Month: September 2006

NC State to the MAC

Just so we’re clear…

All these years we’ve labored under the apparently misguided presumption that if we spend millions of dollars and build extravagant field houses and pressbox towers complete with extravagant suites and weight rooms and practice fields, and we enclose our antiquated, yet somewhat charming, cow pasture of a stadium and erect massive statues and scoreboards and we launch a seemingly uncoordinated attack on the entire gameday “experience” in order to bring the attention onto the actual game itself and we keep making everything pretty, and we have contrived “traditions” like a Walk of damn Champions…

Then naturally we’ll draw the five-star and blue chip talent from South Florida to Raleigh that will promptly catapult us out of ACC mediocrity and into Jacksonville in December and Tempe in January.

All these years we’ve tried to draw a correlation between all of the above and winning…

And we now know, that in fact, we are not at that next level because we do not accept non-qualifiers into our program.  Seems like an easy fix to me.

We should just secede to the MAC.  Surely we could finish second in that conference.

Fact Checking Slim Calhoun’s picks

Just a little review of the maestro’s picks from Week 1.  I hope this doesn’t discourage Slim from making picks in subsequent weeks, but we need to fully disclose to the public the accuracy of said picks to maintain our objectivity.  I have no idea what that means.: 

Miami +1 over Steelers – wrong : 0-1

Atlanta +5 over Panthers – right: 1-1

Tampa -3 over B-more – wrong: 1-2

New England -9 over Buffalo – wrong: 1-3

Kansas City -2 over Cincy – wrong: 1-4

Denver -3.5 over St. Louis – wrong: 1-5

Cleveland -3 over New Orleans – wrong: 1-6

Tennessee -2.5 over NYJ – wrong: 1-7

Philly -5.5 over Houston – right: 2-7

Seattle -6 over Detroit – wrong: 2-8

Chicago -3.5 over Green Bay – right: 3-8

Dallas +2 over Jacksonville – wrong: 3-9

Arizona -9 over San Francisco – wrong: 3-10

Indy -3.5 over NYG – wrong: 3-11

Washington -4.5 over Minnesota – wrong: 3-12

San Diego -3 over Oakland – right: 4-12

4-12 for the total record.  Including one miss on a Golden Bullet pick of the week.  I look forward to providing future fact checking information to the masses….in the future.

Captain

Akron Beware

Like Gary Hahn said, Happy Appy was the first #1 team State has beaten at Carter-Finley, although we got within six touchdowns a few times against FSU in the early to mid 90s.  Hahn was just as serious with that comment as he was the night we won the Hispanic College Fund Classic by beating The Citadel and one of the Loyolas and he said “It never gets old hoisting championship trophies, does it Tony?”

So I have to think this is the perfect letdown game for us.  Beat #1 and then fall to the defending MAC champion.  We’ve seen it before (Baylor 1998).

Three reasons Akron will win:

[1] The Zips held JoPa’s rushing attack to 76 yards and allowed only 282 yards altogether against a much superior offensive team.  If they shut down Brown and Baker, do we play for the pick-six? 

[2] QB Luke Getsy, a fifth-year senior (notice, when you’re a senior you lose the “redshirt” prefix), passed 42 times and completed 22 of those for 160 yards.  Unimpressive, right?  Well, it’s a 7.3 YPC average and indicates that he’s skilled at the short passing game and managing the clock with it; i.e., not many three-and-outs.  Must be nice.

[3] A.J. Davis is out.  Anyone remember the 2003 Texas Tech game where B.J. Symons threw for about 900 yards?  Getsy had about a half-dozen games like that last year.

Three reasons State will win:

[1] Penn State’s pass rush had a fun day against the Akron O-line.  Ours should, too.     

[2] Marcus Stone was impressive against App, completing all of his 36 yards off his back foot.  For those of you that think that isn’t impressive, Peyton Manning throws off his back foot a lot, too.

[3] We’re the Red & White from State and we know we are the best.  We have a Walk of damn Champions to prove it. 

Prediction: Akron 49 – 35

Week 1 Winners

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year. Gambling season. As a special gift to all of you, I’m going to post my picks for the week on this very site each and every week. That’s right, the self proclaimed greateast handicapper on Eastview Dr is going to open up his vault of football wisdom and allow you to get rich too. Please send check or money order for 25% of all winnings to my home address.

Miami +1 over the Steelers. Charlie Batch, Willie Parker, Santonio Holmes. Your 2006 Super Bowl Champions!!!

Atlanta +5 over the Panthers. The Panthers win this one at home, but with 89 banged up, it’ll be close.

Tampa -3 over B-more. Baltimore hasn’t fielded an offense since they were in Cleveland. No way this unit moves it on the Bucs.

New England -9 over Buffalo. Willis McGahee runs for 300 yards and Lee Evans catches 20 balls (a guy can dream, can’t he?) but the Bills find a way to lose. Big.

Kansas City -2 over Cincy. Cincinnattica’s run defense vs Grandmama at Arrowhead? Gotta go with the Chefs.

Denver -3.5 over St. Louis. To be honest, I have no idea on this one. On paper it’s not even close.

Cleveland -3 over New Orleans. Two crappy teams in a game no one cares about.

Tennessee -2.5 over NYJ. Two more crappy teams. Thanks to the scheduling department for starting the season out with a bang. The Kerry Collins led Titans get it done at home. At least I think. Ah, who the hell cares???

Philly -5.5 over Houston. Note to Mr. Lundy: You aren’t at Virginia, and those aren’t the Tarheels.

Seattle -6 over Detroit. Who cares if the Seahawks have no receivers? I could catch passes against the Lions.

Chicago -3.5 over Green Bay. It’s quite possible Nathan Vasher will finish this game tied for the team lead in receptions. Think about it.

Dallas +2 over Jacksonville. Can’t help but think that Dallas will be a lot better than people think. TO gives them 16 good games, and a playoff run.

Arizona -9 over San Francisco. The Cards will score a lot of points this year, but in all likelihood will give up a lot. Not this weekend.

Indy -3.5 over NYG. No one beats Peyton in September. No one.

Washington -4.5 over Minnesota. The Skins can’t be as bad as they’ve looked can they?

San Diego -3 over Oakland. Football Jesus vs. Aaron Brooks. Put the farm on it.

This week’s Gold Bullet Locks of the Week: Seattle and Chicago.