September 19, 2009
Welcome to week three, ACC edition.... this time bringing us our favorite color commentator, Dicky Vitale.... and he beloved Duke... Blue devils.... wait... it's not basketball season.... Dickie's still in Tampa rubbing his bald dome trying to get the ray's some mojo..... Coach K is probably getting his Hip worked on again, and Wojo is still beating on some high school gym's floor......
While I would rather watch Paint dry than Watch Duke Football.. I have learned a few things..... There defense is not incredible, but they do have a kid who returned to Picks for touchdowns last week that helped seal the win against Army. His name Leon Wright, His Number #7, and he should be on Dezmon come saturday. Alot of people have mentioned the young red shirt freshman as the one who lead the charge to come back..... however, look at the facts.....
Army was down 8 heading into Duke territory when their quarterback hit afor mentioned Wright for a 51 pick 6 making it 28-13..... and then approximately 9 seconds later Watson picked 6 AGAIN to make it 35-13.... While, Duke's young quarterback DID throw the go ahead ( 14-10 ) and insurance touchdowns ( 21-13 ).... Army was moving the ball efficiently on the Duke defense and was close to tying the game when Leon Wright Took over.......
I'm not going to talk about the two-headed quarterback beast .... We've seen Tyrod Taylor and Sean Glennon, our coaching staff can game plan for two diamterically opposed quarterbacks..... Instead, im going to talk about Running game .... Duke ran for 19 yards... yes... let that sink in 19 yards !!!!! against Division 2 Richmond, and 70 yards in a win against Army... that's a whopping total of 89 yards in two games..... Case In point, Three Jayhawks ALONE have rushed for more than that. Three did it in 1 game ( Sharp, reesing and Opurum were all at or over 89 against UNC )...... We play blitz early and settle into zone as the touchdown's mount, two things we need to do early..... FINSH offensive drives, and change field position with tackles for losses.... We score early touchdowns we force them into a one dimnesional attack which will force Thaddeus Young ( the expereinced and non-accurate scrambling quarterback to teh sidelines ) for ( inexperienced but incredibly talented and accurate Sean Renfree... Renfree's the best "quarterback" on their roster, and i would rank him the third best we have played thus far behind Vittatoe and Waggener. DUke's receivers do not seem to be breakaway threats, nor do they seem consistant ( they have 5 guys wiht a touchdown and no one wit more than 1 thus far.... )
On defense Aside from Wright, Okpokowuruk and John Drew have fumble recoveries for a +2 turnover differential on the season. The drew Fumble Directly led to renfree's first touchdown against Army.
that being said, Army's not Kansas.... and Richmond is certainly not Kansas..... I expect alot of Cannons I expect alot of Reesing to Briscoe/Meier, and I expect many many yards....
duke has been holding teams to about 200 yards rushing.... Duke gave up 99 and 75 to army's option tandem ( mealy ( tailback ) and Steelman ( qb )) and 125 total to richmond... we should be the best they have played so far.....
Duke's passing defense has been relatively stout 157 to richomnd and 119 to Army ..... those are good numbers, but again.... we should outclass them here also.....I would expect 300 + from a Hungry Todd reesing ......
Question remains can Duke score on us.... i wouldn't suggest much... they can't run the ball through 2 games and their scoring drives on the pass have not been long extended drives..... i would guess they can put around 10-13 on us, if we aren't aggressive in the pass rush.....
Prediction 66-7 Kansas.
Other Random Notes.....
still awaiting word on the Firing of Colorado Coach Dan Hawkins. If his team wants to get there, he needs to start this week against Wyoming.... West Virginia looms as there next game before conference season, and as Big boi would suggest, From this point on it only gets rougher. While not statistically impossible 0-4 would require sweeping all big 12 games, BIg twelve Championship and subsequent BCS bowl game ....
still awatiing confirmation on Blaine Gabbert and Mizzou. Furman and Nevada will not likely pose much evidence either way.... we may be waiting until week 5 when Nebraska ventures into Columbia.
Pondering which Big 12 South team will lose a supposed cupcake non-con loss next..... Tulsa @ oklahoma seems pretty easy to predict. As does Rice @ Oklahoma St. which leaves ( texas and Texas tech who play each other ) Utah State and Texas A & M and UConn @ Baylor.... If i were forced to predict one this week, I would say Uconn Over Baylor.
Texas versus Texas tech looks like a great game, too bad im at Work.
We'll see how good Nebraska is In Blacksburg, Tyrod Taylor is a slightly less accurate version of "T O Double D" and if they succeed against tis supposed stout Nebraska Defense.... We can breath slightly easier coming into our match up versus Nebraska later in the season.
What the h* has gotten into the Kansas City Royals lately...ever since they moved Greinke back a game the have been on Fire offensively.... This makes me feel better about May, June, july and most of August, not really but a little.
Pro Games on tap- Atlanta over Carolina, MInnesota Crushes Detroit,Green Bay over Cinncy, Houston Upsets Tennessee, Kansas City rights the ship against Oakland, Patriots outlast Jets, New Orleans avenges Santa Claus In Philly ( Mardi Gras beads for All and to all a goodnight ), Washington de-horns the rams, Arizona beats jacksonville .?.?!?, Buffalo beats Tampa Bay, Seattle Beats San Francisco, Pittsburgh beats Chicago, Baltimore Cruises by Dainty-less Chargers, Denver Elways the Browns, Dallas Protects Home turf against The gmen, and Indy Posterizes the Dolphins.
Let's see how if my streak continues..... as always any thoughts and Comments leave them at the tone.