Author: rickro51 Page 31 of 36

On Thursday, the Odyssey’s favorite song is Gene Pitney’s “24 Hours from Tulsa”    Yes, the Odyssey still has an acute memory for songs from 1963.   For tomorrow, we will be in the press box at Skelly Stadium as we observe two teams going in opposite directions.

For one-loss Memphis, winning out likely means the coveted bid as the Group of Five’s representative in the lucrative “New Year’s Six” bowl series.  The Tigers have triumphed over UCLA and Navy with their only blemish being a decisive loss to a Central Florida powerhouse.  To win out, Memphis would likely have to win a revenge game against UCF in the American Athletic Conference championship game.

If you like lots of points, this game is must see TV.  Las Vegas predicts the total points to be a whopping 78!   Behind Riley Ferguson, the University of Tennessee refugee, the Tigers have one of the most prolific passing offenses in the country.  Plus their defense will never be mistaken for Alabama.

Tulsa is sporting a very uncharacteristic 2-7 record.  The Golden Hurricanes have shown flashes of excellence, pounding Houston, 45-17, and losing a heartbreaker to one-loss Toledo.

Last week’s 38-34 loss to another potent offense, SMU, was another agonizing “almost.”  Tulsa’s Justin Hobbs was on the receiving end of what appeared to be a 72-yard TD pass. One problem:  Hobbs did one high step at the SMU 12-yard line in celebration.  A flag-happy official ruled a live-ball taunting foul. As a “live ball” foul, the TD was called back and the officials stepped off the alleged taunting infraction from the 12.  Tulsa would up kicking a field goal.  3 points instead of 7.  You do the math in a 4-point loss.  Fox’s referee analyst, Mike Pereira, disagreed with the call.  As does the Odyssey.

Tulsa’s defense has improved since they gave up 165 points in their first 3 games.  Still, if defensive battles are your thing, skip this game.

This is Idaho’s last year in the FBS before next year’s return to the Big Sky.

Junior Linebacker Kaden Elliss achieved a highly unusual “double” in his 2nd straight game:  a touchdown reception and a sack.

We doubt this is an all-time record since college football, at one point in time, was a one-platoon operation.  In early 1964, the NCAA changed its rules to allow for unlimited substitutions.  With that rule change, two-way players, for the most part, went the way of the dinosaur.

Given that Elliss was on the all-Freshman Sun Belt team in 2015, we suspect we know one linebacker who will be on the 2018 Big Sky preseason all league team.

Almost 60 years ago, Miss Toni Fisher lamented “When will it end?” on her smash hit, “The Big Hurt”

Eastern Michigan has to be wondering the same thing after their 30-27 overtime loss to Northern Illinois Thursday night.  For the Eagles, the setback was their third in overtime this year.  Too bad an award does not exist for the best 2-6 team in football.  As EMU’s 6 defeats have come by a total of 23 points, the Eagles would win hands down.

The Odyssey believes last night’s defeat was the most painful of the six.  Eastern held a 24-10 lead in the 4th quarter over a Northern team that had limited success on offense.  One of the 4th quarter elements of disaster for EMU was a rugby-style punt that was blocked.   EMU had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation but Paul Fricano’s 42 yarder drifted left…barely, Eastern’s third failed field goal attempt in the game.   EMU’s kicking woes doomed them for a 2nd straight game as Fricano’s missed 20-yarder allowed Western Michigan to escape Ypsilanti last Saturday  with a 20-17 victory, yep, in overtime.

In overtime, Eastern coach Chris Creighton faced an interesting decision.  With 4th and 2 from the NIU 17, he elected to send out his untrusty field goal unit.  The Odyssey would have gone for it, not only because of EMU’s previous kicking failures.  In overtime, defenses can be tired as offenses often score touchdowns with relative ease.  To Fricano’s  credit, he made the field goal.  However, NIU quickly scored a TD to extend Eastern agony.

EMU is a good team that has gone toe-to-toe with the 3 heavyweights in the MAC West (NIU, Toledo and WMU) as well as Kentucky.  In fact, the Eagles can brag about a road win over a Big 10 team, Rutgers.  OK, it is Rutgers, but have you checked that Rutgers has won its last two games in the Big 10?

If there is one team that America can unequivocally root for in the balance of 2017, that team is Eastern Michigan.  So close to 8-0 but so, so far away.

On Saturday, College Football Odyssey is excited to return to Oxford for the first time since 2009.  For anybody who has had the great fortune to tailgate at the Grove, the experience is unforgettable.

For Ed Orgeron, he returns to Oxford for the first time in a decade as a head coach, this time for the visiting Bayou Bengals.  For Rebel fans, they do not need to go to the cinema to see Stephen King’s “It” to be terrified.  All they have to do is recall the ill-fated, three-year period from 2005-07 when Orgeron was Ole Miss’ head man.

Orgeron’s SEC record was a hideous 3-21 and underscored just how ridiculous the Ole Miss administration was in their sacking of a quality head coach in David Cutcliffe.  As horrible as 3-21 was, Orgeron easily saved the worst for last.  In 2007, the Rebels held a 14-0 lead with less than 13 minutes to go in the Egg Bowl against  their archrivals in Starkville. Ole Miss had a 4th and 1 on their 49.

At this point, Orgeron made one of the most disastrous calls in college football history.  He went for it.  Never mind that the Bulldog offense had been inept through 3+ quarters.   After a fateful 3-yard loss, the crowd, with next to nothing to cheer about all day, could almost be heard in Tupelo.  The momentum shift was seismic.  Adam Carlson’s 48 yard field goal provided Sylvester Croom’s MSU team with a stunning, 17-14 comeback victory.  If there was ever a fitting metaphor for a coaching legacy, Coach O had found it.

Orgeron was again assumed to be coaching roadkill 3 weeks ago after LSU did a faceplant against Troy in Death Valley.  However, upset wins over both Florida and Auburn have brought both Coach O and LSU back from the dead.  The Auburn victory was especially impressive as the Bayou Bengals spotted a quality War Eagle team a 20-0 lead.

On paper, the matchup favors the visitors.  Ole Miss’ potent passing game is the one hope for the home squad.  Shea Patterson and a corps of highly skilled receivers, highlighted by A.J. Brown, hope to compensate for a flawed Rebel defense.  Will LSU’s usual stable of skilled defensive backs be able to contain Patterson & Company?

LSU was held back earlier in the year by health issues for two of their stalwarts, DE Arden Key and running back, Derrius Guice.  To the extent that both are at or close to 100%, advantage LSU.

The Bayou Bengals deserve being a 7-point favorite.  However, if the Rebels pull off the upset, a lot of longtime Ole Miss fans will happily be wondering why their Deep South rivals ever hired Coach O.

Tomorrow, one of the nation’s premier writers covering the MAC, Bronco Chris, will be in Mt. Pleasant for a pivotal game in the MAC West.  The Odyssey often goes where GAMEDAY would never consider.  Please see the Comments for post-game analysis from Bronco Chris.

In August, the Odyssey picked Toledo to win the West behind a talented offense led by veteran QB Logan Woodside.  Our confidence in this pick has subsided a bit due to Rocket injuries.  The latest Toledo casualty is talented wide receiver Cody Thompson.  Thompson broke his leg in last Saturday’s 20-15 win over Eastern Michigan.

We remain skeptical of Central in spite of their 26-23 upset win over Ohio last week.  Central was plus 3 in turnover margin and capitalized on the biggest play of the game just before halftime.  Ohio, sporting a 14-7 lead, attempted a field goal when Bobcat  disaster occurred.  Blocked and returned for a Central TD.

CMU struggled in their opener against Rhode Island before being gifted the game in overtime.  They were also less than impressive in their 28-8 loss to a so-so Boston College team.  Former Michigan 5-star recruit, Shane Morris, has been very average in his graduate transfer year in Mt. Pleasant.

In the BC game, coach John Bonamego made one of the most curious coaching decisions of the year.  Down 28-8, with less than 13 minutes to go in the game, CMU had a 4th and 11 at the BC 15.  Bonamego brings the field goal unit on.  WHY wondered the Odyssey.  Even if successful, a 17-point deficit still translates into needing 3 more scoring possessions to have any chance of winning.  No, given that CMU had had little success scoring in the first 47 minutes of the game, going for a touchdown was absolutely needed to preserve any realistic hope of winning.  As to the WHY:  was this a mental blunder on part of a math-challenged CMU coaching staff or was this just a matter of raising the white flag?  Or was there just not much thought involved.  Karma prevailed as the CMU field goal kicker missed the short attempt.

That sequence is reflective of this year’s Chippewa team.  Somewhat down from normal standards.  Even short handed, Toledo deserves every bit of their status as a 7-point favorite.  The Odyssey does not foresee CMU pulling off a second consecutive upset in this pivotal game.

If you paid close attention to the national media, Saturday was going to be a dud.  There was only 1 game among ranked teams (barely, as West Virginia visited TCU).   The oft-jaded  media is focused on the playoff to the detriment of many fabulous stories.  The Odyssey cannot be alone in suffering from Clemson and Alabama fatigue.   Donald Trump should tweet, “sad!”

Saturday turned out to be memorable for many  downtrodden and discouraged.  Some winless teams got off the mat with surprising upsets.  Nobody is mentioning Bowling Green’s amazing 37-29 upset at Miami (Ohio).  Down 30-29, Miami had marched down to the BG 1-yard line with 1:25 left in the game.  Miami’s drive came despite the loss of star QB Gus Ragland earlier in the 2nd half.  Inexplicably, the team formerly known as the Redskins, lined up in the shotgun formation with a backup QB.  It was not as if Bowling Green had stopped Miami all day, as attested by the Red Hawks’ 615 yards of total offense.  The shotgun snap goes awry and an alert Brandon Harris returns the fumble 93 yards for a clinching TD and the first victory for the Falcons.

Nevada was also 0-5 heading into its home tilt against Hawaii.  The Wolfpack was energized by 216 rushing yards from Kelton Moore and 278 passing yards from an accurate Ty Gangi.  This offensive output was more than enough to offset  an explosion of 241 rushing yards from Diocemy Saint Juste.  A week after an embarrassment at Fresno, the Wolfpack won their first game, 35-21, for Jay Norvell.

The worst team in the country heading into Saturday was UTEP.  SO bad that they had shown Sean Kugler the door after an 0-5 start.  SO, SO bad that the Miners incredibly made hapless Rice look good in losing to the Owls 31-14.  The UTEP administration brought back Mike Price last week with Western Kentucky coming to town.  UTEP scored a major win of sorts, sporting a 14-8 halftime lead.

With WKU nursing a 15-14 in the late in the game, Brady Viles missed a 41 yarder, his 3rd miss of the game.  The 17-point underdog held Western Kentucky to 282 yards of offense and, arguably, deserved a better fate.

Two other teams that had been in the doldrums lit up the world on Saturday.  Iowa State’s 38-31 upset of Oklahoma was remarkable in several aspects.  Not only were the Sooners 30-point favorites going into the game at Norman,  the game’s outcome had an air of inevitability.  When the Sooners  went into the tilt with an astounding  74-5-2 series advantage, a degree of complacency was understandable, particularly when Iowa State’s offense was limited to 7 points in their previous game versus Texas.  Worse, for the Cyclones, their starting QB, Jacob Park, became a 12th hour no show with a mysterious “medical” issue.  When Oklahoma jumped out to a 14-0 lead, business at usual seemed at hand.  Except emergency QB, Kyle Kempt, did not get the memo.  343 passing yards later, he engineered a 38-31 upset of the Sooners.  Joel Lanning’s performance was no less heroic.  Last year’s starting QB, turned linebacker, was again stellar defensively, recovering a key Sooner fumble at the Cyclone 5 in the 3rd quarter.  He also spelled Kempt at quarterback in an ironman performance.   All in all a karmic victory that brought down Oklahoma’s haughty quarterback, Baker Mayfield, a peg or two.  At this point, Oklahoma should not even be thinking about the playoff until the Sooners shore up a pass defense that has been torched in two consecutive games in the pass happy Big 12 (Baylor threw for 453 yards against Oklahoma).

Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez only two victories going into Saturday’s game at Boulder were against Northern Arizona and UTEP. So while the Wildcats were not winless technically,……. In the first half, Rodriguez inserted backup QB, Kahlil Tate,  into the game.  327 rushing yards later, Tate set an NCAA record for rushing by a QB,  Doubly amazing, Tate amassed this staggering total on only 14 carries!!  The Odyssey feels bad for Colorado running back Phillip Lindsay.  Tate’s epic effort in UA’s 45-42 upset of Colorado amazingly overshadowed 281 rushing yards by Lindsay. An FBS record was set as this was the first game in which 2 players ran for 250 yards.    If Tate was this good, why had the Sophomore been riding the pine for the season’s first month?

All in all, a wonderful Saturday for many teams, fighting hard times,  who relished their triumph so much more than Alabama did in the Tide’s 28-19 win at Texas A&M.

The Odyssey wishes to share with you over favorite names among FCS players:

1. Hercules Mata’afa     The Washington State defensive lineman deserves top billing after last Friday’s epic win over USC.  Mata’afa spearheads an undersized but very active defensive line that has helped the Cougars to field an atypically strong defense.
2. Finesse Middleton.  The Defensive End for South Alabama must use a hell of a lot of Finesse to compensate for his listed weight of 240.
3. Soso Jamabo is a starting running back for UCLA.  Sadly, the Bruin running game has been, at best, so-so, the last few years.  We cannot fully blame Soso for being so-so.  UCLA has not had a road grading offensive line in years and, understandably, the past 3 years have featured future NFL QB, Josh Rosen.
4. Michael Tarbutt.  Two Sundays ago, UConn mounted a fierce rally from a 41-21 deficit to East Carolina to be within 41-38 striking range.  Tarbutt, the UConn field goal kicker, had a chance from 33 yards to force overtime.  After he missed, the Odyssey suspects that Randy Edsall may have wanted to tar his butt.

Optimism was running rampant in the Twin Cities in August.  Coming off a 9-4 campaign, the administration hired the most hyper-caffeinated coach in America, PJ Fleck, fresh off a monster season at Western Michigan.

The schedule cooperated as well.  The Gophers opened the season with two mediocre teams in Buffalo and Oregon State.  Their third game against Middle Tennessee State looked dangerous but the Gophers received a pass.  Neither of MTSU’s best two players, QB Brent Stockstill or All-Conference USA wide receiver Richie James, were healthy enough to play.  Stockstill’s backup, John Urzua, has been a turnover machine.  The result was an easy 34-3 win for Minnesota.

The Gophers contemplated more good luck.  They had a bye week prior to Maryland’s arrival.  The Terrapins would be coming to town missing two quality QBs in Kasim Hill and Tyrell Pigrome.  3rd stringer, Max Bortenschlager, would get the nod for the Terps.  The 3rd stringer was far from awesome the previous Saturday when Maryland did a 38-10  face plant against Central Florida.

Perhaps Minnesota watched the UCF game film and became complacent.   The Gophers, despite being 13-point favorites, fell to the earth with a resounding thud.  Surprisingly, Minnesota allowed Maryland to run for 262 yards.  Shockingly, the normally stout Gopher rushing attack was limited to 80 yards.   31-24 Maryland.  Kudos to the Terps as one would be hard pressed to find teams, this side of Clemson and TCU, with two higher quality road wins (Maryland upset Texas, 51-41, in their opener in Austin).

The Gophers have yet more positive  luck heading into this Saturday’s game at Purdue.  On September 23rd, two of Purdue’s best defensive players, Ja’Whaun Bentley and Jacob Thieneman, were guilty of targeting infractions in the second half of their loss to Michigan.  All targeters must sit out the next half of their next game.

Yet more Golden Gopher good fortune ensued as Purdue had a bye last week.  Thus, the Gophers will play a short-handed Boilermaker defense in the first half.  Had PJ Fleck become the 21st Century version of Joe Hardy and made a deal with the devil?  If so, it is a capricious devil as the Gophers received their first bit of truly bad luck.  Their depleted secondary will be quite short-handed against Purdue’s pass happy offense.

Will the Gophers be able to take advantage of what has been offered?  Stay tuned.

What do Stanford, Arizona State and Nebraska have in common?

All 3 proud programs have succumbed to a “lower tier” Group of 5 squad this onth.  San Diego State triumphed over those Pac 12 squads in consecutive weeks.  Northern Illinois feasted on two pick-sixes by Nebraska’s turnover machine, Tanner Lee, to propel them to a 21-17 upset.  The Huskie upset so enraged the proud Nebraska program that Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst became a post-trauma casualty/sacrificial lamb. Northern Illinois’ only loss occurred to another Power 5 team in Boston College when their 39-yard field goal attempt doinked off the goal post as time expired.

Tomorrow night, Northern Illinois pays a visit to San Diego State in a pivotal game that may go a long way to determine the “Group of 5” representative in the “New Year’s 6” bowl games.  The Huskies have a situational edge since they rested last week while the undefeated Aztecs played a 3rd consecutive physical game.

On the surface, the Aztecs have an advantage because the Huskies’ starter in their opener, Ryan Graham, got hurt.  However, this is largely an illusion.  Graham was just OK in the BC opener and his backup, Daniel Santacaterina, has been competent.  Neither QB will remind you of Northern Illinois’ two superstar signal callers, Jordan Lynch or Chandler Harnish, in their era of supremacy in the Mid American Conference.

Northern Illinois appears to have a better offensive line than the Aztecs but San Diego State rates to be superior at most other positions, including their stellar running back/kick returner, Rashaad Penny.  The Odyssey will be in the press box and anticipates a low-scoring grinder.

Rick Roeder’s game recap will be in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle.

Before the season, the biggest strength of Michigan State’s team would likely have been considered its running back group,  featuring LJ Scott.  Three lost fumbles later, Scott has been relegated to carrying the football around campus in an effort to irrevocably bond the running back to a football.  Two of Scott’s wayward pigskins were lost in nightmarish fashion at the goal line.  When Notre Dame’s Shaun Crawford stripped Scott at the goal line in the second quarter, the strip proved to be one of September’s most pivotal plays.  Instead of MSU closing the gap to 21-14, the Fighting Irish used the game-changing play as momentum to a 28-7 lead that would prove insurmountable.

However, one Scott has come out of nowhere to excel for the Spartans, Josiah.  The freshman cornerback has been the most effective Big 10 DB in coverage according to the metrics of Pro Football Focus.  Mark Dantonio compared Scott’s freshman year to that of former Spartan great, Darqueze Dennard.

For Josiah, this Saturday’s game against Iowa holds extra intrigue.  Iowa was perhaps the front runner for Scott’s services until late in the recruiting process.  Did the Hawkeyes back off?  Expect Scott to play with a bit extra passion in East Lansing on Saturday.