0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/21/2015
In identifying the season-shaping teams from each of the Power 5 conferences, it’s very hard to look past the Northwestern Wildcats and the Nebraska Cornhuskers when the Big Ten comes up for discussion. No, it’s not because the two teams meet this weekend in Lincoln, returning to the site of Nebraska’s Hail Mary victory in […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The UCLA Bruins are not likely to win the Pac-12 South. The California Golden Bears will have to thread the needle — part of which means beating Stanford — in order to win the Pac-12 North. The two teams which will play in the Rose Bowl stadium on Thursday night should not be expected to […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
At the midpoint of the college football season, which teams are still alive in conference races and have a lot to say about the way in which their respective leagues will be remembered? In the SEC, it’s Texas A&M. In the Pac-12, California and Oregon are part of that discussion. In the Big 12, Kansas […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/20/2015
The Texas A&M Aggies will do something this weekend they haven’t done at any previous point in 2015, or at any point in time since Nov. 8, 2014, roughly 50 weeks ago: Play a regular-season game outside the state of Texas. That’s pretty wild, right? Texas A&M played the last two games of its 2014 […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The California Golden Bears and the Oregon Ducks aren’t calling the shots in the Pac-12 Conference. The Utah Utes and Stanford Cardinal merit that shared distinction at the moment. However, when the 2015 Pac-12 is ultimately assessed on the gridiron, the boys from Berkeley and the young’uns from Eugene might become the central reference points […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/19/2015
One of the hallmarks of effective problem-solving is to think ahead, to see the problem either before it emerges or as it emerges. If a problem solver is lucky, he or she will be able to head off problems before they take root. For most of us, life is too busy and complicated to prevent […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It was the noted philosopher Robert Goulet who once said, “On a clear day, you can see forever and ever, and evermore.” The middle of October is generally not a time when you can see forever in college football. This year, that statement seems to be especially resonant. We are (sad to say) at the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
No, this isn’t a call to abolish divisions in college football — I did that last year. The reform I’ll push for in this piece — something I regularly advocate as a college football writer (one of these centuries, I might get lucky) — is for the use and adoption of the flex game in […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
A month ago, I wrote about the ball-spotting problem in college football, one of the most underreported yet significant flaws in the sport as an on-field product. This severe deficiency continues to receive very little attention from media outlets, at least when viewed through the prism of saturation coverage. “The media” can be a vague […]
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It is unavoidable. It is a law of nature. It is a reality as old as time. Whenever an all-time blunder with game- and season-changing significance occurs in a major sport, you can count on human beings to criticize the coach or (in a solo-athlete sport) the thought process of the athlete. Naturally, football is […]
EVANSTON, IL – SEPTEMBER 5: Northwestern Wildcats defenders tackle Christian McCaffrey #5 of the Stanford Cardinal at Ryan Field on September 5, 2015 in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern defeated Stanford 16-6. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/18/2015
No, you’re not seeing the weekly parade of upsets which marked the 2007 college football season. The theme and trajectory of the 2015 campaign are changing to a certain degree. Yet, what still feels a lot like 2007 is that the collection of national championship contenders does not seem to exist at a markedly higher […]
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Cardinal Devil Magic used to be the form of pixie dust which always seemed to carry a Major League Baseball team in the state of Missouri to a playoff series victory. The last two years (this one included), Royal Devil Magic has kept good baseball fortune in the Show Me State, with Kansas City coming […]
SOUTH BEND, IN – OCTOBER 17: JuJu Smith-Schuster #9 of the USC Trojans makes a 37-yard reception for a first down against KeiVarae Russell #6 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first quarter of the game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 17, 2015 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
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We start this story with a general point about the way in which teams lose. Many fans would rather see their teams lose big than lose by one point in the final seconds. Some fans would have it the other way. I have my own view, and you have yours, and where you stand is […]
at Tiger Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
0 comments by Matt Zemek
In the larger run of any sports season, some losses are more meaningful and devastating than others. Yet, you don’t have to think too hard to realize that in football, each individual loss is far more significant and weighty than in other team sports. Great baseball teams will still lose 60 games a season. Great […]
EVANSTON, IL – OCTOBER 17: C.J. Beathard #16 of the Iowa Hawkeyes evades the tacke of Max Chapman #1 of the Northwestern Wildcats during the second quarter at Ryan Field on October 17, 2015 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/17/2015
The critics will say the Big Ten West is weak. The critics will say that Northwestern was a pretender, having benefited from a 9 a.m. Pacific time start against Stanford, and having played teams (Duke, Minnesota) which simply did not have the offensive firepower needed to expose the Wildcats’ defense. Yet, the critics have to […]
