Every so often in college football a new system develops that's almost impossible to contain...from the Split T in the 50's to the Veer and Wishbone in the 60's...up to Purdue's "basketball on grass" and other spread formations in the last ten years. At first the new formation destroys everything in its wake: eventually spreading to other college campuses like a virus as a slew of teams adopt the new setup.
This year's innovation? Not a formation or system but a disease; as Swine Flu's ravaged a few teams already. Sixth ranked Mississippi is the most notable: quarterback Jevan Snead and Dexter McCluster are among 30 players to have missed practice. Wisconsin, Duke, Tulane and Washington State have also been attacked by the sickness. Next to the plastic ball room at a Chuck E Cheese, a college football team is the ultimate environment for disease spreading-- a contagious confluence if you will: large groups confined to small quarters for extended periods of time--all that's missing is that craw space tunnel that goes over the ski-ball alley.
Teams have tried to contain the circumstances to varying degrees with ramped up sanitation by everyone...hand-wipes and the like with players doing Lady MacBeth imitations...as well as pre-emptive quarantine on those infected. With college football's "every Saturday a season unto itself" mindset where a loss can ruin national or conference title hopes, Swine-flu is the other shoe that's waiting to drop across the nation.
Alma mater update--Syracuse fell to 0-2 with a 28-7 loss at Penn State...the Orange played much better than they did in last year's 42-point loss to PSU. If the Nittany Lions have trouble running the football (35 carries for 78 yards) against SU--how will they fare in the Big Ten? I'm still having trouble adjusting to Greg Paulus at quarterback...it's akin to casting Billy Zabka as one of Michael J. Fox's teammates in "Teenwolf".
MARYLAND avoided disaster at home with a 38-35 come from behind overtime victory over James Madison...Chris Turner bouncing back from throwing a pick-six to guide the offense to a pair of game-saving scoring drives. Terrapin Triumphs-- Torrey Smith tallied 8 catches for 80 yards, a touchdown run and a kickoff return for a score... linebacker Adrian Moten notched 13 tackles... freshman kicker Nick Ferrara drilled a 26 yard field goal in OT to deliver victory. Terrapin Troubles-- the defense allowed 268 yards rushing and watched the Dukes post 22 straight points... the offensive line didn't generate a lot of running room and allowed three sacks.
#14 VIRGINIA TECH returned to form with a 52-10 thumping of Marshall... returning the Blacksburg faithful from the edge after a tough loss to Alabama. They might not be a national title contender, but coach Frank Beamer's bunch is definitely the class of the ACC. Hokie Highlights-- 444 yards rushing...David Wilson tallies 165 yards and a touchdown while Ryan Williams adds 164 yards and three scores...the defense allowed just 3.8 yards per pass attempt... Jayron Hosley highlighted a solid special teams effort by scoring on a 64 yard punt return. Hokie Humblings-- seven penalties can't be reassuring... and with a 42 point win, there's not a lot to complain about.
VIRGINIA fell to #16 TCU 30-14...in what appears to be the beginning of a nightmare season. Just take heart: last year's edition went 4-0 in October after a rough first month (although UVa finished the season with four straight defeats). Cavalier Congrats--after the hot-potato afternoon against William & Mary, it was nice to see just one turnover... UVa also kept the penalties down with just three for 30 yards. Cavalier Catastrophies-- a non-existent offense had just 73 yards before mop-up time in the fourth quarter...Jameel Sewell had as many sacks as completions (8)...the defense coughed up 203 yards on the ground and was on the field for 20+ minutes in the second half.
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