Football Wrapup, Part 1

I don't know how this keeps happening, that I don't keep up with some or maybe even half of the season. Almost like FSU football isn't that big of a deal. Well, here's what happened next.

A 31-21 win in Moscow, ID made it five straight for the 'Dogs and gave them a conference record of 5-1. Then came a sobering, golden-shower-of-a-wakeup with a 52-14 loss to Nevada. Didn't somebody around here predict that? Well, it sealed FSU's football fate with both Nevada and Boise St. ahead of them in the conference standings and just one conference game remaining.

That was a 30-28 home win over Louisiana Tech. Yikes.

So all that was left was one last non-conference game at Illinois, and then whatever prestigious bowl could win the bidding war to land the 'Dogs.

4 Straight, Vandals Next

Wow, this is the kind of housecleaning the 'Dogs are supposed to be doing in conference. The Watchdog is pretty inclined to say "WTF, should you have to make a big second half comeback to beat the 2-5 Utah State Aggies at home?" but this is a kinder, gentler season for ol' GreenV, haven't you noticed?

So yeah, 185 yards from Ryan Matthews, 256 passing yards from Ryan Colburn and a second-half shutout pushed the Bulldogs to 5-3 overall and, more importantly, 4-1 in the WAC.

Even so, wouldn't it be cool if we were sitting at 7-1 with non-conference wins over Southern Illinois and Louisiana Laffayette along with that boat race win over UC Davis?

Well, that's the great debate, isn't it? We chew on this all year round at the Me 'N Ed's Victory Grill and the World Sports Cafe.

"We play all these tough non-conference games but can't win the WAC."

"We're too beat up to win the conference games"

"The tough games out of conference give us a higher national profile."

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, Boise St. already happened and that was the annual loss on national T.V. But we're only down one game in conference and Boise could still lose to Nevada on November 27th, right?

Well, yeah, I guess Nevada could easily lose at Boise. But here's the problem. WE'RE GONNA LOST TO NEVADA ON NOVEMBER 14TH.

Ok, ok, if FSU pulls the road upset I'll take it all back. But, meanwhile, I'm still squarely in the camp of those wanting to see a WAC championship before talking BCS. And I'm ready to go back to the Sweeney era if that's what it takes. And I only say this because the non-conference rigors have gotten so tough for the program. This year's shutout (and I'm not counting Davis) was the final nail. Let's take care of WAC business and worry about the heavies later. Hell, we got a BCS top 10 team in our conference. Let's kick their ass.

And then not stub our toe on La Tech or Utah St.

Well, we handled the Aggies this year. Barely. In front of a stadium full of red...nearly a third of it paint on empty seats.

Now it's back to the road with a tough trip to Idaho. If you haven't noticed (and you'd have to be a complete football geek to be able to say you have) the Vandals are 7-2 overall and 4-1 in conference and CBS Sportsline has them at #44 in the nation, one spot behind the #43 FSU Bulldogs. They've beaten San Diego State, Colorado State and went to San Jose and beat the Spartans. Their only losses are at Nevada and at Washington. They did give up a total of 112 points in those two games, so there's some hope.

No 'Dogs Down!

'Dogs Win 3rd Straight WAC Game

Are we sure the Mayans predicted the world wouldn't end until 2012? I'm ready to sell my belongings and go to the top of the water tower downtown and await the end of time.

Well, it's probably not that earth-shattering, considering the opponents were Hawaii, San Jose St. and New Mexico St. but two of those three (Hawaii and NMSU) were on the road so that's worth a little something. Like a tie for second place in the WAC behind unbeaten Boise St. and Nevada.

The first of these three wins was a 42-17 stomping of Hawaii out on the Islands. Yes, the Warriors are the #96 team in CBS Sportsline's top 120 but after three straight losses, nobody cared.

Then came a 41-21 beatdown of San Jose St. at Bulldogs Stadium. Sorry to keep pissing all over these huge wins, but SJS clocks in at #108.

And then came last night's 34-3 win in Las Cruces. What the hell? The Aggies are ranked #109? Crap. And next up is #104 Utah State. It almost sounds like the WAC sucks. I wonder why the hell we're not a BCS conference.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE HAS ITS WAY WITH 'DOGS

Wait a minute, GreenV, you can't say that. What about that big win in the opener over UC Davis? Yeah, ok.

Well, there wasn't too much motivation last week when the 'Dogs lost to Boise State at home on a Friday night in front of an ESPN audience. Saying the 'Dogs lost to Boise is like saying the sun came up, the sky is blue or Kanye West is a jackass. It happens all the time, everybody knows it. Not much poetry in that.

The only noteworthy thing was that the FSU faithful went through with their brilliant "whiteout" plan, thus making it look like they were all rooting for Boise St. who was also wearing white. FSU played tough and it was a good game, but I already gave the team credit for that this year so no brownie points from the Watchdog for dropping to 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in the WAC.

Today was another kick in the balls. FSU did everything you could possibly list in a "keys to victory" segment and lost. Cincinnati averages 900 points per game, FSU held them to 28. The Bearcats give up around 65 yards per game on the ground and the Bulldogs shredded them for 290. FSU held the ball for 43:42 seconds, keeping the high-powered Cincinnati offense on the sidelines for all but 16:18 of the game.

And the result was a 28-20 loss.

That win over Division 7 school UC Davis seems like about 10 years ago.

The 'Dogs are 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the WAC and that's with them playing very well.

There was one boneheaded decision today when Pat Hill elected to go for it on 4th and two from the Cincinnati six-yard line in the third quarter. They were down 21-17 at that point and had it all going their way. They had drained the clock at the end of the first half with a time-consuming drive that ended in a touchdown. They got the ball to start the second half and were moving well before self-destructing with penalties and ended up punting.

FSU stopped Cincinnati and forced a punt and with all the momentum going their way, they embarked on another steady drive that ate up the rest of the third-quarter. When they got to fourth and two deep in Bearcat territory, they passed up the field goal that would have made it 21-20 and went for the first down. What's the worst thing that could happen?

Well, that didn't happen but the second-worst thing did. Ryan Colburn threw an interception and quickly made the tackle preventing a length-of-the-field pick six.

About 3 1/2 seconds later Cincinnati scored another touchdown and it was 28-17 (that would be an 11-point defecit rather than a 1-point defecit) and the 'Dogs weren't heard from again.

So here comes a bye and then a trip to Hawaii. They can only lose one of those.

Back For More Follies Action

Alright, where the hell was I? The Diamond Dogs got blown out of their regional so they didn't even make it to Omaha this spring. Then came the summer and it wasn't until just recently that all the BCS talk started up around here. But it was a little muted compared to previous years. The expectations didn't seem quite so unreasonably high as what we're usually subjected to around here. I don't know, maybe it was because the QB situation was unsettled, Pat Hill's still the coach, we've never won shit. Whatever.

Well, the FSU football team kicked it off last weekend against UC Davis and beat the holy piss out of them, 51-0. It was a joke game from the opening kickoff, everybody got to play and the players on UC Davis had to pick up trash in the grandstands for being the losing team. A real Little League kind of game.

I guess the Follies' expectations are a little lower as well, because I'm not really feeling the need to blast them for playing a weak sister team. The shame of it is that with only five home games this year for the season-ticket holders that pay the freight, this was one of them.

But what the hell, they should have handled Davis and they did. On to Camp Randall.

Even that went pretty well, despite a 34-31 double-overtime loss. FSU was up 21-7 in the second quarter and really had things going their way. But the Badgers scored 10 points down the stretch including a 983-yard field goal just before the gun to make it 21-17. (I think it was actually 57.)

It was a good second half but the Badgers took the lead with about five minutes to go and it was all FSU could do to get a clutch field goal from Kevin Goessling to put it into overtime. (What the fuck did I just say? Goessling.....clutch...???)

The first OT was touchdown-touchdown so they went to double OT. FSU had the ball and Ryan Colburn threw an interception in the end zone. Wisconsin got a field goal and that was that.

Pretty good reviews for Colburn, but he tends to put a lot of air under the ball. 289 yards, 4 TD's 3 INT's. Coulda been better, but he's in his second start. We won't start making fun of him just yet.

Pretty good reviews for the rushing defense, except that the play that gave Wisonsin the lead was 72-yard run right down Broadway. Oh well.

Now we can get back on our feet against.....oh shit. It's Boise State. It's Friday. By the time you get into the stadium the Broncos will be up 21-0. That national exposure....oh man, not again. Go 'Dogs!

Diamond Dogs Going For De Ja Vu

How do you celebrate the most crazy-ass national championship that has ever happened in the NCAA in any sport? If you're the Fresno State baseball team, you fuck around for the entire season and then start playing good when you're facing elimination. Almost like last year.

In 2008, the 'Dogs got off to their customary good start and posted a mark of 8-12 in the early going. But then they maneuvered their way into the WAC tournament only to face elimination. Then they kicked it into gear and moved on to a regional. Same deal there, and it was on to Omaha. The rest is history and the FSU baseball team roared into 2009 as the national champs.

But last year's team was 47-31 when it was all said and done.

This year's sqaud scrambled their way into the WAC tourney with a mark of 28-27. Like clockwork they lost their first game and had to win out.

They did.

What the hell?

They beat the number one seed San Jose St. Spartans on Friday, then beat Hawaii on Saturday and New Mexcico St. TWICE on Sunday. And last month at this time they couldn't beat their meat. From April 7th till May 2nd, FSU lost 13 out of 17 and fell into the WAC cellar.

Now they've won 12 out of 15 and are headed to a regional. Mike Batesole's a genius. Bob Bennett is writing a poem about how stupid he was to stack his team with awesome players. And Jeff Weaver....well, he's on the Dodgers and he sucks.

But here comes the NCAA's and if the trend keeps up, who knows how shrill Paul Loeffler's voice will get?

Rocky Road for Hoop 'Dogs

Paul George pumped in 29 points to lead Fresno State to a big upset of Boise State at the Save Mart Center last night. It was only the second WAC victory for the young team in what has been at times an agonizing transition year.

Including a non-conference win against Houston Baptist, the 'Dogs have now won three of their last six and stand at 10-14 for the season. But despite all the Dwight O'Neal drama (I don't have time to elaborate, just check the Bee from time to time to see what the hell he's up to) the team has fought pretty hard, especially lately.

A couple of weekends ago FSU fought conference kingpin Utah State to a standstill before losing in overtime. An effort like that didn't seem possible a month or so ago.

Before that there was an excellent 0-2 road trip, if there is such a thing. Tough losses at Utah State and Nevada by a total of nine points were actually a sign that Steve Cleveland's getting things turned around.

So kudos to the basketball team. They have a bright future. With a strong finish they'll probably be able to wave to the football team as their elevator's pass each other in their different directions.