Thoughts on a Rather Interesting 2nd Week
10 comments so far
September 13, 2009 by
The 2009 college football season is just two weeks old, and it is already full of surprises. I know it's not terribly surprising for the Huskers (yet), as they dispatched Arkansas State by a margin that most people predicted or at least find acceptable. I'm talking about the rest of the Big 12 conference and around country. While most of the country had its eyes glued to a couple of pretty epic battles involving Big 10 schools, there were some very interesting scores crawling along the bottom of the screen and highlights being shown at halftime. Here's the real bad news - the Big 12 kind of took it on the chin.
Can't Live With Prosperity
Oklahoma State's loss to Houston is the head turner of the weekend. Sure, Houston can score in bunches and has a very salty quarterback. But, OSU has more athletes and was playing at home. Maybe Houston beats the spread, but their beating the Cowboys outright is pretty shocking.
Oklahoma State just proved in a nut shell why they didn't deserve to be ranked in the top 5. They can't live with their own prosperity. There is no reason - other than overlooking the opponent - to account for this mess. Sure, Oklahoma State just beat Georgia for a "signature" win last week. That's a big deal. I get it. But, great teams find ways to win every week. Oklahoma State read a few too many of their own press clippings and got prompted bounced by a very game Cougar team. And that's why the Cowboys got promptly bounced out of the top 5, even out of the top 10 in today's polls.
Though, I will say one great thing about Houston beating Oklahoma State. It could make for a great headlines - "Cougars Stalk Cowboys" is just too good to pass up.
Big 12 North - Kind of Putrid At the Bottom
Every fan of the Big 12 North needs to be very thankful that their two projected banner carriers - Kansas and Nebraska - held form this week. Because the rest of the division pretty much stunk the joint up.
At the projected bottom of the league, Iowa State got waxed by in-state rival Iowa, at home in Ames. That 35-3 score is brutal enough. But it is made worse by the fact that the Hawkeyes struggled against Northern Iowa the week before. Those struggles gave many ISU fans I talked to some reason to be optimistic heading in to Saturday. Then, snap! Reality bites.
Dateline Lafayette, La - Ragin Cajuns stun Kansas State 17-15. Sure, the Wildcats out rushed and out gained Louisiana Lafayette, but they came up short on the score board. This is what happens when you take a bad team on the road. They don't finish. Hmm, is Kansas State really bad or is LaLa (the third of NU's 3 Sun Belt conference foes) pretty good? Well, a week after seeing the K-Cats struggle against UMass I think it is the former. Good luck on that Miracle Part II, Coach Snyder. Let me know how that works out.
Elsewhere in the North, the Dan Hawkins good will building tour continued. A week after losing to in-state foe Colorado State, the Buffs went to Toledo and got waxed, 54-38. Any time you score 35+ points and still get blown out, something is very, very wrong. Husker fans know, since we saw such carnage under Cosgrove.
You might have noticed this mess, since it was the only thing on Friday night. Which brings me to a larger concern. Who in the world thought playing this on Friday was a good idea? Colorado played their rivals on TV on a Sunday the previous week, leaving them with two full fewer days of preparation for Toledo. And, agreeing to a road game against a respect happy MAC, WAC, Mountain West team is never a great idea.
So, kids, the moral of this story is that letting the media mavens at ESPN monkey around with your schedule might help line the school's pockets with cash, it is not, not, not conducive to helping win ball games.
Oh, does anybody know what it is going to take to keep this from being Dan Hawkins' swan song at Colorado? Seriously. Isn't this close to becoming the metaphorical dead man walking? He'll have to do something special to keep his job.
Missouri is also darn fortunate not to be in the first block of many sports telecasts this morning. They nearly got nipped by Bowling Green, but managed to pull out a win, 27-20. I'm not trying to hate on Missouri (much). They are, in fact, 2-0. But, Saturday's shaky win versus an underdog at home might remind a few people to cool their jets with talk of Missouri being the surprise team to win the division. Blaine Gabbert's pedestrian numbers illustrate that he is not quite yet the second coming of John Elway, or even Chase Daniel. (Yeah, I'm talking about you, Whitlock).
Take a Big Step Back
Week's like this one are an important reminder to take a big step back and remember the bigger landscape of college football. The Big 12 was not the only conference that had teams with issues. Michigan State lost to Central Michigan. Florida State - a team that looked every bit the equal of #20 Miami a week ago - nearly lost to Jacksonville State, a team not even in the FBS, let alone the BCS.
This is an age when nearly every team has players, or facilities or an agenda, or all three. Anybody can beat anybody, and early rankings mean very little at all. It's what makes college football such an awesome ride.
It might also be a bit of a silver lining as Nebraska prepares for it's first game as the likely underdog in this still very young 2009 campaign. Anybody can beat anybody. Lets play 'em and find out.
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Bill in Iowa Sep 13 09
I hate to see Colorado give up on Dan Hawkins! Especially, because you can be sure Watson is on their short list to go back to Boulder and clean up this mess. Not only could we lose Wats, but we would find ourselves having to play against this master chess player.
Mister Mike Sep 13 09
You don't have to worry, Watson will never be back at CU. If anything, I'd wonder about Illinois firing Zook in a couple of years and him ending up there.
As far as Hawkins leaving CU...that's not very bloody likely either. While there are some football fans among the unshaven, unwashed, smelly, pot-smoking, tree-hugging masses up there in Boulder calling for Hawk's head, their fanbase doesn't care near enough about football for this to really matter. Also, CU's AD is broke as hell. I'm dead serious too. They simply do not have the money to bring in another coach now, or at the end of the season. Bohn and Hawkins are joined at the hip (like SP and Callahan) especially since the contract extension. Bohn faces some really, really tough decisions very soon in regards to the overall health of their athletic programs. It will be interesting to see what the Puffs ultimately end up doing, but I believe Hawkins will be there at least through the end of 2010-2011 season.
Huskerdj Sep 13 09
We need to take a lesson from the Missouri and Oklahoma State games. Be humble and be ready. We have not played anyone tough yet, and by Bo's reaction we may not be ready to.
I love the hype as much as the next person but at the same time I am concerned. Our first road game at V.Tech. That is a tough road to travel.
I do believe that our coaches will have us ready which I don't think that Okstate and Missouri were.
I don't think Watts will go to Colorado, but, if our season goes as well as we hope. Big money will be chasing him.
Greg Morrow Sep 13 09
It's not so much that I despise Colorado. I mean, well, um...
That said- sorta, I can't recall a college team play a game with that few games in between. I, uh, felt kinda bad... for the players. You'll recall Nebraska's 07 team played it's first 11 games without an open date, then was pretty much d.o.a. by the Colorado game.
Now Hawkins though, he was fun to watch, with that concerned perplexity about him. But then, to see his kid get whacked. Just an uncomfortable scene. It's a train wreck, so I gotta watch.
This should keep the Buffalo trolls away for a while, anyway. You know they thrilled to the travails of Pederson, Callahan, Cosgrove et al.
As far as K State losing to Louisiana-Lafayette, Nebraska's next opponent, well, that's why you schedule Sunbelt teams on an at home basis, only. So things like that don't happen;^)
They used to know that. K State has gotten so far away from the formula...
HuskerFan4Life Sep 14 09
I don't see Colorado getting rid of Hawk anytime soon...but I would bet that if they do, Turner Gill will be on their short list.
Now to the important stuff....I would like to see better tackling by the Blackshirts this Saturday or else we may be in for a long night.
GBR!!
Ack Sep 14 09
Gundy might be a man, but he is not a "ready for the big time" coach.
Isnt it always the case; give a coach (Snyder) a big raise and they flop the next week?
Sweet D Sep 14 09
Jason Whitlock is a terd!
Matt Sep 14 09
Mister Mike is right--Colorado may have to suffer through the Dan Hawkins Comedy Hour through 2011.
The reason Colorado's AD is broke is because they're still paying off the contract of the last coach they had (blanking on the name right now--Mad Cow Disease, I suppose). Add to that the fact that Colorado's AD is taxpayer-supported and the State of Colorado has been resorting to layoffs and hiring freezes to try and balance the budget, and a change in football staff would be very unpopular.
As for the likelihood of a white knight benefactor showing up and rescuing Colorado...it would be very unlikely we'll see that happen, especially since they can't raise enough money to get the AD out of debt.
All in all, I think we can honestly write off Colorado for the next few years. And even then, the damage done will be so significant, that it will likely be 2015 before Colorado returns with a pulse.
Mind you, I'm not saying this out of spite--it's just that the economics of this situation look like Colorado may be suffering for a long while.
Linda Davis Sep 14 09
Congrats to the Huskers. But If the Blackshirts let Virginia Tech run on us like they did against Arkansas State, then we're in BIG trouble. When they watch the tape and see how easy it was to run up the middle, well let's just they should be licking their chops. Maybe we'll be lucky and they will be toooooo confident and we can use that to our advantage.
Go Big Red, kick'em in the head. Don't give them roses, give'em bloody noses!!!!!!!!!! Love the
Huskers:):):):):):)
Mister Mike Sep 15 09
For those of you interested in what the current situation is at CU, take a look at this article:
http://www.ralphiereport.com/2009/9/14/1029987/the-finances-behind-a-potential#storyjump
An interesting read to say the least.