Weekend Update

Hope everyone out there had a good thanksgiving with lots of food, television and family (all things I am thankful for). Now back to the sports world.

There was a ton of stuff that happened over the holiday. NFL, college football and even college basketball had eye opening games.

The first thing I would like to talk about is the BCS and college football. I am shaking my head right now writing this because I can not believe that Oklahoma is going to the Big XII championship game over Texas. I am by no means a Texas fan, but the fact that Oklahoma managed to jump over a team that won 49-9 over a conference rival is beyond me.

The argument remains that the computers never lie and have no bias. I disagree. The computer programs are made by some nerdy guys who either have a degree in astrophysics or another form of mathematics, or have just been making their own, subjective ranking system for 20 some years and have didn't even go to college (seriously, I'm not making this up).

List #4
The facts about Texas and Oklahoma - The Battle for the South
1. Texas beat Oklahoma on a neutral field 45 - 35. Say what you will about Dallas, its still neutral.
2. Texas and Oklahoma both beat Oklahoma State. Texas won when OSU was #6 28-24 in Austin. Oklahoma won in Stillwater when OSU was # 12 61-41.
3. Texas lost to Texas Tech 39-33 in the last minute in Lubbock. Oklahoma beat Tech in Norman, 65-21.
4. Texas beat a Missouri team ranked #12 56-31. Oklahoma beat a #16 Kansas team (no longer ranked) in Norman 45-31.
5. Texas also beat Kansas 35-7 in Lawrence.
6. Oklahoma beat TCU 35-10 in Norman.

7. Texas beat Oklahoma ON A NEUTRAL FIELD.

It does not matter to me if you compare the schedules and outcomes of the other games when comparing the two teams. What matters is that one team lost to the other. Oklahoma lost to Texas. Texas should go to the Big XII championship. End of story.

While we are on the topic of Oklahoma, Sam Bradford (assuming he doesn't tank in Kansas City this weekend) should win the heisman. He is on a team that is most likely headed to the National Championship game and has put up huge numbers (46 td passes - almost 4 a game- and lead a team to average over 53 points a game).

Now what matters to me the most was the Border War in Kansas City this past weekend. Kansas vs. Missouri in a game that didn't mean as much as it did last year. Kansas won 37-40. The Jayhawks got an inspired effort from Todd Ressing and Kerry Meier again, but the player that impressed me the most was Darrell Stuckey.

Stuckey is a Junior Safety from the Kansas City area, who has been KU's best defensive player all year long. He came up with 2 interceptions off the former heisman candidate Chase Daniel and also stripped Daniel after a 50 plus yard run. What I liked about the way he played, was that you could tell he knew exactly what he was going to do in the biggest plays of the game.

On the run by Daniel, Stuckey was chasing him down the center of the field trying to get into position for a tackle. Daniel tried to protect the ball somewhat and Stuckey reacted by getting into the perfect spot to swat the ball out at the perfect time. Daniel had just started slowing down as the defense converged on him, apparently getting ready for a slide or big hit. Instead Stuckey read this and immediately hacked the ball from Daniel's grasp and pounced on the fumble. A great play and much needed against a team with a lot more firepower in Missouri. He really just wanted it more than the Tigers on Saturday.

Reesing, 37 fo 51 for 375 yards 4 td's and 2 int's, and Meier, 14 catches for 106 yards and 2 td's (both in the last 5 minutes of the game), were huge for Kansas as well. Reesing showed that he can sling it many different ways, from bullets to floaters and short passes as well as down the field. Meier played with a hurt hammy, looked like an old man running on the field, but found ways to get open when it counted and come through with hands as soft as the microfleece blankets many of the fans were wearing; translation: it was cold and he still caught the ball, a very hard thing to do because the pigskin has turned in to a rock and less circulation to the hands means less feeling.

Lost in the mix of these three studs of the game was Desmond Briscoe, who broke the record for most receiving yards in a season for a KU player. He came up with 9 catches for 115 yards and a td and made the play of the game, athletically anyway, by grabbing a ball out of the air on the sideline with one hand that he and everyone else on the field had no business catching. Not only was he a huge part of the passing attack, but he woke up the Kick return unit that was abysmal all year long. Kick returns were supposed to be one of the strong points of the team with all Big XII return man of the year Marcus Herford back. That never happened as KU consistently had one of the worst units in the nation. Briscoe had 7 returns for a 27.9 yard average, and set up the Jayhawks with great field position late in the game taking a return back to the 50.

Other observations about the team:
Rojas is not a good punter, I don't care if he got a couple balls inside the 20, I think Kerry Meier could have done just as good of a job with no rush.
Jake Sharp needs to get some better play calls to be effective. He was great too, gutting out that game with a flak jacket (usually only used by QB's due to decreased mobility, but increased padding around the mid section) to protect his bruised/broken ribs.
Marcus Herford picked a perfect time to come up with his first catch of the year. His 31 yard grab down the sideline with Briscoe out was a huge lift for the team because it could have easily been dropped and it put KU in the red zone.

Other college football news included Cincinnati (they have a football team) winning the Big East and clinching a BCS berth, Virginia Tech and Boston college locking up spots in the ACC title game (what happened to Miami and FSU?) and Oregon State choking in an attempt to lock up the Pac 10 title against Oregon (they lost 65-38, yikes).

The NFL
Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg accidentally in a night club with a gun that was not registered.

Really? You really did that to yourself? If it wasn't such a sad thing that he hurt himself and should go to jail, imagine his buddies laughing at him.
"You shot yourself??!?! Dude, you are an idiot! What is wrong with you? Don't you know that you should point the end with the whole away from you? HA!"

On top of all of that, the Giants are 11-1 and have found plenty of replacements for Burress. I doubt this will affect them, but Kevin Boss is hurt and he was a pretty big part of their run last year. The G-men already have more wins than they did last year as Super Bowl Champs, have almost as good of a defense (without Strahan and Osi U) and got a big road win by beating the Cardinals (imagine that happening in any of the last 10 years without laughing).

The NFC South is the best division in football, not the NFC East, with every team at least .500 and right now have two teams that are in the wild card spots for the playoffs.

Denver won the AFC West and San Diego is only 1 game ahead of the Raiders, who lost the Chiefs... at home... after beating Denver... in Denver... Go figure. Denver has the same division record as the 2-10 Chiefs.

Minnesota will win the NFC North.

The Colts won against the Browns, who lost their second quarterback for the year, and did not score an offensive touchdown.

Jacksonville and Houston play on Monday night to see who will give up thinking they can make the playoffs first.

College Basketball:
KU won over Coppin State
List #5
Observations from the game:
1. Morningstar made open shots. This could be huge later in the year when it really matters. I liked it.
2. Sherron and Cole are super heroes.
3. The second half defense was bad. I did not like this.
4. Taylor still shows a lot of promise and will be a great player for KU.

Other news from college basketball. A Top 5 Big East team got beat at home by a team who's mascot is a giant red blob.
That's right the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (Red Blobs) beat Louisville who was ranked #3 in the country. The Big East will choke down the stretch this year.

Tennessee met Gonzaga in the finals of a nonconference tourney in a matchup of top 15 teams and the Zags won. Good start for them.

Thats all for. Stay Tuned for Rant Day tomorrow or Wednesday!

DDSF