This and that, and a look at this weekend

Well, Best of the SEC Blogs received a big link the other day from Ryan Ferguson from AOL Fanhouse. Ryan is also a co-blogger at the Florida blog Orange and Blue Hue, so we want to thank him for the link, and for reading Best of the SEC Blogs.

I do want to point out a couple of things, though. First of all, Ryan is right that I am annoyed to find Ohio State atop the rankings, given their schedule so far this year. And Ryan's co-blogger, Keltic Gator at Orange and Blue Hue delivers a scathing assessment of their ascendancy today.

With all that said, I do want to agree with Ryan that the final chapter in the BCS is far from being written, and Ohio State itself is guilty of nothing more than beating everyone who has come before them so far. OSU can't help it if sclerotic BCS voters care more about a school's pedigree than their body of work. It is also true that OSU's toughest games lie before them. All in all, the reality is that there is no reason for panic -- yet. But this, I cannot agree with:

This is the system college presidents we've adopted and this is the product we get. Accept it.

Never. Never will I accept this farce. It needs to be changed, and accepting it is acquiescing to a fraud, and every thinking fan of college football knows it. Once again I return to Mergz at Saurian Sagacity, and his outstanding series dealing with this issue. Until we get some form of playoff, even a limited one, there will be no legitimacy to the "national championship". It will remain little more than a beauty contest where football tradition and pre-season standing count for as much as prowess on the field. Anyone associated with athletic endeavor should be outraged at this arrangement.

But moving right along, it's past time for me to start looking at some of the big games this week.

And what's the biggest game in the SEC this week? It says here that it's Florida vs. Kentucky. Did I read that right? Kentucky, the basketball school? Up is down. Left is right. Florida and UK are weirdly switching roles lately, with Billy D. winning NCAA basketball championships and Kentucky contending for the SEC football crown. They say that if you live long enough, you'll see everything.

So what are the SEC bloggers saying about this matchup? Ole Miss blogger Parish Alford favors the Wildcats:

Since the SEC split into divisions in 1992, the East has been ruled by Florida, Tennessee or Georgia.

Kentucky and South Carolina have never been closer than they are this season. Maybe this is one of those lightning in a bottle times for the Cats.

Kentucky 36, Florida 31

Kyle King at Dawg Sports, who picked Kentucky to beat LSU (maybe the only person I know of to do so), thinks the Wildcat's luck has run out:

L.S.U. came back in gutsy fashion to win a thriller over Florida, confirming the Bayou Bengals' status as the nation's consensus No. 1 team . . . and setting the Tigers up for a letdown in Lexington against a well-rested and underappreciated Kentucky team that, unlike Louisiana State, hadn't spent the last week hearing how great it was. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, that same formula works against them this weekend: Kentucky is the squad that will be physically drained and emotionally spent after a triple-overtime victory over the top team in the land and the Gators are the ones coming into the game with fresh legs and in a bad mood. Live by the letdown, die by the letdown: Florida will keep its shot at a second straight S.E.C. East title alive by beating Kentucky in the Commonwealth.

But Florida at Kentucky is not the only big game going on this time of year -- it is also the weekend for the annual renewal of the Third Saturday in October. Jon at Fulmer's Belly thinks that the Vols will be sending the Tide back to Tuscaloosa with their tail between their legs:

Who will win? Well, depends on whose blog you read. I’ve read through a few Bama blogs, and surprisingly, they chose Bama to pull off the upset, whilst this humble blog you’re reading now, would like to go ahead and call out a blowout by the Vols. Maybe the final margin will be closer, but it won’t be a game. Why? Because the belly decrees it so. Now get back to work.

Nico writing for Roll Bama Roll ranks the hate of the top five Alabama rivals. Tennessee comes in at #4:

4. Tennessee: I'm pretty shocked that Tennessee has managed to slip to #4 this season, but there they are. It's probably less a function of them slipping as much as it is other schools giving us more reason to hate. Don't be alarmed folks, this situation is purely temporary.

This is one of those games that just can't be picked based on any particular characteristic of either team. With both teams having a "down" year by their own definition, yet both still apparently controlling their own destiny in their respective divisions of the SEC, this game is sure to be among the most hotly contested of the year.

That's all I have time for now. I'll be looking at some more games later.

Croome backs up Orgeron: Alabama gets calls

The call that was reversed on the field in the Alabama-Ole Miss game on Saturday is not done causing controversy. This Mobile Press-Register piece reports that despite the SEC official position that the reversal was correct, Orgeron, his AD Pete Boone still vehemently disagree. That isn't surprising.

What is surprising is this comment in the same piece attributed to Sylvester Croome, the Mississippi State coach:

Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom said Monday the more successful programs get gets a lot of calls in their favor. Croom, a former Alabama center and assistant coach, said he noticed it while playing for the Tide and he has noticed it even more while coaching against his alma mater.

Ouch. Croome is essentially accusing officials of favoring Alabama on the field, as well as the other successful programs in the SEC.

This is actually a disturbing accusation, coming as it does from the coach of an avowed foe of Ole Miss, and a former player at Alabama. I want to clarify a couple of things before I go on. One, I'm not accusing Alabama, or any other SEC team of wrongdoing or misbehavior or any of that. The officials made the call, and Alabama had nothing to do with the review. It was a close call, no question, but in this writer's opinion, the SEC officials erred. There is no clear and convincing video evidence either a) that the player was not forced out of bounds, or b) that even if there were, the Ole Miss player actually touched the ball first. There is some evidence of both, but certainly it is not indisputable or even strong enough to be considered "clear and convincing". Therefore, the call on the field should have stood up.

Bottom line -- The SEC is circling the wagons around officials who are not applying the proper standard for review, and are winging it based on their judgment. That conflicts with the way that video review is supposed to work. I have no problem with changing the standards for review, they just shouldn't do it situationally, as appears to be the case here.

Another disturbing thing is that this same replay official has evidently been involved in other controversial plays. Not only that, but according to the same piece, the Ole Miss radio analyst virtually called this shot before the game even started. The final annoying fact in all this is that the replay official involved is not being made available to answer press questions (see the Press-Register piece above).

But even more insidious is Croome's suggestion that SEC officials favor the better teams in the league. That is worrisome, and given the fact that this claim flies in the face of Croome's presumed loyalties, concerns me more than a one-off screw-up. Unfortunately, officiating in the college world is as opaque as the Iranian government, and they appear just as likely to defend the indefensible. That needs to change. The more opaque and insular the officials make their review processes, the more likely you are to wind up with this.

Now this is an outrage!

I just ran across this in a CSTV piece:

It's that kind of carnage that has opened the door for Ohio State, which has yet to play anyone of note and could go the rest of the season without facing a ranked opponent. In spite of that, it appears that the Buckeyes are the only team that controls its own destiny in the BCS. If Ohio State wins out and wins by the margins voters like, it will get another shot at winning the BCS title.

So help me, if that happens, I am done with college football until they fix this unacceptably broken system. In a perverse way, I almost hope it does, because the outrage from the SEC, Big East and probably a couple of other conferences will should be deafening.

College basketball teams get to the national championship mostly on merit. Only in the deranged world of college football can you get by solely on past performance, reputation and pre-season positioning. As you can see in the piece just below this one, mostly due to work done by others, this entire football-BCS arrangement is a gigantic fraud, and whether or not by design, the powers that stand to benefit the most from continuing this deception are the ones who would appear to benefit the most, and continue to support the BCS. I know, knock me over with a feather.

If SEC officials sit still for allowing Ohio State to stroll through a pathetically weak schedule (at least by national championship standards) to the national championship game without demanding meaningful change, well ... they should be ashamed of themselves. In fact, they should be ashamed for taking no action last year. People have been warning for years that just this sort of thing was possible with the BCS -- what will happen if it becomes a reality?

But lest that not convince you, consider this paragraph from later in the same CSTV article:

Note that I am not lumping Ohio State in with USF and BC in this scenario. Even though the Buckeyes may play the weakest schedule of the three, they are a college football blue blood. Ohio State could go undefeated and only play one opponent that was ranked at the time it played them, and that is Purdue, which was No. 20 when it faced the Buckeyes on Oct. 6. Of its remaining five opponents, only Michigan is currently ranked in either BCS poll (No. 25 in Harris).

Oh. Well. That makes it all right then. We can't be worrying about such trivialities as schedule strength and merit when we are talking about royalty, now can we? I say, why wait? Let's just declare the "bluebloods" the only eligible teams, pat the "serfs" and "peasants" on their pointy little 2-star heads and send them to the Astro-Bluebonnet-Chick-Fil-A-Frito-Tostito bowl, and turn our attention to more important things. No way those lesser teams deserve a shot at the title. Fugghitaboudit.

The BCS is about (God willing) to be exposed for the incredible farce it truly is. The really sad thing is that we all fell for it for so long, as if we can't go futzing with the all-important pursuit of lucré such as TV contracts and what not. Noooo, buddy! We have already sacrificed the integrity of the game on the altar of expedience once. What matter if we send it's head rolling down the guillotine one more time, even if the victim is already as stiff as Houston Nutt after a text message?

Upset Saturday: Will this be the year the BCS dies?

Once again, the SEC has proven itself to be the toughest conference in the land. And once again, it looks like they will suffer for it.

As a Kentucky fan, I am still giddy from the huge upset of LSU last night by my Wildcats. It was a great game, and from my standpoint at least, a great result. I think at this point, the Wildcats have proven to everyone in this league that they are not a fraud. More than that, they now have an argument, albeit a convoluted one, that they are the best team in the East.

But what I want to talk about today are a couple of articles I ran across at the Washington Post and on Yahoo. The first, the WaPo article, suggests that the SEC is "Too good for its own good":

Watch a game from another conference on television and then watch a game in the SEC and note the difference in speed and overall physical brutality. No conference makes it more difficult for its teams to emerge from a season with an unbeaten record.

Well, we've all heard this before, and not just from the SEC. The Pac 10 keeps telling us that they are really better, and the Big Ten keeps asking us to watch it's network, claiming you will see the best football in the nation there.

This debate is no nearer being resolved today than it was in the summer, when Pac 10 commissioner Tom Hansen claimed, when asked if the Pac 10 would walk away from the BCS over a "plus one game" answered "Yes, no question."

First of all, this response strikes me as cowardly. Hansen and Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney claim that they are all about protecting the "integrity of the Rose Bowl". But what integrity does the Rose Bowl have, in terms of its history, under the current BCS system? The Pac 10 and Big Ten sold out the integrity of the Rose Bowl eleven years ago. Hansen's statement is a dodge, because he knows that in a plus one system, there are much better odds that two SEC teams will be playing for the national championship than a Big Ten or a Pac 10 team. And he would rather take his football elsewhere (where is unknown) than do that.

Stewart Mandel has already accused Hansen of not dealing in reality, and suggests that more likely, Delaney and Hansen are just staking out a stance for negotiation. It really isn't in the interest of either of the two traditional Rose Bowl schools to actually pull out of the BCS, as it would create a schism in college football that would be way worse for the game than their original sell-out of the Rose Bowl.

But to be fair (or hypercritical), many of the SEC schools have also opposed a the plus one model, although their reasons must be quite different. But that was before this strange season happened.

It's early, of course, but let us suppose that Ohio State wins out it's remaining soft schedule and winds up the #1 team. Let us further suppose that USF wins out (a bit more of a stretch) and becomes the #2 team. LSU, South Carolina, and every other SEC school who played a much tougher schedule would wind up on the outside looking in.

There is still a lot of football to be played, and all this may sort itself out in the end. If so, that would almost be a shame, because a major catastrophe seems to be the only thing that will get these conservative college presidents off their duff and into a system that is less controversial and more fair. A plus one game is a start, although to be honest, I am not convinced it won't create as many problems as it solves. They may be different problems, though, and I am very much for giving it a try.

And ultimately, I have been persuaded by Mergz at Saurian Sagacity who argues convincingly that an NCAA national championship in football does not, and never did, exist. Mergz goes on to conclude that the BCS has made the entire system of selecting a national champion worse by continually changing the criteria for selecting the national champion. No less than 5 times has the BCS formula changed. By changing the formula for selecting the participants every year or so, how are the teams supposed to have any confidence that the system has any integrity whatsoever?

As Mergz points out, the very fact that the system can be changed by lobbying efforts on behalf of conferences and/or teams is proof of it's utter failure as a system for determining accurately and with unbiased objectivity the teams that should play for the national championship.

Mergz conclusion is the same as mine -- some form of playoff is required to produce any real plausibility to the system of selecting a national championship. The BCS is really no better than what we had before it, and the reason is it lacks integrity and year to year process continuity. They change the selection criteria at the whim of powerful interested parties, and the selection system itself is so opaque that the BCS cannot truly demonstrate any semblance of fair or objective judgment. It is a mess.

So if your team plays for the "national championship" this year, just realize that yours is no more legitimate than the 300-odd claims by various schools to a piece of that distinction over the years.

Gameday! Week 7

Time for a quick look around the SEC blogosphere to see who is saying what about today's games. Let's get right to it:

The Hog Blogger reports on some kind of weird soap opera going on in Arkansas, and suggests university involvement in supressing "Fire Houston Nutt" aerial banners via a third-party detective service. Wow, Houston Nutt's situation over in Arkansas appears to be approaching the definition of "untenable".

Save The Shield, a Vandy blogger, seems to be pulling against the Wildcats in the game with LSU:

LSU -9.5: This one I went back and forth on, but 9.5 isn’t that much given the talent gap between the two teams. Hope LSU isn’t flat after last week’s Game of the Century of the Week though.

Frankly, I hope the Tigers are very flat. But I'm not counting on it.

GatorPilot at Orange and Blue Hue claims he has sworn off Florida State schdenfreude, but I think I detect some.

Henry Gomez, Saurian Sagacity:

Close observers of the Gators know that last year's BCS Championship was the result of a stingy defense and not offensive fireworks. I've been having an ongoing debate with a friend about the reasons for the the two Gator losses we've suffered this year. I contend that the fault lies largely with the defense, while my friend blames the offense.

The Tide Druid talks to his gut, which seems to be arguing with itself about Alabama's chances against the Ole Miss Rebels today. His conclusion?

For some reason, I think Ole Miss might win. Still, I think the Tide can win easily if we actually play a more consistent game. Not to dis Ole Miss, but I think Alabama controls the outcome of this game more than the Rebels. Just watch the game and see.

Kyle King at Dawg Sports has a bottom line prediction for Georgia at Vanderbilt:

In five games this season, the Commies have scored 19.5 points per game against Division I-A opponents. In six games this season, the Bulldogs have allowed 21.0 points per game to Division I-A opponents.

In six games this season, the Red and Black have scored 24.3 points per game against Southeastern Conference competition. In five games this season, the Music City Sailors have allowed 25.3 points per game to Southeastern Conference competition.

My Prediction: Georgia 24, Vanderbilt 20.

Jerry Hinnen at The Joe Cribbs Car Wash finds our newsfeed here useful, and takes MSNBC's article lauding the SEC to task:

Accuracy, please. Snatched off the useful Best of SEC newswire is this piece of fluff from MSNBC. On the balance I agree that the SEC is still the nation's best conference, blah blah blah. But honestly? I think the league might have been a bit overrated entering this season. LSU is all that and a bag of cajun-style potato chips, of course, Florida is a worthy No. 2 as anyone who saw their slugfest last Saturday would attest, and if this were a chessboard South Carolina would make a fine bishop alongside LSU's queen and Florida's, like, almost-queen ... but who else? Kentucky is not a contender until they start allowing less than 12 yards a carry. Auburn has potential, obviously, but could likely lose to a Sun Belt team if they put their mind (not) to it. Tennessee rolled over and died in Gainesville, but are apparently still light years better than the toothless Dawgs, themselves road winners over the reeling Tide. MSNBC guy touts the number of SEC teams in the top 25, but I'm not sure even in this insane season more than those top 3 belong in the top 20. I hope I'm wrong. We'll see.

I think Jerry has a good point. Yes, we may still be overall #1 here in the SEC, but arguably not nearly as strong as the pre-season pundits predicted (try saying that 3 times fast). Perhaps Kentucky can step up and prove themselves worthy today, and perhaps we go 1-0 out of conference this weekend. But right now, we are very top-heavy.

Rocky Top Talk takes UT fans to task over Fulmer, and (reasonably, if you ask me) asks the Vol Nation for patience:

The most danging piece of evidence I have against Fulmer, though, is this picture. Just look at it. What is he doing? Going for a fist bump when obviously the assistant is leading with a high-five? Can't he get on the same page as the coaches on his staff? And is he wearing a championship ring? How dare he, when he hasn't won one of those in ten, er, nine... what is it, eight years! The audacity!

This is eerily reminiscent of Kentucky fans and Tubby Smith, and we all know how that worked out. Can you see Fulmer preemptively taking a job at, I don't know, Michigan (should Miles say no) or TAMU or even Arkansas (Nutt is very likely to be unemployed after this season, in my opinion) to get away from the hot seat he has now in Tennessee? Well, at least the Vols won't get accused of racism, at least until they hired a replacement. Then, all bets would be off.

Seth at the Hotty Toddy Blog says it's time to beat 'Bama, and they've done it before -- 8 times in 50+ attempts. I'd say they are due, and this year is certainly a year where it is very possible.

Enjoy gameday, folks.

Some quick SEC previews from around the blogosphere

Today, we'll be letting some of the SEC's best bloggers tell us what they expect this Saturday.

Georgia at Vanderbilt

Hunker Down Dawg Blawg, Georgia:

We need this game in a bad way. We have to right the ship and get out of Nashville with a win. At this point, after what I saw last week, I don’t even care about style points or anything like that. While a stylish blowout win a la Ole Miss two weeks ago (my how two weeks can certainly change one’s perception of this team) would certainly make me feel better about things, at this point, I just think we all need a win. We can’t let that complete meltdown last week result in the spiral out of control we saw last year.

Nashville Ballerz, Vanderbilt:

Here’s the truth: Vanderbilt is good enough to play in a bowl game this season but not good enough to overcome shoddy quarterback play. Whether it’s Nickson or Adams at the controls Saturday, one needs to get the VU offense moving again and keep this season on track while there’s still time.

LSU at Kentucky

A Sea of Blue, Kentucky:

Our offensive line will face a challenge of Davidian proportions. If they can find some formula to protect Woodson and create holes for our backs to hit through LSU's mighty defensive front, great things can happen for UK. LSU can't win a shootout with anybody, but normally, they don't have to face one.

LSUPhootball, LSU:

Monica Says: In order for Kentucky to win this game, LSU has to tackle the same way they did against Florida during the 1st half, Jarmon and Woodyard need to stop LSU’s rushing attack, and Woodson needs to be mistake-free, which isn’t that much of a stretch considering he’s thrown 18 TD’s and 2 interceptions. Coach Rich Brooks also needs to mix up the play calling and utilize Little and not rely on Woodson as much as he has this year.

Tennessee at Mississippi State

Rocky Top Talk, Tennessee:

Vols to the Wall asks the question on every Vol fan's mind: Can Tennessee run the table? College Football News apparently thinks we can at least get to the SEC Championship game because they have us slated for the Capital One Bowl (as the SEC No. 2) against Wisky. And yeah, Mississippi may be Josh McNeil's home, but Dave Hooker states the obvious anyway: There's nothing sexy about Mississippi State, but cautions us to not take the Bulldogs too lightly. Indeed, Mississippi State's defensive front presents some problems. And finally, on the Vols' front, Ghost of Neyland is headed out for vacation, but he's left a poem in his wake.

Kyle Veazey, MSU:

In today's Clarion-Ledger, the main Mississippi State story is on the offensive line. It has played well thus far, sure, but J.B. Grimes thinks it can play much, much better. The notebook is led with some of the MSU staff affiliations to UT — Pat Washington, Woody McCorvey, Brad Pendergrass.

Alabama at Mississippi

Roll Bama Roll, Alabama:

Nico:
I feel strongly that we'll win, but that it won't be an easy layup by any stretch of the imagination. We just aren't a team that's capable of blowing mediocre teams out of the water yet, and until we're there, I'll be nervous. This one will probably be down to the wire as usual.

World Class Glass, Ole Miss:

So this game is a toss up for me. I feel like it can go one way or the other. I think the Rebels will come into the game fired up like they have the past several home SEC games and will be in this game for a couple of quarters. On the other side Alabama will probably be more focused for this game than any other one this season. If the Rebels are going to beat Saban while he is at Alabama, they better do it now before he begins to recruit his players.

Auburn at Arkansas

Track Em Tigers, Auburn:

You can bet Darren McFadden and Felix Jones will get their yards. The key for the Auburn defense will be stopping the big play. Last year, McFadden reeled off a 63 yard run that broke Auburn’s back. In all, Arkansas had six runs that accounted for 144 yards of rushing. Things will have to be different this year for Auburn to have a chance.

The Hog Source, Arkansas:

I reluctantly admit it. This game carries our season in it’s hands. It just seems like if we fail as this one task, the significance of all that follows dwindles to dust.

What's the buzz?

With all the chaos in the top 25 this season, you have to wonder who if anybody is going to rise to challenge LSU, who is the only top team so far who has demonstrated the consistency to be ranked at the top. USC, subject of most of the pre-season hype, has fallen to lowly Stanford and in the process, promoted a redshirt freshman to starting QB for the Cardinal. This weekend, LSU brings its powerful, athletic team into Commonwealth Stadium to try to tame the Kentucky Wildcats. Some are wondering about a letdown by the Tigers and a surge by the recently-defeated Cats.

But there is a lot more going on than #1 playing this week. First of all, we get to find out if last Satuday's game between the Vols and the Dawgs was a fluke, or the real thing. Tennessee travels to Starkville to visit the other Bulldogs of the conference. This is MSU's chance to show the SEC it is much better than expected, and Tennessee's chance to return to relevance in the race for the East.

Then, there is Georgia at Vanderbilt. It is easy to lose whatever faith we had in Vanderbilt after their meltdown on the Plains. Still, Earl Bennett hasn't left the squad, and Chris Nickson, as bad as he has been lately, could still rise up to bite the Dawgs in Nashville. Diezba at Star and Stripe has discarded the sack cloth and ashes and takes a frank look at the Commodores' problems. He also notes that Georgia seems preoccupied with the thumping delivered to them by Vanderbilt's arch foe, but still hasn't forgotten about last year:

Down in Georgia, they're trying to find time to spare from their Tennessee-debacle recriminations (remember their score against Yew Tee was barely better than our score against the Tigers) to focus on previewing us.

In the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, David Ching writes that the quarterback who led Vanderbilt to shock the 'Dawgs at homecoming last year may not be starting this game. So much for hoping they'd forgot about that little win between the Hedges.

Kyle King at Dawg Sports definitely hasn't forgotten, and describes an outlook reminding me very much of Vandy fatalism:

UGA 24, Vandy 17. These teams are each coming off a road game in which they got dominated to the tune of a 28-0 halftime score, and lost by nearly identical final scores (us to Great Pumpkin U. and the 'Dores to the Tommy Tuberville School for Oversized Prosthetic Aural Devices). This one will be a dogfight, and Bulldog Nation's mood afterward is likely to be either continued trepidation (because a close win against Vanderbilt doesn't prove much) or outright meltdown (back-to-back losses to Vandy would send our fans, me included, into spasms of animalistic rage which can only be sated by the destruction of some cheap handtools). Back tomorrow with Thursday's cocktail and some recruiting news. Until then . . .

"Animalistic rage." Well, that sounds fearful, indeed, and handtool destruction is never pretty. But if I read Kyle correctly, only a dead-bang blowout of Auburnian proportions would yield any positive feelings whatever to the Dawg faithful. A simple victory would be joyless.

Speaking of Auburn, they are visiting Darren McFadden and the Razorbacks in a Western division showdown that neither team can afford to lose, but one of them will. Walking on Sunshine at Razorbloggers thinks the Hogs are going to have to go "all in" on this one:

Is it just me…or does anyone else like watching poker on TV? From ESPN’s World Series of Poker to Poker Superstars and the World Poker Tour, you can watch it all day if you want. For the Razorbacks, the game with the Auburn Tigers on Saturday is essentially an ‘all in‘ bet: a chance to double up…or go broke.

I think he's right. The Hogs lose this, and they go 0-3 in the SEC, 0-2 in the West, and McFadden's Hiesman hopes start to fade into the sunset.

Jay Coulter writing for Track Em Tigers knows that Arkansas will be a tough out, and notes that Tuberville is only .500 against the Hogs in Fayetteville. He also notes that ace Razorback receiver Marcus Monk looks doubtful for the game -- advantage Auburn. But Quentin Groves, Auburn's talented defensive end, is also questionable for the game.