Author: rickro51 Page 32 of 36

The most courageous scheduling last Saturday was not by one of the sacrificial lambs (ie, UNLV took $1.3 million to the bank for their beating at Ohio State) but by the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest became only the 2nd Power 5 school to travel to Boone North Carolina to take on Appalachian State.  This was the 23rd meeting between the two schools from the western part of the state, separated by only 92 miles, but the first since 2001.

Former coach Jim Grobe discontinued the series, citing the need for Wake Forest to do everything in its power to get to 6 victories and becoming bowl eligible.  His fear in scheduling the Mountaineers was well-founded since App State had beaten Wake in both the 1998 and 2000 games.  Before App’s recent ascent to FBS status, the Mountaineers were fearsome enough to beat Michigan and garner multiple 1-A national championships.

While the Odyssey admires Grobe, we absolutely hate the thinking that ended the series for 15 years.  College football is so much the worse for not doing everything in its power to promote regional rivalries.  This is doubly so when college football attendance is declining in a number of circles.  Many reasons for such decline exist, led by high ticket prices, the glut of televised games, ever improving TV quality and  increasing entertainment options on the Internet.

Dave Clawson, the Wake coach, said that the previous week’s opponent, Utah State, just did not generate the same amount of interest as the Deacons’ upcoming trip into the hills.  We like to think karma came into play Saturday.   After a sluggish first half, the Wake offense revived and took a late 20-19 lead in a frenzied atmosphere.

Appalachian State lined up for a game-ending and potential game-winning 39-yard field goal.  Blocked!!  Wake Forest survived in a thriller but, truly, college football was the biggest winner in Boone.

The Odyssey appreciates others as well in the endeavor for regional non-conference tilts.  Special shout outs go to Michigan State and Mississippi State.  The Spartans have visited both Central Michigan and Western Michigan this decade.  Notre Dame should take note as the Irish is taking an extended sabbattical from its history-filled, 77-game series with MSU after Saturday’s victory in East Lansing.  Notre Dame’s annual contests with Purdue and Michigan have also been shamefully interrupted.  It appears the Fighting Irish would rather play Duke and Wake Forest.

The Odyssey was in Mobile in 2014 when a stellar Mississippi State team played at South Alabama.  To date, this has been the most electric atmosphere ever at a USA game.  Earlier this month, the Bulldogs visited Ruston to play Louisiana Tech.  Fantastic!  We also LOVE this year’s start of a 13-game contract between Virginia Tech and Old Dominion.  While the two schools are not geographically close (the drive from Norfolk to Blacksburg is almost 5 hours), Virginia Tech’s decision to play Old Dominion regularly  is not riskless in terms of the recruiting wars.

The Odyssey is calling out Arkansas.  Please schedule Arkansas State!!  We know that Frank Broyles thought that Arkansas State was only slightly preferable to the plague, but your great coach has passed on. So should your thinking.

Memo to Alabama:  Do you really think your juggernaut program will suffer if you schedule Troy, South Alabama, or, especially, UAB??  C’mon, is it too much to ask to do right by your states’ fans?

The Odyssey is happy to have Golden Buffalo Matt reporting from beautiful Boulder.  Check the comments to see Matt’s post-game analysis and reaction to the rematch of last year’s Pac12 championship game.

The Huskies visit Boulder as an 11.5 point favorite, undefeated and mostly untested.  Besides a slow first half at Rutgers, Washington has been impressive, particularly against one of the Big Sky’s perennial powers, Montana.

The Buffalos are also undefeated and offer one of the most amazing statistics of 2017.   Colorad0’s opener was against a prolific Colorado State offense that tallied 58 points against Oregon State in its Week Zero opener.  Despite massive losses in the defensive backfield, Colorado held CSU’s potent offense to 3 points.  By the end of the 1st quarter, the Rams had punted 4 times.  This is the same Colorado State team that scored 23 points and rang up 391 yards at top-ranked Alabama last Saturday.  Impressive!

However, Jacob Knipp, the Northern Colorado QB, had several long completions against the Buffs last week.  Somehow, UNC gave CU much more of a test on defense than CSU did!  So, another Jake, Browning, will be coming to Boulder to test the revamped Buff secondary.  Almost makes you flashback to the Jack Nicholson movie, “The Two Jakes.”  Definitely a disappointing sequel to the epic, “Chinatown.”  We expect tomorrow’s sequel between the 2016 divisional champions to be better.

Record heat in Denver yesterday will be giving way to much cooler temps with a 30% chance of PM showers tomorrow night.  The Odyssey cannot wait!

Tennessee should have won its pivotal SEC East game at Florida.  However, for its 2nd straight visit to the Swamp, inexplicable coaching decisions doomed the Vols against its frequent tormentor (The Gators are 21-6 in their last 27 against the Rocky Toppers.  Peyton Manning’s Vols could never beat the Gators).  On the surface, Feleipe Franks’ 63-yard bomb to Tyrie Cleveland on the game-deciding last play, was one piece of gross mismanagement by the Vols’ coaching staff.  And, indeed, it was.  Normally, we would label this as a Hail Mary.  But, in a typical Hail Mary scenario, defensive backs are patrolling the end zone with the same zealousness Donald Trump would like to see in our border patrol agents.  However, this bizarre piece of theater featured Cleveland streaking past a Safety as the Cornerback on the same side of the field decided to advance toward the line of scrimmage to cover a potential short pass!  But, even with these incredible developments, one would expected some other Volunteer defenders to be  sentinels against the deep ball.  Nope!  Barely in the same zip code.

OK, any coach can be the captain of a disasterous play.  For Butch Jones, the last play was just the capper of a hideous day of game management.  If I were to tell you that Tennessee had 7 plays inside the Florida 10, would you believe me if I told you there were no running plays?  One series started with a first down and goal  from the Florida 1.  The first down pass was almost intercepted.  A later pass in the series was intercepted.  If Tennessee had no running game, one could almost understand the curious play calling.  However, the Vols had John Kelly.  The running back was sufficiently skilled to scorch Florida’s D for 141 rushing yards.  Earlier in the game, Tennessee, needing only one yard for a first down, put its QB in the shotgun.

Jones had already provided Vol fans with another nightmare in Tennessee’s last visit to the Swamp in 2015.  After Jalen Hurd scored a touchdown with 10+ minutes left, Tennessee extended its lead to 26-14 before a fateful point after touchdown decision.  Jones elected to kick the extra point, amply demonstrating that he never fully grasped his “7 times tables” in his youth.  Down 27-14, Florida staged a furious comeback, replete with three key 4th down conversion on two drives, to win a 28-27 thriller.  Of course, Jones should have gone for 2 after the Vols’ last touchdown.  In a bizarre twist, the game-winning TD pass from Will Grier to Antonio Callaway also went for 63 yards.

There have been other games in the Jones’ era where defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory (their Oklahoma collapse is one example).

To Jones’ credit, he has recruited well and the 4th quarter effort from Tennessee was impressive in their game against the Gators and their improbable comeback thriller in their opener against Georgia Tech.  However, the program would be immeasurably helped if somebody else was making the key in-game decisions.

The Odyssey believes the most important outcome of a game last weekend occurred at a stadium formerly known as Qualcomm.

Sure, San Diego State’s upset of Stanford puts them #1 at the quarter pole in the race for the coveted Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six bowl hierarchy.

But, potentially, this might be relatively small potatoes compared to the long-term impact on Aztec football and the City of San Diego.  Given the combination of San Diego’s desirable location and excellent prep football (Can you name the 4 Heisman Trophy winners that have prepped in San Diego County in the last 40 years?), San Diego State has been a sleeping giant since Don Coryell was coaching ’em up on Montezuma Mesa (and outdrawing the Chargers circa 1970).

Given the Chargers’ flight north to a 27,000 seat soccer stadium, the City was still reeling from the loss of its most beloved professional franchise.  More than a temporary balm, SDSU’s last-minute comeback win may well transcend one season.

First, the 42,000+ fans could not have helped but notice the new look at the old stadium.   A big Aztec logo at mid-field announced a new reality and the end zones were now proudly basking in Aztec Red and Black.  Aztec signs adorned the stadium, not like the previous half century when the Chargers were the Ivanka Trump of the stadium and the Aztecs were in the same pecking order as Tiffany Trump is to the President.

Just after the Aztecs started their game-winning drive, with under 4 minutes remaining, the lights went out….and stayed out for 23 minutes.  Given that the Los Angeles Chargers would be playing their first regular season home game in Los Angeles in less than 24 hours,  the blackout was appropriate as a solemn funeral dirge for a lost love.

Then SDSU did something the Chargers of recent vintage rarely did.

They pulled out a close game in the final minute.  Pandemonium reigned as the Aztec fans stormed the field for the first time in virtually forever.   Karma was far from done.    Not atypically, the Chargers’ lost their home opener, 19-17, when their kicker missed a 44-yarder that would have won the game.  The Chargers could not sell out a 27,000 seat stadium.  At least half of the attendees were Dolphin fans.  When Dean Spanos’ image appeared on the scoreboard, the boos were lusty enough to almost be heard in Orange County.

Hopefully, the City of San Diego can work out a solution to the Aztecs’ future stadium home.  But, if not, we suggest retaining the old lady, now happily back to its original name of Jack Murphy Stadium.  Because if there are any more nights as magical as Saturday night in San Diego, the sad memories of a lost love will surely keep receding.

There are two big games in Southern California tomorrow and the Odyssey will be covering both of them.  The Odyssey is proud to have Jerry Jones covering the intersectional tilt in the Coliseum.  Believe it or not, there are far more than one “Jerry Jones” in the USA.  Our Jerry played cornerback on the 1972 USC team that proved to be one of John McKay’s 4 national championship squads.  In practice, Jerry had the brutal daily routine of covering Lynn Swann.

The early line on this game had USC favored by as many as 17 points.  Prudently, the line has come down a bit.  USC’s offense may have another field day, even if the Trojans fall short of their massive 622-yard output against Stanford.  Even with the Longhorns’ legendary pedigree, we wonder how focused USC will be in the first half.  USC was clearly sky high for the Cardinal, particularly since Stanford has generally had USC’s number since their shocking 2007 upset of the Trojans as a 41-point underdog.

Texas looked awful in their 51-41 home upset at the hands of Maryland.  Their 10-point loss was deceptively close as the Longhorns scored 3 special teams touchdowns to get as close as 10.  Last week, the Longhorns mopped the field against a weak San Jose State team, so please excuse the Odyssey if we are confused as to which version of the Longhorns will show up.

After the game, please see our comment section as Jerry will help us decipher the outcome of this intriguing matchup.

The Odyssey is eagerly looking forward to one of the most anticipated games in decades at aging Qualcomm Saturday night.  One has to go all the way back to the 1992 opener against USC (a spinetingling 31-31 tie featuring the incomparable Marshall Faulk) for as much pre-game excitement in San Diego for a college game.  To help generate local interest, SDSU has executed a brilliant billboard campaign, “One City, One Team”, to help convert jilted Charger fans into Aztec supporters.

Stanford comes to town, bitterly disappointed in not showing better at the Coliseum last Saturday night, getting gashed by USC, 42-24.  And we do mean gashed as the Trojans went up and down the field to the tune of 622 yards. That Mission Viejo’s finest, stellar QB Sam Darnold, inflicted damage on a talented Stanford secondary was not stunning.  However, USC’s 307 rushing yards against the proud Cardinal defense was man-bites-dog news.

If the Stanford defense was ripped apart by Ronald Jones & Company, what does the Cardinal make of Rashaad Penny?  All Penny did in the desert last Saturday was to run wild with 353 all purpose yards against another Pac12 team in Arizona State. Penny is a dual threat as he returned a kick 99 yards to the house. Penny and WMU’s Darius Phillips are two of the premier kick returners of this generation.  Stanford’s answer to Penny is RB Bryce Love, who has romped for 340 yards in the Cardinal’s first two outings.  Two proud defenses are going to be challenged.

Thankfully, for Stanford, the Cardinal can cheat a Safety to help stop Penny as the Aztecs pass less than virtually every other team not running the triple option.  Before the season, the Odyssey thought the Cardinal would breeze in this game as the Aztecs lost 4 offensive line starters from a terrific 2016 OLine.  The Odyssey still believes the Cardinal will prevail, but if the Aztecs can pull the upset, such an outcome might propel San Diego State to unprecedented heights as long as its underrated 67-year-old coach, Rocky Long, is patrolling the sideline on Montezuma Mesa.

Often a team will have a hangover after a deflating loss such as the one Stanford suffered in the Coliseum.  However, the Odyssey sees little chance of a letdown.  If the Cardinal can run the table, Stanford has everything to play for, including a potential rematch with USC in the Pac12 championship game.

A bizarre element is that the Aztecs’ leading receiver from 2016, Mikah Holder, may be covered by his twin brother, Alijah, Stanford’s starting cornerback.  Given that the twins spent most of their Oceanside upbringing sleeping in the same bed, their feelings will be a bit surreal.

Multiple Odyssey writers will be in attendance, featuring the observations of Tall TJ.  Check out the comment section post-game.

Late Saturday evening was shaping up to be huge for the Mountain West.  Not only was San Diego State bullying Arizona State in the desert, Boise State was breezing 31-10 in the 4th quarter at Washington State.  For the second straight game against a reasonable team, the Cougars looked nothing like the typical Mike Leach passing circus (WSU’s offense no showed in the Holiday Bowl against Minnesota).  Having not scored an offensive touchdown, Luke Falk looked quite mortal, perhaps missing the outstanding receiving duo of Gabe Marks and River Cracraft more than anybody could imagine.

At any rate, no viewer could imagine the inept Cougar offense capable of mounting a comeback.  And, they really did not.  Tyler Hilinski replaced the injured and ineffective Falk and reduced the deficit to 31-17.  Then, midnight madness broke out.  The Cougars somehow managed to intercept a shovel pass.  Then, a subsequent Boise punt was blocked by a Boise blocker!!!   31-31.  Overtime.

The Cougars would prevail in triple overtime, triggering euphoria in the Palouse.  Even with the thrilling comeback, one of the flaws in the Air Raid was exposed.  Down 34-31 in the first overtime, WSU had 2nd and 1 at the 1 yard line.  The QB lines up in the shotgun and they fail at two “Cutesy” plays.  OK, on one play the receiver did drop the ball in the end zone.  Leach elected to kick on 4th and 1 to extend this wholly improbable game to the 2nd overtime.  If WSU has no confidence to try to run it in from the one in 3 opportunities, the Odyssey wonders if the Cougars should deliberately take a delay of game penalty to give their receivers more room to maneuver.  Just a thought.

Another thought.  Bryan Harsin is no Chris Petersen.  Boise has lost several games in the last couple years that Petersen would not have lost as Boise’s legendary coach.

The Odyssey is so intrigued by an interesting intrastate matchup that our Senior writer, Bronco Chris, feels compelled to cover the game in East Lansing.  Check out his postgame comments on this post.

Michigan State is one of the most enigmatic teams in 2017.  This battle against a fired up WMU squad will speak loudly.  Will MSU more closely resemble its 2015 playoff squad or the 3-9 disaster last year?  What is unusual for the Spartans is the uncertainty on both lines, generally a Mark Dantonio staple.

Western has one of the electric kick returners in the country in Darius Phillips.  In their 2015 encounter in Kalamazoo, Phillips torched the Spartans with kick returns of 75 and 100 yards.  Will Sparty avoid putting the ball in his hands at all costs? Last Saturday, Phillips showed that his designation as 2016 MAC Special Teams Player of the Year was no fluke as he took a kick to the house against USC.

Expect MSU to stack the box against first-year starter Jon Wassink.  Western absolutely shocked USC last week with 263 rushing yards and scared the bejesus out of the Trojans before fading late in 110 degree temperature.

Will LJ Scott continue to have the fumbleitis that plauged him last week against Bowling Green?  Stay tuned.

So, the Odyssey remains in the Midwest for another week.  Next week, the Odyssey will be reporting from San Diego State as Stanford plays a second consecutive team from SoCal.

Shortly after Jim Harbaugh’s hiring at UM in December 2014, one of Harbaugh’s biggest recruiting targets instantly became Detroit’s  Mike Weber.  Made extra sense because Weber’s prep coach at Cass Tech, Thomas Wilcher, like Harbaugh, was also a Wolverine player in the 1980’s.  Like Weber, Wilcher was a highly coveted prep running back.  Weber was considered the #1 prep prospect in Michigan who Wilcher called the best running back to come out of Detroit in 30 years.

Further, Cass Tech had provided many Wolverine players in previous decades.  However, the listing recruiting efforts of both Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke, coupled with Urban Meyer’s star power, allowed Ohio State in the door at Motown’s powerhouse.

A fierce recruiting battle ensued.  Weber, reportedly torn, eventually picked the Buckeyes.  The day after Weber’s commitment to the Scarlet and Gray, the Buckeye running back coach who recruited Weber, Stan Drayton, bolted for the Chicago Bears.  Weber tweeted his significant disappointment.  Wilcher initially called the entire saga a “deception.”   For Harbaugh, the disappointment had to be bitter as he needed to make inroads against the OSU recruiting machine.

Well, the Cass Tech pipeline has appeared to dry up for Ohio State.  The gem of Michigan’s current freshman crop is wide receiver, Donovan Peoples-Jones, the latest in a long line of Cass Tech standouts.  Another Cass Tech recruit has joined Peoples-Jones in Ann Arbor.

Mike Weber was supposed to be the featured back in Columbus this year.  A lingering hamstring injury allowed for the emergence of freshman uberback, J.K. Dobbins, who tallied 181 yards against Indiana last week.  The Odyssey wonders if Weber will get a fair shake in OSU’s running back rotation going forward.

If J.K. Dobbins gets the lion’s share of the carries, Weber cannot help but have some lingering regrets over his 2015 decision.  Weber is fully healthy for the epic Oklahoma game tomorrow but Dobbins has been announced as the starter.  Weber has to wonder how he can be only the 3rd Buckeye freshmen to rush for over 1,000 yards (Robert Smith and Maurice Clarett were the others) and be relegated to second string.  Even last year’s 1,096 rushing yards were “quiet” in the sense that Weber’s accomplishments were partially eclipsed by following in the shadows of the great Eziekiel Elliott.

In Monday’s article, we were delighted to share the great stories of overlooked preps, such as Josh Allen and David Johnson, who became superstars.  Regrettably, the flip side is also true.  Being a coveted prep will not always translate into peaches and cream at college.

The Odyssey was in the press box for the Northern Illinois and Iowa openers.  We tend to travel to games where there will be no chance of a Kirk Herbstreit citing, let alone Chris Fowler.  When yours truly is still on a mission to get to the relatively few remaining stadiums of the 130 1-A programs not yet attended, this sometimes necessitates going off the beaten path.

We were intrigued by two very talented visitors coming to DeKalb and Iowa City: QB  Josh Allen and DE Harold Landry.  In Todd McShay’s mock draft, the Wyoming QB was projected as the #2 overall draft pick while Boston College’s Landry was tabbed to go at #9 overall.  We would subsequently be stunned that their productivity  in the openers would have suggested undrafted, free agent status.  Where did they go?  An alien abduction?  In both cases, there may have been mitigating circumstances.

The Friday night opener in DeKalb was yet another of a zillion examples where TV brutalizes attendance.  With a ridiculously late 8:30 start on a high school Friday night, the 16,000+ attendance for a rare visit from a Power 5 school was sadly modest but not unexpected.  Equally bad, the late start would prove to have dire and unforseen consequences for the Odyssey.

Aside from the UCLA-Texas A&M game, I thought the NIU-BC game would have more pivotal consequences than any other in the opening weekend.  The winner could have a needed springboard for a surprising season and the loser, particularly if BC, would have to deal with a lot of negative momentum piled on top of a disappointing 2016 campaign.

In the “Odyssey vs. Phil Steele challenge” (see our August 18 article), the Northern Illinois outcome would be critical.  Steele put Northern Illinois on his coveted Most Improved Team list.  Yes, Steele uses the self-aggrandizing word, NOT the Odyssey’s invention.   NIU slumped to 5-7 in 2016. Since the Odyssey did not envision significant 2017 improvement, we took Steele on and dissented.  NIU’s glory years were largely predicated on the exploits of two other worldly QB’s, Chandler Harnish and Jordan Lynch.  Thus, the Odyssey never viewed the Huskies as a “reload” program.  The previous two years were marked by mediocre QB play. The Odyssey did not foresee  QB Ryan Graham as being able to play well enough to get NIU to 8-4 or better.

Graham played OK but was betrayed by a couple key drops.  Where was PJ Fleck when so badly needed?   The 4th quarter turned out to be extremely entertaining.

Locked in a 20-20 draw midway in the last quarter, Boston College’s Steve Addazio made a gutsy decision on 4th and 1 from its own 43.  The Eagles successfully converted.  After yet another 4th down conversion, Colton Lichtenberg’s third field goal of the game gave BC  a 23-20 lead with 2:13 to go.  Undaunted,  Graham converted a desperation 4th and long to keep NIU in the ballgame.  When the NIU kicker doinked his 39-yard attempt off the lower goal post, BC survived in a thriller.

Addazio made another gutsy decision before the game.  His hot seat notwithstanding, he elected to start a freshman QB, Anthony Brown.  When grading on a “first start curve”, Brown fared reasonably well.  Good coaching, Mr. Addazio! North Carolina State would love to have a coach who could win such close games. (Yes, Dave Doeren lost another spine tingler he should have won on Saturday versus South Carolina)

But where was Harold Landry?  Aside from one cool, rodeo-style tackle, Landry was largely invisible.  In defense of Landry, there are two caveats.  The strength of NIU’s team was touted to be their offensive line.  Also, one can always game plan to run plays to the other side of the field.  Still, I was surprised and disappointed that Landry did not have more impact.

After the game ended at 11:45, I made a practical decision not to go to the interview room.  The game in Iowa City was already looming with an 11AM start. My hotel room in Bettendorf was, distressingly, almost two hours away.  Since I was not granted a media pass until late in the process, I was not sent a parking pass in the mail.  Accordingly, I parked about 3/4’s of a mile away in a residential block.  Far enough away to keep from being towed I fatefully and erroneously thought, despite the “tow risk” sign in the neighborhood.   OOPS!!  To my utter dismay, I would soon discover that there was no taxi service in DeKalb after midnight.  After cussing myself out for my stupidity, my laptop and I unhappily started a 4-mile trek to the tow yard.   At age 65, I viewed myself as a perfect target for a mugging.  Thank God, DeKalb sleeps after midnight.   For $200, you would think that the least the towing company could do is pick you up.

Despite my post-4 AM arrival in Bettendorf, the lengthy walk and the prospect of the passionate Iowa fans were weirdly invigorating.  I could not get to sleep until close to 6AM.  Fueled on two hours’ sleep, I still made it to the press box in plenty of time for the early kick.  The contrast between the two press boxes provided a loud reminder of the difference between the Big 10 and the MAC.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with the NIU press box — quite “old school” — reminiscent of the typical press boxes in the 1970’s.  In contrast, the Iowa press box was a spacious palace, complete with your choice of several hot entrees as well as all the popcorn and cookies any human being could desire.

Part of my eagerness of my travel to Iowa City, aside from the non-stop graciousness of the locals, was to check out the out-of-nowhere wonderkind, Josh Allen.  Allen had ZERO D-1 scholarship offers coming out of the San Joaquin Valley and had to settle for  Reedley Junior College.  His JC play must not have been considered overwhelming as he only garnered two 1-A offers from Wyoming and Eastern Michigan.  Then 2016 happened!  Allen exploded on the scene as he led the Cowboys to the Mountain West Championship game  highlighted by thrilling wins over Boise State and San Diego State at 7,220 feet.

As I pondered with amazement how Josh Allen could morph from a recruiting reject into a possible stud NFL QB, I quickly tempered  my amazement.  Such misses happen all the time.  On the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated was David Johnson with the caption, “The Mutant Greatness of the NFL’s best back.”  Johnson grew up in nearby Clinton and amply showed off his athletic gifts as a prep.  Regardless, Iowa discouraged Johnson from even walking on.  Nor did Johnson get a sniff from Iowa State.  Johnson settled for playing at Northern Iowa. In return, Northern Iowa became the beneficiary of 63 touchdowns of production from its surprise superstar.  Johnson’s gaudy stats were not the byproduct of padding against 1-AA competition.  In Johnson’s senior year, Northern Iowa opened at big brother Iowa.  While Iowa had good success defending Johnson’s rushes, the Hawkeyes had no answer for Johnson’s receiving prowess as the versatile star racked up 203 receiving yards — a totally unheard statistic for a running back.  The Hawkeyes must have felt relieved to survive, 31-23.  Against Iowa State, Johnson merely tallied 4 touchdowns.  Despite his extraordinary college career, Johnson was yet again overlooked in the 2015 NFL draft.  Johnson was relegated to the third round as the seventh running back selected.  Given the pass receiving skills that Johnson showed against Iowa, a quality that NFL scouts salivate over in a running back,  the Odyssey still wonders why so many teams passed on one the best players ever produced in the state of Iowa.

I expected the touted Allen to have some success against Iowa’s D and Iowa’s running game to gash the Cowboys.   Hmmm, wrong and wronger!  I failed to fully grasp how the departure of Wyoming’s top 3 receivers would decimate Allen’s options.  An utter indictment of the Cowboys’ 2017 receivers is that the rocket-armed Allen did not even attempt one deep ball in the first half.  The second and later  indictment came when Allen deftly threw a ball into the end zone that most eighth graders would have caught.  Dropped.  Ballgame.

I was shocked that Iowa could hold Wyoming to 3 points. (Though not nearly as shocked that Colorado could hold Colorado State to the same 3 points the previous night.  NOT a good look for the Mountain West! And what did that say about Oregon State?).  Is Iowa’s defense really this good?  We will find out Saturday in Ames.  Iowa’s defensive backs will be challenged by a stunning contrast.  While Wyoming likely will have the least talented receiving corp faced by the Hawkeyes in 2017, Iowa State’s might be the best Iowa faces.  The Odyssey will not be surprised if Iowa State pulls an upset in Ames, especially since Iowa’s offensive line does not appear quite as skilled as we have come to expect from Kirk Ferentz’ troops.

As for Josh Allen, many people saw this game as costing him draft position and money.  He did throw two second-half picks, perpetuating the knock on him.  Too many interceptions and too many balls into stiff coverage.  I believe he deserves the benefit of the doubt as Wyoming’s other skill players do not appear all that skilled.  If Iowa’s defense keeps up their outstanding play in 2017, the competition will also factor in.

Allen was not helped by Craig Bohl’s coaching, surprising to the Odyssey given Bohl’s esteemed pedigree.   In the 3rd quarter, the Wyoming coach made two decisions the Odyssey viewed as  both cowardly and Neville Chamberlainesque.  Down 14-3, Wyoming takes the kickoff and moves the ball to the Iowa 38.  4th and 1 with one of the best quarterbacks in America, Bohl elects to punt.  This decision can only be justified if one clearly thinks the Cowboys are clearly the better team,  electing to play field position with an elite defense.  Wow!

Late in the third quarter, Wyoming’s deficit had grown to 21-3.  The Cowboys have a 4th and 4 at the Iowa 30.  Bohl sends in the field goal unit!!!   Did he not want to try to win the game?  Deservedly, the 47 yard attempt was wide left.  Double Wow!  Bohl should be forced to look at the tape of the  UCLA comeback from a late 44-10 deficit to pull out a miracle.  In this context, how can an 18-point deficit warrant raising the white flag?

The Iowa victory was eerily reminiscent of  its 2003, 21-3 victory over Miami (Ohio).  The Redhawks had a highly touted Senior quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, who threw 4 picks in Iowa City.  His NFL career turned out to be just fine.

Our “farm country” doubleheader again emphasized how traveling to college football games just cannot be duplicated by travel to an NFL game.  DeKalb is a charming town with a surprisingly beautiful campus in NIU.  After the game in Iowa City, one can walk across the Iowa River to College Street and pick among 8 bars in a one block area to watch the next tranche of games with a bunch of college kids.  Does life get much better?  Yes, it can, if you stop off for an evening in Davenport, get on a gaudily lit ferris wheel and can contemplate the majestic Mississippi.