Sports Then and Now

I don’t know if it because there is a full moon tonight or what, but there has been a lot of strange things happening in the sports world.

First Night Of College Football Lacked Offense, But Not Incidents
It was very strange to watch the first night of college football and see so little offensive firepower on the field.

Given that the first game on ESPN featured the “Old Ball Coach” (Steve Spurrier) who was once known as an offensive guru, I really thought the South Carolina-North Carolina State game would be more than a 7-3 defensive struggle.

Then, the second game between Boise State and Oregon would surely be an offensive showcase since Boise State ranked 12th in the nation in scoring last season (37.6 points per game) and Oregon was even better ranking seventh (41.9).

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Sam Bradford could become the second player in college football history to win back-to-back Heisman Trophies.

Overview: Recognized as a league of great offenses, the Big 12 was exposed a bit during the bowl season a year ago as none of the high powered offenses in the league scored close to their season averages when facing defenses from other conferences. Lack of strong defenses could hurt the conference again this season when playing non-conference opponents. Despite the weakness on defense, last season the Big 12 finished with five teams ranked in the final Top 25 poll, including two teams (Texas and Oklahoma) in the top five. Those two teams are again in the preseason top five and seem to be heads and shoulders above the rest of the conference this time around.
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The Florida Gators are favored by 73 points over Charleston Southern this weekend. Who makes these schedules a blind chimp?  Hear no evil, Speak no evil, and definitely SEE NO EVIL!

The Gators are going to get Medieval on Charleston Sothern’s ass (Classic line from Pulp Fiction)! Charleston Southern is 0-16 against Bowl Subdivision opponents. They got waxed by the “U” (Miami) 52-7 last year.  The Hurricanes limped to a mediocre 7-6 record in 2008.

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Defenders have a hard time catching Tyrod Taylor.

Overview: In recent years, the ACC has been a solid conference, but maligned nationally because it rarely has a team in contention for the BCS Championship. Two-time defending champion Virginia Tech is looking to make a mark on the nationally scene in 2009 with a tough non-conference schedule, but they will likely end up simply fighting for another ACC title. Once dominant Florida State is starting to show signs of life again, but anything short of a league title is considered a bad year in Tallahassee. Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Clemson and North Carolina State are all solid teams that will battle it out each week.

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All conversations about the SEC have to start with the Florida Gators and senior quarterback Tim Tebow.

Overview: The SEC has claimed the last three BCS Championships and there is a good chance the Florida Gators could make it four in a row. As usual, the SEC is loaded with talent, which makes going through the entire season undefeated a tough task (and something none of those three champions has been able to accomplish). In addition to top ranked Florida, Alabama (#5) and Mississippi (#8) are ranked in the AP Top 10. With LSU (#11) and Georgia (#13) also ranked high, the SEC has more teams in the top 15 than any other conference.

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Jack Lengyel, who served as the head coach at Marshall University from 1971-1974, was played in the film We Are Marshall by Matthew McConaughey.

As we prepare for the much anticipated start of the 2009 college football season, Sports Then and Now will spend this week getting ready for the college football season with previews of some of the top teams and conferences in the country as well as special features on greats from the past.

We kickoff coverage with an interview with a former college football coach whose tenure as head coach at Marshall University was chronicled in the 2006 movie We Are Marshall.  The movie starred Matthew McConaughey and brought renewed attention to a small town that dealt with a big tragedy in 1970.

Though Jack Lengyel is now most associated with his tenure as the coach who kept alive the football program at Marshall following the death of 75 players, coaches, staff and boosters in a plane crash on November 14, 1970, his career in college athletics actually spanned six decades.

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