Trav's Thoughts

Before we being I just want to say HUZZAH! I went to Fry's today and purchased a SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter.

For the tech-challenged like me, that simply means I have successfully removed the hard drive from my dead-screen laptop and connected it to my work laptop. Now I can access all my stuff from the old laptop. And I'll be able to keep accessing it when I get a new laptop.

And I did it all by myself.

YAY me!

Vicente Padilla pitched 7 outstanding shut out innings, allowing only 4 hits as my Dodgers won Game 3 5-0 to close out the Cardinals and advance to the NL Championship series.

YES!

St Louis did get a run off the bullpen, but Jonathan Broxton stayed in control to preserve the win and the sweep. Now we have to wait for the winner between Philadelphia and Colorado. That series is tied 1-1. Game 3 was postponed yesterday due to...get this...snow! On 10 Oct!

Defensively, UW gave up 461 yards of total offense to Arizona. Most of that yardage came off the short, ball control passing game the Wildcats run, with crossing routes and wide receiver screens. The Huskies had some success against Arizona's running game, but sophomore QB Nick Foles threw for 384 yards and a TD on 39 of 53.

Washington's offense was junior QB Jake Locker. He only threw for 140 yards on 12 of 23, but he did have 3 TD passes. He also ran for 92 yards on 11 carries, including a 56 yard TD scamper.

Now for reasons I don't understand, with less than 3 minutes to play and a 5 point lead, Arizona was still in a shotgun formation and running that ball control passing game. I don't know much about the Wildcats, but they inexplicably threw the football in a situation that calls for running the football. If you can't get a first down, you take at least a minute and a half off the clock and then punt. But Arizona passed, and Foles threw a bad ball that deflected off his receiver's foot. The ball was picked out of the air by Huskie LB Mason Foster, and run in for the winning score.

Wow. I get that your base offense is a spread formation. But you have got to be able to run time off the clock when you have a lead. Otherwise you run the risk of a costly turnover, or just not being able to manage end game situations to preserve wins.

The Huskies sure took advantage of Arizona's inability to control the end of the game. They capped the win with another pick of Foles. That's a shame for the kid, because he really did have an amazing game. He just made a couple of bad throws late.

Here are the results for the AP Top 25:

1 Florida (5-0,3-0) beat #4 LSU (5-1,3-1) 13-3.
2 Texas (5-0,2-0) beat Colorado 38-14. Colt McCoy threw for 265 yards and a TD on 32 of 39.
3 Alabama (6-0,3-0) beat #20 Mississippi (3-2,1-2) 22-3. Mark Ingram rushed for 172 yards and a TD on 28 carries.
4 LSU lost 13-3 to #1 Florida.
5 Virginia Tech (5-1,3-0) beat Boston College 48-14. Ryan Williams rushed for 159 yards and a TD on 18 carries.
6 Boise State was idle
7 USC was idle
8 Cincinnati was idle
9 Ohio State (5-1,3-0) beat Wisconsin 31-13. Kurt Coleman and Jermale Hines each ran interceptions back for TDs, and Ray Small ran a kick off back 96 yards for a TD.
10 TCU (5-0),1-0) beat Air Force 20-17.
11 Miami (4-1,2-1) beat Florida A&M 48-16. Damian Berry rushed for 162 yards and a TD on 14 carries.
12 Iowa (6-0,2-0) beat Michigan 30-28. Ricky Stanzi threw for 284 yards and 2 TDs on 20 of 38.
13 Oregon (5-1,3-0) beat UCLA 24-10. LaMichael James rushed for 152 yards on 20 carries. Morgan Flint ran a kick off back 100 yards for a TD.
14 Penn State (5-1,1-1) beat E Illinois 52-3. Daryll Clark threw for 234 yards and 3 TDs on 13 of 19.
15 Oklahoma State (4-1,1-0) beat Texas A&M 36-31. Zac Robinson threw for 279 yards and 2 TDs on 14 of 25. Keith Toston rushed for 130 yards on 26 carries.
16 Kansas (5-0,1-0) beat Iowa State 41-36. Todd Reesing threw for 442 yards and 4 TDs on 37 of 49. For Iowa State, Alexander Robinson rushed for 152 yards and 2 TDs on 27 carries.
17 Auburn (5-1,2-1) lost 44-23 to Arkansas. Ryan Mallett threw for 274 yards and 2 TDs on 24 of 37. Michael Smith rushed for 145 yards and a TD on 18 carries. For Auburn, Ben Tate rushed for 184 yards and 2 TDs on 22 carries.
18 BYU (5-1,2-0) beat UNLV 59-21. Max Hall threw for 320 yards and 2 TDs on 21 of 27. Harvey Unga rushed for 149 yards and 3 TDs on 20 carries.
19 Oklahoma (3-2,1-0) beat Baylor 33-7. Sam Bradford threw for 389 yards and a TD on 27 of 49.
20 Mississippi lost 22-3 to #3 Alabama.
21 Nebraska (4-1,1-0) beat #24 Missouri (4-1,0-1) 27-12. Zac Lee threw for 3 TDs and Miles Paul caught 6 passes for 102 yards and 2 TDs. For FSU, Christian Ponder threw for 359 yards and 5 TDs on 26 of 36.
22 Georgia Tech (5-1,3-1) beat Florida State 49-44. Josh Nesbitt rushed for 140 yards and 3 TDs on 27 carries and Jonathan Dwyer rushed for 102 yards and 2 TDs on 14 carries.
23 South Florida was idle
24 Missouri lost 27-12 to #21 Nebraska.
25 South Carolina (5-1,2-1) beat Kentucky 28-26. Stephen Garcia threw for 233 yards and 3 TDs on 16 of 23.

Remember, we're counting down the days to 5 November 2009 with Peace Quotes.

"It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it." Eleanor Roosevelt

Check the top of my side bar to your right for all the information you need to participate in this year's Blog Blast for Peace. Please consider joining us.

I believe that words have power, so this matters.