TROUBLE TRACKER

We have two new additions to the TROUBLE TRACKER today. Two new schools and two new conferences.

First, in the Big XII North we have Nebraska LB Cody Glenn, who is 3rd on the team in tackles, was suspended indefinitely by head coach Bo Pelini for violating team rules. The Cornhuskers play at Kansas State this week before concluding their regular season at home against Colorado the day after Thanksgiving.

Next up we head to to our friends to the south, Morgantown, West Virginia. No surprise here that it has taken 12 weeks for trouble to arise from WVU after Rich Rod left. If he were still in charge these two would have been promoted to captain rather then suspended. Two players from WVU were charged after patrons of a bar filed complaints saying they were attacked by the two on October 25th. The players, TE Maxwell Anderson and holder Jeremy Kash were charged with battery. Head Coach Bill Stewart said he will look into the situation before he determines the players fate on the team.

THE SEASON STANDINGS:
The "U" - 7
The State Penn - 4
Indiana - 4
Tennessee - 2
MeCheatAgain - 2
West Virginia - 2
Mississippi State - 1
Florida - 1
the Ohio State University - 1
Nebraska - 1

CONFERENCE STANDINGS:
Big Ten - 4 schools (36% of conference schools)
SEC - 3 (25%)
Big East - 1 (12.5%)
ACC - 1 (8%)
Big XII - 1 (8%)

T3R - week 4

Thank you, thank you Iowa!!!! You have done everyone a favor by beating Penn State Saturday. With only two undefeated major conference schools left this is the first time this season when we didn’t have to worry about people complaining about the BCS rankings. Iowa every college football fan in America (minus the rather large number of Penn State alumni) is grateful for what you were able to do by upsetting Penn State. Nobody wanted to see another Big Ten team roll into the National Championship and lay an egg, so again Iowa, I thank you.


#1 FLORIDA GATORS (8-1)
LAST WEEK: 42-14 win @ Vanderbilt
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th vs #17 South Carolina
Florida keeps on rolling. They clinched the SEC East title and a meeting with Alabama on Dec 6th. The game last week versus Vanderbilt was the closest game the Gators have played since dropping one to Ole Miss in September and they don’t look to be slowing down. The Gators have a tough road ahead though with Florida State and Alabama in the SEC Title game on the slate to finish out the season.

#2 TEXAS TECH RED RADIERS (10-0)
LAST WEEK: 56-20 win vs Oklahoma State
NEXT WEEK: OFF
In case there was any doubt Texas Tech made an example out of Oklahoma State by absolutely dismantling them one week after their thrilling win over #1 Texas. The next big challenge for the Red Raiders is a trip to Norman to face the #4 Sooners. These two scores will certainly put points on the board (both rank in the top 3 in the nation in ppg). The big difference in this one will be which team can get the big stop. Originally I thought that Oklahoma would be the team to knock off Tech, but I am having second thoughts every time I watch this red Raider team play.

#3 TEXAS LONGHORNS (9-1)
LAST WEEK: 45-21 win vs Baylor
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th @ Kansas
The Longhorns got out of the gates slow last week against Baylor with what might have been a little post-loss hangover, but Colt McCoy got the offense going to an easy win. Texas is in a difficult spot right now. They finish their schedule in a fairly easy fashion with only Kansas and A&M remaining. But Texas will have to root for Oklahoma to beat Texas Tech and then leave it in the hands of the BCS rankings to determine which of those three teams will represent the BIG XII South in the conference championship game. The problem with that is if OU beats Tech, they will probably jump ahead to Texas in the rankings and with two teams that won’t help their strength of schedule remaining Texas could be left watch at home.

#4 OKLAHOMA SOONERS (9-1)
LAST WEEK: 66-28 win @ Texas A&M
NEXT WEEK: OFF
OU gets a much-needed week off to game plan on how to slow down the Texas Tech offense before their big showdown in two weeks. The Sooners are in the drivers seat in the Big XII South though actually. Based on their remaining schedule (Texas Tech and Ok State) if they win out, they should win the division and play for the conference title. However I don’t see that happening unless Bob Stoops tightens up that defense that has allowed 28 or more in five straight games.

#5 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (10-0)
LAST WEEK: 27-21 win @ LSU
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th vs Mississippi State
This was a very big, emotional win for Alabama that I should probably not punish them for, but I am. Bama was out gained, gave up over 200 yards on the ground and turned the ball over three times against the Tigers. Now, some may say that they proved they could win on a bad day. Yes, maybe, but I say you better not have bad days if you want to be in the national title hunt, ask Penn State. If they play like that against Florida for the SEC Title the game will be over by halftime.

#6 SOUTHERN CAL TROJANS (8-1)
LAST WEEK: 17-3 win vs California
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th vs Stanford
THE RE-MATCH! Stanford defeated the 42-point favorite Trojans last year and destroyed any hope of a national title for USC, now the Trojans get revenge. QB Matt Sanchez needs to start playing better if USC wants to be considered for the BCS Title if everything gets crazy in the last few weeks (like it has in the past few years.) The defense is the best in the country and probably the best since Pete Carroll took over in LA. But the offense needs to score and stop relying on the fact that the defense is going to not allow any touchdowns (they have only allowed one in the past 23 quarters).

#7 UTAH UTES (10-0)
LAST WEEK: 13-10 win vs TCU
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th @ San Diego State
Just when you count them out the Utes fight back and get a win. Utah needed a TD with 48 seconds left to beat TCU and stay undefeated. Down 10-0 in the first quarter, Utah regrouped and shutout the Horned Frogs the remainder of the game and squeezed out 13 points of their own. Also I loved the BLACK OUT uniforms sported by Utah for this one.

#8 MISSOURI TIGERS (8-2)
LAST WEEK: 41-24 win vs Kansas State
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th @ Iowa State
Oh yeah, that other BIG XII team. Missouri is the likely opponent for which ever team wins out in the Big XII South for the conference title game. With games against Iowa State and Kansas remaining, Missouri should be in that game as the spoiler, just as Oklahoma did to them in last years championship game.

#9 BOISE STATE BRONCOS (9-0)
LAST WEEK: 49-14 win vs Utah State
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th @ Idaho
Talk about balance, the Broncos had four different players throw touchdown passes last week, throw in a Ian Johnson run and a defensive touchdown and you get the 49 Boise State put on the board. The Broncos will probably be left out of a BCS bowl even if they go undefeated simply because their resume isn’t as impressive Utah, the other non-BCS conference team that is available. That isn’t stopping Boise State of putting up big numbers and running up the score to make a statement though. Look for them to continue it this week against Idaho, a team that ranks in the bottom 10 nationally of every single defensive category.

#10 NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (7-2)
LAST WEEK: 28-7 win vs Georgia Tech
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th @ Maryland
Someone from the ACC has to step up and I think that Butch Davis and the Tar Heels are finally that team. Davis worked miracles getting the Miami program back to the top quickly and is trying to do the same in Chapel Hill. If Davis’ old team knocks off Virginia Tech on Thursday then the Heels control their own destiny in the ACC. Win out and play in the conference championship game.

#11 OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (8-2)
LAST WEEK: 56-20 loss @ Texas Tech
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th @ Colorado

#12 GEORGIA BULLDOGS (8-2)
LAST WEEK: 42-38 win @ Kentucky
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th @ Auburn

#13 the OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BUCKEYES (8-2)
LAST WEEK: 45-10 win @ Northwestern
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th @ Illinois

#14 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (9-1)
LAST WEEK: 24-23 loss @ Iowa
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th vs Indiana

#15 MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS (9-2)
LAST WEEK: 21-7 win vs Purdue
NEXT WEEK: OFF

#16 FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES (7-2)
LAST WEEK: 41-27 win vs Clemson
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th vs Boston College

#17 SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS (7-3)
LAST WEEK: 34-21 win vs Arkansas
NEXT WEEK: Nov 15th @ #1 Florida

#18 CINCINNATI BEARCATS (7-2)
LAST WEEK: 26-23 win @ West Virginia
NEXT WEEK: Nov 14th @ Louisville

#19 TCU HORNED FROGS (9-2)
LAST WEEK: 13-10 loss @ Utah
NEXT WEEK: OFF

#20 BALL STATE CARDINALS (9-0)
LAST WEEK: 45-14 win vs Northern Illinois
NEXT WEEK: Nov 11th @ Miami OH

Weekly Thought and Predictions

I have two pressing issues that have been bothering me this week. Issue one is Phil Fulmer and the University of Tennessee.

The University of Tennessee asked Phil Fulmer to step down as head football coach this past Monday.

Phil Fulmer is a guy that not only has been the head football coach at the University of Tennessee for the last 17 seasons, but also was also born and raised in Tennessee. He played for the Volunteers. The Vols went 30-5 in his 3 years there. After finishing school Fulmer coached the freshman team at Tennessee. He then served 13 years as an assistant coach at the university before becoming the head coach in 1992.

This man bled Tennessee Orange. In his reign over the football program he went 150-51, which ranks 3rd highest win percentage among coaches with 10 or more years. He went to a bowl game in every year in charge but one. He brought a National Title back to Rocky Top in 1998, the university's first since 1951. But that doesn’t matter much now. Not to the money at Tennessee. Not to the boosters. The same boosters who agreed to pay him $2.4M this season, the first on a new 7-year deal he signed over the summer.

This guy is, was and always will be a class act. It is a shame that Tennessee will kick out one of there own so easily. Good luck finding a coach that can do half of what Phil Fulmer did at UT. Or cares half as much as Fulmer cared about the school he so greatly represented for so long.

FULMER EMOTIONAL AT PRESS CONFERENCE


The second issue that I have is Pete Carroll running his mouth about the BCS.

Yes Pete we all know the BCS stinks. We all have seen the way the BCS is screwing up NCAA football. We all realize that the BCS system is what kept your Trojans out of playing for a national championship in 2003.

We get it. What we don’t get is YOU complaining. You have maybe the easiest road every year to the BCS Title game. You play 1 or 2 tough non-conference games (good for you, not enough teams do that), and then you stay on the west coast beating up on the Pac-10 the rest of the season. In most cases all you have to do is win those Pac-10 games and you are in. However you don’t seem to be able to do that. This year you lost to Oregon State, AGAIN!!! What you forget that them beating you in 2006 also kept you out of the title game? Honestly, just take care of business in the Pac-10 and you are in. Stanford last season, what were you guys a 42 point favorite? Really and you are going to complain about the system? It doesn’t take brain surgery. The Pac-10 is not all that good, in that case you have to win ALL of your conference games to play for the national title. Nobody wants to see a team that loses to UCLA (2006) then go on to play in the national championship. The 2 season you swept through the Pac-10 you played for a title. Yet you have the nerve to now complain. You lost to Oregon State! OREGON STATE! Not Oregon, Oregon State! The same Oregon State that got smoked by Penn State. There is someone that should be complaining, Penn State. The players and coaches at Penn State, they would have a legit beef, but you and the Trojans? Gimme a break! Go through that KILLER Pac-10 schedule next year without a loss and we can talk!

THIS WEEKS PICKS:

4-1 last week only missing the Texas-Texas Tech shootout. That puts me at 38-17 for the year.

OHIO STATE wins, but close at Northwestern

ALABAMA survives Nick Saban's first trip back to LSU.

WEST VIRGINIA takes control of the Big East with a win against Cincinnati.

PENN STATE struggles but wins at Iowa.

USC defeats an overrated Cal team

TEXAS TECH makes it 2 in a row against top opponents beating Oklahoma State.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your football!

TROUBLE TRACKER

Wow, what do you know, the Trouble Tracker takes us back to the Big Ten so the can add on to their lead in the conference standings. This one is a bit of an upset though, I would have never expected it to take the Ohio State University this long to make the list.

Ray Small, WR and PR, is suspended for violating team rules. The team has not released the reason but according to his father it is because he missed class. Get this though, instead of getting on his kids ass for missing class, he is blaming the coaching staff. Ken Small says that the coaching staff, "are intentionally blowing his whole career." Yeah , sure. Get your kid in class and quit your bitching!

Your current standings:

The "U" - 7
The State Penn - 4
Indiana - 4
Tennessee - 2
MeCheatAgain - 2
Mississippi State - 1
Florida - 1
the Ohio State University - 1

CONFERENCE STANDINGS:
Big Ten - 4 schools (36% of conferences schools)
SEC - 3 schools (25%)
ACC - 1 school (8%)

Pittsburgh's Golden Boy

The Rant would like to congratulate the lone bright spot in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, Nate McLouth, for winning his first Gold Glove Award. He is the first Pirate to win a Gold Glove since SS Jay Bell won it in 1993.

TROUBLE TRACKER

Football player vs Girlfriend

This is a scene we see way to often and this time it shows up on the Rants Trouble Tracker.

Backup DB Jacques Rickerson for the Florida Gators basically tried to killed his girlfriend according to this article on ESPN.com. The Florida football team has acted quickly and kicked Rickerson off the team.

Here is an updated standings of this football season:
The "U" - 7
The State Penn - 4
Indiana - 4
Tennessee - 2
Michigan - 2
Mississippi State - 1
Florida - 1

Conference rankings look like this:
BIG TEN - 3 schools (27% of the conference schools)
SEC - 3 Schools (25%)
ACC - 1 school (8%)

T3R Week 3

Controversy is all over the college football world and it is only the beginning. This is just the 1st week in November, wait until the first week in December. However this is one place you will not have controversy. Right here I give it to you straight. I don’t rate teams based on wins and losses. I rate teams based on their play on the field. You want to know who will play for the national Championship, go ask some computers to spit out numbers for you, but if you want to know who SHOULD play for the National Title I’m your guy. So we move on to T3R, WEEK #3:

#1 FLORIDA GATORS (7-1)
LAST WEEK: 49-10 win, vs Georgia
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th @ Vanderbilt
Let’s get the argument out of the way now. How do I put a 1-loss team ahead of the 3 major conference undefeated teams? Well, have you seen Florida play since they lost that one game? The gators have played four games. All in the SEC (which is down this year, but still clearly the 2nd best league in the nation) and have outscored their opponents 201-43. Oh yeah, and two of those games were against top 10 teams. Florida is one of only 3 teams (Penn State and USC the others) to rank in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive points per game. This team is very dangerous and is the one team really standing in the way of Alabama, assuming they both win out and play for the SEC Title.

#2 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (9-0)
LAST WEEK: 35-0 win vs Arkansas State
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th @ LSU
We know that these two teams won’t finish the year ranked 1-2 because they hopefully (if both win out) will be playing each other in Atlanta in the SEC Title game. I also realize that the Tide played Arkansas State, everyone plays cupcakes. I don’t like it but everyone plays them. SEC teams schedule them better then most by putting them into the middle of the conference schedule to get a breather from the week in and week out slugfest that is the SEC. They used ASU as a tune up for an absolutely HUGE game against LSU. Yes, I know that LSU is not the same LSU from the past few years, but it is the same LSU that Nick Saban left. And this is his first time back. That, mixed with Death Valley, could be just the right recipe for an upset.

#3 TEXAS TECH RED RADIERS (9-0)
LAST WEEK: 39-33 win vs Texas
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th vs #8 Oklahoma State
Wow, Tech REALLY has a defense! Tech held the high powered Colt McCoy and the Longhorns offense to 21 yards and 3 points for the first 28:23 of the game, and took a 22-6 lead into halftime. Just as they have in the past Texas battled out of an early hole and took the lead against Tech, but this time the Red Raiders didn’t give in. Heisman front-runner Graham Harrell marched his team down field and connected with Michael Crabtree for game-winning touchdown with just 1 tick left on the clock.
Now they have to do it all over again. It is easy to get fired up when the #1 team comes to your house for a big game, but can they come with the same moxie this week when they have the target on their back?

#4 TEXAS LONGHORNS (8-1)
LAST WEEK: 39-33 loss @ Texas Tech
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th vs Baylor
Wow, what a run. Beating then #1 Oklahoma, then beating #11 Missouri, then undefeated Oklahoma State. Four in a row was just too much to ask for I guess. Does anyone else feel terrible for Baylor this week? The Horns will either have no mercy against the Bears or will completely look past them after that brutal stretch and leave themselves vulnerable. Should be interesting to keep an eye on and see how they rebound.

#5 OKLAHOMA SOONERS (8-1)
LAST WEEK: 62-28 win vs Nebraska
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th @ Texas A&M
55 in the first half last week, 35 in the first quarter this week including 28 in the first 5:33, okay we know the Sooners can score (2nd in the nation in scoring offense 49.78 ppg) but can they defend when they have to? That has to be a big concern for Bob Stoops and Co. Over the last four games, all conference games, the Sooners have allowed 139 points. There are 15 teams in the country that haven’t given up 139 points all season. They better sure that up with Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and possibly Missouri (Big XII Title game) still up ahead.

#6 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (8-0)
LAST WEEK: OFF
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th @ Iowa
Penn State loses out this week because with all the excitement of Florida and Texas Tech having big wins the Lions were enjoying a much deserved off week. But as the old saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. The Lions still hold their fate in their own hands, if they run the table (which they certainly should be able to do) they play for the National Championship. If they stumble over the last three games they don’t. Everyone is looking ahead to the Michigan State game and the battle for the valued Land Grant Trophy, but Iowa is a perfect stumbling block for the Lions. It is a road game, against a not great, but certainly not bad team that controls the ball and clock. How do you slow down a high-powered offense like Penn State has? Keep them off the field. Iowa tends to win the time of possession battle and boasts Shonn Greene, the nations 3rd leading rusher. Penn State should win this, but Iowa won’t roll over ease for them.

#7 SOUTHERN CAL TROJANS (7-1)
LAST WEEK: 56-0 win vs Washington
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th vs #20 California
Bar none the best defense in the nation. USC has outscored its opponents 214-20 in the five games since getting upset by Oregon State pitching shutouts in three of those games. The Trojans rank #1 in points allowed, points allowed per game, total yards allowed, and passing yards allowed. They slack off a bit when it comes to stopping the run; they are only the 5th best team in the nation in that category. By no means do I think they deserve a chance of getting back into the National Title chase, but numbers like that don’t lie, that defense is great! The offense, it is coming together but still has lots of work to do.

#8 OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (8-1)
LAST WEEK: 59-14 win vs Iowa State
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th @ #3 Texas Tech
Oklahoma State is a strange one for me because they put up points just like all the other teams in the Big XII, but their offensive production consists of basically 3 players. QB Zac Robinson is 2nd in the nation in passing efficiency while throwing 20 TD’s and just 5 INT’s. His main target on most of those touchdowns is WR Dez Bryant who is 2nd in the nation in receiving yards per game and leads the nation with 17 TD’s. The guy who keeps this offense balanced is RB Kendall Hunter. He is the nations 4th leading rusher. Seems like it would be easy to shut down 1 WR and 1 RB, apparently it is tougher then it seems. All this with a very average defense that seems to make big plays at just the right time to keep them in games.

#9 UTAH UTES (9-0)
LAST WEEK: 13-10 win @ New Mexico
NEXT WEEK: Nov 6th vs #10 TCU
Utah doesn’t do anything special. They do nothing great, but they do EVERYTHING well. Utah is in the nations top half of every one of the NCAA listed statistics, but only in the top 10 of two of them. The one key thing they have done and continue to do is win football games. They face their toughest test over the last three games of the year starting with this Thursday against TCU. A win against TCU puts them in the drivers seat to getting their second BCS bowl bid with only archrival BYU standing in their way. The Utes however do get both at home, in what has become a very big home field advantage for them.

#10 TCU HORNED FROGS (9-1)
LAST WEEK: 44-14 win @ UNLV
NEXT WEEK: Nov 6th @ #9 Utah
TCU has one loss is still in the talks about a BCS bowl, that is very impressive coming from a mid-major conference team. The Horned Frogs only set back this year was to Oklahoma in Norman. They have rolled through the rest of the competition and it has all started with the defense. TCU has allowed no more then 14 points in a game this year in their 9 wins. The Frogs have already beaten half of the other big two from the Mountain West when the easily handled BYU 32-7 in mid-October. This week is the end all for TCU win at Utah and you are all but in a BCS bowl. Lose and well, you get pretty much any other bowl.

#11 MISSOURI TIGERS (7-2)
LAST WEEK: 31-28 win @ Baylor
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th vs Kansas State

#12 BOISE STATE BRONCOS (8-0)
LAST WEEK: 49-0 win @ New Mexico State
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th vs Utah State

#13 GEORGIA BULLDOGS (7-2)
LAST WEEK: 49-10 loss vs Florida
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th @ Kentucky

#14 the OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BUCKEYES (7-2)
LAST WEEK: OFF
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th @ Northwestern

#15 MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS (8-2)
LAST WEEK: 25-24 win vs Wisconsin
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th vs Purdue

#16 WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS (6-2)
LAST WEEK: 35-13 win @ Connecticut
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th vs Cincinnati

#17 GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (7-2)
LAST WEEK: 31-28 win vs Florida State
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th @ #18 North Carolina

#18 NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (6-2)
LAST WEEK: OFF
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th vs #17 Georgia Tech

#19 BALL STATE CARDINALS (8-0)
LAST WEEK: OFFNEXT WEEK: Nov 5th vs Northern Illinois


#20 CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (7-2)
LAST WEEK: 26-16 win vs Oregon
NEXT WEEK: Nov 8th @ #7 Southern Cal