Monday, December 5, 2011

Championship Weekend Wrap!

Well, I have to admit, it was an exciting Saturday and you’re a happy fan if you’re anyone besides a Sparty. Case in Point:

-Michigan in a BCS Bowl (the Sugar) against the HOAKIES! (Who have to be really surprised!)
-Georgia playing on New Year’s Day (sort of) against aforementioned Spartys!
-Wiscy and Oregon in the Rose!
-Stanford and Okie State in the Fiesta!
-Clemson and WVU in the Orange! (I shouldn’t have put an exclamation point there, but whatever….)
-LSU vs. Alabama in the BCS Championship…We’ll get to that in a minute.

So, of everything I saw, and I saw most of the Wiscy – Sparty game, I was hoping and praying that the B1G 10 Championship wasn’t a complete blow out and it would be the game that everyone was talking about and I was also hoping that Sparty would lose….And did they ever in classic Sparty fashion!  So both my wishes came true.  The B1G was the only game worth a crap after about 10.

Dantonio made some great calls in that game and then, THEN he tries to block the punt with 1:57 and time outs left???? Can SOMEONE (anyone) explain that to me? And then Sparty gets the big return that’s completely nullified and they don’t even get the ball! Stupid, Stupid, and More Stupid….I’m not even sure there’s a qualifier I can put on how stupid this was….But let’s try, shall we?

1. If you’re going to block the punt, why even have a returner back catching the ball?
2. If you’re going to go for the block, you better make DAMN sure at that point in the game that you can get it. Get the ball, take out the kicker, but get in there with a 90% confidence that you can touch ball and block the thing…
3. Otherwise, set up the return and play the 60 yard or so field with the two minutes and timeouts you have left….

Dantonio called a brilliant game right up to that point. Then he came out and said he called for the block attempt. If that’s true, then he truly is an idiot of immense proportions that needs a refresher in basic football….

Wiscy wins, which the ole MMQ can stomach a lot easier than Sparty being the inaugural winner of the B1G 10 Championship…Sorry Sparty! Have fun in Tampa!

The BCS Mess
Championship Saturday in Review:

Okie State vs. MUCH Laters: Okie State just turned the heat up on what was supposed to be a BCS Championship Season for Stoops and company. For the first 5 weeks of the season, all anyone heard was Oklahoma…If that’s true and Oklahoma is still what they were originally said to be, why didn’t Okie State’s SOS numbers in the computers support them a little better? And why didn’t the voters support them a little more? One Iowa State loss after the death of the women’s basketball coach and you’re pretty much done for the season? Well, okay then….

Va Tech – Clemson: Well, the FMQ blew this one…Or maybe Beamer did. It was obvious that A-Little-Dabo-‘ll-do-ya had his kids more than ready to play…Beamer, not so much. So, will that be the team Michigan sees in the Sugar? More on that in a minute.

Oregon – UCLA: Are you kidding me? How in the world does Kelly’s Heroes only score 49 on that defense that gave up over 50 to Utah? Anyone? Another FMQ nightmare scenario….

LSU – Bulldogs: the Dawgs stood firm for the first quarter, but then the LSU slow grind just wore them down…Richt’s job is safe for another year with a 10-3 finish, but so much more was expected.

So, am I happy with the re-match? What’s the difference? Meaning if you’re reading between the lines, I’m not happy but I realize it’s the system we’re stuck with….I understand why the rule was put in where “you don’t have to be the (a) conference champion to compete for the National Title (Thanks Domers.) But I also understand that Okie State’s 1 loss is so much worse than Satan’s. If Okie State would have just taken care of business, we’re not having the discussion. So, it is what it is. Let’s just enjoy what we currently have, but I’m willing to bet something in the system changes sooner rather than later….

BCS Rankings

1. LSU – Shame they have to attempt (and probably will) beat the same team twice.
2. Satan’s Warriors – Of course, Satan is probably already making deals with the Devil for a victory…Can you imagine if he loses to the Hatter twice in one season? Tuscaloosa will scream for a new coach…Miles?
3. OKIE STATE Cowboys: I really like the Fiesta Matchup. I think it’s fitting that two of the better teams this year are playing each other and wouldn’t it be nice if there was a “plus 1” this year for the winner of this one and the LMU - Satan victor? Thought so….
4. Stanford – Mr. Lucky still has a shot at the Heismann….but it’s a long shot.
5. Oregon – Nice Rose Bowl Match-up…Still not sure Wiscy can handle Oregon’s speed….
6. Arkansas – Name the last time an SEC team was in the top 6 of the BCS and didn’t make a BCS bowl….I couldn’t do it, either.
7. Boy’s State – hee-hee…HAHAHAHAHAHA! I especially loved Herbstreit’s “Dis” of the Sugar for overlooking Boise State. That was priceless and should be sent to every recruit that’s thinking about going there. And I’m sure that was a not to subtle nudge to Boise to consider (seriously) a Big 12 or Big East nod. They need all the teams they can get.
8. K-State: No 2nd Big 12 team into the BCS? Could it be that they simply aren’t getting enough support?
9. Southern Cal – Would have been in the Rose Bowl, maybe…
10. Wiscy – See Oregon above. But this game might be closer than anyone thinks…
11. Va Tech: Fifth place and you drop 6 spots after getting blown out in your Championship game…but that keeps you in a BCS spot…
12. Baylor – I can’t believe how far THIS TEAM fell in the pecking order….Alamo Bowl? Really? Against Washington??
13. MICHIGAN: Heh-heh….He who laughs last, laughs well….
14. Laters – New Year’s day….Not Bad….
15. Clemson – BCSing on their own night in the Orange!
16. Dawgs – I like the MSU and Doggy matchup…two underachievers looking to beat each other’s brains out….
17. Sparty: Speaking of Underachievers….Heh-heh….HAHAHAHA! But at least you’re on New Year’s day!
18. TCU: Too bad, so sad…
19. Houston…Wow. Think Sumlin’s distractions hurt the team prep?
20. Nebraska – Capitol 1 bowl bid…Not bad for 1st year in the B1G 10…
21. SMU – Mullen’s last year in Purple? Or whatever color that is…
22. PSU – I’m not surprised how far this team fell…I was actually thinking Motor City…
23. WVU: Best of the Big East in a BCS game!
24. Texas – At least they’re bowling…
25. Auburn – Ditto

The Bowls

Too many, too boring, and in some cases, named so poorly that it makes you wonder if people are just trying to make you laugh...(think I'm kidding?  Say them out loud in the office.  People will laugh!) 

These bowls are bowls that I might watch if the TV is on and there is absolutely nothing else to watch type bowls…

NEW MEXICO (se habla ingles?) – Temple and Wyoming
IDAHO POTATO (Or the “What Did We Do To Deserve This?”) – Ohio vs. Utah State
R+L CARRIERS (‘Cause Truckers Need a Bowl, Too!  I mean, besides the one the Suckeyes go to)  SDSU vs La Lafayette
BEEF O’BRADY’S (Isn’t Beef O’Brady’s enough of an insult?) Fla. Intl vs. Marshall
POINSETTA (Or the San Diego County Credit Union – Seriously) TCU vs. La Tech
MAACO (Or the “You Wonder why Paint Jobs Cost So Much) Boy’s State vs. ASU
Hawaii Bowl: (Hard to make fun of this one…Hawaii at Christmas AIN’T ALL BAD!) Nevada vs. Southern Miss
INDEPENDENCE BOWL: (Or the “Shreveport La REALLY needs a bowl, Too!) Missouri vs. UNC
Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl (Or the We’re the LAST TEAM IN THE B1G that no one else wanted vs. the MAC): Purdue vs. Western
BELK BOWL: (or the “What the Hell is a Belk?) Lousivill vs. NC State
MILITARY BOWL: (so the Armed Forces get a team to the Bowls, too) Toledo vs. Air Force
HOLIDAY BOWL: (‘Cause there’s nothing else to do on December 28th) California vs. Texas (How the mighty have fallen…)
CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL (Because there needs to be a Bowl for Losers Like the DOMERS – JEEZ I HATE THESE GUYS!) Domers vs. FSU
ALAMO BOWL: (‘Cause San Antonio needs to raise the prices on River Walk before New Year’s Eve) Washington vs. Baylor
ARMED FORCES BOWL: (So Army has a place to play, too) BYU vs. Tulsa…Wait a minute, Armed Forces is in the name for God’s Sake!
PINSTRIPE BOWL: (Or the “How Much Longer do you Think They Can Make This one Last?) Rutgers vs. Iowa State
MUSIC CITY: (‘Cause not everyone visits Opryland for the Music and low prices) Mississippi ST. vs Wake Forest
INSIGHT BOWL: (I didn’t think I could actually get tired or run out of ideas for calling these fleabag bowls something funny, but I did.) IOWA vs. Oklahoma
MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL: (‘Cause guys like Pimpin’ their ride) Texas A&M vs. Northwestern
SUN BOWL: (Why not? El Paso should get a bowl, too!) Georgia Tech vs. UTAH
LIBERTY (Nashville’s got a bowl, we’re keeping ours!) Cincinnati vs. VANDY
KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER BOWL: (Cause no one had taken the name, “KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER BOWL.com yet) Illinois vs. UCLA
COMPASS BOWL: (So we know which way were going) SMU vs. PITT
GO DADDY: (Why the Hell not?) Arkansas State vs. No. Illinois

The rest of these are decent bowls worth tuning in for….

CHIC-FIL-A: Virginia vs. Auburn
TICKET CITY: PSU vs. Houston…PSU fell a LOT further than anyone thought….
OUTBACK: Sparty vs. Georgia
Capitol One: Nebraska vs. South Carolina
GATOR (Taxslayer.com) : Suckeyes vs. Gatorland…(Think Urb will be on the sideline?)
COTTON: K-State vs. Arkansas
ROSE: Wiscy vs. Oregon
FIESTA: Stanford vs. Okie State
SUGAR: MICHIGAN vs. Va Tech
ORANGE: West Virginia vs. Clemson
National Championship: The Hatter vs. Satan…

THE MMQ’s

So, each week I write about something in all the games I either watch or attend. I figured, why not hand out some MMQ awards in the process?

1. Game of the Year: I’m a little biased here, but Michigan – Domers has to be an all timer for one of the Best Evers, Instant Classics, call it what you will…
2. Best Play of the Year: Same Game - DeRob Scooping up the fumble at the end of the 3rd quarter and scooting in for 6….It might not have been the biggest or longest, but it changed the complexion of that game.
3. Best Comeback: I wanted to say Michigan – Domers again, but I saw a few more games than that. NC State coming back from 27 down to beat Maryland has to be the one.
4. Nickname of the Year: Honeybadger…I had to actually look it up when I first heard it.
5. Coach of the Year: Brady Hoke. Nobody saw this coming…Well, one guy.
6. Disappointment of the Year: So many to choose from – Texas A&M, FSU, Laters, Sparty, Nebraska, Texas, Tennessee, Gatorland, Gophers, ASU, Arizona, DOMERS…I can’t pick one. Let’s just give them all the nod, call it “Ragu” (you know, “it’s in there!”) and remember that not all pre-season prognostications are everything they are cracked up to be.
7. Biggest Laugher of the Year: Just happened. The fact that Boy’s State didn’t get a BCS nod and Lowly Va Tech did…That just cracks me up. Boy’s State needs some fans besides Pat Forde….
8. Biggest Cheater of the Year: Satan, who else? Let’s oversign some more!
9. Worst overturned play of the Year: Fitz’s TD against ohio…
10. Best Coaching Hire: (So Far – And I don’t know how you top it) Urban Legend.

Idle Thoughts From Saturday

-Houston is LOSING! Big!
-They look like crap, too!
-Maybe this team isn’t so good after all.
-Which is why you can’t have teams like this in Big Bowls.
-Who wants to see that?
-Southern Mississippi just cost Conference USA $7M….
-Or I guess you can say that Houston cost themselves…
-Can Georgia actually pull this off?
-Uh-oh, Honey Badger on the loose!
-Georgia over LSU or even a possibility of covering? Heh-heh…Nope
-Well, we’re seeing which Sparty Team Showed up…
-Okay, maybe not.
-Jeez, does the B1G 10 play defense?
-Clemson came to play.
-Bedlam was kind of anticlaimatic…
-The Laters looked like they really just quit…
-Is that the “Big 12 sticking together?” to possibly get Okie State into the Championship?
-Don’t you love Conspiracy theories?
-Sparty is playing some smart football….pinning them back, set of the return for possible game ending score.
-What’s this!!!????
-Why would you try to block that punt?
-Sparty collapses in classic fashion…Is that too much or will they at least try to add a highlight on the end with an Outback Bowl Win?
-We’ll have to check the ole spread on that one when they come out…
-Haven’t seen anything early yet…..But when I do, the FMQ will be there!

The Hot Seat – Championship WEEK!

Well, here we are! Last week’s nominee, Miss Hough, was just barely edging out Jenn Brown and then all of a sudden over the weekend, a whole slew of votes came in on Lucy Pinder! Now, there may be some tampering going on or someone from overseas is stuffing the ballot box, I dunno. I have the Blog investigators trying to figure out if there’s any hanky panky as this week’s vote will decide who we get to look at for the entire off season in the upper right hand corner of the Blog!

In no particular order, the weekly winners were:

1. Abigail Spencer (by default)
2. Alexa Flutie
3. Analeigh Tipton
4. Katarina Van Derham
5. Ali Larter
6. Jenn Brown
7. Lucy Pinder

That’s it! Here’s a refresher for everyone on the weekly winners (MMQ selections) and hopefully helps brighten your day as we have reached the end of the regular season. 

Be sure to vote and vote often!  I have left the poll open until December 24th in order to give voters extra time to find any additional computers they might have access to in order to cast additional votes for their favorite!



Abigail


                                                                                                    Alexa

Analeigh
Katarina





                                     Jenn Brown

                                                      Lucy Pinder

GONE list:

1. LOCKSLEY – New Mexico
2. Mike Stoops – Arizona…Sorry, I didn’t see this one coming….
3. Nutt – Ole Miss
4. Joe Pa. It gives me no pleasure typing that…
5. Zook - Illinois
6. Fickell - OSU
7. Neuheisel - UCLA
8. Turner Gill - Kansas
9. Wulff - Wazoo
10. Sherman – Texas A&M
11. Erickson – ASU
12. Withers – north Carolina
13. Tom Bradley – PSU interim
14. Pat Hill – Fresno State
15. Larry Porter – Memphis
16. Toledo – Tulane
17. Steve Fairchild – Colorado State

You know what I think?  I think Brady Hoke got a whole bunch of guys fired this year who might otherwise still have jobs....

Hot Seat Rank for 2012

1. Brian Kelly – Champs Bowl this year…If he’s not at least 10-2 next year, he’ll be number 1 on the list. I keep hearing and seeing the comparisons to Michigan and how Hoke took Michigan’s “Athletes” and turned them around…Making Domer Nation very angry with this coach…Heh-heh…

FMQ Betting Results:
I don't really want to comment on this week except to say that I really, really thought we were going to do a lot better than we did.  Hopefully, we can make a big bowl run (think last year) and we'll get a little more on to the positive side of this mess....

Virgina Tech vs. Clemson (+7) – (The ACC Gets 1 Team in a BCS Bowl Game)
Take the Hoakies and lay the 7 for $80
Well, that sucked….What the hell…Beamer’s Boys DESTROY Virginia the week before and can’t get up for the title game? Really?

Bedlam (De-Facto Big 12 minus 3 Championship)

Oklahoma vs. Okie State (-3)
Take Okie State and lay the 3 for $50
One Right: BANK: $95

Wiscy (-9.5) vs Sparty – The REMATCH
Take Wiscy and lay the 9.5 for $60
First, Sparty doesn’t show up, then he shows up! I would have preferred the lay down like early in the game here…..

Ducks (-31) vs. UCLA (The R U Kidding me? Championship)
Take the Ducks and lay 31 for $100
This one simply blows my mind…What, did Kelly grow a conscience over night or something? Why take pity on a team that really, really sucks? Sheesh…

Georgia vs. LSU (-13.5) (The SEC pseudo Championship)
Take LSU and lay the 13.5 for $60
THANK YOU MR. HATTER FOR DOING THINGS RIGHT!
WIN: BANK: $114

Parlays

3 way pays 6 to 1
Hoakies – Ducks – Wiscy for $50
THIS ONE REALLY BURNS MY ASS…If I had taken all of these the other way, WIN!!!!!!

Starting Bank: $1409.50
Total Win: $209
Bank: $1,342.50

Enjoying the Ride....MMQ

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