So What's Wrong with Georgia?

And What’s with Georgia?

With a little help from our good friend Lane Kiffin, Florida is the 2009 SEC East Champion. Pencil in your trip to Atlanta.

As for the win that put us there, I’m really starting to wonder if Georgia hasn’t entered the realm of unhealthy obsession of all things Florida. How in the world does it make sense in a season that you are 4-3 to break with a hundred plus year tradition and wear black helmets for the first time? Against a team you are solid double digit underdogs, at that. I thought the black helmets looked very cool, but now they are just a further symbol of Georgia’s futility against Florida. Why not save that for a better year in a game that, you know, mattered?

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Cupcakes for Florida ... Mmmm Good

First and foremost, all UF programs are about winning SEC championships, as AD Foley has repeatedly stated. Indeed they are one of the primary benchmarks by which our coaches are evaluated.

Within this context, the scheduling Ass. AD must keep in mind that our first SEC game is always UT, half the time an away game. Thus, the goal must be to prepare the team, allow it to work the kinks out during the first couple of games, let the coaches test the rotations and let some of the 3rd teamers get some playing time in case they are called upon once the brutality of the SEC schedule takes its toll on the 1st and 2nd teamers.

It is the scheduling Ass. AD's job to set us up for an SEC run, and hopefully more, not satisfy the idle urges of bored alumni who want to chew peyote in the Arizona desert.

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In Defense of 'Resume Rankings'

New readers may not be aware of our controversial status in the Blogpoll. Controversial because many see our philosophy as unorthodox. First let me declare that Mergz and I believe that the current way college football is structured is FUBAR. The most important of college sports is also the one that relies on popularity and speculation to crown its champion. Let me also declare that it is impossible to accurately rank the top 25 teams out of 120, especially a couple of weeks into the season.

So Mergz has decided to try to remove as much subjectivity as possible out of our rankings for the Blogpoll (understanding that there will always be some). To that end the preseason Blogpoll is based on rankings of recruiting classes from the previous four years. Certainly there is subjectivity there, it's based on talent evaluations by third parties but for us it's a mechanical exercise.

Then, when the season begins, we start with a resume method. The teams with the most impressive resumes are ranked higher than those with less impressive resumes. And there is subjectivity here too. But there's one thing that isn't subjective: head-to-head results.

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Gutless Vols Content to Lose Close

Tonight’s game had a lot of moments worth examining, but in all my years of watching college football I have never seen an SEC team try not to win a game that was still within some reasonable semblance of reach.

Sure Tennessee probably wasn’t going to win with 6 minutes left and down by 10 points. But Lane Kiffin and the Volunteers didn’t even try. How else can you explain the following sequence of plays –

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Developing Themes for 2009

It is still very early, but I see two themes developing for the 2009 season that could be “game-changing”.

1. The Rise of the Mid-Major

While this may be fairly apparent to anyone paying attention, it appears that the non-BCS “mid-majors” may be on the verge of a breakthrough year after so many close attempts.

We had Boise State’s stunning OT victory over Oklahoma is the 2007 Fiesta Bowl as an opening act for this phenomena, but that could have been viewed as an aberration due to the close score. However, after a hiccup by Hawaii in 2007, Utah made an indelible impression on college football fans everywhere with their thrashing of Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

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What We Learned This Week

1. Paul Johnson is, without a doubt, the best coach in the ACC. He always seems to make the right decisions (fake field goal in the 1st half), gets the most out of his players (Josh Nesbitt is the only QB in the FBS that looks worse throwing the ball than Terrelle Pryor), and his always seems in control of the game. Hopefully I didn’t just jinx him for Thursday night’s game versus the Hurricanes.

2. The billboard was right. Charlie Weis proved that he has no business being a head coach at a major program (I know, I know Notre Dame and major program in the same sentence). Notre Dame has the ball on second down, 2:25 left in the game, Michigan has just called their 1st timeout of the second half. Common sense tells you that you run the ball two times, Michigan either uses its last two timeouts or Notre Dame uses about half the time left on the clock – either way it’s a win-win for the Irish. So what does the offensive guru do? Two pass plays, both of which are incomplete. End result Michigan scores the game winning touchdown with 0:11 left on the clock. Brilliant coaching by the Apprentice.

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What We Learned from Week 1

1. South Carolina’s QB play is still horrific. I cannot imagine that there is anything more bothersome to Steve Spurrier than the play of Stephen Garcia.

2. Boise State isn’t going away. I don’t want to discuss the Blount issue, although I do think that the Boise State player is getting off easy.

3. Ohio State can dodge bullets.

4. Ohio State QB, Terrelle Pryor, has an interesting role model.

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So Why Not BYU?

This is admittedly way early, but it is a question we all need to be asking.

If the Cougars run the table from here on out, why not them in the BCS title game?

There is no doubt that the absence of Bradford for the second half hurt Oklahoma’s chances, but as Dr. Saturday points out BYU was handling the Sooners pretty well up until the point Bradford went down.

In fact it was a flaw in the overall Oklahoma team dynamic – their inexperienced offensive line – that led proximately to Bradford’s absence. And when it most mattered the Oklahoma defense failed to keep the Cougars out of the end zone. While last year’s Heisman winner might be the story, BYU won this game.

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