College football 2011

[sunvalleylaw]

Any fans? I often prefer college ball to the pros. My team (WA Huskies) has a new division, and is currently on top. But those were against like Eastern Washington, and Hawaii. Some good aggressive play early, but sloppy later in some respects, having to hold on to win in both games.

I am hoping my alma mater can continue to rebuild after having some success last season or two after years of drought. So far, sophomore QB Price is doing a good job, which is good news after losing QB standout Jake Locker. This new Pac 12 thing could be interesting too. I am tired of the more modern "arrogant" Ducks, and hoping to see them humbled some. They have a loss under their belt already.

So, what'choo got?! Who is your team and how is it going?

[marnold***]

My team is Michigan. I couldn't see the amazing fourth quarter since we cut the cord here so no cable, no ESPN. Impressive that all four of Robinson's touchdowns were from under center.

[R_of_G]

USF is 2-0, currently ranked #22 after wins at Notre Dame and last night versus Ball State.
We're currently one of two ranked teams in the Big East (along with W. Virginia).
I'm hoping for a run at the Big East title this year (and the automatic invite to a BCS bowl) before TCU comes in next year.
Go Bulls!

[sunvalleylaw]

@Marnold, Michigan is a favorite old opponent, going back to the '78 Rosebowl (listened on the radio as Dad drove us back from skiing) for me. I like to see Michigan do well and would love to see a bowl game with both our teams competing again.

@R_of_G, I have not followed USF or that conference, being as you know, a bit provincial in my football tastes. I look forward to following their progress and learning a little more.

[R_of_G]

@R_of_G, I have not followed USF or that conference, being as you know, a bit provincial in my football tastes. I look forward to following their progress and learning a little more.

Yeah you and your west coast bias.

The Big East will always be a basketball conference first, but it's come a long way in a relatively short time in football. The conference is consistently producing strong competition as well as sending many solid players to NFL rosters. Darrelle Revis and Ray Rice are both Big East alumni and both among the top players at their position in the NFL.

USF's program has come a long way as well, and produces more and more NFL players every year.

Next year TCU joins the conference, not sure how they're East, but they're Big so that should up the competition level like only a team from Texas can.

[R_of_G]

With Saturday's win against UTEP the USF Bulls move to 4-0 and are currently ranked #16 in the AP poll.
Next week we begin conference play which will provide a much bigger challenge than the last few weeks of cupcake teams.
Go Bulls!

[marnold***]

Sooooo, now that Texas A&M are officially a part of the SEC, where I'm sure they're convinced they will compete with the LSUs and the Alabamas of the world, will they have to change their fight song/war hymn because it's all about beating Texas? Maybe it could add a line about "Hey! Bear Bryant once coached for us too!"

In other news, Michigan is a mostly irrelevant 4-0 and will likely go 5-0 when they host Minnesota. After that, it's going to be, "Let's hope we get bowl-eligible." They have to get better in a hurry because I believe that it is next year that they play Alabama in Texas. Evidently that's the closest point between the two.

[R_of_G]

Sooooo, now that Texas A&M are officially a part of the SEC, where I'm sure they're convinced they will compete with the LSUs and the Alabamas of the world, will they have to change their fight song/war hymn because it's all about beating Texas?

There's the perfect example of the kinds of traditions these schools are destroying for monetary gain.

As to the competition level they'll achieve, they'll go from being an also-ran in the Big 12 to being an also-ran in the SEC.

I do have to thank LSU for taking out West Virginia making USF the highest ranked Big East team. It could be an interesting year if USF can successfully navigate the Big East schedule as our last game is against West Virginia which could amount to a conference championship game.

Of course USF has a history of losing one game and then going on a losing binge for four weeks but that was under Jim Leavitt and when it happened three straight years I considered it a problem with the coach being unable to motivate his players. I'll give Skip Holtz the benefit of the doubt for now.

[sunvalleylaw]

The Huskies won last week, and followed up yesterday with a solid effort defensively and offensively to beat the Utes (new Pac-12 opponent) decisively, without last minute heroics, and end up 4-1. Not bad!!

[Beerman***]

LSU's defense is a BEAST! They play with you like an animal and tease the offense and then take the head off. I'm not a huge fan but I do like to watch good defense.

[R_of_G]

Well USF was clearly over-ranked at #16. The Bulls were humiliated (44-17) by unranked Pittsburgh on Thursday.

We beat Notre Dame.
Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh killed us.
Proof that the transitive property does not apply to football.

Last night's big games between top 10 teams were all rather one-sided and not as much fun to watch as I'd hoped.

[marnold***]

I think Michigan is significantly over rated right now too. Minnesota is nothing to write home about but I didn't anticipate that they'd win 58-0.

[sunvalleylaw]

Don't look now, but the Huskies are having a pretty darned good season so far. Dismantled Colorado they did. Price looked great!

[sunvalleylaw]

Last night's game on nat'l TV? Don't wanna talk about it.

[R_of_G]

USF is in yet another tailspin following a first loss. It seems to not matter to this program if the coach is Jim Leavitt or Skip Holtz... when this team is ranked, as soon they lose their first game, go ahead and count on them losing the next three or four.

It's a real shame because this year was their best shot to win the Big East, a conference which will cease to exist as a BCS conference within the next two seasons.

[sunvalleylaw]

The UofW Huskies rallied against Arizona, and closed out a tough, somewhat crazy game (at least in the beginning with penalties, strange officiating, etc.) with a solid win to secure a 6th win at this point in the season. This is much better than I expected this year. Polk's over 100 rushing and over 100 receiving effort was a great effort as a junior. Coach Sark said he leaned on him more than he wanted to, but he really responded. As Sark said in the post game interview, the team responded to the challenges of the game withe mental toughness that is a change from a couple years ago where the challenges might have set up a loss. I hope the team continues to play, and closes out the season strongly, to head to a bowl!

[R_of_G]

The UofW Huskies rallied against Arizona, and closed out a tough, somewhat crazy game (at least in the beginning with penalties, strange officiating, etc.) with a solid win to secure a 6th win at this point in the season. This is much better than I expected this year. Polk's over 100 rushing and over 100 receiving effort was a great effort as a junior. Coach Sark said he leaned on him more than he wanted to, but he really responded. As Sark said in the post game interview, the team responded to the challenges of the game withe mental toughness that is a change from a couple years ago where the challenges might have set up a loss. I hope the team continues to play, and closes out the season strongly, to head to a bowl!

One more win and they're "bowl eligible." A couple more and they could go to one that is somewhat respectable. Good for them.

Speaking of PAC teams, I was quite disappointed with ABC's decision to go "regional coverage" with last night's games. I'd anticipated watching Stanford/USC (which turned out to be a great game) and was instead presented with Clemson/Georgia Tech which wasn't nearly as interesting to me.

[sunvalleylaw]

The news reports indicated that this 6th win makes them bowl eligible now, (http://blog.thenewstribune.com/uwspo...ixth-win-soon/) which is a good thing at this point in the season with a few weeks to go. The "blackout" from the network coverage was also discussed in my favorite PNW sports page.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/1...ackout-uw.html

[R_of_G]

Reports are that the Big East is poised to extend invites to Boise State, Navy and Air Force for football, as well as SMU, Houston and Central Florida for all sports.

I suppose that with a team from Idaho in the Big East we can now accuse SVL of having an East Coast bias.