The Blue and White Sports Debate – Nov. 12, 2008
| Blue View | White View |
| By Tim Olsen | By Mark Nance |
| Thoughts on the USU game | |
| Boise State is a great team and they are in a completely different class then the rest of the WAC. The Ags have struggled on the road this season, so even playing like they have the last couple of weeks it was hard to see them pulling an upset on the blue turf. Indeed, it was a tough game for the Aggies, and many who just saw the final score probably said, “Yep, that’s about right.” Those who watched the game though, saw a different story. After falling behind early, 28-0, USU battled back with a couple big plays of its own. Midway through the third quarter, the Ags had pulled within 14 points and were driving into Broncos territory with a chance to pull within seven. One of six Aggie turnovers killed the drive and eventually Boise pulled away and padded the score to look good for the BCS boys. The Ags hung in there for quite awhile, though, and deserve some recognition for their effort. | I remember fond times when I praised Brent Guy for his decisions to throw the ball and have a balanced run attack. Then again, that was last week. Guy went back to his old ways in the beginning against Boise State and ran it three straight times with Borel for gains of one, minus two and two yards. A three-and-out for the ages. By the time he sent Setzer in to throw the ball it was already a lost cause. Who cares that our running back carried the ball five times compared to our 14 from a quarterback. Setzer had a decent game, but when you have four players from Boise, including a wide receiver and a running back, throw for touchdowns you’re just trying to save face. If Guy wants to come up with a running game then he should leave rushing to the running backs, or better yet, maybe they can start to throw the ball, too. It worked for Boise State. |
| Most contended NFL division | |
| Surprisingly, it’s looking like the AFC East is going to be the most tightly contested division in the NFL. Going into, and during the first few weeks of the season, my money was on the NFC East. But with the Cowboys injury problems and the Eagles and Redskins inconsistencies, it looks like the Giants will run away with that division. However, in the AFC East, every team has a winning record and is within a game of each other. The Jets and Patriots are each 6-3, including 2-1 in the division, and play each other this week. Upstart Miami coming off of a 1-15 season is 5-4 and is also 2-1 in the division. Bringing up the rear is Buffalo who is also 5-4, but is 0-3 in divisional play. This race looks like it will be a battle to the very end, and should be fun to watch. | Although the AFC East has all four teams within one game of each other, the NFC North will be the closest contest when the season winds up. As long as Grossman is playing for the Bears they will lose. The Bears won’t get Orton back for another three weeks, and they will most likely lose to both Green Bay and Minnesota. The Bears will win again when they have Orton, but will be a couple of games back. The Vikings just got a key win over the Pack, but will lose at least one of their next three. Not even Adrain Peterson can pull a team led by a 37 year-old Gus Frerotte. The Packers will rebound next week against the Bears and will stay around .500 after that. The NFC North will come down to the last game of the season and will involve all three teams. Oh, wait. I forgot the Lions still play football. I’m confident in saying the Lions will continue to do nothing but trade all their good players and embarrass Detroit. Packers will win the division and Grossman will be traded to the Lions. |
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How is the men’s basketball team doing? |
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| During the Aggies’ two exhibition games there have been flashes of brilliance and periods of mental lapses. The team was barely a week into practice when the first game took place and it showed. The Aggies won easily, but never really looked in a rhythm the entire game. Part of that is due to the fact that Stew is trying to give everyone a look in a game-type situation, and a lot of it can be attributed to the youth of the team. The Aggies have one – count it, one – senior on the team in Gary Wilkinson. Out of the other starters so far, three are sophomores and one is a freshman. This team needs time to gel and find its groove, but once it does they are going to be very, very good. | Although the Aggies won by an average of 20 points, I was still expecting them to blow each team out by 40. I’m excited for our inside play. Wilkinson and Wesley look great, and Niang looks like he got coordinated over the offseason. Formisano and Jardine should be decent backups. The thing that worries me most is our 3-point shooting. With Jaycee Carroll gone to Italy, our team will miss his outside presence seeing as how we went 2-of-12 from beyond the arc against a Division II team from outside Boise. Jaxon Myaer looked like he was trying to play like an all-star guard, but forgot that he needed to make sure people were there when he passed the ball. Unfortunately, our team got young pretty fast. You can tell many of them just came from high school because they lick their hands and wipe their shoes after every break. I still think we’ll be tops in the WAC, but we need outside shooting to compliment our big men. |
| Who will be in the BCS title game? | |
| When we made our championship picks at the start of the season, I went with the Florida Gators. After an upset loss at home to Ole Miss, the Gators have been on a tear though the SEC, and after they knock off No. 1 Alabama, they will indeed be playing in the BCS title game. Their opponent is a little harder to decide on. Right now I think Texas Tech is the best team in the Big-12, if not the country, but I don’t know if they can beat Oklahoma on Nov. 22. Whoever wins that game will have an inside track to play Florida for the title, but the Big-12 championship game, most likely against the high-powered offense of Missouri, still looms for the winner. With the way they’ve been playing lately, its hard to discredit the Red Raiders, so for now at least, I see them playing the Gators for the BCS title. | Well, I thought Penn State would win out, but I was quickly proved wrong. However, the national pollsters have the exact situation they’ve been hoping for. The BCS championship will be a contest between the winners of the SEC and the Big 12. Florida keeps killing their opponents, including two top 10 teams, by an average of 40 points. The same thing will happen when the Gators take on Alabama for the SEC Championship. Florida will most likely play Texas Tech. All the Red Raiders need to do is win two more games. If they can beat Oklahoma on Saturday, they will easily beat Missouri in the Big 12 Championship. Graham Harrell has the best receivers in the country and has Heisman hopeful Micheal Crabtree. The SEC touts it’s defense and the Big 12 has the best offense by far. Florida vs. Texas Tech will be a great game with Florida coming out on top. |
| Rant | |
| I’m tired of hearing people bash on Brent Guy. I know the Aggies have struggled during his tenure, but for those who didn’t grow up in the valley here’s a news flash – they were struggling long before that. Firing Brent Guy will not magically turn this program around. In fact, switching coaches again will just be another setback. This team is headed in the right direction and seems to be playing hard for Coach Guy. We have a good shot to win at least three, if not four games this year. Throw in the Fresno game that we should have won and that’s a good WAC record. Aggie football isn’t ranked high in many categories, but their strength of schedule this year was Top-25 in the country. Not ideal. This is a young team that is improving and playing hard, and Guy deserves to finish what he has started. | I’d like to welcome my good friend Rex Grossman back to being a NFL starter. After “leading” the Bears to the Super Bowl in 2006, he has been nothing, but … well, he has been nothing. It’s good to see him back after the better quarterback, Kyle Orton, got injured. He’s thrown two touchdowns, two interceptions and has run for a couple of 1-yard scores. Not bad, you say? Well, when Grossman had the chance to go for a game tying drive he went 0-3 and quickly sat back on the bench. He’s barely got a 50 percent completion and is throwing an amazing four yards a catch. I’m excited to see him play in upcoming games, but will be sad when Orton comes back. Enjoy the circus while you can, because Grossman always delivers. For the other team anyway. |