BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
What did we learn this past weekend about the doings in college football? We found out that light scheduling is a good preparation for tougher contests, that a star quarterback proved that he was human and the Heisman Trophy race became a little more interesting as some candidates compiled great numbers while others were brought down to earth.
1) My best friend and former Editor of the Deerfield Beach Observer Ric Green called me at 2:53 PM on Saturday when the No. 23 Michigan Wolverines were trailing 26-21 to Indiana University (IU) and said he hopes U-M fans are patient with this young and upcoming team. By the end of our 6:31 phone call, Wolverines freshman quarterback Tate Forcier scored a seven-yard touchdown run and U-M converted the two point attempt to take a 29-26 lead. With 2:29 left in the fourth quarter, Forcier hit Martavious Odoms for a 26-yard touchdown pass to win it for the Wolverines (4-0, 1-0). The 36-33 triumph enabled Michigan to extend its winning streak to 16 games over the Hoosiers and IU hasn’t won at Michigan Stadium since 1967.
2) It looks like my Alma-mater the University of South Florida Bulls know more about pre-conference scheduling than any of us. USF’s first three wins came against Wofford 40-7, Western Kentucky 35-13 and Charleston Southern 59-0. Against Charleston Southern, USF lost senior starting quarterback Matt Grothe to a season-ending injury and started Tallahassee native B.J Daniels to take on his hometown Seminoles. The redshirt freshman threw for 212 yards, two touchdowns and rushed for 126 yards to lead the Bulls to a 17-7 upset win over No. 18 FSU. Daniels chose to go to USF because he was permitted to play football and basketball. I’m sure Bulls Basketball Coach Stan Heath is glad to have him and FSU Coach Bobby Bowden is not happy he didn’t keep the local kid in town. Nonetheless, at the press conference, September 26, 2009 seemed like an April Fools Day joke for Bowden as he realized that the Bulls were better then he thought and his team underestimated the Tampa based sch ool due to scheduling weaker opponents. Even a 79-year old coach can learn and this lesson for Bulls Coach Jim Leavitt’s squad enabled USF to defeat a state’s big three school for the first time, referring to Florida, Florida State and Miami. Leavitt looks like a genius because he permitted a youngster an opportunity to become a two-sport star, a great recruiting strategy and used the first three games as his pre-season. USF is 10-1 all time against teams from the state of Florida and has won four straight against the ACC.
3) If the No. 25 Nebraska Cornhuskers don’t win the Big 12 championship, they could classify themselves as winners of the Sun Belt Conference. Nebraska has defeated Florida Atlantic University (FAU) 49-3, Arkansas State 38-9 and on Saturday crushed the University of Louisiana-Lafayette 55-0.
4) The No.2 Texas Longhorns accomplished two things in Saturday’s 64-7 pounding of the University of Texas-El Paso in Austin. They won style points in their bid to get to a BCS Championship game and senior quarterback Colt McCoy enhanced his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy. McCoy threw all three of his touchdown passes in the first half giving the Longhorns a 47-7 lead. He completed 28-35 and finished with 286 yards leading his team to an easy win.
5) How do you gain respect? If you’re the Houston Cougars, just defeat teams from the Big 12 Conference. On September 12, the Cougars, who play in Conference USA, defeated the No. 5 Oklahoma State Cowboys 45-35 on the road. Saturday, it was Texas Tech’s turn to taste defeat as the No. 17 Cougars (3-0) won a 29-28 decision. Thus far, Houston junior quarterback Case Keenum has eight touchdowns, 1,155 yards and has a passer rating of 158.52. Against Texas Tech, he threw for 453 yards and had two touchdowns including the game winning score, which was a four-yard run with 49 seconds left in the contest. In this game, Houston was playing as a ranked team for the first time in 18 years.
6)Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow proved he was human when he was knocked out of the team’s 41-7 victory in Lexington over the Kentucky Wildcats. Tebow, who took a hard hit in the Gators victory over Tennessee on Saturday Sept 19, sustained a concussion with his team leading 31-7 in the third quarter and driving deep in Kentucky territory when Wildcats defensive end Taylor Wyndham came unblocked off the right end and sacked him. As Tebow fell backward, his helmet struck teammate Marcus Gilbert’s leg, violently bending his neck forward. Tebow did lay motionless on the field at Commonwealth Stadium before he eventually went to the University Medical Center to stay over night for observation. Many people will wonder why Gators Coach Urban Meyer left him in the game with the contest no longer in doubt. To Meyer’s defense, Tebow is so competitive that it would have been tough to take him out of the ball game unless he was injured. But Tebow and the No.1 Gators will have a week off then travel to LSU for an October 10th game against the Tigers. I have a feeling Tebow will be back under center.
7) FAU is off to another slow start at 0-3 but the major reason for this is because of losses to Nebraska and South Carolina. Being a young football program, the Owls need all the money they can get to build the athletic department. The 49-3 loss to Nebraska paid $650,000 while South Carolina wrote a check for $800,000 for a 38-16 win. FAU plays the 100th game in school history on Saturday against the Wyoming Cowboys at 4 PM at Lockhart Stadium.
Just when it was time to put California tailback Jahvid Best into the Heisman Trophy discussion after scoring five touchdowns on the road on September 19, in a 35-21 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers, fives were in Best’s final numbers again. But this time the Golden Bears held Best to 55 yards as No.6 California took a 42-3 beating to the Oregon Ducks (3-1) in the Pacific Northwest. The week before, Oregon snapped No. 18 Utah’s 16-game winning streak by winning 31-24 at home. It’s been a good couple of weeks for the Ducks as they’re well on there way towards competing for a Pac 10 championship. This was Cal’s most lopsided loss under Coach Jeff Tedford–Oregon’s former offensive coordinator–and worst since 55-14 to USC in 2001.
9) If the Mountain West Conference is looking for a BCS Bowl bid, they’re going to need the TCU Horned Frogs to be their representative. With Utah losing at Oregon and BYU falling to Florida State, No.14 TCU needed a big win and got it by going into Clemson’s Death Valley for the first time since 1965 and defeating the Tigers 14-10. Junior Andy Dalton threw for two touchdowns to keep the Horned Frogs perfect at 3-0. TCU’s defense held Clemson to 117 total yards in the second half and stopped the Tigers twice on two fourth quarter drives inside the TCU 20-yard line. TCU won for the seventh time in its last 10 road games against BCS Conference opponents, including two this season against Clemson and Virginia.
10) I doubt the late Grambling State Coach Eddie Robinson would have scheduled this game but he could have used quarterback Doug Williams in the Tigers Saturday match up at Oklahoma State. Grambling State faced a Big 12 school for the first time and the Cowboys ripped them 56-6. Oklahoma State has not lost to a non-FBS opponent since losing to West Texas A&M in 1980. It was the most lopsided win for Oklahoma State since a 59-7 victory over SMU in 2004, the year before Mike Gundy took over as coach.
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BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
If there was ever a time for the Detroit Lions to snap their 19-game losing streak, this would be the week to do it.
On Dec 5, 1999, the Detroit Lions ended their 16-game regular season losing streak to the Washington Redskins with a 33-17 win at the Pontiac Silverdome in a game that I attended. On Sept 10, 2000, Detroit defeated the Redskins 15-10 at the Silverdome.
So the question is, why would I be crazy enough to think this would be the week that Detroit could win a game? Here are some reasons.
Last week, the Redskins defeated the lowly St. Louis Rams 9-7 in the nation’s capital and had to settle for three field goals to win it. In 2008, the Rams finished 2-14.
Lions rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford is due to have a break out game so there couldn’t be a better time to do it than this week against a team that is struggling to score points itself. The Redskins offense has only scored 26 points in two weeks.
Nines are wild in this equation, as 1999 was the year they snapped one drought, have currently lost 19 games in a row, and we’re 10 years later in 2009.
If the Lions don’t win this week, they’ll have to face a large task of facing the Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers the following three weeks with a bye on October 25 before returning to action at home against the lowly Rams on November 1.
Facing the Bears and Packers on the road and the defending Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh Steelers at home is a large challenge knowing that their getting closer to the Tampa Bay Bucs all-time record of 26-losses set in 1976-77.
For a rookie quarterback and coach to have a gorilla on their backs could be taxing for Stafford and Jim Schwartz.
To win against the Redskins would be huge because Washington leads this series 27-10.
But the Lions are 8-9 at home all-time against the Redskins, a franchise they lost to in their lone NFC Championship game on January 12, 1992, 41-10.
Other Detroit teams have fared well against Washington squads.
The 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings swept the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Finals 4-0 to win the championship.
The Detroit Pistons have fared well against the Washington Wizards over the years in route to three NBA Championships.
Finally, who can forget the transaction the Tigers made with the Washington Senators when they traded former Cy Young Award Pitcher Denny McLain during the 1970 World Series for Joe Coleman, Eddie Brinkman and Aurelio Rodriguez in one of the biggest steals in MLB history?
These three players led Detroit to the playoffs in 1972 under Tigers Manager Billy Martin.
Would a Lions win over the Redskins top these other Detroit teams accomplishments over their major sports counterparts? That would be subject for debate.
But to defeat the Redskins at the most infamous time in franchise history over free spending Redskins Owner Daniel Snyder would be a tremendous feat.
Here is a guy that at one point charged his fans admission to attend training camp practices. Yet the passionate Redskins fans paid to see them practice. If the Redskins lose this game at Ford Field, I can just imagine the embarrassment, ridicule and protests that would be in front of the Redskins headquarters, let alone the punchlines on all the late night talk shows by David Letterman, Jay Leno, etc… These protests might even make it as far as the White House and the Capital Building.
The NFL Network, ESPN, along with all the other entities covering the NFL plus the wave of blogs and websites will crucify the Redskins. It’s a burden that any team would have to live with, but a proud franchise that has won Super Bowls which has owned the Lions over the years, could be the victim to end this futile streak thus would never live it down.
What’s worse, finishing with a winless season or being the team makes NFL history for all of the wrong reasons to end the streak? Time will tell on Sunday September 27, 2009 in downtown Detroit. This game should be a sellout and I doubt it will get blacked out.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at
scottsports33@aol.com
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BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
There is one major thing that I learned about myself during week three of the college football season. I am not a professional prognosticator therefore I better stick to just informing the fans with facts and not opinions. I predicted the Florida Gators would demolish the Tennessee Volunteers by 50 plus points and the outcome was decided by just 10 by the team that makes Gainesville it’s home otherwise known as the defending national champions. So here are this week’s highlights.
1) In their week two win against Colorado, the Toledo Rockets defense gave up 38 points but they should have known that if they give up this many points again to intrastate rival No.11 Ohio State, the outcome could get ugly. It did as the Buckeyes whitewashed the Rockets 38-0 in front of 71,727 at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Buckeyes improved to 25-1 against current MAC schools. The Buckeyes have not lost an intrastate game from a school in Ohio since 1921 as they fell to Oberlin.
2) Since we’re on the Ohio theme, former Nebraska Cornhuskers Coach Frank Solich posted a 58-19 record in six seasons with the "Big Red" from 1998-2003. He has found a home with the Ohio Bobcats (2-1) and is 25-27 after Saturday’s 28-10 victory over Cal Poly. The Ohio Bobcats are located in Athens and play in 24,000 seat Peden Stadium. Solich’s Cornusker’s were accustomed to playing in front of crowds above 85,500 in Lincoln. During his four plus seasons he has guided the Bobcats to a bowl appearance. But one of his biggest accomplishments was on September 6, 2008 when he took his Bobcats into Ohio Stadium and lost a hard fought decision to the No.3 Buckeyes 26-14 in front of 105,002. The Bobcats travel to Knoxville and face the Volunteers (1-2) Saturday at Neyland Stadium which has a capacity of 100,011. Solich’s overall collegiate record is 83-46.
3) If you’re a Minnesota Golden Gophers fan and you bought season tickets to the new TCF Bank Stadium, one way to accept the first loss in this facility, which holds 50,805, is by witnessing an outstanding performance by a Heisman Trophy Candidate. Jahvid Best scored five touchdowns and rushed for 131 yards enabling the No.8 California Golden Bears to topple the Gophers 35-21.
4) After coming off a nice 17-15 victory over Kansas State at home in week two, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette came back to reality in the battle of I-10 as the No.9 LSU Tigers hammered the Ragin’ Cajuns 31-3 in front of 92,443 fans at Tiger Stadium. LSU improved to 22-0 in their series with UL-L and won versus a team from Louisiana for the 23rd straight time. The Tigers are 33-0 against the Sun Belt Conference. UL-L fell t0 1-22 against ranked opponents.
5) Speaking of the Sun Belt Conference, in NFL terms when the Raiders are mentioned playing a Maryland based team, we speak of the match ups between Oakland against the Baltimore Colts or Ravens. On Saturday, The Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (2-1) defeated the host Maryland Terrapins (1-2) 32-31 in College Park as Alan Gendreau kicked a 19-yard field goal as time expired. This was the second straight win for the Blue Raiders over Maryland as they pulled off a home 24-14 upset on September 6, 2008.
6) The Delaware State Hornets (0-2) will see Maize and Blue twice this season and at the rate things are going figure to lose both games. On Saturday, the Delaware Blue Hens (2-1), who wear the same colors as the Michigan Wolverines faced their intrastate rival for the first time ever in the regular season and came away with a 27-17 win over the Hornets in Newark. A crowd of 20,585 saw this contest. The Hornets face No.23 Michigan on Oct 17 and playing in the "Big House" if my math is correct, the crowd will by five times higher in a venue that holds over 100,000.
7) What is the only way to play in the Rose Bowl if your conference has no affiliation to get there? Schedule the UCLA Bruins and after this past weekend, the Kansas State Wildcats felt the same way many Big Ten teams feel when the conference loses to the Pac 10. The Wildcats were beaten by UCLA 23-9 and dropped to 1-2 while the Bruins improved to 3-0. UCLA was 4-8 last year under first-year Coach Rick Neuheisel. The only difference in this 100,000 seat stadium was the size of the crowd as 67,311 turned out as the Rose Bowl does sellout yearly.
Was the Washington Huskies 42-23 win over Idaho in week two a fluke? Don’t tell that to the USC Trojans, who dropped a 16-13 decision in Seattle. A crowd of 61,889 at Husky Stadium watched Washington avenge a 56-0 loss at USC last season, the worst loss in the 80-year history of this series. In the Idaho win, Washington snapped a 15-game losing streak. Washington entered this game with a 10-game Pac 10 Conference losing streak. Do you think Washington Coach Steve Sarkisian, USC’s former offensive coordinator, has the Huskies headed in the right direction? Ask his former boss Pete Carroll and the answer will be an obvious yes, whose team was a nearly three touchdown favorite heading into the contest.
9) How would you like to be ESPN Announcers Sean McDonough and Matt Millen. This tandem called back to back thrillers as they watched the Michigan Wolverines defeat Notre Dame 38-34 on September 12 in Ann Arbor. On September 19, they saw No.13 Virginia Tech (2-1) defeat the No.19 Nebraska Cornhuskers (2-1) 16-15 in Blacksburg, VA as Tyrod Taylor fired an 11-yard touchdown pass to Dyrell Roberts with 21 seconds left in the game. The Cornhuskers fell to 1-21 in their last 22 games against teams in the top 20. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech now has won 32 straight non conference home contests.
10) Perhaps Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Coach Howard Schnellenberger will have better luck with the rest of his schedule after the Owls (0-2) lost its first two road games to Nebraska 49-3 and to South Carolina 38-16. FAU’s latest loss came to Gamecocks Coach Steve Spurrier, who is 37-0 in his career against teams not currently in the Bowl Championship Series. FAU faces University of Lousiana Monroe-Warhawks (1-2) in the home opener this Saturday at Ft. Lauderdale’s Lockhart Stadium. UL-M was spanked 38-14 Saturday by the Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at
scottsports33@aol.com
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BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
As we get ready for this Saturday’s action? Here are some of the most interesting developments on the college gridiron during week two.
1) NFL teams that are utilizing the latest "Wildcat" innovation created by the Miami Dolphins in 2008, must be drooling that Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow has thrown a touchdown pass in 30 consecutive games, plus has 45 rushing touchdowns. He ranks tied for third on the SEC’s all-time rushing list behind Kevin Faulk (46) and Herschel Walker (49). The Gators blasted Troy 56-6 in Gainesville as Tebow accounted for five touchdowns enabling Florida to maintain its No. 1 ranking. Tebow will have plenty of games to shatter that record starting with Saturday’s contest in "The Swamp" against the Tennessee Volunteers.
2) Two weeks ago, it looked like Michigan supporters wanted to run Coach Rich Rodriguez out of Ann Arbor. I’ll bet they have a different attitude now as U-M upset No. 18 Notre Dame 38-34 at "The Big House." Tate Forcier didn’t look like a freshman as he threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Greg Mathews with 11 seconds left. Forcier went 23-33, 240 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Forcier had a 31-yard TD run and rushed for 70 yards. When it was all over, Michigan’s win overshadowed the fine performance by Notre Dame signal caller Jimmy Clausen, who went 25-42, 336 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. It’s been a long week for Fighting Irish Coach Charlie Weiss and I’m sure he’ll be glad to return to South Bend Saturday to face the Michigan State Spartans. A loss to MSU could greatly hamper Notre Dame’s attempt to reach a BCS bowl game.
3) Look for Central Michigan University (CMU) quarterback Dan LeFevour to play in the NFL someday. The CMU signal caller was 33-46, 328 yards and amassed three touchdowns to lead the Chippewas to a stunning 29-27 win over Michigan State at Spartan Stadium. LeFevour passed Marshall’s Byron Leftwich (12,084) for the most yards in MAC history with 12,166. LeFevour can add to his record Saturday against the Alcorn State Braves. The Braves (0-1) were destroyed in their opener 52-0 to Southern Mississippi on Sept 5th.
4) In the battle of basketball schools, the host Connecticut Huskies could have used former Detroit Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky, who passed for over 10,000 career yards. The No. 19 North Carolina Tar Heels (2-0) edged the Huskies (1-1) 12-10 Saturday in East Hartford, Conn.
5) The Iowa Hawkeyes, who survived a scare a week ago to Northern Iowa University 17-16, bounced back nicely by winning a road game in Ames by crushing intrastate rival the Iowa State Cyclones. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi threw a career high four touchdown passes. Iowa also forced six turnovers in the states biggest athletic event.
6) It seems like the Tennessee Volunteers got a false sense of security by routing Western Kentucky 63-7 in their opener. Tennessee Coach Lane Kiffin rarely lost to UCLA as an assistant coach at USC. But the Bruins humbled the young coach by defeating him 19-15 defeat in front of 102,239 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. Loss No. 2 for Kiffin is expected in Gainesville against the Florida Gators, who have won their first two games by margins of 59 and 50. I have a feeling that Florida Coach Urban Meyer would like to surpass 60 points after Kiffin accused the Gators of recruiting violations. This is going to get ugly for the Orange and White. My prediction, Florida will hammer Tennessee 75-21. Accuse the Gators of cheating and Tebow and company will punch you in the mouth. There is no reason to think that a 50-point spread shouldn’t hold-up in this contest.
7) It seems like yesterday that the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and my alma mater, the University of South Florida Bulls were rivals in the Sun Belt Conference in basketball. Western Kentucky used to dominate my Bulls. Western Kentucky is in its first full season in Division I and USF defeated the Hilltoppers 35-13 in Bowling Green, KY.
The last time I saw Florida International University (FIU) wide receiver Ty Hilton was last season in the Golden Panthers 57-50 loss to Florida Atlantic University. A crowd of 92,012 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, saw Hilton have a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. FIU kept this contest close trailing 20-14 at halftime to No. 4 Alabama before the Crimson Tide pulled away for a 40-14 win. It’s hard to believe the the 5-10, 175 pounder is just a sophomore and the upside on this youngster barring injuries in unlimited. NFL scouts know it!
9). The Big 12 has been feasting on Sun Belt Conference teams through the first two weeks. But the Sun Belt Conference finally broke through as the host University of Louisiana-Lafayette (UL-L) Ragin’ Cajuns edged Kansas State 17-15. UL-L didn’t need alumnus Jake Delhomme (Carolina Panthers) to pull off the upset. Instead, the needed a Tyler Albrecht 48-yard field goal with 32 seconds left that enabled UL-L to win it’s first game over a BCS Conference member since 1996. This loss was no way for Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder to celebrate a contract extension through 2013.
10) In the game of the week, the Ohio State Buckeyes came through again losing another big contest by dropping an 18-15 decision to USC in the final moments. The shocked Columbus crowd of 106,033 saw the Buckeyes drop their sixth consecutive game to a top five opponent and watched USC post its 10th straight win against the Big 10. The Trojans have beaten Ohio State seven straight times.
Ohio State fans will have a reason to be nervous in week three as the Buckeyes play their first game in Cleveland since 1991 against the Toledo Rockets in Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Rockets (1-1) defeated Colorado 54-38 in week two on Friday Sept 11th and last season edged the Michigan Wolverines 13-10 in "The Big House." The Rockets are 5-6 in their last 11 games against the Big Ten which will give Buckeyes Coach Jim Tressel plenty of motivation material for his 11th ranked squad. Toledo is some 20 miles closer to Cleveland than Columbus and the Rockets are considered the home team. Ohio State is 25-1 all-time against the MAC and hasn’t lost to an intrastate rival in 88 years.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com
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By George B. Eichorn, Detroit Monitor Columnist
No where to go but up. Following a winless season in 2008 and an opening week loss on the road last Sunday, the Detroit Lions are set to open the home portion of the 2009 season at Ford Field. The Minnesota Vikings, led by old nemesis Brett Favre, provide the opposition at 1 p.m. Sunday, September 20, at 1 p.m. It was unknown at presstime if the game will sell out and be shown on live television on Fox and Channel 2. The radio account is on WXYT-FM 97.1.
The Lions sport a new logo and uniforms, a new head coach in Jim Schwartz with his coaching staff and a rookie starting quarterback in Matthew Stafford, the number overall pick in last April’s NFL Draft. Stafford won the starting quarterback job over veteran Daunte Culpepper during the Lions 3-1 exhibition season. It was a bit different in the opener, however, as Stafford guided the Lions to 25 points yet committed mistakes along the way, losing 45-27.
The kid quarterback from Texas hails from the same high school (Highland Park in Dallas) as the last quarterback to lead the Lions to an NFL Championship, that being Bobby Layne in 1957. The Lions hope that is good karma. Besides, no Lions signal-caller has made a Pro Bowl since Greg Landry in 1972.
Stafford was 16-of-37 against the Saints last week for 205 yards and three interceptions. He had no touchdown passes yet ran one TD in. He gives the Lions their best hope yet to someday bring this franchise back into playoff contention. They must restore some fan credibility following the 0-16 disaster of last season and eight consecutive losing seasons.
The Lions offense under coordinator Scott Linehan looks like it will be able to score a lot of points in 2009. Stafford has second-year running back Kevin Smith in the backfield with him. Smith, despite a weak effort in the opener, is expecte dto improve upon his club rookie of the year statistics of one season ago when he led the team with 976 rushing yards on 238 attempts for a 4.2 average, and 8 touchdowns.
Stafford has aerial targets in Smith along with wide receivers Calvin Johnson (thiord year) and Bryant Johnson (seventh season). Rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew will also see the ball on occasion. Of course, one of the team’s best offensive weapons is kicker Jason Hasnon, a captain, starting his 18th season in the Honolulu Blue and Silver.
The offensive line is anchored by veteran center Dominic Raiola (a captain) and guard Jeff Backus. Stephen Peterman, Daniel Loper, Gosder Cherilus and Manny Ramirez are there too.
On defense, Lions coordinator Gunther Cunningham’s group looks less promising. You have to hand to Schwartz and general manager Martin Mayhew for acquiring two capable veteran players in linebackers Larry Foote (team co-captain) from Pittsburgh and Julian Peterson from Seattle. They lend a veteran presence to a young defense.
The defensive line does not appear ready to dominate yet they must if the Lions have any intention of escaping the NFL North cellar this season.
Veteran tackle Grady Jackson (13th year) is a key building block. Landan Cohen, Dewayne White, Cliff Avril and rookie Sammie Hill need to step up.
Linebacker Ernie Sims is the team’s leading tackler and he’s joined in that unit by Foote and Peterson which should help considerably.
Safety Louis Delmas of Eastern Michigan University looks to help the inconsistent secondary. He scored a touchdown against the Saints on a fumble recovery yet committed a costly penalty on another occasion. That’s what rookies will do yet given time Delmas could prove to be the real deal.
Joining Delmas in the Lions secondary are Phillip Buchanon, Anthony Henry, Marquand Manuel and Kalvin Pearson, among others. Cunningham will see which four guys work the hardest and play the best.
Punting is in the capable hands (and foot) of Nick Harris while Aaron Brown stunned the Saints last week with his kick returns and that’s a plus for Detroit. Buchanon and Dennis Northcutt are punt returners.
Schwartz was defensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans so you know he wants badly for the "D" to succeed but the same went for fired Lions coach Rod Marinelli, who now coaches on defense for the Chicago Bears.
On a more serious note, the Lions are dedicating this 2009 season to two deceased family members: defensive end Corey Smith and director of security Ricky Sandoval. Smith (a free agent at the time) was lost at sea off Tampa Bay on March 1 and Sandoval waged a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer and passed away July 2.
So it’s another new look, and yet another rebuilding process for Lions fans. The team must produce on the field and end this 18-game NFL losing streak quickly. Once the "W’s" start, the crowds will again pack Ford Field because Detroit is such a great pro football town.
Scott Morganroth contributed to this article.
George Eichorn’s NFL predicted order of finish: NFL North-Minnesota, NFC East-Dallas, NFL South-New Orleans, NFC West-Arizona, AFC North-Pittsburgh, AFC East-New England, AFC South-Indianapolis, AFC West-Denver. Super Bowl: Indianapolis over New Orleans.
Buy George Eichorn’s book, "Detroit Sports Broadcasters On the Air" featuring Ernie Harwell, at www.amazon.com.
Eichorn can be reached at geichorn@yahoo.com.
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