Well, another fun filled weekend of college football has passed us by and the BCS standings are officially out. I love weekends like this. This is one of those weekends that I was so giddy about what was going on that I almost couldn't stand myself.
For those of you that missed it six of the top ten teams in the nation suffered upsets against opponents. If it hadn't been for the battle at Death Valley and Auburn cracking the Top 25 last week they would have all been unranked teams causing the upsets.
I love college football anything can happen!
Let's take a look at what happened this week. In a nut shell the football gods decided to toss the tables and see what happened... I blame the pink.
It was breast cancer awareness weekend around the NCAA, so pink was everywhere. I jokingly texted friends that pink seems to zap the powers of these otherwise great teams. Do I have the stats to justify what I am implying... Not really, but none the less I'm sure it is distracting to hormonal men on the field.
Follow me for a second...
Pink is used to remember to save the tatas... Society has now trained us that pink means boobs. What distracts most red blooded men in this country?... I will say that when I wear a low cut shirt its my cleavage. So how could we not expect the guys, boys, man-children, what ever you like to call them, not be distracted by the one thing that the NCAA wanted at the forefronts of everyone's mind? Saving second base. Heck it became so laughable, I even gave out an award for who wore "save second base the best"... The award went to Oregon. They went neon pink and managed a great win.I guess neon pink is more masculine than some of the other pinks that were being worn.
I digress...
So lets look at some of the big upsets of the week. There was the Louisville game... Meh. Then there was the A&M game. This was a big loss for A&M, because it dropped them out of the top 10 rather handily. Which is justified, not sure that where they landed is where they should be, but what do I know? I'm just a silly girl. I did get to watch the A&M game and I knew that if A&M walked away with the win that were gonna have to fight for it, because Auburn came to play and they came to win.
On a side note, be sure to catch Auburn and Freshman receiver Marshall... I'm just saying, they are making some interesting waves. And if you think that Auburn hasn't produced anything of worth in decades, or what not... two words Cam Newton.
So A&M hobbled off the field with a loss and an injured shoulder for Manziel, but if A&M wants to keep up their defensive line is going to have to show up for every play at every game. The O-line was solid, giving Manziel time to look for the options. And I will say that Manziel is gonna have to stop with the interceptions... It's getting a little old shug, you're better than that. Now do I think that Manziel is out of the hunt for the Heisman. This year it is quiet possible, unless there are a couple of teams that can sneak up the machine of the SEC, which I don't foresee happening, but this is college football. Anything can happen.
Now on to the Tech game. I know... Its where I work, where I play, and on occasion a place that I admit that I got my degree from.
So Tech is 7-0 and is sitting at the top of the Big 12 so far this season. Behind us is Baylor and then Texas as far as the conference goes. Which I find really funny given the way everyone was positioned at the beginning of the season. Heck the team that was positioned to finish 7th overall in the Big 12 is the only team with a 7-0 season. I know that Baylor also hasn't lost, but we're a game up on them at this point. Things can change during Tech's bye week later this season.
There were a couple of things that went on during this game that I think need to be addressed on a coaching and player level. This is the second game this season that a players in ability to tuck has cost us. Earlier this season it was a ball that was just randomly dropped at the half yard line, by a receiver. No one around, just decided to drop the ball after he had taken it out of its tucked position. This week it looked like a sloppy and loose tuck by the QB, Webb, that was fumbled and recovered, by well, not us. These are the types of things that will kill Tech in the upcoming weekend against OU. Let's face facts there have been plenty of seasons where on the boards we should have beaten OU, but didn't because we didn't monopolize on the opportunities that were given to us in the same degree of effectiveness that OU did.
So what needs to be re-thought you ask?
On the coaches end, the sloppy carries and the dropped things in practice. I've had a colleague running around saying, "Perfect practice makes perfect execution." This is true.
Back in the days when I was playing competitive sports I remember, going through drills that made everything muscle memory. Our coach wanted us to just have it ingrained, period. So in practice, you slack off you would hear the words, "Do it again, and do it right."... For Tech this should mean that in practice the coaches should be looking for the loose carries and yelling, "Do it again." When they are doing drills. They should also be watching for when the receivers pull the ball out of their carry when they near the end zone. It should stay put until they cross that line, period. I hope this week at practice the team gets tired of hearing the words, "Again." And that it shows in the upcoming game. Its a partial coaching error to allow for the slack... Slack can mean sloppy and sloppy is the difference between a win and a loss. Besides there is a reason that I call Alabama the machine. They are in every aspect. No slack, they expect perfection and they execute it.
Now Tech did do somethings right. Like our time to answer mistakes that window is slowly closing. We aren't exactly to next play answers yet, but it is taking less than a quarter. That's improvement. Webb is getting better at reading his options. I don't like that he keeps using his safety blanket as much as he does, but to that extent Amaro is putting up nice numbers.
So with all that said, where do I stand on the Tech OU game coming up?
I am going with Tech for the win. And yes I have looked at the fact that we are playing in Norman. I'm not gonna say its gonna be a big win, or even a pretty win. I'm thinking that this will be as ugly as the TCU win, if not uglier. Here's the things that Tech is gonna need to win. The defense needs to show up, and put lots of pressure on Bell early on. He will make plenty of mistakes on his own as long as we rattle his cage early and often. Let's create opportunity and not just take the opportunities that we happen to be handed.
The second half team bs has got to stop... This is one of those typical Tech patterns that we keep falling into. Doesn't matter the team, the year, or the coach. Its Tech's trademark at this point I think. Late starting will catch up to you at some point. We don't need it to catch up to us now, or when we play Baylor.
The O-line needs to show up before halftime and we have to diversify our receivers... I know that Amaro is a nice big target, but look for the options. We've got them so let's use them.
And lastly this is the game where you see what type of ground game we have. OU is notorious for covering the passing routes... Let's change it up Tech! Instead of falling on that sword use the great run game that we have and work it. I would bet that OU can't keep up.
And lastly we can't go in thinking that we have this won. The thing about being on the top of the conference is that everyone wants to topple the king. We need to play this game like we are 0-7, and prove everyone wrong, because no one is expecting us to win. That is what will win this game, before you even step foot on the field.
And I'll be praying for a decent referee staff... but we haven't been able to buy one of those even if we tried.
But that is all just this sports junkies opinion.
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