Sunday, October 28, 2007

Sunday 10/28 (Very) Quickie

World Series: It's (as good as) over. Red Sox go up 3-0. The end could come as early as tonight, sparing us a drawn-out situation on Monday or later in the week when the Red Sox inevitably clinch the title. (Yes, inevitably.)

CFB: We didn't get the shake-out among the unbeatens that we were hoping for, but there were certainly a couple of "prove-it" peformances from both Arizona State (beating Cal at home, which Pac-10 rival Oregon couldn't) and Kansas (stifling Texas A&M on the road). Ohio State? Eh: I'm just not quite sure the win doesn't simply perpetuate their schedule is soft and the Big Ten is weak. Penn State was barely a "Top 25" team, and didn't look particularly impressive (regardless of how good the OSU D is).

Here's how my Top 10 is shaping up for this coming week (ballot to be completed tonight): (1) Boston College, (2) LSU, (3) Ohio State, (4) Arizona State, (5) Kansas, (6) West Virginia, (7) Oregon, (8) Oklahoma, (9) Missouri, (10) UConn (which is a one-point loss at a team ranked in the BCS Top 15 last week from being undefeated). For the record, I have Michigan at No. 11 and ready to re-crack the Top 10, a mere 10 weeks from being ousted altogether. More mulling to come today...

UPDATE: Upon further reflection, I am putting Ohio State at No. 2 over idle LSU. All four unbeatens came up with significant "prove-it" wins this weekend (even if I don't think Penn State is particularly good, I liked the way that Ohio State beat them). I am also considering putting UConn ahead of West Virginia, given that UConn just beat South Florida and USF beat WVU (although UConn beat USF at home, and WVU lost to USF on the road).

-- D.S.

72 comments:

Anonymous said...

How is LSU #2 and Oklahoma #8, what a joke.

Luke Bell said...

Virginia Tech didn't look too impressive either. Maybe Penn State didn't look too impressive because OSU is that much better.

And didn't you rip on OSU on their bye week? How does LSU jump them, with one loss to a shitty Kentucky team, on its bye week, jump ahead of OSU after crushing Penn State on the road?

kway34 said...
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kway34 said...

You're ridiculous. LSU LOSES to a team that is, at best, a borderline top 25 team, but they play in the SEC, so they MUST be better right? Aside from a dominating win over a team that struggled to beat East Carolina, Ohio, and North Carolina, where has the SEC been so great? They're a bunch of above-average to good teams, nothing more.

Anonymous said...

I have to admit that most years the SEC is better, but Dan, you have oficially stopped seeing straight.

tOSU is clearly the #1 team in the country. BC can be second but I'm not accepted teams from the SEC right now. LSU?

They lost to Kentucky, a 3 loss team. Kentucky lost to South Carolina (3 loss team), Florida (3 loss team), and Mississippi State(4 loss team!).

Seriously?

Danielle said...

What is with the OSU hate? Nothing they can possibly do will get credit in this blog.

Steve said...

I can make a case for LSU at 5, but that's pretty much best case scenario I think. #2 is just assinine. I have Arizona St. #1 and if they win at Oregon next week it will simply prove it. I have Ohio St. #2 so for me it's all set up for a rematch of that great Rose Bowl with Jake the Snake and Joe Germaine.

bkelly126 said...

LSU should be the top 1-loss team, no higher.

an interesting stat from the SC/Tennessee game last night, the SEC is on pace for 11 of 12 teams to be bowl eligible. call it parity, competitive balance, or mediocrity, but that's still impressive

Jen said...

GO BUCKS! An impressive win: they were not affected by the "White Out" in Happy Valley and Boeckman has a career night.

Eat poop, Dan. I'm glad you don't like Ohio State.

pv845 said...

The SEC blows. Every team is mediocre and you putting LSU at number 2 is a joke. Take off the SEC blinders. I would take OSU over any team in the SEC in a heartbeat.

Thanks for picking KU to lose. Keep doing that and we can have a national championship.

I hope the It's Over proclamation doesn't turn out like the last one you made.

BD said...

Boston College above the tOSU? Regardless of what you say about tOSU's schedule, we have handled every team easily. Every game has been a "no-doubter." BC, while they did win versus VT which is all that really matters, looked like total, complete shit in that game. How that warrants them #1 when there are more deserving undefeateds is beyond me.

Anonymous said...

Let's do what I did with LSU for the other one loss teams.

LSU lost to Kentucky, a 3 loss team. Kentucky lost to South Carolina (3 loss team), Florida (3 loss team), and Mississippi State(4 loss team!).

Missouri lost to Oklahoma, a 1 loss team. Oklahoma lost to Colorado (4 loss team).

Oklahoma lost to Colorado, a 4 loss team. Colarado lost to Arizona State (undefeated), Florida State (3 loss team), Kansas State (3 loss team), and Kansas (undefeated).

UConn lost to Virginia, a 2 loss team. Virginia lost to Wyoming (3 loss team) and NC State (5 loss team).

West Virginia lost to South Florida, a 2 loss team. South Florida lost to UConn (1 loss team) and Rutgers (3 loss team).

Oregon lost to Cal, a 3 loss team. Cal lost to Oregon State (3 loss team), UCLA (3 loss team), and Arizona State (undefeated).

How is LSU not just better than all the other 1 loss teams but Ohio State?

Qwagmire said...

USC has gone from #1 in the nation to at least #3 in the PAC 10

The heroin sheik said...

All these pointless arguments are why we need a playoff. That way an undefeated OSU team would maybe play a one loss LSU team and get smoked. MAybe they don't who knows. After the beatdown my boys had yesterday I just want as many teams to lose the rest of the way. At least then something interesting might happen. Let's face it if you told someone who has been on safari for the last 6 months that UConn was in the natl championship hunt that person would just assume you meant in basketball. This needs to happen as everything else that could happen already has this year. The only thing left is for someone like Bowden or JOe pa to die on the sideline after a game winning fg or something.

Steve said...

GuyInTheCorner,

The way you layed it out it looks like West Virginia would be the best 1 loss team no? I think they should be.

ToddTheJackass said...

In all fairness, BC didn't do anything until it stopped "monsooning"... you can almost dismiss everything that happened in the first half of that game.

I'll tell you what was ridiculous though, was Herbstreit saying he thought OSU was the clear #1, and then ranking BC at #4 on his top five. And then Lee fucking Corso puts BC at his personal #5, because "they're undefeated and there had to be someone in there from the Big East." It's nice that ESPN is equal opportunity, and apparently lets mentally retarded folk on the air, but that was ridiculous. How do you rank OSU #1 and then BC #5? And how do you analyze college football and still think BC is in the Big East?

In my mind, BC's win at Georgia Tech (when Choice was healthy) was as impressive as OSU's win was at Penn State. So the win (sloppy as it was), over VTech, should vault them over OSU, but I'm still content with being #2, so long as retards like Corso and Herbstreit shut their god damn mouths until they maybe actually watch a BC game.

Matt Ryan > Tim Tebow.

ToddTheJackass said...

Also, Florida's defense blows. Wow, did they suck.

The heroin sheik said...

The funny thing was that over the summer I kept saying the gators would lose two or three games this year. My reasoning was because we lost everyone off of our defense. I knew we would be green this year but this is ridiculous. Todd your right the gator d does suck, but with as many frosh as we have playing we should be sick once they figure otu what the hell they are doing.

SDW said...

Lamest thing ever: calling it "The" Ohio State University. Lame, lame, lame.

Especially after they lose the Big 10 title to Michigan on the last day of the season.

GO BLUE

Geoff said...

I like how the mighty SEC is just as average as every other conference now. Not a single team has been great. Even LSU has had some very close calls and could easily have 3 losses right now. Their loss to Kentucky is looking pretty horrible right now.

I hate to admit it but OSU is the only team, besides BC I suppose, that has gone out every week and won the games they are supposed to win easily. Sure neither team has playing anyone great, but there aren't many great teams this year.

Real Men Eat Haggis said...

Dan, FYI:

Northwestern - 5 wins, 3 concerence losses

Florida - 5 wins, 3 conference losses

Mull that, Bandwagoneer

starkweather said...

Hey, Geoff, there's also Arizona State. And, as far as one-loss teams go, Oregon has actually looked like the best team from what I've seen. You have to keep the games in context. Losing to Cal when they lost, how they lost, is no mark of shame no matter what happens for the rest of the season. Cal and Kentucky both look like they're starting to bail on the season. So beating them now or losing to them earlier are not exactly equal occurrences. Having said that, I'm starting to worry that the SEC might just be over-rated this year.

TJ said...

Overall, that's a pretty reasonable top 10, Dan. But still, I would put LSU down a few more spots. If you really look at the SEC objectively, it's time to stop making any rankings predicated on LSU being "a one-loss SEC team." LSU clearly has the best resume of any one-loss team, but the more the undefeateds play and don't lose, the more they all (except Hawaii, which doesnt count) lay claim to being ranked higher than any one-loss teams.

Also, kudos for putting UConn in the top ten, which is certainly where they belong, not 16 like the coaches have put them.

And speaking of the coaches, is the "late losses are better than early losses" argument really strong enough to justify ranking 2-loss USF team behind a 3-loss Auburn team USF beat?!?

TJ said...

Matt Ryan > Tim Tebow.

True enough. When Timmy doesn't have his legs to bail him out, he has the pocket awareness of *gasp* a sophomore. Of course, if the coaches didn't decide to play "punish Kestahn Moore" for three quarters, maybe Tebow would have had some help softening up the UGA rush...

TJ said...

late losses are better than early losses

strike that. reverse it.

john (east lansing, mi) said...

toddthejackass, you certainly are.

Matt Ryan was sucking the big dick on the national prime-time stage and he got bailed out by some all-time boners by VT.
He threw at least 3 very pick-able balls well after it stopped "monsooning," which is a lame excuse for a team being completely unable to achieve anything at all, even though the opponent has moderate success.

Ryan Fucking Mallett > Matt Ryan
Dennis Dixon > Matt Ryan squared

A.P. Boynton said...

bd, every OSU win has been a no-doubter? Did we watch the same game against Akron when they only led 3-2 at halftime?


John from east lansing, Ryan Mallett better than Matt Ryan? Maybe in a few years but not now. He beat weak Big 10 teams...big freaking deal.

kway34 said...

bd, every OSU win has been a no-doubter? Did we watch the same game against Akron when they only led 3-2 at halftime?

The same Akron team that had 69 yards of offense and 14 straight 3 and outs? Maybe if you're looking at the score and the score alone you can say that, but watching the game it was never in doubt.

john (east lansing, mi) said...

a.p. b. - that was by way of hyperbole and insult. I picked Mallett because he's a guy who obviously isn't a Heisman candidate (and because yesterday I got to see some exciting Mallett-to-Manningham plays that make me think next year will be great).

I just think Ryan sucks. And I think even Mallett wouldn't have thrown 6 shoulda-been-interceptions. Like good quarterbacks don't.

So, that was just to make the point that I think almost any quarterback out there would have put his team in less danger than Ryan did on Thursday. Turnovers are bad all over.

But I really do think Dixon is like 11 times better than Ryan.

danwise1856 said...

so let me get this straight...

Arizona State wins at home against a 3-loss Cal team and it is impressive.

Ohio State goes on the road in front of a 110,000 white-out crowd against a 3-loss Penn State team in prime time and it is not impressive?

Dan, get over your jealousy of OSU. You won last year, congrats, they were the better team that day. Give credit where credit is due. OSU is one of the 2-3 best programs in the country.

Oh wait, The SEC Champion is the defacto National Champ

TJ said...

UConn at 19 and 20? What the hell are the coaches and the Harris voters doing with their Saturdays that they don't have time to pay attention to college football? And USC at #13? Seriously: who are these people and why do they get to make actual decisions that impact the college football season?

Matt said...

seriously day fuck you...you are no better than skip bayless and mark mays of the world. not only did osu win on the road in the second hardest place to play. they dominated there.

the sec is a good not great conference and guyinthecorner made a great point about LSU annd their wins and losses.

nation keep hating the bucks

Matt said...

*dan

Big D said...

Not to derail the CFB talk here, but, well... it IS Sunday, and the NFL does reign supreme.

On that note... 5 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter of Pats/Skins, and Mike Vrabel is kind of having a nice day. 3 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and a receiving TD.

I defy you to show me a defensive player having a better week. MAYBE Antonio Cromartie & his 2TDs for San Diego. Maybe.

todd said...

God, it's going to be annoying tomorrow having to listen to everyone complain about the Pats running up the score.

ToddTheJackass said...

John from Lansing, you lost all credibility by throwing in Ryan Mallet. Really, that just makes you sound like a dumb homer. Have you watched Matt Ryan besides the VTech game? And anyway, that was a game in which he basically single-handedly won offensively, beating the 8th ranked team in the nation in a hostile road environment in a conference game...

Sadly though I admit I haven't seen as much of Dennis Dixon as I'd have liked, mainly because it's really damn hard to find Pac-10 games on TV, which is a shame.

ToddTheJackass said...

Ummm... whether or not the Pats are running up the score... okay, they are... but it was stupid to have Brady do a QB sneak on 4th and 2 while up 38-0... geez... fortunately Joe Gibbs has more class than to call a hit out on Brady.

Steve said...

It may be annoying Todd, but there's no denying it's true. That whole organization is just filled with world-class jerks. It's totally fitting that it's located in Massachusetts.

The heroin sheik said...

I am sure hardly anyone is watching the bucs game but damn if it isn't one of the more exciting games this year. The bucs reeled off 20 points then let the faguars retake the lead. It sure is better than Pats game. Now if the bucs can just get the ball back and let matt bryant kick a 50 odd yarder to win and it will make up for the gators bending over yesterday.

futurelegendvinceyoung said...

Todd the Pats are running up the score. Belichick is lucky that Gibbs and Dungy have enough class not to intentionally hurt Brady. I am going to guess that when that does happen this year not to many people are going to be upset about it.

The heroin sheik said...

Well reggie fucking nelson lived up to his nickname the eraser.

Luke Bell said...

It wasn't running up the score. It is totally possible that the Redskins can score 45 points in the 4th quarter to tie the game.

/asshole Patriots justification

Natsfan74 said...

OK, so West Virginia beat Mississippi State by 25. Mississippi St. beat Kentucky by 17. Kentucky beat LSU by 6. Thus, West Virginia is the defacto SEC Champion and best team in the Big East by Dan's standards. Otherwise, he has to hang LSU's strength on beating an overrated V-Tech team that didn't have a QB and beating an overrated (proclaimed as the best 2 loss team in the Nation by Dan) Florida team that is super lucky not to be 4-4 right now.

I hate Saban, but I hope he can make LSU STFU next week-end.

Finally -- how does any poll jump Georgia from 20 to 10 for beating a 3-loss Florida? Dan isn't the only SEC homer in the nation right now.

marcomarco said...

It wasn't running up the score. It is totally possible that the Redskins can score 45 points in the 4th quarter to tie the game.

I love it. Maybe Belichick was thinking 'what would piss off the lemmings the most'. Cassell, go score another touchdown. Sir, yes sir.

Well, the covered their 17 pt spread. Again.

So much for the 5th best defense in the league. Bring on the Colts.

marcomarco said...

It may be annoying Todd, but there's no denying it's true. That whole organization is just filled with world-class jerks. It's totally fitting that it's located in Massachusetts.

Success breeds contempt. You reek of envy. Whine away, sheep.

Steve said...

It'll be appropriate when Brady gets hurt around week 14 and has to miss the playoffs. Having him do quarterback sneaks on 4th and 2 in the 4th quarter of a 38-0 game is TOTALLY WICKED SMAHT THOUGH!

marcomarco said...

All of you Pat/Boston bashers, did it ever occur to you that Evil Bill just might be saying "Hey NFL, I don't need any stupid cameras, nor did it give me any edge whatsoever. Just to show you how much I don't need an edge, watch this."

marcomarco said...

Re:TOTALLY WICKED SMAHT

I'm sure that you'll be overjoyed if this happens. You'll only be pissed off/whiney if it doesn't.

In the meantime, continue to wallow in your misery.

Steve said...

Not neccessarily overjoyed, just not surprised either, that's how karma works. I'm not miserable, just calling a spade a spade.

marcomarco said...

PS. We don't all talk like ted kennedy. And, a spade being a spade isn't 'sweeping generalizations classifying all residents of massachusetts as world-class-jerks'

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch my favorite baseball team win the World Series.

Heh.

Eagle in Brighton said...

bitchbitchbitchwinebitchcomplainbitch

/patriots haters

Eagle in Brighton said...

@marcomarco: I can't help but imagine that is exactly BB's motivation. I love it.

@ the wining masses: This isn't teeball: ball up, play with some pride, and stop the NE O if the score is such an issue.

Anonymous said...

As a Skins fan I have to say that I'm not pissed off by the score at all.

The Pats simply continued to play. It's the NFL. The crowd came to see them give it their all and they got what they came for.

The biggest factor in this game was the fact that the Skins have 6.5 injured offensive lineman. Campbell never had time to do anything and fumbled 3 times. The Skins D actually didn't play that poorly when you figure in the Pats field position and number of chances.

Steve said...

Well these guys are all professional athletes and you don't have to try and hold the score down if you don't want to, but I think it speaks to what type of player you are when your goal is to humiliate opponents. They are role models and are showing that bully behavior is a good thing for young players to emulate.

/Easterbrook, but it's true.

Anonymous said...

If they didn't need the tapes then why did they do it? Cause they are classless cheaters who will do whatever it takes to win, and their fans are a bunch of douchebags who think that people hate them and their teams because they are so good, when in actuality we hate them because they are jerks and so are their fans. Well maybe not all of them, but a lot of them.

You can call me a whiney bitch all you like, it doesn't make you any less of a douchbag.

marcomarco said...

jonathan, I'm sure that 53 members of the Patriots will consider your feelings about class next week against the Colts.

As will I.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I don't care what you do, despite what you think you have no affiliation with the Pats. Belichick probably has contempt for anybody who uses the internet. Maybe he'll make a comment about running up the score if he isn't too busy shoving reporters, hitting on married women and cheating.

Travis said...

As far as im concerned the Patriots are doing what there paid to do.

This isnt high school or college, players are paid to play. If your on offense your job is to score. If your not trying every play out there to score, then your commiting fraud against the fans that pay your salary.

And also, please a show of hands for all those who were ranting like this when the Colts were running up the score in 2004 when Manning was making his TD record run.

Steve said...

travis,

Everyone in Boston would have to raise their hand. Also, the Colts paid their karmic price in 2004 and 2005 with playoff losses. They aren't running up the score anymore. The Colts pretty much completely shut it down in the 4th quarter today.

Luke Bell said...

Most of the Manning games were still close. There were some blowouts tossed in there, but that Colts team had zero defense. I won't make an excuse for them, because I don't like it when any team continues to pile on when the game is all but decided. But look at the results:

Sept. 9 at New England - L (24-27)
Sept. 19 at Tennessee - W (31-17)
Sept. 26 Green Bay - W (45-31)
Oct. 3 at Jacksonville - W (24-17)
Oct. 10 Oakland - W (35-14)
Oct. 17 Open Date
Oct. 24 Jacksonville - L (24-27)
Oct. 31 at Kansas City - L (35-45)
Nov. 8 Minnesota - W (31-28)
Nov. 14 Houston - W (49-14)
Nov. 21 at Chicago - W (41-10)
Nov. 25 at Detroit - W (41-9)
Dec. 5 Tennessee - W (51-24)
Dec. 12 at Houston - W (23-14)
Dec. 19 Baltimore - W (20-10)
Dec. 26 San Diego - W (34-31 OT)
Jan. 2 at Denver - L (14-33)

Average Colts score: 32.5
Average opponent score: 21.9

So, despite the blowouts, every game had a difference of around 10 points. The Patriots average score is 41.3 to 15.9.

But why look at the numbers. It is much more important to show the world that they "don't need to cheat." Of course, they could have done that by, oh I don't know, not cheating.

Eagle in Brighton said...

@Jonathan:

Complain, bitch, be bitter all you want bro; at the end of the day, all the overzealous vitriol just sounds pathetic.

Btw, nothing evinces DBagery like sweeping generalizations.

/jonathon putting foot-in-mouth

Eagle in Brighton said...

Commenter bitterness aside: purely as a football fan, I can't wait for NE/Indy next week: I think NE's DLine v. the Colts running attack will be an intriguing matchup to watch, with the thought that Tony Dungey probably will try to control time of possession with Addai to keep the NE O off the field (shades of what NE attempted to do in recent matchups between these teams.)

Even as a Pats fan, I think this is too close to call.

I just don't know if I can take one more day of media hype: the week has barely started, and the media overkill is already draining.

Anonymous said...

@ eagle

Fist of all I'm not bitter, just calling a spade a spade. I have never hated a team like I hate this pats team.

I think being a defensive masshole pats fan pretty much takes the Dbag cake.

Congrats dude, you've earned it.

Travis said...

A ROD HAS OPTED OUT, DONE WITH YANKEES

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/specials/playoffs/2007/10/28/rodriguez.contract/index.html

Eagle in Brighton said...
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Eagle in Brighton said...

@jon

Right backatacha bro.

"their fans are a bunch of douchebags who think that people hate them and their teams because they are so good, when in actuality we hate them because they are jerks and so are their fans"

That's some real enlightened analysis.

Stay classy jon, you're a grade. A. winner. (whiner).

Big D said...

Ladies... and gentlemen, your franchise of the decade...

The Boston Red Sox.

Goddamn - it feels weird just thinking that, let alone seeing it all spelled out.

futurelegendvinceyoung said...

My brother had a great quote after the game tonight, "It never gets old". Congrats to the Red Sox

SDW said...

The New England Yankees win again.

Big money still rules.

Must be nice.

Congrats, Yankees... er... Sox.

Nelvis said...
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ToddTheJackass said...

1. The Patriots did run up the score. No denying that. Didn't really ever mean to try and defend them...

2. I am ecstatic. It feels great, I gotta say. Jon lester, what an amazing story.