As an avid fan of combat sports, if Kyle McCarthy doesn't get some consideration for knockout of year after his hit on D'Andre Goodwin, I'll be greatly disappointed. That said, time to rev up the Mark May hypocrisy machine for this week....
1)
Shhh, can you hear that?: It's the sound of Mayday slowly choking on a mix of humble pie and irony. Obviously ESPN needs someone to balance out Lou Holtz's unadulterated love of Notre Dame (which goes too for sometimes, and that's coming from an Irish fan), but Mark May's comments on College Gameday Final just added to an ever growing portfolio of ND bashing. Despite claiming that he holds no hatred for Notre Dame (an obvious lie), Mr. May claimed that after Notre Dame's 37-30 overtime win over Washington, the Irish have no chance against his beloved USC Trojans because they haven't played anyone good yet. Fun with logic time!
- Notre defeated Washington 37-30
- Washington defeated USC 16-13
Therefore...
"ND>Washington>USC", which means that
ND>>USC and at least has a chance to beat Pete Carroll's team.
Now I know using facts to develop an argument other than "ND sucks, Jimmy Clausen is overrated, USC rocks and Matt Barkley is the second coming John Elway" is difficult for Mayday, but it's pretty simple math. The Irish get USC at home, where the grass will probably be up around Barkley's ears come game time, and they're playing with a ton of confidence right now. If Jon Tenuta can get it through his head that 10 yard back-off zone coverage hardly ever works sometime before next Saturday, is it beyond the realm of plausibility that an extremely talented defense can stop a young USC offense?
I'm a realist, I don't expect Mark May to ever give ND credit when credit is due. The only thing I'm looking for is just a little bit of a level playing field when comparing the Irish to other teams. As a quick example, Mayday was quick to crush Golden Tate for his ill-advised helicopter leap from well outside the goal line. The crux of his argument against the Irish wide out was that nothing good ever happens when you leave your feet. Fast forward to USC-Cal highlights (we'll get into that mess later) where we see Joe McKnight and Taylor Mays both take flight towards the endzone, and May couldn't stop raving about their body control and football sense for staying up before getting the ball across the plane. FYI, Taylor Mays clearly stepped out of bounds and the TD should have been called back, which was glossed over by the Hall of Famer. Flash back to ND-Washington, it basically took everything he had not to start screaming about the injustice done to Huskies with the non-review of Robert Hughes two point conversion, where his knee was down before the ball made it into the endzone. Isn't consistency fun?
I already missed his reaction to USC losing to Washington this season, if ND can somehow pull the upset of the Trojans in 2 weeks, I don't care if I have to move heaven and Earth, I will have my eyes firmly fixated on Mark May's tear ducts in the aftermath. OK, end rant (for now)
2)
Alabama should be #2, or possibly #1, in the country: Ah, the unpopular practice of moving an unbeaten team down in rankings. Always an exercise that brings about an enormous amount of hate and conference favoritism accusations from hateful, conference elitists. Well, too bad, it needs to be done to properly recognize the Crimson Tide's success this season. And just so I'm not going to be accused of playing favorites towards the SEC and hating on the Big 12, I am all for putting 'Bama above both Florida and Texas at this point.
The reason for the change at the top: Why not? Realistically, the top 3 teams in the country are totally interchangeable at this point and an argument could be made for each team to be at the top of the polls. However, I don't know how you like your elite tier football programs, but I like to see them go outside of conference and play somebody of value. So far, Alabama is the only one to fulfill this criteria by taking on top 10 Virginia Tech, and as their season opener no less. Yes, they followed that game up with North Texas and FIU, but that one game against a opponent of worth puts the Tide one game ahead of both the Gators and the 'Horns. A definitive win over Ole Miss this weekend and anything less than a #2 ranking would be grounds for an NCAA investigation into their pollsters.
Just a heads up, I'm not the only one who thinks this way. Alabama got more first place votes (5) in the AP poll this week than Texas (1), so send the hate mail elsewhere.
3)
Thanks for showing up Cal, now kindly fade away (again): Is it too late for me to declare USC vs. Cal "Game of the Year ...On Paper"?
It is? Damn.
Seriously, thanks go out to the Golden Bears for leaving their offense somewhere in Minnesota and scoring a grand total of
6 points in their last 8 quarters of football. If anyone can name a squad that is mentally weaker than Cal, please enlighten me. Almost every year we read that
this is the year they get over the hump, wrestle the Pac-10 title away from USC and compete for a national title. Then they step on field and impress for a few weeks before laying a giant egg against the top, and sometimes mid-range, teams in conference. I wanted to believe in this team because Jahvid Best is easily a top 10 NFL prospect, and the team is loaded with upperclassmen on both sides of the ball. It's a shame they don't seem to preach mental toughness in Strawberry Canyon these days.
4)
Can we get some Wisconsin/Auburn love in the Top 25?: We're 5 weeks in to the college football season, and for some reason, Wisconsin still gets no love from Top 25 voters, despite being 5-0.
They play in the Big 10, the conference is awful, they haven't played anyone, they barely won in all of their games. Stop, just stop. The Badgers are 2-0 in conference, 5-0 overall, and deserve to be recognized for it, end of story. I defy anyone to give me a valid reason why Oklahoma, at 2-2, having lost both games they played against ranked opponents, is still in the Top 25 ahead of undefeated South Florida, Missouri, and Wisconsin.
Don't worry, I'll wait.
The Badgers aren't flashy; they play typical Big 10 football. They're going to bludgeon you with a power run game and wear you out in the trenches. Not super appealing any stretch of the imagination, but get over it and respect the results.
Also, will all the Gene Chizik haters please stand up. OK, everyone up? Good...now sit down and shut up. At what point will people, in all sports, realize that hiring a big name coach does not always translate to stellar results, and hiring a no-name is a sign of impending doom? It's true in every sport;
Wayne Gretzky - incredible player, huge name, disaster of a head coach
Chris Peterson - who? Oh yeah, the Boise State coach who beat OU in the Fiesta Bowl
Charlie Weis - decent results, atrocious in important games
Kyle Wittingham - Urban Meyer's successor at Utah, crushes Alabama in the Sugar Bowl
The list goes on and on. High profile doesn't always mean high win total.
It took 4 weeks, but Auburn finally got the recognition they deserved in the AP voting this week, and the Chizik naysayers have been silenced (at least for now). The Iron Bowl is going to be a fun one this season. A trip to the SEC and National Title game could be on the line.
5)
Are the Steelers *gasp!*, mentally weak?: Answer: Sort of. Two weeks in a row Pittsburgh has had a double digit lead in a game, and two weeks in a row they let it slip away late in the game. Lucky for the Steelers, the Chargers are just as weak (ask their GM, he'll tell you) and failed to finish the comeback. However, this could be a monster problem for the defending champs going forward. What makes, and keeps, teams successful is the ability to keep their foot on the gas from opening kickoff until the final whistle, with limited braking sprinkled in. Much like the Vikings, (who will be making their only appearance in the blog right now. You can thank ESPN and Jon Gruden's 24-hour Favre-a-palooza Monday for the exclusion.) the Steelers have a serious problem with playing a complete game. Rashard Mendenhall was terrorizing the Chargers the entire first half, and the defense made Philip Rivers look pedestrian, en route to a big lead at the half.
Then the champs got lazy.
A Chargers TD, then a fumbled kick-off leads to another TD and suddenly San Diego is right back in it. Mendenhall bailed the Steelers out with a score right back at them, but this game was nothing to be pleased with if you're a Steelers fan. Mike Tomlin might to get his player's heads right or else a return to the Super Bowl is completely out of the question.
6)
The Browns have quit on their season...already: With the trade of wide receiver/professional mason, Braylon Edwards, the Browns have raised the white flag only a quarter of the way through the season. Message to coach Mangini: Start updating your resume and calling up real estate agents, because you'll be out the door soon. Were we supposed to believe Mangini when he said that the team is deeper and is better set up for the future by trading Edwards now? I hate to be the one to have to break this down, but even with the dropped passes, Braylon Edwards
>>>>>Chansi Stuckey all day. Understanding this, you're telling us that Derek Anderson (or Brady Quinn, it doesn't really matter) is going to be more successful throwing to Mohamed Massaquoi, Joshua Cribbs and Stuckey on a week to week basis? Before you answer coach, let me tell you that any answer other than "no" will result in uncontrolable laughter.
That makes two high level position players the Browns have traded for very little since the end of last season. If that's Cleveland's recipe for success, we may have a challenger to the 08-09 Lions crown as "Worst Team in NFL History".
7)
New Orleans has a defense. Uh oh...: A follow up of sorts to last week's post. So...the Saints can carve you up with their passing game, beat you down with their run game, and now they can dominate you with defense? Could this finally be the year the Saints actually make a decent run in the playoffs? The game against the Giants this week should be an excellent barometer of their chance come January.
8)
About those Broncos, maybe they aren't so bad: Nothing really important to say here, just that I'm still not sure about this team. Are they actually good or is Dallas the most brutally overrated team in the NFL? As of right now, I'm at about 60-40 for the Cowboys being over hyped, but the gap is narrowing quickly. Thank you Brandon Marshall for rewarding my faith in you by embarrassing 5 Dallas defenders and sending 11 points my way.
