Big 12 Football is Exciting

Nine of the ten teams qualified for a bowl game out to the newly formatted Big 12.
I am not sure if parody means that a conference is really good or just really an average talent league.
The leagues is getting a lot of press for the deepest conference and on a percentage basis, I agree.

This league may not be very deep with contenders for the national title, but no conference is as fun to watch with these high octane offensive minds. 

Parody runs rampant from and I "do not like it."

Schools like Texas and Oklahoma should never be run over like they have been the last two years. 
Baylor, K State and even TCU do not get the level of athletes to beat these teams.  The good part is that it shows that these new offenses do level the playing fields when the other coaches do not adjust quickly.

I do know this, I spent the entire year flipping channels to see what kind of crazy game that Fox was carrying on Saturday night.

I did compare the top 10 SEC teams to the Big 12 in a bowl scenario based on where they finished in the conference.  (This is how I expect the season to end.)

Bama- Kstate
Florida-Okla
LSU-Texas
GA-Okla Stat
Texas Ag-TCU
S Car-TTech
Ms State- W VA
Vandy-Baylor
Ole Miss- Iowa State
Ark-  Kansas

I would be hard pressed to find 3 Big 12 teams favored.
But as last years Bowl Record Shows for the Big 12, the Big 12 definitely have good teams from top to bottom.

j.

Miles to Arkansas

Really? Again!

Miles agent leaks this type of thing yearly and I hope he leaves this time.  It's just ridiculous to offer that kind of money to Miles and worse for his agent to let these things out.  It hurts LSU and Arkansas when the rumors fly and only Miles and his contract are helped with this crap.

(Hell, Miles is Houston Nutt with a Louisiana recruiting base!)

After failing to win the NC the last two years because of his ineffective Oline and meddling in the offense.

Let the Hatter Go!
J

Sean Taylor

I was sitting in my hotel room and ESPN ran a story on the 2007 death of Taylor at 24 years old.

It reminded me of how special Sean Taylor was and that we actually considered him to be better than Ed Reed.

Let's Compare some great safeties:
 Reed (4.5 -40)and Polamula (4.4-40) are both under 6feet and weigh a little over 200lbs.
Taylor (4.5-40) was 6'2" and weighed in at 230 as a 21 year old that was voted the hardest hitter in the NFL.

Production:
Reed in 4 years 25 turnovers.
 Polamula 11 turnovers.
 Taylor 20

Tackles. Reed. 227.   Polamula 217  
Taylor 299 Tackles and much more intimidating in the secondary than anyone in recent history.

  He was the best college safety that I have ever seen.

Greatness needs to be remembered!
Try YouTube if you have forgotten.
J

Compare a Hall of Fame Candidate and a Scapegoat

I will never understand why people blame QB's for the success of teams.
It starts with the Coach and managements preparation of the talent resources and in my opinion, it usually ends there with any chances of success with equal talent.

The Saber matrix stats for football are available and are an even bigger supporter of the DFW Scapegoat. Eventually, I will read through them and decide which one's I find to be most detailed with situation type information.

J.

Rankings.

Recently, someone sent me an article downplaying the SEC and the out of conference games that they play.  It is the same old stories we read each year and lacks any fundamental information. I recently did some research and found that the LSU/FLA had won more games against top 25 non-conference teams than any conference's total number team wins during the past 6 years. .

But the question was based on this year and seems just as ridiculous.
All other AQ teams combined have beaten one win against top 20 non-conference.  UCLA won a game against Nebraska early in the year.   The SEC has 3 wins. (This weekend Fla and SC beat two 10-1 teams and SC did it with back up QB and RB.)

It made me consider how I would you rank the teams. My list is not very different than the 3 major polls nor the BCS rankings. This is not who I think is the best overall, which of course, I think at least 3-6 SEC teams would likely beat Notre Dame in a bowl game. (Definitely 6 if South Carolina was healthy.)

Some other points of confusion, I also do not understand why Oregon is still ranked ahead of Stanford.
Is Ohio State better than I think?  They definitely have NFL talent, but I still don't buy that they are a top team.  Do I have Texas too high?

My expectations are simple, when the Bowl Season is over the SEC will have another BCS title and have won around 8 games while playing teams that have finished much higher in their conference than the SEC teams finish.   The Final SEC Rankings will have 1. Bama, 2. GA 3. FL 4. LSU T-5.Aggies and SC.
  
How to judge a Conference: I use the top half- Can anyone consider their 4th team to be on the level of LSU I doubt many people really think their conference champion would be a favorite against LSU:

4th Seeded Teams:
*ACC-NCarl, *Big 12-Ok St. *Big 10-Penn ST, *Big East -UConn,  *Pac 12-UCLA.
When I drop to 5th or 6th is gets even worse. (The only negatives I found was that the 5th place Big 10 team beat the 8th place SEC and 3rd seated Texas beat 10th seed Ole Miss. )

S, I know you sometimes get frustrated with me because I do base my rankings on overall talent in the conferences and down play the other teams at times because of recent history when the SEC gets to bowl games and healthy.  I don't understand why Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio State and USC aren't fighting for NC each year, but they don't.




J

Rivals 100 - Revisited

I was looking at this year's top 100 on Rivals and started goofing around looking back on previous years.  Interesting how things work out.  Check out a few of these that will make you smile or cringe:

2011
#5 - DeAnthony Thomas - Oregon (slow by J's standards)
#10 - Malcolm Brown - Texas (oh yeah)
#17 - Anthony Johnson - LSU
#18 - Jarvis Landry - LSU
#32 - Jeff Driskel - FL
#34 - Braxton Miller - Ohio St.
#36 - Marquise Lee - USC
#43 - Odell Beckham - LSU
#63 - Kenny Hilliard - LSU
#86 - JW Walsh - OK St.

2010
#10 - Marcus Lattimore - SC
#12 - Jackson Jeffcoat - TX
#19 - Spencer Ware - LSU (5-star baby!)
#34 - Mike Davis - TX (Skyline)
#82 - Cedric Ogbuehi - A&M (Allen, TX!)
#90 - Eric Reid - LSU

2009
#2 - Rueben Randle - LSU
#5 - Matt Barkley - USC
#6 - Trent Richardson - AL
#7 - Russell Shepherd - LSU
#11 - Dre Kirkpatrick - AL
#12 - Manti Te'o - Notre Dame
#18 - Garrett Gilbert - TX
#20 - Craig Loston - LSU
#46 - Aaron Murray - GA
#59 - Michael Ford - LSU

2008
#1 - Terrelle Pryor - Ohio St.
#4 - Julio Jones - AL
#5 - Patrick Peterson - LSU
#9 - A.J. Green - GA
#14 - Blaine Gabbert - Missouri
#15 - Tyron Smith - USC
#55 - Mark Barron - AL
#68 - Andrew Luck - Stanford (that one kind of jumps out)

2007
#2 - Joe McKnight (traitor)
#3 - Eric Berry - TN
#4 - Ryan Mallett - Michigan
#13 - Terrence Tolliver - LSU
#14 - Chad Jones - LSU
#28 - Cameron Newton - FL (or Cam for short!)
#54 - Dez Bryant - OK St.

2006
#1 - Percy Harvin - FL (Meyer says best player he ever coached)
#5 - Sergio Kindle - TX
#6 - Mathew Stafford - GA
#8 - C.J. Spiller - Clemson
#10 - Mitch Mustain - Arkansas
#22 - Tim Tebow - FL
#35 - Demarco Murray - OK
#43 - LeSean McCoy - Pitt
#50 - Charles Scott - LSU
#61 - Jevan Snead - TX-

2005
#7 - Mark Sanchez - USC
#8 - Martellus Bennett - A&M
#16 - Ryan Perriloux - LSU (cringe)
#18 - DeSean Jackson - Cal
#23 - Darren McFadden - Arkansas
#48 - Michael Oher - Ole Miss (Blindside fame)
#51 - Ndamukong Suh - Nebraska
#57 - Jamaal Charles - TX
#90 - Rashard Mendenhall - Illinois

2004
#1 - Adrian Peterson - OK
#2 - Tedd Ginn Jr. - Ohio St.
#3 - Early Doucet - LSU
#4 - Rhett Bomar - OK
#13 - Chad Henne - Michigan
#28 - Marshawn Lynch - Cal
#37 - Calvin Johnson - GA Tech
#47 - Glenn Dorsey - LSU

2003
#2 - Reggie Bush - USC
#26 - Chris Leak - FL
#42 - Alley Broussard - LSU
#79 - Jamarcus Russell - LSU
#87 - LeRon Landry - LSU

2002
#1 - Vince Young - TX
#28 - Devin Hester - Miami
#37 - Maurice Clarett - Ohio St.
#50 - Justin Vincent - LSU
#81 - Chase Pittman - TX (Evangel)
#83 - Jonathan Wade - TN (Evangel)

Pretty fun to look back.

S

Where the Skill players study.

While playing Jerry Jones “Junior”, I thought it would be interesting to see where the NFL speed players go to college. I did a small survey in the office and asked them to pick the top 5 schools. Of course they all said LSU, Fla, Alabama and USC. One of these did not make the top 11. Not one of the 5 people I asked named the top producer of skill players (I know that S would guess this top team in his top 5.)

 

I admit I was surprised that USC, Oklahoma and Georgia were missing.

 

1. • Miami 22
2. • LSU 18 
3. • Ohio State 18 
4. • Florida 14 
5. • Texas 13 
6. • Alabama 12 
7. • Cal 12 
8. • Illini 11 
9. • Va Tech 11 
10. • South Carolina 10 
11. • Notre Dame 10

J.

Peterson Back?

Last year I posted on Adrian Peterson when he went down with the shredded knee, paying tribute to his 5 seasons, 4.8 yd/avg, and speculating that he probably would never be the same.  Wrong!  After less than a year of rehab and 10 games in 2012, Peterson doesn't look as fast at the top end, but he is amazingly averaging 112 yards/gm, leading the league in rushing, and running for an eye-popping 5.8 yds/carry!  Freak of nature doesn't even do it justice.  His healing powers appear to be equal with his ridiculous talent.  Adrian Peterson's place among the all-time greats of East Texas is not only secure, but still on an upward path.  Truly amazing.

S

TX HS Playoffs

Check this out, the playoff bracket for 5A Div 1 has Coppell and Desoto meeting in Round 2!  Either of those teams could be on their way to winning state.  Trinity and Southlake look headed for a 3rd round match-up, with the winner of that getting Coppell/Desoto.  That's what it will take just to get to state this year in Region I.  Allen will get an undefeated Mesquite in Round 2 in the Region II bracket.  Should they fight their way into the regional final, it would likely be against Skyline.  I just can't get over Coppell and Desoto meeting in Round 2, that could easily be a state final.

In 5A Div II, the best teams are spread out.  Abilene, Cibolo Steele, and Katy, all undefeated and in the state top 10, are in different brackets and could all be headed for the semi-finals.

S

Low Tide

I guess now we can start hearing from the Tide fans whining for another 2nd chance after losing at home again.  Your post on Sumlin was prophetic.  The Aggies did not play with any fear.  Alabama is missing the playmakers they had last year.  Those 4 defenders chosen in the first 30 picks are not so easily forgotten.  Last season everywhere you looked it was Hightower, Upshaw, Barron, and Kirkpatrick making plays.  Now the SEC has to hope for some losses.  I just can't see the voters putting a 1-loss Bama ahead of an undefeated Pac 12 or Big 12 champ.  The streak is in serious jeapordy.

S