Ramblings from the Ultimate Sports Sentimentalist

Good Thoughts:

1.  TCU-  After watching last Saturday’s Fort Worth beatdown, I can say without hesitation that TCU is the best college football team in the country.   I have never in my life seen a top 20 team dominated like Utah was on Saturady night.    The 27-point margin of victory was much smaller than it could have been, as the Frogs squandered multiple red zone opportunities and the Utes scored a late TD.  Whittingham said that without a doubt this is the best team he’s ever coached against, which means TCU is significantly better than last year’s Bama squad that almost won the national title.  The Frogs will roll through their next 2 games, and I will be surprised if they don’t coast through their BCS bowl game.  They are unequivocally the most complete team from top to bottom, with the exception of their kicking game.Also, unlike what Dennis Dodd may think  (http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/12525399/broncos-horned-frogs-closing-in-on-busting-bcs), there has never been a bigger reason why we need a playoff than TCU this year.  Please, therefore, donate to a good cause this holiday season: http://www.playoffpac.com, and make sure the BCS scrooges eventually get destroyed.

2.  Stanford/Pac-10 Race- The Cardinal are the talk of the college football universe after their beatdown of Southern Cal in the Coliseum on Saturday.  I had Harbaugh’s group pegged as a surprise team in the Pac-10 this year, but I did not see them contending for the conference crown.  Their impressive play though has setup the most intriguing conference title race of the year, as Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, and Staford all can win the Pac-10 crown.  For full list of these scenarios, see my conference championship entry below. 

3.  SMU- Congratulations to the Mustangs for appearing to secure their first bowl bid since receiving the death penalty, and also taking control of the C-USA West title race (see My Conference Championship Analysis below for more details.)

Bad Thoughts:

1.  Where’s the Beef?- Part I: Heisman Trophy Race- Is it just me or does it seem no one is really deserving of the Heisman this year?  Absolutely no one stands out.  In fact, I’ll quickly buzz through the major contenders and summarzie why each shouldn’t be given the trophy.

• Mark Ingram (Alabama)- Bama’s offense is atrocious 
• Case Keenum (Houston)- His team isn’t very good
• Tim Tebow (Florida)- His numbers aren’t up to par
• Colt McCoy (Texas)- His numbers also aren’t that great
• Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame)- Why was he ever considered a contender?
• C.J. Spiller (Clemson)- His team isn’t in the BCS top 20.
•  Jordan Shipley (Texas)- There are WRs with better numbers out there.
• Toby Gerhart (Stanford)- Entering the race way too late.
• Kellen Moore (Boise State)- I could probably put up his kind of numbers against WAC defenses. 

With that being said, here are my top current top 5 in order: 1) Colt McCoy, 2) Tim Tebow, 3) Mark Ingram, 4) Kellen Moore, 5) Jordan Shipley.

2.  Where’s the Beef?- Part II: Next week’s games- Has there ever been a more miserable slate of games in late November than next week’s Saturday schedule.  There isn’t a single matchup of top 25 teams, and the top 4 teams in the country are favored by over 100 points combined.  If you happen to know any bowl-apologists, please ask them to talk about all of next Saturday’s important playoff games, since the entire regular season is supposed to be a playoff and there are only 3 weeks left to be played.

3.  Poor Ol’ Wake Forest, Mother So Dear- Yes, you could definitely re-write WFU’s alma mater with those lyrics  right now to describe the football team.  They will end up being the best team in the country not going to a bowl game, which upsets me because I think they could probably beat 45% of the squads who are currently bowl eligible.  They also may end up being the only non-bowl team ever to beat a BCS squad (Stanford) and take another to OT (Georgia Tech).  While many fans will blame the suspect coaching and weak defense, I think scheduling might have been the biggest problem this year.  As a general rule, if you are mediocre college football team fighting for bowl eligibility (like the Deacs this year), then you can’t schedule 3 hard non-conference games.  Wake should have definitely arranged a matchup with at least one more cupcake, so they could have avoided an abysmal 2-2 non-conference record.