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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

National Picks


The crew's picks minus Tom Logan. Guest expert Elisha Cuthbert is filling in for Mr. Logan.

PW (48-30): Alabama, Florida, Oregon State, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Georgia Tech
JF (46-32): Alabama, Florida, Oregon State, Oklahoma, LSU, South Carolina
BT (44-34): Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Duke
JG (33-45): Auburn, Florida, Oregon State, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi State

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

More Trophy Madness


ESPN breaks down the Big Ten trophy games that take place this Saturday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=rivalryweek/bigtentrophygames

National Picks

This week's picks:

PW (44-28): Iowa, LSU, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, Oregon State
JF (42-30): Iowa, Ole Miss, Penn State, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa State
BT (42-30): Minnesota, LSU, Penn State, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Wyoming
TL (46-26): Iowa, LSU, Penn State, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Northwestern
JG (30-42): Minnesota, LSU, Penn State, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Washington State

This Week on Know Your Big 10 Trophies: Sweet Sioux Tomahawk



Tom Logan's sleeper pick this week-the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk game.


There's nothing better than a mediocre Big10 game for a trophy. That's exactly what we have when the Fightin' Ron Zookers (5-6) take on the semi-resurgent Northwestern Wildcats (8-3) on Saturday.


Actually, Northwestern has quietly put together a very nice season, sitting at 4-3 in conference and 8-3 overall. They are tied for 4th place in the Big10 with Iowa, and won the head to head matchup between those two teams in Iowa City earlier this year. Northwestern is headed for a warm-weather bowl, its just a question of which one. Depending on how everything shakes out over the next two weeks, NW could be headed to Florida for the Outback or Champs Sports Bowls. The big issue for bowl placement is whether the Big 10 gets 2 teams into the BCS.


On the other side of the coin, Illinois has been one of the conference's biggest disappointments coming off its Rose Bowl season last year. The team hasn't been able to recapture its magic from the run last year, and there are whispers in Urbana-Champaign that the Zooker may have maxed out last year.


Somehow, Illinois is favored in this game. Go figure. Logan's money's on the Cats...so we'll be rooting for the Illini. Go Zook.

New Show Posted

Know your SEC Trophy Games. Say wha????
Ok, last night on Razorpod we were clowning about having a trophy for the Miss. State-Arkansas game. Johnny Fayetteville suggested the "Hefty Sack of Claw Hammers." Good start, but we want some listener input as well. Send your thoughts to razorpod@sbcglobal.net.

Hot on the heels of last night's show, we ran across this interesting tidbit
on the internets. Seems like the student governments at Ole Miss and LSU have decided to call their matchup "The Magnolia Bowl" this year and into the future.


As we all know, you can't have a trophy game without the trophy. Behold the Magnolia Blossom:



This trophy was actually approved by Ole Miss and LSU administrations

Here's the question that should be on everyone's mind. This game is ALREADY A HUGE RIVALRY. Why do you need a trophy??? One that started in 2008? At least The Golden Boot was started because Arkansas was new to the SEC and wanted to create a rivalry.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Spotlight on A Sleeper Game-Meet Paul Bunyan's Axe

*Adapted from the University of Minnesota Athetics Site [commentary in red by Razorpod]*

The Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry is one of the most prestigious and anticipated series in the history of athletics. [ok, a bit of hyperbole there....just a bit] It’s the most-played rivalry in college football history [really??? Someone call the Elias Sports Bureau on that], and the annual winner takes home Paul Bunyan’s Axe.

At 117 games and counting, the series between Minnesota and Wisconsin ranks as the longest in Division 1-A football; and "Paul Bunyan’s Axe" has the history of one of college football’s fiercest rivalries emblazoned on its six-foot long handle. The first game in the series, a 63-0 Gopher victory in 1890, is printed on the handle near the axe’s head. The results of every successive game line the handle in red ink. There have been so many games that the scores scroll up and down the width of both sides of the handle, and school officials have now resorted to writing scores on the narrow edges of the six-foot shaft. By 1930, "Paul Bunyan’s Axe" wasn’t even created, although the rivalry had already reached feverish levels. The 1906 game was canceled by President Theodore Roosevelt, who had decided to cool off heated college football rivalries, because of injuries and deaths on the field. [That's TR for you, a cool headed guy if there ever was one...sheesh.] In 1914, Minnesota faced the Badgers for the Gophers’ first Homecoming game; likewise, Wisconsin hosted Minnesota for the Badgers’ first in 1919. Between the years 1923 and 1925, the teams battled to three straight ties. To symbolically capture the amazing atmosphere of the annual match-up, Dr. R.B. Fouch of Minneapolis fashioned a bacon slab out of black walnut to serve as the traveling trophy that he hoped would compare to the well-known "Little Brown Jug," which Minnesota and Michigan played for every year. The "Slab of Bacon," first played for in 1930, had a football carved on top inscribed with an "M" or "W", depending on how you held it. The idea was that the winning team would "bring home the bacon." [Oh, how I wish the "Slab of Bacon" still existed. Best. Trophy. Ever.] But in the early ’40s, the Slab of Bacon became the "Missing Slab of Bacon." Peg Watrous, who was the president of Wisconsin women students at the time, relates that she and her counterpart from Minnesota were to have a symbolic exchange after the game, whereby the trophy would be awarded to the winning team. Minnesota won, but in characteristic fashion, a postgame melee broke out on the field, with students and spectators running crazy over the field. Watrous couldn’t find her counterpart, and was left "holding the bacon," as it were. "I have no memory of what happened after that…The whole thing was a dud, as I feared it would be," Watrous remembered good-humoredly, "and someone in charge probably hid the bacon." But the two teams had to play for something [Big 10 bylaws apparently require it], so in 1948 the Wisconsin W Club instituted "Paul Bunyan’s Axe" as a trophy more befitting the grand rivalry between the two schools. The annual battles have survived so long that in the ’60s the teams started to print the games’ final scores smaller and smaller, scrunching the letters in order to avoid reaching the end of the axe’s shaft. [Will there ever be a replacement axe? Blasphemy!] But the series continued to roll, and the last game to be painted on the broad face of the handle was in 1980. The 25 subsequent games appear on the narrow side of the handle. The Slab of Bacon was back in the news in the summer of 1994, when the long-lost trophy was found after a Camp Randall Stadium storage room was cleaned out. Wisconsin officials estimated that it had been missing since 1945; yet the scores of every Wisconsin-Minnesota game from 1930-70 were printed on the back of the slab. It is one of those Twilight Zone-esque [Twilight Zone-esque? Is the only way to explain the missing Slab of Bacon to resort to the supernatural?] mysteries that remains unexplained, and contributes to the legend of Minnesota’s and Wisconsin’s "Border Battle" rivalry.

National Picks

The crew's national picks for this weekend's games:

PW - Miami, Maryland, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Minnesota
JF - Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Boston College
BT - Miami, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Washington
TL - Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Duke
JG - Miami, North Carolina, Texas, Auburn, Florida, Mississippi State

Season Standings:
1. Tom Logan 43-23
2. Patrick Williams 39-27
3. Johnny Fayetteville 38-28
Buford Tannen 38-28
5. Jimmy G 27-39

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Anatomy of a Backup Team

This time of year, as bowl hopes and dreams are made or destroyed, let's turn to a topic I think most college football fans can identify with. This is the concept of having a 'backup team' to root for when all hope is lost for your main, or primary, rooting interest.


I think most true college football fans-those of us who appreciate and love the sport as a whole-also have a backup or secondary team that they pull for. This is a team that you want to see win whenever possible. There's a ton of teams in college football, and its fun to have a rooting interest in more than one team on a particular college football Saturday.

Therefore, in honor of Iowa's victory of Penn State this past weekend, here are Patrick Williams' proposed rules for true backup teams:

1. It cannot be a team in the same conference as your primary team. You can't put yourself in the position to be compromised once a year when your primary and secondary teams play. Just don't do it.

2. You must have some connection with the backup team. Acceptable connections are:

(a) The pseudo-Alma Mater Rule. You personally attended that institution for some length of time (need not be a graduate). See e.g., JimmyG and Oklahoma.


(b) the Family Alma Mater Rule. An immediate family member (mother, father, sibling, child) is a graduate. Nothing more extended is allowed. See, e.g., Tom Logan and Florida, but also see violation of same conference as primary team rule.

(c) The Alma Mater state. Your backup school is the main (or one of the main) D-IA schools in the state in which you were born/currently reside. See, e.g., Patrick Williams and Iowa.

(d) The Game Attendance Rule (questionable). You attended, in person, a non-bowl game upon the campus of the backup institution and had a fan-frickin'-tastic time. This must be proven by written testimony and cool pictures, preferably supported by blood alcohol level reports taken at or immediately after gametime.

(e) The Hate Rule (also questionable). Your backup school may be the main rival of a school you hate.



3. Other connections will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but the following are NEVER acceptable under any circumstances:

(a) backup team based upon coolness of uniform;

(b) backup team based upon how good/awesome/buttkicking they have been historically or recently;

(c) backup team based upon coaching personality. Coaches change, now more than ever. Where will you be when your coach leaves for a better job or is canned?



If you have listened to Razorpod, you'll know some of our backup teams. These are pretty clear:

JimmyG=Oklahoma
Patrick Williams=Iowa
Tom Logan=Florida, but also see violation of the "team in same conference" rule
Johnny Fayetteville=???? Potentially T-Tech under 2.b. above
Buford Tannen=Notre Dame, but not sure if it qualifies under any of the rules above.



Guest Analysts:
Uncle Rico=????
Born Red=Arkansas, under the current resident rule (primary team=Nebraska)

Stat Boy=Tennessee, clear violation of same conference rule.


Give us your thoughts...something to pass the time during the off week!

Oh, and before I forget, suck it, PSU!



New Show Posted-Off Week Commentary

This week's show was done and posted early to allow for the work schedules of Buford and Tom Logan. Unfortunately, Johnny Fayetteville was not available for the early recording. Listen here.

Suffice to say, in the annals of Razorpod, there has never been a more cockeyed, disjointed, and generally poor show. The general disarray of the show completely reflects the Razorbacks 34-21 loss to South Carolina last Saturday. Anyway, we discuss Casey Dick's subpar performance, and all possible replacements: Nathan Dick, Alex Mortensen, Tyler Wilson, Ryan Mallett, Reggie Fish (not really)). Did Casey really have a concussion or is that a convenient excuse for Coach Petrino's yanking him out of the game in the 4th quarter in favor of his brother???

The most coherent discussion of the show is whether Willy Robinson will be back next year. Odds are no, according to the crew.

The national picks are a disaster. The games are bad, the picks are worse. When the sleeper games are the highlight of the show, you know things are bad. The stock market has nothing on Razorpod--Downward HO!

Your listener emails blasting us are completely justified. Bring the pain!


Friday, November 07, 2008

This week's show


Technical difficulties and newly-reenergized corporate firewalls (Die, Cisco, Die!) delayed this week's show, but its finally up and available heah. Welcome the full crew back to Studio JimmyG in a raucous reunion. Tulsa victory is discussed, dissected, and vomited back at Gus Malzahn. South Carolina game is analyzed, and the crew almost unanimously picks...Arkansas??? Wha???

Oh, and we have a huge BCS fight, coaching carousel talk, and everything else you've grown to love/hate/despise about Razorpod. Enjoy.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

BCS - November 5

The BCS outlook is much different this week after Texas Tech's victory over previously unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Texas. Texas Tech is now ranked second in the BCS with Alabama moving up to the top spot. If the season ended today, here are the most likely match-ups:

BCS National Championship Game: Texas Tech vs. Alabama
Orange Bowl: Maryland vs. West Virginia
Rose Bowl: Oregon State vs. Penn State
Sugar Bowl: USC vs. Florida
Fiesta Bowl: Utah vs. Texas

Remember, Oregon State holds the tie-breaker in the Pac-10 over USC at the moment.

Here what Razorpod predicts the BCS match-ups will be at the end of the season:

BCS National Championship Game: Florida vs. Penn State
Orange Bowl: Florida State vs. West Virginia
Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. USC
Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Alabama
Fiesta Bowl: Boise State vs. Texas

Studio Re-Opens


Lefty's excited! Are you? After a five week hiatus, the Studio is open for business on the second Saturday of November. The feature game is obviously the Hogs at South Carolina. Kickoff is set for high noon, and the game will be televised by ESPN Gameplan. The rest of the Saturday schedule is also ripe with great match-ups. Adult beverages will be the order of the day as we celebrate a return to the greatest private college football viewing scene in Hillcrest.

11:00 a.m. - Michigan at Minnesota (ESPN), Ohio State at Northwestern (ESPN2), Rutgers at Syracuse (ESPNU), Baylor at Texas (FSN), Wisconsin at Indiana (BTN), Purdue at Michigan State (BTN)

2:30 p.m. - Alabama at LSU (CBS), Penn State at Iowa (ABC), Oklahoma at Texas A&M (ABC), Clemson at Florida State (ABC), Stanford at Oregon (FSN), Virginia at Wake Forest (ESPNU)

7:00 p.m. - Oklahoma State at Texas Tech (ABC), California at USC (ABC), Notre Dame at Boston College (ESPN), Florida at Vanderbilt (ESPN2)

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Fulmer Out


Goodbye old friend. Tennessee head coach, Phil Fulmer, is out at the end of the season. His record over 17 years is 150-51 with 1 National Title, 2 SEC Titles, 5 SEC Championship Game appearances, and 15 bowl games (8-7 record). The man who begat the fat coaches fraternity will be put out to pasture by the Tennessee administration. Cheap jokes are readily available about what Fulmer will do with his newfound free time, but they will not be published on this esteemed blog. We wish our good friends from Tennessee nothing but the best in their coaching search, and it is with a tear in our eye that we gaze upon Fulmer one last time in his orange couture.