Posts Tagged ‘Oregon Ducks’

Here’s my ballot for this week’s CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 hosted by — as you might imagine — CBS Sports.

Week 11

Through 8 November 2009

This past weekend’s slate of college football games were—for the most part—supposed to be dull and boring.  There were very few “key” matchups on the schedule and most thought it might be a snoozer.  Well, that simply did not turn out to be the case.   Thus, there are a number of shake-ups in my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot for this week.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here is is:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	–
2	Texas	–
3	Florida	–
4	TCU	–
5	Cincinnati	3
6	Ohio State	6
7	Georgia Tech	4
8	Pittsburgh	6
9	Southern Cal	4
10	Boise State	–
11	Miami (Florida)	6
12	Utah	6
13	Houston	2
14	LSU	8
15	Iowa	6
16	Penn State	11
17	Oregon	10
18	Oklahoma State	2
19	Arizona	2
20	Wisconsin	3
21	Brigham Young	3
22	South Florida	3
23	Virginia Tech	NR
24	Navy	NR
25	Auburn	NR
Last week’s ballot

Explanations after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s my ballot for this week’s CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 hosted by — as you might imagine — CBS Sports.

Week 10

Through 01 November 2009

Well, it appears that silly season has begun as there were multiple losses among the Top 25, some near the top.  As a result, there are a few substantial changes in my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot after the past week in the world of college football.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here it is:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	–
2	Texas	–
3	Florida	–
4	TCU	1
5	Penn State	2
6	LSU	2
7	Oregon	7
8	Cincinnati	1
9	Iowa	3
10	Boise State	–
11	Georgia Tech	2
12	Ohio State	4
13	Southern Cal	9
14	Pittsburgh	1
15	Houston	3
16	Oklahoma	4
17	Miami (Florida)	2
18	Utah	3
19	Notre Dame	4
20	Oklahoma State	9
21	Arizona	3
22	California	NR
23	Wisconsin	NR
24	Brigham Young	NR
25	South Florida	NR
Last week’s ballot

Explanations after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a bumpy couple of weeks for the Tennessee Volunteers and their fans, on that there is little room for debate.

First, the Vols lost to Florida in a “moral victory” which amounts to losing gallantly.  The Vols then went on to beat a scrappy Ohio Bobcats team in less than runaway style, but as I said at the time: “a win is a win.”  Then, this past weekend, the men in orange were bested by the Auburn Tigers and Gus Malzahn’s semi-deranged (but highly effective) form of offense.  Finally, Lane Kiffin gave Brandon Warren his walking papers as a result of what Kiffin described as “conduct detrimental to our team.”

For my part, I have had little to offer on these issues due to my ridiculously overloaded schedule.  Trust me when I say that it was not for lack of desire or lack of observations that I have been so quiet.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective) I now have a little time to pontificate, so here we go…

Auburn and “Johnnie Cochran” Offense

Gus Malzahn is either a genius or a madman depending on whether you are a fan of the Tigers or are their opponent.  His offensive sets are as entropy-filled and outlandish as they are effective.  One of the keys to its function is to make an opposing defense deal with the constant distraction of the seemingly endless arsenal of quasi-trick plays that it includes.  This bevy of distractions vying for the attention of opposing defenses, reminds me of pretty much every argument ever made to a jury by Johnnie Cochran—focusing on the distraction rather than the fact.

Still, there is a lot of fact to Malzahn’s ability to mask his plays and to run unconventional sets regularly and successfully.  I personally cannot remember seeing a game which featured as many reverses and double-reverses as the Tennessee — Auburn contest.  I know that I have never seen a true pooch punt (seemingly taken right out of General Neyland’s own playbook from the 1930s) in person.  To Malzahn’s credit, he has taken a lackluster unit that barely produced anything other than narcolepsy in 2008 and transformed them into a machine which scores tons of points and gives defenses fits.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s my ballot for this week’s CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 hosted by — as you might imagine — CBS Sports.

Week 6

Through 4 October 2009

After the games of this past weekend, my ballot seems to have settled down a bit near the top, but the back end continues to be a bit of a rollercoaster.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here’s my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot for week 6 of the 2009 season:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida	–
2	Texas	–
3	Alabama	–
4	LSU	–
5	Boise State	–
6	Southern Cal	–
7	TCU	–
8	Ohio State	–
9	Penn State	2
10	Iowa	–
11	Virginia Tech	1
12	Mississippi	1
13	Miami (Florida)	6
14	Cincinnati	–
15	Notre Dame	2
16	Kansas	4
17	Oklahoma	8
18	Oklahoma State	3
19	Auburn	NR
20	Nebraska	2
21	Wisconsin	NR
22	Oregon	NR
23	Pittsburgh	1
24	Missouri	NR
25	Georgia	10
Last week’s ballot

Explanations after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s my ballot for this week’s CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 hosted by — as you might imagine — CBS Sports.

Week 5

Through 26 September 2009

This was one screwed-up week for my ballot.  I suppose this is my proverbial “adjustment week” wherein I re-align everything now that I’ve had a chance to actually see how teams are going to play.  That said, some the weeks changes are the result of nothing other than the unexpected highs and lows for the teams across the country.  Lots of movement this week in my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here’s my ballot:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida	–
2	Texas	–
3	Alabama	1
4	LSU	3
5	Boise State	4
6	Southern Cal	5
7	TCU	5
8	Ohio State	5
9	Oklahoma	1
10	Iowa	4
11	Penn State	8
12	Virginia Tech	7
13	Mississippi	7
14	Cincinnati	9
15	Georgia	2
16	UCLA	–
17	Notre Dame	1
18	Houston	NR
19	Miami (Florida)	11
20	Kansas	–
21	Oklahoma State	–
22	Nebraska	–
23	California	18
24	Pittsburgh	9
25	Michigan	–
Last week’s ballot

Explanations after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Football season is officially upon us and last night we got a chance to get our first look at one of the Tennessee Volunteers’ upcoming opponents: the South Carolina Gamecocks.  If last night was any indication, South Carolina’s offense has a long way to go.  In their lackluster 7-3 win over the NC State Wolfpack, the Gamecocks looked fairly anemic when they had the ball and had it not been for their defense, they probably don’t win the game (considering their only touchdown came as a result of a recovered fumble in the red zone).  That is some good news for the Vols.  You can read plenty more on this game from the Thunder Chicken perspective over at Garnet and Black Attack.

Meanwhile, out in the hinterland, the Boise State Broncos managed to beat the Oregon Ducks 19-8 in a battle of fisticuffs on the Smurf Turf. Even more exciting than the game was Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount’s right hook to the jaw of Boise State defensive end Byron Hout after the game was over. CBS Sports is now reporting that Blount has been suspended for the remainder of the season by the University of Oregon.

Tisk, Tisk…

Here’s a little look at the fun that was had by Blount and Hout at the game.

Video: Smurf Punchin’

Oh yeah, and Utah beat Utah State 35-17 (if any of you cared).

Thus, we have but one day before the Vols get it going against the Western Kentucky Weird-Grimace-Looking-Walking-Amoeba-or-is-it-an-Eggplant-Guys (Hilltoppers) at Neyland Stadium.  After all these months of waiting, we finally get a chance to see Lane Kiffin’s Vols in action.  Let’s just hope no one punches anyone afterwards.

Ahh, college football, I’ve missed you…

– So it goes…

Here’s my ballot for this week’s CBS Sports College Football BlogPoll hosted by—as you might imagine—CBS Sports.

Week 12

Through 15 November 2008

Things are really tightening up as we head into the last few weeks of the 2008 College Football Season. This week is the first week in over a month where the Top-10 managed to keep it together. Thus, most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here is my preliminary BlogPoll Top 25 for this week:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	–
2	Texas Tech	–
3	Florida	1
4	Oklahoma	1
5	Texas	–
6	Southern Cal	–
7	Missouri	–
8	Boise State	–
9	Utah	–
10	Ohio State	–
11	Penn State	1
12	Ball State	1
13	Oklahoma State	3
14	Georgia	–
15	Brigham Young	–
16	Pittsburgh	1
17	Michigan State	1
18	North Carolina	7
19	TCU	–
20	LSU	–
	Cincinnati	2
22	Oregon State	4
23	Maryland	3
24	Oregon	2
25	Northwestern	1

Dropped Out: South Carolina (#21), Florida State (#22), Virginia Tech (#24), Tulsa (#25).

Explanations after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »