SB Nation User Blog: Poseur

Well, That Sucked

Poseur — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:47:28 -0000

via media.2theadvocate.com Photo by: Bill Feig. This ain't tennis. You can't show the official the mark left.

I returned home from the wedding a little drunk and on a positive vibe. I had listened to the LSU-Alabama game in the car and as far as I knew, the game was 15-10 LSU late in the third and I was pretty excited to watch an epic fourth quarter.

Yeah, not so much.

Watching just the fourth quarter of the game was a bitter, bitter experience. Alabama had three drives which went FG, TD, FG while LSU's offense sputtered and failed to even gain a first down. I want to bitch about The Call, which was awful but entirely expected given the SEC's track record this season, but it looks like people already beat me to the punch.

But when you just watch the fourth quarter, it's impossible to blame this on one call. LSU went into the tank when the game mattered most. No first downs in the fourth quarter. The officials didn't do that, LSU's offense did. Julio Jones getting a long TD catch off a screen pass untouched, that wasn't the officials doing, that was the LSU defense.

Patrick Peterson's non-interception was a key play, but not nearly as big as LSU's failure to get two yards on 3rd and 2 up 15-13. If LSU converts there, maybe they can put together a drive, or at least give the defense a much needed breather. Instead, LSU punted and then Julio Jones made his big catch. With Peterson sitting on the bench, still trying to recover from injury.

There is the key to the game. LSU just suffered too many injuries in the course of the game to recover. Charles Scott has a broken collarbone and is likely out for the rest of the season. Jordan Jefferson went down with a hurt ankle and Jarrett Lee was not exactly stellar coming in relief. Peterson missed a lot of the second half with cramps but kept gamely trying to compete. Patrick Peterson is an absolute stud and this game was his national coming out party. If he's not already the best cornerback in the country, I'd hate to see the guy who is better. Ciron Black, Al Woods, and Perry Riley also all missed time due to injury. That's not just six starters, it's six of our most irreplaceable players.

This sucks, because I don't feel that Alabama is a better team. They didn't beat us like Florida did. For the first time all year, our offensive line looked pretty good. I want to blame the officials but I can't. It was just too many injuries, and too much to overcome. If only, if only, if only. But if doesn't matter. LSU lost. Scott is out for the year. And Alabama is the SEC West champs.

And we're still waiting for our first first down of the fourth quarter. 3rd and 2. 15-13. One yard. We didn't know it at the time, but we lost the game on that play.

Second Half Thread

Poseur — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:40:59 -0000

The lunatics are in charge of the asylum. Both Richard and I are out of the building. Go to it!

GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Last Thoughts On Saban: Move On, Everyone

Poseur — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:24:50 -0000

Let's just get something out of the way: I don't like Nick Saban. I appreciate what he did for our program, but it was a relationship in which both parties were using each other. We got a national title out of the deal, he spent every season looking for another gig, and eventually someone left more money on the dresser than we did. Hey, that's how it goes.

I didn't like him when he was hired, I think I told my friends he was a Yankee who couldn't even beat Dinardo, and I wasn't all that impressed with what he did at Michigan St. I didn't like him while he was here, because he's just the kind of coach I dislike: the dictator genius. I don't like Bellichek, his mentor, nor do I like any coach that makes every single thing about him. Every win was because of Saban's genius and every loss was not his fault because some kid didn't execute his brilliance correctly or somehow fate intervened. Whatever. He played footsies with anyone who would call his agent every offseason and then he left. I was happy he left because I thought the Saban Obsession had left town and we could focus on the actual program instead.

Called that one wrong. The Saban Obsession has only gotten worse since he left.,

But let's clear another thing up: I don't hate Nick Saban. I don't blame him for leaving and I don't blame him for coming back to the SEC. I'd prefer it if he were in the NFL, but since he's the coach at Alabama, I hope he loses not because he used to be our coach, but because he's the head coach of Alabama. I didn't send good vibes to Mike Dubose either. I don't think he's a bad coach and I do think he'll continue to have success at Bama.

What I absolutely detest, and it needs to stop right now, is the Saban Obsession. Now, I know Bama fans think the majority of LSU fans hate Saban, but that's not true. I'd say the most vocal contingent, at least online, are those that love Saban. But Saban never loved us back and it kills them. Instead of recognizing that he is just a standard issue egomaniacal football coach, these fans have now created what I like to call the Saban Myth.

Les Miles is not being compared to the actual legacy of Nick Saban, he's been compared to the Myth. Saban's teams never blew a lead, never committed a bad penalty, never had a blitz that didn't work, and never ran a play that failed to make a first down. Saban won every game except for those that weren't his fault, his players loved him like a father, and they always gave 110% on every play. Nick Saban is partly responsible for this myth as he's a capable manipulator of his public image and he's done everything he can to create the image of the Perfect Coach. But shame on LSU fans for still buying the Myth.

He left. It wasn't personal, it wasn't malicious. It was business. Since he failed in the NFL, he came back to the big college job that had an opening, which happened to be Alabama. It's not a vendetta. Saban doesn't stay up at nights pining for LSU.

Comparing Miles to Saban needs to stop. It's just not healthy, and it's a comparison Miles can never win because he's not being compared to a man anymore, he's being compared to the Myth. LSU fans don't hate Saban, that could at least be understood. The truth is a little more complicated, as many fans are still acting like the jilted lover. Well, your ex has a new spouse and if you haven't noticed, we have a pretty good coach ourselves here who has accomplished a lot of great things. It's time to appreciate the great program we actually have and not this imaginary one built up in our minds that would have occurred had the NFL never come calling.

The best way to move on is this. Find any person who refers to this game as the Saban Bowl, and punch them in the face. Trust me, they deserve it. The head coach of Alabama is the enemy, but only because he is the head coach of Alabama. He's never coming back, so stop pretending he will and stop building his legend. Stop living in 2003, a lot of cool things have happened since then.

Les Miles is a damn strong football coach. In the name of all that is holy, stop holding our national championship winning coach at arm's length. We don't need Saban back because, really, he was never really here. Just the Myth.

Open Letter to My Texas Buddies

Poseur — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:19:09 -0000

Dear Friends,

I know y'all think you are college football fans. You're from Texas and Texas thinks they invented everything. I get that. It's all bigger here. And I enjoy the ribbing between UT and A&M fans, not to mention the barbs thrown in from Tech fans and OU grads with the good sense to move out of Oklahoma. It's a lot of fun.

I also know that you love your significant other and you want to share this blessed event with all of your friends and family. And that's cool. I love weddings (just ask my ex-wives).

But I am about to attend Wedding #4 of this college football season, with Wedding #5 next week. Stop it. You can get married in the spring. Don't you know that you're causing me to DVR the friggin' Bama game? THE BAMA GAME. Despite what Billy says, it's only the biggest game of the season. Just because of that, I'm buying you something not on the registry that you can't return. Say hello to homemade pottery.

Next time, get married in the spring or summer. There's only three months of college football, the least you could do is schedule your weddings in the other nine months. Or else stop calling yourself football fans.

You're ruining this season for me.

Thanks,

Poseur

Is the Offense Improving?

Poseur — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:34:16 -0000

By just about any measure, the LSU offense has been pretty poor this season. Despite some improvement in the last two games, LSU ranks 8^th in the SEC in scoring offense, 12^th in total offense, 10^th in rushing offense, and 9^th in passing offense. But at least we're 3^rd in pass offense efficiency. For the sake of completion, we rank 10^th in first downs, 8^th in time of possession, 7^th in red zone offense, and a shocking 2^nd in third down conversions. So, we do something well.

Take your pick of which stat you want to use, the results aren't good. The offense probably reached its nadir against Florida, where poor play calling, a non-existent running game, and a hesitant QB resulted in a perfect storm of 162 yards of total offense, 3 points, and a miserable 3.45 yards per play average. The bye week really couldn't have come at a better time. Since the bye week, LSU's offense has not only performed better, it has actually looked better. Look at the changes between the prior six games and the last two games:

	Rushing				Passing						Totals
	no.	yds	td	lg	comp	att	yds	int	td	lg	Plays	Yds	YPP
First 6	35.5	123.83	0.83	33	15.50	24.50	171.17	0.50	1.33	58	60	295	4.92
Last 2	36.5	194.5	3	69	17.5	27	221	0.5	2	39	63.5	415.5	6.54

The passing game has improved and the running game has dramatically improved, though most of that is an illusion from gaining so many yards against Tulane. Which brings us to the real issue: is this actual improvement from the offense or is this just a function of playing two terrible defenses back to back?

I think the passing improvement is definitely real. LSU only passed for 188 yards versus Tulane, which exceeds the average of the first six games, but not by much. LSU spent most of the game trying to re-establish the dormant running game. But what is encouraging is the progression of passing yards by game:

172 - 148 - 166 - 233 - 212 - 96 - 254 - 188

Looked at as a progression, the Florida game is the real outlier here. In Jordan Jefferson's last five games, he has posted his four best total yardage numbers of the season. This is most likely not the mirage of Auburn's defense, but real improvement as a sophomore kid gets more comfortable with the job of starting quarterback.

The running game, on the other hand, is still a huge concern. LSU was able to outmuscle Tulane's smallish front, something that simply will not happen against Alabama. Or probably anyone else in the SEC. LSU rushed for 122 yards against Auburn, right in line with the season average up to that point. In this case, Tulane is the outlier and the radical improvement of the run game is likely a one game mirage.

What does this all mean? It means that Crowton has done a good job of building off the one thing the offense has done well all season: pass the ball efficiently. Not only are Jefferson's numbers getting better, it is also verified by observation. Jefferson looks better and more confident in the pocket over the last few games, Florida excluded. It is also entirely reasonable to expect young players with little starting experience to get better as the season goes on.

The offense is not healed. The offensive line is still an ineffective unit. They let up lots of sacks and don't open many holes for the running game. But this offense is not nearly as inept as it was in September, and I have far more confidence in the passing game to gain yards than I did just a month ago.

The running game may be a lost cause this season, but maybe there is hope now that Russell Shepard is lining up as a running back instead of as a quarterback. He seems like he can find holes and it doesn't tip our hand when he lines up in the backfield. We'll see how real the progress has been in the passing game this week. The way out may be just to sling it.

Behind the Numbers: LSU v Tulane

Poseur — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:19:32 -0000

We beat Tulane. Big whoop. I'm doing the Behind the Numbers early just to get it over with. Honestly, trying to glean meaning from a win over Tulane is a fool's errand. Do not read too much into anything that happened.

267. LSU's rushing yards. The running game has been, at times, downright brutal this season. Getting 267 yards against anyone is a feat for this team. Charles Scott rushed for 112 yards, his first 100 yard game of the season. I'm happy for Scott, but let's not call it a breakout game until he does it against a defense with a pulse.

2. Keiland Williams' total touches. He didn't catch a ball and he had all of two carriers. Meanwhile, Stevan Ridley looked great in his 8 garbage time carries and Russell Shepard looked explosive in his five carriers. Shep seems to have taken over the "shifty back" role in the offense, relegating Williams to a few change of pace carries and waving his towel on the sideline. I feel really bad for the kid, who came in as a five star recruit with all of the hype in the world. His LSU career is not what he, or anyone, imagined for him. He's been a good player and, to his credit, he's never publicly complained about his role, but it is probably time to admit he is a bust. Russell Shepard's expanded role will probably come at Keiland Williams' expense.

50. Trindon Holliday had not one, but two 50 yard punt returns. Man, he is an explosive player. He never quite has been a star, but he always has these flashes of brilliance.

2-51. In case you didn't notice, Drew Alleman got the start as the punter. He punted twice in the first half, and shanked them both. Josh Jasper, our do everything special teams guy, came out in the third and punted it 41 yards. I'd rather Alleman shank it against Tulane because it's likely he won't get the chance to do it against Bama. With Derek Helton out, Jasper is now going to have to take every kick. No pressure.

1. LSU's three and outs. In every game, the offense has gone into the tank for an extended period. That didn't happen against Tulane, which was another positive sign. The only three and out was actually the first possession. LSU probably won't go 7/10 on third downs against the Tide, but it was nice to see the offense stay on the field.

38. Tackles by LSU's top linebackers: Kelvin Sheppard (13), Perry Riley (8), Jacob Cutrera (6), Ryan Baker (6), and Harry Coleman (5). The five linebackers also combined for 5 TFL's. It's been a long time since our linebackers were the most productive unit on defense. That is a positive sign going into Alabama. Our linebackers must make tackles.

ESPN's Outside the Lines on Billy Cannon

Poseur — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:18:13 -0000

ESPN's Outside the Lines on Billy Cannon

It was 50 years ago when the greatest punt return in college football history took place. Now, ESPN honors the great Billy Cannon on the frontpage of their website with a really cool feature. I honored the greatest LSU Tiger by making fun of his press conference. This is why bloggers suck.

Translating Billy Cannon

Poseur — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:37:04 -0000

Today on translating CoachSpeak we have a special guest star, Billy Cannon. This weekend is the 50^th anniversary of one of the greatest plays in college football history, Billy Cannon's Halloween punt return against Ole Miss. You may remember Chad Jones' touching tribute to the run during the Mississippi State game.

In order to squeeze as much goodwill as possible, LSU started Les' weekly press conference with some remarks by Cannon, which we are helpfully translating.

WHAT HE SAID: "When Herb Vincent and our sports information director asked me to come up here and speak for a short length of time, I told him I'd be that to because there are a lot of questions I'd like to ask you guys. They informed me, no, Billy, you don't ask the questions. They ask you the questions. The only question I really have is, ‘What question could y'all possibly ask about that run that hasn't already been asked? Is there anything that I ever left out or didn't mention over the years?'"

WHAT HE MEANT: For the love of God, please ask me about the punt return. It's the best thing that ever happened to me. I never get sick of talking about how awesome I am.

WHAT HE SAID: "We had a get together the other night over in Hammond and we did a fundraiser for Johnny Robinson's Boys Home over in Monroe. Johnny was able to come down and be there with us, and the bad part was that he still looks better than all of us and he's had some terrible health problems lately. We raised him about $10,000. It was great because we let all the old timers that played with us get up and talk. We gave them all a microphone. Someone who just happened to be in town was a guy who played against us for Ole Miss that night and later was the head coach at the University of Mississippi, Billy Brewer. We let Billy talk, and I thought we were going to have to assassinate him to get the microphone from him. He shed some insight from his side of the field that were funny and good natured."

WHAT HE MEANT: Pay no attention to that counterfeiting thing. I'm a good guy who loves kids and sick people. And I still hate Ole Miss. Why? Because they suck. I'm ready to suit up when we play those bastards and I'll hit that Snead kid so hard that he'll wish I wish still doing the charity circuit.

WHAT HE SAID: "Dave McCarty is going to have another show, in Lake Charles, before next season. We've done it twice for Johnny in Hammond at Shorty Rogers' motel. The first time, we had to talk Shorty into doing it. We raised about $7500 for him. We did it again, and this time we raised almost $10,000. So if any of y'all are around Lake Charles next year, I hope you can come and join us. How much did we charge? $100, and you can get everything you can carry. You'll probably hear some of the stories that you've always wanted to hear but that were unprintable at the time. I'd love to have you with us."

WHAT HE MEANT: Like have I ever mentioned the time me and Jimmy Taylor went out and murdered a vagrant? Jimmy said it was wrong and we'd get caught, but I told him to shut his mouth or I'd rip his tongue out. We ain't gonna get caught. We were gods then. And no one ever found the body. Why do you think I thought I could get away with keeping money in a cooler?*

*ED NOTE: I am totally kidding, guys. Please, do not send me hate mail. And don't send your daddy to my house to whoop my ass for making fun of Billy Cannon. Yes, he is awesome, but this joke is low hanging fruit. I can't resist, and I mean no disrespect to Dr. Cannon, who I'm sure really could rip my tongue out if he wanted to. And I'd rather he didn't. For the record, I think 'Billy Cannon was a great player and is a great ambassador for the school.

WHAT HE SAID: "The Ole Miss run 50 years ago... when we had all the guys there the other night, I asked them, '50 years ago, how many of y'all thought we'd do anything that would last 50 years?' Not one hand, not one word, not one peep out of any of them. We're as surprised as everyone else is. I think every player is proud of their part in that run and in that preparation to play that game. Really, I don't have anything new to add to it. The film is there. It speaks for itself, although the film may be turning a little yellow. I thought about sending it to Ted Turner, and I saw what he did to Jane Fonda, so I said, ‘No, we better keep our film.'"

WHAT HE MEANT: I am a total badass. Still. Don't forget it. That film is sacred and you shouldn't even look at it directly or you will be turned to stone.

On training methods during his high school years...
WHAT HE SAID: "Well, what you've forgotten is that we started the weightlifting program. We started it at Istrouma High School with Alvin Roy. He had been wanting to put it in at a high school on the team level for years and years. Baton Rouge High beat us handily, with Warren Rabb, Gus Kinchen, Don Norwood, and other future teammates. They were an excellent team. They beat us handily when I was a junior. We came back after Christmas and the big freight truck pulled up. Back then, they didn't have the hydraulic lift gates in the back. We broke the boxes down, and we carried the weights out to the gym one at a time. I thought one of the greater stories of it was that we started lifting the day after Christmas break. We lifted until kickoff time the next year. We did eight basic lifts. It was just for strength. Alvin was there every afternoon, and during the summer we went to his gym and worked out at the school. It was a terrific change. It's been enhanced and built and carried on, and we're very proud of that. There was dentist, Dr. Ted Edwards, who practiced in Donaldsonville, and he was the scorekeeper for a baseball team out of Alexandria. They came down to play us in baseball. They parked in front of the gym and walked through the gym. He went through there and he said we he opened the door, the sweat and the heat hit him. There was a guy doing a bench press, and Dr. Edwards said there was more weight on one side of the bar than they had in the whole school at Alexandria. He said they were hollering, cheering each other on, and no wonder we won all our games. I think that was part of it. Every year, we'd have two or three kids lost to knee or shoulder injuries, and my senior year we lost nobody the entire year. We won every game, and we won the state championship.

WHAT HE MEANT: I was tougher than you even when I was 16. I could've lifted the entire school structure. Today's kids are sissies and I could crush them with a mere thought.

On if athletes from the 1950s could compete in today's game...
WHAT HE SAID: "Oh yes. Of course, one of the lawyers in town told me last week that not having any confidence was never part of my personality. I think I could play day before yesterday. If Max Fugler couldn't play today, then there's nobody out there that could play. He was the finest linebacker I ever played with or against, and I've played against some great ones. You could fool everybody in the press box, everybody on the bench, all the coaches, the rest of the players, but you didn't fool Max. Max always came up with the football, and always made the tackles. He was just a phenomenal athlete in his time, and if it wasn't for a bad knee, he'd probably still be playing."

WHAT HE MEANT: You wanna go? Right now? I'll eat your soul. I could beat anyone, anywhere, anytime. Hell, re-animate Attila the Hun and I'll bear wrestle him to the ground right now.

On the quality of the 1959 LSU-Ole Miss game...
WHAT HE SAID: "It was a great ball game. If you ever get a couple of hours to watch the old film, it's really fun to watch. The runaways and where you get blown out, you forget. Where every play can determine the outcome of the game, those are the ones you remember. You remember them vividly because if you didn't give it everything you had against a Johnny Vaught team, you were going to get embarrassed, whether it was personally or as a group. We had made another goal line stand right before the half. If we hadn't have held them there, at the end of the game when they were at our one-yard line, they could have kicked a field goal and won 9-7. It was a great game."

WHAT HE MEANT: It had me. It was awesome. What's lost in the discussion of my punt return is the play I made on the goal line. That was pretty great, too.

On who made the goal line stop at the end of the game...
WHAT HE SAID: "Warren Rabb made the initial contact. I did a Bosworth. I jumped on the top and got my name called out. Warren was a good defensive back and a great quarterback until he broke his hand. He was a great competitor, a great leader and an excellent person."

WHAT HE MEANT: Me.

On the differences between the 1958 and 1959 teams...
WHAT HE SAID: "I thought it was our play selection. I thought we did things in 1958 because we were trying to be good and we were trying to score points. For instance, we were playing Duke and Duke was a good football team. I was sitting on the wing and they put in a post pattern to me. I ran the post and we scored on a long pass. We never saw that play again for the 18 months I was in school. I didn't see that pattern again until I got to Houston. We did a lot of things. We had a toss play where the remaining back would do a toss to the weak side, and it was only called one time. We were playing Tulane in 1958, and we were up 55-0 in the final minute. I had to go back in to prevent us from burning someone's redshirt. Coach Paul Dietzel said, "Go in there and run the ball up the middle, run out the clock and get this over with.' So like a good soldier, I went in there and said, ‘Call that toss to me. Coach Dietzel said it. Run it to the left right now.' Like a good quarterback, he called the play. I took the ball 35 or 40 yards for a touchdown. Tulane's coach was out at midfield cursing Dietzel, who kept saying ‘I didn't do it.' There's a guy in New Orleans who follows Dietzel around every time he's in New Orleans and says, ‘I had binoculars out there and I saw you tell Cannon to do that!' That's a couple of examples of what we didn't do in 1959. Our defense was so good. There were a lot of zeroes and not a lot of points scored that year. They knew if we played our game we'd get enough points to win the game. Most of the time, it worked."

WHAT HE MEANT: I could've called the plays, too. That's how awesome I am.

On if he actually scored a disputed touchdown in the 1959 loss to Tennessee...
WHAT HE SAID: "I swear to God, I'll go to my grave believing I was across the goal line, looking down, and then got pushed back. And then the referee doing that, it made me sick. But we didn't lose that game on the goal line."

WHAT HE MEANT: I swear to God, I'll go to my grave believing I was across the goal line, looking down, and then got pushed back. And then the referee doing that, it made me sick. He lost us the game.

Behind the Numbers: LSU v Auburn

Poseur — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:19:23 -0000

Before we move forward to Tulane, one last look at the Auburn game with this week's Behind the Numbers.

21/4.5/2.0. Kelvin Sheppard and Harry Coleman's combined tackles/tackles for a loss/sack defensive lines. Over the past few years, the one consistent criticism of LSU's defense has been that of the linebacker play. Even the best LSU defenses seemed to lack a dominant linebacker. Harry Coleman had a spectacular game, forcing a fumble on both of his sacks and forcing an incompletion that was very close to a third fumble. But Kelvin Sheppard was everywhere. Coleman made the highlight reel plays, but Sheppard made what seemed like every other play. Both of these linebackers had simply outstanding games. If I would have told you that linebacker would be a team strength in the preseason, would you have believed me?

1/9. Auburn's third down conversions in the first three quarters. Auburn turned it around a bit in the fourth and finally got their fourth down act together against the second stringers, but LSU's defense dominated on third down. LSU's defense, unlike against Florida, stopped drives.

9-86-1. Terrance Toliver's receiving numbers. He has become Jordan Jefferson's go to receiver. Brandon LaFell had a few key drops in the game (and still had a nice game), but Toliver caught 9 of Jefferson's 22 completions. His longest catch was only 14 yards, so a lot of those catches were those security blanket type of catches. Short catches for positive gains.

11-26. Charles Scott and Keiland Williams combined rushing numbers. That is not good, especially when you consider Scott gained 8 yards on his first carry. From that point on, LSU's running backs gained 18 yards on 10 carries, 9 of them by Scott. Guh.

4 for 5. Red zone efficiency has been a problem all year, so getting four scores on five trips to the red zone is major progress. Three of the four scores were touchdowns, which is even more progress. Looking ahead, LSU will need this kind of efficiency to beat Bama.

BlogPoll -- The Case Against Texas

Poseur — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:33:14 -0000

Well, let's get back to balloting. Mucho justifications after the jump. Yes, I ranked Texas #6.

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Florida	1
2	Alabama	1
3	Cincinnati	1
4	Iowa	1
5	TCU	8
6	Texas	1
7	Boise State
8	Oregon
9	LSU	2
10	Southern Cal
11	Georgia Tech	5
12	Penn State	3
13	Virginia Tech	1
14	Houston
15	Oklahoma State	1
16	Miami (Florida)	7
17	Ohio State	1
18	Arizona	2
19	Notre Dame	5
20	South Carolina	3
21	West Virginia
22	Pittsburgh	3
23	Utah
24	Oregon State
25	Wisconsin	2
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: South Florida (#14), Arizona State (#21), Nebraska (#22), Kansas (#25).

1 Florida
2 Bama
3 Cincy
4 Iowa
5 TCU

I've been ranking Bama ahead of Florida all season long, but the chinks in the Bama armor are getting too disturbing to ignore. If Lane Kiffin wasn't such a moron or if Tennessee had a decent kicker, Bama loses that game. Now, I hate the "should've lost" category, but when we're talking about who is #1, I think style points have to matter just a little bit. Florida struggled as well, but not as mightily. They return to the top of my ballot.

Iowa just keeps winning. On a style scale, they rank about 50th in the country, but football ain't about style. Iowa wins, and it's time to reward them for their rather impressive resume: home wins over Michigan and Arizona and road wins over Iowa St (eh), Penn St, Wisconsin, and Michigan St. They aren't just winning, they are winning on the road. I've been sleeping on TCU, waiting on the BYU game for them to prove themselves. The Frogs made a huge statement to everyone by annihilating BYU.

6 Texas
7 Boise
8 Oregon
9 LSU
10 USC

Texas #6?! Am I crazy? Maybe. But hear me out at least. First off, Cincy and TCU have looked great and Iowa might have the best resume in the country. This ranking is a reflection of those teams climbing as much as it is Texas falling. That said, I admit this ranking is rather punitive, but I've done the same thing all season with teams such as Penn St and Ole Miss, even before they lost. Simply put, Texas' resume isn't very impressive to me.

Their OOC schedule isn't just poor, it is embarrassingly poor: UTEP, UL Monore, and Wyoming. No team with national title aspirations should be allowed to get away with that. That would be okay if the Big 12 was holding up its end of the bargain, but the conference has imploded this year, robbing Texas of impressive wins. Texas needed some shaky officiating and last minute heroics to beat Texas Tech, a team that got clobbered by A&M. Texas struggled for three quarters against an awful Colorado team, before blowing it open late. The Horns barely got past a thoroughly mediocre OU squad. The Mizzou blowout is Texas' first impressive win of the season, and it's not like Mizzou is a very good team.

There's just nothing there. BOISE has a better win than Texas. Texas has not beat a team I have ranked, or even close to ranked (maybe OU). Iowa has beaten three teams in my top 25 and another on the cusp (Michigan). TCU has beaten Clemson and BYU, both on the road, which is equal to anything Texas has done. Cincinnati has played a pretty lousy schedule, and even they have beaten a team in my top 25 (Oregon St). I just can't justify a Texas ranking right now. The talk of them as this automatic top three team ignores the fact that Texas has an empty resume.

Boise stays ahead of Oregon, by virtue of what is turning into a huge win. I'm sorting Oregon, LSU, and USC partly on their common opponent, Washington. USC lost, LSU won, Oregon blew them out. The teams are pretty close, but that is a pretty good eyeball test for the three teams.

11 GT
12 PSU
13 VT
14 Houston
15 Oklahoma St

I've been punishing Penn St for too long. They finally played and beat a good team, so they climb up my rankings accordingly. I noticed I just dropped GT in a week they won easily. That's mainly because I was promoting other teams. I have a mental line drawn after GT in the rankings, but someone had to miss out of the top ten. I'm still not entirely sure how to rank the ACC schools. Okie St is behind Houston in my rankings, but that will change if OSU beats Texas. Head to head matters, but so does the entire resume.

16 Miami
17 Ohio St
18 Arizona
19 Notre Dame
20 South Carolina

How many close wins is Notre Dame going to eke out this season? It's getting absurd. Miami takes a tumble, but I honestly think Clemson is a good team. The mystifying loss is not Miami to Clemson but Clemson to Maryland. How did that happen? Arizona and South Carolina are both quietly putting together rather impressive seasons. But both lack a big time scalp.

21 WVU
22 Pitt
23 Utah
24 Oregon St
25 Wisconsin

Yes, I'm ranking OSU after a loss. Their three losses are to #3 Cincy, #10 USC, and #18 Arizona. All three games were decided by less than a touchdown. The Beavers are a good team that has just run into even better teams. If you're gonna rank a three loss team, this is the one. And I'm trying to get over the fact I am currently ranking three Big East teams.