burningchips.com

It’s a sad day in college football today.  Bobby Bowden is being forced out stepping down as Florida states coach.  Now the lone man who carries the mantle for his program is Joe Paterno.  I doubt I will ever see another coach in college football of Bowden’s or Paterno’s stature.  The times just are not the same.  No one sticks around a program for over three decades any more.  Those who build programs now jump ship as soon as possible to a bigger name school and then get canned in a few years when they don’t go undefeated year in and year out.

Coach Bowden, your teams gave us some great games over the years.  A quick list of your accomplishments are you coached the first wire to wire number 1 in the nation in 1999 and had a Rhodes scholar (yeah I know everyone forgets the student part of student athelete).  Most importantly though is that you won and lost with class.  I can not remember a single time after a game of  you ever blaming a loss on officials.  Instead all you ever said with that familiar southern twang was “Dadgumit that was a great game I just wish we were on the other end”.  I hope the Noles win that bowl game and carry you off the field.  It would be a fitting send off.  For all you have given to college football I would like to say thank you on behalf of all college football fans.  I’m sure there are a few Gators and Canes who are even sad to see you go.

Top 25 for Travis

1. Alabama (9-0), clinched SEC West with win over LSU
2. Texas (9-0), Iowa’s loss means they won’t be passed by any other unbeaten
3. Florida (9-0), Gouge This
4. TCU (9-0), a near 3 TD favorite over Utah
5. Cincinnati (9-0), last game at Pittsburgh may boost them
6. Boise St. (9-0), pretty much locked to this spot
7. Georgia Tech (9-1), squeeked out an OT win
8. Pittsburgh (8-1), nothing fancy just victories
9. LSU (7-2), lose and move up
10. Oregon (7-2), trap game
11. USC (7-2), could still make the Rose Bowl
12. Iowa (9-1), going from National Title to Capital One Bowl in 2 weeks
13. Utah (8-1), outside shot at a BCS at-large with win at TCU
14. Houston (8-1), barely hanging on
15. Miami (7-2), big 2nd half
16. Arizona (6-2), did what they were supposed to against Washington St.
17. Ohio St. (8-2), showdown for the Rose Bowl
18. Oklahoma St. (7-2), nice blowout win
19. Penn St. (8-2), two home blowout losses to the good teams in the Big 10
20. Virginia Tech (6-3), nice rebound against East Carolina
21. South Florida (6-2), earned a bye
22. West Virginia (7-2), big one at Cincinnati
23. Oregon St. (6-3), normal 2nd half surge
24. Stanford (6-3), Toby Gerhard is a Heisman candidate
25. Clemson (6-3), C.J. Spiller is becoming an All-American
I can not really complain with Travis’ top 25 list.  I’d flip Boise and Cinci and drop Houston behind Miami and U of A.

Alright.  Enough of the season has passed that we have decided to give our top 25’s.  I’ll post up Senor Burns version first and then I will put mine up with a sentence reasoning for each one.

My list is fluid week to week and I do not weigh a perfect record (I want you great at the end of the year) as heavy as I do eyeball test (how fast and strong you are) and what Vegas would say, does anyone really think Vegas would favor Iowa or Boise over USC?

Top 25 according to Travis

1. Alabama (8-0)
2. Texas (7-0)
3. Florida (7-0)
4. Iowa (8-0)
5. Boise St. (7-0)
6. Cincinnati (7-0)
7. TCU (7-0)
8. USC (6-1)
9. Oregon (6-1)
10. Georgia Tech (7-1)
11. LSU (6-1)
12. Virginia Tech (5-2)
13. Penn St. (7-1)
14. Pittsburgh (7-1)
15. Utah (6-1)
16. Houston (6-1)
17. Oklahoma St. (6-1)
18. West Virginia (6-1)
19. Miami (5-2)
20. Arizona (5-2)
21. South Carolina (6-2)
22. Ohio St. (6-2)
23. Central Michigan (7-1)
24. Notre Dame (5-2)
25. Mississippi (5-2)

Chip’s list:

1. Alabama (Look better than Florida at the moment)

2. Texas (Have started playing better as of late and look better than Florida)

3. Florida (Here by default, Tebow misses Harvin)

4. USC (Their one loss was on the road to former coaches without Barkley, Mays and their #2 receiver, Vegas would favor SC against Florda on a neutral field)

5. Iowa (I’m giving them credit for their record, but Vegas would have them as dogs to some teams below them on a neutral field)

6. Boise State (Well coached, weak conference and beat an Oregon school who had not hit their offensive stride)

7. TCU (Impressed me by waxing BYU)

8.  Cincinnati ( Here due to record and Good win over Oregon State)

9. Oregon (Can jump higher with a good showing against USC, might be playing best ball in country at moment)

10. Georgia Tech (triple option win over VT)

11. Virginia Tech (Close game loss against GT)

12.  LSU (Solid team)

13. Penn St (The favorite team for anyone with an AARP card)

14. Oklahoma State (I doubt they would let Houston pull that off again)

15. Utah (could switch with Pitt)

16. Pitt (See above)

17. Houston (respect for win over OSU but I think it was a fluke, YOU LOST TO UTEP, we will see how OSU fairs against Texas)

18. Miami (Harris will only get better)

19. Arizona (Had Foles started all year I don’t think Iowa wins that game and the offense runs better against UW…………but he didn’t)

20. South Carolina (Lost to Georgia)

21. West Virginia (Could be 20)

22. Ohio State (Pryor always makes them dangerous, now if he was just set free like Mike Vick. P.S. Please beat Iowa and save us from another Big 10 pasting in a title game)

23. Notre Dame (Close losses)

24. Kansas (Their QB is too good to leave them off)

25. Mississippi (Two losses to teams that are just better than them)

So I’m typing this as I watch the Nadal vs. Monfils quarter final in the US Open.  Good close to a great sports weekend.

I love college football, the start of it is always one of my favorite times of the year.  Multiple fan bases have high hopes (most highly unrealistic) but at least it keeps everyone talking.

My thoughts from this weeks college football opening weekend:

The Big East is boring and I will refuse to talk about them until they become relavent.

The ACC should be embarrassed.  Seriously you lost twice at home to FCS teams?  Your automatic BCS bid should be given to the Mountain West and then you and the Big East can have a pillow fight over who gets the last bid.

Big 10: You guys still look slow.   Navy………seriously…….is this 1926 or something?  My cell phone says no which means if you want to be taken seriously as a conference your top teams should kill Navy.  If said top team lays an egg (hey it happens every once and awhile) then your other teams need to pick up the slack and at least embarrass any school with a direction in front of their name (cough cough Iowa).

Pac 10:  Respectable.  Washington played LSU tough so the Sarkisian era looks like it could be promising.  More will be known next week after USC travels to OSU.  The Buckeye faithful better hope OSU was just overlooking the Midshipmen or they will be in for a very long day against USC.  Oregon losing to BSU is not a disgrace especially since the game was played on the smurf turf.  Blount’s punch however was a disgrace and I do not want to hear anyone say that the Boise player instigated it by talking smack.  Blount talked smack in print before the game and I’m sure both players talked smack the entire game to each other.  Blount couldnt take it that Boise definitely had the last word and socked a guy as he was getting yelled at by his coach for not being classy.  Then to make matters worse he flexes while running away, he must have just finished reading Chapter 1 of  “How to fight like a thug” by Carmelo Anthony.  Followed by punching his own player and then the really foolish move of taking his helmet off before he attempts to go all Ron Ron on the Boise State faithful.

SEC:  Yawn, good job beating up on who you should and kudos to Georgia for playing outside of the south against a national power in a non conference game.  Glad those on the message boards now claim Georgia is not a REAL SEC team.  Surprise surprise.

What I’ll watch these next few days:

US Open Tennis- Possible Nadal vs Federer rematch and Ouidin are the two  stories I care about.

NFL football – Season kicks off Thursday as does the fantasy football season, the BendErOverLikeBigBen’s are looking to get me a repeat as league champ!