COWBOYS
Dallas defeated the New York Giants 24-17 in the NFL regular-season opener Wednesday night in New York and had a Wahoo's help in doing it. After a relatively boring scoreless first quarter, both teams notched points in the second, first with a field goal by the Giants and then Dallas finally got on the board with 1:01 left in the first half when Tony Romo found Kevin Ogletree -- who played in college at UVa -- in the back of the end zone for a 10-yard TD catch.
The fact that the Giants only scored three was a miracle. Michael Boley intercepted Romo and raced down the sideline 51 yards and was seemingly in the end zone but offensive lineman Tyron Smith horse-collar tackled him at the 1. From there, the Dallas defense held strong on three downs and forced the three points. Without Smith's hustle, Dallas would have been in a 7-0 hole.
Dallas struck first in the second half on Ogletree's second touchdown catch of the game and his career when he got behind the Giants cornerback and scored on a 40-yard pass and catch from Romo. From there, kicker Dan Bailey made a field goal, Romo and Miles Austin connected on a 34-yard touchdown on 1st-and-30 with six minutes left in the game and the new-look Dallas defense did enough to hold down the defending Super Bowl champs.
That new defense looked pretty good, too. Giants quarterback Eli Manning had been carving up the Cowboys defense in recent meetings but Dallas held him in check for the most part Wednesday. He completed 21 of 32 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown. Cornerbacks Morris Claiborne (drafted sixth overall by the Cowboys out of LSU) and Brandon Carr (acquired from the Chiefs via free agency) were physical with the Giants receivers and did a good job of making Manning hold the ball longer, as Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware said after the game. It was great seeing the offseason acquisitions making a difference.
On offense for the Cowboys, Jason Witten played despite a lacerated spleen and helped open up the Cowboys offense as he served as a decoy so Romo could spread the ball to his wide receivers. The biggest beneficiary was Ogletree, who had something like 25 catches in his career to date (he is entering his fourth year). On Wednesday, the former Cavalier star had eight catches for 114 yards -- the two touchdowns I mentioned -- and caught a pass for a first down on third down that sealed the Cowboys' win late in the game. Dez Bryant had a solid game as well, totaling four catches for 85 yards. Both Bryant and Austin were injured during training camp and had a light workload. As a result, Ogletree got extra time with Romo in practice, which you could tell paid off. DeMarco Murray, despite some shoddy blocking at times by the offensive line, had some good runs here and there, none of which was better than when he got bottled up on the line, then bounced outside and ran down the sideline for a 48-yard gain to the Giants 25-yard line. Once he got to the Giants 30 or so, he started running back into the middle of the field for some reason. It looked like if he had just kept going down the sideline, he would've scored. It was a weird ending to a great run. That drive resulted in a field goal, but luckily, it didn't matter that Murray didn't record a touchdown (unless you have him in a fantasy league, which I do).
One thing the Cowboys will have to cut down on is penalties. There were way too many -- 13 for 86 yards. Most of them seemed to result from a shuffled offensive line. Dallas made some moves in the offseason to shore that up as well and no one playing in Wednesday's game on the offensive line was in that same spot last year on the Cowboys. Center Phil Costa had back spasms early on and Dallas had to turn to Ryan Cook, who had been with the team six days, to fill the void. So hopefully the Cowboys can get penalized less once the offensive line comes together a little more.
Overall, a great opening performance by Dallas against a team which had dominated it in recent seasons. The fact that a Wahoo was maybe the player of the game makes it even better. Maybe this can serve as a springboard to the Cowboys' season. Certainly a better way to open the season than last year, which was also in New York, against the Jets. In that contest, the Cowboys led 24-10 in the fourth quarter but lost 31-24.
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COLLEGE PICKS
Miami at No. 21 Kansas State, Noon FX
Kansas State beat Missouri State 51-9 last week while Miami downed Boston College on the road in a shootout 41-32. Last season, the Wildcats defeated the Hurricanes 28-24 in Miami in a hard-fought game. The Hurricanes gave up 441 passing yards to the Eagles last week. Luckily, the Wildcats do most of their damage on the ground and Miami held BC down in that regard last week. Should be another close game like last season.
Kansas State 34, Miami 24
N.C. State at Connecticut, Noon Big East Network
Battle of the dogs with the Wolfpack vs. the Huskies. N.C. State will be desperate not to fall to 0-2 in a season of high expectations. They came out flat last week against Tennessee. Connecticut beat an FBS team 37-0, but it was Massachusetts, which is in its first season on that level, so it is difficult to know how good the Huskies are.
N.C. State 21, Connecticut 17
Austin Peay at Virginia Tech, 1:30 p.m. ESPN3.com
Much of the nation will probably watch at least some of this game. People are wondering how UVa fans will treat the Nittany Lions after they experienced such a horrific offseason. On the field, Virginia is a 10-point favorite, and if you know anything about the Cavaliers, you know to stay away from betting on them to win this game. This seems like a game that the Cavaliers always end up losing -- home favorite after a good win the week before. And it was kind of hard to get a read on the Wahoos last week. They won with a good -- not great -- offensive performance but gave up 19 points to a Richmond squad which was 3-8 the year before. But perhaps the Spiders will round back into form this season under a new head coach and have a respectable winning season. That would give me more confidence in UVa's performance. The Nittany Lions are no easier to read. They lost to Ohio at home 24-14 after leading 14-3 at halftime. Ohio is from the weaker MAC, but still a solid team that won 10 games last season and could maybe do it again this season. How Virginia fans will react to Penn State is one issue. Another issue is how will Penn State players react to the road? Some people think it could be good for the players to get away from campus, where all the pressure and media has been since the child sex abuse scandal broke. Defensive end Jordan Hill said as much in an Associated Press article this week: "It will be cool to get off campus a little bit for the weekend." Penn State is of course working under new head coach Bill O'Brien, who was the offensive coordinator for the Patriots last season. He brings a pass-heavy attack to Scott Stadium, one which isn't familiar to people who have followed Penn State for many years under the late Joe Paterno. The Lions' best offensive weapon, running back Silas Redd, transferred to USC in the wake of the scandal. I don't expect Penn State will be able to run very well against Virginia. The Cavaliers were best on defense last week when Richmond tried to run the ball. I am a little worried about Penn State's pass attack. I think O'Brien will know to attack UVa's linebackers, who aren't great in coverage. Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin is certainly one of the leaders of the team but is no world beater under center. Hopefully the Cavaliers can convert on some sacks that they were close to getting last week but could not close the deal on. Penn State still has a strong defense, but it gave up 499 yards to the Bobcats last week.
Dallas defeated the New York Giants 24-17 in the NFL regular-season opener Wednesday night in New York and had a Wahoo's help in doing it. After a relatively boring scoreless first quarter, both teams notched points in the second, first with a field goal by the Giants and then Dallas finally got on the board with 1:01 left in the first half when Tony Romo found Kevin Ogletree -- who played in college at UVa -- in the back of the end zone for a 10-yard TD catch.
The fact that the Giants only scored three was a miracle. Michael Boley intercepted Romo and raced down the sideline 51 yards and was seemingly in the end zone but offensive lineman Tyron Smith horse-collar tackled him at the 1. From there, the Dallas defense held strong on three downs and forced the three points. Without Smith's hustle, Dallas would have been in a 7-0 hole.
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| WR Kevin Ogletree |
That new defense looked pretty good, too. Giants quarterback Eli Manning had been carving up the Cowboys defense in recent meetings but Dallas held him in check for the most part Wednesday. He completed 21 of 32 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown. Cornerbacks Morris Claiborne (drafted sixth overall by the Cowboys out of LSU) and Brandon Carr (acquired from the Chiefs via free agency) were physical with the Giants receivers and did a good job of making Manning hold the ball longer, as Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware said after the game. It was great seeing the offseason acquisitions making a difference.
On offense for the Cowboys, Jason Witten played despite a lacerated spleen and helped open up the Cowboys offense as he served as a decoy so Romo could spread the ball to his wide receivers. The biggest beneficiary was Ogletree, who had something like 25 catches in his career to date (he is entering his fourth year). On Wednesday, the former Cavalier star had eight catches for 114 yards -- the two touchdowns I mentioned -- and caught a pass for a first down on third down that sealed the Cowboys' win late in the game. Dez Bryant had a solid game as well, totaling four catches for 85 yards. Both Bryant and Austin were injured during training camp and had a light workload. As a result, Ogletree got extra time with Romo in practice, which you could tell paid off. DeMarco Murray, despite some shoddy blocking at times by the offensive line, had some good runs here and there, none of which was better than when he got bottled up on the line, then bounced outside and ran down the sideline for a 48-yard gain to the Giants 25-yard line. Once he got to the Giants 30 or so, he started running back into the middle of the field for some reason. It looked like if he had just kept going down the sideline, he would've scored. It was a weird ending to a great run. That drive resulted in a field goal, but luckily, it didn't matter that Murray didn't record a touchdown (unless you have him in a fantasy league, which I do).
One thing the Cowboys will have to cut down on is penalties. There were way too many -- 13 for 86 yards. Most of them seemed to result from a shuffled offensive line. Dallas made some moves in the offseason to shore that up as well and no one playing in Wednesday's game on the offensive line was in that same spot last year on the Cowboys. Center Phil Costa had back spasms early on and Dallas had to turn to Ryan Cook, who had been with the team six days, to fill the void. So hopefully the Cowboys can get penalized less once the offensive line comes together a little more.
Overall, a great opening performance by Dallas against a team which had dominated it in recent seasons. The fact that a Wahoo was maybe the player of the game makes it even better. Maybe this can serve as a springboard to the Cowboys' season. Certainly a better way to open the season than last year, which was also in New York, against the Jets. In that contest, the Cowboys led 24-10 in the fourth quarter but lost 31-24.
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COLLEGE PICKS
Miami at No. 21 Kansas State, Noon FX
Kansas State beat Missouri State 51-9 last week while Miami downed Boston College on the road in a shootout 41-32. Last season, the Wildcats defeated the Hurricanes 28-24 in Miami in a hard-fought game. The Hurricanes gave up 441 passing yards to the Eagles last week. Luckily, the Wildcats do most of their damage on the ground and Miami held BC down in that regard last week. Should be another close game like last season.
Kansas State 34, Miami 24
N.C. State at Connecticut, Noon Big East Network
Battle of the dogs with the Wolfpack vs. the Huskies. N.C. State will be desperate not to fall to 0-2 in a season of high expectations. They came out flat last week against Tennessee. Connecticut beat an FBS team 37-0, but it was Massachusetts, which is in its first season on that level, so it is difficult to know how good the Huskies are.
N.C. State 21, Connecticut 17
Austin Peay at Virginia Tech, 1:30 p.m. ESPN3.com
From Mark
Giannotto of the Washington Post: "Somebody told Virginia Tech linebacker
Bruce Taylor this week that Austin Peay is a school in Texas Taylor
Virginia Tech 59, Austin Peay 3
North Carolina at Wake Forest, 3 p.m. ESPN3.com
Early season ACC and in-state rivalry for these two teams. UNC looked really good in its first game under new coach Larry Fedora, pounding Elon 62-0. Wake Forest struggled mightily against Liberty but pulled out a 20-17 victory.
North Carolina 31, Wake Forest 17
No. 24 Florida at Texas A&M, 3:30 p.m. ESPN
The Aggies welcome the Gators to Kyle Field for A&M's first SEC game in program history. The 12th man is sure to be at full throat. The Aggies' first game of the season last week against Louisiana Tech was postponed because of Hurricane Isaac. Florida beat Bowling Green 27-14. A&M has a new coach, Kevin Sumlin, who comes from Hosuton. His offensive schemes scored a lot of points for the Cougars. And if Houston's Week 1 result -- a 30-13 loss to FCS foe Texas State -- is any clue, then Sumlin was worth a lot to the Cougars. I think the energy of the day brings the Aggies to a close victory.
Texas A&M 30, Florida 27
Washington at No. 3 LSU, 7 p.m. ESPN
Washington was a good team last season that scored lots of points but I can't see them going into the bayou and coming out with a win.
LSU 31, Washington 20
No. 7 Georgia at Missouri, 7:45 p.m. ESPN
And the other new SEC school also opens its conference slate Saturday with the Tigers hosting the Bulldogs. This feels like one of those inevitable early-season losses that Georgia always suffers, but at the same time, I picked Texas A&M, and if I pick Missouri, that means that both newcomers would beat teams from the old guard of the SEC. Which would be hard to believe. Georgia beat Buffalo last week 45-23 but the Bulls had some success -- the score was just 24-16 at the half and Buffalo rushed for 199 yards for the game. It is hard to get a reading on Missouri because it played an FCS team, Southeast Louisiana, and of course pummeled it, 62-10. I'll pick Mizzou and hopefully it wins and sends a bit of a shockwave throughout the SEC.
Missouri 31, Georgia 30
Penn State at Virginia, Noon ABC
Much of the nation will probably watch at least some of this game. People are wondering how UVa fans will treat the Nittany Lions after they experienced such a horrific offseason. On the field, Virginia is a 10-point favorite, and if you know anything about the Cavaliers, you know to stay away from betting on them to win this game. This seems like a game that the Cavaliers always end up losing -- home favorite after a good win the week before. And it was kind of hard to get a read on the Wahoos last week. They won with a good -- not great -- offensive performance but gave up 19 points to a Richmond squad which was 3-8 the year before. But perhaps the Spiders will round back into form this season under a new head coach and have a respectable winning season. That would give me more confidence in UVa's performance. The Nittany Lions are no easier to read. They lost to Ohio at home 24-14 after leading 14-3 at halftime. Ohio is from the weaker MAC, but still a solid team that won 10 games last season and could maybe do it again this season. How Virginia fans will react to Penn State is one issue. Another issue is how will Penn State players react to the road? Some people think it could be good for the players to get away from campus, where all the pressure and media has been since the child sex abuse scandal broke. Defensive end Jordan Hill said as much in an Associated Press article this week: "It will be cool to get off campus a little bit for the weekend." Penn State is of course working under new head coach Bill O'Brien, who was the offensive coordinator for the Patriots last season. He brings a pass-heavy attack to Scott Stadium, one which isn't familiar to people who have followed Penn State for many years under the late Joe Paterno. The Lions' best offensive weapon, running back Silas Redd, transferred to USC in the wake of the scandal. I don't expect Penn State will be able to run very well against Virginia. The Cavaliers were best on defense last week when Richmond tried to run the ball. I am a little worried about Penn State's pass attack. I think O'Brien will know to attack UVa's linebackers, who aren't great in coverage. Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin is certainly one of the leaders of the team but is no world beater under center. Hopefully the Cavaliers can convert on some sacks that they were close to getting last week but could not close the deal on. Penn State still has a strong defense, but it gave up 499 yards to the Bobcats last week.
Overall, this is just a scary game. It has that feel of a game the Wahoos will lose. It is a big game, too. After Penn State, Virginia has very tough road games at Georgia Tech and TCU, and then hosts Louisiana Tech, strong little program on the rise. It would give Virginia a real jumpstart to the season to start out 2-0. Just a year ago, this would have been marked down as an almost sure 'L' for UVa. But circumstances as they are, Virginia has been handed a very beatable Penn State team. Now the Cavs just have to take advantage of it. I don't think they will, but I hope I'm wrong.
Penn State 24, Virginia 21
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