OverRated: The Week in College Football Polls
Everything is Better with Meetings Edition
Few of the top teams in the game played this weekend, but, with the first Committee meeting and the blues dealt at Statesboro and Memphis, the sport held onto its title as the preeminent nationwide shitshow. With only five opinions on the line, three (kinda) came true this week:
Week Ten Most OverRated Football Program Results
1 San Diego State didn’t make the Committee’s list at all
2 SMU lost at Memphis in an over-televised much-to-do-about-nothing throw-down and fell eight places
3 Appalachian State lost to Georgia Southern and fell over six places, totally out of the AP top 25
4 Minnesota was off but will get stomped by Penn State next weekend
5 Oregon had to wake up and play to beat USC
That totals three more toldjaso™ this week to end the purely AP portion of the year.
Here at ground zero, the SMU-Memphis hype was unavoidable. Neither team had proven to be a top thirty squad, but both have bobbed about the bottom of the AP 25 because they had failed to lose to a bunch of nobodies. Suddenly GameDay sets up stage on Beale Street and the Liberty Bowls sells the most tickets ever. Fine. Whatevs.
Memphis capitalized on the attention by dredging up personalities from circa Watergate, locking in place our reputation as a backwater with great food. According to police data, within the city Saturday, there were no homicides and nearly no crime downtown, aside from one theft so there’s that. The main profit from the entire mess was this troll-of-the-week sign floating through the crowd:
“SMU: we paid athletes before it was cool.”
The Tigers had a big night; good for them. Myself, I repented of SMU a decade ago.
Meanwhile, the Committee finally flew to meet in Tarrant County (motto: We’re so Tired of being called “Dallas”). Their first opinion of the season shouldn’t be too important, but there’s a certain stickiness to these votes: no one wants to admit that they’ve been wrong and change. There are some big games to come, but this is their first pass at the playoffs:
- Ohio State
- LSU
- Alabama
- Penn State
- Clemson
- Georgia
College Football Playoff Oughta Be
Big Ten Ohio State or Penn State
SEC Alabama or LSU after Florida excused itself from the proceedings via Athens
ACC Clemson survived UNC, so now they’re around for the rest of the year
PAC64 Oregon is just too weak; expect a second team from the Big Ten or SEC instead
Big XII Oklahoma is the best one-loss team in the nation even after losing to Kansas State
Notre Dame is not as good as Oregon and merely survived Virginia Tech
Much of this settles out soon: Ohio State and Penn State will likely settle the Big Ten when they meet on the 23d; Alabama hosts LSU this weekend and should win by about 8. I’m okay with the Committee except that I think Oklahoma and Oregon are better than Georgia; Georgia is a mistake. Back to our weekly idiocy: who’s who and what’s what?
First CFP Week N + 1 Most OverRated Football Programs
1 Minnesota is not a wild favorite of the Committee and will be stomped by Penn State
2 Oregon is barely overrated and has a clear road to winning the PAC256
We just don’t have much to talk about after the Committee weighed in.
Honorable Mentions
The Season is Kinda Over Already Edition
I still like LSU, but they’re still not Numero Uno.
Previously-bagged Georgia is only a ten but is on their way to Atlanta, a very, very short drive. Even if they lose there, some will still have them near the top despite their losing to South Carolina who has since lost to Tennessee who has lost to Atlanta standard-bearer Georgia State who lost to Western Michigan 57-10 who lost to Eastern Michigan who has lost to Toledo and Buffalo and, well, you get the picture. This weekend NewWife’s Dawgs host toothless Missouri and your humble correspondent: pray for me as I drink my way through an SEC sorority soiree in Athens.
Previously-bagged Utah won’t play anyone until Oregon in the Pacific punch-out. Previously-bagged Florida is about four spots strong but won’t play anyone for the rest of the year. Previously-bagged Memphis has Cincinnati left, so one or the other will plummet and the other will be seemingly legitimized, but I won’t be sticking my toe back in the AAC filth again this year. Previously-bagged Wake Forest will lose to Va Tech and Clemson; make of that what you will.
Kansas State plays several twenty-somethings yet and will lose to one of them and then fall out of the top twenty, but I don’t think I care to waste a stronger opinion on them than that. Boise State buoys in the competency vacuum but plays no one for the rest of the year. SMU is still overrated after tanking to the Tigers because no voter wants to admit that he voted a team a good twenty spots higher than he should have.
Year to Date Hides on the Wall
1 Georgia lost at home to the second-best team from South Carolina that almost lost to UNC
2 Utah lost to an unrated USC but seems to be coming back
2 Stanford was revealed by USC
2 Syracuse was unranked after Maryland
2 Michigan was blown out by Wisconsin
2 Notre Dame sold off after losing to a highly ranked Georgia
7 UCF was edged by an unranked Pitt and continues to muddle
7 Iowa was no number 15 as Michigan proved
7 Wake Forest allowed Louisville to hang 62 on them
7 Cal was dumped from the AP after losing to Arizona State
11 Boise State lost by three to toothless BYU
11 Iowa State was dethroned before their decent showing against Iowa
11 Memphis lost to possibly 80th best team in the nation Temple and disappeared for a while
11 SMU lost at Memphis fell eight places
15 Michigan State slowly fell out of the ratings, so I was right after all
15 Clemson was dethroned by barely edging Mack Brown retirement project UNC
15 Texas lost to OU (mid-season toldjasos™) and has continued to suck and plummet
15 Texas probably over-paid for losing to titan LSU (early-season toldjasos™), but then they let Kansas hang 48 on them at home
15 Appalachian State got a case of the Statesboro Blues and fell over six slots
20 Auburn over-paid for losing to Florida
20 Texas A&M probably over-paid for quality losses against Clemson and Auburn . . . or maybe not
20 Washington State was de-ranked after becoming lowly UCLA’s first win
20 Virginia continues to lose after losing to can-play-with-UGA Notre Dame
24 Oklahoma lost to Kansas State . . . inexcusable
25 San Diego State didn’t make the Committee’s list at all
Year to Date It-Would-Seem Blown Calls Because They’re Doing Okay Really Well
1 LSU
2 Florida seems to have earned their status by defeating top-ten Auburn
3 Oklahoma is no longer a blown call because Kansas State
4 UCF is now a skin on the wall after Pitt
5 Michigan is no longer a blown call because Wisconsin
6 Washington State is no longer a blown call because UCLA
Our year now stands at 25-2-4. The week endeth thus!
Do you wager on college sports?
Almost never: nobody is putting money down against “Standord will be proven to suck in the next three to six games.”
There are things I wish I could have shorted like GM’s Hummer division. I doubled my money on a Payless hardware dead cat bounce circa 99, but I rode Sears into the ground.
Ugh: Stanford
2005 Lauren Graham is not the best argument for “just walk away . . . there will be other girls.” Just saying.
No, but she won’t be shittin’ right for a month, just like the others.
The honeymoon with a Biturbo can mean some sweet times on twisty roads, but wait ’til the bill for the valve comes due before crowing ’bout the curves and the heat.
SMU chicks are time shares: everyone who has one is trying to get out of the deal.
Ugh: valve job
“SMU chicks are time shares: everyone who has one is trying to get out of the deal”
Damn, Don. Good one.
I thought you were going with “somebody new inside every 2 weeks”.
Blackjack if you are still around, here’s two of the three tenors.
https://youtu.be/i-6jntlAWJs
Sorry Mojeaux,no Nikki Sixx.
UNLV sucks, so therefore college football does as well.
I just rewatched Absolute Power which at the time was grown out of Clinton’s philandering; but today democrats think that happens like 8 times a night in Trump’s WH.
Dem’s just jelly, is all.
Where’s SMOD when you need it?
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/this-is-not-a-maga-rally-joy-behar-snaps-at-audience-applauding-for-don-trump-jr
I’d much rather a comet. I always liked Night of the Comet.
That comet talk belongs in the last thread.
To be sure, meteors were mentioned there, too.
Comet talk.
I’m just wondering where the snipers are..
Or, a Krazy Glue freak with a talk show obsession and a fondness for pyrotechnics.
I wasn’t there or anything but that characterization of the audience seems implausible.
CONFIRMED! Rhy is a regular audience member on The View!
Busted.
Good morning all. HOLY MACKEREL! It’s cold this morning. I had to run the heater for the first time this season.
Shhhhh, I think everyone is asleep.
I’m not! : (
I wish I could identify as asleep, but I’m thinkin’ the boss wouldn’t buy it.
24 degrees F here and clear. Which means I’m going to have to scrape frost off my windshield before I leave for work, dammit.
I may tell Mr. GT that what I want for my birthday is enough crap cleared out of our two-car garage for me to park my one car in there.
If there is one thing Mrs. T and I agree on, it’s that garages are for cars, lawn equipment goes in a shed, and junk goes to the dump.
I would love a shed. Actually, no… I would really love a barn. Just cover my whole backyard with a barn.
Hell, I’d love a garage.
We haven’t had one since we moved out here in 2017. Never again. Garages are mandatory.
All of our stuff has a coating of dust on it because it’s outside.
You know, a barn.
That’s a horse palace with (flexible) accessories, that’s what that is. Nice!
Sweet baby Jesus…
Sadly, Mr. GT and I are both kinda pack rats. Plus a lot of what’s in the garage is music gear that we didn’t want to have to haul up from the basement every time we had a gig. And boxes. Neither one of us can bring ourselves to throw away Potentially Useful Boxes, so there’s a large pile of those in one corner. And I have a shelf full of smaller Potential Gift Boxes on a closet shelf inside.
BWAAAA HA HA! WIfey and I are at constant loggerheads over my need to save all of the nice boxes that come into our lives. If it’s fancy or (Oh, baby!) if it’s waxed, I’m keepin’ it… I may need it someday.
Inorite??? Our paper supplier at work – a sort of “Big Lots” for office paper – has been bringing us five-ream cases. The boxes for those are even more awesome than the already-awesome ten-ream boxes – you can jam pack those babies full of books but still lift them! I NEVER throw those away!
I feel your pain. We have a garage for the first time in decades but it immediately fills up with all of the things I can’t leave in the yard (NYC… sigh) but can’t safely store indoors.
Are you at work already too?
Nope – I have to hit the road right about 8 to get to work by 8:30…ish. I get up earlier than I need to because I move slowly in the morning. I like to sit a bit, sip my coffee, and surf the web. Plus hang out with whoever happens to be around here before AM Lynx.
Mornin’
Mornin’, Sean! Two thumbs up to you, too!
I need my coffee in the car so I can avoid having a wreck. No time to dawdle for me. Maybe that’s why I’m such a slug on the weekend.
Yeah…where’s muh global warming? ?
IKR, it’s only going to get up to 55 here today. Brrrr!
and… Good morning.
Good morning
*raises cup of coffee*
“Uga is a mistake” is a general purpose statement. Always true, in all situations.
“an SEC sorority soiree in Athens”
Oh, now it’s two soireeauxes. I might could use a buddy with a couch in ATL very soon.
I have a silly question for those here who are mechanically inclined. My work knife (Gerber EAB Lite) lost its blade retaining/opening screw. How does one measure a tiny threaded hole so as to secure a replacement screw?
This guy says to email Gerber
Nice, thanks.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-07/huge-trove-of-mammoth-skeletons-found-in-mexico/11683186
Did this make the rounds yet?
I hate it when I find mammoths in my garbage dump.
I dunno…mammoth ivory seems to sell
http://fishcreekalaska.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=162_17
https://www.boonetrading.com/collections/ivory-pistol-grips
Capitalism for the win.
That’s pretty cool! Mammoths always remind me of the book The Way Things Work (which has a bunch of animations out on the web, apparently.)
Geez, they let all of that ivory sit there? It a proper prehistoric civilization, it would all have been transformed into dice, pool balls and cane finials.
More mass graves? Cartel violence is out of control.
CBS fires the ABC Epstein cover-up leaker
I’m not understanding this article. A former ABC employee got fired from her new gig at CBS for something she did at her old job?
Yup. Traitorous leaking traitors cannot be tolerated.
MSM circles the wagons to defend themselves.
Time for me to go clean up and dress for work – last day of work before a three-day weekend! Catch you all later, gentlemen, and I wish you the day of your choosing.
Time for my morning follies as well.
https://www.kron4.com/news/national/michael-jacksons-socks-up-for-auction-could-make-2m/
Penn State usually plays down to lesser competition and up to their betters. Expect a rather narrow victory at Minnesoda.
I thought so as well.
Regression still says if they played ten more times Penn State’s would win by an average of 11.
So they need to keep playing and we need to keep playing.