REALITY CHECK by ST

Lot being made of the Arizona State performance at Madison this past weekend in pushing the #11 Badgers to the brink and nearly forcing overtime. Not denying that, it was a heck of an effort on the road at a very difficult venue. The fact remains their defense did not play exceptionally well and coughed up a ton of yards but on a couple of occasions the Badgers didn't finish drives and settled for field goals. That said, let's not forget the ASU defense did pretty well at Autzen last season against the Duck attack holding them to about 330 total yards of offense. Oregon put up 44 points but did benefit from a couple of short field following an interception and bad punt coupled with a nice return. It was really the U of O defense that carried the day holding ASU to barely over 200 total yards and stuffing them to the tune of just 2.2 per rush. The big ex-factor Saturday is this one is in Tempe as opposed to Eugene.
Was watching the Saints and 49ers last night and Reggie Bush went down with a broken fibula. Bush has not been the same dominant pro as we saw at SC but he's an important member of that offense. His mere presence calls for accountability by the opposing defense because of his speed & explosive nature, plus he's a dangerous punt returner. I still say Frisco wins the West because they outplayed the champs last night but simply could not get out of their own way with some crippling turnovers. Plus they play in the garbage NFC West with the awful Rams, Seahawks and the very shaky Cardinals.
How about Braylon Edwards of the Jets getting popped for a DUI scoring about double New York's legal limit. Guy is on the back end of a 40-million dollar contract and the team has a program in place where the owner will pick up the tab for a car service if the player has hoisted a few too many. That is arrogance and idiocy beyond the average spoiled jock. Throw in the fact Edwards was involved in an assault last October and got flagged for a stupid taunting penalty in this past Sunday's win over New England, he might need to sit in the corner for a while a think about what he's done! What a freaking soap opera.