Some happenings...

Haven't been around much this week other than to comment on everyone else's shit, for oh has it been a busy one. First off, I'm sick - so take about 4 hours a day away from me and that leaves my world all screwed up, and virtually everything I'm doing at the given time undone. I mean seriously, where do I fit vids into that kind of a time frame?

First off, I finally created my own NCAA league. Ya ya, it only took me 3 online years to do it, but it's exactly what I want. 10 ballers, all habitual NCAA players and good league guys - should be pretty successful. I always said I'd do a league on my own terms, well, I force-fed myself some terms because DaONE's not playing another season in '06. I modeled my league as far as stat recording and a lot of smaller things from Mad Scientist's league, and it's still going great in it's 5th season - so I'm looking forward to a good run.

Blitzburgh, who you may remember from such past articles as my piece on his website featuring NCAA/Madden covers (complete with gay-Swade Boitano pic), has done a bit of artwork for the site after showing his creative ass in a thread in the league forums just a few days ago. The banner above is what flies above the league forums, and the ball below this paragraph is the logo that flies on the Leagedaddy site.

On the Blitzburgh tip in fact, we've come to an arrangement to where I can upload my cover-work to his site to be available for download. Blitz does some great stuff - but let's face it, he's a Steelers fan...and the Bengals are the wave of the future. I'll have Chad & Co. up and running pretty soon, as well as all of the covers I've done over the past 3 years as I find them...all the way from my first cover, which happens to be the sickle-cell lookin' bastard below...

But ya, should be everything from Madden, NCAA, MVP - hell I dunno, lots of stuff. My style is more to not cut out silhouettes, rather to leave the backgrounds included - gives the cover more life in my opinion.

EA Sports is going thru it's first week of the Pontiac High Performance Leaderboard Challenge that I spoke about a week ago or so in an earlier post. This week is the Michigan vs Michigan State rivalry game, and to gain recognition on the boards you must play a Michigan/Michigan State game in the Pontiac Challenge game room online. Well, at the request of a contact at EA, Swade and I played a game last night to test whether or not the leaderboards were working correctly. We played a close game (statistically!), and upon checking the leaderboard - it had us both sharing the same statistics with the exception of me getting the W and him getting the L...but it gave me 2 wins, and him 2 losses. What else was funny was that it took my 2 passing TD's and doubled them to 4, and my 5 sacks doubled to 10...and were awarded to both of us. Weird stuff...

You're Welcome

NBA Live 2006 sliders

Another year has passed in my life, which means more gray hair, another inch on my nutsac and another version of NBA Live.

We've already run down the top 25 players in Live, now we are going to have to actually play the game.

One complaint I read about is "ice-skating" players, i just don't understand this to be honest. I've played every NBA game from Jordan vs Bird to 2k, players run on the screen the same way in every game, ice-skating doesn't make much sense to me.

I'll have the game possibly later tonight, I'm trading in my xbox and old broken down PS2 as a credit toward the new xbox360, which I'll have when I get back from my eight-week business trip, sometime around December 3rd. Only thing I'm worried about, the Xbox version is in 720p which would be amazing, oh well, I have 3 days to trade my stuff in so I'm just going with the PS2. No way I'm hauling an xbox around for 8 weeks.

I'll post some impressions later this week, but for those of you that may have the game, guy named "Court_vision" on operation sports has these early sliders for you to give a whirl:
GLOBAL:

Game Speed: 36
Free Throw Difficulty: 65
Boundary Force Field: 60
Injury Frequency: 50
Fatigue Effect: 50
Charge/Block Foul Frequency: 55
Shooting Foul Frequency: 25
Reach-in Foul Frequency: 12
In-air Collision Foul Frequency: 75

USER:

User Steal Ability: 30
User Interception Ability: 34
User Shot Block Ability: 20
User Dunk/Lay-up Block Ability: 0
User Freestyle Effectiveness: 45
User Dunk vs. Lay-up Frequency: 40
User Substitution Frequency: 0 (50 for Auto-Subs)
User On-ball Defense Assist: 42
User Offensive Rebounding: 20
User Defensive Rebounding: 80
User Fakeout Discipline: 100
User Short Range Shooting: 50
User Medium Range Shooting: 50
User Long Range Shooting: 50
User Dunk Percentage: 50
User Lay-up Percentage: 50
User Adjusted Shot Percentage: 50
User On-ball Defense: 50
User Poor Release Shot Percent: 50
User Double-team Effectiveness: 50
User Pro Hop Effectiveness: 30
User Drop Step Effectiveness: 50

CPU:

CPU Steal Ability: 34
CPU Interception Ability: 10
CPU Shot Block Ability: 20
CPU Dunk/Lay-up Block Ability: 0
CPU Freestyle Effectiveness: 40
CPU Dunk Frequency: 40
CPU Substitution Frequency: 50
CPU Offensive Rebounding: 20
CPU Defensive Rebounding: 80
CPU Fakeout Discipline: 50
CPU Short Range Shooting: 50
CPU Medium Range Shooting: 50
CPU Long Range Shooting: 50
CPU Dunk Percentage: 50
CPU Lay-up Percentage: 50
CPU Adjusted Shot Percentage: 50
CPU Adjusted Shot Frequency: 50
CPU On-ball Physical Defense: 33
CPU Poor Release Shot Percent: 50
CPU Double-team Effectiveness: 50
CPU Pro Hop Effectiveness: 50
CPU Drop Step Effectiveness: 50

If I were you, I would turn blocks to 0, on ball physical defense to 0 and go from there, makes it a perfect game, at least it did last year.

Post some comments if you want about the sliders, we'll see if we can't get some Franchise Mode universal sliders for the game.

Special Announcement

Announcers: Biron eluded to this a few columns back, but this epidemic is worth rehashing. What the hell ever happened to good commentary that didn’t sound like Michael J Fox in a spelling bee? Christ, if I have to listen to one more announcer ramble on about meaningless crap like Brett Favre’s mansion being destroyed, while missing a call, I’m going to kill somebody. There is also a good chance that this somebody will be paid to have sex with men. There, I said it.

In Sunday nights Giants vs. Chargers game, how many calls were missed? I counted 4 times where there was a penalty on the play and nobody said anything about it until the next snap was imminent. WTF? Do we really need to know how many supplies Eli Manning moved off a truck to help hurricane victims? I don’t care to be honest. If he’s so damn good he should work for the Red Cross.

In his defense, Kyle Orton got sent home while working for the Red Cross. He kept throwing supplies into piles with different jerseys on.

Back to the topic. Is it that tough to make a good call from the booth? The Packers former O-lineman Larry McCarren is the Packers radio broadcaster and this guy doesn’t miss a beat. He calls out holds, formation shifts and every missed block flawlessly. This is the crap I want to know. Give me some damn insight from your years as a pro. All Theisman does is bitch about how quarterbacks can’t be touched anymore. You can just hear the bitterness when there is a 15 yard penalty for grazing a face mask. In his defense, the 2nd half of his leg was reported found in a cave in Colorado. Al Leiter also did an amazing job with this last year in the AL Championship series. He definitely has a solid future in broadcasting.

To finish this pile of crap article off, all I ask is this. Give us some interesting things. Tell me about the amazing stuff that went on in practice. Tell me about what players were out for happy hour after practice all week. Tell me how Mike Sherman gained 60lbs in a few years as Packers coach. It isn’t too much to ask. At this rate, I’d prefer to watch a silent game. No announcers, just sounds from the fans and the actual game. Who would have thought, enjoying a sport without talking heads spouting useless crap.

Novel

Week 4 Picks, Coaches Edition

Come one, come all, to the greatest show on Firth. Your resident lexiphanic linguist has prepared his prognosticating practices for your perusing pleasure. Terse but never tepid; brevity is only for the bromidic and languorous. (How you like them apples, Teebs!)

Week 3 is in the books and the college football landscape has yet to remove itself from obfuscation. Yes, USC is the most dominate offense not in the NFL. Yes, the hurricanes are hurting college football (and I don't mean Miami and Tulsa). Yes, there is an actual school named Texas State. But what do we really know thusfar?

Who is Number-2?
Texas has every right to be, but expecting Texas to finish a season unbeaten would be like expecting the Bills of the nineties to win a Super Bowl. No matter how close they come, they always drop the ball when it counts. Florida makes a good case, but without Caldwell, they're pretty thin at wide receiver. LSU has the nations empathy and a big win over Arizona State, but I still don't have enough faith in Les Miles to see them even winning the SEC...Roll Tide! So would the real Number-2 please stand up?!? Hey Hey Vanderbilt! My boys from Nashville continue to justify me picking them to come just short of the Rose Bowl (originally Ohio State). Given, it's laughable to even conjecture that Vandy could run the table, but three games into the '05 season they're in first place in the SEC....yeah, and the Catholic Church once thought the world was flat. (Vandy will win on Saturday over Richmond, but it's not worth any more space on this page.) So before y'all start to question my credibility, lets get on with the picks...

Michigan at Wisconsin UPSET SPECIAL
The Barry Alvarez tour continues with Lloyd "John Cooper" Carr bringing his discombobulated Wolverines into Madison for a cross lake showdown. With Mike Hart still hurting, and Chad Henne playing like a high school sophomore, Carr and DC Jim Hermann better pull more than a rabbit out of their hats. Brian Calhoun and the big hogs up front are going to smack Michigan in the mouth for 60 minutes. For those of you not on Michigan's eternal bandwagon, allow me to elucidate on the mighty Wolverines...they can't tackle. Not that they don't try, they're just technically incapable of sound tackling. Wisconsin isn't just going to upset Michigan...they're going to smack them around and demoralize them. If things don't turn around for the Maize and Blue they'll be playing at home in December...Hello Motor City Bowl!
Wisconsin 35 – Michigan 20

USC at Oregon WOODSHED GAME OF THE WEEK
Pete Carroll is to USC as Tom Osborne is to Nebraska. No coach puts his talent in a better position to succeed than Carroll and his staff. If anyone thinks for one second that Matt Leinart and the Trojans will be even slightly rattled going into Autzen, they're dreaming. When Leinart isn't spending his days dancing with his hot ass girlfriend Brynn Cameron, he's blowing off beach bunnies, USC co-eds, and hanging with Hollywood celebs. Sure...he's gonna be rattled by a bunch of pimple-faced dorks from nowhere. Riiiiiiiiight. They might not score 70, but it should be damn close. Oh, and for the record, I think Kellen Clemens is a hell-of-a quarterback...but they just can't keep up with the Trojans.
USC 63 - Oregon 35

Purdue at Minnesota
Jerrod "Jesus" Void continues to play for Purdue. Read that sentence again...I know it might not make sense at first. How long has this guy been there? The 8th year senior is the Danny Almonte of college football...SOMEONE CHECK HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE! What's even weirder than "Old Man" Void, is that he's the centerpiece of the Purdue offense. Yes, Basketball on grass has finally got a Big Ten flavor to it. And because of this, I can't help but take Joe Tiller's boys in the Metrodome. I know Laurence Maroney is still going to romp for about 150 and 2-TDs, but it won't be enough. Glen Mason has never been able to recruit guys with enough size on defense to stop anyone with a semblance of a running attack, and this game will be no different.
Purdue 35 – Minnesota 31

Tennessee at LSU
Does any coach get worse tit-sweat than Phil Fulmer (see picture). I mean, the engineers at Under Armor should be using this guy to design their next moisture removal shirt, the TSR (tit-sweat-remover). In spite of Fulmer's mamilla expectorate, I can't see the Vols dropping two in a row. The game has been pushed back to Monday night meaning The people of the gulf coast, Les Miles, and his Tigers have had their schedules altered more than Subway Jared's suits. As much as I hate picking against everyone's sentimental favorite...
Tennessee 24 – LSU 21

Iowa at Ohio State GAME OF THE WEEK
Before the season started, this was the biggest game on the Bucks' schedule. That may be hard to swallow given they annual year end rivalry with Michigan and the huge non-conference tilt with Texas, but the Hawkeyes humiliated Jim Tressel and his troops in Iowa last year 33-7 and the Buckeyes have been planning revenge ever since. Unfortunately, with Jim Bollman at the helm, Ohio State will NEVER score 33 against anyone with a decent defense, unless they hit overtime, so don't expect for a duplicate score in reverse. This game will be a vintage 2002 game with the score in the low teens for both squads. The intrigue from my perspective, being that I'm a huge tactic nerd, is that 2002 Coach of the Year Jim Tressel is going against 2003 Coach of the Year Kirk Ferentz. Both squads look pretty close on paper, so the play calling and substitutions are going to be huge. Will Tressel be able to shut Bollman up long enough to pull out a win? I think so. Oh, and for the record, AJ Hawk moves his draft stock to top 10 in this game. Mark My Words!
Ohio State 18 – Iowa 13

Tressel: "Hey Offense! This isn't a game of hide and seek!"

Alright, so I have basketball fever

Just reading IGN.com and came across some info on March Madness 2006. I received March Madness 2005 as part of the EA Community Leaders program and had nothing but high hopes.

That was until I edited my 325th player and the roster file exploded due to a glitch in the programming, I don't think I played it 10 times again after that I was so bitter.

One redeeming quality it had was the Pontiac Classic matchups, similar to the NCAA football feature, it had a bunch of classic moments you had to reenact. Laettner from Hill to beat Kentucky at the Meadowlands, Tyus Edney over the 7foot twins to beat Missou and even the upset of undefeated UNLV by the great Duke teams led by Hurley.

Well, this years takes it a step further and has all-time classic teams, some of the teams included are:
List of the 14 new All-Time Teams:

1. All Georgia
2. All Gonzaga
3. All NC State
4. All Ohio State
5. All Purdue
6. All Texas
7. All Utah
8. All ACC
9. All Big Ten
10. All Big 12
11. All Big East
12. All Big SEC
13. All Pac 10
14. All CUSA

Those are just some of the 39-all time teams that will be in the game, should be interesting to see if anyone takes the time to edit the names on them, could make for some fun times. I've never seen a hoops game with such intricate playcalling as the floor general feature, it was very well done last year, just hope the rosters are editable and someone follows the Geekrosters.com tradition and makes some great rosters.

Kirilenko cracks the top 10 in NBA Live 06

First of all, let me preface this blog by telling biron that his 2k'lovin arse should just keep driving, nothing to see here, nothing to report, please resume your herky-jerky hockey playing and head toward the light Carol Anne.

NBA Live 2006 comes out Tuesday Sept 28 and in timely fashion the PR/Marketing geniuses at EASports have released the top 25 rated superstars in this versions game. Why is this a big deal? Well, if you remember anything from your past (excluding anyone that touched you on the swimsuit parts or forced you to watch Little Women) EA's NBA series use to be based around superstar signature moves and unstoppable Tom Chambers levitation dunk which enabled me to score a record 200 points in Lakers vs Celtics for the ole' Sega Genesis.

Pour outta lil' Liquor for the GGOAT

These so-called sig-moves were unstoppable moves that would immediately distinguish a star player from a Uwe Blab. From Bird's Fader baseline to Jordan's Air the game was an awesome experience. Apparently, this was too much fun as EA gassed the sig moves sometime around 1995. It's back for 2006 with freestyle superstars.

Superstars are broken down into six different superstar categories: Scorers, Highflyers, Power Players, Playmakers, Shooters and Stoppers. If you are a complete moron and can't figure out what these descriptions mean please click here for more explanation: Moron Link

While I've wasted enough of your time (which is nothing compared to the time Biron has wasted trying to moisten the loinage of Katie in GTA:SA) here are the top 25 NBA Live 2006 superstars along with their superstar ranks:

1. Kevin Garnett: Superstar Abilities - Inside Scorer, Power, Inside Stopper (in past versions, you can't score on this guy, swat city)

2. Kobe "Break dat ass off on the chair" Bryant: Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Inside Scorer, Outside Scorer, Playmaker, Shooter, Outside Stopper (a veritable potpourri of superstar ability)

3. Lebron James: Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Inside Scorer, Outside Scorer, Playmaker, Power, Outside Stopper (Stopper? Lebron? I haven't seen that yet)

4. Tracy McGrady (Known as T-Mac by the kids): Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Inside Scorer, Outside Scorer, Playmaker, Shooter, Outside Stopper

5. Tim Duncan: Superstar Abilities - Inside Scorer, Power, Inside Stopper (How TD is #5 is a pure travesty)

6. Coverboy Dwyane Wade (anyone else notice his name is spelled wrong? Get an Urban Dictionary to that hospital please): Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Inside Scorer, Outside Scorer, Playmaker, Outside Stopper

7. Shawn Marion: Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Inside Scorer, Inside Stopper, Outside Stopper (Did EA watch the Playoffs last year? Did Marion even show up in 50% of the games, I say NEIN!)

8. Um, you may have heard of him, he's a little worse than Marion, SHAQ!: Superstar Abilities - Power, Inside Stopper

9. Amare Stoudamire: Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Inside Scorer, Power, Inside Stopper (this guy could be a force, High Flyer and Power)

10. Andrei f'n Kirilenko: Superstar Abilities - Inside Scorer, Inside Stopper, Outside Stopper (Good to see the recognition, but EA still humped the Pug in the anus, giving him a 56 3pt rating, he must be a monster defensively if he is still top 10 with his low offensive ratings, have to see how it plays, i'm smelling a 3pt rating edit)

11. Vince Carter: Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Inside Scorer, Outside Scorer, Shooter, Bad Knees, Bad Attitude

12. Steve Francis: Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Inside Scorer, Outside Scorer, Shooter (gee, where the Eff is league MVP Steve Nash, the mere fact that they have Franchise above Nash is difficult to believe, Francis is a joke)

13. Allen Iverson: Superstar Abilities - Outside Scorer, Playmaker, Outside Stopper (Another player ranked waaaaay too low)

14. Baron Davis: Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Outside Scorer, Playmaker, Outside Stopper(This confirms it, EA, as well as Ozzie Guillen and George Bush, are racists!)

15. Rasheed Wallace: Superstar Abilities - Inside Scorer, Power, Inside Stopper, Drawing Technical Fouls (In a nutshell, WTF!! Sheed? Top 20, my ass)

16. Paul Pierce: Superstar Abilities - Inside Scorer, Outside Scorer, Shooter, Multiple Stabbings (This guy blows, just have to take a shot at Bill Simmons aka "The Sports guy" who apparantly has run out of schtick and is taking potshots at every single one of my favorite players, he might be the antichrist)

17. Manu Ginobili: Superstar Abilities - Inside Scorer, Outside Scorer, Playmaker, Outside Stopper(Wow, another white guy on the list, but still no Nash)

18. Ray Allen: Superstar Abilities - Outside Scorer, Shooter (his subpar 3pt shooting year drops him to 87 3pt rating, should be mid to high 90's)

19. Gil Arenas: Superstar Abilities - Outside Scorer, Playmaker, Outside Stopper, Pisses off teammates, Hogs ball in every crucial situation

20. Jason Kidd: Superstar Abilities - Playmaker, Outside Stopper (wow, someone with real basketball ability made the top 20, amazing)

21. Stephon Marbury: Superstar Abilities - Outside Scorer, Playmaker, Outside Stopper, Coach Killer, Bad Seed, Team Cancer, Did I miss any??, oh yeah, Soon to be out of NYC

22. Richard Jefferson: Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Outside Scorer, Outside Stopper (um, top 25 players, nope!)

23. Yao Ming: Superstar Abilities - Inside Scorer, Inside Stopper, Bad Driving (sorry, John Rocker moment)

24. Joe Freakin' Johnson: Superstar Abilities - Outside Scorer, Shooter, Outside Stopper (Joe meet Tyronn Lue, Lue meet waiver wire)

25. Jason Richardson: Superstar Abilities - High Flyer, Outside Scorer, Outside Stopper

Notable players not in the Top 25: Carmelo Anthony (86), Dirk Nowitzki (86),Elton Brand (86), Jermaine O'Neal (86), Ben Wallace (85), Kenyon Martin (85), Steve Nash (85), Greg Ostertag(2).

There you have it, the top 25 excluding League MVP Steve Nash! Yep, hope that shitburger tastes good to you up in Canada Stevie.

Haven't spiced up the Blog pages in some time with some T&A so enjoy!

Cockblocked

In Grand Theft Porno (nws), I spent the better part of my weekend trying to navigate myself out of San Fierro so that I might actually be able to beat this game before GTA4 is released sometime in 2007. Well, before I left San Fierro I wanted to tie up all my loose ends (bang Katie), but in order to do so I need maximum muscle. Having not cheated yet in my year-long quest thru the game, I went to work out - only to find out that I had already worked out enough for today.

Odd, I don't remember working out. In fact, I don't remember working out for several months, and my physique shows that.

Anyway, I go maliciously kill a few cops, blow a few heads off of pretty ladies and run down some ese's, save my game to advance 6 hours and to the next day, head back to the gym and it still says I can't work out because I've done too much for the day.

"Wtf?!" I says, befuddled and utterly amazed.

Turns out, I have what they refer to as the "gym glitch". Upon discovering this, I instantly go to google and type it in to receive no less than 600 replies on the search engine. Searching thru them, it appears as if there's no real solution - someone posts what works for them, everyone else says it doesn't work for them and then they type what did work for them - only to not work for anyone else.

"Wtf?!" I says again, dumbfounded and beginning to lean towards pissed off.

Well I look thru GTA Warehouse, GTA Forums, IGN Boards, GTA-SanAndreas.com, I dunno - you name it, I was likely there, and I spent every ounce of free time I had trying new shit to try and fix my Carl. See, I like to completely defeat everything the previous town had to offer before moving onto the next one, that way I'm getting the most of my gaming experience (in my eyes anyway - some people can just shoot people for hours on end and have a great time). I'm around 66% completed heading into LV, with only the oysters going unfound so far and my mission progress at whatever Wushi has me doing at his new casino, and I just finished NOE and Stowaway for Toreno at the airstrip.

But ya, after trying all these solutions of which one time included me getting ultra fat and putting on my original clothes - nothing works. Now I'm not muscular and a fat tub of shit.

Heh, you should see my fatass run around.

My last chance is essentially that the glitch fixes itself, which is another thing I'm reading on a lot of these forums. I guess what I'm going to do is just head back to the airstrip, start my missions back up and hope Katie's moist loins are waiting for me after a while. Who knows ~

War of Words

It's a damn good thing Paul Bown Stadium is an open-air venue for the week #2 matchup between the 1-0 Cincinnati Bengals and the 0-1 Minnesota Vikings, as the Bengals often outspoken Pro Bowl WR Chad Johnson issued a verbal sparring match challenge to the Vikings CB Fred Smoot earlier this week:

"How good is he? He's a good talker," Johnson said. "He's a real good talker. He's a solid corner. As a matter of fact, can we send Fred a message?"

Johnson leaned forward and said: "Smoot, let's go. That's it. That's the message for this week."

So who is the better trash talker, Chad or Fred?

"That's a good question," Johnson said. "I don't know. We have to ask him. Smoot, who talks better trash? Make sure he gets that."

Smoot, who's known for both his ability as a cover corner and for his sense of humor, had already built quite a career quote portfolio upon being selected out of Mississippi State in the second round of the 2001 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins. While under contract as a Redskin, teammates named an award after him in training camp - being the "Fred 'Silky Johnson' Smoot Award", which was also referred to as the "You're Nothin' Award." During his time in Washington, when a player recorded a big play, Smoot would smile and tell him simply, "You're nothin."

Some excerpts from his time at Mississippi State:

On covering SEC wide receivers: "It's like this, 64% of the Earth is covered by water and the rest is covered by Smoot!"

On Kentucky's home field grass: "That's the worst field I've ever played on. I don't know if they spray painted it or what but it was slippery. It was real thick, too. And I don't know much about cutting grass, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night."

On Rodney Daniels pre-game talk before the Auburn game: "Yeah, I read in the paper earlier in the week (Rodney Daniels) said he couldn't wait. This was his 'breakout game'. He broke out, alright, what, with five catches for seven yards? It must have been a rash he broke out with."

On a BYU Touchdown on him: Heard outside the locker room after the BYU game, "They got one on you, Fred," said a fan. Smoot just smiled and said, "Yeah, I allow one a year."

On getting snubbed by the Outback Bowl: "Man, we went 9-2. Georgia went 7-4. They might as well have put us playing on BET on Christmas Eve in the We Got Screwed Bowl."

To Vanderbilt's WR Todd Yoder: "If you do my homework, I'll let you catch a pass."

Johnson and Smoot originally date back to the 2001 Senior Bowl, when Smoot lined up for the South team across from Johnson, donning his Oregon State helmet for the North team. After the game in which Smoot earned Defensive MVP honors for the South squad, his brimming confidence was in full display.

"You know all I was going to do was play the way I can play," Smoot said. "If I got the MVP or not, you know I was going to think I was MVP."

Johnson, who last year mailed bottles of Pepto Bismol to members of the Cleveland Browns secondary claiming "they'd get sick of covering him", has been told several times by coach Marvin Lewis to tone it down.

"This is the year of entertainment," Johnson said. "I no longer play football. Most of all, we've got to get a win and make it as exciting as possible."

"If you put them in this room, you couldn't tell them apart because they're both the same," Lewis said. "They both feel very good about themselves, and they're talented. ... They're both a lot of fun."

...and isn't having fun is what's it all about?

Mark My Words: Week 3

Wow, I'm still in shock. Like walking in on your wife with another man, the BigTen completely pulled the unexpected when all three of the top dogs, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio State lost. I still don't think I've recovered from the horror. What was the most painful from the three games, was that AJ Hawk gained more yards than Drew Tate, Mike Hart, and Ted Ginn. My dark horse Vandy still continues to impress. I've also noticed that whenever I pick against Notre Dame and Georgia they each win. So this week I'm picking Georgia over UL Monroe (who?) hoping to have the curse work with me!

Michigan State vs Notre Dame UPSET SPECIAL
I know, I know...I've already picked against Our Lady twice this year, but I just can't help but think the third times a charm. Notre Dame has never been likeable from my vantage point, but somehow this quorum of Domers have been nothing but fun to watch. So I'll be following my Curse of ND/GA theory and picking Drew Stanton and the Spartans to walk out of South Bend with a big fat Win. It should be noted, however, that if Drew Stanton gets hurt, the Irish romp...just subtract about 28 of MSU's score below.
Michigan State 42 – Notre Dame 41

San Diego St vs Ohio St WOODSHED GAME OF THE WEEK
After the heartbreak from last weeks contest, I fully expect the Buckeye offense to take complete responsibility and come out with a fire to prove they can actually score touchdowns. I do also expect the Bucks D to have a slight bit of lax time before really getting fired up. They put their heart and souls on the lines and their offensive counterparts really let them down. Look for Troy Smith to have a huge game and Zwick to get some mop-up time in the second half. I expect nothing more than complete domination in quarters 2 and 3.
OSU 49 - SDSU 17

Vanderbilt vs Ole Miss
Can Jay Cutler be any more clutch? For two straight weeks they have needed a touchdown in the last minutes of a road game to win, and for two straight weeks he has delivered. This week is Vandy's first home game, and I expect them to come out fired up to play in front of a sellout crowd of 5,000 future doctors and engineers. Well, maybe Nashville doesn't quite appreciate Cutler and the boys as much as I do, but look for nothing less than a statement made by the boys in...um....gold? black? Whatever. Cutler for Heisman...week 3!
Vandy 35 – Ole Miss 20

Oklahoma vs UCLA
Put Oklahoma right up there with teams I just love to hate, along with Georgia and Notre Dame. The only thing worse than listening to announcers fawn all over Bob Stoops and his big game coaching (how'd that Nat'l Title game turn out for y'all?), is when the pollsters do it too. Why Oklahoma is even ranked is beyond me. Just goes to show that no matter how liberal the regular media is, the sports media just can't get past it's conservative "I love the traditional powerhouse programs" ways. Thank God for me, Maurice Drew and the UCLA Bruins are going to seal OU's trip out of the top 25.
UCLA 24 – OU 13

Purdue vs Arizona
Jerrod Void has been playing since the Reagan administration. At least that's how it feels. Biron quipped last week that "Jesus" Void looks like he was the fastest player on the field in their win over Akron. Well it certainly helps when you have 6 years of conditioning under your belt. Also, what was bad for the A-K-Ron is going to be bad for the Wildcats too. Most people will talk about Tiller's pass offense and how Brandon Kirsch is as good as Orton (he's not). This game is won or lost based on Void's play. Expect good things from the Big Ten (God I hope).
Purdue 38 – Arizona 31

TCU vs Utah - (Thursday)
Teebs, being the Utah alum that he is, has been getting on my case about not giving some love to the Utes. Well, their mascot offends me, so I banned them from predictions. In all reality, Utah is from a crap conference and hasn't played anyone yet that made them worth mentioning. Now they do. I would love to say that the Utes are as good as when Urban coached there, and I would love to say that they are going to romp over TCU. But the fact of the matter is TCU lost to SMU...which is an amazing team. SMU has cool colors that make for sweet fitted caps, which means....who am I kidding, who the hell loses to SMU! I don't care how good people think Taye Gunn is....
Utah 28 – TCU 21

Florida vs Tennessee GAME OF THE WEEK
The biggest game for both teams....until, well until, either play LSU, or Georgia, or Auburn, or anyone else in that conference.... will come down to the arm of Chris Leak. Voice in Head: LIAR! Ok, so it won't come down to Leak. It should though...that's what the announcers, fans, and prognosticators want. What it's really going to come down to is Mercury. If the third astral plane has retrograded into Mercury then the Libras will not have an athletic day. Well...that's at least what my astrologer told me after she called for a loan to get her car fixed. Anyways, I've never based a pick on astrology (lie), emotions (lie), or superstitions (really big lie), so I'm sticking with the Gators. I do this, only because my hatred for Phil "State's Evidence" Fulmer is worse than for Urban "Sell out my Alma Mater" Meyer. If I had it my way both teams would play 3298 overtimes and the NCAA would declare that all players had expired their college eligibility. But that just wasn't in the cards. Getting away from topic again. Ok.....and the Gators win!
UF 26,409 – Tenn 26,407 3298 OTs

Few EA Announcements

Got an email from EA Sports a short while ago with a few announcements, so check 'em out and take advantage of things that can take your corresponding gaming to new levels.

1. Pontiac High Performance Leaderboard (NCAA Football 06)

"Pontiac will be highlighting one of College Football’s best match-ups for one week a month in the Pontiac High Performance Lobby. Pick one of the teams from the featured match-up, play online during the specified time, and Pontiac will track your performance-based stats on the Pontiac High Performance Leaderboards (coming soon).

Power up your console with some of football’s best rivalries, turn the tide of the match-up with a Pontiac Game Changing Performance, and see if you have what it takes to make a name for yourself on the Pontiac High Performance Leaderboards."

* University of Michigan VS. Michigan State - 09/25/05 – 10/01/05
* University of Florida VS. University of Georgia - 10/23/05 - 10/29/05
* University of Texas VS. Texas A&M - 11/19/05 - 11/25/05
* Rose Bowl (Teams To Be Determined) - 12/25/05 - 12/31/05

2. NCAA Football 06 Forums
* Much like the new Madden & NBA Live site/boards, NCAA is now setup with a forum current within the year the game is played. I mean, the old EA boards didn't beat out many free message boards available on the web.

3. Madden PSP site launched earlier this week, game is set to come out Tuesday the 20th.

4. Madcatz sweepstakes at EA.
* Ten pairs of controllers will be given away in September if you're one of the lucky ones chosen randomly by entering your name in the contest.

Flashbacks

Back in July, I ran an article discussing Ohio State's desire to avoid smaller players from the home state who then went on to tear up the Bucks. The previous names were Curtis Enis, Jeff Backes, and Ryan Brewer...I also wrote this:

"So, do we think Ohio State has learned it's lesson???? Ladies and Gentlemen, please say hello to Ohio State's newest Why-the-hell-didn't-we-recruit-him player, Tyrell Sutton:

What has Tyrell done to warrant passing over? He's 5'9" and 190 lbs (check). He racked up 3,241 yards and 38 touchdowns, just dropped 200 yards and 3 touchdowns on Ohio's brightest in the North-South game this past weekend, and he won this year's Ohio's Mr. Football award (check). So what else does the prophecy portend? Well, he'll be attending Northwestern this fall, so I'm guessing at least one more loss to the mighty Wildcats over the next couple of seasons. While most Bucks fans would be upset at this revelation, I look forward to the day when I can point my finger at Tressel and company and give them a big "I fucking told you so!"

Well, thusfar this season, Tyrell gained 104 yards rushing and 2-touchdowns in his first collegiate game against Ohio University, then followed it up with a 218 yard, 4-touchdown performance in the Wildcats win versus Northern Illinois. He was also named the Big Ten offensive player of the week for his display.

This can only get worse for OSU. Mark down the November 12th matchup when the Bucks play Northwestern a week before the Michigan game...if they're caught looking ahead at all, Tyrell "Mr. Football" Sutton is going to ruin the Buckeyes' day.

No Business like Show Business

What an amazing weekend! If you don't like college football then just stop reading, cause this will be a waste of your time. First though, the non-football stuff. It's always a pleasure whenever Biron makes the trip to Columbus to visit, especially since he lives a little over an hour away. But seeing as this was his first trip to visit me in the LAST 4 YEARS, I figured it was appropriate to not hold a grudge for his neglect. But I will tell you this before I get into football; we played a quick game of NHL 2K6 for the PS2 and it was quite possibly the worst hockey game I've ever played. Crap graphics, gameplay, music, controls, mocaps, everything. Now Biron loves it because he's in the stage of his relationship with EA where he's trying to find a reason to breakup. He loves EA, he enjoys playing EA, he even consistently visits EA.com...but he feels like if he doesn't play the field a few more times before marrying EA then he will have missed out on some imaginary girls-gone-wild game...thus, 2K6. Now I for one will tell you straight up, Biron has beer goggles on with 2K6. Not a few drinks at a dark club beer goggles, but full on case of corona in a redneck town beer goggles. He'd take home a garden utensil if he thought it would unseat EA. Tsk Tsk. As for the rest of the time, our significant others hung out, we enjoyed football, and all was good. So now, onto the show!

Texas 25 - Ohio State 22

In the annals of college football, the 2005 showdown between the Longhorns of Texas and the Buckeyes of Ohio State will go down as one for the ages. It was a tightly fought contest whose outcome was unknown until Troy Smith was sacked for a safety in the final seconds. I won't go into the details of the game...if you didn't see it you must've been watching the LSU game, which I'll forgive. But before I go into that, I'm going to attempt to convey the environment.

View from our seats

My girlfriend, Peanut, and I sat in the 'D' section, which for those of you who don't know, is directly underneath the press box. Behind us was a pair of Texas elderly, I'm guessing in their 60s. I'm sure they had no problem getting tickets on eBay, and I'm basing this on the fact that she had on more bling than Nelly could write songs about in a lifetime. Her ring alone had more flashes of light than the hundred thousand cameras that went off simultaneously upon the entrance of The Best Damn Band In The Land. She must have had over $500,000 in diamonds on her person. To our right was a quiet couple from Columbus who went relatively unnoticed throughout the game. To our left was a quaint couple who attended OSU in the mid 80s. They were polite and congenial. The hustband was quiet, but the wife, along with Peanut, asked me many questions throughout the game concerning rules and players. It certainly fed my appetite for passing on inane sports details to the female gender and even though we lost, I felt proud...as if I had passed on the details for curing polio.

The real story though, was the Texas fans who sat in front of us. Mark and Brant made the game much more enjoyable than if Ohio State fans had been there. Mark was more outgoing and Guy much more reserved. This was evident when two drunk-ass OSU students began harassing them late in the 4th quarter. "Who's the better team now, bitch!?" came out with the score 22-16 as a jinxing harbinger. I can't blame OSU's version of Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum for the Bucks loss, but they certainly tried their best to ruin a spectacular event.

Me, Peanut, Mark, and Brant (l to r)

So, first things first, why did Texas win? Simple. Vince Young executed when he had to. Well, in all reality, it's not that simple. This game was lost by Ohio State more than it was won by Texas. The real cause of Ohio State's loss was Jim Bollman. For those of you who aren't familiar, Jim Bollman is the current Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach. In Bollman's tenure Ohio State has gone from "three yards and a cloud of dust" to "three yards if we're lucky". For those of you who watched the 2003 Buckeye season, you'd remember the Bucks' dilapidated line struggling to run for 100 yards a game. What some of you might not know, is that the Ohio State offense that year had Ben Hartsock (Colts), Shane Olivea (Chargers), Alex Stepanovich (Cardinals), Adrien Clarke (Eagles), Rob Sims (OSU), and Nick Mangold (OSU) blocking. Now Sims and Mangold will be in the NFL next year, which effectively means that Ohio State had 6 NFL caliber players blocking. Normally if a coach had that kind of talent and couldn't move the ball, there would be problems involving job security. Not at Ohio State. We give you the keys to the offense!

What is even more confounding, is how good the Defensive assistants are. After Texas went up 10-0, the line switched from 2-gap to 1-gap thus requiring 5 or 6 O-lineman to block 4 D-linemen, effectively freeing the safeties and linebackers to stop the Texas running game. Where was the offensive adjustments? They were in the hands of Jim Bollman.

This year, the fans of Ohio State will get to watch Bollman make coaching moves like he did during this game...benching Troy Smith for the majority of the second half... getting Ted Ginn 3 touches on offense. Now I'm no genius, but anyone who knows anything about football knows that Ohio State's three best offensive weapons are Santonio Holmes, Ted Ginn, and Troy Smith....and Bollman effectively stopped using two of them.

Difficult to watch

Since I've done enough bitching, here are some observations from the game. Vince Young is nearly impossible to tackle. He also made the final play when he had to. If I were drafting an NFL team right now, I'd be hard pressed to take Mike Vick over Young. That may sound like hyperbole, but Vick doesn't throw as well as people think, and Young obviously better than those same people think. And Vick doesn't have Young's size either (6'1" 200 to 6'4" 230). But here's where I stop, because I've heard enough of Young's dick being sucked by the media in the last three days...besides, he wasn't even the best player on the field.

Hawk: "I officially have more yards than Ginn!"

AJ Hawk's stat line read as so: 12 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT, 0 missed tackles, 0 blown coverages, 0 boneheaded plays. So why does that make him the best? Because Vince Young made one bad play after another in the second and third quarters? No, it was because Hawk was unstoppable and played flawlessly. He did everything he could to put the Bucks in a position to win. His interception and fumble recovery both led to OSU field goals, and he refused to allow VY to run on him. If Bollman didn't have his head up his ass, OSU might have turned those figgies into touchdowns and the media would be all up on Hawk's nuts instead of Young's.

As for the rest of my picks. Well, the Big Ten laid an egg and left me in the lurch. However, both players that I said must have big games in order for their teams to win...got hurt. Drew Tate (Iowa) and Mike Hart (Michigan) both exited in the first half of their respective losses. As for the Georgia one? I just hate Georgia. On the converse, LSU pulled a W out of their asses in an amazingly exciting game (God I love Tivo). Wisconsin killed Temple...which was to be expected. But most importantly, my NCAA Online boys at Vanderbilt began their pursuit of Roses with a big win in Fayetteville over the Arkansas Razorbacks. Jay "Heisman" Cutler continues to be the biggest impact player in college football and rightfully leads my initial Heisman list.

Week 2 - Heisman List

1. Jay Cutler - QB - Vanderbilt
2. AJ Hawk - LB - Ohio State
3. Vince Young - QB - Texas
4. Brady Quinn - QB - Notre Dame
5. Matt Leinart - QB - USC
6. Brad Smith - QB - Missouri
7. Reggie Bush - RB - USC
8. DJ Shockley - QB - Georgia
9. Adrian Peterson - RB - Oklahoma
10. Laurence Maroney - RB - Minnesota

Week 2 - "Revoke my Scholarship because I'm an idiot" List

1. Anyone who plays for Pitt.
2. Jimmy Skinner - QB - Marshall
3. Chad Henne - QB - Michigan
4. Rhett Bomar - QB - Oklahoma
5. Trev Alberts - Unemployed

NCAA Baseball/NHL 2K6

When I posted about the rumors of NCAA Baseball, all I had to go on was an Indianapolis newspaper article and a post on OS about a major EA announcement coming considering the direction of the MVP franchise. Well, last Thursday (I'm a bit late, I know), IGN released an article complete with a video and 3 screenshots of the upcoming (February'ish) edition of MVP baseball - and oh lemme tell ya about how sweet the aluminum ping sounds. EA followed suit shortly thereafter in releasing a press release saying the same thing, so Boz's dreams have came true - the next greatest college sport behind football will finally make its video game debut.

ping!

Rosenblatt Stadium

Michigan's new uniforms

Teebs has already sworn his allegiance to this game and has already begun talking about doing rosters for all 290 Division 1 baseball teams. While I gave everyone here at FM the weekend off to be with their families and celebrate such a big occurrence in the sports gaming world, Boz stayed here at the office frantically capturing and printing off as many 2004 rosters as possible - talk about your dedication.

Now after such an eventful weekend of football with defending Ohio champion Cin. Colerain High School defeating their Texas counterpart Tyler Lee 27-12, my old high school moving to 3-0 on the season after blowing goats since my younger brother graduated, Ohio University defeating Pittstachio 16-10 in OT & the Bengals winning their first road game opener since Indianapolis '95 - I gotta say that today I'm a pretty happy guy. I mean, anytime Wanndstedt loses I'm ecstatic, which could also be said just about for Michigan & the Baltimore Ravens - but overall it was just a good weekend for football and football fans in general. I know what you're thinking though - yes, yes - there's an 800 lb. gorilla sitting here in this blog and no one's talking about it. Alright, I'll cut to the chase - no more beating around the bush - you noticed the NHL 2K6 pic under my Now Playing list.

I'm really enjoying it so far. After playing the EA series since NHLPA '93, the controls are pretty rough getting used to. The first game I played was of the Play Now variety, thus it was played on the simplest of levels where I narrowly pulled out a 2-1 victory with my Bluejackets over the Sidney Crosby'less Penguins (rookies need to play a game in the NHL before being added to the game). Shooting the puck seemed mundane and ungodly hard to get off a good howitzer, passing was extremely inaccurate and felt rough - but after 3-4 games I really started to enjoy the game.

EA wins the graphics battle with their '03 installment - I mean, 2K isn't going to win awards for theirs. They don't suck; EA just has a much prettier game. On a similar token, EA also wins the soundtrack...award, or something - which doesn't say much cause I usually can't stand theirs either. 2K's really blows, but gameplay wise I'm suffering no ill-reserve for this game at all. Using a feature called (I think) Total Puck Control, you press R3 as you skate with the puck and it essentially brings up icon passing like most games already have - however, from that, you can cover and dump the puck, get some insane one-time shots on goal and run a power play inside the offensive zone. That's right, I said run offense. One of the coolest things I've noticed is how the defensivemen will go to all extents to keep the puck in the zone, from grabbing it out of the air and placing it on the ground or skating backwards on their own, this game is just built a hockey sim to its truest form.

I'm still not a pro at it, haven't went online long enough to do anything but make a username (bironm) and download online rosters, but I'm having a lot of fun. Tutorials take you thru different aspects of the game from total puck control, coaching and various skills, it has a skills competition similar to that of the NHL All-Star Game with shot targets, speed skating and slapshot competition, and the game comes with a "Skybox" mode that maintains your user stats and trophies, complete with a lounge that has darts, air hockey, NHL trivia and shuffleboard - it's just a lot of fun to play around with now.

I have that EA fanboy thing that Boz & Swade won't shake telling me I still need to play that one as well, so I'll update more when I feel I can give better impressions and compare the two. I can tell why this game is labeled the best hockey game by many already, so I guess the jury is out for another week or so.

Mark My Words: Week 2

Week 1 is in the books and thusfar I was only WAAAAY off on two games. Sadly Jared Zabransky forgot he was a Bronco and not a Bulldog. I clearly remember arriving at Hooters just in time to see Boise St. down 31-0. I quickly called Biron to remind him Boise had the Dawgs right where they wanted 'em...now they just had to run off 44 unanswered. In my other blown call, Miami's offensive line just didn't show up for the Florida State game. The middle school team I coached last year blocked better than that. Oh, and I forgot that (in the immortal words of Chuck) "Wannstedt could fuck up a blowjob" and mistakenly took Pitt over my hated Irish; tsk tsk. I was, however, spot on with my alma mater, the Ohio State Buckeyes, as their first team threw a 57 minute shutout on the Redhawks of Miami leaving up 34-0...only to watch the bench-sluts let Miami's first teamers drop 14 on em in a little over two minutes. This depth problem could manifest itself later in the year...watch out! My final tally for the week: 2-3 (editor's note: Not a good start). Now, on to the picks!

Vanderbilt vs Arkansas UPSET SPECIAL
Jay Cutler is my dark-horse Heisman candidate for the year, and as such, allow me to close my eyes, shake my magic 8-ball, and wish for a Vanderbilt upset. Outcome: "Not Likely". What the fuck do those things know anyways, Cutler is a top-3 QB in terms of NFL talent right there with Matt Leinhart and Omar Jacobs. I'm going with my heart and taking Vandy in a barn burner over the Hogs. (Secretly I think Arkansas runs for 400 yards in this game, but don't tell Biron) Cutler puts up 300 yards passing, 4-TDs, 100 yards rushing, 1-TD on the ground, and a big time boost in his heisman candidacy!
Vandy 52 – Ark 49

Temple vs Wisconsin WOODSHED GAME OF THE WEEK
Temple really has no chance in this game unless the Wisconsin busses don't make it to the game in time. I think the Owls would be better off if John Chaney came out for a little X's and O's, at least he's a proven talent. The real story is Brian Calhoun. If he rushes for less than 200 I'd consider it a miracle...or an injury. Barry Alvarez is a smart coach, and the only thing he'd love more than winning a Big Ten championship in his last season would be to help one of his players win the Heisman.
Wisco 70 – Temple 10

South Carolina vs Georgia
Last week I thought the Broncos of Boise State would upset the Georgia Bulldogs. Boy was I wrong. DJ Shockley put on an offensive clinic and the Dawg defense clamped down and forced 6 turnovers in the first half. Ouch! This week...I think SC pulls the upset. I know, I know...Georgia has more talent. I realize this. But what I also realize is that Steve Spurrier is 11-1 versus Georgia in his coaching tenure. That, and I hate the Bulldogs. Well, that may be an overstatement. I really don't hate Georgia, just their football team...and their coach...and their attitude...and well...ugh. They just put my panties in a bunch and I have no reason why.
SC 35 – UGA 31

LSU vs Arizona State
Given the devastation and hardships that have landed on the entire Gulf states, I can't help but love LSU. That, and I feel bad for poor Les Miles. I mean, the guy gets destroyed in his final game at Oklahoma State, then gets the unfortunate role of filling Nick Saban's shoes. Yikes! What this game really comes down to is focus. Does JaMarcus Russell and the Tigers have enough to put away the Sun Devils in this pseudo away game? I think they do.
LSU 20 – ASU 10

Iowa vs Iowa State
Everyone knows that Kirk Ferentz is one of the best coaches in college football. Everyone knows that Drew Tate is one of the best signal-callers in the Big Ten. What everyone doesn't know is that the Big 12 sucks this year. Seriously people. The Big Ten and the SEC are the class of college football this year and every year. Unlike last year, this Hawkeye team has a running game. Expect Iowa to get up big early and let their defense suck the life out of the Cyclones. I'm expecting nothing less than a combined 300 yards rushing and 300 yards passing from the Hawkeyes.
Iowa 42 – ISU 17

Notre Dame at Michigan
Last week Brady Quinn and Charlie Weis made me sound like an absolute dumbass. Well, maybe not, but they sure made Dave Wannstedt look like he was completely lost. Sadly Jim Hermann and Lloyd Carr are much better college (or any level) coaches than Wannstedt's crew. The outcome of this game will be in Michigan's back seven. If they can stay upright Michigan wins the game. Sadly, I hate the Irish more than I hate Michigan (go Big Ten), so I'm pulling for that team up north. Expect Mike Hart to go for 120 and 2-TDs and the boys in Blue pull out a close one in OT.
Michigan 33 – ND 30

Texas at Ohio State GAME OF THE WEEK
Last week we discussed how opening day games are never close for Ohio State. OSU again blew out their first week opponent even though the score was closer than the outcome. If Ohio State had left their first teamers in like Miami had, they could have won 48-0. Time for another history lesson folks. Since Jim Tressel has been the coach at Ohio State ten (10) pretty darn good college quarterbacks and Heisman hopefuls have played the Bucks. Kyle Orton, Cody Pickett, Ell Roberson, Josh Harris, Phillip Rivers, Joshua Cribbs, Kliff Klingsbury, Jason Gesser, Chad Henne, and Brooks Bollinger. All ten have, at one point, been in the NFL. All ten were voted as an award winner in their respective conferences. All ten were considered Heisman candidates (except Bollinger and Cribbs) at some point in the year. All ten went a combined 0-10 versus Ohio State. For people to even think that Vince Young is going to come into the Shoe, in prime time noless, and single-handedly win this game....dreaming. The last QB to single handedly carry a team over the Bucks was Drew Brees in 2000, at Purdue prior to Jim Tressel.
Texas fans can scream until their blue in the face about Young tearing up Michigan, but Michigan's defense is not that good. They weren't that good last year either. Arguably their best defensive tackler last year, Earnest Shazor, WASN'T DRAFTED! The game was also on a neutral site at the Rose Bowl, not at a hostile environment like the Horseshoe. We also know that Texas folds annualy against the only other strong defensive team they play, Oklahoma. Note that all of those games are on neutral site also.
The only chance Texas has of winning this game is if Justin Zwick and Troy Smith combine for 4 turnovers or more. Texas won't move the ball and Tressel's special teams philosophy will always keep the Bucks in prime field position. Expect Santonio Holmes to go for 140 yards receiving and 2-TDs.
OSU 27 – Texas 12