| Blue View |
White View |
| Tim Olsen |
Mark Nance |
| Would Chris “Beanie” Wells have made a difference in the USC-Ohio St. game? |
| As I’ve already stated this year, I believe Ohio State is the most overrated team in college football. With their 35-3 embarrassment last Saturday, the Buckeyes confirmed that belief. OSU had a chance to prove their naysayers wrong, playing in the national spotlight against a strong USC team. Instead, the Buckeyes do what they do in big games – they disappeared. “Beanie” Wells is one of the better running backs in the country this season, and Ohio State did miss his ability to run the ball in this game. However, a healthy Beanie would not have changed the outcome of the game. Ohio State is simply not as good as advertised – again – and USC would have taken the Buckeyes to the woodshed even if Beanie had played. |
Beanie Wells has been said to be one of the best running backs in college football, so of course he would have made an impact on the game. I’m not saying OSU would have taken down the Trojans, but a decent running game would have given Ohio State a more respectable showing. Being able to run the ball would have taken a lot of pressure off of Todd Boeckman and the one receiver he threw to that could actually catch the ball. The 71 rushing yards that OSU took to the Colosseum was pathetic at best. The only thing that made their rushing game look better was Boeckman’s laughable 84 yards passing. If Beanie Wells played in that game, I guarantee that both rushing and passing yards would have doubled. Too bad the Trojans probably would have spanked them anyway. |
| Thoughts on the first home game for the Aggies |
| Senior wide receiver Otis Nelson summed it up best after the game when he said this team doesn’t know how to win. That is how the Aggies looked last Saturday night. Despite having the momentum bounce their way early in the form of a muffed punt that eventually turned into a touchdown and the first lead of the season for the Ags, they were unable to keep that momentum going. Some may say these struggles stem from coaching, and to an extent that may be the case. I believe though, that there is something else. This team needs to find its heart. A leader needs to emerge for this team, a player who can motivate and inject an energy. Yes, the Aggies have had their struggles, but the opportunities are there – especially now that they’re in the WAC – to have great moments. Coaching changes aren’t going to help anything if the players don’t believe in themselves. |
How do I start this off without throwing away my Aggie pride? A friend told me this week that Aggie pride usually shows up around the week before basketball season. USU played an awful game against a great team. Utah outran us, outpassed us and had more fans than we did. It was not a pretty sight. Not only did Utah put up 58 points on us, but they did it without even trying. I was pleasantly surprised when ESPN mentioned Utah State on their Web site. However, the story was explaining how Coach Brent Guy should get canned for having such a bad record. In the last four years you can count our victories on one hand. Get Brent Guy out now so we can at least save face with one win. Well, I guess Coach Guy may get that one win this week against Idaho, but if we lose, our coach might as well get on the bus with the Vandals, because he won’t be welcome here. |
| Did the controversial call at the end of Denver-San Diego game cost the Chargers the game? |
| Absolutely. I can’t say I wasn’t happy to see Jay Cutler throw another touchdown pass as he is the quarterback for my fantasy team, but he should have never had the opportunity. That is one of the strangest rules I’ve seen in the NFL in awhile, and I’m sure after this weekend’s shenanigans it will be amended in the offseason. What is the point of having instant replay if the refs aren’t allowed to fix mistakes they themselves make. Sure, the play was whistled dead despite the fact that Cutler clearly fumbled the ball, but the ref admitted he made a mistake after watching the replay. Despite the fact the Chargers recovered the fumble, Denver was given the ball back where the ball hit the ground because the call of an “incomplete pass” had already blown the play dead. The players on the field, not the referees, should decide games. |
I can understand that the Chargers would be a little disgruntled and upset about losing two close games in the closing seconds. Plus, everyone who saw the “incomplete pass” clearly could see that it was really a fumble. However, can the Chargers make any more excuses for losing? When you let a team score 31 points in the first half, you deserve to lose. The Broncos let the Chargers’ defense have a Jay Cutler beat down and people want to complain that the Chargers should have won. Denver’s coach understood that it was a bad call and went for two after the touchdown. That’s just like saying, “I know that you got screwed on the last call, so if you can stop us on this play you can still win.” The Broncos ran the same play that they scored the touchdown on to make the two-point conversion. A good football team stops the opponents when they need to stop them. The Chargers can cry all they want, but they had their chance. |
| Is the Mountain West Better than the PAC-10? |
| This is an interesting question because both conferences currently have the same number of teams in the Associated Press Top 25: USC and Oregon for the PAC-10, and Utah and BYU for the Mountain West. I have to give the edge to the PAC-10 because of one simple reason – USC. The Trojans are currently ranked No. 1– again – a place that has become very comfortable to them the past decade. The gap has been closed, and I do have to hand it to the MWC for doing so, but the PAC-10 is still the premier conference on the west coast. This is especially prevalent in the bottom end of both conferences, where teams like San Diego State, UNLV and New Mexico (MWC) would have a hard time matching up with Washington, UCLA and Oregon State (PAC-10). |
This year has been the year of the non-BCS conferences taking it to the big guys. Not only did the Mountain West demoralize the Pac-10, but they did it convincingly. The MWC has gone 5-0 against the Pac-10 and it will soon be 6-0 when the Utes travel to wipe the floor with Oregon State. Who would have guessed that UNLV would beat No. 15 Arizona State? TCU came up with a big win against Stanford, and do I even need to mention BYU demolished UCLA, 59-0? It’s time the experts show a little respect to the MWC and the WAC (Fresno State is great this year), and give them a chance to prove that they can compete with the best in the nation. I predict that the winner of the Mountain West Conference will get into a BCS game. That is to say, Utah will beat BYU at home and go undefeated this year. Take USC out of the picture and any Mountain West team could take down one from the Pac-10. After all, New Mexico did beat an undefeated Arizona team. |
| Rant |
| I played football for 11 years of my life, from the time I was seven until I graduated high school. So, I understand the excitement of scoring a touchdown in front of thousands (or at least hundreds) of fans. When it comes to touchdown celebrations, though, when is enough, enough? During the Monday Night Football game between the Cowboys and the Eagles, rookie DeSean Jackson beat the Dallas secondary and was on his way to an easy touchdown. Jackson, however, began his celebration a little to early, dropping the ball at the 1-yard line. After review the original call of a touchdown was changed. In a stroke of luck the Eagles were able to keep the ball because, just like in the Broncos game, the play was whistled dead. The Eagles scored on the possession anyway, but this is a great example of taking something too far. When you’re touchdown celebration messes up your touchdown, it’s time to reevaluate your priorities. |
What kind of a score is 3-2? The No. 10-ranked Auburn Tigers beat Mississippi State 3-2 in one of the most boring football games in recent history. Not only did more people change the channel to view the Scrabble National Championship, but Auburn is still considered one of the top ten teams in the nation. How sad. Mississippi State lost to Louisiana Tech in week one and beat a Division II team, so you would think the Tigers would have a field day running up the score on a team who lost to the WAC. College football should not be baseball. A team that wins like that should not be considered one of the best, but one the worst. I sure hope Auburn finds an offense before they actually play a real SEC team. I feel for the audience that stayed the entire time when the game was over midway through the second quarter after a 36-yard field goal. Next up for Auburn: LSU. Go ahead and leave when the score reads 3-0. It should be over by then anyway. |
