Wow, what a weekend of sports! Where do I begin? I can start out by saying Game 2 of the Braves/Giants series was one of the best baseball games I've seen in a really long time....it was really exciting the Braves won. It was so exciting that after about 6 hours sleep the night before because I stayed up to watch Game 1 and woke up for work Friday, I was able to stay up until 1:30 to watch an extra inning game on the west coast. I'll admit that I had pretty much given up hope on the game around the 7th inning and I was dozing off but the Braves 8th inning rally got me stirred up and all the events that followed that were awesome. Great game.
Then came a Saturday filled with great games. As I predicted before the season and again on Friday, South Carolina beat Alabama. I really don't hold this one against Alabama too much, coming off two emotional games, going on the road against a really tough team they lost the game. This is why people don't think Boise State should be in the national championship game, they don't have to face this type of competition every week. It is too hard to get yourself fully prepared and motivated to play at a top level week in and week out with no breathers. And when the team you are playing is coming off a bye week it is very hard to match their intensity, and then compound that it's on the road...let's face it that the cards were stacked against them. That is why I picked South Carolina to win the game, it had to do as much with Alabama's schedule as the Gamecocks ability to beat them. Now I'm not trying to defend the Tide because I hate them, but I don't think they should have been dropped to 8th in the polls for that loss.
LSU's offense finally played decent and they deserved to win the game because of it but how lucky can Les Miles be? I thought for sure his nine lives had run out after the Tennessee game but no, the ball bounces perfectly off the grass on that fake punt and they go on to score a touchdown and win the game! It is unbelievable how lucky this guy is! I don't know if he's into voodoo down there in Louisiana or what is going on, the guy has the cahonies of a horse. After I watched that I flipped back over to the Mississippi State game, and Mike Leach, who was announcing the game, said, "I'd like to be in Baton Rouge during a lightning storm". Another great line from Leach, LSU is so lucky to be 6-0 but after that win I've got to throw my hands up and just say they are good and find ways to win.
Mississippi State played pretty well this weekend running all over Houston, they've got a shot next week at Florida. I'm glad USC lost again, I hope they lose every week...and it makes Gary Danielson's idiotic pick of them going 13-0 look even more dumb. I was amazed at Florida State dismantling of Miami. You've got to give Michigan State credit, they are 6-0 and might be the best story in college football this year. I was very surprised Kentucky was able to shut down Auburn in the 2nd half, especially the 3rd quarter and make it a close game. Auburn has had some problems during full halves of games this year...the 2nd half at Miss. St., 1st half vs. Clemson, and 2nd half at Kentucky. I was 6-1 for my SEC picks and 3-3 around the country this week. So my total is 39-11 in the SEC and 22-14 nationally. Here this weeks power poll:
1. Auburn, 6-0 (3-0) - They had some trouble with Kentucky but they won the game which is what they seem to do this year. Cam Newton was two rushing yards away from a "Denard Robinson 200-200" game and I think right now he should be the front-runner for the Heisman. I don't think based on whose beaten who and records you can have anyone else at the top right now. Huge game next week vs. Arkansas, and if they can win it sets up the biggest game of the year in the SEC vs. LSU.
2. South Carolina, 4-1 (2-1) - In the end I don't really believe South Carolina is better than Alabama, they caught them at the right time and they played the best game they will probably play all year, but they did beat them so they get to be ahead of them here. They are a solid team and now they are in great position to win the SEC East...just have to avoid the stumbling blocks like Kentucky next week.
3. Alabama, 5-1 (2-1) - Bama is still a great team and I believe they still have a great shot at all their goals including the national championship. As I predicted before the year they would lose vs. USC and come back to win it all. But they will have to rebound this week because Ole Miss always plays Bama tough.
4. LSU, 6-0 (4-0) - Raise your hand if you thought LSU would be the first SEC team to 4 wins. There isn't much you can say here, they are entertaining to watch I guess. Now they basically have a bye week hosting McNese state before going to Auburn.
5. Arkansas, 4-1 (1-1) - After going to Dallas and beating a pretty good Texas A&M team I'm dropping the Hogs two spots, but their just a victim of circumstance because I have to move South Carolina and LSU up. They are a good football team but it is all about Ryan Mallett right now, and he is still throwing picks. Big time matchup at Auburn next week, we'll see what Arkansas' really got.
6. Florida, 4-2 (2-2) - I know Demps was out but what is wrong with their offense? It hasn't been right all year long and I never thought they'd be reduced to #6 and playing Mississippi State for the right to stay in the top half of the SEC. They've got some issues, let's see how they respond to back-to-back losses.
7. Mississippi State, 4-2 (1-2) - I would be tempted to put State over Florida but they'll have a chance to earn it playing them next week. The running game is doing well, they make just enough passes to keep the defense honest and the defense is very good, however, the special teams might be the worst in the SEC and needs a lot of work. Going to Florida has the potential to turn this into a special season if they can pull out a win in the swamp.
8. Georgia, 2-4 (1-3) - Out of the cluster of teams I had last week UGA emerged as the best of the bunch. They finally put it all together and if they can play like that going down the stretch they've got a shot at salvaging the season. Now they've got to continue to take care of business hosting Vanderbilt.
9. Kentucky, 3-3 (0-3) - The Wildcats played pretty well against Auburn, I was especially impressed with their ability to stop Auburn's offense in the 3rd quarter after giving up the world in the 1st half. If the D can play like that against South Carolina they've got a real shot in a classic trap game.
10. Vanderbilt, 2-3 (1-1) - Nice job obliterating Eastern Michigan, I did not know Vandy could score 52 points in a game. How could I put Vandy this high? Well, they beat Ole Miss in Oxford and they look better than Tennessee right now.
11. Ole Miss, 3-2 (1-1) - They didn't play this week and so now they are next up on Alabama's list of opponents with a bye week before playing them. We'll see if they have anything up their sleeve, it will be the best competition they've faced this year by a moonshot.
12. Tennessee, 2-4 (0-3) - I think Derek Dooley has done about all he can with this team so far, and they really stood no chance against Georgia on the road if the Dawgs were hungry for a win at all after coming off what happened in Baton Rouge. They almost lost to UAB, just can't do much of anything...it's rough in Knoxville.
I am about to put Boise State as my #1 team, but before I do, let me preface it with some thoughts about it. They do not play the same schedule as the highly ranked BCS teams but I think they are as good as the highly ranked BCS teams. I think the BCS teams should be given an advantage over them at the end of the season if they do only have one loss because of the example Alabama just gave us...having to play top competition week after week wears on a team mentally and they are not able to be where they need to be to win the game. But if Oregon plays Stanford, then plays Washington State, then an off week, then UCLA, that is not too hard and so I'm not going to give Oregon credit over Boise State at the end of the year. Same goes for Oklahoma, Ohio State and all the other teams in the Top 5. They may play a tougher schedule but if the tough games are 3 and 4 weeks apart then I don't think there is that much difference between what Boise has done and what they have done. I think the polls should be based on what you see right now and then in the final poll you should sit down and look at what all the teams have faced and compare it and factor in how good they are, etc. and determine the top teams. So here is my Top 5:
1. Boise State, 5-0
2. Nebraska, 5-0
3. Oregon, 6-0
4. Auburn, 6-0/TCU, 6-0
5. Alabama, 5-1
I was 6-7 on the NFL games I predicted, that is pretty terrible. Oh well, I don't claim to know that much about it. I was pleased to see the Falcons get a road win against the Browns, who I thought looked like a good team despite their 1-4 record. The Falcons are a solid NFL team and I think they are capable of winning it all if they don't get another rash of injuries like they did last year. I can't believe the Saints lost the Arizona and their rookie quarterback, now Atlanta is in the driver's seat.
The Yankees swept the Twins and the Phillies swept the Reds so those two series winners followed my predictions. I had the Rangers moving on and it looked like a sure thing up 2-0 and going home but now the Rays have tied it 2-2 and playing tomorrow in Tampa Bay. Luckily for the Rangers they have Cliff Lee going, but Tampa has David Price so it should be a classic game.
So it was all such a great weekend for me, everything was going right after the Falcons won Sunday afternoon, then the Braves couldn't hit a lick and Tim Hudson had to break up a no-hitter being thrown by Jonathon Sanchez in the 6th inning. It all looked bleak because Brooks Conrad had committed two errors at the beginning of the game and one of them allowed a run to score. Then Eric Hinske came through huge with a pinch-hit two run homer in the bottom of the 8th, I thought the Braves had won it, Kimbrel was throwing gas in the 9th, then we change pitchers, give up the lead, and Conrad makes another horrible error and the Braves lose. Unbelievable. Brooksy or "raw dog" has been one of my favorite players all year if not my favorite player because he plays hard and sometimes above his abilities, and he's been clutch all regular season. Everyone is down on him and wanting him to be cut from the team and all this but I know he didn't do it on purpose, he just choked. He's a 30-year-old rookie whose never been in anything like this, starting only because Chipper Jones and Martin Prado have gone down, and he's had a bad two weeks fielding and he just choked. It reminds be of Chuck Knobloch when he couldn't throw the ball to first base accurately, it's all in his head. After making bad throws from 3rd base last week Bobby moved him to second, then he'd already made 3 errors in the series so you know he was thinking, 'I hope they don't hit it to me', he just doesn't have it right now. So I don't know if Bobby can start him tonight, I would think he's got to put Diory Hernadez in there at 2nd base...Brooksy has got a better bat but the Braves just can't afford any defensive mistakes in a series like this. I hope they can win it tonight and bring it back to San Fran where all bets would be off in a Game 5.
JB
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