college football recap: mexican independence day edition

You know the drill blog peeps. Non-sports related blog post is below the sports one.

• I really, really, really want to talk about the USC game, but I’m going to start with the Thursday night game first. West Virginia played Maryland on Thursday night in front of a national audience and Maryland actually hung in there for a bit. But the turtles were simply no match for the Mountaineers as the Terps ended up giving up more than 400 yards to WVU and Mountaineer Steve Slayton had a typically solid performance with 3 TDs.

• There were many anticipated games on Saturday and for some reason, the Florida/Tennessee game was one of them. Sure, two ranked teams from the same conference were going up each other. But did anyone outside of the state of Tennessee really think that the Vols had a chance? This is Florida, for crying out loud. And Tennessee got worked by Cal to start the season. Not to take anything away from Cal, but how can we assume that Tennessee would have a strong defense (that is characteristic of SEC teams) after the Vols gave up 45 points to Cal? Of course the Gators were going to be all over the Vols and they did, racking up over 600 yards of total offense.

• It was the battle for an end to futility. Michigan vs. Notre Dame. One big disappointment vs. another big disappointment. But the game certainly didn’t disappoint. Well, any time Notre Dame gets worked, this little Trojan becomes incredibly happy. Not that I would wish this kind of crappiness on anyone. But seriously, any time a team gives their coach a multi-year contract extension after not having proven a thing and then leads the team to an 0-3 start two seasons later kinda deserves it, no? Especially when the previous coach, Ty Willingham (who is Black, by the way) wasn’t given the same kind of treatment. I’m willing to bet my first born that Notre Dame isn’t going to fire Charlie Weis. Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it?

• Meanwhile, I’m happy to report that Michigan coach, Lloyd Carr was visited by his good friend, Russell Crowe (yes, THAT Russell Crowe), as a show of support. Random? Yes it is.

• The Nick Saban era in Alabama is in full swing and it showed. The Arkansas/’Bama match up was incredibly good, although I wasn’t watching it the whole time (*ahem* my game was on). Jesse and I were both calling the upset and we were not surprised when the Tide pulled a last minute drive to score the game-winning touchdown.

• However, I was surprised when the stupid little Bruins actually lost! Damn you, Bruins. Way to make the Pac-10 look like crap. I’m sure you’re wondering why a loyal Trojan like myself would be so upset that UCLA lost to the Utes of Utah by 38 points. Well, in addition to making the PAC-10 look bad, UCLA was previously ranked #11. They were supposed to be highly ranked until the end of the season, when we play them and demolish them to end our regular season, thereby putting the exclamation point on our BCS championship season run. Ugh.

• Tyrod Taylor is starting to get into the swing of things as the starting QB for Virginia Tech. Although Jesse and I didn’t watch the game (ummm...who doesn’t televise a game with a nationally ranked team? WTF?), we listened online and were generally impressed with Taylor. He’s definitely a more athletic QB than former starter (and cry baby) Sean Glennon. Taylor led the Hokies to victory against Ohio. Glennon, meanwhile is bitter about losing the starting job and I read somewhere that he is considering transferring to another university because he thinks he is so talented that someone else will give him a try. Yeah, Glennon. You do that. I’m sure some 1-AA team would LOVE to have you. Just don’t ask Appalachian State. I think they’re doing just fine without you.

• So yeah, the #1 team in the nation played the #14 team in the nation at the #14 team’s home stadium, which is supposed to be a difficult place to play. I’m not taking anything away from Nebraska, but USC made that game look easy. Everything went USC’s way, including a fumbled punt return that was picked up by another Trojan for a much bigger gain. And the USC offensive line was phenomenal. The holes they opened up were as big as the field, giving our team of RBs plenty of room to move and score. And score we did, racking up 42 points before handing the reins over to the second and third string late in the 3rd quarter (for those of you not impressed with the final score—49-31—our backups were playing against NE’s starters and the Huskers scored two last minute TD’s to make the score respectable). I was so proud of us. This little Trojan beamed all the way home!

Up next for Tech is a game against 1-AA team, William and Mary (ummm...easy victory) and USC is playing Wazzu.

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As part of my on-going quest to educate people on all things Mexican, I would like to wish you all a happy belated Mexican Independence Day! No, it’s not Cinco de Mayo, silly blog peeps. Yesterday was September 16th, the day that Mexicans celebrate the beginning of the War of Independence, the war that brought about Mexico’s independence from Spain.

The holiday is actually celebrated starting with sundown on September 15th. The Grito de Dolores (Shout/Yell of Sorrow) begins the Independence Day celebration. The Grito refers to Father Miguel Hidalgo’s incredibly loud request for insurrection. Apparently, he rang the bells at his church and shouted to anyone who could hear him (in Spanish, of course), “Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe and King Fernando VII! Down with the bad government!” And this was the cry that motivated the Mexican peeps to an uprising. Ay. If only it was that easy nowadays...

Mexico’s actually independence from Spain didn’t come until September 27, 1821. This recognition didn’t come until 11 years after the Grito. The Grito is re-enacted every year, which is actually pretty cool.

So, the next time Cinco de Mayo rolls around and someone with a Margarita in their hand comes to you and says, “Hey, Happy Mexican Independence Day!” you can now say, “Hey, foolio, Mexican Independence Day is September 16th!”

Actually, “foolio” is not necessary.