Church of Gridiron

The Irons men

2006-09-28T15:42:00.000-04:00

Two plotlines in tonight's South Carolina-Auburn game:

1. Kenny Irons-- Running back returns to Columbia, where he once was a third-string running back on Lou Holtz squad. Sat behind Demetris Summers on the depth chart. Fast forward. Irons, a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, still wants revenge.

2. David Irons-- Irons is going to talk some mad smack to Sidney Rice tonight, according to USC receiver Mike West. West and Irons played on the same JuCo squad, so he knows what's up.

The thing is, if Rice is going to have a big game, no amount of talk from the squeaky Irons is going to slow him down.

And now, a tribute to an Auburn tradition-- the Tiger Walk. Which appears from this video to have all the fun of...well, it doesn't look fun at all.

Thoughts on Bama-UF-- a fight for focus

2006-09-25T21:59:00.000-04:00

This just in: We have video evidence that Leigh Tiffin can make a kick.

The Tide are still boo-hooing over whatever it is they did to lose to Arkansas. Tiffin appears on his way to becoming the scapegoat for whatever happens to Bama's season from here on out.

Meanwhile, Tide starting kicker Jamie Christensen is nearly recovered from a nagging groin injury and may play against the Gators this week. Yep, that's right, a groin injury-- Christensen wouldn't have had the balls to make a game-winning kick last week either.

It appears Tiffin may have seen his last shot at blowing a game for awhile.

In the Swamp, the Gators are trying to focus after last week's sluggish win over Kentucky. Urban Meyer and Co. will be trying to avenge an embarassing 31-3 loss to Alabama last season.

The pattern is the same going in. The Gators were outscored 21-0 in the second half by Kentucky last season, but held on to win before heading to Tuscaloosa.

Don't look for the same this go-'round.

This one goes to the Gators-- 34-21.

I love Monday predictions.

Players ache over loss, ready to focus on Florida [The Birmingham News]

Meyer: Gators are back on edge [The Gainesville Sun]

A spleen for the team

2006-09-24T22:32:00.000-04:00

Let's hear Steve Young call him soft now.

Former Texas QB and current Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback Chris Simms suffered an apparent ruptured spleen in a loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Reports are fuzzy, but the injury apparently occurred before Simms led a go-ahead scoring drive in the fourth quarter.

That, my friends, is extreme.

Simms had surgery to remove the spleen after the game and is said to be in stable condition. Knowing now what happened makes what I watched earlier seem a little more frightening. Simms went down on one knee for a couple of minutes before leaving for the locker room. I, along with the FOX p-b-p guys, assumed it was cramps. Gruden said after the game that he though it was a rib injury or dehydration.

How does no one know how to recognize something as serious as a ruptured spleen?

Here's wishing Simms a speedy recovery-- and hook 'em Horns.

Tampa Bay QB Simms hospitalized
[Charlotte Observer}

Simms has spleen removed after Bucs loss
[Yahoo! News]

PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Siner, Charlotte Observer

Rutgers football: the tradition continues/begins

2006-09-24T17:37:00.000-04:00

It's been 137 years since Rutgers played the first ever college football game-- against Princeton. It had been nearly that long since the Scarlet Knights had been nationally-ranked.

The wait is over. For the first time since 1976, Rutgers has cracked the top-25 in both major polls. After a 56-7 waxing of Division I-AA Howard, Rutgers sits at No. 23 in both the AP and USA Today rankings.

According to voters, the Scarlet Knights are better than Georgia Tech, Miami and Boston College. Who knew?

Apparently, this guy did. After watching Rutgers beat North Carolina by all of five points in the first week, it got them a top-25 vote from the guy who covered the game. If only we had that kind of foresight.

For those wondering, Rutgers does have a blog presence.

Photo credit: Mel Evans, AP

There's always next time

2006-09-23T18:20:00.000-04:00

North Texas State is now the only Division I-A football team never to play an overtime game. Navy became the latest team to have it's overtime cherry popped, and managed to lose in memorable fashion.
After a 25-yard touchdown pass brought Navy within 24-23 in overtime, Matt Harmon's extra point attempt was blocked to end the game.
Chin up, Midshipmen-- there's always next time.

At least this one won't be close enough for controversy

2006-09-23T12:41:00.000-04:00

A week after ruining Bob Stoops life, referee Dave Cutaia is after another member of the Stoops clan.
Forget his one-game suspension for botching Oklahoma-Oregon for a while. The PAC-10 has to spread the suspenions (there were many) out over the course of the season so that it has enough refs to cover all the games.
But Cutaia's choice as ref for USC-Arizona seems cruel and unusual to a certain coach involved. Cutaia and the rest of his crew were suspended one game following the onside kick debacle that handed Oregon a 34-33 win over Oklahoma, coached by Bob Stoops.
Arizona is coached by Bob's brother, Mike.

I imagine Mike is pretty pissed

Suspended ref will work USC-Arizona [Sporting News]