Robert Griffin Leads Baylor over Missouri
It has been a few weeks since I’ve posted an update on how Baylor is doing, while a nation sat and waited with bated breath.
Part of it is because I have been a virtual streetfight on some business deals and part of it is depression over the Robert Griffin injury. I thought Griffin was done for the rest of the season.
With Griffin gone, no way Baylor would get the requisite 7 wins for going bowling this year, right? Well, right. Then, the amazing unfolded on Saturday against Missouri. Robert Griffin has the healing powers of Vince Young. To recover that quickly and lead his team to the W over Missouri just astonishes me.
But, hey, it happened. Griffin was back and with his usual flair, he led Baylor to the W. Throwing for 400+ yards was impressive, but when he pulled his pants down in mid-sprint on his 73 yard run in the 4th quarter to clinch the game and ran into the end zone with his pants around his ankles, I thought that took the showboating a bit far. Anyway, good for Baylor nonetheless. It certainly makes our matchup with them more disturbing this weekend. If Griffin is on fire again, we could have ourselves a shootout. I fully expect Greg Davis to pull out all of the stops against this Bear juggernaut.
Baylor’s prospects for a bowl game will dim after this weekend, but they’ll have ATM and Tech left on the schedule. Perhaps taking those 2 is still within reach, but the loss of Griffin nullified the potential upside of this team. I expect a 44-3 stomping, but we’ll save the mudhole for ATM.
Looking Elsewhere @ The Big 12 North vs The Big 12 South
There is one remaining game to be played this season between the 2 divisions, with OSU and CU squaring off later this month, but this will end up another embarrassing year for the North, regardless.
During the regular season over the past two years, the South is 27-8 during the regular season. Remove Baylor and the record is 25-4. Either number is impressive for the South and an indictment on the conference for the guys from the North. I didn’t bother looking beyond the last 2 years, so I don’t know when their last +.500 record against the South was, but it sure doesn’t feel recent.
Notre Dame & Coaching Openings
Farley Weis is 3-16 since 2007 against teams with winning records. That’s not against ranked teams, just teams with winning records. I believe that means teams with winning records at the time of the game, but what I read wasn’t clear on that. Regardless, that’s just a pathetic stat. Pear Bryant might have a tactical and strategic schematic advantage in every game, but he’s not pointing that out to opponents very often. In a year where it doesn’t appear that many of the big name jobs will be open, the Notre Dame job would be the big prize. Until they relax their standards on players, beyond what they’ve done for Weis, Notre Dame will provide the illusion of being competitive, at best. The name mentioned that seems realistic is Brian Kelly.
I hear the Dick Rod and Mark Richt firing talk, but how in the hell does Georgia fire Richt? So the guy goes 7-5 or 6-6 in the regular season this year. They’re winning at a high level whenever they don’t start a guy named Joe Cox at QB. Doesn’t he deserve some cushion? And could Michigan afford to drop Rodriguez? It would seem like a lot of dough at stake there. They close out the year @ Wisconsin and against Ohio State. This team could wind up 5-7.
eATMe, Andre Ware
Mike Sherman’s Aggies drive down on the first drive of the game against Colorado and get the ball inside the 3. They’re stuffed on downs 1-3, so what do they do? They go for it on 4th down. Some folks may like the call. Kevin Steele loved it. I didn’t. I bitched at the time to buddies as we watched the game that ATM doesn’t understand how to win yet and taking the points early would be beneficial for that team. If they take those points, do things shake out differently? I have no doubt, although who knows what else that might have changed. I get the whole “play to win on the road, tie at home” bullshit. I also recognize that while that may make sense for a team like Texas, it’s a bit different for a team like Texas ATM.
I commented at the beginning of the season that we should root for BSU to lose to Oregon in game 1 because Oregon was mediocre and overrated and otherwise, all we’d hear about was how BSU deserves a chance. My issue was the utter shittiness of their remaining schedule. Oregon probably has another loss in them, even after this weekend. The go to Arizona and have the rivalry game against Oregon State, both formidable opponents in the powerfully mediocre PAC 10. Oregon is an above average team getting more credit than they deserve for beating another above average team …
USC did all it could to lose its third game of the year. Arizona State is a bad club. USC beat them 14-9. They’re simply not very good and do not deserve to be included in top 10 discussions. I am as certain now as I was to open this season that USC will finish with a minimum of 3 losses. In the same way Bob Stoops misses Mike Stoops, Pete Carroll misses Norm Chow. USC still has to face Stanford, UCLA, and Arizona. None of those are gimmies for this team.
Andre Ware predicted 4 losses for the Okies before this season started. Soonerfans.com mocked him as though he were below them in the brain matter ladder. That thread is still alive over there and it is awesome. Facing down ATM, Tech and OSU, plus a bowl, feels like a 5 loss or worse season to me. Their defense is almost as good as their offense is bad. Landry Jones looks bad and cannot, absolutely cannot, throw in a rolling pocket or on the move. I remember when people gave a lot of credence to the concept of Bomar improving markedly after his Freshman year. I laughed, but we never got to see it. While there is no doubt Jones will improve, as anyone would, we’re not witnessing the growing pains of a budding star. This guy sucks, and he’s going to be fun to watch as a Texas fan. You can’t teach smart. Check out NDS' take here.
Ole Miss beat the mighty Northern Arizona Browneyes by all of 24 points on Saturday. Some called Jevan Snead a future 1st round pick. Hell, maybe he will be, I don’t know. It doesn’t look great right now though. Social Anxiety Disorder mixed with a loose girlfriend having fun when you travel is a potent cocktail. He should stop drinking it.
Scotty Young might come to Texas to play baseball? With Connor Wood and Case McCoy, this legitimately looks like the football staff has no interest, supposedly. I hope he’s making the right decision for himself. I am all for it, as I hear he’s a stud. Oh, and it would pork Tech.
Thoughts?