CigarSmokinFootball

Week 6 Cigar Butts

We had a fantastic weekend of college football, considering that Texas A&M and Alabama neither one was playing. Of course, they’ll meet this coming Saturday, but that’s an article for another time. Truth be told, credit must be given to the editor, who predicted that Stanford would upset Washington, and I overruled him. As it turned out, he was correct and I was wrong. That’s why he’s the editor. CSF also gave out some false information as we said Cincinnati was going to have a black field, but the faint-hearted Bearcats backed out, so for everyone that tuned into to the game on Friday night expecting to see a midnight-colored football field, sorry for the disappointment. CSF was very disappointed.

Georgia 43, Tennessee 14 – for the first half, this was a game! Surprising? YES! For most of the first half the Vols were playing like they were serious. They had switched quarterbacks and started True Freshman Brian Maurer. This gave the Vols a spark on offense, something that has been missing, and not just this season, but for the past couple of years. Honestly, this was the best game UT has played in a long time. They were flying around on defense, reaching the ball carrier and actually tackling, no, seriously, they were playing well. With a scant 1:59 remaining in the first half, Georgia took the lead on a Jack Fromm 3-yard touchdown pass, 20-14. Before time expired on the second stanza, the Dawgs had scored again, then they added 17 more points in the second half while holding UT scoreless. For the second game in a row, UGA has come from behind for the win. Ok, it’s not like they had to mount a last minute, fourth quarter, life saving drive, but the Dawgs were behind.

Ohio State 34, Michigan State 10 – For a while, a very short while, the Spartans hung in there with the Buckeyes. The MSU defense was playing above their heads, and were in the process of stopping the vaulted OSU attack. Well, at least it looked like they were going to stop it. There was a big problem, however, and that was that the Michigan State offense was simply not able mount any serious attack. This caused the defensive specialists to come back on the field with too brief a respite. Maybe, if the Spartans had a phalanx of oxygen tanks on the sideline for the defensive players to each have one, it might have been different. But they didn’t and the Michigan State defenders were soon gassed. There was another challenge for Sparta, and that was that they turned the ball over 3 times, giving the Buckeyes a short field to work with. It’s never a good idea to gift Ohio State anything, and these fumblrouski antics bit the Spartans where they didn’t have any armor. Ohio State’s play calling was quick to notice the Spartans on their heels, so the Buckeyes exploited this chink in the Spartan phalanx, and they drained the fighting spirit right out of the Big Green.

Florida 24, Auburn 13 – in a battle of unbeatens, the Gators proved to be too much for the Alabama Tigers down in the Swamp. UF figured out early on that putting unrelenting heat on True Freshman QB Bo Nix was the formula for success. Whenever he dropped back to pass, he was running for his life. The Gator defense didn’t allow him enough time to go through his reads. This forced the Plainsmen to improvise and adjust their game plan. This requirement turned out to be too steep a hill to climb. In the category of “sour grapes”, both coaches showed displayed some infantile pouting. Head Coach Gus Malzahn explained away the ineffectiveness of the Auburn offense by blaming the Florida crowd noise, and saying his QB was unable to relay instructions to his offensive line because they couldn’t hear him. Like this isn’t a problem in all SEC stadiums, especially Jordan Haire, so CSF thinks he’s sucking his thumb. He’s his own play caller now, remember? From the other sideline, Florida HC Dan Mullen accused the Tigers of resorting to dirty low blows by trying to take QB Kyle Trask out of the game. This was because, in the second quarter, Derrick Brown was blocked into the quarterback while rushing the passer, and the big lineman hit Trask low on the knee. This resulted in Trask leaving the game for the rest of the half, but he returned for the second half wearing a brace. Turns out he sprained his MCL, but should be fine, hopefully. Auburn gets next week off before they take on Arkansas, and Florida will be matching up against LSU in Baton Rogue. Now we’ll see who complains about crowd noise.

Stanford 23, Washington 13 – when I picked the Huskies to beat the Cardinal, I didn’t know that there was a curse upon U-Dub whenever they played on Stanford’s homefield. The editor knew of this curse, I suspect, because it began back when the world was young, and football games were only broadcast over seashells connected by strings, or, in advanced cases, radios. Stanford running back Cameron Scarlett had a career high day, running for 157 yards and scoring a touchdown. QB Davis Mills had another impressive game as he filled in for injured Costello. The most impressive aspect of the Tree team is the coed under their fake tree, but also the fact that, so far this year, which has only been a month long, they have lost four starting linemen to season-ending injuries, and yet the makeshift, patchwork, offensive line pushed Washington all over the field. For the Huskies, their biggest problem was their offensive line couldn’t do anything to protect their quarterback. QB Eason got planted on his back every time he dropped back to pass, whether he threw the ball, or not. The offensive line didn’t block any better for the running game, either, just in case Eason was feeling paranoid. This result pretty much eliminated the Huskies chance of claiming the PAC-12 North crown. I’m not saying there’s no chance at all, but even in this Kale and Chardonnay league, U-Dub’s got a tough row to hoe. Do you think I need to explain that expression to them?

Short Cigar Butts

Army lost to Tulane 42 to 33- this is a verboten subject since the Editor graduated from the US Military Academy, so, moving right along, …  

LSU 42, Utah State 6 – QB Burrow had a career high day as he threw for a gazillion yards and more touchdowns then anyone else has ever scored against Utah State. Yes, we’re extracting this from someone else’s column, just like all the rest of the sportswriters are.

Wisconsin 48, Kent State 0 – The Badgers crushed KSU, just like they should have. Was anyone surprised?

Notre Dame 52, Bowling Green 0 – Holy Cow! The Irish shut out BGU! Lots and lots of sarcasm here, as opposed to just a hint elsewhere.

Texas 42, West Virginia 31 – The Mountaineers gave the Longhorns all they could handle, but they just didn’t have enough horses.

Penn State 35, Purdue 7 –  The Nittany Lions needed to make a statement, and they did.

Michigan 10, Iowa 3 – In the “three yards and a cloud of dust” game, nothing spectacular occurred. Quite a disappointment, from both sides. Worse than the boring Florida-Auburn fumblefest.

SMU 43, Tulsa 37 – In the game of the day, Tulsa had a three touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, but the Mustangs rallied back, converting six fourth downs, and scoring a 25 yard touchdown pass in the third overtime to remain undefeated.  Not since the Pony Express days of Eric Dickerson has SMU been undefeated and ranked this late in the season. The NCAA is absolutely speechless.

In another top 25 upset, Texas Tech toppled Oklahoma State, 45-35.

South Florida beat UConn, 48-22. Not as lopsided as expected, cause everyone else been able to do the same thing.

Louisville held off Boston College,  41-39.

Iowa State whipped TCU, 49 to 24.

Virginia Tech 42, Miami 35 – In case you missed it, and according to the attendance at the game and the TV ratings, you did, the Hokies had a 28 to 7 lead, but allowed the Hurricanes to come storming back, scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter, tying the game, 35 to 35. Fortunately, the Hokies scored with a minute left to save their bacon. They make turkey bacon now.

Navy shot down Air Force, 34-25.

Baylor remains undefeated, whipping K-State 31-12. Shame on the Wildcats, they should have played better, especially in Manhattan.

Minnesota seems to have realized that they can’t continue to flirt with disasters by mounting last minute comebacks all year, so they crushed Illinois 40-17.

Missouri beat Troy, 42-10. A win is a win, and Troy beat LSU a couple of years ago.

Nebraska held off Northwestern, 13-10.  I told you, and I told you, and I told you, Northwestern doesn’t beat the Huskers, not this year, not in Lincoln.

North Carolina swatted Georgia Tech, 38-22. Don’t sting Old Man Brown.

Arizona didn’t stomp Colorado, but they still won, 35-30.

Ole Miss sank Vanderbilt, 31-6. The Rebels are halfway to Bowl eligibility.

Pitt beat Duke, 33-30 – I picked Pitt, the Editor picked Duke, so far we’re tied. (Voice calling from the wilderness:- I also picked Nebraska)

Oregon State Beavers chewed the Bruins of UCLA, 48-31, for the first time, well, since games were only broadcast over radios, maybe, even longer. Please remember that I said it was now or never for the rodents.

My North Alabama Lions came up short in their Big South conference opener, losing to Hampton, 40-34. I know nothing about Hampton, but, rest assured, I don’t like them.

Since the Daughter’s beloved Texas A&M did not play, I’ll mention that her division II Tarleton State, where she’s actually working toward a degree,wore out San Angelo State, 30-13.