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New Year's Resolutions for College Football

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:50:06 -0500

How are you doing on those new year's resolutions you made? If you're smart, you don't announce any of them on Facebook or other social media. It makes failure a little bit more palatable. Now that we're in the first full week with no college football it seems as good a time as any to take an introspective glance into our sport and think about what we could do to improve it.

Make no mistake. College football is booming, but there's always room to tweak this grand old game for the better. If CFB was able to make resolutions like a person does, here's a few I think it should seriously consider for the new year--some workable and others a flight of fancy, but a guy can dream, can't he?

PLUS ONE There's no better time to discuss the first incarnation of a playoff than following the SEC's recent domination of the BCS CG. If there's one thing that's got even the curmudgeonly PAC 12 and Big 10 commissioners willing to consider the idea, it was having Alabama and LSU play for all the marbles. Officials are soon to sit down and discuss the topic and have assured us that nothing will be off the table.

A plus one is simply a four-team playoff: One plays four, two plays three and they meet in one more game for the title. You better be prepared to take it or leave it because we're not getting more than four teams initially for years. It'll take at least two more years for us to get this far. Naturally, there would have to be some fine tuning to get the format in place: establish clear-cut conference champs as contenders (you too, Notre Dame--time to sign up somewhere), remove at least one game from the regular season, shorten the interval between the end of the season and the major bowls and decide whether or not to utilize any of the big bowls in the semi-finals--plus about a dozen other things I'm forgetting right now.

CAPS ON CONFERENCE NUMBERS I really wish they would have inserted this one in after last season when we got the first whiffs of CFB blowing up. Now it's too late for the SEC's expansion plans but let's set a reasonable cap at 14-16 teams. Any more than that and you run the practical risk of having so many conference games that you can't play anybody else. Also, we still don't want a power-grab or bidding war to erupt that compromises existing regional conferences and morphs into inter-continental Pangaea-like athletic blobs in a vain attempt at securing power and market share. I'm copyrighting that term, BTW.

BOWL GAME CURTAILMENT Guys, there's got to be a limit on this. It's growing out of control--fed by an apparent abundance of TV money that make Fannie and Freddie largess pale by comparison. Some of these bowls, acting as actual or quasi-charities, are starting to turn corrupt and sully the reputation of the sport--NOT TO MENTION all the empty seats you see in the stadiums. It's diluting our product and it cheapens teams that really are bowl-deserving.

Maybe it's this everybody wins, yay mentality that we have in our society that instill the notion that virtually all teams that can fog a mirror and teeter on the edge of .500 get to go to a bowl game. Maybe it's that every po-dunk backwater in a mild clime wants their municipality-fiefdom to have the glitter of a game that nobody goes to since there's absolutely NO apparent barriers to entry.

Most of the teams that go to these loser bowls don't really want to spend the money--they net a loss many times, but it's the spectre of turning it down that compels them. If they didn't have these bowls, it would solve a lot of problems and actually go a long way to restoring the honor and spectacle of being bowl eligible and bound. If they don't want to listen to me then do at least this: give unsold tickets away to charities so kids can go. Fill up the stadiums. Empty seats and Mondays always get me down.

Issue licenses for the bowls for three years that they must bid on. Then check their stats: they must receive minimum local attendance and participant patronage. They must also achieve certain TV ratings. If they don't, then revoke the license and let someone else try. Nobody else want to try? Then show bowling tournaments or CBB--they probably get the same ratings as the loser bowls.

CLEAN-UP RECORD KEEPING With over 140 seasons of stats, games and championships and hundreds of teams, there's almost an equal number of arbitrary record keeping schemes to go with it. While the NCAA does not sanction a national title in the FBS, they probably need to lay some patch work for the way teams can look back in the early days of CFB and claim championships. They also need to go ahead and put their stamp on the BCS officially and then stick with whatever it eventually morphs into. We need some leadership in this area.

Most modern day students of the game are starting to consider consensus national championships as the new benchmark to measure a team's historic success. These are generally regarded as those awarded once the media polls began to rank teams nationally in the mid 1930s. Conference championships certainly existed way before that because the conferences themselves go back over 110 years and the teams in a conference generally played each other.

We've just got to find some rallying point in between the modern-day BCS and the old-timey mythical, minor-selector or back-dated titles. In 100 years from now, I imagine that the true tally of CFB national titles will actually start with the BCS or Bowl Coalition standard from the 1990s on.

NO STIPENDS I've definitely come full-circle with my thinking on this topic. With recents talks about paying players an amount of money to cover incidentals (read: a salary), I believe the law of unintended consequences is waiting to spring on this one. Never mind the disparity in the schools, the conferences and the players themselves--someone WILL be unhappy--think about the justification that it will leave the unscrupulous sort. Paying the better players/schools more under the table will be perfectly acceptable.

People argue that the players are basically pros anyway, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars for the schools every year. Professionals? I tell you what. If they want to get paid, let's have the NFL start their own farm system. Let them draft the players right out of high school--like they do in baseball. You never hear of schools being put on probation for baseball infractions. A player can go play semi-pro ball and have his individual talent developed--and in front of virtually no fans, I might add--or you can take the glory road and go play in front of tens of thousands in college stadiums. It's the same decision other high school graduates get to make every year--go to work or continue school.

If you decide on the college route, we only have two rules: #1 you qualify on your own merits, according to the average admissions at that school--no more special admits for kids who don't belong in college anyway for reasons of academics or character and #2 the only compensation you receive is the education you are offered as an inducement. No payment. If you want that, you have another path you can choose. Even penalize the players who still decide to drop out of college, trying to use it as a more glamorous farm system, by making them wait out their eligibility before they can play semi-pro ball.

We've got to do something to maintain the credibility of not only our sport but our institutions. I'm tired of being a hypocrite. You're either a student athlete or you're not. Let's quit trying to pretend and deal with the heart of the issue. College football is different than the pros. You can have an appreciable difference in the level of talent and not lose fans. We'd still be cheering for our teams just as enthusiastically even if they were literally half as good as they are now. Let the pros have the players who seek nothing initially but a profession. We'll take the kids that want to be in college and belong there.

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Bowl Season Open Thread

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:05:00 -0500

Have at it!

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Oklahoma State/ Alabama/ Et Al BCS Argument Thread

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:15:36 -0500

State your case:

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Fanblogs Pick Em Results--Final Edition

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:10:49 -0500

Thanks to everybody that participated this year. Looks like we lost five from the beginning. Congrats to Kdad65, this year's winner. If you guys want to do a playoff one, let me get it together. Wait. Did I say 'playoff'? Fruedian slip there. I meant, Bowl edition.

Standings

Rank Pick Set Name Total Dropped W-L

1 kdad65 188 18 188-135
2 The Chippendale Mabrys 183 16 183-140
3 PSG2012 177 16 177-148
4 C-Dogg's Yacht Boyz 176 8 176-145
5 GA_Boy 176 15 176-145
6 augirl 175 15 175-148
7 1 Tomcat 175 16 175-148
8 AxiomAngel 175 4 175-148
9 OU_Ron 174 15 174-149
10 ILLINIKEVIN 173 20 173-148
11 Porcine 173 14 173-146
12 4cornerz 173 5 173-149
13 Terror of the Pandas 172 16 172-155
14 Regan 170 7 170-149
15 Oski 170 0 170-145
16 War Eagle Atlanta 168 14 168-155
17 LITB 165 0 165-162
18 gatorhippy 131 0 131-196
19 Zac 129 0 129-198
20 Austin Badgers 109 0 109-218
21 BC 49 0 49-278
22 Luck O' The Irish 49 0 49-247
23 SECeclipse 34 0 34-293
24 arsenal53 18 0 18-309
25 dawgpyle 17 0 17-279

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Rivalry Saturday Open Thread

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 11:55:45 -0500

Who's got who today?

Make your straight up predictions for the following games by copying and pasting this list:

Alabama at Auburn

Ohio State at Michigan

Georgia at Georgia Tech

Oregon State at Oregon

Ole Miss at Miss State

Clemson at South Carolina

Florida State at Florida

UCLA at USC

Virginia Tech at Virginia

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Joe Paterno To Retire at Season's End

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:12:06 -0500

UPDATE: Paterno and President Graham Spanier fired Wednesday night!

With the massive tidal wave that is the Jerry Sandusky child sex criminal investigation, the rumors that Joe Paterno was to soon be out are true. Paterno will retire at the end of the season, his 46th. Never would one have imagined that Paterno would go out like this--his reputation sullied as many believe he didn't do enough to bring the charges leveled against his former defensive coordinator to light quicker and in a broader fashion.

I believe Paterno should have retired right after Bobby Bowden did, his record and legacy in tact. Instead, he remained on for who knows what reasons and now it ends like this for him, which doesn't seem deserving. Like many figures in sports, he hung on too long, and now this scandal will forever hang over him.

Now it looks like the president or chancellor at Penn State is out too. Him, the AD, and Paterno. All the chips are falling. We've never seen anything like this before in CFB. I hope we don't ever again.

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SEC Product at Risk of Dilution

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:35:01 -0500

The so-called Game of the Century (hey, it's a young century) was actually a little bit of a yawner, even by supreme SEC over-defensively-schemed standards. Not much of the end zone did we see, unless it was an errant Tide kick landing short or astray like a winged AFLAC duck falling in the marsh. This game was more or less a Mexican standoff involving field goals, crazy-looking punts and uncharacteristic turnovers. Neither coach attempted a grasp for the other's jugular. It was like a chess match played entirely with pawns. If it were a poker match, Alabama had one of a kind--Trent Richardson. LSU had two of a kind--ineffectual quarterbacks. The only saving grace for either was the full house--Bryant-Denny Stadium--showcasing the best of the SEC to a national audience.

Admittingly, I kept peeking over at USCe-Arky to get some oxygen because at least that game featured touchdowns. I really wanted either LSU or Alabama to score a safety to really liven things up with that one point differential but I guess the football gods (or CBS management) destined it for overtime. A 9-6 victory on penalty kicks is the football equivalent of paper covers rock--you're not really quite sure how that wins but it's accepted that it does. In a monumental defensive showdown like we saw, it really makes you feel homesick for the TIE game.

We knew one of the two would be left as a one-time loser. If you thought that Oklahoma was a media darling ( I do) and was the top pick for a one-loss team in the country to be elevated into the BCS CG, you hadn't seen anything until Alabama plummeted one whole spot in the BCS standings Sunday night from second to third. Now before you nod or shake your head on that last statement, know that #4 Stanford, currently the most aggrieved party, fully controls it's ranking against a one-loss team with a victory over Oregon this weekend and presumably one in the PAC12 CG. Same with #2 Oklahoma State. They play Oklahoma in three weeks and winning out should be enough to stave off a one-loss team in the standings.

The problem with Stanford and Okie State running the table is which team would then take the #2 spot in the BCS assuming LSU remains undefeated? If Stanford plays 13 games and survives their conference title game, then I think you have to give them the edge over the Pokes who no longer have that luxury enjoyed now by the rest of the BCS conferences (save the Big East). As we in the SEC have known for quite a while, the title game trial by fire is the extra oomph you need to vault over the pretenders and the anachronistic non-divisional players.

Where the problem in the BCS scenario will come is if we have a large contingent of one-loss teams left at the end of the year. Then, when you lose is as important as who you lost to. I'm old school. I think losses later in the season should be death knells, but as we've seen in the BCS era as people have put more validity into the hands of both the polls and the computers, that's no longer the case. In 2003, Oklahoma lost the Big 12 CG to Kansas State but then went on to play LSU for the BCS crown (which resulted in a split champion that year with USC winning the AP title). In 2007, LSU lost their last regular game of the season to Arkansas, their second loss, but still advanced to and won the BCS title.

I think it's entirely possible that LSU could lose to Arkansas this year. Petrino and Tyler Wilson will challenge the vaunted Tiger secondary and I think it'll be a close contest. But forget that for a second. Let's assume for simplicity that LSU wins out and is the #1 team in the BCS. The looming problem I have was revealed in all the talk this weekend about somehow elevating Alabama back to #2 and having the conference provide both national title game participants in a rematch from this past Saturday. I think it's a horrible idea but it's entirely possible with the right teams losing the right games.

Although fans of SEC teams might seriously question why it's a bad idea to have two teams from the conference play for all the marbles, I have fundamental problems with it. Allow me to present my case. First, the practical. Rematches are rarely the barn-burners they're made out to be. Harken back to the Alabama-Florida SEC title games of the 1990s. Many of those were rematches, and they seemed anti-climatic because the teams weren't natural rivals. Was there any doubt that Auburn would stomp South Carolina in the rematch last year? It was more or less a formality since the game had to be played and Auburn needed it's ticket to Glendale punched. The Gamecocks, as if on cue, simply mailed it in.

Jealousy from the rest of the nation is a real hazard to avoid. It's universally known that the SEC fields the toughest football conference in the land. It's virtually guaranteed now that our champion gets a slot in the national title game. Our second best team still gets a BCS bowl bid. They wrote the rule capping conferences from fielding more than two BCS bowl teams primarily because of us. We send six to seven teams to bowls anyway. Let's not rub it in and try to lobby to get a rerun of a regular season game to decide the national crown. Leave that to 2006 Michigan. That's being stingy and it will breed resentment. Don't think there's resentment in college football? Look at what Texas accomplished in less than one year. They BLEW UP college football, from greed and the ensuing resentment. We the SEC don't want to pull a Texas.

For the fundamental side, most readers in the blogosphere are pro-playoff for our sport. While the details of an eventual one are melded out, the de facto first rounds of a playoff are the conference championship games. For 20 years our very conference has led the nation in advancing that protocol. We believe that the SEC champ is capable of beating anyone in the country. So now does the rest of the nation. Therefore it is not unreasonable to expect that any team that isn't capable of winning it's own conference is not worthy of playing for the national crown. It just doesn't make sense to fair-minded folks.

Yes, I know the purpose of the BCS is to marry the one and two teams in a bowl game regardless of where the chips fall, but we need to change the dialogue in the game to get away from that notion. Specifically outlaw it if you must. If you want a playoff, having the current BCS placing two teams from the same conference reaks of cronyism and will poison not only future playoff plans, but the very validity of the BCS as it stands today.

And most importantly, for the SEC, it would toxically dilute the very product and brand that it works so hard to field every year and make the strongest in the land. It took many years and a whole bunch of blood, sweat and Bourbon, but the SEC got the whole country convinced that their champ is a lock for the national title game. Don't allow the BCS to damage that image by alllowing you to hog the whole trough. Yea, I know--it would be hard to turn it down. Maybe it'll play out in the end and we won't be faced with this scenario. But if we are, know that it's a road we don't want to go down.

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Fanblogs Open Thread

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:35:01 -0500

Argue amongst yourselves!

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Poll Results--Week Seven

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:16:48 -0500

BCS Standings
RK	TEAM	RECORD
1	LSU	7-0
2	Alabama	7-0
3	Oklahoma	6-0
4	Oklahoma State	6-0
5	Boise State	6-0
6	Wisconsin	6-0
7	Clemson	7-0
8	Stanford	6-0
9	Arkansas	5-1
10	Oregon	5-1
11	Kansas State	6-0
12	Virginia Tech	6-1
13	Nebraska	5-1
14	South Carolina	6-1
15	West Virginia	5-1
16	Michigan State	5-1
17	Texas A&M	4-2
18	Michigan	6-1
19	Houston	6-0
20	Auburn	5-2
21	Penn State	6-1
22	Georgia Tech	6-1
23	Illinois	6-1
24	Texas	4-2
25	Washington	5-1

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	LSU (41)	7-0	1452
2	Alabama (11)	7-0	1411
3	Oklahoma (6)	6-0	1372
4	Wisconsin	6-0	1252
5	Boise State (1)	6-0	1218
6	Oklahoma State	6-0	1186
7	Stanford	6-0	1164
8	Clemson	7-0	1064
9	Oregon	5-1	1020
10	Arkansas	5-1	946
11	West Virginia	5-1	778
12	Kansas State	6-0	762
13	Nebraska	5-1	748
14	South Carolina	6-1	690
15	Michigan State	5-1	610
16	Virginia Tech	6-1	597
17	Texas A&M	4-2	467
18	Michigan	6-1	442
19	Auburn	5-2	374
20	Georgia Tech	6-1	281
21	Houston	6-0	238
22	Washington	5-1	221
23	Illinois	6-1	207
24	Georgia	5-2	144
24	Arizona State	5-2	144

USA Today Poll
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Oklahoma (31)	6-0	1426
2	LSU (15)	7-0	1410
3	Alabama (12)	7-0	1403
4	Wisconsin (1)	6-0	1262
5	Stanford	6-0	1222
6	Oklahoma State	6-0	1173
7	Boise State	6-0	1172
8	Clemson	7-0	1028
8	Oregon	5-1	1028
10	Arkansas	5-1	931
11	Nebraska	5-1	775
12	South Carolina	6-1	765
13	Michigan State	5-1	690
14	West Virginia	5-1	688
14	Virginia Tech	6-1	688
16	Kansas State	6-0	678
17	Michigan	6-1	458
18	Texas A&M	4-2	415
19	Georgia Tech	6-1	396
20	Houston	6-0	359
21	Illinois	6-1	260
22	Penn State	6-1	253
23	Auburn	5-2	202
24	Washington	5-1	174
25	Arizona State	5-2	86

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Fanblogs Pick Em Results--Week Five

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:19:47 -0500

Standings

Rank Pick Set Name Total Dropped W-L

1 The Chippendale Mabrys 59 25 59-33
2 kdad65 56 31 56-36
3 OU_Ron 56 28 56-36
4 Terror of the Pandas 56 29 56-36
5 1 Tomcat 56 27 56-36
6 Austin Badgers 55 33 55-37
7 augirl 55 26 55-37
8 Porcine 55 29 55-37
9 Regan 55 28 55-37
10 AxiomAngel 55 27 55-37
11 PSG2012 54 30 54-38
12 GA_Boy 54 30 54-38
13 gatorhippy 53 27 53-39
14 Oski 52 14 52-40
15 ILLINIKEVIN 51 22 51-41
16 War Eagle Atlanta 50 26 50-37
17 C-Dogg's Yacht Boyz 50 16 50-37
18 BC 49 0 49-38
19 Luck O' The Irish 49 0 49-38
20 Zac 47 28 47-40
21 4cornerz 47 27 47-45
22 LITB 46 27 46-46
23 SECeclipse 34 0 34-58
24 arsenal53 18 0 18-74
25 dawgpyle 17 0 17-44

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Week Five Polls

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:06:55 -0500

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	LSU (40)	5-0	1473
2	Alabama (12)	5-0	1435
3	Oklahoma (7)	4-0	1397
4	Wisconsin	5-0	1266
5	Boise State (1)	4-0	1248
6	Oklahoma State	4-0	1191
7	Stanford	4-0	1185
8	Clemson	5-0	1093
9	Oregon	3-1	1028
10	Arkansas	4-1	860
11	Texas	4-0	833
12	Michigan	5-0	812
13	Georgia Tech	5-0	667
14	Nebraska	4-1	555
15	Auburn	4-1	550
16	West Virginia	4-1	544
17	Florida	4-1	498
18	South Carolina	4-1	487
19	Illinois	5-0	428
20	Kansas State	4-0	349
21	Virginia Tech	4-1	341
22	Arizona State	4-1	256
23	Florida State	2-2	237
24	Texas A&M	2-2	216
25	Baylor	3-1	186

USA Today Poll
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Oklahoma (27)	4-0	1421
2	LSU (21)	5-0	1410
3	Alabama (10)	5-0	1408
4	Stanford	4-0	1237
5	Wisconsin (1)	5-0	1236
6	Boise State	4-0	1186
7	Oklahoma State	4-0	1162
8	Clemson	5-0	1028
9	Oregon	3-1	1017
10	Texas	4-0	879
11	Michigan	5-0	808
12	Arkansas	4-1	788
13	Georgia Tech	5-0	728
14	South Carolina	4-1	559
15	Nebraska	4-1	557
16	Illinois	5-0	541
17	Virginia Tech	4-1	470
18	Florida	4-1	456
19	West Virginia	4-1	436
20	Michigan State	4-1	366
21	Kansas State	4-0	264
22	Florida State	2-2	229
23	Auburn	4-1	217
24	Arizona State	4-1	177
25	Texas A&M	2-2	160

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Fanblogs Open Thread

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:56:24 -0500

Sorry! Sorry! 15-yard penalty and loss of down.

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Fanblogs Pick Em Results--Week Two

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:48:21 -0500

A few folks missed picking the Friday night game last week. There's one this week, too. Remember that you are able to make or change your picks up to 5 minutes before the start of EACH game.

The Chippendale Mabrys was the winner last week with 22 of 31 correct picks. Remember, we throw out the lowest two weeks picks so it's not too late to get in. And since we have exactly 25 folks in our pool, here are the Top 25:

Standings

Rank Pick Set Name Total Dropped W-L

1 The Chippendale Mabrys 22 18 22-8
2 1 Tomcat 22 19 22-9
3 augirl 21 17 21-10
4 Terror of the Pandas 21 17 21-10
5 OU_Ron 21 17 21-10
6 gatorhippy 20 17 20-10
7 kdad65 20 17 20-10
8 PSG2012 20 19 20-11
9 AxiomAngel 20 18 20-11
10 Regan 20 16 20-11
11 War Eagle Atlanta 19 16 19-11
12 Luck O' The Irish 19 0 19-11
13 Austin Badgers 19 18 19-11
14 GA_Boy 18 17 18-12
15 BC 18 0 18-12
16 C-Dogg's Yacht Boyz 18 15 18-13
17 arsenal53 18 0 18-13
18 Porcine 17 16 17-13
19 dawgpyle 17 0 17-13
20 SECeclipse 17 0 17-13
21 ILLINIKEVIN 17 16 17-14
22 Oski 17 16 17-14
23 4cornerz 17 14 17-14
24 Zac 16 16 16-15
25 LITB 15 15 15-16

You may now hijack the rest of this thread.

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Big Holiday Weekend for College Football

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:39:39 -0500

I'm sure that most of you in addition to being college football fans are also major NFL followers. I'm bandwagon at best and I admit to more than a passing fancy to have seen the lockout continue until next year. Yes, I know--no hate mail, please, and whatever you do, don't leave this thread with almost four ~~minutes~~ paragraphs left on the clock. With NFL preseason contestswinding down, that left the rare weekend of having college games played ad naseum Thursday through Sunday. And if that ain't a triumphant return, I don't know what is.

With all the hype of the Chick Fil A Kickoff Game and the Cowboys Classic showcasing nationally ranked SEC teams, I'm not so sure that the two games actually leading off the season Thursday night, Wisconsin-UNLV and Miss State-Memphis, weren't the ones that didn't grab the largest audience share. Yes, they were top-20 ranked teams playing nobodies, but both put on quite the show. I tuned into the State game for some scouting for Auburn this week and they looked like a finely-oiled machine, drumming the Tigers thoroughly. State did what they could to earn points for SEC-west TV game of the week for this Saturday, but the Tigers did not, hence the 11:20 AM kickoff this weekend down on the Plains.

And memo to Memphis: I know you play in C-USA, but if you open the season on a Thursday night with a national audience against a ranked team from the strongest conference in the nation agreeing to open on the road and you can't fill but two-thirds of your stadium, maybe it's time to focus on basketball. Either that or import other fans from the conference to give you all the asses in seats you can get. That was embarrassing.

And what about that game Friday night with Baylor and TCU? Already a BCS-buster has been busted. Thank you Bears, since Georgia didn't take care of business with the perennial other one. Do they play no defense in Texas or the Big ~~12 10~~-9? That was a pretty exciting game, I must admit. Maybe I need to take in Arena Football next?

All and all the SEC did well this weekend with their cupcakes (not you, LSU or Auburn) with only Georgia and Ole Miss losing to teams that play or played in conferences with the word west in them. Auburn's last minute miracle placed the spotlight firmly on the Dogs and Rebel-Bears--the former with a beat-down at the hands of Boise and the latter with a late 4th quarter face-plant against BYU.

And memo to Georgia: time to bury the gimmick uniforms once and for all. I know the Blackout worked for you once against Auburn, but by my reckoning, you're 1-3 in fashion statement contests and the last time I looked, this wasn't Paris or Milan. That was awful--Georgia with their futurama outfits and Boise with their throw-backs. You can't go to the future and back in time simultaneously--it could cause a college football black hole--one outside Miami, that is. Stick to the silver britches and leave the CFB haberdashery to Oregon. You see how well it works for them.

Oh, and Oregon. How close you are to disproving the whole notion of west-coast football superiority. You're the best from there of late but you're 0-2 against SEC teams your last two games, so the streak remains alive. I thought for sure you had revenge on your minds from January, but you were clobbered at the hands of another SEC defense. While I'm pretty sure you'll run through the PAC this year and still challenge for the BCS, you have to think that RB Lamichael James, the Heisman runner-up from last season, is out already this year. Forty-nine yards against Auburn in the BCS title game and fifty-four Saturday night against LSU? Meh, just as well. I think they've already crowned Andrew Luck of Stanford anyway.

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Week One College Football Polls

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:27:32 -0500

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Oklahoma (32)	1-0	1448
2	LSU (17)	1-0	1415
3	Alabama (9)	1-0	1409
4	Boise State (2)	1-0	1310
5	Florida State	1-0	1196
6	Stanford	1-0	1154
7	Texas A&M	1-0	1033
8	Wisconsin	1-0	1031
9	Oklahoma State	1-0	981
10	Nebraska	1-0	947
11	Virginia Tech	1-0	906
12	South Carolina	1-0	843
13	Oregon	0-1	828
14	Arkansas	1-0	752
15	Ohio State	1-0	606
16	Mississippi State	1-0	594
17	Michigan State	1-0	530
18	Florida	1-0	382
19	West Virginia	1-0	357
20	Baylor	1-0	284
21	Missouri	1-0	242
22	South Florida	1-0	221
23	Penn State	1-0	147
24	Texas	1-0	135
25	TCU	0-1	130

Dropped from rankings: Notre Dame 16, Georgia 19, Auburn 23, USC 25

Others receiving votes: Arizona State 119, Auburn 85, USC 69, Georgia 52, Northwestern 40, Maryland 34, Brigham Young 33, Iowa 29, Houston 27, Utah 24, Notre Dame 22, Michigan 17, Pittsburgh 11, Air Force 11, UCF 10, North Carolina State 8, Tennessee 6, Hawaii 6, NORIL 5, Arizona 5, Southern Miss 4, Georgia Tech 1, Clemson 1

USA Today Poll
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Oklahoma (43)	1-0	1454
2	Alabama (9)	1-0	1412
3	LSU (7)	1-0	1366
4	Florida State	1-0	1198
5	Boise State	1-0	1197
6	Stanford	1-0	1180
7	Oklahoma State	1-0	1038
8	Texas A&M	1-0	997
9	Wisconsin	1-0	988
10	Nebraska	1-0	910
11	Virginia Tech	1-0	863
12	South Carolina	1-0	827
13	Arkansas	1-0	786
14	Oregon	0-1	752
15	Ohio State	1-0	686
16	Michigan State	1-0	584
17	Mississippi State	1-0	497
18	Florida	1-0	375
19	Missouri	1-0	309
20	Penn State	1-0	247
21	Texas	1-0	231
22	Auburn	1-0	197
23	Arizona State	1-0	189
24	West Virginia	1-0	185
25	TCU	0-1	140

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