I decided to jump into the list-making, as well. Mine are shorter offerings, and we'll see how it evolves each week. Here's the first offering. It's focused more on the conference and national scene because I was able to catch a lot of college football on Saturday.
Neal traveled to Austin alone, so I had a day to kill. I watched football literally all day without much else going on, and there are some good teams out there. There are also a ton of bad ones. I had these quick thoughts throughout the day and the weekend.
1) Louisville beat Kentucky by 14 points and picked up another win, but the Cardinals took a blowout loss in the optics department. UL wasn't overly impressive and made a lot of mistakes combined with sloppy play. The scary thing is Kentucky is one of the best one or two teams on its schedule. Getting into the national title game was going to be an uphill battle anyway. Yesterday knocked the Cardinals to the bottom of said hill, in my opinion.
2) Speaking of Kentucky, the defense isn't awful. Maxwell Smith isn't going to run the offense with max efficiency, and Neal Brown is probably ready to pull his hair out, but the Wildcats are playing with energy so far. I still don't see a lot of wins though, and that recruiting class will have to have a ton of faith in the process to tough it out. Ole Miss needed to get to a bowl to lock up its class it seemed, and Kentucky isn't getting there. Kentucky will win a league game though. Mississippi State and Tennessee are the most likely victims.
3) It wasn't enough punishment, but I was glad the AP poll moved Michigan down four spots after its win over Akron. Too often, voters have the default setting to increase or decrease depending on the win or loss, but Michigan was simply abysmal yesterday. Akron is a dumpster fire. The Zips went 1-11 last year and squeezed past James Madison for its only win last week. Beating Akron on the last play is much worse than losing to Appalachian State a few years ago. Terry Bowden did his best to ground Division II UNA when he was coach there, and his Akron group isn't one to be in a four-quarter game with.
4) Now, in saying that, no way I could vote Louisville ahead of Texas A&M. the AP poll has the Cardinals at No. 7 and the Aggies at No. 10.
5) Johnny Manziel is fun. He's lucky. He's a competitor, and I like him more today than I did before the game Saturday. He better keep being that special because Manziel and Mike Evans are going to have to carry this thing for the Aggies. The Sugar Bowl is still a possibility if A&M wins out, but I expect several more shootouts this season for those in College Station. The defense is bad, doesn't seem to be expecting improvement, and more teams on the schedule will be comfortable matching scores. Ole Miss and LSU are the two that come to mind when glancing at their schedule. A&M has both those games on the road.
6) Dak Prescott gives Mississippi State its best chance to win. He made things happen with his feet last night at Auburn and handled Jordan-Hare pretty well for his first career SEC start. Tyler Russell wasn't medically cleared for contact, and while Russell has had a nice career, Prescott seems to suit that offense better because of his mobility. Last night was a huge gut punch swing game for the Bulldogs. Bowl eligibility is suddenly a big problem. MSU needs to go 3-1 in its next four to even have a chance, beating Troy, Bowling Green and Kentucky. After that, the schedule is at South Carolina, at TAMU, Alabama, at Arkansas and Ole Miss. Ouch.
7) Auburn will lose to LSU next week for its first loss, but Nick Marshall made an impression on me last night, driving the Tigers down the field in the final minute for the winning score. State played a crazy soft prevent, but it was a nice drive for the junior college transfer. State stuffed Auburn's run and made Marshall win the game. He did. Ole Miss will try the same thing in three weeks. The Rebels are better though and will score more than State did.
8) Congratulations to Maikhail Miller. The former Ole Miss quarterback has carried the Racers to two straight wins after losing to Mizzou in the opener. Saturday, in a 41-38 win over Missouri State, Miller overcame three fourth-quarter deficits and went 24-of-33 for 272 yards and five touchdowns.
9) A.J. McCarron was terrific for Alabama, and that offense can be very dangerous. That's the challenge for Ole Miss in two weeks, finding a way to slow the Crimson Tide down. That's odd to say because Alabama has been built on defense, but the new shootout element is now a scary part of facing Alabama. Was a ton of that the Texas A&M being bad? Sure, to a point it was. But I think Bama is closer to that than what it did against Virginia Tech. McCarron is underrated and has weapons. Defensively, there were still missed assignments and somewhat of a lack of discipline you don't expect from a Nick Saban team. If I had a vote that mattered, Bama would be my number one, but they at least look somewhat mortal at the moment. That was a physical, man's man of a drive to clinch it though.
Speaking of...
10) If I had a vote
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Clemson
4. LSU
5. Ohio State
6. Florida State
7. Texas A&M
8. Stanford
9. Georgia
10. Oklahoma
11) SEC Power Poll
1. Alabama- Until they lose
2. LSU - Mettenberger has been much improved
3. Texas A&M - No shame in that loss
4. Georgia - Still a shot if it runs the table
5. South Carolina - I'm not that impressed really
6. Ole Miss - Closer to fifth than seventh
7. Florida - Can they score?
8. Auburn - Nick Marshall grew up a little on Saturday night
9. Missouri - I have no idea
10. Arkansas - Meh, but the Hogs have to go somewhere
11. Vanderbilt - Have to win one or it's the old Vanderbilt
12. Mississippi State - Saturday was such a swing game. Bowl eligibility now tough
13. Tennessee - I know it's Oregon, but
14. Kentucky - For now, it was more about Louisville being overrated
12) I've seen the message board complaints, but Ole Miss' new uniform combinations looked really good on television and in person. I just can't get behind the "messing with tradition" argument on this one. It's a clean look that keeps a lot of the elements. Players love them. Recruits love them. They look good. End of story.
13) So, Breaking Bad last night. O.M.G. I'm not going to give away spoilers this soon after, but it was the most draining hour of television that I can remember. As my friend Bennett Hipp said on Twitter, there were scenes during the Wire that hit you like that, but not entire episodes. It's fresh, so let's let some time pass, but this has the chance to be the greatest final season in television history. I'm still worried about the last two episodes having to really rush though.
14) I passed a major fantasy football test on Sunday. I was in a very tight game in my money league, and I have Vincent Jackson. When he caught that pass against the Saints I was already irritated at how New Orleans was playing, and the touchdown would have clinched my fantasy matchup. But I immediately griped at the coverage and was relieved when a penalty called it back. Admit it. The fantasy team vs. real team will hit you sometimes. I was proud of myself for sticking with the Saints - even in the knee-jerk moment that it happened.
15) I'm certainly biased, but something about the Falcons doesn't feel right. They remind me of the Cowboys, and that hasn't been a good thing for 15 years. Also, Ron Rivera should be fired immediately. Also, part II: It looks like Eli is playing with a YMCA team.
+1) Prayers to Ole Miss student Carson Otter, who was injured during the weekend in Austin. Ole Miss dean of students Sparky Reardon tweeted Sunday night Carson is in serious condition but responsive.
Neal traveled to Austin alone, so I had a day to kill. I watched football literally all day without much else going on, and there are some good teams out there. There are also a ton of bad ones. I had these quick thoughts throughout the day and the weekend.
1) Louisville beat Kentucky by 14 points and picked up another win, but the Cardinals took a blowout loss in the optics department. UL wasn't overly impressive and made a lot of mistakes combined with sloppy play. The scary thing is Kentucky is one of the best one or two teams on its schedule. Getting into the national title game was going to be an uphill battle anyway. Yesterday knocked the Cardinals to the bottom of said hill, in my opinion.
2) Speaking of Kentucky, the defense isn't awful. Maxwell Smith isn't going to run the offense with max efficiency, and Neal Brown is probably ready to pull his hair out, but the Wildcats are playing with energy so far. I still don't see a lot of wins though, and that recruiting class will have to have a ton of faith in the process to tough it out. Ole Miss needed to get to a bowl to lock up its class it seemed, and Kentucky isn't getting there. Kentucky will win a league game though. Mississippi State and Tennessee are the most likely victims.
3) It wasn't enough punishment, but I was glad the AP poll moved Michigan down four spots after its win over Akron. Too often, voters have the default setting to increase or decrease depending on the win or loss, but Michigan was simply abysmal yesterday. Akron is a dumpster fire. The Zips went 1-11 last year and squeezed past James Madison for its only win last week. Beating Akron on the last play is much worse than losing to Appalachian State a few years ago. Terry Bowden did his best to ground Division II UNA when he was coach there, and his Akron group isn't one to be in a four-quarter game with.
4) Now, in saying that, no way I could vote Louisville ahead of Texas A&M. the AP poll has the Cardinals at No. 7 and the Aggies at No. 10.
5) Johnny Manziel is fun. He's lucky. He's a competitor, and I like him more today than I did before the game Saturday. He better keep being that special because Manziel and Mike Evans are going to have to carry this thing for the Aggies. The Sugar Bowl is still a possibility if A&M wins out, but I expect several more shootouts this season for those in College Station. The defense is bad, doesn't seem to be expecting improvement, and more teams on the schedule will be comfortable matching scores. Ole Miss and LSU are the two that come to mind when glancing at their schedule. A&M has both those games on the road.
6) Dak Prescott gives Mississippi State its best chance to win. He made things happen with his feet last night at Auburn and handled Jordan-Hare pretty well for his first career SEC start. Tyler Russell wasn't medically cleared for contact, and while Russell has had a nice career, Prescott seems to suit that offense better because of his mobility. Last night was a huge gut punch swing game for the Bulldogs. Bowl eligibility is suddenly a big problem. MSU needs to go 3-1 in its next four to even have a chance, beating Troy, Bowling Green and Kentucky. After that, the schedule is at South Carolina, at TAMU, Alabama, at Arkansas and Ole Miss. Ouch.
7) Auburn will lose to LSU next week for its first loss, but Nick Marshall made an impression on me last night, driving the Tigers down the field in the final minute for the winning score. State played a crazy soft prevent, but it was a nice drive for the junior college transfer. State stuffed Auburn's run and made Marshall win the game. He did. Ole Miss will try the same thing in three weeks. The Rebels are better though and will score more than State did.
8) Congratulations to Maikhail Miller. The former Ole Miss quarterback has carried the Racers to two straight wins after losing to Mizzou in the opener. Saturday, in a 41-38 win over Missouri State, Miller overcame three fourth-quarter deficits and went 24-of-33 for 272 yards and five touchdowns.
9) A.J. McCarron was terrific for Alabama, and that offense can be very dangerous. That's the challenge for Ole Miss in two weeks, finding a way to slow the Crimson Tide down. That's odd to say because Alabama has been built on defense, but the new shootout element is now a scary part of facing Alabama. Was a ton of that the Texas A&M being bad? Sure, to a point it was. But I think Bama is closer to that than what it did against Virginia Tech. McCarron is underrated and has weapons. Defensively, there were still missed assignments and somewhat of a lack of discipline you don't expect from a Nick Saban team. If I had a vote that mattered, Bama would be my number one, but they at least look somewhat mortal at the moment. That was a physical, man's man of a drive to clinch it though.
Speaking of...
10) If I had a vote
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Clemson
4. LSU
5. Ohio State
6. Florida State
7. Texas A&M
8. Stanford
9. Georgia
10. Oklahoma
11) SEC Power Poll
1. Alabama- Until they lose
2. LSU - Mettenberger has been much improved
3. Texas A&M - No shame in that loss
4. Georgia - Still a shot if it runs the table
5. South Carolina - I'm not that impressed really
6. Ole Miss - Closer to fifth than seventh
7. Florida - Can they score?
8. Auburn - Nick Marshall grew up a little on Saturday night
9. Missouri - I have no idea
10. Arkansas - Meh, but the Hogs have to go somewhere
11. Vanderbilt - Have to win one or it's the old Vanderbilt
12. Mississippi State - Saturday was such a swing game. Bowl eligibility now tough
13. Tennessee - I know it's Oregon, but
14. Kentucky - For now, it was more about Louisville being overrated
12) I've seen the message board complaints, but Ole Miss' new uniform combinations looked really good on television and in person. I just can't get behind the "messing with tradition" argument on this one. It's a clean look that keeps a lot of the elements. Players love them. Recruits love them. They look good. End of story.
13) So, Breaking Bad last night. O.M.G. I'm not going to give away spoilers this soon after, but it was the most draining hour of television that I can remember. As my friend Bennett Hipp said on Twitter, there were scenes during the Wire that hit you like that, but not entire episodes. It's fresh, so let's let some time pass, but this has the chance to be the greatest final season in television history. I'm still worried about the last two episodes having to really rush though.
14) I passed a major fantasy football test on Sunday. I was in a very tight game in my money league, and I have Vincent Jackson. When he caught that pass against the Saints I was already irritated at how New Orleans was playing, and the touchdown would have clinched my fantasy matchup. But I immediately griped at the coverage and was relieved when a penalty called it back. Admit it. The fantasy team vs. real team will hit you sometimes. I was proud of myself for sticking with the Saints - even in the knee-jerk moment that it happened.
15) I'm certainly biased, but something about the Falcons doesn't feel right. They remind me of the Cowboys, and that hasn't been a good thing for 15 years. Also, Ron Rivera should be fired immediately. Also, part II: It looks like Eli is playing with a YMCA team.
+1) Prayers to Ole Miss student Carson Otter, who was injured during the weekend in Austin. Ole Miss dean of students Sparky Reardon tweeted Sunday night Carson is in serious condition but responsive.
