College football 2011

[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah, well I am still not a "smurf turf" fan (or of that team). I can appreciate BSU's success, and celebrate a bit with them, but I am just not a fan. I think partly it is the visual similarities to a certain pro team in Colorado that holds me back. Also kind of cracks me up that a team from Boise, Idaho would be considered as part of the "Big East" conference. Seems like the east must have grown very "Big" indeed!

[sunvalleylaw]

Well the big game against the Ducks was last night. (Big game by original Pac 10 standards, especially in the last decade). I was able to follow it only from blog posts in the Tacoma paper, as I don't get the cable channel, and you can't even stream the local radio broadcast over here. Although it was frustrating to see the Huskies' defense get pushed around some, and to see some mistakes that hurt, it was not unexpected given the strength of the UofO program. The Huskies kept playing, and stayed in the game at least. The Huskies are coming back, but the Ducks are still just bigger, stronger and faster.

[Jipes***]

Last sunday I was delighted by the win of the Saints (the team that I follow since my visit in New Orleans in 1999) and very impressed by the regularity and performance of the Packers, Aaron Rodgers seems to be up in the sky and totally "in control"

[Beerman***]

Last sunday I was delighted by the win of the Saints (the team that I follow since my visit in New Orleans in 1999) and very impressed by the regularity and performance of the Packers, Aaron Rodgers seems to be up in the sky and totally "in control"

I know this is supposed to be about 'College' football but since you mentioned the Saints and I, living in (near) New Orleans, I have to ask.....what is it about N.O. that made you like it when you came here? This is an honest and open question from someone who likes living here but continuously wonders what it is that makes people visit us and end of living here, liking it or coming back regularly. Perhaps we should start another thread.
And, I agree about Rodgers. Seems every year or two someone else comes in a shatters records. They don't seem to last as long anymore.

[sunvalleylaw]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/1...n-on-polk.html

Joe Montana's kid, who Price beat for the job of starting QB this year, is going to play for the Huskies today due to Price getting injured last week. The game plan is to run Polk a lot. We'll see how the front line does and how it works. Might be fun to see Montana's kid play though!

[piebaldpython***]

Okla; Okla St; Oregon all bite the dust.

[sunvalleylaw]

I am not a USC fan. In fact, if there is a program I have really disliked over the years, it is USC. Partly the whole "Tusk" think the band did or does. But I have to say, while I was not rooting for SC last night, I was not upset by their success over Oregon. Interesting game to watch.

More interesting than BSU/SanDiegoState game everyone else in the room was getting excited about. While I think it is fun that BSU has had some success, I feel there is a lack of perspective in this area regarding the team. But I suppose that is to be expected.


RE: the Huskies, and the start of redshirt freshman Nick Montana, didn't go so well. They brought Price back in toward the end to bring a spark, but an interception ended that. Disappointing game that they should have won. But the fact that they became "bowl eligible" a couple games ago, and some injuries, made it predictable to this long time Husky fan that they may have poor effort based loss. Well, I hope they close it out well against the Cougars. You never know what is going to happen in the Apple Cup.

[R_of_G]

I am not a USC fan. In fact, if there is a program I have really disliked over the years, it is USC. Partly the whole "Tusk" think the band did or does. But I have to say, while I was not rooting for SC last night, I was not upset by their success over Oregon.

I never particularly cared for USC much either until my sister went there. I tend to root for public schools over private schools. Now I root for USC out of family loyalty, but if they play any of the other "family schools" (Colorado, Texas and USF) I will root against the Trojans. Yesterday I would have rooted for USC regardless because I root for anything that makes the BCS look ridiculous.

As for my alma mater... USF lost 6-3 to Miami yesterday in the single most unwatchable football game I have ever seen.

To make matters worse, USF was dressed in those ridiculous "honor the troops" uniforms with the camouflage sleeves and helmets (which didn't even have a USF logo). Those uniforms also have "Honor" or "Courage" or "Duty" or some other military values word on the back instead of names.

I have nothing against the men and women in our military and I respect their service, but there's no place in college athletics for that kind of jingoism, particularly with a team representing a public school. Let Army, Navy and Air Force represent that. Let the public schools just be themselves. It's bad enough that the pro leagues wrap themselves in the flag and try to superimpose patriotism onto sports, but in the NCAA it's downright disgusting. I can love my country and sports at the same time without having them merged.

[R_of_G]

Another loss in a terrible season for USF, who now sits at the bottom of the Big East. Skip Holtz is not proving himself to be a coach that can bring consistency to this team.

I watched several other games this weekend.

Here's a question for you SVL, other than Stanford, does any team in the PAC12 play defense? I'm not saying those games weren't exciting at points, but watching that Cal/ASU game I was beginning to think it was first team to 100 points wins.

The LSU/Arkansas game was the highlight of the weekend. I was rooting for Arkansas, mostly to blow up the BCS, but have no ties to either team so I didn't care. That DB Mathiue for LSU is one hell of a playmaker. Wherever the ball is, he's never far from it.

[sunvalleylaw]

The Apple cup (UW WSU) was a good game and the offense and Price were great. but the D was nonexistent the first half. It would have been almost worth a loss to get rid of Holt's poor D. How many big 3rd down plays did they give up? I lost count. Fortunately they did better in the second half, pressuring the qb. but the soft D, giving up big chunks of RE in the middle, was very frustrating to watch early on. Holt seems on paper a good coach but he does not seem to be getting the job done. I am glad for the win, but there is work to do. now I guess the Huskies will get to play in the sun dried fruit bowl or whatever.

[sunvalleylaw]

R, re west coast D, my brothers who follow things more closely, talked about the newer west coast offensive
schemes that make it unlikely we will see a return to the glory days of Husky D with multiple shut outs as in the 90s Oregon and USC seemed to hold their civil war opponents to low scores from what I remember from highlights but the mid strength programs like UW and Asu etc have apparently not caught up with the new style offenses including wildcats etc.

[R_of_G]

R, re west coast D, my brothers who follow things more closely, talked about the newer west coast offensive
schemes that make it unlikely we will see a return to the glory days of Husky D with multiple shut outs as in the 90s Oregon and USC seemed to hold their civil war opponents to low scores from what I remember from highlights but the mid strength programs like UW and Asu etc have apparently not caught up with the new style offenses including wildcats etc.

No doubt, there are some very fast-moving offenses in the new PAC-12. Despite my normal defensive snobbery, I actually quite enjoyed that Cal/ASU game. There wasn't a lick of defense being played but the two QBs made for a compelling game. It was more like NBA basketball where the last team with the ball probably wins.

[sunvalleylaw]

Well, Boise State closed out their season with a big win over Arizona State. Better than nothing I guess.

The Huskies go to the Alamo Bowl on the 29th to meet Baylor. You guys watching any games? To me the big game was always the Rose Bowl. OR v. Wisconsin this year. Might be a decent game.

[R_of_G]

The Huskies go to the Alamo Bowl on the 29th to meet Baylor. You guys watching any games? To me the big game was always the Rose Bowl. OR v. Wisconsin this year. Might be a decent game.

I'm watching them all except the so-called "title game." I've already seen those two teams play each other this year. I'm fine with watching teams from conferences other than the one extra-special magical conference we're all supposed to just unquestioningly accept as better than the others. Why doesn't th BCS just take the SEC and make its own league?

[sunvalleylaw]

Fine with me. I frankly most enjoy the old school Rose Bowl game between the Big 10 and Pac 10. But i guess that is now Pac 12.5 and Big 36 or something.

[R_of_G]

Fine with me. I frankly most enjoy the old school Rose Bowl game between the Big 10 and Pac 10. But i guess that is now Pac 12.5 and Big 36 or something.

The Rose and the Cotton were the two I was pretty much guaranteed to find on in my house when I was a kid. I miss the old way where all of the major bowls were played on New Year's Day. We didn't need to spread it out over a week to make prime-time matchups out of #17 vs #9 to sell more ads. We didn't need a super-imposed "title game" between two teams from conferences a computer says are better than the others. There's no more a clear-cut champion now than there was then, we just pretend there is so Dr. Pepper can hand out a shiny crystal trophy and the schools can make even more money that they don't spend on academics.

I think my point is that it's because of games like the Rose Bowl that do carry so much tradition that I am saddened by the current state of college athletics. College athletics have such a rich tradition, in many instances woven in with the history of states or regions. We've decided to throw that by the wayside in order to ostensibly create a minor-league farm system for the NFL and NBA.

[sunvalleylaw]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I am very disappointed that they are tearing down Husky Stadium to put up some overdone pile of crap with sportboxes and such. Instead, they should expand the student bleachers, fit more kids in there. When I went there, there were like 36,000 students. No problem getting the kids to come. Make some alumni gathering place where people can spend money, and keep the rest of the seats as alumni bleachers where normal people that graduated there can afford to sit, and hopefully bring their young kids to the game like my Dad used to.

My brothers who are in the area and closer to the situation place some blame at the feet of UofOregon and all the money they have been spending, saying that UW has to do the same or they won't get players. But to me, the blame lies on the powers that have allowed and even promoted that spending, creating as you say, a farm system, and money making machine. Same with all these night games. It is only for TV. Make most of the games day games again, and allow the free radio broadcast to be streamed.

But that doesn't make money I guess. Anyway, among all that ranting, I agree.

[R_of_G]

And in turn, I agree with your sentiments on building stadiums and the number of prime-time games.

It's funny, I never wanted to turn into one of those "well back in my day we didn't need ________ and we did just fine" kind of people. Now I realize, they were right.

[sunvalleylaw]

Ha! I have had similar thoughts sometimes lately!