It started with Arkansas QB Ryan Mallet hitting WR Greg Childs for a 40-yard touchdown with 15 seconds left in the game giving the Hogs a 31-24 road win over Georgia. It ended with the Kansas City Chiefs getting just enough inches for a first down on fourth down and letting them run out the clock for their first 2-0 start since 2005. Those are the two events on each side of a great football weekend. In the middle were some other great things…things like Notre Dame losing in overtime when Michigan State faked a field goal and threw a touchdown pass (I really don’t like Notre Dame), and Arizona holding off a furious fourth quarter rally by the Iowa Hawkeyes to preserve their win (I really don’t like Iowa)*. Of course the best was T.J. Moe bailing out Mizzou with a 68-yard touchdown allowing the Tigers to sneak past San Diego State, 27-24. Heck, if you go back to Friday, the Beakers lost to Southern Mississippi 31-17, and it’s always great win those hated Jayhawks get beat. Let’s just hope weekends like this are very frequent in this year’s football season.
* I was just glad Iowa was finally exposed. This was a team that slid their way to the Orange Bowl last year dodging bullet after bullet, and for a second on Saturday night it looked like they were going to do it again. In some cases it’s better to be lucky then good, and finally Iowa’s luck ran out against Arizona. Here’s hoping they struggle to a lower tier finish in the Big 10 making their prudish fans whine and cry (Oh wait,…they do that anyway) and hope for basketball season. But wait! The Hawkeyes basketball team sucks too. Remember…Steve Alford saw the writing on the wall and got the heck out of there. I would love to see that school go into an athletic tailspin that lasts for a few years. Unfortunately, the Big 10 is still probably just sucky enough for this years Iowa football team to finish in the top 4 of that league and once again the overrated Kirk Ferentz will be regarded as a statewide hero. If you think this hatred is strange and over-the-top, you should see when I get going about kU.
Now, even though that first paragraph was full of good things to say, there are still some major questions facing the Tigers and the Chiefs. Let’s start with Mizzou. One could argue that the Tigers were looking past the Aztecs, but I find that hard to believe since the next game on Mizzou’s schedule is the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks. Not exactly a stellar team that would warrant looking past an opponent. It could be that San Diego State is just better than everyone thought, and perhaps the Tigers aren’t quite as good as their ranking of 24th in the coaches poll would suggest (which if we’re going to be honest with each other as Tiger fans, this team doesn’t deserve to be ranked at this point). There were a lot of dropped balls by the wide-outs and of course a couple of awful interceptions thrown by Blaine Gabbert. It was also disturbing the defense seemed to go to sleep at various points in the game and gave up to long TD’s on the ground. Maybe the team just wasn’t as focused as they should be going into this game and we’re content that since they were “Mizzou” that they would roll the Aztecs, and if that’s the case, it rests at the feet of the coaching staff. Whatever the issues, they need to get them sorted out over the next two weeks, because after that Big XII play begins, and if they play like that on a consistent basis (which I don’t think they will) they won’t win many more game this year.
As for the Chiefs, I won’t spend too much time on them, because after the last few seasons I’m just content with a 2-0 record. The defense has been playing well, and in the second half of Sunday’s game against Cleveland QB Matt Cassel even looked, well, like a quarterback. This team has a ton of upside, even if they have one of the more anonymous receiving corps in the NFL. The Chiefs are going to be a tough out each game this season.
Side Notes
The St. Louis Rams once again played a competitive game against the Oakland Raiders but mental mistakes and horrible penalties eventually doomed them. Once more there were a few positives to take away from the game, but as my buddy Matt Hayes said Saturday (I’m paraphrasing here): Eventually you have to start turning those positives into success. Or something along those lines.
#1 Alabama comes to Fayetteville this weekend to face #10 Arkansas. I'm pumped about that one.
My friday night football pick up team (Mabes/Barrow) is now 2-0 this year. Gotta love pick-up football.
Is it annoying to anyone else that TBS has once against changed their daytime programming order and format? Why mess with a good thing (looking at you NCAA tournament committee and those of you NFL officials who want an 18 game schedule).
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