Week 14 Ranking Implications

With the college football season coming to an end there’s very few ranked games coming up this weekend. Making a move up in the rankings this week will be difficult but I do see it happening. Here’s what I have going down:

#19 South Carolina losing to #1 Auburn

#13 Nebraska losing to #9 Oklahoma

#15 Virginia Tech losing to #21 Florida State

This will result in a 2 spot jump up to #15 in the BCS and #12 in the AP. Considering we won’t be getting a BCS game invite you might be asking why does any of this matter? It matters for bowl games. A higher viewed bowl game like the Las Vegas Bowl or the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl are more likely to give a spot to a higher ranked team in the hopes of creating a better match-up and maximizing profit.

With a win against La Tech and the Nebraska losing we could see an invite to the 2 aforementioned bowls. With Virginia Tech going down at the hands of Florida State, that will all but be a guarantee. Goodbye crappy Humanitarian Bowl, goodbye even worse New Mexico Bowl. With BYU already accepting an invite to the Las Vegas Bowl, it will be more likely that Nevada would take the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco and leave the other to once National Champion hopeful, Boise State.

Nevada vs. La Tech

With one game left in the season, Nevada is on pace to finish its best season in history since it’s joined the ranks of the division 1 elite. At 11-1 this Nevada team has shown that it is capable of matching up against any team out there on any given Saturday. Will we ever get that respect? Probably not, but the real fans, the coaches, and the players know it…and that’s all that matters.

Nevada has already traveled as far west as it can go this season (Hawaii), and now it will go as far east as a WAC opponent will let them (Louisiana). Much like Boise State has had Nevada’s number over the past few years; Nevada has had La Tech’s.

The only real question going into this game is how much will Colin Kaepernick play. On the verge of a few more records the question is, does Ault put him in a position to get the records and set his place in history more-so than he already has, or does he save his star quarterback for a bowl game? Either way expect him to play the first half and put up, dare I say Heisman like numbers?

Another question going into this game is what defense will show up. Will it be the defense that allowed Boise State 24 first half points, which by all means is respectable, or will it be the 2^nd half defense that held Boise State to 8 rushing yards? Either way the game should be pretty much in hand, but for ranking sake we need the 2^nd half defense to be there.

Last game we saw great defense from Duke Williams who made a great 1-on-1 tackle in the open field saving a critical first down. Brandon Marshall and James-Michael Johnson also kept their games up and have become one of the best linebacking duo’s in college football this year. But what’s more impressive is #58 Ryan Coulson and the already brilliant Dontay Moch. Both of them are defensive linemen and on every play that we give up for 20 or more yards, one of these two is down field in position to make the tackle. Coming from two “hog-mollies” that’s down right impressive. This defense is fast and outrunning them is a tough task to do, breaking tackles on the other hand might be a bit easier, evident in the Boise State game.

As far as our offense goes we showed last week why we are one of the best offenses in the nation. The pistol went in fully loaded and tore apart one of the best defenses in the country. After a slow start, it seemed like there was nothing that could be done to stop Colin Kaepernick. Unlike previous Boise State games, he took it to the air and lit up their secondary much like we have been lit up in the past. I don’t expect much of a stand from the bulldogs this weekend, if Nevada can tire out Boise State’s defense, it can put La Tech’s to sleep.

Now you might hear that this team is looking past La Tech and they feel like they can do nothing wrong but there’s really nothing to look past. Going into this game a bowl game is guaranteed, which and against whom we will know after this weekend. What’s not is a ring and that trophy. Utah State doesn’t stand a chance entering the smurf turf of Boise. Hawaii hosts UNLV which isn’t a conference opponent so they will finish the season with a ring guaranteed. If Nevada wants that ring, it will take a win against La Tech and they know that. Last week was Nevada’s shining moment, but this week is their championship moment. A win against Boise State means nothing to this team unless there’s a ring associated with it at the end.

I’m expecting a valiant effort from La Tech, but with the swag this Nevada team is walking around with, I expect it too be too little too late. Unfortunately I still don’t see us getting that shut-out. But I do think we will see Mike Ball finally run back a kick-off, unfortunately I see them doing the same thing.

Final Score Prediction

Nevada 48 – La Tech 17

Enough is Enough

“The Wolf Pack will finish AT BEST, 5-3 in the WAC”

These are the words of Juan Lopez, a student who writes for the school newspaper, The Sagebrush. The sad thing is that it’s Nevada’s school newspaper. And this single quote is all I need to remind myself of why I started this blog.

For far too long now I have heard students talking about how bad this Nevada team is, all the while knowing they have no idea what they are talking about. Now I realize that Nevada is not a football school by any means and most of the students who attend don’t really care, let alone know the rules. But you have to realize that those who get their information about this team read it in the school newspaper, at least that’s what I’ve noticed. And quite frankly, the writers of The Sagebrush haven’t known what they’ve been talking about for at least 8 years.

You, Juan Lopez, are part of this problem while you sit there laughing as your friends cheer on this team.

“Their optimistic cheers aimed at the 42-inch flat screen TV in front of them were funny to me. Regardless of what was happening on the field, they thought Nevada would snap out of it. But I knew there was no climbing out of that 17-point hole. Nevada wasn’t mentally tough enough. End result: A 27-21 season-shattering loss.”

You then went on to call this team mediocre for losing to Hawaii saying at best this is a 5-3 team in conference play. I really do enjoy how you didn’t say “if they don’t change fast” or “if they continue to play this way”, you just came out and said that 5-3 is the BEST this team can do as if you’re some expert on college football, or even Nevada football.

The rest of your article went on to criticize Colin Kaepernick (do yourselves a favor and click on the picture, it gets nice and big for you all to read for yourself). Saying the loss was 100% his fault. That he runs too flashy and loose with the ball. That this is the worst playing you have ever seen by Kaepernick and he “is getting progressively worse and it’s bringing down the entire team.”

You basically did everything but say that he needs to be benched.

My question is this, did you cry when you found out we beat Fresno and Boise State? I’m assuming those are the 2 other teams you expected us to lose to, are they not? Or did you act like you never made the statement that this is a 5-3 team at best? Luckily you’ve kept your mouth shut about football since your column after the Hawaii game…until yesterday.
In yesterday’s edition you made no acknowledgment that you were wrong in your prediction although we all know you were just hoping for a loss against Boise State so you could say that we would lose against La Tech as well and you could be right. Because that’s the type of person you are Juan Lopez, you think you know what you’re talking about but you know NOTHING.

What I want to know is why all of a sudden you sounded proud of this team, saying the game “almost brought tears to your eyes.” Or better yet how on October 19, 2010 you threw Colin Kaepernick under the bus, then on November 30, 2010 you called him “the best athlete in school history, hands down.” You then went on to say “This capped Kaep’s career as one of the best players in NCAA football history.”

Now I’m not saying he’s not amazing, in fact I’ve been saying that for at least 2 years now, but since when do you believe this? And do you honestly believe this or are you just writing what everyone else says? You have become the John Kerry of Nevada sports writing with your “flip-flopping” stances.

I’m disappointed in The Sagebrush for not checking individual’s credentials when hiring them. Students rely on you to get the facts straight and all you have done is confused them and filled their heads with nonsense. To be honest I don’t even know why they still publish The Sagebrush, nothing of any worth has been published in there for as long as I have picked it up.

Juan Lopez, thank you for giving me the motivation to continue my blog; I might not understand the game as much as a lot of people out there, but I sure understand it a million times more than you.

Buncha Crap System (BCS) Part 2

Excuse me as I rant, but let’s get this weekend straight BCS ranking wise. It started out with #2 Auburn barely beating #11 Alabama (9 team difference in ranking), and to be honest had McElroy not been concussed, I think Alabama would have pulled off the win.

Then there was an upset in #19 Nevada beating #4 Boise State (15 team difference in ranking). Boise State was a 14 point favorite and yes there was a field goal missed that could have won he game but lets give credit to the Nevada defense who not only shut down a high-powered offense in the 2nd half but also stopped them in overtime.

Number 5 LSU lost to #12 Arkansas (7 team difference in ranking).

Oklahoma State at #9 got beat by #13 Oklahoma (4 team difference in ranking), in what was an amazing 4th quarter by Oklahoma.

#20 Utah barely beats BYU in a game that shouldn’t have even been close.

And then we get the rankings…

#2 jumps Oregon who has done nothing wrong to get the #1 spot.
#11 barely falls, moving back only 5 spots to #16.
#5 drops 5 spots to #10.
#12 jumps 5 spots in comparison.
#9 drops back to the #14 spot, once again a 5 spot drop.
#13 who pulled off the upset moves up 4 spots to the #9 position.
#20 who should have lost stays put at #20, they shouldn’t have any complaints about this.

So, so far everything looks up to par and the only thing to question is did #2 Auburn really deserve to overtake the BCS #1 ranking? Let’s talk about Nevada now who pulled off an amazing come from behind win when all the lights were on them.

#4 Boise State gets booted from the top ten to #11, a 7 rank drop.
#19 Nevada, little sister of the poor Nevada, who put on a show that people will talk about for at least a year jumps 2 measly spots in the BCS.

There is no respect given to a little school, the only thing sports programs are talking about is how Brotzman missed the kick. NOT about how this Nevada team, against all odds, being down 17, went in at halftime and made the adjustments that shut down a potent offense and in the end won the game.

The fact of the matter is this, everyone who has a say in the votes believes this, “Boise State handed the game to Nevada, Nevada did nothing to earn that W”.

Now let us talk about Colin Kaepernick, have we heard anything about him? Forget the records he now owns, he only put up better numbers than Cam Newton but he doesn’t even get mentioned 99% of the time that a commentator talks about that game.

Cam Newton had 216 yards through the air as opposed to Colin Kaepernick and his 259.

On the ground Kaepernick had 45 yards rushing with an average of 4.5 per carry, Newton 1.8 per carry for 39. Should we also mention that Cam ran 12 more times in this game?

Kaepernick threw a pick that was amazingly intercepted and not his fault; it was a ball that should have been caught.

Cam Newton did however bring a team from behind to win a game against a team that was the favorite.

Kaepernick did the same damn thing only showing composure many athletes would rival. With 13 seconds left in the game, Colin was able to tie the game up with an amazing pass into tight coverage.

Just give the guy some credit, that's all I'm asking. Here's were the 2 guys now stand, and keep in mind that by the end of the season, Colin Kaepernick will have put up 4,000 yards of total offense:
The AP poll seems to be more accurate with Nevada at #14, that's closer to what they really are than #17.

Boise St. vs. Nevada Recap

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!!! (as said by Maximus)

What a fun game to watch and an amazing performance but let’s be honest, it takes a little luck, and I love Kyle Brotzman! The game of football is all about how you capitalize when you get a chance and that’s what Nevada did, I’m just glad it wasn’t Ricky Drake kicking our game winner.

The hearts of Nevada fans dropped as somehow Kellen Moore made a hell of a throw downfield and still left 0:02 on the clock to win the game with a field goal. Why we did not have at least 4 men in a deep zone, I still don’t know. But that’s beside the point, the point is that had that kick gone, Boise State would still be getting the praise they deserve. They would hop over TCU and close the gap against Auburn, after what I consider a poor performance on their part. They had a shot at a national title game, although they would have never gotten it, they had a shot.

Boise State is a great team, but so is Nevada, and I’ve been saying that for a while. Do I think Nevada could match up against Auburn or Alabama? Yes, do I think we could win? No, but for so many people to write us out of the Boise State game before it even started, hurt. I never thought I would have to defend myself from my friends who didn’t believe Nevada had a chance. After the first half the odds-makers looked like they overestimated Nevada and that Boise would cover the 14 point spread, thousands of people thought they had just won a nice bet because “Nevada is a horrible team and Boise State is gonna run all over them”. But I said it would be a close game and would be decided on the final possession by 3 points or less…now I may have gotten the score wrong a little but I was pretty spot on.

The first half we played ugly on offense. Their defense had no problem containing us, their offense may not have moved the ball as fast as they usually do but they moved it. The second half though could not have been a different story. After letting them run all over us in the first half we held them to 8…yes I said 8...yards on the ground for the rest of the game. The defense held them to 1-6 on 3^rd downs. This defense who has struggled and people said was horrible was BY FAR the best defense I have seen in college football this year, in the second half that is.

I can only hope that that game showed this Nevada team is better than South Carolina, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas. Unfortunately we will have to wait till tomorrow to find out but it doesn’t seem like it. Hardly any of the commentators are talking about it today and when they do they just state how Boise lost, not that Nevada played an amazing game to knock them off their throne.

The game is over. Nevada has pretty much assured itself a share of the WAC title and a great bowl game. But what has not been discussed are the records that were set last night.

Congratulations to Colin Kaepernick, you are now the only quarterback in NCAA history to throw for 2000 yards and rush for 1000 in the same season, for 3 seasons in a row. I believe this record will stand for a long time if not forever.

Congratulations to Colin Kaepernick and Vai Taua, you are now the most prolific rushing duo in the history of college football passing Eric Dickerson and Craig James. You still have 2 more games to set that number higher.

For now the biggest game in school history is over, Ault can rest, there won’t be the naysayers like there was after the Hawaii game. You proved you are an amazing coach; the adjustments you made at halftime were perfect. You led your team into battle and beat one of the best teams in D1 football.

To everyone who says Boise State didn’t deserve a shot at a national title, if you watched the game last night you saw nothing but praise for them from the commentators, then they showed quotes from all the coaches whose teams have lost to them this year…all of them said that this is a legitimate team and possibly the best in the nation. You killed a Virginia Tech team that lost to a D2 school, but they play in a BCS conference and will win it and get their BCS game. At the end of the season they will be ranked ahead of you just as you will remain ranked ahead of Nevada. This is the cruel world we live in that makes no sense.

If you truly understand football and you watched the game last night, then you know how good of a team Boise State really is and now you know why I said this will be the greatest Nevada team in its school history.

Oh and how cool is this? I took this screen cap at 3:00am PST (click to see a bigger picture of it)...

A Little Dose of HIstory

16-84-5

No that’s not a locker combination that will lead you to millions of dollars. They’re key numbers for amazing records.

16 – The number of yards Colin Kaepernick needs rushing to become the FIRST player in NCAA history to throw for 2000 yards and rush for 1000 yards in 3 consecutive seasons.

84 – The number of rushing yards Colin Kaepernick and Vai Taua need COMBINED to become the most prolific rushing duo in NCAA history. Who holds that record? Just a guy by the name of Craig James and E.D., E.D. by the ways might be one of the greatest running backs to play in the NFL and the 2^nd overall pick of the 1983 NFL draft, none other than Eric Dickerson.

5 – The number of rushing TD’s Colin Kaepernick needs to hold the record for the most rushing TD’s by a quarterback in NCAA history. He currently has 55. With 3 more he passes that guy Tim Tebow who I’ve never been a fan of, and with 5 more he passes Eric Crouch. Now both may have had great college careers but Crouch never made it in the NFL, and well Tebow…let’s just say I hope he doesn’t make it. Either way its great company to be in and leading that category is just another notch on a belt for a quarterback who’s already achieved more than anyone thought possible.

I give you this information because you should know and I can easily see the commentators neglecting all of this information as we see at least 1 record broken tonight. 10:15pm EST, 7:15pm PST, tune your dials to ESPN, it’s going to be a good one.

Week 13 Ranking Implications

Are you excited for this game yet? It’s just a shame it’s this week because this would be a great week to move up in the rankings. Here’s what I have for this week:

#2 Auburn losing to #11 Alabama

#12 Arkansas losing to #5 LSU

#13 Oklahoma losing to #9 Oklahoma State

#17 Texas A&M losing to Texas

#21 Arizona losing to #1 Oregon

What does this mean? Well if Nevada loses we could potentially still be ranked, probably at #25. If Nevada pulls off the upset we might get the recognition we deserve but we will likely hear “I think this is proof that this Boise State team just wasn’t as good as we thought they were and truly did not deserve a chance at the national title”. Regardless I see us moving up 4 spots, and an additional 2-3 for taking down Boise. With a win we might be talking about the #13 or #12 Nevada Wolf Pack.

Regardless it’s going to be a great Friday of college football with the #’s 1, 2, and 4 teams in action, all against ranked opponents.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families! Be safe and enjoy college football!

Buncha Crap System (BCS)

It’s the holiday season and you have nothing better to do than to read this breakdown of the BCS, so it’s a little longer than a normal blog post, but I think you’ll learn something and hopefully enjoy it:

Could there be a better time to discuss this thing called the BCS than right now? No, especially after President Gee, Ohio State University’s President, came out and basically called every school that’s not a part of a BCS automatic qualifying conference a “little sister of the poor”. It’s clear that you sir understand nothing about college football.

The BCS was created to make a means for determining a “true” college football national champion. Let’s cut the bull. The BCS was formed as a way to increase revenue. Is there any surprise that the biggest schools, enrollment wise, and stadium wise, are members of this thing we call the BCS? No those conferences were allowed to be a part of the BCS because of how good their college football teams are (there's just a hint of sarcasm here), so lets look at em;

Big Ten – Ok, this might be the toughest conferences out there but aside from Ohio State, no one else has more than 2 wins in a BCS game

SEC – Florida and LSU, need I say more? They deserve to be there. They also have the highest winning percentage of any BCS conference in those big games (.737).

Big 12 – Oklahoma, Texas, and Nebraska those are the only real contenders year after year.

Pac-10 – They perform well in the big BCS games (.615) but until this year it had been the USC conference.

The last two conferences can easily be kicked out of the BCS and no one would question it:

Big East – This is a basketball conference! This year Pittsburgh will probably win the conference and get a BCS game with a dismal current record of 6-4. West Virginia who might be the best team in that conference is 7-3! In BCS games they don’t perform up to par, they are .500 in BCS games but 3 of those wins came when Miami was still in the conference.

ACC – why are these guys still in the BCS? They have been in 12 BCS games and have won an amazing 2. They hoist a .167 record with Florida State wining 1 and losing 5, and Virginia Tech wining one and losing 2. Everyone else that made a BCS game lost. But lets keep them in there because of the money those schools bring in.

If you combine the Big East and the ACC, they have a combined BCS winning percentage of .333, or they win 1/3 of the games they play in. Sure that’s not a bad percentage and it is college football but lets look at the WAC and Mountain West combined.

The Mountain west and WAC are both .667 in BCS games, but one of those games placed Boise State (WAC) against TCU (MWC) in a copout game where the BCS was afraid to see 2 BCS automatic qualifiers lose to two non BCS conference schools. When Utah got its BCS games, they won. When TCU got its game, it lost to Boise State. When Boise State got its games it won. When Hawaii got its game, it got destroyed. But 5 out of the 6 games were great entertaining games, is that not more important than money? Apparently not.

Don’t put down teams from non automatic qualifying conferences based on where they play. It’s not really up to them, Boise State can’t just make a call to the ACC and say “hey we want in”, well they can but it won’t put them in the ACC. Speaking of the ACC and Boise State…Virginia Tech is going to win the ACC Costal, this is a team that lost to Boise State to begin the season, we won’t even talk about the D2 school they lost to. Is it not logical then that if a team from a non AQ (automatic qualifying) conference beats the champion of an AQ conference from the same year that they are the better team? Put Boise State, TCU, and Nevada in the Big East or ACC and watch all three teams finish in the top 4 if not win the conference.

The BCS is a load of crap. TCU, Boise State, and Nevada (the 3 highest ranked non AQ teams) are all garbage and couldn’t hold their own weight in a real (BCS) conference. That’s what I’ve been hearing from commentators. I’ve also heard that Boise State is THE BEST all around team in college football this year, BUT they don’t deserve to play in a national title game.

Let’s have a playoff system that has been talked about for a while now but will never happen. Why? Because the money isn't there. Here’s how my system goes:

There are 12 conferences including independents. At the end of the season the #1 and #2 team in that conference play to determine the representative. We now have 12 teams which will be ranked by the same coaches and sportswriters that already rank the teams. Then we reward the #1 and 2 teams by giving them byes. I have attached a table (click on it to make it bigger and more clear) with Rankings as numbers and Games as Letters. It will only take 4 weeks, the length of bowl season already, and you can still have your other bowls on the side.

Let’s not penalize teams like Boise State and TCU for not having the luxury of being in a BCS conference, and by all means lets not put them down and call them our “little sister of the poor” especially not when Boise State or TCU would beat your Ohio State this year.

Boise St. vs. Nevada

So Nevada plays possibly the most complete game of the season and drops a spot in the BCS. Welcome to the BCS era ladies and gentlemen. Does this mean anything? Yes, it means if we lose to Boise St. we will be out of the ranking picture.

If there’s one thing different with this Nevada team this year than from years past its that they can step up to the big game. Look at Cal, BYU, and Fresno State. Sure BYU wasn’t as good as they were thought to be, but that’s a team that we easily would have lost to in the past. We also wouldn’t have beaten Cal in the past, and Fresno State would have been up for grabs. Nevada is not exactly a team that can win when they fall behind, so this year that was a positive, and we almost pulled it out against Hawaii as well. Boise State on the other hand is a completely different story, they might be the best team in the nation, definitely the most complete team if you ask me.

But Boise State has always brought out the best in us, we put up great numbers against them and they don’t seem to look so dominant. In years past we didn’t have the team that could beat them yet it was always close and a nailbiter. This year Nevada HAS the team capable of walking out of Mackay a winner and making talking about Boise State a thing of the past. The sad thing is if we win, we won’t get the recognition we deserve, and well Boise State will be talked about how they just were never a really good team. If we lose, I still don’t see Boise State moving up, even if Oregon and Auburn both lose, I can easily see a 1-loss team moving ahead of Boise State and TCU to play in the national championship game. (I’m working on a nice little piece on the BCS which I’ll post this week)

Judging by the spread for this game, the “experts” think it should be a pretty easy win for the Broncos. I beg to differ. I honestly believe that this game will be decided on the final possession of the game and the difference in score at the end will be 3 points or less.

The key to the game is to get the lead early and play mistake free. If Nevada’s defense can hold the Boise State offense on their first 2 possessions and score on their first 2 possessions, we could be looking at an upset. On the other hand if Boise state does the opposite and holds us on our first 2 possessions, we could be looking at a disappointing night. As far as mistakes, this will be a high intensity game and we could see some fights. Those could be a good thing, what’s a bad thing is Ricky Drake kicking another kickoff out of bounds, what is that? 4 times this year so far?

I don’t expect our defense to hold this team scoreless, but I do know that they are capable of forcing them to punt on 4-6 possessions. On the other hand, our offense, if it gets in rhythm can prove extremely difficult for the Broncos defense to contain. I’m expecting the Nevada secondary to back off a little and allow short passes but try everything to prevent the long ones. Maybe even some 3 deep coverage on 2^nd down?

If Nevada is behind by more than 10 at half it’s going to be a tough game to win. Anything closer than that and its anyone’s game. This might prove to be one of the best games of the year

Final Score Prediction

Someone 45 – Someone 48

Week 12 Ranking Implications

So unfortunately this week is not the best week to move up in the BCS rankings. Why does this matter? Because next week is Boise State and it would help to be ranked as high as possible so we don’t get 86’d from the Rankings completely. Here’s what I have for this week:

#6 Stanford losing to Cal

#19 Texas A&M losing to #8 Nebraska

#20 Iowa losing to #9 Ohio State

#21 Mississippi State losing to #13 Arkansas

#16 Virginia Tech losing to #24 Miami

After last weeks poor performance by Stanford and the strong performance by Cal, I do think that Cal can beat Stanford this week. That being said I see us moving up 2 spots. I still hold my ground that this Nevada team is better than South Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Missouri. Hopefully the voters see that this week and we

New Mexico State vs. Nevada

I don’t have much to say about this game except for the fact that it probably shouldn’t be played. New Mexico State is one of the worst teams in all of college football. Their defense is horrible and their offense can hardly be called an offense. This will be a stat padding game for Tyler as I don’t expect to see Kaepernick play but maybe one possession in the second half. The running game will look like a beast as always, and our defense will look like one of the best in the country. I would not be surprised to see this end in a shutout or a killing, speaking of which someone should call 9-1-1 before the game even starts.

The big news about this game is Colin Kaepernick, that guy that I think is the real MVP of college football this year. He will accumulate more than 54 yards rushing and will most likely throw for a touchdown, hopefully to Brandon Wimberly. Why is this important? Well the latter will give him the school record for TD passes. The first however will make him the FIRST player in NCAA history to pass for 2000 yards and rush for 1000 in 3 seasons. If that doesn’t say something about this kid then I don’t know what does. It will be a night of history.

Final Score Prediction

New Mexico State 0-13 – Nevada 42-83

Colin Kaepernick

As the season slowly comes to an end we start seeing who the favorite is to win the Heisman. Now it’s no surprise that Auburn’s Cam Newton is the favorite to take home the trophy, but does he really deserve it? Sure he’s putting up great numbers and sure the quality of play is higher in Auburn’s conference but that shouldn’t matter.

The Heisman is essentially the MVP of all 120 D1 teams. If you ask me the MVP is an individual whom the team would not have been the same without, he is the Most Valuable Player, a game changer, the glue that holds the team together. If we look at the numbers Cam Newton does have better numbers, but they are only slightly better.

Here’s the thing, Cam has only been doing this this year and not without controversy. Whether it’s his fault or his fathers fault, his reputation has and will continue to remain scarred. He plays on a team that’s stacked with talent. Remember the Patriots that had that amazing season and ended up losing in the Superbowl? What happened the next year when Tom Brady went out? A now struggling quarterback looked like he should have been the #1 pick in the NFL draft. My point is with a team like Auburn, you could take 90% of the quarterbacks out there and put them in his place and they will have great numbers. And don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not saying Nevada’s team doesn’t have talent, because its got plenty of it, its just a different level of talent.

On the other hand there’s a kid who 119 D1 schools passed on. A kid that no one gave a shot and when he was finally given that shot he turned into one of the best quarterbacks college football has ever seen, yes I said it. If you want a most valuable player then you have to look at a kid who’s been doing this for 4 years, not just 1. A kid who has amassed 9,237 yards passing, 3,852 yards rushing, and 132 total TD’s; those numbers will grow as there’s 4 games left in his career. He’s also one of 2 quarterbacks to ever throw for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 in back to back seasons, and he’ll make it 3 years in a row this Saturday. I know that the Heisman is not based off of previous year numbers but at some point you need to realize how consistent and how dominating an individual really has been. So he plays in the WAC, is that his fault? Remember nobody else gave him a shot; he didn’t have the option to go to any other conference.

When it comes down to it Cam/Cam’s family has clearly shown that he’s just in the game for the money (as sad as it is). Kaepernick on the other hand could be in the Major Leagues throwing fastballs and being worth a few million but instead he’s in college, getting an education and playing a game that he loves. He’s a kid that if was 18 again and graduating high school, I can almost guarantee 100+ schools would have offered him a full-ride to their institution. All he does is prove every critic wrong, yet when we discuss Heisman candidates his name is rarely mentioned.

Colin Kaepernick will not win the Heisman, he won’t win the Davey O'Brien, he probably won’t even win the WAC player of the year award. They’ll give the Heisman to Cam Newton and 4 years from now take it away due to some recruiting violation. Colin Kaepernick, one of the most dominating players in college football history will never be remembered as he should.

If you really know football and you don’t blind yourself with the politics of conferences then you know who the real Most Valuable Player is.

Nevada vs. Fresno State Recap

In a game that was more than a nail-biter, we saw a Nevada team that we needed to see. This team has not trailed much this season, in fact when we trail this season we usually lose, the only game we trailed was the game against Hawaii. Yes it would have been nice to go into Fresno and completely demolish them, but that’s not what happened. The team was forced to stay in the game which is what will happen come November 26^th (have you circled this date yet on your calendars?).

The defense looked sluggish at times but made plays when they needed to be made. Once again there was strong dominating performances from James-Michael Johnson, Brandon Marshall, and Dontay Moch. I hope you caught the beginning of this game because on Fresno’s first drive of the game Dontay leveled a receiver about 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. Just the fact that a lineman made the tackle that far down the field is impressive, but Dontay flat out laid some wood. The kid runs a 4.2 40-yard dash! More-so the only major problems with the defense were caused by play calling, not players. Sure there was a few missed tackles but other than that I felt like the defense played great.

Offensively it looked like we struggled at times but in the end we made the plays we needed to make. Now lets talk about how bad of a decision Kaepernick’s interception was! I mean he basically threw that into double coverage to a receiver that was blanketed! Yea, I’m sorry but that was a GREAT decision and its something that every Nevada fan should be happy with. Why? You’re either thinking I’m on crack right now or that I’m being sarcastic right?

Well I’m not. That decision shows confidence in Kaepernick that his receivers can make the catch and more importantly that he can put the ball where it needs to be! Now I’ve watched that play probably 10 times over and Malcolm Shepherd should have made that catch.

This game showed we can come from behind and that we don’t get rattled easily. Even the Hawaii game showed us this except we couldn’t come back and win that one. This team has learned what it needs to do to win and if I’m Boise St., I am definitely a little worried about November 26^th. I’m just wondering…will Brandon Wimberly, probably the best wide receiver on this team, get a touchdown this year?

I’m still predicting #18 in the BCS standings!

Week 11 Ranking Implications

Here’s what I have for rankings this week:

#19 Mississippi State losing to #12 Alabama

#24 Kansas State losing to #17Missouri

#23 South Carolina losing to #22 Florida

#25 Texas A&M losing to Baylor

And

#9 Ohio State POSSIBLY loosing to Penn State

So what does this mean? We move up 1 spot? Here’s the thing about this game, its on ESPN, not ESPN2, or ESPN38, just plain old ESPN and its got the 7:30 time slot which means its pretty much the only game on tv at that time. Expect people to be watching especially as the one Heisman hopeful Colin Kaepernick will be breaking two records.

We will move up at least 1 spot this week, with a big win we could move up more. The way I see it right now, Nevada is better than Virginia Tech, Mississippi State, Arizona, and Missouri, which is why I really believe we should be ranked #17 coming into this week. I think with a strong performance against Fresno we could finally get the recognition we deserve.

we could be ranked anywhere from #21-16 come Sunday evening when the BCS rankings are released. In all reality though I see us making a leap to the #18 spot. Now if there’s a crazy week in the top 25 like there was last week, and Nevada wins in commanding fashion, then we could see an even bigger jump, but what happened last week was rare, so lets not focus on that. With a loss this week, it will take nothing short of a win against Boise State to get back in the rankings.

Nevada vs. Fresno State

If you’ve been following my blog you know that I pointed out a few key games earlier in the season. Well this week is one of them as Nevada travels to Fresno. At the beginning of the season this Fresno team was ranked higher than us, then they hit a few speed bumps. I assure you however that they are still a good team and this will be a tough game.

Some good news is that Fresno is banged up at the offensive line position which could alter their play calls. This should also let our defensive line light up their quarterback. If they truly are dinged up and are using some reserves, I expect defensive coordinator Andy Buh to call more blitzes. Look for delayed blitzes coming from the linebacking core in this game; I would not be surprised to see us rack up 6-8 sacks in this one.

Offensively it will be interesting to see if Ault decides to showcase the passing game again or if we take it to the ground. Our rushing game is so good that I’m pretty sure we could win a game without throwing a single pass, but as we saw last week, the more Kaepernick throws the ball the more it opens up the running game, allowing us to get those 30, 40, and 50+ yard runs.

Regardless of how this game is turning out in the 4^th quarter, I expect Kaepernick to stay in for the entirety of the game as this is the best team we will face in the upcoming weeks before Boise St. It is imperative that Kaepernick gets as much practice against a good defense as possible. He will also set 2 records in this game as he only needs 1 rushing TD to become the Schools all time leader, and 1 passing TD to become the Schools all time leader.

I’m calling this a close and entertaining game. I mean ESPN has made it their Saturday night game after all! IF Nevada puts up a dominating performance under the biggest lights there is during the season, expect a big jump in the polls. Nevada is capable of completely manhandling this team but I honestly don’t see that happening, I hope I’m wrong.

Final Score Prediction

Nevada 52 – Fresno State 48

Idaho vs. Nevada Recap

Nevada ranked 18^th?

Is it possible?

I think come tomorrow’s BCS selection show we might just see Nevada sitting at #18. Here’s why: #’s 22,21,19,15, and 12 lost. I think those 5 teams will fall below us in the BCS rankings. #’s 8,6, and 5 also lost but I do not think they will fall below us.

Here’s another thing, Nevada played its best game to date this season. Yes I know that one can argue that our best game was against Cal, but lets be honest, this was complete domination. Nevada racked up 844 yards of total offense, the highest number put up by any team this season. Nevada also used it’s 3^rd string quarterback on it’s final possession.

Now I know Idaho isn’t exactly a great team but we did what we’re supposed to do, pull ahead and keep on moving forward. Our special teams played like crap at times but somehow found a way to remedy their mistakes. Nevada forced 4 turnovers which is what we were supposed to do.

The play of Kaepernick could not have been better. I also want to point out how well Brandon Wimberly, James-Michael Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Duke Williams, Rishard Matthews, Malcolm Shepherd, Lampford Mark, Vai taua, and Mike Ball played in this game. It is rare for 10 players to shine the way these 10 did today. Now if only Isaiah Frey would turn his head more often and join this group.

What I saw today out of this team was a team that DESERVES to be ranked and could compete with every team in the nation. If this kind of play keeps up, we could be seeing a #3 Boise St. vs #14/15 Nevada matchup come November 26^th that should have the Broncos a little weary. As it is right now, I don’t see the spread being more than 7pts. Lets hope that this play keeps up through next week at Fresno St, another tough opponent that we can’t look beyond.

And just in case anyone is wondering, had Nevada not have lost to Hawaii, we could be talking about a team that would most likely be ranked #6 or 7 tomorrow.

Idaho vs. Nevada

There used to be a time not too long ago when playing Idaho meant an easy W. It was a time to get your 2^nd and 3^rd strings some work. That has changed in the last 2 years and Idaho is now actually a decent team.

This game will come down to one thing. Our secondary. Idaho is a pass heavy team and their quarterback is putting up big numbers through the air. Defensively we are rather sound…with the exception of, well the secondary. Dontay Moch has held together that defensive line making it hard to run. The linebacking core is getting ever stronger. Brandon Marshall might have had a little slump at the beginning of the season but every week now he is making HUGE plays. A lot of credit has to go to him and to MLB James-Michael Johnson. They have anchored what used to be a bad part of our defense.

If the secondary can somehow play the whole game like the played the 1^st half of the game against Utah State, this one is in the bag. If they have trouble from the get-go its going to be a nail biter.

I don’t expect our offense to have any trouble putting up points, the only question is will they match us point for point. Nevada needs to get the ball to start the second half, they need to give Idaho the ball to start and the defense MUST force them to a 3-and-out to set the tempo early.

Idaho is no longer a guaranteed game.

Final Score Prediction:

Nevada 51 – Idaho 38

Utah State vs. Nevada recap

National Champs?

In the first half of last night’s game, I saw a team that could be BCS national champions. Ok maybe we shouldn’t take it that far, but I did see a team that could compete against an Auburn, Oregon, Alabama, TCU, or Boise State. It was an amazing display of power and dominance. The defense stood its ground shutting Utah State out. The offense was methodical as always, at times running a 2-quarterback system looking as if it was running drills in practice.

The second half on the other hand was a completely different story. I saw the reemergence of a team that struggled to pull away from San Jose State, unlv, and who eventually lost to Hawaii. That team wouldn’t stand a chance against any of the aforementioned national championship candidates. We hadn’t given up 42 points all season, and the fact that we gave up everyone of those points in the 2^nd half was flat out embarrassing.

I highly doubt any coach on our staff went into the locker room at halftime and used the word “content”, but that seemed to be the motto of the defense. The Aggies had 6 possessions and had 6 touchdowns. Our offense slowed as we were finally forced to punt in the game. Our special teams gave up a return for 6. I can go on and on about how poorly we played in the second half but I won’t.

I can only hope that the players realize that what they did in the 2^nd half was unacceptable. I am sure the coaches will preach it, but the players need to act on it. This was a game that should have ended 77-0, It’s a game that should have reestablished us as a threat to Boise St, but it didn’t.

The only thing more disgraceful than our second half was our fans. To say the stadium was empty was an understatement. I can understand that a lot of our fans have kids and last night was the night to take your kids trick-or-treating, but last I checked students don’t go trick-or-treating anymore. At the start of the game there might have been 100 students in the student section, and at half that number dropped to 45. Now this is a blog and I’m protected by the 1^st Amendment (I hope) so this goes to the students:

To the girls who would have rather gone out dressed like naughty schoolgirls and bad cops, And to the guys that decided it was more important to be Jack Sparrow or a giant penis…Please never show your face at another game. You are not a fan of football, you are a fan of social events. Burn your Nevada clothing because you don’t deserve to wear them. To the 3 girls sitting behind me who were chanting “Come on Collin!” when Tyler Lantrip was our quarterback, please attend your math 101 classes and learn the difference between the number 10, and the number 16. Furthermore the only thing that has continued to disappoint me about The University of Nevada is our sub-mediocre fan base, you say how horrible we are as a team, and then you say we’re great, then we lose a game and nobody comes to the games. How about you refrain from saying anything about the team, and how good or bad we are unless you actually come to the games and learn a thing or two.

Week 9 Ranking Implications

So after a week off in the ranking pictures, Nevada is ranked again coming in at #24. Just to put that into perspective, had Nevada have beaten Hawaii, most likely they would have been sitting at #15 this week. But what happened happened and it’s time to start moving up the ladder again. I see 2 teams ahead of us losing:

#18 Iowa losing to #5 Michigan Stat

#14 Nebraska losing to #6 Missouri

This means a jump of 2 spots to #22, but it could get better. The BCS rankings take into account the AP and the coaches’ polls and right now we sit at #26 in both of those. With a quality win this weekend we could be thrust up to #24 or 23 in those rankings which means we cold leapfrog #23 Virginia Tech who is idle this week. Depending on how well the team plays, meaning we have to show that we aren’t the same team that played the last 3 games, we could even sit as high as number #20.

Look for Nevada to be sitting at #23-20 come Sunday, realistically I’m predicting #21. Without the loss to Hawaii, maybe as high as #13.

Utah State vs. Nevada

Lets all hope that 2 weeks ago was a wake-up call for our team.

Utah State might not have the stats numbers we have but they are still a good team. A far cry from San Jose State.

In the past few weeks if you watched Nevada, you could see that they were tired. The emotion that they started the season with had dwindled away. This bye week that just past should have been a nice rest for the team and should allow them to come back out refreshed. I believe that this Nevada team will come out Saturday night and have shades of the Nevada of past, before our slump.

I expect our defense to step up their game, and the offense to go back to firing on all cylinders. Utah State's passing game might be the only question affecting the score. If it's hitting, they will keep up for a bit, if its not, it will be over soon.

Final Score Prediction:

Utah State 10 - Nevada 45

P.S. In a text sent to me by #4 Brandon Wimberly after the Hawaii game, he simply said "It won't happen again". Let's hope he's right.

In Defense of a Great Coach

Lets all point the finger at Ault!

That’s going to be the talk on campus come Monday and it will probably be echoing throughout the community.

Why do we have to mimic Philadelphia fans? Get real here people, last time I checked Ault doesn’t put on a helmet and shoulder pads and line up in the field of play. This is college football, anything can happen on any given day. If we’re going to start chanting “fire Ault”, then Alabama fans should be chanting “fire Saban” and Ohio State should be chanting “fire Tressel”. I mean come on, those were teams ranked #1 when they lost. We were ranked a measly #19, and quite honestly, with the way we’ve been playing, we didn’t deserve that.

Do we lay the blame on Kaepernick? I mean he did have 2 fumbles, 1 of which should have been a touchdown, and 2 interceptions? Or do we lay the blame on Wimberly because he let the last interception go off his hands? How about Dontay Moch for not having more sacks in this game? No, you move one. These aren’t professionals, they went out there and, maybe not in the 1^st half, but in the 2^nd half played with every last drop of heart and energy they had. So you applaud them on a valiant effort.

Lets face it, if we would have gotten a BCS game, it might have been against Alabama or Auburn, or Ohio state, and as must as I would love to say we would have hung in there (notice I’m not saying win here), we would have been slaughtered. I’m talking 70-3 type stuff here. But that’s not the point, the point is we got the BCS game right? Let me tell you something, I’m a Buffalo Bills fan, we went to 4 straight Superbowls, and lost them all. When I tell someone I’m a Bills fan and they say “Boy I Love Losing Superbowls” or how we couldn’t win one, I say at least we were good enough to get to 4 in a row…and you get laughed at because it means NOTHING. Anyone remember Hawaii’s Sugar Bowl experience? Exactly, its not brought up.

We can only hope that this game was a wake up call for the team, that we go into this bye week focused, and that we come out like a real football team and not one that struggles to pull away from San Jose State and UNLV. We beat Cal and BYU, big deal, I hate to break it to you but those teams suck.

All I’m saying is the man has over 200 wins. He’s had teams lead the nation in passing in one year and rushing in another year, the only coach in history to be able to claim that. He’s in the college football hall of fame. He invented an entire offensive system that’s taking the game of football by surprise. The only thing he hasn’t done is parted the Red Sea. Give the guy a break and think for yourself before you follow the masses.

Week 7 Ranking Implications

At the end of this weekend the only rankings that matter will be released, the BCS rankings. This might come as a shocker to all of you out there who aren’t familiar with the BCS, but don’t be surprised to see Nevada drop in the rankings. I have 3 teams ahead of us losing this week.

#12 Arkansas losing to #7 Auburn

#15 Iowa losing to Michigan

#18 Wisconsin losing to #1 Ohio State.

So looking at this you might think that those teams are all within our reach of ranking so we will move up 3 spots to #16 in the AP poll and #18 in the USA today poll. This matters a little bit as the BCS system takes this into account, but the other parts of the BCS don’t favor us too well.

Our strength of schedule might be one of the worst in college football this year. Although it did not look to be that way coming into the season, reality is that we are 6-0 against teams with a combined record of 10-23. And 4 of those wins are from D2 school Eastern Washington. Take them out of the picture and our opponents are only 6-21, that’s horrid.

Realistically I’m predicting the following rankings:

AP: 18

USA Today: 19

BCS: 22

I hope I'm wrong about the BCS, but just remember that being ranked at all is an accomplishment in itself. Also remember that this is a tough game and a must-win as is every game from here on out.

Nevada vs. Hawaii

So you want a shootout? There probably wont be a better one this season.

This weeks game against Hawaii is far from being called a sure thing. Hawaii may not be able to run the ball well, but their passing attack more than makes up for it. Their starting quarterback, Moniz, already has 2,245 yards through the air. For comparison Kaepernick is standing at 1,321. Big deal right? Well here’s the thing, our secondary is starting to struggle again and this game could be a trap.

Defensively this year we turn it up in the second half, evident of most teams scoring the majority of their points in the first. Pressure from the defensive line has to be enough to make Moniz make bad throws because Hawaii’s receivers will beat us down the field. If we can keep those receivers contained however, we could have quite a nice number of sacks on the evening.

Offensively we have to avoid the stupid penalties we’ve been committing as of late. I don’t see their defense being able to stop us, but Kaepernick has thrown 3 interceptions, 1 in each of the last 3 games, this could hurt as here as stopping them on defense will be tough.

There will be critical performances expected of Brandon Marshall and James-Michael Johnson as they will find themselves in man to man coverage on wide receivers. Isaiah Frey needs to turn his head, which he probably won’t. Some how we need to force 3 turnovers or it will be a nail-biter.

I hate to say it but I see this one close till the end.

Final Prediction:

Nevada 55 – Hawaii 45

Total Yards Prediction:

Nevada 660 – Hawaii 595