Yardbarker: Jeremy Maclin

College Week 6 recap: is The Big Red Dead?

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:23:16 -0500

By Nostradamus. With a heavy heart, and my tail between my legs, I bring you Week 6's recap in College Football. So, what did we learn? The Big Red might be officially dead. Mizzou is legit. USC is still USC. Ohio State isn't done yet. Vanderbilt is the best story in the country this year...

Hello, Heisman! Week 7 Frontrunners

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:56:44 -0500

Formerly found at Fantasy Insider Online, writer Dan Mesday has moved over to the new FIO spinoff website - Draft365. Building off its popularity at FIO, here is the Weekly Heisman watch.

Vandy's For Real, Mizzou Dominates, Tide Survives

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:17:35 -0500

While this past weekend's college football action was devoid of major upsets, it wasn't any less exciting as Vanderbilt and Ohio State got come from behind wins and the Big 12 Conference showcased the nation's best group of quarterbacks.

OSU Wisky Preview and Heisman Race Analysis

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:07:02 -0500

Here is a stat for you. Ohio State is 3-3 in their last six Big Ten road openers with those three wins all helping to propel the Buckeyes to national championship game appearances. This weekend's showdown against Wisconsin will have heavy implications in the Big Ten. Click through to read a preview of the game as well as updated look at the Heisman race.

Hello, Heisman! Week 6 Frontrunners

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:44:07 -0500

Formerly found at Fantasy Insider Online, writer Dan Mesday has moved over to the new FIO spinoff website - Draft365. Building off its popularity at FIO, here is the Weekly Heisman watch.

Hello, Heisman! Week 5 Frontrunners

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:06:54 -0500

Formerly found at Fantasy Insider Online, writer Dan Mesday has moved over to the new FIO spinoff website - Draft365. Picking up right where he left off, here is the Weekly Heisman watch.

Prospect Watch: Jeremy Maclin

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:09:53 -0500

Maclin is super quick and dominating defenses this year. Although Missouri hasn't played a conference game yet there's no doubt that he's a favorite for the Heisman Trophy along with do it all pocket quarterback and Missouri teammate Chase Daniel. Maclin is a projected late first rounder by a lot of

Prospect Watch: Jeremy Maclin

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:09:53 -0500

Hello, Heisman! - Week 4 Frontrunners

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:57:03 -0500

Weekly Heisman watch by FIO staff writer Dan Mesday.

34 College Football Observations from Week 3

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:49:04 -0500

Every Saturday, after a hard week's work, I just want to be able to sit on the couch and flip back and forth through college football games for the entirety of the day. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be able to do so. I watched several games that were televised throughout the day on Saturday (as well as Friday night's game), and unlike last week there were some big matchups and some true battles. Here are 34 observations about certain players and teams from 13 games I was able to see:

Week 2 Heisman Hopefuls

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:29:54 -0500

If you haven't figured it out by now, we love college football here we've done loads of Top 25, Game Analysis, Heisman Talk, Predictions, Pick 'Ems, etc. Face it we are YOUR College Football Home, and if we're not we damn well should be. So last week I gave you a follow up to my Heisman Hopefuls looking for the Bronze Stiff Arm. I've been working on it since January so as always you can Refer to Part 1 Part 2 and Week 1 for the past rankings and guesses. We're going to start knocking some names off of the list each week. We started with 25 in January, were at 23 by last time and after Saturday that list has remained the same. But only because 1 mediocre/subpar game isn't enough to get taken out of contention. Next week we should see at least 3 names come off the board. Todd Boeckman, QB - Ohio State 16/26 - 110 yds - 0 TDs/0 INTs - 71 QB Rating - 8 Rushes - 26 yds On the verge of being done in the race with more weeks sub 80 QB Ratings and no TDs. Sam Bradford, QB - Oklahoma More after the Jump...

Week 2 - College Fantasy Football Rankings - Wide Receivers

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:54:44 -0500

WEEKLY GEEK WR RANKINGS As we compiled our Top 55 list of wide receivers this week, we noticed an over-abundance of seemingly great matchups. Of our top 25 WR's, only four of them face BCS-conference opponents. It should be a high-scoring weekend. The big question is what to do with Mizzu star Jeremy Maclin. He claims to be close to 100%, but you've got to wonder whether the Tiger coaching staff will risk putting him out there against the likes of SE Missouri State. If his snaps are limited, it's good news for fellow wideout Tommy Saunders and tight end Chase Coffman as they could see more balls flown their way. One of the great offensive showcase games of the weekend pits Oklahoma State against Houston. See where we rank OSU's Dez Bryant (pictured, AP photo by Sue Ogrocki) and Houston's L.J. Castile after the jump... "Use the Force, Luke" Here are some great WR matchups: * Dez Bryant (Oklahoma State) vs. Houston - QB Zac Robinson should connect with Dez deep on many occasions in this shootout. * Aaron Kelly (Clemson) vs. Citadel - One would hope the Tigers are pissed coming off that atrocious Bama loss. The Citadel don't pose much of a threat. Actually, the only threat on Saturday is tropical storm Hannah. Assuming this game isn't a complete washout, look for Kelly to pull down a couple of scores. * Arrelious Benn (Illinois) vs. E.Illinois - Benn was relatively quiet last week against Mizzu. This directional school will have its hands full with Regis. We expect him to put up some big points. "These Aren't The Droids You're Looking For" Don't expect big things from these players this week. * Bryan Anderson (Central Michigan) vs. Georgia - Just a tough matchup for the Chippewas this week. * Sammie Stroughter (Oregon State) vs. Penn State - The combination of the Penn State defense and probable rainy conditions leads us to the conclusion that Sammie won't be duplicating his stats from last week. * Cincinnati's Receivers vs. Oklahoma - Dominick Goodman stole the show last week. We expect him to come back to earth this weekend in Norman. Marcus Barnett will also find the going tough. WEEK TWO - WIDE RECEIVER RANKINGS 1 . Michael Crabtree / Texas Tech - at . Nevada 2 . Jarett Dillard / Rice - at . Memphis 3 . Dante Love / Ball State - vs . Navy 4 . Emmanuel Sanders / SMU - vs . Texas State 5 . Casey Fitzgerald / North Texas - vs . Tulsa Click on the URL for the full Top 55 WR list...

Week 2 - College Fantasy Football Injury Roundup

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:47:17 -0500

WEEKLY GEEK INJURY ROUNDUP Unfortunately, there were a rash of high-profile injuries in the opening weekend. What's the status of injured fantasy superstars Chris Wells and Jeremy Maclin? Will Wisconsin's stud tight end play this week? In this installment of the Weekly Geek, we highlight the notable injuries in college football. Who are we missing? Sound off in the comments section. Please note we are not using any "official" terminology here to describe the severity of these injuries, or the likelihood of whether that player will play meaningful downs in their upcoming game. College football injury information is hard to come by. We're just taking the information we've gathered and trying to pass it along. Notable Injuries: QB's Nate Costa - Oregon (knee, out for season) Rusty Smith - Florida Atlantic (probable) Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada - Navy (hamstring, out this week) RB's Chris Wells - Ohio State (toe, out this weekend) Jorvorskie Lane - Texas A&M (neck, questionable) Mike Ford - USF (ankle, questionable) Dominique Lindsay - East Carolina (knee, out for year) Jaycen Taylor - Purdue (knee, out for year) Andre Dixon - UConn (ankle, expects to play) Tarrion Adams - Tulsa (leg injury, questionable) WR's Jeremy Maclin - Missouri (ankle, could play if needed) Percy Harvin - Florida (heel, expected to play) Scott Long - Louisville (broken foot, out indefinitely) Danario Alexander - Missouri (knee, expected back October 1st) Brian Robiskie - Ohio State (shoulder, expected to start) Chris Gilbert - Houston (hernia, questionable) Deon Murphy - Kansas State (expected to play more than last week) Malcolm Lane - Hawaii (groin, expected to play) Ray Fisher - Indiana (shoulder, day to day) Jeremy Childs - Boise State (team is on bye this week) Michael Jones - Arizona State (MRI on Achilles tendon, results later this week) Dexton Fields - Kansas (foot, out this weekend) Ty Paffrett - Air Force (back surgery, doubtful - could miss extended time) TE's Travis Beckum - Wisconsin (expected to play) Mike Ragone - Notre Dame (knee, out for year) Tony Moeaki - Iowa (foot, out indefinitely) Rob Gronkowski - Arizona (strep or mono, out at least one week) Cornelius Ingram - Florida (knee, out for year)

Heisman Hopeful Watchlist: Week 1

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:40:12 -0500

As with my Top 25 I'm also going to keep you updated on my list of BSA Candidates as the season goes on. The basis for these 23 candidates are from my Heisman Hopefulls column back in January (Refer to Part 1 and Part 2 for further breakdown and information on each player). Originally there were 25 but we've already dropped two going into the season and will likely drop more as the season goes on. Remember a good portion of these stats are inflated due to inferior opponents, also many of these numbers aren't as high as others because some coaches (Mike Stoops - Arizona, Bob Stoops - Oklahoma) were smart enough to take their starters out once the game was in hand, thus stats not inflated as others. So here they are, in alphabetical order your Top 23 Bronze Stiff Arm Watchlist members: Todd Boeckman, QB - Ohio State 14/19 - 187 yards - 2 TDs/0 INTs - 191.09 QB Rating Sam Bradford, QB - Oklahoma 17/22 - 183 yards - 2 TDs/0 INTs - 177.14 QB Rating More After the Jump.....

The Media Circus

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:48:53 -0500

Ever since the early days of The Media Circus, there has been one show that has continually garnered our praise as an ideal mix of serious analysis, humor, vulgar signs and grown men wearing mascot heads.

Back in 2006, we made a statement that we still stand firmly behind today:

"Kudos to the (ESPN) College Gameday Crew. If more sports shows were like this one, this column would suck every week."

Simply put, we feel that ESPN's College Gameday is one of the best sports-specific preview/highlight shows on the air. Each year, we prep ourselves for some sign that the show is regressing or taking a Baseball Tonight-level swoon, but then, as the college football season begins, our original stance gets re-affirmed.

The show's success can be attributed to the consistency of host Chris Fowler, the unique mix of personality and knowledge from analyst Kirk Herbstreit (sprinkled in with some hair frost, fake bronzing and arrogance) and of course...Lee Corso.

Corso is the type of "analyst" that theoretically should be shredded in this column regularly, but instead seems to have a mysterious power over the Media Circus that keeps him free and clear from criticism. Take his comments this past week as an example.

While laying out his predictions during a studio show a few days prior to the first College Gameday "on campus" show of the 2008 season, Corso went into his reasoning for why he sees Missouri as the team that will ultimately meet USC in the national championship game.

Two of those reasons were:

1.) Chase Daniels
2.) Jeremy McClain

He's not the first and won't be the last to tack a 's' on to the end of Chase's last name but his unique mispronunciation of Jeremy Maclin's last name (pronounced Mack-lin) had his counterpart Herbstreit literally in tears a few feet to his left.

A national "expert" claiming Mizzou will make the national championship game and then proceeding to butcher both their star players' names to the point where his own co-host is openly mocking him? This is the reason the Media Circus was created, right?

Well, rather than crack open the laptop and immediately start the crucification, we just laughed and chalked it up as part of the charm of College Gameday.

Why does Gameday get special treatment? We're not sure, but the mascot head never hurts.

Crap that actually came from somebody's mouth - Mad Hungarian Edition

Last week, we included a comment from Cardinals analyst Al Hrasboky that looked vaguely familiar to astute readers of the Media Circus.

"Milwaukee has a much easier schedule than the Cardinals do, but sometimes, you'd rather play a winning club or somebody who has something at stake like you do than to play the weaker ones."

Makes perfect sense. Why would you want to play a team that's been crappy all season when you could try to gain those all-important victories over teams that have been good all season?

The reason the quote looked familiar is because one year ago this week, Al Hrabosky said pretty much the same thing, and we responded in similar fashion.

"(The Cardinals) have the toughest schedule amongst the three contenders (for the NL Central title), but many times you would rather face a team that has something on the line than a team that wants to be a spoiler."

Okay, Al, let's make this a little more fun. How about we put money down on the teams who are actually playing good enough baseball to be in contention in September and you put the same amount of money down on the bad teams who have sucked all year and thus are relegated to the role of "spoiler" and we'll see who has more money in the end.

At this point, we're of the belief that a robotic Al Hrabosky or "Hungo Auto Pilot" could do a better job as television analyst than the real deal. Just for grins and giggles, here are our favorite Hungo-isms from the '07 and '08 campaigns. Read and marvel at the simplicity and uber-obvious thoughts that ramble through Hungo's brain.

"Adam (Wainwright) gets a hold of something, he's going to jerk it to left or center"

"We knew (J.R. Towles) wasn't as good as the 8 RBI game he showed last year."

"It's only a bad move if you fail to get the next guy out." (on intentional walks)

"Most of the time you talk about a backup catcher, you talk about a guy who can catch and throw."

"If (the defense) can get an out on every play, they're going to be okay."

If you're wondering, yes, we photoshopped the neckbrace image and yes; we think it suits Al perfectly.

When Ocho Cinco is No Longer Cool to Say

There we were, checking our email like any other Tuesday morning when we received official confirmation via Yahoo!'s fantasy football news-wire that Chad Johnson is a dirty media whore.

Yep; he finally went ahead and changed his last name to Ocho-Cinco, the name Chad Johnson coined for himself. Normally people accept nicknames that are given to them, not created by them, but Chad is apparently the exception to the rule. He's also the first athlete we can think of to legally change his last name to his self-appointed nickname. An apt comparison might be former WWF wrestler Ken Patera officially changing his name to "Ken World's-Strongest-Man" or Dino Bravo opting for "Dino Canadian Strong Man".

All that absurdity aside, we're wondering what it will be like for play-by-play men to call their first Ocho Cinco reception. Will Al Michaels have an internal debate about whether to recognize number 85 as "Chad Ocho Cinco"? Is Jim Nantz able to create puns in Spanish? Will Joe Buck call the name change a "disgusting act"?

None of us will have an answer until we reach Sunday afternoon, but we're pretty sure John Madden will be thoroughly confused. That and, Mark Schlereth will label Chad Ocho Cinco as "the most dynamic altered-surname wide receiver in the National Football League".

Another Unnecessary Name Change

While we're happy to heap praise on ESPN's College Gameday, we're not about to get blinded by love. Simply put, the new college segment with Lou Holtz called "Dr. Lou" need not apply for reinstatement. If you haven't seen it, Lou Holtz plays the role of doctor for people who happen to call his hotline. In the episode below, Tim Tebow and Lloyd Carr phone in their queries and Lou spits out his advice (pun intended).

According to Lou, Tebow must be "significant" this year and Lloyd Carr must take his wallet with him when golfing. Why viewers care about Lloyd Carr's quest to improve his golf game is beyond us. But hey, we didn't script this stuff.

We can't quite grasp the need to convince Lou Holtz to play a doctor, but we guess it beats Mark May as an auto-mechanic.

Bob Carpenter Memorial Snappy Line

Much like the Media Circus staff, the Bobber is busy preparing for the start of the NFL season and all the knee-jerk snap it brings. While he doesn't award a thumbs up to a media luminary, he suggests heeding the advice of Dr. Lou: "There's no one who loves you any more, wants to see you succeed anymore. My wife is somebody I love dearly. She's my best friend."

The Bobber thinks that's one of the cutest lines he's ever seen.

The Media Circus is written by Josh Bacott and Patrick Imig. They swear this stuff is real. Email them at info@joesportsfan.com