College Football Weekend Preview: Part Two ... The 'Revenge' of Texas

For the Texas Longhorns, a run at the BCS title game is the goal this season. That said, it would be nice to beat Texas Tech

Before Oklahoma won the Big 12 title and made the BCS Championship last year, they lost decisively to Texas. With the path to the Big 12 championship looking clear, Texas ran into the Graham Harrell/Michael Crabtree buzzsaw in Lubbock. That shocker left the Longhorns hoping for a Texas Tech or Oklahoma stumble, because the three-way tie between the teams in the Big 12 South was decided by the teams' standing in the BCS, a statistic ruled by Oklahoma.

Revenge is not talked about much anymore. After all, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Beating Texas Tech would be nice, but what's it going to avenge? The key players from that game are gone. The game is in Austin this time. Oh, and it's not like Texas Tech broke any rules or did anything immoral to gain the victory.

This isn't revenge. It's a football game. One that Texas is going to win decisively, too. They haven't been tested yet (neither has Texas Tech), but there's no way of knowing if Tech will test the Longhorns. They are elite on both sides of the ball when things are clicking, and Texas Tech has too many holes, especially on defense.

Some might look at the first half struggle Texas experienced at Wyoming last week and call it a flaw. If you do that, you can make yourself think the Red Raiders have a shot. However, it's a long shot at best, nothing at all like last year.

The pick: Texas

California at Minnesota: This is a tough week for the Gophers. They were able to wear down Air Force, especially their offensive and defensive fronts, but won't be able to do that to California. Also, the hype and pageantry that comes along with a new stadium unveiling is gone. This is "just another game," and the biggest issue is how Cal adjusts to traveling so far to play a game at what would be 9 A.M. in Berkeley. The Bears have the better team, but they blew a game at Maryland last year, and there are significant worries they could be bitten by the long trip/early game bug again. There's no question this Gopher team will be hungry. They haven't beaten a legitimate big-time non-conference opponent in years, and this is a great chance to do it. That said, when making picks, it's really dumb to pick an obviously inferior team.
The pick: California

Tennessee at Florida: Everyone is looking at this game, for the obvious drama-based reasons. However, the assumption going around is that Florida will have to restrain itself from winning 88-0 or something. It's hard to imagine the Gators doing that kind of damage to Tennessee's defense, no matter how fired-up they might be. The Volunteers will be pumped, too. At least that's what Lane Kiffin is hoping. If they're not ready, this could be a long day. Like 88-0 long.
The pick: Florida

Florida State at BYU: The Cougars get their next good test with a Florida State team that needed a pair of late touchdowns to pull away from (gulp) Jacksonville State last week. On second thought, maybe the Mountain West can provide BYU with that "next good test."
The pick: BYU

Other games (Home team in CAPS)
SYRACUSE over Northwestern
IOWA over Arizona
VIRGINIA TECH over Nebraska
Cincinnati over OREGON STATE
Utah over OREGON
NORTH CAROLINA over East Carolina
ARKANSAS over Georgia
AUBURN over West Virginia

Last week: 8-1
Season: 16-8

College Football Weekend Preview: Part One

Sorry, it's been hectic the last two days.

Spent the day in St. Paul at Wild training camp. Read FanHouse for more on that.

But there's a huge college football game tonight. At least, as "huge" as the ACC can offer at this point. On the bright side for them, none of their member schools will be losing or struggling mightily with I-AA opponents tonight.

Georgia Tech could have a field day against Miami's awful defense, but the Hurricanes should be able to move the ball. They're motivated to prove themselves against a Tech team that whacked them pretty hard last year.

I see the homestanding Hurricanes pulling out a win.

The pick: Miami

More college and all the NFL picks coming Friday.

Bulldog Hockey Loses Recruit

One of the many downsides to recruiting in college sports being what is nowadays is the difficulty of predicting how kids will look two or three years out.

There are some high school athletes who commit to playing college hockey somewhere during their senior year, then spend two years developing in junior hockey (either the USHL or NAHL). That means a college coach is trying to accurately predict where a player will be in development three years after they are recruited.

In some cases, things don't work out as planned. John O'Neill is a real-life example of this.

The former Anoka star committed to UMD as a senior in high school. During that senior year, the Tornadoes came amazingly close to a berth in the state tournament, losing an incredible Section 7AA final to Cloquet/Esko/Carlton at the DECC.

From there, things have not gone O'Neill's way at all. He vanished from the roster of the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers, surfacing in the (somewhat inferior, frankly) NAHL with North Iowa. 35 games and just four goals later, O'Neill is looking for a new college to play hockey at.

Former Anoka High School center John O'Neill, a Minnesota Duluth recruit, informed the Bulldogs Tuesday he was withdrawing from his commitment and will be looking to begin his college career elsewhere, according to an e-mail from John's father, Brett, a Superior native.

He was scheduled to join UMD this season, but that was pushed back. He'll play at North Iowa again this season after re-opening his commitment.

O'Neill might not be on the verge of becoming a Bulldog as first thought, but we wish him well.

Congratulations, Chad Calcaterra

Not many basketball players from this area make it to Division I. The most recent was former Duluth East star Cory Johnson, who started his college career at Iowa State before moving on to Valparaiso.

Before him, former Gopher Rick Rickert, now playing professionally in New Zealand, was the most notable of the last 15 years or so.

Cloquet is known as a hockey town. They have a top-notch youth program, one of the best facilities in the area, and a very good tradition at the high school level. Recently, their football and basketball programs have garnered some attention, too.

The basketball team now has a Division I player to brag about. Senior Chad Calcaterra, the tallest player in the area, has verbally committed to Colorado State.

The 6-10 forward has been courted by many Division I schools, but committed to play for the Rams after visiting campus this past weekend.

Both assistants to CSU coach Tim Miles, who worked previously at North Dakota State, are from Minnesota.

Calcaterra will be eligible to sign his letter of intent later this year.

Congratulations, Chase Vogler

One of the many developments from the college football weekend was a revelation at UMD.

It's amazing how well a quarterback can play when he knows what's coming.

True freshman Chase Vogler had to step in for starter Jon Lynch on Sept. 3, as Lynch went down on the first series with a serious elbow injury (sounds like a season-killer for him). UMD lost the game, but Vogler did his best. He has gotten limited work with the offense, being that he's a true freshman and Lynch was the starter (starters, obviously, get the most reps in practice).

Vogler's first collegiate start was Saturday in Marshall against Southwest Minnesota State. While Isaac Odim and the run game still serve as the main cog for the Bulldog offense, the development of Vogler likely will determine UMD's playoff hopes.

The Bulldogs have to think the future is bright.

Vogler shook off any nerves and produced a sharp outing, completing 15 of 20 passes and avoiding any interceptions. The Bulldogs won, 34-27, and showed enough promise to keep very much alive the dream of back-to-back NSIC championships.

Odim ran for well over 100 yards, is an absolute horse, and will continue to lead the way. However, the more Vogler is able to play, the better he'll get, and the better UMD's offense will be.

For now, it's a good start to the promising college career of Chase Vogler.

BlogPoll: Sept. 16 Ballot (Draft)

As usual, feedback is encouraged:

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Southern Cal
3	Texas
4	Brigham Young	1
5	Alabama	2
6	California
7	Mississippi	1
8	Penn State	1
9	LSU	1
10	Boise State	2
11	Cincinnati	2
12	TCU	3
13	Utah	2
14	Michigan	3
15	Kansas	1
16	Houston
17	Oklahoma State	13
18	Oklahoma
19	Ohio State	3
20	Nebraska	1
21	Miami (Florida)	1
22	Georgia
23	Virginia Tech	1
24	Pittsburgh	1
25	Southern Miss
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Notre Dame (#21).

• Houston gets in, though I'm skittish about this team. For now, I'll follow the "Hey, they won on the field" rule.
  
• I'm unimpressed by the last two positions on this ballot. Guidance would be appreciated.
• The top three remain intact, but it should be noted that there was a serious temptation to move Texas ahead of USC. I did not, because of issues with the quality of the opponent. After all, Ohio State is better than Wyoming.

NFL Joins the Fray

It's been a quiet topic around here since Judas made his move, but the NFL season is set to open.

Thursday brings the single NFL Kickoff event/game thingy, as the Super Bowl champion Steelers host Tennessee in Pittsburgh.

Since it's taboo to make picks after the first game has been played, it's time to make some predictions.

FanHouse's NFL preview -- which includes six team capsules written by your humble correspondent -- can be found here. To avoid repeating stuff you can read there, allow me to briefly outline my division picks, along with my playoff selections.

AFC East
1. New England
2. Buffalo
3. Miami
4. N.Y. Jets

New England is the class, again. I think Miami will fall off a bit, but still be a solid team. Buffalo is improved, but won't be good enough to make the playoffs, seriously threaten New England, or save Dick Jauron's job. The Jets will make more noise in December than September.

AFC North
1. Pittsburgh
2. Cincinnati
3. Baltimore
4. Cleveland

Tough call. Cincinnati will surprise, but their defense isn't nearly good enough to beat out Pittsburgh. Baltimore is no worse than an 8-8 team unless something goes seriously wrong. The Browns? Well, yeah. No.

AFC South
1. Jacksonville
2. Indianapolis
3. Houston
4. Tennessee

My surprise call comes here. Frankly, Jacksonville has too much talent to be terrible again, and they usually find a way to rebound after a bad season. The Colts will be a playoff team, and Houston will get close. Tennessee falls off because their passing game simply isn't good enough, and the defense took a huge hit with the loss of Haynesworth.

AFC West
1. San Diego
2. Kansas City
3. Denver
4. Oakland

The Chargers will walk away with the division title. Kansas City won't finish over .500, but they'll hold off the other two bad teams. Oakland is a laughingstock (in other news, water is wet).

NFC East
1. N.Y. Giants
2. Philadelphia
3. Washington
4. Dallas

Look for the Eagles to push the Giants, but fall just short because of New York's monster running game and defense. Washington will surprise with an improved defense and healthy Jason Campbell. Dallas will be spending a lot of money on a new coach for next season.

NFC North
1. Green Bay
2. Chicago
3. Minnesota
4. Detroit

Best division race in the league. Three legitimate NFC contenders battling it out through six head-to-head games that will steal many headlines. The quarterback drama alone makes it must-see TV. In the end, Rodgers bests Cutler and Favre, but these three enter the season virtually interchangeable.

NFC South
1. Atlanta
2. New Orleans
3. Carolina
4. Tampa Bay

Matt Ryan and Tony Gonzalez, along with Michael Turner and Roddy White? I like it! New Orleans has plenty of offense, and they'll need it with that putrid defensive unit. Carolina has too many depth issues, and Tampa Bay is rebuilding. They hope it doesn't take long, but rebuilding is rebuilding.

NFC West
1. Seattle
2. Arizona
3. San Francisco
4. St. Louis

Big-time rebound for the Seahawks, who parlay improved personnel and health to a division title run. Arizona didn't improve enough in the offseason to make a serious bid for an NFC repeat. San Francisco should get better, but they have to get Crabtree in and solve their quarterback quandary first. The Rams are terrible for maybe one more year.

AFC Wild Cards: Cincinnati, Indianapolis
NFC Wild Cards: Chicago, Philadelphia
AFC Championship: San Diego over New England
NFC Championship: Green Bay over N.Y. Giants
Super Bowl: San Diego over Green Bay

As for Week 1, here you go:

Tennessee at Pittsburgh: Titans one-dimensional offense meets up with determined defending champion. They might not be as determined as the Florida Gators, but the Steelers fell off dramatically the last time they won the Super Bowl, and they don't want that to happen again. It's doubtful they will let up in Week 1.
The pick: Pittsburgh

Chicago at Green Bay: The two top quarterbacks in the NFC go head-to-head. Yes, you read that correctly. Nothing will be etched in stone after this game, but it will give both teams a decent idea of where they can go from here. Expect the Bears to test the coverage skills of Packers linebackers, especially Aaron Kampman, as much as possible. Meanwhile, the Packers will try to pick on the Bears secondary. Run games cancel each other out, so let's take the passing attack that has the most weapons.
The pick: Green Bay

Minnesota at Cleveland: You're not serious, right? This hardly seems fair. The Browns don't have the weapons on either side of the ball, and are relying on the quarterback mystery (which has been solved, by the way) and Eric Mangini's one year of knowledge of Brett Favre. Good luck with that.
The pick: Minnesota

Other picks (home team in CAPS)
ATLANTA over Miami
CINCINNATI over Denver
Jacksonville over INDIANAPOLIS
NEW ORLEANS over Detroit
TAMPA BAY over Dallas
CAROLINA over Philadelphia
BALTIMORE over Kansas City
HOUSTON over N.Y. Jets
N.Y. GIANTS over Washington
ARIZONA over San Francisco
SEATTLE over St. Louis
NEW ENGLAND over Buffalo
San Diego over OAKLAND

Oberg Blogging on Canucks Website

Former Bulldogs are popping up all over the place!

Defenseman Evan Oberg left after his sophomore year, taking a free-agent deal with Vancouver. Responsible for what may be one of the most significant goals in UMD hockey history (.8 seconds left to tie the NCAA game against Princeton), Oberg parlayed his superb offensive improvement as a sophomore into an opportunity to play in the pros.

Oberg is now taking part in a Canucks rookie camp. He's blogging about his experiences at the Canucks website, www.canucks.com.

The first hockey game I ever went to was Vancouver vs. Edmonton in Edmonton when I was 9 or 10 (I think) and Pavel Bure was my idol. I still remember that day very clearly, my uncle took me to the game and we were waiting near the dressing room and when the security wasn’t around, my uncle snuck me in. I actually got Bure’s autograph that day and it was one of the best days of my life. I got my Canucks hat signed by and it’s probably one of my most prized possessions still.

It wasn’t too bad being a Canucks fan in Alberta where I grew up because my hometown is about halfway between Calgary and Edmonton so I didn’t hear it too much from the kids growing up.

Aside from Bure, I also looked up to Nick Lidstrom when I was a little bit older and converted to a d-man. I was a forward growing up until second year midget, so I was 17. The reason I switched was because we had a really low roster on defence and my coach said I skated the best backwards so he moved me there Luckily, I adjusted and liked it and the rest is history.

Good stuff. The story about switching to defense was especially cool. Oberg has obviously adjusted well to the position.

Hopefully, he's able to impress during rookie camp. Even a cup of coffee at main training camp would be a great experience for Oberg.

(Tap of the stick to UMD equipment manager Chris Garner for texting that tip along.)

College Football Weekend Preview: Ohio State Embarrasses Big Ten Again

The storylines don't change much from year to year. Give both Ohio State and USC plenty of credit, because there is no reason why either of them should be playing this game. The schools are high-profile, they have great football traditions, and they usually field very good teams.

USC plays nine conference games, so they only get three non-league games every year. Since one of those is tied up annually by playing Notre Dame, you know their non-league schedule typically won't suck very much ... no matter who else they play.

For Ohio State, there is much pressure that comes with this weekend's home date with the Trojans. The Buckeyes not only have to deal with the normal 105,000 fans watching their every move, but they are carrying the banner for the nation's second-most beleaguered BCS conference (sorry, ACC).

They know a loss Saturday would virtually ruin their national title hopes, because they simply aren't going to be able to recover from another high-profile loss. The Buckeyes have been here before. Trounced by Florida, edged by Texas, beaten up by LSU, blown to smithereens by USC, and edged by Texas again. They know what it's like to lose these games, and they know they can't afford to lose another one.

USC has the pressures of being USC. They have to deal with idiots like Mike Lupica telling America that the program has underachieved. They have to put up with the Pac Ten taking more shots than has ever been justified, despite the fact they've been plenty successful in recent years. Oh, and they have a freshman quarterback.

The game Saturday should end up being a physical war. USC is going to look to run the ball down tOSU's throat, using a steady diet of Joe McKnight and Stafon Johnson to control the ball and keep Matt Barkley from having to win the game on his own. He's shown himself to be a perfectly competent quarterback, but this is going to be different than anything he's ever dealt with before.

USC's athletic defense will pose problems for an Ohio State team that struggled to generate consistent attack against Navy last week. Their defense couldn't stop Navy's misdirection and option plays, and it would stun me if Trojans offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates didn't find a way to exploit that.

The Trojans looked strong in beating an obviously inferior team. The Buckeyes looked disinterested in beating an obviously inferior team.

Ohio State has the talent and upside to make things very interesting Saturday night. The Trojans are a much more consistent group, especially in big games.

The pick: USC

Notre Dame at Michigan: The biggest worry at this point with Michigan is that they haven't picked a No. 1 quarterback. Yes, Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson looked strong against Western Michigan. Yes, Michigan could be well-suited by using both players. However, they need to stick with one as their main guy. The Wolverines are at home, and they need this win more than Notre Dame does. The Irish have plenty of opportunities to get a high-profile win. Michigan doesn't, because they have to deal with their conference schedule. It comes down to defense, and the Wolverines are better on that side of the ball than anything the Irish have seen in a long time.
The pick: Michigan

South Carolina at Georgia: Can the Gamecocks do it again? South Carolina won at North Carolina State last week, and they did it by riding an awesome defensive performance. Georgia's defense was pretty solid last week against Oklahoma State, and they should have fun messing with Stephen Garcia for four quarters. The Bulldogs need a rebound win, and they'll ride their defense to one. This could be ugly, but it's SEC football, so no one will care.
The pick: Georgia

Air Force at Minnesota: It's the grand opening of the Gophers' shiny new TCF Bank Stadium. From all accounts, it's a wonderful facility that will help improve recruiting and fan support on campus for years to come. Unfortunately, there is still considerable work to be done with the product on the field. The Gophers came within an eyelash of losing to Syracuse, a team quarterbacked by a basketball player. Next up is Air Force, a team that will attack the Gophers from multiple angles offensively, and will cause problems for suddenly shaky Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber. Better days are ahead for Minnesota football, but Saturday won't be one of them.
The pick: Air Force

Other picks (home team in CAPS)
GEORGIA TECH over Clemson
North Carolina over CONNECTICUT
PENN STATE over Syracuse
WISCONSIN over Fresno State
Texas Christian over VIRGINIA

Last week: 8-7
Season: 8-7

Stalock Off to Good Start With Sharks

One of the things we'll be doing throughout the season is following former UMD hockey players in the pro ranks.

The Google document -- the one that quickly disappeared for some odd reason after Dec. 1 -- will be back, and it will be updated throughout the season.

Three-year goalie Alex Stalock moved on to the San Jose Sharks organization after last season. It was perfectly reasonable to suggest he would do this, as Stalock was easily the best goalie in the WCHA last season. After carrying the Bulldogs to a Final Five title with two shutouts in three nights, there was nothing much for him to accomplish at this level.

At the Sharks' rookie camp in San Jose, Stalock has picked up where he left off. In a game against MacGregor Sharp (remember him?!!?) and the Ducks, Stalock stopped all 25 shots he faced over two periods in a 5-0 win.

The coaches and teammates came away impressed with the University of Minnesota-Duluth product.

“He made some big, timely saves,” said Roy Sommer, who is coaching the group for all three games. “He deserved the shutout. He was really calm back there and moved the puck well.”

“He played really well in net,” said (Kevin) Henderson. “He steered away the loose pucks and make the big saves.”

Stalock appreciated the fact that his teammates gave their netminder the early advantage for a second straight night.

“We jumped out and got the lead and then added the second right away,” said Stalock. “We kept going until the final buzzer. We kept a lot of the shots to the outside and the penalty killers played great.”

Stalock is likely going to start the season in the minors, where the Sharks are loaded with prospects. If he keeps playing the way he did in his final college games, he may press the Sharks to move him through the system faster than they're expecting.

It's also nice to see that he's still "moving the puck well." Some things never change.