Posted by Chili

BOOM and you thought it wasn’t going to happen. The Dab-O-Meter has been in the shop for repairs and is now ready to roll out for the oh ten footbaw season. You’ll notice one change in the metrics of the graph (no, Ham Sandwich didn’t move up the y-Axis of Coaching Prowess) where last year I focused on one of Dabo’s unique qualities, Southern Folksy Charm, this has been pretty well established as being well into “eating at Snappy Lunch with Opie and Barney” territory. This year I am focusing on another of Dabber’s traits that certainly emerged in the neatly packaged gift of a game we presented to Auburn last week: SIDELINE INTENSITY.

This lineup is debatable, sure, but I think it pretty well hones in on who is more “getting crunk” and who is more “sipping lean” as the young people say. Chan Gailey sets the bar for moss-growing football coaches, not just in his demeanor but in the style of play his boring ass GT teams were known for. Sweatervest guy is next, and could arguably be the most sleepy. NCSU’s Tom O’Brien is a little more active, but I still think he’s afraid to move too much lest he injure himself like his players tend to do. Nick Saban is just on the other edge of middleground. He will get on players and officials, but his entire manner is this detached nonplussed robot who has kind of a cunty look on his face all the time. Mike Stoops of Arizona is a highly animated coach, see, look at this picture of him yelling. Nobody else but Ed Orgeron could top the list, and I don’t even know if he counts as he is clearly part wildebeest. This lineup could shift depending on if Jim Tressel actually falls asleep during a game or if Ed Orgeron exerts himself so hard that an eyeball pops out and the odd assortment of ten-penny nails, sharks’ teeth, and individually packaged hot sauces that populate the inside of his skull tumble out all akimbo onto the sideline.

Well, you see on the chart that Dabo started out pretty well this season. (oh, and his position on the graph this year isn’t exactly where it ended last year, so deal with it) Most of the fanbase has confidence in him. You’d think the showing at Auburn would’ve moved him up a bit due to moral victory points, but a lot of people sort of got frustrated about Clemson football, wondering if frustratingly close losses would haunt Dabo as they did Tommy Bowden. However, the bruising, physical play is something near and dear to old Clemson fans’ hearts and was a welcome sight for everyone, including myself. The only real movement he makes is horizontally, as he was much more rabid on the sidelines than usual. This weekend’s Miami game could propel him up a bit, we’ll see.

Posted by Sam

Another week of football, another decent week for my picks, I finished just over .500 and can’t complain whatsoever from that result.  And I did learn a couple of things, Wake Forest is decent at home, but terrible of the road.  Duke is back to being Duke and Boston College is really bad.  Georgia Tech’s defense might be the 2^nd worst in the conference (Duke, of course, is the worst) and we might have to start taking NC State seriously.  Oh, and Sakerlina might have started their annual collapse earlier than usual this season.  Now, here is something I found interesting.

If you turn on ESPN2 late on Friday nights (like 1 am late), you will find ESPN showing the extremely underrated sport of Australian Rules Football.  For those of you who have no idea what that is, let me break it down for you.  First off, the field is shaped like the football itself (see below) and on each end are four poles.  In order to score, a player has to kick the ball through either the two middle poles for six points or between either of the two outer poles for one point.  Next, a team can move the ball by throwing or kicking the ball in any direction.  If the ball is thrown then no matter if a teammate or an opponent catches it, then the play is still live (bear with me, this makes sense in a second…maybe) and that player can run with ball, throw it, or kick it.  However, if the ball is kicked and a teammate or the opponent catches it without the ball hitting the ground, then the guy who caught the ball cannot advance the ball from that spot, but he is allowed a free kick or throw from that spot with his opponent only allowed to jump up and down in his face, kind of like an inbounds play in basketball.  I know it doesn’t make to much sense, but it is surprisingly fun to watch and I haven’t even got to the best part yet.  By far my favorite part of Australian Rules Football is how out-of-bounds plays are handled.  When the ball goes out of bounds (in the area between those two semi-circles, if it goes out of bounds in the “endzone”, then the ball goes to the owner of the “endzone”), the ref then takes the ball to the spot where it went out of bounds, turns his back to the field, then throws the ball straight up the in air over his head.  Yes, it’s like a jump ball in basketball, but it happens 20 times a game and everyone on both teams is allowed to go for the ball, so there are elbows being thrown, people being tackled, punches, bleeding, the works.  Also, if one team tackles the guy who has the ball before he can pass it, then the ref does something very similar to the out-of-bounds play, he takes the ball to the spot where it stopped, then throws it at the ground as hard as he can, it bounces up, and another free-for-all ensues.  Great game, very underrated.  Plus they showed that Eric Bana was at the game I was watching the other night and he is a bad-ass, so this sport must be worth watching if Hector was there.

And with that, on to some foootbawl!

“Australian Rules Foootbawl!!!”

ACC Games

(Pick in Bold.  Lines from Sportsbook.com. Rankings based on Coaches’ Poll)

Continue Reading “WEEKLY PICKS O’ THE WEEK – WEEK 5″ »

Posted by Chili

Hey, you got a problem with this? Well, let’s talk it over in the comments.

Block-C Ballot – Week 5

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	–
2	Ohio St. Buckeyes	–
3	Boise St. Broncos	–
4	Oregon Ducks	1
5	TCU Horned Frogs	1
6	Oklahoma Sooners	1
7	Florida Gators	1
8	Nebraska Cornhuskers	1
9	Arizona Wildcats	1
10	Wisconsin Badgers	1
11	LSU Tigers	2
12	Miami Hurricanes	–
13	Texas Longhorns	-9
14	Stanford Cardinal	1
15	Auburn Tigers	1
16	Iowa Hawkeyes	4
17	Arkansas Razorbacks	-3
18	Utah Utes	1
19	Missouri Tigers	-2
20	Michigan Wolverines	1
21	Michigan St. Spartans	2
22	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	2
23	Penn St. Nittany Lions	2
24	South Carolina Gamecocks	-6
25	N.C. State Wolfpack	–
Dropouts: West Virginia Mountaineers

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

Posted by Chili

ESPN’s Heather Dinich has the Canes and Tigers 1 and 2 respectively in her latest ACC Power Rankings, which sounds about right. NCSU is banging on the door at #3, but people I think are mostly going to wait until they get a signature win, like this week against Virginia Tech could be.

Greg Wallace obviously shares Dinich’s opinion when it comes to the Tigers, as he writes that the ACC is theirs for the taking. Let’s hope so.

Kegs n Eggs highlights Clemson-Miami as one to watch this weekend, and sees the Tigers possibly taking this one.

GoUpstate has an article on Byron Maxwell’s attempt to rebound from getting absolutely clowned by a Cam Newton pump fake at Auburn last week. To add insult to injury they show a picture of Maxwell surrendering the winning touchdown to TCU last year. They say cornerbacks have to have short memories and always be able to move on to the next play, well how bout a long term memory of how not to get baited on an arm pump next time.

Here’s another article, this time from the Post & Courier, focusing on Clemson’s defensive backfield as they prepare for Jacory Harris and the Canes’ pass attack. The article seems to show concern for how the Tiger DBs will handle the pro-style pass attack.

John Lovett, Clemson assistant from 2002-2004, is now the defensive coordinator at UM. Other factoids available hyah.

Posted by Sam

Auburn 35 Cocks 27

Normally, we don’t do something like this, but I wanted to put this out there anyways, mostly because it’s fun to make fun of Sakerlina losing and I know you guys will want to throw your two cents out there, too.  OK, on to a couple points I wanted to bring up.  First, I’m going to assume that the Marcus Lattimore/Adrian Peterson comparisons are done with for the moment.  The guy did not have the best of games, rushing 14 times for 36 yards and on five of those carries, he lost yardage.  I’m not saying the guy isn’t or won’t be a stud, I’m just saying that the media was getting way ahead of themselves when they compared him to Adrian Peterson after he had a really good game against a terrible Georgia team, the same Georgia team that just lost to Mississippi State.  Ouch.  (Also, this was the same rush defense that Andre Ellington torched for 140 yards last week.  BOOM!!!)  Second, what the hell was Spurrier thinking when he put in Conner Shaw for those last few drives?  A true freshman playing on the road against an SEC opponent is not the greatest of ideas and it showed.  Last two drives, two interceptions, game over.  I’m going to assume The Ol’ Ball Coach is going to get hammered for that move.  And lastly, thank you Auburn.  Thank you.

“When I went to save this picture, it automatically gave it the title “Spurrier Tramp Stamp”.  Hilarious.”