Saturday College Football Live Blog (15 hours of madness)

Tuesday Morning Quick Hitters

The San Diego Chargers got their 1st win of the season against the NYJ 48 – 29.

Green Bay’s Al Harris may have a torn spleen.

The ever popular sports hernia get another player, this time Jeremy Shockey.

The Boston Red Sox had to put off their celebration for another night, losing to the Cleveland Indians 4 – 3. The Sox magic number is still 1 and with Tampa Bay’s 4 – 2 win over the Orioles they are 2 1/2 games back in the AL East. The Red Sox are 7 games up on Minnesota in the Wild Card.

The Philadelphia Phillies increased their lead over the New York Mets on Monday. The Phillies beat up on the Atlanta Braves 6 – 2. The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs at Shea 9 – 5. The Chicago Cubs clintched the NL Central. Philadelphia leads the NY Mets by 2 1/2 games in the NL East and the Mets lead the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card race by 1 game.

The Arizona Diamondbacks gain 1/2 game on the Dodgers in the NL West by beating the St Louis Cardinals 4 – 2. The D-Backs are now 2 games behind the Dodgers.

USC’s top DB Shareece Wright might be lost for “weeks”

Boston Bruins Patrice Bergeron is back on the ice for the 1st time since he took the cheap shot hit from the thug of the Phialdelphia Flyers. The Bruins beat the Canadiens 8 – 3.

O is for Overrated

You know the old saying–“Excuses are like assholes, everyone has on”–well if that is true, then according to the 2000 census report, Columbus, Ohio is the home of 711,470 assholes. After the 32 point beat down Ohio State received on Sunday from a far superior USC team, you could already hear the cries from every OSU faithful……”but we didn’t have Chris Wells”.

Certainly Wells would have changed the complexion of the OSU offense…….but how would he have changed the fact that Joe McKnight averaged nearly a first down a carry……or that Matt Sanchez threw for 4 scores……or that USC was the bigger, stronger, faster more talented team?

We always hear that what the Big Ten lacks in athletes at the skill positions, it makes up for it with bigger and more physical line play. Well, if the performance of the OSU linemen is what constitutes physical in the Big Ten, then my 87 year-old grandmother would scare the hell out of Big Ten teams.

I mean seriously, on most pass plays, the only thing that kept Todd Boekman upright was someone on the OSU side holding onto a USC defender for dear life. On a couple shots that Boekman took I was wondering if he swallowed his mouth piece. And what about the Buckeye defense…..you have a QB whose knee injury made him about as mobile as a one-legged Drew Bledsoe, and you cannot get to him on a consistent basis? Here’s 5 bucks, go buy yourself a pass rush.

The most telling stat of the game was Ohio State had the ball for 20 minutes in the first half and outgained the Trojans 177 -172…..yet trailed 21-3. Memo to Jim Tressel: The US Postal Service thinks your offense is inefficient and as outdated as your style (only the General can rock the sweaters). USC was obviously concerned about Terrelle Pryor’s big play ability….yet Tressel stuck with Boekman……..even though after the umpteenth hit he took I think Boekman wanted to VY it and get the hell off the field. I mean did Tressel get some sick enjoyment watching his QB become the USC defense’s pinata…..nevermind the 2 picks and 4 yards per pass attempt….Pryor should have been out there.

Maybe that OSU trailed to a now 0-3 Ohio team late in the 3rd quarter last week was not a fluke. Maybe OSU was not deserving of a National Championship game last year and was undeserving of a top 5 ranking this year—insert rant about pre-season rankings here.

What is not a maybe, is that Chris Wells would have made ZERO difference in the outcome of the game yesterday. OSU is 2-4 against non-conference top 25 foes since 2005, lost back-to-back title games by a combined 38 points and looked like a JV high school team against USC. Perhaps the O in OSU doesn’t stand for Ohio this year……maybe

Overrated

State

University

is more fitting. Face it Buckeye fans, your team has been exposed and Chris Wells would not have helped to change that fact. Your team was dominated in every aspect of the game, and with PSU, UW and UI still waiting, you may not have the opportunity to back into a BCS Title game again…………………but cheer up Buckeye fans, at least this year you’ll be able to watch your team finish its season before the end of the year.

Sunday Morning Quick Hitters

NCAAF

Nore Dame won one for Lou Holtz yesterday, beating Michigan 35-17. Charlie Weis suffered a horrific knee injury in this one when a player ran into his knee and he suffered a…wait for it…wait..for..it….torn ACL and MCL. Perhaps him and Tom Brady can rehab together. The video above is from NBC Sports and the Weis knee injury is at about the 1:30 mark, folowed by the slow motion replay. Do not watch while eating breakfast.

USC made all the hype around it’s game with Ohio St look ridiculous, pasting the Buckeyes 35-3. We all have to band together and hope that OSU loses one more game this season so that they don’t get to rebound from this and get blasted in the national title game again.

South Carolina fumbled away the game against Georgia.

Oklahoma made sure that the PAC-10 officials didn’t bite them in the ass again.

Wisconsin pulled out a win on the road at Fresno St.

East Carolina came from behind to beat Tulane and improve to 3-0 on the season (can you say BCS Buster?)

Two games ended on completed Hail Mary’s, one was a win , one was an agonizing loss that brings back memories of the Titans/Rams Super Bowl.

Upset in the Top 25, UNLV knocked off Dennis Erickson’s Arizona St Sun Devils on the road.

Oregon lost their quarterback but won the game.

MLB

You may notice a pattern here…

The Red Sox split a double-header with the Blue Jays

The Rays split a double-header with the Yankees

The Mets split a double-header with the Braves

The Twins swept the O’s and tied the idle White Sox (rain-out)

The Phils held on to an early lead and knocked off the Brew Crew to tighten the Wild Card race and keep pace with the Metropolitans.

Young Clayton Kershaw got the win in Colorado for the Dodgers.

An old friend may have put the last nail in the Diamondback coffin.

The Cubs and Astros will play 2 in Milwaukee.

NFL

The Texans/Ravens game has been postponed until Nov 9th because the Texans stadium, Reliant Field, was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ike.

Jeff Fisher says the police report was filled with errors in regards to the Vince Young incident. As someone who lived in Tennessee, I can tell you I am just stunned by this, really, just floored (you can turn the volume down on your sarcasm detector right now).

Pro Football Talk speculates that Vince Young may retire.

The Patriots elevated Matt Gutierrez from the practice squad.

Whoever has Lane Kiffin as the first coach fired in the NFL season may be holding onto the golden ticket. In related news DeAngelo Hall is awful. Look, Hall may think he is all that, but he single-handedly lost the Falcons two games due to his idiocy last year, and certainly didn’t help his new team at all on Monday Night. Look up “washed-up” in the dictionary, and their will be a picture of DeAngelo Hall getting a pass interference penalty covering another team’s 3rd wideout.

The Sports Vortex

Live at 8am this morning to recap your NCAA Saturday and preview your NFL Sunday.

You can listen above or at http://www.wjzf.org

Saturday Morning Quick Hitters

#19 South Florida upended #13 Kansas with a late field goal, 37 – 34

Beanie will not play in the clash at the Coliseum.

Sedenka’s Mountaineers give Bill Stewart some security in a long term contract.

Lots of Rain Outs Friday

The Boston Red Sox stopped the surging Toronto Blue Jays in their tracks Friday, shutting them out 7 – 0.

The Los Angeles Dodgers slammed the Colorado Rockies 7 -2.

The Arizona Diamondbacks kept pace by beating the Reds 3 – 2. The D-Backs are 3 1/2 games back of the Dodgers.

College Football Preview

Another season of college football is upon us, and while we here at the Central Maine Sports Blog have an affiliation with Army this season as our “adopt-a-team”, there are more than a few other teams that are out there, so I am going to take a chance here and predict the top 10.

10. Florida Gators

Tim Tebow is back, and so is Percy Harvin, but Harvin’s heel has not healed yet. The SEC is as tough as ever, so 2 loss season for an SEC team may not get a spot in the national title game this year.

9. Texas Tech

I am buying into the hype about this defense improving, and Crabtree and Harrell will both get supports in the Heisman race.

8. Ohio St

After two years of bridesmaid status, I expect the Bucks to slip a bit this year. The big game against USC will probably tell you what type of team Ohio St is.

7. Kansas

I will always support the big guy, and Mark Mangino has done a great job with Kansas. This team only lost one game last year, and returns almost all of their key players. Plus Aqib Talib won;t be getting arrested, which can only help Mangino’s blood pressure.

6. Georgia

I don’t buy into the Georgia hype. I don’t believe they will beat Florida, and I don’t see them finishing the season with just one loss.

5. Missouri

Chase Daniel is back and could very well win the Heisman. The rest of this team has reloaded nicely.

4. Oklahoma

Although they can’t win in a bowl game, they will do enough damage to get to one of the big pay days, provided Sam Bradford stays healthy.

3. Virginia Tech

Defense and special teams lead the way, and the ACC is a very winnable conference this year. If Sean Glennon can keep mistakes to a minimum, (and this team can actually beat Free Shoes University, errr, Florida State) they win the ACC.

2. West Virginia

As much as I want to put them at the top, the durability of Noel Devine worries me, as does the durability of Pat White. Again, another case of an easy schedule that could lead a team to the promised land.

1. USC

The Trojans look to be the class of the league this year, as long as Mark Sanchez can stay healthy (I notice a pattern here). This team is loaded, and don’t think that Pete Carroll won’t remind them of the awful (by Trojan standards) year they had last year.

I think LSU’s qb issues will haunt them, and I also believe that Fresno St will make some noise this year (and will also win the WAC).