Let’s talk a little college football

The great thing about football season is you never run out of things to talk about. This week, Alabama coach Nick Saban and Florida coach Will Muschamp fired some shots at each other. Since Will is one of Nick’s protégés it makes it all the more interesting. Nick isn’t happy with the way the BCS bowls will be selected after the conference games.

One of the unfair elements of the process is that those voting in the various polls tend to look at a team’s losses, not their wins. So this year, Alabama and Georgia both have one loss and will play for the conference championship. However, the loser of that game will have a second loss and almost definitely be ranked behind one-loss Florida in the BCS rankings.  Because they won’t play in the conference championship, Florida won’t have the “opportunity” to pick up that additional loss. That means Florida will probably get a BCS invitation, while the Alabama-Georgia loser will not.

No fair! Says Nick.

“It’s not really a great scenario for either team. You play your way into the championship game, which means you’re the best team in your division. It doesn’t seem quite right. I don’t feel good about it for our football team or their football team.”

Actually, I agree. What’s interesting, however, is that Nick didn’t express that opinion last year when his Alabama team…

1.) Finished second to LSU in the Western Division and did not go to the championship game.

2.) Advanced to the #2 BCS ranking, when Georgia lost to LSU.

3.) Picked up the SEC’s second BCS invitation, to the national championship game.

4.) Won the national championship even though they did not win their division or play in the conference championship.

I love a little hypocrisy.

By the way, Muschamp’s response – “I can switch and go to Atlanta if he doesn’t want to go to Atlanta and play the ‘Dogs. Be careful what you wish for Nick.”

Is young Will channeling a little Stevie Spurrier?

Meanwhile the discrepancy in the strengths of the conferences is creating some interesting situations.

Georgia Tech, with a 6-6 record, will play FSU in the ACC conference game this weekend. If they win, they get a bid for a BCS bowl, probably the Orange Bowl. Meanwhile, the Big East doesn’t have a single team in the top 25, but guess what conference does? The MAC! Right now, Kent (“Four dead in O-hi-o”) State could move into the top 16 with a win in their conference championship game.  The BCS rules state that a school not from a “guaranteed-bid” conference earns a spot in one of the BCS bowls if it finishes in the top 16, and is ahead of the top-ranked team from one of the “guaranteed-bid” conferences.

If you were running the Orange Bowl, how excited would you be to host a 7-6 Georgia Tech playing Kent State? (Sorry, son-in law.)  One columnist, Pat Dooley, from the Gainesville Sun, wrote he wouldn’t watch that game if were played in his backyard.

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And this is a good idea?

Sometimes I have to wonder what some people are thinking, or if they are even thinking at all.  One esteemed member of the Georgia General Assembly thinks the answer to combating crime on college campuses is to arm the students.

This is not a new idea, but it doesn’t get any better with age.

That is a wonderful recipe for safety.  (For my friend, Ned, who has difficulty discerning whether I am being serious or sarcastic — I am being sarcastic here.)

1.) Take a group of immature (18-23 years old), young adults and provide them access to guns.

2.) Do so without providing any training.

3.) Tell them you are doing so in order for them to be able to use the guns to protect themselves and their fellow students.

4.) Insert them into a situation involving close living quarters (college residence halls, fraternities, etc.) and frequent opportunities to consume large amounts of alcohol. (College students? Seriously?)

That sounds like a really good plan. (More sarcasm, Ned.)

I have heard people comment that the shootings at Virginia Tech would not have happened if the student body had been armed. Actually, I wonder how many other innocent students and faculty would have been shot by the untrained and unskilled would-be vigilantes who have watched too many shoot-em-up movies and played the same genre of video games. Scarey.

Keep the shootings to the DVDs and the video games. It will keep the body count down.

Only eight and a half more months!

I stayed up late last night to watch the Alabama-Texas game. Unfortunately, I missed the best part of the game. At half-time, it looked as if the Tide had it in their pocket and it was just a matter of running out the clock in the second half. I ended up dozing off early in the second half and completely missed the Longhorns comeback. I awoke as the game ended and saw the final score. I thought the blow out had just continued.  I didn’t realize there was any drama until I listened to the radio on the way to work. I hate it when these games are on work nights.

I was very happy to see Alabama win. That is four years in a row for SEC teams. Florida finished third in the polls with a 13-1 record and a Sugar Bowl win against previously undefeated Big East champ Cincinnati. It would have been fun to have watched the Gators play last night, but I can’t complain about that kind of season.

We have a guy here at work who is a Florida State fan. He is always trying to lump the SEC and the ACC together as “southern football.” Sorry, pal, that just doesn’t hold water, at least not for the past several years. In the last weekend of the regular season the ACC division winners (Georgia Tech and Clemson) were soundly beaten by two middle-of-the-pack SEC East teams (Georgia and South Carolina.) What else do you need to know?

The SEC did not have the best bowl record, but then again, the SEC sent 10 of its 12 teams to bowls. Does it really matter that an ACC runner up (Clemson) beat a team that finished fifth out of six teams in the SEC East (Kentucky)? Both SEC’s BCS teams won big.

As there is every year, there is a lot of grumbling out there about the so-called mid-majors and the BCS system. Some radio guys were talking about mounting a protest and voting Boise State #1. I actually have some sympathy for the Boise States of the world, but too much. If you really want to be taken seriously and walk with the big boys, then start acting like one. Upgrade your program and play a serious schedule. Either join a serious conference or upgrade your own. In Boise State’s case, joining the PAC 10 (then 11) would make perfect sense. You go undefeated against that competition and we’ll take you seriously. However, when you play one or two decent teams (especially real early in the season) and then flesh out your schedule with Sister Mary’s School for the Deaf and Blind and the Montana School for Cattle Rustlers, you won’t be taken seriously. Playing a Mountain West or WAC schedule simply does not match up against playing Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, Alabama, etc week in and week out. You MAY be the best team in the country, but we’ll never know for sure.

Let’s see, signing day is about a month away; spring practice about 3 months down the road and summer camp a few months after that. Fall kick off in 8 and a half months. Can’t wait!

Good weekend!

We had a good, if not very exciting weekend.

The winning field goal.

That is, unless you count the Florida-Arkansas game yesterday. The Gators pulled out a game they deserved to lose. They gave up four fumbles (2 in the redzone) and six sacks. They got the “W” but not without a lot of angst, especially here in Gator Central-Savannah.

It was a home game for Florida, but we let our nephew, niece and her husband use our tickets, and we stayed home. I’m on the backside of that bronchitis, and really needed to just hang out and take it easy for a day.

Poolboy, his GF, his roommate, Writer Princess and SIL all came over to watch the game. That was nice. We threw a couple of London Broil’s on the grill after the game and had a nice dinner before they all headed out for other Saturday night plans.  SIL is a  big Georgia Tech fan, so he ate dinner in front of the TV watching that game. I was the good FIL and watched the game with him. A big sacrifice for family unity. (Ha!)

Today, I actually made it to 11:15 mass for the second time in three weeks. This afternoon I shampooed the carpet in our bedroom. That is the only room in the house that still has carpet. We put hardwood-laminate in all the living areas about 7 years ago. I did that work myself. I don’t want to do it again. It took all darn summer.  We have tile in the other bedrooms, but carpet still in ours. Between animals sleeping there and general use, it was really nasty. Ugly job but it needed to be done. I think we need to go ahead and finish off the wood flooring in all the remaining bedrooms.

I’m going to grill some chicken for dinner this evening and then an early bed. Back to work tomorrow.

Ciao!

A little football talk

The “U” hammered Georgia Tech last night. I was sorry to see that. I turned the TV off in the third quarter and went to bed.  Besides not liking the “U” of Miami very much, I am also a big Paul Johnson fan.

Florida kicks off the SEC schedule with a home game vs. Tennessee tomorrow. The Gators were favored by 29 points the last time a looked. I got a call from my stock broker, Steve, who handles my IRA. He is located in Nashville and is a Tennessee grad. Most of the times he calls, we end up talking college football. He was really pretty funny about the point spread. “Well maybe I can turn off the TV half time and get some things done around the house.”

In honor of tomorrow’s game, here is some UT trash-talk. (I didn’t use any of this on poor Steve. He was despondent enough as it was.) By the way, full credit goes to the various fans who contributed these jokes on message boards. Feel free to borrow the material and insert your favorite opponent as appropriate.

Q: What is the most frequent line heard from graduates of Tennessee’s business school?
A: Would you like fries with that?

Q: How do you get a Tennessee grad off your front porch?
A: Pay him for the pizza and tip him well

Q: What do you call a Vol with half a brain
A: Gifted

Q: What are the toughest 6 years in a Tennessee students life?
A: 3rd Grade

Q: What’s the difference between a Vol and a dollar bill?
A: You only get three quarters out of a Vol

Tennessee grad was hunting in the woods. He came upon a beautiful woman laying naked in the grass.  “Are you game?” He asked. The women said “yes”. So he shot her.

Q: Why do the Tennessee Vol fans wear orange and white?
A: They can wear it to the game on Saturday…They can wear it hunting on Sunday…and they can wear it to work on Monday when they’re picking up garbage during work release!

Q: Why are homicides so difficult to solve in Knoxville?
A: There are no dental records and everyone has the same DNA.

Q: How can you tell if a Tennessee fan is married?
A: There are chewing tobacco stains on both sides of the truck.

Q: What’s one hundred yards long and has six teeth?
A: The front row at Neyland Stadium.

Q: How does someone from Tennessee convert a dishwasher into a snow plow?
A:  He hands his wife a shovel.

Q: What do you call a beautiful woman on the arm of a Tennessee fan?
A: A tattoo