Wake-Up Call: Kings, Ducks, BCS, Rick Neuheisel, Charles Barkley
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First things first: What a game! No, not Florida’s 24-14 victory over Oklahoma (come on, it’s a Stoops team so losing should be no surprise). I’m talking the Kings’ 4-3 victory over the Ducks. Seeing the Ducks’ Bobby Ryan get a hat trick was a shock (maybe even to him) but he should savor it because so many people thought his potential might never surface. Yet the best part was seeing Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Wayne Simmonds and Alexander Frolov all scoring. And Jonathan Quick looked good in net for the Kings except for maybe the hat-trick goal. And hats off to Bob Miller, the voice of the Kings, who treated Bobby Ryan’s third goal as if the Duck were a King. So did radio play-by-play man Nick Nickson, heard on the video above.
Add Kings 1: Defenseman Drew Doughty and goaltender Erik Ersberg have been selected to participate in the YoungStars event as part of the 2009 NHL All-Star Weekend. Yet Jonathan Quick’s numbers are far better. In 19 games, Ersberg has a 2.36 goals-against average and .904 save percentage, while Quick in eight games has a 1.78 GAA and .936 save percentage. But how amazing is that? The Kings have two good goalies. Helene Elliott will weigh in on this later on Fab Forum.
Add Kings 2: Doughty, picked No. 2 overall in the 2008 entry draft, on Monday will face the guy who was picked No. 1 overall in that draft: Steve Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The final vote: Thank you all for voting in the three college football pols, asking whether USC could and would beat Texas, Oklahoma and Florida. Well, after seeing Sam Bradford fall apart when he finally faced a defense that was in his face, imagine what USC would do to him. And Texas, well, Colt McCoy certainly was heroic in the Fiesta Bowl. But what about a USC-Florida matchup? It would be a great game. Poor Utah gets ignored despite a perfect season, and they probably could beat Oklahoma and Texas. But Utah’s schedule, like USC’s, didn’t help them when it came to the BCS. Yes, a real playoff system would be good. The final tally:
Could USC beat Texas: 170 said yes and 18 said no.
Could USC beat Oklahoma: 171 said yes and 23 said no.
Could USC beat Florida: 173 said yes and 33 said no.
Ranking ‘em: UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel was on the Dan Patrick show today and talked about ranking college quarterbacks for the NFL, among other things. When asked to name the best college football team, he said ‘I voted for Florida, which is the coaches’ agreement,’ meaning he had to. But he praised the Gators’ defense in last night’s game. When pressed about being forced to vote for Florida because of the BCS rules, Neuheisel said, ‘I agree that that’s a little goofy’ and admitted playoffs would be the solution. Asked if USC could beat Texas, Neuheisel said yes -- because of the defense.
Barkley update: Word is just in that test results show former NBA star Charles Barkley was legally drunk when police arrested him Dec. 31 on suspicion of drunken driving in Scottsdale. The test released today showed Barkley had a blood-alcohol level at .149, nearly twice the legal limit of .08 in Arizona. TNT’s studio show, which lives and dies with the lively Barkley, may have to adjust quickly. Stay tuned for more coverage on latimes.com/sports.
-- Debbie Goffa