Horrible game plans aside, Nebraska really played pretty well Saturday night against USC. Sure, Nebraska didn't have a corner who could match up with Dwayne Jarrett, but heck, I'm not sure many other teams do. Heck, on Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles proved they didn't have a cornerback big enough Sunday to cover a Jarrett. Nebraska picked up a lot of experience on Saturday night, and gave USC a physical battle they won't forget.
I see the Pac-10 has suspended the officiating crew from Oregon's fraudulent win over Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon. Stoops and company have every right to be upset, and are considering cancelling an upcoming series with Washington if the Pac-10 doesn't change their rule requiring Pac-10 officials to be used at games on their campuses.
The great thing about Saturday was the number of matchups between top 25 teams: 7. We haven't had that type of competition in years, and that's a great thing for college football. Oklahoma is upset because they played a competitive game, lost, and dropped in the polls for it. You shouldn't penalize teams for taking a chance and playing somebody good, you should reward them. In today's money environment of college football, more and more teams are taking the easy way out and scheduling easy home games instead of scheduling challenging games. Nebraska now needs to schedule "money" games with Troy, Nicholls State, and Louisiana Tech. Contrast that to 1981 when Nebraska's non-conference schedule was Iowa, Penn State, Florida State, and Auburn. Heck, USC is doing that this season, with non-conference games with Arkansas, Nebraska, and Notre Dame.
One of the biggest mistakes the BCS ever made was removing "strength of schedule" from their calculations in 2001 after Florida State nudged out Miami to get a chance to play Oklahoma in the BCS title game. Sportswriters were incensed that the Miami team that they felt was more deserving was left out, and the BCS capitulated, removing most of the leverage that encouraged teams to schedule competitive games.
We learn more about college football when a Michigoon thumps Notre Dame than when Wisconsin beats San Diego State. It's more interesting to watch Tennessee-Florida than Texas A&M-Army. And can someone tell me why in the heck someone felt it necessary to televise Texas-Rice nationwide???
A great game nobody is talking about was the LSU-Auburn defensive battle. Bo Pelini's Beauxshirts ended their string of 16 quarters without allowing an offensive touchdown on Saturday, but they still have the #1 defense in the land. LSU might have won Saturday if the officials hadn't blown a call on 4th and 8 when the officials waived off a pass interference call that would have given the Tigers 1st and goal late in the game. Unlike the Pac-10, the SEC doesn't have the courage to admit they screwed up the call, and so instead they change their story every day to try and find an excuse until LSU fans and the media give up on the story.
I'm sick and tired of Bob Stoops bitching about that call. Yeah he got screwed...boo hoo. Come talk to me when you get screwed over when a ref forgets to count to 4...or a receiver illegally kicks a ball with intent to keep it alive on the last play of the game.
ReplyDeleteDon't bitch at all of us because your defense couldn't cover a wide open receiver or hit a field goal at the end of regulation.
Stoops hasn't said much since Tuesday about this. It's more the media than anything at this point.
ReplyDelete