And Then There Were Five... But It Didn't Matter.
Last week, there were six undefeated teams, but it was inevitable that this week there would be no more than five, due to the long-anticipated Clash of the Titans between then-one-and-two LSU and Alabama.
A superb defensive performance on both sides led to an altogether boring exhibition as the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide 9-6 in OT. The big surprise was the BCS fallout... or lack thereof. Despite the loss, the strength of the Tide's schedule means the computers love them, and they drop only one spot to #3, Oklahoma State jumps to #2 after barely holding off an impressive Kansas State, and Stanford stays frosty at #4, despite jumping to USA Today #2 and Harris Poll #3. Boise State is the big loser this week, as the polls show that despite some computerized love, voters controlling 2/3 of the BCS score will never choose the Mountain West goliath over a one-loss SEC team (though Big 12 and Pac 12 are apparently different stories) Could be worse, Boise State; you could be in C-USA.
Oklahoma State holds their destinies in their own hands with a win over Oklahoma. Stanford needs to sweep their tests against #7 Oregon, overrated Notre Dame, and probably Pac 12 Southern Division champ Arizona State to even stay in the running, and then will likely need help via a Cowboys loss. If both the Cowboys and Cardinal drop a game somewhere? Get ready for another 9-6 Clash of the Kickers...
A superb defensive performance on both sides led to an altogether boring exhibition as the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide 9-6 in OT. The big surprise was the BCS fallout... or lack thereof. Despite the loss, the strength of the Tide's schedule means the computers love them, and they drop only one spot to #3, Oklahoma State jumps to #2 after barely holding off an impressive Kansas State, and Stanford stays frosty at #4, despite jumping to USA Today #2 and Harris Poll #3. Boise State is the big loser this week, as the polls show that despite some computerized love, voters controlling 2/3 of the BCS score will never choose the Mountain West goliath over a one-loss SEC team (though Big 12 and Pac 12 are apparently different stories) Could be worse, Boise State; you could be in C-USA.
Oklahoma State holds their destinies in their own hands with a win over Oklahoma. Stanford needs to sweep their tests against #7 Oregon, overrated Notre Dame, and probably Pac 12 Southern Division champ Arizona State to even stay in the running, and then will likely need help via a Cowboys loss. If both the Cowboys and Cardinal drop a game somewhere? Get ready for another 9-6 Clash of the Kickers...
The Colts Look to Get Luck-y, Who the Hell is "Matt Moore"?!
Because I'm a Niners fan, I have to start by saying that this team is the real deal, and I take back everything bad I ever said about Alex Smith. It is obvious now that he suffered from a lack of good coaching and the churning of offensive coordinators (5 in his tenure at SF) and head coaches and hair-brained schemes. But now he has Molder of Men Jim Harbaugh at the helm, and he looks like a completely different QB. He's no dynasty QB, and never will be, but this year he's playing scrappy, smart West Coast Offensive like he grew up doing it, rather than throwing bombs with the Utes' spread offense. 6 years is a long time.
Look at their schedule: The 49ers, #2 in the entire NFL, have only played one NFC West game, putting them on track for a 12-win season, and no one's keeping them out of the playoffs this year. Not bad for a team who finished 6-10 last season and has a Wikipedia subsection called "The difficult years" spanning the better part of a decade. The real test will be how they fare against playoff-quality teams, of which they have three: next week hosting the NFC leading NY Giants (coming off a huge upset of Tom Brady's struggling Patriots), Week 12 at ascendant Baltimore, and hosting the Steelers in Week 15. I'm especially interested in seeing how the Niners' middle-of-the-field-heavy offense handles Ray Lewis and the assassin-laden Ravens D.
Okay, since no one but me cares about the Niners, how 'bout them Colts? With Miami tearing about Kansas City like butter, the Colts are the proverbial Cheese, standing alone. Which means that they are winning the Suck for Luck sweepstakes. Given that the team is by this point pretty obviously worthless without Peyton Manning, you've got to figure that Andrew Luck is going to Indy come draft time. Which is pretty much the best thing that could happen to both the Heisman-frontrunner and the Colts dynasty. Peyton will be back neck year, it seems, and Luck would have valuable time to train under a master, a la Joe Montana/Steve Young, or Brett Favre/Aaron Rodgers. And we know how those guys turned out. Better to red shirt a few years under one of football's greats than to try to get into a messy, high-pressure, rookie-year fight for the starting job against the likes of Sam Bradford or Matt Moore...
Speaking of Matt Moore... who the hell is this guy? The Dolphins are a frighteningly bad 1-7 this season, but against what we thought was a solid Kansas City squad this year--as shown by their status as AFC West leaders--the 5th year, former Beaver (Oregon State, for you non-Pac 12ers) Matt Moore comes out of nowhere and throws 17/23, 244 yds, 3 TDs, no picks, earning him a 97.7 QB rating and the top QB performance of Week 10... this is a guy who has a QB rating of 79.7 and prior to Sunday, threw 1 TD and 4 INTs. Is he the real deal, or was KC really just that bad?
I'm voting that KC is just that bad.
MLS Cup, Nov. 20 @ 9p EST, on ESPN!
The MLS Cup Final will be the Houston Dynamo at L.A. Galaxy, as the Home Depot Center is the site of this year's Cup Final. Only one team (DC United) has ever won an MLS Cup at their home stadium.
The Houston Dynamo apparently looked really good against Sporting KC at Livestrong Sporting Arena, the gem of MLS stadiums. I wouldn't know, I didn't see any of it.
But I have seen the goal embedded here from L.A. Galaxy's 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake, a beautiful service from David Beckham right on the head of Mike Magee, who in now 3-for-3 in this playoff season, scoring every game. Mike Magee is in the right place at the right time, which is pretty much exactly what you want from a guy who can't necessarily make things happen on his own, but is fast and accurate. Good tactics by Bruce Arena on that one. The other two goals came off a Landon Donovan PK and Irish MNT captain Robbie Keane's first MLS playoff goal. Keane really stepped up, and was a one-man offense keeping RSL honest near the end of the game when the rest of the Galaxy had set its heels in and RSL was pushing everyone up in desperation. He'll be key to beating the Dynamo. The big question coming out of last night's match-up is: Where is Landon Donovan? This playoff run has been all Beckham, all the time, and Keane is making chances, even if he's only scored once. But Donovan seems relatively quiet, and will need to step up for the final.
The L.A. Galaxy and Houston Dynamo each have 2 MLS Cups, though the Dynamo franchise has another two from their previous incarnation as the original San Jose Earthquakes (not to be confused with the revitalized, current expansion team... it's a Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens thing, you understand). Dynamos are 2-2 in the Cup Finals, Galaxy are 2-4. This will be the Galaxy's 7th visit to the MLS Cup Final, an MLS record. David Beckham has won silverware in the English Premiere League (Man U:6), La Liga (Real Madrid:1), and UEFA Champions League (Man U:1) and looks to add one in MLS to his trophy case in what may be his last season in the States. The teams split their meetings in the regular season, with L.A. winning at HDC back in may (1-0), and losing Houston's regular season finale at Houston (1-3)... but take that 1-3 loss with a grain of salt, since only one of the Galaxy's current A-team (DeLaGarza) started. Donovan Rickets was the starting goalie at the time, and the only starter playing as Galaxy had already locked up the Supporter's Shield. Take a look at the 10/23 L.A. lineup:
Donovan Ricketts, Frankie Hejduk (Ryan Thomas 76), Gregg Berhalter, Dasan Robinson, A.J. DeLaGarza, Hector Jimenez, Chris Birchall, Dan Keat, Michael Stephens, Jovan Kirovski (Chad Barrett 62), Jack McBean.
No Beckham, Donovan, Todd Dunivant, Keane, Magee, Omar Gonzalez, Chad Barrett, Sean Franklin, Josh Saunders, or Juninho. The Dynamo are a heavy underdog coming into this... for one thing, they'll be facing the newly explosive Robbie Keane up front, and Houston will be without team MVP and crucial midfielder Brad Davis, out with a torn right quad in the 39th minute against Sporting KC.
great post Kev.
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