SEC Rules!!

Yah, baloney!
Are you going to say the Pac10 is better, since they are 5-0?

I thought there might be some cleaver biblical retort, but there are only 2 verses which use the word southeast, and they are both routine info about building Solomon's temple.

But in regard to any pro- or anti- conference arguing, bowl games are super-lousy for determining that. My observations over many years of watching them:

1) The layoffs are too long-- and often there is considerable difference in the length of it between the 2 opponents in a game. One or both teams sometimes spend the 1st quarter or 1st half readjusting to the speed of the real game and absorbing real blows.

2) There can be vast difference between the 2 opponents in regard to focus-- and this especially applies to opponents of the SEC, in whose 'country' so many of them are played. One defense of the bowl system is that it's an "experience" for a team and its fans to travel around the holidays and enjoy what attractions are offered. But in my view that can be detrimental to the teams, especially if one travels further and its players get too much into the tourism aspect.

3) A bowl team often reflects how excited-- or how disappointed-- it is to be playing in its game. That, I believe, was the biggest factor in the Sugar Bowl. Utah was burning with anticipation to play another top team in a BCS game, while Alabama lost its #1 poll position in the SEC CG and was "demoted" from the National Championship game. Utah went up; Alabama went down... was that reflected in the game?

4) During that long layoff individual awards and all the extra attention and travel that come with them have an adverse effect on the players involved. Among the Heisman Trophy winners who played in the National Championship Game, how many have won the game in recent years? Leinart in '04 is the only one I can think of. Oklahoma and Ohio St. both had lists of award winners on their teams that lost 2 national championships. Certainly USC did in the NC game they lost; and Miami and Nebraska and Florida St. in the big games they lost. This makes it more interesting to predict this years NC game-- 2 Heisman QB's (which both lost bowl games last year), both giving a lot of consideration to whether they will stay or leave for the NFL... which has become another residual factor in bowl games in recent years.

Those are probably my biggest factors about bowl games and why they are not the best gauge to determine conference strength and quality. These can be used as excuses, of course. But the bowl setup, as it is, is very conducive for many reasons to produce enexpected results or to favor the more local teams, the more aspiring teams, or the teams with less individual recognitions.

 

As a KY fan, I was happy to see KY defeat E. Carolina as well.

And I also definitely want to see Florida defeat Oklahoma.

Uh' - I do seem to keep forgetting one thing, though, about SEC football this year, however.

What were the scores of the Arkansas Bowl win, again, as well as the Arkansas win over Ole' Miss, for all those who were so happy to pay the Mississippi River Ferry fare so that Houston Nutt could assume a new residence in Oxford, and the 'Hogs' could employ the Poster Boy for Rent-A-Coach, Inc., Bobby Petrino?

Somehow, I seem to keep forgetting the scores of those two huge wins on the Razorback Record. Even though I couldn't help but notice that the Rebels somehow managed to knock off a couple of teams who were or had been #1 (and I think collectively held this #1 ranking as long, if not longer, than any other two teams), and two others that were easily ranked in the Top Ten, at some point or another in the season, I believe.

Coupla' more observations: Is it just me, or did the the overall quality of Division I football west of anything along I-35, and in the SEC somehow managed to get lost, among the pundits amidst the season-long hype over the Big-12 South? Was the Big-12 South good? No question. It just may not have been that much better than anyone else, however. The "conventional wisdom" seemed to be that the SEC and Pac-10 were down, with even USC, Florida, and Alabama having question marks, and the Mountain West, and WAC didn't really deserve being mentioned on the same level with the real 'Big Boys', if my memory serves.

Did anyone see the Rose Bowl, and the whipping USC put on Penn State? Yeah, Penn State made a couple of costly mistakes early, but they didn't exactly stink up the joint, by any stretch. USC just gave another very legitimate Top 10 team a good old fashioned country whipping.

The same is true with the Sugar Bowl. Utah simply pretty much beat the dog-fuzz out of Alabama on both sides of the ball from the opening kick to the final gun. Just as with the Nittany Lions, the Crimson Tide weren't exactly what you would call some early season powder puffs or 'cannon fodder' designed to add a 'win' toward 'Bowl Eligibility' but were an entirely legitimate Top Ten team!

And who should really be #1? If I had a vote, it would have to go to Utah.

Personally, I can think of "13" reasons to vote for Utah, and I can think of exactly "0" reasons to not vote for Utah, and as the champion, while coming up with at least "1" reason to not vote for every other Div. I-A program for this season. Exactly one team- UTAH - did everything that was asked, even while playing every game uphill on a sloping field that was tilted against them from Day 1.

Of course, to be fair, there are several reasons why Utah is highly unlikely to be named #1.

I'll only list a few of them.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Ed

 

I think AL's loss to UT was a twofold thing:

#1: By far the most important...Alabama had managed all year to keep their OL intact. Thanks to Mr. idiot, Andre Smith (best lineman in the country, but not a AL fan's favorite right now), the line got shuffled (with one of the most dominant lineman in the last decade gone). Then, his replacement got hurt. AL all year had been lucky to not get hit with injuries, but it finally caught them, and you saw that they are not deep, yet. And with the Tide's offensive attack, they simply couldn't manufacture offense.

#2: The letdown. Also, a fair bit of overconfidence. Lesson learned, eh?

 

We are still quite happy to be rid of Houston Nutt. Nutt knew he was leaving the cupboard pretty bare which is why Arkansas had to rely so heavily on freshmen players. And he knew if he didn't leave when Ole Miss was throwing money at him to come and Arkansas was throwing money at him to leave that his stock would have been way down this year and he would have been forced out at Arkansas anyway without another college begging him to come to them.

The future is quite bright at Arkansas with Ryan Mallett taking over at quarterback in 2009 and a very, very, very good recruiting class coming in for the future.

As for Nutt, let's see how the Ole Miss fans like him after about 3 more years. Nutt did really well here at Arkansas his first couple of seasons basically using the players that Danny Ford had recruited. Nutt's rah-rah style wears pretty thin after a while.

Just as Coach Pelphrey has now put Razorback basketball back on the map I am quite confident that Coach Petrino will put Razorback football back on the map.

LET THE RYAN MALLETT ERA BEGIN!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOO!
PIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGG!!
SOOOOOOIIIIIEEE!!!
RAZORBACKS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it has already done that in Lubbock. And it only took one game.

I certainly think John Pelphrey is a good coach, even if he does still look like he is about as young as half his team. But if the truth be told, I'm not sure Razorback Basketball has ever been all that far "off the map", to begin with, since the mid-70s, with the notable exception of the last year or so of the Nolan Richardson era, when, IMO, he let his personal life get the better of his coaching skills. The fallout of his firing carried over into the first couple of years of Stan Heath's tenure, and, IMO, Arkansas was already well on the way back to prominence when Heath was fired. I have no doubt that John Pelphrey will continued to improve as he matures even more as a head coach.

From the last three years of the Larry van Eman days who was saddled with cleaning up the wreckage left by Waller, even before Eddie Sutton arrived at the old dirt floor barn, and long before Bud Walton decided to break out his checkbook, Fayetteville hasn't exactly been where you want to visit, if you need to win a game to get in the NCAA, aside from when Nolan was playing his games off the court, that is. I don't see that changing much, and it likely will probably actually get even more difficult, over time.

Ed

 

Is Bobby Petrino a good coach?

Definitely could be among the top tier.

Now if they can get only someone to break his phone - the one where he keeps both Mayflower, Inc. and Atlas Van Lines on "speed-dial" - he and the Hogs might actually be playing for the SEC crown in a couple of years, IMO.

Ed

 

Yep!! $$$$$$$$ is what it is all about.

And the SEC rules, for the third straight year, hence having won every BCS Championship game.

(And for the second time in three years, the one 'Div. I' ( 'Championship' level of 119 schools) school that did go undefeated will 'do well' to make it into the Top Five, in the 'big' polls! I am glad to see that the Wolfe and Massey polls have given Utah the deserved recognition, by naming Utah as their National Champion.)

My predictions, #1 Fla.; #2 Tex.; #3 USC; #4 OK; #5 Ala.; #6 Utah.

Let's see how far off I am when the actual polls come out tomorrow through Sunday.

Ed

 

Saint Nick couldn't pull it off, could he?? Couldn't win the big one!!!

I think, though, concerning "The Tide"--------it wasn't so much over confidence along the playing bench as much as it was fan overconfidence----I believe the team and its infallable coach knew what they could and could not do---they knew their strengths and weaknesses---but the fan base has this "super" ego that says---"We belong in the BCS championship------no matter what---year after year!!" Then when the team looses----"Well----it was because of Andre!!! If it weren't for Andre---big dummy had to go talkin' to a frazzlin' agent---big dummy---if it weren't for him---we'd be havin' the crystal football this year---blame it on one player---Andre---John Parker----Saint Nick---when they can't win "The Big One"----it isn't never because Florida is better than the Tide-----is never is because Utah is better than the Tide-----it boils down to one man---whether he be the Offensive Tackle--the Quarterback----Wilson, Coffee, Ingram---or Mister Alabama---Juelio Jones

 

Personally, I'm not sure that Ala. didn't have the overall 'best' top 25 players in the country, position by position, collectively (11 Offense, 11 Defense, P, K, Returner), were one to compare the 'starters' only. Problem is/was the second 25, plus the 'situation specialists', who are needed, these days in certain 'situations' were nowhere near No. #1. compared to many other schools. And depth certainly is an important factor, witness the USC/PennSt games and even last night's national championship game. Several injuries occurred in both those games, yet the affected team scarcely missed a beat, with any of the four. I'm simply not sure that Alabama could do that.

I'll use myself as an example. I actually was a fairly decent athlete, in my college days, at three sports, especially table tennis, but also in golf, and softball, both as a slow-footed hitter (I had absolutely no problem with turning a triple, or inside-the-park HR into a double or a double into a single, every-time.), and a slow-footed, thus range-limited, but still fairly decent fielding 1st baseman. None of those skills are particularly helpful, when you are wearing shoulder-pads and a helmet, however. I was built like a defensive end or tackle, as well, hitting 300 #. However, I had little upper-body strength, to go along with my slow-footedness, and were I to have been on a football team, as the back-up DT or DE, and get inserted into the game, at that position, I have absolutely no doubt, that the eyes of the opposing offensive coach would have seen my jersey number of "8-4" and the reflection of that back from his two eyes would have read "6-6", as in touchdown, directly through, over, or around my left-side position.

The lack of top-flite depth, and overall defensive backfield speed IMO, was simply more than Ala, was able to overcome, against the physical abilities and talents of the Utes and Gators, and particular styles of Coaches Meyer and Whittingham, who were virtual mirror images, and the score and stats reflected that. Had those two teams played in the mode of Alabama, I suspect that the Tide might well have beaten one or both. But that didn't happen, and wasn't going to. Had Alabama not missed their great player (which Utah did greatly exploited), that game may have been closer, it is true. But it is also true that Utah, which had managed to "run under the radar", all season-long, still pretty much dominated the game on both sides of the ball, and were simply a far better team, than that which most of the pundits had figured, in the fully deserved respect (although undeserved hype) that the Big-12 South received, where the OkSU Cowboys, whom I personally believe could have marched through the Big-12 North, Big-East or ACC like Sherman through Georgia, could only finish at #4, behind OK, TX, & Tx-Tch, getting pretty well drubbed by two of the three, even while 'whomping-up' on their other opponents, prior to their bowl game.

Ed

 

I'm not sure how you got this from my analysis, but oh well...That wasn't what I said at all.

 

Not at all, rbell

I just saw an opportunity to let my "steam" out concerning seemingly the majortiy of "Tide" fans out there who believe their team is infallable and incapable of loosing

And when they do loose----its never because the other team is better---its always because of "in team" weakness

"Well-----if Andre had been playin', we'd 'uh won!"

I hear that all the time

"Jones dropped that pass from John Parker! If he'd 'uh caught it----they would' uv scored on the next . . . "

They will never be able to look back and say---"If Andre would've played---we'd have won that game!!"-----I get so tired of hearing that, that its pitiful!!!!

And it ain't just Alabama fans--------I'm a big LSU fan-----and I hear this from the LSU fan base--"If Miles had not kicked Perilloux off the team we'd been playin' in the Orange Bowl instead of Florida!" and "We were one quarterback short of the national championship!!!"---------people who say that need to be on medicine!!!

Thats all

no offense given to you, Brother rbell

 

I'm with you Blackbird. My apologies.

I do hope Andre gets himself an unlisted number, though. He'll need it.