Saturday, December 01, 2007

Watching the beginning of the RU/Ville game I continually asked myself where was this RU offense coming from? Teel can play the QB position fairly well but all season long its been either his bad thumb causing inconsistencies Or his talented WR's dropping easy catches. Early on the RU offense looked like a well oiled machine. I felt they were playing over there head. However I was asking myself what I did I miss when capping this game?? Once it got 21-3 there was obvious concern that was somewhat mentally downplayed by the fact that I knew WVU jumped out to a big lead and the Cards were able to come back. Helping matters was that was @ WVU and this was home. So once 21-3 came I was basically waiting for that 1 play or drive that iced the game whether it be on offense or defense. It never came. If your watching that game you had to feel pretty good about Lville winning it after the Cards scored right before half. It did a number of things for the Ville. It instilled some confidence , some life in the fans that were left , it cast some doubt in the RU defense and it showed how quick the Louisville O could change the game if the defense could slow RU. I felt all along that while the Cards defense had not played fgood all season the past month it had shown great improvement and the 2nd H it showed. Once the held RU to a FG when they were inside the 5 yd line it became a question of could Ville sustain momentum. Could they score and cut it to 7? Well they did rather easily and quickly. Then they got another stop and could they do it again. The momentum just built and really if you sit back and think about it was the exact same thing that happened in last years meeting. It was like the UNIVERSE evening out....so tough PUSH hopefully for the RU backers and a nice win that should have been easier by Ville....So while it looked very lucky for Ville backers I would simply ask what made you BET RU in the 1st place ?? What advantage did they have ?

More NCAAF :

11AM start : MAC Championship CMU vs Miami Ohio:


Miami Ohio +3.5

After looking at these teams I have decided one thing . While CMU is extremely talented on OFFENSE it's overalll team effort is very average. There defense is poor and they are prone to penalties. Miami has played very sound defense and we know defense wins championships.

What I find concerning is that while Miami lost last week it had 5 FG's including 3 that were kicked inside the 5 yard line. They also won the time of possession and held Ohio to 200 yards of total offense!! Where CMU lost the TOP , had more turnovers , more penalties and yet had a 2-1 yardage advantage. Look at CMU lately. They got smoked @ Clemson , beat a 3rd string Frosh QB by 9 @ Kent State , edged WMU by 3 , lost at home to EMU by 3 and won @ Akron by 3 .

To me the best thing CMU did all year was win convincingly @ Ball State. However they were really under the radar due to shabby play and were catching 12 that day cause Ball State had been on somewhat of a roll and CMU had lost to North Dakota State at home. However Miami Ohio also won @ Ball State in the opener 14-13 catching only 4 points....

So basically what I am getting at is minus the Akron game the Miami Ohio Offense has been able to move the ball. I believe Brandon Murphy played last week and got 4 carries which would be a huge lift if he is available. CMU pulled two wins out of its ass on the road @ WMU and @ Akron. They just dont impress me as a TEAM and there schedule hasnt done much for me either......plus they fact they coasted the past two weeks doesnt help either IMO.....

C-USA :

Despite believing that UCF is the much better team I think 7.5 is to many here. Tulsa run defense isnt that bad its there pass defense thats horrendous. Which means you need more from Israel then previously IMO. No doubt Smith will get his but Israel will have to play well and for me he is to inconsistent. So small lean to Tulsa covering the 7.5 with senior Paul Smith at the gun. Really the Houston win was so impressive where as UCF was beating up bottom dwellers . Naturally there defense vs Rice and Army is alarming ....which means Over 74 looks low....42-38 Final?

Army vs Navy:

Army is not a very good team. However Navy's defense especially its pass defense is poor. I did notice that carson Williams played well vs a similiar bad Tulsa defense and even versus another bad pass defense in CMU. Navy is 0-5 ATS laying 7 or more and there wins have been by 11 3 times and twelve once. so they havent won a game allseason by two TDs. While Army played a very tough schedule littered with solid defenses. BC , GT , Wake from the ACC and even RU and AF sport above average power conference defenses IMO. So if you believe Army will score then take the points...navy should get there 38-42 which tells you why the total is 65 cause they expect Army to score at least 24....thinking about taking the points in the rivalry game cause Army should be able to score and Navy hasnt stopped anyone.....Also Army did a sound job vs the triple option last year and they prepare for it and are feeling confident they have a legit shot in this game if the defense performs like it did last season vs Navy and the offense builds off the Tulsa performance......plus anytime a team has 3 straight wins that 4th year the senior class always wants that one real bad....



GL

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