Week 7 October 14, 2006

Wow what a weekend of college football. You had big upsets (Vandy and Indiana), stars getting hurt (Peterson), more problems with replay (Chris Leak’s fumble or non fumble) brawls (Miami vs. FIU) which included some crazy comments by the Miami TV announcer Lamar Thomas, I’ll get to that later and the release of the first BCS of the season.

Let’s start with the game of the weekend: Florida at Auburn. I had the pleasure of watching this game in Central Florida with 15 – 20 Gator fans, some of which dressed to the nines like only Gator fans can. (Pictures coming) Before the game even began I was outside of the house and met some Gator fans and we started talking about the game. One guy, wearing a camouflaged Gator hat informed me that his buddy, who was standing right next to me, had $10,000 on the game. Apparently this guy was up $20,000 on the season. He said he had some “friends” that were big time gamblers and he was fortunate enough to get some of their inside info. Pine I can probably get you his email address. (He was actually up $20,500 after I told him the score of the Ohio State game which he had missed while huntin all day.)
The game starts and both teams look good moving the ball up and down the field. The one difference is that Auburn can only move the ball between the 20 yard lines, every time they get inside the Red Zone the Florida D steps up and forces Auburn to kick a field goal. During the 2nd quarter Florida finally breaks through as Dallas Baker makes a nice catch and holds the ball up over his head with one hand in the end zone to put Florida up 10-3. (His hands must be enormous) Auburn fights back with a safety and another field goal to make it 10-8. Then in comes Tim Tebow, one play later the Gators score again as he runs a QB draw for 16 yards and a TD. You should hear the Gator fans talk about Tebow. This kid has expectations that Joe Montana couldn’t live up to.

At the half I run into the guy with $10k on the game at the bar. I said “So far so good”….he responded with “I have a bad feeling in my stomach about this….we’re gonna lose.” What? You are ahead 17 – 11 and Auburn is yet to see the end zone. I don’t know what this guys deal is but I know how I get with $50 on the line, heck even with lunch on the line, and this guy is as calm as a cucumber…drinking, socializing and watching some football….yeah right.

Ok I need to jump into live action……Matt Leinhart just threw his second TD against the Bears in the 1st Quarter. Now there is a long way to go in this game, but let me state for the record that I saw this coming. I saw it the minute I got off the phone with Mike “Flytrap” Pine and knew that he was taking the Bears. When someone like Pine gets on a bad streak you always want to be on the other side….right now Pine is absolutely getting killed and anything he touches turns to shit. On Friday night he called me after 5pm and asked about my picks for the week. I proceeded to tell him about 7 college games that I liked: Pitt, S. Florida, Ohio State, NC St., FSU, Hawaii and Cal. (All but NC. ST. covered) I then went on to explain why Cal and Hawaii were locks. After listening to all of this he asks what web-site I am reading this from and he only takes Pitt and South Florida. He actually goes against Ohio St. (asinine move) and takes WVU which I warned him several times against. Now fast forward to Monday…..I need the Cards to cover to win some money in the LYA and I don’t feel good about a rookie QB facing the Bears D. Pine needs help and I explain I don’t like the over/under and I can’t see taking the Cards…..even if they get off to a decent start the Bears will eventually wear them down and win going away. (We will see about that) I tell Pine to find out if Larry Fitzgerald is playing …he says “Who?” ….”who does he even play with” This is typical of Pine….he earlier told me he spent 3 hours researching his picks last week. This begs to ask what was he researching. It clearly wasn’t info about the players’ names or their impact on the games. When he called me back to say Fitzgerald was doubtful I told him the Bears were a lock. The minute the phone hit the handset I realized the Cards, for the first time all week had a chance.

Back to the Florida game. Turns out Mr. $10k was right as Auburn blocks a punt for a TD, gets a lucky call from the officials and eventually Chris Leak turns into the player Florida fans can’t wait to see graduate in May. The horrible call on Leaks fumble/incomplete pass leaves a bad taste in the drunken UF fans mouths. If the rule (which it is) is that if the QB’s arm is moving forward at all and the ball comes loose it is an incomplete pass then there is no question that Auburn got some home cooking. (Which they repeated 15 times over the next 30 minutes) 2 things that come to mind here…..One is that Thursday night I saw almost the same play in the Va Tech/ BC game and the play was reviewed and over turned as Glennon’s arm was moving forward. Leak’s arm was 2 feet more forward then Glennons’. Secondly, the review process is normally one of the most painful parts of a 2006 football game….in this case the review lasted only 1 minute and 4 seconds. Hmmmm The shame of this is that Auburn may have still won the game, as it would have been 20-18 with 8 minutes remaining. Now all we will hear about is the refs. Well we will also hear about how Chris Leak fell apart down the stretch. Whether it was a fumble or not….Leak was battered by the Auburn D in the second half and looked indecisive on that play and threw a terrible INT off his back foot on the Gators next drive effectively ending the game. He is going to hear whispers about Tim Tebow for the rest of the season….no matter how he plays.

The Miami vs. FIU game was the debacle of the week, but it gets even better off the field. During this melee, in which players used their helmets and cleats as weapons, the Miami TV color analyst Lamar Thomas had some interesting comments. Lamar, a former semi-star wide receiver at the U, who I am sure graduated with a degree in communications of a different kind put his own flavor on the melee. "I say, why don't they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more? You don't come into the OB, baby," Thomas said. "We've had a down couple years but you don't come in here talking smack. Not in our house.”

"Now, that's what I'm talking about," Thomas said as the brawl raged out of control. "You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don't come into the OB playing that stuff. You're across the ocean over there. You're across the city. You can't come over to our place talking noise like that. You'll get your butt beat. I was about to go down the elevator to get in that thing."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2628184

I love the fact that he calls the Orange Bowl “The OB”. I have seen hundreds of games on TV from the OB and that is the first OB reference I have ever heard. Monday I listened as Lamar called into the Dan Patrick show and it got even better. The first question Dan asked was “Do you know if there will be any repercussions from your comments on Saturday?” Lamar responded that Comcast had called but he hadn’t spoken to them yet…..he was calling Dan first! Good move Lamar….not surprisingly shortly after the Patrick interview Thomas was fired by Mark Fuhrman of Comcast (Whitey don’t you know this guy) After the interview Patrick also ran down Thomas’ rap sheet….and it was quite impressive, far more impressive than his list of football accolades. You wonder why Miami has the perception of being thugs??? They have this reputation because that’s what they are…..Larry Coker has lost control and his time is up…this was the last straw.

The best irony of the whole incident is that Saturday Night was deemed “Join a team not a gang night” at the OB and the Miami Dade police brought 700 kids to the game. You think they learned a valuable lesson?

Teams of the Week

Vanderbilt and Indiana – Vandy went on the road and beat Georgia 24-22 on a last second field goal. Vandy has played tough all year against Michigan and Alabama and last week they were finally rewarded. For Georgia things went from bad to worse…first they gave up 51 points to Tennessee, then they lose to Vandy and after the game they find out Thomas Brown will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. The saddest part of this loss is that McGruder has officially given up on football this fall and started preparing for hunting season. (He didn’t return a single email this weekend.)

Indiana came from 21 – 7 down to beat Iowa on the legs and arm of freshman QB Kellen Lewis. This guy’s bio says he is 6’1” 177 pounds. Look at him this week, he might be 165 soaking wet, but he can make plays and what do you know Indiana has one 2 straight Big Ten games. Guess who they get this week?? The Buckeyes…bye bye winning streak.

Next week:

Texas -6.5 at Nebraska – One of UT’s last possible games they can lose. Has Nebraska really beaten anyone? I can't pick Nebraska until they show me something against a quality team.

UCLA at Notre Dame -13 – No Ben Olsen for UCLA, so they will be starting a frosh QB. The rainy and cold weather in South Bend won’t be to the Bruins liking or their pretty uniforms.

Iowa +13 at Michigan – The Hawkeyes are reeling, can they save their season? Michigan has allowed something like 228 rushing yards all year. I think Iowa will scare the Michgan fans for 2.5 quarters before losing by 10. We are headed for a classic Michigan vs. Ohio St. game. In case you never looked on Google....type in Michigane sucks. There are more than a few sites put together by Buckeye fans

http://www.michigansux.com/

Alabama at Tennessee-12 – Bama has struggled lately, but in this rivalry game you never know. UT pulls away by 14 and barely covers.

Washington +23 at CAL – A week ago this spread would have been 14. After UW’s loss and Cal’s dominance the spread has finally caught up.(Cal has covered every game since Tennessee.) Pine take CAL this week….

BC +4.5 at FSU – FSU still favored…interesting. The more they lose the happier I am.

Georgia Tech +8 at Clemson – Game of the week. Fresh vs. Abs. Orange vs. Yellow. Game Day comes to Death Valley for the first time ever. Every time Clemson has played a legit team they have been in for a battle. I think this game will be the same….Tech is tested on the road and they have the best player in CFB, hopefully they will use him. The real question is what do you do when the teams that you should never bet for or against play each other?? Someone has to win. I like the points.

Rutgers +6 at Pitt – Unsung game that could go a long way in the Big East picture. Pitt has been scoring by the boat load. My rule is never pick Dave Wannstedt in a big game, I’ll apply that this week.

I will in South Bend on Saturday for the UCLA – ND game and in the RCA Dome on Sunday for the Colts vs. Redskins game. There should be lots of pictures for next week.

This is the wacky story of the week: Prior to Lamar Thomas.

How bad are things going for the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers right now?
Well, in a classic you-won't-believe-this-one moment, the Steelers have lost a starter for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs because the guy actually got too much treatment in trying to come back from an injury.
Right guard Kendall Simmons will sit out the game because of an ice burn on his left foot.
It seems that Simmons, who has not practiced this week, fell asleep with a cooling device on his foot as he attempted to treat a heel injury. The result: Even though winter hasn't arrived yet in Pittsburgh, the fifth-year veteran suffered the equivalent of frostbite. How long the injury will sideline Simmons, whose heel was left raw by the incident, has not yet been determined.
"It's disappointing anytime [an injury] is something that simple," a sheepish Simmons told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It's more of a freak accident."