SJS College Football Extravaganza
Guest Commentary

The Browbeater's Beat Labor Day has arrived, and one victory has not been decided. The SJS picks tournament participants are still awaiting the outcome of the Arizona Sun Devils Vs the Texas Tech red raiders. This game is special to me, since I will have a perfect week if the Red Raiders win. Therefore, with the impending chance of having a perfect week, I have decided to write the second installment of Brow Beaters Beat. First on my hit list is our very own Steven J. St. John. AKA: Webmaestro. In his Jackassed commentary Steve states that there were three unfathomable referee blunders. When in reality, there were two huge Notre Dame blunders. First, the excessive celebration penalty was an accurate assessment as " It was just something personal," Brown, a senior, said. "I thought because I did it quick, he (the official) wouldn't see it. It was pure excitement." The second huge blunder was two downs later after the kick off from the 20-yard line. After a 15-yard pick up by Michigan's Shawn Thompson the yardage was graciously doubled by a late hit by Ron Israel of Notre Dame. Therefore, was it the referee's fault, or was Notre Dame pushing its own self-destruct button? Webmaestro Rebuts 1. I concede the point to the honorable Browbeater. The celebration rule, upon reflection, was accurately enforced. To wit, Rule HTJ-1 reads "In the event that an offensive player scores a touchdown and does not immediately send an apology to the opposing team, he shall be penalized 15 yards. If a defensive player makes a sack, a tackle for a loss, or indeed, a tackle at the end of a 20 yard gain by the offense, he may, in his judgement, declare himself the finest athlete on the face of the earth and may either spontaneously invent a new dance, or instead, perform a previously devised dance step, without incurring penalty." Thank you, Browbeater, I stand corrected. 2. On this point we must agree to disagree. Whether or not Anthony Thomas' knee scraped the high grass at the Big House is a judgement call, and the camera angles offered were not definitive on the point. Nonetheless, the appropriate official made the call, so there can be no disagreement that the spot was woefully incorrect. IF his knee was down, it was down near the three yard line. Considering Thomas did not even travel a full yard on his next carry, this was a critical blunder. 3. There is no way Thomas broke the plane of the goal line. His helmet certainly did, his shoulder probably did, but the football... no way. It may have eventually, but again, not before his knee was down. And unlike the previous play, there is no doubt it was down. Having dismissed the first referee blunder, the third blunder can be dismissed on the fact that the second blunder was truly a blown call by the refs. Anthony Thomas' first trip to the endzone should have been the only trip needed to score the touchdown. His knee wasn't in the down position to warrant a tackle, but the refs insisted on downing the ball at the one to make both teams happy, a redo in kindergarten terms. So Steve was Notre Dame truly Jackassed, or were they a product of their own Jackosity? Now On to ROBERT'S picks of the week Notre Dame has received so much press it is only fitting that they be previewed. Those drunken Irish may have lost but they still have some fight in them. Just as the drunken Irish man said to the proctologist "bottoms up". The best way to put it is that these Irish are going to be on a strict liquid diet of Boiler Makers on Saturday. Notre Dame has been taken down a notch, and they have to show the BCS that they are still capable of winning the rest of the season. The Irish QB Jarious Jackson looked good against Michigan, if they had another 30 seconds the headline would have read the Irish win. Jackson could not have been stopped on that last drive, luckily Michigan had time on their side. Purdue's Drew Brees threw for 273 yards and four touchdowns Saturday night at Purdue's home opener against Central Florida. Purdue returns18 starters which should increase their chances of having a winning season. Purdue may have a chance if Jarious Jackson take a seat on Saturday. However, I think this is vary unlikely. Purdue is going down. Moving down south to the ACC, we have Virginia going for its second conference win against Clemson in Death Valley. These two teams went in different directions when it came down to crunch time. Virginia's Todd Braverman kicked the winning 50-yard field goal to clinch the victory while the Tiger's defense curled up into a ball of yarn as the Thundering Herd rolled over them with 1:10 remaining in the game. With this in mind, Virginia has the edge in Saturday's game, as time will begin to expire and will give the Cavaliers the game since both teams looked to be equally matched. Both teams possess running games that warrant attention, with Clemson getting the upper hand from having Travis Zarchery return to the backfield, from were he started all 11 games for the Tigers last year, while the Tigers racked up 244 rushing yards without him. Rushing for 149 yards against North Carolina, Thomas Jones appears to be ready to add to that total as he ran for 118 yards last year against the Tigers. All in all, this game will most likely come down to the play of the quarterbacks to decide the winner of this game. This week I will have to go with Virginia.

DEPARTMENTS MAIN NCAA PAGE Picks Contest Rankings Commentary Boughter's Bluster 1999 Forecast Special Features Links ARCHIVES 1999 Season -->The browbeater's beat (ROBERT) [08.31.99] 1998 Season -->Rookie's picks of the week (ROBERT) [08.26.98] -->Preseason ruminations (Saint Daddy) [08.26.98]

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