On Campus
By Jeff Kirik and Bob Jarzomski Erie Times-News staff bloggers
Erie Times-News staff writer Bob Jarzomski and sports editor Jeff Kirik team up to bring you On Campus,   Read more about this blog.
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Posts tagged ‘Gators’
Posted: November 6th, 2012

Let’s recap Week 10, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 1 Alabama at No. 5 LSU

Final score: Tide 21, Tigers 17

Pregame rant: As good as this game will be, we don’t want to see the Tide and Tigers play in the national title game again.

Alabama hasn’t lost since it fell 9-6 in overtime at home to the Tigers. The Tide dominated LSU in the national title game, but the Tigers can avenge that loss and really put themselves in the national title picture.

The Tide are first in the nation in run defense. LSU is eighth. So the team that has the better quarterback should win Saturday.

Edge Alabama.

A.J. McCarron has thrown 18 touchdowns, no interceptions and can make all the throws. If Zach Mettenberger is called upon to beat the Tide, it’s not going down.

Post-game commentary: McCarron wasn’t his best until it matter most.

With that Death Valley crowd roaring and ready to pounce on him for predicting the Tide would win, McCarron was 4-of-5 for 72 yards and a game-winning touchdown pass with 51 seconds left to beat the rival Tigers.

Mettenberger actually played well. Was 24-of-35 for 298 yards and a touchdown.

Truth be told, the Tigers had this game won. They had more yards, won the turnover and time ouf possession battle and limited Alabama to 1-of-9 on third-down conversions.

So why did they lose? Penalties and bad play calling.

The Tigers had seven penalties for 51 yards and LSU coach Les Miles called a fake field goal on a 4th-and-12 play down 7-3 in the first half.  It failed miserably.

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Posted: October 30th, 2012

Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 10.

Game of the week: No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0 SEC) at No. 5 LSU Tigers (7-1, 3-1 SEC), Saturday, 8 p.m., WSEE (CBS).

Pregame rant: As good as this game will be, we don’t want to see the Tide and Tigers play in the national title game again.

Alabama hasn’t lost since it fell 9-6 in overtime at home to the Tigers. The Tide dominated LSU in the national title game, but the Tigers can avenge that loss and really put themselves in the national title picture.

The Tide are first in the nation in run defense. LSU is eighth. So the team that has the better quarterback should win Saturday.

Edge Alabama.

A.J. McCarron has thrown 18 touchdowns, no interceptions and can make all the throws. If Zach Mettenberger is called upon to beat the Tide, it’s not going down.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: October 15th, 2012

Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 8.

Game of the week: No. 9 South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1, 4-1 SEC) at No. 3 Florida Gators, (6-0, 5-0 SEC), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WSEE (CBS)

Pregame rant: Despite losing to LSU, South Carolina can still find itself in the SEC title game, but must beat the Gators to do so. To see Steve Spurrier go back to the place he starred as a player and as a coach and knock off Florida would be one his biggest wins ever.

However, South Carolina better shore up that run defense if it plans to upend the Gators. The Gamecocks allowed LSU to bang ‘em for 258 yards on the ground.

Florida is averaging 233.33 yards rushing and will be content to win a low-scoring affair, as it did against LSU, rather than play score for score.

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Posted: October 1st, 2012

Here are three games worth watching in Week 6.

Game of the week: No. 8 West Virginia Mountaineers (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) at No. 11 Texas Longhorns (4-0, 1-0 Big 12), Saturday, 7 p.m., WXFP-66 (FOX).

Pregame rant: Could have easily chosen one of the two SEC match ups of Top 10 teams, but this Big 12 match-up is so intriguing.

Heisman Trophy front-runner Geno Smith is coming off an Megatron performance – 656 yards passing, 8 TDs – in last week’s 70-63 win against Baylor. However, the Bears came into the game ranked 113th out of 120 teams in pass defense.

Baylor is now last in the nation in that category.

Can WVU torch Texas, which is a modest 43rd in pass defense? Don’t think so, but I also don’t see the Longhorns slowing down Smith and Mountaineers, either.

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Posted: September 17th, 2012

Let us recap Week 3, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 2 USC at No. 21 Stanford

Final score: Cardinal 21, Trojans 14.

Pregame rant: The Cardinal want to prove they’ve been more than Andrew Luck, but they’re going to need a lot of luck to get past the Trojans.

Barkley has 10 touchdown passes to only one interception and has only been sacked twice, but the Trojans haven’t been tested. If Stanford can take an early lead, it will be interesting to see how Barkley fares when the defense knows he’s passing.

Post-game commentary: No Luck needed in this one. The Cardinal pounded out 202 yards rushing with senior Stephan Taylor going for 153 and a score on 27 carries. As for Barkley, he was just 20-of-41 for 254 yards, no touchdowns and two picks.

The good news for USC is it lost early. The bad news is the Trojans still have to play Oregon. A loss Nov. 3 to the Ducks will end all hopes of an opportunity to play for a national title.

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Posted: December 31st, 2011

Penn State has the task of slowing down Houston senior quarterback Case Keenum./AP Photo.

What a way to start the work week in 2012.

Watch six bowl games from noon till midnight.

Don’t lose your job over it, but just take an extended lunch or dinner break to check out some really good bowl matchups.

Ticketcity Bowl (Dallas, Texas) – No. 20 Houston (12-1, 8-0 C-USA) vs. No. 24 Penn State (9-3, 6-2 Big Ten), noon, ESPNU.

The Big ?: Can Penn State’s 10th ranked defense, which allows 300.92 yards a game, slow down the nation’s top offense? Houston is averaging 599 a game.

My pick: Houston. Although the Cougars didn’t even win their conference title game, that’s far less to overcome than what the Nittany Lions have dealt this season. The Jerry Sandusky situation has changed everything at Penn State.

Outback Bowl (Tampa, Fla.) – No. 12 Michigan State (10-3, 7-1 Big Ten) vs. No. 18 Georgia (10-3, 7-1 SEC). 1 p.m., ABC.

The Big ?: Whenever an Big Ten teams plays an SEC team, the same question surfaces. Can the Big Ten school match the speed of the SEC school?

My pick: Georgia. Speed rules.

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Posted: October 11th, 2011

Let us recap Week 6, shall we?

No. 3 Oklahoma (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) vs. No. 22 Texas (4-1, 1-1 Big 12)

Pregame rant: Oklahoma has dropped from No. 1 (in the AP poll) without losing a game. Maybe the Sooners will come out and show they should be No. 1, but Texas shouldn’t be ranked that high anyway.

Postgame commentary: The Sooners were impressive in their 55-17 win against the rival Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl. Landry Jones threw for 367 and three touchdowns, but again, Texas is not worthy of being in the Top 25. The Longhorns fell 11 spots after the loss. Should have fallen out of the poll.

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Posted: October 5th, 2011

Let’s recap Week 5, shall we?

No. 2 Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC) at No. 17 Florida (4-1, 2-1 SEC)

Pregame rant: Everyone talks about Florida’s team speed, but this game will see if the Gators truly have some burners.

Postgame commentary: The Crimson Tide can slow down any team. Add Florida to that list. The Gators had just 15 yards rushing and were held scoreless the last three quarters of their 38-10 loss. Oh by the way, Alabama has the nation’s top back in junior Trent Richardson, who rushed for career-high 181 yards and two touchdowns against Florida.

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Posted: September 27th, 2011

Let’s recap Week 4, shall we?

No. 5 Oklahoma State (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) at No. 14 Texas A&M (2-1, 0-1 Big 12)

Pregame rant: Great conference opener for these two Big 12 titans, but something has to give here. The Cowboys are second in the nation in total offense at 601 yards a game and third in the nation in points per game at 52.3. However, the Aggies has given up a total of 534 yards and 21 total points in their two games.

Postgame commentary: Down 20-3 at the half, Oklahoma State scored 27 straight points and withstood a final charge from Texas A&M to prevail. Senior Brandon Weeden threw for a school-record 438 yards and two touchdowns on 60 pass attempts. The amazing thing about that is Weeden didn’t throw an interception.

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