Five Thoughts on the Week that was: Week 7

1) Officials need to slow down their whistles

If you had the ability to stay up for the Oregon/ASU game, congratulations! You were treated to a decent game that started way too late. Late in the game (I believe late 3rd quarter) when the game was still in doubt, another fantastic ref blunder occurred that may have changed the outcome. Oregon's backup QB fumbled the ball on a nice run, an ASU player made a phenomenal diving play to keep the ball in bounds, and ASU recovered it! What a turn of events! But....the official (who didn't have the correct angle on the play) blew the whistle too soon. Upon review, the ball was fumbled and recovered by ASU, but the referee couldn't change the call because of the inadvertent whistle. As I've been trained as an official, I feel free to comment that in football you never blow the whistle until you're SURE you know the play is dead. This is the worst mistake an official can make (trust me, I've made it and seen it made in intramurals and it sucks). There was no way to correct it even though everyone would admit that ASU got hosed. Of course, Oregon was the better team, but who knows what would have happened. Officials must be held accountable.

2) Just. Win. Baby.

I feel the need to comment on this after the passing of Al Davis. To often, the media hype surrounding the game of football (or other sports for that matter) have focused all the spotlight on glitz and flash. The top 10 highlights garner attention and touchdown passes are sexy. Lost in all this are the wins and losses. OSU will be a water cooler joke around the country this week for completing 1 of 4 passes, but I guarantee you the Illini fans won't see it that way. Ask Georgia Tech if they would have enjoyed an 'ugly' win over Virginia rather than a monumental collapse. ESPiN shows you that winning big is all that matters, but ask the players in the losing locker rooms if they'd prefer 10 highlights and a loss to an ugly walrusball style win. I guarantee you that the coaches and players will take the W any day.

3) Last week's slate of games SUCKED

Remember when I said there's no one good. This is when you feel it. The big games last week were
1) Pac12 showdown between a contender and an upstart no one believed had a chance
2) Big 12 showdown between a flashy offensive contender and a big name with little bite
3) SEC showdown between 2 of the last 3 teams to win a title that have fallen reasonably far
4) B1G showdown between Big Blue and little brother than has been the same outcome for 4 straight years...
Yawn. Everything comes down to Oregon/Stanford, Bedlam (OU/OSU), and Bama/LSU. Maybe throw in Wisky/(MSU, OSU) but seriously, where have all the fun intriguing matchups gone?

4) When will some of these contenders be tested?

Of the top 10, there are still 2 teams (3 if you count Boise) that have yet to be tested, and may not be. Stanford hasn't played a team with a pulse and Wisconsin's only 'big' game was against a supremely overrated Nebraska team. These teams may be for real, but looking at their schedules, there's not a lot of chances to prove it. Stanford has USC and Oregon but the remainder of their schedule is akin to the standard Boise State schedule (1 big game a year). This year, Boise doesn't even have that 1 signature game (no, I don't count UGA). Wisconsin has a big one next week in East Lansing, but no one sees Sparty as a complete team. OSU could come from nowhere to bite them but otherwise.... One big issue with no one being good is that it's hard to find proof that these teams touted as contenders are deserving. If Wisconsin wins comfortably in East Lansing, I'll buy. Stanford: Beat Oregon if you're for real, then we'll talk. Boise: sorry but enjoy the kid's table. You may be great, but we'll never know.


5) I don't wanna sound like a broken record but....

Read my last few weeks of ranting.
Refs: fail--see point 1
Commentators: SUPER FAIL--This week, I couln't choose the dumbest crew between Davie and Wischusen attacking Zook for not going for a quick 80 yard score in the last 40 seconds before halftime, Brent clearly hitting the bottle and not watching the game, or Todd Blackledge saying how a QB protected the ball while going down as the video shows a perfect stiff arm of the ground. Oh yeah, then there's Craig James (Remember the 5!) and Jesse 'The Bachelor' Palmer. It's painful to watch anyone but Spielman and Meyer.
Teams: All suck
I keep waiting to be proven wrong, but every week provides more and more fodder for criticism. I love college football, but the media, shoddy officiating, and pure lack of quality teams (sans top 3-4) take away from the experience. In fact, the lack of quality isn't necessarily bad if there were parity but the few rich teams are taking away from the fun. In regards to the commentary, try this: listen to the commentary just to find out how many
a) grammatical errors
b) conceptual errors
c) subject matter mistakes
d) inane chatter that adds nothing to the broadcast
Remove all that and the crickets would take over. Tell me about X's and O's, not 'You have got to make that catch!' That adds nothing that my grandmother couldn't add--and at least she'd be able to explain the ins and outs better.

Bonus: I thought every play was reviewed...

Can we get at least a trained monkey in the booth for replay? Every game I watch, it seems that plays that are incorrectly called are not reviewed quickly enough (see OSU/Ill 25 yard completion) and those that are correctly called (so clearly that even those with radio can tell--yes, that's the joke) are always being reviewed. A Denard Robinson TD run was reviewed (about 2-3 minutes) when everyone at home could see it live. One replay showed it....game over. I'll give ESPiN credit on the replays they show us at home, but will someone explain to me why I can see the definitive replay before the next snap, but the monkeys in the booth are too slow to react--except when it's clearly unnecessary.