The Grothe of a Program

Louisville. Rutgers. West Virginia. Add Auburn to resume of the South Florida Bulls. And still nobody gives them the credit they deserve. It's hard to believe a team, coming off a win against a #17 team on the road in the hostile environment of a conference that has coaches that have been coaching longer than South Florida has fielded a football team, can still not be good enough to break the top 25. In fact, Auburn actually received more top 25 votes than South Florida in the USA Today poll. It's ok, I think South Florida will, before long, be considered as tough and respectable as any other team in the Big East, but it's gotta be frustrating to be basking in victory in the biggest game in your programs history, and be passed up by teams that lost 48-7 in their most recent game (#17 Virginia Tech), or a team that lost to a previously unranked team (#25 Georgia).

USF's sophomore quarterback Matt Grothe is as clutch as I have ever seen a quarterback. He struggles a lot during the course of the game, but in the end, he can put it together and turn an average offensive performance into a upset of a top college program. Rutgers almost saw it last season when they went down to Tampa and narrowly escaped with a "W" when Grothe, as a freshman, threw for 241 yards and a TD and ran for 61 more and another touchdown. He drove the Bulls down the field against one of the toughest defenses in college football as the time was winding down, to throw a touchdown with :15 seconds on the clock. Only a failed two point conversion, that was arguably propelled by a uncalled pass interference penalty, was the difference in the 22-20 game. He showed that poise again when USF missed on 4 field goal attemps in the second half and he still managed to put the Bulls in position to kick a game tying field goal in the final minute, and...throw the game winning touchdown in overtime to beat Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium on saturday night.

Big East Update
Once again the rich of the Big East got richer. #9 Louisville (2-0) survived a scare by Sun Belt secret Middle Tennessee St. Defensively, they didn't look that good, but they didn't make mistakes at all on offense, as still managed to score 58 points to MTSU's 42. Brian Brohm threw for 401 yards and 4 touchdowns without throwing a single pick, and sophomore and Tampa native Anthony Allen ran for 275 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was a little to close for Louisville's comfort but once they tighten up their defense, they will continue to be unstoppable. #4 West Virginia (2-0) had a scare of their own as they found themselves trailing to cross state rival Marshall midway through the third quarter. But 100-yard rushing days by both Pat White and Steve Slaton and 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter gave them the comfortable 48-23 win. #13 Rutgers (2-0) had no trouble putting away Navy on Friday night. Ray Rice became the all-time leading rusher in school history as he chipped away for 175 yards and 2 touchdowns. Navy's rushing offense was tricky as it reversed and optioned it's way to 254 yards on the ground, but Rutgers pass defense was dominant only allowing 35 yards through the air and intercepting 3 passes. Cincinnati (2-0) who is another up and coming Big East program has beaten their opponents (SE Missouri St., and Oregon State) by a combined score of 93-6 this season. QB Ben Mauk had 199 yards passing and 2 touchdowns in their 34-3 win over Oregon St. on thursday night. Pittsburgh (2-0) defeated Grambling St. at home on Saturday 34-10, and Connecticut (2-0) became the seventh undefeated team thus far in the Big East by shutting out Maine 38-0. The only team with a loss was Syracuse (0-2) as they fell to Iowa 35-0. They continue to struggle as they only amassed 103 yards of total offense, but even more frustrating for the Orange is the 32 total rushing yards they have combined against their two opponents (Washington and Iowa) this season.

I want to leave with a quote by ESPN's Ivan Maisel, who I cannot respect as a sportswriter because of his obsurd statements like this "The Big East is 14-2 outside the league. Before you get too excited: Five of those wins came against I-AA schools, six came against I-A leagues that don't get automatic BCS bids and one came against Duke, which has lost 22 in a row. That leaves the Big East 2-2 against its automatic-bid brethren, which sounds about right. But hey, South Florida winning at No. 17 Auburn in overtime? Good win." That is a slap in the face to the Big East. Syracuse is the only team that has lost a game so far this season! SYRACUSE! and yeah they lost to teams from the PAC-10 and BIG TEN. Other than that, the other 7 teams from the Big East are undefeated regardless of what conference their opponents are from. "Dont get too excited"? I really don't think that the teams from the Big East are really concerned about getting excited over the first two weeks when they were undefeated last year in bowl games against a couple ACC teams, a Big 12 team, and a couple teams from Conference USA and MAC. I think they are looking at a slightly bigger picture than roughing up on small weaker schools. Bottom line is, I guarantee that no team in the NCAA is excited about facing any of these teams in the Big East. Cincinnati beat Oregon State this week 34-3. The same Oregon State team that beat the USC Trojans last season. USF beat Auburn...who was the only team to beat the Florida Gators last season. Those two teams aren't even the biggest threats in the conference. You still have 3 other teams ranked inside the Top 15. The Pac 10 only has 3. So does the Big 12. In fact the SEC only has 2. ACC only has 1. Those three teams (West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers) are boasting a combined 4 Heisman Candidates, and two players that are well on their way if they keep up with the pace they started. How can anyone, let a lone a professional sports journalist, assume that this Conference is getting "too excited" about a couple of opening round wins like that? The teams in the Big East aren't fighting for little moral victories. These teams wont be excited until they are National Champions, and it is very possible that we may see that happen to one of them this season.

A whole new season...

Another College Football season kicked off this past weekend. Which means that until well after Christmas there will be debates galore, and excitement will be packed in like cheap candy in a stocking. Football season is Christmas to me. Every Saturday is like opening a whole new gift. You never know what you're gonna get.

Obviously, You have heard about the big upset. Little Appalachian State knocked off the #5 team in the country. Michigan, who managed to go the entire 2006 season without losing a game until they lost to then #1 Ohio State and then to #4 USC in the Rose Bowl, completes the tri-fecta by being embarrased at the Big House. Watching the highlights after the game, I heard this upset being compared to the Miracle on Ice, when the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team defeat the frickin' USSR. Am I the only one who doesn't think this game is that big of an upset? Michigan was on a two game losing streak after losing a huge emotional game against Ohio State, and then getting roped by USC in the Rose Bowl. And, granted, Appalachian State is a 1-AA team but they only lost one game last season and have one two straight 1-AA National Champions. This team has played in the quote/unquote "spotlight", and they win. Don't get me wrong...this win is HUGE, and if you play that game a hundred more times and Michigan wins all 100, but this isn't going to change the landscape of how people perceive 1-AA football. I think Appalachian State could beat most teams in the NCAA Division 1. I Guarantee they would go undefeated against the Sun Belt. They would probably win the MAC and give the WAC and Mountain West a run for their money.

The Big Big East Part 2- After going 4-0 in their Bowl Games last season the Big East looked pretty impressive in their kickoff weekend. #3 West Virginia looked a little shaky in the first half of their game against Western Michigan but they shook out the kinks and rolled to a 62-24 victory. #10 Louisville absolutely destroyed Murray State. New Head Ball Coach Steve Kragthorpe (formerly of Tulsa) has to like what he has inherited. I know it was Murray State, but anytime you win 73-10 it builds confidence and Louisville is going to need it if they want to keep winning down the stretch. The Big East schedule isn't getting any weaker. #16 Rutgers did what they do best, Give the Ball to Ray Rice, and play exceptional defense as they won their first week cake walk over Buffalo 38-3. South Florida, who is on the brink of a breakthrough season looked a little rusty on defense against little known Elon College. They won, but when you can only squeak it out 28-13 it shows that you got a lot of work to do. I think the only team that has ever heard of Elon is Appalachian State who has manhandled them the last 4 seasons by a combined score of 179-54. But it is freakin' Appalachian State. USF's sophomore QB Matt Grothe looked really good though, going 23 of 39 for 238 yards and a pair of TD's. I think he is going to make a name for himself and for the Bulls this season. Next Saturday, USF hits the road to take on #18 Auburn, and the rest of their schedule is going to be pretty rough. They do play at home against West Virginia who they shocked 24-19 last season in Morgantown, their in-state rival Central Florida (who is no push over) and of course Louisville (who has lost in each of their last two trips to Tampa, 45-14 in 2005, and the 31-28 overtime thriller in 2003). They play at Pitt and UConn, but the big game on the road for them is going to be Oct. 18 in Piscataway N.J. when they play Rutgers. This series has become a good one. Rutgers got spanked 45-31 back in 2005 when USF came to town, and last season in Tampa, the Scarlet Knights won a controversial one 22-20 in a game that I know the Bulls remember. So mark that game on your schedule, because it will have huge implications on the Big East. But if the Bulls want to get anywhere this season , they must win two of their three games against the Big 3 (West Virginia, Louisville, and Rutgers) along with an undefeated schedule against they rest of the Big East which is slowly becoming one of the most talented Conferences in the NCAA. It's not gonna be easy, but if anyone can get them there, its gotta be Matt Grothe that leads the way.

Anyway, only one Big East team lost this weekend, and the wins were pretty impressive. UConn beat Duke 45-14 on the road, Cincinnati unloaded (and they should have) on SE Missouri St. 59-3, and Pittsburgh knocked off Eastern Michigan 27-3 at Heinz Stadium. Syracuse, the only loss, has somehow developed into the whipping boy of the Big East. Long gone are the days of Donovan McNabb to Marvin Harrison, and the times have evolved into the Orangemen (1-6 in the Big East in '06) getting crushed at the Carrier Dome, 42-14 by unranked Washington on opening weekend. It's going to be an exciting season.

Slow Starts and Upsets- Other than Michigan, there were a few teams that started off pretty shaky against teams they should have beaten by a lot more. The game that comes to mind immediately is #4 Texas coming just an onside kick away from losing to Arkansas State. It was 14-3 at halftime, and after extending the lead to 21-3, ASU stormed back with 10 in the 4th quarter and missed an onside kick opportunity that just may have started a huge upset in Austin. Texas needs to clean up their act. Next week they travel to Orlando to play a confident UCF team who would like nothing more than to knock off Texas to open up their new stadium. Speaking of upsets, The UCF Knights (formerly the UCF Golden Knights) themselves went up to Raleigh and beat the N.C. State Wolfpack 25-23. Not the biggest upset, but N.C. State should be a much more talented team and the Knights. But the Knights definitely gained some momentum that they will definitely need to pull off the stunner next weekend.

#9 Virginia Tech barely beat East Carolina in their emotional kickoff. Obviously a win is something that campus needed and I'm not trying to belittle that, but only beating ECU 17-7 in Blacksburg may be a sign that the Hokies may have more struggles ahead of them. And in the SEC, #18 Auburn had a lot of trouble putting away Kansas State in their home opener. It took a 14 point 4th quarter to sneak by K State 23-13. And...Notre Dame? It's going to be nice to not have to hear about Notre Dame's quarterback controversy every single day. It doesn't matter who it is when your #1, #2 and #3 guy can't get anything going in a 33-3 thrashing by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in South Bend. I don't know if these are signs of how the NCAA is going to look this season, but it is definitely enough to keep me watching. Its going to be a great season.

Beer and baseball...

The debate has begun. Just a little over a week after the tragic death of Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock (left) after his car slammed into the back of a tow truck in the early morning hours of April 29, many teams are beginning to consider their policies about having alcohol in their clubhouses. See, for years in Major League Baseball locker rooms, there have been cold brew dogs awaiting the players after their baseball games, much like in little league where you would receive a juice box for a job well done. This is something that has been a huge non-issue in baseball for a long time. This is more of an issue at home games where a player might down a few beers and walk to their car to drive home, as opposed to road games where players get around by team bus. The Yankees over the weekend banned alcohol from its clubhouse in home and road games, a move that the Oakland A's have already done, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are considering.

Rays manager Joe Maddon stated "As far as I'm concerned, I'm good with beer being in our clubhouse, I don't think anybody should drink to excess, but I'm good with a beer after the game. I'm fine with it." This really is a controversial but very understandable statement. The idea of having alcohol provided to you after a workday to most American employees, would sound like paradise (just ask Jimmy Buffett). But no employers would ever consider it due to liability issues. With the decisions that Maddon makes night after night, and the way this team has been playing the first 10 years of its existence, you might think that the Devil Rays put beer in those big Gatorade coolers.

Josh Hancock had a blood alcohol level of 0.157 at the time of his death, which is nearly twice the legal limit of Missouri (.08). According to eye witnesses Hancock was seen drinking at a restaurant just hours before. The fact of the matter is that alcohol does not kill people. The irresponsible use of alcohol is what kills people. Allegedly Hancock had his struggles with alcohol and just days before had shown up late to a day game at Busch Stadium because he overslept after a long night of drinking. Whether he drank beer in the clubhouse or he drank it at the bar, he drank too much and he made a horrible decision.

I agree with the idea of banning alcohol from clubhouses, because I don't think an organization should ever provide its employees an opportunity to make bad decisions. But I do think that, unfortunately this wont keep future incidents like this from happening. If a ballplayer wants to drink after a game he will. Having a beer in the clubhouse may actually be better for them in a sense because it can be monitored by teammates and coaches. It will also give them a better idea when someone is struggling with an alcohol problem. There is no good solution to this problem. Unfortunately there will still be close calls, and there will still be young athletes thinking they are invincible. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Josh Hancock, and i hope that this might make people think twice about drinking and driving. That's the only good that can possibly ever come out of this situation.

Inventing new ways to lose

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are no strangers to losing, but this weekend in St. Petersburg, there were two innings that were the difference between a three game sweep of the Cleveland Indians, and losing the series 1-2. Which translates to the difference between being 9-9 with a half game lead over the Yankees who come into town today for a quick two game series, and sitting at the bottom of the AL East, and dangerously close to the bottom of the league at 7-11. These losses are hard enough to take for the young Rays team, but knowing that they were lost on managerial mistakes, makes it harder to take for the fans.

James Shields, and up and coming right handed pitcher for the D-Rays pitched an outstanding game. He struck out 12 batters through 8 innings of work, a 12 k outing that fans in Tampa Bay have only seen once before, when Dan Wheeler struck out 12 in a game in 1999. The Rays had just taken a 4-2 lead, in an exciting eighth. After Akinori Iwamura and Dionner Navarro got on base to start the inning, B.J. Upton, singled up the middle to score Iwamura, and later in the inning Navarro scored on a wild pitch. So with the momentum in their favor, Rays manager Joe Maddon, elected to pull Shields, in favor of Brian Stokes to face the Indians in the 9th. Shields had only allowed two hits, one of them a two run homerun by Indians Jhonny Peralta in the second inning, when he exited the game, so it seemed odd that Maddon was pulling the starter after such a dominant performance. What seemed even more odd, was why Maddon didn't bring in the closer Al Reyes again. In thursday night's game vs. the Indians, the game was tied when Maddon, elected to leave in reliever Juan Salas who had pitched the inning before, as opposed to the closer Reyes, and Salas put the first two batters on base before he was pulled. A batter later, the Indians would score the go ahead run to win. So why with a two run lead in an obvious save situation Maddon would keep Reyes in the pen and bring in the often times shaky reliever Stokes was beyond me. Stokes, who has lasted longer than an inning in 8 other appearances this season, allowed multiple hits in all but three of those appearances and allowed runs in half of them. With the series on the line, this was definitely no time to give Brian Stokes a chance. Stokes wasted it, by allowing a RBI hit and a walk before serving up a three run home run to Indians 1B Ryan Garko. So in 1/3 of an inning, Stokes allowed 4 runs, and destroyed a career performance by James Shields. It was a tough loss to watch, but it's got to be more tough to experience. Stokes (pictured at the top) was very distraught after the game, but you have to feel bad for the guy considering he had no business being put in the game with that much pressure in the first place.

Joe Maddon made a terrible mistake. One that Lou Pinella would have never made. I doubt Hal McRae would have made that mistake, and i'm almost willing to say Larry Rothschild would have been smart enough to bring in Reyes. It was almost excusable for the former Rays managers to lose, considering the lack of depth they were forced to put out on the field day after day. But when you have a bunch of hot players, and pitchers throwing gems, and you still can't manage to pull out a win, there's definitely something wrong. One things for sure, I'm sure the fans would love to see the Devil Rays come into a home series against the Yankees with a better record, and I'm sure the players would play with a much higher level of confidence if they had a game or two on them. Unfortunately we won't know what thats like today, or tomorrow, and as sad as it is to say, I don't believe we will get that chance as long as Maddon is the manager of the ball club.

MLB 2007

We're almost a month into another MLB season and we've already seen some pretty amazing things. Lou Pinella going nuts about managing another losing team. Albert Pujols putting up Pat Burrell type numbers. Mark Buehrle tossing a no-hitter against Texas, Alex Rodriguez putting up numbers only seen in video games. He's currently on pace for 129 home runs, and had a pair of them last night in Boston. But one thing remains the same. The Devil Rays bullpen sucks, and managing mistakes cost them another game.

Last night I watched pitch by pitch as the D-Rays battled Cleveland at Tropicana Field. C.C. Sabathia was on the hill, and usually that means no offense with a minimal amount of hits, and youngin' Edwin Jackson was on the bump for Tampa Bay. Jackson looked really strong in his effort, really only throwing a few bad pitches, one being a pitch that landed a few rows deep in the left field seats after Indians DH Travis Hafner got a piece of it for a two run shot, his 3rd round tripper on the young season. "E.J." ended up striking out 5 in six solid innings of work. It was a surprising twist in expectations.

Offensively, the Rays also managed to over achieve. 2B B.J. Upton slammed a solo home run right over the 404 mark in straightaway center off of Sabathia, which was a rare display of power for Upton and a rare miscue by C.C. The Rays continued to scrap, down 3-1, with a RBI single in the 6th inning by Carl Crawford, that scored Brendan Harris, and again when aggressive baserunning brought in a run on the legs of Delmon Young (pictured above) in the seventh. So entering the top of the 8th inning, coach Maddon called on reliever Juan Salas. Salas is a great one inning pitcher who has done very well in his short assignments, and set down all three Indians he faced in the 8th. After the Rays were retired in the bottom of the eighth it seemed strange to not see closer Al Reyes come on in the 9th. He was warming up in the bullpen, but instead Salas came up out of the dugout and returned to work. Reyes has only allowed 2 hits and no runs in his 6 innings of work this season. Salas on the other hand has given up runs the only other two times he pitched for two innings as opposed to one, which came April 10th against Texas, and just this past monday against Baltimore. So defying logic, Salas put the first two batters in the 9th on, and Maddon then put the game in the hands of Reyes, who allowed a one out hit to Hafner that scored the go ahead run.

Its a mistake that Maddon shouldn't have made. Looking at the Indians on deck in the ninth, and seeing 1-3: 3B Andy Marte (who was hitting below .200), CF Grady Sizemore, LF David Delucci, and Hafner lurking in the #4 spot, the decision should have been made to pitch Reyes to minimize the chance on facing Hafner. Instead he went with the unproven Salas, who squandered the opportunity and earned the loss. Had the Rays retired the Indians in the ninth, they could have taken a more laid back approach to facing Indians closer Joe Borowski, who just the night before had tossed the pitch that Yankee Alex Rodriguez hit for a walk off home run. Instead the pressure was turned up and the Rays hit three straight pop ups to end the game.

The Rays aren't known for having a successful bullpen, so when your bullpen is doing well, you don't take chances, you go with what is proven. That is the difference between a record of 7-9 and 6-10. Its the difference between starting a series strong and falling behind.

March Madness Begins...

March Madness officially began today with the tip-off from Buffalo, N.Y. when the 13 seed Davidson Wildcats took on 4 seed Maryland. I was especially tied to this game because I unlike many others predicted a Davidson upset. They have seen a number of top 25 teams during the season and had fared pretty well. They had also lost a lot of starters from the year before and were led by freshman guard Stephen Curry. Curry was impressive today scoring 30 points and putting Davidson ahead a number of times during the game. They were so much smaller than Maryland physically, with there biggest player on the floor standing at 6 feet 8 inches compared to much taller Terps. Their size showed as the Wildcats could only manage to keep in the game throwing up three pointers all day, which worked well in the first half but fell through in the second. Stephen Curry (son of former NBA player and Virginia Tech standout Del Curry) hit 5 three pointers which looks good if you don't know he attempted 14 of them. F William Archambault came off the bench to knock down 3 three pointers, but Davidson could only manage to hit 34.3% from the field. Maryland played more conservatively and found themselves down a number of times in the course of the game as a result. At halftime, the Terps clung to a 44-43 lead, lost it early in the second half but continued to play their game and outscored Davidson 38-27 down the stretch to win their first round match 82-70. Maryland's regulars played well, Ekene Ibekwe scored 11 points and pulled down 10 boards, D.J. Strawberry scored 12 and Senior guard Mike Jones led the team with 17 points. The player of the game for Maryland was definitely junior Bambale Osby (transfer from New Mexico) who came off the bench, when Ibekwe got into foul trouble, played 21 minutes and scored 11 points and 6 rebounds.

A couple of my upset picks have already fallen today with Davidson falling to Maryland and Texas Tech losing to a tough Boston College team. I also have Oral Roberts knocking off Washington State (up 28-26 at halftime) and Virginia Commonwealth beating Duke later today. Tomorrow, I have Winthrop over Notre Dame, Texas A&M C.C. over Wisconsin, North Texas over Memphis and Long Beach St. beating Tennessee. The only game i'm not to sold on is my pick against Wisconsin. Just watch the game because, TACC is a great shooting team, so hopefully that will be enough to catch the Badgers off guard. I don't think they will win, but i think they definitely have a shot if they stay focused.

Manning Up

I don't know if Peyton Manning is the greatest quarterback ever. I know that his statistics alone before today is more impressive than any quarterback I've ever seen. The way him and Marvin Harrison work together reminds me of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. But when it comes down to it, winning a Super Bowl is the only thing that can put you ahead of the pack. I mean, statistically, Dan Marino is the greatest quarterback to play the game but the fact that he never won a ring will keep him off the top 10 list when it's all said and done. Joe Namath. Roger Staubach. Terry Bradshaw. Bart Starr. Joe Montana. Johnny Unitas. Troy Aikman. Steve Young. Brett Favre. John Elway. These are guys that solidified their career and their legend status by winning the greatest game of all time. Kurt Warner's amazing season in 1999 would have been easily overlooked if it wasn't for the win over Tennessee in the Super Bowl. Would Brett Favre be considered one of the best quarterbacks in the league at this point if he hadn't won his ring years ago when he knocked of New England in Super Bowl XXXI? I feel like that win defined his career, like it would the careers of Marino, Warren Moon, Jim Kelly, Jim Everett and many others if they would have had the opportunity to win a World Championship. This win definitly will define Manning's career and allow him to focus on breaking records and going for additional Super Bowl wins to solidify his place in NFL History.

As far as winning the MVP, I think Manning played very well, but i don't think he is the only one to credit for the win. I think Dominic Rhodes deserved at least a share for putting the nail in the Bears coffin with 113 yards rushing and a touchdown in the second half. Rookie Joseph Addai also deserved consideration for his 143 all purpose yards (77 rushing, 66 receiving) and for leading Indy in receptions. Defensively both Kelvin Hayden who picked off his first career pass and returned it 56 yards for a touchdown and Bob Sanders who forced a fumble and picked off Bears QB Rex Grossman to seal the deal deserve an argument for MVP. In the end Manning got the trophy for his leadership and excellent play but even more so for the fact that he is the icon of this team. The least he could do is give the car away...Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts.