Joel Buchsbaum's college notepad
By Joel Buchsbaum, Contributing editor
As published in print Nov. 19, 2001
|
| The reasons for Florida State’s collapse this year are multiple.
Perhaps the biggest is on defense, where the Seminoles have always had superior
pass-rushing talent at defensive end and top cover corners. Now, those are the two weakest
areas of their defense, and teams are regularly exploiting them. Other factors are the
Seminoles’ lack of experience at the QB position and the number of injuries
they’ve had. The Seminoles probably have had more injuries this year than Bobby
Bowden has had in any of the past 15 years. … The key matchup in the
Miami-Syracuse game was supposed to be Dwight Freeney, the great
defensive end for the Orangemen, against Bryant McKinnie, Miami’s
great left offensive tackle. McKinnie totally buried Freeney and, in the process, may have
buried Freeney’s chances of getting some of the country’s defensive awards at
the end of the year. McKinnie also may have knocked Freeney’s draft stock down
somewhat. The problem Freeney had is that he obviously had a tremendous size disadvantage,
and he likes to spin inside big tackles, but McKinnie has such a huge wingspan that
Freeney couldn’t do it effectively. ... Georgia finally decided to put FB Verron
Haynes at tailback last week, giving him his first start there, and all Haynes
did was respond with a 192-yard, two-TD performance. Haynes isn’t a fast back, but he
is a tough back who runs with with good vision and good balance. He could be a swing back
in the NFL next year. |
|
 |
The Archives
2001 - 2002 Season |
| Online writers
— features and columns by our PFW staff, columnists, national correspondent, AFC
reporters, NFC reporters and contributing writers |
| College football
— articles, college notepad, key college game previews, PFW's college top 10,
Scouting Combine, Senior Bowl, top 25 predictions |
| Fantasy football
— articles, injury reports, weekly fantasy tips, weekly matchups, The Fantasy Doctor,
"In our opinion" daily fantasy columns, Fantasy spins |
| Free-agency
— news and notes, updates and features |
| General features
— Internet features, features from our print edition, MVP meter, Rookie meter, They
said it, team reports, training camp reports |
| Handicapper's
Corner — staff selections, games of the week, PFW Players of the Week, NFL
standings, weekly handicapping columns, predictions, trends, tips and timely stats |
| "In our
opinion" daily columns — opinions on general football topics |
| "PFW spins"
— short-takes on current events |
| Joel
Buchsbaum — college player evaluations, NFL player analysis, NFL draft coverage,
NFL notepad, NFList, college game previews and other NFL articles by PFW's contributing
editor |
| NFL Draft —
player evaluations, printouts, feature stories, commentaries, draft recaps |
| Ron
Pollack — articles and commentary by PFW's editor-in-chief |
| Season in
review — the 2001-2002 NFL season |
|
