Friday, August 06, 2010

08/06 Quickie: CFB Top 25, Tiger, Rays

Hustling out to accompany my kid and his day-care class to the Brooklyn Aquarium. I've never been busier with work -- but I wouldn't miss this for anything...

*Want to enjoy some "shoedenfreude?" Read about my sorry experience with the Tebow shoe that got away.

*The USA Today Preseason College Football Top 25 is out! Yes, it's the Coaches' Poll, which I loathe, but it's something -- and it's part of the BCS formula, for better or worse.

Alabama is No. 1 -- as expected.

Ohio State is No. 2 -- as expected.

Florida is No. 3 -- despite losing Tim Tebow and a slew of other stars to the NFL. (If that's not an indicator of the talent that Urban Meyer has collected, I don't know what is.)

Texas is No. 4 -- Garrett Gilbert is to Colt McCoy what John Brantley is to Tim Tebow.

Boise State -- my premature pick to win the national title -- is No. 5. (With VA Tech at No. 6, that will make their season opener all the more huge.)

This is the year the BCS implodes worse than ever, and it will revolve around Ohio State's worthiness to play in the national-title game, with either the SEC champ (unbeaten or one loss) or an unbeaten Texas left out, if the Buckeyes fool their way in. (Poor Boise State won't even rate into the discussion, despite beating VA Tech to start the season.)

Prediction: Unless Ohio State is the ONLY unbeaten team -- and we saw how well that worked out for them in 2006 -- BCS voters will look at OSU's track record and vault the SEC champ and Texas ahead of them, treating Ohio State like... well, like Boise State, frankly.

(I say this every year: Filling out the BlogPoll is one of my favorite things of the year. My initial ballot is coming soon, and as usual I want your input.)

*It's OK for you to say it: Tiger kinda sucks. Now, he may regain his form -- at which point you're perfectly entitled to respect his game again. But until that happens? He just ain't good.

It is, in a sense, the perfect complement to the old "Tiger vs. the Field" phenomenon where every tournament Tiger entered, you just assumed he'd win and were surprised when he didn't.

Now, even though there's a part of you that still assumes he's going to win, there is a bigger part of you that is tuning in to see just how much of a train wreck this guy's game has become.

It is like A-Rod stuck on 599 squared.

*So how about that "dome run" that the Twins used to rally past the Rays? What happens when that loss is the difference between the Rays getting home-field advantage over the Yankees for the playoffs? (Eh, I'm overstating -- MLB has always been about "just make the playoffs." Still: A "dome run!")

*Bob Davidson's missed call in the Phillies-Marlins game is one more reason that baseball is desperate for more extensive replay. Let's focus on the big picture: Getting the calls right.

*No, Roger Goodell shouldn't cut Big Ben's suspension. That will just enable the guy that there are no consequences.

*Well, the new Rangers owners aren't Mark Cuban (unfortunately), but they do seem to be saying all the right things. For now, at least. But the proof in the "We'll spend!" claims are in the payroll.

*Karen Sypher: Guilty. That was obvious -- less obvious was the Sharpie-permanent humiliation of Rick Pitino.

*Keith Olbermann off of Football Night in America? You can disagree with KO's politics, but he was a terrific talent to read over the day's football highlights. Hope this didn't have to do with his polarizing work on Countdown.

*Huge and sincere thanks for the near-overwhelming response to yesterday's Legwork post. Your enthusiasm is inspiring.

If you haven't seen it and are interested, check it out and get back to me. I'm going to try to get through it this weekend and get back to everyone by early next week.

-- D.S.

4 comments:

Joshua Lattanzi said...

Replay would have shown Davidson's call to be inconclusive at best. The problem with replay is the human factor is still present, in that we will see what we want to see. Whether the ball landed fair past the bag is completely irrelevant. The question is: did the ball pass over 3rd base? And that is where replay would be inconclusive.

Blakers said...

If OSU goes undefeated, I pretty much see no way two 1-loss teams (bama and UT)in your scenario jump them. That's just suggesting far too much. Especially if OSU has to go through miami at home, and both wisky and iowa on the road. No, the big10 isn't the SEC, but they will play some good teams this year to validate that undefeated season if it does happen.

BrooklynFC said...

Gotta love Boise being the first Non-BCS team with a legit shot at playing for the Title, they could be the Butler of College Football. I really wish it would have been Marshall from the late 90's/early 2000's that had been the first to break through. Marshall laid the ground work for mid majors breaking through on the national stage. Kinda like Gonzaga did in College Basketball.

MizzouHoops said...

Going off preseason rankings...

Quit dogging the Buckeyes. Ohio State plays #13 Miami in week 2, #12 Wisco and then back-to-back vs #14 Penn State and at #10 Iowa before finishing with their hated rival.

So 4 teams in the top 15. Not too shabby of a schedule, really.

Florida plays one team in the top 15 (Bama). Bama plays 2 (Penn St, Florida).

Texas plays 2 (OU and Nebraska). Boise 1 (VT)

The point is that you come down on the Buckeyes, but from the looks of it they have the toughest schedule of any of the preseason Top 5 squads.