Sunday, November 15, 2009

Week 11 Thoughts

People keep talking about no one wanting to win the Heisman; apparently, no team wants to a non-BCS bowl game. Looking beyond the top eight teams in these rankings, things are fishy at best. Numbers 10, 14, 15, 16, and 17 all lost; the teams ranked between and below them have all hit some type of snag as well. It makes for a frustrating attempt at a top 15 or 25, thus re-emphasizing to me why I'm keeping a top 10 list.

Some quick bites:
  • Gary Danielson said something very intriguing with five or so minutes left in the fourth quarter of the Florida-South Carolina game. He said that if there was a playoff system in place, Tebow wouldn't have been on the field as the Gators ran the clock out and may not have even played much of the second half, in order to rest him for the SEC Championship Game and the following playoff run. As much as I'd like to, it's hard to disagree with him on that point.
  • Is there a firepetecarroll.com site up yet? I mean, the guy's lost to Stanford at home their past two trips and he can't win an eighth consecutive Pac 10 title? Sounds like wheels falling off the program to me.
  • Though I didn't watch the game, the break-ins and updates last night from the TCU-Utah game told quite a story. Utah's coach was quoted as saying that the Horned Frogs were the best team he's faced in his five years as a head coach. Any way to leapfrog TCU into the Big 12 Championship Game to face Texas? 
  • It was great to see Bama more than just survive a game. They did catch a couple of breaks (an under-thrown pass on the first play of the game, a non-reviewed stepping-out-of-bounds-negating-a-kickoff-return-for-TD call), but created their own as well. Marquis Johnson had a couple of fantastic plays; Mark Barron's deflection in the endzone may have been even better than those; James Carpenter (and the rest of the offensive line) continue to create holes and lay down some great blocks; and how about P.J. Fitzgerald's punting -- he's done quite well.
  • Though I'd love for Ingram to become the Tide's first Heisman winner, I agree with Mark about who on Alabama's team deserve the vote: Rolando McClain. If the Heisman is supposed to go to the nation's best football player, Ro is man. Ingram's got great stats and has been the offensive MVP for Alabama. But to say he's their best player or the nation's top player...I'm not comfortable with that. I think Ingram's deserving of many accolades and I'll be more than happy should he get in the top three or five or even win it. But McClain has quarterbacked and led this top ranked defense, playing without his right-hand man (Hightower) for most of the year. 
  • GameDay is going to Tuscon for the Oregon-Arizona match-up this Saturday. I guess the SEC and Big 12 got too much exposure last year, as it seemed each Saturday landed the crew at a game in one of those conferences. It's been spread around a lot more this year, though not always at the weekend's top game. But I'm mostly ok with that. Seeing the crowd at TCU yesterday was pretty overwhelming; definitely one of the loudest openings they've had; Fowler even asked if people at home could hear them talking because I don't think they could hear themselves.
  • Enough with the black unis, especially if you're playing Alabama. Jerseys may bring an extra shot of excitement and bring in a bit more at the cash register, but they're not going to put you over the hump. 
  • I did, however, appreciate what South Carolina did in honoring the Wounded Warrior Project; it was a nice way to change things up, but not in an overwhelming fashion. Their jerseys were the same except for their sleeves were digital camouflage and instead of players' names on the back, they had words like "Honor," "Duty," "Courage," and "Service." 
  • The SEC only had three teams in the top 25 as of last week. Who's the fourth-best team in the conference?
  • The Big 12 only had two teams in the top 25 as of last week. Who's the third-best team in the conference?
  • Any chance that TCU jumps Texas in today's BCS rankings? Wouldn't that be interesting? They were ahead of them in the computers but lost ground in points from the polls. However, after yesterday's game, though they'll likely still remain in fourth in the polls, they could garner more points from the voters, closing the gap and possibly jumping them. Crazy system indeed.

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