The Race Is Off And Running

Tonight Big East Football began the process of selecting their represetatives for the up coming playoffs and after the first ballot Fike, Rocky Mount and Hunt are leading the ballot. The second ballot will be next Friday night and in this race you get to keep your votes as the ballots head toward five rounds. The battle of the unbeatens Fike has proven this year to be a quick starting team and they did that again tonight as they jumped to a 19-0 and 26-7 before the Firebirds of Southern Nash made a run but came up short in Wilson 33-27. Fike is now 7-0 while the Firebirds lose for the first time this year and drop to 6-1. I don't know whether this game was a game that Rocky Mount 6-1 played down to the level of Nash Central 0-7 or the defenses were just so good or what. Between both teams Rocky Mount got one first down in the second half and then got a second on an off sides penalty late in the game while running the clock out. Nash Central never had a series in the second half that took more than three plays before a punt. Rocky Mount scored in the first on a Micah Varnell field goal which was matched early in the fourth quarter at 3-3. A nice kick off return and a long pass play on their first play after the kickoff would score the only touchdown of the game. If you are really into official stats any scoring play of more than 11 yards is credited with a first down so for the second half Rocky Mount had three first downs to 0 for the Bulldogs. Hard to watch for those that were there. Northern Nash did everything they could to get ready for Hunt but in the end the team that knows how to win managed two second half scores while Northern Nash could not and Hunt wins at Death Valley 14-7. Randy Raper loses his first conference game in three years while Northern has still not won a conference game working on two years plus. What can you say. RMA 64- Arendell Parrott 0. Looks like RMA really does want to go far in this years state private school playoffs. In other action SWE 36 North Pitt 22. Nice win for the Cougars on the road. Tarboro 51- South Creek 8. I 'm sure the Vikings put the breaks on in this one. next week Big East games have Hunt at Rocky Mount, a battle for first place..... Northern Nash at Southern Nash and this will be a battle that neither team can afford to lose. Fike and Nash Central. Fike will be watching the Hunt/Rocky Mount game.

College Football Another Week Game Day

So far this college football season I have been able to pick three out of every four college games on our weekly pick-em. 33-11 heading into another week of interesting games. UNC,FSU,Miami and Wake forest are all off so will not have a chance to miss these games. We start with Georgia Tech at BYU. Interesting game in Provo Utah. Both teams comes into the game 3-2. Just due to the travel I'll take BYU. 31-28. Boston College At Clemson. BC is not a bad club but this game is in Death Valley. I would hope Dabo has the Tigers understanding that if they even want to be in the National Championship talk they can't slip up anywhere. Clemson 42 BC 22 Duke host Navy. This game the loser may have 40 points by the games end. The wishbone or what ever kind of option offense you want to call the USNA offense Duke has struggled to stop anybody this year but they have had two weeks to prepare. Navy 45 Duke 38. ECU at Tulane. Like Clemson for the Pirates this is a game they can not let slip by them if they want to be Conference USA Champs. The Super Dome is a place just in it's size can make you a gawker instead of paying attention to the game. ECU 31 Tulane 20. Pitt at Virginia Tech. Pitt can score and the Gobblers can't. This game will be a matter of how good is the Tech defense. When it is over and Pitt has 20 or less then Va Tech can count on their defense for rest of season. If Pitt rumbles for 40 Tech won't be around in the conference championship games. At this point nobody has shown me the Tech defense is not for real. VAT 24 Pitt 17 Virginia at Maryland. Boy didn't that 63-0 shellacking Florida St laid on Maryland feel good for the whole conference but this is another week and Virginia is in town. Maryland 35 Virginia 17 Syracuse at N C State. State's already 0-2 in conference and I bet Mitchell plays a couple of series this week. Pack needs this one badly. Pack 28 Cuse 24. North Carolina Wesleyan at Christopher Newport. NCW 1-4 and Chris Newport 3-1. Seems as if CN is always near ther top in conference play and this is a tough draw for the Battling Bishops. Newport 31 NCW 13

The Football Playoffs Begin

We  get down to the real football in the NEW area as all football conferences in the area begin the shuffle to determine  who will qualify for the state playoffs in the Twin Rivers 1-A, Eastern Plains  2-A and the Big East 3-A all begin the persuit of playoff glory.  Yes they would all love to be  called conference champs but those that don't win the championship will all have one thing to sell. We can all win the state championship even without a conference crown. So what we all have to do is get in the playoffs.  If we get in we got a chance.

Tarboro a two time loser to rather good  3-A teams opens it new conference play hosting South Creek a team that stands 1-5 and has given up at least 40 in all five of their losses. Look why would we not expect the Vikings to have forty by the half? I would suspect coach Craddock will be a sportsman like as possible. Tarboro 52 South Creek 0.

North Edgecombe host Rocky Mount Prep and the Warriors have scored at least 14 in every game or more while RMP has only beaten a team that they had to shutout to beat.  Can't see a Jags shutout and I can't see Prep scoring enough to win this one.  NE 26 Prep 6.

RMA takes on Arendell Parrott Academy from Kinston. The thick part of the Eagle's schedule begins.
If I am not mistaken APA won his game last season.  So far this year RMA has done well in the games from last year that they lost.  I know absolutely  nothing  about APA.  RMA 44 APA 34.

SouthWest Edgecombe 3-3 travels to North Pitt 5-1. The Cougars have played a tough schedule but NP schedule hasn't been bad.This could really be a ball game.  This is the first test to see if any teams non-conference was a quality schedule or not.  I think SWE will prove that a 3-3 record has made them ready for the future. SWE 26 North Pitt 21

If records 6-0 for both teams means anything the the Big East game of  the week is Southern Nash at Fike.  Fike has been impressive in the first part of the season while SN is coming off one of the big wins in any season.  Fike was off runs a wide  open offense and Southern has had trouble against spread offenses.  Southern can not afford to let down before the conference gets going.  They also can't afford putting the ball on the ground. They will need every trip to count.  I'm taking Fike, they are home, had a week off and have an offense that gives trouble? Golden Demons33 SN 28 .

Nash Central at Rocky Mount Don 't expect this one to be a runaway but I do think that Rocky Mount
will handle the Bulldogs.  Central's defense could keep the game close if the offense doesn't help out Rocky Mount with field position all night? The Gryphons defense is equal to the Bulldogs but surly their offenses better.  Gryphons 26 Bulldogs 6

It may feature two 3-3 teams but the most intriguing game of the night happens at Northern Nash .  The Knights winners of three in a row and also the owners of last year's Warriors coach. Because Randy raper wants Northern to play the Randy Raper way and Hunt still playing the Stevie Hinnant way which is a continuation of the Randy Raper  way.  Both of these teams could switch uniforms  and they would still look the same.  I'll take the team on the rise Northern.  Since both teams will want to run the clock this one could've over by 9pm.  Northern 14 Hunt 12 .

We Are All BCS Experts

There is a big brew-ha going on right now because the name of Condoleezza Rice has been mentioned to serve on the BCS playoff committee.  There are those that say she is a woman and knows nothing about sports.  There are plenty of reason  but except for being a women every reason could apply to any one.

She doesn't know about all the teams and my answer to that is who does?  Who can possibly know everything about every team.  Let's just use local high school football as an example. I know a lot about the teams in the Edgecombe, Nash and Wilson counties, but I know nothing about say Franklin
high or Newton Conover.  Just look at the Heisman voting.  The winner always dominates the voting in his section of the country and gets little from other areas.  The winners most of the time had just enough votes from the other areas to win.  The reason for that is we have no idea who the best player California is so we are not going to vote for someone we don't know anything about.  If you rely on TV experts to tell you, you might as well  draw out of a hat for what TV knows. They are going to promote what they  are pushing for what they want to show on TV.

Remember that the BCS will only have four teams and that in itself is a fallacy  of the system.  There are six BCS conferences and five other D-1leagues being left out in the cold.  Why worry who's on the committee because nobody knows all the teams.  Let's have a 16 team playoff with all 11 conferences champions in and let the computer tell us who are the best five teams not a conference champion.  Those that don 't make the BCS can go play in all the other bowl games

We are a people who wants instant gratification. The Bible says because of the sins of Adam and Eve all the rest of us that have been born since have been punished with sin. The pursuit of power is  one of those sins.  Why is the BCS such a mess and it hasn't even been put in place as of yet.  The reason just look at the power seekers who will do what ever they need to do to get what they want.  Sounds a lot like our federal government doesn't it?  The president right on down the line there is the power seekers willing to destroy their own country to get what they want, more power.

What A Difference Three Weeks Make

Three weeks ago Jim Grobe had one foot in grave of fired football coaches and today he has hung another first year coach up to dry.  NC State who yes has injuries but who doesn't expected to go Winston Salem and beat Wake Forest and put and end to the ten year drought but what happened they played as if B B&T was haunted.

What does Jim Grobe do to his players that when another in State school comes to their house Wake plays as well as they have played all year and each in state school plays as poorly as they will play all year.  You know we are all creatures of happen and most teams keep  their players in a hotel even during home games.  I wonder if the bus ride over the day of the game is some of the problem or shoud every in state team stay in Winston the night before.   What ever the answer Jim Grobe knows  something that nobody else knows.

Looking at the offensive leaders in the new NFL there is not one of the new so called run/pass quarterbacks in the tops of the league. Peyton Manning a drop back, Drew Bree's a drop back, Tony Romo a drop back, Aaron Rogers a drop back and Philip Rivers a drop back QB are on record setting paces to break for scoring, points, touchdown passes and who knows what other records that might fall before this year is done.  Anybody notice that all those drop back QB's play every week while those new breed QB's stay on the sidelines more than they play.

The plight of the Carolina Panthers and Cam Newton.  Is his issue the coach is holding him back or is Cam Newton another Vince Young?  The world of professional sports when it comes down to who is the problem is it the coach or player the coach will go first.  The looming issue is this is the last year of Newton's rookie contract so somebody in Charlotte needs to decide do they need a new coach or do they need a new  quarterback?  the answer just might mean they need both.

Arena Football On Sundays

Tony Romo showed the world how bad Denver defense is.  San Diego shut out Dallas in the second half last week but Romo torched the Broncs for over 300 yards in the second half.  Denver had no pass rush what so ever and we found out yesterday Peyton can still throw an int once in a while.  In the end Romo acted like Romo does and threw and int in the mist of his greatest game ever.


Sunday in Maryland the Club Tri Athlon was held and the NC State Tri Club finished third in the region and by doing so qualified  for the National's. Next April.  It is the highest finish ever as both the men's and women's teams finished third in their division. Must be that coaching by former Rocky Mount Gryphon Brooks Doughtie.

Brooks little sister could not pull out Campbell's volleyball team  in their 7th fifth set match of the year.  Morgan Doughtie from her team manager position saw Campbell lose their first conference game Saturday at Coastal Carolina.  Campbell is in a four way tie for fifth at 2-1.  The Big South season ending tournament only has the top eight teams and since they didn't even win one conference game last year this is a great start with all three games on the road.

I like having San Diego Chargers on TVSunday night but not at 11:30pm.  I taped the game and will watch it tonight.  The NFL is down to three unbeatens Denver, KC and New Orleans.  Denver and New Orleans can score at will while KC relies on defense.  We will see if any of them make the Super Bowl.

Went 3-0 on the high schools picks running my record for the year to 46-8. Was 7-1 in the college games making my record 33-11 .

Streaks Are Made To Be Broken

Friday night Southern Nash ended the Tarboro Vikings 43 game home winning streak. Jeff Craddock has preached not in our house you don't come and beat us.  Our lives whether you believe it or not is all about how we feel about  ourselves.  Winners walk around with the attitude that they are better than you and know that they are going to win.  People or teams that are average or less never quite believe that they can do it all the time.  There is doubt during crunch time as to really thinking you can get the job done.  When a team that knows they are going to play a team that is not quite sure they will win every time the winners will make the play to win and the other team will do something to help lose the game.  Friday night was a case of two very good teams going head to head and the clock ran out and the game was over.

Yesterday attended a wedding in Kitty Hawk and didn't see any football at all.  I recorded both Carolina and State and whenI got home never made it to the end of either.  I wanted to see if Whit Barnes was the starting line up but due to the over run of the Virginia game didn't get to see the lineups.

College coaches are probably the most overpaid people in the world.  every type of offense ever devised was done to take advantage of your team.   The rage of the 70's were the wishbone and the veer.  Both were designed to take advantage of small lineman where you didn't have to knock the man down across the line from you but just screen him off long enough for your backs to scoot through a hole.

These offenses expecting the quarterback to be the main runner and passer you must have a quarterback that can do both.  Neither State or Carolina have that type QB but both coaches continue to run offense not suited to their quarterbacks.  Injuries can cause issues and State 's and even maybe in Chapel Hill. Please coaches show me you know a little about football offense.  Run plays that suit your quarterback you have on the field.  Neither coach has shown me that they know much about the game only they known one type system.