BlogpLOL Week 2: The ACC, the Big East, and the East Carolina Conundrum

by Hawkeye State on Sep 8, 2008 3:36 PM CDT in Football Comment 15 comments

As always, comments and critiques can go in the comment thread. Final poll goes into the hopper at midnight Tuesday.

Lolskipholtz_medium

They have the best resume of any team so far this year, with wins over two top-20 teams. They don't have another opponent on the schedule with half the chops of the two they have so easily dispatched (they play NC State and Virginia later, but both of those teams are giant piles of FAIL). They are coached by Dr. Lou's kid. They're probably going to go 12-0 and make the BCS. So the question is: What the fuck do you do with East Carolina?

It's not like we didn't see the downfall coming for West Virginia and Virginia Tech. WfVU handed the head coaching job to a guy who has no experience in that position but won a bowl game against Oklahoma (which is beginning to look like a staggeringly easy thing to do). He is making an inexplicable move away from the RichROR spread option attack for a pass-oriented offense. Of course, he's doing it with Pat White and Noel Devine, which is sort of like having the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers run Texas Tech's offense.

**Week Two Blogpoll Ballot**
1.	Southern Cal
2.	Oklahoma
3.	Florida
4.	Missouri
5.	Ohio State
6.	Georgia
7.	Penn State
8.	Auburn
9.	Arizona State
10.	Wisconsin
11.	Texas
12.	Alabama
13.	East Carolina
14.	LSU
15.	Oklahoma State
16.	South Florida
17.	California
18.	Oregon
19.	Tulsa
20.	Utah
21.	Iowa
22.	Kansas
23.	Wake Forest
24.	Arizona
25.	Texas Christian

Farmed out to prep school:
Miami, West Virginia, Central Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Cincinnati

Tackle eligible:
Georgia Tech, Boise State, Nebraska, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Kansas State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, BYU

Watched:
Iowa-FIU, Ohio State-Ohio (2nd half), Wake Forest-Ole Miss, USF-UCF, portions of Florida-Miami, BYU-Washington, Kansas-Louisiana Tech, Texas-UTEP

Virginia Tech, on the other hand, lost damn near everything after last season. Further, there may be something to the fact that the ACC was rotting from within last season and nobody truly recognized it. Just look at the postseason results (and yes, I know it's an imperfect indicator):

- Virginia Tech, who LSU pummelled earlier in the year, nevertheless wins the conference and then loses the Orange Bowl to Kansas, who - let's face it - wasn't THAT good.

- Clemson lost to underdog Auburn in the Peach Bowl.

- 60% of Florida State lost by a touchdown in the Music City Bowl to a Kentucky team that was clearly sliding down to the end of the regular season.

- Maryland loses to a thoroughly overrated Oregon State in the Emerald Bowl.

- Boston College, the Atlantic Division champs, nearly loses the Champs Sports Bowl to Michigan State, a thoroughly mediocre team from a thoroughly mediocre conference.

- Georgia Tech, a 7-point favorite, is shitkicked by Fresno State in the Humanitarian Bowl

- Virginia loses to Texas Tech at the Gator Bowl (completely excusable, because Mike Leach is a much, much, much, much better football coach than Al Groh).

- Wake Forest, which continues to be the exception, beat the hell out of UConn in the Meineke Bowl. That being said, it's UConn.

That's two wins in eight games, most of which were against allegedly inferior competition with slight location advantages. The warning signs were there, folks, and the full effects are only being felt now, as this house of cards collapses like Bear Stearns. (There is much more to be written on the effect of the Miami/FSU/Boston College defection to the ACC and its detrimental impact on the quality of play in both conferences, but that's better suited for the offseason.)

In fact, only one ACC team (Wake Forest at #23) and one Big East team (South Florida at #17) makes this week's poll. Both those teams took hits this week, mostly for making nailbiters out of games they probably should have won by double-digits. Georgia Tech is knocking on the door, but the fact that a young team running a completely foreign offensive system with ill-fitting personnel under a new head coach is almost certainly the second-best team in the conference should tell you something about the ACC.

Which brings us to East Carolina. If you look at it and breathlessly scream HOLY SHIT ECU BEAT WEST VIRGINIA AND VA TECH (as I think was everyone's immediate reaction Saturday) without considering just how mediocre those two teams may well be, they're bona fide top 10. On the other hand, if you think West Virginia is going through a transition approximately as painful as their former coach's at LMAOchigan, and Virginia Tech probably wasn't that good and hasn't been for a couple of years, they're probably worthy of a spot in the second half of the poll. The truth, as usual, probably lies somewhere in the middle. I have East Carolina at #13, an acknowledgement that the feat is impressive, but a reservation that it might not be quite as impressive as the names ECU beat would have us believe.

Yeah, that's Iowa at #21. Go ahead and call me a homer, but we're possibly seeing the effect of replacing players like Bryan Mattison and Al Young - who played hard but maxed out their ability - with far superior pure athletes like Adrian Clayborn and Shonn Greene. Defense was never a serious concern (outside of possibly the secondary), and it has lived up to its billing. The giant question marks going into this season were quarterback, running back, and offensive line. With the emergence of Greene and (this is almost certainly premature) Swingin' Dick Stanzi, and the apparent growth in the offensive line, there might be something to this team.

Someone in the Saturday open thread quoted the FIU radio announcers as "stunned" by how good Iowa was and openly claiming Iowa would kill Kansas. I don't quite buy that yet (as noted, comparing teams based on mutual opponents is dicey, especially in college football and especially early in the season). Still, I have to believe that the destruction of the opening cupcakes is better than the alternative, right? Right?

God damn it, I've drank the Kool-Aid again, haven't I?

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As long as we can keep drinking it for another couple of weeks

I’m ok with that.
Were the opponents inferior? Sure. Did they provide the groundwork for a still young team to hopefully grow and gain some confidence? I hope so. We’ll learn a bit more of the answer come Saturday.
As for East Carolina, while you can’t say they’ll finish top ten based on their strength of schedule, right now middle of the pack to slightly higher seems well deserved.

by chitownhawkeye on Sep 8, 2008 3:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Nothing wrong..

with drinking the Kool-Aid. As long as its DRANK flavored.

I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.

by HoyaGoon on Sep 8, 2008 3:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm OK with #21

Iowa did exactly what they were supposed to do in those first two games: come in, establish a cohesive OL and running game, play tough defense, and then see what else was on the roster for when the goings gets tough.

You’ll notice that Iowa could have won both games by 60+ points, but we put the training wheels back on the offense once halftime hit. That’s not to say that Iowa rivals Mizzou from an offensive standpoint, but at least there’s some firepower on that side of the ball again.

Furthermore, we’re seeing a QB grow right before our very eyes, and he’s using a crop of WR’s who can actually find a seam / hole in the defense — plus a few who can get down the field as well. This is something Iowa hasn’t had in quite some time, and if the passing game goes along with the running game, I don’t see any reason to justify an even higher ranking next week.

Admittedly, blowing out the JoJo School for the Blind isn’t nearly as impressive as, say, Wisconsin, but the team is playing well right now. I see Iowa as a better team than ISU at the moment, and lightyears better than PittStache as well. Is it a top 10 team? No, probably not. But certainly within a stone’s throw of the top 15, which is something I haven’t thought about an Iowa program in a few years.

by imadirtyoldman on Sep 8, 2008 4:17 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I already "amke" the BCS

is that a euphemism for think it amke’s no fucking sense?

by YouCanPutYourEddsInIt on Sep 8, 2008 4:52 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

When I said "comments and critiques"

I didn’t mean typos.

But yes, it amkes no fucking sense.

"Bob Zook has to be the laziest man alive"

by Hawkeye State on Sep 8, 2008 4:57 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You're a total homer, actually.

But whatever. I think this team is better than recently as follows:

a. it’s been four years since we had a relaxed offense playing loose for its QB (assuming Stanzi stays out there).
b. it’s been four years since we only dropped 1-2 balls a game.
c. it’s been (x) years since we were this deep on the D-line
d. the coaches pet/star system/good practice players play no matter what/ habits seem to be broken. How do we know? It’s not Jake so much; it’s Eubanks fighting to stay on the field.
e. Greenway left the Vikings and re-enrolled under assumed name “Edds”.
f. Shawn Greene is still out of shape — and knocking people down like it’s high school.
g. Have you noticed? Brandon Myers is light and quick on his feet — and he’ll look even quicker once teams begin stressing on Moeaki.
h. Paki brings energy, good hands, and explosiveness. Coupled with his hair, he’s potentially devastating. (Can you imagine Big Ten DC’s watching film and saying, “uhhh, a walkon, from Cedar Rapids … named PAKI O’MEARA ran that in?”
i. we’re running the backside misdirection, screens and waggles, which should keep our RBs alive longer. You can’t cut back if the backside defenders are crashing the middle.

I wouldn’t have ranked Iowa in the top 25 yet. I want to see our O-line push ISU around. I haven’t seen us block the cupcakes as well as we use to block Michigan. I just don’t see those elegant, lock-step zone surges that we used to see.

Mr. Boh Knows ...

by Bellanca on Sep 8, 2008 5:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I couldn't agree with you more on point C

Our zone defense relies so much on our D-Line to have an effective pass rush, with Norm Parker being allergic to any sort of blitzes. Hopefully they can keep this sort of pressure on the QB throughout the season and prove they are only POW against garbage competition.

by Twin Cities Hawk on Sep 9, 2008 10:18 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

correction

“and prove they AREN’T only POW against garbage competition.”

You’d have thought this was my first-ever post. Oh wait, nevermind.

by Twin Cities Hawk on Sep 9, 2008 10:20 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

"Norm Parker being allergic to any sort of blitzes"

You happen to catch who forced the safety against Maine?

AKA Shadow

by Oops Pow Surprise on Sep 10, 2008 10:11 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, I know Edds blitzed in to get that safety -

I realize that Parker will blitz from time-to-time, but it’s known quite well around the Big Ten and to our non-conference opponents that Norm will seldom send in more than our front four. Who knows though? Our secondary is playing quite well thus far which can free up a LB/DB or two to come charging in on passing downs more frequently than in the past. I happen to think the number of times we call for a blitz will either stay consistent or decrease as the season progresses due to the number of Big Ten teams that we play that runs some sort of spread offense – which will (should) play into our “bend-but-don’t-break” zone defense.

by Twin Cities Hawk on Sep 25, 2008 10:16 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i know the feeling

Morelli looked to turn a corner in the 2007 Outback bowl, we thought our biggest weakness, QB decision making, had been cured. We were all highly encouraged by the way he sliced through FIU, Notre Dame and Buffalo…only to reach epic FAIL proportions against Michigan and Illinois.

Morelli isn’t your qb, so there is hope for you yet, but I totally understand the false sense of security these games lend. Or maybe it’s not false, but it sometimes feels like it.

Kevin @ Black Shoe Diaries

by Kevin HD on Sep 8, 2008 5:47 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs