Hi everyone, this is the first "Football Blitz" post. Football Blitz will feature my quick take on several unrelated football topics from the NCAA and/or NFL. Enjoy! (A side note: I've been working on this post for a little while, but I haven't been able to actually sit down and complete it until recent. So, unfortunately, some of these topics are a little dated).
Buckeye Football:
The Ohio State University opened up the season against Buffalo. The Buckeyes gave up three TD's, one coming from a pick-six. I was particularly interested to see how the Buckeyes' defense would perform after losing so much talent from last year. In my opinion, the defense could use some work. It was defense's live game action, I know, but giving up two touchdowns to Buffalo doesn't exactly thrill me. The defense will need to improve for OSU to live up to the lofty expectations of this season... and I believe it will. As a whole, I did not think the Buckeyes played up to the #2 ranking they have been given. However, I do think there is enough room for improvement to earn that ranking in the upcoming games.
Delayed Post Update: Buckeyes beat SDSU 42-7 and Cal 52-34. The Buckeye defense was sub-par in the Cal game... giving up 34 points to this team is unacceptable. Since I first started this post, the Buckeyes slid to #4 in the AP poll. This unit is not playing like a defense of a Top 10 team. We haven't seen a consistent Buckeye D since Tressel left. I hope this changes soon, because OSU will need it to reach its full potential.
Delayed Post Update: Buckeyes beat SDSU 42-7 and Cal 52-34. The Buckeye defense was sub-par in the Cal game... giving up 34 points to this team is unacceptable. Since I first started this post, the Buckeyes slid to #4 in the AP poll. This unit is not playing like a defense of a Top 10 team. We haven't seen a consistent Buckeye D since Tressel left. I hope this changes soon, because OSU will need it to reach its full potential.
The Manziel Circus:
As almost everyone knows by now, Johnny Manziel signed thousands of autographs on numerous occasions. It has been alleged he was paid six figures for these signings, which would be a violation of NCAA rules. There was much speculation surrounding Texas A&M, prior to the start of the college football season, on whether they should or would play Manziel, in the event he was found ineligible by the NCAA, forcing A&M to forfeit any games in which he played. That speculation was put to an end prior to Texas A&M's first game when the NCAA ruled, based on Manziel's testimony to NCAA officials, that Manziel only contributed to someone else's profit based on his signatures (which is a lesser violation of the NCAA rules). He was suspended for the first half of A&M's first game. The NCAA said that there was no evidence that he was paid for the autographs, but if more evidence came to light, the NCAA could alter the ruling.
This was the right call. Even though many sources say he was paid, and common sense and my gut tell me he definitely was, the NCAA needs definitive proof to suspend a player (or rule him completely ineligible as a college athlete). A penalty of significant magnitude requires a certain amount of concrete proof that we just don't have without one of the autograph agents ratting Manziel out.
Flacco or Flucco?
Is Joe Flacco (Raven's QB) a great quarterback, or does he just fluke into wins? Definitely the latter. Flucco finished the 2012 season outside the Top 20 in QB rating. So how did he lead his team to a Super Bowl championship last year? Admittedly, he did improve his play in the post-season. Somewhat. However, the biggest reason of Flucco's success is his receivers bailing him out on terrible passes. Anquan Boldin in particular. I can't count how many times Joe passed over an open Ray Rice outlet pass for a guaranteed first down in favor of an ill-fated heave down the field to a double (or triple) covered Boldin or Jacoby Jones. Pass incomplete. Drive over. Ray Rice can no longer earn points for his fantasy owners. Time and time again we've seen this. Unfortunately, his fantastic receivers bailed him out enough to keep enabling this behavior.
After winning the Super Bowl, Flucco signed a monster contract, worth well over $100 million. Is he worth that much? No. Not even close. But, the market demand worked out in his favor. Who else would be the Ravens QB if he walked?
SSFFL
Of course the Watercooler provides coverage of the Stars and Stripes Fantasy Football League! Is it, after all, the premier fantasy football league in the United States (and therefore, world). In week 1, Amanda and Andy played in their first SSFFL game. They had tough tasks, Amanda and Andy taking on Ashley and myself, respectively. I had a solid win over Andy, but Ashley went nuts and poor Amanda didn't stand a chance. Other winners in week 1 include: Brian (def Becky), Eric (def Dan), Zach (def Adam), and Jamie (def Snyder).
Flacco or Flucco?
Is Joe Flacco (Raven's QB) a great quarterback, or does he just fluke into wins? Definitely the latter. Flucco finished the 2012 season outside the Top 20 in QB rating. So how did he lead his team to a Super Bowl championship last year? Admittedly, he did improve his play in the post-season. Somewhat. However, the biggest reason of Flucco's success is his receivers bailing him out on terrible passes. Anquan Boldin in particular. I can't count how many times Joe passed over an open Ray Rice outlet pass for a guaranteed first down in favor of an ill-fated heave down the field to a double (or triple) covered Boldin or Jacoby Jones. Pass incomplete. Drive over. Ray Rice can no longer earn points for his fantasy owners. Time and time again we've seen this. Unfortunately, his fantastic receivers bailed him out enough to keep enabling this behavior.
After winning the Super Bowl, Flucco signed a monster contract, worth well over $100 million. Is he worth that much? No. Not even close. But, the market demand worked out in his favor. Who else would be the Ravens QB if he walked?
SSFFL
Of course the Watercooler provides coverage of the Stars and Stripes Fantasy Football League! Is it, after all, the premier fantasy football league in the United States (and therefore, world). In week 1, Amanda and Andy played in their first SSFFL game. They had tough tasks, Amanda and Andy taking on Ashley and myself, respectively. I had a solid win over Andy, but Ashley went nuts and poor Amanda didn't stand a chance. Other winners in week 1 include: Brian (def Becky), Eric (def Dan), Zach (def Adam), and Jamie (def Snyder).
I have a few comments about your first two items here:
ReplyDeleteI think it's way too early in the Buckeye season to make any definitive statement about this defense. There were some occasional miscues in these first three games, and clearly those are not acceptable. But I do like that we are getting some learning opportunities early on. Also, I think injuries and suspensions have really impacted this team a bit early on, especially on defense.
Also, who knows how good (or bad) Cal actually is. It's the 3rd game. This is why I was so frustrated with all the Michigan talk after they beat Notre Dame. In college football it is so hard to predict who is and isn't good since there is so much turnover year to year. Now after the nation thinking the UM-ND game was national championship caliber we have Michigan almost getting upset by Akron and Purdue holding their own against ND.
So while I think there is definitely room for improvement, I still think OSU is a top 10 team. We may not end up with a top 10 defense but our offense will compensate a bit and I still think this can be the defense of a top 10 team. Hopefully "the" top team.
Also I guarantee that Meyer will not be ok with a mediocre defense. If that trend does continue I have a feeling we will be seeing new faces on the sidelines. I hope that doesn't happen because I really like our coaches on that side of the ball.
My biggest problem with the whole NCAA Johnny Manziel case is that I feel like the conclusion made it sound like that was it. "There is no evidence so this is it" Did they actually look for evidence? Or did they just say "hey Johnny? Did you get money? Nope? Hmm and no one else wants to talk? Ok, that's good enough for us."
It frustrates me that it seems like the NCAA doesn't actually investigate anything for themselves. They only seem to act when someone else has done the investigation for them (SI, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, etc). In fact can you even think of a single recent allegation that started with the NCAA? I'm sure they don't have the means to go out and look into every school, but these rules and they way they are enforced seems to just create a giant mess.
Just my two cents! Sorry it's so long!