Tuesday Afternoon Linebacker

Now, we shouldn’t go reading too much into a pre-season NFL contest. But, we here at TALB never shy away from a challenge. When the Bucs’ starting defense was on the field versus the Patriots’ starting offense (save Mr. Brady) the Bucs came out ahead. None too shabby if I do say so myself.

Sabby & Matty
Either Matt Cassel is THAT bad, or Tom Brady is THAT good. The third option is just that the Bucs’ defense is THAT good, and it doesn’t matter who plays. Monte and the boys made Cassel look downright silly out there. At one point I was actually feeling sorry for him. Each series he just worse and worse, and the Bucs’ defense got better and better. I was hoping that Billy B would pull him, but he waited so long. If I were to guess, the Pats will be re-evaluating their backup QBs over the next two games. And the other two guys they sent out (their names escape me) didn’t fare much better against the Bucs’ reserves.

But then there’s Sabby. While the last hard-hitting, all over the place safety watched from the enemy sideline, Sabby Piscatelli lit up the joint. Hits, passes defensed, and that strip and touchdown run-back were things of beauty. Again, this must all be tempered by the opposition. Though, Sabby was in the game against the Pats’ first teamers for quite some time. Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL defense! Aaron Rogers, beware. This defense should be scary good again this year. And the improved play from the linebackers and DBs should allow for the defensive line to get some actual push this time out. One can hope, can’t they?

Ruh-Ro
Florida State is in trouble. And they are stonewalling, big time. Even going so far as to side-step Florida’s Sunshine Laws to keep potentially damaging documents from the public. In a nutshell, about 60 FSU “student”-athletes were found to have committed, with the assistance of FSU personnel, academic fraud. Based on the penalty handed down by the NCAA against New Mexico for a similar (but involving fewer athletes) infraction, FSU could be in for a world of hurt. The question will be if Teflon Bobby makes it out of this unscathed or not. I’m going to guess he’ll skate by, muttering something about the “dadgum tutors” or something. Noles fans, your days of pain and mediocrity are not going to come to an end anytime soon I’m afraid.

Can U Feel It?
A rise to number two, and a spot in the final 2007 polls. A starring role in the new ESPN College Football Gameday intro. The redneckiest starting QB this side of the Rio Grande. What more could USF ask for going into 2008? Maybe someone having the opinion that they’ll finish first the Big East, that’s what. I don’t buy West Virginia, even with their stars. The coaching change alone should be enough to keep the ‘Neers from being as good as they have been. TALB, for one, is looking for the Bulls to make the BCS this year. And send the Tampa Bay sports media into a frenzy not seen since, well last year when the Bulls were #2.

The U (FL)
Our friends at allCanes is fightin’ mad. He doesn’t take kindly to the harsh words directed at Miami (FL). Especially those of the Canes beat writers in the local fish-wrappers. Outside of that, I couldn’t tell you two things about what the Canes are up to these days. But, from the bits and pieces I wouldn’t expect radical improvement over the last couple of seasons. As All Canes points out, the team was in shambles when Coker left, and Randy Shannon has but one recruiting class on the team so far. They are probably closer to a return to glory than the Noles, but for the next season or two it’s probably all Gators and Bulls in Florida.

Preseason Pole
The annual rite of late summer, the preseason college football polls are released. Based on nothing much more than hopes, dreams, and fairy dust; this yearly mental masturbation basically determines which teams can and cannot make their way to the podium to accept the crystal football. If your favorite team is not ranked at least 25 at this point, it is not likely they will get those fancy shirts and one-off newspaper front pages to tote around. Just look at last year, and as we all know 2007 was nuts. Of the teams that all were discussed for the “Championship” game only Kansas was not ranked in the preseason poll. Even Hawaii was ranked #24 in August before rising to as high as #10 in December. And Kansas was the team helped most in this by the nature of the 2007 season. I don’t see it happening again.

Then again, I don’t like this system.

Next Time: TALB’ll probably take next week off as we prepare for the opening of the college football season the week following.