2009 College Football Week 3 Discussion
 

From 2000 to 2003, Miami (FL) was 46-4 overall. From 2004 to the present, Miami is 1-4 vs. Georgia Tech. Discuss.

I guess if I'm being ordered to discuss this, I'd probably start with "The status quo never lasts". Pretty simple, no? There was a time when Nebraska and Florida State were top dogs, and now they are playing the mid-tier bowls, if they play in bowls at all.

Since 2004, Georgia Tech has had good teams, and Miami has had good teams (terrible teams if you ask their fans, but the reactionary nature of fans kind of renders that opinion faulty).

I would label this game as a pick 'em. GT gets the edge in coaching, and Miami gets the edge in raw talent. Is it being played @Tech? If so, I'd put my money on the Ramblin Wreck.

It's at Miami. Georgia Tech without all the momentum of trick plays and crazy fans loses this one, I think. Unless Miami's defense is unable to stay home against the option.

The game is not real important in the grand scheme of things, but I'm excited that I managed to pick up tickets to the Mizzou game this weekend. It'll be my 2 1/2 year old daughter's first college football game. She's all fired up about wearing her cheerleader outfit to the game. Hopefully a bit less eventful than last week's Mizzou game.

That last statement made me grin. "Georgia Tech will lose. Unless Miami can't stop them."

:)

Good teams? I'd say average teams at best. Since 2004, Miami is 28-22. They're 1-2 in bowl games, including a 40-3 embarassment against LSU. The onyl bowl win is the MPC Computer bowl against Nevada. Sure, maybe that's a good record for some teams, but fans of the U expect better than that, and I don't think that's unreasonable or reactionary considering the kind of talent you can get to come there.

I should audition for ESPN with that kind of insight.

I wouldn't quite say I'm worried about Rutgers taking on FIU this weekend, but when considering that they have stocked themselves with Florida talent overlooked by the big schools down there (similar to how Rutgers got started) and that their young coach worked under Schiano for years and knows him better than anyone else in college football...well, I wouldn't be surprised if we have some trouble.

I was at last year's Miami-GTech game, and the biggest problem Miami had was being disciplined against the option. They showed alot of speed, but all of that speed was running to the QB, leaving a man completely alone on the outside. They just kept pitching to that guy and he went for 40+ gains. They were more disciplined against FSU this year (snuffing out an attempted pitch ine one of the last plays), so i'm hoping with more experience they can handle GT now.

My parents drive me nuts. They are such fair-weather fans. During the 80s and early 90s, when San Francisco was winning Super Bowls, they were big fans. Now that SF sucks, they are no longer fans. They jumped on the Carolina bandwagon after their Super Bowl (and after they moved to NC).

What really gets me is that they both went to Florida State, and enjoyed all of their success over the years. But now they are huge Tebow and Florida fans. FSU is still a regular Top 25 team, but they've jumped to one of their main rivals because they are an elite team. Back in the Spurrier days, my dad regularly derided Florida. Unbelievable. Meanwhile, I stay loyal to Indiana and watch every IU football game, even when we're losing to MAC teams.

I've always hated the U, but I was glad to see them beat FSU this year.

You should pull a North.

Duke at Kansas this weekend. I know the preseason rankings aren't out yet but both teams are expected to be in the top 5. I have to give my biased pick of the Jayhawks, tho. With all of our key pieces returning and a pair of possible All Americans in Collins and Aldrich- I think this veteran team is too much to beat at home.

Oh wait. This is football? Never mind. :D

(We should still win, tho- at home against a Duke program who had 4 wins last year but that was their highest total since... 4... in 2003 and as many as they had all 4 years from 2004-2007)

SI

Imagine my surprise this morning when I found out that Duke or Kansas even HAD a football program.

I'm pumped for the Hogs' Fayetteville opener this weekend. I really want us to kick Bulldog butt in our first real test of the season.

Did you claim your ticket successfully?

Yep. The deadline for on-campus ticket pickup was yesterday, but we could still get them at the ticket office, so I did after my first class. :)

Awesome. I can't wait.

A chance for Sarkisian and the UW to make a big statement on Saturday against USC. I seriously doubt the Huskies will win, but stranger things have happened.

Should be interesting to see who ends up under C for USC - I'd guess Corp at this point.

It's nice to see my point get proven so quickly ;)

Iowa gets Arizona at home. Blackout day in Iowa City.

The return of Mike Stoops. Fun stuff.

Its on at 2:30 on ABC. I hope I get it.

Excited about tonight's game. Looking for Miami to play well and handle GT. They look to be more disciplined this season and better coached than last year. Is Shannon learning how to coach better? We shall see.

Did something happen to Barkley?

Thought he had a banged up shoulder but I heard he had been practicing.

I'll be there with my 13 year old daughter and some friends!

Word is Barkley was going to practice today, but haven't heard confirmation if he did or not yet. He hasn't practiced yet this week due to the shoulder bruise he sustained against Ohio State.

How is that reactionary?

Great start for the Canes!

Really like what Whipple has done with the offense. Much more aggressive than Nix.

Tech secondary, torched it was.

He hurt his shoulder midway through the Ohio State game which just adds to the impressive nature of the final drive.

Umm, about that measurement ...

Not sure about that either. Maybe it was a bad camera angle? The Tech players standing right there didn't seem to complain.

Another TD for Miami. The offense hasn't looked this good since 02.

Tech secondary hasn't looked this bad since ... well, okay, it happens not infrequently but still.

Miami special teams need to get it together. They've been awful in both games so far.

If Tech doesn't find someone who can block on the interior this may be a familiar frustrating feeling.

Tech's defense just looks spent. Second half of this one could get very very ugly.

The only thing Tech could have done much worse in that half was turn the ball over several times. Very little blocking, very little defense, plenty of penalties, obviously there ain't going to be any passing. Just a piss poor performance thus far, although a team that has heart questions already playing tired is a recipe for disaster.

Dwyer is hurt and might not return.

More Mark Whipple imo, at least on the offensive side of the ball. He should have been a BCS head coach years ago. From 1998 when he led UMass to the upset of Paul Johnson's Georgia Southern team in the title game - "If we score 50, we'll be fine." Final score 55-43 UMass.

Those short fields are going to hurt the Canes. They cannot keep letting GA Tech start at the 40 yard line.

3rd and anything less than 10 is basically automatic for miami at this point.

That looked like it couldve broken his neck.

and he just gets up as if nothing happened. crap man that looked awful.

Eh, the sooner Tech gives the ball up the sooner Miami can just score again.

Hahahahahaha. Nice kick into the crowd for a safety.

What is the rationale behind the penalty on that play?

Anyone else see that little girl crying on her dad's shoulders as he jumps around?

Dola.

Looks like the U is back. At least early in the season. They look good.

Dola. Strike my last dola.

Maybe, but it's the kind of thing that could kill them in future games, like say @ Virginia Tech.

Other games I'm looking forward to this weekend:

Boise St. @ Fresno St. 9PM ESPN (Friday) - Not a bad Friday night game to have on in the backround. If Boise's a Top 10 team (imo they're not), they'll show it away from the blue turf.

Cal @ Minnesota 12:00 ESPN - Finally a 12pm Big Ten game worth watching.

BC @ Clemson 12:00 No TV - The most consistent team of the decade against possibly the most talented and inconsistent.

Tennessee @ Florida 3:30 CBS - UT is still starting Crompton, so any chance for an upset is out the window, but the rest of the team has some talent, so it'll be nice to see UF play a real team.

Nebraska @ Va Tech 3:30 ABC - Two similar power running, defense-oriented teams. One of the two will probably end the year in the top 10.

Utah @ Oregon 3:30 ESPN - I think both these teams are overrated and living off last years rep, but maybe one can start dissuading me. A win for Utah would be more surprising and give them some credibility.

Cincinnati @ Oregon St 6:45 TV? - I think Cincy's offense is really good (#10 in my latest poll) but they looked vulnerable to Rutgers power running until the game turned into a blowout. A cross-country blowout could validate their high ranking.

Florida St. @ BYU 7:00 CSN? - FSU nearly comes in 0-2 after sweating vs. a 1-AA school, but they have talent and speed. One of 3 big home games left for BYU (TCU, Utah) on their road to the BCS.

West Virginia @ Auburn 7:45 ESPN2 - Two unranked teams who could be BCS darkhorses. If Auburn wins they should be 6-0 going into LSU and if WV does they should be 9-0 going into Cincinnati.

Georgia/Arkansas 7:45 ESPN - If I didn't have it on the list here at FOFC I'd make enemies on both sides. :)

Texas Tech @ Texas 8:00 ABC - Not quite the nightcap Ohio St/USC was, but a good litmus test for both teams. Tech obviously lost a lot of offense, but they've never had a problem reloading. If Texas comes out like they did against Wyoming, this could be a game. If they're really a NC contender, it shouldn't be.

EDIT - and obviously Michigan St. @ Notre Dame 3:30 NBC, but I suspect there is less interest on other people's part there.