Wild, Wild West
You've gotta love the PAC-10 right now. I'll go out on a limb and say that it's the most competitive FBS conference in the nation. That said, It honestly seems like no one wants to win it this year. There has been so much chopping and changing at the top out west. Early in the season, we were all surprised that USC's defense was as good as they were after the losses they'd sustained with graduating seniors and everyone assumed, after wins vs. Ohio State and Notre Dame (two wins that don't have as much cred now) they'd continue their dominance in the conference. Washington happened.
And then Oregon happened. The way the Ducks put it on the Trojans - rammed it down their throats, actually - in Eugene on Halloween Night was impressive in every way. The way the Ducks played, we all thought that it was probably just as well for Texas and Florida or Alabama that they wouldn't be facing them in the BCS National Championship Game. Everyone, myself included, was high on the Ducks. And with good reason. They dominated in every facet of the game against USC. It seemed like Oregon would run over the rest of their schedule (perhaps with a little trouble against cross-state rivals Oregon State) and end up smelling roses in Pasadena on January 1, 2010, most likely beating up on an inferior Big Ten opponent.
Suddenly, that's all down the drain. Stanford put Oregon to the sword, to the tune of 52-41 further complicating the Pac-10 title race. The defense that had held USC to a record-low total yardage count in the Pete Carroll era were hopelessly outgunned by a Stanford run game that did everything to Oregon that Oregon had done to USC seven days earlier. Perhaps that is what makes the victory so shocking. I don't know what happened to the Oregon Ducks unit that beat SC. Whether the team had been reading too much of it's own press or simply expected Stanford to fold up and go easy, I don't know. I bet Chip Kelly doesn't, either.
It was a shocking victory in many ways. Don't get confused by the final score. This game was over in the first half, when the Cardinal, doubtless shocking their hometown fans, jumped out to a game-winning 31-14 lead. Toby Gerhart, the star RB for Stanford, managed 223 yards and 3 TDs on the ground aginst what we thought was a pretty good D. That total is a school record. QB Andrew Luck backed up the run game with an impressive 12/20 for 251 yards and 2 TDs. Stanford are now bowl eligible for the first time in 8 years, and they are an attractive team after that win.
As for Oregon, the big question remains this: what happens if Oregon State, who have some Gerhart-like runners on their roster, beats Oregon in the Civil War Game at the end of the season. Then, if USC continue to win - they'll have to get over Stanford, too - the Trojans may end up back at the Rose Bowl. Suddenly a season that showed so much promise for Oregon is now fraught with all sorts of danger.
Oh, Charlie
Hootie & The Blowfish lead guitarist Mark Bryan is now a solo artist of some acclaim. One of the singles off his new album, End of the Front, is entitled "Oh Charlie." It pretty much sums up what most people are thinking following Navy's stunning win against the Irish in Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday. The crazy thing is that after nearly four decades of Irish dominance in this series, the Middies have won two of the last three meetings between the schools, both of them inside Notre Dame Stadium. It was seen as a massive shock when they beat Notre Dame two years ago in the triple OT belter. Now, with the way things are going, it might seem a shockl when the Irish beat Navy!
Everyone knows what you're going to get when you face Navy. You have a QB and a fullback who'll carry most of the load on the ground. They won't throw it very often. For whatever reason, the Irish couldn't stop the run when they knew damned well that the Midshipmen were going to run and run and run. The spread offense is what it is, and you don't expect a Jimmy Clausen-like bullet down the middle very often. So you stack the box, forget about the pass, get peneteration into the backfield and stop the runner in his tracks. Simple, right? Apparently not. The Irish
I'll say it now: Charlie Weis is on extremely thin ice in South Bend. If he thought things had been difficult in the past, it's nothing to the pressure he'll be getting this week. Irish Nation are already tiring of Charlie's promises and his lack of results. They are high on Bearcat coach Brian Kelly. Not to take anything away from the Navy victory, but a team like Notre Dame with BCS aspirations, has no business losing to a school with very flew blue-chip athletes like the Middies. Notre Dame should never have given up a 52-yard TD pass to a team like Navy! .
It's as simple as this: the Notre Dame program is in trouble. BIG trouble. They still have Stanford and Pittsburgh on their schedule - two red hot football teams. This season is going to get worse in South Bend. You can just imagine how the Panthers and Cardinal are quivering with delight about setting their offenses up against the Irish, when Notre Dame's defense gives up 348 to Navy! To NAVY! I can't believe I'm actually typing this.
With Jimmy Clausen likely gone to the NFL next year, the Irish will not be able to rely on their hot-shot QB, who is only now maturing as a signal caller, to bail them out of trouble next year. It will be a bleak few years for Notre Dame as they break in another new and untested QB. Not only has the loss cost the Irish a BCS bowl berth, it's likely put an end to Jimmy Clausen's Heisman credentials and to the ND career of Charlie Weis. Enjoy your new life as an offensive coordinator in the NFL, Charlie!
Oklahoma
If I were to put together a list of the biggest dissapointments of the season, Oklahoma would be right up there. What started off as a season where the Sooners expected to fight for the Big 12 title and a berth in the National Championship Game started terribly with Bradford's injury and the first-week loss to BYU in Arlington. It got worse when the Sooners lost to Miami in Land Shark Stadium and, in only his second game back from injury a handful of weeks later, lost Sam Bradford for the season and the game to Texas at the Cotton Bowl, doubtless the most painful loss a Sooner football team can have.
Add to that the disastrous Nebraska loss from Saturday - something I never saw coming, not in a thousand years; the Huskers are a team in disarray, too - and and you have a terrible body of work for Bob Stoops to consider over the long summer. Landry Jones might be "Bradford-esque," but he's still young and I don't see it yet. He's been good in patches, but downright terrible at other times. Of course, a summer spent with the first-team offense will do him a world of good. Still, it'll be a long road back for the Sooners, and there's no guarantees that they won't drop a couple more games yet...
The ugly reality of Season 2009 is that Oklahoma are going to end up in a mid-range bowl game and people will forget all about them by the middle of December. It'll be all about Texas and Oklahoma State in the Big 12 and in the national title picture. It's a shame for Sam Bradford, that his final season, one with so much hope, has ended with him going under the knife in Norman, OK. If nothing else, it'll be a good lesson to those who're tossing up coming back for another college season or going straight to the NFL. Theoretically, Bradford has another season of eligibility, but there's no way known to man that he'll make the same mistake twice.
Bradford's is a case of a brilliant player not completely coming into his own on the football field. This could have been the crowning glory: another Heisman and a National Championship title. Instead, he'll be watching like the rest of us when the #1 and #2 BCS teams go head to head in Pasadena on 7 January. The game suffers because of that.
Kitch's Player of the Week:
Not for the first time in Season 2009, the award goes to Houston's record-setting QB Case Keenum. Keenum is a combination of Graham Harrell and Colt Brennan on speed, and he needs to be, because he's getting absolutely no help from a defensive unit that's one of the worst in the country. It falls to Keenum every week to bail out the D, and he does it with relative style and ease. It means he has to throw the ball upwards of 50 times a game. His week ten numbers were 40/60 for 521 yards and 3 TDs.
Here's a scary fact: in back-to-back wins over Southern Miss and Tulsa, Houston has allowed 88 points, falling to 116th nationally (out of 120 teams) and 96th in scoriong D. It's a good thing that Keenum's been on fire, throwing for 1100 yards, and just one pick in those two victories. He carries this team.
His Heisman stocks are looking better and better.
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