Forward Pass

Joe Paterno has died…sad end to a great coach…

Jeff Forward — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:03:26 +0000

The sports news is filled this morning with word that legendary college football coach Joe Paterno has died. Of course, Paterno was the legendary coach of Penn State before being fired in 2011 when a child-sex abuse scandal erupted involving one his long-time assistants, Jerry Sandusky. Paterno will be remembered in an ironic way – one as the famed coach – the other aspect that of an old man who maybe missed the boat on sex abuse claims 10 years ago. Tough way to end things for a legend.

RIP “JoePa”

Happy New Year!!! ‘Bama is the champs, again…

Jeff Forward — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:57:28 +0000

Hey, hope y’all had a great holidays and bowl season. That Alabama domination of LSU in the national title game showed why a rematch was needed. Remember, in the first match-up ‘Bama dominated offensive stats and had four missed field goals. If one of those was good, it’d be moot and ‘Bama would’ve won. Also, that controversial call of an interception by LSU after a ‘Bama catch at the Tigers’ five-yard line was a major factor since ‘Bama would’ve gotten a game-sealing TD or maybe field goal. So, after stifling LSU for the entire game – once inside the 50-yard line? Unreal. And, along with six scoring possessions, you’re looking at a butt-kicking.

Anyway, next year we we see an unprecedented year in college football in my opinion. I think the BCS will drastically alter in the off-season giving we fans our first four-team play-off. Sad timing for the Buckeyes, because I can guarantee that with the team and what Urban Meyer can do, OSU has one hell of a shot of finishing in the final four of the rankings next season. So, if the process is altered and expanded to four teams, Ohio State will be a big loser. And, I guarantee that the Buckeyes will be one of the four teams playing for a title in 2013 after their one-year bowl ban is up. Urban’s going to make a massive difference and the Buckeyes will be winning big soon.

OK, enough for now. I am relocating soon from my current home in the Sacramento region. I need a job bad and so you have to go where the jobs are. Hoping for the best. I am welcome to suggestions on the move, early favorites are Ohio, Oregon, Iowa, Louisiana, or somewhat unlikely – another area of California. Wish me luck and keep following the blog – I will do more this year than ever!

JForward

Fascinating day of Bowl Games…

Jeff Forward — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:07:27 +0000

The day was a bit of a downer for Buckeye Nation – losing to Florida again just lets the wind out of your sails. The special teams let downs were no fun and a winnable game was slopped away into the loss column. Now, a two year wait for a bowl game…I’m hoping it’ll be the National title game!

The Big Ten did not fare well today, and let’s hope next season sees a resurgence of Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Michigan State. I have a feeling Penn State will decline significantly next season as more Sandusky Scandal comes to light…Congrats to Michigan State for pulling off a great come from behind win over Georgia…Nice stuff!

Oklahoma State sure got lucky with the missed Stanford field goal at the end of the regulation…That poor kicker! My GF* told me she felt bad for him…I did, too, especially when he missed a second field goal – this one in overtime. The Cowboys had a great season but lose their star QB-WR combo to the NFL next season and will need to find a new gunslinger under center to repeat the success of this season. It’s also doubtful Oklahoma and Texas will be kept in check as they have this year, so look for a competitive Big 12 in 2012!

Urban Meyer is now coach at Ohio State and trust me, the Buckeyes will compete for a mythical National Championship next season despite not going to a conference title game or bowl game. How? They need to win out – go 12-0 – and do it impressively. It’ll help if Michigan is ranked in the Top 5 at the time of the clash in Ohio Stadium. I could see that game being the Buckeyes’ “bowl” and if it is two 10-win teams butting heads, it’ll be a great end of the season victory for Urban Meyer and this first year team….If the Buckeyes go undefeated next season and beat highly ranked teams in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nebraska – plus no other team goes undefeated – then Ohio State could claim the AP national title! I’m a dreamer!

I felt good for Oregon – their first Rose Bowl win since 1917. Congrats, Ducks! Ohio State’s seventh loss of the season came to Florida – a feat last accomplished in 1897! Wow! I wonder how many teams in the country can say that? Wisconsin lost on another official replay call – this time to determine if there was any time left on the clock at the end of the game. There wasn’t and game was over. The Badgers went through a similar situation at Michigan State in their first loss of the season when the winning TD was reviewed…Hey, who cares? Badgers suck and I am so happy Ohio State beat them this season.

Anyway, that’s it from the peanut gallery tonight. More tomorrow and live blogging the Michigan-Va. Tech game….

JForward

ABC/ESPN has Jon Gruden’s back in rules-knowledge flap…

Jeff Forward — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:51:43 +0000

Jon Gruden has come under fire in his role on Monday Night Football on ESPN for not knowing the rules in the NFL – according to former referee honcho Ron Perreira (hope I spelled that right…)…

ESPN zinged back at him and the criticism of Gruden on the Michigan State-Georgia broadcast, bringing in a former NFL-now-college referee who said Gruden was always great on the sideline…

Interesting little nugget from this game’s broadcast on ABC with the ESPN crew of Gruden and Mike Tirico. BTW, I love both these announcers…especially Gruden. He’s an Ohio guy from Sandusky. I’ve spent some time there…

JForward

Ohio State should have banned itself from a bowl game this year…

Jeff Forward — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:21:14 +0000

Because losing this game sucked ass. I’d much rather have stayed home this year with Urban Meyer coming in next season and being bowl eligible. I did not think a bowl ban was coming, but it did and it’s going to suck that we’re limited to 12 games next year. Let’s go 12-0 and show everyone we’re No. 1 in 2012 – bowl or not!

JForward

Happy New Year’s!! Let’s get this party started with a Buckeyes’ victory over the Gators!!

Jeff Forward — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:58:22 +0000

Looking forward to a great 2012. I wish all my loyal readers, anyone who’s stopped by once or twice, and everyone else who loves college football as much as I do – Happpppy New Year….

2012 should be a great one, looking forward to it in many ways…This year, I’ll be expanding the blog with photos, live-game stories, and all sorts of other goodies!! Thanks for joining me on the ride, hope you had a great holidays & bowl season so far, and enjoy the rest of the action!!

Buckeyes No. 1!!!

JForward

Revisiting my pre-season BCS Bowl picks – I was almost half right!

Jeff Forward — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:57:43 +0000

Looking back at my pre-season bets on the BCS bowls, I was right on one of the two participants in many cases…this is from the first week of the season. I amazingly got the Hokies in Sugar Bowl pick correct; along with the Pac-12, Big East, and one half of the national title game correct…JF

My BCS Bowl Game Picks..

Here goes nothing…

Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. ~~Nebraska~~

Sugar Bowl: ~~South Carolina~~ vs. Virginia Tech

Fiesta Bowl: ~~Oklahoma~~ vs. ~~Notre Dame~~

Orange Bowl: ~~Florida State~~ vs. West Virginia

National Title Game: ~~Ohio Stat~~e vs. Alabama

Bowl discussion to come; Updated End of Season Top 20!

Jeff Forward — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:50:21 +0000

I’ll delve into the bowl games a bit later tonight, but in my humble opinion – the title game should be LSU vs. Oklahoma State. ‘Bama had its shot and lost at home, so I don’t think they should get a rematch for many reasons. The biggest BS, though, is reserved for the Sugar Bowl, which pits Michigan against Virginia Tech. It’s a joke bowl…both teams were not even in the Top 10…and many good, deserving teams could have been slotted into this game – including Michigan State (beat Michigan), Kansas State (only lost to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State), or even Arkansas – which would’ve put three SEC West teams into BCS bowls…Boise State was ranked 7th or so, lost by one point to TCU (on a missed FG of their own, to boot) and was also left out of the money…Florida and Ohio State are in the Gator Bowl, which means two 6-6 teams will play on Jan. 2…OK? Much more to discuss later….

Heisman finalists were announced – RG III, Andrew Luck, Montee Ball, Trent Richardson, and Tyrann Mathieu…interesting, very interesting…

I’ll also be doing my End of Season Notebook & Awards a bit later this week. I cannot believe the college football regular season is over. Man that went fast! I’ll also revisit my pre-season predictions – some of which were wayyyyyyy off the charts stupid with the benefit of hindsight (yes, I picked Ohio State to play in the national title game, dumb, I know…). I did get one-half of the title game right though, as Alabama made it…

JForward

It’s all LSU now…

Jeff Forward — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:28:31 +0000

So much for that ‘Dawgs upset…looking like LSU vs. ‘Bama in the title game unless voters somehow do something weird..I only see that happening if Oklahoma State annihilates the Sooners tonight…

LSU takes the lead; replay from first half score shows Mathieu did not score a TD on punt return…

Jeff Forward — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 23:37:50 +0000

This game is still anyone’s for the taking, but if LSU ends up winning a close one, it’ll be a controversial call that was totally missed by officials that will be remembered. In the first half, trailing 10-0, Tyrann Mathieu took a punt and seemed to return it for a TD. However, on replay it was revealed that Mathieu threw a forward pass to the referee before he had crossed the goal line – and the ball definitely did not cross the goal line. The TD should have been nullified, a penalty called for illegal forward pass, and LSU would get the ball somewhere near the Georgia 20 yard line is my guess. I am not sure why the play was not reviewed. I think the NCAA should implement an all-scores-are reviewed rule for next season – like the one the NFL has now. The referee on the goal line was more interested in signalling TD than seeing if the ball crossed the goal line – which is never did. I hope that this terrible missed call does not affect the outcome of this game negatively for Georgia. I want to see the ‘Dawgs win it bad….

JForward