Mike Slive should be leading the charge for a PLAYOFF!!!

Another weekend has come and gone with the #1 and #2 team in the nation losing. Next up, Ohio St and Boston College. With the way top ranked teams have been falling this year, it becomes even more evident that a college playoff is needed.

If the season were to end today, then Ohio State would play Boston College for the National Championship. Again, I say WHO? The Big10 is by far the worst conference in the BCS this season with the ACC not to far behind. If I’m Mike Slive (which I’m not) I would be leading the charge for a playoff. Clearly the SEC is killing itself by beating up on each other weekend and week-out. Auburn got ripped a couple of years ago, Florida almost got hosed last year and this year another SEC team will prolly get ripped. Heck, LSU was prolly the best team in nation last year at the end of the season. The SEC needs to realize how important a playoff is needed. No conference in the nation wants a playoff because it knows the SEC would win it. The way it stands right now, the nation sits back, wins their pansy schedule while the SEC knock each other off week after week.  This is why the SEC needs to make the push for a playoff. Let’s look at it more in depth:                     

 16 team playoff– currently you would have South Carolina, LSU, Kentucky and Florida would all be in, with the possibility of Tennessee and Auburn sneaking in.  WOW, just look at that, THE SEC IS GUARANTEED to WIN the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! Wake up SEC and make the playoff happen.  Since the SEC is the best, let’s make teams have to play a mini SEC schedule at the end of the season to win the National Championship. Someone, please argue with me that Boston College, Ohio State and South Florida could win 4 straight games against against top 15 teams, NO WAY. Betcha an SEC team could, especially after going thru the gauntlet schedule of the SEC regular season.

doubledawgs

Who’s Overreacting Now?

My good buddy Boomtown Madman, in his usual sarcastic tone, dubbed two weeks ago “Overreaction Saturday” after I said the college football world was turning upside down.

Who’s overreacting now?

Did I call it, or did I call it?

OK, let’s reflect on THIS WEEK. No. 1 and No. 2 lost. Kentucky beat LSU in a game that didn’t take place on wood. An immobile backup quarterback for the nation’s No. 2 Cal Bears pulled a reverse Rudy and blew the team’s best chance to leap to No. 1. South Florida posted more than 60 points. Georgia players STOMPED ON THE “V” AT MIDFIELD AFTER FRIGGIN’ BEATING VANDERBILT! Sly Croom talked crap before the Tennessee game. Sly Croom. Alabama needed a controversial call to stop Ole Miss from Hail-Marying its way to at least a tie in a bizarre game. Michigan is playing some of the best football in the country. Kansas remains undefeated. Darren McFadden and Felix Jones were completely shut down. Louisville played a little bit of defense. Iowa flipped the script on Illinois, and I’m still married despite an entire day of watching football on vacation.

I mean, HOLY CRAP!

The entire world is flipping, and I know I still missed a ton of stuff. An Ohio State team with no offense at all will be ranked No. 1. Friggin’ Boston College is going to be ranked No. 2. South Florida is going to be No. 3, or vice versa. Were those last two teams even ranked preseason? I know USF wasn’t, and I’m on vacation so I’m not looking it up. But HOLY CRAP!

Cal’s backup quarterback has earned himself a permanent seat next to Steve Bartman on the never-show-your-face-again-in-your-own-town train out of Dodge. That guy may as well go ahead and get a one-way ticket out of Berkeley. I mean, it would be understandable and potentially forgivable if that mistake happened for a program that’s going to be back someday, but this is CAL!!

They haven’t been nationally recognized since Crimson Daddy was desirable to the ladies.

And how about that LSU-Kentucky game? My goodness. Yes, my wife was completely happy with me that I spent my entire Saturday on vacation watching football. “Just like we were home,” she proclaimed with an exasperated flip of her wrist. “I’m going to the beach.”

Me: “OK, dear. Get out of the front of the television.” She loves me, though, and I love her. She understands. Sort of. The suitcase is still here, so that’s a good sign …

Random thought time: Seriously, how bad is Matt Flynn? As great a coaching job as Les Miles has done so far this year, it’s inexplicable that Ryan Perrilloux was not on the field during at least a portion of crunch time. That kid is a matchup nightmare, especially for a mediocre-to-bad defense like UK. But if you give a team confidence like that AT HOME, and you don’t put them away, they’re going to keep coming.

That’s my only fear in the UT-UA game next week. My ONLY fear.

Well, I guess another fear is that Saban will take John Parker Wilson out of the game. I fear that.

The bottom line is my initial reaction on UK was correct. Not what I posted last week. The Wildcats quite obviously aren’t pretenders. Neither is Auburn, who couldn’t have played worse on offense and survived. Will Muschamp might have earned himself a head coaching job with the job he did on Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

I don’t know what to say. College football is crazy. For this night, my focus was on the landscape of the college atmosphere overall. Beginning tomorrow, there is one game. Only one game. The game. The whole reason for our blogsite.

Tonight, I’m going to sit here, shake my head, reflect on what just happened and wonder what is going to happen next. It’s that kind of year, and I’m not overreacting. UT could run the table and lose to ULAF. Nothing would surprise me at this point.

If you’re comfortable with your team right now, you’re smoking pot or fooling yourself. Is it possible for a national champion to have two losses? Not likely, but the best team in the country may not win the national championship. Heck, the best team in the country may end up with two or three losses. This is so crazy, and it’s the new flavor in college football.

Parity prevails. It’s like the NFL only without (legal) money. Strap in, guys and gals. That feeling you just felt today was the college football world tilting on its axis. And just in time for the THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER!!!

Ghost of Neyland

Proud in Paradise

There have been many times in my life that I’ve been proud to be a Tennessee Vol.  But there haven’t been many times I’ve been prouder than today.

All week here at Gulf Shores, my dad and I were concerned that we’d not be able to find a place to watch the Tennessee game. The only place to see the game on ESPN Gameplan was at Hooters. Yet, when I called them early in the week, they seemed to think they wouldn’t show it. They seemed to think there’d be “not enough interest” in UT to show the game.

OK.  Whatever.

As a Tennessee fan, I believe you could go to a restaurant in Siberia, and somebody there would be wearing orange. As the week progressed, we continued to call under the guise that the folks at Hooters would think several Tennessee fans were calling and interested. We finally got the go-ahead that the game would be on.

So, we went before the game. And we were greeted by a sea of orange — probably 25 Vols fans — and about six or seven different groups. Not only were we loud and proud, we FAR outnumbered the Bama fans and Auburn fans. (Of course, AUB didn’t play until the night)… Every time UT did something right against MSU — which was often — the whole restaurant would break out in a loud chorus of Rocky Top. Now, listen, Bama fans, I’m not badmouthing your fans. I was simply stunned there were that many of us down here. Stunned and thrilled.

It was like watching a game at Neyland Stadium … well, a mini-Neyland Stadium.

There were a lot of things to be proud about in this “trap” game for the Vols. The defense stiffened after the opening drive of the second half. Lucas Taylor continued his bid to be a first-team All-SEC performer with a stunning 11-catch, 186-yard performance. Arian Foster had 139 rushing yards, and Montario Hardesty provided the short-yardage punch the Vols have been lacking all year.

More importantly, the coaches called a great game, and facing adversity, UT found ways to win all day.  That’s what Bama did. That’s what you HAVE to do in the SEC on the road. Survive, baby. It’s as good as anything else.

Even when Alabama found a way to win around halftime of the Vols game, the place was quiet because they knew that they were outnumbered. Matter of fact, it wasn’t even a bad thing that Bama won. It makes this week’s game what it should be — a nationally-recognized and national-radar game. It’s as it should be, and it will be for a long, long time to come.

There was plenty to be proud of as a Vol on Saturday, but I was just as proud of the tiny seaside restaurant in Gulf Shores as I was the physical way the Vols wore down a physical team or the thousands of orange pom-pom shakers in Starkvegas.

Even when you’re 3-2 and searching somewhat, our fans don’t sit back in the woodwork. We come out of it. What a fine, fine way to start the MOST IMPORTANT week of the year.

GO VOLS!

Ghost of Neyland 

What Did We Do Wrong This Time???

As you all know, after a heart breaking lost in 2006’s version of the Iron Bowl, The University of Alabama fired Head Coach Mike Shula.  A month and a half later, on January 3, 2007, Nick Saban was named the new Head Coach of the Crimson Tide.  During the coaching search many names began to fly through the air and local talk show hosts (Paul Finebaum) led the way with rumors.  It was a trying time for the Bama nation as we all sat back and wondered what was going on.  Athletic Director Mal Moore stated that he wanted a winner, someone that has won a National Championship before, to lead the Tide back up from the bottom.  After much debate, countless hours, and many worries it appeared that Alabama had their man.  ESPN reported that West Virginia University Head Coach Rich Rodriguez had accepted the offer to become the Tide’s new head coach.  Something went wrong somewhere and Rodriguez stayed at WVU. 

West Virginia University Head Coach Rich Rodriguez

In Wednesday’s USA Today, an article was published that hammered Alabama for the hiring of Nick Saban.  The Black Coaches and Administrators, better known as the BCA, came out with their report card of hiring practices and gave The University of Alabama an “F” for the entire process of hiring a new head coach.  As stated on their website (one I will not link directly because of my extreme disappointment and anger), the BCA is an organization whose primary purpose is to foster the growth and development of ethnic minorities at all level of sports. 

I’ve done my homework and the results are in.  The man who was all but signed as the new head coach at Alabama, Rich Rodriguez, is technically an ethnic minority.  Did the BCA forget to check this?  I think not.  Why, you ask?  Because Rich Rodriguez is not black, even though their morals and values are to promote ethnic minorities.  With that being said, I have arrived at my next point.  Does Rich Rodriguez not count as an ethnic minority?  Honestly, what is the purpose behind this I ask you, BCA?  If you (BCA) are going to promote something, then by all means promote it, you have that right.  But, if you are going to blatantly contradict yourselves, then you are in the wrong.  It’s a shame that you (BCA) would attack like this to an area of the country that is too commonly attacked for racism and prejudices.  When is enough, enough?  And, just as important, why now, after over 9 months have passed?  It’s instances like these that make me wonder where people come up with the garbage they do.

What this article does prove is that there is obviously a misconception of the South.  It’s as if the South, and more specifically, the great state of Alabama and The University of Alabama, still judge people by the color of their skin, when in reality we are not like this.  It’s reports like these that continue to fuel the ignorance and hostility towards the South.  It’s reports like these that continue to damage the reputation of many.  It’s reports like these that make Bama fans express their pride the way they do because we know the truths.  It’s reports like these, these fallacies, these injustices, that, quite frankly, piss people off (me in particular).  It’s a wonder why The University of Alabama continues to promote the enrollment of minorities and blacks in particular.  Why does UA continue to do so?  It’s because they don’t live in this misconception that is too often labeled upon us.  Alabama is taking the necessary steps that organizations like the BCA are trying to promote.  Never-mind the fact that Alabama has increased the black enrollment by 8% this year.  I guess that is something that was just left out of the mix.

So I ask you, BCA, why the “F”?  Or maybe a better question, why the lack of effort to uncover the real truth?  As I see it, you owe the South an apology.  You owe the great state of Alabama an apology.  And finally, you owe The University of Alabama an apology.  Not tomorrow, not the next day, not a month from now.  You owe all of these an apology right now.

You, my friends, deserve the “F”.      

The Capstone King