Posts Tagged ‘U.A.B.’
Ten Themes for Saturday: Week 7
By Paul Myerberg // Oct 15, 2011
Ten teams, themes, games and players to watch on Saturday. Pretty straightforward. Here we go:
No James, no problem There’s a great scene in the movie “Moneyball,” which I think most of us have seen, where Brad Pitt, playing A’s general manager Billy Beane, explains how no, his team can’t replace Jason Giambi. But the A’s can replace his numbers, Pitt-as-Beane explains — not with one player, but with an amalgam of three of four different players. Oregon’s taking the same approach with LaMichael James, the nation’s leading rusher, who will likely not play in tonight’s possible preview of the Pac-12 title game against Arizona State. It won’t be Kenjon Barner taking the reins with 30 carries; it won’t be De’Anthony Thomas; it won’t be Tra Carson. It’ll be all three, with Barner perhaps getting more touches than his true freshmen teammates but Thomas and Hopkins certainly in line for significant carries. Thomas has been everything he was hyped up to be, both as a runner and a receiver. Look for Oregon to again try to get him in space against the Sun Devils.
Tags: Big East, Boise State, Conference USA, De'Anthony Thomas, Florida Atlantic, Houston, Indiana, Kejon Barner, LaMichael James, Michigan, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee State, Missouri, Mountain West, New Mexico, Oregon, S.M.U., U.A.B., Willie Simmons, Wisconsin
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The Ragin’ Cajuns; Non-B.C.S. Themes
By Paul Myerberg // Oct 4, 2011
The Associated Press sends a reporter to every single F.B.S. game — or every game featuring at least one F.B.S. team — and God bless the venerable old institution for that. Alabama games get about 800 words, I’d imagine. Saturday’s game in Madison garnered 730 words of coverage, though it was likely more than that before editors for your local sports site chopped it down to size. The tale of Louisiana-Lafayette’s win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday was told in 150 words: five paragraphs, with 31 of the 150 words being proper nouns — Louisiana-Lafayette, or Brett Baer, or Blaine Gautier. What’s my point? I don’t have one. It’s just interesting, in my mind. And before I forget: the Ragin’ Cajuns are 4-1. Touching on Louisiana-Lafayette and other non-B.C.S. conference themes:
Tags: Boise State, Dan McCarney, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Houston, Hugh Freeze, J.J. McDermott, Louisiana-Lafayette, Mark Hudspeth, Miami (Ohio), New Mexico, S.M.U., San Jose State, T.C.U., Temple, Toledo, U.A.B., Western Kentucky
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U.C.F. at B.Y.U.; Non-B.C.S. Themes
By Paul Myerberg // Sep 22, 2011
It’s a big weekend for Conference USA. It’s a big week — big month — for Conference USA, in fact, what with the potential for a major merger with Mountain West clearly on the table for both parties. In terms of this coming weekend, the Conference USA slate will be highlighted by a Friday night date with U.C.F. and B.Y.U., with both teams looking for a win after disappointing losses a week ago. Who needs it more? You can see it from both sides: U.C.F. should be a bit chagrined after losing to Florida International last weekend, as that was an opportunity for the Knights to stem F.I.U.’s recent climb; B.Y.U. isn’t merely chagrined but humiliated after losing by 44 points at home to bitter rival Utah. Touching on the upcoming Conference USA schedule and other non-B.C.S. conference themes:
Tags: Akron, Army, B.Y.U., Ball State, Boise State, Conference USA, Marshall, Maryland, New Mexico State, Ohio, Rice, San Jose State, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, U.A.B., U.C.F.
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Forecasting Conference USA in 2011
By Paul Myerberg // Aug 9, 2011
It’s not Grand Canyon-like, but it’s wide. What’s another natural chasm, one slightly smaller than the Grand Canyon, to use as a metaphor for the split between the haves and the have-nots in Conference USA? Here are the haves: Houston, U.C.F., Tulsa, S.M.U., Southern Mississippi and maybe, if I’m being kind, East Carolina. The have-nots: Marshall, U.A.B., UTEP, Rice, Tulane and Memphis. It’s a very distinct gap, one that highlights the strong upper half of the conference but also one that diminishes the resume a Conference USA power might bring into bowl play.
Tags: Case Keenum, Conference USA, East Carolina, Houston, Josh Robinson, June Jones, Kevin Sumlin, Larry Porter, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, S.M.U., Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Tulsa, U.A.B., U.C.F., UTEP
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Conference USA’s Weaker Half
By Paul Myerberg // May 24, 2011
Every conference has its haves and have-nots. It just seems more pronounced on the non-B.C.S. level, if only because their worst spends September losing to the B.C.S. conference’s worst — in other words, Indiana might have been terrible in 2010, but the Hoosiers still managed to have their way with Akron, a last-place doppelganger from the MAC. The distance in the standings, therefore, is even more pronounced on the non-B.C.S. conference level: an Akron goes 3-5 in the MAC and finishes 4-8; an Indiana goes 3-5 in the Big Ten and goes bowling. But is the actual distance between the best and the worst from a non-B.C.S. conference greater than the same distance in a B.C.S. league?
Tags: Conference USA, East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, S.M.U., Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Tulsa, U.A.B., U.C.F., UTEP
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No. 99: U.A.B.
By Paul Myerberg // May 21, 2011
Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala., is recalled fondly as the site of several memorable college football affairs, most notably as the home of Iron Bowl from 1948-88. Unfortunately, not one meaningful game held at Legion Field has involved hometown U.A.B., which since establishing its football program in 1991 has garnered only the slightest of interest in this football-crazed state. Is it a matter of too much Alabama and Auburn, with too little a potential fan base remaining to strongly support a third team? Or is the dearth of interest due to the fact that since their inception, the Blazers have gone an uninspired 104-119-2? The former is most certainly the case, but the latter doesn’t help.
Tags: Bryan Ellis, Conference USA, Elliot Henigan, Marvin Burdette, Neil Callaway, Pat Shed, Patrick Hearn, Tommy West, U.A.B.
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Ryan’s Lines: Saturday, Oct. 30
By Paul Myerberg // Oct 30, 2010
For the second time this season, I step in for Ryan and pick five games with appealing lines. The last time I did so, I finished 3-2 overall; that tied Ryan’s best mark of the year while avoiding an altogether typical sight every Saturday: 2-3, 1-4, even 0-5 — once. According to my calculations, Ryan is far from the widget-winner he made himself out to be. Still, I should point out that he remains confident, maintaining faith in his own ability to locate winners among the 50-odd F.B.S. games played each weekend in October and November. Only a prior commitment — he said something about a Tony Robbins seminar in Las Vegas — prevents Ryan from attempting to lift his season record above .500; maybe, just maybe, we should all consider ourselves lucky. Perhaps Ryan needs a week to clear his head. Onto the picks:
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Tags: Air Force, Colorado, Illinois, North Texas, Oklahoma, Purdue, Southern Mississippi, U.A.B., Utah, Western Kentucky
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Ryan’s Lines: Saturday, Sept. 25
By Ryan Myerberg // Sep 24, 2010
As George Brett once said: a tie is like kissing your sister.
So here we are. Three weeks of college football under out belt. For some reason I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve left widgets on the table. Sure, week 1 was an outlier; I went away from my traditional modus operandi and picked the best five games to watch on the weekend, not the five best lines for widget winning. What can I say? I was excited for the season to start. Take out week 1′s 2-4 finish and I’m winning widgets at a 60 percent clip versus the spread. Sadly, I can’t pretend week 1 didn’t happen, instead I’m stuck at 50 percent. As they say, a tie is like kissing your sister — or perhaps your cousin, but that’s a different story for a different day.
Tags: Arizona, Army, B.Y.U., California, Duke, Nevada, North Carolina, Rutgers, Tennessee, U.A.B.
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