Thin Gruel as Serious Play Begins Edition
This week we book three toldjasos™, but none are monumental or hard math. What happened:
Week Five Most OverRated Football Program Results
1 Cal lost to unranked Arizona State and fell completely out of the top 25
2 Iowa cracked concrete design powerhouse Middle Tennessee
2 Virginia proved they can play with we-can-play-with-UGA Notre Dame
4 Boise State was in their bunk all weekend
5 Florida blanked can-you-find-it-on-a-map Towson (hint: Maryland)
6 Clemson survived UNC’s two-point win-now PAT attempt but fell from the top spot
6 Georgia kept to the shade for the weekend
8 Texas is resting up for the Red River Classic
8 Auburn more than ably handled Mississippi State
10 Oregon ducked any comers for the weekend
11 Oklahoma raided Texas Tech
So, we only have three heads to mount on the wall this week. Clemson was really easy math: they couldn’t go up from number one and they were unlikely to stay there. Think of it like betting on a Wallenda to die this century: you can’t go wrong on some things. On the one hand, the Tigers only dropped one spot this week; on the other hand, it takes cojones to go against all public opinion and declare that the reigning champions aren’t necessarily the best team in the sport; the easiest thing to do would be to keep your head down, but your writer is all about calling balls and strikes, even in football. I’m not getting a tattoo over this, but I’m booking the win: a very small, very high-risk win. Parting shot: they’re still overranked (as is Alabama), but I’m cashing out of these high-risk positions for this tax year.
Cal, on the other hand, is my meat-and-potatoes: broadside at 200 yards dropped in their tracks. I had added them to my over-rated list because they had zero business being ranked at all much less number 15. They stood out like tourists in Paris and deserved to get mugged. As my toppest mostest overratedest team of last week, no one should be shocked that they would promptly lose to some other PAC256 nobody and get bounced completely out of rankedness. I called it; this is what I do (just drops ball in endzone after TD and runs promptly from the field, no dance or chest thumping).
Virginia, however, is very weak sauce as far as call-outs go. If anything, they played Notre Dame well and proved they deserved their ranking. But that’s not how the polls work: they’re about mania, and you get pumped up and you get slapped down. Virginia’s rack is too small for the den wall; we’ll just tack it up over the work bench in the barn and not point it out to neighbors or anything.
So, folks, it’s getting much harder now to play the old OverRated game: it’s late in the hand and there are only so many trump cards left to lead with. Basically, we’ve made fun of pretty much everyone possible already, and the AP voters have learned the hard way about several teams and fairly much atoned: there’s little low-hanging fruit left and the AP poll, at least, is pretty much in order or at least arguably in the ballpark. Still, ranking teams is like building a mutual fund: you gotta buy something even in an up market. And I’ve got some old picks hanging around that weren’t very good and sooner or later I’m going to need to unload them; again, like stocks, I’ll wait until some quarter when I’ve got a ton of gains to offset and, until then, they remain on the books somewhere in the appendixes next to several asterisks.
That said: here’s your thin-gruel high-stress tax-avoidance-structured portfolio of the overranked:
Newest Week N + 1 I Believe! Most OverRated Football Programs
1 Boise St jumps to the top of our poll in time to kick around Glib bridesmaid UNLV
2 Wake Forest joins the overranked in time to host Unitas-less Louisville
3 Georgia will probably nuke Neyland to hold serve in the SEC East
4 Florida or Auburn must lose, so I’ll be at least half right about something
4 Iowa plays Khaki Bowl host University of Ypsilanti
6 Texas will go all STEVE SMITH on West Virgina’s MountainMen
7 Auburn or Florida must lose, so I’ll be at least half right about something
7 Oregon lucks into playing recently revealed Cal
9 Oklahoma should vaporize perennially impotent KU
So how has our year gone so far?
Year to Date Hides on the Wall Rated
1 Utah lost to an unrated USC
2 Stanford was revealed by USC
2 Syracuse was unranked after Maryland
2 UCF was edged by an unranked Pitt
5 Cal was dumped from the AP after losing to Arizona State
6 Iowa State was dethroned before their decent showing against Iowa
6 Michigan State fell out of the ratings, so I was right after all
8 Clemson was dethroned by Mack Brown retirement project UNC
9 Texas probably over-paid for losing to titan LSU
9 Texas A&M probably over-paid for quality losses against Clemson and Auburn
11 Washington State was unranked after becoming lowly UCLA’s first win
11 Florida was ranked down after silly pre-season enthusiasm (but are back up now!)
13 Michigan was blown out by Wisconsin
14 Virginia probably over-paid for losing to can-play-with-UGA Notre Dame
Year to Date It-Would-Seem Blown Calls Because They’re Doing Okay Really Well
1 LSU
2 UCF is now a skin on the wall after Pitt
3 Michigan no longer a blown call because Wisconsin
4 Washington State no longer a blown call because UCLA
Let’s score this year 14–1-3 so far, nothing to be ashamed of. So closes another week!
links to older opinions: 2019-09-26 2019-09-19 2019-09-13 2019-09-06
Disclosure of sources of bias: your writer has attended the University of Tennessee, Memphis State and the University of Memphis, Christian Brothers College . . . and he sleeps with an alumna of Georgia whose parents met at Washington State . . . and his son went to Houston . . . and he never met anyone from TCU he didn’t like . . . and he irrationally hates Notre Dame, UCF, Clemson, and Notre Dame.
Comments
67 responses to “OverRated: The Week in College Football Polls”
No love for the “Pentagon three”?
Hi, dbleagle!
Howdy HE!
Back in the 60’s and 70’s there was the weekly “Bottom 10” in the newspaper. They generally just lumped at the Academies as “Pentagon”.
Have the Santa Anna’s started yet?
The Bottom Ten still exists.
HTML fail!
Japanese marines doing what their ojiisans didn’t quite get to
Concave Beach? That is a combat fail. You don’t want to gift the enemy crossing fire.
Do the best you can with the training area available?
I remember doing beach landings in the UK. The RN drove their boats so slow, double checked everything before
droppingslowly lowering the ramp. Would never have made it into the water, let alone the beach.Killing time for the e-boats to show up?
Ouch. One Slapton Sands huh?
There is a reason for Destroyer screens.
Recently watched a video on that incident.
Ever play Steel Panthers WaW? What a great game.
I played the early versions. Found that you could fly the helicopters off the map and attack the enemy’s artillery.
I think that might have been a different game. There are a number of games named “Steel Panthers.”
The USMC occasionally trains on it out here. With modern weapons it is a great way to drown so you don’t burn up.
Damn, I have to start watching that side arrow pointing right…
Thanks for the head’s up, Gustave.
How the hell is everybody over here?
Don’t reckon there’s any chance you’re still up & about, is there? If so, g’morning. ::sucks down coffee::
OK, now you’re just making up bowl games AND school. I’ve heard of Ypsilanti, but never of a U there.
P.S. Sorry I can’t participate in the late night (from POV of US EDT) posts, but the cock crows (euphemism? You’ll just have to wonder…) at 6 a.m. so’s I don’t have to move too fast until the caffeine kicks in. By this point in the week, I’m fadin’ fast and moving more slowly than usual.
Good morning.
Oh, hi there! I sometimes wonder if there’d be any demand for a post circa 6 a.m. Eastern for the internationals and the US early birds – just a little something to tide us over until Morning Lynx. I have to hit the road just when THEY hit.
I don’t think there’s enough of us around to warrent a brand new post. Loitering around the tail of the late night post still works.
I reckon you’re right. And it takes some time after I get up before I’m coherent.
Also: I am moved by familial loyalty to say, “Go Navy! Beat Air Force!” ::Looks around. Sees no one. Opens another tab to elsewhere on the Intarwebz::
Ypsi is home to Eastern Michigan University – Home of the Hurons, well until 90’s PC police got to them and they became the Eagles. It’s also headquarters of The Patriarchy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypsilanti_Water_Tower
https://www.delish.com/food-news/a29351591/mcrib-back-mcdonalds-2019/
Hard pass. (No euphemism).
I think the Mr. has expressed a fondness for those. Last time I tried one a few years back, I found it messy and meh. For quick take-out BBQ, I’m partial to a local chain called OinkAdoodleMoo.
The artificial rarity is the only reason they sell well. It’s a psychological trick on their customers.
Not unlike the way Disney used to release their classics on video for limited periods, IIRC. Not sure if they still do that, as I have no reason to care.
And yet, they still haven’t released Song of the South on DVD or BluRay.
Doing their utmost to memory-hole that one. Just had an idle thought – trying to imagine how they might attempt a “woke” remake. Decided to suppress that idea.
I got my hands on a copy. I don’t actually have any interest in watching it, but the effort they went to in keeping the film out of reach made me want to have one.
It’s probably the same reason people flock to the McRib when it pops up.
My comment below crossed yours. Was your version actually playable on US-format machines? (I’m vaguely aware of different “regions” but not sure how that works.)
Region-locking isn’t all that effective when playing back on a computer, and it doesn’t care about NTSC versus PAL.
Now that I think of it, SotS might have been released in some non-US regions. I think a friend tried to track it down online, but good luck trying to get it shipped to a US address.
Resellers don’t have the same
qualms.contractual restrictions as first party Disney slaes partners.SotS (my favorite Disney film; I even had a pet rabbit named Tar Baby when I was wee) was released on DVD in Japan. I have it but as I put all my media on to hard drives, it’s ripped and available (I think I have every Disney film product and most of their TV work prior to 1980) if anyone wants it.
“OinkAdoodleMoo”
? it.
The name. Never seen the business.
Good stuff, at least to my unrefined palate (totally not a foodie.) Carb-laden sides for which to die.
I would give them a try based upon the name alone.
Are they in Dayton?
I only ask because I found a website for an Oikadoodlemoo BBQ place with four locations, and wanted to know if it was them.
Yup! That’s them! The Clayton one (north of Dayton) is our go-to, but they also JUST opened one around the corner from my south suburban workplace. It’s not even listed on the website yet.
With my track record, I’m liable to wander through Ohio again. Something about it being between New York and much of the country. So I’ll have to file that away for future reference.
And in local news:
https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/southeastern-pa/police-shop-in-quakertown-farmer-s-market-bought-stolen-health/article_50be6c20-e60b-11e9-9643-376ebd0045f5.html
This is the farmers market we shop at all the time. Though not at that store.
I see a few little “garage sale “ locations on Saturdays that appear to be selling stuff like that and Tide laundry detergent. Looks shady to me as well.
I deal with the household merchandise and pet supplies at my store; we have a big problem with laundry soap/fabric softener theft, specifically Tide and Downey. I’m told they are used as currency out on the streets because of their near universal desirability.
I wonder what the exchange rate is.
I’m curious myself. Every couple weeks, I’ll come across the large packages (103 fluid ounces) of each completely drained and put back in place on the shelf. I’m guessing stroller or wheelchair using customer.
That’s pretty shitty. We have an outdoor spring-to-fall Saturday morning farmers’ market in a church parking lot close enough to Chez GT that I could easily walk there…if I wasn’t a lazy butt. Been a regular since we moved in 10+ years ago, and Mr. GT has started playing guitar there occasionally. I’d be appalled if I found out any of the vendors were fences.
Oh yeah, this place is like across the street. I still drive there.
Though I’d be impressed that a boundary barrier would be able to run a market stall.
😛
Thank you, Mr. Literal. ; ) (Is that you, Ted S.? Or is his shtick strictly punctuation?)
I thought you knew me, I make bad jokes a lot.
There’s a lot of that going around. The more I hang out here, the better I’ll be able to keep track. BTW – enjoying Beyond the Edge of the Map, though reading time has been limited lately. Hope to make significant progress this weekend.
Glad to hear you’re enjoying it. Mind if I ask how far you’ve gotten?
Page 37 of 234, per the Nook – beginning of “Where the Frost Giants Walk.”
Ah. So it’s gotten snowy.
https://www.wfmz.com/news/ap/ap-national/atlantic-city-mayor-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-resigns/article_d61daa0c-cf70-5de1-9fde-25d2d80e6b57.html
A corrupt politician? In NJ?
*faints*
“Gilliam’s lawyer, Harry Rimm, stressed that Gilliam admitted to taking private money, not public funds. That sets him somewhat apart from a long line of his predecessors accused of corruption, dating back to the turn-of-the-century Atlantic City officials whose malfeasance was chronicled in the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire.””
Chortle, snort, giggle – l0b0t’s inner 10 year old
I only stole from one of the organizations for which I had a fiduciary responsibility!
Audit the city accounts, just to be safe.
“I was only stealing from individuals, not the state. I thought that was ok.”
Wait, wait, wait, the AP actually printed the party affiliation of a corrupt democrat?
Well, gentlemen (giving the benefit of the not-inconsiderable doubt,) I must be off to finish morning ablutions and be off to the day job. See you at AM Lynx when I should be working. Have a good ‘un.
Sorry kinda: I didn’t notice there was a school in Ypsilanti. My transmission and several before were built there, and I just like saying the name.
And I thought Khaki Bowl would just the right amount of translucent to be more than a little funny.
Anyway, I hope the pictures were kinda cute.