Back in the Saddle, Happliy Married!

After 3 weeks of wedding fun, honeymoon excitement and a return home, your happily married chronicler returns!

What have we missed in the last fortnight-plus?

The Barracks Coup

Earlier in the season, we all witnessed the New England Patriots of the NFL get into trouble for their extensive electronic/signals/intercept intelligence operation. In this regard, what happened at Texas A&M with the VIP Connection newsletter is a cousin, but not a twin sibling, to what transpired in pro football's professional division.

Franchione made a couple of mistakes with the newsletter:

A) He published it

B) He compromised sensitive team information

C) He created conditions that now allow Texas A&M AD Bill Byrne to terminate him without honoring the multimillion dollar buyout in his generous contract, signed in 2002.

I've got to believe that the newsletter was an open secret in the Aggie big cigar circles. Thanks to pernicious forwarding, the "exclusive" letters could travel across cyberspace and into anyone's hands. Franchione should have probably been aware of that.

By being an open secret, it was also an open fist, and as A&M struggled out of the gate this season, it clenched into a closed one. In other words, maybe the boosters have limited patience and, despite their largesse, a limit to resources. So, I am not surprised this leaked out during a time of struggle for the Aggies. It would A) embarrass Franchione and B) create circumstances by which Byrne could expel Franchione.

Byrne, unlike his predecessor Wally Groff, is a modern athletic director. He is also the most powerful official on the A&M campus after former president Robert Gates left to become Secretary of Defense. Until there is a new president, or, in 2009, if Gates comes back, Byrne will continue to be the strongest person on campus. He is not in a position to be manipulated -- see how he lanced Arkansas for approaching Billy Gillispie last year. True, A&M eventually lost him to Kentucky, but to even have coaches attractive to schools like Kentucky for basketball, that says a lot about the hires Byrne makes.

Byrne, however, did NOT hire Franchione. The big money boosters facilitiated that, partly out of ambition, and, I suspect, a decades-long desire to stick it to Alabama for the whole Bear Bryant affair. I thought there were better choices (see one Kubiak, Gary), and I never got the feeling Byrne wanted Franchione -- even with the extension, which was the product of a 2004 campaign where A&M returned to decency. Even 2004 was a debacle, though -- losses to Baylor, OU, Texas, Utah and Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl.

Franchione may win out (thought not likely) and still not survive. To compromise your own talent in such a way that allows your program to be embarrassed is one step beyond what any AD can defend.

For Want of 1/12th of a Dozen

Georgetown's bizarre 0-7 campaign on the gridiron featured a competitive loss to start and a competitive loss to date. In between sit a series of forgettable blowouts. Despite notes from the Old Gray Lady that indeed we do mean business in the 100-yard rectangle, Georgetown still is by and large a school whose athletic fortunes continue to be won on the hardcourt.

Greg Monroe of New Orleans, the top recruit in the nation, committed to Georgetown to play basketball next year. Not only is he the jewel of John Thompson III's current recruiting class, he is even for Georgetown a rare gem for its history. The last time a #1 player, Othella Harrington, opted for the Hilltop, I was an 8th grader and Kriss Kross was telling me to jump, jump over the radio waves of Y95 FM in Laredo. And for those of you familiar with Y95's format changes over the last decade and a half, that's been a very, very long time.

Georgetown needs a football Greg Monroe. This is on the surface appears laughable, as there are at least 200 schools (some even at the Division II and III level), that provide a better football opportunity than the Swift Potomac's Lovely Daughter. Monroe sports an impeccable combination of athletic and academic skill. Imagine if we had the football Greg Monroe to add to our squad of men who are building this program with their sweat and effort.

As noted in the NY Times article, Georgetown head coach Kevin Kelly can walk into the door in the football factory states like Texas, Florida and Georgia. Perhaps, indeed, to attain football success, we should be looking for on an athlete who would probably not start on the two-deep of a major school but has an intangible desire to compete and win. Maybe the athlete was injured and schools have withdrawn interest. Maybe the athlete wants a top-flight education.

If we are to aim high with our expectations, and get noticed by major publications in doing so, Georgetown should aim high with recruiting as well. Since we don't offer football scholarships, our task is much more difficult even compared to weak D-1A squads. However, if we are to sail, we must do so in a boat that will ride strong on the waves. The team on this squad is navigating bravely.

A Preview of What's To Come

This will be the last post for the next 3 weeks, as I am getting married this weekend and then heading for my honeymoon.

Georgetown faces a Cornell squad on the Hilltop for Homecoming. The list of upcoming events for returning alumni includes the famous Chicken Finger night at the dining hall. Ah, desiderata. The positive thing for the Hoyas is I believe that they can only get better.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M, who we last all saw getting blasted off the Orange Bowl turf by Miami, hosts Baylor in the Big 12 opener for both squads. This brawl for the Brazos should be at least entertaining, and hopefully the Aggies should beat up on the Bears. Keep an eye (if possible, this game is on Versus network) on Aggie redshirt frosh QB Jerrod Johnson, who should remind Aggie fans of Kevin Murray and, hopefully Vince Young.

Hey, Hey Mercy Woman, Play a Song and No one Listens

In assessing Georgetown's brutal 0-55 defeat at Holy Cross yesterday, it seems appropriate to recall the melodic musings of Michael Nesmith, one-time Monkee, music video pioneer and fellow Texan.

One of the Monkees' more enlightening tunes in its 1960s heyday was the country/psychadelic ode to lost love,
"Listen to the Band."

Accordingly...

"Play the drum a little louder,
Tell me I can live without her
If I only listen to the band."

Once a season, a football team can run into a buzz saw like this. What makes this all the more unfortunate is that GU is a month into this season and looks like it has regressed from its spirited effort at home against Yale last week. Is there anything Coach Kelly and his staff can take from this game? Is it safe to use the old sports adage of "burn the tape"?

A loss like this is not necessarily indicative of the level (or lack thereof) of consistent fan support for the 0-4 Georgetown program. It isn't a reflection so much of GU's institutional commitment as much as it is an example of just how far Georgetown has to go. Stepping back in to MAAC play is not a realistic option. The Patriot League is the right league for GU to place its football team. However, the timeline involved in making GU a competitive program maybe just "moved to the right" a bit.

La Enorme Distancia

This is my reaction to the 34-17 beatdown Miami inflicted on Texas A&M last night


I have never been less enthused about the state of A&M football as I have been tonight. The only comparable feeling I have after tonight's debacle in the OB was after serving as an eyewitness to Duke's dismemberment of Georgetown back in January 2004.

1. Don't be fooled into thinking this Miami team isn't as good as it looked tonight. Their o-line --which included a pair of Texans, Jason Fox and Reggie Youngblood -- drilled the A&M d-line into submission. Conversely, their D-line set the tone on the very first drive. Their guys lined up and blew A&M's guys off the LOS with purpose.

2. Franchione is now responsible for some of A&M's most embarrassing losses -- a pair of drubbings at Tech in Lubbock, 77-0, the 06 Holiday Bowl, the 05 Cotton Bowl, the 17-16 field goal fest on national tv against OU, the disaster in Boulder in 05, Iowa freakin' State, the outright collapse against Nebraska last season, and this shellacking at the hands of a better motivated and talented Miami team.

3. I sympathize with Lane being frustrated about not getting carries, but honestly, stop complaining, Jorvorskie. The fact that Lane looks like an intemperate adolescent on the sideline is exhibit #1 that this coaching staff does not instill the fear of God Almighty and all His Avenging Angels into the players.

Everybody here wants to tag Miami as Thug U, but the reality is, you look at Randy Shannon, and you hear his life story, and you know this man will not put up with any B.S. from his players. Because he is a hardcore guy who had to endure family members dying. He pulled himself out of Liberty City and won 3 national championships as a player, assistant and coordinator. You see Shannon, and he has presence. He showed supreme confidence tonight by not even using his headset. He coaches from the front, more so than Coker or Davis and even more so than Jimmah and Erickson. Why? Because he was there once before. The Canes would go out and do ANYTHING Shannon asked to bring victory.

By those factors alone he is twice the coach A&M's current $2M man is.

4.The sad thing is that it's not even October yet and A&M is looking down the barrel of multiple conference losses because Franchione and his staff show no offensive creativity and betray no confidence in the very talent it recruited to advance A&M football.

The only school getting less for its investment right now is Notre Dame. Michigan would crush A&M by six touchdowns based on what I saw tonight.

And you know what really is disappointing? A&M does have a lot of talent that is getting devolved into football purgatory because this staff has shown no leadership or confidence. McGee is locked into an option offense and his skills are currently inverse to his heart. Lane shows no more maturity now than he did when he was a freshman. We recruited 3 dozen wideouts who don't even see a pass thrown their way. And, A&M has an All-American potential at tight end who is going to go pro after this season to save his marketable value to the NFL.

Calderon!

Rare is it in the college football world that a win by Miami over Texas A&M would be a signature win for Miami. Coach Randy Shannon and the Canes host #20 A&M without a Top 25 ranking in either the Coaches' or the AP poll. One could view this game as the third prong of this season's big Florida-Texas matchups. Texas eeked by Central Florida 35-32 out in Orlando last week, while in prep action the loaded Miami Northwestern Bulls dispatched Texas #1 Southlake Carroll 29-21 over in Dallas, breaking the Dragons' 49-game winning streak.

Tonight's matchup puts the Aggies in the primetime catbird's seat in one of the premiere and ancient artifacts in the entire sport. All the smoke and clouds add a chaotic and raw feel to what should be a quality night of football.

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We are still a few weeks off from basketball season, but your Hoyas are hard at work preparing to take over the world. All your investments are belong to us!

Handsome Dan and the Bulldogs

No, that is not the name of a South Texas '50s Latino rock and roll sensation. After a spirited effort by your Hoyas, Georgetown fell short of a superior Yale team 28-14. Standing at 0-3 for the year, Georgetown now faces a Holy Cross squad coming off a 31-28 defeat of Harvard up in Worcester.

Holy Cross is an interesting place, having forfeited its once-prominent athletic standing in both football and basketball to accommodate lowered expectations, much to the lament of notable alumni. Imagine, once upon a time Holy Cross could have been a founding member of the Big East along with Georgetown. Alas, that did not come to pass.

Still, Holy Cross has been something of a legitimate Patriot League power, and the Crusaders have given us mighty fits over the history of the series, where the purple knights have a 12-7 advantage.

Georgetown showed some serious fight against a talent-laden Yale squad, and fell short on a couple of goal-line opportunities that could have turned the game into a highly competitive fight. With Cornell, Penn and the rest of the Patriot League on the schedule, GU has a chance to build on the performance this past weekend.

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It's a short week in Aggieland this time around after Texas A&M dispensed with Louisiana-Monroe in a stout 54-14 victory that served as a nice warmup for this week's
nationally-televised tilt against Miami. This is only the second meeting overall for these two programs and really the first in the modern era. Also, given the fact that this is Miami's last year in the famed, creaky Orange Bowl, I am happy the Aggies finally made it out to South Florida. On the recruiting front, the Hurricanes fiercely pursued current Aggie junior tight end Martellus Bennett. Conversely, UM's Shawnbrey McNeal was an Aggie commit until late in the process, opting for Miami when his life-long favorite squad offered him a scholarship.

The compelling matchup here is A&M's talented offense against Miami's always-tough defense. Despite getting seared for 51 points down at Oklahoma two weeks ago, Miami's defense, led by future NFL star Calais Campbell, has the right mix of speed and power to drive an option-heavy offense like A&M crazy. Despite the sudden return of a passing game at Aggieland in the ULM victory, passing against the Canes will be a tall drink of water.

Clearly this is the biggest A&M game of the young season and, perhaps, one of the most telling of the Franchione era. UM, standing at 2-1 under new head coach Randy Shannon after victories over Marshall and Florida International and a defeat at the hands of OU, is not like the awesome 2001 squad that strolled to a national championship. However, Miami is Miami, and the Canes are always a stiff opponent in the Orange Bowl, where the squad takes on mythical properties.

Blue-on-Blue; War Dances; Dragons'n'Bulls

Once every so often, on days when we get home from a routine day at work, we pause for a second and remember the good old days of college. Never mind that you were poor, naive, lost, confused, and disoriented in those days. Never mind you had to write four 20-page papers at a time and deprive yourself of food and sleep to succeed. No, you only remember the good times.

This week is one of those weeks I wish I were still back on campus. This weekend's Yale-Georgetown tilt at the Hilltop is a big deal to Yale alumni as well as Hoya faithful. The Yale Club of DC is hosting a rather generous tailgate party on Saturday on our campus. Hey, anybody who has Red Hot 'n'Blue catering is fine by me, and I hope Georgetown extends warm hospitalities to our Ivy League guests.

It really is a misnomer in popular America that the Ivy League is some sort of tweed'n'books only league. All the schools play Division 1 sports, have reasonably active alumni bases, and we all know about the Princeton basketball program, but on the gridiron, these schools play like they mean it. The Patriot League, the organization where GU chose to home its football program, aspires to Ivy standards.

Georgetown already has in this decade a win over Cornell at the Big Red's own stadium. However, Yale is as tough an opponent Georgetown will face this decade short of a Bowl Subdivision Series program. While I am not a big fan of the other school's fan base hamming it up on our campus, it does show our own student body that big football and big academics can peacefully coexist.

There is a special place in our own fight song for Yale, as hoyasaxa.com ably points out.

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When the famed and state 20th-ranked Odessa Permian Panthers from out in West Texas face off in the Metroplex against #3-ranked Euless Trinity this weekend, Mojo will face a fascinating and highly motivating mashup of Texan passion, Pacific pride and teenage enthusiasm. Euless Trinity employs a version of the Haka war dance used by New Zealand's All Blacks rugby squad. Hawai'i also used the Haka until the team decided to retire it to find a more appropriate local war dance to employ. The reasons for the Haka's popularity in of all places, North Texas, is a tale of the emerging synergies of the global economy.

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Also this weekend, the state and national #1 Southlake Carroll Dragons take on national #2 Miami Northwestern Bulls in one of the most highly anticipated prep games in recent memory. SLC is riding a 49-game win-streak, and the legacy of the Bob Ledbetter and Todd Dodge reigns remains strong with this squad, which features North Texas-bound QB Riley Dodge and Texas-bound RB Tre Newton (son of former Cowboys great Nate Newton). Miami Northwestern boasts no fewer than six commits to the University of Miami, including QB Jacory Harris.

In light of the talent edge favoring Northwestern, SLC appears undermanned. However, the Dragons have beaten teams with similar talent profiles in-state, including Lufkin and Katy.

The game, in light of the Patriots-Jets SIGINT controversy, also apparently has some mischief as well, at least according to the Bulls.

Georgetown's football team has a few kids from Texas on the squad, including some from SLC.

Make sure to tune in to see perhaps a dozen future D-1 BCS and FCS stars at Ford Stadium in Dallas on Saturday.

Counting Tanks in the Fulda Gap

GEN William Odom's excellent book, The Collapse of the Soviet Military, relays an interesting anecdote -- that Soviet military officials trusted the western military journals and publications like Jane's for accurate counts of how big their forces were more than official reports. What any of this has to do with big-time football is up for interpretation, but let me take a stab.

As long as there has been football there have been signals -- signals for defenses, signals for offenses and signals for special teams. And, in response, opposing teams have invested varying levels of efforts in identifying and exploiting those signals for competitive advantage on the field. If an opposing coaching staff could capture the signals, it would have the keys to the kingdom, a way by which to drive a trojan horse through the gates of opposing squads. Within these horses would be special blitz packages, offensive sets exploiting a fatal flaw in the defense, and other assorted tricks.

The recent flap concerning the New England Patriots' signals intercept operation brings to light how much this activity has advanced. It's not enough for the backup quarterback wearing the ballcap and the smartly starched jersey to cover his mouth. It's also not enough for a half dozen grown men to gesticulate like so many mimes on a Parisian thoroughfare to mask what the true signal call really is in this sport.

No, in this case, it appears a modern NFL franchise has a fully integrated electronic information-gathering and supporting electronic warfare capability as well. The first activity is an old-hand practice simply brought into the modern era. The second apparent activity -- not officially confirmed, mind you, but still fascinating -- shows just how far people are willing to go to get a W on the field.

Scouting, and its mischievous sisters spying and sabotage, all play a role in the sport of football. One of the reasons Bowl Subdivision conferences have rules against intra-conference transfers is to prevent top talent from taking competitive data to rival teams. If you want an example of how devastating signals and play formation "source codes" can be in football, look at what Tampa Bay Coach Jon Gruden did when his Buccaneers faced off against the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl a few years ago.

It's really easy nowadays to generate a complete picture of an opposing team using common open-source material. A lot of that has to do with the sports portion of the Internet organizing into a form of collective intelligence that provides everything from comprehensive statistical analysis to the intimate activities of head coaches. The other factor is that technology is lighter, cheaper and more agile than before -- and the trend is continuing in the forward direction, not the other way. You can pack more and more data on smaller and smaller microchips. The smaller the package, and the more data it has, the more information you can carry, and the easier it is to make it portable. In other words, a single IPod probably has more power than WOPR.

Football is a marital sport, as we all know. It is not war, but its characteristics -- formations, groupings of personnel, the craft of specialists like nickel defensive backs and 3rd-down running backs, all lend themselves to martial bearing and style. We always hear words like field general thrown about by the commentariat. However much of an overstatement it is to compare football to war, and indeed, it very much is -- the analogies are easy to make because the parallels, however broad, are there.

It could be a simple task as counting how many tanks the Reds have, ie, how many different formations Arkansas will use against Alabama this week. Or, if we are to believe the assertion in the NY Daily News, it means actively trying to sabotage communications, ie, shooting anti-radiation missiles at a SAM radar site.

In light of the NFL's determination that indeed New England did break the rules, I wonder what steps teams both at the college and pro levels are taking to defend themselves.

This is something to watch as the season progresses at both ranks.

Six Years Forward

As previously noted, one of Georgetown's most solemn traditions is a recent one. Tom Ecobacci (C'96) was one of the 3,000 who perished during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on this country. Today, not only do we pray for the victims, we also extend our prayers to those who protect us and those who have died protecting us in lands far away from home.

It is hard to believe it has been six years since the attacks. So much stands between that terrible day and now -- war, the loss of loved ones, the trials of life and death. Let us hope that such terror does not visit our shores again.

Weekend Recap

I hope everybody had a good weekend. Week 2 of college football was in many ways even wilder than the first weekend.

Georgetown's offensive output dropped dramatically in a 28-7 loss to Lafayette in the Patriot League opener for both squads. Lafayette stormed to a 21-0 halftime lead and safely put the game out of reach when Leopards' DB Michael Quaterman picked off Hoya QB Matt Bassuener and raced 34 yards the other way to make the score 28-0.

Despite the 0-2 (0-1) conference start, Georgetown hosts a most interesting opponent this weekend at the Multi-Sport Facility (MSF) on campus -- Yale. This is the first meeting ever between these two fine academic institutions. Yale is coming off an 8-2 season that included an Ivy League championship. Despite the fact that the Ivies do not play in the Football Championship Series playoff system, the league is generally an excellent one at football's smaller echelon.

Even though Georgetown has already logged two games in this young season, for Yale, this is the opener and only one of two non-conference games the Bulldogs will play (the other against Patriot League power Holy Cross).

Needless to say, a win for Georgetown here would be huge for the program and for our efforts to match the Ivies' performance on the gridiron.

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Meanwhile, down in College Station, the Aggies needed 47 points and three overtimes to top a resilient and tough Fresno State squad 47-45 in a game that featured frantic rallies, fans passing out in heat and mass exoduses to the North End Zone . The Aggies sacrificed a 19-0 lead to Fresno State and overcame a near-death blow in the overtime period to beat the Bulldogs. Human Robeast Jorvorskie Lane blasted through Fresno State for 121 yards and four scores to overcome the Bulldogs' upset bid at Kyle Field.

Depending on your point of view, Texas A&M is either still struggling mightily to throw the football or has deliberately thrown that segment of the playbook overboard. Naturally, the Aggies don't care about this, they got the win, that's all that matters. This week's opponent, Louisiana-Monroe, should be victims through the air and the ground. However, with Miami up on Sept. 20, the Aggies need to show more in the vertical department.

Farmer Air

The last time the Aggies had a serviceable passing game was more than 20 years ago during the Reign of Saint Jackie. When Sherrill left after the 1988 season, the offense remained talented but focused on the running game in the RC Slocum era. In the intervening period, the Aggies never truly had a bona fide deep ball threat at either the quarterback or wideout positions, despite having some nice prospects at the latter (Terrence Murphy, Bethel Johnson, Robert Ferguson, Albert Connell).

Stephen McGee was recruited out of Burnet to be a classic pocket passer. To date, his notable achievements have all come through his legs running Dennis Franchione's option attack. Of course, the Aggies say they want to change that. With results like this, though, it's hard to ditch what works, right?

The problem with that, as we all know, is that for A&M to make noise in the Big 12, it needs a stable passing game. I am not suggesting something along the lines of Texas Tech's offense, but A&M has options looking down the field, including big tight end Martellus Bennett.

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On the Hilltop this week, preparations continue for the Lafayette game. The Washington Post previews the key matchups in GU's Patriot League opener.

Also, congratulations are in order for Hoya alum Alex Buzbee. Despite not making the active 53-man roster for the Washington Redskins, Buzbee was signed to the practice squad. For Head Coach Kevin Kelly, Buzbee's place anywhere near an active NFL roster is a powerful recruiting tool. It's not necessarily that I am under the illusion that overnight GU is going to be a football factory, but having a current active pro takes GU slightly from being a quaint fall diversion to something a little more significant in the university's consciousness.

Recruiting talent nationwide becomes a little bit easier, and allows Coach Kelly to pitch both GU's academic reputation and the promise that an NFL squad will at least look at you for training camp. Coach Kelly having D-1A/Bowl Subdivision experience is in itself a tool to use in recruiting, but this NFL angle will only help the program as it progresses.

Pride After the Fall

Michigan completely fell out of both the AP Top 25 and USA Coaches' Poll as a result of its 34-32 loss to Appalachian State. Losses like this can kill a program. To its credit, Michigan had never scheduled a 1-AA cupcake before, and the one year it does schedule an FCS opponent, it happens to be the two-time defending national champion. Oops.

Lafayette, Georgetown's upcoming opponent, is your typical Patriot League power -- a university dedicated to both strong academics and excellence on the field. As Hoyasaxa.com notes , Lafayette downed Marist 49-10 in its opener. A real treat for GU fans and alumni is that Saturday's conference-opening tilt will be televised, a rarity for 1-AA/FCS programs on the east coast.

Georgetown has a dismal record in the Patriot League after years of competitive dominance in the smaller Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. That said, after being on the steep end of the competitive curve in recent years, Georgetown's lean years in conference play may be behind it as it rolls ahead under coach Kevin Kelly.

A Stony Beginning; Farmers' Fight!

I hope everyone had a restful holiday weekend. We all know Michigan did.

A note about the current Hugest Upset in College Football Ever. Appalachian State had won two straight 1-AA/Football Championship Series titles. The FCS/1-AA field is a mishmash of recognizable programs (Ivy League, Patriot League) and refuges for BCS-level washouts (Sam Houston State, Texas State). However, Appalachian State is a well-constructed team that has all the talent to give a staid Big Ten program like Michigan fits. So, at the objective level, this win makes sense. It was highly improbable, but certainly in this age of parity, definitely possible. Plus, leave it up to the Dallas Morning News to discover a wily Texan, Jerry More, led the Mountaineers to the biggest win in that program's history.

Meanwhile:

While quite not the intimidating sight of Ralphie or Bevo charging at you at breakneck speed, if this isn't indicative of SMU, nothing is.

Georgetown stands at 0-1 for the season after the Hoyas' spirited comeback against Stony Brook fell short by a score of 35-28. The Hoyas face Lafayette next, followed by a highly anticipated 15th Sept. showdown with Yale. Stony Brook sports 12 D-1A transfers. This kind of talent disparity was tough to overcome, but the Hoyas were right there to take it.

Texas A&M did not necessarily roll in its 38-7 win over Montana State, but did score 38 straight points after giving up the opening score of the game to the Bobcats. Perhaps more concerning is that the defense gave up more yards to State than the Aggies gained on offense. One of the more interesting evolutions (or devolutions) is the transformation of Aggie QB Stephen McGee from gunslinging pocket passer in high school in Burnet to Bucky Richardson-esque option threat.

In the meantime, A&M's next opponent is Fresno State. It is the first time these two agricultural-dominant universities face off on the gridiron. As I will be on a jet plane this week, I will miss the first nationally-televised game for both squads this season!

It's Time!

Well, at least for some of us. Georgetown wrapped up its final practice today ahead of a trip to Stony Brook to take on the Seawolves. Kickoff is at 6 PM EST and will be carried live on guhoyas.com.

The SEC's 75th Anniversary season started tonight. #2-ranked LSU, boasting one of the more absurd collections of talent in the country, routed Mississippi State 45-0 tonight in a game that was not as close as the score indicated, as exhibited by Miss. State's Michael Henig tossing six interceptions. Four years into the Sylvester Croom era at Starkville, is this debacle merely a blip in what will be a bowl season for the Bulldogs or a continuation of the malaise that permeated the end of the Jackie Sherrill era into the present day?

Miss. State's fall from the SEC's competitive ranks into an oft-beaten also ran is sad because through the 2000 season the Miss. State was competitive with Tennessee, Florida and Alabama. Of course, there were issues to with the NCAA, but even with that, the Bulldogs' total collapse in this decade -- a drift Croom has been unable so far to correct -- has been disheartening. I am a supporter of Coach Croom and I hope he and the Bulldogs put themselves together from this loss (BURN THE TAPE!) and return to competitiveness.

Meanwhile, down in Dallas, Brian Davis of the Dallas Morning News believes the Aggies need to jam 50 points down Montana State's throat to get a good start to the season. I concur with this view. Montana State is at some level a barometer of the Ags' future success and at the same time not. Obliterate the team as expected and do we gain any insight for future games? However, if A&M only wins by 20, or, worse, loses outright, it's automatically a sign of concern and panic.

"Alex Buzbee, Georgetown University"

Thanks to Hoya Saxa.com for adding this page to the blogroll.

Today class started back at the mighty Hilltop, and we are only now a few short days away from Hoya kickoff on Saturday against Stony Brook. Additionally, one of our recent graduates may be on an active NFL roster this season.

As fellow Hoya Aaron Ammerman (F'00) points out:

Not to preempt Zo's thunder, but I can't help noting that fans of Hoya football anxiously await the NFL's final roster deadline, this coming Saturday at 4:00, for one of our Hoya brethren is one cut away from playing professional football this season. Alex Buzbee, the defensive star of the 2006 Georgetown Hoyas, signed as a free agent with local favorite, the Washington Redskins and has survived against the odds. As of last weekend, #90 was widely considered to be the 10th or 11th best defensive lineman on a team that could probably only keep ten. However, the breaking news tonight that the Skins have cut veteran DT Joe Salave'a may mean that our hopes are not misplaced.

If Alex succeeds where no Hoya has succeeded in many a decade, it may bode well on another front. Consider all those Hoya hoops devotees who ponder whether the local basketball affiliate, the Washington Wizards, will have the judgment necessary to tank this entire season in order to unceremoniously ditch two of the most profoundly awful centers in all the land, Brendan Haywood and Etan "The Bard of Al Qaeda" Thomas. Freeing themselves of this deadest of deadweight, the Wiz would then likely have the opportunity to use a lottery pick on Hoya Big Man #55 Roy Hibbert in the NBA Draft of 2008.

Will any DC area franchise wise up and realize they have a huge cash cow sitting here unmilked? I mean, the only game I know I'll attend next year is January 6th, when the Son of Jeff Green's Mom returns to the Phonebooth in all his splendor.


If Buzbee does indeed make the roster for the Redskins, I wonder what his Monday Night Football intro will be like? You know, the sequence where the players get introduced and they give their names and their schools? In recent years, players have expanded the repertoire to give all sorts of shout-outs: to high schools, hometowns, etc., etc.

So, what will Alex say?

"Alex Buzbee, Georgetown University."

Or, "Alex Buzbee, The Hilltop."

"Alex Buzbee, the 202."

"Alex Buzbee, We are Georgetown."

"Alex Buzbee, Hoya Saxa."

"Alex Buzbee, The Tombs."

"Alex Buzbee, Chicken Madness."

Marooned!

The 2007 edition of the Fighting Texas Aggies comes in after the most successful year of the Dennis Franchione era. In absolute terms that sounds quite good. However, relative to his other years, the progress of the program has been miniscule compared to expectations when Coach Fran took the reins in 2003 from RC Slocum.

A&M's 2006 9-4 record featured an undefeated road slate that included a 12-7 victory over arch-rival Texas in Austin, but the four losses -- to Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Nebraska and to Cal in the Holiday Bowl -- show how far this program still needs to go to be considered elite. This came off a 5-6 record in 2005, a 7-5 record in 2004 and a sad 4-8 in 2003 (which um, featured a 77-0 drubbing at the hands of OU). To be fair, Coach Fran inherited a program in serious trouble. By 2002, RC Slocum had not only lost the recruiting wars to Mack Brown at Texas, but also ancillary and tertiary battles with Bob Stoops at OU, Nick Saban at LSU and assorted out-of-state raiders for talent (Florida State, Miami, and Big Ten schools like Purdue come to mind).

Despite the university's size and reputation, its athletic program was in fact not organized at a level equal to Texas, OU or LSU. The arrival of athletic director Bill Byrne in 2002 helped put A&M on track to at least compete in the college sports "arms race" -- raising funds and building facilities that would attract students.

On the other hand, A&M sits in the most talent-rich state in college football, a state so deep in talent that it essentially fills the rosters of not only nine Division 1-A in-state schools (TCU, Texas, A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, UTEP, SMU, UofH, and North Texas), but also those of universities in its neighboring states (Oklahoma's four senior captains all hail from the Lone Star State) and also provides key contributors to other major powers. That doesn't even take into account numerous Division 1-AA, II and III schools that load up on Tejanos.

In retrospect, I don't think Aggie fans expected Franchione to land a bevy of 5-star kids to the program, but they also expected him to assemble talent to provide a credible threat to the existing Big XII powers. And in Texas, you can rebuild quickly even if there is a mass influx to other schools or other states.

To date, that has not happened. To his credit, Franchione's 2006 squad brings over some firepower into 2007. Quarterback Stephen McGee leads an offense that includes sophomore tailback Michael Goodson and junior wrecking ball/ life-sized rampaging carnival of death Jorvorskie Lane. Optimism is also high thanks to defensive coordinator Gary Darnell, who in a rougish and outcast sort of way is gradually returning defensive pride to Aggieland.

It is in this environment of high expectations, strained patience and expectations fed by the sweet vapidity of summer that the Aggies open against Div. 1-AA Montana State on Sept. 1. Montana State appears to be a traditional 1-AA cupcake. However, last year, these Bobcats came into Boulder and beat up on Colorado 19-10. I don't think that will happen at Kyle Field down in College Station, but I sure do hope Coach Fran really did explain the dangers of overlooking these guys to the team.

Tomorrow our focus swings back again to the Hilltop, Georgetown University.

What Rocks They Are...

For those of you unaware of Georgetown's football history, Jon Reagan's (B'84) excellent website covers the entirety of GU's gridiron history, which, believe it or not, includes a 1940 trip to the Orange Bowl. Indeed, The Hoyas nickname stems directly from a football tradition, not a basketball one.

This year's squad enters the season after a 2-9 campaign under new head coach Kevin Kelly. As The Hoya's preview of the season notes, Coach Kelly is successfully recruiting talent in the football powerhouse states. An interesting new tradition is the issuing of the #35 by the football team. The jersey honors Tom Eacobacci (C'96), a former football player who died during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Last year, Alex Buzbee wore the 35. This year, Stephen Smith, one of the Hoyas' linebackers, will don #35.

All of your powers, none of your weaknesses...An Introduction

Welcome to Forming at the North End, a college football blog managed by a huge college football fan from Texas, who, incidentally, attended a school better known for its international relations curriculum and basketball program than its Division 1-AA Patriot League football program.

I am what is termed in the popular vernacular as a "daywalker," that means that I did not attend the school whose team I primarily root for in college football. To clarify, this does not (and indeed never did) mean I root against my beloved Hoyas in basketball. In fact, if Texas A&M were ever to face off against Georgetown in a venue like the NCAA Tournament -- which indeed almost happened had the Aggies advanced to the Final Four this past season, I would root for my alma mater. It is highly unlikely that the two teams would ever face off on the gridiron.

Being a Daywalker sounds a bit tawdry. However, I am not alone (although not as menacing as a "We are Legion" kind of numerous), and actually some of the sport's best commentators are daywalkers. For example, the author of one of the finest books on the mania that pervades the sport is a daywalker.

With the introductions complete, here is the format of Forming at the North End. First, I will talk about A&M's upcoming opponent. Then, in addition, I will blog about Georgetown's upcoming opponent.

This week's first Aggie game will be a showdown against Div.1-AA Montana State, who in last year's opener, tagged Big 12 resident Colorado with a 19-10 defeat but then later fell to a Division II squad.

This week's Hoyas opener is an away tilt at Stony Brook. A real treat for Hoya fans and alums are a trio of games against Ivy League programs -- a 15 Sept. home game against Yale, a 29 Sept. home game against Cornell and a 6 oct. game against Penn in Philadelphia.

I look forward to sharing my insights with you, and indeed, having your feedback.

See you tomorrow!