The Hybrid: Well, Well, Well... Real Games

I'm feeling sort of right about last week. While the Michigan-Iowa game had some entertainment value, that Florida-LSU game -- while admirably defensive -- was just painful to watch throughout. You just knew LSU couldn't move the ball, and once Florida went up 10 in the 2nd quarter, it sort of felt decided.

One of my biggest beefs with the SEC is the rampant hypocrisy combined with overvalued self worth. If boring Big Ten teams like Wisconsin and Penn State grind out a 10-7 game, it's because the prehistoric offenses and power football are holding back the points. But in the SEC? A defensive struggle! There's just so much speed everywhere! People are flying all over the place! How can you expect to move the ball? ESS EEE SEE SPEED!

On the flip side, if Oregon-Cal or OU-Texas light up the scoreboard, it's because their leagues don't play any defense. If it happens in the SEC? There's just too much speed on the offensive side to contain our playmakers! Your wide receivers are our tight ends! ESS EEE SEE SPEED!

Let's just compromise and say it was a well played defensive game that could have stood to be a little more competitive... you know, if LSU wasn't such a pretender.

But there's some good games this week, and I'm the most excited I've been in the three weeks we've been writing this column. So let's rock and roll.

Quick, Selective Hits On The AP Top 25 (unbeaten teams noted)

1) Florida (5-0) -- There's a reason Alabama is No. 1 in the Blog Poll. Florida is getting a lot of mileage out of their great defense... and the fact that they're defending champs. They're Top 5...maybe Top 3. But not No. 1.

2) Alabama (6-0) -- The Tide kind of give me a vibe of last year's Oklahoma team. Not specific aspects of the offensive or defensive complexion, per se, but more the fact that they have really been able to dictate every game they've played in so far.

3) Texas (5-0) -- UT went down double digits early against Colorado, scoffed, then absolutely thrashed the Buffs. All of their games are now upgraded to must-watch -- at least until they go up two touchdowns. So, really, you'll only have to watch about a quarter a week.

4) Virginia Tech

5) Boise State (6-0) -- Cool win against Tulsa yesterday, but as Clay pointed out yesterday, they've seemingly hit a glass ceiling in the polls.

6) USC -- We'll touch on them later.

7) Ohio State -- I'm really happy they beat Wisconsin, who have hit a Penn State-ian level of "early season pretender that folds in its first real game" status these last few years.

8) Cincinnati (5-0) -- Nice little test this week. I'd love to see the Bearcats shoot into the Top 5. This is Cincy, we're talking about.

9) Miami (FL.) -- Keep the ship steady, Jacory.

10) LSU -- Way to suck. Florida had one real game before the SEC title, and you couldn't even score more than three points. You'll have another chance to save face at Alabama... so gear up.

11) Iowa (6-0) -- This is how this is going to work. Iowa's undefeated with back-to-back road games coming up against Wisconsin and MSU, respectively. Iowa should easily win both games. This will not happen. They'll either barely win both games, or barely win one and straight up lose another. Real, dominant teams would rack up a quick 2-0 with this schedule, wash up, and call it a day. But because it's Iowa, and it's on the road, the fact that they're playing mediocre competition becomes completely irrelevant.

12) TCU (5-0) -- Two games left against ranked opponents (BYU/Utah), so this "multiple unbeaten mid-majors" thing should tone down quite a bit in the coming weeks.

13) Oregon -- At Washington this week... next week? The Dynasty.

14) Penn State -- Unfortunately, Penn State gets three somewhat easy games before Ohio State, so it's painfully possible the Nittany Lions shoot into the Top 10 again before losing a real game.

15) Nebraska -- Well, this story seemed depressing.

16) Oklahoma State

17) Kansas (5-0) -- One of the few pleasant teams left standing. They've got a gauntlet of a schedule left, but as the season plays out, they could end up being Texas' last real test...

18) Brigham Young
19) Georgia Tech

20) Oklahoma -- Red River Shootout Rivalry!

21) South Florida (5-0) -- Keep on truckin', Florida Big Boys.

22) South Carolina
23) Houston
24) Utah

25) Notre Dame -- We're really still doing the "rank Notre Dame" thing?

Any Sweet Games This Weekend?

Why, yes.

First up, tonight (Thursday) we've got a pair of Big East unbeatens.

Cincinnati (8) at South Florida (21) - Let's all agree to watch this so we can learn things about these teams.

Now, to Saturday...

Oklahoma (20) vs. Texas (3) -- I know this game has lost an exponential amount of luster since last year's No. 1 vs. No. 5 matchup. I really don't care. I'm still excited. Maybe OU makes a game of it. Worse case? It's over early and the channel gets changed.

Iowa (11) at Wisconsin -- I'll be all over this one, but maybe wait 'til the 4th quarter and take a peek, you know, see what's going on? What's up? Whose winning? Losing? Yeah? Ok? Cool.

USC (6) at Notre Dame (25) -- I hate Notre Dame like everybody else does, but why do people lambaste Charlie Weis for thinking his team has a shot to win? What do people want him to say? Maybe it's just about him acting more humble, which is fair. Still, I think Notre Dame actually has a shot in this game. Not that USC is shaking in fear -- again, to be discussed later.

(Somewhat related side note: I am still not even close to being over the USC-ND "Bush Push" game. If OU-Boise State never happened, this game would be considered thee best college football game of our generation. Seriously, that game was great. Leinart converted a 4th and 9 from USC's 26 with a downfield fade route to Dwayne Jarrett just to keep the game winning final drive alive. That game was sick.)

Texas Tech at Nebraska (15) -- Eh? Maybe? Frisky?

Virginia Tech (4) at Georgia Tech (19) -- It'd kinda be cool to see V-Tech fall right here.

South Carolina (22) at Alabama (2) -- This game gets my official stamp of "no chance at all to be interesting."

Yes, I'll still watch.

Big Ten Rant

I'm beginning to think if a team from the Big Ten goes unbeaten -- and, really, Iowa's the only possible team -- it still wouldn't make the BCS title game. This type of crap is best not to think about until much, much later in the season. But still. And not even to jinx it or anything, either.

College Football Bandwagon

Every year, once my actual favorite teams have been eliminated from the national title picture (by, you know, losing just one game), my buddy Ryan and I create what we call the "College Football Bandwagon" which mostly consists of a list of all the undefeated BCS conference teams minus Notre Dame (and this year, Florida). The goal of the CFB is to fake feel good about yourself when your "team" makes the national championship. Plus it gives you invested rooting interests.

College Football Bandwagon 2009
N/A -- Iowa is still rolling. Still.
Dan Shanoff

I'm a long time reader of Shanoff, he's probably in my Top 5 online sportswriters, and he's usually the first thing I read every morning, but as a national columnist, his Florida bias has gotten out of control in recent years (most notably acknowledging no case for Michigan to play for the national title in '06 and creating TimTeblog.com in '09). We'll use this space to make fun of him when he says insane UF stuff which usually happens weekly.

In an admittedly imaginative but still stupid guest post at Doc Saturday, Shanoff said:

We've seen Tebow as Superman We've seen him as bulldozer, as cheerleader, as preacher, as target of the paparazzi. As mohel. Now, courtesy Florida's defensively-driven, 13-3 win over LSU, meet Tim Tebow as ... Trent Dilfer.

He basically goes on to say the Florida D is great and Tebow didn't have to do much. We must save these words for the end of the season when he -- without any shred of doubt -- will re-anoint Tebow as the greatest college football player of all-time.

What They Said -- A Take On Others' CFB Takes

Just one this week, from Chris Littman over at the Sporting Blog. Still, headline of the week worthy...


Between that and the still video shot labeled "USC Trojans slip-and-slide at practice," I already knew the vid would be great. Alas, I watched it anyway.

It has a little bit of everything...
- Just :28 seconds long
- No sound
- Includes funny, far away celebrations of slip-and-slide successes
- And, maybe most importantly, it was originally discovered on Pete Carroll's Twitter feed with the accompanying message: "hilarious video of 2 of our coaches slipping and sliding at practice yesterday!"

The Dynasty.

Random Picture I Came Across While Googling Stuff For This Post

* * *

Later.