Tuesday Afternoon Linebacker

The Football Championship Subdivision puts one over on the Football Bowl Subdivision, and it rocks the foundations of college football. Okay, maybe not the foundations, but you can’t swing a dead wolverine without running into a story about how Appalachian State’s win on Saturday will impact college football. TALB will get into that can of worms next week. But this week we’ll take a trip around the state for college gridiron results, and talk about the upcoming NFL season.

Then We Will Fight In The Shade
Continuing with our “300″ theme from last week… (referring to Michigan supposedly out-manning Appalachian State, etc)
Before we get into anything else, TALB must talk about Michigan. The Voles (as opposed to the Vols) hold a special place in the hearts of all Gators fans. If you’ll recall Mr. Carr and many of the Michigan faithful declared that Michigan, and only Michigan, was the rightful opponent for Ohio State in the BCS Championship game. Of course they declared this fact after having just lost to said Buckeyes. And, of course, they followed their bellowing with a blowout loss to USC in the Rose Bowl. Then to have them stumble against I-AA, er Football Championship Subdivision, power Appalachian State can only be seen as icing on the cake. TALB believes the Football Gods had a hand in this. If you are going to declare yourselves the One True Opponent, you should at least back that up in your next performance after being “screwed”. The Football Gods deemed that by laying an egg in the Rose Bowl that Michigan would, no should, lose their next game as well.

With Oregon, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Northwestern on the schedule, Michigan better get their ‘ish together. If they don’t they may very well have 3 or 4 losses before October; basically ending their season. On the other hand, they could run the table from here. But if the #2 spot in the BCS championship comes down to them and another team with 1 loss, guess who’s going to get left out? So, their season may already be over.

Is Anything Else On?
For your viewing pleasure, an un-official listing of which NFL games will be on in what markets each week.

Go Greased Lightning
The Gators managed just 49 points against Western Kentucky. Of course, that was because the game was cut short with 8:23 to go. Tim Tebow looked spectacular. Percy Harvin ran over and around everyone. Hell, TTNHBC even called runs using running backs. Granted this was Western Kentucky here. But the offense was clicking from the first play. They are scary good. Now, about that defense. The lads did a decent enough job against the run. But the passing defense left a lot to be desired. Hopefully getting a couple guys back from injury in the secondary will help out.

Next Week: vs. Troy, 6 PM, PPV

BMOC
Clemson 27, FSU 18 - Jimbo Fisher looked more like Jeff Bowden as the offense stumbled about aimlessly during the first half. Only Clemson’s penchant for easing up when they have a lead kept this from being a blowout. Next Week: vs. UAB, 5 PM, ESPNU

USF 28, Elon 13 - Built Ford Tough? I didn’t get a chance to see the game. But supposedly the new running back was outstanding. Next Week: at Auburn, 9 PM, ESPN2

Miami (FL) 31, Marshall 3 - No clue what happened here. I guess they won. Next Week: at Oklahoma, 12:30 PM, ABC

UCF 25, NC State 26 - Another upset. Next Week: vs. Texas, 3:30 PM, ESPN2

And in other news…
Notre Dame, despite the shrewd coaching of Charlie Weis, was throttled by Georgia Tech 33-3. Seriously, was keeping the starting quarterback a secret really going to change anything? In TALB’s opinion, that was all about keeping everyone’s attention away from the fact that the rest of the team isn’t any good either. By having the media focus on Weis and his arrogance, it kept anyone (except for Tech of course) from realizing the depth of Notre Dames suckitude.

2007 NFL Preview
Looking around at the preseason I don’t really see any reason to think that the top teams from 2006 won’t be around for 2007. TALB just didn’t see enough improvement from the bottom tier to justify thinking that any of them will make much noise. But this being the NFL, expect the unexpected. And hopefully that means the Bucs will do something this year. Anything. And that all depends on Jeff Garcia. As he goes so will go the Bucs. If he’s able to toss the ball around that will open up the running lanes for Caddy and Pitt-Man. If not, then we’re probably in store for another 10+ loss season. And the inevitable, and should that come to pass well-deserved, departure of Jon Gruden.

Wait, what? But TALB, you’re a Gruden supporter! What gives? Well, I fully supported the demotion and release of Brad Johnson. While he was serviceable during the Super Bowl run, he wasn’t the future of this offense. Chris Simms was. And while Brian Griese was somewhat successful, in hindsight Chris Simms should have been the QB for this team since Brad was benched. He’s been injured, and of course someone needed to step in. But once he was back on his feet he should have been the QB again. This team hasn’t had a legitimate franchise quarterback since… uh… Doug Williams? Maybe Trent Dilfer, warts and all? But Gruden is a highly paid NFL head coach. He should be able to see things in the present that most of us can only deduce in hindsight.

If this team can’t manage to reach the playoffs and win a game or two, Gruden deserves no less than the door. There I said it. If the season begins to head South, we’ll talk about potential head coaches for 2008.

Otherwise, I’d pick Indy, New England, San Diego, and Cincy to win their divisions in the AFC; with Pittsburgh and Denver as Wildcards. Over on the senior circuit TALB’ll take Dallas, New Orleans, Chicago, and Seattle to win, while New York and Philly will be wild.

In the race for the first pick of 2008 I see it coming down to Cleveland and Atlanta.

Running Items
Reverse Watch
During the Florida-WKU collision, the Gators ran a play where quarterback Cam Newton took the snap, ran to his right, clearing the tackle, and then pitched the ball to a receiver going to the left. Kudos goes out to one of the Daves from LF Sports for showing restraint. While he would have been (in TALB’s opinion) technically correct in calling this a reverse, he simply said “and it goes the other way” (or something to that effect).

Plus One Bowl
USC vs UF/LSU winner
Really, who else is going to make through alive this year?

Super Bowl XLII
New England vs. New Orleans
Why the hell not? If you’ve got a better pick, let it fly.

Next Week: The Crazy 77’s