T.O.'s O.D.

Though there will never be any way to verify this, I'd bet the farm that there was nothing accidental about Terrell Owens' overdose.

Owens obviously has very serious emotional problems that are exacerbated by the spotlight and the way he is portrayed in sports media, which, while understandable and predictable, is generally not fair. His press conference explaining the situation with his publicist had cover-up written all over it, and something doesn't smell right about the change of mind of the Dallas P.D. regarding the nature of the incident.

Bottom line -- guys like T.O. don't just mix up their pills, even if they are "out of it" after a long day of practice and some pain medication. T.O. is no stranger to long days of practice and pain medication. It just doesn't add up.

What does add up is that T.O. obviously has severe depression and self-image issues stemming from his troubled childhood. It is no secret that T.O. is emotionally unstable...we just didn't know the extent. This explains his obnoxious, attention-grabbing behavior that he clearly cannot control and which has cost him millions of dollars of endorsement money throughout his career, not to mention costing him a bundle in terms of his sallary generally. (He is still paid far less than a WR of his talent level is worth because he is such a huge liability off the field).

His publicist implied that T.O. can't possibly be depressed because he is rich. Apparently she doesn't know many rich people. T.O. implied that if he had really taken the balance of his pain medication, he wouldn't be alive. That's also ridiculous...people O.D. on pills trying to kill themselves all the time, and many of them are saved. None of the excuses or explanations offered by T.O. and his people made sense. The initial police report, however, made perfect sense.

If T.O. really wanted to prove that this was not an O.D., he would release the medical records of the event and show that his stomach was not pumped. Or, maybe he would have showed up at the press conference with the vial of pills to show that he hadn't taken all of them. At this point, the only evidence we have is T.O.'s word.

T.O. swears that (1) he didn't try to kill himself, and (2) he remembers nothing about the incident. It doesn't take a genius to realize that those two assertions are entirely inconsistent. Hopefully, T.O. won't let fear of public embarassment or financial interests get in the way of seeking psychological help.

College Football Musings

- Marshawn Lynch is still the best running back in the Pac-10, but the second and third best both play for Oregon. Jonathan Stewart and Jeremiah Johnson are a pretty devistating one-two punch. I think both of them have a future in the NFL.

- Nobody really looks unbeatable this year. Ohio State is close, but I think even they are vulnerable to a high-octane offensive team. Fortunately for them, I don't think they'll have to face one, at least until the title game...and maybe not even then. No way does this year's Ohio State beat last year's Texas...or USC, for that matter.

- Washington is looking pretty damn good. Willingham has his boys ready to play. I give the Huskies two more years before they crack the top 10.

- I still say Tennessee isn't that good...but WR Robert Meachem is one hell of a football player. After single-handedly beating Cal, he has kept the Vols rolling on an otherwise ho-hum team. I wouldn't be shocked to see Meachem tear up Georgia next weekend en route to a narrow Vols win. Further down the road, I see Meachem as a guy who is going to be very successful playing on Sundays. He is flying under the radar now and probably won't be a first round pick, but he should be.

- Gee, Arizona State sure could use some senior leadership at quarterback right now. Arizona State, as I said before, is on its way out in terms of being a respectable team. Dirk Koetter is probably the Pac-10's worst coach, and Mike Stoops at Arizona is going to be getting the lion's share of the local recruits. Expect Arizona State to look a lot like Washington State, maybe as soon as next year.

- How can a team be overrated when everyone knows they are overrated? I don't know. Ask Notre Dame.

- USC is looking very, very mortal. They needed a bad call in the middle of the fourth quarter to hold off a mediocre-at-best Washington State team. They didn't have Jarrett at that game, but WSU still should have been a laugher, and it was anything but. USC had better be careful next weekend against Washington, or they might find themselves with a loss. USC finishes their season against Oregon, Cal, Notre Dame, and then at UCLA. They will lose at least one of those games. They might lose two.

- I think it's fairly clear at this point that the winner of Ohio State/Michigan this year will be playing for the title. I think it's also clear that Ohio State is the likely winner of that game. What is not clear is who they will be playing. I hate to say it, but my best guess is that it will be West Virginia by default, because I don't see anyone in the Big East beating them. Ohio State would most likely beat West Virginia pretty soundly in what would be one of the more boring national championship games ever. I'm hoping Louisville, Rutgers, or South Florida takes out West Virginia. If that happens, my guess is the winner of Auburn/Florida plays against Ohio State...but that might not be much better.

- USC/Cal is being billed as the Pac-10's de-facto title game, but I think that Cal's game next weekend at home against Oregon might be equally important in terms of finding out who will be playing in Pasadena in January. I don't know if anyone is going to come out of Pac-10 play without a conference loss, and the winner of Cal/Oregon has a great chance of going at least 7-1 in conference play. Chances are, that will be good enough to punch a ticket to Pasadena this year.

- SEC football rivals golf in terms of boringness.

- Wild long-term predictions:

Nate Longshore will win at least a Rose Bowl for Cal by 2009, if he sticks around that long (and maybe even if he doesn't).

Tim Tebow will win a title for Florida by 2010. Tebow is Urban Meyer's dream come true.

Jimmy Clausen will win a title for Notre Dame by 2011. They will have recruited some corners by then. I have been watching Clausen's high school games, and this kid is the next Dan Marino. Believe the hype.

Boo-Hoo-mer Sooner

In last weekend's Oklahoma/Oregon game, an officiating mistake was made that gave Oregon the ball back late in the game, and gave them an opportunity to win a game they should not have won. Oklahoma was too busy sniffling to stop the Oregon offense, and the Ducks claimed victory. Apparently this is the greatest injustice in the history of mankind.

The Pac-10 and the Oregon Ducks handled the error extremely well. In fact, if anything, they went too far in apologizing and creating consequences for the officials, as these actions may have done nothing more than fuel more Sooner whining. The Pac-10 publicly admitted that the call was a mistake, and apologized. The entire officiating crew -- including people who had nothing to do with the call -- was suspended. The replay official has taken a leave of absence, and may never officiate again, despite over two decades of dedicated service. The replay official has received death threats on himself and his wife and children from moron Oklahoma fans. The subsequent remedial action taken after the Sooners/Ducks mistake may have been more extreme than actions taken following any bad call in the history of all of sports.

Apparently, this isn't good enough for Bob Stoops.

Stoops wants the W. He wants Oregon to forfeit the game. I don't know if that is even technically possible at this point, but that's what Stoops wants. Nevermind that Oklahoma had every opportunity to win the game following the bad call, by simply playing defense or not getting their field goal blocked. God forbid Oklahoma take any responsibility for losing the game whatsoever. It can't possibly be THEIR fault, can it? After all, this is OREGON we're talking about! Oregon is full of trees and hippies...they don't know how to play football there, do they? Football is only played in states that voted for Bush and have an average income of less than $10,000 per capita, right?

Stoops is also calling for an end to the Pac-10 policy of having Pac-10 officials do inter-conference Pac-10 home games. This is obviously an insult to the Pac-10, as it implies that the Pac-10 officials are favoring the Pac-10 team. Nevermind that Bob's brother Mike coaches in the Pac-10. Sorry, Bob...Pac-10 schools have more going for them than football. Unlike Oklahoma, Pac-10 schools don't have to cheat at football to feel like legitimate institutions of higher learning.

As if ignoring the actions taken by the Pac-10, demanding further actions, and continuously whining all week were not childish enough, Oklahoma has taken it a step further by threatening to pull out of its game at Washington next year, after Washington has already fulfilled its obligation by making the nightmarish trek to rotten, stinking Oklahoma this year. You know what, Oklahoma? Go ahead and do it. To hell with your contractual obligations. Instead of playing Washington, why don't you just send all of your players to the car dealership to make a few extra dollars? Oh, right...because they don't have to show up to get paid. But it's the Pac-10 that cheats, not you, right? Of course.

What irritates me the most about the Sooner boo-hooing is the hypocracy. If it were the Pac-10 team that got screwed and the Big 12 team that benefitted, we wouldn't hear another word about it. We certainly wouldn't get an apology or admission of wrongdoing. No admission of wrongdoing or apology was made when Big 12 coaches decided to drop Cal in their rankings to get Texas into the Rose Bowl and screw the Pac-10 out of revenue. Unlike this officiating fiasco, which was unintentional, the Big 12 deliberately manipulated the rankings to get their team into a big money bowl game. What the Pac-10 officials did was a mistake. What the Big 12 did was cheating. The Pac-10 took responsibility. The Big 12 never will.

Even Bob Knight is calling out Sooner nation, stating publicly that Oklahoma got the benefit of an obvious and well documented officiating error against his team, but refused to acknowledge it. I guess it's only injustice if you are the one getting screwed.

This sort of behavior is why people from states like Texas, Kansas, and Missouri generally regard Oklahoma as a redneck wasteland full of backwater retards and hillbillies. Even people from Louisiana and Arkansas look down on people from Oklahoma. If the University of Oklahoma is any indication, the state has no class whatsoever.

Of course, one look at Oklahoma's schedule tells you what they are whining about. Other than Texas and Oregon, there isn't a decent team on their schedule. Oklahoma thought it might be able to coast into a title game this year if they could pull of an upset against Texas, who they get to play in Oklahoma. Tell you what, Oklahoma...you can count that Oregon game as a W if you agree to play against USC, Cal, and UCLA this year as well. In other words, we'll trade you one Big 12 win for three Pac-10 wins. Do we have a deal? Oh, wait...you don't honor your side of a bargain when things don't go your way. Okay, nevermind.

So much for any respect I ever had for Bob Stoops. I hope the Longhorns kick your ass again this year, Oklahoma, and show the whole country what everyone in Texas already knows...that Oklahoma is inferior. Hook 'em, Horns. Give Bob Stoops something to cry about.

The State of the Raiders

They suck. That's about all that needs to be said, but perhaps I should elaborate...

Let's start at the top. Old man Al Davis will keep this franchise in his Skelator-like grasp until the last breath escapes his body, and he will run the organization right into the ground. Davis has old ideas about the sport that are no longer applicable. The Raiders, like the sad old man who owns them, are hanging onto their glory days and trying to avert attention from their current shameful state. The Raiders will not be a good team again until Al Davis dies. Even then, it will take a great owner and a genius GM to undo the damage that Al Davis has done.

Art Shell...I guess I have nothing particularly bad to say about Art Shell. Shell is a good coach. He's not great. He's far from brilliant. He clearly isn't in the same league as Parcells, Shannahan, Belichek, or even Gruden...but he's good enough. He is a good fit for the organization, and could even turn the Raiders into a playoff team within a few years, assuming that the personnel gets better...

Which leads us to Aaron Brooks. I knew that Brooks would be bad when the Raiders signed him, and I may have overestimated him. Brooks is awful. He is the worst starting quarterback for the Raiders since Todd Marinovich. Andrew Walter, the kid out of Arizona State with a cannon arm, is much better...but he won't help the Raiders win now. He is inexperienced, he won't get much playing time behind Brooks, and he can't outrun the defensive line. Since the Raiders' front five can't stop a defensive line, the Raiders quarterback, at least for now, is going to have to be someone who can get out of the pocket. That's not Walter. It is Brooks, but unfortunately Brooks can't do much else.

The defense is actually not all that bad. Huff was a great acquisition and will turn into a very good player. The defensive line actually looks like they are capable of pressuring a quarterback, although the run defense leaves a lot to be desired. The linebackers were bad last year, and look slightly improved this year. Overall, the Raiders have a mediocre defense...one that could be good enough if it were teamed with a good offense.

Unfortunately, it isn't. Randy Moss is great, but none of the quarterbacks are capable of getting him the ball. Even if they were, the line isn't capable of giving a quarterback time to get Randy Moss the ball. And even if everything falls into place...good protection, a good throw...Moss is probably double covered, because Jerry Porter is pouting on the bench, and Alvis Whitted is not exactly a big time threat. This is not an NFL quality offense.

The Raiders have not helped themselves in recent drafts, either. Most of the first round picks have gone to decent but not great defensive backs. (Huff, last year's first rounder, is an exception...this kid is very good. But he won't be enough). I think it's fair to say at this point that Robert Gallery is a bust. We have been patient, but Gallery simply lacks the quickness to stop NFL defensive ends. He may eventually be moved to guard, where he would be okay, but would become the most overpaid guard in the history of the NFL.

So, what's the answer? I don't think there is one. There is no hope in Raider nation. We're going to have to wait for Al Davis to die.

The Fallout

Following California's collapse at Tennessee, the conventional wisdom amongst pundits and analysts is beginning to emerge, and it is ridiculous. Insane. It's as though none of them actually watched the game. Here's the truth versus the conventional wisdom:

THE TRUTH:

Cal was not ready for this game. They had an inexperienced quarterback running a new offense that does not effectively exploit his skills. Worse yet, Cal lost one of the Pac 10's best cover corners in Tim Mixon, and replaced him with a talented but very green redshirt freshman who flat out got beaten by Robert Meachem, a 6-3, 210 pound junior. Basically, that was your ballgame. Throughout most of the first half, it looked like Cal would go into the locker room at the half down a touchdown, come out with some adjustments, and make this into the relatively low scoring defensive struggle that most were expecting. Instead, David Cutliffe and Robert Meachem exploited Syd'Quan Thompson's inexperience (both in Division I college football and at the corner position...Thompson was recruited as an "athlete" and has never been a pure cover corner), Meachem got by Thompson as the half was ending, and Cal went down by two scores at the half. That made a pretty big difference. Then, Tennessee comes out of the gate after halftime and does the exact same thing...short out pattern to Meachem, Thompson foolishly goes for the pick, and Meachem takes it to the house. At that point it was 21-0, and the game was over. Most of what happened after that was irrelevant to the outcome.

That's it. That's what happened. On offense, Tennessee recognized an obvious mismatch and successfully exploited it twice. On defense, Tennessee stood relatively strong against the run, forcing Longshore to try to win it with his arm, which he wasn't going to be able to do in an unfamiliar offense poorly suited to his talents. It didn't help that his receivers kept dropping balls, either.

So, if Cal starts Bundy at corner instead of Thompson, if they didn't run out of shotgun formation so much, if they give the ball to Marshawn Lynch at least ten more times throughout the game, and if the Cal receivers only drop 4 balls instead of 8, this would have been the game we thought we would see. Instead, Thompson choked, Lynch was stifled by a lack of carries and a bad offensive game plan, and Cal's receivers had butter fingers. That's why they lost. That's it. Period. It wasn't because Tennessee was all that good. It was because a few key parts of Cal's game were just flat out bad.

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM:

Now, here's what really pisses me off. This is what commentators have been saying, and the way this game will be viewed by "experts":

(1) David Sutcliffe is a genius!

Sutcliffe is Tennessee's new offensive coordinator. There was a lot of talk that he would come in, restore Ainge's confidence, and bring a new attitude to the Vol's offensive attack. Maybe that will happen, but there was really no sign of it against Cal. Tennessee did one thing well: they found a mismatch and exploited it by isolating an inexperienced corner against a pretty good wideout. That's all they needed to do. It doesn't take a genius to do that.

(2) Eric Ainge is back!

Garbage. Eric Ainge had inflated numbers because of two big plays to Meachem, both of which were five yard out patterns that any high school quarterback could have thrown. Other than that, his performance was fairly pedestrian. He didn't make any huge mistakes, and he didn't blow it...but that doesn't make him the second coming of Peyton Manning. Ainge is pretty much what he was last year...a good enough but not great QB.

Tennessee plays against Florida, LSU, and Georgia this year...watch for Tennessee to be held to less than 10 points in each of those games.

(3) Cal was overrated.

Let's get this straight...no team in the Pac 10 is ever overrated. Ever. When a Pac 10 team gets national attention, it's with good reason. Cal is no exception. This team is very, very good.

They do, however, have some glaring flaws that were exposed by Tennessee. Their offensive scheme does not match their personnel. They have a weakness at corner opposite Hughes. Their QB position is unsettled. These are problems that Tennessee did a great job of exploiting, but they do not mean that Cal doesn't deserve the national spotlight this year. If Cal can put together an offensive scheme that matches their personnel and put Bundy in at corner until the light switches on for Syd'Quan Thompson, Cal is capable of running the table going forward. More realistically, Cal is probably looking at a 9-3 season, which should still put them in the top 20. On the other hand, if Cal can't get its act together, this year could be a disaster for the program.

(4) See! The Pac 10 is soft!

Come on. Unlike most power conferences, the Pac 10 actually bothered to slate decent competition in week 1, and went 6-2 in out-of-conference play (the two losses being conference doormat WSU getting beaten by #4 Auburn and Cal's loss). The wins include USC's pounding of Arkansas for the second straight year (on what is supposed to be a rebuilding year for them), UCLA dominating a pretty good Utah team, and Arizona winning against BYU, a bowl team last year who will likely go bowling again this year. These are not Division I-AA teams that the Pac 10 is beating up on. These are quality opponents.

Bottom line: the fact that Syd'Quan Thompson hasn't learned how to tackle yet does not speak to the talent level of an entire conference. That conclusion is absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, perception is reality when it comes to the level of respect a conference gets, and a lot of armchair quarterbacks are going to read the score from Vols/Bears and conclude that the Pac 10 doesn't deserve respect.

The Pac 10 will have a strong year. USC has reloaded and is a title contender. Cal should be able to pull it together. Oregon looks extremely good and is a dark horse to win the conference in a year of Pac 10 parity. Arizona State, as usual, has one of the best offensive attacks in the country. Arizona is looking like an up-and-comer with Mike Stoops at the helm. Washington and Stanford should be turning it around soon as well. The Pac 10 is a strong conference this year, and will show it when the bowls come. Unfortunately, we will probably have to endure a lot of stupid comments about the Pac 10 for the remainder of the season, and it's largely because of this game.

Syd'Quan Thompson can't tackle, therefore the entire Pac 10 conference is weak. Thanks, experts.

What Went Wrong at Rocky Top

I just finished watching the California Golden Bears get embarassed on the road against Tennessee. Here are my impressions:

- First off, Cal is not nearly that bad, and Tennessee is not nearly that good. Three Tennessee touchdowns were the direct result of absurdly poor tackling. Two of those were the direct result of Tim Mixon's injury. (Syd'Quan Thompson missed two easy tackles and let the guy he was covering take it to the house...mistakes by a freshman who was hopelessly outmatched and trying to make a big play). It had nothing to do with Eric Ainge being particularly effective (he wasn't) or the Cal defense getting outplayed (aside from those three ridiculous plays, they weren't). Cal needs to start Randy Bundy at corner...he doesn't have Syd'Quan's talent, but he has more experience and won't give up touchdowns going for picks that he can't get. The entire Cal defense needs to get back to focusing on fundamentals, like making tackles and staying between the ball carrier and the end zone. All this preseason hype must have gotten to their heads, because they were completely lacking in basic fundamentals against Tennessee. Hopefully, getting their asses handed to them will humble them a bit.

- This quasi-spread offense is garbage, and it could ruin the remainder of Marshawn Lynch's college career, and possibly Nate Longshore's as well. Nate Longshore is a pocket passer. Marshawn Lynch is most effective out of a pro style offense. Jeff Tedford had a great thing going before with his offensive philosophy, and I can't understand why they are tinkering in this way, especially given the personnel. This spread thing is not going to work.

- If Cal insists on scrapping its enormously successful offensive philosophy for the flavor of the month spread offense, they need to start (and I am cringing as I type this) Joe Ayoob. Ayoob ran the offense much more effectively against Tennessee. Ayoob's mobility and athleticism make him a better fit for what appears to be the new Cal offense. Longshore can't run a spread offense. He is a pocket passer. It isn't going to work.

- Marshawn Lynch had 12 carries against Tennessee. I will go on record as saying that Cal will not win a single game this year where Marshan Lynch does not get a minimum of 20 carries. Having a back like Lynch and not using him is stupid. It's Holmoe level stupid. It's Tedford's sanity is coming into question stupid. I don't know how much control this Dunbar guy has been given over the offense, but whoever decided that Marshawn Lynch should only carry the ball 12 times in this game doesn't understand his personnel. Really, really dumb.

- Tennessee is not "back," and we will see that throughout this season. They may post a winning record, but they are not a contender by any stretch of the imagination. Their defense did a decent job stopping the run, but Cal didn't try to run enough. Cal stopped their own passing attack with dropped balls and bad passes. They had open receivers, but they couldn't make the passing attack work. Tennessee's offense is not very good...they had a few big plays where they capitalized on Cal's lack of defensive discipline and inexperience, and that's about it. When Cal played as they are capable of playing, the Tennessee offense didn't do much.

- Basically, it comes down to this: If Cal's receivers caught the catchable balls thrown to them, if Cal's DB's (especially Thompson) tackled ball carriers when they were supposed to, and if the coaching staff gave Marshawn Lynch the damn ball more than 12 times, Cal wins this game, notwithstanding the fact that they don't have a good option at QB at this point.

It's still a wide open Pac 10 this year. Hopefully Cal can pull it together in time for conference play. If they don't play better than they did against Tennessee, they won't beat anyone in the Pac 10.