#1) The BCS Rankings and Top Contenders - The clamoring has begun and the pundits are making their expert opinions heard. Herbstreit is doing his usual brainwashing, May is giving his annual underdog spiel, Holtz is spitting food all over himself, and Corso is giving us his best Madden impression. I'll help you get through all the muck going into this weekend. Column #1 gives the top 5 undefeated candidates in order, column #2 has the top 5 1 loss teams, and column three gives the top 5 candidates for the NC:
Undefeateds
Ohio State (Big Ten) Its obvious if they run the table they'll get in, lets just hope they don't
B.C. (ACC) Again, the inside track to the NC if they can win out
Arizona State (Pac 10) It will be nearly impossible for any PAC 10 team to run the table
Kansas (Big 12) Long way to go, plus a conference championship game will hurt them
Hawaii (WAC) In the same boat as Boise State last year, no real chance
1-Loss
LSU (SEC) You know an SEC school will be there in the end, this is my choice
Oklahoma (Big 12) The best chance of any Big 12 team, Kansas isn't too promising
USC (Pac 10) See note for the Sun Devils
Kentucky (SEC) They can beat anybody, I have them slightly ahead of South Carolina
Oregon (Pac 10) I'd like another Big Ten school in here but there's none to choose from
Top Candidates
Ohio State has no real challenges on their schedule, even if they lose I have a feeling they'd slide back up the rankings. The pollsters love the Big Ten in the NC.
Boston College is obviously up there because they haven't lost yet, if they run the table it will be tough to dethrone them.
Arizona State is three, but hanging on for dear life. The Pac 10 schedule is going to make it tough for anyone, especially without a conference title game to boost a one loss team going into the next to last poll.
LSU has got to get by Auburn this week. This is my underdog pick of the weekend, I have a good feeling about Tuberville's team getting healthy again but I'll leave LSU as a top contender.
Oklahoma once again the perennial teams have the advantage. With a nice finish to their season and a little help you might want to write them in. If you're gonna lose, do it early.
#2 Colorado Waits - The postseason is heating up in Major League Baseball. The AL series is a complete coin flip. The only problem for the Sox is they can't throw Beckett again unless Francona goes nuts. The series is heading back to Beantown and Manny is hot as a firecracker. I love to see a little fire, and I would have laid 10 to 1 that Beckett would have snapped Lofton's neck in two.
#3 Who Manages the Yanks in '08? - There aren't too many people around baseball that don't think Torre is getting absolutely hosed. I understand if they want to let him go because he's old, but let's not make a spectacle of it. There's news going around that Mattingly has the inside track, but my gut says Joe Girardi would make more sense. I'd take the guy whose already managed in the big leagues. Torre can go sit under an umbrella in the Bahamas, but he deserves better than this.
#4 Nebraska Football - What the heck is going on in Lincoln? Osborne is back in the mix? Callahan may be gone before the season is over if you ask me. I can't imagine all this turn over can be good, anyway you look at it. This seems a lot like the Notre Dame situation. Nebraska may not win a game next year.
There is book coming out written by the old head trainer of Nebraska stating that Callahan called Osborne a "crusty old f___" and the last word is not ####. He alienated our old players from "his" program. I do not think you could compare it to what Ty Willingham went through at Notre Dame.
Of course the specifics are completely different, what I am referring to is the turnover of coaches over a short amount of time could lead to lots of losing.
bayou - sometimes I think these big time coaches need a break from the pressure, so they go coach where no one really cares and they can have fun with the game again. ie. Erickson with Idaho, Solich with Ohio, Glanville with Portland and so on
Sportthink. I'm more curious to see if Torre can get his fever down..LOL!!! That kid just kills me...KILLS ME!!
I like your "think tank" here. I honestly don't see BC making out of the ACC without at least one loss. I think, in the end, it will be LSU and OSU in the title game. Although Oklahoma could sneak back up there in the end. This is just a weird season...PERIOD!!
Check out my latest on George Steinbrenner's "firing" of Joe Torre.
Thanks fat, every time I see kenricks blog I want to rip it to shreds, I guess its the educator in me. I'm in the middle of Don Zimmer's book, and Zim got the same treatment and even worse. I'm heading to your blog now.
You are right about the turnover of coaches. Osborne stated when Pederson fired Solich that it "sends a message." It surely did. I was sticking up for Callahan until the Mizzou game. I had no idea that Pederson and Callahan were such egomaniacs that they would not embrace the tradition and respect the people that helped build it.
I also think that this long of a wait really hurts the Rockies. Any kind of momentum they had is now gone.
Published sports column contributor, but I'm about the 560th ranked blogger on this site. I'll keep most of my posts sports related. My sense of humor exists to amuse myself. This has happened by default because I rarely seem to amuse anyone else. I'm ashamed that my favorite professional sports teams are from the city of San Francisco.
Favorite sports listed from favorite to least favorite: duck-duck-
goose, red-light green-light, freeze tag, marco polo, and hop-scotch.
