Picture courtesy of the AP.
Brandon James is the most dangerous return man in the country. Let's just get that out of the way right now. Trindon Holliday? He can't field returns. Javier Arenas? Jeremy Maclin? They're good, but they're not James. Watch his 78 yard punt return yesterday against Tennessee. Or last year's 83 yarder. Or the 90 yarder that was called back two years ago. He's shifty, nimble, and fast, and he's the perfect return man. Of the four that he's taken to the house in his career, yesterday's might have been the best out of all of them; whereas he usually gets great blocking thanks to Florida's outstanding return team, he took yesterday's to the house with almost no help. He broke three tackles, and it was only Percy Harvin's block downfield that ensured that he would go for six.
Think teams are going to test this guy again?
Anyway, besides James, props has to go to the Florida defense for bottling up Tennessee; they held the Volunteers scoreless until the fourth quarter, and stopped one of the best tailbacks in the SEC in Arian Foster. Instead, the Vols looked lost on offense, as the Gators stopped the run and showed that Johnathan Crompton was unable to beat them with his arm. Know what the worst thing about this game was (for the Vols at least)? Florida called a damn conservative game; the Gators only threw 15 times, and opted to let the ground game pace the team. Emmanuel Moody finally showed up, rushing for 56 yards on 9 carries, and Chris Rainey ran for 37 on 9 rushes as well. Florida only put up 243 yards of offense, but what's to complain about when you score 30 on the road and beat a rival by 24? I'll add that I would like to see Florida open it up, though; Tebow showed us in the Miami game that he's still a top 3 QB in the nation when he gets the chance to cut loose, but for rhythm's sake, I'd like to see him throw it a bit more against Ole Miss. Offensively, they could pose a threat with Jevan Snead at QB and Mike Wallace and Marshay Green being playmakers at WR, but defensively, they may not be ready for the playmakers the Florida offense has.
Early Prediction: Florida 34, Ole Miss 17
Offensive Props:
- Emmanuel Moody, for 56 yards rushing on 9 carries
- Tim Tebow, for going 8-15 for 96 yards and 2 TD passes
- The offensive line, for not surrendering any sacks to Tennessee and a good job of run blocking
Defensive Props:
- Janoris Jenkins, for a recovered fumble and an interception to close out the first half.
- Brandon Spikes, for 10 tackles
- The front four, for holding Arian Foster to a mere 38 yards rushing
Round Robin (CFB Style);
- FSU is terrible. It is ridiculous that they were ranked in the top 25 after beating two FCS teams to open the season. People looking at FSU's history and expecting them to turn the corner were rudely awakened last night, as Wake Forest outplayed FSU and Jim Grobe outcoached Bobby Bowden. They controlled the clock, the pace, and were it not for mistakes in key situations, would've completely decimated the Seminoles last year. Seriously, I don't want to see FSU play a decent offense this year, because it'll be too ugly to watch. I'll admit, though: it was hilarious listening to how quickly the Bob Davie changed his tune over the course of the game. He goes from pimping their defense in the first quarter, to talking about how nothing had changed about the team during the third. Really? That's not what you were saying about them earlier, Bob. They're still the same undisciplined team they were last year, and the year before that, and the year before.......you get the picture. And what's worse is that their offense might actually be worse than it was last year. In addition to still rotating QBs (this time, the victims are Christian Ponder and D'Vontrey Richardson, both of whom finished last night's game 6-18 passing), they turned the ball over SIX times. Watching them try and score point was tantamount to watching a NASCAR game for the wrecks: you knew the mistake was coming, it was just a matter of when. Hopefully, FSU will do the honorable thing and tank the season in hopes of getting Bobby Bowden the hell out of Tallahassee.
- Georgia handled business against Arizona State, and looked pretty good in doing so. They sacked Rudy Carpenter four times, and held ASU to four rushing yards in the game. On offense, they imposed their will, rolling up 461 yards of offense, including 150 yards on the ground by Knowshon Moreno. Most importantly, though, Matthew Stafford may have finally found a reliable target at WR: AJ Green. He was an absolure monster last night, catching 8 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown. His jumping ability gives Stafford a great bail out option when plays break down: throw a jump ball to Green and hope he catches it. It's been a few years since the Bulldogs had a playmaker at WR; Mohammed Massaquoi was supposed to be that guy, but he hasn't panned out. Sean Bailey had promise, but his stint at UGA was cut short due to injury. Finally, with the emergence of Green, the Georgia offense could come to rely more on Stafford's arm should teams bottle up Moreno. As for the Sun Devils, they simply confirmed what I thought about them before last night's game: they're soft, and not physical enough to compete with elite teams. Carpenter's a solid enough QB, but they're not tough enough in the trenches to put a dent in top teams. Don't believe me? Watch them when they sqaure off against USC later in the year.
- LSU and Auburn played a hell of a game last night, one that didn't turn out anything like I expected. Instead of a low-scoring defensive struggle, we got a back and forth game whre each offense played quite well. Auburn's Chris Todd threw for 250 yards against LSU's secondary, a unit that, by the way, looked absolutely lost last night. Meanwhile, LSU's Charles Scott showed why he's the best tailback in the SEC so far this year, and they also found a starting QB in Jarrett Lee. Props to LSU for pulling out a gutty win and keeping Auburn's fantastic defense on its toes; after going down by double digits to close the half, they responded in the second half and got themselves right back into the game. And what about the onside kick call by Les Miles? Another time when the mad genius' plan struck gold. Give the man credit: he may not make the most sound decisions, but he damn sure believes in his team.
Week 3 Player of the Week: AJ Green, for his 8 catch, 159 yard, and 1 TD performance against Arizona State.
No comments:
Post a Comment