College Football Week 1 Gameday Thread

[ram29jackson]

From the looks of it, next week's UM/ND game might mean a lot more than anyone thought.

It always means more just because its those two schools. In good years and bad its still a match up that matters.

[NAHSTE]

Uhh, right.

Do you really actually think Notre Dame or Michigan are ready to be nationally relevant again? I hope you don't actually think that game matters to anyone but TV execs...

[padman59]

ND up 28-0 at the half. My thoughts so far:

-The offense looks very efficient. Good run-pass mix.

-Clausen is pretty accurate. He still needs to work on fitting the ball over the middle to his receiver. His deep passes are great though. He needs to throw the ball away if he leaves the pocket and not take the sack, or at least feel the pursuit better in those situations.

-Allen looks better running the ball. He's fighting for extra yards whenever he gets a carry.

-The defense is still allowing some good runs up the middle which they need to shore up. A very bad FG try and a good 4th down stop has kept Nevada from putting points on the board. On the same token, the defense has gotten some pressures/sacks/TFLs which were lacking the last few seasons. They are blitzing better overall compared to last season.

-Colin Kaepernick (sp?) is pretty good at evading the rush. Pretty light on his feet.

[ram29jackson]

Thoughts on the PSU/Akron game:

- Daryl Clark looked TOO hyped up out there. Overthrew a bunch of his receivers.
- Derek Moye established himself as the number one threat. Really impressed with his hands and jumping ability.
- Graham Zug and Chaz Powell should be the #2/3 WRs; they contributed pretty nicely.
- Fumbling the ball is not how you impress JoePa, Mr. Brackett.
- Secondary still needs some work.
- Navarro Bowman going out in the first half scares me a little bit. They reported it as a pulled groin.
- Andrew Dailey looked great replacing Bowman.

Overall, a win's a win - didn't play to the best of our potential and had some lapses, but hopefully we'll be on our A game by the time we hit the Big Ten part of the schedule. Next week we host Greg Paulus and Syracuse, and he better come out of Happy Valley with some sort of body part ripped off, lol.

Zug and Chaz probably looked good because of the competion. Theyll contribute, they dont need to be bumped up.

If the secondary still needs work, thats trouble. it was their weak link last year. They had no closing speed against the USC receivers last year. They need to rack up the points this year.

[NAHSTE]

Michigan up 31-0 at half.

Western has about 90 yards of total offense, 65 of which came on the last drive with Michigan in a prevent.

great

[padman59]

From the looks of it, next week's UM/ND game might mean a lot more than anyone thought.

Perhaps. The significance of that game probably won't be realized until the end of the regular season.

On a side note, I think ND can have a great year (at least in terms of wins) if they can put teams away and avoid allowing teams to come back late in the game. There were too many games last year where ND had the good lead only to surrender it late in games. ND needs to beat USC to garner some serious contention for a BCS berth as well.

[godspeed]

Thoughts on the PSU/Akron game:

- Daryl Clark looked TOO hyped up out there. Overthrew a bunch of his receivers.

You are being way to critical. The guy was putting the ball on the money in traffic. He made alot of great throws today. Putting balls only where his WR's could make the catch. He was 28 of 39 for 353 yards.

[Woy]

You are being way to critical. The guy was putting the ball on the money in traffic. He made alot of great throws today. Putting balls only where his WR's could make the catch. He was 28 of 39 for 353 yards.

He also had open men who he underthrew. I just expected more against an Akron squad.

[ram29jackson]

Perhaps. The significance of that game probably won't be realized until the end of the regular season.

On a side note, I think ND can have a great year (at least in terms of wins) if they can put teams away and avoid allowing teams to come back late in the game. There were too many games last year where ND had the good lead only to surrender it late in games. ND needs to beat USC to garner some serious contention for a BCS berth as well.

ND wont get a BCS birth. They may do better than Oregon, but they wont get a BCS birth.
Beating USC wont mean much either this year considering they are starting a freshman QB. USC will still win games but I think they will go 9-3 this year.

[ram29jackson]

He also had open men who he underthrew. I just expected more against an Akron squad.

yep, I expected about 65 points from Penn State . Oh , well

[godspeed]

He also had open men who he underthrew. I just expected more against an Akron squad.

Akron isn;'t as much of a trash team as you are thinking maybe. Played Wisconsin reasonable close last year, lost to Cincy by 2, finished 5-7 but lost 4 of the 7 by 7 points or less. They returned 9 on offense and 6 on defense.

What was surprising was Akron's rush defense which is horrible, and they kept Royster in check to a degree.

[godspeed]

yep, I expected about 65 points from Penn State . Oh , well

LOL, the spread was 29 1/2, they won by 24 it was in the ball park of what you would expect.

[padman59]

ND wont get a BCS birth. They may do better than Oregon, but they wont get a BCS birth.
Beating USC wont mean much either this year considering they are starting a freshman QB. USC will still win games but I think they will go 9-3 this year.

ND undefeated or with one loss will get in. Ultimately, it comes down to rankings, and if ND is in the top ten of the BCS, they're in IMO.

I'll concede that a lot hinges on how well ND's opponents fare. If Mich can have a good season this year and Nevada unseats Boise State as WAC champs, I think that will be enough. There are still a lot of question marks with regards to ND's SOS

USC still has a lot of talent, a veteran O-line, and a great stable of running backs. No one is going to knock ND for beating USC.

Also, WTF does Oregon have to do with this?


Aside: another fantastic play on Floyd's latest TD catch.


EDIT: I'm assuming that ND can play up to their potential. I realize that the season has barely started and a lot can happen from now 'til December.

[padman59]

Nevada can't find the endzone for their lives. They get a drive within the ND ten and fumble a pitch. Three chances to score with nothing to show for them.

[gaysex4lif]

new avatar bitches.