Football Wrap Week 2A - Down Goes USC, Michigan State and Arkansas.

Usually I discuss USC and UCLA in a separate video so y’all can hear me discuss the local scene (which is still here) but I had to speak on something I noticed in the AP poll. USC’s steep decline from No. 2 to 13. 

*Also of note,  Stanford QB Josh Nunes and Matt Barkley came out of HS at the same time. I remember hearing a lot about Nunes in Upland despite Barkley getting all the hype. Almost funny how that worked out with them seeing each other*

Now as a UCLA fan, this is where I’d laugh and say they deserved it because they struggled most of the game. But a thought occurred to me. If these were two SEC teams playing a similar game and the higher seed lost on the road by only 7, would that team drop so steeply?

Football Wrap: Playoffs, Bowls and Perspective

Let’s start with a bowl wrap first shall we?

Rose Bowl – Oregon finally gets over the hump and wins a BCS bowl game under Chip Kelly. The Black Mamba De’Anthony Thomas showed out at home with that insane 91-yard TD run and a cruise control 68-yard run (he slowed up like it was a track meet). Big ups to Darron Thomas and LaMichael James atoning for last year.

And count me as a fan of Oregon’s Chrome Dome uniforms. It makes college football cool when a team not just gets cool unis but also wins with them.

Washington State in the 98 Rose Bowl had 2 seconds to run one last play and it didn’t work. Makes me wonder why Wisconsin didn’t just do a quick play instead of spike it. A great season for Russell Wilson and Montee “Let’s Make a Deal” Ball otherwise.

OutBack Bowl – Michigan State has been in 2 of the most thrilling games this season. Great comeback and Capt. Kirk Cousins deserves to go down in MSU lore for that.

Fiesta Bowl – Andrew Luck and Justin Blackmon had excellent auditions for the NFL but a kicker didn’t deserve to decide this game. Blackmon amazed the mess out of me with his size, elusiveness, Luck ran a brilliant 2-minute offense that he should have finished had the coach let him .

Luck reminded me of John Elway’s last game. Elway led a brilliant last minute drive to give Stanford the lead. But unfortunately Cal’s special teams ran The Play. As for Blackmon, who declared for the draft in his postgame interview, he's going to make an impact as soon as he gets called on the NFL stage. What a marvel

As for OK State, I wish they would’ve had a shot against LSU. But there’s no shame in them having a spectacular season. They have a case to be ranked No. 2 depending on what happens next Monday.

Alamo Bowl – We watched the Present and the Future. Robert Griffin the Great and his tailbacks ran ragged over Washington in maybe his final game as he helped Baylor have their best football season in ages. But Keith Price of Washington had a magical day. 7 total TD’s for the former Bellflower St. John Bosco product. 

That might have been one of the most exciting bowl games I've seen. You literally had to stay tuned otherwise you'd miss the next score because no lead was safe. By the way, this is your Pac-12 QB watch next year:

Matt Barkley (USC), Darron Thomas (Oregon), Keith Price, Matt Scott (former All-State dual-threat QB here in CA now at Arizona under Rich Rodriguez). That's a deadly 4 pack, not to mention Jordan Wynn at Utah.

I have to agree with ESPN’s Gene Wojo who tweeted his frustration about college kickers being frequently put into the role to win games. Having a money kicker is extremely important and with all the specialization going into HS kickers these days, there’s no excuse for college coaches not to offer scholarships.

There’s also no excuse why in this era of spread offenses, coaches don’t take more chances to score in the end zone instead of play for the field goal.  Especially if your quarterback is elite or on a roll.

While kickers have an easy job, coaches have a job to make it easy for them instead of arrogantly forcing them to atone for mistakes. To quote Gene Hackman in The Replacements, winners want the ball and before you give the kicker a chance, give your regular offense a chance to finish what they started if they have time.

NFL Tidbits.

Matt Flynn huh? Outdueling the Lions off the bench with the greatest day in Packers QB history huh? Shout out to the Lions possibly hurting Aaron Rodgers' MVP chances, their playoff mojo and the rep that the SEC typically produces crappy QB's.

Tampa Bay ends the year losing 10 straight.  Raheem Morris went from great coach to out of a job. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (c) Gang Starr

Scariest injury news? Ryan Clark of Pittsburgh sitting out next week’s playoff game due to a sickle cell condition. Props to Mike Tomlin doing the right thing.

Another year, both my Cowboys and Chargers are out of the playoffs and nobody to blame but themselves. The Chargers shot themselves in the foot too early and too late and the Cowboys did the same. And there’s no sign of things potentially changing in 2012 now that Norv Turner will be back as Chargers head coach and Jerry Jones is still the GM.

Pardon me while I go barf in the corner. You are what your record shows and being 8-8 says the Chargers are average despite having above average parts. The Cowboys are slightly above average but can’t be a guarantee to win big games (they have before but aren’t consistent).

Congrats to Cam Newton having the greatest NFL rookie season I’ve seen since Edgerrin James. Has anybody had a better 2-year run short of winning an professional championship? JUCO Nat’l Title, NCAA Nat’l Title, Dominated as a rookie QB in record fashion.

Killin em with a smile the way I remember another rookie doing throughout his "Magic"al career 

I don’t know which offense is scarier – Green Bay, New England or New Orleans. Since I said let’s discuss the playoffs.

Denver v. Pittsburgh. Tim Tebow backs into the playoffs and will promptly be thrown out by the wolves of Steel Town. I can’t wait!! Virgo Gumbo Pick: Pittsburgh

Detroit vs. New Orleans – As great as NO is, do NOT be surprised if Detroit opens up a shocking can because Detroit’s offense can go off in an instant. Calvin Johnson remains a difficult matchup and the Saints are still smarting from Seattle running on them. Yet if Matt Flynn destroyed Detroit, what will Brees do? VG Pick: Saints

Cincinnati vs. Houston – The surprises of the season. The patchwork Texans battling injury to reach the playoffs while Andy Dalton attempts to do his Joe Flacco/Mark Sanchez impersonation. Carson Palmer, meanwhile, has to enjoy this karma at home. VG Pick: Houston

Atlanta vs. New York – You never know which Giants team will show up. The team that beat Dallas and New England and stared Green Bay in the face or the team that sputtered down the stretch. Atlanta on the road is far more overrated despite Matt Ryan and that offense. VG Pick: Giants

Drew Brees and Tom Brady both shattered Dan Marino’s record of 5,084 yards (while Maurice Jones Drew quietly won the NFL rushing title and Rob Gronkowski destroyed several TE records.). It’s impressive once you keep it in context. Marino and Elway slung that rock in an era dominated by running backs and smaller wideouts. Brees and Brady have dominated a more pass-happy era and have excelled at their craft.

Consider this though. 10 QB’s passed for over 4,000 yards. In 1996, only 3 QB’s passed for over 4,000 yards. 10 years ago (2001 season, 02 playoffs), only 2 QB’s did it – including Kurt Warner with an insane 4,830 yards. Times have changed so you can appreciate the now while acknowledging how much more special it was in the past.

If I had to vote for MVP, give it to Aaron Rodgers. The quietest 15-1 season I’ve ever seen and remarkably efficient. His defining moment is either his 6 TD game (4 passing, 2 rushing) or his 1-minute drill against the NY Giants to win the game. 

Football Wrap Week 7 - Part 1 (MSU/Wisconsin: Virgo's Top 10)

Michigan State!!!!! 2^nd year in a row they’ve given us a Play of the Year candidate and what a play it was. Hail Mary to beat No. 6 Wisconsin after trailing 14-0 in the first game. I gave up on them and then all a sudden, they just dominated the Badgers over the next two quarters.

I swore Michigan State had that game won after a late interception. But Russell Wilson wouldn’t let his team lose. Big ups to him and his late game heroics to lead Wisconsin to two late TD’s but bigger ups to Kirk Cousins for that last drive and Drew Nichol for that Hail Mary grab.

Best Game of the Year Hands. Down!!!!

1. Notre Dame on the USC 1-yard line. Seems like they were gonna tie the game. But Irish eyes weren’t smiling on Dayne Crist, who fumbled the snap and then had to watch USC return it 80 yards.

After that happened, why on Earth did Notre Dame try to get cute on a backward lateral? That failed and led to another USC score. And you wonder why the Irish have been irrelevant since Brady Quinn was behind center in my college days.

2. Nightmare in Norman! Oklahoma’s mood went from  blowout to comeback to heartbreak hotel . I can’t believe they played such a terrible first half. I can’t believe their kicker missed 2 easy gimmies that would’ve won the game. And all in front of their home fans to a team named a 20-point underdog.

Shout out to Oklahoma’s secondary letting their team down. Now Sooner fans know what USC fans felt like. And did I really say the Big 12 was the best conference in America this year? Yeah, about that.

3. Hate to say it but if Boise State gets screwed out of a major bowl game, it’ll be because they aren’t as great as they were the last two years. Struggling at home against a decent Air Force squad is something they wouldn’t have done before.

4. Ho-hum. Stanford and Oregon dominate again.  It’s their world, the rest of the Pac-12 is just living in it. All that matters is their showdown on Nov. 12.

5. Alabama had me scared for a half, tied with Tennessee at halftime. But they remembered they were Alabama and Tennessee was singing the Rocky Top Blues. Nov. 5 is set. Bama vs. LSU (who made me a prophet smoking Auburn like that stuff Spencer Wade and Honey Badger were on).

Virgo’s Top 10: LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma State, Boise State, Stanford, Clemson, Arkansas, Oregon, Kansas State, Michigan State. 

I drop Oklahoma because they were upset by a unranked team at home. Boise State struggled at home but they still won. Stanford is still the best team nobody is talking about and made mincemeat of a good Washington squad.  Clemson is still overrated!! 

There I said it. It's getting harder and harder to discredit them, esp. with Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins. But they'll get theirs.


Top 5 for This Weekend (AKA Killing Time til Next Weekend's SEC Showdown)

1. USC-Stanford: Two years since the infamous beatdown at the Coliseum, both teams meet again. Now we can see why it's foolish to put Matt Barkley in the same league as Andrew Luck.

2. Baylor-Oklahoma State: We kinda forgot about Robert Griffin a lil bit after Baylor lost a few games. Time for him to remind folks against the No. 3 Cowboys as they remind us they could be in the BCS Title Game

3. Oklahoma-Kansas State: OK wants revenge after last week, Kansas State needs respect for the 1st time since the Michael Bishop days. This should be great.

4. Michigan State-Nebraska: Sparty's feeling themselves a bit so let's see how they respond chasing around Taylor Martinez. It's no longer a stretch to say Martinez is not only the most surprising All-State player from Cali doing well in college, he's on his way to being Eric Crouch Part. 2

5. Arizona-Washington: Might be a great underrated Pac-10 game. Nic Foles vs. the Pac-10's best new QB Keith Price. Over/under 60 points combined

Football Wrap Week 6 Part 1 (BCS spells BS)

This is a screwy football season. There's no words to say it better and our favorite 3-letter curse word makes it annual trip.

With Ohio State eating the dust in Wisconsin, Oregon is by far the No. 1 team in the country but according the 1st week of the BCS poll, they're No. 2 behind Oklahoma. What's worse? Only one of the computers ranking the system has the Ducky Boys higher than No. 7-11.

The BCS also uses the Harris Poll and the coaches poll, which both have Oregon ranked No. 1. I just want to know what sane college writer would dare name 6-10 teams better than Oregon and then tell me how a computer could figure that out.

I already laid out my argument a few weeks ago on how balanced they are. Their lack of defense should be addressed by how they shut down Stanford and QB Andrew Luck for 3 quarters. As I tweeted Sunday, in what world is that possible?

A world where the BCS is not allowed to use the Associated Press poll, a decision that AP made in 2004 because they felt it violated their integrity to be impartial. Guess they saw the future like the rest of us.

Back to the poll - all eyes will be on Boise State to see how close they remain to the Top 2 as well as TCU. Of course, Boise is ranked No. 2 in the AP and coaches poll but that didn't help them from being No. 3 in the BCS. Both teams need Oregon State to do well to help their cause although losing to Washington didn't help.

The BCS #1 is Oklahoma, who should roll through a weak Big 12 although their final match with Nebraska will have big implications for their future. I don't know how good the Sooners really are except I saw them blast a overrated Texas team. I don't see how this team is better is Oregon but the BCS loves some Bob Stoops so maybe that's why? (Realistically, I blame anti-West Coast bias).

Michigan State is my surprise team of the year (week?). If they keep rolling, we'll blame Big 10 schedule makers for keeping us from seeing them and Ohio State. They've already beaten Wisconsin and Michigan and should they beat Iowa in 2 weeks, there's no reason they aren't coming to Pasadena.

There's a 3-team SEC logjam that's gonna be fun watching unravel starting this weekend with LSU vs. Auburn. I'm on the Auburn bandwagon after seeing their offense Saturday and Cam Netwon showed me why he'll be on the Heisman radar. LSU is a shaky undefeated team that hasn't been tested and we'll how good they are facing Auburn and Alabama in the next two weeks. But my gut says Auburn wins and we wait for the Iron Bowl vs. Alabama on Nov. 26.

7 weeks to go. The college football season starts in earnest now. Parting gifts for Denard Robinson and Taylor Martinez being the darlings of the college football season - there's always next year fellas when y'all battle in the new Big 10.