The Francis Gazette dedicates its first edition to College football. Two words summarize week two, nearly perfect. Because of certain individuals, experiences, and high levels of arrogance I have come to despise a handful of college football teams. Combine this hatred with the lackluster efforts of my Alma Mater and quite often my only Saturday solace is taking joy in other schools losing. On that list are N.D., Georgia, U.M., Hawaii, and most anything associated with Texas.
This Saturday N.D. got pasted, again, this time by Penn State. The fact that N.D. is televised every week on NBC, no matter who they play, really just irks me. It didn't help anything when they found fit to fire Ty Willingham and hire Charlie (jabba the hut) Weiss as their savior. In two weeks N.D.'s new (former NFL offensive) coach and genius has wracked up a total of 134 yards of offense. In two weeks. At one point in the second half the Irish had -1 rushing yards and over 75 yards in penalties. Just writing that makes me smile.
Coming off the worst, most horrific and embarrassing college football loss since the all girl school of no arms and no legs beat Alabama, (the The University of Michigan, Harvard of the West, losing to Appalachian State at the BIG HOUSE) the wolverines set out to redeem themselves by taking on the unranked Oregon Ducks, again in Ann Arbor. This was supposed to remove the bad taste. Four quarters (an empty 110,000 seat stadium for the last quarter) and a 39-7 home shellacking later, the Michigan band is somewhere trying to remember how to play the fight song. All summer I endured the taunts, the hype, and the "Michigan could beat the Detroit Lions" talk from Walmart Wolverines. I can't describe the joy I feel to see next week's match up between N.D. and U.M. described as "a pillow fight of epic proportions," as both teams enter 0-2. Expect Walmart profits to be down this quarter as Michigan fans across the country will not be purchasing maize and blue back to school gear anytime soon.
Georgia lost. I started law school with a GA grad who shared the Ann Arbor arrogance. The loss made me pretty happy.
Hawaii was one of the cheapest teams I've ever seen play. This week they went to overtime to beat an unranked team, and then only on a failed two point conversion did they squeak it out. That would have been the icing, but I'll take a scare.
And finally, MSU. The game was on the Big Ten Network. Comcast Cable has not added the BTN. Comcast and I are not on speaking terms. That said, I've seen the stats, listened on the radio, and have some analysis.
Hoyer is still learning. He will be a good quarterback eventually but he is NOT Drew Stanton. It's not automatic yet. Hoyer has the skill set, he's a junior, and he has run support (which drew didn't really ever have). That said, he doesn't have the moxy or instinct of drew, or at least hasn't displayed such yet. He was more than serviceable but I think in the future he (not necessarily the whole team, but he alone) will lose some games.
The running game is very good. The line is just ok. We have played two games so far, and both teams were smaller. Bowling Green was closer to MSU's size, but still smaller. I worry what will happen when a team of equal or greater size, like Wisconsin, takes the field. It could get ugly. That said, Jehu Caulcrick is a horse and at 255 lbs he is bigger than a lot of linemen at smaller schools, and certainly outweighs all linebackers and defensive ends at any level. He's fast, smart, and makes defenders pay. Ringer is a shifty, fast, and equally punishing back (though a lot smaller he would rather run you over than go around). Jimmerson hasn't played much but is not far behind the first two backs. We are deep and talented at running back.
The surprise so far has been receiver Devin Thomas, a JUCO transfer that John L. Smith saw fit to sit all last season. He has exploded this year. We also have 2 players set to return to the team/lineup after academic and disciplinary/ego problems that are very talented. In my estimation we have 4-5 very good receivers.
The defense is solid so far, though not deep. We will have injury problems in the bruising Big Ten. So far so good. Best of all? WE MADE ADJUSTMENTS! At halftime (of BGSU) we thought about what wasn't going so well (212 passing yards allowed in first half) and adjusted (about 70 yards passing allowed in the second half). Also, in two games, neither team has been able to run against us. Neither UAB nor BGSU exceeded 100 rushing yards as a team. MSU's leading rusher in each game (game one Caulcrick, game two Ringer) has had more yardage than the other team's backs combined. That's a good sign. We also had 7 sacks Saturday, or approximately 60% of last year's total for the season (12 total last season). That should help our defensive backs out, which have been TERRIBLE in recent years, but no pass rush really was just as much to blame as poor coverage.
Punting and Kicking has been about a 7 out of 10. Kick coverage was improved in week 2, and kick and punt returns were solid. I predict two more wins (Pitt at home, N.D. in South Bend) and then a reality check at Wisconsin (could get very, very ugly). But, as Rosenberg from the Free Press said in his article this week, Dantonio's 2-0 start is not like John L's 2-0 starts; this team is learning, avoiding penalties, making adjustments, playing balanced (run/pass) offense and playing defense.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070909/COL22/709090636/1055
(hopefully the link is still good)
Recap: MSU won, UM got spanked, ND lost, the rest of the Big Ten won. It's unfortunate that next week the wolverines or the irish have to win. But hey, the "perfect season" predictions I had to listen to all summer from Michigan fans (that went to MCC) are still alive, here's to 0-12!
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