Week 8: From wrap ups to run downs

So normally you’re reading this to hear how the weekend rolled out. Well, it went mostly as expected. There were a lot of blow outs (Boise State destroyed Hawaii), some close calls (Mississippi State and Tennessee can revel in their moral(e) victories, if not real ones), and an upset, maybe two (Clemson took down Miami (FL)). More sentimentally (and I’m going out on a limb and assuming that sports fans are a fairly sentimental bunch), an emotional UConn team nearly upset West Virginia. I didn’t know Jasper Howard, but Robert Lunn, who did know him and who did play with him, wrote a moving piece on his tragic death. I will not cover that here because I will be unable to do it justice, not because it is a story unworthy of attention. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

I’m not going to cover all of that in-depth today. Apologies all around, but this late in the season, people are starting to take a closer look at the rankings. Teams are for the most part developed at this point. The talent level has been gauged, kinks have been worked out (and new ones have been thrown in – let’s be honest, there have been some big injuries this year), and teams are entering the zone: next year, when we think “goddamn, this team was better last year”, this is what we’ll be thinking of. Oh I’m veering into sentimental again, but I have a point, I swear.

Last week, for the first time, Florida was no longer unanimous number one: Alabama had been creeping up and had stolen the top spot in one or two of the polls. Today, both Florida and Alabama maintained their undefeated streaks, and both of them ended up with games much closer than is comfortable. Like I said on Friday, I’m not sure what’s in the water in Starksville, but they’re able to give Florida scares, and in some cases, upsets. Tennessee has shown itself to be a strong defensive team – say what you will about Kiffin (and god help me, that goofball is growing on me a little), his defense has grown this season and now they’re a real force to be reckoned with. True, the Vols can’t muster an offense to save their life (3 missed/blocked field goals! 3 of them! Crompton alternating between genius and dumbass! The sound! The fury! Oh, Absolom, absolom, the sturm-und-drang that is the SEC), but their defense was almost enough to win the game.

So, who should stay on top? I understand that by framing this question with a discussion of Florida and Alabama, I’m putting up these two teams as the only options for number one. I think this is fair. There are only five other undefeated teams: Texas (3), Boise State (4), Cincinnati (5), Iowa (6), and TCU(8). So far, each of these teams has had an easier schedule than either Florida or Alabama. Texas’s true challenge came against Oklahoma (then 20), Boise State’s against Oregon (then 16), Cincy…well, Cincy still hasn’t played a really tough game – their only ranked opponent was then number 21 South Florida. Iowa is under-ranked, but they still can’t compete with Alabama, and TCU makes up the very caboose. So schedules considered, my own impressions of seeing the teams play considered, I’d still keep the top two as Florida, and Alabama. Yes, Texas gave a very convincing performance against Mizzou, and I wouldn’t count them out yet, but Texas doesn’t have me sold the way Saban does.

And now, in a meandering way, I get to what I actually think. All that build up – it’s like written foreplay. Hope you’re all feeling comfortable now.  I think Alabama has been consistently the strongest team in the NCAA this season. Unlike other top teams, they were not afraid to face off against ranked non-conference opponents (Georgia-OK and Alabama-VaTech are the two games that really spring to mind in that regard). I can understand the desire to fill your schedule with cupcakes: one, it helps the cupcake team’s reputation and bottom line; two, it makes a rough conference schedule (the likes of which can be seen in the Big 12 and the like) more palatable. Still, it’s a game plan that sort of feels like cheating. It means that it’s hard to see how the conferences compare. It’s a large part of the impetus to get a play-off system in place. Seeing Alabama meet VaTech in the first week showed balls, and they followed that win up with several other decisive wins (Mississippi, then 20, and South Carolina, then 22). Florida, on the other hand, started their season off with Charleston Southern. More important than anything disparaging I could say about their schedule is the way the team has seemed shaken since the Kentucky game. Unlike last year when blow-outs were the norm, Florida has had a series of close games this season. True, they were ultimately marked as “W”s, but this team just doesn’t seem as good.

There are five more weeks of the regular season to prove me wrong (or right, I really rather be right), and I’m going to enjoy all that football. But I can’t deny the desire I’m feeling. I’ve got a fever, y’all, and the only cure is more cowbell.

Kidding. The only cure is conference championships.

Tags: ailanthus altissima, alabama, BCS, florida, football, Looking ahead, NCAA, texas, There can only be one
Categories: Domestics

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 10:30 am and is filed under Domestics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.