Wednesday, September 20, 2006

In an attempt to actually post content, I'll answer the blogpoll roundtable questions again, despite not actually being part of the blogpoll. Because that's just how I am.

1. Its only the third week of the season and we’ve already seen some highly ranked favorites drop out of national championship contention. Preseason favorite Cal dropped to #21 after a loss and a pair of underwhelming victories. Who’s your pick as the next NC contender to take a fall?

Probably Florida will be the next team in the current Top 10 to fall out because of their schedule. I'm pretty firm in my belief that Alabama hands them their first loss of the season again, but even if we don't there's just no way they make it through October still unbeaten.

2. By that same token there are several schools hanging around without a loss that all of a sudden look like surprise contenders. There are also a few one loss teams with a legit shot at getting back into it. Looking at the rankings who’s the team no one’s talking about with the best shot at crashing the party ?

The TCU hype level is pretty high, but they'll screw up and lose to someone like New Mexico or Air Force. My pick to run off 7 straight and possibly top 10 wins in the regular season is Navy. Look at their schedule:

Sat, Sep 2 East Carolina W 28-23
Sat, Sep 9 Massachusetts W 21-20
Sat, Sep 16 at Stanford W 37-9
Sat, Sep 23 Tulsa
Sat, Sep 30 at Connecticut
Sat, Oct 7 at Air Force
Sat, Oct 14 Rutgers
Sat, Oct 28 (12) Notre Dame
Sat, Nov 4 at Duke
Sat, Nov 11 at Eastern Michigan
Sat, Nov 18 Temple
Sat, Dec 2 Army

They already have 3 wins under their belts, Tulsa and UCONN are locks, Air Force and Rutgers are toss ups (it sucks having to take Rutgers seriously), and then Duke, EMU, Temple, and Army are all pretty much locks. Notre Dame is the only team on that schedule where I would bet against Navy. Of course, if Navy beats everyone but the Irish, they'll still wind up ranked in the low teens to twenties and play a 7 win MAC team in some crap bowl.

3. Every team has their quicksand away game. You know. That place you should win but somehow find ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or at least scare the &*%^ out of you every year. Did you know that over the last 21 years Kentucky wasn’t won once in Knoxville? Where is your team’s yearly sandtrap?

For Bama it's Arkansas. The Hogs are the only SEC team that we don't have at least a 7 game lead on in the series. We're 9-7 against them, and it's always a trap game for us.

For UAB it's harder to say. Southern Miss is the first team to spring to mind since we've never beaten them but have come within a score of winning 5 of the 6 times we've met, but we've only played in Hattiesburg twice. ECU is probably the best choice. We're 4-2 against the Pirates and both losses were in Greenville, with last years loss being a huge upset for the Blazers.

4. Now that you’ve looked into the darkest place in your football soul, free Escalades aside, turn and look into your crystal ball. Conference play is either just starting or a single game in. Based on what you’ve seen so far, give the order of finish in your conference, and if you’ve got a Conference Championship game tell us who the winner will be. Independents must predict the remainder of their schedule. The results your predictions will be held against you at the end of the season.

SEC:
East:
Georgia
Florida
UT
Kentucky
Vandy
SC
West:
Alabama
Auburn
LSU
Arkansas
Ole Miss
Miss State

Champion: Alabama. I'm dead serious.

C-USA
East:
Southern Miss
UCF
UAB
ECU
Memphis
Marshall

West:
UTEP
Tulsa
Houston
SMU
Tulane
Rice

Champion: Probably Southern Miss. UTEP is just too flaky at the end of the season for me.

5. In keeping with the spirit of Maize n Brew, name your beverage of choice on game days and why. It need not be alcoholic, as there are some of us who choose not to imbibe on game day. Further, it need not be limited to a single brand/type/category. If you enjoy drinking PBR and Kraft Turkey Gravy at the same time (which I have personally witnessed), please, elaborate. Finally, if you should feel so inclined, and this is not a requirement, add an anecdote involving said beverage choice.

Two drinks: Coke and beer. I drink unhealthy amounts of Coca-Cola, and it's nothing for me to buy a 12 pack Friday night and still have to head back to the store Saturday night so I'll have some for Sunday. As for Beer, I say I'm a Bud Light man, but I'll pretty much drink anything and usually make my selection based on whatever I haven't had in awhile or what I think will be funniest to drink. Against Vandy, I was drinking Abita Purple Haze because I haven't had it in awhile, and last weekend I was drinking High Life from a can 'cause the football watching came in the midst of an all day cookout/bachelor party extravaganza and it just felt right. This weekend I'll be drinking the leftovers of six packs gone buy that are still sitting in my fridge if I drink at all. My dad might be going with me to the Mississippi State game so I'd rather not be a little tipsy heading to Legion Field.

5 Comments:

Blogger Nicole said...

mmmmm Abita....

2:16 PM  
Blogger Todd Jones said...

is that how ole miss fans are? they have to put down everyone else to feel better about themselves?

2:50 PM  
Blogger S said...

I KNOW bama is gonna take auburn. i believe "teh plainsmen" will also lose to either florida/uga meaning the bama/lsu game could be huger then we thought. of course that game comes before the iron bowl, but still..

9:04 PM  
Blogger Wes Wolfe said...

Alabama beats Auburn because of the historical impossibility of the Tigers/War Eagles/Plainsmen beating the Tide five consecutive years. Even the '90 Bama team couldn't lose. It's fate.

11:34 AM  
Blogger Todd Jones said...

Hack - Just call them the Teagles. It's easier.

11:49 AM  

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