Topic: NCAA Football '09

[that Baby guy]

I missed out on all my picks for the day.  Yup.  All of 'em.

Why?

Blame Universal Studios and my father's love and lust for theme parks.  Seriously.  We went for Halloween Horror Nights, and then to ride the new roller coaster today.  The end result?  HHN is the same old thing it's been every year for the past several years, and he doesn't want to stand in line to ride the coaster, which wasn't currently operating with an "Express Pass" system, so you couldn't ride it if you wouldn't wait two hours.  Personally, I think it was a wasted trip compared to a wasted day of NCAA Football.

But, I'm watching the UF - LSU game today, which is nerve-wracking, if you remember 2007's battle in Death Valley.  We're winning, but by one touchdown.  It's pretty close, but the Gators are about to get the ball again. (Hopefully)

[decoyman]

Okay, some 12 hours after the final whistle I'm finally coming down off of this football high.

This is the most fun I've had as a Husker fan in a long time - dare I say since Frank Solich was coach.  Congrats to the Huskers on a tough, tough win.  The Nebraska defense is probably the best it's been since the mid 90s, and that's an insane thought. 

SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH
for HEISMAN

Ahaha, I'm still up there! Just hope the players came down faster... they've got a tough one later this week against a vulnerable but unpredictable Texas Tech team. Unfinished business and all that after the tough OT loss to them last year. I think we'll take 'em down, but they're so explosive, it's crazy: >700 yards of offense against K-State last weekend, including nearly 500 yards passing... by the backup QB. Get your heads in the game and buy into what the coaches are saying, Husker players: "the most important game on the schedule is the next one."

Congrats, thatguy: your Gators got another hard-fought victory against a tough LSU team... nice win for you guys. Those defensive battles are always tense, edge-of-your-seat affairs. Wish I could've watched it, but had a wedding to go to that night.

This week, I'm looking forward to Oklahoma–Texas, as are many, I'm sure. Oklahoma's having a bit of a down year, partially due to losing Bradford a few weeks back, but I feel like they're ready to surge. Texas has fared much better in the non-conference part of the schedule, but hasn't really been tested yet. Who'll step up? Will Bradford shake off the rust and lead his team to an upset? Will McCoy respond to his team falling in the polls, despite being undefeated, and use it to further state his case for a Heisman? It's a tough one to call, but I'm gonna go with Oklahoma here this time. A wounded animal is a dangerous animal, and you could say the Sooners are wounded after a less-than-stellar start to their season.

Just a few days to go...

[that Baby guy]

Didn't two Texas RBs get injured in the Colorado game?  They definitely had to have played sloppy to be down in the first half, but it's a four quarter game, and Texas is one of those teams that excel at playing well towards the end of the game this year.

Anyways, I'll be thinking Oklahoma for that game, but it'll be one I'll watch if I'm not at the Arkansas-Florida game at the same time.  Should be fun.

The worst part about the Gator game was that there were several points where we could have pulled a bit ahead, but we made careless errors, like missing a close-range field goal and throwing a pick to a receiver that didn't see the ball was heading his way.  That's how we lost to Ole Miss last year, and after it, we played mostly error-free football.  I think if Florida cleans up their game, and stops making this kind of mistake, we'd see a team more than worthy of carrying the #1 ranking.  Right now, though, Alabama is certainly playing better football, from what I've seen.

[NWR_DrewMG]

I think anyone that counts Oklahoma out is in for a surprise.  That said, I think that Texas looks like the better team this year, and I expect them to win by 1-2 TDs. 

As for NU-TT, this one scares me.  It's the only game this year I'll be able to attend, so I'm really really hoping for a Husker victory, but TT looked mighty fine against K-State last weekend.

Early prediction, Nebraska: 24, Texas Tech: 21

[that Baby guy]

Whee!  I want Boise State to lose

[NWR_DrewMG]

Wow, what a weekend for football.  Nebraska is finally starting to get these signature Pelini wins, but man the offense stinks.  Like, maybe the worst offense in the Big XII.  Maybe by a large margin.

But where one sinks, the other floats.  I haven't ever seen a Nebraska defense I've been this proud of.  I'd put the NU defense up against any offense in the country right now.

[that Baby guy]

You might have noticed, I stopped making predictions.  I just decided not to, I didn't particularly care enough.

At this point, we've got... six undefeated teams left, and two are mid-majors.  Watching Boise State play leaves me wondering if they might lose an upcoming game, just from a loss of intensity, at least on defense.  Cincinnati also seems like a team that could lose one.  TCU has a few tough games coming up, IIRC.  Florida and Alabama have to play each other.  Texas still could be upset in one of a few games.

Should be interesting to see how these teams finish out the season.

Also, the ACC is very weird, as usual as of late.  If the average strength was just a little bit higher, they could easily become a very dominant conference again.

[decoyman]

I <3 the Husker Blackshirts. That win over Oklahoma on Saturday was just gutty and grueling and intense.

The attitude on D is just awesome. The offense is struggling? They cough up the ball eight times (EIGHT!!!) in the ISU game and we lose by 2 points. What does Suh say? "The defense didn't play hard enough. We should've held them to less points." He didn't blame the offense or point fingers or anything. That made me really happy to hear that. The D is putting the team on its back, and for now, they're strong enough to carry them. "Here you go, offense. We got the ball back for you at the opponents' 1-yard line. Punch it in."

Hopefully in the meantime, the offense will find their rhythm, because we can't win the super-tough games with just a really great defense. We need to be able to put some points on the board on offense at some point.

You might have noticed, I stopped making predictions.  I just decided not to, I didn't particularly care enough.

I care enough to make predictions for the Huskers... couldn't be bothered with doing that for all the big weekly games! Speaking of, I'm going to throw this out there:

Nebraska: 24
Kansas: 10

You should at least predict the Florida game, thatguy.

[that Baby guy]

Florida wins.  All of 'em.

[decoyman]

Well, that's easy to say, as Florida has been looking pretty dang good.

But how about scores, man, scores!

[NWR_DrewMG]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this week, with a healthy Roy Helu Jr and Cody Green at QB, the Husker offense finds its footing with a 31-17 win over the Jayhawks.

[that Baby guy]

Anyone catch that WVU-Cincinnati game?

WVU was down a touch down with about six minutes in the 4th, and had a 4 and 8 on the 20-something yardline.  Rather than kick, they went for it.

Then, Cincinnati scored a field goal, and WVU came back with a touchdown.  They tried an onsides kick, didn't get it, and lost.

That had to have been the worst playcalling decision I've seen for a situation like that.  Cincinnati would have likely wound up in a tie, or even losing, had they just kicked the field goal instead. 

[decoyman]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this week, with a healthy Roy Helu Jr and Cody Green at QB, the Husker offense finds its footing with a 31-17 win over the Jayhawks.

All but Cody Green at QB. Crazy. I was off by 7 points both ways (24-10).

That had to have been the worst playcalling decision I've seen for a situation like that.  Cincinnati would have likely wound up in a tie, or even losing, had they just kicked the field goal instead. 

Wow. I always heard, take the points when you can get 'em. So yeah, sounds like a pretty bad decision. Of course, if he makes it, the coach is a genius... Same deal with ol' Bill and the Patriots in that loss against the Colts this week.

[that Baby guy]

Sometimes it's like that, sometimes it isn't.

The thing is, in this scenario, looking at following possibilities, there wasn't any logic in it, and the risk, with the 4th and 8, just didn't add up.  I'm all for taking a calculated risk and going for short 4th downs, or calling a special play in special scenarios, or even not special scenarios, but they've got to be plays with a glimmer of a chance to work, and with a glimmer of reasoning behind them.  In very few cases when a risky play does work, you wonder why it was done, yet this was one of them.  No matter what happened, given the scenario, it still made no sense!

[NWR_DrewMG]

So I was playing a game of NCAA Football 10 last night, and I wanted to run something by (the two of) you all (who read this thread). 

Tied 7-7 in the second quarter against a vastly inferior opponent, I was struggling mightily on defense.  Idaho was driving on me at will and had needed only about 5 or 6 plays to get into my red zone. 

On 3rd and 8, they ran up the gut for 6 yards, making it 4th and 2.  There was a holding call, however, knocking them back to 3rd and 14. 

The question is this:  do you decline the penalty, effectively giving the opponent 3 free points?  Or do you knock them back 10 yards, but give them another chance to get a 1st down, possibly leading to 7 points, knowing that your defense is on it's heels?

[NWR_DrewMG]

Also, I think Nebraska wins a close one this weekend, to the tune of 28-24. 

[that Baby guy]

Depends on the yardlines there were on.  My gut says that if it let them into field goal range, and the penalty moved them back, to take the penalty.  It's awfully tough to get a 14 on a third down.

That said, in a real game, that seems like 4th and 2 is four down territory, and if it is, and they're so successful on offense, you'd need to take the penalty, anyways.  Had you known for certain that they'd kick a field goal, that's one thing, but you didn't.  4th and 2s in the red zone are awfully scary for a defense performing poorly, and a 3rd and 14 feels a lot better.

[that Baby guy]

Grr, I had a nice and pretty post all typed up here, clicked submit, and the forums went down for a super update.

Anyways, there's six undefeateds, with a chance for five to escape next week and enter bowl season, which is just incredible.

As a Gator fan, I'm rooting for Nebraska, particularly Nebraska's defense, so Colt McCoy doesn't look so good.  Of course, I want Tebow to win the Heisman.

That is an ugly sum-up of my beautiful, lost-forever post.

[NWR_DrewMG]

In 2005, Texas beat Colorado 70 - 3 in the Big XII Championship.  Nebraska won't lose that badly, but it might not be pretty.  I'd love to see Nebraska's defense hold firm, and if they play as well as they did against Oklahoma, Missouri, and V-Tech, then they have a chance at pulling off the upset.  Unfortunately, Texas is better than Texas Tech, and Texas Tech smoked us in Lincoln.

If Nebraska plays their best game, and Texas plays an average game: NU 17, UT 10
If Nebraska plays their best game, and Texas plays their best game: NU 10, UT 14
If Nebraska plays an average game, and Texas plays their best game: NU 10, UT 35
If Nebraska plays an average game, and Texas plays an average game: NU 10, UT 21

[Stogi]

GO OREGON

[that Baby guy]

Well, the Gators lost, and likely will play in the Sugar Bowl now, which isn't a bad thing.

To be honest, I'm not that upset about the loss, because, at least offensively, we made the same mistakes all in the game we did all year long.  We've had issues with dropped passes all year long, and would have saved several drives, except our receivers just couldn't catch the ball on important plays, and it's plagued us the whole season.  Alabama's a great team, so there's not much shame in a loss to them.

[decoyman]

Ya got your wish, Stogi! At least one of the four people in this thread is happy.

Yeah, it was a tough loss for the Huskers Saturday night, but I couldn't be happier with how our defense played throughout the game. Watching Suh & Friends™ toss Texas's Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback around like a ragdoll all game was very, very impressive. And fun. That guy has been nothing but bad news for Nebraska since he broke our hearts with his first fourth-quarter comeback against us as a freshman in 2006.

If Suh doesn't get an invitation to the Heisman Ceremony, which is supposed to celebrate the "most dominant player in college football" (not the most dominant offensive player), it'd be a crime, and they should redefine it to say it's just for offensive players.

In closing, a letter to Santa Clause:

What up, Santa!

How've you and Mrs. Clause been? Hopefully good! Anyways, I know you're a busy guy this time of year, so enough with the pleasantries.

I know it's been awhile since I've written, but I had a special request this year.

All I want for Christmas is an average, serviceable, boring ol' Husker offense. It doesn't need to be flashy or put up obscene numbers, but it'd be VERY nice if it could get 10 yards when, for example, a super-awesome punt return sets them up at the opponent's 10-yard line. If you could deliver this to the Husker locker room by Christmas, I'd sure be happy. And they'd be able to take the new offense out for a spin against Arizona a few days later!

Will leave some carrots for your reindeer, and some celery for you. No offense, but you should really watch your weight, and celery is a negative calory food from what I hear!

Thanks, Santa – you're awesome.

Your friend,
Aaron

[that Baby guy]

...Don't look now, but currently Suh is in an insignificant lead on the Heisman ballots.  I'm rooting for him now, he played great.  He or Ingram deserve it, IMO.

[Stogi]

Sports having been going great for me this year. Saints are doing really well. Oregon made it through. Celtics are looking good. Purdue basketball is the best it's been in a while and my Arsenal Gunners are whoopin' some ass in the UEFA cup.