Football Articles
AT POWER RANKINGS – WEEK 7
Posted by Roberto Frankfurter on October 21st, 2009 under Football
Wowsers … what a week in the Big 12. I left you with these thoughts last week:
“…I’m very interested to see what the Mad Pirate has in store for the Huskers, whether Daddy Hawkins will finally bench his boy to give his team a fighter’s chance against the Jayhawks and, most importantly, whether the Tigers can shake off last Thursday’s fourth quarter debacle …”
Well, the Mad Pirate and Daddy Hawkins pulled off big upsets, but the Tigers couldn’t overcome tipped/dropped passes and phantom penalties/turnovers.
BIG JUMPERS: OSU, TT, CU and KSU
BIG DUMPERS: OU, NU, aTm and BU
The Red River shootout was a sloppy, but hard hitting contest. I felt bad for Bradford and OU didn’t stand much of a chance without him. The lone Toofer fell back in line so UT is again our unanimous numero uno.
Texas Tech rolled into Lincoln and demolished the Huskers. I had a feeling that the Huskers were ready for a big fall. I don’t understand why the Toofers have underestimated the Mad Pirate this year (you might have noticed that I have sort of a man crush on Coach Leach). He only has had one losing season in the Big 12 (3-5 in his first year), he has lead TT to 9 consecutive winning seasons and bowl games, his team has finished four of the last five seasons ranked in both the AP and Coaches polls, he has gone 43-31 in the Big 12 while playing in arguably the toughest division of any BCS conference, and, most important, he knows how to fish a hat out of the water while visiting Pearl Harbor:
Colorado was able to score at-will against the Jayhawkers defense. The Buffs might’ve won a few more games this year if Hawkins would’ve had the smarts (or balls) to start the season with Tyler Hansen at quarterback. JR Slim has been telling me to watch out for CU and I’m starting to believe him.
I don’t think any game made my head spin more than Kansas State’s thumping of aTm by 48 points one week after Texas Tech pounded the Wildcats by 52 points. I believe that’s a 100 point swing in one week. I would love to have someone who watched both games explain to me how this is possible?!?!?!?!
Iowa State beat Baylor … yawn. I guess it is clear that aTm and Baylor (without RGIII) are solidly at the bottom of the rankings.
Finally, we get to the Tigers visit to Okie $tate. Several of the Toofers made this trip and I must say that we had a great time (until the last few minutes of the first half). It was homecoming so the town and bars were bursting at the seams. For the most part, the hometown fans were really nice to us. We spent about 7 hours at … you guessed it … Eskimo Joe’s. I understand this place is known for Joe’s cheese fries, but Joe’s Chili Frito Pie is the bomb.
Here are some excerpts from the drunk Toofers in Stillwater:
“Jeff at Eskimo Joe’s is the best waiter in any college bar in the world. Jeff calls JR Slim slowpoke (Jeff’s stock goes through the roof).”
“Euclid eats Frito Chili Pie off of JR Slim’s phone.”
“Crazy bitches is my specialty.”
“Drunk grizzly bears ,girls wearing boots and chili pies are everywhere in Stillwater.”
”Don’t take directions from strange old men coming out of adult stores.”
“Soco and lime is a delicious proposition.”
Okay, are there any interesting games to look forward to this week? I’m looking for Nebraska to rebound against the visiting Cyclones, the mercurial Wildcats will forget to take their medication so the Buffs will win (I’m on JR Slim’s CU bandwagon for one week) and Kansas will make Landry Jones feel like Sam Bradford for one game. Note that I will not even mention that the Tigers are going to upset the Longhorns out of respect for the boys over at Barking Carnival.
|
Rank |
|
Team |
Votes |
|
|
1 |
|
Texas (9) |
108 |
▲ 1 |
|
2 |
▲2 |
Oklahoma State |
91 |
▲11 |
|
3 |
▲3 |
Texas Tech |
90 |
▲24 |
|
4 |
▼2 |
Oklahoma |
86 |
▼11 |
|
5 |
|
Kansas |
71 |
▼ 7 |
|
6 |
▼3 |
Nebraska |
66 |
▼16 |
|
7 |
|
MIZZOU |
53 |
▼ 4 |
|
8 |
▲3 |
Colorado |
42 |
▲22 |
|
9 |
▲3 |
Kansas State |
38 |
▲22 |
|
10 |
|
Iowa State |
26 |
▲ 2 |
|
11 |
▼3 |
Texas A&M |
19 |
▼26 |
|
12 |
▼3 |
Baylor |
12 |
▼18 |
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Phenomenal Smith said:
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:46 am
Interesting that our sworn enemy loses to Colorado and doesn’t drop a spot in the rankings.
Hiphopopotamus said:
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:56 am
You guys seem to be coming around yet – good to see the Jayhawk love over here at AT.
As for this…
Colorado was able to score at-will against the Jayhawkers defense.
You’re better than that. Don’t give me that ESPN, Colorado scored 34 points, so KU’s defense must have been atrocious, etc…
That was a truly horrible loss and it took an entire team effort to manage, but it was much more on the O than the D. 14 of those points came from drives where Colorado started inside our 4 yard line. With all of that said, you very well could be right in saying we’ll make Landry feel like Sam for a week.
Phenomenal Smith said:
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:08 am
Hiphop, with Mizzou’s red zone problems, Tiger fans consider four yard TD drives to be nearly impossible.
Roberto Frankfurter said:
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:17 am
Hiphop, my apologies. You’re exactly right and I almost changed it during last edits. I admit that I didn’t watch the KU/CU game (although I did watch the entire KU/ISU game), but I did see the highlights of the Reesing fumble and pick to give CU the ball at the 3 yard line and 1 yard line, respectively. However, CU offense was also able to put together two other TD drives of over 75 yards. Even with Hansen instead of Hawkins at QB, you can’t feel too good about that.
To Phenom’s point, the Tigers couldn’t convert in four down territory on 3rd and 1 or 2nd and 3 against Okie State so those do look like big offensive drives by CU!
anyone but 3 MNC in a row said:
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:45 pm
“would love to have someone who watched both games explain to me how this is possible?!?!?!?!”
Watched some of both games and A&M is that bad and Tech is alot better than people are giving them credit for. Tech, right now, is probably the second best team in the B12. Not saying much, but their O with their skill players will always score some points and their D this year has been a surprise. Their D-line has the best pass rush in the conference and has not been a slouch against the run either.
A&M is really soft. They would still be considered to be soft if they were in the Sunbelt. That’s how bad A&M is this year, alot worse than even last year. K-State pushed them around like they were Bama on both sides of the ball. I’m guessing that Arkie only played them with a half effort, which led A&M to look deceptively better than they were even in a blow out. Looking at both teams now, I have little doubt that Arkie could have put up over a hundred on the Ags if they had wanted to. For the sake of the continuing legitimacy of this supposed rivalry game, Arkie probably did not expose A&M as much as it could have. Think about it, if you beat another team by a 100, then how many tickets do you think you are going to sell next year? And what then happens to the big payout, the annual guarantee win, and the recruiting foothold in North Texas? It was in Arkie’s interest to let the Ags look good against them. As for playing OSU tight? I was not wrong about OSU. They just suck and they are going to have a tough time in their future conference games. They will be exposed. I’d say that Mizzou being unable to beat that sorry ass team does not bode well for the rest of your season.
I think Mizzou is going to have a real tough time winning consistently in their conference games. It’s not that I think Mizzou is untalented or not a good team. Nope, you guys probably are one of the more talented teams in the North. Then what is the problem? From the OSU game, it seems that you guys just do not have the skill players to be highly competitive, even in the weak B12 North. That seems to be the only piece Mizzou is missing – the rest of the team seems to be in place – but it is a big piece and it is going to ruin your season this year, I think.
Learn from Leach. Year in and year out, he finds those gems in the rough at the skill positions who were not recruited heavily, but yet they are guys who regularly gain YAC’s and are a threat to take it to the house from a mere screen play. This eye for underappreciated talent is probably why Leach has been so consistently successful in this time at Tech. There is no reason why Mizzou can’t do the same. Surely, Mizzou’s recruiting base is larger than Tech’s. If Mizzou is going to run the O scheme it currently runs, then it is going to need more athletic skill players for it to run more successfully. Otherwise, if you don’t have them, then you get what you are seeing now. Guys who are not real open, who can’t take it to the house, and the demand being placed on your QB to be consistently perfect over and over again through tight windows just in order for you all to stay in a game. I don’t care how good your QB is, that level of reliance is never a good recipe for consistent winning.
With the scheme Mizzou runs, size shouldn’t be the main consideration, athletic upside should be. Look at Tech WR’s. None of them are these 6-5 NFL prototype WR’s, not even Crabtree was. What they typically all have in common is that they are all athletic as hell and that more than makes up for a few inches given up. When I look at Mizzou, I just do not see those game breaking athletes at your skill positions, not a WR and not at RB. And I don’t think this lack is a problem with recruiting ability – remember most of Tech’s players were not heavily recruited and were probably within the reach of a Mizzou – but a problem of misguided talent evaluation on the part of your coaching staff. Sure, it’s good to have a big 6-5 wide out, but not this same type of talent at every one of your positions, as I see with Mizzou currently. You need some burners in the mix and Mizzou just does not have them this year. I think this singular lack on your team is what is going to cost you guys this year on what would have otherwise been a very successful year for you all.
Hiphopopotamus said:
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:12 am
Phenom: Well played. I hope you’re still having those troubles after Thanksgiving.
RF: I don’t feel too good about it at all. The trip to Lubbock next week, in particular, has me more than a little worried.