The Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl . . . wow how about the 4 BCS games all were entertaining and we saw some amazing offensive performances but again just like everyone else on planet Earth I was floored by Mr. Young of Texas . . . here are some quick takes . . . Vince Young’s draft status will never be higher than it is now, he should leave for the NFL and it will cause quite a dilemma for the Houston Texans as they are from Vince’s hometown. If I were them I’d trade down to get some more picks ala the Chargers in the Vick deal and focus on improving their O-line. Who cares who the qb and running back are if the hogs up front can’t keep the defense out of the backfield . . . Matt Leinart came out looking like a huge jerk after the game I thought with his “We were the better team comment” . . . if the Texans take Bush and let’s say New Orleans goes with Young then how far does Leinart slip? The Jets could use a QB but with Pennington’s cap number how can they afford to take Leinart? Wonder if he ends up in a place like Arizona now, tough luck for a guy who would have been the #1 pick of last years draft . . . Carroll made a bunch of poor decisions that really aided Texas . . . one not calling the time out in the first half when Texas scored on the Young pitch where he knee was down, they had timeouts to burn and by calling one it could have given the replay guys more time to review the play . . ., Leinart’s dive on 4^th a field goal would have been warranted and would have put USC in OT at worst based on the final score. . . going for it on the much discussed 4^th and one run with White I respect the call but thought it was way wrong . . . first of all if you punt Texas will have to drive at least 80 yards in less that 45 seconds when Texas had only two plays in the arsenal short passes or Young runs, why give them a 25 yard head start? Second everyone in the world knew the play call, why not have Bush in the backfield as well to at least give the Texas defense something else to think about . . . not having a spy on Young on the TD score was unbelievably dumb, Carroll calls the defensive plays that goes on him . . . Finally the callingof the timeout on the 2 point conversion . . . you know you need a field goal regardless, the time out was more valuable than the points I thought . . . had USC had another timeout they could have gone over the middle on the last play and had they completed it may have had a chance for a long field goal . . . When it comes down to it though USC played the same type of ball they have all year, keeping opponents in the game because of their suspect defense and not killing enough clock and making first half mistakes and then hoping that the O could bail them out in the end. We saw this model work against Notre Dame, ASU and Fresno but it finally caught up to them against Texas.

Some Holiday Bowl thoughts, football season memories and hoops power pol

First up got to say that I am very happy with a 10-2 finish for Oregon and I give all the credit in the world to Oklahoma for playing a great game. Bellotti went with what had worked in the last 3 ½ games that is going with the rotation on series rather than the hot hand . . . I disagree and like the hot hand theory (Dixon was useless after getting pulled after taken Oregon down the field twice though only 7 points arose from it) . . . well had the Ducks managed anything offensively in the 3^rd quarter they wouldn’t have been in the position for a miracle to arise even to get back in to the game at the end. I would have liked to see some more screens done to mitigate the OU pass rush and I really disagreed with the toss sweep on 3^rd and 1 where the Ducks got stuffed. Hats off to Oklahoma and even more so hats off to the Ducks! Nice job by Bellotti by admitting changes needed to be made and hiring Crowton, hats off to the players for playing as a team and not as individuals, hats off to Senior leadership (Clemens, Trucks, Day, D Will, T-Dub, Devan Long etc). Next year presents a very challenging schedule but I think the Ducks will be highly competitive this year.

Power Poll for the Week of 1/2/06

Hmm some shakeups here I would say with the start of the Pac 10 Regular Season

1. Arizona (3) . . . the double OT thriller was a classic and it took some huge shots by Roy to keep UW from losing earlier . .. Lute has to consider this as one of his greatest Pac 10 games of his amazing career. RPI now loves the Cats and they have to be the new favorite to take the conference crown
2. UW (1) . . . Tough loss no reason to hang their heads . . . soft schedule may not have prepared them for the challenge UA brought
3. Cal (5) . . . They beat UCLA in Pauley so I have to consider them legit
4. UCLA (2) . . . Slipped up against Cal . . . still I see them as a very solid NCAA team in a conference that has moved from 11 to 6 in RPI over the last 3 weeks
5. USC (4) . . . Beating Stanford used to mean something
6. WSU (7) . . . Another team that the computers like . . . I think they will rally win 6-8 games in the Pac 10 and go to the NIT which in Pullman is quite an accomplishment
7. Stanford (6) . . . if they can’t sweep the Oregon schools at home they will drop to #10 in my book which is where RPI ranks them
8. Oregon (10) . . . they beat the Beavs at home in what might be the last time they are a favorite this year outside of ASU at home
9. Oregon State (8) . . . played Oregon tough but this team is pretty short on talent, I do think they will return the favor to the Ducks in Corvallis
10. ASU (9) . . . I haven’t seen this team play but they were not competitive in their trip to Washington