Polls Schmolls
So much for pre- and early-season polls. For those of you keeping score at home, we've now seen 9 different top ten teams fall in the first four weeks. I've said it before and I'll say it again - you shouldn't have any formal poll any earlier than the first weekend of October. Nevertheless, that ain't how it is and as such, will be very interesting to see how it all shakes out on Sunday. Let's look at observations and assumptions after week 4.
Who will get screwed and who will unjustly benefit, those are the big things to look at when the polls come out. Two teams who will most certainly benefit and will most certainly be over inflated are LSU and Boise State. LSU is a hugely average team that should have lost to the Bulldogs (how do you not put it in the end zone with first and goal from the 3?). Boise State is a bit tougher to call - they had that win over Oregon that all of a sudden seems more impressive, but it was week 1. Unfortunately, we won't know exactly what we have with Boise State because they really don't play any real credible opponents the rest of the way. Hell, the way things are going, these guys may cruise right into the national title game. Yeah, right. Ahhhh, the mid major conferences....
One team in particular I hope to see in the top 25 is Missouri. With the departure of Daniel and Macklin no one is really paying much attention to the Tigers, but they are looking pretty good. They had a very obscure Friday night game this week where they beat a very credible Nevada team on the road. It's a tough call and unfortunately they are in that zone of your rise in the ranking have more to do with what other teams do than what you do. Ahhhhh, college football.
Memo to Aggie fan, next weekend is a BIIIG weekend. Texas A&M has put up some impressive numbers of late (defense is still a question mark), but no real tests...much like many teams. But next weekend, everyone will get to see these Aggies up close and personal as they take on Arkansas in Dallas. Arkansas has taken a couple of beatings, but they've played some very tough opponents thus far. Will be interesting to see if Arkansas will be able to contain this now fierce offense from the Aggies. Win this one and people will start to keep an eye on Texas A&M.
Now there's a complete game Texas fans. I'll get to the nitpicking in a bit, but can't deny this was a very complete offensive game. Nice comeback game of sorts for Colt - 80% completion and should have been 90, but there were 4 blatant drops (one for a TD) by the receivers. Nevertheless, I'll take that all day long. I can't believe the year that Jordan Shipley is having thus far - he seems to be continuing to fly "under the radar", but he has been Mr. Consistent. Hell, put his ass on the heisman list.
Defensively, I love seeing the takeaways and the swarming to the ball that I'm seeing. They'll certainly get some tough tests from some very good offenses over the next 8 games, but I like the hand we've got on the D side of the ball. Great game by the secondary.
Now on to the nitpicking - and before I get into it, settle down Texas fans, I'm not bashing them, but I do believe in looking at what could be better....even in a 57-point stomping. When you play teams like OU, Mizzou, Okie State and others, you can't throw a Chris Simms-like pick 6; you can't drop first down and touchdown catches when they hit you right in the hands/numbers; and you sure as hell can't miss extra points and expect to win. You just can't. The good news is (and bad news if you consider the BCS) is that UTEP may be one of the bottom 10 teams in the country. Seriously. All in all a really good game and now there's a bye week to work on getting healthy and tightening things up. They get Colorado at home and then it's a pretty brutal 3-game stretch away from DKR: OU in Dallas, at Missouri and at Okie State - if they're going to lose a game, it will likely be in that stretch. We'll see.
No sleep for Purdue coaching staff on Saturday night. Purdue should have beaten Notre Dame and for all intents and purposes, gave the game away. Two plays in the Irish final drive stand out: the Boilermakers had the Irish at 3rd and 12 and rushed only 4 which gave Clausen about 50 seconds to find a receiver. The second play will now be known as the timeout play. ND had no timeouts left and was 3rd and goal from about the 4. The Irish (very stupid) tried to run the ball in and were stopped. Rather than let the clock run and force ND to hurry up, Purdue.....calls a timeout? Good call coach, rather than rush them, let's give them a chance to draw something up.
Notre Dame is an extremely mediocre team and Purdue is a really bad team. Notre Dame will likely rise into the top 25 after this victory, but they don't deserve to even sniff the rankings.
My two recommendations for improving BCS, because it isn't going away. First, reward/penalize teams based on scheduling. If you schedule a division II school, you lose a quarter point. Schedule BCS conference teams and earn a quarter point. This ties into my second recommendation, but you could also give partial points for scheduling teams in the top 20, top 30, and top 40. Something like that. I know strength of schedule is somehow factored in, but it's very indirect. This way, you are making folks look more closely at scheduling more challenging teams. Of course this would hurt the Louisiana-Monroe's and Troy's of the world who won't be able to cash in on the big pay day. Oh well.
Secondly, I think in this age of BCS scoring (which is very mathematical), you should extend the rankings to include the top 40 (50 at the most). Point being, many times folks will complain about some team "not playing anyone", but in reality, they have been playing a bunch of top 40 teams. I mean, there are like 120 teams in division I football - playing teams in the top 40 is a good thing, right? Case in point is my aforementioned Missouri example - they went on the road and played a pretty darn good Nevada team. Let's say they were ranked between 35 and 40 - that's a good road game in my opinion. Probably won't happen, but that's the dream.
Teams that I just don't think are that great include LSU, Boise State, Houston, Oklahoma State, and USC. I can't get over LSU climbing to number 4 and USC climbing up to number 7. Good news for Texas fans is OU is now back in the top 10 with a tough one in Miami next week.
Another big game to look forward to is USC visiting Cal. You think the Bears may have been overlooking Oregon just a bit? Sheesh, that was an ass whoopin'. I imagine Cal will be pretty motivated in this one, coming off of a performance like that. And let's be honest, USC is still a pretty suspect team. Can't wait to see this line, but I'm taking Georgia by two touchdowns over LSU next Saturday. I believe it's in Athens and this is a big look-ahead game for the Tigers because the Gators come to town the next weekend and I imagine Les Miles and company won't be too upset should Tebow need another week or two of rest.
Now on to the NFL...
Fantasy Update. Absolute abysmal day for Joe Theisman's Leg yesterday. My heart breakers for the week: 5 points from Darren Sproles playing for an injured LT; 1 point from Santonio Holmes playing at Cincy; 5 points from Mario Manningham playing at Tampa; and 7 points from Larry Fitzgerald playing against Indy. What has happened to Arizona and more specifically, Larry Fitzgerald? This Cardinals team just looks out of sync. Who knows. I need to regroup this week - the Steelers are absolutely killing me - their defense looks soooo mediocre right now. Meanwhile, nice little run by the Bengals - they beat Green Bay on the road and Pittsburgh at home in consecutive weeks. Wow.
The most complete team in the league just may be the Baltimore Ravens. For the longest time (dating back to their super bowl win even), this team was defined by it's defense. Period. When the offense scored (and it was rare), it was usually because the defense had given them a short field. Now, with second-year Joe Flacco who's anything but a fluke, and a core of reliable offensive weapons, this Ravens team just maybe the best team in the league....at least for now. The combo of Ray Rice and Willis McGahee is as good as any in the league - they got 21 of their 34 points on Sunday from these guys. And Flacco seems to be averaging Peyton Manning-type numbers in the passing game. They're good. They're real good. With Pittsburgh seemingly having the post Super Bowl hangover, this could be a good year for Baltimore to get back to the big game.
And here come the Lions folks. Winning streak: 1 and counting. Seriously, you really have to love seeing this. What an awful year plus it's been for Lions' fans and I'm glad some of them may be smiling this morning. Pretty impressive offensive game - no turnovers for the team (more importantly, the young QB went INT free). I honestly believe that the bulk of what's needed to break a streak like that is just one win - point being, don't expect Detroit to go 1-15 this year. I'm thinking 3-4 wins is definitely doable for these Lions. Meanwhile, you can almost pencil the Cleveland Browns in as a very possible 0-16 team.
My quick-hit thoughts on this past week's games:
Who will get screwed and who will unjustly benefit, those are the big things to look at when the polls come out. Two teams who will most certainly benefit and will most certainly be over inflated are LSU and Boise State. LSU is a hugely average team that should have lost to the Bulldogs (how do you not put it in the end zone with first and goal from the 3?). Boise State is a bit tougher to call - they had that win over Oregon that all of a sudden seems more impressive, but it was week 1. Unfortunately, we won't know exactly what we have with Boise State because they really don't play any real credible opponents the rest of the way. Hell, the way things are going, these guys may cruise right into the national title game. Yeah, right. Ahhhh, the mid major conferences....
One team in particular I hope to see in the top 25 is Missouri. With the departure of Daniel and Macklin no one is really paying much attention to the Tigers, but they are looking pretty good. They had a very obscure Friday night game this week where they beat a very credible Nevada team on the road. It's a tough call and unfortunately they are in that zone of your rise in the ranking have more to do with what other teams do than what you do. Ahhhhh, college football.
Memo to Aggie fan, next weekend is a BIIIG weekend. Texas A&M has put up some impressive numbers of late (defense is still a question mark), but no real tests...much like many teams. But next weekend, everyone will get to see these Aggies up close and personal as they take on Arkansas in Dallas. Arkansas has taken a couple of beatings, but they've played some very tough opponents thus far. Will be interesting to see if Arkansas will be able to contain this now fierce offense from the Aggies. Win this one and people will start to keep an eye on Texas A&M.
Now there's a complete game Texas fans. I'll get to the nitpicking in a bit, but can't deny this was a very complete offensive game. Nice comeback game of sorts for Colt - 80% completion and should have been 90, but there were 4 blatant drops (one for a TD) by the receivers. Nevertheless, I'll take that all day long. I can't believe the year that Jordan Shipley is having thus far - he seems to be continuing to fly "under the radar", but he has been Mr. Consistent. Hell, put his ass on the heisman list.
Defensively, I love seeing the takeaways and the swarming to the ball that I'm seeing. They'll certainly get some tough tests from some very good offenses over the next 8 games, but I like the hand we've got on the D side of the ball. Great game by the secondary.
Now on to the nitpicking - and before I get into it, settle down Texas fans, I'm not bashing them, but I do believe in looking at what could be better....even in a 57-point stomping. When you play teams like OU, Mizzou, Okie State and others, you can't throw a Chris Simms-like pick 6; you can't drop first down and touchdown catches when they hit you right in the hands/numbers; and you sure as hell can't miss extra points and expect to win. You just can't. The good news is (and bad news if you consider the BCS) is that UTEP may be one of the bottom 10 teams in the country. Seriously. All in all a really good game and now there's a bye week to work on getting healthy and tightening things up. They get Colorado at home and then it's a pretty brutal 3-game stretch away from DKR: OU in Dallas, at Missouri and at Okie State - if they're going to lose a game, it will likely be in that stretch. We'll see.
No sleep for Purdue coaching staff on Saturday night. Purdue should have beaten Notre Dame and for all intents and purposes, gave the game away. Two plays in the Irish final drive stand out: the Boilermakers had the Irish at 3rd and 12 and rushed only 4 which gave Clausen about 50 seconds to find a receiver. The second play will now be known as the timeout play. ND had no timeouts left and was 3rd and goal from about the 4. The Irish (very stupid) tried to run the ball in and were stopped. Rather than let the clock run and force ND to hurry up, Purdue.....calls a timeout? Good call coach, rather than rush them, let's give them a chance to draw something up.
Notre Dame is an extremely mediocre team and Purdue is a really bad team. Notre Dame will likely rise into the top 25 after this victory, but they don't deserve to even sniff the rankings.
My two recommendations for improving BCS, because it isn't going away. First, reward/penalize teams based on scheduling. If you schedule a division II school, you lose a quarter point. Schedule BCS conference teams and earn a quarter point. This ties into my second recommendation, but you could also give partial points for scheduling teams in the top 20, top 30, and top 40. Something like that. I know strength of schedule is somehow factored in, but it's very indirect. This way, you are making folks look more closely at scheduling more challenging teams. Of course this would hurt the Louisiana-Monroe's and Troy's of the world who won't be able to cash in on the big pay day. Oh well.
Secondly, I think in this age of BCS scoring (which is very mathematical), you should extend the rankings to include the top 40 (50 at the most). Point being, many times folks will complain about some team "not playing anyone", but in reality, they have been playing a bunch of top 40 teams. I mean, there are like 120 teams in division I football - playing teams in the top 40 is a good thing, right? Case in point is my aforementioned Missouri example - they went on the road and played a pretty darn good Nevada team. Let's say they were ranked between 35 and 40 - that's a good road game in my opinion. Probably won't happen, but that's the dream.
Teams that I just don't think are that great include LSU, Boise State, Houston, Oklahoma State, and USC. I can't get over LSU climbing to number 4 and USC climbing up to number 7. Good news for Texas fans is OU is now back in the top 10 with a tough one in Miami next week.
Another big game to look forward to is USC visiting Cal. You think the Bears may have been overlooking Oregon just a bit? Sheesh, that was an ass whoopin'. I imagine Cal will be pretty motivated in this one, coming off of a performance like that. And let's be honest, USC is still a pretty suspect team. Can't wait to see this line, but I'm taking Georgia by two touchdowns over LSU next Saturday. I believe it's in Athens and this is a big look-ahead game for the Tigers because the Gators come to town the next weekend and I imagine Les Miles and company won't be too upset should Tebow need another week or two of rest.
Now on to the NFL...
Fantasy Update. Absolute abysmal day for Joe Theisman's Leg yesterday. My heart breakers for the week: 5 points from Darren Sproles playing for an injured LT; 1 point from Santonio Holmes playing at Cincy; 5 points from Mario Manningham playing at Tampa; and 7 points from Larry Fitzgerald playing against Indy. What has happened to Arizona and more specifically, Larry Fitzgerald? This Cardinals team just looks out of sync. Who knows. I need to regroup this week - the Steelers are absolutely killing me - their defense looks soooo mediocre right now. Meanwhile, nice little run by the Bengals - they beat Green Bay on the road and Pittsburgh at home in consecutive weeks. Wow.
The most complete team in the league just may be the Baltimore Ravens. For the longest time (dating back to their super bowl win even), this team was defined by it's defense. Period. When the offense scored (and it was rare), it was usually because the defense had given them a short field. Now, with second-year Joe Flacco who's anything but a fluke, and a core of reliable offensive weapons, this Ravens team just maybe the best team in the league....at least for now. The combo of Ray Rice and Willis McGahee is as good as any in the league - they got 21 of their 34 points on Sunday from these guys. And Flacco seems to be averaging Peyton Manning-type numbers in the passing game. They're good. They're real good. With Pittsburgh seemingly having the post Super Bowl hangover, this could be a good year for Baltimore to get back to the big game.
And here come the Lions folks. Winning streak: 1 and counting. Seriously, you really have to love seeing this. What an awful year plus it's been for Lions' fans and I'm glad some of them may be smiling this morning. Pretty impressive offensive game - no turnovers for the team (more importantly, the young QB went INT free). I honestly believe that the bulk of what's needed to break a streak like that is just one win - point being, don't expect Detroit to go 1-15 this year. I'm thinking 3-4 wins is definitely doable for these Lions. Meanwhile, you can almost pencil the Cleveland Browns in as a very possible 0-16 team.
My quick-hit thoughts on this past week's games:
- As bad as things have gotten in Washington, I can't imagine Jim Zorn losing his job anytime soon - unless there's someone on the staff who Snyder feels could conceivably be the next head coach. You don't jump to that conclusion after 3 games without having a backup plan in place....and I just don't think Washington has one right now.
- Speaking of Snyder - anyone else notice the similarities between Dan and Jerry Jones? I know, I know, it's not hard to see, but talk about some ego maniacs. How many years do your teams have to be disappointing before you realize a) you don't know sh*t about building NFL teams, and b) you can't just put any coach in there with a bunch of piece-meal talent. It's frustrating watching such good business people make such bad decisions over and over again when it's plain to all of us that they have no idea what they are doing.
- I'm going to keep saying this until he's no longer starting - there is not a QB in this league, starter or backup, who's as bad as JaMarcus Russell. Brilliant move cutting Garcia this year guys - you're everything we've come to expect from the biggest joke of a franchise in all of pro sports....yes, that includes the Clippers.
- LOVED seeing Mark Sanchez dive for the end zone in that 14-yard scamper. It's early, but this kid looks for real.
- Two coaches who have made an undeniable difference to their respective teams: Mike Singletary and Rex Ryan. Tell me these two teams don't reflect the aura and personality of their coaches? They do...and I firmly believe both teams will be in the thick of the hunt come playoff time.
- Philly fan has to be very happy about one thing - you've got your QB of the future NOT in Michael Vick, but in Kevin Kolb. That dude made some good, tight throws on Sunday. Looks like another one and done for Jeff Garcia this year.
- Speaking of Garcia, is there a QB that you can remember who's been as solid as he is, but has also been the gypsy that he's been? I just don't know why he can't stick. I bet you Tampa Bay and Oakland are really wishing they had held on to him when they had the chance.
- Matt Cassell was 14 of 18 (nice percentage there) for 90 yards? What? 14 completions for 90 yards? That's what you see when a team like Troy plays a team like Florida. You're not supposed to see that in the NFL. Ever.
- How frustrated are Houston Texan fans right now? What a weird, painful team that is to watch.
- Barring Peyton Manning shattering his femur, I'm going to go ahead and pencil in the Colts to win the AFC South. They have played 3 games....and have a 3-game lead over Tennessee - the only team expected to challenge them for the top spot.
- One more Fantasy note - I sat Percy Harvin this week when I expected a tough San Fran defense to slow him down...which they did....until they kicked off to him and he scampered (untouched mind you) for 101 yards and a TD. Meanwhile, Larry Fitzgerald is still waiting for someone to throw him the ball. I really need to regroup.
- Game of the week next week: Green Bay at Minnesota. I imagine the Packers' defense will be eager to welcome Favre to the NFC North. I also imagine the Packers are feeling a little bit better about their loss to the Bengals - no one is talking about it anymore because they're all talking about the Bengals over the Steelers.
- Depending on the extent of Pennington's injury, and in looking at the stat sheet, I imagine the Dolphins offensive coaches may not be too hesitant to give Pat White a shot. Perhaps it was first-time jitters, but I read nothing in the stats that made me think Henne is going to be "the guy" while Chad rests up.
- Game of the week II next week: Jets at Saints. If anyone can at least slow this Saints' offensive machine down it's Rex Ryan and company.
- I don't know how happy he is, but the Saints just look like a better, more fluid offense when they don't try so hard to get Reggie Bush the ball. It'll come, just let it come.
- Tough call tonight when the Panthers, desperate for a win, visit Dallas who's desperate for a HOME win. I just think Dallas is more talented, but because I recently dumped Steve Smith, I'm guessing he goes off. The question is - which Tony Romo shows up. I'll take Dallas in a tight one: Dallas 27 Carolina 21
- Great, great, great way to end the season Lefty. I think most were pulling for you. Too bad it came during football season so only like 3 people saw it.
- Is baseball season over yet?
- Memo to Rachel Zoe of The Rachel Zoe Project. Listen closely - you may very well have the least important job on the face of the earth. People pay you (and handsomely I imagine) to help them find something to wear to parties, etc. Literally, that's all you do. So if you could please, stop acting like your life is soooo important and that what you do is soooo stressful. I think I may very well hate this woman more than any other douche bag on television and there are A LOT of douche bags on television. A couple of more little tidbits of bad news Mrs. Zoe - first, you are uglier than sh*t run over twice....and you're in fashion (ahhh, the irony). Second, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but your husband is gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that, there's not, but I imagine it can be a problem when you are married to him. Of course, it wouldn't at all shock me if you were once a man. Sooo...I guess it's all a wash in the end.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 2:15 PM
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