with 228 on the ground. It was punctuated with a 2-yard run by Greg McElroy on fourth-and-inches from midfield with under a minute to play. I’d say Nick Saban made a gutty call going for it in that situation, but I don’t know if anyone had any doubt the Tide was going to convert at that point.
The defense gave up some yards to Ryan Mallett, who threw for 357, but they also forced a career-high three interceptions from the highly-touted quarterback. Two of those came in the final 5 minutes, one setting up the go-ahead score. Arkansas isn’t much of a running team, but it was held to 64 yards on 20 carries.
This was just the first game in a really tough three-game stretch for Alabama, but it’s arguably the toughest of the three. Florida is next, but that’s at home, and the Gators’ offense doesn’t seem like it will pose much of a threat. That’s followed by a trip to South Carolina, and while the Gamecocks look much improved this year, I don’t think they’re ready for the Crimson Tide.
I had my doubts early in the year about Alabama’s chances to repeat, but Ingram and Richardson can run on anyone, and that defense — which just passed what will be its toughest test of the season — is only going to continue to get better. At this point, I don’t know who can beat the Tide.
The Big Ten is in the middle of a brutal stretch of games today. Of the 10 conference teams in action, eight of them play MAC schools. The other two play FCS opponents.
Well done, Big Ten.
It’s weekends like this that are embarrassing, and spit in the face of the anti-playoff “every week matters” argument. These weekends are even more embarrassing when a team loses (looking at you, Purdue). From some of the noise on Twitter this morning, it’s a money issue, and the conference needs these games to offset Title IX losses.
Really? Sounds like a pathetic excuse to schedule a bunch of cupcakes, to me.
To be fair to the conference, it’s not the only one that schedules like this, and some of its teams schedule some difficult games early in the season. This weekend is just so glaringly awful that it has to be pointed out. But as long as the BCS is around, nothing is going to change, and we can be sure to see more weekends like this throughout the country.
Perhaps the only thing worse for Jake Locker than his atrocious performance against Nebraska last week, is the fact that he has an off week to think about said performance and so does everyone else.
Locker was many expert’s favorite to be the top pick, or at least the top quarterback, in the 2011 NFL Draft because of his arm strength and mobility. The 4-for-20 stinker against Nebraska changed a lot of those minds, however, including Locker’s stalker biggest fan, ESPN’s Todd McShay.
So who steps up in his place? We may find out today. The other top QB prospects this year — Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett and Stanford’s Andrew Luck — each have a big chance to showcase their talents this afternoon on a big stage.
Mallett gets a chance to prove he can do what Locker couldn’t a week ago: Have a big game against an elite defense. The Razorbacks play host to top-ranked Alabama, and while it’s a relatively inexperienced secondary that he’ll be facing, carving up a Nick Saban-coached defense can do wonders for one’s draft stock. A win could vault Mallett to the top of draft boards, but he could also get there in a loss. Arkansas’ defense has never been looked at as a strength, so if Mallett has a strong game in a shootout, he should still get a lot of credit.
Luck isn’t facing a defense near as good as the one Mallett will see today, but he is playing on a big stage. Stanford heads to Notre Dame, which — like it or not — is going to get him a lot of attention. The Irish secondary is nowhere near elite, but if Luck puts up huge numbers, he wouldn’t be the first quarterback to be elevated for it (see: Russell, Jamarcus).
Stanford and Luck should have more success today, but it’s probably Mallett who has more to gain. Either way, all Locker can do is sit and watch.
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