The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

by Jeff Greenberg, Carnegie Mellon insider for Rivals.com

Davidson lost for season

Junior outside linebacker Brett Davidson suffered an upper arm fracture in Carnegie Mellon’s 31-0 loss at Montana this past Saturday, sidelining him for the remainder of the 2006 season. Recovery for the injury is estimated to be 11 weeks.

Davidson compiled 28 tackles, two sacks, and an interception this year. He saw time on both outside spots with starters Robert Graves and Curtis Willis.

The junior is the second CMU player to suffer a season-ending injury, joining wide receiver Ali Concepcion, who went down at James Madison with a broken tailbone.

Quarterback carousel continues

Redshirt senior Andre Miller will replace classmate David Ford as the starting quarterback on Thursday night at Pittsburgh, Tartan Tidbits has learned.

Miller, who has a 55.4 quarterback rating in four starts this season, was benched in favor of Ford at Montana. Ford finished with just nine passing yards on 18 attempts and an interception in the 31-0 loss to the Grizzlies.

True freshman Alex Smith has been taking snaps at practice as the backup quarterback, and will serve in that role against the Panthers.

Tartans nervous for rivalry?

There is some nervous chatter ahead of Carnegie Mellon’s rivalry game with Pitt on Thursday night, Tartan Tidbits understands.

The anonymous report says that players are disheartened after last Saturday’s loss at Montana, and that the Tartans are going through the motions at practice leading into the meeting with the Panthers. Pitt enters the matchup at 5-1 overall with its lone blemish coming to Michigan State, and wins over Cincinnati (37-0), The Citadel (49-0), Syracuse (20-7), Toledo (45-16), and Virginia (31-10).

Thursday night’s game can be seen on FSN Pittsburgh.

Manning, Fitch name CMU in top five

Three-star duo Jim Manning (Reisterstown, Md.) and Matt Fitch (Sylvania, Ohio) have trimmed their respective college lists to five, and Carnegie Mellon is in both, Tartan Tidbits understands.

Manning and Fitch are both considering Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and Virginia Tech alongside the Tartans. The runningback and guard join Michael and Matt Johnson (no relation) as CMU targets with the school in the top five.

Goff leaves Tartans out of top five

Three-star tight end John Goff (East Norriton, Pa.) has removed Carnegie Mellon from consideration, Tartan Tidbits has learned.

An expected decision after Goff’s unofficial visit to Michigan two weeks ago, the tight end is now a silent commitment to the Wolverines heading into the home stretch of in-season recruiting.

[ThatBritishGuy]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

Ouch, this is just not getting any easier at all. And with Pitt next, we could be looking at a cricket score unfortunately.

Guess it is looking to the future now, need to bring in some key personnel, hopefully can land some 3 star talent to plug some of the holes in the team!

[Careless Whisper]

Season 1, Game 6: Carnegie Mellon at Pittsburgh - Steel City Showdown

Pitt Calls Off Dogs in Trashing of Carnegie Mellon
The Panthers owned a 503-178 advantage in yards and scored 38 unanswered points

by Jayson Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter

PITTSBURGH -- In the return of an old city rivalry, Pitt started slow but finished strong, coming away with a 38-7 victory over Carnegie Mellon at Heinz Field on Thursday night.

Pitt (6-1) nearly tripled Carnegie Mellon (0-6) in yardage, despite primarily playing its backups in the fourth quarter. One of Tyler Palko’s two interceptions came in the opening frame to keep the game scoreless, but the redshirt senior southpaw threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Panthers to victory.

“We didn’t really play our game over the first 20 minutes,” said Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt. “Tyler (Palko) took a couple of shots that weren’t there and we weren’t focused on the task at hand. Proud of the guys’ finish though, we were able to refocus and play Pitt football.”

While Palko excelled for Pitt, fellow redshirt senior Andre Miller was overmatched in his return to the starting lineup. Miller threw for 72 yards and three interceptions, only completing 10-of-23 attempts.

“Pitt’s a really good team,” said Carnegie Mellon head coach John Elliott. “We knew going into tonight that it would be one of our toughest games, and the gap in talent showed. We hope to be on that level eventually, but right now it’s about finding the positive moments and building on those.”

Tramon McCollum provided CMU’s second touchdown of the season with 3:48 left in the fourth quarter, cashing in on a two-yard run with both teams playing their reserves.

“It would be good for the city for this game to be a competitive one in the future,” said Wannstedt. “What they’re doing at Carnegie Mellon is bold, and I don’t know if it will work but I certainly respect the attempt.”

Pitt moves to 25-5-1 all-time against Carnegie Mellon.

Carnegie Mellon remains at home next week when it hosts Harvard on Saturday, October 21.

Carnegie Mellon Tartans at Pittsburgh Panthers
Oct 12, 2006	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Carnegie Mellon Tartans (0-6)	0	0	0	7	7
Pittsburgh Panthers (6-1)	0	10	21	7	38

Scoring Summary
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		CMU	PITT
5:51	(PITT) Tyler Palko 14-yard pass to Joe DelSardo (David Abdul kick)	0	7
0:07	(PITT) David Abdul 52-yard field goal	0	10
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		CMU	PITT
11:37	(PITT) Tyler Palko 3-yard pass to Steve Buches (David Abdul kick)	0	17
8:00	(PITT) Tyler Palko 28-yard pass to Michael Pestano (David Abdul kick)	0	24
2:37	(PITT) Tyler Palko 27-yard pass to Michael Pestano (David Abdul kick)	0	31
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		CMU	PITT
12:02	(PITT) Mike Yezovich 8-yard run (David Abdul kick)	0	38
3:48	(CMU) Tramon McCollum 2-yard run (Justin Thompson kick)	7	38

Carnegie Mellon Tartans PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Andre Miller 10/23 72 0 3 Alex Smith 0/1 0 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Robert Riley 21 85 4.0 0 Tramon McCollum 3 12 4.0 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Pete Carlson 5 39 7.8 0 Kurt Thompson 1 20 20.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Curtis Willis 5 0 0 0 Devon Elliott 4 1 0 0 Raymond Cooper 4 0 1 0 Sean Day 0 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Justin Thompson 0/0 1/1 1 -- KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Pete Carlson 4 82 20.5 0

Pittsburgh Panthers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Tyler Palko 19/32 306 4 2 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD LaRod Stephens-Howling 11 97 8.8 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Cedric McGee 5 93 18.6 0 Joe DelSardo 4 42 10.5 1 Michael Pestano 3 114 38.0 2 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD H.B. Blades 6 1 0 0 Chris McKillop 6 1 0 0 Steve Dell 4 0 0 0 Clint Session 4 1 0 0 Darrelle Revis 0 0 2 0 Sam Bryant 0 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG David Abdul 1/2 5/5 8 52

[Bigsheen]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

Enjoying this so far! I actually went to a college that is in the Presidents Athletic Conference (CMU's real-life D3 conference). I also absolutely love the garbage school buildup project as well. My Penn A&T dynasty writeup was my baby for a bit and while I've gotten away from the writeups, I still play the dynasty and trust me when I say that it's so much fun having success after truly struggling for so long. Having guidelines and following them is absolutely key. It doesn't make the losing by 30 any easier, but you "trust the process" anyway.

I too seem to enjoy playing the older games more and NCAA 07 is an underrated title. I'll definitely be following!

[ThatBritishGuy]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

I mean there has to be some positives to take from the game, I thought they would be 50+ easily scored and you managed to score, on Pitt after struggling with other "lesser" teams.

Hard slogging so far, but the growth will be fun when it comes.

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

Enjoying this so far! I actually went to a college that is in the Presidents Athletic Conference (CMU's real-life D3 conference). I also absolutely love the garbage school buildup project as well. My Penn A&T dynasty writeup was my baby for a bit and while I've gotten away from the writeups, I still play the dynasty and trust me when I say that it's so much fun having success after truly struggling for so long. Having guidelines and following them is absolutely key. It doesn't make the losing by 30 any easier, but you "trust the process" anyway.

I too seem to enjoy playing the older games more and NCAA 07 is an underrated title. I'll definitely be following!

Will definitely check out your Penn A&T writeup when I get a chance! I know the process of building CMU up to be a competitive FBS program will be long and grueling, but I'm excited to see what the finished project will be after 5-10 seasons. I've also always enjoyed the older titles, because it allows me to kind of rewrite history in some aspects.

Thanks for following!

I mean there has to be some positives to take from the game, I thought they would be 50+ easily scored and you managed to score, on Pitt after struggling with other "lesser" teams.

Hard slogging so far, but the growth will be fun when it comes.

Definitely happy with not losing by more, but I pretty much ran exclusively Max Zone out of Nickel to avoid giving up a ton of big plays and keep the score relatively manageable. Was happy to get on the board with my backups, and I thought my running game wasn't too bad against Pitt - so something to build on going forward.

Six more games of this until I can get some reinforcements!

[moose141]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

Tyler Palko THA GAWD! Haha, love to see some of those old blast from the past names. Hopefully you'll find somewhere to squeeze out one win this season... or if nothing else at least hit double digits in points.

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

Tyler Palko THA GAWD! Haha, love to see some of those old blast from the past names. Hopefully you'll find somewhere to squeeze out one win this season... or if nothing else at least hit double digits in points.

Hoping to hit double-digit points first, then maybe a win.

Palko torched me, would have had even bigger numbers if he didn't get too greedy a couple of times. It's a nice blast from the past seeing all these old names!

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

Around the NCAA – Week 7 Edition
Gut check time for #16 Iowa (6-1), who heads to #3 Michigan (7-0) this weekend

USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll
1 | Ohio State [35 first-place votes] (7-0)
2 | Oklahoma [24] (6-0)
3 | Michigan [1] (7-0)
4 | Miami (Fla.) [1] (6-0)
5 | LSU (6-1)
6 | Notre Dame (5-1)
7 | USC (5-1)
8 | Nebraska (7-0)
9 | Auburn (6-1)
10 | Texas (5-2)

Biggest Climb | Five moved up two spots
Biggest Drop | Auburn (6-1) – #2 to #9
Newcomers | #25 Georgia Tech (4-2)
Drop Outs | #24 Colorado

Heisman Watch
Zac Taylor, Sr., QB, Nebraska | 157.9 QB rtg., 155-238, 1,710 yards, 28 TD (1 rush), 6 INT
Jarrett Hicks, R-Sr., WR, Texas Tech | 72 catches, 1,019 yards, 10 TD
Kenny Irons, Sr., HB, Auburn | 167 carries, 1,073 yards, 12 TD; 13 catches, 240 yards, 2 TD
Troy Smith, R-Sr., QB, Ohio State | 161.2 QB rtg., 96-150, 1,053 yards, 20 TD (2 rush), 1 INT
Kenneth Darby, R-Sr., HB, Alabama | 162 carries, 1,092 yards, 10 TD; 14 catches, 221 yards, 3 TD

NCAA Players of the Week, presented by Coca-Cola
Offensive: P.J. Hill, R-Fr., HB, Wisconsin | 26 carries, 231 yards, 3 TD; 3 catches, 49 yards, 1 TD in 31-25 win vs. Minnesota
Defensive: Marcus Freeman, Jr., OLB, Ohio State | 10 tackles (4 TFL), 1 sack, 1 INT, 1 TD in 28-10 win at Michigan State

Injury Report
Lorenzo Booker, R-Sr., HB, Florida State | Broken hands (3 weeks)
Vincent Marshall, R-Sr., WR, Houston | Torn shoulder muscle (9 weeks)
Andre Fluellen, R-Jr., DT, Florida State | Hip fracture (season)

Notable Top 25 Scores
#14 Virginia Tech 40, Boston College 14
#12 Clemson 30, Central Florida 17
#15 Florida 21, #9 Auburn 10
#3 Michigan 49, #24 Penn State 28
#7 USC 31, #19 Arizona State 24
#8 Nebraska 42, Kansas State 27
#2 Oklahoma 27, Iowa State 9
#1 Ohio State 28, Michigan State 10
#23 Texas Tech 42, Colorado 31

Week 8 National Broadcasts
#20 Alabama (6-1) at Tennessee (3-3)
Colorado (5-2) at #2 Oklahoma (6-0)
UCLA (3-3) at #6 Notre Dame (5-1)
#16 Iowa (6-1) at #3 Michigan (7-0) – Game of the Week
#21 Texas A&M (7-0) at Oklahoma State (5-1)
#10 Texas (5-2) at #8 Nebraska (7-0)
Boston College (3-3) at Florida State (3-3)
#25 Georgia Tech (4-2) at #12 Clemson (7-0)

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

by Jeff Greenberg, Carnegie Mellon insider for Rivals.com

Bobby Smith returns against Harvard

Junior middle linebacker Bobby Smith has fully recovered from his foot stress fracture and will be in the starting lineup for CMU on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Harvard.

Smith suffered the injury in the season opener at Youngstown State, going down on a tackle in the second quarter. He was replaced by classmate Will Reid, who will see snaps on 3-4 and Nickel sets as head coach John Elliott eases Smith back into the fold.

Alex Smith to make first collegiate start

In the seemingly endless quarterback shuffle of this season, the Tartans will start their third different quarterback on Saturday against Harvard with true freshman Alex Smith getting the nod, Tartan Tidbits understands.

Smith will replace redshirt senior Andre Miller, who threw three interceptions at Pitt after he replaced David Ford, a starter of one game after replacing Miller. The first-year signal-caller made his collegiate debut against the Panthers last Thursday night, missing on his only pass attempt.

[ThatBritishGuy]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

We are ALL rooting for you Alex Smith, either to do really really well or just to survive and no go and cry in a corner after the game due to several interceptions/concussion or both!!

[RoundingThird]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

Well, you definitely covered against Pitt, so at least you won a game ATS

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

We are ALL rooting for you Alex Smith, either to do really really well or just to survive and no go and cry in a corner after the game due to several interceptions/concussion or both!!

I'll take survival at this point! I have a fourth quarterback on the roster, but's a legit 40 overall and I don't want to resort to him if I have to.

Well, you definitely covered against Pitt, so at least you won a game ATS

I'll count it! Sorry moose

Next game going up... now!

[Careless Whisper]

Season 1, Game 7: Harvard at Carnegie Mellon

Harvard Blanks Carnegie Mellon, 20-0
The Crimson scored a pair of rushing touchdowns and two field goals in a road shutout victory

Associated Press Staff Report

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (AP) -- Harvard scored twice in the second quarter and twice in the fourth en route to a 20-0 victory over Carnegie Mellon on Saturday afternoon at Gesling Stadium.

Harvard (3-3) was led by senior runningback Clifton Dawson, who ran for 198 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Cheng Ho added a rushing score in the fourth quarter. Chris Pizzotti threw for 256 yards and completed 21 of 30 attempts.

Alex Smith made his first collegiate start for Carnegie Mellon (0-7), finishing with 104 yards and an interception on 19-of-34 passing as the team’s third different starting quarterback. Robert Riley provided 112 yards (89 rushing, 23 yards) of offense in the defeat.

Harvard returns to Ivy League play next week, while Carnegie Mellon travels to Furman.

Harvard Crimson at Carnegie Mellon Tartans
Oct 21, 2006	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Harvard Crimson (3-3)	0	10	0	10	20
Carnegie Mellon Tartans (0-7)	0	0	0	0	0

Scoring Summary
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		HARV	CMU
14:39	(HARV) Clifton Dawson 2-yard run (Matt Schnidel kick)	7	0
1:28	(HARV) Matt Schnidel 31-yard field goal	10	0
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		HARV	CMU
5:16	(HARV) Matt Schnidel 31-yard field goal	13	0
3:38	(HARV) Cheng Ho 4-yard run (Matt Schnidel kick)	20	0

Harvard Crimson

Carnegie Mellon Tartans PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Alex Smith 19/34 104 0 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Robert Riley 18 89 4.9 0 Tramon McCollum 5 32 6.4 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Pete Carlson 9 41 4.6 0 Al Jackson 2 27 13.5 0 Robert Riley 1 23 23.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Curtis Willis 10 0 0 0 Robert Graves 8 0 0 0 Jay Edmonds 5 0 1 0 Will Reid 4 1 0 0 Devon Elliott 4 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Justin Thompson 0/1 0/0 0 --

--------

Author's Note: Sorry for the abbreviated recap, was a really boring game with nothing notable happening - even more so than before this season. Figured I'd type up a quick AP report to show the lack of desire to cover this game by the local media.

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Rise of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans (NCAA Football 07)

Around the NCAA – Week 8 Edition
Bitter rivals Ohio State and Michigan top the field in the first BCS Rankings release

BCS Top Five
1 | Ohio State (8-0, 0.916)
2 | Michigan (8-0, 0.912)
3 | Oklahoma (7-0, 0.856)
4 | Miami (Fla.) (7-0, 0.815)
5 | Notre Dame (6-1, 0.714)

USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll
1 | Ohio State [33 first-place votes] (8-0)
2 | Oklahoma [24] (7-0)
3 | Michigan [3] (7-0)
4 | Miami (Fla.) [1] (7-0)
5 | LSU (7-1)
6 | Notre Dame (6-1)
7 | USC (5-1)
8 | Texas (6-2)
9 | Auburn (7-1)
10 | Louisville (5-1)

Biggest Climb | Four moved up two spots
Biggest Drop | Nebraska (7-1) – #8 to #14
Newcomers | #23 Oregon (5-2), #24 Florida State (4-3)
Drop Outs | #20 Alabama, #25 Georgia Tech

Heisman Watch
Jarrett Hicks, R-Sr., WR, Texas Tech | 78 catches, 1,184 yards, 11 TD
Kenny Irons, Sr., HB, Auburn | 195 carries, 1,269 yards, 13 TD; 14 catches, 243 yards, 2 TD
Kyle Wright, R-Jr., QB, Miami [Fla.] | 169.3 QB rtg., 128-205, 1,838 yards, 23 TD (1 rush), 4 INT
Zac Taylor, Sr., QB, Nebraska | 156.6 QB rtg., 159-245, 1,757 yards, 28 TD (1 rush), 6 INT
Colt McCoy, R-Fr., QB, Texas | 158.1 QB rtg., 157-249, 2,119 yards, 22 TD, 7 INT

NCAA Players of the Week, presented by Coca-Cola
Offensive: Jeff Ballard, R-Sr., QB, TCU | 25-34, 365 yards, 4 TD; 19 carries, 98 yards, 1 TD in 41-17 win at Army
Defensive: Brandon Harrison, Sr., CB, Stanford | 3 tackles, 2 INT, 1 TD in 24-27 loss (OT) at Arizona State

Injury Report
Bernard Jackson, R-Jr., QB, Colorado | Broken elbow (season)
Troy Smith, R-Sr., QB, Ohio State | Broken tibia (7 weeks)
Isaiah Stanback, R-Sr., QB, Washington | Broken tailbone (4 weeks)
Jamaal Charles, So., HB, Texas | Broken ankle (11 weeks)
Early Doucet, Jr., WR, LSU | Foot fracture (3 weeks)
Jeff Samardzija, Sr., WR, Notre Dame | Broken jaw (10 weeks)

Notable Top 25 Scores
#23 Oregon 30, Washington State 27 (OT)
#2 Oklahoma 62, Colorado 14
#6 Notre Dame 28, UCLA 21
#3 Michigan 35, #19 Iowa 20
#22 Penn State 40, Illinois 14
Oklahoma State 21, #25 Texas A&M 17
#8 Texas 31, #14 Nebraska 10
#24 Florida State 41, Boston College 31
#11 Clemson 36, Georgia Tech 20
#18 Arizona State 27, Stanford 24 (OT)

Week 9 National Broadcasts
#11 Clemson (8-0) at #13 Virginia Tech (7-0) – Game of the Week
#8 Texas (6-2) at #21 Texas Tech (6-2)
#2 Oklahoma (7-0) at Missouri (4-4)
#15 Florida (5-2) vs. #16 Georgia (6-1) – World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party
Tennessee (4-3) at South Carolina (5-2)
Minnesota (4-3) at #1 Ohio State (8-0)
#4 Miami [Fla.] (7-0) at Georgia Tech (4-3)
#14 Nebraska (7-1) at Oklahoma State (6-1)