Keeping Up with the Joneses- National Edition

Gatorsports.com- Nothing of any real relevance to UConn or Big East fans in this video.  I just enjoy watching anything I can on this potential [sic: certain] juggernaut of a team.  

From HC Urban Meyer's comments it seems, for now, that the disappointment of Emmanuel Moody has only been eclipsed by the maturation of Chris Rainey.  While he didn't see much playing time last year (registering one 10 yard catch, a 22 yard punt return, and a 39 yard kick return) he has potential to excel in Coach Meyer's spread; at 5'9 and (listed around) 165 lbs, Rainey possesses Harvin-eqsue size, speed, and moves.  

Whether or not Moody comes to grips with the offense (Hey-what's this shotgun bullshit?) looks to be of little consequence for the Gators.  Sports Illustrated and ESPN touted USC's RB corp as being as talented and as deep as any in recent memory, but Florida's, while less heralded, looks to be better.  Mon Williams, Bo Williams, Keshtan Moore, Chris Rainey, Brandon James...oh yeah, and Percy Fucking Harvin.  Moody is just icing on the cake there, gentlemen.

Cornelius Ingram and Bristol native Aaron Hernandez have made strides enough to warrant implementing a double-tight package.  And Cam Newton has improved much from last year, meaning that Meyer can use Newton to spell Tebow much like he used Tebow to spell Leak in 2007.

Synopsis of post:  Gators=pwnzrs

Hurricane Sports- Freshman linebackers Sean Spence and Arthur Brown dominated the scrimmage, tallying two picks and eight tackles and a pick respectively.  As a unit the defense notched three interceptions and six sacks, as well as limiting sophomore quarterback Robert Marve to 93 yards on 10-22 passing.  Former Miami Northwestern standout QB Jacory Harris didn't fare much better, completing 53% of his passes for 64 yards and -17 yards rushing.  

This means one of two things: either Miami's defense is back to its 1990's form and Arthur Brown and Sean Spence are the next John Vilma and DJ Williams or OC Pat Nix still sucks at coaching.  

I'm with the latter, post later this week detailing why.

Mississippi State-  I'll bet no spring game in history has ever ended 6-0.  How very MSU.  

Apparently sophomore QB Wesley Carroll has adapted well to their new "Possum" offense.

Sportsline.com- Joe Paterno may be the only person around State College who ISN'T worried about his contract.  

"I don't even care if I get a contract.  I'll be very frank with you," Paterno said his eyes blazing with the passionate fire of the steel mill in which he was born.  

This off-season is shaping up to be one messy motherfucker for Penn State.   

Maybe UConn Should Run from the Bone...

DJ Hernandez, Ellis Gaulden, and Brad Kanuch will all miss spring practice in its entirety (or at best, the majority of it).  So thin are the Huskies' at WR that Coach Edsall has taken to trying CB Darius Butler at wideout.  

While this is not what anyone wants to see happen, especially considering that improving the passing game is a top priority for Edsall, it is ultimately irrelevant.  Hernandez has suffered a sprained ankle, Gaulden an unspecified left foot injury, and Kanuch an unspecified quadriceps injury; none of those injuries have warranted surgery (as all three have been working on rehab assignments with the S&C staff) and none will sideline anyone beyond spring.  By all means this untimely rash of injuries is a nuisance, but little more than that.  In fact, the extra practice reps for the Moores and Butler may benefit the team in the long run.  With the transfer of Terrance Jeffers the Huskies are short on experience (and fast) WR's.  Outside of the top two returning WRs, Hernandez and Kanuch, the Huskies return only 52 catches...only 5 of which were credited to a returning wideout.  

Giving the young guys some extra practice time and Butler's a fantastic athlete and he may well play himself into the third or fourth WR spot.  God knows this teams is hurting for a solid deep threat.

In the long run though, these injuries don't make much of a difference on the outlook for the coming season.  Unless someone (Kashif Moore, Butler, Kanuch? Who knows?) steps up in a big, big way and provides Lorenzon with a legitimate deep threat the offense will be predicated on the sturdy and capable legs of Andre Dixon and Donnie Brown and the efficient, albeit not spectacular, passing of Lorenzon.

Keeping Up with the Joneses- OMG PRYOR!!!!!11! Edition

SMQ- Mr. SMQ has an excellent look at Pitt up on his site.  The only thing Mr. SMQ fails to mention is the frequent and sustained idiocy that is Dave Wannstedt.  Unfortunately even the Wannstache can't stymie the damned awesome that is Lesean McCoy, who will be a bastard for Big East defenses for years to come.  

Cincinnati Enquirer- OSU, Jim Delany, and Gordon Gee are douche bags.  Ohio State has decided to move their 2012 game from Paul Brown Stadium to Columbus.  The contract, signed when Cincy was still a member of Conference USA and therefore lacking any and all negotiating leverage, does in fact stipulate that OSU can essentially play the game where they damn well please.  

Brian Kelly wants to play Ohio State annually, something OSU clearly has zero interest in.  Kelly intends on becoming "such a pain in Jim Tressel's butt that sooner or later he's going to go 'We have to do something about it or move out of the state."  Later that day, Kelly was heard mumbling something along the lines of, "taking that fucker's [Tressel's] job, when he's busy chauffering Meyer around fucking Gainesville."

Syracuse.com- Orange O-line coach wants his unit to lose weight, or else.  

If you're going to lose every game by three scores you may as well look good while you do it.

And finally...

Sportsline.com- All-World QB and general dick head Terrelle Pryor has committed to play for Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes.  

In other news, Michigan fans hate sour grapes.

Keeping Up with the Joneses

NJ.com- Tom Luicci of the Newark Star-Ledger conjectures about possible Big East football expansion. He proposes the additions of Navy and UCF for football only and discusses scenarios in which the Big Ten and SEC raid the Big East.  Luicci's article is purely hypothetical and fails to mention the number one motivator for Big East expansion or SEC/Big Ten raiding-money.  None of the financial implications or ramifications of either scenario are discussed and lieu of that his article is based upon "competitive balance"

The Big East certainly needs to expand and it needs to expand South.  If and/or when WVU reverts to its historical norm (mediocrity) and if, more likely when, Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly leaves for a bigger job the Big East's automatic BCS berth could be threatened.  And without the automatic berth the Big East will crumble.  At the very least the conference needs to expand to include Navy and UCF and gain a foothold in the fertile Maryland/D.C. and Central Florida television markets.  The best case scenario, however, would be a four team expansion, perhaps including Memphis and Southern Miss in addition to Navy and UCF.  A four team expansion would bring the Big East to twelve teams (hooray for my Catholic high school education, hooray for basic math!)  and a lucrative conference championship game could be created.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette- WVU's first two days of spring practice have left All Big East thoroughbred/QB Pat White's shoulder sore.  Newly hired OC Jeff Mullen has installed an offense that will emphasize the pass more than WVU teams of the past.  Bill Stewart has been quoted as describing the offense as having 60-40 pass-run ratio.

Cincinnati Enquirer- The Bearcats continue to emulate SEC teams.  Terril Byrd has been charged with several misdemeanors stemming from a recent marijauna-related arrest.  

Keeping Up With the Joneses-Friday, March 14

NJ.com: Rutgers began spring practice and their quest to replace departed Ray Rice. Rice left school early and left RU with only two experienced running backs on the roster, Mason Robinson and Kordell Young (who is coming off an ACL injury), who combined for a 56 carries last year.  Joe Martinek, a freshman from Hopatcong, NJ looks to make a dent in the RB depth chart during the spring.  I mention Martinek because he was hands down one of the best high school javelin throwers I've ever seen and I'm honestly disappointed that he is pursuing spring football rather than outdoor track.  

Kicker San San Te looked sharp on Thursday and nailed a 45 yard FG with Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" blaring over the stadium speakers.  I'm not sure what makes this more noteworthy, the fact that RU's kicker has three monosyllabic names or that Bruce is fucking everywhere in this state.

AP: Four Mountaineers, amongst them NOELDEVINENOELDEVINENOELDEVINE, pled no contest against battery charges filed in Feburary outside of a Morgantown nightclub.  To be entirely fair, what the hell else is there to do in Feburary in Morgantown, West Virginia. 

In related news, the Morgantown PD has fielded several calls from Bob Stoops inquiring about the arresting officers.

A Look Around the Big East: Cincinnati

Cincinnati should be excited.  They finished the season with ten wins (one of which was a decisive win over UConn) and a number 17 ranking in the final AP Poll.  QB Ben Mauk threw for 31 tds and 3100 yards and the defense finished 19th in rushing defense and 12th in scoring defense.  HC Brian Kelly was retained for at least one more year, thus keeping the high octane spread that put up 31 points in the Papajohns.com Bowl around.  Yes indeed they should be excited.

Or perhaps not so much.  

A large part of Ben Mauk's gaudy stats can be attributed to UC's lack of a feature back.  So glaring was their lack of a solid rusher that they only had two players eclipse 100 carries on the season-and one of them was Ben Mauk!  The depth chart is now barren at running back, the icy hands of inevitability (by which I mean graduation) have claimed their top 4 running backs, leaving only rising junior Jacob Ramsey.

On the flipside, the team does return their top four pass catchers, amongst them rising sophomore Marcus Bennett who flashed big play ability with an 80 yard TD catch against San Diego State and a 70 yard TD catch in a narrow loss to WVU.  Likewise the team returns backup quarterback.  Grotza, who should have a leg-up on uber-athletic ND transfer Demestrius Jones, has three years experience at UC and has thrown 570 career passes (also worth noting are the 40 and 23 sacks he took in his freshman and sophomore years respectively) and proved extremely effective in spot-duty for Ben Mauk.  While Mauk was sidelined against Miami of Ohio, Grotza threw for 290 en route to an obscene 71% pass completion and against Marshall the following week he put up 142 yards (modest numbers by all means, but the Bearcats rushed for 217 yards) while completing 70% of his passes.  Grotza;s numbers might be inflated by the fact that Marshall's pass defense was absolutely abysmal (110th nationally in pass efficiency defense, they allowed 23 TDs while picking off only 4...shit).  Miami U's pass defense was respectable, however, ranking 26th nationally in passing ypg and 56th in pass efficiency defense (against a pretty decent array of passing teams, no less.  Namely Ball St, Colorado, and Minnesota), so using competition as a measuring stick is pretty much a total wash.  

The O-Line graduates only two starters and returns second team All Big East tackle Trevor Canfield. 

 Brian Kelly's system should allow Grotza to step in for Mauk without missing much of a beat.  But given the total lack of experience at running back Grotza may have to shoulder even more of the offense than his predecessor did.  That said don't think for a second that Kelly will hesitate to yank Grotza in favor of Demetrius Jones, in fact I'd look for Jones to take over the reigns as starter either after the impending disaster that will be the Oklahoma game or mid-October when the conference slate starts.

As riddled (punny shit, eh?) with question marks as the offense is, thats about how good the defense is.  The Bearcats have had a top 25 rushing defense for two years now and don't expect that to change with the return of All Big East DT Terril Byrd.  Naturally losing leading tackler and ABE safety Haruki Nakamura hurts.  The return of All Big East corners Mike Mickens and DeAngelo Smith leaves the secondary in more than capable hands.  

The only real issues on defense seem to be the linebackers.  Last year the group warranted a mere "meh", now facing the loss of Corey Smith the group could be a trouble spot (especially against a methed up WVU).  As was the case last year, the d-line should be able to mask any inadequacies by the LB corp.  Between Byrd and badasss to be Lamonte Nelms and Adam Hoeppel they bring back 24 tfl and 17 sacks.  Look for UC to extend its streak of top notch defenses.

By far the biggest thing Cincinnati has going for it is its schedule.  Other than a death march into Norman their first five games are against Eastern Kentucky, Miami of Ohio, Akron, and Marshall.  Holy sweet shit!  To get SEC respect I guess you have to play an SEC OOC schedule.  That's fucking pathetic, taking EKU out of the picture (in true SEC fashion, they open with a DIAA team) thats a 13-24 record last year.  If UC doesn't start the season 5-1 then Brian Kelly should be excommunicated.  By the same notion if they get to 5-1 and someone assholes (sic: the Associated Press) take it upon themselves to reward such pansy ass scheduling with a top 25 ranking then said assholes should be excommunicated.  

Their conference slate starts them off against a Rutgers team devoid of offense.  Sad to say but without Ray Rice, Eric Foster, and Ron Girault Rutgers is an average team at best.  Sure Mike Teel will pass for some big yards, but he's proven to be an absolute mind-numbing idiot at (most) times and is a lock for a few picks a game.  Gone is Rice and gone is the play fake sir.  

Next up they have Connecticut.  Superstition.  Cannot comment.  I hope its a great game.

South Florida visits Cincy.  See the paragraph about Mike Teel.  That's Matt Groethe.  Groethe giveth and Groethe taketh away.  One second he can escape impossible pressure and complete a pass for a first down on the opposite sideline while falling down with a pack of bison stampeding after him all against triple coverage, the next he drops back into the pocket and lobs one up for a pick.  Definitive feast or famine player. (compare his game against Auburn to his game against the Bearcats).  I'd expect Cincinnati force Groethe into making the bond-headed sort of mistakes we've come to expect from him en route to a win.

West Virginia and Louisville are on tap next.  And both are teams I'll have to look at in more detail to be able to make a firm, definitive statement as to how UC matches up against these teams.  How will West Virginia respond to new OC Jeff Mullen's offense?  Will it look anything like the Rodriguez spread?  How will Hunter Cantwell play as Brian Brohm's successor?  How will the offense respond to the loss of Harry Douglass and Mario Urrutia?  Hopefully I'll I get around to a Louisville and WVU Look Around by middle of next week.

Pitt is another team I'd like to look at in greater detail.  

Syracuse is likely to continue the trend established by the Greg Robinson era.  That is to say that there is no reason what-so-ever to expect improvements, at least at a cursory glance.

The end the season with a trip to Hawaii.  I cannot think of a better road game to end the season, to be quite frank.  Beautiful weather and an almost sure fire victory.  Hawaii's nucleus is long gone as well as the program's architect.  The Warriors will learn the hard way that success is cyclical and when you're a non-BCS team playing in one of the smallest states in the Union with some of the shittiest facilities imaginable your period of upswing will be more brief than most.

Way Too Early Prognostications:

Wins: EKU, Miami (OH), Akron, Marshall, Rutgers, USF, Syracuse, Hawaii

Losses: Oklahoma, WVU, 

Swings: Louisville, Pitt

Never Too Early for Rakrootin'

Native of CT, Mike Osiecki has committed to UConn.  At first glance this seems hardly news worthy, local kid continuing his football career at local school.  However read the article, linked from the Hartford Courant, and a few paragraphs down there's one sentence that stands out like I shimmering beacon of badass.  

Osiecki has 22 scholly offers...one of which coming from Pete Carroll.  Osiecki turned down Pete Carroll to attend UConn.  Think about that one for just a second, let it sink in.  Feels pretty good doesn't it.

Anyways, Osiecki is currently unranked by Rivals and ditto for Scout.  Read nothing into that whatsoever, the recruiting services may as well be hibernating for now and we won't "know" anything about the Class of 2009 until mid-fall or so.  

And as it stands we're presently in the thick of things for Scout East Top 100 players Kris McKinnie (of Hamden, CT) and Jake Golic (who will likely follow his father and brother to Notre Dame, fuck Notre Dame).

Spring Practice!

Spring practice is upon us, beginning next Wednesday (March 19) and culminating on April 19th's Blue and White Game, and so is hope!  At least we get one month's respite from baseball. 

Ah the drama of position battles and depth chart risers and fallers.  

More to come tomorrow.  

A Brief (or perhaps not) Introduction

Long have I admired the masterful prose of Mr. Orson Swindle at EDSBS, T. Kyle King at Dawg Sports, SMQ, and The Wiz.  I was struck, from the very beginning, by the blend of humor, insight, analysis, and general fucking awesome that these, and many other, bloggers (saints, all) provided.  I cried "Eureka!" as my pic struck college football gold; at last I found a true vein of information, not the sterile and cookie-cutter sound-bytes and reports that grace mainstream newspapers.  These men have inspired me to pen my own blog, although I know I can never reach their lofty heights (Verne Lundquist mentioned EDSBS on air, Verne Lundquist!) I'll be damned if'n I don't try.

Before I continue, why not hear a little bit about me and my credentials.  I was borne and raised a Tennessee Vols fan and grew into an unabashed SEC homer.  Recently, however, I've matriculated into the University of Connecticut, and I'm bringing my allegiances with me.  

As UConn is renowned as a basketball school, there is no shortage of UConn basketball blogs.  And given my ardent, devoted, and fatally overzealous love of college football I was appalled by the paucity of UConn football blogs.  Absolutely and utterly appalled, sirs.  The Huskies are grossly under-represented in the college football blogosphere, which is entirely understandable given the team's total lack of tradition (fuck you we have Dan Orlovsky) and exposure.  Put simply, Connecticut does not inspire nostalgia or blood flow to the penis quite like a Florida,  a Penn State, or an Oklahoma.  This blog aims to change all of that (well...not the penis part, they have meds for that shit now-a-days).  From this moment on this blog is 100% committed to UConn Huskies football and nothing but UConn Huskies football.  Rejoice Husky fans!  You're home.  The soup is hot and the coffee fresh, won't you come on in and join me?

Realistically, I'll update this blog as often as possible.  As to whether or not these proposed updates will be in any way relevant or interesting remains to be seen.  After all, its the middle of March, we're in the middle of winter as far as CFB is concerned.  Really all I have to blog on is the impending (or is it pending?) 10 game home-"home" series with Notre Dame.  More on that and my violent hatred for the Irish to come.

-Dougo