Monday, October 26, 2009

Random Thoughts From the Weekend

I'm totally comfortable with TCU playing for the national title. On a neutral field, I'd take them over Iowa or Cincinnati right now.

OK, I'm pretty close to admitting the error of my ways on Georgia Tech. The Jackets played defense on Saturday for the first time in eons. I also snickered to myself watching Virginia try to run the spread a day after Tony Barnhart claimed that the Hoos had gone "back to basics." Last week was not the best for Mr. College Football.

I updated my Facebook status during the Michigan game to state that I had always wondered what it would look like if an entire team showed up to a game drunk. The game was to Michigan what the Tennessee game was to Georgia: just a total system failure on all fronts, a performance that was significantly worse than the team had played before. The somewhat out-of-character nature of the game didn't stop my friend Carlos from unleashing the following texts in the space of an hour:

Are you beginning to have doubts?

I am sorry, but I will not accept this for much longer.

RR is still G-d to you, right?

His staff is a joke.

Kiffin has Tennessee competing with the No. 1 team in the country. Year one.

F*** you. Apologist.

Lloyd could do no right, but RR is your definition of perfection.

No comeback? RR can do no wrong, right?

He SUCKS.

Sooner or later, give me results.

We looked poorly coached out there. Brian Kelly won today with his third string QB.

0-2 against MSU. 0-2 against PSU. Lloyd? 10-3 and 9-2.

You don't know what you have until you lose it.


I'm not doing a very good job of being the Michigan therapist.

My support for Alabama earlier in the season was based on the fact that Greg McElroy was playing at a level of which John Parker Wilson could only dream. Now, McElroy can't hit anyone and Alabama has reverted to last year's edition. It's interesting that the top two teams in the SEC are both in a world of hurt when they hit the red zone. I'm at a loss to explain it.

I have a friend who swears that coaches are interchangeable gym coaches and that 90% of all results can be explained by talent and natural variance in performance. He ought to use Pitt as an example. Either Dave Wannstedt figured out how to coach or his solid recruiting has Pitt looking like a legitimate team.

Could Jimbo Fisher have received a bigger endorsement than the Noles' performance on Thursday night? His offense went up and down the field on a quality defense, digging Florida State out of a big deficit and saving what's left of their season. Meanwhile, the defense staffed by Saint Bobby's cronies managed to get shredded by the worst offense in the ACC, all while Bowden looked on like the spectator that he is. (If Joe Paterno is Queen Elizabeth, I guess that makes Bobby Juan Carlos.) If there is a good argument against Fisher being the head man next fall, I've yet to hear it.

ACC Atlantic versus Big XII North. I don't have a punchline here. They're both just bad.

2 comments:

Ed said...

"I have a friend who swears that coaches are interchangeable gym coaches and that 90% of all results can be explained by talent and natural variance in performance."

Dear Michael,

Your friend, sir, is an idiot.

Yours,
Exasperated Notre Dame fans

Anonymous said...

Paul Johnson is doing a much better job than Rich Rodriguez. He's been able to keep talented players who, at first glance, might appear to be poorly suited for his system, such as Josh Nesbitt (recruited by Gaily as a pro-style QB), the great defensive players (Michael Johnson, Derrick Morgan), and most importantly, Demeryious Thomas. Thomas is to cPJ's flexbone as Ryan Mallett is to Rodriguez' "spread-n-shred." That said, keeping Mallet would have caused Michigan to win at least 6 games last year, perhaps 8 or 9 this year, and he would be separated perfectly from Devin Gardner. The great ones figure a way to sell their system; most can't or won't.