Author: rickro51 Page 17 of 31

Going into Saturday, the Sun Belt’s historical record against the Big 12 was a humbling 6-70.

Today, that record is 9-70.   Remarkably, none of Saturday’s 3 Sun Belt upsets were fluky.  One common denominator: poor offensive line play (with the exception of Kansas’ 2nd half).

Kansas State clearly lost the line of scrimmage in their 35-31 loss to Arkansas State – not a surprising development as their veteran offensive line of 2019 graduated.  Only Red Wolf turnovers kept the game close.  The Wildcats also found out they have nobody capable of covering the Red Wolves’ man-child receiver, Jonathan Adams Jr.

Iowa State’s defense deserved to win as they did an excellent job of containing Louisiana’s vaunted ground game.  The Rajun Cajuns were limited to 272 yards of total offense.  However, Louisiana had a kickoff return TD and a punt return TD to spell the difference in the game.  Iowa State clearly has a lack of offensive playmakers.  Brock Purdy played,arguably, his worst game as a Cyclone, aided and abetted by a leaky offensive line.

Les Miles had to be dismayed at the halftime score in Lawrence against an unheralded Coastal Carolina team:  28-3.  While the Chanticleers’  found a quarterback in surprise starter, Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina is not to be confused with Appalachian State (the reigning Sun Belt champ).  To Kansas’ credit, the towel was not thrown in, as the Jayhawks played much better in the 2nd half.  Still, two home losses to the Chanticleers in 12 months is not the kickstart badly needed by Miles and the program.

Iowa State and K-State both have raucous fan support, negated as one of the casualties of the pandemic.  I suspect that at least one of those losses would have been prevented in “normal” times.  Which gets us to the inherent unfairness of college football’s caste system.  The Sun Belt’s horrendous 9-70 record is due, in part,  to its has to play virtually all games against the Power 5 on the road.  Two of the few times that the Big 12 visited current Sun Belt teams resulted in horror shows for the visitor.  Prior to Louisiana’s upset of ISU, their only previous win over a Top 25 team was when they hosted and stunned Texas A&M, 29-22, in 1996 (In one of the nastiest revenge paybacks ever, A&M shellacked Louisiana,  66-0, in their 1997 rematch).  In 2004, Troy hosted a Brad Smith-led Missouri squad and prevailed, 24-14.

As horrific as Saturday was for the Big 12, their collective pratfall was almost worse.  Easily the best QB that most have never heard of, Bailey Zappe of Houston Baptist, came so close to pulling off a shocker in Lubbock.  Zappe, 2019’s all-Southland Conference QB, led a furious 2nd half rally only to have their 2-point conversion fail in a 35-33 thriller at Texas Tech.  When Zappe threw for 480 yards against North Texas last week, that was mere prelude for his 567 passing yards against the shell-shocked Red Raiders.

College football always delivers —  even during pandemics.  When new heroes like Adams Jr. and Zappe emerge, such welcome emergence is as inevitable as spring flowers.

Last Saturday, the gloom that had permeated the college football world started to lift.  Cue, arguably, the best song from 1996:  Republica’s “Ready To Go.”

The FCS Kickoff Classic in Montgomery, Alabama pitted Central Arkansas against Austin Peay.  As if to try to make up for the considerable pain caused by the pandemic, the game was a thriller.  Austin Peay scored a very late go- ahead touchdown BUT not quite late enough as Central Arkansas responded with a last-minute touchdown to pull out a victory.

The Bears stayed in Alabama so that they could play their 2nd game in 5 days.  Last night, UCA paid a visit to legendary Legion Field to take on UAB.  The fact that UAB’s superior physical size was a key element in their 45-35 victory over the Bears almost did not matter.  That ESPN3 had live football to offer us college football fanatics was more than enough.

The Odyssey has become a HUGE fan of Central Arkansas football.  Two weeks from now, THE game of the year in Arkansas takes place in Jonesboro as Central Arkansas makes the 2 hour drive from Conway.   Sorry, you haughty Hogs, you will not be playing as you stay sequestered in Fayetteville.  The same Hogs that have been HIDING from playing Arkansas State ever since the Red Wolves ascended to 1-A status in 1974.  While Arkansas State is a quality Sun Belt program, do not pencil in a victory for the Red Wolves over the Bears.  The last time these two programs met was in 2016 on Agriculture Night in Jonesboro:  Central Arkansas pulled off a 28-23 upset.

As for Arkansas refusing to play Arkansas State, we cannot help but appreciate the irony.  Clearly, the Hogs do not wish to have an embarrassing intrastate loss.  But how much pride can you have left?  Your program has suffered home losses to San Jose State, Colorado State and North Texas in the past two years.  Just schedule Arkansas State and the Natural State will have a happening.  PLEASE!  And, for that matter, if you continue to schedule FCS teams, why not Central Arkansas, as well?

Let’s close with an unrelated thought as to the insanity that comes with sports wagering.  Last night, the all-FBS opener occurred when South Alabama made the 90-mile bus ride to play at Southern Miss.  The over/under for total points early in the week rested at 53.5.  The Odyssey thought the “over” was a likelihood.  The final score:  South Alabama was an upset 32-21 winner. For non-math whizzes, that totals to 53.  If you bet the over, the aggravation would have been incalculable.

Southern Miss has one of Conference USA’s best quarterbacks in Jack Abraham.  Abraham led the Golden Eagles into the red zone 5 times.  The results:  one TD, 2 field goals, one botched snap on a chip-shot field goal and no points on a final-minute first and goal.  Add to that, South Alabama’s similar placekicking woes which included a missed extra point.

To minimize such aggravation,  the “socially distanced” Southern Miss cheerleaders were a partial antidote.  They truly looked Golden!

August is normally a time when college football fanatics, such as yours truly, are incredibly excited about the coming season.  In 2020, color me depressed.

I see little possibility that the 2020 season comes off in a meaningful way.  Seemingly each day,  another nugget of distressing news drags fans down.

Yesterday, UConn announced the shuttering of its 2020 year.  Given that the Huskies have now been orphaned into independent status, the announcement is not a surprise given the decimation of their schedule (Six of their games had been axed as the Power 5 conferences focus on conference football).

Earlier in the week, the staff at Colorado State has been accused of covering up Covid-19 cases and encouraging players to practice despite Covid symptoms.  These allegations have been strongly disputed.  Could 1st-year coach, Steve Addazio, really be this dumb and insensitive?  We surely hope not.

Minnesota’s stellar receiver, Rashod Bateman, is the latest star to announce that he will be sitting out 2020.

The Big 10 schedule was just released yesterday.  Rutgers’ opener is against Nebraska on September 5.  But will it be played?  Rutgers has been inundated with 28 positive tests.  The Michigan-Ohio State game has been moved up to October 24.  Both teams have a common bye in November if this date becomes problematic. If played in October, the archrivals will play before November for the first time in almost 80 years.

In better times, we could empathize with Iowa.  A 10th conference game has been added.  Iowa’s reward:  Ohio State.  Given that the Hawkeyes had already drawn Penn State from the East, Iowa’s path to the Big 10 West title just got steeper.

In better times, we might comment as to how Minnesota’s September schedule, usually quite light, is atypically tough.  The Gophers’ first 5 foes: Michigan State, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska.

In better times, the Odyssey would be furious that the SEC vetoed the playing of passionate intrastate rivalry games such as Florida-Florida State and South Carolina-Clemson.

However, we need to be realistic.  Even Major League baseball has had issues in its non-bubble resumption.  When a ship starts taking on water, …………….

For all the good the transfer portal can confer, two more disturbing cases have recently arisen.  Two terrific players are spurning the less-than-elite pastures that nurtured their growth for bigger name programs.

Jamie Newman was an electrifying QB for Wake Forest.  Evidently, for Newman, playing in a Power 5 conference was not good enough.  Neither was playing for a winning team.  Newman has gone into the transfer portal with his eyes on big-name programs such as Georgia and Oregon.  If Jake Fromm elects to go pro, Georgia would make sense.  Otherwise, the Ducks would be our call.  Was Newman worried about the departures of 3 seasoned offensive line starters?  In any event, this is another sickening example of the rich getting richer.

Quincy Roche was an elite pass-rushing defensive end for Temple.  So elite that he was named American Athletic Conference player of the year.  So elite that Roche has tied Joe Klecko’s career sack record.  Gone…Temple was not a dumpster fire but a program with a recent winning history.

The Odyssey loves the transfer portal in those cases where lack of playing time is an issue.  However, the cases of Newman and Roche make us want to vomit.

The Odyssey will have 7 months to recover!  We look forward to talking with you in August.

The Odyssey was happy for nice guy Clay Helton.  After USC’s triumph over crosstown UCLA, Helton was given another year to coach the Trojans in spite of continual chatter this fall that he would get the ax.

Some happiness is quite transitory.  Friday night, USC was routed in the Holiday Bowl, 49-24, by Iowa.  Many Helton Haters resurfaced.   Predictably, USC sacked its linebacker coach, DC and special teams coach yesterday.  And why not? USC’s linebacker play was particularly horrendous in San Diego.  The usually button-down Hawkeyes came up with a brilliant, innovative game plan that exploited one of the worst set of USC backers in memory.   Any Iowa play that featured misdirection or made a beeline toward the wide side of the field was a guaranteed winner.  Does Troy Polamalu have any eligibility left?

The USC D was so leaky that Iowa scored TDs on its first 5 possessions.  The Odyssey wondered:  Which was more decrepit:  The Trojan D or the Stadium formerly known as Jack Murphy and Qualcomm? (One of the stadium’s laughable elements:  The scoreboard is exactly the same as when the writer first moved to San Diego in 1983 — right down to the formats and fonts)  The miserable Trojan D was so bad that USC wisely elected to onside kick after a Kedon Slovis bomb narrowed the Iowa advantage to 28-24.   Courage was rewarded as USC’s kicker recovered the brilliantly executed surprise.

However, Trojan ecstasy was very short lived.  Iowa pass-rushing terror, A.J. Epenesa, messed with the elbow  of the brilliant Freshman Slovis on the next series.  The phenom was out for the game.   USC might as well have have headed north on I-5  immediately after his departure.

Slovis  made mincemeat of Iowa’s elite defense before his injury.  The Freshman broke the Pac-12 record for accuracy (minimum 300 attempts) with a 71.9% completion rate, breaking Andrew Luck’s record.   With Slovis and perhaps as many as 17 other starters returning, 2020 prospects will be rosy if Helton can produce any semblance of a defense and can get some helpful freshmen on the squad.  The last possibility  is cloudy as USC’s recruiting rankings to-date have been the worst in the Pac-12 and ranked on a par with Bowling Green.

If Helton cannot shore up the D, Trojan faithful will rue the reported near miss in the Urban Meyer sweepstakes.  Another uncertainty exists in regard to J. T. Daniels, the 5-star Sophomore who was the opening day starter before getting injured.  With the emergence of Slovis, is Daniels the 21st Century version of Wally Pipp?

With so many nagging questions, one pleasant possibility exists.  Barring further injury, the Odyssey believes that Slovis has a chance to go down as perhaps the all-time Pac-12 QB.

The Miami Hurricanes went into Shreveport yesterday, already with its tail between its legs.  Why?  Losing 3 games as 2+ TD favorites (FIU, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech) will have that effect.  From 5 National Championships to a 6-6 mark in a decrepit ACC.  How the mighty have fallen.  In the Independence Bowl, Miami had the almost unprecedented opportunity to lost to a 3rd Tech team in one year!  Louisiana Tech was playing a virtual home game.  Sure, the Techsters were 9-3 but were blown out in the only game played against a quality opponent (giving Texas massive benefit of the doubt in that characterization).

The betting public had revised downward its opinion of the Hurricanes.  They were only a 1-TD favorite on their trip to Northwest Louisiana.  It is difficult to cover as a favorite when you score 0 points.  Offensive coordinator (soon to be ex-offensive coordinator) Dan Enos shuffled in 3 QBs like you might shuffle a deck of cards.  No bueno!

Luckily, for Manny Diaz, he has local cred as his daddy was mayor of Miami.  He needs every bit of understanding to get a 2nd year.  Diaz’ supposed expertise is on the defensive side of the ball so he better get some offensive geniuses to high tail it to Coral Gables quickly.

Temple is playing in the Military Bowl this morning with a 1st year coach, Rod Carey, who has never won a bowl game in about 27 tries as the Northern Illinois coach.  No matter, Temple, you have already won!  Whatever you might think of Carey, he is much better than the Diazter that abandoned you after 27 whole days of being your coach last December.  Unintended genius at its finest!

BYU is to college football as Tim Tebow is to college quarterbacks: polarizing sentiment exists for both, due, in part, to the wearing of religion on their sleeves.

Brigham Young had a very interesting schedule this year.  One can understand the disdain for BYU from its two traditional opponents, Utah and Utah State.  However, there was no love lost for the Cougars in either of its last two games, either.  BYU finished up its regular season with a 13-3 loss at San Diego State.  BYU tormented the Aztecs regularly in the WAC and Mountain West conferences (BYU leads the all-time series 28-8-1), then spurned San Diego State and others when BYU bolted in favor of independence early this decade.  The Aztecs and other conference brethren took this as a slap in the face — all of which made San Diego State’s 13-3 triumph so much sweeter.

In last night’s Hawaii bowl, BYU faced another old adversary, Hawaii, for the 32nd time.  Like San Diego State, the Rainbow Warriors were shunned by BYU, but at an earlier time.  Before the WAC did its ill-fated expansion in the 1990’s, Hawaii and BYU were conference mates in the original WAC.  When most of the original members rebelled at the unmanageable expansion to 16 teams, they reformed as the Mountain West.  Except Hawaii, as well as UTEP,  were not offered invites.

BYU also has a satellite campus on the islands.  All of which added spice to last night’s tilt.  The game was as confused and disjointed as a lot of the games played this year by Hawaii QB, Cole McDonald. Despite McDonald’s unmistakable arm talent, he also had a hand in the Rainbow Warriors leading the country in turnovers.

McDonald and the Rainbow Warriors were unstoppable in the first half.  Mr. Dreadlocks threw for 300+ yards as Hawaii led 31-24 at halftime.  In the 3rd quarter, Hawaii’s offense stalled as McDonald did not look the same.  For about the umpteenth time this year, McDonald got the hook in favor of Chevan Cordeiro.  After a brief faceplant by Cordeiro, McDonald reemerged but Hawaii’s offense did not.

Leading 34-31, BYU needed just one more first down to close out Hawaii.  On 3rd and 2, instead of running behind an offensive line that had been highly effective all game, BYU opted for subtle.  Subtle did not triumph.  After punting the ball back to the Rainbow Warriors, McDonald threw 2 big passes to put Hawaii in front to stay, 38-34.

The Rainbow Warrior triumph was almost as jubilant for the islanders as their last victory over BYU, a 72-45 epic in 2001 behind  QB Nick Rolovich (not so coincidentally now the head coach) in his last game as Hawaii QB.  BYU brought its gaudy 12-0 record to the Islands as the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor was observed.  Meanwhile, Hawaii was chafing that nobody thought the Rainbow Warriors bowl worthy despite their 8-3 mark.

One would have presumed that Rolovich’s 543 passing yards would have been the unquestioned highlight but that would be wrong due to exceptional circumstances.  The game was absolutely unforgettable due to an NCAA-record performance in kick return yardage by Chad Owens.  The frenzied crowd saw 200 return yards by Owens in the opening quarter due to 3 dazzling returns. All the scoring helped make the game so lengthy that ESPN had to pull the plug before completion in favor of other programming.

The Odyssey understands the notion that a lot of the bowls are insignificant exhibitions.  For Rainbow Warrior fans, getting to their 10th win against a hated rival was anything but.

In this era of the 4-team playoff and 8 gazillion bowls, the prestige of playing in a non-playoff bowl just ain’t what it used to be.  Some teams are less than fired up to go bowling.

In your bowl picks, we would be reluctant to back 3 teams that may not be fully geared to go:

Miami:  Nobody had two November embarrassments even close to those endured by the Hurricanes:  Losing at home to FIU and to a bad Duke team.  Miami travels to Shreveport to play a road game against Louisiana Tech.  Tech likely would have represented the Conference USA’s West division if not for two untimely suspensions.  Miami supporters at the Independence Bowl will number about 17.    Oh, did we mention that a couple Hurricane players have announced their sit out in order to save themselves for the NFL?

Florida State:  To the Seminoles’ credit,  FSU did not fold their tent after the sacking of Willie Taggart.  However, the Seminoles finished with a faceplant against the hated Gators.  Meanwhile, Arizona State will have a lot of support in El Paso following an exuberant November which featured a massive upset of Oregon and a win in the Territorial Cup.  The NFL draft will have an impact on the game.  Two Sun Devil offensive standouts, Brandon Aiyuk and Eno Benjamin, will sit out as will FSU’s leading rusher, Cam Akers.  Regardless, standout freshman QB Jayden Daniels remains front and center for the Sun Devils.    ASU is now a 4-point favorite but we would not be surprised if Sun Devils roll.

Utah:  Unlike the previous two cautionary teams, the Utes are a terrific squad.  Alas, their playoff hopes were cruelly smashed in getting pummeled on both lines of scrimmage against Oregon.  Utah travels to San Antonio to play an underachieving Texas team (where have we heard that before?)  The Utes are a 7.5 point favorite.  Remember that Texas’ recruiting classes always rank higher than the Salt Lakers.  The Utes’ two losses have come against QBs who could really sling it.  Sam Ehlinger is more than capable.  We would not be stunned to see the Longhorns Remember the Alamo and pull an outright upset.

Happy holidays from the Odyssey!!

The Odyssey is disgusted with NIU running back Tre Harbison.

After consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, Harbison announced last Tuesday that he was entering the transfer portal, immediately before Northern Illinois’ finale with Western Michigan that night.   Harbison clearly  abandoned his teammates.  Harbison’s absence could have impacted the MAC West winner.   Harbison was so important to his team that he had 31 carries in his previous Huskie game.

It just does not seem right.  The MAC is a developmental league.  Want to find 4-star and 5-star recruits in the MAC?  Search really hard and then give up.  If Harbison’s act was a selfish outlier, we would not be up in arms.  Instead, his future transfer was merely the latest move in a disturbing trend.  Two of Ball State’s offensive anchors said goodbye to Muncie after 2018.  James Gilbert has toted the ball for K-State and Riley O’Neal has been the sometimes-starting QB for Vanderbilt.

Mike Danna was a rare beacon on light for 2018’s Central Michigan team.   Danna was an all-MAC defensive lineman for a miserable 1-11 Chippewa squad.  He was honored with the Herb Deromedi Most Valuable Player trophy.  That honor did not buy any loyalty.  Danna transferred to Michigan at year’s end.   Maybe it was fitting that CMU went on to win the MAC West in Danna’s absence while Danna had to endure a season-ending pummeling from Ohio State.

Three of Bowling Green’s most recent starting QBs have all said adios to the Falcons for other venues.  James Morgan started this year at FIU.  Jarrett Doege played at West Virginia.  This week, Grant Loy, this year’s starter, just announced his entry into the transfer portal.

The MAC has slipped relative to other conferences in recent years.  If the MAC cannot effectively use redshirting, the development of players will be retarded.  With the recent exodus, one cannot blame MAC coaches for not wishing to use redshirts — which is a shame because redshirting is one way in which recruiting differences can be partially offset.

Meanwhile, the rich can get richer as they can pluck off some talented grad transfers.  If the NCAA had a Bernie Sanders running the show, he might bleat about the excess of riches held by the 1%.

College football does have a looming issue with the widening gap between the “haves” and “have nots,”  particularly if football players can get paid. In an unintended manner, the transfer portal appears to be a wicked accomplice.

To say that South Alabama is having a disastrous season would not be hyperbole – nine-game losing streaks are pretty depressing.  However, their home finale against Arkansas State on Friday will be quite noteworthy.  Not because of a game between two Sun Belt West also-rans but because of a hallowed venue:  Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

The 71-year-old facility has run its course and will be hosting its final regular season college football game.  What a glorious history!  Like many senior citizens, its final years have not been as noteworthy as its earlier times.

With one grand exception, Ladd-Peebles’ recent fame has been due to the hosting of the Senior Bowl as scouts flock to Mobile to scout prospective draft picks.  The Odyssey was fortunate enough to be in attendance in 2014 when Mississippi State visited to play USA.  This was not just any Bulldog team.  Dan Mullen’s charges would eventually become the nation’s top-ranked squad.  USA would play in front of its only home sellout ever as the rare presence of a nearby SEC team made for an electric atmosphere.

Ladd-Peebles’ glory days were primarily in its early decades.  Can you imagine Alabama traveling 195 miles to play at Ladd-Peebles with its capacity of less than 40,000?  In the old days, used to happen frequently.  From 1948-1968, Bama visited Mobile in all but two years.  Their most frequent opponents were regional rivals Tulane (back when Tulane was an SEC member), LSU and Southern Miss.  Bear Bryant’s very first game as Alabama’s head coach was in none other than Mobile in 1958 against an LSU team with the likes of Billy Cannon and Johnny Robinson (Bear fell 13-3).

Auburn traveled even further (222 miles) to play at Ladd Stadium each year from 1948-55.  To illustrate how much scheduling has changed, 7 of Auburn’s 10 games in 1948 were at neutral sites! This was back in the day when the South’s Oldest Rivalry, Auburn vs. Georgia, would often be played near the state line in Columbus, Georgia.

Southern Miss consistently made the 94-mile trip across the state line, playing at Ladd Stadium 17 times from 1950-74, including a stretch when the Golden Eagles were 1-AA.  Southern Miss played Alabama in Mobile from 1966-68.  Imagine how geeked up the crowd was during the Crimson Tide’s nail-biting, 17-14 win in 1968!

Many fabulous times in a great city  claiming that Mardi Gras originated in Mobile NOT New Orleans.  The football gods will be smiling Friday as sunshine and an unseaonable high of 74 degrees await.  The Odyssey will be very reflective come Friday evening.