40 Acres Sports

Thankfully last weekend Miami shut everyone up about Virginia Tech and exposed just how weak their offense really is. There are some pretty good matchups this week with LSU playing at Alabama and Auburn traveling to Georgia. Hopefully LSU can take care of Alabama so we don’t have to hear anymore about the SEC, blah, blah. Texas is 34 point favorites against Kansas, and the way Vince has been talking I think they might actually cover that number. I am looking for a 45-10 victory.

Here’s our picks for this week:

Related Links

• Last week’s picks
• SI.com Top 25 Scoreboard

35-1 is not bad at all. Better odds that I thought.

Our Thoughts

Brian- I have to admit, at about 8 pm Saturday night I had my doubts about whether Vince would be atop my poll again this week. Then somehow over the next couple of hours he managed to cement his position there more than ever. In the first half he looked shaky and the whole team’s play reflected that. It took exactly 52 seconds for him to turn that all around in the second half. Young once again showed he was not only the nation’s most dynamic player, but that he’s also the most valuable to his team. He has his signature passing game (Colorado), his signature rushing game (Oklahoma State), and the 81 yard touchdown run (Donovan Woods is probably still looking for his jock) is now his signature highlight.

Matt – Looks like ESPN has finally seen the light and put Vince Young at the #1 spot in their Heisman Watch. With Vince’s ridiculous performance on Sat and Reggie Bush having zero impact, it was only the logical thing to do. How Vince is still getting a 3rd place vote is beyong me.

If Maroney has a huge day against Indiana, which I think he will, and Reggie has another non-impact day, I will have to seriously consider moving Reggie to the #3 spot.

Related Links

• Last week’s Heisman poll
• ESPN Experts Poll

Texas back at #2; Really not all that surprised by this.

Our Thoughts

Brian – Down weeks for both Young and Bush. Vince was off all day long Saturday versus Tech, completing only 12 of 22 passes, but he hit several big passes and led his team to a victory over a top 10 team. Meanwhile, Bush only rushed for 51 yards, but had the type of highlight making punt return that Heisman voters love. Take out that return TD and Bush would barely be holding off Maroney and his teammate Leinart. He’ll have to keep putting up those kind of plays if USC is only going to get him 8 carries per week.

Jacobs drops this week and barely stays in my poll at all. He was injured early in Bowling Green’s game against Western Michigan and passed for only 98 yards. With his lack of national exposure and weak competition he has to put up ridiculous numbers in order to be invited to New York, after the last two week’s he’s no longer on pace to do that.

More interesting than all of this, rumor has it that Matt Leinart and Kristin from the MTV reality show “Laguna Beach” were dating at one point. He was a junior playing QB for a national champion and she was still a senior in high school at the time. It’s kind of pathetic if you win the Heisman and all it gets you is high school chicks.

Matt – Brady Quinn was just ridiculous, so I moved him into the chase and dropped Matt Leinart all together. I am almost looking at this now as, if I was to start a new team, which of the current college players would I pick. Now, I probably wouldn’t take Vince #1, but so far he has had the best season of my top 5. Looking at my list, I would probably have to go with Brady Quinn. He has the size, the arm, and the smarts to make it big in the NFL.

And who on ESPN’s staff is still giving Matt Leinart 1st place votes. Just doesn’t make sense to me.

Related Links

• Last week’s Heisman poll
• ESPN Experts Poll

I seriously doubt Green Bay would select Vince.

Other than a three-point win at Ohio State, Texas’ average margin of victory has been 37 points, and Texas proved that yet again with a blow out win against in-state rival [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous going into this game, and through most of the first quarter, but once Texas and Vince Young settled down, it seemed like the game was on cruise control. The game definitely had its good and bad points, and here is how I broke everything down.

Quarterback – Overall Grade: B

I hate to say it, but I wasn’t very impressed with Vince Young’s performance on the field against Texas Tech. He made some pretty poor decisions on a few passes and I recall him badly over-throwing his receivers at least 5 times. He did seem to improve on the second half, and at least seemed to stop making some of the poor decisions. His stats he ended up with weren’t awful, but I definitely expect more from Vince after his fast start this season.

Running Backs – Overall Grade: A

I swear, Texas has so many good running backs it just seems unfair. I mean most of our back-up running backs that play mainly special teams could probably start on most Division 1 schools. Against Tech, 6 running backs combined for 40 carries and 205 yards. Even Chris Ogbonnaya got some late playing time and scored an impressive touchdown run. Selvin looked like a changed man, I think it is due to the fact that Jamaal Charles is playing so well and was slated to have some running time this week. Overall, very impressive in my opinion.

Receivers – Overall Grade: A

Billy Pittman is just a mad man out there. Did you see that one handed grab? Ridiculous. Pittman added 2 more touchdowns to his already impressive year, giving him 5 total. Brian Carter made a couple critical receptions and Romance Taylor is proving that he may be a real threat at the wide receiver position. Once Taylor gets his route running down, big things will happen for him down the road.

(more …)

Our Thoughts

Brian – If it wasn’t for the Notre Dame defense forgetting USC’s Dwayne Jarrett was on the field Saturday night, Leinart’s Heisman hopes and and the Trojans’ national title dreams would both be over. Right now, when you compare Young and Leinart’s stats Vince matches up very favorably. Total yards, Leinart leads by about 150. TD’s Vince leads by 2. Interceptions they’re even. Vince has a higher completion percentage and QB rating. They’re close enough in almost every category except one, “who is more important to their team?” Vince wins that one easily.

Matt – It is amazing how one play at the end of the game can change the Heisman race. If Matt Leinart doesn’t get that touchdown, Brady Quinn is probably a Top 3 candidate. But with the USC win, I still don’t even have Quinn in my Top 5. I think Vince is still the best player in the game, with Bush being the best playmaker. If Bush touched the ball as much as Vince does, then maybe I would consider moving him to the top spot. With Bush’s performance so far this year, I really don’t see a way for Leinart to repeat has the Heisman trophy winner.

Related Links

• Last week’s Heisman poll
• ESPN Experts Poll

Hopefully we will be adding a 2006 National Championship shirt.

Our Thoughts

Brian – Vince didn’t make every single throw this weekend but he sure made a lot of them and he led his team to an impressive victory over their biggest rival. 241 yards and 3 TD’s passing and another 45 on the ground is a pretty complete effort. Where is all this Maurice Drew hype coming from? He rushed for 65 yards last week and is only projected to go for 827 this year. I really could care less that he had 162 yards on punt returns, he’s a running back by position and he doesn’t do it all that well. He’s a crappier Reggie Bush. And by the way, Bush isn’t even the best running back on his team.

Matt – LenDale could be the best running back in the nation. His stats are pretty ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as USC having 3 players in my Heisman Top 5. Maybe next week I will add Jamaal Charles to my Top 5 so that I can try to balance it out a little bit. Brady Quinn could set himself to be a big player in this Heisman race if he figures out a way to upset the Trojans this weekend, but I really doubt that will happen. Hook ’em.

Related Links

• Last week’s Heisman poll
• ESPN Experts Poll