football 2007

September 18, 2007: Week 2 Football Notes

Time Machine!
"You know, the great line by our colleague Steve Hirt of Elias - he looked at the standings - he said, 'The Packers are 2 and 0, the 49ers are 2 and 0, the Cowboys are 2 and 0, and O.J.'s in jail - we're back to the mid nineties.'"
     Tony Kornheiser

Tennessee at Florida
"You gotta go for it. This is another result of that rule. If you kick a field goal, Florida gets the ball back."
     Gary Danielson, Tennessee facing 4th and inches on the 6 yard line in the first quarter. The rule he refers to is the new kickoff yardage line, which was changed to improve field position for the offense. His statement still seems absurd.

Prediction Tracker
On NFL Draft Day and on the first Saturday of the college football season, the BMTG Big Four made the following predictions. These predictions will be tracked throughout the season.

1. Who will be the National Champions and who will they beat?

White Russian – Louisville over LSU
Brother Nature – Texas over Oklahoma
Diesel – Wisconsin over Georgia
Sandman – USC over West Virginia

How the predicted champions have done so far:

Zachary Running Wolf, candidate for mayor in 2006Louisville (2-1)
Week 1 – Win over Murray State 73 to 10
Week 2 – Win over Middle Tennessee 58 to 42
Week 3 – Loss to Kentucky 40 to 34
Next Game – vs. Syracuse (0-3)
Ranked number 18 in the nation after 3 weeks

Zachary Running Wolf, candidate for mayor in 2006Texas (3-0)
Week 1 – Win over Arkansas State 21 to 13
Week 2 – Win over TCU 34 to 13
Week 3 – Win over UCF 35 to 32
Next Game – vs. Rice (0-3)
Ranked number 7 in the nation after 3 weeks

Zachary Running Wolf, candidate for mayor in 2006Wisconsin (3-0)
Week 1 – Win over Washington State 42 to 21
Week 2 – Win over UNLV 20 to 13
Week 3 – Win over Citadel 45 to 31
Next Game – vs. Iowa (2-1)
Ranked number 9 in the nation after 3 weeks

Zachary Running Wolf, candidate for mayor in 2006USC (2-0)
Week 1 – Win over Idaho 38 to 10
Week 2 – bye week
Week 3 – Win over Nebraska 49 to 31
Next Game – vs. Washington State (2-1)
Ranked number 1 in the nation after 3 weeks

2. Who will win the Heisman?

White Russian – DeSean Jackson, California
Brother Nature – John David Booty, USC
Diesel – Brian Brohm, Louisville
Sandman – Darren McFadden, Arkansas

How the predicted Heismans have done so far:

DeSean Jackson:
Week 1 – 4 rec for 45 yds, 1 run for 21 yds, 1 punt return for 77 yds and TD (vs Tennessee)
Week 2 – 5 rec for 39 yds, 2 runs for 78 yds and 1 TD, 2 punt returns for 24 yds (at Colorado St)
Week 3 – 5 rec for 28 yds, 1 run for 6 yds, 3 punt returns for -2 yds (vs. Louisiana Tech)
Total – 14 rec for 112 yds, 4 runs for 105 yds and 1 TD, 6 punt returns for 99 yds and 1 TD

John David Booty:
Week 1 – 21 for 32, 206 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT, 1 run for 2 yds (vs Idaho)
Week 2 – bye week
Week 3 – 19 for 30, 144 yds, 2 TD, 1 run for -4 yds (at Nebraska)
Total – 40 for 62, 350 yds, 5 TD, 1 INT, 2 runs for -2 yds

Brian Brohm:
Week 1 – 16 for 21, 375 yds, 4 TD, 1 run for 1 yd and TD (vs Murray St)
Week 2 – 25 for 39, 401 yds, 5 TD, 6 runs for 25 yds (vs Middle Tennessee)
Week 3 – 28 for 43, 366 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT, 6 runs for -7 yds (at Kentucky)
Total – 69 for 103, 1142 yds, 11 TD, 1 INT, 13 runs for 19 yds and 1 TD

Darren McFadden:
Week 1 – 24 runs for 151 yds and 1 TD, 2 rec for 30 yds (vs Troy)
Week 2 – bye week
Week 3 – 33 runs for 195 yds, 2 TD, 3 rec for 16 yds (at Alabama)
Total – 57 runs for 346 yds and 3 TD, 5 rec for 46 yds, 1 for 2 passing for 42 yds and 1 TD

3. What are your draft day predictions?

White Russian Marshawn Lynch will have a better season than Adrian Peterson. Brady Quinn gets caught with a prostitute.
Brother Nature Leon Hall shocks everyone and kicks ass.
Diesel Ginn plays 3 games. Quinn outperforms JaMarcus Russell.*
Sandman Adrian Peterson is Rookie of the Year.
* Diesel maintains that he said Quinn outperforms Russell, but there are conflicting accounts of the official prediction, as it is possible that he said the "Detroit rookie QB" (Drew Stanton) would outperform Russell. Let this be a reminder to mean what you say and say what you mean.

How the players have done so far:

Marshawn Lynch:
Week 1: 19 runs for 90 yds and 1 TD, 2 rec for 9 yds (vs. Denver)
Week 2: 18 runs for 64 yds, 1 rec for 21 yds (at Pittsburgh)

Adrian Peterson:
Week 1: 19 runs for 103 yds, 1 rec for 60 yds and 1 TD (vs. Atlanta)
Week 2: 20 runs for 66 yds, 4 rec for 52 yds (at Detroit)

Brady Quinn:
Week 1: Did not play
Week 2: Did not play

Leon Hall:
Week 1: 4 tackles, 2 passes defended (vs. Baltimore)
Week 2: 4 tackles, 1 forced fumble (at Cleveland)

Ted Ginn, Jr.:
Week 1: 3 kick ret for 70 yds, 4 punt ret for 20 yds, 1 run for 7 yds (at Washington)
Week 2: 6 kick ret for 121 yds, 3 punt ret for 37 yds, 1 run for -3 yds (vs. Dallas)

Detroit rookie QB (Drew Stanton):
Week 1: Did not play
Week 2: Did not play

JaMarcus Russell:
Week 1: Did not play
Week 2: Did not play

4. Name the NFL final four (prediction made on draft day). Includes their current record.

White Russian AFC - New England (2-0) & San Diego (1-1)
NFC - Philadelphia (0-2) & San Francisco (2-0)
Brother Nature AFC - San Diego (1-1) & Indianapolis (2-0)
NFC - St. Louis (0-2) & New Orleans (0-2)
Diesel AFC - Cincinnati (1-1) & Indianapolis (2-0)
NFC - Chicago (1-1) & St. Louis (0-2)
Sandman AFC - New England (2-0) & Baltimore (1-1)
NFC - New Orleans (0-2) & Dallas (2-0)

football 2007