7 December: Football Edition

Workout notes 2 miles on the AMT, with a “wider” motion. Then 2 miles on the Stairmaster. After that, 2200 yards of swimming: 20 x 100 free (2 on 2, 2 on 1:55, 6 on 1:50, 10 on 1:45), then 200 cool down with paddles.

It was ok; that was about it.

Football

I’ve watched a lot of football over my lifetime but have never been invited to a party like this one.

(if you like spandex tights on women, surf to that blog)

I watched a few games (by myself) weekend.
One of the games I saw on Saturday was Illinois versus Fresno State. Illinois piled up 548 yards (ok, they gave up 416) and 52 points. Still they gave up a 19 yard touchdown pass with 2 seconds left which cut the lead to 52-51, and then Fresno State went for two:

On Sunday, I saw the end of the Saints-Redskins game;

In this one, Washington was up 30-23 with under 2 minutes to go and tried a 23 yard field goal. That would have won the game as the Saints were out of time outs. They missed the field goal and the Saints tied it in regulation and won in overtime.

Then I saw the Cowboy-Giant game; one in which Dallas raced to a 10-0 lead to end up going down 14-10 in a 2 minute period just before the end of the first half. The Giants ended up winning 31-24; Dallas scored a touchdown late in the game (about 1 minute to go) to tighten it up;

Yes, the Cowboys outgained the Giants 427 to 337 yards and lead time of possession 39 to 21 minutes.

So what is the moral to these three games? Bad teams find ways to lose games that they should have won.

(photos: yahoo)

Bowl Games
As usual, there are some bowl games that I am interested in this weekend. Of course, I am interested in most of the BCS.

First, how were these match ups made, once Texas and Alabama were matched up in the title game? Basically, the Sugar Bowl had the first pick since they lost number 1 Alabama (the SEC champion), and of course they went with Florida. Then the Fiesta had the next pick (they lost Texas, the Big Twelve champion) and so they selected TCU (Cincinnati, Boise State and Iowa were available). The Orange, which was obligated to take Georgia Tech as its “host” team, had the next selection as they were first in the order after the “compensatory” selections were made. They selected Iowa so as to fill their stadium.

Then the Fiesta had the next selection (Boise State or Cincinnati); they selected Boise State (though they could have chosen, say, Penn State). Finally, Cincinnati was left for the Sugar.

The games of interest to me:

National Championship: will Texas play better than it did during its last two games against Texas A&M and Nebraska? I hope so, else this game will get rather ugly from my point of view.

Rose Bowl: Oregon’s offense versus the Ohio State defense; that what can’t be stopped against that which can’t be moved against. Of course, I also wonder which set of ugly uniforms will the Ducks wear? Note: Oregon beat both Purdue and USC; Ohio State lost to both.

Fiesta Bowl Excellent game: undefeated TCU against undefeated Boise State; a rematch of last year’s exciting Poinsettia Bowl in which the Frogs ruined the Broncos’ perfect season.

Great game; what is making it interesting is that TCU is now providing Boise State some nice bulletin board material:

Something is missing now that TCU has finally busted into the Bowl Championship Series: a chance to prove themselves against a team from one of the major conferences with automatic access to the big-money games.

Instead, the third-ranked Horned Frogs (12-0) will go to the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 4 to play the same team they beat in a pre-Christmas bowl game last year. Another undefeated BCS buster, No. 6 Boise State.

“It’s kind of like a little rematch or whatever,” receiver Jeremy Kerley said. “Even for the Boise fans, I’m pretty sure they don’t want to see that, for us to have to play them. It’s kind of unfortunate on both parts.” [...]

“I figured because of what Utah started last year, maybe we’d have a chance to play for it this year,” running back Joseph Turner said.

“The thing is, we’ve played (Boise),” senior receiver Bart Johnson said. “I’d love to play somebody like a Florida or someone like that where we could really showcase and show the nation what we’re all about. “

Sugar Bowl Which team will be more motivated? I have no idea what will happen, especially given that Cincinnati might not have its coach.

There are some non-BCS match-ups that I am interested in as well (via Mike Huguenin):

29. EagleBank Bowl, Temple (9-3) vs. UCLA (6-6), Dec. 29: Temple is set, while UCLA needs Army to lose to Navy next week. An Army-Temple matchup would be a rematch of an Oct. 17 game that the Owls won 27-13. If that’s the matchup, this becomes No. 34 on our list. If it’s Temple-UCLA, it will be interesting to see if highly productive Temple true freshman RB Bernard Pierce—if he’s healthy—has success against a solid UCLA defense.

I am interested in how the Temple coach turned that program around and how they will match up against a middling BCS conference team, assuming that Navy beats Army (not a sure thing, though Navy is favored).

20. Texas Bowl, Missouri (8-4) vs. Navy (8-4), Dec. 31: Navy still has one regular-season game left, against Army next Saturday. Navy’s triple option can be tough to stop, but Mizzou is 12th nationally in rush defense.

Of course, I am interested in this one. We’ll see where Navy is; if Navy plays well they could win this one.

19. Emerald Bowl, Boston College (8-4) vs. USC (8-4), Dec. 26: Raise your hand if you thought BC and USC would finish the regular season with the same record—and if your hand is up, you’re lying. BC has been surprisingly good, USC surprisingly … well, it’s a surprise the Trojans lost four times. This has been somewhat of a train-wreck season for USC, and a season-ending loss in a baseball stadium would be the capper.

These are two teams that I’ve seen play this year (against Notre Dame; ND barely beat BC and barely lost to USC.

17. Champs Sports Bowl, Miami (9-3) vs. Wisconsin (9-3), Dec. 29: This is the Badgers’ second appearance in a row in this bowl; they were eviscerated by Florida State last season. Miami would seem to have a big-time advantage in speed, but the Badgers’ power rushing attack could be a problem for the Hurricanes.

Wisconsin finished with a 51-10 rout of Hawaii.

12. Poinsettia Bowl, California (8-4) vs. Utah (9-3), Dec. 23: Cal has been a disappointment this season. While the Golden Bears have had some nice victories (Arizona, Stanford), they also were hammered by Oregon, Oregon State, USC and Washington. Indeed, Utah played Oregon much closer than Cal. This is another chance for the Mountain West to prove itself against the Pac-10.

Question: which Cal team will show up?

10. Las Vegas Bowl, BYU (10-2) vs. Oregon State (8-4), Dec. 22: Another intriguing Mountain West/Pac-10 matchup. BYU figures to have success throwing against the Beavers, but Oregon State figures to have success on the ground against the Cougars.

If you blink during this one, you’ll miss a score.

8. Holiday Bowl, Arizona (8-4) vs. Nebraska (9-4), Dec. 30: Arizona coach Mike Stoops didn’t want to coach against his brother in a bowl game; he got his wish. Instead, he gets to coach against Bo Pelini, an old friend. If you watched Nebraska in the Big 12 title game, you saw a team with a great defense and a woeful offense. Arizona is solid on both sides of the ball, but can its offensive line handle Nebraska’s defensive line?

I’ve watched both teams play twice; Arizona’s high powered offense against Nebraska’s vicious defensive line.

7. Sun Bowl, Oklahoma (7-5) vs. Stanford (8-4), Dec. 31: For all of its losses this season, OU still has been rather stout on defense. The Sooners are 10th nationally in rush defense, meaning Stanford RB Toby Gerhart will provide a huge test. Stanford has been surprisingly good this season, and if the Cardinal can finish with a victory over the Sooners, coach Jim Harbaugh’s stature gets raised another notch.

A classic: tough run defense versus a strong rushing attack. Both teams can score.

If you are interested in other games, surf to the link.