You can always count on SOS to drop a few good digs and one liners.  I like this gem about [name redacted] he gave to the Tampa Tribune. 

Back to Meyer embracing Spurrier’s legend. It contrasts sharply with that of the man who first succeeded Spurrier.

“Zooker never thought much about the past, did he?” Spurrier said. “There’s a fact of life that winners admire winners and losers resent winners and try to find something negative about them ….”

 

Calling [name redacted] a loser… Reason number 1562 to still love Spurrier. 

According to a little stealthy radio listening here, this may actually be a possibility: Texas versus Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. That’s courtesy of Brad Edwards, ESPN number cruncher, talking to Tony Barnhardt et. al on 790 the Zone here in Atlanta.

The scenario: Texas, brought low in the race for BCS position by their Sam Houston State matchup, gets the Fiesta Bowl bid. Boise only needs to be in the top 12 of the BCS rankings or be ranked in the top 16 with a ranking higher than that of a conference champ to get an automatic bid to a BCS bowl. Thanks to the midget nutkicking match we call the ACC, this may be a real possibility, since Boise is sitting at 14 in the rankings and needs to beat San Jose State to keep this mutant strain of BCS possibility alive.

(Burnt Orange Nation is very much onto this, and by poll numbers, it wouldn’t be Texas fans’ first choice. You may pick yourself up off the floor in shock–your boss might see you there, and while you have been drinking today, you certainly don’t want them to think you can’t handle it.)

Take an absurd system, tweak it some more, and end up with an even more absurd system. Frankly, Rube Goldberg could have come up with a better system of ending the college season than something generating a potential Boise/Texas matchup, a solution involving golf balls, a boxing glove on a flexing arm, and not Boise State players lying broken in pieces on the field in front of millions of scarred eyeballs.

De’Cody Fagg is ready to play, according to Bobby Bowden. In fact, if you play the EDSBS Game Of Unfairly Placed Ellipses® , Bobby seems to be quite comfortable with Fagg in the Miami Herald Article.

”I think we are OK with Fagg,” coach Bobby Bowden said…`I have had quite a few of them.”

Unfairly placed ellipses! Guaranteed laughs every time!

Bowden: he says he’s had a few.

Well, I decided to honor the Stardust’s closing by giving money back to the ‘books. To quote John Facenda (from “Black Sunday,” the NFL Films Super Bowl XVIII piece), “It was a defeat from which no honor could be salvaged.” Nothing I can do, really, except try to shake it off and get back at it.

It was by far my worst week since I started writing this column, and from a historical standpoint, I hadn’t had a 2-8 week since 1992. Then, I shut it down for the season, and came back strong the next year; this time, I’ll ride it out. Certainly, the first part of my 2006 was considerably better than the first part of my 1992, so my hope is that it’s just a blip, and I can come back this week with some winners.

For the season, I still sit at 57-43, a winning percentage of 57%, not dissimilar to my winning percentage of 58% last season. Last season at this time, by winning percentage was around 52-54%. Lots of road teams and favorites this week. Here are the selections:

THURSDAY:

Louisville (-6) v. RUTGERS

First things first, I think Rutgers is a good team. That said, I do not believe they are an ‘8-0 team,’ if that makes any sense; I think their schedule to date has papered over some deficiencies. Wins over Illinois and Ohio look better now than they did at the time, but the win over UNC looks worse, and their only noteworthy wins are over the rather modest collection of South Florida, Navy, and Pitt. When you consider that Navy lost its QB in the 1Q that win is not as impressive; even if you do not downgrade Rutgers for that win it is a relatively light resume. Of more note is that while the Rutgers D has been great this season, they have yet to face a truly good O; no doubt they did a good job against the Pitt passing game and against the Navy running game (with the obvious caveat), but they have yet to face an offense that truly has any balance. In fact, while it is obvious that Louisville will have the best passing game that Rutgers has faced this season, given the Navy QB situation I think it may also be true that the Louisville O may also present the best running game they have faced. Given the weak offenses they have played, I give the Rutgers D little margin for error, and there seems to be plenty. Rutgers did well against Pitt QB Palko, but much less well against USF QB Grothe; even UNC QB Dailey had a pretty good game against the Rutgers D. In any event, the Louisville passing game is on a much different level than any of this lot. Rutgers has been pretty good against the run, but UConn freshman RB Brown–a decent back, but not this good–absolutely tore them up for 199 yards in their last game; normally, you could just dismiss this as an aberration, but given that they’ve really played no other decent RBs this season, it’s of particular note. The Rutgers passing game is nonexistent–there’s really no reason that a QB that has a running game as good as Rutgers does should be so ineffective, but he is ( 5.97 ypp, with a 5-7 ratio)–but Rutgers has a good running game and they will get their yards, little doubt. But given that Louisville will be able to pretty much ignore the Rutgers passing game they should be able to keep them in check. In the final analysis, while Louisville’s O will be kept in check somewhat, I do not think they will be stopped and Rutgers’ one-dimensional O will not be able to keep up. As long as Louisville can keep their heads after last week they should get ahead of this number.

Ray Rice: will attempt to completely demolish the BCS picture tonight.

SATURDAY:

ILLINOIS (-3) v. Purdue

I think Illinois turned it around a while back but they have yet to turn it into any end product. Since the Ohio game, they have played Penn State and Wisconsin tough on the road, and Ohio State tough at home–three of the four best teams in the Big 10–but they have yet to manage a win. You wouldn’t guess it, but Illinois has a pretty good D; in Big 10 play, they’ve only given up 109 ypg rushing ( 3.04 ypc) and 179 ypg passing (6.03 ypp) with a 4-4 ratio. Purdue’s O this season is not your typical Tiller O, and they have struggled against good defenses. Wisconsin held them to a FG and Penn State shut them out; Illinois’ D is not in that class, but it is not too far off and I think the Purdue O–which only gained 373 yds against a Mich St D that, outside of Indiana, probably has the worst pass D in the conference–will struggle to move the ball against them; the only QB who has had a good game against the Illinois D is Wisc QB Stocco, and please note that OSU QB Smith and Iowa QB Tate have been among their opponents. The Purdue D is pretty weak; to illustrate, they gave up nearly 400 yards to a very weak Penn State O. They have, in particular, struggled against the run; opposing RBs have averaged 5.73 ypc in Big 10 play. Illinois has averaged 161 ypg rushing (4.46 ypc) in Big 10 play; furthermore, they have averaged 134 ypg and 3.98 ypc the last three weeks against PSU, Wisc, and OSU. They will find the going easier this week against the Purdue D. Illinois QB Williams is not great but he is serviceable as a passer, and so long as he avoids mistakes it should be enough to let the Illinois running game and D take this one.

Navy (-12.5) v. EASTERN MICHIGAN

Navy has suffered a downgrade at the QB position with the season-ending injury to Hampton, but his replacement Kaheaku-Enhada has stepped it up and the net result appears to only be a small minus. If you eliminate the Rutgers game, where he had to come off the bench and was not entirely prepared, under Kaheaku-Enhada the Navy O has rushed for 246 yds against ND, and 435 yds against Duke; Navy’s overall offensive effectiveness does seem to be less–partly because Hampton was a better passer–but they still apparently have enough to overwhelm teams that are not their equivalents (given their authoritative win over an improving Duke team last week). EMU’s D has not been too bad in MAC play this season–21 ppg and 337 ypg–but their run D is very average, giving up 179 ypg and 4.70 ypc, and they have had trouble with mobile QBs; opposing QBs are averaging 42 ypg rushing on average, and those that can run have. Navy’s D is poor statistically, but as I have pointed out elsewhere they tend to give up considerably less points than you would expect given the yardage they give up ( i.e., they bend, but don’t break) and the EMU O is not particularly prolific; EMU has yet to score more than 21 points this season and they are averaging 16 ppg and 292 ypg. Adding to their offensive problems are injuries; QB Schmitt–the slightly better of the two QBs EMU rotates–did not play last week and he is listed as questionable. EMU’s O consists of mostly the QB running or throwing–the two leading rushers on the team are their QBs, so being limited at that position hurts them even more than one would usually expect. In addition, their top RB is out for the season, and their next RB in line, Harrison–and, keep in mind that we are talking about someone who only has 116 yards for the season–missed the last game and is questionable for this week. Navy’s pass D is really bad, but the EMU O is so limited that they will not be able to take advantage, and I think Navy will win this game with ease.

EMU!

Rice (+14) v. TULSA

I have been a big fan of Tulsa the last couple of seasons; I think this is the first time I am picking against them. (more…)