Cap’n Ken’s Homespun Wisdom

September 29, 2006

LSU / SEC Week 5 Predictions

Filed under: College Football, LSU Football — Cap'n Ken @ 7:11 pm

There”s something so very wrong about Tiger Stadium football at 11:30 a.m. Not Thursday night wrong … but damned unnatural. At least it”s only MSU, so No. 10 LSU should be able to handle that with sleepy morning eyes.

LSU 38 – 3

Elsewhere in the SEC: Alabama at No. 5 Florida: Big temptation here to pick a Bama upset after last week”s disaster at Arkansas. Those things just seem to happen sometimes. And Florida wasn”t particularly sharp against Kentucky. OK, I”ll bite. Tide 27 – 24

No. 9 Georgia at Ole Miss: I pity the Rebels. Dawgs 34 – 3

No. 18 Tennessee at Memphis: The Vols go cross-state to play at Memphis? Interesting. Luckily most Tennessee fans can”t afford that much gas, so there won”t be 100,000 hillbillies in orange prison garb hanging around. Vols 31 – 10

Central Michigan at Kentucky: I”d love to pick CMich here, and it”s pretty tempting. But I shant. Cats 21 – 20.

Temple at Vandy: Sure, the Dores are 1-3, but they kept it close against Alabama and Arkansas and kept their Michigan game closer than Notre Dame did. I”m proud of those brainiacs. And Temple sucks. Dores 24 – 7

If anybody missed my quick pick (in week 4 comments) of the unnatural Thursday SEC game, I did pick Auburn, but I was unhappy to get that one right.

September 27, 2006

Correctvisionist History

Filed under: College Football — Cap'n Ken @ 1:19 pm

Watching Bob Costas” interview with Reggie Bush today, I was shocked by the Costas description of Bush”s time at USC:

From Helix High School, Bush went on to an epic career at USC. He helped the Trojans to a national championship in his sophomore season, but they relinquished that title after a thrilling upset at the hands of Vince Young”s Texas Longhorns at this year”s Rose Bowl.

But what about the “national championship” USC “won” in 2003? As a freshman, Bush certainly “helped” the Trojans (521 rushing yards, 314 receiving yards; 7 TDs) in 2003, so it”s not that Costas was leaving out 2003 because of how he described Bush”s role in 2004.

Jesus, could Costas actually realize USC didn”t win the national championship in 2003? Surely not.

September 25, 2006

LSU / SEC Week 4 Recap

Filed under: College Football, LSU Football — Cap'n Ken @ 10:36 pm

OK, I got very little to say about LSU / Tulane, mostly because I only watched about five plays out in Vegas. I guess I should have gone and laid down some cash on the game. I actually did watch the Alabama / Arkansas game because our hosts were “Bama fans. Tough to say it at the time, but that was a hell of a fun game. Obviously the Tide should have taken that one, but my pick worked out, so that”s cool.

And I would have loved to lose my Georgia picks. Bastards. Talk around the office today with UGA fans was “every great team has to overcome …” and that crap. Whatever gets you through the night.

I missed the Mississippi State / UAB game, but the Blazers almost made me right. At least the pathetic Rebels didn”t let me down.

9-1 on the week; 34-4 on the still-easy-to-pick season.

In stupid human poll news, the first Harris Interactive poll came out this week, and as expected it”s mostly a rubber-stamp of the flawed USA Today poll at that meaningless other one.

Four weeks into the season, how can anybody looking at results say a 4-0 team that has played Marshall (1-3), Eastern Washington (1-3), Maryland (3-1) and East Carolina (1-3) is better than a 4-0 team that has played Vanderbilt (1-3), Central Michigan (2-2), Notre Dame (3-1) and Wisconsin (3-1)? There”s simply no logic to that. The Harris poll was supposed to be more “accurate” because it doesn”t start until after the 4th week of the season, but except for flopping Michigan/Florida and Louisville/Texas, the top 10 is identical to the USA Today poll. Amazing coincidence?

September 22, 2006

SEC Week 4 Predictions

Filed under: College Football, LSU Football — Cap'n Ken @ 3:36 pm

Out west this week and swamped, so it”s good to not have a lot of tough-to-call games on the schedule. Tulane at No. 11 LSU: Greenies. Yawn. I won”t even mind not watching this game (the wife and I will be in Vegas). Tigers 31 – 3

Buffalo at No. 3 Auburn: Yeah, Buffalo. The officials” favoriite Tigers 38 – 0

Kentucky at No. 5 Florida: The Cats are averaging 33 points a game. So I”ll give them some props. Crocs 45 – 24

Colorado at No. 7 Georgia: Wake me up when it”s Tennessee. Dawgs 48 – 3

Marshall at No. 19 Tennessee: The Vols have this and another game to tune up for Georgia. Vols 34 – 6

No. 22 Alabama at Arkansas: Vandy played both of these guys tight. I”m not sure what that speaks to, but at home and not getting any respect, I”m going with the upset. Hogs 17 – 14

Florida Atlantic at South Carolina: Cocks invite a team that scores 4.6 points a game and gives up 49 a game. Clemson beat Fla. Atl. 54-6, so the rival Cocks will look to match that. Cocks 48 – 9

Wake Forest at Ole Miss: A weak, 3-0 ACC team playing a bad 1-2 SEC team. Tough call. Ole Miss burned me on the SEC West homer call last week, so screw “em. Wake 16 – 12

Mississippi State at UAB: An SEC school playing at UAB? For shame. UAB held Oklahoma close and got blown out by UGA. Go figure. Blazers 10 – 9

Tennessee State at Vanderbilt: OK, Vandy. You did good against Alabama and Arkansas. Shine! Vandy 20 – 13

September 18, 2006

Contact

Filed under: College Football, LSU Football — Cap'n Ken @ 4:11 pm

Via Grubb. Thanks

September 17, 2006

LSU / Auburn Recap

Filed under: College Football, LSU Football, Les Miles — Cap'n Ken @ 10:53 am

I”m not the type to throw blame around at others when LSU loses. I catch a lot of shit for the blame I often throw at Leslie – in losses and wins – but I always write what I see, not what I want to think as Tiger fan.

And yesterday, we were fucked. Repeatedly. The calls made in Auburn”s favor looked bad in person, but when I re-watched the game last night and dug in to the game stats, I was shocked at how bad the officiating was and the effect it had on the game. – In the first quarter, Jabob Hester clearly catches a 4th-down pass and fumbles out of bounds. Field call of catch, fumble, first down reversed. Killed a 39-yard drive at the Auburn 30 when LSU was effectively taking apart Auburn”s defense.

- At the end of the second quarter, Brandon LaFell was clearly interfered with in the end zone. No call. Very likely took 6 points off the board; helped stop the drive and LSU settled for a field goal to end the half.

- And, of course, 4th quarter with 2:43 left Early Doucet was tackled on a 4th-down pass play to the end zone before the ball arrived. Field call of pass interference reversed on the field because another defender tipped the ball. The replay clearly showed the tackle started before the tip. Not reviewable, but the officials decided to overturn a critical penalty on a shaky judgment call.

There were other no calls such as Hester getting a helmet-to-helmet shot on the sideline that played a part in the loss, but the three big ones had dramatic negative effects on LSU. We were simply fucked.

I”m sick of the national coverage this morning touting Auburn”s defense in the win. Clearly those writers were watching Notre Dame / Michigan instead of our game. LSU ran an effective offense – although we stuck with an ineffective set of running plays too long – but time after time we were done in by bad calls.

JaMarcus wasn”t sharp, and he gets some blame for that. Our pass protection was outstanding, and he should have completed more throws. And how he hasn”t learned late-game management – the sack he took with under a minute to go was inexcusible – is beyond me. It goes without saying that the game-ending pass was a poor decision. We clearly don”t know how to execute in late-game situations.

But LSU had six drives of 30+ yards; two of which were killed by bad calls. Overall we did what we needed to do on offense to win.

Our defense was strong and physical. Auburn managed only two drives of 30+ yards (the missed field goal and the 80-yard touchdown drive). The LSU defense also did what it needed to do to win.

The game was a classic SEC battle. It”s unfortunate that the game wasn”t decided by how it was played.

Elsewhere in the SEC, the Mississippi schools let me down. With the LSU loss, I was 5-3 for the week; 25-3 for the season

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