11W Weekend Update: Sponsored by Casey Moran’s
Dude has Saban’s back in his Baton Rouge return.After only 2 top 25 matchups last week, the post-election lineup is a three day affair that features 6 ranked matchups and is guaranteed to political ad free.
BCS posturing has begun this week, with Bob Stoops and Pete Carrol speaking their minds. This weekend is going to shake things up even more and I’m sure the chatter is only going to get louder next week.
National Games
#11 TCU at #9 Utah, 8:00PM – CBS College Sports
It all kicks off tonight when TCU travels to Utah in a battle for the Mountain West title and potential BCS bid. Both teams are undefeated in conference play, but the Utes still have to battle #19 BYU in a couple of weeks, while TCU has one game left against Air Force. The Horned Frogs only loss was at Oklahoma and their defense has given up 14 or less points in all 10 games this season.
Friday – 8:00PM
Of course the festivities continue Friday night in Chicago at Casey Moran’s where we hope to meet plenty of you, while we slurp down some barley sodas, try not to get out of hound and script out offensive plays we’ve dreamed of on bar napkins.
#20 Georgia Tech at #18 North Carolina, 12:00PM – ESPN Gameplan
Both teams come in with two losses in conference play, but the Yellow Jackets have played two more ACC games and still have to face Miami and Georgia. UNC has lost two games by a total of six points and will face Maryland, NC State and Duke to close out the season.
#1 Alabama at #16 LSU, 3:30PM – CBS
The hated Nick Saban rolls back to Baton Rouge with his newer, sexier team, while his former team has given 50+ points in two of the last three weeks and will look to play spoiler in the Tide’s run to the national title.
LSU has won five straight in the series and have gone 36-4 at home since 2003. This game is a shot of redemption for the Tigers after being blown out by Florida and Georgia. Alabama has only Miss. State and Auburn before the SEC Championship game.
#21 California at # 7 USC, 8:00PM – ABC
USC’s defense has shutouts in three of the last four games and has given up a total of 51 points in 8 games. California actually controls their own destiny, following up this game with a trip to Corvallis next week. OSU, USC and Cal each have one loss in the conference, with the Trojans having road tests against Stanford and UCLA remaining.
#8 Oklahoma State at #2 Texas Tech, 8:00PM – ABC
Can the Red Raiders continue their dream? This is the third straight week they have faced a ranked opponent, scoring 102 points in the first two and they have a looming matchup at Oklahoma next week. This game promises to live up to the Big 12 stableford scoring system and a Cowboy upset could really shake up the BCS rankings.
Big Ten Games
#12 Ohio State at # 25 Northwestern, 12:00PM – ESPN2
The weather report has a mixture of hangovers and rain/cold for the early kickoff. Lake the Post was kind enough to stop by and tell us the Wildcats have only beaten the Buckeyes six times at home since they started play in 1913, with one of those losses coming in 2004. Ohio State has outscored Northwestern 112-17 in the last two meetings.
#3 Penn State at Iowa, 3:30PM – ABC
The Hawkeyes have lost three conference games by a total of 11 points and have a chance to provide Penn State with a road scare on the shoulders of Shonn Greene, the second leading rusher in the Big 10. The Nittany Lions are coming off a bye week and will look to reduce Greene’s 6.3 YPC average with similar tactics that held Beanie to a season low.
Ray Small suspended 2 games. Dad says OSU intentionally trying to ruin his career
Heard Dad said he may ‘have some parking tickets, maybe missing some class, has a couple of bad grades…normal college stuff.’
Again just heresay, but that seems pretty detrimental to a team. A player getting bad grades, missing class and with outstanding parking tickets. There is some issues with this guy. I wouldn’t put it past Tress to take a hard line and say my way or the highway.
Scott–The biggest problem seems to me that his dad has probably always made excuses for him. Like it or not, you are held to a higher standard when you play big time D1 football. Just ask Dan Hawkins, ‘its not intramurals brother’
free up the scholarship spot at this point. I’m sick of Ray Small.
“…normal college stuff” -Yes, it is… but he’s not a typical college student. Agreed with Josh.
Time to cut Small loose. It is time to move on.
small has officially gotten out of hound and im tired of hearing about his nonsense. cut him loose.
Too bad for Ray, the kid has had his chances. I’ll never understand how you don’t take a free ride for college seriously.
And not just a free ride, Corey, but the chance to excel on the field, develop your skills, prove yourself and earn big, big bucks on Sundays. The diploma’s terrific (presuming one goes after it), but chances to get to the NFL are few and far between.
I’m most pumped for the LSU/’Bama game, and (of course) OSU’s trap game against the Purple Kitties. I’m stuck in a lay speaking class for church all night Friday and all day Saturday until 4 PM. Then, I have to run over to my father’s house and make an appearance at my fiancee’s shower. So, I’ll be lucky to see one quarter of LSU, and will surely see nothing of Ohio State.
Cheer for me, fellas.
Joey Fox-
one word buddy…..TiVo
I’ve seen that tattooed guy around the Alabama campus when I’m on business there. I don’t know his name, but I do know in the few times I’ve seen him that he never has a shirt. Never. Further, he’s usually running (shirtless) and carrying an enormous Alabama Crimson Tide flag with him as he goes.
Sigh… this place is an idiot and I hate it…
i have a history class with ray small and overheard a coach a few weeks ago saying, “ray better get his ass here before i leave”. i can atest to the allegations. they are NOT entirely out of hound.
Alright, final thoughts on Ray-Ray:
I never really liked him that much as a player, to be honest. Didn’t live up to the hype at all. He showed flashes of brilliance, I.E. the Ohio punt return, but other than that it was wasted potential. Always seemed to be the type of kid that was biding his time before he went on to a mediocre draft status on a team he would not be on in 2 years. He received WAAAAAY more chances that he would have on a USC or OU team, because Tressel believes in second chances, but you can bet you ass another big time D1 school would not put up with that from a possession receiver at best. Good Riddance. I hope this is a wake-up call to the younger troops that you have to work and earn your PT.
You only get to screw up so many times before you are shown the door. I’m sure his dad is making excuses for him being a screw-up as well. Shut your mouth mr small before you get out of hound!
I’m not for kicking Small off the team – the kid’s a junior, so he’s only got one year to play if he transfers to an FBS school and redshirts, and he’ll probably be lost in the fray in the FCS.
He’s missed some classes and been in Tress’s doghouse for other unknown reasons, but he hasn’t taken money from a booster (Troy Smith) or gotten in legal trouble (Antonio Henton)
Pogue-
While you make absolutely valid points, Troy Smith used his second chance to be a star. Henton, even though he transferred, did not screw up again. Ray-Ray has been in hot water multiple times, only to be given chance after chance. How many chances does one person deserve?
Small has run himself off this team. The sad part is he did this faster then he ever performed on the field. The hype surrounding him got to him early and he never was able to handle it. He’s been a bust and its time for him to go.
I’m hesitant to let him go because from the sounds of it, he’s passing all his classes, if not attending them (meaning he’s me), and he hasn’t gotten in any legal trouble. To me, these are minor infractions. He wasn’t one of the guys busted for failing a drug test, was he?
Tressel wont return my emails(lol), but there have been alot of infractions that went upspoken so nobody outside the family really knows what is going on. Tress has kept tight lipped about the whole thing.
We don’t know that he has done those things, but he’s a repeat offender. Chance after chance after chance after chance squandered away. Troy Smith wasn’t perfect but given a second chance, he straightened up.
I hope playing XBOX or whatever Ray was doing with his time instead of attending class/meetings was worth flushing his future down the crapper. He’ll get plenty of playing time as himself on NCAA 09 as long as he turns the fumble slider down to zero.
LOL @ Flip-
I’m going home and replacing him on the roster with Flash
I love how his father is making it sound like the coaches are out to get Ray. Looks like Papa Small instilled the “vicitm’s mentality” at a young age. No wonder Ray hasn’t gotten his shit together, he really believes it is everyone’s fault but his own. Too bad he has to learn the lessons of consequence and responsibility the hard way.
Best of luck Ray, hope you get your shit together.
I do NOT blame Tress one bit. I think he is more than fair and has given him plenty of chances to get his act together. I’m sure his Daddy is pissed about having to work for the rest oh his life, rather than live off of Ray’s NFL contract, that now seems to be long gone. I just can’t stand the people who can’t own up to their own mistakes. It is always someone else’s fault. You know what, you screwed up (multiple times), now you have to pay the consequences.
Maybe it’s Small that’s been dragging down the O all season!
What’s interesting is he was only officially suspended for 2 games, and not for the rest of the season. What are the chances a guy suspended for 2 of the last 4 games gets to play in the Michigan game and/or the bowl game?
I think zero, so it seems to be a 4 game, rest-of-the season suspension to me, unless I see otherwise.
How can Ray’s dad come out and say the whole family sees it as the coaches intentionally trying to ruin his whole career? If this is for missing class, his dad should be worried about the degree. It’s even sadder that his dad moved down to Columbus to help support him.
I never want to see a kid leave, because I think playing for Tressel has to be invaluable for life lessons, not just football.
I guess maybe if Daddy could of made his son own up and be a man you would not be hearing this. Some athlete’s parents ruin there chances before they truly get one. I hope he man’s up espically since he was talking about OSU making football players into good young men. Good luck Ray step it up i am sure Tress will give you a chance next year if you do what it takes.
Something tells me you guys wouldn’t be so willing to decapitate Ray Small if he was living up to the hype.
You’re probably right. I bet the Vest wouldn’t either.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3685600
ESPN being ESPN with the story. Putting OSU in bad light, projecting the Small family as victims, and forgetting to mention that this was just one of his many offenses.
I think Tyler is a racist who is trying to keep a black man down. Shame on you!
I think Tressel and the fans have been more than patient with Ray Small. It is because of his fuck ups that Ray was never given the opportunity to live up to the hype in the first place. We all know that people that age tend to do stupid shit from time to time, so 2nd and 3rd chances are given. Ray was provided with the same 2nd chances that Troy Smith and others were given, instead of correcting his behavior, he exploited Tressel’s leniency until there were no other “warnings” or “time outs” to be given.
I also seem to remember Maurice Clarett “living up to the hype”, but making the same mistakes over and over until the Vest and fans had had enough. No matter how good or bad a player is, if they are unable to learn from their mistakes and grow as a person they become a liability.
So basically you are saying Tyler is that you are a racist?
the Vest and the fans didn’t have enough with clarett, he was suspended for NCAA violations and then went insane, but tressel wasn’t the one who suspended him
Kyle, you silly minority. There are only three colors in this world I care about: Buckeye Scarlet, Buckeye Grey, and Vagina Pink.
Yeah, what a sad waste of talent. Hopefully, he’ll get his act together and finish his degree anyway, so his time there won’t be all for naught. Getting a degree would be huge for his future.
What I wouldn’t give to have the opportunities Ray Small has had in his life. Wake up and smell the coffee Ray, before it’s too late.
I guess I generalized that a bit, NIK. Speaking for only myself, I had had enough with Clarett.
So now you are sexist and a misogynist as well? I supposed you kick puppies too.
Haha, only if they don’t live up to the hype.