Monday Mashup

Well, we're all back in a football state of mind. Here's a quick post about the weekend happenings, good or bad.

A nice job and a congrats to the NB Panthers, beating Tussey handily 35-6 after a nearly two hour rain delay. NB has bragging rights another year.

Seriously, UConn offense? This defense is top 10 nationally hands down, can't rely on them to score your points for you! Pasqualoni needs to get rid of George DeLeone, one of the reasons he was fired from Syracuse. I can definitely see why now. Running a wildcat with a QB who can't throw is bad enough, but even worse when you can with a large amount of accuracy predict the yardage gained each play. The offense is returning to Edsall era predictability. Speaking of Edsall, up next: Maryland. Yours truly will be down there, hopefully live tweeting and blogging. @J3cnb11 on Twitter.

Shaky start for Andrew Luck, throwing for 309, 1 TD and 3 picks. Colts lose 41-21 and never really cut into that lead after the 2nd. The line struggled, allowing 3 sacks. The secondary was picked apart by Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall, with Cutler finishing with 333 and 2 TDs and Marshall 119 with one TD. There is promise for the future, even with a loss like this.

Colts to take Andrew Luck at No.1

It's been common knowledge since the Colts lost their regular season finale to Jacksonville on New Years' Day. The Colts will select Stanford superstar Andrew Luck with the first pick in Thursday's NFL Draft. Coming off a 2-14 season which saw them lose 4-time league MVP Peyton Manning to a degenerative nerve disorder, head coach Jim Caldwell and GM Bill Polian were fired in surprising moves by owner Jim Irsay. New blood was brought in with the hiring of Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano and Eagles director of player personnel Ryan Grigson as GM. The roller coaster offseason continued with the release of Manning, who signed with the Broncos in a lengthy recruiting process. That cleared the way for Luck to be chosen to succeed Manning. After the glitzy selection of Luck on Thursday, the Colts will focus on Friday and Saturday to fill holes at WR, TE, DT, CB, SS, FS, and OT. A fact worth noting: the Colts have the first and last pick in the draft, aka Mr. Irrelevant. This is the chance for the new brass to make an impression. Having Andrew Luck certainly doesn't hurt.

Lady Lions take Big 10 title over Ohio State

*I know this is a football blog, but I got the opportunity to cover the Penn State vs. Ohio State women's basketball game on February 20th*

Ohio State coach Jim Foster summed up his team's performance best when he stated matter-of-factly, "They just kicked our butts, that's what happened."

Foster's No. 8 Buckeyes were routed by the 11th ranked Penn State Lady Lions (22-5, 11-3 Big 10) 84-66, who claimed their first Big Ten title since 2004 with the victory.

Junior post anchor Nikki Greene was PSU's leading scorer with 25 points and 15 rebounds, one of three Penn State players with a double-double.

"There are no words," Greene said. "It's amazing, just amazing. We just worked so hard to get here."

Penn State led by 15 at the half, and never let Ohio State get within 13 the rest of the way, stifling OSU on the boards and with second chance opportunities.

"This might be the worst we rebounded (in) my life," offered Foster, "and certainly the least competitive."

Penn State clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which begins next week in Indianapolis.

Penn State coach Coquese Washington wasn't as excited about stats and figures as she was for what the win meant to the university as a whole, a real bright spot among the dark past few months.

"It means a lot to me for Penn State to have this experience, especially this year and all that our university community has gone through."

Washington continued, "There's a lot of good here at Penn State; there's a lot of things right. And all year long, we tried to be one of the shining examples of what 'Success with Honor' means. I'm glad that our community is able to share this moment with us."

Samantha Prahalis had 16 points and 8 assists for Ohio State.

Maggie Lucas and Mia Nickson added double-digit points and rebounds for Penn State.

At a loss for words, Nickson said Penn State was just in the "right place at the right time".

"And they're beasts inside," Lucas added. "I don't think it's just right place at the right time."

Ohio State fell to 23-4 overall and 10-4 in conference play and will receive the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

Are the Colts looking at Andrew Luck?

Okay, so the Colts are 0-4 following Curtis Painter's 1st start. I'm not really sure anything better could or should be expected. Manning's done for the year, you go out and get Kerry Collins (who I believe was the best option), he gets hurt. Enter Painter. He's not played any meaningful minutes, and there was a reason why Jim Caldwell didn't think Painter was the answer because he brought in a retired QB to start ahead of him. This is the price you pay for not getting any insurance years ago. Manning isn't indestructable and the Indy front office is dumb if they didn't think something like this would happen. If the Colts continue to melt down and end up with 0-2 wins, they will get the number 1 pick. With that pick, the Colts (had better) select Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford. If they do take him, they need a plan, and it should work itself out pretty quick. The 1st option, which they may decide that they want to set the franchise back 15 years, is to trade the pick. They won't do that if they're smart. The obvious choice is to have him sit behind Manning a few years and he can learn from the best. If Manning retires, Luck is good enough to start from Week 1. Luck is the best QB prospect to come out since Manning himself. There's other holes to fill, but they have some good young players that they can expect to be good starters for them in a couple years. I think it's simply too big of a risk to not snag the future of your franchise.

So...Who Does Carolina Pick at Number 1?

My guess is as good as anyone's. I'm thinking there's really only a pool of 4-5 guys that they would seriously consider taking: Blaine Gabbert, Cam Newton, A.J. Green, Patrick Peterson, and Nick Fairley (Da'Quan Bowers could be in place of Fairley). They need to decide if Jimmy Clausen is their franchise QB first. If he's not, they need to get Gabbert or Newton. Then again, if Ron Rivera is dead set on a QB, he would have some debating to do on which he thinks is the better fit for them. As we all know, Cam has some questions as far as his character goes, but he's a once in a lifetime athlete and talent. Gabbert is safer in those regards, but people worry about the scheme he had at Missouri and how it translates, etc. If they're keeping their options open and they've decided that Clausen is the guy, A.J. Green is a possibility. Big, speedy receiver to help the offensively (and defensively) challenged Panthers and their now second year project of a QB. Patrick Peterson is probably the least likely chosen, but he's there. He would easily become the centerpiece of the defense. Most likely an opening weekend starter no matter where he goes. If they go with Bowers or Fairley, it'll be a big d-line improvement after they lost Julius Peppers. The line wasn't terrible, but it could use an upgrade. Personally, as a Carolina fan, I want them to take Newton. He would share duty with Clausen as a starter and situational QB. He'd be a monster running a red zone and goal line offense that allowed him to run from the shotgun and on play action rollouts. While the draft still goes on, this largely depends on the well-known lockout situation. The court date for the player lawsuit is April 6, but we might not hear anything for a couple weeks after that.

Is Peyton Manning Responsible for Another Loss (Again)?

Having just watched the now 4-8 Cowboys beat the Colts on an overtime field goal, I'm really starting to think Peyton's ability to win close games is slipping away much too quickly. He led a great game-tying drive with just seconds to go in the fourth, but after the Indy defense held Dallas to give Peyton the chance to win it, he made a poor decision (one of many of late) and the ball was picked off for the fourth time in the game. Many of these errant throws and bad decisions have become a significant reason as to why the Colts are 6-6 and are looking at missing the playoffs for the first time in a long time. (Since 2002). They are now at least a game behind AFC South division leader Jacksonville, but if they defeat the Titans this Thursday, and can take down the Jags at home the following week, they could still have a shot, although they'd have to hope for some help elsewhere. Granted, it hasn't always been his fault since the skid began. I lost track of how many key players are hurt and out for the rest of the year, but he is arguably the best quarterback of all time and has proven just how good he is leading come from behind drives. They do have many young and new players that have stepped up to help make this challenging time much more easy for Peyton, but he needs to continue playing at the high level that has earned him 4 MVP awards. With the possibility of having this season over and done with, and the scary fiasco that is the potential lockout resulting in no 2011 NFL season, maybe the Colts just need to forget this year, be happy with the progress despite the injuries, and hope that in 2012 they can be the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium, just like the Cowboys' high hopes had them poised to do this year. I do say this: anything is still possible. The AFC South is very weak and if the Colts win out and win the division with a 10-6 record, something could still happen...

Wide Open Big East

The college football season is almost over. Most of the conferences know who will be the unquestioned champion. Not so fast. The Big East still has to answer that question. At the beginning of the season, it was basically a three-way tie for preseason BE championship honors between Pitt, UConn, and West Virginia. Throw in Cincinnati or Rutgers as a sort of wild card pick. That tie still is pretty much the theoretical way the BE standings are, but Syracuse is having a breakout year, and Louisville looks to have a little spunk as well. Pitt and UConn stumbled early, while WVU and 'Cuse were the top dogs back then. UConn had a make-or-break game a few weeks ago against WVU at home and pulled out the 16-13 overtime win. That gave them some hope for the Pitt game this past week. They again pulled out a tight win, 30-28. Towards the middle part of the season, Pitt started to look like the team they were hyped to be in the preseason, while UConn and WVU kept tripping up. After UConn beat both teams, they are quite possibly the hottest team in the BE and except to travel to the Carrier Dome for a showdown with Syracuse this Saturday. If they win, and Pitt would trip up again this week or next, UConn is in a great position to still push for the title. Being that the BE has an automatic BCS bowl bid, amidst controversy, a UConn team that wins out at 8-4 could get that berth. With Pitt, WVU, and possibly Syracuse succumbing to the Huskies, followed by a late season home game with Cincy, there probably isn't a whole lot that will stop them. They're young and talented, like Pitt, and Randy Edsall's teams play smart, fundamental football. They have Jordan Todman on their side, and the pressure has lessened with being 5-4. This season in the BE is not over yet, and you gotta check out some of these games coming up. These will be a great last few weeks of football season! (There's always the Big East basketball season :) )

Go Huskies!