Week 1 Card (Sept 3rd - 5th)

[Irish]

Oregon (+6) over Boise
This is a very interesting game to look at, the BLUE carpet where Boise is outright unbeatable. What is interesting is these teams are rebuilding from the inside out. Both teams return a handful of starters on offense and defense. Both lost some key players and return solid quarterbacks and running attacks. The ducks lose SIX of the top 10 offensive linemen, 3 o-linemen were pac-10 award players. Now the good news is Boise loses a ton from their defensive line. So you got unproven vs unproven and in this case I like the running of Masoli when things breakdown to keep plays or drives alive. Blount is a very good running back but he was running behind a great O-line and he had another good running back pushing him for time, I wonder if he will be as hungry being the number one guy. Also the ducks are replacing their head coach but I am not worried aboiut that transition as it has been in the works over the past few season and they return the same offense. These offenses have both been explosive at times and you can expect a good show in this game. Boise loses Johnson but they had a ton of players at running back get time and all can come in and carry the mail, that should hurt them as much as losing a lot of WR's from last year. They return only one of the top five WR's, granted it is the number one guy but they will need to replace some key players therye inorder to move the ball in that running attack. I do think the Ducks have a slight edge on the defensive line and should look pretty good against young Boise line. The major question I have going into this game is recruiting, cause the Ducks got a huge JC push and if they are as good as advertised the ducks have reloaded in some positions DL, LB and WR. AS always you have to be affraid of Boise on the blue turf but I just did not see the gems in the recuiting class that can help this team as it looks to replace 11 starters. That being said there is a reason Boise has been very good over the past few years, they have good coaches and get the right kind of player for that system. I still think the ducks after losing last seasons game to Boise will reload on defense and have enough weapons to continue to be high powered on offense. This is a big game for both teams early and I will take the points in this spot. I think the ducks can and should win this game if they don't go into smurf turf field and play the team on the field not the fields reputation.

Good luck to all this season

EDIT.... Title of thread

Cheers
Irish

 

[AR182]

irish....it's good to see you back for another "go around"..good luck this year...

 

[tulah]

great write up and info.

Best of luck this year.

 

[Woodson]

Irish!

It's that time of year. Best of luck and look forward to your threads each week!

Let's do this!:box2:

 

[bej0101]

like ducks alot..gl

 

[Corley1011]

Gonna be on the Ducks myself!!! :00hour

 

[Irish]

Miami (+5) over Florida State
A heated battle between these two schools can be expected. Last year it was a 41-39 game and Miami has won ONE of the last four in this meeting. Now FSU has a very good offensive line and Ponder is a very capible QB. Randy Shnnon is doing a lot of work in Miami and it is going under the radar in most places. Jacory Harris is going to be something special as he gets more playing time. A true sophmore he showed some great signs of throwing the deep ball and moving the offense with his legs in the limited action he saw. Taking some of the heat off him is Cooper and James These two backs are set to have a breakout season at any second, especially with an O-line that is made up of three senior and two juniors. That experience will help open up holes and with the speed Cooper and James have a small hole could lead to big things. Ok so Miami has a veteran line, running back and return all but 18 catches from a season ago, this young Shannon team is starting to grow up. So on offense the Canes can look like a team that is ready to take the step to bring the swagger back to the U offense. Defensively this is a young group again but all of these guys have seen playing time and all look like solid players. A team of freshman and sophmores last season are now juniors and sophmores and gained a ton of experience. Robinson, Forston, Spence and Harris are all players looking to make waves in the second season at school, add Telemaque in there because he is a redshirt freshman and you have a very fast group. The Canes defense has to replace some takles and around six sacks from a year ago but Moncur coming back from an injury will help get pressure on the QB. Also coming back from an injury is Colin McCarthy here is a player that had 21 takles and half a sack in only 4 starts. One the other side of the ball for FSU an always strong defensive unit has to replace 25 sacks and a ton of tackles on defense. A lot of D-line talent is gone and Bowden is looking at freshman and Juco players to fill the holes. Now at LB they have to replace the top two tacklers and only return Watson. Not saying they wont reload at LB because FSU always seems to have fast feild aware guys at those spots. That being said I do not think they will be ready in week one for the experience of Miami. Although FSU has the edge at O-line they need to replace the leading rusher, but they do have some backs that can carry the load. Still considering Smith had 177 carries and next on the team was Ponder at 119 something says they may need someone to step out of the darkness or Ponder will be running a lot and that screams injury with no proven back up. One of the things I like in this game as well is FSU loses its kicker and strongest punter, normally that wouldn't be important but I think the Canes may pressure the new kicker and cause some issues. Miami returns a pretty solid kicker and if this becomes a field position game the Canes have the edge. Looking over this it is hard not to See Ponder and the FSU line as big factors in this game but just as well I think the D-line of Miami will be too much for this FSU line this early in the season. The Canes need to get pressure... the one stat I see that jumps off the page is 119 rushing attempts for the QB... when pressured he turns to his feet. Sending a blitz and spying him should cause the offense to sputter, while the field position becomes an issue and the O-line of Miami starts moving FSU off the ball opening big lanes for cooper and James. I see that factor taking a lot of pressure off Harris enough so when FSU becomes too aggressive in an attempt to get pressure Harris goes over the top to a veteran group of recievers. I like the points in this game but I think the Canes are under estimated and Shannon is slowly putting big pieces in place.

Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

Troy (-7) over Bowling Green
Troy is in a nice spot a top of the Sun Belt. They are coming off an 8-5 record and they have the key peices of the team back this season. They return the QB, top WR and running back field. The o-line is all upper classmen and they add 4 JUCO players to help balence the lack of starting experience. On defense the Trojans bring back all the sacks with the exception of about 10. They brought in a ton of JUCO help on the defensive line which should make this good unit much stronger. DuJuan Harris did a very good job busting onto the scene last season with over 1000 yards, he should be even better since the line has not had to replace a lot and they got stronger since the spring. The offensive skill positions are solid and they are going against a Bowling green team that is just gone from average to poor over the past few years. However Dave Clawson hopes to change that but with a new coach comes a new scheme and the need for a different type of player so that does not look good for the Falcons. They lost the top runner but he split almost all the carries so it shouldn't hurt, they lost about 15 recieving touch downs from last season. Defensively it looks even worse. Gone from last year is all but half a sack. They return only three starters from that unit. They lost their best cover man in Kenny Lewis but do retun SS Mahone who should be the coach on the field. That being said he is the SS and will have to lead the team in tackles (as he did last season) because the d-line and lbs will be pushed around by almost every decent team they see. The troy defense will be all over Sheehan and without the talent to protect or help him I cannot see the falcons putting up more than 14 points unless it is sloppy play from troy because it is week on, and they are on the road. Troy is a older team that should be ready to take the Sun belt again but they need to be aware since they are 2-6 on road home openers. I expect Troy to come out on fire and this is a very dangerous team when they play with emotion. A match up next week with the big florida gators should have the trojans looking ahead but they know they have to get the kinks ironed out and get firing if they was to play the gators well. That makes this a full speed scrimage and they are the better team that will do more on offense and defense.

Ill (-6.5) over Mizzou
This is a play because it is a nutral field and the tigers have to replace the entire house on offense and defense. Juice Williams has Benn to throw too and they are the team with just too much left in the tank compared to Mizzou. The Illini return 8 starters from a year ago and a ton of talent at skilled postions. I expect the tigers to give it to the best option and that means running the ball a lot with Washington, that will only go so far as Ill should overload the box and force the inexperienced QB (true sophmore with 13 passes under his belt) to beat them and he will not. Ill is not great at DL but they have solid DT but are weak at LB. I still think Wilson at MLB and not outside gives they a nice player to help grow the younger players. Ill will not have to win this game with defense as the Inn offense will be far too much. Mizzou is used to giving up points because the offense used to be able to keep pace well I cannot see that happening this season and in this spot I think Ill is a double digit winner.

Small play
VT (+5.5) over Bama
I think I like this for defensive reasons only and Bama starting an inexperienced QB. Bud Foster will throw some crazy stuff at him and I wonder if he will make the right decision.

Cheers
Irish

 

[Corley1011]

Agree with most of those Irish... GL!

 

[AR182]

nice write-ups as usual irish....do you have any thoughts on the troy / bg game ?

good luck...

 

[Irish]

AR

troy/bg? typo?

Let me know and I am happy to help in any way I can

Cheers
Irish

 

[AR182]

AR

troy/bg? typo?

Let me know and I am happy to help in any way I can

Cheers
Irish

irish....troy vs. bowling green...

 

[Irish]

Did you see the above post? AR I have to quote 40 year old virgin... "Are you retarded...Do you want me to be retarded... ARE YOU FUKING WITH ME? Do you want me to be fuking with you?" You know by know I am on my 5th pint ....:shrug:

I'm lost brother

Cheers
Irish

 

[AR182]

Did you see the above post? AR I have to quote 40 year old virgin... "Are you retarded...Do you want me to be retarded... ARE YOU FUKING WITH ME? Do you want me to be fuking with you?" You know by know I am on my 5th pint ....:shrug:

I'm lost brother

Cheers
Irish

irish.....:mj07: :mj07:

and i am not even drinking !!!

i meant do you have an opinion on the troy / bg total ?

sorry about that....

 

[Irish]

Gotcha Chief I thought I was losing it.... I am looking at the under if I had to play because I am not sure the falcons pull their weight. I think with FLA on deck if the trojans get on top they might ease out of the game plan.
Its a pass for me but I think Troy scored with ease and shuts down BG so the total might be 28-10.

Cheers
Irish

 

[AR182]

Gotcha Chief I thought I was losing it.... I am looking at the under if I had to play because I am not sure the falcons pull their weight. I think with FLA on deck if the trojans get on top they might ease out of the game plan.
Its a pass for me but I think Troy scored with ease and shuts down BG so the total might be 28-10.

Cheers
Irish

thanks irish...i'm leaning to the under also...don't know if i'll play it though...

good luck...

 

[ajoytoy]

gl this season Irish!

 

[Cie]

Thanks for the info. GL this season, Irish:toast:

 

[Irish]

Thanks guys, appreciate the discussion and support GL to you as well.

S.Carolina (+5) over NC State
O'Brien has his team where he needs them this season. He is getting the players to fit his system and this will be a good idea if his approach will work as it did in BC. The pack returns 7 starters on offense and 7 on defense so a team that started to figure things out late last year are pretty soild. The pack does lose Brown at running back but they have good players ready to pick up the slack. Then you look at SC wow they need to rebuild, this is put up or GET OUT time for the ol ball coach and no player needs to step up more than sophmore QB Garcia. This kid was supposed to be the type of player spurrir loves and he has not made any right decisions on or off the field. No Mike Davis is also a slam to this play, not too mention no top recievers from a year ago. But the Spurrier can game plan and he has had a ton of time to get ready for this game. The gamecocks beat up NC state in a shut out last season but I don't see that happening again. Norwood and gathers are good enough on the D-line but they need to step it up at the LB and CB spots in order to play at a better level this season. GEORGIA on deck is scary because the gamecocks might not have their heads in this game but being week one and Spurrier having a GROSS winning persenctage in openers is something to ease the pain. I like the SC o-line, six returning players with playing experience and a new o-line coach should get more protection to let the deep plays open up. Plus Garcia has good mobility and if this offense wants to be something big he will have to be the player, that means passing and running. What I like are the young players for SC at WR, DB and LB. I don't think SC is a SEC contender this season but I do think they have more pieces in place they some realize. I think NC state is a very good ball team, they have revenge, a crap game on deck and home field advantage. Still I think that this game will come down to the young guns at QB both teams have expected BIG players at QB and he who performs best will win this game. I like the points because I think the gamecocks will have a lot of fight and will be looking to prove something this week before going into georgia next week. 6 new coaches may make it slow going but they have had enough time to be involved for this team and regardless of the coaches this is a spurrier system and he hasn't changed so with another year some of these players should be better off that includes the o-line which is big. I think NC state is the better team but I think S.carolina needs to make the bigger statement.

Cheers
Irish

 

[spang]

Always good reading your stuff. GL with Troy