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On Michigan, Cream Puffs and the Next Bush

That didn't take long. As predicted, Michigan was a highly ranked risk based on their over-hype positioning (see article: Michigan Overrated?) Unfortunately for the Wolverines they seemed to believe their own hype and were exposed far earlier than anyone expected. Now they've got Oregon, Notre Dame and Penn State back to back to back. History has shown that the Wolverines generally play well after an early season mishap and work their way back into the picture.... then lose to Ohio State and a team to be named later. Even if Michigan goes on a tear, most Michigan fans believe that Lloyd sealed his own retirement with the loss to Appalachian State.

Perhaps Michigan can strike back by wooing top Appalachian State recruit Lauren Caitlin Upton to Ann Arbor to enhance the reputation of its undergraduate programs such as general studies and such as South African Iraq relations?

I kid.

Michigan is the only school that got schooled on Cream Puff Saturday. Here's a fun exercise, go to your favorite site and click on 1-AA games and watch how many 1-A schools pop-up for week one. I counted 18 1-A schools opening up the year by slaughtering a 1-AA team.

Here's to the Troy Trojans who not only opened with Arkansas, then travel to Florida this week and Georgia later in the season, but they just lost their top defensive linemen.
I should feel bad ribbing the Trojans, but what could they be thinking beyond gate receipts?

This week's Cream Puff face-offs aren't as egregious, but include Pitt/Grambling, Purdue/East Illinois, Georgia Tech/Samford and Arizona/No. Arizona.

This will only get worse, folks: Ohio State, Wisconsin, Florida and Arkansas all play horrifically rigged early season schedules.

On the fun side, we saw some huge games out of the nations top running backs. What's really impressive is the yards per carry average from week one:

1.	Marlon Lucky	Nebraska	1	30	233	7.8	233.0	3
2.	Kevin Smith	UCF	1	35	217	6.2	217.0	2
3.	Anthony Alridge	Houston	1	22	205	9.3	205.0	1
4.	Tashard Choice	Georgia Tech	1	26	196	7.5	196.0	2
5.	Kahlil Bell	UCLA	1	19	195	10.3	195.0	0
6.	Mike Hart	Michigan	1	23	188	8.2	188.0	3
7.	Ray Rice	Rutgers	1	25	184	7.4	184.0	3
8.	Amir Pinnix	Minnesota	1	28	168	6.0	168.0	2
9.	Yvenson Bernard	Oregon State	1	29	165	5.7	165.0	2
10.	Damion Fletcher	Southern Miss	1	19	156	8.2	156.0	1
	Justin Forsett	California	1	26	156	6.0	156.0	1
12.	Darren McFadden	Arkansas	1	24	151	6.3	151.0	1
13.	Calvin Dawson	Louisiana-Monroe	1	24	150	6.3	150.0	0
14.	Louis Rankin	Washington	1	17	147	8.6	147.0	3
15.	Albert Young	Iowa	1	23	144	6.3	144.0	1
16.	Kalvin McRae	Ohio	1	24	142	5.9	142.0	2
17.	Dennis Dixon	Oregon	1	15	141	9.4	141.0	1
18.	Kyle Bell	Colorado State	1	40	135	3.4	135.0	1
	Rafael Little	Kentucky	1	12	135	11.3	135.0	1
20.	Terry Grant	Alabama	1	18	134	7.4	134.0	3
21.	Jamicah Bass	Iowa State	1	22	133	6.0	133.0	1
22.	Rodney Ferguson	New Mexico	1	33	132	4.0	132.0	0
23.	Tarrion Adams	Tulsa	1	28	129	4.6	129.0	1
	Travis Dixon	UNLV	1	22	129	5.9	129.0	1
	Felix Jones	Arkansas	1	12	129	10.8	129.0	1
	Kip McCarthy	Air Force	1	22	129	5.9	129.0	1

I wrote about this before in The Next Bush Reprise .... but Cal's Jahvid Best is Bushesque. Based on just one carry, he's my leader to be the "Next Bush" - real scientific, I know.

The "Next Bush" Rankings:

1. Jahvid Best
2. Michael Goodson
3. DeMarco Murray

In case you missed it, here's the one carry:





The Next Bush equation is: lighting speed + vision/instinct + joystick like control over your body

And the scary thing is that Best only got four carries because Cal has so many weapons. The Pac10 is going to be exciting to watch this year with USC(Booty+ name your five-star back) Oregon(Dixon + Stewart/Johnson) UCLA (Olson + Bell) and Cal (Longshore + Forsett/Best/Jackson....)

My sportswriters kidney stone-like pain for stupidity award of the week goes to Fox's Randy Hill with his article entitled:


Really?

posted by Scott Engler @ 6:10 PM