Saturday, September 11, 2010

Wisconsin vs. SJSU, College Football Roundup

So I figured I would just make it a weekly ritual of making some quick comments on a few college football games, and devote the rest of the space to Wisconsin's game...
Rich Rodrig--I mean, Denard Robinson is doing a pretty good job of saving Rich Rodriguez's job. For the past couple of meetings, the Notre Dame-Michigan rivalry has looked a lot like Army-Navy (good tradition, little substance), but not this time. Both teams are pretty good and will be ranked at the end of the season. I'd still like to see Robinson improve is passing accuracy because I don't see him running wild on the Ohio States of the world.
After having their national title aspirations crushed after only one game, Virginia Tech fans figured it couldn't get much worse. Well, it did. They lost to James Madison today. Yes, the I-AA James Madison. Since we don't care about Virginia Tech anymore, the real question is: will this loss effect Boise State's chances of playing in the National Championship game?
I don't want to get into Boise State's schedule and whether they deserve it. What I will say, is that the Virginia Tech team they played is a different team than the one we will see from Week 3 on. I don't understand why people think a team in Week 1 is just as good or just as bad as they are at the end of the season. Team psyche changes, for better and for worse.
Florida looked equally unimpressive in this week's victory as they did last week. After last week's win, they dropped in the polls from number 4 to 8. The ways things are going, they'll be 4-0 and ranked in the 20s.
I'm not going to go crazy over Ohio State's victory over Miami (FL) like many will. While it's a big win, I think we might be in a similar situation as the Boise State-Virginia Tech game. Va. Tech isn't as good as we thought they were, I feel the same about Miami (FL), although this OSU team is as athletic as I can remember. They won't be outrun by the SEC or ACC like they have in the past.
The Wisconsin game can be divided into "The Good" and "The Bad."
THE GOOD
John Clay had another stellar game on the ground, leading the Badger rushing attack with 137 yards on 23 carries. Clay also rushed for two touchdowns. The next two weeks should provide a good tune up to get Clay back into playing shape after undergoing surgery on both ankles this offseason. Just in time for Big Ten play.
Lance Kendricks was involved in the passing game. Last week against UNLV, Kendricks was used primarily as a blocker. He caught only one pass for five yards. While Kendricks wasn't thrown to a lot during the San Jose State, he took advantage of the balls that were thrown to him. Kendricks caught three passes for 60 yards, including a 14 yard touchdown pass to put the Badgers up 14-0 in the beginning of the second quarter.
THE BAD
The Badgers once again hurt themselves by turning the ball over. Freshman running back James White cost the team a score when fumbled into the end zone, resulting in a touchback. Tolzien fumbled a bad snap on 4th and inches inside the 5. Tolzien also threw his second interception of the season. While these turnovers didn't result in points for the other team, they did cost themselves points. Hopefully these mistakes can be chalked up to early season sloppy play and will be corrected in the next two weeks.
For the second straight game the Badgers have followed up an efficient first drive of the game with lackluster play. Against UNLV, they scored on their first possession and did so again today. It seems after the first possession, the Badgers lose some of the fire they started the game with. If they're able to keep their level of intensity up the entire first quarter, they could put teams away early with the running game.

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