Monday, November 10, 2008

college football recap: strangely, even the Rose Bowl looks out of reach

What a weekend for college football, huh? Ok, who am I kidding? There was only one really great game this weekend and that was Penn State/Iowa. Other than that, it was business as usual.

  • On Thursday night, the beaten down and injury plagued Virginia Tech Hokies hosted Maryland in Blacksburg. The last time I was in B-burg to see the Hokies play Maryland, it was freezing cold and the game was a blow out (courtesy of the Hokies). This year, the Hokies have a subpar offense led by one of two quarterbacks who are both nursing ankle injuries. So, how sweet was it to watch the Hokies come out victorious? The offense seemed to come alive (I refuse to give Sean Glennon any credit for this victory) under RB Darren Evans who ran for 253 yards (which was more than half of the total offensive yardage) and a TD. It was nice to see someone step it up on offense. Hopefully, Evans will show the same stuff when the Hokies travel to Miami this week.

  • In a very, very exciting game, Penn State traveled to Iowa and ended up losing a close game, 24-23. After being behind in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter, the Hawkeyes staged a comeback, scoring a touchdown thanks to a pass interference call against Penn State during the drive. They followed that up with a field goal with ONE SECOND REMAINING to clinch the win, thereby ending Penn State’s BCS hopes.

  • #1 Alabama beat LSU in Baton Rouge in Saban’s return to Tigerland. For the first time in my life, I was rooting for the Tigers because everyone loves a good upset. But after that game (despite it going into overtime), I’m thinking that the Crimson Tide will end up in the BCS title game. I don’t usually make sports predictions on this blog, but I’m certain that Alabama will win the SEC and earn a trip to the national championship.

  • The thing is Alabama is the real deal. They play offense and defense and they do both well. On the other hand, Texas Tech (and anyone in the Big 12 really) has a dominant offense but plays no defense. Texas Tech hosted the Cowboys of Oklahoma State on Saturday and ended up winning with a score easily divisible by seven (56-20). Does this team even have a kicker? I wonder how many field goals this kid’s got. It looks like the BCS title game will be whoever wins the SEC vs. whoever wins the Big 12. It won’t matter who comes out of the Big 12 because the SEC actually play defense and Big 12 teams don’t know what it’s like to play against one.

  • Speaking of good defenses, USC’s got one. In fact, our defense is one of the best in the country. Too bad our offense hasn’t followed suit. This week we hosted Cal and the game was a nightmare. USC was hit with penalty after needless penalty. Both our offense and defense looked undisciplined out there. Fortunately, our defense still managed to show up. I’m not sure what the deal was with our offense. Why the Trojans couldn’t score more against the Golden Bears is beyond me. Anyway, I’ve decided that we’re probably going to end up at the Rose Bowl playing Penn State. That is, if Oregon State loses…

  • OREGON STATE WATCH: Oregon State has not lost a game since its conference opener vs. Stanford, which seriously worries me. Because they beat us a few weeks ago, the Beavers own the tie-breaker against us and may win the conference if they win out (and end up at the Rose Bowl). So, I’m on OSU watch from now until the end of the season. This Saturday I watched the UCLA/Oregon State game with interest, actually rooting for the Bruins (which is incredibly hard for me to do). Unfortunately, UCLA rolled over and played dead as the Beavers cruised to victory, 34-6. The Beavers play Cal next weekend and you bet I’ll be cheering on the Golden Bears!

Next up for the Hokies: @ Miami
Next up for the Trojans: @ Stanford (it’s payback time)

4 comments:

J Fitty said...

Glennon was SOLID! The first TD pass was perfectly thrown (and Boone ran a great route). A couple questionable passes ended up harmless (Boykin bailed him out on one with a great catch). Give the guy his due. He didn't lose the game, and is a 100% better PASSER than TT. Glennon has a cannon, and used it.

Lexilooo said...

I'd like to say that, even though my boy went to Iowa State, I think the quarterback from Iowa is hot. He made me watch the I-ISU game, so that's what he gets for it :)

Anonymous said...

where in DC can I get free condoms? I'm gay - is there a list somewhere of gay establishments that might have free condoms?

an orange county girl said...

j fitty: meh. what struck me by your comment was this little phrase, "he didn't lose the game". yes, i suppose that is considered quite an accomplishment for glennon. he may be a better passer than tyrod, but he doesn't have as many weapons as tyrod. tyrod can make plays when the offense isn't cooperating. and until VT recruits a better offense or replace the offensive coordinator, you're going to need a qb that does more than pass with some accuracy.

lexiloo: don't tell my bf, but i'm going to have to agree with you there. he is pretty attractive.

anon: there's metro teen AIDS in SE. also any planned parenthood or whitman walker clinic will give you free condoms (there's a PP near farragut north metro and a wwc near U St. metro). you can also stop by latin american youth center or la clinica del pueblo in columbia heights. you do NOT have to be gay in order to get condoms from these places.