Cris and I were out and about in Missouri doing wedding stuff this Saturday, but I was still able to catch the Florida State game and watch the five minutes of the Texas Tech game that was worth watching.
Couple of thoughts on those games.
Our defense played played really well against Maryland and Everette Brown is a beast. I would not want to be a quarterback playing against him right now. He’s now first in the nation in tackles for loss and second for sacks. Usually, offensive players are considered exciting to watch and get a great deal of attention, but I gotta say that if you’re watching an FSU game, pay attention to Everette Brown when we’re on defense. Its really something enjoyable to see.
Beyond, Everette Brown, the rest of our defense stepped up and played extremely solidly as well. Our yardage numbers for our defense weren’t as solid as they have been at times this season, but the huge thing was we forced four turnovers and at least one of those was a fumble returned for a touchdown.
The offense didn’t do anything overwhelming, but played a very solid game and didn’t turn the ball over, which is all you can ask for. Ponder was extremely efficient in passing and actually carried the load in the running game. If there is really one thing that I’m not all that happy with is that we seem to be relying on the running game a little too much and Ponder is carrying a little too much of the load for my liking. We were very successful on the option and they weren’t picking up the QB so he’s supposed to keep it, but I don’t like him getting hit a lot.
Last thing on FSU; huge, massive, monumental congratulations to Myron Rolle, FSU’s strong safety. Rolle was named a Rhodes scholar on Saturday before he hopped a plane to Maryland to get into the the game just before the end of the first half. Getting a Rhodes Scholarship is hard enough in and of itself, but doing it while graduating in around two years and being a standout defensive player for a major college football program is simply an incredible accomplishment. The only downsides to his Rhodes scholarship is that his streak of games started was snapped at 32 and he now has to decide whether he takes the scholarship and goes to study at Oxford for two or three years or he moves on to the NFL, which is a distinct possibility. No one knows for sure what he’s going to do, but I have a feeling that his desire to be a neurosurgeon is going to take him to Oxford and his football dreams are going to be put on hold or go by the wayside. Whatever he decides, he’s what a student athlete should strive to be.
About that other game. What the heck happened with Texas Tech. To sum things up with three of the top teams in the Big 12, Oklahoma got handled by Texas, Texas got handled by Texas Tech, and now Texas Tech got embarrassed by Oklahoma. I thought this was going to be a close game because I knew Oklahoma is a good team, but I had no idea that Texas Tech was going to be taken to the woodshed. The really bad thing for Texas Tech is that they lost late and the other teams lost earlier so they will get in to a worse bowl game than the other two.
Next week is the big rivalry week for both FSU and UGA. FSU has Florida next weekend and UGA plays Georgia Tech. Florida is likely to take it to FSU. We’ve been getting better, but Florida, as much as I hate to say it, is a really good football team and I don’t think we have what it takes to beat them yet. I’m feeling much better about UGA’s chances, but its definitely not a definite win. Georgia has a good offense, but their defense hasn’t been as good this year and Georgia Tech’s tiple option offense has given teams fits this year. I think a lot will be dependant on the health of Georgia Tech’s quarterback, Josh Nesbitt. His ankle has been giving him trouble and the times that I’ve seen their back up, Jaybo Shaw, run the offense they haven’t been near as effective.
