Morning Cup

Kool and the Gang were the halftime show at the Orange Bowl last night. That is the last thing I remember. Georgia Tech never really got the offense going and Iowa did a nice job of stopping the triple option. If I'm a college AD and I have my choice of 5 guys to talk to take over my program it's likely that Kirk Ferentz and Paul Johnson are among them. Both of the guys do a lot with a little and I'm always impressed with the effort their teams bring. Looks like Ferentz had enough time to figure out the triple option, which certainly makes sense in Bowl type setting. But when you've got to prepare in a week's time it doesn't usually work out quite as well.

Also woke up this morning wanting to find out who won the Mountain West game. New Mexico has been a pretty solid team and going to play San Diego State figured to be a tough task. Indeed it was, the Aztecs won the game 78-68 after it being pretty close at halftime. Would have been a nice game to see on the Mountain West channel.

Excited to see the Orange back in action tonight. Memphis will be a formidable test, but I think the right kind of one to have after the first loss. I expect the Orange to fare well tonight. I think, in particular, the defensive effort will be better. We expect to Live Blog right here. So feel free to join in with your thoughts and comments.

I did see a good bit of Purdue's dismantling of Minnesota. Everytime I see the Boilers, I'm more impressed with them. They seemed to click on all cylinders last night and have to be the choice in the Big Ten. However, they also are going to lose in Madison on Saturday. Remember, I said it here.

Don't know that anybody has noticed, I didn't, but Rhode Island is 12-1. They got a nice road win at Akron last night. Not sure they'll have enough to really challenge Temple or Xavier in the A-10 but they've started well. For the most part the schedule has been forgiving, but they do have wins over BCS conference teams Oklahoma State, Boston College and Providence. The lone loss? to Virginia Commonwealth.

We know you're all pumped up to see the GMAC Bowl tonight. It is the final one before the big one tomorrow night. Central Michigan and Troy could put on a show. But it still amazes me that this bowl has carved out a niche as the final game before the BCS championship each year.