Another wild day of college football gave us a UGA blowout win at Baton Rouge, Penn State pretty much locking up an undefeated regular season, and the ACC becoming even more unpredictable. Here is how RSM sees the best teams in the country this week...
1. Texas
2. Alabama
3. Penn State
4. Oklahoma
5. UGA
6. Florida
7. Texas Tech
8. USC
9. Oklahoma St
10. Boise State
11. Utah
12. Missouri
13. Ohio State
14. Tulsa
15. Florida St
16. Ball St
17. Oregon
18. LSU
19. BYU
20. Maryland
21. UNC
22. Minnesota
23. South Florida
24. Michigan St
25. Georgia Tech
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Saturday Spotlight - UNC Tar Heels
The first installment of a spotlight on a particular team whose sport is in season. Today's team, by request, is the UNC Tar Heels...
The Heels currently sit at 5-2 and are 1-2 in the ACC. They could easily be 7-0, blowing a big 2nd half lead to VT and losing in OT to Virginia. The VT loss is the one that hurts the most, because with 2 division losses, UNC must win out and hope VT loses 2 more to win the division.
The season took somewhat of another downward spiral when QB TJ Yates was lost to injury and then Brandon Tate went down as well. Yates has been replaced (and pretty well at that) by Cam Sexton, but the Tate loss takes a big time playmaker off the sidelines. Tate could take it to the house at anytime, and Hakeem Nicks is on his own now as a receiving threat.
I think UNC takes care of BC today, setting up a pretty big game with GT next week. With NCSU and Duke still on the schedule, a couple of wins here could put UNC back on the map and give them an outside shot at a 9-3 season and a decent bowl.
Prediction: W vs BC, W vs GT, L at MD, W vs NCSU, W at Duke
That leaves UNC with a 9-3 season and a likely birth in the Chick-Fil-A bowl vs Ole Miss...
The Heels currently sit at 5-2 and are 1-2 in the ACC. They could easily be 7-0, blowing a big 2nd half lead to VT and losing in OT to Virginia. The VT loss is the one that hurts the most, because with 2 division losses, UNC must win out and hope VT loses 2 more to win the division.
The season took somewhat of another downward spiral when QB TJ Yates was lost to injury and then Brandon Tate went down as well. Yates has been replaced (and pretty well at that) by Cam Sexton, but the Tate loss takes a big time playmaker off the sidelines. Tate could take it to the house at anytime, and Hakeem Nicks is on his own now as a receiving threat.
I think UNC takes care of BC today, setting up a pretty big game with GT next week. With NCSU and Duke still on the schedule, a couple of wins here could put UNC back on the map and give them an outside shot at a 9-3 season and a decent bowl.
Prediction: W vs BC, W vs GT, L at MD, W vs NCSU, W at Duke
That leaves UNC with a 9-3 season and a likely birth in the Chick-Fil-A bowl vs Ole Miss...
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Best Conference Debate...
I hate writing on stuff like this, but I had a reader make a request so I must respond...
The Big 12 is the popular pick now as the top conference in college football and rightfully so...the Big 12 has 2 really good teams and more than a handful of outstanding quarterbacks - however, I still believe the SEC is the best conference - and, it is still not close...
I think the Big 12 and the SEC have 2 teams that are really, really good. But, Texas and Oklahoma are virtually cancelled out by Bama and Florida. At the nextlevel, the UGA-LSU-USC teams are much, much better than Texas Tech, Mizzou, and OK St. The fact that Ok St and TT are still considered top 10 is laughable. TT had to fight off a missed extra point to beat Nebraska at home...
That leaves the bottom 7 teams of each conference. Nebraska, A&M, and Kansas St have the tradition to warrant consideration - however, they are nowhere near the level of Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt. The bottom 5 of the SEC includes Tennessee and Auburn, and - all laughing aside - have a lot of talent and are waaay better than an Iowa State or Baylor. Auburn did lose to Big East power West Va at Morgantown, but Kansas also lost to South Florida - make sure you look at every team before making assumptions.
In a head to head, here is who I would pick...
Texas vs Bama - Tex
Oklahoma vs Fla - Fla
Missouri vs UGA - UGA
Texas Tech vs LSU - LSU
Oklahoma St vs USC - Ok St
Kansas vs Ole Miss - Kansas
Colorado vs Vandy - Vandy
Nebraska vs Auburn - Auburn
Kansas St vs Kentucky - Kentucky
Texas A&M vs Tennessee - Tennessee
Arkansas vs Iowa St - Iowa St
Miss St vs Baylor - Baylor
Not a total blowout, but clearly an SEC advantage...
The Big 12 is the popular pick now as the top conference in college football and rightfully so...the Big 12 has 2 really good teams and more than a handful of outstanding quarterbacks - however, I still believe the SEC is the best conference - and, it is still not close...
I think the Big 12 and the SEC have 2 teams that are really, really good. But, Texas and Oklahoma are virtually cancelled out by Bama and Florida. At the nextlevel, the UGA-LSU-USC teams are much, much better than Texas Tech, Mizzou, and OK St. The fact that Ok St and TT are still considered top 10 is laughable. TT had to fight off a missed extra point to beat Nebraska at home...
That leaves the bottom 7 teams of each conference. Nebraska, A&M, and Kansas St have the tradition to warrant consideration - however, they are nowhere near the level of Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt. The bottom 5 of the SEC includes Tennessee and Auburn, and - all laughing aside - have a lot of talent and are waaay better than an Iowa State or Baylor. Auburn did lose to Big East power West Va at Morgantown, but Kansas also lost to South Florida - make sure you look at every team before making assumptions.
In a head to head, here is who I would pick...
Texas vs Bama - Tex
Oklahoma vs Fla - Fla
Missouri vs UGA - UGA
Texas Tech vs LSU - LSU
Oklahoma St vs USC - Ok St
Kansas vs Ole Miss - Kansas
Colorado vs Vandy - Vandy
Nebraska vs Auburn - Auburn
Kansas St vs Kentucky - Kentucky
Texas A&M vs Tennessee - Tennessee
Arkansas vs Iowa St - Iowa St
Miss St vs Baylor - Baylor
Not a total blowout, but clearly an SEC advantage...
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Lets try this again...
Quite the day of upsets yesterday - the most surprising to me was the Texas victory over Oklahoma. The new polls today should look rather interesting, just keep your fingers crossed that Texas Tech is not rewarded for their OT victory at home against Nebraska. Here is my ballot for the week.
1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Penn State
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma State
7. USC
8. UGA
9. Missouri
10. Texas Tech
11. LSU
12. BYU
13. Ohio State
14. Utah
15. Michigan State
16. Virginia Tech
17. UNC
18. USF
19. Kansas
20. Boise State
21. Ball State
22. Vanderbilt
23. Wake Forest
24. South Carolina
25. Pittsburgh
1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Penn State
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma State
7. USC
8. UGA
9. Missouri
10. Texas Tech
11. LSU
12. BYU
13. Ohio State
14. Utah
15. Michigan State
16. Virginia Tech
17. UNC
18. USF
19. Kansas
20. Boise State
21. Ball State
22. Vanderbilt
23. Wake Forest
24. South Carolina
25. Pittsburgh
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Lets mix it up a bit...
Let's change things up a little bit today - bad Gameday signs, wedding that will cause me to miss some CFB today, meeting I have to go to in the middle of the Falcons game, etc. Lets talk some music: I have been trying to come up with some songs I don't have on the Ipod and need to download and got to thinking - What are your top 10 favorite rock songs of all-time? It's tough to narrow down - do you put any CCR on there? Or Allman Brothers? Here's what I came up with...
10) Bad Company - Bad Company
9) November Rain - Guns N Roses
8) The Ballad of Curtis Loew - Lynyrd Skynyrd
7) The Weight - The Band
6) Otherside - Red Hot Chili Peppers
5) Misty Mountain Top - Led Zeppelin
4) Beast of Burden - Rolling Stones
3) Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam
2) Over the Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin
1) Baba O'Riley - The Who
10) Bad Company - Bad Company
9) November Rain - Guns N Roses
8) The Ballad of Curtis Loew - Lynyrd Skynyrd
7) The Weight - The Band
6) Otherside - Red Hot Chili Peppers
5) Misty Mountain Top - Led Zeppelin
4) Beast of Burden - Rolling Stones
3) Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam
2) Over the Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin
1) Baba O'Riley - The Who
Sunday, October 5, 2008
College Football Thoughts...
A few thoughts after watching another Saturday of games...
The SEC is very balanced this year. So many good defenses requires strong quarterback play each week. All the low scoring, tight conference games this year were won by the team that got better quarterback play.
UGA 14 USC 7 - Smelley and Garcia rotated in and were ineffective most of the game. Stafford made the plays he needed to make to win the game
Vandy 14 Auburn 13 - Auburn's 2-QB system did not work again and Mackenzi Adams played extremely well in the 2nd half to lead Vandy to the win.
LSU 26 Auburn 21 - Jarrett Lee comes in relief and throws the game winning TD for the Bengal Tigers.
Auburn 14 Tennessee 12 - The only one of these games Auburn wins was due to the 8-23 passing effort of Jonathan Crompton.
With the exception of the 2 bottom feeders Arkansas and Miss St, it appears any team can win anywhere at anytime. Ole Miss was assumed to be a bottom dweller but won at Florida and was a last second FG away from also winning on the road against the best team in the ACC (Wake).
Right now, I would rank the SEC teams in this order:
1. Alabama
2. LSU
3. Georgia
4. Florida
5. Vandy
6. Auburn
7. Kentucky
8. South Carolina
9. Ole Miss
10.Tennessee
11.Miss St
12.Arkansas
Toughest team to figure out so far? Maryland. The Terps beat Cal at home and won at Clemson, but stumbled against Middle Tennessee and got blown out by Virginia. How does that happen? Speaking of Clemson, I will go ahead and go on record - Clemson will finish 6-6 and Tommy B will be employed for the holiday season.
It looks like the October 25th trip Penn State is taking to Columbus, OH will be for the conference title. If the national title game is between the Big 12 and SEC champs, would the Rose Bowl pick a USC-OSU rematch for their game? They always want Pac-10 vs Big-10, and if neither are in the BCS Championship game, we may get Part Deux.
Texas might be good enough to ruin the Oklahoma-Missouri Big 12 title game everyone wants to see. I watched a good bit of their game against Colorado last night and they are pretty dang good. Strong lines, good skill players, and McCoy looks better than ever. Red River Shootout should be a dandy next week. The winner of that game is in great shape to be in the title mix come December - the loser is looking at a best-case scenario Fiesta Bowl against the Utah-BYU winner. Ouch.
Georgia is back in action next week against Tennessee in Athens and needs to get some confidence back. UT is not a good match-up for the Dawgs because of their OL and DL. Hopefully, Nick Stephens 1st road start will produce a couple of turnovers and UGA can prepare for what would be a nationally significant game against Vandy. Wierd...
The SEC is very balanced this year. So many good defenses requires strong quarterback play each week. All the low scoring, tight conference games this year were won by the team that got better quarterback play.
UGA 14 USC 7 - Smelley and Garcia rotated in and were ineffective most of the game. Stafford made the plays he needed to make to win the game
Vandy 14 Auburn 13 - Auburn's 2-QB system did not work again and Mackenzi Adams played extremely well in the 2nd half to lead Vandy to the win.
LSU 26 Auburn 21 - Jarrett Lee comes in relief and throws the game winning TD for the Bengal Tigers.
Auburn 14 Tennessee 12 - The only one of these games Auburn wins was due to the 8-23 passing effort of Jonathan Crompton.
With the exception of the 2 bottom feeders Arkansas and Miss St, it appears any team can win anywhere at anytime. Ole Miss was assumed to be a bottom dweller but won at Florida and was a last second FG away from also winning on the road against the best team in the ACC (Wake).
Right now, I would rank the SEC teams in this order:
1. Alabama
2. LSU
3. Georgia
4. Florida
5. Vandy
6. Auburn
7. Kentucky
8. South Carolina
9. Ole Miss
10.Tennessee
11.Miss St
12.Arkansas
Toughest team to figure out so far? Maryland. The Terps beat Cal at home and won at Clemson, but stumbled against Middle Tennessee and got blown out by Virginia. How does that happen? Speaking of Clemson, I will go ahead and go on record - Clemson will finish 6-6 and Tommy B will be employed for the holiday season.
It looks like the October 25th trip Penn State is taking to Columbus, OH will be for the conference title. If the national title game is between the Big 12 and SEC champs, would the Rose Bowl pick a USC-OSU rematch for their game? They always want Pac-10 vs Big-10, and if neither are in the BCS Championship game, we may get Part Deux.
Texas might be good enough to ruin the Oklahoma-Missouri Big 12 title game everyone wants to see. I watched a good bit of their game against Colorado last night and they are pretty dang good. Strong lines, good skill players, and McCoy looks better than ever. Red River Shootout should be a dandy next week. The winner of that game is in great shape to be in the title mix come December - the loser is looking at a best-case scenario Fiesta Bowl against the Utah-BYU winner. Ouch.
Georgia is back in action next week against Tennessee in Athens and needs to get some confidence back. UT is not a good match-up for the Dawgs because of their OL and DL. Hopefully, Nick Stephens 1st road start will produce a couple of turnovers and UGA can prepare for what would be a nationally significant game against Vandy. Wierd...
How sweet it is...
A post-season in baseball without the Braves is hard to watch. The only thing that can make it interesting is rooting against teams and fans. We get the New York, Boston, and Chicago love-fest every year, so not having either NY team in the playoffs this year was extra sweet. The White Sox are going down soon, and I hope everyone stayed up last night to watch this sweetness...
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