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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Football 2013 - Week 7

by Bill Holmes

My recap of the only football games that matter.




I'll start this week's recap with a game that is technically part of week 6. The Atlanta Falcons hosted the New York Jets on Monday (10/7) night. This was a game I thought for sure the Falcons would win and maybe turn their season around. At the 00:01 point of the game they were winning 28-27. When the final gun sounded the Jets had won 30-28. The Falcons took the lead with 1:54 to go. Then they allowed New York to go from their own 20 to the Atlanta 25. A 43 yard field goal with no time on the clock sealed it. The Birds won everything but the game. The Falcons continue a most disappointing season and are now 1-4. They thankfully have a bye week next.

The one good constant this season has been wins by Bishop Kenny. This week they beat the Forrest Rebels 31-6. The Crusaders scored all 31 points in the second quarter. They completely dominated the stats with almost 400 total yards vs only 98 for Forrest. BK is now 5-0, 4-0 in district play for the season. Next up they travel to the winless Stanton Blue Devils.

Bell also dominated over the Carrollton Turner Lions 50-14, it was 36-0 at halftime. The Blue Raiders are now 5-1, 3-0 in district. Next up is the big local rivalry game against the Trinity Trojans. As usual the game will be at Pennington Field, the stadium the two schools share. It has been a long time since Bell has beaten Trinity. This could be the year. The Trojans, uncharacteristically, have lost a couple of games. Of added importance this year, the game will be for the district lead. Both teams are undefeated in district 6-5A play.

Saturday started out well. TCU defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 27-17. The game was tied 10-10 at halftime but the Frogs scored two TDs in the third quarter. TCU dominated the statistics but also had five turnovers. They'll need to protect the ball better next week when they travel to #21 Oklahoma State. The Horned frogs improved their record to 3-3 and 1-2 in the 10 team Big 12.

The good news continued when USF beat the UConn Huskies 13-10. As usual the defense scored the Bull's TD on a fumble recovery. USF has no semblance of an offense but amazingly are 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) but are 2-4 overall. They are actually tied for the conference lead. Next up is a bye week followed by #8 Louisville. Any hope the Bulls will find an offensive genie before the Cardinals show up in Tampa?


The wins came to an end when the #17 Gators ventured into #10 LSU country. Final score was 17-6. Although hopeful I expected this outcome.  Florida led 3-0 after the first quarter but then the Tigers took over. As usual the Gators played good defense but sputtered on offense. Florida falls to 4-2 and 3-1 in the SEC. They still control their own destiny in the SEC East but it won't be easy. Next game is at #14 Missouri who are coming off an upset of #7 Georgia. The Gators fell five spots in the polls to #22.

The Mizzou Tigers upset of Georgia in Athens was the biggest surprise in the SEC although the #9 A&M 41-38 scare against Ole Miss is a close second. The SEC teams were 7-5 overall and 2-0 in non-conference games. Alabama remains the number one ranked team in the nation. There are three SEC teams in the top ten and a record eight teams in the top 25.


On the local D/FW scene, the mostly inept Texas Longhorns upset the #12 Oklahoma Sooners 36-20. The Red River Rivalry game is played each year during the Texas State Fair at the neutral site Cotton Bowl. This is the Cotton Bowl Stadium which no longer hosts the actual post season Cotton Bowl Classic. That game is now played at Jerry World. Did this win save Mack Brown's job?

As usual my pro teams were winless. Atlanta had a bye so it was only two losses this week. First the Tampa Bay Bucs followed their normal script. They were winning 17-14 at the half but lost 31-20 to Philadelphia. They are now a perfect 0-5 on the season and travel to Atlanta next to play the 1-4 Falcons. I guess somebody will win that game.

On to Denver for what everybody predicted would the site of a complete massacre. The winless Jacksonville Jaguars were to be fed to the lions undefeated Denver Broncos. The great Peyton Manning was suppose to ring up several hundred points. Well, the Jags decided to show up anyway and actually play some football. The Broncos were only leading 14-12 at the half. OK, the Jags first half TD was scored by the defense on a pick six interception, but the great Manning was mostly held in check. In the third quarter the score was still close at 21-19 and the Jags actually scored an offensive TD. Denver scored twice after that to make the final 35-19. I'm not a big proponent of moral victories but in this dismal rebuilding year I think Jacksonville will consider it as such, a good effort. The Jaguars are now 0-6 and play the 3-3 San Diego Chargers next in a home game.

So the high schools continue to do well, the colleges fair and the pros terrible. Looks like my teams are headed to around a .500 record overall this year. 

wjh




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