TAE's Genius WK 2 Notes / WK 3 Outlook

[The Ancient Enemy]

WK 2 notes:
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Penn State vs. Notre Dame:
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- Maybe I expect too much and I am too critical of them, but I saw a team out there who benefited tremendously from their opponent being young and dumb. A lot of mistakes were made by Notre Dame. I have to go straight at Weis with this: if you name a kid your starting QB, you have got to let the kid run the offense. You are doing nothing but hurting your production for future games, and even the current game. Jimmy Clausen showed intense poise for an 18 yr old playing in the biggest game of his life, in his first start. I was very impressed by him, as much as I hate to admit it. He'll be great. Let's just hope he gets some humility along his journey someplace. But back to the game, dude, you have to throw the ball downfield. You have got to run your offense. If the kid is struggling, that's a different situation, but it was not the case with Clausen on Saturday. The general consensus by NitWit fans is that we butchered Notre Dame. I saw a team who had wide-receivers open downfield all night, and didn't throw the ball to them. I saw a team who jumped offsides every other play. And when Weis cut the apron-strings off of Clausen in the 4th, they moved the football downfield on his arm. Remember though that the game was basically out of hand at this point and PSU's defense obviously wasn't playing as hard as they could. But the fact remains that he can move the ball without much difficulty. Their line is a whole new ball of wax, though. Defensively, Penn State played pretty well. I'd give it a B+ for the whole game. Was very impressed with Jerome Hayes and Maybin. On offense, they have got to get the ball moving sometime before the 4th quarter if they expect to beat Michigan and Ohio State. No passing attack and Scott running timidly is a disasterous recipe for the Lions. To Scott's credit, he did start to run harder later on in the game, and I think once he got it in his head that he could do it, he did it. Kinlaw ran the ball pretty well again; you could start either one of them. Pass blocking is pretty good, but the run blocking came slowly for the O-line. Morelli played an average game, and that's not going to cut it against quality defenses. You can't start badly and get down on yourself like he does. There is a constant battle in that kid's head to want to try to prove his critics wrong in a big way. When things don't go his way, he over throws RB's by 15 yards like he did Saturday. The bottom-line is this: Michigan will most likely be 0-3 going into the PSU game, because I think Weis knows they can throw all over Michigan. All he really needs is that team to not make stupid mistakes next week, and they'll probably win. Michigan is gonna come out wanting blood, and they'll tire themselves out quickly as soon as they see that Clausen isn't going to get rattled. Chad Henne is going to make the throws against PSU that Clausen did not. He's going to look downfield and see those guys open. 0-3 Michigan versus 3-0 Penn State is a bad mix.

Nebraska continues to struggle. We're all waiting patiently for them to start beating the teams they're supposed to beat, by more than 3 points.

UNT's QB, Daniel Meager, who is the worst QB I ever saw in I-A football, somehow threw for 601 yards against a decent SMU team?

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WK 3 OUTLOOK
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Ohio State vs. Washington
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- This game is at Seattle, and this is a huge potential upset. Is UW for real? Given OSU's lack of impressive performances so far, I think this ends up a lot closer than people would like. And it ends up with a UW win at home. I know where Penn State is, as far as talent right now. Are they the best team in the Big Ten? This conference is looking pretty sluggish.

Tennessee vs. Florida
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- No chance. Tennessee limps into another loss, and UF might give up 24 in this game, but it'll still be an impressive win.

Arkansas vs. Alabama
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- Enjoy your last few days, fellas. Because the Saban era officially starts Saturday when Alabama knocks off their first ranked team. As much as I dislike Saban, you're about to see a dynasty take shape, and Arkansas is the first name on a long list to come. They won't beat LSU or UF this year, but they are already looking tough.

Fresno vs. Oregon
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- Watch and see if Oregon doesn't pull an Oregon and turn around and lose to Fresno State.

Louisville vs. Kentucky
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- Biggest game of the year for both schools. This will be a lot closer than people think, and UK definitely has the potential to pull this upset.

Boston College vs. Georgia Tech
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- The thing is.... is that G-Tech doesn't have much offense. And, their staff sucks. I don't know who to pick in this game, both are probably better than I think they are, but certainly not great. This is a toss-up.

Florida State vs. Colorado
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- Two teams who are trying to get back on top, and are pretty even as far as performance in 2007. I liked what I saw from Hawkins' son in the Colorado - Colo. St. game. I'll take Colorado in Boulder, in what is a minor upset. I don't think people realize how far FSU has slipped.