I'm in this much trouble (Image: Palmetto Scoop)
A little stream of consciousness from the weekend
- Bowl Predictions: I'm mostly loving my bowl predictions after this weekend. I know that I have Clemson there as ACC Champs, but look at the rest of that disaster of a league. Clemson is a perfect candidate to be elected King of the Dip Sh*ts. The only picks I'm very iffy on are VT in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl and Ohio State in the title game. Speaking of which...how many times have OSU fans googled "Wells Injury" in the past 24 hours?
- SEC West: With MSU losing to La Tech, Auburn's offense only scoring 2 TDs vs. ULM and Arkansas scoring with 1:49 left to rally against I-AA Western Illinois, you have to think that Ole Miss is making a legit run at 7 wins this season. The Fighting Nutts play at Wake Forest at 3:30 on ABC this Saturday. The idea of a Wake vs. Ole Miss game on a national network in a primo spot is as shocking as the fact that the game has major bowl implications for both teams.
- The Clemplosion(TM): I wasn't shocked that Bama beat Clemson, but I was a little shocked that Clemson didn't make a game of it. In 2003, Auburn gave Cadillac Williams (a junior at the time) 3 or 4 first half carries vs. UGA. At that time, I thought it was one of the worst uses of personnel that I had seen in my lifetime. That was until Saturday Night when Clemson gave its Thunder and Lightening Duo a combined EIGHT carries for the entire game. It's not just that Bama physically dominated and out gunned Clemson along both lines of scrimmage. It's that the Tigers didn't even attempt to fire their pistols. Pathetic really. But still...look at the rest of that joke league.
- The Atlanta Kickoff Game: This is here to stay. The crowd was rocking, the ticket was impossible to get and the media frenzy was off the charts. College Football needs games like this. You can pretty much lock Bama vs. Virginia Tech in for next year. UGA has a road game to give in 2011, and I'd love to see us in a marquee match-up like that. However, we'd have to get Louisville to move our home opener with them back a few weeks to make it happen.
- You Know You Suck When: If you are fighting for your life against a non-BCS opponent at home, and your solution is to put in the QB who couldn't beat out Taylor Bennett at Georgia Tech...you suck. Michigan needed Steven Threet, former GT cast off/refugee, to engineer the game winning drive. The outcome...a loss. The biggest shock of the game was UM's defense giving up 300+ first half yards of offense to the Utes. I'm still a Rich Rod believer, but they are in a world of crap in Ann Arbor.
- Texas A&M Pooped Themselves: If you were to name the 5 biggest whipping boys in Div I every year your list would start with Florida International, Utah State and Idaho, then it would quickly turn to Arkansas State. The idea of losing your first game as head coach of TAMU to ARK State is every bit as incomprehensible to Aggies as losing to Appy State was to Michigan fans. Coach Sherman lacks the overwhelming personal charisma of a Dan Hawkins at Colorado to recover from a loss like this.
- First Loser Leaves Town Match of '08: On Sept. 27th Pitt travels to Syracuse. If Syracuse loses that game, I wouldn't expect Greg Robinson to be the coach in October. After starting the season off with a loss to Northwestern, Cuse is hard pressed to find many more wins on the schedule. If Syracuse wins, I would expect that to be a big follow-up nail in Wannstedt's coffin. There just aren't Ws on that slate for Pitt if they can't topple the mighty Bowling Greener.
- Spurrier Inching Towards Infamy: The last couple of years, we've published a list of Longest Tenured Coaches without a BCS Appearance at their current school. The current Top 10 is sure to have some slots open up for retirements (Rich Brooks possibly), BCS break thrus (Missouri) or terminations (Arizona, Vanderbilt or some one else). With Robinson and Wannstedt both racing towards unemployment, that means that Steve Spurrier should join the Top 10 in 2009.
PWD
