05 November 2007

Football

Quite a weekend in Football. Once again, with nothing on the agenda until later in the evening on Saturday, we were able to fire up 2 TV's and the laptop.

NCAA
Games watched in full: Florida-Vandy, Penn State-Purdue, Wisconsin-Ohio State, LSU-Alabama, Michigan-Michigan State, Texas-Oklahoma State, Arizona St.-Oregon

Games watched (parts) : Iowa-Northwestern, Arkansas-South Carolina, Navy-Notre Dame, South Florida-Cincinnati, Kansas-Nebraska, Boston College-Florida State

NFL
Games watched: Denver-Detroit, New Orleans-Jacksonville, San Diego-Minnesota, Cincinnati-Buffalo, New England-Indianapolis, Dallas-Philadelphia

As for NCAA Football, no doubt in my mind that Oregon and LSU are the top two teams. Say what you will about Ohio State being undefeated, but they're undefeated against inferior opponents. Each week another undefeated team gets knocked off, it's good news. I just don't think we're going to end up with the clusterfuck everyone thinks we will. Kansas will lose the Big 12 Championship game if it has to face Oklahoma. Ohio State stands a good chance of losing to Michigan. LSU has a tough schedule, but if they can keep from shooting themselves in the foot with stupid penalties and a coach that has balls for brains, they might run the gamut and come out with only one-loss (and again, a 1 loss SEC team in the championship game? This SERIOUSLY still upsets me about Auburn in 2004). As for Oregon, I think they'll cruise on in with Dixon healthy.

Oregon-LSU would be a hell of a game. High scoring. LSU-Ohio State would just give OSU another chance to be the SEC's whipping Boy.

Glad to see NAVY take it to the Golden Domers who are now 1-8. Which is pretty fucking fantastic.

How Auburn is 6-3 and Florida is 5-3 and yet Florida is still ranked ahead of the Auburn team that marched into Gainesville and beat the Gators is beyond my comprehension. Alas, the South Florida loss is starting to lose its luster, if a loss could have a luster. HUGE game against Georgia this week, not only because it's the South's oldest rivalry, but because Georgia has somehow managed to land themselves in the top 10. If Tuberville can pull out another road victory, that bodes well for momentum going into an off week before a Thanksgiving-weekend (!!!!) Iron Bowl.

Which is awesome because it means I'll be in Alabama to get a piece of the pre-game hype that I've missed since I left the state 5 years ago. I haven't had a fully hyped Iron Bowl since 2001.

As for Alabama, they looked okay. Yeah, the kept the game tight all the way until the end, but consider 1)LSU's penalties, 2) LSU's turnovers, and 3) Bama's complete inability to translate those early turnovers into points, and one can see why LSU managed to pull the win out of their ass. That said, Saban has them headed in the right direction and for the next 3 years (until he leaves for his next coaching job), he'll have that team turned around. Scary. But at least, finally, the Iron Bowl will mean something again on the national stage with both teams likely ranked in the top 25.

As for NFL, I have nothing to say about the GAME OF THE CENTURY. Actually kind of boring. The Pats floundered until Brady decided to try and then Peyton choked the game away. If nothing else, though, the game was worth watching just to see Randy Moss play. Incredible athlete. His one handed catch was just absolutely SICK.

Good to see the Saints turning things around. They got a little momentum going, forced themselves through some stumbling blocks and have reeled off 4 wins a row. The O-Line has blocked, giving Brees time to find his receivers, who have done a good job not dropping the ball as much as usual. Brees has been allowed to find his rhythm and while not doing mind-blowing, Purple Jesus level work out of the backfield, Reggie has been consistent and a good source of yardage, giving the Saints more opportunities. The defense (especially the God-awful secondary) leaves lots to be desired. And I don't care if McKenzie returned that INT for a TD, that still doesn't make up for his otherwise horrible play all season. And last season. And the season before that.

Still, it's hard to complain now that we're 4-4 and sitting only a half game behind the Bucs for first place in the NFC South. The remainder of the schedule looks pretty easy, especially considering we have the Rams and Texans up next. Being at 6-4 headed into Thanksgiving is a REAL possibility, as well as having a shot to sweep the other division foes and lock down the division. It hasn't been pretty, but they're turning the season around one week at a time. Big ups to Brees and Coach Sean for getting that team motivated and turn it around.

Also thanks to my brother Marques Colston for rising from the Fantasy graveyard the last 2 weeks. I greatly appreciate it.

And the aforementioned Purple Jesus performance for the Vikings was amazing. I'm glad I got to watch some of it live. Fucking sick. And it makes me giddy just thinking about having him on my fantasy team. Unbelievable pick-up for me, just before he broke big.

++++

Book of the Week: The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly
Movie of the Week: The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D
Record of the Week: Time Out of Mind - Bob Dylan
Current Viewing: The Wire, Season 1