By JOE SANTORO
Sports fodder for a Friday morning . . .
Hey, Wolf Pack football fans, have you come in off the ledge yet, put away all of the sharp objects and stopped kicking the dog? Of course you have. The 69-17 Is-The-Pack-Defense-Actually-On-The-Field? loss to Missouri last Saturday was just that " it was just one loss. Yes, it was the biggest blowout in Chris Ault's career but it was just one loss " one loss to a team that has one of the greatest offenses in the history of college football. No big deal. You didn't think the Pack was headed to the BCS title game, did you? Of course you didn't. So, relax, Pack fans. There is still a lot to be thankful for. Be thankful you weren't Ned Yost last weekend. You could have been the Houston Astros hitters in Milwaukee. You could have been Charlie Weis' leg. You could have been Ed Hochuli. Feel better?
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The Show Me State, we admit, is now spelled Misery as far as Pack fans are concerned. No Chris Ault-coached team had ever allowed 69 points in regulation time before. It was the Pack's biggest wakeup call since the 72-10 punch to the gut the 1999 Jeff Tisdel team suffered at Oregon. That team won just three games and got its coach fired at the end of the year. Those things aren't going to happen this year. This year's team is still on its way to eight or nine wins. Don't forget that all of the realistic goals this season are still possible. The Pack can still beat UNLV and keep the Fremont Cannon blue. The Pack can still win the Western Athletic Conference. The Pack can still beat Fresno State or Boise State (or both) and still go to a bowl game. Feel better?
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What is the Wolf Pack going to do now that running backs Luke Lippincott and Brandon Fragger are doing their best Tom Brady impressions on the sideline? Well, how about using the Spread offense's five-receiver, no-back set? It seemed to work for Misery. Over and over and over and over and, yes, over again.
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The Wolf Pack football team's problem is not that it can't beat a team with a national reputation. It's all about timing. If the Pack would have played Notre Dame last year, Nevada would have won by 40 points. If the Pack would have played Missouri in the 1990s, it would have won by 50 points. All we can say is that Misery has to come to Mackay Stadium next year. Misery senior quarterback Chase Daniel and senior tight end Chase Coffman, among others, will be gone. Sophomore wide receiver Jeremy Maclin will likely be in the NFL. The Pack will have the experienced, veteran, well-oiled machine of an offense next year. You can bet the Ol' Ball Coach won't forget those 69 points of 2008.
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The Milwaukee Brewers firing Ned Yost with two weeks left in the season doesn't make any sense. Yost had the Brewers in the hunt for a playoff spot. What else did the Brewers expect? This is the Chicago Cubs' year. It's fate. There's nothing anyone can do about it. The 100-year Cubs slump will end this fall. The baseball Gods owe the Cubs a title and this is the year. Firing Yost isn't going to scare the baseball Gods.
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The problem with college football is that not all conferences are created equal. The winner of the Western Athletic Conference is never going to play for a national title, no matter how many games it wins. The best thing about the NFL is that all divisions are, indeed, treated equally. The winner of the worst division in football (the NFC West) has just as much chance at winning the Super Bowl as the winner of the best division (NFC East) once the playoffs begin. So enjoy the ride, San Francisco 49ers fans. It's only going to take eight or nine wins to finish first.
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Everybody in the country knew that Jay Cutler fumbled last weekend against the San Diego Chargers. Everybody, that is, except official Ed Hochuli. Hochuli, though, sure knows it now. There were a lot of problems with Hochuli's call. First of all, if Hochuli ruled it an incomplete pass, then why was the ball placed on the 10-yard line, where it hit the ground after it fell out of Cutler's hands? The NFL has instant replay but it has never really known how to use it. It's time the league figures it out. The fate of fantasy leagues and sportsbooks, after all, depend on the right call being made.
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Randy Moss had just two catches last week with Matt Cassel as his quarterback. How long do you think it will take for Moss to quit on the New England Patriots like he quit on the Oakland Raiders if those type of numbers continue? We give it until halftime of the next game.
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By the way, if given the chance, the Missouri Tigers would also score 69 points on the Cincinnati Bengals, St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers and Seattle Seahawks.
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There are a lot of questions facing the Wolf Pack football team right now. Can it beat the suddenly respectable UNLV Rebels? Can this team ever have a winning season away from Mackay Stadium (the last was 1998)? Can the Pack get through an entire game without losing a running back to injury? Will the defense ever wipe away visions of Jeremy Maclin and Chase Daniel dancing in their head? Stay tuned for the answers to all those questions. But the biggest question facing this team is whether or not fans will actually show up for the New Mexico State and Utah State games at Mackay on October 11 and 18. A loss to UNLV next week and, well, they can fire real cannonballs into the stands after Pack touchdowns on October 11 and 18 against the Aggies of the WAC without fear of hitting anyone.