Houston Newspaper Guy Eats His Own Paper

((HT: chron.com))

The Houston Chronicle's John McClain said that he would eat the front page of the Draft Day Chronicle if the Texans did not draft a quarterback in the first round...

The HQ thinks this bet was doomed from the start...

The Texans picked Clowney and McClain had to make a plan for some roughage...

Here's the meal...

S.Carolina, LSU and Nebraska With Early Bowl Wins

This is the part of the College Football Bowl season where you can start paying attention.

Though to look at a couple of these games, paying attention and attending appear to be two different teams.

We start in Jacksonville in front of a crowd of tens, where Nebraska wins the Gator Bowl title over the University of Georgia 24-19 in a truly uninspiring game that featured the Huskers scoring on a 99-yard passing TD from Tommy Armstrong Jr to a streaking Quincy Enunwa.

The Bulldogs continually sputtered in the Red Zone, dropping a couple of late 4th down passes that could have given them the opportunity to salvage a disappointing season.

Your highlights from ESPN:


We move down state to the dreary confines of Citrus Bowl stadium in Orlando, where South Carolina gets the win over Wisconsin 34-24.

The game was a back and forth affair featuring 4 turnovers by the Badgers and two by the Gamecocks. QB Jaybo Shaw of South Carolina was the hero, throwing for 3 TD's, 300+ yards and running for another score.

Perhaps the biggest highlights of the day came afterwards. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier took the opportunity to praise his team congratulate them for winning their 3rd straight bowl game and the championship of South Carolina. (Dabo Swinny pun).

And then star Defensive End Jadaveon Clowney made it official, announcing he'd be taking his services to the NFL this upcoming season.

Here's one of Jaybo's TD runs, we are still searching for the Spurrier post-game comments: (thanks ESPN)



And then our minor bowl game tour of Florida ends in Tampa where LSU held off Iowa in the Outback Steakhouse Bowl in front of a crowd that got better access than the people covering the game.

The game featured LSU tailback Jeremy Hill running for 216 yards and 2 TD's and ended only after a bizarre sequence of laterals that the Hawkeye's eventually ended up fumbling. The Tigers could only manage 82 yards passing, while the Hawkeye's were only able to run for 76 total.

We are still awaiting the arrival of full game highlights....

OSG COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Thursday Night Previews

North Carolina at South Carolina

Forget about Jadeveon Clowney, all eyes will be on North Carolina's offensive tackle James Hurst who will be matched up on Clowney.

"Obviously it's the biggest match-up in my college career." Hurst said.  "I do think about it all the time.  Everytime I do a football activity it's related to that match-up."

Hurst is one of the best offensive lineman in the ACC and is on the pre-season Outland and Lombardi trophy watch lists.  Thursday night he's going up against a freak of nature.

South Carolina will win this battle.

Ole Miss at Vanderbilt

This game should be appointment TV for your Thursday night.  Ole Miss and Vandy are two teams who a eager to have a seat at the big boy table within the SEC.

Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze will try to run as many plays as possible on offense and gas the Commodore defense.  You can bet Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin will be in the ear of an SEC official making sure the Rebel offense doesn't have an advantage.

"When the ball is snapped I want everyone set." Franklin said.  "We went back and looked at (film of game vs) Ole Miss last year and there were probably 10 to 12 plays we they snapped the ball their offense wasn't set. The officials had a hard time keeping up with the pace to get into position to do that."

"So as long as everyone is playing by the same rules and this isn't Canadian football where people are running toward the line of scrimmage when they snap the football, I'm good with that."

Franklin would be good with a loss and that's what should happen.  Ole Miss will get it done in Music City.

USC at Hawaii

Southern Cal quarterbacks Max Wittek and Cody Kessler will play against Hawaii.  This should be a Trojan blowout.

Utah State at Utah

If your looking for a Thursday night upset this might be the one. Last year Utah State won in Logan.

"Utah State is a very good opponent." Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "They have most everyone back. They have a new head coach and a lot of the same assistant staff. We expect that they are going to be every bit as good as last year and we have a big challenge ahead of us."

Those of us in the OSG HQ are calling and upset.  Utah State makes it two in a row over the Utes.

Spurrier Says Clowney May Not Play In Season Opener VS North Carolina

The head ball coach did say it when reporters gathered around Steve Spurrier Monday night.



You heard right, Jadeveon Clowney might miss South Carolina's season opener against North Carolina because of a bruised shoulder.

You can just see the frustration on Steve Spurrier's face.  Perhaps the head ball coach will remind Clowney and the other players the difference between being hurt and injured.

The game is scheduled to be televised by ESPN.  You wonder if an four-letter executive is on the "bat phone" with South Carolina's athletic administration begging, pleading that Clowney can suit up.

Who else would the 4 - letter zone in on to sell that game.

SEC Media Days Day #3: Nick Saban is Like Hitler

((ht: al.com))

The circus known as SEC Media Days has officially come to an end. Nobody was injured in the scrum, at least that we were aware of, but several slightly odd things came out of an event that is uniquely Alabamian.

Where as Day #1 featured Florida coach Will Muschamp taking a few thinly veiled swipes at former coach Urban Meyer and Meyer's new school Ohio State, Day #2 was highlighted by Javedon Clowney with a wink and smile telling the assembled masses that most of the SEC's quarterbacks and Clemson's Tajh Boyd are all afraid of him.

And then there was Day #3.

Among the highlights. Our favorite, Les Miles, going all-Les on a variety of topics:

((thanks XOSSports))

 

And Georgia QB Aaron Murray who, along with Coach Mark Richt, found Clowney's comments pretty funny:





And then the quote of the day courtesy of the huddled masses waiting for the star of the day, Alabama Coach Nick Saban. When asked about his coach, an Alabama fan named Lee Allen made a bit of an unfortunate analogy, comparing him to "Hitler", telling AL.com reporter Jon Solomon; "He's kind of like Hitler, he's a dictator. He brought us back to the top and I figure we're going to be here for awhile"

Read Solomon's entire article on the goings on RIGHT HERE

Having worked SEC Media days several times over the course of our career, nothing that comes out of it is surprising. With over 1200 huddled media members and hundreds of fans crammed into a small portion of the Winfrey Hotel, the event is literally like a traveling circus with both media types and fans falling all over each other trying to see or talk to their favorite coach or player.

If you've never been and are a football fan, we recommend going at least once. It's a sight and experience you just can't get anywhere else. If you want to see a slice of the U.S Sports Nation these days, there is no better place then outside Birmingham, Alabama. If you want to see the theater of the absurd in the same place, you can easily kill two birds with one stone, right there...

JD Clowney- Oh, Good Lord!

((HT: ESPN))

Remember the reaction from Ed Helms in "The Hangover" when he saw the first pictures stuck in the camera...???

Well, the same could be said here...


Jadeveon Clowney separates Vincent Smith from the football, his own equipment, and anything else within a seven-yard radius...

And he, now, has made himself, (health permitting) the number one pick in the 2014 NFL Draft..

So Much For That Whole South Carolina Thing...

((HT: ABCColumbia.com))

A lot of people were not surprised that this game in Death Valley:

1) Was a grinder and was played nowhere near the 20's and,
2) Would not be an upset if LSU actually won

So, there we are...

The LSU defense completely handcuffed Connor Shaw, kept him in the pocket, and forced the passing game to beat them instead of having the running game beat you in a confined space.

Offensively, it was simply to have Zach Mettenberger manage (as much as the HQ HATES THAT TERM) and just try not to screw things up when they needed him not to screw things up.

Freshman Jeremy Hill took up the slack on the ground with two scores and South Carolina, on the other hand, was held to 34 yards on the ground- 211 total.

Here's your wrap from FOSG Merissa Lynn in Lou-zee-anna...


"I don't know if he got hit in the head tonight or not," Spurrier said of Shaw after the game. "Some of his decision-making was a little off. Connor has played beautifully all year. He had some good plays tonight but he wasn't as sharp as he's been."

But, probably, the more telling words came from JD Clowney.

Whether or not the team pays attention to the words below will be the answer over the next few weeks as we hit the home stretch in the Ess-E-Cee:

"Some guys came out to play but some guys didn't. It may be because they were scared. We will address that in practice. We can't come out against Florida like that."

Now, will everyone listen to the young'un, or did he step out of line...???
That's the larger question...