Tuesday, January 01, 2008

New Year's Day Live Blog: More than just Football?

First of all, Happy New Year to all of you! May 2008 bring you plenty of happiness.

12:09 PM: My wife sat down on the sofa about an hour ago, and she said, "There is football on already". My response was simple, "Yes, isn't it great." The only one problem I see thus far is we have to sit through Pat Summerall on the Cotton Bowl. Fox is really making the matchup of Missouri and Arkansas into something. It is a decent matchup, but it seems pretty regionalized. And I wouldn't be shocked to see the Tigers win by double digits in the end.

12:19 PM: Missouri just scored on a Tony Temple touchdown run. Fox was somewhere in the crowd interviewing Chase Daniel's parents. Not only do we have Jeanne Zalasko at the game, but we also have Krista Voda. Some of us, just want to watch the game. And listen to Pat. 7-0 Mizzou. Summerall and Daniel are neighbors. Mrs. Daniel is a Southwest Airlines flight attendant. Too bad my wife has given up on watching. She might enjoy this.

12:27 PM: Summerall just admitted he's confused. Shocker. In his defense, though, Arkansas faked a punt, got a first down, but had called timeout before the play. So then they came back out and tried to fake it again. This one didn't work. Another Shocker. Missouri has already moved acrosse midfield.

12:30 PM: Flipped over to the Outback Bowl. And Wisconsin just ran the Tight End throwback. Those of us Syracuse fans remember that play. Back when we used to play on NYDay we used to run that play. Our guys were usually more open than Andy Crooks was. But he was pretty open. The score draws the Badgers within 21-14. In fact, we scored a touchdown on the very same play against the Volunteers who were the first BCS champions. I'm sure that is where Bret Beilema got the play. Looking at old game tape.

12:37 PM: Line of the year just came from Sean McDonough. "A steady stream of quality information upcoming on the Flomax Halftime report with Rece Davis and Robert Smith." Only thing that could have made it better would have been if Pat would have said it.

1:12 PM: Another football game has started. Virginia and Texas Tech kicked off in Jacksonville. The Gator Bowl is underway. My wife is baking cookies. She has no idea what she's missing. The are also about to drop the puck in Buffalo, where its snowing.

1:19 PM: They are headed to halftime at the Cotton Bowl. Missouri now leads 14-0. I think that Bobby Petrino will do well at Arkansas. Whether you like him or not, and I really don't, he is a good college coach. I think he will continue what Houston Nutt has built. I don't think the Hogs will ever be a BCS championship contender. But they'll continue to be a strong SEC program. Meanwhile, I think Nutt will raise Ole Miss to that status as well. To me, Nutt is one of the better college football coaches. Arkansas isn't the easiest place to coach and be a consistent winner, but he was consistent, and I think h'll make Mississippi that consistent winner.

1:49 PM: The Heisman Trophy winner just hit Percy Harvin for a touchdown to even the score in Orlando. We know you've seen the pictures before, but they are worth seeing again. And its amazing to me that if you google Tim Tebow. You don't get Heisman or any of his football accomplishments first. Instead you get this http://www.withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=1894

1:56 PM: Quick scoreboard check:
Tennessee 21, Wisconsin 14 4Q
Missouri 21, Arkansas 0 3Q
Virginia 9, Texas Tech 7 1Q
Michigan 7, Florida 7 1Q

2:36 PM: Virginia just got its second safety of the first half. You don't see too many of those. And now you've got two both on intentional grounding penalties in the endzone.

2:38 PM: Rich Rodriguez has joined Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge in the booth. Tennessee kept the SEC perfect with a 5-0 record as they defeated Wisconsin 21-17 in the Outback Bowl.

2:40 PM: Really is a sloppy game in Dallas. Another Missouri turnover has given Arkansas good field position. But its 28-7 Tigers. They seem to have that pretty well in hand with just over 12 minutes left.

2:42 PM: Can't turn our back entirely on college hoops today. Not with the Big East schedule starting. Cincinnati is at Louisville and David Padgett has returned for the Cardinals. His presence alone has sparked a 5-0 run to give the Cards a 5-4 lead. L'Ville is going to need him if they are to live up to the preseason predictions. I always thought they were a bit overated.

3:10 PM: With the way Missouri is handling Arkansas, it is sure to make folks wonder if maybe Oklahoma should be in the BCS championship game instead of LSU. It is sure making me wonder. Although I probably would have supported the Sooners before this beatdown.

3:22 PM: Texas Tech just scored a touchdown to draw within one score of Virginia. They kicked an onside kick to start the second half, but then fumbled on the first play. The play was not ruled as such on the field and was never reviewed. But it was clearly a fumble and that's why I don't like the replay rule. Because the reason we have replay is to get the calls right. This didn't do it for whatever reason. Now Tech is back in the game. They did score early in the first half as well, so UVA maybe able to make some adjustments and slow this offense down.

4:04 PM: Breaking News Mike Hart fumbled for the Wolverines. Florida capitalized and marched the length of the field and now the game is tied at 28. Looked like Michigan was going to go ahead 35-21 or at least by 10. Instead, we've got a tie game with a little more than a quarter left.

4:23 PM: Michael Crabtree just "Jimmy Browned" Gary Danielson and the Virginia secondary. Crabtree has a sprained ankle and he's gimping around out there. Danielson just said "he's nothing more than a decoy out there." The next play, they threw it deep to him and now have a 3rd and goal. The Raiders trying to rally from down 28-14. They are now down to fourth and goal.

4:35 PM: Percy Harvin has put the Gators back on top at 35-31 in what has turned into the best game of the day. A tipped screen pass turned into an interception and setup Florida on this drive. The Gators now have to hold Michigan off for the next six minutes or so to earn the win.

4:43 PM: Michigan goes right through Florida and reclaims the lead 38-31. Chad Henne to Adrian Arrington for the score. I think it only took the Maize and Blue three plays. So Florida still has plenty on time.

4:47 PM: Florida just turned the ball back over to Michigan on downs. 2:42 left and the Gators have three timeouts left. They might get the ball back. Meanwhile, Texas Tech has a chance in Jacksonville, they just recovered a fumble on the four, down 28-21.

4:49 PM: The Red Raiders have tied it. Or will if they can make the conversion. They are waiting on the extra point as one of the Tech offensive lineman is down with an injury. This game seemed to change when UVA quarterback Jameel Sewell went down with an injury.

4:52 PM: Michigan has done nothing in three plays. They now will get a field goal attempt to extend the lead to six. It's good from 41 yards and Florida has 2:21 left to try to win it.

4:58 PM: Four straight incompletions from the Heisman Trophy winner. Tremendous pressure from the Michigan front to get the win for the Wolverines. Lloyd Carr goes out as a Victor. Good win for a great guy. Best of luck in retirement.

5:07 PM: Texas Tech has kicked a 41-yard field goal with :02 left and it appears the Red Raiders are going to win 31-28. The Raiders have scored 17 points in the last 3+ minutes to take the lead. Two years in a row that Texas Tech has rallied from way back to win a bowl game. Crazy stuff. Tough, tough loss for Al Groh and the Cavs.

7:11 PM: Alabama is not a very good basketball team. But Clemson just absolutely laid the lumber to them. Even more impressive the game was in Tuscaloosa. Good win for the Tigers, who continue to be impressive. Yet this Clemson team really hasn't accomplished anything this year that hasn't been accomplished by recent Clemson teams. They are off to a solid start and they have been somewhat tested. They have wins over South Carolina, Mississippi State, Old Dominion, Purdue, DePaul that should help come tourney time. The only loss is to unbeaten Ole Miss. They know what they need to do. They need to be equally impressive in the ACC. Or they at least need to be respectable in the ACC. They need to finish strong. That hasn't happened in recent years. It starts with a game Sunday versus #1 North Carolina.

7:20 PM: Illinois needed something good to happen to them. Rashard Mendenhall's 80-yard TD run qualifies. It's 21-10 Trojans now. Let's see how USC responds.

7:30 PM: This is starting to be quite a football game. But Illinois just fumbled twice costing it points. The first one they recovered. But USC recovered the second one in the end zone to keep the Illini from scoring. Still it looks like a totally different game here after halftime.

7:40 PM: Huge turn of events. USC is back in control. Joe McKnight takes a lateral that hits the ground but takes a bounce right back up into his hands and he gains 65 yards. That sets up a John David Booty to Fred Davis short touchdown pass and its 28-10. I don't think Illinois can win from here. And they might even just go away. With everything that has gone wrong for them, it is a possibility.

3 comments:

  1. i take it, based on all of the posts, that you got your router working....

    ReplyDelete
  2. How about some hockey coverage? it is snowing....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not only snowing....but in Overtime.

    ReplyDelete