40 Acres Sports

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Article & video on Roy Williams and other NFL WR’s wearing numbers in the teens.

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

16 points, 14 assists, and one rebound short of a triple double.

Our Thoughts

Brian – Pretty much just a giant shift in my poll this week, only three teams in my top 25 lost this week. Georgia falls from 4th to 11th, it looks like DJ Shockley is going to be back on the field in time for their next game (Auburn on the 12th), without him Georgia wouldn’t even be that high and would be in serious danger of dropping two in a row. Boston College also drops as they get exposed as a pretty run of the mill team by Virginia Tech. They’ve got a slightly above average D and terrible offense, I almost dropped them completely out.

My top three stay the same. Texas got a scare from Oklahoma State (which we’ve discussed ad nauseam), Southern Cal spanked a terrible Washington State team, and VT beat B.C. on Thursday night. Like Matt, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the Hokies. They’re very, very good but I didn’t see anything that would make me remotely consider them for one of the top two spots. They’re a very good defense (with more “playmakers” than Texas) with an average offense around Marcus Vick. Vick reminds me pretty much where Vince Young was at this point last year, minus 5 inches.

Matt – I don’t think that I have ever been more scared while watching a football game. That first half of the Texas/Oklahoma St game was heart-wrenching. I know the same thing happened last year, but this year there is much, much more on the line. Luckily, Texas and Vince Young turned this game around and basically it became a blowout. Hopefully people won’t make too big of a deal out of it, as it has happened to USC numerous times this year.

One big change in my poll is that I moved USC back to the #2 spot (I had them at #3 previously). I know Va Tech won against B.C., but honestly, I wasn’t really impressed with their performance. They had the ball the whole game in B.C. territory, but managed to score only 30 points. Yeah, there defense is great (at times), but their offense doesn’t look sharp at all.

Related Links

• Last week’s rankings
• Harris Interactive Poll (PDF, 75 KB)
• Master Coaches Survey

Vince moves to #1 in their poll of sportswriters.

Personally I don’t think so, he’s progressing at WR. (BugMeNot)

Vince is running away with it.

It’s amazing how much credit USC gets for overcoming their slow starts while Texas is getting bashed for theirs. USC struggled in the first halves of games against Oregon, Arizona State, and Arizona (not to mention Notre Dame) and barely pulling out victories. That shows that they have heart, “That’s what champions do.” Meanwhile, we come back and end up blowing Oklahoma State out of the water and we’re left defending ourselves.

At least one person in the national media has a bit of a clue:

“You cannot punish a team because they struggled in the first half. Using that logic, which I know is a word college football and the BCS tend to avoid, USC would be out of the Top 10 because of its first half struggles.”

The BCS is a joke.

Update

Here’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about. He’s found four or five games over the last four years that we were behind for a while only to come back and win as examples that “prove” his double standard for Texas and USC is valid. The three times this season that USC has done the same thing are examined differently.

In years past, we showed no emotion and it meant we had no heart, now we’re an “emotionally volatile team” and therefore deserve extra scrutiny. I guess, as Chris Russell said above, logic truly has no place in college football. (11/1/2005)

CBS Sportsline’s Dennis Dodd has a new Heisman leader.