Study Body Right... Student Body Wrong...  

Well, another week down, and once again there were some surprises, and a couple games we here at the 323 pretty much nailed. Of course you're all going to be paying attention to my complete fumble of the Notre Dame-Penn St. game, and I guess I deserve that. I'll try to defend myself a little later. It was an interesting weekend of games, but ones that were incapable of living up to the unbelievable hype. The most exciting games of the week were ones that were more or less over-shadowed by some showdowns with national title implications. The big man will fill everyone in on the thrilling BC-Clemson tilt, if he remembers it. As for myself, I want to take a moment to give recognition to the Oregon-Fresno St. game that kept me glued to my couch into the wee hours. Kudos for Mike Bellotti for using some fancy trickeration to get kicker Paul Martinez into the endzone with the winning score. The 323 loves kickers coming through in the clutch, but a clutch touchdown? that's the first one I've heard of, congratulations to him. Now all the other little fella's will be jealous the rest of the year. Ok, enough rambling, on to what went right, and what went wrong, for my crystal ball this week.

I was right about:

Ohio St. More or less all-around. Their offense was unbelievable, and deserves all the credit it is getting. The 323 was stunned that Troy Smith has turned into such a polished passer, and that only makes this team more lethal. While the defense certainly deserves plenty of credit for holding Texas to only 7, they showed both their talent, and their inexperience. A fortuitous fumble really changed this game, and Texas could very easily have found themselves in control in the first half. The Longhorns seemingly ran the ball at will, punishing the Buckeyes with six, seven, eight yard runs on first down. I'm not entirely sure what happened, or why this fact didn't have a bigger impact on the final result.

I was wrong about:

The inexperience at Penn St. not being a real concern. Look, the Nittany Lions should have been winning this game early, they outplayed ND badly in the first quarter, and for most of the half. However, botched field goal attempts, costly turnovers, and stupid penalties put them on their heels. Once the bounces started going ND's way, this team simply imploded. These were the types of errors they avoided last year, and it helped them win close games all season. If they had kept their composure, this might have ended up an excellent game, as it was, PSU simply folded when they couldn't catch a break.

I was right about:

Clemson. This team is always going to underachieve in pressure situations, especially on the road. BC played an excellent game, and deserves tons of credit, but Clemson had plenty of opportunities to win this game, and failed to do so. Of course. C-L-E-M-S-OOOOOO-go to hell! Bastards.

It seems I was wrong about:

Notre Dame's defense. They looked very solid again in their big win. Penn St. did not get into the endzone until late in the game. I'm still not entirely sold on this unit, but the results speak for themselves. I guess I'll have to lay off until they completely implode and cost this team its' season.

I was right about:

Joe Tereshinski. Congratulations, son, you are the official 323 whipping boy. I know he's injured, and it might seem cruel, but he really is just abominable. The numbers were 2/3 for 18 yards, but watch, Georgia will see an offensive bump for wonder-boy Stafford. While his youth may eventually cost them a shot at the title, if he cuts down on rookie mistakes he will certainly provide far more firepower than the hopeless Joe T ever could.

I was wrong about:

LSU's offense. I know I haven't talked about the Tigers much this year, but I figured there wasn't a lot to say. An excellent team, brilliant defensively, that will have its' offense fail them. Well, maybe I should start paying a little more attention. They'll get all the can handle in an absolute showdown at Auburn this week. They'll need an excellent offense to put some points on an Auburn defense that is playing as well as anyone in the country right now.

I was right about:

Louisville not missing Bush right away. I know it was Temple. I know. I know. But they really will be alright without their massive running back. Maybe it will show up against a brilliant Miami defense, maybe it will prevent them from controlling the clock and slowing down West Virginia later in the year, but Louisville still has a ton of weapons, and shouldn't lose hope just because they lost one player, no matter how talented.

I was wrong about:

Texas' defense. Since when did these guys seem a step slow against anybody? But Ginn and Gonzalez ran passed, through, and around them. Stunning.

I was right about:

Terrell Brown's legal troubles being a serious, serious concern. Not a terribly hard one to call, but that young man must be feeling pretty awful about now.

I may be wrong about:

Chris Leak and Urban Meyer. Looks like they found the same page, although Tebow had some impressive numbers, and still is a better fit for the system. That being said, 350 yards passing and 4TD's in three quarters, against anybody, is nothing to sneeze at.

I was right about:

Remaining cautious with Tennessee. For as good as they looked against Cal, they almost threw it all away against Air Force, and barely, barely escaped. They also lost two defensive starters, although Ainge was excellent (24/29, 333yds, 3TD's) and David Cutcliffe is reminding everyone of his powers as a quarterback guru, this team still has a lot to prove.

Finally, I may have been wrong about:

The Penn St. linebackers. Paul Posluszny looked a step slow, and not fully recovered from his serious knee injury. Darius Walker is not the fastest back in the world, but he motored passed the all-everything linebacker several times. The ND game plan was to throw into what was supposed to be the heart of the PSU D, and they completed pass after pass over the middle. These guys needed a great performance, they did NOT deliver, they need to step up in a hurry. I got a new turtle on Saturday, and decided to name him Posluszny. After watching the game on Saturday, I'm beginning to wonder if Little Pos could out-run his namesake. (I will admit, he is a surprisingly quick turtle).