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Ohio State Football: How Life Has Changed for J.T. Barrett
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A year ago, J.T. Barrett could walk around his new city anonymously, unidentifiable aside from the No. 16 tags on his Ohio State apparel.
A freshman fourth-string quarterback, nobody would have called home to say that they saw Barrett on campus.
But in football-crazed Columbus, all it takes is one moment to go from unknown to overnight celebrity. Which is why when Braxton Miller went down with a season-ending injury on Aug. 18, it didn't take long for the Buckeyes' new starting quarterback to realize that his life was going to be different.
"First day of class, teacher calls your name to see if you're here, and everybody turns their heads and looks back like, 'J.T.'s in class?'" Barrett recalled. "Life has definitely changed."
If Barrett's celebrity was already taking shape back then—three days before the first start of his college career—one can only imagine where it stands now. Through the first five games of the 2014 season, the redshirt freshman signal-caller is on pace to break Miller's single-season school total yardage record and has managed to help keep 4-1 Ohio State in the hunt for a spot in the first ever College Football Playoff.
Heisman Trophy talk may be premature, but by season's end, the numbers could be there, as well as a potential signature win in East Lansing, Michigan, on Nov. 8. But as the buzz around Barrett builds, so does his notoriety on campus, leading to more random interactions than he experienced a year ago.
"Walking to class and people are like, 'Hey, J.T., 'sup?'" Barrett said. "And I'll be like, 'What's up, man?' It's different."
It's also been different inside the walls of Ohio Stadium and the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, where the Wichita Falls, Texas, native is beginning to assert himself as more than just a standard second-year player. Asked if there was ever a moment where he saw a wide-eyed look on his starting quarterback's face, Urban Meyer didn't hesitate.
"Oh my gosh, yeah," the Buckeyes head coach responded.
That was just prior to Barrett's college debut, a 12-of-15, 226-yard, two-touchdown, one-interception outing in Ohio State's 34-17 win over Navy in Baltimore on Aug. 30, which came on two weeks notice following Miller's injury. And while he followed that with a shaky (9-for-29 passing, 219 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions) showing in the Buckeyes' loss to Virginia Tech, his improvement has been noticeable, as has his command of the Ohio State offense.
That rang especially true three weeks after the Buckeyes' defeat at the hands of the Hokies, when Ohio State hosted Cincinnati. After building momentum with a 66-0 thrashing of Kent State after the loss to Virginia Tech, Meyer placed an emphasis on maintaining that momentum following a bye week—a message that Barrett wouldn't let his teammates forget before taking the field against the Bearcats.
"We were trying to make a big focus on coming out fast," senior wide receiver Evan Spencer recalled. "He stopped the whole offense and grabbed everybody and looked everybody in the eye like, 'Look, we gotta do this. We're going to do it and we're going to get the win.'"
"You could just tell he wanted everybody's attention," added senior running back Rod Smith. "And that's what he got."
Respect might be earned with actions more than it is words, but Barrett's done a bit of both through his first five games. With at least seven games left in his freshman season, Barrett has already thrown for 1,354 yards and 17 touchdowns, rushed for 276 yards and two touchdowns, and maintained a passer rating of 186.3—good for third-best in the country.
Thrice Barrett has been named the Big Ten's Freshman of the Week and once he's been honored with the conference's weekly top offensive player award. Following his 338-yard, five-touchdown outing against Maryland on Oct. 4, the Lone Star State native was named the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award National Player of the Week, presented weekly to the top player who hails from Texas.
Not too shabby for a player who is just two months removed from having his name mispronounced by his head coach and his name mislabeled on Ohio State's website. Nowadays, you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody around town unfamiliar with Barrett, who's admittedly still getting used to life in the limelight.
"I'm just a normal person playing quarterback at Ohio State," Barrett said. "I'm not anybody special, I don't try to be a celebrity. I'm a normal guy."
In most cities, he'd be right.
But not in Columbus.
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
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College Football Teams Who Can't Wait for the Season to End
Are we done yet?
You're not going to hear that question from most college football fans, not with how exciting and crazy the 2014 season has been to this point. One of the wildest and most unpredictable years in recent memory is only about half-over, with plenty of surprises surely left to come.
That's how most of us feel, unless you're a fan of—or a part of—some of the teams whose 2014 campaigns haven't gone so well. For those teams, well, it's more a matter of staring at the calendar and wishing things would hurry up and be done.
At this point and time, every team that began the season eligible for postseason play remains as such, as none of them are guaranteed to have a losing record.
It's a foregone conclusion for many, however, while others can see the writing on the wall and probably can't wait for 2014 to end.
The Last Time Every College Football Team Was Ranked No. 1
It might seem like every team gets its chance atop the college football charts, but that's not the case. According to a chart making the rounds across Reddit and the blogosphere, only 44 teams have ever been ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, and it has been decades since many well-regarded programs took the top spot.
And now by year pic.twitter.com/STbv7IVHDa
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 15, 2014Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com
Why Star Louisiana Brothers Are Favoring Magnolia State School
Recent results have swiftly transformed Mississippi into the epicenter of an unpredictable college football season. Admirers and enemies alike have witnessed the rapid ascension of two in-state SEC programs, but few have enjoyed front-row seats to this spectacle like Louisiana brothers Rodarius and Andraez Williams.
The Shreveport defensive back duo spends Friday nights shutting down opposing passing attacks for Calvary Baptist Academy, then stay busy on weekends by hitting the recruiting trail, highlighted by back-to-back Saturday afternoons at Mississippi State. They first journeyed to Davis Wade Stadium on Oct. 4 for a "prove it" game against Texas A&M.
The Bulldogs, then ranked 12th nationally and fresh off an upset road win at LSU, throttled the Aggies in front of a raucous crowd. Rodarius and Andraez, along with much of America, moved on from the matchup with an altered image of Dan Mullen's program.
"You can't help but be impressed," Rodarius said. "It's a great atmosphere. It's the place to be right now. I love everything about Mississippi State so far from what we've seen."
The heralded high school juniors enjoyed the new experience, but what occurred next sent the strongest message from Starkville. The Williams brothers returned to school Monday with a Mississippi State scholarship offer awaiting each of them.
"The coaches told us they were going to offer, and they didn't waste any time," Rodarius said. "It means a lot to us. No matter what offers I get in the future, they'll always be near the top of my list. I really appreciate that they've been straight and honest with us about everything."
It represented the first big-time FBS offer for Rodarius, a 2016 prospect who has largely remained under the radar relative to his sibling. Andraez has already assembled an impressive list of collegiate opportunities, with Texas A&M and LSU among those in the mix.
He didn't hesitate when asked to assess the current climate in SEC country.
"I think Mississippi, the whole state, owns football in the South right now," Andraez said.
The brothers returned to Starkville last Saturday to watch the Bulldogs upend reigning SEC champion Auburn, giving the team three straight victories over top-10 opponents.
"It was like, wow, they did it again," Rodarius said.
Mississippi State rose to No. 1 in national rankings, leapfrogging defending national champ Florida State. Expectations are suddenly sky-high for a program long held down by more esteemed conference contemporaries.
"I think Mississippi State will go all the way to the national championship game," Andraez said. "They've got the quarterback and the defense to do it."
The quarterback, Dak Prescott, is a Heisman Trophy contender and Louisiana native. His national popularity, along with national respect for the program, is soaring.
"Everyone is talking about Mississippi State," Rodarius said. "I think they've surprised a lot of people. I'm sure they believed in themselves when the season started, but they're the underdog. It's crazy to see them at No. 1."
The Williams' respect for the program has undoubtedly been enhanced by a recent string of eye-opening wins, but their interest extends beyond the win column.
Both prospects are intrigued by the opportunity to team up with cornerbacks coach Deshea Townsend, who starred at Alabama and went on to win two Super Bowl titles with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"Coach Townsend was in [the] NFL for a very long time, and he obviously knows what he's doing," Rodarius said. "When we got to Mississippi State for the first time, he told us to watch how disciplined their defensive backs are. I kept my eyes on them all game. He wasn't kidding. They're trained very well."
Andraez echoed those sentiments.
"I think Coach Townsend is the best defensive coach around," he said. "It would be an honor to play for him because he always has his players ready to compete."
Whether or not the brothers compete together in college remains a mystery. While it's clearly a goal for both athletes, there's someone else who would cherish the bond even more.
"My mama would love that," Andraez said.
"Yeah, it would be sweet to play together, but a lot of it will depend on a team's situation at cornerback," he continued. "If there's an opportunity for both of us to come in and play, that's great. But if we have to fight for just one spot I'm not sure."
Rodarius and Andraez, nicknamed "Lee Lee" and "Greedy" respectively, have been spectacular for Calvary Baptist, a state title contender. They've combined for 39 tackles and five interceptions—four plucked by Rodarius—through six games.
"We talk about staying together in college all the time," Rodarius said. "We've had a lot of success in high school, and it would be cool to keep that going."
Much of that success has been forged through fierce daily competition against teammate Shea Patterson. The 5-star quarterback recruit is a blue-chip member of the 2016 class, tossing 51 touchdowns and just one interception in his past 17 games, per MaxPreps.
"He's definitely challenged us to become better defenders because it's really hard to deal with his passes," Andraez said. "He can burn you because he puts the ball in a perfect spot. That's forced us to play more physical in man coverage and learn how to jam up receivers at the line."
The results have been outstanding, putting both brothers in position to participate at the highest level of amateur football.
So what's their commonality?
"We're both shutdown guys who can control our side of the field," Andraez said. "I'm faster than he is, but I think he's got better ball skills right now. We're both working to get better, just trying to see where it takes us."
Andraez anticipates a return to Mississippi for the third straight Saturday—this time flying solo—to watch Ole Miss take on Tennessee. The Rebels, ranked third nationally, extended an offer last week.
"I've never seen Ole Miss play, so this weekend is going to be a good opportunity for me to see what that program is all about," he said.
A debate is raging about which Mississippi team is superior at this point of the season. If both programs manage to make it through their matchups unbeaten, the winner would be a strong favorite to claim the No. 1 seed in inaugural College Football Playoffs.
Naturally, the Williams brothers will be front and center when the rivals collide Nov. 29 for what certainly could become the most meaningful football game ever played in Mississippi.
"I'm not sure if Ole Miss can beat Mississippi State because I think the Bulldogs have an edge, but it will be an amazing matchup to see," Andreaz said. "We'll definitely be at that one."
All quotes obtained firsthand by B/R national recruiting analyst Tyler Donohue.
Recruit ratings courtesy of 247Sports.
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Notre Dame Football: Everett Golson Must Be at His Best Against Florida State
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Jameis Winston is the quarterback with the Heisman Trophy to his name, but Everett Golson will have to be at his best for Notre Dame football to topple Florida State on Saturday in a Top Five showdown.
The Seminoles are averaging 39 points per game this season after putting up 52 per game in 2013. It will be hard enough for the Irish defense to slow down Florida State, which is a challenge that becomes even unlikelier if Golson is at anything less than his best.
Against North Carolina on Saturday, Golson gift-wrapped the Tar Heels an early 14 points thanks to two costly turnovers deep in Notre Dame's end of the field. Two quarters later, he coughed up another fumble—his ninth turnover in a three-game stretch.
Talk about Golson's ball security has come to the forefront of late.
"It's a consequence of me turning the ball over, really," Golson said Wednesday. "If I stop turning the ball over, I don't think y'all are still talking about it. Definitely gotta do a better job with that."
On Sunday, following the North Carolina game, Irish head coach Brian Kelly said they've gone through each of Golson's recent turnovers and looked for ways to eradicate them.
For the past few weeks, Golson has worked after practices on ball security with the running backs. In practice this week, Irish quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur has had Golson experiment with a sensor-laden football that reveals how hard the ball-carrier is squeezing the ball.
However it happens, Golson knows he needs to cut out his turnovers.
"It's a point where you get to be just fed up with it," Golson said. "I think that's where I am. I'm definitely not going to turn the ball over."
He really can't against the Seminoles. All three of Golson's miscues on Saturday gave North Carolina a short field and led to three touchdowns. Take away those blemishes, and the Irish are probably looking at a more comfortable victory.
Not much will be comfortable for Notre Dame about Saturday's prime-time tilt in Tallahassee, Florida. The Irish will enter their first true road atmosphere—and a wild one at that.
How will a young, talented team respond in that environment against an elite opponent?
"This group does not strike me as one where they're going to go down to Florida State and be affected by the crowd," Kelly said Tuesday. "Our problems have been self-inflicted. So I'm more concerned about our self-inflicted wounds than I am what may happen because of the environment."
The most notable of the self-induced wounds belong to Golson. But to his credit, he's also made enough plays to overcome the mishaps in each of the last three games.
Against Syracuse, Golson completed 25 consecutive passes and directed a short passing game with precision. Against Stanford, Golson somehow found a way to bring the Irish back and win on 4th-and-11 with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. Against North Carolina, the quarterback threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns while adding 71 rushing yards.
According to Odds Shark, the Seminoles are favored by 12 points—and rightfully so—but Golson does have the ability to lead the Irish to an upset victory.
He'll just need to be crisp and efficient—nearly perfect—to keep pace with Winston and the Seminoles.
All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Mike Monaco is a lead Notre Dame writer for Bleacher Report. Follow @MikeMonaco_ on Twitter.
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Michigan Football: Will Wolverines Make a Bowl Game This Year?
The Michigan Wolverines gave their fans a glimmer of hope when they defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions 18-13 under the lights at Michigan Stadium.
At 3-4 (1-2 Big Ten), Brady Hoke's goal of winning the conference title is about as likely as Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio and former Wolverine Mike Hart becoming best friends. Hoke must now set his sights on a lesser but more critical personal goal: saving his job.
Hoke's best shot at returning for another season depends on his team becoming bowl-eligible by winning three of its five remaining games.
Only one national pundit currently predicts that the team will do so. Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com has Michigan heading to Dallas to play in the Heart of Dallas Bowl (Big Ten vs. C-USA) versus Louisiana Tech.
In Hoke's first season, Michigan made a BCS bowl, but the team is now scrambling to make a third-tier bowl. If Michigan fans were upset with last year's Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, wait until they get a load of this year's options.
The Wolverines will need to sweep their home games (Indiana and Maryland) and win at least one of their three remaining road contests (Michigan State, Northwestern and Ohio State) to go bowling.
The game versus Indiana (3-3) became more winnable with news that injuries had elevated Indiana's third-string quarterback to the starting role:
In most seasons, Michigan could count on beating Maryland (4-1), but after losing to Rutgers and Utah, it can't take any team for granted.
Hoke's record away from Michigan Stadium is dismal (7-13), and it's not much better versus key rivals Michigan State and Ohio State (2-4). Add that Hoke has never beaten the Buckeyes or the Spartans on the road, and the team's margin of error is razor-thin.
Michigan barely beat Northwestern (3-3) last season and plays the Wildcats for the second consecutive season on the road.
There is another path for Hoke to guarantee his return. If Michigan could win out—finishing 8-4, including wins over rivals Michigan State and Ohio State—the team's early-season collapse could be forgiven.
But Ty Duffy of The Big Lead shares the view of many who think Hoke is toast:
Brady Hoke [Michigan] Michigan won ugly against Penn State Saturday Night. The players are still fighting. It may not matter. The Rutgers loss all but sealed Hoke's fate. Instead of 4-3, the Wolverines are 3-4. They must beat both Michigan State and Ohio State on the road, as well as everyone else, to get to eight wins. A reprieve could come at 7-5 with a narrow loss at MSU and a win over Ohio State. But that would be pushing it.
If Michigan fails to make a bowl game, Hoke's seat will be so hot it's unlikely he'll survive. There's a small possibility Michigan could catch fire, but after seven games, it's more likely Michigan will spend bowl season at home waiting for a new coach to be named.
Phil Callihan is a featured writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations obtained firsthand
Follow @PSCallihan.
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Watch South Carolina's 4-Star 2016 RB Target Predict Rest of Gamecocks' Season
CJ Freeman—a 4-star running back from North Carolina, according to the 247Sports composite rankings—has some strong thoughts about how the South Carolina Gamecocks will fare this year.
Watch him predict the rest of the Gamecocks' season.
Do you agree with his predictions?
Watch the video and let us know!
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Why Missouri Is the Biggest Game of Will Muschamp's Florida Career
Florida State, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama.
These are all of the games on Florida's schedule that, back in August, were widely assumed held the keys to the Gators' 2014 season and, in turn, head coach Will Muschamp's career.
Instead, it's Missouri that is driving the bus.
The Gators will host the Tigers on Saturday in what—by far—is the biggest game of Muschamp's head coaching career.
With two losses already in the books and the Seminoles, Bulldogs and Gamecocks already on the schedule, there's absolutely no margin for error for Muschamp anymore. His crew will likely be underdogs in at least two of those games and, depending on how the quarterback situation shakes out with redshirt junior Jeff Driskel and true freshman Treon Harris, probably more.
If Muschamp is going to stay employed beyond 2014, he has to not only beat the Tigers, but manage his quarterbacks properly.
"We're going to see who has the hot hand," Muschamp said on Wednesday. "And see who's helping move our football team and gives us the best opportunity to win. We'll make that decision as we go through the game. Both guys deserve, and have earned the opportunity, to play."
Whoever steps up at quarterback will have a revitalized defense helping him out.
The Gators are giving up just 269 yards per game over the last two games—a win over Tennessee and a loss to LSU. That's a stark change from September, when the Gators gave up 450 yards in a triple-overtime win over Kentucky and 672 in a blowout loss at Alabama.
It's a recipe for some success, as 247Sports.com's Thomas Goldkamp notes:
How much depends on the quarterback being smart with the football, which has been more myth than reality in Gainesville this season?
That better change this week, because if they fall to a Missouri team that's struggling offensively under quarterback Maty Mauk, the outlook for the rest of the season will look incredibly bleak.
An 8-3 record likely will keep Muschamp employed, but 7-4 might get him fired—depending on which four teams those losses come against. A blowout to Alabama and a home loss to a mediocre LSU team hasn't helped matters, and another to a sputtering Missouri team would all but seal Muschamp's fate.
To borrow a line from Jonathon Moxon on Varsity Blues, it's "the next 60 minutes, for the next year of his life."
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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The Most Unstoppable Play in College Football
The college football world has been taken hostage by one play. The screen and go is becoming not only one of the most utilized plays but possibly its most dangerous.
Michael Felder breaks down just what makes this play so dynamic.
Is this the best play in college football?
Watch the video and let us know!
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Georgia Football: What the Bulldogs Must Do to Slow the Arkansas Ground Attack
The Georgia Bulldogs offense has been excellent at running the ball, averaging 275 yards per game, which is second in the SEC. The one team that is doing better when running the ball than the Bulldogs is the team they will play on Saturday.
The Arkansas Razorbacks are averaging 278 yards per game. Like the Bulldogs, they have three quality backs that can produce at any given time. Alex Collins, Jonathan Williams and Korliss Marshall make up the three-headed monster for the Razorbacks and all three average at least 4.8 yards per carry.
How do the Bulldogs slow down or even stop the Arkansas ground attack?
One thing to note about the Bulldogs defense is they are the No. 2 rushing defense in the SEC, averaging 101 yards per contest. They only allowed one 100-yard rusher this year, and that was Jalen Hurd of Tennessee.
However, Arkansas is a team that relies heavily on the run, which is why this will be a difficult challenge for the Bulldogs. The front seven needs to generate pressure, which this team has been solid at this season.
It's not just sacks, but tackles for loss also play a factor in generating pressure. The Bulldogs' two outside linebackers, Leonard Floyd and Jordan Jenkins, are good at making plays in the backfield. Both players have a combined six tackles for loss. Those two will be X-factors in making plays off the edge because Collins and Marshall are guys that can make plays outside the tackles.
As for Williams, he's a power runner that is hard to bring down. He will be used when the Razorbacks want to run between the tackles.
This is where Amarlo Herrera and Ramik Wilson come in.
The top tacklers on the team, Herrera has 47 and Wilson has 41. Both rarely miss tackles and both are leaders on defense. They will need to do the same thing they have been doing all season, and that's flying to the football and making sure their teammates knows their assignments at all times.
If Wilson and Herrera struggle in terms of making the right calls and making tackles, the Razorbacks will have no issues running the ball against the Bulldogs.
The defensive linemen also need to do their part and beat an offensive line that only has one senior.
The rotation includes Ray Drew, Mike Thornton, Toby Johnson, Sterling Bailey and Josh Dawson. The two players to watch are Johnson and Dawson, as both have combined for 2.5 sacks and seven tackles for loss.
The defensive line rotation will need to make sure they eat up space for the linebackers, stopping Collins, Marshall and Williams from getting to the second level.
Again, this will be the most difficult rushing offense the Bulldogs have faced this season.
Despite being fundamentally sound in run defense, the Razorbacks know what they are on offense and will pound the ball all game long. It's vital for the Bulldogs to not let the Razorbacks run wild because they can't afford to let them get going, especially in the early stages of the game
The Bulldogs made a statement when they shut out Missouri last week. They need to make another statement when they travel to Little Rock on Saturday.
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Georgia vs. Arkansas: TV Info, Spread, Injury Updates, Game Time and More
Traditional, impose-the-will ground games take center stage in Saturday's colossal SEC showdown between the No. 10 Georgia Bulldogs and Arkansas Razorbacks.
Try not to dwell on the fact Arkansas is unranked—or the past. This is a new Razorbacks program forged in the fire that is Bret Bielema's recruiting trails and philosophies, which resulted in near upsets of two Top 10 SEC teams in each of the past two weeks.
Georgia is no slouch and easily the best team in the SEC East, but Mark Richt may once again need to lean on backups at running back to get the job done in the manner he prefers. Recent wins have been of the dominant variety, but the credibility of the opposition is certainly worth questioning.
Expect a grisly affair and a welcome break from the spread-it-out passing attacks when these two meet.
Brute Force Measures
Georgia lost Heisman front-runner Todd Gurley to suspension before last week's critical SEC East encounter with Missouri.
As ESPN.com's Edward Aschoff reports, Richt is not sure if he will have Gurley back for Saturday, and the same applies to other talented backs Keith Marshall and Sony Michel.
"I just don't have any answer for that," Richt said, per Aschoff. "I don't know. If there's something worthy of reporting, we'll report it. Other than that, we're focusing on things that we can control."
It sounds crazy, but it is still difficult to panic, at least at face value.
The Bulldogs have by far the deepest backfield in the nation. Against the Tigers, Richt and his staff turned to freshman Nick Chubb, who bruised his way to 143 yards and a score on 38 totes to keep his team ranked 12th in the nation at an average of 275.7 rushing yards per game.
Wildly enough, it still pales in comparison to what the Razorbacks are able to do, as Bielema's team is the only roster in the nation that touts two backs with more than 500 rushing yards apiece:
The team totals against top-tier competition are staggering. Against Auburn, the Razorbacks ran wild for 153 yards and a score on a 5.3 average. The totals were 285 and three on 6.1 against Texas A&M. A total of 89 yards and a score on a 2.3 average against Alabama is hard to complain about, too, given the numbers are diluted thanks to scrambles from quarterback Brandon Allen.
It is worth noting, as Radi Nabulsi of UGASports.com does, that the Bulldogs do well against the run:
This is a different kind of test for Georgia, though, and if the defense does not come prepared for war, Richt's team might get steamrolled.
Don't Forget the Defense
What gets lost in the hype of Arkansas' stout rushing attack is a defense that does not surrender a ton of points against the heavyweights, or at least is able to keep the game relatively close as of late.
The exception is the 45 points allowed in Auburn to start the season. Since then, the Razorbacks defense has been a problem for each team that has stepped on the field with it.
In a 35-28 overtime loss to then-ranked No. 6 Texas A&M, the Razorbacks held the potent Aggies offense to a 4-of-13 mark on third downs and forced Kenny Hill to go 21-of-41, although it did total 386 yards and four touchdowns to one interception.
A week later then-ranked No. 7 Alabama came to town. The Arkansas defense once again stood strong and forced a 4-of-15 mark on third downs, held quarterback Blake Sims to just 161 yards and two scores and stuffed the Crimson Tide rushing attack for just 66 yards on a 2.1 average.
Derek Ruscin of ESPN 96.3 put it best:
Clearly, Arkansas is wildly under the radar as a team that is well-rounded. This is a major concern for a Bulldogs team using backups at a major area of strength, so another outburst from Chubb is not a guarantee.
When: Saturday, Oct. 18, 4 p.m. ET
Where: War Memorial Stadium (AR), Little Rock, Arkansas
Television: SEC Network
Betting Lines (via Odds Shark):
- Over/Under: 58.5
- Spread: Georgia (-4)
Team Injury Reports
Injury reports per Sports Network, via USA Today.
This has trap game written all over it.
Arkansas is a very good team that can play with any in the nation thanks to a ball-control offense and a sound defense that recently has stepped it up a notch.
The problem for Georgia is that if Chubb gets stuffed, the offense needs to turn to Hutson Mason for offensive production. Mason is no Hill or even Sims at this point, having just 843 yards and eight touchdowns to three interceptions on the year.
Saturday, expect Arkansas to trot out at home and impose its will for the program's first SEC victory in its last 16 tries.
Prediction: Razorbacks 27, Bulldogs 24
Statistics and info courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.
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Tennessee vs. Ole Miss: TV Info, Spread, Injury Updates, Game Time and More
Normally an encounter between a top-three team and a .500 opponent is one to ignore, but that is hardly the case in the SEC this weekend when the Tennessee Volunteers hit the road for a date with the No. 3 Ole Miss Rebels.
Tennessee is still stuck in rebuild mode under the guidance of Butch Jones, but the team has helped to produce a couple of nail-biters against better opponents this season in close losses to then-ranked No. 12 Georgia and Florida.
Ole Miss is a darling of the nation at the moment, along with No. 1 Mississippi State. Hugh Freeze's Rebels are 6-0 and have taken down Alabama and Texas A&M over the course of the past two weeks.
So, what a late Saturday kickoff has for fans is a matchup between a heavyweight and a scrappy underdog with immense College Football Playoff implications on the line.
Stay the Course
This is about not getting complacent and sticking to what works for the Rebels.
A 23-17 win over then-ranked No. 3 Alabama confirmed what most knew—the Rebels can be a great team if quarterback Bo Wallace is on top of his game. The defense, which ranks second only to Stanford overall, allows just 11.8 points per game on average.
Those thoughts were reaffirmed one week later in College Station with a 35-20 manhandling of then-ranked No. 14 Texas A&M.
Freeze is certainly not allowing his team to become complacent against Tennessee, a program that he says parallels the path traveled by the Rebels recently, as captured by Patrick Brown of the Times Free Press:
In all likelihood, the defense will continue to play at a high level. The pressure, then, falls on the shoulders of Wallace to hold up his end of the bargain.
Wallace is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation when he is on point. Against the Crimson Tide, he threw for 251 yards and three scores with 32 more yards on the ground. He found 178 passing yards and 50 more on the ground to go with three total touchdowns against the Aggies.
When Wallace struggles, though, he tosses three interceptions against Boise State or two more against Memphis while rushing for negative yardage. His off days have yet to hurt the team, but in the face of a credible opponent, they most certainly will.
Tennessee qualifies as a credible opponent.
The Predictable Approach...
It's the only path Tennessee can travel come Saturday.
The offensive line in front of quarterback Justin Worley is downright miserable. While the senior has completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 1,388 yards and 12 touchdowns to five interceptions, his line has allowed 23 sacks to date, which ranks among the 10 worst totals in the nation.
In other words, Ole Miss does not have to worry much about the running game or long-developing pass plays. This is an offensive line that allowed five sacks to UT-Chattanooga last week, an FCS team.
The only applicable thing Jones can draw up, then, is quick-hitting plays to a set of talented wideouts that can certainly do damage with the ball in their hands:
Considering the team as a whole averages just 3.0 yards per carry, the passing game will need to come through Saturday for the Volunteers. The only problem is, the nation's second-best defense is well-aware.
When: Saturday, October 18, 7 p.m. ET
Where: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at Hollingsworth Field, Oxford, Mississippi
Television: ESPN
Betting Lines (via Odds Shark):
- Over/Under: 46.5
- Spread: Ole Miss (-16)
Team Injury Reports
Injury reports per The Sports Network, via USA Today.
Eventually, Tennessee is going to explode for a major win it is not supposed to have.
It just will not be against Ole Miss.
The Tennessee wideouts will give Ole Miss some problems, but a one-dimensional attack behind a patchwork offensive line is only going to do so much damage against an elite defense.
Wallace has been unstoppable to date, which may be impacted by a top-20 defense. But Saturday at home, the Rebels are the safe bet, even if it means riding the defense to avoid an epic letdown.
Prediction: Rebels 21, Volunteers 13
Statistics and info courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.
Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com
Stanford vs. ASU: TV Info, Spread, Injury Updates, Game Time and More
Something has to give when the No. 23 Stanford Cardinal meet the No. 17 Arizona State Sun Devils in Saturday's Pac-12 showdown, a third encounter between the schools in the past two seasons.
The Cardinal escaped with a pair of wins over the Sun Devils last season, once in the regular season and once in the conference title game. This year, though, both teams have suffered major hiccups so far and tout opposing strengths.
David Shaw's Cardinal are once again a force on the defensive side of the football, but the team has failed to slam the door on credible competition such as USC and Notre Dame. Todd Graham's offense continues to churn no matter who resides under center, but the team was laughed out of the building against UCLA a few weeks back.
When these two meet in Tempe Saturday, expect fireworks. Or not. That is what makes encounters between these programs with different approaches so much fun.
A Tale of Two Quarterbacks
One year removed from throwing for 3,635 yards and 28 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, Arizona State senior quarterback Taylor Kelly has attempted just 68 passes this year, although six of them have gone for touchdowns.
Kelly is still a question mark after a bye week thanks to a foot injury, but the nation's No. 14 scoring offense at 41.2 points per game on average has hardly skipped a beat thanks to Mike Bercovici, who has a pair of quality outings under his belt:
That UCLA game was an inexplicable 62-27 loss and the encounter with USC only resulted in a win thanks to a fluky Hail Mary, so it makes sense to reason that Graham would prefer to have his senior under center Saturday.
But according to Craig Grialou of ArizonaSports.com, it seems both are set to get some playing time:
This makes sense based on comments by Graham in the week leading up to the game, per The Associated Press, via ESPN.com:
Taylor has years' experience in winning games and to move the down markers in very different ways, whether it be with his legs, the run game, making good decisions. I think Berc's just a great extension of him, obviously brings a lot to it from the standpoint of the rhythm passing game. They complement each other very well.
Both will need to be in superb form regardless, as Stanford brings with it the No. 1 defense in nation, which allows just 10.0 points per game.
Letdown Potential and Will Power
Stanford already has two soul-crushing defeats against ranked opposition this season, both which came by just three points each.
A loss to then-ranked No. 14 USC at the start of September was strange in that the stout Cardinal defense allowed 156 total rushing yards on a 4.2 average. The beginning of October was more strange thanks to a loss to then-ranked No. 9 Notre Dame, a team that managed 129 yards and a 4.0 average, not to mention a fourth-down touchdown to win the game.
The problem is, things are in no way easier for the Cardinal the rest of the way. Three of the team's five remaining games after Saturday are on the road, with those three coming against No. 9 Oregon, California and UCLA. Go ahead and throw in No. 20 Utah for good measure, too.
As if all of this is not enough, the AP writeup notes that Stanford will likely be without No. 2 wideout Devon Cajuste, too, placing even more pressure on an ineffective offense that ranks No. 89 with 26.3 points scored per game to produce against an elite defense.
In short, Stanford's season will be defined Saturday. If the defense can do all of the heavy lifting, the team may be able to win. If not, well, we have seen the end result twice already.
When: Saturday, October 18, 10:30 p.m. ET
Where: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
Television: ESPN
Betting Lines (via Odds Shark):
- Over/Under: 54.5
- Spread: Stanford (-3)
Team Injury Reports
Injury reports per Sports Network, via USA Today.
While Stanford has looked shaky in big games this season, it seems to have the formula down pat in regards to upending a fully loaded Sun Devils offense.
This year is different in that the Sun Devils may trot out two quarterbacks, too, although in general quarterback rotations merely disrupt a signal-caller's rhythm and subsequently hurt offenses as a whole.
The Cardinal are on the road, but the offense should be able to actually move the ball somewhat well for once against the 92nd-ranked defense. We know the Stanford defense is going to play at a high level, but it gets some serious help from a messy quarterback situation.
Living on the edge is going to bite the Sun Devils yet again.
Prediction: Cardinal 20, Sun Devils 17
Statistics and info courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.
Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com
Kansas State vs. Oklahoma: TV Info, Spread, Injury Updates, Game Time and More
Another piece of the Big 12 riddle gets a solution Saturday when the No. 14 Kansas State Wildcats encounter the No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.
Bob Stoops' team finds itself in a bit of a tailspin two weeks removed from a loss to then-ranked No. 25 TCU and less than a week after hardly holding off unranked and 2-4 Texas. An encounter with the Wildcats, a team with only a single loss, which came against then-ranked No. 5 Auburn, is the last thing the Sooners need at the moment.
Alas, it is what they get, as do fans, who can expect a rather high-scoring affair as long as both offenses hold up their ends of the bargain. One of Saturday's early contests, the showdown figures to be one of the most entertaining with conference and College Football Playoff implications on the line.
The best part? It appears this could swing in either direction.
Finding the Cure
A Sugar Bowl triumph over Alabama in which he threw for 348 yards and four touchdowns seems forever ago for Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight.
Expectations were through the roof for Knight after that contest, although some may concur with a sarcastic opinion on the matter, courtesy of Ralph D. Russo of The Associated Press:
Knight's past three games have left something to be desired, which has staggered the Sooners offense overall:
More concerning is the fact he now must attempt to turn things around against a stout Kansas State defense.
Remember, Bill Snyder's defense ranks among the best in the nation, especially against the run. The unit ranks No. 4 overall against the ground game, surrendering just 81.4 yards per game on a 2.8 per-carry average. Auburn's prolific attack mustered just that average for 128 yards in a narrow six-point win.
Part of what has made Knight great in the past is his ability to move the chains with his feet, but this season, he averages just 4.3 yards per carry. Snyder already has his team prepped and loaded for that element of the contest, too.
"You have to be prepared for the quarterback draw, the zone read aspect of it and just his ability to pull it down and scramble with it," Snyder said, per STATS LLC, via ESPN.com. "If you are successful enough to cover receivers, he has good feet and can pull it out."
If Knight and his number of potent rushers out of the backfield (Samaje Perine leads the way with 568 yards and nine scores) cannot keep drives alive and finish with touchdowns, it puts unnecessary pressure on a shaky defense that has struggled with these Wildcats as of late.
Aerial Chess
Stoops and his staff surely have nightmares over the Wildcats combo of quarterback Jake Waters and star wideout Tyler Lockett.
While the Sooners escaped last year's encounter with a 10-point win thanks to more than 300 rushing yards on the ground, the potent quarterback-wideout duo gave the Sooners a wealth of issues. Let's review the historic damage inflicted:
- Waters threw for 348 yards, a career high.
- Lockett caught 12 passes for 278 yards and three scores, the best receiving performance in school history.
- Lockett also had 162 kickoff return yards, good for a school-record 440 total yards.
All Waters has done in his senior year? Throw for 1,206 yards and seven touchdowns to three interceptions while completing 65.0 percent of his passes. He also has 320 yards and six more scores on the ground.
As D. Scott Fritchen of GoPowerCat.com notes, he is in the hands of some elite company:
Lockett has been a tad quieter in his senior campaign, posting 29 catches for 399 yards and three scores, but it is difficult to complain.
Keep in mind that the Sooners come in at No. 42 overall in terms of total defense, allowing 21.5 points per game.
One week removed from allowing the hapless Longhorns to run up 482 total yards and 26 points, there is certainly cause for concern that Waters and Lockett are set to run roughshod on the Sooners yet again.
When: Saturday, October 18, Noon ET
Where: Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma
Television: ESPN
Betting Lines (via Odds Shark):
- Over/Under: 58
- Spread: Oklahoma (-12)
Team Injury Reports
Kansas State: No significant Injuries.
Injury reports per Sports Network, via USA Today.
The downward trajectory the Sooners have traveled as of late is quite a concern, whereas the Wildcats have brutalized most of their opponents and stood tall against one of the SEC's best, not to mention a title contender from last season with most critical pieces back in the fold.
Oklahoma is helped by the fact this is a home encounter, but the stout Kansas State run defense can force the Sooners to the air, where Knight has proven time and again this year to be a liability.
Saturday, look for the Waters-Lockett combo to get hot once again when tasked with keeping the pressure off its defense. At this point, Waters' ability to move the chains with his feet gives the Wildcats a serious edge, hostile environment or not.
Prediction: Wildcats 35, Sooners 30
Statistics and info courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.
Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com
Texas A&M vs. Alabama: TV Info, Spread, Injury Updates, Game Time and More
One of the season's top overall encounters that was supposed to have a College Football Playoff ticket swinging in the balance has lost some of its luster when the No. 21 Texas A&M Aggies meet the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide.
Nick Saban's Crimson Tide blew through the first four games on the slate before an upset at the hands of then-ranked No. 11 Ole Miss, only to respond with a narrow one-point victory over unranked Arkansas. Kevin Sumlin's Aggies are in danger of dropping three consecutive games after back-to-back losses to ranked opponents.
Instead of CFP questions in need of answers, things are more basic for this heavyweight encounter. Can the offenses move the ball with some semblance of efficiency? Can shaky defenses shore up issues?
Much gets revealed Saturday afternoon in a matchup that doubles as a prelude to even bigger contests down the road for both sides.
In Search of a Revival
Alabama appeared to have solved its offensive problems a few weeks back.
Senior quarterback Blake Sims seized the job with emphasis and then took it to a normally stout Florida defense with 445 yards and four touchdowns to one interception. He then imploded in the loss to Ole Miss, tossing no scores and a pick before throwing for a pair of scores and just 161 yards in the 14-13 win over the Razorbacks.
As the 48th-ranked offense that averages 33.2 points per game, Saban's unit has some serious work to do. It starts with T.J. Yeldon and the ground game. Yeldon ran wild against the Rebels for 123 yards on 20 totes, but the team as a whole averaged 3.8 yards per rush.
Against an Arkansas defense that allowed 302 rushing yards to Auburn, Alabama's top three rushers were a major part of the reason the team could muster a per-carry average of just 2.1 last weekend:
To keep up with a pass-happy Aggies attack, an offensive turnaround to mirror the unit that outscored its first four opponents by a total of 168-56 will need to impose its will on the ground.
That said, the Aggies have not been as potent as most are accustomed to as of late. The team needed overtime to upend Arkansas three games ago (not totally a bad thing—Bret Bielema has done an incredible job).
In a loss to Mississippi State, the Aggies rolled for 526 yards but a 5-of-17 mark on third down and quarterback Kenny Hill tossed three picks. Rinse and repeat in a loss to Ole Miss last week—455 total yards, 7-of-18 mark on third downs and three total turnovers.
That surely will not get it done in Tuscaloosa. Gaudy numbers are one thing, turnovers end games on their own.
Defensive Measures
The offenses get the attention when these teams take the field, but it is the defenses that will have a bigger impact on this contest in particular.
Texas A&M has been leaky all year long on that side of the football, ranking just inside the top 50 with 22.6 points per game allowed. The rush defense in particular has been nothing short of putrid.
For Saban, exploiting this defense is the key to the game, although his defense will also have to improve in a number of areas.
"We're going to certainly have to be at our best to do a good job of trying to get them stopped, and also to control the ball on offense so they don't have it all the time," Saban said, per STATS LLC (via ESPN.com). "Those things are really critical in a game like this."
Of most concern is the propensity for the team to give up major plays through the air.
The Crimson Tide allowed West Virginia's Clint Trickett to throw for 365 yards and a score, while Ole Miss' Bo Wallace tossed three scores, which came from 14, 34 and 10 yards out, the latter two coming when it mattered most—with less than six minutes left in regulation.
Hill has had his fair share of struggles, but he undeniably has the talent to expose a struggling unit.
When: Saturday, Oct. 18, 3:30 p.m. ET
Where: Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Television: CBS
Betting Lines (via Odds Shark):
- Over/Under: 61.5
- Spread: Alabama (-11.5)
Team Injury Reports
Injury reports per Sports Network, via USA Today.
The Crimson Tide secondary is in for its biggest test of the year, as Hill is capable and Sumlin's offense is one of the most potent in the nation.
That said, Alabama at home is a daunting task for any team, but especially a young Aggies squad that is already on a serious downward spiral and in danger of losing three straight.
Yeldon and Sims, among others, will be able to keep the struggling Texas A&M defense on its toes and keep the chains moving enough to where Hill will have limited opportunities to exploit the Alabama secondary. Given his struggles as of late, a few mistakes might happen, anyway.
Alabama certainly does not run away with it, but a revival on the ground will spark the Crimson Tide.
Prediction: Crimson Tide 28, Aggies 20
Statistics and info courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.
Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com
Notre Dame vs. FSU: TV Info, Spread, Injury Updates, Game Time and More
This season, it gets no bigger than Saturday night when the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to Tallahassee for a showdown against the No. 2 Florida State Seminoles that's laden with College Football Playoff implications.
Granted, both teams have contributed to the preseason favorite for game of the year losing a bit of its luster in recent weeks. The Seminoles lost the top ranking in the land due to a lackluster schedule, and the Fighting Irish nearly overlooked unranked North Carolina before winning in a shootout, 50-43.
Still, the teams are led by two of the nation's top quarterbacks and overall rosters forged for the inaugural CFP. Even though credibility is on the line for both, as might be the No. 1 ranking, the encounter boils down to a decisive moment in the lead-up to the first CFP.
History will be written Saturday night between two powers.
Behind Undefeated Arms
The story writes itself.
In one corner is Florida State's Jameis Winston. Last year's Heisman Trophy winner is better in some areas that last year, already touting 1,605 yards with 11 touchdowns to five interceptions while completing 70 percent of his passes. Do not forget a pair of touchdowns with his legs, too.
In the other corner is Notre Dame's Everett Golson, who returned to the team this year and has 1,683 passing yards with 16 touchdowns to four interceptions while completing 62.5 percent of his passes. Remember the 209 rushing yards and four scores, too.
Both men are undefeated in the regular season to date, as ESPN CollegeFootball puts into visual form:
For both men, though, the contest is more than just a potential career-defining win or loss.
Winston helps the Seminoles to average 39.0 points per game, but one of the nation's most polarizing players needs the win to shake the narrative that he pads his stats against poor competition. He missed the game against Clemson, and in the 37-31 season-opening win against Oklahoma State, he threw one touchdown to a pair of interceptions.
Golson's Fighting Irish average 34.5 points, but his play has taken a severe dip in recent weeks. Staggering turnover issues, as explained by Jared Shanker and Matt Fortuna of ESPN.com, can and will doom the Fighting Irish early Saturday:
Last Saturday against North Carolina, all three of his turnovers were converted into easy touchdowns. One was on an interception return, and twice he fumbled near his own end zone. Against Stanford, he threw a critical red-zone interception and fumbled inside his own 10 in a game where points were at a premium. When the Irish played Syracuse, a Golson interception was returned for a touchdown and he fumbled twice, one of which was inside the red zone.
In a perfect world, one of the two quarterbacks rises to the occasion and etches his name permanently in the Heisman Trophy race while lifting his team to the CFP.
But as the season so far suggests, things will be more difficult than anticipated for both.
Controversy, Distractions and Letdowns
Fans understand that a matchup has some controversy surrounding it when even Las Vegas elects to start pulling the betting odds from the table.
The controversy portion of the equation comes from a number of off-field issues for Winston, including yet another collegiate autograph scandal, as a Stats LLC report, via ESPN.com, notes.
As mentioned, the Seminoles also have to counter the rankings drop, something that star corner P.J. Williams says is simply motivation to avoid a letdown against the Fighting Irish Saturday.
"Every week we look to do that," Williams said, per Stats. "But when we're playing a bigger team on a bigger stage, we definitely look to play a lot harder and show everybody that we are one of the best teams and we can definitely compete on that level. I definitely like having doubters."
Notre Dame has to simply play up to its competition. That sounds like an easy enough task for the No. 5 team in the land, but the team has now played down to the level of its competition against Purdue (granted, a historical rivalry game), Stanford and North Carolina.
How the Fighting Irish respond when actually an underdog—scratch that, a severe underdog, as ESPN Stats & Info illustrates—is something the nation has waited all season to see:
At times, it can be cliche to paint the picture as a contest of which team can rise to the occasion, but for a pair of would-be contenders fending off past and current demons, that aspect of the season's top contest is quite difficult to dismiss.
When: Saturday, October 18, 8 p.m. ET
Where: Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida
Television: ABC
Betting Lines (via Odds Shark):
- Over/Under: N/A
- Spread: Notre Dame (-13.5)
Team Injury Reports
Injury reports per The Sports Network, via USA Today.
It is difficult to see how Notre Dame comes away with a win Saturday.
The Fighting Irish are 1-16 versus Top Five opposition since 1999, with eight losses in a row, seven of which came by a minimum of 13 points. Now keep in mind that Brian Kelly's team has played four games at home and two at neutral sites.
A young team with a suddenly turnover-prone leader playing its first game in hostile territory against Florida State? It is a scary recipe to say the least.
Winston and Co. are certainly not perfect, and points will not come easy against a Fighting Irish defense that ranks No. 8 in the nation with an average of 17.2 points surrendered per game. But they will come at home, especially if the defense can cash in on a few turnovers.
Expect Florida State to remain on track for the CFP.
Prediction: Seminoles 30, Fighting Irish 28
Statistics and info courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.
Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com
College Football Picks: Week 8 Predictions for Every Game
Can you believe we're already in Week 8 of the 2014 college football season? Seems like just yesterday we were clamoring for that first slate of games, and now after a few straight weekends of amazing action, it's like the year is going by too fast.
We have to relish each week's slate of matchups, and this one is pretty darn good. There are five clashes of teams ranked in The Associated Press Top 25, including the toughest test yet for defending champion Florida State, while outside the rankings there are games pitting teams battling for division and conference titles.
Check out our predictions for Week 8, as well as our experts' picks for the top games this weekend, and give us your thoughts in the comments section.
Last week: 36-19 (.655)
Season: 334-105 (.761)
Pac-12 Football: Ranking the 10 Most Exciting Conference Games so Far in 2014
The Pac-12 conference no longer has to worry about east coast folks missing out on the late-night contests; they've simply been too competitive to ignore, even if it means an extra cup of dark roast the next morning.
In a year as wild as any in recent memory, the Pac-12 has been involved in a number of games that you have to see to believe. From multiple Hail Marys to an NCAA passing record and last-second (missed) field goals, the thrill factor is at an all-time high.
We're taking a look at the 10 most exciting conference games thus far, though with only 18 head-to-head matchups in the books, we're giving a special nod to a pair of out-of-conference tilts involving Pac-12 teams.
Remember, a close game is not necessarily an exciting one. To put it simply, which games would you pay to have erased from your memory so you could sit down and watch them again?
All stats via cfbstats.com.
Games that just missed the cut: USC-Stanford, Notre Dame-Stanford, Rutgers-Washington State, WSU-Utah.
Pac-12 Football: Ranking the 10 Most Exciting Conference Games so Far in 2014
BYU Football: Are Injuries or Coaching to Blame for Recent Struggles?
In just a few short weeks, BYU's 2014 football season turned from a fairytale to a nightmare.
The Cougars started with a 4-0 record, including convincing wins over Texas and Virginia, and had a legitimate Heisman contender in Taysom Hill. Within days, the storylines flipped—the Cougars lost to Utah State (USU) and Central Florida, and more than a few key players, including Hill, were injured in the process.
All of a sudden, hopes of a perfect season, potential New Year's bowl game and another Heisman are gone. Naturally, with another seemingly disappointing season, BYU fans have let pointed fingers fly. But is there any single thing to blame for back-to-back losses and smashed hopes?
Of course, the common scapegoats have been thrust into the spotlight—anything from the referees, to bad coaching, to the injuries. All three are reasonable, but the former shouldn't make for a reasonable argument.
Sure, the officials in the past two games have missed calls here and there. The one that gets Cougar fans the most heated—a pass interference no-call against UCF—turned out to be a major factor in the final outcome.
This was not called as PI. 4th and 3 with the game on the line. UCF DB was hugging the WR for BYU. pic.twitter.com/EJmIwrI3Eu
— Dustin Fox (@DustinFox37) October 10, 2014Still, even if the Cougs got that call, they would still have to score. And, even if they would have scored, UCF would get the ball back and be in a position to win the game. So, no matter what, the referees did not—in any way—lose the game for BYU. The Cougars had a two-possession lead in the third quarter and blew it.
So, with referees out of the way, up comes the issue of injuries. In the past two weeks, injured starters or key players include:
- Taysom Hill (QB)
- Jamaal Williams (RB)
- Alani Fua (OLB)
- Dallin Leavitt (DB)
- Craig Bills (DB)
- Brayden Kearsley (OL)
- Jordan Johnson (DB)
- Adam Hine (RB)
- Terenn Houk (WR)
On top of that, linebacker Bronson Kaufusi and receiver Jordan Leslie are currently rehabbing after recent injuries. In addition, JUCO transfer Nick Kurtz will seek a medical redshirt season after a lingering ailment.
Obviously, it is difficult to win games without almost half of your starters. The injury situation has taken its toll on BYU—and will keep nagging the team for the rest of the season—but at this point, it's just something you have to deal with and move on.
Although you can't really control injuries, one thing you can control is coaching. BYU's coaching—especially since Taysom Hill got hurt against Utah State—has been hideous. Of course, it had its issues before (see play-calling, delay-of-game vs. Virginia, etc.,) but it took a big plunge during the USU game.
From the first few minutes of the USU game, anyone could tell that Utah State was the better-prepared team. They came out more physical and more motivated. It only got worse when Hill went down—instead of Robert Anae calling running plays and short passes to get backup quarterback Christian Stewart comfortable, he stuck to deep routes which killed Stewart's confidence.
The next game, against UCF, Algernon Brown and Paul Lasike played their hearts out, combining for 151 rushing yards in regulation. That opened up the passing offense, making Stewart more relaxed and buying more time in the pocket.
But as soon as overtime hit, Anae went back to the Utah State game plan—to make Stewart attack the defense with his arm. Although the rushing offense had been shredding UCF all night, every play Anae called in overtime was a passing one.
That alone cost BYU the game. And that's not to mention defensive coordinator Nick Howell's in-game shenanigans, when he was forced to play backup safety Kai Nacua:
Howell on Nacua: "He knows I didn't trust him. I was forced to throw him in, and he proved me wrong. He played good...he's a good player."
— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) October 14, 2014
It's one thing to doubt your backup safety in a big situation, and it's another to tell him that you have trust issues. Forget Nacua—if I were BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, the people I wouldn't trust are Howell and Anae.
Blame the refs, blame the injuries, but the coaching against UCF and Utah State—not to mention in the previous four games—has been downright ugly. If the Cougars can't clean things up soon, they could have a rough finish to the season.
Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com


text:
Europe searches for charms to lure Chinese tourists
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BERLIN/MADRID (Reuters) - European countries will need to focus less on beach holidays and more on communist history, rolling landscapes and even poetic trees if they want to take advantage of growing numbers of tourists from China.
According to the China Tourism Academy, some 200 million Chinese could be travelling abroad annually by 2020, up from 82 million in 2012.
While the overriding image of the Chinese tourist in Europe is one of busloads of shoppers heading for the luxury boutiques in Paris and Milan, Europe must not get carried away by these stereotypes and think of other ways to tempt them on a long-haul flight, experts at the ITB travel fair in Berlin said.
"We're been thinking not like Chinese, but like Europeans," Eduardo Santander, the head of the European Travel Commission, which promotes tourism to the continent, told Reuters.
"Europe is still the number 1 tourism destination so far but that may dramatically change in 10 to 15 years if we don't change some patterns."
For Chinese tourists, the sun and beaches of the Mediterranean that are so popular with Brits, Germans and Russians hold little appeal, said TUI Travel CEO Peter Long.
Instead they want to visit places that hold historical relevance for their own culture, they enjoy classical music and, wanting to escape the smog back home, they appreciate a clear blue sky, Santander said, citing a study the group had done among Chinese web users.
Interesting places for Chinese travelers looking to explore Communist history include the German city of Trier, the birthplace of Karl Marx and Montargis, a little-known town 60 miles south of Paris.
Chinese history lovers are keen to visit Montargis because it was the home of Deng Xiaoping during the 1920s and said to be the place where a group of Chinese students first proposed the idea of a communist party for China.
Furthermore, if you see groups of Chinese people admiring a willow tree at King's College, Cambridge, it is because it is mentioned in a much-loved modern poem 'On Leaving Cambridge' by Xu Zhimo.
With the euro zone crisis and austerity measures crimping travel budgets in Europe, it has become all the more urgent for countries like Spain and Greece to look outside their traditional British, Dutch and German source markets for income.
In Europe demand for cross-border travel is due to rise by only 2 percent in 2013, compared with 7 percent for Asia.
In Spain, where tourism accounts for 11 percent of gross domestic product, 57.7 million tourists visited in 2012. But arrivals from Britain, the country's biggest source market with close to a quarter of the total number of visitors, were flat.
"The British and the Germans are not getting richer... and the times of flying for 10 pounds from London to Spain are ending," Wolfgang Georg Arlt of Chinese tourism research institute COTRI said.
Spain has therefore set a target of reaching 1 million Chinese visitors a year by 2020, up from 177,100 in 2012, a goal described by Arlt as a tall order.
Shao Qiwei, chairman of China's National Tourism Administration, said Spain must also overcome the language barrier to attract more Chinese tourists and adapt dishes to their tastes.
"We are hoping for more Chinese tour guides in museums and tourist sites and to see Chinese television in Spanish hotels," Shao said at a UNWTO event in Madrid.
It's not easy to adapt though and the ETC's Santander said his organization would try to ensure all parts of the tourism chain, from taxi drivers to tour guides and luxury hotel owners were educated on Chinese travel wishes and customs.
Spain has even already put on some bullfights where the bull was not killed at the end, to appease Chinese tourists who do not like blood.
Tour company Marly Camino, which offers high-end walking packages on the Way of St. James, a pilgrimage route to a cathedral in northern Spain, has seen an increase in enquiries from Asian tourists from Singapore and the Philippines, but said there was only one official Chinese-speaking tour guide in the region.
"There's the cultural barrier too, the etiquette is a little different. If we're going to be receiving that kind of client we want to be in the loop with how you treat that kind of client and what they expect," said co-director Samantha Sacchi Muci.
Marly Camino therefore plans to create packages for Chinese agencies to directly market to tourists to side-step the language barrier, saying it needs such agencies as an intermediary to help crack the market.
Tourism watchers at the ITB in Berlin said Europe's beach resorts could follow the example of the Maldives, among the top five most popular destinations for Chinese tourists.
The islands made a conscious effort to attract arrivals from sun-wary China with island hopping tours, night fishing and snorkeling when arrivals from Europe collapsed after the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.
"Forty years ago, when Germans and Brits first started coming to Spain and Greece, they were a strange race too," said Martin Buck, who helps organize the ITB, the world's largest travel and tourism fair.
"But Spain and Greece used the chance to make those visitors into an important pillar of their economies. Why shouldn't they do the same with the Chinese?"
(Reporting by Victoria Bryan)

subset: commoncrawl


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The rooms are not too small , but i think this hotel is more to stay a couple of hours , to spend some time with a girl , on the corridor are a automate where you can get some sex toys !!! they dont have any service or breakfast !
South Korea >
Jeollanam-do >
Price Range (Based on Average Rates):
Number of rooms: 146
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- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Agoda so you can book your France Hotel reservations with confidence. We help millions of travelers each month to find the perfect hotel for both vacation and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.


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Showing 193-288 of 644 items found in Food & Drink
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Portillo's - Sycamore
Come enjoy what we hope you will find to be the best Hot Dog, Italian Beef, Maxwell Street Polish, Tasty Burgers, Fresh Salads and more. Bring the kids and ENJOY!
CITY: Sycamore
Bolingbrook's Clow International Airport
This airport offers general aviation, flight school, air charter, restaurant and Illinois Aviation Museum all within the airport.
CITY: Bolingbrook
Naperville Bites and Sites
Enjoy a culinary and cultural walking experience through Naperville's historic neighborhood. One delicious taste at a time! Sample some great food and drink tastings from family run restaurants and shops. Along the way you will discover beautiful downtown Naperville, the Riverwalk and fun facts on the rich history that makes Naperville amazing.
CITY: Naperville
Wildwood features upscale American cuisine that includes oak-grilled steaks and chops, fresh seafood, poultry, pasta and vegetarian dishes. Enjoy your dining experience in the warmly-decorated dining room, the spacious outdoor courtyard overlooking the Dodson Place water garden, or in the Wildwood lounge. Or just stop by to sample our extensive martini selection, wine by the glass and specialty beer offerings.
CITY: Geneva
Buca di Beppo
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Recipes enjoyed for generations in villages across Italy inspire our menu, giving Buca di Beppo its authentic Italian flare. Experience the Italian traditions of food, friendship and hospitality. Dishes are served family style and are meant to be shared.
CITY: Lombard
Seasons 52
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Enjoy a fresh dining experience that celebrates living well at Seasons 52 fresh grill and wine bar, located at Oakbrook Center. Experience seasonally-inspired dining choices, an adventurous wine list and a casually-sophisticated ambiance.
CITY: Oak Brook
Tia Maria's
Tia Maria's serves the highest quality, family-owned authentic Mexican fare.
CITY: Geneva
Vino Thai's
At Vino Thai, you'll discover the best of Thai cuisine, the freshness of carefully selected ingredients, the warm welcome, attentive service and an unforgettable experience.
CITY: St. Charles
Javier's Sabor Mexicano
Javier's Sabor Mexican is an everyday celebration of fresh food, margaritas, and a large selection of fine tequila. This Mexican restaurant has been around since 1967. Consistency, quality, and generous portions are what keeps everyone coming back. Javier's Sabor Mexicano features four separate dining rooms and a full service bar for your dining pleasure as well as private parties and special events.
CITY: Arlington Heights
Ciazza features American fare and a mix of Mediterranean favorites paired with wine and cocktails. A relaxing environment welcomes guests and diners.
CITY: Burr Ridge
Weber Grill Restaurant
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Great outdoor cooking done indoors on an authentic Weber Charcoal Kettle. Featuring steaks, fresh seafood, and award winning BBQ. Outdoor patio, open kitchen and full bar.
CITY: Lombard
Chama Gaúcha
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Experience the unique culture and taste of Southern Brazil at Chama Gaúcha, where servers will tempt you with skewers of succulent seasoned meats, slow roasted over a charcoal fire and hand-carved tableside.
CITY: Downers Grove
Wok n' Fire
Contemporary setting featuring Pan Asian Cuisine, Sushi Bar and full bar/lounge area.
CITY: St. Charles
Pizzeria Neo
An authentic Neapolitan Pizzeria offering the aroma of wood burning ovens cooking the freshest ingredients with a vibrant modern atmosphere and unique Italian wines.
CITY: St. Charles
Fox and Hound Arlington Heights
Neighborhood sports bar featuring 28 big screen TVs, billiards, darts, ping pong, video gaming, and late night entertainment. Private party space available! Full menu till close! Best party in town 7 days a week!
CITY: Arlington Heights
Atrium Cafe, Doubletree Hotel
American cuisine. Casual dress code. Serving breakfast, lunch & dinner. Average cost per meal: $10-20.
CITY: Oak Brook
Wildfire - Oak Brook
Wildfire transports you to the aura of a 1940s dinner club complete with vintage jazz music, style and warmth. Try one of our signature dishes and be amazed. No matter the occasion, jazz up your party in one of our private or semi-private dining spaces.
CITY: Oak Brook
Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant
A modern, casual restaurant with a menu created with our own hand crafted wines in mind. Start int he tasting room and sample our winemaker's latest creations. Shop in our gift store and finish the night in our restaurant with a delectable dish and award-winning wine.
CITY: Arlington Heights
Bien Trucha Restaurante
Modern Mexican Restaurant specializing in tacos and margaritas, utilizing fresh ingredients to create a new and succulent Mexican experience.
CITY: Geneva
Japanese Hibachi style cooking - a chef prepares for at your table. Steak, chicken, shrimp, scallops & lobstertail.
CITY: Lombard
Chessies Restaurant
Chessie's was built around Barrington's former train station and features a unique dining experience in a vintage Illinois Central railroad dining car. The Menu ranges from appetizers to salads, sandwiches, pasta, fresh fish, and USDA choice steaks from the Stockyards Packing Company. Daily specials including $5 Burger Day, Friday Fish Fry, Saturday Prime Rib Specials and Sunday Brunch. Our banquet facility is available for your next event for groups of 25-80.
CITY: Barrington
Genoa Cafe
Genoa Cafe is located in the heart of Downtown Genoa. Stop in for breakfast or lunch and achieve that small town feel. We have an extensive menu that is sure to please. We look forward to seeing you!
CITY: Genoa
Willby's Restaurant & Lounge, Holiday Inn
Casual dining for local patrons and hotel guests. American cuisine. Serving breakfast, lulnch & dinner. Average cost per meal: $10-20. Evening early bird specials and the best Sunday brunch around.
CITY: Willowbrook
The Garden Cafe & Lounge, Doubletree Hotel
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Pasta and salad bar for lunch, weekdays. Steaks, chops and poultry dishes for dinner in a casual atmosphere.
CITY: Wood Dale
Wok n' Fire
Contemporary setting features Pan Asian cuisine, sushi bar, and a full bar/lounge area. This is a popular spot for both visitors and residents.
CITY: St. Charles
Panda House Chinese Restaurant
Panda House serves Szechuan, Hunan and Cantonese Cuisine. They are open 7 days a week from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm Eat in or take out, they also deliver to DeKalb, Sycamore, Malta and Cortland with a minimum $8.00 order. They accept Visa, Master Card, Discover and Huskie Bucks.
CITY: DeKalb
Eduardo's Mexican Restaurant
Enjoy a little taste of Mexico. The only place for great Mexican food! Daily specials, children's menu, Mexican beer, private parties, full service lounge.
CITY: DeKalb
Ruth's Chris Steak House
Featuring USDA Prime Steaks, Lobster, Fresh Fish & Seafood, and Select Creole Specialities. Award Winning Wine List. Private Dining Available.
CITY: South Barrington
Thirsty Fox Pub
Daily food and drink specials. Burgers, chicken sandwiches, appetizers, salads, chicken, steak, and turkey wraps. Traditional tavern food. Darts, pool, and computer golf games.
CITY: St. Charles
Remington Street Grille, Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Remington Street Café is a full service restaurant and lounge, Room service menus avialble. Open at 6:00 am for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
CITY: Bolingbrook
Gina's Subs & Pizza
Home of the finest home-made soups, subs & pasta dishes, including home-made lasagnas & sauces. Now you can order online, too. Check out our website.
CITY: St. Charles
Barnelli's Pasta Bowl
Come to Barnelli's where secret family recipes and the freshest ingredients combine to bring you the best homestyle Italian cooking. Including favorites such as gourmet salads, award winning ribs, homemade pasta dishes, great sandwiches, and much more.
CITY: Crystal Lake
Pine Grove Restaurant
Family-style restaurant just blocks away from the Allstate Arena.
CITY: Rosemont
Sam's Family Restaurant
Sam's Family Restaurant is great for any age. Come in today with your family for a cozy homecooked meal at an affordable price. Try our daily special or a signature item off our menu!
CITY: Cortland
Seasons 52
Seasons 52 is a casually sophisticated fresh grill and wine bar that invites you to discover the sensational flavors of our seasonally-inspired menu. Award-winning international wine list. Live entertainment nightly. Private & semi-private dining. Chef's table. Complimentary Valet.
CITY: Schaumburg
Arrowhead Restaurant & Bar
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Arrowhead Restaurant & Bar features unique American cuisine with an extensive wine and spirits collection. Patio dining is available. The restaurant offers live entertainment, special events, daily specials and private dining options.
CITY: Wheaton
American cuisine. Casual dress code. Serving breakfast, lunch & dinner. Average cost per meal: $12-15.
CITY: Burr Ridge
Whether it's a quiet dinner for two by the fire or a banquet for 40 in a private room, Ristorante Chianti offers delicious Italian food for everyone.
CITY: Geneva
Mediterraneo specilizes in Middle Eastern cuisine, which is vegetarian by nature. Mediterraneo does serve some meat, but most of our entrees are vegetarian, and many are even vegan friendly. Vegetarians and meat lovers can enjoy our open buffet every Sunday from 11am-3pm.
CITY: DeKalb
Rosita's Mexican Restaurant
Rosita's is a family owned and operated restaurant located in DeKalb. They have been serving delicious Mexican food for over 30 years. They feature a fabulous selection of mixed drinks in a warm and cozy atmosphere.
CITY: DeKalb
CITY: Rosemont
McKenna's - Holiday Inn Rolling Meadows
Casual dining restaurant and bar, featuring Wednesday night prime rib buffet. In the Rolling Meadows Holiday Inn.
CITY: Rolling Meadows
Alexander's Resturant
Family restaurant with specialties such as fantastic baby back ribs that fall off the bone, charbroiled steaks & juicy prime rib that melt in your mouth, & a wide variety of glorious burgers.
CITY: Elgin
Cabana Charleys Tiki Bar & Grill
Menu includes American with a Caribbean flare and tropical drinks served to you in a relaxing atmosphere- "Relax, You are Here".
CITY: Sycamore
Bahama Breeze
Bahama Breeze provides a Caribbean escape with all your favorites: seafood, chicken, and steak. Relax and enjoy our tropical atmosphere, handcrafted cocktails, and fresh food. We can accommodate groups up to 200 people and have several areas for private or semi-private dining. Relax and enjoy!
CITY: Schaumburg
Taxco Restaurant
Travel to Mexico without evening leaving the USA. Taxco will immerse you into the mexican culture as soon as you step through their door way starting with their authentic decor and the amazing aroma flowing from the kitchen. Taxco serves the most authentic mexican cuisine using only the freshest ingredients.
CITY: Sycamore
Karlsbad Tavern
Karlsbad constantly has specials and a changing menu. Every Friday night is our famous Fish Fry, and every Sunday we have biscuits and gravy starting at 10am. We are a small tavern located in Downtown Genoa. Come in for good food, friendly service, and a nice conversation. Kids are welcome.
CITY: Genoa
Graham's Fine Chocolates & Ice Cream
Homemade. Hand dipped. The ultimate taste in fine chocolates and ice cream using only the finest and freshest ingredients from around the globe.
CITY: Geneva
Taylor Street Pizza - Geneva
Pizza and pasta from the old neighborhood prepared using all fresh ingredients. Full kitchen.
CITY: Geneva
The Nest Bar & Grill
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - One of the best kept secrets in casual dining! The Nest Bar & Grill at Bolingbrook Golf Club can accommodate over 100 guests.
CITY: Bolingbrook
Uncle Julio's Hacienda - Lombard
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Border style Mexican food served in a festive atmosphere. Specialties include mesquite-grilled fajitas, shrimp, ribs, quail and our famous Swirl.
CITY: Lombard
The Village Squire - West Dundee
This English pub-style casual dining restaurant has been part of the Fox Valley since 1974. Family owned and operated featuring nightly live music and a unique atmosphere.
CITY: West Dundee
Master's Clubhouse
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - American cuisine. Resort casual dress code. Serving breakfast, lunch & dinner. Average cost per meal: $10-20.
CITY: Bloomingdale
Rocky Vanders Cafe and Bar
American food including pizza, 25 wide screen TVs, live entertainment, 9500 square feet of party rooms. Many food and drink specials.
CITY: Prospect Heights
Paradise Pup
At Paradise Pup. in Des Plaines, the "big mess of a burger" is traditional Chicago fast food the way it should be. Folks line up outside the 800-square-foot joint for the one-and-only Char Cheddar burger. As for the Italian beef sandwich, it's "oh, so good."
CITY: Des Plaines
Milk Pail Restaurant & Entertainment Complex
Experience fresh, made-from-scratch cuisine and our warm country hospitality. Sunday Jazz Brunch, French Country Market with over 100 unique shops, weddings, mini-golf, Murder Mysteries, picnics and Bingo.
CITY: Dundee
Pizza Pro's
Pizza Pro's was voted "Best Pizza in DeKalb" in 2010. Stop on in for some yummy pizza, pasta, appetizers or just enjoy a refreshing drink while catching the game on one of our many televisions. In addition to a full service restaurant, we offer delivery, take-out, and catering.
CITY: DeKalb
Paul Virant offers his seasonal contemporary American cuisine at this establishment nestled into the Chicago suburb of Western Springs. The chef's mentor's range from Alice Waters to Jacques Pépin, while his inspiration is drawn from the rustic Illinois farms that surround him to pickling techniques passed down from both his grandmothers.
CITY: Western Springs
El Puente Restaurant
Authentic Mexican cuisine served in a colorful, vibrant atmosphere with a tasty variety of dishes and the finest margaritas.
CITY: St. Charles
Taylor Street Pizza - Wasco
Just 7 minutes west of downtown St. Charles in Wasco. Open daily. Delivery available.
CITY: Wasco
Thai Pavilion
Proudly presenting the food of Thailand in the heart of DeKalb. We're a bit of Southeast Asia in your own small town. Everything from appetizers, salads, fried rices, to desserts.
CITY: DeKalb
Old Towne Pub and Eatery-Wasco
Ten plasma televisions; game room; daily drink specials; beer garden; friendly, warm pub atmosphere. Family owned.
CITY: St. Charles
White Fence Farm
Casual, family dining serving chicken, fish, steaks and cocktails. Banquets and bus tours welcome.
CITY: Lemont
North Beach - Downers Grove
Sports bar featuring sand volleyball, bowling, billiards and more in a tropical setting. Perfect for parties, banquets and events.
CITY: Downers Grove
Fuji Buffet
We've developed a higher standard for buffet-style dining. We offer a variety of artfully created sushi; A vast array of traditional & contemporary Chinese and Japanese hot food dishes and seafood favorites; gourmet salad and dessert bar.
CITY: St. Charles
Discovery Bay Restaurant & Lounge, Embassy Suites
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Offering a relaxing environment for lunch and dinner including fine food, attentive service and friendly charm. We offer a wide array of menu selections, specialty items and fresh seafood. Caribbean/American cuisine.
CITY: Lombard
Gather Bar - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center and Hotel
Bar and lounge in the hotel. Salads, gourmet-fusion pizzas, burgers, and other daily specials. Serves lunch and dinner.
CITY: Schaumburg
RealTime Sports Bar, Grill & Games
RTS is a sports bar and restaurant like you've never seen before! We've re-created the experience of attending live sporting events, added comfy surrounds, and awesome food. Special events and drink and food specials, Private space seating up to 60 of your favorite fans!
CITY: Elk Grove Village
Magnum's Prime Steakhouse
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - A Mecca for steak aficionados - offers a varied menu including lobster and fresh seafood. Serving casual lunches, dinners filled with ambience and elegant customized banquets. Find out why we're a favorite!
CITY: Lombard
Fiora's Restaurant
Located in one of Geneva's most picturesque Historic Landmark Buildings, Fiora's serves a splendid selection of fine wine and European-influenced American Cuisine.
CITY: Geneva
Joe's Pizza and Pub
Stop in for an ice cold beer and enjoy a hot pizza pie. We offer burgers, salad, pasta and more! You will just have to come in and explore our menu yourself. While your here, enjoy our outdoor dining area. Great for friends and family!
CITY: Genoa
Noodles & Company - Crystal Lake
Inspired by dishes from around the world, our Chef has prepared a menu of fresh cuisine, sautéed and grilled. Through fresh preparation of the finest ingredients we give you dishes you'll love eating as much as we love making.
CITY: Crystal Lake
Fatty's Pub & Grill
Fatty's is the premier spot to catch a NIU football game, or any other sporting event. Conveniently located across the street from Northern Illinois University and next to Best Western DeKalb Inn & Suites. Stop in and try a delicious item off our extensive menu, or just have a drink or two! Our friendly staff are waiting for you. Party room also available. Let Momma Fatty cater your next event!
CITY: DeKalb
Chicago Prime Steakhouse
Schaumburg's newest Wine Spectator and Zagat rated restaurant. A unique, locally owned and operated true Chicago steakhouse right here in Schaumburg. George and his son AJ are always there during business hours and are a warm change of pace from America's chain restaurants. Voted: best steak, most notable wine list, and top 10 most romantic dining - in Chicago. Serving USDA prime-aged beef and fresh seafood flown in daily. Featuring an extensive award-winning wine list. Private dining is a very big part of their focus. They also feature live music in the lounge Tuesday through Saturday at 7 PM.
CITY: Schaumburg
Tallgrass Restaurant
Modern French cuisine. Located in an 1895 historic building - Celebrating 32 Years! Open for dinner Wednesday - Sunday. Reservations required. AAA Four Diamond Award Winner - 19th year in a row.
CITY: Lockport
Pizza Villa
For 52 years Pizza Villa has been crafting delicious pizza with their homemade dough. We use only fresh vegetables and get our sausage delivered daily. Don't want pizza? Try our excellent spaghetti and meat sauce. We also serve roasted chicken, sandwiches, broasted pork chops and barbecue spare ribs. Play some games in our arcade area while you wait for your pizza to be cooked! Party rooms and packages are also available.
CITY: DeKalb
Finn McCool's
A Chicago Irish sports bar in the suburbs serving great pub grub, daily drink specials, and featuring state-of-the-art TVs and monitors. Live bands, televised sporting events, and a DJ on Saturdays.
CITY: Schaumburg
Elgin Public House
Elgin Public House, known for great food, service, drinks and atmosphere. Better than average pub grub. Two full service bars with just about anything you could ask for.
CITY: Elgin
Silver Lake Restaurant - Bartlett
Healthy Chinese food. Mo M.S.G. and fresh ingredients. Dining room, carry out and delivery service.
CITY: Bartlett
Old Country Buffet Arlington Heights
Help yourself to a wide variety of choices for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And don't forget dessert! Try something new and stick with your favorites, all in the same visit. At Old Country Buffet, there's always something delicious waiting for you.
CITY: Arlington Heights
Around the Clock Restaurant and Bakery
We offer quality food at a great value - breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week, along with delicious specials and seasonal features and our own in-house bakery, featuring the best in homemade pies, cakes, pastries and other tempting desserts. Our on-site bakers will also be happy to create any specialty-themed item appropriate for your special event.
CITY: Crystal Lake
Anvil Club
Established in 1956, The Anvil Club is Chicago's premier private dining club, renowned for great steaks & seafood and unsurpassed service.
CITY: East Dundee
Garden Cafe Doubletree Hotel Wood Dale/Itasca
Serves casual American fare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Lobby lounge, pasta and salad bar for lunch.
CITY: Wood Dale
Lin's Garden Chinese Restaurant
Casual and fine dining serving authentic Mandarin, Szechwan, & Cantonese Chinese food. Voted for best Asian Cuisine in Kane County. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Great selection of dinner and carry out items. Sunday buffet is highly recommended.
CITY: St. Charles
Sam & Harry's - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel
Famed for USDA Prime center-cut steaks and seasonally selected fresh seafood flown in daily. Award-winning wine program showcases impressive wine list and 50 wines by the glass. 28-seat private dining room also available.
CITY: Schaumburg
Carlucci - Downers Grove
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - One of the Chicago area's most celebrated culinary entities offering both casual dining in the lounge and unique dining in the Italian Garden. On-site banquet facilities accommodate 15-300 guests.
CITY: Downers Grove
Carrabba's Italian Grill - Woodridge
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - "At Carrabba's, we bring you the same wonderful experiences we grew up on--from our warm Italian hospitality to the authentic aromas in our open kitchen, to our flavorful handmade recipes passed down for more than four generations." -Johnny Carrabba
CITY: Woodridge
MVP Sports Bar & Grill
We have drink specials every day of the week! Come in and see for yourself. Our specials are guaranteed to quench your thirst without breaking your wallet. Stop in to try our cuisine and treat your taste buds to a vacation in paradise. Our menu is sure to satisfy even the mightiest hungers! Host your next party or gathering on our outdoor patio or rooftop terrace! Or let us cater your next event!
CITY: Sycamore
Sushi Yama Japanese Restaurant & Grill
We invite you to try the finest Japanese cuisine in the western suburbs. Our chefs create beautiful and taste-tantalizing sushi.
CITY: St. Charles
Taste of Himalayas
Very unique and authentic nepali restaurant and bar. Come and enjoy our lunch buffet 7 days and dinner ala carte.
CITY: St. Charles


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Barry said Ho was inspired by our Founding Fathers. Either 0bama is ignorant and lazy for failing to research just who Ho was or, worse, Barry really believes this absurd horse crap. Does he really know how many Viet Namese this butcher murdered? http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...namese-dictator-inspired-by-founding-fathers/
Hey, and all it took was the corpses of several hundred thousands of communism-opposed South Vietnamese! What's that to the advance of Marxism? Prepare to recycle all the same indignant prattle we got from the administration when Anita Dunn was called on her admiration of Mao.
Certainly not in any intellectually credible way. Tracing his inspiration to Marxist perversions of Enlightenment philosophy doesn't rationally connect the warped spew of the eventual mass murdering communist dictators to the source material. Jefferson is as much a genuine root cause for Ho Chi Minh as the dog was for Son of Sam.
A Ho was a real humanitarian. Has anyone ever asked Obama how many people in the colonies were put to death because they did not agree with the Declaration of Independence or the ratification of the US Constitution? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh
Two points -- 1) again, it is fruitloop position, to feel inspired to totalitarian mass murder by the founding of the US. Repeating it as though it wasn't Ho Chi Minh being a nutsack only serves to legitimize the intellectual fraud that there is a reasonable line between Enlightment/individualism/classical liberalism and Marxist authoritarian dictatorships that throw up prison camps the way we throw up Starbucks. 2) why illustrate it all? The Vietnamese guy didn't even talk about Ho Chi Minh, so it isn't like etiquette required he be praised at all. Do people go out of their way to talk about Hitler's warped inspirations with Angela Merkel? Or Stalin's with Putin?
Finding another kook to validate Ho Chi Minh's kookiness is not really all that compelling to me, but your mileage may vary.
Sometimes they are vastly simple -- to wit, having a kind word to say about any of history's communist dictators with a 10^6+ body count is raises a presumption that one is a kook. A very narrowly rebuttable presumption, perhaps, sometimes there are things one can say with irony or admiration in a very specific context (like Stalin's "not one step backward" order being pretty bamf), but a pretty strong presumption that one is a whacko if they see a communist revolutionary or communist dictator and say "hmm, I haven't said anything good about this guy in a while" and go with it.
actually---it was Obama praising Ho Chi Minh for Ho Chi Minh's praising our founding fathers. thing is, two bit(or more) dictators have been claiming to be inspired, or followers, etc of American founding fathers for decades---especially the two bit dictators in Central and South America---whether they were supported by GOP POTUS's or Dem POTUS's or both Also might care to remember that Liberia was established with the hopes of having a govt and nation such as ours Also remember that both U.S. and Haiti became nations at about the same time. and both had superb first president and similar form of govt. Sadly for Haiti the subsequent presidents of that country decided to become dictators(in the real sense as opposed to the BS cons spout about Obama) sadly cons still drink Fox koolaid
I'm saying Ho was responsible for butchering thousands of Vietnamese. For our President, as disgraceful as he may be, to in any way compare Ho with our founding fathers is par for the course.
Some people aren't large fans of Jefferson either, so I guess sympathy is in the eye of the beholder.
If you look at Ho's treatment of those who owned land in Viet Nam, then look at 0bama's vilification of the "fat cats" in the U.S., it sounds like 0bama was inspred by Ho.
Obama could spit in the face of some in this country and they would thank him from saving them from dying of thirst.
Wilson, FDR, Johnson, Carter and Obama all suck/ed. I told you all that Obama was a commie sympathizer. And he's a history flunky extraordinaire.


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Art House & International, Comedy, and Drama movie
< read all 10 reviewsThis winning film starts out with the premise that, contrary to popular belief, the world is full of love, not hatred. By watching the lives of 8 different pairs of people in London, England, some of the many different types of love are explored. There's platonic, seen in the relationship of an aging rock star and his manager, and puppy love, as a young boy develops a crush on a classmate. There's unrequited, when Mark's best friend marries the woman he wants for himself, and the specter of infidelity, when a husband's eye is caught by his secretary. Throw in a couple of cases of loving from a distance, and a junket to Milwaukee to hook up with some of those hot American girls, and there's all sorts of mistakes and magic going on. The finale, though relying heavily on coincidence, is fascinating as all the main characters are brought together at a school Christmas pageant. No deep philosophy here, just good, engaging entertainment provided by a stellar cast and witty director/writer. A bit too racy for children.
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Hoeseshoe cowboy collectable made from recycled metal. Anyone raised on a farm or ranch can identify with this guy.
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