College Football Diary- Week Three

[ThadFilms]

College Football Diary is a week-by-week analysis of the weekend that was with an emphasis on regional teams especially SMU, the team I love, and Texas, the team I love to hate.

College Football Diary represents the opinions of its author. Feel free to disagree- but you’re wrong. That was a joke.

College Football Diary appears weekly on <A HREF="http://www.PonyFans.com" TARGET=_blank>www.PonyFans.com</A> and <A HREF="http://www.HornFans.com" TARGET=_blank>www.HornFans.com</A>


College Football Diary: Week Three

Dear Diary,

Week Three has come and gone. This week’s installment will focus squarely on the two games I attended this past Saturday- with a note on just a couple other games.


KICKOFF

Notre Dame vs. Michigan

The result was not surprising. It was the fact that Michigan actually played like they should to get that result. Over the past few years, Michigan has had the terrible distinction of playing down to their opponents. In fact, last year Michigan should have beat Notre Dame in similar fashion. They lost last year. In Lloyd Carr’s tenure at Michigan, the Wolverines have consistently played far better against top ten teams then the rest of the Top 25. Is Michigan this good or is Notre Dame this bad? Both.

The real test, before we crown Michigan as a true National Championship favorite (alongside Southern Cal) comes next week at Oregon. Traditionally Big Ten teams do not fair well on the west coast versus Pac 10 foes. Michigan does not want this game. They fought hard to get rid of it, and Oregon fought hard to keep it. The Ducks fell hard off the radar last season, and they are looking to bring back the gleam to the program.

As said before, the one thing to take away from this game was that Michigan put away a team that they should put away. That bodes well for their title hopes this season.

The question was posed, “How short is Tyrone Willingham’s leash?” Very, very long. He triumphed many times last year with a team of marginal talent. College coaches must be judged after they have been with a program at least five years. Give them a chance to bring in their style of players and engrain their philosophies. Beyond that- to quote Todd Wright of ESPN Radio’s AllNight, “it took a lot to get Willingham in, it will take a whole more to get him out.”

I do see both programs winning their next game. If the Notre Dame v. Michigan State game were in East Lansing, the edge would go to Michigan State- however; the game is in South Bend. Advantage: Notre Dame. Even with Oregon’s home field, Michigan’s depth at tailback will prove too much for the Ducks. Advantage: Michigan.


Luke McCown (La. Tech v. Michigan State)

I know as an SMU fan it would be appropriate to be blasé about this guy, but when will the national media give this guy some credit? That was a pulse pounding stultifying win in East Lansing. All the praise in the world needs to head to Mr. McCown. Clock management, clock management, clock management.


Ohio State and Maurice Clarrett

Let’s hang him out to dry,
So we won’t fry,
Let’s sell him lots of lies,
And leave him out to die,
Let’s hang him out to dry,
So we won’t fry,
And we’ll all get high-
-in the morning!


HALFTIME

The Big SWC Football Trip provided for an awesome day of college football. Suffering from dehydration and sleep depravation after game one (Texas vs. Arkansas) I toyed with the idea of calling off game two. But my commitment to the day was for game two (SMU vs. Baylor) and my Longhorn buddy was willing to show true grit in the face of a loss and travel to Waco with me.


KICKOFF

Texas vs. Arkansas

How could Texas lose that game? Had to be Chris Simms. That guy blows. Can’t win the big one if he fell out of a boat. Bring in Mock! (Wait a minute…)

What can be said about this game that has not already been said? I felt going in that Arkansas had a better chance to win the game then most of the pundits thought. A win against Texas means so much to the people of Arkansas. Their team was coming into this game fired up- as if it was for the national championship. Texas was looking at all these early games as exhibition games, warm-ups for Big XII play.

Person to person, man to man, the Arkansas players wanted it more, plain and simple. I would bet that if you were to ask a Longhorn player prior to the game if they wanted to beat Arkansas, their response would be a nonchalant “Yeah, of course.” On the other hand ask a Razorback player about beating Texas, “More then you could possibly imagine.”

Mack stuck to his party line in the post game comments, complementing his players’ efforts. Which was about the same effort they used to kill Also-ran State in week one, meaning virtually non-existent. For once I do not believe that Mack was out-coached on game day, or even coached poorly on Saturday. However, Mack was severely out-coached in the weeks leading up to the game. Which is odd, considering he is such a great recruiter. Recruiting well is about being a great salesman and making a kid believe (or want to believe) in something. My Longhorn pal asked me prior to the game me if I (as an outsider) thought that this was a big game, because of the perception that Mack can’t win the big one. I told him it was, and knew almost immediately that all my thoughts in the week prior to the game were true- and that the Longhorns were even more ripe for an upset then previously thought. The Longhorns weren’t looking at this as a prestige game, a renewal of a rivalry game; they just treated as a regular game against a lesser opponent. Incorrect.

The feeling I got walking around the UT campus that morning was the same I got the day SMU lost to TCU in 1997. Just a general feeling from the fans and team of, “yeah, whatever, we’re going to win this game.”

And they lost. I had my concerns about the Texas D line, but no one in Austin shared my concerns. Was the D line that bad, or was the Arkansas O line that good? A little of both. Arkansas is the real deal this year, probably not in the national picture, but certainly in the SEC. Their O line is stupendous and Matt Jones is a real playmaker at quarterback. (6’6” and can run a 4.4? That’s amazing. And he’s got a hell of an arm.)

I went in to the game wanting to root for the home team, what with the hospitality and the work it took to get the ticket. And even though I remained verbally and outwardly supportive of the home team- I was pulling for the visitors on the inside. No, I do not like seeing the Razorbacks win… I just love seeing the Longhorns lose.

With that said, I certainly would have enjoyed the pageantry of a Longhorn victory at home. And I believe I just might have pulled for them as the game neared its end, had my experience not been sullied by the UT fan base surrounding me. It was not so much me that they were having a problem with (I can certainly take the razzing- considering I was most likely the only person at the game wearing an SMU jersey), it was more how the so-called fans were treating their own. The name calling and pushing and shoving certainly reminded me of SWC days of old. Same old TU faithful. Same old jerks. Which is sad because I was received quite warmly at the pre- and post-game HornFans.com tailgates. Only the old-timer gave me trouble about the SMU jersey, which admittedly was funny- “They still play football up there?” “Yeah, buddy, and last time I checked we beat the pants off of Arkansas the last couple times we played them.”

Some Arkansas fans were pleased to see me, “God, bless SMU!” I heard. And though we had a common foe that day, and I couldn’t tell whether they were being sincere- I responded, “Yeah and we beat you the last couple times we played you!” Unfortunately, I do not believe they heard me under my breath when I added, “Beat the hell out of Texas.”

A few notes before continuing- note to Mack Brown: Decline a penalty that g

[PK]

I like your style man...keep 'em coming.

[FloridaMustang]

Hella good. I'll be watching Go Mustangs!

[ThadFilms]

Thank you, gentlemen. With a job, screenwirting responsibilities, films and football to watch- it's hard to find time to write this stuff.

But with your continued support, I'll keep 'em coming all year. Hopefully, one of these days I'll actually be able to review one before I post it- so bonehead mistakes like "one" instead of "won" will no longer appear.

Thanks again.

[This message has been edited by PonyExpress83 (edited 09-19-2003).]

[FWMustang]

Fantastic review.

A little constructive editing criticism:

1) "then" is the opposite of "now." "than" is the word for comparison. Don't feel bad; I've seen plenty of writers on ESPN Page 2 do the same.

2)"presidents" are heads of countries or organizations. "precedents" are set.

Keep up the good work.