1. LSU and Georgia played an absolute classic of a football game limited only by the clock. In years gone by, and in a land known previously as the Pac10, this would be proof of the overall weakness of the conference. In the SEC, it shows their diversity. Whatever you buy into, I'd watch that game again and again. The officials were terrible though. 2. Ohio State. Still rolling. I can not think of a way they aren't unbeaten at the end of the regular season. 3. Hey, did you guys know that Iowa is 4-1? Neither did I, but I figured we needed more B1G talk that centered on something other than Ohio State's dominance. 4. Northern Illinois might be the 2nd best team in the B1G, if not for one little detail. 5. Alabama. I really can't think of a more 'Alabama' win than suffocating the media darlings into a sleeper hold and then slitting their throats just as you thought the Tide were going to let them up showing mercy. 6. Oregon. HOLY COW. It was raining buckets for both teams, but the Ducks just dismantled a Cal team that had been competitive with everyone on their schedule until last night. 7. Stanford. Home of the 9 man front. They continue to show flashes of explosion which is troubling and it gets real bad when they put little Barry Sanders on the field. That kid can hit the spin button. 8. Clemson and the ACC.. better than we thought? Let's revisit this at the end of October. 9. The Big12. I don't know either. 10. The firing of Lane Kiffin will bring joy to Knoxville and drama to the entire rest of the college football season. LA loves a good soap opera. 11. Notre Dame. I got nothing.. and it would appear, neither do they. 12. Washington continues to plow on. That's a good looking football team.
Earl Campbell said it's time for Mack to retire. "if players can get too old to play what about coaches?" . If you've lost Earl then you are done! Every year a MAC team has some pelts that make people think they are really ready to be a top team in some conference. Did you see that No.Illinois Orange Bowl game last year? They were awful. That QB who had had a Johnny Football like season was 15-41 and was running for his life. If the Peter Principle is that you rise to your level of incompetency then No. Ill made it. They'd be lucky to be .500 in the Big 1O. B12 is down this year no doubt, so pile on while you can. Oregon is awesome, again. Stanford is awesome, again. Will one of them actually get a chance at the BCS championship? It would be my dream to knock Stanford out of the BCS Championship, after they knock Oregon out, game in Palo Alto in the last game of the season. Pac12 does look strong and deep this year, give credit where credit is due.
Has Utah even sniffed a PAC 10 Title? Would Louisville make it through a season of SEC weekly tilts? ( yes Corey just for you I know they handled Florida....yada yada yada )... The point is.... Louisville at Georgia then at MissST and then taking on Florida three weeks in succession like LSU has to do. LSU has the talent and most importantly the depth to do it.... but Louisville? Same goes for NI in the Big Ten..... Wisky, Purdue and then maybe a game at Michigan just for kicks. They don't have the depth.
#2 Ohio State certainly looks like the best team in the B10 but will be tested next week in Evanston and on 11/30 in Ann Arbor. NW has a creative offense, are well coached, and has enough talent to pull off the upset. Re Michigan, even during the darkest days of the Rich Rod era, Michigan played Ohio tough in AA and I expect that pattern will remain the same this year. If Devin the Good-the QB who played against ND -- appears on 11/30, Michigan can beat Ohio despite Ohio's advantage in overall talent. If Devin the Bad--e.g. Akron and UConn -- shows up on the 30th, it is " Houston, we've got a problem" time. One other potential banana peel is Illinois who is playing better football this year and get the Buckeyes at home. Illinois has been a historical thorn for the Bucks. You might recall a few years ago when Juiice Williams led a pretty pedestrian Illini team into Coulumbus and defeated an unbeaten OSU team in November. Every decade they have shown an ability to pull a rabbit out of the hat against OSU and might be due to pull off Houdini feat this year. The Wisky OSU game was an evenly played one with the difference being Wisconsin giving away points due to penalties and a missed FG. Not ready to anoint them unbeaten champ status just yet. Clearly, they look to be the best in a Lilliputian B10 but face tests in the future.
Georgia-LSU, glad I have DVR. I DVR'd several games this weekend including this one and the Gator Game. However I was so into Georgia and LSU that I watched it to conclusion then tuned in the Gator game. I was able to go to the DVR in process of that game and start from the beginning. I was a half hour behind, but by the end of halftime I was caught up and watched the rest of the game live. Lane Kiffin, I won't miss him one bit. Ohio State, If they make it through the whole season unbeaten then they will have one of the longest winning streaks in quite some time. I think they lose a game. Next week the Gators play Arkansas, then a week off and LSU. I will have a better feel for how good or not good the Gators are. Right now I think we are good enough on defense to be in all our games. However our offense has been suspect. I do like what this QB, Tyler Murphy, has brought to the table. Mack Brown, it's a shame when guys hang on to long and usually doesn't end well ala Bobby Bowden and Jo Pa. Of course Jo Pa had something other than being old to detract from his legacy. I also agree about the MAC team and others of that level getting into major bowl games, that seldom ends well either.
Northern Illinois is 2-0 vs the B1G this year. I'm sure as far as they are concerned, you can keep that murderers row coming. Who mentioned Utah?!?! Dave is the King of nonsensical straw men. I think Terry has a strong point about losing Earl Campbell. Dave can preach all he wants about 'running the gauntlet' and it's possible Louisville gets picked off and loses 1. That puts them right there with the SEC elite.. I'm sure that isn't what Dave wanted to hear. Also, the Lou would hang 70 on Miss State. They'd have a shootout with Georgia and we have already seen what they did to Florida when Florida had a better offense than the one they have this year.. So.. yeah, maybe it's YOU that would be up against the grind. Bobda: I agree with you entirely. If Devin 'the good QB' plays, Michigan can win. Has anyone seen that dude since the ND game? Lane Kiffin got fired. Not adding anything, it's just fun to say. Bill, enjoy that LSU/UGa game. It's a treat.
I love the David vs Goliath theme in college football it always adds something to the season. That No. Illinois has beaten Iowa and Purdue is great for them, but you can hardly just assume that they would be one of the top 3 or 4 B1G teams this year or any year were they in the Big 10. Boise State has my respect ever siince they pulled that magical upset of Oklahoma, Utah is a solid program, TCU is a solid program. Yet as Utah has shown since joining the Pac12 that being that team that can pull the upset over a Goliath and being a top team in a BCS conference are two different things. Those 3 teams are well coached and develop players from the left overs of the big teams they face in recruiting. Petersen, Whittingham, and Gary Patterson are all in the top 10 of coaches IMHO. It's just out coaching teams with more talent week in and week out is a tough gig.
Oh and I want to know how I've offended the football gods to be stuck in QB hell with all my teams. Irish...Tommy Rees, good kid, true ND man, but not the guy we need at QB. He has done everything asked of him, but too much is asked of him. Nobody behind him who we can root for save us. Mobile QB who is a true freshman and not even close to being ready. Texas...David Ash, another good kid, student, etc who is not up to the standards set by his predecessors. He's more mobile than Rees, but is just an average QB at best. Nobody behind him who fans can root for to save us, mobile QB who is a freshman who is in no way ready to save us. Texans...Matt Schaub, as immobile as Tommy Rees, does not have a strong arm when compared to other top NFL QB's. Is prone to getting sacked due to lack of escapability and has the propensity for throwing the critical Pick Six at the worst moment. Nobody behind him in the pipleline that the fans can hope will supplant him as the starter. We are stuck with him. Why me lord!
I maintain that it does matter greatly who you play week in and week out in CFB. I watched several players on both sides of the ball in Ga-LSU go down with injury and in the SEC you don't catch many breaks where you can rest or rehab injured players while playing inferior players in their place. I do not believe that Louisville has the depth to withstand an SEC schedule and go unbeaten.... either physically and/or mentally as well. Now if Charlie Strong can go several years running of bringing in top talent he might get to that level physically..... but they had better be ready to bring it every single Saturday mentally as well...... not just in a high profile bowl game where they have had weeks to prepare and where the other team has taken them lightly for probably all of those weeks. Hey.... wait a minute..... that sounds vaguely familiar..... oops! :wink:
Wait a minute as I walk around the still smoldering dumpster fire, cough, cough... Doesn't your description say a lot about any team that takes a team lightly in this college football era from the coaching to the players...? It doesn't describe a championship caliber team..? I just don't buy into the holy grail of the SEC being superior to the point that other conferences are after thoughts. We went through a period where that was indeed true but we are on the cusp of transition in where the Pac12 and to somewhat the ACC by matter of head to head competition is showing its not true. We may see Oregon play Ohio St for all the marbles this season or throw in Stanford or Clemson and others. After defeating Kentucky for the 26th consecutive time tell me with a straight face of the grueling week to week schedule...Just look at Texas A & M and what they have done in SEC play since joining. 2-3 years ago they would have been looked down upon by the SEC faithful as just another school that could not compete with us.
Ask Scott.... last year Texas A&M had arguably one their best teams in their history.... had a phenom as a Heisman winner.... a hot coach.... and still couldn't finish higher than third in SEC West. Ask Scott when he thinks A&M will be sauntering in to Atlanta as the champ. Louisville is a great team.... I respect them.... their Qb.... their coach..... but certainly I do not respect their conference or their schedule. Remember..... I am talking about Louisville now.... and I threw in Utah and the old WAC.... not Miami and the new and possibly improved ACC. Look.... UF is probably no better than the 5th best team in the SEC and if not for the redzone pick and some other blunders they would have beaten Miami.... so beating UF is certainly a great win but it doesn't stamp the ACC with greatness.
I get that part Dave, if you look I have not made much noise after our win because its not really deserved. We won and it was great as a Cane fan but it tells me nothing on where we are as a team because the game was so fugly and the Gators are not a good measuring stick this year. But the fact is other confrences are off to great starts with heisman hopefuls of there own and if the testing board is the SEC then folks who only acknowledge the SEC need to take notice and appreciation. Just as those of us have appreciated what the SEC has done for years.
Ralph....it was a very good win.... very satisfying I'm sure and well deserved. You're right though in that it doesn't tell you where Miami is as an improved team. I do think Clemson and FSU appear to be worthy of national consideration and those two teams will tell you how far the Canes have come or how far they have to go. I think either UF or Miami would be 12 to 14 point underdogs to each. The ACC is good enough of a conference this year in my opinion that mediocre play..... or a down week can get you beat even if you're a top team.... so it makes winning the conference with an unbeaten record a very tough task.
Ky was definitely the easiest SEC game this year... but it was at Ky and it's not a friendly place to play. Tim Tebow got his season changing concussion there in 2009 on a physical hit. It's the SEC..... still.
Ok, case in point...It was played in Kentucky it's the SEC still...EXACTLY what we are saying. Yes it is in the SEC but you have WON 26 times in a row, that is incredible..Not the slug fest, beat down, game of the week for CBS event. This only supports our statement that NOT every SEC game is a gruel fest. Does it take it's toll on having to play them up there and do injuries happen, absolutely. But the same can be said of all games in any conference. You are from Tampa, we just traveled to USF on Saturday and won convincingly. Almost all their players are from the state of Florida where football is king and recruiting coaches as thick as sand gnats at the beach... Stephen Morris and Duke Johnson were hurt playing USF, Morris complained of USF players punching him under the pile specifically where he has a bruised shin bone. USF may not be a great team but it still takes its toll on your team. They have players that play at a high level of skill from an area where they played against UF, FSU and UM players. And I did not see any fans offering sweet tea and cookies to the Cane team so they probably aren't too friendly to them either...
I've heard that Baylor has not had a single 3 and out this year...yet. Of course they have been playing a weak schedule, but still that's pretty impressive. Oh and I just heard that Deloss Dodds has announced his retirement. Mack you are on the clock now!