Don't believe the hype
Barnett-Neuheisel would have been juicier with good teams
Posted: Sunday September 19, 1999 10:36 PM
By Stewart Mandel, CNN/SI
If last week featured "Upset Saturday," this week could very well end up in "Letdown Saturday."
It's too bad, seeing as most fans had Sept. 25 circled for months simply because of one game: Colorado at Washington. And while the finger-pointing and back-stabbing may well still be there, it's hard to get pumped for a battle of coaches when one (Washington's Rick Neuheisel) is 0-2 and the other (Gary Barnett) lost 41-14 in his debut.
Barnett, famous for his outlandish motivational tactics when he took the Purple to Pasadena at Northwestern, returned to form by breaking out a General Patton impression before the Buffaloes' 51-17 spanking of Kansas last week. For this week's game against loathed ex-Buff Neuheisel, his most effective tactic likely will be to show up for the game.
After all, if the season to date is any indication, Colorado should have no problem winning. Washington, you see, is in the Pac-10, which has turned the disappointing loss into an art form. New Mexico State 35, Arizona State 7? Thanks for showing up.
Speaking of letdowns, Wisconsin's shocker at the hands of Cincinnati takes a little thunder off that Michigan game Saturday. But don't expect the loss to have much effect in the long term. Think 1995, when Northwestern lost to Miami (Ohio), then went on to the Rose Bowl. The Badgers' curious mix of turnovers and penalties against the Bearcats might as well have defined "aberration."
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Each week, the Glance offers its projected BCS lineup. |
| Sugar:
Florida State vs. Penn State |
Orange:
Miami vs. Florida |
| Rose:
Michigan vs. USC |
Fiesta:
Texas A&M vs. Georgia Tech |
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The bowl race at a glance: |
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They've each passed titanic tests, and we haven't seen anything yet to change our FSU-PSU Sugar prediction. But Florida is now only inches behind, simply because neither of its toughest remaining games (Georgia and Florida State) are on the road. Michigan could control its Big Ten destiny starting with a victory over Wisconsin on Saturday. A couple dates that are becoming more interesting by the week: Penn State at Purdue on Oct. 23 (though both get Ohio State before that) and Nebraska vs. Texas A&M on Nov. 6 -- with the Aggies starting to look like the Big 12 favorite. USC is our third projected Pac-10 champ in as many weeks, mostly by default, but watch out for Cinderella Oregon State. |
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ON:
Auburn. A week ago the Tigers were the mess of the West; now they're ranked 27th?! |
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ON:
Dusty Bonner. In the spring, he was the holdover until frosh Jared Lorenzen was ready; now, the question is, will Tim Couch's records hold over? |
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OFF:
Arizona State. Didn't you see last week's Rose Bowl projections? We put our trust in you, Sun Devils. Shame, shame, shame.
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OFF:
Arizona. Ditto, ditto, ditto.
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ON:
The Gator chomp. What do you get when you mix way too much orange with 800 renditions of Rocky Top? A penalty-smeared game that whoever wins is suddenly a national title favorite. |
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OFF:
Chris Redman. Cards lose to Illinois and Redman gets shown up by none other than Kurt Kittner. |
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| When Southern hospitality attacks |
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Alabama's Mike DuBose and LSU's Gerry DiNardo (ironically, a hot coaching commodity barely two years ago) can start shopping for network analyst jobs. Use soon-to-be-fellow ex-SEC coach Terry Bowden at ABC as a contact.
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| 1,424 and counting |
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Ron Dayne suddenly the Sammy Sosa of college football: Big numbers don't necessarily equal victory,
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| When Arrington attacks |
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After a complete reversal of opinion on the Nittany Lions' punter antics, maybe we can all just get along and focus on how good he is.
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| Clemson at Virginia Tech, Thursday |
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Hot-shot Virginia Tech QB Michael Vick makes his national TV debut, and defense is not exactly Clemson's forte. Advantage Hokies.
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| Texas at Baylor, Saturday |
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Hmm ... let's dream up an ending for this one. Baylor leads late when its backup QB fumbles the clipboard on the sideline. Texas' Chris Simms picks it up and runs it back over to his bench. Longhorns fans go wild.
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| Colorado at Washington, Saturday |
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In a game that features five fake punts, two onside kicks in the first half, 18 personal fouls and 29 alleged recruiting violations, the Buffs win 46-44. Neuheisel makes sure several of their players miss the plane back.
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| * Three games selected at random |
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Ask the Glance and
you shall receive.
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Remember: this column is updated on Sundays, so don't be that guy who asks,
"Is my team gonna win this weekend?"
My question is whether or not any pro scouts are looking at the punter up here at Ohio University, Dave Zastudil. I saw him have three kicks of 60-plus yards on Saturday. He is arguably one of the best punters in the nation. Is this is one part of football where the strength of the team, schedule, league, or anything else really matters?
Doug Comer, Cincinnati
The good news is, no, if you're a player of NFL ability, the scouting types will find you whether you play for Florida State or Florida Bible College. Players get selected every year from parts far less known than Athens, Ohio. The bad news is, punters, even those who average 46 yards a kick, as Zastudil does, aren't high on the priority list. Only three were selected in the '99 draft. But Zastudil had a typically solid day (47 yards a kick, one for 59) last Saturday against a Top 15 team in Ohio State, so rest assured his name is stored in at least a few GMs' computers now.
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