I Know Nothing

Going into the football weekend, my hopes were high. Both the Canes and Cardinals had "big" games against well respected opponents.

Despite that the Canes were on the road against Virginia Tech, I thought Jacory Harris, Mark Whipple, and the boys would find a way to win. To be honest, I thought the Canes would win big. It turned out to be pretty much the opposite of that. If there was a silver lining in Saturday's loss, it was how true sophomore QB Jacory Harris handled himself in the post-game press conference. It would have been easy for Harris to blame receivers (notably TE Jimmy Graham) for dropped passes, just as it would have been easy for Harris to blame his struggles on the weather. He did neither. Harris held himself accountable. Hopefully that mentality helps him to turn it around this coming weekend against Oklahoma.

Don't get me wrong though: not every cloud has a silver lining. Go stand outside the next time it's raining. Let me know if any silver drops in your yard.

The lack of a silver lining brings me to the Cardinals game. Which was just horrific. The Cardinals offense piled up some decent stats (300+ yards in the air). But much of that was meaningless. Not only did the Colts generate more yards of offense, they scored far more points too. Points are what count, obviously.

Now the Cardinals find themselves at 1-2. On a positive note, the Super Bowl champion Steelers are also 1-2 and the Cardinals are only 1 game out of the division lead. But in reality, the Cardinals have looked pretty awful through three games. In the opener, they were sluggish. Talk to a Jaguars fan about game two and you'll hear that the Cardinals caught a break with a missed pass interference call (which is probably true), soon after which came the blocked FG/TD return, and then the rout was on. Jags fans would say it was more of a momentum change and everything falling apart after that. Based on how the Jags played yesterday, maybe that's plausible. Time will tell... Then, last night, the Cardinals were simply out played. If the Cards and Colts faced off ten more times, I'm not convinced the Colts would win each meeting (better execution on the Cardinals part -- not fumbling, completing some open passes, etc -- could lead to beter results). But the Colts would win the majority of the rematches.

Now the Cardinals have a bye week. While it's exceedingly early, it comes at a good time. The Cardinals need to regroup. A lot needs to be fixed. Hopefully the Cardinals rediscover themselves in the coming two weeks. Otherwise the Football Outsiders pre-season prediction of doom and gloom is probably right.

Other thoughts from the weekend:

1. TO deserves some credit for handling himself well in yesterday's post-game press conference. It was the first game in memory where TO didn't catch a pass. The media battered him with questions about his happiness with the playcalling and the like. TO didn't bite. He kept it professional.
2. Possibly the only prediction (thought) that I had right about the weekend was picking the Bengals to beat the Steelers. The Bengals are better than people think and the Steelers are worse.
3. I'm not sure what to make of the Jaguars (who looked awful against the Cardinals) or the Texans (who continue to confuse people). I'm out of my survival pool league after failing to understand either of these teams (I had the Texans).
4. College football is wide open this season. Miami blew their chance at earning a national title birth with the loss against Virginia Tech. However, the Hokies blew a door open and are now officially in the hunt. If/when Florida or Texas slips up, my guess is that VT finds themselves in the BCS title game picture.
5. Although he's a Gator, I'd never wish injury on anyone, not even Tim Tebow. While much has been said about the hit, I think it was clean. It's part of football. It's unfortunate, but these things happen. The impact from the both the hit of the defender and Tim's collission with his offensive linemen led to an ugly looking concussion. If there's blame to lay today about the play, it probably lies with Florida coach Urban Meyer, who must defend why his star QB is playing in a game that's already been decided. Not only does UF need to get their backup QB some experience, but more importantly, there's no reason to risk injury to your star players. Injury is the risk you run when you always look for an extra score even when the outcome of the game is no longer in doubt.
6. Notre Dame struggled against an outmanned Purdue team. The Irish even benefitted from an inexplicable time out call by Purdue late in the game (a call which effectively game Notre Dame an extra down because they didn't have to spike the ball -- that down proved crucial, as ND scored the go ahead TD on 4th and goal). What gives with Charlie Weis? The only potential explanation for his struggles is that he and his coaches are failing to develop players. Notre Dame has a roster full of talent that matches nearly anyone in the country's. And between Weis and his assistants, they should be able to outscheme nearly anyone they face. So the gap must be development of talent. How long does Weis last?
7. I saw Jupiter on three nights in a row through my little (sub-$50) telescope this weekend. Now I really can't wait to upgrade to a better scope (with tracking). I'm just not sure what to buy.

Lots of "I" today. Off to find the Royal We.

EDIT: updated the bullets to numbers. Man, the bullets suck in this format.