9.15.2008

COLLEGE FB WEEKEND ROUNDUP

We've added a new feature - "College FB Weekend Roundup." that will recap last weekend's football action and look forward to what's ahead next Saturday. It will run each Monday. There will also be one for college basketball, so we'll be pretty busy here at The Realests with our Big Ten basketball preview on deck as well.


• We always knew Jimmy Clausen was evil. We just didn't know how evil. We introduce to you: Chucky Clausen. (Big, big props to T-Dizzle on this one.) Apparently Tim Jamison is telling everyone on campus Clawson laughed like this the entire game.

• Still bummed about Saturday's loss? This'll cheer you up:



We'll beat you over the head again with our motto for this year: "It's not about wins and losses, it's about improvement." And though the turnovers were absolutely abysmal, Michigan did whatever it wanted to do on offense the entire game (apparently one of those things was give the ball to the other team) and the D held up admirably aside from Morgan Trent getting toasted in the first quarter. Street isn't accurate and makes some huge mistakes, but Michigan just needs to ride him out and let him learn from his miscues because Nick Sheridan is NOT the answer.

• It's confirmed: Sam McGuffie is hauling major, major ass already at Michigan. We're gonna come out and say it: Mike Hart, watch your back. Considering all the time Hart missed in college and the fact we're running the spread, McGuffie could definitely become Michigan's all-time leading rusher by the time he's finished.

• We could have really used a win in South Bend because we just don't see any way Michigan can beat a more talented, much-more experienced team like Wisconsin. Expect Michigan's best offensive performance yet, by far. But we have a sneaking suspicion we'll lose this one in heart-break hotel fashion. On the bright side, we're dreaming even bigger about a '69-style upset in The Shoe come November.

My dad keeps asking me, "How are we ever going to get team speed to compete with these guys?" The answer: they won't. 2009 Heisman Trophy favorite Joe McKnight ran circles around the entire defense and the two opposing quarterbacks were microcosms of their programs. OSU: old, out of style, vanilla, predictable. USC: young, mobile, young, energetic and - oh yeah - ridiculously talented. The day of the big dropback passer is done. You think Tressel would have figured that out right about here:



Luckily, the Bucks won't suffer too long with Terrelle Pryor in tow. But Tressel is huge on recruiting Ohio and the rest of the Midwest so we can't picture Ohio State challenging other elite programs on a consistent basis. I know it's another silver lining, but Rich Rod has long been a national recruiter and has strong ties to the South from his days at Tulane and Clemson. Advantage: Michigan.

• Give Herbstreit credit for ripping Ohio State a new one last Saturday, saying "The Big Ten is a joke, and Ohio State is the poster child." Ouch. Afterward, the always-positive Tressel applauded his team's effort. That isn't going over big in Columbus right now. I know Tressel is in the Joe Gibbs school of coaching, where nothing negative is ever said in the press. But you have to show some emotion after getting blown out for the third time in two years. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the year goes for OSU. He's a master at rallying the troops but the heavenly glow has officially disappeared from him.

• We don't have time for a rant, but the way UCLA jumped into the top 25 was absurd. Anyone that watched the UT-UCLA game could tell both programs were in shambles. Now that they got destroyed 69-0, every talking head will think they're geniuses when they announce, "You know who this really tells you about? Tennessee!" Yeah, we get it.

• Let's slow that East Carolina train down just a tad, mmm-kay? People are already calling them this year's Boise State or Hawaii, as if there just HAS to be a non-BCS team to bust up the bowl games. Nobody seems to remember USF got to No. 2 in the nation last year before the wheels came flying off. With a tough conference schedule ahead, look for ECU to drop several games but still finish in the top 25.

• The race between Greg Robinson and Tyrone Willingham to be the first major college coach to be fired looks like this:


In-season college firings are extremely rare. But then again so are coaches without any sort of clue. We're got our boy G Rob by a nose still.

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