October 11 Notebook
October 11, 2004 05:11 PM | General
October 11, 2004
Here is this week’s notebook:
“He’s in a green jersey again today,” said the coach. “He’s going to go on the trip but we’re planning as if he’s not going to play. I don’t see how he’s going to.
“Jason (Colson) is healthy and Bryan Wright is healthy and Pernell Williams is ready: those are the three guys taking all of the reps for us.”
“Plus, in Europe the game is dirtier,” he added. “I think they have three refs now but before they only had two. There is a lot of holding and elbows and they don’t call it. There is a lot of that stuff they call over here.”
“The last six weeks really haven’t been that physically exhausting because I played five to 10 minutes a game,” he said. “It was more mentally exhausting with all of the traveling and every three days staying in another hotel.”
And No. 8 Florida State could have easily lost last Saturday at Syracuse – a 51-0 loser at Purdue to open the season.
The Big 12 South is once again formidable with Oklahoma, Texas and Oklahoma State nationally ranked, but the Big 12 North is an albatross with 4-1 Missouri the only team on that side currently in the national rankings. And don’t forget Missouri lost to Troy State earlier this year.
What’s even more distressing is that Nebraska, a 70-10 loser to Texas Tech last Saturday, is still in the Big 12 North hunt with a 1-1 league record. The Huskers face 2-3 Baylor this weekend and have 2-3 Kansas State next weekend before their big showdown with Missouri on Oct. 30.
Nebraska’s only game against a ranked team this season comes at No. 2 Oklahoma on Nov. 13.
The Big Ten is top heavy with Wisconsin and Purdue both putting their undefeated records on the line in West Lafayette this weekend, and Michigan and Minnesota sporting 5-1 marks, but the conference also has five of its 11 members with .500 or worse records.
The SEC is extremely strong up top with five teams ranked in the Top 25, but it also has Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Mississippi State on the bottom to contend with. Vanderbilt blew a 27-3 lead to Rutgers at home last weekend, Kentucky counts among its four losses a 28-16 decision to Ohio University, and Mississippi State would have a tough time winning this year in the Atlantic 10. In addition to its most recent loss to UAB, Mississippi State also counts a 9-7 worm-burner against I-AA Maine. If that weren’t enough the Bulldogs still have a pending NCAA ruling hovering over their heads.
Meanwhile, the Pac 10 has three very good teams in No. 1 USC, No. 9 Cal and No. 19 Arizona State, and three very bad teams in 1-4 Oregon State, 1-4 Washington and 1-4 Arizona.
And then there is the Mountain West Conference, which ESPN analyst Rod Gilmore believes should replace the Big East as the sixth BCS league. The Mountain West has No. 10-ranked Utah and 4-1 Wyoming to go with six other teams that have .500 or worse records. Air Force is the best of the rest with a 3-3 mark. So much for that, Rod.
Of the remaining conferences, the WAC has undefeated Boise State and 3-2 Fresno State to hang their hats on, the MAC only has two teams with four wins so far (Toledo and Northern Illinois) and the Sun Belt has just one team with a winning record (Troy).
Conference USA has performed the best of the non-BCS leagues with two teams (Louisville and Southern Mississippi) ranked in the Top 25 and two more (Memphis and UAB) with 4-1 records. However, the best C-USA team is leaving the league to join the Big East next season.
So where does all this put us? Right where we are right now.
Even though Louisville’s (42,000) and Connecticut’s (40,000) stadiums are significantly smaller than West Virginia’s (60,000), that is a good sign for the future of the Big East.
The two at the bottom are South Florida (averaging 27,798) and Cincinnati (25,710), which are still dramatically better than Temple’s average of 17,273.
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| Former offensive tackle Jeff Sniffen is making his mark in Hollywood.
Submitted photo |
You may recall offensive tackle Jeff Sniffen of West Patterson, N.J., protecting WVU quarterback Major Harris from 1986-90. Well, Sniffen is now known as Jeff Chase and he is building a pretty impressive resume in the film industry.
On the big screen his most recent project is The Transporter 2 which is currently in production and is set for release in 2005. You can also see Chase in the movie Kids in America which is due out later this year.
On the tube Chase has made appearances in notable shows Alias, NYPD Blue, Nip & Tuck, Cedric the Entertainer and She Spies.
To date, Chase has appeared in 12 movies, 16 television shows and numerous commercials. Jeff and his wife Kimberly split their time between Miami and Los Angeles.
Have a great week!
