The Action Jackson Diaries–Afternoon Games

Posted by: Avinash on Saturday, October 6th, 2007

redrivershootout

–On slate, Red River Shootout (big afternoon kahuna), Georgia-Tennessee (will tell us a lot about the SEC East), ASU-Wazzu (will tell us a lot about Dennis Erickson-coached teams).

–Well that’s great. Colt McCoy calls a timeout on the second play from scrimmage. I already am loving picking Texas to cover. Christ.

–Arian Foster looked like LaDanian Tomlinson on that drive. Pathetic Georgia defense to start the game. 7-0 Tennessee. There is just something about Neyland…

–Texas has been looking decent with the Vince Young trickery. Not sure what to make of Colt McCoy though; he’s been a little off. Though I don’t feel as confident about Texas listening to McCoy speak, and immediately watch him get sacked on the blitz. Ugh.

–Red River Shootout has been a standoff so far. Very quiet offense (pretty sure no one has crossed midfield yet…well, until that bullet by Oklahoma’s QB Bradford). And of course, the moment I say quiet offense, Oklahoma goes eighty yards in two passes. First and goal at the 1, leading to a Sooner TD, 7-0.

–Georgia has looked like dogs today. About like us thirteen months ago. 27 yards of offense so far, 7-0 at the end of 1.

–McCoy gets NAILED on a dead ball. Mack Brown is furious, which I find perversely delightful.

–ASU starts off with -13 yards on their first drive. Should be fun.

–Georgia looks absolutely horrid, getting completely fooled on the receiver handoff and no one guarding LaMarcus Coker going down the sideline. Another 3 and out, followed by a blocked punt by Tennessee (although assessed a 30 yard penalty). I think I’ve seen this game before, and it’s giving me bad memories. Back to Red River.

–Bradford has had to keep on starting drives within his own end zone–pretty bad field position so far. Texas has been moving the ball a bit.

–Tennessee keeps on committing penalties, and it doesn’t matter because Georgia’s defense is playing the worst zone I’ve ever seen and covering no one. Has a game ever been declared over in the 2nd quarter?

–Texas ties the game in about a twenty-five second drive.

–Washington State has been driving the ball pretty well, but undoes itself with a sack. Punt deep into ASU territory.

–Another massacre at Neyland. 21-0 Tennessee after about five broken Georgia tackles. The Vols are back, thank God.

–Oklahoma undoes great field position on a kick return, thanks in part to great pressure from Texas’s defense. Pretty impressive defensive efforts on both sides, especially against the run. Both teams seem to be buying exclusively into the pass.

–McCoy keeps on killing Oklahoma with tosses to Jermichael Finley, who seems to be a step faster than the Sooner D-backs. Sooners help by blitzing and preventing the pickups, 14-7 Texas.

–Now THIS is the Rocky Topping Tennessee team I remember. And I guess this is the Georgia team I remember (you know, the one that forgets how to tackle and blows every big game they ever play in after September). 28-0 Vols.

–Scoreless game in Pullman. I tell you, there’s something about playing in that place that turns great offenses into mush (5 yards of passing so far).

–Oklahoma strikes right back. I have a feeling this is our game of the afternoon, since both teams seem willing to blitz on 3rd down and play man to man. Big plays always result from these passing offenses.

–Another pick for Wazzu. ASU has been completely stifled on offense at this point, and the Cougars cannot take advantage because of allowed sacks and penalties on offense. There have been 84 yards of total offense. In this game. Combined.

–Gibson completes a perfect throw from Brink…which is ruled incomplete because Pac-10 and replay officials continue to suck. I will remember this if ASU wins by 10. 3-0 Wazzu.

–Rudy Carpenter has completed ten of his first eleven passes–the problem is two were interceptions. Now he throws three straight incompletions, all dinky dink passes that went behind and below his receivers. This results in Carpenter dropping F-bombs going into the sidelines. ASU looking very frazzled right now, although their defense has been stepping up big.

–Another penalty by Wazzu, another dropped pass, another punt. Wonderful example of anti-Pac-10 football.

–ASU starts to make their move, starting with a huge 4th down conversion, followed by Carpenter finding the soft spot in coverage. The Cougar offense has been, to say the least, apathetic (Brink is 3-13, 22 yards, although he did have a TD taken away from him).

–Wow. After having no offense, in two passes and fifty seconds, the Cougars go 78 yards in two plays to score. Great catches by Jeshua Anderson and Brandon Gibson.

–Just FYI, Oregon State is crushing Arizona 31-10. No easy game next week for you Cal fan. Ready yourself for the dog fight.

–What an awful fumble by Texas at the two yard line. Not as bad as Oregon’s last week (nothing’s as bad as Oregon’s fumble), but that should have been a go-ahead touchdown.

–Georgia has scored, probably too late. 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

–Tennessee has been completely dominant or Georgia has been completely inept. 5 first downs for the Bulldogs. Outgaining them by 220. Just a great rebound for the Vols.

–Leave for a minute, and you will miss a touchdown (Murray’s 65 yard run). Now I know what the Red River Shootout is all about. Great offensive line protection on each side.

–Excellent bootleg by Colt McCoy (just sounds like someone who would run the bootleg). Texas punches it in at the start of the 4th to tie it at 21.

–Doesn’t Texas-Oklahoma feel like Cal-Oregon redux, to the boneheaded special teams mistakes and the fumbles at the goal-lines and big plays on offense with huge line protection? All we need are four turnovers by one side in this quarter.

–Bradford is on a roll now, with holes starting to open up in the secondary. Funny that Texas keeps on looking for the run, even though the Sooners have nearly abandoned it.

–Well, the Longhorn defense has allowed the big play all game long. They’re like the anti-“bend not break”, which I guess can be a good thing if you play a team that can run the ball. It’s a bad thing when you play a team like the Sooners. But this has been shaping to be a shootout anyway. 28-21.

–Overthrown pass by McCoy leads to an Oklahoma INT. Well, there’s turnover #2.

–ASU scored on a Brink pick-six, 14-10. It’s unbelievable how stifled these offenses have been in this game (actually, no, it’s Pullman). Brink and Carpenter could be in the NFL in two years. They have shown a few flashes of that talent, but not much today.

–Brink comes back on another short field to give the Cougars the lead (haven’t the Cougars had the 50 yard line starting position all game long? 17-14).

–Man, penalties keep on getting thrown later and later. And I’ve never seen so many injuries in one week. So glad to see Cal having the week off. Definitely needed it.

–Excellent coverage on the man-to-man by Oklahoma. It’s been a pretty tight game, and you can only look at the turnovers to say why Texas is losing (two to zero).

–Carpenter who has been harassed all game long, marches the Sun Devils down the field to retake the lead. In a classic display of the ineptitude of this game, ASU botches the extra point. Games get ugly in Pullman.

–Texas’s defense looks burnt orange alright. Time running low. Oklahoma’s running game might be the big difference–they’ve been able to keep it going even while knocking the ball around. Bradford definitely has had the more impressive game.

–One last chance for Texas. McCoy has been taking a little too much time in the pocket. Leads to another huge sack.

–Failure to convert on 4th down. Oklahoma takes over.

–After a missed FG and a few shenanigans, Oklahoma holds on. 28-21 Sooners is the final.

–I’ve completely neglected Wazzu-ASU, but everything has stayed the same as far as I can see. Big defense by the corners.

–Wazzu has needed three minutes to advance fifteen yards. I’m sure this will be followed by a 70 yard bomb. Well, a fifteen yard slant works fine too.

–There was the bomb. Just a little bit off the tips. A lot of balls falling off the tips (insert suggestive joke here).

–Brink and Washington State keep on driving though, although they seem determined to make this the longest 98 yard drive in history with all these ridiculous penalties.

–Add in the penalties, and Wazzu drove 97 yards to get 3 points. What an utterly bizarre team. We could win by 42 when we play them or it could go down to the wire. I wouldn’t be surprised either way. But they’re an entirely different team at home. 20-20.

–OSU absolutely manhandled Arizona. The future NFL star Antoine Cason was the only person keeeping the Cats from being shut out of the end zone. After absolutely lighting up Washington State, Arizona’s run offense went back to being crappy. Forsett, Best and Montgomery have their work cut out for them next week–the Beavers have the best run D in the Pac-10, right behind USC (an astounding 50.2 yards allowed per game). Longshore might be forced to throw deep. Not a terrible proposition at home.

–ASU drives deep into Wazzu territory. Have to wonder if they’ll run the clock low and go for the field goal, or go for the kill. Cougars have shown they can drive all game long.

–They go for the field goal, 23-20 ASU. If the Sun Devils hold on, what an unconvincing victory. Penalties, about seven sacks allowed to a defense that spotted 48 to Arizona, Carpenter lobbing two picks. If that Brink touchdown had been allowed the Cougars would have won outright. I hate games like this.

–My God, Brink just laid out another beauty to Anderson. They should have gone for the six; their field goal kicker doesn’t have enough leg.

–Wide left. Just not enough. Devastating loss for the Pullman faithful. See you for the evening slate!



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