Closing Time: Grading Los Angeles Clippers Sunday Uniforms

Let me welcome back the baby blue uniforms into popular culture. I really hope this means the Milwaukee Brewers will wear their sweet baby blues next year. Los Angeles Clippers look like Louisiana Tech's women's team without question and that cannot be ignored here. I like the homage to the old San Diego Clippers team, but still they look like the Lady Bulldogs. This is not a bad thing. In fact, they have cool uniforms too. The sleeves look a little bit better than last year, but still I cannot get past the whole sleeves things just yet. GRADE: B- 

SnoTap College Football Try Week 5

We write recaps of the big games or when a head coach gets fired before we get to the month of October. Then there are the other games and teams worth talking about which is why we created SnoTap College Football Try. 

Oklahoma, I apologize - When you do previews of all teams, sometimes predictions go awry. I predicted Oklahoma sixth in the Big 12. I thought Blake Bell and Trevor Knight would be a dumpster fire plus their defense did nothing for me. They go on the road and beat Notre Dame convincingly. Oklahoma made bad Tommy Rees come out to play as he only completed nine passes and had three interceptions. What Oklahoma's coaching staff has done with Bell in a year has been amazing and they deserve a ton of credit. Oklahoma plays TCU and Texas in the coming weeks.

What the hell Okie State - As for the other Oklahoma school, Oklahoma State lost to West Virginia 30-21. A game where everyone on ESPN College Gameday said 'Oklahoma State would score more than 50 points and win going away.'  That did not happen. Oklahoma State did not play well at all, and raises questions about this team going forward. Oklahoma State could do virtually nothing on the ground and J.W. Walsh looked pretty average. Dana Hologorsen deserves some credit for making 21 moves to his two-deep depth chart. He obviously figured out some things about this West Virginia team.  

Washington is the 2001 Milwaukee Bucks - Mitch and I called Washington 'the Milwaukee Bucks' as they went 7-6 in the last four years of the season. They defeated Arizona in convincing fashion on Saturday night and now look towards a big battle with Stanford this coming week. In the battle of great Pac-12 running backs, Bishop Sankey outplayed Ka'Deem Carey on Saturday and Keith Price is looking like the quarterback people talked about in his sophomore year. Additionally, Price is a guy I feel like no one is talking about, but he has put together a nice season thus far.

Alabama clamps the haters - ESPN ran a graphic 'Alabama on Upset Alert?' on Thursday night as Ole Miss has been an impressive team in 2013. The young Rebels were frustrated by the tough Alabama defense on Saturday as they pitched a shutout. Ole Miss defense handled Alabama alright until a big T.J. Yeldon run busting the game open. I am not convinced Alabama has fixed their defense yet. Ole Miss is an above average team, but nowhere near a great team like a Texas A&M, LSU or Georgia. They are at the second level of teams.

Jameis's first true test - We have talked about Jameis Winston a great deal on the Tap, but for the most part, it has been positive. Florida State trailed 17-3 early on the second quarter to Boston College. Winston started to will the team back with his strong play plus Florida State's defense figured it out holding the Eagles to only three points the rest of the game. Winston has now had two road games and one where he trailed by double-digits early on then Florida State took care of business handily. He also made this ridiculous pass to end the first half.

 

South Carolina hangs on without Connor Shaw - South Carolina showed why they can make an argument with Ohio State as to 'The best second-string quarterback.' Connor Shaw went out in the first quarter with a shoulder injury and the Cocks trailed 10-0 at the half. Dylan Thompson and Mike Davis led the charge back as South Carolina scored 28 straight points. Thompson played adequately and Davis rushed for over 160 yards with three touchdowns. Shaw will be out two to three weeks with a sprained shoulder meaning Thompson will have a home game against Kentucky before facing road games against Arkansas and possibly Tennessee. The Gamecocks should be okay.

Charlie.

Beware of the Dawgs

Looking at how Georgia begun the 2013 season, it seemed like they were up for a daunting task. Take away
North Texas, the Bulldogs faced Clemson, South Carolina and LSU, all three teams figured to be top 15 teams in college football. Georgia also dealt with losing a majority of their defense from last year and top flight receiver Malcolm Mitchell went down with an ACL injury in the first half of the first game of the year. The Dawgs responded with a 3-1 September including a win on Saturday against then number sixth ranked LSU, 44-41.  Georgia is the most dangerous one loss team in college football.

Aaron Murray continues to impress this season. He had the narrative about him struggling against top ten teams and he was pretty much perfect on Saturday afternoon in Athens. He had one interception on a tipped pass, but other than that, Murray pitched a flawless game.  The senior quarterback went 298 yards throwing four touchdowns and completed 20 passes.  Some of the credit is due to Murray's offensive line whom kept him safe for most of the game and had all sorts of time to find open receivers. Remember when people scoffed at the idea that Murray was preseason 1st Team all-SEC? It does not seem as ridiculous now.

Unlike their other big win against South Carolina, Georgia had to comeback late in the game. Jeremy Hill punched in an eight-yard touchdown with about four minutes left to go in the game. Murray took the team on his back and led a final drive down the field.  The Georgia quarterback made slight work taking the Dawgs 75 yards on six plays including an 18-yard run from J.J. Green.  This is the type of thing people point to when they are talking who should win the Heisman Trophy.

It should be mentioned that LSU is not a bad team whatsoever. The Tigers will also figure out their defense at some point, but right now, their offense is the best its been in quite some time. Mettenberger was great against Alabama last year and it is reasonable to think the Tigers could beat the Crimson Tide in November. As always, it figures to be a great game. LSU is still one of the premier teams in college football this year.

Georgia is a powerful one loss team due to their loss coming to Clemson in the non-conference. Given the SEC's track record, the BCS will likely take a team with an undefeated SEC record over an overall unbeaten team from a lesser conference. The biggest thing to notice from Saturday is Todd Gurley did not play for most it. Yes, Keith Marshall would probably start on 75-85% of teams in college football, but we never saw Marshall for a full game as he has been a change of pace back for Gurley. Given the offensive line's play against LSU, the ability to virtually rotate Gurley and Marshall and Murray's play, who the hell is going to beat Georgia?

Their defense is still a problem clearly, but at the same time when an offense is playing at an efficient level, they can afford to be a little lax. Also defense ins the SEC does not seem to be needed as much as yesteryear.  The two high profile games in September featured both teams scoring in the forties. We have yet to see two teams bury their heels in on defense yet.  Although let's not forget, LSU's two-headed rushing attack was held in check. The Tigers only had 77 yards of rushing including four sacks of Zach Mettenberger. Georgia's defense is still young and they have time to mature a bit. If the Bulldogs get stronger on defense, this team will become absolutely dynamite.

Georgia's schedule down the stretch does not look intimidating. They have to play Florida in the World's Largest Cocktail Party, but the Gators are not the team we thought they would be this year so far.  The only real dangerous road games would be against Vanderbilt and maybe Auburn. Do not look at the lost when seeing Georgia's record, they are one of the best in college football.

Charlie.

USC Chooses The Exit Lane

Nepotism is a funny thing. It happens a great deal in all walks of life, and it is probably complained about too
much as well. Nepotism is truly dumb luck honestly. Someone's mom or dad is a CEO, a head coach or a television broadcaster and their son or daughter wants to follow in the family business which leads to the parent getting their child a job or a company/team hiring said kid because of their parent. Lane Kiffin is guilty as charged when it comes to nepotism and now he is unemployed as USC decided to part ways with the 38-year old coach Sunday Morning.

The writing started to develop on the wall when the Trojans suffered an embarrass 10-7 defeat to Washington State at home where their defense gave up three points only to see their offensive brothers struggle to muster a single point. USC bounced back with wins against Boston College and Utah State yet the true test came against Arizona State this Saturday.  The Trojans gave up 62 points and Kiffin was dismissed before they even made it back to campus.

To think a coach has been the youngest coach in the NFL and the youngest coach in college football says something about Kiffin's last name versus him being an actual coach. Pat Fitzgerald was the youngest coach in college football before Tennessee hired Kiffin, and Fitzgerald had all the makings of being a head coach even if he was in that role after former head coach Randy Walker died unexpectedly. In my opinion, Fitzgerald could get almost any job he wants in college football. Kiffin is not even the homeless man's version of Fitzgerald.

Besides his last name, Kiffin had one big year with USC in 2005 as their offensive coordinator. This is a classic situation of 'right place, right time.' Anyone whom ran the USC offense in 2005 when Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush were in the backfield, they would probably get a coaching upgrade. Kiffin ended up with the Oakland Radiers for what was for lack of better words, a dumpster fire. But it did translate into him shouldering all the blame on Al Davis and Tennessee took a chance on him recognizing his youth plus Davis' craziness could have been a factor.

Kiffin's time at USC was one that features more downs than up's including losing his last seven of eleven games as head coach of the Trojans. Kiffin, a supposed offensive mastermind, could not figure out how to recruit a quarterback to save his soul. They fixed the defense that his dad ruined as it appeared Monte did not know understand how to coach college kids. USC is now a mess and who knows what coach will be able to pick up the pieces.

Will Kiffin be a head coach again?  100 percent yes, but he will need to lay low for awhile like when Brick killed the guy. Kiffin should help out an offense somewhere not in the power six, but I do not know if his ego would allow him to do that.  My guess is Kiffin hangs out for awhile in California and probably in a year or two, he will get the itch again. An alternative route for Kiffin would be working in the media because he acts like a prep school asshole which could fit the mold for some networks.

College football is a place where people get third and fourth chances. If you do not believe me, ask Greg Robinson. Kiffin will end up being a coach somewhere again but probably never to the degree of USC football.

Charlie.

Mistakes Unravel Wisconsin's Chances Against Ohio State

Multiple mental mistakes in football are a killer. They are the missed free-throws of the game, failing to advance runners in scoring position, failure to convert power plays of football.  Mental mistakes eat at a player like a monster thriving for flesh. There are many Wisconsin players feeling the effects of the mental mistake monster on Sunday as they probably said 'Well if this does not happen, a win over the Buckeyes is ours.' Although it did not happen that way as Ohio State defeat Wisconsin 31-24 in an eye-opening game for many parties in the Big Ten.

The Badgers made too many mistakes to win the football game. That is a simple way to put why a team lost the football game, I probably should rename myself John Madden, but it is accurate. Not many teams can beat a top five team on the road with that many errors. The Badgers racked up eight penalties and while the yardage was not significant (Only 54 yards), they made errors at the wrong time. Two of the penalties caused Wisconsin to miss out on multiple turnovers and the first half would have entirely different if it did not happen that way. 

Not every road game will be like the Horseshoe but it is evident the crowd rattled some players on the Wisconsin roster. If the Badgers want to make a leap this season, cutting down on these sort of errors would be substantial. Say what you will about Bret Bielema, but he did a great job at keeping the Badgers from having any penalties. Head coach Gary Andersen needs to firm things up all around if Wisconsin wants to play a high-profile bowl game.

Melvin Gordon has been the talk of the college football world. The diehards from across America are tuning in to watch the Kenosha running back hit a few football home runs. Gordon still had 74 yards on Saturday, but nowhere near close to the season's average. Gordon did sit out the entire forurth quarter with a knee injury. All of that being said, Gordon did not look like the difference maker like the first three weeks of the season. Ohio State made it a plan to focus on the run and it showed in a major way. Ohio State's head coach Urban Meyer has brought SEC speed to the Big Ten and it starts at their defense front. 

Ohio State lost six of their front seven to graduation and the NFL Draft last year. With the way they held the Badgers rushing attack in check, you would think they had a fully loaded front seven. The closing speed Ohio State showed on Saturday will be something Wisconsin should not see again unless they play an SEC school in a bowl game. Clay Travis of Outkick The Coverage has said Ohio State would be a lower-tier SEC team and I disagree wholeheartedly. Ohio State has the speed on defense to compete with anyone in football, and it might be what keeps them unbeaten in the B1G.  

There were some bright spots for the Badgers on Saturday. Joel Stave played great if we take out a senseless interception. Stave looked like a legitimate college quarterback and to think, he threw for 295 yards when only really having one receiver. Jared Abbrederis is one of the best wide receivers in college football. He made some great plays and exposed All-American Bradley Roby throughout the football game. The combination of Stave-Abbrederis will only get better in the coming weeks and add their running attack, Wisconsin could be lethal.

Wisconsin-Ohio State did tell us about the Big Ten. There is not that big of a gap between the top tier teams in the conference. The Badgers take the week off while Ohio State heads to Northwestern for probably the biggest game in Wildcat football in the last 15 years. It should be another fun B1G season.  

Charlie.