Stanford Cardinal – Page 113 – Sports Radio Service

Stanford vs Oregon Preview

Published on October 31, 2014 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal (5-3, 3-2 Pac-12) will meet the fifth ranked University of Oregon Ducks (7-1, 4-1 Pac-12) at Autzen Stadium in Eugene,Oregon at 4:30 pm PDT on Saturday November 1st. Autzen Stadium is the home of the Ducks and holds 54,000 screaming Duck fans is in generally thought to be a house of horrors for visiting teams.

The Ducks will be seeking to avenge the last two losses to the Cardinal. In 2012, the Cardinal stunned

the fans at Autzen Stadium as they upset the Ducks and went on to the represent the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl. Stanford again beat the Ducks last year at Stanford Stadium as they controlled the ball for 42 minutes and pressured Heisman trophy candidate Marcus Mariota into making mistakes. Mariota rallied his team in the fourth quarter it was too little, too late.The Cardinal again went to the Rose Bowl as the Pac-12 Champion.

This year is a different story for the Cardinal. The offense has not been able to get untracked but the defense has been stellar. The Cardinal’s three losses have all come against teams ranked in the top 20.

In order for Stanford to win, the defense has to put as much pressure as possible on Mariota as the can muster and the offense has to be able to score to get the crowd out of the game. Oregon has Mariota back and he has been helped out on offense by several freshmen. Royce Freeman is sixth in the nation in rushing TDs with thirteen and has thrown a touchdown pass to Mariota. Other freshmen of note for Oregon are wide receiver Devon Allen with six touchdowns, Charles Nelson and running back Kani Benoit. Byron Marshall was the Ducks’ leading rusher last year but he is now playing in the slot and leads the Ducks in receptions with 38 catches for 521 yards. He is also averaging 8.3 yard per carry as a running back.

This will the 78th meeting between the two teams dating back to 1900 and Stanford leads the series 46-30-1.

The Ducks will be playing for the lead in the Pac-12 North Division while the Cardinal will be trying for n upset and a win will improve their record to 6-3. Kevin Hogan and the Cardinal offense will have their work cut out for them as they will be playing in a very hostile and loud environment.

Kudos to them if they can pull off the upset.

NCAA Football commentary: LSU just gets by Ole Miss; Buckeyes roll on Lions; Arizona gets big win over Wash St

Published on October 26, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michelle Richardson

LSU (7-2) 10 vs. Ole Miss (7-1) 7: LSU have been struggling when their at home they can let the good times roll too but in that game on Saturday for the most part it was a high scoring game it was only a 10-7 victory for LSU. Miss St scored in the first half and it was very much a defensive struggle. For total yards Miss St quarterback Bo Wallace had to pass and rush to get some yardage going.

Wallace threw for 176 yards and rushed for only 40 yards in 12 rush attempts. LSU had more rushing yards than Miss St and Miss St had more passing yards. Strangely enough LSU had a rough time with four turnovers but they controled the ball better they kept the ball for 36 minutes and Miss St kept it for 24 minutes. This is just one of those flukey kind of things that LSU turned nice flour into mud pies.

Honestly this wasn’t a great game by either team LSU just scraped and scrapped and managed to pull out a victory. LSU had good form and they needed this victory because they were number 24. Michigan State moved up into eighth place in the AP Polls.

Ohio St (6-1) 31 vs. Penn St (4-3) 24 (2 OT): This was a hotly contested game as two teams are rivals when they meet just like when Ohio St meets Michigan. The Penn State fans found out what hotel the Buckeyes were staying at and went and blasted music outside their hotel in the middle of the night. I guess you got to do what you got to do for your team.

Ohio State they scrapped through and managed to come across with a victory, they know that anytime they play Penn State the Nittany Lions are going to give them their best game. Ohio State knows that Penn St is their rivals. The Lions are the Buckeyes neighbors to the east and it’s a big rivalry for them. When it gets down to it it’s all about that ball handling management.

Ohio State possessed the ball for 34:24 and that was almost the full six minutes more than Penn State. They both had turnovers, Ohio State had to turnover more third and fourth down conversions, it was a game where it came down to who could get the job done. The Buckeyes had built a 17-0 lead and they were cruising to a win and then Penn State defensive tackle Anthony Zettel made an interception and returned it for 40 yards. The game went to two overtimes and Ohio State got the game winner in the second overtime.

Arizona (6-1) 59 vs. Washington State (2-6) 37: Airing it out is what the Washington State Cougars do and since the Cougars head coach Mike Leach is back he’s all about airing it out. That’s kind of what he does and as I’ve been saying week after week. Arizona is trying to be in a coversation with some of the other top teams in the NCAA and their a one loss team right now.

The Pac 12 is not getting a lot of respect when it comes to talk about the National Title games. Washington State had a whopping 543 yards and Arizona had 451 yards. The Cougars quarterback Connor Halliday threw for four touchdowns and he was picked off two times. It’s never a good thing and Wash St had more turnovers as opposed to one turnover made by Arizona.

Arizona won this game and did a good job, they clearly out muscled Washington in the first half of the game but the problem is Arizona got a little laxed because Washington State came back and scored 21 points in the fourth quarter. This is a game that could have got out of hand if they had a little more time. You have to watch out for teams like Wash St they haven’t been very competitive for the past few years and some teams say “it’s just Washington State” and get laxed but the Cougars were making a few move towards towards the end of Saturday’s game

Michelle Richardson does commentary on the NCAA each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images

Stanford vs Oregon State Preview

Published on October 24, 2014October 24, 2014 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal returns home to meet the Oregon State Beavers in a Pac-12 contest Saturday

at Stanford Stadium. Game time is at 12:30 pm and will be televised on ESPN2.

Both teams will be looking to rebound from defeats last week. The Cardinal was beaten 26-10 by the Arizona State Sun Devils. The defense played well but Stanford’s offense could not get untracked as they took their third loss of the season and the second in conference play. Overall the Cardinal is 4-3 and 2-2 in the Pac-12. The Beavers (4-2, 1-2 Pac-12) are looking to rebound from a double overtime loss to Utah.

The Cardinal defense has been outstanding again this year. The defense leads the Pac-12 with just 153 yards allowed per game and is first in run defense allowing just 101.9 yard per game.

The Cardinal has a solid defensive line led by Henry Anderson, Blake Lueders and David Perry.

The linebackers are again led by A.J.Tarpley. Kevin Anderson and James Vaughters. The Cardinal ranks third in the Pac-12 with three sacks per game and the front three dominate the point of contact allowing the linebackers to swarm to the ball.

The Stanford secondary has performed well again this year. Strong safety Jordan Richards has 44 tackles to his credit. Alex Carter and Wayne Lyons are dependable corners and have contributed

mightily to Stanford’s strong defense.

The Cardinal offense, on the other hand, is struggling. The offensive line had to replace four starters and their lack of experience and depth have contributed to the offense’s woes. Stanford coach David Shaw took the blame for Stanford’s problems and refused to pin the blame on Kevin Hogan. Shaw said

that Stanford will try to rework the offense so that Hogan and the running backs and receivers can get it into gear once again. Running back by committee has not worked well for Stanford at all so far. The receivers led by Ty Montgomery, Devon Cajuste, Michael Rector, Francis Owusu and Jordan Pratt has produced 235 yard of passing yardage which is ranked 10th in the Pac-12 and have not produced as well as they thought they would.

The Beavers’ offense is led by quarterback Sean Mannion who thrives in OSU head coach Mike Riley’s

pro style offense. Mannion owns double-digit OSU passing records including the career passing mark he set last month. Mannion needs 315 yards to pass former USC quarterback Matt Barkley for the Pac-12 passing record. However, Mannion has failed to meet expectations this year as he has thrown five interceptions and just seven touchdowns. The Beaver running game is led by Storm Woods and Terron

Ward but Woods was hurt last week against Utah and is questionable for Saturday’s game. The edge,however, goes to Oregon State in that department. The OSU receivers have yet to prove themselves and Stanford holds the advantage in receiving.

The two teams are definitely evenly matched. The Stanford offense must come to life if they expect

to beat OSU while the Beavers offense will be sorely tested by the Stanford defense. They will win if the can find a way to beat the pass rush and get the running game going. The game is just too close to call.

Jerry Feitelberg
jyf1938

NCAA Commentary: Trojans Kessler throws for seven touchdowns; Horned Frogs wreck OK ST; Penalty call back Notre Dame TD

Published on October 19, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michelle Richardson

USC (5-2) 56 Colorado (2-5) 28: The Colorado Buffaloes were not the cream of the crop in the Big 12 when they played in the Big 12. In the Big 12 you just can’t walk in the door you have to earn your stripes, that your going to go rough shod over people. Even though USC is really falling on hard times compared to the way they were in the earlier parts of the 2000s under former head coach Pete Carroll.

The Trojans still have heart, they still have talent and they have that will to win. USC quarterback Cody Kessler is well coached by head coach Steve Sarkasian. Kessler is coming into his own he was 19-26 on Saturday with 319 yards, seven touchdowns, and no interceptions. It was more of a balance you had USC running back with Javorious Allen who had 128 yards on 15 carries and Justin Davis had 97 yards on 11 carrries.

It was a very much a balanced attack it was flight of foot for USC and Colorado couldn’t keep anything and this is a game that they couldn’t touch. There was nothing that the Buffaloes could do, the Buffaloes receiving leaders Nelson Spruce had 69 yards in nine receptions and Tyler McCullouch had four receptions on 44 yards. If your just looking at numbers alone USC definitely handled Colorado besides looking at the score.

TCU (5-1) 42 vs. Oklahoma State (5-2) 9: The TCU Horned Frogs they got the job done at Carter Stadium in Fort Worth Texas. That was a really significant win. TCU was letting them know that they should have been in the Big 12 before. TCU should have been in the Big 12 when it was starting out. TCU had a lot of people on their list.

The Horned Frogs want to knock off all the guys in the Big 12 and their saying they should have been there. However many years has the Big 12 have been in existence. The Horned Frogs in Saturday’s game jumped out to a 21 point lead in the first quarter and TCU outscored Oklahoma State 21-3. TCU had 26 first downs ,76 total yards, Trevone Boykin the TCU quarterback 26-49 for 410 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception for Boykin on Saturday that’s what you call quarterbacking.

Quarterback Daxx Garman for Oklahoma State 10-25, 132 yards, threw two picks and no touchdown throws. That’s not a good zero, as a quarterback if you don’t have a 40 yard passing game your below mediocre. On third and fourth down conversions TCU did much better than Oklahoma State could only converting three third down conversions. It was the Horned Frogs right out of the gate.

Florida State 31 (5-1) vs. Notre Dame 27 (6-1): The Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston displayed every reason why he’s headed to the NFL after this season and on Saturday I believe you saw the reasons. First of it was the play calling. Winston did a lot of game trickeration stuff whereas FSU was a little conservative sometimes in their play calling they played more of a pro style offense than Notre Dame.

For Notre Dame there was too much time to trick and deceive them Everett Golson the Fighting Irish quarterback is not an accurate passer. 31-52 for 313 yards, sacked three times, threw for three touchdowns, and two interceptions. Golson is not as accurate as Winston but Golson is very much the athlete right now he has some growing to do as a quarterback.

Winston was 23-31 for 272 yards, sacked once, threw for two touchdowns and one pick. The difference was the FSU running game was more balanced even though they didn’t get a lot of big runs they got those nice small one that they needed. Running back Karlos Williams from FSU carried eight times for 25 yards and scored two touchdowns. That means that FSU was converting in the red zone consistently.

Michelle Richardson does commentary on the NCAA weekly for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images

NCAA commentary: Stanford keeps Wash St under wraps; Seminoles keep roolling; Miss St with huge win over Auburn

Published on October 12, 2014October 12, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michelle Richardson

Stanford (4-2)34 vs. Washington St (2-5) 17: The Cougars are 2-5 but I’m going to tell you why that this is a young team that you’ve got to watch. The Cougars have a great quarterback in Connor Halliday. For Stanford although they won it 34-17 on Friday night the Cardinal defense really had to stop that young quarterback. Halliday next season is going to be the guy to watch in the Pac 12.

Halliday has some targets and he’s got some action, Washington State scored in the first quarter and they scored in all but the second quarter. Total they had two touchdowns and a field goal. Stanford a couple of years ago was in the top of the heap in the Pac 12, Stanford did a good job but the Cougars did a good job too and the reason why Stanford won this game is because they held the ball longer.

The Cardinal did better things with the football and they got 20 first downs, 477 total yards, 284 yards passing, their rushing game was on point with 109 yards. Whereas Wash St had 126 yards rushing. For any team to be successful you have to have a balance attack you can’t have one part working, like having the passing game working and the running game not working.

Florida (6-0) 38 vs. Syracuse (2-3) 20: The Florida State Seminoles are doing well but their first real test will be next week when they face undefeated Notre Dame (6-0) which comes to Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium. That game is going to be crazy. Florida St is going to show up and the thing is Notre Dame fans do travel and the Fighting Irish is one of those schools that have fans that really travel with their team, not just a few of them, a lot of them.

It’s going to be very, very interesting to see how this happens. I can guarantee you there will be a ton of Notre Dame fans down there. Their going to get tickets and their going to show up at Campbell Stadium and their going to support the Irish. This will be the Seminoles real first test, they had their real first test earlier this year with Clemson.

For the Seminoles it will not be quite the test they’ll get from Notre Dame, the Irish had a game against the University of North Carolina (2-4) they played Notre Dame really, really tight. The game was at Notre Dame and NC lost it but by a close margin 50-43.

Auburn (5-1) 23 vs. Mississipi State (6-0) 38: This was a game where number three beat number two. For the Miss St Bulldogs they remain undefeated. Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott threw for 246 yards, 18-34, one touchdown and two interceptions. The Bulldogs wasted no time going to work on the Tigers scoring 21 points in the first quarter and ten more in the fourth. The Bulldogs head coach Dan Mullen walked off the field pumping his fist in the air satisfied that the school was able to win in what would have been a tough game but the Miss St defense was able to contain Auburn.

Once again Prescott is back in the Heisman Award discussion agian with his very satisfying win over a tough Auburn school, “everytime we needed to make a play, a guy stepped up and made a play, we always wondered how to take the next step in this league, that’s it” said Mullen. Mullen was also happy with the Bulldogs defense stopping Auburn in the red zone and forcing turnovers so the offense could get back out on the field.

For Miss St this is their ninth consecutive win which stretches into last season and beating Auburn was huge because they were the SEC Champion from last season. For Auburn they pulled within eight points 28-20 to try and get something going but couldn’t catch Miss St as Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall who threw for 209 yards, two interceptions and had 100 yards rushing.

Michelle Richardson does NCAA Football commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Photo credit google images

Stanford holds off WSU

Published on October 10, 2014 by jeremy2878Leave a comment

By Jeremy Harness

STANFORD – It was assumed that Stanford would pick apart Washington State’s defense Friday night, but the big question going into Friday’s game was how Stanford would slow down the Cougars’ prolific, high-powered passing attack.

A week after Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday torched Cal for an FBS-record 734 yards to go along with six touchdowns in a still-hard-to-believe losing effort, the Cardinal certainly had their work cut out for them.

The defense answered the call, and David Parry had a lot to do with that. The fifth-year senior nose tackle hurried Halliday five times and sacked him once. In all, Stanford sacked Halliday four times and had a total of eight hurries while intercepting him once, which resulted in a guy who was as uncomfortable in the pocket as he had been all year.

“We wanted to keep him contained,” Parry said. “We knew he’s not a big runner, so we just wanted to be sure to close the net on him.”

The end result was a season-low 292 passing yards for the nation’s leading passer and a 34-17 win for the Cardinal at Stanford Stadium and, six days after a disheartening loss at Notre Dame, left coach David Shaw asking, “Can we play like this the rest of the year?”

“Tonight’s the first night that we looked like us and felt like us,” Shaw said. “It was great to see us play with emotion and energy and fire in all three phases.”

Meanwhile, Stanford was steady on offense, and even though there was a red-zone opportunity that came up empty, the Cardinal moved the ball when they needed to. Quarterback Kevin Hogan completed 23 of his 35 passes for 284 yards.

He also tossed three scores, with all three going to his tight ends, a staple of the Stanford passing game. Greg Taboada caught two of the touchdowns, while Eric Cotton grabbed the other.

On defense, Stanford set the tone early on. While jumping out to a 10-0 first quarter lead and pretty much getting whatever they want on offense, particularly on the ground, the Cardinal defense forced a punt on their first possession.

On Washington State’s next possession, the Cardinal again seemed on their way to getting their defense off the field quickly but had a bit of a hiccup. However, the Cougars converted a pair of fourth downs before Halliday connected deep with receiver Vince Mayle.

Two plays later, Halliday hit Mayle again, this time in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown to cut Stanford’s lead to 10-7.

The Cardinal then got things back on track defensively in the second quarter, and then their best player made one of his signature big returns. After another Washington State three-and-out, Ty Montgomery returned the ensuing punt 46 yards to the Cougars’ 16-yard line.

Three plays later, Kevin Hogan found tight end Greg Taboada for a 3-yard score to give Stanford a 17-7 lead.

Stanford had a golden opportunity to blow the game open late in the quarter, as they drove inside the Washington State 5-yard line. However, as fullback Patrick Skov attempted to stretch the ball to the goal line, Cougars safety Taylor Taliulu poked the ball loose while linebacker Paris Taylor recovered to turn Stanford away.

However, even though the Cardinal defense slowed Washington State’s attack considerably, the Cougars still kept hanging around and made it an interesting game well into the fourth quarter.

This was illustrated early in that final period on a fourth-and-goal at Stanford’s 3-yard line. The Cardinal appeared to have Halliday cornered and out of options, as he was forced to the right sideline to buy time.

However, as he was headed out of bounds, he threw across his body and somehow found perhaps his favorite target, receiver River Cracraft in the back of the end zone to trim the Stanford lead to seven.

After Stanford added a field goal, the defense clamped down again, and Washington State gained only one more first down the rest of the way as Stanford sealed the victory.

“We’re going to try to be perfect, but we know we’re not going to be perfect,” Shaw said.

NCAA Football commentary: Undefeated no more five teams find the loss column and here’s who they are

Published on October 5, 2014October 6, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michelle Richardson

Mississippi (5-0) 23 vs. Alabama (4-1) 17: The Alabama Crimson Tide have that USC thing going for them when they had that run but you have to play the game, the game has to be played. Alabama they have a lot of talent but this is what happens when teams have a lull. As a recruit I’m going to choose Old Miss over Alabama simply because Alabama is about three deep.

Arizona (5-0) 31 vs. Oregon (4-1) 24: I didn’t expect Oregon to continue being a perfect team and after I saw the Washington State (2-4) game when the Ducks went to Washington State Stadium in Pullman. I knew that Oregon would probably be out of the top five. I don’t necessarily see Oregon in the top four in the National Championships.

Especially the way that the Cougars stopped their offensive line if the Cougars had five or six more minutes I honestly think that the Cougars would have beat Oregon. I wasn’t drinking that Kool Aid and I wasn’t drinking Duck soup.

TCU (4-0) 33 vs. Oklahoma (4-1) 27: I’m from Forth Worth Texas and I have to tell you the Horned Frogs were so happy with this victory. I will honestly say this is probably one of the biggest wins for TCU since the break up of the old Southwest Conference when they used to play Oklahoma on a regular basis. I’ll just give you a little history lesson here when the old Southwest Conference broke up and the Big 12 was formed TCU was kind of put on the outs.

TCU and SMU were put on the outs, TCU wasn’t allowed to join the Big 12 at that time it was because of Baylor University. That’s why there’s such a rivalry, Baylor did not want TCU in the Big 12, but now that their back in and they’re playing Baylor on a regular basis and their playing Oklahoma too. It’s old school again it like Texas rivals, so this win is huge for a program like TCU.

Miss St (5-0) 48 vs. Texas A&M (5-1) 31: This was an exciting game and I’ll be honest with you wow, I did not expect this. Miss St is just killing them. Wouldn’t it be crazy if you saw an all Mississippi finals. This game was just crazy Miss St was at home in their own stadium and A&M knew this was going to be hard because you just don’t leave to play at Miss St down in Oxford.

It doesn’t matter if Miss St was the worst team in the country you still can’t sell them short because when they go on their home field they want to play like champions. When they did they stuck it to Texas A&M. Texas A&M had a better fourth down efficency rating but it was the third down efficency rating that got it working for Miss St.

Utah (4-1) 30 vs. UCLA (4-1) 28: UCLA is one of the best teams in the Pac 12, they’ll get it together and they’ll turn it around. I expect to see UCLA in the Pac 12 Championship game. This is the one team I expect to see bounce back from this loss and possibly run the table again.

Watch out for Washington St in the Pac 12. They were the whipping boy of the old Pac Ten and now the Pac 12 for a long time. What you got to realize Cougars head coach Mike Leach is in his third year and you can see the difference in how their playing. The Cougars almost beat Cal on Saturday by one point 60-59. Watch out for a team like Wash St that’s the kind of team that’s going to spoil your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.

Michelle Richardson does weekly commentary on the NCAA for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Stanford vs Notre Dame Preview

Published on October 3, 2014 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal (3-1) Travels to South Bend, Indiana on Saturday October 4th to play the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.(4-0).The Irish are led by quarterback Everett Golson who is returning to play after not playing last year due to academic cheating. Golson said the cheating incident forced him to “grow up” and he was “humiliated” by his mistake. As a starter, Golson has a record of 14-1 and one of those wins came at the expense of Stanford when the Irish beat them 20-13. Notre Dame is ranked ninth in the nation while the Cardinal comes in ranked at fourteenth. Golson is a very mobile and resourceful quarterback and the Cardinal defense will be tested.

Stanford’s offense will have to improve its game if they want to beat the Irish. The Cardinal struggled to beat Washington last week They turned the ball over three times against the Huskies and they cannot

continue to hand the ball over if they expect to win as the Irish defense is probably the best defense the Cardinal will face so far this year. The Irish have allowed just ten points per game and they rank 17th nationally in takeaways with nine. Six interceptions and three fumble recoveries so far.

Stanford’s defense must stop Golson. The Irish do not have strong running game and if the defense comes through, The oddsmakers have made Stanford a slight favorite. Should be a close game with two stout defenses on the field. Can Kevin Hogan make the plays? Will the passing game be good? Will the Cardinal stop the giveaways? These questions will be answered in South Bend as the rivalry continues between Stanford and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

NCAA Commentary: USC on right track with third win; FSU Winston throws for 365 yds

Published on September 28, 2014September 28, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michelle Richardson

USC (3-1) 31-Oregon State (3-1) 10-USC has always been strong the Trojans throughout their history have had defenses that knew how to handle quarterbacks and the opposing lines. Oregon State not so much but it does compare to USC head coach Pete Sarkisian’s defense and their there for business to do work and get USC the ball.

That has always been the key in So Cal’s offensive production because the defense tires out the opposing offense or overpower the offensive line which happened against Oregon State on Saturday. That’s pretty much what the Trojans are doing right now. Their keeping their offense fresh and ready to go and they get the ball back for the quarterback and the quarterbacks do what they need to be doing.

Florida State (4-0) 56 vs. NC State (4-1) 41- The Seminoles had a tough game last week against Clemson where FSU quarterback Jameis Winston wasn’t allowed to play. That’s the one thing about this team, they aren’t as good as they were last year. They realized they lost some very tough weapons and they have to make up for that and their playing with more heart now than they played last year.

Winston got to come back Saturday and he threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns and missing one week will make you rest and think things over. He got to rest for two weeks because he came off the win at the Citadel on Sep 6th 37-12 and FSU had a bye the next week before they were to come home and play Clemson and previous to making his obscene remarks in the FSU student cafe.

Winston sat out the bye week and the Clemson game the following week, for Winston’s ignorant remarks he was out for two weeks of action and your only good for the last time you played. Winston played against a team Citadel and was almost taken out in the second half of that game. He really needs to get that ball in his hands and make things happen he certainly did against NC State on Saturday.

Fresno State (2-3) 35 vs. New Mexico State (1-3) 24- When Mexico State hired Bob Davie for head coach he’s not the right guy. He’s better than Mike Locksley the previous coach and the Lobos are playing a little better but he’s just not that guy. Fresno State went into New Mexico St and they handled their business. New Mexico they were turning over the ball for the Lobos it was just yuk.

Fresno State went in and did what they had to do and keep playing hard in order to make their goal for a bowl game. I’m at a loss of words to describe what that game was, UNM I think they can be good, if they can get the players they could be good. As far as the coaching is concerned the Lobos head coach Davie is really not the right guy for the job.

There has to be some candidate out there that can make it happen at UNM but right now it’s more of the same. That’s been going on for over a decade. The Lobos haven’t had any winning season since 2007 since the last time they went to a bowl game. The Lobos keep trying and they keep hoping, they have a lot of potential on that team and they have players who can get things going. It comes down to the leadership and Davie is not the right coach.

Michelle Richardson does NCAA commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NCAA Commentary: Winston sits or warms up as Seminoles win; Bears almost clear Wildcats; Alabama offense has record day

Published on September 21, 2014September 21, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michelle Richardson

Florida State University (3-0) quarterback Jameis Winston sat all throughout the Seminoles victory over the Clemson Tigers (1-2) 23-17 on Saturday. Winston was sitting over a half game suspension for yelling an anti women’s obscenity in the Florida State cafeiteria in front of fellow students. The fact that Winston is a Hiesman Trophy winning starting quarterback at the premier school in the nation and jumped up on a table in the cafeteria in the middle of the student union and yelled out an obscenity warranted a full game suspension.

I don’t care what the other factors are, I’m glad that Florida State administrators saw the light on this and acted. Winston also was warming up despite being suspended for the first half of the game we don’t know what that is about. There is just a question why Winston was in full pads and warming up when he was suspended for the whole game. Winston looked dumbfounded when he was ordered to go back in the locker room by Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher.

Winston looked like he couldn’t believe that he was being sent back and had to change out of his uniform. Sean McGuire did a great job at quarterback going 305 yards, 21 completions, one touchdown and he was sacked five times. I ran into some Clemson fans and they said Clemson lost that game and I said, “Clemson didn’t lose that game it was the defensive line that won that game for Florida State” FSU had all of their starters in. It was a very good game and the star of that game was FSU tight end Nick O’Leary who had six catches and made the key catches that helped Florida St gain some ground on.

Arizona (4-0) just edges Cal (2-1) 49-45: The Cal Bears lost just by a game winning Hail Mary pass and this is a huge improvement for a team that won only one game all last season and almost beat Arizona which would have been their first Pac 12 victory since 2012. The Bears came into Tucson with a 2-0 record to face the Wild Cats. It takes great new leadership to make things like this happen and since former head coach Jeff Tedford’s departure and Sonny Dykes who took over last season things have improved.

Tedford had been there a little too long and the Bears needed some new blood and they got that. The bigger story is that Hail Mary that Arizona threw to win that game it reminded me of a game between Georgetown and Villanova in basketball. It ain’t over until it’s over, you never count anything out until you have zeros lined up on the clock. That’s an embarrassing situation for Cal losing by four and a squeaker for Cal.

Dykes has been turning the tide and when they play a game like that against Arizona that means the Bears are turning and their turning in the right direction. They got a couple of wins in before their visit to Arizona. The best possible chance for the Bears in the longest of longest chances a possible lower level Bowl game.

Alabama’s quarterback Blake Sims with great offensive day: This is what Alabama (4-0) does when you really look at it they win ball games like this with the Saturday win over Florida (2-1) 42-21. Alabama Wide receiver Amari Cooper caught ten passes for 201 yards, and three touchdowns giving him 20 receiving touchdowns for his career that’s a school record in Alabama. This is what Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban does his quarterbacks just air it out.

Alabama is one of those teams that once they put their foot on your neck they don’t ever want to take it off. This was a powerful showing and everybody in the SEC knows Alabama is here and their the team to beat. Alabama quarterback Blake Sims had a career day throwing for 445 yards for 23 completions and four touchdowns, Sims threw an 87 yard touchdown pass to Kenyan Drake on the first series and a 79 yard touchdown to Cooper.

Sims was besides himself in disbelief of his performance, “I didn’t think it was possible, I just try to take what I take and what the defense gives me, and just try to trust my guys that they’re going to be there” Saban was impressed too and said that other teams who try to defend Sims give Sims respect as the opposing quarterback, “people have to respect his passing, he has made too many plays for people not to respect him as a passer” said Saban.

Michelle Richardson does NCAA Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com