Odd Stat of the Day

Through games of last Saturday, the top three QBs in terms of the NCAA passing efficiency rating:

David Johnson, Tulsa
Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
Zac Robinson, Oklahoma State

No, I'm not going to look that up to see if it's happened before. It's bedtime.

Around the Big 12 - wk 6

Kansas roared back from a 20-0 halftime deficit to defeat Baylor North, 35-33. The Cyclones went to the locker room at halftime with a 20-0 lead. The Jayhawks had 88 yards, 2 turnovers and 3 three and outs in their first five possessions of the game, while the Cyclones were amassing those 20 points. The Iowa State offense went into hibernation while the Jayhawks scored 28 unanswered points. Reesing threw for 300+ yards, and former QB Kerry Meier caught 7 balls for 125 yards and 2 scores.

In the Aggie Bowl, Boone State doubled up on Cash Machine U 56-28. Oklahoma State scored 28 points in the first half while the offense only contributed one of the TDs. The Boone State offense amassed 116 yards in the first half. On the other hand, in the second half, the Pokes never punted in the second half, and were only slowed down by a fumble. The Texas Aggies held Okie State to no 100 yard rushers.

The Willie and Friends defense played quite the hospitable hosts to the Dust Pirates, holding Graham Harrell to 454 yards and 6 TDs. Michael Crabtree struggled to 9 catches for 107 yards and 2 scores. After a 14-14 tie, Texas Tech went on a 44-7 run on its way to a 58-28 victory.

In Boulder, Colorado was able to prevent Colt McCoy from leading the Horns in rushing. However, he was unable prevent Chris Ogbonnaya, heretofore known as Chef Boyardee, because it’s easier to spell and type, from totaling 187 yards and 2 scores on 15 touches. Texas won the game 38-14. McCoy threw more incompletions Sat night than he had the previous two games combined, but was still 23-30 for 262 yards and 2 scores. Texas dominated time of possession in the game, 36 minutes to 24.

The Nebraska defense was able to shut out Chase Daniel and the Mizzouri offense for the first 58 seconds. And the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Bugeaters, the Tigers scored 52 points and blew out the Huskers 52-17.

Carnac analyzes the weekends games

Verizon FIOS DVR, Bo Pelini's game plan and Seventh Day Adventists.

The envelope please...

name three things that didn't work on Saturday.

As a result of the first item not working on Saturday, our thoughts on the Baylor game are limited. The Bears did hold the Sooners to their second lowest point total of the season, and Reverend Rob did run for over 100 yards. But the Sooners had jumped out to a 28-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Now, I must pull together my tax information.

LandThieves Stat of the Week

The last time Oklahoma and Alabama were ranked 1 and 2 in the AP polls was the 1975 preseason poll. Alabama kicked off the season by losing to the Missouri Tigers, coached by the immortal Al Onofria, 20-7 in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama ran the table the rest of the way and finished #3 in the final polls. The Sooners relinquished the #1 ranking to the Buckeyes during October, and fell even further after losing to the Kansas Jayhawks, led by QB Nolan Cromwell, 23-3. This was the first game I ever saw in person as a Sooner.

Nonetheless, the Sooners won out the rest of the way and leapfrogged the Tide in the Nov 25 poll. A look back to that week courtesy of cfbdatawarehouse.com tells us that Alabama had a bye week, and the Sooners dominated the #2 ranked Nebraska Cornuhskers 35-10. A win over Rick Leach QB'd Michigan squad in the Orange Bowl gave the Sooners their 5th national championship.

I'm sure someone out there awarded Alabama a national championship.

Weekend Preview - Week 6

CU Later at Longhorns - Mack Brown's Horns have never lost to the Buffaloes during the regular season. Margins of victory since Brown's arrival in 1998 are: 14, 34, 24, 25, 63. I think Colorado will lose by double digits, but Colorado will be a bit more formidable opponent than the Horns have been experiencing this year. Colorado is 8th in the country in yards allowed per pass attempt. Conversely, Colorado is 91st in yards allowed per rushing attempt, so expect Texas to have a big day running the ball. Prediction: Longhorns
Baylor North at Phog U - this rivalry has been played every year since 1932. In most years, no one gave a crap. Kansas has won the last three, and should make it four in a row. Prediction: Kansas.
Willie and Friends at Dust Pirates - the Great Pirate is 3-1 against Kansas State, and has won the last three. Kansas State has a decent pass defense, so expect Leach to be frustrated with his passing attack again this year.
Mizzou at Bugeaters - in what I would categorize as a mercy killing, the Tigers only beat Nebraska 41-6 last year. The Huskers are 95th in pass ypg allowed. I don't think that will get better this week when Chase Daniel, Chase Coffman and Jeremy Maclin come to Lincoln. Missouri hasn't stopped anyone this year either, making Juice Williams look like a Heisman candidate in the season opener and feasting on cupcakes every since. Prediction: Missouri.
Cash Machine Aggies at Boone State Aggies - The Pokes declined the opportunity to play this game on a Thursday night on ESPN. I would agree with the Pokes on that one. They can't get people to show up on Saturday, why raise the bar and expect them to get there on Thursday. Plus, Thursday is Ladies Night at the Casino. Anyway, the Pokes lead the nation in rushing offense, and the Aggies are 115th in rushing defense. TAMU hasn't scored more than 28 points in a game yet, and OSU hasn't scored less than 39. Pick: Oklahoma State.

Now for a few other games of note:
Kentucky at Alabama - Kentucky come into this game undefeated. Kentucky hasn't won a game in Tuscaloosa since 1977. Kentucky hasn't allowed a rushing TD this year. The teams have both played Western Kentucky, with the Tide winning 41-7 and the Wildcats winning 41-3. I don't see Kentucky breaking their 31 year drought in Tuscaloosa. Prediction: Alabama.
Oregon at Southern Cal - Southern Cal looks to rebound against Mike Belotti's Oregon Duck squad and avenge last year's loss to the Ducks.. Southern Cal curiously stumbled against the Beavers last week. They won't lose two in a row to Oregon. Prediction: Southern Cal
Ohio State at Wisconsin - Ohio State travels to Madison to take on the Badgers. Please God, let the Badgers win. This will drive a stake through the heart of the Buckeye national championship hopes. Tressel is 2-3 against Wisconsin, and I expect it will go to 2-4. Prediction: Badgers.

OU - BU Preview

Fox Sports showed the 2005 Baylor-OU game last night, it was a 37-30 Sooner win in OT.

I didn't need to be reminded of that. Let's see how they match up this year.

Offense		Led by Coach Art Briles and Reverend Robert, the Bears are 26th in total offense and 30th in scoring offense. They'v edone this against some decent defensive foes, like Wake Forest and U Conn. While a tremendous improvement, the Sooners still hold the edge.
Defense		Baylor is 36th in total defense and 65th Scoring defense.Last year they finished 110th and 112th in these categories. These numbers will drop as they get into Big 12 play. The Sooner defense ranks higher, but has been relatively untested.
Special Teams		The Sooners ranking in net punting, punt returns and kick return defense reads like my test scores in Theory of Coaching: 95, 86, 104.
Dual Threat QBs		Reverend Robert won the Big 12 hurdles last year (when he shoulda been at the prom. He leads his team in rushing and is 10th in the nation in pass efficiency. At a similar stage in his career, our dual threat QB was so good at working Big Red Sports he did it double time. He's lighting it up as a senior at Sam Houston State, though.
Guaranteeing Wins		All the info right here.
Coaching		This got a whole lot closer this year.
Bowl Game Records		Did you know Baylor is 3-2 in it's last 5 bowl games. Did you know Grant Teaff was the last BU coach to coach a victory in a bowl game, and the 5 bowl games takes you back to 1985.BU has gone to bowl games in consecutive seasons 3 times in their history. OU has gone to a bowl game the last 9 years.

The Sooners are 17-0 against the Bears.
It should get to 18-0 on Saturday.

Musings on Texas and Boone State

I hear that Texas is underrated and "playing some of the best football in the country". Let's take a look at the Horns schedule so far:

• Florida Atlantic - FAU defeated Alabama-Birmingham 49-34. Aside from their 10-52 loss to Texas, they also sport 0-17 loss to Michigan State and 3-37 loss to juggernaut Minnesota. Minnesota has closer contests against Northern Illinois, Bowling Green and Montana State.
• UTEP - UTEP is 1-3, beating Central Florida but losing to Buffalo and New Mexico State.
• Rice - Rice dominates teams that run the chuck and duck, boasting wins over SMU, Memphis and North Texas.
• Arkansas - the Hogs trailed in the 4th quarter to Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe before winning. They lost by 35 to Bama before laying an egg against Texas.

See if you can match the scoring defense ranking with the opponent; a) 113; b) 104; c) 101; d) 106.

Now, which of these games did you expect the Horns to lose? Shouldn't they be 4-0? Shouldn't the team be "clicking on all cylinders"? McCoy didn't forget how to be a QB last year, he didn't have an o-line. His line has one more year of experience, and they've played some of the worst defenses in Division 1 this year. Their next foe, Colorado, is a veritable force to be reckoned with, ranking 63rd in scoring defense.

Now, onto Boone State:

• Washington State - WSU beat Portland State, who's never recovered from Neil Lomax and Clint Didier's departure. WSU is 96th in total offense and 106th in total defense. TheCougars followed up their 26 point loss to Okie State with a 28 pt loss to Baylor and a 49 point loss to Oregon.
• Houston - these Cougars are the closest thing to a quality win on the Boone State schedule to date. UH lost to Colorado State - whose only other victory was Sacramento State - and Air Force.
• Missouri State - Missouri State lost to Washburn. I'm not even bothering to research them further.
• Troy beat Alcorn state and Middle Tennessee, and but lost to Ohio State and Oklahoma State. Watching Troy play Houston would probably be riveting.

Match the school with their rushing defense ranking: a) 110; b) 112; c) 86; d) 118. Keep in mind that one of these schools is a 1-AA school.

Which one did you expect to beat Oklahoma State (ignore that I predicted a Troy upset)? Knowing what you know about their defenses now, which one would you expect to stop OSU? The Aggie Bowl is next, and Cash Machine U is 115th in rushing defense. The Aggies have allowed a 100 yard rusher in EVERY GAME SO FAR.