2012-09-17 07:28

Well ... my picks were not that good. LOL.

But I have to admit I was in good company.
Lots of journalists and fans did pick similar to me.

Why did it turn out this way? Why did we all pick wrong?
Because you never know how two teams play against each other for sure, BEFORE the game.
Wise guy, I know ...

Seriously, the main reason for different results than expected is the most important factor by a mile: THE HUMAN FACTOR!

First of all, there are 50+ players in each team on the sideline.
Each player has his own history of injuries, illnesses, moody situations, motivations and some other stuff going on in his live.
They play every week, which is huge stress for the body, but they also attend classes, the do have a love life (or don't which might be worse) and even have to deal with their parents.
Remember, they are regularly 18 to 22 years old.

So, what I want to say is, everyone is looking on a team and thinks they will perform THAT way, because the have the talent and they played against THIS team in the past THIS way.
But those thought normally do not include the human factor.

Of course everyone does look into injuries and sometime, if star players are effected, the do also bring in some emotional factors, but nobody does value the small stuff, which DO effect the players, every day.
Of course they and we do not, since it is impossible.

And that's in my opinion is the main reason for results different that expected.
The human factor.

No coaching crew can anticipate how 50+ players will work together on gameday.
You can do repeat stuff over and over again, and yes, most of the time the results are as expected, but ask every coach: Did you every saw a PERFECT GAME of your team?
Where every player did reacted 100% as coached?

I think you know the answer. Not very often would be the polite version.
But that's OK, since THAT's the reason for playing.

Imagine game, where you already know how they will turn out, always!
BORING!

So, praise it, honour it, curse it, the human factor.

With this said, how did the BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 3 turn out?

Rutgers @ South Florida
Well, I expected a Bulls win and the Scarlet Knights did play much better than I expected.
I did learn two things; the defense of Rutgers is very good.
I don't know how they would stand against an Alabama offense, but inside the Big East they will do fine.
The other thing is, that the secondary of South Florida was awful.
I hope for Coach Holtz, that he can fix this, because otherwise they will have a hard time in the Big East.
This coach was not hired to lose.
23-13 -> Jacks Score: 7-5

#18 Florida @ #22 Tennessee
The attention for this game was huge, the media made a hype around this game, like it was the national championship game.
And the players did deliver for three quarters.
About three minutes left in the third quarter, the Gators took over and never looked back.
They intercepted Tyler Brays pass and then scored 17 unanswered points to win 8 straight against the Vols.
I think Tennessee will give a lot of SEC teams a challenge, but they are not ready for the big stage yet.
37-20 -> Jacks Score: 7-6

#2 USC @ #22 Stanford
This was hyped a little bit less than the Gators-Vols-Game, but maybe that's only the thing I did get here in Germany.
Maybe the hype was equal to the SEC-game, at least in California.
For sure the newspaper had something to tell AFTER the game.
Image the world as you know it did say "You win!", "You get the Heisman" and "You will go to the BCS championship game".
You did believe it and decided to come back to USC (instead going to the NFL with those millions of dollars) to win it all.
You know, that damn super QB of Stanford is gone.
Now you have to play Stanford and the world does say "You will win!" and so on ...
And then, after the game, the scoreboard says 14-21 and your whole season took a nosedive.
Not all hopes are lost, but this will maybe end all hopes for Kiffin and Barkley to win something in this season.
First two quarters did look like the expected USC game, but the Cardinals did not give up and won by THEIR QB Josh Nunes and their strong defense.
Great comeback Cardinals!
14-21 -> Jacks Score: 7-7

#20 Notre Dame @ 10 Michigan State
Let's make this short: The Irish did dominate the line of scrimmage though the whole game and with this kind of football ... that's the way to win.
If you look into the stats, you don't see much difference, but stats don't tell, when a crucial stop did happen or when a first down was made.
The Irish did almost everything right here and deserved the win.
Well done, next nightmare opponent ahead.
20-6 -> Jacks Score: 8-7

#25 BYU @ Utah
Did I not say, this rivalry will be good?
Boy, what a game!
First half was fine, the Utes did score in the first, BYU in the second quarter. Tied 7-7 in the half.
Then a huge quarter by the Utes, going up 24-7, including a fumble return TD.
The Holy war was over? No!
The Cougars did score two Touchdowns and with about one minutes left in the game, they got the ball back.
At 4th down on their own 19 they pass deep and get it, first down on the Utes 34 yard line.
With few second left, they tried a long pass again, but it way dropped.
The Holy war was over? The crowd did storm the field! But wait a minute ... let's review the time ... No! One second left!
Let's kick a 51 yard field goal ... Blocked! The ball bounces around ... BYU recovers and it's a live ball, the Player advances the football and gets tackled!
The Holy war was over? No! The crowd did storm the field while the ball bounced on the field! 15 Yard penalty against Utah, since it was Utah fans storming the field.
So ... let's try a 36 yard field goal. Kick ... looks good, looks good ... oh oh .. HITS THE UPRIGHT, GAME OVER, THE CROWD STORMS THE FIELD AGAIN AND THIS TIME IT'S PARTY TIME!
Even Hollywood can script such games ... LOL.
20-6 -> Jacks Score: 9-7

Some games of interest:

- California did almost beat Ohio State. Looked the Bears should be taken seriously.

- Virginia tech did lose against Pittsburgh. That's tough, since Pitt did not win a single game before that and VT was destined to go to the ACC championship game.
The loss does not hurt VT in the ACC but still ... that game hurt.

- Northern Illinois did win 41-40 against Army. The Huskies look good, but allowing 40 points is not a good sign for the upcoming conference games.

- TCU did win its first Big 12 game against Kansas.

- Louisiana Monroe did almost upset the second SEC team in two weeks. Auburn was lucky the Field Goal try of the Warhawks was no good and the Tigers got their own try trough the uprights in OT!
I'm curious to see the Warhawks play in the SBC. Hopefully they can keep up the level and are not burned out after those two games.

- Alabama did hammer Arkansas 52-0. I should give myself 0.5 points on that prediction. LOL. Looks like the Razorbacks are going for a new coach.

- Penn State did beat Navy for its first win. It was also a home game, so a very nice moment for O'Brien. Now they can move forward.

- East Carolina did beat Southern Miss, the defending champion of the CUSA. Not a good start for the Golden Eagles.

- UTSA (new to the FBS) did beat Georgia State to be 3-0. Not bad for a new program.

- Cal Poly (FCS) did beat Wyoming 24-22. Next upset happened.

- Western Kentucky did beat Kentucky 32-31. Next SBC-team beating an SEC team. What's going on here?

- Middle Tennessee did win against Memphis, which leads me again to the question ... Memphis to the Big East? Really? By the way, the Blue Raiders are also a SBC team. The Sun Belt seems to have a sunny year ...

- Toledo win against Bowling Green. The Falcons were destined to compete in the MAC. Same for the Rockets. Looks like the Toledo Rockets are competing better. LOL.

- Ball State did defeat Indiana. Well, OK the Hoosiers are not the best team in football, but they should win against Ball State, no matter what.

- Wisconsin was almost upset by Utah State. Wow, those big time football teams do really have a hard time out there.

I'm really looking forward for week 5 and further, since then will the conference games start to come in a heavy load and that means the big timers will face other big timers much more often.
Could this be a year where everyone beats everyone and at the end of the season two 9-3 teams or worse to play for the national championship?

We will see.

‘Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite