HTR's Weekly 25: Week 1

For a while here, I dabbled in writing a little about Chicago sports (which, as I then had the time, was fun, even if it went unread), I've written traditional game recaps of various Big Ten games (football and basketball) and various other little things along the way.

But, when I started this thing five years ago, it was with football, particularly Michigan football, in mind.

So, while my work as a regular journalist keeps me busy, I'm going to try to create some regularity here. I've tried in the past, with some success during the football and basketball seasons, before dropping back once summer hits.

Well, I'll worry about the summer once it returns next year: for now, the easiest way to stay engaged in the college football scene is by, what else, compiling a weekly set of by and large meaningless rankings.

Does my opinion mean anything? No, not really -- but the older I get, the less justifiable watching hours of football becomes without doing something meaningful with it ("meaning," here, is a generous term).

So, with that, here's my personal top 25 after the first week's worth of action:

1. Ohio State. Talk about a no-brainer. The Buckeyes marched into Blacksburg, missing their best defender in Joey Bosa and several other players, and still dominated despite turning it over a couple of times. Braxton Miller as utility playmaking type is a terrifying concept. Who would've thought that he would one day be a Heisman candidate...as a wide receiver? That spin move will probably feature prominently in college football promo commercials for OSU games the rest of the season, and for good reason. Ohio State appears to be on track to cruise to another playoff appearance.

2. Alabama. The Crimson Tide simply beat up a Badgers team that, for the first time in recent memory, is somewhat shaky on the offensive line. Even so, the Badgers' normally prolific rushing attack was non-existent, with UW tailback Corey Clement carrying it just 8 times for 16 yards before sitting the rest of the game out with an injury. While Joel Stave had a nice game, UW had no answer for Alabama's own rushing attack. It should be no surprise that, like conference mate Georgia, Alabama has multiple tailbacks who can get the job done. Quarterback Jake Coker's (15-of-21, 213 yards, 1 TD) longest completion of the day, in fact, was a 33-yarder to tailback Kenyan Drake. Once again, Alabama appears to be the football equivalent of the trash compactor from "Star Wars."

3. TCU. Okay, you can say the score of their season-opening win at Minnesota didn't inspire confidence. But I give credit for road wins, and the Gophers aren't a pushover. Minnesota lacks offensive punch, but they're still a tough out, and the Horned Frogs got the job done on a hot evening in Minnesota (yes, hot, Minnesota).

4. Auburn. Similarly, it's hard to say the Tigers had an exceptional Week 1, but again, I give credit for beating a real opponent. More importantly for Auburn fans, the defense looked okay, forcing two turnovers and holding Louisville quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Reggie Bonnafon to a combined 5.06 yards per attempt. Sure, new Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson struggled, but I think you'd rather have the defense do okay and the young quarterback struggle than the other way around...at least at this stage of the season.

5. Michigan State. Again, file this under the "not impressive box score but still good" category. Also, props are in order for traveling to Kalamazoo. Of course, this week's tilt against Oregon is the nonconference game of note for the Spartans.

6. Baylor. Maybe I'm giving excessive weight to the halftime score against SMU (28-21, Baylor). But, again, this was a road game, and it's a long season. As long as they continue to win, that first 30 minutes will be nothing but a minor footnote.

7. Notre Dame. Okay, beating Texas -- let alone dismantling them -- doesn't mean much now, but the Longhorns were at least expected to be able to play some defense. The Fighting Irish disproved that assumption, racking up 527 yards of offense and holding the Longhorns to just 20:50 in possession (yes, I know, a meaningless stat in and of itself, but still an indicator of how the game went).

8. Oregon. I know, it's only Week 1, but the Ducks gave up a whopping 42 points and 549 total yards against Eastern Washington. That won't work out too well against conference competition.

9. Georgia. A ho-hum blowout, a college football Week 1 tradition. Todd Gurley is plying his trade in St. Louis, but Nick Chubb and Keith Marshall will do just fine for UGA (that's an understatement).

10. UCLA. Virginia isn't a powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination, but the Bruins looked strong against major conference competition, and quarterback Josh Rosen was tremendous (28-of-35, 351 yards, 3 TDs).

The wild back 15:

11. USC
12. Florida State
13. Clemson
14. Texas A&M
15. Georgia Tech
16. LSU
17. Arkansas
18. Ole Miss
19. Boise State
20. Oklahoma
21. Missouri
22. Tennessee
23. Arizona
24. Mississippi State
25. Utah

Al Has A Pretty Bad Time In General

Al: "I'll wait for you to turn into Cade McNown. I'll wait for you!"

Al Borges has had a pretty bad time in general these last few days. The Alabama game went just about as expected, although the final score did reach the worst case scenario as opposed to the in retrospect laughable hope that we could keep it "close" (i.e. cover the spread). Yet, people are still upset at Al. Why didn't he do this or that? Why, Al, Why? 

Admittedly, attempting to mine useful football talk from fans in the middle of a game is useless, like asking a teenager for parenting tips. Even I, with my personal stake in the game (as a former resident of the Yellowhammer state), was going USE DENARD BLARGHHH like everyone else. After the requisite 24-hour moping period came and went, it became fairly clear that Borges did the only thing he could do, that being exactly what he did. 

When Borges said they "weren't going to let you do that", with a matter-of-factness verging on grim nihilism, he truly meant it. Alabama really is not in the business of letting anybody run the ball on them. Remember, they're pretty good, and have been so throughout the entire Saban era for a reason (save for his debut season in 2007). Think of all the great backs and quarterbacks that the Tide go up against in the SEC: how many of them had any sort of success on the ground? I'm willing to bet that you could them on one hand. 

I love Denard as much as the next guy and it will be a sad day when he plays his list game as a Wolverine (I would think that that would be clear to anyone that has read this blog), but even Cam Newton, Heisman winner, couldn't do much of anything against Alabama. Newton amassed a mere 39 yards on 22 carries. Newton, the man who spent 2010 trucking everything in sight and then speeding past LSU corner Patrick Peterson could not do a thing against the Tide. Auburn's memorable comeback began how, you ask? First, a 36-yard TD strike to Emory Blake and then a 71-yard TD pass to Terrel Zachery. We all knew that this would be the only way that we would be able to attack the Alabama defense, simply because Saban can afford to sell out on the run game with the athletes he has in the back 7/8. 

Last season, Cam's rookie year in the NFL, he threw for just over 4,000 yards and ran for 706 at 5.6 YPC, scoring a total of 35 touchdowns. Newton made NFL defenses look absolutely silly all season as a rookie, and yet he couldn't do anything at all on the ground against Alabama for an eventual national championship-winning Auburn team. 

Denard is not Cam Newton (in case you didn't know that already). The thing that most people still do not seem to be grasping in the aftermath is that sometimes there is no adjustment. If that makes you feel helpless as a fan, imagine how that makes Borges feel. I mean, did you watch the video above? 

Give Denard a few more carries against Alabama if you must. It wouldn't have mattered, as Nick Saban's record as a defensive mastermind has shown. The only response to this would be that "hey, we were out of options and Denard is our best player so we have to use him!" My response? 1) Again, it wouldn't have worked. 2) 5-10 more carries makes an injury in what is pretty much an exhibition game as far as anybody important (i.e. Hoke) is concerned. 3) Alabama defensive players spent basically all of July and August talking about stopping Denard Robinson. As it turned out, one way of doing this was the conscientious decision to force him to give the ball to far less dangerous runners. If he kept, they would be right there to stop it because, remember, they'd been talking about it. They were ready for it. 

What they couldn't have accounted for as much is Denard completing passes at the intermediate level and deep downfield. He completed a couple (2/10, per Borges), but they came too late and were too infrequent. Denard had some opportunities throughout the game and just missed, although it should also be noted that Michigan's receivers (and Alabama's fast, aggressive, and impeccably coached secondary) were also part of the problem. Once Denard proved unequal to the task of passing his way into opening up some sort of running room, it was over. 

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Anyway, I don't want to ramble on about the Alabama game any more than I have to. However, it should be clear: Michigan's offensive gameplan was probably 124th on the list of reasons why Michigan lost this game, fitting between "the existence of Nickelback, period" and "having to wait until next summer for the conclusion to Breaking Bad." Some are complaining of Borges's inflexibility, which I find to be a little bit odd and unforgiving, especially after the catastrophic start to the RR era, with Threet and Sheridan attempting to run the spread, a memory which was an indefinite--to use an Alabama-ism--"bless their hearts" situation. 

What we currently have is a frustrating situation without a tidy solution. We have a senior quarterback, transcendent in some areas and still very much developing in others, united with an offensive coordinator known for coaching pro-style quarterbacks. This is pretty much the 2008 offense redux, albeit under much less dire circumstances. Last year's 11-2 mark and Michigan's success against Nebraska and OSU to end the season concealed this notion somewhat, but this offense is cognitive dissonance in action, and there's nothing we can do about it for now. 

One final point. As someone who likes to talk about sports and things on the Internet, there comes a certain point where people--fans, blog proprietors, miscellaneous college football media folks, etc.--will want to lay claim to some sort of authority with respect to football parlance, strategy, and general commentary. This is natural, the urge to know more and then to parlay that knowledge into something bigger. The problem with all of this, a problem lacking a solution (not unlike the Denard-Borges mismatch conundrum) is that none of us here, tapping away at our keyboards on the Internet, know a single thing that Borges doesn't know. 

In his 27th season as a college offensive coordinator, Borges has without a doubt seen every possible defensive philosophy, blitz package, opponent collective talent level, and specific in-game situations. It is natural to want to criticize the coaches when they and/or the team fails, because, if we didn't, then we'd simply be passive consumer detached from the results in a way that makes the whole process seem pointless.

In this case, however, failure was inevitable, as unsatisfying of a conclusion at which to arrive. It is a difficult thing to accept, especially as a fan of a program like Michigan, but it is the truth. Alabama was better at every position. Michigan did not have a single matchup advantage. Michigan's primary offensive strength matched up against Alabama's defensive strength and a core tenet of its defensive philosophy. Fin. 

There's a lot of football left to be played, and I don't need to tell you that Saturday was probably as bad as it will get this season (and maybe even for a long, long time). I don't know that Michigan is as good as 2011 Oregon--the comparison Borges uses to say that we'll be alright--but Michigan is certainly not as bad as it showed on Saturday. Borges calling the plays for an offense quarterbacked by Denard will continue to be intermittently awkward, but Borges has already proven that he can make this offense function at a high level more often than not. 

SEC West Preview: Guess Who's Back, Back Again

As I've mentioned approximately 842 times within the last few months: there's not a whole lot going on right now. Michigan's fall camp won't be underway for a couple weeks, so this a good time to survey the vast and completely sensical landscape of college football that exists outside of the Big Ten's non-Rutgers-including-footprint. I'll still be working on the basketball player previews as well, but I'll also attempt to take a semi-thorough look at the other major conferences so that you can orient yourself and be well-informed at tailgates and other social functions in the coming months. I mean, is there anything better in life than being able to rattle off mostly useless college football information to your friends, who, in turn, are completely unimpressed impressed as a result? I don't think so.

I'm going to take a look at the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Pac 12, and maaaybe the Big East if I'm feeling charitable and/or have time. Probably not the Big East, though. Anyway, this week I'll start with the SEC, the recent dominion of ALL THE CHAMPIONS, Golden Flake potato chips, and the banana republic that is contemporary Tennessee football.

For the sake of readability, I'll divide this into multiple posts. Today, let's take a look at the SEC West, the toughest division in college football.

An SEC West football coach.