Before we get to the games, I want to look at the reports out of Denver for a second. Word is that Josh McDaniels, the 32 year old offensive coordinator of the Patriots, is going to be named the new head coach. I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, I like that Denver wants to break into new blood to get some new ideas. I wish Cleveland had done the same thing. They also got a guy who is hot after turning a raw QB into a budding star. On the other hand, though, Bill Belichick has yet to really prove himself as a breeder of strong coaches. Far from it, in fact. Romeo Crennel got fired after creating a mess. Eric Mangini takes over that messing after failing in his first try. You can throw in the disaster that is Charlie Weis, too. The first coach after a legend like Shanahan is going to have it tough at the best of times, so I am not convinced that a young coach with a bad pedigree is a great gamble. A more established assistant might have been a better risk – especially since they are in a very winnable division.
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Month: January 2009
It’s all over. No more college football for almost nine months. Nine long, painful months. I’ll miss it. There are millions of reasons, but here are 10:
1. Good teams are often good bets. The final top five of the year is likely to be made up of Florida, Oklahoma, USC, Texas and Utah. Those teams are a combined 42-16-1 ATS, and that includes USC’s uninspiring 6-6 ATS mark. That’s a 71 percent win rate. What’s not to love about a sport where identifying the better team is often the biggest part of the battle.
It’s all over. The last game wasn’t exactly a classic, but it was interesting. Here’s what I took from the game:
1. Anyone associated with the Oklahoma program is going to be haunted for their entire lives by those two red zone failures. It’s bad enough that it happens once, but twice in one game is totally unacceptable.
Right and Wrong:
Okay, my whole reason for writing this post was to use the lame-pun title—“ Better Sooners than Gators.” But to use that title, Oklahoma would have to have been victorious, and they were not. (Also, I want to be upfront—I started this article and decided what its focus would be about five hours before the game started after reviewing various offensive stats.) At that time, I decided this piece was going to be about two tough defenses and how they kept the scoring down and special teams play and how that turned the game around. I didn’t want to rehash how great the quarterbacks were or the receivers or the running game or even the offensive lines. (You’ve got to believe me—in one of the few prophetic moments of my entire life—I foresaw this would be the Battle of Two “Ds.”)
It’s kickoff time, and I am about to watch what I hope will be a classic. I have gone back and forth for a while now, but I have settled on Oklahoma. Quickly, here are seven reasons why (as always, the disclaimer – this is my opinion and doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinion of Maddux Sports):
Okay, 2009 is feeling kind of strange and I’ve got some questions about what’s going on. There have been some weird deals, odd decisions and bizarre behavior.
The New Year certainly saw the face of college basketball change quickly and fairly drastically.
The AP top-10 in week seven looked like this:
With the GMAC Bowl in the books, there is now just one college bowl game left before the countdown to the college football season begins in earnest. Luckily for us, the last game is a gem. As we get closer to the Florida – Oklahoma showdown, I find myself changing my mind about the game a few times a day. I like Oklahoma a lot more than I like Florida from a personal bias basis, but my confidence has been shaken in them by the struggles of the big Big 12 teams in their bowls. As I drive my self crazy about the game, here are 10 things that will likely factor into my ultimate decision:
I’m watching Canada attempt to win its fifth consecutive World Junior Hockey Championship gold medal right now. They are playing Sweden. Canada is obviously hockey-crazy, and this tournament is massively important. Beyond the Olympics, no hockey event matters to the whole country more than this. Canada is fairly heavily favored (-180 at Pinnacle, or -0.5, -115). This plus the Fiesta Bowl ensures that this will be a good night. Unless we lose, of course.
1. Joe Flacco was 9/23 for 135 yards. Eery isn’t it just how good Baltimore is at looking good in the playoffs with barely adequate quarterbacking?
2. I’m not sure that I have ever seen a defense more in the head of a decent quarterback than the Ravens were in Chad Pennington’s. It’s like Ed Reed was in the Miami huddle.
Continue reading “10 Quick Thoughts on the Playoffs – Day Two”
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