MVN - Most Valuable Network

Surprising Penn State has eyes on the prize

A couple of months definitely makes a difference, doesn’t it?

When we started the college football season, not many people took Penn State very seriously. Yes, they had one of the most talented rosters in the Big Ten, but the Nittany Lions had shown a knack for not living up to their potential in the past. Add in the off-field distractions in the offseason and the fact that Joe Paterno entered this season without a contract for next year, and it’s easy to see why Penn State was somewhat of an afterthought in what was seen as a somewhat weak conference.

After crushing Wisconsin 48-7 in Madison, Paterno’s team is now ranked third in the country. Which among these is the most surprising — the fact that Wisconsin lost so badly, the fact that the Badgers lost back-to-back home games for the first time since 2002, or the fact that Penn State is realistically a win over Ohio State away from virtually guaranteeing itself a spot in the National Championship game?

It sounds crazy, but it’s a very real possibility at this point. While the Nittany Lions are ranked third behind Texas and Alabama, they have the easiest road to Miami of the three.

While Texas just upended previously top-ranked Oklahoma, they’re in the midst of 4 straight games against some of the nation’s highest-ranked teams. The Longhorns will play host to #11 Missouri and #8 Oklahoma State before traveling to #7 Texas Tech. If they can get out of that stretch unscathed, they still have a road game at Kansas in their second-to-last regular season game, and they’d still have to make it past the Big XII title game.

Alabama, meanwhile, also has a tough road ahead by virtue of playing in the SEC. While a road date against LSU is the only game against a ranked opponent left on Alabama’s schedule, rankings rarely mean a thing when it comes to the SEC. The Crimson Tide still have a road game in Tennessee, and they close the regular season against arch-rival Auburn. Like Texas, they would have to play in — and win — a conference championship game to advance to Miami. In the case of the SEC, that would likely mean a match up against Florida, Georgia, or Vanderbilt.

Penn State only has two games left that could be considered challenges, and doesn’t have to play in a conference championship game. In two weeks, the Nittany Lions will travel to Columbus to take on Ohio State in what could be a de facto Big Ten championship game — neither has lost a conference game yet, and it could be argued that neither is expected to lose any other conference games. PSU does close its regular season against #20 Michigan State, but it is a home game and the Nittany Lions should be pretty clear favorites in that game.

While it’s entirely possible that Texas or Alabama finish their grueling schedules undefeated, it seems unlikely that both will. A loss by either team would put Penn State into the top two, and if they can find a way to walk out of the Horseshoe with a win, they’d be in prime position to play for their first BCS championship.

The Weekend that was in College Football

This weekend was a wild one.  Several upsets, and several almost upsets.  And it wasn’t a good night to be in the top 5 in the nation.  It appears that once again the national championship race is going to be a muddled mess.

1)  Red River Shootout: The #1 team in the country fell again as the Oklahoma Sooners defense could make 35 points stand up and the Texas Longhorns knocked off the land’s top team, and made a case that they should jump from 5th to 1st.

2) The Stompin in the Swamp:  LSU-Florida was billed as a marquee match-up between the two teams who had won the last two National Titles.  It was expected to be a slugfest the way the Red River Rivalry was.  So of course many were surprised when the Gators absolutely owned the Bayeux Bengals 51-21.  LSU was ranked #4, Florida #11, it’s a safe bet that they might trade places when the new polls come out.

3) As the Auburn World Turns:  Those that thought the melodrama unfolding for Tommy Tuberville’s boys was over after he fired his first year offensive coordinator just five weeks into the season were sadly mistaken.  One week after suffering a heart breaking loss to Vanderbilt, War Eagle was handed a humiliating loss to Arkansas.  This is the same Razorback team that managed to beat Western Kentucky and Louisiana-Monroe by a combined 5 points, and lost to Alabama, Texas, and Florida all by over 30 points.  Consider Tuberville to officially be on the hotseat.

4) Perfect No More:   Many college football experts considered Vanderbilt’s matchup against Mississippi State the perfect trap game following the emotional upset of Auburn.  Those experts were right, as Vandy suffered it’s first setback of the season 17-14.  Will Vandy go the way of East Carolina?

5)  Cinderella got hit with the ugly stick:  Remember everyone’s favorite story early this season?  East Carolina began the season with big time upsets over Virginia Tech and West Virginia, and then took care of business by holding off Tulane.  The Pirates booty has since been ransacked, as ECU has lost 3 in a row, and their last two losses have been blowouts.  Skip Holtz needs to regain control of a stumbling team if he wants to make a bowl game

6) Chase, Chased from the ranks of the undefeated:  Missouri watched top ranked Oklahoma go down, and knew that if they beat 17th ranked Oklahoma State, they would probably inherit the #1 spot.  Quarterback Chase Daniel made a pretty good effort, just one of his 31 passes actually hit the turf, although 3 of his passes found opposing players arms, and the Cowboys upended the Tigers 28-23.  Almost a big a story as the win was that Missouri was held to its first 3 and out of the season.

7) Perfect No More (Part II):   Another bastion of academic excellence, and sports mediocrity was undefeated coming into the weekend, and Northwestern got handed a similar outcome as Vanderbilt as they were dismantled at home by another surprise team in the Michigan State Spartans who improved to 6-1

8) Darhorse Heisman?:   Javon Ringer is getting almost no mention for College Football’s highest individual award, but he should be.  Through seven games, Ringer has 1,112 yards and 14 touchdowns.  More importantly, he has told his teammates to jump on his back, and he will carry them to victory.  Teams know all they have to do to beat the Spartans is stop Ringer, and despite facing almost constant 8 man fronts, no one has stopped him yet.

9) Perfect No More (Part III):  This has been a far from perfect season for the Michigan Wolverines, but at least until yesterday they could claim a perfect record over current MAC teams. Enter Toledo.  The Rockets notched their 2nd win of the season, and ended Michigan’s 24 game win streak against their conference.

10) Harbaugh’s Heros: No one can argue that Jim Harbaugh hasn’t brought a new scrappy attitude to the former bastion of elitist wimpery.  The Stanford Cardinal rallied to upend Arizona 24-23 with a last second touchdown and Stanford is just two wins away from becoming bowl eligible and most surprisingly, is near the top of the Pac-10 at 3-1 in conference.  With games against the struggling UCLA Bruins and the absolutely dreadful Washington State Cougars, Stanford could wrap up a bowl bid before a murderous final 3 weeks in their schedule against USC, Oregon, and Cal.

Pete Carroll defines integrity in a college football coach

Voting is currently ongoing for Coach of the Year, an initiative by Liberty Mutual to involve fans in the voting for college football’s best coach.

Unlike other awards, this award factors in heavily the use of, as CoachoftheYear.com says, “Sportsmanship. Integrity. Responsibility. Excellence.”

A college football coach holds a powerful position in his community; not only does he have a high profile due to the popularity of college football, he is part of the community with colleges so intertwined in city and state life. Thus, college football coaches are asked to maintain a presence outside of being a football coach and all that goes into a position. Outreach is important, and USC’s Pete Carroll defines that.

Carroll, a candidate at CoachoftheYear.com, had a sensational article written about him last December in L.A. Magazine by J.R. Moehringer.

In the article, you see just how determined Carroll is to make a difference.

Carroll and driver Bo Taylor] make late-night journeys through the dicey precincts of Los Angeles. Alone, unarmed, they cruise the desolate, impoverished, crime-ridden streets, meeting as many people (mostly young men) as possible. The mission: Let them know that someone busy, someone famous, someone well known for winning, is thinking about them, rooting for them. The young men have hard stories, grim stories, about their everyday lives, and at the very least Carroll’s visit gives them a different story to tell tomorrow. Carroll says: “Somebody they would never think would come to them and care about them and worry about them—did. I think it gives them hope.”

In a world in which we are constantly surrounded by negatives, — war, economy, crime, impoverishment — sports is a crucial part of our lives. It allows us to escape, to exhort, exhilarate and have our minds taken off more sobering needs. That ability comes with a responsibility attached to it for sports to reach out and try to make the other parts of the world better.

College football coaches are afforded a significant responsibility when assuming the mantle of coach at a college because they immediately become representatives of that college, city and state. A coach that goes above and beyond, like Pete Carroll, deserves recognition.

He gets my vote.

Pac-10 Pick’em: Week 7

There’s plenty of Pac-10 football to go around Saturday with only two of the ten teams out of action.  The headliner this week has been the health quarterbacks Rudy Carpenter and Mark Sanchez, whose teams will square off in Pasadena at 3:30 ET. 

Elsewhere in the conference, UCLA is heading north to Eugene where the Ducks are chomping at the bit to redeem themselves after last week’s embarrassing loss to USC.

And Arizona will take on The Cardinal in Palo Alto—a game both teams are targeting as an important step towards bowl game eligibility. 

With that said, let’s move on to the picks:

 

Arizona State (+28) over USC:

USC is going to beat the Sun Devils, there’s no doubt.  But four touchdowns just seems like too many points in a conference game—unless of course Washington or Washington State is involved.

I understand that the quarterback injury derby swung directly in the Trojans favor with Carpenter sitting and Sanchez playing; but ASU was a preseason top-15 team right?  They can’t be that bad, can they?

Or maybe USC is just that good. 

 

Oregon (-19.5) over UCLA:

I’m not buying the upset hype.  Yes, this is the type of game Rick Neuheisel normally wins, but normally he has somewhat decent players.  This year he doesn’t. 

I see a big rebound game for the Ducks coming off a collapse last week against the Trojans.  Their running backs have a huge advantage over a undermanned Bruins defense.   

It’s still to be determined who will start at quarterback for Oregon as Justin Roper returns from his knee injury.  But I’ll take Oregon regardless.  UCLA is just not that good. 

 

Washington State (+30) over Oregon State:

The Cougars can’t keep getting blown out can they?  They must have set some kind of NCAA record by now for largest total point underdogs in a season.    

Vegas has it right, though.  The slimmest margin of victory against the Cougars this year has been 25.  Not only do they lose, they lose big.

But in this one, the Cougars make breakthrough.  Of course they won’t win, but they will keep the Beavers from covering.  Moral victory?  I think so.  

 

Arizona (-7) over Stanford:

Willie Tuitama is really shaping into form as a top collegiate passer.  This has got to be a huge concern for Harbaugh and Co. with the type of secondary they’ll be putting on the field. 

This game is bigger than it might seem for the Wildcats.  They’ve got Cal and USC consecutively after this one, so a win is almost mandatory.  Arizona can’t afford to lose three games in a row in the middle of the season. 

I like the Wildcats to cover easily. 

NCAA Outsider’s Game of the Week: Sooners, Horns renew Red River Rivalry

When you have a weekend filled with outstanding match-ups, sometimes it’s hard to pick the best game of the week to profile. There were a number of candidates this weekend — #3 Missouri plays host to a surprising Oklahoma State team, ranked 17th. #4 LSU faces off against #11 Florida in the Swamp. Arizona State will look to upset #8 USC, with the quarterback status for both teams up in the air. Tennessee faces off with #10 Georgia. Notre Dame takes their 4-1 record to Chapel Hill to play the 22nd-ranked Tar Heels. #23 Michigan State will play undefeated — yes, undefeated — Northwestern.

But none of those are this week’s marquee game.

This week, it’s the 103rd edition of the Red River Rivalry. #1 Oklahoma faces off against #5 Texas, with the winner taking control of the Big XII South and likely becoming a favorite to appear in the National Championship game.

Last year’s game between these two teams suffered a bit of a letdown in the weeks leading up to the game. Both OU and UT lost their Big XII openers and went into the game ranked #10 and #19, respectively, with the Sooners pulling out a 28-21 win.

This year, both teams enter the game ranked in the Top 5 for only the 10th time in the history of the rivalry, but the 4th time this decade. The Sooners won the last such match up back in 2004, 12-0. In fact, the Sooners have not lost a game in which both were ranked in the Top 5 of the AP poll since 1979 (although the teams did tie in 1984).

Add in the fact that the Sooners have won 6 of the past 8 meetings and it’s safe to say that they have a number of streaks working in their favor.

Both teams have easily rolled over their first five opponents this season, and have gotten outstanding play from their quarterbacks. Texas’ Colt McCoy is putting together another fine season, racking up 1280 yards and 16 touchdowns at this point, along with a 79.2% completion percentage. Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, meanwhile, continues to play like a Heisman candidate — he’s piled up 1665 yards in OU’s first five games, including 18 touchdown passes and a 205.0 QB rating. If you look up the FBS leaders for every passing statistic imaginable, chances are you’ll find Bradford’s name near the top of the list.

The Sooners head into this game having outscored their opponents 248-69, while the Longhorns have beaten their opponents by a margin of 236-57. Both teams have rather impressive defenses — Texas is ranked 4th in the country in scoring defense, for example — so expect another close, low-scoring game from these two teams.

Prediction: OU continues their dominance of the rivalry this decade, pulling out a 20-17 win.

The ACC Review: Week Six

The ACC won both non-conference games this weekend and the four conference games provided surprises.

Georgia Tech shuts out Duke

My question after this game is: Is Duke that bad, or is Georgia Tech that good?

To answer the question I think you have to blend a little bit of both. Georgia Tech played an exceptional game, but the defense certainly is not the strength of the Blue Devils. But, I don’t think Duke is that bad of a team as well. They have put up good numbers all year and you would expect them to at least get some points on the scoreboard.

This game I believe was the perfect coaching win for Paul Johnson. He ran his triple-option offense to near perfection which lulled the defense into a run-only setup. Then Paul Johnson did something I don’t think anybody would have expected him to do it all year, and that’s call 14 pass plays. David Cutcliffe and Duke were not expecting it and got burned by Demaryius Thomas over and over again.

Then on defense, Georgia Tech basically gave Cutcliffe one option, pass the ball with Thaddeus Lewis or fail to score. Unfortunately for Duke, Cutcliffe could not get the passing game to gel with Lewis as the pressure upfront on the Yellow Jackets defense caused him to throw an interception, while barely being able to complete half his passes for less then 100 yards.

For Georgia Tech, this was a big win to give lots of confidence to the team. The Yellow Jackets have cupcake game against Gardner-Webb before a trip to Clemson. While they need to see Virginia Tech lose to have a chance at going to the ACC Championship, the Yellow Jackets are one of the best teams in the ACC right now.

For Duke, this loss is a slap back to reality. The players don’t have as much talent as the coaches need and the coaches have to make a better game plan to adjust if needed in games. This was a flat out game plan and coaching loss on both sides of the ball for Duke. They do have a struggling Miami team at home in two weeks before road games at Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. Duke must win this or a long stretch of losing could follow.

Boston College squeaks out a win against NC State

This conference game was a plus for the Wolfpack but a loss for Boston College despite winning. NC State has struggled to compete much of the year but they managed to run the Eagles to the very end. Boston College struggled to get away from a struggling Wolfpack team and it almost cost them.

Overall, Boston College has to thank Chris Crane for this win after nearly taking the job from him. Crane was apart of all 5 touchdowns for the Eagles, throwing for two and running for three. As for the rushing game, other then Crane and a 39-yard run from Brian Toal, it was non-existent against a weak Wolfpack defense. Crane picked the secondary apart, and if not for over 400 yards, BC would have been on the losing end.

The defensive front for the Eagles was good, holding the NC State rushing game to 35 yards. This was somewhat expected as the Wolfpack haven’t had much of a rushing game all year. However, the secondary gave up a lot of yards setting up 2 rushing touchdowns along with a passing score. The big flop for the Eagles was giving up a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown as well as a 60 yard return to set up another short field for NC State.

For the Wolfpack, this loss has to be a plus as the team knows that they can compete with other teams in the conference and might be able to get a win. The offense did a very good job of taking what the defense gave them, that being the passing game.

With the ACC being as up-and-down as it has been this year, this loss could help spring board the Wolfpack when they host Florida State in two weeks and then travel to Maryland and Duke. All three could be winnable games as teams could overlook them. Virginia did it this week; NC State can do it next week.

Seminoles weather the storm and hold on against Hurricanes

Neither passing offense was particularly good in this game, as Ponder and Marve combined for 4 of the 5 total interceptions. On top of that, both teams combined for 35 completions on 80 passes.

When the teams connected on passes, they put up good yards but the big difference in the game was Miami’s inability to get the ground game moving. Ponder made up for his interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, by rushing for nearly 150 yards on 19 carries. Antone Smith also got 4 touchdowns for the Seminoles to help defeat Miami.

The good out of the game for the Seminoles was their ability to start strong and hold on when it mattered. Miami was able to make game plan changes and come alive in the second half. However you can not give up 24 points to start a game and expect to win very many of them.

As for Florida State, Bobby Bowden and company have to know that you can’t go entire game without mixing up the game plan. Giving up 36 points in a half is never a good thing.

Miami has given up two close wins in the last two weeks, but they have a chance to strengthen the storm with games against UCF and Duke the next two weeks. If they want to go back to a bowl game, they need to pick up these wins.

Florida State has a week off before a trip to NC State. The Seminoles must not over look this game with Virginia Tech following.

Virginia pulls complete shocker and take down rival Maryland

Yeah this is a rivalry game and anything can happen. Just look at NC State and ECU if you question it. But this was not a game that was expected. Maryland just pulled off a great win against a ranked Clemson after beating ranked Cal team a few weeks prior. Virginia was in the bottom 10 in almost every major statistical category coming into the game.

This game was a classic look ahead game for the Terps as they were more then likely focusing on the Wake Forest game in a week and a half and Virginia caught them with a first round knock out. Oh, the similarities of when Middle Tennessee State pulled a shocker against the Terps the week prior to the Cal upset earlier this year. Perhaps this means that Maryland will takedown Wake Forest next Thursday night. Whatever the case may be, Ralph Fridgen must keep his team focused or this easy wins turned into losses could cost them come December.

For Virginia, this win was great as it might just give them a little life. It also gives them a win against a non-FCS team which is always a plus. Marc Verica finally had a good performance now that he is the only quarterback left for Virginia. Cedric Peerman also had a good game. The defense stepped up and stopped the Terps offense when it mattered, keeping them out of the end zone and off the scoreboard.

Virginia will not catch ECU by surprise so they better come ready to perform or the momentum and confidence could disappear again for Virginia.

Virginia Tech offense struggles against Western Kentucky

The Hokies could only muster up 293 yards of total offense against a FBS transition team in Western Kentucky. This is not what one would call a confident win heading into a bye week before the conference road games take center stage. The defense wasn’t spectacular either as they gave up 243 yards. The only plus was that they kept the Hilltoppers to mostly field goal attepts.

North Carolina picks up the prestigious non-conference win against Connecticut

The defense and special teams for the Tar Heels had no problem helping the T.J. Yates-less offense. The block punt recovered for a touchdown and the interception returned for a touchdown were big highlights in the game. Cameron Sexton again did what was needed, throwing a touchdown and protecting the ball for the most part, giving up only an interception.

Shaun Draughn did his part helping the rush game control the clock for the Tar Heels, rushing for over 100 yards on the day.

The game ball definitely goes to the defense, holding UConn’s Donald Brown to under 5 yards a run and one touchdown. Brown had been the leading performer for  UConn up to this point and containing him was a big boost for the defense.

Lets see if the Tar Heels can continue against a resurgent Notre Dame team this week.

Power Rankings

1. Georgia Tech (4-1)
Last Week: W Duke 27-0
This Week: Gardner Webb

2. North Carolina (4-1)
Last Week: W UConn 38-12
This Week: Notre Dame

3. Virginia Tech (5-1)
Last Week: W WKU 27-13
This Week: Idle

4. Florida State (4-1)
Last Week: W @ Miami 41-39
This Week: Idle

5. Wake Forest (3-1)
Last Week: Idle
This Week: Clemson

6. Maryland (4-2)
Last Week: L @Virginia 31-0
This Week: Idle

7. Clemson (3-2)
Last Week: Idle
This Week: @ Wake Forest

8. Boston College (4-1)
Last Week: W @ NC State 38-31
This Week: Idle

9. Miami (2-3)
Last Week: L Florida State 41-39
This Week: Central Florida

10. Duke (3-2)
Last Week: L @ Georgia Tech 27-0
This Week: Idle

11. Virginia (2-3)
Last Week: W Maryland 31-0
This Week: East Carolina

12. NC State (2-4)
Last Week: L Boston College 38-31
This Week: Idle

Injuries plaguing the Pac-10’s elite.

The injury bug is biting hard right now in the Pac-10 conference.  Both Mark Sanchez and Rudy Carpenter are questionable for this Saturday’s game between USC and Arizona State. 

It’s unusual to see this type of situation.  Back up quarterback against backup quarterback.  I guess it’ll come down to who’s got the best second-best quarterback? 

Actually it won’t.  Carpenter’s backup Danny Sullivan could completely outplay Sanchez’s back up Mitch Mustain and it probably still wouldn’t matter.  USC is going to steam roll the Sun Devils no matter who’s taking their snaps. 

Nevertheless, with the injuries sustained to Sanchez and Carpenter, I got to thinking about how many of the Pac-10’s best players are missing time right now due to injury.

You’ve got USC All-American linebacker Ray Maualuga struggling with a knee injury sustained in the Trojan’s loss to Oregon State.  His return is still up in the air. 

There’s California’s Jahvid Best, perhaps an early Heisman Trophy candidate, who’s out with a dislocated elbow.  The sophomore is expected to be limited at least until next week’s game against Arizona.  Fortunately, the Bears have a bye this week, giving him a little more time to recover.

Of course don’t forget the quarterback issues that have dogged the UCLA, Washington and Oregon this year.  The Bruins lost their first and second-stringers in spring ball, leaving them to ride the rollercoaster that is Kevin Craft this season.

Washington’s best player by far, quarterback Jake Locker, broke his wrist and can’t throw the football.  He’s so desperate to help his team, though, that he has volunteered to play another position.  Sorry Jake, but I’m afraid it won’t make much difference.    

And Oregon, at one point, was playing with its fifth-stringer under center.  But there is some good news coming out of Eugene this week.  Quarterback Justin Roper has returned to practice and could possibly play this Saturday.

All in all, these are some pretty substantial injuries; and they’re adding up fast.  But as the saying goes, injuries are part of the game.  No one is exempted from the wrath of the injury bug.  When it bites, you’ve just got to plug someone else in and keep playing.  Wow, where did I learn how to talk in coach speak?  Maybe it’s from all those awe-inspiring Lou Holtz pep talks.

MVN Outsider Top 25

This week’s MVN Outsider Top 25 is enjoying its last bit of quiet before it blows up in the coming weeks. This Saturday in the Big XII, Texas and Oklahoma renew pleasantries at the Texas State Fair, while Missouri hosts undefeated Oklahoma State, and in the SEC, Florida hosts LSU. And a week from Saturday, Texas will host Missouri in Round II of the Big XII Round Robin Death Match.

Interestingly, the argument can be made that rankings could be less relevant this season than the past. Because of USC’s loss and the general weakness (as perceived by voters and computers) of the Pac-10, Big East, and ACC, if the champions of the Big XII and SEC emerge with no more than one loss, they will likely find themselves in the BCS championship game. But that’s along way off, and if we’ve learned anything over the past few seasons, it’s that making projections to December any earlier than, say, December is folly of the highest order.

1. Oklahoma
2. Alabama
3. Missouri
4. Texas
5. LSU
6. Penn State
7. Brigham Young
8. Texas Tech
9. USC
10. Georgia
11. Utah
12. Florida
13. Vanderbilt
14. Boise State
15. Ohio State
16. Kansas
17. Virginia Tech
18. Oklahoma State
19. South Florida
20. North Carolina
21. Northwestern
22. Michigan State
23. Wake Forest
24. Tulsa
25. Ball State

Others receiving votes: Auburn, Cal, TCU, Pitt, Georgia Tech