First week thoughts on your and other teams...

[At Large]

Nebraska

Before this season, some fans and some media pundits were predicting that NU would roll to the Big 12 championship. I wasn't sure what to think. After watching the opening game against Western Kentucky, here are my thoughts.
- NU missing Suh big time. He was a presence and it's missed. Which leads me to...
- The defense is a question mark. Two freshmen linebackers started and it showed. They had athleticism to show why they started, but were often out of position. This doesn't bode well. The first half, the defense looked solid. The second half, they looked pathetic as they allowed three straight extended drives for WKU. I think it was partly because Pelini had them in a base defense with no blitzes or stunts (unlike the first half, which did). I think he was forcing them to stop WKU with all vanilla D. They struggled. Pelini called the effort absolutely embarrassing. It reminded me of the first game from last year when Florida Atlantic gutted us for over 300 yards. Doom was predicted then. I think this team just can't emotionally get up for a bad opponent. That could burn them.
- The QB spot is a question mark. T Martinez started and it was obvious what got Pelini to start him. He is fast fast fast. He looked excellent on the ground against a bad defense. His passing was adequate. I think the timing will improve, but he didn't throw very many bad passes. Cody Greene had several solid series in backup and looks more like the dual threat. He's a better passer. Lee came in for a few series at the end and was adequate. His runs made me think that either Green or Martinez would have had twice the yards each time he carried it.
- Running back is very deep. They played six different running backs. Helu and Burkhead provide a nice 1-2 punch. Robinson needs more work.
- Niles Paul should be a Heisman contender, but he's still dropping balls thrown right in his hands. That's not good.
- O Line play is improved, but some people feel they were pushed around too much by WKU. They are a young line, so that didn't surprise me too much.
- WKU isn't that bad in my opinion. I think they will win a few games. Still no excuse to lose focus and allow them to gain some yards they shouldn't be gaining. They didn't back down when NU did and got a few scores because of it.
- The score probably would have been more lopsided but WKU threw sparingly and ran a lot of clock.

Other teams
- Boise State - They look good, but Cripes I hate that they have one or two tough games and will be able to waltz into a BCS game.
- OU - Surprised as hell they had a close one.
- KU - Really surprised they lost to North Dakota St.
- Florida - Either that game is a late April Fool's joke or they really suck without Tebow.

[M Club]

- Boise State - They look good, but Cripes I hate that they have one or two tough games and will be able to waltz into a BCS game.

eh, fuck the bcs. it's pretty obnoxious to listen to people complain about the bcs system being a fat fucking joke and then referring to it as the championship game. all the power teams try to schedule themselves into the bcs game: why can't boise state do the same?

as to your question about our own teams, michigan will probably win the national championship and denard will win the heisman.

[Mace]

Iowa looked good against Eastern Illinois but, other than Kansas, who wouldn't? Stanzi had no picks, Robinson ran for over 100 yards, and the defense looked like they're supposed to look.....all with a couple of backup LBs and CB, and with their best RB on the bench serving a suspension, as was one DL. A good tune up game in preparation for Iowa State this weekend, who don't appear to be physical enough to hang with Iowa. How good is Iowa? I don't think we'll know that until they make the trip to Arizona and then start the conference season. EDIT: Iowa was also missing starting center, Josh Koeppel, who was hit by a car/pickup while riding his motorcycle/scooter through an intersection. Check it out on youtube....an amazing video that shows him getting nailed by the vehicle, flipping through the air, and then getting up under his own power and walking away.

Boise and VT gave us a very entertaining game last night but I'm not sold on either of them being a top 10 team. Props to Boise for trying to upgrade their schedule but, in all reality, they've only got one game remaining on their schedule and it's against a decent team who's already lost to TCU. Boise might be a great team but, really, how are we to know that when they play a conference schedule that would rival a good D-II schedule? To Boise's credit, they are extremely well coached and disciplined, unlike VT.

I'm anxious to see the Alabama-PSU game this week but I think PSU is down this year and won't be able to hang with the Tide.

I'm also looking forward to the Michigan-Notre Dame game but, despite an upgrade at QB for the Wolverines, I don't think they're back yet, nor are the Irish. Should be a fun game to watch though.

[King Crimson]

Oklahoma: kinda surprised to see Landry Jones regress....but, not throwing out the panic just yet. but, better bring it against FSU...or the nation's longest home winning streak will fall. DB's need to step up or Ponder will do their gf's in the ear.

Vandy: fuckin Vandy

Colorado: learned only that CSU is pretty bad. will know more against Cal next week. and Hawaii looked like a team that can score some points. also, UGA on the OOC docket.

me: excellent drinking by me this long weekend.

[MuchoBulls]

Hard to gauge much from playing a 1 AA, but we had some issues with our special teams on Saturday night. One of the issues was rectified by swtiching the punt returner and the other was a low snap, which is correctible.

Offensively I saw some nice new wrinkles like a screen pass to the RB, which I haven't in a long while. Looks like we'll have the QB under center more, which i would approve of 100%. WR is a thin position due to some injury, but the back ups made some nice plays and have good hands.

Lots of speed on D, but teams that can run up the middle can still have success against us.

[The Seer]

For some reason, Neuheisel coaches "scared" football. Ucla probably has the fastest "bench" in college football...Randall Carroll, Damien Thigpen, Josh Smith, etc. etc....He keeps bringing in talent so eventually it has to translate into wins; one would surmise....

One question in Westwood is how long does Chow get a pass based solely on his resume? Hasn't done shit since coming here...surprising considering Chow & Neu both had OC experience...

The signing yesterday of the # 6 rated QB nationally, Hundley, should fit into the "Pistol" offense nicely...if the coaches can end this mysterious love affair with Kevin Prince....

Lost 6 of the starting front 7 from last year...

Will probably score a few more points this year... and probably allow a few more....translating into (hopefully) another 7-5 season with a mediocre bowl game.

Next year will need to produce at least 9 wins or Skippy will pilot the hotseat....

Hey, maybe K-State goes undefeated this year and UCLA will be vindicated....and...maybe not.

[King Crimson]

Darth Snyder vs. Rick is a mismatch from the get-go.

[Harvdog]

I went to the Texas game here in Houston and came away with a few thoughts:

Defense is fast. Our DB's are solid but none can catch a pass. We had 2 balls hit the DB's in the hands and all they had to do was walk into the endzone. You cannot give up 14 points like that against better talent. We need more depth at DT. LB's were all over the field and on misdirection plays where it looked like the RB would get a nice gain, they were run down and stopped. There 1 TD pass was on a deflection and it looked to me like the WR who caught it was down on the 1. Replay looked the same but he got the call.

I liked what I saw out of our 2 Freshman DE. Jackson Jeffcoat is fast and had a sack and was involved in 3 other tackles for losses. Reggie Wilson came in and demolished. This guy has the makings of our next great DE. Think Orakpo, but stronger and faster.

Offense was vanilla. I saw nothing that excited me. I doubt that they did anything other than run base plays. Tre Newton is slippery and finds the hole. Fozzy is quick but is lacking the break away speed. Receivers looked good. I wish we had a TE that could catch. Gilbert looked poised and had some nice passes. It seemed like he was trying to force plays. There were 3-4 plays where he looked for the tough throw instead of hitting a TE or WR on a drag across the middle. When he gets that down, look out.

Special teams were so-so. Our kicker nailed a 51 yard FG but missed from 54 and 47. He was weak on kickoffs with most hitting inside the 5. We never got a chance to return a kickoff as Rice short kicked it to the up men. PR was a joke as we fumbled inside the 20 with less than 1 minute to go.

Rice is going to be a good team. They have speed. There defense is solid.

[indyfrisco]

My #1 thought about A&M is I think we need to quit playing high school teams. I could not see the game as it was not televised, but I did listen to it on the radio. Typical scrimmage against all the high school scrubs who aren't good enough and/or smart enough to make it to 1-A. I will say this, only being up 20-7 at the half was pathetic. What I did like was only 3 penalties for 12 yeards and no turnovers. Even against a bd team, miscues on the snap, fluke INT, tough hit, etc. can cause a turnover. That and the fact there were few brain farts leading to easy yardage via yellow flag was kind of nice.

[MuchoBulls]

Mucho...Stony Brook?! Jesus.

Sam...Georgia State on November 18??????

[indyfrisco]

Mucho...Stony Brook?! Jesus.

Sam...Georgia State on November 18??????

You haven't noticed how the SEC schedules these conference games early when other teams are playing OOC so that they can schedule cupcake 1-AA teamslate in the year to rest players? Sometimes you gotta quit cranking the meatgrinder and take a break.

[Goober McTuber]

Wisconsin opened on the road at night against a mediocre team. They were on their way in for a third touchdown right before the half for a 24-7 lead, but Nick Toon fumbled inside the 10, UNLV ran it back 80 yards, scored on the next play so it was 17-14 at the half. This would be a good test to see how the Badgers reacted to a bit of adversity. Some of Bielema’s past teams would have struggled the rest of the game.

Badgers came out in the 3rd quarter and outscored UNLV 24-0. Three-headed monster at tailback looked great. James White (freshman) is going to be awfully good. Should be Bielema’s best team yet.

[MuchoBulls]

Mucho...Stony Brook?! Jesus.

Sam...Georgia State on November 18??????

You haven't noticed how the SEC schedules these conference games early when other teams are playing OOC so that they can schedule cupcake 1-AA teamslate in the year to rest players? Sometimes you gotta quit cranking the meatgrinder and take a break.

I see many SEC teams who do this. I don't agree with it. If you're going to play a 1 AA opponent, then make it mandatory that it has to be your first home game.

[Killian]

Positives:

-Running game looked very good. Armando Allen better make sure to stay healthy or Cierre Wood will rip the job right from his hands. Both players ran hard and Wood showed excellent vision on his carries. It was nice to see the coaching staff stick with the running game after it wasn't working on the first drive.

-Dayne Crist looked like he wasn't favoring his knee, and even took off on a couple of runs. Very encouraging.

-Offensive line blocked very well. Talking heads were saying that the offensive line would be worse because they lost two starting tackles. Honestly, it was addition by subtraction. Taylor Dever had a nice game against Purdue's all Big10 pass rusher and Zack Martin is very athetic at LT.

-Best WR blocking since the Holtz days. Michael Floyd is a complete WR who will continue to block, even if he hasn't gotten the ball very often.

-Tackling was ten fold better. Gary Gray and Carlo Calabrese especially.

-Blitzes were actually calculated and effective, unlike Jon Tenuta's "blitz every down into the back of the defensive lineman" philosophy. Also, much pressure was created by ND's front 4. That hasn't happened in a long time.

-Special teams were excellent. David Ruffer has a strong, accurate leg and Bennett Jackson looks like he is a fantastic athlete as shown by his coverage on kick offs. Two big returns by Allen on a punt and Wood on a kick off helped ND win the hidden yardage game. Ben Turk also punted well.

Negatives:

-Dayne Crist played like a first time starter in a new system. I'm assuming he will get more compfortable in this offense, but he didn't throw the ball downfield very often (if at all). He looked to be thinking a little too much instead of just letting rip. Also, he needs some work on his accuracy. He had two TD passes (one to Kyle Rudolph in the first half, the other to Michael Floyd in the second) if he had a bit more touch. ND had to settle for field goals after both passes.

-Michael Floyd fumbled the ball on the goal line on a play where he wasn't hit hardly at all. He has done that in the past and he needs to work on this. I can think of 3 times he's done this in his career, and this play turned it from 27-3 and on their way to a route, to 20-5 and kept Purdue in the game.

-Brian Smith still makes bone head plays. On Purdue's lone TD, he had contain on the QB to the outside and he crashed down into the line letting Marve walk into the endzone. Awful.

-Manti Te'o gets himself out of position too often. He has all the talent in the world and this will likely come with experience, but he is far too talented to take himself out of plays.

-ND still needs to build depth, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

-Ball security needs to improve. Floyd fumbled on the goal line, Allen fumbled out of bounds at the end of his long return, and Wood fumbled at the end of his long return.

Overall, I thought ND played well and limited their mistakes. Defense was a little better than I thought they would be, offense was a little behind where I thought they would be. Should be a great game next weekend.

[The Seer]

Darth Snyder vs. Rick is a mismatch from the get-go.

Who was coaching K-state last year?

[Dinsdale]

720 yard of offense showed me that at least the physical conditioning is solid. Otherwise, dudes would have been sucking wind after such intense practice drills.

If they can put on that kind of track meet in Neyland and ring up huge yards, then I think we're on to something.

The defense looked awesome at all 3 levels. We now realize how much Bellotti was holding Alioti back -- it's now about sideline-to-sideline speed, which was there in bundles. Moving Eddie Pleasant from undersized super-fast OLB to Rover was brilliant. It worked well a few years ago with Patrick Chung, and Eddie is bigger and just as fast.

The offense has so many studs in the stable, it's silly. Even got a decent game out of a freshman receiver, which was unexpected, since WR was the biggest question mark this season.

Looking forward to playing a real team next week, before the 12(13)-0 talk starts.

[SoCalTrjn]

The offense looked fine, the defense, not so much. The secondary was already young and inexperienced and then the 2 defensive players that were hurt were both from the secondary. Everson Griffen at MLB is a work in progress, he was out of positiont way too many times and his pass coverage down field was horrible, he knocked the other defenders off the ball. TJ Bryant needs to hurry back and Shareece Wright needs to get back to form if this defensive secondary is going to survive the season. 9-4 may turn in to 7-6 or even worse if they cant learn to defend the passing game. Not tackling all summer looked to hurt the team as well, USC always seemed to tackle well before that game.

[Felix]

Nothing to glean from ass-whoopin' San Jose State.

that would almost be palatable except that Utah State-lowly Utah State, the dregs of the WAC had Oklahoma on the ropes and let them off

fucking Duke? are you shittin me

[Terry in Crapchester]

Killian,

Maybe I had it wrong, but to me it looked like Crist never even saw Rudolph wide open in the end zone and was trying to throw the ball away.

A few mental mistakes, including that play, Floyd failing to tuck the ball away and just losing it, and the failure of the offensive line to protect the inside gap deep in our own territory, prevented the game from becoming a laugher.

Defensively, I still have my worries. Yes, we held Purdue to only ten points on offense, but they still moved the ball far too well for my liking. Lest we forget, Purdue had an 89-yard drive that netted zero points. They kicked our asses in time of possession, and I was afraid that would come back to bite us in the 4th quarter (thankfully, it didn't). We had a few big plays on defense that bailed us out of some otherwise bad situations.

I thought special teams play was very good. Kickoff coverage was excellent and Allen had a nice punt return to set up one score. I still cringe when I see the holder wearing #50, though.

A lot to like about this team so far, but the team still needs to get much better.

[Killian]

Some have speculated that he just threw it away on that throw. Could have been either, I guess. My first reaction was that it was a QB who was working through first start jitters, and just over threw the pass.

I agree about the TOP. While Purdue had a 89 yard drive that netted 0 points, ND had one about that length as well, but I see your point.

#50 is David Ruffer's best friend and has been holding for him for a long time. On field goals, we have a walk-on snapping to a walk-on, so a walk-on can kick.

[Go Coogs']

Houston-Texas St. wasn't televised in week 1, so I'll give my .02 on the UH vs. UTEP game.

No Donald Buckram in the backfield for the Miners meant an easy win for the Coogs. They ran the ball effectively without relying much on Keenum. The QB's deep ball was underthrown a couple of times and he also threw a bad pick in double coverage which ultimately resulted in Keenum's neck injury. He went low for a tackle on the int return and was knee'd in the head. He looked to be okay while resting on the sidelines but the staff remains mum on his status for next Saturday against UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

The front seven was okay. UTEP's QB, Vittatoe, is a dual threat and he was able to elude blitz packages with ease and hit the open receiver often. Missed tackles by our secondary was a major issue. That can't happen against better opponents. Jamal Robinson was atrocious. He looked like he took a page out of Headache Smith's book of tanking a game to cover the line. Every single time the ball was thrown his way, he was either out of position or offere up his best impersonation of a matador making a tackle. I hope he is benched or gets his act together against the Bruins next week or their receivers are going to have a field day with us.

All-in-all, it was a stellar effort by the Coogs and I think they will probably beat UCLA this upcoming weekend if they take care of the ball. It's gonna be fun to watch.