Thoughts on College Football Week 4

Here are some random thoughts at the end of Week 4 of College Football Season:

• Was really surprised to see Jim Tressel piling on points against a lesser opponent. Over these years, I have been pissed of by his conservative offensive and defensive schemes. But I have always admired him for respecting his opponents (however bad they might be) and not going for so called "style points". So, yesterday came as a shocker when OSU pounded over-matched Eastern Michigan 73-20. It was un-Tressel like and not sure what was running through his mind when he decided to run-up the score. I just hope what goes around, doesn't comes around for him anytime soon.
• On the other end of the country, Alabama defeated Arkansas 24-20 going on the road. I watched the game on and off and Alabama has a strong running game. Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson churned close to 245 yards on the ground which, in my opinion, turned the game in the Tide's favor. Also, Ryan Mallet decided to throw two interception at the inopportune moments of the game. I am not sure if Alabama is a championship caliber team or a team riding a lucky streak in closely fought games. But for now, it looks like they are the team to beat in the country.
• Speaking of luck, I am finally happy to see Texas lose a game at home to an UCLA team that threw for 27 passing yards!!!! I do agree that Mack Brown has consistently fielded good teams at Texas, but you cannot rely on your defense to bail you out every time (even Jim Tressel knows that). Looks like Texas has no semblance of a decent running game and defenses are able to sniff out the pass patterns quite easily. I am sure that Gilbert will develop into a good quarterback with a strong gasp of their quick-snap and pattern passing game, but looks like he is now going through the growing pains. A thing to note is that Mack Brown's teams either play in BCS bowls or Holiday Bowl depending on the experience of their quarterbacks. 
•  At the same time, kudos to UCLA for righting their ship after 2 loses to start their season. If UCLA has a decent quarterback, they are a top 15 team. Hope Kevin Prince develops into a decent quarter back as the season progresses.
• It is sad to see a prestigious program like Tennessee to go through two over-times to beat a UAB team. 
• I have always admired Mark Richt as a coach and he is officially in the "hot seat" now after 3 straight SEC losses. However, I am sure Georgia will start winning games with the return of star A.J.Green. Trust me, his return will be a big boost to their passing game, which will open up the running game.  If Green stays healthy, Georgia has a good chance of winning all its remaining games. With Green, defenses have to double-team him, opening up chances for the other receivers.
• Oregon offense is a joy to watch. Stanford is playing a good game mixing equal amounts of runs and passes. Their clash this week will probably decide the winner of Pac 10.
• Boise State deserves to play for the National Title if they win out their schedule. They have a very good offense and their defense if expected to get better with the season. With all the nonsense-talk about them playing in a non Big Six league, I am pretty sure they will beat almost all the teams in the country. Give them a chance to play and prove themselves.

Thoughts on Reggie Bush returning his Heisman Trophy

This post is not meant to offer a series of arguments as to why Reggis Bush should keep his Heisman or why he should be stripped of the coveted trophy in College Football. In fact, the point is moot as Reggie Bush has decided to return back the Heisman Trophy he won in 2010. From what I read at Yahoo Sports, its looks like Bush did not much of the choice as the Heisman Trust was anyways planning to strip him of the Trophy. So, looks like he took the moral high-ground and decided to return the trophy himself before they take it away from him. In fact, the sudden action of Reggie Bush has earned him the sympathy of football fans everywhere. I don't blame the Heisman Trust for possibly demanding the trophy back as Reggie Bush has clearly violated the  guidelines required of a Heisman candidate. He and his family took money from unscrupulous agents when playing at USC and thats against NCAA rules. So, he did a mistake and now has to atone for it. There is no other way to look at it. In fact, being a fan of Ohio State, I used to hate Reggie Bush and always thought he was overrated. Had this stupid opinion that Reggie would not be able to run a yard against a strong D like OSU. I then saw one of USC's (now vacated) games against Fresno State in 2004 season. Bush was the spearhead of that offense and if I remember correctly, he made some kind of record for all-purpose yards in that game. He was purely electric and magical in that game. It made me realize that he is one of those players who can truly bring  joy to a neutral (and not so neutral) fans everywhere. Here is one of his magical plays from that game:



His college career has so many such highlights that it is beyond doubt that he deserved the Heisman Trophy for that year. Its a shame he now has to return it. But the alarming trend to note here is how people are being forced to being politically correct these days and take actions to appease a section of the population. If this were the last decade, the result of the Bush related NCAA investigations would have resulted in USC getting hit with sanctions and thats about it. There would not have been any talk of Bush's Heisman Trophy. But now, with the pressure applied by various agencies, media outlets, the Heisman Trust will take the unprecedented move of vacating the winner for 2005. To be fair to Bush, the Heisman Trust should reopen the cases of all the previous Heisman winners and dig for any dirty laundry ;-) On the other hand, it may result in half the winner names being vacated :-)