Monday Night Truth
Look out everybody, here comes a whole new series of posts to BLOW YOUR MIND. The intent here will be reactions to last week's UT game, the REAL top 25 rankings, and any other interesting news that pops up. My kind of interesting, not yours. Come with me now on this journey, America!
Well, the 2014 version of the Red River Rivalry went a lot better for UT than most people (me) expected. It took us a while, but later in the second half our offense had gotten into a rhythm and showed unprecedented cohesiveness on the line and playmaking ability out of the receivers. Our defense played about how we all hoped they would, amazingly. And it looks like they're going to be solid for the rest of the year. If our offense keeps trending upward we have a lot better season to look forward to, including potential upsets of Ok State and TCU. And look out Big 12 2015. Charlie Strong seems to have everything heading the right direction.
1) Mississippi State - Most consistently dominant team in college football right now. Long schedule ahead though.
2) Ole Miss - Upset Alabama? Check. Crush A&M? Check. Season ending game against Bulldogs? Awesome.
3) FSU - Struggling mightily this year against inferior ACC teams. They get to prove themselves against a decent Notre Dame team this week.
4) Baylor - Back to back tough weeks revealing some serious flaws in this team. Can they make it all the way to playoffs without losing?
5) Alabama - Tough loss to Ole Miss, then a narrow win against Arkansas have fans panicking. Still one of the best teams in the country. Lots of season left for things to happen.
6) Auburn - Shaky? Yes. Capable of putting up 50 points and winning on any given week in crazy fashion? Also yes. Don't put them to bed just yet.
7) Notre Dame - DECENT at best. Didn't everyone learn their lesson 2 years ago? Congrats, you've played nobody and still managed to barely win all your games. At least they'll get crushed in the playoffs BEFORE the championship game if they make it in. One loss and they get bumped back to #17.
8) Oregon - Oregon, I don't even know what you're doing anymore. Run faster or something. Jesus.
9) Michigan State - Well, I guess somebody has to win the Big 10. This team was somehow demolished by Oregon.
10) TCU - You bastards. 21 points in the 4th quarter? My middle school team could have held that lead against Baylor. I would have threatened you too after this loss, Patterson.
11) Kansas State - Flying really low under the radar right now. Nobody's talking about them, but I expect them to make some noise in the Big 12 with late games against OU, Ok State, Baylor, and TCU still on the schedule.
12) Oklahoma - Can we all stop with the "Trevor Knight is a really good player" nonsense now? This team rode a bowl game victory against a barely awake Alabama team to pre-season hype. They're on serious fade notice.
*Note: things REALLY don't matter past here for championships. There's a clear separation between the top 12 and everyone else.
13) Georgia
14) Arizona
15) Arizona State
16) Ohio State
17) East Carolina
18) Utah
19) Texas A&M
20) Stanford
21) Clemson
22) Marshall
23) Arkansas
24) USC
25) Nebraska
They've got a lot of work left to do, but Dan Mullen finally has exactly what he wants in terms of personnel and infrastructure in Starkville. Kansas State has a toooooough schedule games at OU, TCU, and Baylor and home games against Ok State and a rapidly improving Texas team (yay!). But I think they'll still come out with the best record in the Big 12 and lock up the #4 spot...unless of course Texas sneaks up on EVERYONE!
#2 FSU vs #3 Ole Miss
FSU has one serious obstacle left, that's Notre Dame. When you can say that, you know you have a weak schedule. They haven't exactly won in convincing fashion every week against their ACC little brothers, but I don't really expect them to lose along the way. Now, one thing to note here is this is contingent upon Jameis Winston playing all year. If he's suspended or otherwise barred from playing, this is a totally different team. For Ole Miss, I have them winning out, and losing a close game to Miss State, who will go on to win the SEC overall. This would leave Ole Miss with one loss, a close one to the #1 team in the nation. If I'm a voter, no way am I leaving this team out in favor of a 1 loss team from pretty much any other conference.
That picture of Will Muschamp, coach of the Florida Gators was taken a few years ago, but I'm pretty sure that's the face he goes to sleep with every night nowadays. Well that face, or the face of unbridled rage that we've seen so often. He's pretty high up on the hotseat list this season. A loss at home to a struggling LSU team doesn't help much. I'd say we're about 2 more losses this season away from a firing. (Georgia, FSU, what's up)
Top 25
I've been meaning to do this for a while, and now I have plenty of data to support my rankings. So here's the REAL top 25 in college football.
1) Mississippi State - Most consistently dominant team in college football right now. Long schedule ahead though.
2) Ole Miss - Upset Alabama? Check. Crush A&M? Check. Season ending game against Bulldogs? Awesome.
3) FSU - Struggling mightily this year against inferior ACC teams. They get to prove themselves against a decent Notre Dame team this week.
4) Baylor - Back to back tough weeks revealing some serious flaws in this team. Can they make it all the way to playoffs without losing?
5) Alabama - Tough loss to Ole Miss, then a narrow win against Arkansas have fans panicking. Still one of the best teams in the country. Lots of season left for things to happen.
6) Auburn - Shaky? Yes. Capable of putting up 50 points and winning on any given week in crazy fashion? Also yes. Don't put them to bed just yet.
7) Notre Dame - DECENT at best. Didn't everyone learn their lesson 2 years ago? Congrats, you've played nobody and still managed to barely win all your games. At least they'll get crushed in the playoffs BEFORE the championship game if they make it in. One loss and they get bumped back to #17.
8) Oregon - Oregon, I don't even know what you're doing anymore. Run faster or something. Jesus.
9) Michigan State - Well, I guess somebody has to win the Big 10. This team was somehow demolished by Oregon.
10) TCU - You bastards. 21 points in the 4th quarter? My middle school team could have held that lead against Baylor. I would have threatened you too after this loss, Patterson.
11) Kansas State - Flying really low under the radar right now. Nobody's talking about them, but I expect them to make some noise in the Big 12 with late games against OU, Ok State, Baylor, and TCU still on the schedule.
12) Oklahoma - Can we all stop with the "Trevor Knight is a really good player" nonsense now? This team rode a bowl game victory against a barely awake Alabama team to pre-season hype. They're on serious fade notice.
*Note: things REALLY don't matter past here for championships. There's a clear separation between the top 12 and everyone else.
13) Georgia
14) Arizona
15) Arizona State
16) Ohio State
17) East Carolina
18) Utah
19) Texas A&M
20) Stanford
21) Clemson
22) Marshall
23) Arkansas
24) USC
25) Nebraska
Playoff Prediction
#1 Miss State vs #4 Kansas State
#2 FSU vs #3 Ole Miss
FSU has one serious obstacle left, that's Notre Dame. When you can say that, you know you have a weak schedule. They haven't exactly won in convincing fashion every week against their ACC little brothers, but I don't really expect them to lose along the way. Now, one thing to note here is this is contingent upon Jameis Winston playing all year. If he's suspended or otherwise barred from playing, this is a totally different team. For Ole Miss, I have them winning out, and losing a close game to Miss State, who will go on to win the SEC overall. This would leave Ole Miss with one loss, a close one to the #1 team in the nation. If I'm a voter, no way am I leaving this team out in favor of a 1 loss team from pretty much any other conference.
National Championship
#1 Miss State vs #3 Ole Miss
Ohhh man, we've seen this before. An SEC rematch game reminiscent of Alabama and LSU back in 2012. Everyone was up in arms that Ok State (lost to IOWA STATE, people) somehow didn't get a change to play LSU (IOWA STATE!!!!!). But the system got it right last time, and the playoffs will get it right this time.
So there you have it. The exact roadmap for what's going to happen in January. Write it down, place your bets, forget about all other games. Except for when I tell you to pay attention to things. Don't miss those.
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