Had to watch all the talking heads give all the reasons Boise would lose and before that why Utah would lose to Pitt. Some things never change and never will. That thing is East Coast Bias and their myopic view on sports. I have been putting up with it forever. In the late 60's one of my favorite days was when the University of Arizona beat Ohio State in Columbus and Arizona State routed Wisconsin 49-0 on the same day. Of course that wasn't supposed to happen. You see, normally the west coast games are on too late for any East Coaster to notice. In fact, when we were a newspaper oriented society, their games did not hit the papers until Monday.
I cannot remember how many times I heard how Notre Dame would hand it to Southern Cal, and normally it was a one way score...as in a USC rout. Memories get very short. Sunny Climates equals speed and NFL players. Your top 3 Cities for NFL players are Houston, Miam and Los Angeles. With Dallas producing 4 of the top ten year before last you can see a trend. South and West equals speed.
It was that way about the South until Florida started the trend of spanking Ohio State and now it's a known truth...the SEC is the brutal strong gold standard of football conferences.
Boise State may be a mid major, non BCS school. Like Gonzaga in basketball, there is nothing mid major about their football program. Your would be correct in saying their team does not go through the meat grinder of a schedule such as an SEC team. The injuries are easier with their kind of a schedule. So while Boise may not be as deep, their first stringers have proven they can usually line up with anyone and hold their own.
Having said all this, the Big 10 may be as loaded as it has been in some time. They have some strong teams in Wisconsin, Ohio State, Iowa and possibly a few others. Iowa amazes me every year because they are so well coached. Here are a few other things that are playing out early:
- Notre Dame looks like the same team they have had for the last 10 or 15 years. Slow, not very explosive, with a couple of studs on offense. That running back and receiver are very good. We will see about the rest.
- Miami and Ohio State are ready for a replay from the game Miami got robbed and jobbed by the refs. I didn't say that, its a direct quote from 2 former Ohio State Players who are now pros.
- Don't take too much away from Texas, Florida and other teams lethargic starts. They are starting tons of underclassmen and all had explosiveness and speed to burn. In about 4 or 5 weeks they will be very good to excellent.
- Michigan looks very fast. They will be a big power in a year. All the big powers in the Big 10 will graduate their quarterbacks and stars and they will be poised to win. Michigans fans are trying to get Rich Rod's scalp...a big mistake. He has his crazy system almost in place and these players will be hard for another coach to win with...his system is that unique.
- Who is Jack Crowe? Well, he coached Arkansas to 2 bowl games and had a nice winning record but he lost to Citadel and got immediately fired. Last Saturday it was his turn to be the upset maker with Jacksonville State beating Ole Miss in double OT. After reading about the reporter getting fired in Arkansas why am I not surprised a good coach gets fired down there. Something in the water down there. Jack Crowe can definitely coach the boys up.
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Musical pick to click...Roadsongs by the Derek Trucks Band. Trucks is one of the best guitarists in the world and they have a dynamic group. His dad is an original member of the Allman Brothers and Derek replaced Dicky Betts for the last few years. Lets just say Dicky Betts just wishes he could play as well Derek Trucks. He is about as strong as it gets. When he plays with the Allmans, Trucks is paired with Warren Haynes, probably the strongest duo on the same stage in the universe.
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