Days like today make me really wish I was in Nebraska. Sure Nebraska doesn't have any sandy beaches within comfortable driving distance, or those cute little lizards that hang out on my windows and porch, or that raw feeling of excitement that comes with knowing an alligator could be waiting in that runoff ditch, but Nebraska is the best place on Earth to be on a fall Saturday. Lincoln especially. I worked at the Menards on 27th for a couple years while I was going to UNL, and I would get so tired of the bland store music. I asked the GM to change it one day, and he said that the store music was specifically selected by corporate to appeal to a wide demographic of store guests, and that it was a major violation to change it. That "Major Violation" was forgotten on gameday and the store was always tuned in to 1400 or Froggy 98. It was funny to see people standing around frozen in place holding hammers, toilet seats or 2x4's when there was a tense moment in the game. My point is, life stops on gameday, and that's one of the more beautiful things about living The Good Life.
But we're still 5 hours away from the Nebraska game, let's do a quick recap of the Friday night action before Lou Holtz's spittle-laced pregame speeches get going:
#13 Michigan State 17 #24 Boise State 13
It looked to me like someone did some fancy editing of the South Carolina-Vanderbilt game from Thursday night and re-colored the uniforms. Same themes, same action, same score. For most of the game, I thought I was going to have to apologize for breaking the cardinal rule of college football: don't bet against Boise. But with Boise pulling out all the stops using trick plays and 4th down tries, Michigan State finally did the smart thing in the 4th quarter and leaned on Le'Veon Bell for the win. That worked this time, but no running back can handle 44 carries every game. Against a team that's not replacing its entire defense, I think that the Spartans are in real trouble if QB Andrew Maxwell can't make better throws and learn to manage the offense better. Too many bad sacks and missed receivers. And for as good as the Spartan O-line was at plowing running lanes, they looked completely lost against Boise's blitzes in the passing game. The Spartan defense, and workhorse back Bell are ready for a Rose Bowl run, the rest of the offense needs to get on board.
Last Thought: I wouldn't want to be Spartan WR Tony Lippett in the film room. This guy muffed an catchable pass that was intercepted in the 1st quarter, fumbled while running after a long pass in the 3rd, and was tackled for a 15 yard loss on the double reverse, effectively killing another drive in the 4th. If the Spartans had lost, Lippett would not have had an easy week in practice. He probably still won't.
Tennesee 35 North Carolina State 21
I did not catch a lot of this game, but it looked like Tennessee has taken some positive steps on offense and defense to get back into the national picture. There was a lot of offensive production and the defense, on the plays I saw, was typical of the fast aggressive SEC brand. I think we'll get a much better picture of how good Tennessee is when they play Florida in a couple weeks. I know that this is a make or break year for coach Derek Dooley, but it shouldn't be. He stepped into one of the worst spots imaginable when he took over for Lane Kiffin, and I think he should be an exception to the 3 year rule. Tennessee fans are true SEC fans though, and if they turned on Phillip Fulmer, Dooley won't get a whole lot of grace.
Last Thought: ESPN is showing All-American David Amerson getting beat on that 72 yard bomb from Tyler Bray to Zach Rogers and they're talking it up like Amerson is the biggest fraud ever to play cornerback. I hate it when they do this. ESPN doesn't know what defensive play was called, whether Amerson was supposed to have help from the safety or whether he really did get beat. They did the same thing to Prince Amukamara when Justin Blackmon caught that long pass in Stillwater a few years ago. If ESPN didn't have so much football on, I would never watch.
#21 Stanford 20 San Jose State 17
I didn't watch any of this game, but just looking at the final score makes me think that Stanford is in for a rough year. They lost a lot of talent to the NFL, and though they've been recruiting well, there's going to be a drop-off this year. Stanford was up 17-3 at the half, but they must have put it on cruise too early, and they allowed a bad team to make a game of it. The Spartans out gained the Cardinal 288-280 and only an early 4th quarter field goal kept the Cardinal from an embarrassing start to the post-Andrew Luck era. Stanford's schedule doesn't get any easier: Duke next week and #1 USC the week after. If they don't figure it out quick, it's going to be a long year.
Florida Atlantic 7 Wagner 3
I don't know who or what Wagner is, but they were beating Carl Pelini's FAU team for most of the night. Not a great coaching debut, but a halftime switch at QB and the eventual win, are going to make Carl look pretty smart for at least a week. The Owls get one more tune up against Middle Tennessee next week before they face #6 Georgia and #2 Alabama in consecutive weeks. Carl has a tough road ahead at FAU, but being in Florida and picking up the recruiting scraps of Miami, Florida and Florida State make the job much easier than most non-BCS schools. Carl needed to get out of his brother's shadow, and FAU isn't the worst place to start a head coaching career.
I'm excited to see how today's games shake out, and I'm doubly excited for the Huskers to kick off. I'll be back with quick takes throughout the day and plenty of post-game content from the Nebraska-Southern Miss tilt. See you later Husker Nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment