2009 College Football

[WayAbvPar]

I couldn't figure out wtf Ole Miss was doing that high in the polls to begin with.

[Ingmar]

Man, another team ahead of Cal loses. Saturday is going to be so stressful. 

[Mortriden]

Man, another team ahead of Cal loses. Saturday is going to be so stressful. 

And you are playing in Autzen.  That's the only way we're going to make points.

Here's your formula to win: Make our shitty QB nervous.  Yeah!  You win!  I seriously dislike that assclown.  I do not understand Kelly's love with Musoli.

[Ingmar]

Yeah I know, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaate when we have to play in Autzen. Worst place in the entire conference to play on the road.

[Nevermore]

For years Bobby Bowden didn't want to schedule South Florida for fear that it would give credibility to the Bulls if we pulled off the win.  Florida State finally agreed to a home and home with the first game this year, so in the first ever Florida palindrome bowl USF travels up to Doak Campbell and with a freshman QB making his very first start we come away with a big win against FSU.  That 17-7 score actually makes the game look closer than it was.

This is the third year in a row we beat a ranked out of conference BCS opponent early in the year, and like before I expect USF to be ranked after this win.  We'll probably end up around 22 or 23 and may even sneak into the teens in the coming weeks before we inevitably go on a 3 or 4 game losing streak to conference opponents on our way to a thrilling postseason game in the PapaJohns Pizza Bowl.

[Abagadro]

To the extent that makes BYU look even worse, I approve.

[Sjofn]

Just getting my "what the fuck, Cal?" in early. 

[Rasix]

There goes the Pac 10.  I guess we get to enjoy killing another Big 10 team in the Rose Bowl.

[Abagadro]

Well Utah's squeaker loss to Oregon last week doesn't look quite so bad now. 

[Ingmar]

Someone replaced our offensive line and our entire defense with pod people.

[Paelos]

UGA looked like shit in the second half, gave the ballgame away, got it back, and won with a last second field goal. All this against an unranked PAC-10 opponent. Ugh.

On the high notes from yesterday here are some of my favorites:

1 - Tebow gets laid the fuck out, goes home in an ambulance with a concussion. I can't watch that hit enough times.
2 - Iowa proves yet again that Penn State are still overrated bitches coached by a fossil.
3 - Oregon just CRUSHES Cal, adding to the rotating door that is the top 10.
4 - In the top 10 - 4, 5, 6, and 9 all lose. Beyond 1-3 of Florida, Texas, Bama, I don't think anybody is an actual title contender or safe at their spot.

[SnakeCharmer]

That hit on Tebow was nasty.  

Bama has a free ride to the SEC title game.  Barring some major upset where the entire team just decides to not show up, there's not a realistic loss on their schedule.  The difference between this years team versus last years team really is that much.  They're good, man.  Scary good.  Losing Dont'e Hightower is going to hurt, but we've got enough horses that it really won't matter.  Trent Richardson is a god among mortals.  They have so many playmakers, it's just not fair.  The only real chink in Bama's armor is the kick off coverage.  

I don't know if you've seen them play, but wow, they're impressive.

Favorite picture thus far:

 

6'5, 360 lb's isn't supposed to be able to move like that.

[Paelos]

That hit on Tebow was nasty.  

Bama has a free ride to the SEC title game.  Barring some major upset where the entire team just decides to not show up, there's not a realistic loss on their schedule.

That's a pretty bold statement given the teams you've played thus far. You beat VA Tech convincingly, but that's your only real quality win. You still have to play Ole Miss on the road, who is nowhere near as bad as they looked at South Carolina, and you have to play LSU. Either one of those games could bite you realistically. Tennessee probably won't hurt you, but they played Florida pretty close and are still developing. Then there's always the Iron Bowl. Who knows if Auburn is any good? They are undefeated still.

[SnakeCharmer]

Auburn hasn't played anybody and their defense is really bad.  I mean, seriously bad.  
Ole Miss is overrated.  You know as well as I do, that despite the fact that The Right Reverend Houston Nutt is a great coach, his teams have a tendency to fold when they're expected to contend.
Same for LSU (who is going to get throttled by UGA and UF (assuming a healthy Tebow), possibly by Auburn).  They've risen to number 4 mostly because everyone else has lost (Ole Miss, OU, OSU, Penn State..who else?).  They've jut kinda fallen into that ranking.  
We play at Vaught Hemingway against Ole Miss, and at Bryant Denny for LSU, Tenn, and South Carolina.  Away for Auburn.
If Bama can get through the next 4 games without a loss, and without another significant injury, that puts them at 8-0 at the break.  Then it's LSU (home), Miss State (away), Chattanooga (homecoming), Auburn (away).  With the exception of the AU game, we've got every significant, tough game at home.  

THAT said, even though I do expect them to run the table, the Ole Miss and AU games do scare me the most.  TRRHN generally sneaks up and wins one he shouldn't, and despite what everyone says about a rivalry game, Auburn's offense is scoring alot of points (albiet on crap teams, but it's building confidence).  Plus it's Cheezenips first year, where things generally just kinda magically go right.

Edit:  I am worried about injuries this year though.  It seems, and maybe I'm being paranoid, but teams are doing alot of kneehunting against Alabama.  It's something I noticed first against VT, but chaulked it up to VT just being a dirty team (which they are).  But, it is something I've noticed and worry about long term (as far as the season goes, anyway).

[01101010]

I'd say regardless of the rest of the season, Miami going 3-1 thru that murderer's row of a front end schedule could be considered respectable (and yes, Bradford being out probably helped, but a win is a win)

and is it me or does LSU play just enough to win every weekend without making a scene?

[SnakeCharmer]

I don't know.  I felt like they were handed that game by the refs to some degree.  That was a bullshit excessive celebration on AJ Green.  Yeah, they turned around and gave it to the LSU RB that scored after UGA forgot how to tackle.  But still, that's two games UGA has had their momentum killed by bad penalties. 

I'm not convinced LSU is worthy of a #4 ranking.  We'll see in a few weeks though.

[01101010]

I'm not convinced LSU is worthy of a #4 ranking.  We'll see in a few weeks though.

i'd say one actually   

[SnakeCharmer]

Depends on if Tebow plays.

Speaking of, this was sent to me today:

Tebow making progress!

[CmdrSlack]

Man, I so totally hate living in western DuPage Co. When I was in Chicago, I could reliably go to our local version of The Houndstooth and catch the games. Now, I'm forced to read box scores for untelevised games. I'm just not gonna spend twenty-odd bucks on Gamecast to watch one game about which I care and ignore the rest. Add to that the fact that I don't think I can DVR the game on Gamecast (my Saturdays are busy), it just makes it a big bowl of "meh."

I'm so pissed that LSU beat UGA. I was hoping they'd lose and give Bama the #1 spot in the SEC West.

[Ingmar]

Pod people infection has definitely spread to our QB. SEND HELP.

[Hoax]

Man, I so totally hate living in western DuPage Co. When I was in Chicago, I could reliably go to our local version of The Houndstooth and catch the games. Now, I'm forced to read box scores for untelevised games. I'm just not gonna spend twenty-odd bucks on Gamecast to watch one game about which I care and ignore the rest. Add to that the fact that I don't think I can DVR the game on Gamecast (my Saturdays are busy), it just makes it a big bowl of "meh."

I'm so pissed that LSU beat UGA. I was hoping they'd lose and give Bama the #1 spot in the SEC West.

You really need to check out ESPN 360, its free and quality feeds of a bunch of the 2nd tier NCAAF games.  It can provide a fix and lets you at least catch halftime highlights.  I watched the OU v Miami game and the USC v Cal game (well 1 quarter of it, fucking cal) on 360 Saturday with no problems.

[sidereal]

360 access depends on your ISP.  Comcast just got it turned on recently, and it's been hugely awesome having random games running in the background while at work.

[Paelos]

I don't know.  I felt like they were handed that game by the refs to some degree.  That was a bullshit excessive celebration on AJ Green.  Yeah, they turned around and gave it to the LSU RB that scored after UGA forgot how to tackle.  But still, that's two games UGA has had their momentum killed by bad penalties. 

I'm not convinced LSU is worthy of a #4 ranking.  We'll see in a few weeks though.

Nope, the refs thing is just typical of how UGA does things now. We're totally undisciplined and it's obvious every week. If we lose to Tennessee, the season is officially over. And if that happens I hope we go 6-6, play in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl against some other shitty team like Clemson, and we get stomped. Why? Because I'm sick of 9-3 and losing to Florida and Georgia Tech considered good enough to keep the same asshole coordinators that have fucked up our special teams and defense for the last few years.

Heads should fucking ROLL when you average giving up 28 points a game in the SEC.

[SnakeCharmer]

I don't know.  The head of SEC officiating came out and said it was a bad call.  Just seems like UGA gets deflated easily.  I'll admit, even without it, LSU could have scored just as easily but I know it didn't help things.  To be honest, I halfway expected CMR to call a surprise onsides kick.  If UGA recovers, game over.  If LSU scores, there is plenty of time left to do something with it.

But, that's easy to say in the comfort of my living room.

[Bismallah]

Notre Dame almost killed that kid at the end of the game (ok exaggerating, but it was a hell of a hit). Band played on, no one seemed to care. I dont know why but I couldnt stop laughing seeing the Washington guy knocked out, hit the ground, roll over to his side still knocked out and the commentators couldnt care less...

[SnakeCharmer]

They were too busy clawing each others eyes out to see who was going to be the lucky one to go blow Jimmy Clausen after the game.

[Montague]

There was an interesting discussion on one of the OSU boards today about the lines on Buckeye games this season. It looks like there are some high-roling sharps that are making a ton of money on the Buckeyes' crappy fan perception. Case in point the USC game: Vegas took in millions from schlubs (like us) that thought USC - 6.5 was too good to be true. Despite all that money going in on the USC side, the line hardly moved. Why? Because all the sharps were laying down big money on the Buckeyes.

Now witness this week's line vs. Wisconsin: It started the week at OSU -14. The Badgers are unbeaten but haven't played anybody, and probably shouldn't be in the top 25. That being said, Wiscy has historically been a tough game for OSU the last several years so this looked like another "no brainer". Plus OSU's offensive line been hit with the flu and at least one starter might miss the game. The result so far? The line's moved to -16. I'm a diehard OSU fan and there is no way I would give 16 points in this game, but it looks like there is again a lot of "smart" money on the OSU side. Should be interesting to see how it pans out.

[Paelos]

The Big 10 threw a big monkey wrench into the betting system last week on the "obvious" picks. I hate that conference even more now because the results are completely unpredictable.

[Paelos]

Heads should fucking ROLL when you average giving up 28 31 points a game in the SEC.

FIFM

[EWSpider]

Heads should fucking ROLL when you average giving up 28 31 points a game in the SEC.

FIFM

Giving up 45 to UT this season is cause to fall on your sword.

[SnakeCharmer]

Anyone watch the Florida / LSU game?

For the first time ever, Tebow looked...scared.  He just had this dazed look on his face, and he looked to juke more than try and bulldoze people like he used to.  Possibly shellshocked/gunshy?

[Montague]

Anyone watch the Florida / LSU game?

For the first time ever, Tebow looked...scared.  He just had this dazed look on his face, and he looked to juke more than try and bulldoze people like he used to.  Possibly shellshocked/gunshy?

Yeah I was thinking this too. I was a bit surprised he was playing but Urban doesn't seem the type to err on the side of caution.

And oh yeah OSU wins 31-13 on 2 defensive and 1 special teams TD's. Offense is god-awful but they still cover. Crap like this is why I don't bet a whole lot on football games.

[EWSpider]

Tebow scared?  Come on.  He played within the gameplan given him and played smart by avoiding leaving himself open to unnecessary hits.  Gators tried a few different options on 3rd/4th and short, but when his number was called Tebow lowered his pads and got the first down.  The coaches will feel better/more comfortable with that first game back out of the way and after each of the next few games.  I'm sure each game they'll open up the playbook a bit more, but why rush it/take chances when the other team can't even stop you on a simple dive play?

[Paelos]

Heads should fucking ROLL when you average giving up 28 31 points a game in the SEC.

FIFM

Giving up 45 to UT this season is cause to fall on your sword.

If we don't beat Vandy, I'm going to call for some rope and a bunch of boys with shotguns. Georgia is full of those.

[Nevermore]

We'll probably end up around 22 or 23 and may even sneak into the teens in the coming weeks before we inevitably go on a 3 or 4 game losing streak to conference opponents on our way to a thrilling postseason game in the PapaJohns Pizza Bowl.

Prediction is right on track!