The Blue and White Sports Debate

Blue View By Tim Olsen, White View By Mark Nance

Blue View White View
By Tim Olsen By Mark Nance
1. Patriots in playoffs without Brady?
Yes, the New England Patriots will make the playoffs despite the loss of Tom Brady. That is not to say the loss of Brady won’t be enormous. With one twist of the knee the Patriots lost the reigning MVP of the NFL, the leader of their team and a guy who threw an NFL-record 50 touchdowns last year. However, I still believe New England will make the playoffs because of two reasons: schedule and talent. The Patriots have the easiest rated schedule in the NFL, not to mention they play in the weak AFC East. Also, the Patriots still have plenty of talent on their roster with the likes of Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Laurence Maroney. The Patriots will again make the playoffs this season, but there will not be another run at 19-0. Tom Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of the first game of the NFL season. Now that his year has been flushed down the toilet, so have the Patriots’ hopes of getting into the playoffs. Not only did they barely beat the bottom-dwelling Kansas City Chiefs, but they have Matt Cassel as their new starting quarterback. Who, you might ask? That’s right, Matt Cassel. He hasn’t started a game since high school he didn’t start once at USC and has thrown 33 passes all of his NFL career. He was born to be a backup and will never amount to much—well,  unless he is a backup for Rex Grossman. Without Brady, there is no way the Patriots will do anything this year. My Super Bowl prediction has been shot, and it’s only been the first week. I guess the Patriots’ division is wide open for Broadway Brett Favre.
2. Was the Washington celebration penalty justified?
I don’t know whether the call really made as big of a difference in the outcome of the game as some people are saying, but it was a pretty weak call. A blocked kick is still a blocked kick, whether it’s blocked on a chip shot PAT or a 35-yard field goal. BYU blocked Washington’s extra point attempt, winning the game by one point. Now, had Washington lost the game due to missing the long extra point attempt, then I could see more of a controversy. Back to the original point, though: should the penalty have been called? I say no. Husky quarterback Jake Locker was ecstatic because he had just scored with two seconds to play, giving his team an opportunity to tie the game. Locker threw the ball in the air and celebrated with his teammates. There was no taunting or poor sportsmanship on his part. There is a celebration penalty for a reason, but that wasn’t it. Let the kids enjoy the game. Yes. The refs did their job. Why is this such a big deal? Locker threw the ball high in the air and it’s the refs’ job to throw the flag. The Pac-10 officials even said the refs made the right call. It’s not like the penalty cost the University of Washington the game. The PAT was easily blocked by three of the Cougars. Either way, the game made BYU look like a bad pick to be one of the possible BCS bowl game crashers. They fell three spots in the polls, so what’s the big deal? BYU will lose to UCLA this week and no one will care anymore. The only reason this call has blown up is because the national media refuse to believe that non-BCS schools can compete with the big boys. It’s just another excuse that “experts” make to leave Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West teams out of the money games. Complain all you want, but BYU won because they blocked a PAT. Let’s say this: if BYU loses to USU, then we’ll say that it was a bad call.
3. Positives from the Oregon loss?
This may come as a surprise to some, but I have to say yes. I ordered and watched the game on my computer through the Oregon Sports Network, and there were some definite positives for the Ags on the day—those who read my Monday article will already know these. NO TURNOVERS! Against the 18th-ranked Ducks and one of the better defenses in the country, the Aggies did not turn the ball over once. In general, the performance of the Aggie offense was a positive one. Sophomore quarterback Diondre Borel came into the game and moved the ball well, scoring two touchdowns and leading three scoring drives. Borel should find himself as the starter against Utah, and if the offense can continue to move the ball the Aggies should be competitive with the 22nd-ranked Utes. I was actually quite impressed with how USU showed up to play the now 16th-ranked team in the nation. Borel threw two touchdowns against a great defense and Setzer had great accuracy, throwing 7-for-11. USU also compiled 18 first downs. Did they even get that many last season? If I were to ever write a letter to one of the losingest coaches in USU football history, it would go something like this: Dear Mr. Guy, this is what happens when you throw the ball. Your team will score. Have a little faith in your quarterbacks. It’s obvious your guys can throw the ball. You had a total of 88 yards rushing, and most of those came toward the end of the game against Oregon’s third string. The WAC is not a rushing or option conference. Don’t make the same mistakes as you did last year. Love, Mark. P.S. Take some advice from SSSTTTUUUUUUUUUUU.
4. Which team is the biggest surprise?
ECU has really been on a role, knocking off then 17th-ranked Virginia Tech on the road in their season-opener, and taking down 8th-ranked West Virginia last Saturday. However, I’m going to stay a little closer to home with my pick. The Utah Utes have been the biggest surprise to me this season. In the Mountain West Conference BYU was expected to be the big BCS buster this season, but after an impressive win at Michigan’s “Big House” to open the season, the Utes climbed into the Top 25. With a healthy Brian Johnson, a good running attack and a tough defense, Utah may emerge as the team to beat in the Mountain West this season. Plus, the Cougars have to be running out of last second miracles to beat the Utes. Unfortunately, my prediction of Duke starting 2-0 was diminished when they lost by four to Northwestern. Therefore, after pondering and meditation, the biggest surprise so far in college football would be that Notre Dame got three votes to be in the top 25. Why? They almost lost to San Diego State, the No. 1 team in ESPN’s Bottom 10 poll. What are the American coaches thinking? Jimmy Clausen threw two interceptions to one of the worst defenses in the league, and you want to try to idolize them already? San Diego State should have won anyway. The Aztecs scored a touchdown, but the refs took it away because the Irish took the ball away while he was on the ground. I guess the Irish had to pay the refs so they wouldn’t lose their season-opener to one of the worst teams in the nation. Go ahead and have your three votes. Notre Dame will get creamed by Michigan anyway.
5. Rant
What is the deal with Chad Johnson. Excuse me, Chad “Ocho Cinco”? Why are we even paying attention to this guy anymore? He whines all offseason about being traded, then when no one pays attention to that, he decides he needs to come up with something else. After the Cincinnati Bengals program declined his request to wear “Ocho Cinco” on the back of his jersey—a self-proclaimed nickname relating to his jersey number, 85, Johnson decided the next best option would be to change his last name. Now Johnson has legally changed his last name to Ocho Cinco and is eligible to put that name on the back of his jersey. In an ironic twist, Johnson was back in his original jersey during the Bengals season-opener, Sunday. Sponsorship issues were rumored to be the problem. I’ve been waiting for this one for about three years. Alex Smith was one of the most overrated first-round draft picks in history. After being drafted first overall in the 2005 draft, Smith was expected to bring the 49ers back to glory. Yeah, right. I could have told you he was going to be one of the biggest busts in history. He had a quarterback rating of 57 last year and only threw two touchdowns. He threw for less than 900 yards his entire season and didn’t have more than 200 passing yards in a single game, once. I guarantee he will not be a 49er after this year. He got demoted from starter to third string in one season, and might never play in another NFL game. Here is a lesson to the wise: Just because quarterbacks do well in college doesn’t mean they can hack it in the NFL. Goodbye Alex Smith. I hope you graduated in something to your liking.