As much as I couldn’t bear to watch the Mountaineers during the Uconn debacle, I must say that I am ready to turn the page and see if we figured anything out over the past two weeks. It is always tough to deal with a bye week as fan; I mean what do you do? Whittle? Watch John Denver music videos? Stand around with the Strickland Propane crew? Actually those last two sound pretty cool, but the point is even after a loss, two weeks is a long time to sit idle. Obviously, playing another game puts us at risk of losing another game, but if you can’t take the pain, then you have no business watching football. It will be a bit of a homecoming for ole Butch Jones, who coached under he who shall not be named, although not nearly as hyped as either fan base would hope.
I was a bit surprised to see us come out as a 6 point favorite in the lines, but I guess it makes sense. At the end of the day we are 5-3 to their 3-5 and nothing would suggest that they are actually better than us this year. Their pass defense is deplorable, but go figure we will probably tailor our gameplan around fullback dives this week. Regardless, I think we will pull it out this week, as I usually do, but I’ll put something on the line; if we lose, the first round of Irish Trash Cans at Mutts Sunnyside is on me Saturday night!
There are not very many “marquee” games on the tube again this week; however there are quite a few games that could be very competitive. This is probably the Ole Ball Coaches best opportunity to beat his alma mater since his first year with the Gamecocks, even though they have been struggling of late. It doesn’t help when your QB, Stephen Garcia, makes decisions that would Jerry Garcia scratching his head. Speaking of former Florida coaches, Dan Mullen looks to take his surprising 7-2 team in to Tuscaloosa and uproot the preseason National Title favorite, Alabama. Perhaps, the notoriously restless descendents of Bear Bryant will become so construed in misery following their third loss that they will run their Fairmont native coach out of town, opening the door for him to return home to WVU! The most interesting caveat to The Email’s ridiculous scenario of the week would be that he would get to face his former employer, LSU, in Morgantown next year. Of course when all the Bayou faithful start running around High Street screaming about how he is satanic heretic, we will have to kindly remind them that he is in fact the Mothman.
The four remaining undefeated teams all compete against teams this weekend that they should beat; matter of fact they are combined 89 point favorites. Each of these have a chance to be interesting games however. The least likely to be competitive is TCU vs San Diego State. Most years this wouldn’t even blip on the radar as TCU has proven their dominance and SDST isn’t even the most famous college football entity in its own city, although they are the only Division one team. I would argue the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl takes the nod there. Alas the Aztecs are in a renaissance coming into the game at 7-2 and should be given their dues. In the Pac-10, Oregon faces the Fighting Tedfords in Berkeley, where more attention is placed on hippies living in trees than on the football field. Cal is one of the most erratic teams in the country, but in their worst outing at home this year, they won by 28 points. Auburn faces Georgia, in the only game that has a line under 10, and while they too should be Richt’s Bulldogs, UGA has played much better as the season has progressed and could be a letdown game for Cameron “I Hate Figs” Newton and crew. Wait a second, don’t those colors look eerily close to Mississippi State Bulldog colors?
Finally the most interesting game, although not likely to end up in an upset, is Boise State heading north to Moscow for presumably the last time in the near future. If people think that WVU should have to play Marshall due to our instate “rivalry”, then certainly Idaho and Boise State should have to play in the Mr. Potato Head bowl every year (I should have taken some Mister Bees chips when I went out there for sponsorship). If you have ever driving through Idaho, you would know that there is absolutely nothing outside of these two schools and unlike a series of the Coal Bowl ilk, this matchup is relatively even. Even though Boise has been dominant of late, they only have a slight lead in the overall series at 21-17-1. What sparks a light over this game though, is the comments of Boise president, Bob Kustra. Reacting to a letter from a Vandal fan, Kustra publicly stated;
“This is a great example of why my wife and I no longer travel to Moscow games,” Kustra said. “It’s a culture that is nasty, inebriated and civilly doesn’t give our fans the respect that any fan should expect when visiting an away team.”
Holy smokes Batman. This gives Idaho fans more fire in there belly than the vicious outcry of Boise Potato versus The Flying Potato! What is really amusing is that Kustra goes on to say;
“I’ve seen rivalries all over America, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, Texas-Texas A&M, Kansas-Kansas State, but you can go inside those rivalries and you’ll find all kinds of slams and digs and whatever, but I’ve never seen the nastiness aimed at the quality of our academic program that I find here in Idaho from the University of Idaho Vandals.”
Really, have you? Maybe you should attend a game outside of the plains where the only use for potatoes at a tailgate is in form of Vodka. Hecks the Vandals don’t even hold a candle to athletic directors or coaches in the SEC. I mean can you imagine if the chancellor of Pitt came out and said that about WVU? The outrage would make the Mark May incident look petty tame and we would probably hurl empty kegs at their team bus to show them how inebriated and uncivil we can be. I’ve rooted for Boise all year, because I think they deserve their chance, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Rob Akey and Vandals (cousins of Martha and the Vandellas) stomp the yard in the Kibbie Dome. Here are my final words of wisdom for the Vandals, Boil-em and Mash-em boys!
Random Musings
Most people follow the AP rankings and the BCS hoopla, me? I follow Howard Schnellenberger’s weekly rankings, because where you find age and suspenders, you usually find wisdom. His analysis in this week's #15 ranking, of Sometimes you just have to drop back and Punt, is spot on and reminds me of dodging Avatars at last week’s Orlando convention.
How ridiculous was Michigan’s triple OT win? The old adage of defense wins championships may be dimming in recent years in light of prolific offenses that have been all the craze, but this game looked like prominent boosters on both sides had bet on the Over . . . although they surpassed that in the first half.
How about the amazing finale that is shaping up between Denny Hamlin, Jimmy Johnson, Cale Yarborough, and Kevin . . . oh oops, wrong blog, my bad.
The old man in Happy Valley finally hit 400 wins against Northwestern this weekend. Lets all root the Nittany Lions on in Columbus this weekend to smash the Buckeyes. It has been far too long since the Buckeyes were neglected by all BCS bowls and with the strength of the Pac 10, it certainly is possible that the Big 10 only gets one representative, but probably need those schmucks to lose. If Joe Pa can’t get it done, I hope he relieves himself at midfield or on that idiot who dots the “I”. I mean what the hell is the big deal, I learned to dot my I’s and cross my T’s in elementary school, not college. That cursive was tricky stuff for me though.
Betting on The Blog
Well I shit the bed last week. I went 1-4 while losing all the trendy picks that you should obviously stay away from. By doing so, I reopened the standings to the rest of the mongoloids in the competition. The next couple weeks will be very tight, but I am confident that Al will come out on top. Personally I like Utah to rebound in a holy war and upset Touchdown Jesus in South Bend.
Random Musings
Most people follow the AP rankings and the BCS hoopla, me? I follow Howard Schnellenberger’s weekly rankings, because where you find age and suspenders, you usually find wisdom. His analysis in this week's #15 ranking, of Sometimes you just have to drop back and Punt, is spot on and reminds me of dodging Avatars at last week’s Orlando convention.
How ridiculous was Michigan’s triple OT win? The old adage of defense wins championships may be dimming in recent years in light of prolific offenses that have been all the craze, but this game looked like prominent boosters on both sides had bet on the Over . . . although they surpassed that in the first half.
How about the amazing finale that is shaping up between Denny Hamlin, Jimmy Johnson, Cale Yarborough, and Kevin . . . oh oops, wrong blog, my bad.
The old man in Happy Valley finally hit 400 wins against Northwestern this weekend. Lets all root the Nittany Lions on in Columbus this weekend to smash the Buckeyes. It has been far too long since the Buckeyes were neglected by all BCS bowls and with the strength of the Pac 10, it certainly is possible that the Big 10 only gets one representative, but probably need those schmucks to lose. If Joe Pa can’t get it done, I hope he relieves himself at midfield or on that idiot who dots the “I”. I mean what the hell is the big deal, I learned to dot my I’s and cross my T’s in elementary school, not college. That cursive was tricky stuff for me though.
Betting on The Blog
Well I shit the bed last week. I went 1-4 while losing all the trendy picks that you should obviously stay away from. By doing so, I reopened the standings to the rest of the mongoloids in the competition. The next couple weeks will be very tight, but I am confident that Al will come out on top. Personally I like Utah to rebound in a holy war and upset Touchdown Jesus in South Bend.
Well thats all folks, enjoy the weekend.
Sincerely and Scintillating,
Al
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