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October 18, 2004

What was that?

Posted at October 18, 2004 09:25 PM in College Football .

The answer to that question depends on which game you were watching:

If it was Wisconsin at Purdue "that" was the sound of Boilermaker QB Kyle Orton sobbing on the sideline after fumbling away his chance at the Heisman Trophy. All Orton had to do was tuck the ball away on a naked bootleg and he'd have made a first down and allowed Purdue to kill the clock. Instead he fumbled and a Wisconsin player scooped it up for a 40 yard touchdown.

Had you been watching A&M at Oklahoma State, "that" would have been Aggie QB Reggie McNeal beginning his Heisman campaign (at least in my mind). He needs to put up numbers against OU, Texas Tech, and UT too, but I think he's legitimate. McNeal threw for 288 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 picks while rushing for 99 yards and 2 TDs.

Maybe you didn't catch those games, but I'm sure most of you saw the Missouri at Texas game. "That" was the defense putting up another brilliant effort only to have the offense attempt to blow the whole thing. "That" was the 80,000+ Longhorn faithful cheering when Chance Mock came in late in the second quarter after Vince Young got hurt. Too bad Mock's arm wouldn't cause more cheering. The Longhorns leading passer in this one: Fr RB Ramonce Taylor, who threw one pass to Vince Young for 48 yards. I hope Vince enjoyed running that route because his future in the NFL will require a switch to WR (he made a great adjustment on Taylor's pass and at 6'5" he is a big target). Young finished with 19 yards passing (3 of 9) with no TDs and 2 ugly interceptions. Mock was 4 of 10 for 39 yards. The defense better play flawlessly this weekend at Texas Tech because they don't have a chance playing catch up.

A little more on Vince Young now. Reggie McNeal is currently everything Vince Young was supposed to be and should be. Each year since Major Applewhite has been gone it becomes more apparent that he was almost entirely self taught at the quarterbacking skills. Greg Davis couldn't harness the raw talent of Chris Simms (Tampa Bay's QB of the future and probable starter on opening day in '05). During Vince Young's redshirt year they chose to ignore that ugly sidearm delivery of Young instead of teaching him how to throw more like a QB than a 3rd baseman. Young has absolutely no pocket pressence, but neither does Mock. And before he became Young's backup, Mock was a big recruit himself. It's as if all development as a player stops when you sign that letter of intent to UT. Back to McNeal, he is not as talented as Young physically and wasn't as highly touted a recruit as Young, but clearly he is a more complete and effective QB than Young is now. When people say Mack Brown's job is in danger, I say they're crazy. He has rebuilt a great program. But if he stays loyal to Greg Davis in the offseason, I'll say screw it, go and get Steve Spurrier or Butch Davis (after the Browns can him).

Here is a list of results for the games I made picks on:

Away Result Home SU ATS
WVU 31 - 19 UCONN W W
Lou 38 - 41 Mia W W
Mizzou 20 - 28 Texas W W
A&M 36 - 20 OkSt L L
ASU 7 - 45 USC W L
Ark 20 - 38 Aub W W
Wisc 20 - 17 Purd L L
UVA 3 - 36 FSU L L
UNC 16 - 46 Utah W W
ND 27 - 9 Navy W W

Straight up I went 7-3, bringing my season record to 22-8. Against the spread I went 6-4, bringing my season record to 16-14.

Comments

Loving the analysis. And I can feel Rome burning inside. A little comment here, another burn there. Good stuff.

Posted by G at October 18, 2004 09:33 PM


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