Posts Tagged ‘SEC Championship Game’

Here's my ballot for this week's CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 hosted by -- as you might imagine -- CBS Sports.

Week 15

Through 6 December 2009

Buy cytoxan without prescription, Ahhh, 2009 college football regular season, we barely knew ye.  Yes friend and neighbors, here we are at the end of the regular season.  Thus, here is my final ballot for the 2009 regular season, the last ballot until after the completion of bowl season.  While I am sure some will disagree with some of my rankings, they are what they are: little more than my subjective assessment on the powers of college football.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here is is:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	--
2	Cincinnati	3
3	Texas	--
4	TCU	--
5	Ohio State	1
6	Boise State	1
7	Penn State	1
8	Oregon	1
9	Brigham Young	1
10	Virginia Tech	1
11	Georgia Tech	4
12	LSU	--
13	Florida	11
14	Miami (Florida)	3
15	Wisconsin	4
16	Oklahoma State	4
17	Nebraska	4
18	Iowa	3
19	Stanford	4
20	Utah	4
21	Pittsburgh	5
22	Central Michigan	NR
23	West Virginia	NR
24	Houston	6
25	East Carolina	NR
Last week's ballot

Explanations after the jump...

Comments, Explanations, and Excuses

Here are the high-points of the week's changes:

Long-on-Horn Short on Strength:

I was completely underwhelmed by the Texas Longhorns (3) last second victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers (17) in the Big XII Championship game.  On paper, Texas out-matched Nebraska at every position except on the defensive line.  Nebraska, on the other hand demonstrated their lack of a productive offense in spades going the better part of two quarters without a first down.  Despite this, Texas was forced to kick a field goal with one second remaining on the game (which was only possible due to back to back penalties by the Cornhuskers in the final minute of the game).  Texas got the three points courtesy of their kicker and walked out of the Jerry Dome with a one-point victory.

What they did not do was play like a team deserving of a shot at the BCS Championship.

To Nebraska’s credit, they played their hearts out and did everything they could to win.  In my estimation, they earned the win but were simply unlucky when the clock ran out.

Now, I know that the Cincinnati Bearcats (2) defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers (21) by only a single point in the shooting match that was the final game of the Bearcats’ regular season, but I simply was more impressed with their performance and the tenacity of their team.  Furthermore, in my opinion Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly did a better job of coaching his team on gameday than did Texas’ Mack Brown, which really matters when it is all on the line.

For these reasons, I humbly submit that the Bearcats have earned the number 2 spot.

Turning Gators into Gator Bait:

I had picked the Alabama Crimson Tide (1) to defeat the Florida Gators (13) in the SEC Championship Game, but I did not expect the Tide to annihilate the Gators from top to bottom.  Needless to say, I was impressed with the performance of Nick Saban’s squad.

I’ll be the first to admit, I loathe the Gators—they are the only SEC team I will never pull for.  This owes to my experiences visiting Gainesville.  Still, they are clearly a very talented team.  Alabama, however, completely dismantled the Gators from the start and never let up.  I was particularly impressed by Saban’s creative and complex scheming on both offense and defense and was similarly surprised at what appeared to be a very “vanilla” game plan from Urban Meyer.  That said, there is no denying that the impressive performances of Alabama running back Mark Ingram and quarterback Greg McElroy were key components to the victory, which left Alabama smiling and Tim Tebow crying.

Didn’t hurt my feelings any…

Parting Thoughts

Having taken the time to consider my feeble attempt at ranking the powers in college football, feel free to try and convince me that I am wrong -- which is part of the way the BlogPoll is supposed to work.  I promise that I will consider all insults comments.

You can view the final results of this week's poll over at CBS Sports later this week and check out an analysis of how the collective blogging brain-trust arrived at this week's result. If you're craving even more BlogPoll goodness, South Carolina SC S.C., Evista sale, you can also check out how other bloggers voted and see how your team fared across the Blogosphere.

-- So it goes …

Image(s) Courtesy of:   Stupid Celebrities.net ||  Statement on Fair Use

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Here's my ballot for this week's CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 hosted by -- as you might imagine -- CBS Sports.

Week 14

Through 29 November 2009

Order cheap iressa online, Ahh, Championship Week.  How quickly the 2009 regular season has passed us by.  Still, even this late in the game there were still a few surprises this past week in the world of college football.  Thus, here’s in my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot for week 14.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here is is:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	--
2	Florida	1
3	Texas	1
4	TCU	--
5	Cincinnati	--
6	Ohio State	--
7	Boise State	2
8	Penn State	2
9	Oregon	2
10	Brigham Young	3
11	Virginia Tech	3
12	LSU	5
13	Nebraska	8
14	Southern Cal	4
15	Georgia Tech	8
16	Pittsburgh	8
17	Miami (Florida)	2
18	Houston	2
19	Wisconsin	3
20	Oklahoma State	8
21	Iowa	3
22	California	NR
23	Stanford	NR
24	Utah	9
25	Clemson	9
Last week's ballot

Explanations after the jump...

Comments, Explanations, and Excuses

Here are the high-points of the week's changes:

A Flip-Flop at the Top:

Yeah, yeah, I know some folks will think I am an SEC homer for advancing the Florida Gators (2) ahead of the Texas Longhorns (3), but that could not be farther from the truth.  I loathe the Gators with a white-hot fervor that is as irrational as it is juvenile, but they are a damn-good football team.  Their complete annihilation of the Florida State Seminoles (NR) was both impressive and efficient, much more so than the hap-hazard victory by the Longhorns over the Texas A&M Aggies (NR).  Thus, Florida gets the nod this week to the number 2 spot.

Take heart, Texas fans, either the Gators or the Alabama Crimson Tide (1) have to lose this week in the SEC Championship Game (for what it is worth, my money is on Bama taking home the hardware), thus this drop is sure to be short-lived.  That is, unless Texas loses to the Nebraska Cornhuskers (13) in the Big XII Championship Game, which I think is quite possible, in fact, it might even be likely.  Who knows?

Returners & First Timers:

After one week outside my poll ballot, the Stanford Cardinal (23) return to this week’s poll along with in-again-out-again Pac-10 comrades the California Golden Bears (22).  Stanford picked up a nice win against Notre Dame (NR), likely sending Charlie Weis on his way.  Cal, on the other hand, didn’t do a damn thing this weekend, except watch Stanford—whom they soundly beat the week before—play the Irish.

Nice, to jump back into the rankings without having to do a thing…

Everyone Else:

In the event that you don’t grasp the concept of rankings, everyone else who moved this week either lost (thus dropping) or were ranked near someone that did (thus rising).  It’s all very simple and orderly, don’t you think?

Parting Thoughts

Having taken the time to consider my feeble attempt at ranking the powers in college football, feel free to try and convince me that I am wrong -- which is part of the way the BlogPoll is supposed to work.  I promise that I will consider all insults comments.

You can view the final results of this week's poll over at CBS Sports later this week and check out an analysis of how the collective blogging brain-trust arrived at this week's result. If you're craving even more BlogPoll goodness, California CA Calif., Goedkope zometa apotheek, you can also check out how other bloggers voted and see how your team fared across the Blogosphere.

-- So it goes…

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Image by Tennessee Journalist via Flickr

Order casodex without prescription, On the back of Jonathan Crompton’s 220 passing yards and Montario Hardesty’s 179 yards on the ground, Lane Kiffin’s Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 30-24 in overtime and improved to 7-5 on the season and earned a 2nd place finish in the SEC East behind the Florida Gators.

More importantly in the minds of some, the Vols extended “the streak” to 25 years since yearly opponent Kentucky last beat the Vols.

To put that in perspective, the last time that Wildcats beat the Vols, I was 8 years old…

The Vols all-time record against the Wildcats in football?  An impressive 73-23-9 in 105 meetings.

This season wasn’t always pretty, it wasn’t always simple, and it definitely wasn’t always easy, but somehow the Vols managed to find a way to do what it took to return the Big Orange back to national relevance and back to the conversation of contenders in SEC East.  Along the way, they took a few shots to the head.  They experienced more than their share of adversity.  Versus both the Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide—who are both undefeated and will meet in the SEC Championship Game this coming Saturday—they went down swinging, losing to the two teams by a combined total of twelve points.

Now, the Vols sit and wait, hoping that their new look and strong performance this season will earn them a shot in a solid bowl—hopefully the New Years Day Outback Bowl.

At any rate, the Vols have exceeded the expectations of many and along the way made football fun for Tennessee fans once more.  Obviously, there remains much room for improvement, but for now the Vols have earned the right to take a moment and reflect on a job well done.

Hats off to the Vols and the Tennessee Coaching staff for an outstanding and exciting regular season!

The good news is that the season isn’t over, not yet…

-- So it goes …

Hardesty Image Courtesy of:     Tennessee Journalist ||  Statement on Fair Use

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Order irresa, I must admit, I was a little perplexed when Ole Miss hired Houston Nutt from Arkansas as their head coach after the 2007 season. While Nutt was an upgrade as a head coach from Ed Orgeron, Nutt didn’t exactly have incredible success while in Fayetteville. Irresa, Sure, Nutt was a good coach, but how much success could he really have in Oxford?

Well, Nutt certainly made my thinking look foolish last year when Ole Miss burst onto the college football season after beating Florida in Gainesville, iresa. You almost forget it, but Ole Miss lost the game before – at home to Vanderbilt – the win in Gainesville and lost the two games after that – at home to South Carolina and at Alabama.

But the Rebels won the final six games of year in impressive fashion, Irresa, including routs of LSU and Mississippi State and an upset win over “mighty” Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl (glad to see the Red Raiders won’t be terribly overrated again this year). Thus, you have the reason for the momentum and hype surrounding Ole Miss coming into this year.

While I still have my questions about Nutt’s recruiting ability (and his ability to do math when it comes to counting signees), he’s got a pretty stout team this year, irresa, he’s going to try to lead Ole Miss to its first-ever appearance in Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game in December.

Schedule Breakdown

Assumed wins:

• at Memphis (Ole Miss has won four in a row over the Tigers)


• Southeastern Louisiana, UAB, Irresa, Northern Arizona


• Arkansas


• Tennessee


• at Mississippi State



Assumed losses:

• There’s some tricky games, but actually none I see that Ole Miss can’t win.



Toss-ups:

• at South Carolina


• at Vanderbilt (the Dores have won the last two)


• Alabama (Ole Miss plays these three games back-to-back-to-back)


• at Auburn


• LSU

Studs

QB Jevan Snead (Jr.): By now, you know Snead’s story, iresa. Recruited heavily, allegedly told by Urban Meyer Florida was recruiting Tim Tebow as a linebacker, chose Florida, switched to Texas, lost out to redshirt freshman Colt McCoy, and now he’s at Ole Miss, order irresa. Snead was the biggest part of the Rebels’ win streak the close the year and biggest reason for optimism this year. Ole Miss hasn’t had a quality QB since Eli Manning, Irresa, and Snead arguably has better players surrounding him than Manning did.

The backfield: The same group from last year returns – Dexter McCluster (who’s actually listed as a receiver but led Ole Miss in rushing last year), Cordera Eason, Brandon Bolden and Enrique Davis. Those four combined for over 2, iresa,000 yards and 17 touchdowns last year rushing. Then there’s the Wildcat formation, Irresa, of course, which Nutt used at Arkansas and used last year as well with McCluster and Bolden.

Defensive line: Ole Miss fans obviously have ill will towards former coach Orgeron, but they should be thanking him for recruiting this bunch of defensive lineman. Order irresa, You’ve got ends Kentrell Lockett, Greg Hardy and Marcus Tillman and tackles Lawson Scott, Jerrell Powe and Ted Laurent.

With Hardy consistently dealing with injuries, Lockett emerged last year, and Tillman’s started 36 games as a Rebel in his career. And how good is Hardy, irresa. He had 18 tackles last year, eight and a halfof which were sacks. Irresa, Scott’s well over 300 lbs and was an honorable mention all-SEC player last year. Powe’s a slightly smaller Terrance Cody and Laurent started 7 games last year, and was only behind Hardy, Lockett, irresa, and NFL draft pick Peria Jerry in tackles for loss.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="204" caption="Can Houston Nutt lead Ole Miss SEC Championship Game appearance #1?"][/caption]

X-Factors

They’re Ole Miss: As I touched on in the introduction, Ole Miss has never been to the SEC Championship Game and hasn’t won an SEC title since 1963. Even when they had Eli Manning earlier this decade, all the Rebels managed was a split Western Division title with eventual national champion LSU in 2003, order irresa. Iresa, Now I know Ole Miss’ history won’t win or lose them a division or conference title this year, but the point remains.

Close games: Ole Miss went just 2-4 in games decided by less than a touchdown last year. Their four losses came by a combined 19 points, and it’s a similar situation to Alabama last year, irresa. The Tide saw all of their losses in 2007 by a touchdown or less and proceeded to do what they did last year. I’m not saying Ole Miss is going to do the same thing, Iresa, but the Rebels hopefully used those close losses last year to their benefit (or they could just blow everyone out like they did at the end of last year).

October 10 vs. Alabama: Order irresa, I touched on the importance of this Tuesday with the Alabama preview, but I see these teams as slightly ahead of LSU in terms of picking the SEC West (as I discussed the situation with the Tigers yesterday). Though the media picked the Rebels third in the division, my opinion is the West could come down to this one game in October. Ole Miss get the Tide in Oxford, irresa, but they’ve lost five in a row to Alabama (13 of 15) and they’ve all been close.

What's New, but Not Improved

Sneaky factor: Ole Miss surprised some teams last year, Irresa, and they won’t have that last year. They’re a talented team, but it’s not crazy to think both Florida and Texas Tech overlooked and disrespected Ole Miss a little bit. As a contender this year, irresa, how will Ole Miss respond?

Offensive line: Ole Miss loses Michael Oher, Maurice Miller and Darryl Harris off last year’s line. They do have guard Reid Neely, who started 12 games in 2007 and just 7 games last year, so in effect they only lose two starters, order irresa. Iresa, It’s still a group with some quality players, but reasonably an area of concern, especially losing Oher, a first-round pick in the NFL Draft this past April.

Defensive line coach: By most accounts Tracy Rocker is one of the more well-known defensive line coaches in football, irresa. He coached at Arkansas with Nutt and followed him to Oxford last year. However, Iresa, he’s now gone to take the same spot at his alma mater Auburn. In an ironic twist, Terry Price, who was at Auburn from 1999 through last year with Tommy Tuberville, irresa, takes over Rocker’s spot on staff. Order irresa, Not sure how much of an impact that might have, but it’s worth wondering what, if any, impact the switch is going to have on one of Ole Miss’ areas of strength.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Marcus Tillman and Cassius Vaughn celebrate a recovered fumble against Florida last year. Both return to the Ole Miss defense in 2009"][/caption]

HSH's Bold Prediction

The Rebels have garnered quite a bit of media attention so far this summer, Irresa, and deservedly so: they have the second-best QB in the SEC, and return most of a team that was the lone group to beat Florida, and finished very strong last year. They get both LSU and Alabama at home, iresa, and don't play Florida or Georgia either. Houston Nutt took Arkansas to two SEC titles games in his ten seasons in Fayetteville, Irresa, and will try to take Ole Miss there in just his second year.

But I just don't see it happening. Not only do I think both the Crimson Tide and Bayou Bengals have more talent overall, but this is Ole Miss we're talking about. I can't pick Ole Miss to do something that they have never done before, despite what they return and how they finished last season, order irresa. It's not in their nature to reach Atlanta and win an SEC Championship, because it's been something like 45 years since it's happened. History - despite it never having an effect on any game or any action that will take place on the field this fall - is not on the Rebels' side.

Having said that, I expect Ole Miss to be a very good team that's going to probably win 9 or 10 games. But I'm not really expecting them be the West representative in Atlanta this first Saturday in September.

-- ... to me.

Images Courtesy of: Rogelio V. Solis / AP • Phil Sandlin / AP • John Raoux / AP

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