Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Reporters' Notebooks

Jim Moore, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: He names names, even if Washington doesn't on its jerseys. Also, check out the shot a Husky coed delivers to Washington State coeds over the upcoming "spread" in Playboy.

Dave Reardon, Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Hawaii is trying to shore up its not-so-special teams after numerous errors in the loss to Boise State.

Bryan Mullen, Nashville Tennessean: This isn't the kind of hard-nosed football we've come to expect from Vanderbilt.

Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette: It's a journey into the past, and Penn State's Joe Paterno has stood the test of time (subscription, so story is in comments).

Tony Barnhart, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Oh, the horror! And it's not even Halloween. What if the ACC and SEC champions, both undefeated, get locked out of the BCS title game? (registration).

Michael Vega, Boston Globe: Boston College coach Tom O'Brien makes Virginia sound like the second coming of USC (registration).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

THE HLIST WHAT?

First downs
1. That ’70s Show: Meet the new bosses. Same as the old bosses.

Old-time powers Nebraska, Alabama and Penn State are all unbeaten. None of those proud owners of multiple national titles had winning records last season. It’s been rumored that Notre Dame is making a nice little comeback, too.

Penn State has the third-longest I-A winning streak at seven, behind USC (26) and Texas (11). That’s the same Penn State that was 0-6 in the Big Ten at one point last year and has four losing seasons since 2000. Joe Paterno is getting it done with a spread offense and true freshmen. Dude is so fresh.

2. Brothers in Arms: Brothers Eli and Peyton Manning threw four touchdown passes apiece Sunday in NFL play.

It was the most TD tosses by a pair of brothers on the same day, breaking the mark held by — oh, who cares? Aren’t there too many of these dumb little factoids already cluttering up sports?

"We just keep giving E time to throw; let E be E, the guy can be a very special player," said New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress, who caught 10 of Eli’s passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns in the Giants’ 44-24 crushing of St. Louis. "Man, he’s a special talent. He can flat-out throw the football. He’s kinda got a quiet little Eli swagger to him."

The Hlist thinks Plaxico has a crush on someone.

3. Golden State: California has rolling blackouts, snarled traffic, foul air, a sluggish economy, earthquakes, fires that consume thousands of acres, and Vin Diesel.

But USC, UCLA and California all are unbeaten. And, a study by the Wall Street Journal says that NFL players from Stanford have the highest Wonderlic scores of any Division I-A program. The Wonderlic is a standardized intelligence test given to college players prior to the NFL draft. But Stanford will still get badly beaten when it plays USC, UCLA and Cal.

4. Painfully Soft: The University of Hawaii has a musical version of pink locker rooms. At Aloha Stadium, the pre-game fare is strictly easy listening, songs like "We Are the World." Hawaii Coach June Jones chooses the tunes. His aim is to make the visiting players passive during warmups. The Broncos remained awake enough to hold off Hawaii Saturday night, 44-41. "(The music) could have been worse," said Boise State left tackle Daryn Colledge. "At Louisiana Tech they played Kenny G."

Fumbles
1. C’mon, Get Happy: "If we weren’t killing ourselves with penalties, we would have scored at least 70 points." — Texas offensive tackle Jonathan Scott after the Longhorns’ 51-20 rout of Missouri.

"Sometimes you don’t play well and win. (We) made a lot of mistakes." — Wisconsin Coach Barry Alvarez after his team beat Indiana, 41-24.

"We’re winning by so much, and the stats look good at the end of the game, but we know we’re not playing up to our potential. It’s frustrating." — St. John’s (Minn.) quarterback Alex Kofoed, after the Johnnies improved to 5-0 with a 44-0 win over Hamline.

2. C’mon, Get Real: "This is exactly where we thought we’d be." — Alabama quarterback Brodie Croyle after the Tide improved to 5-0 with its 31-3 rout of Florida.

"We’re going to win ACC championships, and we’re going to win national championships before it’s all over. We’re going to be a success here. I promise you that." — Maryland Coach Ralph Fridgen after his 3-2 Terrapins beat Virginia, 45-33.

"It seems like everything’s coming true, everything that we dreamed of in the offseason, talked about for hours on end, is definitely coming to the forefront," Penn State cornerback Alan Zemaitis after the Nittany Lions drilled Minnesota, 44-14.

"Rose Bowl. National championship. That’s how the dream ends."

The key word is "dream."

3. Two for the Books: You may never see a weirder safety than the one Oklahoma scored against Kansas State in the Sooners’ 43-21 win.

K-State was in punt formation from its own 12 in the first quarter. One small problem: Punter Tim Reyer was standing on the sideline instead of the goal line.

The snap from center Jeff Mortimer went to no one, through the end zone.

Said Wildcats up-back Brandon Archer, who tried in vain to get Mortimer to hold up on the snap: "That was very odd. It’s probably never happened in football. Obviously, I was stunned."

4. Land of 10,000 Leaks: It isn’t a rush to be a football fan in Minnesota right now.

The Vikings lost at Atlanta, 30-10, as the Falcons rushed for 285 yards. The day before, Penn State ruined the Gophers’ perfect record, pounding for 364 rushing yards along the way.

"To get gutted like this is a slap in the face," said Gophers linebacker John Shevlin.

No more nominations, please. We have our Mixed Metaphor of the Season.

From the papers
"The athletic department denied the charges, issuing an unofficial statement: 'Girlfriend, it’s not pink, it’s salmon.' " — Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.

The subject was the visitors’ locker room at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium, a source of lots of yuks around the nation last week.

Final word
"Two good football teams. And beautiful cheerleaders." — the public-address announcer at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium before Sunday night’s Arizona Cardinals-San Francisco 49ers game.

He was no more than half-right.

mike.hlas@gazettecommunications.com