[NU Sports] Ugly

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Agreed - an ugly night in the desert all around. No
full wrap this week, just a mini-wrap.

It did start well, with the 7-0 lead and the Don
Bebee-like chasedown and strip of a certain ASU
touchdown (Mr. Cole has some SERIOUS closing speed!)
... unfortunately, the rest of the game went much like
that Super Bowl went for Bebee and the Bills. No
defensive stops ... and even worse, an ineffective
offense that failed to take advantage of several
chances early to build on that 7-0 lead.

ASU's a good team, but a butt-kicking like that hurts.
Still, it just counts as one loss and it's a road game
against a top 20 team that few chalked up as a W in
the preseason. Hopefully we can put it behind and get
ready for a must-win game next week at home against
the Nittany Lions. 

The next two games seem like they could be the season
for this team. Both are at home against tough,
unbeaten yet beatable teams. If we can bounce back and
get to 4-1, then we have a shot to do something with
the season. But a loss or two will make it awfully
tough to get up to 6 wins. So gotta beat those Lions!

Around the league, we're getting a little better idea
where things stand as league play is set to begin ...

* Thank you MSU for shutting up all the ND hype and
the sickening thought of the Irish in Pasadena
<shudder>. Sparty almost blew it, but they got a big
win (and like a lot of Big Ten teams, it seems like
they have loads of O and a suspect D). If MSU avoids
the look-ahead trap next week at Champaign, they'll be
4-0 with a huge home matchup with Michigan ... win
that and they get a bye week to prepare for Columbus,
plus no Iowa on the schedule. Could be the start of
something big???

* MICHIGAN, IOWA and to a degree OSU took out their
frustration on some cupcakes, but unlike the land of
oz, all the RUTS won't give Lloyd Carr his brain back
(where was this O against ND?), Kirk Ferentz his heart
back (Drew Tate for the ISU game) or Jim Tressel his
courage back (go for 6, not 3!). Big games for all
three next week with Iowa visiting Columbus and
Michigan heading to Mad-town.

* PURDUE survived their trip to the desert, while
MINNY kept rolling. It'll be interesting to see which
league darkhorse is still standing after next week's
game in the Dome.

* INDIANA is 3-0 (could a Music City Bowl date with
Vandy be in the works?:) ) and has a week off before a
trip to Wisconsin where the Hoosiers have played well
recently. And ILLINOIS was holding its own at Cal. The
basement isn't as far down as it used to be in this
league, folks ... though the penthouse dropped a few
floors last weekend, too.

Is Penn State for real? We'll find out Saturday - hope
we can bounce back and get the ground game and offense
clicking again.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

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