Posts Tagged ‘football’

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Penny Wise and Pound Foolish: Rumors of Florida State and the Big 12

Posted by    |    May 15th, 2012 at 5:30 am

Editors Note:  At YouPlusDallas, we love to read  everything from our friends at Frank the Tank.  We are also Texas grads, A&M grads, …  smu grads.  So it comes at no surprise that we might disagree with some of what “Frank” has to say here.  We in Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio like the idea of the Seminoles playing in Texas and visa versa.  Take a read, and consider the possibilities.

For long-time readers of this blog, you know how important that I consider TV rights to be in shaping the world of sports, both college and pro.  It has driven conference realignment the past couple of years, convinced the reactionary leaders of college football to finally institute a playoff, turned the NFL into a financial juggernaut and exacerbated the differences in the fortunes of franchises in the NBA and Major League Baseball.  From the first post that I had in writing about Big Ten expansion, I emphasized how important that the TV revenue from the conference’s deals with ABC/ESPN and the Big Ten Network would be in luring a football power when most fans only thought about geography and historical rivalries.

However, it feels as though the world has gone in the other direction where even hardcore football fans seem to believe that TV revenue is all that matters in conference realignment.  That’s not quite correct, either, as I also tried to indicate in that original Big Ten Expansion post.  Factors such as academics and cultural fit matter if a conference wants to be strong for the long-term as opposed to just the length of the current TV contract. (more…)

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Kris Jenkin’s View of Life in the NFL

Posted by    |    November 20th, 2011 at 4:27 pm

The New York Times posted a very good article on life in the NFL here.  It is about the NFL life of Kris Jenkins.   “The Carolina Panthers selected Kris Jenkins in the second round of the N.F.L. 2001 draft. He was on four Pro Bowl teams and named All-Pro three times in seven seasons with them. In 2002 and 2003, he was a dominant player on the Panthers’ defensive line, helping them reach the Super Bowlfor the first time.”   This article is a good read for the fan and player alike.

 

 

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Gary Patterson is a Sore Loser

Posted by    |    October 5th, 2011 at 8:59 am

Patterson (head coach of TCU) went on quite a rant after his loss to SMU, saying that he/TCU would never be nice to SMU again.

Among his complaints:

1. We Lost!
2. June Jones said some of my plays were predictable (which they were)!
3. Refs occasionally miss calls early in the game, leaving plenty of time for our team to recover!
4. We have talked to SMU in the past about how we built our program, just like they have done the same for us!
5. C-USA said they would apologize, but they didn’t, mommy!
6. The Big East said they might be looking into adding SMU, which totally takes the spotlight off of us!

He needs to do himself a favor an focus more on his own team.

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SMU Squishes the Frog

Posted by    |    October 3rd, 2011 at 6:51 pm

Last Saturday marked a critical turning point in the SMU football turnaround under June Jones.  This was no fluke upset over a ranked team.  This was a well-deserved away victory for a team on its way back into the national spotlight.  The story of the game for SMU was its first half defense and its passing offense.

Like I said in the preview for the game, both teams have a suspect pass defense.  What I didn’t anticipate was just how much better the wide receivers for SMU are than the TCU secondary.  The domination in the passing game was a result of great play calling (made easier by the fact that on almost every other run play Zach Line was getting about 10 yards), great throws, great catches, and wide open receivers.  This was made all the more impressive by the fact that Cole Beasley, SMU’s go-to slot receiver, was out due to injury.

To put it simply, the passing attack was at its best for the whole year by far. Except for one interception, which was called back because of a pass interference, Padron McDermott was about as good as a quarterback can get.  There were multiple times in the game where JJ either took a sack rather than scrambling and losing yards, or just threw it away smartly.  It was in these situations where his advantages over Padron were evident.  Padron would have either thrown up a jump ball to be intercepted or scrambled and lost yards.  I give the offense an A+. (more…)

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SMU – TCU Preview

Posted by    |    September 29th, 2011 at 12:25 pm

This weekend the fightin’ hilltoppery-miniature-pony-horsemen are ready for the horny-frog-toadsmen in what will likely be the defining game in SMU’s multi-year comeback.  Both teams are a pretty predictable 3-1 (more on that in a second), with a loss against a legitimately good team and three wins against legitimately bad ones.  Since neither team is very far into their seasons, my predictions are still kind of a shot in the dark.

Both SMU’s and TCU’s offenses are very good, but not great.  I give the edge to TCU simply because they were able to put up 48 on Baylor.  SMU put up only 14 on a team they should have put up 21 to 27 on.  Since then, though, the offense has rarely missed an opportunity to score, even though they were against bad teams.  TCU has played two absolutely atrocious teams and Air Force (the flying-lightning-bolt-rod-strikes always put up a fight) since Baylor, and TCU has looked impressive in every one. On Baylor: I wasn’t surprised.  Baylor was way underated and TCU was back for their first game with a new qb and some depth lost.

SMU has played three pretty bad teams since A&M, and dominated them all.  If either team was more prepared for this game, I would have to hand it to SMU simply because they played the much better team in A&M and have simply obliterated the last two teams.  Zach Line (rb) has been very impressive and if TCU cannot effectively stop him, he will be the game breaker.  Against Baylor, TCU allowed something like 5 yards a carry and 120 yards against a pass-heavy team, and against Air Force, who prefers the run, TCU gave up 249 total rushing yards.  I can see the pass opening up a couple big runs for Line in this game.  BUT TCU is at home.  The offensive edge is a toss-up.

The defenses are evenly matched, but I also give the slight edge to TCU.  SMU’s offense, though good, is not nearly as dynamic as the baylor offense and just about as good as the Baylor defense.  TCU also has a deeper team, which will help them in the 3rd and 4th quarters.  At this point, though, it is hard to tell who has the better defense between the two of them because both were pretty much owned by the high-caliber offenses they have faced.  The only TCU game I have watched was against Baylor, and I have watched almost every SMU game this season.  All I can say is that about half the time a long pass goes out, I facepalm at the decision-making or play of the cornerbacks and safeties of SMU and TCU (Griffin averaged over 13 yards per pass!).  Special teams I also give the edge to TCU simply because SMU always makes a stupid special teams mistake in a big game. If SMU wins this game, it will signal that we are back as a second-tier team.  If not, well then we still have a year more before we are truly back.

Optimistic score:  SMU-31, TCU-28

Realistic prediction: TCU-35, SMU-21

And a block by Margus Hunt.

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