Forced In to the Open

Hello All,

Well, after a week off, it is time to return to the tried and true running diary, taken from notes I made during the game.

PRE-GAME

Comin’ to you live from Beef O’Brady’s in Gainesville, Florida!

This should be fun. Because the combination of UCF and Conference USA brilliantly sold the TV rights to UCF’s only high profile home game of the season to a channel only carried on the premiere sports tier of certain satellite providers, the Stein men and Steph have been forced out of the Man Room and out in to the open.

We arrive at the bar as Florida’s kicker lines up to kick the game winner against Arkansas. The bar is filled to the brim with people wearing the tried and true combination of royal blue over denim. You stay classy Gainesville.

Anyway, the sight of the three of us went over about as well as a fart in church (which I think would be hilarious, but apparently is frowned upon). Of course, the kicker makes it, and we have to put up with the Shanty-folk praising each other to no end after a thrilling, home-field, Homecoming victory over the mighty Razorbacks, who of course are underrated according to every person in that bar. And yet I digress. The point is, UF barely beat Arkansas and we had to deal with the people who stuck around the bar after that just to watch the Miami game and try to get a rise out of us. More on this later.

We convince the waitress to put the Miami game on the big screen in our section. By convince, I mean we asked and she said they were already planning on showing it on the big screen and then walked away as quickly as possible so as to not give the impression she was in league with us when the lynching ropes eventually come out.

Final thoughts before kickoff: “Oh f*&k, we are wearing the green pants.”

1st QTR

• Miami comes out swingin’, as Jacory finds LaRon Byrd for a first down on the first play and shuts the crowd up (by the way, Jacory is now on a first name only basis, like Bono or Elvis). However, the drive stalls on a bad sack and the ‘Canes punt.
• Jared Campbell makes a big play. I cannot believe I just typed that.
• The guy at the table next to us just made a joke about me taking notes during the game just loud enough that I could hear it but quietly enough that he could try and claim it was part of a private conversation. You stay classy Gainesville.
• Travis Benjamin runs a great route, and Jacory throws a bomb down the field later in the drive caught by Leonard Hankerson in the back of the end zone. One of the best catches I have seen, all things considered. He was running at full speed, tracked down a floater from Jacory in to the back of the end zone and lunged, caught the ball, and got his front foot down within a split second of each other. He didn’t think it was a touchdown. We didn’t think it was a touchdown. The ref saw it though, and replay confirmed it. I can’t decide if I am more impressed with Hankerson’s body control or the ref’s vision. (7-0 Miami)
• Miami finally blitzes for the first time and Sean Spence picks up a sack. Every time we blitz, something good happens. Every. Time. And yet, we blitz only a handful of times a game. Highly annoying. It’s not like our front four is getting consistent pressure. The last two weeks, FAMU and UCF have both stood up to our pass rush remarkably well. Not good.
• Jacory’s stat line for the quarter: 7-7, 97 yards and a touchdown. Wow.

2nd QTR• The teams exchange bad drives for a while and then Matt Bosher hits a field goal. (10-0 Miami).
• It was a pretty boring quarter, save for the people at the table next to me having a legitimate conversation about Arkansas being able to give just about anybody in the country a run for their money. I am speechless. Totally and utterly speechless.
• Corey Nelms and Damien Berry, two of my favorites, make plays just before the half. And hey, Georgia Tech continues to lead Virginia Tech. Life is good.
HALFTIME
• Overall, the ‘Canes were very workmanlike. The Knights defensive front created a lot of pressure, which surprised me. The question is whether the ‘Canes will continue to play down to the level of their competition or not. The brightest spot has been the defense, which has been a wrecking ball.

3rd QTR• Sean Spence registers his second sack on his second blitz. Hmmmmmmm…might we be on to something here?
• LaRon Byrd makes a great catch on a jump ball down the sideline, setting up a Jacory pass to Byrd for a first down at the five and a Javarris James touchdown run. (17-0 Miami)
• UCF scores a touchdown by beating the blitz (DOH!). Wait, ROCKY ROSS caught it? The coolest white guy on planet Earth? With the best name?? I’m not even mad. Stein on the Sidelines is a Rocky Ross fan. (17-7 UCF)
• Miami follows the score by putting together a bad drive and then snapping the punt over Bosher’s head on the punt. Bosher kicks it out the back of the end zone; however, because he contacted it within the field of play and not in the end zone, UCF gets the ball on the 1. Uh-oh.
• UCF runs a play out wide for their running back, which DeMarcus Van Dyke blows up for a loss of about 5. Again, I cannot believe I just typed that sentence.
• Jared Campbell comes on the safety blitz and whacks the quarterback..the ball pops in to the air and Colin McCarthy picks it off. Threat averted, big turnover created, throat stepped on. To add injury to insult, Campbell knocked the quarterback out of the game. His backup completed a whopping 39.4% of his passes last season as a starter (worse than JaMarcus Russell). Sean Spence is licking his chops as I write this.
• Bosher hits another field goal, set up by a big play from Jacory to Thearon Collier. (20-7 UM)
4th QTR• At this critical juncture, the table next to us decided to loudly make fun of the Hurricanes for playing UCF. Seriously? UF fans making fun of Miami’s non-conference schedule? I told him that we really tried to get Troy or Charleston Southern to toughen up our schedule, but they were previously engaged. Which lead to the inevitable “SEC is really tough” crack. Which lead to the “Yep, I don’t know what we would do if we had to play ARKANSAS! I mean, Virginia Tech is tough and all, but ARKANSAS?!? That’s a football team!” retort. Which lead to my dad telling me to shut up (which was probably smart, because there were 5 of them). Which lead to me staring a hole in the television the rest of the game as they closed up their tab and left. I consider it a victory, which could have been bigger if dad had taken the parking brake off…kind of like this game!
• To sum up the quarter, the defense didn’t let them sniff another score, the offense stopped throwing and Damien Berry beasted out. Final score: 27-7 ‘Canes, a blowout which could have been way bigger if Randy Shannon kept his foot on the gas and Matt Pipho hadn’t missed the bus to Orlando. A solid, workmanlike (yep, twice) win for a team that just needed to get the win and get back on the bus as they head in to a pivotal matchup with Clemson.
Other Games I Watched
- Arkansas State vs. Louisiana-Monroe: “No. Absolutely not.”- Richard Stein as he takes the remote from Stein on the Sidelines and changes it to Die Hard on Tuesday night.
- Boise State vs. Tulsa: I know this is unpopular, but I think Boise might be the second best team in the country, behind Alabama. They are fast, and their defense is aggressive and physical. Tulsa’s offense is no joke, and Boise held them down. They have playmakers. I think they are better than both Florida and Texas at this point.
- Cincinnati vs. South Florida: I think USF lost this one only because I picked them to win. Sorry guys, my bad.
- Oklahoma vs. Texas: I was feeling bad for Oklahoma when Bradford went down again, because I like the kid. But then I remembered how dirty the rest of the Sooners team was when they played in Miami, and how obnoxious Bob Stoops is on the sideline. And then, as if to validate my point, a Sooner defensive end tried to rip Colt McCoy’s head off after he slid on the final play from scrimmage. AFTER he slid. And it wasn’t called. Go figure.
- Iowa vs. Wisconsin: And Wisconsin figures to wrap up its 57th straight trip to the Champs Sports Bowl sometime next week.
- Georgia vs. Vanderbilt: This, folks, is why the SEC is the greatest God damn football conference there is.
- Arkansas vs. Florida: Alright, let’s put it out there: if Florida was playing anyone half decent, they lose this game by 2 scores. Bobby Petrino has no idea how win unless he is playing Conference USA competition at Louisville. He called run plays when he should have thrown. He threw when his running backs were runnin’ hot. His quarterback completed something like 25% of his passes. And still, the Razorbacks win this game if their kicker doesn’t miss 2 4th quarter field goals. Oh, and if the refs don’t gift wrap Florida its fourth quarter touchdown. At their place. During their homecoming game. On national television. Hmmmmmmmmm…
- Notre Dame vs. USC: As much as it pains me, I have to give it to the Irish: they have a lot of fight in them. I am glad they lost, and I know there is no such thing as a moral victory, but when USC got up a couple scores, I figured it wasn’t worth watching anymore. I was very impressed with their resolve and now consider Jimmy Clausen the Heisman front runner. Wow, that sucks.
- Virginia Tech vs. Georgia Tech: The curse is broken! Rachel Russo is Stein on the Sideline’s lucky charm.

Best Game: Notre Dame vs. USC

Best Uniform: Texas. Best uniforms in college football.

Game Ball Goes To: Georgia Tech’s defense.

Worst Uniform: Miami, white over green. And it always will be when they make the mistake of wearing it.

Trojan Enz © Boner of the Week Award: The Arkansas-Florida refereeing crew. I am still waiting for them to apologize publicly.

Brian Rolle “Should’ve Been a ‘Cane” Award: Sam Young, Notre Dame. Think the ‘Canes couldn’t use a great right tackle after that game? Ridiculous. And this kid is not only huge and talented, but he is from St. Thomas Aquinas. Snarl.

Non-BCS Name You Should Know: Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati. Oh wait, the Big East is in the BCS? Shoot…well this is embarassing...

Don’t forget to recommend this to friends and keep my drive for the Nobel going!

And, as always, remember to guard the inbound passer.