AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2008 > January > 01 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USFive burning questions as we begin New Year’s Day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New Orleans—Happy New Year folks! If you’re a college football fan this is the most fun day of the year with wall-to-wall games, ending with our Sugar Bowl match-up tonight.
When New Year’s Day gets here I always have a lot of questions. Here are my top five. What are yours?
I’ll come back with an update at the end of the day and give you some final thoughts before tonight’s Sugar Bowl.
1. Can the SEC go 9-0? Auburn’s dramatic overtime win over Clemson in last night’s Chick-fil-A Bowl gives the SEC a 4-0 record in the bowl season thus far as Mississippi State, Kentucky, and Alabama have also won. Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas, and Georgia all play today. LSU plays for the BCS championship here on Monday night. At the end of this day the SEC could be 8-0 in bowls after going 7-1 last season. It’s a long shot, but it could happen.
2. Will Tim Tebow be more fired up than normal?: The Florida quarterback isn’t into smack talk, but he is an intense competitor, one of the most intense I’ve ever seen. So when Michigan linebacker Shawn Crable says that Tebow, the Heisman Trophy winner, “is just a quarterback” you have to wonder if the big fella may play pretty well today in the Capital One Bowl. Shawn, my man, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
3. Will Darren McFadden step up? Arkansas running back Darren McFadden will be one of the top three picks in the NFL draft even if he were to sit out today’s Cotton Bowl with Missouri. And it has not been a fun week for McFadden as charges swirled that he obtained a car from an agent in violation of NCAA rules. McFadden was cleared of those charges but you have to wonder where his mind is as this game begins. Does he run with a chip on his shoulder? Or does hold back?
4. Will West Virginia care? We know the Mountaineer fans don’t care about the Fiesta Bowl because they turned back so many tickets. Traditionally West Virginia fans travel better than anybody, but it’s been a tough month for them. West Virginia lost a chance to play for the national championship with the inexplicable collapse against Pittsburgh on Dec. 1. Then coach Rich Rodriguez bolts to Michigan in what has become a very messy divorce. Forgotten in all of this, as is usually the case, are the players. What is their mindset going to be when they take the field against Oklahoma? Oklahoma, we should point out, is very, very good. Think the Fiesta Bowl people are wishing right now that they had taken Hawaii?
5. What is the over and under on how many times Colt Brennan will get hit? Trust me when I tell you that, win or lose, Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan will need to spend some time in the hot tub Wednesday morning before he goes back to Honolulu. Georgia is going to keep it clean, but every time the defense gets a chance to give him a love tap, they will. Try to keep score at home tonight and see now many times he gets “nudged.” I will say this: He is a tough kid and he’s used to getting hit. But I don’t think he’s used to getting hit by SEC defenses.
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Comments
By David Henderson
January 1, 2008 9:40 AM | Link to this
Tony … Colt Brennan got robbed of the Heisman and he will prove that tonight in “The Big Easy”
By GW
January 1, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
I expect only 2 SEC losses, Arkansas and Tennessee. WVA fans are afraid of returning to mediocrity. Tony, you didn’t mention the grandaddy. I guess ESPN/ABC has already said it all in their nonstop promos of the PAC 10 and Big 10. With the rest of the BCS on FOX we’re not hearing anything about the Orange and Fiesta and just a little about the Sugar.
By djgator
January 1, 2008 10:00 AM | Link to this
Don’t make Tebow angry. You mess with the bull you get the horns. GO GATORS!!!!!!!
By Hoopie1
January 1, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
Colt Brennan played against a bunch of substandard athletes(small,fast but don’t hit like the SEC). The WAC doesn’t know how to play D. He will get pounded and shocked just like Troy Smith did last year. He will get some scores, but the cumulative effect of the game will beat him and Hawaii down.
If UGA runs and controls the line of scrimmage, which they probably will, Hawaii won’t get a lot of chances to score. The only hope for Hawaii is for UGA to be overconfident.
BTW, WDE!!! UGA 42….Hawaii 24
By NASCARfan
January 1, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this
I’m sick of the media slobbering all over Teblow. Tony, if you give Matt Stafford all of Teblow’s 3 yard dives into the endzone that Thomas Brown, Knowshon Moreno, and Brandon Southerland had this year, then Matt Stafford would have those “great” numbers.
Teblow is OVERRATED.
By War Eagle
January 1, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this
TONY, MARK BRADLEY ARTICLE, “Auburn slightly stronger” IS AN INSULT TO JOURNALISM, PLEASE READ IT AND TELL ME HIS OBJECTIVE IN THAT TRASH FOR A CHICK FIL BOWLA GAME?
By SANTI
January 1, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this
If any one has watched Colt Brennan this year then you would know that the style of offence he plays is almost perfect and i don’t think any defense could stop them.
By College Football Fan
January 1, 2008 12:57 PM | Link to this
You forgot the other burning question:
Why don’t other college football teams just roll over and concede to Tech what with all of it’s “storied history” and “Histeric Grunt Field”, and the basic calculas class the students take, and Heisman, etc. coached there before anybody here was born.
Tech people are delusional.
By John McKenzie
January 1, 2008 1:19 PM | Link to this
West Virginia fans DO CARE! It’s been a bad month in deed but the MOUNTAINEER universe is treating this like a huge game (which it is). Rodriguez proved he can’t win the big game so we’re all looking forward to bring in a coach who can. There are big dreams in 2008 for the Mountaineers but as far as the Fiesta Bowl, I already had my plane and hotel booked for New Orleans and can not attend.
LET’S GO MOUNTAINEERS!!!!!!!!!!
By mike28212
January 1, 2008 1:37 PM | Link to this
just a correction but i’m pretty sure the SEC went 5-3 in the bowls last year not 7-1. i’m a dawg and sec fan but felt the need to point this out. last year’s losers were alabama, arkansas and tennessee.
By TDone
January 1, 2008 2:09 PM | Link to this
To College Football Fan,
Tony did not mention Tech in this article. So since you decided to do in this blog, what you said is true.
But we do have white collar jobs.
We get paid for our brains, but for our butts like the Muttland Myopian Hushpuppies.
By alohadawg
January 1, 2008 6:06 PM | Link to this
To hell with UFaG! Tebow rooked more rike batgirl than Superman. Mahalo.
By College Football Fan
January 2, 2008 8:42 AM | Link to this
One other burning question
How many dumba Dawg fans will pollute this blog thumping their chests about how great they are, they should have been in the NC, etc. etc.**
Dawg fans are the most delusional of all fans.
By True Dawg
January 2, 2008 4:31 PM | Link to this
Well, it seems whoever voted for the Heisman finalists were wrong. Both Brennan and Tebow lost on New Year’s. They should have chosen better talent like that of Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno or Thomas Brown who were all worthy to be considered. The Dawgs played awesome last night against Hawaii and I feel they should have played in the National Championship game. They would have whooped either LSU or Ohio. That was another poor choice if you ask me.