Hole Punch Sports

Yesterday was another proud day for the fat cats of college football. The No. 2-ranked University of Texas Longhorns eked out a narrow 64-7 victory at home over UTEP. The No. 8 Boise State Broncos destroyed 1-3 Bowling Green 49-14. And No. 16 Oklahoma State devoured Grambling State’s defense to the tune of 587 yards in a 56-6 win. You could say that the sham that is college football’s championship system encourages this kind of junk. (It’s often said that a team could lose on any given week and lose its shot at the national title. While that’s literally true, many of these matchups are like the U.S. Navy going against, I don’t know, the Antarctic Imperial Guard or something.) Of course, the whole season won’t be that easy. Texas and Oklahoma State have to play each other, for starters, and of course the Longhorns have that Red River Shootout every year. Boise State will have to…well, actually, their schedule’s kinda easy, but you know what I mean. I can’t help but think of th...

They’ve done it! Josh McDaniels’ Broncos are now 2-0 and appear to be an unstoppable force. All right, they’ve beaten two bad teams, but the defense, which needed seven tons of improvements after last season, has only given up thirteen points in two games. (We’d give that many up every 27 minutes and 52 seconds of game time last year.) Also, and I had thought I brought this up before, but I love Elvis Dumervil, maybe the last great defensive pick of the Mike Shanahan era. I still don’t get how a guy with twenty sacks in one year at a big-time program falls to the fourth round, but it’s okay with me that he did. The twin rushing attack of the skin-softening Correll Buckhalter and Knowshon Moreno looked pretty good, too. I’ve always liked Buckhalter’s toughness and style. Moreno, though, ran exactly like a Shanahan-era back today. He didn’t do anything too special—it was only his second game—but the way he hit the hole and ran with balance and shifted his weight on his moves looked ve...

Now is the time for Colorado Buffaloes fans to breathe a huge sigh of relief: the football team picked up its first win of the season yesterday in a shutout over the Wyoming Cowboys at Folsom Field. I was terrified all week that Wyoming would win. My brother and his wife were both athletes there and I thought if I didn’t make a big deal of it before the game, maybe they’d let me off easy afterwards. By Thursday I realized that the nature of the matchup (Big 12 vs. Mountain West) meant I’d be hearing a bunch anyway, so I talked a tiny amount of trash, and was very pleasantly surprised to check the score yesterday and find us winning. I didn’t get to watch the game, since I don’t get Fox College Sports Central, which I could swear I’d never heard of before last week. I’m troubled by the box score that says our quarterback threw a ton of passes again (31) for not a lot of yards (175), but it appears our defense and running game were great, so I’ll take it. Any of you see what happene...

Broncos fans: enjoy the picture below, snapped tonight by commenter and friend of the blog David V. at the Oakland Coliseum.

I didn’t see the game (or any pro football today, actually), but with all my pessimism before the season I have to at least link to the highlights of the Broncos’ spectacular win over the Cincinnati Bengals today. What a win!

Congratulations to this year’s class of inductees to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Two coaches and three players were enshrined yesterday. C. Vivian Stringer: Currently the head coach at Rutgers and owner of a pristine 813-269 career record. I don’t know enough about her career to cover it fairly; check Wikipedia for more information. Jerry Sloan: I have mixed feelings about this guy, who seems like a jerk, and whose teams have never won a championship, making it into the Hall. On the other hand, he was a well-regarded player, especially defensively, and has a great reputation as a coach—is it fair to combine the two? In an interesting historical note, Sloan has never won the NBA’s Coach of the Year Award. That’s OK with me because I’ve had a higher opinion of several coaches who have been active during his tenure, particularly Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, and Gregg Popovich. But it’s also bizarre because Sloan is a better coach than many of the men who have wo...

Last night was rough. The Colorado Buffaloes lost their first game of the season 23-17 in a game that was much less competitive than the final score appears. Colorado made some plays, sure, and they even started the second half with a quick scoring drive. But they struggled to move the ball for most of the game. CU’s opponent moved the ball effortlessly in the first half, then faltered as the game went on, scoring only a field goal in the second half. They gave the Buffs enough of an opening to get back into the game, but CU couldn’t capitalize. In Boulder right now, you can buy the jerseys of two active players and one legend . The No. 7 jersey belongs to Cody Hawkins, who threw forty passes yesterday. The No. 2 on sale is worn by running back Darrell Scott, who carried the ball once last night for one yard. Is it fair to suggest the coach is putting his son ahead of the team? No, but these are the kind of things that come up when you fall madly in love with airing it out. Rod...

No. 3 Oklahoma may have lost Hyped Man Sam Bradford in the second quarter, but they still let the No. 20 BYU Cougars take it to ’em in crunch time. BYU notched the upset win 14-13 tonight in Dallas. I’ve seen BYU make plenty of comebacks, but it’s been years since both the offense and defense played with the kind of mental toughness they did in tonight’s fourth quarter. Cougars QB Max Hall threw a costly pick at the end of the third that left Oklahoma with good field position at BYU’s 27, with the Sooners already holding a 10-7 lead. They immediately picked up a first down, too. But that was about it for OU tonight. Oklahoma running back Chris Brown picked up a first and goal, then BYU stopped him on consecutive plays. Third and goal from the five. On the pass, BYU cornerback Brian Logan appeared to knock the ball down cleanly, but was flagged for pass interference in the end zone. I thought this was a horrible call, honestly, and it gave Oklahoma first and goal at the two. Havi...

Inspired by the Sports Guy’s debates this year about what has been the best whatever of the decade, I thought it would be nice to talk, as the last football season of the decade kicks off, about which have been the best games of the double-ohs. (Hopefully I’ll look dumb for leaving out some awesome game that happens this season.) Honorable mention: Sadly, I had to exclude the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, when Ohio State upset the favored Miami Hurricanes for the national championship—the game even went to a typically-awesome college overtime, but I really hated the pass interference call that extended the Buckeyes’ first overtime possession…the fourth and 26 game…the Rams-Titans Super Bowl XXXIV showdown, which was sorta boring until the last few minutes, when my BYU companion conveniently scheduled a home-teaching appointment…the Titans’ third win of the season over the Jaguars in the AFC Championship right before that game…the Music City Miracle, which never would have happened if Wade Phil...

The Broncos will be turning to Tom Brandstater tomorrow night for their last preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals (7 o'clock Mountain, CBS). ESPN.com has a lovely Associated Press article up about it, which you should read. The scariest part of all is when Coach McD suggests he can’t say for sure whether Kyle Orton or Chris Simms will be back for the season opener. I would just say that in the last preseason game, even The Brand-Stater (“Pepsi!” “Timex!”) was moving the offense down the field better than Mr. Orton. I don’t actually think the rookie’s a good option this year, or maybe ever, but it would certainly be interesting if he can manage a second-straight good pretend game. His inability to offer any explanation for playing all right in the last game makes me think he won’t do it again, but you never know. Not to beat a dead horse, but I just hope this doesn’t end up like the Jarrious Jackson backing up Brian Griese years, where the preseason was more fun to wat...