1) The NCAA hates Nick Saban: I can't think of any other reason for the continued disrespect of this incredible team. Florida is gift wrapped a win thanks to homer calls from incompetent SEC referees (to be discussed later), Texas looks flat and uninspired against a deflated Oklahoma team, USC takes a page out of the Minnesota Vikings playbook and gives up in the fourth quarter, Virginia Tech loses to a team without an passing game, and Miami looks less than impressive against a terrible UCF team. Meanwhile, in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide absolutely dismantle a South Carolina team that is better than most people think, and it is largely glossed over.
Why? You've got me.
Need proof that the BCS is either horribly flawed, or a total joke; Florida has beaten one ranked team and is nearly .040 percentage points ahead of Alabama, a team with 3 ranked wins in 7 games. The only thing keeping me from jumping into the "total joke" camp is the fact that there is no other team within .060 percentage points of either of these teams. Clearly Florida and Alabama are the best two teams in the country, but the problem is they're no longer interchangeable as most people believe. At this point in the season, Alabama is without question the number one team in the nation. Get that "their the champs until someone beats them" argument out of here. This isn't boxing, it's college football. New year, new teams, new number 1. The Tide have better wins and have looked better in their wins, simple as that.
Watching Alabama play, I keep having this thought that they are a Big 10 team trapped in the SEC. Not a bad thing, just a stylistic observation. Looking at the SEC, the top teams usually step on the field with a high octane offense and an athletic defense that can fly around the field an threaten a pick-six on every throw. Alabama is a different kind of monster in the SEC. Yes, they can punish you for making a bad throw, but it's usually the result of their front seven being dominant to a point where the offense has to try and force passes down field. No one will ever accuse the Tide's offense of being explosive, but make no mistake, they have playmakers everywhere and can put up some serious points.
The problem with Top 25 pollsters is that often times they get blown away by statistics and don't really take into consideration how games play out. Alabama beat South Carolina 20-6, and that's about the extent of knowledge a pollster needs when making up their Top 25. Sure, I have absolutely no proof of this, but it's the only logical conclusion I can make when the polls continue to have the Gators at #1. The score of the game was 20-6, but really that game was nowhere near as close as the score indicates. Alabama totally dominated the Gamecocks on both sides of the ball, but apparently that has little or no bearing on their ranking. Florida gets soundly outplayed by a brutal Arkansas team, but holds on to their top spot because "a win is a win".
Final score doesn't mean everything. When voters figure that out, I can stop wasting time complaining about the best team in a conference sitting behind the second best team in the national polls.
2) OK, one more point on Alabama...: Mark Ingram is a freak. The big questions going into this season were if Alabama would be able to replace John Parker Wilson at QB, and if losing Glen Coffee would allow defenses to key in on the new play caller. Well, so far they've answered with a "kinda" and "not at all". Nothing helps a new QB get his bearings than having the option to hand the ball off to a stud running back and piggy-back a passing attack off him. That is exactly what Ingram was brought to Alabama this season. Not only has he opened up the passing game for the Tide by forcing teams to stack the box to stop him, he has the ability to beat an 8 man front and break away if he gets the edge. 245 yards against a Steve Spurrier defense should be a red flag for every team that they need to know where Ingram is at all times. With most of the top Heisman candidates floundering, this sophomore might just sneak up and steal it away if he keeps playing like he has.
3) "The Sweater Vest" may be in a bit of trouble in Columbus: Update on the "Who Wants to be the Next Bob Stoops" competition. After actually showing some heart and fight against USC, Charlie Weis slips to second in the standings. That leaves you Coach Tressel; congrats for being the leader at midway point of the season. No, Purdue isn't a big game, but you still lost to a team that was badly over matched, ala Bob Stoops. A great comment was made in the weekly live chat hosted by Rivals.com by one of their analysts. In regards to Terrelle Pryor and his 4 turnover implosion against the Boilermakers, a remark was made that Pryor is Troy Smith in Vince Young clothes. I thought about that line for a moment, then basically said yeah, that's accurate. The Buckeyes quarterback is built the Texas standout/Tennesee disaster, but has the Troy Smith problem of not knowing what kind of QB he is. Yes he can run the ball effectively, but his throwing mechanics are simply awful. Even on the TD pass he threw, the pass was off balance and off of his back foot. If Tressell can't figure out how to fix his QB and turn his program around, expect the calls for his head to only get louder.
4) The South Eastern Conference: Where referees decide the game, not the teams: Thank you SEC for providing more fuel to my fiery hatred of over involved referees. We have a new clubhouse leader for garbage ref crew of the year with the Arkansas-Florida crew topping the LSU-Georgia squad by wide margins. Oh wait, no we don't, because it was THE SAME CREW! If anyone can provide a logical explaination as to why these people are allowed to be in charge of these games, I'll give you a cookie. Rather than ramble on about how bad the judgment of these fine individuals was, I'll let the visuals do the talking for me. Huge ups to Michael David Smith from Fanhouse.com for compiling the evidence. Here's the multi-video link. Nice work, gentlemen.
5) The New Orleans Saints; the best team in football: And really, it's not even close. Drew Brees and company completely dominated the best statistical defense in the league, and Eli Manning was made to look middle of the road against an ever improving defense. Seven TD's by seven different players doesn't just scream "Drew Brees for MVP", it screams well balanced offensive attack. And if any team thinks they're going into the Superdome and winning a game against this team now, let alone the playoffs, they're in for a rude awakening. Other than maybe Jets fans at the Meadowlands, there is probably no other stadium that gives it's team a college football like home field advantage like the Superdome. If the Saints play the rest of the season the way they played the first 1/3, the Patriots of '07 may have some company in the record books.
6) I hate the Baltimore Ravens: Why? I think we all know why. Because of their lack of a experienced kicker, everyone in America will be treated to another week of Favre worship. Let's get a few things straight about this game; the missed FG was a bigger play than Favre's pass to Sidney Rice (who was covered all day by scrubs at defensive back), and 6-0 is incredibly deceptive.
Remember what I said earlier, stats aren't everything. Yes, the Vikings are 6-0, but they are the least impressive of the undefeated teams. My awful break-up with Brett Favre has absolutely nothing to do with this observation either. I say this because Minnesota pulled a "USC vs. Notre Dame" against the Ravens, and have done so in every other game as well. Define pull a USC: To have another team completely dominated and on the verge of defeat before taking a foot off the opponents throat and allowing them back in the game. Six games into the season, and Minnesota has still yet to play an entire four quarters of football. Baltimore was out of the game in the fourth quarter, and the Vikings played exactly like they were. 3 TD's later, they're behind and wondering what happened. If there was any justice in the world, they would have lost that game simply so the team could learn a lesson. You never kick a man when he's down, except in football where you dance on the downed man until the song is over.
A quick note: Before you simply want to hand Jared Allen the Defensive POTY, take a look at the left tackles that he has gone against this season. Call me crazy, but smoking Daryn Colledge, Micheal Oher, and Joe Thomas off the edge isn't all that impressive. Last I checked we don't award incredible praise to people for doing exactly what they're paid to do. Don't get it twisted; Michael Oher keeping Allen away from Flacco in the 4th quarter is a lot more impressive than Allen beating Oher in the three quarters before that. Blow by Max Starks this weekend in Pittsburgh, then we'll talk.
7) The Titans quit, plain and simple: Give props the the Patriots, who finally look like they're back to playing the way they're supposed to. But, to say anything other than the Titans quit in the first half of that game is overstating Tom Brady and company's performance. Even in the snow, Tennesee looked like they're were moving in slow motion. The conditions didn't seem to slow down New England, so that leaves only one logical conclusion; they quit. You would hope that a team that went 13-and-3 last season would have enough pride to at least lay some punishing, but legal, hits on the Pats when they were clearly running up the score. Nope, they packed it in and watched the scoreboard light up drive after drive. If this keeps up, not only Jeff Fisher be out of a job, every owner in the NFL will be bankrupt from the cost of having to change the score every 90 seconds. Think about it; the electric bills will be through the roof.
8) Update: Derek Anderson still sucks: In regards to my post last week, I have now been vindicated in my reasoning that JaMarcus Russell is better than Derek Anderson. Easy logic: Raiders beat Eagles, 2-4 overall. Browns lose to Steelers, 1-5 overall. Conclussion: Anderson is garbage. One more time this week everyone; final score isn't everything. The Browns kept the game against Pittsburgh "close", but really it wasn't. If the Steelers didn't decide to re-enact the dreadful first 5 minutes of the Syracuse-South Florida game in the third quarter, the game would have been a blowout. But alas, to properly recreate the wonderful pageantry of the Orange and Bulls, it takes two willing participants. That's where Mr. Anderson comes in to play.
First the good things he did. He threw a 1 yard TD.
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OK, now that we have that out of the way, here's where he sucked. Anderson completed 38 percent of his passes (wow), passed for 122 yards (cool) and turned the ball over 3 times (incredible). It's called karma Coach Mangini; that's what you get for naming your kid after Brett Favre. For that idiotic decision, you will be forever haunted by inconsistent (non-existant, whatever) QB play wherever you go.
Just curious coach, does your son like waffles?
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