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 these early-season tune-ups when I consider the Denver Broncos’ 3-0 start, extended today with an always-welcome 23-3 shellacking of the Oakland Raiders.
In some ways, the Broncos look outstanding: three straight wins with a brand-new coach and quarterback, an offense with an emerging ground game that seems to get a little more into the groove every week, and a defense that has given up a piddling sixteen points in three games.
On the other: who have they beaten? The Cincinnati Bengals, whom we beat with the flukiest of victories, are the only impressive silhouette under the cockpit. The Raiders are pretty horrible, and young JaMarcus Russell is really struggling. The Browns, well, the Browns will always be one of my favorite teams to see across the field. Not to be a jerk, but they’re basically still an expansion team, aren’t they?
The Broncos will be tested very soon, with upcoming home games against the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. (Even if those teams aren’t as good as their reputations, surely they represent legitimate NFL challenges.) Then it’s road games against the Chargers and Ravens, and a home date with the defending champion Steelers. Would anyone be shocked if we’re 4-4 in a few weeks? On the other hand, if we can defend the home turf the next two weeks…at some point a team builds an impressive lead and it doesn’t so much matter if they’re really that good. But I don’t want to think too far ahead. For now, let us pause and give thanks that our offseason of disaster hasn’t prevented a wonderful start to the season.
4 comments:
3-0 is a great start, and completely unexpected from my end. The defense has looked very stingy, and the running game has impressed me enormously.
The next four games will be telling - I won't be surprised if we come through 4-4, but will be very happy if we make it through 5-3.
I have also been impressed with the Broncos so far. The Raiders really struggle on offense, but they do have a pretty good defense and the Broncos were able to move the ball with ease yesterday. I was glad to see Marshall finally get involved in the game; he has to be one of the best receivers in the league going over the middle.
I think they can beat the Cowboys this week. They are overrated as usual. What has Tony Homo EVER done besides lose every meaningful game he's ever played in? He showed last week that if you can put a little pressure on him he will make mistakes.
How much is Blue Suede Dumervil loving the new 3-4 defense? He's been terrific so far this year!
yeah, i'm very happy to be where we are right now, and am glad we aren't 0-3.
but i find myself asking the same question you did, who have we beaten?
AT the same time... a lesser defense would've given up more points to mediocre teams, right? we're winning the games we're supposed to, and the defense is working.
i remain, "cautiously optimistic."
John, 5-3 would be pretty acceptable, and .400 against some good teams isn't hard to picture. We have some more tough games in the second half of the season, but we're also still in the AFC West, so not all is lost.
Blaine, that looked pretty crass because I hadn't seen it in a while, but man, I miss Drew Bledsoe's blog. The Broncos did move the ball pretty well against the Raiders. Not perfectly, but well, and it's reasonable to expect all the new faces to work better together as the year goes on. Elvis is having a wonderful year and I'm thrilled to see it.
David, always good to have you, and I agree that the Broncos are looking very good against these teams. They could be playing close games, but they're not. We would need to play better to beat the Saints or something but we're looking good for this point in the season.
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